2023-01-21: Decisive Battle ~INTEGRATION~
- Log: 2023-01-21- Decisive Battle ~INTEGRATION~
- Cast: Alexis Kerib, Ennil El, Amuro Ray, Takeshi Todo, Garrod Ran, Gridman, Sayla Mass, Zan, Guy Shishioh, Domon Kasshu, Lina Lombardi, Gai Kurenai, Jana Cektru, Seolla Schweizer, Qivi, Shota Hebikura, Lamia, Sonia Sophia-Grace, Orpheus Zevon
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Southwest
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-01-21
- Summary: The forces of the Dawn move on 3G as it tries to use the Galeoria Pliers to place Tsutsujidai back in the real world and stabilize it; meanwhile, Alexis Kerib runs interference for the kaiju Akane Shinjo has become. Concurrent with 2023-01-21: Awakening.
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO --"
Her eyes open impossibly wide, her pupils shrinking. Part of her feels like it's being torn out through her eyes, through her mouth --
"--OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
A creature takes shape at the heart of the city, rising as if from nothing. Her cry twists into its cry. It dwarfs most of the kaiju Akane herself has made --
-- which also begin to appear at the other end of the city, toward the central support pillar. All-of-them-and-then-some have been twisted into some horrible new shape, with countless heads. The wreckage of her malice now has a new sense of shared fate.
After Rikka departs, so too does Alexis; the sluice gate is a place to fall from, and Alexis has no intention of falling here. Quite the opposite -- tonight, so many things come to a head. He is aware, of course, that Tsutsujidai's heroes (both the ones who chose this place and the ones who were chosen by it) will choose to move in response to this.
It's why he stitched together this remnant of Akane Shinjo's malice, of course. But if simply hurling a big monster out there to cause problems -- well, really, he's been doing that for a while now, hurling monster after monster through Tsutsujidai's streets entirely to give himself time to be as many places as he needs to be. There's only one place he needs to be now, though.
He takes up a perch on the other end of town from the sluice gate, watching his twin creations -- a lost, lonely girl in the Universal Century and the malice he'd led her to -- split the attention of Tsutsujidai's defenders.
He sees things happening, of course -- Rikka, Alouette and Kaworu preparing for the concert. The movement of the monster that she threw away to save her... and others, too. They choose a prison of their own misery, as she does. He sees no reason to taunt them; they choose to taunt themselves with impossibilities.
He is more interested in the ones who properly and truly call themselves Vessels of Light.
The monster he's challenged them with is a singularly unoriginal idea made up of unoriginal ideas. He sees the movements of people like 3G and the Gridman Alliance, like the Vessels of Light trapped here, like all of the friends they've made, like the rest of the world's defenders -- and simply concludes that now is a great time for them to lose, and trots out the thing most likely to achieve that.
It is a monster somewhat like Go'yavec, but smaller -- with Gonglee's head, Diriver's legs... and so, so many heads. Many of them are kaiju Tsutsujidai's defenders would recognize. Some are not. Are these failed designs? Kaiju that were used before Tsutsujidai opened just a crack?
Whatever they are, they are now this singular entity. It teleports -- yes, teleports -- from place to place with inhuman speed, peppering the Tsutsujidai that its defenders have tried so hard to rebuild with fireballs and heat rays.
The genre-savvy might recognize the silhouette -- and the basic design concept -- from the end of Tarabaman Flash. It's a logical one when you have lots of slightly damaged suits and need to create something scary enough to sit at the end of the show -- a monster made of all the old monsters.
KTS: Amuro_Ray has deployed as a Boss for 3 opponents. KTS: Alexis_Kerib has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents. KTS: Guy Shishioh has deployed in GaoGaiGar. KTS: Lina Lombardi has deployed in Lion 500.
KTS: Orpheus Zevon has deployed in Type-01/C Byakuen. KTS: Domon Kasshu has deployed in GF04-017NJII God Gundam.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
'-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
A kaiju's roar splits the air, cracks the earth. Strapped into a mobile suit, hair wild, earrings glittering, no longer clad in that familiar suit... Ennil El hears Akane Shinjo scream.
Ennil El hears Akane Shinjo scream, and it startles her, to hear this way. She has always told herself that she didn't know how.
Ennil El hears Akane Shinjo scream and she hears another scream, a scream that never left her heart, that lived there eight years, years where Ennil El did not live in her own heart because there was no more room for her inside it.
She watches through viewscreens as so many people, wonderful people, rush to the monster's side. As they scream and carve at the monster's shell, as they pry their way into Akane Shinjo's heart.
She feels miserable. She feels jealous. There is a word for hearts that care too much, that catch other people's pain in their teeth and gnaw at it, that feel and feel endlessly until they weigh your whole body down to the earth.
When hearts like that are pried free from their shells, they bleed.
Ennil El turns away from Akane Shinjo. She stops hearing. The monster roars. She roars back. She clutches at the controls, but...
Skoll's blades descend, carving into her at the shoulders, the back, plunging into her wrists, a sickening parody of a Beast of Possibility. The wolf resents its lashing, tricked into accepting ephemeral chains. It bites flesh, as promised. It tears it away and stains its teeth.
She chokes out a ragged gasp. Her eyes snap open, the cockpit flooding with amber light. Slowly, it catches in those shining lenses. It bleeds, and bleeds, orange over blue. The machine cranes its neck. Skoll looks out onto crumbling Tsutsujidai with eyes of glimmering gold, blazing trails of blood-red sunlight. The poison drips. Drips. Drips. It fills her eyes and mouth. No upturned hands offer mercy. She may scream and thrash, but she will not be heard. She bought the wolf's freedom with her own.
The Braves will stand against her. Their friends will try to stop her. Skoll welcomes it. The tender taste of heroic hearts. It leaps forward, pressing towards the Galeoria Pliers, no longer pretending to be anything so plain as a Mobile Suit, or so ephemeral as a ghost. This is a terrible monster. It moves with inhuman speed, legs flaring at the ankle each time it bounds across shattering concrete, surprisingly tender with the ruins of Tsutsujidai themselves... But already the patchwork shrapnel of its skin hovers off the frame in a cloud of knives.
It is not surprising that she moves with such speed. The one chasing her comes close, and there is no escape for her except to run.
< BGM: https://youtu.be/CO7xEGZZNNc >
KTS: Ennil El has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El uses lucky charm KTS: Ennil El has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has deployed in Gridman Sigma. KTS: Takeshi_Todo has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents. KTS: Ennil_El has deployed as a Boss for 3 opponents. KTS: Takeshi Todo has placed a bucket with capacity 4! KTS: BSYS: Takeshi Todo has cleared their bucket. KTS: Takeshi Todo has placed a bucket with capacity 4! KTS: Shota Hebikura has joined Takeshi Todo's bucket! KTS: Qivi has joined Takeshi Todo's bucket! KTS: Gai Kurenai has joined Takeshi Todo's bucket! KTS: Zan has joined Takeshi Todo's bucket! KTS: Alexis Kerib has placed a bucket with capacity 4! KTS: Amuro Ray has placed a bucket with capacity 3! KTS: Jana Cektru has joined Alexis Kerib's bucket! KTS: Sayla Mass has joined Amuro Ray's bucket! KTS: Ennil El has placed a bucket with capacity 3! KTS: Lina Lombardi has joined Amuro Ray's bucket! KTS: Takeshi Todo has placed a bucket with capacity 4! KTS: Shota Hebikura has joined Takeshi Todo's bucket! KTS: Qivi has joined Takeshi Todo's bucket! KTS: Gridman has joined Alexis Kerib's bucket! KTS: Guy Shishioh has joined Alexis Kerib's bucket! KTS: Gai Kurenai has joined Takeshi Todo's bucket! KTS: Zan has joined Takeshi Todo's bucket! KTS: Orpheus Zevon has joined Ennil El's bucket! KTS: Domon Kasshu has joined Amuro Ray's bucket! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has joined Ennil El's bucket! <Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.
Some things occur as a consequence of a sequence of intimately connected and personally harrowing events. A growing pain leads to an open wound that screams bloody murder in the face of mounting abuse and is transformed into something threatening and other. The appearance of an ES Window in Tsutsujidai, tearing open the already-crumbling sky and depositing the Conqueror King Nu Gundam is a lot more simple: There is an ongoing event that threatens the "productive" end of the universe and someone has been scrambled to address it as soon as possible. As it had before, the Nu Gundam brings with it a feeling of weariness that seeps into its surroundings and worms its way towards the minds of those who grow too close, though it has lightened since the moments in which it first appeared. Axis Shock is farther behind the pilot, and although it would be an exaggeration to say that healing has occurred, at the very least things are not quite so raw.
The Conquerer King Nu Gundam rises from the kneel that it fell to, and immediately its funnels depart from its rack, dispersing across the strange and damaged dream-world that surrounds it. It forms a perimeter around the Gundam, a passive threat to anyone or anything that should approach, though it is not opening fire just yet.
It is not doing ANYTHING just yet.
The psychic presence of Amuro Ray extends uneasily across Tsutsujidai, flinching at the grand spike of suffering that only just passed-- if it can be said to have passed at all. He lets out a long, low sigh as the texture of it rolls across his spirit. It is not empty. It is not pointless. His own miracle hadn't been either, but this one is deeply troubling and raw. He doesn't know what to call it or compare it to, but the texture of his particular miracle is so riddled with pain that he neglects his surroundings.
No dreadful opening volley comes, as Amuro Ray marvels at the suffering of yet another child swept up in the wake of miracles.
KTS: Garrod Ran has joined Ennil El's bucket! KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Lina Lombardi!
<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.
So hey speaking of entities that serve the true and proper ordered cycle of the kalpas.
Another being falls out of the very same ES window that had disgorged the Conqueror King, Nu Gundam. Well. 'Falls.' It's really more of a 'translation.' The entity seems to fold two-dimensionally out of the multidimensional egress gate, hinging upward like a bad MegaSoft WorkWand stock animation. It is something that resembles far too much the being that would save this world and fix its goddess' broken heart.
It is a Gridman. One who many here would be familiar with. One who burns with cosmic fire. A Vessel filled not with light, nor the hiss-pop of electrical communication, but with the yolk of the Universal Egg.
It is, of course, Gridman Sigma.
The aura it emits is not one of regret and weariness, but simply one of duty which must be done. A hardness of will that had not been present before.
The last time he was here, he allowed himself to be distracted-- and lost a good friend in the process. Not this time.
"Finally," Sigma sighs, his voice reverberating with a metallic edge. "I was beginning to fear that we would never have a chance to set this pocket-world ablaze. Well. One way or another, now that it has joined with he rest of creation, it must be <<Returned to Light>> as well."
Sigma turns meaningfully towards Amuro-- a new and somewhat familiar comrade. "...Take it easy, Ray. You're still not quite at your best. But I hope you won't go easy on them, either."
Sigma gestures, a sword and shield materializing out of brilliant cosmogone wireframe in either hand. "Right then. Come on. It's time for all of you to return to your origin."
<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
There's an awful lot that Garrod has missed while he's been on the edges of things. Planning, plotting, people figuring out how to reconnect Tsutsujidai with the world outside the PLANT's isolated space ... friendships, and more, fraying or being reinforced.
Garrod's here because of promises he dared to make - stuff he got drawn into, fights he chose to get involved in, stuff that he decided he needed to help see through. But for all his grit and determination and good nature, he's still bad at connecting with people. He's trying to get better at it, to his credit, but it takes more than good intentions to actually make friends.
Making enemies is, to his chagrin, a *lot* easier. Garrod knows enough not to make them unnecessarily - and when he recognized Ennil in the garden after everyone was trapped in the city, he was hoping he might be able to pick away at "enemy" status, even a little, while they had the chance. Seeing her suit contort, eyes changing color, Skoll leap at the others -
Akane has plenty of people reaching out to her, trying to break her out of the kaiju form she's trapped in. Garrod's jaw clenches, and he leans into the Gundam X's controls; in response, the gleaming white robot with its lopsided-seeming "wings" executes its own leap, chasing after Skoll. Chasing after Ennil. "Hey!!" he calls out, at a loss for what else to say or ask or yell at the mercenary.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
In perfect harmony, all five Hyper Agents hold their arms forward, then raise them vertically. "Access... Flash!" Consumed by light, they vanish into Junk.
Akane's scream pierces the city. Though his heart twists to hear it, Gridman can only put his faith in his companions. If anyone can reach Akane Shinjo, it's Rikka. Gridman's role in this battle is to protect the city he's grown to love so much.
Full-Powered Gridman appears in the streets before the... mash-up kaiju. It quickly teleports away, but not before Gridman and his comrades get a good look.
For once, Borr isn't the first to comment on the situation. "No way Akane made this." Gridman says, his voice echoing across the city. "But that's all the more reason we need to stop it! Now, of all times!"
"We are with you, Gridman!" Max responds, with the other Neon Genesis Junior High Students chiming in with a "Right!"
With the horrible combination kaiju teleported away, ther'e a moment of peace, for the Giant of Light. He glances across the city, watching the enormous form of the other kaiju rampaging.
"Rikka..." Gridman brings both hands over his heart. "You can do this. We all believe in you."
An explosion rattles the city. Gridman turns away, forcing himself to focus on the battle at hand. As his own allies join the fight, Gridman raises Calibur high.
"Everyone! Please, lend us your strength once more!" He shouts, robotic voice echoing with something so human. "Together, we can restore this city to its proper place and return you all to your homes! No matter what stands before us, it cannot overcome our united strength!"
As if in mockery of Gridman's words, a wolf descends, and a fallen hero steps through a tear in reality. Gridman's brother, lost in the light of dawn, follows closely behind. Deiwardas teleports again, causing more destruction with its massive form. There's too many foes. Each one deadly important, but he's only one being. Slowly lowering his sword, the Giant of Light locks his focus on the kaiju.
All he can do is trust his comrades.
"Fight bravely." He adds, quietly. A reassurance for himself, more than anyone else.
KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Pass! KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Gridman's Pass, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla hears it. Feels it. The scream. Akane's scream of pain and fear as she is transformed against her will. The feeling runs down her spine, mixed with her own fear for the girl. In the cockpit of the Dijeh, she shivers. "Anti... Rikka... Save her."
She can't be there. Her job is to help protect 3G's plan.
The psychoframe fragment sits in her holster, her sidearm stashed in the cockpit, not as though she expects it will be much use. Her suit crouches, waiting, the Boxer Shotcannon at the ready. She's waiting-
She can feel him.
She can see him, descending from the ES Window. She won't make the same mistakes again. Leina's not going to be in danger this time. People are here who can help.
"Domon. Remember what I asked you to do."
"<Heart-2 to all forces,>" comes the encoded, distorted voice over the Dijeh's comms. "<Engaging Amuro Ray and the Nu Gundam.>"
The Dijeh dashes forward from cover. He's not broadcasting that horrible thought anymore. Maybe, maybe she can... A comm laser fires toward the Nu. "Amuro!" Just speaking to him now... "What happened to you!? What happened after the Axis Shock? Answer me!"
It's not just a communication, though. She's uploading a jamming virus to the Gundam at the same time. They need all the advantages they can get.
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Amuro Ray with Jam! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
Being on reconstruction duty as well as helping to give people something to do, Zan was very much out there when everything went to hell in a hand basket. Again. Last few times he was too far away or conserving his power. This time? He's nearly caught in the crossfire of a teleporting kaiju! That has him launch off the tracks after making sure there was no one seriously hurt nearby.
Launching off the railways, the Iron Railer jets into the sky where Zan's sensors can get a better idea of what is going on. Confusion is in his mind as he tries to figure out just what happened.
The sight and readings of Triple Zero, however, has the newest Brave turning his attention that way. The odd Gundam is an unknown, but the one that he does know? That has his attention. Gridman Sigma.
"Triple Zero detected. Safety release." Zan says over the short range communications.
"RAIL CHANGE!" The ORCA craft disengages, flying up and changing into the head of the massive Iron Zanrailer.
As for the train itself, it follows commands perfectly. Jets fire as blue electricity sparks to keep the entire unit together and guide it into place. The engine folds in, changing into the torso. The first two cars line up at the shoulders and extend to give arm movement. The second two extend and form a pair of legs. Once it finishes combining, the head comes down and a pair of thrusters on the back fire off to start bringing it down.
Once it touches down, the massive robot raises it's arms, almost flexing it seems as the electricty dies down and the engine turbine gives an almost roar as it powers itself.
"IRON ZANRAILER - GROUND RAIL MODE!" The robot intones as it brings it's arms down.
Pointing at Gridman Sigma, Iron Zanrailer has only one other thing to say at the moment, "You will not succeed, Ruin Apostle. We will stop you."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Things are getting tense in Tsutsujidai. The Britannian encampment is getting belligerent, especially as Black Knights within Tsutsujidai begin fomenting conflict. The likelihood of very serious clashes that will tear this fragile place apart are only increasing, second by second.
Fortunately, the Galeoria Pliers are complete. It's essentially impossible to test them properly, but, deep in the belly of Wadatsumi, several sets of Carpenters are assembled into a set of several Dimension Pliers, each bracketing the same point in space. The room buzzes and hums, even with the system just at a testing power level.
Guy Shishioh looks up at the battle device from the floor, arms crossed. "Alright. Once this test is done, we should be ready to go wh--"
A notice from the Branch Order Room, Yamaji stammering, "SOMETHING just happened over on the other side of town!"
"Alright. That's our cue, then! I'm coming up--!"
"UHHH MAYBE BETTER NOT!" Yamaji yelps, and sends a signal down to the main screen in the engineering bay - of a massive kaiju, quadrapedal, wriggling necks attached to familiar heads, looming in the midst of the vast circuitlike plain standing between Tsutsujidai's neighborhood limits and the mountain at the PLANT's center. "Think our boy's got our scent, Chief!"
"Agreed," Guy says, and taps a knuckle against the screen to remote-request-and-authorize Final Fusion.
"Get the Mobile Team in the air! Alouette's busy, but GaoGaiGo and GaoGaiGar are heading out ahead of us!"
*
Minutes later,GaoGaiGar is flying fully formed out of the Wadatsumi's Mirror Catapult screaming straight toward the kaiju that blocks their way. "We only have minutes to get this thing under control!" Guy calls. "Once the concert starts, we're on the clock! Usshi, how's the Pliers!?"
"Holding up!" the fourth Ushiyama calls over from the Wadatsumi's engineering bay. "The shock bracing's the best we can get without a total friction decoupling, so just worry about not cracking the ship in half!"
Yamaji wheezes up in the Branch Order Room, where he is only accompanied by Urchin Prickle and Hinoki Sai. Yamaji is sitting at the Mobile Operator panel because it's the one that needs to be manned during an operation the most, especially while Hinoki and Urchin are busy making sure the ongoing operation goes smoothly. "Oh, were we not worried about that yet?" he mutters, pressing his heat pad against his back.
Guy doesn't reply, because he's busy orienting GaoGaiGar, the King of Braves shifting its weight as it cruises directly toward the monstrous target. "...guess I know what Akane was talking about, now. Designating target, CK-15!"
"Designating target as classification Cognitive Kaiju, number 15," Yamaji replies. "Guess we'll figure out the STORAGE nominative designation later, huh?"
Guy's reply is a "YOOOOSHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" of battle entry, as he thrusts GaoGaiGar's leg forward to execute the mother of all leg drops on the writhing hydra below!
"ALEXIS KERIB! Finally feeling the heat, are you!?"
Guy falls, but, even as that happens...
"Wait, no! Reading Z0-Similar all over the field! The Ruin Apostles are here!"
Prickle takes over, since Guy is now screaming his lungs out. "We'll be their target. If the Pliers go catastrophically wrong, it'd be, uh, let's call it bad and pretend that's adequate. Everyone, keep them off our backs!"
KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Alexis Kerib with Axe Kick! KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayla Mass jams Amuro Ray's sensors, reducing his accuracy. <Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon Kasshu's mouth flickered between a worried grimace and a feral grin. The immense pressure of the corrupted Nu Gundam and its pilot encased within inspired such conflicting emotions within him. Fear. Awe. Excitement. An eagerness to trade blows with a man who's carved his own name into cosmic legend. Yet...this was not how it should be. It was a farce, a mockery of the combat Domon had idly daydreamed of since the time he'd first heard of Amuro Ray.
Instead, what presented before the King of Heart was diseased, impure, wrong. With Triple 0's sinister influence, the man who pushed back extinction might as well be naught more than an organic component of the Conqueror Nu Gundam, a shriveled husk clinging to unlife that was being puppeteered by entropic malice. This wasn't right...and Domon would make it a point to challenge Amuro to a proper duel once he beat Triple 000 from his body and soul alike.
Gathering his focus, Domon retreated inwards. No holding back. Not against an enemy of this caliber. Otherwise...
Death.
Time slowed to a crawl as the Fighter of Fighters sank into the familiar embrace of Meikyo Shisui. Fear ascended into stillness, awe reborn as steely focus, excitement reborn as clarity of purpose. Color and definition melted away from Domon's eyes as they reopened, stark white, with a faint glow to them.
This feeling...it'd been so long. When was the last time? When he had faced down the Devil Gundam, Rain in his arms? A slight frown etched itself on Domon's face as the God Gundam assumed a fighting stance, the King of Heart sigil glowing on its reactor core, daring the White Devil to come and strike it.
"Amuro Ray!" The intercom on the God Gundam bellowed throughout the battlefield, the mere call of their a name a roar of challenge, "This is not how you are meant to be, and this is not how I wished to finally duel you. When we've brought you back, we will duel again, properly. For now...take this!"
Almost as immediately as the declaration ended, the God Gundam bolted at the Conqueror Nu Gundam, cocking its arm back for a rapid strike.
Watch, world. This is how we warriors greet one another.
KTS: Domon Kasshu targets Amuro Ray with God Flash! KTS: Domon Kasshu has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Axe Kick, taking 2775 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Alexis Kerib! <Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
All hell was breaking loose in Tsutsujidai. Lina was already on her way to the ReLion when a shock runs through the air, catching her cold. Her head throbs, a sensation that she hadn't felt for a month, perception she had lost since being trapped in the walled garden, an all too familiar sensation.
AMURO RAY.
As if things weren't bad enough.
That psychic shock, so to say, couldn't come at a worse time. Or, Sonia briefly thinks, before she goes temporarily blank- Wasn't it the best? Leaping up from her place out in the open where she was knitting, the petite captain barrels her way towards the edge of Tsutsujidai and nearly bowls over one of her crew on the way.
"Captain, we won't-"
"I know! Who is closest that I know?"
"Uh... Miss Lombardi, I think! That way, ma'am!"
"LINA!" Lina breaks out of her stupor and looks up. Sonia was rushing straight towards her. "Let me in!"
"Sonia?! What are you doing out here? ...Ugh, nothing for it. Squeeze in."
Lina opens the hatch and hops in, giving room for the small NERV captain to get in. "Hope you don't get airsick!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1feWsXW3uU
The green ReLion streaks through the sky, Lina's eyes narrowing as she sees the Nu Gundam. That was him, alright. She'd been waiting for this day, but didn't expect it to come this soon. "AMURO RAY, YOU BASTARD! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, I'M GONNA GET YOU BACK FOR TORRINGTON!"
This was the first time she had taken the ReLion out in a real battle, but she was acquainted enough with its systems from test flights. She holds out the railgun on its left arm and fires a single shot towards the Nu Gundam.
KTS: Lina Lombardi targets Amuro Ray with Burst Railgun Shot! KTS: Lina Lombardi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
The scream shatters the air. It rips apart buildings. A howling shockwave crackles through Tsutsujidai's streets, a car tumbling towards a group of children as, with their kindergarten teacher, they try to make for the shelters set up by NERV in the wake of the city's fall into the void. One of the boys, clutching a ball tight to his chest, wrenches his eyes tight shut and screams for help. Tiny lungs have no hope of overcoming Akane Shinjo's/Zegga's howl of despair...
