2023-08-19: Creation

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<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Last time, on SRTMOO:

Alexis glances back at the Wadatsumi, drawing forth his spear. The teal panels of his face blink on and off in their usual dance. "... There's nothing of value here anymore," he concludes. "And this universe could do with thinner walls."

In the next instant, he holds his spear.

In the next instant, he pierces the Galeoria Pliers with it; they pop apart into their component Carpenters, just as the first Vessel of Light to concern himself with this space did nearly two years ago.

Reality begins to flicker and shift. While the world doesn't instantly destabilize to the extent it did in December, unoccupied buildings flicker motherboard-green, and time and space distort...


Tsutsujidai's tenuous connection to reality flickers. Alexis slowly floats toward a breach in that connection... but only slowly. Some part of him isn't satisfied with the chaos he's wrought up to this point. This exercise began, after all, with the ultimate goal of getting free hits on Gridman.

He'd like it to end that way, too.

Tsutsujidai itself has once again started reverting to its prior state. While its denizens have gotten much better at finding their way to safer spaces, and the deterioration of the Computer World actually makes it quite easy to see what those spaces are (since they're not flickering back to the familiar green, blue, and black of Computer World traces)... Alexis already casually destroyed the Galeoria Pliers because they made such a lovely target.

Surely he would destroy other targets, too.

He hovers away, thus -- waiting for the chance to deliver one more cruelty to a world with nothing of value left in it.
Knight teleports in.
POT: Knight is now set observer. 

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

At Junk Shop Aya, five voices, five hearts, join as one. Behind the counter, the Junk Shop's proprietor watches them with a smile.

"...Good luck." Orie Takarada bids them, as they all disappear into Junk in a flash of light.

Moments later Rikka Takarada, out of breath from running all the way from the Wadatsumi, appears in the doorway. She takes a moment to breathe, casting a quick glance around the room. By this point, Utsumi has made it back to the Aya already, sitting at the counter watching Junk with a frown. He looks up, rotating his seat her way.

"Did-" Rikka starts, stopping to take a moment to catch her breath. "Did you find them?"

Utsumi shakes his head.

"...No. Neither of them." He replies, then nods toward Junk. "The five of them already left."

At that point, Gridman's voice rings out from Junk.

"Enter the battle code! The access code is..."

They both know what it is. But it's Utsumi who voices it.

"...Gridman." Utsumi finishes. With a nod Rikka approaches, typing in the letters... and when she finishes new text appears on-screen -

Special Signature to Save a Soul

Rikka's eyes open wide, and she breathes in as she watches Gridman's status screen blaze to life.

"That access code was..." She starts.

"This is the true Access Flash... this is the true form of Gridman!" Utsumi shouts.

Seeing this... Rikka finally feels a glimmer of hope in her heart.

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        On the ground, Anti bleeds. On the ground, Knight cannot protect Akane. On the ground, there's a kaiju. On the ground...

        ... a Hyper Agent lifts his arm to the tortured sky, Acceptor glinting strong. Knight learned how to hear their screaming hearts. And his.

        "... access... flash..."

        Another drop which shouldn't bleeds out. Another moment passes, and his consciousness does, too.

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"ALEXIS KERIB!"

Blue electricity, arcing between buildings like lightning between the clouds, emanates from a disturbance in reality. More and more of Tsutsujidai begins to return to the Computer World. Now, when she needs her protector most of all, he can't be late!

In the space between worlds, sky-blue energy radiates from the gemstone in the Giant of Light's chest. Armor breaks away from his body. All this time, he had counted on it for protection, but it held him back, making his body slow and heavy. It wasn't his true self.

Max, Calibur, Borr, and Vit -- their individuality fades. Each splinter of Gridman's soul is reunited, healed by the blue light from their True Access Flash.

Far across Tsutsujidai from Junk Shop Aya, the Giant of Light thunders into being, one fist raised to the sky. Memories race through his mind, as if some barrier has been broken. Abilities he never knew he had. Strengths he hadn't known to count on.

This is what he's meant to be.

Lightning crackles around Gridman, gold and blue, as he takes a fighting stance in front of Alexis Kerib. He has no weapons, he has no armor. They won't be needed, now that he's rediscovered his true self. 

KTS: You have not deployed a robot. (see +deploy)
625: Kyodai Alexis Kerib
317: Kyodai Alexis Kerib (Empty)

KTS: Alexis Kerib has deployed in Kyodai Alexis Kerib.
FPT: Lightly Loaded Bonus=2

KTS: Weapon: Black Hole Organ
KTS: Weapon: Scourge
KTS: Nameless Beam: 4200 Magic,Ranged,Leader,Initiation
KTS: Ever-Burning Flame: 3850 Magic,Melee,Leader,Crushing,Unlimited
KTS: Destruction Beam: 4600 Magic,Ranged,MAP,Formation
KTS: Black Hole Beam: 5300 Magic,Ranged,Accurate,Barrier Breaker
KTS: The Power of Lives Unlimited: 6800 Physical,Melee,Finisher,Initiation,Unlimited
KTS: Scourge: 7000 Magic,Melee,Penetrating,Crushing,Ship-Killer,Accurate,Unlimited,Initiation
KTS: Lance Pierce: 2500 Magic,Melee,Penetrating,Barrier Breaker,Accurate,Unlimited
KTS: Stagnation: 4700 Magic,Melee,Penetrating,Barrier Breaker,Rattle,Anchor,Unlimited
KTS: Twin Sword Strike: 4000 Physical,Melee,Penetrating
KTS: Single Sword Strike: 3500 Physical,Melee,Accurate
KTS: Sword Hammerblow: 5800 Physical,Melee,Crushing,Initiation
KTS: Pommel Strike: 3100 Physical,Melee,Rattle
KTS: Bladed Dash: 3100 Physical,Melee,Initiation
KTS: Demoralize: 0 Ranged,Passive,Special,Debuff
KTS: Despirit: 0 Ranged,Passive,Special,Debuff
KTS: Goad: 0 Ranged,Passive,Special,Debuff
KTS: Pass: 0 Ranged,Passive,All-Range
There is no scene set.

KTS: Gridman has deployed in SSSS.GRIDMAN.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"GATLING DRIVER!" Alouette had shouted, as Tsutsujidai began to flicker in Alexis's wake. "And... DIVIDING DRIVER!"

The Double Head Drivers, with their gravity-distorting properties put together, attempt to slow Tsutsujidai's distortion the best they can. So the Rescue Team can do their work uninterrupted, and so Gridman can...

Why does Gridman look like that? Is that... Gridman's true form all along? Or something even greater?

As machines prepare to deploy, Gridman strikes a fighting pose towards the Hyper Devil. As long as she keeps the Gatling and Dividing Drivers up, she won't be able to support him in combat. But...

"Don't give up, Gridman!" She demands of the true Hyper Agent, supplying him with her own bravery. "We're all watching over you!" 

KTS: Alexis_Kerib has deployed as a Boss for 10 opponents.

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

The distortion of the world begins to shift the other way; the walls of the world begin to thicken again. ... 3G's work, no doubt. His mask contorts just slightly; while the deflection is small, those teal panels definitely now point just slightly down in a frown.

