2022-03-06: Feet of Clay
- Log: 2022-03-06: Feet of Clay
- Cast: Riika Sheder, Ana Kambinda, Seolla Schweizer, Eight York, Rei Ayanami, Chibodee Crocket, Garrod Ran
- Where: Union of North African States
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-03-06
- Summary: Amidst the slow-churning conflict in North Africa, one agent of ZAFT pins her hopes on a kaiju attack.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika Sheder, out of uniform and in a non-military Jeep, pulled over several miles away from her destination. If she stuck around too long they'd notice her, but from where she is right now she's out of sight, and even if they did spot her she looks like anyone else who's pulled over on a highway.
She still wasn't sure what she was doing. Even trying it made her feel vaguely guilty. She'd kept a secret from ZAFT... but there was no point in her saying she could do this if she didn't know she could.
"Too late to turn back," she says to herself - nobody else is in the Jeep to hear her. If this worked, she'd strike a blow for the PLANTs. If this *didn't* work, she could be embarrassed in the privacy of her own rental car.
She reached into the passenger seat, where she'd tossed a little bag. Inside the bag was something that looked like (to her) a small tablet computer in an extremely fancy case, all black and red, and a padded box meant for models.
Which was what was in it, though it was a little bigger than her usual. A clay model, unpainted, about the size of her fists stacked on top of each other; an upright thing with a blank partial dome over its eyes, nodules and ridges all over it. She pulled it out carefully - it barely fit in the case, she didn't want to knck off its tail or damage the neck.
"Well, here we go."
With the air of someone who feels a little silly and is not at all expecting anything to happen, Riika sets the tablet flat on the dashboard and then, gently, sets the model on top of it.
Africa is a war zone.
But nobody wants a war as brutal as the One Year War, and so the intensity is a little lower. There's still pockets of combat regularly, raiding attempts on both sides (or every side, really). Skirmishes more than setpiece battles, but dangerous nonetheless.
That this place was attacked maybe isn't a surprise. It's military but not really militarized; an engineering workshop for the OAC to experiment with homemade weaponry instead of using Anaheim all day every day. It's not where quantum leaps in warfare are made, but the slow grinding incrementalism of progress.
Lately it has been testing 'chargeable' beam rifles, spending extra time and power draw for increased penetration. It's not in a city, but it's not far from one, only a couple miles from the national highway. There are MSs here, half to test the weapons the workshop and half to keep it safe.
But while they might have expected a ZAFT strike, or even a Celestial Being one (they did make weapons, after all), nobody really expected a kaiju to fixate on it.
The kaiju in question has a body that appears to made out of multicoloured circuitry-like lines, covered partially with shattered-looking plates. Its eyes are hidden behind a glassine (?) dome, and are offset and very round, making it look weirdly googly-eyed. The lines are brightest at the gap in its armour in its chest, which occasionally extrudes a pyramid-shaped emitter.
There are three MSs - Nemos - armed with the new beam rifles fighting it, and the kaiju is winning.
Every time they land a hit with the beam rifles, the beam appears to be sucked into its body, making the whole thing sparkle and light up, before that emitter fires it *back*. It's unclear if they're doing significant damage at all, but they don't have many other weapons. One has retreated to the armoury to get a bazooka, but the other two are distracting the kaiju as it lumbers slowly around, preventing it from going straight toward the workshops.
And that's not a known kaiju. That's a weird kaiju - one of the Tsutsujidai monsters, though that might not be known to most. All the base recognized it as was 'unidentified'.
The Jeep is not visible when additional defenders arrive.
<Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
"Who would've thought that the thing that saved me from being frigging buried would be fighting kaiju," Ana Kambinda mutters to herself in mild disbelief.
Three mobile suits are testing, but a fourth is responding smartly. Barreling overland, the sand-brown Gustav Karl Heavy Weapons Type throws up a large fan of sand in its wake as it comes driving in towards the base from a distant light landship. Ana wasn't there for the testing, but the call went out and she happened to be close enough to the front to jump on the call.
She knows absolutely nothing about Tsutsujidai. Weird parallel universe science is so far beyond Ana's paradigm that she doesn't even know Tsutsujidai exists. Her calculus is very simple:
1. Giant monster attack thing
2. I am have gun
3. Use gun on giant thingy
"Test units, fall back if you're having trouble!" she hails the three machines on scene even as she takes stock of what readings she's getting. She slows her approach a little as she closes, taking note of the way the kaiju seems to suck up the beam fire the three fellow OAC machines are slinging at it. A problem for later, she decides, opting to spool up a non-beam weapon. Well, multiple.
The large Gatling guns affixed beneath the Gustav Karl A3's flexible shield flip forward, and the mid-bore bazooka on the opposite shoulder shifts as Ana plots a firing solution. But she fires with neither. Instead it's the Gustav Karl's head vulcans.
With a rumble, Ana jukes the A3 around an outbuilding for cover before steaming straight at the offending kaiju, vulcans stuttering a barrage of covering fire. "Moving to engage!" she barks. "Whatever you do, keep it away from the facility!"
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Riika Sheder with Head Vulcans Dash-and-Fire!
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
One of the primary groups invested in the slow-churn entrenched conflict zone throughout North Africa is G-Hound, both to assess the viability of intervening with decisive spearheads to break through those fronts, and to better analyze the military patterns of the OAC. To that end, after her recovery from the. . . 'damages' incurred during her attack on Frontier Five, Seolla Schweizer got reassigned yet again as part of a skirmish operation to break through a frontline on a ZAFT encampment.
She's gulping down a big canteen of water when the call comes in regarding the ~sudden kaiju emergency~, and for a brief moment, Seolla thinks maybe, just maybe - it won't be her problem, and she can continue where she was planning to.
>Re-evaluated mission parameters. Intercept the unknown kaiju.
"Mooou, can't they get other people to handle this kind of thing? We were just about to launch on this! Ghhhhhhhhh....!!!" With very little opportunity to actually explain things to the -other- people assigned to this task, Seolla's orders are absolute - and the sand-proofed Armored Module she's been sent with whirs away across the desert sands, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.
Only an hour later, the bright blue-painted Landlion crests the last hill between itself and the lumbering Devadadan, which is pretty unmistakeably a kaiju. There are...a lot of things Seolla can need clarification on, but this is literally a ridiculous movie monster bumbling around and roaring and shooting big chest lasers everywhere. <"OAC-aligned forces, this is Seolla Schweizer of the G-Hound Autonomous Corps. I'm firing unless any of you have anything to say about this big idiot!"> The railguns over the Landlion's shoulders swing down, blasting away at the silver titan-!
KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Riika Sheder with Landlion Railgun Double Shot!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
As it turns out, the Ra Mari was not in the area for security purposes. It's not like it would be strange for Londo Bell to pinch hit on Earth, but it's just not what was expected or assigned here. In point of fact, the ship is here to take some of those weapons being tested for field testing, in theory, and to pick up a few personnel. However...
Nobody indeed expected kaiju problems. So when one showed up and started wrecking things, Eight wasn't even on the bridge. She is stepping in quickly, though right about--
"Get me status reports," Eight says, "Where did this thing come from? How bad off are those mobile suits?"
Her crew starts immediately to give her the information she needs as she moves to take a seat at the captain's chair, frowning at the forward window and the display near it.
"...That's a..." Eight might recognize it, too. Maybe.
