2008-12-07 - Hunt for the Red October Pt. I

"Preposterous! First we're forced into pulling transport duty for NERV, and now we're being dragooned by the Titans just to sink one submarine?! Has the pride of the Pacific Fleet really fallen this far? We can't even see the damn bloody thing! It isn't even there!" "I'm not asking you to like it, Admiral." Lavi St. James replies from the flight deck of the supercarrier Over The Rainbow as he climbs into the cockpit of his Mk.2 Tengu MST, an aerial fighter-bomber. "Just stick to the plan that I lined out for you. Spread the fleet out wide and get ready to box it in. They're not getting away." Lavi pulls his flight helmet on tight and sighs. "Not this time." The EFA's pacific fleet is comprised of the Over The Rainbow and it's escorts, several cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. The formation is almost two miles wide. Over a dozen battleships go on general quarters, pilots climb into their Mobile Suits, Destroid Defenders lock down into position to serve as turrets abord the carrier, and a whole lot of activity is going on to sink a single submarine that isn't even there. That's a whole lot of empty water they're staring at.

NERV has contributed its own carrier to the fleet -- it's the one that doesn't get along with any of the other ships. On its surface, the blue form of Evangelion Unit-00 rests, waiting for its pilot to be plugged in. Or wait, no, she's already in there, sucking in delicious amber LCL into her lungs -- Rei Ayanami brings Unit-00 to its feet, wobbling on the aircraft carrier like it was a surfboard.

There was activity there before.. so Ibis decided to scan about the air, the little Calion that could taking a 'scouting mission'. She hasn't been doing anything else, recently, anyhow. It's probably the best use she could be! But circling around for a while has given her an interesting note. There's something big happening here, as the EFA begin to move in. They're not moving towards DC territory, and the Calion continues to move about, just outside of threat range. It's certainly not firing. Not yet, that is. But what could they be doing? Ibis continues to stay in the area, buzzing around. "I .. I wonder..!"

It is an ordinary day on the Tuatha de Danaan. The ship is en route to a launch point several miles off the coast of China, where it will lie, safely out of the reaction range of the Chinese navy, and launch a lightning raid aimed to eradicate the facility. It's typical of Teletha Testarossa - enemy casualties will be few. She would've preferred to simply attack it with a Tomahawk from the other end of the world, but with the world at war, getting a missile to its destination virtually requires men on the ground to disable anti-missile systems all along the way. Frontal attacks are simply more reliable, much as she is saddened by the loss. For now, Teletha Testarossa is in the command center of the Tuatha de Danaan, reading through reports. Dana chimes at her, and she looks up to notice that sonar is reporting enemy ships above. "Awfully big fleet," she murmurs. "I wonder where they're going." She taps her shipwide communication button. "We're passing an EFA vessel," she says across the intercom. "All hands, noise level to zero. I'll update you when we--" Yan Li Fei is a new recruit aboard the Tuatha de Danaan, a Chinese technician who was recently brought aboard to help them maintain upkeep on their recently-acquired stock of DHZ-supplied Wanzers. He passed Mithril's rigorous security checks, but there is only so much an essentially mercenary organization like Mithril can do. Yan Li Fei is on the payroll of the Titans. And as Tessa alerts the crew to the need for quiet so that they are not found, Yan Li Fei presses a big red button on a small gray remote. The submarine is suddenly rocked by a huge explosion, tearing out a chunk of the uppermost deck, more than enough to begin to flood the ship. As everyone aboard scrambles to figure out what's just happened, the EFA find that where once there was nothing, now a blip appears easily on radar. And as Teletha Testarossa tries to figure out what the hell just happened, she manages to say: "All hands, to combat stations! We're under attack! All pilots, scramble!" Her fingers dig into her braid, and solely for the ears of the bridge, she hisses, "A new weapon? Or...sabotage...?"

Goh frowns from his cockpit at the other specialty carrierr. You see Dannar base and Nerv weren't on the best of terms...Hence why Dannar base had to supply its own carrier to house the massive Godannar and Neo Okusaer unit. The carrier was exactly 15 feet larger than the one carrying Unit 0, designed by Ritsuko's sworn nemesis and Goh's boss and mother in law, Kiriko Aoi. Why was it 15 feet larger? Some petty rivalry was the only reason Goh could come up with, sighing yet again. He was just the poor guy caught in the middle. This was not the only problem...Goh looks over at the Neo Okusaer, groaning. Why the hell did Anna need to come along on a mission like this? She was going to get hurt! Those Orb maniacs don't play around and this wasn't a place for a rookie. The large 29 year old shakes his head, keeping quiet to avoid the yelling arguement his wife gave him before. "So we just gotta sink the submarine?" Goh replies to Lavi over the intercomm system. "Piece of cake." Anna replies. "No it's not. This is high level tech we're talking about Anna. These Orb punks are abunch of low lifes who think they are doing the world a favor by shooting at it. Don't take them lightly!" "Well you don't gotta be so mean,Goh-chin!!" Anna shuts off communication. "Anna! Don't do this now. Damnit. Why does she always gotta do this at times like this." Goh rubs his temples, knowing this was going to be a long day.

Lan Xiao Hua is on board the Tuatha. She came to help attack the Chinese army, as Da Han Zhong has a vested interest in being the major power in the area, and has had work done on her secondary machine to assist in that - the Tieqi, for all that she likes it, does not do well across the sea. Nor is it all that fast. She is near the mechanics bay when the explosion erupts. Her soldier's instincts immediately kick in; she braces as the ship rocks, although slightly differently than she's used to as it's underwater, and then immediately turns on her radio while running toward her docked machine. "Lan here," she says, en route. "Deploying in the Wude. Once I surface, I won't easily be able to dive; be aware of that." Hover legs are good for going up. Not so good at going down.

The Tuatha isn't the only submarine in the ocean today, as a submersiable belonging to the ZAFT Navy shadows behind the EFA fleet, quietly keeping tabs on the assenbled taskforce. Of course, this isn't about the proud Red Shirts of the ZAFT Navy, but rather one of the ship's occupants, the Gundam Fight of Neo-Transylvania, Mathias Romon. And even within it's cramped spaces, he still finds time to annoy the captain of the vessel. "/Mister/ Romon, I understand your thirst for knowledge and I appreciate your assistance, but at the moment your assistance is /not required/, so if you would please sit down..." Mathias, with a canteen of red liquid (we're hoping it's wine) in hand, simply smiles and bows slightly, "Do not mind me Captain. I shall be like a ghost... you won't even notice my presence..." The captain grumbles, "Like hell I won't... you Gundam Fighters have egos so big that if we could probably fill up all of space with your hot a--" And that's when the hull rings with the shockwave of a distant explosion, "Sonar! Report!" "Sir! We have had an underwater detonation several klicks off! Looks like a submerged vessel!" "What? Why didn't we pick anything up on it before?" The captain thinks... could it be...? "Bring us closer to the contact and prep the Sealions for launch. If I'm right, we just might have landed the big one..." And in the background, Mathias smiles, "Interesting..."

A man in a white suit and blue coat suddenly emerges, seemingly out of nowhere, from behind Teletha's chair. He has a small notepad in his hand, tucking his pencil behind his ear. He reaches over her head, and with very little decorum, drops it onto Teletha's lap. It has six names, one of which being Yan Li Fei. "These guys seem kinda shady." Kai Shiden is perfectly calm, even while controlled chaos is spreading through the TDD. "Want me to do damage control in here, or roll out? The GCD isn't optimized, but it can function in the water." He doesn't actually wait for Teletha's response directly, slipping his hands into the pockets of his coat, turning toward the hangar. Whichever one she'd rather he do, it's probably in that direction.

Cagalli Yula Athha, likewise, is aboard the Tuatha; she was considering using a Tiandong originally, but the Gelgoog with the Water Type Equipment is going to have to do -- the Tiandong she was considering using is presently lying down after being rocked by the crash. She can't use it if she can't get in. "Cagalli Yula Athha," the Princess transmits, as she jogs toward her own machine. "I'm taking this Gelgoog out." What the hell is going on, she thinks to herself as she starts queueing up systems. No one can even /see/ this ship other than when it's surfacing to launch missiles at everyone. How did they actually catch it with a shot? Something's wrong about this whole situation -- a new Federation weapon, maybe? That almost /has/ to be it.

Marie had also been aboard the submarine. /Her/ dog in this race was not directly connected to the organization, but rather with the 'modification' she has made, which she is quite confident will revolutionize guerilla warfare, much as the light 75mm gun revolutionized French military tactics back in the Great War! She hasn't read history closely or she might realize that it did, in fact, nearly lose it. She had been illicitly smoking in the mech hangar (far away from the flammables) when the ship suddenly rocked. And the lights flickered. This is not normally good. As deck hands scramble and shout to get various mobile suits ready, she walks over towards a telephone, picking it up and punching for the bridge. Her heart is starting to race, but she sits on it (metaphorically). Probably it is just a fight. They have had them before. Nobody's gotten completely destroyed. Right?

It's another day in *TRUCK HOOOORN*, Japan. The sun shines, birds sing, and... a friendly submarine is either under attack or bursting from the inside! Word of this happening reaches one Akira Tadokoro, psychic superhero of the Orb Union and mild-mannered (ha!) taiyaki cook. He jumps onto his motorcycle and takes off down the path out of the park, heading to, of all places, an antique store. Moments later, after petting a pink elephant, reading a book, playing a xylophone, touching a mask, offering a prayer, washing his hands and having a seat in the bathroom--nothing happens. The sudden appearance of a white-haired scientist and an explaination that Buriki-Daioh is currently still full of sand and being fixed after Akira's /last/ crazy stunt causes him to facepalm and disappear into thin air. Akira pops into a bathroom on the TDD, kicking the door open and running out into and down a corridor. It hasn't yet occurred to him that he has no idea which way he's supposed to be hurrying in.

Ekelia is waiting for Akira as he appears in the bathroom. "ARGBLRGRGHLRAGHRLAGHLRGLBARBLGARBLGABRLGBRALG!" She screams at him, because his teleportation is getting to be predictable. And...explosions! "We're under attack!" She says a moment later, "What took you!"

