2022-01-21: Our S.O.S. Picks Up Speed
- Log: Our S.O.S. Picks Up Speed
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Anti, Yuta Hibiki, Sho Utsumi, Renais Cardiff, Riku Asakura, Rikka Takarada, Asuka Shikinami Langley, Eight York, Arriety Hearn, Madrigal, Shinji Ikari, Sakura Shinguji, Nidaime, Lily Jung, Kaworu Nagisa, Sanary Rondel, Dr. Spartura
- Where: Nouvelle Tokyo? (Tsutsujidai)
- Date: January 21, 2022
- Summary: It's a foggy day in Japan -- and sometimes, the fog is a strange thing indeed.
Maybe you were on the train to Nouvelle Tokyo. Maybe you were performing some reconnaissance near the edge of the Kyushu Zone. Maybe you nodded off while shipping out to check the wreckage of Junius Seven. Right now, however: you're here; your unit is here; it's the middle of summer in what looks like Nouvelle Tokyo... and there are some kaiju beating on what appears to be a giant of light and a scrapped F-50D test bed. One of the kaiju is very chatty about it.
The heroes are not having the greatest time. Maybe you should give them a hand?
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
... Weren't you going somewhere else?
Things are a little fuzzy -- that warm woke-up-from-a-nap kind of fuzzy, or maybe that half-settled-in-for-a-nap kind of fuzzy. It's hard to fully piece together the last dozen minutes or so; most of you are off course from where you expected to be.
If you were headed to Nouvelle Tokyo, or really most places in Japan, it looks more or less like you expected, but again -- it's a bit of a dreamy feeling? Fujiyokidai's sluice gate is there, and the school looks right, but are they in the right places relative to each other...? Wait, the mall's gone too -- was there always a crab place there? And for that matter -- there ought to be shelters here, right...?
If you were headed to the Kyushu Zone, this is obviously wrong, because: you're in Nouvelle Tokyo...? Probably? It's sure not Area 11. It's sure not Kyushu. It looks like Free Japan, for the most part.
If you were headed to Junius Seven, oh man, there's really no explanation for this one, champ. Are you dreaming?
Were you even in your mobile weapon before? For that matter: It's summer? Why is it summer?
And --
That sure is an enormous salmon-and-blue kaiju lumbering around in the middle of the city, flanked by a blue and white one. Their only opposition comes from a fifty-meter armored giant too spindly to be conventional military hardware -- no, if you get a good angle, there's a couple junk mobile suits too. (If you have Federation-internal IFF, you pick the tank up by its test type designation, F-50D; if you're from outside, you get the museum designation, R-44. The cannon-type scans as an RX-77-3D, despite ... only barely resembling that particular loadout. Fun trivia!)
... This whole situation makes it even weirder that this is Nouvelle Tokyo, because the evacuation process has been staggeringly haphazard. Most of the areas not immediately surrounding the fight have entered a state of total gridlock in the evacuation attempt. If this is a failure of the usual protocols, it's the type of failure people get sacked over.
Maybe having to fight around that is why, to all appearances, the anti-kaiju types are having such a bad time. The salmon-and-blue dinosaur seems to be picking its spots surprisingly freely, raining fireballs as it pleases.
"Oh, the little ones are new this time. Do we have another visitor?" Akane asks, putting her feet up on her desk and starting to flip between a pair of drone cameras on her tablet. She's unhurried. "Wait -- hang on..." She takes a draw from her tomato juice box, swallowing and then breathing in slowly.
"... A mobile suit?! TWO mobile suits?!" she exclaims, clearly shocked. Her eyes flick from her tablet to the monitor in front of her. "I thought we didn't have those here!"
"Hm, yes. It is strange, isn't it? Do you think our original guest brought them?" comes a voice from the screen. A black figure rests on the monitor, teal lights dancing across his face in the impression of a mouth as he speaks. "So many bothersome visitors lately... they really ought to leave you alone, don't you think?"
"Rrrgh -- yes, they should! ... Well, we'll just handle it like usual~" Akane replies, anger giving way to that familiar sense of play. "Sucks that I didn't have the time to fix up another kaiju... I'm still pissed off about the coffee shop! At least you got me Ghoulghilas back."
A sonorous laugh rings out. "It's such a lovely design! Seeing it in action moved my heart too. And I love the emotion behind it."
There's a split second where Akane fully orients herself to look at the screen, squinting at the figure as the flames ringing his face dance. She blinks once, twice... then giggles. "You always know how to flatter me~ but I can't take my eyes off the action here, right?"
Ghoulghilas isn't a very chatty kaiju. It expresses itself primarily in loud roars and fireballs, and right now, it has decided to express itself with... both, actually! It has decided -- insofar as it decides -- to try relating to the smaller things as a more pointed threat.
Its head tilts back slightly, and it begins to screech; a bright yellow-orange flame begins to collect in its mouth, as it does so. It manifests as a distinct ball of fire, once fully charged -- and then disgorges from the throat toward the tank-type MS. A moment later, more fireballs rain down; the cannon-type gets some 'love' too.
A figure stands atop a construction crane. Someone had been using it to make a few minor repairs to Tsutsujidai's sluice gate. The figure looks out toward the chaos, then over to the gate, seemingly considering where to stand.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Ghoulghilas Mouth Lob!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Sho Utsumi with Ghoulghilas Mouth Lob!
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
It's fast, and here's what it is: sixty-five meters of reptilian kaiju, primarily blue. All sharp angles and salmon vents, white corrugated tubing along its arms and legs to allow it free movement, stark yellow nodules dotted up and down its form. Its hands and feet fade to black claws; its red visor is segmented, flylike.
Or perhaps it would be better to think of church windows.
After all, all this...
"Gridman...!" Its voice -- its voice -- is masculine, which may invite some confusion as to whether 'it' is a 'he', after all. "You bastard!" Whoever he is, the hate in his voice is clear, present, and exclusive; rough as rocks and bellows-blaring, there can be no mistake who the aggressor in this situation is, even entering midway.
He seems to slide from one point in the city to the next -- something which could almost be taken for teleportation, if not for the horrific blowback of debris in his wake, turning concrete to rubble-dust in an instant.
This may well involve crashing past those junker mobile suits, who the kaiju seems to be largely ignoring -- because all those balls of energy he's firing out are targeted towards the armoured giant he has named as 'Gridman'.
(Neither does he pay any attention to what's underneath his feet, what buildings he's crushing, who might be inside.)
"Die!" He instructs, he demands, he exacts, as those energy bullets rain through the sky, through to this 'Gridman', through to the city beyond. "Die! Die! Die! DIE!"
KTS: Rikka Takarada blocks Akane Shinjo's Ghoulghilas Mouth Lob, taking 902 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
"Gh...!"
With no choice but to weather the bombardment of furious and hateful energy blasts - as they'd slam into the nearby streets and buildings if he moved - Gridman finds himself in something of a sticky wicket, being unable to advance or fight back. But even as toweringly large as his body was, he could not cover the entirety of the city and as a result, the everyday citizens of Tsutsujidai were being caught in the crossfire anyway.
This is bad! Even with Rikka and Utsumi working over-time with the new machines, we can't keep up with this kind of damage - !
You have to fight back, Yuta.
Massive plumes of colored sparkls shoot off of Gridman's armored hide with each impact, before he uncrosses his arms from their defensive position. " - Right ..! I just have to find an opening!"
MEANWHILE:
Inside of the Synchrotank, Samurai Calibur fumbles for the buckle keeping him strapped into his seat, "I - er, I'll go ..." before, Max unstraps himself easily and expertly lumbers from his seat over to where Junk had been rigged. "It's alright. Stay here for now, Calibur - I'll give Gridman the chance he needs to break out of this deadlock. ACCESS CODE: BATTLE TRACTO MAX!"
"Okay - goo~d lu~ck ... fuu.." Vit yawns, before being kicked in the side roughly by Borr.
Out of a shining, spoked octagon, a bright armored carrier pops out and slams into the ground before driving off at an impressive cruising speed. The trailer it dragged behind it points both of its sizeable cannons in Anti's direction and begins to pepper his side with thick and buldging pellets of energy.
Using the briefest lull in the overly-aggressive kaiju's assault caused by Max's timely arrival, Gridman places his heels together with a quick clacking sound before leaping with a, "Toh!" into a frontflip that puts him close enough to Anti that he can attempt to strike him under his hardened jaw with an open palm. "You really pulled me out of the fire there, Max!"
Battle Tracto Max's 'cabin' glows bright red to the tune of his voice, which comes out in a tinny reverb, "We were only afforded this chance by all of these people showing up. We don't know how things will shake out so, be on your toes."
"Right," Yuta agrees, before Gridman intones, " - stopping all of these kaiju are our first priority."
Gridman assumes a hand-to-hand stance, careful with his footwork not to step on anything that could get others hurt.
KTS: Yuta Hibiki targets Anti with Battle Tracto Max!
KTS: Yuta Hibiki has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.
This is bad. The Phormocannon had been sent out for evacuation, not for combat. Sho Utsumi isn't ready for a fight - it was easier when he was at the little terminal computer shouting support.
The Phormocannon is the Guncannon ripoff that is absolutely not OSHA-compliant, made of cobbled together pieces of several machines. The two big cannons are definitely Guncannon, but they look off. It's carrying a rifle with a canister attached to it, a mattock at its side, and a shield in one hand.
As the fireballs go out from the Ghoulghilas, the radar scans, and Sho pushes a lever, pulling the arm up and blocking fireballs with the makeshift shield, crisping the edges with a melty exterior.
Noticing the tank got hit the same, he calls out over shortwave. "Rikka! Sending targeting data!" Hopefully, this will allow her to make the most of her hits...
While the rifle is pointed up at the Ghoulghilas' mouth, unsteadily. Sho has never been in a live combat before, but he can't let his allies down. "Man, oh man, why are there two kaiju?"
The trigger is pulled. Instead of bullets or beams, a glue-like substance sprays out of the rifle, aimed for the Ghoulghilas' face and mouth, trying to weaken its ability to spray more fireballs and open up for Rikka's followup attacks!
[Big-Scene] Mitsuba Greyvalley> Your options for it include:
[Big-Scene] Mitsuba Greyvalley> [color]color
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais Cardiff, Herald of the King of Ruin, was already here; she's spent time in the heart of Tsutsujidai, but that was before she really understood the nature of this place. So now she's branching out, peeking into other parts of town. When the thunder of Ghoulghilas' arrival reaches her ears, the cyborg's placidly walking along the water's edge, approaching the sluice gate.
At first, she doesn't give it much thought. She doesn't even stop walking, lazily keeping an eye on her path forward as she watches. The most she thinks about is how much she likes the design--it looks like it belongs in an episode of Tarabaman. Acquiring an omnicidal imperative does interesting things to one's thought processes, it seems.
It isn't until Anti joins the fray, smashing through the city with effortless speed, that her mind gets properly into gear. She double-takes and freezes. An armored giant manifests to fight them... Her eyes widen and her pupils contract as she realizes the danger--not a danger of what, but a danger to *who*. "A-Akane!!" she blurts out.
She hasn't yet noticed the two beings nearby, well within earshot.
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku has not had a good time since coming to this earth\, things have been...well crazy. First off\, he can't find Gillvalis\, which is troublesome. Gillvalis will no doubt be causing a lot of trouble. Which is the other odd thing\, there isn't any sign of it causing trouble EITHER. The second thing is that the fight with Renais brought back some old memories. The pain he felt left some residual personal pains that he thought were a bit more healed.
Riku thought also knew he was mostly alone on this version of his home that was similar\, but also very different. Doneshine merchandise was so much rarer\, but that's fine...he would have to figure out living conditions first. Nebula House wasn't here\, none of the other Ultramen he knew were here either. He can't leave without finding Gillvalis\, who seems to be hiding...which is odd!
On the ground after the battle\, Riku had helped out the best that he could with relief\, though some people started poking questions. Eventually\, when forces started becoming more common than civilians needing help\, he ducked out. He was also tired...exhausted even. Maybe he could go across town and figure something out from there?
He didn't even catch himself falling asleep on the train. One moment he was awake\, and the next he was passed out. His eyes opened suddenly\, the train was stopped. The rumbling of something in the distance snapped him to his feet. Things were clearly different\, besides the obvious two Kaiju\, and people fighting them. It was hot\, it clearly wasn't summer a moment ago..?
Though it clearly WAS Japan\, where was he? He walks in a small daze\, trying to figure things out until there was a louder THUD. Looking up he sees the battle before him. He eyes Gridman\, who...looks similar to an Ultra. It doesn't take him a second to think about it. The Z-Raiser is in his hand.
"Standing around doing nothing\, won't get us anywhere!" he shouts\, pulling the Z-Raiser to his chest\, and pulling the trigger. A blue portal opens up in front of him\, with strange crisscrossing blue energy before he jumps into it. For Riku\, the following transformation sequence happens...
He pulls out a card with his face and above it the sideways face of an evil-looking Ultraman. He slides the card into the Z-Raiser. The Z-Raiser speaks\, "Riku\, Access Granted." He opens a pouch on the side of his hip\, with three metals inside. He poses with the Z-raiser completely unnecessarily and holds the weapon blade side up. "LIVE! UNITE! UP!"
He inserts the metals onto open slots on the Z-Raiser one by one. "Ultraman Ginga. Ultraman X. Ultraman Orb." He slides the part of the riser the metals sit on\, as the Riser speaks\, "Ginga. X. Orb." This time\, the Z-Raiser is locked into place\, and Riku brings it to his chest. "Assemble Glittering Stars!"
With a press of the Z-Raiser's trigger and a release of red energy\, he shouts something. "Geeeeeeeeed!" The three Ultraman swoop by him in slightly incorporeal forms\, as both Ultraman Belial and another Ultraman stand next to him. They merge into Riku\, revealing a new Ultraman. With a new burst of light\, the part people can now see shows up.
From a new portal\, a large Ultraman appears. It's the same one that fought with the King of Braves just a few days ago. Hitting the ground and running at Anti first. He doesn't know exactly what is going on but knows that Anti isn't fighting for the smiles of anyone. He swings a punch for the side of the giant lizard\, before attempting to crash into him and push him away from his current walking path.
"I won't let you do what you want to the people around you!" he shouts\, breaking from the grapple and making a defensive stance.
KTS: Riku Asakura targets Anti with Ultraman Martial Arts!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Kaiju attacks had become... if not routine, something Rikka had gotten used to. She still dreaded the alarm that indicated the approach of a kaiju, of course, but that was reality now. This time, at least, she and Utsumi had secret weapons at the ready. This time, things should go easier.
...Or so she thought, because as it happens, today decidely does not go as routine.
"I appreciate what they're doing... but their timing really sucks." Rikka complains as her mobile suit, Synchrotank(recognizable to those knowledgeable as a Guntank R44, but with a lot of salvaged parts strapped to it), is rocked yet again as a barrage of fireballs impacts her shields - bulldozer blades affixed to the missile casings, by the looks of it. Ghoulghilas's flames batter her shields, threatening to push Synchrotank back, but it stands firm. From the looks of things, the old mobile suit has taken quite the beating already, and yet, it's still standing - it must be built with toughness in mind. Part of the problem is the haphazard evacuation process currently going on behind her, which is... new.
It would be today of all does that this happens - when they have not one, but two kaiju to deal with that this would happen. And the blue one... seems different. Most notably - he talks??
"Be careful, Hibiki, that one seems really intent on you...!" Rikka warns. If that's the case... then she can best help by making sure that both kaiju can't team up on him.
"Good luck, both of you." Rikka bids with a nod, as Max stands and joins with Gridman. It's a reminder that she isn't alone - Calibur, Borr, and Vit are still here to help her pilot Synchrotank, and Utsumi and Yuta are still out there, too.
And she is glad to have Utsumi here, as a stream of data is transmitted to Synchrotank's computers.
"Thanks, Utsumi!" Rikka replies thankfully. That's a good question, though - why are there two kaiju today...?
...They'll have to worry about that later. There are still people in danger here.
"...I hope this works like I think it does..." Rikka murmurs to herself, as Synchrotank's twin, back-mounted cannons are aimed at Ghoulghilas. Aided by Utsumi's targeted data and attempts to restrict the kaiju, both cannons unleash...!
Two strong, high-pressure jets of water?? That's definitely not standard issue equipment.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Akane Shinjo with High-Pressure Hydro Cannons!
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Rikka Takarada's High-Pressure Hydro Cannons, taking 6784 damage!
KTS: Rikka Takarada completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"Unit-02 is in position. Situation green."
In the haze of slumber, radio chatter surrounds Asuka her head lolled to the side in her pilot seat, each distinct voice of the support and logistics staff becoming indistinct.
"Power transmission is normal." "Currently standing by at designated location." "Unit-02, internal voltage has cleared set levels. Connection made with T-" A hiss of radio static drowns out the location name, "-ai substation. Maintain power supply output at maximum."
A hand slowly floats through the LCL fluid, uncoordinated as it rubs her eyes.
"Where... I fell a-" Asuka jolts up instantly, hands grabbing at the switches. "Anfang der Bewegung- Wait... I switched it to Japanese..." It's only after she says that that error messages appear all over the ever-shifting glow of the entry plug in Hiragana. "Am I already synched?" Asuka mumbles, a hand to her forehead. How did she fall asleep during the synchronization procedure? Well... it doesn't matter. The lumbering footsteps shake her cockpit causing a subtle shift in the LCL, as a salmon and blue Kaiju comes into view. Suddenly the mission parameters are clear. She doesn't even wait to check if there are other participants in this mission.
What's the point? She can handle everything by herself.
"Evangelion Unit-02 - launching!" Asuka shifts the stick to grab an Electromagnetic Crossbow that slides out of an armory she knows must be behind her. Then the armored red giant with its four eyed, two-horned demonic helm takes its first steps down the city streets. It's pilot already looking annoyed as it has to move down a side street, dragging its Umbilical cable behind her and winding it around an eatery as she diverts down a less crowded side street, having to move at a much slower pace than she'd like to avoid stepping on anyone. "What's with this city's evacuation procedures!? Someone's head needs to roll!"
Shame she can't pick out any public safety bureaucrats from up here. She briefly fantasizes making it happen.
"Get out of my way! Don't any of you realize what we're here for!?"
Pivoting as she reaches an intersection, the flank of the Kaiju is exposed the target is centered - yet she still sees people trying to get away from it.
Shifting the crossbow upwards at the first Kaiju, humming as it comes to life, waves of electricity visible across the barrel. And then 'Gridman...! You bastard! Die!' She never pulls the switch.
Evangelion Unit-02 suddenly whirls around at the blur of motion throughout the buildings. "A second one - moving at that speed..." It's danger to the evacuees is readily apart, rushing around like that it's gonna crush so many of them before they can even blink. She turns around rapidly, trying to track it. Her eyes shifting from side to side. "All this dancing around... as if this situation couldn't piss me off more."
Until the armored carrier moves into Anti's path, peppering it with cannonfire. This gives her long enough for her to take a knee with the red giant. Center the target... "You're mine!" ... this time she doesn't hesitate to pull the switch. A segmented stake of metal zipping out at hellish speed, a streak across the skyline as it's propelled towards the fast-moving Kaiju, hoping to puncture it before it can move on again.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Anti with Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow Snipe!
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku has not had a good time since coming to this earth, things have been...well crazy. First off, he can't find Gillvalis, which is troublesome. Gillvalis will no doubt be causing a lot of trouble. Which is the other odd thing, there isn't any sign of it causing trouble EITHER. The second thing is that the fight with Renais brought back some old memories. The pain he felt left some residual personal pains that he thought were a bit more healed.
Riku thought also knew he was mostly alone on this version of his home that was similar, but also very different. Doneshine merchandise was so much rarer, but that's fine...he would have to figure out living conditions first. Nebula House wasn't here, none of the other Ultramen he knew were here either. He can't leave without finding Gillvalis, who seems to be hiding...which is odd!
On the ground after the battle, Riku had helped out the best that he could with relief, though some people started poking questions. Eventually, when forces started becoming more common than civilians needing help, he ducked out. He was also tired...exhausted even. Maybe he could go across town and figure something out from there?
He didn't even catch himself falling asleep on the train. One moment he was awake, and the next he was passed out. His eyes opened suddenly, the train was stopped. The rumbling of something in the distance snapped him to his feet. Things were clearly different, besides the obvious two Kaiju, and people fighting them. It was hot, it clearly wasn't summer a moment ago..?
Though it clearly WAS Japan, where was he? He walks in a small daze, trying to figure things out until there was a louder THUD. Looking up he sees the battle before him. He eyes Gridman, who...looks similar to an Ultra. It doesn't take him a second to think about it. The Z-Raiser is in his hand.
"Standing around doing nothing, won't get us anywhere!" he shouts, pulling the Z-Raiser to his chest, and pulling the trigger. A blue portal opens up in front of him, with strange crisscrossing blue energy before he jumps into it. For Riku, the following transformation sequence happens...
He pulls out a card with his face and above it the sideways face of an evil-looking Ultraman. He slides the card into the Z-Raiser. The Z-Raiser speaks, "Riku, Access Granted." He opens a pouch on the side of his hip, with three metals inside. He poses with the Z-raiser completely unnecessarily and holds the weapon blade side up. "LIVE! UNITE! UP!"
He inserts the metals onto open slots on the Z-Raiser one by one. "Ultraman Ginga. Ultraman X. Ultraman Orb." He slides the part of the riser the metals sit on, as the Riser speaks, "Ginga. X. Orb." This time, the Z-Raiser is locked into place, and Riku brings it to his chest. "Assemble Glittering Stars!"
With a press of the Z-Raiser's trigger and a release of red energy, he shouts something. "Geeeeeeeeed!" The three Ultraman swoop by him in slightly incorporeal forms, as both Ultraman Belial and another Ultraman stand next to him. They merge into Riku, revealing a new Ultraman. With a new burst of light, the part people can now see shows up.
From a new portal, a large Ultraman appears. It's the same one that fought with the King of Braves just a few days ago. Hitting the ground and running at Anti first. He doesn't know exactly what is going on but knows that Anti isn't fighting for the smiles of anyone. He swings a punch for the side of the giant lizard, before attempting to crash into him and push him away from his current walking path.
"I won't let you do what you want to the people around you!" he shouts, breaking from the grapple and making a defensive stance.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Captain shakes her head, bringing her hand down from her face. What...? Everything is a little fuzzy, and she's not sure why. It's strange. It's like a dream...
