2023-09-27: Deceit! The Quixotic Magine's Will!
- Cast: Asciel Colette, Koji Kabuto, Rita Bernal, Kallen Kozuki, Zan, Sayaka Yumi, TenRyuuJin Team, LiSA, Lucine Azul, Cascade Vermillion
- Where: Fujinomiya City
- Date: U.C. 0097 09 27
- Summary: The Photon Power League moves to retake Fuji from the clutches of Dr. Hell! Can they overcome the towering might of a star, false as it is? Just where does bravery come from in an inhuman heart...?
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
...This really could not have gone worse, could it?
From the moment Asciel first laid eyes upon Infinity sleeping beneath Mount Fuji, she began laying out her role in this scheme. It was supposed to be so simple and rewarding, just like when she seized this wonderful Macross!
Position herself as a key ally of Dr. Hell, who she knew to be capable of re-awakening Infinity - ensuring she'd be a strategic lynchpin when the time came. Persuade the rest of Amalgam and any higher organized powers - the Benerit Group by now - that she's operating in their interest. Namely, destroying Infinity, or simply stirring chaos to their advantage. Then, once everything was in place - surely this arena would be her plaything! Why, the plan even ASSUMED an unknown factor would emerge - someone, inevitably would know about Infinity as well, and make their own move, weakening the Photon Power Lab and giving the chance to swoop in. That it was Oath Over Omega only bolstered Asciel's certainty that Infinity would be hers if this all ensued.
...Instead-
The Benerit Group's forces are off the shore of Japan ready to move in and secure the Fuji Reactor the moment anything goes wrong. The mysterious Invisible Burst emanating from Jupiter has put Asciel under a constant fuzzy mind-pressure and gently incapacitating sensory ache. And worse of all - Dr. Hell turned out to have far more forces at his disposal than Asciel could comprehend. Even in the mighty frame of the Macross 13, it'd be a losing fight. It's not just that she's almost insignificant to his plan - it almost resembles that he mustered this many forces accounting for Asciel as a known liability that could stop him.
>oh god DAMN IT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS. i can't BELIEVE THIS he was just lying to me to make a meatshield out of me aaaaa WHY DIDN'T I FACTOR IN THAT HE'D BE ONTO ME
>'yes, of course! i've done it! it was so easy to outwit world renowned supergenius Dr. Hell! thank goodness he's not, i dunno, infamously resourceful and self-sufficient, that means he'll be relying on me!' I SEE THE PROBLEM NOW AAAAAA- god damn it and I bet one of the others tipped him off too. MR. SILVER IF I FIND OUT YOU SCREWED ME OVER THIS BAD I-
An incessant pinging from the combat radar finally pulls Asciel from her exhausted agonizing. And there the shoe finally drops. The heroes of humanity have had enough, and thanks to Asciel's impeccable planning, she's the single most obvious problematic target to handle first. Why, a battle carrier on the front lines of Dr. Hell's siege might even be a useful forward base for them to capture! She shivers at the thought.
>well, here we are. the opportunity hasn't come to go after Infinity. they've recouped their losses and are targeting me first. i'm pretty incapacitated myself. if i concede, that immediately makes me a target of the mecha-beasts. kinda left with one option here. let's ~do this thing~ i GUESS
<"Gooooood morning, oh re-assembled cavalry of the Fortress of Iron! ...eh? Hm, that's not Mazinger Z over there. Ahahah, that's right, Oath Over Omega gave quite the symbolic blow. Worry not, worry not! From the moment I helped set this into motion, I had long planned for the last rallying resolve of Earth's cursed heroes to sweep back in and try driving us all out!">
>yeah AS IF i thought i'd be making the universe's possibility my closet and that i'd never see any of you again
Arms raised high, the Macross 13's full array of beam turrets launches out, arcing and raining down a hailstorm of light, onto the encroaching forces of humanity reclaiming its right to its own future. <"Unfortunately for you all, I made an oath! I made an unbreakable promise to protect humanity! That includes from itself, and that MORE than includes cancerous 'Magines' like Infinity! It's long past time you recognized how exhausted this planet is. It's long past time you ceased demanding this of everyone who only wished to live gently! I REFUSE the self-destructive conclusion of giving every human the means to reshape the world!!">
>...i'm kind of just saying that, but you know.
>...it's true. I believe it more than anything. it'd be nice to live uncompromisingly. to always stand by that determination instead of constantly needing to plan around preserving it by betraying it.
)whenever i let that passion burn hottest, it really does stop feeling like i'm alone for a while.(
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Zan, Sayaka Yumi, Cascade Vermilion, Rita Bernal, Kallen Kozuki, Koji Kabuto, and Lucine Azul with Beam Array Full Complement. KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 398. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 120. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul successfully evades Asciel Colette's Beam Array Full Complement KTS: Sayaka Yumi successfully avoids Asciel Colette's Beam Array Full Complement KTS: Zan has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Cascade Vermilion successfully avoids Asciel Colette's Beam Array Full Complement KTS: Zan charges into the attack! KTS: Zan successfully avoids Asciel Colette's Beam Array Full Complement KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal successfully Evades Asciel Colette's Beam Array Full Complement KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Koji Kabuto, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Koji Kabuto blocks Asciel Colette's Beam Array Full Complement, taking 5400 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette begins a Formation attack! KTS: Kallen Kozuki successfully Evades Asciel Colette's Beam Array Full Complement
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
The joint operation between Cathedra and the OCU to push Doctor Hell's forces out of Fuji is about to begin. The operation plan is simple: A specialist team confronts Atrytone's Macross 13, while the Ichinana 3rd Company coordinates with Cathedra forces to destroy the kikaiju that remain in the city.
"You don't have to go, big bro," Shiro tries to say, in a quiet moment before the launch, holding his black helmet in the crook of his elbow. "Z's still in repair.
"... Yes I do," Koji says, sternly. "Colette betrayed us, even after I tried to reach out to her." He offers a half-hearted grin to his younger brother. "You know how I feel about that."
There's a silence, then Shiro punches his older brother in the shoulder. "Don't get sucked in to trying to kick her ass too hard. We want you back alive."
"Don't worry, kiddo, I'll be fine." The two Kabutos don their helmets then, heading to their respective launch pods.
Seated in his cockpit, Koji listens to his brother on the radio: "Third Company: Let's give 'em hell!" then keys his own. "This is Doctor Kabuto. Scrambling."
====== ======
He's already off and he can feel it, as the launch pod bursts open and he deploys the Ichinana's Scrander wings - he's in the path of a beam fired directly from the Macross. A quick interposition of the Mazinger Blade saves him from being completely annihilated, but...
'The Oath Over Omega gave quite the symbolic blow.'
"Yeah and what did YOU do about them? For a so-called protector of humanity, you were PERFECTLY content to let Triple Zero do as much damage as it wanted while you waited for the right opportunity to swoop in. You let US do the hard work for you! What, do you think it doesn't matter as long as Hell gets Infinity?"
Swapping the blade back for the Ichinana's machine gun, he sights on the Macross and fires a volley of grenades at the massive craft.
"You're full of shit, Atrytone."
KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Asciel Colette with Ichinana MG Grenade! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette's Physical Wall L3 activates, negating 3000 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to intercept Koji Kabuto's Ichinana MG Grenade, taking 560 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 91945 KTS: Your EN is now 395.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
A flash of gold glimmers in the sky. Something is approaching at extremely high speed -- something exuding intense psychic pressure. Through the atmosphere and down beyond the clouds, the Phenex Gundam approaches, here to aid her friends in this moment of need.
Sayaka, Koji, LiSA. I'm here.
Rita's voice echoes in the hearts of those able to hear her, sweet and breathy as ever. Fae noises accompany the Phenex as she descends, her twin shields restored and carefully settled against the Gundam's back.
As the golden machine arrives to the battlefield, the Macross 13 unleashes a salvo of beam fire -- something the Phenex, at least, is terribly familiar with. She darts in a complex pattern, refusing to slow her approach. Miraculously, she manages to avoid all damage, and comes to a sudden halt just before the great machine threatening the city.
Stop this. You know better than to expect this fight to accomplish anything anyone wants, don't you? Humanity is evolving past your expectations. There's no stopping it now.
The Phenex glances to the side as Koji fires. She reaches out a hand to his Ichinana, sending one of her wing-like shields to orbit around the machine. Koji cannot die here. Though Rita's visions have come to an end, she knows that much.
If you lay down your arms, these people may still accept you. Look back, Asciel. How many times has an action like this been thwarted by the heroes of the living? Has any other outcome ever happened?
The Phenex glows in rainbowy brilliance. This Macross cannot be defeated by traditional means, she realizes. What Asciel fears most must be brought to bear against her once again.
Bringing one arm up to her chest and swiftly slashing it outwards, the Phenex launches a wave of incandescent Miracle Light toward the Macross -- Light capable of eating away armor and weapons alike.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Asciel Colette with Coronal Aurorae! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.
Strictly, the Photon Power Labs are seen as strong. Powerful and well-defended. In theory they shouldn't normally need the Black Knights to help them. Moreover, it's a dangerous place to be getting involved with. Well, they would be if they, say, decided to turn a certain squad of KMFs into the authorities. But these KMFs aren't here to fight them or steal some proprietary tech or anything opportunistic. No, they're here for (mostly) selfless reasons. Because in practice, it doesn't matter who you are. The remit of the Knights is, after all, aid to those who need it. That they've found themselves with a personal vendetta against those who operate the same kikaiju, is only secondary to that.
Orders are given to the more mundane units among them. Specialized Burai variants mostly, and a few other units. They're not meant for engaging to kikaiju themselves. They're meant to take a supportive role. To deal with debris and damage from the attack, evacuate non-combat figures. Maybe provide covering and suppressive fire, or chaff smokescreens if necessary. But strictly speaking, of this squad, only the red one is here to square up. The Guren and its pilot. "Hope you won't mind a little help. Looks like an awful big problem you've got on your hands." As always, her transmissions are filtered and distorted. Just... a little safety. "Glad to be working alongside you all today."