"Amuro Ray. Core Fighter. I'm going out!" Launching from the Audhumla comes the blocky, inefficient, absolutely antique Core Fighter. Even so, the red, white and blue paint of the iconic machine are enough to stir hearts and minds to action. Whether that action is leaping to the defense of the Tuatha de Danaan or shooting at said Core Fighter depends on one's perspective. Moments later, two more modules launch from the Audhumla, Core Top and Core Bottom. Lasers seek out a lock, and the Core Fighter swoops down low, wings tucking in, cockpit rotating. The Core Bottom slots in, legs flexing, then the Core Top latches on. Finally the Gundam's head cranks around, yellow eyes lighting up as the mobile suit of legend comes to a landing, right on top of an EFA destroyer. The boat rocks, and the surf sprays up behind the white mobile suit dramatically. Beam rifle in hand, shield strapped on, the Gundam is ready for action. "I /told/ you it was a bad idea to start inviting people to our secret invisible submarine," Amuro grumbles, keeping the mobile suit balanced atop its impromptu platform. "I'd say 'I told you so', but I'd rather we just get rid of these guys."

Amuro Ray activates his Gundam unit.

The kicked-open door, it appears, was actually Akira's reaction to Eek screaming at him in a ghostly fashion. He tries to make it look like he did it on purpose. "I didn't know my robot was being fixed and tried to start it up anyway! You know how long that takes!"

Ryusei Date really didn't want to be here. After dealing with the mental trauma of Dr. Hell's super attack last night, he's had a headache ever since. He's been taking painkillers, but that's just kept the throbbing down to a dull roar. Nevertheless, when the Titans tell the doctor you look fine, you look fine. So this is why he's sitting on the carrier, head down in the cockpit of the R-1, trying to get some blessed relief in the solace of sleep, despite the fact that they're supposed to be killing people like, a minute ago.

"Gosh! You're going to fight under water without a robot?" Eek asks, "How long can you hold your breath?" She raises her eyebrows, and then her head, and then pushes her head back down into the rest of her body.

"St. James... Mk.2 Tengu... LAUNCHING!" Lavi shouts out as his MST is hurled down the Over The Rainbow's flight deck. It takes to the skies and is quickly joined by other Mk.2 Tengu MST fighter-bombers and Mk.1 Garuda MST heavy bombers in the air, as aquatically equipped Hizacks start to leap into the water. The EFA's mobile suits are on the move, taking to the air and sea as they form up, ready to take the fight to the Tuatha da Danaan. A pair of the very vaguely anthromorphic Tengu models swoop in at Amuro, going for missile locks to pick him off of the destroyer. The sonar ping alerts the fleet and destroyers start dropping depth charges into the water, forming a curtain of explosives to trap the Orb's prized submarine in the battlesphere. Life's just getting more and more difficult for the da Danaan as the seconds tick by. "Remember, let the depth charges poke enough holes in them and they'll have to surface!" Lavi commands from his Tengu. "In the meantime, all Mobile Suits hang back and protect the fleet, wait until my order to strike!"

Alia is getting used to orbital insertions by now. In the space above earth, her Rick Dias is onboard the Argama when news of an emergency regarding the TDD is reported. The white mobile suit is loaded onto a Dodai flight craft and launched, where it veers toward atmosphere and begins descending quickly for the ocean. She'll be very easy to notice, given the re-entry makes it look like a meteor at first. Alia's talking to herself, discussing units of note on the field: "There's Lan..." Alia adds a target-preset so as to keep a better eye on Lan's situation. "Those stupid little... and the fleet." Ryusei's R-1 also gets noted on her radar so she can watch out for him, and her expression flickers with disdain when she sees the historical RX-78-2 Gundam taking the field. But Alia doesn't linger on that long for two reasons. First, she's taking a quick look around for Akira. Second, she's busy heading toward one flank of the EFA fleet that's starting to spread out. Bazooka ready, her Rick Dias tries a fly-by shooting, sending a trio of explosive warheads out at one of the carriers. ...One of the ones Ryusei's R-1 /isn't/ on; she's mindful of avoiding that, especially since the fleet has some units screening for itself anyway, and it's forcing her to keep her distance rather than make any particularly 'prime' shots on a ship immediately.

"Are the armor modifications to Unit-00 complete?" One NERV scientist asks another. "Only one way to find out," the other replies, showing that these are perhaps not very good scientists. The button is pressed all the same -- and Unit-00's blue armor suddenly expands, bulging outward, for reasons unknown to all but the most arcane of science nerds. Well -- really, it's simple, though. Evas can't fly. Ergo, Unit-00's role in this will be to swim, if necessary. What do you give a giant cyborg monster corpse who may not be able to swim very well? /Water wings/. Inside, Ayanami is unfazed by this ludicrous albeit convenient development.

"Roger, St. James. Godannar and Neo Okusaer prepairing Twin Drive." Goh responds, pulling on the controls to stand the massive robot on the deck. The Ship rocks violently back and forth trying to support the massive mech on it's surface. "Anna. We need to combine! We don't got time to argue!" "Lets do it go!" The Goddannar and Neo Okusaer leep up in the air, suspended by the magic of transformation solid background. The Goddannar's chest cavity splits open as the large pilot yells "DRIVE CHANGE- GO!!!" The Neo Okusaer folds into itself and combines with the blue unit, slamming the cavity shut again. The change is not visible at first until a stream of plasma erupts from the massive super robot's head and effectively gives it a cool head of hair. "GODDANAAAAAAAR TWIN DRIVE!!!!!" The blue armor changes red as the unit lands and rocks the ship even more violently. "Anna. Lets beat these Orb bastards!" Goh prepairs for the incoming orb units.

The Calion, and Ibis, continue to buzz around, still flying. She neither decides to immediately assault the Orbies, nor bother the EFA! There's reasons. "I .. think I'm going to wait a bit." Otherwise she might get involved in something she's not ready for! And that wouldn't really help at all! The Calion continues it's large distance scouting, circling the future battlefield like a massive, robotic vulture! "I .. wonder what they're doing..?" Ibis isn't sure just what's going on.. but something is certainly happening. Zipping a bit closer, she pulls away just as fast. That's .. what are they after? She can't see anything they might be protecting/attacking!

Tessa barely even looks as Kai appears. She doesn't even stop. It hits her lap, and as her mind whirls, her voice says calmly, "Please see to the ship's protection. I'm sorry to ask this of you, Kai." Then she grabs the pad and hurls it off to one side of the bridge, where it is grasped by Andrei Kalinin, who is already making sure his sidearm is on hand. "Mister Kalinin, take those men into custody," Tessa orders, and Kalinin leaves the bridge with no more than a very quiet, composed, "Yes, ma'am." "Ma'am, de--" Tessa grunts. "We can't dive in this condition...deploy decoys, do what you can to detonate them." We can't surface, she thinks. No matter what. Even if they strip the entire upper half of, they /must/ not surface. They would die, all of them, instantly. Not an option. The repair crews will already be at work. The PRT will be scrambling in M6s and other suits they are qualified for. The SRT are scrambling out in aquatic-equipped M9s, opening fire on the incoming aquatic-equipment Hizacks. But even with the SRT aces and the PRT's overall high pilot quality, they can't win this on numbers. This will require ingenuity. This will require the one thing Tessa specializes in: The unexpected. "Dana!" Tessa calls. "Bring up a map of the area around here! All units, protect the de Danaan until you receive further orders!" Marie's call is not answered for a few seconds, except by Tessa barking orders on the intercom. She's a little busy. Eventually one of the communication officers manages, "Bridge! What is it!?"

Ryusei's head tilts, and makes a fatal mistake. It hits the radio on button, and transmits the light snoring from his helmet onto EFA bands. A minute later, St. James wakes his ass up with some well-placed yelling. Ryusei abruptly straightens, and looks up in surprise through throbbing vision. "Ugh, they've started already?" He sighs. He was really hoping that they would just miss the Toy Box and let him get some sleep... But duty calls. Ryuseis hands flex, gloves greaking as he initializes the T-Link System, systems roaring as power begins to flow through them. "Super-4, LAUNCHING!" Because even a headache cannot dim the power of Ryusei's Super Robot Spirit! The R-1 blasts into the air, shifting from humanoid to R-Wing form. "All right, let's get this done! R-1, Altered formation! R-WING CHAAAAAAANGE!" He banks once the transformation is complete, flying through the air and looking through the IFFs for a target. Who is it going to be...

"Lan Xiao Hua, launching." Cresting the surface in a blast of water is the rather blocky shape of a Wude wanzer. The torso appears to be a very wide rectangle, the shield on its left arm equally square, and carrying a large-barreled machine gun. The legs look like nothing so much as long struts, paired hoversystems that blow a fine mist out to either side of the slowly bobbing machine. Lan immediately raises the machine gun and starts to fire in short, controlled bursts, attempting to get rid of some of the EFA air cover.

Part of Marie wants to demand immediate instructions. Another part realizes this is a damned serious situation. A year ago, she would be hollering for backup and demanding attention; now, she'll wait! She answers. "Gosselin," she says into the intercom. "Put an engineer on line with the Mediator, I'll go see if I can put a patch on this thing. See you!" With this she steps away, hastening towards the misshapen and hopefully-water-proof M6 modification, vaulting over the railing into the open cockpit - And twisting her ankle on the chair as she mis-aims. "Shit!" she grumbles, before strapping in and closing the hatch. She clicks on the comm system to listen to orders, even if she doesn't announce the arm slave's exit from the hatch. Instead of going into the enemy's grasp, it rises slightly, aiming for the Tuatha's upper deck.

"Sir, we're recieving reports topside of Orb units, and there are multiple depth charges going off in the area of the first explosion. Whatever is there, it's getting hit hard by the Earth Fed surface fleet." The captain grins a bit, "I knew it, it is that thrice-be-damned Orb submarine that's been plaguing our shorelines. Commander, order the Sealion forces to launch, but keep us clear of the depth charges. Let's see if we can help those Orb bastards on their journey into HELL!" Of course, by this point, Mathias is already making his way, gingerly, to the launch deck and his own Sealion, taking a drink from his canteen as he does so, "I do believe it is time to... endulge..." His face contorts into a savage grin as he puts the canteen away and climbs into his unit, before the launch tube is sealed and flooded, and the Divine Crusaders own aquatic mech is launched out into the ocean, "Come then Orb... the Sirens beckon for thee..."

Everything seems to check out in the Gelgoog, and so... "Cagalli Yula Athha! Launching!" comes the girl's proud statement, before the water-type-equipment-packed Gelgoog deploys from the Tuatha, right behind the Wude. Cutting through the water like it's nothing, the Princess's machine displays her commander's IFF signal, pretty much painting as big of a target on her face as it is possible to paint on anything, ever. It eventually crests the water, hovering there; it can't get its legs /out/ of the water or it's going to fall (unless it's on solid ground, of course), so this is as good as it can really do for now. Skimming the surface, Cagalli promptly realizes that she has no idea what the hell weapons this thing even has; this is going to be an... interesting sortie.