She is seated on the bridge of the Ra Mari, in her captain's chair; her crew is around her, each seated at their various consoles. They are similarly reacting to how she has, a little dazed for some reason. "...Situation report, Mr. Astellan."
"We're in Japan," young man answers. "...Reporting two kaiju in the city! The evacuation is--"
He stares at his console, and turns to Eight, "The evacuation has barely begun, Captain! They're sitting ducks!"
"Move closer," Eight says quickly. "We need to get in there and start helping. Load all shuttles immediately."
She speaks over the communicator to the entire ship, "This is the Captain speaking. All pilots available! We have two kaiju at large. The city requires backup! I authorize you for launch immediately!"
Eight looks out the monitor at the devastation starting up...
Were some of her pilots on leave so close to the city? She can't remember...
"Ms. Chovan, get us as close to the city as you can."
"Yes, ma'am! It'll be tight, but I'm the best!"
"Good. Mr. Fari, get the cannons online, but don't fire yet--it's too risky."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Mx. Rezza, stand by to coordinate evacuation."
Captain York narrows her eyes. She feels something... strange, here. What is a Gridman...? Why does she feel like she's just stepped into the middle of something she doesn't understand? She doesn't like the feeling much.
"Ma'am--weapons are ready but we can't get a shot--but we have backup on-site. We aren't the only ones here."
"Keep them hot, then. Rezza, are those shuttles ready?"
Over the radios of the assembled mecha crackles a crisp voice. "Ra Mari here, Captain York speaking. We are here to support the evacuation and provide backup. I'm sending shuttles down to get some of these people on the ground. Good luck out there."
<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
Arriety... has never been to Earth before. She didn't think she'd come to Earth so soon either, but the news of how Rena was embroiled in a battle and they're there to pick her up makes it a fairly no-brainer move. Besides...
She wants to look at it. The Earth... her great grandparents' place, and something her family -- until they were all devoured by the great pink wash in the cold and unfeeling reaches of space -- has always professed to take her back to, one day.
"Earth..." Arriety mumbles to herself, her hands plastered on one of the port windows as the Ra Mari descends into the atmosphere. From afar, it looks like a beautiful blue and green sphere with shrouds of white, dotted by towers and the Orbital Ring...
It looks so tranquil and beautiful from up here. Is this what grandma was talking about, all those years ago...?
She has a bit of time... her eyes are so sleepy...
---
"Mm... mm?" Arriety blinks a few times. She's not seated on the recliner that faces the port window anymore; no, her seat is suddenly harder and distinctly fleshy in parts.
"Eh?"
Arriety's eyes are drawn to the monitors in front of her, indicating a salmon and blue kaiju roaring and launching blasts of fire upon some MS. She notes the designations, but they don't mean a lot to her, a noted Not MS Enjoyer. "W-wait, wait, where am I? Minae? Rena? Eight?"
Another creature -- easily sixty five meters, way bigger than even the Zeta! -- erupts, with a red visor, announcing its venom for a... 'Gridman'? It's fighting something else... a giant? It doesn't entirely look like a mobile suit... and it's so big...
Panic spiking into her voice as she calls out. "Why am I in the robot...?"
OUTSIDE
The Myrmekes Zeta is stationed ontop of the Ra Mari, where it is seated square on its ass with a big blue sleep bubble shooting out of its nose.
"mmm yeah... gimme a slice of that luna titanium... oh, delectable..."
"M-Myrme! Wake up! Something really strange is happening...!"
"the anti-beam coating's been glazed to perfection... it's so savoury and tangy...!"
"Myrmeeeeee! Eight, Eight, can you hear me??"
Fortunately, Eight's voice cuts in clearly from the radio.
The city requires backup! I authorize you for launch immediately!
Arriety swallows, shrinking into her shoulders. She's still wearing her oversized violet Londo Bell jacket and the clothes she's wearing underneath; no time to change into a pilot suit, it seems. She breathes in deep, and then bonks her console with her hand.
At that time:
"Hweh?! What happened to my food?!"
"C-come on, Myrme, we have to... um... launch!"
"I want fooooooooood..."
The Myrmekes Zeta rises to its feet; at first glance, it appears to be a mobile suit, appearing in the guise of one of the Zeta series. Coloured a predominant white with some flecks of gold, blue and red... until one notices the black muscultature underneath. The way its feet and hands end in great, large talons; the way the waverider binders sprout gossamer insectoid wings. And last but not least--
*ROAR*
The way its jaw rips open with a roar to reveal a row of teeth, sailing into the air.
"W-who else is available, Eight...?"
please don't let the answer be 'just her' please don't let the answer be 'just her' uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
KTS: Anti fails to evade Asuka Shikinami Langley's Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow Snipe, taking 2000 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Madrigal has posed.
It takes a bit of effort for the sounds of evacuation and combat to reach the young woman in the Brave-type robot on a side street of Tsutsujidai. Sitting up groggily, she makes a querilous noise of disgruntlement before she starts shaking off the sleep and mutters, "I could have sworn I went to sleep in my BED last night, Labriel..." Soon, her sleepiness and fuzzy-headedness are cleared off by the data she's reading, and she mutters, "So we've got ... kaiju? And... I'm not sure what he is, but... mecha? Tanks, maybe?"
Deciding to push the small things aside for now, Labriel launches into the air. To her fortune, the people making Heroic Declarations help her determine who she should be assisting, and soon Madrigal declares, "Okay Labriel... let's do what we do."
An assertive, commanding but also musical voice carries across the city's skyline, accompanied by the first vestiges of a song and...
o~ "Let the music flow forth and bring power to the Brave Ballad!" o~
BGM: https://youtu.be/7VbNDjgbSnc
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"So." Misato Katsuragi, Chief Tactical Officer of NERV, looks down at one of her charges, who is doing something truly awful: peleton biking. "What have we learned."
"Ask Captain Katsuragi." Shinji wheezes, pedaling like his life depends on it, "Before training. C-communicate effectively with support staff. I-if you see a deadly cyborg, don't apologize to it."
"That's a start." Misato says, a strange look on her face. The sternness hasn't melted yet, she's not fully detached herself from Captain Katsuragi, but there's a dash of his roomate there. Or.
Misato licks her thumb and finger, and brushes a wide eyed Shinji Ikari's face. "You have a little something-got it! Now, you can buy me a beer!"
And then.
Shinji's in his plug suit, in Evangelion Unit-01. "What. What am I doing?"
"get out of here."
Shinji's eyes widen as he hears those awful, awful train tracks. Oh no. "D-did I pass out again?" Unit-01 and its pilot stumble in the strange new streets. He shouldn't be plugged in, he thinks, but he is. Something's horrible wrong here. Shinji feels his skin crawl; he's used to the ordered evacuation procedures of a world thats dealt with these horrors for decades. This gridlock, people are going to die no matter what anyone does.
"the world is wrong. go."
"What the HELL Ayanami?!" Shinji shouts, and shakes his head in the grim realization that Rei wasn't there. It's happening again. It was so nice to pilot a robot that didn't hate him. But at the same time, connection with Unit-01; the world is sharper, leaner, he has at least three new senses that feel like a part of his own body. Shinji can take in the truly bizarre ship battle brewing ahead, the local defense mechs, that frightened looking Ultraman suit trying to.
Shinji can see a red cross. The train crashes into the side of a mountain. A hospital. The screaming lizard man is about to step on a hospital. Shinji's head quirks to the left, slightly; Unit-01, perched on a skyscraper like a neon grape gargoyle, follows the motion. The machine hunches down, its horrible yellow-red eyes flashing for a second, and moves with the compacted, refined motion of a predator. Shinji jumps off of the building.
Unit-01 leaps off of the building, sending shuddering waves of force that picks up garbage, building awnings, street detritus, and the occasional really compact (and abandoned) car. The big purple machine does a somersault in the middle of the air, and extends its neon green foot forward, aimed directly at the giant blue lizard monster's face.
"No." Shinji Ikari doesn't sound like himself. Or maybe he sounds like himself for the first time today. "You don't!"
<Pose Tracker> Sakura Shinguji has posed.
The transition to Tsutsujidai is disorienting. It is moreso because Sakura's memory cannot quite piece it together. She thinks she might not have been in her Kobu -- no, preparing for a show...?
But she is in her Kobu. The press of the arm controls around her arms is clear; she can feel, in that ineffable way, the connection to the spirit crystal through the hoses hooked into her uniform. Sakura's brown eyes blink once, as she looks through the monitors. There is a crackle of static across the one in front of her -- but she recognizes Nouvelle Tokyo. Except, no, she was here a couple of months ago. This isn't the one she knows; the season is wrong. And, more than that, there is--
"K-Kaiju...?" Sakura Shinguji asks, softly, as she spots it.
There are also a pair of Mobile Suits, she realizes; ones that look to be ancient, if the IFF readouts are to be trusted. (Sakura isn't so sure.)
There are multiple kaiju. Sakura takes a sharp breath, at seeing Gridman -- the huge red and white giant -- launching himself at the purple and red kaiju. But the other one is attacking those Mobile Suits...
Sakura's eyes set on Ghoulgilas. She takes a deep breath. What would Ogami say?
'Focus on what you can do, Sakura-kun. You can't be everywhere.'
She closes her brown eyes, internalizing that voice. She takes a deep breath, even as fireballs slam into the very ground -- larger than her Kobu Kai, and making the earth rumble even with those distant hits -- before they open again.
"Here we go."
The pink Kobu Kai is but a tiny thing -- standing at three and a half meters, it is larger than a person but so much smaller than the Mobile Suits. The long, pink pipes on its back glow a faint red thanks to the engine -- and then blast out clouds of heated water vapor, tinted faintly with a few sparks of spirit power. Sakura's eyes narrow, before the Kobu Kai tears off -- sprinting down the street with a speed that may be surprising.
She takes a corner, turning tightly, and strikes up against a parking garage's concrete wall in time to leave a gouge -- and a flash of sparks -- before she rushes in at the Phormocannon's back. That, she thinks, doesn't look like a Guncannon at all... and she wonders about how well the shield took those shots.
Her eyes snap to the Synchrotank. She takes in the salvaged, almost patchwork machine, and thinks it is standing up well. She takes a deep breath.
"Guncannon type!" she says, over an open frequency. "Guntank type! We're coming in to assist you! Sakura Shinguji!" she cries out. "Neo-Japan Combat Revue, Flower Division! MOVING OUT!"
The Kobu Kai shoots forward -- the tiny Spiricle Armor shoots right between the legs of the Phormocannon -- and then leaps into the air, a blast of steam flying after as it jumps. As it leaps, one of the Kobu's three-fingered hands comes down to its side. Its side, which has a sheath. The fingers wrap about the hilt of the sword there -- and tear it free.
Single Cherry Tree gleams in the light, as the Kobu launches into a long arc -- and comes down for Ghoulgilas. Sakura swings the katana, two handed, and tries to catch the side of the kaiju -- and then tear into it.
"HyaaaAAAAAH!"
KTS: Sakura Shinguji targets Akane Shinjo with Moonlit Rush!
KTS: Shinji Ikari targets Anti with Opening Charge!
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
A strange child lies down on the back of an enormous (but unmoving) horned turtle. The child is wearing a dusty green and brown hoodie, her hair in pigtails framing her face and her strange orange-red eyes looking at a playlist. A pink treble clef is on her blouse and she's wearing a pair of crocs. Her earbuds are firmly implanted in her ears.
She hums to herself.
"Baby Don Don, Baby Don Don...Dream On o~ Baby Dan Dan Baby Dan Dan Shine On o~"
She goes quiet.
And then she speaks up again. "Do you think I'll find him today? Siggy is--"
Quiet for another moment and then...
"Dad... Could you tell me the story of how you met mama again?"
NOW
"There you are..." The strange lost child says, now ground level, leaning against an alley wall. She isn't looking directly at the battle. She doesn't need to. She can hear it. Feel it.
She sees a battleship.
"Heehee... This is different. Maybe God's opening up," She giggles to herself.
She starts walking out into a side street and gets a decent look at Madrigal. Or maybe a decent earful is better.
"Eheehee..." She grins at the young woman. "That's a pretty rough melody isn't it?"
She glances towards the Unit-01, similarly signaled to it as it lands loudly and unleashing waves of force out from its feet.
"You're not locals, are you?"
She doesn't seem disturbed by Madrigal's strangeness yet. IT's not like Nidaime is all that normal.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
Junius Seven.
Lily swallows tight within her pilot suit. She still feels a bit unstead within her machine as she is going around for a second patrol. The EWAC Zack slows down, its hand touching a large piece of debris that is floating near the incident site. There's a nervous energy within her that she just can't shake. Something feels odd in this area. Why is her heart beating this fast? Perhaps it's just the nerves. This is her first deployment, and she hasn't even gotten any battles along her allies yet.
The machine turns its arm towards the reflecting light in the distance, establishing a laser link. She takes a few moments to get a good angle, before she reports;
"Auerbach, this is Lily Jung in the EWAC Zack. There's still a lot of interference in the area. But my systems are not picking up any unusual presence. None of the sensors mark having been tripped in the last few days." The young woman reports, as she lays her hand to her helmet. She can tell that Auerbach is replying, but it feels strangely... distant. Like there's static. A pressure against her head that causes her to ache for a moment. For a moment. A migraine causing her ears to ring out, her sight going dark from the edges... her senses flicker out...
---
Nouvelle Tokyo
As her awareness returns and the headache fades, there's this sickening sensation of Gravity that makes her feel like she just missed a step going down a pair of stairs, or woke up from a nightmare. The EWAC Zack standing in front of a bridge, as a train rushes by. It's standing there as if it had been a statue for days, with an industrial aesthetic - even if it's painted pink. Lily's blue eyes seeking out in confusion. The darkness of space replaced with light. Her mind reeling, trying its best to grapple with what is going on. The shock of the transition is so alien, that she wraps her arms around her chest and begins to hyperventillate.
"Auerbach! This is Lily Jung! Auerbach, please come in!" She asks, before glancing aside to the Haro to her right. "Kuma?"
"Signal lost! Signal lost!"
Her head tilts up. Her heart beating far too fast. "Where am I?"
Pause.
"O-okay. Calm down Lily. We can figure this out. I must have fallen asleep. Maybe... Maybe this is just someone pulling a prank on me." She checks for atmosphere, before lifting her helmet off of her head for a moment and rubbing along her face. "It feels real." She then pinches her cheek hard. "OUCH!" Okay. "This is real. Or at least, I am not dreaming."
This is a problem. This looks like images she's seen of Tokyo, or at least, one of the areas of Tokyo. Which means that by all means, she is in enemy territory right now. And in a unit with backup. Did the federation launch a new experiment? And what is with all this mist. She doesn't recognize Nouvelle Tokyo well enough to even know that anything may be amiss, but she does recognize the presence of Kaiju in the distance.
In her mind, she is given two options. Either, she runs, hoping that her unit has enough reactor fuel to keep up a retreat. Or she helps out with the Kaiju at hand, earn a bit of good-will, and maybe make it out of this alive.
A snap decision follows as she puts her helmet back on and engages it. "For the blackbox record. This is Lily Jung of ZAFT. I was brought here against my will and I do not know where I am. But I am engaging with the Kaiju in order to protect the innocent civilians." She notes, and then engages. The jets of the EWAC ZACK flaring up, and she disguises her location with its signal jamming feature, before it launches over the rail, its foot barely not clipping the railroad itself, and then begins to rush across the streets towards the battle at hand.
As she approaches the area, getting closer, there's this subtle feeling. Those who aren't Sensitive might not even notice it at all, but as the pink colored EWAC Zack skates close to the Ghoulghilas and the ones it's assaulting; there is this subtle sensation of warmth. Like a friend is nearby. As if things are just... going a bit more their way. The mobile suits, she recognizes now that she gets closer. At least, she recognizes the RX-77-3D. And that's a Guntank! They still make those?
<<"Truce -- truce! I will be assisting from the rear. Please take good care of me!">> Lily declares, using the EWAC's laser-comms to hopefully establish that link between the Ghoulgigas' opponents - Rikka Takarada, Sakura Shinguji, and Sho Utsumi. Serving as a communications hub for easier signaling - to avoid any Minovsky particle interference.
KTS: Anti rushes into the attack!
KTS: Anti fails to react to Shinji Ikari's Opening Charge, taking 2800 damage!
KTS: Shinji Ikari has engaged Anti
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
Kaworu *was* going somewhere else. But there was a hazy feeling in the air, and it drew his attention once more to a place with beautiful, empty sunsets.
Now he stands atop the sluice gate, hands tucked into the pockets of his slacks, watching as Goulghilas unleashes a hail of fireballs to the tune of several mighty roars. It is but the prelude; there is also the reptilian kaiju that follows in its wake, demanding death with increasing fervor until it crescendos on the giant of data and those others, including a giant of light, who stand up with it to face against the spreading destruction.
For a moment, his gaze doesn't move away from the unfolding chaos, despite the cloaked figure to one side of him and the young woman to the other. His gaze lingers especially long on Unit 01, and to a lesser extent Unit 02, as waves of Madrigal's song resonate through the battlefield.
Then Renais cries out Akane's name, and Kaworu slides a neutral look her way.
"You're worried about her?" he asks her. "Perhaps you're right to. After all, this world was made precisely the way she wanted it to be. Isn't that right..." He turns his gaze upwards towards the cloaked figure, lurking nearby on the crane. "Alexis Kerib?"
Lily_Jung Attacks Sho Utsumi, Rikka Takarada, and Sakura Shinguji with Awe
<Pose Tracker> Sanary Rondel has posed.
After a long day at work, there's nothing better than cracking open a cold one with the... Actually, there's plenty of things better than that, but tonight's supposed to be a chance for Sanary to actually reassure the construction crew she's usually toiling with that things will be okay. After all, she's already survived two kaiju attacks, and they've undoubtedly survived them by extension! Plus, with no signs of disturbances coming from the ocean while already heading back home, there's not much to do but...
... Fall asleep in her Ichinana? Wait, that's not right. That's not where she dozed off at all. Unless... Did she go on a joyride after drinks without realizing it? Fearing for her job, Sanary keeps her machine stock still as she tries to get her bearings straight and a better grasp of her surroundings.
She can hear fighting in the distance. Sort of. She's trying to find her way to it, but actually succeeding in doing so is another matter entirely. Instead, she notices that there's a distinct lack of movement on the streets, though not without trying on the part of those gridlocked people trying to escape.
"Crap, what the...?! Did someone fall asleep at the wheel?" Groaning lightly to herself, she flips her speakers on as the traffic cone orange Ichinana starts tiptoeing around vehicles and occasionally picking one up to unclog whatever bits of the streets she can.
<<"Orderly evacuation, people! Keep to the speed limit, don't crash, and you'll all be outta here before anything blows up!">>
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
In an undisclosed location...
A dark room, with technical monitors all around. Light reflecting off glasses.
"Hm, hm... You're flattering me, Mr. K! I don't know where I'd keep one but it's certainly a generous offer on your part. Ye--es, generous indeed. Tell you what: I'll invoice you, if that works, and I'll ask for eight percent over my costs."
The woman in the dark leans forwards, resting her elbow on one knee and her chin in her hand.
"Because I admire the honesty, the, SIMPLICITY of what you're doing. It's getting me interested. I wonder..."
In a shadowy room:
Sanshiro Fuma wakes up, the haze of some kind of drug fading as another compound runs through his veins. He tries to sit up, and his body disobeys him. Habitually, he grinds his teeth; habitually, he shouts, "Who the Hell is there!"
A cold hand pats his forehead. "Not Hell," a woman says.
He's laying on a table. It tilts forwards, gradually. The woman walks round. He can't see her in the harsh lights. Some kind of doctor, or something. She's wearing a lab coat. The room smells of disinfectant and machinery and smoke.
"So!" says the woman: "Let's review."
"Review my ass!" Sanshiro tries to roar. It comes out as, generously, a growl. He shoves his shoulders forwards, and finds out he's strapped down.
"Stop that," the woman says. "AS I WAS SAYING: LET'S REVIEW."
A screen he hadn't quite parsed comes on.
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
"Sanshiro Fuma! Intermediate level salesman, Treasure Robotics - you were regional, weren't you? Let's review your history -- yes, hired straight out of college, aren't YOU lucky," the woman says, pointing something at a glittering laser-fonted display that Sanshiro begins to realize is showing data from his record at work.
"Not a very abrupt career path upwards... you did manage to get a couple of promotions, but it seems you just couldn't go more than a few months without SOMETHING blowing up, could you? Not literally, not when you're selling Petite Mobile Suits and linear movers, but you got into a lot of fights. Verbal ones, mostly." Click. "Mostly. Three exceptions. Oh, you were a lucky boy! It wasn't ever that bad. You never actually went to jail, did you?"
"What's your point," Sanshiro says.
"Your point is that you're in a special remedial program now," the woman says, "and you can make up for all these frustrated dreams I see laid out here. Get it done and you'll be - hold on, let me pull up the chart. Ugh! I wish I could relax more in here, but I have to keep a sterile field and it's a real pain in the ass, you know? Fortunately for you,"
click: a corporate organizational chart, tiered out. "I don't mind a little suffering." A circle on Sanshiro's job title. Second tier at best. Another circle up to the fourth tier, with a line on the fifth. ("Like your brother, maybe? Before the accident," the woman said, and Sanshiro felt that familiar mix of anger and satisfaction.)
The woman kept talking on for a minute or so but Sanshiro had tasted the bait and the hook was sinking into his cheek. But he had to push past it. Damn this woman, but she wasn't wrong -- he DID have a little problem with anger -- he maybe DID need to learn to keep a better lid on it even when he was absolutely right -- and --
"So you mean it? Two whole levels? Maybe three?"
"If you're willing to go all the way up to bad old space, I think three levels is absolutely doable," said the woman.
"What do I have to do?"
"It's simple," said Dr. Spartura, face lighting up with a beaming smile. "All you have to do is -"
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
Walking down the tracks:
The machine walks with a heavy gait. It isn't staggering. It's steady. It knows what it's doing. It knows where it's going. Many Mobile Suits, Knightmare Frames, whatever you want to call them, work against their weight. This machine - squat, thick, with its two arms, two legs, and two forward claws that resemble nothing more than titanic fangs or a pair of horrid pedipalps - doesn't. It ambles, like an elephant. The blades scrape together. The hands squeeze together. A demurely trim waist holds everything aloft, reinforced by bare struts mounted in the back, the hip joints' upper cowling.
Within it, Sanshiro Fuma - connected by over fifty cables and wires into the control system, resting backwards in something like a luxury coffin, inclined as if he's laying in a Western-style bathtub - watches. His eyes aren't seeing, because he doesn't need them, exactly, to see right now.
