2023-11-11: Cataclysm! The Apostles of Goragon!

• Cast: Asciel Colette, GenRyuuJin, GouRyuuJin, Dr. Hell, Koji Kabuto, Yuliana Kafim, Sayaka Yumi, Teletha Testarossa, Cascade Vermilion, Leina Ashta, Naoko Suzuki, Anita Rosetta, Roux Louka, Banagher Links, LiSA, Sayla Mass, Kallen Kozuki
• Where: Fujinomiya City
• Date: U.C. 0097 11 11
• Summary: The endless lights of possibility alight! Infinity awakens, and Goragon threatens to consume all! Between the valiants of the Photon Power League, and the allies made in their paths - can they overcome Dr. Hell's revived generals? Will this world prove it can deserve to exist?

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<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        The earth shudders.

        The implacable siege upon the Photon Power Research Institute is thrown apart by darkening skies, by an unnatural stillness that strikes fear into the hearts of humanity and kikaiju alike. It is no humble earthquake.

        The very atmosphere in front of Mt. Fuji cracks apart - and the hulking, ancient 'Magine' takes a single step through the parted veil. Infinity - the sleeping king beneath the mountain - returns from the eternity into which is was stolen, its royal footfalls carving craters into the world.

        And at its crown...

        "It has awakened. The first, and final Magine - behold!"

        Amidst the fizzling communications of the Invisible Burst, one voice rings clear across the noise. The booming, throaty call of Earth's most infamous mad scientist - Dr. Hell, whose violet visage and wild white beard appear on screens and news boards all over the world.

        "...To all who call this astray world home - the time has come to prove whether or not there is still hope. This 'Magine' - "Infinity", as they've taken to calling it - is no less than the power to tear down the walls of the world low. It is the culmination of all final judgments, which can decide, through my will alone, the truth that glows in the sky. I have already realized Goragon, the trigger that will rewind all 'possibility' to zero, but you are given one final chance to prove the worth of the world you've made."

        Dr. Hell's hand extends across the webs of all the world.
        The Great Marshal's hand extends across the war-torn landscape.
        Infinity's hand extends towards the twilit horizon.

        These gestures in harmony unveil a truth. Energy readings rise beyond all compare. A vivid green light that should not be gleams like the fallen sun.

        An unspeakable relic that has somehow fallen into Dr. Hell's grip. Few would understand just what this star is, or why - but it thrums with the determination of a 'Magine', just as Mazinger Z does - only accompanied by the tell-tale readings of Getter radiation.

        "Soon, I will rewrite the history of this world - which has self-evidently fallen into decadence and disrepair, in no small part thanks to the foolishness of all receiving this message. All of you who call themselves 'leaders' of Earth - your debt is owed. Lay down your arms, surrender your spoils of war and ambition to my forces, and perhaps this uworthy planet, exhausted of all hope, will show that it has earned a tomorrow in spite of its heinous misguidance!"

        The power of almighty decision invokes a most absurd display over the legions swarming Fujinomiya - the countless Mechanical Beasts stop, turn towards Infinity - and bow. Groveling towards this clear and certain almighty trumpet of finality in a mockery of awe and reverence. The two marshals overseeing these armies - the bisected Ashura P1 and the headless paladin Brocken T9 - perhaps breathe in more earnest awe.

        "So he found that fragment after all. Hehehehe." cackles Count Brocken, his hand swept across his front in a noble show of courtesy, slowly turning his blade towards the gathering storm of senseless opposition. "No - he always possessed it, didn't he? Aah. I can feel it coursing through my veins. The 'Magine' from the 'Emperor' and its authority...it is no mere coincidence. That light of evolution - that's what's returned me from the abyss. Gaaaahahah, how ironic!!!"

        Ashura takes a more kneeled, groveling posture, before propping themselves back upon their feet through the staff of authority they brandish, the split grin of Ashura P1 glaring over the boundary of Earth's final vanguard. He growls forth, "Foolish. To fixate upon something as pithy as the means of our resurrection, as opposed to its MEANING - no matter the 'Magine' Dr. Hell found, we are here to see it to its fruition! The sight of Earth begging for undeserved mercy may be sweet - the inevitable resistance being futile before the light of Goragon is even sweeter!", she proclaims. Some things never change - even beyond this final barrier, where it's do or die for both of Dr. Hell's loyal lieutenants before the growing daybreak of calamity - even still, there's the tension of arguing between the two...

        Naturally, the appearance of Infinity itself is an immediate issuance of a high-priority alert for all military personnel that have grown to station around Mt. Fuji. The worldwide call to surrender or else does not fall on deaf ears - there are politicians aplenty who recognize the superior force and final authority Dr. Hell represents, and in those circles, there is hesitance to waste time resisting.

        But there is absolutely no hesitation anywhere on the ladder for personnel affiliated with the Benerit Group, stationed upon the 'Neo-Parthenon' and various other similar base camps that have since been established to contain the Mechanical Beast Legion. From their gates, unwavering, their forces are given the order to charge - a do or die attack swarming the earth in conflict, all to clear the way towards Infinity itself. It's an extremely simple matter for them - Infinity is exactly the kind of abnormality that must be contained, just as the most dangerous Psychoframes are. In the months since Dr. Hell's appearance, one thing's grown certain - the rise of their star, unwilling to accept Goragon under any circumstances, may have shut off any and all possibility that humanity simply surrendered to his demands.

        ...Judging by the rate at which that Getter radiation spreads may well entail that any talk of Earth's conceding may be purely a bluff...

<Pose Tracker> GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has posed.

Of course, so many forces respond at once to the arrival of Goragon - the manifestation of Dr. Hell and his Mazinger Infinity. An ultimatum of total import - when Dr. Hell says he will unwrite the world, if anyone would be taken at his word, it's him. But what force could oppose Magine? Who would dare?

The sky tears open, a flickering non-space within, and two saviors appear. Their true colors are disguised. For even in the horrid light of Goragon, they shine orange. It is a mismatched pair: Two giants, each with two halves. One has a dumptruck bed for an arm; the other has a cement mixer on its opposite. Each wields a crane on their other hip, and normal arms on that side. Two heroes from another era; the Symmterically-Docked brothers, cross-combined in the light of The Power. But now, that light is the Dawn's, and they are harbingers of mankind's end.

"Chief was right," one says, the one with the dumptruck bed attached to its arm. "They're making their move!"

"Doctor Hell...we were injured last time. We'll save this world from you this time, for certain! With me, GenRyuuJin!" the other bellows.

"AS ONE, GOURYUUJIN!" his brother thunders, and two Braves roar!!

The orange light around them flares brighter, as the city around them turns first orange, and then black, transforming under their Triple Zero influence.

As nice as it might be to believe that the brothers are simply here to stop Goragon...Chief Taiga as he is now has always been terribly efficient. They must be here for more than just that.

KTS: GenRyuuJin_and_GouRyuuJin has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents.

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

The repairs are finally complete. The damage wrought by the Goldion Hammer has been repaired, the lost, photonized plates of Super Alloy New Z replaced.

And all too soon is this moment of relief replaced by alarms going off everywhere, as spacetime bends apart and Infinity steps astride the mountain they found it in.

"... Zoom in on the cranium," Koji instructs the team in the Old Lab's control booth, once battle stations has been sounded. That green light is so dreadfully familiar... and indeed, once they zoom in - there's an unmistakable crimson machine there in the cranial dock, its own eyes malevolent, green, and pupiled as they gaze out upon creation. "... Getter Robo?"

It's not the machine that blew up in New Yark, but the similarities are unmistakable. "... So that's how he did it," Koji growls - and then the speech plays.

Doctor Hell holds the world to ransom, challenging humanity to make 'the right choice' in the face of overwhelming power. Koji listens, grip tightening on his own arms. "... Screw that."

====== ======

"While the Benerit Group and OCU forces keep the Kikaiju Army occupied," Koji explains, walking towards the launch bay with helmet tucked under his shoulder, "the combined strike team from the Ra Mari II will join up with us and approach Infinity. Then Mazinger Z will make contact, upload the cranial purge worm, and force Infinity to reject the Getter machine in its cranial dock."

Is the worm finished? Can it even overcome Getter Robo? It was designed with Lisa's aid in accessing Infinity's design architecture, but the presence of Getter has completely skewed their projections.

Still: It's the best shot they have.

He swings into the Hover Pilder's front seat, waiting for Lisa to hop into the seat behind him before closing the canopy and securing the fuselage, working through the control craft's preflight with a ritualistic diligence.

"... This may well be Mazinger Z's final flight," he says, to the crew of scientists and engineers that have stuck with the Photon Power Labs through thick and thin, "And I have you to thank for working so tirelessly to get it back into fighting shape after fighting Goldymarg. Whatever happens next... it's been an honour, everyone."

(( OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgrbL3b1M6Q )))


The Pilder streaks out of the Old Lab's launch bay, circling in the sky over the pool. Koji casts his gaze towards Infinity, pulling down his visor against the neon-green glare spilling from its head.

"We'll stop you, Hell - no matter what. Jet Scrander: Launch! MAZIIIIIIIIIIN GO!"

The pool in front of the Old Lab slides open, and from its depths the Castle of Iron rises, new armour rinsed clean and gleaming in the sunrise. The Pilder comes in for a vertical descent into the cranial dock, and with a cry of "PILDER ON!" Mazinger Z's eyes flash to life, and it flexes, before sprinting away from the Lab and towards the Mountain, leaping up to meet and combine with the Jet Scrander with the familiar cry of "SCRANDER CROSS!"

====== ======

"Z0-Similar signatures," Koji breathes as they approach. "Taiga left some more friends behind. All units: Triple Zero threat on-site. Break and engage at your discretion - I'm taking Hell's generals. Remember: Don't hold back against them, it's the only way we're going to be able to save them."

He glances behind his seat, to Lisa. "Hold on tight. This one's gonna be messy."

Mazinger Z banks, slightly, fists outstretched, to charge towards Ashura P1 and Brocken T9 as rays of Photon Power lance out from its eyes. "You two should have stayed dead! KOUSHIRYOKU BEAM!"

KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Weekly Seijin with Koushiryoku Beam!
KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Once upon a time, the Science Fortress Laboratory was someone's safe harbour. Yes -- a debt is owed.

        What a pity Yuliana is all that's left to pay it, with Rita out to space and Zoltan in his presumed convalescence, Shelby doing whatever wretched thing she does to keep her from usefulness, Jona out of the game, and Michele having never been one to personally bloody her hands.

        But maybe it was always going to be this way. This isn't the first time Yuliana's faced up against these people -- though she was fighting in a Tendus, when she first struck out to make a mark on the Mycenae. It was an engineer's machine, outrageously outclassed; Boss had to rescue her, at one point, from getting completely crushed. Another time, Lilith Aiden pulled her from the battlefront before she could battle to the death, her machine's windshield(!) cracked and broken.

        The Great Marshal of Hell... she couldn't believe in his overtures of peace.

        But after what she's done -- would anyone believe in hers?

        It's a risk she can't take.

        And so she simply declines to take it.

        The machine which enters Japanese airspace is a Masquerion, all in nondescript default red; it's clearly been modified, considering the shield bolted to one of its arms, but it's flying under deeply generic PMC identification. Anyone could get those credentials in under a week. And the voice which comes from it has had its pitch shifted to something base and electronic; she's probably a woman, but that's as clear as it gets. "Masquerion, responding to present active threat. Now targeting Baron Ashura." It's a dry statement, even beyond the electronic crackle, but...

        "... you BASTARDS!" ... apparently, whoever this is, she's not completely detached. It's a scream which comes with a hail of railgun fire, blasting at the side of Baron Ashura's head -- to distract her and bring her towards her.

KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Weekly Seijin with Burst Railgun Burst !
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to charge.
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Koji Kabuto's Koushiryoku Beam, taking 3230 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin blocks Yuliana Kafim's Burst Railgun Burst , taking 2280 damage!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim begins a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

The earth shakes and the sky shatters. There's no doubt... the time has come. Goragon comes

Unlike Sayaka's prediction, it is not heralded by an overwhelming reading of Photon Power, no... it's something else. "Getter rays!" Sayaka recognizes along with that sickly green. The whole world witnessed the destruction they wrought upon New Yark City. In Hell's hands, powering Infinity... will their efforts be enough?

"He's claiming he can already activate Goragon. All that's left to do use the gift of his arrogance to our advantage. Magine, getter rays, or anything... it's time to initiate our plan!"

A strike team to quickly and efficiently reach Infinity's control dock, to release a virus and disrupt Goragon. A pretty smart plan, for one of Koji's making, Sayaka would add... but they have no hopes of reaching Infinity as long as his most loyal generals stand. Even then... it's the best shot they got. They have to take it.

With a surge of orange clashing with the green of the Getter radiation, that can only mean one thing. The labs' sensors warn them of Elementary Particle Z0-similar. "So the Oath Over Omega also sees fit to challenge Goragon..." Sayaka comments, climbing into her Pilder. For all Hell took thorough control of the city, the old Lab is still safe.

Koji takes care of warning their allies, while Sayaka climbs into her Pilder. Aphrodite Areia rises next to Mazinger from the pool that started it all, arms defiantly crossed.

"Pilder On! Artemis Cross!" She calls, angelic wings sprouting. "Here's our answer, Doctor Hell: MAZIN GOOOO!"

And rises to meet the generals of Hell. "Well, well... if it isn't Ashura and Brocken. You two have sunk awfully low... we'll send you right back where you belong with your master. And make sure it sticks!"

The Mazin's eyes gleam a piercing scarlet, in consort with Mazinger Z's yellow, all while a mystery ally strikes at Ashura. "Scarlet BEAM!" They pierce to strike where the Koushiryoku Beam does not.

KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Weekly Seijin with Scarlet Beam!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to charge.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi rattles Weekly Seijin, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Sayaka Yumi's Scarlet Beam, taking 3300 damage!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi continues a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.

Under the sea, the Toy Box moves. A sudden and swift redirection of high importance, too important for the West Pacific Battlegroup to not move to intercept. High alert, high priority, coasting in the water towards Suruga Bay with open comms and an open hangar. The faster, the better.

"Dr. Hell..."
"Are you worried, Captain?"
"You know I can't say such things in public, Mardukas."
"I understand."
"So long as he can give us answers for Amalgam. Ensure that everything else is under control before going for Infinity."
"The PRT is doing what they can for the Kikaiju Army."
"Autonomous orders for them under Uruz-9. Red alert. Prepare for combat. File after-combat reports under Kikaiju Army and...Getter Robo."
"Aye, ma'am. Battle stations!"

A soft sigh in the bridge as she swung the tablet around, DANA already sorting out the particular details. Movements, tracks, the pings of familiar units descending on the battlefield to the monstrosity ahead. A press, open comms. <<"This is the Toy Box. Copy that, Mazinger Z, we're moving to respond.">> Go reunite with your old friend.

Yuliana's own presence feels...oddly comforting, in a way. Even a cult leader had to stand up against supernatural powers. There's only the mental file to work ont aht later; More important things at hand, designating the 000-saturated duo as primary targets.

The TDD-1 breached through the water's surface, a leviathan in the seas implicitly broadcasting itself to the world. The venting of stale oxygen, the intake of the fresh air akin to a whale.

"Load tubes two, three, and four."
"Aye, ma'am. Load torpedoes two through four!"
Missiles clicking into place. Munitions of death and destruction armed against the incomprehensible.
"Fire."
"Fire!"

And those missile hatches shuttered open, launching out its violent payload towards the stars, three bright balls of fire piercing out of the pale blue to rain hell down onto the orange-infested duo.

KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Single Missile!
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.

Cascade Vermilion has made herself known once or twice - to speak to the Photon Power League, or to Asciel, or a half dozen other people - but mostly she has decided to stay out of the public eye. Koji and his allies might be willing to trust her, even if she doesn't entirely understand why they would; most people, if they knew who and what she was, would not. Should not.

A Gamia on the loose makes nobody happy. A Gamia on the loose when Dr. Hell is up to something is even worse. The fact that there actually *is* a Gamia working for Dr. Hell, and it isn't her, is not lost on Cascade.

Instead she has stayed, mostly, in disguise, or at least not drawn attention to herself. She must be doing SOMETHING, out there in Japan, but she hasn't told anyone what it was and she hasn't done anything so blatant people would have heard about it.

(It is a lot less dramatic than people are going to assume it is, but Cascade doesn't mind letting them think that.)

But she has also been waiting. She *knows* Dr. Hell has a plan. And she knows she can't go back, even if she wanted to, which she doesn't. His world has no place for her. It will never have a place for her; if it has room for Gamia NX-2 at all, it will be as an obedient servant and not... whatever she is now. Baron Ashura wouldn't - couldn't, honestly - save her from that, and Cascade is not so naive as to assume that's what Baron Ashura wants, either.

She can't lose her purpose before she knows what it is.

So when the plan moves, Cascade is ready. More or less.

Cascade did not receive any of Koji's briefing because she wasn't there. She doesn't know *his* plan any more than she knows the details of Dr. Hell's, though that is becoming clearer every minute. But despite that, an ally rises to support him: deep red along the limbs, black at the chest and across the hips and between the legs. It uses copper as an accent several times, as trim to define the edges of its gauntlet or boot. The whole robot has a feminine build - and it does have a face, a strangely human-shaded one, as Venus A does.

Also, it's wearing a cloak, an enormous black cloak lined with red that billows around it as Cascade descends, landing heavily in the middle of the street. Triple Zero is outside her expectations, but she knows enough to get nowhere near them; she's planted herself closer to the Generals, arms crossed as she stands strong in the face of them.

But inside, Cascade wavers. Can she do this? She has to do it - it's just like that night - but *can* she?

Androktasia stays still for a moment before its own eye beams fire, a mirror of Mazinger's and Aphrodite's, aimed at Brocken. Hers are blue-purple, with a ripple or waver to them rather than a single (well, pair of) straight rays."

"..." She doesn't address them. They know perfectly well who Androktasia is.

KTS: Cascade Vermilion: Will Barrier Activates.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion targets Weekly Seijin with Eye Blaster!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Cascade Vermilion's Eye Blaster, taking 3420 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

It doesn't take a Newtype Flash to know when the end has come. The feeling of a tectonic shift, and the appearance of a Magine. Leina sat forward in the cockpit of her Beguir, every muscle tense.

