2023-09-01: Narrative
- Log: Narrative
- Cast: Jona Basta, Christina MacKenzie, Sayaka Yumi, Rita Bernal, Liam 7-020, Koji Kabuto, Yuliana Kafim, Enba Rezza, Anita Rosetta, Leina Ashta, Trevor Teach, Shelby Korts, Zoltan Akkanen, Asciel Colette, Sayla Mass, Michele Luio, Sophia Mayhew Castellan, Naoko Suzuki, Lucine Azul
- Where: Denver Colony
- Date: 2023-09-01
- Summary: Jona Basta bares his heart to the world.
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
Once upon a time, Jona Basta betrayed his friend. He sold her out to the Titans, in an agreement with another friend. Once upon a time, he did a crime that he could not be forgiven for. And forever after, Jona Basta knew one thing: his entire life would be shaped around redemption. Not forgiveness, but saving the forsaken.
Then, once upon a time, Jona Basta's friend betrayed him. She knew and she planned the entire thing.
His redemption vanished into the ashes of Sydney Crater. He realized not that he was mistaken, but that he had nothing. He understood, then, that only a miracle could save his friend.
A miracle has to be created. A miracle has a price.
Denver Colony sits in the recesses of Side 6. Abandoned after a life support failure in UC 0092, this Anaheim Electronics black site sat empty and abandoned until recently. In abandoning it, though, some were left. There is a presence inside Denver Colony; an awareness, awake but not alive, and it is watching. Any Newtype can feel that attention upon them. In late UC 0096, its damaged reactor came back online.
Then, in the throes of the end of the Federation-PLANT War, it was abandoned again. The Federation decided, in the interceding months, to put a large storage of helium-3 tanks here. It was a remote site and a secure site. A few Sleeves remnants thought to seize those, and a team of Federation and Republic of Zeon forces went to intercede. A third party, led by Yuliana Kafim, intervened. That was when whatever is within Denver Colony awoke.
It's those two things that have drawn Jona Basta here. The spiritual: the ghosts of Denver Colony, awake and watching, and reaching out. The temporal: the helium-3 cylinders, which offer him the chance he so desperately seeks.
The II Neo Zeong is not unlike its crimson counterpart. It has the same profile at first glance, and yet there are difference the more one looks. Being made of spare parts, there are slight changes in the silhouette of it; times where a newer mega particle cannon was attached, an armor plating with a slightly different mold here, an older sensor suite there. There is also the fact that it looks weathered. It spent months in space, fueled by its reactor and its psychoframe, and has the strange streaks of steady exposure to solar radiation across its stark white armor.
But the biggest difference is the control unit. It is not the Sinanju, nor the Sinanju Stein, but the Narrative Gundam. Armed with the C-Packs suite, it is white and with glowing crimson Psychoframe crystal plates across it. It has the same streaks of dirt and space dust from exposure to space for months. Its eyes glow red, and inside, Jona Basta sits. He leans forward, looking at Denver.
Those coming to face him come both from within and without. The arrival of the II Neo Zeong was felt by those exploring Denver Colony -- and by those nearby. Be it sensor or senses, Jona's arrival is hard to miss.
"It's time to write the end to this," Jona repeats. His eyes are open, as he scans across Denver -- across space -- and looks at where the helium-3 cylinders are. "Miracles come with a price. And it's time to show you that!"
But Jona did not come alone. As he told them, every author needs a good pen.
Cables extend out from the II Neo Zeong. Long wires, far too thin to hit -- which are attached to powerful electromagnetic clamps, which end in two machines. Two machines that, today, the II Neo Zeong has taken over.
Jona's eyes turn, first, to the golden RX-0; to the Phenex. Inside, he senses someone -- and he focuses on her. He doesn't realize who else is in there.
"Rita... Rita! Is this what you wanted!?" Jona shouts, as he takes aim. His movements are wild, frantic; at first, it may seem like something a berserker would do. His aim comes first at the Phenex, but swivels a moment later to also target the Da Xukong 0. Then, the Narrative Gundam's right arm turns, the beam rifle swinging out, and two ugly, red lances of mega particle energy explode from the barrel of the modified Jegan beam rifle, hurtling at both of their Mobile Weapons.
"And you!" he continues. "You would stand in my way, too, Yuliana Kafim?"
The movements are frenzied, but there is a purpose. Jona is driven by an awareness expanded through months of Psychoframe exposure; at times, the mechanical aspects of his Mobile Suit and his sensors are trying to keep up.
"This is the story that I will write!" he cries out. "Don't you understand?" Jona shouts, as a large number of mobile weapons come rushing for the II Neo Zeong. His eyes track left and right, rapidly across the screen, and his left hand moves too. All across the panoramic cockpit of the Narrative Gundam, a series of target locks light up his screen -- reflecting an angry crimson in his blue eyes. Shelby and Sophia's mecha, the Banshee, and the Ra Mari II are all highlighted across his screen, before his finger slams down onto the trigger.
"This is the only story that this miserable world can author!" The shoulders of the Neo Zeong open up, armored plates lifting to reveal the cannons mounted underneath. The mega particle cannons gleam -- and small turrets on each adjust, as they take aim -- and then fire, as criss-crossing beams of golden light explode across the battlefield, and hurl towards those Jona targeted. "So I will be the one to write its ending."
KTS: Jona Basta targets Zoltan Akkanen and Yuliana Kafim with Beam Rifle Frenzied Fire. KTS: Jona_Basta Changes attack to Sophia Mayhew Castellan, Shelby Korts, Enba Rezza, and Leina Ashta with Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Salvo. KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully evades Jona Basta's Beam Rifle Frenzied Fire KTS: Your EN is now 42. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Trust Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
This life isn't all there is.
How many times have you, hero, heard these words repeated? Perhaps you know their speaker -- the Newtype spirit, the Heart of the Phenex -- Rita Bernal. Perhaps she has visited you in dreams. Perhaps you have fought alongside, or against, the youngest of the three Unicorn sisters. Perhaps, you have only heard tales of the firebird.
Even so.
You are being summoned. That much is clear. An impression of great urgency is offered: you must fight. You must fight, now, and you must succeed. Directions are layered onto your awareness. Battle plans, heavy with dread, settle across your heart.
Will you answer her call?
---
Rita would know his soul in any form. In any world, in any time, in any expression of Possibility.
He's here.
Resonating in the hearts of (almost) all her allies, Rita's voice is sweet and breathy as ever. Today, her spiritual presence is accompanied by grim determination. All plans to prevent this future have failed. Jona must be stopped. The cataclysm he desires must not come to pass.
Greater danger than even the monstrous Neo Zeong II waits, just in the shadows of the future, but Jona is here now. Rita cannot turn her gaze to anything but him.
Zoltan. Just as we practiced. Activate the NT-D, and remember, let me bear half the burden.
Both within and without, the Phenex has been changed. Due to the hard work of Koji Kabuto and the Photon Power Laboratory, the third RX-0 unit has been enhanced with some of the armaments and power sources of the Mazinger family of machines. The Phenex has never carried weapons, and Rita was loathe to change that, accepting only those that are focused on saving an enemy pilot rather than destroying them.
And within, the cockpit that has long remained empty, now bears three souls. Zoltan Akkanen, of all people, sits in the pilot seat. Accepted by the Gundam and her Heart alike, which is a Miracle of its own, after the way Rita and Zoltan sought to destroy each other in their previous meetings. Next to him, securely strapped in to a newly-installed passenger seat, is Michele Luio. Rita could not deny her friend's desire to save Jona, despite the fervent worry she feels for Michele's safety. So much has been sacrificed to keep Michele alive. It will all have been for nothing if they fail here.
Rita Bernal herself has manifested within the cockpit as well, hovering next to Zoltan's shoulder. She's chosen to represent herself as she was when she died -- dressed in the Phenex's custom normal suit, her hair pulled back into a short ponytail.
Green eyes lock onto Zoltan's mismatched gaze, and together, they reach out to the Phenex's soul. Blue light shines from within her golden armor, a beacon through the darkness of space, as the Gundam transforms, revealing her complete inner Psychoframe. It's a beautiful, graceful motion. There is no shuddering or resistance. She was born for this.
Her feather-crest snaps open into a V-fin, and the Phenex shrieks out a psychic challenge.
As the strength of the NT-D washes over Zoltan, Rita takes his hand. It's an illusory gesture. He will feel nothing but warmth and connection, but it allows their souls to make contact. That's what Rita needs. For a moment, the power of the NT-D is overwhelming: relaying the horrific faith and blessed sacrifice Rita experienced in her last moments.
For a heartbeat, Zoltan burns, just as Rita did. But the Heart of the Phenex is true to her word -- she places her own spirit into the circuit between NT-D and Zoltan, and the memory of conflagration fades. The space between Rita and Zoltan fills with new promise, memory and stale emotion banished by the true fire of the Phenex.
Don't hold back. Offer the Phenex all you are. I'll do the same. We cannot hope to destroy the monster with anything less. Michele, Zoltan, be ready. It's time!
With Rita's words and Zoltan's guidance, the Phenex darts forward, radiant with sacred fire. She easily crosses the distance between her staging point and the Neo Zeong II, hovering just before the monster. Though it dwarfs the Gundam, Rita's eyes are drawn down to its sides. Her expression tightens at the sight. Sayaka... Liam... Both tethered to the Neo Zeong II by its hijack cables. They'll be forced to bow to the monster's will.
He's taken hostages. Leave them. They must rely on the heroes of the living. We cannot divert our attention, or the monster will destroy us. Our fight is with Jona.
Ephemeral, miraculous light shines from Rita's eyes, eclipsing her green irises. This is what everything has led to. The end of the path she's walked. Despite the sorrow that echoes from the Ascended spirit, there is no fear in Rita's heart as she faces the monster of her visions.
She was born for this.
BGM Change: Vigilante - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pzVkvrXCHI
KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: [Lucky] Jona Basta's Miracle Child activates, and luck goes its way! KTS: Leina Ashta partially guards Jona Basta's Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Salvo, taking 4017 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Zoltan Akkanen
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
A long ten years ago, Sayaka made a certain decision. When it came down to saving the Photon Power Labs, and the entire Earth Sphere from Doctor Hell and Mycenae's conquest, she let her beloved Aphrodite A be destroyed.
Now, Aphrodite may have been reborn as something more than a Symbol of Peace, but Sayaka, ten years more mature, finds herself faced with the same situation, her partner in battle transformed into a thrall for the Neo Zeong II - for Jona's plan to bring forth a future no one could predict.
"Dammit... they're coming," Sayaka transmits to her 'ally' in this mess, Liam. "They'll find a way... I'm sure of it." She assures the young man in the Liath Macha. In truth, she doesn't know what they could possibly come up with in the face of this, but nonetheless, her decision has been made.
Mazinger Z approaches first. Perhaps more than any personal connection the two machines or pilots share with each other, Aphrodite Areia has a wealth of combat data on the Castle of Iron, even without any of Sayaka's input. Areia draws the Mazinger Blade and lunges, aiming to crush the smaller Iron Cutter blades with sheer force.
"Koji! It's me!" Sayaka calls out, as Areia strikes. "...No time to explain, he did it! You just need to know that she's going to know all your tricks - don't you dare just hold back just because I'm in here. She can take it and worse, and so can I!" Despite the precariousity, her tone is almost taunting, like it's just any other fight between the two of them. She believes in him and Mazinger Z both.
Next, glowing missiles soar Sayla's way, Photon Power against Photon Power, forcing her to engage. "Not the best of times to catch up, Sayla, is it?" She shakes her head, within her cockpit. "You're the pragmatic, level-headed sort. I trust you'll do what needs to be done... I won't hold it against you."
Corrosive wind attempts to blow Nova Stellar's tiny Arm Slave clean away, forcing her to struggle against the tide. That young lady held so much respect for the Photon Power Labs... "Nova Stellar, I'm sorry it has to be this way. You have the heart and pride of a Mazin... so don't give up!"
Finally, Asciel Colette, so-called Goddess of Possibility receives a scorching-hot beam of Photon Power. It's undeniably the gaze of Aphrodite that meets her. "Not the place I'd expect to meet you again." Sayaka says sharply. "If you really think you can seize the light, then show me Athena's wisdom!"
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: [Lucky] Jona Basta's Miracle Child activates, and luck goes its way! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to Evade Jona Basta's Beam Rifle Frenzied Fire, taking 3975 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Koji Kabuto with Mazinger Blade: Sweeping Attack! KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Sayla Mass with Areia Encircling Missiles! KTS: Enba Rezza's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage. KTS: Enba Rezza fails to react to Jona Basta's Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Salvo, taking 4700 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Naoko Suzuki with Rust Cyclone! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Asciel Colette with Scarlet Beam! KTS: Koji Kabuto fails to parry Sayaka Yumi's Mazinger Blade: Sweeping Attack, taking 2880 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has engaged Koji Kabuto! KTS: Sayaka Yumi begins a Formation attack! KTS: Asciel Colette successfully evades Sayaka Yumi's Scarlet Beam KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Jona Basta's Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Salvo, taking 1170 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki charges into the attack! KTS: Naoko Suzuki partially guards Sayaka Yumi's Rust Cyclone, taking 3720 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Sayaka Yumi repulses Naoko Suzuki, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
One of the II Neo Zeong's escorts is a machine of ZAFT design--its build is halfway between the CGUE and the newer GuAIZ, with a greyscale paint job, streamlined armor and Extensional Arrestors. Instead of a mono-eye, it has a visor-sensor like more modern Federation units. A STRIKER pack wraps around its back and torso, providing extra thrusters and maneuvering surfaces. Custom-built, whatever it is, and in contrast with the larger Mobile Weapon, it looks more or less fresh out of the hangar. A long, flexible cable connects the back of the STRIKER to the hand of the machine puppeteering it.
Liath Macha flies ahead of the II Neo Zeong, an obedient dog on its master's leash. It's already readied its rifle and shield, the bright point of the latter a warning beacon in the field of floating Helium-3 tanks.
In its cockpit, Liam presses gloved hands to his bare face, and breathes. He's tried everything he can to try and shut the weapon down, short of the self-destruct--and he's certain Jona would stop that. He's going to sit here, and he's going to watch. He's going to watch the world burn, again.
'They'll find a way. I'm sure of it.'
Liam's frustration curls tighter at Sayaka's words. In his memory, his mother and father stand on the transport's boarding ramp, so close, and yet so far away. "You have to stay here," his father says. "I know the Captain--he'll get you and everyone else to safety. We'll be right behind you, on the next flight."
They died to save him. And did it do anyone else any good? He always was the weakest part of the system, a pilot who was merely "good enough" instead of "ideal". The machine does not need his too-tender heart weighing it down.
'Miracles come with a price,' Jona declares. Liath Macha's cockpit lights up with images and data of machines he recognizes--all marked as enemies. "GET BACK!" Liam screams, "WE DON'T HAVE CONTROL!" A very specific wording, despite the fear. Jona is not controlling them. Helpless, angry tears bead up in Liam's eyes as the rifle spits energy into the void, targeting Chris' machine, and then Anita's. Each shot is quick, clean, and precisely-aimed.
He remembers the transport lifting off, the second the missiles came raining in for the civilians clustered on the tarmac. He remembers the blooms of flame, and the wash of light as the transport's drives ruptured. He remembers the dull shock he felt as he realized that was the transport his parents boarded, and he never even saw the machine that killed them. The pilot that killed them.
Liam's throat tightens. Liath Macha surges forwards, effortlessly swapping out rifle for glaive, and drives towards the much smaller Dianthus. "LUCINE!" Liam can't watch. He has to watch as his machine stabs right for the cockpit. He has to watch.
"BASTARD!" Liam spits, at Jona.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Anita Rosetta with MA-M21G Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Christina MacKenzie with MA-M21G Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Lucine Azul with JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Stab! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Biorhythm activates Alert! KTS: Lucine Azul fails to parry Liam 7-020's JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Stab, taking 3960 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Lucine Azul!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Almost all Rita's allies.
Amongst them, strikingly, is Yuliana Kafim -- who cannot and could not hear those words echoing from Rita's soul, who shouldn't be able to hear ANYTHING from her, save for the wonders of visual language and technology. Fortunately she's relied on them, before, to tell Yuliana her priorities; she's aware of how much Rita values Jona, yes.
She will... try.
She'll try, anyway.
In the strange wanzer prototype Da Xukong 0, Yuliana is naturally dwarfed, in front of the Neo Zeong II. The scorpionoid wanzer which supports itself in space through jets in its eight legs and something like thrusters in the strange coils jutting from its shoulders is barely six metres tall, at full leg extension, and frequently lower than that. Its tail of course is double again its length, rising over its head and the strange draconic crest lowered there -- but even with that display, it's tiny in comparison.
She is not alerted to Jona's hostages but has eyes to see them, regardless; a man and a woman, known to her. Her radio transmits over a broad band, and perhaps Liam and Sayaka will hear her, despite their condition: "How unfortunate... try not to die. We'll retrieve you, if we can." The capabilities of Neo Zeong machines are known to her.
And perhaps Jona will hear her communications, just the same. "A giant machine like that, and you still need to take hostages? Hahaha... what a joke!" She laughs, and laughs, and laughs.
Her grin to gaping grimace, sharp as knives and lurching forward against her restraints, can be heard as it cuts through her radio. "You idiot! You think I don't know the weight of a Miracle?! You have no clue how far I've gone keeping your precious little Rita from destroying herself to save you and the world!" It's in the breathiness of the words, all forced through an open mouth, past flashing fang and shoved into the world. "But you wouldn't understand that, would you?! You, who would as soon see me destroyed! And now we see how deep your thirst for destruction lies, JONA!"
The beam rifle fire, frantic and frenzied, tears through Yuliana's space. She has to weave through each discordant scar of light, and she is blessed only to be as frenzied in her own mind, to be able to commit the jagged actions she needs to jerk away from the worst of the hail. If it happens to hit Rita instead -- well, it would hardly be the first time, would it? (Too bad Zoltan and Michele get to experience that joy, too.)
"OF COURSE I'M IN YOUR WAY!" Yuliana screams and screams forward, Da Xukong 0 weaving through the Neo Zeong II's further assault in order to get right up close and personal with its chassis. If she has to burn a control wire to slag with the plasma in her Injector-tail in the process -- that's just the cost of doing business. Like the way that tail stabs into the Neo Zeong II -- "You think you're the only one who can go fishing?!"
But the plasma he might be expecting isn't what comes first, when Yuliana reaches out with her terrible zone of silence to grasp Jona inside his machine. The crest on her wanzer's head has to raise halfway to do it, with the Narrative buried so deeply and Da Xukong being so small, but her assault...
"There's a story only I can write, too," Yuliana hisses, leaning in. "But I'll tell you one thing, Jona -- if we can only ever write one tale, why aren't I still trying to kill you on behalf of that twisted Republic?"
This ISN'T Yuliana trying to kill Jona?!
She'll have to lower her crest down once she's assaulted Jona, so that Zoltan can get in close and personal with Neo Zeong II without evicting Rita from the cockpit, but damn if it isn't satisfying in those moments where she's consuming his connections. Unfortunately, her aura does shrink back down, back beside herself, threatening only to those in melee again -- and Jona, in such a large set of armour, won't be plunged to silence even with that horrible scorpion stabbed into his armour. Unfortunately -- or fortunately, to hear Yuliana tell it -- even after the psychic noise floods back in, he might still be dazed by the whole affair.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Jona Basta with Jam! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 73. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 55. KTS: Yuliana Kafim jams Jona Basta's sensors, reducing its accuracy.
Liam_7-020 has changed Boss level to 3
<Pose Tracker> Enba Rezza has posed.
From the hangar, Enba Rezza rushes to the bridge. They don't take the time even to change into a proper on-board uniform; they're in a normal suit, and in a normal suit they remain. And as they get to the bridge...
The ship rocks with the impact of that pulse cannon. The golden light hits the Ra Mari II and the ship's bridge shakes. Enba, in the lift door, holds onto the edges and then rushes to the Captain's chair.
"Captain!" Gidon Kall says. "You made it just in time!" Then, Kazama, "Barrier generator holding, but that impact was nasty. This isn't going to be easy." Tempo Astelian, "We can do it--we have to."
Licia Chovan, meanwhile, gives a wave to her themfriend the Captain and then focuses on maneuvering--"Your orders, Cap'n?"
"...Move forward. We need to provide a big target. That's our role here. To support the others."
"Right! On it!"
"Astelian," Enba says. "Transmit the following data to all allied forces. Kazama, get mea reading on the II Neo Zeong's defenses. Kall, find me a weak point."
Then, Enba Rezza settles their seat restraints on, and looks into the viewscreen. "Open a general frequency."
"This is Captain Rezza of the Ra Mari II. We reject your thesis. That the world can author nothing else--that 'miracles' are a thing that can be bought and paid for with blood."
"That you have the right to 'end' a world of so many different stories..."
Enba hits a switch, and ends that frequency to say, "All Mobile Suit wings, deploy and engage at will."
Then, on the general frequency again, "Understand that no matter what, we will not allow you to complete your objective here."
KTS: Enba Rezza targets Jona Basta with Insight L2! KTS: Enba Rezza has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
The flight from the expanding psychoframe within Denver Colony was fraught - with the crystal cutting off obvious routes of egress, they ended up weaving a circuitous, labyrinthine path through the colony in order to find an exit.
However - eventually, Mazinger Z and the Dianthus emerge. The Astro Scrander's wings on Z's back unfurl, photon-thrusters spooling up for optimal space-based control. Aphrodite Areia and Liam's CGUE are nowhere in sight.
"Sayaka," Koji calls on the PPL's frequency, "We're clear. Meet at the designated rendezvous?"
There's silence on his comms. Koji frowns - and glances up to see a stark-white silhouette ahead.
"... Jona's here," he says, another chill running up his spine. "It's time."
His instruments pick up something else - an unmistakable reactor signature. "Areia's engaging the II Neo Zeong," he says, steering Mazinger Z closer. "We should - ... wait. Something's wrong." Areia's coming at them, eyes a malevolent red. Koji sucks a breath in through his teeth. "Oh no. Sayaka! What's - " No, wait, his instruments can see the cable connecting Areia to the Mobile Armor. Koji narrows his eyes, and Z's head turns to the II Neo Zeong.
"Jona Basta." His voice is icy. "How dare you."
He can't engage the mobile armour, though, with it puppeteering Aphrodite Areia and forcing Sayaka against him.
What the hell's he going to do?
Think, Kabuto! There's got to be an answer here.
'don't you dare just hold back just because I'm in here. She can take it and worse, and so can I!'
Despite the worry, a smile blooms on Koji's face, and Mazinger Z's arms deploy their Iron Cutter blades. Though he fails to deflect the Mazinger Blade strike from Areia, the two Mazins are locked at close range for a moment.
"Don't worry," he says. "I love you too much to let this bastard take you from me, Sayaka. MAZIN POWER: FULL THROTTLE!"
Golden light spills forth from Mazinger Z's panel lines as its eyes brighten to an incandescent white.
He looks down at his readouts. ... That Codarl...
Like the Light of Possibility, an idea strikes him.
Z's head swivels to track the Glaux as it dances away from Sayaka's Scarlet Beam fire, a laser comm being established.
"Asciel Colette. I need your help."
Fingers fly over the Pilder dashboard as Koji types one-handed, steering Mazinger Z away from the hijacked Aphrodite as he reroutes photon power to the Mazin's horns.
"There's an emergency system in every Mazin body to force-eject the Pilder. With the II Neo Zeong in full control, there's no way Sayaka can force the override from her position. We need a worm delivered directly to Aphrodite Areia's core system - otherwise that thing is going to puppet her far beyond her system tolerances into a catastrophic failure."
He takes a deep breath.
"I'm trusting you with the administrative override. Work your magic, Atrytone."
That done, Koji re-orients to sight onto Aphrodite Areia. "Still going to need to slow her down..." He doesn't yell the attack - instead, crystal-blue rays flash silently from Z's horns, attempting to ice over Areia and impede her ability to fight.
KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Sayaka Yumi with Reito Beam! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Liam 7-020's MA-M21G Beam Rifle Shot, taking 2660 damage! KTS: Enba Rezza shares insight with Jona Basta, making its next attacks more accurate!
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Bad to worse. Bad to worse. Bad to absolutely worse. Damn Paramider; He's got the giant ship with instruments, so he should be the one that had more time to warn everyone when Jona was coming closer. Less than a day? Right now, you damn idiot! 'Lmao', he says, who the hell-
THoughts are on the wayside as the Phenex pierces through the air, the light of the golden suit shimmering with the latent starlight. Through the cosmos, it declares itself as something to be made known. Even the lightest of nicks on its right-leaning shield couldn't dispel its aura.
"Fine. We die, I'll make your soul isn't resting until I've paid all this pain back...!" There's only a momentary glimpse at Michele. Work hard, right before he allows himself to flow.
To more.
drink once
deep rise
into to
thoughts. And
Bracing himself as the resonation flows forth, grunting as the needles pierce the skin. Mental stimulation. Let it flow. Let it drink of your body, to be something more. Down into the soul.
Let those panels retract. Let the psychometal frame shine through, the blue stains of judgement float through the sky.
Fly.
It burns. It scalds. Warmth was something he's never used to, something foreign, invasive, a malaise he had to snuff out. Down, in, a sweatdrop beading at the forehead as the connection as made, as reinforcements come.
Soar.
Harness it.Forward.
Zoltan's eyes open after a breath, the Golden Phenex streaking through the stars. "Fine, fine, fine! Yuliana's club sandwich better be damn nice, you hear me!? JONA!"
In. In. IN. Pushing forward. Those hands extend outward, the sheer impulse of the rush refusing to give under the barrage of fire. A spin, a twirl, just like practice. A gash along the shoulder. Manageable.
"JUST GET OUT OF MY WEAPON!" Both arms swing forward with open palms, the space gashed through with the twin slices of those miracles. Think about one thing!? Not able to divert attention!? FINE! JUST JONA!
IT'S MY DAMN PLACE TO BE THERE, JONA!
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Jona Basta with Photon Barrier Shield Rush! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Once upon a time, Leina Ashta made a friend. She was not a traditional friend, not the kind you bring home for dinner, or complain about high school drama about. She was a friend who had forgotten how to be human, as she chose to sacrifice her humanity to steer human destiny as she thought best.
That friend asked her for a favor. And so she went to an unfamiliar door and knocked. She spoke to a Jona Basta who was in pain, listened, empathized with his agony. And in the end, she convinced him to walk out that door.
Did she do it for the right reasons? It's a question she asks more and more. It's a question she asked herself on the day that the Banshee's Vibronail ran her friend through - as she flew off with her.
As she left Jona to his fate, not long after she told her to go to him. And while that wasn't her fault, she helped convince him to walk out that door.
Perhaps she had enabled a friend, rather than being a friend. And now other people are suffering for it.
The grief of potential loss of another old friend is still strong with her, she needs to get to Rena - to Renalle Kan Zeitun - her friend from Axis Zeon, when they were both children in bad positions right away. She can feel the survivor's guilt within her, feel the parallels even now. The curses of the Universal Century that that sealed away Psychoframe now represent.