A staticky voice comes through. The doctor appears in a narrow pane of video feed. Thin static. "Hey guy," she says, enunciating to work with the codecs. (Sanshiro watches the list of active software modules with a sort of apathetic bemusement.) "Almost there. You're gonna be in the zone. You know what you need to do?"
"Yeah, I know, you weirdo," Sanshiro says - he thinks? He's not sure if he said anything. The doctor cackles anyway.
"So say it to me," the doctor says.
"Mehh," Sanshiro answers.
"Come onnnnn~."
"Get lost, ya butcher," Sanshiro says.
"Hmmm... no," Dr. Spartura says. Far away a button is hit, and a signal comes in despite the rising snow of interference. It reaches Sanshiro on the barest fringes of distance and there is a sudden shock as he feels something move. Something hot fills his veins. He tries to sit upright. The feeling blooms, spreading: residual aches and pains fade out, erode, disappear. Burning! He's catching fire, but, he thinks, in a good way.
Something begins to spark in his mind. Energy turns into exaltation. He's being deified. He's becoming a god. The machine isn't clumsy at all. It's perfect: an animate body, invincible and indestructable. Sanshiro, for the first time in his life, really, deeply smiles - like he *means* it - and he thinks of Ichiro and his tripping and he wants to shout but somehow what comes out is the answer the blonde woman wanted and it is:
"KILL -- GRIDMAN!!"
* Spartura Custom "Ground Attack Nostalgia" has entered the field!
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
And that's not the end, folks.
Exalted, the driver of the Custom looks upwards at the landscape. The too-busy machine shuffles around on its feet and then hoists up one arm, taking carefully lined-up aim upon something nearby. Furniture. An object...
Two missile-pack motors mounted on a metal spike ignite, launching a barb-tipped harpoon upwards at the underbelly of the nearby ship! As it does this, the machine approaches a nearby five-and-one housing development, its forelimb claws scuttling it upwards as the machine shudders, the motion horribly animated; like a recording of an insect (how dare it!) but projected over this Mobile Suit-sized form.
"Nghh... nnghhh... WHERE IS HE" shouts the pilot, voice distorted and electronic. "WHERE IS HE!! I DON'T SEE HIM!! BRING ME HIM!! I NEED HIM!! I NEED TO KILL HIM!!"
Screaming-hot mega particles lance out from the gesticulating arm of the machine, oriented approximately towards the ground -- two of them sweeping over the Ichinana. "I need him! I need to kill the Gridman!! MY PROMOTION IS ON THE LINE AND I'M A GOD DAMN TAXPAYER YOU INCONTINENT SHIPLORDS!"
Dr._Spartura has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents.
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Eight York with Heart Spearer Clean Shot!
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Sanary Rondel with Beam Crackle!
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Talk about a wide array of guests. What was, a moment ago, a perfectly manageable fight with Tsutsujidai's defense team turns pear-shaped and then some; what was two unexpected guests blossoms into an unexpected party. Akane grips her tablet tight -- almost tight enough to shatter the glass.
"What the --" she starts, kicking the trash can under her desk. "Alexis! Do something about this! All these people from outside -- this is your responsibility! Are people getting in because you let your friends in?" As glue rains down from their new mystery defense team assailants, Akane glances away from her tablet for the moment.
"Hm? No," Alexis says, simply. He sounds as gentle and unhurried as ever. "If I had to find someone to blame," he reflects aloud, "it'd fall to our original guest. Though it seems there are two Vessels of Light in this space, now, and others of dawn... you'll have to remove them to return things to normal."
Ghoulghilas, held still, cannot close with Sakura the way it would like; accordingly, both Rikka and Sakura get tremendous damage in on the massive kaiju. Its neck has been reinforced, but the main body still has its squishy center -- the water cannons give it a nice, bludgeoning beating where it hurts, and Sakura's blade bites in, revealing the void-cut-through-with-circuits inside.
The pink EWAC Zack with ZAFT markings actually gives Akane the most pause. "... ZAFT, really? I mean, an invader's an invader," she mumbles. Something in her is just not enthused about the idea of fighting that *particular* target. ... but, like she says, an invader's an invader --
-- and one of those invaders is playing *music*. Akane closes her eyes. "Rrrgh," she mumbles, re-seating her headphones a little more firmly. "Anyway, Alexis -- go deal with this! I'm just gonna watch the fight," she says, huffily.
"As you wish," Alexis says -- and his monitor blinks out.
Alexis considers the guests that *aren't* fighting in mobile weapons, instead of doing anything remotely like 'dealing with this.' After all -- this is an expressed emotion!
He'd rather leave Akane to build some unexpressed ones.
"You worry about her," Alexis says, as he decides to start coming down from the crane, rather than mounting the gate as he so often does, approaching Renais. "Can I ask why, Herald of Dawn? Is she not just one more sentient life, to you?" He glances back up the stairs of the sluice gate, as Kaworu in turn speaks. "And yes -- this is the world she chose for herself. If it's threatened, it's by unwanted guests -- or by a dawn that would break the dream."
Alexis glances up to Kaworu. "Did you bring your charge here, then? Or did he come on his own?" He has done this dance time and again. He sees no reason to dress up his perception of the relationships in play.
Ghoulghilas lumbers, as it is wont to do. It's starting to break the glue, but it's still noticeably slowed. ... This is fine, though. It's not as though it has feelings to hurt, annoyance to build.
That all lives with Akane.
Music splits the air -- and Ghoulghilas seems *upset*, though, despite that lack of overt emotion. It stomps just a little more firmly, screeches just a little louder.
This time: there's a *lot* of fire. Labriel and the locals get the meat of it; the ZAFT unit, conversely, gets a remarkably light touch -- just a lick of the residual flame.
The Kobu is small -- not small enough to be beneath Ghoulghilas's notice, after how much damage that tiny blade did, but it's not really set up to engage something that size that can actually fight back. Accordingly, it mostly just slowly, lumberingly swats at the smaller machine with its proportionally enormous claws.
Something else comes to shout 'Kill -- Gridman!!'
Akane smiles. "Wow! Alexis is really quick with this stuff. He's so good to me~"
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Madrigal with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Madrigal has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Madrigal has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Madrigal has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Madrigal fails to evade Akane Shinjo's Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire, taking 1823 damage!
Akane_Shinjo Changes attack to Sho Utsumi and Lily Jung with Ghoulghilas Mouth Bombardment
KTS: Lily Jung fails to evade Akane Shinjo's Ghoulghilas Mouth Bombardment, taking 4243 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Sakura Shinguji with Unsheathed Hobby Wire Swipes!
KTS: Rikka Takarada blocks Akane Shinjo's Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire, taking 1823 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Madrigal has posed.
Labriel is engulfed in flames, but the fire does minimal damage to the sturdy machine, a few bits scorched and sooty now. It does nothing to stop the singing coming from within, nor the deployment of a ghostly pair of wings that now encompass the entirety of the city within a gentle energy embrace. Ghoulghilas is recipient of a particularly nasty refrain that somehow seems to attempt to drain it in the return.
Labriel also goes lower, addressing Nidaime via a secondary PA system that allows Madrigal to reply... though how she does so without her song hesitating in the slightest might be of great interest to some...
"It's a rough night, so I felt a rough song suited. We're not from around here, no... Where IS here?" She would be more concerned for the curious young lady who is on the streets during a kaiju battle, but she seems confident in herself, so who is Madrigal to argue?
KTS: Madrigal targets Akane Shinjo with Goad!
<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.
With Rikka firing the big cannons, Sho can rest easier that they're working together well. Or at least, he does, until: a battleship, several mecha, weird mecha that look like kaiju, and ANOTHER GRIDMAN??? appear. Wait, no, that Gridman looks wrong. But still! Allies?! That's new!
He hesitates touching the radio and revealing himself, but this is the moment he was waiting for. Their support from the Federation (and Gridman Two, apparently). Maybe, just maybe, the kaiju menace can be stopped.
The switch is toggled, and a radio message is sent out to each ostensibly allied unit.
"This is the Phormocannon! We are the Gridman Alliance! Tsutsujidai thanks the Federation for your support!"
Interestingly, even Lily Jung gets the message about 'Federation', without a hint of snide.
As the Ghoulghilas starts firing, the Phormocannon turns on thrusters, trying to evade. It's not fast enough, fireballs slamming against armor and knocking it backwards, crisping that shield and its frame even more.
"Ghh!" Sho rattles in his cockpit, as he moves to kneel the Phormocannon behind cover - the nearest evacuated building - and start target-locking on the Ghoulghilas. He's looking for weak points or injured exposed spots of wire, turning them into mapping data, and then sending them to Rikka, the pink mecha, and the tiny mecha that went below his legs.
Hopefully, this action is enough to help turn the tides of battle!
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
For someone's smile, is it..?
Somewhere, she is...
Battle Tracto Max is the Access Code to beleaguer Anti today, entirely unlike the sword his claws are designed to mimic. Anti roars -- it's a surprisingly human noise, for all he's very, very clearly reptilian -- and charges forward, punch for punch.
He doesn't get time to demand to know what this trick is, though, because --
THERE'S A SECOND GRIDMAN --
THERE IS
A SECOND
GRIDMAN.
The kaiju wheels, those mimic-claws extending as he meets Ultraman Geed's punch with his claws, wheeling to the side, step by lumbering-clumbering step.
"What are you trying to pull?!" Anti demands, as he looks between Gridman and Geed, and the words are their own roar. There's a ship buzzing around up there, entirely too annoying, and he looks up to that as he moves, once again not looking where he's stepping --
This is the precise moment a crossbow bolt SLAMS into his side, knocks his walking path into the open street instead of the building he was about to crush. It's not hard to imagine the little PISSSSSH of air of a costume being compromised, except, of course, that this kaiju is very real, and very here, and very MAD.
"Get out of my way!" He yells -- and has to yell over the noise of the Labriel's rock ballad, which seems to suit him just fine. He darts around Ultraman and Gridman to try and get behind them, and doesn't much care that his repositioning is putting him in the way of a hospital, now. Tragically, his reply comes in the form of Unit-01, who -- let's be completely frank -- Anti had disregarded jumping around until now. That somersault catches him squarely about his sharp jaw, and he goes flying backwards --
Luckily, when he catches himself, it's in an area they've managed to clear out. That's the power of teamwork!
A raptorlike foot SLAMS down on the street, and he looks back at Ghoulghilas, jealousy sparking in -- well, he can hardly be said to have a heart, so let's say it's in his liver. Akane doesn't need an outdated kaiju like that when she has him..! "You're all UNNECESSARY!" He yells, projects it out to all these intruders; it's a feeling (can you call a feeling?) easily-shared.
In front of their eyes, there's an uncomfortably damp noise, as twin snakes erupt from his shoulders -- a horrible, organic mockery of the cannons Utsumi and Rikka cobbled together from their junk-yard. They're causing Ghoulghilas trouble? He can do that, too.
He's a copycat kaiju, after all.
"I'll crush Gridman, no matter how many come!"
Those snakes spit venomlike capsules at that Unit-02 which insists on operating at range -- all gluey on the outside, and corrosive on the inside, as if he's taken the concept of crowd control and corrupted the entire ideal.
He charges Ultraman Geed, claws out, clashing with him hand-to-hand; grasping at him, he's going to try and throw him, back bending too far, into Gridman. "You're both EYESORES!" He yells, whirls to advance on them --
Which is when he hears the Spartura Custom say that.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Anti demands, whirling to face him, all a sudden. "Obliterating Gridman is my one and only duty! Like HELL I'm going to let you kill him! GET OUT OF MY FACE!" Another round of those snake-glue extinguishers fire out, and some track to Unit-01, who is still a threat even if he's not a Gridman, but...
... the other one is sailing for 'Ground Attack Nostalgia'.
KTS: Anti targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Anti's Hyper-Extinguisher Dual Barrel Cannon Cooperating Shot!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley successfully Intercepts Anti's Anti's Hyper-Extinguisher Dual Barrel Cannon Cooperating Shot
KTS: Anti targets Riku Asakura with In My Grasp!
KTS: Anti targets Yuta Hibiki with Crush Claw!
Anti Changes attack to Dr. Spartura and Shinji Ikari with Anti's Hyper-Extinguisher Dual Barrel Cannon Artillery Shot
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
"What--" Renais' eyes snap upward to the crane. Her eyes settle on the black figure atop the sluice gate, then go back to Kaworu.
Neither of these two are normal. It doesn't need to be said for Alexis--'normal' doesn't wear a black cloak or a flaming edgelord helmet, after all--but the neutrality in Kaworu's voice is a yellow flag with the red flags of 'calmly watching a kaiju battle from atop a crane' and, more generally, 'standing casually atop a crane'. She's at least vaguely aware of worksite safety regulations.
"This... is her world...?" she questions aloud, moving her head a bit to glance at the action without taking her eyes off of Alexis. Her left hand, a golden gauntlet, is held across her front, poised to dive into her coat as the imposing figure approaches.
She says nothing else for a long moment. A cacophony of music, yelling titans, and the sound of battle dominates the air. He calls her a Herald of Dawn. The way he speaks, she knows he's more aware than anyone on Earth should be, even now that Guy's returned. And the question he poses is complicated; it's not one she'd really examined. Why *does* she...
No. Priorities, Cardiff. First things first. "Is she safe?" is all she asks. Her hand slips into her outer coat, and metal fingers close around the grip of a weapon inside.
KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Anti's Anti's Hyper-Extinguisher Dual Barrel Cannon Artillery Shot, taking 2854 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Anti's DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE! activates, causing Sparkle!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"...A battleship, in Tsutsujidai...? What's going on?" Rikka remarks, surprised. First two kaiju appear on the same day, now this? What's going on? And then, Rikka looks down as Synchrotank's communications crackle to life, a woman's voice speaking over the line. This is... a first. Nothing's ever come out of them before - but then again, this is the first time it's ever been started in combat mode.
"Uh, this is... the pilot of Synchrotank speaking. We appreciate your help, Captain." Rikka replies, as Eight's voice comes over the radio. "I don't mean to sound rude, but... what are you doing here? The Federation hasn't shown up here before..."
There's another robot, too - a small, pink one, moving in with a sword. And with it, there's another voice - declaring herself to be Sakura Shinguji of the Neo-Japan Combat Revue. Rikka doesn't think she's heard of a Combat Revue before... but right now, they can't really afford to turn down help.
"Thanks. We're..." She replies to Sakura, and hesitates, grimacing slightly. ...Should she say, 'of the Gridman Alliance'? ...She really doesn't want to, though, not in front of so many people. ...Thankfully, Utsumi does it for her. There's an audible groan from Rikka's end of the communications. What they don't hear is Rikka briefly pressing her forehead against the control panel.
"...Yeah, what he said. Gridman Alliance." Rikka replies, absent some of Utsumi's enthusiasm. And then there's another voice, declaring a... truce?
"...Truce? I didn't think we were fighting, but... Just stay behind us, okay?" Rikka replies to Lily's declaration. Still, she can tell how the communications clear up a bit. That should make it easier to talk with one another.
But right now isn't the time to talk - Ghoulghilas's gaze turns upon her once more, spewing another volley of fireballs in her direction. It takes a second to adjust her defense as the volley crashes into her.
"Utsumi, are you alright? Hold on, we'll cover you!" Rikka calls out. Synchrotank moves into a defensive position to provide Phormocannon some cover, and once in position, the Guntank variant's arms raise, fingers flared out in Ghoulghilas's direction. The hand-installed vulcans fire - proper ordnance this time, rather than water. With Utsumi's map data combined with that strange music floating through the city, aiming seems to be easier... but, she isn't aimed for a direct hit. If she can manage it, great - but ideally, she hems it in with bullets to leave it open for one of the others to capitalize on.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Akane Shinjo with Hand Vulcan Leading Fire!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Sho Utsumi
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Rikka Takarada's Hand Vulcan Leading Fire, taking 4500 damage!
KTS: Rikka Takarada begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
Flame burns out from the Ghoulghilas' body. And even though it's perhaps clear to some that the ZACK gets a particularly soft 'touch' to the assault, that still means flames are reaching it. The Zack's armor melts, and some of the pink quickly sears into black as Lily tries to retreat and move. But she's learned how to get away from Beam Fire and Rifles.
ZAFT Military Training does not teach how to get away from flame throwers. Something about that being a bad idea within a colony training area, or out in space.
"Kuma" The girl nervously remarks, trying to get out of the way. The Haro flaps its wings, click-clacking, as the ZACK finally picks up speed and begins to get out of dodge. She ends up taking position behind a taller building and disengages the lock on the Longblade Rifle. It comes off of the shoulder and rounds about within its arms.
Lily is a bit surprised when Sho Utsumi calls her Federation. But she just figures that it's because of the Pattern of an EWAC Zack screams 'Federation'. <<"Supporting from the rear!">> She reminds, as the Zack kneels down using that building it positioned behind as a shield, and brings that massive Longblade rifle to bear.
Laying it over the roof of the building, trying not to lean too much on the concrete, she takes a deep breath. Extending herself forward. "Just like daddy told me. Reach out..." She flicks her finger over the joystick and focuses in on her target, synchronizing softly to the soft, which is making her less 'worried' about all of this. The Ghoulghilas. Aiming right for that weaker underbelly which had been exposed just earlier by that Hydracannon attack!
"And accept what you are doing, when you pull the trigger." Click. The Longblade suddenly drains an enormous amount of power, enough to make the Zack's lights flicker, clearly not meant for this kind of weaponry, as a Pink light starts to burgeon at its tip... swelling up. Then...
A FLOOD of purple-pink tears through the city, right for the Ghoulghilas, with force intended to push it back! Some of the heat fall-off melting the roofs of buildings. <<"Sorry, sorry, sorry!">> Lily squawks, trying to tilt the Longblade Rifle's output upwards, to stop harming any nearby buildings. Her blood feeling icecold all of the sudden.
KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Lily Jung has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Lily Jung targets Akane Shinjo with Longblade Rifle - High Emission!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Lily Jung's Longblade Rifle - High Emission, taking 8970 damage!
KTS: Lily Jung completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
"MmmMmm...." Nidaime says as if she isn't sure she agrees with the sentiment. "Do you prefer representative music?" She asks Madrigal. "You're in Tsutsujidai. You aren't the first outsiders...But it's unusual to see so many, so loud..."
She wobbles back and forth on her feet. "MmmMmm... Mmmm...."
She puts her hands in her pocket. "I'm the Second," She says to Madrigal, like it's a title rather than a name. "I answered, so who are you? And where are you?"
She ehehs before adding, "You might want to think before you answer the second one eheeeheheheh...."
But something draws her attention.
Another machine approaches a housing complex. "Ah--" Nidaime says, looking in that direction.
She removes one of her earbuds from her ear and--
Suddenly one of those background kaiju suddenly moves, trudging...trudging...
And then suddenly spinning in TURTLE SHELL form to try and collide against the unit seemingly threatening the housing district!
Nidaime looks back to Madrigal. "Your eyes. Where did you get them?"
ANTI suddenly turns on 'Ground Attack Nostalgia'!?!?!?
"...Oh gosh..." Nidaime giggles again, placing her hand against her cheek. "That one's earnest isn't he?"
KTS: Nidaime targets Dr. Spartura with SQUISH!
KTS: Nidaime has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Anti
KTS: Dr. Spartura successfully evades Nidaime's SQUISH
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
When the singing starts, Asuka almost switches the comms off, What is that!? If someone tuned me into a local radio station on accident they're going to get a piece of my mind!" As if it were some support staff error. However, it keeps coming... and before long, she finds herself... humming despite her best efforts to ignore it.
Suddenly within Asuka's sights a big mass of purple overwhelms then, thoroughly annoyed as she realizes what's going on, she shouts into the comms, "You're in my line of fire Daddy's Boy! Get out of my way - and stop freaking out over the comms about the Commander's Pet! I don't need your distractions!"
Rising from its knelt position, Evangelion-02 suddenly charges forward as if she were going to rush him to charge right by him, "And I don't need YOU to take care of this!"
Twin snakes erupt from his shoulders, and Asuka skids to a stop, raising her crossbow, lining up a shot and hitting the switch. A bolt impales one capsule in mid-air on its flight into the sky, rupturing it into it's venomous discharge as the second capsule breaks as well when it flies through the cloud of its twin.
Even if things are starting to get uncomfortably hot in this city with the appearance of something firing on a Federation battleship?! The battlefield was becoming downright claustrophobic.
The weirdness doesn't end there with the strange being that Anti is obsessed with, 'Gridman' - another similar looking character in his rampage and another voice on the radio calls themselves the 'Gridman alliance'. "Tck... what kind of name is that? Sounds like something out of a kid's show."
Not trusting that Shinji isn't going to drive Evangelion-01 into her field of fire again, she opens up one of her shoulder pylons and reaches over to it with the other hand to extract the Prog Knife. Even as his snake extinguishers fire out on Unit-01... Evangelion-02 closes in, trying to catch him unsuspecting... as she tries to shank him in the back with her vibrating Prog Knife, driving it upwards into his armor plating.
"Guess it's a bad day for you then. Because I'm about to give you far more than some Gridman to worry about!"
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Shinji Ikari's Spirit Endurance activates, and the spirit is adjusted.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Shinji Ikari
<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
Sho's call clarifies (?) things for Arriety. "O-oh. Um, okay, Gridman Alliance, I hear you..."
Arriety doesn't even have time to react before another machine -- once more with the resounding call of KILL GRIDMAN (who is gridman?? is that a person? a company?? some kind of new fad??? the mind wanders, but she finds no answers) -- appears on screen; the heavy-set lumbering machine, squat, thick, and most importantly, firing a harpoon to try to snare the Ra Mari!
"I--it's attacking us?" Arriety stammers, already feeling her hands sweat, her throat seize and her face pale. It's got... missiles... and the harpoon... and other nasty things...!
She spots Sanary's Ichinana for a moment, as it carefully tries to manuever around the cars. "Is that Mazinger? Oh, um... she seems like she's helping too?" She winces as beam spray erupts Sanary's direction, though. "Watch out!"
Then-- oh my gosh!! A TURTLE SHELL! "H-huh? Where did that come from?"
In the peak of her panic, however, Eight's voice washes in like a flood of relief. She asks what her situation is -- "U-um, it seems like Myrme can... move," is her inexpert explanation of the situation.
But then the worst scenario is laid out before her: she's the only one who can do this.
It looks like it's just you.
"J-just me??? But..."
