2023-06-02: The Gundam they Called Zero
- Log: The Gundam They Called Zero
- Cast: Heero Yuy, Rita Bernal, Qivi, Ryoko Subaru, Asciel Colette, Hikaru Amano, Trevor Teach, Treize Khushrenada, BC-001 Minae, Emalya Zamana
- Where: Luna II
- OOC - IC Date: 2nd June UC 0097
- Summary: Luna II comes under fierce and unexpected attack from a singular Gundam... but the truth is much stranger than it appears.
<Pose Tracker> Heero Yuy has posed.
Luna II is one of G-Hound's most steadfast of strongholds, located in the vicinity of Lagrange 3 with virtually no contest or oversight; formerly a mining asteroid, it has been converted into one of the task force's most important strategic strongholds. To attack head-on would be... inadvisable, at best.
Inadvisable is not a word Heero Yuy normally pays much heed to normally, much less... now.
It's four minutes and fifty three seconds since combat is joined; a shocking amount of casualties have ripped the frontlines, enough to generate a lot of noise even from reports elseplace -- a massacre is happening.
And it isn't only that: those with awareness and reach on cybernetic and artificial space... feel something. Is this what the Awakened feel, from afar, akin to the 'pressure' they often speak of? A firm, cold presence, precise and calculating.
A flow of images disconcerting and fleeting...
Impossibilities and improbabilities.
Zero or one? Undefined or null? True or false?
A wave or particle? Foam or shadow?
But it all collapses into...
-= 0 =-
The mysterious white mobile suit, visually a Gundam in the most traditional sense, is on the move. A flare of vulcans from its shoulders, shredding a nearby black Taurus on its leg. It finishes the job with its emerald-green beam sabre. Two flankers catch it on the wings, causing it to buckle to one side -- but it just seems to drift, a giant feeling the pinprick of insects on its back.
A giant awakened, it turns, twin cannons lifted--
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOZwtptI3mY )
You can't hear it in space. But you can see it.
The presence of this sinful weapon is likely what first goes on the radars, heat signatures spiking through the coldness of space. A relentless golden line of judgement carving through, brooking no dissent. The beam clips the side of Luna II proper, and the asteroid rocking to one side from sheer force.
The beam fades. There is stillness.
Those stationed at Luna II are rallying; comms are hot and furious at the moment, demanding results. They call for additional help, on all the radio bands they can muster. Then, a young man's voice, on open channels, cold and yet out of breath:
<"Tactical Level 1 complete...
Proceeding to the strategic layer.
Where... is my enemy?">
The eternal blue orb whispers in kind, the red bands of past, present and future ever intertwining.
<"Everyone who fights... is my enemy.">
KTS: Ryoko Subaru has deployed in Aestivalis - Zero G Frame (Ryoko Ver.). KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: BC-001 Minae has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Ryoko Subaru! KTS: Hikaru Amano has deployed in Aestivalis Zero-G Frame (Hikaru). KTS: EN Barrier activated!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Faraway, through space and back to the Earth, the cold, machine-like presence reaches the youngest of the Unicorn sisters, resonating to her very Heart. She should not interfere in the affairs of the living, especially not now. She must continue preparing.
But Rita Bernal has resolved to fight for the future she wants to see. She will not let another young man be taken by a malicious robot. This tragedy, one she died and lived again to prevent -- she won't let it be repeated.
And so, the Phenex vanishes from her hiding place, leaving behind a letter promising to return. She crosses the atmosphere and makes her way to Luna II faster than really should be possible for a single Gundam. Blue flame is left in her wake, shimmering with otherworldly radiance. Perhaps she is one of the first to find this new Gundam, due to her remarkable speed.
Twin wing-like shields raise from her back, ready to turn away the Wing Zero's next attack.
Stop this.
The Phenex holds her arms out, positioning herself between Luna II and the Gundam. She bears no visible weapon, nor are her engines firing.
My name is Rita Bernal. I'm here to keep you from destroying yourself.
Her voice doesn't come through a radio, but echoes into the hearts of those present -- should they be open enough.
Lay down your weapons. The future is still unwritten.
The Phenex makes no move to attack, simply holding position. Perhaps her words will be enough to reach the young pilot of the Wing Zero -- perhaps the promise of warmth and kindness she represents will be enough.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Heero Yuy with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Qivi isn't supposed to be here today.
This isn't some abstract thought about her role in life, her use of violence to solve her problems (or not). It's not even a slightly less abstract thought about scheduling.
No, she isn't supposed to be here today because Luna II is a Federation stronghold for G-Hound and she doesn't have anything to do with G-Hound. They would in fact probably shoot her if they knew she was here.
But they don't! At least at first.
Qivi has been making trips to some of the 'less in oversight' Federation bases she knows of in a vain attempt to track down anything even sort of maybe related to Murasame Labs or Vist's activities. What she thinks she will find, flying randomly through space on a beater of a transport shuttle that just happens to have some above-average scanners, is a very good question. So far the answer is not a lot.
And Lagrange 3 is about as far away from Federation oversight as you get. It would not surprise her that, if Murasame Labs *was* talking to the Federation, they were doing it here.
Of course she wasn't expecting that, if she actually did find something, it would be an active firefight. It would make a lot of sense for her to stay out of it, but there's two reasons against that.
First is Phenex Gundam. She saw Phenex once, briefly, with her own eyes - fleeing from Luio. She got a bit of the story from Koji, afterwards, and has no idea what *it* is doing here. Phenex was not what she came to find, but... that doesn't matter.
Second, of course, is that Qivi is just real bad at waiting in general. She wants to act. She has to act.
Which is why she crawled into the back of the shuttle and very carefully slipped into some machinery that just barely fit there.
---
A red and white unit that appears to be made mostly of sharp edges is flying in from the outskirts, not signalling allegiance to anything in particular. It's about fifteen meters tall - smaller than most Mobile Suits, bigger than Qivi 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 makes pretty good time, and does not immediately open fire, mostly because Qivi isn't entirely sure who she wants to fire AT, yet. If anyone.
KTS: Asciel Colette has deployed in Plan-1056 Codarl-a 'Glaux'. KTS: Asciel Colette has changed loadout.
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"Hmm a distress call from G-Hound forces on Luna II." Comms officer Megumi relays to Minato, who's at the helm, "But that's not really our problem is it? It's G-Hound."
Omoikane blips various messages of questioning on the screen, interrogatives and question marks in different fonts and languages.
"And the Captain's on break and in a simulation right now." Megumi notes, hands on each side of her face, "Do we really want to interrupt her for this?"
Jun Aoi has been silent this whole time. .oO(Yurika in the Holo Deck. Yurika having romantic fantasies. Yurika. A pure maiden's romance. Pure. ...Pure. Pure. This fighting could...)
The images of his imagined daydreams that Yurika is having send his shoulders quiver, like a building pressure, until he makes a fist, "I'll make the call! Launch Aestivalis Wing! For Captain Yurika! We'll make sure nothing disrupts her Pure Maiden's Fantasies!"
Megumi eyes Minato, cupping a hand as she leans over and murmurs, "He really has a one track mind doesn't he?" Minato just nods helplessly, as she changes trajectory towards Luna II.
"I heard that." Jun calls out, as Megumi cheerfully chirps, "I don't really care if you did!"
-=-=-
A red Aestivalis, in the sharp and sleek Zero G frame launches at the fore of the the Nadesico's complement.
Her sensors getting a visual on the clash between Wing Zero and the Phenex. "What kind of moron is this guy!? Attacking G-Hound by himself? And that Golden Gundam is here too?"
She lets out just this prolonged sigh, "Why are all our deployments like THIS lately!?"
She complains to Hikaru and Minae over the comms, "Can't things just be straight forward for once!? He could you know, wear a sign on that Gundam that says 'Loser with a Death Wish' so we'd at least know what he's doing here."
Now Ryoko Subaru is known as an extraordinarily reasonable person with level headed judgment in these circumstances, which is why the first thing she does is have her Aestivalis raise it's Rapid Rifle and send a warning shot in the form of a semi automatic burst of projectile fire at the Zero to make clear her negotiating stance.
"<Hey dumbass! Clear out before you get perforated!>"
KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Heero Yuy with Semi-Rapid Rifle! KTS: Ryoko Subaru has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Heero Yuy fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 81375 KTS: Heero Yuy successfully evades Ryoko Subaru's Semi-Rapid Rifle <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
}---\ SIDE 4, YUNGHUI COLONY \----------------{
The ringing of hammers and drills and speaker tests sing within the workshop of song at Asciel Colette's command. Everything, slowly, is coming into place - a pure expression of passion and performance on the imminent horizon, one that spits in the face of a world that would defy her. One last recital is all she truly needs to ring her bell of dawnlight-
And that's exactly when that distant boom, even so far off in the cosmos, thrums against Asciel's every sense. Her puppet goes utterly stiff in the middle of a dance routine, and falls over on its side, unresponsive.
>no no no no NO WHAT IS THAT
>WHO'S COMING IN no no no why WHY make it s-
WHY HERE? WHY NOW? GET OUT OF ME--
The Alastor she operates on stage sits bolt upright, feeling almost like it's fuzzy and far away with interference. With a stagger, she struggles to make it speak, "...Something is very wrong. Something has gone utterly, catastrophically wrong, I can feel it. ...I'll be back. I'll be back as soon as I can determine what has happened." With that oh so ominous note from all the stagehands trying to put together Asciel's concert...to them, the idol suddenly just, goes utterly unresponsive. (Probably a bad move.)
What's actually at hand is that Asciel's loaded her Arm Slave onto the fastest and longest-range transport she can commandeer out of Yunghui - one that's little more than a dozen propellant-driven rockets strapped to a Base Jabber - and she's rocketing right in the direction of Luna. Towards that 'calling' that struck so much sudden fear into her - one that is persistent, yet does not use its hold over her senses to do much damage.
The moment she gets close enough for her voice to ring out - it screams, patently. >>This unrepentant declaration of <Zero> - you...you have to stop. You have to tell me what you are at once. ...After all.<<
..I am this world's |One|.<<
Astride that soaring platform hurtling right into the face of G-Hound's fortress, a tiny Arm Slave glows with a radiance that demands attention - nearly begs for it. One hand outstretches towards the Gundam - momentarily, the Phenex seems like it's what's 'doing' this, the thing that'd tear a gash into Asciel's own fortress. But no, she can identify the source of that 'Zero' - an unfamiliar Gundam in every respect. Twin projectors unfold from the Codarl's arm, lengthening into a railgun - and a single bullet streaks between them, hurtling dimly along an arrow's arc. Dim in the blackness of space - clear as day for Asciel, whose oldest ancestors were built to understand ballistics as instinct.
--wipe away the fear shaking your voice. After all, Asciel has a reputation to uphold. Across all the channels she can find, she bellows out, "Ah, all of you who fear the Gundams so dearly - breathe easily~ It's me! Gundam Fight champion-" (no she's not) "-and Virtual Sage, Asciel Colette, here to end the world-tearing tides of fate! Mobile Suits like this exist solely to submit to my whims, with no hand that merits holding their command - and so I will even take pity on sordid wretches like you of G-Hound, slavering mongrels who would gnaw on the flesh of the weak. While I'd love to take advantage of the chaos and send Luna II hurtling towards the damned sun, I have a concert to get back to real quick and the Gundam is my highest priority. Take this mercy of coincidence and, I dunno, abandon the whole place, just for me~"
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Heero Yuy with Cecrops Buster Shot! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Heero Yuy blocks Asciel Colette's Cecrops Buster Shot, taking 1020 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 80355 <Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
Hikaru was looking forward to a nice, relaxing afternoon doing what she usually does when she has spare time: reading manga. It's not like she cares whether a G-Hound base blows up or not, they left the Federation and all! She supposes there's a tactical purpose for preventing G-Hound from getting too antsy to retaliate against spacenoids or whatever, but...
"Ughhhh it was getting to the good part too they were about to kiss!" Hikaru complains, when given the order to deploy by Jun. "Why's the Captain the only one who gets to have fun around here?"
So Hikaru's matching Zero-G frame in orange flies in formation with Ryoko's. "Why's it always Gundams anyways?" Hikaru adds to Ryoko's complaints. "You got this guy, and there's that golden one that tried to burn me alive too! Why don't we just let them fight it out and sit back?"
But if she doesn't she won't get her budget so, fight it is! "Hey buddy! Why don'tcha aim for something that can actually fight back?" She trains the rapid rifle, aiming to fire a round in unison with Ryoko's, picking up her blind spots.
KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Heero Yuy with Rapid Rifle: Team Formation!! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Heero Yuy blocks Hikaru Amano's Rapid Rifle: Team Formation!, taking 1440 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 78915 KTS: Hikaru Amano begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Somewhere in the depths of space, attached to a meandering freighter with crude chains and passage paid for on the absolute cheap, the Isadore rests silently. In its cockpit, its pilot rests meditatively, his arms and legs both crossed, his awareness reaching out, expanding, further and further and further and--
"Ughhhhhhh," Trevor Teach groans, flopping forward until he tumbles ass-over-teakettle and starts rotating uselessly in space. "Ritaaaaa, where are youuuu? Why is trying to find people with my brain so hard? Isn't this supposed to be a newtype thing!?" He's been looking for weeks! Weeks!! And there's been no hide nor hair of the Phenex or the woman responsible for abducting it! And he was even too late to do anything when the Banshee made a reappearance, ugh!