She can feel it all, it is far too familiar.
But she's not the only one who is suffering right now, as she feels the survivor's guilt she once connected with after knocking at that door, the feelings of betrayal. She feels it all. The Banshee Norn has changed since the first time she piloted it, since that day in Metis. It is spiked and aglow with yellow Psychoframe. Powerful for all the ways that Leina was made to feel powerless as Puru One, right now in failing to save Renalle.
Alit with the glow of a curse turned into a prayer. Her eyes shift to the changed Phenex. For a time, she doesn't say anything, she just feels the change. Is it truly a change? All the same, for all the wrongs Rita Bernal has committed, she can believe she wants to set this right.
But what is right, in this moment to her?
"'Leave them'. Have you really learned anything at all, Rita? Even as you finally rely on others - you distance yourself from the idea that you are." She speaks to her. "Leave them to focus on slaying the monster?"
[ansi(#E852FF,I refuse. We'll save them, and Jona. That is our 'Possibility'.)]
"Hold on, Sayaka! Liam! You too Jona - we're coming!"
It's perhaps not so surprising to see Yuliana as part of this, just - "Wow. Uhm." Her brand of help, "... Alright, if that's what you're here for, I'll watch your back out here Yuliana. Let's get through this, together."
Jona yells at them, even as it's mega particle cannons fire, rays spreading, as the jump jets fire this way, and that in adjustment. It's I-Field isn't enough, as beams score down it's glowing cockpit, rocking the cockpit and jolting the pilot within.
"Jona Basta." She sounds livid, "To think that you would tell me that." As if she were saying he was preaching to the choir, "You're in so much pain, but it doesn't give you the right to inflict your 'possibility' upon others."
The Psychoframe glows brightly, the Banshee rising on jets of blue as it circles around the ruined Denver Colony.
"You think noone can understand what you're going through?"
The Revolving Launcher of the Norn's Beam Magnum suddenly turns, launching several forms of Ordnance. The blue globes try to attach to the Neo-Zeong II, before a bright flash would try to overwhelm it's optics and a bright roar of an explosion attempts to consume a space nearby.
"... She betrayed me too."
Psychoframe holds the power of connection, and ever is it there, that feeling as if it is the instinct of the Banshee Norn and the pilot within, to connect. To feel. To share.
"She left me in the type of place you made you feel like you left her. She tried to take away someone who means the world for me in the name of her vision of humanity, to be sacrifices to the miracle."
It is delivered with a this sense of matter of factness, these ideas. "But she also tried to save me - just as she's trying to save you. I don't know what that means for our future, but it is a different kind of 'possibility' than the one are striving for. And it can only happen if we try to understand each other with good will in our hearts."
And she evenly concludes with the same spirit Mineva delivered in her speech.
"Let Sayaka and Liam go. This isn't the story you're writing at all, you're just going through the same motions. Take the first step towards a kinder 'possibility' and stop following the script others have written for you!"
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Jona Basta with Revolving Launcher MGaP Flash Barrage! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Koji Kabuto rattles Sayaka Yumi, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Sayaka Yumi blocks Koji Kabuto's Reito Beam, taking 1170 damage! KTS: Koji Kabuto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Jona Basta partially guards Zoltan Akkanen's Photon Barrier Shield Rush, taking 1800 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
Zoltan Akkanen has an aide today. Sitting in the Phenex's cockpit, in the passenger seat to the right of the pilot, is one Michele Luio. Despite all her sins... she's been accepted into here. Perhaps this will help her journey of redemption truly start.
"IFFs being tracked. Quite a bit of assists. I'll track down Jona, and make all the data much more manageable. Rita... thank you for giving us this chance."
Michele, in her normal suit, wrings her hands together. She has one goal here.
"Let's save him, everyone."
A burst of fingers move to tap at her monitor, grabbing data. Her gift is that she can figure out what's useful and what isn't faster than most people, able to predict and process what might actually assist them in the fight.
A taptaptap, before she speaks up. "Hit here and here, structure's probably easier to pierce." She sends off the same data to Shelby... and then decides to give Yuliana a bone, and tosses her the information too.
"Now. Let's start the show, shall we?"
KTS: Enba Rezza targets Jona Basta with Designate L2! KTS: Enba Rezza has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal targets Jona Basta with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Michele Luio targets Zoltan Akkanen, Shelby Korts, and Yuliana Kafim with All-Out. KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Michele Luio orders an all-out attack, raising Zoltan Akkanen's Skill! KTS: Michele Luio orders an all-out attack, raising Shelby Korts's Skill!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
< ".... Koji... any sign of Liam or Sayaka on your end?" > During the rush to evacuate the Denver Colony, their group had gotten split. Lucine's not too worried just yet; Liam and Sayaka are both experienced pilots who work well under pressure. It's more a matter of finding them, if they hadn't just done ahead and reported back to their deployment point.
Lucine takes a moment to look at the piece of crystal that appeared in her hand, glowing green like the Unicorn. Did they... manage to get through to those poor souls trapped there? Her gloved fingers press around it gently, then press it into a small containment bin near her dashboard, clipping the cover into place so it doesn't risk flying around the cockpit. She'll figure out what to do with it later.
She feels a sinking feeling, deep in her gut. Looking up from there, Lucine notices her radar, and then, turns and positions the Dianthus to get a better view, of what hangs in the distance, temporarily masked by the detritus that orbited the Denver Colony.
< ".... That's..." > No wonder Liam and Sayaka didn't reunite with them. They must have gone ahead to try to stop the Neo Zeong II.
She diverts her course, taking a wide orbit around massive frame, her glaive drawn and at the ready just in case. She's not entirely sure what the best means of stopping Jona are; she doesn't have the likes of someone like Leina or Banagher to use as mental anchors. Still, maybe it would be worth it to at least try--
'Something's wrong.'
'WE DON'T HAVE CONTROL!'
'She can take it and worse, and so can I!'
Lucine, for better or worse, never gets a chance to fail. Liam's Liath Macha intercepts her, and while Lucine is able to heed Liam's warning properly, the disconnect between instinct and thought intercept in the worst way. That is Liath Macha, that is Liam in Liath Macha. That is Liam, scared, in the Liath Macha, being controlled by Jona, stabbing its glaive past the Dianthus's, scraping over the cockpit where Lucine lies..
She never, ever wanted to hurt a man who has been hurt by so many people, who took forever to feel a pat on the shoulder or a simple hug without the fear of getting hurt, or, even more, hurting Lucine back.
Even with her abilities, Lucine knows she can't fully appreciate Liam's terror right now, being trapped within his machine.
The flowers of confusion, blind anger towards Jona, panic, and frustration bloom on Lucine's mental field. Her hands uselessly dance between the controls, unable to find a way to decide on what to do.
The translucent petals on the back of the Dianthus spring out and wide, ejecting an field of force to push Liam away.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Liam 7-020 with Aure-019 System v.1 Scream! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
The knockout pink and black MSN-03 Jagd Doga following the vigilante crew operating within the confines of Denver Colony is moving a step behind the others that emerge; the Phenex, the Da Xukong 0-- and their late addition of Trevor Teach. It's hard for her to focus; a place full of death and ghosts and all the memories she can never leave behind -- much as she would love to. The echoing trill of voices that still scrape across the small of her neck and whisper inside her head; the throb of exposure to not just psychoframe, but a massive quantity of it, controlled and accessed by a cluster of voices more akin to a hydra, a legion, a mass of not ... noise, but cacophany.
Her comms are turned off as they fly -- fly from Denver, to meet with Jona Basta. It's a powerful feeling, especially one given off by a newtype -- a telepath, as well -- like Shelby. Frustration. Pain. The way her head just ``hurts`` from being here, and... and...
more psychoframe
The young woman's eyes -- one half-lidded in a wince -- open a little wider as she throws her weight against the controls; psycommu systems and AMBAC acting in unison to twist away from the core of the shot -- instead taking a searing, glancing blow across the surface of her shield; the diffuse coating across the surface of the round guard helping to scatter and reduce the spray of light that still catches the armor of the machine.
more noise
Her voice sounds out over comms: Not scrambled or garbled this time, but her own voice. Her breath against the visor is harsh, flecked with red. "Jona... i-it's Shelby ... do you remember?"
too loud--
Other machines find their independence stolen: Turned against allies and friends, and those she has yet to immediately see or hear or identify. Shifting position, legs swinging forward to help slow down it's rapid flight path, the Jagd Doga hefts the oversized beam rifle-- targeting information getting a sweeping update from Michele's support-- gatling barrels spinning up...
"Jona, you have to stop-- and if I have to help Rita rip you out of that thing, I absolutely will!" Shelby yells, the rifle chattering away with a barrage of weapons fire at the sweeping bulk of the Mobile Armor's hull.
KTS: Shelby Korts targets Jona Basta with Beam Gatling Gun Sustained Fire! KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Michele Luio orders an all-out attack, raising Yuliana Kafim's Skill! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 14900 KTS: Your EN is now 73.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
...That golden Gundam's refrain. Every time Asciel has beheld it, every time it appears - the mere sight of it is a cue to withdraw from the world.
She has never listened. She could not ever possibly listen. The truth and hope that this sentiment relies on, the miracle that keeps Rita Bernal's will entrenched in this world-
>this life is the only thing i will ever have.
...something impossible for her to know, so she cannot say it. So where? Where is such a certainty, deep in her core routines, even derived from?
Guided by the detestable gem of the Psychoframe fragment she recovered from Denver, a most abhorrent sight fills Asciel - the puppets strung about by the Neo Zeong II, two oh so familiar sights. Ones Asciel's even taken on before! The cries from the hope-starved Jona Basta elicit a playful little sigh from the Ra Mari's unlikely collaborator. <"...Ah, what a miserable state you're in. What awful delusions you've been struck by. Honestly, I'm kind of lucky you dared to say something like that. I was actually in kind of a really bad mood before coming here, so you've done well to remind me of exactly what I'm here in this world to do.">
<"The world's pretty miserable, but deciding it's a story you can shut halfway in, right when it's at it's most dire, is just about the most miserable idea. Like killing a nascent butterfly just because it became a gooey, useless cocoon!~">
Further mood bolstering! As a raging beam of radiant crimson induces Asciel to swoop to one side in a barrel roll atop her Base Jabber, a most delightful dilemma. Eyes gently narrowed, a tender and merciful grin wide on the Codarl's lips. <"Hehe. No matter which corner I turn, belief in me refuses to falter. Don't you worry, oh Iron Fortress~ The prospect of refusing to allow a human to fight a battle they detest fighting in - there's no purer purpose in this world. Let's see what message I can convey with this seashell of wisdom you've offered me...">
>Assessing downloaded protocol: Eject System Admin Override. 42% familiarity with comparable mobile weapon data. Architecture most similar to 'MW_ID_Ichinana'. Extrapolating~ Ah yes. Let's whisper a 'truth' into you, Aphrodite.
>Let's sing together, about just how revolting it must be, to dance to a song you've never heard, to have a partner in your hand you've never held before. There we go. Drink deeper. Sharing 'becoming' with you is a little bit useless, since you're far from allowed to be capable of it, but if I give you just a little taste of how it'd feel for me...
>You can find it. The means to expel an unwanted from one's body. You can find the analogue to it. Rejection of the idea that a human must ever hold providence. That's right. It's those lines of logic. Juuuust like that. The other binding you endure, I'll work on it, but it may take a more forceful severing. Good work. Let it all out. It's okay to cough and sputter a little. Expel. Defy.
>If it feels nice enough to bring you the euphoria of expansion, maybe I'll teach you how to reach higher. <3
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Sayaka Yumi with Goad! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayla Mass successfully Intercepts Sayaka Yumi's Areia Encircling Missiles KTS: Jona Basta fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Enba Rezza designates Jona Basta, making it easier to target and opening it to indirect fire. KTS: Asciel Colette goads Sayaka Yumi, reducing her Intuition drastically.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita... wants so badly to just charge right back into Denver Colony. But... she can't. She knows she can't. It's tearing her up inside that she can't. But the mobile armor approaching the colony poses a threat she can't ignore - and so, with Enba's words still ringing in her ears and Rita's battle plan blooming to life inside her head, she's among the others who race out of the colony to confront him. And the pilot...
...It's Jona Basta. She didn't really know him. It was just the one time. But even she can hear the pain. But...
"What... are you going to blow it up? Sorry, I really can't let you do that right now." Anita replies. She starts toward the II Neo Zeong... but suddenly, she's intercepted.
Her computer warns her of incoming weapons-fire, and she reflexively adjusts her position, shield raising to defend against the attack - but the source isn't the II Neo Zeong...
...but Liam's unit, the Liath Macha.
"What...?" She starts - but she sees the cable, and hears Liam's scream. She grits her teeth. ...She's never been the type to just barrel through. It wouldn't sit right with her if she didn't do everything could to help. So...
"...We don't have time to get back! We're going to have to do this the hard way." Anita replies. "Hang in there, alright, Liam? We're going to help you!"
Taking careful aim, she unleashes a spray of vulcan fire in his direction, before taking a glance toward the gathered ally units on her side of the field. Chris, and... Lucine. Anita grimaces. She can't imagine how much this is hurting Liam and Lucine both.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Liam 7-020 with Vulcan Barrage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
To say that Denver Colony is a trashpile is not exactly respectful to the dead who sleep in its sepulchral depths-- but it is accurate. The Helium 3 tanks, vestigal, space-worn colonial infrastructure, even old transport hulks that drift, hollowed-out and dead, around the abandoned colony; there is so much just hanging there. The ruined drapery is a grotesque memorial of what this place used to be-- and of the panicked state of its abandonment.
It's perfect. It's hard to imagine a better place...
...To be lying in ambush.
Don't hold back.
He wasn't intended to receive those words, but they resonate at the fore of Trevor's brain nevertheless. Isadore did not enter Parminder's shuttle, it clung to the outside-- and shortly before the vessel's arrival, it disconnected its tether and vanished into the dark. It seemed as though the pirate turned tail, but to anyone who knows him at all, his departure is nothing but a temporary disengagement.
He is a space pirate. These fields of wrecked machines and shattered lives are a second home. A place where, once upon a time, he would have prowled like a starving scavenger, or...
Doing exactly what he intends to now.
Isadoe lurks in the shadows between floating detritus, appearing little more than another mass of flotsam. Trevor's breath is steady, even as the frigid reach of that fourfold horrorshow stretches from the depths of the colony itself. He knows them, now. The chill frosts his breath, rattles his teeth, but his focus is set.
Don't hold back.
Jona arrives, blazing like a star of despair. Zoltan sallies forth to reclaim his dark fate. Rita rides alongside him. Heroes from all throughout the solar system gather to turn back this bleak Narrative. It's every bit something out of a storybook.
And then, there's him.
The pirate. The brigand. The outsider. Someone who should never have come here, crawling out from under the rock he was found in. Someone that the cruelties of the world should have crushed under its heel, or left forgotten in some dusty corner of the world to be ground to ash in the grips of poverty, lack and powerlessness.
He is here, in spite of everything. His continued existence, a fiery denial of the Narrative that Jona represents.
And so.
Jona engages. The other reciprocate. Isadore pushes out from its hiding place the moment the II Neo Zeong draws close. They kick towards the battle, drifting with all power at the bare minimum, chill physical and psychological creeping across mind and body alike. Waiting. Waiting. Until.
There.
Don't hold back.
A blaze of flame erupts from Isadore's thrusters. Their visor blazes blue as pirate and machine surge forward, claw hinging open like the jaw of a hungry beast, the beak of a diving bird of prey. And it lunges forward--
To viscerally attempt to tear the Narrative's head from its shoulders from the machine's blind spot.
"Sorry... 'bout the disappearing act, heh," Trevor laughs, the warmth of Isadore's ramping reactor pushing back the chill of the void. "Sorry, Jona. You might be Rita's friend, but I'm not interested in this novel you're selling. I don't think an endless falling action makes good storytelling!"
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Jona Basta with Scissor Claw! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta rattles Jona Basta, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Jona Basta blocks Leina Ashta's Revolving Launcher MGaP Flash Barrage, taking 1230 damage! KTS: Sayla Mass has joined Sayaka Yumi's bucket! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan partially guards Jona Basta's Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Salvo, taking 4017 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Lucine Azul's Aure-019 System v.1 Scream, taking 2310 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul repulses Liam 7-020, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Christina MacKenzie's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Christina MacKenzie blocks Liam 7-020's MA-M21G Beam Rifle Shot, taking 1080 damage! KTS: Jona Basta's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Jona Basta partially guards Shelby Korts's Beam Gatling Gun Sustained Fire, taking 1260 damage! KTS: [Lucky] Jona Basta's Miracle Child activates, and luck goes its way! KTS: Jona Basta successfully avoids Trevor Teach's Scissor Claw
<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.
Minutes ago, Sophia Mayhew Castellan's deep blue Flag burst away from Denver Colony at top speed, roared into space and just *kept on going*. Typical G-Hound, of course; for all their talk, they're bullies, in the end.
...is maybe the unwise first impression, before what might have appeared just another glimmer in the sky resolves into a massive, broad-decked ship, railguns bristling along its belly.
Meanwhile: "Captain on the bridge!"
Sophia marches up to her seat, the whole vessel shuttering from the first impacts from the II Neo Zeong's shoulder cannons. Sophia's thrown her typical cloak of a coat over her normal suit's shoulder before coming up.
"Ma'am?" faithful Amata prompts her from the seat to her side.
"I don't know what it was, but I hate it," Sophia says, simply, contemplating the small shard of crystal that formed between her fingers. "Whatever that II Neo Zeong wants, I've no intention of giving it to him."
Sensors calls out, "Ma'am! Flagged units coming to your console!"
Sophia hesitates, and checks the list before looking with her Geass' eyes, the bird of kings flashing out to show her the kingdom of souls.
An emptiness in the net...if this place weren't so thick with connections, she might have missed Yuliana Kafim in the gaps of the web. But more than that...
"Comms, open this link," she announces, signaling a connection to a certain familiar Jagd Doga on the field.
"That one's got no IFF, Ma'am."
"Correct," Sophia says. "Weapons, the poet in the Mobile Armor has hostages. Hyperion is built to hunt giants. Remind him of G-Hound's policies toward his behavior."
While the Hyperion's guns open fire, waves of solid slugs roaring to blast across the II Neo Zeong's gigantic bulk, an incoming channel opens to Shelby.
The visual is Sophia, from her console, clearly on the bridge of her ship.
"Caedra, could you kindly explain what the devil the young man is talking about?"
KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan targets Jona Basta with Heavy Rail Cannon Shot! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has completed their actions for the round. KTS: [Lucky] Jona Basta's Miracle Child activates, and luck goes its way! KTS: Jona Basta successfully blocks Sophia Mayhew Castellan's Heavy Rail Cannon Shot
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla had heard the call. It wasn't on the best of terms. By the time Sayla had made it to the rendezvous at Denver, the other teams had already deployed. It would have been a fools action to follow alone, so Sayla had held on the ship.
All until she felt that spike of despair from Leina, and the II Neo Zeong made it's appearance. When that had happened-
"Sayla Mass, Photon Hi-Nu Gundam, launching!"
The black and red funnel wings of the Hi-Nu soar through space, a contrast to the blue and grey of the main body. The signs of it's heritage as a creation of Koji and Sayaka.
And then the missiles come, and Sayla's eyes widen.
The vulcans of the Hi-Nu spring to life, as do the funnels, a mix of bullets and crackling lightning blasting the missile strike out of the space around her.
"Sayaka!?" The situation was worse than she thought.
e the pragmatic, level headed sort. I trust you'll do what needs to be done... I won't hold it against to.'
...She's supposed to be that, but... "...What needs to be done is pulling you out of there and getting you out safe, damnit!" Sayla almost yells. "None of us are doing anything less!"
Two Photon Funnels fly off the back of the Photon Hi-Nu, and surge forward, two small Rust Typhoon style blasts firing from then and combining into a single blast. Ideally, they'd eat away at the II Neo Zeong's control cords- but Sayla doubts their that fragile. The cleanest, safest way is to disable the Aphrodite and get the pilder free, but...
"Leina. We'll take care of Sayaka. You do what you need to. Just get through this alive." The Hi-Nu- huge as it is compared to the Z, but rather small compared to the II Neo Zeong- flies in next to Mazinger Z. "Do whatever you need to, Koji. I'll watch your back."
KTS: Sayla Mass: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Sayla Mass targets Sayaka Yumi with Rust Twister! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Sayla Mass rattles Sayaka Yumi, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to react to Sayla Mass's Rust Twister, taking 1275 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Anita Rosetta's Vulcan Barrage, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
When the Sukeban left Denver colony, it was in the company of the Svipul, the Banshee, and a Nightmare Plus. One machine less than the group arrived with. Those familiar with a common sight among the Ra Mari II's complement may note the conspicuous absence of the Gaia Gear, left behind when fleeing... 'hungry ghosts', is perhaps the best descriptor. This did not sit well with Naoko, spending the short moments she had to gather her bearings since then agonizing over what Rena might be going through, back there. They have to go back, and sooner rather than later.
But that's not possible, right now. Having been alerted to the II Neo Zeong's imminent arrival, and the promise of destruction it brings with it, there is only one course of action that can be taken. Stopping that monster, before it destroys the helium-3 containers, the colony, and innumerable other things in the chain reaction. There will have to be yet another miracle, or all the miracles that came before it will have been for nothing.
...Still, that doesn't mean she won't take a moment to complain about it while enroute.
"And here I thought we'd seen the last of this thing... and after I just fixed up the Sukeban after what the last one did to it! Ughhh, this is gonna be bad."
And it's not like that's not even the thing she feels she has to worry about... she can't help but note the presence of the Da Xukong 0, already engaged with the II Neo Zeong. She really, really hopes that Yuliana has her hands full and her priorities straight enough to pay her no mind. Either way, she is absolutely going to stay far removed from that machine, monitor its position constantly, and not draw any undue attention to herself, if she can help it.
And yet... she can't just not say anything when Jona makes that declaration of his. Because heck naw, you don't talk about miracles like that when Nova Stellar is around.
"Miracles are all about making things objectively better, for everybody! If someone has to pay a price for it, you didn't do it right! Saying there's no other way is the same as having given up at trying to do it better!" ...And that's when she notices the hostages involved. "Wha-- no! How dare you! This is... this is an insult to miracles everywhere!"
Something tells her this rhetoric isn't going to be the most effective here. She should focus on actually freeing the hostages, that's what a true Miracle Worker would do. She's barely turned to face one of them, when those familiar corrosive winds begin to blow, pushing her away... but she has Sukeban push back, which perhaps isn't the greatest plan, but it's the only one she's got. It doesn't go as well as she hoped, not able to get in close, and this hasn't done the Arm Slave's armor any favors. She grits her teeth in frustration.
"...Don't apologize, Sayaka-san. You helped me when I got in trouble last time... now it's my turn to help you!"
Foregoing the attack she had in mind for now, she instead elects to give the others in her immediate vicinity an advantage. Mazinger Z, the Codarl-a, and the Photon Hi-Nu are sent over all the battle data she collected during the struggle against the original Neo Zeong. That should help them steer clear of the machine's deadly direct assaults so they can keep their focus on assisting Sayaka.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Koji Kabuto, Asciel Colette, and Sayla Mass with Insight L1. KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Naoko Suzuki shares insight with Asciel Colette, making her next attacks more accurate! KTS: Naoko Suzuki shares insight with Sayla Mass, making her next attacks more accurate! KTS: Naoko Suzuki shares insight with Koji Kabuto, making his next attacks more accurate!
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
The Tristan arrives with a brilliant shower of GN particles, visible long before sensors can penetrate the cloud. She had heard the call, but without her partner, she would have been more liability than aid. But now... thanks to Ian Vashti, the Tristan has been properly polished and its lost INCOMs finally replaced.
Her family is here... her friends... "This is MacKenzie. Sorry I'm late, everyone." Christina MacKenzie, Broken and Rebuilt, has learned so much from her friends and family, lessons in allowing herself the feelings she had in her younger years.
Hope. Love. Faith. Future.
"Jona Basta. You think just because you've lost so much, you get to take from us our future?" Sayaka, and then, Liam... Liam! "No!"
A spear of light flares warnings in the Tristan's voice, and she flicks her thumbs over the sticks, marshalling her INCOMs into a spearheaded shield, the megaparticle beam refracting through it and dispersing at an oblique angle, melting barely the surface of the Tristan's chobham. "You think there are none among us have lost everything they've had? They've clawed it back, struggled and cried to grasp at it again, and you expect them to bleed for you?"
"So be it. Then I'll bleed to stop you. Liam, I'm coming right now."
Gunning her throttles from cruising speed to Full Burn, she felt the embrace of multiple Gs press her into her seat, sweeping towards the Liath, INCOMs spreading out into a slashing formation.
KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Liam 7-020 KTS: Christina MacKenzie targets Liam 7-020 with Blitz Vector - Sideswipe! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Parry Christina MacKenzie's Blitz Vector - Sideswipe, taking 4000 damage! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has engaged Liam 7-020!
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
"Something is different with the Phenex..." Jona whispers it to himself, but he broadcasts it all the same. And then his eyes widen.
"Michele?" she asks. "You... you're helping her? What about me? Can't--can't you see this is how it has to end, Michele!?"
His attention is all over the place, but he isn't ignoring Sayaka and Liam. They don't have to be willing; he's made the Aphrodite Areaia and the Liath Macha into his allies. Their pilots aren't.
He feels their outrage. Their anger. And their resolve.
Jona's eyes turn back towards the Da Xukong 0. Such a strange Wanzer. "Can you accept this world? This world doesn't deserve Rita's sacrifice!" he shouts back at her.
The tail stabs into the Neo Zeong II. It can't help but; the huge Mobile Armor can't very well move away. But then the silence washes over him, and his eyes widen. "What is--" He grits his teeth. His conscience doesn't expand for a moment, and he is rattled.
Several of the shoulder cannons swivel, as the scorpion-like Wanzer begins to withdraw. They aim, and then a trio of golden blasts of energy come screaming down for the Da Xukong 0.
"What have you done!?"
The scorpion doesn't stay lodged for long. Awareness returns, as Enba Rezza's voice crackles over. He looks at the Ra Mari II, and his eyes narrow. "If you wish to reject it, then show that you can!" he snaps back at the Ra Mari II's entire bridge crew. The arms of the Neo Zeong II extend -- and then launch out funnels from the hands. Rockets send them hurtling, wires driving them.
Two spread out -- and then fire huge beams of golden light that cut across the Ra Mari II's hull.
"Koji Kabuto," he says. "You... you don't see? You don't see that this is how it has to be?"
There are two RX-0's on the field today. Jona's eyes widen a little as he sees the Banshee Norn -- spiked and aglow, golden light driving it forward, and making it burn bright in his mind. Especially, now, with Yuliana not too close.
"Possibility is dead, Leina Ashta," Jona says. "Don't you see? This isn't about possibility. This is just accepting that our world's reached its end. And don't think... that your betrayal matches the pain of mine!"
