2022-08-28: Confrontation ~VICTOR~
- Log: 2022-08-28- Confrontation ~VANQUISHED~
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Yuta Hibiki, Anti, Rikka Takarada, Renais Cardiff, Leina Ashta, GaoGaiGo Team, Shinji Ikari, Alouette Pommier, Guy Shishioh
- Where: Tsutsujidai
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-08-28
- Summary: During the first day of Tsutsujidai's open houses for the Deculture Festival, the kaiju attack Akane Shinjo warned about comes to pass. Just how helpful the warning is, however, is... a bit of an open question. Takes place at the same time as 2022-08-28: Confrontation ~VICTOR~.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Sunday morning, Tsutsujidai. Normally, school wouldn't be open -- but the Deculture Festival has kind of turned everything sideways a bit. Everyone is playing it by ear, and if that means having an event on a sleepy, comfy vacation Sunday, well: they're not gonna say no.
The sky is a comfy blue -- and the cloud cover as you ascend masks whatever else the universe might have to say about what Tsutsujidai is and how it works. For the moment: it's just a PLANT... and more importantly, its students get to just be kids.
There's been a real zest for the Deculture Festival among the students, too -- it's led to all kinds of talk among the student body about resurrecting a lot of previously cancelled events and programs.
Akane Shinjo's waiting. Her current plan, such as it is, is to sulk in her room until the mid-afternoon when foot traffic is the highest, then deploy Mecha-Ghoulghilas. It makes perfect sense to her.
Ramo Marusa has been on a mission all morning: move some things outside. It's nice, after all, and the practice building isn't actually in a stellar state; she's been leaning on Namiko a little for this in turn, suggesting in particular that the Tea Ceremony Club show its stuff off with a nodate (outdoor tea ceremony) instead of an indoor one. The Dance Club has also dragged its performance outside at Marusan's insistence, significantly reducing indoor foot traffic.
Ako Furuma has been quietly deputized by Ramo Marusa to handle subtly nudging things indoors. Her actual approach has been a little... less... subtle than Marusan might have hoped; she's created a mild Incident. A dispute over which club actually has which classroom has turned into dragging everything out of two of the rooms... which conveniently blocks off multiple hallways in a practical sense, in a way that makes it hard to get very far from an exit. Two of the stairwells have 'coincidentally' been blocked on the second floor in a way that will be easier to navigate from on the floor -- keeping people from getting upstairs casually while still making downward egress as easy as possible.
All that's left is for someone to make the first move.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
It's been an agonizing month, Akane's declaration of war hanging over them all. Yuta's hopes of enjoying preparing for the festival with everyone were soundly crushed by his worry. Knowing she was going to attack was heavy enough, but Akane's words rung in Yuta's mind constantly. "No actual connections here." When the god who created you says something like that... how do you ignore it? How can you prove her wrong?
Yuta's answer was what lead to their plan. He couldn't solve this problem on his own, he'd tried for weeks and gotten nowhere! But, once he reached out to his allies, the answer became clear. Everyone would play their part, getting as many people as possible into places easy to evacuate. And he wouldn't be fighting alone, either.
If his connections here had been wiped out by his amnesia, he'd just make new ones!
So far, there was no sign of the kaiju. Yuta waits inside the Junk Shop with the Neon Genesis Junior High School students. Other allies were scattered through the city, ready to deploy as soon as the monster appeared.
"It's a good plan, Yuta. We're proud of you." Max says, putting a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Yeah, you did good!" Borr contributes, putting their feet up as they wait. "Nobody'll get hurt like this. Not unless they're stupid."
Vit leans against the wall, scrolling through his phone. "Yeah. Real good work, kid."
"An -- and we'll be with you, when it counts." Calibur adds, slumped across the bar. "And for the f--fun stuff later."
"Thanks, you guys." Yuta smiles, looking up at Max. "I couldn't do it without you, and everyone!"
The ground shakes. Stands topple to the ground, flyers fluttering out of their neat stacks. The gathered students look up and scream, rushing down and out of the school buildings -- hopefully, into the handily-accessible evacuation points.
Something enormous is stomping around the building, lighting arcing from its feet to the ground when it takes a step. Scattering the people of Tsutsujidai this time is no kaiju, but a Giant of Light. Gridman himself, carefully stepping onto the school grounds. He gingerly walks around the handmade festival decorations -- everyone had worked so hard on them! Really, he's doing no damage at all, just being extremely, unmistakably visible.
Akane's attack wasn't the problem. They've handled tons of those now. The problem was the amount of people who would be around for it -- and what better way to spark an evacuation than by sending a giant to the scene? Soon enough, the streets are clear, and the school is empty. Yuta can't help but smile. If Akane wanted a fight, he had prepared the perfect battlefield for her.
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
He sits atop the wardrobe in Europe, quilt dangling from the edge, just like his feet. He listens. He is much more like to listen than to speak, even a month later.
Eventually: "I want to see."
It's notable. He requests little.
--
Tsutsujidai is not the same.
--
The events are moved outdoors.
Across the street and up a tree, he watches.
--
She does not attend.
--
He is not moved by the evacuation. He goes another way. He can leap, springing from the balls of his feet, so many meters up. He stands atop the railway scaffolding. He stands atop the railway scaffolding. The electrical lines below are live.
He is not concerned with them.
He looks up.
There -- Gridman is come. Before any other. Striking first.
His chassis stirs with hate, but he cannot light the spark. The rules were very clear: when Gridman appears, he is able to fight. He is unable to fight.
He tries and fails to become himself. It becomes real.
Eye covered with a fresh dressing, he looks up to Gridman with quiet intensity.
'Anti' is half of a sentence.
More completely, he is the Anti-Gridman.
Unwanted in this place, he watches Gridman rise, and has no answer.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The drone Akane has been using to keep tabs on kaiju fights flutters from point to point. That... isn't the arrangement she recalls the festival having. Not really a big deal, she reflects, but... "Hm," she murmurs, chewing at the straw of a tomato juice box. "It'th gonna be kind of annoying tuh..." If they stuck to the layout they planned, she'd at least have been able to be kind of choosy.
Oh well. She's constantly hurting people she cares about, anyway. It'll be easier not to do that in a small, fixed world.
The drone flits to --
"What the -- oh you have got to be kidding me," Akane says, nerves frayed. Her all-seeing gaze turns, its rotors taking it around. Gridman unquestionably prompts an evacuation -- and everyone is ready to evacuate. The school empties onto the athletic field in a moment, then makes a neat, orderly retreat toward --
"Ramo, where... exactly are we going?" Ako asks, realizing that they have... the entire student body and then some behind them.
"When I was scouting office buildings for Miss Mass," Marusan explains, "I noticed one of them has two basement levels that are... basically not getting used at all? I thought about recommending it, but there's nowhere good to eat nearby and it was kind of spendy per square foot."
Ako blinks. She's never seen Ramo quite this -- assertive, quite this together. This is a far cry from the Ramo who lets her skate on turning in her physics homework as long as she wants -- and yet, at the same time, it's entirely the same Ramo.
"... After this," she murmurs, "can you help me with social studies? My summer homework... isn't coming together."
That startles Ramo out of her perfectly-planned movement, though only long enough for a brief stumble. "You're worried about that at a time like this? Did someone replace Ako-chan when I wasn't looking?" she asks. "... I don't mind, though." It was never the idea of helping her that she was worried about, after all -- she just didn't want to become someone who rides Ako over homework.
Akane tries to slump forward in irritation and fails. She settles for slamming her back into the back of her chair. "... that's boring," she murmurs. "There's no dramatic tension if the city saves itself..." She can't even be angry; she's just... tired of this. Tsutsujidai no longer makes great stomping grounds.
She breathes out slowly through her nose, shuts her eyes for a moment, then opens them. "ALEXIS!!"
"You rang, Akane-kun?" comes the voice in the monitor, as always.
Akane unceremoniously takes today's kaiju and turns it toward Alexis. ... after a moment, she picks up some of her older repaired models and plops them on the table, too. "I can't wait on this anymore. Looks like we're going to try really going for it."
"I was wondering when we'd get started," Alexis says, sounding like he's really luxuriating in it. "Of course. Instance Abreaction!"
Akane's pulling out all the stops today. There is an army here -- though the tip of its spear is, of course, the kaiju she showed her favorite victims and opposition: Mecha-Ghoulghilas. (She's neatly etched 'AMK-01' onto one of the plates. 'Akane's first Mecha-Kaiju,' perhaps? Certainly a serial number worthy of a weapon of war.)
"Gridman's kinda dinky today, too... I wonder if they're thinking of loading him up with mobile suit weapons or something," Akane starts. "Then again, he's a little big even for that."
Mecha-Ghoulghilas roars with a depth and intenisty that the original flavor never quite had -- but by the same token, there's something colder about this. If you were really looking for it, you could hear that tiny slice of its creator in its cry... but not to nearly the extent of her past kaiju.
A heat beam sweeps across the city, issued forth from the mouth; it kicks up debris, slices through buildings -- yet Akane's target is the area surrounding Gridman, not the school.
Akane finally manages to get animated, at least. She hops up out of her chair, even -- and goes to the roof of her building, where she stands dramatically, arms folded, long coat billowing behind her. Her tablet is in her pocket, for the moment.
"All right, Gridman Alliance!" she declares, reaching up for just a moment to push her shattered glasses up. "You too, Gutsy Flavor-of-the-Month Guard! Honestly, there are too many of you to count -- and that's the best part! All my enemies are here at once!" She's finally back into it.
She brings up a fist and pumps it once. "I'm gonna show you everything I can do in Tsutsujidai, Vessels of Light! Witness my full power!"
... It really is easier if she lets the role play her. Why -- she's even having fun with this!
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
"There you are." Yuta murmurs, as Gridman takes a fighting stance. Akane has observed correctly -- Gridman's about half his usual size. Mecha-Ghoulghilas towers over the Giant of Light. It's a little more scary, Yuta thinks, not to be towering over the kaiju himself. The monster is all the more intimidating for it.
Right as Yuta starts to feel truly jittery, he feels the familiar sensation of his companions racing to join him. It's like a tug at Gridman's heart, a feeling of completion. He breathes out a sigh of relief, standing a bit more easily. Ground trembling, all four members of the Neon Genesis Junior High Students appear from thin air and make their way to Gridman. Sky Vitter fires a few rounds, pushing Mecha-Ghoulghilas back far enough to buy them some breathing room. Perhaps the strangest of the four is Gridman Calibur... manifesting as an enormous sword flying through the air seemingly under its own power. Another beam attack tries to push back Buster Borr and Battle Tracto Max, but they continue zooming toward Gridman.
"Now is when we put our powers together!" Gridman calls, and the others respond with a unified shout of "Right!"
For anyone who has seen Gridman transform before, the sight would be familiar. Battle Tracto Max rises up onto two wheels, Buster Borr splits apart down the middle, and Sky Vitter's wings seperate. Each of them gives their all to Gridman, leaving the robot with enhanced legs, arms, armor and -- of course -- a giant sword. The whole transformation takes but a few seconds, but Gridman has gained a good deal of mass once it finishes. Yuta's confidence is restored, as they now stand even with the kaiju.
"Hyperlink Combine, Full Powered Gridman!"
