2023-01-21: Awakening

• Log: 2023-01-21- Awakening
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Anti, Rikka Takarada, Alouette Pommier, Kaworu Nagisa, Asuka Shikinami Langley, Liam 7-020, Rei Ayanami, Renais Cardiff, Yuka Ohta, Sousuke Sagara
• Where: Tsutsujidai - Nearer the Sluice Gate Than the Central Pillar
• OOC - IC Date: 0097-01-21
• Summary: Alexis Kerib brings out the monster he has spent a year carving. Everyone reaches out for the human being getting smothered under that unexpressed feeling, now expressed.

---

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO --"

Her eyes open impossibly wide, her pupils shrinking. Part of her feels like it's being torn out through her eyes, through her mouth --

"--OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A creature takes shape at the heart of the city, rising as if from nothing. Her cry twists into its cry. It dwarfs most of the kaiju Akane herself has made --

-- which also begin to appear at the other end of the city, toward the central support pillar. All-of-them-and-then-some have been twisted into some horrible new shape, with countless heads. The wreckage of her malice now has a new sense of shared fate.

---

Nearer to the sluice gate than to the central pillar -- more fully within the confines of Tsutsujidai, the tiny city -- the creature begins to awaken, as if from torpor. Deep maroon-purple tentacles spring from its boulder-like, steel-grey body. From each tentacle extend hundreds of At the center of it all is...

... it must be a face, surely? Twin red orbs sit in sockets over a trowel-like... nose? Coming together in the front are -- mandibles? They must lead to a mouth, down a throat. All of it does certainly hinge toward the center.

The effect is curious, for those who have begun to 'hear like an Ultra' -- to sense a cry for help.

On the one hand, the monstrous feelings that have swirled around Akane Shinjo from the beginning are louder than ever.

Her scream levels buildings. (Her scream has always leveled buildings.)

The lashing-out of her limbs sends fleets of cars flying. (The lashing-out of her limbs has always sent fleets of cars flying.)

Now, though... now they are expressed. They have a life of their own, in the real world -- all at once, a singular entity.

... and more importantly -- so, too, does she. They are one, and yet, separate -- the human beneath is quiet, but she is also distinct.

Those unexpressed feelings -- now expressed (embodied) -- threaten to smother the human from whence they came.

Perhaps she learned too late the lesson the rest of her city learned...

... but now she, too, can cry for help.

---

Deep within the kaiju...

Akane has made herself as small as she wants to be.

So naturally, she's made herself even smaller than that. (So naturally, Alexis has made her even smaller than that.)

Her whole body curls in on itself. (The kaiju forces her body to curl inward.)

The violence continues long after she wants it to stop. (The violence was always meant to extend beyond her.)

She tries, desperately, to look away. (She is not permitted to look away.)

A hand tilts her head up to see -- to feel -- the way her world ends. (A tentacle rises high, as Zegga prepares to scream until the world ends.)

---

It screams, and a residential district crumbles. (She whimpers, and tries desperately to make herself smaller.)

KTS: Akane Shinjo has deployed in Zegga.
KTS: Akane_Shinjo has deployed as a Boss for 8 opponents.

<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.

        Kaiju, when they scream, express their feelings to the world. This is not something humans can generally hear. Without context -- without connection -- all that emerges is a scream. That's why Anti's roars always sounded so... human. Too much context, to him.

        He wonders, listening to Akane's pain, how many of the people trapped here hear it for what it is.

        'NO,' she cries.

        "I hear you," Anti says, as he runs through the open street. Yuta Hibiki -- no, Gridman -- he's left Shinjo to her. It's not difficult to see why.

        His feet pound across tattered pavement, shattered by grief and outward expression. But no matter how much she threw at him, he never crumbled; it's just made him better at navigating the broken ground.

        Insight is a tragedy and a victory, and Anti's reading between the lines.

        "You're not a kaiju!"

        His head rises up, that one exposed sunset-eye wide and sharp and intent, as Zegga towers over him and the world.

        It scared him, once.

        But this is where he wants to be.

        "You're Akane Shinjo!"

        And his eyepatch, professionally dressed with the best resources Sayla could muster up in the isolated Tsutsujidai, cannot hide the red light which streams from both his eyes as he becomes himself.

        Himself -- the guardian of Tsutsujidai named 'Gridknight'.

        That red light blooms, and he Rises, through the technological lines which flicker amongst them. Up, and up, and up, until he's spinning down, to land on Zegga's clamp-clasped faceplate.

        He lands with an impact, too.

KTS: Anti has deployed in Gridknight.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has deployed in Evangelion Unit-02.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has changed loadout.
KTS: Rei Ayanami has deployed in Evangelion Unit-00.
KTS: Renais Cardiff has deployed in M9 Gernsback.
KTS: Rei Ayanami has changed loadout.
KTS: Renais Cardiff has changed loadout.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has changed loadout.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has changed loadout.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has changed loadout.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has deployed in NRV-00 Neo Helios.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has changed loadout.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Akane has become a kaiju. Rikka gave Alexis Kerib a piece of her mind for it - and a promise that they would change her. And then, she ran. In any other situation like this, it might be too much for her. She'd already crossed the city once looking for Akane - she crosses it again now at a run.

Her heart is pounding. Her legs are screaming. But their scream is nothing compared to Akane's, the overwhelming deluge of unleashed feelings. Yes, she can feel them now, brought forth to the surface. She accepts all of them for what they are - and she accepts, too, that cry for help. It pounds in her ears, urging her onward. She'll see to it that it won't go unanswered any longer. Though she returns to the Aya's junkyard it isn't Synchrotank that mobilizes today... but a stage, for a grand performance. She pilots it through the city with purpose.

The stage was never meant to be deployed in an active combat situation. But a lot of things that were never meant to happen - never should have - have happened today. The barrier she equipped it with is a makeshift thing, but it was the only thing she had on hand and immediately ready to shove into something. And so... she maneuvers it in place, somewhere that Akane can easily see and hear her, and then steps out onto center stage. At first glance, it's a simple thing - much of the flair is designed to come from holograms, so the stage itself needs only to be equipped with what it needs to support them. But there are lights, and they shine now - spotlighting her, and spotlighting the stage itself, lighting up like a beacon. Rikka takes a deep breath and exhales to steady her shaking hands as she takes up a microphone.

"Akane! I'm here for you! I can hear your heart, crying out... Now let me bare mine! Everything I've been hiding, everything I've been holding back..." Rikka calls out. "And I'm not alone. I've been working with someone special, to put our feelings into song. Let's share our feelings together!"

Anti - Gridknight - too, is here. She trusts him. He calls out to Akane. She isn't a kaiju - she's Akane Shinjo. That's right. ...She's glad he's here - she trusts him.

So small amongst giants, though, a hint of fear creeps into the back of her mind. ...Can she do this? This isn't something she can do on her own. She needs help... she'll just have to trust that help will arrive when she needs it, too.

KTS: Rikka Takarada has deployed in Mobile Stage.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

After weeks upon weeks of silence, another kaiju rampages across Tsutsujidai. Alouette can just tell this one is different and it's not just the massive difference in size compared to the other kaiju. The design, the shape, the shrieking roar that almost sounds like a scream...

"The only way they make sense is if they don't understand humans are even, like, people with feelings. They kinda... exist to do their one thing, where they want something, and then die for it. That doesn't mean they're not the stars of the show, but..." She rubs at the back of her head. "... no matter what it is they want, just wanting it hurts everyone around them."

"I think I know what you want, Akane..." Alouette whispers, to herself. "The only thing we can do is show you that you don't need to die for it."

The first to face the massive kaiju isn't a response team, it's not NERV, it's not even 3G it's a lone mobile stage. It's Rikka, without a doubt. That's right, even now, the show must go on. No, it's because things turned out this way that the show must go on.

Anti - Gridknight is with them too. He confirms that the kaiju really is Akane... Alouette trusts his word and his actions both.

And so, Alouette rushes back to the Wadatsumi as fast as she can before the kaiju - before Akane can block her way. It's about time for 3G to make their move with the Galeoria Pliers. Alouette won't be there to assist as she heads off to fulfill a promise she made.. but she wishes them the best of luck regardless.

Guardienne Aviaire sorties to face the kaiju, equipped not just with Program Ring weapons but also a robust Program Ring stage lighting system. Unfortunately, development is incomplete, but she'll make the very best of it to let Rikka shine. And shine she does as the Program Rings emit a brilliant blue, even in the dark rain of the Tsutsujidai night.

Alouette swoops in, squarely out of the spotlight, but by Rikka's side. "Rikka!" she calls, emitting a lone shield for the time being. "I'm right next to you!" She reassures the lone idol on the stage that she isn't so much alone. "And, ah.. Good luck. I know if anything can reach her, it's your song."

Staring down Akane in this form is terribly unsettling. But instead of averting her eyes from the cameras, she finds her own courage to believe in Rikka and even believe in Akane.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        For all the destruction that reigned during the battled against Nameless B, many parts of the city have seen considerable repair thanks to the Carpenters. There's still a long ways to go, it's true, but there's been considerable progress made.
        
        Even so, the rain hasn't stopped. And it's with these two truths in mind that Kaworu stands atop the roof of a many-storied building and gazes at the kaiju that was born and raised from Akane's heart.
        
        When they'd first met, he'd considered her largely human with some kaiju-like traits. Over time, he came to see more of the Monster Lord within her. Now, it's literally consumed all she is. Is that why she came to dislike him--why she possibly never liked him, why she saw him as a kaiju with too many human traits?
        
        "...No," he says quietly. "I can't indulge you any longer. It's time you listened to someone other than the monster in your heart, Akane Shinjo."
        
        'You're not a kaiju! You're Akane Shinjo!' Anti screams from not so far away, growing tall into Gridknight to face what would end all Akane wanted to protect. Kaworu looks his way and smiles a smile both bitter and sweet.
        
        Akane never did appreciate him the way he deserves. But all of that changes today.
        
        Gridman and Rei will surely come to help with the defense, whether against Zegga or of the Galeoria Pliers. Kaworu trusts them. However, he has already decided he will no longer do battle while inside Akane's heart. The recital that he and Mari had organized--the music that he'd played alongside her and Rei and Asuka and... Shinji... had done much to uplift the denizens of Tsutsujidai. Therefore, he will do what he believes will best reach the heart of their Creator.
        
        A mobile stage passes by underneath, driven by one he knows well. He lowers his gaze to it and smiles. In a smooth motion, he steps off the side of the building and drops down to land feather-light upon the stage. Overheard, Guardienne Aviaire swoops in to join them, and he graces it with a smile too before he walks, calm and even and unhurried, over to Rikka at the center stage.
        
        She calls out to Zegga--to Akane--with her microphone. Kaworu comes up next to her, waiting until she's done before he speaks. "Rikka Takarada," he greets her. He gazes up to the Guardienne Aviaire. "It's as Alouette Pommier says. She and I will support you from above and below." He meets Rikka's eyes. "So worry not. All you need to do is bare your heart. I have faith, this time, Akane Shinjo will respond to you."
        
        With that, Kaworu turns and heads to the stage's control area, where Rikka had been just a few moments before. Once he's set up there with a pair of professional-grade headphones, various dials, switches, and a keyboard, he'll meet Rikka's eyes. Resting his fingers over the faux ivories, he gives her a small but encouraging smile.
        
        The show is ready for her whenever she is.

KTS: Alouette Pommier has deployed in Guardienne Aviaire.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Rikka Takarada!
KTS: Yuka Ohta has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Asuka Shikinami Langley!
KTS: Rikka Takarada's Mobile Stage has been disabled.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has deployed in Mobile Stage.
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Rikka Takarada with Scatter!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alouette Pommier scatters cover, making Rikka Takarada harder to target!

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

"... You adjusting alright? You kind of freaked out when the plug filled with LCL."

Asuka asides to Yuka, who's sitting behind her in the entry plug, both of them floating in the warmth of its embrace.

She... believe it or not likes Yuka. She doesn't like many people, but she's taken to her just fine after- Anti was saved, after Yuko introduced her to her health drinks. Today they're collaborating on a little bit on one of Yuka's fact finding missions.

"I hope your equipment is as waterproof as you say it is."

Even before today Asuka's been searching - and searching. Her Red Evangelion has been a constant fixture in the Tsutsujidai skyline. First, scavenging for food... then searching for people as part of Rikka's rescue squad.

And always, always, searching for Akane.

She doesn't yet realize her search is over, when the Kaiju screams, near where she figures is the central support pillar.

"What the hell!? Now?!"

The Evangelion tromps off in its direction, the city streets relatively empty given the current state, but still at a careful gait.

"<Evangelion Unit-02, moving to engage!>" She calls out on her loudspeakers, before flicking them off, "Hey Doctor Kaiju! What do you make of that one?"

Asuka cringes as it screams, and buildings level, the lashing out of tentacles sending cars flying the closer and closer she gets to the Sluice Gate. "Besides the fact it just levelled a whole district!"

Asuka takes stock of her weapons for this with a curse. Her crossbow is low on bolts, and the Thunder Spear is at 47% charge.

And so with a cluck of her tongue, she unslings the crossbow, intent upon utilizing what few she has left... and her instruments pick up a scream, and suddenly hone in on a small boy with an eyepatch running towards him, "Munchkin?" The sound amplified, she can just barely hear it-

'You're Akane Shinjo!'

Evangelion Unit-02 stops dead in its tracks. "... No way. That's... Akane?" Yuka might hear it, the tension present in her voice, how upset she sounds, even beyond belief.

Then say it. Right to her face.

"Fine." Asuka says after a moment, all of those upset feelings being channeled right into resolve, "Was looking for her anyway. I'll say it to her LIKE THIS if that's what it takes!"

The Red Evangelion begins to move again, "Since this is your first time in one of these in a fight Doc, word of advice. Hold on, because things are about to get a little CRAZY in here!"

KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Rikka Takarada!

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

This day was destined to come. The only hope that Rei held as she pursued activities, which perhaps held no intrinsic meaning but which became profound echoes of her heart, is that they would be rescued by NERV - GGG - by the Commander - before it did, in whatever form it took.

Yet not all hopes can bloom.

It's not the most optimistic thought here, in this moment, but it is not one upon which Rei dwells. Her dwelling, in fact, had been quite near to the location where EVA-00 was staged, and so when she sees the explosion in the distance, and hears the scream of the great beast --

No, Rei thinks, pausing on the slim gantry leading up to the entry plug. Her head tilts.

It doesn't quite sound like a scream at all, does it?

There's something else inside of the sound.

Rei turns round, going back into the little shelter. She opens a book from the secondhand book shop - Karl Jaspers, 'Reason and Existenz' - and takes something out. It twinkles in her hand, and then she hastens into the Entry Plug.

And that's why she is not the first on the scene.

NOW,

EVA-00 approaches the south Floodgate, coming through the park. It moves with a deliberate purposefulness, the umbilical cable trailing behind it.

She communicates, first with the Second: "Then, it is Akane Shinjo?" she says, by way of verification. Her head turns slightly from the view panel to which she had attended, and in the distance so too does EVA-00's; looking towards the main bulk of the city momentarily. Then back forwards.

"The spear... it's good you have it," Rei says. Asuka might notice that EVA-00 does not appear to have *a single gun* - whether they were redeployed or just damaged or she moved too fast to grab them is up in the air.

Unit-00's great monoptic head turns momentarily to look towards the mobile stage on its approach, although there is no - audible - transmission. Nonetheless, they were seen. Back ahead...