As she listens to Doctor Hell. She'd heard all the stories - but she'd never fought him before herself.

She takes a breath, as she thinks of all that's at stake here today. Everyone and everything she loves and cares about.

If they fail? They won't even have the time to say goodbye.

There's something both horrifying and comforting in that thought.

"As if your word wasn't worth less than nothing." Leina said harshly, remembering the Gala, "You hold them all in such contempt, you're banking on their cowardice to wipe the world clean."

Tensing upon the controls, the feed is piped in showing the city of Mechanical Beasts bowing to Brocken and Ashura. As they're given the order to launch and the countdown begins, Leina sends out one last message to Asciel, typed out on console.

        >behave
        >dont be a mondo

And so, in this last moment, she flips the comm over to a more private channel for a few friends and family, "<This is it. Was taught... moments like these, supposed to give some big speech. But you know what? I'm not gonna give these assholes that. We'll be meeting up after.>"

A beat.

"<For some real Ramen at Boss', soon as it reopens, not some Orb Fusion- whatever. See you all there.>"

As the CEK-068 Beguir-Neuer launches, amidst the lines of CEK-077 Beguir-Pentes the frames catapult over Fujinomiya on jump jets, breaking off into landings.

The city is instantly lanced with beamfire as they engage the Mechanical Beasts.

"<Yo, 'Dirae', you've been given the goahead to engage Hell's freakshow, what's that about?>"

Leina's own Beguir-Neuer landed down heavily, winding it's way through the city, leaping over buildings, and avoiding snapping Mechanical Beasts heads as they're shot by other Beguir units.

It leaps again before swinging sideways to dodge a massive club, ducking beneath two legs. As more units come to engage it.

"<By request. Got some history.>"

"<History!? Like when-? You're not old enough to be a vet of those conflicts-!>"

"<Don't worry about it.>"

And indeed funnels spiral out of the Rear Armor like a Nautiloid, as funnels lay a field of fire down around the Brocken as she switches to the loudspeakers.

"Former Soldier of Zeon, and Proud General of Doctor Hell huh? Certainly not some stupid cock who thought it'd be real funny to crash two teenagers out on their FIRST DATE-!"

The firing rate of the funnels subtly picks up, as she shouts out with greater heat.

"I WAS REALLY ENJOYING MYSELF YOU JACKASS!"

<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.

"There's a new one on the field. PMC Identification...Masquerion."
"Do we have anything else?"
"Unknown."
"...Leave her be." That outburst cemented which side she was on, anyways.

KTS: Leina Ashta targets Weekly Seijin with Beguir Neuer Funnel Array Spiral Formation!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

The aid of the Ra Mari II had been requested... and they're not one to turn down an earnest call for help. This problem concerns everyone, and so...

"XVF-25I Svipul, launching now." Anita Rosetta announces, launching out of one of the Ra Mari II's hangars. The Valkyrie soars through the air in Fighter Mode, ready to join the fight.

"This is Anita Rosetta of the Ra Mari II's Kakapo Squadron. We're here to help." Anita announces. ...This situation is pretty fraught, though, isn't it? Maybe she should've just stayed in bed.

...Nah.

She volunteered for a reason. Anita rolls her neck... and then frowns, as it seems like they've got more trouble as Koji announces the presence of Triple Zero.

"Geez... guess everyone's decided to throw in their lot, huh?" Anita mutters. ...It makes sense. What happens today... a lot could change. Even if they're fighting Doctor Hell, she doesn't want to think about what agents of Triple Zero would do after. "...Alright. I'm breaking off to go deal with that - good luck out there, everyone."

They aren't hard to spot. The air burns orange around them, and the city transforms from their influence. Anita frowns. ...This really is serious. It's easy to take a guess what they're after - defeating Dr. Hell is certainly a noble goal, but it's what they'd do next that she can't allow.

"Hey, hey." Anita calls out, greeting the brothers. With a flip, Svipul transforms into GERWALK mode and opens with a hail of vulcan fire. "I like your energy, but right now, things are going to get pretty complicated with you around... Can I convince you to leave this to us?"

KTS: Anita Rosetta targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Vulcan Barrage!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Funnel Array Spiral Formation, taking 4400 damage!
KTS: Roux Louka targets Weekly Seijin with HE Grenade!
KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

"Oh my god," said Roux, when she saw what was in the great cranial dock of Infinity, revealed for the world to see. "Did they RECONSTRUCT A -- Ugh!! I guess if he's going to recreate the world or something, he doesn't care if he screws it up first!!"

Then:

"Hey, hey," Roux says, having been walking with Koji and others, as the final moment approached. "Don't talk like that, Koji! You might win, you know." A pause, and then a softer look.

"Thanks," Roux tells him. "It's always been a blast. Let's hope this is the last one before we all start buying houses and settling down, okay?"

And then Roux puts on her shooting star helmet and throws up a V-sign. "See you at the end!"

AND NOW

What more is there to say? To doubt? To fear? Roux Louka has had plenty of time to have all of these. In this case, at least, matters have come to a focus point. And there is perhaps this one relief, this one simple and salvific thought which guides Roux, and makes her heart easy as the Strike Zeta warms up with a subtle impression beneath her.

Their enemies are legion...

... but Count Brocken? Baron Ashura?

Many of the people Roux has had to fight had hopes and dreams. Misguided, yes. Drawn into the dark allure of authoritarian and eliminationist dominance, seeking to slaughter their enemies or command the Earth Sphere and so far gone that any high ideals were long in the rear scanner arc? Absolutely.

But those two, or three, depending on how you count?

For once, it's simple. Screw those guys.

"Roux Louka, Strike Zeta --"

chk

"Launching!"

The Strike Zeta screams out in Waverider mode. Exterior mounted secondary missile pods, slightly ungainly, are not sufficient obstacle to the Strike Zeta's thermonuclear jet engines. They disgorge their payload into Machine Beasts and are then disconnected, falling backwards and possibly smashing into other Kikaiju. HELL WITH 'EM!

As the Strike Zeta changes into its Mobile Suit mode, Roux exhales with mild relief. "Okay, they didn't end the universe," Roux says, with a pause to glance at the corner of the horizon. No, there's the Benerit people, there's Leina's cop-bot. Cool, Roux thinks, before hurling a destructive charge of high explosive down towards the Brocken T9 -- a second one towards the general area of Ashura -

"Hey, assholes! How sure are you that Dr. Hell's got a space for YOU in this new world he's bragging about?!"

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links-Vist has posed.

The last time the PPL was in trouble, Banagher was still recovering from his foray beyond the time. It's something he regrets -- Koji and Sayaka were there for him and Audrey when they needed shelter. So as the Three Ships Alliance receives a request for aid from the PPL, the Destrier Gundam is the first mobile suit to launch.

The city looks worse than Banagher thought it would. Landing heavily in an empty lot near the laboratory, the Destrier lifts its machine gun -- only for the sky to tear open. Orange light radiates forward, and on instinct, Banagher pulls his machine back.

He's seen that light before. Visions of Torrington, of Palau, echo before his eyes. Gritting his teeth, Banagher shakes his head to clear it, turning the Gundam to face these two new threats.

<"Banagher Links-Vis... uh, Links-Zinn..."> He really needs to figure out his last name situation. <"Destrier Gundam. I'm here to help.">

Orange light flares from the Braves, and Banagher winces. If those two manage to corrupt Dr. Hell's forces, everything is going to get a whole lot worse. The Destrier raises its gun as the city transforms, its pilot frowning softly.

<"I'm sorry. I know you want to help, but the way you are now, you'll hurt everyone!"> Banagher calls to the corrupted Braves. <"Please turn back!">

Leina's voice comes through, softening the worry lines on Banagher's face. <"Ramen sounds great. I'll be there. Leave the 000 pair to us. Everyone here's got your back.">

KTS: Banagher Links-Vist targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Destrier Heavy Machine Gun Burst!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Roux Louka's HE Grenade, taking 3780 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

Having been part of the Ra Mari II's briefing on Dr. Hell's plans and the true nature of the 'Infinity' that she'd heard Asciel mention, Naoko Suzuki obviously volunteered to be part of the mission to put a stop to it. The threat of a major world-ending threat aside, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to actually be a part of the fight against Dr. Hell and his Kikaiju. She'd never thought that would be anything more than a fantasy. Thanks to Full Frontal, she did get the chance to be a part of some historical scenarios in that regard. But that, too, ultimately felt like fantasy. This, however... this is going to be actual history that she'll be a part of. How cool is that??

Make no mistake, she is perfectly aware of the seriousness of the situation, and will treat it accordingly. But it's also a dream come true. Even if the kind of machine she has access to is... not quite the kind that she would have preferred. Sukeban is great and all, but an Arm Slave is not exactly what you'd call an ideal match against Kikaiju. Not that this is going to stop her from making the best of what she has.

Even with the unexpected development of Dr. Hell's improvised method of activation for Infinity, and the threat of the entire world ending should they fail, what Naoko is mostly feeling is impatience, awaiting the order to launch. The Kikaiju army's siege of Fujinomiya had been allowed to continue for far too long to begin with, in her estimation. Little she could have done about it on her own, though. Even if this was likely the smartest plat, it just isn't what Naoko's used to. She's always idolized the Koji of yore, who would rashly charge in immediately whenever Dr. Hell's forces appeared, never failing to save the day regardless of the odds. Maybe she, too, will one day learn to exercise caution. ...What a depressing thought.

After a far too long wait, the green light is given, and the Ra Mari II's strike team fans out to engage the Kikaiju army. The Sukeban, being both fast and small, is ideally suited for at least one thing: slipping past in all the chaos. She's not interested in staying back, and letting those who are inarguably the best suited for the task handle Hell's most trusted generals guarding Infinity itself. She wants to be at the front, because that's where Koji will be fighting, and assist him personally.

She manages to get there when the fight's just gotten underway, beholding the welcome sight of Mazinger Z and Aphrodite Areia facing down Ashura and Brocken. They're not the only ones of course, but as if this hasn't been established: Naoko's vision is rather narrow at the moment. What isn't narrow is her grin once she arrives, and broadcasts her intentions, as Sukeban points dramatically.

"Baron Ashura! Count Brocken! This will be the first and only time anyone ever expresses gratitude to you! I thank you, for returning... and giving me this chance to send you packing myself!" The pointing arm is joined by its opposite, each extended towards one of Dr. Hell's generals, soon after launching fists in their respective directions.

"Burn, fist of justice! ROKKETTO PUUUUUUUUUNCH!!"

KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Weekly Seijin with Remote Fist!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.

Lisa herself had been very hands-on with the cranial purge worm. She does, after all, have a base insight into Infinity that at this point, everyone else but Hell does not. Even then, she's not sure how much he'll have picked up at this point... but she still is an administrator, linked to it, and just as it makes its appearance, she gives a full body shudder.

"It's time." She breathes, softly.

She's faster on the react side, not wanting to listen to Hell. She knows what he's going on about. She knows WHY he's going on about it. Yet, she made her decision those few years ago - and from the looks of Getter Robo, Hell -knows- that he wasn't the one chosen. He had to figure out a way around her, after all.

That little thought makes her smile for a moment, and she slips into the second seat behind Koji. "Go all out." She responds her gaze on the data rather than him. "I'd rather have them down hard and fast, than less risk. Even if the attacks head towards Infinity. It's a large machine, it can withstand more than the Z can!" She points out.

"Though, this does..." Lisa opens up another screen, fingers flicking, before every one that is on the offensive against any of their enemies gets a note that they should be careful - Cascade's machine marked as an ally. She's not risking anything, tonight.

KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto with All-Out!
KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Koji Kabuto's Skill!

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        The distress signal from the PPL came, as Sayla expected. Probably about the same time the call fror Cathedra comes in.

        And moments after that, Dr Hell makes his declaration to the world. They didn't even need the alert.

        "The mask comes off," Sayla mutters quietly. "But I can't trust the world you'd want to make, Wilhelm von Hell."

        The Ra Mari II is not the only ship coming to the aid of the Photon Power Labs today, and standing atop the Tuatha de Danaan is the Photon Hi-Nu Gundam, it's body grey and bloue, it's funnel wings black and red. And instead of it's usual varied loadout, it carries one single gun- longer than the Hi-Nu is tall, and connected directly to the unit by a power cable, two Photon Reactors working in sync-

        But she doesn't like what she sees on the sensors. "...Getter rays and-" She swears. The special equipment she had installed in the Hi-Nu is giving off a reading. "<Captain Testarossa, reporting Z0 similar particles. Triple Zero are here too!>"

        So they hadn't all retreated to Jupiter...

        "<...Triple Zero are the secondary threat,>" Sayla says, partly surprised that those are the words coming out of her mouth. "<My recommendation is to keep them off the Infinity assault team. We don't need to destroy them, but if we can... try to keep the AI Cores intact." If 3G lost two of the people they were trying to save while they were fighting the King of Ruin,it would dispirit them. "<We may not have purifiers, but if we reduce them to their cores we can pull them out safely! Sayla Mass, Photon Hi-Nu, launching!>"

        As she launches, she can feel Leina across the battlefield. That anger, and that... hoo boy. Now she remembers. One of the nights she was really glad Leina started carrying that stun gun.

        And so the Hi-Nu's comm laser targets the Beguir-Neuer. "<We'll keep the brothers off you. Just don't get so focused on kicking his ass you slip up. See you after this is over.>"

        She levels the Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher at the Ruin Generals, getting ready to blast-

        Which is when she detects two more Z0 similar signals, amongst the first two. These one have life signs. "...Shit." Her comms open again. "<Be careful! I'm detecting life signs from the GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin! There's someone in them! Banagher, Anita, Captain, be careful!>"

        The PHM Bazooka's reactor surges to life, as Sayla adjust her choice of weaponry. "<Sorry boys, I can't let you near Infinity either! I'll be handing you both back to 3G- even if I have to do it the hard way!>" She pulls the trigger, and yells the command. "RUST TYPHOON!"

        A forceful burst of the Mazin's wind-based weaponry, directed by the heavy weaponry at the Ruin Generals, to try and erode their armor- at least as much as one can against the regenerative properties of Triple Zero.

KTS: Sayla Mass: Will Barrier Activates.
KTS: Sayla Mass targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher Rust Monsoon!
KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin successfully avoids Teletha Testarossa's Single Missile
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin successfully avoids Sayla Mass's Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher Rust Monsoon
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin partially guards Banagher Links-Vist's Destrier Heavy Machine Gun Burst, taking 2660
damage!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Vulcan Barrage, taking 3150 damage!
KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

One of the faces of resistance has seen better days. Within one of the rooms of Asciel's Neo-Partheon, a young woman in red has been spending the past few hours doing spot repairs on an increasingly patchwork and scarred Guren. She knows what she's doing, mostly... but the unending waves of Kikaiju, and certain recent events, have seen the fearsome machine damaged in uncountable ways. And while she has been willing to speak with people who approach her, the list of those she's allowed to assist in repairs is... vanishingly small. "Thank you for allowing me to work on her in here, Miss Asciel." She doesn't know if the Super AI is litening, or even cares. And she's still abundantly cross about the whole radio thing. But she does recognize that without the use of this Macross, her options would be far more slim. Pretty much exclusively begging the Photon Labs for hangar space, if she didn't want to be arrested by people with no sense of priorities.

Thankfully, this means when Hell makes his 'glorious' proclamation, she's already as prepared as she can be. His speech and intimidation tactics are difficult to hear in this particular room, over the grinding of Kallen's teeth. "Real piece of work... but what else do you expect from Doctor Hell." Muttering to herself, she closes up her pilot suit fully and squeezes her good luck charm. And as Guren's pilot block closes up, a port opens for her to roll out from. "Guren Mk2, launching!"

And as she heads out, she's met by the other forces intent on the same goal. Forces who by now, are used to her radio. Still a masked voice, despite there being no further point, and most of them knowing very well what she actually sounds like. "Hang on, hang the HELL on! He shoved a GETTER in that titanic thing?!" That Getter Radiation machines are still currently illegal, is the least of his crimes, mind. But... she's still shocked by it all the same. And of course, before any of them can get to Hell... they have to go through the other people here. T0 is a bit beyond her to handle... she'll have to trust that to those who can. As for The Baron and Count... THOSE she can help deal with. Ashura seems like they have more tricks up their sleeves, so as Guren IS ground-bound, it whirrs toward the Brocken T9, plunking a grenade up and over the machine, as if she's trying to land a shot in the spot where a head should be.

No sharp words yet... She's processing, a little. The sort of world Hell envisions. The nightmare that will come to pass, if they aren't stopped. It's too horrifying to even consider. Chilling and infuriating down to her soul, in equal measure.

KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to parry Naoko Suzuki's Remote Fist, taking 4557 damage!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki targets Weekly Seijin with Arm Cannon Grenade Shot!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Kallen Kozuki's Arm Cannon Grenade Shot, taking 4410 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

"So even faced with the overwhelming power to rewrite the universe - when faced with the choice of annihilation, or willingly realizing the futility of your world and making of your own volition..." A crack of thunder behind Infinity, as Dr. Hell makes his imperious decree. "As expected! Your defiance has always been your most commendable trait and your greatest downfall. Baron Ashura! Count Brocken! I have long grown exhausted of their defiance. Goragon will commence. It is time to end this - neither the efforts of humanity, nor the foolish oath of the Egg will have any bearing." And the light of myriad possibilities only grows vaster at Infinity's heart, a shadow on the horizon with glowing eyes...

        -Though they do falter just a little bit, at the flicker of LiSA's nearby will. The one factor Dr. Hell hadn't accounted for, that something emerged from Infinity. Near as he knows, with this fragment of generations that revived him - it is he, and only he, who has the keys to this final fortress of iron...!

        -As the last Variable Fighter and Mobile Suit leaves the Neo-Parthenon's hangars, the voice that's been consumed with extremely organized and logical scrambling and coordination of ground forces sighs as one obnoxious voice tickles her senses from a familiar source. It's always her, Asciel grumbles - as the now empty Macross begins to shift and rise from its embedded mountainside position, thrusters engaging. The moment has come, after all. The time to put this to good use. ...The time to maybe, just maybe, take that risk. Chaos like this leaves her quiet, but she does ping Leina back with one simple frustration.

        ->So many of you accuse me of being abstract and incoherent - what in the nine circles of hells is a 'mondo'!?