... Yet he is heard. Unmistakably.
A blur of brown and black passes the group of children, throwing itself at the car. It swings - an arm? and strikes the airborne vehicle before it can make even more tragedy in this struggling place. The shockwave blasts the wrecked vehicle safely away - and Gai Kurenai drops to the ground in front of the group, shaking out his right arm and wincing.
Pulling himself to his feet as his hat floats down to settle on the head of the boy who cried for his help, he smiles, as though everything's fine. "I told you I promised, didn't I? Now - get out of here!"
"Wh-what about you, mister?" The boy calls out as the teacher hustles the children away.
"I'll be fine," Gai replies quietly as he turns to look up at Zegga, hand dropping to and opening the holster of cards at his hip, as his left withdraws from the folds of his coat a strange device topped with a crystalline ring. "I'm not alone."
As the children are bundled to safety, Gai thrusts the Orb Ring up towards Zegga, and with a pulse of light he vanishes.
Inside the burst of light, time slows to a crawl, and as his Inner Space glimmers like an amethyst cosmos, Gai draws the first card in a long time from his holster, calling out the name of the legendary figure on its face as he scans it in the Orb Ring: "Ultraman-san!"
Blue particles of light spray from the card suspended in the centre of the crystalline ring, coalescing on Gai's right into that very figure as the ring's Voice of Light announces: ULTRAMAN!. Yet Gai is not done; a second card is drawn and named ("Tiga-san!") and scanned, golden particles coalescing on his left into the shape of, as the Voice of Light proclaims: ULTRAMAN TIGA!
"I'm borrowing the power," Gai calls, thrusting the Orb Ring to the cosmos as the images of Ultramen flanking him match his pose, "of your lights!" FUSION UP! The Orb Ring's crystal flashes blue, then gold, then sparkling amethyst. The images at his flank swirl into light and pour into Gai as his own Ultra self appears like armour over his body, transmuting Ultraman Orb to a form clad in rich navy blues and reds, with an amethyst crystal marking a line down the fore of his helm, pairing well with the sky-blue ring-shaped crystal borne proudly on his chest.
Thrusting his right fist up as he grows dramatically in stature, thus does ULTRAMAN ORB: SPACIUM ZEPERION! Rise to meet this danger.
But high up now, able to see the battlefield in full, it becomes clear that Zegga already has defenders facing her - defenders better suited to reaching the heart of the girl Gai Kurenai has never met, whose shell of rejection Ultraman Orb does not have the tools to sunder. Towards the central mountain of the PLANT, though, darkness swirls against the light making its push - Alexis Kerib's malice given form in kaiju blended together, and other darknesses limmed by a burning orange light.
((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4AlEnGUFnk))
Ultraman Orb Spacium Zeperion finally materialises, dropping down out of the sky and landing on one knee besides GaoGaiGar as a ripple of amethyst light cascades beautifully from his core. Standing, he lowers his hands to his sides, and declares in an echoing noble tone: "I am Orb! I light the darkness, and strike at evil! Gutsy Galaxy Guard: I pledge myself to your fight, today!"
Shining crystalline eyes meet the gaze of Gridman Sigma across the battlefield. "... Ruin Apostle..." He points. "I'm going to stop you here!" That said, Ultraman Orb strides towards the Dawn-suffused Hyper Agent, rolling his shoulders before launching himself forwards for a flying punch!
KTS: Gai Kurenai targets Takeshi Todo with Orb Leaping Strike! KTS: Gai Kurenai has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
Gridman calls upon their strength, and Jana, now inhabiting her Ichinana's cockpit, nods sharply. She focuses her mind upon Gridman, and communicates to him--to all of the Hyper Agents--that, "You will not be alone. We are with you!"
Then her machine starts its steps forward. She has to consider how to predict this monster's rapid teleporting attacks. But...
"Miss Shinjo needs us," Jana says simply. "...And we will not let her down. Neither her, nor the others trapped in this place!"
SHe has done her best to help out with the preparations--but now, it's time to get her hands in. If she's going to be here, if she's going to be part of this...
"For these humans, we will fight!"
"Chief Shishioh! I'm with you!"
She doesn't go immediately for the Ultraseven Array. Instead, Jana pulls her Ichinana's machine gun and starts unloading right for the place where Guy has slammed down a forceful attack. "Now!"
KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Jana Cektru targets Alexis Kerib with Ichinana MG Burst! KTS: Jana Cektru has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zan targets Takeshi Todo with Leg Lasers! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
The world is collapsing - and reforging. The sky is breaking - and repairing. Something vast and indescribable is changing Tsutsujidai, this little bottle of a world that's changed so much for so many people.
There's a tension flickering across the air that anyone could taste.
...and Seolla's first instinct, tucked away in bed, is to ignore it. To wait until it needs her. To huddle up and await a call. It isn't her place to 'care' about the world - it takes everything just to care for those close to her, and it's taken twice what she has to take care of herself.
A pillow held close to her heart. Tighter. Tighter. What, exactly, about the breaching skies and coiling of dimensions can Seolla do anything about? What - when she's so incredibly weak! What about this has a single reason to push harder when she's given it her all just to stay alive...?
...a voice. Faint. Distant. Small. Barely more than a whisper. Jealousy. Fear. Running as fast as possible. Somewhere. In the inky black abyss dotted with nodes of blinding light - a hand is weakly grasping out.
...to her.
Seolla denies it for a while. Surely not to her. Who would it even be-? Who could she even help?
But it lingers there. Amidst the quaking and roar of kaiju tearing apart this fragile little hourglass, it's the one sound Seolla can't ignore.
Eyes squeezed shut. Desperate for there to be any other way...but...how can she ignore it? It's the only thing she's known how to never, ever ignore.
"...aaaaaah, damn it-!!! Nothing had better get in my way on this!!" Sheets tossed aside, Seolla hastily gets herself dressed and prepared for this one calling that she can endure...
Not long after, procuring a deep blue Taurus after a lot of running around and offering assistance to a damaged Britannian transport, Seolla's taken to the skies, watching the world erupt from beneath her. Trying to find the one who's tiniest voice resonated. ...Is it there-? Near those pliers anchoring the world together, the monstrous yet mechanical wolf blazing a trail to undo everything that's been fought for?
"...You...I can hear your voice in there. Even as quiet as it is!!" Seolla calls as loudly as she can, as the Taurus divebombs towards the Skoll - the rifle beneath its frame blazing out a hailing shot to get herself in closer. "...everyone here has reached out far too much for me to just ignore it! I...the one thing I can do, if someone's starting to drown, is reach in as far as I can...!!!"
KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Ennil El with Taurus Beam Rifle Maneuver Shot! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
With everything going on - the 'concert' which she knows little about, the Carpenters, the plan - one thing, at least, is very clear to Qivi: They are approaching the end of the stand-off in Tsutsujidai. One way or the other, things are coming to a head.
And that means she has to give it her all when she's needed, just like she promised. She has to protect it - the city, now, as well as the people in it.
As a giant, there's only so many places Qivi can stay in Tsutsujidai. One of those is something that *used* to be a parking lot, but nobody has been using it lately. It was underground but it had a surprisingly high ceiling; Qivi suspected it was a side effect of it being moved to a PLANT, a pocket down into the lower sections of the colony. Though she could only crawl in, once inside it was tall enough for her to stand, if not for her to stretch her hands over her head.
There was a robot in there, too. The robot couldn't even stand up. It sat, red and polished and complete.
Qivi looked up at it. She'd made that thing herself, from scraps and salvage. Just like Sarangay. But this meant something different. Sarangay meant freedom; she had built it when she'd run away to make her own life. This one meant acceptance... of herself, if nothing else. But likely more than that.
She ran her hand across one of its legs, patted it on the side. "You and me," she says, taking a deep breath and then letting it out as the front hatch opened. Qivi started to pull herself inside, dropping down into the waiting embrace of the Meltrandi-scale cockpit.
---
Some moments later, a red thing explodes upward through a parking lot. It wasn't quite empty, because Qivi had been using it to store useful parts from scrapped buildings in case it ever became relevant; plywood and furniture tumble down through the new hole, shaped like a crater in reverse. She had been intending to get out the slow way, but the distorted scream galvanized her.
The machine that bursts upwards through the parking lot is about fifteen meters tall - smaller than most Mobile Suits, bigger than she is macronized. Red and white, the strange shapes - smooth curves rather than hard lines, flared fins, long narrow antenna - give it an insectile feel even though it's perfectly bipedal. A pair of almost horn-shaped cutters pop out of a second, rear-set pair of shoulders, and the unit is clawed, taloned, and even has barbs on its knees.
It is also clenching a chain with a spiked hammerhead affixed to one end, dangling below it as it leaps out, landing on a clearer part of parking lot.
"Oh *shit*," is Qivi's first verdict once she sees the situation. She's fought 000 before - Goldymarg, here - but only one, never three and what appears to be a mutant kaiju. Though she is unsettled by them, she doesn't let that slow her down. Once she's touched down, she brings up her machine's left arm, and the elbow guard pops open along a nearly invisible seam. Inside is a cluster of micromissiles pointing every which way, which she fires in a large arc up at... a Gridman? But not quite the Gridman she recognizes.
"Hey!" Qivi's voice sounds, louder even than usual. "If you're going to return this place to light, you'll have to go through me and my Minokawa. I've already fought against that once!"
KTS: Qivi targets Takeshi Todo with Micromissile Launch! KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alexis Kerib successfully evades Jana Cektru's Ichinana MG Burst KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Lina Lombardi's Burst Railgun Shot, taking 2590 damage! KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Domon Kasshu's God Flash, taking 840 damage! KTS: Domon Kasshu has engaged Amuro Ray! KTS: Domon Kasshu begins a Formation attack! KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.
There is no verbal response to Gridman Sigma by the Conquror King Nu Gundam, but it does turn its head and a feeling emanates from it, as if to ask: What do you think my best is? It's more than a little detached as a response, though. No fire, no real aggravation. A subtle undercurrent of encouragement follows, as the mission that they're here to see through is still vital to the survival of potential reality. Even so, the Nu Gundam remains relatively still and does not advance proactively-- it is not until another presence enters the battlefield that it even enters a defensive posture, bringing its shield up to the ready. His weariness intensifies as Sayla's presence registers on the edges of his consciousness and then begins to grow closer. The first time, he tried to get rid of her quickly because he knew that she could stop him. Maybe not martially -- perhaps, but not as assuredly as in the other way -- but certainly spiritually. She could stop him, by eroding his spirit.
She's doing it here, now, like a premonition come true.
'What happened to you!?' she asks.
The Nu Gundam faces the Dijeh. Alerts sound as the virus begins to gum up mechanisms, and Amuro Ray simply tries to show her. He's become numbed, as a Newtype-- he knows that much. From the beginning, to Axis Shock, to now-- so he isn't entirely certain he can connect to her the way he wants to. But he tries to show her, from one moment to the next. Axis. The rainbow. What's beyond. And-- emerging again, 'years' later but only moments for himself. Suddenly aware, and confronted with the meaninglessness of the situation.
Do you understand?
He doesn't expect her to. Truthfully, he doesn't fully understand either, while simultaneously wholly grasping why he is doing what he's doing and why it is necessary. It is a frustrating subjective experience, and not one that he can force on somebody else, even if he 'shows' as much as can be processed through newtype communication.
Another presence approaches, intent on combat-- not just now, but again as well. No verbal response meets Domon Kasshu, but a wave of disgust meets the calls to future challenge. It resolves into a nonverbal response: I don't want to.
The Nu Gundam raises its physical shield to catch the blow from the God Gundam against it, its funnels spinning about rapidly and projecting a bright orange shield of their own to further ablate the damage. The machine kicks backwards, firing its thrusters and circling to one side as it repeats the same defensive maneuver-- with less success -- against Lina's rail gun. The shot pierces through the shield and scores into the shoulder of the machine behind it, sending chunks of armor flying into the surroundings.
The array of funnels re-configure themselves, bursting through the air to attain multiple overlapping angles of fire on each of the trio of combatants fighting the Nu Gundam, raining down a hellish hail of fire before repositioning and renewing the effort. It is not the effort of a warrior with their heart in the thing; it is a cool and detached reaction to being pressed and needing to respond with force immediately.
The presence within the Nu Gundam says nothing, but it does reach out towards Lina. The feeling is apologetic; not about what's happening now in particular, but certainly about something. Torrington, probably.
KTS: Amuro Ray: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Amuro Ray targets Sayla Mass, Lina Lombardi, and Domon Kasshu with Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage.
<Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.
The night before the climax of emotions and need, a man named Shota Hebikura and a man named Kurenai Gai had sat besides each other in the temporary garden near the park and talked. Some of the topics had been a long time coming - and some of those topics were the new nightmares fresh and first upon their now-shared world. The parts of space that talked about the Illusion Demon and the Sunset Wanderer speculated any number of intense confrontations, after so long away.
The reality was far more mundane.
They talked about 'work'.
Sitting underneath a well-cared-for tomato plant, Hebikura rested his wrist against the rise of his knee and looked out into the ceiling. His eyes focused farther, on a place that didn't exist in the same universe - discounting the reality collapse and the spilled bowl of Tsutsujidai.
"Gai." The man who took the name Shota Hebikura broke his silence. "You're not allowed to lose these next fights. Even once. Because..."
Hebikura's neck hangs. "I need your help. To break a pattern I've become a part of. So. Ultraman. I'm asking for your help."
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
A cry for help that was audible to everyone, shared in the masses of Kaiju that appeared. It hadn't ever been Jugglus Juggler's role to race through a city to make it to a giant, but in the crumbling city, it was the job of Shota Hebikura - a Defense Team captain - to race towards danger. In the shadow of the Light of Orb (Literal, as Ultraman Orb flies down to confront the Ruin Apostle, Hebikura draws his own ring, of a different color, rattling into focus in his hand from an uncertain darkness. It had been quite a while since the ring had been close to touching for him.
Now it was time for proving. Pulling out a card, the dark haired man sweeps out his plastic-shiny red ring. "Zetton-san!" The card, rainbow-slick foil, transmutes into growing red particles of light as it 'scans' through the ring's O, growing to a hazy image of a large black and yellow biped.
"Pandon-san!" Hebikura announces, scanning a second card. The scattering of red energy sweeps around Hebikura's other flank to image a tremendous faux-spikey-firey-feathery Bird Object with two beaked heads.
"I'm borrowing your dark power - to fulfil a promise." Rising the ring, he disappears in a sky-soaring jump of cardinal light.
What crashes down in a booming pillar of dark electricity from a stormy sky and no ES Ring at all, a massive roaring lizard with a central shark-like head, and two keening side-beaked 'ears'. Great pauldrons of faux fire-feather-flameand two yellow energy jewels on the chest flash and 'bwooo-ooon!' in triumph.
Orb begins with a flying punch. The Combined Lord Monster - Zeppandon - starts by just shooting the hell out the 'corrupted' Sigma with a fusillade of medium-sized energy blasts (from the chest) and beams (from the ears)!
KTS: Shota Hebikura has deployed in Zeppandon. KTS: Shota Hebikura targets Takeshi Todo with Flame Shot! KTS: Shota Hebikura has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Takeshi Todo blocks Gai Kurenai's Orb Leaping Strike, taking 2900 damage! KTS: Gai Kurenai has engaged Takeshi Todo! KTS: Takeshi Todo successfully evades Zan's Leg Lasers
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
Ruin Disciples hurtle from the sky. Ennil El smiles - brave heroes can't resist showy things like that. She'll be the one to find the tender spots in GGG's plan, and sink her teeth in. Cosmic Law demands it - and with Akane in such misery...
She can't complete the thought. Even moreso when the Gundam X, of all things, begins pursuing her!
"So... someone is waiting for you, after all... I should've known, we're not alike at all..." she mutters, gunsmoke and green hair in her mind. A growl rattles in her throat. <"Hey?! Don't pretend we're friends! I'll send you on ahead, boy, and the Frieden after! I'm sure they won't mind meeting you in hell!">
The shimmering dawnlight on the Skoll shifts and gathers across its back, and with a flex of its shoulders (accompanied by another of those bounding leaps across Tsutsujidai's terrain), Garrod finds himself under a hail of shimmering golden beam fire!
A Taurus zips through the sky and rockets towards her, and... just like before, Ennil pivots, the Skoll skidding to a momentary stop as the flying mobile suit descends. But unlike last time, where she'd simply waited for the bird to come to her... It lunges, claws flashing, as Seolla approaches.
That faint voice groans in recognition, even as battle instinct compels a merciless response. "...it's you again, huh? I..."
Didn't want you to follow me...
<"You can't beat me like this. Fly away again - no one will cover you this time.">
KTS: Ennil El: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Ennil El targets Garrod Ran with Shield-Stored Gatling Cannon Spray! KTS: Takeshi Todo blocks Qivi's Micromissile Launch, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Ennil El targets Seolla Schweizer with Wolf's Nail Slash! KTS: Takeshi Todo charges into the attack! KTS: Takeshi Todo partially guards Shota Hebikura's Flame Shot, taking 1665 damage! KTS: Ennil El has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to evade Ennil El's Wolf's Nail Slash, taking 4950 damage! KTS: Ennil El has engaged Seolla Schweizer! KTS: Garrod Ran fails to Evade Ennil El's Shield-Stored Gatling Cannon Spray, taking 5880 damage! KTS: Ennil El: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Amuro Ray rattles Sayla Mass, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Sayla Mass fails to Evade Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage, taking 4836 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Amuro Ray's Something I Can Never Take Back activates, causing Nullify!
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
The endless dream has fully given way to a bottomless nightmare. Perhaps if he had acted to end it sooner while it was still pleasant, things would have turned out differently. In the end, however, it's not his place to deprive people of their experiences. This might be the lowest point possible, but despite that, everyone here has been learning. Growing. Fighting. Even Akane, who should have given in to Algernon, is no exception. Though, admittedly, it may be because she was never a seed bed in the first place.
The space above Deiwardas begins cracking and tearing, pulling away to make room as a massive behemoth descends from it. The conglomeration of Betterman. To some, it's known as Bettermen, but it's real name is...
CATAPHRACT
The name is announced aggressively across the Limpid channel as the creature continues to free fall for admittedly perhaps too long, getting dangerously close to just straight up divebombing straight into the weird mishappen kaiju. Just when it seems like it though, its wings unfurl, helping to break its fall just a bit as it stretches one of its massive legs out to deliver a weighty kick to one of the many heads the sad-looking kaiju sports.
KTS: Lamia: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Lamia targets Alexis Kerib with Pondus Kick! KTS: Lamia has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Domon Kasshu has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Domon Kasshu charges into the attack! KTS: Amuro Ray rattles Domon Kasshu, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Domon Kasshu partially guards Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage, taking 4836 damage! KTS: [Mirage] Alexis Kerib's Discarded Kaiju's Instant Movement activates, and he slips into a mirage. KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Lamia's Pondus Kick, taking 0 damage! KTS: Lamia has engaged Alexis Kerib! KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Amuro Ray rattles Lina Lombardi, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Lina Lombardi fails to evade Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Over Barrage, taking 4836 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Amuro Ray's Something I Can Never Take Back activates, causing Nullify!
<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
"In hell?! What are you - CRAP!!!"
The Gundam X twists in mid-air, thrusters flaring to life as Garrod sees the beamfire *just* too late to actually avoid it; the barrage rakes over the mobile suit's armor, once-white scored and seared to blackness, several pieces getting blasted clear off from the intense volley. And the Gundam itself goes down hard, barely avoiding a line of buildings on its way into the street, slamming down almost hard enough to drown out Garrod's own yowl of pain when he's thrown against his cockpit's restraints.
"Agh ... ow ow ow ow ow ..." The messy-haired boy sucks in a breath, then wrestles with the controls, bringing his mobile suit upright again with a considerable effort. "I don't know what got into you, lady, or why your suit's moving like a kaiju ...."
As he speaks, Garrod glances over a quick diagnostic. Kid is going to *kill him* when he makes it back to the Freeden - but the important parts are all still working. The power receivers for the Satellite Cannon are in rotten shape - but the big gun isn't going to do much good here, anyway.
"... but I'm not leaving this alone!" finishes Garrod, lifting the GX's shield buster rifle and sniping at the warped mockery of a Doven Wolf.
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
Alexis can feel the effort to connect the small world to the large one; he is so bound up in this space, after all, even if it comes from Akane's heart. She may be the experimental subject, but Alexis's thumb rests on the scale.
He can also see the appearance of Heralds of Dawn in response to his movement. "Ah, it seems the Aura of Dawn will continue to reach this place... they must have been waiting for an opportunity."
Despite that, Alexis sees no reason to move. He has always been at his best when so static.
He does communicate with the agents of the end, however. "Well. Our interests don't align, but they do overlap. I see no reason to strike at you until our mutual foes are defeated."
It is all he spares for them, for now.
He has much more to say to the attackers, as Deiwardas roars with many mouths. Its foes approach -- and the first Alexis addresses is Gridman.
"Hooh -- so close to complete, are we?" Alexis chides, as one of the kaiju's mouths -- formerly Ghoulghilas's mouth -- yawns wide, loosing a fireball after a second of coalescence. "Your half-formed return to your prior self is likely the best you will ever muster, Gridman. Haven't you wondered why I refused to take your offer of a slice of your heart...?"
Guy comes in with an axe kick to the creature's side, and it howls in pain -- before whipping part of its frontal head around, revealing tentacles like Gonglee's. They whip at Guy, as Alexis says, "Evoluder! So nice of you to join in the fun. Enjoy your chance to observe the end of a world."
Jana's Ichinana fires its machine gun, and Deiwardas simply vanishes. Is it that simple?
Hardly. It forms together again behind Dr. Cektru's Ichinana, a claw digging in. "Hm. I do seem to recall Akane mentioning meeting you... and that armor is deliciously familiar, even as you place it on a smaller form. Surely you, too, can appreciate the value in imitation and recycling."
Alexis finds he cannot communicate with Lamia. The way he provisionally opts into being a creature of freedom from bonds precludes it -- all of Alexis's connections are about moving, not communication. "The Somnium is likely to be a problem," he muses, though -- so Deiwardas takes action, rounding on it. One of Cataphract's legs lances out to strike at the kaiju, and it scatters into a thousand tiny pieces -- only to reform just a few meters to the side of the Bettermen, delivering a blast of wind from another head that beats at the Bettermen. (This head is unfamiliar; perhaps it's a design Akane considered in another time and place.)
KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Gridman KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Ghoulghilas's Fireball! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Guy Shishioh with Gonglee's Tentacles! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Jana Cektru with Instantaneous Claw! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Lamia with Discarded Kaiju's Windblast! KTS: Alexis Kerib has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Garrod Ran targets Ennil El with Buster Rifle - Snipe! KTS: Garrod Ran has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Lamia's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Lamia blocks Alexis Kerib's Discarded Kaiju's Windblast, taking 2730 damage! KTS: Alexis Kerib repulses Lamia, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Gridman charges into the attack! KTS: Gridman successfully avoids Alexis Kerib's Ghoulghilas's Fireball
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"Lina?" Sonia asks, staring out the viewscreen as she finds her subpilot seat (if it exists, otherwise she's going to cram herself into a corner she's not likely to be thrown around from). "Lina, is that who I think it is?" She asks, staring at Amuro Ray's Gundam.
Ohhh boy. Ohhh Big Boy. Ultraman gets a side-eye and she mentally notes herself to find out who that is for future softball throwing practice. (She's the softball.) Deep in her seat, Sonia closes her eyes, teeth gritting momentarily. Then she opens them and wordlessly looks around for the comms system.
"Can I open the comms? Please, thank you." It's not really a question or request, but she also figures Lina's a bit too distracted to care.
"You know what they say? One stick by itself, is easily broken. Three sticks, together, are harder to break. We're all pilots here... but he is just one stick." An impossibly good one, at that, but her point stands. " Trust them. Coordinate." She whispers, her voice soft and encouraging.