"... it is large," Rei says. Her lips thin.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Aboard the 3G vessel Division X: Mobile Execution Fortress Wadatsumi, Cyborg Renais Cardiff stands in the hangar, a mug of coffee in hand as she looks up at a violet M9 Gernsback, festooned with a very... experimental-looking apparatus on its chest. Something new--a prototype weapon for her. A crude G sigil has been carved into the armor on the back of its right hand.

Through the ship's hull, a scream echoes. Alerts go up as a kaiju manifests--

But she's sure she knows that scream.

She gulps the rest of her coffee down all at once, then leaps up to the cockpit as the hangar starts to buzz with life. The Gernsback's head swings into place, and she hooks herself into the harness. She needs to hurry. If this is what she's afraid of, somehow...

The Arm Slave's head turns to the left, where a massive sword--built for a now-dead Mazinger--lays against the wall. Larger than the Gernsback.

---

She stands atop a building on the edge of the devastation... and hears Anti, yelling. 'You're not a kaiju! You're Akane Shinjo!'

That confirms her fears. The color drains out of her face.

She knows exactly who to curse by this, but... how?

It doesn't matter, right now.

A 20-meter-long sword crashes into the street, fracturing an intact slab of pavement. A shape shimmers atop it, revealing the eight-meter Gernsback perched atop the hilt, gripping the sword with both hands. Thrusters on the Gernsback fire, yanking the blade free, sending the weapon and its Arm Slave vaulting toward the kaiju.

"SHINJO...!" she yells over the AS' loudspeakers. "If you can hear me... we're NOT giving up on you!"

The Gernsback impacts near Zegga, the blade's weight carrying it forward, cleaving through debris and kicking up a cloud of dust.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        One moment, the Community Garden is at peace. Liam walks along a row of tomato plants, checking for signs of disease or malnutrition. Mrs. Sakai stands near the entrance, going over the data from the sensors on her tablet.

        Then, the scream. It's a raw, primal thing, and it goes directly to both the fear centers and the mirror neurons. Someone is in sudden, mortal agony, and needs immediate aid. The shockwave hits a moment later. The Garden is far enough away from the epicenter that it's spared total destruction; the force of Zegga's roar merely shatters half the windows in the central hydroponic tower, and rips off the transparent tarping encasing the soil beds. The roof holds. Mrs. Sakai dives for a nearby worker, throwing the both of them under one of the raised beds. Liam ducks and covers, instinctively. A hail of glass and polymer rain down, but mercifully, no one is killed.

        The workers begin to rise. Liam does a head-count, comes up with the right total; he grimaces as he sees Yamamoto clutching at a bloody wound on his arm. "Up!" Mrs. Sakai shouts, rushing forward to administer first aid. "Up and out! Shelters! Shelters, everyone, now!" She turns back to Liam, for a moment, her face grave. She's not looking at him, but at the same thing he's looking at.

        The kaiju, towering over the skyline like some prehistoric behemoth, all armor and spikes.

        "That was..." Liam whispers. His eyes go wide with horror. A kaiju. Here. Now. Everyone here, outsider and Tsutsujidai native has poured their all into keeping this place alive. He can't let this thing run wild. He won't.

        Even if there was something vaguely familiar in that scream, something he can't place immediately.

        Liam turns to face Mrs. Sakai, his face tightening. "I have to--"

        "Come back alive," she says. "I know you can."

        This is the Neo Helios' third deployment. It took the place of Liam's Long Dagger--damaged in the Britannian raid mere days ago--in the parking lot outside the Garden. Now, it sprints through the streets, its footfalls barely shaking the concrete when compared to everything Zegga's doing. "<Pilot Seven-Zero-Two-Zero deploying,>" Liam says. "<Confirm presence of-->"

        'You're Akane Shinjo!'

        "<What?>" Shock erupts in Liam's voice. "<Confirm.>" It makes no sense. How could--

        And then, of all things, a stage flies past. The Neo Helios keeps its dead-on sprint, but its head tracks the newcomer. "<Rikka?!>" he squawks. "<Kaworu?!?>"

        This can't be happening. This is too much like--

        The dream. Is it...?

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

Only a few minutes before, Yuka had been happily working on a project with Asuka. They'd been getting along remarkably well. Occasionally making some friendly conversation even. Perhaps it helps, that the way Yuka thinks about things can come across a little alien. So there's no sense of traditional judgement over anything. Plus she's just got so much energy and life to throw into everything she's passionate about.

Operating inside the Eva is a strange experience. New. But the freakout Asuka noted, was fairly quickly replaced with rampant excitement. "I'm better now. Breathing liquid was just a shock." It's also spurred on a fountain of questions and ideas that... Unfortunately Yuka cannot currently write down. The flaw of having physical notebooks, that she couldn't bring one along at all, because the LCL would have destroyed it. She'll just have to keep them in her memory until they get back.

"As for being waterproof, I've tested them extensively, so it shouldn't be any kind of pr--" Her words cut off abruptly, mid explanation. Because of a roar. No... a SCREAM.

Asuka's name for her... She likes it, honestly. Doctor Kaiju... It brings a little smile to her face, even right now. Thankfully, that won't distract her. And the way she looks at kaiju... Some things are clear. A number of things; including a resemblance to... Well, Asuka doesn't want to hear about THAT right now. She just wants helpful information. "Likely that shell can close up. Providing a powerful defense by closing it off... from..."

Yuka realizes about the same time Asuka does, though for a wildly different reason. Almost exactly the same time in fact. "Closed off from the world... I'll take care of analysis and support, if you can break through to her. Somehow." Easier said than done, sure. But... This is a cause they're united in. Saving Akane's heart and soul.

No seatbelts in an Eva Unit, but Yuka secures herself as best she can, using some of her equipment to weigh herself down. "Crazy is okay. Give it your all, and I'll handle it. I promise."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

They should have given up, Akane thinks, curled deep inside Zegga. Kaiju exist to be defeated, and I'm...

... Akane Shinjo, she's reminded. It's a thought like lightning down her spine -- and something for her to grab onto, even as the kaiju grabs onto her.

---

As Gridknight takes his place atop Zegga, the creature immediately lashes out to protect itself -- no, to remain stagnant. Its whole body crackles with energy tinged a bright red, as it tries to force him off with the threat of pain. It has always worked before; it will surely work again.

As Tsutsujidai's defenders -- no, the subjects of Akane's stagnation and abuse -- take up arms against the feelings that have been building inside her since...

... she moved away from Nagoya?
... her second middle school?
... the Axis Shock?
... her fifth middle school?
... the Bloody Valentine?

... it's hard to say how long this has built up inside her, or what set it off -- this feeling of hopelessness in the face of the world. But it is here, nevertheless.

Zegga meets this welcoming party with everything it has; it begins with another scream -- the sort that sends shockwaves through the ground. For a split second, amid the distortion of that screaming shockwave, it looks like there's something more inside the mouth --

-- but it'd be easy to miss, as Guardienne Aviaire and Renais's overkitted M9 are engulfed by dirt and debris within the wave. The Neo Helios gets batted toward the two of them by a heavy magenta tentacle, to boot. The shockwave stops just short of Rikka's stage, kicking up dirt and debris, but it doesn't quite reach her. (Akane never has been able to reach her, you know.)

The Evangelion contingent -- for an Evangelion is a Vessel of Light in its own way, of course -- receive slaps from the tentacles as well, ones that seem almost invitational in the way they hook around just a little bit.

---

Please just let it end the way all kaiju attacks end, Akane pleads with herself.

KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rikka Takarada's Spirit Endurance activates, and the spirit endures.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Rikka Takarada
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Anti with Go Away!!
KTS: Akane_Shinjo Changes attack to Renais Cardiff and Alouette Pommier with Noooooooo!.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Liam 7-020 with Zegga Tentacle Hit!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Zegga Tentacle Hit!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rei Ayanami with Zegga Tentacle Hit!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Demoralize!
KTS: Akane Shinjo demoralizes Rikka Takarada, reducing her Morale drastically.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley fails to Parry Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Hit, taking 1800 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Asuka Shikinami Langley!
KTS: Rei Ayanami's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: Rei Ayanami fails to react to Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Hit, taking 1600 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Rei Ayanami!
KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Parry Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Hit, taking 3500 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Liam 7-020!
KTS: Renais Cardiff fails to evade Akane Shinjo's Noooooooo!, taking 3600 damage!
KTS: Alouette Pommier fails to Evade Akane Shinjo's Noooooooo!, taking 4410 damage!
KTS: Anti has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Anti, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Anti fails to parry Akane Shinjo's Go Away!, taking 6960 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Anti!

<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.

        The first time Anti rebeled to rescue vulnerable girls was during a Sheryl Nome concert. Did you know? Music soothes savage beasts, too.

        (There's a much smaller kaiju, watching Rikka's stage, legs swinging free on a bench at the train station. The train will never come. The train has never come. Anosillus II knows this well, as she removes a single earbud from her ear. ... it's not raining, but she's brought an umbrella, anyway.)

        "She hears you!" Anti screams, to those hundred-hundred chitinous layers. "SO LISTEN!" Listen to Rikka's song, he does not have the cultural context to insist.

        His grasp of those lashes is inexpert -- he has never been the one to hold them, but when he faced the world. The threat of pain has always worked, and here, again, her rotting and pressured feelings carry themselves through her work: hurting him, so badly, to keep him away.

        "Hrrraaarrghhhh--!!" He yells, as he's thrown away, to slam into a distant building. The earth rocks, to see a Vessel of Light laid low, even for a moment. He pushes himself up, regardless, sectioned visor focusing on Akane and the stage nearby her.

        (He notes that the Guardienne Aviaire is beside Rikka's stage; he notes she and Kaworu are protected. He is a knight. He thinks of things like this.)

        Renais's Arm Slave crashes in, and speaks, as well, of hearing and heeding. Swords are symbolic of connection, too, he thinks.

        "That's right!" Gridknight yells, as Liam transmits that shocked question, less a rising tone. He hears it -- hears the intention to communicate, carried to him -- and he hears Rei's, phrased just a little differently. "That's Akane Shinjo's prison! Everything she's led to believe!"

        He rushes forward, again, to snap out a leg at Zegga's layers; his heel cracks at her, and some might call it a sick mirror.

        "FUCK THAT!" He screams, and he's screaming to her. "I DON'T BUY A WORD OF IT!"

        Whirling in the motion, he keeps his weight travelling, and slams an elbow into Zegga's side. "Asuka Shikinami Langley!" Gridknight addresses Unit-02, a different shade of purple and red. (He thinks of Unit-01, for a moment, where he must be fighting. The Evangelions... they're Giants in their own right, aren't they? The greatest threat to Tsutsujidai, in the end, was --) "You want to know what the Devil's done?! It's here! He threw me away, and I found you! He held her closer, and now she founds all she's done!" It's the sort of wordplay which might sound familiar...

        ... to anyone who knows Akane.

        But then, he is her little brother.

KTS: Anti has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Anti targets Akane Shinjo with Gridknight Martial Arts!
KTS: Anti has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Anti's Gridknight Martial Arts, taking 1170 damage!
KTS: Anti has engaged Akane Shinjo!

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

"... So the shell's not just physical then. That's how she feels huh..." Asuka murmurs, sounding upset again about the idea it represents how Akane closes herself off, but her next comment jolts her into action "Oh don't worry, I'll get through to her! No matter what it takes!"

... Yuka tells her she can handle her going all out, Asuka knew there was a reason she liked her over most every scientist.

"<Yeah! Didn't you hear the Munchkin?>"

Unit-02's sends to Unit-00 in point to point communication. Before she looks her way, "<Why wouldn't I have i-YOU THINK?>" On it's largeness but looking at Unit-00 causes her to realize something, "<Wait - are you going in there with JUST the Prog Knife? What are you,...>"

Pause, and it's a struggle for her not to finish that, but instead it becomes, "<...Well noone will be able to say you lack guts after this one, Wonder Girl.>"

Asuka can't know all the feelings surrounding specific real world incidents in Akane, not really...

... but as the Tentacles come down, Asuka at first swings up the Prog Knife, before thinking better of it as her AT Field unfolds. The Tentacle bashes HARD right into the field, and despite it's seeming impermeability-

Yuka can FEEL the force of the Tentacles through it, the tremor sloshing about in the LCL.

And Gridknight speaks to her, the wordplay is familiar but, "<... Kerib did that...>" Asuka says low, before she then erupts, "<What a GODDAMN Loser! Throwing you out with the trash, munchkin!? He didn't even recognize what he had!>"

Trading out her Crossbow for the Spear, MAYBE at Rei's insistence or PERHAPS at Yuka's advice, the bayonet unfolds. And Evangelion Unit-02 suddenly sprints on it, feet pounding the pavement, before she actively tries to pierce it in the lower part of the flesh of a flailing tendril- and discharges it in a steady flash of electricity.

"<AKANE! You think closing yourself off and lashing out is the way to go? You wanna know what kind of idiot lived their life that way?>"

There's only the briefest pause-

"<ME! WHAT WAS I, STUPID?>"

KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Akane Shinjo with GB-012 Activation!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Asuka Shikinami Langley's GB-012 Activation, taking 4464 damage!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Akane Shinjo!

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka gives a silent plea of help - and help arrives. The now-familiar sight of Guardienne Aviaire soars through the sky - and her heart soars with it.

"Alouette!" Rikka calls out to her. "Thank you... I'm counting on you!"

And it's not just her. Elegant as ever, Kaworu drops down next to her. He offers up support as well, and Rikka turns to send him a smile.

"Right... I think so, too. I'm glad you're here. ...I think I can do this, now." She replies with a confident nod.

And it's not just Anti, and Alouette, and Kaworu - so many familiar faces are here. Here for Akane. Her eyes settle briefly on Evangelion Unit-02. Asuka really can't resist a challenge, huh...? It's a fond observation, though. She's glad for it - glad for her.

And Anti bids Akane listen to her. She smiles his way. He's grown so much, and not just in the literal sense. It feels like so long ago that she met him in the park - both the first and the second time. She feels pride - and relief, that she got to know him.

Her confidence is renewed. With so many others to help forestall Akane's lashing out - she could not possibly think of this as defeating a kaiju - she's confident she can do this.

...She saw the kaiju Akane had become, that Alexis had turned her into, from afar, but this is the closest she's seen her. That closed shell...

...It's as Anti says. That's her prison. And Akane's form lashes out, tendrils striking with enough force to cause shockwaves. Rikka's breath is caught in her throat for a moment, but she doesn't close her eyes -

But they do not reach her. Her hair and uniform are tousled in the backdraft, but she does not come to harm. She takes a deep breath.

"Thank you, everyone. It means a lot to me that you're here." Rikka says. "I'm not alone... and neither is she."

She looks out to Akane, then.

"This song... is a collaboration with someone special. Sheryl reached out to me, you know. She wanted to reach your heart, too, so she reached out to me. This song is a symbol of our feelings! So, Akane..." Rikka starts, taking a deep breath. "Listen to our song!"

KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Anti with Sparkle!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Renais Cardiff
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Rei Ayanami
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Anti
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais' assertion is met with an ear-splitting roar, leaving the Gernsback ringing. The cloud of dust obscures everything, leaving her to move half-blind with the Gernsback's secondary sensors; she jumps away as the Neo Helios barrels toward her, sending her right into the path of a tangled chunk of rebar and concrete. It pings off the Gernsback's armor, leaving a significant dent.

"Ghhgh!" She winces... but she's invigorated, too. The G-Stone on her wrist flickers to life. The people here... nobody's here just to fight.

They're here to save a girl from herself.

She could have given up, long before now. Maybe she should have--but she's here.

"I spent three years shut away. I didn't believe I was even a person... and you know what it got me?"

