2023-08-19: Finite Life

• Log: 2023-08-19- Finite Life
• Cast: Alexis Kerib, Akane Shinjo, Gridman, Gai Kurenai, Leina Ashta, Kaworu Nagisa, Shinji Ikari, Qivi, Renais Cardiff, Rikka Takarada, Takeshi Todo, Zan, Alouette Pommier, Shozo, Liam 7-020, Guy Shishioh, Sayla Mass, Yuka Ohta
• Where: Tsutsujidai
• OOC - IC Date: 0097-08-19
• Summary: Alexis Kerib has been truly severed from Akane Shinjo, and his heart forced open to the world. All that remains is to ensure he cannot harm another 'Akane Shinjo' again. Takes place after 2023-08-19: Destruction, 2023-08-19: We Are The Universe's... ~TRIGGER~, 2023-08-19: Creation, and 2023-08-19: Creation ~AWAKENING~.

---

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Last time, on SRTMOO:

Akane gives Rikka a quick peck on the cheek for good measure, whispering, "I'm sorry for making you wait, too... we really need to stop ending up waiting for each other." There's genuine contrition there -- but there's some sheepishness there, too, as if she's as embarrassed as she is anything else.

Opening comms again, she says, simply:

"Sorry about the mess. So, just for the record: that sucked, I'm mad you all had to see that, and I bet you're all really frustrated that you had to go to that much trouble again."

Some of this bravado is false... but it's a lot easier to pick yourself back up the second time.

"... Just this once, I think it's okay to take it out on someone," she says, as Fixer Beam seals Alexis's intended escape route. "He's immortal, apparently, so he can probably take a couple punches."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Alexis's mask lights up -- and it's clear what he intends is a scowl, before he begins speaking and flickering those panels off and on again. There's nothing left of value in him, now -- and all he can do with that feeling is lash out at others. "I -- it can't be! To think you really mended Akane-kun's heart...!" He's agonized, certainly -- but even as red light glints through cracks in his body, he draws his spear again and moves forward. "Even so -- you're helpless against infinite causality...!"

Alexis, wounded through and through even if he is still immortal, rushes forward. He has no intention of being gracious about losing Akane, it seems -- but the emptiness between the cracks is now so plain.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"If you can't understand what I mean," Gridman takes a fighting stance as Alexis draws his spear. This time, he doesn't tremble. Haloed in the light of Fixer Beam, Gridman has nothing to fear. "I think my friends are ready to show you."

Alexis rushes forward -- and Gridman charges to meet him.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"I would've waited forever, if I had to. ...I'm glad I didn't have to." Rikka replies - and then chuckles, good-naturedly. "...We really do."

Rikka lets go, taking up Synchrotank's controls once more as Akane gives everyone her message. Synchrotank accelerates out of the junkyard, racing to where Gridman stands as a beacon to fight by his side. Rikka spares Akane a single glance to the side, offering her a smile.

"Are you ready? Let's go - to secure our future!"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Alexis does not gloat -- he has nothing to gloat over. All he can do now is try to kill these interlopers and sulk off to find another human to parasitize -- and even that now seems difficult. He's cornered, and the only way to handle that cornering is more violence.

His form, cracked as it is, shows vulnerability. Even if he remains immortal -- it's proven that he can change, that the seeming absolute power of Alexis Kerib is illusory. Going into a forward-flying dive, Alexis harasses Gridman with small bursts of energy; everything seems weakened, though, from the absolute monster Alexis seemed to be with Akane within him.

Everyone else, meanwhile, just gets more bloviating from Alexis. "Why are you still trying to fight? Not even the end of the world could destroy me!" he insists... but even so, he's backpedaling in pain -- and in so doing, accidentally moving the battle away from the tiny slice of the colony that's now populated.

KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Nameless Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Liam 7-020 with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Alouette Pommier with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Leina Ashta with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Zan with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gai Kurenai with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Shozo with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Qivi with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Rikka Takarada with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Kaworu Nagisa with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Renais Cardiff with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Guy Shishioh with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Goad!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Nameless Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Alouette Pommier, reducing her Intuition drastically.
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Rikka Takarada, reducing her Intuition drastically.
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Leina Ashta, reducing her Intuition drastically.
KTS: Gridman fails to Evade Alexis Kerib's Nameless Beam, taking 3906 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Qivi, reducing her Intuition drastically.
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Liam 7-020, reducing his Intuition drastically.
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Gai Kurenai, reducing his Intuition drastically.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane settles in; the F-50D does have weirdly roomy cockpits, despite its incredibly small size for a mobile suit. Her eyes are still a little puffy from crying, and a little blood still stains her uniform... but maybe it's okay for someone stained with blood to keep moving forward anyway.

Taking a deep breath, she puts a hand on Rikka's shoulder -- but it's Gridman who she addresses again, first. "... Don't buy a word of it," she says, tone serious. "It's not that he's wrong, but..."

She thinks back to the experiences she's had since she was saved. Hass... Rikka... Leina...

"... you don't need to kill someone to stop them."

KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Zan, reducing its Intuition drastically.
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Guy Shishioh, reducing his Intuition drastically.
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Renais Cardiff, reducing her Intuition drastically.
KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Shozo, reducing its Intuition drastically.

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"Akane!" Gridman shouts, as he rushes forward. "I won't ask if you're alright. I know you're not. But I know you can do this! You're my strongest friend, after all!"

Alexis fires at the Giant of Light with bursts of power. Gridman dodges around some of them, but others impact against his body. He grunts in pain, but continues forward, still glowing with the pink light of Fixer Beam.

"You really think you can convince anyone of that now?" Gridman leaps into the air, shimmering. "We can all see you cracking apart! Not so fun on this side of things, is it?"

Coming down with the full force of his momentum, Gridman's left arm lights up with golden thunder. "NEO GRIDLIGHT SABER SLASH!"

This is a newly remembered attack, but another familiar one. With Calibur returned to his soul, Gridman doens't have a weapon unless he creates one with his Light. Taking the form of a enormous sword of light, Gridman attempts to bring the saber down straight in the center Alexis' mask.

"With our hearts united, even the end of the world couldn't stop us." Gridman looks back to his allies. "It never has before!"

KTS: Sayla Mass is now subpiloting for Leina Ashta.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Dream!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 58.
KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 50.
KTS: Akane Shinjo shares a dream with Rikka Takarada, increasing her SP!
KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Gridlight Saber Slash!
KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Gridman's Gridlight Saber Slash, taking 6480 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Telepathic Link activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Mediumship activates, causing Nullify!
KTS: Gridman has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Yuka Ohta's Subpilot: Zan has been disabled.
KTS: Yuka Ohta is now subpiloting for Zan.

<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.

Gai can feel it - the change within Alexis as the Fixer Beam allows Gridman and all Akane's other loved ones to reach out to her. The change of the Blank Card in Akane Shinjo's hand/heart, as she decides for herself that she wants to be where she belongs.

It might have travelled with her, secure in her pass-holder, as she was pulled out of the metaphyiscal, symbolic space that was within Alexis Kerib. Such things are not unprecedented - after all, it was in a dream that his own card came to him. He draws that card now - its empty face long-since filled in, emblazoned with the image of an Ultraman in silver and black with red details on his suit and a ring-shaped crystal-blue Colour Timer, wielding a blade almost as tall as he is.

"Let me show you again, Akane - who I choose to be," he says quietly, bringing the card to the Orb Ring. He deliberately does not withdraw his consciousness into his Inner Space - to his own perspective, he remains standing on the rooftop, as the card disintegrates into multicoloured particles and the Voice of Light announces: "AWAKEN, ORB ORIGIN!"

The swirling particles become a miniature replica of the blade depicted on the card, and Gai cries out "Orb Calibur!" - reaching out to it with his now-empty right hand and stowing the Orb Ring as it flies to its master. He grasps the wheel-shaped guard of the toylike knife and spins, elemental glyphs swirling on the display on the guard - then lifts it skyward and pulls the trigger.

An upbeat rendition of the song he plays on his Orbnica echoes as the elemental glyphs light up again one-by-one before being joined by the glyph of the Voice of Light in the centre - and in a surging pillar of light, he Rises to join the battle, the Orb Calibur too changing size and proportions to match his rapidly-increasing stature.

"I AM ORB!" he bellows as he descends to the field at Gridman's side. "ULTRAMAN... ORB!!!" He looks over to the Hyper Agent at his flank, and nods. "Our true selves side by side, Gridman. Now..." He flourishes the massive Orb Calibur and levels it at Alexis Kerib. "... Let's finish this."

"... You've forgotten my oath, Alexis Kerib!" he responds to the giant devil's taunting. "You might be unkillable... but you've already lost." Slinging the great Orb Calibur over his shoulder, he raises his left hand, radiant light coursing up his arm, before he flings that hand out and forwards, slinging bolts of light towards the cracking Hyper Devil!

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

It's a relief when Leina lets herself rise back up out of the depths that Alexis Kerib created, that room for Akane. Those feelings were not good for her, especially right now.

What she put on Akane was in fact, too much for her right now. But sometimes in order to be there for someone in that state, you have to show up, and you have to be just as selfish.

"<You should be mad.>" Leina replies over the comms as she takes a breath, the Banshee Norn rising from it's kneeling position. It's armor still tortured from the blast it took from the Colony Laser, but still brightly lit with that yellow light of possibility.

The Armed Armor DE was placed at its back, as it's blue Thrusters light up, taking it aerial. She listens to him speak, about how despite what they've accomplished, they're helpless against Infinite Causality.

How the end of the world couldn't destroy him.

Akane... what she says, she remembers the fear she communicated to Sayla of being confronted by him, of how helpless she feels against him, but- "<... She's right. There's always another way to go about this.>" Before she then looks Sayla's way, "I ah- there's things we haven't talked about yet, about- Alexis whenever he came to visit." Awkwardness, like she's embarrassed.

However, at his goading Leina's expression turns cold, remembering their talks, remembering her experiences with Full Frontal. "<You're wrong though. It did destroy you, didn't it? In every way that matters.>"

The Beam Magnum is raised, even as the Banshee spirals over the building front, keeping its distance from him, a Cylinder rotates, and out of it comes a simple Salvo of missiles that fly towards him, peppering him from top to bottom, "<You're the one that's helpless against Infinite Causality.>"

It then retreats, speeding away as if she were planning on just hit and run... and not just physical...

"<... That's what this is about isn't it? That's what it's always been about. It's lonely at the bottom, so you wanted to bring Akane and those around her down to your level.>"

... she intends to run him over emotionally, as well.

KTS: Alexis Kerib goads Kaworu Nagisa, reducing his Intuition drastically.
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Alexis Kerib with Revolving Launcher BOP Missile Salvo!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.

KTS: Gai Kurenai targets Alexis Kerib with Origium Saucer!
KTS: Gai Kurenai has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Kaworu smiles at the pink light of the Fixer Beam, and the restoration of the madder red. Then he turns and leaves to join Shinji at Unit-01. It doesn't take him long to change; even if the attack coming at this specific time wasn't anticipated, there's no point in bringing Unit-01 here and not having a plug suit on hand.
        
        Shinji's already in his plug suit by the time Kaworu arrives on the planking that will lead them to the dual-seated entry plug they now use together. "How is everything? Is everything okay?" he wonders, fidgeting with one wrist.
        
        "It will be," Kaworu reassures him. "Akane was in trouble, but she is safe now. However, this scenario must still be brought to its conclusion."
        
        Shinji smiles back, relief tinging his expression. "Yeah. Let's go."
        
        ---
        
        The violet form of Evangelion Unit-01 rises, half-turning to glower at the enormous Alexis Kerib, cracked and broken and perhaps immortal but far from all-powerful. Shinji's grips on the controls tighten as he bloviates about surviving the end of the world or whatever he's on about. (Kaworu, of course, knows exactly what Alexis is on about.) It's nonsense--it must be nonsense--but that encounter he had with the Hyper Devil a few nights ago makes him hesitate.
        
        "<I-I don't care what you have to say!>" he shouts. "<You don't do anything but hurt everyone around you!>"
        
        "<For you, surviving the end of the world means little. It certainly doesn't mean you will win,>" Kaworu adds, calm as ever.
        
        Gridman's words of encouragement get a smile back on Shinji's face, at least. Sharing a decisive nod with Kaworu, they press on the controls, and Unit-01 draws her progressive knife from her left shoulder pylon. She sidesteps to avoid the other Giants of Light like Gridmand and Orb, then thrusts that blade towards Alexis's midsection.
        
        Though that might still be less of a decisive stab than Leina's words, yikes.
Lucine Azul teleports in.
POT: Lucine Azul is now set observer.

KTS: Alexis Kerib successfully avoids Leina Ashta's Revolving Launcher BOP Missile Salvo
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Alexis Kerib with Progressive Knife Cut!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

"Good to hear you back," Qivi transmits, to Akane - well, to Rikka, but it's meant for her to hear. That's all she sends to her, though - for two reasons. One, because this isn't Qivi's spotlight and she's not going to steal it. And two, she's a little busy, honestly.

Qivi was already approaching in Sarangay when a miracle occured, and she reached the heart of Akane Shinjo through the medium of the Fixer Beam. She had hoped, at the time, that that meant she wouldn't crash while she was... distracted.

Good news: she hadn't crashed!

Sarangay, the Blizzaia that had come up with her through the arena rankings, then turned into a weapon to protect instead of merely a weapon for violence, accelerates rapidly now that it's touched down from its deployment. It has a booster pack, but that's only for jumps, and honestly she makes better speed crouched down and running the landspinners as hard as they'll go, though she does occasionally fire them to go over a patch of weirdly electronic environment; she doesn't know how safe that is to drive on.

"ALEXIS!" Qivi certainly has volume on her side. "You piece of shit. You know what being immortal means? It means that you can lose MORE THAN ONCE. If you come back and try this shit again, we'll stop you again. All of us, together!" It's what she promised in the meeting; they'd all come back together.

And Qivi is going to do her damnedest to make sure that comes true.

Sarangay - barely a third the height of a mobile suit, tiny compared to Alexis and the Giants of Light that face him - picks up speed as Qivi fires the jump boosters without taking off. She begins to skip across the ground faster than her machine's landspinners can rotate, kicking up sparks a couple times as she skims a rock, a curb, a rise in the street -

She comes in firing that shoulder-mounted vulcan, letting the Pews fire in automatic bursts whenever it gets a clear shot past Gridman and Ultraman Orb and the rest. It's really just cover, though, so she can get closer.

KTS: Qivi targets Alexis Kerib with Pews M21 Auto-Shot!
KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Gai Kurenai's Origium Saucer, taking 2029 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Kaworu Nagisa's Progressive Knife Cut, taking 2700 damage!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Qivi's Pews M21 Auto-Shot, taking 1980 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"Akane..." murmurs Renais, grasping her heavy blade tightly. "Are you really so surprised, Kerib? It's like we've been telling you, all this time. The bonds of friendship, of care and love..."

She clicks her tongue. "Of course you don't understand it." She sets the blade in a ready position as she pursues Alexis to the empty fields of the PLANT. "You've survived the end of a universe, sure! But you're not the only one who can. The Primeval Machine Species did, and they're gone now!"

"You may think you're eternal," she says with gritted teeth, fists clenching in the cybernetic interface sockets. "But Gridman proved you can be wounded. If you're really eternal, really unchangeable, really *immortal*, then what cracked your armor? What's that showing through?!"

The Ichinana's thrusters flare, and she plunges in with the Lionne Blade.

KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Alexis Kerib with Lionne Blade Swing!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Synchrotank races toward Alexis. He's cracked, vulnerable. It means they can affect him - but Rikka's also certain that means he'll be fighting with even more intensity than usual. It's too soon to relax. He makes his declaration, though - that not even the end of the world could destroy him... but Akane has the perfect refute to that.

Rikka smiles, as she feels her hand on her shoulder, and she recounts the lesson she'd learned.

"...She's right." Rikka says with a nod. And then she turns her attention to Alexis himself.

"If you still need to ask that... then you haven't learned anything about us. You were there too, weren't you? Couldn't you feel us there with her?" Rikka replies. She hasn't failed to notice that he's been pushed back - outside of the populated zone. That means they have plenty of room to move, here.

Rikka takes aim with Synchrotank's cannons to supplement Gridman's attack... but before she can fire, there's a brilliant prismatic light. The Psychoframe shines - shines with the light of all the hearts that have passed through it to reach Akane. And now, together with her, it's at its brightest. Rikka's eyes open wide.

"This is-" She starts, as Synchrotank's console lights up in turn. She's surprised at first... but she can feel it in her heart. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knows what this is. How could she not?

With a flash, the light settles over Synchrotank's cannons. Once, they were cut short, a sign of its peaceful nature... but that emanating light spreads across them, glittering motes giving it shape and form.

Synchrotank's cannons are back to full strength, now. And what's more...

Rikka hunches over, in full concentration. This... it needs a name. That's it always works, right? She always hears Gridman and the Ultramen calling something out. She has to go with something.

"...Something Beam!" Rikka calls out, opening fire. But it's not water or ammunition that erupts from the cannons. It's purely the power of Rikka's own heart, using Synchrotank as a conduit, that rushes toward Alexis now.

KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Alexis Kerib with Something Beam!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

Akane has been liberated. Alexis has been hollowed. It is now as it was then. What was the Hyper Devil's greatest strength has become his most crippling weakness.

Sigma smiles to himself in the realm of cognition, a flickering shade as he falls back to the rooftop he started his adventure on. But--

He's not done yet. "Hold on, Gridman," he reaches into his coat and pulls out-- something. It's a machine that he's been working on for something like months now. Perhaps even years at this point. It's always looked unfinished. Junk, in and of itself, a composite of miscellaneous computer parts. But now, it's almost ready. He slots in one final part-- a flash drive into a usb port that daisy chains a half dozen times up different serial cables to the main board. And... He holds it up, until it catches a single mote of falling Fixer Beam.

Light spreads across the device, swallows it up, swallows up his left arm, and when it finally fades--

There it is.

A wristband of blue and red and gold. "Access..." Sigma smiles, and snaps a fist across his Acceptor. "FLASH!"

There's another burst of light. Sigma rises, racing upwards as a comet of brilliant energy-- that slams straight into Gridman.

...And into Gridman.