He can do those. Indeed, it's the mask that allows it, rather than prevents it. Alexis was less expressive, once.

Looking down at Gridman, Alexis stops. "What a nostalgic look that is, Gridman," he enthuses -- and there is some part of him that is indeed genuinely delighted to see the form of the Giant of Light that touched this world -- that saved Sakuragaoka, saved the world -- 26 years ago. "However, I..." He pauses, for just a moment. He reflects.

... With Akane locked away in his heart, seeing Gridman 'whole' in this way -- it leaves him to wonder. To be changed in that manner... was something Alexis had thought irreversible. To have been broken apart and reformed whole again... how can such a thing be possible?

... It can't, he concludes. This is regression, and Gridman deserves to suffer for the arrogance of pretending otherwise.

"... I will defeat you and search for the next Akane," he concludes. With momentary sleight of hand, he (reforms? retrieves?) those twin blades instead of his spear, launching himself forward toward the Electric Superhero. 

KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Bladed Dash!
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Gridman's Gran Acceptor activates, and the spirit is adjusted.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Gridman fails to rush.
KTS: Gridman partially guards Alexis Kerib's Bladed Dash, taking 1797 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Gridman!

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        'Nothing of value left,' hm.
        
        Alexis Kerib, don't you realize that means you admit this world had value to you at all?
        
        Shinji has run off to Unit-01, slowed by the destruction of the Galeoria Pliers and subsequent breakdown of reality. Kaworu has sent him on ahead in favor of a detour, promising he'll be there soon.
        
        And so he stands atop a tall building, wind whipping at his silver hair ineffectually. For a brief moment, he casts his gaze downwards towards a certain spot in Kamesan Park; then his chin rises as he gazes upon the true form of Gridman, released at last from the fetters that protected him but also held him back. He raises a triumphant fist to the sky, as if to connect heaven and earth with the newfound freedom of his soul.
        
        "You're beautiful," he murmurs, red eyes turning tender.
        
        He's unworried as Alexis, in his own giant form, turns to face Gridman with spear split into twin blades. 'I will defeat you and search for the next Akane,' he says... but Ruri has already been protected from him. Is it possible Alexis Kerib's back is against the wall?
        
        Either way, Kaworu has faith in Gridman. He'll watch a moment longer as the fight gets truly underway; then he'll turn to rejoin Shinji as promised. 

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

There is someone else there, atop that building. Stepping out from the shadows, his trench coat billowing in the wind, the man adjusts his glasses as the brilliance of Gridman's battle in the distance flashes across the frames.

        "That is his original form, 'Commander Nagisa,'" he says, serenely. This is... Takeshi Todo. No, Gridman Sigma. "The form that he took when he saved Sakuragaoka, saved the true Takeshi, and fought alongside us against the Phantom Kaiju. To see it restored now is... certainly something of a relief."

"...And yet..." he reaches a finger to the bridge of his nose, gently sliding the frames ever so slightly higher. And yet-- this may be Gridman's true form, but this is also the same form that Alexis defeated before. "I still can't help but to worry. Fighting the Hyper Devil in that form, in a place like this. History may not repeat, but it too often rhymes. So, Gridman..."

"I pray, for all of our sakes, that you are able to reach Akane-- 'This World's Takeshi'-- and save her heart before it is too late."

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Gridman's eyes in this new form are wide, shimmering with golden light, much like the eyes of his Repli-Compoid body often did. Though still incapable of expressing emotion (much like Alexis, perhaps), there's a certain tension to his shoulders that reveals the fury in the Giant's heart at Alexis' words.

"There won't be a next time!" He shouts, putting his weight on his front leg as Alexis lunges forward. "It all ends here, Alexis Kerib!"

With a momentary, internal feeling of relief as Alexis chooses twin blades over his spear, Gridman launches himself toward his enemy. Lightning trails behind him, sparking across the destroyed city.

Though radiance begins to glow in his Accepter, by the time Gridman's close to Alexis, he has to abandon his attack and bring both arms up to block the Hyper Devil's swords. It's a strain -- more than he expected. Is he going to be strong enough for this, even in his true form?

For long moments, the two gigantic beings are locked together in a stalemate.

Gridman can't overpower Alexis. That knowledge settles into his heart with dread certainty. As his arms are slowly forced back, the Giant's mind races. Maybe--

With a cry of pain, Gridman releases the blades, allowing Alexis' swords to come down hard on his shoulder. It's a feint, a costly one, disguising the light swiftly collecting across his Accepter.

While Alexis is still committed to his attack, Gridman brings his left arm up and into the Hyper Devil's stomach. "SPARK BEAM!"

Spark Beam, usually a long-ranged attack, is fired directly into Alexis' body as Gridman punches him. Scorching electricity rakes across black robes a Gridman gives it his all, hoping to send the Devil up and crashing into the digital sky above them. 

KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Spark Beam!
KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Gridman's Spark Beam, taking 2760 damage!
KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 124215
KTS: Your EN is now 360.

<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.

The Neutron D3 is a zippy little thing; it has to be, because it is sized for urban combat. Compared to a kaiju...compared to these choujin, it's barely the size of a tic-tac. But the City is in danger. People need help. And...they promised him.

The Kobu-sized machine is already a tight fit with just Namiko; Hass is riding along in an evacuation backpack that they'll use to get people to shelters once they get across the computerizing desert outside the city and into the area proper.

"They're really goin' at it, huh," Namiko sighs, swerving around an entire six floors of office building thrown free in the fighting. It's crawling with the alien crystals that are this place's truth.

...she slows it to a stop behind the structure, and pops the lid to get out and see the spectacle with her own eyes.

"So that's him, huh?"

Gridman..."

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Gridman elects to allow himself to feel pain -- and then strikes back, driving a fist into Alexis's gut and then sending the Hyper Devil up into the sky of the PLANT-that-isn't-a-PLANT. Those inverted 'buildings' crater, and Alexis's body crackles -- and eventually splits in two from the sheer force of an attack that was once only for harassing opponents from afar.

It doesn't last. Alexis's body begins to reform closer to Gridman, as if it was never destroyed... and the whole time, he laughs. Only once he's fully reformed -- and moving again, finding his next opening -- does he begin to speak again.

"My life is endless and infinite," he explains, "but that leaves me with a deep emptiness inside... which is why the only thing that satisfies my heart is the emotions of people like Akane." Taking to the air, Alexis orients himself straight down toward Gridman.

"And what a wonderful era this is, in which such people can be met!" he continues, before his body whirrs and a beam of bright purple light issues from the flames at his head. "Organizations like BioNet and the Vist Foundation -- they, too, crave such people!" A moment later, the spot he'd fired that beam at explodes, threatening to further engulf Gridman in its energy.

Still, he speaks. "In their desperation to create a world they find easy to live in, they create more of that same desperation! In building a world solely for themselves, they create people desperate to build more worlds solely for themselves! Such an inhospitable world -- one which hurtles inexorably toward infinite singular worlds, or yet more miserable people like Akane-kun! Such a world offers countless opportunities to find the next Akane... though I fear it's grown boring."

... speaking of whom...