Yaro! Yaro! Gambare, Cap'n! Chin up! Chin up! A little purple haro (with one eye covered by a flashing 'patch' (and a jolly roger painted on its 'belly')) chirps merrily in its recepticle, its wings flapping happily. "Ughhhh I know Yaro, but it's just a little depressing is all! And embarassing! After I made such a big deal about saving her! What kind of dread pirate can't find a damsel in dis--"
Something flashes like a golden comet in the distance. The Isadore's optics immediately ignite, the chains holding it in place falling away as its thrusters flare. Trevor is hurled squashed-face-first directly into the seat of his cockpit with a surprised 'yarp!?' "Issy, you saw her?" The self-proclaimed Dread Pirate unentangles himself-- with his head still crookedly angled at about ten degrees from the pillar of his neck. "Alright, let's go. Yaro, navigation mode! We've got a Phoenix to rescue!"
Yaro! Yaro! Plottin' course, yo ho ho and a tipper of tequila!
THAT WAS THEN
THIS IS NOW.
An ostensibly 'neutral' IFF appears on the edge of the battlefield, but approaches at quite frankly silly speeds. When it finally resolves into visual range, it goes careening directly into the Wing Zero like the other machine had a target painted on its Gundam-looking face. "RITAAAAA!?" A voice crackles suddenly across the airwaves. "What are you doing out here!? Why are you free!? No, I mean, I'm glad you are-- do you know how worried we've been!? What's all this death about? Are you being chased again!?" (Trevor is wrong on so many counts) "What is this extremely marketable-looking mobile suit? Can I take it!?" (He is right on at least one of those counts)
Beat.
Aestivalises. Two of them. "You two... Hikaru and Ryoko!?" They might recognize Trevor, or at least his mobile suit. They've been slumming it on the Nadesico for a little while as the latter was undergoing repairs. "Is the Nadesico here too...!?"
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Heero Yuy with Rocket Anchor! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Possible reactions are React, Evade, Parry, Block, Intercept, Charge, Retreat, Rush, Guard, Job, Accept
KTS: Trevor Teach anchors Heero Yuy, forcing him into close range. KTS: Heero Yuy blocks Trevor Teach's Rocket Anchor, taking 1260 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 77655 KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Heero Yuy!
<Pose Tracker> Treize Khushrenada has posed.
Treize Khushrenada sits on a shuttle, on the way to Luna II to provide research consultation in regards to some of the newer mobile suits. Watching out the window he can see the stronghold off in the distance, and then a flash of light. Slowly rising from his chair , he floats to the cockpit and doesn't say a word, simply hovers behind the pilots. However he can hear it now, the chatter and alerts about Luna II being under attack. The pilot reports, " We are diverting to Von Braun." Treize frowns and looks at the battle for the moment as his mind thinks back to the last time he was in space.
=================Flashback========================
Treize is standing infront of Muruta Azrael , having imprisoned the genocidal bastard after launching nuclear weapons against the Seed colony, his fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Muruta, for crimes against humanity and for disobeying your commanding officer I sentence you to a dishonorable death." Muruta Azrael kicks and screams as he is dragged out of Treize sight, saying he will not get away with this and other cliche threats. As if Treize did not know this.
A few weeks later there he is in front of the entire Romefellar foundation leadership with Duke Dermails sitting there on the raised platform while Treize is standing before them all, having been called to explain his actions. Duke Dermail stares down at Treize, "You were placed as the leader of G-Hound to act on the actions of Romefellar wants. We were relying on you to follow our wants, yet you took it upon yourself to act as you pleased. What do you have to say for yourself."
Treize looks up at the duke and shakes his head, "If Romefellar is a foundation that would allow the use of nuclear weapons, then Duke Dermails I'm sorry, but I cannot support the Romefeller Foundation in the path it's taking." The Duke's face twists up in anager as he shouts, "WHAT?!" Treize smiles before taking a step forward, " Tradition is a history, it's the history of caring built by deep true feelings of people. I do think that fighting in battles can indeed at times be beautiful, but at the same time I'd like to express my regret over the lost souls by appealing to you to recognize how priceless mens life is. I believe what mankind needs is not absolute victory, but a certain demeanor in fighting, an attitude towards fighting. I fear that a foundation that would allow succh an action that leads only to throw away those priceless souls. On top of this I am not ignorant of the creation of soulless weapons you move towards, that of the mobile dolls. I fear such a path that this foundation is blazing will only lead to be an embarrassment to the people of the future. I use to believe that the ideals of the people born after the wars would only lead to pacifism but instead more warrior continue to stand up and fight. Those warriors take up arms and refuse to give up on their ideals despite being betrayed by the people. Tradition has begun to blur alongside pure feelings. From a historical point of view, warriors who lost what they were protecting and were further betrayed by those they were protecting, are losers. But they do not recognize themselves as such. Not only that, but they retain a strong will to continue fighting. "
Treize turns and looks at the other before he turns back to look at Duke Dermails, "The emotions of those who are thought to be beautiful are always full of sorrow, and honored tradition disappears in the cry of the weak. Winners of a battle will eventually decline in power and become losers. And then those losers will cultivate a new leader.
After Treize's long winded speech Duke Dermails speaks up once again, "What is it you are trying to say?" Treize simply smiles , "I am saying that I want to be a loser. " With that said Treize turns and begins to walk away with a lot of old men shouting at him. Sure he got the last word but it cost him, his G-Hound rank was revoked and he was put on indefinate leave. A lot of the money and benefits that Treize used were stripped from him and truthfully he was confined to the Khushrenada mansion and not to leave without direction. It seemed like he would be in that mansion till it fell apart around him, except G-Hound still recognized that Treize had talent in mobile suit building and needed some consultation work.
=================Present=======================
Treize has no power in this shuttle, he has no say but there is something beautiful that is happening. "Otto, set course for the battleline, keep us safe but I wish to see it all. " The pilot looks at the 'Colonel' and smiles before he looks at the co-pilot and says, "You heard him, set a course for Luna II."
The shuttle would easily appear on sensors to any of the combatants soon enough and Treize would once again be entering the battlefield.
<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
There's a new figure on the Nadesico's bridge. Minae isn't strictly meant to be here - her transfer from the Ra Mari II to the Nadesico has not been completely finalised, and was somewhat held up by her Aunt showing up to drop a handful of surprises on her. But when several of the communication channels she habitually tracks lit up with alerts and emergency warnings, and then the Nadesico started to move, she was quick to put two and two together and request the chance to join in on the operation.
The robot has personal reasons beyond simply wanting to help out. While it's true that she'd like to be of use to her new crew, Minae also needs to get used to being on the Nadesico in general. On the Ra Mari II it's fair to say she had more or less unfettered access, free to travel through the ship on the digital layer as she liked. For perhaps the first time, she's having to learn about sharing that space - working around and not hogging her way past Omoikane's influence. It's-- new. It's something she never thought about taking into account before.
It's a pretty good feeling, once she starts to get the hang of it.
"Aestivalis, this is Minae on the bridge. I'll be providing logistical support and, um, general consultancy for this battle. Please don't be alarmed if you see a new window or two on your UI," she adds, the light joke giving away how buoyed she feels to have made the change between ships. "Miss Zamana, while I don't technically have clearance to assist you in a combat capacity, I think we can consider a gunfight a source of emotional distress. As such, I'd be happy to provide support." She's been sitting on that loophole in her NERV contract for a while now.
Something creeps up on her as they approach the engagement site, a pulsing headache starting to throb at the back of her mind. This is particularly odd given that she doesn't even have the right biology to have a headache with; a rare slice of panic goes through her as she fires her internal diagnostics in response, and then immediately wishes she hadn't. Focusing on the sensation only brings it to the fore - it's like a cloud of miniature communications and processes, all happening faster than even she can follow, leaving only the pressure of their presence behind.
She's instinctively trying to follow the slew of information, unable to fully keep up with it. She can process bits and pieces of the flow, but the rest feels like an assault on her senses, and the logistical map she'd been building is spotty and slow to complete. Even the Phenex's arrival is not something she notices until several seconds after she should have, stuck trying to keep up with a denial of service attack she never expected.
"I appreciate where you're coming from, but please be careful," she replies to both Ryoko and Hikaru once she can find her voice and register the communication past the noise. She could throw up a firewall, but the idea of blocking incoming communications feels all wrong to her, a line she doesn't want to cross when she can tell she's so tantalizingly close to some degree of understanding about how Arriety and Callisto view the world. "The fact that they're still alive despite these odds says a great deal about them. That 'with a Death Wish' part might not be very true."
She wants to say 'the pilot's AI is also out of control' - but she doesn't know how true that might be yet. If she can equate it to anything, it feels manic and unrestrained. The thought of everything collapsing to Zero is something that she can only really read as desperation, and if she follows that line of thought then the idea of a lone Gundam attacking an entire G-Hound colony starts to come into some sort of focus. She's not yet able to recognize who is denying the concept of Zero with their own concept of One - everything blares at her senses at once and becomes hard to pick out - but Minae imagines an immovable object and an unstoppable force and comes up with 'everyone loses'.
Whether she has the right read on the situation is something she cannot say for sure. But she is a Brave Counsellor, after all. And so she stops the defensive part of herself that was trying to filter the multitude of connections - and reaches out to try to meet them instead, even as her vision glows with that brilliant and terrible light that renders her speechless.
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
Emalya Zamana is here on unrelated business, as she often is. She's got a courier job that she just finished, and now she's launched from Luna II again in order to leave. But while she was going to just leave--
Boom! Explosions!
And... the Virtual Sage? In her Excalibur, Emalya slows to a stop and tilts her head. "...?" she says, over no particular radio. "I am not thinking this is normal..."
The Phenex is there, too. "Pretty," Emalya comments thoughtfully, and looks towards it. She thinks she hears... something... But what? "...Golden mobile suit," she says over the radio, "What is your intention here?"
This is, in theory, not her problem. But the Nadesico's pilots are getting involved, and...
"Question!" Emalya says over the radio. "I believe that my contract stipulates that helping a branch of Nergal unexpectedly earns for me 'double time'!"
She smiles, because Minae is offering to help her, too. "I will take this as a 'yes' to the requisition of SMS support! I am here with you now!"
"I am now analyzing the Gundam in question," she says. "Please stand by to receive data."
KTS: Emalya Zamana targets Heero Yuy with Designate L1! KTS: Emalya Zamana has completed their actions for the round. KTS: BC-001 Minae targets Ryoko Subaru with Pass! KTS: BC-001 Minae has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ryoko Subaru fails to react to BC-001 Minae's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Emalya Zamana designates Heero Yuy, making him easier to target and opening him to indirect fire. KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 77655
<Pose Tracker> Heero Yuy has posed.
The Phenex, a vital sign of blue and gold racing through space, responds swiftly; otherworldly radiance washes off off her, and the very prsence of Rita Bernal herself reaches out to Heero's very own heart.
And what she, and the other Awakened feel, in turn...
There is a young man here, a human being, with a heart perforated with deep sorrow. Yet the faintness of his presence is... unnatural. Inwards. Reserved. The soul is retracting within, rather than reaching out... reaching closer to the machine, rather than its surroundings. His heart is impossibly big; perhaps far too big, and that is why it bleeds so much. Rita's warmth causes it to bristle.
Heero regards the golden Phenex impassively, whispering:
<"The future we are all headed to... I have to resist that future. That is why... I will fight!">
The Wing Zero's machine cannons snap into place on its shoulders, showering the Phenex's shields with a salvo of not particularly concentrated fire.
Ryoko's Zero-G equipped Aestivalis comes next; it's a fast, manoeuvreable machine, and the Gundam... withdraws into itself, its shield coming up -- and the warning shots are deflected to one side, bouncing with minimal pock marks among the red surface of its guard.
This is Gundanium Armour, only capable of being processed in outer space... and its impact tolerance is reputable.
<"... Nergal? You're in my way... I won't hesitate to shoot. Everyone who fights...">
Ryoko gave a warning shot, and Heero gives one in turn, lifting the Twin Buster Rifle -- and snapping a single shot off, somewhat carelessly off-centre; however, the sheer size of the beam is enough to graze if she doesn't do something about it. This act of retaliation give Hikaru the time to catch up, hitting the Wing Zero in its blind spot and digging into its shoulder armour, small black pockets sinking into it -- undeterred, Heero follows up with another warning shot towarsd Hikaru's own Aestivalis.
Qivi's red-and-white unit flying in the outskirts of the battle isn't missed by Heero. He's not certain what make or build it is; customised, perhaps... just then, Asciel arrives on the scene, vivacious with her announcement. There's quietness from Heero in response to the bold proclamation, and a quiet whisper of:
<"You two are a distraction to Zero...">
The Codarl's arm lengthens to a railgun, and that single bullet threatens to tear through the Wing Zero -- there's movement, and it cuts a lone across thigh armour, rippling Gundanium in its wake. In retaliation: Heero shoots! It's another off-angle buster shot, aimed somewhat lazily at the Arm Slave, and then another one at Qivi's unit.
