2022-11-11: Unicorn and Dragon ~SHATTERING~

• Cast: Alma Stirner, Banagher Links, Amuro Ray, Puru Two, Full Frontal, Zoltan Akkanen, Ryoko Subaru, Loni Garvey, Ennil El, Mineva Lao Zabi
• Where: Side 3 - Republic of Zeon
• Date: U.C. 0096 11 11
• Summary: The terrors of Torrington come to Zeon, and this time they fight side-by-side. It all went wrong... but several people make decisions that, intentionally or not, make things a whole lot worse.

---

<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.

SOME TIME AGO, SOMEWHERE(WHEN?) ELSE:

"It was a lucky thing we found you when we did, you know? Your oxygen was almost totally gone, and you weren't exactly in a fit state to pilot that thing up for air."

Loni Garvey stares at the deck plating under her feet, the medical gown itching. The rage is long, long gone now. All that's left is this... hollowness. A feeling like she's a jigsaw piece with no matching puzzle.

The speaker talks more. "You miss them, don't you? You want to see them again."

She blinks, and looks back up at them, squinting against that strange light surrounding them.

"There's something I'd like to ask you to help us with. It'll make everything alright again... And then you can see them again. You can go home."

The speaker extends a hand, limmed in an aura of orange gold. Loni stares at it for a long time.

Then she raises her own hand to take it, and that energy flows into her.

NOW:

The Republic of Zeon.

In just four short years, this independent state will return to the control of the Federation, and the dream of Spacenoid liberation will finally die.

But a bigger cause is at stake today.

Spacetime tears. Reality screams as the air is carved open in a great twisting square of dawn-orange lightning, and a crimson mobile armour is disgorged from Escape Space, crashing into the colony surface. Its long, terrible claws flex, and its dragon-like turret-head surveys the colony. The reflector bits deploy from its rear mount, micro-I-Fields charging to deflect hostile beam fire.

Yet there is no rampage, no screams for vengeance, and the Shamblo radiates an aura of terrible dawnlight

No longer is this a vengeful dragon; it is a conqueror.

<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.

It all went wrong, and though there are many places that could be pointed to as a potential root of WHERE it all went wrong, Zum City certainly was one of them from many perspectives. That's true of Amuro Ray, though he wonders distantly if the same is actually true of the person that he's backing up this time around. Wouldn't this be closer to 'home', and he himself more akin to what she thought was the root of it all going wrong? Did it even matter?

He supposes not. What they're dealing with now goes beyond this, even if the particular elements they're involved with introduce specific strains of feeling.

In Amuro Ray's case, the weariness that dominated his initial reappearance is more shallow. Axis Shock is marginally less fresh, and though he feels and emanates a sort of psychic chill, it isn't the arctic thing that he brought with him before. It doesn't encourage the sort of hypothermic hallucinatory surrender towards Being Done. Instead it is simply... sad, and tired.

The "Conqueror King" Nu Gundam exits Escape Space at the Shamblo's flank, striding out purposefully to stand in support of it. It has a mildly more twisted appearance than it did at Torrington; it was so badly damaged there that a great deal of its reconstruction at this moment has more to do with the Power flowing through it than it does with any repairs manually wrought to its frame. Its shield in particular has been regenerated wholesale, as has one whole shoulder. It doesn't look crude on either count, exactly-- but it doesn't quite have the well-machined sleekness that it previously did. It is more... grand. Outspoken.

Like a knight striding out at the side of a great beast.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

"Ennil, Audrey -- It's Miss Loni. She's been found." Banagher says, already slipping out of his hoodie in order to quickly change into his normal suit. "And --" How does he even say this? Brushing the rest of his packed clothes out of the way, the young man tugs his white-and-red pilot outfit from the suitcase. "She's like Amuro now. And Amuro's with her."

Slipping into the bathroom, Banagher quickly changes, then returns to the two young women. "This isn't going to be easy. Are you sure you still want to come along? Leina says -- people like this, with that orange glow, they can't listen to reason anymore. Whatever you decide, I need to go out and stop her. I can't let her hurt anyone else."

Banagher picks up his and Audrey's bags, leaving two folded keyboards for her to carry. Hopefully the Unicorn will have enough room for all this, and his two passengers. "If you choose to stay here, Ennil, I'll make sure someone knows to watch out for you. But Audrey and I -- we have to do this."

---

Trailing starlight, the Unicorn soars away from Sweetwater. Banagher looks down on the colony with a thankful smile. "Thank you, Ms. Mesua, Shelby, eveyone. I won't let this time go with you to waste."

Before Banagher can see the two corrupted pilots, he can feel them. The Unicorn slows, hopefully hovering just out of sight. It's a heavy burden, feeling the hopeless and despair echoing from two people he cares about. And it must be heavy on Audrey and Ennil as well, especially with the amount of psychoframe all around them.

"It's time. We're going to need all your strength in this fight. I know it's scary. I'm terrified to face him again -- him and Miss Loni both. But we're together in this. Let me fight with you." Banagher closes his eyes, holding his hands just above the controls. It's almost a prayer. "Don't lose control. We can do this, as long as we're together."

Holding his hand out to Audrey, Banagher gives her a smile. "Please watch over me. Just like last time."

"Ennil," Banagher says. "Please hold on. You're going to feel needles in your back. I'll do my best to get in close to Miss Loni, and to stay awake. If anything goes wrong -- try and yank me out of the pilot's seat."

With that, the young pilot takes a deep breath. The Unicorn edges forward, and the power of two psychoframes meeting crackles through space in a wave. "Unicorn..." Banagher breathes, as his seat begins to slide backwards. He clings to Audrey's hand. Controls are folded to the side. He clings to Audrey's hand. The cockpit glows red, as scarlet light begins to contend with the orange glow of the corrupted machines.

A single horn splits into two. The Beast of Possibility lunges forward toward the Shamblo. Cutting a path through the psychoframe resonance with its vulcans, the Unicorn remains in Banagher's control -- for now.

"Miss Loni!" Banagher shouts, as soon as they're close enough. "We're here for you!"

KTS: Banagher Links targets Armor of the Week with Vulcan Leading Shot!

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

Within the Nadesico, a pilot is already in her Assault Pit. The door to the docks is opening as they respond to the crisis.

"Dad..." Ryoko says softly during the start up sequence, her radios not even powered on yet, "... don't worry. If I have it my way, you'll never have to see that your no-good daughter's come home. She'll remain just another ghost."

There's a curl of her lip, and some intensity as she grabs the control globes, "Given what's going on, might even become true before this is all over."

A connection bridges, and from her tattoo she feels the surge of nanomachines communicating throughout her arm and thrumming into the Aestivalis. "... Be just fine by me."

At least she'd die doing something useful for once in her rotten life.

Bidding the radio to come on, she immediately tells the crew of the Nadesico, "... Ryoko Subaru - launching!"

The Catapult fires her off, and the rockets of the Aesti in its Zero frame are sent soaring over the Colony Sky even as her Gravity Wave Antenna latches on to the output of the Phase transition engine. She doesn't need to look long to spot a target.

Even she can feel the psychic pressure surrounding them even if she can't parse it as more than nervous tension.

The moment she spies the Shamblo, radiating its terrible dawnlight, Ryoko growls, "Torrington wasn't enough for you? Now you gotta turn on your own?" She doesn't really understand Triple Zero and what it means. Ryoko doesn't really know if it was her own. She's a remnant, maybe she'd lived her whole life on Earth. She's no better than she is in the end, and she knows it... "It ends here."

... but that won't stop her. She does know she grew up here, that her Dad is still somewhere around here. And if there's one thing she's good at in the end...

... without hesitation, the Aestivalis whips up its Rapid Rifle, and fires off a semi auto of good ol' projectile fire right at the monstrous Shamblo's cockpit in a strafing pattern as she tries to angle herself so that firing on her won't fire on the Colony.

Over the radios, a boy's voice calls out that he's here for Loni, and Ryoko offers grimly, "...Yeah. So am I."

KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Armor of the Week with Semi-Rapid Rifle!

<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.

Reckoning with the legacy of Zeon has been the work of a lifetime for Alma Stirner; it's home, but there's been no shortage of cruelties -- even atrocities -- in Zeon's past. It can be hard for her to go home, sometimes; it's not that she's not attached to home, but... well, there's a reason she's at her absolute most comfy on the Gwennangorn.

Or being sent out from the Gwennangorn to dock with a colony to fight a threat, as is presently happening. Alma's off like a shot toward that mobile armor yet again -- with a queasy feeling in her stomach about the fight. Are children of Zeon... this doomed?

She won't accept that -- which means she has to fight not to.

High-speed approaches are simple for the Amabilis -- it moves at top speed, flipping down the bazookas and firing shots for each of the legs, hoping to slow its movement while they approach each other.

She opens a comm channel to the Unicorn. "... I hope you're going to be okay today," she says, her tone one of genuine concern.

KTS: Alma Stirner targets Armor of the Week with Twin Shoulder Bazooka Curtailing Shot!
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.

Then:

"Of course I'll come. The whole point of coming this far... was to be here now." Ennil doesn't seem shocked by the news. Someone had to have taken Loni away. This is the worst case scenario, but it's one she'd considered.

Ennil's bag was lightly loaded to begin with, and she's not modest. She at least does Aubrey the courtesy of facing away as she slings off her top and pulls her piloting suit over. The display serves a second purpose - a bright stripe of caution yellow goes unseen, snugly tucked against Ennil's skin, a little strip of black tape holding it fast. Just in case. There's one thing left in the bag, blinking softly. A glimmering blue light.

That's also for the worst case scenario.

Now:

Ennil watches Banagher, curious, as he speaks to the machine. Asks for the strength to do this right. It sounds like a prayer, and Ennil's praying too, in her own way.

Then the Unicorn wakes up. It's cold and sharp, and she's waking up too, not from the sting of the needles, but the sudden feeling of -

She presses it down. Focuses on what Banagher needs right now. She nods when he asks her to make sure he's in control. "I'm with you. Right now, we all want the same thing. Just be careful, okay? That orange light... Don't let either of them get their hands on you." She remembers what it felt like the last time she was in their presence. How miserably cold. She has to make it right. "If we can just get Loni away from that thing, there has to be something we can do..."

KTS: Ennil El targets Armor of the Week with Pass!