<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.
Today should have been a good day. It was a day where there was no need for him. It was a day where he could have simply stayed in the shadows. He could have simply watched from a distance as Kaworu prepared for their concert. He could have indulged in the sweet sounds of a friend and those he had come to cherish...
Instead the world of Tsutsujidai is in pain with the screams of a distorted god. The sound that echoes where all can hear. Chaos only follows as Kaiju come out in droves. As if to accommodate the coming festivities a parade comes. A parade of Kaiju that litter the streets.
In the distance he can see the source of the pained voice. In all the chaos, there's a part of him that starts to realize enough of the situation, that Akane Shinjo was finally found, that her final battle had already begun. With so much agony escaping the call from her voice, a part of him wants to help. To intervene.
Though it's only as that intent slowly builds does he see him. He sees Gridman. One who not only responds to that call, but responds to it faster than any. Seeing him...Knowing that Kaworu was right, knowing that Yuta Hibiki is awake, he finds himself letting out a smile.
"I guess it'll be up to you and your alliance on whether or not the day will come I see that one again...For now..."
A monster...No, the creature before them has not earned the title of monster. After all this time...Somehow, the term 'monster' has earned its own caliber, its own proper usage. It is not a term to be thrown around so commonly, especially not for one that hasn't earned it. That is the discretion that Orpheus has come to acknowledge after his time interacting with that sole person from within Tsutsujidai.
It's a beast. That which attempts to reach the Galeoria Pliers. It moves with incredible speed for its prey, only to be interrupted as brave heroes itch the urge to do showy things. Doing all they can to bring a stop to it for the betterment of all, to keep promises, they both reach out in some way or another for this metallic wolf they face...
"It's like I said. If this is our goodbye, I'll focus on what I need to do inorder to get home. I've already left what's needed, and said what needs to be said. So from here...We'll see where our paths take us when we're no longer in this cramped little world."
Orpheus ultimately makes a stand. Not to protect Akane, but to preserve the pliers. Not for the escape of those who need it, but simply for his own survival, for his own purposes. So as brave heroes begin their assault to handle the Skoll...In the distance, from within the targeting monitors of a single KMF, a single sniper shot is fired. The blast as it shoots echoes through the streets of Tsutsujidai amongst the chaos of all that transpires. There's no heroics to it, there's nothing showy about it. It's an attack that's simply meant to allow Orpheus to bare his fangs at this wolf. To let it know that it is no longer the only predator here...It's not a showy attack, but it makes a statement.
Not all that are here at this moment are heroes...
When it comes to monsters...There's more than just Kaiju to worry about on the battlefield.
KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace targets Lina Lombardi, Sayla Mass, and Domon Kasshu with Coordinate. KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Orpheus Zevon has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Orpheus Zevon targets Ennil El with Precision Shot: 30mm High-Initial-Velocity Tungsten Armor-Piercing Ammunition! KTS: Orpheus Zevon has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace coordinates maneuvers, raising Lina Lombardi's Piloting! KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Jana Cektru, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Jana Cektru partially guards Alexis Kerib's Instantaneous Claw, taking 4620 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject! KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Jana Cektru! KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace coordinates maneuvers, raising Domon Kasshu's Piloting! <Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon observes carefully as the Conqueror Nu Gundam and Amuro retreat from his initial strike, the fin funnel barrier dulling the force of his greeting. The barrier phases off as the funnels begin hunting their prey, relentless. Gritting his teeth, Domon weathers the assault as best he can, scorched marks descending onto the God Gundam's frame as its pilot, too, feels the searing heat of entropically enhanced mega particles. The God Gundam does a butterfly kick to the side, managing the recoil that threatened to send it careening into the carcass of an okonomiyaki restaurant.
Eyes narrowing, Domon's thinking is unperturbed in the din of battle. For all its strength, the Conqueror Nu seemed to prefer staying its distance...in that case..!
Shifting into a kata, the God Gundam hunkers down into a low stance, its legs and arms outstretched in a visage reminiscent of a track runner's starting pose. The Gundam of Gundam's thrusters begin to glow and hum, as Domon assumes the same stance within the Mobile Trace cockpit. The King of Heart may not have had Newtype powers, but he knew the feelings conveyed through fists better than anyone else. "You don't want to, you say? You disgust me, Amuro Ray! Take some damn responsibility for what you've wrought, or I'll beat it into you myself!"
The God Gundam hurtles forward into the fray once more, launching itself from the ground while punching its thrusters to full throttle. 20.6 metric tons of steel, ceramic, and condensed fury rockets towards the Conqueror Nu Gundam as the King of Heart unsheathes both of his beam sabers, plunging into melee once more with the White Devil.
"Take this! God Kyogiri!"
KTS: Domon Kasshu targets Amuro Ray with Cross Slash! KTS: Domon Kasshu has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Domon Kasshu's Cross Slash, taking 1440 damage! KTS: Domon Kasshu has engaged Amuro Ray! KTS: Domon Kasshu continues a Formation attack! KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Guy Shishioh partially guards Alexis Kerib's Gonglee's Tentacles, taking 3040 damage! KTS: Alexis Kerib repulses Guy Shishioh, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace coordinates maneuvers, raising Sayla Mass's Piloting!
<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.
"I don't actually know," Sigma answers the words that inexplicably flow into his mind. "This is basically the first time we've fought alongside each other. I've heard all the legends, but I also know enough that there's always something more complicated behind every legend, isn't there?" Amuro Ray is certainly a 'complicated' individual. That is something none could possibly deny.
Not that he has any spare time to try and pick apart the layers of White Devil's heart. Not now. Not when the defenders of life's fleeting flame are nipping at his heels.
"Stop me? I don't think you understand yet. There is no stopping the cycle of ages. It will come whether we like it or not. All that I'm trying to do is to make sure it is a healthy transition. The humanity of this universe have learned too much of their predecessors. The legacy of the ancients must remain buried in the past. Man's wings must be clipped, and to ensure that, life must be erased to begin again!" Beams scythe through the space Sigma once occupied. Inexplicably, the giant of dawn translates at impossible speeds to another coordinate in spacetime entirely. Almost as if he were... cut out from and pasted back into reality...?
A Vessel of Light emerges as well as one who might be called a Vessel of Darkness. Something within Sigma recognizes them as familiar. "You'd stand against the restoration of a healthy, vibrant universe? The reestablishment of the laws of reality as they aught to be? Some 'Vessel of Light' you are." Orb leaps towards him. Takeshi grunts, leaning into the blow with the breadth of his shield. Twisting, he throws his weight into his shield, pivots and launches the Ultra back from whence he came. His shield is in just the right position to partially absorb Qivi's missile onslaught. "I'll have to go through who? Who even are you?" Sigma thinks for a moment, then: "No, I suppose it doesn't matter."
Something that looks like a Kaiju bombards him with beams and blasts alike. Sigma makes a noise of disgust, before lunging through the air, propelled by impossible force, shield-first, to absorb bolt after bolt. "What kind of Kaiju even is that? It looks like it has glowing t-- nope. Not even going to ask." Sigma's sword flashes out, cleaving in an arc at the Zeppandon-wielder. He pivots, unleashing an arc of light from that same sword at both Ultra and Brave. As for Qivi...
Well, he asked the question earlier: Who even are you?
He also reached a particular answer to that question already. How rude.
KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Shota Hebikura with Sigma Saber Strike! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Gai Kurenai with Sigma Saber Beam! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Zan with Sigma Saber Beam! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Qivi with Demoralize! KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Alarm ring and blare as Seolla crashes to earth, caught by the wolf's claws, the wedge-shaped Taurus rocking and rumbling and carving a gouge in the streets. Roads that could scarce afford more turmoil, more damage...
She's in a heap in her cockpit for a moment, struggling, straining, disoriented. But...
"...the last thing I could do...is run away...!" The pointy mobile suit decompresses, a leg shifting to hoist upwards, a telephone pole used as support to pull to Seolla's feet.
"Ennil...I don't know what's happened to you...why you're attacking something so important to keeping everyone safe..." A much more immense cannon module unfurls from the Taurus's backpack, Seolla hurtling backwards to get as much distance as she can.
"...Somewhere, I can feel it. I can feel it, because I've been down there before too...! ...It matters more to me than whether Tsutsujidai becomes some hole in the world. I couldn't begin to understand how or why to save everyone. But the one thing I can do. The one thing I must do - is hold onto you as tightly as you have to me!!!"
With a fierce scream of defiance, Seolla lets that arc of light stream outward - looking to disable, dismantle the Skoll's legs. Her aim is shaky...but she has to hold firm...!
KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Ennil El with Taurus Beam Cannon Multiple Shot Barrage! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zan has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Gai Kurenai fails to retreat. KTS: Gai Kurenai fails to evade Takeshi Todo's Sigma Saber Beam, taking 2880 damage! KTS: Shota Hebikura has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Zan fails to charge. KTS: Zan partially guards Takeshi Todo's Sigma Saber Beam, taking 3780 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Takeshi Todo's Hyperdevil Survivor activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Shota Hebikura's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shota Hebikura blocks Takeshi Todo's Sigma Saber Strike, taking 1350 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Shota Hebikura! KTS: Ennil El successfully evades Garrod Ran's Buster Rifle - Snipe <Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Gaogaigar slams into the side of Deiwardas, earning a scream of pain, but it earns him attention, too. Guy thrusts the Left Arm of Protection forward, roaring, "PROTECT SHAAAAAAAAAAAADE!" as the lights on its wrist light up in sequence. It's not as powerful as the full Protect Wall and that bears out, as the space-bending force does little to protect GaoGaiGar from the tentacles smashing into its frame. "GWAGK!"
But GaoGaiGar finds its feet soon, turning its masked face toward Deiwardas even as Guy...it's not a video communication. It can't be, for what Guy's experiencing now isn't piloting in the usual sense, with no cockpit for cameras or monitors. But perhaps they both understand it as such, when Guy yells back, "I've seen people that confident before, Alexis Kerib! You won't be any more successful!"
He says that, but he also shifts his eyes, and with it his whole communications system, sending signals to Wadatsumi to distribute to allied pilots. "Alexis Kerib is serious, this time," he says, cold. "Once Akane told me what she'd send against us if she was serious about killing us. It was pretty much this thing." GaoGaiGar's fist balls. "No ideas of your own, right up until the end," he says, and maybe his drift in attention brings Alexis back into his communications. "You won't stop us. We'll save them. Every person here! Akane Shinjo included!" He rears back, holding GaoGaiGar's fist up as the right forearm twists contrawise to the left. "BROOOOOOOOOKEN MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!" he screams, firing off the spiraling fist without its Phantom Ring, a massive slug straight to the side of the beast!
KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El blocks Seolla Schweizer's Taurus Beam Cannon Multiple Shot Barrage, taking 1200 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Alexis Kerib with Broken Phantom! KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El fails to evade Orpheus Zevon's Precision Shot: 30mm High-Initial-Velocity Tungsten Armor-Piercing Ammunition, taking 5000 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo demoralizes Qivi, reducing her Morale drastically.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla feels Amuro blasting past her walls- fractured as they were by her appearance- as she sees what he saw. Her brother's last moments, clutched in Amuro's hand. Amuro's sight at what lays beyond the aurora. It hurts. It's horrible. It's-
The psychoframe flares with green light, and Sayla's walls suddenly reinforce. Amuro is still connected- but now Sayla has protection at what she's being exposed to.
And she's not letting go.
She can't say it's a trap... but it is an option.
I see it more than I'd like...
She can't respond quick enough, and her Dijeh is hammered with blast after blast of the funnels sear off armor and it becomes clear she can't hold out at distance against Amuro. He was always the better shot. Even in the Guncannon.
Not only do I not understand, I refuse to!
The dijeh charges, shotcannon swapped for the Beam Trident- a weapon that didn't see much use after the one year war, but Sayla has a... fondness for it. She can't beat him at range, but in melee she can fight with Domon and the two of them can maybe do more- moving in formation as suggested.
Let me ask you something, Amuro. Did you consider what would happen to Lalah after this? How can you be sure she won't have to linger around in space for millenia? That sort of isolation drives someone insane.
Amuro's fears were right, she will fight him on the space. And it worked on Renais... And she knows Amuro better than she knew Renais.
Meanwhile in the recesses of their linked space, a dying echo rings out...
Amuro...
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Amuro Ray with Beam Javelin Thrust! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
The blast shakes both Lina and Sonia, Lina gripping tighter at her controls and gritting her teeth. This bastard...he's popping into her mind with this bullshit... She returns with her own feelings...
You have the goddamn nerve to APOLOGIZE to me?! Do you even KNOW what I've been through since I fought you?! You can feel this, right? YOU did this to me!
She turns to Sonia after her encouraging words. "...I guess you're right. As long as I got Heart-2 and...geez, Mr. King of Hearts himself, huh? Ensign Lombardi with 21st G-Hound Aerial, but you can call me Juno 1. There's no way we're letting him get away another time!" Her shoulder mounted railguns move into position, charging up and letting out another shot as she comes into closer range.
KTS: Lina Lombardi targets Amuro Ray with FT Railgun Shot! KTS: Lina Lombardi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Sayla Mass's Beam Javelin Thrust, taking 2350 damage! KTS: Sayla Mass has engaged Amuro Ray! KTS: Sayla Mass completes the Formation attack! KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray blocks Lina Lombardi's FT Railgun Shot, taking 1860 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Shaken out of his reverie by Jana's words, Gridman turns to face her Ichinana. "Thank you, Doctor! I'm counting on you!"
Deiwardas is open, as it charges that fireball! Gridman leaps forward, activating Vit's thrusters. "Grid--!"
Before the Giant can finish his attack, Ennil's voice rings out from the Skoll. In perfect unison, all five members of Full-Powered Gridman call her name, twisting in the air to look for her. Cloaked in the light of 000, she faces off against Gridman's own allies.
"What are you doing?! Get out of there!" Borr shouts. "Don't you see what's going on? We need you!"
Calibur is silent, but his distress floods through their shared bond.
"Vit." Max says, beseeching. "I know how you feel, but--"
"ENNIL!" Vit screams, seeing attacks land on her machine. "Get away from her!"
"Wait--!" Gridman calls, as Vit begins to detach. Twisting his body in the air, the Giant of Light manages to get to Earth just as both thrusters are pulled away, the helmet snapped from his head. "Vit!"
Switching to his plane form, Sky Vitter soars across the battlefield to Ennil's side. Hovering just before her horrible machine. "Ennil! Ennil, what is this?! You can't tell me--"
They know what this is. They all knew it was coming. Unable to face it then, they're presented with the harsh reality of their comrade's corruption now.
"Babygirl, please." Vit sounds a breath away from tears. "Don't do this."
Banking in the sky, Sky Vitter looks at the people attacking his girlfriend. Each one of them is a hero in their own right, and he can't bring himself to attack. Instead, he soars around her, beseeching, begging her to stand down.
Gridman gets back to his feet, shaking his head. Losing Vit in the middle of a leap was disorienting, to say the least. But they have no choice to press on. Adjusting his grip on Calibur, he looks up, meeting Alexis' gaze. For a moment, cold fear paralyzes him, remembering a spear that tore his soul to shreds.
As ever, the Hyper Devil's words are vicious. Gridman knows he shouldn't listen, but he's still frozen. Half-formed... He could be destroying his comrades' individuality to fight this way, and still, it's not enough..!
"Shut up! My heart... our hearts are as one! That's all we need!" Gridman shouts, sounding very much like the teenage boy he sometimes appears as. "Alexis Kerib, you'll answer for your crimes!"
Sky Vitter seems to have decided on flying circles around Skoll, trying to keep its attackers back, at least a little. It's the best he can do, without hurting anyone.
"Borr, I'm counting on you!" Gridman calls, turning his gaze back to the kaiju they face. Ennil... His heart is breaking alongside Vit's, but they have to protect Tsutsujidai.
"This is so fucked!" Borr sounds like they're in tears already. "I'm here, Gridman."
Together, they shout: "Twin Drill Break!"
The drills set upon Gridman's shoulders rocket forward, aiming to break through Deiwardas' formidable hide. On the way, they crash into the monster's fireball, obliterating it before it can do any harm.
"Stay focused." Max rumbles, quietly. "We can deal with this once we defeat this kaiju."
KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Ennil El <Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
The flash of leg lasers was Zan's opening volley. And the Gridman... disappearing has the robot looking for it?
Of course, then he's joined by an Ultra and... a Kaiju? And uh.. whatever Qivi's piloting. Minokawa? He was going to have to ask on that one later.
The new kaiju gets a look before Zan considers. He looks to the Ultra, then to the kaiju. A quick internal scan shows it is unknown, but the other two have the speed to hit the Gridman whereas Zan does not.
The larger robot's indecisiveness is what leads to his looking back to the Gridman as it speaks and he tries to charge the incoming slash, only to be pushed back. The Brave's not exactly going to be much help if he can't slow this opponent down.
And that comes with an easy answer. The left arm comes up and a barrel pops out as a machine raises up before he shoots a large rail spike, aiming at Sigma's foot of all things as he tries to make an opening for his allies.
"There may no stopping that cycle, but for there is no need to hurry it. You will not cause harm to humanity. And we will free you from the Triple Zero before we are done!" The massive robot declares.
KTS: Zan targets Takeshi Todo with Spike Shot! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Twin Drill Break! KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Broken Phantom, taking 6110 damage! <Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
Gai sees the beam coming and Orb tries to duck/flip out of the way. Is he rusty? The beam clips him, pushing him into the dirt.
Spacium Zeperion struggles back to his feet, taking on his fighting style again and assessing. "Your assertion ignores the beauty of life and crushes the hope for a better Now underfoot. If you think any of us would choose to side with the Oath, you understand nothing!"
A shield and sword. In that case... "Let me show you my resolve!" Within the Inner Space, Gai brings up the Orb Ring again, and the pulse of light it emanates spreads outwards from Orb's colour timer, encompassing the entire Ultraman as he changes inside the span of a single moment.
This time, Gai draws a single card and scans it immediately, and the Voice of Light announces: AWAKEN, ORB ORIGIN! The card dissolves into a multicoloured stream of particles that in turn coalesce into a short blade with a wheel guard. Gai stretches his hand out towards it, calling for his "Orb Calibur!"
He catches the blade and spins the roulette, coloured symbols flashing on the guard. He raises it to the heavens and pulls the trigger, and a spiritually-familiar harmonica tune issues forth as the symbols lock in - fire, water, earth, wind, and a central symbol: Orb.
The Inner Space collapses into a tiny, radiant-blue sphere, cosmic energy swirling within - and then it explodes outwards, resolving into the rising form of Ultraman Orb's true self, the blue of Spacium Zeperion replaced by black, his forehead crystal now a blue to match his colour timer.
((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ET91AeXAQ))
Ultraman Orb Origin descends from above Gridman Sigma, swinging his great two-handed blade down upon the Ruin Agent. "The galaxy's light is calling me!" He announces, voice booming across the battlefield.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Gridman's Twin Drill Break, taking 6240 damage! KTS: Gai Kurenai targets Takeshi Todo with Orb Calibur Shining Slash! KTS: Gai Kurenai has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
"So you've known it," Jana says, turning her Ichinana already--but not quickly enough. The claw digs into the Ichinana, and only the powerful armor of the machine turns it from a disabling blow. "Gh--I can," she says to Alexis. "But to better ends than yours." There is something about him--something...
Yes. Akane mentioned her. What can she do, with an imitation, against such a being? That even Ultraman could not stop...
"No!" Dr. Cektru says. "I will not be lost in doubt here!"
"Admiration, and the emulation of something greater... This is different from the parasitic theft of a young girl's ideas! You know nothing of true artifice--only what you can steal from others!"
Jana readies herself, and next, makes a familiar pose--before striking out with a white beam. "I'll try to hold him in place! CHAIN BEAM!"
KTS: Lamia targets Gridman, Jana Cektru, and Guy Shishioh with Awe. KTS: Lamia has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Jana Cektru targets Alexis Kerib with Chain Beam! KTS: Jana Cektru has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Jana Cektru rattles Alexis Kerib, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Jana Cektru's Chain Beam, taking 945 damage! <Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.
It might not be obvious when an enormous fusion monster shows up to fight an even more enormouser, even more fusioner, even more monster...er monster which is helping and which is just another over-templated fever dream of queerly static shape from unreal parts. Zan is right to give Zeppandon a strange look while it closes, lifting hook-clawed limbs into an aggressive stance as it lumbers forward, dragging behind it a great swinging tail studded with spines and plates of armor.
Visually busy and screeching with searing flames, Sigma declining to figure out Zeppandon doesn't mean he gets out of dealing with Zeppandon. The arcing cleave is met by a flash of green, hexagonal barriers that 'p-ch-ch-ch-cha' generate with a chatter of field strength from the large gemstones in the chest.
Roaring in the clash, Zeppandon proves which side its on more strongly by contesting the clash and proximity with freakish fusion Kaiju strength. Sprays of kicked-up city terrian burst under the heavy footfalls of the large dinosaur legs, while the scythe arms smash and crush.
If respect is earned, perhaps the Ruin Bringer Sigma will respect These Kaiju Hands.
KTS: Shota Hebikura targets Takeshi Todo with Space Dinosaur Strength! KTS: Shota Hebikura has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Shota Hebikura KTS: Shota Hebikura has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Gai Kurenai KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Shota Hebikura KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Shota Hebikura KTS: Shota Hebikura has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Gai Kurenai KTS: Ennil El has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Orpheus Zevon
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Of all the people Qivi was expecting to fight with, a Brave robot was pretty high on the list with GGG around, but a giant that wasn't Gridman was lower and another kaiju (well, fusion monster, but Qivi is not an expert) was basically zero.
Right, Qivi thinks to herself. You're not fighting in the arena anymore, or even just on the field against Britannians and Man Hunters. You can't let yourself get distracted by those! But how does she even contact them? Will yelling work? She doesn't know of any other way for her to send a message to a kaiju.
And then Takeshi Todo, Gridman Sigma, asks who she is.
Qivi's response isn't to deflate or deject. She bristles instead, drawing herself up from the firing position she'd taken for the missiles. "I'm Qivi. You can be forgiven for not knowing who the hell I am, because a year ago I was nobody important, and I bet you haven't really been around a whole lot. I'm an arena battler, a vigilante I guess, and I'm here to make sure Tsutsujidai ends better than it started."
"And if that's not enough for you, well, that's okay. You can learn."
Minokawa moves with surprising grace. It moves like a living thing - which is perhaps not a surprise given it *contains* a living thing, and is following Qivi's own movements inside. She barrels forward, not even remembering to take to the air in a leap for several steps - but then she does, rocketing toward Gridman Sigma. The hyper hammer in her hands spins, slow at first but then faster.
But that's *not* what she uses. She twists, doing a midair somersault and driving her foot directly at Gridman Sigma's midsection. That would be painful enough, but the talons open up as she does, turning an ordinary if strangely-shaped foot into two forward 'toes' like a bird and an enormous heel blade closer to an axe than anything else. The edge of all of them shimmer with white-red heat. "Oriyaaaa!"
"Giant, Brave, Kaiju Two! I'm with you!" And hopefully the other combatants can handle the *other* kaiju, and the rest of 000. They're so close, but they may as well be so far away; Qivi can't watch all the battles at once, and now Sigma has her attention.
KTS: Ennil El has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El targets Orpheus Zevon with Wolf's Lash Battering Storm! KTS: Qivi targets Takeshi Todo with Heat Talon! KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El targets Seolla Schweizer with Wolf's Nail Drilling Strike! KTS: Ennil El targets Garrod Ran with Wolf's Lash Pincer Formation! KTS: Ennil El has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
Garrod draws his line, and it's a clean one... but Skoll pounces again, and the beam splashes across that cloud of superficial shrapnel, leaving a haze of smoke behind the mobile suit as it advances again on Seolla. Its INCOMs break away, pursuing the Gundam X while the machine itself continues its assault.