Motors whine as she lifts the Lionne Blade. It comes comes crashing down in front of her, kicking up a cloud and vaulting the Gernsback into the air. An aperture opens on the device in its chest, and an angry red heat-beam lances forth to sweep across Zegga's armor.

"Wounds that never closed! You will only stop hurting if you accept that you can be healed!" With that... she turns off her speaker, allowing Rikka to do her thing.

KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Akane Shinjo with Chest-Mounted Heat Cannon Stream!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to charge.
KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Renais Cardiff's Chest-Mounted Heat Cannon Stream, taking 4278 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

It's not long before the presence gathered near Zegga's rampage is more than just Rikka, Kaworu, Alouette and Gridknight. Familiar machines, paired with familiar machines continue to arrive in hopes of mending that broken heart, all drawn in by Gridknight's loud declaration that this is no kaiju, but Akane Shinjo. Renais, Asuka and Yuka, Liam, Rei... they too will be in the audience of tonight's performance.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO" is what rings in Alouette's ears as a cloud of dust and debris comes crashing towards Guardienne Aviaire. There's no mistaking it... buried beneath those layers upon layers of a monstrous shell, it's her voice. And it's so very small in comparison to the rampaging kaiju's roars.

But despite it all, with Aviaire being caught in the blast, Rikka's mobile stage remains untouched, thank goodness. She hopes that just maybe, part of her deep inside really is listening to Rikka's voice.

Alouette takes a deep breath, trying not to spiral after taking such a hit. "When we first met," she speaks calmly but clearly towards Zegga. "You asked me if 3G has room for kaiju. At the time I had no idea what you were talking about..."

Guardienne Aviaire's program ring hatch opens. "I think I get it now. But I don't think I would change my answer, either."

The Program Ring gradually transitions between snowy blue and deep sunset red. "I won't give up on the brave and lovely heart I know you have, and neither will she."

The signal is sent Rikka's way. "Rikka! As soon as you're ready...!"

KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Akane Shinjo with Pass!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Alouette Pommier's Pass, taking 0 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

"Liam," Rei says, glancing towards the older pilot. She has no further words, beyond the faint tone of - concern? But it is brief, because, there is something far larger before them.

More than merely the creature - "How she feels?" Rei echoes -- Asuka?

To whom she glances for a moment. "No," she says, "not just the progressive knife. But..."

A great tentacle smashes towards EVA-00, which continues its advance -- and sweeps one hand around. There is a great coruscant flash of orange light as the AT Field unfolds, the tentacle contended against as the Evangelion leans back, staggers slightly, slides on the relatively loose soil and comes to a halt, overbalanced -- the fading Field not stopping the thing from grasping one of the shoulder pylons and yanking forwards.

Rei raises the Object. The thin lozenge of something hyper-real. The manifestation of a wish. She holds it in her right hand, cradled against her fingers by her thumb. She raises it before her, holding the Object over her heart, the right wrist braced by left hand.

In the entry plug, a strange sound plays. Synthetic, almost; or perhaps, pure. The visual feed glimmers.

The glimmer-swathed curtain around the view of the entry plug grows deeper. Tsutsujidai seems to fade.

"Great fallen ones... what remains of your light, I need it," Rei says, with a sonorous air, as if speaking an invocation. There are dim gleams, the least of echoes in the mute bulks of the separated space's former guardians, caretakers. Perhaps enough.

Her grip tightens on the Object. "Great beast of Earth... I must borrow your loud roar. Please--"

Evangelion Unit Zero has never had the penchant to produce strange biomechanical sounds as some of the other Evangelions do. It has always been mute, and the strange shape of its head suggests that there may truly be no mouth for the Eva to speak, even in potentia. And yet, despite this - despite the silence, the distance, the terrible alienation of this strange space - there is a roar: an echoing, inhuman SHRAEYAO, one that lingers. But though it is not human...

It is not an enemy.

"Gomora," Rei says. Her eyes come up. "Wave Fusion!"

The walls of the entry plug shine - change once - change twice -

And EVA-00 has, in a moment of glittering light that seemed to come of myriad miniscule particles radiating from somewhere within, changed.

Yellow-orange and gray plating has been engulfed by a shimmering sky blue, which seems to 'set' into a deeper shade, nearer to the blue of a clear noon sky. It stands differently. Higher, straighter.

The shoulders are extended, with up-turned pauldrons set with thinner lines, as if of circuitry. A long cross-streak of golden-yellow, forming an elongated X over its torso. A wrapping articulated chain, hanging with almost insouciant looseness, over hips and waist.

And over the forearms and hands, great blue gauntlet-bracers, bearing a red mark - something almost but not quite like a numeral zero, or the English letter G - on each. Extending from each gauntlet, a trio of great translucent scraping claws, vibrating, sparkling with strange force.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RijiyCuG6s

Now EVA-00 speaks.

"Akane Shinjo," the blue-cladden giant says, even as the gauntlets are raised, claws crossed before the monocular head.

"In the depths of your anguish. Weary and tormented. Thinking, that all that you had, were the kaiju. Even so, your hand held kindness."

One arm snaps out - a flourish? To point at Zegga's bulk. "The seeds of compassion..." And at this point, the overstrained electrical cabling of the Umbilical gives out; something tears, throwing a huge spark nearly a kilometer away that fails to ignite damp grass *but it's a little close*. The plug in the back of the Evangelion decouples with the explosive firing of buffering retro-rockets as the familiar *pyiiiii!* and that inordinate countdown begin.

Rei grimaces slightly. And then...

Unit-00 surges forwards, reaching out with one clawed arm to strike against the still receding tentacle with those threefold claws.

Having struck the Earth, Unit-00 uses this anchor point to hurl itself upwards and *twists* round before landing near the base of the original tendril with a faint THOOM of striking against the soil of Tsutsujidai, the clawed arms coming up to embrace the base of the great magenta protrusion, dig in her heels, and PULL.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Sure enough, the resonating of Zegga's roars (Akane's cries) bring defenders (victims) running. Asuka (and Yuka) in Unit-02, Rei in Unit-00, Liam in Neo Helios, Renais in the Gernsback... All of them whom Akane has hurt, all of them deciding to end that cycle. Kaworu gazes out at them. His lips part into a broader smile when Liam projects his surprise at his presence, something that Liam may see on his mech's viewscreens, but he doesn't say anything in return. There is about to be something that will speak far louder than any words of his ever could.
        
        But Zegga's roars are a great deal to contend with. It lashes out with great force, hurling Gridknight away, wrapping tentacles around the Evangelions, using all its force to drive those who would reach out away. Truly, it is a creation of Akane's heart. Even so, none of them will surrender. None of them would have made it this far if any of them had ever been inclined to give up.
        
        He gazes towards Gridknight as he roars his own defiance--reaches out to Asuka, even. Knowing it for what it is now, it's hard to see it for anything else anymore, but even so, he quietly marvels at Asuka's show of self-awareness. Even Rei seems to mind her less. He turns his regard to her, and his hands remain hovering over the keyboard so he doesn't reach up to touch the snowflake pendant hanging from his neck... but for an instant, light glints off of it.

        As Unit-00 comes alive with a light not her own but now made intimately hers thanks to the help of an Illusion Demon, and through her Rei speaks to Akane, Kaworu's smile broadens as wide as it's ever been. "You wear it well," he says fondly, extending his heart to hers. Perhaps, because of that, even from this distance, Rei (Rei) will hear.
        
        He glances at another section of the control room. Several red lights turn green. The hologram machines that line the edges of the stage come alive and warm with a subtle hum as they receive Alouette's signal, while camera drones launch to position themselves all over and around the mobile stage in preparation for what's to come.
        
        Rikka says she thinks she can do this. Kaworu knows she can. His smile will tell her that much, too.
        
        "Now, the promised time has come, Akane Shinjo," Kaworu intones in that calm, gentle way of his, and brings his curled fingers down. "We begin."

KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Akane Shinjo with Claw Clincher!
KTS: Rei Ayanami has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rei Ayanami anchors Akane Shinjo, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Rei Ayanami's Claw Clincher, taking 1530 damage!
KTS: Rei Ayanami has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Rei Ayanami begins a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        The Neo Helios grounds itself, sinking into a low stance and raising its arms. As the tentacle comes down, Liam jukes to the side; the Mobile Fighter's hands snap up to grab the limb and shove it away. Renais and Alouette are right behind him, and he has to--

        The tentacle curls around his guard and SLAPS, slamming into the Neo Helios' torso with enough force to shear off parts of the ablative layer. For a single, horrible moment, Liam is flying through the air towards the Gernsback and the Guardienne.

        Liam chooses to hurt himself rather than someone he cares about. It's a reflex. The spinal jets ignite and drive the Mobile Fighter into the pavement, where it hits and skids. Liam braces in the armatures, his teeth gritted. It feels like his skin is being scraped off. It comes to a stop in the street outside a McDaniel's, next to the shredded wreckage of its big 'M'-sign.

        Akane Shinjo's prison, Anti says, and Liam feels his guts turn to water. He remembers the sickening, molten RIP of High Tension's armor giving way. He remembers Twenty-Eight's last words. "Did they screw up your head, or," he whispers, repeating those to someone who is no longer here, because of him.

        He was only ever a monster, trying to save other monsters. He has to save Akane. (He can't save Akane.) He has to try again. (It'll just end up like last time.) As the Neo Helios pushes itself upright, on reflex, tears trickle down his cheeks. Liam looks down, and sees the pendant dangling around his neck, the polished, treated sphere of Connemara marble. He remembers what someone told him, not long ago, when he told them he felt sympathy for a fellow desperate, struggling monster.

        Your bonds will guide the way... The more you trust in those bonds and give yourself over to them, the more you will find your way to a 'you' that is free, mind and soul.

        Stay alive. Get back to Lucine. It never was just an objective, was it? It worked because Sousuke phrased it that way to get through his own self-flagellation. He's felt so alone here, even surrounded by people who care about him, despite knowing what he is.

        "Akane," Liam says, his own voice shaky but full of something that wasn't there a moment ago. "I know you remember Paris. That's not going to happen again." He has to try. He has to at least try. An emitter irises open at the back of the Neo Helios' hand, and plasma pours into it, shaped by electromagnetic fields into a knife-like point. "I--we won't let it happen again!" Tears glimmer in his eyes as the Mobile Fighter charges, closing to range with blinding speed. "We're bringing you home!" He lashes out with the knife in a clean strike from shoulder to hip, trying to cut through one of those tendrils. "Alouette. Where is she? Is there a core?! If there is, we just need to--"

        Light washes through the cockpit. Liam stares for a moment, open-mouthed, at Eva-00's transformation. "Rei...?" he breathes. And yet, he feels the same thing he felt when Anti first rose as Gridknight. It feels like hope.

KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Akane Shinjo with Starshard Knife!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Liam 7-020's Starshard Knife, taking 3300 damage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Liam 7-020 completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

Yuka might have overestimated herself slightly. Not by much, but slightly. Just because she isn't in a pilot seat much. ...Okay, at all, really. Still, she's adapting well, to the fluid physics inside the plug. "I'll need time to gather more concrete information, but the most glaring spots to begin with strike me as being the hinge points, and the tendrils. Attacking the facial area is likely to make it close up, but if it does..." That exposes a different weakness. The similarities she noticed. They worked that way... and if all Akane's kaiju obeyed certain conceits, this one should be the same. "Be wary of potential beam attacks, or similar expulsions. If I'm right, it's going to have some kind of unusual attack. Fire, electricity, maybe even a corrosive mist. Just be on the lookout for it."

Something she can do. That right now, only she can do, with her extensive mental library of all things kaiju. She may not be able to reach Akane through the shell, yet. But everybody together will get there.

KTS: Yuka Ohta targets Akane Shinjo with Goad!
KTS: Yuka Ohta has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Crystalline notes play in stirring sequence as the dark horizon brightens a lighter and lighter blue. "Oooh, woahhh..." a voice sings--and then, a guitar riff resounds as the morning sun illuminates the world. As a frenetic melody builds in energy, the sun illuminates the mobile stage like a molten spotlight, and it frames a shadowy silhouette of a young woman with long wavy curls...
        
        The Galactic Fairy: Sheryl Nome.
        
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C0-2VwGYJg (Obelisk)
        
        In the intense backlight, she remains shrouded in darkness, but enough can be seen to make out her corset and frilled skirt, her uneven stockings and her strappy high heels. As she stands proud, hologram sunrise competing against the gloom of the city, her shadowed form regards Rikka, standing opposite her across the mobile stage in her school uniform... then turns and runs into the burnished light, leaving only hints of her form behind.
        
        Rikka reaches out, but spires and platforms and stairways of all shapes, levels, and sizes erupt around her, blocking her path. Images of Sheryl swirl down around Rikka like autumn leaves: Sheryl on stage, Sheryl on talk shows, Sheryl on magazine covers, and finally, Sheryl in a Variable Fighter. As Rikka whirls around to try to find the true path, waving her arms around her as if she might be able to snatch the true Sheryl out from among the storm, Sheryl's voice sings:
        "Like a little bird discovering the light of dawn
        "I vow I'll notice
        "The heart racing over a faint omen
        "For the rest of the world is still sleeping on it!"
        
        On the edge of a platform above, Sheryl appears, gazing down at Rikka with a slight half-smile. She flips her golden hair as she sings into her iconic golden microphone, then reaches out a single gloved hand. She crooks a finger, as if inviting Rikka to give chase, then turns and dashes off anew. Rikka's eyes narrow in determination, and she dashes for a stairwell that arcs around to where Sheryl was.
        "Because I felt love, I knew despair
        "I still hold power in my hands
        "But even if I lose it, even if I lose it--"
        
        Though Sheryl continues to moves further and higher away, Rikka never gives up, vaulting up broken segments in the stairways, leaping over the gaps in platforms. When it seems like she might finally have Sheryl cornered, the Galactic Fairy turns to her--then grabs hold of a spire suddenly bursting up behind her and reaching up as if to pierce the heavens and bring her to the golden sun, now high above. Sheryl's curls billow as she sings, hanging dangerously down as she uses herself as a fulcrum, leaving Rikka to stare up at her and clench her hands in open frustration.
        "Swear to me by your tears that a miracle will cling to you
        "And you'll leap over the wreckage in a rising curve
        "Seek out the pulse in my heart until I return to life
        "Will you make it in time? I pray you'll make it in time!
        "(The reason for your doubt...) Oooh... (The reason for your now...) Ahhh, ohhh..."

KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley
KTS: Yuka Ohta goads Akane Shinjo, reducing her Intuition drastically.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Anti, Alouette Pommier, and Liam 7-020 with Awe.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Renais Cardiff
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Rei Ayanami
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Alouette Pommier's Morale!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Liam 7-020's Morale!

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Zegga has size on Gridknight -- even on its shortest dimension, it dwarfs him. All it does is bring a tentacle up to defend against the leg and then the elbow, letting it strike there instead of the grey body. Still... he asks her to listen, to see -- as she has made herself heard, made herself seen.

It hurts to hear Asuka concede the ways in which they are alike. Those things have never been lost on Akane -- not from the start, really, but especially since she used her kaiju against Asuka directly. The electricity lances through Zegga, nullifying its own body-lightning for a moment and leaving the beast stunned. Renais follows up with that heat beam, and that does seem to find some purchase, leaving a melted gouge through the chitinous armor.

Another tentacle gets seized by the claws of the now-monster-featured Evangelion unit, trying and failing to pull away from the rest of the world. Liam follows up instantly with his knife, leaving hollow gashes in the kaiju's limb.

They tell her of wounds that will not heal -- cannot, so long as she does not move forward. Seeds that cannot sprout in her.

How... do they have such inexhaustible kindness to offer? And what is it that they now plan to bring forth in service of that kindness?