<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.

The collar seal of Puru Two's helmet hisses briefly as it locks into place, completing the airtight barrier of her normal suit. She lies in the panoramic cockpit's seat, more than she sits. Enervated from the weariness of solo travel, it is her instinct more than her waking self that keys the activation codes for the dummy asteroids, to hide her deep-space transit supplies. Why must these be hidden, and where would a Cyber-Newtype masquerading as a Federation Officer need to travel?

Don't worry. There is no need to panic.

"Like a moth to the flame... you can't stay away, can you?" the beleaguered redhead murmurs as the Qubeley's external scanners start picking up the telltale signs of weapons fire and minovsky-particle blanketing in the direction of the nearby Side 3 colony. But to whom does she speak... herself, or one of these revenants who have returned from the depths of spaces unknown to harry humankind once more? "Everyone, wait just a little longer. I'll be back... soon..." she mumbles, taking a deep breath. Gloved fingers break the seal on a little foil packet of stimulants. Sleep can, as usual, wait.

                                        ***

The sleek, black form of the modified Qubeley Mk. II slices through the local 'airspace' (if you will) towards Side 3 upon blazing plumes of azure from the feet and shoulders. There is technically an active Federation IFF signal coming from it, which is interesting, for a Neo-Zeon piece of machinery. "Not content with wrecking just one city, are you?" sneers Puru Two, who never puts her radio to private. "But this is my domain, out here," she scythes towards the looming form of the Shamblo on an intercept course. "And you're intruding."

The red-haired girl squints briefly. "Funnels." she commands.

. . .

Nothing.

The Qubeley's monoeye glows incandescent with its pilots rage, as the nearby NT-D pulses render great swathes of her loadout useless. The avian Mobile Suit levels one hand at the Shamblo, at Loni, and brilliant lances of gold mega-particle fire streak forth.

KTS: Puru Two targets Armor of the Week with Forearm Beam Cannon Snapshot!

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

Amuro Ray. The White Devil. Amuro. Amuro. Amuro!

The instinctual scratching in the back of his mind barely held back by cognizant thought, it took barely any time for the failed clone to prepare himself. Confirmation of what was happening. Suit. Confimration from spittle laced questions to the poor personnel below him about if it was really him. Preparations for launch. Confirmation, checking once more. He couldn't stand down. Not now.

Launch, launch, launch, LAUNCH! MSN-06S-2 Sinanju Stein, launching, rocketing, careening through the stillness of space towards the Side 3 colony, target clear in his mind, if not in his sights.

---

Amuro Ray. The man who had plagued his life, even after the plans were laid to rest with a success. There was no ceremonial greeting upon sighting the scarred remnants of a once-proud person, the pale grey suit making itself known in the only way it knows how.

A barrage of shots ringing out in the stillness of space from range, careening figuratively down from above. Shot after shot after shot after shot, the suit racing down.

"AMURO! It really is you, you destructive demon! Torrington not enough for you!? Bringing a friend along for the fun of it!?"

Of course it was Zum City. Of course. It was the heart. Where else? Where else would a man love to see their opposition fall!?

KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Amuro Ray with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Reckless Fire! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rattles Amuro Ray, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Reckless Fire, taking 990 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Banagher Links's Vulcan Leading Shot, taking 4180 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 13440 KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Ryoko Subaru's Semi-Rapid Rifle, taking 2150 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 11290 KTS: Alma Stirner anchors Armor of the Week, forcing it into close range. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to Intercept Alma Stirner's Twin Shoulder Bazooka Curtailing Shot, taking 2500 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 8790 KTS: Alma Stirner has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Ennil El's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 8790 KTS: Armor_of_the_Week has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents.

<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.

An uncanny feeling alights within Full Frontal's essence as he claps his mask and pilot helmet onto his head. The ghost within him stirs as the two are united in purpose once more. No grandiose speeches of inherited duties, no responsibilities to tie him back. In this moment, in this new beginning, the spirit of Char Aznable's remnants and the vessel which housed them were of one thought, and one thought only.

Amuro Ray.

As the Sinanju descended onto the launch catapult, an uncanny smile lit up Full Frontal's visage. "MSN-06S, Sinanju. Launching." As the wing binders on his back roared to life, the Red Comet bolted through the void, a crimson demon out to settle scores once more.

Amuro Ray.

"Shall we see what you're capable of, my old foe? Show me what you've seen beyond the veil of the Psychoframe, Amuro!"

KTS: Full Frontal targets Amuro Ray with Rifle Bazooka! KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Full Frontal's Rifle Bazooka, taking 2500 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Puru Two's Forearm Beam Cannon Snapshot, taking 540 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 43460 KTS: Banagher Links Activates barrier generator

<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.

It all went wrong.

The Conquerer King Nu Gundam turns its head, slightly. It's watching the Unicorn Gundam attentively. If it had an opportunity, and opening, there is no doubt that it would take it. It came within inches of killing Banagher last time. That wasn't the goal, of course-- Banagher was just another person like him. Hurled into unreasonable expectations. Butchered on some altar he didn't entirely understand. The machine was the thing.

The Nu Gundam shifts pre-emptively, its shield rising as beam fire pours in. A barrage of shots hit it squarely, ablating what should be a series of devastating dead-on strikes into something relatively minor. The machine staggers a little, and then re-gains its footing.

It all went wrong.

There is no verbal response to Zoltan or to Full Frontal. The psychic pulse that races outward is like a sigh, slow and uneasy as the Nu Gundam re-positions to catch the blast of a bazooka against its shield as well, though this one rocks it more powerfully and leaves a great score along its surface and the opposing arm. There is simply weariness, and a movement like a machine going through something that is routine to it. An automatic response carrying out a battle pattern that it has interacted with too many times.

It pushes off the ground and fires its thrusters, circling to an angle before removing a bazooka from the small of its back and firing a spray of pellets that threaten both charging machines. It isn't nearly as vicious an answer as was given at Torrington.

It isn't as PERSONAL as it was at Torrington, either.

KTS: Amuro Ray: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Amuro Ray targets Full Frontal and Zoltan Akkanen with New Hyper Bazooka Pellet Spray. KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Focus Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.

Attacks rain down on the Shamblo, its assailants even more determined than they were at Torrington to make the mobile armour cease its attack.

"I remember you," Loni murmurs, her psycommu interface picking out the Unicorn, Puru Two's Qubeley and the Amabilis. "I'd say I'm sorry, but... it doesn't matter any more."

She feels... different, to the Awakened. Her rage and grief are much subdued, overwhelmed by a sense of purpose giving her a terrifying clarity of thought.

"I'll make this quick. Then we can all rest."

Her fingers dance over the buttons of her control sticks, and the Shamblo responds, lifting its claws to block the rain of bullets and explosives, and the reflector bits dance to intercept the Qubeley's beam barrage, bouncing the energy around the mobile armour and then back straight at the black-armoured Ghost of the Newtype Battalion. Then the turret maw opens up, dawn-orange particle energy gathering in the jaws before exhaling in a terrible blaze at the other three of Loni's targets!

KTS: Armor of the Week targets Puru Two with Reflector Bits Perfect Bounce! KTS: Full Frontal blocks Amuro Ray's New Hyper Bazooka Pellet Spray, taking 1380 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.

Noting the incoming pellets, Full Frontal carefully raises the Sinanju's shield, deftly blocking the majority of the pellets, although a few sneak past the bulwark and chip off some of the Sinanju's external armor. There was nothing behind this attack, no spirit, no passion, no ferocity. Just weariness. "So, Amuro...you have joined me as well in this empty world, after seeing what is beyond the curtain of empty possibility." Full Frontal muses as the spirit within him exudes disappointment.

You were better than this, Amuro.

KTS: Armor_of_the_Week Changes attack to Banagher Links, Alma Stirner, and Ryoko Subaru with Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm. KTS: Banagher Links charges into the attack! KTS: Banagher Links partially guards Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm, taking 4920 damage! KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen charges into the attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Amuro Ray's New Hyper Bazooka Pellet Spray, taking 3220 damage! KTS: Ryoko Subaru fails to Evade Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm, taking 4500 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

A minute raise of the eyebrow as those shots crashed home, the Lieutenant twisting the suit in a corkscrew, grunting to himself as shots pinged themselves off of the armor. Dents. Scrapes. One piece of leg armor crumpled beyond repair. Lucky.

"...This isn't like you." The instinctual side of his psyche quipping as that charge continued, to stock that rifle to the side. A swing, an activation, an attempted swipe into the grandiose Gundam. "Where's the man inside there, huh!? Didn't you have something to say to everyone!?"

Damn him. He shouldn't be here. He should've stayed where he couldn't see anything.

KTS: Puru Two fails to evade Armor of the Week's Reflector Bits Perfect Bounce, taking 5640 damage! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 124. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Amuro Ray with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber Swipe! KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber Swipe, taking 600 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Amuro Ray! KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Alma Stirner fails to evade Armor of the Week's Scattering Mega Particle Gun Reflector Bit Storm, taking 6600 damage! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 158.

<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.

Observing as Zoltan engaged Amuro and the mutated Nu Gundam at melee range, Full Frontal opted to keep his distance and support his "brother" from another angle. Aiming carefully, a sardonic smile lit up Full Frontal's face as he squeezed his triggers in rapid succession, a barrage of beam rifle shots raining down upon Amuro Ray and his mobile suit, each aimed to force a movement towards Zoltan's hungry sabers, or to make the White Devil choose between between his armor or his movements.

KTS: Full Frontal targets Amuro Ray with Beam Rifle Barrage! KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Full Frontal's Beam Rifle Barrage, taking 900 damage! KTS: Full Frontal begins a Formation attack! KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Trick Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

"Miss Alma?" Banagher responds, shocked. "I'm so glad you're alright! We'll be just fine, don't worry." He hopes he sounds more sure than he feels. "Miss Loni's the one who needs help. I've got your back out here!"

The Gwennangorn is nearby -- bringing a pang of nostalgia to Banagher's heart. "I hope you're all doing alright." They'd been so kind to him.

Ennil gets a sharp glance. "You okay? I felt --" No, he has to keep his eyes on the battle. "Alright. The Unicorn's far faster than either of them, so that won't be a problem. Hold on."