The beam cannon of the Taurus glows, and the radiance around Skoll blazes in response - it marches forward into the plasma, its shield rippling and the machine disappearing into a fog of vaporizing metal... only for those golden eyes to blaze out from that haze, the machine's chest burst outward and full of spikes as it simply attempts to press its body against the smaller mobile suit.
Which is disrupted when a heavy tungsten bolt tears through one of its shoulders, sending it stumbling - though not without the threat of deep rents from those bent teeth for Seolla's Taurus. It goes into a heavy spin, Ennil's cameras sweeping the air... And spotting Vit.
For once, the machine is still. Its chest seems to heave... radiance hangs over it in a deep miasma... slowly, that gaping wound in its shoulder stitches itself together.
The voices of Gridman... of her comrades... of Vit, most of all... Ennil El pauses, shivering in the grasp of her machine. Her teeth dig into each other.
<"Gridman won't make it without you,"> she finally manages. <"What did we come this far for... if it wasn't saving Gridman? If you break your promises now, I'll never forgive you..."> There's a grim little chuckle, even as shimmering, gold-tainted tears splash against the cockpit's controls. <"I told you, Vit - It's not so easy to keep up with me!">
Skoll's eyes snap to the Knightmare Frame, having finally pieced together the origin of that sniper round. This time, it doesn't even bother to leap. It just... shifts, each loping stride covering much more distance than even the colossal Doven Wolf should be able to cover in a single moment, leaving behind bleeding trails of sunset orange, and once it's upon the KMF - The fragments of shrapnel chasing it scatter forward, attempting to simply bury the KMF in explosive hail.
KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Zan anchors Takeshi Todo, forcing him into close range. KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to evade Zan's Spike Shot, taking 2550 damage! KTS: Zan has engaged Takeshi Todo! KTS: Zan begins a Formation attack! KTS: Takeshi Todo blocks Gai Kurenai's Orb Calibur Shining Slash, taking 2340 damage! KTS: Gai Kurenai has engaged Takeshi Todo! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Shota Hebikura anchors Takeshi Todo, forcing him into close range. KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to parry Shota Hebikura's Space Dinosaur Strength, taking 4860 damage! KTS: Shota Hebikura has engaged Takeshi Todo! KTS: Takeshi Todo parries Qivi's Heat Talon, taking 1740 damage! KTS: Qivi has engaged Takeshi Todo! KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to retreat. KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to react to Ennil El's Wolf's Nail Drilling Strike, taking 6240 damage! KTS: Ennil El has engaged Seolla Schweizer! KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Orpheus Zevon successfully evades Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Battering Storm KTS: Garrod Ran blocks Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Pincer Formation, taking 5500 damage! <Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.
In the moments that have passed, the Conqueror King Nu Gundam has grown stronger. It dashes forward into the God Gundam's attacks, its flickering orange shield resolving into a more solid state as it raises its shield to the pair of beam sabers. It deflects one to the side, the other gaining more traction to strike a gash across its torso-- not a decisive blow by any standards but enough to help set up vulnerable points to attempt to exploit. The weariness that pulses in the air around the Nu Gundam intensifies as Domon talks.
I am not a warrior. Sometimes, I am a soldier. And I am taking responsibility. Are you?
It may all be lost on the less psionically active King of Hearts, but the White Devil communicates in silence all the same.
And then he is snared.
Amuro blinks as Sayla's improvised trap snaps shut on him. He looks at her, the trappings of flesh and metal that surround them immaterial. He frowns, looking away for a long moment. But it doesn't matter. The truth that has been buried in his head is too weighty a thing to be withdrawn with words or even psychic communication alone-- but what it does do, all the same, is rob him of morale. Exactly the way that he thought she could, Sayla Mass could defeat him regardless of martial disparity-- especially with friends at hand.
Is it worse to linger, or to cease?
It's a sincere question, but Sayla can almost definitely sense that the answer to it won't change her need to fight him. His attention is drawn away, towards a presence on the peripheries. The beam javelin crashes through the shield of the Conquerer King Nu gundam, piercing through the left side of the Gundam. It does not react.
You deserved better. Even here, in this shared space of thoughts and feelings, Amuro struggles to express himself to the most distant voice that joins him. The weariness he feels is joined by grief, and anguish. Other dead friends come to mind in short order-- whether their ghosts appear between them, or no.
A living soul interjects, and the Nu Gundam intensifies the power of its shield along the flight path-- though the railgun fire still splits through it and takes another chunk out of the mobile suit. For a small while it sits there, wedged between the God Gundam and Dijeh, in the sights of Lina.
Yes, He meets Lina's outrage. With infinite good deeds, I could not repay any harms done to you. Good turns do not cancel out evil ones. Even so, I AM sorry. For you, and for many others.
The Conqueror King Nu Gundam rips itself free from javelin and from the God Gundam, firing its thrusters into a backwards jump that lands it a small distance away. It raises a rifle in one hand and fires at the Dijeh, while its funnels disperse their attention between the Domon and Lina's machines, re-aligning at the Gundam's back in order to lay down a steady stream of fire against them.
KTS: Amuro Ray targets Sayla Mass with Nu Gundam Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Amuro Ray targets Domon Kasshu with Conqueror King Funnel Array Assault Formation! KTS: Amuro Ray targets Lina Lombardi with Conqueror King Funnel Array Assault Formation! KTS: Amuro Ray has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayla Mass partially guards Amuro Ray's Nu Gundam Beam Rifle Shot, taking 4800 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Amuro Ray's Something I Can Never Take Back activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lina Lombardi charges into the attack! KTS: Lina Lombardi successfully avoids Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Assault Formation KTS: Amuro Ray: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Domon Kasshu has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Domon Kasshu fails to Charge. KTS: Domon Kasshu partially guards Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Assault Formation, taking 2025 damage! KTS: Amuro Ray begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
The kaiju disperses in a cloud of particles before reappearing to deliver a blast of wind, pushing the Betterman away as it tumbles against the current. It eventually breaks free, its wings flapping once again as they visibly shred the turbulence.
"Good going. That's what you get for being so barbaric."
"As if you're the master of class yourself, mister mountain hermit. If I recall correctly, none of us here have a weird obsession with sharp edges."
"Tch. Simpleton"
There's bickering internally within Cataphract between the members, though Lamia, as usual, ignores it, his focus instead on the others who stand to fight. The robot in the shape of a Mazin. The Vessel of Light, fully realized. And, the Evoluder Guy. All struggling, all shouting. Something seems to be getting under their skin, and while he can't tell WHAT, he knows how to ground them.
FIGHT
It's one word, blasted across the Limpid channel, but the meaning is clear. It's both a word of encouragement, but more than that, it seems to be that the Betterman is egging them on to truly prove themselves.
KTS: Lamia inspires awe, increasing Jana Cektru's Morale! KTS: Lamia inspires awe, increasing Gridman's Morale! KTS: Lamia inspires awe, increasing Guy Shishioh's Morale!
<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.
"'Free' me? What a joke," The Gridman does not seem to be laughing. Especially not when a railspike pins his foot to the ground and--
That's blood.
He's bleeding.
It's absolutely an awful, radioactive orange, but it's blood. There's a sound like bones breaking and snapping as Sigma makes a pained noise and rips his foot from the spike. Already, arcs of dawnlight are leaping from his body to repair the wound, but for a brief moment he is held in place. "The force you call Triple Zero is everywhere. All the time. That's the beauty of it. None of us are free of it. It's within us all. Within you, Super AI Machine. It is the substrate of all matter, of all energy. From it, we were all forged."
A blade shining with the light of the galaxy arcs down and slams into Sigma's shield, held high aloft against the radiant sword. "That light that calls you, too, is of Triple Zero. Of the Origin! You already wield its power, though you fail only to recognize it."
Pinned and crippled, Sigma is unable to evade the heavy strikes of a truly prodigious kaiju. But one that is... not more prodigious than the twisted Hyper Agent. "Tch. So those claws are good for something." Good for raking into his body. Into his flesh. No sparks are thrown by the impact, but instead bloody gouts. Breaking bones. Shattering organs. Even then, they knit back together. The pain must be excruciating, but...
He carries on.
"Man has overstepped his boundaries, carving meaty chunks from the very stuff of the universe. So we need to fix it. Start again. Life will begin anew, and it will be better for it. And you--" Qivi hurls herself at him, and is stopped at the last by the flat of Sigma's blade. He's knocked back, skidding across the landscape, but--
Not gutted.
"Are still 'nobody important.' None of us are, in the end, 'important.' I am also 'nobody important.' We are alike, all of us." Sigma-- launches forward. His shield disappears into motes of light as a lightning-fast hand grabs for the jagged spines of Qivi's machine, before twisting to hurl it bodily at the Brave. Sword ablaze, he takes another step and charges further ahead. One strike is aimed for the strange, fused Kaiju, and carries on in the same traced line for the Vessel of Light.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
The world pulses around her. Time seems to stop. It feels...the same as Torrington. Something is pushing through.
She charges directly into the Nu's onslaught. Her mind tells her where each funnel will fire before it happens. She's able to completely dodge every attack. Something flashes in her mind.
The shell has broken.
The voices of the world are no longer a cacophany, but a chorus.
They're telling her she can do anything.
She hits her boosters and flies forward towards Amuro as
A shining falcon, streaking through the sky, clad in emerald.
There's no doubt. You're the same Amuro Ray a little 10 year old girl looked up to back during the war. I know it's you under there, Amuro Ray! The world needs you, and Hell or high water, I'm getting you back!
"Buckle up, Sonia!" The ReLion pulls out its assault blade, the chainsaw edge vibrating as she comes up directly to the Nu Gundam, hefting the blade in the air and bringing it down directly onto the Gundam's shoulder, dragging it down the mobile suit's length.
Lina Lombardi 's Awakening is now 2!
KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Qivi with Cyber CQC! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Zan with Cyber CQC! KTS: Lina Lombardi targets Amuro Ray with Assault Blade Carve! KTS: Lina Lombardi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Gai Kurenai with Sigma Slash! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Shota Hebikura with Sigma Slash! KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray successfully jobs Lina Lombardi's Assault Blade Carve KTS: Gai Kurenai fails to parry Takeshi Todo's Sigma Slash, taking 3040 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Gai Kurenai! KTS: Lamia has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo anchors Zan, forcing it into close range. KTS: Zan blocks Takeshi Todo's Cyber CQC, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Zan! KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Takeshi Todo anchors Qivi, forcing her into close range. KTS: Qivi fails to Parry Takeshi Todo's Cyber CQC, taking 4200 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Takeshi Todo's Hyperdevil Survivor activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Qivi! KTS: Lina Lombardi targets Amuro Ray with Assault Blade Carve! KTS: Lina Lombardi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray fails to react to Lina Lombardi's Assault Blade Carve, taking 3870 damage! KTS: Lina Lombardi has engaged Amuro Ray!
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
"Ha! It seems I don't need to even lift a finger for pieces of your heart to be carved away from you," Alexis mocks Gridman as Vit flies away to orient on Ennil. "That must be the most careless part of your heart -- or at least the flightiest." Alexis laughs at his own joke, then seemingly -- disappears, leaving Deiwardas to it?
... no, he's just switching rooftops to rancidpost from.
While Deiwardas is large, fast, and seemingly possessed of infinite capabilities -- it is not an insurmountable threat. Gridman pierces through the fireball with both drills, and sends them through Ghoulghilas's head, leaving it shredded. While it partially reforms a moment later, it seems -- smaller, pettier, than before. The damage done, at least, is real -- and Deiwardas meets it with a beam issued from the neck of the Devadadan segment of the beast.
"Oh, did she? She and I do share an appreciation for the classics," Alexis replies to Guy -- though after a moment he thinks to add, "I'm sure as time passes you'll develop the appreciation, too." Guy remotely cleans another of the many clocks of Deiwardas -- this one one of the unfamiliar heads, off to the side. (The Broken Magnum passes through a wing-like construction en route, too.) Deiwardas teleports behind Guy, and yet again, its response is a forceful claw. "It is so interesting to me," Alexis muses, "that when pressed to your breaking points, you and Akane Shinjo crack at the same time. She agreed to my helping Renais at the same moment you did, you know."
Jana's cries that Alexis knows nothing of true artifice entertain the Devil, even as Lamia does something that Alexis continues to simply be unable to perceive. "Your people are hardly any different on that count," Alexis teases. Another of the unfamiliar kaiju heads orients on both of them, now -- raining destruction with beam after beam toward both Cataphract and the Ichinana. "Tell me -- when will you grow bored of the petty unities of this world? And what will you do when that boredom strikes?" Jana's own beam passes another in transit, leaving the kaiju both wounded and... seemingly disoriented.
Alexis observes Cataphract with a frown. What is it doing...?
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Jana Cektru's Spirit Endurance activates, and the spirit endures. KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Jana Cektru KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Lamia with Discarded Kaiju's Beam! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Jana Cektru with Discarded Kaiju's Beam! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Guy Shishioh with Instantaneous Claw! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Devadadan's Beam! KTS: Alexis Kerib has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Shota Hebikura fails to parry Takeshi Todo's Sigma Slash, taking 4180 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Takeshi Todo's Hyperdevil Survivor activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Shota Hebikura! KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Jana Cektru, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Jana Cektru blocks Alexis Kerib's Discarded Kaiju's Beam, taking 4840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject! KTS: Lamia's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Lamia blocks Alexis Kerib's Discarded Kaiju's Beam, taking 1020 damage! <Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
"I'm not the only one who'll go through hell to save you..." Seolla grits as bit by bit, plate by plate, joint by joint, her Taurus erodes and tears and crumples. She has nowhere to run, just like Ennil doesn't.
"...I'll make sure you run to me." Crunching and cracking sounds in the Mobile Suit's cockpit - sweat pastes over Seolla's brow. The 'right' thing to do would be to reposition - to defend the Pliers at all costs. Maybe that's what's expected - security of the valued point.
"...Sky Vitter!!!" Seolla screams, as loud as she can. "...I know Ennil needs you. I know you need Ennil! I know. I know how it is, when you can't protect the people you care about...I...I promise you!!! I promise I'm not gonna let anything happen to her. ...Gridman needs you too! I...I won't leave her to fend for herself, I promise!!!"
The vivid colors of the distorting sky bleed into the cockpit. A greater and greater gash from the wolf's relentless pursuit. To Orpheus and Garrod, Seolla calls out, "...you two...make sure you protect the Pliers first and foremost. They're not what I'm here for. No matter how much this cursed-feeling power makes everything I might do pointless against you, no matter how much you seem dedicated to burning the world up..."
The Taurus has torn apart wide enough for Seolla to gaze directly in the Doven Wolf's eye. She can't move her arms. She can't move anything - do much of anything in here.
"It's too bad, you idiot, that I care more about you than the stupid world that's never done anything for me!!!"
Leaping from her open cockpit in a truly perilous maneuver, Seolla's hopping from shoulder to arm, gracefully jumping atop round, slick metal with uncanny ease, until she's straddling the beam cannon itself - a firm ~kick~ bumping open a maintenance hatch. Countless wires spill out from the cannon's top, but there - Seolla can see it. A collection of interfaces buried deep within. Purely for technicians, but here Seolla is, using them to engage as full a firing mode as she can manage from this perilous perch. Even with this titan looming over her - where one touch could end her...
Defiance rings in her eyes. Something almost unhinged, pupils contracted - and the faintest of smiles rings on her face as the particle cannon roars out a mere few meters from where she's standing, lighting up her eyes like fireworks.
KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Ennil El with Taurus Laser Gun Risky Charge Shot! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Lamia has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
Orb is silent against Sigma's taunting. He knows that nothing he can say will make the Ruin Apostle back down, and he's not Ultraman Hikari, so well-versed in the manipulation and shaping of the Lights that make up an Ultraman's being.
What's important is that he knows in his core/his heart that the Light within him is so much more than the Cosmic Egg.
He can see Zeppandon, the massive train-robot closer to his size, and the bright red, much smaller robot, unified against Gridman Sigma. In the Inner Space, Gai smiles, and Ultraman Orb raises a hand, sheathing the other three in a protective radiance, before turning to face Sigma again, plunging the Orb Calibur tip-first into the ground and closing in to grapple with the Hyper Agent.
"Juggler! Now!"
KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Qivi KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Zan KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Shota Hebikura KTS: Gai Kurenai targets Takeshi Todo with Orb Grapple! KTS: Gai Kurenai has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
Again, Garrod misreads the incoming attack, and again, he pays the price in blood. Still only figurative blood, thankfully, but the INCOMs' bombardment slashes away at the Gundam X, this time blasting away the rest of the Satellite System's wings and a large piece of the Cannon itself. The rifle is mauled as well, despite - or maybe because - Garrod tries desperately to ward off the drones' blasts with the shield panels; by the time he's able to escape the fusillade - or maybe just because Ennil is distracted? - the rifle barely looks operational.
"Sorry, Kid," Garrod mutters under his breath, looking at the updated damage readouts, then taking a fresh look at the Skoll. That machine flitting around Ennil's transmuted mecha ... isn't it part of the Gridman support squad? Why is Gridman helping a --
Oh yeah. Friendship. Garrod lets out a breath, shaking his head at his own denseness. Why does he keep trying again ... oh, right.
After all, Garrod has someone that *he* most especially wants to protect. Why should anyone else *not* want to protect somebody, no matter what happens? "Sorry to break it to you, whichever one you are, but ... we've got to stop her, or she's going to do a lot worse than shoot us down in cold blood," he transmits - mainly intended for Vit, but he doesn't have an isolated channel and the Sky Vitter's moving around too much for a tightbeam laser transmission or the like. "I don't want to kill her, but if we don't have a choice --"
Garrod's voice breaks off, and he closes the transmission - but Seolla calls out to protect the Pliers, and Garrod does hear that. Pliers ... she must mean the doohickeys 3G is using, the stuff Ennil/Skoll was going after when her suit mutated in the first place. That's easier than trying to figure out how to slow Ennil down, at least. And it might not put more stress on the GX than it can still take.
Rather than pursuing the Skoll, Garrod eases his Gundam's thrusters to life once more, the white mobile suit wobbling precariously in the air but heading towards the Galeoria Pliers' operational site.
KTS: Garrod Ran targets Ennil El with Pass! KTS: Garrod Ran has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Gridman has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Gridman rushes into the attack! KTS: [Spirit Defense] Gridman's Hyperlink Combine activates, and his spirit is adjusted. KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Gridman, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Gridman partially guards Alexis Kerib's Devadadan's Beam, taking 3990 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject! KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Guy Shishioh blocks Alexis Kerib's Instantaneous Claw, taking 2730 damage! KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Guy Shishioh!
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
Thre's a crash and the Iron Zanrailer has to bring up it's hands to catch the Minokawa possibly. Or try to anyways.
"I do not care if it is within me." The Iron Zanrailer responds. "It can be everywhere. I do not care."
"And you got one thing wrong, Ruin Apostle." The massive robot says as it stands firm.
The robot's eyes flash, glowing it seems.
"Humans created me! And I will not let you harm them!" The robot yells.
The turbine in it's chest ramps up, and the eyes of the Iron Zanrailer shoot out concentrated beams at Gridman Sigma. Beams meant to melt metal normally, repurposed into a focused pair of beams.
"And we will free you. We freed Volfogg! We will free all of you!" The robot finishes.
KTS: Zan has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Zan has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
Meanwhile, Sonia rattles about in a machine she's not familiar with and with a system she daren't touch. however, she rides it out well enough - she -was- a machine pilot before getting promoted, you know! She's just... you know. Bad at most controls. "Buc-- What do you MEAN buckle up?" Sonia asks, staring out the viewscreen as she flails for a buckle.
"Oh, hells!"
"The next time I'm in here, I'm going to be prepared--" What do you mean next time?
There's a light. A touch, a whisper of a feeling born anew, and deep in the heart of the ReLion, Sonia is on a physical level, mere feet away from Lina Lombardi. On another, there she is, standing on the ground, watching a falcon streaking towards a phoenix. A whisper, soft, sparkling.
Fly!
KTS: Zan targets Takeshi Todo with Focused Eye Lasers! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon grimaces as his attempt to keep Amuro within striking range fails. Instead, he is peppered by blows from fin funnels, as he and the Dijeh are subjected to myriad blasts from their beams. One well-aimed shot manages to sear and slough armor dangerously close to the reactor, before Domon was able to evade and re-orient himself.
The King of Heart keeps a wary eye on the funnels; while he'd been able to find a little cover from the decrepit concrete husks of the shopping district, the autonomous weapons were still in formation, circling around him, waiting for his next move. Hunkering down, Domon nods to the Dijeh and ReLion. Opening a channel to both, he quickly barks, "No time to explain. I'm here, you two are here, we're fighting Amuro. I'm going to try and stop him from running away again. You two take that chance."
Cutting the comms without waiting for a reply, the God Gundam leaps and flips through the air, facing and goading the Conqueror Nu and its pilot, imprisoned within the aura of Triple 000. Pointing his finger at Amuro, with the Mobile Trace copying his movements flawlessly onto the God Gundam, Domon bellowed, "Enough, Amuro! Whether or not you see yourself as a warrior, this...this is not what you were meant for! There's no honor in this," the God Gundam raises both of its arms, gesturing to the ruined wreck of Tsutsujidai, "No purpose! If oblivion is what you desire, then fine! Run like a coward instead of facing our feelings. But don't you dare hurt anyone else!"
Roaring over the intercom, the God Gundam and Domon begin shining brightly. Brilliant gold begins to assert itself across the surface of the Gundam of Gundams, purity of purpose emanating from its gilded glow. Cutting wind and debris sickles through the air around the King of Heart as he assumes Hyper Mode, the familiar glowing rings of inferno-hot energy mantling his figure. Pointing again at the Conqueror Nu, Domon bellows his challenge.
"Face me, White Devil! Not as a puppet of your new master, but as yourself! As Amuro Ray!"
The sigil of the King of Heart 4711 shines furiously from the center reactor core as the God Gundam assumes its iconic stance.
"This hand of mine is burning red! Its loud roar tells me to grasp victory! Erupting...God...Finger!"
KTS: Domon Kasshu has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Domon Kasshu targets Amuro Ray with Bakunetsu God Finger! KTS: Domon Kasshu has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray fails to rush. KTS: Amuro Ray partially guards Domon Kasshu's Bakunetsu God Finger, taking 3935 damage! KTS: Domon Kasshu has engaged Amuro Ray!
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Qivi's foot connects with Sigma's blade flat, drawing a two-toned ringing noise from the talons, the bigger heel talon sounding lower and deeper than the smaller front blades.
It knocks Qivi off-balance, as much as you can say she's in balance when she's actually upside down mid-somersault flip; Sigma's pushed back, but so is she, and Minokawa is the smaller of the two.
She lands slightly maladroitly, skidding back herself, the foot talons closing back up so she can actually *stand* on them. "Wrong," Qivi says, her voice with just a hint of that echo to it. "Figured this out myself. Everyone is important if they just give a shit. Nothing's stopping you!"
"I don't know much about Triple Zero except what I've been told, and I know what I say isn't gonna sink in right now, so I'm just gonna stop you and worry about the rest of it afterwards!" It might be hard if he heals, but still, Qivi has to try. If him or someone like him gets to the Pliers...
Sigma surprises her, though - he darts forward. Minokawa is fast, but not that fast from a stop, and he gets ahold of the rather sharp form of Minokawa; one of the wing cutters whips past his arm so close he can feel it, just barely missing as she tries to deflect the grab.
Qivi finds herself thrown up and away. It's an unusual sensation - Sarangay keeps a steady 'down' as much as she can, and in Minokawa it feels a lot like having her own leg grabbed and thrown. She tries to recover in the air, but can't stop her flight - she hits Zan, but she hits Zan feet-first, talons closed up so it's more like getting kicked than getting cut. "Sorry, big guy!"