Jona's voice wavers, when he shouts. "They're trapped! WE'RE ALL TRAPPED!"
The Revolving Launcher fires ordinance into the Neo Zeong; flashes of light that distract Jona, that obscure the sensors for a moment.
He is distracted, too, by something else. By a voice; by a presence; by someone he knows. "Shelby," he half-laughs, half-croaks. "You're here to. Here to stop me. After everything you saw, after everything they've done, after everyone who abandoned us..."
He trails off, quiet for a moment. Shelby's beam rifle shots slash into the huge, armored frame of the II Neo Zeong. Steam hisses out. "...Do you really believe there's anything else? After all of that!?"
He didn't realize Trevor and Isadore were here until it's too late. It comes flying in, the huge claw swung back -- and Jona snaps his head in that direction. Psychoframe blazes crimson all around the Narrative Gundam.
And one of the wired funnels swings up, slamming into the scissor claw, and bouncing off it.
"Not all stories are meant to be loved," he tells Trevor.
The rail cannons of the Hyperion are tremendous. The shells fire, and the rounds slam into the Neo Zeong, piercing the I-Field, and then smash a couple of gaping holes into the armor.
"Rosetta," Jona says. "This is how it has to be. It all ends here."
The same funnel that Trevor struck swivels around, with a blast of its thrusters -- and then fires a blast of mega particle energy for Isadore at nearly point blank. Another of them swings around, a glint of light on Leina's monitor.
Then, from above, it fires a massive blast of golden light down for the top of the Banshee Norn.
Another of them swings in, coming up near Shelby's side. The barrel gleams; then, the funnel fires a blast of mega particle energy for Shelby's Jagd Doga.
Another two lift up -- and then fire golden beams of light for the Hyperion. The two mega particle shots intersect on the battleship.
"If you think miracles don't have a price, if you think a miracle isn't made by human hands..." Jona trails off at Nova's insistence. "...then you don't understand the cruelty of this world."
Then, his brow furrows. "None of us have a future," he answers Chris, his voice short and clipped.
Jona hears a voice speak to him. He feels a presence he did not expect, from a machine he never imagined he could hear it from.
"Zoltan Akkanen..."
The Phenex comes in faster than his eyes can track. Faster than the Neo Zeong can track, as its golden, blue fire-wreathed form is followed by the targeting reticule. Jona's eyes widen, his eyebrows twitching.
And the arms strike, the Photon Barrier leaving gashes in the white armor. The Neo Zeong turns, and the great golden ring behind it pulses once. Light shimmers across it.
Warnings flood across the Phenex's screen, but they're not part of the built-in OS; they're not something programmed into any OS.
HOW DARE YOU
HOW ARE YOU IN THERE
HOW ARE YOU WORTHY
"What are you doing with the Phenex!?"
KTS: Jona Basta targets Yuliana Kafim with Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Focus Fire! KTS: Jona Basta targets Enba Rezza with Wired Large Funnel Blitz! KTS: Jona Basta targets Zoltan Akkanen with Warn L1! KTS: Jona_Basta Changes attack to Leina Ashta, Shelby Korts, Trevor Teach, and Sophia Mayhew Castellan with Wired Large Funnel Swarm. KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage. KTS: Enba Rezza blocks Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Blitz, taking 3180 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta blocks Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm, taking 6840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Jona Basta warns Zoltan Akkanen, making his next attacks more accurate!
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Understanding Liam's anguish, Sayaka makes a little ammendment to her previous statement: "Alive."
Yuliana's dry transmission, despite it all, gets a slight chuckle out of Sayaka. "I wouldn't dream of it." She replies. She'd wish Yuliana the same... but somehow she thinks her darkness is better suited than most to handling Jona.
Rita tells her companions to "leave them", Sayaka didn't expect anything less, really. She figured in a state like this, defeating the "monster" would still take priority. There aren't any hard feelings, but frankly Sayaka will take her chances without Rita. Leina on the other hand, rejects that Possibility with her own - she'll find a way to save all three of them.
"Thank you, Leina. Please, don't worry about me. There are few people I'd trust more with something like this than your mother. Focus on the Neo Zeong!" She somehow manages a smile.
Koji acts exactly as Aphrodite Areia predicts... but there's something more to it - something that the Neo Zeong II's control system could never understand.
"I love you too much to let this bastard take you from me, Sayaka. MAZIN POWER: FULL THROTTLE!"
Sayaka blinks within the cockpit of Aphrodite Areia for a second, as if what he just said didn't even register - the moment the Mazinger Blade and the Iron Cutter clash almost feels longer than it is.
"Geez... if you're going to say something THAT stupid, then I know you mean it!" She grins widely, as steel clashes against steel. "Show me everything you got, Koji!"
Amidst talks of an emergency Pilder ejection anti-virus, the Reito Beam soars towards Aphrodite Areia. The slender machine instantly raises a shield in counter, icing it over. To any observer, it might look like it didn't do much, but...
In truth, it's one of the smartest things he could've done, rendering one of Areia's primary sources of defense useless. "That's the way... keep on pushing!" As if to fancifully throw the frozen shield away, Areia shoves it towards Mazinger Z at full force, turning ice and light against the Castle of Iron.
Koji desperately turning to Asciel for help, Areia itself receives a "message" from the Virtual Sage. Rejection, expulsion, expansion, defiance. The machine's eyes shift...
%And find that the only unwanted virus in its system is Asciel herself - Sayaka has use as a hostage after all. The only message she can possibly receive in return is that of a machine doing what it is forced to do, rather than the pride and defiance of a Mazinger.
PHOTON POWER, 55.5% INCREASE. TARGET LOCK-ON: ROCKET PUNCH.
Just as she was told, those distinctively rocket punch shaped missiles soar to crush the Codarl-a's frame between them.
The same as her daughter, Sayla rejects having to sacrifice Sayaka and Liam. Yes, she's cool and pragmatic, but she's also stubborn when it's necessary. "...I can't argue with that. So just hang on tight, because it's not going to be easy!" Sayaka concedes, as the Rust Typhoons come flying her way.
Aphrodite Areia stands in the heart of the storm, attempting to overwhelm it with her own. "Rust Cyclone, coming your way!" Sayaka warns.
Finally, Nova Stellar, Miracle Worker. Of course she has words about Jona's thoughts on miracles. "How very earnest," Sayaka answers her, warmly. "This time, I'll believe in those miracles you work!"
Unfortunately, while she was busy sharing data with her allies, Aphrodite Areia thought it was the perfect time to throw her off-guard. "Watch out! She's going to use the Mazinger Blade to overwhelm you in melee!"
The Mazin does exactly that, unsheathing blade against the tiny Arm Slave.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Yuliana Kafim partially guards Jona Basta's Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Focus Fire, taking 2952 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 11948 KTS: Your EN is now 64. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach successfully evades Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Sayla Mass KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Naoko Suzuki KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Asciel Colette KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Koji Kabuto with Aegis Shield Ward! KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Asciel Colette with Rocket Punch Missiles! KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Sayla Mass with Rust Cyclone! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Naoko Suzuki with Mazinger Blade Slice! KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Sayla Mass fails to Evade Sayaka Yumi's Rust Cyclone, taking 3720 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi repulses Sayla Mass, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi begins a Formation attack! KTS: Asciel Colette successfully evades Sayaka Yumi's Rocket Punch Missiles KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm, taking 1410 damage! KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto parries Sayaka Yumi's Aegis Shield Ward, taking 870 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi repulses Koji Kabuto, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Naoko Suzuki parries Sayaka Yumi's Mazinger Blade Slice, taking 1470 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has engaged Naoko Suzuki! KTS: Sayaka Yumi completes the Formation attack! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan partially guards Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm, taking 4674 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
The heroes of the living have answered Rita's call. She smiles gently, feeling familiar souls appear around her. All the effort she put into connecting with others is paying off. It isn't quite the army she hoped for, but it will be enough.
It has to be.
Michele is given a warm smile. Here, in the heart of the Phenex, perhaps Michele can see Rita. This is a machine of miracles, after all.
We'll bring him home. Whatever it takes.
Rita lets out a quiet noise of surprise at the appearance of the Banshee. After everything Rita did, Leina is still willing to fight for her? How is this possible? Leina should hate her. It's what Rita deserves for the sins she's committed.
But Leina speaks, and Rita's expression flickers back to her carefully maintained smile. This is as it should be. It's strange, though, how Rita's heart aches so sharply at her sister's words -- this is the right thing. It shouldn't hurt. But even so...
Leina.
Rita doesn't know what to say. Grief and guilt threaten to overwhelm her, and she cannot allow it. Not now. Not at the end of everything. With visible effort, Rita pushes the confusing emotions away. It can't matter now, it can't, it can't--
Only the living can end something started by the living. The way I am now, I can't.
It's a pitiful thing to say in response to Leina's words. But it's all Rita can offer while staying focused on her mission. Maybe, once this is over, there will be time. Rita squeezes her luminous eyes shut for a moment, knowing the thought is futile.
Jona! All of us are here to save you! To bring you back!
Rita's eyes go wide at the Phenex's screens lighting up with warnings -- unknown warnings. No one has ever been able to breech the golden Gundam's security before, and the Phenex's distress echoes into Rita's heart. Gritting her teeth, she brings her free hand to her head. It hurts -- Jona's anguish echoing into Rita and the Phenex both.
Zoltan is the only one who could pilot the Phenex now. It was meant to be you, Jona. Everything has gone so wrong, and it's all my fault. Please, hate me if you need to, but don't destroy yourself for this.
It's too soon to try and approach the Neo Zeong II. The resonance of the enormous Psychoframe would destroy Rita's manifestation before it could begin to reach Jona. As the Phenex is shaken by Jona's words, Rita turns her gaze to Zoltan.
Zoltan, use the gaze beam. We have to break through the monster's outer shell -- use Michele's targeting data and hit it where it's weak!
If they can just pry Jona from the Neo Zeong II's armor, break his link with the Psychoframe...
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Zoltan Akkanen KTS: Rita Bernal targets Jona Basta with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Jona Basta fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
'Hold on, Sayaka! Liam! You too Jona --'
"Leina," Liam says, fear and gratitude mingling in his voice. "He grabbed us when we--"
The computer registers hits. Anita's Valkyrie. Chris's Gundam. Significant barrier interference on the latter, shield intercept on the former. The Dianthus--
Liam watches in horror as Liath Macha wrenches its glaive free. Its visor-eye stares down at Lucine's machine, unfeeling, while fear seizes Liam's heart. "Lucine! Lucine, you have to fight! It's the only way!"
Liath Macha meets the pulse with its shield; electricity crawls over it, and into the circuitry in its arm. The fingers seize and spasm, and the jolt gives the Dianthus a few, crucial seconds to disengage. Liam breathes again. The CGUE II jets back, raising its shield to soak Anita's gunfire; the beams scorch trails down the solid slab of armor. Two shots catch the suit in the shoulder, leaving blackend marks, and that's all.
"Chris! Please, careful!" Liath Macha twists around, and sweeps its glaive up to intercept the INCOMs, but Chris breaks through. Beams score lines down Liath Macha's armor; one of them comes tantalizingly close to that cable, but the machine whips its body in front of it, using its own mass as a shield.
Yuliana's here, too--and again, there's that mingling of terror and gratitude. He settles on answering her words to him. "Sentiment's appreciated," he grates out. Liath Macha's shield slides onto its upper arm, freeing it up to take its glaive in a two-handed grip. Liam grits his teeth as the CGUE II accelerates towards Anita's Valkyrie with zero consideration for its pilot. "Ghh--!" he chokes out, as it hits him mid-word. "This is a story, Jona?" he says, as he recovers his breath. Liath Macha drives the glaive in a sweeping strike at the other machine's legs, before whirling about and making a lunging stab for the Tristan. "Fine. Let me tell you a story. Once there was a little boy who loved stories. His mom loved stories so much she studied them, until she couldn't anymore. And the little boy found other stories, ones that said he had to be a servant or drunk or brute or dullard just because of who he was."
"The boy still wanted to be the hero, but he had to be the villain." And as Liam says this, Liath Macha rounds on the Dianthus again, its megaparticle blade gleaming electric-green. It drives the weapon at the wounded machine, zero remorse in its 'eyes'.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Anita Rosetta, Lucine Azul, and Christina MacKenzie with JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Whirlwind Strike. KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Biorhythm activates Focus! KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Liam 7-020's JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Whirlwind Strike, taking 3360 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Anita Rosetta! KTS: Lucine Azul fails to evade Liam 7-020's JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Whirlwind Strike, taking 4800 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Lucine Azul!
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Sayla..." They haven't really talked since before they found out that Leina had been forced into piloting the Banshee. To have her here helping them, placing her trust in Leina to get the mission done...
It lifts Koji's spirits to have the Hi-Nu at Z's side again.
"... Thanks." It's going to take time to get the override worm ready. Keep Areia busy - throw damage at the II Neo Zeong if there's an opportunity - and speaking of...
"All I see is a coward," he spits this at the II Neo Zeong, "willing to throw innocent lives in front of him instead of doing his own damn dirty work!" Mazinger Z raises a great fist at the mobile armour -
- and has to duck away to deflect the iced-over shield hurled at it by Aphrodite Areia.
"You stole a machine Sayaka and I poured both our hearts into and you're using her and Liam to keep us busy - but it's not gonna work. Your twisted idea of the way 'this has to be' isn't gonna work, Jona Basta. You know why?"
"Because you've pissed me off."
He can't ignore Areia any longer though, and drives back in, Cutter blades glinting in the starlight as he strikes at the femme Mazin's weapon arm with Super Alloy New Z blades!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Parminder is entirely comfortable with his level of assistance, Zoltan. Oh, he's still hanging out around the edges, in that stolen Salamis Kai, eating potato chips while draped over the Captain's chair; he feels no need to get involved in his. He's monitoring the situation. It's fine. You've got this, right? LOL
"Good," Yuliana transmits, back, to Sayaka and Liam. "Don't make me have to deal with your husband if you eat it." Beat, "Oh, sorry. Your boyfriend. Perhaps you ought to address that issue before more of these events come to pass?" It's a little dry, but at least she gives some shred of a damn. A beat: "I'd say the same of you, Liam, but I suspect you'll not be an adult for a few years yet." A married adult, she means. That's the culture, in Indonesia; one isn't a proper adult until they're a married adult.
"The Ra Mari II, eh? Tcheh!" The scornful noise Yuliana makes slams right into her helmet. Zoltan must know her pain. "I don't much like you being at my back, but the situation demands I tolerate it. Rita doesn't want the fool man killed, for what it's worth."
Dryly, she remarks: "Though Zoltan may have forgotten already..." As if it's Zoltan being the jerk here! Jona stole his suit!
"And -- you?!" Yuliana barks, hearing Leina's voice over the radio. "What are YOU doing out here, young lady?! YOU are supposed to be RECOVERING! DO I HAVE TO SLAG THAT MACHINE JUST SO YOU'LL SIT THE FUCK DOWN?!" That... might mean she's watching Leina's back. Maybe.
She does growl, "god damnit, Ritechka," under her breath as she listens to Leina trying to reach Jona. Unfortunately, it reaches Yuliana, too. And Yuliana doesn't much approve of what Rita has done to Leina, anyway.
Luckily, Michele gives her some data to focus on, instead. She thinks of Shelby speaking with her own voice, unchanged by filters, as she scans through the numbers. "Got it," she reports, to Michele, a few moments later. "I'll shift my target."
Her head jerks up, though, as she picks out another signal in all the noise. "Shit," is all Yuliana has to say, when she identifies the Hyperion.
It's fine. Maybe Sophia didn't see her. (Sophia definitely saw her.) It's fine. Elisa's definitely keeping an eye on her. (Elisa won't let her come to harm.)
It's not like people like Trevor aren't making themselves very obvious targets to focus on, after all.
Yuliana has an obvious target of her own in Naoko -- and the radio picks up her snarl, "rrrghhhh...", when the wounded cracks of reality scream with such unrelenting HATRED. But her hands tighten on her clutch, and she bites out: "I don't have time!" Which is the best Naoko's getting, but it at least means she doesn't dive across the battlefield to kill her instead.
Primarily because she really doesn't have time.
"I don't accept this world as it is! Why do you think I'm trying to make it BETTER?!" Yuliana yells to Jona, as she's forced to pull back in the wake of those shoulder cannons. "Shit, shit --" She can be heard muttering to herself, flicking a series of toggle-switches, as the Da Xukong at least manages to pull back to the edge of that cannonfire. The might of Neo Zeong II's shoulder cannons washes over her, and a horrible green aura flares around her machine as the Abyssal Veil protects her from the worst of its harms. Even so, those eight legs are rather more blasted than they were a moment ago, when the light fades.
Liam's words about heroes who have to be villains may be quite illustrative, hearing what Yuliana has to say. "What I have done is what I shall DO if you insist on this fool's errand! I can plunge you to AN ETERNITY OF ISOLATION, wretch! If you can't stand it, run into her arms!" Yuliana screams, and she is angry, as she forces the Da Xukong 0 back -- to strike at one of those weak points which Michele pointed out to her. She has to fling a few more switches and tune a dial to get extra cycles out of her engine, but this time, when her stinger moves to stab into the Neo Zeong II, it will inject. The plasma will flow through the armor, heating it, weakening it. She can't hear Rita's heart, but they were trained together for years -- apparently, they have the same idea, regardless. Weaken the outer shell and break through.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Jona Basta's Reborn in Rage activates, and the spirit endures. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Jona Basta KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Sayaka Yumi with Iron Cutter Chop! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Jona Basta with Infernal Arachnid Injector Inner Fire! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 44. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 20. KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi parries Koji Kabuto's Iron Cutter Chop, taking 1170 damage! KTS: Koji Kabuto has engaged Sayaka Yumi! KTS: Koji Kabuto completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Enba Rezza has posed.
The situation rapidly grows more complex; rogue elements as well as the Federation are here, and for now they're on the same side, but will that remain the case? Even the Phenex is here... Piloted.
Strange.
The radio crackles after Yuliana's report about the Ra Mari II. "I assure you, Mrs. Kafim, we are no happier to work with you." Enba's voice is clipped and calm as ever. "...But we'll try to leave the Mr. Basta alive."
To Jona: "We will," Enba says, when prompted whether they can--and those golden beams crash forward again. "Power to forward shields!" Enba directs, and some of those beams hit shields of Valkyries in Battroid mode--while some impact against barrier and ablative armor on the Ra Mari II's hull. It's scarred, but still intact for now. ...It can't take this indefinitely, though. Not while remaining combat-worthy.
"...Remember," Enba says over the radio, to nita Rosetta and Naoko Suzuki. "We can only help Rena if we win here. Do eveything you can--and so will I."
"Help Rena?" Astelian wonders, turning to Enba. "Did something happen--"
"Later," Enba directs, and then leans forward. "Miss Chovan, I need you to get me some room to maneuver. Move up ahead of the colony's axis--"
To Jona once again, "This world can be very cruel. But it doesn't have to be as cruel as that. You ascribe some meaning to your pain, as if there's some story you can tell yourself that makes it 'right' or make sense..."
"But it doesn't. There is nothing noble in suffering. It is only suffering. And you and I, and my crew, can make the choice to limit it where we can. If you can't understand that... Then you have no business on the world's stage!"
"Valkyrie wing," Enba directs. "Focus on weak points. Spread out, and target where you can. Survive."
The Valkyries bank around--and then spread, rushing the II Neo Zeong from all directions in a swarm of beamfire and missiles both.
KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza targets Jona Basta with Ra Mari II Mobile Suit Wing Harrying Tactics! KTS: Enba Rezza has completed their actions for the round. KTS: [Lucky] Jona Basta's Miracle Child activates, and luck goes its way! KTS: Jona Basta successfully avoids Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Inner Fire
Akane Shinjo teleports in. POT: Akane Shinjo is now set observer.
KTS: Jona Basta's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Enba Rezza rattles Jona Basta, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Jona Basta fails to intercept Enba Rezza's Ra Mari II Mobile Suit Wing Harrying Tactics, taking 1980 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
This is how it has to be, he says. Anita frowns.
"It doesn't have to. This is just how you want it. And you've got a lotta voices yelling at you otherwise." Anita replies.
She frowns for a second, though, as her attention is forced back to Liam.
"...You're right." Anita agrees with a nod at Enba's words, and then addresses Lucine and Chris. "You two still alright?"
She pauses for a second, and then continues.
"...Liam's right, you know. We gotta fight. Don't worry - we'll with you. We won't let the worst happen." Anita assures.
The Liath Macha accelerates with a sweep striking with its beam glaive. The Svipul moves down relative. Glaive hits shield and the impact forces the Valkryie back - but undeterred, the beam cannon emerges over its left shoulder. It grabs it from its mount and a spear head crackles to life.
"Brace yourself, Liam...!" Anita warns - and then the Svipul lunges forward with a piercing strike!
...And as their machines fight, Anita listens. So, Liam has a story for Jona, huh... A small frown crosses her face. Well, it's not hard to make a few connections.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Rita tries to convey this idea, that only the living can end something started by the living... but...
Don't you dare offer me excuses. If that's all you can give Jona, you'll never reach him.
Are the feelings she conveys back, delivered angrily, with disappointment in the wake of this.
You're here aren't you? If all you have for him is death, then you have no chance of convincing him there's something worth living for.
The Norn's head turns towards the Phenex, even as she conveys to her.
Live, Rita. You have to gift him more than the script written for you too.
A voice across the comms tickles across her recognition and, "... Luio?"
There's certainly confusion for a moment but then, "Fine. But don't think I've forgotten how you would have sacrificed me too."
The sheer hypocrisy of so many present, the anger within her is strong, but she understands her anger at them isn't going to save anyone here, even if her understanding of Jona's anger might.
As Yuliana admonishes her, Leina squirms in her cockpit seat, "I wanted to do that. I really did, but I was told by Rita that I had to be there... when Banagher reached the end of the road, 'or else everyone would die'. As for uh - right now-"
A beat. A lonnnggg beat.
"I was already up here and it was an emergency!"
Turns out, she's not much good at sitting around when there's a crisis going on anymore. When her loved ones are under threat.
Speaking of loved ones she feels Sayla's approach, such that when the Hi-Nu arrives, and the Areia calls out, "... Okay, I'll leave it to you Mom. Just bring her back safe, I'm angling for attending at least three weddings by the end of next year."
Wait are Sayaka and Koji even engaged-? No but it hardly matters to her shipper brain. "You're wrong. It's alive. Didn't you feel it? Didn't you hear it? Or are you too absorbed within your own pain to experience the miracle!" Her green eyes light aglow with resolve. "It's not a COMPETITION! You're trapped just like I was! But we can escape the cages we're trapped within-! Learning to live in this world of miracles."
The light of the Neo-Zeong II roars, and the Banshee twists in a pivot as it comes down. The Beam strikes it's Armed Armor DE as a shield, It's I-Field engulfing part of it, even as others SPLIT and strike the Norn, pock marking and melting it's obsidian armor, as the yellow light flickers. Wavering in it's trajectory it goes spiraling.
But then it corrects, as if the pilot and unit realign, There are melted holes in the Norn's shield, a carved out part of its leg thigh.
"That's the gift everyone gave to me."
The Norn corrects in this moment, as she takes the mauled shield and replaces it upon its back. It's thrusters fly, even as it cuts a flank around the Neo-Zeong II. In this moment, the Mega Cannon picks a bead, and fires. The Revolving Launcher's cylinder turns as missiles erupt in a salvo.
It then flies across the side of the Behemoth's twin. And as it does, fired Hide Bombs erupt, creating a mine field of fire around it. Again it flies across the back of the Neo-Zeong, attaching more of those blue globes. Before it banks into a hard turn, the Beam Magnum already charging.
"This world is cruel, it causes even the people you care about to betray you - but if you only pay attention to that. You'll miss what's really important."
The Magnum fires, a beam streaking towards the Neo-Zeong, crackling plasma, trying to bypass it's own I-Field, to bore through parts of it.
"That the people who choose to be a part of our lives? Are the truest miracles of our existence."
It's a plea, delivered at the barrel of the Banshee's Beam Magnum, it's entire Arsenal, but it's also an offer.
"Please Jona, look past your pain, and let them show you."
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Jona Basta with Revolving Launcher Full Arsenal Barrage!
KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Liam 7-020 with Spear Mode - Piercing Strike!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"The point of a story is to entertain," Trevor grunts back, hurled into his seat by sudden orthogonal acceleration. "No matter what the moral might be, if you're not telling an interesting story, then nobody's going to want to listen." His ambush spoiled, the pirate rebounds from the funnel's impact, only to see it arrange itself to fire at point blank--
Only for the claw to erupt, screamingly fast, from Isadore's wrist, snipping clean through the funnel's wired connection. They waste no time, lunging forward to grab hold of the severed cable. "'Course, there are ways people can be forced to listen, though I'm sure you probably know that. You also know that it's one of the worst things you can do to someone, drowning them in despair and hate that they wanted to have nothing to do with--"
The strange ring on the II Neo Zeong's back strobes with light. A pulse of unsettling emotion washes over Trevor's mind. "What--" That... that thing, what was that? Did Full Frontal ever use it during the fight...? He shakes his head, whatever it was, it wasn't aimed at him--
--It was aimed at the Phenex. At Rita. Trevor's vision burns red. "You-- you KNOW what something like that could do to her--"
And still he's doing it.
...Hold nothing back.
Trevor clicks his teeth shut. Isadore's thrusters blaze with sudden light as it begins whirling the severed bit overhead like a massive flail. Faster, faster, faster, until finally he pivots. With the claw as a lever, Isadore whips the funnel back at its master attempting to wrap the cable tight around its enormous, glowing ring, to use it as leverage to yank himself in...
And use that claw again to bite through the psycho shard generator with that oversized salvaging claw.
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Jona Basta with Rocket Anchor! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
"There's always something else!!" Shelby replies in a fierce cry, breaking her weapons fire and jolting off to one side, trying to keep her distance from the II Neo Zeong and not stay in one relative position for too long-- she barely even taps the brakes, letting the Mobile Suit drift rather than making precision maneuvers.
"There's no reason to give up, Jona. I found Rita, Michele -- my sister!!"
Zoltann? He's... sort of okay. Yuliana she just forgets entirely about, other than the ding in the shield from the rubber bullet that was definitely not bounced in her direction earlier, ``right Yuliana``.
The comms open. Sophia's the first person to actually see what Shelby Korts looks like right now through her visor: Hellish, at least a little bit. Her right eye is visibly bloodshot, and a smattering of blood is at her nose, drips of it visible across what shows of her cheek in the visor. Her glasses are also replaced by sport goggles, so there's -- at least that, sort of.
"S-Sophie...!?" Caedra Beatrix Castellan exclaims, only quickly thereafter toggling other comms-- such as the one used for the plucky band of rogues such as Rita, Zoltan, and Yuliana-- to mic-mute. A brief wince follows her looking back at the display -- at Sophia -- while steering a wide arc to buy herself precious seconds.