"...It's kinda..." Chovan makes a face at the kaiju, tilting her head. She decides not to call it cute after all. But Eight by that point has formulated a strategy. "Fari--get those missiles ready. We're going to lay down suppressive fire to funnel it away from those Nemos. Fire on my mark at these coordinates--"
The Ra Mari's missiles pour out from the ship as Eight says, "Mark!", cascading down towards the great kaiju.
"...Keep the beam cannons ready, but don't fire them yet. Something's up with those beams..."
<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
The alien defense organizational group "NERV" has recently had a really huge experience with the creation of chargeable high-powered energy weapons, and as such they have had their own contributions to this initative. This had involved a recent rotation from several individuals at Tokyo-3 central base.
For Lieutenant Maya Ibuki it was a minor career highlight. She got to give a panel talk on Operation Yashima, or at least about the unclassified aspects of it, including the cross-Japan integration of a power network in order to fuel what is argued to be the most powerful Earth-based energy weapon... *ever*. (There are disputes. It depends how you cut it. It's certainly in the top six.)
For Rei Ayanami, she wondered quietly if there would be elephants in the area, but it would seem this is the wrong part of Africa for it.
OF COURSE, THEN THERE WERE PROBLEMS
For once, the entry plug feels slightly cool instead of warm - because Rei had to get inside of it through a gantryway in an enclosed but not climate-controlled hangar space. It isn't unpleasant. There is the usual shimmer, the prismatic display, the coruscant light as the bronzelike interior alloy becomes a comprehensive panoramic view.
From inside of an armored trailer:
"Activation threshold exceeded... rising... A10 pulse stabilizing at 28.7%. Provisional activation convert to successful activation! Ah -- Ibuki reporting in OAC secure location. Rei, can you operate it?"
"Yes," Rei replies.
EVA-00 crawls forwards, out of the emptied aircraft hangar, gingerly moving around a parked cargo airframe as it emerges out into the desert sunlight.
"Remember to move a full body length away so the cable--"
"Yes," Rei says, doing exactly that before the orange-and-gray-dappled Evangelion raises itself upright, monoptical eye array glittering in the bright sunlight.
"I see the object," Rei says, because the Evangelion getting up was probably pretty notable.
"Preliminary orbital analysis is primarily in zone GRAY with a cyclical brush into ORANGE when the absorption effect fires. MAGI think the chance of a developing Angel event is 0.05% or less," Maya reports.
Rei walks the Eva over to the far end of the airstrip, where several heavy lifters have hoisted up a standardized rifle and blast shield. The cable snakes titanically but harmlessly over open ground.
"... Support the defenders! We'll keep an eye out for developments!"
EVA-00 hoists up the long-range rifle and takes a moment to true the sights towards the ground. The weapon comes up. Rei's eyes turn upwards as the incoming statement from the approaching Landlion arrives, and Rei therefore does not attempt to no-scope the kaiju, instead settling back down and using the roof of an adjacent storage building to support the rifle and zero in.
A core. Or a decoration?
KTS: Eight York targets Riika Sheder with Clop Missile Array Area Denial! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Intercept Eight York's Clop Missile Array Area Denial, taking 2550 damage! KTS: Eight York begins a Formation attack! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Seolla Schweizer's Landlion Railgun Double Shot, taking 4425 damage! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Ana Kambinda's Head Vulcans Dash-and-Fire, taking 3780 damage! KTS: Ana Kambinda has engaged Riika Sheder <Pose Tracker> Chibodee Crocket has posed.
Gundam Maxter rides into battle on the back of its battle surfboard. How did Chibodee come to be in Africa? It's a long story and it involves excise taxes. You'd rather not know. All that matters is that Maxter was in deployment distance and is trying to bail out those guys in the mobile suits.
Gundam Maxter starts shooting at the giant not-Mechagodzilla with its pistols, mainly trying to piss it off rather than going for a big hit. He wants to distract the thing.
KTS: Chibodee Crocket targets Riika Sheder with Anyway I Started Blasting! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Chibodee Crocket's Anyway I Started Blasting, taking 3360 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
The Freeden happened to be in the area as well - maybe in Cairo for something; Garrod hasn't been paying *that* much attention and doesn't personally know this part of the world that well yet - and the word of a rogue kaiju raising a ruckus reached Jamil's ears. And since the Freeden's other Gundam pilots were otherwise occupied, the youngest member of the ship's complement was the one who got to go check things out more closely.
And so it came to pass that the Gundam X cruised towards the besieged and beleaguered weapons factory, descending closer to ground level as Garrod obtained line-of-sight on the kaiju. The first such monster he fought was at least a known quantity; this one seems like an unknown variable so far - but he does get a chance, on approach, to see that the thing's soaking up beam attacks like they're its favorite food or something.
Well, that's easy enough to solve for. Probably. Rather than bringing the GX's shield buster rifle to bear, Garrod accelerates towards the kaiju, sighting in with some of its (admittedly limited) ballistic weapons, and sends a salvo of explosive shells sailing towards the monster from his Gundam's chest vulcans.
KTS: Garrod Ran targets Riika Sheder with Chest Vulcans - Volley! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Garrod Ran's Chest Vulcans - Volley, taking 2900 damage! KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
"I can't believe that worked!" Riika is now driving the Jeep overland rather than along the road. It's rocky here more than anything else and she makes pretty good time, but she's staying out of sight; there's enough Minovsky interference that unless she does something she's probably not going to get picked up on scanners unless she does something blatant.
Staying out of sight means she can't go up on a hill for a better look (her jeep *will* get spotted then) so she stays down, but she can still hear the combat, and see the ship, at least. The Ra Mari... Riika recognizes it as a Clop, at least. And several more mobile suits. And something else, which she saw when Rei stood up for a moment and then went back down to brace the gun.
"Well, if it can handle this... he certainly wasn't lying." Riika needs to see! She sharply turns the Jeep, looking for a place she can get a better view.
---
The kaiju, Devadadan, is expecting someone to shoot it. Whether it really understands that it has chosen to attack a military facility, simply walked past it en route to the closest city (or, indeed, anywhere else), or some other reason is unclear.
A lot of people shoot it. So at least something went as planned.
Devadadan rears back, redirecting a beam cannon shot up into the sky as the missiles from the Clop rain down around it. It is smart enough, then, to try to shoot them out of the sky - though the quantity confounds it, and forces it to back away from the Nemo, ascending a slight slope. More shots follow, though the missiles are doing their job and keeping it off balance.
Bullets do an even better job. Seolla's railgun hits places where the armour *isn't*, getting the kaiju to whip its head around and stare with its misaligned eyes. It lets out a rumbling roar, firing a sustained blast from the emitter on its chest and sweeping it horizontally as Chibodee and Garrod in on it, the trio of gunfighters causing it to stagger and abandon firing at the Nemos entirely for the moment. Which, given Ana's command, do start to fall back, if only to get a different weapon loadout.
Ana comes in, firing at a closer range than Devadadan can easily deal with. It is significantly bigger than the Gustav Karl, and the reaction to being charged at is for the kaiju to literally try to kick the MS away from it. While it might have size on its side, it does not have the full range of movement to make a kick look natural, and it's more of a slow, lumbering sweep rather than an athletic punt.
Threat (hopefully) dealt with, it focuses on its original target again. But there is something else big near the workshop, something that needs to be dealt with, and so once again the pyramid-shaped emitter on its chest extrudes with a metallic grinding noise. The pulse of energy is bigger this time, but appears to be as much rangefinding as anything else, aimed directly at Rei's Evangelion.