KTS: Yuta Hibiki has deployed in Full Powered Gridman. POT: Mari Makinami Illustrious is now set observer.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Yuta's plan... Rikka was surprised and a little unsure of it at first, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Time and time again, her friends had proven that when there was danger, they were ready to step up and help everyone make it to safety. They might not have mobile suits or giant transformations of their own... but rather than let fear overtake them, they do what needs to be done.
It's encouraging to think about. Somehow, everyone became so strong... She's proud of them. She'll believe in them - but she still has her part to play, too.
For now, Rikka sits in the pilot seat of Synchrotank, still at its place. It'd tip their hand too soon if her mobile suit just happened to be anywhere near the school. She'd considered dressing it up as a float for the Festival, but... Akane's smart, and she's an artist. She'd probably be able to recognize the silhouette even if they broke it up a bit with decorations. No, for now she just has to wait... as nerve-wracking as it can be, waiting for the beginning of a war you know is coming. Now she just has to wait for the signal - and it isn't long before it sounds.
"Alright... time to get going. Good luck, everyone." Rikka says, as the Neon Genius Junior High Students vanish into Junk. They have their parts to play, and hers... is to just get there in time to support Yuta. Synchrotank races through the empty streets of Tsutsujidai. The Culture Festival has drawn many people to the school, so she's fine with putting the pedal to the metal a bit more than usual... and soon enough, her goal is in sight.
Synchrotank drifts into position next to Gridman before rising from tank mode onto its feet.
"I'm here, Gridman!" Rikka calls out... and then pauses, staring at Gridman's new form. "...They... really did do a 'Full Combine'..."
She doesn't let herself get distracted for long - instead, turning her attention toward Mecha-Ghoulghilas at the head of the kaiju army. Rikka takes a deep breath and exhales.
"...I'm ready for you, Akane." Rikka murmurs - this time, under her breath, as she grips the controls.
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais Cardiff, for her part, is at the festival itself; she's not *socializing*, per se, but she's attending. Most of the inquiries about her outfit are answered with 'it's cosplay'.
Really, it's difficult to enjoy the festival with the Sword of Damocles overhead; she keeps glancing over toward a break in the foliage just past the campus wall. An empty spot.
She's not here to enjoy the festival. No, she's here to protect it. She doesn't even blink when Gridman's colossal form blots out the sun, merely depositing an empty paper cup in a recycling bin and walking calmly against the flow of evacuating students. Toward that spot past the wall.
She vaults over the wall easily, disappearing behind it; moments later, the air seems to shimmer and ripple, revealing an M9 Gernsback rising to its feet. It's been painted a dark purple, with light-gold trim; the visage of a lion, outlined in that same gold, surrounds the Arm Slave's head.
Inside, Renais strips both layers of her cooling coat, exposing ports on her shoulders. She brings the cockpit harness down over her front, connecting her cooling system with the AS'. She flicks a switch, and sighs in relief as her body temperature drops to something close to comfortable.
"Gridman Alliance and allies, this is Renais Cardiff deploying." The Gernsback leaps out into the street, pulling the shotcannon off its back as it stands beside Gridman and the Synchrotank.
Leina Ashta has arrived.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Anti requests very little. So she fulfilled this one.
However, she's not sitting in a tree, she's on campus for the Deculture Festival preparations. Quietly, she's checked every gate on school grounds to make certain none are locked, and thus no surprises are in store.
She's handed out 'fire' evacuation plans to various teachers and club leaders while wearing a bright yellow high visibility 'safety committee' vest.
In the days preceding she arranged some last minute moves with the main GUTS committee, for the more popular outdoor booths with the highest traffic to be in more open spaces and closer to the athletic field, to promote 'fire safety'.
It might have stressed some clubs out, so she had lended a hand towards moving their setup.
Now, on the day of, she's mostly relying on her co-conspirator, Ramos. It's her school, so she'll know best how to redirect things in a useful way.
And goodness, she's certainly delivered, Leina is quite impressed by her work, she can even see the shape of things, in how Ako's causing some constructive conflict.
When the screaming starts on one end of the campus, she lifts a megaphone, "Everyone stay calm! Help out your classmates, evacuate towards the athletic fields!"
There's something strange about this though, as she looks up at the Giant of Light, she's never seen Gridman before even if she's heard of him from Yuta, and Nidaime about how he protects this town - and how he's what Akane is after. "Is that - Gridman?"
She doesn't feel any hostile intent radiating off of him. He's being careful not to step on anything. It doesn't take her long to realize that it must be, and what the plan is. With a smile, she salutes casually with her megaphone and gives a wink towards the giant of light, before she heads back towards directing traffic.
By the time Mecha-Ghoulgilas roars, the campus is evacuated, and she's making a beeline for one of the gates of the school...
Leina Ashta leaves for Side 2 - PLANT [ZFT].
KTS: Renais Cardiff has deployed in M9 Gernsback. KTS: Rikka Takarada has deployed in Synchrotank. KTS: Rikka Takarada has changed loadout. <Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
Mamoru Amami and Ikumi Kaidou have never been to a PLANT. They weren't really planning on it. But Tsutsujidai is in danger, and they have advance warning. A girl in need is fighting both herself and the city, and they're going to stop her the best way they know how.
Copious violence with a dash of love.
Smuggled through a cargo freighter into Tsutsujidai, GaoGo emerges in Accept Mode, scanner visor head allowing Mamoru Amami to gain data and detect their foe. Once that's done... they move into their position in the city, as Mecha-Ghoulgilas emerges. Mamoru speaks. "Ikumi, are you ready?"
"Of course. Let's do this."
Mamoru nods within his armor, preparing to transfer mental controls. Finally, he shouts.
"YOU HAVE CONTROL!"
Ikumi follows, as he gains power.
"I HAVE CONTROL!"
GaoGo starts to shift, before flipping the torso upside down, a more 'humanoid' head taking control as Ikumi becomes the central pilot. But it's not complete, just yet.
"REQUESTING FINAL FUSION!"
Shigeru Akamatsu has been waiting from Orbit Base. Despite the distance, he laughs. The kids have grown up - a mission wih Guy Shishioh for the first time since his disappearance, and they're all going in.
"FINAL FUSION APPROVED! Go forth, GaoGaiGou!"
Hana Hatsuno twitches at the pronunciation, slightly, before raising her fist. She's still always worried she's not strong enough for this, but Mamoru's out there fighting. She has to be.
"Final Fusion! PROGRAM DRIVE!"
Her fist smashes onto the glass, breaking through and activating a big red button. While she does this, wireless transmission is sent to three machines - LinerGao II, DrillGao II, and StealthGao II, emerging from the shipping containers they've been stored in.
"FINAL FUSION!" Mamoru and Ikumi shout, as the flying train, drill robot, and stealth jet lock into place, mecha shifting as it forms into a heroic King of Braves. An electromagnetic storm of sorts flows around it, doing minor damage to surroundings, but it's negligible.
GaoGaiGo is born.
The large robot takes a step forward, and then another, and then puts both hands up, threatening Mecha-Ghoulghilas like a boxer. Ikumi Kaidou has control.
Despite GaoGaiGo's lack of skill in Low-G specifically, the boys have the willpower to fight in any environment. Mamoru adds this to his calculations, allowing Ikumi to take step by step without tripping due to gravity fluctuations.
KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has deployed in GaoGaiGo. KTS: Akane_Shinjo has deployed as a Boss for 7 opponents. <Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
With unusual initiative, Shinji volunteers to pilot Unit-01 when the attacks begin as Akane had threatened. Perhaps it's unfair to give him all the credit, though: he remembers his name on a whiteboard, and he steels himself with it.
Akane Shinjo. Shinji still doesn't know what to make of the entire situation, or how much he can help with it. They discussed her and her 'Devil' as a group, but everything's so... precarious. Everything always is, always one mistake away from completely unraveling.
The idea of failing to reach her frays at Shinji's nerves in the way losing a fight doesn't. The consequences are more visceral in his mind, too easy to imagine, and he wants to throw them all away.
He closes his eyes and breathes within Unit-01. Every motion has to be more careful on the way, wary of causalities, of destruction, and wary of where Akane herself might be hiding. He'll be looking for that in particular.
Low-G is its own uncomfortable obstacle. Shinji mutters minor pleas with himself as he navigates, Unit-01 making a major, too high leap over more sensitive ground to land down nearer Mecha-Ghoulghilas without the crash Shinji's expecting.
KTS: Shinji Ikari has deployed in Evangelion Unit-01. <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Yuta's plan is bold, but it's a smart one. He really is a bright kid, Alouette thinks. She smiles as she sees the students of Tsutsujidai quickly make their evacuation before Mecha-Ghoulghilas can even strike.
Akane.. your heart is stronger than you think it is. This is proof, isn't it?" she whispers to herself as she waits in her cockpit - although Guy, Mamoru, and Ikumi are coming too, Alouette insisted on deploying instead of operating for this fight. Not only is she a member of the Gutsy Global Guard, she joined the Gridman Alliance too, so this is personal. As such, she borrowed the GAT-O1D Long Dagger from NERV's hangars once again.
Once GaoGaiGo makes its glorious entrance, Alouette follows through and prepares her own unit, turning on comms. "Mamoru, Ikumi, thank you so much for coming!" she emits to them. To everyone else, she calls out, "Alouette Pommier, 3G Blue and Gridman Alliance, moving out!" The Long Dagger sparks to life, forgoing the Fortestra this time. Hopefully, if they take the offensive, they should be able to sweep up Mecha-Ghoulghilas quickly so the others can enjoy the festival.
KTS: Alouette Pommier has deployed in GAT-01D Long Dagger. <Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Hiding a fully-formed GaoFighGar is pretty close to impossible - the King of Braves is a massive, mighty machine, all in heroic black and blues. It is a tool for standing up and making a declaration of courage. It is, therefore, not terribly well suited to standing by. Fortunately, its main component, PhantomGao, is.
Guy Shishioh, unwitting to his cousin, has also come to the school, and is walking about in his gold vest with his hands in its pockets, ambling and waiting for the signal. And not that very far at all, perhaps a few dozen meters above and behind him - concealed by near-perfect EM scramblers and Mirror Coating - is PhantomGao. Guy checks the time at a nearby stall. There isn't an appointed hour, but...it'll be soon. When traffic is at its peak...
Gridman arises. Guy puts his hands on his hips as people flow past him, staring straight up at even this diminished Gridman. "Well," he says, with a chuckle. "Think that's the signal."
He sees GaiGou beginning its move, and does the same, backflipping up to the top of a tent and alighting on it with Superhuman Evoluder Agility. "Let's go, PhantomGao! Initiating FUUUUUUUUUSIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"
PhantomGao materializes, hovering over the school. Guy backflips the whole way upward and into a cockpit slot within the machine. It unfolds swiftly, the underside into legs and arms, the body rotating upwards and the head emerging. It flexes like testing muscles, a relatively dainty machine - compared to Gridman, anyway, at 23 and change meters, it calls its name to the sky: "GAAAAAAAAAO FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!"
Then it leaps skywards, propelled by internal Ul-Tech thrusters that let it fly a good distance away. And at the same time, he sends his signals through the relay to Orbit Base: One, signed by the Mobile Division Captain Guy Shishioh, requesting permission for Final Fusion; and a second, signed by GGG Green Acting Chief Guy Shishioh, approving the request. "FINAL FUSION! APPROOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED!" he screams, himself.