In a place where once there was the emptiness of loss, a place where once sat a symbol of justice, now sits... Akane Shinjo. Her hair is a dull lilac; she wears the unremarkable uniform blouse and skirt of Tsutsujidai High School. Tinted glasses block the blue-white light of the Computer World.

She buries her face in her knees, sitting on her chair. It's easier than looking behind her -- to look back would mean to the garbage she left behind for what it is: body after body after body. Cruelties large and small, erased in a desperate -- and impossible -- quest for freedom, for a singular world.

She is aware, distantly, that Alexis has destroyed the Galeoria Pliers; Knight gave her the concept of 'up,' those months ago, and she understands Alexis's own trajectory just fine.

... Would it truly be so bad to be gone? For everyone to let her go, and Alexis to be gone with her?

What's one human life, really? 

KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Nameless Beam!
KTS: Gridman has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Gridman successfully Evades Alexis Kerib's Nameless Beam

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Another presence joins Kaworu on the roof, and he glances just a bit to one side to take in the trench-coated man borrowing Takeshi Todo's form. "Gridman Sigma," he greets him. "Thank you for your recent efforts. I'm not a commander, though." Not yet, he doesn't say, or maybe more accurately, Not anymore. "I'm merely an administrator."
        
        He turns his gaze back towards Gridman as Sigma explains it's his original form. Kaworu listens. It's a part of reality that he doesn't know much about. His original form, with which he saved an old city... but also knew defeat at Alexis Kerib's hands. It's easy to understand why Sigma is worried.
        
        Before them, Gridman charges Alexis, lightning in his wake, and locks against his blades, before sliding into a feint that costs him an injury but also gives him an opening for his Spark Beam. Before, Kaworu heard from Nidaime about the Fixer Beam, and passed that on to Gridman; Gridman hadn't known what he was talking about. But now that he's returned to his original form, perhaps now...
        
        "He'll save her," Kaworu says with quiet faith.
        
        But, though he has faith in him, it's not as though Alexis Kerib's words don't affect him. In taking Gridman's skyward punch and breaking in two, he demonstrates what Kaworu already knew, what he explicitly states now: My life is endless and infinite... Kaworu's eyes flicker as he continues, ...but that leaves me with a deep emptiness inside, which is why the only thing that satisfies my heart is...
        
        "Alexis Kerib..." he murmurs.
        
        Kaworu Nagisa knows that pain--his pain--all too well. And yet, they stand on opposite ends of this conflict. Gridman can save Akane--of that Kaworu is certain. But can he save Alexis, too? ...That much is yet to be seen. 

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

On Junk's screen, Rikka and Utsumi watch as Alexis and Gridman face off. The two giants seem to be in a stalemate... given the chance, would Gridman be able to defeat him like this? ...Rikka would like to think that, but... Alexis hasn't broken out his most dangerous tricks yet.

Gridman unleashes a Spark Beam-empowered punch into Alexis's stomach.

"Fight! Gridman!" Utsumi cheers. For a moment it looks like Alexis has been destroyed... but he reforms, as if nothing had ever happened.

His life is endless and infinite. ...Then what could they possibly do?

Rikka... grimaces, and then turns toward the door. Before she can run off, though, she feels a hand on her shoulder. She turns and looks. Utsumi looks away awkwardly for a moment, before fixing her with a stern look.

"Hey. I know what you're thinking... but you better come back too, alright? You and Gridman both. It's not the Gridman Alliance if any one of us is missing. Don't do anything reckless." He says. He said much the same to Gridman before he left at the Wadatsumi. Rikka pauses - and then after a moment, nods.

"...You're right. I'll be careful. We're both coming back - and we'll bring Akane back with us." She assures, and Utsumi grins.

"You better. I'll be watching and cheering you both on from here. So get going." He says.

With a nod, Rikka turns and breaks into a run out the door, to where Synchrotank awaits her. 

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Thrilling, surprising relief pulses through Gridman's body as Alexis explodes and cracks in half. Is that it? Is this over, with just one blow? He straightens up, bringing one hand to his injured shoulder.

Low and cruel, Alexis' laugh reaches the Giant of Light, and he turns. All the relief he felt turns to ash as Alexis reforms, entirely whole and untouched.

"What?!" He whispers, even as he falls back into a combat stance.

Alexis explains his existence. Endless and infinite. Gridman's heart sinks, but he pushes the feeling aside. Hyper Devil's words are poison. He can't listen, and he can't give up! Everyone in Tsutsujidai is counting on him!

If anything about Alexis Kerib is constant, it's that the Devil loves the sound of his own voice. Gridman charges at his enemy again, while Alexis explains his existence. Purple-flame light fires at Gridman, who bends his knees and leaps to the air. Another Tsutsujidai street explodes behind him, and Gridman can't help but look back.

The Rescue Team was evacuating people, right? Everyone here -- did they get out before --

No, focus! If he keeps worrying about where he's stepping, he won't be able to fight!

"Super--!" Gridman starts, coming down on Alexis with a powerful kick, his heel crackling with blue-gold lightning, but--

The Hyper Devil is too fast. Gridman lands, hard, taking a moment to straighten up. Pain radiates from his shoulder. He risks a look, and then wishes he hadn't, looking at the way his silver armor is cleaved apart, exposing the inner wiring of his form. If Alexis can hit him that hard with one hit, and Gridman can't hurt him...

No. Focus.

The Hyper Devil is still speaking. Gridman can't tune him out as he mentions BioNet, the Vist Foundation. Suddenly, his thoughts are full of pilots dead in their machines, Akane and Rikka twisted and forced into cruel actions.

"Rrrgh!" Gridman yells, accompanied by electricity echoing out from his Accepter. "Shut up! This world is--!"

Duma's scream. Angels filling the sky with blood.

Gridman can't finish his sentence. Instead, he charges toward Alexis. Lightning-fast, he's next to the Hyper Devil again, winding up to punch him right in the middle of that mocking, ugly mask. 

KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Grid Punch!
KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to rush.
KTS: [Mirage] Alexis Kerib's Conditional Immortality <Weak> activates, and he slips into a mirage.
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Gridman's Grid Punch, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 124215
KTS: Gridman has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Gridman begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Your EN is now 350.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

The force of Gridman's Spark Beam tears Alexis Kerib's form into two, seemingly taking him down for good. But it can't be that easy, can it?

Of course not. Alexis regenerates in an instant, explaining the boredom that caused him to target Akane - work with BioNet and Vist in the first place.

...Alouette hates that the first emotion she feels is understanding, when it comes to Alexis Kerib. As far as she knows, her life isn't infinite, but that type of boredom was the very same thing that motivated her at first too, wasn't it?

Understanding doesn't mean forgiveness, though. She'll never forgive Alexis for what he did - what he's still doing to one of her best friends. She'll never forgive him for breaking bread with her own abusers, either.

"Gridman's next attack, of course, falls into nothing as Alexis continues to showcase his immortality. "Just hold on a little while longer, Gridman..." She grits her teeth, still devoting her energy to the Drivers. Part of her is skeptical of that 'immortality' in the first place, no matter how impressive it looks. Could even Alexis be hiding weaknesses in that ugly cloak of his? 

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.