Kai enters the hangar in a flurry of activity - he's always prepared for something like this, and made sure to requisition some SPECIAL KARABA GEAR before docking for his stay on the TDD. The white-and-grey form of his Guncannon Detector has been marred by unadorned gunmetal attachments over the veniers, further nozzles attached to the twin beam cannons and the beam rifle - even the missile launchers have been altered, an additional bay added to each to hotfix missiles with torpedo-style engines. Behold, the Water Jet System. The installation isn't too difficult, and before long, the Guncannon Detector, larger than the standard ARM Slaves, is crawling from the airlock, planting itself on the deck of the submarine itself. It crouches down, and the backpack struts extend, locking it into artillery position. Kai gets all of the sensors going full blast, draws a bead... "You're mine." A pair of narrow beams lance out of the water, streaking just past one of the Tengus closing in on Amuro, just barely even clipping it. "Damnit, the calibration's off! Gotta adjust..." Kai starts hitting buttons, because cockpits have a hell of a lot of buttons.

"Amuro, we're attempting to patch you through to the Toy Box, but the interference is high. We're scattering Minovsky particles as much as we can to confuse the EFA, but... well, you know how it is." On one of the Gundam's screens, Hayato 'Brick Shithouse' Kobayashi offers a shrug. Amuro shakes his head with a bit of a smile. "Don't worry about it, Hayato. They're doing alright. Just get that Nemo team busy, we need to get rid of this EFA fleet ASAP!" As if on cue, a team of Nemos launches from the Audhumla, flyine their Dodais down to fire lasers at EFA ships and mobile suits. There are a few dozen of them, but... well, they're Nemos. Impressive as far as mass-production units go, but ultimately there to blow up. As for Amuro, he seems unfazed by the missile locks. The Gundam's head merely swivels towards the Tengu, optics pulsing once. Ammo loads into the head vulcans; he knows just how to deal with missiles. Meanwhile, red feet begin rearing back and /punt/ing weapons off the Destroyer, attempting to de-fang the impressive battleship as much as possible.

There is a mech that haven't responded just yet either. Or actualy, that is not around period. It's lack of presence is pretty noticable -- considering just how large and heavy the Giganscudo is, if it's not around in a fight it was supposed to be in...well! It's noticable. What's even more noticable is that enormous object falling through the atmosphere at at full orbital drop speed, homing in the center of the battle. Deployed at the last minute, the Ultimate Shield is pumelting to the Earth. Or rather, in this case, the Ocean, into what very well mighty be the biggest bomb pool jump in the history of mankind. "HEEEEERE I COOOOOOOOOME!" Tasuku Shinguji shouts out at the tops of his lungs as he homes himself into the quickly calculated origin position of thoses two pair of narrow beams that came out of the water. There has to be something in there. And that something is gonna get some multitons legs in the face. Nevermind the water is gonna soak a lot of the fall, but still.

Tasuku Shinguji activates his Giganscudo unit.

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has reset their systems to full.

"Er..." Akira hadn't really considered /that/, either. "Not very long. But it's just water! I'll get to the surface and, I dunno, do something!" He continues to run, eventually reaching a hangar and looking determinedly at the various mechs inside. That determination is used to mask his confusion; he's got no idea how how to operate /any/ of these things, a problem that will be remedied later. Akira turns to Eek. "I'm gonna guess and just skip the water part! You can't drown, you're a ghost, so, uh, meet me up there!" With one last look around, Akira disappears again, aiming to land on the surface and maybe swim or make an iceberg or something equally strange but effective. What he gets instead is a lot of wind and a moment of panicked scrambling to hold onto the wing of the R-Wing. Ryusei will probably notice the sudden extra weight, or maybe the impact of something back there. Since Akira has no idea who's side this thing is on, he doesn't set it on fire, and instead makes an attempt at reading the mind of the pilot!

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has attacked Tasuku Shinguji. Double Giga Knuckle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has attacked Kai Shiden. Double Giga Knuckle added to their queue.

Ali Al-Saachez activates his Enact Agrissa Plane Mode unit.

As Amuro and his rad Gundam land on the EFA Destroyer, Evangelion Unit-00 turns to face him. Well -- so much for having to swim for victory, then, if Orbulons are going to just come and get it! Rei is impassive about this. "Ayanami, Eva Unit-00, launching," the girl says, coldly and without enthusiasm as the umbilical cord linking her to the NERV science cruise ship is severed. It's about here that the flaw in Rei's plan becomes apparent -- as she runs off the side of the ship. Luckily, the EFA fleet is close enough together, trying to maintain an offensive front and all that, that Rei is able, with some effort, to /run across the fleet/, each heavy Eva footfall planting squarely on the deck of a ship. As Unit-00, it snaps its prog-knife to life, arm rearing back, preparing for the final lunge -- -- as Unit-00 tries to bodily tackle /the/ Gundam from the deck of the Destroyer, to plunge it into the water and to plunge this here prog knife into its dark afro'd heart.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has attacked Amuro Ray. Progressive Knife added to their queue.

Alia brings her Rick Dias into a quarter-circle turn, breaking off from her solo attack run since there's too much defense to do anything meaningful on her own. She also sees the R-Wing off in the distance, softly remarking "Ryusei..." to herself now that he he has taken to the battlefield and Akira's moving on him. The turn brings her up on the side of Lan and Cagalli, more or less joining formation with them while flying overhead and using her Rick Dias' bazooka to fire a few shots at the same targets Lan was targeting.

Ekelia Mossberg doesn't have to worry about drowning, but says, "You know, if you think about it, the whole ocean is a bathroom... for the /universe/." She vanishes in a puff of implausability. A moment later she, and The Spectral, appear have submerged in the waters to protect the INVISIBLE SECRET SUBMARINE SANDWICH. "Bewaaaaaaaaaaaaare....!" Eek cries, "BEWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE! You have chosen to start a fight with the dreaded ghost sub...! And if you wish to board us...you must...become one of us...!!" "OoooOOOoOOoOOooOooOooo!!" The cannon shoots skulls everywhere.

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has missed Kai Shiden with his Double Giga Knuckle attack.

"Ribbons, do you believe that God is kind?"

The ice of Alejandro Corner's drink clatters with the gentle twitch of his wrist as he stares down upon the amber liquid with a considerate gaze. He sits within his vast palatial suite; the room had been reserved several days in advance at a hotel near the coast of China. For 'diplomatic business.' A young, green-haired man stands behind him, hands clasped behind his back. Violet eyes tilt downward, to stare at Corner. Confusion etches across the boy's features. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, Master Corner."

A wry smile crosses Alejandro's lips as he closes his eyes. His head lifts slowly, as he traces fingertips around the rim of his glass. Those gray eyes open; beyond him, a wide holographic screen displays the sight of the EFA forces encroaching upon the wounded Tuatha. "This world was created so that in order to survive, life would have to take life. It is a cruel world we live in, where only the underhanded can progress and hope to live on. Where history can be put in peril because of the audacity of a few foolish men. Do you understand, Ribbons?

"No kind God would make a world like this."

Ribbons is silent for a moment as his gaze diverts towards the sight of the battle, his smile softening a bit. "Are you sure this is alright? If the Tuatha de Danaan falls..."

"It's not my place to make such judgments, Ribbons," Alejandro replies smoothly, settling his hands into his lap. "I am only here to observe the events of history as they unfold, no matter what the cost might be. It's the role my family has fulfilled for hundreds of years." There is a bitter taste in Corners words as he lifts his glass to his lips, taking a slow sip. He gestures outward, towards the screen. "Watch closely, Ribbons. The path the world longs to take may well be carved out here." Ribbons closes his eyes, and smiles.

"Of course, Master Corner."

The fleet starts to slowly tighten its net once the target is confirmed to be within the fleet's ring. The destroyers slowly circle around, continuing to drop depth charges to give the da Danaan less and less space to maneuver around in. They don't seem to notice the ZAFT submarine off in the distance, or else they don't care. With the arrival of the Audhumla, the battle takes on an all new dimension. Destroid Defender and Phalanx start spraying ammo and rockets skyward as the Nemos descend. What they lack in accuracy they make up for in volume and numbers. This is going to be a hell of a difficult fight for both sides. Amuro's excellent shooting blasts a pair of missiles out of the sky with ease. Both Tengu pilots simply break off as the Evangelion comes in at the Gundam. That's handled. Or so they hope, at least. Lavi exhales. That's more resistance then they anticipated. "I should have asked for more... I knew it! I damn well /knew/ we'd need the Barzams!" His Tengu flips around, firing at a Nemo's back with it's beam gatling. The unaware pilot goes down in a spray of green rounds. "Too many..." Lavi says, shaking his head. "Too damn many... where is that sub? It has to surface, did the bombs not go off properly?" As Lavi begins to doubt the plan, his Tengu loops downwards, low over the water. It's taloned feet thrust forwards as it swoops towards Cagalli's Gelgoog with it's head poking out of the water, trying to pluck her upwards like a raptor.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Talon Rake added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has struck a minor hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jaeger using Talon Rake. COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha's evasion attempt has failed.

Kazuki Takemura activates his Shunyo Mk111 unit.

There are skulls being shot by that machine. OH NO! One of them nearly clips the Calion, as it flies about, soaring about the battlefield. And then there's a /skull/. "A-AH! I .. Phew.. that was that but .. what did that? They're shooting at us.. so .. Calion we're going in!" Ibis turns the Calion downwards, diving towards the water, the Space plane heading in for .. a .. CRASH!? NO! Not this time! Instead, as she pulls towards the Spectral, Ibis pulls up, leaving a homing missile flying inches above the water. "P-phew! I did it!" But is that all it's going to be .. or is there more to this maneuver!? Either way, Ibis is fighting .. the UNDEAD or the dead that refuse to stay dead! "H... here we go!" ZIP!

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has attacked Ekelia Mossberg. Homing Missile added to their queue.