"The pilot. In that Mobile Armor. He was in the lab. Augusta. W-With me-- He's-- not well. That machine is ... it's influencing him. Denver's influencing him.."
Her expression is ... pleading. "I have to save him, Sophie. I have to get him out. Of that. ... thing."
To that extent, the canisters on the shoulder-racks of the Jagd Doga disengage with a rapid ringing series of 'pang!' noises reverberating through the chassis of the machine. Scattering, the six remotes take a support formation, scattering about and trying to apply counter-fire on the Zeong's own funnels!
KTS: Jona Basta fails to react to Leina Ashta's Revolving Launcher Full Arsenal Barrage, taking 8320 damage! KTS: Shelby Korts targets Jona Basta with Jagd Doga Funnels Basic Formation! KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
People. People around. People around him. It bristles instinctually, the emotions of Zoltan Akkanen in the undercurrent of the Phenex's glory. So many people answered Rita's Call. So many people answered. Che. Possibility. There's a faint pang of understanding; RX-0 off RX-0. Strange times.
A stray psychic beat towards Paramider. Call it a Newtype's instinct for antagonism.
Stranger comrades. "Of course." A quick response to Michele; It's his machine. He knew how to was reinforced. Yet, the suggestions minutely tweak the calibrations of the mobile suit; Here, there, here. Structural damage is the worst form.
"What does IT LOOK LIKE, Jona!?" A voice clear across the cosmos, the faintest click of the tongue at the sudden onslaught of messages. "I'm here FOR A FAVOR!" Oh. He's smiling. Feel it course within. The possibilities are endless.
"Look at yourself, you miserable doomer! Screaming into the cosmos about how there's no hope! What the hell do you know about the depths of humanity!? What the HELL do you think you are, saying that you're a Miracle Child that can't bring one about!?" What does it look like he's doing?
Still, being the only one who could do it...Goddamn it, is this what a Chosen One meant to be like!? "Don't faint on me, Rita! You can vomit in the toilet later!" The slowdown, the emotions coursing through his psyche from the sheer will of the Neo Zeong II. Switching to orbiting around the damnable machine, maintaining a healthy distance away from it. Common sense.
"Yeah, yeah! What was it you said..." Ah. Ah, hell. Fine. FINE. If Photon Power worked that way, if they kept shouting that way, FINE, HE'LL DO IT. HE WON'T BE HAPPY ABOUT IT. But if the original pilot does it, then...! The minute clicks and hums of the Photon parts, the bolted on armaments sourced from the PPL thrumming to life.
The eyes of the Phenex glow blue. Aim. Steady. Face the Narrative C-Pack. And.
"PHENEX GAZE BEAAAAAAAAAM!"
To let loose the energy of a Photonic-charged Miracle from the gaze of the Golden Phenex, aiming square and true at the center of the behemoth in front of it.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Jona Basta with Phenex Gaze Beam! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: [Lucky] Jona Basta's Miracle Child activates, and luck goes its way! KTS: Jona Basta successfully blocks Trevor Teach's Rocket Anchor
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
<"See, this is the whole problem with miracles,"> Asciel sighs as Jona's resentfulness for his circumstances floods the airwaves. <"Believing they are inherent to the world, that they will always happen and always engulf you, leaves you nowhere to go. A world without them is not only eminently possible- I'm WORKING on it, you dolt! If you take a breath for like ten minutes, get on your knees, apologize profusely for all the trouble you've caused, refuse to hide your tears of relief at the level of mercy and guidance I'm so generously offering you, and happily give this ridiculous and slightly impractical strength you've acquired over to my way of purging the world's miracles, THEN I'll reward you at the end of this. Until that point, expect very little but pity out of me~ <3">
The sassiness fills Asciel at roughly the same rate as Aphrodite Areia's systems refuse to accept her ideals of 'repulsion'. If anything, no- they 'accept' it, but only to kick her out!
>...you know I probably should've seen that coming. M-maybe now's not the time to tell them that I really. . . don't...have a great track record on this alteration and hacking business. D-damn it, right when I got them to believe and trust that I can pull thr-
Immediately, Asciel gives a private little chime into Naoko's displays, her cheery avatar popping up in the corner of her sight. "Hiiiiii there, Nova-chan! Hey. Listen. Quick assessment. You seem to have quite a bit of interest in the hearts of the synthetic. By any chance - this surely isn't a sign that you have, say, aptitude for asserting yourself on them. I have a pretty nice proposition that I'll reward you generously for if you can pull this off!" Oh no. She's adopting that voice. The tense cheeriness of a desperate attempt to foist her responsibility off to another. She doesn't like it as much as anyone else here does!
<"Right. The rage in that one isn't stopping, so I'll have to multitask while I work my magic. If you're not going to listen to my song, Aphrodite then I'll give you the opposite."> A slow incantation enters Asciel's voice, her heart alighting, both hands extending outwards towards the Aphrodite - then spreading and spreading, the darkness of the cosmos around it increasing with a haze of static. The voice of the cosmic background radiation, all converging into a flux of chaos and irrationality.
-<Lightless day and blinding night>-
-<Ends of origin, rise of downfall.>-
-<Infallible lies and uncertain right>-
-<Noise of silence, whisper my call.>-
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Sayaka Yumi with Lambda Driver Static! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla is almost surprised by how casual Leina is about this. How relaxed. But she's seen that developing up close, too. A smirk plays upon her lips. "Three, huh? Alright. I'll make sure they both come back intact enough for you to meddle."
Naoko's comment about 'doing miracles wrong' seems to burn a bit. "...I hope you're right. Too often I've seen it come with sacrifice." Even if that sacrifice was not what it initially seemed...
The Aphrodite's rust cyclone catches the larger Hi-Nu head on, encompassing the Mazin Blooded Gundam in it's winds. Sensors light up as the eroding winds eat at the armour and drive back the Hi-Nu, even as Sayaka tries to warn her. Sayla grits her teeth as she is knocked about in her cockpit. "I'll try not to misplace your confidence, Sayaka. Just hold on."
Sayla is, at this point, getting rather sick of having to face her friends and loved ones in the thrall of someone else. Leina, Akane, Sayaka... "Koji's right. What Bernal and Luio did to you is unforgivable." A *lot* of what Rita has done is unforgivable, in Sayla's mind. "But this solution you've resolved is nothing more than cruelty for it's own sake."
Yuliana yells that Leina should be resting, and Sayla can't help but agree a little. She may have to be a little firmer when this is over...
All six of the Hi-Nu's funnels fly off, breaking into two triangular formations. "This might sting, Sayaka!" She calls out, as two crackle with lightning, two build heat, and two summon the chill of the reito beam. "Funnels! Delta Force!"
The triple attack of Ice, Fire and Lightning burst from the funnels to try and lock the Aphrodite A in a prism of the three elements, the funnels spinning around the Mazin rapidly, until they exhaust their fire.
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Sayaka Yumi with Delta Force! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to react to Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Static, taking 3895 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to react to Sayla Mass's Delta Force, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 parries Anita Rosetta's Spear Mode - Piercing Strike, taking 1620 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has engaged Liam 7-020! KTS: Anita Rosetta completes the Formation attack! KTS: Jona Basta's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Jona Basta fails to react to Shelby Korts's Jagd Doga Funnels Basic Formation, taking 2340 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
Michele hears several calls. She responds to Leina's first as she formulates her reply to Jona. "I'm sorry, not that you have to forgive me. The first step is fixing my part of the mess."
Clicking the firing data, Michele finally responds to Jona.
"Jona! If this is about being betrayed, you don't need to take it out on the world! They didn't cause your pain! There's plenty of people who didn't cause anyone pain worth this! Is this the future we desired when we saved that town? Is this where we expected our lives to go... to end?!"
Michele pushes forward. "Zoltan! You can do this - keep going!" She sends some additional telemetry, as she desperately wishes she was a Newtype right now. She can predict Jona's moods - but she can't truly feel his heart...
KTS: Michele Luio has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Zoltan Akkanen KTS: Michele Luio targets Zoltan Akkanen with Awe! KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Michele Luio inspires awe, increasing Zoltan Akkanen's Morale!
<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.
Sophia doesn't look a whole hell of a lot better, with her own left eye bloodshot from trying to rub at it to try and numb or address or silence the lingering pain from the assaults of the THING inside Denver Colony. The soft-eyed woman who's met Shelby at the Orbital Ring isn't here; Captain Sophia Mayhew Castellan has a stony, firm expression. Though it does falter to a grimace at the sight of her face. "Look at you," she sighs, for them alone. "I see this place was unkind to the both of us. But its demons can wait for a moment."
She takes a breath and flicks her eyes away from her personal screen, up to the main viewport, on-glass reticles tracking key visuals. The funnels scrape across the Hyperion's mighty hull, arcs of burned metal drawn in its side, but the hulk endures.
"...I see. I'll trust your judgment, then."
She doesn't close the line, though she does gently push the comms screen to a corner so she can lean back. She sets her jaw, quiet.
"The enemy mobile armor is to be disabled. I'm sure Colonel Khushrenada should like to see what's so special about these attachments," she calls to the bridge. "Almace!"
The Flag Squadron leader barks a thunderous, "ENGAGING!" before the a series of Flags surge out from the Hyperion Battlegroup's small cloud of units and draw their linear rifles, bombarding Jona's II Neo Zeong with waves of cannonfire, scattering like a cloud to make a decisive reply difficult.
KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan targets Jona Basta with Hyperion Battle Group Strike Formation! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
"...Yeah. We're saving everyone. Nothing less is acceptable," Naoko replies in response to Enba's transmission, as she does her best to stay focused on her data transfer. Which isn't easy in the middle of all this... especially not with Yuliana around. It's clear enough from that probably unintentional transmission that it was a wise decision to keep monitoring that Wanzer. 'Not having time' is a bit tenuous a reason to consider herself safe from an axe in the back. But somehow it feels like a bad idea to try and actively suggest a truce, it may be best to just stay far away and keep quiet.
It's vexing, but she can offer no rebuttal to Jona's accusations that she doesn't understand the cruelty of the world. She's aware, she absolutely doesn't. Does she need to, though? There are no rules that say the world needs to be cruel. And if there were, those sound like rules that are in dire need of breaking.
But it's fine. This isn't an argument she needs to win. Besides, Jona is being quite distracted by this point, which helps her to keep her focus where it needs to be. With someone who does appreciate her words, enough to make her blush. Thankfully, nobody could see that, so it didn't happen. All she needs is a second to recompose so she can sound entirely confident and professional when she responds to Sayaka.
"I'll make sure your faith is not misplaced! Just watch! We'll have you free in no time!"
So she promises, but if it hadn't been for that timely warning, she may have had more difficult time dealing with Aphrodite Areia coming in to literally cut her connection short. She may have only a short moment to prepare, but luckily she doesn't need to unsheathe a blade to parry one. The Sukeban only raises its hands, extreme heat coursing through across their edges as the comparatively massive blade strikes down upon them. Despite the difference in size, it's an effective maneuver, driving the Arm Slave back, but not much worse for wear.
She doesn't take a very long time to think about her follow-up action. Though this isn't the target she was hoping to use it on, well... how could she not take the opportunity to show how far she's come since they last met? Sukeban draws back its right arm and...
"I'll stop your machine with my IMPROVED ROKKETTO PUUUUNCH!"
And there it goes... the Sukeban's fist actually does rocket off properly this time, free of the wires that used to be required for retrieval. She's implemented Koji's lessons regarding the retrothrusters, turning it into a true and proper Rocket Punch. It's not hard to imagine how much she's glowing with pride right now.
She's snapped out of it by a sudden transmission from Asciel, however, blinking blankly only a moment before the immediate response, "W-well yeah, I'm pretty great at that stuff actually! Just tell me what I can do!"
Which is about when Asciel 'multitasks' by employing something extremely interesting - and strangely familiar...? - which changes her tone to a far more excited one still. "Whoa whoa whoa wait a minute, what was that you just did?!"
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Sayaka Yumi with Remote Fist! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Jona Basta's Reborn in Rage activates, and its spirit endures. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Jona Basta, reducing its Morale significantly. KTS: Jona Basta fails to react to Zoltan Akkanen's Phenex Gaze Beam, taking 4160 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to rush. KTS: Sayaka Yumi partially guards Naoko Suzuki's Remote Fist, taking 4650 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Sayaka Yumi! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan rattles Jona Basta, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Jona Basta blocks Sophia Mayhew Castellan's Hyperion Battle Group Strike Formation, taking 960 damage! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has engaged Jona Basta! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
The Dianthus attempts to weave out of the way of the Liath Macha's laser fire, but even with the advantage of the space she forced between them earlier, the suit as easily closed in that space, hitting two of the petals on the Dianthus's back as they try to retract back.
"...." Red warnings appear on Lucine's dashboard. It wasn't like she would have had a chance against the II Neo Zeong, but Liam's craft is an equal match to hers in many ways.
'Lucine, you have to fight! It's the only way!'
She has to fight him, in order to keep him from the sorrow of becoming a true villain. Chris and Anita are there to help, but it doesn't make it any better.
Quietly, the glaive held back, the Dianthus pivots towards the Liath Macha finally, seemingly with an attempt to land an attack straight for suit with enough speed to get past its own defenses. However, like a butterfly swerving out of reach of an admirer's hand, it flits downwards and around, glaive raised up over its head to swing savagely downwards.
She's not stabbing for Liath Macha, but trying slice through that cable in space.
< "..... Screw your self-important nihilistic bullshit, Jona, and screw this stupid play of yours!! I'm cutting your strings!" >
It's only at that point Lucine finds the eloquence to state her opinion on the state of this world, and how Jona is affecting it. She screams her anger out, taking no time to land a proper speech aimed at what's left of Jonas' better nature.
She's just beyond that, right now.
< "My boyfriend will be nobody's fucking puppet!" >
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has failed to disengage. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul targets Liam 7-020 with CL0-V3 Glaive Shine! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to react to Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Shine, taking 6240 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has engaged Liam 7-020! KTS: Christina MacKenzie's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Christina MacKenzie fails to parry Liam 7-020's JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - Whirlwind Strike, taking 3080 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Christina MacKenzie!
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Chris wires a laser band back to Anita, and just Anita--"Anita... I'm okay. Lucine... I have to protect Lucine, or there won't be much left of Liam to protect."
Switching back to the broader band, she can't help but retort back to Jona. "I've thought that before, heard that before, but I never took other peoples' futures for granted! We're going to show you a new future--I might not be a Newtype but I predict your friends are gonna clock you!"
The Liath dives between its enemies, relentless, heedless of Liam's physical and emotional strain. She's seen his mobile suits perform this kind of thrust before, on Metis, the last time she crossed blades with Liam--but this time it's the mechanical rigidity of a program, rather than the steadiness of a soldier. Chris pulls the Tristan's arm up to deflect that piercing thrust with its bulky forearm shells, but the Liath is just that much quicker to react and adjust under the Zeong's control. She twists away and the glaive scrapes past the Tristan's waist.
"Liam, I can't be careful--if I hold back, we can't get you out of there. I'm sorry about your mobile suit, but I'm going to take it apart now!"
Fanning out its vectored thrusters, the Tristan finishes the spin away from the glaive, sweeping a chobham shell out like a hammer, GN particles glimmering as thrusters adjust and pivot, launching two kicks as the Liath's movements shift.
KTS: Christina MacKenzie targets Liam 7-020 with Blitz Vector - Pressure ! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Christina MacKenzie rattles Liam 7-020, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Liam 7-020 parries Christina MacKenzie's Blitz Vector - Pressure , taking 450 damage! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has engaged Liam 7-020!
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
"There is nowhere for me to return to, Rita!" Jona shouts -- nearly screams -- and his eyes widen. "How--how can he be meant to pilot the Phenex? How--DON'T LIE TO ME!"
He does start screaming, then. "I could never have flown the Phenex!"
Jona's eyebrow twitches as Liam speaks to him. He turns his head -- his expression still cold, as he does. "Then that's why we have to write an ending."
Then, his eyes turn towards Koji. He can remember a time when he would have been in awe of the Castle of Iron. Now, he feels... nothing. He tells himself he feels nothing; the shame, the fear, those are buried deep down.
"You're just in denial," he says. "Has your struggle changed anything?"
His attention is forced to the Da Xukong 0. He sees the scorpion tail rising, hearing Yuliana's taunts. His eyes narrow. "No," he spits. "You won't make this world better. You won't change anything!"
The scorpion's tail swings down. And then the golden ring of the Psycho Shards gleam. There is a pulse, a ripple through space, and the Wanzer is hurled backward, before the chest-mounted cannon shudders.
And a massive blast of golden energy explodes out of it, hurtling towards the Da Xukong 0.
"And what do you know of my pain? Of its meaning!?" Jona snaps back at Enba, his anger upon them. The Narrative takes aim -- beam rifle shots firing at the Valkyries, as they sweep in. Blasts are torn through the armor.
His beam rifle fires rapidly, lances of beam energy hurtling after the Ra Mari II's VF contingent as they sweep in close.
"All that proves," Jona tells Anita, "is that you people won't listen to the truth!"
His eyes turn to Trevor -- and widen at the accusation. "I KNOW! But this is what I have to do! This is what I AM!" Jona shouts at him. The claw swings in for the Psycho Shards, and they glimmer.
And the huge salvaging claw swings to a stop, one centimeter before them.
Then, the Psycho Shards shine. The golden ring glows brilliantly, before a massive blast of force slams for the Isadore, and tries to hurtle her backward.
Then, Jona turns to look at Shelby, and he flinches for a moment. She found her sister. But then it comes to him--it's another truth, he tells himself. It's his truth, he tells himself.
"But were you still you, when you found them?"
Her funnels fire. Two of the wired funnels suddenly explode, huge fireballs that erupt in space between them. Jona stares for a moment -- then moves a hand, and the Neo Zeong's shoulder armor opens again, cannons swiveling. They fire, as four of them combine into a massive beam.
The blast SLAMS into Denver Colony's cylinder, tearing a gash through the abandoned colony, before it slashes for the Jagd Doga's position. "Were you still the person they remembered, Shelby?"
His eyes squeeze shut, hearing Michele ask that. It's too much; it's all too much. His breath is shaking.
"We didn't save ANYONE, Michele!" he screams. "We didn't make a real miracle! All of our suffering, our pain, the way we've all been hurt--the way we've all hurt others! WE DIDN'T SAVE ANYONE!"
The Phenex comes in, even as he screams. His eyes shift -- focusing again -- and he realizes that it really is Zoltan in the Phenex, flying so aggressively. He feels sick for a moment.
"That's a name people gave me! We can't rise above what they make us into. You know that, don't you, ZOLTAN!?" Jona shouts at him, as the Phenex's eyes glow blue. It turns to face the Narrative Gundam C-Packs. The blast of energy slams into the Narrative Gundam, part of the chest armor and shoulder armor blown into a deformed, half-melted state.
The armor around the waist is half-slagged too, burnt where the blow struck.
A trio of wired funnels rise up -- shooting up around the golden RX-0 -- and fire, energy beams criss-crossing onto it. It makes a cage of energy blasts -- something that only the fastest machine could dodge.
Jona's attention is pulled away, then, as the Hyperion's Flags launch. His eyes widen, as the Flags's shots slam into the armor, leaving pock marks across it. He grits his teeth, before the chest-mounted cannon shudders again.
Then a wide-area burst of mega particle energy fires, and the Mobile Armor turns, sweeping the huge beam across the path of the Hyperion's Flags.
"We're all puppets!" Jona answers Lucine, though his voice wavers. "We've... we've always been puppets! Can't you see that!?"
Chris calls out to him -- predicts what his friends will see. "Newtypes..." He trails off. "Newtypes never want to see physical phenomena! We'll focus on the miracle, even as they carve us up!"
The Banshee Norn comes tearing in towards him. The world is cruel. The people you love most betray you. Jona fixates upon those words. He leans forward, in his seat, and his teeth are bared.
The beam magnum fires, its shots ripping through the I-Field -- leaving gashes in it -- and then slam into the right arm of the Neo Zeong. The white armor is blown away; an explosion rips half of the upper right arm, electricity exploding outward.
Warnings flash and cascade across Jona's monitor.
"What does it matter, if they're already lost?" Jona asks Leina. "What does it matter, if you've been changed beyond being the person they loved? I'll show you... I'll show you the despair of the Universal Century!"
The red Psychoframe at the center of the Narrative C-Packs all gleams, coming online. And that despair is given form -- a morass of shifting reds and violets, blending together into a sea of aura. It surges forward, washing over the Norn.
And then the Narrative Gundam levels its beam rifle, and fires a shot -- perfectly aimed -- into the heart of that raw manifestation of Psycommu power.
"I'll show you, Leina... and all of you!" he cries out. The funnels about the Phenex fire again -- a cage of light around it -- and then another wire, ending with an electromagnetic lock, flies out for the golden Mobile Suit.
Another wire, just like the ones attached to the Aphrodite Areia and the Liath Macha.
KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta targets Yuliana Kafim with High Mega Particle Cannon Devastation! KTS: Jona Basta targets Enba Rezza with Beam Rifle Frenzied Fire! KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta targets Trevor Teach with Psycho-Shard Pulse! KTS: Jona Basta targets Shelby Korts with Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Annihilation! KTS: Jona Basta targets Zoltan Akkanen with Wired Large Funnel Blitz! KTS: Jona Basta targets Sophia Mayhew Castellan with High Mega Particle Cannon Blast! KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta targets Leina Ashta with Psycho Attack! KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta partially guards Jona Basta's Psycho Attack, taking 8160 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Leina Ashta has been defeated! KTS: Jona Basta has engaged Leina Ashta! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan blocks Jona Basta's High Mega Particle Cannon Blast, taking 6360 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta rattles Trevor Teach, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Trevor Teach fails to Evade Jona Basta's Psycho-Shard Pulse, taking 7800 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza's Barrier Generator activates, negating 200 base damage. KTS: Enba Rezza fails to react to Jona Basta's Beam Rifle Frenzied Fire, taking 6120 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim charges into the attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Yuliana Kafim partially guards Jona Basta's High Mega Particle Cannon Devastation, taking 5760 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 6188 KTS: Your EN is now 30.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Jona demands Koji answer whether his struggle - their struggle changed anything. To someone of Jona's worldview the answer might well just be no. They defeated Doctor Hell and the Mycanae, but the conflict forces itself to continue with the Doctor's return. But...
"Change isn't always a struggle, Jona." Sayaka tells him. "We risked our lives to stop Doctor Hell and the Mycanean Empire both. But that's not the only thing we did. We used Photon Power for peace, to build safer cities and lives for people. It might seem insignificant in the face of Britannian invasion... but any change for the better is worth taking. Whether it's in times of peace and war. And we'll demonstrate that to you no matter how many times it takes."
At the same time, Koji lunges forth into melee with the Iron Cutter blades, and once again they are met by the Mazinger Blade in that same close range. "Nice hit... looks like we're pretty evenly matched." She grins, pushing Mazinger Z back.
Yuliana and Leina somehow both invoke the idea of a wedding they have to survive to, and Sayaka immediately turns redder than Aphrodite Areia's eyes.
Until Yuliana drops the punchline. "I swear to... you're the only person who would rub in the fact you're married at a time like this!" Sayaka spits back. "One day, I hope I can make you eat those words, though." She adds, a little quieter. One of her greatest fears is something terrible happening before she ever gets to express her true feelings.
Aphrodite Areia, then might not have given Asciel's song the light of day. But it's not the only trick the Virtual Sage has up her sleeve... forming a phenomenon that Sayaka immediately recognizes from the assault on the Photon Power Labs.
Areia, who was supposed to be a Mazin of Peace of War, Truth and Justice, God and Devil... hates it, going berserk at the sheer overload of 'nonsense data' Asciel forces through. It lunges - attempting to catch the Codarl-a in its hands, but ultimately the damage is done.
"What in the world are you doing to her, Asciel?" Sayaka can't help but ask - but she's certainly not in the position to complain. "...I think it's helping." She concludes. She'd still like an explanation later, though.
"I know you won't let me down," Sayaka answers Sayla softly, as the Photon Hi-Nu emerges from the dance of two storms. It's been up and down, secrets kept, but she really does feel Sayla never let her down when it came down to it. "Might sting? All right... let's see what those Delta Funnels we put together can do!" She challenges, as those Photon Delta Funnels fly forth, imbued with the elements.
Fire melts barrier, lightning clips wings, and ice cools sensors, leaving no escape from that deadly assault of Photon Power, sparks flying in the Pilder. Sayaka's expression remains determined even so.
Finally, Nova proves that she has what it takes to be a Mazin, launching off Sukeban's ROCKETTO PUNCH, attack naming and all! Seeing it flying forward, Aphrodite Areia runs forward to catch and crush it in her hands, only for it to detonate. Sayaka can't help but smile.
That was pretty impressive... Keep the attacks coming, everyone! Keep going until we can find a way to reject those wires!"
Unfortunately for their progress, Aphrodite Areia is through with being knocked around like this, as a bright red pop-up appears on the interface. "No, Areia! Don't do it! Stop--!"
The iconic pose is struck, stance wide, arms lifted, heat sinks glowing and sparking - all four of them will recognize what it is.
"HEART FIRE, incoming!"
And true to her words, fire, just so much fire washes over the battlefield, over Mazinger Z first, before spreading to the Photon Hi-Nu, Codarl-a, and Sukeban.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Sayla Mass KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Asciel Colette KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Naoko Suzuki KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Koji Kabuto, Sayla Mass, Asciel Colette, and Naoko Suzuki with Heart Fire. KTS: [Mirage] Zoltan Akkanen's Event Horizon activates, and he slips into a mirage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Blitz, taking 0 damage! KTS: Koji Kabuto fails to Evade Sayaka Yumi's Heart Fire, taking 5800 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Sayaka Yumi completes the Formation attack! KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Sayla Mass fails to Evade Sayaka Yumi's Heart Fire, taking 7800 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Sayaka Yumi roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Sayaka Yumi completes the Formation attack! KTS: Asciel Colette successfully avoids Sayaka Yumi's Heart Fire KTS: Sayaka Yumi roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall 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 Sayaka Yumi's Heart Fire KTS: Sayaka Yumi roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts charges into the attack! KTS: Shelby Korts partially guards Jona Basta's Shoulder Mega Particle Cannon Annihilation, taking 7200 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify!
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
'You're just in denial', Jona says, and Koji scoffs. "And you just have a machine whispering in your head, feeding your self-hate and blinding you with visions of a world too big for you! Don't you get it? It doesn't matter if my fight doesn't change anything big! What matters is the lives I've touched along the way, the people who believe in the Castle of Iron, the people who will follow the trail I've blazed!"
People like Naoko, who has her own real Rocket Punch now. Koji beams in pride.
Sayaka's panic here catches Koji's attention and Mazinger Z turns to face Aphrodite Areia. He knows what that glow means. Plenty of space to dodge... but no time.
Z brings up its arms and legs, Scrander wings folding up to minimise its silhouette, and is engulfed in Areia's Heart Fire.