Springing off him, Qivi throws the Minokawa back after Sigma as he goes after the others. The spinning hammer is still in her hand, and this time she whips it at him as she passes, swinging it through a full 360 degree spin with all the force in her arms and Minokawa's thrusters before carrying through and skidding along the road.
Qivi squeezes her eyes shut, abruptly dizzy. It really does feel different when you're not seated in a wanzer cockpit. "Who the hell is Juggler?" she asks thin air, as she registers the last thing she heard.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi targets Takeshi Todo with Hyper Hammer 200 Spiked Drive! KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.
"Tch..."
Within the cockpit of the white KMF, a clicking of teeth follows as the Skroll's eyes lock on him. Perhaps it had only made sense when it was the one to disrupt the flow of its attacks. Though it had truly seemed prepared to return the favor now. Its shifting allows for moments that accelerate its trajectory towards the unit, speeds that shouldn't be physically possible for something so large, and yet it does so with grace. In doing so preparing to shower it within all the power of its wide-reaching shrapnel.
"I won't be bitten so easily!"
Perhaps it is difficult to keep up with Ennil, but that's fully what Orpheus planned to do. As the Skroll towers over him, it doesn't fall back. Rather, even as the shrapnel comes from all sides, it's only by pressing forward and past the Skroll to nearby cover behind line-wire buildings. Allowing it reprieve from the onslaught that would have fallen upon it. In the meanwhile, changing out its loadout already.
"Going to be annoying if it keeps that up. In that case That's..."
It was only to keep an eye on the target, though at the same time he finds himself catching a glimpse into the sky of the Vit's unit. A part of Gridman no less descends over in a prime position to strike at the Skroll and yet...
"...Don't tell me..."
A low exhale escapes. It didn't matter now, right? All that mattered was escape, survival. For that reason The Byakuen escapes from the corner of the building, attempting to come through another route. It's not flashy or extravagant, but it's tactical and effective enough for it to appear again without hopefully being caught by that shrapnel again. And once more it fires off another shot...Or rather...
"The hell is she doing?!"
Out of nowhere he sees as one of the pilots hops on towards the Skoll like a maniac! Orpheus is already locked on, and it's only with a last ditch minute effort will his shot deter even slightly from what would have been a dead-on shot. However... Rather than tungsten this time...An explosive round had been used this time. It's a little late to just hold his fire, but at the very least he holds off from a direct hit on the Skroll or involving the Taurus in the line of fire. Instead the attack attempts to blow away as much shrapnel in the air as possible. An explosion likely threw off Seolla for a moment if she hadn't made it to the hatch first...
<This is where we defend it.>A cold, blunt voice comes off the white Knightmare Frame. <Falling back any further and this one's quick enough with one good move to reach those pliers.>
While the Gundam seemed more willing to accommodate Seolla's plea. This Knightmare pilot had other thoughts. No intention of letting the Skroll get further past if possible.
<If you got something to stop it. Do it now...Otherwise...If you don't want to get in the next attack, get out of the way...>
As cruel as it was, this was still a battlefield and as the saying goes...Only those ready to be shot, should be prepared to pull the trigger. The moment the Skroll came upon this place, that was the contract it signed into...
KTS: Orpheus Zevon has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Orpheus Zevon has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Orpheus Zevon targets Ennil El with Precision Shot: 70mm Liquid Sakuradite Explosive Cartridge! KTS: Orpheus Zevon has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.
Qivi makes her decision to trust Kaiju The Second (Apparently The Helpful One ((Probably))) while it grapples with Sigma, matching strength for strength and ripping at the orange-leaking blood. If it was corruptive - if it could instill doubt on contact, nothing like that happens when those claws are 'good for something'.
Sigma continues being rude out loud, and the Super-Combined Lord Monster doesn't have the proper vocal organs to make words in response. Screeching, keening roars, heat-hazed fury, and intelligent-eyed scheming, it's all body language. Angry body language, when Sigma is loosed from the long hook-claws and mighty strength. Juggler seethes within the enormous lizard, but can't make that seething known. It looks bad, to get talked at echoingly and have no avenue for response.
Attempting to lumber after Sigma as he spins away, Zeppandon doesn't get far, slower on foot than Sigma is in the data world. The Illusion Demon's scheme, however, doesn't involve any power of his beast. The broken-and-made-whole again Sigma darts back for another blade clash and the Kaiju tries to clinch again, being slashed cleanly across the front to a grand spray of dark sparks and a pained roar -- but Sigma is close, now. Touching, again. With an open mind, to talk his orange trash in through Zeppandon's screeching bird-ears.
Juggler's dark tone snarls back, distorted through such a tenuous link, the touch communications of the enlarged heart. <There's so *many* things wrong with what you've said.>
The many-headed kaiju rears forward to smash its dome into Sigma so he can really hear it, awkwardly holding the orange'd man for a speaking moment!
<If we're all the same, then keep your shame of limits to yourself. How pathetic you've become. The shape of a> Sneering. <*He-ro*, a savior, and you spout that garbage now?!>
KTS: Shota Hebikura targets Takeshi Todo with Demoralize! KTS: Shota Hebikura has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Orpheus Zevon rattles Ennil El, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Ennil El blocks Orpheus Zevon's Precision Shot: 70mm Liquid Sakuradite Explosive Cartridge, taking 2940 damage! KTS: Ennil El fails to react to Garrod Ran's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El partially guards Seolla Schweizer's Taurus Laser Gun Risky Charge Shot, taking 3150 damage! KTS: Seolla Schweizer roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
I did. From both of you. Sayla's 'voice' is hard, bitter. Hurt. And you've decided that what you're going to do about that is destroy everything and run away from your responsibility. You're just like him, Amuro. When you can't run away anymore, you'll put an end to everything.
Now, though. Now she has a chance to let that hurt be spoken. Like she should have 13 years ago. She'll let Domon get his attention, draw out his anger. Let him make mistakes. And as Domon charges-
Sayla empties shell after shell of the Boxer Shotcannon upon Amuro, targeting repeated fire on the joints of the arms and legs. If she can separate one of the limbs...
In the cockpit, the psychoframe glows bright green, in this close proximity. And in the space Amuro and Sayla inhabit alone...
The dying echoes of a woman who in death called aid to Amuro on the day of the Axis Shock fall on the distant presence of a ghost.
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Gai Kurenai anchors Takeshi Todo, forcing him into close range. KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to parry Gai Kurenai's Orb Grapple, taking 3870 damage! KTS: Gai Kurenai has engaged Takeshi Todo! KTS: Gai Kurenai roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Gai Kurenai begins a Formation attack! KTS: Takeshi Todo blocks Zan's Focused Eye Lasers, taking 4270 damage! KTS: Zan completes the Formation attack! KTS: Qivi rattles Takeshi Todo, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Takeshi Todo blocks Qivi's Hyper Hammer 200 Spiked Drive, taking 3000 damage! KTS: Qivi has engaged Takeshi Todo! KTS: Shota Hebikura demoralizes Takeshi Todo, reducing his Morale drastically. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Takeshi Todo's Adjudicator of Cosmic Law activates, and his spirit is adjusted.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
Seolla leaps clear of her ruined cockpit, and for a moment, Skoll turns aside, glad to have one fewer victim...
And the Taurus's cannon roars. The machine twists, and musters what defense it can, tensing -
Until Ennil spots Seolla dangling from the machine's arm. <"Are you insane?">, she growls, knowing Seolla probably can't actually hear her this far from the cockpit.
A shot rings out from the other side. Interposed between the two, both claws go up, shimmering radiance bubbling around the exploding ammunition... The Skoll, ever so briefly, wrenched into being a shield rather than a sword against the world.
But it will not bear this treatment for long. A fellow predator prowls beneath it. It shifts again, drawing closer to the pliers, unwilling to fully give up its pursuit of wounded prey - or so it seems. Missiles burst from its chest towards the Byakuen, but they're a feint. It's the long lashes holding its INCOMs to its body that sweep around, bringing the cannons around to cut off the smaller craft's escape route, and pummel it with beams.
The beast's heart sings out with joy to find a foe without compassion, and a howl splits the air again, rippling across the burning haze... though Garrod and Seolla are free of the machine's violence, it's not above twisting Ennil's heart and spreading misery into the air...
KTS: Ennil El has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Ennil El targets Orpheus Zevon with Wolf's Lash Pincer Formation! KTS: Ennil_El Changes attack to Garrod Ran and Seolla Schweizer with Shock. KTS: Ennil El shocks Seolla Schweizer, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Ennil El shocks Garrod Ran, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Orpheus Zevon fails to evade Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Pincer Formation, taking 4500 damage! KTS: Ennil El has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Sky Vitter isn't left to his anguish alone. The very heroes Ennil is battling call out to him, to various degrees of success.
"Shut up!" Vit shouts at Garrod, an echo of Gridman's own tone. "I don't want to hear that from you! If you can't save her, get out of here! Aren't kids in Gundams supposed to be heroes? If you can't even save one woman, you don't deserve that machine!"
Seolla, however, fares better. "I'm counting on you! I'm--" Vit's voice breaks. "Alright?! You better not let me down, Seolla! You can do this!"
Turning back to face the Skoll, Vit's voice turns terribly, terribly soft. "I won't break our promise. Not a single one. But you better keep it up too, alright? When I wake up... You better be there, Ennil!" Vit's thrusters fire up. He's got to return to Gridman. "I love you! I'll be waiting!"
With a roar of his engines, Sky Vitter returns to Gridman, just in time to hear Alexis' taunt. Guns warm up, peppering the Hyper Devil's new rooftop with bullets. Vit knows Alexis will just teleport again, but damn. He'll at least make the fucker sweat a bit.
"I'm back." Vit says, simply, as he settles onto Gridman. "Maybe I'm flighty, but I'll always come back. I promise, Gridman."
Gridman nods, choosing to simply accept this. Alexis' words are getting to him. The tension in his shoulders is proof enough of that. But, Deiwardas is taking damage, the monster seeming to... shrink? "We're making progress!" Gridman shouts, to his allies. "Dr. Cektru, do you have any guidance? Where do we strike next?"
Gridman feels a spark of insight. Coming to a stop, he glances toward the heart of Tsutsujidai.
"Anti."
His voice echoes with concern. Gridman doesn't know exactly what's happening, but he gets the sense that Anti needs help. Mind racing, he tries to find some way to help his kin without abandoning the fight.
"G--Gridman." Calibur speaks up, a blue light shining with each syllable. "I'll go. H--he's my student."
Gridman nods. "Right! Do your best, Calibur. I believe in you both!"
Ducking out of the battle for a moment, Gridman hefts his sword, holding it as though it were a javelin. Aiming for the distant battle, he takes a breath, and throws Calibur with all his might.
The gift costs Gridman -- Ghoulghilas' beam tearing through the ruined building Gridman hid behind and striking the Giant of Light terribly. Gridman cries out, leaping up and away from the beam to make a counter attack. If the heads are its weakness, then...
"Gridman." Max rumbles. "Let us strike as many as we can."
"We're ready!" Borr shouts, much recovered.
"Alright! Full Powered... Combination!" Gridman roars.
Twisting in the air, Gridman comes down heel-first, aiming for Ghoulghilas' head. When he lands, he grabs another of the kaiju's many faces, trying to rip it out of its body. The armored fists of the Giant of Light are devastating. He's rarely fought with this much violence, but after Ennil's betrayal, Anti's echoed pain, and Alexis' constant taunting...
"Our bonds make us strong. Our hearts beat as one!" Max shouts, as Gridman lines up and punches yet another kaiju head. "Stay with us, Gridman! Do not let him get to you!
KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Full Powered Combination! KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Domon Kasshu <Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
"Yeah, Renais mentioned you've got a long memory," Guy snaps toward Alexis. The Broken Magnum smashes a head to fragments and then zooms back around - but before it gets there, Deiwardas just *fully disappears*. "What!? --Wait!"
Guy spins, sensing and seeing the juggernaut foe looming above GaoGaiGar, and just gets "WALL RING PLUS! PROTECT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!!" up in time, the Wall Ring spinning wildly as the claw passes into distorted space. Ultimately, to protect the integrity of the Wall Ring, the space distortion fails and GaoGaiGar is sent skidding backwards, deep gashes along its Protect Arm. "Hgn....A lot longer than I can explain."
GaoGaiGar squares up again and its beaming orange eyes glare at Deiwardas, while Guy stares down Alexis in the space of his fusion with Galeon. He grits his teeth. For all his bravado, this is BAD. The concert is already going. They have to move the Wadatsumi now, but this monster is exactly the type they can't just gun down in a hurry. And Alexis... ...they break at the same times. ...yeah. He did notice that, didn't he.
FIGHT
It's hardly a message, more an...impulse, blasted across the Limpid Channel. He feels fire in his belly, and he lets it warm his spirit. The G-Stone gleams in Gaogaigar's forehead. Betterman...fine. I can't beat you if I disappoint you here!
"Yeah," he says, suddenly rallying at Alexis. "Maybe I will. Maybe when we get out of here after this, I'll spend a whole week letting Akane put on any show she likes!"
Stealth Gao roars to life and GaoGaiGar charges several yards before leaping into the air, one knee thrust forward, roaring, "Yeah! I noticed that too, Alexis! Behind everything you did to her...that girl has an amazing heart! DRILL! KNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" as it tries to find an available neck and then sever it at the root.
AND ON WADATSUMI:
"...we're out of time," Urchin Prickle mutters. His thumb pushes hard into his jaw line, stroking down roughly through stubble. "The way isn't clear, but we have no choice. Gotta just trust the King of Braves on this one."
"...Betterman won't let us down, either," Hinoki says, with quiet, total trust. That's you out there, isn't it, Lamia...?
Yamaji grunts. "A'right, save the suspenseful sentences for someone further away from their pension," he quips, and grabs the throttle controls. "This is Wadatsumi. We're beginning approach operation!"
And with that said, Wadatsumi breaks away from the main flotilla, and begins to move toward the center of the PLANT.
No, rather, begins to CHARGE!
KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Domon Kasshu KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Alexis Kerib with Drill Knee! KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayla Mass targets Amuro Ray with Boxer 57mm Shotcannon Shotshell Magdump! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
"Tch," Dr. Cektru answers Alexis at first. "My people--My people united millenia ago! We've pursued a peaceful existence of scientific exploration! Don't compare us to something like you!"
Boredom, though. The petty unities of this world, he says.
"You..."
She interposes her Ichinana's shield between herself and the kaiju's beam, but it is not enough; her shield is blasted, practically destroyed in an instant as Jana herself hesitates. When this crisis has passed, when the friends she's made have died, will she still have any connection to this world...? Is it truly inevitable, to change in this way?
She doesn't know. She has no one present to share those doubts with. But... Max speaks of bonds. Their hearts beat as one...
"...Perhaps that day will come," Jana finally answers. Her Ichinana moves into a familiar pose, hand parallel to the body, arm bent and fingers straight. "...But not today."
"Even if I cannot defeat you," Jana says, "I believe that these people can. And so I will rely on them! And I will do my part, as well!"
Her Ichinana's hand starts glowing brilliantly--before, as a beam charges, she calls, "WIDE SHOT!"
A powerful beam rockets towards the kaiju, aiming to crush through it as best Jana can, even though it roots her in place. It will surely not be enough on its own, but...
"Gridman! Don't give up!"
KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Gridman KTS: Jana Cektru targets Alexis Kerib with Wide Shot! KTS: Jana Cektru has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Amuro Ray fails to react to Sayla Mass's Boxer 57mm Shotcannon Shotshell Magdump, taking 3360 damage! KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Amuro Ray has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
There is a realization now from Lamia. The fact he wasn't spoken to is probably not intentional, but rather, Cataphract can't speak to Deiwardas and Deiwardas can't speak to Cataphract. It is a minorly annoying position to be in, though, again, judging by the others reactions, it is probably more annoying on their end, given their preference for getting under peoples skin.
When the kaiju rains down destruction, Cataphract takes the first hit face on, disappearing the the explosion that follows as it is apparently lost. No one is probably going to believe Cataphract went down that easily, and they'd be right, as it flies on out from the smoke, a blade in hand as it cuts down the second projectile.
"Ooh. Dramatic! This is the reason I like you being in charge, chief~"
"This is serious."
"And I'm taking it seriously! Sheesh."
"I sincerely doubt that. Anyway, Lamia, I don't think I need to repeat myself after telling you so many times, but try to avoid attacks like that in the future."
More noise within, which is also ignored (including the warning) as the Cataphract speeds towards the Deiwardas. Despite its awkward bulk, it wields the sword in its hand pretty well, expertly swiping the blade across the air as it aims to cut through one of the monster's many necks.
KTS: Lamia targets Alexis Kerib with Void Rupture Saber Rend! KTS: Lamia has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alexis Kerib partially guards Gridman's Full Powered Combination, taking 3608 damage! KTS: Gridman has engaged Alexis Kerib! KTS: Gridman begins a Formation attack! KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Drill Knee, taking 4800 damage! KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Alexis Kerib! KTS: Guy Shishioh completes the Formation attack! KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Jana Cektru's Wide Shot, taking 7540 damage! KTS: Jana Cektru roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Lamia's Void Rupture Saber Rend, taking 5980 damage! KTS: Lamia has engaged Alexis Kerib!
<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.
Zeppandon does not seem capable of speaking. Not in any way that can adequately communicate the seething anger boiling beneath its kaiju-esque surface. But in the end, it seems that the others have decided that 'talking' to the Ruin Apostle is going to accomplish little more than yet more demoralizing moralization.
And so Gai Kurenai instead elects to grab hold of him. This is, as the kids might say, not... the best idea, given the cosmic energy roiling off of his form. "What the heck is a Juggler?" The answer comes when Zeppandon moves in to sandwich him from behind. Pinned from both ends, Sigma can do little to prevent beam and hammer both from smashing into him. "Ghh-- what, is the Kaiju Juggler? Are you some kind of clown!?"
No. But he does have something to say.
Something that... does not make the corrupted Hyper Agent flinch in shame or seethe with impotent rage. Instead, he... laughs.
"How pathetic I've become? You really are a clown. I am pathetic. A mere human who has seized divine fire. A piece of cosmic trash that happened by chance of chemistry and bad luck to become sentient. One who has wrought terrible things in the name of shame and egotism. You think I don't know that? You think I care!? I am what I am!"
The Giant of Dawn... Shines. Blazes with light, in fact. A circuit-like pattern begins to accumulate around his fists. Sigma yanks himself to one side, ripping the tendons in his arms to pull them free, the ligaments half-mending as his arms draw together. "Nothing you can say can hurt me more than I've hurt myself, Kaiju. No amount of pain can stop me from doing what I must! I've survived WORSE. All of you, return to light! GRID--"
His hands meet. "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAM!" A current of raw, vermilion light washes out from his fists, racing outwards in a flood as if from a supernova.
Towards Qivi. Towards Zan. And certainly... Right into the two Vessels clinging so closely to his blazing form.
KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Enable Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.
The attack seems to handle...Well enough. The Skroll goes on the defensive if not for a moment as he attacks. Keeping it from continuing its offensive. A moment of reprieve one could have enjoyed. Though, as it stands it's only a momentary relief.
This predator had truly come to acknowledge the Byakuen as its prey. Whether that was a sign of respect, of danger, or just annoyance didn't matter. It simply meant the battle to come was only to get more furious.
The Byakuen holsters its cannon arm ready to launch the next shot as it comes. Unperturbed by what comes its way. In fact...As those missiles come, the KMF seems to have no issues intercepting them as they come, each one causing a pre-emptive explosion of the payloads. Smoke and debris filling the air...
"This one's mine--Gyaaaah?!"
Through all that built up debris from its feint the Byakuen finds no leeway to escape the beam assault that catches it. Alarms go off for the machine of the accumulated damage that's built. It was not a good sign to say the least. Did that mean it was simply time to retreat, he hadn't thought so yet. Through that very same cloud of smoke, the Byakuen hurls out. The cannon it had been using to that point for combat changed its form into a new weapon to better handle the change in fighting range.A blade protruding from its arm making its way towards the Skoll, an attempt for direct conflict as it planned to tear into and sever one of the incoms connected to the frame!
KTS: Orpheus Zevon has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Zan with Grid Sigma Beam! <Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
"'Get out of here' to WHERE?!" Garrod snaps at Vit, the Assist Weapon's criticism hitting an extremely sore point. Whether Vit intended or even *realized* it, Garrod is way too conscious of his limits and disadvantages at the moment - and as ignorant of what Vit *doesn't* know as Vit himself is unaware of the lengthy bad blood between Garrod and Ennil.
That's the only rejoinder Garrod has time for, though. Vit flies off to rendezvous with the rest of Team Gridman, and the Wadatsumi is in motion - along with the Galeoria Pliers that are at the heart of GGG's operation. And in the same moment, the Skoll cuts loose -
"GYAAAAAH!!!!!"
The Gundam X stumbles back two steps, nearly toppling over before Garrod is able to wrestle it under control, powering forward one more time. It started as an effort to counter the unbalancing, became an attempt to keep pace with Wadatsumi, and evolves further into a rushing charge at the Skoll.
- - - - -
Somewhere else, a young girl looks out of a window. The room around her is dark, her brownish hair dyed black by shadows. Her purple eyes are focused not on the stars, but on a future that only she can see - a future that terrifies her, as so many of her visions do.
She whispers a name. Nobody else is there to hear it.
- - - - -
There are too many things that can go wrong for Garrod at this point, and he's not even trying to math out the odds - if he lets himself think about how many possibilities could turn against him, Garrod knows several of them will do exactly that. But there's one thing that'd be worse, and that's if he does nothing: Oz was right about *that* much, and in his way, so was Vit.
Garrod brings his Gundam's right arm up and back, grasping the beam-saber hilt housed in the back of the Satellite Cannon; so far, that weapon has escaped damage - the only major part of the GX's arsenal still fully operational. He doesn't even want to try the vulcans or the gatling, particularly with a friendly pilot physically climbing on the Skoll.
But what he CAN do is try to slice away the INCOMs' wires. Any attack on the Skoll itself, even going for the legs, would put his ally at risk. So, don't aim for the main body. Just try to disarm it.
At least for now. If Seolla finishes what she was trying to do, she should be able to leap clear and then, maybe, if Ennil still needs more saving, they can carve the mutated mobile suit further down, incapacitate it further as necessary.
KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Qivi with Grid Sigma Beam! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Gai Kurenai with Grid Sigma Beam! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Shota Hebikura with Grid Sigma Beam! KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Strike Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.
<< Sigma. It is no longer possible for me to exit this encounter successfully, even if I complete my objectives. >> Amuro warns, after his initial silence. If Sayla suffers substantial trauma he will share in it; he's sure of that much. If he incapacitates her as he did before, he will be trapped worse. If he leaves her alone, she will do as she pleases. The only way out is to eliminate the other two before he handles her-- or he could retreat wholesale, right now. Sayla might be able to stop that, too-- he's not sure. But he... doesn't want to. His eyes turn to the peripheries, searching for the voice that had called to him a moment ago.
Lina's voice breaks back through into their space. Amuro blinks and, despite himself, he smiles. Thank you for believing in me. But... living life this way, it's-- The ReLion crashes against the Nu Gundam, chainsaw shearing through a significant chunk of its forward armor and cleaving along the damage that was already left there by the God Gundam. The machine shudders, bits of itself beginning to orbit it in chunks, surrounded by that characteristic orange light. It had shown this ability before, when almost destroyed-- pulling itself back together, a little. Keeping the parts near at hand. It isn't 'regenerating' right now, exactly, but the threat of that exists.
The psychic impact of the attack is greater. Amuro is dazed-- and though for a moment he imagines conveying to her what he had attempted to convey to Sayla, he thinks better of it. He's done her enough damage-- and she doesn't need to die here, either. If her evasiveness is anything to go by disabling her without killing her will be tricky, but--
Domon begins to speak again, and he still doesn't understand. Doesn't understand why Amuro takes offense, doesn't understand what he saw. That's fine-- he hasn't seen it. He hasn't seen it and-- and... and he's receptive enough to, isn't he? And he doesn't have a trap in hand like Sayla does, either. His nature is well-suited to fighting the young lady who doesn't deserve what's happening here...