KTS: Riika Sheder targets Seolla Schweizer, Chibodee Crocket, and Garrod Ran with Devadadan Torso Sweep. KTS: Riika Sheder targets Eight York with Devadadan Torso Unsteady Shot! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Ana Kambinda with Desperation Strike! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Rei Ayanami with Devadadan Torso Blip! KTS: Ana Kambinda's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Ana Kambinda fails to parry Riika Sheder's Desperation Strike, taking 1764 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Riika Sheder has engaged Ana Kambinda KTS: Garrod Ran blocks Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Sweep, taking 2156 damage! KTS: Rei Ayanami successfully avoids Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blip KTS: Eight York blocks Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Unsteady Shot, taking 4200 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer successfully evades Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Sweep KTS: [Lucky] Riika Sheder's Ace Maneuver activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Chibodee Crocket fails to charge. KTS: Chibodee Crocket fails to react to Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Sweep, taking 2464 damage! <Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
There is a starship burning itself into Ana's radar. She's frankly shocked a Clop can even maneuver in an atmosphere. It is marginally less surprising than the
don't call it an Evangelion
don't validate them
no please
mobile anti-kaiju unit. As much as NERV makes Ana a little nervous, better them here on her side than not.
She has less time than she'd like to individually assess the other reaction forces - not with a giant angry kaiju stomping around in front of her.
Oblivious to the fact that there's a Jeep somewhere in the engagement, Ana braces against the heavy kick as best she can. The Gustav Karl's robust construction serves her well here: Hardened against the physical weapons favoured by leftover Zeonic forces, its build translates well to slugging it out with big hammy kaiju fists. Devadadan swings, the heavy kick slamming into the Gustav Karl's chest and jarring it back several metres, sending Ana bouncing roughly in her seat and falling back with a painful hiss. Her monitors flicker alarmingly for a second, lines of static dancing across them. "Bother!" she grouses, punching the cockpit ceiling. A line to the camera must've shaken loose.
No fixing it from here. She'll have to figure out how to work around it.
"This doesn't feel like another of those Dr. Hell monsters," she growls as she tries to maneuver after Devadadan, sweeping across to try and flank the giant kaiju. "Something's missing. I mean, for one thing, there's no Baron freaking Ashura monologuing over the whole thing."
Keeping as close as she can, she snaps the Gustav Karl's arm forward. A forearm housing pops open, a couple of grenades lobbing at the Devadadan at surprisingly short range. Ana's not intent on giving the kaiju space to either back out of the fight or close in on the facility.
Better to keep it close enough that she can figure out what the hell is going on.
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Riika Sheder with Twin Tube Grenade Launcher Double Fire! <Pose Tracker> Chibodee Crocket has posed.
Gundam Maxter keeps shooting as it rushes in at the Devadadan. Its reward for its initiative is to be blasted by the beam, sending it staggering back but not quite breaching. But Chibodee didn't expect to spend the fight shooting. He handles problems with his hands.
"Big guy," Chibodee breathes, a glowing red sear across his Trace Suit to represent system damage, "it's time to dance."
Chibodee rushes down the kaiju. The Maxter swings in, trying to throw a jab at that emitter as an opening. He can't spend too long right next to it at a time in all this traffic, but he's going to try to do his part.
KTS: Chibodee Crocket targets Riika Sheder with Jab Punch! KTS: Chibodee Crocket rattles Riika Sheder, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Chibodee Crocket's Jab Punch, taking 2800 damage! KTS: Chibodee Crocket has engaged Riika Sheder KTS: [Lucky] Riika Sheder's Ace Maneuver activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Riika Sheder successfully avoids Ana Kambinda's Twin Tube Grenade Launcher Double Fire
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
That stalwart little scowl crosses Seolla's face. Her grip tightens, the world seems to slow down a bit. She feels like she's made of iron as she spins the Landlion around, hopping up and whirring back down, nimbly dancing out of the way of the Devadadan's sweeping beam. It's rewarding. There's peace and focus buzzing in her. Unthinkably high levels of determination pour through every vein.
Not to mention...
<"A Gundam Fighter! No way-! There's...a lot of Gundams, but there's no way one as ridiculous as that is anything but a Gundam Fighter!">
Oh Seolla you don't even know the half of it.
<"You, guy with the fists! I'm moving in to get a closer shot at a weak point...let's do it!!!"> Seolla huffs out, the Landlion's autocannons ablaze as the treads whir, driving her in closer and closer, as though she's spied a particularly tasty crack in those armor panels that she wants a better shot at...!
KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Riika Sheder with Autocannon Dash Burst! <Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight is no expert on kaiju battle, but in the last couple of months she's sure started to take a learning course. This one is strange; she's glad she didn't fire the beam cannons though, because the shot she gets fired up at her from another beam is bad enough. While her missiles work out fine, the beam slams up against the Ra Mari's beam shield, impacting it hard enough to jar the entire ship and send sparks of overload running through systems. A panel on the bridge bursts; its systems are briefly overwhelmed.
"You all right there?" Eight confirms with Astelian, who nods, a little singed but otherwise fine. "I can use the other panel."
The Ra Mari is low to the ground, but not exactly in its element. Regardless, Eight has to back up the others.
"Ra Mari providing artillery support," Eight communicates over the radios to the others. "Cool the cannons," she says to Fari. "When you get the missiles ready again, we're going to concentrate fire on its center mass. Astelian--you got that console working?"
"Almost, ma'am!"
Fari chimes in, "Ready with the missiles!"
"Fire!"
A set of missiles comes down--fewer this time, but much more carefully aimed, rocketing towards its chest/neck area. Kaiju.
"Ready for evasive maneuvers--I don't want to be hit by that beam again!"
KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Riika Sheder with Clop Missile Array Surgical Strike! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Eight York's Clop Missile Array Surgical Strike, taking 4350 damage! KTS: [Lucky] Riika Sheder's Ace Maneuver activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Riika Sheder successfully avoids Seolla Schweizer's Autocannon Dash Burst <Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
Devadadan rampages. It fires at a ship as Rei tightens the scope up on the target. She breathes in the curiously soft liquid-air environment, watching it. They're circling around it, firing on the enemy with phsical munitions.
EVA-00's finger curls into the trigger grip.
Are they winning? Rei cannot tell easily. The creature -- what is it? The shape, the form. It's moving, but is it intelligent? Are these creatures...
The Devadadan regards the Evangelion. Something is coming forwards-- emerging --
Momentarily panicked, Lt. Ibuki shouts, "Rei, it's firing!!"
Rei's brow knits.
The cobalt blue ray streaks forwards and the sky itself seems to darken from the relative shift in light levels as the
air around the Evangelion seems to take a breath and then at a key point perhaps three yards ahead of the barrel of the
sniper set rifle, it HITS something: a sudden prismatic sparkling, a rippling outwards in octagonal force as the ray
strikes the developed A.T. FIELD, energy dissipating into nothingness and spraying outwards as if it hit a great
invincible window before the Evangelion.
"Target is entering defensive lines," Rei answers Lt. Ibuki, who has no useful reply.
"Moving to engage," Rei continues, picking up the vaguely octagonal shield and pulling back the sniper-rifle to set it
down carefully in the back end of the building. Raising it upwards, with a momentary glance for cable management behind
her, Rei then raises the thing up...
And runs towards Devadadan with the giant piece of refractory ceramide held in front of it - the goal being to smash
into the kaiju, and perhaps to smash it back!