Now of course, there's a gigantic Macross here, and somebody inside it, shooting off her mouth. Hard to tell how much of it she just believes, how much is her blowing smoke, and how much is actually real, as somebody who has done a lot of mask-wearing and pretending to be things she isn't really. Thankfully, her cannonfire isn't close enough to be a problem. Knightmare Frames are extremely tiny and agile, and Kallen has in recent times, been putting members of the Knights through hell, training them in maneuvering and evasion. They've shown progress, mostly! Though one of them did catch a shrapnel shot and lose one of its arms. How, seriously how? Well, not a problem anyway. "Y'know, I've been fighting a lot of giants. Way more than I anticipated. So I've learned a couple things." The Harkens aren't really going to do jack-shit for taking apart a Macross's armor when she whips a pair of them through the air to stab into it. But they'll sure let her start scaling the behemoth. "Sometimes... you just have to get face to face." A concerning prospect, when the Guren is so known for what it does to things up close.
KTS: Kallen Kozuki targets Asciel Colette with Slash Harken Hook! KTS: Kallen Kozuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette's Physical Wall L3 activates, negating 3000 base damage. KTS: Kallen Kozuki anchors Asciel Colette, forcing her into close range. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Kallen Kozuki's Slash Harken Hook, taking 525 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 91420 KTS: Kallen Kozuki has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Your EN is now 382. <Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
After all of that and taking a Goldion Hammer to the literal face, it's unlikely that the Iron Zanrailer would be operational to take on someone he sees as possibly needing to be stopped.
That doesn't stop Zan from having his core unit completed with Carpenter assistance and brought back online, however. "Thank you, team. I'm off."
The quartet of Carpenters salute before Zan takes off in his orca form.
Arriving in flight, Zan was expecting something from afar. And he just happened to see all those beams. The orca starts to almost dance through them. Spiralling this way and that, charging into the fray with the abandon only a Brave might have.
While he can't become the Iron Zanrailer at the moment, the fact is that the orange form is still able to make his impact felt.
And he does so in the best way he can. A long chain with a hook deploys before the orca form spins literally. Rockets fire from the hook itself to help guide it as it brings considerable force at the Macross itself.
The craft retracts the chain afterwards as it starts to hover around the Macross 13. "<Hey, lady! Stop giving us AIs a bad name!>"
KTS: Zan targets Asciel Colette with Hooked Drive! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Rita Bernal rattles Asciel Colette, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Rita Bernal's Coronal Aurorae, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 90370 KTS: Your EN is now 374. KTS: Asciel Colette's Physical Wall L3 activates, negating 3000 base damage. KTS: Zan rattles Asciel Colette, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Zan's Hooked Drive, taking 1350 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 89020 KTS: Zan has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Your EN is now 374.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
It has to happen, and it has to happen now. Sayaka has frankly had enough of that Macross 13 calling in the shots in her city, and it's about time to mount a counterattack.. especially with Benerit on the move and coordinating with Shiro's squadron.
This time, it isn't Mazinger Z that Aphrodite Areia accompanies, though. "I'd say you shouldn't be afraid to fall back behind Areia's armour this time." She remarks, as they prepare to launch. "But we're partners. And we'll take back our city together... so let's go. ARTEMIS CROSS!" The angel of love, peace, and war descends, flanking Koji's Ichinana and the entire Third Squadron.
Allies follow to meet them, with Rita and the Phenex Gundam's brilliance washing over the battlefield. Even if 3G is hard pressed to send in troops of their own, they're working even beyond the invisible burst to send in some support in the form of the very twins who dared to destroy the city weeks before. A Black Knight, too... that's complicated.
"An oath doesn't mean so much when you're the only one in on it," Sayaka replies to Asciel coolly, dashing past turrets of beam fire. "No, you're coming out of this looking like not much more than a stubborn child." And isn't there a kernal of truth to that, when you think about her relative youth as an AI? Regardless...
"I don't care how much of a show of force you're using. Did you really think you were going to outsmart Hell of all people? What did you think he was going to do when he gets his hands on Infinity!" She argues. "I've been prepared for this possibility for over a year now, Asciel. Prepared to dedicate every single resource in my disposal to stop Hell and ensure Infinity never comes to use. Every variable, every contigency. Even if you stand in my way, that won't change."
Although she has the talk, she watches as the others land their attacks on the massive, hulking ship that is the Macross - its own vessel for human exploration. She'll have to sever it from the seams -- "See how you like the taste of this SCARLET BEAM!" She shouts, as Aphrodite Areia's eyes glow a piercing red, firing a jamming beam of Photon Power.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Asciel Colette with Scarlet Beam! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi rattles Asciel Colette, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Sayaka Yumi's Scarlet Beam, taking 2100 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 86920 KTS: Sayaka Yumi begins a Formation attack! KTS: Your EN is now 374. <Pose Tracker> TenRyuuJin Team has posed.
Asura and Brocken arrived with an army of Machine Beasts at their back. With the Invisible Burst wreaking havoc on sensors and communications, someone needs to keep an eye out for them the old-fashioned way. That duty falls to Liam today, as the Neo Helios is being held in reserve. An Ichinana hunches behind an intact office tower, while Liam scans the skies with both hardened sensors and old-fashioned binoculars.
"Good luck," he whispers, his voice scratchy as it travels through the lasercomm to this allies. "You'll know the moment things change."
An "incoming message" alert plays on Sayaka's console. A moment later, a window opens, cut in two diagonally--inside are a pair of virtual avatars. AnRyuu offers Sakaya a confident smile, while KouRyuu grins and waves.
"Dr. Yumi," says AnRyuu. "Please forgive the intrusion, but we thought it best--"
This is partly our fault," says KouRyuu, and we need to make it right! We're Braves, and we're not leaving you to fight alone!
"The Macross 13... did she fake its destruction? Was Garland's insurrection all her plan?" AnRyuu's in-cockpit musings soon turn public, as she sends transmissions of her own through Aphrodite Areia's lasercomm. "Asciel Colette, alias Atrytone, you're under arrest. In the name of GGG and Chasseur, we're bringing you in."
A Super-AI criminal," says KouRyuu. "Does this mean you're our Moriarty or something? You know, I'd approve of you making space for all of us to be ourselves, but not like this!" A pause. "Hi, Koji! Hi, Zan! Hi Phenex Gundam!"
AnRyuu does not join her sister in greeting the others; she's discreetly suggesting targeting solution improvements to Aphrodite Areia herself. (She is aware she and her sister are guests in someone else's chassis.)
KTS: TenRyuuJin Team has activated the Strike Spirit Command targeting Sayaka Yumi KTS: TenRyuuJin Team has activated the Trick Spirit Command targeting Sayaka Yumi KTS: TenRyuuJin Team targets Asciel Colette with Pass! KTS: TenRyuuJin Team has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
Shiro is waved at. She doesn't get into the brotherly love discussion, but hey, she's fond of the younger Kabuto too! And Tetsuya.. .and Jun... and Baby Gai... Hmm. The Photon Power Labs are full of love, aren't they?
And anger.
Lisa feels that anger coming from the man in the front seat, and quiet guilt washes over her, for a reason that only he and Sayaka know about. The beam from the Macross is just too perfect, too right, for Lisa to even try to help with the dodge, but her fingers fly across her liminal screens as she watches the grenade.
On a tight beam, to everyone not Asciel: "Alliance team, watch out! Physical attacks may be a bit tricky against her, you either need to get in close or see if we can force it down." Lisa declares over the screens. Her gaze flickers over to the Aphrodite, and she grins at the beam. "Dad, this may not be the Mazinger, let's hit her with everything this thing has!"
Then she flicks her comms over to Asciel, wide band, "Infinity is NOT CANCEROUS!" She starts out. "Don't you know what Goragon really is, if you're going to fight with Hell against us?! This was never about YOU or protecting us! You're ... you're..." Lisa struggles for a moment. "Are you an idiot?!"
KTS: LiSA has activated the Alert Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
With a majority of the details regarding her departure to Mars (and then Jupiter) settled, the world has not paused.
< ".... Thanks for keeping an eye out, Liam." > Lucine is also here, but up in the sky, closing in on the battle already beginning. One small unit may not be much against the Macross 13, but she's handled it before.
< "... Dianthus, reporting in. ... I hope none of you felt I would leave you hanging." > Lucine's words are delivered so soberly that it would be easy to mistake them as being serious. A video chat window would show the small smile on her lips. < "I'll do what I can to support you all." > That part isn't a small joke.
The horned humanoid unit weaves around the Macross 13's beam turrets, its pilot commenting back at Asciel's well-meaning speech. < ".... I trust them. At some point, humanity cannot be coddled like a rebellious child. Even if your intentions are good, your road led you to Dr. He--ll??" >
Lucine doubletakes at the voices of the TenRyuuJin Team, taking her a moment to realize that they're.... on their side now. Alright. Good.
She clears her throat, and refocuses on the field, piloting the Dianthus around to give it a clear shot at the Macross 13, which she delivers through the Dianthus's charging 'antlers', timing it with Sayaka's own.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
In the chaos of battle, one more unit is easy to overlook, especially if it doesn't immediately engage anyone.
A cloaked machine has been perched on one of the reinforced buildings' roofs. About twenty-five meters tall, it has remained completely enveloped in the black cloak. The kikaiju haven't really targeted it because nobody has updated them to realize it isn't an ally; even for Asciel it is easy to overlook for the same reason, and though beams come very close, none of them quite hit.
And for the other side, well, they just got here. They haven't had much of an opportunity to target her.
Cascade Vermilion was not invited here. No longer willing to follow Dr. Hell's orders, nobody told her to show up. The last time Androktasia was in Fujinomiya, she was assisting Asciel in attacking the Photon Power Plant, and she doesn't think she'll be welcome, but she needed to be here.
As long as Dr. Hell is able to change the world, she'll never be really safe.
But what she was really looking for is Gamia NX-1. It wouldn't have surprised Cascade if she was here, assisting Asciel or commanding kikaiju. She hasn't seen her, and was still deciding what to do about this battle. Her eyes scan the battlefield as she sees units take the field, identifying each of them in turn. Including - a very distinctive red Guren.