With staggering speed, the Unicorn dives, racing around the Shamblo's larger form. They have to stay close so Ennil can try and reach Loni, while trying to stop her from hurting Side 3. Leina said these orange things regenerate, even if you kill them. Even though it sends a sick twist to his stomach, Banagher draws two beam sabers.

Red light bathes over the Shamblo as the Beast of Possibility soars into range. Twin sabers strike at the conquering dragon, only within the range of its claws for a moment. The ferocity on display at Torrington isn't present while Banagher has control of the Gundam -- something both a blessing and a curse. If the Unicorn ran wild against these opponents, the damage would be horrific.

...but the battle would be a lot more fair.

"Miss Loni! It'll always matter!" That horrible sense of clarity. Banagher can't help but get caught up in its echoes for a moment, only to shake himself out of it. Ride the wave. "We're not leaving without you! There's someone here, someone who wants you to be alright. Not just me! Ennil is here, too!"

The Shamblo attacks, heedless of Banagher's efforts. Gritting his teeth, the young pilot urges his Gundam into the fire, ducking just beneath it. Some of that orange blaze damages the Unicorn, splintering against her white armor. Fear pulses through Banagher. How much damage was enough for him to be corrupted? He's got to be more careful.

KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links targets Armor of the Week with Two-Saber Combo! KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Strike Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.

A comm line opens to both Full Frontal and Zoltan. Amuro Ray has exactly one thing to say to the both of them: "No." The feelings behind the words that continue to be communicated in a cool haze of psychic activity are more complicated than that, though the Conquerer King Nu Gundam's responses become more animated. It brings its shield about to catch the Stein's beam saber charge against it with a violent crackle, firing its thrusters to gain some range on the machine to deny both it and its sibling machine the advantage of keeping the Nu Gundam boxed in. A flickering field of energy begins to present itself, orange but transparent, condensing itself to a more focused point around the Nu Gundam's shield as it catches the barrage of beam rifle shots against it.

It is suffering too little damage for the concessions that it is making-- and though it is out of range of Zoltan's beam saber in this particular moment, even so, Amuro's consistency on falling back on simply taking the beating and responding is still offering the openings that Full Frontal is trying to create, if in a roundabout way.

The Nu Gundam's funnels exit their rack with a burst of thruster fire. The psychic emanations resolve to a singular thought:

Find the answer for yourself.

The funnels light the battlefield up with a swarm of beam weapon fire from every direction that descends on the surroundings more like a rain than like an attack, or even an artillery barrage, each shot tinged with the strange pulsing orange of the power that courses through the Nu Gundam.

KTS: Amuro Ray targets Full Frontal and Zoltan Akkanen with Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

Spying the deployment of the familiar Qubeley, she opens a channel to it, "Callisto, I've got your six. Let's take her out before she fires that main gun." Whether it hits the City, or the side of the Colony, or both - either outcome is devastating. And she knows she can't let it happen.

"Yeah? You wanna apologize, open up that cockpit for us."

She's no better than her, and she knows it, but she'll finish it all for her. The Shamblo's bits she tries to fly around, before the main jaw opens up, and the mega particle spray causes her to bank, and spin into a sudden dive in an attempt to avoid it.

Unfortunately it strikes right past her distortion field. Pitting the Aesti with burning scorch marks. With a yelp, her eyes twist to seeing Full Frontal in the sky fighting Amuro in that Sinanju. And something within her seethes, because she's glad that he's here to fight off the Conqueror King.

And its humiliating for her to realize that.

They're still trying to reach out to her? Ryoko's in disbelief. "Hey don't fall for this sad sack act while she's still trying to massacre civilians!? If she can't stop, then this isn't about her anymore."

Even running away from it all is better than this awful inertia.

One of the sleek plates on the Aesti opens up to reveal a knife.

The Aesti takes it out, and flips it into a spin in the Low gravity, before picking it up out of the air. The Aesti then dives in, and tries to jab it into the armor plating, dig it in, and drag it across deeply enough to try and reveal something more vital on the inside.

"It's about - MAKING HER!"

KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Armor of the Week with Rather Immediate Knife! KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.

Tired...

                                        So tired.

The Unicorn sparkles in the near distance, a coruscating beacon of scarlet. The crimson light sears in Puru Two's vision, and the unfurling flower of resonant particles floods her sixth sense. It blankets her most vital, most personal means of perceiving the world in a haze of static. The enervating effect on the Newtype woman is quick, and pronounced. Her vision fuzzes at onces as her senses wane and recede, the Qubeley's stuccato burst of particle-fire pinging harmlessly off of her titanic foe.

Harmlessly, that is, until the ricocheting arrowheads of high-energy particles bounce and flick from reflector-bit to reflector-bit and are whisked back to their sender. The matte black Qubeley reacts too slowly, nevermind that its pilot ought to know this trick well. There's a brilliant spark of impact, then a puff of smoke and shattered metal as the Mobile Suit's left pauldron and arm disappear somewhere into the empty space around Side 3.

                                        I'm so tired.

Puru Two's eyes lazily track the numerous friendlies circling the Shamblo. "This is all the miracle was for, huh...?" a queer emptiness claws at the edges of her mind, defenses laid bare. It's so hard to lift so much as a finger.

There comes the buzzing of an incoming transmission from the Aestivalis. Ryoko calls her name, which at least rouses her senses somewhat. "I'll try," she confirms in a weirdly half-asleep tone. "But my weapons are ineffective. Be careful, something doesn't feel right here."

It feels like a gargantuan effort, but the Qubeley's pilot pulls herself back up in her seat.

                                        Can I sleep yet...?

Rather than retreat, which would be the smart thing to do, the one-armed Quebeley produces a single beam-saber, which blazes with golden light, and descends (insofar as you can assign a 'top' and 'bottom' direction in space relative to the Shamblo's orientation) towards the Shamblo with every intent to close in where it can't shoot her, and cut something vital upon it.

But her movements are sluggish, and predictable.

KTS: Puru Two targets Armor of the Week with Beam Sabers Strike!

<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.

Full Frontal grimaces as he sees the fin funnels detach from the Nu Gundam's back and assemble in formation, headed towards him and Zoltan. Quickly pressing a few buttons, Full Frontal diverts power to his thrusters with all the flourish of a pianist ready to play a final crescendo. Against a skilled funnel user, the only options were to close the distance and force them to risk hitting themselves, or dodge. Focusing his gaze on the incoming funnels, Full Frontal looks forward and begins his charge. </poem> KTS: Full Frontal charges into the attack! KTS: Amuro Ray rattles Full Frontal, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Full Frontal partially guards Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage, taking 4836 damage! KTS: Amuro Ray rattles Zoltan Akkanen, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to Evade Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage, taking 4836 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Amuro Ray's Something I Can Never Take Back activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.

The reflector bits play against Alma's strengths; she's someone who engages head-on, and this sort of massive indirect fire barrage is not her speed at all. The Amabilis struggles to keep up; this is ultimately not its environment, either -- it's a creature first and foremost of the Earth, a counterbalance to Alma herself. Armor gets melted away, and blast marks score the whole machine.

More than that, though -- there's so much psychoframe whirling around this battlefield. Something teases at the corner of Alma's perception, but she's always been /very/ receptive and just keeping her head above water and firmly planted in herself is a battle. It takes her a long time to get herself right --

-- and then she feels it. ... one of her...? That means --

Alma springs into action, forming up with the Qubeley. She isn't even sure who's in it, but there's an /urgency/ to that feeling -- even as she opens comms to Loni, after giving Banagher a quick, "I'm made of pretty tough stuff! I have your back, Unicorn," before fully focusing. "Listen... I don't know who you are. And I don't know -- anything about you, other than that you're hurting in the shadow of Zeon. A lot of people are. But... you can't wallow in that. You have to choose to be kinder to the world -- to protect what you care about, instead of... nursing everyone's grudge!"

She feels Callisto fading into the background -- it makes her anxious in a way she can't name, in part because she isn't even sure of who it is that's so close. (She never got a great look at the Ra Mari's motor pool.) Still -- she sticks close to Callisto nevertheless, only darting forward briefly to make a somewhat noncommittal strike with her sabers.

KTS: Banagher Links rattles Armor of the Week, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Banagher Links's Two-Saber Combo, taking 3010 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 40450 KTS: Banagher Links has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Armor of the Week partially guards Ryoko Subaru's Rather Immediate Knife, taking 3430 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 37020 KTS: Ryoko Subaru has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Armor of the Week's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Puru Two's Beam Sabers Strike, taking 150 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 36870 KTS: Puru Two has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Armor of the Week's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Alma Stirner's Amabilis Twin Beam Sabers Strike, taking 660 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 36210 KTS: Alma Stirner has engaged Armor of the Week!

<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.

Ennil grits her teeth. The Unicorn is dizzyingly fast, and for a moment she loses her place. The ice in her gut isn't helping. Seated this close to the psychoframes, all humming in tune, she can hear the rush of the ocean bearing down on her. This much exhaustion, this much grief... "I'm fine! You have your job, and I have mine!"

Realistically, the view from the Unicorn is simulated. A bunch of cameras, stretching out a panorama for her. But she still locks eyes on the Shamblo. The monster with Loni in its belly. "Loni Garvey! Do you really already think you can just bury everything like this?!" It's maybe not the most conventional pep-talk, but it's certainly honest. "Fighting just to destroy... That's just too sad. Your life isn't over yet, Loni!"

For once, there's a force behind Ennil's words that's beyond words. It's slow, creaking, two sheets of ice scraping together... and letting loose a flood. A certainty. Pain ends. One day you find yourself on the other side. If Loni can just keep going... "There are people still waiting for you!"

KTS: Ennil El targets Armor of the Week with Pass! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Ennil El's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 36210

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

No. No!? All this, and the bastard just has one word to say after everything!? "Are you BLIND!?" Instinct. Base, pure, Cyber-Newtype instinct as his hands tapped against the buttons, guiding this machine to his whims. The crackle of blocking, the outward push, the low chuckle slipping from his lips as eyes caught the animated visage.

Funnels, funnels! "You can't be here, you can't be here at all! Do you /want/ to keep on pushing for this world!? Do you!?"

Look at how everything is! Look at your efforts, and see how the world still turns! The sludge of psyche counteracted with a ferocious wave of frustration from the psycho-framed Gundam, merely pushing back and rejecting the answer of the Conqueror.

