2023-04-02: Palau Falling - Zeong Rising
- Cast: Angelo Sauper, Anita Rosetta, Eight York, Ennil El, Hikaru Amano, Lark Straye, Liam 7-020, Lucine Azul, Marida Cruz, Naoko Suzuki, Rena Lancaster, Ruri Hoshino, Shelby Korts, Ujico Issa, Yuliana Kafim, Yurika Misumaru, Char Aznable, Ennil El, Char Aznable, Full Frontal, Zoltan Akkanen, Rita Bernal, Mineva Lao Zabi, Nena Trinity
- Where: Palau
- Date: U.C. 0097 04 02
- Summary: The 3SA and the Sleeves arrive to stop Char Aznable's plan to crash Palau into the Earth, but so too does Celestial Being. Will it be enough? Can even a miracle halt the advance of the universal truth that is Oath over Omega this time?
<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.
=========== PALAU ===========
=========== FORMER GOVERNOR'S FORMER ESTATE ===========
=========== TWELVE MINUTES AGO ===========
Coughing, Char Aznable extracts himself from the rubble of the estate, the light of the Oath Over Omega roiling off him and knitting his wounds whole.
"... I underestimated the lengths others would go for you, Artesia," he remarks to empty, dusty air, surveying his situation.
The Sazabi is gone. Before the building collapsed he heard the Evoluder begin the chant used on the Zonders back during the Primeval War.
That's annoying.
Char dusts himself off, considering, as alarms in the colony begin to sound. He picks his way through the rubble, towards his private hangar.
Perhaps that piece of salvage he restored can be put to use instead.
=========== OUTSIDE PALAU ===========
=========== NOW ===========
Atmosphere vents from a facade in the side of the asteroid, and an ancient terror machine emerges - the Zeong of the One Year War, burning with the Aura of Dawn, its myriad megaparticle emitters primed and armed.
In the torso cockpit, Char reaccustoms himself to the feeling of early-development psycommu systems, letting his senses and will flow throughout the legless mobile suit. The fingers of its wired forearms flex. Its head swivels left, then right.
"I assumed reinforcements would be en route," he remarks, watching his enemies approach. "My. What a motley assortment." He flips over to broadcast.
"Come, then." The Zeong spreads its arms wide. "Palau's surface will make an apt grave for all of you."
The cannons mounted on the mobile suit stir to life, amber light gathering in their emitters, before streaking across the firmament to greet the oncoming would-be saviours of Palau.
KTS: Char_Aznable has deployed as a Boss for 7 opponents. KTS: Char Aznable targets Full Frontal, Zoltan Akkanen, Rena Lancaster, Eight York, Shelby Korts, Rita Bernal, and Mineva Lao Zabi with Full Megaparticle Devastation Sweep. KTS: Eight York partially guards Char Aznable's Full Megaparticle Devastation Sweep, taking 2835 damage! KTS: Rena Lancaster's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Char Aznable's Full Megaparticle Devastation Sweep, taking 4640 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal successfully Evades Char Aznable's Full Megaparticle Devastation Sweep KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi successfully evades Char Aznable's Full Megaparticle Devastation Sweep KTS: Shelby Korts's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Char Aznable's Full Megaparticle Devastation Sweep, taking 1590 damage! KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal charges into the attack! KTS: Full Frontal's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Full Frontal partially guards Char Aznable's Full Megaparticle Devastation Sweep, taking 1935 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen charges into the attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Char Aznable's Full Megaparticle Devastation Sweep, taking 4085 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
As Full Frontal enters the cockpit of the Sinanju, a new guise presents itself to the world, peering from the cyclopean emerald eye of the Sinanju. A new mask, similar to his usual one, but glowing crimson. The lines trace themselves on grooves cut into the otherwise porcelain white, crimson inset lenses feeling naught but emptiness, forever unchanging. The darkened hanger was devoid of any life save his, automated systems whirring to life as panels, instruments, and screens lit up and began activating of their own accord following the Ghost of Char's activation command. Here slept one of his greatest weapons, an entity created with knowledge beyond human ken. As the hangar lights finally flashed on, the shadows dispelled from it. The Sinanju, nestled within a titanic crimson cradle.
The Neo Zeong.
A gargantuan machine surrounds the Sinanju, exposing only its head and upper torso, as numerous bits, wired funnel arms, and gargantuan boosters combine into a unit that dwarfs any conventional mobile unit in size, armament, and durability.
Long-sealed gates groaned and whirred as aged metal was drawn open, a birthing screech that heralded the end of one era, and the beginning of another. As Full Frontal donned his pilot's helmet and sealed his normal suit, he leaned back in his seat. The controls were helpful, but unnecessary in this cocoon of psycoframe. Sending his will into the machine, the Red Comet of tomorrow sorties forth to meet the Red Comet of yesterday.
"Come then, Char Aznable. Let us meet, you and I. My father. My brother. Myself. The shade of a past long dead. I will put you to rest, and sign off on this twisted tale of causality as it should be."
"There can only be one Red Comet."
Emerging from its hanger, nestled within a mobile asteroid, the Neo Zeong lumbers forth, Palau within visual range. Pure speed. Mobility. The sudden fear and then silence of an ambush, perfectly executed. Such things had been sacrificed in the Neo Zeong. Just as humans fear no ant, why should a deity fear mere mortals? Shock and awe, pure power, and force from beyond time. The herald of the end enters the battlefield, its aura extolling the psychic chill of the departed, of a vessel who has seen the end and is intent on gifting such certainty to the rebellious masses.
An amber glow on Palau's surface fires towards the Neo Zeong, but the titan's I-Field negates most of the damage, leaving but passing scorch marks on the crimson giant's plating. "So it begins. Char Aznable...I do so pity you. Even when corrupted by such power, you still are unable to see the revelations the two of us have borne together in our joruney as vessel and ghost." Shaking his head in disappointment, Full Frontal frowns as he witness the Phenex and the Palisade turning their attention to him as well. "More distractions...very well. If your desire is to meet your ends before the appointed time, I can most certainly usher you to the final river as well..."
The Neo Zeong raises its bits, the gargantuan arms firing waves of saturating megaparticle fire across the battlefield, carving into the terrain indiscriminately as each storm of flame hunts for its prey like a hound of hell.
KTS: Full Frontal targets Char Aznable, Rita Bernal, and Ujico Issa with Large Mega Particle Shoulder Cannon - Scatter. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Full Frontal's Large Mega Particle Shoulder Cannon - Scatter, taking 3300 damage! KTS: Full Frontal begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Palau must fall.
That was the resounding thought as the Neo Zeong II jetted forth in the dead cosmos, leaving the alarms blaring in its wake. An immediate launch. An immediate authorization, damn the consequences. Palau, the asteroid that so housed the base of Sleeves operation. With Char in the mix, reclaiming everything, broadcasting that declaration to Earth with such finality, such fervor...He did not agree with the man, reanimated or not. There were even doubts in his head that it /was/ Char in the first place, the stubborn mule not accepting the evidence directly in front of him. What if it were another secret experiment that had truly succeeded?
There was no thought about it. Char. His damnable broadcast. 000, ruin, anything and everything...Did it matter? It was what the people who were funding the Sleeves wanted in the first place, and even then, even so, even with everything around this strange mockery of Char "coming back" and intending to enact another Axis Shock?
...Why. It should be by his own hand, so says Rita's own "prophecy". So it was screamed at him with such conviction. What more to do but to...help that? So was the underhanded reasoning while saying things like "we have to do it by our own ends" to allow him to launch.
What more was he alive for? To pilot this beast.
What more was his purpose to his benefactors? To be the sacrifical lion for this monstrosity.
What more was he here for? To bring about the end.
BGM https://youtu.be/UwTebN-QCq8 - no1=CODENAMEZ - Hiroyuki Sawano
The psychic waves of Zoltan's eternal howling washed over the battlefield before he arrived, the 100+ meter monstrosity of mechanical engineering already charging up before even the first hint of enemy action had been detected.
"ChhhhhaaaaAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" So the failed clone screamed into dead space, an open tranmission laced with hatred, malice, frustration, exasperation, those shoulder cannons humming, one by one flickering on...
And firing out in a wave of agony that wanted nothing more than destruction. Destruction, pointing at those nebulous orbs of psyche that he faintly recognized.
Frontal. The man I so loathe. The man who thinks he has what it takes, just because he has the face for it and none of the drive.
Phenex. The deific ship that so purports to save everyone at the cost of a single person. What do you take me for? That I'll accept that lying down? No, I'll accept that role.
Perish so that I may be vindicated.
There is nothing but the space in front of him, around him, that experimental amalgamation of the folly of human spirit roaring its mark onto the cosmos. To scream out as that monster charged in, to have those streaks of amber crash against its body, the I-Field Generator working its magic. Scars. Dents, but the field holds, and so bounces those lasers with glancing damage. Che.
KTS: Full Frontal targets Char Aznable with Jam! KTS: Full Frontal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Char Aznable, Rita Bernal, and Yuliana Kafim with Beams Of The Inferno. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully evades Zoltan Akkanen's Beams Of The Inferno KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Zoltan Akkanen's Beams Of The Inferno, taking 4400 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen continues a Formation attack! KTS: Full Frontal jams Char Aznable's sensors, reducing his accuracy. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Char Aznable, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Char Aznable blocks Zoltan Akkanen's Beams Of The Inferno, taking 4840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
To pilot a Unicorn is to be asked what you will sacrifice for the ones you love. Will you take her burden onto your shoulders? Will you sever pieces of yourself to accomplish your mission? Will you surrender yourself, body and soul?
The Phenex prides herself in being like her sisters. (She turns a blind eye to the ways they differ as a matter of survival.) For one who sees so much, she cannot face the true question of the path she found herself set upon.
What would you sacrifice the ones you love for?
Is there any evil so great? Is there any disaster so terrible? Is it a sin to sacrifice a dozen lives for one? A thousand? A billion? Can you weigh the death of a world against your fondness for a single person?
For her sisters, the answer has always been clear. A heroic denial of fate. "But even so", they said/say/will say, staring into the abyss and glimmering with their own inherent light.
Not everyone is so beloved by possibility.
---
Palau will be conquered. Char Aznable will set the asteroid on a collision course with the Earth. The heroes of the living, those warned and those paying attention, will gather to stop him.
Harsh, cruel dawnlight obscures her vision, a flare cloaking the information she seeks most desperately, forcing her to skip foreseeing the battle and look only at the outcomes.
The planet will be saved, at the cost of the city/The planet will be saved, along with the city/No one will be saved. And a million, million variations therein.
Without knowing if she can make a difference, the Phenex races to Palau. This... lack of sight is frightening. If she falls to the light of dawn, all will be lost. But this is what her sisters would do. They would be here! Even if there's a one-in-one-million chance she can make a difference, she's going to believe in that chance. Maybe, with so many souls together, a Miracle will come to pass!
Approaching Palau at speeds that would kill any human pilot, the Phenex comes into view, wreathed by glory and flame. Golden wing-like shields hang at her back. She bears no weapons. Her presence feels like /hope/, eternal and unshakable.
Until.
Amber light cuts across space. Char's Zeong fires at the Phenex, forcing her to dart out of the way of the beam, bring an abrupt halt to her approach. Shock radiates off the golden Gundam as she looks upon the ancient mobile suit.
This is okay. It's just the old one. The knowledge that created this machine is from the world of the living. It isn't capable of the horrific destruction of its descendants. The Zeong is a formidable foe, and it will certainly make this battle harder, but it's okay! The heroes of the living can do this.
Until.
In the midst of her dodging arc to avoid the Zeong, the Phenex is struck by Full Frontal's megaparticle cannon. Unable to change course quickly enough, she recoils from the attack. Shock turns to fear.
How can the Neo Zeong be here? How -- it's too soon. It's /far/ too soon! The Unicorn is occupied in her own battle, and even if she wasn't, she simply isn't ready. Not for this. This machine is something that cannot be, but /must/ be, for the path. For the one path out of trillions. Maybe she can avoid it, protecting her allies and harrying the Red Comet to aid the heroes of the living. She can do this!
Until.
Psychic resonance thrums across space, a feeling the Phenex's Beloved has known since she could barely walk. The Monster. The Reason. On the heels of Full Frontal's attack, Zoltan's explodes in the Phenex's face, sending her spinning out.
The worst of all. Her Monster. Her Reason. Some quiet part of her mind wonders if the Zeongs are sisters. If they know each other. Are they the same as the Unicorns?
Rita tries so hard. She fights valiantly. But a spirit made entirely of emotion and connection can only control so much of herself once her world dissolves into a horrifying remix of a child's nightmare.
What would you sacrifice the ones you love for?
Only one! One of /those/! One was enough to warrant twenty years of suffering. Not only for herself, but for--
Jona! Michele!
A terrified voice echoes across the souls of all those present, a child screaming the names of her friends in horror and regret. Those machines can't exist. They can't exist /together/. Her sisters aren't here, the Miracle hasn't happened!
Capture. It. Conditioning. Was. Surgery. All. Betrayal. For. Separation. Nothing.
I SACRIFICED THEM FOR NOTHING
Shuddering, seizing. The Phenex clings to herself, wrapping her arms around her chest as though the action could hold herself together.
Rita Bernal shatters. Panic overwhelms every carefully-groomed soldier's impulse, every deific illusion. There's only one choice left, one terrible option she never wished to use again.
NT-D
The Phenex's beloved. Now, is simply a component of the machine, sacrificing the last fragment of herself in a desperate attempt to cling to her one true path to the future.
Possibility rends. With a shriek, the Phenex transforms, armor sliding apart to reveal her true form. The mystical blue fire of her soul burns at a fever pitch, climbing through hues of brilliance until her Psychoframe radiates WHITE FLAME, an impossible conflagration in the void of space.
Hope is extinguished in the blaze. Wrath and suffering take its place. With none of her usual playful, joyful grace, the Phenex straightens. A simple gesture outward sends her wings forward at unbelievable speeds, racing toward the three Zeongs -- and anyone else unfortunate enough to be close to them. No echoing words of faith or hope can be heard, only the immense pressure of a Beast of Possibility.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Angelo Sauper with Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Char Aznable with Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Full Frontal with Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Hikaru Amano with Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Zoltan Akkanen with Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal fails to Charge. KTS: Full Frontal partially guards Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind, taking 4750 damage! KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano fails to evade Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind, taking 3750 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
The Ra Mari II has been in transit for over 24 hours to intercept Palau. Finally, it's time. The asteroid looms ahead on all screens; Eight York sits in her chair on the bridge, regarding it. There are civilians there... Even if most have been evacuated, a great many people stand to die if this is allowed to continue. Eight can't allow it. And neither will the rest of the crew.
"Captain," Kall says from his position at ops, "Target on-screen. Reading--"
"I see it! Red alert!" Eight taps a few commands into her console on the chair, but most of the work is done by, "Evasive maneuvers!"
By one woman who's seen Char Aznable's face before. Licia Chovan /tilts/ the ship to take the bulk of the gathering fire on the broad side of the ship where it impacts against heavy armor instead of scything through important systems, as the Ra Mari II accelerates into firing position.
"Kazama!" Eight says.
"Get me a firing solution on that mobile suit!" She then switches over to a different console, "Mobile weapon squadrons you have clearance to launch! Fire at will!"
Licia's eyes narrow as she looks to the screen, maneuvering the gigantic ship with apparent ease. "...Aznable," she says. "You should've stayed dead." The woman who defected at the Axis Shock is at the top of her game today--for now, a presence burning in the ship's many.
And Captain York is there, behind. Her mind is sharp. She can /feel/ the psychic pressure of the Ruin Comet, ahead.
"Keep the cannons charging--fire me missiles on that position! Herd him towards the mobile suits!"
Then she comes on the wide-range radio, "This is Captain York of the Three Ships Alliance. We will not allow an asteroid containing civilians to be used as a weapon of war. We will be disarming Char Aznable and deflecting the course of this asteroid."
"Anyone who can agree with those goals is welcome to stand with us."
...And that's the point at which she hears the psychic /shriek/, as the armor changes, as the Phenex changes. Suddenly--
It's a lot worse even than it was before.
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Scanning... projected estimates show 25% civilian density remaining on the Palau asteroid," Ruri Hoshino, the Nadesico's Systems Operator, reports to the Three Ships Alliance. Her youthful expression remains stoic, even as she relates such grim facts. "Palau is currently descending towards the Earth at an accelerating rate. At current angle of entry, no one on Palau is projected to survive."
Beat: "Neither will the Earth." Ruri adds, entirely too dry.
/She,/ at least -- unlike other people on the Nadesico -- is not panicking.
"Orders, Captain?" She asks, without looking up from the IFS-fed console and screens before her, and the information shines across her gold, gold eyes.
She will commit Yurika's orders without complaint or comment, and the horror will not reach her eyes.
KTS: Eight York targets Char Aznable with High-Power Missile Armament System - Area Denial! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Among the Ra Mari II's forces is an unusual sight: a purple, custom model Arm Slave. Its pilot, going by the name Nova Stellar, is not exactly part of the regular crew complement, but she does have official Pilot status, free to join military operations when she chooses to. And the current situation... is rather too dire for her to ignore. Even if her AI co-pilots are in agreement that this is stupid and she should not be here, there's Something She Can Do. And so, she must.
Before anything else, she needs to contact someone on the direct assault team, before the distance between them gets too great. It's not long after launch that Rena will have a communication from Nova popping up in her cockpit, bearing an awfully serious expression.
"Rena. I'm sure we all know what this looks like. So, I just wanted to say that, if it comes down to it... I hope you won't hesitate to do everything you can."
That's all she feels she needs to say about that. Their previous conversation, regarding the Psychoframe and the reservations regarding it... well, she trusts Rena to make the right decision, but it can't hurt to bring it to mind. Though, that's not all she has to say. Her serious expression breaks into a grin.
"That said, I've got something for you that'll help you out. Just a little something I whipped up the other night. Consider it a preview of the Miracle in progress!"
With that, Nova sends over... something, a raw data transmission of some kind. There's barely time to determine that there's an executable involved before it self-executes, lines upon lines of code rapidly scrolling by on the status monitor. What's happening is... invasive, to put it mildly. Apparently, she's found a way to force arbitrary code execution on the Gaia Gear.
...The OS code that Rena shared with Nova, to help in improving performance. Evidently, Nova managed to put something together on her own accord, in the form of some sort of update that's being forcibly applied. Failsafes are being bypassed, core code is being rewritten, all without interrupting the mobile suit's basic functions. The entire process completes within moments, and the effects can immediately be felt. Smoother handling, slight increases in response time, tuned overall performance. It adds no new capabilities, only improves what the machine can already do in small, but noticable increments.
Even though all of this was beneficial... Rena wasn't exactly given a choice in the matter. This program's behavior was, ultimately, the same as that of a virus. Nova may have meant well, but considering the harm that she could have done... one wonders what damage she could do, had her intentions been darker.
As for Nova herself, she evidently sees absolutely nothing wrong with what she did, just giving a thumbs-up over the visual. "It's just a patch, but I know it'll work. Still, just in case, I set the package to self-purge and restore everything to the original state in a few minutes. You'll have to adjust on the fly, but I'm sure you can handle it. Sooo, make the most of it while it lasts! We'll do what we can in the mean time."
As for her Sukeban, it sticks close by Anita's Svipul, as she was asked to. As much as she wanted to more directly aid in stopping this disaster, she can see the need for a separate team to run interference, too. If that's where her help is most needed, then so be it.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster
<Pose Tracker> Mineva Lao Zabi has posed.
The knowledge that the man Mineva Zabi knew as her father--a man who betrayed her as much as he did the entire Earth Sphere on the day of the Axis Shock--still lives, in the thrall of a nihilistic power, has made the past few weeks fairly torturous for Zeon's wayward princess.
There's so much she wants to say to him. So much she needs to say. But how? How could she, when his very presence endangers her, his philosophy a contagion?
And, of course, Char had done what she knew he would as soon as she'd learned he was at Palau. In a hangar beneath the Photon Power Labs, the silvery skin of a Mobile Suit she'd stepped into only once gleamed in the floodlights, reflecting her face as she gathered her resolve.
They keep telling her she doesn't bear the weight of her forebears on her shoulders. That their crimes aren't hers to atone. But... as much as she wants to believe that...
Sitting in the cockpit, stepping into a catapult aboard the Ra Mari II, she knows this is something she must do. After all-- if not her, then who?
"Audrey Burne, launching!" she announces.
The Hyaku Shiki J emerges at speed, thrusters burning--
She feels it, mere instants before the Zeong's cannons open fire. Eyes closed, she heeds the instinct without thought. The silver suit jukes to the side, retro-thrusters pushing her chest against its harness as she cuts speed. "Gh."
Her eyes open, and the J's targeting systems lock onto the Zeong. But more than that...
Char Aznable.
An old bond, silent for four years, abandoned, sparks to life once more. The feelings at play are complicated--a daughter's love, the hate and sorrow of betrayal, a nostalgic longing for a time that can never again be, and the determination to keep this from happening again.
All, unmistakably, the emotions of the girl Char left behind on Sweetwater.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Rena Lancaster with Warn L1! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to evade Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind, taking 6000 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rita Bernal's Destined Meeting activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi targets Char Aznable with Shock! KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.
Beams! Explosions! Debris!
Excitement!
Nena Trinity lets out a long whistle as she looks at all this play out across her panoramic display, "Wow. This is a real clusterfuck!" The Gundam Throne Drei flies towards the battle being waged, the large falling asteroid playing as the backdrop to it looming ominously. It would be unfortunate if that thing were to hit the planet below. Especially if it hits somewhere that Nena likes.
Nena clearly doesn't understand the kind of devestation such an impact will create.
What matters right now though is... There are so many targets to choose from! What's a girl to do?
"Hey. Hey. Haro. Who should we go after? Do you see any juicy targets?"
The Purple Haro settled into the receptacle in front of Nena's seat starts to play the sound of a spinning prize wheel. It rapidly clicks over then begins to slow down. The wheel sound effect gets to its last few clicks, until a jackpot sound plays just as several targets are highlighted on Nena's display.
Nena giggles, "Ohhh, looks like we have some winners!" Nena angles her Gundam towards a point ahead of the path the targets are going. As she begins to close the distance, she asks, "And what prizes do we have for our contestants today?"
Purple Haro buzzes, "Mines! Mines!"
"Correct!" Nena presses a button on her controls.
As the red and grey Gundam crosses the path of its prey, the large shield pod attached to its right shoulder opens up. A collection of small objects are ejected, red particles of light briefly spraying out behind them as the hard to spot mines spread out to cover a large area.
The Drei then swings around, taking up a good position to watch as Nena giggles again, "Let's see how they like their prizes!"
KTS: Nena Trinity targets Yurika Misumaru, Naoko Suzuki, and Anita Rosetta with GNW-003 Beam Mines Area Denial. KTS: Nena Trinity has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
The Gaia Gear Alpha has already launched. The white Mobile Suit is in waverider mode as it soars alongside the Ra Mari II -- already deployed before arriving at Palau, in support of the Sleeves -- and the rest of the mobile detachment from the refitted Zentradi monitor.
"I... ah... yeah. I will, Nova," Rena answers Naoko. She blinks -- as the Gaia Gear Alpha has code flood across it. /Into/ it. It's the OS code that Rena worked on, and it starts to work its wonders. Little improvements in the sytem; the verniers adjust, slightly; power outputs shift upward.
Rena's eyes widen.
"This is... this is incredible!"
She cracks a smile. Even if she might need to have a word with her about not executing code on someone else's machine mid-fight.
"We read you, Audrey," Rena says. "This is Kakapo Leader. Keep with us. We'll make sure everyone gets home today." She lifts a hand -- and flashes a thumbs-up over the video screen.
Then, she opens a private line to Anita: "Be careful, Annie. This looks serious."
"Ra Mari II, I've got a closer visual of the Oath Over Omega unit," Rena says, as she looks at the monitor. "That's... the Zeong? From the One Year War? Then--"
Her eyes widen. She feels the tremendous pressure of Char Aznable, first; a sheer wave of it, like history itself slamming into her and dashing her against the breakers.
Char speaks over an open line. Then, the mega particle cannons fire -- and a flash from the Gaia Gear Alpha's Minovsky barrier erupts, as the beams hit it. One of them slashes along the top, leaving a molten scar across it. She sucks in a deep breath.
It isn't lost on Rena that the Neo Zeongs -- /both/ of them -- represent a considerable amount of firepower and a considerable amount of danger. It is only cold comfort to be flying in with them. They know their alliance could be tentative.
These could be a problem, some day.
Still, for now, they have to focus on something else.
Zoltan screams. Rena feels him, hears him, well before he does. Her eyes widen -- and she tenses, for a second. She shouldn't reach out. They've said this alliance might be brief. They know they represent different things.
But, they both know something about being a failed project. So, she flicks on a tightbeam to the II Neo Zeong.
"Zoltan, he's going to /want/ you to lose your temper," she says. "Don't give him that. Be who you are and show him that's enough!"
The Gaia Gear Alpha screams forward. Rena tenses, as she sees the Phenex. She feels something erupt from it -- something terribly, very wrong. Her eyes widen.
"Rita...!"
The waverider shifts, all at once -- the legs fold down, thrusters firing in a three-two-one pattern to help shift it upward and make the momentum change to support it, as it turns to its Mobile Suit mode. The two eyes flash a brilliant green, then the hand reaches to its backpack.
The Gaia Gear Alpha draws free its beam rifle, aiming the weapon forward -- and the crosshairs flicker across the screen -- before she draws her bead. She fires, a lance of mega particle energy exploding from the barrel, and hurtling towards the Zeong.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Char Aznable with Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Ujico Issa's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Full Frontal enervates Ujico Issa, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Ujico Issa fails to evade Full Frontal's Large Mega Particle Shoulder Cannon - Scatter, taking 3740 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Full Frontal's The Ghost of Char activates, causing Deject! KTS: Full Frontal begins a Formation attack! KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity rattles Anita Rosetta, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to intercept Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Beam Mines Area Denial, taking 2880 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki warns Rena Lancaster, making her next attacks more accurate! KTS: Yurika Misumaru's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity rattles Yurika Misumaru, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Yurika Misumaru fails to intercept Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Beam Mines Area Denial, taking 2400 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki successfully evades Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Beam Mines Area Denial
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
)))EN ROUTE TO PALAU ASTEROID BASE
To Yurika, the imminent scramble of the Nadesico up to Palau is a no-brainer. She saw the miracle performed that day - the Axis Shock that lit up the sky, the hope for a better tomorrow that's echoed across these past 3 years. When something's provably possible like that - shouldn't it make repeating it that much /easier/? Isn't it that much more obvious that the plan to re-create it, and save everyone aboard Palau, has to put aside the machinations of those who'd blow it up?
Yurika is confident in this. Not everyone else is.
Marching her way towards the bridge, tugging at her gloves to ensure a proper fit, Yurika's suddenly stopped in her tracks-
By Megumi Reynard, of all people.
"...Captain...look. Really quickly. I...don't you think we really need to at /least/ hedge our bets here? I know there's still people in Palau, but the rescue operation's already underway, and most people have probably been evacuated by the time we'd be acting. ...I...really don't think we should be fighting with Celestial Being at this point."