With Kai's sensors going like that, the Giganscudo's approach fires off a cacophonous warning signal inside the Guncannon Detector's cockpit. Kai Shiden jolts up from his re-calibration, and takes the gamble that the Giganscudo can, in fact, track a target before smashing into it. He fires off a beacon solely so that the Super Robot can detect him, bubbles flaring out from behind the GCD in a wide arc as the Water Jet gets the engines rocking /and/ rolling. Kai moves away from the TDD just enough to draw Gigan away, and then puts on a last burst of speed - the machine drives down into the water, barely missing the GCD. But it's /right there,/ the goddamn Giganscudo, and Kai knows it's out of his weight class. Old panic briefly overcomes his years of manning up, and the GCD desperately tries to speed its progress away by swinging one foot up, planting it right on that tiny little head and shoving back. It probably moves the Mobile Suit way more than the Ultimate Shield.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Tasuku Shinguji. Oh No Get Away added to their queue.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has struck a solid hit on Amuro Ray's Gundam using Progressive Knife. COMBAT: Amuro Ray has counter attacked for a minor hit on Rei Ayanami's Evangelion Unit-00 using Beam Saber.

Mysterious Benefactors alert Ali Al-Saachez, Master of Battle, of the situation in the Pacific. He waits for the combat to official erupt before making his appearance felt, because he can pick out a specific target amongst the melee and strike them while they're unprepared. Dropping down from the cloud cover above the two warring sea fleets, his custom Enact -- in flight type -- burns with an awesome power. It's loud roar tells its solar powered engines to spit out some pretty exhaust contrails. Doing a barrel roll, the red Enact slices suddenly through a salvo of errant missiles between the Orb and EFA ships. It's own armament clicks down into the launchers on its small wings; a pair of particle missiles ready for a very special target. A Gundam. Ali knows its pilot very well -- they've done Gundam Battle a few times already. And he has stopped him from destroying Cagalli and, by extension, the Orb Union, each time. With him out of the way? Al-Saachez licks his stubble-lined lips. "This is what you didn't expect!" he transmits directly to THE GUNDAM, letting a pair of missiles rip loose as the Enact screams past the Destroyer Amuro's robot is balanced upon.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has attacked Amuro Ray. Particle Missile added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has missed Amuro Ray with his Particle Missile attack.

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has struck a solid critical hit on Ekelia Mossberg's The Spectral using Homing Missile. COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Ibis Douglas's Calion using Boo!.

"Sir, the Sealion forces are deployed!" "Excellent, bow down fifteen degrees, ready tubes one and two and target that sub!" The ZAFT vessel begins it's dive towards the Tuatha and primes it's torpedos, before unleashing a pair of wire guided explosives towards the stricken vessel. That captain /REALLY/ wants the honor of sinking the TDD. And we all know what happens to gloryhog ship captains from Gundam universes, don't we? Mathias meanwhile isn't nearly as stupid as the captain, and decides that charging in like a mook is a bad idea... but on the other hand, there are all these /lovely/ targets flying about as the Sealion stalks through the depths and approaches Marie's location, before bringing up it's water-sealed G-Revolver with it's tiny little hand and giving her a wake up call.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has attacked Marie Gosselin. Water-Sealed G-Revolver added to their queue.

The Gundam stomps about on the EFA Destroyer, then turns to see... a fat giant. "/You/ again," Amuro mutters, remembering his previous battle with Eva Unit 00. It seems like only yesterday. /Perhaps it was/. Either way, the shield-arm rises to grip a beam saber hilt, drawing the weapon in a BWEOW of red particles. It slashes towards Eva 00, but in return he is forced to accept a progressive knife in the white armor of the iconic robot's arm. The blade snaps off, no doubt to be replenished momentarily, and the Gundam staggers back a few steps. It comes perilously close to stepping on the bridge, but THE WHITE DEVIL manages to fling the right leg out, landing it on /the next Destroyer/. Thus standing with one foot on each ship, the Gundam is obviously in the perfect position to defend against a sudden ambush. Everyone knows standing on two unstable platforms is better than standing on just one, right? White lightning forks across his vision, and Amuro Ray looks up just in time. "Tch...!" he grunts, twisting the mobile suit's torso improbably downwards and to the left, evading the missiles. "Ali al-Saachez...!" he responds. "/YOU DEVIL!/" In terms of physical response, Amuro goes straight to the big guns. The beam saber is swapped for the greatest weapon of all time. A spiked ball whirls on the end of a length of chain, then is /whipped/ towards the Enact. Thrusters ignite on the ball, lending even more momentum. "I'll end this once and for all!"

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has attacked Ali Al-Saachez. Hyper Hammer added to their queue.

Akira finds Ryusei's mental state fairly simple to understand. He's a straightforward guy.  The R-Wing seems capable of supporting Akira's weight as he hangs on like a madman, but the R-Wing does bank at the attack of the Wude 3. "WHAT?" Ryusei yells, echoing his mental commentary. "Who the hell was... Hey, it's a wanzer!? Awesome!" The R-Wing spirals down, and levels out to bear down on the Wude.  Ryusei pushes forward, and boosts the mecha, sending it launching forward at high speed as the mecha strikes past the enemy wanzer, slashing past as Ryusei shouts, "JUST STOP ALREADY! CHAOS.... HURRICANE TIGER BLAAAAAAAAAAADE!"

Lavi comes out of damn near nowhere, as far as Cagalli knows; she's only just breaking the surface when his attack comes in, hitting the armored shoulders of the Gelgoog, missing the head by inches. She manages to keep herself from getting carried /off/ by the MST, but the light scoring in her armor certainly leaves her at a rough beginning. "All right, let's see what this thing can do," the Princess says, as she starts cycling through her options. Not knowing just what all of them actually do, unfortunately, puts her off to a bad start -- she brings the Gelgoog into a quick hop toward the Tengu. It's only barely able to crest the water with the hop, but that's enough to mount what Cagalli /thinks/ is going to be a quick draw and strike with some sort of melee weapon. Unfortunately, this is not a weapon strike; quite the opposite, in fact. The Gelgoog simply swings a fist out, full-bore, for the MST, in what some might call a pretty embarassing arc.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Lavi St. James. Gelgoog Punch added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. CHAOS HURRICANE TIGER BLADE added to their queue.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has missed Ali Al-Saachez with his Hyper Hammer attack.

The Goddannar turns in the direction of Alia's all by its lonesome Rick Dias, readying itself for what was going to come next. Goh clenches his teeth. "We're done waiting! Anna! We're going in!" The Godannar crouches for a moment before leeping off the boat, almost tipping it over in the process. For such a large unit (we're talking 134 feet in size), it was remarkably agile due to the twin drive system which whirred loudly within the super robot's chest. The large red robot flew toward the Rick Dias, prepairing to just punch through the unit's smaller body with a mighty punch which seems to be the forward momentum in the Godannar's flight path. "BURRRRRRNING FIST PUNCH!!!" Goh yells, feeling the fury of his youth rush back to him as he pulls on the controls.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has attacked Alia Winchester. Burning Fist Punch added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a minor hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using CHAOS HURRICANE TIGER BLADE. COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has struck a major critical hit on Alia Winchester's Rick Dias using Burning Fist Punch. COMBAT: Alia Winchester's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a minor hit on Tasuku Shinguji's Giganscudo using Oh No Get Away.

Between Section 9 assignments, its members must uphold their regular EFA duties; so it is that Kazuki Takemura finds himself assisting a Titan assault once again. His sleek Shunyo Mk111, legs replaced with a hover unit, is among the last to take to the field. Resigning himself to do his sworn duty, Kazuki scans the battlefield. His interest is piqued upon spotting another wanzer, and so he sets course in that direction, watching intently as it fights.

"Beware! Beware! Beware Beware Beware! Pink Elephants! ... Pink Elephants! ... Pink Elephants on Parade! Hippity Hoppity! What the...!" Eek says, "Is that...a homing missile! I swear everybody on their MOM has twelve of these." Ekelia takes in a deep breath. Ekelia lets out a terrible howl of such strength, such tremoring terror--!--that the missile is pushed back and away from Eek--though not entirely, as the weapon explodes before it gets too far away, showering The Spectral in shrapnel. "It looks like I have... no choice!" Ekelia claims, "I have to use my ultimate weapon...!" She turns her mech around to face Ibis's. "Hey you!" Eek says, "Stop shooting our submarine! If you blow up our submarine, I'll be very cross, very cross indeed! We need it to wage war against war. Or was it the war against war against war. No, definitely only one war against war. I thought this through." Ekelia turns her cannon around and unleashes a swarm of SKULLS for Ibis! Better watch out! This could be a SKULLTRASTOPHE!

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has attacked Ibis Douglas. Skullomania added to their queue.

Alia notices the incoming Tengu, and her Rick Dias starts to reach for a beam pistol to fire on it... only to be interrupted by several things. First, she notices Ryusei move to engage Lan, and makes a quick series of radio'ed pleas to both of them, though the second of those is interrupted by... Godannar. Overly focused on trying to talk Ryusei and Lan out of their fight, she only notices the incoming fist when it's too late; tunnel vision sucks like that, even when a 100+ foot machine is coming in. Goh connects perfectly, knocking the Rick Dias off its Dodai flight craft with smoke and sparks flying everywhere. The Dodai loops around to let Alia's machine land hard on it, but the damage is clearly telling. Starting a slow ascent and turning to fly about ninety degrees off from the Godannar, Alia is furious and screaming at Goh. "Who the hell are you!? Get out of my way!" Bazooka raised, she fires an explosive warhead at his towering Super Robot, aiming for a shoulder.

Meanwhile, as Amuro Ray eats a bit of prog knife, Rei Ayanami catches some beam saber to the head. Not /her/ head, of course, but it certainly hurts the pilot well enough; the attack slashes a chunk out of the side of the Eva's head, causing it to stumble backward and fall across the nearest aircraft carrier, the impact making its spine bend kind of funny. Of course, Evas are not stranger to unnatural movement, and in that tradition Unit-00 manages to somehow curl into itself and come out on its feet. A moment to reassess. Prog knife snapped off in /the/ Gundam's chest. /The/ Gundam distracted firing its big guns at /someone else/. Rei is not a tactical genius; she's a selectively mute clone with Asperger's or something. But she knows an opening when she sees it. Jumping forward again, she tries to dig Unit-00's corpsy fingers into the wound left by the prog knife, and literally -- literally -- tear Amuro's chest a new asshole.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has missed Marie Gosselin with his Water-Sealed G-Revolver attack.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Goh Saruwatari. Clay Bazooka added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has struck a major hit on Ibis Douglas's Calion using Skullomania. COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has counter attacked for a minor hit on Ekelia Mossberg's The Spectral using Gatling Gun.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has attacked Amuro Ray. Death Comes Ripping added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has struck a major hit on Goh Saruwatari's Godannar Twin Drive using Clay Bazooka. COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has counter attacked for a minor hit on Alia Winchester's Rick Dias using Counter Knuckle.