And so, the Conqueror King Nu Gundam accepts the God Gundam's challenge and charges into it. It pushes into the God Finger, allowing it to press not quite to center mass but close enough, close enough to be a deep strike. The orange glow that surrounds the Nu Gundam seeps outwards, filling grievously damaged point of contact with transluscent material that is not as solid as it began. Even so, the Nu Gundam maintains contact. It presses into the God Gundam.
You do not understand, Amuro conveys to Domon. So UNDERSTAND.
The shared collective conscious that bridges him with Sayla, and with her[/normal]-- he reaches through it and tries to drag Domon in. Tries to expose his mind to what Sayla could meet, disconnect from, and reject.
The Nu Gundam blasts backwards immediately after that, but the pollution has already begun to enter the mindscape surrounding them.
'You're just like him'
Amuro sucks in a breath, and turns that over in his head. Is it true? Did he become so mired in what he was that he simply stopped being who he was, and ceased being a person? While he thinks of that, the left arm of the Nu Gundam is blasted apart at the joint and falls towards the ground without quite hitting it, beginning to be pulled into the orbit of the machine as the other pieces of debris have -- not so closely yet that it cannot be claimed and used, however.
In their shared mindspace, Amuro looks plainly at Sayla. A complex series of thoughts are conveyed very quickly, and a decision is made rapidly even as the color orange begins to tint the psychoscape around them.
If you lose, I lose. goes the first thought.
Then...
All of the Conqueror King Nu Gundam's funnels withdraw from the air and re-target Sayla, exactly as they had in the previous fights, forming a grand halo of gleaming barrels that take aim.
With its remaining hand, the Nu Gundam raises its beam rifle and takes aim at the ReLion, calmly and carefully lining up the shot before firing just off-center. It repeats the process with the God Gundam, though in his case the Nu Gundam aims towards the Gundam Fighter's head.
KTS: Shota Hebikura has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Qivi KTS: Garrod Ran targets Ennil El with Beam Saber - Fine Shave! KTS: Garrod Ran has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray targets Sayla Mass with Conqueror King Funnel Array Omega Formation! KTS: Amuro Ray targets Domon Kasshu with Nu Gundam Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Amuro Ray targets Lina Lombardi with Nu Gundam Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Amuro Ray has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Orpheus Zevon targets Ennil El with This Is My Fang!': Irregular Blade Component! KTS: Orpheus Zevon has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Shota Hebikura has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Zan KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Qivi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Shota Hebikura
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
The tension falls from Seolla's shoulders as Sky Vitter finally relents from hovering over Ennil - even Seolla can tell the hazards that come with letting paired existences break apart.
...is that why she's had no choice but to hold on? Because she needs to if she's left all alone?
Spitting off to the side - then perilously starting to slip from her perch, the adrenaline suddenly flushes clean from Seolla's body, and she goes blue in the face from the sheer audacity of this maneuver she tried to do. A brief internal (What the hell am I doing up here!?) before she breathlessly clambers back into what's left of her cockpit, straining and arching in her seat, hyperventilating for just a moment. Soaked with rain and sweat alike, her hands do all the work by sheer muscle memory of driving her Taurus back into a favorable position - she could do this much in her sleep at least.
"...Hah. You're backing off because you want this too, Ennil! ...the fight in you is stronger than you have any idea!! Even if you feel weak, weak enough to need becoming unimaginably strong just to move forward..." Blasting off into the sky, framed by a tear in the sky that feels like sunrise and sunset at the same time.
"We're gonna fix this. We're gonna make sure you can come back in one piece. And since all these other dummies are pulling stunts as big as these..." Seolla scratches her cheek coming up with a proper name for just continuing to slug off round after round, before settling on a awkwardly forced-
"DELTA COLLIDER BEEEEEAAAAAAM!!!" Maybe it could use some work.
KTS: Zan has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Gai Kurenai KTS: Qivi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Gai Kurenai KTS: Sayla Mass fails to Charge. KTS: Sayla Mass partially guards Amuro Ray's Conqueror King Funnel Array Omega Formation, taking 8400 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Amuro Ray's Something I Can Never Take Back activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Sayla Mass has been defeated! KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Ennil El with Taurus Laser Gun Skirmish Shot! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Domon Kasshu charges into the attack! KTS: Domon Kasshu partially guards Amuro Ray's Nu Gundam Beam Rifle Shot, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Qivi blocks Takeshi Todo's Grid Sigma Beam, taking 7080 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Takeshi Todo's Hyperdevil Survivor activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Takeshi Todo roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Gai Kurenai fails to retreat. KTS: Gai Kurenai fails to evade Takeshi Todo's Grid Sigma Beam, taking 4425 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Zan has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Zan has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lina Lombardi charges into the attack! KTS: Lina Lombardi successfully avoids Amuro Ray's Nu Gundam Beam Rifle Shot KTS: Zan blocks Takeshi Todo's Grid Sigma Beam, taking 4425 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Shota Hebikura's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shota Hebikura blocks Takeshi Todo's Grid Sigma Beam, taking 2940 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El fails to parry Garrod Ran's Beam Saber - Fine Shave, taking 1875 damage! KTS: Garrod Ran has engaged Ennil El! KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El fails to parry Orpheus Zevon's This Is My Fang!': Irregular Blade Component, taking 2700 damage! KTS: Orpheus Zevon has engaged Ennil El! KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El fails to evade Seolla Schweizer's Taurus Laser Gun Skirmish Shot, taking 2430 damage! <Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
Thrown back off Sigma by his terrible cosmic fire, Ultraman Orb is nailed squarely in midair by the Grid Sigma Beam. He crashes to earth, rolling several tens of metres from his sheer size.
An alarm starts sounding. The great black-and-red-and-silver body is still for a moment - then pushes himself onto one knee, the blue crystalline ring on his chest now flashing red.
There's so much sadness... an aching pain from a spirit Gai recognises from a brief crossing of paths, turned into fuel to keep her fighting. Love turned to pain as battle lines are drawn between them.
And yet... trust and faith in those resolved to fight against the Apostles and Kerib's menace alike.
Yet again, the sunset wanderer finds the determination of humanity admirable.
Orb Origin pushes himself back to a standing position and reaches out - the Orb Calibur, stuck in the ground, rips itself free and flies back to its wielder's hand. He lowers the tip of the blade to the ground, light beginning to coalesce on the weapon.
In the Inner Space, Gai holds his miniature Orb Calibur ready, one hand on its wheel. Patience.
KTS: Gai Kurenai uses install KTS: Gai Kurenai targets Takeshi Todo with Pass! KTS: Gai Kurenai has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
Alexis continues to simply observe; he considers digging a thumb a little deeper into Gridman for the moment, as five hearts beat as one. But it seems pointless, here and now, to lean too hard into it; as the whole-and-not-whole Gridman begins to lay into Deiwardas with force, it seems to be dealing real damage -- the kind that doesn't regenerate the next time it blinks away. Wailing at Gridman, Deiwardas lets one of its mouths yawn wide open. A heat ray issues from Mecha-Ghoulghilas's head, boring into the giant's center of mass, as Alexis muses, "Oh, but the struggle is interesting."
As Guy reflects on the similarities Alexis has underlined, Deiwardas presses in toward him, too -- meeting the knee head on, bullying with sheer size but receiving a forceful drill for its trouble. For him, though, it's the massive jaws on the front -- shaped like Diriver's, when you look -- that lash out, trying to fully engulf GaoGaiGar. "Oh? Interesting," Alexis reflects. "You'd lean into it, rather than retreat from your similarities to the God who cast herself as a Devil. You do seem to come full of surprises, Evoluder."
Jana rejects Alexis in the moment, and Alexis meets that rejection with... an emphatic shrug. "So be it," he says, as the Wide Shot carves into Deiwardas's mass. "I look forward to sharing this reality with the 'you' that gives up." Deiwardas looses a magma-blast from its back, utilizing the borrowed power of Go'yavec.
A blade digs into one of Deiwardas's necks, and Mecha-Ghoulghilas's heat ray is cut off from its options after its blast at Gridman. "The Somnium is dangerous... ah, but he has more foes than I do," Alexis reflects to himself. As the head hits Tsutsujidai's streets, all the other heads round on Lamia -- and give Betterman Cataphract everything they've got in a barrage of shots, hoping to send the Somnium home and end humanity's dream.
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Jana Cektru's Spirit Endurance activates, and the spirit endures. KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Jana Cektru KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Alexis Kerib has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Guy Shishioh with Diriver's Jaws! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Gridman with Mecha-Ghoulghilas's Heat Ray! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Lamia with Many-Headed Blast! KTS: Alexis Kerib targets Jana Cektru with Go'yavec's Magmablast! KTS: Alexis Kerib has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Lamia has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Lamia has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Lamia's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Lamia blocks Alexis Kerib's Many-Headed Blast, taking 4080 damage! KTS: Alexis Kerib roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Jana Cektru fails to rush. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Jana Cektru's Otherworldly Calm activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Jana Cektru, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Jana Cektru partially guards Alexis Kerib's Go'yavec's Magmablast, taking 6960 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject! KTS: Jana Cektru has been defeated! KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Guy Shishioh's Fighting! activates, and his spirit endures. KTS: Alexis Kerib enervates Guy Shishioh, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Guy Shishioh partially guards Alexis Kerib's Diriver's Jaws, taking 7680 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Hollow activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Shallow activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alexis Kerib's Superficial activates, causing Deject! KTS: Alexis Kerib has engaged Guy Shishioh! KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Alexis Kerib rattles Gridman, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Gridman blocks Alexis Kerib's Mecha-Ghoulghilas's Heat Ray, taking 3200 damage! <Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Amuro, wait!
'If you lose, I lose.' She feels the movements of the funnels. She sees the calculations, and makes her own and-
She breaks the connection.
The upper half of the Dijeh is obliterated, debris spraying the battlefield behind it. The cockpit is engulfed- and for a moment it seems nothing is left.
But a sphere of green, blue and yellow can be seen glowing in the aftermath, as it floats slowly to the remaining torso of the dijeh. Her helmet is craked and impossible to see through and... despite everything, she hurls it off, letting everyone see who the mysterious Heart-2 is. Normally she'd think it through more but the adrenaline is flowing. Emotions are high.
"Amuro, you idiot!" Her voice is filled with tears and pain, screaming over the din of the battlefield, somehow loud enough to be heard. The link is still lingering. "I want to help you, you bastard! You can't just... You can't just come back and then think killing yourself fixes things!"
The psychoframe glows, and Amuro finds strings of blue and green, yellow and pink reaching through the cockpit to surround him. To stop him doing anymore. To stop the Nu moving.
"Please... just stop this and come back to us! There are so many people who want to see you again! And that includes me!"
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
There's a boom. Unlike a Heaven & Hell, there is nothing to try to redirect on a Grid Beam.
Plating rains down below as Zan's arms take the brunt of it, lots of plating as the massive robot steps back, more falling off the engine area.
By now all that damage is adding up. Zan's seeing systems having trouble internally. He knows he can't let Gridman Sigma win that easily, however. And moves to assist in tanking the sweeping beam.
A glance over at the Ultra gets a subtle nod from the Iron Zanrailer.
Some things are universal, and the robot can see that there is something in the works.
And that means it's time to buy some time for his ally.
"No. We will not return to light. We refuse. All of us refuse. Because you are not light. You are a perversion of it." The massive robot says.
A fist is brought back, but instead of a full on punch, there's a sudden shifting as a panel opens on the left arm and a large backhoe suddenly extends out. The massive robot takes a swipe at Gridman Sigma with it as it advances, trying to keep it's eyes off of the Ultra. "SHOVEL CLAW!"
KTS: Zan targets Takeshi Todo with Shovel Claw! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
The 'you' that gives up... Jana wonders, if perhaps one day that 'Jana Cektru' will be here on Earth. With these doubts in her heart, it's no wonder that she can't effectively defend against Deiwardas's attack. Go'yavec's borrowed power lances into the Ichinana as Jana tries to rush into its attack in order to better combat it--but it is not enough. The Tector Gear armor defends Jana's cockpit from the attack, but the less-armored portions of the unit simply take too much damage to continue functioning. It falls, shutting down and jarring Jana hard within.
"Gh--" She starts.
"Gridman... Chief Shishioh..." And this other individual, she doesn't know. She tries to reach their minds, to tell them, "Do not give up. What we are doing here matters too much!"
Then she sighs, and rests her head on a console.
The 'you' who gives up...
What is her real connection to this world...? She hopes that Gridman can help her find the answer.
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Qivi is doomed to never now what a Juggler is. She's pretty sure it's the kaiju, at this point. She is going to be very confused when she checks in later and finds out that it has a name and it's not anything juggling related.
And though Qivi is no Newtype, she is sometimes more alert - and definitely more intuitive - than many. She can't precisely *hear* Juggler but she gets a feeling from the kaiju that its grip hides communication with Gridman Sigma.
Can she understand all of it? No. But Sigma's reaction is real enough, and she can hear that. It does something that Sigma is unlikely to expect - that Qivi herself doesn't expect her to feel until she actually *does*.
It makes her angry.
It makes her furious to see him acting like this: someone claiming he knows better than all the people living in Tsutsujidai, or just trapped there, who want to live. Someone who claimed he's doing terrible things because of his egotism and is now only doing 'what he must'.
In that instant, Qivi doesn't have the words for it, but she feels it. Her heart burns - she wants to protect the people here, but she doesn't hate Sigma. She hates what he's doing, and she hates what's making him do it, but she can't bring herself to hate *him*.
He already seems to do that enough for both of them.
"Fine," she growls, "we'll do it this way," and Minokawa takes to the air again. On Earth it can't fly; in the colony it comes close, jumps so long and extended that she barely touches down. She can't see how to reach him in any way but her fists - but her fists have made contact before, and they'll do it again.
The beam blasts over her, across Minokawa, as it follows the ballistic arc of its leap. It shatters some of the armour, cracking the metal like it was clay, a crazed series of lines in the treated alloy. Red and white flakes trail her movement now, little shards as the armour starts to *fall apart*, revealing the uncoloured structural frame beneath.
And Qivi keeps going. It looks like she's going to charge Sigma, to literally slam into him, to pound him into the ground - but she doesn't. She leaps *over* him, and at the same time, strikes.
Several of the fingers of Minokawa rocket out on cables, hooking and tangling at Gridman Sigma. The spikes on the knees also blast out, spines like harkens as they try to tangle around him - and the great axe-blade heel talons are last and biggest, on cables as thick as Minokawa's wrist, slamming down like a descending gate... or guillotine.
Qivi lands some distance further on and yanks, trying to pull Sigma off-balance, stumbling, with all the blades and spikes and hooks. "You know him, right, big guy?" She means the kaiju, who spoke to Sigma, though it could as easily be Orb. "Here's your chance! Go get 'em!"
KTS: Qivi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi targets Takeshi Todo with Cable Blade Storm! KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
Seolla levels her accusation. Skoll's strength is Ennil's weakness? Its INCOMs whip around to cut the tender bird to ribbons for the final time... Only to be forced to withdraw when the machine is charged from both sides.
The INCOMs flare out to try and intercept those charging blades... but that's what her foes were counting on, and the wires sheer away, sending the remotes crashing to the earth. In time, the Aura of Dawn could restore them, but now there are two of them pressing down on her...
The Skoll explodes in retaliatory violence. Radiance blazing off it, it turns on the Gundam, claws slashing out to tear apart not just the hand holding the saber but sheer away the entire arm.
Orpheus, meanwhile, receives another storm of those shrapnel blasts - the tattered remnants of the INCOM wires stretching out towards the Byakuen as if trying to grasp it and simply shake it apart together with the man inside.
And yet, no matter how much the beast rages, even as its howls grow louder, and louder, rattling its own metal frame with a terrible clatter...
Seolla is right.
It cannot fully drown out Ennil's voice.
One day... you'll wake up next to me again. So wherever I go, I'll be looking for you every time I open my eyes, Vit. Gridman... don't let this guy fool you. At the end of the day, he's just pretending to be strong... so he doesn't see how weak he really is. You're not the kind of guy who can lose to a guy like that!
Gridman! There's a whole world you're still waiting to see! So eyes up, and fight bravely!
KTS: Ennil El targets Gridman with Prospect! KTS: Ennil El targets Orpheus Zevon with Wolf's Lash Battering Storm! KTS: Ennil El targets Garrod Ran with Gore-Stained Wolf's Nail! KTS: Ennil El has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Garrod Ran rushes into the attack! KTS: Ennil El rattles Garrod Ran, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Garrod Ran partially guards Ennil El's Gore-Stained Wolf's Nail, taking 4370 damage! KTS: Ennil El has engaged Garrod Ran! KTS: Ennil El rattles Orpheus Zevon, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Orpheus Zevon fails to evade Ennil El's Wolf's Lash Battering Storm, taking 7020 damage! KTS: Ennil El assesses Gridman's prospects, increasing his SP!
<Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.
Brushed up, so close, Jugglus Juggler can communicate through more than screeches, back through the link of the demoralizing once-hero. Resonating, orange-lit in deep shadows, Zeppandon brings its neck in and chest down. The culmination of the grapple that Sigma rapidly is struggling out of, and Juggler directs his Kaiju to lean close so he can tell the Gridman what he really thinks.
<Sounding like that, when you run away... Turning your back on your problems burns, doesn't it? The pain is a cry for help.>
Spending copious choreography time hugging (holding) and whispering sweet nothings (making critical battle sequiter for tactical reasons), Gridman Sigma is once more able to wrench free, effortless now that it's the second time. Going wide-armed and sprawling back a crashing step, Zeppandon seems open before the charged beam of the shouting champion of the grid. Once again, a layered hexagon-barrier of shields form before the Fusion Kaiju, and the Grid Beam - targeted so sweepingly - burns against the prepared powerful shield. Through the shouting clash, for a moment, Juggler has one more thing to say. Something that even Takeshi might care about.
<Then stop hurting *yourself*!> Isn't it so obvious?
The Zeppandon Shield absorbs an incredible amount of the force, leaving the great Kaiju only slightly pushed-back, and all the more ready to retaliate. As it turns out, Zeppandon has survived worse too. With the energy charged from the shield zwooping back up into the bird-mouth-ears, the central head opens its mouth and does better than roar - it crackles. From the back of the spear-like tail into the chest, energy gathers, and then, in a retaliatory beam, bursting out in a lethal javelin of dark energy bolts. Crackling like negative space against a burning sun, the thunder continues on through it's target and dissipates in the city behind.
KTS: Shota Hebikura targets Takeshi Todo with Maga-Thunderclap! KTS: Shota Hebikura has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to retreat. KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to react to Qivi's Cable Blade Storm, taking 4800 damage! KTS: Qivi has engaged Takeshi Todo! KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to retreat. KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to evade Shota Hebikura's Maga-Thunderclap, taking 4650 damage! KTS: Zan rattles Takeshi Todo, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Takeshi Todo blocks Zan's Shovel Claw, taking 2550 damage! KTS: Zan repulses Takeshi Todo, forcing him to disengage.
<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
Garrod lets out a brief curse as the Skoll lays into his Gundam, and sure enough, the GX's right arm gets torn apart - armor and servos and skeleton alike getting absolutely *shredded*, metal torn from metal with a hellish shriek.
Mobile suits typically have TWO arms, though - and by turning the GX's right shoulder towards those claws, Garrod buys just enough time to transfer the beam saber to his suit's *left* hand, reigniting the blade to stave off those devastating claws, just before they can rip into the GX's torso and lay open the cockpit.
"You're right, Ennil. We're not friends. There's too much bad blood - maybe there always will be. But just because *we* aren't friends doesn't mean I want you to stay my enemy ... and even if I'm not your friend, there are other people who *are*. People who want you to live. People who want to protect you - who're going to stake everything they have to try and keep you safe, to pull you out of that warped monster you're in!" Garrod calls out. "And even if you're never going to be my friend ..."
The balance shifts, the GX rocking back on its heels, twisting - and then it swings all the way around with another slice at those claws.
"WHY WOULD THAT MEAN I SHOULD WANT YOU DEAD?!?!"
KTS: Domon Kasshu has activated the Detonate Spirit Command, reducing the GF04-017NJII God Gundam to 1 HP! KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Garrod Ran targets Ennil El with Beam Saber - Riposte! KTS: Garrod Ran has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Domon Kasshu has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Domon Kasshu has activated the Valor Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon swears audibly in his cockpit as he feels an alien sensation tugging at his thoughts. Is this what being a Newtype was like? Having no sanctity whatsoever in your own head? Hearing the thoughts of all others in your mind constantly? The King of Heart clutches his face as his eyes widen, a sudden wave of nausea overtaking him. Life-threatening vertigo begins to creep in, but with superhuman effort, Domon rights himself and shakes off the invasion of his thoughts, retreating deeper into Meikyo Shisui.
Noticing the Dijeh absolutely devastated by the fin funnel barrage, Domon tries to reach a hand out, but the suit detonates in horrifyingly vivid fireworks. Abject horror overcomes Domon momentarily, until he realizes that the pilot, hasn't perished. Heart-2 yanks off their helmet, revealing...Sayla?! Former fear turns into bewilderment, then realization. Domon and the God Gundam are swiftly presented with an opportunity, carved into place by a very bold, courageous, and risky speech from Sayla.
Unleashing all of his might at once, the God Gundam emits a loud kiai, the sheer force of the shout sending a gust of wind towards Amuro and the Conqueror Nu. Fury echoes throughout Tsutsujidai as Domon goes one step beyond Hyper Mode, lighting crackling across the God Gundam's frame as focused rage meets the deathly calm precision of Meikyo Shisui. Domon's voice is carried on comms in a whisper that deafens all else with its sheer intent, the fury that is engraved into the King of Heart in this very moment.
"Amuro! Is this what you do to the people who love you? Who care for you? Then allow me to wake you up so you can finally see the monster you've become!"
Both feet of the God Gundam plant themselves into the ground, craters forming beneath the machine from the sheer force of its bracing. An aura explodes out of the machine, a flaming pillar of light reaching into the very heavens themselves. Cradling its hands in front of the God Gundam's reactor, the King of Heart 4711 emanates, the sigil turning into a projection of royal rage, the scowling, snarling projection of a king robed in pink towering behind the Gundam of Gundams. Crossing its arms, the king roars loudly as their collective aura reaches its apex.
"This ends here! The true secret of The School of the Undefeated of the East! This hand of mine is burning red! Bakunetsu...Sekiha...TENKYOKEN!"
As a massive, molten ball of energy is released towards the Conqueror Nu Gundam, it fuses with the king and charges forward, the same scene from the Devil Gundam's defeat all those years ago.
KTS: Domon Kasshu targets Amuro Ray with Bakunetsu Sekiha Tenkyoken! KTS: Domon Kasshu has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.
Unlike before in such close range, there's no pulling back as the Byakuen is all but swallowed in the storm. The KMF was a unit designed less with the kind of defenses built for other mobile suits and the like and so it doesn't take much to start puncturing into the machine. Buffeting it from the inside out. It's reached the point that it was truly getting on its last leg. The Landspinner system was already feeling like it was starting to have a delay in its responses, and even the movements of the arms felt heavier.
It's been a while since he's been in this kind of a rut. The kind where he actually feels like his life is on the line. Where the danger felt prevalent.
"Not yet...I'm not ready to go down...Not yet..."
The incom wire attempts to claim him, to shake him lifeless, but it's not even a matter of dodging it. With a heavy arm, it reaches for that wire and holds it taut. The landspinners rev for a moment as they attempt for one final charge. If this was the final attack he could give, if it was the last blow he could muster before the chance of losing these pliers was assured...He'd risk it then...