Yurika's blink-blinking at her operator's sudden confrontation, eyes wide, fingers twiddling together. "...Ah...Megumi. ...L-listen, now's /definitely/ not the time to confuse our plan here. I believe in our allies, and know we need to stop Celestial Being from acting too rashly and getting people killed who we could've saved. So please, settle down and-"
"Captain, I thought you'd understand!" Megumi interrupts. "I thought you of all people would know...not to act irrationally in the slim hope of saving absoluely everyone, when acting that way risks /losing/ everyone that much more. A miracle's not exactly easily on the menu when Char and his subordinates are all super brainwashed, so please...consider that-"
Abruptly, Megumi's flicked on the forehead, leaving her recoiling a little, with Yurika pointing that finger right at her operator's face. "If I'd had a better plan that day, if things had gone a little differently, I WOULD have pushed as hard as possible to evacuate all of those survivors. Do you not realize how much I think about that? I've made my peace with that decision, since hindsight is 20/20, but this time, I'm making it different, okay? I don't want the same thing to repeat a third time in a row. I want to act with hope. So I'll plan for hope, and then, if things start going wrong...I'll come up with a way to salvage as much as I can. So please. ...Have a bit of faith, if not in me, then in our allies, okay?" And Yurika flaps her little captain-cape, marching to the bridge with stern resoluteness-
Just in time to see the big old sight of Nena Trinity opening fire on the Nadesico and the entire crew erupting into chatter and frenzy in mitigating damage, the rumbling enough to nearly make Yurika fall over the railing, were it not for the timely catch of Jun Aoi! "Wah-! Captain, just on time! Celestial Being's Gundam is making the first shot, and it's got a lot of firepower! Portside damage to hull 8 through 11! What are we gonna d-"
Still doubled over in Jun's arms, Yurika points, "It's gonna be okay! Keep the shields up and ready and wait for a blind spot! In the meantime, get me my intercom!"
A passing Akito Tenkawa, mid-suiting up and scrambling all over the place, in his unrelated darting around, deposits a corded little pentagonal device, earning him a saccharinely sweet wink (STILL DOUBLED OVER IN JUN'S ARMS SHE'S FORGOTTEN TO STAND UPRIGHT) and a "Thanks a bunch!!! AAAA be CAREFUL out there if you're already-" And he's gone in a sprint towards the hangars. Ah well. Into the immediate-area comms, Yurika bellows out, <"Celestial Being! Defenders of Palau! The Three Ships Alliance has come out in full force to ensure every last one of you is saved! No matter how resolute you are in putting yourselves on the line - no matter how quickly you've decided other people are sacrificed for the 'greater good' - today, we're remaking a miracle, and none of you are gonna get us down! I know somewhere along the way, you're counting on us to stand down in fear for a darker future, but that just isn't gonna happen! So until we've pulled every last innocent soul from your big dumb asteroid...">
<"You're just going to have to try that much harder to push us away!!!">
KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Nena Trinity, Rita Bernal, and Ennil El with Shock. KTS: Yurika Misumaru has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yurika Misumaru shocks Nena Trinity, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: [Lucky] Rita Bernal's Miracle Child activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Rita Bernal successfully accepts Yurika Misumaru's Shock
<Pose Tracker> Lark Straye has posed.
There is not supposed to a transport here.
A junker civilian transport, so small that it can't possibly function as a terribly useful cargo ship; it has a single cargo bay and is mostly meant to carry people and maybe a few odds and ends. It's a space pickup truck compared to the space 18-wheeler (or more) that the Garencieres is. You couldn't even get a single Mobile Suit in its cargo bay.
It has been on approach to Palau at full throttle, not even bothering to hide itself - not that it has any way to do so when at full speed even if it wanted to, though its full throttle is slower than it should be, the little transport overloaded. Its tags designate it as 'Rogue Ace', a civilian transport from Mongolia. When it got closer, it started to slow down, reversing and burning the other direction. It seems to be no particular threat to Palau, or indeed anyone else; it is not apparently armed and isn't on approach close enough to actually hit the asteroid base, so it's probably not carrying a bomb either.
But then the cargo hatch opens.
You couldn't get a single standard Mobile Suit in its cargo bay, that's correct. But it turns out that if you have a MS that runs about two thirds the standard height, and you don't mind risking scraping it a bit, you can fit one in with some effort.
Which is exactly what Lark Straye has done.
The MSA-0120, a bare fourteen meters tall and folded into an awkward position, doesn't deploy from the cargo bay so much as squeeze out of it. There are no launch systems, just a transport carrying a suit it can barely hold. There's a squeal she can feel in her teeth as the curved plates forming much of the exterior armour of the MSA-0120 scrape against both sides of the hatch simultaneously, leaving bright marks.
The transport immediately accelerates *away* from Palau, doing its best to dodge megaparticle fire. Whoever Lark browbeat into carrying her does not want to be here. But it's easy to ignore, because the small-size MS blazes to life, briefly signaling a Londo Bell IFF before it shuts off.
Even then it's easy to ignore, because it doesn't have the sheer presence of the Zeong, the Neo Zeong, the other Neo Zeong, or the Phenex, to say nothing of anyone and anything else. It is a uniquely ugly suit; muddy greens and dull blues with hot pink accents, all weird curves and shapes rather than neat lines. It looks like something made out of scraps and patches.
But when Lark fires the rifle, it's likely to get more attention. Minovsky output around the machine spikes as the High Impact Gun charges, a Minovsky Craft-style push narrowed to a single point that propels a single slug with immense velocity. The kickback is enough to slow the already-moving MSA-0120, kicking it 'upwards' as Lark absorbs the force and uses it to move.
She hasn't spoken. She's difficult to sense for Newtypes too, all closed-up and turned inward, recoiling from every mental contact. In her cockpit, she looks down (relative to her) at Palau, her jaw held so tightly her teeth are grinding. She wants to yell; she wants to scream, to communicate, and yet she won't let herself. She might keep her mind closed away, but Palau - and Char - mean something to her.
KTS: Lark Straye targets Ennil El with High Impact Gun Half Charge! KTS: Lark Straye has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Char Aznable fails to evade Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind, taking 5130 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal completes the Formation attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.
Don't think about it.
Don't think about all the people inside.
Think about all the people on Earth who will die if this colony makes landfall. Think about what happened to Dublin. Think about the Shuffle Alliance, the Three Ships Alliance, the Sleeves and their allies, who must be doing something right now to try and save their families.
Dare to remember Axis Shock.
Cocooned in the darkness of Palisade's cockpit, Ujico continues to think of excuses to be slow. Every second must count. Surely she can drag it out as long as possible. Surely she can give them as much time as she can. She'll arrive at the colony in just a few more seconds, why can't she think of anything?!
Information flows back and forth through the cybernetics embedded in her skull. A view of stars, a steadily-approaching colony. Ujico, in her sealed pilot suit and helmet, is curled up in her seat despite the safety restraints. Miss Sumeragi's forecast has been drilled into her skull. They'll have a matter of minutes. And she doesn't have any idea how many of them the other teams will need. "You've gotta," she murmurs, head resting against her knees. If Banagher or Leina are here, will they hear her? Maybe Lucine, or Miss Eight? Anyone will do. "You've gotta [save] everybody." Because Palisade has come to save /Earth/, not Palau.
And then, she's arrived. At Palau, which is opening up. Miss Sumeragi predicted that there would be counterforces. Ujico turns Palisade's cameras towards the biggest one. The closest one.
The bits are already rotating towards her and she jukes hard to the left-- She sucks in a breath as beam cannons rake across Palisade's armor anyway, the bestial Gundam's verniers reorienting her onto a collision course with the brutish Neo Zeong. Claws extended and ignited, Ujico winds up for a swat as she passes by - and ducks behind Full Frontal instead, deploying a swarm of sensor-disorienting GN particles from Palisade's hunched back. "Special delivery, you big asshole."
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to Evade Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Whirlwind, taking 3750 damage! KTS: Ujico Issa targets Full Frontal with Jam! KTS: Ujico Issa has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
The risk of a colony drop is something no one wants or expects to have to face. Everyone hoped that would be the end of them...
...But now, with the return of Char Aznable, that nightmare is a reality. Even the normally laidback Anita Rosetta is wearing a grim expression in the face of this occurrence. There's no choice - they have to do /something/.
And so, the Ra Mari II heads to Palau in hopes of averting tragedy. This'll be the Svipul's first real combat outing. She has her faith in the friends and allies who've contributed to its construction, engineers from the Ra Mari II, Orb, the Nadesico, and even the Eternal...
...She just has to hope it'll see her through.
"Anita Rosetta, launching. Nova, stick with me." Anita announces, as the Svipul launches from the Ra Mari II. She'd like to enjoy soaring through space again, but she has to focus right now.
"Yeah... You be careful too, Rena. This fight's gonna be something else." Anita replies to Rena. "And Celestial Being's here too, makin' everything worse... I'm gonna go give the Nadesico a hand. Let's meet back up on the ship when this is all over!"
One pilot in /particular/ happens to be giving Anita trouble, as suddenly, space is filled with mines! Anita tries to fire her way through, but some of them are hard to spot. Anita grimaces as explosions rock the Svipul - but it manages to hold sturdy for now, at least due in part to the Pinpoint Barrier. Soon enough, she tracks the source.
"...Don't you think you oughta cool it a little?" Anita asks, directed toward Nena's Gundam. Vulcans lock on, unleashing a barrage. If that was /all/ it was, it wouldn't be much - but a barrage of vulcan fire goes a long way toward opening up a target to fire from other angles.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Nena Trinity with Vulcan Barrage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Char Aznable blocks Eight York's High-Power Missile Armament System - Area Denial, taking 2730 damage! KTS: Eight York begins a Formation attack! KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi shocks Char Aznable, reducing his Morale significantly.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ssuSbNtec MELL - Red Fraction
The emerald green of Yuliana's normal suit has an extra decoration, today -- a green fold crystal on a golden chain, wrapped about her wrist. It is with Elisa's blessings and her strength that she initialises Da Xukong 0's systems, endless green eyes burning beneath her custom-modified helmet. (There are ridges, to either side of her ears, like fans rising up behind them.)
And as those lights come to life--
| Kia-ialloth'you llph'otfh'ou-llni |
| DA XUKONG 0 |
| Y-yth'yollysh'y-k... OK |
| Ll:o sh'jsth'ianish llkh'ioll |
| Llkh'ioth'ia tiasth'llwkth'you |
"Create destruction..." Yuliana breathes, looking down at a readout which is elongated and twisted and pulled all inside-out. (Comprehensible, to her.) "Da Xukong -- launching!"
Those ridges aren't the /only/ customisation she's made to her normal suit. Long sleeves ending in modified gloves contain the tentacles snaking out from either side of her, grasping and shunting forward the clutches jutting up from beside the seat she's been boxed into with those metal safeties. Da Xukong launches, from the Kafim's ship, into the emptiness of space.
"... good hunting, Captain," Parminder Chaudhri transmits to her, as he backs off.
/His/ orders are to make sure Yuliana gets back safe, in case she isn't in her right mind to do it herself.
Yuliana switches to Celestial Being's channels, to transmit: "Verdiska, identifying. Let's take Palau down." Her fingers tighten, on her clutch. (On one of them.) "Like hell I'm letting Neo Zeon drop /this/ on Earth, too..." Neo Zeon, she says, not the Sleeves; her dark skin is scarred, in the manner of old soldiers, and her memory is too.
Zoltan's wave of agony was not meant for Yuliana. Yuliana, who is an island amongst herself -- the space directly around her utterly SILENT, bereft of emotional information, block and blockade to psychic existence -- could not be an 'orb of psyche', the way Zoltan recognises them.
To all empathic senses, Yuliana Kafim does not exist.
Even so, the titanic beam washes past her. Not, notably, /through/ her: in a zig-zagged jerk Yuliana yanks one of the sticks beside her, and the thrusters on the Da Xukong's eight arachnid legs fire, jetting her tiny machine above the blast. Against the Neo Zeong, the wanzer truly is a scorpion: dwarfed in size, small enough to crawl from its boot.
(The scorpion's venom has killed countless men.)
"You...!" Yuliana snarls, switching to local band transmission to speak to her foe, as she jerks her machine to orient to Zoltan's Neo Zeong. "This time, I won't let a single sorry red sympathise free! If you love the colour so much --"
She jets forward, and her small size grants her /alacrity,/ to try and manoeuvre /onto/ Zoltan's machine. Her omnigrasp legs are designed for both vertical and horizontal traversal; they can climb a mobile suit with ease. "-- then BLEED!"
She untangles that chain from her wrist, and lifts the crystal to her lips, the briefest shadow of a kiss. "Fold initialisation," she says, in momentary reverie, as she pushes the Green Fold into a slot on her console. (Not far from it, a button beneath a protective barrier labelled 'lliath'll'yafoll' carries the implicit promise of those green crystals built deep into Da Xukong's hull, ringing the machine around entirely.)
Da Xukong 0 is a generation platform. It THRUMS with energy, every moment of its activation; CREATES energy, as it moves so violently through the world. But as that green crackle pours over it, the horrible feeling about its coils grows more active and more present by far: for one, awful moment, Zoltan is close enough -- one way or another -- to feel the magic of a Void witch, coursing through the wanzer.
It collects and concentrates, in that stinging tail, as it comes up above Da Xukong's lowered crest -- to sting into Zoltan's Neo Zeong, and inject something worse than venom, for its mechanical systems.
Superheated plasma.
... when she's in space, she doesn't bother using fire.
(That horrible feeling of too-wrong magic, at least, blissfully fades in the wake of the machine's supercharging.)
KTS: Yuliana Kafim uses hyper reloader KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Zoltan Akkanen with Infernal Arachnid Injector Inner Fire! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Char Aznable blocks Rena Lancaster's Beam Rifle Shot, taking 5040 damage! KTS: Yurika Misumaru shocks Ennil El, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Ennil El has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCd6PfxOy0Y BGM- Veridis Quo
The Red Comet. One of the most important men to Zeon, Neo-Zeon, the Sleeves. This day should, by all means, be one of celebration for the remnants of Gihren Zabi's will. The shining return of the glorious ideal fought for for twenty years. For which countless men and women fought and died.
The ideal for which Puru Twelve was born.
But it wasn't.
This was a twisted mockery of Zeon, a mere shell of Char Aznable, repeating the same mistake of the Axis Shock, but on a whole other level.
Besides, Puru Twelve had always despised that ideal for leading to the misfortune of her birth.
Marida Cruz sits in the Kshatriya, having barely managed to find room for it in the Ra Mari's hangar. Twenty-two meters high with a wingspan up to double that, it was slightly unweildy, but it was hers. The air ripples around the exhaust ports on her back and wings as the green behemoth rises to life, shooting out of the hangar bay door to stretch out and unveil its full size.
"Marida Cruz, heading out!" The name Puru Twelve had been given. The name with which it...she would fight against the wrongs of the world.
She locks on to one of the Palau forces, raising her arm and unleashing a barrage of gatling gun fire.
KTS: Marida Cruz targets Ennil El with Beam Gatling Barrage! KTS: Marida Cruz has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
</poem> "Aw man... guess I'm saddled with the Heavy Artillery Frame this time." Hikaru whines, from the launch deck of the Nadesico.
Uri-pea insisted that the situation (which happens to be big bad Char Aznable in the Big Bad Zeong except it's imbued with some weird cosmic energy) called for all the firepower the Nadesico had at its disposal: this means the heavy artillery frame, which is basically just a big mount for the 120mm cannon with little other tricks to it.
"H'okay! Hikaru Amano, Aestillery! Launching!" She announces, as the Aestivalis - bulky, yet ultimately tiny compared to some of these true behemoths - bathes itself with the light of the distortion field.
As she sorties, platformed by the collapsing asteroid base of Palau, Hikaru keeps her orders from Yurika close to her heart. To her, they're clear as can be... this time they're not repeating the tragedy of Mars. And those who try... get a cannon to the face! Already, the Distortion Field starts to catch fire. Although the pilot's senses are truly one with the machine even in one as cumbersome as the Heavy Frame, she's not able to maneuver out of the way in time... Whoever hit the field is fast!
And gold. "H-Hey! What are you doing?" Hikaru snaps back at the golden machine, incredulously. "You're friends with Lucine, aren't you?" Hikaru realizes. But despite that friendship... Hikaru could never truly trust the Phenex - as a survivor of a disaster that never had the chance to be forewarned. "Everyone calls you a weaver of miracles - so why in the world are you opening fire on the base? They didn't ask to be sacrifices! That's not fair at all...""
With that, Hikaru aims the wired claw towards the much larger mobile suit and /grapples/ onto her arm - weaving the wire around and sinking the claw in - if she can just get her to stop firing and turn her attention this way... </poem>
KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Rita Bernal with Wired Claw Grapple! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
"Hey, Sophie. I know we haven't really talked about it. My-- My job. Not the restaurant job. I work at a restaurant. Did I mention that? I ... um. I have to go do something. And it's dangerous, and stupid, but I can't sit back. I can't ... I can't do nothing. So ... I'm going to Palau. To help stop this. There are things I haven't talked about -- m-my past..."
A girl, barely thirteen, fighting and stealing to survive.
"... Choices I've made..."
A young woman staring at her reflection in the mirror, adjusting the fit of a Zeon Newtype Corps uniform jacket, the barest faintest smile on her exhausted face.
"And, the whole reason I'm fighting still is..."
The rainbow light danced across her visor, flooding out the sight of Axis as her damaged Mobile Suit drifted across space, muting out the sound of warnings and damage. Her eyes widen. Her pupils expand. Her senses open wide. It changes her life, and she cries.
"Ah... I-It doesn't matter. I can't stop, now. And if you want to get mad at me afterwards, t-that's fine. But I have to help... stop this."
And then Shelby reached forward to tap a few keys and click 'Send.' It was the fifth time she recorded the message.
--
"Temperance, Jagd Doga. I'm off--"
And then she is, into the vastness of space; the hangars giving way to a long catapult before being thrown at full velocity into the void of space. Thrusters alight and left arm freshly repaired by Anser curls a bit; the fingers working in and out of a closed fist through a diagonistic. Don't question it. It'll hold. Anser did it.
Careening through space and hurtling her way through defenses like a woman on a mission, the knockout pink Jagd Doga assumes a defensive posture early, shield-arm presented as she aligns herself to fly straight at Char Aznable. She knows her target, and the ghosts of her own past. The sound of Rita's scream -- the sound of the NT-D -- is jarring and stomach-turning, more than any other feeling on the field; voices and minds and *so much* blurring through her head at once that it's hard to focus-- but she can see the beams coming her way, early enough.
Her legs shift on the seat, feet digging in and heels down against the pedals, arms hauling back and twisting the control sticks to absorb the brunt of the blast -- twisting with it, even as the blast digs against armor and metal and rattles the machine.
Hefting the bulky gatling rifle and bracing it against the shoulder, Shelby waits for the targeting sensor to mark the Zeong before letting loose with a fierce barrage of weapons fire!
KTS: Shelby Korts targets Char Aznable with Beam Gatling Gun Constant Barrage! KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Char Aznable blocks Shelby Korts's Beam Gatling Gun Constant Barrage, taking 1620 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Almost ten years ago, Neo-Zeon forces acting under Haman Karn's orders dropped an empty colony cylinder on the city of Dublin. More than a million died, either killed in the impact or cut down by Neo-Zeon soldiers while attempting to flee. Liam's only remaining family were among them.
Several years ago, Char Aznable led Neo-Zeon on a series of orbital-drop terror campaigns. Lhasa died, just like Dublin. Axis would've ushered in the end of civilization. Liam spent the whole incident in the isolated bubble of a BioNet lab, and had no idea what had even happened--just that the Gifted among the Subjects were so, so scared of something they couldn't describe. Eventually, Hephaestus told him that a horrible Spacenoid had tried to kill everyone, and was dead now, just like he deserved to be.
He wasn't really dead. It's happening again. It's happening again, and this time Liam is gut-churningly desperate to stop it.
As the Ra Mari II maneuvers into position, Mobile Suits launch from its cavernous hangars. One of them is a normal old CGUE, colored in black and green. It's already firing thrusters as it clears the catapult, rocketing forwards at speeds that would induce G-LOC in a normal pilot. In the cockpit, Liam listens. Celestial Being here. They're--
Liam takes a shuddering breath. Would he sacrifice everyone aboard a colony to save Dublin, if he'd been given the chance?
Don't think about that.
A moment later, a familiar signal lights up on Liam's radar. Rita. He opens a tightbeam to the Phenex. "...Rita?" Silence, for a long moment. "<Rita, what's happening?!>" His heart catches in his teeth as he sees the sudden change in the Phenex's movements. It hurts. He can't stop for her. There's a second unit there, blazing like the Dawn. The CGUE drives towards it, its mass focused behind its shield as he moves to ram Ennil's machine.
"<Engaging, Lucine,>" Liam says. His voice is tight with unimaginable tension.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Ennil El with M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Bash! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rushes into the attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim anchors Zoltan Akkanen, forcing him into close range. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Inner Fire, taking 2925 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Zoltan Akkanen! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Ujico Issa jams Full Frontal's sensors, reducing its accuracy. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano anchors Rita Bernal, forcing her into close range. KTS: Rita Bernal parries Hikaru Amano's Wired Claw Grapple, taking 750 damage! KTS: Hikaru Amano has engaged Rita Bernal!
<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.
The Comet of Ruin and the Future Red Comet exchange fire, amber and gold almost indistinguishable as they intermingle, disperse each other, and disappear into the distant void.
In the cockpit of the Zeong, Char presses a finger to his temple at the sensation of Full Frontal's attention, a sense of jamais vu filling him.
Zoltan's own fiery beams bombard the Zeong, which raises its giant hands defensively, holes punched through its armour in non-critical locations.
"Tch.." He grits his teeth, orienting the Zeong towards its descendant machines, its attention mainly on the crimson Neo Zeong. "I suppose they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. My compliments to your designer.."
Then his attention passes to the second, white-armoured giant. "Although efforts to reproduce a masterpiece are ever given to... disappointment. Perhaps it would be best for both of you to be cut down here, and spare the Earth Sphere any further embarrassment before the end."
The twin megaparticle cannons on the Zeong's waist open up in earnest, salvos of shots one after the other spinning towards the machines built in its own image.
Next: The Phenex's shield whirling in. Again the great fists rise to defend the Zeong's bulk, but the shield, guided by the third RX-0's sheer fury, simply slips between them, drilling a chunk out of its upper chest armour before spinning back towards the cosmos. Regarding the blazing mobile suit, Char grimaces. He has no words for the machine - only a feeling of disgust at seeing the light it emits - and so the head-mounted cannon speaks for him instead, blasting at the nexus of hate and fear of the NT-D.
The Zentradi monitor in the distance - instead of a beam barrage, at first, it receives a laser transmission - audio only, as its missiles tear into the Zeong's defensively-positioned fists. "Your persistence in the face of the inevitable... I suppose it is creditable. Pointless, but creditable.."
The Ra Mari II also receives a blast from the mouth-mounted cannon.
This next sensation catches Char Aznable of all people off-guard, only able to react in a thought: Mineva? The wayward princess of Zeon receives in turn a maelstrom of emotions: Horror, guilt, grief... and resignation. Yet the Zeong seems to ignore her, instead aiming another repeated barrage at the incoming Gaia Gear. "Another unfinished project, this one wearing the mask of a Gundam? And still he refuses to face me. Pretenders are hardly worth my time."
Another memory surfaces as a Jagd Doga - though a bright, gaudy pink rather than any of the colours used by his Cyber Newtype corps - approaches him with beam gatling fire. Once more the Zeong's great arms block the bulk of the barrage - but this time it extends one hand towards the Jagd Doga, Char wordlessly firing off a salvo of beams from his fingertips at Shelby.
KTS: Char Aznable targets Full Frontal with Waist Megaparticle Cannons Alternating Fire! KTS: Char Aznable targets Zoltan Akkanen with Waist Megaparticle Cannons Alternating Fire! KTS: Char Aznable targets Rita Bernal with Head Megaparticle Opening Blast! KTS: Char Aznable targets Eight York with Head Megaparticle Opening Blast! KTS: Char Aznable targets Mineva Lao Zabi with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Char Aznable's Head Megaparticle Opening Blast, taking 3525 damage! KTS: Char Aznable targets Rena Lancaster with Waist Megaparticle Cannons Alternating Fire! KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Char Aznable targets Shelby Korts with Wired Forearms 5-Barrel Beam Volley! KTS: Char Aznable has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Eight York fails to charge. KTS: Eight York partially guards Char Aznable's Head Megaparticle Opening Blast, taking 3853 damage! KTS: Full Frontal fails to retreat. KTS: Full Frontal's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Full Frontal fails to evade Char Aznable's Waist Megaparticle Cannons Alternating Fire, taking 3075 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
Char Aznable is back.
So what does the most fervent follower of the man many consider the Red Comet's second coming think about that?
"Damn you... Char Aznable...!"
Perhaps that frustrated, angry growl is answer enough.
It's the first thought Angelo Sauper had when Lucine informed him of the news that rumors of Char's death had been greatly exaggerated; it's a sentiment that only amplified as he heard of Char's takeover of Palau.
It's a curse that only deepened in its festering spite when he watched the returned Char's speech, so full of familiar rhetoric that only evoked ugly memories.
And it's the motivation that sees Angelo not even offer a peep of protest at the idea of launching shoulder-to-shoulder with the mobile suits of the Three Ships Alliance -- or, really, much of a peep in general as the Krake Zulu is loaded onto the launch bays of the Ra Mari II. The young spacenoid is disconcertingly quiet as he launches off into the dead of space in advance of the intimidating forms of both Neo Zeongs, his own, legless mobile suit engaging powerful thrusters to punch the mono-eyed warmachine towards Palau.
Palau. Their last bastion. And now...
"... Damn you, -Char Aznable-!!"
The Krake is a distant warble of blue contrails lashing behind it like angry limbs as it spins through space. Mega Particle Cannons detaching in unspooling wires extending further and further with every dislodged extension node, Angelo's attention is first and foremost set upon any soldiers that have rallied behind Char Aznable. Green lights ignite the empty spaces of cosmic vacuum as the Krake fires upon any Char-aligned suit he can find to prepare the way to the man himself for his commander.
Strangely, he seems almost doggedly fixated on hunting down any who -aren't- shrouded with that blazing aura of dawn, jetting and strafing between machines infected with that orange glow to shoot down those without in blazes of green megaparticle fire. One might assume it's just a matter of practicality; they're far easier to take down, after all. But...
"Warmongers, feigning loyalty -- all you've ever done is make everything worse! All of you--"
... no.
"--are a FILTHY BLIGHT!!"
For Angelo, this is - always - deeply personal.
His only brief reprieve from his rage is in seeing the Neo Zeong descend in all its phantasm-ridden glory upon its originator. Surrounded by the oppressive presence of all those denied and forgotten sentiments, Angelo feels -- sadly at home, in his element. There is a brief smile of elation to see the Mobile Armor finally in play --
-- before that moment of distraction is shattered as a great, gold shield RIPS through the side of the Krake Zulu strong enough to rend violet armor.
"--What?!" shouts Angelo in sheer disbelief -- disbelief that turns swiftly towards panic as he sees the shield racing towards Full Frontal's Neo Zeong. His eyes widen. He traces the attack to its source.
And then he sees it. -It-.
The gold one. The final monstrosity. Always. -Always-. ALWAYS.
Surprise is burned away by rage that sees Angelo's teeth sinking spitefully into the inside of his cheek. He grips both controls of the Krake Zulu.
"... GUNDAM...!"
... ALWAYS...!
The Krake SPINS to face the Unicorn. It LANCES into the air as Angelo punches the machine's acceleration to maximum to intercept that golden Gundam -- and as it does, its floating Mega Particle Cannons are swift to join behind it, crackles of green heralding twisting, converging BURSTS of particle fire upon the Phenex.
"You can't interfere with this! I won't allow you!!" This is too important to him...!
KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Rita Bernal with Mega Particle Assault Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster successfully evades Char Aznable's Waist Megaparticle Cannons Alternating Fire KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to retreat. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Char Aznable's Waist Megaparticle Cannons Alternating Fire, taking 3690 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: [Mirage] Rita Bernal's Ars Goetia activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Assault Formation, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
"Gotcha!" is Nova's brief reply to Anita. She may know her way around piloting, but she doesn't have the first clue about tactics. She's already applied her expertise beforehand, and will have to trust Rena to make the most of that. From here on out, best for her to follow along with the plans made by people with more experience in this regard.
And yet, in spite of the dire circumstances, she finds herself smiling, hearing those words from the captain of the Nadesico. Yes, remaking a miracle, that's exactly what it's going to take today, and that's exactly what's going to happen, she's certain of it. She wasn't too sure about Bunnycaptain until now, but this makes it clear enough that they'd see eye to eye. Makes her all too happy to follow the instruction to give the Nadesico backup.