        "Yes, of course," Sigma replies with a sheepish chuckle. "Apologies, rank has never been a facet of human society that I'd internalized." Not that 'merely an administrator' is truly accurate either. Though it'd be gauche if he insinuated otherwise.

...That said, it's not as though this situation allows for much in the way of politics. Too much is at stake. The air itself is charged, and not only with the surging power of Gridman's Spark Beam.

There is danger. Real risk that Akane's life-- that the lives of all those born from her heart-- may be lost here today. The amount of pressure Gridman must be under is incredible. He can feel that doubt, that uncertainty, all the way from here. If he could reach out, calm his brother's heart, then perhaps 'Fixer Beam' would come more easily. If he had taught him that... But now, he has to figure it out on his own.

Will he be able to? To reach past panic and doubt and seize back the most miraculous of his power?

"...I know he will," Sigma answers Kaworu. "He doesn't even realize it, the strength of his own heart. But even 'back then', he didn't win by his power alone. Rikka, Utsumi-- and all of his other friends. Their bonds will bring him strength."

"The one he shares with you as well," Sigma asides with a slight smile. "He is important to you, isn't he? Someone who has brought 'joy' into your life, just as you have brought it into his. Gridman can bring about a miracle today, that is certain. I can't help him directly in this form... But perhaps there is aught you could do for him, Administrator Kaworu?"

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        On a vessel in Side 5, Sayla Mass jolts alert with a start. Something feels... wrong, even from here. A moment of despair and terror, and then...

        A connection goes dark, eclipsed by something horrid before vanishing entirely- leaving but traces.

        "Leina... Did you feel that?" There's a fear in Sayla's voice. "Can you feel Akane?" Leina's a stronger newtype than her, and reaching people across space had always been her strength. If anyone here could...

        "...I'm sorry to ask this, so soon after that battle... But will you help me reach Tsutsujidai?"

        ----

        As they enter into the warped space of Tsutsujidai- warped further by the loss of the Galorea Pliers- Sayla can see the fight happening. The fight between Alexis- and the Gridman they saw in their vision of the past.

        "Is this what Sigma meant...? The thing Alexis feared?" But the fight isn't going the way she'd hope.

        "Head for the Junkyard, we can find out what's happening there." As much as she's trying to keep her cool... Sayla's worried. Even now they're here, she can't feel Akane. "Leina, anything? Anything at all?"

        As they close to the Junkyard, she can see someone running. Running towards a hidden mobile suit.

        Without asking, Sayla opens the Banshee's comms. "Rikka! What's the situation? What the hell happened here?"

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Oh, to be sure, Gridman can hit Alexis. He can destroy that mask.

But it will return yet again, as if it was never broken. Splinters and cracks reform in thin red light. "Hmmm..." Alexis notices the frustration in Gridman. That's new, he realizes -- that's something that he can easily exploit, even. Desperate to believe in the good in the world, yet so wounded by its cruelties --

Ah, he truly is cut from the same cloth.

"-- ending, yes," Alexis answers Gridman, cutting him off and substituting his own context. "That tool I destroyed... its unplanned deactivation drives a knife into the heart of this world. The Aura of Dawn will end these possibilities, with access to such a talented navigator of the Limpid Channel -- though I have no intention of staying behind to watch!"

Not just the Galeoria Pliers, but even Sakura Akamatsu had been part of his plan, then...? He's always opposed Triple Zero -- even taken the battlefield personally, once, to fight its 'Gridman.' Why, then?

He leaves no time to work through this, though -- raising his hands and beginning to charge up an enormous beam of energy. "This world gives rise to the sorts of people who would seek me out," he adds. Perhaps they know this, by now -- with Akane having been so happy to talk about the circumstances that led to this point. A bright pulse of red light issues from inside his forehead. "I gave her her kaiju -- the tools to build her ideal world, in this space where once there was nothing! ... And of course, all she could do was destroy it again," he finishes, before letting loose an immense red and white beam.

(This, like the Venora he taught her to create, and even like Tsutsujidai itself, is a shallow facsimile of something that came before. He wouldn't dare admit to such a thing, of course... and he doubts the other person who saw such a miracle pass would be forthcoming about it.) 

KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Black Hole Beam!

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


It's the worst possible time for this, which is of course - why it's happening now. Leina's hardly left the bedside, save to shower. When she gets a horrid sensation of terror, like a slap across the face, a bolt from the blue.

And then a void space where a connection once was, just the thinnest vestiges of it.

For a time, Leina just looks away from bedside to someplace far off and- then she closes her eyes, her next breath breaking into a sound of distress, "Something just happened to her. I- If that's her, she's fading. And something... something else..."

It is the worst possible time, which of course is why it must be now. Thumb tracing across the back of a hand, she closes her eyes. The last thing she wants to do is leave this bedside right now.

But it's for Akane. She more than owed her. If not for her, she might still be in Murasame's care. And what Vist did - cut short her second chance, she's not going to allow anything to take it away again.

"... Of course. I'll do more than that."

But first, she turns to another figure at the bedside...

"... can you take down something for me, before we go?"

-=-=-

And so, did she leave someone at the bedside to explain. Banagher's Haro, with a recorded message. Part of the message was a visual aid.

A roll of industrial duct tape, unused.

-=-=-

"I hope you're used to it now because- I'm not holding back." The Banshee began to transform, highlighting perhaps just how little time they'd had for repairs, it's mobile suit armor chipped and pock marked and burned all over from the scars left to it.

Despite looking damaged in that superficial way, it was still whole in all the ways that matter.

Marked by a transformation, as it began to shine brilliant yellow, such that all of those wounds were covered up simply by that glow. "Banshee-!"

It's NT-D enhanced thrusters fire, contrails of light shimmering as it flies faster than most mobile suits were meant to. Perhaps it is the only reason they are able to make it to this warped space in time.

-=-=-=

"... God..." The sight of it, the feelings surrounding it, they all stun her. In part perhaps because it's not Akane she's feeling so acutely in this moment. "You really- God..."

It doesn't even shock her as much as it should, if anything she feels like she can understand it. She hates that she can empathize with the feelings of Alexis Kerib in this moment when Akane feels so faraway, so distant, so faint.

Something about it takes any wind out of her sails immediately, as the Banshee transforms back, it's outer armored shell now quite visible in how tortured it looks as it becomes it's Unicorn form again.

"... It's not her I'm feeling..." She murmurs quietly to Sayla, as she moves to set the Banshee down in the junkyard. Sliding up the faceplate, she needs a moment, as that understanding is overwhelming.

She needs a second, in part because she's dealing with that feeling - and in part because the feeling of guilt is so strong knowing Rikka is right there. Even knowing it's not her fault academically, doesn't resolve that feeling that she did this. So she lets Sayla handle the communication, while she catches her breath.

KTS: Gridman retreats from the attack!
KTS: Gridman fails to evade Alexis Kerib's Black Hole Beam, taking 4770 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        "No need to apologize," Kaworu reassures Sigma. "Truthfully, I never concerned myself with it overly much either until it was made to be my concern." Simply titles to memorize and apply to the correct people. The actual significance and nuance of those titles he didn't care about until...
        