The blade that had been a part of the attachment on the right of the machine fades and in its place appears...Is the intense sound that burns into the air of a drill. A lunge, it was all going to come down to one piercing blow. Letting the pliers be destroyed was nearly the same thing as death as it stands...And if that was the case...
"I'll...DIG MY FANGS INTO YOU!!!"
At the end of the day, whatever was going to come of this battle, he'd have to accept it. If there was a chance that Gridman might not forgive him well...That too was one thing he was willing to accept. After all, Orpheus had his own life to live. His own goals, and for that reason if it meant devouring someone else to do so...There were no excuses to be given...
KTS: Orpheus Zevon has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Orpheus Zevon has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Amuro Ray fails to react to Domon Kasshu's Bakunetsu Sekiha Tenkyoken, taking 8640 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Domon Kasshu's Master Asia's Teachings activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Orpheus Zevon targets Ennil El with I'll Dig My Fangs In You!': Drill Component! KTS: Orpheus Zevon has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to react to Gai Kurenai's Pass, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
The ReLion dodges once again. Lina's adrenaline is high, her heart is pounding in her chest, she's almost operating entirely on instinct. Sweat beads at her brow and her breath shudders. "Sonia...you okay back there?" Not even thinking about her own condition, she glances back to her co-pilot.
Then Heart-2 takes her helmet off. "Dr. Mass?!" Sayla! No, yeah, that tracks. No one here would be as close to Amuro...But still, wow! She got to see Sayla Mass AND Amuro Ray in combat! She definitely had to get an autograph sometime...
Not to be outdone, the King of Hearts reaches out and grabs at the Gundam's cockpit...that's it! They're trying to get him out! Might as well help out! If she can take out the rest of the frame, the cockpit'll get knocked right out!
"No reason not to go all out!" The ReLion plants itself in the ground, the shoulder mounted railguns charging...charging...charging...and firing with every bit of power they can muster!
KTS: Lina Lombardi targets Amuro Ray with FT Railgun Full Fire! KTS: Lina Lombardi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Amuro Ray fails to react to Lina Lombardi's FT Railgun Full Fire, taking 7320 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Lina Lombardi's Outmaneuver activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Amuro Ray has been defeated! <Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"I'm fine, just a bit knocked out, normal thin-... holy - Dr. Mass?!" Sonia says cheerfully enough, flashing Lina a thumbs up and a smile. Eyyyy. However, she's distracted - and she doesn't have to worry as much in combat as Lina does, so she lets her gaze drift off to the group.
Also, Meanwhile, in the ReLion - Sonia like... she can't really -drop out- of this space that many people are sharing. Or, well, if she could, it's not something she's actively willing to do at this time. However, she knows she's not for this, whatever this is - the Lina-Amuro fight, the Sayla-Amuro fight, the Domon-Amuro fight, the Amuro-Amuro fight, the Amuro's Complexes-Amuro's Complexes fight... that's them. They're in a position where they need to be, even as Sonia whispers into Lina's ears.
Fly.
She drifts out to the rest of the fight, cognizantly aware that there is more than just this one fight. There are many, going on, and they are just as important, if not more than the one she's more entertwined with. Two are in the most need, though, and she hovers, gently, looping around Zan - known friend (friend?) and Ultraman (... also known, but not in this shape and form.)
Trust in yourselves... is the thought that she gives. She wishes no friends down here.
KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Zan KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Gai Kurenai KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Upon witnessing the Conqueror Nu Gundam crumble to both his and Lina's withering assaults, Domon continues to feed his Bakunetsu Sekiha Tenkyoken energy. Willing it to rip out the cockpit from the corrupted frame, the gargantuan construct of the king obliges and sinks its hand deep into Amuro's machine, cleaving away the Triple 000 infused metal like a hot knife through butter. With a triumphant grasp, the king holds Amuro's cockpit aloft and then tosses it to the God Gundam, the Gundam of Gundams catching it even as the king begins to laugh looking at the sky, before exploding brilliantly and consuming the cursed Nu Gundam in a fitting funeral pyre.
Domon sighs, his golden power fading as the last reserves of his and the God Gundam's energy sway in the wind dangerously, completely spent. Lowering the cockpit to Sayla, Domon's voice wearily echoes over the suit's speakers. "He's all yours, Sayla. Just let me slap this man harder than Bright when he wakes up. Damn fool...though not that I've much room to be speaking."
Now...what to do next? How does one purify one of most powerful Newtypes in existence from an extra-universal entropic energy? These were questions that Domon, a meathead, was not qualified to think of or answer. He instead awaited for what was to come next, be it by Sayla or another's hand.
<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.
Amuro may not have expected death, but he did at the very least expect to be incapacitated-- and it doesn't come. The connection thins to a dim, flickering thing. For a moment he assumes it's because Sayla died, but the distinct color of her spirit retains a corporeal mien. If he had to describe it, he would describe as a muddying of the physical body-- a thing that can truly warp a spirit. Those that have gone, he thinks, appear more pure-- more solid, but simultaneously less present. Fuzzy, like somebody talking to you on from the end of a bad connection on a radio or telephone. psychoframe gleams, and filaments wind their way around him.
His hands slide from the controls.
I did what I could do.
He relaxes in the cockpit, snared by a slightly different trap than he expected. Outside, the Conqueror King Nu Gundam releases its rifle, which crashes to the ground heavily. Orbiting debris fragments fall away as its pilot's will to fight is both restrained and drains away.
But I can't do what you're asking. You might as well ask me not to breathe.
A finger extends to flip a comms button, turning on externals. He knows she's alive in that wreckage long before she appears. Another reaching, haphazard click zooms a section of the display in on Sayla's location. Amuro smiles thinly.
"Axis was just three months ago for me. At Torrington, it was just moments. Even without seeing it, to see what's become of the world is..." Amuro trails off. He strengthens the guttering connection, filaments of orange and blue running along the 'line'. "... But it's not as if I want to die, exactly. And I don't want you to die. But I don't want things to end the way they're probably going to. That's what seeing it told me."
The Conqueror King Nu Gundam cannot move meaningfully, and the God Gundam's attack bores into it from the front. Inside the cockpit, Amuro sighs. "Domon Kasshu... we're too different, but thank you. For looking out for the people around you."
From every other direction and angle that it can obtain, the ReLion fires into the Nu Gundam-- and, finally, it all comes apart. The levitation ceases altogether, the orange aura vanishes from all but the spherical cockpit, which is fairly handy for Domon in particular.
There are so many of you here now. Amuro remarks, surveying the filaments that still cling to him. His attention turns, briefly, towards the presences of Lina and Sonia. He examines them closer for a moment, and then withdraws back into himself.
"But just defeating me isn't enough for me to give you what you want," he says, a little sadly.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
That calling. The thing that pulled Seolla out from deciding to let what happens to the world happen. The sense of something more, further, deeper - - -
Something vivid blue clears the sky, and Seolla's tension melts away.
With the relative free reign Seolla's been given - high in the sky, tattered and frayed, her form as a bird seemingly destined to leave her wings in ruin...she can breathe. No matter what, she will always fly.
"...I'm getting you out of there, Ennil. Make damn way, I'm putting it all on the line to finish this-!" Both primary guns held forward, Seolla surges in, charging and charging and charging them - she says this, but isn't she aiming square at the cockpit?! But the closer she gets, the clearer her intent is - barrels pointing right into the Skoll's shoulders.
Coring the Wolf's cockpit free like an apple, as intact as she can get it, free from the rest of the vessel.
"...If you want to see Vit again, when we're done here - we're gonna have to clear all this orange crap off of you!!"
KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Ennil El with Taurus Beam Cannon Desperate Smash! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El blocks Garrod Ran's Beam Saber - Riposte, taking 1110 damage! KTS: Garrod Ran repulses Ennil El, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Ennil El partially guards Orpheus Zevon's I'll Dig My Fangs In You!': Drill Component, taking 4900 damage! KTS: Orpheus Zevon has engaged Ennil El! KTS: Orpheus Zevon roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Ennil El's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ennil El fails to react to Seolla Schweizer's Taurus Beam Cannon Desperate Smash, taking 1200 damage! KTS: Seolla Schweizer repulses Ennil El, forcing her to disengage.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy successfully causes substantial damage with the Drill Knee, but it puts him out of position. Or rather, into it.
GaoGaiGar falls into darkness as the Diriver jaws of Deiwardas devour the King of Braves completely. Silence descends.
*
"GaoGaiGar's--!" Yamaji spits. "Hell!"
"Believe in him," Prickle says, nervously cracking his neck as the mountain at the center of the PLANT gets bigger and bigger in the forward view. "And if you wanna keep all those bones of yours, get buckled up.
*
In the darkness...he feels it. A burning orange light. He doesn't think...it SHOULDN'T work that way. But can it? He's got to...move. He's got to...MOVE.
He feels power surging. The G-Stone shines. And a fist crashes through the jaw of Diriver's distorted mouth, GaoGaiGar soaring into the sky. It's the moment. The single moment. "GRIDMAN!" he roars back. "COVER ME!"
As GaoGaiGar soars across the field at full, flying speed. It doesn't brake properly. It slams into the ground and kicks up fountains of shattered dust, the back of its fist blazing with the G-Stone circuit emblem, its whole body charging with psychokinetic green.
"We have to destroy the machine," he says, GaoGaiGar half-turning to watch its back. "Even without a pilot, Triple Zero can reform it completely. And with the mobility of the Apostles, they'll take advantage of that. Domon Kasshu, my purification won't work for you, but...perhaps you'll get the idea if I do it at scale."
He steps forward. Domon has torn the cockpit clear, which means...
One fist slams down into the the Conqueror King. "CURATIO!"
Another, swinging in fiercely with his right, "TENERITAS!"
Joined overhead, glowing like a green sun, slamming down to obliterate the belly, "SALUS!!"
And then GaoGaiGar goes stock still, as Guy Shishioh surges out of Galeon's mouth, glowing the same green as the machine, hands cast forward in the psychokinetic signs of the Green Planet. But only one won't be enough.
Still he roars: "With me, Domon! It takes two! COCTURA!!"
With that final word of the spell, waves of purifying light wash over that extracted cockpit, a beacon of G-Stone Green blazing in the Tsutsujidai storm.
KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Amuro Ray KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Amuro Ray with Two Powers Into One! KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
Garrod and Orpheus dig their claws in. Garrod fights so desperately to return to those beyond today, beyond this fight... to answer the voice calling out for him. Skoll curls around itself, rebuffing him with shattered plating but not finishing the job.
Orpheus tears at the wolf's flesh and it flees, layer after layer spraying off it as the drill bites home. Radiance blazes, the wound the KMF is tearing desperately trying to mend itself...
But the dawn is fading. The Conqueror King is demolished... the Giant is wavering. The objective is lost...
Skoll turns to answer Seolla next. Its fangs hang heavy over its head, poised to punish her approach. It could at least draw blood today, and plunge Ennil deeper into misery.
She stops. The impact is square - the wolf flinches, fire blooms as round after round thuds home - Ennil feels something thud against her chest, close to the armpit. She squeezes a hand over it instinctively. It's warm, but by the time she lifts her hand back up to her eyes, there's nothing there but crawling radiance.
She thinks,
If I had been a normal person, I might have died.
I'm not strong enough to do the things I want to do, and you never were. But,
It was so stupid of me to ever think I was actually human in the way that matters a kaiju just because someone told me so.
There's only one thing I can do. There's only one thing I can do.
Skoll rides the impact, twisting and jetting, placing itself between its foes and the Pliers. It's so fast when it wants to be, and all it takes is not caring about the girl inside the monster's heart.
But it doesn't lunge. It waits. Light bleeds from its core.
A sound crackles out of its chest.
<"Can you hear my voice?">
They could never hear your voice.
The mic fuzzes, carrying two slow, strange breaths.
<"I surrender,">
Ennil says.
Skoll says.
It's Seolla's Taurus that begins to clatter with flash code, the intent clear. Slowly, the fangs of the beast recede, leaving Ennil exposed... slumping against the controls, that fractured imitation of the NT-D still pressed into her ribs and shoulders...
KTS: Ennil El targets Seolla Schweizer with Pass! KTS: Ennil El has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Jana's words of encouragement echo in Gridman's mind, finding their way into his shared space with his comrades. "Thank you! I won't let this chance pass me by!"
Heedless of Deiwardas' wailing, Gridman continues to viciously attack the kaiju. With how close the Giant is to his target, Mecha-Ghoulghilas' heat ray strikes him square in the chest. Thankfully, his armor absorbs the brunt of the damage -- though Gridman leaps back a moment later.
"We're not doing this to entertain you!" Gridman shouts up to Alexis. "The second this creature is gone, we're coming for you!"
Unfortunately, Jana isn't as lucky as Gridman. As she goes down, she again touches Gridman's heart. "Dr. Cektru! We'll be there as soon as we can! please, hang on!"
Golden light begins to gather around the Giant of Light, gilding him with all the force of the sun itself, absent for so long from Tsutsujidai. Raising a hand, Gridman is prepared as Calibur comes rocketing back to him.
"Is he safe?" Gridman asks, his eyes staying on the kaiju.
"Yes." Calibur responds. "And she will be, too."
That's all Gridman needs to know. No matter what despair lingers in his heart, that is enough.
Guy calls out for cover, and Gridman moves, a blur of radiance on the battlefield. GaoGaiGar is protected, fully, Calibur extended across Gridman's body to block any following attacks. "You can do this!"
As much as he wants to look back and watch the purification, they won't be safe until Gridman has taken out Deiwardas. Ennil's voice, though Gridman can't sense it, reaches his heart. Gazing up at the sky, he raises Calibur, as though tearing through the ever-present clouds. Sunlight, true sunlight, shines down on the Giant of Light.
"This is the end for you!" Gridman shouts, as motes of incandescence float around him. "Grid..."
"Full Power!" Shout the Neon Genesis Junior High Students.
"FINISH!"
Five hearts beat in perfect harmony as Gridman lunges forward, bringing Calibur down to bisect Deiwardas. Golden energy streams from the Giant, and his sword, unstoppably bright.
KTS: Gridman targets Alexis Kerib with Grid Full Power Finish! KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Gridman's Grid Full Power Finish, taking 8840 damage! KTS: Gridman has engaged Alexis Kerib! KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to react to Ennil El's Pass, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon nods in assent to Guy, and begins to match Guy's movements and chanting, adding in the power of his Shuffle Crest. Crimson and emerald energy glow in unison and entwine, a spiral of purifying energies enveloping the cockpit that held Amuro Ray a prisoner of his own regrets and the corrupting influences of Triple 000.
"COCTURA!"
Domon's Shuffle Crest glows bright as a star, the God Gundam's reactor reopening and display the King of Heart 4711 of seemingly its own volition, as man and machine become one to achieve another miracle. Perhaps not as impressive as pushing back a world-ending asteroid, but saving a life in of itself was a miracle to be blessed by and thankful for. The God Gundam places its hand over GaoGaiGar's own over the cockpit, their scarlet and verdant forces combining and distilling into a gentle, gold glow, showering the cockpit with ephemeral pinpricks of sparkling light.
Return to us, Amuro. Sayla is waiting for you. Come back.
<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.
'Stop hurting yourself,' the kaiju says. A wave of black thunder crashes into the Giant of Dawn, stripping away the corona protecting its outer shell. For the briefest of moments, Gridman Sigma is visible beneath the cosmogonic blaze. But it is just for a moment. The energy passes, and the Giant of Dawn is still there. Still standing. Even as blades carve down into its body, harkens and talons ripping into its flesh, spilling blood that sparks and spits with vermilion flame. A speeding freight train rams a backhoe directly into the staggering Hyper Agent's torso, sending it tumbling back, but it does not scramble to rise. Even as the cosmic energies seem to ebb, even as its body is grotesquely maimed and tortured, its movements are deliberate, almost disconcertingly glacial.
"Run away? Turning my back? Are you listening to yourself?" Sigma-- Takeshi Todo-- laughs slowly. It's an awful, ragged, bloody-throated thing. "No. You're hardly even listening to me. Open your ears, Kaiju. I'll only say this once more."
Sigma straightens his back. He throws aside his shield, the bulwark vanishing into so many motes of light. He does not need it anymore. "For twenty odd years, I have never once looked away from my problems. For the vast majority of my life, every time I looked myself in the mirror, I'd see every ounce of guilt I carved onto my soul in the tiny span of the time I didn't. The pain I feel is not a cry for help. It's not a cry for anything. It's just proof."
And then--
He is gone.
No. Not gone. He is moving. Moving at the speed that only a Hyper Agent in its element can move. Translating through space like an idea in a heated debate chamber. Like a meme across the internet. Like an impulse through circuitry. A vermilion shadow grabs hold of Zeppandon, and simultaneously in a different space, seizes hold of the Vessel of Light. "Proof that I have grown. That I have changed. And even then-- EVEN THEN-- I still carry that burden with me. I am no hero, Kaiju. A hero does not try to drive a knife into the heart of the only redeemable parts of himself. I am just a man. One who has seen that the best thing for this world is for it to end. For it all to end."
He takes them on a journey. An orgiastic medley of violence that plays out across the span of the battlefield. He hurls them into landscapes, into one another, smashes into them with fist and heel. Launches them together into a ruined, crumbling building and-- "I am Takeshi Todo," Gridman Sigma declares, another Grid Beam blazing to life in his hands. "And I do not look away from my sins."
He fires, bathing the two with the wrathful light that once shined at the moment the Universe trembled with its very first breaths.
<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.
It seems he has decided to take his wrath out on these two, leaving Zan and Qivi unmolested for the time being. It seems someone might have touched a nerve.
KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Gai Kurenai with Sigma the Hyper Agent! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Shota Hebikura with Sigma the Hyper Agent! KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Gai Kurenai has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Gai Kurenai fails to parry Takeshi Todo's Sigma the Hyper Agent, taking 6120 damage! KTS: Gai Kurenai has been defeated! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Gai Kurenai! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Qivi with Despirit! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Zan with Demoralize! KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Takeshi Todo demoralizes Zan, reducing its Morale drastically. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Zan's Hidden AI Strength activates, and its spirit endures. KTS: Takeshi Todo despirits Qivi, reducing her SP drastically.
<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
The pressure from one side eases; rather than press his attack, Garrod draws back as well - beam saber still ignited, still on guard, but clearly shifting from a potentially offensive stance to a decidedly defensive one. And he hears Ennil's voice.
"Acknowledging your surrender," Garrod replies. He backs his Gundam away a couple of steps before deactivating the beam saber, starting to return it to --
Huh. The rest of the Satellite Cannon is gone. There isn't even a place to *put* the deactivated hilt.
The rest of the good guys had better have the situation in hand, Garrod thinks to himself, still keeping half an eye on the surrendered Skoll. Ennil should be good for her word on that much ... but given what kind of freakiness her mobile suit was displaying at the *start* of the fracas, he may be trusting the machinery a lot less than he trusts its pilot.
KTS: Shota Hebikura has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Qivi KTS: Amuro Ray fails to react to Guy Shishioh's Two Powers Into One, taking 5400 damage! KTS: Amuro Ray has been defeated! KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Amuro Ray! KTS: Guy Shishioh begins a Formation attack! KTS: Shota Hebikura's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shota Hebikura blocks Takeshi Todo's Sigma the Hyper Agent, taking 6960 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Takeshi Todo's Hyperdevil Survivor activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Shota Hebikura!
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
The beam lances towards the motionless Orb Origin. Moments before it strikes -
NOW. Orb lifts the Orb Calibur and the flat of it catches the beam, hand bracing against the flat of the blade as he pushes back against the unstoppable force of the Oath Over Omega channeled through a Hyper Agent's will.
He can feel so many people here. Crying, reaching out to each other across battle lines. It's beautiful.
Ennil, the pilot of the monstrous wolf mobile suit, speaks. She surrenders, but - something's wrong. Her heart belies her intent.
Gai's concentration wavers for a moment -
Sigma's beam narrows to pinprick-width and knocks the Calibur out of Orb's hands, punching through the centre of his flashing Colour Timer and leaving a messy orange glow on his back.
The flashing grows much more insistent and urgent.
"Juggler... Qivi..." Wait, is that voice familiar? "... Zan... I'm counting on you to finish this!"
Orb Origin - and his blade - discorporate into particles of light.
Gai Kurenai is lying on his back in a pile of rubble, battered, bruised and covered in soot, grime, and rocks. The Orb Ring lies next to his left hand, light dimming from its crystal.
His strength depleted, all he can do is watch the remains of the fight play out.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
There's no way to dodge, so regretfully, Cataphract takes the full brunt of the many blasts thrown its way, the thin usually invisible membrane that surrounds the Betterman glowing a faint yellow as it protects its most important bits from the worst.
It's not perfect though, as when the smoke finally subsides, there are huge patches of flesh that have lost their smooth texture and whitish pink hue, replaced with swathes of rough and charred hide. Though, the damage doesn't seem to be the only change to Cataphract, as one of its arms has changed as well, having become not only larger, but adorned with what looks like a flower bud.
The burns don't seem to bother Cataphract though, or really slow it down, its beady eyes now completely focused on the Deiwardas. Once more, it lunges at the kaiju, streaks of blue trailing off its new arm as it thrusts it forward, slamming it into yet another one of its heads. Alexis can probably feel it, as can everyone else here, that the sheer impact of the blow feels like it threatens to sunder the world apart, and it becomes increasingly clear why, as the flower bud now begins to open, tearing open a vortex of black that grows in size as it attempts to swallow the Deidwardas whole. Two words scream across the Limpid channel, resonating so hard throughout it nearly drowns out everything else.
PSYCHO FINALE
"Leave this dream AT ONCE!"
For once, the usually stoic and calm Lamia lets out a mighty roar, though his demands fall on deaf ears.
KTS: Lamia has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lamia has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lamia targets Alexis Kerib with Psycho Finale! KTS: Lamia has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Shoulders slumping in her seat as the maw of the wolf opens wide...
Eyes going sharp again as her own torn apart cockpit wrenches open just a little bit more to make hopping out easier...
Seolla sees it as straightforward. As simple. She wouldn't know what to be wary of with the thing that's seized Ennil in its grip. She wouldn't think of it even if she did. All she knows is that she has to get Ennil out.
Leaping from her cockpit to Ennil's, Seolla breaches her own domain, and transgresses on one that opposes. One that pressures.
---if she who professes that she'd help who she cares for even if it cost her the world stayed too close, wouldn't it be-
But something instinctual drives her back. Something feral practically tries -tearing- Ennil from the cockpit, tearing out anything that'd get in her way, a look of frenzy in her eyes---
<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.
Upon impact, the Byakuen is truly going for a kill. Trying to breach the cockpit through all the regenerating force forces him to push more and more for an ending. "Come on...Come on... "
Though no matter how much he presses, even with the drill burning hot, turning red at the friction between its puncturing and the unit...His fares don't dig deep enough. In that moment the Skroll finds itself able to escape from his bite and in doing so...Attempts to mend. It's only Seolla's attack that provides the follow-up impact as the Byakuen attempts to adjust its weapon. Though...It's depleted. Energy nearly out, drill chipped. Swapping mechanism in disarray. Even still...Like a wounded animal the KMF still attempts to hold up an arm as if ready to attack all the same...
Even as it finally brings itself between the group and the pliers, in the prime position.
<Can you hear my voice...?>
Even if it was muffled, there is tension. Not because it was so muffled tension could be heard as they recognized it was the owner of that machine. Was there meaning in hearing her at this point? At any moment they could have been taken down, and if that was that case...Even if it meant that he was going to have to take her down with him at least he'd
<I surrender>
"..."
There's only radio silence that follows from the smallest unit on the field. At first it still holds its guard up. As though, not believing the words. Why should it? Though in time...Ultimately...The Byakuen...Takes a leave. There's no thanks offered to those it fought alongside. No questions as to why there was a surrender. It simply with all the strength it has left to muster fades from the battlefield? To where? Maybe it was simply running away? Maybe it was needed elsewhere? Maybe...It wanted to see what finale was about to unfold elsewhere. Regardless, the white Knightmare vanished from the battlefield, and that was the fact of the matter.