The Wude continues to circle, firing bursts upward and outward whenever she sees a good opportunity. Her aim is controlled, precise; this isn't a pilot given to bursts of hot-bloodedness. Lan is cold and calculating in this sort of a situation. She sees the diving machine and brings up the Wude's heavy shield, taking the worst of the impact against it. Lan still feels the recoil from the arm, though, the bulky Wude nonetheless not able to absorb the entire force of the blow; it slides back across the water, the mist around its legs becoming thicker as it is pushed downward. Ignoring the radio message for a moment - although she sends one back privately - Lan fires the Mingda machine gun at R-Wing as it goes past. She does not realize that someone is hanging on.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has missed Lavi St. James with her Gelgoog Punch attack. COMBAT: Lavi St. James has counter attacked for a minor hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jaeger using Split Missile.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Ryusei Date. Mingda 2 Machine Gun added to their queue.

Tasuku was clueless just into what he nearly landed into -- besides a crap load of water, that is. "That wasn't the brightest of my ideas," the mechanic muses outloud to himself as the Giganscudo sinks into the water, scratching his head. "Now I've got to find that sub--huh?" The beacon is detected, his eyes narrowing at the point and veering the Ultimate Shield around, slowly... Only to have a foot slamming into the main cameras of the Giganscudo's head. "Gwahr!" Tasuku snaps out, not having the years-long experience of being able to keep a cool, collected exterior than most pilot. His first reflex is to bring up an electricity-empowered shield up and trying to catch the much smaller Guncannon. With being in salty water and, well, /water/, the Giganscudo is not at it's prime of speed and combat readiness. But then again, when is it?

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has attacked Kai Shiden. Sheath Spark added to their queue.

It doesn't seem that Ibis is really capable of evading the /terrible assault/ of the skulls, and as they're fired, the Calion seems to crash RIGHT INTO THEM. "N-NO! Already.. I .. I've been practicing.." The Calion, almost already in terrible condition, is doing /terribly/. It's not much to say, in the end. Ibis is a terrible pilot. "I can't give up though .. I .. have to keep trying..!" It's as the Calion pulls up, blasted by both the skulls and the howl, that she nearly forgets entirely about the outwards ghosts, when there are inwards ghosts to foil! "I .. I'm sorry, but that's a bad submarine!" Doing another pass, the Calion travels over the Spectral, and launches /another missile/, attempting to blow eek... right out of the water!

The Enact is in Flight Type configuration, which means it is a super-rad mobile armor that makes that is about four fourteenths as cool as the Waverider. Ali, sensing the returned Hyper Hammer for his strafing run barreling after his Mobile Suit, hits the nitro button and the Enact shoots forward faster -- out distancing the range of the thrust-propelled morningstar barely. Banking back into a loop around, Ali laughs to himself. "Amuro Ray, you Newtype Punk," the Enact does a corkscrew through the air, dodging some stray gunfire from the various gunboats that don't know which side he's on. "This is your dying hour!!" Ignoring that Rei is already in melee range with the Gundam, Ali snaps off another pair of missiles. He aims at the Eva's back, knowing that the fireball and damage will take them both out. She shouldn't have gotten in the way.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has attacked Ekelia Mossberg. Air-to-Ground Missile added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has attacked Amuro Ray and Rei Ayanami. Phantom Pretentious Pain added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has missed Ryusei Date with her Mingda 2 Machine Gun attack. COMBAT: Ryusei Date has counter attacked for a minor hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using Anti-Ground Missile.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has struck a solid hit on Ekelia Mossberg's The Spectral using Air-to-Ground Missile.

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has struck a glancing hit on Kai Shiden's Guncannon Detector using Sheath Spark. COMBAT: Kai Shiden's evasion attempt has failed.

"Tch, does it matter who I am?!" Goh yells back at Alia, breathing heavily as the boat speeds quickly through the water and catches Godannar before it drops into the water. The unit is knocked slightly off course by the bazooka blast, knocking it off course and slamming it into the water. A large burst of steam erupts from where the Dannar disappeared. "You Orb guys kill good men every day with your selfish war! And it's gonna stop one way or another! This ends now and if I have to go through you, then I'll do what it takes!" The ocean begins to bubble as suddenly the Godannar erupts back out of the ocean and comes flying out toward Alia's mech with a mighty jumpkick. "TAKE THIS!!!!!" The Red mech suddenly spits more flame from the slit at the top of its head, using the to block any incoming counter attacks while it is in such close range.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has attacked Alia Winchester. Jumpkick added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has struck a solid critical hit on Alia Winchester's Rick Dias using Jumpkick.

"/Our/ submarine is bad?! That's ridiculous! Clearly someone hasn't paid attention to www.tessadance.com! Evil organizations don't have their superiors dance like that, and they're also way too self-concious and sometimes, and you didn't hear this from me, they /sleepwalk/. Also Cagalli and Tessa were very nice when they found out that I was putting up lewd posters of them. SO!" Her giant robot points a claw at Ibis's. "They're not bad people, and their submarine isn't bad, and as a /very professional/ soldier of the Orb Union, I won't have you maligning their name just because you want to ... uh ... do whatever you want to do!" Another missile?! This manages to pierce through Eek's defenses pretty solidly, and the Spectral is sent flying...backwards! "Waaaurggh!" Eek squeaks. "That's it... eat Haro, biiiitch!" She raises her cannon up and shoots, you guessed it, a GHOSTLY HARO at Ibis's machine! "Haro Haro!!" It bellows ominously!

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has attacked Ibis Douglas. The Ghost Of Haro added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has activated a spirit command.

"Did I get him?" Lavi asks of himself out loud, struggling to look back over his shoulders in his cockpit. But the two small view-ports can't hold a candle to the new mono-linear cockpits on the latest Mobile Suit models. Lavi, uncertain, rips his MST up into the sky, spiralling around evasively. The Gelgoog passes below him by feet. When Lavi fires a pair of split missiles downwards, it's as a knee-jerk reaction. "/Shit/, from below!" Lavi announces after the fact. What we have here in an interesting set-up. There is a line which niether combatant can cross. Cagalli's Mobile Suit can't fight above the sea's surface and Lavi's MST would only sink below it. Lavi pulls up, circling around higher so he can't be simply pulled under and killed. "You think hiding down there is going to help you?!" Lavi spits into the open comm, because pilots love to talk to each other for some reason. "I'll show you how wrong you are!" The Tengu's small, underdeveloped arms point its gatling cannon downwards, spraying a volley of green beams downwards that flash-fry water, throwing up gouts and clouds of steam as Lavi rakes the water.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Laser Gatling added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has missed Ibis Douglas with her The Ghost Of Haro attack.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has activated a spirit command.

OH, they went off correctly. Tessa's already receiving reports that they /must/ surface - that they cannot remain underwater, that they're going to drown, and even emergency repair mobile suits outside and the sharpshooters among the PRT and SRT can't keep up with the incoming barrage. They can't take this! "If we surface, we die," Tessa reiterates, aloud this time. "That's what they want, that's why they're /doing/ this, and that's why we're not going to give it to them." She breathes in slowly. "There's--" Another blast rocks the ship, from a depth charge this time; then a second and third, before several M9s take action, resuming the defensive covering fire that has been keeping the Danaan from being simply eradicated. Sections of the ship have been locked down. And... "Captain!" she hears from the communications desk. "The transmitters have been destroyed! We're completely silent!" Tessa doesn't close her eyes, looking across the map, fingers whizzing on the keys. There's got to be something, somewhere --THERE. "Helmsman, make your course to the island to the northwest." "M-ma'am!? That's through the /main body/ of the fleet! We're silent, we can't--" "I'll take care of that, it's not a problem, /do it!/" Tessa snaps, and takes a short, ragged breath. What to do. What can she do. The comms are down. A voice comes across the in-ship comm, a familiar voice saying, "Captain, this is Remming! I think we can improvise a transmitter, but...we need at least five minutes!" Tessa closes her eyes. Then... "Do it, Nora." No choice now. She closes her eyes, and resonates her mind.

After dodging in a panic, Kai called someone out for being a softie, detected that the tides are rapidly turning against them, finished off what was left of his space soda, and finished calibrating the Focus Nozzle on his shoulder cannons. You learn to multitask on the Argama. The Guncannon Detector gets just enough go from the face stamp to twist away from the Giganscudo's swipe, getting clipped on the chest, shredding paint and armor fragments and being sent even farther away - just the way he likes it. Kai slips further down in the water, trying to obscure himself from sight, hoping the Giganscudo's cameras aren't up to the task as he starts to circle. He can't stand up against this thing for long. Kai's foot taps against the floor, near one of the pedals, as he tries to zone in, scanning for any kind of weak point on the armor. If he can't find one... then he'll make one. "C'mon, Tessa..." Kai mumbles under his breath, as he flips up his beam rifle. A shot, significantly narrowed by the Focus Nozzle, lances out at the Giganscudo, to a seemingly innocuous point on the armor. Then another beam, and another, and another, all from a tight arc of angles, all aimed for one spot.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Tasuku Shinguji. Beam Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has struck a major critical hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jaeger using Laser Gatling. COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has activated a spirit command.

The R-Wing banks, and Akira slides. He finds another handhold after a few random flailing motions, and starts pulling himself forward, towards--theoretically--the cockpit. Maybe he can incapacitate the pilot, or convince him to get closer to the water so he can... well, okay, he can't really do anything right now. The spiral throws Akira for a loop. He manages to not fall off, shouting at the top of his lungs over the wind, "YOU'RE CRAAAAZYYYYY!" and pounding on the fuselage, braced between the big gun on the right side and the center of it. This is not going too well for Akira. Maybe he should've aimed a little bit to the left. In an attempt at getting the thing to slow down, Akira gathers up what focus he can while in such an unlikely position. He begins to glow, a white outline making him a little more visible atop the R-Wing, and the four illusionary Akiras that jump out of him in tandem seem to have no trouble hanging on. They hop up and then dive in, streaks of white light passing through the R-Wing's armor and aiming for the engines to force it to slow down, mostly via frying things and maybe shining lights in Ryusei's eyes.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Ryusei Date. Heaven Image added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has activated a spirit command.