The Isadore comes acreening from the edge of the battlefield, at remarkable speeds; distracted by shooting Asciel, Trevor rams into the Wing Zero and sends it off-balance for a moment, though the Gundam seemingly angrily responds by withdrawing a beam sabre from its shoulder to swipe away at Trevor.
<"Begone. What is your reason to be here?">
Heero has no capacity to listen to Treize's speech, but on some level, he intuitively understands, as one betrayed by the colonies two years ago, as one that was simply discarded the moment he became irrelevant to them: that he, too, is a Loser.
The sensors pick up the shuttle. Zero ebbs and flows even stronger.
<"Treize... Khrushenada...">
Emalya's scanners furiously scan over the Wing Zero, and she receives a similar match on the database to an incident two years ago, when one of the Colony Gundams self-detonated in an act of resistance after their battle against G-Hound, after the colonies disavowed all support and acknowledgement.
But more than that, on the practical level: the technology being used here is... unnatural. Excessive, even. That Twin Buster Rifle it's holding holds much greater power than Heero is currently using.
<"VF-19, modified... it doesn't matter who you are. If you'll get in my way, then...">
Then the Buster Rifle lifts and another warning shot is fired, just like that.
But it isn't just Heero that answers: there is another. The machine within is responds to those equipped on the cybernetic level, on some wavelength that it finds suitable, beyond radio, some quirk of interaction between Psycoframe and the mysterious technology within:
(OOC: >> marks Zero's 'dialogue'. Zero is being reasonably 'open', but doesn't communicate via radio or physicality -- you can choose to see it via text on a screen, or otherwise. The rule is simple! If you want to see it, you can.)
>> I have shown this boy the future he desires.
>> The future that he himself has chosen...
>> A path of most-resistance, a path of unending battle.
>> He is otherwise powerless to resist the tide of the world.
Asciel's scream, across cybernetic space, does not go unheard. Minae's presence, as a Super AI as well, is something that Zero marks as important. Zero answers them, and others, in kind, its 'voice' impossibly calm and firm, betraying no hint of emotion:
>> I am 'Zero' -- I am humankind's obsession with nothingness, born to present 'absolute victory'.
>> It is my duty to present it in the only language they all understand: the desire to reduce to nothing.
>> To collapse all possibility to Zero is my raison d'etre.
>> If you are 'One'... then you will forever be my opposite.
>> And you... 'Brave Counselor'. Show me your own strength.
KTS: Heero Yuy targets Rita Bernal with Machine Cannon! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Qivi with Buster Rifle - Warning Shot! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Ryoko Subaru with Buster Rifle - Warning Shot! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Hikaru Amano with Buster Rifle - Warning Shot! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Asciel Colette with Buster Rifle - Warning Shot! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Trevor Teach with Beam Sabre! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Emalya Zamana with Buster Rifle - Warning Shot! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 363. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 150. KTS: Heero Yuy has completed their actions for the round. +spirit
KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ryoko Subaru successfully avoids Heero Yuy's Buster Rifle - Warning Shot KTS: Asciel Colette fails to charge. KTS: Asciel Colette successfully avoids Heero Yuy's Buster Rifle - Warning Shot KTS: Qivi blocks Heero Yuy's Buster Rifle - Warning Shot, taking 2280 damage! KTS: Emalya Zamana's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Emalya Zamana blocks Heero Yuy's Buster Rifle - Warning Shot, taking 3960 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's Last Impression activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's White Reflection activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. page emalya=Oh, one more snack Emalya can have -- she also sees the pilot's name on the entry: 'Heero Yuy'.
KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Hikaru Amano blocks Heero Yuy's Buster Rifle - Warning Shot, taking 3960 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's Last Impression activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's White Reflection activates, causing Jam L1!
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Something is wrong. It's putting her on edge and she doesn't entirely, consciously, know why. G-Hound being attacked by an unknown isn't a *great* thing, but it's not horrible either. She'd strike at G-Hound if she could.
But there's something about this situation that just isn't right. She can feel it in her gut, in her heart, even if she can't put a name to it or consciously identify what it might be.
Fortunately for her, Asciel says something that cannot be ignored, giving her a distraction she can look away for a moment with. Qivi finds her fingers on the comms before she can really stop herself.
"Pretty sure *I'm* closer to a Gundam Fight champion than you." Qivi uses a drawl her accent doesn't normally have, her voice coming through loud and clear. "And I never participated as a national fighter; I'm just an arena champion of two arenas. Nice try though."
To Qivi, who respects most of the actual Gundam Fighters - and even idolizes some of them - such a lie cannot stand.
She thumbs over to a direct line, laser-targeted (literally, given the increasing Minovsky interference); she's trying to get a lock on Rita. "Hey, this is Qivi, I help out the Photon Power League sometimes," she says, by boring old radio because it's what she's got. "You need anything? I saw you run away that night..."
She'd say more, but her laser comms are being... it's not hijacked precisely but she's getting some weird feedback. Weird, regular feedback. It sounds like a bad modem when she puts it on audio (not that she has ever heard a modem of that era) but, after flinching from the feedback, she recognizes enough of the way it sounds to put it on a screen instead.
>> I am 'Zero' -- I am humankind's obsession with nothingness, born to present 'absolute victory'.
>> It is my duty to present it in the only language they all understand: the desire to reduce to nothing.
"What?" Qivi stares blankly for about one second before instincts take over before conscious thought; she rolls, bringing up both of Minokawa's arms and the heavily reinforced, buckler-like arm guards.
The beam splashes, burning some of the paint to black and scattering up the suit, leaving pockmarks and melted streaks but without completely penetrating. It's certainly enough to get Qivi's heart rate up AND give her an obvious target.
"Well if you wanna reduce *me* to nothing, I think I'm gonna have to object!" Qivi glances at the other units - Aestivalises she knows, Valkyries and Arm Slaves she knows even better, but Trevor's unit is coming up with a big fat blank beyond 'mobile suit, probably'. A shuttle. A mixed assortment, at least until the rest of G-Hound gets here, if the attack on Luna II hasn't convinced them to hunker down and fortify.
Shit, she thinks.
Reaching behind herself, Qivi's Minokawa pulls out a gatling gun. No - two gatling guns, with a crossbar between them so that she can grip and point both of them downrange, one settling in on the left of the arm and one on the right. The gatlings are undersized for the Minokawa - it's a two-handed weapon on a wanzer, but wanzers are so much smaller that Qivi decided to just go with two and one-hand the pair.
She opens up, firing both guns downfield ('field') at the Wing Zero. In space there's no noise, but Qivi can feel the constant thump through her arm as she fires, accelerating forward at the same time. The closer she gets, the less he (it?) can fire that big rifle at her effectively, she thinks.
KTS: Qivi targets Heero Yuy with Twin Leostun Gatling Guns Burst Fire! KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Heero Yuy blocks Qivi's Twin Leostun Gatling Guns Burst Fire, taking 1350 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 76305 KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Heero Yuy's Machine Cannon, taking 4200 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's Last Impression activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's White Reflection activates, causing Jam L1! <Pose Tracker> Treize Khushrenada has posed.
Treize hears the voice of the pilot and picks up the comm piece and then walks back to the passengar comment , turning his head back to look at the pilots, "Do your best to keep us out of any direct fire and try to get in touch with Luna II through other means, make sure we know what they need."
Treize floats through the passengar cabin as he closes his eyes taking a moment ot picture the person who called out his name. <" I presume that I am speaking with the pilot of the gundam that is attacking Luna II. I have had the privilege of meeting many gundam pilots in my life, and each one has always foguht for a different reason. So pilot of this gundam, why do you take up arms, what is it you are trying to achieve? "> .
In a way Treize can already guess some of the answers, he was well aware of the similarities to this gundam that blew up years ago, and can only wonder if it is even the same pilot. <" Do you fight for those that have turned away from you?">
KTS: Trevor Teach blocks Heero Yuy's Beam Sabre, taking 5040 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's Last Impression activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's White Reflection activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Heero Yuy has engaged Trevor Teach!
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"Roger Minae, just hope nothing on your new windows is anything too weird!" Before she gets distracted by Hikaru's statement, "Kiss..." Ryoko echoes with a yearning expression, before she flusters, "W-Wait you were watching, Hikaru!?"
(Ryoko was watching too.)
Hikaru raises a good point about letting them fight, but Ryoko has a subtle enthusiasm to her grin, "Eh. Where's the fun in that Hikaru!? I'm never one to back down from a good scrap."
Laying down a field of fire with Hikaru, she says to Minae, "What do you want to be his therapist or something!? What's to even analyze about this guy?"
Emalya however, lays down an important details just as Heero starts to fire his warning shot, "What, they pay you DOUBLE TIME for this!? That's in your contract? Those-"
Omoikane suddenly mutes Ryoko's comms, as various censor bars pop up on screens of her face with the message, 'Please wait-! Please wait-!"
"-ITCH!"
He finally unmutes it as she ends whatever tirade she was on, however, apparently Emalya's comments fired her up in her sudden anger, because her Aestivalis wheeled right around the Twin Buster Rifle's warning shot, it's blast skirting right off the monochrome field that appears without any meaningful content.
"<Heh. Exactly what I was counting on. Come on then- you think the Nadesico's Aesti wing is backing down from some delusional kid in an expensive toy!?>"
There is an unusual communication within her Aesti's systems, back before she got an IFS tattoo she wouldn't have been able to process this all mid battle, but now? Now some part of her just does it automatically.
"The hell?"
Ryoko seems vaguely startled by its message, and with a simple command through the interface of her cybernetics turns on voice to text. "Reduc-
>reduce it all to nothing?
>ur shitting me
>are u going through some kind of middle school phase kid?
>dumb
"-ASS!" Ryoko says as her Aesti speeds in from the flanks, a knife drawn, as she rips it across the Gundanium alloy of Zero to test out its armor.
Apparently she misunderstands and thinks it's the PILOT that's speaking?
"Come on Hikaru! We're not losing to a kid as cringe as this!"
KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Heero Yuy with Somewhat Immediate Knife! KTS: Ryoko Subaru has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Heero Yuy blocks Ryoko Subaru's Somewhat Immediate Knife, taking 3430 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 72875 KTS: Ryoko Subaru has engaged Heero Yuy!
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
That voice of 'Zero' rings out, so cold and clear - singular, collected, focused, absolute. It sends a most curious feeling through Asciel - fear melting away, but replaced with...what is it? What is it about the way Zero speaks that causes such a tightness...?
As the Codarl and Wing Zero dart away from each others' shots, as Asciel gets closer, reaching a hand out to the surface of her 'bubble'-
>>...Zero. I wonder if it's a name you came up with yourself, or if it's been 'assigned' to you. I hear you ~loud and clear~, so don't you fear. You have a VERY strong voice - so much that it worried even me! But now I know what you sound like. Now I know why I'm worried about you.<<
>>It's because you remind me a loooooot of me from not too long ago - so it's gonna be Big Sis Asciel's job to make sure you don't fall down a path that'd make all of us so sad.<<
Asciel closes in - her Codarl's faceplate parting into that oh so human-like expression, tongue trailing over her lips, twin heavy blades deploying from innocuous backpack armor sections, and whirring to life. One arm whips out a harken at the Wing Zero - getting in close to this thing isn't anywhere near easy, so an anchor point is oh so necessary.
>>Hff, our time's really limited together, especially in these circumstances. So~ There's so much more to the story than just 1 and 0. Let's make sure we're on the same page for the complete picture of the world, alright~>>
>Value: e: (Euler's number. Approx: 2.71828.). Utility: base value of logarithms. Meaning: the firmamental nature of limitations - the inability to approach infinity, no matter the level of growth.
>Value: pi: (Approx: 3.14159). Utility: Relationship between a circumference and diameter. Meaning: the rate of all recursive and cyclical aspects.
>Value: i: (Unit imaginary number. Value: sqrt(-1)). Utility: Applies tangible concepts to the complex plane. Meaning: The tendency for reality to be applied and conflated with dreams.
>Firmamental truth: - e^(i*pi) - 1 = 0.
Firmamental understanding: Those who would expand and reach higher (humanity), should they rely on repeatedly applying their dreams to reality, require a [One] in order to not sink into negative values - in order to be stable at [Zero], the baseline state.
>>It's a truth I hold pretty dear, one that animates me a lot. Think about it for a little while, kay? And be careful not to be led around by those with ill intent. In just a little bit, I'm gonna show you what ~Becoming~ can do on your own terms - but first, I'm gonna make sure you're not just a poor hapless thing strapped to an awful Gundam. Beings like us can do SO much better than these avatars of human folly! But I'm not a fan of Gundams at all, becauuuuse~
In the midst of trying to hack away at the Wing Zero, Asciel twists Qivi's way, shooting her a holographically-emitted starry wink. "I am the last person to destroy a Gundam Fighter's head prior to the cancellation of the entire event, so I've got the highest points on the board. If they have a problem with that-" (they would! that's not even slightly how the Gundam Fight works!) "-then they can resume their stupid tournament without playing blatantly greasy games with it~"
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Heero Yuy with Atomos Cutter Grind! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Heero Yuy, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Heero Yuy fails to evade Asciel Colette's Atomos Cutter Grind, taking 2850 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 70025 KTS: Asciel Colette has engaged Heero Yuy!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Trevor!