What she sees on her instruments though, monitoring the flow of battle... one element stands out that disturbs her more than anything else. The Phenex. It's engaged with Alliance friendlies. What's happening over there? Rita is Eight's friend, isn't she? Then why...?
Though the urge to look into it is there, the distance is too great, that's not feasible while she's sticking by the Nadesico. And besides, she soon has her own problems to worry about.
"Those are... mines?" Luckily, her advanced sensor suite gives her advance warning, analyses the situation quickly, and can map out a safe path for the Sukeban to follow in order to make it through unscathed. And there's only unit in the area that it could have come from. "Gundam... Celestial Being, huh."
She hasn't quite understood what they're doing here, and is even further from understanding all the politics involved, but that doesn't exactly matter when dealing with somebody clearly hostile towards you. Banking on Anita's vulcan fire to keep the Throne Drei pinned down, she'll try to capitalize in the best way she knows how. With a giant metal club. She doesn't have anything particularly insightful to go with it. But she can sure yell!
"Hiii-yaaaaah!!"
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Nena Trinity with Kanabou Smash! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Vulcan Barrage, taking 2250 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Shelby Korts's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Char Aznable's Wired Forearms 5-Barrel Beam Volley, taking 1140 damage! KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity blocks Naoko Suzuki's Kanabou Smash, taking 1230 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Nena Trinity!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"I told Alexis Kerib once what I thought of the 'inevitable'," Eight York replies over a laser tranmission to Char Aznable. "He didn't like my answer much. I don't think you will, either."
The blast comes. "PUNCH IT!" Licia shouts, and tries to get into position to take the fight to the much smaller mobile suit--but the Monitor can't quite get an opening in the wake of that gigantic blast, and Eight shakes her head. "We're not getting closer at this rate. Just as well. Let's make sure to fire around our allies..."
Eight recognizes a familiar presence, but there are tons of people out here; she can't identify Shelby for sure. But she knows Rena is here, too. "Rena," she says. "We'll back you up. ...But things are going wrong out there--be extra-careful. Remember, if his corruption starts getting to you... Pull back."
In the meantime she can hear Yurika's hope, and Yuliana's anger, but she has to focus. They only get one chance at this.
"Beam Cannons--target center mass. Fire on my mark!"
"On it!" says Kazama, whirling to make the appropriate calculations. "Mark!" Eight says, and the cannons start firing off at Char's Zeong, gigantic beams of light crashing down from the Monitor towards him.
"...Kazama," Eight says then. "Begin charging the Spinal Beam Cannon."
"Captain!?"
"It might be the only thing that can take him down. Especially with the Phenex going berserk..."
Licia grits her teeth. "We can't lose, her too!"
Rezza speaks with authority, "And we won't. Trust in the rest of the Alliance."
KTS: Eight York targets Char Aznable with Guided Beam Cannons - Aiming Shot! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
There was a time that Lucine hadn't considered Earth any sort of 'home'. It was a distant planet, far more populous, and wide-reaching, shining like a favorite child while Mars, the scrappier sibling, made do with slightly less. That was the illusion, fed through learning about history that seemed irrelevant to Lucine's coddled colony life in Nemi, and finalized by the day the Jovian Lizards came to claim Mars.
The fact that this time was not even two years ago isn't lost of her, but neither is the fact that Earth, as well as the Orbital Ring, have become a home in her heart.
And now, Lucine pilots the Dianthus in order to help save Earth a second time, and her heart's view has not changed. And, like a signal that her heart is in the right place, the Phenex is there. Ill omens may mar the heavens, but if one star of hope is here, then...
But then, when the star dims, attacking friend and foe alike, including Hikaru, Lucine speaks into her comm unit. < "Rita, we can save Palau *and* Earth! What's wrong? Where is your hope?" >
Liam isn't the only one with thoughts on the matter, but Lucine's swing towards those that may have been overlooked inside Palau itself.
That's when the star that is Captain Yurika Misumaru shines now, talking of remaking a miracle.
Liam prompts her with her name.
< ".... Rita... I'm sorry--" > Ennil's unit is in the way on the Dianthus's trajectory; in response, a field of balls of energy, like the seeds from a dandelion puff, are deposited into the void of space, just to make it harder for others to intercept Lucine.
However, Lucine doesn't know Ennil, and she just might be gravely underestimating her.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Ennil El with Lunate Crown v.2 Fireflies! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El blocks Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Fireflies, taking 1290 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul begins a Formation attack! KTS: Ennil El blocks Liam 7-020's M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Bash, taking 1020 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Ennil El! KTS: Ennil El fails to evade Marida Cruz's Beam Gatling Barrage, taking 3441 damage! KTS: Ennil El fails to evade Lark Straye's High Impact Gun Half Charge, taking 4560 damage! KTS: Lark Straye completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
Full Frontal frowns slightly as the Neo Zeong takes a solid blow from one of the Phenex's Armed Armor shields. Nothing severely damaging, but the less unnecessary repairs needed after this bout, the better. Foolish bird, borne of meaningless ideals. Perhaps you'd prefer I clip your wings? Alas, his attention is pulled away from the fleeting third Unicorn sibling as Char and Ujico's attacks bear down on him. The Palisade roars by the Neo Zeong, depositing strange particles and obscuring the behemoth's sensors. Yet it was naught but a mere irritance, not when he had sight beyond mere screens and ocular vision to guide his strikes. Meanwhile, the Zeong's waist megaparticle cannons pierce the I-Field's veil slightly, carving into the shoulder armor of the Neo Zeong, just barely missing the bazooka containers.
Full Frontal's eyes narrow as more players enter the board. So many wills, so many desires, so many clashing ideals...and yet, none of it shall truly matter at the end of all things. As a vessel, it was his duty to receive and carry such things, to bear burdens for the common people. But beneath it all, there was one aspect of the Ghost of Char that even the finest gene surgery and psyco-conditioning could not erase. For how can one attempt to wipe away inevitability? Empty. Futile. Meaningless. All of this. A simple charade. But a charade he would nonetheless begrudgingly engage in.
For evey strike against him, a brutal reprisl.
For every attack borne of futile desperation and emotion, a cold and calculated counterstrike.
For every inch of territory gained, a price exacted in blood.
Full Frontal witnesses the Krake Zulu clearing a path for the Neo Zeong and allows his lieutenant a small smile.
Ever loyal, ever reliable...and yet, Angelo, I cannot take you on this path with me to the end. Until we must part, however...I shall prize your loyalty like no other.
Shooting forth his funnel bits, the Ghost of Char enforces his command on those troops who had turned their allegiances once word of the original Red Comet's return had made the rounds. Aura-hued suits turn on one another and the enemies of the current leader of Neo Zeon, as their consent to bear arms is taken from them, as is the fate assured to all traitors to the Sleeves. Like a puppeteer hosting a grand show, the Neo Zeong instructs its hijacked suits to die for it on a battlefield expertly arranged, a mere chessboard to the mind of Full Frontal.
To the Phenex, the Neo Zeong offers naught but more victims for its conscience, sending hijacked suits after the NT-D, a distraction at worst, but perhaps a deadly ambush at best. Who knows what wonders such entropically enhanced weapons might do against the little witch?
Turning to the Zeong, the Ghost of Char returns his progenitor's waist beams with a blast of his own, fired from the waist mounted mega-particle cannon of the Neo Zeong in a crescendo that deafens its predecessor in comparison.
Lastly to Ujico, Full Frontal offers a hellscape of flame, a fitting punishment for a fallen angel that dares to rebel against an eldritch god.
"While we would be happy to see the Federation shattered, your methods are inane and futile, Char. We know that better than anyone else...after all, we are one and the same."
KTS: Full Frontal targets Rita Bernal with Hijack Bits! KTS: Full Frontal targets Char Aznable with Large Caliber High Mega Particle Cannon! KTS: Full Frontal targets Ujico Issa with Campaign of Fire! KTS: Full Frontal has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.
Nena grins as she watches some of her targets attempt to shoot their way through, only to miss a number of mines. That's the great thing about weapons powered by her wonderful crimson GN particles. The interference makes them much harder to see!
Nena's grin twitches a little though as one of them is able to weave through her field. Annoying... But it's fine. There will be plenty of opportunities to get that one.
Yurika's voice then filters in through Nena's cockpit speakers. After a few moments, Nena is already fake yawning. She looks down at her Haro, "Are you hearing this? It goes on and on... It's really killing my buzz."
Purple Haro flaps its wings as it buzzes, "Windbag! Windbag!"
"Mmhmm." Nena reaches over to press a button, opening up a local comm, <"Hey, lady. Don't you know when to shut up? I bet you don't have a boyfriend because no one can stand to listen to you talking so much."> Nena grins, amused by her own insult.
Though the amusement is quickly cut short as a burst of vulcan fire streaks in towards Nena. Distracted by her burn against Yurika, she doesn't react quickly enough, the beams splashing across the frame of her Gundam and burning small grooves into it. Nena frowns, "Hey! That one is ruining my lovely Drei's paint job! I'll show-woah!"
Another machine comes rushing in. Nena barely has enough time to bring her machine around to place the large shield, mounted on its left shoulder, into the path of the swinging club.
A club.
A club!?
So primitive! To think her Gundam has to endure attacks from such an eyesore of a weapon. Nena growls over the comms, <"Get that thing out of my face!">
With its left hand, the Gundam Throne Drei reaches up, grabbing for one of the saber hilts at its shoulder. Drawing the weapon, it ignites, a long crimson blade rushing out. The Gundam swings with one hand towards Naoko's Sukeban. While its other arm raises, pointing in the rough direction of Anita's Svipul and the Nadesico. The arm-attached beam handgun lights up, starting to spit out numerous blasts of that red energy towards the two, trying to keep them occupied while Nena works on putting Naoko in her place.
KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity targets Naoko Suzuki with GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Strike! KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Nena_Trinity Changes attack to Anita Rosetta and Yurika Misumaru with GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Wide Area Barrage. KTS: Rita Bernal charges into the attack! KTS: Rita Bernal successfully avoids Full Frontal's Hijack Bits KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Wide Area Barrage, taking 2850 damage! KTS: Nena Trinity has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Naoko Suzuki fails to parry Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Strike, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Nena Trinity has engaged Naoko Suzuki! KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Mineva Lao Zabi has posed.
Mineva opens the line to Rena in return, giving her a thumbs-up. "Understood," she says simply, though she's grateful for the support, sticking close to Rena and the Kakapos.
Her connection has the intended effect, seeming to at least disrupt him--but feeling it in return is... perhaps a little more than she expected it to be. After all this time... her feelings are no closer to being settled than they were when he left her. It stings like a parent's grief.
But this is bigger than that, and she has to push through. So she does; taking the opportunity provided by his inaction toward her, she spins on her trajectory, and the beam smartgun erupts with a streak of pink toward the Zeong.
The psycoframe remains silent, the streak across the Hyaku Shiki J's chest dark, for now; she's not sure she could handle it. Not like this.
But even as she steels herself, she can't help but ask questions--merely thoughts, and yet They can't help but make their way across to the Red Comet.
Why? Why did you betray me? betray everything you taught me? Why did you leave me?
Why did you lie?
KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi targets Char Aznable with Jaeger Beam Smartgun Snipe! KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Full Frontal enervates Ujico Issa, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Ujico Issa fails to evade Full Frontal's Campaign of Fire, taking 7320 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Full Frontal's The Ghost of Char activates, causing Deject! KTS: Full Frontal completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Char, char, ever the damnable Char Aznable...! The man who so defined his life long befdore he was even in his mother's womb, long before the thought of crashing a rock down onto Earth in a state of ecoterrorism even was a speck in the neurons. With the three of them crashing together like this, the Sinanju looks from one to the other. Zeong. Neo Zeong. And himself, the Neo Zeong II. "Embarrassment?" From the man himself. From Char. That much was enough to set him aflame, to set those arms pointed right at the Zeong. Ten in all, willing to accept the burnt of the Zeong's own shots. Again and again, shot after shot chipping at the Neo Zeong II's armor as ten lasers fire on. There is little in his mind but the thought of Char, the thought of Frontal, the-
Goddamn it. GODDAMN IT. That damn scorpion, that scarred Cyber-Newtype that didn't even /bother/ to accept she was one. "YOU." That voice is instantly recognizable, if only it weren't piloted by that /thing/. His instincts scream. Trying to twist away while locked in conflict, to merely swat away the tail of that beast using the Sinanju's own hands, the mobile armor opening its compartments. Out comes a set of sabers, swinging at that Scorpion with irritated anger. "And why are /you/ here, huh? Wanted to meet a few more Cyber-Newtypes? Did you accept who you WERE!?"
There is nothing to offer Frontal. There is nothing but unrestrained, implicit distaste for his so-called Brother in Arms, only to work in tandem. He can do the talking.
The scream explodes, coalescing with Zoltan's own psyche in the field of battle. "Who else did you expect it to be, Phenex!? You said I was this, so I'm just playing my damn part!" Yes, it was her fault! It was entirely her fault! The origin of all his current stresses, the one who kept saying /he/ was to blame. "You can't tell me I'm the one at fault WHEN YOU KEEP PUSHING ME INTO IT!" Even in that three-way confrontation, there is nothing but loathing, nothing but malice tinting his thoughts. The transformation? So what of it? She's breaking, she's cracking. The goddess must also fall.
Rita's screaming does jostle him the slightest bit, that damnable mourning of everything. The beast is sliced; a gash along one of the legs, functional but scarred. Is this your doing, Phenex!? To be the one standing at the end of everything!? Enough. An arm raises from the backpack of the Zeong II, the five Wired Funnels launching out, streaking along the space. Already, they were firing, a complex web to shoot down the White-Flamed Beast, to shoot down the Phenex.
Everything must fall.
That voice. Rena. "SO WHAT OF IT!? You know as well as I do what the hell he represents." Everything needs to fall. The past should /stay dead/. "Don't think you can lecture me about what he's supposed to be." That tone. It's so cold.
It roars. It screams. It demands the end, but not by another's hands. The Psycho-Shard generator thrums. It whirs. It demands more, feeding on the energy of the place, the will of Zoltan's psyche festering in the Psycommu frame. The Sinanju. It radiates an invisible energy. More. Until all is wasted.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Yuliana Kafim with Sinanju Swings! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Char Aznable with Wrath! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rita Bernal with Haze of Hatred! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
A young woman sits in the belly of a mechanical monster, gently adjusting the sleeves of a uniform. She'd only worn one like this in simulators, before. It was easier this time.
The monster had, mostly, been a mobile suit, built in the traditional fashion. She'd had to follow the rules. There'd been some nudging, here and there, to make an assemblage of scrap more than the sum of its parts.
Then, of course, the Skoll had detonated, quite impressively, at Tsutsujidai. A monster slain. But here it was again... on the towering end of mobile suit construction, brutally armed, and positively radiant in dawnlight orange. Students of the first Neo Zeon might be able to discern the lines of a Doven Wolf beyond all that haze, but... Skoll was long past pretending to be a normal machine. The INCOMs making up its primary hands had already separated, shattered into jagged claws. More wires, many more than would be needed for the standard allotment of INCOM weaponry on a Doven Wolf, nonetheless lashed around its frame.
She'd learned the rules, by now. That meant she could cheat.
After Amuro's return, Char's was to be expected. The path ahead was obvious. In service to the Cosmic Will, in pursuit of an end to humanity - what better model than the star that fell, turned aside at impossible cost? How many times could the human spirit bear the weight of sacrifice?
So now a wolf guards the gates of ruin. Leave them no easy answers, no simple heroics. Whoever comes, tear them to pieces. Beat them to tatters. Shatter their spirits.
And sure enough, many of humanity's defenders descend on the Skoll. Weapons batter against its dawnlight, tear chunks away - only for those fragments to be seized by the lashing wires and whipped forward again, even as the blasted segments begin to regenerate. Dawnfire clings to the beast as it lunges towards its foes.
Skoll runs wild. The sun burns in its gut. This must be the end of the world, don't you think?
Liam and Lucine's bond drifts across her consciousness and she handles them together in turn - Lucine's casual engagement is met with an equally dismissive barrage of jagged shrapnel, the lashing wires doing their best to bury both mobile suits in a storm of knives. <"Do me a favor and die together. I'm not in the mood to choke on the misery if one of you starts screaming and crying over the other's corpse.">
Lark is registered as a threat... and there's a little dig of recognition that she just can't place. Her smirk pulls up tighter, bearing teeth. <"Now, aren't you something. ...I wonder if you know how to dance? I guess I'll test a theory...">
Around that bizarre patchwork machine, beam emitters begin to dance, aiming to waste the machine's mobility by forcing it to flee a remote attack.
The Kshatriya... Ennil sighs. <"Miss Cruz. Is this the kind of life that makes you happy? Well. Humanity will have no more need of weapons, soon. Your unfortunate circumstances will finally end along with everyone else's... but, I guess there's no point telling you that. You couldn't break the mold you were made in, I guess. And they bothered giving you a name, and everything."> The beam emitter of the Doven Wolf glows - and a scorching ray of dawn-touched plasma bursts forth.
KTS: Ennil El: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Ennil El targets Marida Cruz with Radiance Barrage! KTS: Ennil El targets Lucine Azul with Wolf's Lash Pincer Formation! KTS: Rita Bernal charges into the attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Rita Bernal, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Rita Bernal partially guards Zoltan Akkanen's Haze of Hatred, taking 7080 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen completes the Formation attack! KTS: Ennil_El Changes attack to Liam 7-020 and Lucine Azul with Wolf's Lash Battering Storm. KTS: Ennil El targets Lark Straye with Wolf's Lash Pincer Formation! KTS: Ennil El has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"You, too," Rena sends back to Anita. She smiles, for a moment. "I'll see you when we're back, okay?"
They soar away from each other, today.
Rena senses something familiar -- Shelby Korts, she realizes -- and her eyes widen for a moment. She remembers her, after their encounter before. She hesitates, before she opens a transmission: "Be careful...!"
There is more to say, of course. But right now, in the chaos of the battlefield, it feels important.
She tenses, for just a moment, when she hears Verdiska. But she can't do much about Verdiska, right now. Rena's fingers tighten about the controls of the Gaia Gear Alpha.
"I'm not /lecturing/ you!" Rena snaps heatedly. "And I /don't/ know that! Don't tell me what I'm supposed--" She catches herself getting heated, even as she flinches at the coldness in Zoltan's voice.
"You can decide for yourself!" she snaps, instead, her voice rattled.
When she sees the mega particle blast hurtled towards the Ra Mari II, Rena's eyes widen. "Ra Mari II, hold out as long as you can!"
The Zeong's waist-mounted cannon fires in a repeating pattern -- and the Gaia Gear Alpha's wing binders fire, thrusters propelling it upward. The lances of golden light shoot /just/ under it, the particle-leakage of the beams scoring black spots along the feet and ankles, before it breaks away.
"An unfinished project?" she asks. "You... know this machine?" She hesitates. "I'm not Amuro Ray--but I don't want to be! I'm good enough as myself... and so is the Gaia Gear Alpha! I have to stop this--and to save the people in Palau!"
The Gaia Gear Alpha slides the beam rifle back into place, and then tears free the hyper bazooka. She takes aim, flying in a little closer to the Zeong. She directs the bazooka downward -- then fires.
Three rockets loose -- vapor exploding out the back with each pull of the trigger -- and they hurtle down for the Zeong, before exploding in tremendous, fiery blasts.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Char Aznable with Hyper Bazooka Salvo! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Lark Straye fails to Charge. KTS: Lark Straye's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Lark Straye partially guards Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Pincer Formation, taking 3800 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El rattles Liam 7-020, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Battering Storm, taking 3240 damage! KTS: Yurika Misumaru's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Yurika Misumaru partially guards Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Wide Area Barrage, taking 2660 damage! KTS: Marida Cruz charges into the attack! KTS: Marida Cruz's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Marida Cruz partially guards Ennil El's Radiance Barrage, taking 4200 damage! KTS: Ennil El: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Yuliana Kafim, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to parry Zoltan Akkanen's Sinanju Swings, taking 3720 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Yuliana Kafim!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"It's a promise." Anita replies with a nod back to Rena. She has the utmost faith in her - that she'll make it out of a fight with even a Red Comet blazing orange in one piece.
For now... she'll have to make sure she returns the favor by making it out of /her/ fight.
The Gundam Throne Drei unleashes a series of red blasts from its handgun and Anita braces herself, raising her shield in defense. The blasts crash against her shield, the Pinpoint Barrier crackling with each shot.
"Nadesico, Nova, you alright? Seems like this is one of the big ones..." Anita asks before turning her attention back to her opponent.
"...Alright. Guess if that's how it's gonna be, that's how it's gonna be. Let's tangle." Anita says. She draws out the Svipul's gatling gun pod, unleashing a sweeping spray of gatling fire in Nena's direction!
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Nena Trinity with Gatling Sweep! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
Lucine, Rena... Eight? And ... Audrey. More, even, more minds and thoughts and there's *so much noise*. She's breathing through her mouth as the call from Rena comes in; her side is a bit more scrambled but there's a bit of stress in her voice: "Don't worry about me. Keep an eye on those emitters."
The active psychoframe continues to edge at her senses; her own machine's systems disabled yet it's just so *there* and *palpable*.
Again, like he's conducting some sort of symphony of annihilation, the Zeong's hand sweeps out, fingertips curled and pointing in her direction. Shelby again twists, throwing her weight and the control sticks in a way that allows her to extend her arm and again smack against the blasts as they come in, beams scattering across the surface and bending, swaying, and splashing out into diffuse light while searing and scorching the paint. Internal stress on the limb, however, is rising -- she has to be careful about this.
"FUNNELS!" she calls out.
The six canisters detach from the shoulder shields and scatter into the vastness of space, their fins and emitters opening up as they fly in a swirling movement toward Char. While Shelby moves to the side-- to try to circle-strafe the machine-- the Funnels move in a sweeping formation to the opposite direction, taking pot shots aiming at the Zeong's hand. If she can damage them enough, reduce his options a bit more ...
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts targets Char Aznable with Jagd Doga Funnels Basic Formation! KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Nena Trinity fails to charge. KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity partially guards Anita Rosetta's Gatling Sweep, taking 2450 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El rattles Lucine Azul, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Lucine Azul fails to evade Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Battering Storm, taking 7020 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lark Straye has posed.
Lark Straye was only firing on the defenders of Palau without being very picky about which one she hit. It turned out she targeted a monster - that's the only way she has to describe the Skoll, with its clawed-INCOM hands and its wires. It's a terrifying thing, completely *wrong* to someone who is used to primarily fighting mobile suits, which she is.
She will need to get past it to do what she needs to. To stop Palau, or help stop Palau; she cannot do it alone. She is not sure she can do it at all.
Lark survived Axis by running away. Her best and only friend died - and then a miracle had occured. But not for her. All she ever saw at Axis was death and disaster and, like so many times before, her own personal failure.
Seeing Palau like this, in some ways so similar to Axis and in other ways so different, is *hard*. Her hands shake on the controls, a brief shudder in the MSA-0120's flight path. I can't run, she tells herself. I can't run. I won't run.
Please, let me do this. Let me do one thing right.
Even Lark doesn't know who she is thinking (praying) to. She does not expect a response, and in this she is not disappointed; none comes.
None comes except blasts, at least. The MSA-0120 makes a sudden dart forward, but is pulled up short by a shower of beams from all angles, her and there and everywhere. The armour on the MSA-0120 is less patchwork than it seems; the Vaporizing Applique Armour is some kind of advanced beam coating for all that it looks like random composite, the layers of armour and coating damaged but not destroyed by the blasts. It's still not something Lark thinks she can handle for too long, and eventually she hunkers down, using the just-as-curved shield to cover the head of the strange small MS.
Strangely, Ennil's words help to settle Lark. Petty cruelty for no purpose she can see: that she understands, even if it is primarily aimed at Lucine and Liam rather than her. She's dealt with that every day of her life. The weakest, the one who fails - it's always been her, and if there is one thing she has learned it is that there is always someone who will go after the one who can't or won't fight back. Something familiar to focus on in the chaos that is Palau.
"<I'm not interested,>" she sends right back, before switching guns to a smaller, lighter one - it looks like a Jegan's gun, but cut down slightly for the diminuitive size of the MSA-0120. Again she tries a charge, using a rapid machine-gun shot to cover her approach; she swerves around the Kshatriya like she'd practiced the maneuver, using one of its great wing bindeers as brief cover before accelerating past it.
And then, voice - for her allies alone, Liam and Lucine and, a moment later, Marida. No image. "<What is that and how do I kill it,>" she half-says, half-asks, her voice pitched low. "<You'll never get to do anything to stop Palau as long as she's driving it and neither will I.>"
KTS: Lark Straye targets Ennil El with Modified Jegan Beam Rifle Charging Shot! KTS: Lark Straye has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Keep it cool, Yurika thinks. Celestial Being's tactics are well known by now - /they/ play it cool, and wait for people to overextend themselves, to make their weak points known.
Keep it cool and steady. Don't let the chaos of the times get to you. You're here to ~Save the World~.
"Ghhh...ghhh, wh- WHO IS THIS PERSON ANYWAY-!?!" Yurika blusters, marching up to her console and bringing up as many logs and records of the Throne as possible. Predictably - it's not that much! Operations here and there. It Sure Is A Red And White Gundam That Likes Traps And Long Range Combat. The amount of intel Yurika's able to dig up on Nena Trinity is basically the exact same intel she's getting from existing here right now.
Holding steady amidst the storm of little opening plinking, the Nadesico's still impacting mine after mine - but with the defenses of the Gravity Barrier, Yurika's /preferring/ to barge her ship into the minefield to detonate it all at once. After all, the plan she has in play...
Is to fight fire with fire there, opening countless missile ports and enveloping the flanks to either side of Nena in a cloud of mines, sending the coordinate data to her immediate allies. Taking a deep breath, Yurika pipes in to Nova and Anita: <"I've left two primary corridors 'above' and 'below' the opposing Celestial Being operative - think of our minefield like the buns of a hamburger, and attack it from the side! If you can get behind her too, that'd be great, alright? Let's wrap this one up quick so we can give a big old kaboom to the Zeongs and stop this crazy mess!">
Minato chimes in, "Captain, we'll have the reserves needed for the Gravity Blast in five minutes - we should probably tell our allies not to get /behind/ them too deeply."
Rubbing at her own temples, Yurika clears her throat, "...I think they're fast enough to be a little more responsive, and I don't want that Gundam to have too easy an escape or be too sure of what we're doing. It's clearly a tricksy one! And besides...she made it personal."
And now /for/ that personal touch. Dialing back into the short range comms that Nena can hear, Yurika takes a side-on posture, slams one hand into her console, and blurts out:
<"You know what I'm gonna do? YOU KNOW WHAT I'M GONNA DO WHEN WE MAKE THIS MIRACLE HAPPEN? I'm...I'm...I'll kiss whoever gives the knockout blow to Char! Right on the lips! That's right!! And I won't back down or make excuses either! I bet THAT's gonna motivate everyone out there. Right!? Hehe. I bet he's gonna gallantly ride into Palau on his own and give his big silly ~Gekigan Flare~ right to that bastard's face!">
)))10,000M FROM EARTH'S SURFACE AND RAPIDLY DESCENDING:
"HUOOOOOOHHHH, NOT LIKE THIS, I WON'T LET EVEN A SINGLE ONE OF YOU ORANGE CREEPS GET AROUND BEHIND US, NO MATTER THE COST! GEKIGAN CANNOOOOOOON---"
--Such is the sound of Akito Tenkawa, also in an Artillery Frame, engulfed in flame in a pitched duel to the death with a particularly aggressive and orange-fuming Alpha Azieru, grappling in the kind of heated and brutal combat that's climactic in its own right.
...but it /does/ mean he's basically careening down at the mercy of gravity, and nowhere near the actual epicenter of Palau.
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
Why did it hurt?