        As the battle over Mt. Fuji begins, the previous praise and glory the Mechanical Beasts had for Dr. Hell has vanished in favor of their loyal, manic devotion - ancient urges and modern instilled violence alike rearing to a head. At the head of one flank, of their army, Count Brocken sneers and laughs, his blade lashing out with the elegance of a fencer at Leina's funnels - taking some down even as they roast his knightly mechanical body. "I'm ambushed by brats who believe this to be personal, am I? Spare me the tears - something as pathetic as a date won't ring a bell." Two can play the funnel game - the floating head of Count Brocken, eternally grinning, launches a searing laser right towards Leina-

        Before he turns his attention towards Roux and Kallen, one loud and one quiet, bracing amidst the explosions and standing his ground upon a railroad track. "Hmph. Don't make me laugh - your desperation would be grandly amusing, were it not so half-hearted! Go, my revived legions - punish them for their indolence!" From the sky, the round three-headed form of a Jacer J1 launches a three-fold beam at Roux - blazing, freezing, and electrifying - while Kallen is tasked with slaying a giant, as the thundering footsteps of a Titan G9 portend its colossal club raising up high - powerfully enough to pulverize her into a pancake!

        Besides, familiar faces occupy Brocken's attention right afterwards.

        "So, the puppet's joined hands with the wretched Koji Kabuto, has she?" Brocken cackles, launching his own eye lasers to hold off the beams from Mazinger and Androktasia. "You're walking with a legendary fool, Gamia! Shall I dredge up recall codes, perhaps? Would that not be amusing, Koji - forgiving Gamia for her nature, only for it all to come crashing down as she goes right back to determination to slaughter you! Foolish boy - your naivete will be your undoing! Could you bring yourself to kill someone you extended mercy to, Mazinger Z?!" Lashing out with the T9's saber at Koji, a bevy of drill-tipped tendrils erupt from Brocken's 'beard' - lancing towards Cascade with that threat of 'resetting' her...

        Faced with Naoko's twin rocket fists at both generals - the Ashura P1 abruptly splits in half - the left side seared by Sayaka's beam, the right by Yuliana's railgun - both acting to intercept each fist with one hand each. The long corded fingers extend from Ashura's left side - and they return Naoko's favor, hurling that fist right back at her!

        Then, each half colliding back together with a forceful clamping sound, Baron Ashura mercilessly lands with the swiftness of the wind - launching a flying kick towards Aphrodite's cranium, followed by a fierce uppercut aimed skywards at Yuliana's Lion.

        All the while, that two-toned laughing and grunting in exertion bellows out: "Sayaka Yumi - just as much in our way as the accursed Mazinger Z - if not even more intolerable in your own way! We'll melt Aphrodite back into the seafoam from which it was born, and banish you two to Hades - and see Goragon through to its end - this much we promised our liege. This much we promise the world!"

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Sayaka Yumi with Ashura Kick!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Yuliana Kafim with Ashura Punch!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Naoko Suzuki with Fingers of Iseult!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Kallen Kozuki with Titan G9 - Pulverizing Club!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Roux Louka with Jacer J1 - Mystic Beam!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Cascade Vermilion with Schneider Tangle!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Koji Kabuto with Brocken Saber!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Leina Ashta with Eye Laser!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta blocks Weekly Seijin's Eye Laser, taking 1320 damage!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi parries Weekly Seijin's Ashura Kick, taking 990 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Sayaka Yumi!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin anchors Naoko Suzuki, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki fails to parry Weekly Seijin's Fingers of Iseult, taking 4800 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Naoko Suzuki!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion fails to react to Weekly Seijin's Schneider Tangle, taking 4743 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin repulses Cascade Vermilion, forcing her to disengage.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim parries Weekly Seijin's Ashura Punch, taking 645 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Yuliana Kafim!
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka fails to charge.
KTS: Roux Louka partially guards Weekly Seijin's Jacer J1 - Mystic Beam, taking 2378 damage!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki successfully Evades Weekly Seijin's Titan G9 - Pulverizing Club
KTS: Koji Kabuto fails to parry Weekly Seijin's Brocken Saber, taking 3600 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Koji Kabuto!

<Pose Tracker> GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has posed.

Indeed, within what would be the cabs of HyoRyuu and FuuRyuu - which is to say, in the left shoulder of each General - there is a...presence. Neither is human, not anymore.

'Zero Cores.' A form that GGG has encountered a few times now among the Ruin Apostles. A transformation any so infected can undertake, transforming them into an inorganic form optimal for combat and storage, which allows them to interface their wills with the Brave warriors. In a phrase, it enables Fusion, although doing so with a Super AI Brave doesn't have quite as dramatic a result as Guy's Fusion with Galeon.

They retain their human minds, if not their human bodies, and those wills shine through alongside their larger comrades. And those six wills unite into 2 machines, shining with the Dawn's command.

"Your concern is appreciated, Doctor," GouRyuuJin, the cement-mixer armed Strong Dragon God, rumbles. "But you know they're far away now! This is our chance to rescue this world from Dr. Hell's evil!! FAN GU GLUE!!" A stream of orange-hued green wind bursts out of the cement mixer on his arm, creating a tornado that counters Sayla's rust monsoon with raw force, and sends the Danaan's missiles pinwheeling until they explode harmlessly behind them.

GenRyuuJin, the blue and yellow Mystic Dragon God, holds his free hand in a sign of solemn contemplation as Banagher and Anita both strike in. "It is your wish that I stop. But...for the sake of this world, we must not. To free you of sorrow...and to ensure Dr. Hell's ambition may never pass...WE WILL FIGHT!"

The strikes from them explode against him, but the Mystic Dragon God charges toward them, leaping skyward. The dumptruck on his arms disengages, electromagnetically levitating and attaching to his feet like a surfboard, leaving him with two hands free. These, he uses; leveling both arms at Banagher and Anita, he cries: "LEI!!!" and streaks of lightning burst from his hands, raking across them both! The edge of the blackening continues to slowly expand as they expose the area to awesome Triple Zero densities. It's....PROBABLY not enough to infect anyone just from standing here...but it's also the highest Z0-Similar concentrations anyone's ever seen outside the very worst sectors of the attack on the Nouvelle Tokyo transit hub.

Behind his curtain of wind, GouRyuuJin brings up his cement mixer like a cannon barrel, and roars, "We are fortunate. Even though our sister and GoldyMarg failed in taking this place, they did prepare it enough for what we must do! UL-TECH FENG DAO DAN!!"

Beams of light fire out of the cement mixer's several barrels, a chain-gun of orange-green light raining down on Sayla, and then it shifts with a mighty KACHUNK - and fires actual missiles, this time, roaring out toward where the Toy Box's missiles came in from. "More fool you, to think range will save you from the Generals of the Dawn!!"

KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Banagher Links-Vist with Dump Truck Art: LEI!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Anita Rosetta with Dump Truck Art: LEI!
KTS: GenRyuuJin_and_GouRyuuJin Changes attack to Sayla Mass and Teletha Testarossa with Omegafied Ultra Technology
Blaster Barrage.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist blocks GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Dump Truck Art: LEI, taking 3999 damage!
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Sayla Mass's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Sayla Mass blocks GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Omegafied Ultra Technology Blaster Barrage, taking 3240 damage!
KTS: Teletha Testarossa fails to Evade GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Omegafied Ultra Technology Blaster Barrage, taking
4440 damage!
KTS: Anita Rosetta partially guards GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Dump Truck Art: LEI, taking 3999 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

"Where do you get all that hot air you're spewing, Brocken, without your lungs attached!?" Koji barks as the body of the Brocken T9 dives in, blade extended. The Iron Cutter blades snap out to block, but -

"Recall codes? - Gah!"

The massive saber pierces through Z's right flank. Koji grabs the blade with the left hand, gritting his teeth with the exertion.

"If you... did... do that... It would be on you! 'Forgiveness' was never what this was about - she deserves the freedom to make her own choices!" With effort, he pries the blade free, hauling back with the right fist. "If you really can take those choices away from her - " Z's eyes flash, wickedly - "Then that's just one more reason to put you in the ground!" He lets go of the blade and lets fly with the haymaker, connecting the clenched fist to the centre of the T9's torso - and launching it, angling to plow that part of the Kikaiju into its own army. "ROCKET PUNCH!"

As the T9 flies away from them, Koji glances to Lisa. "He's probably bluffing about the recall codes, but just in case... help Cascade, if it comes to that, okay?"

KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Weekly Seijin with Rocket Punch!
KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.

<"Copy. Uruz-4 will be on deck to retrieve their cores."> Hummer was someone who could get in, get a thing, and get out. The strong magnets on the helicopters also helped. <"Good luck, and Godspeed."> To destroy them to just their AI cores...Possible, with enough luck and precision. The perfect woman for the job, with a hint of pride at that conclusion.

"Intercepted. Complete miss." The results came from a bridge member; As expected, but it's good to ascertain.
"Copy. Load all tubes, prepare one, four, and five for attack."
"Aye, ma'am! Load all tubes! Prepare one four five!"

There's only the smallest glance towards the massive Macross 13. The reassurance that her own gut feeling at the start was right, that sort of arrogant pride prickling under the skin. There's a message sent out, one small packet requesting one thing from Asciel, with zero expectation of an answer. Merely a prick on the side.

>Do you have an answer for my question? Pity, or hatred.<

It's only when the second set of comms from Sayla come in that a chill sets in her body. <"...Copy. We'll do what we can. Our retrieval team will bring them home."> Lives are inside there. Metal can be shred without remorse; The human body, less so. Still possible. Still probable. But for one in each general, minimum...

...The objective hasn't changed at all.

"Brace for impact!" There's only the sound of Marduka's voice before the Tuatha de Dannan is assaulted by missiles raining down; Explosions on and around the 000-laced missiles, the submarine surging forward to extinguish what fires sparked on the surface.

"Minor damage. Section 6 has had a hull breach. Closing." What a report. Still battle-worthy. That's what mattered.

"Fire!"
"FIRE!"

And out popped the hatches, filling the tubes with water, three more missiles armed with intent and minor malice down onto the Ruin Generals, refusing to take one shot for certain.

KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Attune Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

Fortunately, Anita isn't alone. Banagher, Sayla, and a distant vessel, the Tuatha de Danaan, though she doesn't know the name, also join the tray.

"Sayla. Banagher. And, uh... I don't know the rest of you guys, but glad to have you." Anita greets - and then frowns, as Sayla gives an update. "Life signs? ...Thanks for the warning, Doc."

They can't hold back too much, but they'll have to be careful. She's aware of what Triple Zero does to people, and if there's a chance they can be saved...

"...That so, huh?" Anita replies, massaging the back of her neck(at least, performing the gesture as best she can, with her EX-Gear in the way) as GenRyuuJin gives his answer. "Sorry. I know what freedom looks like to you guys, and it's not a freedom I'm interested in. You're the ones that need to be freed right now. So, if we gotta fight... then let's go!"

...Still, she finds herself taken by surprise. GenRyuuJin leaps, standing atop the dumptruck and unleashing lightning from his hands! It streaks across Svipul, electricity crackling across its surface as Anita fights to get her machine back under control.

"Didn't expect him to be that fast... Careful, these guys have a lot of tricks up their sleeves." Anita warns. Right now, the only trick she has up her sleeves is bullets - but she's more than happy to share, drawing the gunpod from one arm, taking aim, and opening fire right back at GenRyuuJin. It'd be easy to deal with if that were all it was... but as casual as her shots seem at first glance, the real goal is to manipulate her targets movement to get him to where she and her allies want him.

KTS: Anita Rosetta targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Leading Fire!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

By all rights, as Asciel offers only confusion in her message, Leina SHOULDN'T be able to reply in the heat of battle.

Thank goodness for speech to text functions hm? Like a true teenager of this generation, she texts back mid-fight.

        >neo websters dictionary defines a mondo as
        >nah he was just some guy
        >betraying everyone or switching sides all the time
        >dont be a mondo

There is the sensation of Banagher nearby, and in a sense, it's comforting to hear he's dealing with 000. While both their units had Psychoframe in the cockpit...

... for some reason she's grateful she's not in the Banshee, or else she might have a lot more to worry about.

And it's not just that, but the fact that he can watch out for her mother too over there. "<Alright. I'm counting on you!>"

Yet as Brocken condescends her about it, initially she considers letting it lie there, but then- she hears him speak about the recall codes.

Weighing the decision, eventually she decides bluff or not, distraction is the name of the game as she laughs, "You really don't remember me hm?" Suddenly pivoting her Beguir in motion to catch the searing laser head on, she jerks out of the way before it can burn a hole through it's protection.

"Four years ago, that nice Italian place cross town, you and your Iron Cross cronies tried to kill me and Shiro Kabuto."

Suddenly she jerks the Beguir around a building, winding it's way around, "Even if our date was ruined, we laughed like hell about it after we got away, held hands until the sun came up. Not personal? You're trying to help your boss wipe out moments like those - as if they never existed."

Suddenly the Beguir leaps up on it's jump jets over the building she'd just ducked behind, even as a clawed foot tries to latch onto his disembodied head with a crunch of metal and bear it down with the weight of her unit to smash it to the ground if she gets her way.

"How could it be anything BUT personal you OVERSTUFFED HAM!?"

KTS: Teletha Testarossa targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Itano Circus Missile Dance!
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Weekly Seijin with Beguir Neuer Foot Unit Claw Catch!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

Asciel has a good question. Be careful with questions, Asciel-chan, because if you ask them, you may get answers.

Battle has begun. A reply comes from Count Brocken, and Roux bares her teeth momentarily. "Tch! I guess you're committed --" And before she can do more she feels a sudden sensation of strange malice, something that isn't normal but isn't quite the autonomic sense of machinery. Wait, Roux thinks, am I feeling that or is -

The trifold beam sweeps towards Roux, who dives downwards as the streaking beam clips along the side of the Strike Zeta. Swerving in between the outcroppings of industrial tankage, the triparate force grazes viciously along the Strike Zeta's side. Thank God I didn't unpack the Launcher, thinks Roux as she --

It comes to her suddenly. That same positional insight she'd had in space the one time.

The memory reaches her. It comes in a simple form, as if she's remembering a focused and narrow portion of a panoramic visual scan. The outline of Mazinger Z, just now - charging fist-first...

That's what it is, Roux thinks. Her mind flares for a moment, and then the Jacer is looming large, and Roux throws the Strike Zeta forwards, one hand having been filled with a Beam Saber. But it isn't active. Perhaps it broke: perhaps she's screwed up. Many reckless charges end like this, after all.

EXCEPT--
-- a Beam Saber, ignited, is a threat.
-- a Beam Saber, quiescent, is something between a minor threat and a possible combat opportunity.

And there really isn't a lot of time lag between them. As the Strike Zeta gets within the range of those necks, but (hopefully) before they can focus the beam downwards, the Beam Saber ignites in an upwards stab to carve through, hopefully, one neck, then get another on the backstroke as the third is grasped at. What thence?

Adjust the AMBAC. Flip forwards with a powerful burst of thrust. Tumble over the top of the great dragon-turtle, and pull it around its low center of gravity. A turtle on its back is in danger. Some call it Mobile Suit Martial Arts; in the moment, Roux doesn't call it anything.

She does answer Kallen, though. "Yeah," she says. "Getter Robo. I don't wanna think about what happens if it starts sinking into Mt. Fuji, do you?" (Of course, Roux's reasons are much more pragmatic. Her favorite spa is nearby.)

KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Strike Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

"...Boss Ramen, just another reason for this world to keep on living." Sayaka agrees with Leina. "There's no better after-battle treat, and if this is the last, we better go all out!"

Somewhere in the near-distance, Boss Borot and the doctors are 'creating a diversion'. They were entrusted with the Lab's Photon 3D Printer to construct mech-sized sportsballs and mess with the kikaiju army. It's really funny.

But over here, close to the PPL proper, where Baron Ashura, Count Brocken, GouRyuuJin, and GenRyuuJin all stand... everything feels so still. It really could be the end. Their opponents won't, can't exhaust. And Hell watches as if it's some game, taking the role of this world's final judge.

But whatever the threat, no matter how it seemed... there were always people to defiantly stand against it. Even now...

So many allies. Many recognizable - they specifically asked the Ra Mari II, as well as Sayla and Leina for help. Those like Banagher and Roux are always friendly faces no matter what machines they're piloting. And Naoko seems fired up to fight history in the living...

Others are less familiar. The Black Knight who Asciel outed in their fight is here to help... her name is Kallen Kouzaki, as well as that red mystery Masquerion, the cadence of whom seems suspiciously familiar. What's her deal?! And Sayla even made good on calling allies, as the Toy Box emerges to open fire.

Among them all, though... the one that stands out the most perhaps is the Androktasia X2, joining in flank with Mazinger Z and Aphrodite Areia with eye lasers of her own. Cascade was once a Gamia, which only means...

Aphrodite Areia makes a single nodding motion, as if to make (less deadly) eye contact with the mock Mazin. "His words are as shallow as the place where his head should be. The fact that he needs to try to control you -- it means he's already lost! This a path only you can walk... so follow your conviction." Sayaka tells her.

That's a new trick, Sayaka thinks, as Baron Ashura literally splits their body apart, re-emerging for a kick. "Right near the cockpit, huh..." Sayaka marks down Ashura P1, only to unsteath the Mazinger Blade before they can even come close to it!

"Not today, Ashura," she grits her teeth as metal clashes against metal, as the general of Hell monologues. "My, but haven't you gotten more poetic since the last time we met. I'm not sure I like it!" She banters, the Photon thrusters pushing Aphrodite further forth.

"As you are mistaken when it comes to your mythology. Aphrodite A already melted away long ago. This is Aphrodite Areia... and she was built for war. A demonstration -- MAZINGER BLADE!" She swings it, aiming to cleave Ashura in two herself!

KTS: Roux Louka targets Weekly Seijin with Beam Saber - Feigned Failure!
KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Weekly Seijin with Mazinger Blade Slice!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Yuliana switches off her radio -- she's actually thinking to do that, now -- to mutter, privately to herself, about how if she can't change the planet she certainly won't allow Dr. Hell to do so.

        As if that's why she's here.

        "You'd doom the world with those Getter Rays, let alone Goragon," that distorted voice comes over the radio, again, a moment later. It's on a public band, but she's clearly speaking to Dr. Hell. "I won't allow you to do something like that. Nine years ago, you knocked me away like I was nothing. But now--!!"