Back on Orbit Base, still rolling her shoulders from punching GaoGaiGo's Final Fusion panel, Hana Hatsuno emits a squeek as she sees the panel rotate and her system start beeping urgently. "Uh, uhm," she says. "Request and approval for Final Fusion from GaoFar!" she says, and sucks in a deep breath. "Then!" She balls up her fists tight, both hands in a overhead hammer stance, "Program Drive!" she hollers, and brings her full strength down again on the safety plastic over the second Final Fusion button. "ENGAGE!!"
Shigeru hums to himself, nodding. "Good work, good work. Everyone, strap in! Now that we don't need secrecy, we're gonna transfer the Main Order Room to Wadatsumi and deploy to PLANT space!"
Advisor Yang briefly looks like he ate an entire lemon.
"Don't give me that look, you!" Akamatsu laughs. "We'll figure out any complications later! They know we're investigating this stuff, anyway!"
Ushiyama, the Engineering Operator, reaches for the lever on his console. calling, "All staff, secure safety harnesses and prepare for Order Room transfer!"
And while that's beginning, GaoFar has emitted a huge electromagnetic tornado, a whirlwind of light and particles obscuring it from all sight as the GaoMachines emerge - LinerGao II, rumbling out of a parking lot; DrillGao II, drilling out of the substrata; StealthGao III, flying down from where it had rested in the central mountain! Diving in to read out the instructions on their Program Rings, each slots swiftly into its place...!
And soon, the whirling electromagnetic tornado shatters apart, and a second King of Braves descends, crying its name boldly to the sky: "Gao! FIGH! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!"
The street creaks under its weight. But GaoFighGar's eyes burn with challenge behind its mask. In the belly of the beast, Guy tags GaoGaiGo and Alouette's Dagger. His team. He'll have to keep an eye on them.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Well! They certainly didn't waste the readiness. Akane looks at the newly-combined Gridman -- fully armed and armored, 'whole' in an entirely different way from the usual full-sized Gridman -- and narrows her eyes a little. Her nerves go back to fraying.
"It's... at that point it's really just a robot, huh..." she mumbles to herself, shaking her head and pulling her tablet back out. "Alexis," she says, as the Devil of the Hyper World appears, picture-in-picture, on her tablet screen. "It's right out of X4, isn't it? Where do you think he picked it up?"
Alexis laughs a little. Alexis has observed a similar form of Gridman before, of course -- but... "Watching GaoFighGar's Final Fusion tells the story, does it not?" comes his answer. "Vessels of Light follow certain progressions. It's all very familiar, isn't it?"
'GaoFighGar,' 'Vessel of Light...' "Isn't Guy Shishioh just a...?" Akane has never done much categorizing within 'human.' Even some of the really extravagant cases...
"What other term would there be, for the beings the Gutsy Global Guard attracts? Surely you understand that humanity is more than a form."
Akane's eyes narrow. "... Right." She stands up straight, drawing both hands in to hold her tablet. "Well -- come on, Vessel of Light! There's no way I'm going to lose to you!"
They have the initiative -- which means Mecha-Ghoulghilas needs to move straight to the most extravagant violence available to it. It stomps forward, opening its mouth and revealing a heat beam barrel the match of any BioNet weapon.
It is, after all, precisely that.
The head sweeps from one side to the other, constricted by the strange assembly on the neck, having to put in all the more work to manage it; Synchrotank, the Gernsback, Evangelion Unit-01, and GaoGaiGo all sit in its direct path.
The shoulder assemblies light up a moment later, favoring Alouette -- coming in from an angle that requires a distinctly different firing solution -- with a quick burst of energy, buying Mecha-Ghoulghilas the space to advance on its primary targets: GaoFighGar and Gridman.
Gridman receives the standard 'hello' of a vicious stab with the new claw covers; frustration rolls off the kaiju's stance as it aims for the midsection. This maneuver roots it in place -- which is fine, of course. The swivel guns on Mecha-Ghoulghilas's new body attachments both turn to point toward Guy -- and reveal power that their comparatively tiny size in no way seems to indicate, aiming a spray of massive slugs directly for the midsection of the King of Braves's longtime partner, Alouette's proudest creation.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Yuta Hibiki with AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Grab! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Twirl! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Shinji Ikari with AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Twirl! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets GaoGaiGo Team with AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Twirl! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Renais Cardiff with AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Twirl! KTS: Guy Shishioh has deployed in GaoFighGar. KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Guy Shishioh with AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Core Shot! KTS: Rikka Takarada blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Twirl, taking 1110 damage! KTS: [Lucky] GaoGaiGo Team's Unleash Your Soul! activates, and luck goes his way! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team successfully Blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Twirl KTS: Yuta Hibiki rushes into the attack! KTS: Yuta Hibiki partially guards Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Grab, taking 1845 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Yuta Hibiki! KTS: Shinji Ikari charges into the attack! KTS: Shinji Ikari's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shinji Ikari partially guards Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Twirl, taking 2835 damage! KTS: Alouette Pommier blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot, taking 1200 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Guy Shishioh blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Core Shot, taking 3240 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Renais Cardiff blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Twirl, taking 2220 damage! <Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
The heat beam goes flying forth, as Ikumi is still learning how to operate the machine in Low-G. But that doesn't mean he's not ready for what's coming. Reaching his arm out, he shouts out. "MAMORU! YOU HAVE LEFT CONTROL!"
Mamoru reaches his left arm up, shouting back. "I HAVE LEFT CONTROL!"
The mental-linked unit suddenly pops and shifts again, as the left arm goes up. "PROTECT SHAAAAAAAAAAADE!" Mamoru shouts out.
A barrier forms, absorbing the heat beam even as Mamoru strains, before dissolving, revealing an untouched GaoGaiGo.
Speakers light up from Mamoru's cockpit. Guy's in trouble! Can they distract the Mecha-Ghoulghilas with the power of teamwork!?
"Keep your eyes over here!"
GaoGaiGo suddenly rushes forward from a joint effort, left fist moving to clobber straight into Mecha-Ghoulghilas' jaw if it gets a chance, or into its chest if it pulls back.
"Guy! Alouette! Your turn!"
KTS: GaoGaiGo Team: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: GaoGaiGo Team targets Akane Shinjo with 3G Fisticuffs! <Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Rikka is quick to join Gridman, and the rest of their allies soon after. "Rikka! I'm glad to fight next to you. Everyone, thank you for your assistance!" Gridman slashes his sword down, pointing it at the leader of the kaiju army. "Together, we can defeat any foe!"
The one benefit of Mecha-Ghoulghilas being so large is that it broadcasts its moves. "Here it comes!" Calls Vit, as Gridman shifts his weight on his back foot, then races forward. He meets the kaiju's attack head-on -- stowing Calibur for the moment to grab Mecha-Ghoulghilas with both hands. Yuta grunts from the collision. Those claws are terribly sharp, and he finds himself thankful for Borr's armor covering his chest.
"If you want to get up close, then so be it!" Roars Max. Gridman plants his feet, holding Mecha-Ghoulghilas back with one hand. "Full Powered Punch!" Gridman calls, winding up and punching clean into the monster's long neck. "Yeah, how do you like that!" Borr all-but laughs. "Not so fun when we're all together, is it?"
"Stay focused, everyone!" Gridman admonishes, preparing for the kaiju's retaliation. "There's more to this one than the others!"
KTS: Yuta Hibiki targets Akane Shinjo with Full Powered Punch! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards GaoGaiGo Team's 3G Fisticuffs, taking 2296 damage! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Yuta Hibiki's Full Powered Punch, taking 2100 damage! KTS: Yuta Hibiki has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: Yuta Hibiki begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Renais, Alouette! Good to see you!" Rikka acknowledges as Renais arrives with her Arm Slave, and Alouette with her Long Dagger. With Akane's kaiju out in force, they need all the help they can get... but fortunately, they're not alone. They have friends arriving now, and on the way. Guy, Mamoru, and Ikumi from 3G, and Shinji's here too... They're all here together.
She nods, as Gridman speaks.
"Me too." Rikka replies, then watches as Gridman makes his declaration. He certainly does a good job of pepping everyone up... It's time now, though, for Mecha-Ghoulghilas's attack. This is the kaiju Akane was so proud of, enough to show off to them... it's important to Rikka to give it a good fight. The kaiju opens its mouth and reveals the barrel of a weapon - in response Rikka raises Synchrotank's bulldozer blade shields, taking the heat beam dead-on. Synchrotank is pushed back as the beam sweeps across it, the center of shield beginning to glow red from where the beam contacted.
"It's pretty serious..." Rikka murmurs, Synchrotank's arms unfolding to point its missile launchers right at Mecha-Ghoulghilas. This has become something of a signature opening move for her, at this point.
"Smokescreen, going out!" Rikka announces, unleashing a volley of smoke missiles right for Mecha-Ghoulghilas! This should hopefully make it easier for everyone...
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Renais Cardiff KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Yuta Hibiki KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Akane Shinjo with Jam! KTS: Rikka Takarada jams Akane Shinjo's sensors, reducing her accuracy. <Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais nods the Gernsback's head and gives Gridman a thumbs-up, though her cameras don't stray from Mecha-Ghoulghilas. "Good to see you too," comes her reply to Rikka. She watches it closely, eyes scanning across its many, many moving parts, watching for movement from anything and everything weaponlike--so when the AMK-01's heat 'breath' sweeps across her, she's ready, hunkering down behind one of the Gernsback's shoulder shields to let it bear the brunt of the blast. It glows red, heat spilling off of it, air shimmering. Eyes snap down to the heat meter... elevated, but still normal. Good.
The shotcannon's not her best option here. Not when its armor is still so pristine... she grabs one of the Gernsback's anti-tank daggers and aims for the neck, hoping it'll pierce. It's a long shot, and she's not inclined to reposition yet, but it's all she's got, so she sends the dagger sailing.
"Gridman! Do you have eyes on the evacuees, are they out of the way?"
KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Akane Shinjo with Anti-Tank Dagger Single Dagger! KTS: Akane Shinjo successfully avoids Renais Cardiff's Anti-Tank Dagger Single Dagger KTS: Renais Cardiff completes the Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"I... I'm here!" Shinji manages to announce, only after Yuta's called out that they're here together. It's a confirmation...!
Together, they can defeat any foe... There's no wavering in Yuta's declaration at all.
Unit-01 charges as the fight begins. An AT Field eats the beam as Shinji grits his teeth. The barrier falls, Mecha-Ghoulghilas' heat beam grazing Unit-01 across the shoulder with another wince from its pilot. Low-G means the force of it recoils differently, and Shinji scrambles to get control. "Come on, come one..." he whispers to himself.
Scrambling and almost drunken, Unit-01 digs its feet against the ground and launches forward, moving less like a machine and more like a clumsy human trying to navigate a dark room. Iits left shoulder pylon releases, opening for Unit-01 to pull a long blade into its grip. The Magoroku blade plunges into the earth, Shinji using it to stabilize his piloting and ripping it back out, riding the momentum to cleave a slash down against Mecha-Ghoulghilas.
Each move he makes helps him feel more comfortable with the adjustments he needs. When every battle is its own, terrifying learning experience, picking up on new tricks invisibly becomes the learned skill.
But Shinji's not without distracted thoughts -- a poor item to carry on the battlefield. Akane makes these kaiju. Maybe it holds some kind of clue?
KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Ikari targets Akane Shinjo with Magoroku Slash! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Shinji Ikari's Magoroku Slash, taking 3116 damage! KTS: Shinji Ikari has engaged Akane Shinjo! POT: Renais Cardiff is no longer set observer. <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette's beloved objet d'art, GaoFighGar, descends behind her, piloted by Guy, of course. "Chief! Thank you for coming, too!" Having already undergone Final Fusion, that would normally be Alouette's job but... she'll have to apologize to poor Hana later for overworking her, she thinks.
Rikka, on the front lines alongside Gridman, reaches out to Alouette, and Renais too. "Good to see you too, Rikka! I hope we can all celebrate at the festival after the battle's over." she responds enthusiastically in attempt to ease Rikka's nerves as well as her own. She thinks back to Akane's assertion that she would hate it at the festival anyways but.. she tunes it out for now.
With the hulking super-mechs that are the two King of Braves on the scene, Mecha-Ghoulgilgas is undoubtedly alerted, and immediately begins its assault. A weak burst of energy comes Alouette's way, but it melts upon Long Dagger's shield without it sustaining too much damage. Alouette knows she isn't the true target as the mechanical kaiju aims its fire directly towards GaoFighGar!
As Mamoru puts up a Protect Shade, and deals a clean hit onto Mecha-Ghoulgilas, Alouette follows up, unleashing the Long Dagger's beam sabers to slice through the kaiju's metal body. "Thank you Mamoru, I got it! Beam sabers, deploy!"
The battle is looking to be in their favour, but Gridman issues a stern warning that this kaiju isn't all that it seems...
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Akane Shinjo with ES01 Twin Beam Sabers Thrust! KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo rushes into the attack! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Alouette Pommier's ES01 Twin Beam Sabers Thrust, taking 5640 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alouette Pommier's Analyst activates, causing Designate L1! KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Renais Cardiff KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Rikka Takarada
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
"Don't worry, Gridman! The Kings of Braves won't back down from a challenge to peace!" Guy says with a heroic grin and a thumbs up.
Just before Mecha-Ghoulgilas comes at him.
"Oh no!" Guy barks, and thrusts GaoFighGar's left arm out, palm forward. The Program Ring generator fires a Ring into the path of his hand, and Guy roars, "PROTECT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!!" just seconds before the wave of projectiles slam into him. Unfortunately, physical projectiles aren't QUITE as orderly within the confines of the Protect Wall's distortion of space as beam attacks. One can see them circle and cycle their way through the rippling distortion of Protected-bent space, before they fire back out at slightly erratic angles, much of their energy spent. Still, Guy finds himself grimacing, legs dug in. "That much force right at the start," he breathes. "She really isn't playing around, this time..."
Back at the now-Branch Order Room, Ushiyama is busy securing the Order Room to Wadatsumi. At the Research Operator seat, Tamara Gogol rapidly keys through data. "It's heavily fortified much stronger than before!" she rattles off. "Defense offense speed well maybe not speed but it's way tough even if it kinda looks like an earlier model don't underestimate it!!"
"Y, yeah," Guy huffs out, startled by the resistance it gave to his Protect Wall. "I've got you, understood."
"Mobile team, communications down for one minute while Wadatsumi launches and changes paradigms!" Hana announces. "Chief, on your mark!"
Akamatsu chuckles, rolling his neck to a satisfying pop. "Alright then! DIVISION TEN: MOBILE EXECUTION FORTRESS WADATSUMI EQUIPPED WITH BRANCH ORDER ROOM! RELEASE GANTRY CRANES AND LAAAAAUNCH!"
Comms go dark from the Order Room.
Guy rears his fist back. "As for you...!" Guy hollers, and swings his Broken right arm back, and then just plows it into the mechanized Ghoulgilas' side. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Akane Shinjo with Broken Fist! KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Broken Fist, taking 3420 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Akane Shinjo! <Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
As the group starts to get situated in the office building, Marusan starts trying to get a head count. Having this much lead time to work on a solution... "... does the Yumi Foundation always do this kind of thing?" she wonders aloud, sounding genuinely impressed. "I need to catch up with Leina again when this is all over..."
Creatures big and small begin to pound into Mecha-Ghoulghilas with their fists. GaoGaiGo delivers a vicious punch that rocks it back slightly despite its comparatively tiny size -- and destabilizes it for Gridman.
When it rocks forward again, ready to fight -- it promptly gets a faceful of smokescreen missiles, leaving it unstable. More than that, they temporarily gum up the emitters on its shoulders.
Akane switches to a single-handed grip on her tablet again, drumming fingers impatiently at her thigh. Her mood is all over the place today, even by her standards... "So you're really going to fight this hard for this, huh? This culture festival with nothing for you... none of you were even meant to go to something like this!" She doesn't just mean 'her' people here, either -- as she made abundantly clear when she declared war. "Just back off... you guys really don't need to make this that hard."
The anti-tank dagger sticks into the neck -- and then the panels on the neck swing forward partway, revealing that they hinge for some purpose. It may not be the purpose Akane intended -- but it does chuck the dagger right back out before it explodes. Mecha-Ghoulghilas roars, and fires a shot from the mouth heat array at the Gernsback.
Evangelion Unit-01 slices into the kaiju -- it's tougher than Ghoulghilas was, the panels taking and distributing the force of the blow. ... it's not impossible to cut, though. There are no clues in that gaze, though -- only the aggression of a spiked fist into the Eva's midsection.
That's what Alouette gets, too; the Dagger comes at Mecha-Ghoulghilas with its beam sabers. The slim sabers find gaps in Mecha-Ghoulghilas's plating, and while it swipes at the Dagger in response, it's definitely not coming out ahead in that exchange.
When Guy comes in, Mecha-Ghoulghilas at last decides it's fully Go Time. The smoothbore guns remain trained on GaoFighGar as it comes in with that high-speed punch, moving a little more efficiently than before even as fist meets metal. The shoulders pivot very slightly, firing through the slightly-obscured lenses of the beam emitters to hopefully drive GaoGaiGo back at the same time. Once again, though -- it's Guy and Yuta who receive the worst of Akane's attention.
Only a single round issues forth for Guy this time, but it's a heavy penetrator rather than the weaker barrage earlier. No sooner does it fire than do the panels near the head finish closing up, revealing their true purpose:
A drill!
Mecha-Ghoulghilas trundles toward Gridman, swinging its head around a few times and introducing it to Synchrotank before finally trying to drive it into the axelike chestplate of Full-Powered Gridman. Needless to say, by the time it actually gets there, it's spinning at a high, high speed.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Renais Cardiff with AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Pulse! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Shinji Ikari with AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Crush! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier with AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Swipes! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Guy Shishioh with AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Penetrator! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets GaoGaiGo Team with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with AMK-01 Head-Mounted Drill Assembly Spin-Up! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Yuta Hibiki with AMK-01 Head-Mounted Drill Assembly Bore! KTS: Rikka Takarada fails to parry Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Head-Mounted Drill Assembly Spin-Up, taking 4920 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Rikka Takarada! KTS: Yuta Hibiki fails to parry Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Head-Mounted Drill Assembly Bore, taking 4860 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Yuta Hibiki! KTS: Alouette Pommier parries Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Swipes, taking 1410 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Alouette Pommier! KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Renais Cardiff fails to charge. KTS: Renais Cardiff partially guards Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 High-Intensity Heat Array Pulse, taking 2552 damage! KTS: Shinji Ikari's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Akane Shinjo anchors Shinji Ikari, forcing him into close range. KTS: Shinji Ikari fails to Parry Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Crush, taking 3510 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Shinji Ikari! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: GaoGaiGo Team's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: GaoGaiGo Team blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot, taking 2250 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo rattles Guy Shishioh, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Guy Shishioh fails to react to Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Penetrator, taking 5800 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
"I don't have eyes on them, but I know they're safe!" Yuta calls to Renais. "We had a team take care of it! You're free to go all out, Renais!"
Just as Gridman feared, the kaiju only now reveals its true strength. "Guy, look out!" Gridman shouts, keeping his eyes on the drill. The monster is deceptively effective, despite its clumsy movement. Yuta grits his teeth as Mecha-Ghoulghilas goes for Synchrotank first, before turning on him.
"Stealing my thing!" Borr shouts, indignant, in the seconds before they're hit.
Gridman raises his sword to try and counter the worst of the damage, but the drill is too fast. Calibur is knocked aside, and Gridman cries out as the drill bores into his chest armor. "Akane must be really -- ngh -- mad!" Yuta manages, before they break away from the attack. "We have to take care of that drill." Calibur says, speaking up at last. "It'll tear through us. And the others."
"Right!" Gridman brandishes his sword. "Full Powered Slash!"
The Giant of Light aims for the creature's neck, hoping to sever the drill at its source. Calibur flashes in the sunlight as Gridman brings down the sword, shouting with effort.
KTS: Yuta Hibiki has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Yuta Hibiki targets Akane Shinjo with Full Powered Slash! <Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
Despite Protect Wall working last time, it doesn't work as well this time, negating some of the damage of the sudden beam shots through the smokescreen, but finally allowing GaoGaiGo to get pushed and rocked backwards, burns in the plating. "Mamoru, adjusttments!" Ikumi calls out, as Mamoru makes sure they don't fall flat.
"Ikumi! We need to anchor it!" Mamoru calls as he looks through the data, causing Ikumi to nod, pushing forward.
And then, GaoGaiGo leaps up. It moves leg first for Mecha-Ghoulghilas, as Ikumi shouts out. "DRILL KNEE...LOCKDOWN!"
The drill on the knee starts spinning, and moves to impale into Mecha-Ghoulghilas, anchoring the two together as GaoGaiGo lands and forcing close-ranged shenanigans, should it hit.
KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: GaoGaiGo Team targets Akane Shinjo with Drill Knee Lockdown! <Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Yeah... here's hoping. I have some promises to keep, after all." Rikka replies as Alouette brings up the festival, a small smile crossing her face. "I promised one of my friends I'd go to tea ceremony her club's putting on... You should come too, if they still end up holding it after all this."
She notes, though, the way Unit-01 is moving and ventures...
"Shinji, everything alright?" Rikka asks.
She doesn't have much time to consider others, though, as Mecha-Ghoulghilas reveals its hidden weapon... its head turns into a drill!
"Oh, so that's what those were for..." Rikka comments, then chuckles to herself a little at Borr's indignation. The kaiju charges toward her and Gridman, then, its head swinging like a weapon! In surprise, Synchrotank's dagger is drawn, coming up to meet the drill - unfortunately, the kaiju proves more than a match for the salvaged weapon, sparks flying as metal is shorn away as the drill goes right through it, carving several lines across Synchrotank's shoulder. The mobile suit is forced to back away from it but recovers in fairly short order, taking aim with its twin cannons and unleashing a wide-ranged water blast at the kaiju!
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Akane Shinjo with Wide-Range Extinguishing! KTS: Rikka Takarada uses Lucky Charm KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Shinji Ikari KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting GaoGaiGo Team KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Yuta Hibiki's Full Powered Slash, taking 4320 damage! KTS: Yuta Hibiki has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: Yuta Hibiki begins a Formation attack! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team anchors Akane Shinjo, forcing her into close range. KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to GaoGaiGo Team's Drill Knee Lockdown, taking 3840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] GaoGaiGo Team's Roar! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] GaoGaiGo Team's Shout! activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Rikka Takarada's Wide-Range Extinguishing, taking 2800 damage! <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Oh, that's a lovely idea. Renais wanted to take me to a deculture festival event, so maybe we should all go," Alouette replies with a smile. But for now, she needs to focus so there can be a festival at all...