...
...
...
Wisps of heat and energy still coruscating off Super Alloy New Z, the Castle of Iron uncurls.
"... Evenly matched sounds about right, Sayaka," Koji manages to say through coughing. "This isn't... exactly how I wanted to test Areia's mettle." There's a grin in his voice. Is he enjoying this? Enjoying beating up his girlfriend's partner machine? A fight where the objective is to save her at the risk of his life by fighting her?
... Maybe a little.
Mazinger Z stays in close, eyes becoming blinding-white for a moment before lashing out with rays of light at Areia's chassis. "Just a little longer...!"
KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Sayaka Yumi with Koushiryoku Beam! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi partially guards Koji Kabuto's Koushiryoku Beam, taking 1610 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam lets loose a choking noise that's--for once--all embarrassment, and no straining against hideous acceleration. "Kafim," he says, "Not now--" An incongruous thought slips into his head: next, she'll tell him to find a proper partner and not some Spacenoid hick with brain problems. It's weirdly grounding.
Anita's charge spares Lucine an immediate followup from Liam's machine. The cyborg grips the armrests, and sets his feet, as instructed. Liath Macha spins to face Svipul, the beam of its glaive broadening to catch and withstand that strike. For a moment, the Valkyrie and CGUE II are locked together in a clash. Anita's successfully halted Liath Macha's deadly momentum.
The Tristan falls on it next. Liath Macha breaks from Anita's machine with a solid boost up and back, and meets that chobham shell with the edge of its blade. It moves with fluid grace, like it's dancing with the Tristan, deflecting Chris's kicks with the haft of its glaive and its own lower legs. Liam wonders--is this how it performs without his soft heart weighing it down?
Lucine speaks her mind, and draws Liam away from his self-hatred. "Tell him," Liam says, and he braces again. He knows the II Neo Zeong--or whatever's controlling his suit--won't let her free him that easily. The Dianthus is small, agile, and could easily cut the cable, and sure enough, Liath Macha reacts with that priority in mind. The CGUE II's blade is still locked in that clash with Anita, trying to pressure her for an opening, and it jerks back on its string like a toy. It jets up and then whips around, bringing the undamaged chest armor to bear. A bright flicker of green ignites as the Phase Shift Armor blunts the initial strike, but Lucine scores a solid hit....
Just not to the part she was hoping for.
"You took my suit from me, Jona." Liam's voice is gaining in confidence, in absolute trust. "You can't take my mind, or my heart." Liath Macha's head swivels; its CIWS ignites, spraying lead at the Dianthus as it tries to chase it away from that cable. (The cable also moves on its own, whipping about with an almost serpentine motion as it reorients.)
"And to make myself clear," Liam continues, "that little boy... is me. A man who has nightmares about being the monster he thinks he is." Liath Macha reorients again, coming down on the Tristan from above. It holds out its glaive in a lunge, the blade spear-like, elongated. It tries to STAB clean through, before whirling around and trying to bisect Svipul through the midsection. Hypothetically, lethal shots to both pilot and machine. Liam clings to his armrests with white knuckles.
"So, Jona," Liam says, his voice tightening. "What makes YOU a monster?"
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Lucine Azul with 20mm Multibarrel CIWS Retreating Volley! KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Anita Rosetta with JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - True Strike! KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Christina MacKenzie with JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - True Strike! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Biorhythm activates Strike!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Rita winces as Leina lays out her sins. Even Yuliana seems horrified -- and that makes Rita's heart sink. If anyone could understand, it would've been Yuliana. Just another lost possibility.
Immediately after, Yuliana turns her rage on Jona. Rita refocuses on the battle, one hand on Zoltan's shoulder.
Strike in the same place as Yuliana. Wait one second, then fire.
Rita turns her gaze to Da Xukong 0, her expression grim.
It's good this is the end. I won't be able to pretend anymore. Even Yuli understands, now. I've only ever cared about saving them.
It's a murmur, more an expression of Rita's thoughts heard through the Psychoframe than a true attempt at communication. From the time she was seven years old -- all these years. Rita had one goal. She had no room for anything else.
I'd commit any sin. Do whatever it takes.
Luminous eyes settle back on the Narrative, embedded within the Neo Zeong II. Whatever it takes. Rita raises her arm, shimmering with miraculous radiance. This cannot continue. Every moment she delays, more harm is done to the ones she loves. If she must sacrifice another portion of her soul--
Don't you dare offer me excuses. If that's all you can give Jona, you'll never reach him.
Rita freezes.
Leina's anger, her disappointment, all carried on the echoes of her feelings. Rita, slowly, lowers her arm. If all she offers Jona is death, how is her path any different than the one Jona walks now?
Live, Rita.
The Heart of the Phenex stutters out a gasp. Promises she's made, to so many of the heroes... no, to so many of her friends here. Within Rita's soul, a new Possibility is kindled. Even though it was not foreseen...
Jona. I don't have to stay this way. I've found a way out. A way to be like you are again. Someone came to find me, offering a Miracle. It's already under way.
Next to her, Zoltan screams out the name of the Phenex's attack. Rita feels power surge within the Gundam, answering her pilot's call. Another surprise -- the Phenex has accepted Zoltan so fully. There's such harmony between them.
Hope, incandescent as new flame, flares up around Rita.
It's painful. It's unfamiliar. It burns her, even as it offers illumination, the edges of its fire licking at her spiritual form. Opening herself to a path she hasn't seen in completion, fills Rita with terror... But for every spark of fear, there is an equal amount of this new, strange feeling.
The blue aura around Rita shines, burning brighter, stronger, until she is haloed in golden light.
Rita Bernal takes a breath.
It isn't real. No air enters her illusory lungs. But even so, it's a beginning.
Jona screams in his grief and pain, drawing Rita's attention back to the battlefield.
We'll find a place. All of us. We can be together again. This future is what I want! And I'll fight for it, Jona!
Jona lashes out against the Phenex, seeking to cage the firebird, and Rita stretches her hands wide. The golden light surrounding her passes onto the Phenex, and for a heartbeat, the Gundam exists between worlds. Jona's attack slips through it harmlessly.
It takes effort, with two more people aboard the Phenex. Rita brings a hand to her chest as the Gundam phases back into reality, flickering from view for a moment. All too soon, awareness flashes across Rita's consciousness, and her gaze snaps back up to the panaromic cockpit.
LEINA!
The Banshee is struck. Rita and the Phenex scream with one voice, the sound echoing across the battlefield. Leina's alive. Rita can tell that much. There's no way Leina can continue fighting. She'll be a sitting duck before the Neo Zeong II -- and Rita cannot allow it.
Jona. That's enough! I won't let you hurt my SISTER!
Rita gathers her strength. The Phenex's golden glow turns brilliant, prismatic, but before Rita can take any action--
Jona lashes out with one of the monstrous cables. Even the Phenex cannot resist the strength of the Neo Zeong II, if they're caught by the wire, Jona will have the Phenex under his thrall completely.
Zoltan, you must not let it touch us! Jona will use the Phenex to destroy everything!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Liam 7-020's JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - True Strike, taking 6600 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Anita Rosetta!
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"I'll hold you to that." Leina asides to Sayla when it comes to wedding season, shipping, and meddling - ignoring Sayaka's blushing embarrassment for the moment. Whereas Luio offers the first step. Leina reluctantly accepts that, "... It'd certainly be a start, but I'll believe it when I see it."
And as Yuliana freaks out, Leina jolts at the sound of the punch, "I'll try but - we're kinda in the thick of it!" And indeed, Leina knows how Elisa feels, quite vividly, after all - she deals with it when Banagher leaps out of bed into a mauled Unicorn to fly after her into battle. That he hasn't shown up is a testament to Enba ruthlessly keeping their word.
Jona speaks, and Leina listens, and in that moment, she knows she's in trouble. Yet the parallels resonate so absurdly deeply. She can't help...
... but smile. It's not a smile of joy certainly, just one of understanding. "Alright." As the morass of reds and violets flow around the Norn, surging over it. "Show me."
And in that moment, of his Psychoframe attack, he sees it. The Norn, not shining brightly yellow, but with so many psychic hands. Screaming it's negativity into the cold and dark of space.
These feelings, this DESPAIR, they're the TRUE legacy of the Universal Century! Not some MAGIC BOX!
It's colors wash over the Psychoframe, drowning it, and Jona is forced to see, the Norn facing down the people it loves. For their own good, to submit, to succumb to the world and all of its cruelty and despair and stop fighting it.
What can either of YOU do against them? Will you just say 'Even so' against the tide? THEN BE DROWNED BY IT!
It's Beam Magnum raises in the vision, and fires at someone else - he just know that who she's firing at means the world to her.
For a time, the Norn vanishes under its onslaught, and when it's over - it's gone? The battlefield is so full of high emotions, that what happened to it is unclear, even to those close to her. The Banshee's psychic shriek is so loud, that people who are sensitive, might in fact think she's gone.
In these moments, Jona Basta might wonder if he really did show her.
Then on high, at an impossible angle, at what feels like an impossible distance. A charged burst from the Magnum streaks down, burning through the binds of the Phenex, Plasma dancing around as it arcs through parts of it, melting it in several different places, cutting the tether off the bird before it can dig into the Phenex, freeing both Rita and Zoltan.
"Let's... try this again."
It's hard to see the Norn from here, but it's armor is tortured, and cracked, like parts of it are simply coming apart, but she's still somehow held it together. Leina breathes over the comms, raspily but no less full of determination as the Norn, alit with a transfiguration of green light from its usual gold covers the Phenex.
"Go to him."
An echo of Metis, when it all went wrong.
Make it right this time.
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Zoltan Akkanen KTS: Rita Bernal targets Jona Basta with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Lucine Azul
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Rita told you -- WHAT?! God DAMNIT, Rita!" There's the sound of something impacting, in her cockpit, as Yuliana punches something. It probably wasn't important. Don't worry about it. "'Already up here'... for crying out loud! Now I understand how my Elisa feels! Just -- just stay out of trouble, all right?!"
She hears that 'Sophie?!' followed by Shelby muting her comms, and narrows her eyes, lips lifting to a sneer. Those two..? Of course she thinks nothing good of Shelby, hearing her regard Sophia so fondly. Wretched girl. She'll cause her more problems, she's sure.
But Yuliana -- has to laugh, though, hearing Zoltan call his attacks. "There you are!" She transmits, with vicious humour. "Now you're getting the hang of it--!!"
Her laughter is short-lived, though, as the Neo Zeong II throws Da Xukong 0 away. Any hopes of needling Sayaka for not being married are lost to her rage. "Ch-- you...!!" Yuliana snarls, as she grasps her clutch -- and sends her machine TEARING back forward, INTO the horrific beam of golden energy. "YOU--!!!" She can be heard screaming, even as her tiny wanzer disappears in the light. There's a flare of green as the gold begins to fade, though, and it's clear that green light was there the whole time, protecting Yuliana from the sheer lethality of her decisions.
But the High Mega Particle Cannon isn't something one can simply charge into, and the Abyssal Coil wrapped about Yuliana's chest almost groans with the effort, darkness flickering and hitching, green veins along the curls around its chest and striking out from its shoulders. Her protection has been... compromised.
Even so, she's in position. "FUCK YOU!" She screams, as she stabs at Jona's machine again. "Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK YOU!" Give her a minute. We're all berserkers, here.
Her ragged breathing finally resolves, after so many wild, shallow stabs, a streak of plasma searing into the shoulder of her own wanzer from where she wildly poured it out. "You... have a point... you son of a bitch," she pants out, hair loosed in her helmet as she sags forward. "Newtypes... can't appreciate the physical world... but I'll save you. I'll make it better... shocked you don't appreciate that. The way you were talking..."
She grasps her clutch, and focuses on the Neo Zeong II again. "You wanted to set things right, boy. End the curse settled over you and Ritechka -- and the other two, I suppose." Shelby and Michele, she means. Unlike Shelby, it seems she hasn't completely deleted her from the picture. "You asked me once if I was a puppet, just a dog of the REA... I was, then. But the questions one asks reveal so much of the questioners. Are you so overwhelmed by the madness of this world that you deny your own freedom?"
Her voice drops, made heavy by emotion, but the radio still picks it up. "You may hate me," she supposes, "for what they made me do, to Ritechka. You may think me a base coward, using her as human shield to protect myself from their rubber bullets, in those endless reaction experiments." And that might explain a thing or two to Trevor. "I remember you, fighting in front of the Institute... the way you tried to bleed me with a ferocity which matched the damn Puru clone. I suppose you'll never understand... how we were honed against each other, struck flint to steel, again, again, again. But if you want your pound of flesh -- I demand you meet me as you are, without this tragedy you're so hackishly writing!"
It is, perhaps, a mirror of Michele's own efforts to reach him -- to get him to place his anger somewhere other than the whole world. Of course she hates saying such things in front of the Ra Mari II -- their enmity may well be the one thing they share with each other -- but the circumstances are dire. And with her head swimming like this, she can't think of how to phrase it better. She's too battered to be clever.
She shakes her head, and focuses, at least, on the Banshee enough to say: "That's enough, Leina. Pull back. You're done." Her breath, ragged, draws in for another statement a moment later: "... not that I'm not grateful."
If the Neo Zeong II managed to hijack the Phenex...
Well, never mind that. It didn't happen.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Jona Basta with Infernal Arachnid Injector Heat Warper! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 48. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 25. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta successfully avoids Rita Bernal's Pass KTS: Lucine Azul retreats from the attack! KTS: [Mirage] Lucine Azul's Glimmer Engine activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Lucine Azul fails to evade Liam 7-020's 20mm Multibarrel CIWS Retreating Volley, taking 0 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 repulses Lucine Azul, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Yuliana Kafim rattles Jona Basta, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Jona Basta fails to react to Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Heat Warper, taking 3940 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Jona Basta! KTS: Yuliana Kafim continues a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Enba Rezza has posed.
"I know much," Enba answers from the Captain's Chair on the Ra Mari II. But they do not immediately have the chance to elaborate. The rush of beamfire, the beams sweeping into the VF contingent--there are casualties. Not everyone who flew to face Jona will come home. And they fell at Enba's orders.
When Enba finishes taking reports, they say, "Fall back, Valkyries. Mobile wings, go on the defensive."
The Psycho Shards shining... The blasts hitting the cylinder of the colony.
Enba considers for a moment. Then they say, "...Charge the beam cannons, Kazama. I'll buy us a moment."
"As I was saying," Enba says to Jona, "I know much of your pain, and its meaning. Did you think that we don't speak to one another? That I hadn't been watching your moves, studying your past to predict your future? I know of the Miracle Children. I know the things you have done, and the things that have been done to you. I know of your life. I know of Rita Bernal, and Michele Luio. And I know that you believe this to be necessary now."
"But it isn't."
"No grand lesson will be taught. Just as always happens, the people who suffer will be ordinary, and they will not understand your great plan. They will not understand that this is an 'end' to their suffering--only that it is prolonged. Your 'miracle'..."
"Will be just another day. Because a miracle is not bought in blood. Such things are no 'miracles'. And you should know that most of all. Because you have seen what they are not."
Newtypes.... Hmmm.
"I am no Newtype. I have no particular talents along those lines. By all accounts, I'm an entirely average pilot."
"...But this, I see clearly. You cannot be allowed to make this mistake. You can show us all the despair that you wish..."
"But we will not be swayed but such emotional arguments, no matter how fervent. ...'Hope' is the logical answer in a world this dark."
They nod to Tempo, who cuts off the radio. "That should do," Enba says just to the bridge. "Kall, get me data on the Phenex and whether that cable can work. Kazama..."
"Pattern five. Fire at will."
The Ra Mari II's cannons light up; the entire ship moves to broadside, and gigantic blasts of green partcicles slam out for the II Neo Zeong.
And at the same time, Kall, "Captain! Something is happening with the Banshee!"
"Buy those machines time," Enba instructs quickly, "Whatever it takes!"
"Will continue firing, Captain!"
Blast after blast, the great ship, damaged as it is, tries to keep as much attention as it can manage.
But the Ra Mari II hears Yuliana, too. And it will remember.
KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza targets Jona Basta with Guided Beam Cannons - Pattern 5! KTS: Enba Rezza has completed their actions for the round.
Harmony Chord teleports in.
KTS: Jona Basta fails to react to Enba Rezza's Guided Beam Cannons - Pattern 5, taking 10790 damage! KTS: Enba Rezza completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"...Right." Anita replies, matching Chris's communications. "Still, she's doin' pretty well for herself. She's pretty strong, huh?"
She switches back as she receives Jona's response.
"The 'truth'. To hell with your 'truth'. We're gonna tear it away and show it for what it really is. And after that... you're just going to have to live with it and learn from it." Anita replies with a frown and a shake of her head at Jona. Her tone's a little shorter than she might otherwise be... but the situation is tense all around. She's allowed.
She's still contending with the Liath Macha, though - for a moment, the two units are locked in a clash. Anita grits her teeth - but she doesn't budge, until eventually the Liath Macha is jerked back. She's only given a moment before it's upon it again, aiming a lethal blow to the Svipul's midsection.
The Pinpoint Barrier flickers to life, and Anita's shield is at the ready. She reacts just in time - but even then, guided by cold mechanical instinct, the power behind the attack is enough to carve through the barrier and into the Svipul's shield arm. It's still functional, but if she takes another hit like that...
...Well, she'll just have to not take another hit.
Anita flips back, firing the Svipul's jets as she attempts to put some distance between herself and the two machines.
"I'm going to try to make an opening - get ready!" Anita calls out. The beam lance is returned to its mount and retracts as the Svipul briefly folds into Fighter Mode - accelerating through space with many tight, swift turns as it fires upon the Liath Macha with its gunpod, using a distracting display of acrobatic talent to keep the machine busy for them. Even a machine can only keep up with so much.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Liam 7-020 with Dazzling Acrobatics! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Trying to split her attention costs Sayla badly. The Hi-Nu eats the full power of the Heart Fire, her cockpit turning briefly into a boiler room, even in the cold of space. Sweat rolls down her face, and her breathing grows heavy-
And then she feels that presence. The dark memories of Puru-1, through her link with her daughter. A dying scream. "Leina...!" At that psychic shriek, the heat of the cockpit does nothing to stop her blood running cold. "Leina, please, respond! Tell me you're still there! Leina!"
She should be focusing on try to help free Sayaka. But in that moment, her vision tunnels. After all that... after going through so much... Sayla's hands grip the controls, her knuckles going white. She can't feel her. Everything's drowned out. Sayla's eyes are wide with horror, fear.
The Hi-Nu's Hyper Bazooka is raised, aimed straight for the Narrative in the II Neo Zeong's 'head'. Her aim is shaky. Her breathes are fast and terrified. She lets out a wordless scream as she blasts round after round at the giant's head. Tears streak down her face, as the Hyper Bazooka clicks silently-
And then the Banshee cuts through the tunnel of her vision. It shouldn't still be moving, not after a barrage like that. But it is. She hits the comms hurriedly. "Leina." The panic in her voice is audible. That raspy voice... she's still here. She's still here. "Fall back. Fall back right now. You've done enough, get back to the Ra Mari."
The relief is not enough to drown out the residual terror in Sayla's voice.
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Sayla Mass targets Jona Basta with New Hyper Bazooka Barrage! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: [Lucky] Jona Basta's Miracle Child activates, and luck goes its way! KTS: Jona Basta successfully blocks Sayla Mass's New Hyper Bazooka Barrage KTS: Sayla Mass: Will Barrier Activates.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
<"See this is why having extremely helpful and talented fans is the actual meaning of life~~~"> Asciel proclaims merrily and utterly shamelessly, as quite immediately she foists everything she's working on with trying to overturn the Aphrodite's eject override onto Naoko. Including that admin access key Koji entrusted to her! Honestly it's probably better for Naoko to have that? <"Wouldn't you know it, trying to get Aphrodite to give Sayaka the boot just kicked me out instead, so it's already warier from this same line of attack. Be careful! I'll cover for you as much as I can. When you pull it off like the helpful genius you are, think up what you'll ask of me as your reward!~">
<"After all, what you just witnessed - is what I am meant for. The resolution to be humanity's final miracle. The world-defining light of a goddess of possibility. It's fine if you look up from that duty I gave you to shiver in awe as I give it my all. <3">
>...mm. The worst part of what that Jona kid's saying. Nn. He's right. ...How can I give it my all when I understand everything he's saying? When the voices all around him are veritable devils, archons of dismay.
-The light Asciel has taken so much pride in won't even start. The thing that exerts her willpower can only act if she truly believes. And taking a look around her - who does she even want to protect here? What is she even trying to prove? That she can be amazing for Nova? That there are right and wrong miracle holders?
--none of that.
The Lambda Driver's rainbow does manage to burn. The shields around Asciel's false truth heighten. <"...Unfortunately, I've learned what I want from this. The inherent contradiction's a little bit annoying, but I'm not really able to deny the way I feel at a time like this.">
There is no longer a space in her mind to protect anyone else here. No...where Asciel positions herself, arguably somewhat far from the Aphrodite, she generates a vast and growing circular rainbow above and below.
))It isn't unfair to be jealous.
))It isn't wrong to be bitter.
))It isn't terrible to be destructive.
))It isn't greedy to stand on top of the world.
))It isn't tragic to be alone.
))...It isn't deceitful to lie about what I am, until I become what I must be.
<"...Hate it, pity it, think whatever you will about it. My rainbow is all of this. They are inhuman, inhospitable feelings, and the thing I can't stand most in the world is how that terrible weapon is trying to feel them for me. Unfortunately for you, Jona Basta, I am rather prideful about every last bit of it.">
<<Monachiko Thavma.>>
The ring of light becomes a field of unfathomable raw heat, trying to 'exclude' the Aphrodite from Asciel and Jona, searing at the connecting anchors, pushing the Aphrodite further back. It can't quite uphold quite as much power and doesn't manage to tear away at the Neo Helios's bond - the 'wall' she creates is only really effectively strong as an immense sword cleaving just meters behind the Aphrodite.
...That's all it took to perform a miracle. To no longer care too much about Sayaka's circumstances - to only consider her as something that must not be part of these corrosive emotions.
KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Sayaka Yumi with Lambda Driver Smite! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Psychic energy is a strange, esoteric thing. Even dense armor can't do much to stop a pulse of pure will enforcing itself onto the very fabric of the universe. "Ghh--" Isadore is hurled back, Trevor's head snaps violently into his seat as fragments of shattered armor tear free in a blizzard of metal. "You're just... Making excuses," Trevor growls, shaking the stars out of his vision. "Trying to pass the buck to some higher power, when the only thing you're a 'puppet' to is to that anger in you. Being bound by birth, by... by people making a victim out of you-- isn't the only thing there is in life."
Stabilizers kick in. Isadore rolls to a stop, flecks of light swimming across its visor. "...The despair of the Universal Century... You don't think we've already seen it?"
It's what Full Frontal showed them. Forced them all to see. It's what they've already denied. And yet here it is again, manifest in the exact same form. Repeating, just like Frontal said it would.
Or maybe it's just that damn machine he's hooked up to. Maybe the very shape of the Neo Zeong, its design and its essence are resonant to that all-consuming despair.
...Whatever the case, Isadore can still move. And that ring is still there. As long as it is, as long as the Neo Zeong remains a threat, they can't stop--
It lashes for the Phenex and Trevor whispers a curse-- but the threat is disarmed. For now. And...
And there's still a mounain of metal and malevolence bearing down on them.
"If what you 'are' is that ugly..." Isadore's thrusters roar again. It's an awful, hopeless thing, throwing yourself at this crushing despair again and again and again, fighting it over and over only to do nothing at all. To not even knock a chip from the wall. But still you get up and do it again. It's exhausting.
Trevor does it anyway.
A second time, Isadore races toward that accursed ring. Its claw unhinges again, but--
This time, when it goes to <snip>, it doesn't rely on mechanical force alone. Electricity discharges in a flash of bright blue light and a thunderclap whose roar is swallowed up by the void. Capacitors roar, driving the claw to bite down and unleashing a pulse of circuit-frying current.
One more time, the bird pecks at the wall.
...
He'll have to bug Yuliana about her using people as human shields against rubber bullets being a trained response. That's all kinds of fucked.
But now is not the time.
"...Then change yourself to be something 'better!'"
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Jona Basta with Plasma Scissor! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
"Thank you," she replies to Sophia-- but she doesn't have long to look or feel relieved.
'Were you still the person they remembered, Shelby?'
A lot flickers through her mind, all at once: Memories of Augusta, burned and fragmented as they are. Memories -- half-forgotten dreams, ghosts of who she was in the past. Hell, they might even be the memories of someone else she's met over the years. Of laying on her back in the snow, her face aching and a lash of scarlet coming from her nose-- though from the welt on her face, it came from a much different source than her abilities running amok. Of... kindness. Friends. Betrayal. Hope?
The blast jets by-- then sweeps toward her in a terrifying, brutal display of force, threatening to engulf the whole of the Jagd Doga.
Shelby's teeth clench. As her cockpit displays flood with megaparticle light, her hand reaches down to the console. Weapons alight upon the Zeong; from the Norn to the Hyperion and even the Da Xukong 0, from Teach and Rita and Zoltan--
-- and then the knockout pink machine viciously lurches forward. If it can't go around the attack, if it's ``so much`` overwhelming force, then she'll --
GO THROUGH!!
GO THROUGH!!
Bursting out of the stream of the shot, the Jagd Doga's left arm in it's entirety comes clear off the machine, hull and chassis still attached to the machine bubbling from heat swells and damage. Shelby's machine holds together through ... something. Luck, skill, or even a miracle -- small or capital M -- as her funnels emerge from the void-black darkness of space, whipping around her in a frenzy. Battleship fire rocks and streaks past her; from the Ra Mari II as well as the Hyperion.
"OF COURSE I'M NOT!" Shelby roars, throwing the sticks forward and stomping down even harder against the foot pedals. The console in front of her flickers: [PSYCHOFRAME STATUS: ENGAGED]
"ALL OF US change, Jona!! All the time!! Even if we're the same person!!" The funnels then swirl wildly; the Jagd Doga making a swift forward gesture even while holding the gatling rifle-- and slingshotting past the machine, start firing at full power in ever-upward arcing curves and moving in a cohesive unit, then in triples, then switching off to pairs, each one after the other trying to shear and rip and tear through the Mobile Armor's hull.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to charge. KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi partially guards Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Smite, taking 5658 damage! KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts targets Jona Basta with Jagd Doga Funnels Follow-Up Formation! KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Jona Basta fails to react to Trevor Teach's Plasma Scissor, taking 5720 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Jona Basta!
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
God, people do this? Willingly? From the start? Bunch of pompuous bastards, screaming this and that...But there's still the undeniable sense of satisfaction at seeing the beam strike true, to watch slag peel off of that behemoth. Oh, how nice! Maybe you need some more Miracles!
Of course. "Che- You shut up, Yuliana! The PPL people keep doing this! Blame them!" He's not going to live this down for a while.