...Is that... music? No, more than that -- is that...

Akane cannot see Rikka. Akane cannot see Sheryl.

... but she can hear Sheryl. Music has always occupied a special place in Tsutsujidai; perhaps it's the presence of the sound spirits that yet linger. Perhaps humans were designed from the ground up to love the freedom that comes with expression, rather than the freedom that comes from going without expression.

But it pierces through. The Galactic Fairy would have to find Akane's sad story compelling to bother with something like this --

-- and the Compoid whose will carries through on those notes clearly saw her for herself, even as she tried so desperately to hide it. To create a song that moves Akane in this way would surely have required something genuine.

... something undeserved, Zegga reminds her (Akane reminds herself) as -- despite Akane's most desperate efforts to rally -- the battle continues.

The tentacle Anti ended up delivering the strike to now shoves him back -- though it's not with real force. It's as if she doesn't want him to be able to defend himself against what comes next, rather than wanting to hurt him here and now. Asuka's Evangelion receives a thrusting tentacle strike, crackling with just a little bit of reddish lightning of its own. She'll give as good as she gets, it seems. Zegga lumbers toward Renais's M9, trying to give her a shock with the electricity of its body -- in much the same way as she had Anti, moments ago. Much of this electricity conducts down that clamped tentacle toward Rei as well.

The monster still has more to offer, though. One of the frontmost arms -- also tentacles, but with a spade-like, almost shield-like construction across the front -- swats at the mobile weapon, and then digs in in front of Rikka's mobile stage. It stops short -- but then, it does follow up by ripping that appendage back out of the ground and up toward Alouette.

---

And deep within the kaiju...

... Akane forces herself to try to see past what the creature is showing her. She can't, though -- the darkness takes form, and that form shows Akane all that she's taken away.

Sakiru Tonkawa... she was never a great classmate. She was thoughtless, and at the start of the year, she'd actually been pretty hard to deal with... she'd cooled down somewhat, but Akane always found Tonkawa a grating kind of person.

... she'd grown so much through first year, though. The Tonkawa of Akane's dream -- one who'd grown past her shortcomings(?) to become the sort of person who would invite Akane to events despite everything, not out of obligation to love her(?) but out of genuine warmth -- is the one Akane sees here, now.

No one else will see that Tonkawa, she thinks -- even if there's a faint throb of... something, behind that thought.

Guilt overpowers song, and Akane sinks into the mire of her heart once again.

'Akane Shinjo...' is just another name for a kaiju. And kaiju, regardless of how they were made, only end up one way -- the way they did in Paris.

Even if she can tell herself that, though... there's part of her ready to fight back to the surface -- to hear that song again.

KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Anti with Goad!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Goad!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Zegga Tentacle Strike!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Renais Cardiff with I Know I'm So Rotten...!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rei Ayanami with I Know I'm So Rotten...!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Liam 7-020 with Zegga Tentacle Strike!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier with Zegga Tentacle Slap!
KTS: Akane Shinjo goads Rikka Takarada, reducing her Intuition drastically.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley parries Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Strike, taking 990 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Asuka Shikinami Langley!
KTS: Rikka Takarada sparkles, reducing Anti's incoming damage!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Anti's Morale!
KTS: Akane Shinjo goads Anti, reducing his Intuition drastically.
KTS: Rei Ayanami's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rei Ayanami's I am myself. This object is me. activates, and her spirit endures.
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Rei Ayanami, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Rei Ayanami partially guards Akane Shinjo's I Know I'm So Rotten..., taking 3960 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Rei Ayanami!
KTS: Renais Cardiff fails to parry Akane Shinjo's I Know I'm So Rotten..., taking 4800 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Renais Cardiff!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Alouette Pommier, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Alouette Pommier fails to Parry Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Slap, taking 5160 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Alouette Pommier!
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Liam 7-020's Catecholamine Regulation System activates, and his spirit endures.
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Liam 7-020, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Parry Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Strike, taking 5280 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Liam 7-020!

KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.

        Gridknight looks to Asuka, with that flash of electricity. "It's good you're here," he says, to someone who unwittingly mirrored so much of Akane's behaviour back to him.

        There are things Asuka can tell Akane -- which Anti never could.

        Lessons Asuka has learned, now he can feel another heart seated in Unit-02 beside her...

        If Asuka can yell something like that, Akane can, too.

        (It's just as Renais says, isn't it? She has to accept that healing. He has a positive view of it, because she is screaming for help. That's the first real step he took, too.)

        He listens to their song -- Rikka and Sheryl's, with Kaworu and Alouette's support. He listens, too, to the SHRAEYAO which Unit-00 is not designed to speak. Music and adaption fit the kaiju of Tsutsujidai, did you know?

        Zegga -- Akane Shinjo -- pushes Anti away, and he grasps at that lash, as it pushes. His heels scrape in the wearied concrete, gouge thick scars in the earth. Can't they see where they're walking? "No!" He denies her, even as she excludes him. "Stop hearing what you want to hear, and LISTEN!" The conversation they're having --

        But that tentacle whips away, and Gridknight's chassis heaves and falls. He does not breathe, here -- not truly -- but it is so much like a sigh, that movement.

        "Don't you dare... tell me we can't reach you, Akane Shinjo!" He yells, and a shred of something trapped is still caught between his words, that shared legacy they hold. Even so, he denies it: "Not after all this shit!"

        ~*~*~

        Across the city, in the midst of another battle, Gridman feels a spark of insight. Coming to a stop, he glances toward the heart of Tsutsujidai.

        "Anti."

        His voice echoes with concern. Gridman doesn't know exactly what's happening, but he gets the sense that Anti needs help. Mind racing, he tries to find some way to help his kin without abandoning the fight.

        "G--Gridman." Calibur speaks up, a blue light shining with each syllable. "I'll go. H--he's my student."

        Gridman nods. "Right! Do your best, Calibur. I believe in you both!"

        Ducking out of the battle for a moment, Gridman hefts his sword, holding it as though it were a javelin. Aiming for the distant battle, he takes a breath, and throws Calibur with all his might.

        ~*~*~

        Anti feels it, too. He straightens, and lifts his hand, and grasps Calibur in his hand as he sails in. "Use me," Calibur intones, that gem at his yellow hilt flashing.

        Anti nods, sharply, and brings Calibur up -- and as he does, the yellow of his hilt turns ruby red, glinting as precious as his segmented visor. As he brandishes the blade, in a reverse grip, he declares the union:

        "Gridknight Calibur!"

        And he charges up, beside Renais, one blade with another. "Do you see it?!" He demands, as he brings Calibur down, in a flash of red-and-purple streaming light. "The bonds we forged here!" And his visor glints, as he looks aside: "Renais Cardiff! I won't run away now--!"

KTS: Anti targets Akane Shinjo with Calibur Slash!
KTS: Anti has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Anti's Calibur Slash, taking 4550 damage!
KTS: Anti has engaged Akane Shinjo!

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

"I'll buy you the time you need." Weak points, Yuka offers. Points where Akane can't close herself off, where she has to let something in. Even if it's a knife. "All those options?! Which one do you think it'll be given what you know of Akane?

Asuka briefly sounds frustrated at Rei, "<Then what!?>" And then - she chants- "<What are you...>" Evangelion Unit-00 changes in a moment of glittering light. "<...do...>" Asuka finds herself just startled, "<...ing.>"

As she trails off at the sight of the Blue Cladden Clawed Giant. Then... "<... Okay, that's not half bad, Ultra Girl.>"

Did she just change her nickname again on the fly!?

And Gridknight, he says it's good she's here, and Asuka for once, actually reads between the lines, "<Heh. The least I can do for you right now Munchkin... is to YELL real loud!>"

And then the music starts to play, as Rikka takes the stage with - Sheryl Nome!? Though Asuka realizes the truth soon enough on double taking, as Sheryl sings, and Rikka pursues.

Asuka ordinarily complains at Mari incessantly for her singing but... "If that's the way you're going to get your feelings across, I'll let this one slide Rikka."

Zegga thrusts a Tentacle straight at the Evangelion, center mass. And Asuka's AT Field meets it, abruptly before she drops the field and twists to the side, the tentacle shrieking across the flat of the Thunder Spear's Bayonet - holding it just at bay, even as the Evangelion is pushed back.

"<It SUCKS doesn't it? To have someone like me be your MIRROR?>"

Asuka and Akane aren't alike in many ways, but in all the ways they are - are the ways she might reach her.

"<You wanna know what I saw, the times I struck Anti! The more I yelled at him! Every time I saw him freeze up with that look on his face! That I was just like his BIG SISTER!>"

Asuka lets that be her battle cry, as she jams the Thunder Spear's bayonet at the base of where the Tentacle meets the body, trying to sink it further and further in, "<I knew right then and there I was someone who didn't deserve a shred of human kindness! But guess what! I decided I didn't want to be that kind of loser anymore! And what I thought I didn't deserve - was right there waiting for me anyway!>"

When Gridknight brings down Calibur... she feels a swell of pride, "<Show her what you're made of!>"

KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Akane Shinjo with GB-012 Bayonet Thrust!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Asuka Shikinami Langley's GB-012 Bayonet Thrust, taking 3360 damage!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Akane Shinjo!

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Alouette gives her the signal, Kaworu gives her a smile. A smile that says he knows she can do this. Rikka takes it to heart. She's in their hands, now - this wouldn't be possible without either of them.

And so, the performance begins. She had worked so hard on this. Many days, working on levels of acrobatics she was initially unsure she was capable of it. That work gave her a true appreciation for everything Sheryl must go through to do what she does.

Rikka performs, but her heart is still with those who have come for Akane's sake. Renais shares her experiences, of what comes from spending so much time shut away... Rikka can only hope Akane takes that to heart.

But beyond, the battle continues. She and her stage are as much a target as any other on this battlefield, and one spade-like tentacle arm descends...

...And stops short.

This time, Rikka does not flinch or go short of breath. Her performance continues without interruption. Because...

...She trusts her. She trusts all of them. Compared to them, she is so small, now. It would be all too easy for a tragedy occur. But she trusts them, trusts all of them. She trusts that she will not hurt her, even in her thrashing. She trusts that they will not allow her to come to harm.

But she does smile, for just a moment, as Calibur appears, as he and Anti join hands. Gridknight Calibur... It's incredible.

KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Alouette Pommier with Sparkle!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Renais Cardiff
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Maybe it's because she spent so long holding it in. Maybe it's because she sees herself in Akane, someone forced into a monstrous role with no way out.

But the fact is that she refuses to give up. She will give Akane what she needed. She'll extend the hand she never had at the time... the hand she's only recently learned she can reach out with.

Even as Zegga lashes out. The gigantic blade swings to oppose Zegga's charged tentacle, to knock it aside--but she misjudges the length, and it simply wraps around, smacking directly into her before she manages to push it away. The AS' screens flicker and warp briefly.

But as Rikka performs a song from her heart--from Sheryl Nome's heart--Renais' power grows. Her G-Stone glows brighter, bathing the Gernsback's dark cockpit in green... and she pulls the Lionne Blade up, lighter than before, held up, tip toward Zegga as Gridknight wields Calibur alongside her.

"Anti. No--Gridknight..." She grins, thinking back to a day so long ago. A cyborg and a young kaiju crouched in an alley behind a restaurant, one cracking a crab open for the other. "You've grown a lot, haven't you?"

The Gernsback's thrusters fire and she kicks off the pavement, joints straining to hold up the gigantic implement as they move in tandem, to crack Zegga's shell together.

KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

Even in the contorted clinch, Eva-00's head turns slightly towards the stage. Kaworu does not receive a reply that could be articulated in words, but perhaps he can be sure someone heard him.

As the song begins, EVA-00 is in a clinch - and perhaps, in a pinch, as well. The great pressure of Zegga's bulk is bearing down on her LEFT shoulder, and Rei feels a twinge there, in the surface of the flesh of her body, beneath the wrapping of the plugsuit. A pain that --

Does not resonate as much as it ought to. Rei wonders at this; the song? The power of 'Light?' She cannot dwell too long. An electrical shock suddenly arcs, and Eva-00 spasms visibly--

-- but does not let go.

"Why do you resist?" Rei asks. "Is this the form of your heart?"

It isn't easy, of course, to compose your thoughts in eloquent detail when you are being subjected to an immense electrical discharge. There are orange sparkle-flashes, likely the AT Field unfolding (or trying to unfold) and likely sparing the Evangelion from the fate an electrical attack inflicted upon it in battle against the Jama and the Angel they wrenched to their will.

In this moment, the Second provides her with a name. Another one. Changing again - again? Was the first one - what was it?

Names.
Markings. Database entries. Sacred words.
'Akane Shinjo' is a name.
Kaworu Nagisa. Yuka Ohta. Liam 7-020. Alouette Pommier. Renais Cardiff. Rikka Takarada. Gridknight. Gridman Calibur.
I know the individuals to whom the names refer. Do I know them?

EVA-00's left arm rolls upwards as if to grasp the base, or near to the base, of the tentacle like a massive wounded log of living flesh. Grasping it thus, the clawed hand on the right comes up and punches inwards - wrenching in a great glowing flash -

"Do you know who you are?" Rei says, and it doesn't come out as a great amplified boom from the Evangelion. Even so.

KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Akane Shinjo with Lionne Blade Strike!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Renais Cardiff's Lionne Blade Strike, taking 4680 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Renais Cardiff's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Akane Shinjo with Claw Light Striker!
KTS: Rei Ayanami has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

When her signal is received and the performance begins, Alouette doesn't hesitate, shifting the lights and effects at just the right seconds to make the right impact. It's difficult, in the midst of a battle, but it doesn't stop her from helping Rikka and Sheryl shine as brightly as they can.

Liam comes crashing near Alouette and Renais, and he makes every adjustment he can to avoid crashing into them. Should he be willing, Alouette returns the favour by wordlessly helping the Neo Helios up from the wreckage, holding up her shield alongside it.

Liam invokes the events of Paris, of the High Tension. Alouette remembers the last text she ever received from Akane, after Bujack was slain...

> I thought it was really obvious after France. If you wanna go back there and end up like the High Tension's pilot, I can't stop you.

Upset as it made her, maybe this too is something Alouette only understands now, as she faces down those layers of walls protecting Akane from the horrible outside world.

Unfazed by Alouette's calm words, Zegga charges with its tentacles towards Guardienne Aviaire, causing her to sustain some heavy damage in the left wing.

But Rikka- and Sheryl are both doing their best out there, baring their hearts out. It's truly amazing... That's enough for Alouette to stay in flight.

Grinning as Gridknight combines forces with Samurai Calibur, and Renais fights with the hulking Lionne Blade, Alouette puts a sword trick of her own to the test. "Emission! Aile Rapier!!" The pink rapier of destruction flies from the Program Ring as Guardienne Aviaire gracefully catches it and cuts at the tentacles, instruments of Zegga's pain - hoping to at least hold them down.

KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Akane Shinjo with Prise de Fer!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alouette Pommier rattles Akane Shinjo, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Alouette Pommier's Prise de Fer, taking 3250 damage!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Alouette Pommier begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Rei Ayanami's Claw Light Striker, taking 5330 damage!
KTS: Rei Ayanami has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Rei Ayanami completes the Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

An open-backed truck jumps a ragged gap in torn-up roads and does a full 270 degree spin-out before coming back under control. In the back are four (4) students, two (2) adults and one (1) cocker spaniel.

In the front is Sousuke Sagara, who looks out the broken-open back window with just a breath of surprise. He doesn't call back for a check-in, because Zegga's flailing tentacles sends several dozen hundred thousand yen worth of busses directly at him, forcing him to jam the gas immediately and gun it to drive under them, calling back, "HEADS DOWN!"