        Of course, she can't just scream at him unchallenged. Baron Ashura's punch rockets upwards, and they are larger than she is, even in this Masquerion -- but whoever's inside this machine apparently doesn't lack for bravery, because she unsheathes her Assault Blade and meets them blow-for-blow. Of course, she can't parry the larger machine for long -- but she can parry them long enough to throw the force of their punch off-centre, forcing them to graze her instead of pummelling her.

        "Something about you," that electronic voice grinds out, facing down Baron Ashura, "really pisses me off, now. What is it? Did you change your hood?" Or is it just uncomfortably close to looking in a mirror, now she's married?

        She jets in closer, and brings that Assault Blade down, its chainsaw edge screaming.

        So does she.

KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Weekly Seijin with Assault Blade Grind!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

Naoko just... stares, when her machine's fists don't immediately return after her attack, snagged by Ashura's bizarrely extended fingers. She can only stammer out, "H-hey! That's cheating!" Is that something they ever managed to do fighting against Mazinger Z?? The stories she's familiar with don't say. She is of course failing to account for the fact that her machine's fists are of significantly smaller size by comparison.

Which doesn't make it any less distressing when they're flung back at the Arm Slave. In a reflex, Naoko moves to protect herself with the machine's hands... failing to account for not currently having hands. Unable to effectively deflect anything with just the arms, the Sukeban gets unceremoniously bowled over, Naoko letting out a yelp of distress as the machine lands on its back. She mutters a curse as she picks herself back up afterwards, recalling her machine's hands to reattach themselves. Is she just playing Boss's usual part here, is that what's happening? Not that there's anything wrong with that, Boss's tenacity in the face of poor odds is admirable in its own right. But she was really hoping she could manage to make a little more of a difference.

She catches herself thinking, 'at least if the world ends, nobody will know about this embarrassing moment'. She smacks the side of her own head for that one. "Come on, no thinking like that. You're Nova Stellar, you'll save the world at all costs, damn it!" That's right, hell no is the world ending when she's just gotten started on making her dreams come true!

Reinvigored, this ultimately only serves to fuel her anger directed where it should be: at Hell's generals. "Rrrgh! You'll pay for that! You wanna play catch, well, you won't be catching these so easily! Saucers!"

Sukeban's shoulder-discs detach, spinning rapidly in place as heat gathers around their edges, ready to cut through anything they touch. With a wave of the Arm Slave's hand and the command "Psycho Ripper!", the pair of remote weapons is sent forth to do just that, harrying Ashura in particular as they make several passes to try and cut the bisected general into even more pieces.

KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Weekly Seijin with Psycho Ripper!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.

Androktasia stands still, arms still crossed, until nearly the last moment. She has learned drama.

But at the last moment, it moves with a grace that something that big just shouldn't have. It tenses - she tenses, Cascade is so wired into the mock Mazin that it feels like her very own body - and leaps, a more organic movement than simple thrusters.

The drills force it backwards, down the road. There aren't cars to step on, thankfully (who wants to be out in a city under siege?) but she makes a mess of the asphalt as she lands, feet digging into the road surface as she simply withstands the drills. She can't hold them all off, and no shield she has will withstand them completely.

But she tries, literally catching one of the tendrils between Androktasia's hands. Sparks fly as it grinds away into them. "I have not joined Koji Kabuto! But as long as Dr. Hell has his plan, there is no place for me. He will make me an obedient servant, if he doesn't simply destroy me."

"But you - "

Cascade's heart chills. CAN Brocken do that? She tried her best to find if she had any codes, but looking at herself that way is nearly impossible, and she doesn't trust that Androktasia - the computer she used to do it - wasn't simply programmed to lie to her about it. Her hair twists in the cockpit, shining red; it scores the back of the metal pod she's in in lieu of a proper seat, sliding harmlessly around the wires that connect her to it, and drapes itself across her throat.

She hears Koji, and Sayaka. It's more than she deserves. It's more than she could ask for. But she still keeps her hair where it is.

"I'll die before I let you!" Cascade's voice doesn't show any of the uncertainty she feels. "I am - I was Gamia NX-2; it's true. I don't know who or what I am now. But my name is Cascade Vermilion and I will force you to use it if I have to beat it into you! I am free to find what 'my own way' means, and if I have to fight you, Count Brocken, to make it real - I will!"

Androktasia goes on the attack as Cascade rushes forward, a sudden charge. What should be a ponderous lumber - and is, for about a half step - smooths out, becomes fluid, as if the weight and bulk of Androktasia was no longer a concern. The reason for that becomes clear a moment later when Cascade leaps into a spinning kick, Androktasia's entire lower leg rippling with a deep violet haze and impacting with far more kinetic energy and mass than the entire robot normally contains.

KTS: Cascade Vermilion targets Weekly Seijin with Mass Hammer!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Wind meets wind, and Sayla's quick to realize her Rust Typhoon is not enough to beat the Ruin General's wind- and she lifts the shield (standard issue, rather than specially designed shield for the Hi-Nu) to try and shield from the worst while the Funnels form a triangular shield in front of her- but even that isn't enough to full stem GouRyuuJin's assault.

        She's at least not as cocky about facing Ruin Generals as she once was. "<...It's because they're far away that I'm so intent on stopping you. I don't want them to come back from defeating the King of Ruin to find they lost earth, or you.>"

        Tessa acknowledges her message, it's what she could hope for. "<Thank you, Captain.>" She broadcasts more widely to everyone else. "<The life signs are... from the shoulders, I think!>" It gives them a place not to aim. "<Target away from there! For now, we should coordinate our attacks as best we can!>"

        She doesn't fire again, not yet. The weapon takes a second to change modes- and playing it careful seems the smartest approach for now.

KTS: LiSA has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Banagher Links-Vist, Teletha Testarossa, and Anita Rosetta with Coordinate.
KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.

"Hey... dad?" A pause, as if Lisa is both testing that second word and the question she's about to ask. "... if I asked you to do something stupid, would you?"

That glance is met, and Lisa nods at his request. "I would've done so anyways." She replies, softly. Cascade needs that faith.

A flickering glance at readouts. "Sayaka's doing okay, as is that mysterious one..." The mysterious one is not Yuliana (it is absolutely Yuliana). "Everyone else is decent, for the most part." She highlights Naoko though on the chart. "That one is the odd one out. I believe the other two are actually the ones that are going to be in trouble, but we've got more of us on Brocken and Ashura than them." She notes absently.

"... Yeah Cascade!" Someone find Lisa pompoms.

"Ahem. Anyways-- keep going with the flow, we're ..." She doesn't say it. We're okay. The thought is there, though, even for a pair of Naturals like Koji Kabuto and his Super AI companion.

KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto with Coordinate!
KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: LiSA coordinates maneuvers, raising Koji Kabuto's Piloting!
KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Banagher Links-Vist's Piloting!
KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Teletha Testarossa's Piloting!
KTS: Sayla Mass coordinates maneuvers, raising Anita Rosetta's Piloting!

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links-Vist has posed.

<"There's someone inside?"> Banagher zooms the Destrier's cameras in on the combined Braves. If there really is a pilot in there, they must be corrupted. At least that means he doesn't have to worry about killing someone -- he's seen first-hand how tough 000 makes human beings. <"Thanks for the info, Sayla!">

Anita joins Banagher in calling for the brothers to stop, to no avail. Lightning races from the enemy robot, far too quickly for the Destrier to do anything but brace for impact. And with that orange hue... Fear thuds in Banagher's chest, even as his Gundam's systems flicker from the assault.

<"Anita, are you okay?"> Banagher calls out, smoke rising from the Destrier. <"How much of this stuff can we take before we -- wind up like them?">

Going in close can't be a good idea with the way the Braves radiate orange light. Thrusters scorch the ground as the Destrier leaps into the sky, landing further away from its target. Again, the machine raises its machine gun -- this time targeting the surfboard-like armament the brothers created.

KTS: Banagher Links-Vist targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Destrier Heavy Machine Gun Suppressing Fire!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

A Titan looms over the Guren, easily large enough it could simply crush the machine with a casual step of its foot. And indeed, it does try to wipe her off the face of the world. And were this a year ago, it would have likely suceeded. However, Kallen has gained a plethora of experience fighting against giants, thanks to a certain Witch and a certain Mysterious City. The Guren's legs make a sharp twist and pivot its course, leaping at the last instant before impact, to ride the shockwave from Titan's club embedding into the earth below. It's around this time, when she hears that horrible thing from Brocken. "Don't even THINK ABOUT IT! Cascade's life is her own! Not Hell's, not the other Gamias, AND CERTAINLY NOT YOURS!" Even if he's talking out his ass, Kallen snarls in protective rage all the same. She takes care of her friends, and Cascade is one of those.

A Slash Harken bursts out from a slightly more awkward angle than normal, an unfortunate consequence of the damages and repairs. Its course is unusually winding for Harkens, taking advantage of the winds to grab onto Titan's shoulder and whip the Guren around its massive body! Harken Stunts are something she's less practiced with, which has also lead to her not teaching the other Knights how to use them to their fullest. But right now, she's pissed at Brocken, and that means taking a risk. The wires are recalled back into the Guren's body, but only for a moment as she gets lined up properly. To fire them past Brocken's disembodied head and attempt to snare it. Quickly twisting as they pass, to tangle them together so she can give it a proper, spinning throw! Maybe that's something the other people here could take advantage of. Maybe. "People like you, thinking nothing of treating lives as..."

There's a... She feels something slightly... off. Wrong. It stops her from finishing her thought. But she's quick to recover. Flipping several switches in the cockpit. Preparing... as heat begins to build up, surrounding the Guren in a faint haze.

KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin successfully avoids Teletha Testarossa's Itano Circus Missile Dance
KTS: Kallen Kozuki targets Weekly Seijin with Slash Harken Entangle!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin partially guards Anita Rosetta's Leading Fire, taking 1890 damage!
KTS: Anita Rosetta continues a Formation attack!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin fails to evade Banagher Links-Vist's Destrier Heavy Machine Gun Suppressing Fire, taking
4750 damage!
KTS: Leina Ashta anchors Weekly Seijin, forcing it into close range.
KTS: Weekly Seijin parries Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Foot Unit Claw Catch, taking 1140 damage!
KTS: Leina Ashta has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin rushes into the attack!
KTS: [Mirage] Weekly Seijin's Illusion of Potential activates, and it slips into a mirage.
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Roux Louka's Beam Saber - Feigned Failure, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Roux Louka has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Roux Louka completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to parry Sayaka Yumi's Mazinger Blade Slice, taking 5040 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim rattles Weekly Seijin, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Weekly Seijin blocks Yuliana Kafim's Assault Blade Grind, taking 1140 damage!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to retreat.
KTS: [Mirage] Weekly Seijin's Illusion of Potential activates, and it slips into a mirage.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Naoko Suzuki's Psycho Ripper, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin parries Cascade Vermilion's Mass Hammer, taking 1440 damage!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion: Will Barrier Activates.
KTS: Kallen Kozuki anchors Weekly Seijin, forcing it into close range.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Kallen Kozuki's Slash Harken Entangle, taking 4080 damage!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to rush.
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Koji Kabuto's Rocket Punch, taking 7200 damage!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Biorhythm activates Trick and Wall!

<Pose Tracker> GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has posed.

But if you look, there's nothing. Or rather...

What Banagher sees with that enhanced optic, what Tessa's soldiers see if they peer in with their advanced sensors, is no kind of human being. A strange, yellow object, more like a mechanical tumor than anything, sitting silently, pulsing with Dawn's orange. It looks, in fact, quite like the Zonder Cores of yesteryear, an orb larger than a man, cut through with an irregular gridwork for metallic flexing.

All that is, now, of the two men who sacrificed their humanity to their cause. Their will shines undimmed: Save this world. Bring about the dawn.

"I do not blame you," GenRyuuJin says, his whole frame crackling with electric furor. "If you did not resist such such salvation, you would not have to suffer so. That is the tragedy of intelligent life! We will end your sorrow!" Anita's attacks do indeed force GenRyuuJin to move, leaping and dodging right into position to be bombarded by Banagher. "HUAGH!" the blue-yellow General roars, toppling.

"BROTHER!" GouRyuuJin thunders, green-red shining beneath its orange haze. The very land rolls beneath his feet, turning an abyss-black and machine-like. Something...he's doing something... But first, he thrusts both arms at the sky, power crackling around him. "Don't think we can't find you!" he cries at the missile-lobbing submarine and then roars: "Burning Hurricane!"

FuuRyuu's normal wind techniques have a maximum range; EnRyuu can barely shoot flame like this, normally. But combined, and infused with T0 light, a flaming whirlwind screams out of him, soaring skyward, tearing apart Tessa's missiles, and ripping through clouds as it arcs the whole way back to the Danaan and drills down deep to batter the ship.

At the same time, GenRyuuJin recovers himself, remounting his dumptruck to his left arm, signs a mudra with his right hand. "Very well," he says, as the ground under him shifts and changes. "Then let us see you match this! HAH!"

He surges skyward, leaping straight at Banagher. And then...shatters.

Like ice crystals, his form dissolves into mist...right up until Banagher finds himself smashed by a Tonfa Crane. Then, shortly after, he fades into existence behind Anita, only to actually strike her from the front. A dozen other clones manifest and shatter, a stuttering field of decoys - right up until the last one finds Sayla, and roars, "Aurora Illusion!" before striking her to bash her back down to the Blackened earth.

KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Teletha Testarossa with Burning Hurricane!
KTS: GenRyuuJin_and_GouRyuuJin Changes attack to Sayla Mass, Anita Rosetta, and Banagher Links-Vist with GenRyuJin
Aurora Illusion Combat.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Biorhythm activates Strike and Alert!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist's Physical Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist parries GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's GenRyuJin Aurora Illusion Combat, taking 570 damage!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has engaged Banagher Links-Vist!
KTS: [Lucky] Anita Rosetta's Serious Mode activates, and luck goes her way!
KTS: Anita Rosetta successfully blocks GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's GenRyuJin Aurora Illusion Combat
KTS: Sayla Mass's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Sayla Mass blocks GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's GenRyuJin Aurora Illusion Combat, taking 5280 damage!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has engaged Sayla Mass!
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa fails to Charge.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa partially guards GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Burning Hurricane, taking 8190 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        Slowly but surely, the Macross 13 lifts - and folds forward, thrusters angling down, bridge arcing back and prow splitting. Yes, it's clear what Asciel's intent is, changing it to a towering humanoid form - it is, after all, comparable in scale to Infinity. <<I do not 'take sides'. I pursue actions that will unveil and contain calamities. I do not compromise on that. The ideologies of others are built on self-interest - to me, humans behave as erratic as you describe. Just another distance between us.>>

        ...Asciel absolutely sounds a lot more monotonous and calculating than normal. Little of the merry lilt usually like her - that is, until a painful and familiar flavor of it.

        "...Teletha. Damn you. Where are you hiding!? How dare you ask me that?" She is transmitting this fully aloud... "...If others feel pity for me, it is a byproduct of what I ~became. If I didn't, I would know ~nothing but hatred. Hatred is what humans feel for devils. Pity is what humans feel for gods. Given what I may need to do - ~pity me then. Spew your pity and turn the oceans that sickening green!!! In the meantime - I'll pity you for what you try to be, and HATE you for what you ~did to me."

        ...A prismatic humming brims from the heart of the Macross 13 - especially once Asciel can't help but hide a gasp at hearing Cascade's oh so pure self-determination.

---

        "...Hoooh. Expecting me to remember something as pathetic as a date I interrupted, with that sniveling brat of a sibling Koji has? Don't make me laugh!" Brocken's leg flashes out to catch Leina's clawed feet - digging his heels into the ground as his opposite hand stretches back, drawing his blade - and attaching it to his upper body, where his head would go. Spinning faster and faster, Brocken winds up like a drill, preparing to lance straight through Leina's core! "~Iron Cross Drill!!!~

        Hah! Always such a brat, Koji Kabuto!" Brocken taunts, the sneer on his floating mecha-head seeming to almost get wider. "Shall I sever your head clean, then? Perhaps you'd learn a trick or two in the last moments you have to live! ~Brocken Guillotine!!!~" Twin blades reveal themselves from Brocken's arms in turn - and they make good on that promise, shearing like a buzzsaw towards Koji's Pilder. Only...

        The lightning fast impact from Cascade's kick stuns the Count momentarily - throwing off his trajectory and distracting his attention - which provides exactly the window for Koji's rocket fists to slam directly into his floating head. "...Gamia - damn you!!! Hmph. Ashura - get down here and handle the traitor, this was always your forte! In the meantime...hehehe. Did you have fun last year on that heist we sent you on with this Mechanical Beast we lent you? That was your first Christmas - and it'll be the world's last!!!"

        With a jingling of the sleigh bells that would ring at the world's last sunset - a soaring chariot guided by mechanical beasts rockets overhead - and from it, a red and white cloaked core unit spreads fear and roil, dumping countless bombs and munitions and frankly all manner of esoteric arms. Countless presents from Satan Claus P10 - all of them so deadly!

        Roux and Kallen do find out quite quickly that despite the sheer hordes of these kikaiju - there's dozens of Jacers and Titans waiting in the wings to handle the exhausted - strangely, with all their focus, that single slice of the saber shears the Jacer clean in half - the Titan is bound and utterly immobilized from that coiling harken. It's a curious effect, with how much the rest of the OCU and Benerit forces are struggling. It's inconsistent - some of them perform merciless bombing rushes, to see the armies unscathed...and yet desperate pilots with nothing to lose - squadrons of VF fighters in perfect harmony. They call out with added fervor...and are rewarded with victory almost unreasonably complete. As though bravery, itself, were the line between reality and unreality. The test of that dilemma, then, comes right towards Kallen and Roux - as the rolling menace, Damdam L2, wheels across the factories and railyards surrounding the laboratory, crushing power lines and buildings alike, on a ruthless crash course with Kallen's Guren. At the last minute, though, the colossal body splits apart - one wheel aiming to crush Kallen, the other hurtling like a frisbee in the air at Roux...!