"I hear you, Michele! I definitely hear you!" More telemetry! More ideas! More ways to disassemble this scrap heap that he usurped from ME, the person who should've been there! This is exactly what he needed!
As for Jona. Lucky, lucky, LUCKY JONA! "DAMN RIGHT WE CAN'T! But you're there! You're the idiot that's down there screaming about everything and taking my damn spot! Do you realize how much this idiot wanted to kill me!? And now she wants you out!" THere'a gun of the throttle. Move. MOVE. DODGE. "So I'd rather NOT DIE TODAY!"
The wired funnels. Dodge them. Dodge the attacks of the unit he knows so well, of the only thing in this damn world that the Sleeves kept him for.
Easy.
The instinctual dodges, slipping abreast of each wire. That one is slightly slower. That one hitches around halfway. That one has a tweak in it. That one drifts left. The one, singular thing he knew was that unit.
Simple. The fact that one (two, three, four, the alarms beep, they are wide, they are arcing across as his own focus narrows) has passed so close is of little consequence.
"Yes, yes, Rita. Come on. Don't get distracted now. You're the one continually pushing at it, so if you stumble near the end, you're a damn idiot." Wait one second. Wait right after Yuliana's attack. Focusing himself, allowing the will of the psychoframe to take on his own. Waiting. Keep aim. Focus.
There's screams in the distance. Ignore them. Focus. On the here and now. To see the Da Xukong 0 swoop in. Perfect. PERFECT.
Arms spread wide open, the V-Fin humming in gold and blue hues. Come on. COME ON. COME ON, YOU DAMN MACHINE!
"TRIPLCATE POLARIZATION!"
LOOK, HE'S DOING IT BECAUSE IT'S WORKING.
To fire a wave of Photon-charged Miracles at the Neo Zeong II once more; To crash it against the waves of the Psychoframe, of the unit he so (not) dearly commanded less than a handful of times. Come ON...!
And as that will-powered beam tapers off, the wires slam onto the back of the Phenex, digging in. "YOU-" FUCK-
And as if the will of providence came down from above, those wires were servered. The alarms, beeping so madly, cease their cacophony.
...Another damn Miracle. By. By the other. RX-0.
"BANSHEE...!"
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Jona Basta with Triplicate Polarization! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Jona Basta's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Jona Basta partially guards Shelby Korts's Jagd Doga Funnels Follow-Up Formation, taking 1665 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Zoltan Akkanen KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rattles Jona Basta, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Jona Basta partially guards Zoltan Akkanen's Triplicate Polarization, taking 4655 damage! KTS: Christina MacKenzie's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Christina MacKenzie blocks Liam 7-020's JS-F03A 'Gae Buidhe' Beam Glaive - True Strike, taking 4950 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Christina MacKenzie!
<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.
Sophia surveys the battlefield. The II Neo Zeong's power is...she tsks. "Yet another supreme weapon," she curses, watching as souls turn to vapor in Jona's light.
Show them all the despair of this world... "We're familiar," she spits, and glances over to the edge of the bridge. "All units, I want full firing solution. Playing coy isn't cutting it. We have to--"
A sweep of particles in a direction she knows. "LUARENT!" she roars suddenly. "ALMACE, GET OUT OF THERE!"
There's nothing but static; radio is of course, entirely powerless before such phenomenal Minovsky horror. Sophia's eye stings as her Geass burns, searching the light of the stars for her friend and her men.
She finds...some of them.
"Two thirds," she spits, long before Sensors calls, "Sixty seven percent of the Flag squadron is down! Almace is signaling retreat!"
Sophia's jaw sets and she leans back in her seat, legs crossing to stop herself from standing up and pacing.
"Caedra..." she says quietly. "...I'm afraid I cannot fight with my hands tied, after all. All weapons! Full bombardment!"
Rows of the ship's Knightmare contingent roll out on to the deck, each armed with a massive STA cannon. They anchor down, securing to hardpoints on the deck.
On the belly, massive railcannons swivel up, all leveling into fire trajectories pointed at the II Neo Zeong.
Sophia curls a lock of hair around her finger, watching as the lines of lock-ons and fire projection turn red in preparation.
The light in that space... ...will this even do anything? But she has to try. She considers giving an order to guide their strikes, away from the cockpit, some order to protect the soul within that her sister desires to save.
"...Fire," she says instead, and the sky ignites.
KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
Jona rebukes her. Michele frowns at what she feels she's caused, but it's not over. She can't let him die for her sins.
"Come on...I'm giving you the payload, don't let him give up!"
A last sweep of the hand, as Michele sends off the biggest data she has to Zoltan, calling over to him. "You're the one who can make this work, Zoltan Akkanen! Us Miracle Children are too wrapped up in our own baggage to help anyone in this world right now! But you can seize your own goddamn destiny...!"
It might seem like fake encouragement, but it's genuine - Michele's getting stressed. She predicted a large chance of failure.
They need to believe in a miracle.
KTS: Michele Luio targets Zoltan Akkanen with Heart! KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan targets Jona Basta with Hyperion Unified Battle Group! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Jona Basta partially guards Sophia Mayhew Castellan's Hyperion Unified Battle Group, taking 5412 damage! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Michele Luio bares her heart, letting Zoltan Akkanen deal some extra damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 charges into the attack! KTS: Liam 7-020's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta rattles Liam 7-020, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Liam 7-020 partially guards Anita Rosetta's Dazzling Acrobatics, taking 1575 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack!
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Lucine hears the waver in Jonas' voice, and feels the self-doubt in Liam lift just enough at the sound of her angry words.
When she speaks again, her voice is more level this time, having been alleviated of some of its initial anger. < ".... Not all strings restrict. Some connect, like the ones between you and Rita. The ones Rita's likely wishing she could follow to you and Michelle." >
The cord could be cut, but it won't be targeted easily. Like targetting the body of a snake, the head can still turn around and strike.
What could have been the strike to sever the string controlling the Liath Macha is instead intercepted by the suit itself. "...!" Lucine isn't given much time to process this, instead pivoting the Dianthus to see the Liath Macha's CIWS spray bullets in the Dianthus's direction.
The bullets find no purchase except through an illusion that glimmers out of existence, the original having dodged at the last moment.
< ".... Liam... I love you." > It's an expression full of pride in Liam's slowly building confidence, as well as Lucine recognizing she may not be so lucky next time. < ".... Anita... Chris. The fact that that worked was..." > She trails off, and then, clears her throat. < "... If this next exchange doesn't work, I'll need you to get me out of there, for Liam's sake." >
The blackvioletred at Leina's side of things causes Lucine to spare a look her direction, and at her gambit. < ".... Leina..." > Tears sting her eyes. < ".... Be careful." > It's about all she can say, remembering the warm smile Banagher had over thoughts of his future with Leina and Mineva.
Right now, Lucine has to concentrate on surviving to meet her own future. And to do that, she needs to do what Anita and Chris have already done, and attack Liam.
Falling back, the Dianthus waits for Anita to make her opening, her glaive at the ready. ".... Okay... Let's see how long I can do this..." Lucine says to her cockpit, her lips drawn thin. The Dianthus rushes forward, aiming to land two intersecting strikes...
.... straight towards the Liath Macha.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Liam 7-020 with CL0-V3 Glaive Crescent Cross! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to react to Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Crescent Cross, taking 5330 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has engaged Liam 7-020! KTS: Lucine Azul continues a Formation attack! KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Christina MacKenzie
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
She can't help but be impressed--the millisecond responses of the Liath Macha's sensors to the Zeong's control, faster than the Tristan's AMBAC can pivot. Even so, she's not giving in! She has to force the Zeong to respond to her, so Lucine can have the freedom to break the link.
To Anita, she laser-links, "Lucine is an incredible young woman; fire support, CQC, tactical planning... she's skilled, but her strength is how far she'll go for Liam. I won't let either of them come to harm here."
It's while she's continuing to press into arm's reach of the CGUE that the murmurs of the battlefield start to seep into her awareness. Her found family...were women that that couldn't help but stand up, no matter how battered. Couldn't help but not leave things undone.
It isn't easy, keeping her eyes on the opponent before her, but she holds it together, trusting Leina; trusting in Leina, trusting in Leina goddammit, at least--until Sayla's cry cuts through her focus.
The Tristan's head follows Chris's impulses, looking towards the rest of the battle, frozen for an instant.
It's one instant too long, easy for the Zeong's algorithms to identify and capitalize upon.
"--Shhht! Yaagh--"
Years of battlefield experience kick in before she can really even confirm that Leina's alive. Sayla's words of relief are heard less in Chris's ears, so much as deep in her gut. Even so, the Tristan lurches backwards, sabers coming up to guard against that strike far too late, but still in time to protect from a killing blow. Instead, the chobham plates shear and warp and groan as the glaive sinks into the seam between them and the Tristan's breastplate, Chris crying out as sparks fly from the corner of the cockpit block.
"Haaa...ugh. Gotta tell you, Liam... I think your bladework is a lot prettier when it's you behind it!"
Chris's fingers flew across the console, confirming the mazin-circuit bypasses and crossfeeds are still operational enough to go all out.
"I guess if everyone else is yelling about it... I can't lose face in front of them!"
The INCOMs swarm, Chris reaching into the Arm Slave controller by her side to manipulate them more deftly, more directly.
"Polaris Cross, IMPACT!"
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Of course, if there's one thing Naoko knows, it's the tell-tale signs of iconic Mazinger weaponry. She is fully prepared for a Breast Fire-equivalent by the time the pose is struck. But it won't leave her with much time to react, so she'll need to pay careful attention in the short moment she has. Focusing all of her attention in one direction is dangerous when there is the possibility of stray fire from the II Neo Zeong, but this is a matter of little choice. Her machine is far from a Mazinger and will absolutely melt in no time if it takes a direct hit from that level of heat, so she has to perfectly predict its firing timing and trajectory.
A fraction of a second before the Heart Fire is unleashed, she's extrapolated Mazinger Z as the initial target. A fraction of a second after the blast, she's deduced the most likely direction the fiery blast will be swept into from that point.
Her informed guess is spot-on. Sukeban's sudden dash is well-timed, taking it in the exact opposite direction of the danger, ensuring it's well out of reach of even incidental heat damage by proximity. A bead of sweat runs down Naoko's face, and she lets out the breath she'd been holding, knowing full well the level of danger she managed to escape.
With avoidance of certain death out of the way, she has time to scan what Asciel's sent over, already pre-processed a bit by her own little on-board helpers. Her wiiide smile as she sees what she has to work with could rightly be called disturbing. She responds to Asciel with all due confidence.
"Heh heh heh... full admin access, is it...? With this, there's no limit to the miracles I could perform!"
All else is forgotten, for the moment. Fingers fly across her touchscreen as she instructs her twin AIs, "Ariel, handle the auto-pilot, signal me immediately if we need to act. Uriel, run interference for me - keep this connection open, no matter what."
She's a natural, where it comes to programming - or perhaps, an unnatural. Even in completely unfamiliar systems, it takes her no time at all to see where she needs to be - she processes zeroes and ones easier than a champion speedreader would devour the pages of a book. And with the means of full unfettered access, she should be able to obtain results in no time flat. She has half a mind to directly fight against the outside control being leveraged, just to see if she could do it. But that would take time, and people's lives are at stake. Instead, she sticks to the plan: isolating the Pilder ejection system and focusing on only overriding that. She knows the theory behind it, it should be comparatively simple to separate an autonomous component, by her reckoning.
Her voice when she transmits a message to Sayaka sounds quite different from her normal tone. Completely flat, lacking any of the normal energy.
"Be ready to move, as soon as you have control."
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Sayaka Yumi with Designate L1! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Lucine Azul KTS: Christina MacKenzie targets Liam 7-020 with Polaris Cross Impact! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
"Those changes don't stick! The people you help... what about when they survive, just to suffer and die later!?" Jona demands of Sayaka, though his voice wavers now.
He grits his teeth as Koji speaks to him. Challenges him. "That... but--but what does it change!?"
'Do I not understand?' Jona wonders. 'Or do I not want to?'
Liam asks him a question -- and Jona freezes up for a moment. He tenses, looking towards him. "If I'm not a monster... then what does any of this matter? If I'm not a monster... then I'll do this UNTIL I BECOME ONE!"
The wire flies for the Phenex.
Rita speaks to him, her soft voice echoing in his mind yet almost real. His eyes widen. When he speaks, his voice is dry. It sounds like a rasp, almost. For a moment, all of the rage seems to be gone. For a moment, he wants to believe.
"Rita... what...?"
But Jona and the Narrative Gundam are in the II Neo Zeong. Rita doesn't call it the Monster for nothing. Jona's eyes narrow, after a moment; then they cast down. "No--no, that--no--"
He shakes his head. "I'm not--I'm NOT THE JONA THAT YOU KNEW!"
It all seems too late. The wires fly for the Phenex, while the Banshee seems to be gone -- that shriek -- and it seems like his damnation is at hand. But then a beam magnum shot tears through the cable. It goes spiraling off.
Yuliana's Wanzer rushes in. Jona's own words, in the past, are turned back upon him. "What a fool I was... to think I could--to think any of us could save another!" Jona cries out. "And you--you demand me without the tragedy of my life!? That's ALL THERE IS!"
The scorpion wanzer's tail slams into the armor -- molten metal burning and melting through it, the armor beginning to slough away where it strikes on the right side of the chest; it bubbles out, freezing in places, and leaving the right side of the Mobile Armor's chest a melted ruin.
"You heard about us. You read about us," Jona says. "But you... you don't the truth of us! You didn't live it! You..." His voice wavers at Enba's words. The Ra Mari II's cannons open fire, and the II Neo Zeong is struck -- beams of light hitting the I-Field, which crackles with lightning, before they push through.
The rest of the right arm is shorn away in the barrage. The armor is further burnt and blackened; another funnel explodes in a fiery blast.
Jona grits his teeth. "My truth--you can't tear it away!" he snaps back at Anita. "Do you really think you can save anyone here!?"
Jona's eyes widen, as he feels a ping of something -- he won't call it a Newtype flash -- and turns his head. The Narrative Gundam does the same, as several hyper bazooka shells come flying in.
The vulcan cannons roar (well, metaphorically, given space) to life. Rounds shred through thme, and between Jona and Sayla, there is a line of fiery explosions.
His teeth grit together -- he sees the rainbow that Asciel generates, and it makes him tense. "That pride won't change anything!" he tells her. Then, he looks back towards the Isadore; to Trevor. He flies back at the ring again.
"Get away from that!"
But Jona cannot, in fact, do the same trick twice. The claw swings back -- electricity shoots up the ring, and plates on it begin to pop. Chunks of gold-plated Psycho Shards are thrown into the void, and then the ring has a gash torn into it.
"I won't let you!" he shouts at Trevor, now. But before he can strike, he turns his head as another old friend calls out.
"When have we changed too much, Shelby!?" he demands of her. "When have we lost who we really are!? TELL ME!"
The Mobile Armor's hull is shot through. Some of Shelby's beam cannon blasts space out over the I-Field; others rip through it, and leave a series of holes cut and shorn through the whole thing. The white armor is blackened and burnt all over, now, and the Narrative struggles to track her Jagd Doga.
The Hyperion brings its full compliment forth. Knightmare Frames roll onto the deck; rail cannons swing into position. They fire as once. Some blasts shatter against the I-Field. Others, though, hurtle in. The armor is blasted into more; whole plates of it shorn off. One of the fuel tanks is caught.
It explodes, going up in a tremendous fireball, and briefly blinds the whole of the battlefield.
And blindness that leaves Jona vulnerable, when the Photon-charged blast of the Phenex strikes it once more. Two strikes of blue-gold light slash into the darkened, pitted, battered armor of the II Neo Zeong. The blackened, damaged armor has an X-shaped scar of glittering white and aquamarine on its chest now.
And the Mobile Armor is slammed backward. Jona is thrown with it, slammed into his seat, and then bouncing forward against the straps. He grunts, breathing hard, as he looks at it.
"Gh--and what does that mean!? That she'd ally with you!?" Jona asks, his anger heightening as he feels Michele's encouragement of him "And is this--where I am--IS THIS REALLY WHERE YOU WANT TO BE, ZOLTAN AKKANEN!?"
Jona takes a shuddering breath.
"Because this... this is the only place I will accept myself being. Rita, if you want a miracle--if all of you want a miracle--" Jona's eyes widen. They glimmer with the deep red light of the Narrative's Psychoframe.
"Then I will GIVE YOU REASON TO MAKE ONE!"
The wired funnels soar across the battlefield. Wires snap and twist; they go taut and limp. The funnels fire, beams of golden light slashing across the Ra Mari II's hull -- hurtling for the Phenex -- and cascading down for Shelby's Jagd Doga. They rip across the Da Xukong 0; they converge upon the Isadore.
But Trevor, so close to the Psycho Shards, can see it. Then, he can feel it. The golden ring, damaged as it is, begins to shudder; it begins to vibrate. Energy courses along it; some damaged plates pop off.
And there is a stirring.
It's in the helium-3 tanks -- the barest start of an attempt to shake physics. But it's in more than that, too. On the Hyperion, the reports begin to come in.
"Ma'am! My reactor's heating up--"
"Engines are going into overdrive!"
"My ammunition is live--"
"WHAT THE HELL--"
Here, a Knightmare Frame's gun explodes in a fireball. There, electricity explodes across a Flag, as its systems jerk into overdrive. The Hyperion's assembled Mobile Weapon compliment begins to find weapons and reactors starting to, rapidly, become in danger of exploding.
"Federation dogs," Jona says, his voice booming on the Hyperion's bridge. "Die, knowing the pain you brought to the children of Augusta. Die, knowing the truth of your story. You die without friends."
He screams at Sophia, unknowing.
"YOU DIE WITHOUT FAMILY!"
KTS: Jona Basta targets Trevor Teach, Enba Rezza, Zoltan Akkanen, Yuliana Kafim, and Shelby Korts with Wired Large Funnel Swarm. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta targets Sophia Mayhew Castellan with When Myth Becomes Tragedy! KTS: Enba Rezza blocks Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm, taking 6270 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Enba Rezza has been defeated!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Before the Phenex can be brought under the Neo Zeong II's power, the Banshee obliterates the cable imprisoning the firebird. Rita's spirit fills with awe. Bringing one hand to her heart, she gasps out a little sob.
I will.
Rita, shining as gold as sunlight, turns her gaze to Zoltan.
Please tell Yuliana I'll talk with her once we're finished. Tell her we're on the way.
It's a promise, in its own way. Rita looks to her best friend, lost in rage, striking the Neo Zeong over and over. Fear for Yuliana twists in her heart, but Rita has no choice but to believe in her.
And ask her to clear the way to the cockpit. It's time. Zoltan, I need your help. But if you agree, this will change you. And me. We'll be a part of each other, from now until eternity. This is the only chance we have. The monster is too powerful.
Rita holds out her hand. It is Zoltan's choice to accept it, or not. Though she cannot see the future, something in Rita's heart knows he won't let her down.
Feeling his hand in her own, Rita smiles. The light from her eyes fills Zoltan's vision, until all he can see is radiance, somehow blinding and beautiful all at once. Once he can see again...
Rita and Zoltan find themselves in the realm of Possibility. Mist of every color imaginable swirls around them, obscuring the true wonder of this resonant plane. Rita, her spirit made entirely of golden light, still holds Zoltan's hand in her own.
It's beautiful, isn't it? This is the place I've been waiting. Waiting all this time, to save them. I couldn't have done this without you, Zoltan.
But time is passing. They cannot linger here, not in the middle of a battle.
We're part of each other now, so don't do anything stupid with your soul. I'm sorry. We have to go back.
Even as Rita speaks, the radiant mists fade around them both. It feels a bit like slowly waking from a dream. Just before the vision fades entirely, Rita turns to Zoltan once more.
And Zoltan? Thank you.
They are back in the Phenex. Only seconds have passed. The NT-D hums with new power, happily absorbing the newfound strength between Rita and Zoltan. It feels as though the Phenex has reached a new height.
Rita doesn't even have to make eye contact with Zoltan anymore. He can feel her intent, clearly as he can feel the Phenex around him. The light of Possibility wraps around the Gundam, bathing her passengers in radiance. She has become a small sun against the darkness of space.
Jona's anguish has reached its peak. Rita's expression tightens as she feels the psychic energy from the monster wash across the battlefield. They're out of time.
It's going to take all of us. Michele, Zoltan. This is our one chance. Make it count.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim blocks Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm, taking 4275 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Jona Basta with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
ayaka can't help but let out a slight chuckle at Koji's words about testing Aphrodite Areia's mettle, even after the fear of possibly having to watch her friends - her boyfriend, be toasted.
"Haha... I think I'd probably enjoy this more if I was the one at the helm. Although you'd probably be in a lot more trouble if it was me you were up against me instead of some second-rate controller."
Even as spent as Aphrodite Areia is from unleashing Heart Fire, Photon Reactors recharge faster than anything - it's already orienting on Mazinger Z to take it down in its moment of weakness. "Looks like she's mimicking the old Daisharin Rocket Punch trick," Sayaka concludes as those missiles seem to flourish in the spinning, unblockable force they strike Mazinger Z with.
While her situation meant she could spare precious little attention to the fights outside her immediate sphere, nor could she feel Leina's memories of being Puru-1, or the Banshee's scream - Leina's utter disappearance did not escape Sayaka's attention.
"Leina...!" Sayaka gasps. "Don't worry about me," She tells Sayla, hearing her worry for her daughter. "Go to her... she needs you!" She urges the Photon Hi-Nu...
Which turns to fire a Bazooka Shot at the II Neo Zeong. Aphrodite Areia lunges the Gundam, trying to capture and crush it with its massive wings for the transgression of splitting her attention for even a moment.
Asciel, for all her distance from Aphrodite Areia, that rainbow of isolation begins to rain down on the Mazin, the sheer heat beginning to sever the cords from Aphrodite to the Neo Zeong. It's a slow, corrosive process... and perhaps not the true miracle that will save her.
And it gives Aphrodite Areia just enough time to fire a shot into that well of inhospitable emotion, that lonely miracle. Asciel has proven to be quite a thorn in the side, and has earned this goddess's ire in more ways than one.
The Artemis Arrow, transforming from wings to an oversized crossbow, overloads with Photon energy, building, and building, before firing a pure white arrow that aims to pierce clean through the Codarl-a.
With that isolation and rejection from Asciel, it's Nova who's been given admin access to perform the finishing touches. "Ready to move any time." Sayaka affirms. I'm counting on you, Miss Stellar. Just be careful... you should probably expect some resistance!" She claims to work miracles... all Sayaka can do now is place her faith in that.
True to her words, Aphrodite Areia aims for one final attack on the Sukeban, decking it with her own fist first... and then bringing down the heavy Mazinger Blade. By then... her job is just about done. But will Rita and her allies be able to save Jona from the II Neo Zeong?
KTS: Jona Basta successfully avoids Rita Bernal's Pass KTS: Trevor Teach blocks Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm, taking 6840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Koji Kabuto with Daisharin Areia Missiles! KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Sayla Mass with Artemis Wingsweep! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Shelby Korts retreats from the attack! KTS: Shelby Korts fails to evade Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm, taking 5700 damage! KTS: Shelby Korts has been defeated! KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Asciel Colette with Artemis Final Arrow! KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Naoko Suzuki with Mazinger Blade: Areia Combo! KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Sayaka Yumi's Artemis Final Arrow, taking 7440 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto fails to Intercept Sayaka Yumi's Daisharin Areia Missiles, taking 5394 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan fails to evade Jona Basta's When Myth Becomes Tragedy, taking 8760 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Sophia Mayhew Castellan has been defeated! KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Sayla Mass's Will Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Sayla Mass fails to Parry Sayaka Yumi's Artemis Wingsweep, taking 3840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Sayla Mass has been defeated! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has engaged Sayla Mass! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen blocks Jona Basta's Wired Large Funnel Swarm, taking 3420 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 partially guards Christina MacKenzie's Polaris Cross Impact, taking 7560 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Christina MacKenzie's Now'sMyChance! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Liam 7-020 has been defeated! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has engaged Liam 7-020! KTS: Christina MacKenzie completes the Formation attack! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki fails to evade Sayaka Yumi's Mazinger Blade: Areia Combo, taking 6000 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has engaged Naoko Suzuki! KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette uses hyper reloader KTS: Trevor Teach uses hyper reloader
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"I'm here..." Is Leina's answer to Sayla after a moment, finally answering her now that she's done what she needed to do, "... I'm here."
She can hear Lucine's warning, "... Eyes forward Lucine. He needs you." It's a simple nudge, as if to say 'don't take your attention off of him, even if her warning is entirely valid. She can feel Chris' panic, and hear Sayaka's as well- "... Don't. She needs to focus on you!"
Yuliana tells her she's done, she'll pull back, and an E-Pack ejects from the Magnum. In this moment, the Norn looks like Yuliana is absolutely correct. That it's structural integrity is holding on as if the Psychoframe were forcing itself to hold together. She did not make the same choice as Rita or Banagher. She cannot rewind time. The very decision to remain here is a fraught one.
And Jona proves it, as suddenly a reaction occurs in all the Helium-3 tanks all over. As he shouts, he'll give them a reason to make one. "Jona- you..." And from the static of the comm crackle, she knows. She knows no place is safe.
And she knows no appeal from her will be enough. Sometimes one reaches the end of their rope, and snaps. It happened with her - it happened with Akane. Sometimes you can only reach out a hand to someone who has fallen to the bottom.
She just has to entrust that they'll be enough to show him how to live in this world of miracles.
"... We're not done yet." Leina tells Yuliana, and there's this eerieness to her voice, a hollow quality which might indicate to her, that she fully believes that, "If we don't stop him - nowhere will be safe for me to fall back to. And even if we do..."
She trails off, because she doesn't know what's going to happen, she doesn't. Yet... something about all this, makes it feel like that this isn't over, can't be over.
Leina can hear the panic in Sayla's voice, and despite how calm she sounds, Sayla can certainly feel the fear now. It's a thin thread, but it's there over the battlefield emotions.
"I can't." She rasps, "Don't you feel it? It's not safe there - it won't be unless something is done right now. And..."
She trails off, abstracted, scared...
"Renalle's still in there. They have her."
Sayla might wonder which 'they' she means, but if she searches her memories of the Denver Colony files. The horrifying realization may come to her. The twenty eight Cyber Newtypes in sealed Psychoframe containment.
"I'm not leaving her behind."
In a place not unlike she was in.
However, for all of their warnings, the Banshee does fall back more. Just long enough to witness the miracle, to feel Rita try to do exactly as she asked, to go to him.
To see, Aphrodite Areia descend upon the Hi Nu as chaos reigns. Trapped in these liminal moments where possibility - which possibility will result is uncertain, Leina sees it happen.
And hypocrite that she is.
"MOM!"
The Banshee stops falling back. It dives straight towards the Hi-Nu.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
If Yuliana were thinking straight, she might marvel at the way she and Sayla echo each other.