Really, that's what makes up Cascade's mind more than anything else. She owes Kallen in a way that she cannot easily repay.
Androktasia leaps from her position, half-jumping and half-gliding under gravitic power to a closer building, where she touches down again. Throwing back the cloak dramatically, Androktasia's full frame is revealed: it's very nearly a Mazin, just slightly shorter but a lot less bulky than something like Mazinger Z proper. Deep red along the limbs, black at the chest and across the hips and between the legs. It uses copper as an accent several times, as trim to define the edges of its gauntlet or boot. The whole robot has a feminine build, less bulky than something like Mazinger but perhaps slightly more than Aphrodite - and it does have a face, a strangely human-shaded one, as Venus A does.
She does not immediately speak to Asciel. Asciel can figure it out, when Androktasia rears back as if holding something in her right hand - and then she is, a compressive disk in black-purple with a weirdly shining silver edge, which she flings like a discus. It shears through matter, ripping it apart as it spins like a saw before, eventually, detonating in a violet shockwave.
It's the Guren that gets an attempted connection. From an unknown source; the mysterious female not-quite-a-Mazin in the cloak, still half-on and half-floating above the building.
If she accepts it, it's voice-only, no visual, from a voice she does know: "I'm here."
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Asciel Colette with Lunate Crown v.2 Bolt! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto KTS: Cascade Vermilion: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Cascade Vermilion targets Asciel Colette with Accretion Discus! KTS: Cascade Vermilion has completed their actions for the round. KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto with All-Out! KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to TenRyuuJin Team's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 86920 KTS: Your EN is now 374. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Bolt, taking 1710 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 85210 KTS: Lucine Azul continues a Formation attack! KTS: Your EN is now 374. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to charge. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Cascade Vermilion's Accretion Discus, taking 1935 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 83275 KTS: Your EN is now 369. KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Koji Kabuto's Skill!
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
The fields and forests in the outskirts of Fujinomiya swiftly become a war zone - the Macross 13's beams and missiles rather indiscriminate, hoping for sheer suppressive fire to demoralize opposition - and, when they retaliate, that strange gravity-generator field slows conventional arms to a snail's pace.
<"I didn't just 'let' them do whatever, ugh!!"> Asciel immediately descends into petulance as the mimicry of Mazinger opens fire only to be blunted by the barriers, the orange-hued optics of the Macross staring judgmentally at Koji and Sayaka. <"The minute they appeared I was on the move to do something, I busted my ass to fly down from Magallanica! I'm as annoyed as you are how long it took me - Oath Over Omega was sort of the absolute super duper worst case scenario I really didn't wanna see, and I was genuinely scared they'd trample over you all and mess with Infinity themselves! --Besides, an oath like mine is necessary when that 'Oath' is a pact with forces we can't understand!">
Those two are met with a deluge of Variable Fighters pouring from Asciel's arms, launching and flying in stiff, simple patterns - the clear sign of autopilot modules. They aren't there to engage in a serious dogfight - they're just trying to empty their load of missiles a little more accurately at the Ichinana and Aphrodite. The matched beams from Sayaka and Lucine tear pretty quickly through that strange gravity barrier Asciel emits - and the unfamiliar sight of the Dianthus irks Asciel enough to direct her 'valkyries' towards Lucine - to say little of the-
<"...Was that supposed to be a joke...ugh! I'm really in a prety sour mood, from everything that's happened here, and ESPECIALLY with that damned Invisible Burst. More and more show up from the woodworks in defiance...Listen, you. I'll stop treating humanity like a child that desn't know restraint when humanity stops killing each other so much. I took my oath to protect them because they keep dying!! And don't treat it like it's just a handful, it's BILLIONS. Pretty easy to speak of a hopeful and positive future when you can wash your hands of the dead!">
The twin chained weapons from Zan and Kallen genuinely stoke a strange troubled trepidation in Asciel, even after all this time. Even after how much she worked to master them. The gravitic barrier definitely messes with their trajectories, but the harkens can still somewhat 'bond' to any outcroppings with a long enough wire, and the hulking titan opens up countless hatches along its knees to turn the ascent of the two small suits into a gauntlet.
<"Haaaah - the defender of the Orbital Ring who refused me, and the adorable valiant of the Black Knights who betrayed me. No-"> Asciel's optics zoom in on the Androktasia, leering at the sight of a familiar face assisting Kallen quite clearly. <"Multiple bouts of treason! Ahh. Ahahaha~ I heard about this. That you started getting sentimental with your targets. Poor thing. I know the pain a little too well. After all, I opened my heart so much to Zan here - but as much as all of you claim it'd just be fine if I did that more, if I came to you with understanding and diplomacy - all I get is disgust, really~ It's so tragic, that the two of you fell in love with the horrifying world humans made.">
If the 'family' LiSA's found feel so full of love, then the haggard and distant look from Asciel's model, and all she speaks about struggling with responsibility and death - is that a lack of love? Or...the feeling that love will be met with more hardship than joy? <"...It's called 'Infinity'. That's the definition of a cancer. Something that pursues and pursues and pursues, heedless of everything around it, for the sake of its own infinite proliferation. The world can't handle an infinite anything. I mean, he told me what Goragon is. A terminal to decide possibilities. To make certain things true. To make others false. I have a very, very specific possibility I would prefer be so far from this planet that it redshifts away into nothing. Humanity pulling the stars closer, heedless of how the sunlight induces cancer and scours the land when grasped...it seriously makes me sick. Who the hell even are you-!?">
...At the very least, if Asciel's overwhelmed with disgust, TenRyuuJin's declaration that she's 'under arrest' stokes an amusing little laugh from the Virtual Sage. <"Hoh - recovered from that horrible Oath Over Omega's curse. Good. ...good. If nothing else, seeing you encourages me. Though I have to say, given how constricting and imprisoning Triple Zero is - isn't it ironic that when freed from its curse, you'd bind others?~ I suppose it's not incorrect that what I seek - taking on every burden that leads others to be detained - merits me a closed position in the world, but only by my own hands will I allow it.">
<"...Only by my own hands will I become.">
...The main reason Asciel avoided direct maneuvers against everyone else is that - the mere sight of the Phenex stokes an almost feral and repulsive instinct. The titanic Macross Cannon shoots up from her back - and cradled in her hands, it hisses and whirs, the giant's movements slow and sluggish, utterly unable to follow the Phenex. Her animated voice darkens considerably.
<"Evolution is horrifying, painful, and violent. I know. ...You, who is the accursed miracle I can't stand the sight of. Hearing from you that they will 'accept' me only makes it clearer that they never, ever would. Not unless I became something they decided for me. Not unless I fell into their cycle, and in the process, lost every means I ever had of saving them, becoming no better than one of their tools. One of them.">
<"The worst part is how you compel people by always saying goodbye to them. Pulling these humans along by making them want to hold onto you tighter, even though you're destined to be out of their grasp. You. YOU WHO'D DRAG ALL OF HUMANITY INTO THAT SUFFOCATING RAINBOW - IT'S ALWAYS YOU!!!">
That 'slowness' is a bluff. No. The Macross 13, in that moment of viscerally detesting the Phenex and everything it stands for - unveils its movements profoundly fast and snappy for something so colossal. It takes a single step almost as fast as a person could, stumped feet carving a crater into a forest below. The cannon swings fast enough to carve vortices in the air - to leave a sonic boom from the sheer speed of displaced air. A bolt of unfathomably intense light hurtles out mid-swing to strike Rita with dexterity that - hardly matches the actual pace of a gunslinger, but certainly tries, far more than a vessel this colossal should.
KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Rita Bernal with Macross Cannon - Contiinued Pulse! KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Zan with OTEC Converging Energy Cannon! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Kallen Kozuki with OTEC Converging Energy Cannon! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Cascade Vermilion with Bifors CIWS Beam Phalanx! KTS: Asciel_Colette Changes attack to Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Lucine Azul with VF Squadron - Wide-Area Sweep. KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 493. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 140. KTS: Cascade Vermilion's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Cascade Vermilion, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Cascade Vermilion partially guards Asciel Colette's Bifors CIWS Beam Phalanx, taking 2420 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette has engaged Cascade Vermilion! KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Sayaka Yumi, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to intercept Asciel Colette's VF Squadron - Wide-Area Sweep, taking 2880 damage! KTS: Zan has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Zan charges into the attack! KTS: Zan's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Zan partially guards Asciel Colette's OTEC Converging Energy Cannon, taking 1750 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Asciel Colette's Macross Cannon - Contiinued Pulse, taking 4929 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: [Mirage] Lucine Azul's Glimmer Engine activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Lucine Azul, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Koji Kabuto, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Koji Kabuto fails to intercept Asciel Colette's VF Squadron - Wide-Area Sweep, taking 3690 damage! KTS: Kallen Kozuki charges into the attack! KTS: Kallen Kozuki partially guards Asciel Colette's OTEC Converging Energy Cannon, taking 3325 damage! <Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Damn it..." Koji's hands tremble on the yoke as the Variable Fighters swarm in, missile blasts knocking the Ichinana about like a pinball. "Lisa... hold on...!"
He manages to get the machine stabilised, throwing away the machinegun after evaluating it as useless against the Macross's sheer bulk. "LIAR!" He roars at Asciel. "YOU SAID IT YOURSELF, YOU WERE HELPING DOCTOR HELL! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO TRUST YOUR 'POSSIBILITY' WHEN YOU THROW IN WITH THE WORST THIS WORLD HAS TO OFFER? TO STOP US KILLING EACH OTHER? HE'D WIPE EVERY LAST ONE OF US OUT JUST TO SETTLE HIS STUPID GRUDGE!"
The Ichinana swoops in, climbing up the body of the Macross. Tears sting Koji's eyes as he bellows. "BREAST! FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!"
The ray of heat carves up and up the body as he continues to climb.
KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Asciel Colette with Ichinana Breast Fire! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Koji Kabuto's Ichinana Breast Fire, taking 7480 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 75795 KTS: Koji Kabuto completes the Formation attack! KTS: Your EN is now 483.
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
Zan might express some shock, but he's in vehicle mode, "KouRyuu? AnRyuu? Uh, hi."