His mobile phone with a secured Mithril radio program sits in a clamp on the dashboard, and Channel 1 - ANTI - CONNECTED lights up.

"Anti, do you hear me!? This is Sagara! I'm..."

        *

        <<Sergeant. Anti is fighting.>>
        "I see that. But we'd be useless against something that size."
        <<I agree. As you are now, you would only slow him down.>>
        "You--"
        <<But you still want to help him, don't you?>>

        *

"There's a few people still in the area, we'll take care of it! Just focus on Shinjo!"

We?

On a yet-undisturbed rooftop, a white humanoid form sits crouched, head slowly craning back and forth, high-definition cameras, radar, and a thousand other sensors compiling a full and constantly-updating map of the space.

Inside the cockpit, the screens display to nobody.

AL transmits, <<Sergeant. Take the second right to avoid an ongoing road collapse.>>

KTS: Sousuke Sagara has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Anti!

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        There's a certain joy in being able to take part in this. Rikka had asked Alouette and Kaworu to help her with this, and Kaworu hadn't hesitated to accept. He has a great respect for the power of the great Macross singers, and this time around, he's never had an opportunity to attend one of the Galactic Fairy's concerts. To instead help put one on--albeit with a hologram version of Sheryl rather than the real deal--is an honor he's not sure he'll ever experience again.
        
        So many things are always the same no matter how many times they come around, and so many things are miniature miracles that will never come again.
        
        Rikka performs, but she doesn't sing--not yet. This is a brand-new Sheryl Nome original, after all, never before played in public. Rikka's participation in this is to chase after the holographic Galactic Fairy as she sings (or, more accurately, as she's synced to a pre-recorded song), and in doing so, to bring her to the correct stage. Kaworu assists with that too, tracking the movements of the stage, the timing of the music to the holograms Alouette coded, ensuring that nothing obstructs the cameras or Zegga's line of sight. Akane will hear. Akane must hear. Anti is working so hard to make sure she does, taking even Calibur in hand--meaning that Gridman must have heard from across the battlefield to send him over. Likewise, Rei--Unit-00--return his regard, the slightest turn of her head his way to show his words were received even as she struggles in her battle. Both of them strengthen his own heart.
        
        Love is the greatest force in the universe, and it will make itself known. He's staking everything to ensure that. So in return, he places all of his faith in the others that they, too, will overcome their battles.
        
        The song--the show--goes on.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        Rikka is an eminently sensible young woman. Liam's worked as part of her team since Tsutsujidai collapsed, and nothing about her suggested she was the type to go into battle in something so unsuited without a backup plan. Rikka reveals her backup plan. Liam expecting it, but not... this precise form. His cheeks flush. He thinks back to holding Lucine's hand, and the joy he felt at being there, with her, in the concert crowd.

        "Keep at it," Liam says. The Neo Helios jets to the side, landing outside the crushed ruin of a convenience store. "We'll protect you."

        Another tentacle whips around. "Look out!" Liam shouts, in the scant second he has to spare. He plants his machine's feet and shoves forwards with both hands, but Zegga not only has raw mass on its side, it carries the weight of Akane's despair and self-hatred. In this cognitive space, that matters a lot. There's another horrible CRUNCH, and the blow sends the Neo Helios reeling. It flies to the side, and staggers into the broken husk of someone's emptied home. Liam shouts in pain and surprise as the Mobile Trace shoots sensory knives through both arms. Nanocircuitry laced through his brain intervenes to control the adrenal response, shaping it into something less 'flee' and more 'fight'. Liam takes it the rest of the way home as he remembers...

        The crack of an eggshell. A warm, steely hand helping him down from his damaged machine. Someone else's eyes flicking over blueprints, too quickly for even him to process properly. Someone telling him to tell Lucine how he feels.

         "Akane," Liam says. The Neo Helios grasps the Guardienne's hand, lets Alouette help it up. "Someone broke me, too. He told me he was my friend. He said I would've died alone if not for him, and the Crucible. And then he took everything I was--" The first-stage heliosphere ignites, enshrouding the Gundam in heat haze. "--and then tore me apart, and made me into something he could use. He made me kill to save myself, and told me he did me a favor." A length of plasma uncoils from the same emitter that made the knife, this one long and rope-like.

        "Akane," Liam repeats. The flaring plasma streamer snaps out with a wave of the Neo Helios' hand. It cuts and burns, trying to cleave through tentacles, armor, any mass that's in its way. "I'm not saying I'm good. But I'm trying. If someone like me can, then..."

KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Akane Shinjo with ASTRA - Prominence!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Liam 7-020's ASTRA - Prominence, taking 3960 damage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Akane Shinjo!

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

Knowing Akane? Well, several are possible. But as for the MOST likely... Well, the kaiju answers that for her, with its lightning-coated tentacles. "As we can see here... electricity. Though there may yet be hidden surprises as the fight goes on, particularly when the tide turns most against the kaiju." She could be faster about answering these questions, but the fighting is SLIGHTLY hectic.

But she has to maintain focus. She can deep dive questions like what Eva 00 just did, later. And she WILL be deep diving every bit of that information, have no doubt.

"Every layer of defense we breach... it's going to get more desperate in its counter. Attacks from odd angles and trying to overwhelm your defenses. To force you into retreat... just like things have always been." Trying to drive people away. Make them uncomfortable, make them hate. So they'll leave. "You just have to be relentless." Should be easy for Asuka, of all people.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Around Rikka, television screens that had been blackened and lifeless come alive with more images of Sheryl: Sheryl dancing in a red kimono, Sheryl reaching out to the heavens in a billowing blue gown, Sheryl giving chase to herself as the Black and White Bunnies. As one, though each performs different dances with different expressions, they sing to her as she stares up at the Sheryl rising on the spire to the unforgiving sun.
        "Why am I getting farther away from who I want to be?
        "I keep defiling the aircraft skies
        "If it will numb them to true loneliness,
        "How cruel people will become!"
        
        Though Sheryl still smiles that cryptic little half-smile, the waves of her hair in her wind hide her eyes, leaving the true nature of her expression unknown. Around her, though she rises higher into the light, the angle of the spire means she remains locked in shadow. Dark, clawed hands grab her wrists and yank her back, and she's helpless to resist, chin rising and eyes shut as her arms arch backwards.
        "The darkness has been protecting me
        "So with puffy eyelids, I offer it a prayer
        "No matter what I lose, no matter what I lose..."
        
        Rikka watches this with widened eyes. However, rather than sit by and do nothing, her expression sets with determination, and she backs up several steps... to break into a running start and LEAP into empty air. A spire of her own pierces upwards, and she grabs hold, swinging herself around as she keeps her eyes upwards, chasing after the Galactic Fairy in a race against whatever it is that's binding her.
        "In order to live one second longer, encourage your spirit
        "And hitch yourself to a flickering destiny
        "Seek out the pulse in my heart and haul in uncertainty
        "Will you make it in time? I pray you'll make it in time...!"
        
        The black hands, banded on the edges with cyan with a red ring finger, emerge in countless numbers from behind Sheryl to rake towards Rikka and her spire, trying to tear her down and away. As they shoot down, they tear at Sheryl, stripping away pieces of her outfit to reveal a lavender bodice dress of a kind a certain would-be villainess wore. Rikka hunches up, weathering their attacks, but never letting go or keeping her eyes off the Galactic Fairy. When those hands manage to smash through her spire and leave her dangerously airborne, she kicks off the rubble and wheels her legs into a leap--and catches hold of Sheryl's spire, which freezes in place. Its tip snaps downwards, leaving Sheryl sprawled upon it.
        "(Swear to me by your tears that a miracle will cling to you)
        "And you'll leap over the wreckage in a rising curve
        "(Seek out the pulse in my heart until I return to life) Oooh..."
        
        Rikka pants for a few seconds, forehead bowed. Then she grits her teeth and looks up, crawling with determination up to the platform above as, around them, the sun sets and the sky enters a ruddy twilight. When she climbs up onto it, Sheryl has pulled herself upright and now stands at the edge. Her hair has gone from strawberry blonde to silvery lavender, and the rips in her outfit show that other dress. She holds her golden microphone to her lips as they form around her song. Rikka, battered and exhausted but still undeterred, staggers towards her, step by step. When she's only an arm's length or two away, Sheryl turns around to face her... and smiles warmly. Her eyes are now a vivid shade of madder. Rikka's blue eyes widen, and then she smiles back, wind blowing through her hair as shining tears streak her cheeks like falling stars.
        "Swear to me by your tears that a miracle will cling to you
        "And you'll leap over the wreckage in a rising curve
        "Seek out the pulse in my heart until I return to life
        "Will you make it in time? I pray you'll make it in tiiiime!"
        
        Sheryl's voice resounds, carrying that final note throughout the battlefield--perhaps throughout the city. As the music concludes in triumph and strength, Rikka reaches out to her, and Sheryl reaches back in return. One step, two, and then their hands clasp... and then Sheryl bows her head and embraces Rikka. Rikka remains, but Sheryl bursts apart into motes of light that cling to her, from her hair to her neck to her body to her legs and feet, her uniform lost in their sparkling light. While the setting sun dips under the horizon, leaving behind a deepening night, Rikka stares as if aghast at the space where her friend was... and then she looks down at her hands.
        
        At a silver microphone wrapped in dark blue ribbon.
        
        The music shifts to a familiar three-note rise, cycling slow and bittersweet. Rikka bows her head... then clutches the microphone between both hands and lifts her chin to lock her eyes to the last of that sunset red.

KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Gridman entrusts Anti with a blade. Gridknight Calibur bites into Zegga's armor, carving at it -- and one of the segments of the mandible-face cracks at the tip, a little, from the half-cutting, half-crushing blow. Just a bit of light streams through, and from so close, something about that mandible becomes apparent:

It's not a face. It's a hood over a mask, all porcelain and perfect, eyes shut as if in sleep.

Behind that sleeping mask, then, must be --

Akane's final kaiju, born of herself, sags as the bayonet finds something beyond the craggy armor and leaves another empty gash in it. The armor itself serves as passable defense against Renais's blade, but soon it, too, cracks under the weight of a sword an M9 was never designed to use.

Rei and Alouette move at once -- the Evangelion's clawed hand coming in just behind the rapier. Alouette makes an opening, and Evangelion Unit-00's claws drive straight into it with all their force. Liam and the Helios likewise carve through so much, leaving real damage on the shell around Akane's heart.

---

... she'd wanted so badly for them to understand her. And one by one, she realizes -- as she's told that it's bullshit that they can't reach her, as she hears the ways in which she is like the brilliant, radiant people outside -- that she did, in fact, impart that understanding...

... in her cruelties. By hurting them the way she was hurt. By highlighting to them the ways in which they, too, had been carved into crueler shapes by the world. If that's what passes for coming to understanding in this world... can she face that?

Curling tight, she whimpers, "I don't know how this is going to end anymore," trying to avert her eyes.

... but her unstated assumption is, indeed -- that it ends. Akane, without even realizing, cuts 'forever' away, allowing 'now' the attention it deserves.

... does she know who she is? It's so hard to know that -- so hard to be certain of anything as she feels the illusory grip on her. She only knows what she is not, and that's --

Zegga parks itself in front of the stage. Does Akane want to be close -- or does the monster want to destroy her? It cuts an impressive presence, but that's... all it does, it seems. And it's not long before the battle draws it back away -- far enough that the potential for incidental contact is more than handled by the barrier around the makeshift mobile stage.

As terribly powerful a beast as Zegga is -- and as miserable as the creature at its center is -- it lacks viciousness. It's as Yuka says -- its attacks all come from a place of desperation. It lets out another cry -- and for a moment, that mask is visible in full, however distorted it is by a cry that carves through city streets and winds around the feet of the Evangelion units.

---

Akane sees more faces. Arcadia...

... okay, Arcadia were creeps, but by the same token -- has Akane never been inappropriate? Has Akane never done something she might regret later?

If they were so undeserving, then so, too...

---

Zegga bursts with red lightning a second time -- toward Anti, first and foremost. He has that weapon now -- a knife, in its way, like hers. By pressing him like this... maybe she can get him to use it, the way she did.

It's what she did when she felt cornered -- and they are family, aren't they?

Two of Zegga's tentacles lash out for Liam and Renais -- the pincers on the ends seeking to pin their much smaller machines to the ground. In the state the kaiju is in, it doesn't even notice Sousuke's arrival -- giving everyone the space they need to move. It's too focused on trying to pin them to the pavement and make them suffer for the foolishness of 'helping' in the Universal Century.

---

If it will numb them to true loneliness... how cruel people will become.

To be known like this... hurts. It demands so much from her.

... but it gives Akane cause to wonder -- if she could move closer to the person she wants to be, instead of further away.

KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Anti with If You'd Just Killed Me Sooner...!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Despirit!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier with Zegga Tentacle Hit!
KTS: Akane_Shinjo Changes attack to Rei Ayanami and Asuka Shikinami Langley with Noooooooo!.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Liam 7-020 with Zegga Tentacle Strangle!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Renais Cardiff with Zegga Tentacle Strangle!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo despirits Rikka Takarada, reducing her SP drastically.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Rikka Takarada
KTS: Rei Ayanami charges into the attack!
KTS: Rei Ayanami's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rei Ayanami's I am myself. This object is me. activates, and her spirit endures.
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Rei Ayanami, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Rei Ayanami partially guards Akane Shinjo's Noooooooo!, taking 3570 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Asuka Shikinami Langley, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley partially guards Akane Shinjo's Noooooooo!, taking 4080 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Rikka Takarada sparkles, reducing Alouette Pommier's incoming damage!
KTS: Anti has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Anti rushes into the attack!
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Anti, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Anti partially guards Akane Shinjo's If You'd Just Killed Me Sooner..., taking 7560 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Anti!
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Alouette Pommier, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Alouette Pommier fails to react to Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Hit, taking 4290 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Alouette Pommier!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Renais Cardiff rushes into the attack!
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Renais Cardiff, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Akane Shinjo anchors Renais Cardiff, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Renais Cardiff partially guards Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Strangle, taking 6600 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Renais Cardiff!
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Liam 7-020, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Akane Shinjo anchors Liam 7-020, forcing him into close range.
KTS: Liam 7-020 parries Akane Shinjo's Zegga Tentacle Strangle, taking 1650 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Liam 7-020!

<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.

        Rikka doesn't stop singing. She's the one who first... noticed him, in the nameless morass of Tsutsujidai. Who noticed he was soaked through. She did not fight him, then.

        She offered him an umbrella.

        It took him a long time to figure out why.

        Will it take Akane that long, to figure out why Rikka is singing?

        (He is glad, as well, to hear Liam offering his protection to Rikka and Kaworu.)

        Zegga is not unlike a crab -- and Renais and Anti have broken a shell like that, before. He fights with her in another fashion, now, as they strike that armour together. (It's no surprise, then, that Aile Rapier joins the conversation as well. Calibur expressed care to Anti by offering him another type of weapon. They are expressing care, too.)

        He listens as Asuka sees what he sees, just the same. Gridknight is still, for a moment. It is... more impactful than he thought it would be, with all his deductions. He acknowledges, to himself, what Akane has done, and not only what is done to her.

        "C--cycles can be broken," Calibur says, with that characteristic little hitch of his voice, as he feels his student still.

        And there's another voice, reaching out to him.

        'There's a few people still in the area, we'll take care of it! Just focus on Shinjo!'

        "That's right," Anti says, grasping Calibur's hilt. "Where she's stepping... and where I'm stepping, too..."

        He calls, to Sousuke: "Do it! I'm counting on you!"