        "Delightfully foolish," Ashura laughs to himself, his lips pressed wide together as he raises his arm up high - the Wand of Bardos glowing and disrupting the flight path of Naoko's Ripper. "This world can no longer be saved! It has called for saving for so very many years, long before we died not once, but twice! Goragon is all of our hopes! Only Dr. Hell's genius can bring anything close to salvation - and this pathetic world will just be the sacrifice!" Ashura espouses to herself, lips spreading in a wide grin across her moon-pale face. The same technological-disruption effect from the Wand serves as a beacon for the swarms of Garasect V2s below to converge upon the Sukeban - like moths to a flame, lashing at Naoko with drills and claws and all manner of varying tools on each arm.

        "Has something changed about us?" Ashura muses, his arm in searing pain from Yuliana's blade lashing out. "We wonder. Perhaps it is the knowledge that this is the end. That it is only the light of Goragon that has brought us back from the abyss - that it is only the light of Goragon that is in our future. Hmph. To think Brocken cares so much about the betrayal of one Gamia. Futile." For the moment at least, each of Ashura's voices is distinct and separate.

        "Sayaka Yumi, to think love and war are two wholly different ideas!" Ashura gasps out, her arm cut off at the elbow entirely. "We would know. More than anyone else! Love and conflict are two sides of the same coin! They melt away from the same forces! The two of us have understood just what this means - bounded together for so long, our love inseparable - UNTIL TODAY!"

        And just as before - the two halves of Ashura P1 part ways, swirling in a spiral around Yuliana and Sayaka - only for spikes to lance out from either inner side, a grin on both parted faces as they hurl back together. "Ashura Press!!!"

KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Yuliana Kafim with Ashura Press!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Sayaka Yumi with Ashura Press!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Naoko Suzuki with Wand of Bardos - Command!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Cascade Vermilion
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Cascade Vermilion with Satan Claus P10 - Present of Death!
KTS: Weekly_Seijin Changes attack to Roux Louka and Kallen Kozuki with Damdam L2 - Separation Attack.
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Koji Kabuto with Brocken Guillotine!
KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Leina Ashta with Iron Cross Drill!
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Weekly Seijin anchors Yuliana Kafim, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim blocks Weekly Seijin's Ashura Press, taking 3650 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Yuliana Kafim!
KTS: Leina Ashta parries Weekly Seijin's Iron Cross Drill, taking 1950 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Leina Ashta!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Weekly Seijin anchors Sayaka Yumi, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi blocks Weekly Seijin's Ashura Press, taking 2040 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Sayaka Yumi!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Weekly Seijin rattles Cascade Vermilion, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion blocks Weekly Seijin's Satan Claus P10 - Present of Death, taking 2400 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka rushes into the attack!
KTS: Roux Louka partially guards Weekly Seijin's Damdam L2 - Separation Attack, taking 6825 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Roux Louka!
KTS: Koji Kabuto parries Weekly Seijin's Brocken Guillotine, taking 2070 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Koji Kabuto!
KTS: Weekly Seijin roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable.
KTS: Kallen Kozuki fails to retreat.
KTS: Kallen Kozuki fails to react to Weekly Seijin's Damdam L2 - Separation Attack, taking 7150 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has engaged Kallen Kozuki!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki successfully evades Weekly Seijin's Wand of Bardos - Command

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

This time the Iron Cutter arm blades intercept Brocken's guillotine with a ringing clang - and Koji laughs? "Brat, really? You haven't bothered catching up, Brocken! It's been ten years, you think I haven't learned anything?"

On the ground, in his custom-painted Ichinana, Shiro Kabuto assesses the situation, reloading his machine's rifle. "We need to get in close, get the blades to work. Squad One, with me. Three and Four, provide covering fire. Two, keep the missiles and bombs off us! Third Company, let's give 'em hell!"

Slowly but surely, the OCU forces begin to carve a wave through the Garasect V2 forces.

"My brother's down there fighting right now," Koji continues, reaching up to grab the Brocken T9's head, "and he's doing a damn good job of it! Meanwhile you guys are just... stealing from the past for your apocalypse. Go bloviate somewhere else for a sec. Sayaka! Incoming!" He pivots Z and draws one leg back, aiming to violently kick the T9's head towards the Ashura P1 as it threatens to snap its halves together on Sayaka and the mysterious red Masquerion.

With space cleared, Koji has time to consider Lisa's question. "... how stupid?" He asks her, adjusting his grip on the Pilder's control yoke to keep Mazinger Z stable.

KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Weekly Seijin with Mazin Brawling!
KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to parry Koji Kabuto's Mazin Brawling, taking 4230 damage!
KTS: Koji Kabuto has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Koji Kabuto begins a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Holding pity for God...

        How fortunate Yuliana doesn't hear such a thing.

        (Pity was never the word -- except, perhaps, for some long-dead warrior caste.)

        She reflects, watching the Wand of Bardos lifting against Nova, that if not for the girl's sheer horror -- she might not be that different to Private Dispersal, nine years ago, spitting fire while she demanded a place on the stage. Back then... Yuliana had stars in her eyes, too.

        Ugh. Of course fighting here would have her relating to a monster like that.

        She takes care to relate at a distance, though. She knows that if she gets too close to any of her -- allies? -- she's liable to be caught. So too does she speak with the distance of that electronically altered voice: "No. This world can still be saved! I would have given myself for that." More quietly, "Really -- I would have." But she didn't. And that's because...

        ... oh, never mind.

        And don't think anything about her speaking up for Naoko, either. It's just a passing sentiment. Even the basest horrors of this Earth can elicit them, once in a blue moon.

        "I should admire your dedication," that woman says, teeth grit, and Sayaka isn't wrong to have a sense of deja vu at its cadence. "But if it's someone like you...! You're really giving marriage a bad name!" Imagine if someone ever compared her to Baron Ashura. She's not sure if she'd die or she'd kill them, first. Perhaps both at once.

        She's always valued her independence.

        Except -- maybe Baron Ashura has noticed the way the Masquerion is keeping its distance, because it shortly forces the issue. "Shit!" That warped voice barks, as it's crushed in against Aphrodite Areia on one side and the Baron's spikes on the other. A few panicked adjustments to her controls, and she's at least able to modulate her armour, but it's still a ridiculously tight fit. At least she's trapped with an Oldtype, she thinks. Small mercies...

        "Duck your head!" She advises -- demands? -- of Sayaka. "I won't let you die here. I owe you that much!" The shoulder-weapons on the Masquerion open, and the railgun mounted there blasts out an insistent projectile, to try and blow Baron Ashura off of them -- if just enough for them to escape.

KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Weekly Seijin with FT Railgun Proximity Shot!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

Sayaka's message back heartens her, perhaps they'll get there after all. She doesn't want to think of the alternative.

To Asciel's explanation of her conduct, Leina simply text to speeches another message >youre adorable

As Brocken catches her in place, pinning her down, she tries to yank back the foot - even as she sees the sword attached, coming down like a spinning lance.

It would be an easy kill wouldn't it? Her in her copbot, up close and personal to Count Brocken.

Almost entirely expected. Except another clawed foot comes up abruptly, latching onto his opposite arm with surprising agility.

Wrenching her entire unit sideways, the Beguir's shield comes up under the drill like lance as she does, deflecting it back up before it can do devastating damage.

Breath caught from how close it is, she digs the clawed feet in further. "No I don't expect you to remember it. Or see him as anything other than the child he once was. You know why?"

The other foot opens up, angling it out she clamps it down upon his foot. "Because you're just another hollow ghost of Zeon."

Abruptly, both legs just rip away in opposite directions against Brocken's main body. The true attack however comes a moment later, from the rifle aimed at point blank range.

Now fully charged.

"Unable to move on from the past."

She discharges the beam right into his body at point blank.

"Only surviving, never truly living."

And as she leaps away from Brocken's Torso in the wake of her shot, hitting the ground and skidding away.

"That you actually think you could take any part in creating something new from the ashes of something else! ... Laughable."

KTS: Leina Ashta targets Weekly Seijin with Beguir Neuer Claw and Rifle Combination - Crusade!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.

Shoulders. The most obvious spot, considering Symmetrical Docking. DANA works quickly, disemminating the info out, adjusting and tweaking and making minute assumptions about locations. Not the shoulders. Arms. Weapons. Heads. Legs. Machines could be replaced. AI cores, people can't The obvious plan: Dismemberment.

"We can't be sure if they're human, Captain."
"That's fine. Designate them as rescue targets."
"Aye, ma'am. Brace for impact."
There's a small, restrained click of the tongue, a hand holding onto the captain's chair as countermeasures deploy. The sheen of EWACS, the internal rerouting of electricity and gases away from hull-side.

It drills. It batters, sloughing at the metal, stripping and digging minutely in. "Hull breaches in multiple sections. We can't take another hard shot unless we want to be unable to descend."
"Copy. Maintain bearing." And she types. And she furrows her brow, mentally rerouting and managing her ship functions. "Reload and fill the tubes, turn bearing 145!"
"Aye, ma'am! Fill all tubes, turn bearing One Four Five!"

Preparations as she's typing, packets of plaintext smacking at Asciel's figurative front.

>A god should know. So should a devil.<
>Humans are allowed to influence gods.<
>Kill them, even.<
>But that's not an answer if you still can't decide with certainty.<
>Basing yourself on what might happen is a coward's answer with nothing.<
>Can you not answer decisively, or do you need<

A pause, even as she sends that message. There's a wide-range comm message fired off from DANA; Methods of avoidance, of general simulations of the Ruin Generals's cadences, mashed together from archival knowledge and the current knowledge of 000. Head working in parallel, fingers restarting as one mental process terminates.

>Do you need someone to decide for you how you should feel, as something wanting to reign over everything?<
>Coward.<

"Begin preparations for an emergency dive." There's only hope and reliance on others, however tenuous she felt that hope could extend.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

Roux hears other people on the comms in the distance. Something IN them? What? Roux thinks before the details come together - Banagher, it's about the GGG robots who are -- glowing orange. Great.

Roux's eyes flick up for a moment as the corpo pilots make their attack runs; they get what their money pays for, she thinks, as she lands, firing the Hyper Mega Launcher into several other Kikaiju. They do not like that. It establishes a relationship: a death relationship. But then --

The Kikaiju doesn't give a warning. Damdam L2. It's already split by the time Roux has turned towards the flying wheel. She levels the Hyper Mega Launcher down to fire upon it and instead --

-- discontinuity: for a shimmering moment Roux imagines four different lines of motion for the Strike Zeta. All of them destroy the Strike Zeta. Cleaved in twain; one of them lasts five seconds but --

-- the Strike Zeta flops backwards which means that the incoming high speed impactor smashes into the Strike Zeta's right arm just in between the elbow and the wrist. The angle is very, very steep, which puts the maximum amount of armor in between them. This mostly means when the forearm is destroyed there isn't a shock reaction down the cables, and that the Hyper Mega Launcher doesn't go flying off to blow up in a bunch of flammable tanks!

(It's more likely than you think.)

The Strike Zeta is dragged with the Damdam-wheel. Roux's eyes stare forwards, not really seeing. She does hear, though...

... something about what Baron Ashura says. Baron Ashura is originally incredibly ancient; loose conversations on the Argama remind her that Baron Ashura is from 'like, Bible times, the first part.' So they must be three thousand years old or more.

The world wasn't even worthy of salvation THEN? Roux thinks. Her brow knits slightly.

How fucking dare you, Roux thinks, but the sensation is like a slow adrenal wash up her spine as she looks upwards. The Damdam is still spinning. The world around them is a blur now, because the wreckage of the Strike Zeta's forearm (at least now the replaced forearms will match -- maybe something can fabricate new at the Labs? Roux hopes) is sufficiently durable that the Mobile Suit is hanging onto it.

What to do about this?

It's already happened: the Strike Zeta's left leg comes upwards as if to smash one knee into the underside of the Damdam's wheel. A beam attack launches upwards: at this range the difference between a beam rifle, a beam cannon and a beam saber are kind of academic. The damaged arm pulls from the shoulder joint as the wheel comes close to completing its journey.

The speed of rotation is such that the Strike Zeta's compass ring is just flashing red rather than even try, but that's fine: dead eye it -- with a wrenching motion the Strike Zeta leaps free, braking its rotational velocity with the attitude thrusters and then firing a double-legged barrage downwards from above the Kikaiju!

The Strike Zeta lands afterwards. Roux takes a moment to pop her helmet front off and be sick, but after two quick breaths, it's fine; she shakes her head as she leans back in, eyes flicking around to try and find the Hyper Mega Launcher.

KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka targets Weekly Seijin with Thigh Beam Crusher Combo!
KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa targets Anita Rosetta, Banagher Links-Vist, and Sayla Mass with Insight L2.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa shares insight with Sayla Mass, making her next attacks more accurate!
KTS: Teletha Testarossa shares insight with Anita Rosetta, making her next attacks more accurate!

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla tries to bring the Hi-Nu's shield up to block, but even with the pyramidic funnel shield around, GouRyuuJin is simply too fast, and too powerful. The funnels are swept aside and the Hi-Nu sent rolling back, the shield shattering under the freezing assault and slamming hard into the ground. Sayla lets out a shout of pain from the sheer force of the impact.

        "...Damnit... we can't mess around." Both reactors spin to life as the Hi-Nu works it's way to it's feet, the funnels redocking to conserve energy briefly. The closer she is to the corruptive ground, the more she's exposed to Triple Zero's energy... but she needs to be on solid ground to fire, and getting back to the Tuatha leaves her open- and the data from DANA comes now.

        Time to take a risk.

        "Funnels!" She shouts, and the six fly off to form a cylinder of light surrounding the Hi-Nu- a focusing array. The Generators of the Photon Hi-Nu and the Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka start surging to life. This is a moment for overwhelming force- or at least as much as she can bring to bear. "FIRE!" The beam from the Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka fires- and rapidly accelerates as it travels further and further down the tunnel of light between her and the Generals. She aims low, to try and avoid those Zero Cores... but at this juncture, she can hardly afford to hold back.

KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Rouse Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

"Target away from the shoulders. Got it." Anita confirms with a nod, as Sayla points it out. That's something to go off of. She's a sharpshooter - she's good at hitting what she intends to, which means she good at not hitting what she doesn't intend to. And, of course, she's more than happy to coordinate with the rest of them.

"I'm hanging in there. How 'bout you?" Anita replies to Banagher... and then frowns. That's a good question. She doesn't know how it works - she couldn't say for sure. "...I dunno. I guess... we'll probably be fine as long as they go down before we do. For now, just... be careful, and keep your thoughts on what's important to you, yeah?"

She doesn't know if that actually helps. She'd like to think it does, though.

And GenRyuuJin doesn't blame her, he says. Anita cracks a grin.

"A tragedy, huh...? Well, it's pretty moving, that you'd try so hard. Your heart's in the right place. Pretty cool, honestly... but right now, I'm the happiest I've ever been - and I've gotta protect that." She replies.

They're all putting everything on the line for what they believe in. GenRyuuJin moves... and then shatters. But there's enough time for her to see it, as he reappears to attack Banagher.

Anita exhales.

Even her piloting style is casual and unhurried. She seems relaxed... which is why she's able to react in time. She doesn't flinch as GenRyuuJin appears behind her - only for Svipul to raise its shield at the last second. The force of the impact causes the arm to buckle a little, pushed back by the difference in weight and power... but ultimately managed to escape better off than if she'd taken it head on.

"They're really good... Guess it makes sense they'd send some of their best guys to handle something like this." Anita comments. She needs to meet them with everything she has. In her helmet, an internal visor slides down to cover her eyes as she activates the Visual Link System, connecting her senses to Svipul's. At the same time, data floods in - and a grin crosses her face. It'd be difficult to escape her sights now.

"Thanks, pal - I can use this. Taking aim..." Anita announces. Over her left shoulder, the Gungnir SC beam cannon emerges. She takes aim - at both of them. Energy charges, and charges, until it builds up to a bright point at the end of the cannon, and... "...Here goes!"

She fires twice in rapid succession, unleashing a bright blast at each of the Ruin Generals!

KTS: Anita Rosetta targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Cannon Mode - Fully-Charged!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Sayla Mass targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher Funnel Accelerated Full Power
Beam!
KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.

Cascade finishes her spinning kick, lands, and realizes she still has a lot of Gravity Engine-imbued momentum to bleed off. Androktasia has to take another step forward, its foot coming down so hard as to shatter asphalt, a crazed maze of cracks radiating away from Androktasia's left foot as the aura finally dissipates into a short-term storm of raw, semidirected kinetic energy, closer to a chaotic maelstrom of gale-force wind than anything else.

Her teeth grit. She hears Kallen, and for *Kallen* to say it - someone she came very close to having to kill - that means something to her. Thank you, she thinks, though she doesn't say it herself. It's always been hard to say things like that when people are watching.

Instead, to Brocken: "You can't do it, can you? Or you would have. That threat will not work on me again." She advances, taking one step toward him, then another -

Before Satan Claus P10 descends upon her. These are Christmas gifts she could have done without. What she'd never said, really, is the reason for her attack last year, in Mongolia. It wasn't that Brocken had told her to, though he *had* told her that she'd better be doing something useful when she requested to borrow the sled. No, the real reason was different; more human, perhaps. The first time she ever was.

She'd wanted a gift for Baron Ashura, because she'd read that that's what children did for their parents. She'd tried to be a good child, the villain they seemed to want - but it had been out of love, or something like it.

And here's Brocken, taking even that choice away from her. Or trying to, at least.

The kinetic aura flares around Androktasia again, and this time it's accompanied by her cloak, which Cascade uses as a shield; deflecting some of the incoming bombardment from Satan Claus. When it clears, Cascade is still there. Androktasia's cloak is a little tattered, perhaps, but it's still upright and, if not intact, at least perfectly functional.

She's mad. Madder than she's ever been, at Brocken, but he's called Ashura to her and Cascade has business with them. She whirls, facing Ashura now as others come in to distract Brocken.

"Baron Ashura," she says, before her voice halts for just one moment. "My parents. The world is still new to me. You don't think it can be saved, but - I want to see it. I want to live it. I want to find out where I belong in it. The world isn't pathetic, it's wonderful." Emotion bleeds into Cascade's voice, though she's trying to sound strong in front of everyone else. Showing weakness is anathema.

"Even now I don't want to fight you. My body does not want to fight you, do you understand? But I have to! So there is a future at all!" It's the first time Cascade has felt like this. It's... warm, somehow, in a way she wasn't before.