"I'm not going to let you fight alone, Gridman," Sigma's voice resounds. "Alexis Kerib... I had wondered why so much seemed similar to Takeshi's case, and now I think I understand. The Venora, the box cutter, these are just some of the tokens you've taken from his time under Khan Digifer's thrall. Almost as if you were trying to replicate the circumstances of his plot. I don't know why you thought those totems would help, though... It seems to me that you've followed too closely in the footsteps of your predecessor. Or, no." Sigma adjusts his glasses in the white space that he inhabits. It's not a perfect merger-- perhaps because his Accepter was of a different kind. Or maybe just because two Hyper Agents cannot easily coexist in the same body. "Unlike Takeshi, Gridman does not need to destroy this world to defeat you. The circumstances were just different enough to change that much. Were you trying to find a way to achieve victory from the template that Digifer left behind?"

He shakes his head, slowly. "Clumsy. You repeated his mistake without realizing that you were making it. Just like Khan Digifer, you thought Gridman was your greatest foe-- and overlooked the power of the human heart!"

<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.

Zan was for the most part out of the fight. Even if he had the Dimension Pliers or something, he couldn't aide in it. That and he was lacking... something. It was hard to say.

So he had waited patiently. Trusting that if nothing else, the time would be right for him to join in the fight.

He even had time to pick up a passenger before heading where there.

And it was now time for him to join in. Charging out of the Nouvelle Tokyo station, Zan wastes no time as his train form curves upwards.

Internally, warning lights show up in the various compartments with 'Combination Sequence' in red with yellow lettering.

"RAIL CHANGE!" Comes Zan's announcement as he rockets off of his train body forward. The orange ORCA flips over, changing into a giant head as the rest of the train disconnects and the body makes it's way to form.

The engine folds in half and the platform for his ORCA form joins up on it. Then the first two cars link to the sides before the last two connect to the bottom and extend.
"IRON ZANRAILER, GROUND RAIL MODE!" Comes the declaration as the robot raises it's hands up in a flexing position before lowering them.
Once all that is smoothly done, the Iron Zanrailer comes down to land. With the others so close, he can't use his usual entry of just landing on something. So he goes for the secondary means he has.

Turrets pop out of the legs and open fire on Alexis as he marches forward.

"We will fight even those indestructable because of who we are! Do not think yourself immortal! We will find a way to defeat you for good!" The Brave declares.

Internally, he checks on his passenger. "I hope you are ready for this. And I apologize if the ride is rough. I did ask them to replace the seating to make it comfortable just in case."

KTS: Zan targets Alexis Kerib with Leg Lasers!
KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Takeshi Todo's Subpilot: Gridman has been disabled.
KTS: Takeshi Todo is now subpiloting for Gridman.
KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Alexis Kerib with Despirit!
KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

One moment, Alouette found herself in the depths of the Omnisphere, supporting her friend the only way she knew how. Not a second passes, and she reorients herself in Guardienne Aviaire's cockpit once again. She lowers the Drivers for now - thanks to Fixer Beam, they are no longer needed to keep the city stabilised.

From within the Omnisphere, Alouette had seen, no, felt... Galeon's presence soar to reach Akane, just as Guy made possible for herself and Renais.

She doesn't even need to hear Guy's call for a Program Drive to know what to do next, as a terminal reveals itself in her very cockpit. "Final Fusion!" She calls, as her hand reaches to smash it. "PROGRAM DRIVE!"

"GaoGaiGar... I'm moving to engage. Because this is my fight, too! Our live might not be infinite... but our courage is. Right?"

"Akane," she reaches out to Rikka's Synchrotank, taking a short relieved breath. "Welcome back... and thank you. Both of you, take care of each other in there, okay?" What's she thanking her for? Akane probably doesn't realize her transmission from the day before might've just saved her and Guy's life.

Closing her comms, she focuses on the masked giant ahead of them, his power slowly fading. "Oh, I assure you, I have plenty of reasons to fight you even if it won't kill you... Alexis Kerib. More than you could count in all those years of yours. EMISSION!" She challenges him, sharpening her blade of Program Matter and light his way. "This one's for peeking your nose into my files, you absolute creep!" She lunges forth, attempting to catch him off-guard with her sheer speed.

KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Alexis Kerib with Aile en Fleche!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

It had taken Shozo a while -- too long, probably -- to process what had happened with Duma. He still needed to talk to someone about it.

But what the kid NEEDS, right now, is something he could properly understand.

Alexis Kerib? That he understands.

He likes Akane. He does! But they barely know one another. In the end, helping her is a convenient excuse.

No, after Duma, Shozo had learned something very important to his own self. The theft of Duma's core by that bestial Evangelion. That had been the moment he realized it. He realized what he *hates.*

To profane the act of agency. To manipulate someone into something they are *not*.

That is the domain of his fathers. That is Alexis' modus operandi. He?s always known that the Hyper Majin reminded him of his fathers, but now he understands what their similarities actually are.

And he will not allow that vileness in the presence of his Important Ones. Not now, not ever.

Shozo leaps onto his roof, gripping the Battle Nizer with strength that would have broken a weaker device.

"Mister, it's time to fight. MonsLoad!"

The device echoes his command, and fires a beam of light into the sky, opening a door in space, from which the Ace Robot emerges, landing on its feet ? and immediately into a fighting pose, firing a blast at the Hyper Majin.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        It has been an earthshaking 48 hours, to say the least. After the arrests at Cheyenne, he returned to the Hermes, which in turn returned to its original mission--stopping by Japan to pick up some equipment, and then heading off to monitor Tsutsujidai for dimensional disturbances. The flight there gave Liam time to wash, and sleep, and eat a decent meal, and to text Lucine to confirm he was okay.

        Liam had plans, once he was aboard. Tending to the garden, of course, talking to Yamamoto and Mrs. Sakai and the other caretakers--telling them about what happened, maybe. Going to get lunch at Aya's diner, maybe talking to Rikka or Akane, if they were there. Normal things. Deescalation from the wild ride of hope and terror.

        Alexis Kerib had mutually incompatible plans. But Akane Shinjo has good people in her corner, among them a Giant of Light who has awakened to his true power.

        * * *

        Liam's teary eyes open, revealing the panoramic cockpit of the Neo Helios, and beyond, the distorted battlefield that is Tsutsujidai. He gave control to Jana for a few, critical moments as he reached out to Akane, putting his life in her hands as she got him into the colony. Deploying a mobile weapon through a weakening dimensional barrier is deeply risky. But Dr. Cektru has ways, and she's one of a handful of doctors Liam trusts.

        "Rikka, Akane!"

        The bronze-and-blued-steel Mobile Fighter lands on a patch of half-digitized park and flashes Synchrotank the thumbs-up. Its magnetosphere is already active, and a visible heat-haze surrounds it. "Gridman!" There's awe in Liam's voice, and more than a little terror as he beholds Alexis Kerib, fearsome and immense, despite his wounds. He grits his teeth, and narrows his eyes. "I'm with you! We're here!"

        The Neo Helios' jets ignite behind it, and it rushes forward, taking off as it levels roughly with Alexis's knee. "And you... you've got a lot to answer for! It's not wrong to be angry, or sad, or empty." Flame wreathes the Neo Helios' knuckles as it pulls back a fist, and the drives it forward to kneecap Alexis Kerib with all its formidable strength. "But you know what is wrong? Inflicting THAT on someone else!"

KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Alexis Kerib with Blazing Charge!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Liam 7-020's Biorhythm activates Trick!
KTS: Alexis Kerib successfully avoids Renais Cardiff's Lionne Blade Swing

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Going back to where she belongs...

Guy's lips curl into a smile, remembering his own moment of sorrow. And then, seamless, he kindles that pride into inferno. A lion of white surges across the skyline, and bites a hero out of the air. "INITIATING FUUUUUUUUUUSIOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"

And right on its heels, as GaiGar slams into the ground, an order: "ALOUETTE! Final Fusion, APPROVED!!"

The GaoMachines dig out of the ground (DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT), soar out of the sky, and GaiGar leaps into their intersection, vanishing in a whirl of a green-hued electromagnetic tornado.

"ALEXIS KERIB!!" GaoGaiGar thunders, surging out of the whirlwind fully formed, still radiating the G-Stone's light. "I knew...I waited. For all the despair you put them through, for every step that's faltered in your shadow...with every tear you made them shed, I waited! I knew they would reach it together!"

"I KNEW THIS MOMENT OF COURAGE WOULD COME! HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

GaoGaiGar surges on StealthGao's thrusters, boosting high into the sky and swinging out hard to slam his boot into Alexis in a wickedly brutal roundhouse!

KTS: Shozo has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Alexis Kerib with Axe Kick!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Zan rattles Alexis Kerib, making his next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Zan's Leg Lasers, taking 2100 damage!
KTS: Zan begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Rikka Takarada's Something Beam, taking 6110 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Her own pleas to Akane pushed away, all Sayla could do was hope that other's could reach Akane where she hadn't.

        That also meant she had a front row seat to Leina's feelings, transmitted through the Banshee's psychoframe, the desperate attempt she makes to reach Akane. She reaches a hand over to wrap her arm around Leina, briefly, in these few moments before Akane opens the door.

        But still she lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding when Akane's voice comes over the comms. "<Welcome back.>" She says, returning the transmission.

        Leina's apology gets a concerned look, but... "When this is over, we'll talk about it. All of it." A promise, rather than an admonishment. "Right now, though..." Normally, Sayla might come up with a strategy. An important speech. Today, though?

        "<I don't give a damn how invincible you think you are. Today, it ends. If you're unkillable, it just means you'll have to live the rest of your existence knowing that you failed your last chance!>" There's anger, and exhaustion in Sayla's voice. "<You won't hurt anyone else after today! >"

        Inside the cockpit, she turns her head to Leina with a determined look. "Kick his ass."

KTS: Shozo targets Alexis Kerib with Punch Laser!
KTS: Shozo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Leina Ashta
KTS: Takeshi Todo despirits Alexis Kerib, reducing his SP drastically.
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Leina Ashta with All-Out!
KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayla Mass orders an all-out attack, raising Leina Ashta's Skill!
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Alouette Pommier's Aile en Fleche, taking 4092 damage!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Shozo's Punch Laser, taking 4655 damage!
KTS: Shozo completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Guy Shishioh's Axe Kick, taking 3034 damage!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Alexis Kerib blocks Liam 7-020's Blazing Charge, taking 2325 damage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

STORAGE has had some busy days of late, and much of that work has fallen on Yuka's head. In large part, work that normally isn't in her list of responsibilities. She knows WHY of course. Really, it was only smart, to make sure she was kept as far away from Angelic Business as possible. It's an open secret, how she thinks. HOWEVER, she wasn't going to let those same restrictions stop her, when she caught word about problems in Tsutsujidai. Alexis Problems. As a result, she did some pleading and bargaining, to get Yoko and Haruki to pick up an amount of what still needed doing. And hitched a ride from 3G's people, to get here. She's set up shop inside her escort's engine room... a strange experience to be sure. She's also been shockingly talkative company on the way here, asking a number of questions, not just about his engineering, but about his thoughts and feelings regarding various topics. ...Kaiju come up often. A seeming point of obsession for her, though with a fondness he's most certainly not used to hearing.

Perhaps unsurprising, considering the one that's been crawling around on her back the whole time.

Of course now that they've arrived, a little late but better now than not at all, she's fielding her entire compliment of drones. Every last one she's got. Both to collect data, and to set up a more stable communications network with the other people there. So she can support them more effectively. "Oh, don't worry! This has been a smooth ride compared to my own driving!" A worrying thing for the Brave Robot to hear from the woman in his engine chamber.

Of course then she opens up communications to everyone. "<Hey everyone! I'll keep an eye out for anything you all can take advantage of, so teach this bully an overdue lesson!>" True to her word, she's already scanning over how he reacts to given attacks. What does and doesn't bother him. And of course, there's one thing she already knows will help. She has one of her drones move in close to Alexis's overgrown, fire-wrapped head, to see about interfacing with that ominous helmet of his and throwing off his aim, by spamming some of the most heartwarming and disgustingly cute pictures of the STORAGE team playing with Lim Eleking, straight into his face.

KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Zan
KTS: Yuka Ohta targets Alexis Kerib with Jam!
KTS: Yuka Ohta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Yuka Ohta jams Alexis Kerib's sensors, reducing his accuracy.
/-----------------------------< SRTMOO +attacks >------------------------------\
| 1: Dream                                                        -      10 EN |
|    (Ranged, Passive, Special, Buff)                                          |
| 2: Shock                                                        -      10 EN |
|    (Ranged, Passive, Special, Debuff, MAP)                                   |
| 3: Awe                                                          -      10 EN |
|    (Ranged, Passive, Special, Buff, MAP)                                     |
| 4: Pass                                                         -       0 EN |
|    (Ranged, Passive, All-Range)                                              |
\--------<  HP: 1/1 EN: 58 (+28/round|0 comm) SP: 50 Morale: 100/100  >--------/

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

"Gridman...! I'll break you apart a second time!" Alexis hisses, even as Gridman charges him; sure enough, he slashes through Alexis completely. "Iiiyy-ee-AAaa--AAAAAAA--" comes a strained cry, as Alexis knits himself back together... but it's harder this time, slower, more painful. His voice sounds choppy, like he's breaking up on a mobile call.

This is not the first time Alexis has seen Ultraman Orb -- but it's the first time they've been direct opponents, and Alexis is so terribly changed since those eras. "Ah, I see it's time for a nostalgic look for you, too," he says, beginning to find his conversational footing again before those bolts of light hit their mark. "You haven't grown at all!" A ball of red-and-white energy streaks from within Alexis toward the Giant of Light, as Alexis shouts, "Vessel of Light -- no more will you impede me!"

Alexis goes into a low sword stance, and Leina's missiles fly just barely over him, hitting the ground of the colony. "Leina Ashta -- Puru-1... don't presume to know me!" There's a woundedness to the way he says it, though; in tormenting Leina to make her a better pilot, he gave her just a bit too honest a picture of himself, and that he hates more than anything. He fires another blast of light, which detonates at the Banshee's feet. Sayla's words get a brief "Hmph," and then a somewhat more insistent, "I will find the next Akane-kun -- and you'll be powerless to stop me, Dr. Deikun!"

Shinji and Kaworu give active pursuit -- and Alexis is, indeed, very stabbed. Within moments, machine gun fire joins that stab wound -- from Qivi, Akane's enemy-turned-friend-turned-enemy-turned-friend. Both of them receive yet more of those small, missile-like balls of energy. "That's true of everyone!" Alexis calls to Shinji -- and perhaps to Kaworu as well. "Humans cause only suffering to other humans -- and those who are inhuman even more so." He turns just slightly toward Qivi, adding, "Try whatever you like -- it's of no consequence!" ... The pain in his voice suggests there is, in fact, at least one consequence.

Renais strikes out at him and asks if he's truly immortal, if he can be so changed. He finds he has no answer but violence -- finally lashing out with one of his swords instead of the energy he can call forth, pushing through Renais's strike with one of his own. He does eventually think to ask, though: "Do you really think one touched by the Aura of Dawn can defeat me?!"

'Takeshi' draws Alexis's attention to the past -- and to the plot he thinks he was trying to reenact. Alexis... does get some genuine mirth there. "... they were tools, and nothing more. I wasn't merely reenacting Digifer's plot," he says, though he sounds -- disappointed, having to spell that out...

... even though so few people yet know what he was really up to.

Those laser turrets score Alexis's body, leaving bright red lines through it to mark their path. "A Hero's courage eventually fails!" Alexis insists, hurling a blade at Zan; it detonates on contact -- only to reform in Alexis's hand a moment later. Or perhaps it's just sleight of hand... it's hard to be certain.

Shozo... the boy he'd met at the moment of his birth. And the Ace Robot -- another nostalgic face if ever there was one. "A machine that exists just to be broken... thank you for the gift!" he enthuses, rushing toward the robot with both blades and slashing.

Alouette's blade bites into Alexis's body, but he doesn't hesitate to lash out with his own sword at the much smaller machine, either. "You'll always be running from those who created you! Accept that this moment is futile!" he demands of her. Guy joins the fray just behind her, and Alexis doesn't flinch at his kick -- but does meet it with a bolt of red-white light. "It is just that -- a moment!" he hisses back, before striking down with both blades.

Liam rocks Alexis with a fist, even as he tries to harden his body against it. "That's -- how humans live! If you can't find joy in their suffering, then you're doomed to misery!" he insists, as another ball of light escapes his body to strike into Liam's machine.

Rikka strikes out with her 'Something Beam,' and Alexis shoots back, "I don't understand! Why won't you give up on her? You wouldn't even exist without her misery!" he insists, before charging for Synchrotank with that lance of his. He's weakened, though -- and the attack itself is weakened as well, unable to strike with the force that split Gridman.

Finally, he rounds on Gridman again. Energy gathers in front of Alexis for a moment, first as a cross and then as a beam; he fires it toward Gridman's center of mass, and a moment later it explodes. "Get out of my way!" he snarls, the misery and anger in his voice apparent. He doesn't even really want to be fighting them anymore -- they're just in the way.

... though finding the optimal way out of the colony is getting difficult, with Yuka spamming him to hell and back. It turns out you can troll a troll.

KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Rikka Takarada
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gai Kurenai with Destruction Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Leina Ashta with Destruction Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Qivi with Destruction Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Kaworu Nagisa with Destruction Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Renais Cardiff with Single Sword Strike!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Zan with Single Sword Strike!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Shozo with Twin Sword Strike!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Alouette Pommier with Single Sword Strike!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Guy Shishioh with Twin Sword Strike!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Liam 7-020 with Destruction Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Rikka Takarada with Lance Pierce!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Nameless Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta successfully avoids Alexis Kerib's Destruction Beam
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Qivi, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Qivi blocks Alexis Kerib's Destruction Beam, taking 5060 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib begins a Formation attack!
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rikka Takarada's Steadfast Resolve activates, and her spirit endures.
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Rikka Takarada, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Rikka Takarada partially guards Alexis Kerib's Lance Pierce, taking 3000 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Rikka Takarada!
KTS: Zan blocks Alexis Kerib's Single Sword Strike, taking 1750 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Zan!
KTS: Guy Shishioh rushes into the attack!
KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Guy Shishioh's Fighting! activates, and his spirit endures.
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Guy Shishioh, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Guy Shishioh partially guards Alexis Kerib's Twin Sword Strike, taking 4200 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Guy Shishioh!
KTS: Gai Kurenai blocks Alexis Kerib's Destruction Beam, taking 1380 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Alexis Kerib's Destruction Beam, taking 2760 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa rushes into the attack!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa partially guards Alexis Kerib's Destruction Beam, taking 2952 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Alouette Pommier blocks Alexis Kerib's Single Sword Strike, taking 2450 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Alouette Pommier!