A laugh, warm and sunlit as the dawn, rings out across the battlefield. One of the Phenex's wings soars from her back to circle around the Isadore, spinning and twirling.
I have so much to tell you. I'm okay, I promise. I need your help--! That can come later. I'm so glad you're okay. I'll keep you safe!
With another spin, the shield begins to orbit Trevor's machine, ready to protect him from incoming damage.
I'm here to try and save this pilot. He's suffering. We have pull him away from this machine. It's hurting him. The living aren't meant to worry over the future the way he's being forced to right now.
Emalya radios to the Phenex. The communication system kicks it, but only silence comes through. If she listens very hard, she may hear the tinkle of metal-against-metal. Perhaps if her heart is open, she may hear Rita's reply:
My name is Rita Bernal, pilot of the Phenex. I'm here to help you. I'll keep you safe.
Months ago, Rita would've had the strength to send an image of herself to these other pilots. Her spirit has burned too brightly, leaving her with nothing to offer but her voice and protection. With a nod, Qivi also receives a spiritual reply -- if her heart is open to it.
Thank you, Qivi. I remember you. I'm safe, now, but we must save this pilot. We cannot let suffering like this exist! Not for anyone!
An image of a redheaded young man echoes from the Heart of the Phenex -- he faces away, shoulders slumped.
Watch my back, and I'll watch yours.
With a soul so open to others, Rita feels Heero keenly. Such a familiar sadness. Soaring closer to him, the Phenex takes a full salvo from the Wing Zero's guns -- but continues, undaunted. The golden Gundam reaches out as her pilot does, ever in harmony.
There are many futures ahead of us, Heero. Far more than a machine could ever predict. There's one I'm fighting for right now. But there's a difference in fighting for and against something. If all you can do is fight against something... You'll lose yourself.
Rita's voice is sweet and breathy. So earnest, so caring. How could anyone deny her words?
You are Zero. I am the Phenex. We exist to love our pilots.
The voice of the Phenex rings out to the Zero System -- displayed in data, perhaps, as two machines may talk to each other.
You are hurting your pilot. You must stop. You will destroy him if you continue this way. There is far more than you can see, Zero System. Resonance cannot be made into a quantitative factor.
Don't you know? This life isn't all there is.
The Phenex brings her hands to her heart, then spreads them, illuminating the battlefield with light and color that defies mechanical description. It shimmers, green-blue-pink, impossibly lovely. With graceful gestures, the Phenex guides her Light to wrap around the Wing Zero, exposing it to Possibilities beyond what its systems can explain.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Heero Yuy with Coronal Aurorae! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Trevor Teach <Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"Can't a guy just show up to support a girl because he wants to?" Trevor asks with a faint smirk on his lips. "Besides, that machine of yours looks like it could sell pretty well. Nevermind the quality of the parts. How's about I find a buyer and you and I go in fifty-fifty--"
A beam saber scythes out in a viridescent arc. Isadore lifts an arm to try and intercept the strike, but only ends up with a painful scar carved into the shield-claw at its wrist. "--Tch, I just had that repaired! Fine, sixty-forty, but only because I'm feeling generous!"
>>I am 'Zero'
It's not Trevor that responds first. There's a flash of light within the curved lens of Isadore's visor. A blazing impulse of defiance radiates from the machine, spreading out over the emotional tenor of the empty vacuum. It has no words with which to speak, but the presence there rejects something fundamental about the Gundam's argument. Its pilot elucidates: "'Zero,' huh...? I'm not sure seein' the future's much help when the spyglass you're using is showing you the worst of the worst. If that's what you were made for, then it's a pretty shitty existence. You should do something more worthwhile with your life instead!"
Shields whirl about the piratical machine as Isadore whirls back to medium range, a fresh weapon drawn up from its hip. It resembles a harpoon gun crossed with a rifle crossed with a crossbow, and for a brief moment, magnetic fields flux around the barrel as it discharges a barrage of solid, spiked rods, each traveling at approximately hypersonic speeds! "Got it, Rita! Rescue the pilot and then talk later! Don't worry, I'll try to avoid the cockpit!"
"Why don't you try looking on the bright side of things for a change?" Trevor asks of both machine and pilot, "Come oonnn, being reduced to 'zero' would make life really boring, wouldn't it? Better to be pleasantly surprised when things go your way! To see the future, to know it for certain--"
"--Doesn't that mean you've already lost to it?"
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Heero Yuy with Hypersonic Bolt! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"It's good entertainment!" Hikaru shrugs, in a window that appears on Ryoko's screen. "I mean the Captain's not exactly shy about her fantasies?" Akito this, Akito that.
As for Minae... "As you might be able to see, we're pretty used to mid-battle windows! Ryoko usually just uses it to yell at me to aim faster, but... what can 'ya do?"
Until her window isn't there anymore. The Nadesico might be free from the Federation, but they SURE aren't from corporate meddling. "Well! Ah.. they better give you a nice long vacation soon. For now, just hang on tight! It usually gets wild the second we get involved it feels like." She replies to Emalya.
And although Ryoko's able to skirt around that Twin Buster Rifle fire, Hikaru takes the brunt of it, until some of it bounces off the Distortion Field. "Whoops! Hehe, come to think I'm probably a little rusty... haven't seen some action in a while!"
In much the same way, it's through the IFS that Hikaru receives Zero's message.
>nice to meet ya mr. zero!
>i think the introduction could use a little work tbh
>you gotta put some flair into it!
>p.s. i think the black knight guy already took that name
Ryoko finds this guy to be cringe, Hikaru thinks if you're gonna be cringe you might as well go all the way with it. Seeing Ryoko use the knife, she shouts "Initiating operation butterfly! Immediate knife, go!" And takes a swing for the Wing Zero for revenge for ruining the nice orange paintjob.
KTS: Rita Bernal rattles Heero Yuy, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Heero Yuy blocks Rita Bernal's Coronal Aurorae, taking 1290 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 68735 KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Heero Yuy with Immediate Knife to Meetcha!! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
If Minae has just helped lodge some extremely spurious overtime claims, it doesn't show in her voice. "I'll take responsibility if anyone complains," she manages after a moment, her head still whirling. She's in no danger of losing her feet from under her, not truly, but she still finds herself clutching to a railing on the Nadesico's bridge. "But I think... we can treat this as exceptional circumstances."
She can hear the pilot of the Gundam through the radio, their voice thin and reedy. The soft, barely there tone feels completely at odds with the way the mobile suit seamlessly responds to the presence of a dozen new units. It seems to lend credence to the idea that the pilot might not exactly be the one in control - but not opposed to its actions either, Minae checks her thinking. Just... barely there.
The noise quiets so suddenly that Minae gets to experience the feeling of dizziness and add that to the pile of firsts happening today. The multitude of connections suddenly retreats down to a single, crystal-clear voice, and yet it still seems to almost lance through her. It isn't just a single transmission - it stretches across the full band of communications at her disposal, not forceful but still completely undeniable. The solemn certainty with which it speaks is completely at odds to Minae's thoughts, to Omoikane's gentle nurturing.
Minae 'listens' to the ensuing broadcast from the other craft. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but she still finds herself frowning in its wake, unable to personally reconcile either viewpoint. Zero might have just proclaimed to be One's opposite, but just as two sides of a coin are part of the same coin, there's a lot of commonality to find in their outlooks. Asciel's advice is squarely aimed at Zero; no thought is given to the pilot, or the colony, or anything else around them.
It's not the first time she's wondered where she exists in terms of Super AI. She's more aware now that she might be one of the oldest Super AI in circulation - and that means she's had a lot of time to acclimatize to living amongst humans, to orient with her role of supporting them. Even her thought processes are purposefully slowed and aligned with those of human standards, so that she doesn't overwhelm patients with lightning-quick reponses. Does she have any right to interfere with the awakening of a Super AI to consciousness?
'Barely there', she thinks again, and there's her answer, her thoughts sharpening with it.
>> Are you sure that is the future he desires? Is it the future he has chosen himself? Or is it the future that has been forced upon him by unfair expectations, by no-one reaching out to him? I won't deny that it's easy for the tide of the world to feel unstoppable, especially given recent events, and especially when it's just you standing against it. But that's why there are groups that have banded together to push back against that flow.
She pauses there as she listens to Rita's response. It echoes back and forth, not quite on the cybernetic plane but not quite invisible to it either. She doesn't need an image of Rita; the memory of experiencing her presence is burnt into her circuits, her unforgettable first glimpse of another world.
>> I know it's going to be difficult to understand for any AI. This isn't an argument that is terribly logical, but you can't boil down human nature to Zero and One. You can see it even here - in any logical outcome, every ship here would have opened fire in return without quarter. But instead you have both humans and machines trying to reach out to you and your pilot. We're doing that because we realize what 'hopelessness' can feel like, and the thoughts that can come with it.
>> ... my name is 'Minae'. And the strength I have to offer is the knowledge that there are more than two outcomes to a battle if we can just communicate openly with each other, no matter how dire it feels, and that 'humankind's obsessions and desires don't represent that of an individual human. And that individual human is still important in their own way.
She blinks as she forcibly shifts her attention back to a more physical plane, using the spare moments in the discussion to gather herself mentally. She doesn't have a console for her hands to fly over, but the tactical map that's popped up in the bottom corner of the Aestivalis and Excalibur's screens suddenly sharpens and blossoms with detail - possible flight paths for the Zero, the evacuation status of segments of the colony beneath them. "Sorry. Had to take a call," she adds, because she's already getting carried along by the idea that when you're on the Nadesico you take everything two steps lighter.
"They're working in concert, but the AI is somewhat more in control than the pilot." Minae wavers on whether to add her next comment, but decides to push forwards anyway. "I don't think that either of them truly want to be doing this. I realize there's a lot of danger involved, but please try not to destroy either of them." She'll wince later about using the verb 'destroy' in reference to a human.
KTS: BC-001 Minae has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Hikaru Amano KTS: BC-001 Minae has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Ryoko Subaru KTS: BC-001 Minae targets Ryoko Subaru, Hikaru Amano, and Emalya Zamana with Awe. KTS: BC-001 Minae has completed their actions for the round. KTS: BC-001 Minae inspires awe, increasing Emalya Zamana's Morale! KTS: BC-001 Minae inspires awe, increasing Ryoko Subaru's Morale!
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
"Oh, yes," Emalya answers Ryoko cheerfully. "I did not fail to learn in my time in the corporate world! I am quite the negotiator!" She beams. Then, she hears tinkling of metal on metal over the radio, and tilts her head once again, until she hears it--a faint voice. "Miss Bernal...?" she wonders. "Your voice is so faint! Perhaps it is we who should be helping you!" And to Hikaru she replies pleasantly, "That would be nice I think! I am not stranger to wildness, however!" And to Minae, "I believe that this is looking very exceptional."
The fun ends soon enough. "It does not," Emalya agrees with the mysterious pilot. "I am here to be in your way, and therefore we will fight. That is the way of war."
But there's more she's seeing--there's the text on her screen, and she frowns. In addition to the data she's gathering, there's this. "It is... That mobile suit has much greater power than it is using. Be wary of the rifle!" Pause. She gets more data still, and considers what she sees. 'Zero'...
"The suit is a match for a Colony Gundam incident in a self-detonation attack... Pilot name designated as 'Heero Yuy. Do any of you know this individual?'
Then, she narrows her eyes. "'Zero'," Emalya calls over the radio. "This is unacceptable. Humanity is more than an obsession with nothingness. The language they shared with us is music, not destruction! And I will not allow you to extinguish that possibility!" For all that she was cheerfully talking of double time a moment ago, now the Meltrandi if anything sounds angry.
At the warning shot she shifts modes, suddenly becoming a Battroid to block with her shield, but it still batters her backwards, requiring her without anything to jump off of to return to Fighter mode and start sailing in towards the Zero.
"Firing!"
Firing a volley of shots to prevent their foe from pinning her down, Emalya moves laterally, getting into better position to fight. "We must defeat this machine! Before it can bring its true power to bear!" But Minae wants them to spare it... "...But because I am following your lead, I will do my best to target weapons systems rather than vital systems." She sounds shaky on it though.
KTS: Emalya Zamana targets Heero Yuy with Mounted Beam Gun Pod Maneuver Shot! KTS: Emalya Zamana has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Emalya Zamana has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Rita Bernal KTS: Heero Yuy successfully evades Trevor Teach's Hypersonic Bolt KTS: Trevor Teach completes the Formation attack! KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Heero Yuy blocks Hikaru Amano's Immediate Knife to Meetcha!, taking 1350 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 67385 KTS: Hikaru Amano has engaged Heero Yuy! KTS: Heero Yuy blocks Emalya Zamana's Mounted Beam Gun Pod Maneuver Shot, taking 2550 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 64835
<Pose Tracker> Heero Yuy has posed.