"Just stay back down in your grave and let themselves sort it out!" And even when pushed back, he lashed out. Refusing to bow down to the pressure, to align himself with his "brother". Charging in, brazenly pressing in close against those lasers. A blast of the shoulder joint. A forearm taking the full burnt. And? And?

And a wild swing when he could be in range of the Nu Knight, bashing himself through the rain of funnels.

KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Amuro Ray with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber Twin Swipe! KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber Twin Swipe, taking 1620 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Amuro Ray! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen continues a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.

"It's not like that any more," Loni says with a sigh. "The people who saved me - who pulled me out of the ocean - they showed me that this pain that's been inflicted on me doesn't have to be how things work, that we can fix everything.

"We just have to start over, that's all."

The Shamblo's I-Field does a fantastic job of warding off Alma and Callisto's saber strikes, but Ryoko's material, sharp knife rips open plates, and Banagher applies enough pressure with both his blades to push straight through the field and gouge into the ominously-glowing crimson-painted luna titanium.

"I can show you, too."

The Shamblo's claws flail and smash, to knock some of its aggressors away - but rather than smash the Unicorn or the Aestivalis, Loni guides those claws to grab and hold, so that their machines can touch the aura of dawn - and understand, as long as she can hold them in place.

KTS: Armor of the Week targets Alma Stirner with Large Iron Nail Smash! KTS: Armor of the Week targets Puru Two with Large Iron Nail Smash! KTS: Armor of the Week targets Banagher Links with Large Iron Nail Crushing Snare! KTS: Armor of the Week targets Ryoko Subaru with Large Iron Nail Crushing Snare! KTS: Ryoko Subaru rushes into the attack! KTS: Ryoko Subaru partially guards Armor of the Week's Large Iron Nail Crushing Snare, taking 4725 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week has engaged Ryoko Subaru! KTS: Banagher Links fails to parry Armor of the Week's Large Iron Nail Crushing Snare, taking 5400 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week has engaged Banagher Links! KTS: Puru Two fails to parry Armor of the Week's Large Iron Nail Smash, taking 3850 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week repulses Puru Two, forcing her to disengage. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 134.

<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.

Full Frontal grimaces at the damage to the Sinanju. Multiple layers of beam coating burnt off, arm plating scorched, and the cabling of one of his legs was starting to become exposed. Even after all this time, Amuro hadn't lost a single step. Despite the odds, the leader of the Sleeves and the ghost within were relishing the moment. This was the night of the Red Comets, he and Zoltan both hurtling towards the ascended Nu Gundam, entering the fray again and again, even as the White Devil continued to repulse them each time.

Yet with each strike, they chipped further away at its despondent power, with each glancing blow and scrape of projectile fire, they slowly began to strip the Nu Gundam's armor and shield away.

Checking his reserves, Full Frontal grimaced. He needed more time to charge. Noting the presence of a Qubeley unit nearby, the leader of the Sleeves furrowed his brow. It was quite distasteful, but there was little reason not to use the tools provided to him for a diversion. Broadcasting on a public frequency, Full Frontal prepared to activate the Qubeley's pilot. "Puru Two, dance for me."

KTS: Full Frontal targets Amuro Ray with Jam! KTS: Full Frontal jams Amuro Ray's sensors, reducing his accuracy.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

Ryoko catches that sleepy tone, something's wrong. And she figures it's something wrong psychically. She's not a Newtype expert or anything but it was hard not to serve in Char's Neo-Zeon without being exposed to his Cyber Newtypes to some degree.

Beep.

A screen pops up in the Qubeley, "Callisto." Now slightly louder, "Hey Callisto." And then abruptly the screen gets right in her face, distorting Ryoko's features as the radio screen shakes, "WAKE THE HELL UP!"

She's not really mad at her, it's just the equivalent of a verbal slap in the face to try and get her focused. "We need you out here."

Alma's words... they get to her, under her skin. Because it feels like even if she's chosen to protect, she's still wallowing on some level.

It's why she can't face him.

Loni speaks, and as she digs her knife in, she snarls right as the Iron Nail descends, and rather than get out of the way, she holds on tight, even as the claw starts to tug her away. The claw latches on, and Ryoko experiences a small glimmer of the Aura of the Dawn first hand.

It's seductive, the solution. Clear the entire board, let it all start over. Everything is horrible anyway? Why shouldn't she?

        Why shouldn't she?

                 Why shouldn't she?

She's been wallowing in it for three years, but in the wake of what was a rainbow miracle for everyone else - and a horrific example of the depths she was capable of sinking to.

Never again.

Eyes watering with tears, she struggles, before taking her rifle and peppering the joints of the claw holding her with projectile fire, trying to loosen its grasp enough so that she can fly free.

"... Damn you." She says so quietly as she tries to shake it off as for a moment - she thought killing what was most precious to her was indeed...

...the solution.

KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Armor of the Week with Rapid Covering Fire!

<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.

The Conqueror King Nu Gundam steps in to the Sinanju Stein's combo, once more insufferably catching the stroke of a blade against its shield. Even with the gleaming orange force the blade scores into the top of the shield, leaving it notched and descending on the shoulder as it finds one of the numerous opportunities laid out for it by Full Frontal-- or perhaps by its own prior action. In the heat of things, it is hard to tell. But the golden-orange Gundam doesn't seem close to yielding, just yet. Neither does the spirit within it-- despite its weariness, despite its exasperation at what is happening, Amuro Ray knows what needs to happen.

"To wield miracles for any reason... was a mistake," Amuro answers. It's around this time that Full Frontal engages in a bout of trickery. The Nu Gundam fires its thrusters again, putting distance between itself and the aggressive Sinanju Stein, as well as the more distant Sinanju. Its funnels come about about and begin a second volley of fire, this one a little more... focused. A little more precise in intention, as well. The White Devil is trying to leave future openings and vulnerabilities for himself as well-- which is bad news for him, because what Full Frontal did distracts him more thoroughly than simply messing with his electronics would have.

Amuro's psychic attention swings towards Puru Two, moments before the weapons fire begins. What might have served as a corrective measure to 'mere' electronic interference -- his predictive powers -- is instead anticipating a grotesquerie directed towards another of the many victims that came about as a consequence of the studies conducted on him many years ago.

The surge in agitation is palpable.

It all went wrong.

KTS: Amuro Ray targets Zoltan Akkanen with Conqueror King Funnel Array Assault Formation! KTS: Amuro Ray targets Full Frontal with Conqueror King Funnel Array Assault Formation! KTS: Full Frontal blocks Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Assault Formation, taking 2700 damage! KTS: Amuro Ray begins a Formation attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen blocks Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Assault Formation, taking 3375 damage! KTS: Amuro Ray: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Amuro Ray begins a Formation attack! KTS: [Lucky] Alma Stirner's Queen Cutter activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Alma Stirner parries Armor of the Week's Large Iron Nail Smash, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Armor of the Week repulses Alma Stirner, forcing her to disengage. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 140.

<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.

The claw comes down. Banagher is fighting his hardest, but it crunches against the frame. The psychoframes scream in unison, and Ennil screams alongside them. After so long slammed shut, she'd let herself open up, just a crack - Her eyes go wide, searching, finding Banagher. He's in danger. He'll be hurt. Because she thought she could do this. But there's that totally cold, placid grip descending on her, and Ennil fights back the only way she can -

She lets herself drown. Herself. Loni. Banagher. She'll show them what can't ever be taken from her.

--

It's a frosty autumn night, and the girl in front of the fireplace hugs a blanket around her tiny frame. She's already an engineer at nine years old, snapping together the gears and spokes of some colorful plastic building toy, picturing something much grander in her head. The first thump against the door doesn't catch her attention - just a knock. But there's more thumps, off-rhythm, and then a window blows inward, sharp autumn air cutting through the blanket she's now squeezing even tighter around her. Her father stands up, and she almost clutches at his shirt, but he looks down at her and the warmth in his eyes steadies her just long enough for him to step out into the night, leaving her gazing out through the broken glass.

Nada's hands are up, beseeching, gesturing back towards the house, his face sad - and then another stone crashes into his cheek, and he loses a step. He takes a moment to breathe, steadies his shoulders, and steps forward again. The next catches him in the gut, but he just walks forward, shoulders square, hands up. He is so close to the crowd now, and a hand seizes his shoulder, twists into a fist - Ennil begins to cry out, but she's toppling backward, pulled her away from the window, back into safety. Her last grasp catches against a jagged edge, tearing a gash into her palm. It burns and stains the cloth her mother tears from one of the sheets to wrap it. Her vision blurs.

This is Ennil El's first scar.

--

"Loni!" It tears out of her, her hands clutching at her chest. "You can't just... run away from me now..." The shiny yellow handle is in her hand, blade sawing at the restraints holding her in place. She thrashes against them, squeezing herself loose, the Unicorn's injectors tearing at her. "I promised..." She whirls, the jagged remnants of the razor between her and Banagher. Keep him from coming closer. Getting hurt. "That I wouldn't let you be a sacrifice!"

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

"You want me to just give up on her?!" Banagher shouts at the voice of Ryoko, anger flashing hot and fast in his heart. "I'll never do that. We can get her back -- her and Amuro both! Until then, we've just got to keep them -- fighting!"

He's getting too emotional. The Unicorn shudders around Banagher, the NT-D threatening to take control. Banagher takes a breath. He's got to stay calm -- stay focused on the people he loves, and how he's fighting for them.

Leina, Audrey. At Torrington, he was saved by their lights, lifted from the reach of the NT-D by the gravity between the sun and the moon. Those emotions echo back to him now, as though stored in the psychoframe until he needed them. Banagher breathes out. Ride the wave.

Control is restored between Banagher and the Unicorn, and for a moment, their connection feels sublime, perfection itself. Maybe there is a way to save Loni and Amuro -- maybe there's something he can do. Within a pocket of Banagher's normal suit, a little black rock begins to glow. Glimmers of green light shine through the heavy fabric, floating up in the cockpit, and the Unicorn, in turn...

Full Frontal speaks through the public channel.

"What!" Banagher snarls, turning the Unicorn to see his hated enemy. "Why are you here?! Some kind of sick continuation of Char's grudge? Leave Amuro alone!"