If you feel like you can do it, I'd like you to deploy...
Arriety takes a few precious moments, despite precious moments fleeting in the midst of a war zone. Eight needs her strength... her... strength? Her strength...
We need you, Arriety.
The words are -- she can't deny it, seductive -- and inspiring. She swallows firmly, taking in a few controlling breaths.
"... I'm scared, Eight. I'm really, really scared. My hands are shaking, I can barely breathe, but I'll try, Eight... I'll try... I'll try... for everyone's sake..."
(Because Eight gave me the life that I have now. So...)
Sanshiro is shouting out loud, distracting her. "P-promotion? You're doing this for a promotion...?"
Arriety's heart clenches very quietly, as she regards the Custom with more of her attention. What's this awful pressure coming from inside of that machine...?
"Ah-ri, I need you to tell me what to do!"
"There... there's someone in there. If I fight... I might..."
... kill someone?
She might kill someone...
Anita's words wash over her for a moment. Sometimes, there's no choice...
The Myrmekes Zeta's eyes flash ruby-red, crimson cat's eyes lurking in the dark from side to side. "Then, we'll start with..."
A swift eruption of thruster fire flares from the back of the Zeta's insectoid binders; in one fell swoop, Myrme's worked down the length of the Clop-class cruiser onto its underside, holding herself aloft as she aims for the harpoon cables...
"I'll do something about this first... Myrme, can you do it?"
The Zeta responds in kind, rearing her head back and-- perhaps, does the unexpected--
OMPFFFFFff
--Myrme tries to take a BIG BITE of the harpoon cables and starts slurping it down like it's spaghetti. monch monch monch monch
"... um, how is it?"
"... ... ... ... kinda like bad gluten free breadsticks ...? not bad... but i want more..."
<Pose Tracker> Sakura Shinguji has posed.
"A ZAFT pilot...?" Sakura says, quietly, as she sees Lily's EWAC ZACK on her rearview monitor. "We read you, ZAFT pilot! This is Sakura Shinguji of the Neo-Japan Combat Revue! I'll assist you in neutralizing this kaiju!"
A Federation battleship, too; and a third combatant, attacking all of them. Chaos, Sakura supposes, should be expected.
The Ghoulghilas, though, doesn't react like what Sakura has expected a kaiju to. She feels it through the blade (well, through the actuators in the Kobu's arms, then her arms) -- it doesn't bite down quite right, and that gives her a hint. "Circuits--!"
She doesn't see that often with kaiju. Maybe ever. Sakura can figure the specifics out later. The Spiricle Armor drops down to the ground, slamming into the earth, but remains quite close to Ghoulghilas. But, Sakura Shinguji prefers to stay close. The claws swing down -- and Sakura makes a 'grrk!" sound, as she tries to swing Single Cherry Tree up. Something distracts her, though--something more elemental than misjudged timing.
The claw clips the Kobu's shoulder and rips a gout into it, spraying out sparks and leaving it half-crumpled. The difference in size makes a near-miss into something uglier. "This is--no! Something's wrong... I can't quite feel it, the way I should--"
Her eyes narrow. She sees it, though, on the screen: the targeting information fed to her by Utsumi. "Gridman Alliance?" she asks. "It sounds like a name to be proud of!" she tells Rikka and Utsumi, with a proud smile. "Though, I should tell you, not all of us are with the Federation! But... we all have one goal, right now!"
And it's not the time to talk. Something is different about this kaiju. She needs to figure out what.
So the Kobu leaps. The small pink Spiricle Armor is a blur of blue, as the ZAFT unit and Synchrotank fire. The Kobu jumps up -- and a three-fingered hand reaches out, grasping at exposed wires on Ghoulghilas's flank, highlighted on her monitor by Utsumi. The three fingers grab for them--
"STRIKE!"
--and the Kobu tries to tear at them, letting gravity help with the rest.
KTS: Sakura Shinguji targets Akane Shinjo with Kobu Punch!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight has barely had time to think about Earth so far, though she hasn't spent a lot of time there herself. She's been so busy with everything since That Individual appeared on her ship before, with his strange flames and sonorous voice. He spoke of a terrible coming danger, and she gave her answer. But that was then, and now, now, with...
"Arriety! What's your situation?" Eight calls over the radio to her. And then, "...I'm checking for all available pilots..."
No, it's not over. There is another machine coming... and abrubtly, the alarms on the radar screen start blaring. "Captain! Incoming!"
"Raise shield! Brace for impact!" Eight throws out her order and jostles with the impact against the ship's rapidly-deployed beam shield, which takes the brunt of the harpoon's impact on the ship, preventing it from hooking in--but not from battering the shield pretty hard. "Looks like we're not going to be able to sit out after all. Mr. Fari, get me targeting on that new monster."
"...Arriety," Eight says over the radio. "It looks like it's just you. If you feel like you can do it, I'd like you to deploy. They could really use your strength right now. And I'll be right behind you, backing you up. If you can't do it... No harm, no foul, I'll move in myself. But if you can..."
"We need you, Arriety." Arriety answers her. She says she's scared, but she'll try. "I'll be right behind you," Eight says. "And if it gets too bad, pull back and retreat--I can't replace you."
She worries, but... It's done now. Did she do the right thing, encouraging her to fight? To make this choice? There's no way to know.
There is music carrying out into the skyline. There is more destruction. She doesn't see Nidaime in turn yet, though Nidaime sees her. Eight's voice crackles over the radio to Sanary, "Sanary! It's me, Captain York. I'm sending in assistance. Careful; we'll be launching combat support."
Then she hears the message from the Phormocannon, and nods. "Gridman Alliance acknowledged!"
They're allies' that's good enough for now. But Rikka responds, too. Synchrotank and Phormocannon... "I was in the region to pick up a pilot of mine when we found ourselves staring down two kaiju," she responds to Rikka. "Something strange is going on, but I couldn't tell you what. Maybe we can piece it together once we've stopped the targets."
She seesm to get the idea that the Gridman Alliance counts for both.
Meanwhile, Mx. Rezza deploys the shuttles, talking over radio comms to each and having a number of them deploy out of the hangar, diving down through the combat towards the vulnerable people below. They can't get everyone, but they can get some of the people, and that's more than nothing. They'll arrive shortly--If someone doesn't stop them from landing. But with THE TURTLE there perhaps they'll have a chance, "Turtle! You're with us again?"
In the meantime, Eight throws out her hand. "Fire missiles, denial pattern! Pin that kaiju down!"
"Yes, ma'am!" In moments a blanketing spray of missiles pours out from the launchers on the Ra Mari, hurtling towards the Ground Attack Nostalgia.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Arriety Hearn
KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Eight York targets Dr. Spartura with Clop Missile Array Area Denial!
KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Eight York's Clop Missile Array Area Denial, taking 2850 damage!
KTS: Eight York begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
"Gridman Alliance?" Riku asks, having a quick think about that. "That's a very cool name," Riku, the forever Toku-nerd agrees. The Z-Raiser, a small bladed weapon, appears in his hand as he gets ready to face Anti. Those blades come down at Geed, and he attempts to catch them with the weapon. However, he underestimates Anti's strength, and the defense was shattered.
Toku-esc sparks fly from the Ultraman as Geed is bodied by the strike, and sent rolling across the ground. However, quickly, Geed is back on his feet, with the Z-Raiser in hand. Why is this Kaiju so focused on Gridman..? Who is Gridman even? Well, no Riku can put two and two together. He looks towards Gridman.
"I don't know what's going on here exactly, but it's clear that he needs to be stopped before anyone is hurt. We can talk afterward," he says, as Geed raises to his feet. "We need to keep him engaged so others can work around us," he suggests as a point of action and rushes forward.
He dismisses the Z-Raiser, and both of the blades on the back of his elbows glow. He comes in, attempting to grapple Anti a second time, before driving both blades back into the creature, followed by another spin, and driving those blades back into it. "Why do you want to kill Gridman?! Enough that you're willing to hurt anyone else?" he asks, each slash trying to help drive Anti back.
"These people didn't do anything to you!"
KTS: Riku Asakura targets Anti with Galaxy Cutting!
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
" - thanks .. Rikka. I'll do my best," Yuta responds back, warmly. Of course, her concern was more than warranted - not only was this new kaiju much faster, much stronger, and vastly more aggressive than any of the ones they'd fought so far, it - he? - also had the capability of speech and thought. And that made him a much less predictable opponent.
But I'm not alone. Rikka .. Utsumi .. Max, Borr, Vit and Calibur too .. they're all here fighting with me. And ..
There were a lot of people who had appeared today. While things looked desperate, having so many responders here while unusual was incredibly welcome. He felt an almost instinctual kinship with that silver giant, Geed he reminds himself, and wastes no time in addressing Ultraman and the Evangelions standing up against Anti with him.
"All of you .. whether or not you're from the Federation ... why you came here today of all days .. it doesn't matter. I'm grateful, from the bottom of my heart - so let's protect Tsusujidai, together!"
Rikka and Utsumi would be fine, he knew - they were receiving reinforcements of their own, after all. And with everyone's hearts beating together, there's no way they couldn't repel the enemy here, he believed that.
Although - this music is really ...
" - ! He's coming!" Yuta exclaims as Gridman is met head on by Anti. "Why do you want to kill me?! Look at what you're doing to the city..!"
Those snakes - ... wait, could it be that he's -?!
Gridman wrestles briefly with Anti in close-quarters, Yuta being grateful that the small unit he saw flitting about earlier hadn't joined the fight with Anti. She'd be far, far too easy for him to step on by mistake even with the care he tried to take. "Gh...huh!"
Anti, however, overpowers both Gridman and Geed in a show of feral might that leaves Gridman slamming back first into a skyscraper, doing his best not to put his whole weight on it as Geed slams into him a moment later, "OOF!"
Falling down to a knee, Gridman allows him to topple off of his chest, "Are you alright? ... This one, he's way tougher than the rest."
Battle Tracto Max fires off another set of potshots in Anti's direction as he charges forwards. "Gridman...! Combine with me! You can't beat that kaiju's muscles on your own!"
" - right. Everyone ... please hold him off for a moment more!"
The trailer being pulled along begins to fire up a pair of jet engines that release massive plumes of blue afterburn as it raises onto its grill, before the armored vehicle splits cleanly in half, the grill peeling apart into two sets of fingers and thumbs. With another "Toh!" Gridman leaps towards Max once the transformation into a new set of shoulders, arms, and hands is complete.
Pushing both of his arms into the openings that shut behind them, a second helmet drops over Gridman's head and secures itself to him with thick, orange cabling that constricts over his sternum.
"HERACLES COMBINE: MAX GRIDMAN!"
Max Gridman knocks his knuckles together, and strikes a stunning pose.
So now there's a federation soldier .. I think .. who wants to kill me? What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment? But. I don't have time to think about any of that, if that kaiju manages to pin me down again, it'll be all over .. I can't take many more blows like that!
"HUOOOOH!" Yuta and Max cry out as they charge, Gridman's eyes shining bright behind a green visor. Max Gridman uses the rockets in his shoulders to plow forward and engage in a furious series of boxer-like jabs, uppercuts, and haymakers to try and wrangle Anti down before grasping onto him, "You - are you human?! You can talk .. and think for yourself .. so I don't get it at all - but even if you have your reasons, I won't let you run roughshod over Tsutsujidai!"
At close range, the cannons on his shoulders point down. "TANKER CANNON!"
The resulting blast lets Max Gridman propel himself away.
<Pose Tracker> Sanary Rondel has posed.
<<"Keep it moving, everyone! You'll be okay, just don't ram into each other because I've only got two hands here!">> As Sanary keeps playing the part of traffic director, she realizes that she's not the only pilot around, and she starts communicating through an open channel.
<<"Sanary Rondel, construction team lead for NERV here! Definitely not...">> Wait. She's not feeling a hangover. She didn't drink at all, so how did she get here? <<"... Weird question, but did anyone see me come out here in this thing?">>
She also hears someone... Shouting? It doesn't sound right, but she definitely hears the voice of someone shouting angrily before she can see where he's coming from. It's only when she hears something impacting above her that she finally spots the source: The Spartura Custom launching a harpoon at a familiar-looking ship.
<<"Captain York? Fancy seeing you again. Would've hoped it wasn't in the middle of another fight, but... Understood. I'll back you guys up, too! Just tell me where ya need me, and I'll... Figure it out!">>
As she sets one last car aside, she hears that warning coming from Arriety, and it's just early enough that she has a little more than a few seconds to process and figure out what to do. Seeing those particles coming towards her and more vehicles that have yet to leave, there's not nearly enough room to fall back. Instead, Sanary braces herself while flinging the Ichinana forward shield-first right at that beam. They collide head on, and the machine crashes into the ground in an awkward tumbling roll onto the ground.
At least she's not the only one having to deal with this. She sees a familiar turtledad trying to slam into the Spartura Custom, and she's all too ready to let it take some of the heat as she gets her bearings straight.. <<"Isn't that...? Uh. Hi again! Glad to see another friendly... face?">>
A little awkward, to say the least, but that awkwardness fades once she finally addresses the angry pilot of the Spartura Custom.
<<"Who the hell is Gridman?! And what's-ow, ow. If you've got a beef with someone, take care of it somewhere else! Don't get us tangled up in your...">> Did he mention a promotion? Taxes? She lets out a pained grunt while putting a hard hat on to keep her head (relatively) safe from all the bashing around she's already been subjected to in her cockpit, then pushes her machine forward at a more rapid clip.
<<"I pay taxes, too, jackass! Hell, you probably make even more than I do if you're piloting a suit that fancy!>>" Sounding rather angry for once, Sanary sends the Ichinana into a rapid sprint that rapidly picks up speed until it's flying parallel to the ground right at the yelling pilot. Once it's at close range, it swings one leg down and its shoulder forward at the last moment to aim a heavy tackle right into the Spartura Custom with that shield taking the brunt of the impact!
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
" - thanks .. Rikka. I'll do my best," Yuta responds back, warmly. Of course, her concern was more than warranted - not only was this new kaiju much faster, much stronger, and vastly more aggressive than any of the ones they'd fought so far, it - he? - also had the capability of speech and thought. And that made him a much less predictable opponent.
But I'm not alone. Rikka .. Utsumi .. Max, Borr, Vit and Calibur too .. they're all here fighting with me. And ..
There were a lot of people who had appeared today. While things looked desperate, having so many responders here while unusual was incredibly welcome. He felt an almost instinctual kinship with that silver giant, Geed he reminds himself, and wastes no time in addressing Ultraman and the Evangelions standing up against Anti with him.
"All of you .. whether or not you're from the Federation ... why you came here today of all days .. it doesn't matter. I'm grateful, from the bottom of my heart - so let's protect Tsusujidai, together!"
Rikka and Utsumi would be fine, he knew - they were receiving reinforcements of their own, after all. And with everyone's hearts beating together, there's no way they couldn't repel the enemy here, he believed that.
Although - this music is really ...
" - ! He's coming!" Yuta exclaims as Gridman is met head on by Anti. "Why do you want to kill me?! Look at what you're doing to the city..!"
Those snakes - ... wait, could it be that he's -?!
Gridman wrestles briefly with Anti in close-quarters, Yuta being grateful that the small unit he saw flitting about earlier hadn't joined the fight with Anti. She'd be far, far too easy for him to step on by mistake even with the care he tried to take. "Gh...huh!"
Anti, however, overpowers both Gridman and Geed in a show of feral might that leaves Gridman slamming back first into a skyscraper, doing his best not to put his whole weight on it as Geed slams into him a moment later, "OOF!"
Falling down to a knee, Gridman allows him to topple off of his chest, "Are you alright? ... This one, he's way tougher than the rest."
Battle Tracto Max fires off another set of potshots in Anti's direction as he charges forwards. "Gridman...! Combine with me! You can't beat that kaiju's muscles on your own!"
" - right. Everyone ... please hold him off for a moment more!"
The trailer being pulled along begins to fire up a pair of jet engines that release massive plumes of blue afterburn as it raises onto its grill, before the armored vehicle splits cleanly in half, the grill peeling apart into two sets of fingers and thumbs. With another "Toh!" Gridman leaps towards Max once the transformation into a new set of shoulders, arms, and hands is complete.
Pushing both of his arms into the openings that shut behind them, a second helmet drops over Gridman's head and secures itself to him with thick, orange cabling that constricts over his sternum.
"HERACLES COMBINE: MAX GRIDMAN!"
Max Gridman knocks his knuckles together, and strikes a stunning pose.
So now there's a federation soldier .. I think .. who wants to kill me? What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment? But. I don't have time to think about any of that, if that kaiju manages to pin me down again, it'll be all over .. I can't take many more blows like that!
"HUOOOOH!" Yuta and Max cry out as they charge, Gridman's eyes shining bright behind a green visor. Max Gridman uses the rockets in his shoulders to plow forward and engage in a furious series of boxer-like jabs, uppercuts, and haymakers to try and wrangle Anti down before grasping onto him, "You - are you human?! You can talk .. and think for yourself .. so I don't get it at all - but even if you have your reasons, I won't let you run roughshod over Tsutsujidai!"
At close range, the cannons on his shoulders point down. "TANKER CANNON!"
The resulting blast lets Max Gridman propel himself away.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
How many people here *are* normal, though, really?
As Alexis moves from above to below, Kaworu doesn't interrupt, his gaze following him downwards to take in the battle for another moment--the new bloodthirsty soul seeking the death of Gridman; the data giant's ally who names himself part of the Gridman Alliance who thanks specifically the Federation for its assistance; the way Ghoulgigas stomps a foot and screeches like a child throwing a tantrum rather than the rampaging monster it seemingly is--before he looks again at Renais, listens to what she and Alexis say to one another.
First things first: Alexis is at the heart of all of this, one way or another. "If anything, it appears he was drawn in by Shinjo-san's gravity," Kaworu replies. "I certainly hadn't brought him." He had been *considering* it, wondering how Shinji would react to the once-seemingly idyllic shape of this world, but... no, this is not his doing.
Renais then asks if Akane is safe. Kaworu gives her a considering look. "Physically, I'm sure she's fine. Emotionally, that's another matter," he remarks. He eyeballs Alexis. "After all, the first to start wreaking havoc were the kaiju." A beat. He looks back at Renais. "May I ask how it is that you know her?"
He doesn't offer how *he* knows Akane, but there's nothing stopping Renais from asking, either.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Everything is going straight to hell. Shinji manages to kick the monster out of the way, but. It talks? It has feelings? Shinji pauses at that, and then the thing grows a cannon out of its back and shoots him point blank. "W-woah!"
He's holding his hand up. Shinji marvels at the faint orange and red field in front of him, holding the artillery blast in place. "...the ATField. It worked, for once." Shinji says, and then hears a buzzing in his ears.
Oh right everyone else. Unit-01 almost looks sheepish as it pulls back a little, and Shinji tries to sound professional over the coms. "Uh-local defenders? This is Ikari, of NERV, we read you! We'll do our best to stop this-"
The second giant monster screaming for Gridman's head shows up and Shinji is legitimately horrified. "Wow, popular guy." He's also forgotten to turn his radio off, again. And then Asuka complains. Shinji pauses, wondering what he's done to the girl, if she's in real trouble, if she's going to stab him oh god-
And then he laughs, Unit-01 effortlessly moving to the side of Unit-02 like they were in some kind of world destroying waltz. "You know it's more charming when you just use our numbers." Shinji blinks because where the hell did that line come from. And why did she think he was shouting about Rei? "What, you never hear voices in this thing? I've got this one screeching in my ear in a German accent..." WHY AM I SAYING THIS, Shinji thinks, ABORT ABORT.
The rest of the cannon fire smacks Unit-01 in the face and he stumbles backwards. Thank god, he thinks, pain. Shinji holds one hand out, and that strange shimmering field hovers in front of Gridman, who seems to be taking a pounding. "Ah-sorry about this. It's our first week." Shinji sounds more like himself again as Unit-01 slips into the field, its own progressive knife launching out of his shoulder. He moves opposite of Asuka, keeping out of Geed's way and sliding along the street, absolutely causing the biggest pot hole in the town's history as Shinji tries to stab his prog knife in Anti's ribs.
"It's not a person, right?" Shinji says to Asuka, of all people. "Some of these talk on auto pilot, right? To freak enemies out? I read Doctor Hell used to do that."
KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Yuta Hibiki
KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Shinji Ikari targets Anti with Progressive Knife Thrust!
KTS: Sanary Rondel has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Eight York
KTS: Sanary Rondel has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Nidaime
KTS: Sanary Rondel has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Arriety Hearn
KTS: Anti fails to parry Asuka Shikinami Langley's Progressive Knife Thrust, taking 4140 damage!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Anti
KTS: Anti fails to rush.
KTS: Anti fails to react to Yuta Hibiki's Max Gridman, taking 7410 damage!
KTS: Yuta Hibiki has engaged Anti
KTS: Anti fails to parry Shinji Ikari's Progressive Knife Thrust, taking 5635 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Shinji Ikari's Find The Core activates, causing Nullify!
KTS: Shinji Ikari has engaged Anti
KTS: Anti rushes into the attack!
KTS: Anti fails to react to Riku Asakura's Galaxy Cutting, taking 4830 damage!
KTS: Riku Asakura has engaged Anti
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
The first one to answer the Custom Machine is Anti, and he doesn't like what it's saying. The Custom's reply mid-ascent is: "I don't give a crap about your feelings!! You can have the scraps when I'm done, and on my way to better things!! Cry in" the transmission is cut out for several seconds as the corrosive fluid splatters outwards over the machine's upper torso and... head? It's hard to tell.
The Spartura Custom reaches the roof, Zakrello-claws twisting up to scrape the gunge off of it. "kkkhhhhh" -- it tilts a little to the side.
(Sanshiro sees something coming up... It can't really be moving that fast, can it? he thinks. I'd never see it coming. It's like the picture's more real than-- CRAP--)
The immense tortoise does not strike metal. Narrowly so? Because the Ground Attack Nostalgia leapt into the air just a moment before it could - a moment and a half before, perhaps, because it stumbles, briefly -- atop of the kaiju's back!
"Perfect! Good work, you stupid, useless animal!! I can see Gridman no problem from up here!! And thanks to YOU I can -- what--!?" The anchor cable is being energetically devoured! And a wrenching screech of metal as a mechanism connected to the cable is pulled loose, which feels to the pilot almost as if he's having a fingernail -- no, but it's fine -- he doesn't scream -- he doesn't scream!