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Riika Sheder with Macro-ceramide Shield Bash! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Rei Ayanami's Macro-ceramide Shield Bash, taking 2400 damage! KTS: Rei Ayanami has engaged Riika Sheder <Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
"Whoa!!" yelps Garrod as the Devadadan retaliates with a sweeping beam; he does try to interpose the shield part of the GX's rifle, but that's only so big and there's a lot of the Gundam it doesn't cover adequately. The beam's impact rattles pilot and mech alike, and scorch-burnishes a swath of the latter's armor, but the Gundam is sturdily built and not so easily disabled, at least from the first exchange of fire.
Garrod takes a moment while catching his breath to do a quick head-count. One of those big, super-lanky mecha from the Bonta-Land fight (what were they called again?), a couple of mobile suits including another Gundam-styled one (is it *boxing* with the kaiju now?), a ship lending some supporting fire ... a fairly random assortment, but with a little luck, adequate to get the job done.
Whether the job is "repel the kaiju" or simply "destroy the kaiju," Garrod's not too sure - but as long as the factory's still standing at the end of it all, that'll probably amount to mission accomplished? Garrod shrugs mentally and closes in on Devadadan, mindful to watch out for additional return fire - but firing off another barrage from the chest vulcans, trying not to hit any of his allies.
KTS: Garrod Ran targets Riika Sheder with Chest Vulcans - Bracketing Salvo! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Garrod Ran's Chest Vulcans - Bracketing Salvo, taking 3060 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
The Jeep is gone. Don't worry, it'll be back.
--
Devadadan does not handle being pressured close-up very well. It's too big, too slow, too *lumbering* to react very well to the close-range combatants that are so much smaller than it is. Every move it takes is weighty and ponderous, and while it's remarkably stable on its feet, it doesn't go far even when it wants to.
Ana fires grenades in close range, and Devadadan tries to shoot them out of the air. It's hard to tell whether it actually managed it - the grenades actually hit the sphere of forming energy rather than the fired blasts, and though the grenades don't leave a big dent, they do draw another roar and a stomped foot. Still charged, Devadadan fires at Ana instead, a rapid-fire stuttering pulse rather than a single massive beam.
The stuttering fire carries into Chibodee as he slams fists at the thing. Devadadan cannot punch, really. It makes an attempt, a sweeping strike with its meaty kaiju arms, but they're short and stumpy for a monster that size and it's really more of a distraction for the blasts.
Tied up in melee, it doesn't see Seolla taking aim until it's almost too late. Once again it saves itself by simply putting energy downstream faster than Seolla can put bullets in it; it vaporizes the incoming bullets as a larger blast tears at her Armoured Module, taller than the Lion.
This actually leaves it open for Garrod - it can't fire in two directions at once! Chest vulcans tear into the ... frame? Structure? Body? of the kaiju, damaging and even dislodging some of the plates that seem to serve as armour. Another roar, and his blast is lighter, though 'lighter' does not mean 'safe'; another testing blip, a sudden pulse of energy.
In all this it's easy to forget the ship. Unless, you know, you look up. The carefully aimed missiles draw the loudest roar yet, all out of proportion to the damage it dealt. The Clop might not want another blast like that, but it's going to get one; a stream of shots that trace lines across the sky, visible for an enormous distance.
The AT Field perplexes it. It slows down for a moment as Rei barrels in, forming another one of those enormous spheres on the tip of its emitter. Increasingly large, the Devadadan holds it for just a moment too long - Rei smashes the ceramide into it at almost the same instant it fires with, in its kaiju mind, sufficient force to punch through the AT Field and hit the threat behind it. And keep going at that; it may cause incidental damage to the workshops, though at this distance and with Rei in the way it's nothing that can't be repaired.
This time.
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder targets Ana Kambinda with Devadadan Torso Rapid Fire! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Chibodee Crocket with Devadadan Torso Rapid Fire! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Seolla Schweizer with Devadadan Torso Engulf! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Rei Ayanami with Devadadan Torso Blast! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Eight York with Devadadan Torso Pulse! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Garrod Ran with Devadadan Torso Blip! KTS: Rei Ayanami's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Rei Ayanami blocks Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blast, taking 4235 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Ana Kambinda charges into the attack! KTS: Ana Kambinda successfully avoids Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Rapid Fire KTS: Garrod Ran fails to Evade Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blip, taking 4200 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Eight York has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York fails to evade Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Pulse, taking 3094 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to evade Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Engulf, taking 4158 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Chibodee Crocket has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Chibodee Crocket charges into the attack! KTS: Chibodee Crocket fails to react to Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Rapid Fire, taking 2709 damage! <Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
Apparently more got knocked loose than a camera connection. Ana grimaces and punches her roof a couple of times. The camera feed flickers again.
Throwing a look towards where her radar tells her the Ra Mari is hovering (and to be clear: You can't miss a big stonkin' starship), the OAC pilot taps her comline. "This is at least the fourth kaiju attack in Africa in the past two months," she observes tensely, splitting her focus between conversation and maneuvers. "I don't think this one's a Dr. Hell one like the others--"
The grenades miss their mark, whether through poor aim or the energy buildup. Ana grits her teeth as Devadadan fires back, responding with a roar of thrusters as she buries her heels as far into her speed pedals as they'll go. The Gustav Karl's thrusters boom as it roars forward, ducking its massive head and shoulders into a barreling charge. The pulsing blasts go sailing just over the brawny mobile suit and off into the desert.
"It's getting confused," Ana murmurs before wetting her lips and changing her course just slightly. She keeps close, but she veers off at the last second and booms to one side of Devadadan. Sand fountains up around the output of her thrusters as she gains a few metres of distance before whirling around fast enough that the Gustav Karl A3 nearly stumbles. With a deft tug at her controls, Ana drops a knee. The huge mobile suit's knee pad bites into the sand, bracing it to a skidding halt and leaving it in a supported stance.
One she follows up on by swiveling her flexible shield forward to give way to the twin four-barreled Gatling guns beneath it.
"I guess we'll have to ask questions when we're done!" she barks before opening up with a steady barrage. The bullets blaze, the twin-barreled guns resounding with an ear-shattering 'BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT' as they spew a frankly unreasonable quantity of hot shells towards the poor Devadadan.
KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Riika Sheder with Twin Gatling Cannon Saturation! <Pose Tracker> Chibodee Crocket has posed.
Chibodee likes clear direction. <"Yeah!"> he radios back to Seolla. Gundam Maxter starts to circle around the Devadadan, aiming to find spots that the Landlion opens up to swing at next. This is always a spicy situation -- too soon and he'll get hit in the arm, too late and the opportunity might fade.
The missiles from the Ra Mari get a good cluster hit in, even if the Landtank doesn't get as lucky. Chibodee wings it, figuring that if he works with all the ranged people a little it will work out the same way. The huge EVA -- well, EVAs are their own kind of combatant. If NERV wants him to do something, he's sure they'll say something.
It's getting tight out here. Grenades, rockets, explosions. Gundam Maxter has its guard up and weathers the storm of blasts, his arms burning but not yet broken. Maxter is made for these kinds of insane engagements, operating as if everything it fights is going to be a wall of meat that needs to be struck again, and again, and again...
"Frickin," Chibodee growls and lunges in his cockpit, Gundam Maxter throwing a high right hand to clip the Devadadan in the head if he can.