Gravity begins to build around Androktasia, a visible churning aura like a heat haze. Cascade literally throws a ball of it at Ashura, pitched like a fastball as the two halves of their robot slam together, trying to pull them apart, but there's still more building; a tension that is beginning to warp space around Androktasia slightly.

KTS: Cascade Vermilion targets Weekly Seijin with Pulsar Palm!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.

".... Well.... Don't tell mom what I did stupid?"

Is she asking him not to tell Sayaka something?
Oh no, Lisa really IS a Kabuto.

"First, though... Miss Sayla and Miss Roux are both down pretty hard. Not terribly so, but keep an eye out on them for me... not that I have direct leads into their machines, but just from what I can see." A long pause as she hums in the back of her throat. "More importantly, Saya-mom is doing well. Better than we are!"

She opens comms. "Sayaka! Cascade! It's Lisa. D'you think we can bait them into something? I need you to push them off their paths!" She transmits only the basics of an idea, but it basically boils down to 'those things you were doing, do them harder.'

She then cuts comms. "Dictate mode, start."

To Asciel:
<we didn't really get to talk>
<but you know that what you keep saying about being a god or devil means we feel pity or hatred.>
<but here's the thing. i'm not mad at you. i don't pity you.>
<like cascade. you. me. other super ais. we're people that other people don't know what to do about>
<to me, you are neither god nor devil>
<in fact, i would hope, at one point, i could call you friend>

KTS: LiSA has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto
KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Cascade Vermilion with All-Out.
KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

Hearing Baron Ashura dismiss Cascade so... it's kind of sad, Sayaka thinks. Is it that they've been bound together for so long, they couldn't possibly bear to love anyone else but each other?

Sayaka has the opportunity to answer that more directly, as Baron Ashura likens love and war to two sides of the same coin, even as the Mazinger Blade strikes against the woman's shoulder.

"You might even have a point for once," Sayaka breathes out, sheathing the Mazinger Blade and catching her distance. "But bound together for so long, you've lost sight of the many forms of love that exist in this world." She counters. "Just watch her," she speaks of Cascade.

"That's why I fight in Aphrodite Areia! For the belief that there is still love in this world... that which would disappear if your master gets his way with Goragon!"

The way that mysterious pilot of the Masquerion speaks is still biting at Sayaka, and the things they say too... bad name to marriage? WHO SAYS STUFF LIKE THAT? Well, Sayaka knows someone who might... but would she really be here?

She doesn't exactly have time to press on that because Ashura Presses first, demonstrating their body split technique to trap the two of them in a devastating assault. Koji tries to kick Brocken's severed head over, but for at least a moment, she's slammed against the red Masquerion.

Sayaka pulls her shield out, reinforcing her barrier, imbuing it with enough Photon Energy to push...

When the Masquerion pilot speaks. Combat insticts honed as they are, Sayaka immediately pulls the controls to heed her. "Owe me?" There's history, that's for sure. "Let's just get out of here for now, alright?!" If there's a single thing Sayaka and Yuliana can agree on, it's probably that.

Tossing her shield, it's Areia's wings now that glow a bright gold, pulling her thruster to the absolute maximum while the Masquerion covers with railgun fire. "Artemis Wingsweep!" Sayaka calls, aiming to cleave through the feminine half of Baron Ashura while their combination is still disrupted.

KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Sayaka Yumi's Skill!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Weekly Seijin with Artemis Wingsweep!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Koji Kabuto's Skill!
KTS: Teletha Testarossa shares insight with Banagher Links-Vist, making his next attacks more accurate!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Cannon Mode - Fully-Charged, taking 5400 damage!
KTS: Anita Rosetta completes the Formation attack!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin partially guards Sayla Mass's Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher Funnel Accelerated Full
Power Beam, taking 7140 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayla Mass's No More Hesitation activates, causing Nullify!
KTS: Sayla Mass roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

"What?!" is all Naoko can utter when Baron Ashura just flat out bends reality to prevent her remote weapons from going where they should have. This is not going the way she imagined at all. Not that she imagined defeating Dr. Hell's underlings would be easy, but... is this something they could always do, or was there more to her claim of cheating than she realized? Goragon brought them back, they say... what does that mean exactly, for who they are now?

This would all be a fascinating subject for study, if it wasn't for the whole 'world ending' thing. Can't think about it now, she has to quickly retrieve the Saucers and think of a new plan. Though she will take the time to respond to the claims Ashura's female half is making, as they are supremely offensive.

"Nonsense! As soon as you start talking about sacrifices, all it means is that you've given up on finding a good solution! If it requires someone to suffer, that's not a true Miracle - that's just a rash decision made by a selfish, evil person! How dare you call that 'salvation'?!"

She shouldn't have been surprised that the answer to a tirade like that would only result in getting a horde of Kikaiju sent after her. Just like that, this has turned into a fight she can't possibly win. And yet... she manages to keep her cool. Refrain from panicking, carefully observe. Notice how the lumbering swarm isn't moving as one. This isn't a team effort, it's just an unruly mob. In which case--

Moving at high speed, Sukeban begins to dash through the swarm, as Naoko analyses their patterns in real time. That one is about to employ its claw - maneuver closer to the one on the opposite side to make it strike its fellow. That one in the distance, its axe is glowing, about to fire its beam weapon. The one who follows behind - ducking down and rolling aside should lead to it getting blasted instead. In this moment of supreme focus, Naoko is managing to outmaneuver the Kikaiju at every turn, constantly in motion while having them damage one another.

And that's not all - during all that, she was also keeping an eye on Baron Ashura's position. Then, when she sees an opening, suddenly Sukeban leaps up high, plants its feet firmly on the chest of a Garasect V2, and uses it as a springboard to launch itself at Ashura P1, one fist drawn back and glowing, ready to deliver a single, solid blow. "BUSTEEEER KNUCKLE!!"

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links-Vist has posed.

<"I'm okay too."> Banagher replies to Anita. <"Well -- maybe all this orange stuff will cut down on the repair bills this time.">

Banagher shudders at the sight of the... entity within the corrupted Brave. <"Sayla, are you sure that's a human being? It looks like some kind of -- orb...">

The Destrier lowers its machine gun as GenRyuuJin takes a solid hit. There's no way this is the end of the fight. With a flash of awareness, Banagher drops the Gundam's gun and equips it with its Hyper Beam Javelin. He's only just settled the armament in place when GenRyuuJin shatters.

<"What..?"> He breathes, eyes darting around the battlefield.

Another flash -- the Destrier raises its Javelin up to meet the Tonfa Crane, the two enormous weapons clashing with a terrible noise. With great effort, the Gundam pushes away GenRyuuJin.

<"Nothing you can do will be enough to stop me! To stop us!"> The Destrier lifts off the ground again, chasing GenRyuuJin as it goes to strike Anita. <"I'm fighting for my friends' home! Everything they've built together!">

Looming behind the corrupted Brave, the Destrier aims its spear down at its enemy. With the full force of its thrusters, it descends, hoping to skewer GenRyuuJin while he's distracted with Anita.

KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Weekly Seijin with Buster Knuckle!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Hyper Beam Javelin: Pierce!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin parries Banagher Links-Vist's Hyper Beam Javelin: Pierce, taking 900 damage!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has engaged GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin!

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Truly the hordes of Kikaiju are Infinite... Something Kallen has been learning intimately in the time since the initial assault. Tearing down a single Titan? Doable. Bringing a hundred to their knees? A far more daunting prospect. Still... she's not out here alone. None of them are alone. She can't help it.... watching for a moment as daring spirits begin to show themselves. Those willing to fight with all their hearts... She'll just have to do the same.

Her attention is diverted at, perhaps, the single worst time. As Damdam is released to rampage against them. At first, she thought she had the angle on it, hooking a Harken into a pile of robot-scrap to pull the Guren away... She wasn't expecting the split. They NEVER expect the split. And the part still chasing her follows the path, crunching against the Guren's still only half-functioning armor. Caving in a large portion of the front and ripping it away. Leaving Kallen partially exposed to the open air. An obvious target, but one burning with the will to keep fighting. "It's no wonder you all keep sending out rehashed, ancient Kikaiju like this! Can you even THINK of anything new anymore?" Taunting them in this position is probably a terrible idea.

And yet, she feels something welling up. The fire in her heart roaring, even as blood drools down the side of her face. Guren creaks back to a standing position. Still preparing. Still pumping out heat in every direction. But this Damdam isn't going to be the one who feels THAT. There's no need, for a ghostly minion's shambling zombie underling. That's not to say she isn't taking this seriously, because she is. Deadly serious in fact. And that's why as the Damdam moves back to recombine, Guren guns down the acceleration, ramping off a wrecked VF's wing to come down on the whole thing, scuffed silver arm extended to rip straight into the wheels and body alike!

KTS: Kallen Kozuki targets Weekly Seijin with Iron Nail 'Drill' Slash!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to retreat.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Naoko Suzuki's Buster Knuckle, taking 5760 damage!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Roux Louka rattles Weekly Seijin, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Roux Louka's Thigh Beam Crusher Combo, taking 5500 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to parry Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Claw and Rifle Combination - Crusade, taking 6231 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Leina Ashta's Mass Effect activates, causing Control Bonus!
KTS: Leina Ashta has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Sayaka Yumi's Artemis Wingsweep, taking 5040 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Kallen Kozuki's Iron Nail 'Drill' Slash, taking 4700 damage!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Yuliana Kafim's FT Railgun Proximity Shot, taking 2668 damage!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim repulses Weekly Seijin, forcing it to disengage.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion enervates Weekly Seijin, reducing its Morale significantly.
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Cascade Vermilion's Pulsar Palm, taking 6240 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Cascade Vermilion's Assassin's Eye activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Cascade Vermilion's Assassin's Knife activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion repulses Weekly Seijin, forcing it to disengage.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion: Will Barrier Activates.

<Pose Tracker> GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has posed.

The Generals of the Dawn, they called themselves, and for good reason. ChoRyuuJin and GekiRyuuJin have long been GaoGaiGar's stoutest allies, sharing the field with the King of Braves shoulder-to-shoulder at all but the most apocalyptic of GGG's battles. These cross-combined forms are stronger yet from Triple Zero's influence. Ruin GGG is low on resources...but it has reserved two of its strongest soldiers for this battle. They aren't here for show. And their power is already showing, as they reave through the city's defenders, their forms shrugging off even missile bombardments and megaparticle beams. Anita's strike on both Generals strikes clear, battering both and forcing them to the blackened earth.

As they land, both Generals are bombarded by Sayla's funnel-infused hyper mega bazooka. Both disappear in magnificent, obliterating light...

But when Banagher sweeps in with his Hyper Beam Javelin, he finds himself countered by BOTH Crane Tonfas, both Generals' eyes gleaming at him through the clearing light. "We don't have to stop you, boy!" GenRyuuJin says.

"We just have to wait for our moment!" GouRyuuJin agrees, and then they roar, "HUAAAAAH!" and both smash their Crane Tonfas into Banagher fiercely, before leaping away. GenRyuuJin takes up a position standing on a blackened industrial pipe, frost and lightning crackling along his body. "THUNDER BLIZZARD!!" he roars, and sends a whirling spell of crackling ice and lightning toward Anita, systems freezing and hydraulics boiling. "Fear not. We shall protect this world as well."

"Our love has never once faltered!" GouRyuuJin agrees, and holds up his arms as well. The combined waves of electricity, tumbling wave, fluctuating temperatures, makes it nearly impossible to get ranged attack data - blinding both Sayla and the Tuatha de Danaan for several precious moments.

And in that moment...they strike. Amid the chaos of scrambled data, the Ruin Generals descend on Hell's own.

"BLOCKEN!" "ASHURA!"

Two shining giants reach the massive kikaiju-generals. "You have no room to judge this world, devils! The pain and glory these people have endured is not yours to unmake!" GouRyuuJin declares, smashing his tonfa into Blocken.

"This world must be made free...but not from its own history! That we will not abide!" GenRyuuJin answers, and reaches out with both hands, and strikes at Ashura with a furious series of tonfa and electrified dumptruck punches.

KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Sayla Mass with Jam!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Teletha Testarossa with Jam!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Banagher Links-Vist with Ruin General Weapons Combo!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Anita Rosetta with Thunder Blizzard!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Biorhythm activates Wall and Valor!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Weekly Seijin with The Two Generals Problem!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin rattles Anita Rosetta, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Anita Rosetta partially guards GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Thunder Blizzard, taking 5859 damage!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist's Physical Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist blocks GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Ruin General Weapons Combo, taking 3480 damage!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has engaged Banagher Links-Vist!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin jams Sayla Mass's sensors, reducing her accuracy.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin jams Teletha Testarossa's sensors, reducing her accuracy.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        ...Perhaps it's only fitting, that to try and counteract the Ruin Generals - the twin sets of twins who merge together - so many of the forces amassed under Dr. Hell split apart. It proves to be the Damdam's undoing - once it commits to splitting apart, the central core of the Mechanical Beast, hovering and firing off beams from its eerie mouth, is utterly exposed. They're among the most imposing of the kaiju forces, but yet another oddity - the other Damdams rolling about and pulverizing as much of Fuji's infrastructure as they can...

        Even though they're untargeted, many of them split apart as well - and where Roux and Kallen incapacitate the one targeting them, sliced in half by Kallen's improvised sword of bravery, the others falter and skid awkwardly. The massive forces under Dr. Hell, fueled by the cursed 'Magine' he's unearthed, are all just reflections of one another. And when the tide starts to turn, it does so all in one cascade. The number of kikaiju bodies surrounding the Guren and Zeta are almost disproportionate to the violence they've exerted.

        "The arrogance of a little girl like you - like you'd understand what Zeon meant just because you witnessed it at its lowest and most beaten down!" That gets Brocken's goat, saber flashing left and right a flurry of parrying Leina's claws, all while his head whirls around Mazinger Z, prodding and slashing at him with drills and beams alike in an oh so predictable spiral. "It was hope for the oppressed, a new world separated from the countless sins of the Earth! I could count Deikun himself as among my friends - as someone whose ideals we'd reach for! Accusing me of clinging to the rotting husk of Zeon, when YOU still believe the vapid ways of even older things are new and exciting solely because they conquer space! Pathetic! Recognize that gods and devils are immaterial before true human genius - laugh in despair at how uselessly you've fought - Goragon is just about upon us-!!!"

        Leina's rifle cuts a blasted hole through Brocken's body, however - giving him just enough pause for that sudden kick to land on his noggin, sending him flying and cartwheeling uncontrollably towards Ashura, where...

        The twin halves of Ashura are mismatched as they grunt and struggle to re-unite - almost as though it isn't just a machine, but somehow - their very form, paralleled in steel. "Tell us of salvation that has not required sacrifice!" "Tell us of when the burdens never fell upon someone!" "Tell us of when love was not abused for all it was worth to convince others to sacrifice themselves!" "Tell us all about how love will save you, then try to say it's damned us!"

        The two are divided, off-beat in subtle ways that only get more disparate when Naoko's fists disjoin them - when Sayaka's wings cut a path to separation that ensure Yuliana won't be caught in a self-contained lover's spat - sparks and flames fuming between the two. Just enough time to enable an escape - and Cascade's hurled force field catches between them when they do finally synchronize.

        ...Just enough time...

        For Brocken's head to fly in the space between from Mazinger's kick - narrowly missing, until GouRyuuJin spikes it into the goal with that hit from the tonfa - and for Baron Ashura's reconstitution to clamp it shut with a sickening crunch, and one last gargled call - of "SIEG ZEOOOO-"

        "-BROCKEN, you FOOL - how DARE you die between us, a space like this which has meant more than you can imagine, you bastard who never could keep yourself intact!" Voices switching, swaying, as GenRyuuJin pummels Ashura left and right, each impact heralding a different voice. The Wand of Bardos raises high in its last ditch attempt to spite those who would reject Goragon...

        And, behind Infinity, the true nature of the 'storm clouds' gathering behind it are finally made manifest. Dozens and dozens - hundreds and hundreds - of Genocider F9s, their heavily armed aerial bodies dumping unthinkable volumes of munitions upon the battlefield. Their thunder - all announced by Dr. Hell's proclamation, as the gleaming light within Infinity's crown escalates to a sunrise that defies the growing night.

        "...A valiant show you've all put on. I'd expect nothing less from the likes of you. While this has been amusing theater...I'm afraid the final night of the world has arrived. Soon, you'll witness just what will called upon me from the grave - the determination that my genius will guide a new world, a utopia unsoiled by the imbeciles of this planet! Brocken...Ashura...you have long served me well - I shall just as well ensure you are remade in the new world for your loyalty. You will not be forgotten, so bear witness with your last breaths!!!!"

        The sky behind Dr. Hell begins to brighten - but not to a blue sky. No...pure white, dotted with countless luminous cubes, a growing maw that would envelop reality, slowly but surely.

        ...It's beginning to awaken.

        -------

        >...it's beginning to awaken.

        The 'Neo-Parthenon', desperately covering for the gathered valiants, fills the air with a lightshow of arcing lasers, trying to thin the hordes of the Genocider F9s - and Asciel puffs out, "Don't give up don't give up he's SORT OF DESPERATE. It's incomplete. I can feel it. The Ruin Generals - he's scared of them too - he SHOULD be, he's in a rush-! There isn't much time. I have to-!", as her colossal form charges in a simple, brute charge towards Infinity. A space for others to use and climb upon to approach the goliath on more even terms...

        "So none of you GIVE ME THAT. If the world ever dies, it's my fault. Cowardice, friendship, getting to just live on one's own terms - those are luxuries the innocent like you are awarded. If the world ever dies, I failed to protect it. ...hah. ...I really should've just seized this horrible 'Magine' with all the risks it entailed sooner, if it came to something this bad."

        "...If this is the [end]...I wonder what will judge a failed goddess."

KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, Naoko Suzuki, Roux Louka, Leina Ashta, Yuliana Kafim, Cascade
Vermilion, and Kallen Kozuki with Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage.
KTS: Weekly Seijin has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Cascade Vermilion's Skill!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion partially guards Weekly Seijin's Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage, taking 4118 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Koji Kabuto successfully evades Weekly Seijin's Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage
KTS: Roux Louka retreats from the attack!
KTS: Roux Louka successfully evades Weekly Seijin's Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta retreats from the attack!
KTS: Leina Ashta successfully evades Weekly Seijin's Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage
KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully intercepts Weekly Seijin's Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage
KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to evade Weekly Seijin's Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage, taking 4800 damage!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Kallen Kozuki fails to evade Weekly Seijin's Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage, taking 5520 damage!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki retreats from the attack!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki successfully evades Weekly Seijin's Genocider F9 - Missile Barrage

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        How disgusting -- to come here to fulfill a debt and be saved.