"Gundam...!! Get the hell out of my sight, Gundam!! I don't need your help!! You're an interference in my career at this point and I'll rip you open!" The two great claw arms slam down onto the top of Anoisius's back to allow the Nostalgia to pivot around to get a better angle on the Gundam, which will almost certainly not make his enormous shelly mood improve. After this, at least, they come up and then down, two great scything smashes towards the Myrmedes.
Missiles rain downwards -- lapping them, passing forwards, twisting in terminal homing to rain on the Spartura Custom. Its armor holds but is looking increasingly beat up, and some of Anti's residual extinguisher-glop has, somehow, managed to catch on fire. Such is the fury of the machine's driver, perhaps, as to make such a thing possible. A third strike is prepared with a great rearing upwards and
SANARY'D!
The machine is bodied by the Ichinana, thrown clear of its chelonian platform. "You wanna die too, cop!? If you're a cop, you should back off and help me out!! Bring me Gridman, whichever one of these dipsticks is Gridman!! You take my God damn Gilla and spend it on useless mechs and donuts and you aren't even there when -- when -- ghhhhaaahhh!" And that is how Sanary gets the double-spike strike that Arietty had been about to get as well.
And lest the battleship feel unloved, it is also being shot at, but this is more of a cascade of randomly spread beam shots at its flank. This is surely not going to do anyone any favors, but at least all this intervention is preventing that vicious fury from being unloaded entirely on a battleship. No ship can take a custom Mobile Suit lightly, can it?
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Nidaime with Zakrello Plus One Flat Strike!
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Arriety Hearn with Zakrello Plus One Swing!
KTS: Arriety Hearn blocks Dr. Spartura's Zakrello Plus One Swing, taking 902 damage!
KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Arriety Hearn
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Sanary Rondel with Zakrello Plus One Topple Strike!
KTS: Nidaime blocks Dr. Spartura's Zakrello Plus One Flat Strike, taking 710 damage!
KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Nidaime
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Eight York with Beam Storm!
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Ghoulghilas absolutely hates the sounds Madrigal is pumping out. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a whole bunch of options for dealing with her; all told, Ghoulghilas is a lot of hot air and not a lot of actual death. It'd make absolutely fantastic mid-range artillery support for someone -- if it were more directed, more dedicated, providing direct support to Anti, it might be more threatening.
But it's just the remnants of some unexpressed emotions.
Akane finds a tremendous wellspring of anger in herself as her assembled guests -- and even her locals, apparently?! -- seem to just lead Ghoulghilas around by the nose. "Oh *come on*!!" she says, as Ghoulghilas lets itself be led back and around by the vulcan shot, and directly into the longblade rifle's output. It slices through the neck -- and while it doesn't render Ghoulghilas headless, it carves off almost all the reinforcements Akane made there and leaves a deeper gouge for Sakura to work with. She's able to tear at the skin, pull at the wires --
"This sucks," she groans. "At least give as good as you get!!" She slams her tablet onto her desk, leans back, and lets out an aggravated groan-scream-growl. Ghoulghilas isn't on its last legs *exactly* -- but Akane can tell when she's outnumbered.
"It offers her exactly the respite she wants," Alexis says to Renais, with every teal panel on his face lighting up -- like he's smiling and talking through his teeth at the same time. "Do try not to spread that around, Herald. After all -- if others knew that she was the center of this world, they would turn their gazes to her, yes? If you've met her, you no doubt know how she feels about a crowd."
Kaworu answers Alexis's question, and he at least seems to be answering honestly. "I see," is all he offers, for several moments. "I'll leave him to you, then, provided he survives the encounter. It's so easy to be territorial about these sorts of things -- rest assured, unless he continues to be a thorn in this world's side, we'll have no problems!"
The spires on Alexis's shoulders shift back as he finishes his descent toward Renais. He says nothing further, and there's no hostility in his approach... for now.
Ghoulghilas isn't on its last legs, but it's close. The great salmon-and-blue kaiju trundles around on total autopilot now, Akane's frustration so generalized and her attention so far from the fight that it is free to simply do whatever.
And 'Whatever,' for Ghoulghilas in its weakened state, means lashing out as much as possible. It tilts its head toward the sky and begins to rain fireballs in all directions. It can't very well rain them on *itself*, mind -- Sakura gets off completely free, this time -- but everywhere else seems to be fair game.
Ghoulghilas seems to be quite literally full of hot air, and from its current position, it literally doesn't care where it points that hot air. Everywhere is an acceptable target. All is fireballs, and shall remain that way, most likely, until Ghoulghilas is destroyed. It takes only a moment to 'breathe,' to 'gasp for air,' when it at last rounds on Synchrotank -- offering it only the most modest spurt of flame.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Madrigal with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Sho Utsumi with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Lily Jung with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Flame Spray!
<Pose Tracker> Madrigal has posed.
Labriel takes another blast of fire, and the scorch marks just get longer and longer, bits of the machine appearing quite crispy right now. They don't stop the music, however... but it does stop as Madrigal picks up some things from others involve in the battle.
Replying almost absentmindedly to Nidaime, she says, "I'm Madrigal, and this is Labriel. And we're right here. ... seems like there are some people who don't care for the music though, so I suppose it's time to change up the tune." You can almost FEEL the smirk tugging at the teen's lips as she starts playing a new tune. Still rough, but much more upbeat and with a different vocal arrangement... Though Ghoulghilas probably won't like THIS one either, perhaps the Ultras will find it more to their liking?
BGM Shift: https://youtu.be/zVEMCFjPvzY
Madrigal Attacks Lily Jung, Nidaime, Sakura Shinguji, Shinji Ikari, Arriety Hearn, Eight York, Riku Asakura, Asuka Shikinami Langley, Rikka Takarada, Sho Utsumi, Yuta Hibiki, and Sanary Rondel with All-Out
KTS: Madrigal orders an all-out attack, raising Lily Jung's Skill!
KTS: Madrigal orders an all-out attack, raising Asuka Shikinami Langley's Skill!
KTS: Madrigal orders an all-out attack, raising Sho Utsumi's Skill!
KTS: Madrigal orders an all-out attack, raising Eight York's Skill!
KTS: Madrigal orders an all-out attack, raising Rikka Takarada's Skill!
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
'Earnest' is an accurate description, if a little scarce on the destructive potential of this kaiju. He whirls to clash with Unit-02's knife, only for her to catch those claws and stab low; the tubing of his belly which lets him move so freely gets a bit more scratched-up, in the process. Tangled up with her, he can't answer Unit-01's knife, either, and that's some more costume damage some poor designer is going to have to worry about later.
(That's Akane, for those of you keeping score at home.)
"Gridman is all I'm worried about!" He yells, as he bends down and springs UP, jumping over Unit-01 to meet the Tanker Cannon head-on. "I was born just to crush Gridman! It's an order! And orders are absolute!"
He's diving right for Gridman, no matter the attack he's charging.
"So don't give me that CRAP! I'm not a human! I'm a kaiju! All I have to do is kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill y--!!"
He gets blown away, which is entirely predictable, considering how this is going for him. And to add insult to injury, that's when Ultraman Geed gets into close quarters with him, wrestling with him before he can even start darting around the battlefield again.
"DIE!" Anti screams, all tension, as he lashes his claws against Ultraman Geed, and charges in to slash at Gridman, too. Those snakelike missiles on his back fire at Asuka and Shinji, but, instinctively, they track to the closest threats -- which means that Dr. Spartura's pet project goes unassailed, for the moment.
(DON'T THINK HE FORGOT ABOUT THAT INSULT, THOUGH.)
KTS: Madrigal orders an all-out attack, raising Yuta Hibiki's Skill!
KTS: Anti targets Riku Asakura with In My Grasp!
KTS: Anti targets Yuta Hibiki with Crush Claw!
<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.
Sakura gets a 'huh?' from Sho, but he doesn't care right now who she works for. She's a friend, and she liked his alliance name. Instead, he goes shield first at the next flurry of fireballs, his cover getting toasted and his shield getting scorched and needing replacement.
He bursts out of his cover, firing the glue rifle again at Ghoulghilas, trying to encase it as much as possible so that the others can get off their big finisher!
"Everyone! It's time for an all-out attack!"
<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
I'll be right behind you.
Eight's voice, even through the cacophony of combat and the ambient chatter of everything else picked up through the mic and radios, cuts clear through her. There's something warm, powerful, reassuring...
Besides... she doesn't have to fight to the death, as Eight says. If it's enough to even save a few lives... to prevent the dark and violent world from creating more of her... maybe that'll be enough.
She hears Eight talk about the turtle. "Y-you know the turtle? Is it a friend?" Is it everyone's friend??
Arriety spots something that needs defending, though -- shuttles coming out of the Ra Mari. "Eight, I'm going to try to shield them..."
Sanary asks if anyone saw her come out in the Ichinana. "I, um, didn't, Miss Sanary. But I also don't really know how I got here... did I really just fall asleep?"
Still, Sanary and Eight know each other, so that really gives her some relief and trust in turn.
Sanshiro is shouting at her, still. Calling her... 'Gundam'. From the perspective of Arriety, who has very little sense of what mobile suit types mean in history or what their importance is, it's a little bit like being called 'Toyota' just because she's driving one right now. Well, that's not unfair...
The poor Turtle gets clambered on over, though, and the Spartura Custom pivots around and approaches very frighteningly close--
"U-uwaaah!"
That momentary sensation of panic is double-edged: on the one hand, she doesn't react in any meaningful way. On the OTHER hand, her psychic link with Myrmekes means it gives the kaiju everything she needs to defend herself--
*CLASHHH*
A shower of sparks as the scythe arms crash against the Myrmekes' forearms! The Mobile Suit's metal warps and bends as the blades sink in. The damage is horrid, but at the same time, something is slithering, lurking underneath; flesh is starting to reknit itself even as the cut goes in.
"I--I'm not helping you! You're trying to kill me and the closest people to me! W-why don't you, um, get lost! Please go away!"
The Zeta's free arm thrusts to one side, where it reveals it's carrying a short-barreled gun... no! It's not just a gun, it's also a sword, switchblading into position over the gun barrel.
In a quick pivot, Myrme swings the Sword up to try to slash through the Custom's scythes, once, twice, and then elusively slips out to the best of her ability to get into the larger machine's blindside.
"Just... just go away! Before one of us gets really hurt!"
The Sword ERUPTS with a sheath of beam energy, and the Myrmekes aims at the centre mass of the Custom's scythe-arms to cleave cleanly through them.
KTS: Arriety Hearn targets Dr. Spartura with Mega Beam Sword!
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Gridman addresses them, all of them... offering a location name, but more importantly, offering gratitude. The idea makes her uncomfortable, just as uncomfortable as working together. She needs to do manage it all on herself. Crossbow still held in one hand, she turns her Prog Knife around in a defensive stance as her comms say over the speakers to Gridman. "Forget working together... you'd just get in my way. You do make for a pretty convenient distraction though... don't worry, this is a NERV operation now and I've got this."
Shinji's comment though causes Asuka to look askance as she shouts, "You wanna say that again Daddy's Boy!? You think I won't fight you once we're out of these entry plugs?" Taking a step back however, she does happen to just... coincidentally be alongside Evangelion Unit-01. She's not having him watch her back, just keeping him out of her line of fire. Yet his words...
"Don't be stupid... are you really asking me if that's a person!? Who cares what it's saying! Just look at it! You ever seen a person who looks like that... you weirdo! What kind of stuff are you into if you can't even tell that much!"
Would it even matter to Asuka if it were? Well... would it? Either way, Anti confirms he's not human.
Anti's scream of 'DIE!' alerts her to threat, and Unit-02 suddenly dives in response, trying to avoid them, but at this range they skim her suddenly toggled...
A.T. Barrier. The missiles detonating against the geometric shapes that erupt in mid-air, yet still put Evangelion-02 on the back foot from the force behind it - but at the same time spares the town some collateral damage. The music change suddenly reaches into her as Madrigal's song inspires her to action.
"Then you're the biggest idiot here. No surprise though."
Evangelion-02 suddenly snaps up the crossbow arm and with an electric hum, firing at Anti from near point blank range - the segmented metal stake firing outwards. "A Kaiju that can take orders-" Rather than let it do its job though, Asuka suddenly rushes forward, dropping the super-electromagnetic crossbow, and instead driving her first forward into the back of the crossbow. The red titan's fist smashes into the back of the stake, demolishing it segment by segment, until it gets to the last one.
As she tries, ruthlessly, to punch that final segment through Anti.
"-is STILL JUST A KAIJU!"
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Shinji Ikari
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Anti with Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow Drive!
KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Arriety Hearn's Mega Beam Sword, taking 9230 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Arriety Hearn's Boundary of Life and Death activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: Arriety Hearn has engaged Dr. Spartura
KTS: Arriety Hearn completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
The Longblade Rifle's output diminishes, and the Zack pauses for a moment at the end of the shot. "Hmmmmm! We got him Kuma!" She remarks, throwing her hand to the air and bumping her knuckles into the ceiling of the cockpit. "Ouch!" She tries to kiss the back of her hand, but bumps her hand against her helmet instead. There's a lot of habits she needs to unlearn.
Only to suddenly see the fireballs coming her way. "Kuma!" She calls out, the Haro quickly flapping its wings. As her hands return to the cockpit's controls, the Haro is already making its adjustments. It's not as good as a proper human pilot, but it at least tries to get out of the way. The first Fireball eradicating the building in front of her, as she calls out; <<"We gotta finish this before it damages more of the city!">> Though no doubt, none of her allies really need to be told this at all.
As the music picks up in the background, her heart trembles a bit. Looking at the damage she just did. Can she be better than that? She clearly cored out a good bit of damage. Can she help these brave people from the... Gridman... Alliance? But this all feels so... strange. Even as the Fireballs chase the Zack, slagging its shield apart. "Is this what all Kaiju feel like? Why is it even angry?" The girl doesn't understand the Ghoulghilas.
"Aren't like, Kaiju like 'Raaaar, I am angry, so I am going to eat yooouuu!'" It's not as if she has an actual point of reference. Instead, it just feels. Off? Empty? She can't put her finger on it. The Zack comes to a halt and lifts its rifle as it gets another good pattern, using its thrusters to climb onto a bridge... only to CRUSH the bridge beneath its massive feet. "Sorry, sorry!" She offers to the... well... lack of people down there.
Then turns towards the Kaiju and takes in a deep breath, Pink-Purple glowing at the tip of her weapon already.
<<"Right! An all-out attack. I think my generator can still...!">>
The weapon is set upon the Kaiju, focusing upon its dead-center. Aimed shots are hard to make after all. The legs of the Zack dig in... and she takes a deep breath as she takes the trigger to her finger, and presses down! Once more, that light lances out, searing forwards in an attempt to carve it apart, before the Haro adjusts the intensity and the beam narrows, flashing along a more thin and intense band!
<<"Please stop hurting anymore people, Mister Kaiju!">>
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
-At the Sluice Gate-
Renais' hand doesn't move from the gun in her coat. "I have no plans to." She thinks another long moment, and releases the gun slowly. "The Dawn requires that all sentient life be destroyed, yes. But..."
Renais is still human. She's still a person, herself, and she can't just...
"Akane Shinjo is... my friend." It's not an answer. It's not a why. "I made a connection with her, and that's..." Not something that happens easily. She doesn't say the rest of that.
"You must be the friend she told me about, then." Something tells her he won't be too interested in helping her.
KTS: Lily Jung targets Akane Shinjo with Longblade Rifle - High Emission!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Right. We'll do our best here, too." Rikka responds to Yuta with a nod. She'll have to trust him - trust Yuta, and trust Gridman. In a way, it isn't so different than those times spent supporting the both of them from her mom's junk shop...
Well... Sakura seems to think 'Gridman Alliance' isn't so bad, at least. Rikka can get over some of her embarrassment, in that case. Interesting that she isn't with the Federation, though...
"...Thanks. I, uh... I like your robot, by the way." She adds. ...What? The Kobu is cute...
The Federation ship was in the region picking up a pilot... well, Rikka supposes that makes sense.
"Alright. Thanks for the support." Rikka replies to Eight. She'll trust them for now. ...It is true, though, that there's something strange going on here. "...Yeah. After."
Ghoulgilas is still fighting, after all. For Rikka, a spray of flames comes her way - that's actually a little harder for her to deal with. It licks over her shields, causing the mobile suit to heat up a little, forcing her to back away. For the time being, she'll have to reroute some of her hydro cannons' water to cooling.
And then, Utsumi calls for an all-out attack! Rikka nods. She's been on the offensive this whole time, but there's something she's much better at - and that's support.
"Right... Shinguji, I'll back you up." Rikka says, preparing to follow-up on Sakura's next attack!
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Sakura Shinguji with Heart!
KTS: Rikka Takarada bares her heart, letting Sakura Shinguji deal some extra damage!
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
This time, Geed is ready for those powerful claws. The Galaxy Cutting and the powerful claws of Anti clash. Sparks and dangerous-sounding collisions hit as they pass each other, Anti heading right towards Gridman. "Gridman!" he shouts out. He doesn't have much time...he's gotta stop him here and now...!
Power generates around him, both bright blues and dark reds. Riku might be a good-hearted hero, but the legacy of Ultraman Belial remains regardless of anything else. He braces himself, as the power seems to flow in from every direction. On his back a bird made out of actual fire, an actual phoenix forms.
Ultraman Geed positions himself, drawing in that terrible energy into himself carefully. While it might look like posing, each move is necessary to channel that power just right and now blow himself up. The ground around him shakes, glass shatters, and powerful shock waves radiate off of him as he finally internalizes it.
He brings an arm up, its fist facing straight to the sky, and his second hand bracing across the bottom. Even the firebird is absorbed in by this point as Geed readies himself. "WRECKING PHEONIIIIIIIX!" he booms, before a powerful beam of energy fires towards Anti, should it hit will cause a massive explosion. All of that terrible energy he just gathered focused onto that single beam.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you hurt another person...!"
KTS: Riku Asakura has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riku Asakura has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Riku Asakura has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo successfully avoids Lily Jung's Longblade Rifle - High Emission
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
This 'Gridman' expresses his gratitude; Eight listens to Yuta thoughtfully, though not just because he's talking to her. He mentions Tsujitsidai, and Eight has to think whether she knows that name. She files it away for the moment. That might be a piece of the puzzle; at least they know where the place where they are is called. There's that!!
"Career...?" Eight wonders thoughtfully, looking at her ship's displays at the close-up they have on hte Spartura custom. Through the smoke and haze she can see it well, thanks to her ship's sensors. It's true though--a ship can't take a custom mobile suit lightly, not even one. Random beam shots ensure that Eight doesn't feel too unloved by the monster. "Chovan! Evasive maneuvers!"
Licia Chovan takes the controls and turns the ship, attempting to evade the scattered fire, but even her top-notch skills can't always work--the beams slam into the side of the ship, rocking the decks and knocking Eight around in her chair. "Gh--"
But Arriety is down there, saying she'll defend the shuttles. Eight will continue to put her faith in her friend. And answer her questions. "The turtle helped us before," she radios to Arriety. "That's all I know." She can... kind of answer, anyway.
The shuttles start to land and immediately start to gather people up to get them out of the way of the attacks, under Arriety's covering fire. They still can't get everyone, but some of the more endangered people will have a chance to get out of the open and somewhere safer, in theory. As they begin to load up people, crewman from inside step out to gather people and help them to safety. The relief mission has begun!
But there are people they won't be able to save, under the footsteps of the kaiju...
"Acknowledged," York replies to Rikka as she agrees 'after'.
Kaiju that can talk, and take orders... It's concerning. But while she doesn't entirely agree with the Eva-02's pilot on the matter, she can't exactly stop to chat with the kaiju; there's no time for diplomacy here, not with them actively rampaging. "Will do--if you can take Arriety's flank there, we can all help each other!" she replies to Sanary. "Just be careful out there!"
"Captain! Main cannons ready to fire!" Kathras Fari announces it as he takes careful aim at the Spartura custom, and the gigantic cannons of the Federation ship begin to slowly rotate towards their new position. "Acknowledged," Captain says. "Fire short burst--now!"
Gathering up energy, the cannon lights up with energy, and a huge beam rockets down straight for the Spartura amidst the wreckage, followed by another, and a third, triangulated for maximum chance of hitting.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Arriety Hearn
KTS: Eight York has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Sanary Rondel
KTS: Eight York targets Dr. Spartura with Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons Burst!
KTS: Anti fails to parry Asuka Shikinami Langley's Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow Drive, taking 8710 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asuka Shikinami Langley's Sole Shikinami activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Anti
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
When Alexis suggests that Shinji might die in this encounter, a smile breaks on Kaworu's lips, through which a brief but sincere chuckle flows. "He may be fragile, but he isn't weak. He will most certainly survive," he replies, voice warm. Perhaps it's because they're on the topic of his favorite person that he doesn't recognize the implicit threat in Alexis's words; he only hears a recognition of the current worldstate. That being said: "As for problems, is it not your task to keep the thorns of the outside world from encroaching on the garden of this world in the first place?" His smile fades back into his original neutrality. "After all, he's hardly the only one who ended up here."
As Renais lowers her gun, Kaworu doesn't react. Of course, he hadn't reacted to her reaching for it, either--but he also doesn't react to her talk that all sentient life must be destroyed. Or rather, he doesn't so much *not react* so much as he is *not bothered* by it. Once she explains herself, though, his expression softens as a smile returns to him. "I see. Friendship is wonderful, isn't it?" He raises his gaze, once again fond, towards Unit 01. "A true connection between two souls that respect and understand one another... Truly, one could search countless billions of worlds and find no greater treasure. No wonder you're concerned."
But then she makes an assumption. She doesn't make it clear who she's making it to. Kaworu makes his own assumption in turn. If Akane were to mention any friend to any new friend, surely it would be Alexis. He thus leaves that topic for the two of them as he carries on watching the battle unfold.
It seems as though it won't last much longer, after all.
KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Eight York's Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons Burst, taking 5060 damage!
EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 64
<Pose Tracker> Sakura Shinguji has posed.
The Kobu's three fingers let go of the wires -- and the Spiricle Armor drops down. Its legs and feet are fat, round, thickly armored. They hit the ground, and the rivets and armor plates bulge -- but the Kobu Kai doesn't falter. Steam spews out of the back, billowing out clouds of the stuff.
Something is different.
Sakura's eyes narrow as she stares up at Ghoulgilas, as the kaiju trumbles about -- almost undirected, she feels like -- and looses fiery blast after fiery blast. Raining down, frightfully enough, on those Mobile Suits and the Ichinana. She feels something tighten in her chest.