Alia goes wide-eyed at Goh's remarks. "I'm not like that! I've been trying to /stop/ killings, so don't you preach at me! I don't need to hear that from some bully using a colossal waste of money, some no-skill machine like that!" And then Goh is coming in with a flying foot, and her Rick Dias throws up its left arm in a very optimistic defensive posture. This works, technically; the Rick Dias and Dodai go flipping end over end as Godannar smashes into the riding mobile suit, ripping the limb clean off and having enough energy to deliver a nice dent to the chest. The pair stabilize, levelling out, and Alia begins talking to herself. "Again... no matter how good I do, they just keep doing it... I'm going to ram it down their throats!" The Dodai begins flying straight away from Godannar, with Alia's Rick Dias turning to look back at Goh's ride and fire another bazooka round, this one going for the hip area. Then the magazine is ejected, and it takes some creative juggling to slide another one in, one-handed.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Goh Saruwatari. Clay Bazooka added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a minor hit on Tasuku Shinguji's Giganscudo using Beam Rifle.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a minor critical hit on Ryusei Date's R-Wing using Heaven Image. COMBAT: Ryusei Date has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Akira Tadokoro's On Foot using CHAOS UNFETTERED ULTIMATE ASSAULT.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has struck a major hit on Goh Saruwatari's Godannar Twin Drive using Clay Bazooka. COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has missed Alia Winchester with his Counter Knuckle counter attack.

The Haro, it bellows. The bells ring. And they call Haro.. Haro.. /HARO/. "Ahh.. w-what is that?!" Ibis screams, when there's a massive GHOSTLY HARO shooting towards the Calion. "I .. How can I outrun that!?" Ibis closes her eyes.. She's just going to be shot from the sky again.. isn't she? "N-n.. NO!" The thrusters kick on, Ibis opening her eyes, the Calion outracing the ghostly Haro, like a ghost fleeing from Pacman, turning around a corridor and going back to /the source/. The claw pointed at her is certainly a claw, and while she's attempting to evade this ghostly Haro, there's plenty of time to talk back to THE SOURCE. "There's a site for .. dancing? .. And you!.." She gasps. "How could they forgive you and .. maybe they aren't bad but .. AHHHH it's .. still after me!" As she passes over Ekelia, with the TERRIBLE HARO on her tail, the Calion begins to drop bombs.. and missiles.. and other terrible anti-water explosives, attempting to group them nearby Ekelia. This means they're somewhat spread out. Look this is Ibis. "So .. I .. I'm - I'M NOT A BITCH!" Oh now that's just mean!

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has struck a solid critical hit on Amuro Ray's Gundam using Death Comes Ripping. COMBAT: Amuro Ray has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Rei Ayanami's Evangelion Unit-00 using Beam Rifle.

Marie's machine lands, in all its freakish glory, atop the TDD. The damaged sections are pretty easy to see, and a spotlight flicks on in silent electric luminescence to point the way. What disturbs Marie's peace of mind and resultant ignorance to impending SHOOTING is actually a dumb accident; the Mediator's stuck head turns slightly, and something raises. The bullets are fortunately slowed by the water, and the vernier jets on the Mediator's back are workable enough for it to jet forwards, out of gun fire range, like our friend the squid! The Mediator 'lands' near a wrecked upper plate. It turns to face its opponent, the salvaged Ball cannon under its gripping arm pivoting... and then stopping. In the cockpit, Marie looks upwards, galvanized by something. God! she thinks, and not sarcastically either. "The east?" she says aloud. "I - I -" The ball cannon continues its pivoting, as Marie says upwards, "I'll do what I can!" And then it shoots at the Sealion, by way of punctuation.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has missed Amuro Ray with his Phantom Pretentious Pain attack. COMBAT: Amuro Ray has counter attacked for a minor hit on Ali Al-Saachez's Enact Agrissa Plane Mode using Beam Rifle.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has attacked Mathias Romon. 180mm Recoilless Cannon added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has attacked Ekelia Mossberg. Bombing Run added to their queue.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has missed Mathias Romon with her 180mm Recoilless Cannon attack. COMBAT: Mathias Romon has missed Marie Gosselin with his Gatling Gun counter attack.

The Princess has no defensive weaponry up, and as such, when Lavi comes in for a laser gatling spray -- something the Gelgoog could normally handle without question -- the Princess gets a faceful of gatling blasts. Nearly losing an arm, the Princess turns her back to the assault, letting the Gelgoog's tough rear-mounted shield catch the worst of it. Not a good start for the Princess at all. "Ngh -- he's too high up for me to fight effectively..." the Princess mutters, trying to figure out a way to get in close with the Tengu. It's avoiding getting too close to the water, and she can't get more than a few yards above it... She has to find a way to bring him down to her level to fight him. But how -- she can't aim stuff like the forearm guns well enough to use those... She has something big, she realizes, something that she doesn't /need/ to be accurate with. Pulling that heavily-damaged shield off of her back, the Princess cracks a small smile before shouting, "You can't even come down here, can you?! Here -- maybe losing a wing binder will get you to come down!" She whips the shield as hard as she can at the Tengu, trying to hit a wing binder and one or two of the verniers keeping it in flight, hoping to put their units on a more even keel.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Lavi St. James. Shield Hurl added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has missed Ekelia Mossberg with her Bombing Run attack.

"Status on the torpedos!" yells the ZAFT Captain, to which he gets a reply, "No good sir! The Orb ship has a defensive screen of mech units! They shot down our torpedos before they could reach their target!" "Damn, then load about spread! I want that ship SUNK! I don't care how!" The ponderous ZAFT Submarine (Spacenoids don't make the best submersiable designers after all, since they sort of lack, you know, /an ocean/) changes directions in pursuit of the Tuatha and fires several more torpedos, and to hell with the depth charges!

This is not going to end well. "Hmm, it seems our dear Captain is getting a bit enthusiastic..." Mathias notes idly as he maneuvers the agile little underwater Sealion out of the way and tries for a long range shot with his gatling rounds. Better stay away from the sub. Gloryhog captains have a habit of, well, going out in a blaze of glory after all, and Mathias is in no rush to join him. With his musing done with, Mathias returns his attention to the battle at hand and switches to his torpedos.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has attacked Marie Gosselin. Multijet Air-Water Torpedo added to their queue.

Goh's eyes narrow at her remarks. "Then why are you fighting with them?! You guys are going against everything we fought for in the One Year War! War doesn't end War! It only takes more lives! And don't go on about my machine! It doesn't matter what kinda machine someones in, it's the will they have to defend what they want to believe in! Thats what I stand by!!" The Godannar lands on the ship this time, attempting to upper cut the machine on it's way down. The fist only hits open air, bringing a growl to Goh's lips. "Damnit." "Goh, maybe she's right. You don't need to--" "Shut up! This is my fight Anna! We can't let those guys go on any longer!" Goh yells, getting knocked into the control panel by the impact of Alia's bazooka on the outer armor of the Dannar. "Tch...This is getting to be a serious fight!" Goh waits for the Rick Dias to come into range before attempting to whip the mech out of the air with the plasma emitting from the top of its head.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has attacked Alia Winchester. Spiral Fire added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Alia Winchester has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has missed Alia Winchester with his Spiral Fire attack.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has struck a solid hit on Marie Gosselin's M6AG Mediator using Multijet Air-Water Torpedo.

See, against any normal pilot Lan would have swiftly shot them down and sent them plunging into a watery grave. Ryusei Date is anything but normal. With a yell, he explodes forward after smashing into the Wude, pulling into a swift spiral loop as Lan fires at him. Ryusei is too busy yelling to pay attention to the radio at the moment. He, too, doesn't realize that Akira is still holding on. The R-Wing, however stutters in the loop, as Akira does his work. Ryusei sees the flashing lights, and blinks his eyes, yelling, "ARGH! I knew I should have stayed in bed!" He aborts the full loop, twisting over as he yells at Lan, "CHAOS UNFETTERED ULTIMATE ASSAULT!" He comes in, skidding low as he drops a MISSILE on Lan, striking straight through the fireblast (which might cause Akira some discomfort) in order to ram right into Lan again!?

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Diving Ram added to their queue.

"She evaded the Haro...!"Eek cries, though it should be noted it's more like Pacman (Ibis) is fleeing from a ghost (Haro) but if that was done then it wouldn't really be a metaphor as opposed to a description of what is actually happening. However, it does manage to avoid the Haro, who is chasing it in a way Quattro chases lolis. "AHH!!" She cries, holding up her mech's arms, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm an innocent little ghost soldier!" Bombs explode, missiles fly, the Spectral remains very still. And when the dust clears and the water stops flying all over the place, The Spectral remains--totally unharmed. "...Huh." Eek says, "That wasn't really expected." She says, before she opens fires with more skulls, that try to latch onto Ibis's mech and chew on it! And the Haro. The Haro is trying to chew her mech too! RUN AWAY IBIS! RUN AWAY!

Tasuku is used of being circled around by smaller, faster units. Usualy, good, natural sense would dictate that it is a bad thing, but not for him and the Giganscudo. The best thing to do in thoses cases is to wait, turning around and trying to face the enemy...and wait for the perfect opportunity for it to reveal itself. He knows he got to and smash that submarine...Hm. He's gonna have to take a chance, then. The beam rifle's blasts impacts against the Giganscudo -- one is deflected away by one of the Sheath Shields, the other crashes dead on in the golden V-shaped collar the mech has, creating a pretty nasty mark and crack, for all it's worth. "Nrrrg...I can take it!" He decides, lifting his other arm and lowering it down to the near-by Sub -- he's not THAT far from it -- and, ignoring the explosions all around, fires off the Sheath Booster. A stream of bubbles bursts out of the wrists of the Giganscudo's arm, the entire electricaly-powered shield firing off to slams toward the submarine below, held by an enormous chain. Kai get ignored during this attempt. It might be a mistake. Or maybe not.

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has attacked Ibis Douglas. Ibis Is Delicious added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has attacked Teletha Testarossa. Sheath Booster added to their queue.