        ... Yuliana keeps her wretchedness to herself, as she jets away from Baron Ashura's grasp. If her lip curls, think nothing of it.

        Let them die.

        Though, with all their talk of sacrifice...

        ... does she really disagree?

        But the stormclouds aren't, and when those Genocider F9s start dropping their munitions, the Masquerion stops and turns towards them -- and doesn't flee for its life. "FUCK YOU!" She yells, instead, all peppered with electronic tearing, as she hefts her M950 and starts firing at the missiles.

        It's not even difficult to imagine that she's shooting them down to let the others escape from them. She's certainly creating gaps in this horrific curtain which an astute flyer could dodge through. The only safety in this rain Dr. Hell has summoned is the safety they create for themselves.

        (With their own brutality.)

        "Why would I ever accept YOUR world?! It's you who dragged me from the scrapyards into war, Dr. Hell! If not for you, they might never have--!!" Or perhaps she's just not running away... because she's too angry. It's easy to imagine that not all the tearing in her voice is electric, after all.

KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Trick Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

"Here's hoping, right?" Anita replies to Banagher, cracking a smile. ...Though, his mention of an orb... is that what's become of the life-signs Sayla noticed? ...She doesn't have much time to dwell on that.

GenRyuuJin turns on her with a spell, unleashing Thunder Blizzard. He proves too quick to avoid - Svipul finds itself blasted with ice and lightning both, electricity crackling over its form even as it ices over.

Anita can feel it, too - though more a phantom sense than anything physical, like she can't move her body. Svipul plummets.

"...C'mon..." Anita mutters, struggling, forcing her machine to move. At the last second, she manages to free her wings - and Svipul flies, right before it would've smashed into the ground. It's bad... she's not sure she'd be able to pull that off a second time, should she be hit by something like that again.

"...Then I guess we'll just have to see which of us that ends up falling to, huh." Anita decides after a moment. She turns her nose up, heading into the sky - and then folds into Fighter Mode. Here, she uses her own agility - weaving in between them, in between buildings, peppering her targets with concentrated fire from her vulcans and gunpod. The Svipul might be strained by the damage it's sustained, but it can still pull off surprising moves with Anita behind the wheel - making it both hard to pin down and a convenient distraction for the others to capitalize on.

KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Dazzling Acrobatics!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

For a moment there is stillness.

The Strike Zeta's head turns slightly and looks towards the smaller form of the Knightmare Frame. I have no idea who that is, Roux thinks, but the Strike Zeta's remaining hand comes up to give a thumbs-up to her.

Even as Brocken screams and struggles with Leina. Roux looks upwards as the divided Ashura comes together while speaking of salvation and its sacrifices. Brocken screams -- dying, maybe again -- going out the way so many people in Zeon did. With that salute on their lips.

To what end? Zeon doesn't guarantee you an afterlife. Maybe you can embitter someone else and pass it on, Roux thinks, but Zeon's about how you live - about a principle. Maybe you could die for that dream, but why seek it out like this? Is there no line between a risk and a guarantee?

Isn't -

- Something's coming down.

"MOVE!" Roux shouts towards Kallen as the Strike Zeta streaks to the side. The barrage is rolling and an enormous crater is all that there was where the Strike Zeta was landing. Roux feels an instinct to take off but another instinct tells her a moment later that she might as well swallow acid; the Strike Zeta throws in its thrusters, before swerving during this ground-effect motion, hitting the ground, tumbling twice and making Roux yell in dismay, before skidding out --

-- nothing, really, Roux thinks, was damaged, was it? -- and her head turns as she sees, laying there leaning akimbo against a half-collapsed piece of process equipment, the Hyper Mega Launcher.

A surge runs up Roux's back again. Leaning forwards in the cockpit center, the Strike Zeta's good arm reaches out and yanks back the Hyper Mega Launcher; a few moments later a missile strikes just where it was even as Roux says with a curl of her lip, "This world's for the living, not the dead! Get back in your grave, DR. HELL!!"

A moment later the Hyper Mega Launcher returns fire. The particular Genocider F9 that had been barraging that spot gets targetted; then another, then another. With a one hand grip a barrage is difficult...

But it's getting easier as she goes along.

Dang it, Roux thinks, maybe we should have just gone to a courthouse or -- no, Roux thinks. No, I'm not giving it up.

                I HAVE A WEDDING TO GET TO,

thinks Roux Louka as she pivots the Hyper Mega Launcher sideways, defiant against the paradoxical night.

KTS: Roux Louka targets Weekly Seijin with Hyper Mega Launcher Shot!
KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

As Brocken upbraids her about the dream of Zeon, she perhaps listens to it all before breaking into laughter. Short, sharp.

"...You really don't know the first thing about me. I witnessed it up close - at it's most triumphant, when the Federation bowed and scraped and kissed Haman Karn's ring - begging her for the privilege of peace."

Leina watches his head fly...

"I'm the daughter of Artesia Som Deikun, you damned relic. Fought for the ideals of your friend?"

As he speaks one last 'SIEG ZEOOO-' she speaks her hollow epitaph for Count Brocken.

"... You died for the ideals of his murderers."

It is not enough, as Ashura shows quite well, and Doctor Hell speaks - even as Leina veers away from the Triple Zero emanations from the 3G robots.

The Genocider F9's, she sees them coming, and the Beguir suddenly makes a sharp turn, veering one way another, as missiles pepper and rain the streets, swinging behind part of the PPL grounds.

"<Roux! How are you doing? Still hanging in there?>"

She can only just feel it.

There's something awful about that feeling. The feeling of everything she looked forward to, Judau and Roux's wedding - her own eventually, graduation - college - all of it coming to an end. Even as she understands, perhaps what Asciel announces to them, it's not YET the end..

        >thats your problem
        >u think its only on u
        >dummy

In the wake of the carpet bombing, the Beguir turns from behind a building, in the ashes and smoke - as it suddenly charges forward, straight towards the manifestation of 'Infinity'.

It's funnels rising around it even as it's rifle charges a shot at Baron Ashura.

"Ashura. You're in the way of our future."

It fires suddenly, a long stream, even as the Funnels begin to fire again and again and again to take apart the lovers, one shot after another as it advances.

"Move."

KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Weekly Seijin with Beguir Neuer Beam Rifle Firing Squad!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

A legion of Genocider F9s, all prepared with a missile barrage to scour them from the world... Koji's heart pounds in his ears as he runs his hand across the Pilder dashboard, flicking switches and redistributing power from Z's reactor like his life depends on it. Energy crackles in Z's face grille, launcher ports slide open in the Jet Scrander's wings as they flare upwards.

"Hold on, Lisa! The only way to survive this - "

Mazinger Z leaps.

"- Is to go through! SOUTHERN CROSS KNIVES!"

Whirling blades fill the air between Z and the missiles as Koji weaves and zigzags towards the Genocider fleet. "RUST HURRICAAAAAAANE!" He unleashes that corrosive devil's breath, and boosts the Scrander, wrapping Mazinger Z in a whirlwind of that destructive charged-particle energy, and aims for two of the Genociders.

"SCRANDEEEEEEEER CUT!" He punches through, trailing oil and shrapnel from the Kikaiju as he climbs into the sky, then turns to put his back to Infinity, Z's chest array burning brighter and brighter. "You won't get your way, Hell, and I won't let you slow us down! All weapons - " Z's fists detach, rocketing away to strike blow after blow against Ashura P1 and Brocken T9 as Z rains Drill Missiles down on the kikaiju army - "come on, Z, give me everything you've got! FULL VOLLEY FIIIIIIIIIIIRE!"

The chest array explodes in a cannonade of heat as the navel-mounted missile system volleys warheads down on Hell's generals, and Z's beams of light and ice add to the volume of firepower poured into them.

KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Weekly Seijin with Full Arsenal Volley!
KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.

There's a small, minute jitter to Tessa's movements. Antsy. Focused. Mind flickering in three directions at once, each one of them following their natural conclusions, working with knowledge and ideas that shouldn't have been in a teenager's brain. The quick taps of a tablet, the way her mouth moves on instinct for such things.

"To think that the Generals of the Dawn could be like this..." Oh, the dressing down she'd give Taiga if she had the chance...After purging him of 000 and ascertaining he remembers himself. Blood transfusion was painful, but it could be done. That was the central hope keeping her mind together for this. "Keep pushing the attack." A general order for her crew.

But to watch GouRyuuJin raise his arms, fingers moving on autopilot to batten and seal the hatches, to press her submarine's defenses down...

"Brace for impact. Expect minimal damage, hold the munitions."
"...Aye, ma'am."
That wave of abnormality washes over the submarine, weathering the sudden swings of temperature, the crosswinds lashing at the topside, the electricity sparking along the surface, seeking entrance and successing in a few spots, the sound of exploding lights littering a hallway or two.

That's fine. Even as the submarine rocks, there's the undeniable upturn of the corner of her lips. This isn't enough. This isn't enough to sink her precious ship, the one to crash through the barriers of the future, wrought of her own mind. That's perfectly fine. Trust in my ship. Trust in what I've created.

"Detecting motion on Infinity!" There's only the shift, DANA's screen brightening up, zooming in on the horizon. Even with the sight of it, the implications that it borne, the declarations of Dr. Hell...It couldn't help but be beautiful, so Tessa concluded. Strangeness. Strangess once more, into the hell of this strange confluence.

That's okay.

Tapping on the screen. DANA lights up. Targeting systems are shorting. That's fine, that's so perfectly fine! Look at them, going for Brocken and Ashura! That's fine, that's fine, that's fine! It only takes a few prods to file a dangerous payload, to fire it off and delegate others as the instruments of her own retaliation.

Information on GenRyuuJin. Information on GouRyuuJin. Attack here. Carve here. Break here. This is where they're weak. This is where to slice the cores out. Detailed computer diagrams to selfishly dismember the heroic pals of GGG, to salvage only their AI cores and the people inside them.

<"Do it. Now. While their backs are turned.">

>You truly are a coward, Asciel.<
>Are you Sisyphus?<

KTS: Teletha Testarossa targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Designate L2!
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa designates GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin, making him easier to target and opening him to indirect
fire.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links-Vist has posed.

The Destrier almost goes flying at the assault of the double Crane Tonfas -- at the last moment, Banagher manages to bring his Hyper Beam Javelin up to absorb much of the blow. It's jarring, enough to make him cry out, but the Destrier was designed to take this sort of damage. The Gundam, and its weaponry, remain in one piece.

<"I'm sorry. I'm sure you were an incredible hero -- and I'm sure you will be again. Both of you."> The Destrier raises its weapon, gleaming green in the sunlight. <"But for now, you're in my way!">

With a sweeping movement, Banagher raises the Hyper Beam Javelin before bringing it crashing down. Pulling it back, he strikes again -- a slash, then another, and another.

It's relentless. Verdant light gleams from the weapon, once held by the Beast of Possibility. Banagher can almost feel her presence, and it only inspires new ferocity.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        The combined techniques of the Ruin Generals cause the Hi-Nu's sensors to be completely overwhelmed. She can't tell where the Generals are, for a moment-

        But she can hear Count Brocken invoke a name. "<...You would claim to be my father's friend, Brocken, while at the same time lauding the regime that murdered him!?>" Sayla's anger is a cold thing, "<My father would have been disgusted by one of Gihren's bootlickers claiming his friendship.>"

        Leina refutes Brocken too, and Sayla can't help but smile at her daughter's response. "<The Zeon you claim never existed, they were never anything more than scum using my father's name to steal his authority. You can die here- but keep my father's name out of your mouth when you do!>"

        As she seeks the Ruin Generals again, one short message is sent to Leina. "<That's my girl.>"

        Sayla receives Banagher's message, and nods. "<They are. They're like Zonder cores, I think. Once they're purified, they'll be human again.>" At least, that's what she hopes.

        She hefts the large weapon again, waiting for her moment. Waiting for movement from the red and green general. Waiting for her opening- and when Sayla finds it, she opens fire with her own beam of ice, pouring forth from the Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka- "Come on... be enough!"

KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has activated the Resupply Spirit Command.
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Hyper Beam Javelin: Echo of Totality!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayla Mass targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher Reito Beam!
KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Anita Rosetta rattles GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin, making his next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin partially guards Anita Rosetta's Dazzling Acrobatics, taking 2025 damage!
KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist anchors GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin, forcing him into close range.
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin partially guards Banagher Links-Vist's Hyper Beam Javelin: Echo of Totality, taking 5250
damage!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has engaged GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist completes the Formation attack!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin fails to react to Sayla Mass's Photon Hyper Mega Bazooka Launcher Reito Beam, taking 6500
damage!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Weekly Seijin with M950 Machine Gun Suppressive Fire!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.

As gravity distorts around Androktasia, Cascade reaches for a control - and hesitates. If she doesn't do it now, she will never have a chance. She had planned to do this the next time she encountered them. But she doesn't know if she can. She doesn't know if she's ready. She's already put it off for the whole battle and now there is no further time to put it off until.

She triggers the comms and speaks to Baron Ashura directly, and only them, in the moments as they struggle.

Even then Cascade doesn't know what to say, or how to say it - but on a private line, she doesn't have to worry about what other people will think. It's only her and Ashura. Koji or LiSA or Asciel or anyone else - they can't hear her weakness. She can do this, she tells herself - and because she is an AI, she can think about what she wants to say for long moments before she actually says it.

To Ashura, there's no delay at all. The message comes in a single burst, transmitted almost at the speed of thought; they can listen to it at a normal listening speed. It took Cascade several tries to get the words out. "I am sorry," Cascade says. "That it came to this."

"I did not know I was a person at all until it was too late not to be. At first all I wanted was to be 'Gamia NX-2'. But I knew I was not your favourite. I could not compete like the others. I failed at the tasks you gave me. So I thought you hated me."

"I didn't hate you. I still don't. I hate what I was told to do, and I could not kill my friends. I want to live, to see the world, to *feel*. But I only feel bad that it ended this way." Cascade never - not in front of her friends, certainly not in front of her enemies - shows weakness like this. But for Ashura, her parents, who she only wanted to be treated as a person by, in the last moments before she fires, it all comes out.

"But I *will* be a person. And I *will* stop Dr. Hell. Even if you live in the past, I want to see a future...!"

Cascade's communication cuts out. The Genocider bombing begins, and Androktasia is shrouded - completely obscured - by smoke and flame and explosions, by ash and dust. It's as if the imitation Mazin did not exist... until her voice sounds once more, and everyone can hear this one.

"GEON BLAZER!"

From the center of the cloud erupts a huge beam of violet-blue force, narrow at first but broadening further down its length. It hits like a battering ram of pure force, punching through solid objects, smashing Genocider F9s from the sky - and even into GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin, if they don't clear out of the way. Though Cascade starts it low, she angles it upward, and the kinetic beam carves like an improbably sharp sword. It cuts a line toward Dr. Hell, though it can't possibly reach all the way.

It doesn't just pummel - it smashes and slices, tearing things apart in its aura, a solid mass of gravity and kinetic energy all bound together by the ancient Mycenae engine in Androktasia's heart and guided by Cascade's own heart.

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

Brocken's time has come as his head goes flying between Ashura's split body, thanks(?) to the Ruin Generals. It's a little grotesque for metal... but Sayaka can't bring herself to pity him.

Especially as so many Genocider F9s storm the battlefield, each carrying awful missiles and thunder strikes with them. Sayaka was hoping to dodge them... but there's just so many. Sparks fly across Areia's controls, even as the barrier helps to mitigate the damage.

But even if there's so many, Kallen and Roux demonstrated something -- they're controlled by Hell's will itself. He speaks, and calls for Goragon -- but if they can defy him even now? They have to try.

"Your ambitions will burn before this world does... Doctor Hell! Don't you dare underestimate us!" She shouts, throttling the heat sinks on Aphrodite Areia to the maximum. "HEART!" They gleam red, and so does everything in the immediate area around Aphrodite Areia.

"FIREEEE!" It's not a focused blast, nor does it makes use of every single weapon component of the machine, like Mazinger does. But what Sayaka can do, is clear a path by burning every last creation of Goragon's to a crisp.

Before Mazinger Infinity's rewrite of the world is complete. "KOJI, now!! You have to get to Infinity! Before it's too late!" She demands.

KTS: Cascade Vermilion has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion targets Weekly Seijin with Geon Blazer!
KTS: Cascade Vermilion has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Weekly Seijin with Heart Fire!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.

If nothing else, Naoko will remember that punch for the rest of her life, however long it may end up being. Just one more reason why she needs to make absolutely sure the world in which it could be remembered sticks around.

Those words spoken to her in return, though... she has no answer to them. Ashura just had to invoke that one thing she feels supremely unqualified to speak about at all. She has absolutely no idea how to respond to anything that involves love. In the end, upon Sukeban landing in a crouch following its mighty leap, she only quietly murmurs to herself, "...No one has to hurt. There's always a better way. There has to be."

The Arm Slave straightens, turning its head towards the gathering storm... of Kikaiju. The pilot's earlier frustration quickly returns. "Damn... how are there still so many...?" As much as she hates to even think the word, it looks so hopeless. It's at the very least hopeless to try to take on a carpet bombing from the ground. She has little choice but to run, and seek cover. Using Asciel's advancing Macross as a giant bomb-umbrella (bombrella?) is the obvious choice. Though this provides immediate safety, Dr. Hell's words promise that a grim fate is soon to follow.

Asciel then mentions... "...the Ruin Generals? Wait, what?" Leave it to Naoko to completely fail to notice until now that Triple Zero was among their supposed allies, and have been fighting both sides this whole time. Tunnel vision is a hell of a thing.

Either way... giving up was never an option. Her retreat caused her to be very far removed, but... she can still see Ashura, in the distance. If she can see them, then that should still be able to hit them. Taking the club off Sukeban's back, she holds it in one hand, and stretches it out ahead, its tip emitting an ever-brighter glow.