'Eh, Sakura...' Yoneda told her once. The old man smiled at her in his office -- but there was something tired in his eyes. The little sign that good humor was how he pushed himself through the day. 'Kaiju and kouma... they're not so different. People argue about how much. But they come from the same place.' He tapped his uniformed chest. 'A grudge. Something so strongly felt that it takes form.'
Sakura's dark brown eyes widen with the realization.
"This is--this is different!" Sakura shouts. "What... what emotion is behind you?" she shouts up at Ghoulgilas. "You're not like the others... but how?"
This leaves her feeling on edge -- and yet she cannot put it into words. It forms a pressure that stays on her heart and mind. Her eyes narrow -- and then Sakura swings her katana about, into both hands. "Yes," she agrees with Lily. "We do. I'm with you, Gridman Alliance."
She smiles at the camera feed -- and at Rikka, Utsumi, Lily, and the others, with her princess-cut hair and pink uniform -- and then she nods, and her expression turns serious. Her tachi spins 'round, clutched in both hands. She takes a deep breath; there is a flash of brilliant white light, as the Spiritual Steam Engine spins up -- and pink and red light dance up the length of the sword. They crackle up it.
"Follow my lead!" she calls out to Rikka. Then, louder, at Ghoulgilas: "I don't know what gave you form... but I'll cut through and learn the truth! Please hold on--" Her eyes get brighter, somehow. "Cherry![normal"
She knows how to cut to the heart of a kaiju or a kouma. Sakura wonders, now, if she can with this one. Her emotions war within her; the doubt she has felt as her star rises, the concern over the Revue's place in the world, and whether a smile and a song is really enough in a world where Laplace's Box is opened. But cutting through feelings means cutting through her own.
BLOSSOM!"
She can hope it's enough. She can only hope she is enough. The rest of the Flower Division is not here, but they are counting on her. Those two pilots in the jury-rigged Mobile Suits are so young, but so brave. She can stand a little taller for them.
Single Cherry Tree swings back. The red and pink light dances up, like a swirl of a kimono -- and then breaks apart into a veritable blizzard of spectral cherry blossoms. Sakura, through the Kobu Kai, swings her sword back in both hands, and then chops it down with every last ounce of her might and spirit.
"SMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITE!"
And a shockwave of pink energy explodes off in a straight line -- and grows larger and larger, spikes of energy that shoot out of its path across the ground and straight up at the Ghoulgilas. The cherry blossoms swirl and fade.
Sakura's voice doesn't. "Both of you--NOW!"
KTS: Sakura Shinguji has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Sakura Shinguji targets Akane Shinjo with Vanquishing Blade - Cherry Blossom Smite!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Sakura Shinguji's Vanquishing Blade - Cherry Blossom Smite, taking 8320 damage!
KTS: Sakura Shinguji has engaged Akane Shinjo
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
MEANWHILE:
"M..mn.." Calibur stutters quietly, as the Synchrotank is shook back and forth, "It..looks like Max and Yuta will be o-ok."
"That's great. But what about us?! It's just a Ghoulgilias, but it's not like that's an easy opponent for us right now." Borr grouses from his station, while Vit leans back in a seemingly non-plussed manner, "We~ll...fuu...be sure to work up some guts, you two," he says to Sho and Rikka while continuing to act as if this weren't his problem.
He was in all reality, very lucky that Borr was too busy to go over and teach him another lesson. But, maybe his attitude just meant he really did have that much faith that things weren't going badly?
Typing so quickly that it could be mistaken for very soft machinegun fire, Calibur adjusts his headset, "U-uh. ... predictions ... that is, these are predictions for how Ghoulgilias will move .. use them as you will." he says, before hitting send to push it to Rikka and Utsumi's main terminals.
BACK WITH GRIDMAN
"NERV?" Yuta questions, trying it out on his non-existant tongue. He winds up figuring that it must be some kind of new government organization - the red giant sounded about his age, he realizes. And so did the purple one.
" - we really can't work together .. but even if you say that, we're still working towards the same goal. In that case, it's pretty settled." he affirms, basically to himself. They were stuck fighting the same enemy together no matter what was said; and he believed her to be a good ally based on her actions so far.
"Yuta, don't lose focus!" Max reminds him, "Right! Now - !"
Raising his fists, Gridman meets each claw slash with a bunch with Max's knuckles, creating a flash of sparks while the giant dances around Anti and Geed, the three exchanging blows quickly until another lull comes - one long enough for Geed to unleash a phoenix of light that strikes Anti dead on.
"Someone ordered you to kill Gridman ... that's -"
Yuta breathes in before stating with heartfelt sincerity, "That's too sad. Life is precious, creating life just for that purpose - I'm sorry. And, I hope that we can meet again .. but right now, I have to make sure you disappear, before you cause any more damage."
Seeming to suck in a breath, Gridman hunkers down before charging, elbow junction first to slam into Anti's side and give Max Gridman a chance to grasp onto him with his oversized hands, "MAAAAAAAX AAAAAAAAAAAAAARM!!!"
Whirling a full three hundred and sixty degrees, Max Gridman aims to hurl Anti into the sky before raising both of his arms and pointing them straight up. His fingers interlink with eachother and, just a moment later, rainbow colored light began to gather in the center of Gridman's chest before surging out into his arms.
"MAX -"
"GRIDBEAAAAAAAAAAM"
Both of the cannons erupt into two thick yellow beams that converge on the massive wave of light emitting from Max Gridman's hands, a green spiral swirling around the colossal tidal wave of light that barrels up at Anti.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Another rocket. Even as the weird musical robot keeps playing, Shinji takes a step back in Unit-01; almost subconsciously moving to match Unit-02's pace. Anti shoots him with a missile that looks like a snake, and Shinji's eyes widen at the absurdity of this situation. His ATField holds for a second before the rest of the missile slams into Unit-01's face.
The smoke clears, and the purple behemoth looks more irritated than anything. It takes a step forward, eyes gleaming, and if Anti can turn off his Gridman goggles for a second he can see it.
The thing is breathing. Slow, shallow breaths, as if trying to hold back a scream.
"W-what do you mean weird stuff?!" Shinji says, childishly shocked even as the sympathetic pain from the snake rocket's caused a large gash to open along his forehead. "I'm just. I'm just saying, isn't that what they used to say about the Zentraedi?" Shinji asks, wiping the blood off of his face and wishing he could tell it apart from the LCL he's entombed in. He can feel a heartbeat quickening and it's his own, he realizes.
"He just sounds like some of the kids at NERV do, I guess." Shinji says, and then the monster moves to brutalize more of the landscape in its obsessive quest to kill Gridman. Because orders are absolute. Shinji's teeth grind at that particular phrase, so hard he can feel them try and pop.
Asuka literally punches her crossbow at the Kaiju and Shinji takes a second from being the angriest dog in the world to be impressed. "I absolutely believe you would fight me outside of the plug yeah. But you're right about one thing."
Unit-01 takes the lead, then, sliding to send an ATField up in front of Unit-02. The purple machine releases its plug, and launches into the air. Its green boots land AGAINST the ATField, Unit-01 crouching on its own shimmering force field and launching as if it were a mobile platform. Unit-01 twists in mid-air again, pulling all of its weight back and trying to get stuck in with Anti, to force the strange, sad talking kaiju to focus on something besides the Gridmen.
"This needs to stop." Shinji pulls Unit-01's head back as they launch from the makeshift platform, and they try to smash their horn right into Anti!
KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley
KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
Nidaime says, "If you don't know how you got here," to Madrigal. "How are you sure this isn't a dream?"
She takes a moment to admire Sakura's attack. "Did you try pinching your cheek? Ehehh...."
"So why are you here?" Nidaime asks. "I like music. I have some favorite songs too but I like them all. I like music that heals and inspires."
It's almost kind of cliche how she says this but she does giggle like a weird goblin after which sort of ruins the effect a little. "If you're lost, I can help you home."
MEANWHILE
The GAN deftly avoids turtle. It lands on turtles back. The turtle just kind of sits there for a moment. It doesn't seem to even register the insults, but well--it IS a turtle. Maybe it'll be really insulted once the insults reach its turtle brain or maybe understanding these things are a bit beyond this kaiju. It doesn't seem to be chatty like Anti.
But eventually it adjusts a bit. It crouches down and--It attempts to use its SHELL to slam the body of the robot attacking it into a wall. It could be a SHELL SHOCK?!
"I'm here to meet Dad's friend." Nidaime asides to Madrigal.
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
"I'm going to totally share my music list with you later," Nidaime adds.
<Pose Tracker> Sanary Rondel has posed.
<<"Right? I know I didn't go drinkin' yet, so...">> Something's really off, but Sanary can't put her finger on what as she replies to Arriety. <<"I mean, unless someone spiked my water while I was still building stuff, but who'd be crazy enough to do that? Ech... Anyway. 'Miss Sanary', huh? I...">>
That doesn't sound half bad. <<"I'll take it. I've got your back, Arri! Or... Falnk? Flank!">>
She's not actually sure what that word means, but she's definitely not going to admit it now of all times.
<<" 'Cop'? These aren't the colors of a cop!">> Sanary replies incredulously as the Ichinana skids slightly following that tackle attempt pressing one of the machine's hands against the ground to keep it from toppling over entirely. <<"I don't even know who Gridman is. And even if I did, it's not like you're paying me, either! Closest I'll get to job security is protectin' folks from nutbags like you!">>
As the battle of high-class wits between Sanary and Sanshiro continues, the Ichinana braces for impact again awhen the Custom rushes it more directly. Those claws smash right into that shield as Sanary tilts her machine forward to try and compensate for that impact so as to not topple backwards, but it's still largely unbalanced just trying to lean into the attack that's chipping away at its armor and shearing massive chunks of metal right off.
Luckily, Eight's shuttles are in position to aid in the evacuations, and that gives the construction worker a bit more room to work with. Remembering that request from Eight earlier, she tries to guess what 'flank' means and starts circling around the Spartura Custom, looking for the right moment to attack.
As she waits, however, Sanary is reminded of what she forgot to do earlier in the day as she feels more unexplained emotional pulls. The camaraderie is actually a little more explainable this time around thanks to fighting with familiar faces, and self-doubt is practically a default, but murderous rage isn't quite as appropriate. She's just annoyed at this Spartura's pilot, so why...?
<<"If I forget to before we leave... Uh. Someone remind me to ask about something weird later! I'll know what you mean!">>
The Federation ship rains down rockets, and she sees an opportunity. The Ichinana raises its arms as if preparing for that Mazinger special, but nothing happens there.
Sanary's not sure if she can pull that off. At the very least, she knows she won't be able to live it down if it ends up being a repeat of yesterday. Instead, she waits a little longer. IOnce the smoke clears from the third wave of rockets, the Ichinana charges in, utilizing the cover of smoke and the cronching of Turtledad to rush the Spartura Custom once more. It hurls wild haymakers, devestating headbutts, and even a few crushing knee strikes to try and start piling that damage onto Sanshiro's machine with all of its weight behind it!
KTS: Sanary Rondel has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Sanary Rondel has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Even though Akane is now officially at the stage of groanscreaming in her room and largely checked out from the actual watching of the kaiju fight -- or maybe *because* she's now officially at the stage of groanscreaming in her room and largely checked out from the watching of the kaiju fight -- Ghoulghilas fights on. A faint shimmer of heat emits from its mouth -- it lumbers to one side and meets the blast of glue with its own of flame. That thin, intense band of energy comes within inches of Ghoulghilas, carving off a single hobby wire-like claw --
-- and only that.
It's Sakura who has the greatest success; her familiarity with the feeling that lies at the center of a kaiju under normal circumstances gives her an edge. Her blade bites through. It carves through Ghoulghilas's neck, revealing the void inside.
There are wires, bonds, connections -- but nothing else inside. Nothing holding them together. The space inside Ghoulghilas is a receptacle for a grudge -- yet the grudge is, in its substance, gone. So too is the inside of Ghoulghilas. Is this enough, then?
%
"Good," Alexis agrees. "I'd hate to deny you the chance to reunite meaningfully," he offers Kaworu, with a small nod. He seems at home -- comfortable, even -- in this conversation. "It is indeed my task to keep the garden free of pests -- though I would hardly deny her the joy of stepping on them, should she ask it!"
Renais's answer... feels at once dangerous and laughable. Not that Alexis meets it with a laugh. "A friend," Alexis repeats, tonelessly. "A friend who wants to rip holes in reality until everything that lies beneath bubbles out of them. A friend who would see her -- would see everything -- returned to zero, to the sum of all negations, to something empty of intrinsic existence."
Alexis shakes his head. "So when she called while I was busy, she was with you... fascinating. No -- I have no interest in helping one of Dawn's Heralds. Unless you'd be willing to prioritize others over this place...?"
This is not enough. Sakura, as she is now, in this moment -- is not enough. No one here is enough in this moment -- least of all Akane. The sun is at its most brilliant and many-hued in the instant it sinks below the horizon, and here, in these overcast skies, there is a lot of sun left to set.
Ghoulghilas shrieks. The fire does not collect in quite the same way, with no head; it's a singular blast that threatens to consume even Ghoulghilas itself. The kaiju has been given life a second time, after all -- anything it has, anything it is, is borrowed, stolen.
Akane finally bothers to look at her tablet again. It's right back to groaning. "Uugughnh... at least Anti made a good showing. Maybe if they realize he's this strong even with THE WHOLE FEDERATION AND SOME OTHER GUYS showing up, they'll leave and stay gone."
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Madrigal with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Sakura Shinguji with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Lily Jung with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Sho Utsumi with Ghoulghilas Mouth Rapid Fire!
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Unit-02 denies Gridman's help, and Anti bellows, to the Spartura Custom: "You're a CONVENIENT DISTRACTION!"
He... copied Asuka's dismissiveness..?
Maybe that at least means the Spartura Custom doesn't have to worry about him for the moment...
For some reason, that other Gridman -- there can be two Gridmen? -- is able to match his claws, and Anti doesn't understand, in this particular moment, that this is the power of Ultraman Geed. Perhaps, one day, he'll realise. But...
It's not so strange for kaiju to breathe. It's not so strange for kaiju to scream. It's not that Anti disregards Unit-01; it's simply that he doesn't quite realise it's important.
He was only born a few days ago, after all, and it's not like Akane told him all about the mobile suits which would be helping Gridman.
Unit-01 takes the lead, with a ferocious twist which -- again -- Anti simply doesn't have the worldliness to properly appreciate, the way its plug releases out. "I won't stop until I kill Gridman!" Anti screams, and it's his own fault for underestimating the Units, perhaps, that leaves that horn crashing through his tubing so easily. "Never! Never! Never!" There's more air PSSSSSSSHing out. It's going to be hell for the costume designer, later.
He's pinned, for that critical moment -- not that Unit-02 wouldn't have attacked with or without the opening, surely. Anti catches that crossbow bolt in his claws, and, tragically, it doesn't do much to actually help. Because Unit-02's fist is coming in right alongside it, crushing in -- and further -- between those two claws of Anti's, and really, the costume is taking a beating at this point. The violence is bloodless, but there's no denying Asuka's savagery, either.
"That's right!" He yells, as he shoves his claws outwards, to gain a little more distance between them. The light at the centre of his forehead has begun to blink warning, in the wake of the Unit's vicious might. "I'm a kaiju! A kaiju!" And kaiju use terrible power, like --
The most disgusting feeling in the world is looking at Ultraman Geed as he charges Wrecking Phoenix, and feeling like he recognises something. He snaps his attention to the Gridman he knows, instead, even as light charges from the yellow nodules on his arms and legs.
"You think I'll just disappear?! I won't die! Not until I kill you! You'll never be safe --"
The light of Anti's Buster Beam crashes out, to meet Wrecking Phoenix. It flares, sickly purple and deathly magneta; it EXPANDS, as Max Gridbeam meets the charge.
"-- GRIDMAAAAAAAAAAAN!"
But it can't last. Buster Beam is something designed to fight Gridman: it never accounted for an Ultraman, too. Max Gridbeam and Wrecking Phoenix, together, crash over Anti's response -- crash over Anti, and --
-- all at once, just like that --
-- the giant kaiju is gone.
----
There's a boy, down there, in the dust and the rubble. He staggers forward, a single step, gaze unfocused. "I ran out of time..?"
Another step. The anger is still in his voice, but it's moderated, now, by his sheer fatigue. "Shit!"
Anoth--
-- ah, no.
He's fallen, right on his face, down here where no one is looking.
"Grid... man," he groans, defeated, into the ground.
"I hate you."
<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.
Sho calls for an all-out attack. Sakura does spectacularly, but he doesn't get the hit - and Ghoulghilas hits with an intensive fireball, melting the last of that shield even as arms go up to block.
Panic starts to set in, as others start getting disabled. Can they keep fighting? Are they cut out for this? But Rikka and Sakura Shinguji still are, so Utsumi will too. He's the founder of the Alliance, dammit, he can't give up here, even if he never wanted to be on the frontlines.
The two guncannons are primed. They are targeted. They are locked on Ghoulghilas and all that flame.
"Firing solution! Don't allow the flames to spread...!"
The cannons both blast. It is not shells. But unlike Rikka, it isn't water, either - it's extinguisher fluid. He's aiming to put out the Ghoulghilas, perhaps kill it in the process, and stop the flames from burning Tsutsujidai to a crisp!
KTS: Sho Utsumi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Utsumi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Utsumi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Utsumi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Utsumi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Sho Utsumi targets Akane Shinjo with Focused Cannon Shot!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo successfully avoids Sho Utsumi's Focused Cannon Shot
<Pose Tracker> Lily Jung has posed.
Lily's beam cuts across the area, but it's off. "It's too fast." Lily remarks, unable to compensate for its movement with that big beam activated! She's too worried she'll melt houses, or hurt anyone within those houses! Her body trembling as Sakura gets in there. The Longblade Rifle disengages, thinking that maybe Sakura can do it! That she will be enough!
But it's not enough! A single blast suddenly pours outwards, and she holds up that shield as the unit is overcome by its fire. Some of the glass of its cameras snaps and shatters under the extreme heate, and Lily is forced to retreat. Withdrawing with her unit, retreating to the edge of town in the hopes of getting out of this place. Her heart beating in her chest as various alerts are going off, her unit warning her that it's close to shut-down.
"Let's hope we can get out of here and not get arrested!" She tells Kuma, biting her bottom lip.
<<"You've got this from here! I have to retreat!">> Lily calls out to the ones still facing the Ghoulgilgas as the EWAC disengages its laser links.
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais simply smiles--a faint, almost ghostly smile--at what Kaworu says. She nods, just slightly, to Alexis. "I... suppose that's right. But a place like this-- it's... sealed off from the world outside. It's a dream, more than it is anything else."
Renais shakes her head. "I don't-- frankly, I'd save this place for last."
"This refuge you and Ms. Shinjo have made is a haven for me, too. I'd like to enjoy it until the end." She looks toward the battle. "... provided it survives that long, anyway..." She frowns, and looks back to Alexis. "So. A truce?"
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
The Nostalgia skids out into an open space of street, smashing through a thankfully-empty roadside stall and working its terrible little pincer claws. The titanic head on the thing turns upwards. "The people who you care about?" answers the Custom.
It makes a strange noise, impossible to parse from context. Perhaps she's --
"WHAT ABOUT MY PROMOTION, HUH? Why aren't you thinking about MY feelings, Gundam?? If you didn't want to get killed you shouldn't have got between me and Gridman!" The machine is bearing down and is about to charge towards Arriety, and then as the two Zakrello-claws rise upwards for a puncturing strike -- one of them is smashed into, part of its tip clipped - and the other is severed at its actuator's root, flying off and landing tip-first into the front window of a CD rental shop!
(Sanshiro gulps air, that not-pain feeling smashing into -- into his arm? Not his arm. He's got two arms, two legs, and something -- else; something that felt almost like it was growing out of him, but now part of it is gone. Should he scream? No! No more screaming!! This is the Gundam's fault!)
"It's always someone like you getting in the way! Getting in the path in front of me! In the bad old days, like in the old drama, they'd just ride through obstacles like you, Gundam!!" The emanations from the Custom are, to be frank, *extremely bad*. They are confused, yes, but there is a feeling of a guy trying to get used to some sort of new tool with which to enforce his will. His struggle is against his own inner nature, not against what he is doing.
Indeed, beneath the black-lashed rage and smouldering contempt, there is -- somehow -- a sense of joy. Joy in power and liberation. It isn't wholesome joy.
But Arriety is spared by the sudden surge of orange against the smouldering kitbash of a machine. She nearly bowls it over with the first blow - barely - and the pilot screams, "People like me!? You should be protecting ME!! You're in my way!! You're standing between me and my dreams and I cannot be more literal than THAT you enormous orange piece of floating cheese curd, I'm going to throw you in the river and hold you DOWN as you -" A headbutt temporarily silences Sanshiro.
(My leg kind of went numb there, Sanshiro thinks. I want to - did one of the wires? Wires? Where did all these wires...?)
Hard pressed, the machine reaches out - it looks like a blind effort to disengage from the Patlabor-style beat down that Sanary is handing out - except that one of those harpoon-missiles flies out and lands RIGHT on the side of the incoming mass of Anosilus's form! Whipped round, the Nostalgia lets out a cruel electronic laugh, whipping forwards and coming to a halt against the first three stories of an office block. "I've got you all right where I"
That's when the battleship opens fire.
The barrage is immense. Standard-issue federal beam weaponry intended to ward off naval innovations and Mobile Armors open fire down - mostly downwards - into the surface of... whatever this place is. At a steep angle the building is not much imperiled, not with Japanese construction habits. Enormous blooms of megaparticles bracket it. The barrage ends...
... and there isn't as much of it there...
But the machine is still standing.
(Sanshiro feels number in strange areas. It hurts to breathe. The pain feels acute, like little bismuth crystals in his -- soul? It's not something he can define. It's alien, strange. He has to push past this. He's going to screw this up but he can still pull it out, he can still get past these -- these --)
There isn't any more transmission from the pilot. There are a few flickers, a sudden spark in particle density. The arms raise upwards, shedding the black bulk of the ruined Zakrello-arms, and it -- floats a little, as if on a Minovsky-effect hover-cloud--
("I'm not," Sanshiro burrs in his coffin, "... a distraction...")
-- which is when the overtuned reactor begins to simply offload things through reinforced and *rapidly melting* beam emitters in the retuned Acguy's forearms and what had been the mouth and head of the Zakrello and 'guy itself. They streak outwards at ground level: one inevitably towards the mighty turtle, another past him towards Sanary, another whipped out low and tight towards Myrmedes Zeta. Concrete and asphalt melt and burn in their passage; an unsafely parked vehicle explodes and is whipped along in the aftermath.