        It's just like they're saying. It's about deciding to care. And Sousuke helped teach him how he doesn't have to fight alone, after all. Even when he was alone... Sousuke helped him survive, then.

        Gridknight Calibur comes up, alongside the shifted form of Unit-00. "Akane Shinjo couldn't let herself imagine change," he says, he shares. "Even so, part of her knew she had to adapt. So she called out for me, and I was made. I'm no longer a kaiju, but that's how I began." A story not so dissimilar to Liam's, perhaps, despite the clay they were shaped from. "That expression of her feelings..."

        Anti -- Gridknight -- screams, as he charges Zegga -- Akane Shinjo -- again.

        "... this is EATING HER UP INSIDE!"

        Zegga's lightning courses towards Gridknight -- and rather than leave anyone else to deal with it, Gridknight runs into the attack, swinging Calibur ahead of himself to carve a path through that lightning. His heels drum on the tortured ground, and he spins as he springs upwards, up and up and further still. "Knight..."

        "... Calibur...!" Calibur's voice joins his, as he blurs down, carried faster than a falcon in the dive by Gridknight's determination.

        "... ENNNNND!!"

        Akane told him he could go somewhere -- wherever he liked.

        But he won't like going anywhere, knowing Akane's trapped in this labyrinth which was never her own creation.

        "That face she's shown us is just more armour!" Gridknight yells, speaking of those mandibles, as he comes down. "She's pulled her hood up again! But that anger was always for herself, first...!"

        And with those lessons she taught him, flinging him at Gridman time and time again, Gridknight encourages them: "Crush it! And that armour! She's soft, inside!"

KTS: Anti has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Anti has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Rei Ayanami
KTS: Anti has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier
KTS: Anti has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Renais Cardiff
KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Anti
KTS: Anti targets Akane Shinjo with Knight Calibur End!
KTS: Anti has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Anti's Knight Calibur End, taking 9100 damage!
KTS: Anti has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Anti roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"Thank you, Sheryl," Alouette states, as the Sheryl Nome hologram passes the mic to Rikka. "It means everything that your heart could be a part of this performance, too."

Once Rikka begins to sing, Alouette's full attention will be on her. But right now, there's something she has to do. It's not something only she can do... but it's something she must do nonetheless.

Victimized in the hopes of creating monsters... that's a fate that Alouette was squarely saved from, it's a fate both she and Akane both were saved from in that dream. Her mind shifts between the sight of Zegga in front of her, and the scene of Alouette and Akane escaping BioNet's pseudo-Zonder lab together. Pseudo-Zonder... if she thinks of it like that... Gridknight encourages everyone to crush the outer layer, to reveal the soft inside. There's something she can do.

The decisive key to victory that always led to the annihilation of the monster, while safely retrieving the inner core without harm. The Aile Rapier and Guardienne Shield, already drawn from the Program Rings respectively are held out at each side of Guardienne's body.

OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO0eB8Ne7CQ


“HELL AND HEAVEN!”

Combining the offensive and defensive properties of Guardienne Aviaire… Alouette never tested it. And she knows how dangerous it could be even for Guy when he was a cyborg. But she's grown desperate.

Alouette shifts the Aile Rapier and Guardienne Shield to overdrive. Through an artificial GS-Ride without a G-Stone, it's not exactly the sensation felt by Guy within GaoGaiGar. But for Alouette's human body, it’s overwhelming all the same to experience the amalgamation of two energies that naturally repel each other… that may never have been meant to be combined this way.

Driven by a willpower to save Akane alone, she pushes forward and remembers the words to hold the two repelling energies together, passed down by Guy from the legacy of the Green Planet, and now to her.

"Gemu giru gan go gufo…"

The rapier and shield together fire off a devastating electromagnetic tornado that locks Zegga in place momentarily as Guardienne Aviaire charges forward at maximum speed. The final piece of the chant repeated by Guy from the revelations of the Green Planet... "VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITA!!"

The Guardienne Shield is held firmly down near Zegga’s "face" while Alouette uses the Aile Rapier to cut and cut and cut through all the layers she can, desperately trying to find whatever core is holding Akane inside.

The face is grasped out within Aviaire's hands. But that's not the core. Quickly running out of energy, she calls for help. This isn't something only she can do. Renais... Asuka... Yuka... Rei... Liam... and Anti. "EVERYONE! Now! Please, help save Akane!"

KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Akane Shinjo with Hell and Heaven!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Alouette Pommier's Hell and Heaven, taking 8450 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alouette Pommier's Vividity activates, causing Designate L1!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Alouette Pommier roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

"I see it now!" Asuka replies to Yuka after that discharge took so many of them off guard, fortunately she was in range mostly to just face the tentacles.

Her advice however much it feels like preaching to the choir - actually instead hypes her up like slipping an attack dog from her leash, "Be relentless? Yeah - I CAN DO THAT!"

The song continues, with Rikka's determined pursuit, and for all the mixed feelings Asuka has about Akane creating Rikka - she has to admire her pursuit.

Not because it's her purpose, but because she chooses her despite that.

It's not something Asuka had ever considered before...

It may all be in cycles and breaking them, for which Asuka looks to the Munchkin - to Anti - to Gridknight... with a sense of pride for how far he's come since he was just a kid shouting about Tarabaman.

"Even more armor huh?"

The sudden shout at close range is met by Asuka's AT Field as the sound dampeners in the Entry Plug try to guard it against the Sonic Hell. Still, the Restraint Armor around the feet of the Evangelion crumples inward against the sheer unbridled force of it- pushing her back, which pulls the Thunder Spear out of it.

Alouette makes their call, for Now. Now is the time.

"<AKANE! SHINJO! You're their creator right!? Like it or not- you put your feelings into shaping them! Into Rikka! Into your little brother! If they're this capable of growing beyond you->"

Movement hampered by its feet being partially crushed, the Eva is FORCED to move by Asuka in clumsy gigantic steps back towards it. "<-Then what kind of ARROGANCE is it to believe you can't grow beyond yourself?>"

With a wobble, and a bend at the knees, it makes a leap. As she drops the spear, both hands grabbing Prog Knives from the shoulder pylons, and uncrossing them. One hand flings one, then the other.

As both sink in, trying to keep the armor from closing off on one side of the mask, even as the Eva suddenly rears back its fist and POUNDS it right into the hilt to wedge one of them in further - as if it were the chisel, and the Evangelion itself were the hammer, "<WISE UP AND GET OVER YOURSELF ALREADY!>"

KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Akane Shinjo with Progressive Knife Drive!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Asuka Shikinami Langley's Progressive Knife Drive, taking 2430 damage!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Akane Shinjo!

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

How will it end? Flesh rips beneath the strange, glorious claws of light. And yet the screaming, desperate beast screeches out its force with sufficient energy that Eva-00's head turns away -- it trembles for a moment -- and then the vast machine, which must surely weigh a myriad number of tons however light and springy it may be, tumbles off to the side, driven by its sheer force nearly a full bodylength away from Zegga. Going deep enough that the scooplike protrusion of one shoulder digs a furrow; one deep enough that something inside of the ground gleams when she rises. Gridknight, Anti, is there. He speaks...

As the Evangelion stands, Rei breathes out for a moment. "... I understand," she answers him. Then--

Her eyes flick towards the active time remaining count. And as it ticks past a fateful threshold --

The layering of blue on top of yellow-gray flickers, just a little. The flickering is subtle but undeniable and it becomes steadily worse. By the time the Evangelion has kipped itself up to its feet, it went from a faint stutter, the kind of thing that might make you think you blinked involuntarily at an eyelash or dust particle to a distinct trembling.

"... Shinjo," Rei says. It comes out, too, through the Evangelion.

"Change cannot be escaped. Existence will bring change. To choose not to exist... I thought I had wanted it. You aided me, to realize my heart."

EVA-00's head raises upwards, a curious greenish effect from the growing flickering of the Gomora Armor.

"The person called 'Akane Shinjo' exists, within the hearts of others." Rei continues, as that subtle suggestion of transient and unnatural green is complicated further by the rising flicker of the AT Field. "Actions you took, echo. Ripples in the sea. Waves of light," and that's when EVA-00 starts charging inwards.

"... there's no reason to leave," Rei concludes. This is perhaps a little cryptic, but what is a lot less cryptic is when the two claws -- which have gone from a sort of luminous blue glow to a steadily throbbing red-orange, though one with a curious heatlessness -- slam forwards to aim into the side of the great mass of the kaiju.

Eva-00 wrenches to the side - forcing open what it can - and then Rei says, "Full extension." One final riotous hue of light, an emanation of subtle purple as the air dilates and expands underneath the pressure of this last effort, the light itself flaring up as well and seeming to pour from the outer tips INWARDS, a thrum-thrum-thrum of discharging force...

Somewhere, a beast roars in defiance.

KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Akane Shinjo with Super Oscillation Wave!
KTS: Rei Ayanami has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Rei Ayanami's Super Oscillation Wave, taking 4080 damage!
KTS: Rei Ayanami roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Strike Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        With the resolution of the pre-recording of Sheryl's Obelisk, Kaworu now plays that keyboard not just as a way to control the electronics and timing of the holograms, but as the instrument it's intended to be. Zegga might lurch up close to the stage, and Kaworu might doubt if he ever truly understood Akane, but he's confident about one thing: Akane won't bring herself to hurt Rikka. She might not be honest with her own feelings, but she's always managed to express them all the same.
        
        The same goes with Asuka, to his continued surprise. He's never liked her for a variety of reasons, but seeing her like this, he comes to realize more and more that he had been judging her by her whole rather than the part of her she is. Rei has been able to grow beyond the piece of herself that she is; why not Asuka? ...He may not ever like her, but he finds himself respecting her more and more.
        
        And Rei herself... she truly has grown as well, not just in the empowerment of her Evangelion, but in the words she now feels free to speak. Yes, the way they all are is so different in this rebuild of things, even as so many things remain the same. Kaworu smiles and shuts his eyes as he plays.
        
        The opening melody of Diamond Crevasse twinkles like the stars that can't be seen from within Tsutsujidai anymore. As the hologram sun sets around the stage, bringing twilight and then night, artificial stars twinkle too. Battle pulls Zegga away, but still, Kaworu plays. She might not want to hear from him, might not want to hear what he has to say. She may have never liked him at all. But that's all right. Anti is paving the way for all of them--was the one who reminded him to keep faith in Akane. Through Rikka's voice, through bringing out her charms via costume and cosmetics, he will express to her that he, too, wishes happiness for her as well.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Liam assures Rikka that they'll protect her. He's always been a trusted and reliable member of the Rescue Team since it was formed. That he is here, now, to support her and aid Akane, is significant.

The holographic Sheryl embraces her, before bursting into motes of light. And clutched in her hands... a silver microphone, wrapped in dark blue ribbon. Rikka gazes upward to the sky, into the fading sunset.

Across the stage, snowflakes begin to drift down, glimmering beautifully in the fading light of the setting sun. Where the snow falls, frost blooms and crystallizes - across the stage, and across Rikka herself. For a moment, it seems as if Rikka is frozen there in crystal - and then, her gaze drifts toward the subject of this concert.

Zegga, Akane, has parked in front of the stage. What are her intentions...? A soft, gentle smile crosses her face. And then...

Rikka breathes in and takes a confident step forward. And when her foot lands on the stage, ice shatters and flows outward from where it landed, forming crystalline structures to serve as scenery. The ice covering her, too, begins to fall away in thick, soft flakes. As if from a chrysalis, she emerges transformed: her school uniform gives way to a beautiful, flowing dress of silk and chiffon that hugs her chest and ties up at the back of her neck with a ribbon bow. Similar bows tie at her wrists and ankles. The fabric joins at the waist and then cuts apart in front a few inches above her knees to show off her matching strappy heels. Sunset red and the blue of a snowy night join on her garb in an elegant gradient.

Not just her dress has changed, but also her make-up. Her blue eyes have such sharp wings they could be boxcutter knives, and indigo, violet, and black all speckled in silver shine on her eyelids and lashes. Pale rose blush gives extra contour to her cheekbones, and her lips are painted dark blue lined in black.

Jewelry frames her now too: wrought-silver drop earrings give the impression of lines of frost, and match the off-shoulder wraparound clasps of a pristine white cloak that drapes down to her thighs; strings of cultured pearls drape down the lines of her dress skirts, shimmering under the chiffon veils. On her left ring finger are two thick, intertwining silver bands, set with a large star ruby.

Zegga is so close now. The only thing separating them now is the barrier - and even that would fall to a concerted effort. An arm extends, as if offering Akane her hand. What would it be like, to brush her fingers across that shell? She almost could, if she wanted to - but she does not. Not while Akane is unable to let her know that it's okay. Battle soon draws Zegga away, and Rikka brings her hands together around the microphone.

"...That last song was called 'Obelisk'. It's wonderful, isn't it?" Rikka says. "This next song... Many of you are already familiar with. It resonated with me, and touched my heart. I hope it touches yours, too."

She brings the microphone close... and begins to sing as the opening melody begins to play.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais and Gridknight strike in tandem, prying into Zegga's armor with the aid of Alouette, baring a face underneath... a serene, motionless expression, hooded.

A mask. She sees Akane's anguish in Zegga's movement, hears it in Zegga's cries. Gridknight implores them to cut deeper, past the facade. To the girl beneath.

Before she can, though, Zegga strikes at the Gernsback. She charges forward, hoping to leap over the tentacle--

But it's not enough. She misjudges the weight of the Lionne Blade, and moves an instant too late, slammed to the ground squarely by the tentacle. It shears through armor, the grinding, crushing noises echoing into the cockpit, piercing through her. Damage indicators flash red. She feels a drop in pressure in her own body as coolant and G-Liquid lines sever and leak. She struggles, but it only encourages the tentacle to grip tighter.

Alarm surges through her as she hears three baleful words from Alouette. She understands-but something so dangerous...

It's not enough. Alouette pleads for help, implores everyone to help. Can she...?

The Guardienne Aviaire doesn't have a G-Stone... but she can feel it all the same. A surge in will, in courage.

It doesn't matter that she can't.

She must.

A Brave can do nothing less.

"Nnn... rrRRAAH!" Renais lets out a ragged scream, wrenching both arms out, just enough to free one. Just enough to grasp the Blade. She can feel the AS being pushed to its limits as she yanks it free of the ground, slicing through the tentacle, stunning it enough to get the rest of the Gernsback free. It slumps to its feet, supported on the colossal sword...

She lifts the blade and brings it down on the pavement in front of her, vaulting once more into the sky.

"AKANEEEE!" she screams, tracing an arc through the sky. She digs a heel into the crossguard, thrusters flaring to life as Rikka begins to sing for herself, sending the massive armament and its Gernsback plunging down toward the weakness in Zegga's armor, yet another strike alongside so many other to crack its shell.

To save the lonely, fearful, sad girl within.

A Brave can do nothing less.

KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Akane Shinjo with Lionne Blade Combo!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Liam 7-020 with Heart!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Renais Cardiff's Lionne Blade Combo, taking 3248 damage!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Rikka Takarada bares her heart, letting Liam 7-020 deal some extra damage!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        The sight of that mask stops Liam in his tracks, for just a moment. "What--" he whispers, and the Neo Helios lets go of that lash. The magnetic field breaks, and the plasma inside dissipates into the colony atmosphere. "More armor?" But he sets his teeth, pulls back a fist, and prepares to drive forward again. Part of him regrets he hasn't been able to see Rikka and Kaworu's show with full, undivided attention, but his desires come second. It's an honor simply to be here for an exclusive debut.