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane nods to Gridman -- but offers with an admittedly very forced smile, "Now that I know Knight's alive, I'm putting this at a solid fifth place on bad days." ... it does kind of speak to how bad some of the days this year have been, though, that this is number five.

Leina's comment gets a slightly strained laugh. "Came to visit? ... jeez, he would do that. Look -- we can talk about that stuff later." A beat, and then: "You're definitely right, though."

"Thanks," is all Sayla gets from Akane for now. Liam, similarly, gets only "Liam," back -- name for name. ... Akane's a little worn down, understandably.

That doesn't mean she's not present, though. When Rikka fires off 'Something Beam,' she can't quite stop herself from laughing despite the horror of the moment -- and gives her a gentle, "We're gonna need to work on that one."

Something to do in the future.

Alouette's gratitude meets with gratitude back. "... I'm really glad you guys made it," she says -- in every sense it might be taken.

KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with Awe!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 86.
KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 50.
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Rikka Takarada's Morale!
KTS: Shozo fails to react to Alexis Kerib's Twin Sword Strike, taking 3000 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Shozo!
KTS: Renais Cardiff blocks Alexis Kerib's Single Sword Strike, taking 1750 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Renais Cardiff!
KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Shozo
KTS: Gridman blocks Alexis Kerib's Nameless Beam, taking 3906 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.

A 'nostalgic look', Alexis calls Orb, throwing that terrible white-and-red beam at him. Orb responds by bringing the Orb Calibur back down and spinning its wheel-guard, blue-white energy expanding from that ring into a defensive field that disperses most of the malice of the blast.

"After the struggle I went through to reclaim this power," he calls out to Alexis, "why would I throw it away, just because it's 'old'? I'm learning and growing every day, but this is who I am, and I'll never pretend otherwise again! SHAA - !" He sprints forward and leaps, twisting in midair to land behind, facing, Alexis. "Gridman!" He calls out, planting the Calibur into the sweeping field and jabbing his free elbow into Alexis's back, then moving to grab and restrain the Hyper Devil's arms, exposing his torso to the Hero of Dreams. "Let him have it!"

KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has failed to disengage.
KTS: Gai Kurenai targets Alexis Kerib with Orb Grapple!
KTS: Gai Kurenai has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Gai Kurenai anchors Alexis Kerib, forcing him into close range.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to parry Gai Kurenai's Orb Grapple, taking 3870 damage!
KTS: Gai Kurenai has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Gai Kurenai roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable.
KTS: Gai Kurenai begins a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.

The Iron Zanrailer continues forward, Zan communicating internally with Yuka. "Thank you. It has been a while since I had any pilot."

The incoming attack is responded to with an arm coming up.

The explosion doesn't do a lot of damage, but the armor is definitely smoking from it. Zan lowers his arm.

"The courage of a Hero never fails. It can only grow and continue growing. You don't know a thing about emotions. Let alone Akane's." He declares in response.

Internally, an extra control panel pops up with the screen reading 'CARPENTERS' before it goes down a menu.

"Carpenters: FLYING ADHESIVE!"

Raising his arms, Zan points them at Alexis before two overgrown orange robots shoot out quickly. They don't go at Alexis, though, they charge past. And fire off what looks like quickly hardening concrete on him to help hold him in place.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

Shozo can't help but grin, even as Alexis' swords bite into the metallic hide of the Ace Robot.

"Everyone was right about you, Mr. Alexis. You're not creative at all."

The robot ignored the blades and leaned in, shackled wrists sparking with energy. Moments later, a long, thin blade of energy connected them both, eager to tear into the Hyper Majin's chest.

"Off with his head, Mister! Ultra Guillotine!"

Yeah, he's enjoying himself... but he can enjoy himself while helping Gridman, can't he?

KTS: Zan targets Alexis Kerib with Flying Adhesive!
KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Shozo has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Zan anchors Alexis Kerib, forcing him into close range.
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Zan's Flying Adhesive, taking 3895 damage!
KTS: Zan has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Zan continues a Formation attack!
KTS: Shozo targets Alexis Kerib with Ultra Guillotine (Arm-mounted)!
KTS: Shozo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

At Alexis' words, Qivi's expression turns into something between a grin and a snarl. Her lips are pulled back a little, anyway.

"That's not gonna work on me today, whether you're accusing me of causing the suffering or taking it in. And you know what helped me with that? Tsutsujidai - so so much for it being a hollow world of no worth!" Qivi grips the controls of Sarangay, pulling her body forward slightly in expectation and tensing.

The tension is important, because that's about when Alexis' exploding spheres of energy impact. Qivi's shoulder shield - the one on the opposite side of the Pews - is already raised and in place, but the blasts nearly tear it off, knocking it askew as another one hits lower on Sarangay's body. She feels that through her entire body as it shakes the wanzer.

Jamming both control sticks forward, Qivi lets out a wordless yell as Sarangay accelerates even further, the thrusters brightening visibly. Then: "Hey, giants! Coming in hot, watch your ankles!"

It's about then that it becomes clear that Qivi does not have her usual loadout today. She's brought no shotgun, no hand-held machine gun; she has her handheld knuckle weight with the two spikes, of course, but Sarangay's other hand has something else: a heavy pile bunker mounted across the entire lower arm like a bracer, a solid strut of some shiny metal that comes to a point held in the machinery.

Also, she hasn't slowed down. Not once.

Qivi tears in at top speed directly at Alexis' legs, delivering a straight punch with the pile bunker arm with all her built-up speed behind it. The arm is reinforced against impact, but she still feels metal strain as she drives the fist in, bringing Sarangay to a sudden halt; only the straps all around her piloting suit have held her in place.

And *then* she fires the pile bunker with a heavy THUNK, ejecting a spent cylinder of chemical charge backwards out of Sarangay's rebuilt elbow.

KTS: Qivi targets Alexis Kerib with Last Stake 99 Driver!
KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

"... Yeah." Leina tells Sayla and Akane on speaking about all of what happened between her and Alexis. "Yeah we need to, once this is over."

Before Sayla calls Alexis out. To her last command though, there's a ghost of a smile, and Leina cheekily and enthusiastically replies in a way she hasn't to Sayla ever in her care, "Yes Ma'am!"

Leina however blinks, as Rikka calls out an attack of her purest will as 'Something Beam!' and tries her hardest not to crack up over the comms.

No, no, Rikka deserves better than to be teased! She's fighting for her girlfriend's honor right now!

A blast of destructive light, and the Banshee suddenly swerves into a full barrel role that becomes pulling up in a dive.

It doesn't matter what the Norn and her have been through, she's wary, about whatever powers he has. The invocation of Puru-1, causes her face to momentarily spasm, but then she takes a deep breath.

"<I'm hurt Alexis, I would have thought after you threw pebbles at my window that night that you'd claim we knew each other better than that.>"

There's this dark chuckle, at the humor of it to her, "<You've got the dubious honor of being the only guy that's ever climbed through my window before.>"

And at the Apex of her sudden arc upwards, the Norn dives back down at a diagonal, the fore of the Armed Armor DE pointed at him, from a spherical charge of the Mega Cannon.

It fires, once, twice, thrice she fires the blasts before juking sideways to try and keep out of range of his closer range attacks.

"<But the Devil really doth protest too much, methinks.>" Leina sounds off, perhaps revealing her theater kid cred in one statement, "<Calling me Puru-1? ... You really can't help yourself, even as you're denying it you're trying your hardest to drag me back down to your level.>"

KTS: Leina Ashta targets Alexis Kerib with Armed Armor DE Mega Cannon Shot!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.
BBSYS: Post 1157, 'Cutscene: Mission Successful' has been published to Cutscenes & Logs by Eight York.

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"Ultraman Orb!" Gridman greets his friend as he appears. "I knew you'd make it. Together, there's no way this Hyper Devil can stop us!"

Something changes, behind Gridman -- something shining, forged of Bonds just as Gridman himself is. Synchrotank is glowing.

"Rikka, Akane..." There's worry in his voice, but he pushes it down. "I believe in you both. The Gridman Alliance won't be defeated!"

Number five worst day though... Yikes, what a year it's been. "We'll just balance it out with more good days than you'll be able to keep track of, Akane."

Rikka's fire of 'Something Beam' almost gets a laugh from the Giant of Light. No, she's doing her best. It'd be rude not to take her efforts seriously. And the beam itself --! He can feel the strength of Rikka's heart in the attack.

"You've grown so strong, Rikka." Gridman faces Alexis again, putting his guard up. "I'm not surprised at all! You always had this level potential in your heart!"

Gridman looks to Ultraman Orb, giving him a nod. They need to attack together, and if Gai can truly understand people's hearts, then no words are needed.

Sigma's soul joins the five others within Gridman's heart, and the Giant of Light gasps. What an odd sensation -- this pure connection between him and his brother. Somehow, he knows Sigma's strength will give him what he needs to find victory. Is this connection the true power of a Hyper Agent?

"Thank you, brother. You taught me--!" Gridman brings his arms over his chest, blocking Alexis' attack -- though it still hurts enough for him to cry out. "All human beings have the potential to become wonderful, amazing individuals! They all have Light within them, just as we do!"

It seems Ultraman Orb understood Gridman's message. "Right!" He shouts, charging forward. "Even you understand that Light of potential, Alexis! You wouldn't feed on human beings' power otherwise!"

Wreathed in pink brilliance, Gridman raises his arm. Orb has Alexis right where they want him. "NEO... GRID PUNCH!"

With all the fury he can muster, Gridman sends his fist into the Hyper Devil's chest. A second punch follows quickly. If Alexis' body is cracking, he must be fragile underneath that billowing cloak!

Leaping back from his attack, Gridman hears a familiar voice, and something in his heart twists in fear. "Shozo." He whispers, his eyes locking on the Ace Robot. "Shozo! It's too dangerous, go back to the house!"

A being as complicated as Shozo... If Alexis was to split him apart, would his fathers gain control? As Alexis aims an attack at the young boy, Gridman races across the battlefield, trying to block at least some of it.

"I know you want to help me, but if anything happens to you--!" Gridman shakes his head. "I could never forgive myself! Please, get to safety!"

Liam's voice reaches the Giant of Light, and Gridman looks to the brilliantly-colored Mobile Fighter. He extends a fist in their usual greeting -- though Liam probably can't bump it right now. "I never doubted you. Don't be afraid! Alexis is falling apart. Even if he can't die, that doesn't mean he's going to win!"

Alexis makes his threats, and Gridman pays them no heed. One arm extended, he calls back.

"I realize now I'm made with the strength of the bonds everyone has made with each other. Even you can't split that apart, Alexis Kerib, no matter how you try!"

KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Grid Punch!
KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Gridman

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        It's not wrong to be angry, or sad, or empty. But you know what is wrong? Inflicting THAT on someone else... So Liam says. It's something that sticks in Shinji's mind, though the moment is too chaotic and involved for him to respond to it.
        
        Meanwhile, Alexis threatens to break Gridman apart again, and though he isn't the one addressed, Kaworu smiles. "You can't," he says, like it's a fact. Because it is. Gridman won't fall to him again; Kaworu is certain of it.
        
        So close to Alexis, there's no evading that barrage of energy missile balls. Shinji and Kaworu thus don't try, calling up Unit-01's A.T. Field to soak some of them and launching into the rest for the sake of another slash from that progressive knife, aimed for the equivalent of Alexis's ribs even as they move out of the way of Qivi's fire. (Shinji doesn't know if the giant she means is them, but even so.) Is it coincidence that it looks much like a box cutter itself? Maybe.
        
        It's hard for Shinji to tell Alexis he's completely wrong. Duma's end (if it truly can be called an end) still lingers in his mind. Still, Shinji shouts, "<It can't be true of everyone! And even if it were, that doesn't mean you get to get away with it! You're just using the awful parts of the world as an excuse to be awful yourself!>"
        
        "<Shinji-kun's quite right,>" Kaworu adds. He doesn't spend more words on Alexis, though, instead smiling over at Akane as she transmits her words of gratitude that they all made it. As the Galactic Fairy sang, Will you make it in time? I pray you'll make it in time... "<Likewise. We're friends, after all.>"

KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Alexis Kerib with Progressive Knife Cut!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Qivi rattles Alexis Kerib, making his next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Qivi's Last Stake 99 Driver, taking 4219 damage!
KTS: Qivi has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Gridman's Grid Punch, taking 3780 damage!
KTS: Gridman has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Gridman continues a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

An exploding sword may rock the Brave she's secured within, but that's low on her list of worries. Even as she gets thrown around slightly, she's focused on the job at hand. Namely, tweaking the output slightly. Making some minor optimizations as she spots them. Some things are more universal than people realize. But it also helps that she's done a little work on the side, helping with repairs on a few of 3G's units before. So it's not completely unfamiliar tech for her. "You should be able to pull a bit better output here in... juuuust a second!"

That's not her lone priority however. She's also coordinating her drone feeds. Sorting out some quick readings to give her friends a hand in the best way she's able, by supplying them with rapid analysis and tactical support. Even if her approaches are unorthodox, there's no doubting their effectiveness. In this case, delivering to Guy, Alouette, and Zan a series of targeting plans for combining their maneuvers. Maybe they could do something to pin Alexis in place. <"Hope these help. I'm not your usual support team, I know."> Though she'd probably fit in fairly well. Thoughts for another time perhaps.

KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Kaworu Nagisa's Progressive Knife Cut, taking 6240 damage!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Zan
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to retreat.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Shozo's Ultra Guillotine (Arm-mounted), taking 4278 damage!
KTS: Shozo has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Leina Ashta's Armed Armor DE Mega Cannon Shot, taking 3220 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

A fifth place on bad days... Well, RIkka, too, is aware of just how bad some of this year's days have been.

The voices of everyone welcoming and congratulating Akane warms Rikka's heart. It shows just how much she is loved and wanted by everyone here. ...But, she's sure she doesn't need to tell Akane that. She's sure she already knows.

"Everyone. thank you. I know we can do this together." Rikka announces. Standing beside Gridman and everyone... she knows they can do this. She can feel their confidence. Alouette, Renais, Guy... Sayla and Leina. Even Qivi, and everyone.

"And I believe in you, Gridman! Let's do this together, all of us. Rikka replies. She launches her beam - and Akane laughs, and Rikka can't help but laugh a little, too.

"Mmmaybe just a bit..." She admits.

But Gridman congratulates her on her strength.

"Thanks. It's because of everyone I've been able to get this far." Rikka replies.

Alexis charges Synchrotank down, brandishing his lance. She raises her shields - and it pierces through it, carving across Synchrotank's arms. Synchrotank stumbles back - but Rikka grits her teeth.

He asks her a question... but that, at least, is easier for her counter.

"Because I love her! Everything about her is something I'm crazy about! Her misery is only a single part of her, and it's something I want to share with her so she doesn't have to handle it alone! Maybe that is true - but I'm here now." Rikka retorts.

The power of a girl in love... it's a beautiful, powerful thing, isn't it? It might seem worthless to some, but to others, it's like a wondrous jewel. Here, drawn to close range, she turns that on him now, emitting it as another, brighter beam from Synchrotank's cannons.

KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Alexis' quick strike as Renais comes in for her attack forces her to go on the defensive instead, blade meeting blade in a clash that threatens to knock the Lionne Blade out of the Ichinana's hands. "You motherfucker," she yells out, more amused than angry as she pushes his sword aside. "You're the one who saved me, remember? And, yes, yes, you did it to try and leave your fucking mark on me, to twist the knife deeper into Akane and Guy. But you're the reason I'm here now."

The Ichinana's scrander wings flap forward as she tries to disengage, but the maneuver fails to get her any distance. Cursing to herself, she continues, "You don't get to purge 000 out of me--and *make sure it stays gone*--and then taunt me about being 'touched' by it!"

"Ugh. Cruel bastard... dredging up cruelties like Alouette's childhood, Leina's torture under Vist, my own time under the Dawn's thrall--things you seem to insist we can't escape, things that will always be with us. Have you really spent so long static and unchanging that you can't comprehend our ability to change and grow?"

Putting the Ichinana's hands to either side of its hips, she directs all of its heat to its chest chevron, which starts to glow. "But... you know what? All right. If all I am is someone tainted by the thing you fear, fine! I do think someone 'touched by the Aura of Dawn' can defeat you! You deserve nothing better."

"BURNING FIIIIIIRE!" bellows Renais, as a stream of heat bursts forth from the Ichinana's chest toward the Hyper Devil's wounds.

KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Alexis Kerib with A Glimmer of Love!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Alexis Kerib with Burning Fire!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Yuka Ohta targets Zan, Guy Shishioh, and Alouette Pommier with Insight L2.
KTS: Yuka Ohta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Rikka Takarada's A Glimmer of Love, taking 5460 damage!
KTS: Rikka Takarada begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Renais Cardiff's Burning Fire, taking 5565 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Renais Cardiff's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Gridman

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy's smash to Alexis is met with little, forcing Guy to swing back down to a center stance. Alexis replies with a bolt of light, scraping along the King of Braves. "GYAGH!" Guy calls, stumbling back. GaoGaiGar's feet crush a digitized cube, sending sparks and chunks flying. But he doesn't fully lose his balance; he sets his feet, GaoGaiGar's orange eyes flashing with intent.

Guy breathes hard, focus intent. Veins of green flick up his skin, light flying up and down from the connection of the Genesic Server Guy Shishioh to Galeon. "Akane," he huffs, and then laughs. "Obviously, I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Then, to Alexis: "This whole battlefield, this whole city is full of people who've suffered! And they're here again now! Maybe this is only a moment. But a single moment used right can change everything!"

Then he rises up and raises his fist, roaring, "We'll make that undeniable for you! PHANTOM RING!! PLUS!!!"

The Phantom Ring slides in over the rotating fist and arm, and then Guy rears back and: "BROKEN! PHAAAAAAAAAAAAAANTOOOOOOOOOOM!"

KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Alexis Kerib with Broken Phantom!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Yuka Ohta shares insight with Alouette Pommier, making her next attacks more accurate!
KTS: Yuka Ohta shares insight with Zan, making its next attacks more accurate!
KTS: Yuka Ohta shares insight with Guy Shishioh, making his next attacks more accurate!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        Vindictive pleasure flares in Liam's heart as the Neo Helios' fist hits home. The Mobile Fighter jets past Alexis' leg, landing on the ground just behind him and whirling around. Its head whips up to face him, defiant despite its opponent's massive scale.

        And then Alexis calls Liam out on what he just felt, and the cyborg feels like he just touched something rotten and slimy. "Some humans, yeah," he says. "Some who've been hurt, and some who don't know how much better it feels to pick someone up!"

        The Neo Helios' vents open; the atmospheric moisture of the muggy Tsutsujidai air turns to steam. The vent covers detach, one by one, floating through the machine's magnetic field and reassembling into a reinforced, floating shield. The red-white light slams into it head-on, scorching off the enamel and first armor layer. A bit of force trickles through to the Neo Helios itself, rocking it back and burning a line down the ablative layer on its chest.

        "Ghh!" Liam grunts. Not the worst pain he's felt in the cockpit. "Keep that godddamn name out of your mouth!" he roars, as Alexis addresses Leina Ashta by that horrible test-subject name. "Are you just MAD because she and Akane are getting better, despite it all, and you're still stuck??" A pause. Gridman reminds Liam of what else is at stake here. "Got an eye on him, Gridman." A few gestures with his hand, and Shozo is marked as a priority on the screen.

        "You can stop this, Alexis!" In his own way, Alexis has challenged Liam to be better--stopping his escape is imperative, of course, but Liam can extend a little courtesy even to someone he does not like at all. "You just have to stop hurting people." The Neo Helios steps into a wide-legged stance, bends its arms, clenches its fist. The main vent on its chest flares wide open, and a beam of sun-bright plasma races upwards at Alexis. Atmospheric moisture flash-boils, leaving a trail of steam in its wake.

KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Alexis Kerib with Coronal Mass Ejection!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Liam 7-020's Biorhythm activates Wall!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Broken Phantom, taking 4050 damage!
KTS: Guy Shishioh completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Liam 7-020 rattles Alexis Kerib, making his next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to evade Liam 7-020's Coronal Mass Ejection, taking 3600 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        It's calling Leina 'Puru-1' that seems to get more of a rise out of Sayla than using her birth name. "<Don't call her that.>" Sayla's voice is cold and hard. "<I'm sure if you get out of here you could go to ground and wait for us to die. Then you could find your next victim,>" Sayla acknowledges. "<But that's why you're not going to escape here today!>" Despite herself, a harsh grin comes to her lips. "<Besides, didn't you know? We Deikuns have a history of not letting go of those who hurt our loved ones- and you have a lot to answer for there!>"

        Leina's little bit of cheek is heartening. Still... "He climbed through your window!?" The visual is one that... Sayla struggles to imagine. Alexis throwing pebbles like he was a teenage boy trying to get a girl's attention... If it weren't for when it happened, it would be hilarious.

        Sayla doesn't press Akane further- the thanks is enough right now. Leina continues to rub Alexis' nose in it, verbally. Is she a little proud, maybe? Leina's not typically vindictive but... sometimes it's deserved.

        "<Keep the pressure up!>" She calls over the comms, targeting Guy and Renais as well as Leina. "<Don't give him an inch, got it? We have to pin him down!>"

KTS: Sayla Mass targets Guy Shishioh, Renais Cardiff, and Leina Ashta with Coordinate.
KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Leina Ashta's Piloting!

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"After all, we would move mountains and more for you." Alouette concludes to Akane, appending Guy's own statement.



"You're wrong, Alexis Kerib," Alouette rebukes Alexis, as a shield forms in that still-empty space between herself and Alexis's blade. "I'm not running away anymore... I'm moving forward!" The light of the shield begins to crackle, and the empty blade seeps through, but Alouette continues to face down Alexis. "Someone like you, who refuses to move on... just can't tell the difference!"

"Thank you, Yuka-san!" Alouette replies, as that data dances across her eyes. "And I'm glad to see you well. Let's teach him a lesson he'll never forget, shall we?" They haven't seen each other much since Tsutsujidai High... and yet Yuka's come for Akane as well.

"A moment is all we need! Phantom Ring PLUS!" Alouette shouts in sync with Guy, using Yuka's data to create a perfect line of fire as she aligns the Program Ring, and...

"BROKEN PHAAAAAAANTOM!" As Guy's own Broken Phantom fist soars true towards Alexis Kerib's massive form, another one follows close behind, not only forcing Alexis to pay attention to his blind spots, but also demonstrating the myriad brave hearts that have come together to fight him, no matter the impossibility.

KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Alexis Kerib with Broken Phantom!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Alouette Pommier's Broken Phantom, taking 5040 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

Hm, not quite on the money, is it? Ultimately, it doesn't matter all too much. What matters is that Alexis gets his just desserts for what he's done to Akane. "Do you only see 'value' in human suffering, Alexis Kerib...?" He shakes his head. "Whether you were 'just' following Digifer's script or not, the fact is that you've failed just as he had. Underestimating the human spirit is a critical error that I do not think you will so easily recover from."

Gridman responds, and Sigma smiles. "I'm glad, brother. I'm glad that you've remembered how important 'friendship' with humanity is. And that I was able to help put a stop to this Hyper Devil's plots. So."

"My strength may be meager now, but I'll give you what I can," Sigma focuses, broken as he is. He can still guide his brother's senses, still keep track of Alexis' movements. And-- in this place, where souls are merged, even the mere 'presence' of his bond is added power.

...Though poor Junk may be under a little more strain than it's used to, as a result.

KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Alexis Kerib with Demoralize!
KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round.
Mari Makinami Illustrious has connected.

KTS: Takeshi Todo demoralizes Alexis Kerib, reducing his Morale drastically.

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Ultraman Orb rushes in, meeting Alexis in a match of power on power -- and while Alexis tries to slash him on his way in and slow his advance, he's seized and grabbed just the same. "It'd be foolish to transform so many times only to return to 'yourself,'" he hisses, red light still streaming through all the cracks in his body. A moment later, his feet are restrained, too, adhesive hardening and pressing just slightly into the cracks in his form. Gridman is first into the breach, and hits Alexis with a forceful blow, sending him sprawling. It does crack the adhesive, and hit him out of Orb's arms -- but that's all fine.

What's less fine is that stab for the ribs; Alexis is totally opened up by all the other attacks, and the Evangelion unit takes a massive gouge out of him. He has no answer for Shinji -- or any of them, really, at this point; even as Qivi hits his now-prone form with that full-speed pilebunker attack, all he manages for her is, "H-how...?! How do you find meaning in the wreckage of a world!? Tsutsujidai...? Or somewhere else?

He staggers back up, looking so human as he does -- exhaustion obvious in his movements. It's in this moment that Leina chooses to embarrass Alexis -- or at least try -- in his desperate battle. It's so jarring that Alexis can't be hissing, spitting mad anymore; he's stunned, and that stunned as he is, the blasts strike true. "You'll never grow past that!" he insists. After all, if someone can grow past such a fundamental reorganization of their sense of self, then...

Succinctly: Yes, Liam. That's exactly why he's mad -- though Liam pointing it out means Alexis will never give him the satisfaction of saying it, or -- heaven forfend -- acknowledging the truth in Liam's words. Liam and the Ace Robot both successfully strike at him, the Ultra Guillotine piercing just as well as the real one would have and that sun-bright plasma joining it. "HRrrghh --aa -- ahaaa--" is all he musters at this point.

Rikka rallies -- insists that she's crazy about her, and shows the gleaming jewel of her heart with those cannons. ... It was a miracle he never understood in his youth, even as he witnessed it -- but on the other side of it, it's somehow harder to deny. ... He has to reject it, though, even as it blasts into him. "That's just -- the setting data of a world with kaiju in it!" Alexis hisses. "Who would be satisfied with a story as dull and flat as a love based on nothing?!" ... Even he knows this won't slow her down a bit -- he talked to her after turning Akane into a kaiju, after all. Perhaps it's not Rikka who's trapped in a script written by someone else.

The sustained barrage makes it difficult to finish standing back up -- and opens him up, too, to Renais's blast of heat from the Ichinana. Guy's rocket-punch streaks for him, an insistent moment of courage if there ever was one. "Fight for them if you wish -- but in the end, none of their dreams will change anything! Such things are beautiful only -- as much as they're worthless!" He'd speak more -- but a second Broken Phantom hits him in the jaw, temporarily silencing him.

It's plain to see that his reactions are getting slower, the sheer barrage of attacks tearing into him. Alexis rallies for a moment -- long enough to ask a question, prompted by Sigma's insistence. It's one he asks of Gridman, of Akane, of Rikka -- and one that Alouette may recognize as one Akane asked her, once. ... Perhaps now it's clearer than ever where she got it.

"Why use that human spirit to -- why fight for a world with no place for you?!" he asks, listing to one side and beginning to gather energy into himself.

For a moment, Alexis discorporates -- and it seems as if that's it for him. It couldn't be further from the truth, though; his body forms into a bright flame like the one behind his head, and he begins to dart from place to place, smashing that flaming body into everyone as best he can... save Gridman, who he wants to pick apart more personally. After all -- hurting others seems to be its own reward in hurting Gridman, as he adds a second question for the Hyper Agent:

"Do you really think you'll be able to save every one of them, every time?!"

KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gai Kurenai with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Leina Ashta with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Qivi with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Kaworu Nagisa with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Renais Cardiff with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Zan with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Shozo with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Alouette Pommier with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Guy Shishioh with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Liam 7-020 with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Rikka Takarada with Ever-Burning Flame!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Demoralize!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Shozo fails to retreat.
KTS: Shozo fails to react to Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Shozo!
KTS: Alexis Kerib demoralizes Gridman, reducing his Morale drastically.
KTS: Leina Ashta partially guards Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Leina Ashta!
KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Parry Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Liam 7-020!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Rikka Takarada fails to rush.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rikka Takarada's Steadfast Resolve activates, and her spirit endures.
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Rikka Takarada, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Rikka Takarada partially guards Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Rikka Takarada!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Qivi, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Qivi fails to react to Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Qivi!
KTS: Gai Kurenai fails to react to Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Gai Kurenai!
KTS: Zan has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Zan fails to Parry Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Zan!
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Alouette Pommier, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Alouette Pommier fails to parry Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Alouette Pommier!
KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Renais Cardiff's Piloting!
KTS: Renais Cardiff retreats from the attack!
KTS: Renais Cardiff fails to react to Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Rikka says she loves Akane -- that everything about her is something she's crazy about, and she's willing to share even in her misery. Even as fatigued as she is from being treated like a glorified battery, that is enough to make her tear up -- but she can't just start crying here and now.

"G-god, I didn't think you could be that cringe," she stammers out -- but it's with a smile. She continues to stay on the comms in Synchrotank, after giving her a slightly more affirming, "I'm so glad you're here with me."

Still on the comms, she takes a breath. She knows that question --

-- but this time, she knows the answer, too.

"... to make a place in it," she says, hoping to encourage Gridman -- someone she knows has had his own difficulties with 'a place in the world.' "I don't know if I'll ever get there -- but, whatever it is and whatever I am..."

With a tired smile, she says, "... once we make that place, it's gonna be 'Something.'"

Did she just --

KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Gridman, Rikka Takarada, and Alouette Pommier with Awe.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 114.
KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 50.
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Alouette Pommier's Morale!
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Rikka Takarada's Morale!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa rushes into the attack!
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Kaworu Nagisa, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa partially guards Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Kaworu Nagisa!

<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.

"A strong foundation is important to build anything on!" Orb counters to Alexis. "If you keep going forward without knowing who you are... well. You already found out where that leads, when you decided 'justice was over'."

Alexis explodes into flame and movement and Orb is catapulted through the air by the strike, rolling back to his feet and reaching out to call the Calibur back to his hand. "Besides," he continues as he stands, in a lower voice - but as part of the nature of Ultra speech, everyone can 'hear' him anyway, so this is more like a stage whisper than anything else:

"I don't need any new tricks to help Gridman take you down."

He grabs the wheel of the Calibur and turns it two notches, the bright-blue glyph of water lighting up on the disc. He'll meet Alexis's flame with a dousing surge, as clouds form in the empty PLANT air, a deluge summoned by his light. "ORB WATER CALIBUR!" He raises the blade skywards, a lake pooling at his feet and surging out to surround Alexis Kerib in a swirling uprushing waterspout.

Orb charges in, the Calibur shining crystal blue - and strikes, slashing through the surge of water and Alexis both, waterspout becoming waterfall in a single stroke.

KTS: Gai Kurenai targets Alexis Kerib with Orb Water Calibur!
KTS: Gai Kurenai has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

"<I beg to differ.>" Leina replies to Alexis, as he tells her she'll never grow past that. "<You want to believe that, don't you? Because it's comfortable for you. That thought - that we're all just like you.>"

Hearing Rikka tell the world she loves Akane, that she's crazy about her. Those warm feelings are something that cause Leina to smile in her cockpit. The Banshee glowing subtly brighter even just feeling them.

It's a stark contrast between Renais' disgust, and Liam's outrage over what happened to them - what happened to all of them.

However, she's angry too, because she's fed up with Alexis Kerib coming in and trying to ruin people's second chances. Including her own. She lived with the guilt for years, the seed, the idea that she doesn't deserve one.

It's interesting that it had to nearly be taken from her, dashed to pieces for her to understand that had nothing to do with it - an act that he participated in.

Her eyes shift to the side at Sayla's outrage, that comparison of herself to Casval. Leina takes a deep breath, but accepts it in the moment.

Alexis burns, becoming a bright flame, as he comes near the Banshee, it suddenly pivots around, bringing up the Armed Armor DE as it's jump jets fire to keep it hovering in space.

Holding it like a shield, the gleaming Psychoframe glows red hot from the blast as it's knocked sideways, the jets sputtering, before catching after a brief fall.

Catching herself, and her breath, she finally answers Sayla. "Yep. ... While I was in a bad state, in Fujinomiya. He always seemed to know when to show up to make things... that much worse. But-"

It's hard to admit this, but she just tells her...

"-in a way we kinda connected, because I really needed someone to talk to, and I think he did too." In those moments, perhaps she felt for him, as someone as broken as him.

"He cares. How he expresses his caring though is-" Abruptly the Norn shifts, and Leina says two words that might remind Sayla of the Magical Girl shows they both like, "<-ABSOLUTELY UNFORGIVABLE!>"

Perhaps that's her own way of telling Sayla she's going to keep the pressure up.

There's a certain raw abandon to what happens next, as the Norn suddenly flies off at top speed, before coming in, slashing Alexis from one side in a flyby with a beam saber.

Before she knows it, it's coming back, trailing prismatic light as both Mounted Sabers cut down again. From another angle comes a detonation, as Hide Bombs suddenly fired erupt towards his position.

Pointed right at his back then is the charging Beam Magnum.

"<I find meaning in the people who live within it, that choose to make me a part of their life.>" Leina says after a moment, "<They're the real miracles of our existence, and I think that once upon a time->"

The trigger is pressed, as the Beam Magnum lances out, a column of energy, crackling with plasma that she tries to drive into his body like a burning stake.

"<-you knew that.>"

KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Alert Spirit Command targeting Leina Ashta
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Valor Spirit Command targeting Leina Ashta
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Alexis Kerib with Re: I Am!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Gai Kurenai's Orb Water Calibur, taking 6380 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Kaworu's faith in Gridman seems to make the Giant of Light glow just a hint more brightly, extending Fixer Beam's reach ever so slightly more. In a little burst of pink sparkles, the digitized cube crushed beneath GaoGaiGar's feet repairs itself. Tsutsujidai, it seems, can no longer be so easily destroyed.

Junk sparks and flashes. The poor old computer is doing its best, but it seems Sigma was right. Managing this many Hyper Agents at once is pushing Junk to its limit. They won't be able to maintain this form for much longer. All the more reason to end this!

"Just your presence is enough!" Gridman replies, to Sigma -- feeling his senses sharpen. It's enough for him to figure out what Alexis is about to do moments before it happens, though not quickly enough to warn his allies.

Alexis turns to flame and incinerates the battlefield, turning his desperate fury on Gridman's friends. The Giant of Light swings at the Hyper Devil as he comes close -- but to no avail. Alexis is too incorporeal for now. And his question...

Gridman freezes.

He's right. At the end of this battle, Gridman's time in this world will be over. All the bonds he's made, the people he loves, will be left behind. Gridman will return to a world he knows nothing about, even now.

Unable to find his voice, Gridman can only watch his friends burn -- until Akane speaks up.

"Akane's right." He says, straightening up. "I don't know if I'll ever find a place of my own, in this world, or any other. And I know I can't save every single human being who cries out for help."

Gridman's eyes shimmer with gold light, and the center of his chest begins to glow, brighter pink than before.

"But this world is the place where my friends are! The people I love most of all! Even if I don't get anything from saving it, I don't care. I want to make a safe, happy place for them to live!"

Watching Alexis' trajectory, Gridman focuses on his own Light. This is all so familiar and so new at once, but if he can do this--

Flame comes into being, first brilliant red, then burning cool, landing at a a fantastic, miraculous pink.

"Kaworu! Shinji!" They didn't take as much damage as the others from Alexis' attack. Gridman knows they'll rise to meet his call. "I'm going to pin him down! Take him out, if you can!"

Clenching his fists at his side, Gridman forces his Light forward in the form of a blaze of his own -- one that heals the scorch marks left by Alexis, and does no damage to his allies. With careful aim, he projects it just in front of Alexis, leaving the Hyper Devil no choice but to stop or run headlong into the pink fire.

"Grid... Fixer... FIRE!"

It doesn't matter what happens to Gridman in the end. This is his mission. This is his reason to exist. No matter what, he's going to see it through.

KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Leina Ashta's Re: I Am, taking 8970 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Leina Ashta's Mass Effect activates, causing Control Bonus!
KTS: Leina Ashta has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Grid Fire!
KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to retreat.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to evade Gridman's Grid Fire, taking 3069 damage!
KTS: Zan has activated the SPirit Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"Aye, ma'am," barks Renais in reply to Sayla's encouragement. Alexis smashes through her with a body of flame. She retreats away from the fire, but even so, it blisters the black metal of the Ichinana, wearing into its armor, setting a heat alarm pinging in the cockpit. The temperature inside rises.

It's hot... it's so hot.

Both body and soul... feel like they're on fire.

It's a familiar feeling, as the oppressive heat stings her skin.

But she won't push herself, this time. She has people who care about her. People to come back to.

She has a place, now.

And so she leaps back in with fists and feet, braving the flames that set her soul and the Ichinana alight. The cockpit begins to fill with green light, as her G-Stone begins to glow. "Do you really think he has no place? Nobody who cares for him? Nobody who would weep for his absence, nobody to desperately wish for his return if he was gone?! You understand NOTHING of the bonds we share. Gridman has a place in our hearts, a place in our homes. He is a friend and an ally... someone we LOVE!"

KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Alexis Kerib with Ichinana CQC Combo!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

"We make a place for ourselves, Alexis Kerib," Sigma answers slowly. "The homes that we build, the families that we assemble... This world has no place for anyone, but it likewise rarely totally excludes anyone. It's the people within the world who decide where to put down roots, who to open their doors to. So Alexis Kerib-- why would those with 'human spirits' not fight for those they love!?"

Gridman is shaken-- for just a moment. Sigma nods slowly. "...That's right, Gridman. But there's something you've overlooked as well. No matter what, there will always be places that you can share." Whether that's crashing on a (computerized) couch somewhere, or taking up a guestroom, it doesn't matter. "At the very least, once 'Takeshi' is himself again... I am certain that he would be glad to welcome you into his home."

He is, after all, fundamentally an individual particularly suceptible to loneliness.

"Whatever the case, do not despair. At the end of this story... Well, there's no saying what the future may hold, is there? No matter how dark the path may seem, you will never walk it alone if any of us have any say in it!"

KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Alexis Kerib with Goad!
KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Takeshi Todo goads Alexis Kerib, reducing his Intuition drastically.
KTS: Alexis Kerib parries Renais Cardiff's Ichinana CQC Combo, taking 1320 damage!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has engaged Alexis Kerib!

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

"How do you NOT find meaning in it?" Qivi shoots back. "I mean, sure, nothing's perfect, I never said it was. But that doesn't mean it's MEANINGLESS. If you can't find a single thing to care about, nothing with meaning, nothing that matters, then you know what?"

"I feel sorry for you more than anything else!"

Which of course doesn't mean Qivi isn't also mad about his actions. She can be both. But to care about nothing - she can't imagine this. She wouldn't be here if she didn't care about the people here.

When Rikka and Akane make their declarations, Qivi finds herself starting to grin again. She probably wasn't supposed to hear that. She could fight it down, but she doesn't. It gives her spirit where Alexis was working to take it away, and right now she could use that.

Fire washes over Sarangay. It's already damaged, both from barrage from Alexis and the sheer impact of her own fist against him, and his flaming body makes it worse. Sparks fly from Sarangay's abused shoulder, and Qivi is slammed into the side of her cockpit hard enough that she's glad she wears the helmet. She grips the controls, and as Alexis passes, the oversized slash harken she keeps under the shield lashes out.

Now, Sarangay is a very small robot. Barely a third of the height of a standard Mobile Suit, it doesn't even come up to Alexis' knee. There is absolutely no way that Qivi can stop Alexis from moving by pulling him back. She's not even sure she can hold him down.

But she can pull *herself*, and once the grapple is affixed, Sarangay is dragged after the Hyper Devil. Qivi fires the thrusters to try to go UP, to reach his back and shoulders or at least not be dragged along the road, but mostly she's just not going to let go, and Sarangay swinging around with its thrusters firing is enough to (hopefully) pull him off balance even if she can't possibly stop him.

KTS: Qivi targets Alexis Kerib with XL Slash Harken Grapple!
KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Shinji finds talking to Alexis stressful, especially in the middle of a dire battle, so it's fine by him that Alexis doesn't have anything else to say to him directly. He and Kaworu both note Gridman's desperate worry about the Ace Robot; only Kaworu really appreciates what that's about, though, even if he thinks Shozo can take care of himself. With Liam saying he'll keep an eye on him, Kaworu and Shinji both trust him with that.
        
        Akane and Rikka declare their love for each other. Shinji finds his face heating; Kaworu smiles fondly. Love is beautiful, isn't it? (Better than being destructive.)
        
        The moment that Alexis discorporates, Shinji double-takes, blinking wide. "What--where'd he go? That can't be it..."
        
        "Shinji-kun, to the right!" Kaworu calls.
        
        And that warning is enough for both of them to have Unit-01 face Alexis in time for him to smash his flaming form into the Evangelion, knocking it backwards into a staggering fall. Thanks to Kaworu, she splays out an arm and regains her balance before completely eating dirt, which is good because she would really be eating the city.
        
        Also good that Kaworu is there to co-pilot with Shinji, because Shinji is far more affected by what Alexis said just beforehand. Why fight for a world with no place for you... He grits his teeth, then shakes his head. "That's not true... That's not true, right, Kaworu-kun?"
        
        "What isn't?" Kaworu asks gently.
        
        "That the world has no place for us..."
        
        Kaworu's already gentle smile gains a little more pain, but also a little more affection. "That doesn't bother me, as long as it can remain us."
        
        On some level, this is a terribly sad answer. But it also moves Shinji, and he smiles over his shoulder at his partner. Gridman's words of defiance--Akane's call that there will be something for them--rallies his spirit, too. So when Gridman shouts to him and Kaworu, he calls back, "<Right!>"
        
        Gridman unleashes his Grid Fixer Fire, sending up a wall of flame to box Alexis in. At the same instant, Unit-01 flips around on her fingertips to reposition herself. Once Alexis is in her sights, she holds out the prog knife, bends at her knees, and springs forward in a ferocious pounce, blade-first and clean through the flames her pilots know won't hurt her, as Shinji screams his defiance.

KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Alexis Kerib with Progressive Knife Thrust!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

The setting data of a world with kaiju in it. Who would be satisfied...?

"It's up to us to make it satisfying. Even if we're the only ones who appreciate it... that's fine with me." Rikka replies. It's true - it doesn't slow her down, and when Akane replies, she laughs.

"...I've accepted that part of me. Sorry, you're just going to have to put up with some cringe every now and then~." Rikka replies smugly with a smile of her own - that soon softens. "...I'm so glad you're here, too."

And Alexis has a question for all of them. Why use that human spirit to fight or a world with no place for you?

...It's Akane who has the first answer, and Rikka nods resolutely.

"That's right! We make our place in this world - and by making friends and connecting with others, we can extend that, to make more space for others too, until eventually there's a place for everyone, no matter who they are. That's what the human spirit is for." Rikka replies.

Alexis discorporates - but she already knows they can't kill him. He's planning something - and when he reappears, his body a bright flame, Rikka can only brace Synchrotank as he smashes into it. The mobile suit is rocked violently, but remains standing.

"Akane, are you alright?" Rikka asks, then focuses. If he's moving around like that, he'll be hard to pin down with the cannons. So...

"Go! Funnels!" Rikka announces. Synchrotank's funnels detach from their rack and launch toward Alexis, unleashing a flurry of beams!

And back on Synchrotank itself, the Psychoframe emits another flash...

...

...Somewhere in Tsutsujidai, a mobile suit that has been hidden away and forgotten - or, perhaps it was hidden away in hopes that it would be forgotten - begins to stir.

The Mu Gundam's visor flickers to life. It was made to accept Psychoframe reactions, to facilitate communications between them. And here and now, in its pilot's moment of need... the Mu Gundam, too, responds.

So as Alexis finds himself under attack from Synchrotank's toyetic funnels, they'll soon be joined by those whose design only evokes weaponry - but whichever it comes from, they're united by the same heart, the same goal.

KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Alexis Kerib with Helping Hand!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.

"That's not good." Comes from Zan internally. "It is about to get extremely hot."

Then comes the attack even as Zan tries to push the flaming humanoid away only to end up superheated and pieces of armor starting to melt from the flame.

Steam hisses out as vents open all over the Iron Zanrailer to help cool it off even as it falls to a knee.

There's a few moments where it seems he may have overheated. Alarms are all over the interior of the engine room.

The large robot decides to stay kneeling as vents continue and it decides to vent at least part of it another way as it raises an arm again.

The raised arm points at Alexis.

"Thank you, Yuka."

The battle plans may have been late, but he has some extra ideas now. And one of them. Well? Doing the Brave thing to try to keep Alexis down and off balance for the others. Especially for Shinji and Kaworu.

"ROCKET PUNCH!"

The wrists open to show rockets before the vented heat and the rockets all fire at the same time in that arm to give it an extra thrust as it tries to punch Alexis in his smug fiery face. That it's attached to a long wire to the Iron Zanrailer is probably the reason it starts to reverse thrust right after impact, of course.

Meanwhile, a face pops up on a side monitor in the engine room. Zan's face looks out and a remote camera zooms in and out. "Yuka? Are you still alive?" The robot asks.

KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Alexis Kerib with Progressive Knife Thrust!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Zan targets Alexis Kerib with Rocket Punch!
KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

Shozo is still smiling, but his eyes have changed to those unsettling rings as the Ace Robot's Guillotine blade digs into Alexis' immortal hide. Gridman's worry softens his expression, but only slightly.

"Don't worry about me, Gridman. I'm enough of a monster on my own -- Until this ends, I?m *your* monster."

Even as the flames advance on the Ace Robot, it does not falter. Instead, Shozo raises the Battle Nizer again and the scream of a birdlike creature rings through the air, the image of Firemons appearing behind the robot as those licking flames are bound into a blade. The robot starts swinging, effortlessly slashing and swiping at the Hyper Majin.

"I figured it out, Mr. Alexis! Why you go to all this trouble! An immortal more afraid of living than of dying, huh?"

The robot keeps swinging, as the distant stars behind it and Shozo take on a reddish tinge.

"Of course not everyone can be saved! Life is a war against oblivion -- and the war never ends!"

...Is this still Shozo speaking?

"But then, you're even below Death's notice, aren't you?"

KTS: Shozo targets Alexis Kerib with Firemons - Flaming Sword!
KTS: Shozo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Qivi anchors Alexis Kerib, forcing him into close range.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Qivi's XL Slash Harken Grapple, taking 3150 damage!
KTS: Qivi has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Rikka Takarada rattles Alexis Kerib, making his next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Rikka Takarada's Helping Hand, taking 6500 damage!
KTS: Rikka Takarada begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Guy Shishioh's Piloting!
KTS: Guy Shishioh partially guards Alexis Kerib's Ever-Burning Flame, taking 3580 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Guy Shishioh!
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Gridman's Morale!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to parry Kaworu Nagisa's Progressive Knife Thrust, taking 3920 damage!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa completes the Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        "Shozo!" Liam says. The Neo Helios' head twists to track 'Mister', and the much smaller figure riding it. "Got you on my board. Fall back if you need to, I'll cover you." The Mobile Fighter settles into a boxer's stance, its floating shield bobbing back and forth in the magnetosphere surrounding it. As Orb and Gridman and Zan team up to ground Alexis, it leaps back, jets igniting to keep it out of the melee.

        The complete and utter silence where Liam's question is concerned, though--that's telling.

        "That's how it is." Liam's accent is surfacing from the years of paternalist 'correction'. "You feel like shite, therefore everyone else has to be utter shite, too! Do you know how sad that is, Alexis?"

        But then, Alexis does his thing again: he hurts people in order to try and make someone else feel helpless and afraid.

        The Neo Helios is hardened and insulated against overheats, but Alexis' spiritual flame is something else entirely. The Mobile Fighter crouches behind its shield, but the wash of Alexis' being goes right through it, blackening the enamel and burning through the scorched armor Alexis left earlier. The heat is as spiritually oppressive as it is physically oppressive, but Liam latches onto something he hears, beyond the pain.

        He hears Rikka being 'cringe'. He hears Akane calling her 'cringe', and agreeing with her, anyway. And don't they all deserve that? A place to belong. A place to be with those dearest to you. Gridman deserves it, Akane and Rikka deserve it, Banagher and Leina and Mineva deserve it, and if they all deserve it...

        Then, doesn't he deserve it, too?

        First, they all have to make it out. He has to make it out.

        Plasma vents from the Neo Helios' palm emitter. The magnetosphere shapes it, as usual, into a geometric plane--a simple knife. The Mobile Fighter flourishes the weapon before darting in at Alexis' calf, continuing its efforts to cut him down. Searing-hot plasma flashes out, trying to slash through whatever stuff makes Alexis up.

        "You spiteful little man," Liam growls. "I'll say it again: STOP HURTING PEOPLE!"

KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Zan's Rocket Punch, taking 4428 damage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Alexis Kerib with Starshard Knife!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Liam 7-020's Biorhythm activates Trick!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to parry Shozo's Firemons - Flaming Sword, taking 5130 damage!
KTS: Shozo has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Alexis Kerib blocks Liam 7-020's Starshard Knife, taking 2660 damage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Gridman

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy chuckles at Alouettes' addition. "We already moved a colony, huh?"

The double Broken Phnatoms clatter against Alexis, and Guy spots the reforming city when his foot moves. His grin splits into a full smile. "A place that can take care of itself for a while, huh?" Guy says, and GaoGaiGar's head cracks to the side as Guy cracks his neck. "GOOD. Then I won't hold back at all!"

"Who bothers to measure a dream by its worth!?" Guy yells back, charging in - but Alexis surges in and crashes against GaoGaiGar, and Guy staggers back several steps from the force of it, stomping down on circuitlike dust.

"No worries, Sayla. We'll get him this time," Guy says, and renews his engagement with Alexis, surging up on StealthGao's thrust. and lashing out hard with a fierce kick to his side. "Their value...IS THAT THEY'RE THEIRS!!"

KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Alexis Kerib with Sweep Kick!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        The strong refutation of Alexis with the power of love is... Well, it's something Sayla would have expected from some of the crest holders. Still, it makes Sayla smile too.

        Sayla's eyes narrow a bit as Leina describes the situation. "...I see." She says, quietly. That Leina could connect with Alexis in that state is a little concerning. She takes it in, just as Leina takes in Sayla comparing herself to Char.

        "Alright then. Let's give him a lesson on how to care properly, shall we?" She hits the comms. "<It's not the world that makes a place for us. It's the people who do- and we make places for others. We share our pain and our joy, our sadness and our victories.>" A phrase she heard but days ago worms it's way into her mind. "<The heat of our hearts warms the universe. Does the flame on your body warm anything- or is it just as cold as you?>"

        Leina surges the Banshee into battle, and Sayla grips onto her harness to hold steady. "I think you're getting under his skin," She says quietly to Leina. "He's probably not going to let that slide. Get ready."

        "<Don't falter.>" She messages to Gridman. "<I know you can do this, even if it's hard. So keep standing, keep fighting. Do what you came here to do.>"

KTS: Sayla Mass targets Leina Ashta and Gridman with Caution.
KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayla Mass suggests caution, raising Leina Ashta's Intuition!
KTS: Sayla Mass suggests caution, raising Gridman's Intuition!
KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Shozo has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Gridman

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"We certainly did..." Alouette grins when Guy points that out. It's a reminder that even as the Fixer Beam regenerates the city... they're going to have to keep up the hard work even after the solve the Alexis problem.

And there's just the tiniest satisfaction in Alouette as her Broken Phantom strikes Alexis's jaw, temporarily shutting him up, before the clawed-fist returns to its owner.

It doesn't last, though, as Alexis appears to melt into fire, only to wash upon the battlefield, and their own machines at that.

It's less the sizzling hot flames that bother her, but the accompanying question Alexis poses that brings her to a frown. Her sensors focus on the Synchrotank, as her memories return her to that moment in her hospital bed a year ago, as Akane leaned in and posed that very question.

She had told Akane that even if the world had no place for her, she couldn't give up on all the innocent people who similarly lacked a place, if she could possibly share the same kindness she received. Perhaps more revealingly, she told Akane she hoped she could find her answer.

"It took a long year... but I'm glad you could finally find your own answer." Alouette smiles, as Akane affirms that if they're going to live in this world, they're going to make it... Something. It elicits a playful groan. "Gosh. You're rubbing off on each other in the worst possible way tonight... it's kind of adorable honestly."

It's not just Akane who has an answer for Alexis, either. Gridman and Rikka both show him their own conviction, amplified by their Grid Fire and toyetic Funnels respectively. Fighting for all of their bonds with others... Alouette wordlessly supports their own answers with her strength.

"You heard them, Alexis. And I think I understand why that question is so deep on your mind, too." She speaks to that incorporeal ball of flame. "I hope that one day, even you can find your own reason." She tells him, the same way she told Akane. "But as long as you keep using that power of yours to hurt others... I'll stand against you. And so will she... and all of us!" Guardienne Aviaire's hands snap apart to reveal a missile-tube. "JAVELINS! Fire!" Seemingly able to form this missiles faster than they can reload, and as tiny as the damage of each individual one is, she lets them detonate over and over as Alexis regenerates.

KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Alexis Kerib with Flare Javelin Trick!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Rikka Takarada

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

There's a moment of audible cheering as the coordinated attacks go through. Yuka's not really the type to hold back more than she has to. And she really doesn't have to right now. "YES! TEAR THAT THING RIGHT OFF HIS FACE!" Even her little companion waves his stubby limbs and shoots off sparks while cheering, scared though he may be. Of course, her celebration is a bit... early, as Alexis turns into a spiteful, rage-filled flame and starts bodychecking everyone, like he's an out of control hockey player with no care for the rules. The impact sends her tumbling, but she lands against a padded workchair.

Akane and Rikka's back and forth is, frankly adorable to the point of being tooth-rotting in its sweetness. But she's not going to call them out on it. She can talk to them after the fight, but for now her heart is soaring.

And Alexis can't touch that! <"Why wouldn't we fight? Even if there's not a place we belong in the beginning, it's something we can make. Forge the family and home we want, with our own efforts! If you weren't so deep in a mire of your own making, you could have done the same."> She's found one such home that way. And still, steadily builds it.