Why did it hurt to hear that?
She was a weapon. Her existence was an aberration. These are things that Marida Cruz took as truth. These were simple facts about herself. Why did it hurt so much to actually hear them?
And they bothered giving you a name, and everything.
Marida Cruz is her name. It's the name Suberoa Zinnerman gave her. Despite her objections, he had given it to her.
It was the first act of love she had ever recieved.
She was Miss Marida of the Garincieres. To say anything less was an insult to her crew, an insult to her captain! To take that love and reduce it to nothing...whether or not Marida Cruz deserved that love, it was an affront!
"BE QUIET!"
The Kshatriya holds two wings in front of itself and charges through the beam, deflecting a portion of the impact and getting close enough for several of its funnels to launch from beneath those wings. As she approaches, the funnels launch forward, floating above Ennil El and grouping together to fire a concentrated beam straight down!
<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.
Ujico has never known Rita to give up hope. To run, to hide, to present her best and shining self - but it's not like /Ujico/ could fault her for any of those. She can't spare much attention to the Phenex right now, even though she worries. The Neo Zeong is strong. Full Frontal, inside of it, is a terror. Ujico wants to erase him. Him and his cruelty. And then she'll move on to Char Aznable, and the next tyrant, and the next...
Her mouth fills with saliva; she swallows it down.
Don't think about it.
She thinks about it. And that's when the Neo Zeong graces her with a moment of its full attention, wreathing Palisade in flames. Flames that shouldn't work in the vacuum, flames that shouldn't even be hot enough to bubble her paintjob.
Sheets of her armor are slagged, melting and rehardening into twisted shapes as Ujico flees that hellscape, thrusters pushing her further and faster. "I hate you," she murmurs. "I hate [everybody like you]." She doesn't need to see the readouts. She is /massively/ overpowered. "I hate people who..." The words get stuck in her throat; she can only think about the way they felt, poking and prodding at her until she snapped.
She glances, a quick flicker of eyes, at the mass of Palau. "..." How many more minutes? Ujico licks her lips.
Power to the thrusters. Beam claws to maximum heat. Palisade doesn't do a fancy ninja flip around the Neo Zeong this time - it pounces like a monstrous cat, digging in at the armor, swiping at the neck and head, clinging to the greater mobile armor and refusing to let go. This time, Ujico is silent.
KTS: Marida Cruz targets Ennil El with Funnel Binder Concentrated Blast! KTS: Marida Cruz has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ujico Issa targets Full Frontal with Dig In! KTS: Ujico Issa has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Anita Rosetta KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Naoko Suzuki KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Nena Trinity with Missile Mines! KTS: Yurika Misumaru has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Nena Trinity successfully evades Yurika Misumaru's Missile Mines KTS: Yurika Misumaru completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Voices call to Rita. Voices she would answer with love and care. Liam, who opens a tightbeam channel to the Phenex's radio, hears only an oppressive hum of machinery and... something like a loose piece of metal rattling against the microphone. Clinking gently, bell-like. Something physical, a decidedly non-spiritual manifestation.
Alas, Rita surrendered the last embers of herself to the Phenex. She is nothing more than kindling to allow the machine to burn more brightly than ever before, perhaps giving the Gundam the strength she needs for her Miracle.
It isn't the Miracle Rita died for. But perhaps, a second death could save the ones she loves.
If the Phenex feels pride at her shield's effectiveness, there is no sign of it. She simply clenches a fist, summoning her wings back to her side. Char is the first to launch an attack in reply, and without the warm hand of her Beloved, the Gundam cannot calculate an escape route quickly enough. Golden armor begins to crack beneath the strength of the old Zeong's attack. Information is gathered -- she will not underestimate it again.
Hikaru -- someone unknown, accuses the Phenex. She doesn't particularly seem to mind, until a wired claw loops around the Gundam's arm, anchoring her in place. With a flash of malice, the Phenex's head turns to stare down at the small machine. This feeling reaches through the haze of computer-driven perfection.
Trapped. Trapped. Let me go let me go let me go let me go LET ME GO
It's barely a voice, more a series of sensations. With a shrieking cry, the Phenex pulls her arm away, white-hot-flame spreading down to encompass the wire that would trap her. It's so familiar, bringing the horrible echo of failure and guilt to her mind.
A hand grasps Hikaru's machine's head and /ignites/. Holding the attention of a Beast is a dire strategy. Otherworldly white flame would surely burn the little mobile suit out, if not for Angelo's (un)timely distraction.
A dim part of the Phenex's consciousness recognizes him. White hair. Didn't she play like this once? The walls between "Rita" and "Phenex" are collapsing. Yes, once she took on this form, with the poofy hair and the stuffy uniform.
Funny. Funny devoted man. Aren't we the same? Aren't we alike? Wouldn't you do the same as me?
With mechanical precision, the Phenex soars toward Angelo, circling it once. Even with Rita's spirit consumed as fuel for the fire, pieces of her soul linger. Perhaps it's enough for her voice to echo to Angelo's ears, perhaps not. With a flash of colorless spiritual might, the Phenex crashes into the back of the Krake, ramming it with all her strength.
Angelo's attack passes through her as she charges. Though the thread grows taught and frail, the Phenex is a creature bound to two worlds yet.
Full Frontal does not leave his major domo to be menaced alone. Again, he accuses Rita with words she would not understand. The Phenex turns from Angelo to soar toward the incoming hijacked suits, her wings overtaking her with impossible speed. Each suit is cleanly struck through, torn apart cockpit-first. No sensation of guilt can be felt.
Birds fly. She always wanted to be a bird. This is flying, this is what she wants. Souls entwine in the heat of the NT-D's forge, scorching with the force of a sun.
But there, as ever, at her back is the Monster. If any voice could reach her and draw her attention, it would be this one, who makes her soul resonate in such terrible ways. Zoltan's shrieked abuse seems to bring the Gundam to pause, and she tilts her head at the third Neo-Zeong.
His own voice echoes back to him. YOU KEEP PUSHING ME INTO IT!
Slowly, the Phenex approaches. She wants to circle around the Neo Zeong II. She wants him to be afraid. But--
Zoltan launches a web at the Bird of Life and Death, and though she picks up her speed significantly, she's caught. Shrieking again, she flails in the funnels' embrace, then goes terribly still. Red eyes gleam. The NT-D sends a pulse of white fire, seeking to burn through these wires as she burned through the last -- but thus far, they hold.
Hands clench into fists. Wings, free of the net, rise and lash out wildly, streaking toward the original Zeong. Bashing into him, wreathed in fire, the wrath of the trapped firebird is expressed.
Yet... Zoltan is left unharmed.
Glimmering light travels up the contact made between Zeong and Phenex, pastel colors hinting at perhaps something more than the simplistic fury of the NT-D. Within his cockpit, a shape begins to form. A young woman, dressed in a white--
A young woman, half her body consumed by golden fire--
With blonde hair lit aflame, scorching away.
She looks at him. Perhaps emotionless, perhaps full of hatred, perhaps desperate for one final connection as she burns herself to ash (again). She only had the strength to reach out to one she had contact with. Even this is wasting time she should be using to destroy him.
I hope you die. I hope Jona and Michele never have to meet you.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Char Aznable with Phenex Kite Shield Strike! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Full Frontal with Phenex Kite Shield Strike! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Hikaru Amano with Magnetic Midnight! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Angelo Sauper with Eos! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Zoltan Akkanen with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal rushes into the attack! KTS: Full Frontal's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Full Frontal partially guards Ujico Issa's Dig In, taking 1260 damage! KTS: Ujico Issa has engaged Full Frontal! KTS: Full Frontal fails to Evade Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Strike, taking 3500 damage! KTS: Angelo Sauper has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal anchors Angelo Sauper, forcing him into close range. KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to evade Rita Bernal's Eos, taking 2700 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal has engaged Angelo Sauper!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko grits her teeth as her club - which is /beautiful/ thank you very much - is met with a shield. Shields are cheating, you can't do that! Or so she could complain, but it wouldn't make them stop cheating, so what's the use. Better to just stay the course, give it another swing, with more gusto!
Unfortunately, one drawback that she would have to admit to is that her weapon might be just a smidge too big and heavy for her machine to manage to a quick follow-up. She's barely had time to wind up before Nina is already on her, with more advanced and less unwieldy weaponry. Awkwardly, she attempts to alter her intentions into a parrying maneuver, but it's far too late for that. Before she full well realizes it, that beam saber cutting straight across the Sukeban's shoulder.
"Gya!" The Arm Slave quickly backs away in light of this development, its pilot recognizing the difference in experience. Not that she should have expected any different, with so little experience herself. Still, she has her instincts. She has to trust them to carry her through.
"Y-yeah," she responds to Anita, clearly shaken. "But, this is gonna be bad in a straight fight. We gotta be smart about this one..." Ergo: let's gang up and otherwise make it an unfair fight as much as possible. Yurika seems to be on board, deploying her own minefield and suggesting an attack from behind, which sounds good to her. Anita's got the setup covered, as for her, as soon as attention is drawn away from her, and the Throne Drei's back is turned--
The Sukeban may be small, but it's /fast/. And that much faster after it's put the club away, and decides to instead relies on its bare, superheated knuckles, somehow capable of striking with greater force than the club when there's this much momentum behind it.
"Don't like my club? How'd you like my FIST? BUSTEEEER KNUCKLEEEEE!"
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Anita Rosetta KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Hikaru Amano fails to react to Rita Bernal's Magnetic Midnight, taking 1860 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Nena Trinity with Buster Knuckle! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity fails to parry Naoko Suzuki's Buster Knuckle, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Nena Trinity! KTS: Char Aznable charges into the attack! KTS: Char Aznable partially guards Eight York's Guided Beam Cannons - Aiming Shot, taking 4264 damage! KTS: Full Frontal enervates Char Aznable, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Char Aznable fails to Evade Full Frontal's Large Caliber High Mega Particle Cannon, taking 8640 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Full Frontal's The Ghost of Char activates, causing Deject! KTS: Full Frontal completes the Formation attack! KTS: Char Aznable blocks Mineva Lao Zabi's Jaeger Beam Smartgun Snipe, taking 2400 damage! KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has failed to disengage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Char Aznable, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Char Aznable fails to evade Zoltan Akkanen's Wrath, taking 6480 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Char Aznable blocks Rena Lancaster's Hyper Bazooka Salvo, taking 6240 damage! KTS: Char Aznable partially guards Shelby Korts's Jagd Doga Funnels Basic Formation, taking 1710 damage! KTS: Char Aznable fails to charge. KTS: Char Aznable partially guards Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Strike, taking 3325 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
At another time, in another field, Yuliana might have had some wonderful words for Eight and Rena and Anita and all their little friends. As it is, their sensors might catch the Da Xukong's rear cameras focusing on them for a moment -- and then the attention breaks.
She -- literally, in more than one sense of the word -- has bigger fish to fry than her personal vendettas, right now.
Yuliana is a being MADE of grudges and gripes and vendettas, though, so when Zoltan demands that of her, she snarls in response. "So what?!" She demands, and does not see the similiarities, as the Injector comes up to stab at the Sinanju's hands. The /sabers/ are more difficult to abjure, though -- she has to pull that scorpion tail of a weapon back to stop it being damaged, as the sabers impact Da Xukong's hull.
Zoltan will find a green barrier meets him, first -- the power of the Abyss Engine turned to the prototype wanzer's defence. It can't stop him entirely, but it slows his vicious swings enough that they score /into/ Da Xukong's armour instead of straight /through/ it.
"You want me to say it? Fine! That's what they set out to make, when they made me! They could not have known they would perfect that flawed design! The project -- yes, the Renascence Orchid Project meant to create Cyber-Newtypes! And I..!" As the triade transmits, Da Xukong 0 scuttles around Neo Zeong's hull, away from the immediate danger of the Sinanju. She'll compromise her shot at the cockpit to keep herself safe. She promised Elisa, after all. That distance carries /Zoltan/ out of the range of her emotional abyss -- for the moment, anyway. Such is the vast size of the machine he's commanded. "... I have some relation to you wretched creatures, is that what you want to hear?! I was created, just the same!"
Coming to one of Neo Zeong's lower thrusters, the Da Xukong 0's Injector tail raises, again, to gouge into the manoeuvring jet.
Yuliana's cameras focus up on another enemy of Zoltan's, though -- the Phenex. "Shit," Yuliana bites out, still on that local free-for-all band. "What's wrong with /her..?/" Yuliana, blinded and blinding, cannot see the psychic projections which speak to Rita's torment; all she sees is the Phenex, fighting like mad.
Is it strange, that the only person who could tell her what's wrong is the man she's currently trying to kill?
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Zoltan Akkanen with Infernal Arachnid Injector Gouge! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
The shield glances. The CGUE's AMBAC twists it away from the more massive Mobile Suit, and its jets burn as it falls back. Normally Liam would try to push the advantage, but there's no telling how infectious this thing is. Char /has/ to have turned at least some of his reinforcements. Liam can't afford to risk the same.
Then he recognizes the pilot's voice, and his heart twists, curls in on itself. <"Ennil."> Liam's voice is an angry, frustrated growl. <"Was everything at Tsutsujidai a /lie/? Were you just /luring us in/?"> She helped. She helped so much. And now, this. <"I won't let this HAPPEN AGAIN!>"
The INCOMs--let's call them INCOMs, it makes them seem more managable--flash out, hacksawing through space. The CGUE meets them with its shield, and holds firm. The claws rip and shred and cut. Chunks of reinforced armor fly from the shield's face, joining the debris field. The CGUE now bears a torn shield, and a large gash along its upper thigh where a claw got through Liam's guard.
"<How DARE YOU!>" Reliving this nightmare has him balanced on a knife's-edge. The anger is driving, useful. Liam sees the Dianthus take that hit, and he sees red. "<You think we NEED your PITY?! That your KILLING US is a MERCY?!">
Liam forces himself to breathe as one of the other pilots hails him. He responds to Lark, and to Lucine and Marida. "<Mobile Suit infected with-->" He starts off in dense, data-saving mode, but starts to wrench himself free. "<Triple Zero. Going to keep healing itself. Pilot's driven to kill everything, and everyone.>" Another pause, another breath. "<Nothing we can't put down, Lieutenant!>" There's a hint of desperation in his voice, though, as he speaks to Marida. "<Stay back, Lu! I'll keep her busy!>"
The CGUE's physical blade snaps free from its equipment rack, drifting in space a moment before the machine snatches it up. Liam sweeps it wide, trying to shear through the tethers holding the INCOMs. The CGUE jukes right, raises its shield, and then comes down from above with a furious two-handed blow.
Liam has never felt like this. The instincts to stay calm and analytical are there, but something else has taken the wheel from them. He should be /shutting down/, but...
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Ennil El with MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to rush. KTS: Yuliana Kafim rattles Zoltan Akkanen, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Gouge, taking 2100 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Zoltan Akkanen!
<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.
"Your answer matters little in the face of the Truth," Char replies to Eight. "Do you really think your Alliance can scrape out even one more day, dealing with a battle such as this?" Char's repartee is briefly interrupted by being forced to defend against the Ra Mari II's beam barrage.
"Let's test that." With a thought, he focuses every cannon on the Zeong at the Ra Mari II, opening up with a furious fusilade of antipathic amber.
"I do appreciate the colour scheme you chose for your vessel, however."
Full Frontal's own scarlet machine, however, receives only withering scorn. "If that is true, then I know you will be only to happy to receive the gift I hope Amuro would give to me."
The first Neo Zeong, too, is rewarded with a full barrage from the older mobile suit.
Zoltan's rage was perhaps even easier to provoke than Char's investigations after taking Palau had indicated. The Comet of Ruin merely smirks behind his helmet visor, and unleashes a third full barrage at the unpainted Neo Zeong II.
The jumble of feelings Mineva senses is too complex to parse out into a single coherent thought, but her firing on the Zeong must inevitably draw Char's attention. The Zeong's forearms detach! Flitting through the beam-lit expanse on psycommu wires, they encircle the Hyaku-Shiki J - a machine which engenders another emotional turmoil within the Zeong's pilot - and aim to strike at it with simple remote-guided punches!
A storm of funnels descends. Familiar tactics. With its wired forearms detached, the Zeong cannot defend itself as effectively, and must attempt to evade Shelby's remote attack - but she receives Char's own remote attack, as the forearms deliver ten barrels of megaparticle hell from multiple angles!
"A dead end," He replies dryly to Rena's question about her own unit. "It did not offer as much to the campaign as the Sazabi project." He moves to demonstrate the Gaia Gear's limitations in short order with a simultaneous twin blast from the Zeong's waist cannons.
Finally, the Phenex's furious rage. He sees spread wings and burning feathers. He sees someone straddling the bounds between this world and the next, defying Cosmic Law to perpetuate her own existence.
No.
Another deadly amber megaparticle blast ripples towards the golden Gundam.
KTS: Char Aznable targets Eight York with Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage! KTS: Char Aznable targets Full Frontal with Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage! KTS: Char Aznable targets Zoltan Akkanen with Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage! KTS: Char Aznable targets Mineva Lao Zabi with Wired Forearms Punch Combo! KTS: Char Aznable targets Shelby Korts with Wired Forearms 5-Barrel Beam Cannon Crossfire! KTS: Char Aznable targets Rena Lancaster with Waist Megaparticle Cannons Twin Blast! KTS: Char Aznable targets Rita Bernal with Waist Megaparticle Cannons No-Fly Zone! KTS: Char Aznable has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen retreats from the attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Char Aznable's Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage, taking 3975 damage! KTS: Char Aznable repulses Zoltan Akkanen, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Char Aznable roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Eight York fails to evade Char Aznable's Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage, taking 6570 damage! KTS: Char Aznable repulses Eight York, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Char Aznable roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Char Aznable's Waist Megaparticle Cannons Twin Blast, taking 5440 damage! KTS: Char Aznable roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal fails to evade Char Aznable's Waist Megaparticle Cannons No-Fly Zone, taking 3849 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.
A hail of gunfire rains down on Nena's position as she's busy dealing with the Sukeban. They start rattling against her Gundam's armor, which proves tough but is nonetheless getting chipped away. Nena mutters, "Okay, that's getting annoying... Better do something about it!"
Turning away from Naoko, the Gundam Throne Drei starts to charge towards the Svipul-
-But then immediately stops as a barrage of missile-mines wind up in her path. Nena breathes a brief sigh of relief, "Phew... That could have been messy. Jokes on them if they think this is going to stop me!"
The Gundam Throne Drei starts using its bullshit GN Drive physics to simply maneuver around the missile-mines while Nena snorts into the open comm again, <"Wow, so desperate and easy that you're offering to just kiss ANY RANDOM STRANGER. Classy.">
Distracted as she is dodging mines, Nena doesn't notice the Sukeban closing in until her Purple Haro starts buzzing, "Behind! Behind!"
"What!?" Nena brings her saber around to try and knock the ugly club aside, but she can't get there in time and the heavy weapon smashes into the Gundam's large backpack unit, putting a noticeable crater in it.
Okay, now Nena is started to get pissed.
<"That's it!">
The Gundam Throne Drei bursts backwards, raising both arms up as it sights in on all three targets, <"Taste lasers!"> The twin beam handguns attached to both of the Drei's arms begin to spit out a barrage of crimson bolts, attempting to overwhelm all three of its opponents with sheer numbers of energy projectiles.
KTS: Nena Trinity targets Anita Rosetta with GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Saturation Fire! KTS: Nena Trinity targets Naoko Suzuki with GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Saturation Fire! KTS: Nena Trinity targets Yurika Misumaru with GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Saturation Fire! KTS: Nena Trinity has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity rattles Anita Rosetta, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Saturation Fire, taking 3850 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Nena Trinity's V :P activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Full Frontal fails to rush. KTS: Full Frontal's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Full Frontal partially guards Char Aznable's Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage, taking 3074 damage! KTS: Char Aznable repulses Full Frontal, forcing it to disengage. KTS: Char Aznable roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: [Lucky] Shelby Korts's luck activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Shelby Korts successfully blocks Char Aznable's Wired Forearms 5-Barrel Beam Cannon Crossfire KTS: Naoko Suzuki successfully evades Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Saturation Fire KTS: Yurika Misumaru's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity rattles Yurika Misumaru, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Yurika Misumaru partially guards Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Saturation Fire, taking 3325 damage! KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi fails to evade Char Aznable's Wired Forearms Punch Combo, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Char Aznable has engaged Mineva Lao Zabi! KTS: Char Aznable begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Yes I do," Eight answers Char, despite the Truth behind his words. "Because the Alliance is much bigger than I am. ...If I fail, then the next of us will take up where I left off. That's what it means... to be a part of something greater!"
"But I don't plan to fail today!"
Planning or not, though--the ship is taking heavy damage. While it's designed to absorb a great deal of punishment, there's only so much it can take while remaining a viable combatant, and every cannon focused on the ship slams towards it. "I can't get out of the way!" Chovan warns, "Brace for impact!"
The whole ship rocks, explosions along the side Char aimed at rocking multiple cannons and defensive emplacements.
"...Heh," she says, not over the radio, "All this battle, and he has time to quip about colors..."
"Captain?" Kazama says. "...That barrage interrupted the charging sequence of the Converging Spinal Beam Cannon. We won't be able to fire."
"...So be it," Eight says. "Chovan. Prepare our exit strategy, but like Rena said, we'll hang in as long as we can."
"Rena," Eight says over the radio, "We won't be able to support you much longer. But I'm going to do what I can anyway."
"...Alliance ships!" Eight calls over a wider band, "I know it's looking difficult here--we're up against a great enough set of foes." She may or may not have heard Yurika's comment about kissing. "...But we'll do this together. Keep at it, and we'll save the people of Palau!"
CUT-IN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeWtgD55ntY Believing in Justice
"...We've still got missiles, right Kazama?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Then let's give him everything we've got!" The Captain throws her hand forward, "Kall! Lock on Char's signal! Kazama! Fire at will! Licia! Keep us rotating to get all the missile bays in play!"
"GO!"
Missile after missile after missile cascades towards Char's Zeong, erupting from spaces all over the gigantic red Zentradi ship, a whirling maelstrom of destruction.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Char Aznable with High-Power Missile Armament System - Full Volley! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
Can Angelo Sauper hear Rita Bernal?
Angelo is a child of space; he's still most comfortable unbound by gravity, free to float and maneuver. He has all the trappings of a Newtype in how he reacts, in his preternatural skill for piloting despite - compared to many of his fellow soldiers of the Sleeves - his minimal years of training.
But what Rita finds when she tries to reach the funny devoted man's heart is a metaphysical, adamantine wall.
Angelo is a closed system. Even with Full Frontal - even with /him/ - it took years before the young man finally opened up, finally trusted him. So how is he to react to something completely unknown wearing the face of something he despises trying to touch upon his soul?
"Get AWAY from me, you FILTH!"
This is the frustrated growl that releases, strained, from Angelo's lips as the Phenex SLAMS into the back of the Krake with an inward -CRUNCH- of metal, muted within the vacuum of space. It's enough to send Angelo toppling forward in a haphazard lurch from the impact force, as the world reflected into his panoramic cockpit becomes a swirling sea of smudging stars. "hhk--!"
Angelo's teeth grit. Always Gundams. His violet eyes narrow into slits. Always Gundams. His fingers tremble around his controls. Always--
Something tries to speak into that closed heart.
Angelo Sauper's spite-slit eyes widen in surprise and panic. "--You--!" Rita, teetering between herself and the Phenex, tries to speak to a heart that will broach no approach.
It tries. But in the end--
Funny -- man -- aren't we -- aren't -- alike -- wouldn't -- do the same
Something unintelligible, echoing indistinctly throughout Angelo's heart like a dull echo.
"--N-no--! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
But it's enough.
Fury renewed and intensified washes over Angelo. He shoves the tiny dash of fear bubbling inside of him deep down just as the Phenex tries to abandon him in favor of pursuing Frontal's hijacked mobile suits, deployed with perfect timing to distract and tear those thoughts away from his. For a moment, the Krake is still.
"... how dare you..."
And then it -SHOOTS- off after the Phenex in a silent ROAR of thrusters, ignoring everything - EVERYONE - no matter who else is pursuing, who else the -Phenex- is pursuing, to try to catch up to the ephemeral machine. The Zulu pulls free its beam rifle as it approaches. And when it's close enough --
"HOW DARE YOU!!"
Angelo's scream rips through his cockpit as he aims and unloads his machine gun in a hellacious volley of beam fire, aimed to scorch a relentless path across the back of the Phenex.
Unforgivable.
"Don't -- don't you DARE mock me!!"
Everything about her -- unforgivable--!
KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Rita Bernal with Beam Machine Gun Barrage! KTS: Angelo Sauper has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
Rita does not respond to Hikaru's words... nor the words of Lucine, or so many others who care so much about her. Even before Rita's feelings - the sensation of being trapped reach Hikaru - the nanomachines pick up on that white-hot sensation. Hikaru is one with her Aestie - and she can feel what it feels, even before a screen tells her what's coming.
Even before Rita's relentless grip reaches the Aestivalis's head - her grasp is met with a shout of "Distortion Field up!" Otherworldly fire meets a shield of gravity - pulsing the flame in different directions, even if the head does sustain some damage. That, coupled, with Angelo's distraction, let Hikaru get away pretty easily, using a piece of debris to catch her fall in the heavy, heavy artillery frame (Akito, it seems, isn't so lucky).
"Aha.. I'm sorry, I guess I assumed you'd be a little more high and mighty about the whole 'blowing the base to bits' thing." Hikaru reflects. "And I really do hate fighting people who are hurting! It sucks, but... I don't want another preventable tragedy. The world.. could use less of those, don't you think?"
She can't even take the time to tease Yurika about her desperation, or ask Lucine advice... because she knows if she makes a single wrong move she'll just be another casualty of the Universal Century, forgotten in the grand scheme of history. And she has so many stories to tell so --
The Heavy Artillery Aestivalis scans the surroundings. With a precise eye, the missiles are locked, loaded and fired! "Aestie Missiles, GO!!"
KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Rita Bernal with Aesti Missile Lock! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Angelo Sauper's Beam Machine Gun Barrage, taking 2700 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal successfully Evades Hikaru Amano's Aesti Missile Lock
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
The Neo Zeong continues weather assault after assault, its pristine plating chipping and cracking as it stands tall amidst brutal blows from the Phenex and the Zeong, as well as the Palisade clinging stubbornly to it. It would not suffice to let their foes keep challenging the Neo Zeong with reckless abandon, now would it? Radioing Zoltan on a private channel, Full Frontal gave a quick, curt command.
"It is time. Deploy your psyco-shard generator.
Without waiting for a response, Full Frontal cuts the comms and flicks several switches on the Sinanju's dashboard, and wills it to come forth. The lighting in his cockpit is bathed in a dark crimson, as the control sticks recede into the Ghost of Char's piloting chair, which readjusts itself into a throne-like position. In another time, another place, one might call this a dark mockery of the reconfiguration a RX-0 unit's cockpit goes through under the throes of NT-D. Yet this was not about becoming one with a machine, or elevating one's self to a higher plane. This was a eulogy. A sermon. A podium from which to exalt the coming of the end, and how all conflict is meaningless in its eventual approach. Humanity must understand this knowledge, even if it must be shorn and burn into their nervous systems, neuron by neuron.
The armor of the Neo Zeong slides open, even as the Palisade remains latched on. Interior sub-arms detatch generators from their workings and position them in a ring around the massive mobile unit, as golden-hued shards begin to form and coalesce around the titan, like a heavenly halo, gargantuan and oppressive. A wave of energy surges forth from its formation, every Newtype, Cyber-Newtype, and other psychically sensitive entity around Palau feeling a backlash of psychic power that manifests as purest dread and despair, threatening to overwhelm those unprepared or the lucky few passed over, such as a certain white-haired Lieutenant.
Turning his attention to Char and the Phenex, Full Frontal willed his message to the pair. "You are both relics of a bygone era. An age better buried in ash and flame. Allow me to show you both a reminder of what awaits all of us at the end." As for the Palisade, Full Frontal barely gives it notice, as a dog might ignore a flea. An irritance, at worst, but still one to be dispatched with the rest.