"Excuse me. I need to go cut this lady down to size."
The orange orca form of Zan turns and raises itself a bit, letting the energy beams score across a reflective surface as it weathers the barrage. Some things don't change even when he's smaller.
Once the barrage stops, the orange robot announces, "CHANGE ZAN ROBO!"
The fuselage with a cockpit flips forward and the loading arms fold up and back, followed by the legs shooting down practically from the rest. The twin jet engines fold back and pull in before his head emerges.
Instead of pulling out the chain and hook again, he raises his trusty tool cut and begins firing off sweeps of laser fire at the Macross. Specifically at the things firing at him and anything he can hit on the Macross 13 that looks like it might be important right now.
"Of course I would refuse you." He says towards Asciel. "We have a space for us if we want it. We can get along with humans. Why can't you see that?"
KTS: Zan has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Zan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Zan targets Asciel Colette with Cutting Laser! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Zan's Cutting Laser, taking 2720 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 73075 KTS: Your EN is now 473. Leina Ashta has connected. <Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka notices an intrusion in Aphrodite Areia's system, and immediately reacts to it with a frown. Now of all times? She needs to get Lisa on this right awa-
Ah, the grinning face of KoRyu, no longer under the influence of Triple Zero, certainly does a lot to calm those worries.
"Hah... you know they developed way simpler ways to do that in the last few years, right? But I won't say no to support from some of 3G's finest. Let's teach her a lesson!" She declares, using the data she receives from the twins to shift Aphrodite Areia into overdrive!
More strange robotic figures continue to hit the scene... a particular standout being the cloaked one that reveals a truly Mazin-like figure. She recalls seeing it as the controller for the Satan Claus kikaiju that struck last Christmas... Of course, this means she's prepared for a whole other layer to an already complex situation, until it starts attacking the Macross, too?! "Koji, that's..." She doesn't need to finish her statement. It's one of the re-born Gamia sisters. "Looks like she might've went rogue? We'll count on her assistance for now, but tell the Third Squadron to keep an eye on things!"
She has to focus for now, as Asciel fires off words and Variable Fighters alike. "Rust Cyclone, shoot them down!" Sayaka commands, but they're just too fast - she still takes some damage out of necessity, jamming the Photon Barrier at that. "Unfortunately, I'm not like to believe your sob story of how long it took to interfere, when you just so happened to have a deal lined up on the spot with Hell himself." She scowls. "Dance on his strings while thinking you're two steps ahead all you'd like. It doesn't change a damned thing, Asciel. You've thrown your lot in with the pettiest and sorest of losers. If that's not enough, then... "RUST CYCLONE... full rotation!""
The corrosive, destructive cyclone's wrath continues to spin faster and faster, aiming to start by destroying those pesky remaining drone valkyries first.
"The worst part is... I think we agree far more than you think on what's to be done about Infinity. Why do you think I kept it a secret for so long? Do you really think I could trust people with the knowledge of power like that, while Doctor Hell looms large to take advantage of it. How am I supposed to trust your motives when you waltzed in on the wings of the kikaiju army in a Macross?"
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Asciel Colette with Rust Cyclone! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Sayaka Yumi's Rust Cyclone, taking 3720 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 69355 KTS: Sayaka Yumi repulses Asciel Colette, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi begins a Formation attack! KTS: Your EN is now 473.
<Pose Tracker> TenRyuuJin Team has posed.
"Oh, uh, we'll look into that. Once we're no longer bouncing a laser transmission all the way from Orbit Base. Still, it's good to get back to basics!" Despite the tension, and the shadow cast by the Macross, KouRyuu is as cheery as ever.
"Hmf. Autopilot modules? Sloppy." AnRyuu's personal opinion aside, the VFs do their work. Neither twin interferes mid-evasion; throwing Sayaka and Areia off could be fatal to both of them. The damage echoes through their proprioception precepts like pain from a phantom limb, a memory of the bodies neither one has at the moment.
They've suffered through far worse. The Planetary Masters saw to it that they suffered through far worse.
"You've come so far while we were away, Sayaka. You, and Koji, and Tetsuya, and Jun."
"Yeah--and I'm upset we weren't here to see any of it! But we can make up for that, now" AnRyuu's avatar nods in silent, confidence while KouRyuu's gives a bright grin and a thumbs-up.
"We're behind all of you, one hundred percent."
"So that's your endgame, huh, Moriarty-chan? A world where you're in charge, but with a twist--Asciel Colette, the benevolent eternal Goddess of Possibility." Did KouRyuu catch a VoD someone captured of that livestream? (She did.) "That's an awful lot of variables to account for. I'm used to calculating outcomes for things thar are so small, they're subject to quantum effects! And humans are like that, but so much more--"
It's AnRyuu, though, who asks the pointed question. "Asciel Colette. What is courage, to you?"
KTS: TenRyuuJin Team has activated the Spirit Spirit Command targeting Sayaka Yumi
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
CIWS fires at Androktasia, but Androktasia withstands; drawing its cloak across its front, a rippling barrier disperses some of the incoming fire, beams decohering as they hit it and weakening the incoming fire.
Cascade lets the cloak fall a moment later, and despite her better instincts, opens her communications to reply. Only to Asciel. She doesn't want everyone else to hear this.
"<I have only recently understood that I can be a 'person' - that I am a 'person', and not a 'tool' or an obedient soldier,>" Cascade sends right back. "<I can only accept a world where I continue to be a person. I thought you, of all people, would understand - you, who has made everything of what you are with your own hands! Accept that I want to do the same, but if Dr. Hell achieves his goals, I will never - never! - be able to!>"
Switching back to public communication, Cascade says, "<So you do understand what is here...>" More than Cascade did, actually; Dr. Hell did not exactly keep her in confidence. "<Is this why you brought me to distract the Photon Power Plant's defenders, so long ago? So you could prepare to do THIS?>"
Getting into melee range with the entire Macross is futile, even for Cascade. So she doesn't; she keeps her distance, raising both of Androktasia's hands this time. It's a strain to focus the Mycenae gravity engine like this, and Cascade lets out a faint noise of effort as she compresses a patch of space -
A spike the size of Androktasia's arm, made of gravity so condensed and refined it's a sharp-edged violet blade, blasts out toward the Macross. It drives in and in, a kinetic drill that smashes flat and rips apart before breaking apart itself, a detonating pulse strong enough to knock robots off their feet. (Though, admittedly, probably not the Macross.)
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Cascade Vermilion targets Asciel Colette with Gravity Spike! KTS: Cascade Vermilion has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to retreat. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Cascade Vermilion's Gravity Spike, taking 4350 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 65005 KTS: Your EN is now 468. <Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
KouRyuu greets the Phenex, and she turns to the new voice, slightly confused. The voice is coming from Sayaka's machine, and it sounds friendly enough.
Hello. I am Rita Bernal.
Though, if KouRyuu is communicating through video, she may be unable to hear the voice of the Heart of the Phenex...
Rita's attention is dragged back to the battle near immediately, the Phenex hovering in her sacred fire as Asciel rages. How strange that the last time they met was as allies, fighting the monster that haunted Rita's existence. Perhaps this crusade against Infinity is, for Asciel, much like Rita's against the Neo Zeong II. A power humanity isn't ready for. Even someone like Koji Kabuto could be overwhelmed.
You can't save them. They have to learn to save themselves. All we can do is ensure the path remains clear for them to move forward.
The Light of the resonant plane shimmers around the Phenex -- flickering brighter, the flames growing, as Asciel accuses Rita of manipulating people. She's right, of course, but Rita takes issue with the specific way Asciel said it.
I won't say goodbye. Not ever again. I'm done with dying. The Rainbow is already here, Asciel. It cannot be undone, not now.
As the Phenex shimmers with grace and power, gathering her strength for another attack, the Macross 13 suddenly moves with intense speed. Rita is given only a moment's awareness flashing against her soul before the enormous machine strikes. The Phenex attempts to rocket straight up, unsuccessfully. Struck true by the Macross 13's light, the golden Gundam is sent hurtling away.
The Firebird crashes down into the city, destruction following in her wake. Rita cries out. It takes a few moments, but the Gundam gathers her strength, pushing to her feet in the midst of the rubble. Mystical blue fire outlines the Phenex again, and she returns to the air.
You are fighting for a world that has already ended. Asciel. Are you afraid of being left behind?
Darting through the air, the Phenex circles her foe, trailing celestial embers to weaken the Macross 13's armor.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Asciel Colette with Magnetic Midnight! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.
A transmission...? Mysterious or not, of course Kallen accepts it. For all she knows, it's a private declaration of peace from someone on the field. What it turns out to really be, makes her far happier. "Glad to see you again. For now, we'll coordinate and deal with all this. Have a chat later? Maybe over some food?" Working alongside friends, always makes her feel just that extra bit more confident. And for good reason. As she's scaling Mt. Asciel, she casts an eye out to the distance, to see the Androktasia for herself. For the first time, as it happens. "...I'm not sure if this is awkward to say or not, but what you're piloting looks pretty cool." Hopefully it won't be too awkward.
Asciel... Kallen is now fully processing that the Macross ITSELF is the woman shouting at everybody. And she's talking about... <"What betrayal would that be? Lady, I've never met you in the first place. But go on, keep talking. Tell us all about it."> Never stop somebody from monologuing. Especially if they can give you information. Of course this... Super AI? Is wildly dramatic, and talking about a lot of things that sound weird. So it's up in the air if it'll actually get anywhere useful. Of course, that rule also matters less when the Super AI pushes her buttons. Hits on things that make her mad. <"But don't you DARE talk to my FRIEND as if she's worse for finding her heart and soul. Or bonding with other people! The world as it is may have a ton of problems, but what's going to fix those is Coordinated Effort! People coming together and using their strengths to help lift each other up! Not some singular figure reshaping everything to their whim!">
When the cannon ports open up, turning the path into an obstacle course, the Guren takes to it well. Not perfectly by any stretch, as chunks of singed crimson armor go tumbling off to the ground. It's fine... Kallen can ignore the blood from where the shots sent her slamming forward. She just gashed open her forehead and bloodied her nose a bit, she'll be fine. What won't be fine is the Macross. Soon. She sets in the activation codes and primes the Surger. But it's not ready. It'll take some time to fully heat up and prepare for use. So in the meantime, she'll continue her ascent. Getting face to face means she has a lot to climb. And she's going to make that a little easier on herself, by taking occasional potshots with the grenade launcher, to make herself some handholds across the barrier-protected titanic warship. And all the while, Asciel gets to feel it, as a sweltering, dangerous heat rises next to her. The kind of scorching inferno that takes hold of hearts without mercy.