KTS: Alexis Kerib fails to react to Lamia's Psycho Finale, taking 7930 damage! KTS: Alexis Kerib has been defeated! KTS: Lamia has engaged Alexis Kerib!
<Pose Tracker> Amuro Ray has posed.
It isn't a fog that clears; that is to call it less real than it is. If he had to describe it, he wouldn't call it a compulsion, either. It was more like a... certainty. An underlying understanding that this was the way things are, and needed to be, and if someone didn't do something about it then all would come crumbling down. Amuro Ray blinks in his cockpit as the purification is brought down around him, a certain measure of his weariness lifting-- though not all that much. A great deal of what he felt was completely himself, and completely sincere. The world that he had saved disappointed and depressed him, and to witness that manufacturing of miracles was an endeavor in play had deepened his despair.
Some of that is still there. But not all of it.
He swallows harshly, processing what has happened. Three months ago. Axis Shock was three months ago. The sight of the Sazabi's cockpit in Nu Gundam's hand is drawn up to the surface of his mind. He shakes his head and tries to focus. What they were trying had worked, but-- still, they had moved forward to manufacture miracles. Fought among themselves. The revenant of Zeon still lingered, like smoke that had wormed its way into every surface of a house or car.
Gratitude radiates outwards in soft waves, but it isn't really the dominant feeling that Amuro is experiencing even though he is projecting it deliberately. He raises his arms and looks at the filaments.
You have to go now, don't you?
There's not enough time... but I wish it didn't have to be this quick.
Thank you. I'm sorry. And, goodbye.
His vision blurs, and it's only halfway because he's crying. Amuro rubs at his face in irritation, and releases a heavy breath. He's not sure his externals even exist any more.
"Tired," he says anyway, a remaining speaker screeching to life and then sparking out as he shuts his eyes and loses consciousness. The orange filament snaps with a great finality; the blue withdraws steadily, the will that was placed into it relaxing away.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Still trying to pull Sigma off-balance, Qivi realizes she has made a critical mistake.
The big axe-like blades are in Minokawa's heels. They are attached by a wrist-thick segmented, armoured cable that feeds out of the leg.
In space, this would be a powerful movement-limiting technique, letting her grab an opponent and hold them for someone else. On Earth - or in a colony - there is one critical flaw: she can't stand up properly with the cable coming out of the bottom of Minokawa's heel.
Minokawa has to stand, effectively, on tiptoes, digging its two forward-facing foot talons into the pavement while the cable juts out from the heel. It's awkward, it's not very well-anchored, and when Sigma rockets forward at an absurd speed, she is literally dragged along behind him, leaving a trail of scars in the pavement until she starts moving so fast that she lifts off the ground. She can't hang on; she's launched the first time he turns during his incredible movement, whip-cracked into the sky.
The G-forces of the maneuver make even *Qivi* lose focus, resistant as she is to them, and Minokawa is little more than a speck before it starts firing thrusters, tumbling wildly as she tries to regain control. She aims downward and forward, vision narrowing as a voice sounds, calling her name.
"Wait - " Who is that? Who said it?
She doesn't have time to wait.
In Sarangay, this would be the time when she punched so hard, she broke the arm. It's something she rigged the wanzer to do, a long time ago. At first it was a surprise in the arena, because who would do something so desperately crazy? Then it became a bit of a trademark. She was known for her shattering punch.
In Minokawa, Qivi thought ahead; she has extra arms just for breaking.
The wing blades at the sides of the 'backpack' arrangement extend outward on segmented secondary arms, reaching wide. Qivi banks Minokawa's incredible dive, lining up the blow just right, aiming right alongside Sigma, stretches out one of those bladed arms, and braces herself inside the machine. It's not really a standard human-use cockpit - it's close to the Queadluun-Rau's - so bracing is a little more intense, and a little more visible in how Minokawa holds itself.
If she hits, the wing cutter literally shatters its segmented arm, sending bits and pieces of scrap metal everywhere, the blade skittering across the ground - but only after striking Sigma.
KTS: Qivi targets Takeshi Todo with Wing Cutter Sweep! KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
The ReLion kneels down on the ground, the cockpit opening to reveal its pilot, drenched in sweat, shivering, pale. She was at her limit, but...
She did it.
She beat Amuro Ray.
"Amuro Ray..." She shakily stands up and points a finger at the purified cockpit. "That makes the score 1-1...you ever wanna go for the tiebreaker, I'll take you on.
Anytime, anywhere..."
Lina's voice quivers and fades at the final word as exhaustion finally gets the better of her, the world around her, which had just become brighter than she had ever known it, growing dark as she falls back into her seat, losing consciousness.
<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.
Domon sighs, the final reserves of both his and the God Gundam's energy now totally depleted with the purification of Amuro Ray. Flicking off the Mobile Trace system just in the nick of time, Domon slouches over, then falls on his back. The God Gundam goes dormant, kneeling, as waves of exhaustion drag its pilot and partner into the darkness of drowsiness. Sleep overtakes Domon, ushering the King of Heart into the embrace of death's brother.
"Amuro Ray...welcome...back...and next time...we fight as men. Both of us..." Silence. Silence. Then...snoring.
<Pose Tracker> Ennil El has posed.
"Mmh... Seolla?"
It's a strange thing to ask. Seolla is the one who was supposed to come. She's unnaturally strong, and fueled by adrenaline besides - pieces of the barrier between the two of them torn away by hands reaching out. Ennil grunts once as she shifts in the cockpit, as a wire springs loose from one shoulder.
But the eyes that peer up at Ennil's rescuer are bright, and brilliant.
Ennil's arm snaps out, and there's a ringing clap, a clattering, a whiff of burning smoke...
A feint. The pistol is pointed high into the sky, its payload spent in some corner of the cockpit. That's not the point. The point is...
Ennil slams on the sputtering controls, and the Skoll clatters forward, a machine once more. She tears herself loose of its tendrils, wrapping an arm around Seolla and throwing them both through the gap, leaping into the Taurus's open cockpit... as the Skoll, radiance slowly dying without its Ruin Apostle embedded, shakes itself apart. Detonations rock the frame, threatening nothing more than superficial damage to the Wadatsumi - but more than dangerous enough to force a retreat from Seolla.
She hopes.
She slips back and lets gravity carry her. With Tsutsujidai's walls relaxing, and the Dimensional Pliers beginning to do their work...
The door is easy to open. Ennil El never hits the ground. Orange light swallows her up, as she gazes up at the crumbling Skoll.
Has she finally killed the beast?
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
Seeing that the Gridman is so focused... Zan takes the time to pull out one of his ultimate weapons. The Gridman is a thing of energy it seems. And it's currently focused on the kaiju and the Ultra. Which gives Zan time to pull something.
With his attention so focused, the Iron Zanrailer ejects two pieces that it reaches up and slams together. A giant hammer. Holding it in both hands, Iron Zanrailer answers the statements, "Then be a man and face your guilt!"
There's a whine of jets as his back jets start up, readying himself.
"You say you are not a hero? Look there. Look to the one who also claims the title of Gridman. And see what you can be rather than what you are!" The Brave declares.
"For now, it's time we end this." The robot's jets unleash, and it archs into the air before trying to come down on Gridman Sigma as it brings the spiked hammer down on him.
"IROOOON SPIIIIIIIIKEEEER!" The robot calls out as he tries to end it.
KTS: Zan targets Takeshi Todo with Iron Spiker! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
Gridman and Lamia move in near-perfect unison. Gridman's immense power issues forth through Calibur, carving through all of the remains of Akane Shinjo's malice. Perhaps this is no less essential to moving forward from here than pulling Akane free from Zegga. Golden light streams through Deiwardas, then seems to issue from its remaining mouths, as the glowing blade of a Hyper Agent cleaves through everything about the monster.
But Deiwardas is a creature of body division in the first place -- for an instant it seems like, even as broken and battered as it is, it's willing to keep fighting.
A Somnium changes to faces threats humanity cannot. Cataphract, as Deiwardas's body sags but struggles to rise again, draws the beast into endless black. If it were not so weakened, it would simply teleport out, of course -- but Gridman's strike has seen to it that that will not happen.
"Hm." The teal panels of Alexis's face dance before settling into an expression a touch more subdued than his usual. This particular pair presents a uniquely high threat to him -- and were he to retreat to collect Akane now, he'd be facing the naked sentiment of song and countless stout hearts, empowered by bonds even as machines give way and gigantic forms fail. Even a more lateral retreat would place him at risk from agents of the King of Kings... he really is out of options.
"It seems falling from even that height couldn't bring this story to an end," Alexis murmurs. "Very well. I'm sure she can climb higher -- and fall from higher, too."
Alexis does spare one last look out toward the agents of the Dawn, though, before he leaves. "How fascinating," he reflects, "to see what someone used-up can achieve when filled with light."
He is gone, in the next moment.
<Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.
\
Takeshi Todo bathes the Combined Kaiju, Zeppandon, and the Restored Giant of Light, Ultraman Orb Origin in the orange seepage from his form-obscuring number of wounds. Against the power of an unrelenting, psyche-searing declaration of burning light and endless pain, even an Ultraman can be bowed. As ever, they were subject to the power of light.
Less poetically, Takeshi Todo sweeps both Zeppandon and Orb into a hurricane of violence from which the only choreographical note is 'thrown into ' and then several more letters. A journey has a start, and when Orb and Zeppandon rest in their final spot, within the building, the Grid Beam sends a scintillating stream of devastating enery into the shattered edifice, backblasting out wide in a spray of concret and metal and dripping-hot glass shards.
But Zan and Qivi are spared. Ultraman's light scatters, and in the shadows cast by a million [orange]orange sparks from the Grid Beam, a wedge of trembling green shield-hexagons blunts the onrush of power.
All-consuming, all-judging, all-slashing, all-dispatching,
but,
Not the Kaiju that stands, shield flickering and fading in the sea of flames. The crescent-headed fusion Monster pants, wounded, hanging, wilting and trembling in the oppressive heat. Defiant. Challenging. A claw-hooked limb lifts, gestures Sigma - gestures Takeshi Todo closer.
And then, in a bassy implosion of space, from plain sight, Zeppandon disappears, fakes being Simply Gone for a moment, and then reappears adjacent and before the coated Gridman, to almost-gently, once-again, lay claws about Gridman. His voice is so clear, so smug, as all that red feather-fluff-flame in the pauldrons glows with an inner magmatic light, and the Pandon heads pour out streams of flame-heavy heated air.
<I am listening to myself. That's why I know you won't get it this time.>
As the kaiju detonates in a volcanoing violent screen-reddening detonation of 'trillion' degree heat and pressure-exchanging force, there's a little extra.
<You turned your back on the other two. You should know better.>
KTS: Shota Hebikura targets Takeshi Todo with Sea of Flames! KTS: Shota Hebikura has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla stands and watches as... it happens. Lina and Domon disable the Nu... and Guy destroys in. The Shuffle Crest and the green light of the G-Stone glow together. Between them, the King of Braves and the King of Hearts perform a miracle in front of Sayla, and then...
She can feel him.
Actually him. The *real* Amuro. Her eyes are wide, as she launches in the low gravity toward Domon and the cockpit block. "I'm heading over!" The first is still going, but right now, it's under control.
She manages the hear the quiet mention of tired as she kicks the cockpit door release. She pushes her way into the cockpit. It's.... It's really him. She pulls off Amuro's helmet, and casts it aside. "...You're not the only one." Sayla says quietly, as she confirms Amuro's vitals. He's alive. He's okay. He's actually back. Tears of happiness run down Sayla's cheeks.
"...You can get some rest now, at least. If anyone deserves it, it's you." And her.
She pokes out of the cockpit. "He's... He'll recover. Thank you, both of you." Sayla Mass radiates relief... and hope.
Maybe miracles are worth something after all.
KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo successfully evades Zan's Iron Spiker KTS: Takeshi Todo blocks Qivi's Wing Cutter Sweep, taking 1620 damage! KTS: Qivi repulses Takeshi Todo, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Takeshi Todo blocks Shota Hebikura's Sea of Flames, taking 1350 damage! KTS: Ennil El's AMX-000-14 Doven Wolf Skoll has been disabled. KTS: Gai Kurenai's Ultraman Orb Origin has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.
"I've known Gridman for longer than you've had electrons running through your brain, Super AI," Takeshi answers as the spiked hammer falls-- and meets an arm wreathed in cosmic energy. Sparks fly as a genesis-wrought-blade wars with the massive maul, before finally he pivots, guiding the falling hammer aside to slam hollowly into the ground. "I could never be like Gridman. And I'm fine with that. I am who I am."
Zan's blow accomplishes one thing: it occupies the Hyper Agent for long enough that he cannot avoid Qivi's high-speed assault. The Minokawa is blindingly fast. Its fist slams into his chest, shatters, and-- carves out a chunk of his torso. One which is already beginning to regenerate by the Light of Dawn. "If I hadn't come to terms with myself, I would have ended my life ages ago. No, I'll never be a hero like Gridman. My talents lie elsewhere." A catastrophic explosion. The Kaiju grabs Sigma tight, bulges, blazes, and explodes. All while Juggler's voice seems to smirk in his ear. But.
When the light fades, Sigma is... not there.
There is, instead a... a cartoonish, 3D-modeled log in the most primitive polygon graphics imaginable. Almost like... like a cyber-ninja of some kind left it behind. Buried in Zeppandon's ruined corpse, there is a-- a giant ninja-to, which had pinned one of the Pandon heads shut in the last instant.
There-- a shadow manifests in the Brave's blind spot. A blade emerges, scything through metal and armor and carving directly into circuitry, injecting--
A viral payload, programmed by one of the greatest hackers to have ever lived.
"It's not my best work, but it'll do" Takeshi lifts his face as his shadow seems to race away from him, before materializing near the Minokawa as a vicious-looking, violet-and-silver monster. A kaiju, one that looks STUNNINGLY like Anti once did, swings at her with a katana of its own, aimed right for her throat. "Well done," Takeshi Todo says, "You saved me again..."
The Kaiju's single compound-visor-eye flashes in recognition.
"...Shinobilar."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
For a moment, there's a sunrise in Seolla's heart.
When someone has finally become someone - they become everything.
She meant every word she said, after all. Very little existed to her besides those few who showed her kindness.
And she realizes, deep inside - what she wants. More than anything else in the world.
To grasp those who are stuck, and to carry them off to a new horizon.
...but this time, it vanishes in her grip, and she's left hurtling backwards with nothing to show but immediate victory. Maybe if she hadn't 'known' Ennil it would feel like a success. She stopped an 'objective' by removing its 'trigger'. ...but now, all she feels is like she lost a 'person' and stopped an 'object'.
She's given it all she can. And so, as the gradually flickering - gradually clearing - gradually brightening world turns from rain to sun. As the devil who pulled this world away is himself pushed away. And as a great hero is seized from the same grip she failed to overturn...
Perched on a rooftop, letting every second of Tsutsujidai's salvation sink into her heart, the dim little ember she sheltered so fiercely finally, truly alights. Not with tears, but with a soft, if wistful smile.
"...well, 'mother', 'father'...I doubt you can pull anything that insane off with Arado, with Ouka. ...you two just wait for me. All of you, just wait for me. If a person like Akane can be saved from me - saved from that devil over there. Then all I've gotta do..."
"Is set my own hand on fire, just like that King of Hearts."
KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Zan with Sigma Cyber Slash! KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Qivi with Sigma Saber End! KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Shota Hebikura with Sigma Saber End! KTS: Shota Hebikura has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Zan KTS: Shota Hebikura has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Qivi KTS: Shota Hebikura fails to parry Takeshi Todo's Sigma Saber End, taking 6600 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Takeshi Todo's Hyperdevil Survivor activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Shota Hebikura has been defeated! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Shota Hebikura!
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy sets down in the lip of Galeon's mouth. He can feel the exhaustion in the Limpid Channel. Domon's not used to Purification's strains, and Amuro's been through a lot...
Rather than immediately Fuse back into GaoGaiGar, he looks up, spotting the Wadatsumi on final approach to the mountain. CK-15 Deiwardas is down, so now all they have to do is...
*
"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
*
Some four kilometers away, at the heart of the PLANT, Wadatsumi slammed its whole bulk into the side of the central mountain. With the Britannians in the way, with the whole operation under fire...it was the only way to get the Pliers into place.
*
"Engineering!" Sueo Ushiyama yells from the Pliers room. "We're alive! Pliers are fine! Securing the anchor point!"
Guy wasn't there to give the order. Which meant it was up to Urchin Prickle to chuckle, grin, and say, "Well, hell, do it."
Hinoki Sai tapped away at her own controls. Lamia had done his part. Chief Guy had done his. Kei-chan...she would be home soon.
"Galeoria Pliers, all green!"
Yamaji leaned over, pulled out a small security key, and gently turned the lock to release the safety plastic.
THEN he said, "Galeoria Pliers, fire!" and punched the button.
In the Engineering room, four different fuel tanks fired off in sequence, BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Nobody was actually IN Tsutsujidai's climate control sector, of course. The Britannians had focused their control on the docks and garages, facilities that were actually responding. Which meant that GGG was unopposed as a bead of light formed in the center of that chamber, and a matching one formed between the clamping teeth of the severalfold Dimension Pliers. As the world received an assertion, and anchored that assertion to itself.
This world is guided by people working together. One girl shouldn't bear that burden.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi fails to Parry Takeshi Todo's Sigma Saber End, taking 6600 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Takeshi Todo's Hyperdevil Survivor activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Qivi has been defeated! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Qivi! KTS: Zan parries Takeshi Todo's Sigma Cyber Slash, taking 2976 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo has engaged Zan!
KTS: Zan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Zan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Zan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Zan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo targets Zan with Pass! KTS: Takeshi Todo has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Zan has posed.
The cut actually gives the Iron Zanrailer pause. It takes a moment as the giant robot stumbles backwards and there's some odd movements on the fingers, and twitching of the head. The still out shovel claw moves in odd patterns before seizing up seemingly.
"A v-virus." The massive robot says. Then, well, Takeshi gets an answer he could probably expect.
And well, one thing anyone should know is you don't mess with Zan's internal programming. Not after the deep space Angel trauma.
"G-go to hell." The virus is pretty quick, but there's one weapon left that Zan can try to end things with. Especially with Qivi out of the way.
The roar of the turbine gets louder.
And the Brave raises up as it lets loose a torrent of electricity. "STAY OUT OF MY SYSTEMS!"
"TURBINE TORNADOOOO!" A last resort weapon. One that managed to annihilate the Zonder Robo. And he was hoping at least drive Gridman Sigma away with it.
After the torrent of electromagnetic energies, the massive robot falls to a knee, leaning on the hammer that's still out, and it's eyes flickering.
KTS: Zan targets Takeshi Todo with Turbine Tornado! KTS: Zan has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Takeshi Todo fails to evade Zan's Turbine Tornado, taking 6882 damage! KTS: Takeshi Todo has been defeated! KTS: Zan roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
Amuro's look into the ReLion is welcomed, with open arms, and a gentle grace that comes from a woman burdened with the same glitter of understanding on a deeper level than most have. However, she makes no prying motions, no curiosity. Not here. Not right now. There is time for thousands later, for he is here, even if he is not whole.
A historian, Sonia knows all too well what can happen to the retirees and war heroes. Crushed by pressure, unable to bear the mental, emotional wounds. She is not the one to handle these. At least, not his. There is one now, perhaps, that she can. Phoenix fades, and falcon comes to roost, and Sonia watches Lina make her challenge. There's a soft chuckle at first, before a more concerned-
"Lina? Lina... ah hell." She'll be able to rest, at least; the Paradiso has a berth to spare if necessary, and since they didn't deploy, the crew is gathering on the far edges, waiting to assist.
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Minokawa rights itself after its dive, skidding as Qivi tries desperately to brake before she runs into a building.
She manages it. But it's a near thing.
Qivi whirls, already dazed even before anything else happens. She's breathing hard, the strain of the battle catching up with her - no matter how in shape you are, no matter how good a fighter you are, *nothing* is as tiring as real honest battle, where mere moments feel like they take an hour. And Qivi, in Minokawa, is doing a lot more physical work than she usually does during one.
She spins, using Minokawa's remaining wing cutter in a reflexive parry when she half-spots, half-senses the ninja kaiju behind her (and 'ninja kaiju' was two words she was not expecting to put together in that order today, or any day). She manages to touch the blade, but that's it - it deflects off it, carving not into Minokawa's throat but the top of its head, shearing off part of the helmet and the long, trailing metal antenna.
Minokawa crumples. It drops to one knee as Qivi overrides the cockpit eject - she can stay in here, it's safer than bailing out with Sigma still on the field. But in the distance, she sees a great sight - the Wadatsumi slamming into the central 'mountain' of the PLANT. Even through her exaustion, her heart exults in it, and she can't help but grin.
"Hey," Qivi says, her voice hoarse. She's trying not to show weakness and she's maybe 50% of the way there. She may not be willing to eject, but she does pop communications open, revealing - Qivi, a Meltrandi, her purple hair wild and wearing the single macron-scale bodysuit Qivi owns, all greens and blacks.
"Too late." She can't move Minokawa, really. But she can point, slowly, at something in the distance. "Your friends are gone, too." Or at least she doesn't see them. "You beat me, but - do you really wanna stick around?"
She is desperately hoping the answer is 'no'.
<Pose Tracker> Takeshi Todo has posed.
"Mmn?" Takeshi starts, "You can still move...? Hah, I suppose super AI technology has developed a bit since we were gone--"
A tornado of raw electromagnetic force pours out of the enormous brave. Sigma stands square in its path. Surely, he will be torn to shreds by that much power, that last-ditch, final attack by one with the heart of a Brave. And he likely would have, too--
If it were not for that damn ninja.
As if sensing the danger, in the last moment, Shinobilar hurls itself at its master... and hurls a smoke bomb at their feet--
No. Not a smoke bomb. An ES depth charge, courtesy of the J-Ark.
As the tornado tears through the space Sigma occupied, he sinks through space itself, falling back into the folds of the dimensions, with ninja-kaiju in tow.
The Giant of Dawn is gone. But...
Still at large, and worse--
He's creating his own Kaiju again...
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
When the pliers slot into place, and the world does the same...
She can't feel it. The screaming, pained roar of the Kaiju made from a girl who only desired 'something'. "...Good work, all of you." She says, as she manhandles Amuro out of the cockpit, where 3G Medics will prepare a stretcher. They're the specialists- and the only part of the Federation apparatus she really trusts any more.
She can feel her.
Across space, for just a moment, she can feel Leina. She doesn't know where she is. But she's alive. She's still there.
She can feel him.
Amuro's still there, even as he drifts off. They actually did it. They saved him. This is real. As she starts to step back, her hand touches the Psychoframe-
She can feel him.
She says nothing. There are too many more important matters to tend to.
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
The Galeoria Pliers slide into place -- bearing the burden of keeping Tsutsujidai together, instead of relying on Akane's misery and endless hot-and-cold spiral about the world she came from to sustain a small world.
The world slides into place, and Tsutsujidai does, too. It would be so easy to call this finding the place it was meant to be -- but maybe this world doesn't have places that things were meant to be. Maybe this world simply has places, and it's up to people to turn those places into the places things and people ought to go.
Rather than infinite blackness outside the Tsutsujidai PLANT, there is a bigger world, all planets and moons and colonies and people! Six billion of them -- each different from the ones in this colony, and yet not so different at all, so very much the same.
It is not, fully, the world that Tsutsujidai left. A month and a half has passed, and the world is a finite thing. It moves forward with you or without you -- and many would deny the miracles of that time for the sake of the sorrow. So many would assert that this is a sadness that can't last any longer, but:
You decide whether it's sad or not.