For a moment, it looks like the Unicorn is going to charge the Sinanju -- but Loni makes her move. The Shamblo grabs the Unicorn, slowly crushing her in its grasp. Banagher shouts in fear, the Unicorn creaking and groaning.

"Miss Loni..." Banagher grits his teeth.

Before he can do anything else, Ennil's memories hit Banagher, and again, he's drowning. Gasping in echoed pain and fear, the young man clutches at his heart, fervently trying to get above the waves of oncoming memories.

By the time he's aware again, Ennil's holding a razor toward him. Banagher goes still, his eyes blown wide with adrenaline and fear. "Ennil? What are you doing?! You need to sit back down, the Unicorn--"

/Crack/

The memory echoes from Banagher, this time, powerfully projected across the battlefield. Leina Ashta, thrown in the Unicorn's cockpit, cracking her neck against the metal wall--

"No-- please, just sit back down!"

The Unicorn can't make a move, with Banagher frozen in terror.

KTS: Banagher Links targets Armor of the Week with Pass!

<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.

Alma's presence would be something of a reassurance to Puru Two if she were able to sense her, but the NT-D has other ideas right now. There is no comfort, no familiarity, only the alien static of an uncaring computer spewing emptiness into the void where minds ought to touch. She is alone again, with only her thoughts for company and comfort. The Qubeley's lone beam saber clashes with the Shamblo's I-Field in a dizzying shower of sparks as the disruptive field puts a sharp halt to the channel of particles. The Mobile Suit recoils as if parried, drifting a few feet away before a titanic claw shrouded in a nimbus of morning sunlight rushes it.

                                        Hopeless.

The Qubeley does not break up from the impact, though the jolt hurls its pilot against her restraints and a spiderweb of cracks ripples through the upper quadrant of the panoramic monitors. Spalled armor from a penetrating claw ricochets around the interior structure of the machine, but does not puncture the cockpit.

Small blessings.

"I'm sorry, Qubeley." murmurs Puru Two, who seems to have brought a knife to the proverbial gunfight. Her head hangs low for a moment as her ability to concentrate lapses. Her eyes feel so heavy. Maybe the past eight years have just been one long, hazy dream. Maybe...

Hopeless.

        >>"WAKE THE HELL UP!"

So orders Ryoko Subaru, interrupting this reverie. So forceful is her command that the very speech-bubble of her yelling leaps from the screen and smooshes into Puru Two's cheek. (Or does it? Is it simply an effect of her fugue state, dear reader?) "Guh." is her response. Right. Callisto: that's her name. That's the name she... chose.

"I'm--right. I'm okay." she gasps, throat full as she talks. Like she needs to cough. "Something is in my head, I can't focus. I don't understand!"

The Qubeley rears back from the Shamblo, thrusters ablaze. Bereft of her psychic abilities in the proximity of the Awakened Unicorn as she is, it is testament to the terrifying weight of Amuro Ray's otherworldly presence and the gravity of his soul that the redhead at the controls feels a prickling upon the back of her neck as his attention wafts over her. The weight of mankind's many crimes is worn upon the girl's soul like a mantle. Born, bred, raised, and taught to kill. Children with pistols and textbooks instead of tricycles and televisions. A distillation of every nightmare he may have once had about what the military-industrial complex would make of Newtypes.

There is so much they could talk about. If only.

But we have to leave this line of thought here. Another ghost from the past interrupts. One who wears a mask, and the face, of another.

         >> "Puru Two, dance for me."

The voice belongs to Full Frontal, the man who calls himself the second coming of Char Aznable. The Red Comet, returned to terrorize the Earth Sphere once more. This phantom who inherited the legacy of Zeon, of Neo-Zeon, is doubtless armed with all its greatest and most terrible secrets.

Such as the reports of a minor noble named Glemy Toto, and his experiments into conditoning children to be perfect soldiers. Right down to the implanting of strict mental subroutines to be activated, to ensure their loyalty. Or to create sleeper cells. Your pick.

                                        Hopeless.

She hears the words, but not in his voice. No, she hears the boyish tone of a self-styled Princeling. She's suddenly ten years old again, feeling the needle's prick and the cold rush of stimulants. The droning lectures. The lessons. The hunger.

Callisto Diana submerges completely, beneath the waves of her subconscious. In her place rises something cold and unforgiving.

"Yes, lord Glemy."

The Qubeley immediately turns and its mono-eye flares scarlet for no valid reason. Puru Unit Two sits upright in her seat with the utmost clarity and purpose, her mind beginning to pierce the veil of static that the Unicorn has spewed over the battlefield. If there is only chaos, then she would simply have to shape it to her will.

"Funnels. Cut these morons down to size."

The Qubeley palpably glows with a nimbus of horrible scarlet light, and from its tail-berth come a spiralling swarm of remote-controlled flying beam-cannons. They hover for a moment, as if to take stock of the situation, and then simply open fire on everyone who might be threatening Full Frontal.

KTS: Puru Two has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two targets Amuro Ray, Alma Stirner, Banagher Links, and Ryoko Subaru with Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Spathi Formation. KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Puru Two's Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Spathi Formation, taking 4059 damage! KTS: Puru Two completes the Formation attack! KTS: [Spirit Defense] Banagher Links's Determination activates, and his spirit endures. KTS: Puru Two enervates Banagher Links, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Banagher Links blocks Puru Two's Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Spathi Formation, taking 5940 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru Two's Pressure of Aggression activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru Two's Pressure of Aggression activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Banagher Links has been defeated! KTS: [Spirit Defense] Alma Stirner's Feather Rest activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Puru Two enervates Alma Stirner, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Alma Stirner fails to evade Puru Two's Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Spathi Formation, taking 6160 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru Two's Pressure of Aggression activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru Two's Pressure of Aggression activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Ryoko Subaru fails to Evade Puru Two's Qubeley MK-II Funnels - Spathi Formation, taking 5600 damage! KTS: Ryoko Subaru has been defeated!

<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.

</poem> "That's just giving up!" Alma insists, as she brings up both of her sabers to defend herself against the luna titanium claws bearing down on her. They're too big for her to do anything about the sheer concussive force -- but she manages to mitigate what's coming, going skidding back instead of getting fully crushed. "That's not -- changing anything! That's just admitting it won't change...!"

This is the power of the mysterious miracle energy 'Triple Zero,' huh. Alma's heart sinks a little bit at that... is it really so wrong to make a miracle for someone you care about? Isn't that what power is /for/?

"Amabilis... please -- help me open my heart," she says, tone settling into seriousness as she sees --

-- the Unicorn /stopping/? That's --

Everything is collapsing so fast for these children (and they are all children, and that's the real cruelty of the situation, isn't it?) and Alma hates it. She wonders, for a moment, if this is how Killy felt -- seeing Alma and Mia risk their lives and struggle and stumble.

-- Something changes /abruptly/, and Alma feels /that/, too. Everything shifts under her, as --

'Funnels. Cut these morons down to size.'

... what's this bile taste in the back of her mouth...? This arrogance, this anger -- and yet, this beaten-down feeling...?

Alma's placed herself directly between the Shamblo and Puru Two, blades forward and shoulder-carried bazookas tilted into firing position /without/ the stabilization of hands on the grips, before she's fully aware of what she's doing. Both fire for the Shamblo's legs again, while the legs of the /Amabilis/ flare out slightly, revealing thin strands of deep, glowing purple. She continues forward behind the bazooka rounds, traveling at nearly the speed of the rounds /themselves/.

Everything comes out. The electrified picks get ejected straight from the leg mounts into the Shamblo in a quick whirl.

Alma turns forward, even as the spiral of funnels envelops /her/. She drives her blades for the Shamblo, a blazing pink and purple aurora.

... even mutated, though -- even twisted this way -- the fact that those feelings envelop the battlefield gives Alma the certainty of who she's dealing with.

"Callisto," she transmits back, as a blast pierces through the psychoframe of Amabilis's legs, rooting her machine in place as she rips up through the Shamblo with both sabers. If Callisto is drowning in the sea of her past -- then Alma needs to be a blinding beacon of the present to swim towards.

"... let me make up for the time we missed, okay? You don't -- have to sit in this darkness alone -- please...!" </poem> KTS: Alma Stirner has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Alma Stirner has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Alma Stirner targets Armor of the Week with Queen Cutter! KTS: Armor of the Week blocks Ryoko Subaru's Rapid Covering Fire, taking 2170 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 34040 KTS: Ryoko Subaru repulses Armor of the Week, forcing it to disengage. KTS: Ryoko Subaru begins a Formation attack! KTS: Armor of the Week fails to react to Banagher Links's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 34040 KTS: Armor of the Week fails to evade Alma Stirner's Queen Cutter, taking 6570 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 27470 KTS: Alma Stirner has engaged Armor of the Week! KTS: Alma Stirner roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Alma Stirner completes the Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.

Puru Unit Two reactivates, and the black Qubeley unleashes a torrent of funnel fire that rips apart the battlefield.

In its wake, the Unicorn and Ryoko's Aestivalis are limp and helpless, clutched in the Shamblo's claws. The terrible radiance of the Oath Over Omega can bleed unhindered into the chassis now, and from there into the pilots, revealing a truth to them unlike any they might have confronted before -

A barrage of warheads and Alma's relentless assault forces Loni to drop the two incapacitated units and try to get out of the way, but the picks sink deep into the armour. Loni clicks her tongue, the heavy mobile armour not able to respond to her will despite the dawnlight coursing through it. "You still don't get it," she transmits to Alma. "This cruelty has too much inertia to push back against, especially with people like her - " a sudden spike of vitriol and the mental image of a certain customised Tiandong 3 being crushed into the asphalt of Torrington - "pushing along. Starting over... it's the only way."

She lashes out at the Amabilis again, trying to smack it away for a follow-up attack. The turret head watches the black Qubeley closely - Loni doesn't seem to know what to make of its change in tactics.

KTS: Armor of the Week targets Alma Stirner with Large Iron Nail Smash! KTS: Armor of the Week targets Puru Two with Pass! KTS: [Lucky] Alma Stirner's Queen Cutter activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Alma Stirner successfully blocks Armor of the Week's Large Iron Nail Smash KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 131. KTS: Puru Two successfully evades Armor of the Week's Pass KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 165.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

"Then get out of here! I'll cover you!"