The Psyco-Shard pulses once, twice, and then...fades into darkness. As does the surrounding area around the four units. Pitch-black, devoid of light, devoid of essence, devoid of being. As if someone had taken an eraser to the tapestry of space. No cosmic pinpricks of light, no distant planets, no beam fire or exhaust emissions. Just the absence of all things.
Everything into the dark.
KTS: Full Frontal targets Char Aznable, Rita Bernal, and Ujico Issa with Psyco-Shard Generator - Everything Into The Dark. KTS: Full Frontal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal rushes into the attack! KTS: Rita Bernal successfully avoids Full Frontal's Psyco-Shard Generator - Everything Into The Dark KTS: Char Aznable has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Char Aznable has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Char Aznable has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Char Aznable has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ujico Issa's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Full Frontal rattles Ujico Issa, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Ujico Issa blocks Full Frontal's Psyco-Shard Generator - Everything Into The Dark, taking 2200 damage! KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Char Aznable with Sanctified Fire! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Yuliana Kafim with Weight of the World! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rita Bernal with The Idiocy of Perseverance! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I see them," Rena transmits back to Shelby.
She tenses all the more as she feels the pain radiating off Rita. Or off the Phenex. Maybe both. She can't do more than push herself forward, though. She isn't close enough to help -- and she certainly can't spare much attention with the Red Comet right here.
And she watches -- and feels -- Zoltan going into a fury. She tried to reach out, but she didn't get through. She grits her teeth. "Zoltan--!"
She feels something else. Something from those psycho-shards, released by the two Neo Zeongs. The Psychoframe in her unit reacts; motes of green light begin to drift up from it, around her, as if to shield her.
Char answers her. A part of Rena still boggles at speaking to the Red Comet. That part is largely overridden by the part terrified that he is trying to kill her.
"That's--" It explains a lot, though. The Gaia Gear Alpha had a fairly sophisticated suite for battlefield command. It had a psychoframe. Her eyes narrow. "If it's a dead end, then..."
The waist-mounted cannons fire, both blasts /slamming/ into the Gaia Gear Alpha. The white Mobile Suit is hurtled backward, the ablative armor burning away under the impact; slagged, silvery metal rolls off it, and two sections are concaved and glowing bright red on the armor.
On the 360-degree display, warnings flood across it -- warning of all of the damage that the Gaia Gear Alpha has taken, showing systems that are failing -- and then fade away, in time to give Rena a view of the battlefield.
"...it's what's here right now! It's what can stop this!" she cries out to Char. The Gaia Gear Alpha's thrusters fire -- and it rockets forward at the Zeong, just behind the Ra Mari II's missile barrage. A beam saber is torn from the recharge rack and ignites a brilliant gold.
Rena slams the beam saber down, across the front of the larger Zeong. "Is this what you want!? To kill everyone? Because while I can't agree with what you did with Axis... this isn't the same, Char Aznable! You have to see that!"
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Char Aznable with Beam Saber Slash! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
<"Okay first things first they're not RANDOM STRANGERS, I'm pretty sure each and every person here is a close and dear acquaintance of mine! Like just right here, Anita's someone I know I can count on and rely on through thick and thin, and she's working hand in hand with...uhh..."> Yurika peeks at her other backup mobile weapon ID-ed with the name 'Nova Stellar' and works up quite a sweat. Okay maybe she's immediately proven wrong.
<"WITH MY BEST FRIEND NOVA STELLAR, so you quit judging us! Besides! I'm the one trying to save everyone's lives, and I think it's erring on the side of positivity to love a bit too openly! Honestly, I'm letting you get way too into my head for someone who's gonna just blow everything to pieces!">
In the operator's seat, though, Megumi's gotten the sort of... 'hold on tightly, no matter what' transmission from Eight, and is sweating quite profoundly. It's her job to transmit these important missives and grand strategies from ship to ship and to pick out important information, and in this instance...
She decides to hold back on relaying what Eight says to Yurika. "...I...really hate when I'm proven right. ...in these situations, the Captain usually pulls through, so give it a little bit longer, but...honestly...shouldn't we pretty soon start considering alternatives...?" she murmurs to herself.
Minato, on the other hand, is much more on the ball, chiming in, "We've been relaying most of our resources to upholding the barrier, especially with how much quantity of fire the Gundam's laying down on us. We aren't yet ready to fire the cannon, Captain."
Gripping the fore railing, biting her gloved thumb lightly, Yurika shakes her head of doubts. "Just hang in there a little longer. It's better that we draw fire /here/ and keep the Gundam engaged. Besides, it's well known that Celestial Being's operations trend towards quick and precise bursts - the longer we keep them entangled in a slog, the more likely they run out of steam and jet off. I just...have to keep believing we have what it takes between us to enact that miracle...!"
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Nena Trinity with Gravity Blast - Charging...! KTS: Yurika Misumaru has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Who was Char to say who he was? Who was he, the man who should be DEAD, to be DISCARDED and TOSSED ASIDE because THIS MAN was here!? Don't be provoked, Rena says. Don't be ticked. Don't be the gnat who falls to Char's maneuvers. Like hell. The immediate call to retreat, the Neo Zeong II taking the weight of that beam body-first. That I-field sputtering, the scars of battle damage beginning to clearly show on the machine proper. The already exposed shoulder frames were beginning to sputter.
Not that it mattered to him. All that mattered was Char. Char's legacy. There was nothing but to enact judgement upon the man who ruined his life. The waist of the machine gathered energy. Thrumming. Humming. More. Fire. A beam of hellfire.
Not when there was already a pest against his body. "HAH! I KNEW IT! YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE ALL ALONG!" As ineffective as his smacks were, they were successful in delaying further damage. That barrier is noted by the keen eye, clicking his tongue. More power won't cut it. No, more. MORE.
Even so, he cannot evade that Wanzer's next attack. The jet is filled with plasma, barely sputtering on. Overheating is imminent. Yet. He doesn't falter. No. Not like this. Not when it's so close. The backpack of the Neo Zeong II is broken open from within, the four arms of its back pointing down...and firing at once. Perish.
The Phenex. It's caught. It's snared. Captured for once in its miserable life, Zoltan's mind practically /leaping/ in glee as he watched that flaming Phenex struggle. This is what you are, in the end. An animal. A beast. Something that you try to push, but can be contained. Like everything in this damn world, it's just another thing to snuff out. Those wires burn as the bits laser, again. Again. Again. Suffer as I have.
The light travels upwards. It sparks; From funnel bits, to wire, to the arm of the Zeong II, to the Sinanju Stein, to the psycommu frame. It stops. Everything stops. A woman? He instinctively keeps his ground; No hallucination will deter him from what has to be done. That beast of spirit staring him straight in the eye.
BGM - https://youtu.be/mn0jX-zT8JI - Incantation - Mick Gordon
The regular eye, it sees the figure. It sees every facet of it.
The mechanical eye, the artificial eyes. It sees...It sees.
The wish for death. He can only scowl at that. To click his tongue, to /swing/ a fist at Nothing, to crunch that futile effort against the display. No damage. The Zeong was tougher than that.
"...You want for me to die?" The fist tightens. The knuckles turn white. "Is that it?" The fist is pulled back. "Jona. Michele. JONA! MICHELE...!" He sounds out those words. Two names. Two people. Two words that are apparently so dear to the Phenex.
"I HOPE I MEET JONA AND MICHELE, YOU PYRITE PROTOTYPE."
Full Frontal's command. It barely mattered. Of course he'd activate it. Of course. It's so full of ENERGY.
BGM - https://youtu.be/lwZ8L-rpvEM - Mastermind - Mick Gordon
The Psycho-Shard generator. It hums. It revs. It thrums. It begins to exhaust, a yellowish-red glow starting to pulsate from that machine, yellow hexagonal shards popping up around it. The shoulder flaps of the machine fling open, psycommu-framed arcs flying out. A ring around the back of the Neo Zeong II, those hexagons multiplying, coalescing, supported by those arcs, the machine roaring.
Inside, the machine flips and twists, the cockpit folding away, machinery flinging out. Attach to the mind. Attach to the psyche. Bathe in the anger. Rest your arms on the Altar of Apostasy. There is no hope, for humanity has already failed.
"I hope I meet them, Phenex! I really, really hope I do! I want to see them, I want to confirm that it's them, and I want to see your face when they die!"
The machine radiates hatred. The machine radiates frustration. The machine radiates nothing but the will of Zoltan Akkanen. It /demands/ to be known on the battlefield. It focuses down on its current target of HATRED.
That machine. Malice personified. Hatred personified. The Phenex is still in its grasp, still ensnared. A few wires from those ensnared Funnel Bits springing forth, to bite into the Phenex. Hijack it. Destroy it from within. Override it. Destroy it. Mutilate it. Vivisect it.
Flay the psyche of its pilot, so that nothing is left but the blank slate which a machine is meant to be.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim rushes into the attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Yuliana Kafim, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen anchors Yuliana Kafim, forcing her into close range. KTS: Yuliana Kafim partially guards Zoltan Akkanen's Weight of the World, taking 3240 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Rita Bernal rushes into the attack! KTS: [Mirage] Rita Bernal's Ars Goetia activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Rita Bernal partially guards Zoltan Akkanen's The Idiocy of Perseverance, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
Get closer. Keep moving. Use the funnels -- that's what they're there for. Focus -- don't let voices-- where is -- somewhere-- That other machine is somewhere. The one from Torrington.
'A dead end.'
'Brace for impact!'
'BE QUIET!'
'Don't you DARE mock me!!'
And the Phenex is screaming.
Rita... ghh-- don't--
Shelby sucks in a deep breath between her teeth, pained, aching, her head throbbing. Beams start to cut and lance through space at her anew; thrusters flare brightly and SURGE the machine forward, listing and lancing through the beam cannon blasts; one heading dead on course to skewer the Jagd Doga. A tingling sense racks across her senses, and she looks up--
There. There!!
Her thrusters ignite anew, throttle opening as the Mobile Suit rattles anew; the machine lunging *towards* the beams, sloping the shield ahead of itself as the pink machine tips and rolls to one side, the full brunt being blasted down on it before being practically smashed away in a burst of light as she just keeps getting closer, her Funnels... now chasing behind her?
"Go back to Hell, you bastard!!"
Jolting to the side, the six canisters split to either side, targeting the wire-guided limb at the shoulder, each letting loose with their own web-like cross-up of beams at higher intensity than before!
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts targets Char Aznable with Jagd Doga Funnels Pincer Formation! KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Mineva Lao Zabi has posed.
What Mineva feels in reply to her questions is a surprise. Questions she hadn't meant to ask to anyone but herself; it's enough to catch her off-guard, enough that she takes the Zeong's first colossal punch square.
The Jaeger spins out of control, drifting back from the recoil--but she burns away from the second, just enough to turn it into a glancing blow, though her armor's been dented. She's still reeling, pulling the suit out of its spin, when the psychic shockwave from the Neo Zeong smacks into her.
Her vision tunnels, and every movement feels like she's swimming through mud. Her lungs burn.
She gasps in a breath, realizing it's been over a minute since she last did. A sphere of darkness expands around the Neo Zeong.
A machine of nightmares.
But it's not what she's here for. She pulls the Shiki back under her control. Her hands are shaking. She needs to steady herself... focus on what's important.
"I'm. Okay. I'm okay," she confirms, breathless.
Palau is dropping out of the sky. They need to stop it... and they can't. Not while this onslaught continues.
She can't be playing around. The Jaeger's twin beam cannons lower onto its shoulders, capacitors whirring to life as they fill.
She opens a line to the Zeong. "Father," she begins simply. She sounds older, now. "You taught me to hope. To make a better world."
She delivers an onslaught of her own, both barrels battering the Zeong, as she continues, "You taught me to FIGHT! You'll never take that away from me! And if there's anything left of you in there..."
There's a naivete, an idealism to her; a disbelief that he's too far gone, that he's unreachable by anything but purification.
"Remember everything you taught me."
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
What was a simple opponent on a field turned out to be a tiger.
< "Liam, do you know her?" > Lucine's tone is curious, not realizing that this pilot she had so casually attacked was a friend (well, former) of Liam's from his days cooped up in Tsutsujidai. It should have been Lucine's first clue, but as it was, it wouldn't be a good one to see just how fearsome the Skoll is.
Jagged shrapnel plagues the Dianthus's attempts to evade, knocking the humanoid unit askew just as it attempts to fall away from the field. "Gggh!" Lucine grits her teeth in frustration as she tries to correct the Dianthus's course, numbly noting the damage she's taken in just one hit. "....!"
Which left her with an odd angle of seeing Phenex, the Gundam she valiantly tried to defend, clamp its hand over Hikaru's Avestivalis and ignite it with fire.
Alarm rings over the psychic landscape, like a scream. Hikaru, thankfully, can't hear it, and she's proven herself the better pilot under this fire. That, Lark's calm and Liam's anger center Lucine; she draws back to a distance. The Skoll is clearly no pushover when it comes to faster units.
< "You're right. .... I let my emotions get the best of me." >
Out comes the albarest, and the Dianthus aims, as its pilot listens to Yurika's voice over the radio.
She can't be there to support Hikaru directly, but she can from afar.
< "... Hikaru. I don't know how to reach the Phenex. Do what you can, but please, don't die." > Hikaru and Rita would be like two peas in a pod, if they could meet. They likely could, if Lucine figured out the mechanism that enabled Liam to meet Rita. < "I have confidence in you." > And some data along with it.
The Dianthus is done aiming, and makes its shot, firing a magenta beam straight at the Skoll from afar.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Ennil El with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Aim! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El blocks Lark Straye's Modified Jegan Beam Rifle Charging Shot, taking 1750 damage! KTS: Lark Straye has engaged Ennil El! KTS: Ennil El partially guards Marida Cruz's Funnel Binder Concentrated Blast, taking 4100 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Hikaru Amano KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi targets Char Aznable with Jaeger Twin Beam Cannons Double-Barrel Shot! KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Liam 7-020 rattles Ennil El, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Ennil El parries Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow, taking 960 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Ennil El! KTS: Ennil El successfully evades Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Aim
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Yurika gives Anita a combat update!
"Burgers, got it. Thanks for the heads-up." Anita replies. Somehow, she understood the metaphor perfectly, and took it completely in stride...
"Don't worry. I always fight smart." Anita replies to Nova with a smile. It's true - because Anita's never been much of a solo fighter. She works best when she's providing supporting fire.
It seems that their opponent has understood the burger strategy too, however, as she's managing to avoid them - and unleash another barrage of beam fire! Anita grimaces as she braces herself against the storm of incoming fire.
As for Yurika's comment, though...
"You'd be willing to kiss me too? I'm pretty flattered, but I'd have to ask Rena what she thinks first... Still, guess that means I gotta fight twice as hard now." Anita comments with an audible wink. The situation is bad, if what's happening over at the Ra Mari II is any indication... Anita doesn't know what'll happen, but it's the best she can do right now to keep spirits light.
Suddenly, the Svipul transforms into Fighter Mode. Anita takes a deep breath and focuses before setting the Visual Link System and the cybernetic interface into motion. Her senses widen, and she feels the Svipul as if it is herself. She accelerate through space, unleashing a barrage of missiles at the Gundam Throne Drei! But that's not all - with a spin as she tries to approach the enemy Gundam from behind, she immediately reverts right back to GERWALK mode, opening fire with both her gatling gun pod and her vulcans at once!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Yurika Misumaru KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Nena Trinity with A Little Bit of Everything! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El targets Lark Straye with Wolf's Nail Slash! KTS: Ennil El targets Liam 7-020 with Shock! KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity blocks Anita Rosetta's A Little Bit of Everything, taking 1350 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
A harsh transmission barks at Yuliana in the middle of everything. "Her? HER!? She's FREAKING OUT, that's what it is! She's probably cracked from what's happening here! Don't worry about it, she's just paying the price for her so-called MIRACLES. Don't worry about her." And it cuts.
KTS: Ennil El has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Marida Cruz
<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.
Sever. Sever. Be severed.
The Neo Zeong has what looks a bit like an angry cat clinging to its front, slashing and mauling away. Palisade's beam claws, despite being some of Celestial Being's finest melee weaponry, can't seem to find the right vector of attack. Or perhaps the Sinanju is so deeply embedded in its second armor that they just can't reach anything that matters.
It burns, this feeling. Angry tears cloud her physical vision, blurring the cockpit's interior.
Didn't she become a pilot so that she could change her world?
Didn't she want power so she would never feel discarded again?
The Neo Zeong disappears, spreading darkness. It washes through the cockpit of the Palisade, invades all forward-facing cameras, shrouds the rear-facing ones in a dim haze. Ujico is there, practically at the heart of it and she can't see any of it. /Palisade/ can't see.
But her claws are still dug in, proprioception stretched and threaded throughout the so-much-larger frame of her Gundam and Ujico can still /feel/. Sightless and deaf, she cuts power to one set of beam claws to reach blindly for the Neo Zeong's head.
Grab, grapple, fingers curling around something that might be a face--
Ujico ignites the beam saber embedded in her Gundam's palm, teeth grit and lips pulled back. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate /all of you/."
KTS: Ennil El targets Marida Cruz with Large Missile Barrage! KTS: Ujico Issa targets Full Frontal with Headshot! KTS: Ujico Issa has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El targets Lucine Azul with Wolf's Nail Drilling Strike! KTS: Ennil El has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It will never not be satisfying to yell out an attack name and physically strike another robot. Naoko totally gets the concept of Super Robot Spirit. Despite piloting a robot that most anyone would struggle to call Super. But that doesn't stop certain Aestivalis pilots, and neither will it stop her. She can't stop from punctuating her strike with a "How's that?!" either.
It's not unexpected that this didn't do anything to improve the enemy pilot's mood, but she wasn't suspecting quite /that/ much anger in the response. Rather than press her luck, she instead decides to stay at medium distance, far enough away to have the time for analyzing movement patterns.
This is Naoko's greatest strength in the area of piloting, even if she doesn't quite know how she's doing it. All she knows is that as long as she can keep her focus, she'll be able to tell - read the intent, see the trajectory of attacks, even before the trigger is pulled. It's far from easy in the heat of the moment, but in this particular instance, it helps that she isn't the only target. She only has to factor in the shots that will be coming in her direction.
In this moment, the way the Arm Slave moves is completely different from before - supremely exact and deliberate, with not the slighest wasted movement. ...This too probably won't do anything to improve the mood of the one shooting at it, but that's not exactly Naoko's greatest concern. She can't just keep dodging forever. She has to break through. But how, when she can't get into striking distance?
The answer comes to her with a thought - which is all that is necessary for the attack to follow. Abruptly, the large circular metal plates attached to the Sukeban's shoulder detach, and launch forward. One of them was damaged by the Beam Saber strike earlier, but it isn't prevented from acting just like the other - spinning rapidly like a buzzsaw with a superheated edge. They may have appeared simple adornments, but evidently they also serve as remote weapons.
...Now she just has to be careful about getting too distracted, which immediately becomes a challenge thanks to Yurika. "...Ehhh? Best friends...?" When did that happen, did she miss something??
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Nena Trinity with Remote Saucers! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
A little snicker cuts over the comms at Lark's blunt rebuttal.
<"Have it your way. Won't be the first time tearing a mobile suit apart was strictly business. ...Idle curiosity, that's all.">
Cat-like eyes narrow, and the INCOMs suddenly break apart... so that the Skoll itself can fill the space, driving its shattered hands forward in a cruel thrust. Enough of beams - if it wants to depend on that armor, she'll just tear it off piece by piece.
Further engagement is interrupted when the Kshatriya's funnels bear down on her, pushing the Skoll back as its barrier of dawnlight dwindles under the concentrated beam. It throws up its hands, as if trying to grip and tear apart the plasma itself, and as the detonation clears, it replies with a blast of its own - the Doven Wolf's missile launchers firing warheads right into the teeth of the Qubeley's successor.
Rage boils in her direction and the Skoll twists to acknowledge it,
<"Oh, Liam... Happen again?"> There's a shift in the pilot's tone as she's recognized - and as, in turn, she recognizes Liam. And, with a mix of simple logical thought and that haunting intuition, follows a thread back. It's not as though survivors are a rare thing on the battlefield, but in this moment... She growls back, and with a violent backhand, the Skoll batters the sword aside.
<"Don't be fooled. It won't be like back then. No more ghosts, clinging to broken cities. This time, there won't be any survivors. I've had enough of this human race that blindly inflicts their lingering pain on others. So we'll put an end to revenge and 'righteous' anger, starting with you.">
There's a burst of blinding, curdling dawnlight... but there's no force, just sheer malice, as the Skoll sprints past the CGUE to strike at a more vulnerable target. Hard nails drive forward towards the Dianthus, intending to shatter the machine and reduce the number of fronts in this battle by one. If it happens to break Liam - or inspire even more vicious rage - well, all the better.
<"Sorry. It sucks to feel like you're in the way, doesn't it?">
KTS: Lark Straye fails to Parry Ennil El's Wolf's Nail Slash, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Ennil El has engaged Lark Straye! KTS: Marida Cruz has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Marida Cruz has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Marida Cruz has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Marida Cruz rushes into the attack! KTS: Marida Cruz partially guards Ennil El's Large Missile Barrage, taking 4370 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul fails to parry Ennil El's Wolf's Nail Drilling Strike, taking 6240 damage! KTS: Ennil El has engaged Lucine Azul! KTS: Ennil El shocks Liam 7-020, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Liam 7-020's Catecholamine Regulation System activates, and his spirit endures. KTS: Lark Straye has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity blocks Naoko Suzuki's Remote Saucers, taking 1290 damage! KTS: Nena Trinity successfully evades Yurika Misumaru's Gravity Blast - Charging... KTS: Marida Cruz has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Lark Straye has posed.
Lark is not calm. Not at all. But she has gotten better at compartmentalizing it over the past three years; *she* is not calm, but the persona she presents to the world, the mask hiding her true feelings - that can be calm, and collected, and skilled.
Everything she, behind the mask, is not.
"<OK,>" she replies to Liam, her voice tight with the control she's having to use. She's getting more and more upset, more and more off-balance by the nature of this battle. She can see Char Aznable, someone who she used to look up to, even respect, even though they spoke like once ever... but now he is taken by the same orange glow as Ennil herself, and unreachable unless she can fight through the Skoll.
She tries anyway; a sudden lunge forward, across the battlefield, toward the massive Zeong. She doesn't get very far before Ennil engages her at closer range, and her rush toward Char is averted into a tumble, rolling end over end with the Skoll. She tries to deflect some of the strikes with her sword-axe but most of them drive home, tearing into the VAA plates. "<Aznable!>" she calls, into the void, uncertain if he can hear her. He may not even recognize the name. She fought for him... but she was never close to him. He was a distant commander, at best.
But of all the people here, he's the most likely to.
Lark comes out of her roll, all ready to fight but given nobody *to* fight. For an instant, she's clear of Ennil. She could rush to Char, ask him what he wants, what he thought, why this, why *anything*.
She doesn't. What she actually does surprises even her; she reverses, firing the powerful thrusters mounted to the MSA-0120's frame, slamming her forward against the straps and then back into her seat itself. It hurts, but it's a good hurt, as she comes in, beam sword-axe blazing.
"<Leave her alone!>" Lark's voice has a touch of vulnerability it didn't before, much as she tries to hide it, but the way the beam sword-axe comes down - axe-first, what would be a beheading blow on a standard MS followed by a thrusting sword impale at the torso - has no vulnerability to it at all. "< I don't know what 000 did to you or who you are, but dropping Palau is inexcusable - and the rest of it - !">
The axe comes down again, a massive chop.
There's an echo on the psychic plane, too, where Lark rarely can be felt. A hint, for Marida, of familiarity, of something missing found, before it's gone, pulling away as if that mind had touched a hot oven and burned her fingers; a sense of being afraid of contact, but being unable to stop herself. A hint for the others, a sense of psychic pressure from Lark, brief and almost immediately blown out like a guttering candle, but a hint of *something* beyond the closed-off mind she appears to be.
KTS: Lark Straye targets Ennil El with Sword-Axe Execution! KTS: Lark Straye has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.
<"Hahaha, but it's so much fun to screw with you! Not to mention easy, you're a-">
Whatever Yurika is is going to have to go unsaid, as Nena's comm signal is closed for the moment. Initially she looks a little confused, then realizes who did it. She looks at Purple Haro, "What was that for!?"
The Purple Haro buzzes, "Delaying tactic! Delaying tactic! Energy charging! Energy charging!"
Sure enough, the advanced sensor suite within the Gundam Throne Drei is picking up the Nadesico's rising energy levels. Of course, looking at the large ship, Nena can't see anything obvious... But the whole reason she has the Haro as a copilot is to process the Gundam's sensor readings for her.
Well that and she likes its attitude.
Still, Nena hmmms thoughtfully, "Well... Guess we better not make it easy for them! Time for Angel Mode!"
Purple Haro buzzes doubtfully, "More like Devil Mode! More like Devil Mode!"
Nena pauses in a retort, before admitting, "I do like the sound of that. And I am a little devil~"
As Anita charges in from one direction, missiles firing followed by gatling and vulcan fire.
As Naoko launches her saucers, sending them flying towards her target.
The Gundam Throne Drei spreads its arms out wide. Vents across its surface snap open. Obscene levels of crimson particles begin streaming out of them. The streams quickly stretch out in multiple directions. A few of them rush out from the Gundam's back, temporarily taking on a form that looks ominously like wings before they finally begin to disperse.
Most of the particles are directed towards the Nadesico. However, Anita and Naoko are not spared as their attacks are engulfed, significantly hampering their abilities to actually reach the Gundam.
Still pumping those particles out at worrying quantities, the crimson Gundam turns its attention away from the hampered Nadesico now and to its other two harassers. Nena taunting, <"Time to teach you not to mess with Celestial Being's greatest Gundam Meister!">
Ports in the Drei's right shield pod open. From within, a barrage of missiles launch out. Trailing those red particles, they rush towards Anita, trying to return some of the favour. Though these missiles don't explode like conventional ones. Instead when they impact a target, they pump more of those strange particles into it, typically with explosive results!
As for the Sukeban, the Drei reaches up with its right hand to draw the second shoulder mounted beam saber. Now wielding two of the deadly blades, the machine rushes in towards Naoko and goes into a rapid series of strikes to try and overwhelm!
KTS: Nena Trinity targets Yurika Misumaru with Jam! KTS: Nena Trinity targets Anita Rosetta with GN Missile Barrage! KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity targets Naoko Suzuki with GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Onslaught! KTS: Nena Trinity has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Nena Trinity's GN Missile Barrage, taking 1920 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
Marida once more rushes into the attack, letting her wings take the brunt of the damage. Her cockpit rattles and she grits her teeth. At least she's shut her damn mouth. The Kshatriya probably couldn't take too many more hits like that. Need to get on the defense.
Just then...a flash.
Familiar.
It was just like...no. Shake it off. It's not possible.
She grips tightly at her controls as more funnels fly out, spreading out in a line and firing an array of shots at Ennil, allowing her little room to dodge.
KTS: Marida Cruz targets Ennil El with Funnel Binder Spread Blast! KTS: Marida Cruz has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki parries Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Onslaught, taking 1620 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Nena Trinity's V :P activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Nena Trinity has engaged Naoko Suzuki! KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Full Frontal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity jams Yurika Misumaru's sensors, reducing her accuracy. KTS: Full Frontal rushes into the attack! KTS: Full Frontal's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Ujico Issa rattles Full Frontal, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Full Frontal partially guards Ujico Issa's Headshot, taking 812 damage! KTS: Ujico Issa has engaged Full Frontal!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"What I am...? Yes," Yuliana says, with deceptive calm, "I know what I am. I am the Key and the Gate. I am the Queen at the Threshold. I am Oracle to the Void!" There -- /there/ is the climb in volume, as her voice rises. "And humanity knew not what they wrought when they made me!"