        Zegga is getting desperate. But Liam knows, all too well, the hidden reserves desperation unlocks. Zegga's tentacle comes down again. He sees it move, and starts to counter in the space between heartbeats. Vent covers detach, blur through the magnetic field, lock into place on the Neo Helios' forearms. With a single, graceful movement, Liam grips the tentacle and guides it over his shoulder, like he were redirecting a charge into a body-twisting throw. There's still an uncomfortable crunch, pain in his arms, and bits of armor hitting the street, but it wasn't the cataclysmic impact it could've been.

        He learned. He tried again. He did better. This doesn't have to be another Paris.

        "Alouette...!" Liam gasps, as bright green light erupts from the Guardienne. The Neo Helios' heliosphere burns brighter in response, turning into a brilliant aura of ionized gas. The oxygen of the colony atmosphere flares its own shade of green, like the Northern Lights in miniature, around the edges of the Gundam's magnetic field. "Is that...?" His heart hammers in his ears. Hell and Heaven. Ikumi and Kaidou told him about it, and he all but told them how he wished he'd had it himself when Twenty-Eight's life was at stake. Alouette charges. The Neo Helios raises its hand, plasma condensing into a spear to ward off any reprisal from Zegga.

        But then the Guardienne slows. Alouette cries out for aid, she can't do this alone. Liam's heart tightens into a knot. He could help, but what if he guesses wrong, and Akane dies in plasma fire, and he has scant seconds to feel soul-crushing despair before reality starts to collapse? Liam still doesn't know what it's like to trust in himself.

        But his own words hang in the air. He doesn't know if he's good. But he can try.

        Diamond Crevasse. The Connemara marble gleams green, matching the aurora and the light of the artificial GS-Ride. A tiny piece of Liam's home, given to him by the love of his life.

        A roar starts at the bottom of Liam's ribcage as he drives that spear forward. It forks, at the guidance of the Neo Helios' computers, as soon as it hits. It forks again, and again, and again, forming a stabbing, burning fractal of plasma flame as it moves through Zegga's body. At the same time, Liam reaches out with his heart, like he did with Rita's guidance.

        "AKANE! YOU'RE COMING HOME!"

KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command.

KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Akane Shinjo with Sunbright Spear!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Liam 7-020's Sunbright Spear, taking 5760 damage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Akane Shinjo!

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

<<Sergeant, there is an access tunnel to the PLANT internals at the end of this block.>>

"Right!" Sousuke barks. The streets out this far are jagged in strange ways - the wheels grip strangely on the crystalloid whatever-it-is that infests the edges of Akane's creation. The truck skids to a stop, and Sousuke sees the entry. He turns to the truck bed. "Go! Get inside!" he yells, and then turns himself to get out, run over. He's not too familiar with colonial systems, so it takes him a moment to get the lock open and throw his back and shoulder into forcing the door up. "You'll be safer down there!" he calls. "Go!"

He holds it while his charges run in, and then he slides it shut and jogs back to the car, as the intensity of the attack on the creature Shinjo's become increases more and more. Fortunately, the omnidirectional sonic hell blasts have eased up enough he can sit in the seat and breathe for a moment.

Channel 2, Arbalest, lights up.

<<Sergeant.>>

"What, AL? More?"

<<Calculating that. I have a query.>>

Sousuke grunts and forces himself more upright in his seat, half hoping he'll see an attack coming his way he can cut the call short with. "Fine. What?"

<<I do not understand the objective of the operation. Our undertaking is civilian evacuation. This is logical in the face of a kaiju assault. However, communications in the area indicate the primary objective is not the destruction of the kaiju, but the rescue of Akane Shinjo.>>

Sousuke grimaces. "People can become kaiju," Sousuke says, because he's still working his way around that one. It's not the only incident on record, but...

<<I had inferred the same. That is not my query.>>

Sousuke watches as Renais' blade bites toward Zegga's wriggling carapace. "Then I don't know what you're asking."

<<Clarification: My definition of 'rescue' calls for the extraction of an allied or neutral party from the custody of a hostile party. Akane Shinjo is neither allied nor neutral, and is not in the custody of any other party. Please clarify the meaning of 'rescue' more clearly.>>

...Sousuke finds himself grimacing, scratching slowly at his head. The sky fills with incredible roars, gunfire and swords and a monster in pain. But... this one, he shouldn't pass off. "Rescue," he says, slowly, thinking it over himself. "Rescue, can include intervening to remove someone from a dangerous or painful situation."

He watches Zegga rage, writhing tentacles smashing substructure to pieces. "In some circumstances...even if they would not or do not consent," he muses.

AL doesn't respond for thirty seconds.

<<Roger,>> the ARX-7 finally replies.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPY_fwRhNz4 (Diamond Crevasse)

Obelisk was a Performance, a grand, choreographed thing. The performance came from her heart. Diamond Crevasse, however, is much more subdued, fitting the gentle, loving melancholy. Whereas Sheryl sung the former, it's Rikka's turn to sing now. She has had some voice training, as part of the preparation for this concert. But singing has always been more of a hobby - she's not going to be able to match Sheryl in only a few months.

But she isn't Sheryl. She's Rikka Takarada. It's significant that it's her voice singing now, with all her strength, and all her heart, regardless of any gap in talent. They're both beautiful in their own ways.

"Dear Lord in Heaven, back when I was deep in love with you
"There was not a moment when I imagined such a parting would tear us in two
"If we were fated to never touch each other again
"Then at least, before I wept, I wanted you to hold me tight and forget for then
"Our long, long good-bye..."

There's no wondering who she's singing to. How could there be? She lays her feelings bare - baring her heart, as she said she would, before Akane and everyone here. She isn't afraid or ashamed anymore. She loves Akane for herself - finds her deserving of that love, even if it's so hard for her to feel the same.

"'Farewell to thee, farewell to thee,' times twenty thousand
"So tenderly and cruelly to myself I said
"Your gentleness when you waved your hand hitched my breath
"But what I want now is strength"

Everyone fights, not to hurt, but to break through Akane's shell. To remove the hood hiding her from the world. Rikka is fighting, too - in her own way. She wants to see her again. She once said that even if she had the option to ignore the less neat and clean parts of one's heart, she wouldn't want to take it - she'd want to accept it. That goes true even, especially for, Akane. She accepts all of her.

"I encountered you, and then I was born as the stars glittered above
"So long as I live, so shall I continue to love
"What's the point in waiting for a hopeless miracle you claim's forgone?
"'Cause the shining of those stars, blurred by my tears, are all gone..."

Tears are forming in Rikka's own eyes, now, as she pours more and more of herself into the song.

"Forever lingering on my skin, my heart, my dewy eyes
"I'll never forget your warmth as you held me close like the rays of a sunrise
"A long, long good-bye..."

"Farewell to thee, farewell to thee, my dearly beloved
"Because I had you by my side, I could walk ahead
"I know I'm not alone, but still I feel so lonely
"So I want you now to answer me"

Her voice fades, but only for a moment.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Gridman Calibur -- no, Gridknight Calibur, a sign of a bond beyond the self -- bites into Zegga's armor. Much of the outer layer cracks in half, revealing tendon and form and so, so many hollow, empty areas. Is this the true shape of Akane Shinjo's heart -- something empty in so many places?

And if so -- how did she come to discard so many shards of her heart?

The slab hits the ground, cracking pavement -- but no one stands where it lands. Tsutsujidai has done a magnificent job of caring for itself -- thanks to the care modeled by those who came in from beyond its walls.

Alouette speeds in -- and sees the situation for what it is:

An unexpressed feeling that has become a monster.

3G has been dealing with those for a decade.

The external-most 'face' is easy to pry free, once you recognize it for what it is (a covering) and attack it as a covering. It shrieks, but not the kind of shriek that levels buildings -- just the startled cry of something being seen and engaged on someone else's terms rather than its own.

Rei, too, with her now-monstrous Evangelion, pries away armor and forces a wave through it, while Asuka goes for an approach similar and yet different all at once -- simply shredding everything between her and the girl deep inside the monster. Renais brings her blade down with a sickening crack -- one that leaves the shell of the kaiju ready to fall off. Liam tells Akane she's coming home -- and to prove his point, drives his spear forward. There's so little between the inside and the outside, now.

All that remains are the tentacles and an impossibly thin, porcelain face.

---

It's music that allows for chances to lay the artifice of the story bare -- and Akane has that music to cling to, as other people try to reach her, closer and closer, now. And she does hear them. To know she can grow beyond herself, to know 'Akane Shinjo' is not a thing trapped in her own heart but a thing distributed across so many...

Akane can feel the blows landing on the monster that holds her in -- but it's so hard to accept the idea that those blows will stop at its armor. That they're trying to save someone. They say it, sure, but... everything from outside is so fragile and impermanent. Receiving care like that... makes her feel like she'll die if it so much as touches her.

---

Zegga lets out a thunderous cry that pushes all of those trying to care for the kaiju inside it away, as Akane feels herself withdrawing deeper into what remains of the beast. Gridknight, in particular, gets launched straight up by this mighty roar -- directly above the sleeping face emitting that horrible scream.

Everything comes out of the kaiju at once. An ear-splitting scream, and wave after wave of lightning from the body. Both of these are somewhat directed -- the Evangelion units, on the ground and deep in close even after the attempt to disengage due to their truly immense bulk, receive more of the lightning; the rest of Akane's former victims, now her would-be-rescuers, receive more of the scream. It threatens to overwhelm systems and rip almost everything in every unit out of existence.

All that reaches the stage is dust, cracking against the barrier.

---

... And no sooner has she done that than does Rikka begin to sing -- a song about when she was in love with God, and about the loneliness of farewell.

It feels too late now -- especially after that last violent lashing-out -- and yet... it makes her so desperately want to claw her way back to the surface. The hands that hold her down, deep within Zegga -- are they even real?

Even if they aren't, though -- there's so much between her and the surface, including the mask she built to hide herself... how can she build the kind of momentum she'd need to get through such a wall?

How can she answer Rikka, as she is now?

She'd need help --

-- and she's ready to cry for it with all her heart, no matter where she is, no matter how deep she feels she's in the trap. If people will tear away all the masks, then she needs to meet them with her true face -- even if she can't make it there herself...

KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Despirit!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Liam 7-020 with THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER WAY!!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Renais Cardiff with THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER WAY!!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier with THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER WAY!!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Go Away!!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rei Ayanami with Go Away!!
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Anti with THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER WAY!!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Renais Cardiff
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Asuka Shikinami Langley, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley parries Akane Shinjo's Go Away!, taking 1290 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Asuka Shikinami Langley!
KTS: Akane Shinjo despirits Rikka Takarada, reducing her SP drastically.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rikka Takarada's Steadfast Resolve activates, and her spirit endures.
KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Renais Cardiff fails to charge.
KTS: Renais Cardiff partially guards Akane Shinjo's THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER WAY!, taking 8075 damage!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has been defeated!
KTS: Rei Ayanami's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Rei Ayanami, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Rei Ayanami blocks Akane Shinjo's Go Away!, taking 4730 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Rei Ayanami!
KTS: Alouette Pommier fails to react to Akane Shinjo's THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER WAY!, taking 6800 damage!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has been defeated!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo enervates Liam 7-020, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Evade Akane Shinjo's THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER WAY!, taking 10200 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Akane Shinjo's Collapse activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has been defeated!
KTS: Anti fails to charge.
KTS: Anti partially guards Akane Shinjo's THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER WAY!, taking 8075 damage!
KTS: Anti has been defeated!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Rei Ayanami
KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Akane Shinjo with Shock!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Asuka Shikinami Langley and Rei Ayanami with All-Out.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rikka Takarada orders an all-out attack, raising Asuka Shikinami Langley's Skill!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley

<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.

        Rei understands, and Gridknight is glad, in the way a sponge celebrates water. He has offered understanding; it was taken.

        And she's right: Akane can't just leave their hearts.

        The sky would never stop crying if she did.

        "Sousuke Sagara... Sousuke Sagara, and..." Gridknight can't quite feel AL's heart, but he recognises the way Sousuke is relying on another, even if he doesn't know who it might be. (Does his voice come over the radio? Is that how it translates? Perhaps. He knows only that he hears him, and in turn he speaks.) "You understand," he affirms. "Because you rescued me, as well."

        He thinks of the way Asuka has grown, to the point that there's another heart, there with her, Yuka sharing her Evangelion and her space. He thinks of Kaworu's vulnerability, something which he always expressed sotto voce, in the ways he let Anti dictate their relationship. He thinks of the courageous chance Liam is taking, flying in the face of his pain; of the pain which Renais has progressed through, to become a young woman who can enjoy home and box. He thinks of Alouette, who feels so much like Akane, in an entirely different way to Asuka; he thinks of Rei, who, in this moment of adaption and chosen existence, feels so much like him. He thinks of Rikka, who trusts them all (all of them) not to crush her as she sings, carrying the language of Tsutsujidai in Sheryl's adept lyrics. He thinks of Sousuke and Calibur, who taught him so much, who arrived to help him carry the burden.

        To the backbeat of acceptance Rikka and Kaworu provide -- another song from Sheryl, here and far away -- Gridknight witnesses Asuka's persistence, Renais's bravery, Liam's endeavour.

        And at the core of it all: 'Gemu giru gan go gufo...'

        Anti remembers that chant -- the thing which almost destroyed Death Knight, so long ago. He could not allow himself to be saved by Guy Shishioh, back then. He could not trust him to handle the core of his heart, when everything in his existence warned how dangerous that would be.

        How might have things have changed, if he'd accepted help, back then--?

        "Alouette Pommier!" He yells, as he bends, free hand to the ground, and leaps straight up. "I hear you!" The words she says -- the strain behind them. What it costs them, to move Heaven and Hell.

        People have always been caring about Anti.

        And they've always cared about Akane, too.

        In response to Alouette's cry he leaps, towards Zegga -- and Zegga roars. "I hear you," Gridknight gasps, even as the wind is knocked from what isn't his lungs as he's forced so high up into the air. Akane's pain reverberates through him, and a gem at his forehead flashes warning.

        Heeding that warning, Gridknight twists, in the air, and with the last of his strength he whips Calibur away -- throwing him back towards Gridman's side of the city. "Go!" He yells, and as Calibur flies away without protest, that gem on his hilt glows again.

        "Good luck, Anti."

        When Gridknight hits the apex of his ascent, he disappears, in a blur of cybernetic pixels. The boy -- he's no longer a kaiju, but he's not a human, either -- called Anti turns, in the air, falling face-first down towards that mask.

        "Akane Shinjo...!!"

        It isn't like hitting the water; a human wouldn't survive the velocity, the sharp halt at the end. It's much like porcelain, the material which shatters, an entrypoint like a bullet or an energy lamp.

        What lies beyond is black, and too small for those at size to enter.

KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley
KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"It wasn't enough..." Alouette breathes out. She used all the power she could muster and it still wasn't enough... Her body is still aching, feeling like it's been torn apart. So there's no possible way to dodge the incoming scream, as she braces for the absolute worst.

"THERE"S NO OTHER WAY!" screeches into her ears, enough to almost believe it for a moment. But then, it's like her body moves on its own, as Guardienne Aviaire lifts the shield one last time, with the last remaining energy of Protection that wasn't poured into that final Hell and Heaven. "Protect... Wall!" Just enough to shield the cockpit, keeping Alouette herself inside safe.

"There's no other way." She hears Rikka, her beautiful voice resonating across the ruined city of Tsutsujidai, as she proclaims her love for Akane.

She feels the protection of the Evangelions, still fighting to their last.

And finally, she hears Gridknight, who heeded her call, and trusted her to make an opening for him. So, she too, trusts Anti as he climbs in the depths of Zegga's true core.

Alouette cheers them all on, even if the words can barely even leave her lips right now.