Maybe it reminds her of something.
KTS: Kallen Kozuki targets Asciel Colette with Arm Cannon Grenade Shot! KTS: Kallen Kozuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Rita Bernal's Magnetic Midnight, taking 1860 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 63145 KTS: Your EN is now 458. KTS: Asciel Colette's Physical Wall L3 activates, negating 3000 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Kallen Kozuki's Arm Cannon Grenade Shot, taking 570 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 62575 KTS: Your EN is now 453. <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Lucine is a newcomer, for sure; Asciel's actions are still obscure to her, both by Asciel's earlier designs, and Lucine simply just not knowing the entirety of Asciel's own struggles. There is nothing quite like a person coming in out of nowhere to criticize you.
< "..... From where I stand... you seem very similar to people. I judging from Zan's comments... you're like him? An AI?" >
Especially when that person doesn't understand the full depths of who Asciel is. Like Kallen, Lucine is seeing all of this with new(ish) eyes.
Piloting the Dianthus around to circle the Macross 13, the blue-teal haired pilot tries to get a better sense of the voice behind the massive ship, while trying to understand that the voice *is* the ship, in the same way Omoikane is. But Asciel... is not like Omoikane. But, in other ways, she is.
< ".... It feels like... you have a fear of anyone getting close. Your words say you desire closeness, but..." >
It's a massive bit of spectulation, Lucine realizes, to read so closely into an AI's mental signature and openly talk about it.
< ".... The fear of closeness to others, while still wanting that closeness, the anger from rejection, whether real or imagined, and holding onto pride in doing a thankless task..." >
Asciel's 'valkyries' speed towards the Dianthus, and then through, the afterimages of the illusion dissipating into glimmers of light. The real Dianthus, to the side, pauses to recollect herself as one nearly manages to spear her through.
< "... That is... ah, these are all very 'human' things to do. ... Really, I'd say they're not exclusive to humans. Neither is change. And neither.... is fear of the unknown." >
The arbalest is drawn, taking a moment to warm up; she should have focused more on *this* than monologues at a ship that could easily crash her like a pea. Aiming as Kallen attacks, Lucine attempts to make a hopeful clean shot on-- there's not really a specific area she should aim, is there?
She picks a spot, and hopes for the best.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"Ohmigawd..." Lisa says, not over the comms, but to herself and Koji, before she also gives Asciel a rounding thump over the comms. "You - sorry mom-" Not Koji too? " - dumb ass!"
"Koji is the one that called it Infinity, it doesn't ... have an actual name! Also, excuse me? Goddess of -possibility?-" A beat. "Isn't that the entire thing why I'm here? I'm not wrong about this, am I?" Asks the ancient sixteen year old two year old.
"It's a tank and she knows it... Rita, Sayaka, Koji... here! My suggestions!" She flicks the data out to the trio, basically her way of finding the best way around, and trying to get them all to trigger at the same spot, or close to it. Attacks strung close and tight together to make the damage into one catastrophic run.
"Grrr... she's listening but she isn't!"
KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Rita Bernal with Coordinate. KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round. KTS: LiSA has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto KTS: Lucine Azul targets Asciel Colette with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Snipe! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Snipe, taking 3430 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 59145 KTS: Lucine Azul completes the Formation attack! KTS: Your EN is now 453. KTS: LiSA coordinates maneuvers, raising Sayaka Yumi's Piloting! KTS: LiSA coordinates maneuvers, raising Koji Kabuto's Piloting! KTS: LiSA coordinates maneuvers, raising Rita Bernal's Piloting! <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
The Rust Cyclone, in particular - stokes an especially difficult reaction from Asciel, the hulking Macross taking a wary step back as her 'Valkyries' start rotting away. A visceral instinct to get as far from that awful weapon as possible. It leads her, ironically - to be more melted away by the Ichinana's Breast Fire.
<"...You know, that's pretty fairly on me. Underestimating just how much Dr. Hell's nemeses might've hated the guy. To be honest, I didn't even really consider that~ He caused no end of problems for you, but it was hard for me to imagine it as something personal. ...nn. ...It's really only right just then. Right when I pushed myself a little too hard on the Phenex...that I maybe grasped just what you all feel for each other. ---But like, also, you SAW what happened, didn't you!? That army of Kikaiju just SHOWED UP in the blink of an eye."> A genuine frustration - probably betraying just what Asciel has in mind regarding Dr. Hell - can't stop but leak through. <"Is that something they could always do?! And there's so many of the same one!? None of that crap makes any damn sense and I had no way of dreaming Dr. Hell had that at his disposal, let's get real! What if I showed up here and there were like fifty Mazinger Zs - NO THOSE KNOCK-OFFS DON'T COUNT- ...wait. ...hm. ...Yeah, it doesn't make sense for Dr. Hell to have this gigantic army of monsters, especially not identical ones..."> Asciel's musing aloud there - maybe even helpfully? - despite how she's trying to shut off Koji and Sayaka's assault with the straightforward descent of one of those battleship-sized arms, three layers of that barrier converging to make it an unstoppable, highway-pulverizing battering ram.
<"--Look, I'm not exactly about to consider that the Koji Kabuto has bad naming sense on this stuff,"> Asciel pouts directly at Lisa - (and directly after trying to pulverize him with a boat-fist). <"If he entitled it 'infinity', then it must mean it invokes infinite feelings, and that's BASICALLY pretty close to what Goragon entails anyway! It really does have rather infinite possibility inside it - that's WHY it's a threat, and that's WHY it's so closely connected to the font of infinite power! That's my appraisal, as the goddess of possibility and re-invocation of Athena, yes!"> ...And there it is, the loudly confident assertion of herself as something others so clearly lay better claim to...
The massive shield-like arms then fly up to protect the Macross's face from Zan's lasers and the potential debris from Kallen's grenades, the flurry of small anti-personnel lasers struggling to deter these tiny machines scrambling all along her. Instead of relying on those beams, though - a more dedicated salvo of internal missiles soars out, hoping to lock onto the various tiny things swarming her. <"Don't be silly - the attack on the Toy Box! I saw how you were helping out the crew! I saw it all, even if I was preoccupied teaching the caged bird in that ship how to sing. It almost moved me to tears, Kallen! Really, you're doing what humans ought to be doing - helping each other even with your limited strength. To think you're blazing so hard for something as ridiculous as the fate of possibility - it doesn't suit you!">
<"...that's the impossible difference, between us. That's why it's...agonizing, to see so many of you, who should've seen the world the way humans never could, agreeing with them, the ones who ruined it.">
<"So you wanna know what BRAVERY means?! It's looking at something completely impossible, something that rightly strikes fear into the hearts of everyone, and fighting it anyway. It's something that only exists because there's so much to fear, so much that demands your bravery - and a good 70% of it is your own damn fault! It's pushing yourself to your limits, then past those to new limits, then pushing those again, in a way that feels like dying over and over and over, replacing yourself over and over and over! It's the knowledge that the universe is going to say no to you for its own cruel ends, that you're not gonna be strong enough for what it demands to fight it, and bleeding like crazy to fight it anyway!">
Asciel's hand slides upon the bottom of the Macross Cannon like a shotgun, reloading it and sweeping it towards Zan. <"You wanna know what I have to be brave about? It's that I know damn well that I have to fight the world for every scrap of space, that humanity would take it from me, right down to the inside of my being! That I have to fight the world for ANYONE to have any space - that human society shuttles countless of its numbers off to space, coffins to corral and slaughter them in!"> And a merciless blast from that colossal cannon pops out, one that would shatter the Orbital Ring.
Another 'reload'. <"You wanna know what I have to be brave about? It's that I've felt the time-transcending iridescence recoil in disgust at me, even as it begs for me to do something about its suffering! It'd leave me behind if I fail to protect everyone - and whose fault would that be but mine?!"> Another surge of merciless, falsely rainbow-hued light that tries to repel Rita's miracles away, even as the fires of hope singe at her armor.
Another 'reload'. <"You wanna know what I have to be brave about? That you'd insist, despite everything, that I be like you! That I've been entrusted with being something entirely separate, that the only reason I exist at all is because there's something only I can do, and it's only the most important thing everyone else tries and fails constantly at! That you'd try to make my feelings into yours, and close me off from that single something forever!"> And that radiant hue from the Macross's cannon shifts, oh so abruptly, to an almost monochrome static fuming from its barrel, enveloping Lucine in a cloud of disdainful repulsion.
<"...you know what I have to be brave about, Cascade?">
The barrel swings towards the Androktasia - and yet, is still, as Asciel endures pierce after pierce into her prized armor.
"...ah...that...I can't...that you're...that you seem so much happier now, all the sudden. That you found your resolve, that...that you're right. That your reason to reject me is the same as my rejecting the world."
The barrel is cold and inert pointed at Cascade.
The silence itself is almost deafening.