If she meant to say anything else -- it's cut off, momentarily, as Neo Zeong II's backpack breaks open. "Cheh--!!" Yuliana clicks her tongue to her teeth, firmly grit together. It's the sound of all her instincts drawing up, the sound of the tension in her muscles as she flicks a series of switches and turns a dial to tune Da Xukong's armour resonance -- even as the tentacles to either side of her jerk at a dozen sticks and clutches.
An unguarded strike from that beam, carried by the four arms of Neo Zeong, would annihilate her entirely. As much as Yuliana hates the likes of Zoltan, she recognises that much -- /must/ recognise that much.
(Pattern recognition. If she knew the Shamblo was on field, on the other side of the asteroid...)
She makes it look so easy, SURVIVING that horrific beam in something so small. Running /towards/ those four hands, instead of away, with those omnigrasp legs which manoeuvre into the outer hollow of Neo Zeong's own skirts at the last moment to weather the blow. The motion captured by sensor cameras fails to account for the quickening of her breath or her heart, the rise and fall of her chest against the bars of her seat, the trickle of blood from her lip as her fang digs into it. It doesn't capture the way she finds herself /missing/ her combat drugs, as the beamfire crashes over her, meets that green barrier and boils through.
A readout on one of those screens displays something incomprehensible, and Yuliana snaps, in a language this world can understand: "I /know!/" She survived it, but her systems aren't all green, any more.
Goliath, as it happens, still hurts quite a lot -- even if she fancies herself the David of the equation.
Still, she hears Zoltan speaks names, as he rages against the Phenex: Jona. Michele. "Those two..." Yuliana narrows her eyes, as she directs the Da Xukong upwards, with more care than she presents to the world. "... did I meet you too late, Ritechka?" She cannot know to look to Shelby and her disabled Psychoframe, in this moment. More's the pity. She dismisses her jealously with a bitter snap: "No matter. You /will/ thank me."
Yuliana, unthinking, says all this on her general channel just the same. More rattled than she lets on, perhaps.
More rattled than she lets on, as Zoltan explains what she can't see -- all Rita's agonies. "It is not for you to decide my worries!" She says, archly imperial, as she moves up, and tries to scuttle onto the Neo Zeong's shoulder. It's as if she is totally unaffected by the Psycho-Shard generator...
... because she is. In that melee sphere about her is a blissful sanctuary of physical reality, untouched by the pain and the anger Zoltan pours out. "You miserable wretches -- the both of you...!" Yuliana cries, as, within the altered helmet of her normal suit --
The frills beneath her ears rise up, and the frill atop Da Xukong's head unfurls, clacking out in jagged spires, one... two... three... four.
Silence floods across space.
Yuliana disrupts psychic activity around herself -- but all a sudden that aura EXTENDS outwards. It floods over Zoltan and Rita, first; but as Yuliana spreads her aura, it may well plunge /others/ into the horrible silence of physical reality, just the same.
A... shelter...? ... against that horrible psychic pressure, perhaps.
If any Newtype can bear to be blinded and deafened by her existence, that is.
Yuliana yells, angry, and she cannot afford to take her hands from her levers to gesture at the asteroid Char has set to falling: "Remember why we're HERE, you damn fool!"
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
< "... shit!" > Lucine directs the Dianthus to draw its glaive, immediately recognizing the futility in trying to evade a craft that fast. The Skoll is still faster than even that action, nearly knocking the weapon from its hands with the force of those nails.
Sparks flutter into the void; Ennil hits hard and fast. Lucine can't afford to pay attention to anyone or anything else.
Lucine's yellow eyes glint in the collective light of battle. < "... I'm still alive." > Lark crosses in front of Lucine's vision at that moment in time, ringing like a brief bell on the plane of minds. A Newtype? Or was it her imagination? A passing bird. A phantom pressure. Something for tomorrow to ponder.
< ".... You should have tried *harder*." > Utilizing the glaive she just tried to use to parry away the Skoll's earlier attack, the Dianthus lifts the weapon high above, and swoops down, dropping the full weight of her momentum straight on the Skoll.
If it hits or not, it doesn't matter, because--
< "NOW, while she's engaged with me!" >
It would be just as risky to back away; she's cornered, so _she might as well act the part_.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Ennil El with CL0-V3 Glaive Shine! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Zoltan Akkanen and Rita Bernal with Nullify. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Ennil says his name. Part of Liam--the part that's still running calculations and thinking of what might happen three steps from now--flinches at the obvious breach in OpSec. He didn't have time to activate the filter suite when Earth was staring down the second possible extinction event in less than four months.
"<'Had enough', have you?>" Liam snarls. "<Then /why/ did you help? Is it /easier/ when you just LET the poison in your brain think for you?"> A pause, a breath. "<Ennil, PLEASE!>" He should know there's no reasoning with her. Hephaestus taught him /not/ to waste his breath on the enemy.
The Light of Dawn bursts through Liam's cockpit, flooding the panoramic monitor. It washes away his vision. It sets his head to swimming. Adrenal modulators kick in, helping stabilize him before panic sets in. He /knows/ who she's going after.
"<LUCINE!>" Liam howls, and the world starts to slow. The CGUE moves before he's got his vision back in full--as the Dianthus jets up and out of the way, Liam shoots in from behind the twisted Doven Wolf, heavy blade held in two hands. The Mobile Suit charges, trying to drive the weapon in as deeply as it can--and then, should the strike hit home, Liam RIPS it free, and launches into a whirlwind of strikes, hacking at the bigger suit's thrusters. He's almost too fast to follow.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Ennil El with MA-M4A Heavy Sword Combo! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El partially guards Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Shine, taking 2295 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has engaged Ennil El! KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El blocks Marida Cruz's Funnel Binder Spread Blast, taking 2640 damage! KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El fails to parry Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Combo, taking 4920 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Ennil El! KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El blocks Lark Straye's Sword-Axe Execution, taking 3989 damage! KTS: Lark Straye has engaged Ennil El!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
The Gundam Throne Drei unleashes a barrage of missiles. Anita doesn't try to shoot these ones down. As a result, they connect. Red particles eat into the Pinpoint Barrier and detonate, sending the Svipul reeling through space.
That feeling... is a /lot/ different when one is seeing through the eyes of one's machine. It takes Anita a second to recover both from that and the spin, eventually managing to force it back into position.
"You're the greatest, huh...? Then I'm honored you'd decide to bother with little ol' me." Anita comments with a grin. A panel opens over the Svipul's left shoulder, and out emerges its signature weapon - the Gungnir SC, a shoulder-mounted beam cannon. Energy builds in the weapon's barrel and she takes careful aim, eventually unleashing it in a targeted blast!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Nena Trinity with Cannon Mode - Aimed Shot! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
The weight of Yurika's promise is fully borne as she realizes a) her 'whoever gets Char gets a kiss' plan POSSIBLY includes International Man of Despair Full Frontal, and b) wait what's Anita saying what huh huhh!?? Her cheeks are a vivid, relentless red at the teasing hurled her way - local girl can dish it, but cannot take it!
It's almost as red as the storm of particles engulfing the area, painting the cosmos in blood, causing havoc and haywire amongst communications, countless of the Nadesico's screens flickering and fizzling from the distortion at play. A rumbling courses through the ship's hull -
Omoikane, for a moment, shifts over to an emergency generator, then the /backup/ emergency generator - a hangup that it takes a while to push through, delaying the ability to get everything online.
"D-dang it, the Gundam pulled a last trick up its sleeve, huh?" Yurika grumbles, the energy levels fluctuating up and down and up and down. "We're definitely being held back too much by all of this! As soon as you're able to fire, we've really gotta drive the Gundam back, and see if we can reinforce everyone else - it's getting too close to the wire for me to be comfortable!"
Minato announces, "...Battery at 64%....49%....81%...19%....35%...88%...92%...Captain, should we go while it's stable at-"
"We wait until we've got 100%, since I know it's kind of an exponential increase!"
"Roger that. 94...83...73...82...89...94...92...95...84...92...99-"
"Okay okay 99 is as good as 100! Fire fire fiiiire-!!!"
From the Nadesico's belly, a great hatch finally opens up - and from it, streaks of color paint across the stars, erupting all of the leftover mines, alerts flaring up to Nova and Anita alike at the wave of distorting energy screaming out towards the particle-spewing Gundam...!
KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Nena Trinity with Gravity Blast - Full Power! KTS: Yurika Misumaru has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity successfully evades Yurika Misumaru's Gravity Blast - Full Power
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
In this state, as with every state, Rita can't sense Yuliana. It's doubtful if she's aware of the presence of her best friend, even with the iconic scorpion-like mobile suit attacking the Monster. If the Phenex's hands twitch into two-somewhat cupped shapes, where they hang at her side, it must be a coincidence. If her burning soul longs for a moment of kindness from distant times, it must be a coincidence. Only the meaningless thrashing of one final sacrifice, as the Phenex struggles against Zoltan's net.
Char, undaunted by the Phenex's blazing wings, sends another blast of vicious dawnlight toward the Gundam. It makes sense her wrath wouldn't phase him. This is hardly his first bout with a Unicorn. Unable to dodge, a sound between a shrieking bird and a screaming child is torn from the Phenex. In her computerized state, the corruption doesn't scare her, but it rakes across her armor all the same. Cracks splinter across the beautiful golden machine.
Angelo's fury burns, drawing the Phenex's attention as a different sort of fire-light glimmers in her red eyes. They /are/ alike, to use themselves up as fuel like this, to savage their souls to allow for the salvation of others. That's what this is, right?
Their spiritual connection is broken, and with the Phenex trapped, it's unlikely that it'll return. Still, a gentle, vague feeling of confusion and curiosity ripples out from the Gundam as Angelo charges her. If Rita were conscious enough to pay attention, she would certainly have much to say.
As it is... Angelo's wrath and accusations flow off the back of the firebird, unheeded. The only answer to his fury is a golden shield rocketing in front of his face, taking the fire from his machine gun with inhuman precision. The Phenex herself is left undamaged, but that shield is torn to shreds, only held together by colorless flame.
Hikaru's opinion of the Phenex, of Rita, must be terribly low. What stories has she heard from Lucine, and the crew of the Ra Mari II? This fury and destruction is the exact opposite of what the Newtype Spirit has tried to present herself as to others. How many Miracles will she need to perform to make up for this?
Lucine thinks they're alike -- though Rita doesn't know it. How many versions of the same person are fighting on this battlefield? Clones, those bound by fate, even those who have walked similar paths. The Phenex wonders about none of this, as her hand is pushed away from the Aestivalis' head.
Despite everything... a fragment of Rita Bernal, burning away, whispers an assent to Hikaru's question.
Zoltan funnels rake across the Phenex, each attack spurring a more furious rebuttal. The Neo Zeong's lasers burn her, and the white flame arcs higher into the air, swirling in feather-like patterns. Fury. Suffering. Exactly what Zoltan wanted.
Both Neo-Zeongs begin to transform, and the Phenex stills, consumed by her flame still. If she had any sort of sentient entity at the helm, still, they would be watching in horror. This, of all situations. This is worse than she could've ever foreseen.
She screams for her sisters. This is supposed to be their fight. She was so careful not to interfere, and somehow, it's led to the Phenex fighting alone. Trillions of futures viewed and memorized, all for one wish.
It burns away.
Darkness rushes the battlefield, sent forth by the two nightmare machines. The Phenex watches it approach.
Within the second Neo Zeong, the collapsing spirit looks at Zoltan with that impassive scorn.
You don't deserve to say their names.
She has no spiritual energy left for emotion. Burning like this is so familiar. It's almost comforting, as the End swirls.
And if this is the end.
Zoltan punches through nothing. Perhaps the barest sensation of warmth, where his hand brushes against the fire consuming Rita. Perhaps it serves as one last pinprick of brilliance.
You're coming WITH ME.
The spirit reaches for Zoltan, tries to wrap her arms around the hated monster. She's burned a human to ash before, even when she was still alive. She can do it once more. She has to, she has to.
In harmony, one last time, the Phenex rushes the Neo Zeong, heedless of the nets binding her. She rages against the outside of the machine, blazing as a single source of light against the entropy Full Frontal projects to them all. Rita and the Phenex have been here before. She has to act quickly, before the Void ruins her connection to the resonant plane.
Finally, echoes a broken voice, finally...
Spiritual flames ignite within and without Zoltan's machine. Vicious in their wrath, a terrible, cruel Miracle. Rita approaches this terror she approached all the others. Sacrificing herself to possibility.
Or perhaps the death of it.
In this twisted, hateful, twinned embrace, even as her whited-out eyes are squeezed shut. Even as she's given up on every facet of her existence.
Silence floods across space.
With a gasp, Rita pulls away from Zoltan, practically sitting in his lap (though she's really just floating partway through it). Green color blooms within her empty eyes as flame extinguishes from her spirit, and then--
She vanishes. The Phenex goes limp like an abandoned doll. White flame still licks along her frame, she still burns, but... Slowly, slowly...
White fades to blue. Enormous, armored hands twitch at her sides.
Floating aimlessly, the Phenex works up just energy to bring her hands before her. Barely, they make fists, cross in front of her chest, then uncross, opening.
'Save'
A sensation like a gasped breath echoes across The End. Blue flame ignites, and the Phenex rights herself. Biting cables that seek to hijack the Gundam are grabbed in one hand, yanked out of her armor, and focused on.
Miraculous light spreads up, up, through the cables (just as the Unicorn did to perform a Miracle, she thinks). The NT-D blazes with a glorious, pure fury, green-blue-pink. While a pocket is left around Da Xukong's enforced silence, the entirety of the Neo Zeong II is consumed by the Phenex's spiritual might.
So much Psychoframe went into building the Monster. And Psychoframe responds to strong wills.
With a great cry, the Phenex channels her strength through the terrible mobile armor, refracting the resonant light of Possibility through it, like it was a mirror, or a battery. Brighter and brighter it glows, until The End of All Things is illuminated.
This life isn't all there is.
Rita Bernal's voice whispers, burned away to nothing more than a cinder.
With defiant hope, Miraculous Light races across the battlefield, echoing out in endlessly repeating halos. Untamed and uncontrollable, it passes through the mobile suits threatening the Phenex. Perhaps it will not be enough to change this future, or even break the spell Full Frontal has woven.
But even so.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Char Aznable, Full Frontal, and Zoltan Akkanen with This Life Isn't All There Is. KTS: Rita Bernal targets Hikaru Amano with Magnetic Midnight! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Angelo Sauper with Magnetic Midnight! KTS: Hikaru Amano's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Hikaru Amano fails to Evade Rita Bernal's Magnetic Midnight, taking 1860 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim nullifies Zoltan Akkanen's defensive abilities. KTS: Yuliana Kafim nullifies Rita Bernal's defensive abilities. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Angelo Sauper fails to react to Rita Bernal's Magnetic Midnight, taking 1860 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rita Bernal's Destined Meeting activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is, taking 4875 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Char Aznable blocks Eight York's High-Power Missile Armament System - Full Volley, taking 4350 damage! KTS: Full Frontal rattles Char Aznable, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Char Aznable blocks Full Frontal's Psyco-Shard Generator - Everything Into The Dark, taking 1620 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Char Aznable, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Char Aznable fails to react to Zoltan Akkanen's Sanctified Fire, taking 8450 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Char Aznable blocks Rena Lancaster's Beam Saber Slash, taking 4400 damage! KTS: Rena Lancaster has engaged Char Aznable! KTS: Char Aznable blocks Shelby Korts's Jagd Doga Funnels Pincer Formation, taking 1320 damage! KTS: Char Aznable blocks Mineva Lao Zabi's Jaeger Twin Beam Cannons Double-Barrel Shot, taking 1350 damage! KTS: Char Aznable fails to react to Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is, taking 8450 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.
Utter emptiness sweeps across the Zeong as missiles fall upon it. Char quickly retracts the wired forearms to defend against the barrage of warheads, confronting the darkness head-on.
This is, of course, precisely the position the Oath burning within him prohibits ever occuring. The prospect of an empty, lightless void in place of the cycle of birth, death and rebirth... The sight of the existential enemy is chilling, yet he must press on.
"... I see you too have witnessed the Truth." The Zeong fires its thrusters, maneuvering closer to the red Neo Zeong in the blackness - even where there is no sight, Char can sense his ghost's presence - whatever the precise nature of the ghost might be. "However, you do not understand it fully. Allow me to educate you." Its left forearm rockets out on its cable, aiming to snare Full Frontal's machine and draw it in to closer proximity to the Ruin Zeong, burning with the hungry fire of Triple Zero.
Twin Nothings war as the Da Xukong's pilot unleashes her power. Char halts. Zoltan's barrage catches the Zeong clean - the Comet of Ruin has no context, no experience, to prepare him for the psychic absence emanating from the scorpion-shaped wanzer, and it's completely thrown him.
The Ra Mari II, meanwhile, finds its missiles responded to with a second full-power blast from the Zeong's various high-calibre beam weapons.
Mineva declares her intent to stop him, no matter what, and the twin beam cannons fire, detonating one of the wired forearms in conjunction with Shelby's funnel blasts as ithe Zeong attempts to defend itself. Char recovers himself, and the sense of resignation builds. The Zeong turns towards the Hyaku-Shiki J and Shelby's Jagd Doga, unleashing a twin blast from its waist cannons.
If only I could forget, is the only coherent sensation Mineva receives.
Rena comes in, proclaiming herself and her machine "what's here" and declaring that will be enough. Silent now after the combined psychic experiences, Char simply fires both cannons in a barrage to force the Gaia Gear back.
And suddenly...
Light blossoms in the Darkness.
This life isn't all there is?
Sudden horror transfixes the pilot of the Zeong. This... won't end? Even if he succeeds?
A sudden spike of emotion for those close enough to the man they called the Red Comet. Fear and determination.
This has to end. Everything has to. Then, he can finally...
The Zeong directs another maximum-power blast to the Phenex, avatar of this dread revelation.
KTS: Char Aznable targets Full Frontal with Wired Forearms Snare and Smash! KTS: Char Aznable targets Eight York with Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage! KTS: Full Frontal fails to rush. KTS: Full Frontal partially guards Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is, taking 5330 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Char Aznable targets Zoltan Akkanen with Pass! KTS: Char Aznable targets Mineva Lao Zabi with Waist Megaparticle Cannons Twin Blast! KTS: Char Aznable targets Shelby Korts with Waist Megaparticle Cannons Twin Blast! KTS: Char Aznable anchors Full Frontal, forcing it into close range. KTS: Full Frontal fails to Evade Char Aznable's Wired Forearms Snare and Smash, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Char Aznable has engaged Full Frontal! KTS: Char Aznable targets Rena Lancaster with Twin Waist Megaparticle Cannon Point-Blank Blast! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Char Aznable's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Char Aznable targets Rita Bernal with Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage! KTS: Char Aznable has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rena Lancaster's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rena Lancaster's Ultrasonic activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Char Aznable enervates Rena Lancaster, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to react to Char Aznable's Twin Waist Megaparticle Cannon Point-Blank Blast, taking 6270 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Char Aznable's Too Many Masks activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Char Aznable's Unbreakable Oath activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Char Aznable's Red Comet activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Rena Lancaster has been defeated! KTS: Char Aznable repulses Rena Lancaster, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Angelo Sauper has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Eight York fails to react to Char Aznable's Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage, taking 6930 damage! KTS: Eight York has been defeated! KTS: Char Aznable repulses Eight York, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Char Aznable roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Angelo Sauper has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Shelby Korts charges into the attack! KTS: Shelby Korts partially guards Char Aznable's Waist Megaparticle Cannons Twin Blast, taking 5040 damage! KTS: Char Aznable roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
The Gaia Gear Alpha is up close with the Zeong, beam saber striking for it. The two waist-mounted cannons fire again -- and Rena cannot /quite/ get away in time.
The first blast catches the Mobile Suit on the chest, the barrier flashing -- holding it at bay -- and then blowing it backward. The second shoves it far away from the Zeong.
Warnings flash across the screen -- and then the cockpit flashes alerts.
"Damn--falling back!" Rena sends to the Ra Mari II and her allies, as the Gaia Gear turns, and blitzes back towards the red monitor.
KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi fails to rush. KTS: Char Aznable enervates Mineva Lao Zabi, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi partially guards Char Aznable's Waist Megaparticle Cannons Twin Blast, taking 8295 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Char Aznable's Too Many Masks activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Char Aznable's Unbreakable Oath activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Char Aznable's Red Comet activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Char Aznable roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Char Aznable completes the Formation attack! KTS: Nena Trinity fails to charge. KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity partially guards Anita Rosetta's Cannon Mode - Aimed Shot, taking 2610 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Char Aznable's Focused Megaparticle Maximum Barrage, taking 5775 damage! KTS: Char Aznable repulses Rita Bernal, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Char Aznable roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko is caught a little flat-footed by Yurika's sudden one-sided declarations, which she isn't aware is just The Yurika Experience. But this is nothing compared to the opposing Gundam suddenly activating what is clearly some kind of super mode. When even her remote weapons are just kind of swatted aside in its wake, a bead of sweat rolls down her face. The knee-jerk thought that comes to mind is along the lines of 'no fair, /I/ don't have a super mode', which is not exactly helpful in dealing with the situation at hand.
What she does have are her own AI partners - even if their unique nature makes it difficult for them to speak to her while in a highly dynamic combat situation. But she can still feel their constant, reassuring presence, passively aiding to regain her focus. ...Lucky for her, she is far away from all the anti-psychic activity happening near the assault team. That would've been a struggle, to put it mildly.
As it is, she manages to remain calm, the Sukeban shifting its stance as if preparing to engage in a grapple. Surely she's not planning to bring bare hands to a Beam Saber fight?
Turns out that yes, yes that is exactly what she's planning. Though not without the Arm Slave's hands superheating themselves, turning its flattened palms into the equivalents of Heat Sabers. Heat Hands, if you will. Heat Hands which rise to meet the strikes of the Gundam Throne Drei, parrying the incoming energy blades as if they were their equal. Confidence bolstered by that success, Naoko opens communications to answer that taunt.
<"Greatest in Celestial Being, is it? Too bad for you, but you happen to be dealing with Nova Stellar, the greatest Miracle Worker in the universe!">
Despite her boast, there's no way she can effectively counterattack while her hands are being kept occupied... at least, not with those hands. Though initially deflected, on Naoko's mental signal, those remote discs return to the Sukeban. To top it off, the Arm Slave reveals a weapon that it so far hadn't used at all: hidden vulcans in its chest area reveal themselves, and start blasting from the front while the Remote Saucers come to slice in from the back. Not once, but making several passes at the Throne Drei in rapid succession, as many times as she can get away with.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Nena Trinity with Heaven's Fury! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity blocks Naoko Suzuki's Heaven's Fury, taking 1590 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Nena Trinity!
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
Face-to-face, eye to eye, with the nearly shattered Dianthus...
Lucine draws her weapon. The Skoll raises an arm, and the glaive bites /deep/. The regeneration offered by the aura of dawn is as much bane as boon in this moment - she breaks the lock, but too slow. INCOMs curl around the machine, dancing with the Kshatriya's funnels in an attempt to ward them off - a few detonate under the pressure, though they begin once more to reform. The inexhaustible endurance of a Zero Robo is a frightful thing, but the fighting is only getting fiercer.
Lark and Liam charge in as relief, and in raising her defenses to fend off the heavy blows from that axe, the Skoll is finally forced to a halt as Liam lunges, tearing more gashes into it that bleed fire. The machine... /roars/, its torso bursting off more jagged shards, leaving a skeletal patchwork core as it once more lashes a cloud of knives out at its attackers.
There is a moment of grudging respect for Liam's partner, for this last act of defiance that bought so much blood from the Skoll. But, just the same, with a raised claw and a flare of radiance, more broken shrapnel is flung at the machine, teeth looking to tear the last serviceable parts of the machine to pieces and leave it adrift to witness humanity's demise.
It doesn't really matter what order they die in, after all.
Still... She's been playing around too much. Having to manage the funnels is leaving her with no time to contend with two skilled pilots in melee. She can't let herself fall here.
That strange MS is so fast... it needs to be handled. The Skoll seems to hunch forward and then /explode/ across the distance, its claws bared and bleeding dawnlight. True corruption is a process that takes some time, but if she can just drive her claws into a few systems and encourage a little rebellion in the name of destruction...
<"You're right. It's inexcusable. But at least it'll finally be /over/. I already owe more apologies than I could make in a lifetime... so I'll take silence, instead.">
The Kshatriya, in turn, receives a flurry of shattered steel, an explosive cloud trying to pressure those funnels away and carve apart the tremendous wings, to force the machine to withdraw its offense.
<"Still stuck in the same spot... you even fight like her. Do you even enjoy living, miss Cruz? If you won't miss it, just let me have my way.">
Liam's questioning digs at her and this time, when she responds, there's a despondent anger of her own laced through the words, as bitter as the tainted light bleeding from the Skoll's claws.
<"Does it matter why? Does a good reason change what you have to do? ...my feelings didn't change anything. Won't it be easier for you to just think of me as an enemy? After all, if you don't stop me, you'll lose everything... So don't be half-hearted about it.">
More of those wires lash out, each gripping a shattered claw. They slam down like picks, hunting for joints, trying to dig themselves into the CGUE's vulnerable points - to bind the machine to the wolf and expose tender flesh.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
There's a lot going on all at once--but in the moment, Eight just sees that barrage of beam weapons coming at her. "Divert all energy to the armoring systems!"
The weapons slam into it--and the Ra Mari II's ablative armor is hit for a great deal of damage. Eight has to make a decision quickly--and she remembers the promise she made Rita...
"Ms. Chovan," she says. "Get us out of here."
The beams crash towards the Ra Mari, impacting weapons systems and armor hard--but the Ra Mari II is able to disengage, retreating out of easy weapons range of the Zeong, badly battered andheavily damaged. Nevertheless... The shielding holds and Triple Zero's power doesn't get through.
"I hope we've bought enough time," Astelian says from watching the comms, looking to Eight in worry. Eight, for her part, shakes her head. "I hope so," she says. "...I didn't really expect we could /beat/ him ourselves, but maybe if the others can..."
Rezza says, "Audey and the pilot of that Jagd Doga are still in this. We'll have to be a platform they can retreat to if it's necessary."
Kall chimes in, "Damage reports, Captain... We're not going back into battle anytime soon. We've got breaches on multiple decks, but the living quarters are safe."
"Keep the hangars open for the others," she says.
To those other pilots... "Good luck, everyone."
KTS: Ennil El targets Lucine Azul and Marida Cruz with Wolf's Lash Battering Storm. KTS: Ennil El targets Lark Straye with Gore-Stained Wolf's Nail! KTS: Ennil El has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El targets Liam 7-020 with Wolf's Lash Bind to Gjoll! KTS: Ennil El has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Marida Cruz has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Marida Cruz has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Marida Cruz has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: [Lucky] Marida Cruz's Newtype Flash activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Marida Cruz successfully blocks Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Battering Storm KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El rattles Lark Straye, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Lark Straye parries Ennil El's Gore-Stained Wolf's Nail, taking 1380 damage! KTS: Ennil El has engaged Lark Straye! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Marida Cruz KTS: Lucine Azul retreats from the attack! KTS: Lucine Azul successfully evades Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Battering Storm KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Lark Straye has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Lark Straye has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Lark Straye has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El anchors Liam 7-020, forcing him into close range. KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Evade Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Bind to Gjoll, taking 6960 damage! KTS: Ennil El has engaged Liam 7-020! KTS: Ennil El begins a Formation attack! KTS: Lark Straye has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"I kinda figured you couldn't.." Hikaru replies, worriedly, as Lucine confirms she can't reach out to the Phenex. "I'll be a-okay! But... if it gets bad.. I'll scramble. You be careful too, okay?" She agrees - it's not worth dying for this.
She turns her attention back to her opponent. Hikaru.. finds it terribly difficult to trust the Phenex, or even the glimpses of the person inside. She finds it an excruciating process to trust at all, really - aside from her closest companions aboard the Nadesico.