As Alouette's beam blades pierce through Mecha-Ghoulghilas, she's almost surprised herself at the viciousness of her attack - if a kaiju can even feel surprise, Mecha-Ghoulghilas seems bewildered as well, and all it musters in return is a feeble claw swipe, which Alouette parries with her still-active beam sabers.
Once out of immediate range of the kaiju's attack, she quickly turns on comms. GaoFighGar has taken heavy attack after heavy attack from Mecha-Ghoulghilas' relentless attacks, and for the first time she can remember, the proud and stalwart King of Braves sounds genuinely caught off-guard. "Chief!! Are.. you alright?" She calls out, keeping a brave tone despite her worries. Following up on Mamoru and Ikumi's drill knee attack, Alouette prepares to open fire with her vulcans to hopefully keep the kaiju distracted from GaoFighGar. Gridman was right... Mecha-Ghoulghilas really is a fearsome foe - what is going through Akane's head right now?
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Akane Shinjo with Igelstellung 75mm Multibarrel CIWS Dash-and-Fire! <Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais clicks her tongue as the Mecha-Ghoulghilas swings the knife away, eyeing Shinji's Unit-01 with some measure of discomfort. The Evangelions never sat right with her, particularly that one...
Good. No need to worry about casualties. Renais makes a snap judgment as the Ghoulghilas lobs a heat-pulse at her, figuring if she lines herself up, she can close in while it's going for someone else. She shoulder-charges toward the incoming projectile, but the angle is off, and the fire splashes against both armor and shield, spiking the AS' heat and wearing into its armor. "SHIT!" she yells, withdrawing into an alleyway to let the coolant cycle through. She didn't manage it... but she's closer now, and after the Ghoulghilas' last attack, it's left itself properly vulnerable.
"Well, I suppose I can't say no to such an invitation, can I?" she remarks dryly to Alouette. The Gernsback lifts its leg and kicks a foothold into a wall, actuators whining as it boosts itself up onto the roof...
Only to find herself facing a drill-necked mecha-beast. "Ugh. Fuck. Fucking FUCK!" she curses, and a few more times in French besides. She pulls out the Boxer shotcannon and fires a heavy slug--this time, closer to center mass. A drill's going to be reinforced.
KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Akane Shinjo with Boxer 57mm Shotcannon Slug! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Alouette Pommier's Igelstellung 75mm Multibarrel CIWS Dash-and-Fire, taking 3705 damage! KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Renais Cardiff's Boxer 57mm Shotcannon Slug, taking 4920 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Renais Cardiff's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh <Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Unit-01's AT Field absorbs much of the impact, buying time for Unit-01 to twist, but not quite enough time. The blade is too slow, Mecha-Ghoulghila clipping it, jostling it from the Eva's grip and ramming its spiked fist square into Unit-01's middle. Shinji's eyes shoot open wide, teeth rattling in his skull and his next breath choked out.
Neither Asuka nor his father are here to yell at him to pay attention. He hears their voices anyway.
But instead of anyone else echoing those thoughts, Rikka asks if he's all right. Shinji takes another deep breath, grip on the controls tighter. "Yes," he responds, with at least a shred of conviction.
Yuta confirms he knows the evacuees are safe, taking some of the burden off of Shinji's stray thoughts. He grits his teeth and pushes Unit-01 forward. Without the weapon it held earlier, Evangelion Unit-01 uses its fists, pummeling against Mecha-Ghoulghila's steel form to try and weaken its steel hide.
KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Ikari targets Akane Shinjo with Eva-01 Unarmed Brawl! KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Shinji Ikari's Eva-01 Unarmed Brawl, taking 4400 damage! KTS: Shinji Ikari has engaged Akane Shinjo! <Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
That one, GaoFighGar can't as easily repel. Guy gets the Protect Wall up again, but the firepower is strong enough this time to punch completely through the bent space, blasting the elder King of Braves with massive slugs that explode and send it sprawling backward until it staggers into a tall building. "Nngh...It's fine!" Guy calls back to Alouette. "I won't go down this easily!"
Normally, the pilots' vitals are managed by the Mobile Operator. Hana's still out of communication, though. If Alouette were to, say, check the readings, though...it sure does look like GaoFighGar's taking a beating.
"She's targeting me...I guess we finally made her real mad, huh? That makes it even more important that I keep standing!"
GaoFighGar's shoulders are pockmarked and smoking, the main body beneath all the black clearly battered. But Guy still persists. "Don't get distracted, Gridman!" Guy yells from within. "Remember what you're fighting for...the everyday lives and happiness of this whole city! Everyone, Gridman!" Everyone. Everyone, including Akane Shinjo herself.
Then he thrusts his Protect arm forward, and lightning crackles along it before Guy roars, "PLASMA HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!!"
Crackling power writhes out to grapple the enormous Mecha-Ghoulgilas, and then it physically lifts the titanic machine up and hurls it into a towering, now-empty structure, cracking it and hopefully also Mecha-Ghoulgilas in half.
KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Yuta Hibiki KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Akane Shinjo with Plasma Hold Grappling!
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The good news is: Gridman is very successful in its attack on the neck, carving off part of a panel and exposing the head to damage once again. GaoGaiGo keeps it from moving by getting stuck in with its drill knees, and Gridman's follow-up is flawless. It doesn't quite have enough force behind it to behead the creature, but...
Akane's kaiju gets pushed back with the blast of water, and with the armor starting to give, it becomes apparent just how much of Ghoulghilas is in Mecha-Ghoulghilas -- despite the new aesthetics, it's all still clay underneath. It flakes and crumbles even still.
Two giants -- both metallic armor over something more primal, more 'real' -- come to blows, and Shinji's pounds through Akane's, leaving a pit and then a hole, exposing the emptiness within. (Perhaps the fleshy layer of Akane's kaiju is itself an illusion.) The hole, in turn, receives Renais's shotcannon slug cleanly -- and it blows out the back, dragging the wires inside Mecha-Ghoulghilas along with it. It wobbles, rounding on 3G.
The Long Dagger's vulcans cover it as it repositions while in-close, but... in the end, GaoFighGar is a Vessel of Light and Alouette and her Dagger have not quite managed to dig into the part of Akane's brain that does mental gymnastics enough to get that designation, and Mecha-Ghoulghilas ultimately reflects its creator's intentions.
Guy does successfully take hold of Mecha-Ghoulghilas with the full power of Plasma Hold; a mid-sized mall serves as the ultimate target, and Mecha-Ghoulghilas nearly loses an arm to the impact. Only 'nearly,' though -- and aren't the arms really somewhat vestigial at this point? Once, of course, the hobby-wire claws were a significant part of Ghoulghilas's arsenal, but now...
With a slightly higher-pitched roar than before, Mecha-Ghoulghilas sprays a barrage of bullets and beams in all directions. It still seems singularly intent on tearing Gridman and GaoFighGar apart to the exclusion of all others -- though GaoGaiGo, a similar type of creature, and the Evangelion, humanity's decisive weapon, have begun to earn its ire as well. Synchrotank, the Gernsback, and the Dagger, by comparison, receive only a light peppering of beam fire.
Mecha-Ghoulghilas stops cold, leveling all of its guns at Guy at point blank; while the smoothbore cannons continue to be the primary thing ripping into the King of Braves, Akane's Kaiju seems to want to leave nothing on the table.
Gridman, meanwhile -- evidently not deterred by Mecha-Ghoulghilas's drill -- receives a heavy penetrating round from the smoothbore guns. The violence is high -- yet somehow, rote, almost routine.
NERV's other major decisive weapons certainly don't get neglected. GaoGaiGo, in close as it is, receives a point-blank barrage similar to Guy's; Unit-01, for its part, gets a wide-ranging detonation that threatens to topple an evacuated building into its side. ... Unit-01 is actually slightly taller than the building, but Akane's kaiju usually aren't that strategic with their violence...
Akane keeps watching, silent for now. Maybe today it'll finally be enough.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo targets GaoGaiGo Team with AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Point Blank Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Shinji Ikari with AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Detonation! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Yuta Hibiki with AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Penetrator! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Renais Cardiff with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Rapid Fire! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Trick Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Guy Shishioh with AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Point Blank Shot! KTS: Rikka Takarada blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot, taking 1850 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Guy Shishioh fails to react to Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Point Blank Shot, taking 3300 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh has been defeated! KTS: Akane Shinjo repulses Guy Shishioh, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Akane Shinjo roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Shinji Ikari fails to rush. KTS: Shinji Ikari's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shinji Ikari partially guards Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Detonation, taking 3608 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Alouette Pommier rushes into the attack! KTS: Alouette Pommier partially guards Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Trick Shot, taking 4800 damage! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: GaoGaiGo Team blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Point Blank Shot, taking 4840 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo repulses GaoGaiGo Team, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Akane Shinjo roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Yuta Hibiki fails to rush. KTS: Akane Shinjo rattles Yuta Hibiki, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Yuta Hibiki partially guards Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Smoothbore Rapidfire Gun Penetrator, taking 6090 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
The bore shot blasts GaoGaiGo back before a Protect Shade can fully go up, disengaging the drill, as Mamoru watches Guy take a big attack simultaneously. He wants to shout out...but he doesn't. He needs to steel himself.
Ikumi realizes the situation, and transfers power. "YOU HAVE CONTROL!"
Mamoru grimaces, the two shaken by the bore, and nods. "I HAVE CONTROL!"
"You can't just hurt whoever you want...Break Synthesize!"
Energy begins glowing in the chest grill of GaoGaiGo, before Mamoru calls out again, as a massive three-pronged claw unfolds from GaoGaiGo's back.
"G-Set!"
It's not Hell and Heaven, but this doesn't warrant that yet. Instead...
Mamoru pushes GaoGaiGo forward, using his calculations, and shouts as the glowing claw moves to impact. "SYNAPSE..."
The claw strikes, but the physical force isn't the center of the attack. Instead, as he makes impact, a burst of that energy explodes outwards, trying to burn a hole in Mecha-Ghoulghilas' torso.
"...BURN!"
KTS: GaoGaiGo Team targets Akane Shinjo with Synapse Burn! KTS: Guy Shishioh rattles Akane Shinjo, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Plasma Hold Grappling, taking 6120 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards GaoGaiGo Team's Synapse Burn, taking 5487 damage! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has engaged Akane Shinjo! <Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
"Guy!" Yuta shouts, watching GaoFighGar take so much damage. "Please, retreat if you have to! We're fighting for your happiness, too!"
Yuta can't help but feel a rush of triumph at the sight of his attack working so well. "We're getting somewhere! Keep it up, everyone!"
But... did Akane just put metal panels over the old, broken down Ghoulghilas? Why would she do that, when every other time she's made something entirely new? "Great work, Shinji!" Yuta calls, watching his Eva tear into the monster. "You too, Renais!"
"Gridman!" Max shouts as the kaiju shrieks and launches another attack. Gridman tries an acrobatic move to dodge into and around the attack, but he's clipped by the heavy round. The hit sends him to the ground, though he's quick to stand back up again. "We can't take too many more of those!" Borr adds in.