KTS: Chibodee Crocket targets Riika Sheder with Overhand Right! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to Evade Ana Kambinda's Twin Gatling Cannon Saturation, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Chibodee Crocket anchors Riika Sheder, forcing her into close range. KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Chibodee Crocket's Overhand Right, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Chibodee Crocket has engaged Riika Sheder
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Seolla's overextended herself. The confidence wavers, and her closing in is rewarded by underestimating how massive, how energy-laden the Devadadan is. The Armored Module overheats, alarms blare out from the immense laser carving up the Landlion, and Seolla can't help clutching her head, barrelling right past the kaiju aimlessly. How can this be happening? it's just a kaiju. a monster. an animal. it can't be better than me. what does it mean if it's stronger than me? what can i even do if I'm not enough? I'm not enough, I'm not eno-
((Bronzo-27.))
i don't want your voice
((Bronzo-27.))
why do you al-
((Your previously demonstrated recklessness is unacceptable.))
((You are not to apply tactics meant for your partner.))
((Why do you prove so foolish?))
((Your conduct will also need alteration.))
((In dire circumstances, you will fall back at once.))
((Stop being such a child, Bronzo-27.))
Though for those first few moments, the psychically attuned may get Bad Vibes from the Landlion, they quickly dissipate into...vibes that are still Not-Great, but in this firm and iron way. Imposing and threatening, but not towards anything outward. (it's because it is threatening itself)
Within, a trance-like haze hits Seolla's eyes, and now that she's at a distance, she turns around plainly, engaging the Armored Module's missiles and firing them off in a cloud of explosives towards the kaiju, with nary an objection. Her movements are slower and less refined, but they are operational and basic - like one would expect from maybe some of the better rudimentary non-sentient AI modules of the day.
KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Riika Sheder with Back Missile Lock! KTS: Riika Sheder successfully avoids Seolla Schweizer's Back Missile Lock
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
No go; the Ra Mari turns to try to evade the great beams, but it can't avoid them all. They slaminto the ship, shearing away armor as they pour past the shield. There is nothing much that the ship can do about simply being blasted, other than hang there in the air and take it; the ship makes itself a smaller target, but there's only so much it can do on that front.
"Status report!" As the ship's crew fills Eight in on the new status of her ship--not great--she considers her angle here.
"...Start pulling us back towards the factory," Eight directs. "And give these coordinates to the others--we're going to go all-out here!"
Eight starts beaming data to others in the fight, and says over the radio, "This is Captain York of the Ra Mari. We're right behind you--if we can overwhelm the kaiju, we can overcome its reflection!"
She gets... a familiar set of bad vibes. But it's not quite like it was before. "..."
She'll have to keep an eye out.
KTS: Eight York targets Rei Ayanami and Garrod Ran with All-Out. KTS: Eight York orders an all-out attack, raising Rei Ayanami's Skill! <Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
The second dose of Kaiju Beamery stings worse than the first one did, to judge by Garrod's yell - or maybe it's just that he got a heftier dose of it, due to going into evasive maneuvers instead of just trying to shield-tank it. Either way, the GX distinctly looks the worse for wear this time - some crackling sparks here and there, wisps of smoke trailing from seams in the Gundam's armor. Nothing seems to be really on fire, given how little smoke there is, but it takes longer before Garrod gets his mobile suit moving again.
And moving it is - at a thruster-assisted run, one arm reaching up for the hilt of the GX's beam saber.
Apparently, it's time for a change of tactics.
Garrod does angle his charge to try and stab Devadan in its back; even a beam *saber* may be prone to getting its energy sucked away, and he wants to minimize those chances as much as he can.
KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Garrod Ran targets Riika Sheder with Beam Saber - Slash! KTS: Riika Sheder's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Garrod Ran's Beam Saber - Slash, taking 2000 damage! KTS: Garrod Ran has engaged Riika Sheder KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Riika Sheder KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Enable Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
The rays of light are flying everywhere, even as EVA-00 collides with Devadadan. After the impact, it rocks backwards-- JUST as that enormous burst fires at it.
The problem with the AT Field, of course, is that it requires focus to use, and Rei was doing a few things at once; running, strategizing, keeping half an eye on all of the smaller units. And as such, while there is a sort of splattering outwards, that coruscant ripple doesn't develop, and the ray strikes the macro-ceramide shield.
Which catches fire, blazing into vapor steadily, like a timed candle.
"Hnnhh," Rei says as a shooting burning sensation runs up her arm from where the outer reaches of the material are superheating and ablating, interleaved layers turning to so much smoke and mist underneath that burst. The memory hurts almost as much as the strike itself-- scattering subsidiary strikes arc outwards, like shrapnel that leaves black superficial streaks, knocking over transport tow carts and --
Scoring the outer reaches of the umbilical cable. One reveals the layers of semi-chilled superconducting materials, and the spilling cryonic fluid makes it brittle enough that the next stray 'splatter' shatters it. *piiiiiihh*
The connector automatically purges outwards.
Having staggered back, EVA-00 seems to look at its shield -- and then hurls it out into the desert, away from the perimeter. It is still burning.
And then EVA-00 seems to hesitate.
How do I stop this enemy?
What does it want?
What...
And then there is an official communication. Someone is speaking to her, at least more or less directly, and so for the first time Rei's thin voice speaks out in a general sense. "Understood, Ra Mari." Her fingers tighten on the control systems.
It takes EVA-00 a hugely hesitant moment to get there -- but one orange-clad hand snaps outwards to grasp at Devadadan's wrist. The Evangelion turns as if it is about to perform some sort of balletic maneuver to spin the kaiju around -- but it's much less, and much more than that. The Evangelion is thin and lanky compared to the kaiju's delightfully thick body plan; and, without the usual shoulder pylons, it is easy for EVA-00 to ram its shoulder joint up at the Devadadan's armpit, pulling hard all the while.
"Immobilizing-- the target--" The 5-minute timer, quietly, flicks to the 1-minute max-output mode, but that just sounds like yet another damn cockpit sound to the external world.
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Riika Sheder with EVA-00 Unarmed Focus Strike! KTS: Riika Sheder rushes into the attack! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Rei Ayanami's EVA-00 Unarmed Focus Strike, taking 5500 damage! KTS: Rei Ayanami has engaged Riika Sheder
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Devadadan might be confused or just overwhelmed. There's a lot of people firing at it and it's only one kaiju. And while it's powerful enough to engage multiple targets, there is still only one of it and it doesn't react very quickly to changing situations.
Ana points gatling guns at it. At this range there's not a whole lot Devadadan can do, thought it does try to sidestep; its steps are big and stompy and while it might have actually avoided a few, most of them strike home, staggering the kaiju. It only keeps its footing by digging in hard, lowering its body weight slightly with a rumbling growl.
'Stagger' is the name of the game as Chibodee comes in with a powerful blow toward the head. Reflexively Devadadan bites, but its reflexes are not nearly good enough to apply teeth to hand when up against a Gundam Fighter. It reels, not quite knocked off-balance but the next thing to it.
Garrod takes advantage of it being dislodged, slightly, to drive a beam saber into it. It feels... weird, like the saber is being sapped. It even flickers once - but it keeps on going, carving a line across the back of the Devadadan. The kaiju *roars*, deafening at close range, with enough force to vibrate the air around it.
Seolla's suddenly workmanlike missiles begin to shower down around it, but by this time the kaiju has regained its footing, and energy is dancing around it from plate to plate where it drew from Garrod's saber. Thin beams lance out as it turns to face it, intercepting some of the missiles - there's not a good lock in the first place due to it not being made of metal. (What is it made out of? Well... that's a good question!)
But it's Rei that makes the biggest impact on poor Devadadan. The Evangelion is a good size match for it, matters of bulk aside; one could imagine the two titans wrestling, if Devadadan was any good at it and the Evangelion less spindly-looking. What *actually* happens is that EVA-00 grabs at the wrist of Devadadan, twists, drives its shoulder joint directly into the armpit...