Amuro Ray is pretty good, but this is a pretty untenable situation he's gotten himself into. "Damn..." he mutters, reeling the Hyper Hammer back in like a fishing rod. Today's catch: nothing :(. The Eva comes back, resplendant in its water wings, and there is basically nothing Amuro can do to avoid it. So, he just pulls out his robot's beam rifle, shoves it against the Eva's chest, and fires. At the same time, the knife digs into the Gundam's cockpit, and Amuro is treated to the lovely view of a giant blade /this/ close to his head. "Wh-- /shit/!" he gasps, as the ragged edge of the weapon nicks his shoulder. "Oh this is /bad/," he groans, reaching up with the Gundam's free hand and fumbling for the blade, tryhing to pull it out without killing himself. It is at this opportune moment that Ali al-Saachez swoops back in. Amuro continues swearing, but manages to do three things in the space of one second. 1) The Gundam's grey fingers grasp the blade, ripping it out of the cockpit and flinging it towards the nearest warship's main cannon. 2) The Gundam does a sweet backflip right off the pair of destroyers it's been wearing like Moon Shoes. 3) As it is upside-down, flipping over the missiles, the Gundam fires two beam rifle blasts right into the Enact's flying jet face. Then, the Gundam lands on a smaller ship, on one foot, in the Crane position. "I don't have /time/ for this," he says with a frown, swapping the beam rifle for... a long white stick? Is this some kind of... Gundam Stick? He whirls it around the Gundam's back expertly, then draws it back, almost like a spear. It is at this point that the head erupts into a three-pointed beam blade. But he doesn't use it yet. Instead, he fires the beam rifle four times, switching rapidly between Eva 00 and the flying Enact for each shot.

Alia veers her machine and flight-board off to the side, out of Godannar's path and letting Goh continue his fall. "You know... most of what you just said, I said to the Black Tornado yesterday. About the One Year War, I mean. Why I'm fighting here?" She sounds a lot more quiet suddenly. "At first I thought it was the right thing, with the evidence I'd seen..." Godannar moves into position to try using its head-flames on her Rick Dias, and the mobile suit jumps off the Dodai in response to let the flames pass between them harmlessly. She lands, and begins veering off to the east. "But now I really don't know. Even if I killed you here... even if I killed a hundred of you, they'd just keep talking down on me like I'm trash. I hate your machine, I want to shoot it apart right here and now, but..." Alia's voice suggests she's really not into this fight anymore. "You don't sound like most of them at all." Noticably, while Alia is keeping her mobile suit turned to face Godannar, she isn't firing. She just keeps having the Dodai fly off eastward.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has attacked Ali Al-Saachez and Rei Ayanami. Beam Strafe added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has struck a major hit on Ibis Douglas's Calion using Ibis Is Delicious. COMBAT: Ibis Douglas's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has struck a minor hit on Rei Ayanami's Evangelion Unit-00 using Phantom Pretentious Pain. COMBAT: Rei Ayanami's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has struck a solid hit on Rei Ayanami's Evangelion Unit-00 using Beam Strafe.

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has struck a glancing hit on Teletha Testarossa's TDD-1 Tuatha De Danaan using Sheath Booster. COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has struck a major hit on Ali Al-Saachez's Enact Agrissa Plane Mode using Beam Strafe. COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has missed Amuro Ray with his Meet Prince Ali counter attack.

The Calion is chomped on by the skulls and the Haro ghost. It nearly bursts into flames and explodes. This only amplifies that she is a /master pilot/. "I .. I.. why can't I!?" She cries, partially at the machine, partly to herself. "Why .. ... w.. why.." But as the Calion, chomped by so many things keeps flying, there's still .. some hope? Maybe? Well, it's certainly possible, that's for sure. "No.. I .. I can still fly the Calion .. so I .. I have a chance.." And as the thrusters kicks forwards, signalling the machine can still fly, it just keeps moving faster. "Then .. I HAVE TO FINISH YOU NOW! Sonic cutters activate... I .. CAN DO THIS!" The Calion erupts once more, forwards, shooting through the air, before diving into the water, aiming to /cut/ right into and towards the water, and then the Spectral! Or perhaps, CRASH.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has attacked Ekelia Mossberg. Sonic Cutter added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has struck a major hit on Ekelia Mossberg's The Spectral using Sonic Cutter. COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has missed Ibis Douglas with her The Murder Weapon counter attack.

Kazuki Takemura continues to make his way toward the chaotic center, stopping for a minute to help an MS squad with a group of Sealions. Once that's done, he searches for the Wude again, and finds it shooting at the R1. The Shunyo begins closing to medium range, acquiring a missile lock as it moves, then firing immediately after the R1's pass. A missile glides slowly toward the Wude, climbing upward onto the deck of a cruiser before dropping down to sea level again, then circling around a pair of grappling fighters, then moving for Lan's machine.

COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Nightingale Missile Box added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a solid critical hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using Diving Ram.

Evangelion Unit-00 eats the rifle blast to the chest -- it punches a nasty hole, but doesn't strike the plug. Inside it, however, Rei Ayanami is still that much worse for wear: her body experiences a sudden Parkinson's clench-and-jerk dance from the pain wired to her mind-brain. "NNNGUHH!" Still, the little Jango pushes on, bless her. She refuses to stop ripping into /the/ Gundam's chest -- until the missile Ali sent is detected. The Evangelion turns its head, as if startled in its own right, and attempts to dive out of the way -- only to be blasted right in the hip -- and in the space of a second, Amuro licks a shot too, hitting the Eva in the head. With a tremendous splash, the Eva falls into the water.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has struck a major hit on Lavi St. James's Mk.2 Tengu MST using Shield Hurl. COMBAT: Lavi St. James has missed Cagalli Yula Athha with his Repeating Blasters counter attack.

COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has struck a solid hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using Nightingale Missile Box.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has counter attacked for a minor hit on Kazuki Takemura's Shunyo Mk111 using Yunsheng 34 Missile.

They're laughing, Marie thinks bleakly in the cockpit of the M6 mod. I knew it. Well, screw them, she thinks even as her eyes water up, which does take her mind momentarily from the field of battle. This is a lot of why the torpedo hits the ruggedized side of the machine, sounding like it had just been kicked by a giant. "Shit!" Marie swears, especially as several pinpoint leaks start spraying a fine mist of cold salt water into the cockpit's handy bubble of warm, breathable air. Fortunately the electronics aren't giving out yet. The Mediator's big arm is damaged, so the small arms have to tease out the detachable weapon, shedding several pieces of unnecessary equipment as the torso pivots, aiming to fire the shotgun and its bursts of high-velocity slugs at ranges far shorter than originally planned, but still hopefully enough to mess up ths Sealion. Hopefully.

Spang. Spang. Spang. Shot after shot. Each one alone won't have much effect, and no matter how many times he shoots the beam rifle, it will likely never get better. No, at this point, he needs some more punch. Kai fires off a quick warning to Teletha as the robot changes targets, and starts to circle around - not even trying to break off and fly to the east. The shoulder beam cannons shift as Kai focuses them, driving the GCD in close, bubbles flaring out behind it in a wide arc. "Alright... there's the spot!" Kai fires. Two beams, looking more orange than yellow due to the Focus Nozzle's concentration, lance out right for the spot the Beam Rifle has been hitting. Even with his forward momentum, the shot stops Kai cold, and begins to push him back away through the ocean. In his cockpit, Kai rocks, straining at his restraints. "Hnngh--!"

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has attacked Mathias Romon. Bushnell Heavy Shotgun added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Tasuku Shinguji. Shoulder Beam Cannons added to their queue.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has struck a major hit on Mathias Romon's DCAM-004S Sealion using Bushnell Heavy Shotgun. COMBAT: Mathias Romon has counter attacked for a minor hit on Marie Gosselin's M6AG Mediator using Steel Knife.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has missed Tasuku Shinguji with his Shoulder Beam Cannons attack.

This time, the ramming attack catches Lan in such a way that she can't bring the shield up in time, nor can she use the Wude's surprising agility to get out of the way. Ryusei's R-Wing impacts under the arm, lifting the Wude and threatening to tip it over; Lan runs the engines as hard as she can, sliding away from the flying machine. The advantage of a hovercraft like this is that you really can drive in any direction without turning much. The missile lock chimes, and Lan automatically fires a missile back the way it came, using the lock as guidance. It actually works, although it does not stop the Nightingale missile from impacting with the frame of the Wude. For all its size, it's not nearly as beefy as her Tieqi. She has to remember that. She lets Ryusei lift off this time, not attacking him back - she sees something on the wing, but not what it is. A bomb? A power armour? Instead she focuses on the midrange wanzer, launching a trio of missiles from the long, narrow missile system on the Wude's left shoulder, driving entirely backwards now as she goes east by southeast. COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Kazuki Takemura. Yunsheng 34 Salvo added to their queue. "OWAAAAAAH!" Eek cries, "Time for my ultimate attack! GHOST-LINK HEAT HAWK!" Eek cries, ripping the heat hawk out of her mech's head and swinging it down at the Calion, missing entirely as it rips through the Spectral's arm and cleaves it 100 percent off the rest of the body. "Oh." Eek says after a moment, "Well um." She picks up the fallen arm, removes the heat hawk, and sticks it back into her robot's head. The Spectral seems faintly embarrassed. Ekelia takes in a deep breath, examinies the Calion, and says a bit more seriouasly this time, "I'm really sorry, you seem nice for a BITCHY JERK JERK who wants to blow up our sub, but they're all really great people in there. And if you can be patient, they'll be dead eventually, but not /today/." The remaining claw lashes out, aiming to dig into The Callion, and fill it with necromantic power..! Woaaaaah! This isn't just a physical assault, the very psyche of Ibis Douglas is under attack--her drive, her super robot spirit!--is being assaulted by Ekelia's mastery...of being dead! Can she escape her final destination?! Actually in that series they never do. It's really depressing.

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has attacked Ibis Douglas. Oogabagoogabagoogaba added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has activated a spirit command.

Goh is silent for a moment, watching the Rick Dias. "That's because I was there. I know the kind of stuff that war leads to. I lost alot in my line of duty...alot of people who will never come back. But firing a gun on people with guns doesn't stop it. It will never stop it...And as much as I hate to say it, there will be always be evil to fight. Maybe not even human....But definately there will always be evil to fight so long as we live. Thats why guys like me fight. I'm sick of losing it all..." The older man actually manages a sad smile as the cut on his face leeks blood along his cheek. He doesn't look at his wife's horrified expression. "So when I say I know what we fought for. I mean it. I was there. I saw the stuff Zeon drove us to." He looks over at Anna. "You don't seem bad yourself. Not like one of those Celestial Being guys at all." "And what the hell is wrong with my Goddannar? It isn't Gekigangar but it will have to do! As much as I liked to pilot anything when I was younger, I feel more at home in this."