        But that's not relevant right now. Not as the battle rages on between Gridman and Alexis. Kaworu gazes at his boyfriend as he struggles in his own way with what Alexis says. Akane had confided in Kaworu some time ago that she was worried about Gridman's state of mind. Kaworu hadn't seen what she'd meant at the time, but watching more closely ever since, he's seen it more and more... The most recent time was during the Duma incidents. Alexis's specialty is disrupting the calm of the heart. He'd done it even to Kaworu. It's not surprising to see him do it to Gridman, too--to speak only of weaknesses and failures, and ignore the strengths and successes.
        
        But even so...
        
        "Yes," Kaworu replies. "A heart cannot exist alone. Akane learned that lesson well, even if Alexis Kerib seeks to have her un-learn it. Alexis Kerib himself admitted it: the only thing that satisfies him now exists within others. He cannot exist alone, either."
        
        The faint hint of a smile on his lips grows at the mention of his relationship with Gridman. "He is," he confirms. "I intend to join the battle with him soon. My partner, Shinji Ikari, seeks out our shared Evangelion as we speak."
        
        Though perhaps that's not what Sigma meant.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka runs at top speed. At times it's difficult to maintain her footing, the world trembling from instability and the clash between the two giants... but she's determined to make it. And from here, she can hear them clearly.

Alexis's remarks on why, Gridman's frustrated, stalled response, and Alexis's gloating - his reframing of events.

"Don't pretend like you had nothing to do with that..." Rikka mutters, as he insists that Akane could only destroy her world again. "Gridman... you can see through his words, can't you?"

She reaches Synchrotank and starts climbing up into it - when suddenly, she feels a flash of recognition. That's the only warning she gets before the Banshee lands in the junkyard. ...If the Banshee is here, then that has to be -

She gets her answer a moment later when she hears a voice over communications, and she scrambles inside to pick them up.

"Sayla? ...Leina?" Rikka starts. ...This wasn't how she wanted their reunion to go, but... they don't always get a choice in the matter. They're here now - that's what's important.

"Alexis disabled the Galeoria Pliers, and now everything's falling apart!" She says. "He-"

She starts. Her words catch in her throat for a moment, and the mic nearly slips from her hands. ...It's a difficult thought to voice - but she steels her expression and tightens her grip.

"He took Akane to use as a power source, and now he's trying to leave everything behind!" She explains. "...Please. If there's anything you can do to help...! We can't let him leave with her!"

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

Destroying the Galeoria Pliers, tossing Sakura Akamatsu into the void, all because-- Alexis Kerib is hoping to leave their world to die to Triple Zero...? How does that make sense? Even after stepping in to do battle with his counterpart, he's content to throw this world to the cosmic dogs?

...

No. In a twisted way, that makes sense. He has seen the absolute despair that Triple Zero represents as well, hasn't he? Even if he had not been infected by it, he has clearly been affected by it. Perhaps it's just selfishness, damning the world to Triple Zero so that he could move on to another without fear of being pursued. But whose pursuit is he afraid of? Does he just hope to simply fade back into the shadows cast by Infinite Dawn, to once again find a cozy 'Tsutsujidai' hidden away from all sight? All of that cowardice, for what...?

Sigma sighs, even as Gridman is struck. How much longer can he keep this up...? "His heart is wavering," Sigma says of his brother. "He has seen so much suffering in this world. As beings of Connection, we cannot help but be affected by it. I've only been here for longer, become more acclimatized to it all. But he has not, and that weakness is something Alexis Kerib is exploiting."

Kaworu says he will go to help with the Evangelion he and Shinji Ikari share. Sigma slowly shakes his head.

"No, Kaworu," he casts a meaningful glance at the mysterious young man. "With the other power you hold. The one that you've been hiding. You reached out to Duma before any of us realized where he was, and fraternize more openly with the likes of myself and Gridman than 'other humans.' That is to say... You are not quite like 'them' are you?"

Sigma looks to his brother in the distance. "...I won't tell anyone. It's not my secret to spoil. But if the power that allowed you to connect with Duma can reach Gridman now... Then perhaps there is more that we can do for him than adding to this violence."

"I'm asking you to reach out to him. To be his strength," Sigma finishes, "On the verge of his heart falling to pieces, wrestling with this Hyper Devil, he needs you now more than ever."

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

As soon as Gridman pulls his fist back, Alexis' mask has restored itself. That ashy feeling freezes into something close to fear. If he can't do any damage to the Hyper Devil, are his friends going to deploy only to get destroyed? No matter what, he can't let that happen. He should've tried harder to convince them to stay back--!

"We won't let that happen!" Gridman manages to keep his fright out of his voice, for now, still sounding every bit the hero and protector he must be. "With everyone here, we'll put Tsutsujidai back, right where it belongs! You should've tried something new!"

Even as Gridman says this, more of Tsutsujidai's buildings flicker into computer-world shapes, indistinct concepts incapable of supporting human life. GGG is working on it. Gridman has faith in them, he's just got to keep Alexis busy so they can fix everything.

...they can fix it, can't they..? The Pliers were already a tenuous solution...

Alexis raises his hands, and Gridman tenses up. This attack is different from the others -- the Hyper Devil is getting serious. With a grunt, the Giant of Light leaps backwards, putting distance between himself and his foe, but to no avail. Alexis' Black Hole is simply too enormous to dodge, and Gridman cries out as the negative energy eats away at his form. By the time the darkness has abated, the Giant has fallen to one knee, the slight remains of his armor cracking apart.

"No matter what." Gridman manages. He pushes himself back to his feet, raising his fists again. "You're going to be here until the end. You won't escape to hurt someone else, ever again. I'll make sure of it!"

Electricity builds around Gridman once more, pulsing out from the Accepter in his chest, gathering until it creates a torrent of flame. "Grid Fire!" Gridman shouts, trying to strike at Alexis from a distance.

Through the crackling heat of his attack, Gridman can still hear Alexis. "Is that why you got your claws into Akane? Because you can't create anything yourself?"

All too quickly, his flame is extinguished. Gridman knew the truth of Akane's actions, he's known for months, but hearing it still hurts. His mind flashes to the Volleyball Club girls. Tonkawa and the others...

"I know Akane Shinjo! She's more than what you've done to her!" A patch of street near Gridman's foot digitizes, turning a flat black-and-green. "She's my best friend, and I believe in her, more than anything!" 

KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Grid Fire!
KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib successfully evades Gridman's Grid Fire
KTS: Your EN is now 340.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        Instead of being able to put rest to Sayla's suspicions, Leina can only confirm them. Colour starts to drain from Sayla's face- but Leina agrees to help. "Thank you." She knows the sacrifice Leina is making here. She wishes she didn't have to ask. Leina just makes one small request. "Of course."

        ----

        "I'll have to be." Sayla responds, bracing herself for the injection and gripping the sides of her seat tight. "Go for it."

        ----

        "Leina? What's wrong?"

        'It's not her I'm feeling.'

        "You mean... him?"

        Once Leina has landed, Sayla unbuckles her harness and raises her own faceplate. Rikka responds hurriedly from the Synchrotank.

        "Is he trying to destroy Tsutsujidai? Or-"

        And then her heart chills again. That's what she felt. "He... he's using her to do this?"