There is a tremendous, basso impact as Devadadan lands flat on its back, kicking up a circular ring of sand and dirt and broken stone. For an instant, nothing happens.
And then the biggest sphere of energy yet begins to form straight over Devadadan. It grows and grows; Rei might find herself inside it if she doesn't back up, but it's the thundering blast that goes out in all directions that everyone else has to watch out for, going 'up' and 'down' from Devadadan's emitter and roughly parallel to the ground.
Except for the center part, of course, which is aimed upward at the Ra Mari, the only thing in the sky that Devadadan can see to aim at.
About this time, a Jeep appears at the top of a nearby ridge. It's high enough that it's probably safe-ish, easy to miss in the confusion of battle but nonetheless there. Someone leans out with a pair of binoculars or perhaps a portable camera: someone who's short, with red-brown hair. At this distance she'd be almost impossible to recognize even if you managed to spot her and did know her, but nobody here knows her.
"Get the *base*," Riika says at the tablet she set the model on, hoping that it works that way. "The *base*! You don't need to fight them!"
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder targets Rei Ayanami with Devadadan Torso Engulf! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Eight York with Devadadan Torso Blast! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Chibodee Crocket with Devadadan Torso Blast! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Ana Kambinda with Devadadan Torso Blast! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Garrod Ran with Devadadan Torso Blast! KTS: Riika Sheder targets Seolla Schweizer with Devadadan Torso Blast! KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda blocks Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blast, taking 3674 damage! KTS: Eight York orders an all-out attack, raising Garrod Ran's Skill! KTS: Eight York has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami fails to react to Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Engulf, taking 3779 damage! KTS: Eight York blocks Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blast, taking 5880 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Garrod Ran blocks Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blast, taking 5880 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Chibodee Crocket has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Seolla Schweizer fails to evade Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blast, taking 5880 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Chibodee Crocket fails to evade Riika Sheder's Devadadan Torso Blast, taking 5880 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Riika Sheder's Disruptor activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Valor Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
If only Ana had anything more than a sad normie Earthnoid brain. She does side-eye the Landlion for a second. Something about that Landlion pilot is giving her an odd vibe.
Maybe it's because it's a Landlion, she decides. Britannian hardware. Makes me anxious.
As if the Evangelion doesn't already. It's not because of the name anymore. The way the umbilical cable cut off feels entirely too visceral. She notices it even in the middle of a melee - in no small part because she comes up to the Eva's knee and it's impossible to miss something that huge lumbering past you to tackle a kaiju that is also much bigger than you.
"Merda," Ana murmurs with a wince.
The real 'merda' is the giant energy sphere beginning to build up as Devadadan prepares to just blast them. Ana clicks her teeth together. "Well, fuck."
She swivels her flexible shield back down at the very last possible moment. The reinforced plate, emblazoned with a chocobo head, is presented to the brunt of the blast. The Gustav Karl's knee carves a trench in the sand as it's shoved backwards by Devadadan's impacts. They slam the shield hard, some ripping past it to punch into the A3's bulky shoulders and upper body. The shield, at least, protects a wide vertical area that covers the head and cockpit block, but the machine is still battered and shaken, jerking Ana against her restraints and bouncing her wildly in her seats. "Gh-- hang in there, A3!" she exclaims irrationally, frantically jabbing at keys and adjusting control sticks to keep the heavy mobile suit from falling into the sand.
Somehow or other, she manages. Keeping its knee down, the Gustav Karl deals with the barrage through the simple expedient of weathering the worst and relying on its bulk and armour. Only when the blast passes does she--
--stop and pause, with a look off into the distance. Something's pinging on her radar. "...Is that a Jeep?" she mutters, shoulders hunching. She can't tell who it is, but--
But she wouldn't expect Dr. Hell to send Baron Ashura in a Jeep of all things. "This is getting weirder," she mutters before flipping her shield up again. "Ra Mari, do you see that vehicle? Is that one of ours?"
The shield clears the way for the Gustav Karl A3's Gatling guns to disgorge again. She's staying in the mid-range.
The amount of lead being fired from said range is, to be honest, not fair.
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Riika Sheder with Twin Gatling Cannon Mag Dump! <Pose Tracker> Chibodee Crocket has posed.
Chibodee doesn't know how this kaiju works. He doesn't care that much. Understanding things rarely helps him. What helps him is finding the softest spot to hit and striking it as violently as possible.
An overwhelming wall of force slams against Gundam Maxter. The whole unit takes damage even as Chibodee braces, the machine being driven back through the dirt as it is buffetted by plasma. It's like being thrown down a flight of stairs, Chibodee thinks, as the trace suit approximates this damage by hitting him with enough force feedback to kill a frail man.
Chibodee's nose is bleeding as he wrenches Maxter off the ground, beating his chest once with a booming CLANG reproduced in Maxter. The additional jolt back toward the cockpit focuses Chibodee's wrath. "Fuck this thing," he mutters.
Gundam Maxter rushes back at the Devadadan, cocking its right arm back. The flare of the Crest appears on the end of Maxter's glove an instant before the entire right arm of Gundam Maxter seems to briefly explode into burning plasma. Maxter is swinging for the kaiju's central mass.
"BURNING PUNCH!" Crockett yells, spittle and a few drops of blood flying from his mouth as he follows through.
KTS: Chibodee Crocket has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Chibodee Crocket has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Chibodee Crocket targets Riika Sheder with Burning Punch! <Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
THOOM
Sand and dust rises upwards as Rei presses downwards. As she presses, as she pins, she breathes tightly through her teeth. A timer ticks down relentlessly. 55 seconds. 52 seconds. The bulge of light singes the outer plating of EVA-00 as it fires upwards and Rei lets out a little catched gasp.
Weapons are still coming in, but Rei can see impacts. It does not help that the comm line to Lt. Ibuki contains, primarily, Lt. Ibuki screaming and a sudden SLAM against whatever facility she's holed up in.
Rei's lips tighten and she looks to her side. Pulling back on the left-hand control--
-- EVA-00 rolls over, aiming first one elbow into the collarbone/clavicle area of the Devadadan as it pushes downwards -- and then leans down to slam one hand down on the kaiju's thick neck, rising upwards to put that knee down lower, pinning the thing at the joint of its thigh.
Which means that the belly protruberance is pointing directly upwards at EVA-00's center. Where there would be an abdomen if it wasn't so damn skinny.
"AT Field, unfolding," Rei breathes outwards, the space between her and the kaiju tightening with an eerie suggestion of a violet backlighting, a hazy distortion in space -- breathe in, breathe out. 46 seconds. 44 seconds.
"Disable it," Rei calls outwards. Then: "Hurry!"
42, Rei thinks. 40 - 38 -
KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Riika Sheder with EVA-00 Unarmed Strike!
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
The way that voice lingers in Seolla's head. The one she can't deny. It persists with its sheer oppressiveness, looping repeatedly, yet managing to tell Seolla different things each time.
She has to endure. For everyone's sake. This kaiju could be a threat to Ouka, to Arado, to Latune, to Ch-, to the sake of the whole wo-
...
It could be a threat to those two people, who are the world.
The Landlion gets a tread clean blown off, the little Armored Module staggering back up to balance precariously on three legs. It's okay. Seolla knows how to handle this. Her optics are blinded by the sheer brilliant light the Devadadan emits. It's okay. Seolla knows how to handle this. The autocannon is jammed. It's okay, Seolla knows how to handle this.
Fall back on the routines. It makes it so much easier.