The beams simply do not stop -- they will end, of course, when the machine does. But how will it end? Once in a great while, you know, Mobile Suits don't just go 'pwfoouf' in enormous clouds of pink smoke and massive megaparticle density.
KTS: Dr. Spartura has activated the Detonate Spirit Command, reducing the Spartura Custom Edition to 1 HP!
KTS: Dr. Spartura has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Nidaime with Beam Antipathy - Can You Survive This?!
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Sanary Rondel with It's A Sin To Come Home With Full Caps!
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Arriety Hearn with Beam Antipathy - Can You Survive This?!
KTS: Arriety Hearn fails to react to Dr. Spartura's Beam Antipathy - Can You Survive This?, taking 1951 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
The Kaiju shouting at Spartura causes Asuka to sputter, "Did you just!? You're really starting to piss me off you half-baked Kaiju!"
Whereas Gridman appeals to their sense of trying to work together towards the same goal. "Don't be stupid. I didn't agree to that." Asuka says to Gridman, strangely, less harshly in tone. She's still rude... but his sheer earnestness is perhaps putting her a little on the back foot, "Whatever - it doesn't change anything about the situation." Even she has to admit that Gridman can't just run away from a Kaiju trying it's hardest to kill it. "I can still take care of this even with your interference." The pilot sounds over the speakers.
Shinji though... "What about him looks Zentradi!?" Asuka snaps back his way completely blowing past talking about what kind of weird stuff Shinji might be into, "If you're hesitating for something like this then you don't belong here Daddy's Boy. I'll take care of it on my own."
Yet she doesn't, as Evangelion-01 moves forward to gore him. And even if Asuka doesn't think he belongs here, admittedly it shows he's at least slightly more competent than she gave him credit for.
Gridman hurls the Kaiju into the sky... before...
Asuka's eyes follow the tidal wave of light as the Max Gridbeam envelops the Kaiju. Her eyes narrow just faintly in annoyance, but...
... even if she can't admit it outwardly, her pride not allowing her to budge on her need for independence, part of her thinks that 'Gridman' took care of it pretty well. "Gridman Alliance huh? Leave the Kaiju fighting to the professionals in the future. You've got no room to complain if next time we're not here to pull you out of the fire."
Picking up her dropped crossbow, she sheathes her prog knife back in. "Also what'd you say this place is? Tsutsujidai? Once this is over work on this backwaters' evacuation protocols so civilians aren't running around on the streets like lemmings-!" Why does Asuka think that these two Giants have any pull there!? Well they seem invested in the place... they actually remembered its name, while she can't even remember her mission briefing.
"I'm going to check the status on the other Kaiju... and that strange weapon." She says to Eva-01 as she starts down the street in pursuit, "How are you even here on duty anyway? I thought for sure that Misato was going to ground you until you graduated for that stunt you pulled."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka can hear Calibur and the others talking behind her.
"...We'll do our best." Rikka replies with a slight sigh at Vit's easygoing tone. Fortunately, though, Calibur has something to say too. Predictions... Rikka looks them over.
"Thanks. I can use this." She says with a nod, then turns her attention to Sakura. "...Alright!"
What Sakura has to say about Ghoulghilas is interesting, too, but that's something to ask her about later - right now, she watches Sakura's artful movements, and once Sakura gives the signal, Rikka opens fire...
...But, even after all that, it isn't enough. Ghoulghilas still burns, hanging on, just barely, with a flame that threatens to consume them and Tsutsujidai itself if they can't stop it. Rikka winces - she can feel the heat a little even from inside Synchrotank. The other pink robot is forced to flee, as well - the one who's pilot said they were with 'ZAFT', or something.
"Take care of yourself!" Rikka replies to Lily, before turning her attention to Utsumi's call to action.
"R-right. I'll help, too!" Rikka calls out. Previous standing bipedal, Synchrotank lowers itself into tank configuration for greater accuracy. Dodging won't be as easy... but right now, dealing with these flames before they spread is the important matter.
"Please work..." Rikka murmurs... before Synchrotank's cannons unleashes the full force of their extinguishing power.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Akane Shinjo with Extreme Extinguishing Burst!
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Rikka Takarada's Extreme Extinguishing Burst, taking 8450 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo's Ghoulghilas has been disabled.
KTS: Rikka Takarada roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Sakura Shinguji has posed.
Sakura stares at what happens when she cuts upon Ghoulghilas at the neck. The slash rips open a space where she expected any number of things, from past experience. Alien flesh and blood, perhaps; smoke and billowing energy, maybe; maybe even a mechanical core. Instead, though, there are wires and connections -- but a void, prismatic and glowing. A space that should, after fighting so many similar things, be filled with emotion given form.
Her Kobu's tachi lowers. There is surprise, writ clear and large across her face, and she draws in a breath. "This... this isn't like the rest. How did they do this...?"
And she isn't enough, either. That twists in her stomach; it gives her a flash of doubt that she hasn't felt, not really, since the days of facing down the Hive of Darkness and the Devil Gundam. Blasts of flame shoot out -- and two of them smash into the Kobu Kai. Sakura moves off-kilter, running left into one instead of otherwise. It smashes into the right side of the Kobu, burning the pink armor black -- and then the second one picks it up. It gets pitched back into a park, leaving a deep scrape through the ground.
"Please be safe!" she answers the ZAFT Mobile Suit. Sakura doesn't fault the pilot. Her eyes shift -- to the spray of extinguishing fluid from Utsumi's unit. The Kobu Kai turns the tachi around, stabbing the sword into the earth, and then Sakura pushes the Spiricle Armor to its feet. She feels the ground shake, as the Synchrotank fires. Kobu are often susceptible to the shockwaves of weapons fire.
But it's still remarkable.
Sakura can't see Ghoulghilas's fate, as the blasts of extinguishing fluid explode from the Synchrotank's twin cannons. She is blinded from it for a moment, a cascade of its firepower blocking her sight. She smiles, though, and follows up Asuka's remark: "I think... they're more than ready for the task, NERV pilot. We should have faith in them!"
<Pose Tracker> Madrigal has posed.
Madrigal replies to Nidaime, even as those scorch marks get longer still, a bit of strain edging into her voice as the damage becomes more than she can comfortably push aside, "I'm in enough pain that I can tell it's not a dream, at least..." She considers her response and finally admits, "I don't know why I'm here. But if people are in trouble, I can't help but try to lend a hand. Or a song, because healing and inspiration and protection are what I try to use my music for."
She shakes her head at the offer to help home, replying, "I'm sure I'll find my way back eventually. Or the others will come to retrieve me. That's what Heroes do, after all. But I'd be happy to trade music lists once we finish with all of this!"
Taking a survey of the situation and noting that all but the ... very odd latecomer... seem to be down or on their last legs, and he doesn't look good either, Madrigal begins to wrap up her performance, Labriel maneuvering to a safe position out of everyone's way.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"You needn't worry about that," Kaworu reassures Alexis, unthreatened and easygoing. Some of that leaks from him, though, as Alexis goes on about letting Akane steps on pests if she wishes. Here, now, his gaze lingers on the alien, scarlet steady even as eyes narrow a hair or two. When he finally speaks, his tone is once again neutral: "Yes. So I see."
Ironically, his smile returns when Alexis makes his thoughts on Akane and Renais' friendship plainly clear. A friend who would see her, would see everything, returned to zero. "Is there something wrong with that?" he asks, tone now light, even jovial.
(It's jovial because it is, in fact, a *joke*. The humor may or may not be lost on his audience, even if it's one that's likely to actually understand it.)
His expression turns thoughtful as Renais works through her thoughts, then offers a truce. Kaworu doesn't interfere with that, but he *does* remark, of Tsutsujidai lasting that long, "I don't think you need to be concerned about that. I expect by this time tomorrow, everything will be the way it was, or very close to it."
The kaiju that had been fighting the two Evas and the two giants vanishes in the wake of their combined attacks, screaming in its wake. Ghoulghilas showers flame in one last-ditch effort to spread chaos, only to fall to cannonfire and more. And that third one, who also seeks Gridman's death... appears to be melting itself with its own beam attacks. Kaworu watches to the end, with a wistful smile at Anti's now-triumphant opponents.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
" - . . . . "
Gridman's poignant silence is broken by a flashing indicator on his forehead, which sounds out a shrill klaxon in tempo.
Assuming that Anti had been obliterated by the combined power of Gridman and Ultraman, Yuta reathes out a tired "Fuu..."
" - you all .." he looks between Geed and the Evangelions, then to the forces fighting in the distance. ". . I'm not sure why you came to Tsutsujidai," Yuta recants, "but you did fight to protect it from the kaiju. I wish I could stay longer, but my time's almost up - take care. I'll try and take your advice to heart," he says to Asuka, before saying, " - it was nice to fight alongside you all."
Max stays silent as Gridman begins to fizzle. Looking at him is like looking at a television display starting to go out, its pixels beginning to tear and turn into amorphous light and then -
Like that, Gridman vanishes.
MEANWHILE:
Yuta and Max both pop out of Junk, inside the Synchrotank. Yuta is being supported by Max so he doesn't collapse into a heap on the floor, a look of complete exhaustion on his features. " - that was really bad ..." he exclaims before sucking in another deep breath, "It's a good thing we had so much help today, otherwise things would've been even hairier, right? I'm glad you and Utsumi are alright, too." he says, smiling towards Rikka before hobbling over to his designated seat to strap in and avoid distracting Rikka from her job as the main pilot.
"W..uhm, welcome back." Calibur says quietly, while Borr gives an excited "Yeah! You and that Geed guy blew that kaiju to smithereens. Now all that's left is to clean up."
Vit chuckles, "See? What'd I tell you? Everything turned out alllll~right in the end. There's no need to get so worked up all the time."
Yuta chuckles weakly while scratching his cheek, "I don't know about that, Vit."
Max; now strapped in, rumbles out a, "The Extinguishers should do the trick. If not, Borr will have to go out."
Yuta looks over, "Yeah .. but, this Synchrotank is a product of all of our hard work .. it's the proof of the shining bond of me, Rikka, Sho .. and you guys too. It's gonna' work for sure." he affirms, optimistically.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Uh oh, Shinji thinks, as the twin beams come screaming at the two of them. Unit-01 kicks out of the way just in time as that strange 'Anti' is-
-well it's all very bright. Shinji frowns, because.
Because why? It was a killer. "But I'm a killer too." Shinji thinks aloud, "How am I any different? How are any of us? Just awkward screaming monsters chasing invisible orders."
Oh right there's still an active invasion. Shinji and Unit-01 holster their pallet rifle, giving Gridman and Ultraman a thumbs up because he saw Tetsuya do it once and it seemed to cover the emotional needs of the situation.
"I'll cover you." Shinji says, following in line with Unit-02, even as Asuka pisses their allies off and insults the local civic authorities. Hopefully Fuyutsuki doesn't hear about this. Old bastard, Shinji thinks, suddenly. "It's nice. Seeing you care about people." Shinji says before he can think better.
Ikari frowns at the question, giving Sakura's unit a little wave as if it made up for anything. "...I don't know. Misato was chewing me out, last I remember. I didn't even launch. I thought Unit-01 was acting up again. What about you? This is kind of far away for a patrol."
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
The beam does its job, but in the explosion, he fails to see the human boy hit the ground. Though he is sure he did not feel the appropriate explosion. Somehow, Riku feels that it wasn't the end of Anti, and perhaps that isn't a bad thing..?
"Mmm...is that tone what professionals here on this world have?" Ultraman Geed says towards the Unit-01 pilot, "Or perhaps you are trying to be more kind than you want to let on? I think it's better to be more honest," he continues. He finally takes a moment to look at the 'Other Ultraman'
Behind them the other Kaiju are being taken care of, so he does not need to immediately jump in. However, before he could say anything, Gridman is already talking. "I see, well...hopefully we can do so without the city being in danger.." he says, but soon Gridman is fading. Geed himself starts to fade... "I'm far too tired still.." he says, and the light fades out of Geed. Those paying attention might see a young man in a blue jacket, orange shirt, and blue jeans.
In his hand is the Z-Raiser, and he ducks into a nearby street. There are still giant robots around. No need to get in their way. Besides, he's extremely hungry, thirsty, and in terrible need of a nap.
KTS: Madrigal orders an all-out attack, raising Nidaime's Skill!
<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
Eight answers that the turtle helped her before. ... it almost sounds so matter of factly, like she didn't even blink at a giant turtle appearing out of nowhere to help her! That's just one of the things that makes Eight really impressive... she's very worldly.
Her eyes widen when the Custom's particle cannons wash over the ship-- for a moment, she imagines... no, sees the worst--
But the crew of the Ra Mari aren't to be trifled with, as the ship swerves to one side and she instead is the one struggling to hang onto the side of the combat deck after her melee manoeuvre.
Sanary calls her 'Arri' in turn, pauses to consider that. But more importantly, she says she's got her back... or flank? falnk? "... um, okay!" She also doesn't know what a flank is. Positionals? Pssh, not in this Zeta.
The Ichinana rushes in with powerful, phenomenal force -- and the giant Turtle Dad (Arriety doesn't know it's a dad yet, but somehow, it feels like the kind of turtle that might make dad jokes...) cronches in turn! A-are they going to succeed...? But...
What about that awful pressure from the pilot?
Sanshiro shouts about his promotion again, followed by a strange noise. His feelings? His feelings... if he just kills Gridman, he can be promoted...
"I don't know... I don't know! I don't know how adults get this way... I've seen -- no -- felt this way before, about some of the adults in my life... they get so obsessed about their jobs, about their money, about their status..."
The Zakrello-claws rise again and smash into her again, and the armour on the Zeta's arms just flat out fail and pieces of white and blue metal are sent flying whole; here defenses breached, the beams start to skew out towards her, laces across the chest compartment of the Zeta, leaving thin orange lines of fire that rock at her cockpit and send her shrieking.
<<WARNING, WARNING, COCKPIT INTEGRITY COMPROMISED>>
(Myrme attempts to grab some of it as it falls out as a snack because the Ra Mari rule is she can't eat her armour but any debris is fair game. She fails, mooooou).
Arriety's eyes are a swirl as she coughs from some of the smoke that's managed to escape through the sealant and into the cockpit itself; the emanations are extremely bad, extremely confused... this kind of adult...
"Old dramas...?? I don't get what you're saying at all... life isn't some kind of TV show...! It's not anime!"
Her heart clenches hard, and her mind is literally swimming against the dark emanations coming from the Nostalgia. This isn't about what he's doing, or his machine anymore, this is...
"I get it... the world that's done nothing but step on you... the world that tells you to work day and night until your bones break, just so you can have some validation......."
Then, something weird happens.
The Myrmekes Zeta is... burning.
It's burning, burning, burning...!! It burns with a fire that touches nothing, consumes nothing. It is raw, crude psychic fire. It's very distinct to Eight, perhaps, and Arriety's signature is in the very midst of that fire, smouldering.
Arriety is crying. She doesn't even realise she's crying. How did it come to this, today? She was expecting to just touch down on Earth, at most, see what a real ocean is like... hug Rena a whole lot... spend time with her friends...
Now she's crying for someone whose name she doesn't even know.
"What other choice do you have but to lash out?? The way you've ended up...!! I..."
The Zeta's arm instinctively rears upwards. The Mega Beam Sword fulminates outward, in the shape of an enormous blade of psyco-fire. The beams of the Custom continue to speckle and spark against her, but the flame seems to have a limited effect in devouring them. She has no time.
"And what choice do I... I... the world is making me do this... aaaaah...!!!"
The blade descends in tune with her raw, monstrous scream; it is heavy and slow, laced with raw emotion -- it bends unwillingly against the very gravity of the situation it's pitted against, whiplike in shape. It is aimed centre and true to the Custom, weightless and yet infinite in weight.
It is a sign. Another sign.
KTS: Arriety Hearn has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Arriety Hearn has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Arriety Hearn targets Dr. Spartura with Hyper Beam Sword - Full Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Assessing the situation from her perch in the air above the buildings, Captain York continues to watch the situation unfolding as she issues orders to her crew. She does not realize that Sanary doesn't know the meaning of the word 'flank'--she just sees Sanary helping, and calls out, "Right--I'm still with you!" Situation: Ghoulgilas is spouting flames everywhere, and Captain York sure doesn't have the equipment to put out fires with the ships' cannons. Anti is suddenly gone, so that's one down at least. And the last... the last is exploding as far as she can tell. She's going to have to do something about that. As she looks, the chatter below washes over her, and she focuses--on the Gridman Alliance, working to contain the fires.
"Rezza--progress on the evacuation?"
"We've gotten those we can, ma'am. We just need a safe place to set them back down, away from the wreckage."
"Got it. I'll ask this 'Gridman Alliance' where to take them. For now..."
She looks down to the Spartura Custom, and says, "Mr. Astelian--lay down scattering particles on the surrounding area down there. We've got to contain these blasts!"
"On it!" he answers, and starts tapping away at his console, working the controls until beam-shielding particles start to rain down on the part of the city the Spartura occupies. The shuttles meanwhile prepare to take off again, covered by the Arriety's protection. Arriety, who... who is burning. It is very distinct to Eight indeed, and she almost stands up, stopped only by her seatbelts. "Arriety!" she calls over the radio. "Be careful! Are you all right!?" She watches Arriety lash out with the power she has, and that monstrous scream. Eight wonders--for another moment--if she did the right thing, asking her to fight.
She has to tear herself from staring; once she's safely put out as much help as she can Eight comms over the comms to Rikka and Sho. "Gridman Alliance. I need a place to take these civilians away from the wreckage--if you have a place in mind, please transmit the coordinates and we'll be on it. I can also offer you repairs if you need."
Gridman... has vanished. Eight's not sure what's up with that.
"...Please pass on to Gridman that we were glad to help." If confused about being here in the first place... And by Ultraman disappearing, too.
"Ra Mari calling Myrmekes Zeta. Respond?"
Did she do the right thing after all...?
Eight_York Attacks Arriety Hearn, Sanary Rondel, and Nidaime with Scatter
KTS: Eight York scatters cover, making Arriety Hearn harder to target!
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Alexis begins to float away from both Kaworu and Renais, along the ground. His expression is, for the moment, unreadable -- not a single teal panel is lit. It's as if his mouth has closed, for a moment, in thought.
Eventually, he affirms, "Very well. I offer you no protection, but neither shall I hinder you in this place, bringer of the dawn. It can be respite for you, as much as it is for her." He looks Renais over, musing, "... The two of you are much alike, in that way."
Even headless, Ghoulghilas continues to move. It continues to weave, and wobble, through the world. There's so much heat -- but nothing to it, no substance. Rikka extinguishes it at full blast. The hole in Ghoulghilas's neck fills with water, and -- no longer empty -- it collapses.
There is a great blast of steam, all at once, as water and fire meet. And when it clears: there is nothing. No sign of Ghoulghilas's passing through the world -- save, of course, the destruction it has left behind.
Kaworu's rejoinder gets a laugh. "Nature *does* love a rhyme as much as it abhors a vacuum," he says, looking up at the fighting as it draws to a close. "But I don't think there's much poetry in the three of us. If you'd excuse me," Alexis says, "I have a household to take care of."
He translates past a corner of the sluice gate. He is gone.
Akane hurls her tablet across the room and huffs. "If it had just stayed us, we could have crushed Gridman and picked those dumb little mobile suits apart," Akane grumbles. "This sucks. If things are going to just -- come in and out whenever they want, I guess I'll have to get Anti to go solve my 'outside' problems for me..."
She kicks the trash can again, bitterly. "Ugh. And I blew as much skipping as I could get away with this week already, too."
She gets up out of her chair, and flops back into the nice, familiar trash, restored by the Venora last night, at last. It's a good vantage for sulking.
<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.
As the extinguishing fluid fails to harm Ghoulghilas, Sho seems more upset about Asuka's response, an indignant tone. "Professionals? Gridman's been the only one fighting these things, we can't leave it to people who don't show up! Be more active next time!" He tsks, slumping back in his cockpit and muttering towards himself. "Will they even remember this tomorrow?"
As Rikka performs the finishing blow, however, he cheers over radio. "Gridman Alliance, irregulars - good work! Teamwork triumphs!" He moves to pose a fist in the air, and the fried joints cause the shield arm to falter instead. He'll need to reinforce those ASAP for heat...
And so, he sends a signal to the Ra Mari. "Captain, this is the Phormocannon's pilot - I know this might be a lot to ask, but can we get repairs? Our machines are pretty rough around the edges, heh..." He sounds like an awkward teenager, with the adrenaline wearing off. Is he...a child soldier?
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Behind Rikka, Max and Yuta emerge from junk. The situation seems... safe enough at the moment, for a given value of 'safe', so she turns away from the battle just briefly to offer the both of them a smile.
"Welcome back, you two." She replies, and then nods. "...Yeah, I don't know where they came from, but between two kaiju, we would've been in trouble with just us... It's a good thing we got these mobile suits ready in time."
If Yuta had gone out there alone, what would have happened...? It's a terrible thought that she doesn't really want to entertain. Fortunately, Yuta chases away those thoughts with a positive statement!
"...Yeah. For sure." She agrees with a nod.
Utsumi puts out a victory call... but Rikka winces as the shield arm falters.
"...Yeah, good work, everyone. And... thanks." Rikka replies. But then there's Captain Eight's response, and that makes Rikka think for a minute.
"Hold on, uh... I think I saw them bringing all the evacuees over here?" Rikka replies to Eight, sending over some coordinates. She can't be entirely sure... but it's close enough. Utsumi tells Eight that he'll need repairs, and Rikka nods. "We'll be coming too, then. And... we'll pass your message along to Gridman."
...Rikka looks pointedly to Yuta and Junk, at that. It's a good thing the video transmission isn't on.
<Pose Tracker> Sakura Shinguji has posed.
Sakura watches the burst of steam -- and sees it fade, Ghoulghilas gone. There is still damage to the city, and that leaves a cold feeling in her chest. She manages to keep her expression a little neutral, though; they were here, and they made it better than it could have been. She can live with that -- even if these people will probably always remember today.
(She doesn't hear what Utsumi says, for better or worse.)
She sits up, a little straighter, in her Kobu Kai's cockpit, and then does a quick, smooth motion to sheathe her tachi. "Thank you, Gridman Alliance. I'm glad you were here. I have some questions, when we have a moment!"