Getting to his feet just in time to see Mecha-Ghoulghilas level its guns at Guy, Yuta feels his heart skip a beat in fear. "Guy -- get out of there!" Everyone was taking so much damage... Gridman had to do something to end this fight, and quick! Something about this felt different, still... and he didn't want to find out why.
"All together!" Gridman calls to his component parts, his companions. "Full Powered Combination!" They shout as one. Sky Vitter's jets ignite on Gridman's legs, sending him rocketing forward. He grabs Mecha-Ghoulghilas, clinging to the kaiju with all his strength. The jet engines whine with strain, but Gridman manages to get himself and the kaiju into the air. They don't soar into the sky, grappling with the kaiju all the while.
"Now!" Vit calls, and Gridman hurls the kaiju into the air, then punches it back toward the ground. Yuta's memory flashes to the beach ball game at the beach, yesterday. It was almost the same move he'd used then, having fun with everyone!
Gridman flies after the kaiju, letting the jets quiet as he touches back down on the ground. "Have you had enough?" Calibur asks, his voice monotone.
KTS: Yuta Hibiki has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh KTS: Yuta Hibiki targets Akane Shinjo with Full Powered Combination! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Yuta Hibiki's Full Powered Combination, taking 3608 damage! KTS: Yuta Hibiki has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: Yuta Hibiki begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"It would be nice to do something together." Rikka agrees, as Alouette suggests they all go. Namiko probably wouldn't say no to some extra eyes on herself, anyway, she figures. Shinji, meanwhile, confirms that he's alright... and so, Rikka nods, focusing her attention back on Mecha-Ghoulghilas.
It's focusing more on the others than herself right now, but that doesn't mean she can relax - she has to dive behind a building to protecting herself from the incoming volley of beam fire - even still, some of it manages to make contact.
"Akane... she's really serious about this." Rikka murmurs. "Her kaiju's fighting so viciously..."
She frowns a little, at that thought... but, she has to stay focused.
"This one's dangerous... be ready to take cover if you need to!" Rikka calls out. She takes aim with her missile launchers again. This time, rather than firing at Mecha-Ghoulghilas, she takes aim for locations near Shinji, Alouette, and Yuta - creating clouds of smoke they can use to take cover if they find themselves in danger.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Yuta Hibiki, Alouette Pommier, and Shinji Ikari with Scatter. KTS: Rikka Takarada scatters cover, making Yuta Hibiki harder to target! KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Yuta Hibiki KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Shinji Ikari KTS: Rikka Takarada scatters cover, making Shinji Ikari harder to target! KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Guy promises Alouette that he'll be okay, and although it's inspiring, she knows that he's not in the condition to keep fighting.. and indeed, GaoFighGar takes a point blank volley of fire that tears into its armor. From there, Alouette loses all communications with Guy... "C-Chief! No..." She knows that even if she calls out to him, he won't be able to hear her right now..
Up until now, the kaiju hasn't really been trying too hard to target or deal significant damage to Alouette's unit, and she wonders if this is because Akane truly has no interest or intent on fighting her. It seems like all wants is to take down the "Vessels of Light" Gridman and GaoFighGar. Still, Alouette rushes towards it's next shot of beam fire, beam sabers in hand once again, hoping to get another clean hit in. She tries not to flinch as the attack nearly blasts by the cockpit. She doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to break her focus. No matter how dire the situation is, a Brave can't give up - they'll simply have to find away to turn around the situation themselves. Alouette has seen 3G fight many times, and if they know how to do something, it's make a comeback!
Trying to all of her courage, Alouette drives each of her Long Dagger's beam swords into the kaiju's fleshy openings consecutively, using Rikka's helpful smokescreen as a cover.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Hurling Mecha-Ghoulghilas mostly serves to annoy it, and GaoFighGar drops back into its standard posture, fists clenched and ready. And then Mecha-Ghoulghilas gives its answer - in the form of every one of those cannons. "Here it comes," Guy hisses, and, "PROTECT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLL!!!" he screams, throwing up his palm and its Program Ring again. It manages to weaken some of the blow.
It's not remotely enough, as shell after shell blasts into GaoFighGar. One of StealthGao III's wings cracks off; another completely blows away LinerGao's left cockpit, sending GaoFighGar staggering back and back. Guy screams: "GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" as GaoFighGar leaves the ground, pummeled so thoroughly by so much fire that it lands a full city block away, battered. Broken.
Comms come back up from the Order Room.
"Communications re-established!" Hana's voice chimes. "Getting everyone's signal nNNNOW!? Chief Guy!? GaoFighGar's nearly totally disabled! And your vitals are looking bad! You need to pull back!"
But from deep inside the nearly-darkened GaoFighGar, Guy's voice rumbles, "I...won't."
GaoFighGar slams its palms down, forcing itself to rise to its feet. "I won't. These people need to be protected...this place...these people...have a right to peace! I won't yield in front of that!! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
He throws his arms wide, roaring, "HELL! AND! HEAVEN!!"
The Protect Left Arm of Protection becomes shrouded in a placid bloom of solid light. The Broken Right Arm of Destruction whirls with chaotic energy of its own.
The G-Stone Shines Brighter...
The two hands struggle against each other, repelling each other as total, incompatible opposites. But Guy forces one into the other, hissing the spell to unite two powers into one: "Gemu giru gan go gufo..."
Finally, he presses them together and they release a massive burst of energy, a roaring electromagnetic maelstrom blasting in all directions from GaoFighGar to try and pin Mecha-Ghoulghilas down for a precious few seconds. Guy grits his teeth, power SURGING through every cell in his body as the living G-Stone he is. GaoFighGar sets its glowing orange eyes on Mecha-Ghoulghilas, and Guy roars the final piece of the spell as the vents on the back of StealthGao III flip open, blasting GaoFighGar's set feet forward with plumes of Ul-Tech fire. A pair of hands blazing with the power of protection and destruction scream toward Mecha-Ghoulghilas with intent to simply rip that clay body asunder and find and destroy anything vital within it, while Guy screams: "VIIIIIIIIIIIIIITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
KTS: Guy Shishioh has deployed in GaoFighGar. KTS: Rikka Takarada scatters cover, making Alouette Pommier harder to target! KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Akane Shinjo with ES01 Twin Beam Sabers Combo! KTS: Renais Cardiff blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Rapid Fire, taking 2640 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Akane Shinjo with Hell and Heaven! KTS: Akane Shinjo partially guards Alouette Pommier's ES01 Twin Beam Sabers Combo, taking 5795 damage! KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: Alouette Pommier completes the Formation attack! KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Hell and Heaven, taking 7260 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Akane Shinjo! KTS: Guy Shishioh roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
With grit teeth and elbow grease, Shinji manages to penetrate some of the kaiju's armor... and not without surprise at the emptiness he reveals before the other attacks follow.
Yuta's praising him now. Shinji's eyes light up with the hint of a sparkle.
Unit-01 thrusts out an AT Field against the detonation blast. What Shinji isn't prepared for is the building beside him, toppled over in the same explosion and crashing against his Evangelion. The arms act as a makeshift shield without a barrier, Shinji cringing as debris spill over the Evangelion. Evacuated. Everyone was evacuated! Remember that! Not only in more lives not being lost, but in Akane not having been the one to do it.
Shinji pants for breath, exhausted and aching. The Evangelion's taken a significant amount of damage... this kaiju is trying to destroy them. Shinji frowns, sullen.
"...If she succeeds here, she wouldn't be able to turn back."
Rikka provides smoke cover, Unit-01 rushes forward, and when it exits the smoke it's got a knife, thrusting it further into the weak point he's made and trying to tear the kaiju further apart, grunting all the while.
His effort ends in time for him to see a great glowing --
"What...?!"
KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Ikari targets Akane Shinjo with Progressive Knife Drive! KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo parries Shinji Ikari's Progressive Knife Drive, taking 1620 damage! KTS: Shinji Ikari has engaged Akane Shinjo! <Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
Guy is down. Mamoru's impacting, but he's scared. His 'big brother' is hurt.
And then Guy Shishioh rises, glowing. "The G-Stone...Guy!!!"
Hell and Heaven. Mamoru cheers on the comm, as he shouts to Guy.
"You can do it! This is the hero I remember, 'Mister'! Let's save them all!"
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais drops down on a knee, baring the Gernsback's unhurt shoulder-shield toward Mecha-Ghoulgilas. Armor scars, melts, and ablates under the beam fire; the shield holds, but the mech beneath is wearing down. She grits her teeth, peeking up over the shield to see GaoFighGar pitch the kaiju into a building...
And get torn apart as his thanks. Renais' heart drops into the pit of her stomach. "GUY!" she yells out, suddenly gripped by fear. She knows how it is for him. He drives himself past the limit, again and again... she may clash with him, she may hate him for his luck sometimes, but to see him decimated so completely, all at once...
Has his luck finally run out?
No.
No, she decides, as the G-Stone on her wrist shines its sigil, illuminating the Gernsback's dark cockpit. "Guy! GET THE FUCK UP! I saw you kill a GOD, DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE GONNA LET SOME CLAY HOMEBREW *BULLSHIT* KILL YOU NOW!" Her heart pours out over the comm and into the G-Stone...
He rises once more. He gets up again, as the King of Braves always does.
And she's not gonna let him do it alone.
She grabs the Gernsback's monomolecular knife off its back and leaps in, sprinting as fast as the Arm Slave's legs will go.
"This is the power..."
She vaults up toward the kaiju's neck with a rising stab.
"Of COURAGE!"
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
When Guy returns to communications, with a Hell and Heaven flying straight towards Mecha-Ghoulghilas, Alouette is nothing short of relieved. Like Mamoru, this is the hero she remembers.
"Chief, you're okay! I knew you would be.. Just be sure to take a long rest after the battle, please." She has an understanding of how much using *that* attack hurts him. "And also make sure to let me take in GaoFighGar's parts for repairs! It took quite the thrashing in this fight," she.. kind of nags, but in a way that shows just how glad she is that Guy is safe.
KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Akane Shinjo with GRAW-2 Monomolecular Cutter Press! KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to parry Renais Cardiff's GRAW-2 Monomolecular Cutter Press, taking 5170 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Renais Cardiff's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Renais Cardiff has engaged Akane Shinjo! <Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Yes! Yes! Crush him!" Akane shouts, as she sees GaoFighGar hit the ground, obscured by debris. She thinks back to how useful he'd been in saving Renais, for just a split second -- but it doesn't matter. They're the ones who chose to make enemies of her instead of taking her kindness and then leaving her alone.
Maybe this is it? Maybe this is -- enough? Surely defeating a Vessel of Light with such aplomb will be --
The chemical synthesis reactions GaoGaiGo is capable of make a great weapon against Mecha-Ghoulghilas, the energy issuing forth and burning away kaiju-flesh, revealing how empty the whole exercise really is. Mecha-Ghoulghilas swats at GaoGaiGo in response, trying to sweep it into the Long Dagger; let the heroes of the next generation crash together. (This may be a little difficult with those clouds of smoke, though.)
Gridman lifts, pursues, and smashes Mecha-Ghoulghilas all at once; the sheer power of Full Powered Gridman is nothing to sneeze at. This sets it up almost perfectly for a follow-up in close from both Alouette and Shinji; Mecha-Ghoulghilas offers its wounded arm up to the progressive knife, allowing it to shred into metal that it no longer intends to use as a weapon -- but keeping the main body intact. Alouette's blades have a little better luck getting through its guard, piercing into existing openings in the armor and making them much, much worse.