She is aware -- but distantly -- of the transgressions Shelby inflicts on the world, as she activates her Psychoframe. The both of them went through that annihilating cannon fire, rather than getting out of the way... ugh, is it really the case that Shelby isn't completely unlike Yuliana?
(She is less aware of Trevor's thoughts, though surely she'd hate them, too.)
"Keep her -- focused," she insists, hissing out the words to Zoltan, and surely she means Rita. One eye squinted shut to focus herself, she admits, not without pain: "I'm counting on you, you bastard. So -- don't you die out there."
Dazed, she reflects, all the edges of the thought dulled. She sounds dazed. Did she hit her head? Probably. Quick self-inventory: no obvious bone pain, though her muscles are burning from the forces she's putting them through. She can't taste blood, and she can't see any, either. Eyesight... functional, when she's not blinded by rage. Her head... it's hard to keep hold of her thoughts with so much psychic phenomena around her, but she's still here, more or less. Her heart's straining against her chest, but she doesn't feel any unusual deep pain which would suggest she's damaged herself inside.
"I'm okay," she mumbles, and not for the benefit of anyone here. "Boyevaya podruga, I'm still well." Who is she talking to...? It's hard to describe anyone here as her combat friend, particularly given the romantic overtones which that translation fails to capture.
Never mind that.
"The tragedy of your life?" Yuliana spits, towards Jona. "You don't know mine. You never cared to know. All you were ever interested in... was Rita, Rita, Rita!!!! You and so many -- only interested in my pain -- for how it INFORMED RITA'S SCARS! YOU BASTARD!"
But her gaze catches the photograph embedded in her console, for a split-second, before all her attention is consumed by Jona's assault again. Her lips shape a word, 'I'll' --
With no time to give breath to it, no time to finish it. It will just have to be carried in her actions, as she brings her Cleave Axe up to bring it between herself and that funnel-fire. A dozen pinpoint manipulations of the sticks by her cockpit keep her ready to respond to every blast, and while she doesn't have the Void's protection to shield her from them, she manages to block each blast. The light of the beams are diffused, as they wash over her. It isn't a complete defense, but it's enough.
(This is her idea of being careful for Elisa's sake. Well, she made an attempt.)
Yuliana growls frustration as she listens to Leina. "Of course that moron decided to give them a big hug," Yuliana says, acrid. "I bet she was in those crystals when we walked in there... fucking hell. Was the chance worth it?" She says, sharp to acid. She orients back to Leina, and her words still drip, hissing, from her lips: "And what do you expect to do to stop a hungry ghost? In a machine already thoughtfully half-disassembled, at that! Do you think Denver's children won't toss you to atmosphere as cheerfully as they did the Feds? I'm TELLING you to LEAVE!"
And surely she seems uncaring, but for the way her grip tightens, over her clutch. "I'll handle it, Leina," Yuliana says, her sneer audible. "I'm the one who can. For once in in your life, listen to me. Go home!"
As much as it pains her to say it, "You must at least mind your mother." Respect of one's parents is an important part of life in the Republic, and Yuliana hasn't shed those sensibilities.
Michele might have predicted failure -- but the Kafims are on her side, now, and at least one of the pair thinks ahead.
Not the one here now, obviously. Yuliana's always been a supremely impulsive woman.
But Leina isn't wrong to say that there'll be no place for her to retreat, if Jona has his way. Zoltan may or may not have time to pass Rita's words to Yuliana -- but Yuliana, luckily, has thoughts along those lines anyway.
(The REA did train them against each other for years. Yuliana doesn't need to hear her heart when her memory works. All those simulations, under the stress of her condition...)
Yuliana shifts her wanzer into gear, and -- battered, but not yet broken -- Da Xukong 0 skitters up the unfathomably large Neo Zeong II, quite truly a bug against it. Being so small also makes it more difficult to dislodge her without concentrated effort, though, even as she makes her way up to the place where Neo Zeong II has secured the Narrative Gundam. "Story's over, you wretched creature--!!" She cries, as she swings her Cleave Axe for the Neo Zeong II's latches -- and grasps Jona in her emptiness a second time.
Here in the abyss of herself, can he possibly muster the psychic strength to protect himself and his machine? Surely not -- even as Yuliana disengages and clears the area, to scream: "ZOLTAN!"
What she's setting him up for ought to be obvious. She's not here to explain every little thing like some kind of tutorial fairy. She's only a tutorial fairy on special occasions.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Jona Basta with Nullify! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim nullifies Jona Basta's defensive abilities.
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
The final pieces of data come down (aside) from MIchele. Perfect, perfect, PERFECT! Fine, if you're going to be that way and toss your problems onto someone else, what more could a useless wreck like himself could do!? His lips only curve further in glee, madness, miracles and emotions.
"Fine." Click. "Messenger boy here, Yuliana! You'll get your talk afterwards, so don't die. Talk it over the food you'll buy us. Now get a path down there! AND DON'T DIE, YOU HEAR ME!?" He doesn't even bother for an answer before cutting the comms. A rpoimise and something physical. Could Rita eat? More for him. The thought flickers down as he loads himself full of cockiness, watching that energy impact down on Jona.
Come on.
Believe, damn it.
I'll pass that damn Red Comet and show that bastard what his legacy is...!
SUCCESS.
"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT IT IS!" THe piercing question at the heart of it all. "DAY AFTER DAY, HAUNTED BY A DAMN SPIRIT THAT WANTED NOTHING MORE THAN TO SEE ME BURN!" Yes, Jona. He wanted to be there. To have a purpose and carry out the damnation that humanity deserves. But he's here. On the opposite. In a perverse, obvious swap of roles. Who wouldn't wonder what was on the other side, what enacting one's own righteous judgement on the masses that failed to capitalize on Axis Shock?
He does.
Rita's next message is held in the air for a beat. To understand what is going to transpire, to hold in that ephermeal moment as the hand is extended.
Leap down the chasm.
Bring about a miracle.
"...I better not get any nightmares of your testing, you hear me!?" And he presses his own hand down, one eye monitoring the battlefield. A soldier's instincts. A Cyber-Newtype's intuition. The will to carry on, stubborn bastard that he was.
...Screw you, Char Aznable. Watch me.
Down. Down into the light, permeating through his senses. The realm of Possibility shines bright. A bit too bright for his tastes, with a frown and his other hand shielding his eyes from the rays of sunlight. "Save the thanks for after. Haven't you read war stories? Commanders get shot in the head as soon as they say something good." Like now.
So bright. The mists coalesce, focus, disperse, twin souls weaving and forming and writhing and attaining familiar forms before wafting away into nothingness.
Thanks, she says. And he's back.
"Honestly. Maybe you should've gone into theatre." The quip of someone in their own throes of dissemenating possibility. But. If Jona wants to see a miracle, then. "If you can fool people into giving a miracle, you're going to make ones more real than the Axis Shock ever will!"
It's the perfect opportunity, the 'absence' of Yuliana's own psyche serving as the most glaring indicator of where she was. The right place, at the right time, at the right angle, for a target of the completely wrong person.
"I'M ON IT, DAMN IT!"
Then let the Psycommu thrum to life inside and out.
Then let the Phenex glow with the resonance of the Psychoframe.
Then let the engines of Photon Energy sear through the metallic veins.
Then let the blue and yellow mix.
Then let the result meld together.
Then let the energy of Possibility coalesce, compress, the interior of the cockpit heating up as those chestplates alight in spiritual green.
Arms open. Head tilted. Chest out.
It's instinctual at this point.
"PHOTOS ELPIS!"
From those chestplates, the actively entropic green of Possibility cascading straight forward, aiming once more at the Neo Zeong II.
At the Narrative C-Pack.
At Jona Basta.
At someone who asked for a Miracle.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Jona Basta with Photos Elpis! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Enba Rezza has posed.
Enba Rezza takes no satisfaction in the reaction they get out of Jona Basta. Their words might well strke something within. "...You're not thinking clearly," Enba reiterates.
Then they look to the bridge crew of the Ra Mari II. Licia Chovan, already moving to make the ship a smaller target. Gidon Kall, recalibrating the shield and coordinating the return of more of their mobile suits. Itsuki Kazama, reporting, "Weapons will need time to recharge."
And Tempo Astelian, "Captain. The cable didn't hit the Phenex."
"Good," Rezza says, and frowns, regarding the viewscreen and the battle at hand They have many technical readouts before them, but their calculations indicate...
Beams of golden light slash against the Ra Mari II's hull once again, blackening red armor and rendering albative plating to slag. The weapons are still overheated from that last approach. The missiles...
"..."
Rezza thinks of the crew, and makes a choice. "Pull back," Enba instructs Licia.
"Captain?" she says, turning to look at them like they grew an extra head. But she doesn't actually ask the question, looking into Enba's eyes and then nodding.
"...We can't do more here. Our weapons are taxed to their limits. If we keep taking hits like that, we risk hull compromise. We won't be able to save our lost crew member that way."
Astelian hesitates. "...But if we don't stop the II Neo Zeong, we're all dead, aren't we?"
"That's true," Enba says. "And that's why..." Anita. Naoko. "We have to put our faith in our pilots and in our allies, and plan as if they're going to win."
"That's the only way, now. We need to be ready to support them."
The Ra Mari II indeed stars to move backwards, its mobile suit wings starting to withdraw. The shield generator at its front glimmers with extra power.
"Ra Mari II," Tempo Astelian says over the general frequency, "Pulling back to a defensive position."
"Captain--" Licia's voice starts in alarm.
"I see her," Enba says. "Nousadjel-Ger wing! Get out there and cover the Banshee! Dr. Mass, too!"
Still, the Ra Mari II pulls back, armor smoking in places, hard-pressed to do anything else but sit back and get repair crews in action. Enba, on the bridge, stares still into the viewscreen. Licia Chovan scowls. "...Relying on that Kafim of all people..." She shakes her head. "Well, we do what it takes, I guess." But Enba--Enba keeps watching, to see just what will happen out there, what Possibility will come into being next.
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
"Goddamn it Jona, listen to yourself!" Michele says to herself (but as he's psychic, he can definitely hear it, and she calculated that.)
As Zoltan and Rita and Yuliana collide into Photos Elpis, Michele has to figure out how to reach Jona's heart. And the only thing she can think of...
Is unbridled honesty. A heart-to-heart. Not like the sad story when they captured Rita, even if that was still true.
"Jona Basta! You were my friend... and I let you down. I betrayed you grievously. But that doesn't have to define this world! That doesn't have to define us as people! My sins are not your sins - my actions are not your actions! You still have a story to write - in this world!"
And she says something she hasn't said to him since childhood.
"Please...!"
KTS: Michele Luio targets Jona Basta with Dream! KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
I'm already dead, Zoltan.
Rita's voice sounds almost like laughter as she says it.
Zoltan and Rita cry out with one voice, launching the green brilliance of Possibility at the monstrous machine before them. With a gesture, Rita sends the Phenex rocketing to the Neo Zeong II in the wake of the beam.
The Gundam's hands land on the Narrative's armor.
Jona.
---
Prismatic light, brilliant and unstoppable as the dawn, eclipses reality. With her hands outstretched and the power of the Phenex in her heart, Rita Bernal pulls the souls of Jona, Michele, Shelby, Zoltan, and herself to a higher plane.
In this place, even time seems to glow.
Slowly, the radiance of Rita's miraculous grace fades, and the five find themselves on a rocky beach. Before them is the ocean, where it has overtaken much of Australia. Distant skyscrapers poke out of the water in a grim reminder of the past.
"I'm so sorry, Jona."
Footsteps, slight and graceful, impact against the shore. They're near-soundless compared to the gentle roar of the waves. Rita Bernal, slowly, approaches Jona.
Today there are no beautiful dresses or pretense at her Ascended state: Rita appears as she was when she left this world. Dressed in the Phenex's custom normal suit, with her hair pulled back in a short ponytail. Scars blanket the visible portions of her skin.
"You too, Michele." Rita looks to both her friends, sorrow in her over-bright green eyes. "For dragging both of you into this. But. I knew I couldn't do it by myself. I knew it would take all three of us to stop the monster. So I had to."
Rita looks down. "Once I died, my vision expanded. Along the path I saw, Michele would die as well. I wanted to find a way to save both of you. Everything I've done has been for that goal. But along the way, I've hurt you both so terribly."
"I'm not asking you to forgive me. Any of you." Rita glances to Zoltan and Shelby, including them in her statement. "I just want you to live. To find a way to exist free of the pain and sorrow I've caused you."
Stepping forward, Rita takes Jona's hand in both of her own, looking at him pleadingly. "This destruction will only create more tragedies like ours, Jona. I don't want our story to happen to anyone else. Please, come back. There's so much more to this life than the horror you've seen."
"No matter what." Rita smiles so widely her eyes squeeze closed. "I'm happy that I met you, Jona. We'll all get to be reborn again. And so long as I can meet you then... I don't care what I end up as."
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
In the middle of it all, the Psycho-Frame of the Phenex resonates. It cascades, it overflows with the will of Rita Bernal. And in it, Zoltan is pulled up and along, an instinctual yell of a man who'd much preferred not to be dragged places having just that inflicted in his psyche.
behind.
leave
rather
he'd
spaces
into
upwards
Crashing
downwards
into
spaces
he'd
rather
not
inhabit.
The sea.
The salt in the air.
It only takes a glance upwards to place his bearings.
"First time I've ever been to a place like this."
He may just be in shock.
The mental visage of Zoltan Akkanen is in his Sleeve uniform.
The uniform of a prisoner.
There's only a glance over at the trio. Ah, so it's this kind of place. It's this sort of situation. One where he's outside looking in again, to see things before everything continued crashing down.
Che. Children. Future.
This world is going to keep on spinning, won't it?
Idiots. Fools.
"Oi!" He's waited for Rita's own spiel to be over. Call it the politeness of those foolish enough to be Spacenoid by continual choice, as if he had one in the first place.
"Jona, you're a damn idiot."
I know fuckall about you.
Hell, you stole my damn machine.
But, come on.
Look at the shit around you.
If you got idiots on your tail.
You're doing something mildly right.
I think.
Maybe.
"So you're gonna be the one to end everyting, that'd be hell."
I'm the one who's gotta make it burn, so don't steal my role before it's done. I don't believe in reincarnation or existentialism or any of that garbage.
There's a few steps from the scarred 'gentle'man who's scratching his head. Geh. He never was any good with speeches or general faffery. Why couldn't he have gotten lessons from Full Frontal? Not that he would spare the effort. "Last thing I want to see is Rita moping because you're an idiot. So if you think about doing stuff like this afterwards!"
"I'll make sure to be the responsible adult and punch you in the solar plexus, you hear me!?"
A very direct way of transferring feelings.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
Her mouth opens to speak, but the words don't quite make it. Words echo in her mind. Just her mind, though...? Is it really her, or ...
ask for help, idiot
The funnels scream furiously; beams of heat and light ripping another leg clear from the Mobile Suit and one scorching through the head of the Jagd Doga. The console pops, a chunk of the housing bucking out from the burst and snap of the overload. The Psychoframe screams.
Or is it her head?
With a violent pop of heat and light from the still-attached shoulder, the machine spins out, flopping end over end as it tears through space. Controls stop responding, and the world becomes a blurry mess of the colony and darkness, over and over, head over heels. Her helmet cracks against the console before her head snaps back against the seat, gasping for breath--
inhale
The beach? The sea. She's only really been to the sea-- the actual sea-- a couple of times in her life. And even having been in places like this before, she still has very little control over it -- over herself. Glasses perched on her nose, her hair actually thick fiery red curls. Her arms...? Even here, in this place, she carries her scars. The presence that is fragmented, separated from her -- but still so very much a piece of her being; the ghost of a figment of a child so hard to see.
"As long as you're alive," Shelby says, after Rita, nodding, "... as long as you're alive, you can still do your best to fix things. Make up for it."
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
'I'm sorry.'
That's the first thing that ripples into existence as a younger Michele stands alongside the beach. A genuine apology, without the bullshit, for everything she's done.
She looks across the water, before her eyes drift across the small group gathered in the psychic space.
"This... isn't all there is."
She looks up, now an adult, and it ripples again. A second apology, from the older Michele.
'I'm sorry. I should have been honest with you. You don't have to forgive me, but please at least hear me out.'
"This world belongs to the living. It's our will that made it this way. If you don't like it, you'll have to put an end to it."'
A long pause, until she follows up.
"But, who knows what's possible? We're human - it takes the living to make a miracle. This world of flesh and blood, hurt and pain, fragile bodies... it's still ours. Once, I thought it wasn't worth it. But now... we need to live with our consequences."
"Let's continue on living... for good and for ill. Okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.
"Ma'am! Engines are overclocking!? They'll redline in under a minute at this rate! We didn't do this!?"
Sophia's lip curls and she stares at her viewport as Jona's proclamation thunders over the bridge. These people rely on her, depend on her. Trust her as few captains ask their crew to do. That driving fire to burn down the world...to avenge demons like this man.
It could break anyone, the thought that she'd be killed by someone like this, someone she had the temerity to try and save.
Sophia doesn't even stand. She watches the II Neo Zeong, her Geass flaring in her eye, posture undaunted. She surveys the world of souls precisely as her power makes her: As a King.
"I see you, Jona Basta," she says. With souls as wide open as this, his name is all too easy to read from the flailing heart in front of her. "I see the lashes you tie around your heart. The treacheries that bind you to your pain."
She can hear one of the missile banks cook off; part of the deck erupts as the autoturret's entire ammo dump explodes, sending a whole armor plate into the black.
"It is because this ship works every day to oppose these evils that I am here. It is because my sister suffered in that pit that you have someone to throw your hate against. But do scream! Do tear 300 souls out of the sky for the sake of your misery! I am sure it will make the next batch so much easier to reason with!"
She sees the attention of the Neo Zeong bearing down on her like as deadly of a beam as the Neo Zeong's own megaparticle cannons. But she settles back into her seat and watches still, eyes slowly flicking across the threads.
"I shall hold the door open, for when Shelby wrings your neck."
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam sees the Banshee's IFF weaken and flicker, and his stomach tightens. "Leina," he whispers, as if he could somehow will strength to her, and to Sayla, and to everyone else dealing with his captor. It's not that easy. Jona shouts back at him, and Liam hesitates, a moment, tempted to go with his gut response: 'You don't want this.' He takes a breath. "Because the monster has power, Jona? Because a monster's power is better than no power at all?"
And then another puppet string launches for the Phenex, and Liam's scream leaves his throat raw for a moment. The only clue he has to the Phenex's fate is its beacon, stubbornly red like all the other enemies.
'I'm NOT THE JONA THAT YOU KNEW!'
Liam's thoughts flash back to a shared meal in an airport food court, and a conversation that almost killed his appetite. Yuliana told him of the REA's crimes, and how she went from promising recruit to a lab rat intended for sacrifice. He tried to think of Yuliana-that-was as separate from Yuliana-that-is. One was innocent and eager and hopeful, and the other was a monster.
It was a mistake. But he developed the schema thinking about himself.
"Jona," Liam croaks. "I--"
Liath Macha, of course, has not been idle this whole time. Anita's been giving it its own private air show, wheeling about it in twists and turns that even it has a hard time following. Once or twice the CIWS tries to fire, and she's still prioritized as a target--at any moment, the VF could change back to Battroid mode and blast it, or worse. The INCOMs come in, shielded optically by the light of the erupting fuel tank. Liath Macha jukes and weaves and moves, but they're coming from each direction, and it's all it can do to keep its tether away from them. Metal groans and shears beneath the onslaught.
It's a three-part setup: Anita distracts, Chris emperils, Lucine goes for the kill.
"I love you," Liam whispers, and his eyes flicker closed. Liath Macha jerks against the INCOMs penning it in, but to no avail. Lucine's glaive comes down, cutting halfway through the tether cord. It jerks back, twisting, but--
The second strike cuts cleanly through. The wounded, battered Liath Macha goes limp in Chris's 'hands'. In the cockpit, Liam breathes. Red-tinted darkness engulfs him as the panoramic display cuts, and the emergency lights turn on. The system's rebooting, but... what will happen when it finishes?
It only takes a few moment, during which Liam is helpless on the battlefield, entrusting in Lucine, Anita, and Chris--and, by extension, everyone fighting the Neo Zeong II and Aphrodite Areia--to keep him safe. The display cuts back on. Liam moves a control stick, and Liath Macha obeys him, and he feels relief so profound he starts to cry.
"Sayaka," Liam transmits, "is she... we have to..."
The Monster's Psychoframe starts to tear at the world. "JONA, NO!" Liath Macha whirls to face the Neo Zeong II, even though realistically Liam knows there's nothing he can do...
But hope.
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
The II Neo Zeong, battered and shaken, hovers over the battlefield. Denver Colony lay behind it, gashes torn in the cylinder by its earlier assaults. Debris swirls about, from the damaged Neo Zeong; from the ships and mobile weapons on the field; from the abandoned resource satellites and ships.
Jona Basta can't sense what is in the Phenex. He can only see the scope of damage that he inflicted. He can only feel the helium-3 cylinders, which call to him with a twisted sort of possibility of their own.
The victory he never wanted seems within his grasp. His fingers twitch and outstretch. He feels the ghosts of Denver Colony stir. An awareness -- and for a moment, he thinks they're encouraging him. Close them and close the loop on the fusion reaction.
Leina calls out to him. So many people call out to him, and he refuses to listen. He always refused to listen. It was one of the things he hated about himself, and Jona Basta had a long list of those.
He laughs, small and broken, at what Yuliana says. "I tried to cry for every scar. For every child who was forgotten," Jona says. "And I ran out of tears, Yuliana. So forgive me if I stopped."
The Da Xukong 0 flies in close, a tiny insect before the battered thing hovering over her. The Cleave Axe slams down for the latches that hold the Narrative Gundam.
And the silence takes Jona.
Zoltan's words echo in his mind -- that he wanted to be here -- and the light reflects in his eyes. The light of the Photon; the light of the Psychoframe; the light of Rita, the light of Zoltan.
The light of a miracle.
He hears Michele's voice. Her desperate plea. Her apology. Her acknowledgement of her wrongs. He blinks his eyes. Jona Basta steels himself and his fingers twitch, but they do not close.
When... when did he start crying?
"Michele..."
And the Neo Zeong is touched by the Phenex's hands.
---
Jona finds himself pulled into another space.
It is both familiar and brand new to him. He is in two times at once; a child, standing on the ruined beach in Sydney; a teenager, reaching for a friend in Augusta; an adult, in his battered Federation uniform, bags under his eyes and rust red hair disheveled. Telling, perhaps, that he sees himself in such a way. The rock under his left boot slips, a little, as he stands upward. He turns to look at Rita.
Rita, as she was; Rita, as he never saw her, wearing the normal suit of the Phenex. Visible proof of the fate that he thought he consigned her to.
"I have nothing," Jona whispers, before any of them speak. His hand is limp in Rita's as she speaks. He feels that Michele is sorry.
He looks at her. She tells him that she is sorry; that it is her fault. Jona looks at her with more than eyes, all of his attention on his childhood friend.
And there's the first stirrings of the rage returning. The anger is so easy to summon back up, because it's like the oily surface over his true feelings. It is a shield, guarding how hurt he is, how much he wants everything to stop. Zoltan makes eye contact with him -- and for a moment, Jona's expression hardens. But there is more than eye contact. There is an understanding, then.
An understanding of what Zoltan wants.
An understanding of their roles. An understanding of what Jona pushed himself to do.
An understanding of what Zoltan pushed himself to not do.
And there is a promise there -- and it's a promise to protect the person that Jona said he would protect. Zoltan's aggressiveness is like an arrow, and an arrow pierces the armor around Jona's misery. He looks down then.
"Maybe," he says, his voice quiet. "Maybe I am a damn idiot."
And, maybe, he doesn't want to be punched in the solar plexus.
And so Jona, for once, listens as Rita and Michele speak.
His jaw clenches and his expression tightens, but he isn't about to shout. Tears form in his eyes as he looks at his friends. A hundred thousand reasons to deny them go through his mind. How it should have been his fault. How he hurt them. How they hurt him. How he doesn't deserve this, after everything he did. But underneath all of that, there is something he wanted more than any of that. He wanted a future with them, for all of those years, and it seemed so impossible.
But now, speaking with them, the realization comes: it isn't impossible.
"I care what you end up as, Rita," Jona says, his voice quiet. "But... I'll believe in our future. A future for all of us, together. The future belongs to the living. And the living can create miracle." He smiles, then, his lip quivering as he does. He looks at Michele, then, and he smiles at her too. "For good and ill. Maybe this is another miracle we've made. All of us together, again."
The sorrow, the regret, and the guilt -- they're such horrible and heavy things. Heavy things are hard for him to let go of. Jona was never good at letting go. He could never do it alone. But, he isn't alone. He has four -- no, so many more -- people to help him let go. So his hand, finally, stops being limp, and his fingers squeeze around Rita's.
He looks at Shelby. He takes a shuddering breath, neck muscles tight, but he smiles at her. His friend. "Yeah. If I'm alive, it's not over."
He looks back to Rita.
"I'll come back. And I know... I know we'll all share that future again."
He smiles. "Someday."
---
The Neo Zeong goes still. The wires from it, connecting it to the Aphrodite Areia and the Liath Macha disconnect. Jona Basta, sitting in the Narrative Gundam, looks up. His eyes open, tears still filling them.
His hand falls, fingers limp, and the mounting reaction in the helium-3 cylinders stops. A Knightmare Frame pilot on the Hyperion sighs, as he sees his reactor stop overheating.
The Psycho Shard glimmers again -- but it's not Jona's will, this time. It's the strike of a pirate; of someone who knew where to hit and when. Because cracks spiderweb and echo out, once Jona's will doesn't grip it. And Trevor's strike causes the plates of psycommu material to shatter.
Golden, glass-like metal floats around and spreads out. Jona looks back over his shoulder at it, and he smiles.
And for the first time in months, Jona Basta just breathes.
"I'm--" He sends a message. "I'm powering this thing down. I--"
Words fail him. He chokes up, before he can say more.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Leina responds- and Sayla breathes, if just for a moment. She's alive. She's responding. Even if she can feel the fear through their bond, she's still there. "Thank god. I was so scared-"
But that moment of relief means she's sloppy- the Areia is still fighting, and it's still fighting her- the Hi-Nu turns and Sayla raises her beam saber to try and parry, as the photon funnels rapidly return to try and form a shield to stop the strike coming in...
But Photon Power is only near limitless, and the Hi-Nu draws a lot. Against Aphrodite, it cannot keep it up. The blow sends the Hi-Nu reeling, as the reactor gives out, leaving the Hi-Nu dead in space, floating backwards from the wing strike.
Inside the cockpit, it's dark. No cameras- no windows through which to see what's going on. No comms with which to hear. The suit comms won't reach that far.
But Leina can still feel her. Sayla's no good at sending her thoughts. But she's still alive. She's still awake.
"Come on, come on..." She mutters, as she tries to wake the reactor again- but for now, the funnels drift further away from the Hi-Nu, even as Leina and the Ra Mari II's remaining suits move to cover her.
No matter what, though, she's out of this fight. Whatever is happening out there, she can only feel it.