A thumbs-up is given to the face on the monitor. "Way too hot, but I'm still okay!" She'd honestly gotten too worked up in her thoughts, to even notice the heat at first. But now that she has, she douses herself with a bottle of water to help cool off. Thankfully that won't impact her monitoring setup. "I'll work out something to shore up your armor, in case he gets to try another round."

She hardly needs to work anything out. After all, she'd been prototyping something for exactly this. Only one of her drones is set up with the right equipment, so she quickly recalls it, to turn an inbuilt nozzle on Zan, and begin applying a thin, coating film to his outer layer. She's based it on the properties of a particular kaiju that secretes protective mucus. In theory it should offer substantial protection. In practice...? She's not had the chance to test it out.

KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Zan
KTS: Yuka Ohta targets Alexis Kerib with Goad!
KTS: Yuka Ohta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Sweep Kick, taking 4800 damage!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Alouette Pommier's Flare Javelin Trick, taking 3526 damage!
KTS: Alouette Pommier begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Yuka Ohta goads Alexis Kerib, reducing his Intuition drastically.

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Ultraman Orb forces Alexis to occupy the fact that he, too, is a being with a past and a sense of self and a history, and not simply a pawn to move as the story demands -- and Alexis, predictably, hates that. He charges into that surge and pays for it, knocked out of that darting flame and forced to occupy himself fully again, that torrent grounding him in the outskirts of the city. "... You and Juggler make each other worse," he hisses under his (metaphorical) breath, as he lashes out with another small ball of energy.

Leina reminds Alexis of the past, too -- that once, he knew better. Once, he understood that things like love and justice lived in people -- and that they were miracles. ... Can he accept that now, though? "Such things -- come to nothing, in the end!" he growls at both Leina and Gridman, certain that 'trying to make a better world for others' is a path that leads to only heartbreak. He presses forward, drawing energy into himself again. Collecting an enormous red and white ball in front of himself, he hurls it at the Banshee and Gridman again, just as he did before Gridman rediscovered the true power within his heart.

... it's cut off early, though, as Gridman's newfound Grid Fire pierces through the center of it as if it didn't exist. (That leaves the rest of the beam, mind -- but it's enough to knock Alexis out of his attack, leading the energy to fizzle out.) A moment later, Leina's Beam Magnum fire pierces Alexis's body, leaving a hole -- and one that doesn't knit with any kind of speed. It does seem to gradually 'resolve' back -- but these things go so slowly now. Even if Alexis is eternal, he can still be pressured.

Renais advances on him in close quarters, the Ichinana putting its full body into every strike against the much larger giant. Alexis pushes back, catching a fist in a truly enormous hand and thrusting back. "And you'll part from him again! Someone of the Hyper World has far more responsibilities than to face a handful of human lives," he insists to both Renais and Sigma. "You cannot change these inevitabilities with love alone!"

Being pitied -- not just hated, but pitied, treated as, himself, the victim of some sad story -- infuriates Alexis. It's enough for him to miss Qivi's machine swinging around his body on that Slash Harken; he doesn't notice how off balance he is until he takes a step, and briefly loses his footing. Anger overtakes him, and he starts... lashing out, put simply. Even as it falls apart, Alexis's body still contains considerable power -- and he interrupts that swing with a vicious, forceful uppercut, bare fists striking at Qivi's Wanzer and then following through to Shinji and Kaworu's Evangelion unit, even as she bites into him with her progressive knife, backed by the power of Shinji and Kaworu's 'us'. He dashes back to Renais's Ichinana, and it, too, is subjected to a cruel strike of the fist with everything Alexis yet has.

'Beneath Death's notice' -- "To think that you would say such a thing! You're hardly any different, you know," Alexis hisses. "The machine you rely on was built to show the hopelessness of resisting such things!" And as if to prove it, he aims a left-handed strike of his fist for the Ace Robot's head, pressing through that flaming sword to do so. Again, his follow-through is so immense that he hits a whole second target -- Zan, this time, his body speeding through that wired rocket fist. It leaves a massive, glowing red mark -- but Alexis is immortal; why worry about transient pain?

Liam insists this is pathetic, and tells Alexis to stop hurting people. That, of course, Alexis has only one answer for: more hurting people! He doesn't dignify it with a response in words -- he just reaches out for the much smaller Helios and begins to do what any small man who imagines himself big does:

tear him down for it. "I'll start by hurting you, cyborg!" he growls, trying to hurl the Helios to the ground and then give it a stiff kick.

Alexis finds himself encircled by funnels, fire continuing to leave red marks across his dark frame. There's nothing he can do about the tiny weapons, though -- he has to focus first on Guy and Alouette as GaoGaiGar kicks him. "What else is there to measure it by?!" he fires back -- and then Alouette gives him an answer he can only see as impossible condescension, coupled with her missiles. ... Is he indeed looking for 'a world with a place for him in it'? It hurts to countenance -- so naturally, he must hurt Alouette back. Reaching out for Guardienne Aviaire, he attempts to snag the Mechanoid with a hand and smash it (or his hand, if he can't get Aviaire into that hand) into GaoGaiGar.

It's Synchrotank, though, that gets all the cruelty Alexis has to offer. That gleaming jewel of love is so obvious, now -- so naturally, he has to follow the script out to the end and do the only thing he can: smash it. Even as more funnel fire rains down on him, he steps toward the mobile suit so much smaller than he himself is --

-- and attempts to simply punt it, his frustration peaking. It's not even childish -- it's the sort of cruelty only an adult who's forgotten dreams could muster, frustrated all the more by words from adults like Yuka and Sayla who still remember theirs.

KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gai Kurenai with Destruction Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Leina Ashta with Black Hole Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Qivi with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Kaworu Nagisa with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Renais Cardiff with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Zan with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Shozo with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Alouette Pommier with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Guy Shishioh with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Liam 7-020 with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Rikka Takarada with The Power of Lives Unlimited!
KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Black Hole Beam!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Rikka Takarada
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Rikka Takarada
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Rikka Takarada
KTS: Renais Cardiff blocks Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 4760 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Renais Cardiff!
KTS: Qivi has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Rikka Takarada blocks Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 3400 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Rikka Takarada!
KTS: Qivi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Qivi, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Qivi fails to Parry Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 6380 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Qivi!
KTS: Alexis Kerib completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Gai Kurenai blocks Alexis Kerib's Destruction Beam, taking 3220 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib continues a Formation attack!
KTS: Leina Ashta successfully avoids Alexis Kerib's Black Hole Beam
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Alouette Pommier, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Alouette Pommier blocks Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 8160 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Alouette Pommier!
KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Gridman has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Gridman has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Gridman fails to Evade Alexis Kerib's Black Hole Beam, taking 3975 damage!
KTS: Guy Shishioh rushes into the attack!
KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Guy Shishioh partially guards Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 4410 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Guy Shishioh!
KTS: Gai Kurenai uses install
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Zan has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Zan has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Zan blocks Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 4760 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Zan!
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Liam 7-020's  activates, and his spirit endures.
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Liam 7-020, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 7480 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Liam 7-020!
KTS: Alexis Kerib completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Zan has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier
KTS: Shozo partially guards Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 5576 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Shozo!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Kaworu Nagisa, reducing his Morale significantly.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa fails to parry Alexis Kerib's The Power of Lives Unlimited, taking 6960 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Kaworu Nagisa!
KTS: Alexis Kerib completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Shozo
KTS: Qivi has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Gai Kurenai
KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Detonate Spirit Command, reducing the Ultraman Orb Origin to 1 HP!

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Synchrotank gets rocked -- with Akane very much not strapped in. She has to work to cling to Rikka's seat -- but she doesn't hit her head, at least. "I mean, I've been better, but -- yeah," she answers, when addressed; she takes a second to situate herself again...

... and then it rocks again, and she once again has to hang on for dear life. "I'm -- still here!" She grits her teeth, saying, "He's definitely getting weaker without me... this is just him lashing out." A beat, before she adds, "Uh -- been there, actually. If you guys have any bright ideas how to stop him, uh -- right now it's a real good time --"

All she can do now is trust in them. It's -- freedom, in a sense.

A freedom born from bonds... well, the world is full of contradictions.

KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Guy Shishioh, Gridman, and Leina Ashta with Awe.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 130.
KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 30.
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Gridman's Morale!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Trick Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.

Orb laughs - a quick bark of mirth - as Alexis resorts to petty sniping. "Maybe! But we also make each other better, every day - even when we're enemies! That's what loving someone is, Alexis Kerib, and that's what you've forgotten!" Again that shimmering field of light from the Orb Calibur's guard disperses Alexis's spiteful beam.

The ring on Orb's chest begins to flash red, a gentle but persistent alarm sounding. They're short on time - time to wrap this up. Again he turns the great wheel of the Orb Calibur's guard, and this time the flame icon at the north of the dial's compass rose ignites.

"ORB FLAME CALIBUR!"

The Orb Calibur bursts into a roaring flame as Orb charges down Alexis, swinging and throwing a sphere of rippling flame at the Hyper Devil. "Gridman! FINISH THIS!"

He strikes, and the flaming sphere explodes.

KTS: Gai Kurenai targets Alexis Kerib with Orb Flame Calibur!
KTS: Gai Kurenai has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to parry Gai Kurenai's Orb Flame Calibur, taking 8250 damage!
KTS: Gai Kurenai has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Gai Kurenai completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Leina Ashta's Morale!
KTS: Gridman has activated the Detonate Spirit Command, reducing the SSSS.GRIDMAN to 1 HP!

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Even as Gridman speaks his acceptance of his fate, his allies call out around him in defiance of it. Emotion wells up in his heart, and though he can't express it in this form, it is no less powerful.

"R--Renais, I -- " Gridman's voice shakes. "Thank you. I didn't think it'd be such a big deal. I love all of you too. More than I could ever express!"

Sigma offers Takeshi's hospitality, and the Giant of Light shakes his head slightly. "Only if you're there with me, Sigma. If this world has a place for me, then it has one for you, too! We're family! As are you, Shozo! I don't care what you are, you belong with us!"

Shinji and Kaworu pounce down on Alexis, the two in perfect harmony. Though he can't hear Kaworu's answer, a note of sadness echoes in Gridman's awareness. Whatever happens, Gridman thinks, as long as Shinji is by Kaworu's side, they'll be okay. It's a melancholy sort of reassurance.

"Thank you, Sayla." Gridman's gaze raises to watch the Banshee soar. Everyone here has someone watching over them, especially Leina. "I won't back down!"

For a moment, Gridman can almost see the love and bonds stretching between everyone on the battlefield, like so many shining threads of light. Alexis alone is a spot of darkness. Perhaps, in a kinder world, Gridman would feel sympathy for the lonely Hyper Devil. But here, with all the horror Alexis Kerib has enacted on his loved ones? Gridman only sees it as a weakness he can use to end this battle.

With a desperate movement, Alexis attacks Gridman and the Banshee at once. Gridman can only shout "Leina!" as his flame cuts through some of the attack. He has to have faith in her.

Red-and-white energy washes over Gridman, causing him to cry out in pain. The gemstone embedded in the Giant of Light's forehead has been flashing for long minutes now -- and now, it flickers on and off with urgency. Gridman only has moments left in this form.

"Alexis Kerib! You, who have hurt so many in this world!" Gridman's light redoubles, now, even his golden eyes taking on a pink tint. "This world will be determined by humanity's choices! A day will come when they'll have no use for either of us, and they'll stand together, with their own strength!"

Launching himself from one of the repaired cyber-blocks of the city, Gridman soars after Alexis. With his heart alight with belief in his friends, Fixer Beam's radiance localizes itself in the Giant of Light's fist.

"This... is the power of mortality!"

With a great explosion of gold-and-pink light, Gridman's fist makes contact with Alexis' mask. Radiance seeps into the Hyper Devil's cracked armor, unstoppable as the dawn.

One way or another, Gridman knows, this is the end.

KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with The Power of a Finite Life!
KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Trick Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Qivi swings around wildly, only her harkens anchored. She's trying to use her thrusters to stabilize herself, but the result from her point of view is that she's swinging like a pendulum and the result from Alexis' point of view is that he's being pulled left and right apparently at random, whenever Qivi reaches the end of her cable.

"Sounds like - you're out of ideas," Qivi huffs out, between swings. Wanzers are not really meant for this and every time she swings she pulls taut against her safety straps. She's going to have bruises after this. But it's the good kind of pain; she can manage. "Maybe you should have - believed in yourself. Or someone. Something." She can tell he's off balance from her words, on some level he hates what she's saying; she leans on it.

And despite everything, Qivi remains attached.

The uppercut smashes Sarangay. It hits low on the wanzer because Qivi was high on her swing at the time and literally shears off most of one of the legs; all that's left is some of the internal structure and a few pieces of green-painted plate from the outside, but the knee and ankle are sparking and something in the thigh is throwing out smoke.

It also launches Qivi up - but that's where she was trying to go. She pulls taut against the cable almost straight over Alexis' head, and, the instant she realizes she's gotten where she wants to be, immediately smashes the emergency retract button.

Qivi finds herself reeled in toward Alexis really, really fast. She hits legs-first against his upper back, crumpling what remains of the leg he almost ripped off, but leaving her in place, making him look almost hunched. Except that's her wanzer, not his back or the robe.

"Got you," Qivi growls, before her voice raises: "You want to see what finding meaning gets you? COME ON AND WATCH!" She winds up with her non-pile-bunker arm, holding the Double Nail weight, rearing back as far up from Alexis as she dares while overriding a whole bunch of safeties on the arm.

Then she smashes down. The arm nearly tears *itself* apart as Qivi has overridden every limit, every safety, and every failsafe on the limb to get it to output as much force in one single punch as the laws of physics will allow. The upper part of the arm emits an unpleasant mist from a blown hydraulic and below the elbow it literally splinters, Qivi simply trying to bury the spiked weight in Alexis and leave it embedded there.

It also is enough backwards force to dislodge her, sending Sarangay falling to land in a mostly-crumpled heap on the road. Qivi tries to get it to rise up on its remaining leg, but with no way to balance, this is probably doomed to failure. She'll have to trust in the others, afterwards.

KTS: Qivi targets Alexis Kerib with Double Nail Shatter Punch!
KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to parry Qivi's Double Nail Shatter Punch, taking 6600 damage!
KTS: Qivi has engaged Alexis Kerib!

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

"It's true, one way or another... Life and duty will take him from this place that he loves," Sigma admits sadly, but resolutely. "But that does not mean he cannot return someday, and it doesn't have to be 'goodbye' forever. Alexis Kerib, perhaps you were not aware, but..."

"--Even Hyper Agents get the occasional holiday."

Sure, they are basically anti-hyper devil spacetime cops, but that does not mean that they are always on duty. And it also doesn't mean they can't take breaks from time to time. Of course, Gridman will always have souls to save, while Sigma... Sigma has already dedicated himself to protecting this system. He has, in a way, gotten himself a significantly cushier position than his 'older' brother holds. Traveling all the time, never settling down-- it's exhausting.

But, not intractable. And not a position that needs to be permanent.

Just... there are many questions that need to be answered. And it may take... time.

Still, Sigma has faith. And when that Black Hole Beam barrels in--

He has something else.

Even if it is just providing Gridman an ounce of power to repair the damage he suffers.

"I can... perhaps help with the paperwork later, Gridman," Sigma says, quietly. "Don't lose heart. No matter what the Hyper Devil says, that bond between you and the people you love will endure. Have faith."

KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier
KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Alexis Kerib with Demoralize!
KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Takeshi Todo demoralizes Alexis Kerib, reducing his Morale drastically.
KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Gridman
KTS: Renais Cardiff has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Guy Shishioh's Morale!

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

Shozo's laughter is filling the air as he waves off Liam's kind offer. The red in his hair is glowing ominously, even as a chunk is torn out of the Ace Robot's cheek -- and yet, rather than ruined machinery, beneath the metal skin of the robot, blinding light spills out. Shozo barely seems to notice, and the Ace Robot is unbothered.

"That just makes you SADDER, Mr. Alexis!" He cackles now -- no. It's not just him.

The stars are looking down at the battle, dyed in blood red. They're watching Shozo -- they're watching Alexis.

The stars are laughing.

"You're losing ground to a TRAINING DUMMY, you pathetic old devil! Even a machine made to be broken has the stones to do more than PERSIST!" The Ace Robot's wrists spark as that crescent-shaped blade of energy extends.

"You tried to end the struggle to survive by surrendering -- BUT LIKE I SAID!" Shozo throws up his hands, as the wide grins of the stars get wider -- no, get closer, more crescent blades of energy falling from the sky towards Alexis. "THE WAR! NEVER! ENDS!" Guillotine blades rain from the sky, cutting not only with their edge, but with the dark mirth behind them, laughing at the Hyper Majin, scorning his eternal existence.

KTS: Shozo targets Alexis Kerib with Special Guillotine!
KTS: Shozo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to evade Shozo's Special Guillotine, taking 8520 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais' fist is flung back with enormous force, the Ichinana's shoulder joint wrenched backward. It still moves, but it's not moving *well*... she curses quietly. "I don't CARE!" she yells back.

Gridman gets her attention, and she smiles. "And... thank you, too," she tells him in return.

"If I have to say goodbye, I'll say goodbye. That doesn't mean that the place he has in our hearts will be gone. Can't you see what he's DONE?"

The Lionne Blade lifts above her head, poised to strike. "He helped us carve out a place for this whole city and everyone in it. He's touched all of our lives. He may leave, but he'll ALWAYS be our friend. But beyond all that--he saved Akane. He saved her from YOU. Something none of the rest of us could, on our own. Not without him..."

She rears back, then lunges forward, thrusting the sword--the one thing that didn't crumble away when Alexis saved her from her suicidal anger--directly for his chest. She'd always wanted to punch that smile off his mask, but seeing it happen close-up... well, that's almost as good.

"I hope you know, Kerib... everything you've done has brought you to this point. Your failure is YOUR FAULT!"

KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Alexis Kerib with Lionne Blade Lunge!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Renais Cardiff anchors Alexis Kerib, forcing him into close range.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to parry Renais Cardiff's Lionne Blade Lunge, taking 4320 damage!
KTS: Renais Cardiff has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Renais Cardiff roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Gridman's The Power of a Finite Life, taking 11180 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Telepathic Link activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Mediumship activates, causing Nullify!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated!
KTS: Gridman has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Alexis bares down on Synchrotank with all the cruelty he can spare. Rikka takes a deep breath.