And the moment Seolla realizes this, she's snapped back to reality. She's at peace with her perilous situation, drawn out of her trance by - very simply, how COOL the Gundam Maxter's Burning Punch is. It's all coming back to her. She's seen the footage from the previous Gundam Fight. "...that's - That's Chibodee Crockett, isn't it? Amazing...I never thought I'd get to meet a serious celebrity like this...! ...ghhh, I won't meet him if this stupid overgrown lizard gets me...don't rush in. Keep it cool...the railguns still work, even if things are overheated...just...take it easy...!"
KTS: Seolla Schweizer targets Riika Sheder with Landlion Railgun Single Shot! KTS: Riika Sheder's Magic Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Chibodee Crocket's Burning Punch, taking 4200 damage! KTS: Chibodee Crocket has engaged Riika Sheder KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Ana Kambinda's Twin Gatling Cannon Mag Dump, taking 8760 damage! KTS: Ana Kambinda roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Riika Sheder rushes into the attack! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Rei Ayanami's EVA-00 Unarmed Strike, taking 3690 damage! KTS: Rei Ayanami has engaged Riika Sheder KTS: Riika Sheder successfully avoids Seolla Schweizer's Landlion Railgun Single Shot <Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Another Evangelion... Eight wishes she had time to muse on that, and on how different their pilots have been as she's met them. She does not, because:
A huge-ass blast comes straight for the Ra Mari. Her pilot does her best to pivot, to put the beam shield between the ship and the kaiju, but it's not pretty. While it's true that the shield stops the blast from destroying the ship, the blast hits hard enough that concussive force rocks the ship. More panels on the bridge and elsewhere explode; there are crashes and spills throughout the ship, terrible damage from armor buckling. ...The armor does its job, buckling instead of the ship being destroyed, but it's going to require some more time in the repair bays again for sure.
...Her ship's sensors pick up the Jeep. But with the shp taking such heavy damage, who thinks about a car? The man at the sensors of the Ra Mari sure doesn't. Not beyond a 'huh, an audience?'
"Tch," Eight says. "We can't get away at this speed, not without opening ourselves to attack. The only way is.."
"Direct Assault?" Rezza says from her terminal, the first officer calm as always.
"Full power direct assault!" Eight says back with a grim smile. "Fari--train all particle guns on it. Fire everything we have."
%"Now!"
The twin-barrel mega-particle cannons turn with an audible creak--and just start opening up with red-pink beamfire, absolutely blasting down on the kaiju with all the ship has.
"Come on!"
KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Riika Sheder with Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons Focused Assault! KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Wall Spirit Command. Riika Sheder uses Auxiliary Calculator - Wall
KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Riika Sheder has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: [Lucky] Riika Sheder's Ace Maneuver activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Riika Sheder successfully avoids Eight York's Twin Barrel Mega-Particle Cannons Focused Assault
<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
This time, Devadan's retaliatory strike actually blows the Gundam X clear away from the kaiju, leaving the mobile suit to not only crash into the ground again, but to slide a short distance before it finally comes to a halt. Garrod's outcry is confined to the cockpit's interior, but his ears are ringing - probably more from the crash of the close-range beam onslaught than his own voice.
It takes a few moments before the Gundam X regains its feet - and it looks a LOT the worse for wear by now. The shield buster rifle has been lost entirely (it might be lying around somewhere), the chest armor is scorched and smoldering, and additional scorch marks adorn the normally-white mobile suit's limbs as well - even the wings which protrude from the GX's backpack, one upwardsd and the other sideways, have singe marks marring their whiteness.
And while Garrod gets his machine back on its feet, he notices that the Ra Mari is going absolutely *nuts* with its beam cannons on the *beam-absorbing* kaiju - but that comes back around to something Garrod had thought earlier: the kaiju's ability to absorb and return energy attacks must have *some* kind of limit. Right?
"Time to test that," Garrod remarks to himself, then toggles his comm system to a general local transmission. "All units, give me a clear line of fire -" He checks a display, and rattles off a bearing: a line which starts at the Gundam X, runs through Devadan, and continues onwards in what should be a relatively harmless direction. "Ten seconds!" he finishes, thumbing a toggle on his Gundam's controls.
The Moon is out. His allies are forewarned. He can do this.
The GX's cannon and capacitor wings rotate into position, the latter unfolding as the cannon's barrel angles over the suit's shoulder. A coded transmission initiates the Satellite System's charging process, and a needle-thin communication/aiming laser descends from the Moon, touching the cockpit's outer windows.
A handful of seconds behind the laser, the actual charging microwaves reach the Gundam X: previously-dark panels along the mobile suit's arms, legs, and shoulders begin glowing with a soft blue light as the energy circulator soaks up the microwaves, routing the conveyed power into the X-shaped wings which in turn feed the Satellite Cannon itself.
"Last warning to get clear!!" Garrod calls out as the charge readout on his G-Controller nears full. "Two, one --"
Ballistic weapons were of limited use. Stabbing the monster with a beam saber just fed its next counterattack. And his only other options would have been other, less powerful beams.
Giving the kaiju terminal indigestion seems like the best chance they have left.
"FIRING!!!"
Garrod's finger closes on the trigger, and the Satellite Cannon's devastating blast is unleashed - an *anti-colony* particle beam, directed against a kaiju which shouldn't even be on this part of Earth. Garrod did his best to warn his allies away from it; he can only hope they took heed in time ...
KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Garrod Ran has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Garrod Ran targets Riika Sheder with Satellite Cannon Blast! KTS: Riika Sheder fails to react to Garrod Ran's Satellite Cannon Blast, taking 8640 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Garrod Ran's Precision Attacker activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Riika Sheder's Devadadan has been disabled. KTS: Garrod Ran roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
The Jeep doesn't seem to be one from the military base here, or at least it's not acting like one. It has plates signifying -
Actually, someone took the plates off. Huh. That's illegal.
The woman watching waves one arm, not at any of the human fighters, trying to gesture for Devadadan.
And it seems to have worked! Spurred by Riika, the rising Devadadan does indeed try to move towards the workshop. It begins to charge another one of those spherical balls of energy... or that's the idea, anyway. What actually happens is that Rei drives EVA-00 at it, slamming an elbow into its neck. Its neck, which Riika was specifically warned about when she got the model: be careful with that!
Held to the ground, Devadadan can't do much but let out another one of those roars. It tries to charge, several times, but with EVA-00 jamming itself against the emitter all it can do is cause a dangerous corona to form in front of it. It's probably no fun for Rei, but it doesn't manage to blast effectively elsewhere.
Devadadan is not an effective ground fighter. It tries to free itself as Ana fires at it, raking down the flank with a series of flashes where it intersects with Devadadan's forming energy. Chibodee, too, can go to down, though something seems off about it. The fist works. The energy, though - either because of what the Evangelion is doing to hold it still or because of Devadadan's own absorption field, the plasma dampens (slightly, anyway) by the time it connects.
Mind, it still makes a hell of an impact, complete with circular shockwave. It's just less on fire than you'd expect.
Seolla's aim is actually just fine, thank you, but rolling on the ground with EVA-00, Devadadan gets lucky; the shots ping off the AT Field of the Evangelion, or the frame of the EVA itself, or simply hit dirt where there's no clear line of fire to the kaiju.
Ra Mari has a different issue: it's the absorption field again. Devadadan absorbs the beam, twinkling with energy now as little sparks fly off it from the planes of its armour, glittering alternately white, blue, and pink-tinged red, as if it didn't know quite what colour to make it.