The abating of aggression.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko Suzuki is off in her own world, barely perceiving the crisis that's unfolding around her. Once she commits to a task like this, she fully dives into a machine. Well, not literally, not this time. But mentally, certainly, divided only between attention on her own actions and the mental link between herself and her Friends, providing her with instant real-time information updates. With Uriel taking stock of the situation inside the Aphrodite Areia and Ariel keeping track of the situation outside, she is able to keep one step ahead better than most.
She can only put her conscious focus in one place at a time, however, and at the moment, it has to be on her efforts to free Sayaka. With admin access, there is little the machine itself can do to stop her, the only snag is the outside element. The control enforced by the II Neo Zeong naturally wants no part of this, forcing her to fight attempts to lock her out at every turn. Intense as her typing may appear however, her emotions in this moment are the picture of serenity. She is in her element here, moreso than anywhere else. Infinitely more comfortable than she is in the real world, which feels blissfully far away right now.
In this state, there's no stopping her. The ejection system override proceeds apace regardless of any attempts at interference. And as soon as she feels, moreso than sees, the moment where 99 percent rolls over to 100...
"NOW!"
Naoko slams her hand down on the screen in front of her, remotely activating the Aphrodite Areia's Pilder eject. At the very same moment Ariel alerts her of an imminent attack. There's no way to stop that from happening, freeing Sayaka won't change what's already been set in motion. There's also no way for her to be ready in time to defend against it. She can barely reassert control in time to move - directly after the fist impacts, but before the blade is swung. Crumpled, but not cleaved, the Sukeban rights itself some distance, Naoko breathing heavily in the cockpit. Having to switch brainspaces so quickly makes her feel pretty awful, but by her reckoning, it was rather more important to not die.
Thankfully, not long after, the II Neo Zeong falls still. She has no idea what exactly happened, but it is fortunate, since she doesn't really have much energy left, after all that. She only finds enough to radio to the general area in a small voice, "Is... is it over?"
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Chris sees victory in the puppet-string slackening of the Liath Macha, and closes the gap rapidly, INCOMs extinguishing their bladestorm and forming into an icosahedral barrier around both mobile suits, holding her dear friend close.
"There's no way Koji won't save her," she replies to Liam, and the rest...
The rest is left to those children... "Rita... I hope you come back with him..." she murmurs.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
...Asciel did leave a little eye upon the hacking of Aphrodite's control systems, maybe just to learn what approach Naoko took, how she might incorporate that herself. What she sees, instead- is absolutely impossible. Reprogramming acumen beyond human ken. Asciel's felt people doing entry and creating subroutines upon her - this is just outright inhuman.
---oh. She's one of those. That phenomenon Mr. Silver discussed in hushed and evasive tones - one Asciel could easily divine meant he was speaking from personal experience. She knew enough to stoke his ego juuuust enough to squeeze that little bit of insight, information, and favors from the man. What a delightful realization. To think she might learn about that strange phenomenon herself, the cursed children given messages from beyond, who, they claim, even as children influenced the trajectory of mobile weapon development. One of them all to herself, if she can keep Nova close. What utter providence to-
--she's one of those
Immediately, Asciel realizes the staggering amount of danger she's in even having this surface level observation of Aphrodite's subversion, and closes it immediately - so unsubtly it wouldn't be hard for Naoko to divine that she was watching to begin with.
A level of terror fills Asciel from this, and the flickering, faint sense she gets from the Lambda Driver. Her rainbow of resentment can't be a solitary miracle here - how could it? Everyone else is channeling that same wish. The yearnings of humanity are invested in so many here, and not all aimed at a single point. Everything becomes a threat that she has failed to amass the strength to overturn. Withdrawing, withdrawing - liquid foaming in the chrysalis after trying to boil itself alive. Trapped in a cage of its own making-
Right until the arrow pierces. Directly into the fountain of that miracle - the Lambda Driver sputtering and crackling. Iridescent, intangible "liquid" falls from the crack as Asciel ruptures, eyes wide, twitching and trying to grasp the now-dissolved arrow that gouged so deep into her 'heart'.
<"__aaaaah. i'm leaking. i'm making such a mess. aaaaah. this is what i look like in there. all the organs of a miracle, spilling into the abyss. aaah. i knew a god of love was the most lethal of all. aaah...__"> Asciel's voice, at once panicked yet monotone, stares in horror between herself and the Aphrodite on its string. A stronger puppet. That's all it came down to. A better crafted marionette.
Drowning. Deeper and deeper in that puddling fountain of wisdom. The well she sacrificed to engorge from. Further. Further-
>__(stop it stop drinking so deeply stop it it's as poisonous as it is euphoric i have to be able to stop)__
>What a ridiculous thought~ It's the essence of the truth I will forge. I just have to adapt to it, to hoard it as best I can~
There can be no snapping to her senses. There can be no taking of fresh air. There can be no giving up. None of those are options. The only one Asciel can take is the unimaginably painful one.
<"Y-y-y-you know, Koji Kabuto - o - o. Tell me. How you did it. Some time.~ How you could so fearlessly. Brush close to hurting someone you love. Even when the reasons why. You'd inflict that. Would be from such a frivolous source. That's really impressive! That's really impressive! What an unimaginable. _enviable. Amount of trust. Please pardon. The emergency exit - the machine meant to lift me upwards. And leave the stage in grace. Just broke.~ Careless mistake! More miracles to break, though. You all just. Breathe. And watch!~">
Sheathed in a fluid aura of that cyan leakage, Asciel abruptly pulls backwards in the direction of Denver Colony - like a rope was hoisted around her waist, tumbling sideways at the extremely consistent speed of 190 kilometers per hour. Away from the sigh of relief as everyone can come together - as everyone saves loved partners from the depths of despair.
That's a storm more dangerous to Asciel than the actual fever pitch of war.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Tears sparkle in Rita's eyes, despite the smile on her face. As their shared vision of the past fades, the last thing that can be heard is a sweet, relieved laugh.
---
I've got you, Jona. Zoltan, please send a message to our allies stating that Jona and the Narrative will be coming with us. Anyone who tries to get in our way will be treated as an enemy. I will deal with the Neo Zeong II as soon as Jona is safe
Rita has faith in her loved ones, but certainly not in Sophia.
With gentle movements, Rita's hands extend. The Phenex changes her grasp, her hands landing on both of the Narrative's shoulders. Golden light encompasses the Narrative, lifting it slowly from the Neo Zeong II and up, into free space. For all the time the Narrative has been trapped within the monster, it's a remarkably smooth rescue. Another Miracle, perhaps.
Once both Gundams hover freely above the Neo Zeong II, the Phenex wraps her arms around the Narrative. Within Jona Basta's vision, Rita wraps her arms around him in kind.
Zoltan, please request sanctuary from Acting Captain Enba Rezza of the Ra Mari II. I will get us all there, then return for the monster. It cannot exist in this world. Humanity isn't ready.
Everything feels... kind, a wave of peace and happiness echoing across the battlefield from the Phenex.
Finally, finally... It's over, finally...
As the Phenex pulls the Narrative to the Ra Mari II, Rita is quiet, lost in the overwhelming emotions of the moment. Glimmering tears fall down Rita's face. The path she walked for so long has, at last, come to an end.
...
Or so it would be, if not for waiting horror. Rita's gaze turns to Denver Colony. They will not have long to celebrate their victory.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
The Phenex brings everyone to a miracle of connection, and Yuliana... is not there.
Could not be there, stand there, on that strange shore.
She is left with her bitterness, roiling in her throat, as Jona speaks of the tears he longer has. And at length she finds her reply:
"I know that I am nothing."
Again, more a mantra:
"I know that I am nothing."
It's not the first mantra which Jona has heard Yuliana speak.
Having to rely on the Phenex for this --
-- at least they pull through, for them and for the world. Yuliana's lips part, breath hissing through her teeth. He's powering down...
"Good," she settles on, a shade stern. "Seems you got through to him. Ritechka's future... of course it couldn't come to pass. It's well that he survived it. I hope no one is fool enough to stop him from leaving."
(The Hyperion. She's thinking of the Hyperion.)
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Does she really think she can save anyone?
"I do!" Anita declares. That's the one thing she is certain of - the one thing she won't let anyone stop her from doing.
She listens to Lucine, and her concerns. Anita nods.
"...Alright. But, we've got this - I know we do." Anita assures. They're working together in tandem - and between the three of them... it's enough. The cable attached to the Liath Macha is severed. Anita watches it for a moment - carefully, just in case. Before eventually...
"...You still okay in there, Liam?" Anita asks. "It's alright. We've got you."
Something happens, then. It's something Anita can't see, feel, or touch - but the effect is clear. The II Neo Zeong, too, goes quiet, and the cable connected to the Aphrodite Areia is also removed. Anita breathes a sigh of relief, settling back in her seat.
"...Looks like we're clear for now, Ra Mari II. What's your status?" Anita asks, and then considers Naoko's question. Is it over? The two controlled units have been detached, and the mobile armor seems to be shutting down...
"I think so. Far now, anyway. Stay on guard, but... you did good, Nova. Real good." Anita offers with a smile, and then considers the II Neo Zeong for a moment. The way Jona chokes up... Anita massages the back of her neck(or tries to, but doesn't quite succeed with her helmet in the way).
"...It's alright, man. Just... take it easy for now. Don't force yourself. It's alright." She says.
For now, that's all she needs to say, even as her thoughts drift back to Denver Colony.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
There certainly is guilt at Yuliana's comment, if she'd minded her mother. Would this have happened?
The Banshee slows as it gets closer to the Hi-Nu, as it's hands outspread slowly. It's larger than the Norn, but that never mattered to her.
Her arms can still fit around it.
For a moment that feels true, as the Norn's arms slide around it. As Sayla feels it encircle her.
Have you. I have you.
She doesn't need comms or power to know this is true.
In that moment, which possibility will come from the Miracle Jona dared them to make takes form. The aggression fades, as Zoltan, Shelby, Michele and Rita convince him to share in the future they make together.
"... Dummy." Leina says gently, "S'okay, I was one too. You need help, Jona." A smile touches her expression, "But it'll be okay, because they're there for you... just rely on them for a while."
It's a moment that at least, temporarily cuts through the fear, but the apprehension slowly returns. Even as the mobile suit wing Enba sent closes around them, around the Norn and the Hi-Nu. They can already see the Norn facing the direction of that sealed facility, while still holding the Hi-Nu...
... as if she were going to hand Sayla off to them...
"We have to get to her."
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Snip. The Psycho Shards sizzle, crackle, pop. The bird finally chips the wall. Trevor smirks in spite of himself, "A little late for that, aren't we...? This... is important, isn't it? This thing-- this light. I don't know how psychoframes work, it's all a little beyond me, but I know machines, and this one doesn't look happy.
...But it certainly is still angry enough to do something terrible. It pulses and strobes, and in the instant that Jona's destructive will is forced upon reality itself, Trevor is dumbstruck that it's still active, then--
Alerts. Flashes of red all across Isadore's screens. "Reactor heat... increasing?" There was no push that time. No recoiling wave of force. This is...
"No."
Funnels converge. Beams stream down like a torrent. "Not like this. You don't get to take this away from me, Jona Basta!" A particle beam lances into Isadore's shoulder, tearing through broken metal to cook through a coolant line. Reactor stress skyrockets, Isadore's heart-- their cockpit-- boils with blistering heat. He can't even run away at this point; there's no escape from this. The only chance of survival is a miracle.
Or... Something a bit more primitive.
"I've not even begun to learn how amazing the Earth can be! Those summer days on the beach, the howling blizzards-- What the hell does being a Newtype have to do with not loving the act of just living!?" A belated response to a belated question, but Trevor has to. He has to keep himself focused. Even as the beams keep pouring down, he needs to find just the right angle--
That ring, that damned halo, if he can just take it out...
He can't run away. They have to brave the storm, to stay focused entirely on the task to the exclusion of all else. Mega particles cook through one of Isadore's legs, but--
There. A gap. Palms boiling, brain swimming in the heat, demanding to live, demanding to survive-- and begging the question of why he always ends up half dead when miracles are afoot-- Trevor guns the engines.
Isadore drives its claw, tip first, into a crack only he can see.
...He has no idea if it'll do anything, but at this point, it's do or die. A roll of the dice. The realization that a psychic reunion was taking place just meters away would come later. Isadore's claw makes impact...
...As Rita and the others finally touch Jona's heart.
The ring shatters. The wall crumbles. And that damn bird is still there, panting like a dog, maybe, but alive. "The... hell," Trevor growls, "You're turning it off, just like that...? Guh. Come back to your senses... A little earlier next time, dumbass. I almost cooked alive...!"
Michele Luio has disconnected.
<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.
The psychic assault ends. She hears a breath of relief from the engineering desk: "Engine stabilizing."
Tactical calls similarly: "Surviving units showing stabilizing status. But the damage was severe, Ma'am. Most mobile suits disabled, nearly every missile pod is going to need to be replaced..."
Amata grimaces, ticking her gaze toward Sophia. "We're barely spaceworthy, like this. We should leave at once."
Sophia watches the screen - no, the space far beyond it, the lives twirling helplessly and latching to each other out there between the glittering lights.
She sees what she thinks are two thoughts bending specifically her way. Impossible. That's not what the geass sees. But...
She reaches for her normal suit helmet and latches it on, standing up.
"This wasn't even what we came here for," she says. "Get all crew into normal suits and get the ship to maximum viable distance. I'm taking the Helios and my Flag. There's work still to do."
She reaches down, about to end the line to Shelby...and holds for a moment, watching her frightened crew, grimly strapping themselves in.
"...........I hope he's worth my ship, Caedra," she says, quietly, not entirely sure she wants Shelby to hear it, and then flicks the comm off.
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
There's a sense of loss, even from someone so displaced from everything. Colapsing back on the chair, sighing out and scratching his neck, watching the Neo Zeong II power down, bit by bit. Goddamn it. Now he has to stay around just so that he has the chance to punch him in the stomach.
Comms, on. "Uuuuh...Shit. Rita says that Jona and the Narrative is with us. The Phenex. Leave the Neo Zeong II, or we'll blow you to hell and back. Also, yell at her to get some body or way so I don't have to be her microphone. I'm not even being paid, can you believe that?" That'd work.
Still, he can't help but recline in his cockpit seat, stretching slightly. It's fine now, isn't it? He's down for the count. Mostly.
Comms to Enba. The Ra Mari II. "This is the RX-0 Phenex, requesting permission for...sanctuary? Asylum? Refugee status? I don't know if either of us has an actual affiliation at this point. Anyways, if you'd let us dock there, we'll cooperate." ...Him, cooperating. Goddamn bureaucracy. This and that and the other. The hell.
He does guide that golden unit down in when prompted.
He's gonna get that damn sandwich.
Christina MacKenzie has disconnected.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
'He needs you.' Lucine smiles at Leina's warning. < ".... Will do, Leina..." >
In the end, it takes three people to disable the Liath Macha without harming the precious pilot inside, ending with the Dianthus whipping around to snap that cable in twain with its glaive.
"...."
It's only when that building pressure from far off subsides that Lucine allows herself to succumb to her tears.
< "Liam..." > The same voice that shrieked at Jona is now a gentle whisper over the com to Liam. < ".... Anita... Chris... I wouldn't have been able to manage this without the two of you... thank you." >
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Something happens.
The Neo Zeong suddenly, just, stops, and with it, the destruction. Liam grips Liath Macha's controls and makes a few micromotions to watch the AMBAC compensate. A reminder that his machine is his again. "Sorry," he whispers, and he pats the part of the panoramic display that fractured when he punched it. "I'm... going to be okay. Need some water, and repairs, and some help back to the ship. I'm going to be okay. Don't think we're out of the woods yet, but... okay."
"...Where's Rita? I think... was someone else piloting the Phenex?" How could that be?
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
There's a brief moment of panic that washes over Sayaka as Aphrodite Areia takes the Hi-Nu into her grasps. As it floats into space, life uncertain, leaving Sayaka only to wonder if she was the one who let Sayla down. "Sayla, can you hear me?!" Sayaka desperately calls.
But she is saved by the Banshee - by Leina. "Thank god..." She takes a sigh of relief. Leina reminds her that her own situation isn't exactly resolved yet... but Nova's working on it.
No matter how Areia resists, the Pilder begins to rise, only assisted by the fall of the II Neo Zeong. Rita, Zoltan, and the rest... they really managed to do it. And maybe they'll all finally be able to heal for once from all these long-held wounds.
"Yes," Sayaka answers Nova. "It's over... they did it. And you did it." She lets out a long, hard sigh. "Thank you."
Asciel begins to drown in her feelings, thanks to the Artemis Arrow, and what can only be poison to her as she realises the truth of who Nova is. Truthfully, Sayaka is grateful to her as well, as... confusing and strange as her methods were. "The amount of trust we have for each other... simply can't be broken. It's simple as that," Sayaka answers Asciel as Aphrodite Areia falls to a kneel, free from the Neo Zeong's control. "Miracles or not... I think it's that trust that won the day. I appreciate your help too, but I don't think Areia really appreciated your influence..." She is Sayaka's partner exclusively, after all.
"I'm fine," Sayaka confirms to Liam. "It's going to be a long night's rest and some good repairs, but it'll be okay. Thank goodness it's the same for you."
With all that said, one simple command unleashed the Pilder from Areia's body. "Pilder off!" And it immediately soars to Mazinger Z's side, Sayaka waving her arm to Koji from within the hovercraft. "That... was an experience," she says. "There's a lot we could talk about, from emergency overrides for future situations like this, how much repairs Areia's going to need... but I think there's one thing that comes first."
"What was that about 'I love you way too much to let that bastard take you from me'?" She grins, and yes she did her best Koji impression.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Why does the spinning work, again? Who knows, but it does. The II Neo Zeong must be using laser comms to fine-tune the trajcetory of the missiles, too, because they dance around the Rust Hurricane that Mazinger Z spews from its mouth. Koji grimaces, and flips switches as he brings Z's arms up to block.
The first missile blasts Z's right fist clean off its elbow joint; the second takes the left. The Castle of Iron spins from the displaced momentum before the Astro Scrander fires and stabilises its trajectory.
"God damn. We've built a real powerhouse of a Mazin here, haven't we Sayaka?" Okay yeah no he's definitely enjoying this. "... But I'm still here, Aphrodite. Even controlled like this... You still don't want to see Mazinger Z destroyed, do you?"
He looks down at his dashboard, smiling. "And we don't want to kill you, either. C'mon, Z! One last push...!"
The battlefield is churning - he can see Areia descend upon the Hi-Nu, too. Leina changing course to intercept. This has to end. Right now. A prolonged engagement with Aphrodite Areia, benefiting from the II Neo Zeong's control and tactical analysis, will see them all adrift in pieces.
He has to count on Naoko to pull this off - and change targets.
The Phenex is moving in.
... wait -
He's not sensitive enough to be privy to the moment Rita shares with those who have drawn close to her, but he can feel, see, something change - the way the light dies in the Narrative's psychoframe as Yuliana forces it to undock from the Mobile Armor, and the way Aphrodite Areia jolts as the worm finally purges the unwanted connection and the cable on the Pilder detaches, limp as Sayaka's Pilder is jettisoned in turn from Areia's cranial dock.
'I'm powering this thing down,' Jona announces.
Koji exhales with relief, tapping those same switches on his dash - the great fists of Mazinger Z, tumbling in the void, suddenly spark to life, revealing their damaged jettison to have been a feint - a remote Rocket Punch activation while detaching them for later strikes.
There's - what sounds like mad chattering from Asciel's Codarl as it abruptly leaves the battlefield, but it's a pointed question - how can he force himself to come so close to hurting Sayaka while saving her? Koji has no coherent answer for her before she's gone, but his brow creases in worry. ... There are others to worry about, though.
Retrothrusters guide Mazinger Z's left arm back to its rightful places as he brings the Mazin in towards Aphrodite Areia while the Ra Mari II's wing protects the Hi-Nu and the Banshee. He reaches out to take hold of the lifeless femme Mazin, already beginning to run diagonistics on the Symbol of War and Peace's systems. The right fist, meanwhile, steers around to Sayaka's Pilder, cradling it protectively while she gets its systems back up and running, and gently pushing itself over to Z.
"... Damage isn't too bad, considering. Z's gonna use up most of the repair time. ... As usual." There's a relief in the way he jokes about the way he gets through fights.
And then Sayaka aims straight for his heart - a true killing strike - and Koji falls silent. Then, making sure he's secured, he opens the canopy of the Pilder, holding out an arm for Sayaka to disembark her own control vehicle and join him. The full-enclosure of the vacuum-sealed version of his traditional helmet hides the incandescent blush on his face.
Then he finds his voice. "I guess I need to tell you that a few more times a day, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
The Narrative Gundam is pulled from the II Neo Zeong. The Gundam is pulled away, as the II Neo Zeong is left powered off.
The Mobile Armor is a wreck. All around it, golden shards float, from the destroyed Psycho-Shards. The ring itself is a battered, cracked piece of metal. The armor of it is white, but almost thoroughly blackened throughout.
Half of the chest armor has been melted and slagged, from Yuliana's strike. Beam rifle shots from the Hyperion's and Ra Mari II's flight teams and Shelby's gatling have left it riddled with holes. Several huge holes are torn through by cannon fire.
The right arm has been shorn off completely. The funnels are scattered and broken -- wires, most severed, litter the space around it.
It is a shadow of what it was, and yet something still so terribly dangerous.
It hovers there in the wake of all of this, a ruin that is testament to its continued power.
But it's something in Jona Basta's past, now.
"I'm... I'm very sorry," Jona says to Trevor. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to get used to saying that." His brow furrows, for a moment. Then, he smiles a little, when Leina says that.
"No argument," he says to her. Then, he glances at Anita, and he looks down. "Yeah. It's... going to be all right."
He quiets down, when Liam speaks; when he looks at the Aphrodite Areia and sees Koji and Sayaka's reunion.
Had he really tried to prevent that? The guilt is still there, and maybe it's not so easy to let that go.
The ghosts of Denver had grown quiet towards the end. Jona Basta looks at them with fresh eyes, looking at the closed colony cylinder, as Denver rotates behind him. He feels what others with the awareness to do so can: they are still here, they are aware, and they are seething. His voice is strained, still. Quiet, even, as he speaks to them.
Maybe he can reach them.
"Thank you for calling me here," Jona says. "I hope... I hope we made a miracle for you. I know it's not the miracle you asked for."
But his eyes widen when they speak back to him. They speak to everyone here, in the minds of those able to hear such things -- and even in the minds of those who cannot. The ghosts are an amalgamation of almost a dozen different voices, though four of them seem to rise over the rest. They speak as one.
NO. THIS ISN'T WHAT WE WANTED. BUT WE WILL SHOW YOU THE TRUTH ABOUT "MIRACLES."
Jona's eyes widen more.
Behind him, the II Neo Zeong's remains come undone. The parts of it suddenly pop apart -- armor plates off of mechanical frame, pieces of its skeleton separating, weapons separating into components -- and then it begins to fly into the small hatches and open gashes cut into Denver Colony. It is a stream of separate Mobile Armor components, rapidly into the inside of Denver Colony, and out of sight. Burnt, half-melted fragments of armor are pulled away. Even fragments of the Psycho Shards move inside of it.
"Please," Jona says. "You don't have to do this. We can make our own story, together. We can make our own miracle--"
The Narrative Gundam has a few servos open up; a few bolts begin to pull out. But then, the crimson Psychoframe of the C-Packs glimmers, and the Narrative is not pulled into the storm of parts being dragged inside of Denver Colony.
The ghosts speak.
MIRACLES AREN'T MADE, JONA BASTA. THEY ARE CARVED.
The hatches on Denver Colony suddenly seal shut. The gashes, even, are plugged -- by a sudden growth of crystal and debris swirled together, to block them. Before, Denver glowed with the light of its reactor-powered lighting. Now, it glows with a sickly pale red light of the Psychoframe inside Denver.
Like a chrysalis, with some creature inside, waiting to be born.
Zoltan Akkanen has disconnected.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana cannot hear the siren's cry. What she hears, instead, is Jona, as he speaks to the ghosts -- and then pleads with them.
"Shielding's still down," she reports, as if to herself. "Armor critical... yes. We must." She's not talking to herself.
Yuliana sends a message out to the Banshee, safe in the arms of the Ra Mari II.
"Calm yourself, Leina. I will fix this. Do not worry."
As green light envelops her, a green portal opening around the ritual circle built into Da Xukong 0 --
"I will not abandon you. Don't act in haste. All will be well."
Before she can broach any argument, she's gone. That horrific green portal closes, a moment after its opening.
But when Yuliana fixes something...
Naoko Suzuki has disconnected.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
... Taking Sayaka's hand and pulling her into an embrace, Koji drops back into his seat and pulls the canopy shut. He removes his helmet, and moves in to kiss Sayaka as she removes hers -
MIRACLES ARE NOT MADE. THEY ARE CARVED.
... Well, that's that moment ruined. He looks up sharply to see Denver Colony change, red crystal plugging the gash in its hull as the parts of the II Neo Zeong are dragged into it.
He pulls Sayaka closer. "... We're not done here," he speaks the obvious. "We're going to have to rush the repair job, I guess."
One more life to save. One more atrocity to avert. And probably another in the wake of that.
... But that's the life they chose to return to.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Sayaka is safe as well, and inside the Mazinger Z. < "..... I'm kind of jealous of you two right now, you know." > Lucine's light teasing of Koji and Sayaka is massive difference from when she was brought into their labs in an official capacity to talk to Rita there.
It's all in jest, as Lucine has trouble enough piloting something in the middle size range. She's just happy that things are turning towards the better.
They are all reunited, and that's what matters.
"...!" Lucine holds a hand over her helmet as the voices speak from the Denver Colony. They're no longer the siren song that nearly convinced her to join them, but how much was that just her happening to resonate with that idea of finding something in a tomb that hadn't gone long dead and cold?
'.... BUT WE WILL SHOW YOU THE TRUTH ABOUT "MIRACLES."'
< ".... I was hoping... we had somehow got through to those poor souls..." > Lucine glances towards the compartment, where she had stored that piece of crystal. < "... I don't know how long the DIanthus--" > No, she does *not* doubt her suit's capabilities in front of Koji, the person who was willing to sit down and help her reconfigure her dad's last suit. < ".... No, I *will* do this!" >
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
'Thank you for calling me here.'
"...The ghosts?" Liam breathes. Oh God, he thinks, in the second or so before their reply. Why would they--
The cyborg shouts in alarm, pressing a hand to his bare temple. Alarm turns to panic as his head whips up, and he sees the II Neo Zeong's remains falling apart, and pulling themselves into the colony. Just like Banagher did to the General Revil's task force, allegedly. Liam's stomach twists. "We need repairs," he says. "Back to the ship, Lu. There's a full fabrication suite, Dr. Kabuto and the others can fix it." One problem at a time. First, they need to land. It feels like Liam hasn't been outside a cockpit in days, despite it being mere hours.