Akane always excelled at getting angry and shutting people out, after all, especially at the cost of her own well-being; certainly it's an impulse that she's had years to refine since she and Shinji Ikari last crossed paths in life. Is it a wonder her kaiju inherit the knack? Its hand detonates in a rain of shrapnel on Eva Unit-01, overcome by the blade yet still managing one last cruel gasp of violence.
Renais drives for the neck at full speed while the plates are once again open; it hits, too -- she carves into the head, removing the jaw and by extension the ability to use its heat beams.
Unfortunately: None of that will stop it. Mecha-Ghoulghilas may not be that much different, or more powerful, than its predecessor, despite its pretensions of weaponization. What it does have, however, is sheer viciousness and the willingness to apply it as directly as possible.
"Don't you lose to him!" Akane shouts, over the din of Hell and Heaven. "I designed you to kill any Vessel of Light who gets in my way -- even an Evoluder!" She drives a kitten-heeled foot into the roof. "I don't care if you're destroyed in the process!" Her red eyes almost glow behind the blue-blockers of her glasses -- or maybe that's the midday sun hitting them just right. "Kill him!"
The drill-plates snap forward and shut again. Firing beams in all directions -- raining destruction down on the whole city, on Synchrotank, on the Gernsback, on the Evangelion -- it charges to meet Hell and Heaven. The fist and the drill meet -- and while this will almost certainly tear Mecha-Ghoulghilas's head apart, and requires sacrificing all but the most cursory of attacks on Akane's 'real' target for the full commitment...
... kaiju exist just to be destroyed, don't they?
Metal shears against metal, the twin fists of GaoFighGar meeting Mecha-Ghoulghilas's drill. It's a suicide play on the kaiju's part -- but it puts everything behind it, meeting force with sheer force with no intention of losing out.
KTS: Akane Shinjo targets GaoGaiGo Team with AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Grab! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier with AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Swipes! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Renais Cardiff with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Rikka Takarada with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Shinji Ikari with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Yuta Hibiki with AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot! KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Guy Shishioh with AMK-01 Head-Mounted Drill Assembly Charge! KTS: Rikka Takarada blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot, taking 2220 damage! KTS: Alouette Pommier parries Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Swipes, taking 1410 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Alouette Pommier! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: GaoGaiGo Team blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Super Hard Steel Claw Grab, taking 1860 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged GaoGaiGo Team! KTS: Guy Shishioh fails to react to Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Head-Mounted Drill Assembly Charge, taking 5500 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh has been defeated! KTS: Akane Shinjo has engaged Guy Shishioh! KTS: Yuta Hibiki has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Yuta Hibiki has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Yuta Hibiki has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Yuta Hibiki blocks Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot, taking 2220 damage! KTS: Shinji Ikari has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Ikari retreats from the attack! KTS: Shinji Ikari's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shinji Ikari fails to evade Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot, taking 2970 damage! KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting GaoGaiGo Team KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
With the gang succeeding, it's time for Mamoru and Ikumi's own finisher. But another H+H would be overkill. So... "YOU HAVE CONTROL!"
Ikumi raises his hands and prepares. "I HAVE CONTROL!"
The right hand raises, as Ikumi shouts out. "PHANTOM RING PLUS!"
A golden part of GaoGaiGo locks onto the arm. They put their full power into it, as the golden ring begins spinning and the arm is pulled back.
"BROKEN PHANTOM!"
And then punched forward, rocket punching off of the body and moving to drill straight into whatever is left of Mecha-Ghoulghilas' connectors. It explodes into brilliant light, and then reattaches to GaoGaiGo.
This puts the duo at risk for a follow-up from sheer systems strain, but hopefully, it doesn't come to that. Hopefully, the monster is defeated.
KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has activated the Detonate Spirit Command, reducing the GaoGaiGo to 1 HP! KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: GaoGaiGo Team has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: GaoGaiGo Team targets Akane Shinjo with Broken Phantom! KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to evade GaoGaiGo Team's Broken Phantom, taking 5640 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] GaoGaiGo Team's Roar! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] GaoGaiGo Team's Shout! activates, causing Sparkle! <Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy is barely cognizant of the voices cheering him on. Mamoru roars his approval; Renais and Alouette call out as well, believing in his courage. He can't...he won't...let them down!!
Mecha-Ghoulghilas' drill and Hell and Heaven clash. Sparks of power, crackling lightning that isn't electricity crawls along the buildings and shatters windows. Guy screams anew, renewing his defiant roar. He thinks of them; Mamoru and Ikumi, certainly, and Alouette, now. They've all gotten so big. They all have roots here, now, friends and allies and peaceful days. Renais; she's as sour as she's ever been, but...the way she frets about this place is unlike he's seen before. He doesn't know her heart, not that well. But he knows how much Tsutsujidai and the people in it have come to mean to her. And of course, those very people. Yuta, doing his best to fight; Guy doesn't know precisely what it's like to be a fighting giant of light, but Fusion brings him close. Raw and exposed in ways you'd never think yourself to be with such power coursing through you. Rikka and Utsumi, the two young people just trying to save their home, and stop themselves from becoming something they don't recognize in the process. The school, the town....thousands of little stories.
Akane...a girl too frightened to stop fighting. To show her he won't stop...to show her that those coming to save her will give up everything they have...
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" Guy shrieks, his voice a raw, hoarse scream as Two United Powers conflict with a monstrous drill. ANd then...
It's GaoFighGar's grip that slips. The drill skids off to the side. Hell and Heaven plunges on toward the body, but the face plunges into GaoFighGar. He gouges out a gleaming hole - but Mecha-Ghoulghilas' drill rips off the arm, sheers into and through the exposed belly of GaoFighGar.
"HAGH!?" Guy screams. He makes another noise, a visceral one. He can feel it, like a knife in his guts...
Before the drill drives completely through the middle of GaoFighGar, ripping the machine in two. StealhGao III shatters apart behind it, chunks of the stealth-bomber shaped Gao Machine scattering the landscape.
GaoFighGar's legs go still.
GaoFighGar's upper body crashes into the street, three dozen meters away. Exposed, in its belly, Guy Shishioh in his ultimate armor, his eyes rolled up in his head.
Hana's voice, fluttering with horror, comes across the radio. "GaoFighGar....is down...! I have no signal from Chief Guy or any Gao Machine!!"
KTS: Guy Shishioh's GaoFighGar has been disabled. <Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Yuta looks on in horror as GaoFighGar is knocked into the air and comes crashing down, seemingly lifeless. "Oh no..." It's enough to bring Gridman to a frozen halt on the battlefield, his sword lowering. Had he just witnessed the death of a friend?
But... the fallen machine begins to glow? "What..?" Guy's show of courage and skill is dazzling. Yuta is briefly reminded of Sheryl Nome on her stage, a master at her craft. Guy must be the same, for the battlefield, Yuta thinks. It's a wonder anything is left of the kaiju after an attack like that!
"Take cover!" Gridman calls, as the kaiju begins to go berserk. Once again, he brings Calibur up to block the damage, and this time, he succeeds. The wide crossguard of the sword blocks the majority of damage. "This will be our final strike! Everyone, put your trust in me!" Gridman shouts, raising his sword high.
A pillar of light breaks through the clouds above Gridman, emitting from the point of his blade. Gridman is still for a moment, and then -- it's almost as if the light beaming down into Tsutsujidai responds to his motion. Golden radiance creeps up Gridman's form, gilding his armor and body in a brilliant display of power. Motes of light hover around him, the sheer force of the magic of a Vessel of Light enchanting the very air in the city. Everything is still, for a heartbeat.
"This is my all!" Gridman shouts, "Grid..." The voices of his companions answer him, "Full Power..." All together, they roar "Finish!"
Gridman points his sword down and toward Mecha-Ghoulghilas, the strength of his attack lifting him into the air. Dozens of beams of light tear into the kaiju, as though Gridman has weaponized the sunlight itself.
KTS: Yuta Hibiki has activated the Detonate Spirit Command, reducing the Full Powered Gridman to 1 HP! KTS: Yuta Hibiki targets Akane Shinjo with Grid Full Power Finish! KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Yuta Hibiki's Grid Full Power Finish, taking 8160 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuta Hibiki's Telepathic Link activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuta Hibiki's Mediumship activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Akane Shinjo has been defeated! KTS: Yuta Hibiki has engaged Akane Shinjo!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
If she succeeds here, she wouldn't be able to turn back... Rikka frowns, listening as Shinji speaks.
"Then... we can't let her succeed. I won't let her do this to herself." Rikka decides. That was obvious from the beginning, of course... but it's just another reminder of why they have to stop this kaiju - it's as much for Akane's sake as it is for everyone else's, even if she probably wouldn't agree... or even want their help.
But still... it isn't going to be easy. Rikka watches in surprise as Guy goes down, what should be enough to disable his machine... but GaoFighGar rises again.
"What is this...?" Rikka asks, surprised. ...Is this what it means to be a hero? To stand up, again and again, no matter how dire the situation may be?
But Mecha-Ghoulghilas is fighting hard too, if for different reasons entirely - destruction rains down from above, and Rikka can only struggle to find shelter from the storm. Bulldozer shields are raised to protect the head sensors as the beams rain down, scorching and damaging the armor.
"If this keeps up... Even they might not be safe." Rikka murmurs with a frown, thinking back to her friends who had evacuated. And then, there's Guy... is he alright, after what happened...?
...They have to stop it now. Rikka takes a deep breath. This feels crazy, but... she has to do something. Synchrotank returns to tank mode, charging out from behind cover, and accelerates toward Mecha-Ghoulghilas, trying to ram into it in time with Gridman's gleaming golden attack - and then, blasting it full-force with the twin cannons, once it's hopefully too close to get away.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Akane Shinjo with Extreme Extinguishing Burst! KTS: Akane Shinjo fails to react to Rikka Takarada's Extreme Extinguishing Burst, taking 4960 damage! KTS: Akane Shinjo has been defeated! KTS: Rikka Takarada roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Light brilliantly shines, and Shinji can only watch in awe as Hell and Heaven crackles through the battlefield. It's moments like these where Shinji begins to wonder why he or Evangelion are truly needed. People turning courage into power...
Another detonation, this time the kaiju destroying its own hand in the process. Shinji only has a horrific moment to recognize this self-destruction before he's engulfed in its consequences. The AT Field does not hold. Shrapnel rakes across the Evangelion unit, embedding into its surface, acting more like it's punctured flesh to hold it fast than only a shell of steel. Shinji wraps his arms around himself reflexively, eyes pinched shut while Unit-01 is sent staggering back, its posture slouched.
Shinji breathes harder, each breath rough against his throat. He runs his fingers over his chest, where the hand had detonated, and verifies he hasn't been blown open in Akane's violent rejection. The more he pilots, the higher his synchronization, and the more he feels.
What does Akane feel when she does all of this...? What must she feel to make all of this? If a Devil helped him make his own world back then, wouldn't he have done it, too?
He gets control of himself and Unit-01 again to see GaoFighGar fallen.
"No, wait!"
Unit-01 dashes a sprint to Guy's position, Shinji trying to keep himself between him and the kaiju, watching as Yuta and Rikka throw everything they have left into protecting everyone -- including Akane, and what she might do to herself otherwise.