With a croaking roar of effort, Devadadan finally frees itself from EVA-00 by a simple method. It's slow, and lumbering, but it *is* strong, and it simply throws EVA-00 some distance as it rises. The sparkling corona of energy intensifies as it takes aim at the workshop, glittering, the beam beginning to form -
It ignored Garrod because Garrod wasn't doing anything it recognized. Riika didn't recognize it either, but now she is standing with her hand to her mouth in shock as the Satellite Cannon is directed on a proportionately small target. Devadadan tries to absorb that too, but the beam is simply *too* big, too focused. The whole kaiju glows as if it was the sun as the beam washes over it, vanishing inside it.
When the beam clears, there is no more Devadadan, and no sign that it was there at all.
Over at the Jeep, Riika has tried to catch as many of the stray chunks of the model as possible, as it abruptly cracked on the tablet. She actually has got all of them in her arms when she leaps back inside the vehicle; she'd left it running, so all she does is dump the chunks inside the model bag (she will see if she can reassemble it later) and slams the accelerator.
The Jeep tears off in a cloud of dust, moving away from the ridgeline and down into the rocky fields.
For the defenders: Mission successful. The workshop stands, though with superficial damage. Still, if the kaiju had had any support at all, it probably would have made it through... but if it's just an animal, surely it wouldn't get support. (Though why was it even here...?)
For Riika: Mission successful. She didn't blast the workshop, but as proof that it worked as advertised? She got that. And so, with an odd feeling in her stomach she drives away at an unsafe speed, slowing down once she's a bit further out of sight.
For her next plan, she'll have to do it with ZAFT.
So why is she so nervous about it? This could work. It *will* work. She just has to keep thinking that.
<Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
A weapon fires that should not be fired. Ana Kambinda just unloaded Gatling cannons from mid-range and is going to have a hard time getting out of there. She manages to edge back as firing solutions bathe her situation monitor.
Garrod opens fire. Ana's eyes go wide as the beam seemingly swallows Devadadan and leaves behind nothing at all.
"An anti-colony laser," she murmurs. Her hands tense up against her controls. Weapons like that remind her why she thinks ZAFT's grievances are well-placed, even if their methods are misaimed.
By the time her vision has cleared, the Jeep's gone, leaving her to try and find something to say. She opens her mouth slightly.
And closes it. Slumping forward, she rests her elbows on her thighs and looks up, first at Gundam X, then at the Evangelion. Then at the Landlion.
An anti-colony laser, a giant kaiju-stomping thing that feels entirely too organic, and someone who might be a Britannian but definitely seems to have something wrong with her.
...Am I the baddies? she wonders, not for the first time.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
It's gone.
Seolla can't help but sorta...boggle at that. She's looking left and right for any sign of it. Inching forward to see if it somehow made a huge crater. It's not even molten slag, it's just. Gone. She can't help but be a little bit...ultra-tense, at the Gundam X. To her, this is a mobile weapon that has access to a particle cannon so devastatingly powerful that it overwhelmed something that was seemingly regurgitating any beams hurled at it. Something that just could make a kaiju -vanish-.
The Landlion eases forward, at a safe range from Garrod's Mobile Suit. Sweat going down Seolla's palms, hair sticking to her forehead.
<"You. The pilot of that Gundam. Not the Gundam Fighter. The one with the big wings and the cannon. ...what, exactly, was that? How did it seemingly completely vaporize that enormous monster? How did so much output come so quickly from such an otherwise normal Mobile Suit?"> The Armored Module's railgun is, perhaps unwisely, at the ready. Seolla's firmly convinced this thing is an -existential- threat at this point.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
The light blooms. Each of the attempted formations is like someone punching Rei directly in the stomach. Not a person her age, either. She has, fortunately enough, no direct frame of reference for this feeling. It simply hurts.
But she can take it. After all...
But at the 28 second mark EVA-00 is being tilted to the side. Rei's eyes widen in shock a moment before something else strikes that semi-invincible barrier, the sensation more like a kendo stick to the rib cage. Grinding her teeth with a gasp, the tilt gives way to a sudden rush and EVA-00 is thrown a football field's distance away, smashing into the ground.
By 20 seconds the Evangelion is upright. The countdown -- whatever that Gundam is going to do will come too late. It tries to run--
The moon is attacking the enemy?
And by 12 seconds, the Devadadan is vaporized; disappeared. Completely discorporated, leaving only hot air and burns in its wake.
Rei exhales with enough force to create small cavitation bubbles in the LCL. The Evangelion's clock ticks to a normal output level, and like a machine whose mode has shifted, it turns back towards the airstrip.
Seolla asks a question.
The Evangelion pauses. Its one-eyed head turns slightly towards the direction of the Gundam X. As this happens, it takes several steps further forwards, settling down into a seiza-fashion seat on a helipad.
About 30 seconds later the tension leaves its frame, possibly right in the middle of something being said.
I don't understand that.
<Pose Tracker> Chibodee Crocket has posed.
Chibodee likes hitting big monsters. He has much less fondness for being hit by artillery, so Gundam Maxter all but scrambles off from the kaiju. Gundam Maxter, not the speediest unit, does manage to get away before the blast wipes the creature out.
"Whew," Chibodee says to himself, signaling for the surfboard-jet so that Maxter can immediately go in for repairs. "That was a weird one, Shirley, let me tell you..."
<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.
It worked. It *actually worked.* Garrod hadn't realized he was holding his breath (especially after that last warning yell), but he lets out the breath he was holding anyway, and lets the Satellite Cannon fold back into standby position. But - unlike the Battle of Bonta-land - people are asking questions.
This was probably going to happen eventually. But nobody else from the Freeden is here to answer any of the questions ... meaning Garrod needs to try.
"It's a long story," Garrod replies to Seolla. "Let's just say there are circumstances that need to line up, or I *can't* use that big gun. As to how it blew the kaiju away ... I figured it could only absorb so much energy at a time, and when the big ship was firing on it, I figured that was the best chance to overwhelm its absorption ability."
He pauses, the GX's head turning as Garrod takes in the other mobile units still on the field. (He never saw Riika or her jeep, go figure.) "And this power was given to me to protect another," Garrod adds. "I know how terrifying it is. But I'm going to make sure this kind of power *doesn't* wind up in the hands of somebody who would run wild with it, who would kill anyone in their way without regard for innocents. Does that satisfy you?"
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
The voice that emerges is a surprisingly normal one. A surprisingly caring one.
Seolla lowers her railgun, still leering at the Gundam, but letting out all her pent up tension with a long, exhausted sigh. Her head's throbbing quite a bit by now.
<"...either you're listening to people who've told really idealistic lies to you, or you're some crazy freelancer who hasn't been caught yet. I'm only letting you off the hook because...gh, I don't think I could go up against that at all anyway. Something like that definitely shouldn't be in the hands of a civilian, if that's what you're getting at. What an annoying report this is going to be...">
With that, the three-legged Armored Module scurries away from the site of the battle, well before anyone could question Seolla in turn. It isn't her task to clean up, after all - it was just to intercept the kaiju.
I don't understand that.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
A low-power transmission comes from the Evangelion even as it sits, seemingly now slumbering again:
Voice only:
"Gundam."
"... The strategy was effective."
Crane trucks are moving around the big, scorched orange-and-gray thing at this point, and the pilot does not seem to have more to say.
Later:
"Only moderate damage to the abdominal structures... I think we can put this in the OAC cost share, can't we? Anyway, good work-- Maya."
Maya Ibuki lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Rei Ayanami thinks of tomatoes.