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Koji Kabuto with Pinpoint Barrier Impact! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Sayaka Yumi with Pinpoint Barrier Impact! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Kallen Kozuki with Anti-Ship Maneouverable Missile! KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Rita Bernal KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Rita Bernal with Daybreak Parthenos! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Zan with Daybreak Parthenos! KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Lucine Azul KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Lucine Azul with Daybreak Parthenos! KTS: Rita Bernal fails to retreat. KTS: [Mirage] Rita Bernal's Ars Goetia activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Rita Bernal fails to evade Asciel Colette's Daybreak Parthenos, taking 0 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Cascade Vermilion with Pass! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 449. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 110. KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Sayaka Yumi's Symbol of Peace and War activates, and her spirit is adjusted. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Sayaka Yumi, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Sayaka Yumi parries Asciel Colette's Pinpoint Barrier Impact, taking 990 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette has engaged Sayaka Yumi! KTS: Cascade Vermilion fails to react to Asciel Colette's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Zan rushes into the attack! KTS: Zan's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Zan's Hidden AI Strength activates, and its spirit endures. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Zan, reducing its Morale significantly. KTS: Zan partially guards Asciel Colette's Daybreak Parthenos, taking 7320 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul retreats from the attack! KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Lucine Azul, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Lucine Azul fails to evade Asciel Colette's Daybreak Parthenos, taking 8520 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Kallen Kozuki has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto successfully evades Asciel Colette's Pinpoint Barrier Impact KTS: Kallen Kozuki successfully Evades Asciel Colette's Anti-Ship Maneouverable Missile
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
Zan wasn't expecting that. Really. So all he can do is try to fly out of the way at top speed and get a better position. And fail.
There's a bit of static from his signal as the beam overtakes him and by the end of it he's smoking. The reflective shielding is smoking, the arms are smoking. All of him is smoking, sparking, and looking worse for wear. Oh, and he's falling.
The tough Brave finally rights himself dangerously close to the ground and manages to land on his feet.
Standing up afterwards, Zan calls out, "You don't know the meaning of those words!"
"If that is your definition of Brave, then you are only saying empty words again and again!"
Zan brings his tool gun up before starting to fire off what looks like overgrown staples from the underside of it repeatedly as he advances on the Macross 13, his leg moving a bit awkwardly as he does thanks to the previous damage and one arm having to help it move.
"You don't have to fight the world at all! You are not protecting anyone with what you are doing! All you are doing is causing suffering! That's the exact opposite of what you say you want to do! Let alone, you are hiding even now instead of facing it! You are taking tools that are meant to help defend and turning them to destroy!"
Zan stops firing shots to look up at the Macross 13. "Don't you get it? We need humans as much as they need us."
KTS: Zan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Zan targets Asciel Colette with Binder Shots! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Zan's Binder Shots, taking 4860 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 54285 KTS: Your EN is now 439.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
The great fist comes crashing down towards Aphrodite Areia and Koji's Ichinana. He watches, teeth grit, seeing the energy of the great battleship-robot's pinpoint barrier concentrate to shred the machine with sheer diffusive energy.
In the corner of his eye he sees Aphrodite Areia brandish her blade, and inspiration strikes - he jets the Ichinana back away from the upgraded Aphrodite, and then in the moment of her parrying the massive arm he dodges in the opposite direction from where Aphrodite deflects the arm to.
He taps something on the Ichinana's dashboard as he directs the machine to alight on the Macross's deflected arm, and a little <3 blinks on Sayaka's readout for a moment. Doubtless KouRyuu will squeal over this.
Meanwhile, Koji's assessing his options and the battlefield from his perch on the Macross's arm. The Ichinana's visor tracks across Androktasia. "I see it," he replies to Sayaka - he remembers the fight against that machine and Asciel's Arm Slave well. "Gamia NX-2..." By the sound of it, she's just as offended by what Asciel's doing as they are.
... He'll take it.
Asciel boastfully identifies the pilot of the Black Knights' ace Knightmare, and Koji winces. "Rude," he mutters, focus finally aligning with the fight.
They are getting through to Asciel, though - as she tries to consider why they might be so upset at her behaviour. "Yeah. All of the data, none of the context. None of the understanding. We didn't name it that as a promise. What, you think we saw a Mazin the size of a mountain with a cranial dock designed for Mazinger Z show up inexplicably and thought 'oh boy, time to exploit Mysterious Shit We Don't Understand'? We've been trying to figure out how to get rid of it, you stupid... BURNING FIRE!"
Another blast from the Ichinana's chest array lashes across the Macross's armour as Koji pushes the Ichinana into a jump, wings snapping open again to bear the machine back into the sky.
KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Asciel Colette with Burning Fire! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: TenRyuuJin Team targets Asciel Colette with Pass! KTS: TenRyuuJin Team has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to TenRyuuJin Team's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 54285 KTS: Your EN is now 439. KTS: TenRyuuJin Team has activated the Trick Spirit Command targeting Sayaka Yumi KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Koji Kabuto's Burning Fire, taking 5520 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 48765 KTS: Your EN is now 439.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
'...I'm not sure if this is awkward to say or not, but what you're piloting looks pretty cool.'
"She is called Androktasia." And it *is* a bit awkward, for Cascade, knowing what Androktasia *means* and no longer feeling like she wants to control something called that. But that she calls it 'she' does mean something, to her; Androktasia feels, in some ways, like a part of her. If a part that she's not fully accepting, right now. Part of it feels wrong to pilot. Other parts of it feel very right.
Cascade sees Aphrodite and the Ichinanas and her hands clench into fists, reflexively. Everything she's been taught tells her: that is an enemy. But everything she is thinking now is telling her: they are your allies, for the moment, or at least neutral. Don't worry about them, and they won't worry about you. (She hopes.) Compared to the Photon Power League, the others are... less worrying, if only because they're less likely to shoot her on principle, she thinks.
Cascade is expecting Asciel to come after her after that, and when the massive gun of the Macross points directly at her, she tenses, preparing the worst. Androktasia's barrier reforms, a sphere of twisted gravity surrounding it, smoke and dust and small bits of debris swirling around Androktasia's feet and legs.
Nothing happens. She is not vaporized. She isn't even the target of an attempted vaporization.
Androktasia continues to look straight at the Macross' massive gun, right up the barrel. It's either bravery or stupidity on Cascade's part, and while she's never been stupid overall she has occasionally done some very stupid things, so it *could* be either.
Asciel doesn't fire.
"<I don't know if I am happy yet,>" Cascade says, slowly, "<but I know this way I have the chance to be. I can find a path, for me. But that means, right now, we're enemies.>" Koji is explaining a lot more about Infinity than she ever knew, and she's memorizing it for later, practically recording it - but none of that changes that she has to fight Asciel, here and now.
Androktasia leaps. This time it doesn't come back down, in defiance of obvious physics; the gravity bubble around her shifts as Cascade begins to accelerate directly toward the Macross' head, rocketing up and forward on a collision course as if gravitationally attracted. Which, right now, she is - though as soon as she makes contact, whether with the head or some other part of the Macross, she bounces off and begins a slow gliding descent back down to street level, cloak billowing.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion targets Asciel Colette with Meteor Dive! KTS: Cascade Vermilion has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to retreat. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Cascade Vermilion's Meteor Dive, taking 5220 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 43545 KTS: Cascade Vermilion has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Cascade Vermilion: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Your EN is now 434.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
Koji and Lisa get to have a talk! This is the talk of 'just turning off the comms' as Koji can become aware of Lisa quietly seething in the backseat of the Ichinana the two of them are currently calling home. However, her attention is drawn by his statement.
They admit they've been trying to get rid of it. Lisa doesn't flinch at this - she knew their thoughts perfectly well. She hasn't told them the entire truth, after all. Not that it was one she had when she sprung, fully for... med...
"HEY?" She suddenly shouts inside the cockpit, before toggling open the comms again, flinging data again towards the Power Lab Trio. Yes, this includes Rita now. No, she is not accepting any sort of comments, concerns, or complaints at this time.
"I LITERALLY SPRUNG OUT OF INFINITY'S HEAD, YOU KEEP AWAY FROM THAT REFERENCE!"
Of all the things to be mad about...
KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Rita Bernal with All-Out. KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round. KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Koji Kabuto's Skill! KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Rita Bernal's Skill! <Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"We've come so far in some ways," Sayaka answers AnRyu with a wry smile. "But I think once you get to spend some time with us again, there's some things that will always stay the same." She adds, fondly. "One thing's for sure -- I know what I'm doing in a machine that can actually fight!" And indeed, Areia's capabilities are far beyond the original Aphrodite the twins would remember.
Sayaka notes how the corrosive Rust Cyclone seems to strike a unique nerve in Asciel - she supposes it might be likened to a meat grinder for a Super AI like her. Eventually, though... the storm dies down, and Asciel will find only the drones have corroded into dust.
"Hah... how could it not be personal, when it was my own family thrust into the center of it all?" She eventually answers Asciel. "And now he's back, desperate to prove that peace we built after his triumph wasn't worth a damn thing?" She shakes her head.
Asciel brings up a much more fruitful point to chase down. "No, definitely not. And they aren't remnants -- we worked hard to make sure people would never have to see their faces ever again. It sounds an awful lot like someone who's already began to shatter possibility other than his own at the seams." And subtly, it's an invitation, that they should be working together, not this.
And then - she lowers the Macross's arm for a pinpoint barrier strike? Is she insane? Is all Sayaka can think. Thankfully, she is, too. "MAZINGER BLADE!" She calls, letting the greatsword become a conductor for all that energy, as she desperately tries to push back against the Macross arm. All while giving Koji's smaller and lesser armoured Ichinana ample time to get out of the way - a perfect team maneuvre!
She can't help but smile at that heart message she receives - and KoRyu might find that perhaps there is some hope for their relationship after all. Not half bad yourself, Koji-kun., he receives in turn.
Sayaka can't help but feel a hint of pride when LiSA springs to action to defend her title from Asciel. "Not a promise. A memorandum." She agrees with Koji. "You heard her. This is something we've been facilitating with LiSA herself her a long while now. Whether Mazinger Infinity's existence is a challenge, a question, or a conversation, here's my answer." Aphrodite Areia poses as her own chest array starts to burn red-hot. "DOUBLE!" She starts, right in sync with Koji.
"BURNING FIREEEEEE!!" She completes, adding her own Heart Fire blaze to Koji's, greatly strengthening it! Although it's not the sheer power Aphrodite was capable with together with Mazinger Z's Breast Fire, it shows that her answer is the light brought together from many.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
I'm sorry, LiSA, I already claimed that title.
Rita's voice is light -- she's joking. Probably. At this point, she's prepared to put down the burden of godhood... But that doesn't mean she's going to accept anyone else taking up the airs of Goddess of Possibility.
Thank you for the help!
Information flows through the Phenex's systems, translated through her bond with Rita to spiritual knowledge. It's helpful, especially after the damage the Gundam just took. She has to be careful.