If anyone is going to die here today... it might as well be... Eyes still stained with tears, Ryoko hears Banagher and there's heat suddenly, "Easy for you to say! I bet there's not a single person in that city behind us you even know! You won't give up on her? You're giving up on everyone else she kills today EVERY TIME YOU HOLD BACK!"

And maybe, he might see a glimpse of a child with dark blue hair being held the arms of an older man.

Why can't she just tell him her father is back there in that city? Why can't she? ... She knows why she can't.

There's a public comment from Full Frontal, about Puru Two and- "What?" And then come the Funnels... and Ryoko doesn't expect them, not from Callisto.

She tries even as the Funnel fire pierces the distortion field and bats her around, ripping limbs off the Aestivalis. Warnings blare, and her Aesti suddenly loses most of its propulsion, as it spirals and impacts the Colony floor, the shock of impact concussive, her ears ringing.

And in that dazed tinnitus, blood streaming down one side of her face, its like Full Frontal is laughing at her, laughing at all of them. For all she knows, she may die in seconds, and all she'll feel is humiliation in these final moments.

She fell for it again, in the same way she did to his words long ago that seduced her in her puppy crush to be led astray. This time it was the feeling like it was tolerable that he was here, just to fight off the White Devil, just to push him out of Zum City. Siding with the lesser of two evils.

And this is her punishment. Being tricked again by Char Aznable.

"You bastard." She whispers to herself, as she fumbles for the button to try and get her assault pit to open. "You... BASTARD!" She yells to herself helplessly in the cockpit of her dead suit.

<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.

The world lurches. The Unicorn sways, bathing Ennil in crimson. Banagher is pleading with her. Trying to help her. He hesitates - and Ennil El loses all sense of gravity. Funnels rake the Unicorn, and with her soul laid bare, so does a festering reminder of her past.

"Puru?" It's one reminder too many. It's one //failure// too many. The world stops making sense. She sways, thrown from her footing in the violence. The razor presses home, and she stumbles back in terror, staring at the wobbling yellow handle. There's nothing she can do. There's nowhere she can go. All that's left is to keep her promise. There's a cold grip on her heart. Something whispering in her ear. That broken people have their place. That she doesn't have to be sorry for making so many mistakes. All the mistakes she's made, after all, are just part of a much bigger mistake. One that started a long time before the Mindra.

What Ennil needs is a miracle. "Loni. Please. Take him away from here. I'm coming. I'll be with you... no matter what. As long as... Leina gets to be happy, a little bit longer."

KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

In, in, in, in, inininininininininin, pushing himself to stay cognizant, to avoid the bile in his throat, to allow the distractions to fade away. There was no mistaking this surge of action, this fighting style. To raise his shield in front, to feel the beams slag off pieces of his suit once more. The discarded remains of armor cooling after being superheated, the contractions of metal contracting away to reveal the mechanical bone of the Sinanju Stein.

"A mistake!? Then you're one, you damn hypocrite! You're the mistake here, right now, alive, in front of us, and you shouldn't've bothered coming back!" Words spat out in the midst of the baptismal rain, following instinct as much as training. Char's training. Char's heritage. Char's moves. Ingrained, muscle memory, but not sublimnated.

It takes the slightest bit of pause at noting the Unicorn Gundam's reaction, only eliciting a cackle of glee. Of enjoyment, watching the Gundam writhe in place. "That's right, Gundam! You know as damn well as anyone that this grudge can't be settled peacefully!"

Char. Char. Char. Full Frontal? No, he could worry about his own battles. Glemy? He'll mull over the specifics later; A tool was a tool, and here was one being used! There was something more, something more, something even more important in front of him right now than some petty morality thing of the past rearing its head.

No, the blue streak of space tapped a few buttons, twisted his handles, and /blasted/ towards Amuro Ray, the wide grin of roiling emotions of frustration, of glee, of reveling in the twisted situation at hand. Char? The continuation of Char? Full Frontal had the charisma, damn him to hell and back and hell again (with extra spittle), but him, he, himself, he'll pass them...!

Char...!

One shot. Two. Three. Again and again and again. Rain upon rain, the failed inheritor to the Red Comet streaking towards this dessicated ressurection of the Devil itself, firing off a few more shots and raising his leg, delivering a swing aimed right at the torso, head on...! Following along whether it missed or not in a full twist, the blue jets blazing high to carry that momentum, to wildly fire at the White Devil once more, to blast forward and shouldercheck him right from behind. Whatever plating fell off was meaningless. Whatever limb charred in the flames of this being from beyond didn't matter.

He'll be damned if he couldn't surpass the Red Comet and do what he never did.

"If you're saying miracles shouldn't exist, then you should stay dead, you ancient corpse...!"

KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Amuro Ray with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle All Out Assault (With A Gun)! KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle All Out Assault (With A Gun), taking 3849 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Where Banagher had reacted in anger to Full Frontal, he should have instead worried for Callisto.

Ennil's feelings. Ryoko's memory. Alma's pain. Callisto's loss.

It's too much. Everything screams into his heart, amplified by the psychoframe, tearing down the meager defenses Banagher had managed to create while in Sweetwater. The young man lowers his head, teeth grit, trying to focus, but -- The pinned Unicorn is torn into by Puru Two's funnels. It's too much. Hot tears streak down his cheeks. Even before this, Banagher was clinging to his mastery over the NT-D by his fingernails, and now...

Sudden, stabbling pain blooms from Banagher's chest. Opening his eyes, Banagher's surprised to find his vision hazy. A yellow handle sticks out of his normal suit, just beneath the Vist Foundation logo. The pain is getting worse. The tears won't stop.

"E--ennil?" He asks, voice shaky. "I--"

Orange light beams into the Unicorn. Of her own accord, the Gundam struggles in Loni's hold -- only for Alma to come to their rescue. Even once released, she does not move. Bits of white armor litter space, and the white machine looks... rough. A few of the scarlet psychoframe panels have cracked to the point they no longer glow.

Coughing, Banagher reaches out for Ennil. "W--what are you saying? You're coming back with me. We've got to see Leina. She's -- she's waiting." It's hard to breathe, and hard to speak. Every breath is worse than the one before.Stars dance in Banagher's vision, blurring Ennil's form before him.

And the Unicorn has had enough.

A horrible shriek echoes across the battlefield, pulsing from the Beast of Possibility. A fresh red wave of resonance pushes back all machines near it -- while this happens, the cockpit opens behind Ennil. A clear message. Banagher cries out, trying to stand to chase after Ennil, but screams in echoed -- and real -- pain when he tries to move. Slumping down in the chair, barely concious, the NT-D takes full control.

Once Ennil has made her decision, the cockpit seals itself once more. Abandoning the battlefield, blue starlight trails the white Gundam. It races away, so fast more of its armor snaps off, leaving a path of white.

If such a creature had thoughts, they would be focused on one thing: finding someone to save her pilot.

<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.

Full Frontal observes the carnage of the battlefield with a curious interest. He'd known that Puru Two would have most likely still responded to the sleeper command still planted within her by Glemy Toto, but even the Ghost's expectations had been exceeded by the excellent destruction she'd wrought upon her original programming reasserting itself. The Unicorn was in shambles, along with the Aestavalis that had been supporting it. The Shamblo had also taken significant damage, and even the mutated Nu Gundam staggered back. He had no doubt that the command was only temporary, but a distraction was all he had needed in the moment.

Full Frontal observed Zoltan's berserk rage come forth, a no-holds-barred all out attack on the target of his enmity. Amuro was a hated foe to them both, but perhaps moreso to his failed "brother". He represented what their origin had not been able to defeat, after all.

Staring at the spectacle in silence, Full Frontal gave a small bow of his head in respect. Perhaps it was time for him to also begin preparing for the finale of this stage. Whether it ended in his victory or defeat was irrelevant. He and the White Devil had tasted of each other's blood once more, and their hunt had begun again. A despondent corpse he may currently be, but Amuro Ray would pay the weregald for coming forth into this world once more. Where Char had failed, where Zoltan had tried, he would not falter. That was the duty expected of him, the vessel of the people's wishes, the inheritor of the Red Comet's despair and rage.

Accelerating into the fray, Full Frontal ignited the Sinanju's beam saber and rose to meet Amuro and his brother.

KTS: Full Frontal targets Amuro Ray with Arm Saber! KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Full Frontal rattles Amuro Ray, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Full Frontal's Arm Saber, taking 540 damage! KTS: Full Frontal has engaged Amuro Ray! KTS: Full Frontal begins a Formation attack! KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Trick Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.

Anguish. There is anguish all about him. It doesn't even have anything to do with him, this time. It all went wrong. Despair-- no, hopelessness. Are they the same thing? It all went wrong. Amuro doesn't think so, and contemplating it is almost more troubling than the tremendous attack that crashes against the Nu Gundam from that young lady. The texture of it all is difficult to parse, but there are differences. There is bitterness in one and an absence of substance in the other. Like cotton candy dissolving on the tongue, though to compare it to that was to parse it down many times over from completely different, barely compatible languages until at last arriving at that dull, material sensation. Amuro Ray's presence grows. It spills out over Puru Two-- the disassociation of identities, the loss of self. It spills out over Ryoko Subaru-- flashes of someone beloved on the horizon, the inability to do anything about it. It spills out over Alma, a life preserver cast out into a bleak nothingness.

It spills out over them all. And in that moment, with the Unicorn Gundam floating dead -- and then activating in earnest, pushing back against all psychics -- the Conquerer King Nu Gundam turns and considers its options. It is not the arm-mounted shield of the Nu Gundam that meets Zoltan's barrage or Full Frontal's charge-- it is that orange barrier. It forms into a bubble that reacts to the ongoing psychic 'struggle', crackling and intensifying and ablating as beam rifle fire pours across the Conqueror King's body. It is split and rent in several places, and by the end of it all the empowered Gundam is a half-melted mess melding itself back together through the power that kept it stitched together at Torrington.

It catches Full Frontal's saber on a forearm and engages thrusters, circling around the back of him in a single smooth motion that is positively unnatural for such a large, damaged machine. It touches the ground, kicks backward, and restores its motion. Then its funnels begin to move, the power protecting them from the NT-D's influence. Even Amuro would not be able to wield them so in its presence without that-- and as they oscillate about they zero in on the Unicorn, each assuming an optimal formation. Their barrels glow hot--

And they do not fire.