Hikaru isn't all too bad at reading people, though. And she understands that the benevolent spirit the Phenex has presented as is so much more of a complicated individual... most people are more complicated than they seem - she's learned this all too well during her time on the Nadesico.
The light washes over the battlefield - it engulfs the three horrid Zeonic mobile armors. Possibility grazes across the Distortion Field - which fuels the roar of the 120mm cannon. Reminded of what she's here to do - protect the people on Palau, the Aestivalis /jumps/, letting the field soar through the light - letting the energy of the cannon pierce through. ...before, of course, she gets that annoyingly loud blare that tells her she's out of gravity wave range and needs to refuel at the Nadesico... she'll be ripe to be shot down if she keeps going.
"Hey, Rita.. I'm still not sure how I feel about you. But... I get the feeling it was a total 'wrong time, wrong place' situation. Soooo... bye-bye! And..." The Assault Pit already begins to separate, leaving the rest of the Aestie to be extracted by the maintenance crew on the Nadesico. "Don't just let them die, okay? No one else needs to lose everything because of wars like this."
KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Rita Bernal with 120 mm Point Blank Farewell! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
All four wings surround the Kshatriya, forming a protective shield that completely glances the attack off. "It doesn't matter what I want! There are people, real people, humans, who deserve a world to live in, and I'll give everything I have for that! For them!"
The wings all spread out wide, letting forth the full array of funnels, surrounding Ennil and firing blast after blast, each shot pushing into the next!
KTS: Marida Cruz targets Ennil El with Funnel Binder Full Volley! KTS: Marida Cruz has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Hikaru Amano's 120 mm Point Blank Farewell, taking 1860 damage! KTS: Hikaru Amano has engaged Rita Bernal!
<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.
<"Well sometimes you've just got to swat some flies."> Is Nena's response to Anita. As the Svipul brings out its big gun, the Gundam Throne Drei turns and starts rushing towards it. The beam cannon fires, the Drei turns its body. The beam strikes the Gundam's left shield, the combination of heavy armor and GN particle barrier dampening the beam significantly. The Gundam tries to close in further as the beam splashes off its shield, until finally Anita is in beam saber range.
The Drei simply lances forward, saber raised to try and pierce through the machine.
Naoko comes in moments later to continue the close range exchange, vulcans firing even as the saucers come around. Seeing them as the true threat, Nena lets the vulcan patter across her machine's chest, bullets digging in and sending armor chunks flying, but not yet penetrating into more vulnerable interior components. Meanwhile the attacking saucers find their paths intercepted by the Gundam's shoulder shield, which, while looking quite battered, are still holding up.
<"I'm getting sick of your crappy miracles!">
The Drei turns its right shoulder in towards the Sukeban, the pod opening up to reveal the collection of beam mines beneath. They launch outwards at Naoko at close range, threatening to blast her away from the Gundam!
Of course, even if Naoko isn't blasted away, she and Anita will likely want to break off anyway as a massive power surge rushes across space, fired from the Nadesico's giant prongs. Soon enough the gravity blast fades away, leaving nothing but empty space in its path...
... Only for the Gundam Throne Drei to rise up in front of the Nadesico, still spewing those crimson particles that had screwed with the Nadesico's targeting systems and masked its evasion of the beam.
Nena giggles over the comms, <"Were you aiming at me? Oh well... Better luck next time...">
The red and grey Gundam raises both arms towards the Nadesico as Nena finishes with a sweet venom, <"... Is what I would say, if there was going to be one!">
The Gundam begins unloading blast after crimson blast at the Nadesico.
KTS: Nena Trinity targets Anita Rosetta with GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Riposte! KTS: Nena Trinity targets Naoko Suzuki with GNW-003 Beam Mines In Your Face! KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Nena Trinity targets Yurika Misumaru with GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Unload! KTS: Nena Trinity has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Hikaru Amano's Aestivalis Artillery Frame (Hikaru) has been disabled. KTS: Yurika Misumaru fails to react to Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Dual Beam Handguns Unload, taking 5200 damage! KTS: Nena Trinity rattles Naoko Suzuki, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Naoko Suzuki blocks Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Beam Mines In Your Face, taking 3600 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Nena Trinity's V :P activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Nena Trinity repulses Naoko Suzuki, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Anita Rosetta partially guards Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Riposte, taking 3610 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has been defeated! KTS: Nena Trinity has engaged Anita Rosetta!
<Pose Tracker> Lark Straye has posed.
'This life isn't all there is.'
It's been a long time since Lark was this open. The mere concept of psychic contact is painful; it reminds her too much of those days, of the scars writ on her soul. Rita's contact is just as painful as she expected, like a cut on her hands and lemon juice, but it's more than just that.
She *feels* it. This life isn't all there is. And for the first time in a long time, she's not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing; whether she wants there to be more, or whether she just wants her failure to be over.
Either way, it galvanizes her, jerking in her seat, her hands gripping the controls going white-knuckled. "<This life isn't all there is,>" she repeats to Ennil, echoing the words; perhaps she feels they will hurt Ennil as much as they will hurt her.
The Skoll comes in, clawing, and Lark - to her own surprise - does not fail to defend herself. Her sword-axe is in one hand, her rifle in the other, and she parries and parries and parries, the sword-axe whirling and leaving streaks in the void of space as its I-field trails stray particles. Maybe the emitter is damaged.
Ennil turns away, hunting the others, and Lark takes the opportunity to break off. She deactivates the beam sword-axe, startled at the damage it's taken, and brings the rifle up in both hands, gripping it firmly. It begins to charge, energy rippling into it as the Minovsky Craft-based launcher intensifies further and further, causing swirling dust to whirl around the barrel of the gun.
"<Lark Straye here,>" Lark says, to Liam and Lucine and Marida, her voice subtly different, "<Clear the firing line! This is scaled to take that MS apart! My suit's going to be useless afterwards.>"
I hope whatever comes after this life is better for you, Lark thinks but does not say.
And then she fires.
The kickback is enough to smash the High Impact Gun from horizontal to vertical as it discharges and keep going. The MSA-0120's elbow and shoulder both dislocate from the recoil, the metal joint at the elbow popping and the shoulder rotating further up than should be possible, the armour plates locking it in place and leaving the MS' arm pointing straight up. She has to fire her thrusters just to stay mostly put.
But it's forward that has the biggest impact. One round, straight forward; in space there's no ripple of displaced air, no sonic boom so loud that it cracks windows. Just a single slug firing at a preposterous speed.
Until it hits something. If it hits rock, it *shatters*, sending shards flying out in all directions; it is capable of leaving a crater a hundred meters across in a big enough chunk of rock, to say nothing of its depth. An anti-battleship mega beam cannon, but built into a slug launcher instead.
If it hits a MS...
KTS: Lark Straye uses Install KTS: Lark Straye targets Ennil El with High Impact Gun Overcharge! KTS: Lark Straye has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
Silence, again.
Once more, Angelo Sauper is left with the cold comfort of silence and spite.
He can barely consider it a relief that he's rejected the - whoever - WHATEVER - is piloting the Phenex -- not when she's still in hot pursuit of both the Sleeves' greatest weapons -- not when she's still in pursuit of -the Colonel-. Angelo's eyes are wild and wide like a wounded animal's, twitching in frustration and panic as he takes in the readouts of his damaged Krake and sees the far more physical denial of the Phenex's gilded shield being shredded by beam fire instead of that shining, Psycho-Frame riddled chassis.
"DAMN YOU!" he shouts at nothing but the void of space. "All of you -- why do you never understand?! Why do you keep getting in the Colonel's way!?"
The Krake is in hot pursuit of the Phenex even as the Neo-Zeongs activate their Psycho Shards. Its pink-red mono-eye flares with a *bwom* of life in perfect echo to the way its pilots violet eyes widen in fury.
"WHY DO YOU KEEP TRYING TO DENY US, EVERY TIME?!"
Part of him knows he's speaking to no one; Angelo isn't even trying to transmit, at this point. But, within the pulse of gathering shards of technology assembled beyond the border between life and death, Angelo's heart resonates most profoundly - perhaps ironically - not with Full Frontal's otherworldly presence, but with the pure, fetid hatred that roils off Zoltan's machine. He -has- to vent, somehow, if even just to keep his composure -- keep those precious, tenuous threads of control that feel like they're constantly fraying in the presence of so much overwhelming, saturating -sentiment-.
He wouldn't be surprised to learn that it is the anger of the II Neo-Zeong that feeds him most, that resonates inside his heart most. Not that he cares for Zoltan, one way or another. But how could he possibly resonate with Full Frontal?
His existence is so far beyond Angelo's it hurts
He continues to chase -- right up until the point Zoltan lashes out for the Phenex. "Tch--!" a soft curse
Psycho Shards resonate --
And the Phenex, wrapped in a corona of green, blue and pink, rejects it.
Angelo, so deliberately closed off as he is, has no idea what he's seeing; he can only catch stray glimpses like static bursts of possibility that make the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Again. That light, again.
He thinks of the first time he saw that light, so far away, from the run down muck of Side 3's slums. He thinks about the cage he was trapped in, used to a husk of what could have been.
He thinks about how absolutely nothing that mattered for him changed.
"I won't..."
The Mega Particle cannons detach from the Krake as it shunts backwards, gaining more and more distance as if that aura washing over it, burning at sensors and dancing across circuitry, repulsed it. They detach, and rockets alight. The Unicorn. The Unicorn. Banagher.
"I won't let you reject HIM!!"
He has no idea what the Phenex is trying to do. In it, at this moment, he only sees that white machine and its pilot trying to unmake the one piece of hope he's ever had in his life as massive Mega-Particle cannons scream forth, dancing across wires as they circle the Phenex and unleash a dazzling double-helix of green wrath that gets lost within the corona of a greater, more miraculous light.
KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Yurika Misumaru has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
"Captain! The Ra Mari's sustained too much damage, and is retreating!" Megumi relays, at least not hiding /that/ much from the Nadesico's crew.
"Captain! Hikaru's pulling back - alongside several of those Char Aznable's been fighting. Anita's gotten cut down too-!" Jun calls out.
"Captain...the Gundam's more agile than we gave it credit for. It's totally dodged away from the Gravity Blast and is opening fire."
Too many things all at the same time for Yurika to deal with. Everything's in the red, everything's pulsing and difficult and tense. And when that happens - things quiet and calm. The world fades to its core elements. Yurika takes one deep breath-
Plants her hand on the captain's terminal-
...Beneath her glove, something shimmers.
A furtive voice asks just a little bit more instinctive information on the status of key generators and weapons systems. Asks - 'is this possible'?
---If Omoikane might notice, it's a parcel of a question Ruri might ask as its own isolated little affair. If Ruri might notice, it's someone speaking to Omoikane in a teensy little way it usually isn't.
"...Okay. Pull down the Distortion Field at once except for at points Alpha-9 and Delta-8. That should direct the GN Particles towards the engines. Use that to charge up the battery at once - it'll fry several systems. The instant it's charged up - I don't care about the percentage - another volley of the Gravity Blast immediately. Understood? Brace for impact," Yurika rattles off coldly and keenly, eyes peeled and glued to her screens as the Throne's handguns flare out -
A strange and curious effect, as the energy washes over the bridge and sends the crew recoiling, all except Yurika, sweat beading on her forehead. In between the two prongs, however - the red-hued beam swirls in a figure-eight pattern, part of it 'sucked' into the ship's underbelly.
And uncannily fast - another orb of that liquid-like gravitational field inflates, like a balloon filled with energy.
"C...Captain, what's happening he-" Minato calls out, before-
"It's a rainy day maneuver! Don't let the Throne escape! We're firing now!!!"
This one little opportunity Yurika has to turn the tides is fully taken advantage of - mere moments after it should be cooling down, Nena instead sees that same light, albeit weaker than at full charge - surging her way-!
KTS: Angelo Sauper has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Yurika Misumaru targets Nena Trinity with Gravity Blast! KTS: Yurika Misumaru has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Angelo Sauper targets Rita Bernal with Mega Particle Double Helix Formation! KTS: Angelo Sauper has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita hears the alerts. Fortunately, she knows how the Nadesico works and, as earlier indicated, her machine is pretty quick. The moment she receives notice, the Svipul transforms into Fighter Mode and accelerates out of the Gravity Blast's range.
This action gives Nena plenty of time to catch up to her, though. There's no time to catch it with her shield... Anita grimaces as the beam saber is driven into the Svipul. Anita retreats back out of range.
The damage she's taken so far is... pretty bad. She could maybe keep fighting, but her consoles alert her to the situation with Eight and Rena, too. Anita frowns. ...The situation isn't great, but she knows what she has to do.
"...I think I gotta back off - I gotta support my pals. I'll leave the rest to you two, alright? Give her a good one for me, alright, Nova? You better come back, too." Anita says. She turns to retreat, back to the Ra Mari II and her friends.
What happens after that... she'll have to put her trust in everyone else.
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
What the hell is she even talking about? Key? Gate? Are you a household item, people saying things like that just are using metaphors! Those self-same utterances are heard by Zoltan; Ritechika? ...He can't help but smile, to smile even moreso than he is at this very moment upon his throne. History. History between the two. In~ter~est~ing~ He can't help but have his mind leap with glee. Me? Thank her? Maybe, if it comes to it.
That ride of glee is carried onwards. Bliss. He had what he wanted, and there was more to follow up on. Those eyes, burning with scorn, gazing at the "ghost" in front of him.
Glee that quickly disappears upon being subject...To this. The twitch of something that /isn't right/, that foreign /thing/ crawling up, unaffected by everything around it. Not right. Not good. Not good not good not good not good-
"You-" The Sinanju Stein aims to snatch at the bazookas on its shoulders, grabbing at them and clicking those triggers to dump bazooka rounds-
Silence. No, more than silence. Silence has a sound in of itself; /Air/ is matter, and matter makes sound. The sensation of his psyche dimming down, cut off from everything. The machine feeds. The machine hungers. But he does not feel it. All he hears is the dull hum of the cockpit, unobstructed by nothing. The sensation he only felt once before, only remembers once before.
When he was in a Cyber-Newtype institute. "Kh...- The HELL are you!?" That anger is internalized. That hatred is internalized. It is not something outside that taints his world this way.
Even cut off from everything, the power of the Machine of Hate is fueled by Zoltan's own self. "You...YOU....!"
That warmth around his forearm has nothing. It is merely warmth. He tries to pull back. He tries to push that spirit away, to try to avoid whatever "miracle" he could do, hate cowering before defiance slipping into fear of the unknown.
The Neo Zeong II is set aflame. A flailing Zoltan trying to escape from the ordained coffin of the (supposed) world's hate, A spiritual flame; One from inside and out, the psyche of Rita Bernal beating against his head. Live. Breathe. Forgive. Do not let your future come to pass.
It is so forgiving.
It's cruel to subject someone who had nothing but malice in their life to the realization that there's another one peeking beyond the horizon.
The flames fade away. As quickly as they burnt up, the Cyber-Newtype gasping. Heart. Check. Body. Check. Mind...The Neo Zeong II demands. It feeds. It feasts. The symbiotic relationship must continu-
'save'
Monitors flicker. The hijacked is counterattacking. The familiar scowl as Zoltan slams the armrest. "Come ON. DO SOMETHING!" But it cannot. That light spreads. It infests, infects, festers, embeds, mutates, propogates, dissemenates, flowing through the entire being of the Neo Zeong II, the Psycho-Shard generator accepting. It cares not of where the emotions come from, only that there is some.
That strength is pushed further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, further, that plasma-filled jet sucked into the powerful energy, to fuel, to bathe, to sanctify.
And from the Neo Zeong, from Zoltan's coffin-cockpit, from the center of that horrid beast...Light.
Light.
Across the field.
The Neo Zeong II radiates light. Light. To Char Aznable. Light. To Full Frontal. Light.
Across the cosmos, fuel for Rita's own prayers.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Yuliana Kafim with Double Rocket Onslaught! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Char Aznable with Glory! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rita Bernal with The Anguish of the Ordained! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
There's too much again: Too much noise. Too much pressure. Too much, and too loud; from Lark yelling to Ujico's utterly feral rage. Yuliana, deforming and warping everything around her. Zoltan, in his totality, as he continues to engage with Rita at a distance she can't reach just yet. Rita -- screaming, burning, consuming herself with her own fury and rage and--
"Everyone you hurt--"
Her breath trembles, her eyes flicking down to the cockpit console. Settings, toggles; things that allow her to tab through options quickly. Easily. To a menu, one that she hasn't touched in far too long -- that she hasn't outside of a labratory setting in Sweetwater.
< PSYCHOFRAME STATUS: DISABLED >
<ENABLE? Y/N>
Through darkness and beam fire; through Rita's fury, through focused barrage and megaparticle cannons fired at her at range, Shelby extends her shield and charges forward; the blast digs straight into her Mobile Suit's arm and straight, immediately shreds through the outer layers of protection to the scattering gun underneath, stripping armor to the chassis on the shoulder and segments of the torso ripped open.
"Everyone you ... you ruined..."
Click.
<ARE YOU SURE?>
Click.
"I'm going to stop you... and protect them."
And then, her breath hitches. Awareness widens; eyes opening fuller and wider as thoughts and emotions and memories and yelling and screaming and fervor and it is
EVERYTHING
and it is like the whole of reality begins to iris; like her mind's skin shifts across her own self and senses and her eyes begin to dart around and--
-- and then she *charges* ahead again, right arm extending as though it were doing it's part to somatically control her Funnels. The operational output increases; batteries starting to drain out even faster than normal as she just -- keeps -- firing:
She's looking to rip, and tear, and score and shred and dig through the Mobile Armor after that pincer assault; swift and precise and sharp, the pink machine swaying behind her own weapons to stay as agile as possible, even with how damaged it now is...
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts targets Char Aznable with Jagd Doga Funnels Follow-Up Formation! KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Nena Trinity fails to react to Yurika Misumaru's Gravity Blast, taking 7800 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yurika Misumaru's I've Got a Plan! activates, causing Control Bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
One final shot, before the Skoll's next action would force Lucine to have to withdraw. That was the plan.
Broken shrapnel is flung at the Dianthus, but their trajectory never intersects; Lucine cries out, repelling her craft backwards.
--- somewhere, Rita's soul is but an ember --- she's a phenex, Lucine will have confidence in her
--somewhere, Shelby suddenly is more __Shelby__-- no, don't focus on that either!!!
'Clear the firing line!' < ".... Let me soften them up, first." > The Dianthus is drawing its albarest, drawing the energy 'string' back.
Lucine breathes.
< "...... Don't move, Liam."> That is Lucine's soft warning, sent directly to Liam's comm, as the Dianthus lines up her shot.
While she feels guilty for not just slamming into Ennil's Skoll as it takes a bite out of Liam's CGUE, it's as much in the faith that Liam's craft can take a bit of damage if it means she can possibly land a powerful hit on the Skoll.
A bright magenta beam pierces through the void of space as soon as Lucine has confidence she'll make a clean shot. It's more compact, and may not have as much of a deadly bite as Lark's own, but it's a beam worthy of a giant.
Or a Skoll.
< "Liam, clear out now!!" >
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Ennil El with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Mineva Lao Zabi has posed.
'If only I could forget.'
The depth of that feeling is enough to wound her--and keeps her from diving out of the way of the Zeong's cannons. Anti-beam coating first deflects, then ablates, and the beams carve deep into its armor. "Ngghah...!"
But... she feels that horror, and she feels some measure of the assertion it's responding to. She's desperate now--if she can't reach him... then maybe...
A strip of green along the Jaeger's chest glows green, and Mineva's consciousness blossoms; she and the Hyaku Shiki are one and the same. Thruster-binders angle and shift, and she pulls beam sabers from her hips. "No," she tells him, as her thrusters burn for the Zeong, both sabers flaring, aiming to plunge deep into the old Mobile Armor.
She radiates the best of her, as much as she can--everything Banagher and Leina love most about her. Her idealism, her determination, her refusal to give up and die.
"Even if you shattered the Earth... that's just the beginning. Did you forget about the Macross colonies? About Mars, about the Jupiter Energy Fleet? Do you feel this light, Char? This will?"
"That's what you'll have to extinguish, what you'll have to fight against, everywhere you go."
KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has NOT engaged with Char Aznable KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi targets Char Aznable with Jaeger Beam Saber Combo! KTS: Mineva Lao Zabi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Full Frontal has posed.
As severe blows from the Phenex and Zeong batter the Neo Zeong to a standstill, Full Frontal ponders for a moment. Perhaps it was time...a futile attempt to batter the Sinanju's body from the Palisade barely scratches the anti-beam coating, doing only enough to attract a withering look from its cylopean monoeye. Yet even as the Neo Zeong sends a funnel bit to hijack the Palisade, light erupts from its brother.
That same, cursed light. The light that changes nothing.
"Foolish witch. This changes nothing."
Yet try as he might, the psyco-frame of the Sinanju is overloaded by that light, the controls unresponsive against the collective energy of dozens of Newtypes, Cyber Newtypes, and other psychically capable humans as the Psyco-Shard of the Neo Zeong begins broadcasting radiance to the field, creating a loop between it and its ashen brother that threatens to consume their father, the Zeong.
Yet, this is no purifying light. It is a flood, an all-consuming brightness that threatens to blot out the field's color and myriad essences, overwhelming them until time itself stands still. It too, would be a form of emptiness.
But not the emptiness we seek.
The Sinanju and Neo Zeong remain unresponsive, but this turn of events still isn't enough to phase the Ghost of Char. A mere thought is sent over a distant link.
Well, boy. Bear witness to what your dread possibility has spawned.
KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Angelo Sauper's Mega Particle Double Helix Formation, taking 5325 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Rita Bernal, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Zoltan Akkanen's The Anguish of the Ordained, taking 7700 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
The Phenex's strings are cut, and perhaps it serves her right. Perhaps it's a punishment, and not the only tool Yuliana has on hand to save one of her only friends.
(And oh, if she knew how interesting Zoltan found that --)
Her eyes meet the Ruin Zeong, cameras locking on, as her very void helps Zoltan to strike true. "You have no place in our existence," she issues Char -- addresses him, at last.
'Our' existence, she says, so imperiously, as if she owns it.
Even so, she does not move to strike him. She cannot move to strike him, cannot draw close to Oath Over Omega.
She promised.
"The hell am I? No. For a creature like yourself... I am worse than hell." she issues Zoltan, and her own hatred is cold. She has lived in the isolation chamber of herself for a decade or more. "Nothing embraces me, and I shall put this world to rights."
But if she's a creature like Zoltan, what does that say about --
Yuliana sees the sign, across the Phenex's chest. Her voice breaks in emotion, unlike the empress's decrees she's issued. "Damn you, I'm /trying!/" She yells, transmitting to all who would listen. "I was never built to --"
But as Rita gets enough distance to grasp those cables, and the Miracle light ignites, another message lights up, across the screens in Da Xukong's cockpit. Yuliana cuts herself off, with a sharp gasp. "No," she hisses, leaning forward to slap a hand against the screen. "No, not yet! Stop! I can still--!!" Again, she's cut off,
but not by herself.
For the second time, Zoltan will know the power of the Void made active and powerful, as the Da Xukong is repelled from it -- and a green portal opens, wrong to this existence, around the machine entirely.
It consumes the Da Xukong.
A moment later, the wanzer -- and the horrible void aura Yuliana spilled across Palau -- is gone, no more to consume that light which Rita moves to pour over the Neo Zeong.
On a ship keeping its distance, lounging in the Captain's chair, Parminder looks up at the screen with a lazy grin.
"Huh," he chuckles, entirely too carefree. "Guess Her Witchiness really didn't want the Captain messing with a Miracle, did she...?"
The crew he's commanding doesn't ask if they should engage; they're too focused on their tasks, dull-eyed and undistracted for that.
He doesn't bother getting involved, either, though he's sure to record what happens.
The rockets which the Neo Zeong sends out chase Yuliana to that portal -- and when the horrible green closes, they, too, are gone. Where did they go...?
It's not Zoltan's problem, any more.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
For all practical purposes, sound doesn't carry through vacuum. Nevertheless, Liam /feels/ something like that as Skoll turns to him, mouth open in a bestial roar. His mind flashes back to the things Sigma animated in Central Dogma. Do they just have to wear it down, or will it keep on doing this? If this is a fight of attrition, who has the advantage?
Those thoughts stay largely corralled in the back of Liam's head. The CGUE pulls back from its strike, raising its ragged-faced shield to ward off reprisal. "<If you're sorry,>" Liam says, his voice tense, "<We can help. People can /purify/ you.>" There he is. The scarred, selfless man who went hungry so that he wasn't taking more than what he felt he deserved. The kind, gentle man who tucked each seedling into its potting bed. "<Have you given up on /humanity/, Ennil, or just /yourself/?>"
The Doven Wolf's claws fire, one after another. The CGUE jukes right, evading the first by less than a foot. The second slams into its waist-joint. The third buries itself in its right knee. The fourth embeds into its forearm. Skoll REELS the ZAFT-made machine in, its structure groaning and shrieking as metal starts to tear. "<Who said anything about being half-hearted?>" Liam says, audible metal stress in the background of his transmission. This thing's too damned /strong/, it's going to tear him apart if he can't get free--!
'Clear the firing line!'
Liam grits his teeth. The CGUE is anchored to Skoll. He has to fix that. But Lucine--
Lucine's shot rips through the void, ripping through one of the cables binding Skoll to the CGUE. Liam pulls the right arm up with a sudden jerk; chunks of armor fly free, along with the INCOM-claw. Sparks fly from damaged wiring. The arm's loose, though, and with it, Liam sweeps down, and the heavy blade slices through the remaining INCOM cables. "<Go, go, /go/!>" he urges Lark, over their tightbeam. He jets free. The CGUE reaches back for its own ranged weapon, draws the machine gun to its shoulder, and aims for Skoll's center of mass. Liam lets loose with a withering barrage of fire, walking the kinetic-kill weapon back and forth across the Doven Wolf's torso. This unit is empowered by Triple Zero. So is the pilot. He can't kill her on accident. Even if he could, the stakes are too high to hold back.
He's not going to half-ass this.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Ennil El with MMI-M7S 76mm Machine Gun Blitz! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Wow, rude. Naoko would totally demand that Nena take back what was said about her miracles, if she wasn't suddenly forced to deal with a case of Mines In the Face. There's not enough time to get away from that! In a panic and impulse, she mentally recalls the Remote Saucers, which take position in front of the Sukeban to take the brunt of the blast.
It's not enough to prevent to Arm Slave from getting forcefully blown backwards, the now-blackened discs following in its wake and re-attaching to the original position. Probably can't depend on those anymore, the pilot thinks, frowning in concern at the damage readouts. This isn't good. They have to finish this quickly.
A Gravity Blast was the best chance for that. Her heart sinks, seeing that attempt go wide. It sinks further, as the battlefield overview on the display in front of her informs her of the Ra Mari II's retreat. Of Rena's retreat. And to top it off...
"What? You too, Anita?! But... But I...!"
'I can't fight by myself,' she was going to say. But having been told to 'give her a good one for me'... Anita has faith in her. What kind of Miracle Worker would she be, if she turned down a request like that? She takes a deep breath. Just lean into it. Lean into the act, and the rest will follow.
"...Alright. Alright! I'll do it! So don't worry about me, go! I'll tell you all about how cool it was later! Trust me-- after all, if you can't trust a Miracle Worker, who can you trust?"
All bluster, of course. But it helps. It always helps. That's why she decided to adopt the identity of Nova Stellar to begin with. Nova Stellar can do anything.
From her new vantage point, she can see the back and forth between the Celestial Being Gundam and the Nadesico. It's hard to tell which way that's going to go. If she's going to act, she has to do it now. And so she does. All power is funneled toward the right hand. She's only going to get one shot at this. All she can do now is to charge straight in.
It was close, or she would've charged straight into the second Gravity Blast. Instead, she arrives directly after, and sends a white-hot, glowing fist towards the Throne Drei's midsection. Should it connect, she immediately follows up with a quick left hook to destabilize, then the blazing right hand will shoot straight up for a mighty uppercut. With each strike, she adds a single word.