KTS: Alouette Pommier's Guardienne Aviaire has been disabled.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Zegga screams and continues to lash out. Lightning strikes, and chaos ensues. Many of her allies fall. Though she is pained by each one, she trusts in them, and trusts in Akane. Even now, she can feel their trust.

And, none of the chaos touches Rikka. The dust that stirs in its wake crackles against the barrier. None of it reaches her. None of it mars her.

She wants so much to tell her that it'll all be okay. But the best way she can do that is by continuing her song.

"Snatch a blazing meteor out from the heavens to light up a sign
"I want to keep loving you, I want you to love me for all time
"What's the point in freezing for a world that won't hold out a hand anymore?
"I keep putting on airs, but in truth your touch is all I long for...
"Why can't I find my way? My tears spill so fast, I can't wipe them away"

Her tears flow freely now. She doesn't try to stop them. She's never stopped them - she's always been the sort of person to wear her heart on her sleeve, after all.

"I encountered you, and then I was born as the stars glittered above
"So long as I live, so shall I continue to love
"What's the point in waiting for a hopeless miracle you claim's forgone?
"'Cause the shining of those stars, blurred by my tears, are all gone..."

She'll always love her. The words are a promise, from deep within her heart.

"If one day we can be reborn into a world where we're safe and free
"Then I know I'll find you again, I know you'll race straight to me
"Never let me go, let us never again take love for granted
"'I won't let you feel alone,' I want you to whisper to me, planet..."

...And aren't those her true desires? A world where they can both be safe and free - that whatever happens, they'll find each other. It's what she wants more than anything - and she'll do anything to make it come true.

The music fades, and so too does Rikka's voice. She looks quietly over to Kaworu, and sends him a subtle nod before looking out to the battlefield.

Despite everything, Asuka and Rei are still standing. Asuka... for the longest time, she didn't like her. She thinks she understands her better now, though. She's seen who she's capable of being. She isn't sure they're friends yet... but she'd like to be.

And, Rei... it feels so long ago that she visited her in the hospital, after Rei risked herself to protect her classmates. They cooked together, after that. It was nice - and now, here she is, her Evangelion having taken on a wonderful new form, and fighting for Akane.

She's done her part. She'll leave it up to them now - and Anti too, as Gridknight dissipates and Anti dives into Zegga's core.

"I believe in you." Rikka whispers quietly. She doesn't say who, but her heart says...

KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Anti
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Akane Shinjo

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

Beneath that shell lies only a face. Something delicate and slim. Something mournful, perhaps. Shrieks, cries, and more.

The active timer is clocking down. Rei glances at it for a moment, registering how little time is left. Very little.

Please, Rei thinks. If the ancient beast is there. Please. I can hear her.

Will I always hear them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPDDJn8-Low

The thunderous cry from Zegga rips outwards. Others are there, still, and Rei's brow furrows as she leans forwards, the AT Field -- already manifested -- doubling and redoubling. Rei reaches for a place which she expects to be thick, tight, an iron wire of agony, and finds it to be simply sore -

                                                this is interesting, isn't it?

even as the knockback, the echo of it. Lightning begins to crackle, not in bolts so much as wave. The AT Field flickers and one bolt in particular arcs outwards; the shining light of the Gomora Armor is non-conductive, but the biomechanical components of the Evangelion run on electrical motivation, and with a splitting shower of sparks, SOMETHING cuts -- a thin spray of red fluid outwards, the charred wound and the Gomora Armor keeping the right arm more-or-less in place. The light shines through it even so...

Will I die?

It feels light, somehow, here. Light, and filled with light.

Is this 'courage?'

The electric surge continues. Eva-00, despite the flickering of the Gomora armor, shoves its way forwards. Though it seems to be on the verge of evaporating from reality itself, the tail, wrapped round the Evangelion's waist, unfurls and with only some jittering comes up -- arcs over the head, the left shoulder, to stab downwards, to grasp. The face is open. The way is open.

Rei can see Anti - hear him as he makes his journey inside.

It's alright.

The tail anchors. EVA-00's functional right arm raises up in a desperate thrash, smashing down to hook into the side of the shell - staying clear of that face, the entranceway to a place beyond sight, a place beyond the reach of the Evangelion - and, bringing up one knee, to pull--

"Quickly," Rei says to Asuka -- and she shocks herself, because her mind is in that strange place, and her voice is thin and thready, wracked with agony. The sea of LCL is simmering from an ugly red luminosity straddling her right bicep over the plugsuit, frothy bubbles rising upwards against the enigmatic gravity of Tsutsujidai.

I can't feel it?

And the last lingering seconds of power in Unit Zero are spent this way - the AT Field unfolded, a vast geometric boundary of defiance, a line against which the storm cannot pass - and the last stored kilowatts of energy within the wounded Evangelion placed, not to maim or tear but to hold Zegga in place.

KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Akane Shinjo with Claw Breacher!
KTS: Rei Ayanami has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais has pushed the Gernsback past its limits.

And now, as she wrenches the Lionne Blade free, tries to avoid the inevitable reprisal, something has to give. As the massive blade reaches its apex, it slows... and stops. Even the force of courage isn't enough to stave it off, anymore, and the Gernsback's arms buckle as Zegga's lightning catches the sword, down into its failing body.

The cockpit goes dark around Renais, and the ports linking her body to the Arm Slave's disengage after delivering a momentary shock. Along with the impact of the dead machine against the pavement, the blindness-- it's enough to sting.

The power comes back, and the cameras turn on. The feed is corrupt, but it's just clear enough to watch as Gridknight leaps up and disappears, as Anti plunges into Zegga.

She smiles. "Godspeed, kid."

KTS: Kaworu Nagisa shocks Akane Shinjo, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Akane Shinjo's Self-Entrapment activates, and her spirit is adjusted.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Rei Ayanami's Claw Breacher, taking 3525 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has been defeated!
KTS: Rei Ayanami has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Rei Ayanami begins a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

The song - Asuka can feel all of Rikka's heartfelt feelings. In this moment perhaps... she envies them. She envies her ability to do this, she envies her ability to love someone else so deeply...

... as one of Akane's creations, as someone artificial like her.

She can't cry though, she can't bring herself to that.

Alouette makes her valiant attempt - the power of Heaven and Hell manifesting to try and rip away her defenses.

It's too much, the Kaiju, the embodiment of Akane's feelings given monstrous form. And yet amidst lightning and screams that ephemeral barrier of the soul, that is meant to stand against the feelings of others seizes hold.

The two fields attempting to blunt any lethal damage of the lightning and the titanic scream as it floods over them. They have to stand... for a long time, Red and Blue, together.

And within, Asuka suffers, and froths from what their field cannot stop. It feels like electricity burning across her skin, it feels like an earthquake in her ears.

For a moment it occurs to her she could die, Yuka could die. She doesn't allow it. She thinks of Rikka's song, and Anti's courage.

And in the midst of it all she sees Anti - no longer a Giant of Light, vanishing in all those pixels... to become a small boy, descending towards the mask.

'Quickly'- "You think I don't know that - Rei!?"

For once, there's no nickname, it's the only time she's ever called her by name. And Asuka briefly drops the AT Field just long enough to surge against the storm reach the right side of where the crater meets its face...

And seizes hold, and pulls holding onto the Kaiju for dear life, even as Rei does the same on the other side, applying a counterforce against that Kaiju like tail from Unit-00 to try and keep her from thrashing and dislodging him.

She'll hold as long as she can. As long as Unit-02 can.

And despite the strain, she shouts encouragement, "THIS IS ALL YOU MUNCHKIN! AND WHEN YOU HAVE HER DON'T YOU DARE LET GO!"

Well. She did promise him she would yell real loud.

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

Anti speaks to them. In the artifice of this place, his radio does it. That is the way Sousuke understands connection best. "I guess I did," he says, with a faint smile, even amid the mounting chaos.

<<You were desperate, then.>>

Sousuke tsks. But he doesn't have an excuse, either. AL does not elaborate why he thought that was information that should be supplied.

The ground rumbles as Zegga shrieks again. Sousuke watches, sucking his lip in thought and worry as it throws mecha around like toys, blasts them with forces he can hardly understand. Even against machines he's never seen using techniques he can't imagine, it just...

"Not enough," he sighs, and reaches for the gear shift. "AL, we're up. I'm coming."

<<I do not believe that will be necessary, Sergeant.>>

A frown from Sousuke, as he looks up. Just the two Evangelions still standing. They're good, but are they a match for this? "Why?"

Sousuke can't see AL's electronic eyes locking onto Gridknight as his form scatters into digital motes, as a boy - a transitional thing, a boy is - forms in its wake and descends with purpose.

Perhaps Anti can sense it, however distantly: The full, rapt attention of something that isn't, yet, a soul.

<<My 'gut' tells me so,>> AL replies, watching Anti splashdown into Zegga's core.

KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Akane Shinjo with EVA-02 Martial Arts Focus Strike!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Asuka Shikinami Langley's EVA-02 Martial Arts Focus Strike, taking 5490 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has been defeated!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Akane Shinjo!
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley completes the Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

Things were touch and go for a moment. Yuka had a brief stint of panic at the course of events... but she needs to pull it back together. To get her head in the fight again, for everybody. "Sorry. Okay, let's bring this to a close..." It's the jolt from the last attack, the feeling of near electrocution that brings her fully back into focus. And with that, a plan comes into mind. "Asuka. Rei." She lays a hand on Asuka's shoulder. To affirm, she's not going anywhere. She's going to be fine, even if she does look a bit worse for wear, from those attacks.

A memory of something in particular has struck in her mind. Akane always looks at kaiju from a certain view. So it's time to bring things into a new perspective. Show her the other ending of the story. Her thoughts go to the Other Giants of Light. Who she's seen enough of in action, at this point. Enough to offer suggestions on emulating their grappling footwork. She'll provide some simple course adjustments, and the two pilots can fill in the gap with a fresh sense of teamwork, odd as it might be. Rei seems to even have the right idea, without her advice. But... she offers it regardless. A voice to bridge the gap between Red and Blue, for at least a little while. They don't have to quite stand 'alone' out here.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        It's so empty inside. Liam holds the spear steady as the algorithm keeps forking the field and adjusting for it, but Zegga's so big and he's so scared of killing Akane on accident. It would be so easy to do, with the energies at play here, and the magnetosphere is already straining to keep the plasma contained. His heart pounds, despite the mournful, soulful backdrop of Rikka's song. "Come on," he breathes. "Hold together...!" Is he talking to everyone here, his machine, or himself? All of the above, maybe?

        But it's too late. Zegga erupts in desperate, hideous violence. Liam's eyes go wide. The spear sputters out, and the magnetosphere reconfigures itself in microseconds. The Neo Helios flings itself to the ground, digging superheated hands into the pavement.

        What happens next is agonizing. It's like when he dove into Jophiel's gullet, except it feels like he's being flayed alive, layer by layer, instead of crushed and burned. What's left of the Neo Helios' ablative armor flies off within the first second or two. Bits of the superstructure follow. Plasma vents into the air as conduits breach; it's a testament to Gai Daido's skill that nothing worse happens. It's a testament to Rei and Asuka's skill and determination, too; through the haze of pain, Liam can see them, a pair of giants standing between him and the kaiju.

        Is it just the AT Fields, or are they glowing? Just the AT Fields, Liam thinks.

        The stripped, flayed body of the Neo Helios finally gives out. The Mobile Trace shuts off, and Liam finally stops screaming. The armatures keeping him stable stay locked in place for now. In the dim light of the emergency power, Liam watches as Anti makes his dive, and the two Evas hold what's left of Zegga still.

        He can't pray. He can't simply hope nothing bad will happen. What Liam can do is trust in them: in everything they've brought here, in everything they've done.

        "We're bringing you home, Akane," he whispers. "Jump. We'll catch you, I promise!"

        It's what he did, not that long ago. One of the people who caught him is right here, on that stage.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Akane always has been extremely stubborn about pushing others away. However, she's made herself some quite stubborn friends in turn. Alouette, Renais, Liam, all their machines are pushed past their limits, but still they cheer on those who remain. It's grim for Kaworu to watch Zegga let loose those screams and shocks of electricity unto those around her--the A.T. Fields from Units 00 and 02 prevent any casualties, but it's clearly a close thing. Even as he continues to play through the end of Diamond Crevasse and Rikka cries from the strength of her own emotions, he watches over the battlefield within and within Akane's heart.
        
        Across the stage, Rikka's vocals warble to a close, and she nods over to him. He meets her eyes and gives her a minute nod in acknowledgement. The closing instrumentals of Diamond Crevasse shimmer, down-and-up, down-and-up, until...
        
        He segues into a brief arrangement of another song entirely.
        
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej5Y3RV0kms (Eiyuu, piano ver. (0:00-0:21)
        
        Akane knows it very well. She'd gushed about it to him once: 'Yeah, I *definitely* wanna hear that song. There's a bit where... after they switch opening songs, they play an instrumental of that one during a kaiju attack... it's a *really* good callback!'
        
        It's simply the pure, expressive notes of Kaworu's piano. But perhaps it might seem like she can hear the words that are meant to go with it:
        
        It's okay to fall down; just make sure you stand up again
        If you can do that one thing
        You'll be a hero...
        
        Kaworu's fingers still, just as everyone clears the way, just as Asuka and Rei hold Zegga still, for Anti to hurl himself into its core.
        
        To reach a hand out to pull Akane from her coffin.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Even with all the catastrophic damage Akane's final cries have done -- her former victims, with the courage to still call her 'friend,' hang on, trusting in one another to press forward where their own machines fail well ahead of their hearts.

Asuka and Rei come together in this moment -- Rei seizes Zegga in its last lashing-out, and Asuka follows up on it by seizing the beast from the other end. As weakened as it is, there's nothing it can do at this point; they hold it still as Anti dives past every layer of artifice to reach Akane.

The Evangelion Team -- both now connecting with others, each in their own way, with the concept of 'kaiju' as it intersects with 'love' -- hang tough. Whatever Anti does inside, though...

... it's enough. Zegga loses its hold on its 'passenger' -- and before long... it goes still, as Rikka and Kaworu finish communicating their feelings to Akane Shinjo in a way Tsutsujidai's fog can't obscure.

Elsewhere...

The world slides into place, and Tsutsujidai does, too. It would be so easy to call this finding the place it was meant to be -- but maybe this world doesn't have places that things were meant to be. Maybe this world simply has places, and it's up to people to turn those places into the places things and people ought to go.

Rather than infinite blackness outside the Tsutsujidai PLANT, there is a bigger world, all planets and moons and colonies and people! Six billion of them -- each different from the ones in this colony, and yet not so different at all, so very much the same.

It is not, fully, the world that Tsutsujidai left. A month and a half has passed, and the world is a finite thing. It moves forward with you or without you -- and the movements of the last seven weeks have often been cruel.

But it's better with you in it.

---

At the center of Zegga's wreckage kneels Akane Shinjo, the blood washed clean by whatever she'd been within, inside the kaiju. Her hand grips Anti's, as he stands over her, having reached out. ... whatever happened inside is for the two of them alone.

She looks tired, weak -- ways she could never allow herself to look, until now.

The smile on her face -- not fake, not smug, overcome with love for a failed creation because a successful one never could have saved her -- suggests that her exhaustion, her weakness... these were the things she needed to acknowledge, before she could start to build a happiness she could call her own.

She looks out toward the damaged city, the fallen mobile weapons... and yes, in the end -- toward someone who loves her.

For the first time -- maybe in her life -- she allows herself to let herself accept the love without using it as an excuse to dwell on the guilt.

After all, even after all of this...

... it's better with her in it, too.