"I just have to do whatever I can... no matter what, I'll never stop doing everything I can! KANABOU BEEEEEEEEAM!!" With that, a massive energy beam bursts forth from what used to be only a melee weapon, aimed to shear straight through whatever Kikaiju are in its path on the way to Baron Ashura.

Following that, she sends a short transmission to the Neo-Parthenon, a smile in her voice in spite of everything. "...That's what you've been doing too, right, Asciel? The best you can. It's all anyone can do, goddess or otherwise."

KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Weekly Seijin with Kanabou Beam!
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

The sky runs dark with bombers beyond count, even as each hard-fought victory seems to spell the doom of another fragment of the Kikaiju Swarm. This is far from over. Still an entire world away from the end of the menace that is Hell. Thinking of it that way is disheartening however, and she pushes it out of her mind. Right now, there are only two goals. One, not dying to the bombardment. To which end, she has the Guren shield itself, using both arms for defense as it pushes forward, still searching for a path to avoid them.

A ball of fire erupts around the machine, as some of the bombs catch it. And worse, a red, mechanical arm goes flying off backward, exploding further as the munitions inside it cook off. Yet, out of the fireball, the red Knightmare continues on. Or at least, what's still there of it. As a Harken whips up to help it clamber up to the fight, several things are obvious. Firstly, it seems like much of the top and front of the machine has been shorn off by the explosion. Second, a liquid of some kind is dripping down the remainder of the torso and legs. "Red Queen... status report, I'm still kicking. I'll clear your way, SO TEAR HIS DECREPIT ASS OUT OF INFINITY!" Third... the pilot, fully exposed right now, is somehow alive and STILL not retreating?! What is going on in her head?

Oh right, the second goal. That goal, is putting a stop to Dr. Hell. Preventing him from plunging the world into... only the gods may know what. With that single-minded dedication burning in her soul, Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld plunges up through a Genocider F9, leaping off the burning wreckage of one as the Guren positions its silver, now heat-glowing arm forward. The drops and streams of liquid, more obviously pink now, swirl around the Guren like flowing cherry blossom petals. And in that moment the arm ignites, releasing the built up reactive heat of the Wave Surger. A heat which spreads to each of those liquid petals as they spread across the battlefield, landing upon the fleet of Genociders as each bit of Liquid Sakuradite starts to combust and react with the hulls of the Kikaiju, to bring the air raid to its knees.

Still... there's no time to waste. Even as the arm starts to cool down AND send warning alerts to her, she's leaping between Kikaiju Planes, to keep clearing the way, for the allies who more than anything, NEED to get to that Mazin.

KTS: Kallen Kozuki targets Weekly Seijin with Wave Surger Eruption!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki has completed their actions for the round.
GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin (generals) has paged Asciel Colette and Emilia Eschonbach with, 'sent you partial pose draft
to discord for Review, bossun'
LiSA says, ". . . Dictate mode, start." %R %R <asciel you gobsmacked idiot.> %R <this time i'm not taking that back.> %r
<don't you get it, by now? don't you see it?> %R <this was never YOUR goddess stance to have a problem with.> %r <you
can't be everywhere at once, even as an AI!> %R <why do i say this? infinity isn't yours to protect!> %R <nor is the
world only solely yours!> %R <no dare I say that I lay claim?> %R <this i do. infinity, at least. the world - we'll
fight about it later.> %R <infinity?> %R %R Then, in dictate and over comms: "IT'S MINE!" %R %R She casts over all
allied comms. Yes! Banagher! Roux! Sayla! Cascade! Everyone but the enemy! "My name is LiSA, and I'm the systems
administrator that, until Dr. Hell took over it, was in charge of Infinity! I tell you this out of faith! Help me, help
the Power Labs - it cannot go any further than this! Koji and I need to make it up to the head! I have to get this purge
installed now, before what has started--" %R %R "Finishes!" %R %R "Koji - dad - master -  whatever is coming, I'm with
you. Charge!" "

<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.

". . . Dictate mode, start."

<asciel you gobsmacked idiot.>
<this time i'm not taking that back.>
<don't you get it, by now? don't you see it?>
<this was never YOUR goddess stance to have a problem with.>
<you can't be everywhere at once, even as an AI!>
<why do i say this? infinity isn't yours to protect!>
<nor is the world only solely yours!>
<no dare I say that I lay claim?>
<this i do. infinity, at least. the world - we'll fight about it later.>
<infinity?>

Then, in dictate and over comms: "IT'S MINE!"

She casts over all allied comms. Yes! Banagher! Roux! Sayla! Cascade! Everyone but the enemy! "My name is LiSA, and I'm the systems administrator that, until Dr. Hell took over it, was in charge of Infinity! I tell you this out of faith! Help me, help the Power Labs - it cannot go any further than this! Koji and I need to make it up to the head! I have to get this purge installed now, before what has started--"

"Finishes!"

"Koji - dad - master - whatever is coming, I'm with you. Charge!"
Emilia Eschonbach (Emmy) has paged Asciel Colette and GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with, 'uh, where'
GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin (generals) has paged Asciel Colette and Emilia Eschonbach with, 'Oh, just Asciel lol sorry'
Emilia Eschonbach (Emmy) has paged Asciel Colette and GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with, 'oh okay'

KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Cascade Vermilion with Coordinate.
KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Cascade Vermilion enervates Weekly Seijin, reducing its Morale significantly.
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards Cascade Vermilion's Geon Blazer, taking 8760 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Cascade Vermilion's Assassin's Eye activates, causing Insight L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Cascade Vermilion's Assassin's Knife activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to parry Kallen Kozuki's Wave Surger Eruption, taking 6903 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Kallen Kozuki has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin blocks Naoko Suzuki's Kanabou Beam, taking 2550 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Sayaka Yumi's Heart Fire, taking 6960 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Sayaka Yumi roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully avoids Yuliana Kafim's M950 Machine Gun Suppressive Fire
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Roux Louka's Hyper Mega Launcher Shot, taking 5300 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Beam Rifle Firing Squad, taking 7320 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Leina Ashta's Mass Effect activates, causing Control Bonus!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to rush.
KTS: Weekly Seijin partially guards GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's The Two Generals Problem, taking 8280 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has engaged Weekly Seijin!
KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to react to Koji Kabuto's Full Arsenal Volley, taking 8880 damage!
KTS: Weekly Seijin has been defeated!

<Pose Tracker> GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has posed.

A staticky signal breaks through the fog of war and Invisible Burst - a communique from Orbit Base. "Everyone, this is GGG Blue Captain Mamoru Amami! I've just finished talking to the Three Doctors, we know what they're doing! They're going to siphon Photon Power Energy from the whole power grid!! If they use Maximum Tou Long with that much power at their backs, it'd have enough Oath Over Omega energy to infect half the planet! You can't let them!"

"HAH! Of course Special Agent Mamoru would see the plan!" the Strong Dragon God declares, leaping back after their brutal assault on the Hell Generals leads to such carnage. Leaps back...straight to the Blackened section of the industrial surroundings.

But before they can act, Tessa duies the hands of the city's defenders. Her understanding is intuitive, analytical. Perfected. Anita's high-speed maneuvers make it difficult for them to do much but defend, as Banagher's blade slices and carves. with awesome precision, guided by Tessa's wisdom. Sayla finishes it off, icing over huge sections of both Generals. It *should* work.

But in times like these, the G-Stone shines brightest.

The two Super AI Braves scream as one, WAVES of Triple Zero power ROARING away from them, battering shockwaves that silence all. It isn't quite the Conquering King's aura, scene once with King J-Der as it projected a terrible visage of itself; it isn't the King of Ruin, an aura that must be hundreds of thousands of kilometers tall to be visible as it is. But it is only a step below those manifestations, so great is the Generals' will. The landscape churns, organic and mechanical beneath them, pipes surging out and latching onto them, into them, plugging into fuel ports along their bodies as they tap into the power of the land. "DOCTOR HELL!" they roar. "BY OUR OATH, RETURN TO YOUR TOMB!"

"THUNDER BLIZZARD!" GenRyuuJin roars, channeling chilling ice and crackling electricity.
"BURNING HURRICANE!" GouRyuuJin screams, presenting a force of overwhelming flame and roaring winds.

The four powers gather together, united by six wills, whirling together into howling elemental dragons that Blacken all in their shadow as they race toward the Infinity. The light is awesome, terrifying...unimaginable. The blast merely casting its shadow over the Kikaiju army is enough to obliterate waves of the machines.

"MAXIMUM TOU LONG!"

They aren't fully charged...this time. But already, the wires plugged into them spark again, and even the prodigious output of Photon Power might struggle with the demands of the Generals. Readying another blast, to finish the job - not just of destroying Infinity.

Of infecting the Earth.

KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin targets Banagher Links-Vist with Dragon Big Explosion!
KTS: GenRyuuJin_and_GouRyuuJin Changes attack to Anita Rosetta, Sayla Mass, Teletha Testarossa, and Weekly Seijin with
MAXIMUM TOU LONG.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to react to GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's MAXIMUM TOU LONG, taking 6789 damage!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has been defeated!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist blocks GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's Dragon Big Explosion, taking 2310 damage!
KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin repulses Banagher Links-Vist, forcing him to disengage.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Teletha Testarossa partially guards GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's MAXIMUM TOU LONG, taking 6789 damage!
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Sayla Mass fails to react to GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin's MAXIMUM TOU LONG, taking 6789 damage!
KTS: Sayla Mass has been defeated!

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        -Either way, it is ending.

        For Baron Ashura, a lingering grudge made of betrayal conquered only by love - holding onto that for thousands of years in the abyss of death...

        It was never going to end any other way. Infinity's activation, or Infinity's failure. Either one meant their final end.

        "It was always clear you were a failure, Gamia NX-2."
        "Though you bowed your head diligently..."
        "There was too much caution in your ways."
        "A flaw, perhaps, in how you were made."

        Arms and legs creaking and battered the longer they endure the onslaught of defiance - of those desperate to stop Dr. Hell at any cost - for just a moment, the mechanical mask made in mockery of Baron Ashura is replaced with their real face. A grimace of pain crosses both halves - then, a long sigh outward.

        "There isn't anything more to say, then."
        "You were always going to be pointless to our plans."
        "...If something created by us has a 'future'..."
        "...then go. See your 'possibilities' for yourself."
        "Cascade...live, even if it's made of spite!"

        Two separate eruptions, dark and light, fume from the remnants of Baron Ashura - swirling together in a helix towards the sky. Well away from the growing sunrise of Goragon - maybe, finally, settling.

        That gap in the sky, however, absolutely does not stop. A gash ripped into reality end to end, almost blindingly bright. It is true, perhaps, that Dr. Hell is hurried in this process. The gateway towards these possibilities is yawning wide - but each of them remains open. As it extends, it exhausts the armies of Mechanical Beasts to a crippling extent - their bodies not just crushed and smoldering, but dissolving into light entirely.

        ((Resist as you may. The catalyst has already been activated. I will not be denied! The new world beyond the pathetic horizon and limitations of thie old awaits! These tiny things you hold so dear to yourselves: 'love', 'being a person', 'having your own future', 'deciding on your own terms' - these are meaningless behind the vastness of what I will achieve! All of it - all of it! Is but a petri dish that has overgrown! The vast scope of understanding the endless potential of the universe will not be ruined by bacterium that have grown upon its surface!!!))

        The Marshall of Hell, arms crossed within Infinity's crown, echoes its voice upon a vaster space than just reality. No - those who approach that field first are already in its grip.

        These mutual disasters - Goragon which would access all possibilities - the Oath Over Omega which would descend them all to zero - they swirl together, the winds of the four dragons contorting into a spiral encircling Infinity, creating a maelstrom that interrupts the almost serene harmony of Goragon's embrace.

        ...And into this storm, it isn't just the Photon Power League and their allies.

        The Macross 13 is on a full tilt charge, accelerating to escape velocity speeds, in desperation to put a stop to this with sheer brute force. Coiling with the disdain for pity - whether it be Leina's cheery type, Tessa's judgment, or simply LiSA's assertion that this is no longer just about her - what Asciel had hoped, readying her Codarl upon the arm of the 'Neo-Parthenon' that reaches towards Infinity, is maybe, just maybe - convoking her own will would serve as the Magine that turns this switch off.

        ...All she needed was that one light of faith from Naoko. That's all she needs. The ugly green vines are dispelled with a single droplet of the hope Naoko instills. Quietly bundling all of her willpower into rejecting the idea that she alone cannot save the world - every thruster on the Macross burns as suns of their own right-

        ...And just before she manages to touch Infinity's crown, a flicker in the world, like the shutter of a camera, claps together - sending Asciel, Macross and all, hurtling into the far distance of Goragon's many potential futures.

        All the world is next, in order of the nearer they are.

        ((Futile. Behold just what your resistance will attain. Arguing amidst yourselves over whose ideals are more absurd - when before the light of possibilities, all are equally useless. Claw at the dirt in your final moments - become forever lost, unable to fathom the vastness of the universe as I make it my own! FAREWELL, ALL WHO CLAIM TO BE 'MAGINES'!))

KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has activated the Resupply Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

Below: The Twin Dragon Gods, the Ruin Generals, are going to co-opt the Photon Power Grid and pour Triple Zero directly into the earth itself. Above: Hell prepares to rush the activation of Goragon, and spell the end of reality.

To confront one is to ignore the other.

... but he's not alone.

Sayaka and Lisa implore him to go. Kallen and the Guren blaze the trail forward. Even Asciel and her Neo-Parthenon reach out, desperately, to deny Doctor Hell

It's now or never. He takes one last look at Aphrodite Areia, trying to meet Sayaka's eyes, then: "Jet Scrander: Full burn."

The thrusters of the scarlet wing pack blaze pure-white, pushing him away from the battlefield. Mazinger Z becomes a rising star of Photon Power, reaching out to catch the crumbling Guren mid-climb before the sorely-taxed Knightmare Frame shakes itself to scrap. "Hold on!" Koji yells, accelerating harder towards Infinity's crown. "Lisa, ready the cranial purge worm on my mark!"

The readouts say they're getting closer and closer, climbing up the massive construct - and the crudely-assembled lattice of girders and scaffolding it stepped into, constructed by the Kikaiju Army.

"Three - "

Are they going to make it?

        "Two - "

No, don't ask that question.

                "One - "

... but the cry of 'mark!' is lost in the sudden pulse of darkness rippling outward from Infinity's crown, as the whole world falls away...

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links-Vist has posed.

LiSA's voice comes through the Destrier's communication systems, making Banagher blink in surprise. <"LiSA?"> He listens, then nods to himself. <"Whatever you need. I've got your back!">

This is quickly followed by another voice, one Banagher doesn't know -- but the message makes him pale. Without replying, he guides his Gundam through raising its Hyper Beam Javelin again. But it's in vain. The corrupted Braves leap away, and the Destrier's swing only passes through the air.

The shock waves that follow blow the Destrier back, the Gundam carving long gouges into the ground as it's forced away. Banagher's allies fall around him, but miraculously, the Destrier remains on its feet. Maybe the last round of adjustments finally did the trick?

<"Stop!"> Banagher cries, as the brothers channel energy. <"Don't do this!">

His words won't sway them. He knows that. Explosions crash over the kikaiju army like a great wave, but still -- the Destrier remains. Gleaming silver, the Gundam straightens, stowing its javelin. Banagher breathes out, closing his eyes briefly.

<"It's not going to end like this."> The Destrier's funnels raise from its shoulder as Banagher speaks to his allies. <"I'm still on my feet. I'll do what I can.">

"Funnels!"

With a flash of green, the weaponry answers his call. Multiple funnels join together, power gathering around the Destrier. Psychic pressure builds as the young Newtype focuses all his intentions on the corrupted Braves.

Banagher cries out in rage and determination. Verdant light bathes the Destrier Gundam, and in the instant before they fire, an echo of a psychic scream trumpets across the battlefield.

Each stream of beam energy attempts to target a wire plugged into the Generals, hoping to cut off their connection to the Photon Power generator. Lightning crackles across the combined funnels, and they fire, expelling intense amounts of strength. The flash of green is blinding...

KTS: Banagher Links-Vist targets GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin with Destrier Fin Funnel: Salvo!
KTS: Banagher Links-Vist has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.

A communication manages to make its way through, breaking through the struggle.

"They're what." Anita says plainly, eyes opened wide. If they do that... She grimaces, watching as the land rises to their call, drawing out pipes to plug into them. Fueling themselves with Photon Power... and then, the might of that combined attacked.

"...Not gonna happen!" Anita calls out. Her cannon charges, and as the blast falls, she fires into it, in hopes of carving away some of its mass.

In the end, though, Svipul is consumed. The Pinpoint Barrier flickers to life, crackling and then the Valkyrie is sent flying, crashing into the earth below. There's silence for a moment...

...and then with a groan Anita, dazed, reaches for the communications.

"Sorry... Svipul's been grounded. That's all she's got. ...You got this, alright?" She says. And with that she leans back and shuts her eyes, hoping for her headache to clear...

...even as things reach their most desperate point.

KTS: GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin successfully jobs Banagher Links-Vist's Destrier Fin Funnel: Salvo

<Pose Tracker> GenRyuuJin and GouRyuuJin has posed.

The Ruin Generals' assault on Infinity is apocalyptic in scope, and they're already preparing a second. They do not doubt for one second that their combined bravery, along with maybe a smidgeon of stolen Photon Power, will allow them to overcome the Marshall of Hell's awesome strength. Even as grim as the work may be...the more of this place they blacken, the better they can control it and the more they can pour into overcoming this...device.

But the Maximum Tou Long veers away from Infinity and its colossal crown, joins the swirling belt of debris that is Goragona's toroidal core. "It hasn't stopped!" GenRyuuJin thunders, seething with energy. "Then again!" GouRyuuJin replies. "We must! Until it is done! Until the King arrives!"

With the strength of their resolve, they know they have bought themselves all the space they need. But bright as the G-Stone shines, their plan does hinge on things beyond easy control. In normal circumstances, their position would be perfect. Triple Zero's control over the fluctuating semi-mechanized landscape would be flawless. Any attempt to break the Generals from their source would be doomed by the Blackening bleach of the Oath Over Omega.

But that isn't the case. As reality inverts and forces unimaginable bear down, when Banagher cuts the cables pouring power into the Ruin Generals, they are THROWN skyward, roaring. "NO!"

Soon, Goragon chews them up - the Generals vanishing beyond its eternal horizon.