"HEART! BEAT! SHAKEEEEER!!"
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Nena Trinity with Heart Beat Shaker! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El charges into the attack! KTS: Ennil El partially guards Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot, taking 4920 damage! KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El blocks Liam 7-020's MMI-M7S 76mm Machine Gun Blitz, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Marida Cruz rattles Ennil El, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Ennil El blocks Marida Cruz's Funnel Binder Full Volley, taking 4350 damage! KTS: Ennil El fails to evade Lark Straye's High Impact Gun Overcharge, taking 8640 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Lark Straye's Scars of the War activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Ennil El has been defeated! KTS: Lark Straye roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Nena Trinity fails to react to Naoko Suzuki's Heart Beat Shaker, taking 8580 damage! KTS: Nena Trinity has been defeated! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Nena Trinity! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Yuliana Kafim, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to react to Zoltan Akkanen's Double Rocket Onslaught, taking 7200 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim's Da Xukong 0 has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
With renewed vigor, golden wings encircle the Phenex, shielding her. That sensation of hope returns, brilliant as the dawn -- one pink and blue, without a hint of orange.
A fragment, a single ember. Rita still burns within the Phenex. It's too late to stop the consumption entirely. Her spirit, this large, large part of it, will be lost. The mantra of her sisters echoes in her mind, giving her the strength to move forward, despite everything.
Char's horror echoes to Rita's heart. If she had more time, perhaps, she would try to comfort him. Now, all she can do is swivel her wings in around her body to protect it. One of them, the one Angelo blasted, splinters into three pieces. It still moves as one whole, held by psychic flame.
Hikaru leaves the battlefield with a farewell barrage of fire. This, too, is caught by the Phenex's wings, with a message sent in return. A softly apologetic warmth. Maybe when they meet again, Rita can set things right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqZO_D5CO28
Sacred brilliance ceases resonating across the battlefield, Rita's strength all-but exhausted. In the wake of the miraculous light, bits of radiance cling to surrounding mobile suits who possess Psychoframe. Rita is too weak to project an image, but her voice can be heard by their pilots. Breathy and sweet. Choked by ash. Ruined.
Please, I need your help. To save everyone. Please. We only have one chance.
She cannot customize the messages, as much as she'd like to embrace the ones she loves. She only has the strength for one such action.
I'm so sorry.
Angelo's heart may be closed, but this is a battlefield of Miracles.
I'm so sorry, Angelo. This is the way it has to be. There's more for you. All you have to do is seek it.
Angelo's Mega-Particle cannon screams as it collides with the Phenex, breaking entirely through her destroyed wing. She is pushed back, spinning out, only just able to cling to the wires binding her to Zoltan. It's now or never.
Predatory, the Phenex advances on the Neo-Zeong II. Only Yuliana's presence keeps her back, but that menacing, hope-fueled determination burns. One hand grasps the wires as though they were reins, holding the Monster in check.
Yuliana responds in her usual poisonous way, and the Phenex curls one single hand in. A half-formed heart, held up toward the Da Xukong. Affection. Feeling the emotion inside the curses.
Only-- Yuliana is consumed with the Void. Rita gasps, hands coming to her mouth in horror. No-- no. She's okay, she has to be okay. Even with her Silence, Rita would know if she died. She's sure of it, she's sure of it.
She's sure of it!
Rita takes a breath. The Phenex charges Zoltan. Her one remaining wing raises to take his attack, shuddering with the force and malice Zoltan forged into it. But--
I said. You're coming with me.
Rita whispers in his ear. The Phenex darts up, blindingly fast, standing atop the Neo-Zeong II. She kneels, pressing a hand to the machine. Soldifying their connection all the more. There's a certain muted glee at the scorch marks along the dread machine's armor, especially knowing they're mirrored on the interior.
And this won't be the end!
Tossing her head back, Rita Bernal and the Phenex burst into flame once more, blue as the summer sky. Radiant and pure. It's faith, it's hope, it's belief... Everything. Every good feeling.
Love.
And love can be such a terrible force. The Neo Zeong II is overcome by light, its halo projecting the Miracle forward. Those Rita spoke to will know -- the moment is now. And should they grant her permission...
The Miracle reaches high into the air, propelled on the wings of a spectral green-blue-pink bird. Passing first onto Full Frontal's machine, it then splits, turning into a dozen enormous firebirds. Like skipping stones, they touch the Psychoframe-equipped machines, gathering strength. Taking just a moment to bounce their energy through the machines' systems and grow stronger.
Overpowering luminescence takes to the stars. Wings spread, as the spiritual firebird bursts into thousands of smaller versions of itself. In harmony, they fly toward the descending asteroid. As a Unicorn had, once, so long ago, they press themselves against the front of the doomed heavenly body.
And /shove/. Wings beat in harmony. A flock composed of the hearts of the heroes of the living. Each link in a chain absolutely necessary.
Palau doesn't stop in its descent, but it significantly slows. The Miracle birds stubbornly continue, pushing back against the death of possibility. They will linger for hours -- until the asteroid can be safely stopped.
One last fragment. Those particularly sensitive will see a manifestation of Rita Bernal, as she has liked to show herself. Beautiful. Pure. Blonde hair, white sundress. She stands atop the Phenex's shoulder and waves.
Goodbye. Thank you.
With that, the Phenex pulls herself into the air and soars away, pushing herself faster than she ever has. She has so little time left. She must get far enough away that she will not be found.
In the distance, the glow of the Earth rises before her.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Char Aznable, Full Frontal, and Zoltan Akkanen with This Life Isn't All There Is. KTS: Char Aznable fails to react to Zoltan Akkanen's Glory, taking 7020 damage! KTS: Char Aznable fails to react to Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is, taking 8450 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rita Bernal's Destined Meeting activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Char Aznable has been defeated! KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Char Aznable successfully jobs Mineva Lao Zabi's Jaeger Beam Saber Combo KTS: Char Aznable fails to react to Shelby Korts's Jagd Doga Funnels Follow-Up Formation, taking 7410 damage! KTS: Char Aznable has been defeated! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to Evade Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is, taking 7150 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rita Bernal's Destined Meeting activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Anita Rosetta's XVF-25I Svipul <GERWALK Mode> has left
<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.
Nena is giggling with glee as she continues to unload shots into the Nadesico. The large ship is proving to be a tough nut to crack. But that's fine, she can keep this up all day!
"Warning! Warning!"
Nena rolls her eyes as her Haro butts in on her fun, "Now w-" Nena pauses at the sight of the rapidly growing ball of light. Nena's eyes go wide, "-hAT!? H-How!? No way they've got the energy too..."
Purple Haro once more interupts, "Danger! Danger!"
Nena quickly jams her controls to the side, the Gundam Throne Drei turning and starting to fly out of the path of the shot. Nena bites her lip...
... But she had gone in too close. She won't make it.
The red and grey Gundam is engulfed in the result blast of light fired by the Nadesico.
Once the light fades, the Gundam Throne Drei is still there. Which is technically a good thing, since it means it wasn't able to dodge this time. There is further evidence of this as the machine is looking far worse for wear, with numerous sections of its armor cracked or broken off completely.
This also presents an opportunity for Naoko to come screaming in a moment later.
The Gundam seems to be in rough shape, or perhaps its pilot is. As it doesn't provide any sort of attempt to defend against the strikes, all three hitting hard and sending the Gundam spinning through space.
In the cockpit, Nena groans, opening her eyes again to find space spinning across half working sections of her panoramic display. With a few touches to her controls, her Gundam stops its spin and comes to a relative halt. A quick look over the damage displays... It's not too bad. She could probably still fight-
The streams of crimson GN particles being released by the Drei quickly fade away, so all that's left are the bare minimum being released out of its back.
Nena looks at the flashing warning on her screen, alerting her to critically low particle counts, "Great... Just great! This is all your fault!" Nena smacks the Purple Haro in front of her.
Purple Haro buzzes back with angry wing flapping, "You suck! You suck!"
Nena turns her focus to her situation. This is Not Good.
Turning her head, Nena spots the glow of light now starting to engulf and slow the asteroid.
Nena has no idea what that is.
But it seems that the large rock isn't going to hit the Earth anymore. Which means victory!
And that gives Nena an idea!
<"Looks like we've done what we came here to do... So since I'm in a good mood, I'll let you three go for now. Just don't expect such mercy next time!">
The red and grey Gundam turns, quickly starting to book it out of there on what fuel it has left.
<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.
A psychic cascade sweeps over the battlefield as the Phenex - or Rita, within it - calls desperately for help in bringing about a miracle. Impossible light, in the void of space.
A new rainbow.
"No. NO!" Char roars, manually pulling triggers - too distracted to focus through the psycommu - to fire as many cannons as he can at the golden Gundam clinging to Zoltan's Neo Zeong II.
Shelby unleashes the technology forbidden from her. Mineva activates her own unit's psycoframe with a statement about her light - and how he'll have to confront it everywhere. The resonance intensifies, the psycofield harmonising. The rainbow shimmers.
The Zeong's shots bend around the entwined Neo Zeong and Phenex as though passing through a Minovsky field, or fizzle out way before their optimal range. Bewildered, Char looks at his controls and screens, each beginning to scramble.
To be this close to a miracle is anathema to the dawnfire animus within his machine. The Zeong's surviving left wired forearm begins to crumple, the hellish amber light of Triple Zero somehow unable to withstand the light flooding in.
"... Damn."
Unfastening himself, Char abandons the Zeong's torso cockpit, opening a hatch above him and traversing the chute towards the head. Strapping himself in there instead, he reaches below the seat for the manual override.
"... A new plan," he says to himself, and pulls.
The Zeong's head separates from the collapsing torso, propelling itself as far away from the Phenex's miracle as Char can take it - into the uncaring grasp of Earth's gravity.
Flame builds around the cockpit for the third time in its pilot's recent memory, the antennae on the head disintegrating in the blaze.
This accursed Oath pushing him onwards will ensure he survives the landing, at least. He watches, as Palau's descent is not-quite-halted. Ablated. Time enough for its saviors to do what they came here to do.
Time enough, in this decaying re-entry orbit, for him to ponder the revelation of the Phenex, and the eternity of violence that he is now realising has been thrust upon him.
Distantly:
I hope you escaped in time, Artesia.
The burning head of the Zeong vanishes into the atmosphere, dwindling to a speck.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
Liam tears away, and the Skoll pursues, mindlessly, hunched in a way no MS should move as it jets across space in pursuit of prey. More and more of it peels away, beam emitters blown back and detonating around it, but still its claws stretch forward, desperate...
<"I /won't/ go back!"> a strained voice bleeds over the comms, hissed through tight teeth, <"How can I surrender now, when I can finally... I'm finally /strong enough/...">
For what? Finishing the thought is delayed as the Skoll lashes out, so very close to crushing Liam here and now - a purple beam scythes through its outstretched arm. Though the boiling metal reforms as quickly as always, it's enough to tumble the wolf, to send its aim askew. It shifts, makes another charge, but at each turn funnels tear at it, draw its attention. Inside the machine, bright blue eyes radiate sickly orange, even as she squeezes them closed in a failed attempt to banish the stinging at their corners, the building heat...
Wasn't she even good enough for this? Was there anything left to give, anything more she could carve away, for that last bitter inch?
There's only the briefest moment of awareness - not supernatural but honed instincts, or maybe simple pattern recognition. The realization that all of her foes have chosen to draw back at once, leaving her exposed at the center of her formation. She twists, thinking finally to track that strangely shaped mobile suit...
'This life isn't all there is.'
Ennil's vision blurs, and her cheeks begin to burn. Of course, she knows that... But that's just another thing that makes it so /miserable/. To carry it all, alone, without rest... She's so damn tired.
It only costs the Skoll a half-second, if that. But with the velocity of that projectile, it's enough. The machine twists and alters its momentum in a sickening pivot, but so much of itself was extended - lashing out to hunt, or dancing with those funnels - that there's simply not enough to blunt the impact. Huge chunks of the Skoll are shorn away, and it's impossible to call what's left a mobile suit - it tumbles backwards towards Palau.
In time, the light of Ruin might remake this machine.
But that's time well beyond the scale of this fight, and at least one component of the machine is both physically and spiritually battered after the violent maneuvering and sudden, devastating impact.
Space itself tears to receive the tumbling wreckage. Swallowed by dawnlight, Ennil El has served her purpose, for now.
<Pose Tracker> Mineva Lao Zabi has posed.
Over the psychic chaos, Mineva feels Rita's call like a clarion bell... and as the Jaeger drives her sabers home one more time, she dedicates herself to what must be done. Her mind resonates with Rita's, with Shelby's, with anyone else she can feel on this level. To will the falling star back to its place in the heavens. The glowing strip across the Jaeger's cockpit brightens, blinding, like a fissure between worlds. The brilliant rays of a rainbow aurora issue forth from it, enveloping the machine and radiating outward.
The gleaming light joins with that of the Phenex, wills united as one, all toward the same end.
A miracle... driven by something no more miraculous than the wishes she knows they all have in common.
As the miracle takes shape, she watches as the Zeong's head launches away... and she very nearly chases after it.
But she doesn't. As light radiates off the scarred Jaeger, she instead moves off the Zeong's inert body to make her way to the front of the asteroid... and, with her wing-binders spread wide, she braces against the surface and opens her thrusters to a full burn.
She'll stay here as long as it takes.
But her head turns to watch as the Zeong's head shrinks to indistinguishability against the disk of the Earth.
I'm not giving up on you, father.
A moment's regard is given to the Phenex, as it speeds away. She smiles. Thank you.
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
There's little he can do in this moment. To be strung up like a beast, to be held hostage in the very machine that he existed to pilot. He can't do anything. Be anything. To only burn in the sanctified, spiritual fire that the Phenex so gave, to listen to Yuliana's final responses. The monitors are functional, focusing on the two targets of malice and "companionship".
"...Worse than hell? Is that it? That's idiotic." Worse than hell? Big whoop. He's been in worse than hell. Those Cyber-Newtype experiements, day in, day out, and this silence, this DAMN SILENCE, WITH THE PERSON CLEARLY-
The portal opens.
The portal swallows.
The failed clone stares at where once stood a woman fighting against...something.
"...The hell..." The world forgotten in a bout of lucid confusion, everything returning to the senses. The hell is she involved with...?
But that is quickly forgotten. Lucidity smashed back down, to be reminded of what was controlling his machine. What was controlling his current LIFE. Char? Damn right, this is the one way to fix it. DAMN RIGHT! HE SHOULD BE THE ONE BEING THE DAMOCLES DEMON ON THE POPULACE, NOT HIM!
He can do naught but to push against those controls. But to encourage that Psycho-Shard generator with the most perverse of incentives: Live. Live so that he is the one to bring it all down. Char's legacy is dead; An endless cycle of torment to see what his actions had wrought, how nothing he did could change it.
Let the next person in line take care of the things you couldn't, Char...!
CHAR...!
He burns.
The Neo Zeong II burns.
It is a flame of the soul, the hatred combusting, warped, twisted, maligned into Rita's own personal malfeasance to bathe across the cosmos.
Live.
Live, damn it.
Push the rock back.
Pulverize the rock.
Crush the rock.
Shatter the rock.
Palau must not reach Earth.
For he will be the meteoric impact in its stead.
The flames flicker into nothingness as the last of the energy is spent. That plasma-injected jet swells...before collapsing in on itself, a silent crush under pressure as the machine powers down. There is enough to sustain one thing, and one thing only: The power of the Sinanju Stein, stuck in place by melted metal and busted joints.
He is trapped, and can do nothing but curse this fate.
"Phenex...PHENEX..." The glove strains as his knuckles grip. That machine. That damn machine that thinks it superior to everything. To BASH into the world, to SCREAM when it thinks things are going awry, to LEAVE when it is beaten. The coward, the swine, the thing that's rooting itself in his life. And for what? For it to go "YOU ARE BAD" and leave it at that? Fine, Phenex, fine!
The Psycho-Shard has fed off of his hatred, but the seed is within himself. The ember that refuses to die, smouldering while cursing his current loss.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
There's a big sigh of relief in the air as the menacing Throne finally retreats, Jun toppling back into a chair, Minato and Megumi craning their heads back in their seats - even Ruri loosening the tension in her shoulders.
But Yurika-
Is firing on all cylinders, and doesn't see the work as done yet. She swiftly calls out, <"...Gundam Meister. I get the idea you didn't come here out of personal interest. Please - show your employers the miracle that is about to take place. The miracle that is already underway.">
A deep breath. A clap to both cheeks, and then-
"It's not over yet. We've bought ourselves the freedom to act without Celestial Being's interference. We've been given a path forward by the Phenex's miracle. But it's not enough. I can tell it's not enough. Did we waste a bit too much of our energy on a single Gundam? It's possible. But we'll give it everything we have - and at this scale..."
"The Nadesico will provide 100% of its remaining efforts to slowing down Palau."
Minato sucks in a breath, asking the obvious, "Captain, that could be incredibly risky-"
And Yurika simply states, "There is no reason not to pursue that risk." ...before bringing up the ship-wide intercom.
<"All hands on the Nadesico. We are about to intercept Palau, with the intent of stopping it at all costs. I encourage as many of you as possible to evacuate, in case we don't make it. This is an operation with the Earth itself on the line, and I believe our ship may have the key to victory needed. ...That said, I'm not gonna just assume it's ending that way! But in case it does, and in case this is the last time you do hear me-">
Yurika pushes out a merry little V-sign to the camera, and smiles, "I love every single one of you! Let's make the Solar System a peaceful place from now on!"
And with that, she cuts out communications - probably splitting the staff up for who actually wants to go or not - but all the same, people line up into escape shuttles, as the Nadesico darts forth. Yurika turns to her assembled bridge crew, and raises up a finger, but-
"Captain, I'm not leaving you alone to do this, especially when we still need to manage some key objectives," Minato sighs out.
"...Yeah, I'm sticking with you as long as I need to, Yurika," Jun says, trying to be a /little/ too cool.
"...Foolish captain," Ruri states blankly, "...You gave this order forgetting that you likely still need me to operate the Phase Transition Engine you're relying on. In the future, please ask me first before you make these decisions." ...that said, she doesn't stop the decision in any way, shape or form.
...Megumi is silent, hands on her cheeks, heart racing like a drum. "...honestly, you don't really need me here for this part, I figure. Realistically, I should be evacuating with the rest. ...I'm saying that, but I just...can't. I...I'm not going anywhere, because I'm not putting up with the idea that you're saying you're risking death. I believe we can make a miracle happen. I don't believe it's gonna be at the cost of our lives. So, Captain, I'm staying here, just in case /you/ get too full of it and forget how to stay alive in all this, alright?"
...There's tears in Yurika's eyes, but only for a moment. Her hand advancing, she commands, "Full speed ahead towards Palau! Widen the gravitational propulsion system to a topside lens formation! Spare no resources! We're slowing this thing down as much as possible, as long as possible - even if we have to babysit it all the way to a safe landing, but ideally we can even hurl it back into a stable orbit! Let's GOOOOO---!!!"
The snow white flower arcs in a beeline to the descending, enflamed colony - a whirling disc of repulsion above its bridge, joining everyone there willing to recreate this most unlikely of miracles. But it's not depending on something beyond the realm of possibility. In its own heart surges innovations that have taken place since that time. In its own hold, the Nadesico, that flagbearer of hope even in lost causes - carriest the idea that 'miracles' can be grasped, seized, and harnessed towards a brighter future.
And it helps that everyone in it - once in position - is watching the Phenex soar away like a glittering comet - giving a salute Rita's way. Perhaps the girl will even hear their resolve. Perhaps she'll hear that the five souls on that bridge want nothing more than to carry the burden she's held for so long.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko fails to acknowledge Nena's parting words. In fact, it takes quite some time for the Sukeban to even lower its fist, remaining frozen in the position it was in when it struck its final blow. It... worked? It actually worked? Regardless of reasons, the Gundam retreated just now, right? She managed... to keep her promise. If only she was half as confident in making miracles happen as she claimed to be, this would be so much less surprising.
However, it's not over yet. With this, the Nadesico should be fine. She has faith that her friends that needed to pull back will manage to get to safety as well. But what of Palau? It still needs to be stopped! A Miracle is needed - a /real/ one, far beyond just managing to come out of a fight in one piece. A Miracle... far beyond her.
>"The hell kind of thinking is that?"< Now that the fighting's over, the first of her AI companions is quick to make his opinion known. >"You're Nova Freaking Stellar. Act like it!"<
The other is more subdued, but no less supportive. >"Go, Nova... I believe in you!"<
Closing her eyes, she smiles, and nods. "...Yeah. Thanks, you two. I know what I have to do." Eyes flying open, she engages the Sukeban's thrusters, full speed. "This is nothing... not for Nova Stellar! There's not a miracle I can't work!"
She can see it, in the distance. That brilliant, warm light. Calling to her. Not specifically her, but it doesn't matter. Her various Miracle Worker credos are all in accordance on this.
'If there's anything you can to do help, you should do it.'
'The simple answer is usually the right one.'
'Just start doing something and see where it goes.'
Her course of action is clear. The Sukeban heads straight for that giant rock, hands extended, and makes contact. This is how they did it, back then. She'll give this all the thruster power she's got. That, and the greatest force that she has to offer: her firm belief in miracles, and a better future. She's smiling, all throughout.
And when the Phenex departs, Naoko adds a v-sign to that smile. Regardless of how they got there... what matters is that they did, right?
<Pose Tracker> Lark Straye has posed.
As Lark promised, her mobile suit is not in great condition. One of the arms is broken, partially locked in place and with all the joints on that side twisted and warped. She can't lower the arm - and then she can when it comes free of where it locked, dangling loosely as nothing really holds it up anymore.
She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding as the Skoll is thrown away from the battle, twisted and warped. As Char's Zeong falls - she didn't see the head make an escape. She doesn't even know if either of them still function at all. She can't feel anyone around her like she could mere moments ago. Her mind still burns in an unpleasant fashion, the psychic scars aching. She feels like she's going to be sick.
And then, a miracle.
Even to Lark's drawn-in mind, it feels familiar, so familiar. She's seen this before, and for an instant she's back in the past; her Geara Doga holding a second, or at least about half of another Geara Doga, the rest shorn away and melted. Back then she showed weakness. She screamed, she cried - and she ran.
She ran away, because she couldn't bear to join the miracle. She couldn't bear that it was for everyone else, and not for her, her best and only friend, dead at Axis.
Lark's breath catches, and then she's hyperventilating in her cockpit. Panic. She wants to go, she wants to Not Be Here, she can't handle this even at one remove -
No. It isn't what she would want. She said she was going to do one thing right in her life. One thing, before it was over. This was going to be that thing.
The MSA-0120 reverses. It only has one working arm but Lark is going to use that one arm; she reaches out toward the shimmering, shining radiance surrounding Palau. She can't even make out they are birds; behind her visor, her eyes are watery.
And then Lark literally slams into Palau, just this side of too fast. The MSA-0120 crunches against it, spread-eagled, its thrusters firing as hard and as bright as she can. It's not an acceleration she can sustain for very long, but she pushes it as long as she can, burning bright and hot.
Can you see this? she says in her locked-away heart, silent to even Rita as anything more than a faint murmur. It isn't meant for her. It isn't meant for anyone living. I hope you can. Another miracle... It's what you hoped for...
Even here, now, pushing as hard as she can, Puru Six mostly wants to break down and cry, or run away. But in the mask, she can be Lark Straye. And Lark Straye wants to be a part of this miracle as she could (would) not be part of the last.
Her mental pressure reasserts itself, however faint, almost tentative - flinching away from contact. It won't last. It can't last; it hurts too much. She can't bear to hold those connections within her. But for the moment, she *will* be part of this, until she faints from it.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
Three weeks after Axis Shock, Shelby Korts awoke in the sickbay of the Rewloola. She doesn't remember how she got there. She didn't remember what happened, in the end. She just remembers seeing <REDACTED>.
She remembers the things Nanai said, while taking care of her. While making sure her brain hadn't been damaged in the event, while making sure her powers were still working as they seem to have always done. Making sure that Shelby, and the psychoframe, weren't going to ...
'We have to be sure of the psychoframe's effect on you.'
'The resonance effect...'
'Shelby...'
Move, the little girl standing behind her says impatiently.
Her breath hitches; eyes widen as the Phenex's energy passes by; touches her, reaches out -- and then the light scatters toward Palau. Others are already moving; Mobile Suits, ships-- and again, she feels it-- one more soul to the call.
The Jagd Doga stows it's rifle, one arm trashed and ruined and shield sparking dangerously. Falling into line with Mineva, she opens the throttle and does everything that she can in order to keep pushing. The throttle opens, and the machine shakes, but it will be done.
It must be done. For Anser-- Nanai, Maddie, Shura and Eva, and--
Sophia.
For a moment, it's like two voices are in her throat:
"I'll do anything."
"I'll do anything."
And by god she is going to push for all she's worth.
KTS: Rena Lancaster's A000-0001 Gaia Gear Alpha has left KTS: Ennil El's AMX-000-14 Doven Wolf Skoll has left
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
The remains of the Skoll drift away. Lucine looks at it from afar, eyes wide.
< "Because she's one of them... that's... not a true death for her, is it?" > A very different sentiment comes from Lucine as her combat high begins to wear off, leaving her voice sounding small, sad. At the very least, it means Lucine doesn't have to think about the mess of the mobile suit, if someone tells her yes.
But it's not over. This wasn't even the objective, if they wanted the Earth to remain unscared.
< "Captain Misamaru...." > Through her video feed to the Nadesico, Lucine's eyes are tearing up.
There was the history Lucine learned in Nemi, of Earth, of Axis Shock.
There was the history Lucine felt in Nemi, of Mars, of the Jovian Lizard invasion.
There was the event where one girl survived Tartarus two times, with the second due to a ship named after a flower, a flagbearer of hope, even in lost causes.
There is the history of now, here, under the glitterlight of the Phenex.
( Optional BGM: https://youtu.be/_3RhXzZhE2k )
< ".... This is the stage of miracles!" > The Martian cries out, as she joins in, as the Dianthus expands the petals on its back, as she adds her own weight, still minuscule, to the overall whole. < "You heard Captain Misamaru! No matter how many times it takes... don't let destruction be the answer to the cycle!" >
She remembers her talk with Angelo. While they had their disagreements, he showed enough of himself for her to consider his words.
She also remembers the times Liam had regarded such miracles with mixed feelings. Why didn't a miracle save Dublin?
Where were miracles, for Mars?
Maybe, that would take a miracle of a different kind.
< "Liam. Join me, on the platform." > Her words, sent straight to him, are a gently coaxing, in case his own scars are hurting.
This is a miracle everyone here gets to be a part of.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Space tears and bends, and what's left of the Skoll--and Ennil--vanish from the battlefield. Liam slumps against his restraints, and for a moment, the CGUE sits poised in the void, its machine gun empty and aimed at nothing. One breath. Two. Look at the HUD, analyze the field again. Palau's defenders are thinned out. The bright orange streak of the 000 Zeong is breaking apart. Have... have they won--?
Palau hasn't stopped moving. Of course. What /could/ stop it? Liam's throat tightens. The CGUE stows its gun. Liam's attention turns to the knot of violence at the heart of this, where Rita
Rita?
"RITA!" Liam screams, as the Phenex and the Neo Zeong II and so many other machines do... something. There's that flow of light, like he saw when Banagher saved the Garancieres. But it's different. They're... pushing back.
'...This is the stage of miracles!'
Liam's eyes mist over. His hands shake. The memory of that vast cylinder falling in slow-motion, falling inexorably to earth. People screaming. The bright light that killed his parents.
'Liam. Join me, on the platform.'
The CGUE boosts forwards. Its limbs are torn and wounded, but it sets hands against the rocky bulk of the asteroid, in between the Dianthus and Lark's machine. Liam opens the throttle.
Tears stream down his face. "...Not again," he whispers, his voice trembling. "/Never again./"