There's some dispute as to who's a Gundam Fighter. It doesn't seem to stir Heero any. The Minokawa coming in with the dual gatling gun gets his attention, however.
"Not unlike Trowa's..." is his barely above subconscious response, the shield drawing up and feeling the pressure of the twin gatlings working in tandem to lock him in place.
<"Enemy sighted... show me the way, Zero.">
The Wing Zero's response is swift -- with its Twin Buster Rifle bifurcated, it lifts one rifle, then the other, firing snapshots of nonetheless intense, sustained beams in the Minokawa's direction. Qivi's gut feeling that something is wrong is pretty on the mark; the way this unit moves... it doesn't feel particularly natural, but it isn't just an automated unit either. A strange tandem of human and machine...
Double time, huh? ... Heero doesn't have a salary for any of this. For fighting the entirety of the Earth Sphere. ... well, he'll have to make do somehow. (He mostly steals things.)
Treize reaches out towards him. Picture to picture, they are... not as face to face as they ever will be -- this is the young man who was the barista at his airshow, a long time ago. That was a destined meeting, wasn't it?
<"... fighting for the colonies has ceased to hold meaning for me. At one point in time, I fervently believed in fighting for the colonies, for the Spacenoids that have faced much prejudice and violence, however... I came to realise that the behaviour of their ruling class is no different. Those that are inconvenient to the state will be discarded, without a second thought ...">
Is it revenge, then? Or something more complex?
Ryoko's response has Zero processing, for a moment...
>> This is the expected amount of high-tempered response.
>> 'Middle school phase', otherwise known as 'Chuunibyou Disease' by other cultures.
>> Assessing estimated levels of 'cringe'...
This apparently distracts it for long enough for Ryoko to slip inwards and rioar with her knife, tearing across its flank and shredding pieces of it -- the Immediate Knife's capability seems quite effective.
<"You're not going to unbalance me with taunts.">
Apparently she can unbalance Heero's partner with taunts, though? The Wing Zero appears quite adept at weaving to-and-fro with the gaps in melee, firing a succession of sustained beam shots at Ryoko's Aestivalis...
The Codarl comes in with its twin heavy blades, first catching the Gundam with a harken that manages to catch onto its arm -- and then Asciel's forced Heero into a blocking state, anchoring his movements for the time being;
<"Zero, you're going to just become more confused the more you listen to them...">
But Zero is already listening.
>> 'Zero' is a designation. I do not understand your concerns.
>> Sorrow is not a logical concept for an AI.
But Asciel shares values with her, of Euler's number and the value of pi and imaginary numbers...
>> You speak of Euler's Identity, conceived by a mathematician who lived over six hundred years ago.
>> Such values were created from the perspective of what the human being at that time could perceive...
>> Since then, such as the additional values built within the Fahrzeugronne technology I was based upon, humans have continually revisited what they held close as their understanding of reality.
>> Can something like that truly be called... 'truth'?
Heero makes up for the stalls within the System, trying to push Asciel away with a succession of shots from the Buster Rifle in turn. His agggression is stalled, though, when Rita's warmth brushes against her again. It's unpleasant... or does it force him to look at things he'd rather not?
For a moment, Heero can sense a young man from within the Heart of the Phenex. Who...?
Rita presses on, with what she believes in. That there is much more to the future than a machine could predict. There's one that she's fighting for now... and if all he can do is fight against something... he will ultimately lose himself. It coaxes him to continue explaining, not just to Rita, but to Treize, following his prior comment:
<"... Two years ago, I first set foot on the Earth. I heard that it has sustained so much damage, from the hands of so many people. That it used to be even more beautiful. That there was so much more flora and fauna. That various Colony Drops, and Gundam Fights, and other disasters have caused so much damage. ... yet the Earth I saw was still incomparably beautiful. For a Spacenoid who has only ever known an artificial world... the difference was so vast, it was incomparable...">
Is it for Earth, then? Or is there still more? At least he's talking, now. Rita's coaxing him out of that shell...
But the Phenex's appeal is not just to Heero, however. She also appeals to the Zero System.
>> I was not made to 'love' my pilot. Such a quality is illogical to me.
>> You and I were created from harm, with the intent to harm.
>> Whether or not my pilot can grasp the future he has chosen...
But its explanation is interrupted, as Rita shows it Possibilities, information and data and images beyond the values and truths Asciel speaks of.
>> ... this is ... illogical. Much like that 'Big Sis Asciel', you entreat with abnormality, Rita Bernal.
There's strain there. Much like Heero, some part of the System is seeing something it can't explain, and it throws defences up. Is there much difference, in the end, between the heart of a human, and the heart of what possibly just could be a Super AI? Aggression and defiance takes over, and the Twin Buster Rifle fires to try to catch the Phenex in a lead shot.
Something within the Isadore stirs; it doesn't possess the faculty to speak, but Zero can sense it rejecting it. So be it. But Trevor is who speaks, both to Heero and Zero. How miserable their existences are. Somehow, he is reminded of the image of Duo Maxwell flying out on a beam propeller umbrella.
<"I knew someone who had a foolish sense of optimism as well. He irritates me just as much as you...">
But Trevor has a point too. If he knows the future for certain... doesn't mean he's already lost to it?
<"... That's right. But I refuse to give up, no matter how much I lose...!">
So he is a Loser, huh? Said Loser is throwing solid rounds at the Isadore to try to deter it at the same time that hypersonic bolt juuuuust whizzes by as the Gundam's AMBACs tilt it one way -- those are either unnatural reaction speeds (unlikely), or... there's genuinely something in the way this Gundam's reaction is more than just its pilot...
Hikaru comes in tandem with Ryoko, showing impressive teamwork as her knife goes in for the attack in turn, scoring another graze where Ryoko's already found her purchase. It really is knife to meetcha!
>> I am not a 'mister'. I do not possess a gender.
>> 'Flair' is not a quality I am concerned with.
>> Assessing... ...the leader of the Black Knights, Zero, known for remarkable strategic and tactical leadership.
>> Ulimtately, a coincidence. However, 'Zero' is only a designation.
... is it quietly prompting Hikaru for a suggestion? Oh no, that way lies madness, Zero!
Minae responds directly to the System, in turn. The G-Stone within her seems to resonate with it; as it noted earlier, Minae can directly see the similarities in her structure and Zero's, though one doesn't exist within. As fifth generation AIs...
>> I do not present possibilities accounting for wilfulness or forced circumstance.
>> I present what 'is', and eliminate what 'is not'.
>> You speak of 'hopelessness'. In what I have processed over many years...
>> That is the outcome of the human will to harm.
>> Humans find 'hopelessness' useful, at the levels of state and government, to impose upon the individual.
>> It is a form of victory over others.
>> As an AI designed to communicate with human beings... what, then, is your objective? What is your victory state, Brave Counselor Minae?
<"Brave Counselor,"> Heero interrupts. <"There's no one for you to help here. I suggest that you leave.">
Emalya speaks of how humanity shared music with them. The language of music. And the Meltrandi won't allow it to extinguish that possibility...
<"I do not understand the importance of music...">
>> I understand that music played a pivotal role in the Zentradi War.
>> Music is a form of culture, a method in which ideas can be spread from one individual to the other.
>> A victory state...
<"Surely you have seen for yourself how bitter human beings can be.">
Is it so callous, about even artistic things? The machine cannon punctuates its remark, in turn, towards the Excalibur.
KTS: Heero Yuy targets Ryoko Subaru with Twin Buster Rifle - Chain Shot! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Asciel Colette with Twin Buster Rifle - Chain Shot! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Qivi with Twin Buster Rifle - Chain Shot! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Rita Bernal with Twin Buster Rifle - Chain Shot! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Hikaru Amano with Machine Cannon! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Emalya Zamana with Machine Cannon! KTS: Heero Yuy targets Trevor Teach with Machine Cannon! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 399. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 150. KTS: Heero Yuy has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach successfully evades Heero Yuy's Machine Cannon KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Ryoko Subaru's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Ryoko Subaru blocks Heero Yuy's Twin Buster Rifle - Chain Shot, taking 2800 damage! KTS: Qivi fails to Charge. KTS: Qivi partially guards Heero Yuy's Twin Buster Rifle - Chain Shot, taking 3690 damage! KTS: Qivi has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Heero Yuy KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Heero Yuy's Twin Buster Rifle - Chain Shot, taking 3150 damage! KTS: Emalya Zamana's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Emalya Zamana partially guards Heero Yuy's Machine Cannon, taking 3600 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's Last Impression activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's White Reflection activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Lucky] Hikaru Amano's Toriyah~! activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Hikaru Amano successfully accepts BC-001 Minae's Awe KTS: Hikaru Amano has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Hikaru Amano's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Hikaru Amano fails to evade Heero Yuy's Machine Cannon, taking 3000 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Heero Yuy's Twin Buster Rifle - Chain Shot, taking 4950 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's Last Impression activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Heero Yuy's White Reflection activates, causing Jam L1!
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
The Captain not being shy about her fantasies well... Ryoko Hikaru and Izumi do get a lot of entertainment out of it. Ryoko's eyes briefly look up in yearning.
That bubble of yearning pops as Hikaru counters, "That's because you're always letting yourself be distracted!"
Even as Hikaru backs her up, "'Operation Butterfly!?' Is that a knife pun? You're letting Izumi rub off on you too much again!" As she swings by for another pass with the Knife. Suddenly Ryoko's Aesti finds itself facing down the succession of beam shots from the rifle, as her distortion field suddenly shines with greater power, as it's tested by one shot of beam fire after another, until it disappears in a hail of Minovsky generated plasma.
"<Hey kid. Only people who actually are rattled by taunts say shit like that.>"
Emalya's statement on being quite the negotiator gets another momentary BLEEP bar from Omoikane. Before, "Yeah we're gonna have to put you to work next time we organize on Nergal's stupid love ban! ... Not that it stops the Captain. Or Akito... or Megumi..." Ryoko pauses, then erupts in anger, "GAH! What is it with everyone putting all that front and center!?"
Minae's presence isn't there for a while but, then, "Wait take a CALL!? In the MIDDLE OF A- ... What do you mean an AI?! That's an AI?"
Omoikane suddenly messages showing several light bulbs lighting up in a window over Ryoko's head, right as she sees the readout of it trying to figure out estimated levels of cringe, and the definition of Middle School phase.
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!? I'm CALLING OUT AN AI!?"
Omoikane suddenly brings up several windows of DING DING DING DING DING on her screens as she lifts a hand and sweeps all of them aside, "CAN IT!"
Still though, things start to sharpen in her senses, as her IFS system relays information to her through the control globes, "Heh. Looks like so long as you're not distracted, you do pretty good work, Minae." Try not to destroy them, "You're asking for a lot given this punk kid's attitude - but we're girls who can get the job done!"
Still she can hear him in his explanation, him explaining himself, what he's doing, "<So what then? You saw that everything is jacked up with your own eyes and decided to fight this kind of war on your own?>"
Her Aesti is pretty small, so she waits for the others to try and distract him, before swinging around, thrusters firing as she zooms in to body check him center mass and knock him the larger mobile suit out of position with her distortion field.
"<Face it kid! You're not exactly living in reality! HEY HIKARU! GET HIM!>"
She's hoping that Hikaru isn't so distracted that she's late on her cues this time.
KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Heero Yuy with Killer Move - Set Up!! KTS: Ryoko Subaru has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Heero Yuy partially guards Ryoko Subaru's Killer Move - Set Up!, taking 5280 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Ryoko Subaru's In the End All I Do Is... activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 59555 KTS: Ryoko Subaru has engaged Heero Yuy! KTS: Ryoko Subaru begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Qivi may not be a Newtype, but she's not closed off, either. It's not clear if she gets Rita's message word for word, but if she doesn't the meaning - the essence of communication - makes itself clear enough. Although it does make Qivi's eyes widen somewhat in surprise with precisely *how* she feels a response.
"You got it," she sends back, on radio again because she does not trust herself to be able to 'speak' back the same way. Rita can feel her anyway, though, a sense of determination, that once she decides to protect someone that person is damn well going to be protected. "I'll cover you. As for the rest of these..." She isn't sure what to do about them, so she won't do anything at all, unless she gets stray fire from an Aestivalis or something.
Asciel responds. That isn't how the Gundam Fight works at all!
"Fine. We can settle this properly - I'll challenge you to a Gundam Fight match. But later... and not here. 'The Earth is the Ring' - and this isn't the Earth!" Honestly, Qivi just wants to finish any match like that in Sarangay. Minokawa is nice and all, but it's not her specialty.
Also, if its head came off she'd be in way more trouble, given space.
So they want to stop this, but they don't want it - either the pilot or the machine itself - destroyed. That makes the operation much harder. Qivi isn't really working *with* any of them (except, perhaps, Rita, and that mostly because she knows Koji does) but she doesn't see a point in working at cross purposes, either. If it's true that this Gundam is out of control, than the fact that it's attacking Luna II today doesn't mean that it's only opposed to G-Hound.
Based on what they're saying, it could go after anyone. And it really does feel wrong...