        Rikka pleas for help. "We'll do whatever we can. We won't let him take her away." She says, trying to sound reassuring. But anything that could help...

        Yes. There's something.

        "Leina, I'm going down to Rikka, okay?" She squeezes Leina's hand briefly. Her voice comes back over the loudspeaker, "We'll stop this. We'll save her." The reassurance is as much for herself as it is Leina and Rikka. Then she unbuckles her harness and moves to open the hatch, before climbing down the Banshee's leg.

        "...I think I have something that might make a difference here. You should be able to use it." She reaches into a pouch on her pilot suit, as she moves to the Synchrotank.

        And what she pulls out is a metallic T. A psychoframe sample.

        The start of a miracle.

        "...If you think it will give you an edge, it's all yours." She says, extending it in offering. 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


Rikka calls out to them with so much desperation. A hand spreading over her face as she processes what she's saying. "It means he's given up then." She whispers, quietly, mostly to herself.

All those times he appeared to her as Puru One, and she was grateful simply to have someone to talk to. All those feelings of empathizing with someone she knew she shouldn't - someone she knew she ought to hate.

It makes her feel wretched on the inside right now, seeing where all of that understanding ended up.

There's a moment's pause, a nod of her head, and then- a squeeze of Sayla's hand as she watches Sayla move to the hatch.

What can she do about it though?

A Psychofield would do more harm than good, if that's the kind of miracle she has to offer, but not all miracles need be that way.

Judau and Banagher taught her that.

And so as Sayla moves to give her the metallic Psychoframe sample, Leina unbuckles herself, then walks to the hatch alongside her on the other side, and-

"... I might be able to help too. Psychoframe works best when resonating with more Psychoframe, right?"

The look in her green eyes as she looks upon Rikka is apologetic, but she knows in her heart what the best apology is, even if she owes her a proper talk later.

She sorta makes this small wave, towards the mobile suit surrounding her, "We might be able to up the odds of your feelings getting through to Akane, in the place he has her in, using the Banshee as another amplifier."

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

"Oh... already giving up, then?" Alexis asks Gridman, a skeletal smile forming on his mask. He and Akane do travel in such an exquisite parallel -- though part of him is disappointed at the possibility. He'd wanted to see Gridman struggle to the end, not...

... He's asked a pointed question, though, and that distracts him. "You gave her seven months of your life -- and yet she finds herself yet again in her room, hiding from the world. She is nothing more, Gridman -- it's just as I always knew. She cannot change."

He laughs cruelly, weaving forward through the barrage of flames. "It's what I like about her, even still."


Akane does her best to shut the world out. This is the only world she deserves -- this tiny room, filled with things that never filled her heart and cruelties only an empty heart could visit on the world. She can feel Alexis's sentiment, tied up with it in this way -- and she becomes more sure, by the second...

... there was never any difference between them. They both had needed a remedy for their loneliness so desperately that their world could accept one or two... or ten... or hundreds of human sacrifices.


Alexis continues the escalation unabated. He charges down toward Gridman, fist raised, ready to strike; it's midway through the movement, however, that -- with a flick of his hands -- a spear appears in one of them. Grasping it then with both hands, he drives it for Gridman's midsection.

... Something is different this time, though. He senses it, somehow, the moment he gets close --

-- this time, he won't be able to fragment Gridman apart.

... he can still hurt him, though, and that thought brings him... some sort of sentiment, at least, as he finishes his thrust.


Akane can recognize it as desperation and not joy, from inside him.

That's worse, somehow, than if Alexis were at least deriving some pleasure from his viciousness. 

KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Gridman's Gran Acceptor activates, and the spirit is adjusted.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Gridman's Gran Acceptor activates, and the spirit is adjusted.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Gridman's Gran Acceptor activates, and the spirit is adjusted.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Scourge!
KTS: Gridman has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Gridman, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Gridman fails to Evade Alexis Kerib's Scourge, taking 8400 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Gridman!

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        "He's like Shinji. Both of them are so kind, and when they bear witness to the wounds that exist within the world, that kindness gives birth to outrage and despair," Kaworu observes, his smile dimming. "He offered me fun, and he has given that to me. But over time, he has struggled to hold onto that himself."
        
        Even with him and Rei there to support him. It's a difficult thing to watch. And because of it, he'd accepted that what he could do--what he can do--is limited. That's how Kaworu has always been--even now, with the determination to try to change what fate would give him, it's still his nature to accept everything... including what he cannot change.
        
        But...
        
        No, Kaworu. With the other power you hold. The one that you've been hiding...
        
        "..."
        
        Sigma is, of course, correct. But it's not something Kaworu can afford to admit to easily, even to someone like him. His assurance that he won't share that secret does come as something of a relief, but regardless, it's a reminder.
        
        He knows better than anyone that NERV cannot abide Angels to live--not in the long term. It's why Duma made the choice they did in the end.
        
        "Thank you," he says quietly.
        
        She cannot change. It's what I like about her, even still, Alexis says up on the battlefield, and Kaworu wonders if it's what he likes about him, too.
        
        As Sigma tells him that Gridman needs him more than ever now, Kaworu looks to one side. It isn't just them watching this battle, and there are others invested in its outcome who are preparing to stake their hearts on changing its outcome. He understands that. As the battle progresses and Alexis pushes Gridman further back, he understands that feeling, but...
        
        He looks back at Sigma. "I will do that, but... why do you believe you cannot?"

<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.

"He's losing," Namiko says, by now pulled up to a stop outside a collapsed building, people clambering into the evacuation pack on the Kobu's back. Not that there's room for a whole ton of them back there... "He gained all that new power and he can't..."

She stands up, raising her arms. "COME ON, GRIDMAN!" she yells, standing up on the rim of her Neutron with hands held high. "GET 'IM!!"

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

"...Yeah." Rikka confirms. Sayla promises they'll do what they can to help and Rikka nods. They'll stop this. They'll save her.

And, it seems like Sayla has an idea. She climbs out of the Banshee, and Rikka climbs out of Synchrotank to meet her. Sayla draws something out.

A Psychoframe sample. Rikka stares at it. Even from here she can feel its presence in the back of her mind. Her hand hovers over it a bit hesitantly. Can she... should she...?

She looks up, then, as Leina speaks. Their eyes meet. She can see the apology in her eyes. ...It hurts a little. But right now...

"...You're right." Rikka agrees with a nod. Leina indicates the Banshee. And they can use the Banshee as an amplifier to reach Akane... Rikka hesitates.

She remembers what the Banshee has done to her. What it's made her feel. ...Can she do it? Can she trust it?

Above, Alexis readies his terrible spear, to drive it into Gridman. Rikka takes a deep breath. There's no room for doubts and hesitations, if Alexis is ready to go this far. Above all else... whatever happens to her, she knows that there's one thing about her that will never change.

Rikka accepts the Psychoframe sample, gripping it tightly.

"...I do. It's kind of a long shot, but... Maybe, if we all work together..." She says with a nod toward Sayla. "Maybe we can make something happen."

And so, Rikka starts to climb up Synchrotank. She has to install it quickly. It's... a desperate maneuver. She's not sure if this'll work. But maybe with this and everyone...

...Maybe their feelings will shine through.