KTS: Shinji Ikari targets Akane Shinjo with Pass! KTS: Renais Cardiff fails to react to Akane Shinjo's AMK-01 Six-Emitter Beam Array Shot, taking 3330 damage! <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette programmed GaoFighGar to be able to push itself to its very limits, and now.. those limits have been reached, as GaoFighGar is torn apart by the ferocious pressure of Mecha-Ghoulghilas on its last legs. If there was any hope of repairing GaoFighGar before, it would take a miracle now. And more importantly, Guy's status is currently unknown. It would also take a miracle to survive the sheer force of what just hit Guy, Evoluder or no. Just as 3G is known for making comebacks though, they're also known for making miracles. Alouette refuses to acknowledge Guy as "dead".
Regardless, Alouette can't seem to fire an attack at the disassembling kaiju, only watch in horror as Guy goes crashing down into the streets of Tsutsujidai with GaoFighGar. Instead, the combined efforts of Mamoru and Ikumi, Gridman, and Rikka put an end to Mecha-Ghoulghilas.
With the kaiju defeated, Alouette puts the Long Dagger at full-thrust to reach Guy, and hopefully help bring him to safety.
"Akane.. Chief Guy only wanted you to be happy too. Doing this doesn't really satisfy you, does it.." she thinks to herself.
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Akane Shinjo with Pass! KTS: Renais Cardiff targets Akane Shinjo with Pass! <Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
As Renais drops back down, she's vulnerable--she doesn't have thrusters or AMBAC to help her control her motion as she falls. So she's entirely open as the Mecha-Ghoulghilas looses one last beam-volley at the Gernsback, megaparticles eroding and peeling away armor, revealing the Arm Slave's vulnerable internals. Renais is left stunned a moment, sweat pouring down her face, her teeth gritted. She can't do anything except watch as GaoFighGar collapses.
'GaoFighGar....is down...! I have no signal from Chief Guy or any Gao Machine!!'
"Guy... GUY!" yells Renais, breaking off from the kaiju and running toward the fallen upper half of GaoFighGar. She stares down into the torn-open cockpit. At a motionless Guy. "GGG Order Room, get your recovery team in here NOW!" she barks over the comm. She opens the Arm Slave's cockpit, pushing with both hands when it doesn't open quite fast enough, and leaps out, hitting the ground running.
It's hot... it's so hot...
But she doesn't care. She left her coat behind, but there are more important things to attend to. She pries into the jagged metal with both hands, bending it back away from the cockpit, yelling, "Don't you fucking die, Shishoh. Not here! Not now, not to this! I'm not fucking losing you!" Tears roll down her cheeks, painting faint, salty white lines down her cheeks as they evaporate.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
In the end: Guy at-least-allegedly has to care about continuing to have a body and a large metal shell protecting that body from harm, and Mecha-Ghoulghilas has no such limitation. The sacrifice play works in Akane's favor, leaving GaoFighGar a wreck --
-- and Akane is ecstatic, or at least looks it. "Yes! Yes! Kill him!" she commands, again. Sure, dragging Tsutsujidai back where it belongs right this second would cause some issues, but... they'd settle in. It's not like they'd have much of a choice. Besides -- there are... advantages, to having the assembled parties here on this side of the world when things go back to normal. (... it's unfair and cruel to be so selfish. To want Hibiki, Rikka, and Utsumi so badly. But...)
Mecha-Ghoulghilas roars a triumph -- jawless and twisted and riddled with holes. It can't repeat that performance, but it doesn't need to -- this is a perfect result. All it needs to do now is pursue the handful of steps it needs, deliver a single stomp, and be sure about it --
-- 'BROKEN PHANTOM!'
It only wings what little is left of the head assembly, which really isn't much. But that's all it needs to do, because it puts the creature off balance and stops its momentum -- which opens up the stage for all the rest.
Rikka's risky play sees her get in close, buying back a little space; the blast of water in perfect time with the blast of light keeps the beast in check, making sure it can't explode toward GaoFighGar. Evangelion Unit-01 works toward the same end more pointedly, interposing itself between the wounded Guy and the kaiju while Alouette and Renais move to hopefully save the Evoluder from what could well be a truly cruel fate.
A bright light bears down on Mecha-Ghoulghilas, tearing through it. Gridman's light slices through the nearly-headless, bullet-pocked kaiju, carving it top to bottom and then engulfing it altogether. By the time the light and the dust clears, Mecha-Ghoulghilas is simply gone -- the city is saved yet again... though Akane seems to have gotten alarmingly close to what she really wanted.
The kaiju Akane deployed have all been destroyed; she handed the initiative to the Gridman Alliance and their allies in NERV and the Shuffle Alliance, and they made perfect use of it. There are indeed some damaged buildings and upended cars, but if anything, this is an all-time low for damage to the surroundings from kaiju attacks, albeit at a distressing personal cost. Even this marked uptick in viciousness hasn't done too much for her. ... it came closer, but close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and...
... well, that's much to the purpose.
She can take the initiative too, of course -- and soon, she'll have to.
"I think we got a lot of good information out of that," Akane says, playing the smug femme-fatale doctor role she's cast herself in. "And we probably won't see GaoFighGar again any time soon, either. I think we can safely say that if we give them a little more to defend and a little less lead time..."
She stretches out her arms, moving to get her fool self back off the roof and into her room. "I think I can pull this off soon... but I'm gonna have to make it just a liiiiiiiittle more exciting~."
Ramo Marusa peeks her head out of the building experimentally. ... the city seems pretty quiet... they might actually just be able to go back to school after this one. "... not even half an hour...?" she asks, almost mystified. "Talk about rapid reaction... some fire alarm pranks last longer."
She's careful enough not to instantly get everyone going back, but... they've got a lot of festival to have, still...
<Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
GaoGaiGo is busted. It's out of juice. Yet despite that, Mamoru ejects, leaving Ikumi alone as it separates back into GaoGo. Ikumi is okay with this, needing to do comms for the team and make sure they don't get carjacked, but he's worried about his clone-brother. Mamoru...
Rushes to Renais' side, using his telekinesis to support. "GUY! We're here! You did great! Come on...!"
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Gridman lands, the golden glow fading away. "Thank you, everyone... This battle is over." He says, quietly. It's hardly the time for celebrations, with Guy's status unknown. Gridman and his companions vanish into light.
Suddenly, the Synchrotank is terribly crowded as five people come beaming out of Junk. "Thanks, guys." Yuta says, exhaustedly. "That was intense. And thank you too, Rikka. Do you know if Guy is--"
Yuta can't bring himself to finish his sentence. Should they go over and try to help..? Rikka does have her first aid kit, but would it be any help, after a beating like that?
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka is a little surprised that her play actually worked, even if Synchrotank got pretty bashed up because of it. Mecha-Ghoulghilas is waterlogged and kept in place... and then, Gridman finishes it off. The kaiju vanishes and Rikka grabs the controls again, hurrying over to where Guy's machine fell.
"Good work out there, Hibiki... are you alright?" Rikka asks - assuming he's returned by that point. It's clear that she's still a little unnerved... they can't really celebrate just yet, after all. She's quiet, as Yuta asks his question, and then shakes her head. "...I don't know. But..."
But - it's worth trying. She comes to a stop next to Guy's machine, quickly picking up her first aid kit and practically flying out of her machine.
"H-how is he? Is he okay?" Rikka asks Mamoru, Ikumi, and Renais. "Is there anything I can do to help...?"
If it's in her power at all, with what skill and tools she has, she's not going to let him die after how much he's put on the line for the people she cares about.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
"W, we're on our way!" Hana yelps, startled out of her existing startlement by Renais' severity. "We're coming in to the ship airlock now!"
"Ushiyama!" Akamatsu thunders. "Make sure Maintenance is ready to receive GaoFighGar immediately! Priority one!"
"Already issued the order!" Sueo calls. "Hatsuno, are these figures right!? Stealth Gao III, no data! GaoFar, no data!?"
"Th, they are! I've been able to reboot Drill Gao II to emergency mode but it can't do anything but answer, there's no signal from the Fusion driver! Liner Gao II, I think the communicator link got hit, I'm getting warnings from it intermittently!"
"Signal LinerGao to emergency Fusion Out immediately!" Usshiyama calls. "If we can force a Fusion Out into GaoFar we can save a step!"
"R, right!! LinerGao II, emergency Fusion Out order sent!" Hana says, tapping keys rapidly on her console.
Several seconds later there's a LOUD KACHUNK deep inside GaoFighGar, and the two halves of LinerGao II suddenly ignite their thrusters, an ugly emergency Fusion Out that sends both halves rocketing off down the streets...but leaving GaoFighGar limbless.
The shock of the noise makes Guy groan, a startled gurgle in his throat as he half comes-to. "Gggh..." Hazily-conscious eyes peer at Renais, and then snap open, startled to realize he's looking at her with his own eyes, not GaoFighGar's. "R, Renais, I'm....AGH!"
The pain catches up to him; he is Fused, after all.
The cockpit of GaoFighGar isn't like any cockpit a normal person would call one - it's more like just a dark chamber the size of a walk-in closet, now-severed wires crawling along the walls, with cylinders about the size of trash cans thrusting up, which Guy has his arms and legs plugged in to. Guy seizes and grits his teeth, but with no arms connected and GaoFighGar's legs severed, nothing happens. "Nnnnggh...Fusion....Out...!!" he growls, struggling to say the words through pain.
The remainder of StealthGao jettisons off; mostly that means the broken-helmet pops off and flies down the street, and the broken plane parts disengage from the guiderails that are also GaoFar's arms. Those, in turn, struggle to shift GaoFar's remaining mass upward enough to reattach. The mechanical face's mouth opens at the same time Guy's does, sucking in a deep, painful breath, and tries to give her a faint ghost of a smile. "Don't worry, I'm..." he starts to say, "fi..."
The world grows dark mid-sentence, and he and GaoFar both slump, unconscious.
"Chief Guy is alive, but he's fallen back unconscious!" Hana calls over the radio. "Fusion Out to GaoFar is complete!"
Rarely-heard Engineering and Maintanence Operator Sueo Ushiyama comes on the line, adding, "Please don't move him, it's dangerous to just disconnect him without completing the Fusion Out! We're on our way!"
And at their chairs at the pinnacle of the room, the top three of GGG Blue share worried glances. "She even got GaoFighGar," Supervisor Yang Long-Li murmurs. "We may have been taking Akane Shinjo's threat too lightly."
Advisor Urchin Prickle bites out a curse. "We're back down to one King of Braves, right when the Ruin Apostles are picking up their slack. This is bad..."
Chief Shigeru Akamatsu says nothing, other than to stare at the monitor of Guy Shishioh's unconscious body, with eyes that could all but bore through stone.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
<poem> Yuta runs after Rikka, coming to a stop just behind her at the destroyed machine. "We're here to help, if there's anything... There's a hospital in the city, if he needs one."
Feeling helpless, Yuta makes sure he and Rikka are out of the way of the flying machinery. He looks a little horrified at the inside of Guy's cockpit. "Is it... supposed to be like that? Is it hurting him?" Yuta asks, anxiously.
"I'm sorry, everyone. He's only in this state because of our fight." Yuta bows apologetically. "We couldn't have won without him, and we'll do anything we can to help him recover."