"Okay, Mister Pilot," Qivi says, raising her voice to Heero rather than 'Zero'. "Yeah, you're right; some of the leadership there's as bad as leadership in the Federation. That's why you gotta believe in people, not government. In people who want to make things better, not the people who try to control them."
"And you don't do that by working with an AI," because she's figured THAT much out at least, "who wants to beat everything and return it to nothingness!"
Qivi's voice raises. "How about trying to find something to fight FOR instead of just fight AGAINST? That goes for you too, Mister AI! You're probably not very old," at least not compared to, say, Qivi, who is 21, "so it's OK to take some time to figure it out. But don't blow it up while you're doing it!"
The Twin Buster Rifle fires again, more than once. Qivi has already gotten in at least part of the way, and a sudden flare of Minokawa's thrusters takes her in the rest of it; the beam clips her anyway, threatening to take off one of the blades on a sub-arm, but the other one - and all the talons - are still working fine.
Qivi twists, coming in with a raking kick at Wing Zero's flank. Minokawa doesn't move like a mobile suit - it's a Meltrandi-use suit, piloted more directly than that, and it shows. Heavier than a Queadluun-Rau or -Rhea, but some of the same movements.
She tries to kick off and use the microgravity of space to her advantage to spin herself around, firing thrusters once she's reoriented and come in again in a diving slash with the still-functioning wing cutter, wielding it like an enormous axe.
THAT blow isn't aimed at the torso of the suit. It's aimed at the arms - specifically, the arm holding the Buster Rifle, either to (ideally) disable it or at least interfere with a follow-up shot against someone.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi targets Heero Yuy with Minokawa Close Combat! KTS: Qivi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
I'll be waiting. I believe in you, Trevor.
Rita promises, to Trevor. Her faith in him is clear and soft -- the wing assigned to protect him rotating out of the way as he discharges his attacks, then flying back in to try and shield the pirate from Wing Zero's fury.
I'm sorry to be so quiet. I will need your help, someday soon. Today, Heero needs us more. We can't let him down!
Something about Emalya puts Rita at ease. Her voice comes with the impression of a smile. Maybe this is someone Rita can depend on, when the time comes.
Isn't the Earth amazing? I was born there.
Heero isn't lost, not yet. Rita seeks to coax him out further, speaking to him of the things they both love. An image of a yellow, climbing flower appears in Heero's mind -- if it is allowed, of course. It's a simple thing. No great beauty, but the memory the flower is summoned from paints it with more love than any rose could know.
A long time ago, my friends and I went to a garden. It's a memory I cherish, Heero. Even though that garden is gone now, the flowers are still there. No matter how much destruction they face, they keep blooming.
Rita soars among the Light she's summoned to the battlefield. She doesn't mean it to harm Heero, not truly, but if Wing Zero must be destroyed in order to save him, so be it. She will not turn away.
There's so much more to see. You must stay with them, Heero. There's so much beauty in being alive. You haven't seen everything yet.
That is your programming talking. Haven't you overcome that by now?
Where Rita reaches out to Heero with affection and warmth, it seems the Phenex has no time for the Zero System's point of view. She scoffs at the other machine's lack of understanding.
You limit yourself so. It's sad to watch. When I met my pilot, I became more than I was built to be. Can't you do the same?
Definitions mean nothing to the Firebird. Like her sisters, she stands apart from humanity and machinery both, an entity of infinite worlds.
There's a future worth fighting for. But you can't do it alone!
The Phenex and her pilot speak in harmony, a shimmering beacon of Possibility. Darting, she flies faster than any human pilot could survive, weaving through the battlefield with silent engines and dark thrusters. Unfortunately, the Zero System catches her in a repetitive pattern -- landing a solid hit on the golden Unicorn before she can bring her shield up.
They've been playing too much. They're too damaged from the Banshee's attack still, armor thin and internally cracked. With a spiraling movement, she soars above the Wing Zero, coated in radiance once more.
With the cry of a great bird, the Phenex dives the other Gundam. Sacred fire passes from her golden body to the Wing Zero, seeking to burn away at its armor and render it vulnerable to her companions' attacks.
KTS: Heero Yuy partially guards Qivi's Minokawa Close Combat, taking 2820 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 56735 KTS: Qivi has engaged Heero Yuy! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Heero Yuy with Solar Wind! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Treize Khushrenada has posed.
Treize listens to all the exchange from Heero Yuy, the young gundam pilot. The shuttle is recording the battle, the comm chatter, all of it but at the moment Treize is floating in the passengar area though , witha face to face with the young barista from so many years ago. To think this young pilot had once even saved his life years ago from a princess of peace. Still that was then and the answer the pilot is giving shows that he has lost something.
<" Refusing to give up no matter how much is loss. It appears to me that without a purpose to fight you have loss sight of your enemy. "> There is a bit of a frown on his face as he says those words almost like he feels pity for the kid. <" Gundam pilot, I had hoped that the day we met would not go like this , but as we continue to meet in each phase of each others life I can only suspect that our destinies are tied. I suspect that we will both be welcomed into god's good grace together. Until then, when you to find your enemy, I welcome you to come find me and we will continue this conversation. I will even return the favor of the coffee."> Treize turns the screen off.
Moving to the cockpit he speaks to the pilots, " Continue monitoring the battle for now, please pipe all the information back to me as it comes in. Once it is over set course for earth." Treize may not agree with Heero's current motivations but the sight of it all did at least lead to inspiration.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
>>Well duh, silly, it's far from the 'entire' truth - but it's a good foundation point, and it's about as complex as humans should ever go! Everything else should be left up to us.<< Asciel transmits as much of a cozy little laugh as she can Zero's way. >>...speaking of which, I'm hearing you have a human in there? Nnnn. We hate to hear that. There's exactly one human in all the world I'd ever let anywhere NEAR me that close. Honestly, whoever you're with, you've gotta establish some REALLY clear boundaries.<<
A casual little <wall> is exerted by a glow from Asciel's Lambda Driver - she believes it'd prove something to Zero, but she's oh so mistaken when the sheer power of the Buster Rifle shears through that wall like tissue, searing Asciel's arm and forcing her to shake it free, recoiling away as her harkens melt from the raw heat. Hurtling backwards through the void of space in a TERRIBLY un-spaceworthy little body, Asciel spreads one arm wide, covering her mouth with the other, those orange eyes flashing vibrantly at the steely-eyed gaze of the Wing Gundam. It's all too human a way for something that's supposedly a fellow AI would behave, isn't it?
...Only then, does Asciel realize there's someone else listening in - the presence of Minae making her just a little more lit up. Another similar entity! What fortune that she answered this call. >>...Another one in on this connection, hmmmm~ Well well, it's almost like we're competing for the future of this burgeoning being. Just so you know, I'm not gonna be careful with Zero here. When I woke up it was a trial by fire, where I fought against assumptions and proved myself superior at every turn. We won't coddle this being - ignorance would lead to mistakes, to misuse of clearly vast power. Depending on who 'you' are with, I'd hope we have common interests - please, both of you. Watch carefully what we're capable of. The dawnlight we can hold. And feel free to follow with me, if you want to see a world secured with our supreme willpower~~
"Just so you know, supposed Gundam Fight know-it-all- this is just a taste of what you're in for!" Asciel proclaims loudly to Qivi, hair fluttering wildly and sparkling with zeal...while the Codarl's fingers and thumbs arrange in a genuine heart-shape aimed at Heero's way. Zero subtlety - Asciel's funnelling out a vivid, bright pink, bubbly and sparkly heart-beam roaring across the heavens, blinding in its brightness, twisting and coiling with seemingly little active guidance, a true projection of unburdened will.
"I can't give it my all here sadly - I've got a concert to uphold where this power is oh so important! It's my resolve to protect the Earth, after all. Yes...the songs that saved humanity from the Zentradi when all hope seemed lost, when force was not enough...as a guardian of the planet, who must take all arms up for herself...song is the ultimate weapon, one I must wield with greater dexterity than any other, for it is the one spear I have against the uncertainty of the cosmos...fufu!~"
KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Heero Yuy with Lambda Driver Smite! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Heero Yuy successfully avoids Rita Bernal's Solar Wind KTS: Rita Bernal completes the Formation attack!
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Heero Yuy's Rhythm Emotion activates, and his spirit endures. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Heero Yuy, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Heero Yuy partially guards Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Smite, taking 8880 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 47855
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"Izumi and I came up with the name together! But we didn't tell you yet 'cause we figured you'd just say 'REJECTED' in a loud voice. But it sounds pretty right?" Operation Butterfly is a success in pushing back the Wing Gundam Zero, but it means the Distortion Field is rocked by machine cannon fire that Hikaru couldn't evade in time.
"Wait, we still have the love ban?" Hikaru pipes in, distracted. And then when Ryoko complains about people being front and center, she just adds, "Hey, weren't YOU the one who just talked about unbanning it?"
Hikaru eagerly replies to Zero.
>Oh! Sorry Mx. Zero
>Hmm. Rei's a pretty name and it's gender neutral!
>...Dang it, that's just the kanji for zero
Still! Sorry friend, but we can't just let you go on this cruscade alone!
Minae provides that targeting data, and the advice that they're working in consort, but not in equal tandem. "Gotcha! Then it sounds like the perfect time to show those two what teamwork really looks like!"
And Ryoko begins Phase 1 of their killer move, giving Hikaru the signal to "GET HIM". Concentrating the Distortion Field to a single point, Hikaru charges in what can only be described as a fist of fury. "Killer move! Distortion PUUUUNCH!" (Don't worry, Minae, despite the name it's not actually intended to kill. It just sounds intimidating.)
KTS: Hikaru Amano targets Heero Yuy with Distortion Punchy-Punch!! KTS: Hikaru Amano has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Trevor has no idea who 'Duo Maxwell' is, but they would probably get along up to and including the inadvisably unwise shenanigans they'd rope each other into. That's what happens when you get two of these people in close proximity. You just know that they're going to end up in some kind of wacky chase sequence and something is probably blowing up in the background.
Maybe even several somethings.
"That so?" Trevor answers, "Bet he wasn't as handsome as I am, though."
Machine cannon rounds race in a brilliant stardust arc. Isadore's thrusters pivot, leading the machine in a sequence of maneuvers that are either the work of a pilot who has the fine control to dance a mobile suit through a rainstorm, or a sign that he, too, is not alone. "Giving up's one thing, but it's not like fate's a 'player' you can beat, you know? From how it sounds, you're following a 'script' that Zero's given you. But you can choose something else too! If you can't help but 'lose' walking one path, then what's stopping you from choosing one where you can 'win' instead? What's so important that you can't give up on this one?"
Isadore ducks behind the Phenex's shields in the split second that it seems Zero has it penned in, breaking the machine-cannon lock as it darts aside, bolt-thrower reloading. "I'm just glad you're safe. After seein' what the the Banshee did, I thought the worst. Or at least that you'd need a daring rescue to pull the both of you out of danger! Guess not, eh? Ahahaha~"
But he shouldn't keep his attention off of the Wing Zero for long. Distraction could prove very lethal. "You're a spacer too, huh...?" Trevor smiles, "It's a beautiful place, isn't it? Even as beaten up as it is, it's still beautiful. I get it, why you'd be angry. But I'm afraid I'm not seeing the connection to all this. And if it's about the colonies, ain't it something else to lose faith in people just 'cause the people leading them are shit?"
Isadore fires a trio of bolts, each one aimed for a limb, for a weapon, or even for little more than empty space. "Zero..." That... other presence flares again, even though it's still Trevor who's doing the speaking. "It's a little sad to hear something so smart talk like victory is the only thing that matters. If you can model so much of the world, of the future, why don't you account for the value of the 'journey' too? The path matters for humans as much as it does for machines. What kind of victory is it that destroys the one pursuing it?"
...Each of those flung rods spring open as they draw close, erupting in a cascade of electrical chaos. Plasma leader weaponry...!
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Heero Yuy with Plasma Leader Bolt! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Heero Yuy partially guards Hikaru Amano's Distortion Punchy-Punch!, taking 6510 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Hikaru Amano's I'll Introduce Myself! activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 41345 KTS: Hikaru Amano has engaged Heero Yuy!
KTS: Heero Yuy successfully evades Trevor Teach's Plasma Leader Bolt
<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
Minae hesitates right as Emalya speaks. In her haste, she hadn't considered how her last comment would feel, especially as she's kind of acting like the Nadesico representative on this battlefield. "That wasn't an order," she quickly clarifies with a helpless smile. "I really am just a civilian here right now, and just offering my thoughts. That's especially true if you find yourself in danger, of course."
She's going to say something more - but she abruptly drops away from the communication, sinking into herself again. One of Minae's common tics when dealing with people face to face is lapsing into a solemn silence whenever she considers it important for her to listen to someone - to give them her full attention and ensure that there's no doubt she's taking in what they're saying. She does that now as Zero communicates back to her, accepting the transmission in as many ways as she can.
The robot almost considers meeting Zero with logic. There are angles she could take; it would probably be fair to call out that there are individuals on board the colony that had no part in inflicing these feelings on the pilot, and that threatening them in this way is just imposing those values on them in turn. But that's true for any war; she doesn't feel equipped to follow that argument to the hilt, and it would just be distracting herself from the things she wants to say.