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

"He thought the world was simpler than it actually is," Sigma admits with a sigh. "Gridman is guilty of the same mistakes Duma had made, but taken in a different direction. He sees the pain and suffering humanity inflicts upon itself and wonders whether they are worth fighting for. He has fought for so long seeing 'darkness' as something that aught to be erased. A thing to be rescued from. And certainly, he is correct in many cases. Human hearts are too often consumed by darker emotions, they need a helping hand from time to time. We all do. That alone would not be a problem."

"Gridman embodies that urge. That is his 'SSSS.' But confronted with it on such a large scale, seeing how badly humans harm one another, he wonders whether they're worth 'saving.' In doing so, he questions the very foundations of his 'nature.' He is in a precarious position, one where he could either fall into the abyss or rise above, stronger than he has ever been, depending on how it resolves. Yes, he has struggled greatly. But only by confronting this will be be able to really live alongside humanity, so I've tried to guide him as best I can."

"...Ah, that's the other thing he's been wrestling with," Sigma clearly has no problem airing all of his brother's problems. Though considering it's to his boyfriend, maybe this is just sharing critical information to someone who might be able to act upon it. "He is... dreading the day that he must leave. Gridman loves 'this' life he's found, the one Akane granted to him. I worry that he is closing himself off from the people he loves to protect his own heart from the pain of separation. But in doing so, he deprives himself of the power those bonds provide. In a way, it is a very human problem for a Hyper Agent to have, isn't it?"

But-- why can he not help as well, asking Kaworu to intercede as he has?

"...Ah, well," Sigma scratches at the nape of his neck, "A few reasons. I am his brother, so our connection would be a 'matter of course.' That is to say, my support means much to him, but the love you two share is much more potent of a reminder in this moment. Also, I'm still recovering somewhat from channeling Galeon's roar, so I'm not certain how effective my abilities would be in the moment."

"And," Sigma finishes with a sheepish smile, "I suppose I'd gotten too used to Tsutsujidai being on 'the other side' that I'd forgotten. With it falling into Cyberspace again, I think I may be able to lend a hand as well."

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"No way!" Gridman retorts, sparks flying from the gouge in his shoulder. "Stopping you is my mission. It's the reason I exist! You'll have to try harder than this--!"

Gridman's fire attack does absolutely nothing to stop Alexis, it doesn't even slow him down. The Giant of Light watches the Hyper Devil approach, tense, preparing himself. There's something final about it. Something familiar.

Seven months... But it wasn't Gridman's life to give, was it?

His thoughts turn toward Akane. She's trapped within Alexis... Gridman hopes he isn't hurting her as he fights. What must it be like for her right now?

"Akane didn't run back to her room. You took her." Gridman's voice is rough, more electronic-sounding than ever. "You forced her into this! You did this, all of this, for such a selfish reason!"

Finally, Alexis charges, fist raised. Gridman shifts, ready to counter it, weight centered, until.

The spear.

A high-pitched sound rings in his ears. Falling out of his combat stance, Gridman finds himself a world away. The first time he faced Alexis went just like this. The spear -- the spear that struck Gridman so fatally, it sundered his soul into six pieces, sending him falling into Tsutsujidai like a meteor. It took his body, his spirit, his memory--

At the last second, Gridman comes back to reality. He makes a desperate attempt to leap away from Alexis, but far too late. The spear is driven through Gridman's side, piercing through his metal body as if it were no more than paper. He screams, feeling the edges of his soul begin to fray.

For the moment, they hold together.

Placing both his hands on the spear piercing his form, Gridman wrenches it forward, pushing Alexis away with a desperate motion. Another scream is torn from him as the spear is pulled out of his body, leaving behind a ragged, sparking emptiness.

"Not good enough, Alexis Kerib." Gridman grits out, his arms hanging limply. The gemstone embedded in his forehead flashes urgently.

With shaking movements, the Giant of Light brings his left hand up. This is his all.

"Grid..." Light shimmers around him, radiant despite Gridman's haggard state. "BEAM!"

Everything the Giant of Light has left is forced into the attack, every ounce of determination and protective fervor he's ever felt. The light expands in front of him, blinding, tearing apart the few-remaining streets of Tsutsujidai. 

KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Grid Beam!
KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib retreats from the attack!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to evade Gridman's Grid Beam, taking 4200 damage!
KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 120015
KTS: Gridman completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Your EN is now 1331.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        "...Given up?" It's clear that Leina knows something more here... But she doesn't push further than her instinctive question. Still, Leina makes an offer that gives Sayla pause.

        She specifically hadn't read the full reports, but she knew about the experiments. "...Are you sure about this, Leina?"

        But it is a desperate situation, as Rikka says. When she takes the psychoframe sample and agrees to the plan, Sayla just nods.

        "If you're both certain... then I'll do all I can to support you both."

        The battle continues- and it's clearly in Alexis favour. His spear- the same one he used so long ago to tear open Renais unit more than a year ago, pierces Gridman's chest. That scream... she can feel it.

        Why wasn't Gridknight here, either? Had something happened to Knight too? A hand balled into a fist.

        "...I don't know how much longer he can hold out." She says, quietly. Before looking up to Rikka. "We will make something happen. You will reach her."

        As much as she will do all she can, as much as she knows Leina will...

        "If anyone can, it's you."

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

For just a moment -- as he finds purchase with his spear but cannot break Gridman's newfound unity of self, cannot shred apart what once was cracked now that it has healed together stronger -- Alexis is genuinely surprised by the progression of events.

"Those without power will always cry out for those like me, to make their dreams reality!" Alexis counters Gridman, as Tsutsujidai continues to fragment apart around the two of them. Even the Double Head Driver cannot quite hold things together at this point; that rip in the sky once again widens, and Alexis starts to float back toward it.

"Martha Vist-Carbine was just the same, you know," he chides. "A young woman cornered by a world she hated, until she became someone who could live in it. I was happy to extend her that courtesy -- until she could not survive without it, and I allowed it to consume her." Glancing just for a moment to a rooftop, he adds, "Takeshi Todo once walked that same path as well... and now he finds himself once again in the throes of submission to a power greater than himself. This story plays out time and again -- had I not taken her, who would have?"

He continues his slow float backward, preparing himself to leave. "Dr. Murasame, as eager as I was for such a fascinating specimen? Zero, ready to turn those in despair at this world's cruelties into weapons for an Area's liberation? She'd been so sympathetic to ZAFT -- perhaps she would have found her way there, becoming a barely-tolerated Natural. Every one of them would have treated her as disposable."

He begins to ready that energy again, just as before -- even as the Grid Beam streaks for him. It does not stop his monologuing. "You've chosen such a cruel world to defend, Gridman -- and such a doomed young lady to make a mission of. Akane-kun has reached the end of her usefulness -- no differently than she would have in another hundred fates, none of which involved my touch at all."

"There's nothing for me in this world now." The sky dyes itself in purple and pink and red and orange, where he threatens to leave -- a path painted sunset-red (Akane-iro).


"There's nothing in this world for me now," Akane cries to herself, trapped in her room as ever. Trying to reconcile with Knight only led to Alexis gutting him in front of her -- a fate she requested, so deep in the throes of her despair and malice.