"Akane... keep holding on!" Rikka calls out. Synchrotank braces itself as Alexis moves to punt it - his foot slams into the smaller machine's bulldozer shields, already damaged from his earlier spear strike. It's rocked by the impact, sliding back a good distance.

If this went according to the script, indeed, it would have been thoroughly smashed...

...But Rikka's fine with adlibbing, if it means making the story she wants.

Synchrotank is struggling, but its still standing - and as Akane says, she's still here.

"Right..." Rikka replies with a nod, as Akane points out that Alexis is getting weaker - that he's just lashing out. ...She isn't surprised by that, she supposes. But a question is raised - how do they stop him?

Gridman, it turns out, has an answer.

Striking him with the power of mortality... the radiance seeps into his armor and there, Rikka sees their chance.

"Synchrotank... I've asked so much of you up to this point. Bear with me a little longer, okay?" Rikka murmurs to her machine. The mobile suit shifts, folding into tank mode and stabilizing itself as it takes aim at Alexis. And Rikka focuses, thinking back to everyone who's brought her this far.

Everyone here has helped her in some way - helped shaped who she is, helped protect the things she wants to protect. Even those who's role means they can't be here now, because there's something important for them - like Utsumi, or Hass and Namiko. She focuses on her love for all of them, lets it shine like a beacon. She puts her all into it -

And Synchrotank accepts it, all of it, and gives its all in return. Across the mobile suit, consoles report the failure of critical systems. Lights flicker and die, until the only ones left are those in the cockpit Rikka and Akane occupy...

And then, even those lights start to fade as it finally unleashes everything it has in a great beam of power, soaring right for Alexis. This feeling, these emotions, so strong, and real, and true, they can only be called...

KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Alexis Kerib with Human Love!
KTS: Rikka Takarada has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Rikka Takarada's Human Love, taking 7540 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated!
KTS: Rikka Takarada roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

It is concerning, certainly Leina herself recognizes this now after two months of Hypnotherapy with 3G France. Though, it was concerning before as well, just in a different way.

"... Heh. The asshole is going to be the worst student." She replies affectionately to Sayla on the idea of Alexis caring, before nodding at her warning putting herself on guard for his coming reprisal.

"Maybe we should bring out slides."

Akane, she hears from her that she's still here. And Leina manages a smile, at the idea of bright ideas.

"<Not really.>" She tells her honestly, "<Just doing what feels right.>"

It's strange for her to say that, given that Leina - always is scheming, always has a plan, "<And right now what feels right is telling him off, and putting our hopes in Gridman.>"

Alexis IS infuriated though, and as that ball of Red and White Ball forms, Leina tells Sayla something simply, "Hang on." Because some instinct tells her she won't be able to avoid it.

And so the Banshee shines brighter in this moment, the Psychoframe set into a brilliant yellow. The Red and White of Alexis' orb clashes against it, enveloping it, causing it to disappear.

Indeed, this kind of attack would have crushed the Norn's chassis from the inside out, but the light imbued within the Banshee suddenly shines brighter, and the energy is shoved away - as it breaks apart like shards of glass.

The Norn's light is dimmer, and there are more cracks in the glowing Psychoframe than before. Leina breathless, "<We're okay, Gridman!>" Before she channels it into another thing, fury, "<Was it nothing when Judau and Sayla saved me? When Judau and Banagher - and everyone else did it again! Was it nothing for Akane, each time!? Again and again! Even you were surprised-!>"

In the end, the Norn's response to Alexis, is simply to raise it's Beam Magnum again, and charge another shot point blank.

"<That's your problem. ... It's my problem too. You're so focused on your past - and everyone's future, that you struggle to find a single speck of joy in the present.>"

Again, at point blank, because of her experience of how dangerous this weapon is within a Colony. However...

"<Sure this world can suck, and maybe it feels like it'll never change, but- we can still change the world for one person. Yesterday - we moved mountains just so someone could offer truth to the world. Today - Gridman helped us mend Akane's heart.>"

The Psychoframe of the Banshee glows bright with those feelings, but... in that moment, it stays still, but still is not passive. Sometimes it's the offering of good will to someone else.

In this moment she offers hers as Gridman calls upon the power of mortality, with an explosion of pink and gold light, a fist contacting a mask. As she whispers in her cockpit, a touch awed, "Somehow... I feel like he's about to change your world too."

KTS: Leina Ashta targets Alexis Kerib with Beam Magnum Shot!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.

The Iron Zanrailer takes some immense fire damage. That is something that's harder to defend against physically. And it's showing. Red hot already, a bulldozer appears on each arm as six orange figures eject from the large robot.

The Carpenters hurriedly zoom over to try to protect one friend that Zan knows has probably made Alexis mad. Alouette. A hurriedly constructed wall appears before the Carpenters dart away. Not that it's going to do much!

Meanwhile, the closer one needing save? Liam. That has the Iron Zanrailer physically moving to stop the incoming kick. And taking more fire damage that looks to be close to melting those trusty shields.

All of this is obviously making it hotter inside the engine control room, too.

But then the Iron Zanrailer's attention is turned towards Alexis again.

Standing up, he can only do one thing for Yuka. "Hold on to something, Yuka."

Internally there's a lot of fire damage showing. Systems suffering damage on a variety of screens. Helpful fire suppressants are already overtaxed.

And the robot decides to vent in an unconventional way.

Standing up tall despite being red hot, there's a surge of electricity.

Internally the very engine control room starts to rumble ominiously. And the reason for it shows on the screen showing the different power flows. The turbine that powers the Iron Zanrailer is increasing in speed. A speed that is showing as a massive amount of power before a warning shows the cover coming off slightly.

Bringing it's arms up, the Iron Zanrailer calls out, "TURBINE TORNADOOOO!"

If it's power that's at play, then the mighty train robot's shooting a ton of it at Alexis in an attempt to disperse it into energy. And open the way for others to take it down.

KTS: Zan targets Alexis Kerib with Turbine Tornado!
KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Leina Ashta's Beam Magnum Shot, taking 4880 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Zan's Turbine Tornado, taking 9620 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated!
KTS: Zan roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Kaworu eyes Shozo briefly. But this is neither the time nor the place.
        
        Just because Alexis is outnumbered and at the end of his rope doesn't mean he isn't still danger. Quite the contrary. His uppercut RAMS into Unit-01's chin, snapping her head upwards and possibly snapping her neck, period. For an instant, the Evangelion doesn't respond to input as she sails up and away, and within her entry plug, Shinji screams high-pitched while Kaworu's grip on the controls tighten, pulling lines in his arms and shoulders taut.
        
        There is a bone-rattling THUD when she impacts the city. It's a very good thing that Gridman has his Fixer Beam--it won't be an issue in the long-term. Slowly, though, she pulls herself upright, head lolling in what might be a very distressing way.
        
        Within the entry plug, Shinji's neck, barely visible under his plug suit, is bright red. But so is Kaworu's.
        
        Pain shared is pain halved. Kaworu would never let Shinji suffer alone if he could help it. And--
        
        'This... is the power of mortality!'
        
        It's a reminder of just how `limited` life is.
        
        With a nigh feral scream, Shinji rams the controls to Unit-01 forward. Kaworu doesn't scream with him, but his motions are nonetheless synchronized, sending Unit-01 into a final charge, prog knife clutched close to her chest--and soon, perhaps, into Alexis's. Even if it lands, though, she doesn't linger, only opting to kick him away afterwards so the others can take advantage.

KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Alexis Kerib with Progressive Knife Drive!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Kaworu Nagisa's Progressive Knife Drive, taking 6500 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated!
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has engaged Alexis Kerib!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        'I'll start by hurting you cyborg!'

        Did he touch a nerve? Liam thinks, as the Neo Helios crouches down, raises its arms, and burns even brighter. Alexis is on him before he can evade, grabbing hold of the Mobile Fighter, lifting it into the air. Liam focuses on the biofeedback display regulating the ASTRA system, all but willing it to its limits. The Neo Helios struggles in Alexis's grasp, arms pinned to its sides. Metal groans, ominously, beneath the Hyper Devil's fingers.

        "Yeah, that's it, get your jollies!" Liam screams, defiance and terror mingling in his voice. Alexis's grip feels like a vise around his ribcage, even through the thoracic reinforcement. "Maybe you'll feel somethiiing--!"

        Alexis hurls the Neo Helios to the ground. Its main jets are crushed, Liam can only twist halfway in mid-air, angling the leg jets to slow the fall. He sees Alexis' foot racing at him in slow motion, and braces behind that floating shield.

        And then another machine is in the way, almost. "Zan!?" Liam shouts, and then the kick hits home, slamming into the shield, and shattering it into its component parts. It lifts the Neo Helios off the ground, and sends it flying down the 'street', crashing through semi-pixellated digi-terrain (that immediately regenerates, thanks to the Fixer Beam. Thanks, Gridman!) Shattered armor trails in its wake. It lands face-down, and does not get up for a long moment.

        "But since when... has that made you... really happy?" Liam says, his voice coming between deep breaths. "Has it ever?"

        Then it plants a hand on the ground. Steam and smoke vent from inside, followed by brilliant blue plasma. As the Neo Helios rises, more boils out, wreathing it in a sphere of ionized air--the colony's oxygen glows bright green as high-energy particles play with it, like a miniature version of the Northern Lights. "We keep getting up," Liam says. "I keep getting up, because I'm not alone!" Both of the palm emitters iris open. Cooked, blackened armor falls from the Neo Helios' torso as the vents there open. Plasma spools out into the magnetosphere, shaped by Liam's gestures into a long, static beam held in a prism.

        "None of us are alone, except you!" The Neo Helios reaches up, and grips the spear with both hands. "And that's why you were never going to win this. I wish I could say I'm sorry, but... I hope, when you think back on this, you learn something."

        The Mobile Fighter's remaining jets ignite, and it drives forward in a lancing lunge. As soon as the plasma spear makes contact, it forks, and forks, and forks again, forming a lattice of brilliant blue-hot fire.

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 Alexis Kerib with Sunbright Spear!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Liam 7-020's Biorhythm activates Focus!

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

GaoGaiGar throws his arms open and CATCHES the oncoming hard swung Guardienne Aviaire, GaoGaiGar's broad feet digging into the digistuff underfoot, cracking through the surface layers. As they've seen, it'll heal itself soon enough. "Alouette!" he calls, and sets the machine down on its feet. "You alright in there?" he prompts, and then steps away, turning his attention on Alexis. Akane's signaling - it's time.

"Who measures a dream at all?" Guy jabs back to Alexis, refining his own words. "If it's possible, it's a goal to reach! If it's impossible, it's something to make possible! And if it's foolish, then it's something only you could have dreamed!"

He doesn't stand back and summon Two Powers Into One. "Hell & Heaven's go good here. There's nothing to retrieve, I think. And I don't trust the downgraded DoubleHammer with this much spatial distortion. Which means...!"

The Broken Right Arm of Destruction revs, forearm spinning one way, fist the other.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Guy screams, and charges downrange one more time, fist reared back and GaoGaiGar's whole frame flying skyward, to drive his spinning fist into Alexis' abdomen and just KEEP PUSHING.

"If anyone can shed light into your darkness, Alexis, I believe Gridman can! For your sakes, I'll say it!" he cries, as Gridman's light bursts out of Alexis' seams.

"Alexis Kerib....TRANSFORM INTO LIGHT!"

KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Alexis Kerib with Broken Phantom Sustained Drive!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla let's out a small bark of laughter at Leina's comment, as if she can't help it. It's been a long few days, crisis after crisis. "We might have to go back to basics with him."

        She braces herself as Leina warns her, but the impact is rough as the Banshee clashes with it. Nonetheless, she has faith Leina will get them through to the other side.

        She's silent as Leina fires her fury into Alexis. 'You can still change the world for one person.'

        "Well said." Sayla says to Leina, looking forward through the cameras, as the lights of mortality and love fire into Alexis. "...I wonder if he can bear those sort of feelings."

        Maybe he can learn the lesson this way.

KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Liam 7-020's Sunbright Spear, taking 6900 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Alexis Kerib!
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Broken Phantom Sustained Drive, taking 5600 damage!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Alexis Kerib!

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Guardienne Aviaire, just as Alexis attempted, slams into GaoGaiGar's frame, in attempt to destroy two super mechanoids in a single blow. But it's because they're with each other that they yet don't fall. Guardienne Aviaire is forced back up, as Alouette puts her entire strength in resisting Alexis Kerib's power of infinite life. "I'm... I'm fine! Thanks for the save..." She breathes out, steadying herself in her seat.r
Throughout this entire fight, Alexis Kerib has showed them how demonstrably empty he is. Not even Akane is trapped inside, granting him power - she's with Rikka, powering Synchrotank with her love instead. As such, like Guy, Alouette deems her Hell and Heaven to be ineffective...

But it doesn't mean there aren't other ways she can help. She notices Gridman, bracing himself for one final attack. "Gridman!" She calls out to the charging Hyper Agent, as her sword gleams with Program Energy. "It's a long shot, but I think I have an idea... I'm going to borrow your power for a little bit." The blade expands, weaving code after code, binding Alexis with energy that can only be described as the power of Destruction.

When it courses through the Fixer Beam energy that's been flooding through the city for the entire battle, it doesn't take on the effect of Hell and Heaven for lack of a core... but that code does pierce through Alexis's body with the sharpness of a thousand blades.

"I have nothing left to say to you, Alexis Kerib." Ruri said he might not have been such a bad person such a long time ago, but... "The power of finite life Gridman's showing you... and the love Rikka and Akane show for each other? You're going to have a long time to reflect on that!"

KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Alexis Kerib with Coup de Grace!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Alouette Pommier's Coup de Grace, taking 7540 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alouette Pommier's Vividity activates, causing Designate L1!
KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Alexis Kerib!

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

This time, Orb meets fire with fire -- and what a fire it is. Orb's blade and sphere of intense flame engulf Alexis, and while he reforms fully this time... it's clear that this is exhausting him. He can't keep this up forever -- eventually, he'll wear out...

And Qivi seems intent on making that happen. With that last blow, she manages to hobble him at the cost of her own machine's arm. It's incomplete and imperfect -- as these things often are -- but in the moment, it's enough just to keep Alexis staggered, to make it impossible for him to coordinate a solid defense.

Sigma and Shozo both demoralize him -- Sigma by undercutting his hostility, and Shozo by underlining that he's literally positioned himself as less bold than a training dummy. That demoralization makes it easy for the Ace Robot to cut through Alexis's defenses -- and open a path for Renais, too, her blade striking at his heart.

Leina underlines the ways in which Alexis has rejected the stagnation of the world but never really rejected it -- and then fires a shot from the Beam Magnum at point blank, ripping through him. Such a powerful weapon always carries risks, inside a colony -- and indeed Alexis perhaps lets it pass clean through him, hitting the end opposite Tsutsujidai's tiny footprint...

... and almost instantly, a GM III with a birdlime launcher fires at the resultant hole, plugging it in moments. A transmission comes from within the civil defense mobile suit to the Banshee: "Don't worry -- we've got your back. Give it everything you've got! If we're going to make 'the Universal Century's last utopia', we gotta give it everything we've got."

... even if they're not up to modern standards for the sort of civil defense Tsutsujidai needs, that doesn't mean those GM IIIs and wanzers are useless.

And, wait -- 'the Universal Century's last utopia' --

Is that Yamato in there?

(Streaming stopped being fun when he was doing it alone, so Arcadia's been on hiatus... and part-time relief work's not a bad way to stay occupied after you graduate from college.)

The sheer power of Zan's turbines overwhelms Alexis, continuing to keep avenues of aggression open. Alexis is starting to rally, even under the pressure of everyone's strikes, but just the same -- it helps a lot in keeping him down. Shinji and Kaworu press on, and that progressive knife hits deep -- and the kick enables everyone else to keep the pressure on, too.

Liam asks Alexis if this cruelty has ever made him happy -- and he just growls in response, a guttural noise bereft of anything but frustration. He and Guy both press in with their piercing strikes in this moment, and their energy flares out behind both attacks; Alexis has to pull away to remain intact, this time, and again, he lets out that irregular, choppy, "Urra a-- -a- -a hHAh -- Aaaaaa...!!!"

Alouette comes in right behind him with a blade of code -- a powerful weapon in a space split between reality, the Omnisphere, and the Hyper World. It fixes him, for just a moment -- and it's enough that it forces him to commit to aggressing, since he lacks the time to retreat.

In the end, though -- above all else -- what it takes to save a soul is the power of a finite life -- the power of love.

Synchrotank and Rikka give each other their all, and in a mighty, thunderous blast of psychic energy, their combined might overwhelms Alexis's defenses, slowing his advance as he tries to aim a vicious strike of the fist for Gridman. Alexis is infinite -- he can bear these blows, too.

What he isn't expecting is the force behind the finite. He and Gridman mirror each other -- both coming in for the same type of strike. It's Gridman, though, who reaches first -- and Alexis screams, letting out one last, "YEEEAAA- -- -AAA -A -- A -- AAAAAAAART --"

His mask cracks, and his body seems to distort. "Is this -- the power of..." he starts, agonized, "-- so many... finite lives...?!"

Everything seems to whirl, as Alexis, in an instant, goes from massive, world-destroying giant to impossibly small sphere, trapped in a Confinement Program fit for a Devil of many worlds. The energy that had been bound up in him -- the energy of Gridman's Fixer Beam -- can no longer stay within him; it explodes out, and Tsutsujidai...

... changes.

The damage done in the fight is fixed, and the wobbly dimensional readings level out. A place has been made in the world for Tsutsujidai -- anchored without the Galeoria Pliers, now. Those green and black and blue traces of the Computer World are gone; from here forward, Tsutsujidai is simply a mildly anomalous PLANT. It, too, shares this world -- thanks to that Special Signature to Save a Soul. The inverted city above is gone -- there is simply the other hourglass-like half of a PLANT, above them.

Even a miracle of this scope cannot reverse the flow of time, cannot truly undo what has been done -- cannot create the sort of lie that came from Akane's maintenance kaiju.

It can do something better, though: it can heal destroyed hearts, and even...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Outside of Tsutsujidai High School's practice building, a girl just past her eighteenth birthday awakens from a state for which neither 'death' nor 'sleep' is quite sufficient. Stretching out, she pushes her hair -- usually slicked back -- out of her face, and looks down at her phone.