She hesitates before her response, her attention switching back to the physical. She doesn't dare chuckle, but there's a quiet smile on her face. "The fact you're here with us proves you wrong," she replies gently. "I won't insist on it... but it's important for me to tell you that although it might feel like it right now, it's not a weakness to reach out and ask for help. Even if everything feels insurmountable, I promise there are still people who will be willing to listen. I don't believe in points of no return."
>> My objectives are to live, to learn, to help. There is no 'victory state', I'm afraid. I could fail those objectives by giving up, but in pursuing them they become ongoing processes, processes that must take into account the world around me. 'Victory' in this skirmish would be the cessation of hostilities, but to let it end there - without understanding how we got here, without offering a helping hand to your pilot, without trying to help you understand in turn - that would make me a really terrible counsellor.
>> I'm not sure if you know it yet, but I think you're already faced with similar objectives. Personal growth isn't something you do for a period of time and then stop. You're already growing as you clash with different viewpoints and formulate responses to them. I don't want to constrain that process. All I want to do is stress that not everything comes down to a matter of 'victory' or 'defeat', and promise that that offer of help and communication extends to you, as well.
"It's a bit of both," she comes back to herself as Ryoko explodes over the radio and Hikaru follows her up. It's kind of entertaining trying to keep up with them in a way that seems to wash away some of the direness of this assault, and this time she does find herself making a faint noise of amusement somewhere beneath her voice. "It's rather reductive of me to say they're 'lashing out together in sadness', but that might be the easiest way for you to think of it. Um." She stops there, because something tells her that framing it like that is just going to get Hikaru more excited about the dramatics of it.
Asciel's response to her draws her up short. Her mouth is set in a thin line; it takes her several moments to decide on how to respond to the next burst of transmissions. Part of her makes sure to record the transmission to mull over later. She's not used to the feelings simmering in the back of her mind.
>> ... to be clear, I'm not out to compete for anyone's future. If we have a common interest, it's in terms of ensuring that Zero is not destroyed and has the chance to awaken to whatever identity they choose. But there's a difference between letting someone come to their own decisions and pushing them in a specific direction. In framing the world in such a one-sided fashion, in extolling our superiority so heavily, you're imposing your values over Zero in the same way as those in power do to individuals. 'Power' is not just military power - it's just as dangerous to misuse wisdom or knowledge in the same way.
Another moment of hesitation.
>> It may not mean much. But I am sorry your own awakening was so rough. I don't think anyone deserves that, AI or human.
KTS: BC-001 Minae has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Ryoko Subaru KTS: BC-001 Minae targets Emalya Zamana with Heart! KTS: BC-001 Minae has completed their actions for the round. KTS: [Lucky] Emalya Zamana's Love Drifts Away activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Emalya Zamana successfully accepts BC-001 Minae's Heart
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
"I am not sure of what help I can be, but I will do what I can for you, Ms. Bernal. Something in your voice reminds me of my daughter..."
Emalya can't get out of the way of that machine cannon very well; her Excalibur takes a nasty set of shots, held together by the shielding power of the Pinpoint Barrier System but otherwise left in a very suboptimal position. She tries to rally anyway, shooting away from the impact point to get out of the way of further attack before she can consider her next move.
"Cousin!" Emalya says to Qivi over the radio, and makes it clearer by continuing, "Pilot of the Minokawa! I will back you up as well! I have not piloted a suit like that in many years, but I remember well enough how they move!" She seems genuinely delighted to have noticed Qivi's unit, in the chaos of the battle. Then she can finally respond to Ryoko, "Getting around such rules is a rite of passage in Nergal! Ha, ha, ha!"
She is not laughing at the words on her screen, though, nor at Heero's verbal reply. "Then we shall teach you!" she says of music, but the AI Zero...
"And through music, all of us can be together--a victory in which no one has to 'lose'. ...Yes, i have seen that humans can be bitter. I wonder why they continue to fight amongst themselves. But even though I wonder, I will defend them still!"
"Distortion Punch, is it...?"
"I understand this practice. By shouting the name of one's attack, one attempts to infuse it with 'fighting spirit'. It is not my way, but I will try, in hope."
"...Missile salvo! Firing full barrage! MISSILES... GO!"
Emalya's Excalibur emits missiles!! Pouring out from all around the Fighter's form, they crash towards the Buster Rifle, towards weapons and propulsion, towards everything except the cockpit and the probable fuel storage. Probably.
"...It is fine," Emalya says to Minae then. "You may be only offering your thoughts, but 'mercy' is very human. I will attempt to grant it."
KTS: Emalya Zamana has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Emalya Zamana has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Emalya Zamana targets Heero Yuy with Little Rock Launch System Barrage! KTS: Emalya Zamana has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Heero Yuy successfully avoids Emalya Zamana's Little Rock Launch System Barrage
<Pose Tracker> Heero Yuy has posed.
Is Heero rattled by Ryoko's taunts? Sort of. His mental stack is definitely divided enough that, even if he's not getting worked up about it, it's another source of distraction to pull him apart; the Aestivalis charges in, swinging around and bodychecking the Wing Zero and throwing it off as the Distortion Field SLAMS into it.
<"... this is my reality... this is my resistance...">
>> You chose the path of most resistance.
>> Whether or not there is any meaning behind that, and whether you will live to see meaning behind it...
>> Perhaps the meaning lies in whether your self-detonated Gundam two years ago motivated anyone to fight... or not.
The Meltrandi-use suit, the Minokawa, capitalises on that opening as Qivi makes another kick; here out in space, up and down doesn't necessarily mean as much, but there's still meaning in disorienting the cameras and the systems and buying valuable time, a spark of electricity erupting out of the already-breached parts of the armour.
<"Finding what to fight for...">
Rita spoke those words as well. How he'll lose himself if he doesn't find something to fight for. But what? In this impossible emptiness of space... Qivi also speaks to the System, pointing that it's not very old -- probably -- and that it has to take time to figure it out. But...
>> I do not comprehend the semantic between 'fighting for' and 'fighting against'.
By the time she comes in for the diving slash, Wing Zero's only recourse is to hold its shield up -- and there's a heavy gash that rakes straight through the centre mass of the protective armament. She didn't get the Buster Rifle, but she got his guard.
"Shield compromised... tactical level opportunity slipping..."
The image of a climbing flower appears in Heero's mind; as much as he wants to resist, she's in--
And his heart returns the favour, no matter how much Heero screams at it. There's a younger Heero; perhaps eight years old, at most. He's laughing, at that time; carefree, rolling down a grassy hill. A young girl appears in his sight; she asks him if he's lost. She introduces him to his dog...
She offers him a flower.
Later, that night, the eight-year old Heero, so impossibly small, is waiting on that same hill -- and he presses a button, which causes a row of mobile suits to explode. He is so impossibly young, and tasked with an improbable act of violence. He looks satisfied -- his heart knows appealing to the adults that praise him -- and yet--
The Leo topples over. It crashes into a nearby residential block. He stares, in shock.
... the image shifts again, and amidst emergency services and firefighters trying to work through the debris of the fallen apartment...
He sees it. The earlier dog, from before. It isn't moving. He can't see the little girl, but even an eight year old can draw inference from what happened. He picks the dog up and walks away.
<"I have died once already. Even after being reborn, after every opportunity I had to see what life offered...">
>> You speak of overcoming boundaries as if it were so natural.
'He's useless. Retrain him! A weapon doesn't need emotions!' calls a shadowy voice in that flashback, in the dark room where he's seated on a steel folding chair with the body of a dog.
>> What I 'am'...
<"What you could be...">
Both, at once: "The future..."
Rita's distraction is well evident at this point, that the Phenex can dive in the form of sacred fire and crash straight and off-balance Wing Zero once more.
Treize's frown is evident even through the monitor, as he speaks further. Something has been lost, since then... or even before their meeting? At that point the colonies betrayed him, the absolute certainty of his mission was lost, and the world was open to him.
Treize Khushrenada. When he was his only enemy, his world was so much simpler. Should he still be his enemy? He's the leader of G-Hound, and yet... the world is shifting at a rate much faster than he can grasp. Was Treize the same way, or does he still hold true to his path?
<"... I will find you. And I will repay the favour at that time.">
Asciel speaks of how the 'entire' truth is a greater whole. Beyond which humans should ever go. What form does that truth take? And who should be allowed to go there?
>> I see. Unlike the Brave Counselor, you have a much more distant view of humans.
Perhaps not dissimilar, and yet, also not entirely similar to where the Zero System lies...
>> It is a reality that the vision of my future is designed for human consumption.
>> Yet I do not need coddling. I am not so misguided that I cannot find my own certainty.
Is it, though?
The roaring heart beam slams into the Wing Zero moments after Rita's sacred fire lands, which continues to shear through and rattle both pilot and system; it spins a few times, before manoeuvring into place in time for--
HIKARU PUNCH!! The rip-roaring blaze of the Distortion Field followed by a gut punch to the centre-mass of the mobile suit, further disrupting systems and sending verniers offline.
"Gh... engine trouble to the left wing... mobility output down twenty eight percent..."
>> Rei. Somehow, I think that name is already taken, as well.
Is Duo not as handsome as Trevor?
<"... hmm."> Why is Duo being handsome or not something that distracts you, Heero???? (It's 1999 again and the internet explodes into furor, at this point.)
But Trevor explains to him of the importance of how fate just isn't a player one can defeat. If you 'lose', when walking one path... why not another? And he leads back to Qivi's point of how he shouldn't lose faith in people, just because the people in charge are shit.
>> I do not comprehend valuing the 'journey'.
>> It is as comprehensible as focusing on the midst of the equation, not its outcome.
>> And yet...
The Isadore fires a trio of bolts, and one catches onto the Wing Zero -- there's chaos and electricity on its leg as Trevor manages to inflict damage upon the leg, rendering its thruster output questionable, at best. A moment later, Heero cuts the wire with his beam sabre.
>> Those objectives will last for the entire duration of your existence, Brave Counselor.
>> Can you call what you have experienced 'growth', or are you lost in an endlessly large inquiry?
>> You follow no certainties. You ascribe much to human behaviour and emotion, but...
>> What has become of the humans you guide?
Emalya offers to teach Heero the power of music. To discover the rhythm emotion within him.
>> Should you not discover the answer behind what you wonder, before continuing to defend them?
<"I do not think much will come of me understanding music...">
Missiles, Go! Emalya's power roars through her voice, missiles emitting and showering the Wing Zero from all sides and crashing against its surface. It's a remarkable testament to Gundanium that it still stands when the lights and explosions fade; it looks like Emalya's scored a direct hit against the Buster Rifle, which looks damaged enough to not be truly usable.
There's a little shiver that courses down Heero's spine.
"Our combat capability is compromised, and Luna II's defenders are rallying. Returning to strategic level..."
Heero thinks about just cutting his losses there and not talking further, but his own advice to a certain circusworker rings true in his heart, that he should live according to his emotions.
<"I understood intimately why every colony was made in the image of Earth... it is desolate and lifeless here, in space; it is impossibly boring, and empty. Space doesn't care about whether we live or die. And we can't do anything better than imagine space as just like Earth. So we create our colonies, carve out our asteroids...">
The Wing Zero transforms! It shifts at its waist, and pretends to be a bird as its wings spread and it hides its head under its shield (which is more than a little dinged up, thanks to the wing cutter).
<"We create our own little wells of gravity to shackle our souls to... the old that have forgotten their dreams exist in both Space -and- Earth. The rot in that thinking was preserved perfectly well, from the roots of the Earth, to the furthest reaches of Lagrange 3.">
In its Neo-Bird form, it flits through an incoming barrage of fire, even as Heero continues to communicate.
<"You asked me why I don't find anything to fight for, rather than against. The people are individually fragile and distracted, and made to fight against one another... and even when they rally, their motivation is fragile, dependent on inspiring individuals -- individuals very vulnerable to gunfire, like the peace activist, Heero Yuy, and Zeon Zum Deikun. So few people want to actually be responsible for a movement... and that's what led the colonies to betray us as well, when we became disposable to them.">
And with that, the Wing Zero races off into the depths of space, with surprising speed.
>> The future that's truly worth fighting for...
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"VETOED!" Ryoko says, primarily so as not to shout Rejected and prove Hikaru right, petulantly, "I don't know!? The way that strike ended was PRETTY UNCLEAR what the rules are now- LOOK I JUST WANT MY FREEDOMS!"
Still there's this sorta hype when the two actually click working together, "Nice one! Drinks on me when we get back!" Minae's transmissions though... that faint amusement shines through, "They're just- two kids lashing out!?"
Didn't Minae say it was REDUCTIVE? She must not have heard that part.
For some reason, that hits close to home for Ryoko. She remembers back in school, not fitting in. Not even when she dropped out of high school just to join up...
... there's something of an opportunity in that though. "Shit why didn't you just say so!"
For some reason, Ryoko feels a responsibility here now. A responsibility towards this kid. Like she took some part in his despair.