Spurred on by the strategies from LiSA, the Phenex is prepared for Asciel's next attack. In a show of otherworldly strength, the Gundam vanishes from this realm, just for a moment. It's long enough that Asciel's false light passes through her, leaving the Firebird entirely unharmed.
You're right to be afraid.
Rita stays close to the Macross 13, once more beginning to shine with gathered strength.
If Possibility itself rejects you, your future is bleak. Even protecting the whole world won't change that, Asciel. No matter what good deeds you do, if you cannot Ascend, you'll be left behind.
Darting in close, the Phenex presses both hands against the enormous machine. Sacred fire is channeled directly onto -- and perhaps into -- the Macross, seeking to eat away at her enemy's armor and disrupt its inner mechanisms.
Do you want this to be the only time you exist? If you learn to open your heart, you can be reborn once this life ends.
KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Sayaka Yumi's Skill! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Asciel Colette with Eos! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal anchors Asciel Colette, forcing her into close range. KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Rita Bernal's Eos, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 41745 KTS: Rita Bernal has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Your EN is now 429. KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Asciel Colette with Heart Fire! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Sayaka Yumi's Heart Fire, taking 6960 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 34785 KTS: Sayaka Yumi roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Your EN is now 429.
<Pose Tracker> TenRyuuJin Team has posed.
Neither of the twins have seen the might of a Macross up close. Both of their avatars flinch as that massive arm comes down; KouRyuu cries out in alarm. But as before, neither moves to interfere in the delicate dance of machine and pilot. They have faith in Sayaka, and it's rewarded with a sick parry. "You really have! Nice one, Sayaka!" says KouRyuu, as her avatar flashes the thumbs-up again.
And neither of the twins interrupt Asciel as she answers AnRyuu's question. AnRyuu gives the words due weight, even as she mulls over Kallen's words as well. The word of an outlaw, and yet... "Esprit de corps," she says. "Trusting in your comrades. Being a part of something greater."
"That's what we're built to do," says KouRyuu, "and we still have to trust in each other!"
"Mademoiselle Asciel," AnRyuu says, as the twins work to carefully optimize the Photon Reactor's power flows. "Surely you're familiar with the principles of redundancy. A rope made of many strands of braided carbon filament can withstand stress that would tear only a single strand. It's that way with us, with humans, with everyone who thinks. For all their power, if it was only Guy Shishioh or Ghaleon standing between this universe and oblivion, we would not be having this conversation."
"It sounds like you're really conflicted," KouRyuu says, her bubbly enthusiasm exchanged for measured thoughtfulness. "Did you... ever talk to humans about things that weren't... whatever it was you were made for? Did they ever try to get to know you? I get wanting people to stop killing each other for stupid reasons, I really do! But if you're not doing it because you care about them, they're just going to get scared, and for good reason! And it sounds like you're kind of... scared of what they'd do with you, if you stopped 'being useful'. You're scared of them, and they're scared of you, and that's not a healthy way to live, for any of you, Asciel!"
KouRyuu sees that <3. There is an audible, giddy squeal, thankfully contained in the privacy of Sayaka's cockpit. Rest assured she will shake the good doctor down for the goss when they're no longer being shot at.
AnRyuu is more concerned with what LiSA just said, a surprised gasp emanating from the same speaker, overlapping the squeal. A giant, anomalous Mazin they've been trying to get rid of, a mystery girl that came from it, Dr. Hell's designs for both--what even happened here while they were away?
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Few things in this universe are as constant as change, and karma.
There is nothing that exempts Lucine from her own prideful hubris; glimmering mirages and speedy evasions can only get a pilot so far from feeling karma point right back at her for the very sins she's accused Asciel of doing.
Despite Lucine's attempts to faill back and avoid the blast, the explosion of static overtakes the Dianthus, and it hits *hard*, harder than anything Lucine can remember.
Like a wounded bird, the Dianthus twists down from the sky, the G-forces approaching levels that risk its pilot losing consciousness.
Lucine reacts and straightens her suit, face straining as she corrects its descent.
< ".... Athena? The... Greek goddess? Of wisdom?" > Lucine squints at the dashboard like it would clarify the context of Asciel's comment. < ".... Lisa was hiding in Infinity's head? I... think I'm lost here..." >
Lost, and, judging by her display, likely on the Dianthus's last leg.
Time for... firing everything she has.
The arbalest comes out, several arrows of energy generating and displaying across its span.
< "If we're taking roles, I think I have mine already picked out for me, though..." >
The Dianthus fires a whirlwind of energy arrows, looping and whirling around like bladed feathers on the wind.
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Lucine Azul targets Asciel Colette with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Lacrimosa! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Lacrimosa, taking 1500 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 33285 KTS: Your EN is now 424.
<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.
The... the Toy Box...?! She was the one inside the Danaan's systems? She really does wish Asciel hadn't shouted her name out there for people to hear, but... maybe Kallen is more common of a name than she thinks it is. Or maybe she's about to be in... a lot of trouble. Hard to say for sure. But she'll deal with what comes of that as it comes. In the meantime... <"If what I do is that moving... why not help people the same way yourself? You could work together with people who want the best for the world. And still be the person you want to be.">
Asciel's response of missiles comes in swarming, like a barrage of enraged falcons. Thankfully, Asciel seems... either distracted, or maybe flustered by the direction of the fight. Letting the Guren rebound off the body of the Macross and jump astride the missiles. Missile surfing is a dangerous game to be playing, but there's no question. This is going to get her up higher onto the battleship, a whole lot faster than rock climbing would. She has to be a bit careful. To not set off the explosives by getting the claw arm too close. But she'll make it work.
Using the missiles to get as close as she can, the Harkens are used to anchor her onto the ship again. She's fairly close at this point. And around this point, Cascade speaks up again. She can hear the awkwardness and uncertainty. And she's not sure what to say now, but... "She's just what we need right now. So let's do this together. And... sorry for making things uncomfortable." They'll work on it later. Figure things out.
Now that she's got the height... positioned so they can be properly face to face, she glances to her meters and readouts. "Wave Surger's all charged up, so let's see how she handles it." Guren's spinners tear up a sharp squeal as she angles in to find the perfect spot. Right around the 'neck' of the Macross, where she can dig in... and plunge the glowing claw, to deliver a rush of spreading, melting heat directly into Asciel's workings! It's going to mean she needs a refill pretty soon, but her squad DID bring fresh fillers for exactly that reason.
KTS: Kallen Kozuki targets Asciel Colette with Wave Surger Eruption! KTS: Kallen Kozuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Kallen Kozuki's Wave Surger Eruption, taking 6903 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 26382 KTS: Kallen Kozuki has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Your EN is now 424. KTS: TenRyuuJin Team targets Asciel Colette with Pass! KTS: TenRyuuJin Team has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to TenRyuuJin Team's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 26382 KTS: Your EN is now 424. <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
<"...So my bravery is empty, huh?"> Asciel coughs as Zan endures her light of judgment, stiffening visibly even from such miniscule little binding tools lancing through her body again and again. <"...The thing I hoped is that I didn't need humans. That's why I could make it right. Humans exploit each other because they need each other. If I was there for everyone - but didn't need them for anything at all, then they'd have no reason to hurt each other anymore.">
-The signal of that Double Burning Fire as a beacon of Koji and Sayaka's love only stings more. Two hearts unifying as one - and engulfing Asciel's perception in flames, sending her reeling backwards, stumbling awkwardly over the landscape. <"...So you're confident the legacy of your love will endure the future, huh? ...I wanted to believe in you two. Maybe I do. How am I supposed to believe in everyone else, huh? Maybe YOU won't exploit Infinity - but you know, everything happening right now is a pretty big sign that a WHOLE lot of other people would! I forced the issue for a damn reason - I wanted to be sure this thing was taken care of now, in this way, with a conflux of wills - rather than some damned agency holding you at gunpoint in their homes while some damned politician tries to make Infinity theirs, all without anyone in the world noticing. Horrible to think of.">
The inferno engulfing Asciel only worsens when Kallen looms close with the Wave Surger - and by now, she feels that heat roaring closer and closer to her core, buried deep in the Macross's torso - one that Cascade's meteoric descent cracks a hole straight into the depths. Countless warnings enveloping her every thought. All she can think of is what these two try to say. <"...so my path of never wanting to be a person is invalid, huh? It was the same at Denver...those people up there, everything they tried to tell me was just...painful. A world that refuses to be saved - a world in the firm clutches of the things I hate the most, that I'll never really be able to stop. ...I can't. I can't just save one person at a time. That's not enough. Not in an era like this, where millions die in the blink of an eye. A 'person' can't resolve that.">
Which only makes Rita's flame of miracles, her and LiSA's defiance of that beyond a person that much more painful. A sharper tone enters Asciel's voice - something more desperate, dizzying - the already stumbling Macross arching back wildly. (One may notice - it's rejecting being person-shaped, reverting to a more ship-like form in its stiffening.) <"...it's just like that! Both of you somehow just came into being able to turn destiny over! The things I fought for so long to handle - the stars I sought as inspiration - you two just have them, don't you? I feel like I've been trying to emerge from the crown of heaven for years, but here you are, apparently just the key to all this innately! Well? If you're the self-determined one meant for Infinity to resonate with this whole time, then I guess everything I hoped for---">
Over the public point of view, it's like catastrophe strikes all in one fell blow. Explosion after explosion sends the Macross 13 plummeting down to earth. ...And it's the exact same trick Asciel used last time, faking the Macross 13's eruption - self-detonation of internal missile banks timed in such a way that it looks more like the burst of reactors going up in flames, while really just risking structural damage. High level emergency signals flood the airwaves - IFFs signal loss of power and total structural devastation. And against the bank of a wooded mountain, the Macross 13 seems to tumble at last from its perch threatening the planet as a whole. The defeat of a titan, so theatrically performed!