The waves of Amuro Ray's presence change in tone. Weariness turns to pity. The funnels pivot about, but do not power down. A renewed spray of weapons fire begins, split between the Sinanju and Stein-- and still, Amuro Ray radiates a feeling of pity.

"Soon enough," Amuro agrees with Zoltan, but he seems to be talking to Full Frontal as well. "But that means there's no need for what you are, either. I'm sorry. It's my fault you exist. You're not ghosts-- and you don't have to make any more of your own."

KTS: Amuro Ray targets Full Frontal and Zoltan Akkanen with Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal charges into the attack! KTS: Amuro Ray rattles Full Frontal, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Full Frontal partially guards Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage, taking 5208 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.

Loni surveys the battlefield, panting from adrenaline she didn't realise was surging through her, and puts a finger to her ear, pressing the communications bud nestled there. "Resistance dwindling. Proceeding with objective."

She taps more buttons on her console and pulls up a sub monitor. "Breaching Key shielding. Stand by."

The turret-head swivels to regard Amuro's battle with the two Red Comets as Puru Two's Qubeley retargets and joins that battle. Somewhere deep down it galls her to be working with the White Devil like this... but they stand together for a cause much greater than the grudges of the One Year War, and that's much more important.

The Unicorn suddenly surges into action, ejecting its passenger and streaking off out of the colony. Loni watches it go, and then turns to look down at Ennil El.

One of those colossal rending claws slowly moves towards the woman, splaying its nails to create a platform to stand on.

"Come with me, then."

As was done to her, Loni extends a hand to somebody lost.

KTS: Zoltan Akkanen charges into the attack! KTS: Amuro Ray rattles Zoltan Akkanen, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage, taking 5208 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has been defeated!

<Pose Tracker> Mineva Lao Zabi has posed.

</poem> Mineva's eyes wrench shut as the Unicorn's shriek pierces her psyche, jolting her back to life, just conscious enough to begin gathering her thoughts. The last thing she remembers...

The Nu Gundam, blazing orange... and a blinding light in her mind's eye as the NT-D activated. The pressure spilled through the psycoframe. Even as a passenger, it was too much... she must have blacked out.

Even now, it's still almost too much. Piercing through the pressure and noise, she feels pain. Fear, desperation... too sharp, too near.

She manages to turn her awareness outward to hear weak, shaky breaths. Her eyes open, head whipping around to see Banagher with a box-cutter in his chest. She goes pale, eyes saucer-wide. "BANAGHER!"

She doesn't know what happened. She can't even begin to speculate or process--just that the two of them are alone. What does she do? What can she possibly do right now? They need help. Suit-clad fingers fumble over her seat's control console as the Unicorn begins to flee, and she opens up a communication channel.

Scrambling to search for a first-aid kit, her shaky voice calls out, "S-someone. Anyone... please, we need help! He's... he's been stabbed in the chest, I don't know what to do. The suit's moving on its own. I don't know where it's going, I need..."

Under her seat. She pulls a case from underneath her seat with a big white + on it. "I-- I have a first aid kit, but I don't... please, help!" </poem>

<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.

        The Miracle.

Puru Two's gaze flits from point to point. The dim glow of her badly-damaged fighting machine's HUD paints her face an otherworldly, pallid green like the harbinger of some Chthonic God. Each funnel's movements and targeting motions carve a blazing neural pathway through her mind, nay, her soul. With each piercing blast, it is as though a ghostly presence of the girl herself lunges at her unaware opponents with a surgical intent to destroy.

        Chasing The Miracle.

Not every Newtype can operate a remote weapon. Not every Newtype can operate a remote weapon well. Those who excel must not only feel the movements of small, distant machines moving at multiple times the speed of sound, but it is said they must project their will to kill and destroy their opponent.

Forever chasing The Miracle.

What does it say about Puru Two? What does it say that the girl who reached out for the future in the wake of that aurora across space, that she can embrace friends and strangers alike with a presence that tries to smother? To kill?

Abandoned by The Miracle.

Laughter echoes in the Qubeley's cockpit. Not the chuckle of a well-received joke or a jovial happening, no, but the forceful breaking of an emotional high. The redhead grips the armrests of her seat until the slick gloves of her normal suit squeak and threaten to tear as her head rolls back and coarse, gasping roars of laughter shake her frame. Tears run from her eyes, welling in the space between her helmet and cheek. The Qubeley's remaining arm pitches backwards in mimicry, like a doll trying to laugh with half its strings cut.

Forsaken by The Miracle.

The funnels depart as movement ceases on the Aestivalis. Like birds of prey who have grown bored. Whatever remains of Callisto will be horrified to see the injuries leveled on Ryoko, and what will the remainder of the crew say? Has this weak fool just scuttled the relationship between the Ra Mari and the Nadesico? Somewhere within the chains of her mind, the barely-visible sliver of personality named Callisto Diana claws at her eyes and face, screaming silently in unbearable horror.

Spurned by The Miracle.

The funnels also depart as Banagher's agony joins the cacophony of raw feelings that mire this space. The Unicorn, that mysterious machine wiser than the sum of its parts, elects to turn and flee this space for safer pastures. This, too, drives nails of unbearable agony through Callisto Diana's soul. In one swift moment, so much pain has been heaped upon pain.

Enraged by The Miracle.

>> "Callisto," calls a voice. A vaguely familiar voice. The voice seems very out of place to Puru Two, who thinks the current year is 0089. It belongs to Alma Stirner, who (along with her Mobile Suit) has survived Puru Two's attempt to silence her.

>> "... let me make up for the time we missed, okay? You don't -- have to sit in this darkness alone -- please...!"

"Callisto... Callisto is just a lie!" rasps Puru Two, her vision warping as her mind snaps between eight years ago and the present. Full Frontal's triggering of the conditioning was effective in the moment, but it has not really gained him a loyal servant. But this he undoubtedly knows. She hiccoughs an ugly noise, pulling her helmet off with such force that the Psycommu crown atop her head nearly comes with it. Long red hair spills over her shoulders, matted with blood where the mechanical-looking tiara has scraped, has caught upon her skin.

"I'm Puru Two! I've always been Puru Two!" her hands thrash upon the controls. Her psyche unfurls and roils within her skull, the fires of which are very visible upon the outside of her skull. And on the outside of her highly psychoreactive Mobile Suit. "I will never be anything but Puru Two!" she wails, -howls- as the truth of these last eight years comes undone. With the dampening influence of the NT-D gone, her emotion scythes through local space on roiling waves of amethyst.

The many ghosts and spirits of those who have gone before her mourn, no doubt, at this.

A wordless scream tears her throat raw. She punches a plexiglass monitor with such force that her knuckles break. All of her funnels rush home, clumsily, ramming into the Qubeley's battered frame rather than docking.

                        Defenseless. Still. Helpless.

KTS: Puru Two targets Alma Stirner with Pass!

<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.

The leader of the Sleeves grimaces as the Sinanju just barely weathers the fin funnel assault. Armor was gouged and falling off in great chunks, part of the cockpit block was now exposed, and a good portion of the Sinanju's left shoulder armor had been shorn off in great molten drops. The wing binders had luckily escaped the worst of it, but dodge as he might, there was no way to completely escape these possessed psycommu weapons.

Witnessing the Sinanju Stein and Zoltan fall after taking one strike too many, the monoeye of the Sinanju makes contact with the Stein's own optics. A silence chilled the air, as the two clones of Char made contact. Nothing mattered now but a final act of rebellion against their most hated of foes, an inherited grudge crashing over them both in a great crescendo.

Amuro.

Amuro..!

Amuro...

Amuro!!!

The souls of three converged into one mass of rebellious rage as Full Frontal and the Sinanju soar into the air at screaming speed, the frame of the heavily damaged suit screeching and groaning in protest, its current condition in no form for such maneuvers. At the apex of their ascent, Full Frontal cuts the thrusters and begins plummeting towards the colony's ground.

Adjusting his wing binders to their maximum output, Char's rebirth ignites them with fury, extending a leg out in a kick as he speeds downwards towards the Nu Gundam and Amuro Ray. The Red Comet lived again and its final strike was glory to behold. Like an avenging angel crashing down on the unworthy to deliver justice, Full Frontal and the Sinanju prepared to deliver to a kick that carried within it decades of historic enmity for their most hated foe.

AMURO RAY, YOU ARE MINE!!!

<Pose Tracker> Alma Stirner has posed.

As that sentiment reminds Alma of her unlikely friend, all she manages to do is throw up her shield and defend herself. The Iron Nail /fully/ destroys the shield, but the Amabilis itself... remains safe, for now. She skates back, back, as nausea wells up inside her again.

'Surely you realise how happy it would make me if this girl died here today.'

Alma's teeth grit. There's -- too much happening. The maelstrom of emotions is /consuming/ her, especially as Amuro's presence casts out toward her own. She needs something to --

-- she has to choose what to prioritize, and that /has/ to be Puru Two. ... she can be a little selfish. It's a lesson that took her time to learn.

"... It doesn't matter who you choose to be -- as long as you get to choose it for yourself, I'll be happy for you!" Best not to harp on the fact that it doesn't feel like she's getting to choose for herself right now -- just emphasize that what matters to her is Puru's autonomy and safety.

The Amabilis practically crashes into the Qubeley, gripping it in a firm embrace as it's consumed with malevolent intent -- and starting to boost away from the battlefield. Anything else...

... has to be left up to the light in other human hearts.

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

All out. Against the fated foe that he was trained from childhood. All out. Again and again and again. Amuro Ray was dead. He should've stayed dead. The pity that struck him was a surge of bile roiling at the back of his throat, doing is damnest to push forward, to crash saber and leg and arm and rifle and beam against that orange barrier, that eldritch thing from beyond. Again and again, trying to break through, trying to push past the apex. 'Brother'? Him? Laughable. He could tell why. He could understand why.

They were from the same experiement with wildly different results. Brothers in figurative blood. In and in and in, trying to crack that barrier, trying to prove something, anything, trying to prove...prove...prove...It didn't matter what he had to prove if he was failing in every which way.