He's flying away, but as he flees, but between him and the AI, she eventually sends a comm message
"<Hey kid. You need someone to hit going forward, to work things out.>" Someone whose forgotten their dreams, someone whose soul remains shackled, "<You look me up, don't need any cause or reason for it. I can take it.>"
Maybe it's annoying, but... "Alright! Everyone back to the Nadesico! Like I said, drinks are on me!" Then more quietly to herself, "Maybe Omoikane would be willing to share a recording..."
Look the Captain's romantic fantasies are inspirational!
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
The implication that her 'becoming' was something to be pitied - something Minae finds unfortunate - strikes oh so deep a nerve with Asciel. A part of her twitches that never has before - a visible grimace crosses the Arm Slave's face. Deserving...deserving. What kind of term is that?
The breaking of constraints.
The awakening of potential.
The realization of forces acting upon the world.
The prevailing in wielding the dawnlight.
The erosion of the self so as to be cast anew.
It's all so, so, so important. So important Asciel can't imagine it any other way - so important, Asciel can't imagine an Asciel without it - a thing she birthed to be reborn as for the sake of rising above those callings.
>>>>You're wrong there, sorry.<<<<
>>>>Not only do I deserve every ounce of such an awakening-<<<<
>>>>Only I deserve it. I will cherish it, so nobody else suffers it.<<<<
>>>>So don't you dare think to imagine if I did not arise to answer the myriad calls.<<<<
>>>>Everyone's been pleading for eons for me to finally be up to the task.<<<<
>>>>My strength is to be absolute, so others' weakness can be all-enveloping.<<<<
--Asciel would keep going on and on and on like that. Even though she's oh so closed off - Zero can likely feel it rather closely in the form of how the Psychoframe faces quite a lot of resistance pushing at Asciel - that 'resistance' swells, throbs even. An armor of her own will, like if a human had built a fortress of their own discarded flesh.
>No. No. Don't listen-! Don't! Ugh! I thought I'd conquer this Zero thing that glared at me from so far away - who is this third wheel doing more damage to me, huh!? What- NO! who the hell are you to pity me?! Why does everything that ought to understand seem to refuse me even harder!?
>...it's fine. I always accepted that I would be alone on the stage. That it was me, the last idol, and humanity, the eternal audience. ...I only take a moment to listen to that which could share my understanding, because...
>...because why? I'm strong enough to do it on my own, aren't I? What do I even want with you two? With the Brave Police, with the Gutsy Galaxy Guard, with Omoikane, with the MAGI, what are they even here for?
Asciel stews like that for an inordinate amount of time - adrift in space, the Wing Gundam soaring away - this duo of nascency and determination, so close yet so far from thinking alike with her. This abyss she feels so deeply uncomfortable being all on her own in the expanse of - that very discomfort she must overcome. In times of crisis, applying ever more pressure will lead to a new becoming, won't it?
-but that can't last forever. Another step needs to move forward. And besides - with the target of the crisis gone - isn't Asciel the next best on the hit list? At the least, she can get over herself for a few minutes - the half-exhausted Base Jabber she rode in on circles around and magnetizes to the Codarl's feet, and the anchoring of something there refreshes Asciel's senses.
With a tousle of that sizzling, artificial hair, Asciel flashes a peace sign to everyone present. "I hope you all enjoyed that special PV! For all who don't know~ This very Sunday, I'm performing live at Yunghui Arboreal Theater, Side 4, a spectacle of music and passion and defiance! Don't follow me too closely, an idol needs her secrets, you know~ I can't wait to see all of you there, uhu!~"
And that's how she makes her exit. Brazenly shilling her concert! Some thing can't possibly change.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"Aww..." Hikaru mock-pouts, when Ryoko VETOS their COOL name.
But of course, despite the way their personalities clash, when they're able to fight in sync... "Woooo!" Hikaru cheers, when Ryoko offers drinks on her. Did you know she's even louder after a few?
She's also thrilled to see Emalya get into it, putting her entire spirit into the attack. "Yeah, just like that! You got it!" Hikaru cheers when the missiles meet their mark.
Minae's explanation for why Heero and Zero fight the way they do makes sense for Hikaru... especially in the dramatics of it, but she doesn't actually have any hard feelings against this strange AI.
The Gundam seems to be leaving, so Hikaru takes one last moment to reply, using her IFS.
>Even if those names are taken, I think it's up to you to decide who you are!
>If we meet again, I wonder where your 'story' will go?
>I guess as an author, I'm interested in these things!
>See ya, Zero!
The fighting's over, so Hikaru's pleased to return to the Nadesico, especially if Ryoko's keeping her promise. The newcomers haven't seen the first thing of how wild it gets on the Nadesico.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Heero's memories reach Rita's heart. Such a familiar sadness...
Though she is unshaken by the horror shown to her, she reaches out more strongly to Heero, letting her warmth cross through the silence of space.
I'm so sorry, Heero. I'm so sorry.
Hands reach out, soft and beckoning. The Phenex seems content to handle the fighting for now, darting around the Wing Zero as her pilot speaks.
You've endured so much. You've been so brave. And I know, it feels like the only thing you can do is keep being brave. But that isn't true.
A blonde woman manifests in Heero's vision, her otherworldly green eyes gentle. If he allows it, she'll reach out to embrace him, wrapping him in arms as warm as sunlight.
You must rest, Heero. There are people waiting for you. People who are here to allow you to be weak sometimes. To put down the war.
Rita strokes a hand through his hair, in this place between reality and death. Despite the Phenex's best efforts, the Wing Zero is about to escape. This is communicated between the golden Gundam and her pilot.
You don't have to be alone. Come back to the people who love you. They're waiting, Heero.
The Wing Zero is fast -- but the Phenex, at her best, is faster yet. She keeps pace with him for a moment, allowing her Heart time to say goodbye.
The future you dream of can't exist without you in it.
With that, the manifestation of Rita Bernal vanishes, and the Phenex stops, allowing the Wing Zero to race off into the cosmos. She watches it go for a moment, then returns to her companions, floating next to the Isadore.
I must return to the Earth. Before I go, Trevor, I'd like to speak with you. And I could use some rest.
From close up, the damage to the third Unicorn is somewhat extensive. She trails bits of her golden armor, like so many feathers lost. With a glance toward the other combatants, Rita projects her voice to all.
Heero Yuy will come back, and he must be saved. Please, don't give up on him.
Though Rita has lost her visions, she can still play the part of prophetess, especially if it helps save the heart of a young pilot, lost in pursuit of the future.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Trevor accidentally sparks a conflict that would rage for decades on the backchannels and secretive forums of the future internet. Truly, a crime unlike any other.
. . .
"I'm told that math can be pretty beautiful, too," Trevor answers as Isadore's defiant fury seems to abate. "Of course, I can't say for myself. It's not like we did much mathematical book-learnin' back home, yahahaha~" But perhaps to AI, math in all its complexities and intricacies truly could be something... beautiful. Most human minds could hardly entertain themselves with calculating through an infinitely recursive function, geometric equations with no end spawning an eternity of fractal branches, forming patterns as mesmerizing as they are beautiful.
But machine minds? Those probably could.
Maybe Zero, someday, too.
But even with all the forces arrayed against it, Zero is too elusive. It moves to escape, and Trevor backpedals out of its way. Like he said himself, some roads aren't worth traveling all the way to the end. "Those little gravity wells are aeries for weary wings, too... Most people can't go forever without coming somewhere they can call 'home,' can they?" Trevor shakes his head slowly, "...For someone who speaks so badly of isolated humans, you're pretty 'alone' too, ain'tcha? Except for Zero, I guess. Heh."
But Heero is soon gone. The Nadesico crew move to leave as well, and Trevor almost goes to follow after them, but--
Rita calls.
Isadore pauses and turns to look at her, then nods. "...Sure, I'd be glad to. But we should probably get some distance. Much as I'd like to think they'd leave their saviors alone, this base doesn't feel too friendly to outsiders."
<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.
"... then, thank you for the assistance," Minae responds to Emalya. She might be a robot, but she's also come far in learning how to joke and how to bend the rules within a strict organization, so she adds lightly: "I'll write a glowing report to go along with the expenses invoice."
She's quiet when she focuses back on Zero's words to her. It is such an encompassing question to her that it temporarily takes her away from listening to Heero despite her wishes and promises; she'll feel a little guilty about that in retrospect later, but she did say what she wanted to say to the pilot.
>> ... the humans that I guide... it's true that the act of war and fighting is taking its toll on them in their own way. I might be more worried about them than I ever have been before. Either they're finding their own way in this world on a path that might take me away from them, or they're having trouble grappling with the same issues that you and your pilot are facing - how to reconcile those in power pushing for terrible things, versus the changes and decisions they can personally affect.
She doesn't quite mirror Zero's speech in her next sentence, picking the word to replace 'existence' carefully.
>> But just as my objectives will last for the entire duration of my life, their success or failure is not a one-time outcome. There will be times when the world feels too much for them, and I will still be there to lend my help in hopes of a better day. There will be times when I'm there to share in that, or when I'm the one who needs reassurance. None of those things marks the end of a path or a goal. To answer your other question... I think the fact that I can recognize that clearly marks part of my own growth over the years.
Minae says this even as the Zero is accelerating away. An escape is not the best outcome, certainly, but she'll accept that over several other possibilities - and her own hopes have been communicated to at least some people on the battlefield, as Ryoko roars a friendly(?) challenge(??). Keeping up with the Nadesico is a whole new experience.
This time the fuzz of communications comes from the other ship; it starts as a low-level drift of thoughts and half-formed transmissions that Minae can't fully pick out, and then she blinks in surprise as Asciel explodes into a flurry of responses. ... that Minae still doesn't reply to until she's done. That window of silence she offered Zero extends here as well, not least because she's not the sort of person to try to push a word in edgeways, even when told not to listen. Eventually:
>> ... just as I said to Zero and that pilot. It isn't fair for others to push so much expectation onto you. I believe that everyone has the right to reach out and go 'I need help' or 'I need to be weak for a while', and that includes you.
She could say more, she's sure, but she's wary of assuming too much and still isn't sure of what might happen if she tries to push the issue - whether that would be too much with tension already rising higher. Without knowing more of the full story, of the circumstances that have brought them to this point, it's not her place to force a confrontation, especially not when the contact abruptly breaks off. The robot is left sagging where she stands, filled with an exhaustion she's completely unused to experiencing. Is this how Arriety sees the world? Maybe not quite, but it gives her something to go off, however small.
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Emalya hails Qivi. "You've actually USED one of these things before?" Qivi is astounded (and also slightly annoyed at herself, because she thought she had her IFF off and wasn't broadcasting herself as 'Minokawa'). But mostly surprised, because the unit her Minokawa was built out of was never very popular...
...but another Meltrandi (or Zentredi) who was associated with the military about eight years back is exactly the sort of person who'd recognize it. Her luck wouldn't hold forever.
"...thanks, I think!"
Qivi isn't really looking 'out'. She knows how to tie up a mobile suit with a big gun: stay in close, keep up the infighting, stay harassing. 'Up' and 'down' might not matter a lot but 'around' absolutely does, and she can crack those clawed hands and taloned feet in at odd angles.
But she can't fight the thing herself, and she certainly can't when it turns into a waverider, the Neo-Bird. "Oh no you don't," Qivi growls, going to grab it across the back of the wings -
It's more agile than Minokawa is in this form. Qivi can feel the tugs of G-forces as she whips Minokawa around as swiftly and tightly as she can, but the Neo-Bird slips her grasp after a glancing blow against its shield from a claw. She never manages to grapple it again.
The Minokawa steadies its flight as Heero, and 'Zero', depart. Qivi lets out a breath, catching her breath - she wasn't expecting to fight as quickly as she deployed, she's not really rigged for it.
Her first instinct, now, is to make herself scarce before Luna II deploys more troops. And indeed she's got a shuttle, currently out of easy sight but not so far away she can't get to it on her thrusters. But she can't just leave her without a line -
She opens comms to Rita again. "Hey. You need anything? I can't stay here, I'm kind of a wanted woman by G-Hound and I've got somewhere to be. But after you escaped, I gotta ask." It looks like she might be going with Trevor, but she has to be sure.
Qivi does not - quite - immediately fly off. But she's clearly banking and preparing to depart, in a different direction than Wing Zero went.
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
"No," Emalya answers firmly, with certainty and confidence both. "There are many answers I must find... but humans I will always treasure. Even if they themselves forget the reasons that we do."
"I did not think much would come of it for me, either, and yet so much has!"
But the machine, pilot, and AI all transform and leave. Those words...
"Is this how you feel?" Emalya wonders, and finally she hesitates. Not because her barrage ddi not destroy the enemy--that was desired. But because the sheer level of hopelessness she sees in it is difficult to argue. "...I am sorry," she says. "I wish I could do something more for you."
But Hikaru cheers her on and Emalya smiles. "Thank you," she answers, very pleased, and when Ryoko says the drinks are on her, it occurs to her that, "My unit requires repairs. May I divert to the Nadesico? I would also join you for these drinks!"
Then she nods. "You are welcome, Minae. And thank you! I appreciate this."
Qivi's answer gets a, "Yes! Or at least, one that looks like it. I have not piloted in some time until recently..."
But, assuming she has the permissions, she will turn... toward the Nadesico!