... Sure, she's got a breakup text from her senpai -- but that doesn't mean she didn't have fun dating him in her first year. And yeah, the date display on her phone suggests a lot's up, but...

... well, it's a lot better to lose a boyfriend and two years than lose all your time.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Three guys drive their mopeds across a forest trail, rushing from one end of the colony to the other. (More accurately, two do -- the third is still finding his way there.) All three have their phones stuck in holders on the handlebars. "Hey -- do you think we can still catch up with Yamato?"

"Guess we're going to find out! Hey, Imai! Get a shot of him with the launcher!"

"I'm not nearly as close as you two are -- I can't even see this GM III you guys are talking about!"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

... Maybe sometimes it's worth not letting go of something, even if holding onto it hurts.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Here in the darkness -- as Synchrotank falters, systems failing one after another as Rikka puts her all into it, and puts its all into the world -- Akane still isn't alone... and here, now, she knows she never will be again. Even if Synchrotank's lights gradually fade, leaving her with nothing to know Rikka's presence by save the warmth of Rikka's shoulder in Akane's hand -- she knows where she is and who she's with:

Someone she's come to know.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Akane feels the release of a burden she didn't know she'd been carrying, so accustomed had she become to its weight. "... Gridman," she says, softly. Her strongest friend -- and one to whom she now owes a debt she can't imagine repaying. And yet...

... the idea of such a debt doesn't feel nearly as heavy as the burden she'd carried alone. She smiles -- just for herself, and for the freedom that her bonds have given her.

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Alexis warps, his power draining away into the Containment Program, small enough Gridman struggles to even see it in his Giant form. Even so, he catches it in his palm, as around him, Tsutsujidai heals.

Once the pink-and-gold explosion clears, Gridman's allies will find themselves safe and sound. All around them, the city blooms, full-grown trees appearing along the streets, and the brilliant summer sun shining down.

The sky is blue.

Gridman turns, closing his hand carefully around Alexis' Containment Program, to look at the restored Tsutsujidai. His allies -- his friends, his family, even -- surround him. Peace settles in, calm and bright, a miracle of its own.

Knowing he has only seconds left in this form, Gridman simply raises his fist above his head. It's a triumphant gesture, one he maintains even as his body turns to light and vanishes. Alexis Kerib is defeated.

Tsutsujidai is safe.

Akane Shinjo's heart has been mended.

None of this would've been possible through Gridman's strength alone. The bonds he's forged with all those he loves in this world are what led them this far.

Victory.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

There is a moment of panic in Leina perhaps, at the realization that Alexis ALLOWED it to pass through him. She was firing it only when she had him dead to rights for a reason.

The Norn abruptly rises-

Only to find the situation is handled. It hovers in mid-air for a moment. And she takes a moment to remember Akane's confession to her, and the research Leina did after on it all.

Her eyes close, then with a smile, "<... Thank you. I'll leave it to you, then.>"

In the end, those positive feelings of her own mortality - and the mortality that has touched her, that is what she can offer to Gridman.

It's about belief. It's about trust.

Despite his sense of guilt, she's never doubted that he's trying to do what's right for people, even if he stumbled.

And so she watches as Alexis screams. Emotions tug across her expression, as if disturbed. It sucks to know you can empathize with even someone like him.

And there's only so much you can do for someone who abuses the feelings of others for their own self gain.

In the end, it is not in fact a binary choice of life and death - as he's contained into that small sphere. "He did it-! They did it-!"

And the world around them changes. For a time, Leina just watches it change, feels it change around her.

There is a place for Tsutsujidai within this world, and perhaps they all made it so.

Her hand reaches out, taking Sayla's - squeezing it. And through the patched up visor of the helmet, she'll see tears.

"It really is a beautiful world sometimes, isn't it?"

A world of miracles, sometimes it truly is worth the cost of living within it, and today is one of those days.

Perhaps the other shoe will drop soon, and the cost will make itself known.

Perhaps.

But it's like she said to Alexis Kerib, she herself needs to stop looking to the past and the future so she can find joy in the present, and so she does.


BBSYS: Post 1158, 'Contents May Be Fragile' has been published to Cutscenes & Logs by Gemini Sunrise.

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

At this point, it is abundantly clear that being inside an engine room is not entirely a safe choice. However... Yuka's been in some pretty rough scrapes before. So when it's recommended she hangs on tight, she does just that. Yuka surrounds herself with the objects in the room most resistant to heat, curling in around her other helper to keep the lttle one safe. "Just do what you need to, we'll manage. But thanks, for looking out for us!"

It's a little bit of a rough ride, but venting all the heat does work. And at that point, she can do the rest internally, adjusting some systems to redirect remaining overflow and surges caused by the damage. If anything, she ought to be grateful for having this experience, which, well... she is. She's just also a little worn out from the heat. "Looks like... you guys made it work. Amazing teamwork, everyone."

Maybe with this part settled, they can all take a day or two and relax. Recover, and maybe have a little celebration. A few of them in particular, could probably use the mood-lifter.

After all. Lives only last so long. If you can't stop now and then to enjoy the present, before pushing on to the next fight... Well, she'll make sure they take the time to enjoy this moment.

<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.

The change ripples outwards from Alexis's suddenly-collapsed form, repairing things almost nobody knew were broken, giving chances anew to souls lost to Akane's own emptiness.

In this place split between the physical, cognitive, and data... nothing's ever truly gone forever.

Orb's mask cannot smile, but as Gridman encases Alexis in a Confinement Program, there is a sense of... relief emanating from the other Giant of Light.

"It is done," he intones over the alarm sound of his Colour Timer, giving Gridman that slow, serious nod of warriors who have forged a bond of their own through decisive battle. He looks around at the assembled, who came together not just to save Akane Shinjo, but to bring her tormentor of several years to justice and prevent him hurting anyone else.

They, too, receive that solemn nod, before Orb turns his gaze to the now-open ceiling, basking in the sight of the other half of the PLANT above them, and the infinite stars shining their light upon this now stable world.

Traditionally, he would leap into the sky with a "SHAA!" and vanish... but there is a reason to stay here.

So: The Orbcalibur discorporating into light, he strides towards Synchrotank. As he does so, light radiates from the crystal ring on his chest, surrounding him and suffusing his form as it... diminishes. His inner light released back into the cosmos, Ultraman Orb walks away from the battlefield, towards the one the battle was raged over, dwindling back into the human shape of the wanderer among the stars who was called here by a heart imperiled.

Gai Kurenai slots the Orb Origin card back into its place in his holster as the light washes away from him, waiting by Synchrotank's boarding ramp.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais' Ichinana smokes, lightly, the crest on its chest glowing a dull red as it radiates far too much heat. Her blade bites only air now.

Is this it? For all that she denied and disbelieved his assertions of immortality, it's... difficult for Renais to believe that it's over. "We... we did it," she says quietly, her voice hoarse.

"It's beautiful," she murmurs.

She plants the blade in the Ichinana's leg holster, and takes a few steps toward the rest before the Ichinana kneels. The cockpit pops open, and Renais hops down to the battle-marked dirt below, running over to the suddenly-micronized Gridman, grabbing him in a hug. "We did it! I can't believe it, but we did it!"

She looks toward Synchrotank, now, where Akane sits with Rikka. She waves with her whole arm, grinning from ear to ear.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Right now, there's only darkness. But Akane is here with her - and outside, she can hear everything, knows in her heart that everything will be okay - that everything is okay. She fumbles in the dark, a bit - one hand reaching to take Akane's, and the other hand reaching for her phone, quickly tapping out a message.

> If you're panicking about us, don't worry. We're okay.
> I think Synchrotank's spent, though.

...That's the feeling she gets. It's a little sad, but... it's had a good, long run. It was already showing its wear... but it supported them just as long as it needed to.

She can't be sad about that much. That, too, is a part of embracing the finite.

She gives Akane's hand a squeeze then stands up, walking over to Synchrotank's hatch - she has to use the emergency unlock and force it open a bit, but the hatch opens and, for a moment, Rikka has to shield her eyes.

It's so bright outside - the sky is more beautiful than it ever has been, and the whole colony feels like it's been filled with new life. Outside, she can see Gai waiting at its foot, and Renais waving at them. Rikka waves back.

And so, with a smile Rikka turns, extending a hand toward Akane.

"Are you ready?" Rikka asks - ready to lend her a hand out into the world once more.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        A moment of terror is is stopped in it's tracks, as the hole made in the Colony is blocked. Alexis' final cruel feint fails- because of someone who chose to change.

        As Tsutsujidai returns to life, as it is mended... Sayla can't help but think that the power of finite lives is something beautiful indeed. She watches as the world rebuilds into a true colony, instead of just a facsimile. A place where people will be born, live and die- full, complete lives of their own. A part of this world, not a world unto itself.

        Leina squeezes her hand, and Sayla returns it, leaning tiredly on Leina. "It is. It really is..."

        The miracles born from the hearts of people- the people of this world, born her or from somewhere else-

        They're not so bad, are they?

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Alexis falls.

Tsutsujidai heals.

Sarangay is still kind of in a pile, but it's in a *safe* pile, 'sitting' propped up against one of the just-grown trees lining the street (and part of Qivi is already wondering how to get it out without damaging the tree given one of its legs is offline; she'll figure that out later).

But most of her is not worrying about that, or anything else. Alexis is - he's not dead, Qivi thinks, because if he's right he can't die. But he's sealed up in what, to Qivi, who does not have any knowledge of the science involved, seems like magic. The city being fixed - altered - seems like another miracle to her after the connection from the Fixer Beam from before.

"We did it!" she bursts out on the radio, followed by: "You actually got him!" Qivi unbuckles herself from all the straps, and a few moments later, a particularly messy-haired head pokes out from Sarangay's back. Qivi pulls herself out, up onto the shoulder, to wave at the others, both arms over her head, excited. She's sore, but she's not *that* sore.

But there's one person who gets special thanks, Qivi thinks. "Gridman!" she calls, giving a big thumbs-up. It's probably about all he can see if he's big, she figures. But he deserves that for what he did before the rest of them got there.

It was, after all, a miracle that connected all of them together.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        It's over.
        
        Unit-01 staggers back, and her pilots behold as Alexis is reduced down to a small cube. Shinji doesn't understand it; Kaworu does. But that's beside the point for right now.
        
        Shinji has experienced something like the Fixer Beam before--specifically, the Fixer Breath, courtesy of Nidaime's papa. But he'd been a bit punch-drunk and doesn't really remember, beyond that this sparkling pink energy that washes over Unit-01--washes over him--feels strangely familiar. He chalks it up to the source being Gridman, and as the pain fades from his neck and Unit-01 rights her head with a morbid 'crk, crk,' he smiles in gratitude at his friend. "You did it, Gridman!"
        
        Kaworu, who was at that battle with Anocillus and his daughter, does remember the Fixer Breath's effect, but it hadn't been used on him. All the same, as that power washes over him and his compatriots, he relaxes, eyes shutting as the three of them are restored. Fixed, even. "No," he says, opening his eyes with a smile. "We did it. All of us."
        
        It's a fuzzy sort of feeling for Shinji. They all worked together to contain a terrible threat. The pain and rage and hatred are all gone now, too. He feels... cleansed. And it's all thanks to Gridman, isn't it? His... friend.
        
        Both of them watch quietly as Gridman raises that fist to the air in triumph. He might dissolve into light a moment later, but they both know he's fine.
        
        Everything--at least in this small corner of the universe--will be all right. Akane has the strength to make sure it'll be all right from now on.
        
        The two of them sit back and admire the bright blue sky.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

Shozo lets his mad energy settle as Alexis falls, sitting down on the shoulder of the still smoking Ace Robot. He says nothing as he stares up past the newly blue sky, at the red stars filling the darkness outside of Tsutsujidai. He meets their eyes, and says nothing.

Slowly, his hand reaches up into the sky, and forms a fist.

Then his middle finger pops out, and he flips off the sky.

"Fuck you, Dad!" the cosmic horror child says, deadly serious. "I got a real family now, and they're better than you!"

With that, Shozo sits up as the red disappears from the sky, and returns the Ace Robot to the Battle Nizer, floating back down onto the roof of his home.

Borr will be back soon, after all, and Shozo knows he's going to get a *very* cross talking-to for fighting Alexis.

<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.

Alexis may be immortal, but that which cannot die may still be stuffed into a garbage can and locked away for ten thousand years. "That's the end of it, then," Sigma mutters as Alexis Kerib is sealed away, trapped within a Hyper Devil-grade containment program. In the space of the mind and soul, Gridman Sigma gives his brother a proud smile and a crisp salute befitting another Hyper Agent--

As the fusion that is the original Gridman vanishes, coming apart into its individual components. That means Sigma, too. He appears where he had left, atop that roof where the wind catches his trench coat just right. "You did good," he says to his brother, still not so far away, and to the anomalous PLANT, "Happy birthday, and welcome to the world, Tsutsujidai."

It will not be easy. Now that it is truly part of their world, it is subject to all the dangers and hazards that any city would be. But...

They will persevere. They will triumph. He's sure of this, as one who has watched them for so long. After all, the heart they were made from is stronger than most. That origin may no longer define their future, but it will surely pass down some of Akane Shinjo's strength.

With that, Gridman Sigma turns to descend from his perch, whistling a song with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his coat.

The Sigma Acceptor on his wrist gleams brightly in the light of a new day.

Sigma Exeunt BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL8XepSl8mU

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        The Neo Helios stands its ground in the maelstrom, hands gripping and guiding its spear. Alexis Kerib is at the center of it all, barely weathering the worst everyone can throw at him--

        Until he suddenly can't. Synchrotank and Gridman strike in a one-two that Liam feels in every cell. Alexis screams, and collapses like a singularity forming. There's a brilliant flash.

        When the light fades, Tsutsujidai is as it should have been--no, could be?--no. This is Tsustujidai as it is now. Tears prickle in Liam's eyes as he takes it all in: the bright blue sky, the trees, the flowers. If he squints, he can just make out the top of the Community Garden's hydropon tower, green against the glass.

        The ASTRA system cuts out immediately, and with it, the fire around the Neo Helios. It'll be a few minutes before the coolant kicks in and it's safe to leave, so the battered machine rises to its full height, raises its right arm, and thrusts out that fist--a belated return of Gridman's fistbump.

        "It is," Liam says, to Renais, and everyone. His voice is hushed and reverent. "We did it." He lets out a few sobs of relief, just like he did when he heard Gryps-2 had been stopped, and then finally dissolves into tears of joy, with the radio still on.

        This particular nightmare, at least, is finally over. The world will heal. And that's what matters most.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane -- who's had to keep herself semi-stable on her feet the whole time she's been in here -- needs to take it fairly slow, as things level off. She squeezes that hand back, and like Rikka, has to shield her own eyes with her other hand a little. The sky looks beautiful, though...

... and so does Gridman, standing tall with his fist raised.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Back at the Junk Shop, a man in his late 30s who stopped by last year enters with a keyboard, having just gotten in from a flight. "So I know it's been a while. It was really difficult to find this place again," he says, with an awkward smile. "But I had to close up my restaurant, and lifeguard work's been kinda slow this summer. I kinda think this city needs the music a little more than I do..." He's not going to cop to needing the cash, but, you know. Maybe he does.

Orie gives him a slightly deadpan expression for a moment -- and then a smile. "Well, you're seriously out of the return window... but I'll see what we can do.

He glances back toward his irreplaceable partners -- a somewhat dorkier-looking man about his age, and a woman evidently fresh from her work as a doctor, still in a white coat -- and that smile turns from 'slightly awkward' to 'embarrassed.' The man snickers at him; the woman gives him a slightly put-upon look, and then an earnest smile of her own.

Orie taps her chin, weighing... weighing... and then nods. "... It does look like it's in better condition than when you bought it, though... I think we can come to an understanding."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Akane emerges from Synchrotank, stretching a little bit. "Thank you, Gridman," Akane says, quietly. "Thank you -- everyone." There's more sentiment gathered here than she can address in the moment, still struggling to put herself back together after all the pain Alexis visited on her, and on Knight, and all of Tsutsujidai, but... to walk out into a world with her friends -- with people who believe in her...

... she doesn't need any reason to be born besides that.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

GaoGaiGar finishes the follow-through on his punch, and then skips to the side, clearing the distance for Gridman to finish the work. He's not quite expecting the light he was invoking to POUR out of Alexis, though, nor for him to collapse into that Containment Program.

The battle winds down. Ultraman Orb departs; Synchrotank's emergency seals open. Renais leaps from her Ichinana to rush to celebrate, and Guy...

Guy's pretty used to standing and waiting for the recovery team to arrive, honestly. He looks up with GaoGaiGar's eyes to watch the sky turn a magnificent blue, for the PLANT to form itself properly.

He lets himself sigh happily at a job well done. That's a promise kept. Now...

"...Mikoto. We're coming," he promises the sky.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

It all happens so fast, it's almost hard to truly understand the order it all occurs in. But by the time it's all said and done, Alexis screams until he can scream no more in that contained form, and the Fixer Beam covers Tsutsujidai in the full extent of its power, stabilizing it in its place in reality even without the Pliers to do it.

Guardienne Aviaire herself is in rough shape... but with a mostly digital set of weaponry and defenses, Alouette's always found it easy to fix up... she can get to it later.

They also have a myriad more work to do: before this had all happened, they were in a meeting for colony defense after all. And even now, they can't afford to keep pushing it back. Not to mention, Sakura's missing, a fact that the rest of 3G Blue is undoubtedly attending to.

For now though, Alouette hops out of the cockpit and gazes at the world she helped to protect with her own two eyes.

"You never should have had to fight for it, but this is your world now. It's beautiful." she says, to Rikka and the rest of those who would call the PLANT home.

"Gridman," her words shine towards the Hyper Agent next. "You have to go soon, don't you?" She doesn't think Gridman actually told her that... but she can infer it nonetheless. "You may have been Tsutsujidai's first protector, but you're not its only one anymore. I promise we'll take care of it while you do what you need to. Take care, okay? We'll miss you."

As for Akane, Alouette gives her a little more space as she re-adjusts to this new world, but her friendship will always be there for her, as she smiles her way. They may not have forever, but they'll have plenty of time to talk.