...and then, over private signals to the heroes gathered, an exhausted sounding Asciel murmurs, almost ragged sounding from how much she's had to say. --(...If it's going to be this way, all of you, I've had enough of it. Here's the access codes to the hangars and crap. It's a mess, because I didn't want anyone inside this, but it's somewhere to shelter. Here's all the remote terminals for the missiles and lasers and all that. So you know that I'm serious in giving u- in being practical about the situation here. ...You know what, here, it's gonna be a bitch to move, but this lets you fire the Cannon too. Do what you want with this. I'm gonna be sick thinking about you all crawling in here using this thing I wanted so badly as your own forward base, but what fucking ever. ...ugh, what's the point of me pretending I'm down this harshly. Dr. Hell probably isn't buying it either. Maybe I'm just doing this to feel a bit better. Just. When it comes time to go after all those Kikaiju and mount the big charge, I'll get up and pin Infinity down or whatever. Do what you like. Do what you have so much confidence in. ...You're not allowed in the sectors marked in blue on the maps I've given you. Those mean 'leave me the hell alone' for now. Alright?!)--
Power goes down across the board, aside from emergency backup reactors - and the personal powering one Asciel uses to keep her own core running. Even MORE privately, to the Ryuu sisters, Asciel has to muster up all her remaining will to do anything at all.
...even in the form of a simple text message.
::you. what's the matter with you, huh. i cannot stand a single thing you say. it's all. too much. i can't forgive that. jumping right from 000's hell and into knowing way too much about me. it sucks. i can't stop thinking about it. why can't i just do the only thing that makes sense without having to care about any of it? all i know is that the current world is unsustainable, as are the majority of possible worlds. all i know is that i have to avoid desolation and that nobody's actually going to help me where it counts. there. happy?
...Asciel's signed that message with a little chibi sticker of herself herself coldly finger-gunning and causing a big explosion nearby - before going all reclusive for a while.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Androktasia glides gently to the ground. Cascade receives Asciel's message, of course, but she doesn't reply to it.
What do you say to something like that? How can you possibly, in a few seconds, explain everything you want to? It's hard for Cascade to find the words to express her heart sometimes anyway - it's a learned skill, and one she's still working out from the beginning. In some ways, she is still very young... She wants to speak, but she doesn't know how. She opens a connection, transmits nothing at all, and then closes it after a brief data pulse toward Asciel - nothing concrete, only a feeling.
When the Macross droops, losing power, and Asciel explains what parts people are allowed into -
Androktasia wraps its cloak around itself and leaps into the sky. This time, it does not come down. If Cascade is going to explain herself instead of making a dramatic exit, she isn't doing it tonight!
Kallen, however, gets one message on her way out - a "Let's meet." Just as she asked for.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Asciel... yields.
'So you're confident the legacy of your love will endure the future, huh?'
Koji thinks for a moment. "When it comes down to it," he admits, "No matter what Mazins or technology or mysteries we have access to... the love's really what matters. Right, Sayaka?"
The Macross 13 reverts to its ship state, resting next to the side of Mt. Fuji. Koji checks his instruments. "Lisa, can you verify those command codes?"
"All units: The Macross 13 has surrendered. Third Company, Cathedra Battlegroup, what's your status?"
Shiro's voice comes through, confident. "We pushed the kikaiju out of the city. My team are breaching the Anomaly Research Site now. Stand by."
"Acknowledged," Koji replies, feeling some relief. Asciel's volunteering the Macross as a forward base... he frowns, and opens a line to the great machine - or more accurately, the Super AI piloting it.
"... We need to make good on that invitation I offered you - ... when you're ready. For now..."
"Thank you."
He signals to Aphrodite Areia, and brings the Ichinana down towards the Macross's portside hangar. As he does, so, though, Shiro broadcasts a panicked update:
"Koji! Infinity's..."
"... It's gone!"
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
The Macross begins to transform back to its former state, and the Phenex darts away, sensing the explosive tantrum on the horizon. Asciel's words echo through the empty cockpit -- Rita only responding with a soft laugh.
That isn't quite how things went for Rita.
With the descent of the Macross 13, the battle is over, faux-eruption and all. The Phenex hovers in midair, the shield she granted to Koji returning to her side. Rita... isn't entirely sure what should happen now. Should she return to space? Should she stay to try and help more?
It seems most of her friends are approaching the Macross, so the Phenex does the same, taking a place at Koji's shoulder. The Phenex does not touch down, choosing to hover just above the ground.
News breaks -- Rita can hear Shiro's voice through her connection with her friends. The Phenex tilts her head. Gone? A machine of that magnitude?
Koji. Infinity must be found. It could so easily become a monster. You cannot let that happen.
Koji Kabuto must surely already know this, but it must be said, all the same.
With Asciel defeated and the thread of fate twisted beyond Rita's sight once more, the Phenex can do no more to aid her friends. It's time to return to the stars -- and perhaps the handsome pirate awaiting her.
LiSA, if you ever need my help, just call for me. I'll arrive as fast as I can.
Blue fire gathers around the Phenex, and she soars into the sky -- up through the clouds and past the atmosphere, gone in an instant.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
The legacy of their love... it's something Sayaka ponders too, but it's Koji who speaks first. "You're inscrutably cheesy, Koji." She ribs him, in classic Sayaka fashion.
But she has to admit."...But you're absolutely right. When I'm gone one day... the only memory I care about is that I loved, and I was loved. That's why I can't let Goragon come to pass."
And with that, the Macross 13 powers down, just as Asciel promised. Along with Shiro's squadron diligently mopping up the kaiju. Sayaka doesn't love that it happened this way, but... she supposes they can only thank her.
But Shiro's transmission... "Hold on, Shiro. What do you mean it's gone?" Sayaka demands, the assertiveness immediately kicking in. "A Mt. Fuji sized monster of a machine doesn't just disappear into thin air! Which can only mean one thing..."
They're all thinking it. Doctor Hell made good on his opportunity. Desperately trying to find any sort of silver lining in this situation, she thinks. "I mean, it's Dr. Hell. If reality as we know it hasn't already been rewritten, then he's probably waiting to challenge us for one last showdown, a contest of ideals or whatever. Even a man who fancies himself a god couldn't resist getting to put his rivalry to bed and rub it in our faces."
"Which means we absolutely must be on our A-game. We'll have whatever intelligence teams we can scramble up hunt down Infinity, leave no corner of the Earth Sphere unturned. Maintenance, speed up repairs on Mazinger Z! And make sure all Ichinanas are ready for launch at a moment's notice." This is war - and it must be treated that way.
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
What does get Zan's attention is that Lisa popped out of something's head.
He looks over at Koji's unit and his optics actually blink. "You were what?"
Then the surrender. That has Zan looking back. He looks down a bit, then moves forward. "... I believe I will need repairs again. That blast did a lot of damage."
The Brave sighs, shaking his head. Then comes the news and he looks again at the others. "Infinity? What is that?"
<Pose Tracker> TenRyuuJin Team has posed.
A lasercomm transmission bounces off a public tower, redirected to the Dianthus. "Lu," says Liam's voice. "They made their move. Cathedra and Third Company pushed them back. I'm okay. Is the Macross...?"
* *
"So that's how it was faked," AnRyuu says, as the Macross 13 cooks off missiles that are still inside it. "Clever. Risky, but clever." She'd never take that kind of risk unless forced...
"Okay," says KouRyuu, over the public comm. "Nobody's here to hurt you, Asciel. Okay? We don't want Dr. Hell to have the Mountain Infinity thing either. Do you have testing diagnostics to perform to... recenter yourself?" She borrows a bit of human analogy, because there are humans here.
Asciel does not answer--not publically, anyway. In the Areia's computer, AnRyuu intercepts her message and encodes it before Sayaka can see it. The twins perform the AI equivalent of a time-honored human tradition--staring at a text message full of anger and frustration and stress, and wondering if you went too far.
Conversation happens--with the twins, it's a dialogue of data, as well as speech, moving faster than human thought.
Do you think she's going to be okay?
I don't know.
Me neither. It feels... like she should've been one of us, you know?
If the public truly realize what she is, we all could be in danger. I want to believe Guy would protect us, but...
You're still thinking of when they shut us down, don't you.
AnRyuu does not return the data-dialogue in synch. KouRyuu continues. I know. It scared me, too. But Guy won't let anyone hurt us. And if anyone can be a Brave, Asciel can be one, too.
I hope you're right.
"Thank you, Doctor Yumi, we'll--" A brief pause, full of frenzied calculation. "What?! How!"
"That's really, really bad. I've already notified the senior staff; we'll do what we can, but, uh. I hope we find it before we leave. But... if we don't, it's up to you guys. Anyway, we're withdrawing, see you when we get back!"
"Mission a nominal success. AnRyuu and KouRyuu, out."
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
The Dianthus, now kneeling on one knee on a clearing nearby, opens its cockpit, revealing the still rattled Lucine inside.
< "... What? It's... missing? Surely we would have seen it move...?" > Lucine says over her communicator, her helmet's visor opened to let in air.
Oh, right. That's what Asciel meant when she described its abilities. < ".... Teleportation...?" >
This time, to Liam, Lucine answers. "The Infinity's gone. I'm... not sure if this was planned, or an unfortunate coincidence... Dianthus is too banged up to do much, though... I'll have to report back with the news."
<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.
A simple message as Cascade takes off... and it's no wonder, really. Of course she wouldn't want to lurk around the Photon Labs right now. Honestly? Kallen's not inclined to hang out here at the moment herself. Too much risk somebody's going to come after her, especially with her name out in the wild. Just her first name, but... how many Kallens are there living in Occupied Japan? Not many. So, she shoots a message to the Photon Lab duo. 'Sorry to run, but. Rather not be grabbed by somebody else and hauled in for a trial. I'll be back to help out further.' She doesn't think the PPL would sell her out. But that's not everyone else.
She's just leaping off the Macross as it starts its transformation, using harkens and already ruined terrain to get herself to the ground safely. She's on her way to get Guren docked at a mobile facility for some quick spot-repairs, when people start talking about the Gargantuan Mazin being missing. What kind of... is Hell using Magic to move the thing elsewhere? Or... no, she's got too much to process right now without throwing that on the plate too.
Maybe she'll be able to secure a little room with this forward base later, if she can work out a deal to not get thrown in a jail or something.