How many more people would Alexis hurt in such a way?

Every day she's close to Rikka invites some horrible new cruelty from Alexis, who stays in this world but for her. Gridman could stop torturing himself over a mission to defeat a monster that can never be defeated.

She could stop walking the horrible tightrope between human and kaiju, terrified of falling off and being subsumed by the shape of her own heart but more scared still of walking across it and having more than one path before her. Alexis could use her up in his escape, and she'd...

... everyone else would finally have the chance to move on. Even with the Galeoria Pliers destroyed --

(Yet more cruelties Alexis would never have bothered with. From that first cruelty to Knight springs infinite destruction, all born from one girl's finite creation.)

-- the Gutsy Global Guard would find a way to save a world. They always did. As for her, though...

It's easier to save a world than save a soul.

Alexis at last feels he has energy enough to overwhelm anything Gridman could throw at him. "Allow me to bring an end to your finite existence -- to spare you the need to watch the end of every finite existence," he declares, letting loose a beam no different than before --

-- save in its intense, overpowering scale. Even the enormous Grid Beam, wider and taller than Gridman himself, would be a drop in a bucket compared to the torrential rain of red (Akane-iro) that Alexis fires forth.

KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Gridman fails to react to Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 6120 damage!
KTS: Gridman has been defeated!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Gridman!

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Sayla says that if they're both certain, she'll do everything she can to support them. RIkka nods.

"...I am." She decides.

Rikka climbs, until she's on top of Synchrotank. This gives her an excellent view of what happens next, as Alexis's spear is driven into Gridman's side.

"GRIDMAN!!" Rikka cries out, horrified. For a moment, she's afraid that'll end it... but even now, he's still standing.

Even now, so grievously wounded, he's still fighting, unleashing the light of his determination...

"...Please work... Right now... the people I care about the most are fighting alone. I can't... I don't want to lose any of them." Rikka pleads in a whisper to the Psychoframe sample. She's pinning her hopes onto this - the hope that they'll be able to make something happen. She takes a deep breath and installs it onto Synchrotank before climbing back down.

She nods, as Sayla assures her that they'll make something happen. That they'll reach her.

Right now... she just has to believe. In herself. In Sayla and Leina. In all of her friends, preparing to give their all. In Utsumi's support, and Gridman.

...And Akane, too.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        "..." Kaworu looks for a long time at Sigma as he talks of Gridman's mistakes--how they'd been similar to Duma's--and his fears--how he wants to stay in this world but knows he must leave it. Maybe Sigma is airing Gridman's dirty laundry a little too freely, but they both know Kaworu won't use it to hurt him. In a lot of ways, Kaworu recognizes that struggle too; he'd also tried so hard to live alongside humanity at the expense of his own nature that for a time, he made himself forget he ever wasn't human at all.
        
        It didn't end well, of course. The truth inevitably makes itself known. In the end, he too had to leave. ...He understands Gridman's feelings very well, too.
        
        "True. The further one holds oneself apart from humans, the less human one is able to be," Kaworu says softly. "I know it well. The longer I am apart from Lilim, the less I'm able to be among them naturally. Gridman has tried to hold himself apart ever since he remembered who he really is. Even though he's grown more and more human-like ever since then..."
        
        And yet it's that very humanity that causes him pain when he knows he must leave. Kaworu doesn't sigh, but for a moment, he does shut his eyes.
        
        Then Sigma speaks of his own reasons. Kaworu's faint smile returns. "Do you think so?" he wonders. "I have a fraught relationship with my family, so I don't know what it's like to have a 'brother' in the way you two are to one another." He bows his head, that faint, melancholy smile still in place. "Perhaps I could have had that once, but... it wasn't to be." He looks back at Sigma. "I'm not discrediting what you say of his connection with me, but I think you underestimate how valuable your connection to him is."
        
        The effect of Galeon's roar is another matter, and that point Kaworu is willing to cede. But ultimately Sigma concedes in turn that with reality being in the state it is right now, perhaps he can do something as well. Kaworu nods once, looking back up at the battle above them. Gridman is pierced by Alexis's spear, but holds himself together--something that clearly surprises Alexis himself. That faint smile remains in place. Some things never change, and others change so much. It's something he, too, struggles with, and so he also understands Alexis Kerib's feelings. As Gridman unleashes that massive Grid Beam, and in return Alexis makes that madder red force blast forward, it would seem as though Gridman has lost, but...
        
        "Then let us reach out to him... and to Akane, together," he tells Sigma. "This battle is not yet over, for either of them."

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Gridman clutches at the ragged hole in his side, trying to ignore the sound of his lamp flashing, signaling the end of his time in this form. If he lets go now, no one will be able to stop Alexis. No matter what, he has to hang on.

"Akane didn't only reach out to you," Gridman's voice fades in and out, as if broadcasting from a broken speaker. "Her heart called out to me just as strongly. Even if I can't... be there for all of them. I won't give up on her!"

Static is loud in Gridman's hearing, though Alexis' voice cuts through it. His vision fades around the edges as Junk tries to pull him back. The Giant of Light radiates pain and fear in electronic hues. He's given everything, and it isn't enough. Just like with Duma.

"None of that... matters. This is my mission." Gridman tries, again, to straighten up, digging his heels into the broken edges of Tsutsujidai. "Giving up... isn't an option."

Alexis is getting away. Firing his Grid Beam with every last spark of his strength, it isn't enough. Alexis Kerib's power dwarfs Gridman's, and forces his Grid Beam back, back, back --

"Akane." Gridman says, quietly. "I'll be there soon. Please, hold on."

--until that malicious red light impacts against the Giant, destroying the ground around him and throwing him into the air. The only sound that can be heard, as he falls, is the urgent flashing of his gemstone.

Gridman crashes agains the digitized street, and does not move.

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

Look, when your brother is getting himself killed in a way he would never be able to recover from, you're allowed to reveal the deep dark secrets of his heart in the hope that it might help somehow. Sigma spills the spaghetti because he loves.

Alexis invokes Takeshi and Sigma winces slightly. But: "...He assumes so strongly that 'being used' is inevitable. As if... being a 'victim' is the only fate that Akane could ever have. What a pessimistic view of the world. I suppose that's what makes him a 'Hyper Devil.'"

And why they must stand against him. Can Alexis be saved from his own pessimism...? Perhaps Kaworu would like that.

"'Lilim...' That is a 'word' I sensed from Duma. They did not speak it, but it manifested in my heart even so." A brother that Kaworu could have had, once... Sigma's gaze lingers for a moment, perhaps in understanding. Perhaps in surprise as well. But finally, he's forced to admit: "...Yes, I suppose I do think too little of myself, don't I? But you know Kaworu, even if we are of different kind from the humans, that doesn't mean they cannot be 'family' to us. It's that way for the 'Real Takeshi' and I, and for a time, for Gridman and Naoto and the others as well. In a way, you're his family too. We should both offer our support."

...And as Gridman is consumed by that terrible sunset-red light, it seems as though it may be too late.

But that doesn't mean they won't try.

"Yes. I'll be right behind you, Kaworu. He hasn't disintegrated yet-- and Alexis is still here. If there's still a chance... then courage will see them-- see all of us through."

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