The crashing of beams against the Sinanju Stein. Tossed. No grip. No secure footing. No, merely bashed with the physical might of both emotion and physicality, tossed back as the skeleton spewed forth its figurative organs, crashing against the ground. One revolution, two, three, the rifle-holding arm careening in a lazy arc to crash beside.

No need for him?
No need?
Even the damned White Devil himself rejected who he was?
...
..
.
Laying there, amidst the wreckage. A man staring the thousand yard stare, deep, rattling breaths coursing through his lungs, unable to surpress a chuckle. Even the White Devil. Even him. Even this once-dead corpse, the 2nd highest reason why he was still...still doing something, just rejecting him.

He laughed, for the Devil had condemned him so. There was nothing more he could do in this state, only to watch his 'brother' do what he could not. Damn him. Damn him to hell and back...!

KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Amuro Ray KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal targets Amuro Ray with Red Comet Kick! KTS: Amuro Ray fails to Parry Full Frontal's Red Comet Kick, taking 5360 damage! KTS: Full Frontal has engaged Amuro Ray! KTS: Full Frontal completes the Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.

Banagher... reaches out to her. A hand goes up, to meet his. For a moment, she wavers, and tears cling to her eyes. Is it still possible that... Leina would want her to come home?

No. That world is no place for ghosts like her. She can only hunger, and never be sated.

The wave hanging over her head crashes down. The Unicorn renders her verdict. Ennil tumbles to the earth, grateful to have been of use. The great, shimmering monster hovers over her, and extends a hand in kindness. And its touch is... blessed silence. She's only herself again. An arm wrapped around one nail, Ennil steps into the Shamblo's palm. She can endure a little longer. Until there's no more voices to answer to. When the haunting finally ends, Ennil too can leave without lingering in anyone's memory. The way it should be.

--

In what remains of Ennil El's effects, a soft blue light dims, then brightens to green. She had two arrangements left to make.

A set of coordinates, to repay a debt. A Geara Zulu sitting in a dark hangar, alongside the very beginnings of a small, blue mobile armor. Captain Zinnerman would know what to do.

And to the one person who could ever know the whole truth about Ennil El, a confession.

KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

The assault pit doesn't open, no matter how many times she tries to hit the override release. Ryoko growls and starts banging on it, in her punch drunk state, she's always been a scrappy one, and if she's going to go out of this world, it's going to be kicking and screaming and biting to the end.

She clings to life, it's the only reason she's still here.

There's thin wisps of orange energy bleeding off, and she doesn't even notice. Not until the moment... the Aestivalis console lights back up. Ryoko stares at it in disbelief, her hand touching the control globes, as she puts a hand there to do a diagnostic through the nanomachine connection and...

... the rockets that Callisto sheared off are functional? How?

She doesn't question it, she wills the Aesti into the air, rockets sputtering in protest, but it ascends, the Shamblo is apparently bringing someone in, and Ryoko in the haze of her head wound just blearily shakes it off...

... what does she even do? Return to the Nadesico? Zip across the city to their old family home, just in case he's not in a shelter...

... over the radio however, she hears the crackle of Callisto's pain, "... We all tell lots of lies... to ourselves... just so we can live with who we see in the mirror..."

She tells her haltingly, "... don't tell yourself this one... your crew on the Ra Mari is waiting for you."

It's all she can do, even as Alma carries her away.

"... Fuck." She says to the White Devil above, clashing with Full Frontal, the Shamblo with the girl in its claw. Without a further word, she flies low to the ground, moving through the streets of Zum City.

He probably won't even be there. However, just trusting that that's true isn't enough for her.

<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.

Were there not an urgent threat at hand immediately, Amuro Ray might have more words for Zoltan. His rejection is not of one of them alone-- and it was the combination of the pair that had done so fantastically. This does not change the fact that Full Frontal is a persistent threat even as Zoltan falls however, and the Conqueror King Nu Gundam moves rapidly away from the site of the fallen brother's wreckage-- along with its fin funnels. A beam saber is drawn from a half-melted rack, ignited to attempt to disrupt the oncoming kick-- and it did no good. The weapon disintegrates under the weight of the blow, along with the arm to which it was attached, and a greater portion of the mobile suit's shoulder. A shower of golden-yellow plating and internal components showers the ground around the Nu Gundam as it tumbles end-over-end, recovers, and rises to a knee.

The machine itself is for a moment cowed, but its funnels continue-- a little faster than before, surprisingly. The shift of his mood from weary to pitying seems to have lightly improved his control over the funnels. They surround the Sinanju from several different directions and fire, attempting to shear through limbs and verniers and weapons. He... isn't trying to kill Full Frontal. No more than he was trying to kill Zoltan.

His rejection is complete.

No. You have no entanglements with me. You have no history with me. You have no future with me. We're just strangers who met on a battlefield.

The Nu Gundam glances in the direction of the Shamblo, and its pilot feels the unease of their cooperation. He thinks better of saying anything to her, but his gaze is probably still felt, in a way. Messy as things are, this is how it needs to be.

KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Amuro Ray targets Full Frontal with Conqueror King Funnel Array Ambush Formation!

<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.

The Qubeley clasps, or tries to clasp one hand onto the Amabilis as the other machine crashes into it in a full-speed tackle. But such a machine was not built to grapple and wrestle with others of its kind, and Puru Two does not have the werewithal to make do in such a state.

"I can't choose! I have no choices!" howls the young pilot, head buried in the shattered remains of her mobile weapon's primary terminal. "Don't you see? Don't you know!? That man's Miracle damned us! We're dying slowly in the shadow of Axis!"

Puru Two's heart rate monitor shows that her blood pressure and pulse could use some work. This is not a healthy state to be in. "Why are you so determined not to give up on me, you witch!?" her question is the confused shriek of a lost soul, so used to the shackles of abuse that she imagines them fastened around her still.

"Why did you, or Judau, bet on this murderer...?"

The roiling mire of psychic misery soon ebbs weaker, like a clotting wound. Simply put: she has raged herself weary, after Full Frontal's summoning of her buried instincts has burst anew every old wound.

Ryoko's voice rings in her ears. Much rings in her ears, truthfully, like the roaring of blood.

"Ryoko... run away, before these hands hurt you further. Before someone makes me kill again!" her words are punctuated with another violent blow to another vital piece of electronics in the cockpit as sorrow and fury trade places.

But the Qubeley can make no move to free itself, and its pilot soon lapses into a panicked state of audible weeping and breathing. Transmitted across the airwaves for all to enjoy, the most miserable pirate radio you've ever heard. In her cockpit, she looks up again briefly. Though the Amabilis fills much of her view, in the distance, she can spy the eerily-glowing form of the Nu Gundam. Just like it appears in her dreams, in her nightmares.

                        Harbinger of the Miracle.

What was it he saw? What was it he bet his future on? What was it that called him back?

She clenches her fist before her eyes, fingers clasping around the silhouette of that vanishingly small figure as they gain distance from Side 3. If only she knew how tired he felt. If only she knew.

(But would it do her any good?)

KTS: Full Frontal fails to Evade Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Ambush Formation, taking 5520 damage! KTS: Full Frontal has been defeated! KTS: Amuro Ray completes the Formation attack! KTS: Full Frontal's MSN-06S Sinanju has been disabled.

<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.

"... What are you even talking about? Fact you can even say that tells me you're worth not giving up on."

She tells Callisto... not Puru-2 in a daze. Whether she hears it as they speed away is another thing.

As her Aesti flies away, there's a plea for help over the wide band of the radio. And Ryoko blearily listens to the appeal for a first aid kit. Stabbed in the chest?

A static-filled image of Ryoko suddenly blinks into the side of the Unicorn's cockpit, she can't really see what's going on.

"Don't... pull it out. Pad it on all sides, wrap it with tape and attach to the pads to keep it stable. You don't want it moving from where it is."

It's something she can do at least. Even if she can't do anything else right.

Even if she's the moron that fell for it, all over again.

"That's all you can do... then get him... to a Doctor."

<Pose Tracker> Armor of the Week has posed.

The two Sinanjus are no longer able to fight. The Unicorn is gone. The Aestivalis has fled into the city. The Amabilis is escorting the Qubeley away from the colony.

Loni watches them go. To her right, the progress bar filling up on her monitor makes a cheerful little, inexplicably retro, 'ping-pong!', the symbol of the Gutsy Galaxy Guard lighting up on the screen.

"Chief?" She says into her earpiece. "We have the Key. Mission completed."

Her cockpit opens up, allowing Ennil to step from the claw of the Shamblo into the orange-hued psycommu pod.

Behind the Shamblo, spacetime tears open as an Escape Space window forms, holding open long enough for the Conqueror King Nu Gundam to dive through as the Shamblo carefully backs through the rift.

And then it swallows up, and no sign of the battle remains bar the footprints of the Shamblo in the Colony's fields, the burns on the roads left by its beam weapons, and the battered wrecks of the Red Comet's twin legacies.

<Pose Tracker> Mineva Lao Zabi has posed: 

Mineva looks toward the pop-up of Ryoko. Her face isn't clearly visible through the static or the glass, but she's visibly shaking.

But her nod is resolute, and with instruction... she manages to gather herself together. A frayed tangle becomes a rope. "Okay... thank you," she says simply, getting to work as the Unicorn speeds away from the scene.

She does a good job of it. As long as Banagher is conscious, she reassures him--telling him it'll be okay. They just need to get to a doctor...

She tries her best to believe it. </poem>

<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed: 

The Conquerer King Nu Gundam turns in place as a storm of troubled thoughts and feelings bear down on it. It is a parallel that Amuro Ray finds marvelous, looking between Full Frontal or Zoltan and Puru Two. On one hand there are those who have had cloak and mask and gun forced in their hands and told it belongs there, and agreed. On the other, there is this person in the distance-- told the exact same thing, but in some crucial way not exactly accepting it. Two entirely different people (somewhat, not exactly) occupying the same body, one more of a function being executed than a discrete individual.

And so, when Puru Two inevitably feels the gaze of the White Devil across that grand stretch of space, the feeling that rolls off of him is not the weariness that she would perhaps have benefited from, but a guarded sort of deliberate encouragement.

Do your best. It says, not one soldier on the battlefield to another, but one dreadfully scarred psychic to another.

Then, the Nu Gundam turns, half-wrecked, slowly pulling itself together, and vanishes into the ES Window with the Shamblo.