Then, Sakura looks back at the Ra Mari. She considers for a second. No, she decides. Commander Yoneda and Vice Commander Fujieda would be very cross if she gave Londo Bell mechanics an extended look at her Kobu Kai. "I don't have clearance to board, Captain York, but I appreciate your assistance."
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais grips her gauntlet with her other hand, adjusting it idly. She nods slowly to Alexis. "... thank you," she says with a nod. At least she won't have to worry about telling Akane, yet...
She lifts an eyebrow at his comparison, and looks toward Kaworu as Alexis leaves. She looks significantly more relaxed than she did before, and approaches Kaworu with her hands in her pockets. "So this is Akane Shinjo's world, is it? Made with the help uf that Alexis Kerib. A world full of kaiju..." She chuckles softly, looking over the ruined ward across the lake. "I guess that makes sense. She seems to like them a lot."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Sakura over the comms says something about having faith in them. "Don't be stupid. You think we can just put our faith in anyone who manages to hold their own a little? That kind of thinking would have left this city a smoking crater." Sho's outrage though causes her to flip over the comms, "It's not our fault if your city can't get its act together! Shouldn't contacting us be the first thing you do - before you complain about our response times? I haven't seen a single report of a Kaiju attack in your area! What's with that? Sounds to me like your weird militia group is just trying to handle everything by yourselves!"
Asuka is the last person who should be throwing stones about someone trying to show independence but... there it is, her double standard is apparent only to herself.
Whereas Gridman himself says it's nice to fight alongside them all. Asuka, tries not to focus on the idea of how he felt it was nice to fight alongside her. Instead asking... "Because it's my mission. Your time's almost up? What's that even mean?" She asks suspiciously, "Does your mobile weapon have an activation limit or something?"
And then he vanishes like some amorphous light and pixels
"...What?"
The pilot pauses for a moment, considering how that just happened.
"... What exactly is a 'Gridman' anyway?"
She pauses to contemplate it for a while, before trotting off alongside Shinji, "Your way of thinking is all backwards if you think you're a killer. And I don't need your cover..."
Evangelion Unit-02 suddenly pauses in its walk. Shinji suddenly sees the unit's sensors focus on him as she says, "What's the hell is that supposed to mean anyway Daddy's Boy!? It just makes handling a Kaiju tougher if my Eva can't even take a step without there being civilians being underfoot. Do you know how much paperwork I'd be saddled with if you accidentally stepped on someone???"
In her eyes, it's the duty of the elite to protect the ignorant masses... but she doesn't say that, perhaps because she's a bit embarrassed. Because she doesn't remember how she got here.
"Also what do you mean about that? I was deployed here of course."
She says quickly, covering for the fact she doesn't remember. She'd never live it down if she told him that she'd fallen asleep synched up to her Eva.
<Pose Tracker> Sakura Shinguji has posed.
"Hmm," Sakura says, looking at her communicator screen. She looks at Asuka Shikinami Langley for a long moment. She is a veteran of the Axis Shock and the Devil Gundam conflicts; she has battled demons and kaiju, fought against terrorists, and learned about fighting on the battlefield from experience. And through all of that...
...she can still be kind of catty, if rankled.
So she smiles sweetly at Sakura. "It sounds like someone has a lot of things to work out! Good luck with that!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Yuta looks sheepish and Gridman, from Junk's screen, makes a forced but mild coughing noise. It really was good that there was no video display for that conversation, huh?
But - if those soldiers start asking questions, we should get our story straight.
Max speaks up, once he's sure that they won't be overheard on radio, "The truth about Gridman .. it'd probably be best if that didn't come to light."
Yuta looks up, "Uhm? Well, I don't really disagree .. but also, it wouldn't be terrible if the Federation knew, right?"
Max's eyes trail to the side in order to look at him, and Yuta blinks in confusion at the odd - cautious glint there. "Max?"
Calibur puts a hand to his stubble laden chin, "..er...yes..I - agree with that .. it's safer that way."
Borr, with a mild look of irritation, or maybe just frustration, looks to the side. "Yeah, uh. They don't seem like bad guys. But you still don't have your memories ... so spilling too many beans could get you wrapped up in all kinds of stuff you shouldn't be focused on, you know? Besides, it'd also put your buds in a bad spot."
Vit didn't feel the need to open his mouth to say anything, so he opens it to yawn instead.
"Oh..." Yuta murmurs, looking down thoughtfully, like an admonished puppy. " ... right. It wouldn't just affect me."
"It'd put all of us in a tight jam. So ... I think we should probably stick to saying that we're a support team that came together to help Gridman when he needed it ... and that Gridman contacts us through Junk when he needs help. I think that's simple enough that we can all keep it in mind, even if I don't feel good about lying to the people who just helped us."
"I'll...relay t-that. To Utsumi." Calibur says.
<Pose Tracker> Sanary Rondel has posed.
Things sound like they're quieting down elsewhere. It's not quieting down as much where the Ground Attack Nostalgia is, but that does mean it's a little easier to focus on what he's actually saying instead of just trying to beat the everloving shit out of his machine.
<<"Were you expecting it to be fair?">> When Sanary responds to Sanshiro this time around, it's not as heated as before. There's an almost understanding tone in her voice, even if it's also steeped heavily in a more brusque and scolding tone that's still clearly hiding some anger, but not necessarily directed at him. <<"Not everyone's gonna be fast enough to get in front. Or strong enough. Smart enough. There's always going to be someone better than us, but so what?">>
Even though the Custom looks like it's falling apart, it's still functioning, and it's still firing. Sanary's Ichinana breaks into a run again, turned sideways to let that energy crash into its shield and around its limbs instead of tanking it center mass. The shield and part of the Ichinana's arm melt from that searing beam, but the sprint continues.
<<"You ever think about building shit instead? It's a hell of a lot more useful than this, and then everybody knows you're the one that did it!">>
She feels it again. That panicked feeling. That anxiety preceding another freakout, but that's all wrong. Where is that coming from? Why is it happening at all? Is she just projecting her own feelings on that screaming man again? Or is she reading too much into what Arrieta's saying about jobs and adults and money?
It's probably got a lot to do with that. <<"I'll... Explain the best I can later, Arri. But this guy... He could've been like...!">>
No, that's not right. She could've been like him, if not for the opportunity she got here. Things could have been so different, and she could have been... Crying?
That's not right, either. Why does she feel like crying now? Sanary's finding herself getting more overwhelmed by so many confusing emotions suckerpunching one after the other, and she has to turn her Ichinana around briefly in a wider arc just to avoid running right into the Zeta.
<<"Arri? What's... Are you okay in there?">> Even without realizing it, Sanary can see those flames. The gutpunches are distorting her vision more than her eye patch ever could, but she still sees that flaming blade coming down at the Custom. It's only then that she realizes that there's only one possible outcome at this point unless something big happens.
The Ichinana boosts forward, hand outstretched and aimed right for the GAN's cockpit. Its fingers are opened, prepared to tear that entire thing out while the rest of the machine keeps surging forward, likely crashing to the ground afterwards.
Whether the speed of the Ichinana's boosters are enough to overcome the Zeta's swing, whether Sanary's skill with directing the machine's hands are enough to not crush the cockpit in the process or just punch it outright, and even the ensuing crash to the ground afterwards line up right is another matter entirely.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
It isn't any of Kaworu's concern what becomes of Alexis and Renais' "truce"; it is, nonetheless, good to know the outcome. He does, all the same, regard Alexis thoughtfully at his opinion that the three of them lack poetry. He doesn't press the matter, though, merely watching him translate away for a moment. He then turns his attention to Renais. His hands have been in his pockets this whole time. That's just his normal.
"Correct," he replies, because there's no point in not confirming what's already been established. He gazes out with her at the battlefield--specifically, where the giant of light had been; where now a young man in a jacket remains. Something to follow up with later, perhaps. "You're taking the news well. It's nice to see. Are you going to talk to her about it later?"
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
"Okay! I'll see you!" Nidaime tells Madrigal.
During a moment where attention is off of her, she is--
--Well she's no longer present. She has darted off somewhere else.
MEANWHILE
TURTLE is having a bad day. The GAN pummels the Giant Turtle with a slew of lasers!!
And pink smoke erupts around it, gradually growing in breadth and intensity, envelopign even the very big boy turtle until it's utterly subsumed by the smoke.
And when it dissipitates, the turtle is, in fact, missing as well. As if it was never really here...
Cowabunga...
SHORTLY AFTER
Nidaime passes by some rubble. She too is alone, at this point, just herself and her music.
She hears someone say 'Shit!' and--She turns to look.
She looks at the angry boy.
She watches the boy fall flat on his face into the ground.
"................" Nidaime doesn't say anything but she does stare. She has never seen anybody quite like that boy, nobody except for her anyway.
Grid... man... I hate you.
Nidaime covers her face with both hands and runs off. IT'S A BOY! AHHH!!!
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"What about anything I'm saying is kind? Are you trying to piss me off?! I'm being real honest about how I'm tired about amateurs..."
Ultraman Geed fades, and Asuka double takes, not seeing the young man below.
"... where'd you go!? I'm not finished chewing you out!"
It happened again? What kind of tech has this city developed for this 'Gridman Alliance'? Is it something illegal? Not her job to enforce it but still-!
Whereas Sakura over the comms comes on the viewscreen, "Are you picking a fight with me!?" She says, not unfamiliar with girls being catty at her. "Who even are you?"
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais nods to Kaworu. "It's honestly one of the less weird things to happen in the last month." She pauses thoughtfully. "...er. Five years. Travelling to another universe to stop rogue caretaker-programs from destroying your universe so they can prolong the life of theirs..." She looks over at the white-haired boy, "It's a fairly high bar."
<Pose Tracker> Madrigal has posed.
Madrigal blinks as Nidaime just... vanishes. Shaking her head, she mutters, "Curiouser and curiouser..." before she hovers Labriel over to the gathering of apparently equally confused people who came here by Mysterious Means...
Various people get a wave, and Madrigal announces herself with a simple, "GGG, Labriel and Madrigal, uh... present. Sorry I didn't announce myself earlier, I was a bit busy chatting with a local and singing. Also getting scorched a mite. Good thing we're built tough." A pause, and then, "... so, did anyone else go to bed and wake up in the middle of a fight scene out of a kaiju movie?"
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
"... kind of funny in a way, how futile it all was," Renais adds.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Shinji twitches a little because it's different when other people get on their cases about their crippling personal flaws. Wow that's weird, Shinji then thinks.
Wait Asuka is yelling at him. "...you don't have to do my paperwork." Shinji says to Asuka's argument, Unit-01 waggling its finger in her face. "Anyway you don't have to get in my face just because you thought about something other than military accolades and your gamer score for a second."
"...maybe Gridman is a kind of Ultraman? We should ask the STORAGE guys." Shinji offers, again switching from being visibly, sullenly annoyed with the girl to talking like they've been working together for years. Then she starts yelling at Sakura.
Shinji realizes he has no idea who this woman is. Maybe she is a vigilantie?! "Asuka!" Shinji says, as she starts getting riled, "It's a trap! Think of the paperwork!"
<Pose Tracker> Sakura Shinguji has posed.
Sakura remains entirely sweet in expression and voice. Her eyebrow twitches a little, though.
"Sakura Shinguji!" she says. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I have some experience in these matters, though I can't say I'm a veteran. But I think they did very well, and everyone has to start somewhere. Now... I should really be getting back. I hope to speak with you soon, Gridman Alliance!"
The Kobu's steam engines groan -- and then there is a blast of steam, before the Kobu Kai starts away from the center of Tsutsujidai.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
Kaworu chuckles as Renais paints a colorful picture of her escapades from her point of view. It really is nice to see friendships that aren't torn apart by things like who's creating worlds and who's destroying them. Futility, though... He understands that feeling, which is why he neither agrees nor disagrees with it.
"It certainly is," he says instead. "Are you going to tell her about *you*?"
However she responds, he gracefully slips down to sit on the edge of the gate, one leg dangling from the wall, one arm crooked on a knee. "Either way, I'll be staying here a while longer. I'd like to see for myself how Shinjo-san goes about fixing the city. Would you care to join me, or are you going to head straight to her?"
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
The megaparticles fountain outwards. Enormous, unceasing. It is enough to drive off a great beast, even if it must resort to a secretive jutsu to do so. But better to flee in the cover of pink smoke than be within eyesight of an enormous detonation of a microfusion reactor being abused to the point of complete I-Field breakdown, right?! Could even something as enormous as Anousilos survive that? Perhaps... but the wounds would be grievous indeed. And he is a turtle with responsibilities?
The beams distort underneath the ambient interference from the Ra Mari's emissions. Arietty can feel antipathy rising from the cockpit of the machine. He is defiant now. It is the sort of dark mood that can be confining and stifling when you face it alone. Many have. It's a spiking, rising pressure. She's weeping for him and
In a flash
The pain changes. That pressure suddenly distorts, dilates -- the emotional equivalent of that feeling when the blood pressure cuff goes loose -- as the Ichinana stabs fingers inwards. The metal of the heavily customized Mobile Suit distorts. She applies her force, and
Is that a horn section? No, it's just a distortion of the air. The cockpit block is made of sterner stuff - it rips away and there are far, far too many cables coming out of it but they break and snap and melt and ignite. Buried inside of it, if Sanary looks, she can see some sort of waving of arms - deliberate motion from the pilot?! At least, something --
Dive! Flee! The Nostalgia slumps to its shoulders just as Arriety's commitment shows true. There is a burst of detonation but it is the mere explosive release of compressed particles, unpleasant to be sure and dangerous to stand *near* but hardly the burst feared in the bowels of Jaburo. And the machine, afterwards, is silent.
LATER:
The pilot of the enemy machine has had radical cybernetic surgery with advanced black market equipment. But it was high quality -- interlayered bio-control chips were driving him on... and now, they are his salvation! Dental records will confirm the identity as Sanshiro Fuma, salesman at Treasure Robotics, now a week behind the rent on his salaryman apartment.
Fuma is unable to give a statement, but will -- with aid -- survive to a Nouvelle Tokyo hospital ward. From there, perhaps, he will recover. And the augmentations are not so radical that it is beyond hope that he could have something to say.
Perhaps more hopeful - or at least, more of a relief - is that for now, the sense of malice, anger, and selfishness does not come from the man. For few are evil in a dreamless sleep; though we may ask, what dreams may come.
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
Somewhere, in an alley:
"That the last of it, Doc?" says the big, stocky man as he finishes pushing in the last flat-packed piece of mobile equipment. He wipes his forehead, with a soft sound of metal on metal.
"Fuuuuuuuuhhhhhh," says Dr. Dorothy Spartura, slouching back against the hand truck. "Anything that's left, we can leave to the hobos."
"You got a light?" the big man asks.
"Oh, good idea. One moment," she says, before adjusting a prosthetic hand. Moments later, a thin cigarette and a cheap cigar from Side 3's domestic industry are ignited in the dark of the alley. When the blue electric flame dies, dark returns, despite the small red spots.
Dr. Spartura is meditatively silent for a few moments. Then: "So how do you feel about it?"
"Hm?" says the big man.
"About our office boy."
"Sucks to be him."
"That's an interesting perspective," the doctor answers. "What makes you say that?"
"What are you, a psychologist?"
"No, I'm an allergist," she answers, and there is brief, raucous laughter. (Shared, for whatever reason.) Afterwards, another moment, and:
"'course I think it's too bad. I knew the kid growing up. If you'd asked me to make the call? Probably would've gone with Ngombe for this job, not him. But that's just a little bit of sentimentality," says the big man. "I'll have a drink to him when we're in space, away from the heat."
Dr. Spartura takes a lingering drag: as she breathes out, she says, "That's all? He was your brother, you know."
"We had the same mom, same dad, sure," says the big man.
"A man like you, you should be mourning him," Dr. Spartura says: "Swearing vengeance on that Gundam, on the giant turtle (I'm impressed by the turtle). On that Ichinana, or on that starship. All the federal forces. Heaven itself, the world, I don't know! He's your precious little baby brother. I've seen your records, we had that conversation! Even if you hated him - he's your toy to beat up, isn't he? That's the role a big brother takes. You reach in and you intervene, even if you're just wanting to keep your goat all to yourself."
The big man is silent for a while.
"... I guess he stopped being my brother," he says, the joy out of his electronic voice. "Hmpfh. Waiting til he's a roast chicken tender to make me feel guilty about it. Would'a been some guy out of the next Titans, with that kid's Napoleon complex, anyway. Would've probably screwed himself over, so he'd get to go out feeling pissy. Least this way he got a few licks in."
"In-ter-es-ting~."
"Ah, shit, you're gonna get like this all the way to the elevator. Hell with you, Dr. Zabi, I'm ridin' in the back now," the big man says, climbing up and pulling the door down. "Don't make any hard lefts!" are the final words of JIRO FUMA.
After another meditative drag, Dr. Spartura says, "Is that all things are? We just move throughout our life and we acquire our own personalized assortment of chains - taking some off, putting on others, letting some rest tight and others loose? Is there no way to break them, just to step out and leave them scattered on the floor, for someone else to crush underfoot?"
"But if we step on them enough... won't they break?"
("You talking to your tapeworm or something?" says the big man in the back of the truck. "We're gonna miss our slot. Dr. Spartura cackles, slaps the door, and gets into the driver's seat; and from there, into the Nouvelle Tokyo traffic interchanges, thence to the cargo ferry to Orb, and thence... Who can say?)
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
"Mm. Some of it," says Renais. "Most people aren't going to agree that nonexistence is in their best interest unless they're exposed to the Dawn themselves, and... well. That's a risk too." She looks down toward him at his question, and slips down to his level. "I think I'll wait with you. I only know one place to meet her, and... I doubt she'll be going out for coffee while her city's on fire."
<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.
Arriety can't hear what Sanary's saying to Sanshiro, but she can somehow... feel a trace of it. That she's not the only one who finds something familiar, and yet deeply unjust about this, how one wrong turn and they could've been there...
"...!"
Her wet, tearful eyes spot the Ichinana ripping open the GAN's cockpit, moments before the psychic emanation comes down on the rest of the machine. The sensation of a release valve escaping, that dark mood so reflective of hers disappearing... Just a moment slower and--
You could've killed him.
You could've killed -her-.
You could've killed... people.
Arriety's cockpit is red.
It's red from all the warning lights going off; it's red from the smouldering embers of the flames still happening around the cockpit that the automatic suppression systems haven't gotten to;
It's red from her vision, at present.
It's a little while before--
Arriety!
Arri?
Before she hears--
Be careful! Are you all right?!
What's... are you okay in there?
Eight's voice-- Sanary's voice. Eight's voice. Sanary's voice. Eight's voice.
Outside, the Myrmekes suddenly cools; the flames wick away as if blown on harsh winds, and the mobile suit is none the worse for it, save for what damage the Custom has already done to it.
Ra Mari calling Myrmekes Zeta. Respond?
"I--"
Arriety chokes, for a moment; she can't make more than a strangled little noise.
"S-sorry... Miss Sanary, Eight... I, I really don't know what happened. Everything just started... um, happening on its own..."
She doesn't realise Myrme herself has gone quite silent. But the kaiju has been ruminating upon this, upon the feelings brought to the fore... speaking of kaiju, the turtle's disappeared in a puft of smoke!
"Is he, is he going to be okay? Thank goodness you got him out in time, Miss Sanary..." She's been so distracted with the internality of their own struggle that she's missed... where did that Giant go? What's going to happen to the Gridman Alliance now?
"Um... the robot is complaining about a lot of things, Eight... I think Mister Orlodhari is going to be upset..."
Is this... an example of the kind of life she's going to be living, if she continues? Can she do it... will she break under the pressure? This life that Eight, Rena, Minae, Anita and Callie have given her...
Where should she take it?
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Myrmekeys Zeta, respond!" Eight continues to talk over the radio--but Arriety answers eventually, and Eight sits back in her seat. This is if anything even more a relief than the neutralization of tha target--and later, she will be looking into what happened there, to be sure, learning of this man and his strange surgeries. The machine goes silent, and--
"...It's okay, Arriety," she says. "You did really good." A beat, "Mr. Orlodhari will manage," she says, with a relieved laugh. "Just come on home."
With relief she focuses on the others. "Not a problem, Phormocannon." Captain York is actually pretty sure the ship's quartermaster will be upset about their using limited budget supplies on a bunch of people they've never met, but the nice part of being the Captain is that she gets to make that call regardless. Besides...
He sounds awfully young, now that she listens to him. And that makes her wonder.
Rikka handles the matter of the location, so Eight replies to her, "Thank you. We'll send our shuttles there." Pause. "All right, we'll pick up you and your machines." She'll get coordinates to meet at, and finish up covnersation with the others, and... well, eventually, get her ship away from here. Wherever here is.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
Kaworu smiles a genuine smile over at Renais as she takes a seat near him on the edge of the sluice gate. He doesn't speak further; enough has been said for now. He instead regards the city, waiting until the time of renewal comes at last. Perhaps then, he'll speak up once more.
Hey, at least Renais doesn't have to worry about making small talk.
<Pose Tracker> Sanary Rondel has posed.
Somehow, the cokcpit comes free. It doesn't get crushed even after the Ichinana crashes into the ground behind the detonating unit, shielding the pilot from harm while Sanary lays still in her seat with an utterly drained everything.
Why did she even do that? It would've been so much easier to leave that guy to this fate. It certainly would have been safer, and nobody would even blame her for it. The only person that might have been blamed for anything happening would be the guy himself for being involved in this mess.
She hears Arriety, and she hears Eight. She hears many other voices, including those of.. Are those kids? Teenagers at most, but she can't tell who or where they are. There's even some strangers observing the whole situation from further off, but she won't be finding out about them anytime soon.
At the very least, though, she can at least try to reassure at least one person nearby.
<<"Don't... Don't worry about it, Arri. You're fine, I'm fine, Eight's fine, turtle...">> Wait. Where did that turtle go, anyway? The Ichinana sits up to take stock of the situation, but there's only that smoke where she had last seen the turtle kaiju.
<<"... The turtle's probably okay, too. And...!">> She checks the cockpit in her Ichinana's hand, being careful not to jostle it or flip it around or anything to make sure it's not leaking. <<"He'll be fine.">> She doesn't know for sure, but she sounds like she does. <<"Do you need a...? Uh. I don't even know. Yeah, I could use a lift, Captain. Thanks for the...">>
Sanary's so tired right now. She just needs a minute to rest her eyes and her mind. <<"If you need me, just... Buzz or something? Or if you got anything to eat.">>