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has missed Ibis Douglas with her Oogabagoogabagoogaba attack. COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has counter attacked for a minor hit on Ekelia Mossberg's The Spectral using Bombing Run.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has activated a spirit command.

"Admiral, the target has dropped off sonar again, but the Nemos are pushing towards the east. The HMS Tartar is taking heavy fire!" The Admiral takes his eyes off of EVA unit-00. First that red children's toy makes a mess of his fleet and now NERV sends a blue one. What's next, a yellow? "Very well, they must be trying to escape to the east. Orders to all ships, reform along these coordinants and put up a wall of depth charges. And have all Mobile Suits fall back to defend the Tartar, override that pompous St. James ass with your rank if you have to. I didn't put up with his grandfather ordering me around while I was on the Oregon and I'll not put up with his get." Lavi's Tengu spirals around upwards, then falls into a dive, firing it's shoulder mounted blasters downwards. But then orders distract him. "Wait, what? No! Don't pull the Mobile Suits back! We almost have them, damnit! What the hell are you doi--" He's cut off suddenly and violently by the impact of Cagalli's shield into his left shoulder. The impact makes the entire MST shudder and throws it into a cork-spiral. It is a testiment to Lavi's skill that he's able to bring the machine around and flare his boosters to get the thing under control, stopping his fall only a handfull of feet over the water. He wants to yell orders, /scream/ orders that are correct and /right/. He can see what the hell's going on from right here, /he/ knows what's really going on, not some pompous ass sitting on the bridge of a ship! It makes him want to rip his hair out! Why can't they /see/. But Lavi doesn't have time, Cagalli's too great of a threat for him to just sit idle and get into a shouting match with a man that technically outranks him. The Tengu increases speed away, looping around in an absurdly tight spiral. It skims the water, throwing sprays of mist in it's wake and hiding the torpedos that it's been loaded with for the mission. He was saving them for the da Danaan, but the Gelgoog is presenting enough of a threat to warrent it. "GET OUT OF MY WAY, YOU!" Lavi roars through the comms.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Bombing Run added to their queue.

The Enact's flying jet face takes a few blasts of Beam Rifle Energy. They sizzle against the red armor, smothering some of the undercarriage (aka the chest when in robot mode) with their deadly particle burns. Smoke wafting off the Enact as it skates through the air again, Ali's grip tightens on the controls of the robot. But as he focuses on flying, a second volley of Gundam Beams slams into the tail of his aircraft -- rattling the cockpit and damaging one of the Enact's folded legs. "Orb Union brat," Al-Saachez seethes, his hands shifting across the controls of the Mobile Suit. "You are a huge pain in the ass." And seeing that Amuro is still balancing precariously on the various EFA Destroyers, Ali decides to get up close and personal. The aerial advantage isn't helping him any when he can take out Ray's footing. Hitting the transformation button just as the Enact blasts forward, the robot transforms in mid air and slams into the hull of the same destroyer Amuro's balancing against. Immediately, the robot takes one step and then jumps forward in the air, the right-arm mounted Blade Rifle humming as its sonic vibration blade is cut on a angled slice for the original Gundam's Beam Rifle.

Ali Al-Saachez activates his Enact Agrissa unit.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has attacked Amuro Ray. Blade Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has activated a spirit command.

The shotgun blast throws up a cloud of bubbles and screaming hot, emmensely painful shrapenel into the water, completely obscuring the Sealion as it darts in towards the vessel despite all the chaos and pandamonium going on before the Sealion, slightly worse for wear after catching a face full of high powered ammo, breaks through the foam with knife in hand and rakes it across the side of his opponent as he darts by. "Now now, no time for day dreaming in the middle of a battle... it wouldn't be nearly as interesting if you died because you blinked at the wrong time..." Once more, the sealed G-Revolver its brought up as Mathias switches the ammo inside. The new shells are not nearly as accurate, but they are very high powered and specially designed not to loose their momentum in water, rendering them far more destructive and effective beneath the ocean. Tiny little hand squeezes down on the trigger, and with a muffled crack, the shell launches forth.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has attacked Marie Gosselin. G-Revolver High-Pressure Ammo added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has missed Cagalli Yula Athha with his Bombing Run attack.

Despite his inordinate amount of strength, both physical and psychokinetic, Akira can't help but be knocked around and then slightly burned by the R-Wing's crazy flight path. Bullets come dangerously close, explosions lick at the clinging psychic's unarmored body, and generally he just doesn't have a very good day. Pushing himself up the frame of the R-Wing, Akira edges closer to the front of the jet. As he moves, that glowing outline of his reappears--but flickers, feeling an unfamiliar presence and hearing something /in his head/. "Oh man, what the heck," he groans, focusing and stabilizing the power he's using. A golden glow spreads out from him, the four copies of Akira fading in and orbiting the R-Wing, heads bowed solemnly. A low hum fills the air, and the glow flashes out into a sphere, threatening to sap power from the machine's core and fry relays. At the same time, it would also give the pilot a feeling that all is well with the universe. Coincidentally, it may also cure his headache. Positive psi is wonky like that.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Ryusei Date. Holy Image added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has missed Kazuki Takemura with her Yunsheng 34 Salvo attack. COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has counter attacked for a minor hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using Desoto M300 Shotgun.

Tessa opens her eyes, and grunts. She's relayed her orders - resonated with the psychics of the Orb Union present here, hopefully catching their attention. She delivered her message. It worries her that nobody responded, but...she has no way of forcing that. "Captain, Giganscudo has opened fire!" someone shouts, as if that can be readily determined among the bazillion depth charges on Tessa's radar...except that left an opening. "There. Perfect," Tessa breathes. "Fire back through that opening, return fire with SUBLARS! Helmsman, I was mistaken; set your course for the east!" "Aye, ma'am!" Mardukas says, no fear in his voice - only tension. The Danaan returns fire to the Giganscudo, a missile leaping out of the battered submarine and shooting into the sky above it, and then raining down ROCKETS on both him and on the fleet below. The Tuatha de Danaan is an /assault/ submarine. She's been taken by surprise...but she's not out of tricks yet. She makes for the island to the east, Tessa watching the monitors with unblinking eyes.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has attacked Tasuku Shinguji. Submarine-Launched Rockets added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has struck a major critical hit on Amuro Ray's Gundam using Blade Rifle. COMBAT: Amuro Ray has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Ali Al-Saachez's Enact Agrissa using Beam Saber.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has missed Marie Gosselin with his G-Revolver High-Pressure Ammo attack.

The ghost link Heat hawk..!!! OH NO! As the heat hawk is ripped off the body and swung at the Calion, the pilot, Ibis, isn't sure if she can do it. "Ah .. it's .. coming too fast!" Ibis notes, but the arm is cut straight off, and Ibis blinks as well. ".. Wow.. I guess if .. we just .. " IF she just out RACES the assault, she'll be okay! This .. is a brilliant strategy. One she's going to follow to the very end ( today ). "I .. I don't want to kill them, and I.. I'm NOT a bitchy jerk jerk! .. I just think .. what you're doing's not helping any one.. and if I want to carry these dreams.. I have to be willing to follow my heart!" She cries, in response, before the claw LASHES OUT. The Calion, almost filled with necromantic power, zips away.. bombs and missiles instead left in her wake.. IN THE HAND OF THE UNDEAD. Potentially this is because of the rules. Yes, they never do. But Ibis .. normally doesn't. The flux allows her to escape.. /FOR NOW/. "It's .. it's getting close.. so .. I.. I'm sorry! But... G-Driver, ACTIVATE!" The front of the Calion sizzles with energy, the front of the SPACE PLANE sliding back on both 'wings', as massive cannon's are revealed. "FIRE!... FIRE!" She says it twice.. because they fire separately! And afterwards, the Calion shoots forwards, spinning, coating itself in blue energy. "Sonic CUTTEEEEER!" What is she planning?! "I .. I WON'T BACK DOWN!"

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has struck a minor hit on Tasuku Shinguji's Giganscudo using Submarine-Launched Rockets.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has attacked Ekelia Mossberg. G-Driver added to their queue.

The white Rick Dias lowers its bazooka, no longer aiming at Godannar. Alia is listening to what Goh has to say, and doesn't have all that eloquent a response at first: "Jesus. ...Look. I'm not going to kick you while you're down. I can't really tell exactly how you feel or what you went through, but the Federation of the One Year War was never my enemy. I used to look up to them, want to be like them." The mobile suit continues its eastward path. "The only reason I'm here is the evidence I saw about the Thirty Bunch Incident and the old Federation doesn't seem to be there anymore. And now I've pretty well made my bed here. Can't go back without facing life in prison at best, execution at worst. If it's alright... could we just both pull out?"

Snapping herself to attention as she finds herself in a uniquely improved position, the Princess spots Lavi's falling Tengu in mid-spiral. When the Tengu opens up with its torpedoes, the Princess is ready; skimming the surface of the water with the Gelgoog, she weaves back and forth, cleanly passing through the holes and gaps in Lavi's offense, closing the distance even as she continues to maneuver around the torpedoes, putting herself right up close with Lavi. The Gelgoog's a powerful machine, Cagalli reflects -- she hasn't really ever felt like she was this much in control of a battle, this solidly on top of things. The Lioness-in-training pulls out her machine's beam naginata, whirling it around as if she's coming in for a direct strike at Lavi's unit head-on... ... only to weave /around/ it, do a full turn while behind it, and /then/ swing it as hard as possible. Modern beam-coats mean this likely won't cut through it, but what it /will/ do is push Lavi's machine away from the group as it heads east, and simultaneously let her push /off/ of it and head in that same direction. "Sorry, but you're not going to take us lying down, Titan," the Princess says, for lack of a better word to address Mr. St. James with.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Lavi St. James. Beam Naginata Assault added to their queue.

"Chinese wanzers, huh.. let's see what it can do," Kazuki murmurs to himself quietly, his brows furrowed in concentration. Seeing the missiles coming at him, he mashes on his chaff and flare buttons, then abruptly moves to his right. The missiles become unsure of their target and waver, narrowly missing the wanzer. Meanwhile, Kazuki retaliates with his shotgun, which doesn't have much effect given the range, and also fires a pair of missiles at the Wude while continuing to try to close the distance at the Shunyo's maximum speed.

COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Nightingale Missile Box added to their queue.

Dun dun. Dun dun. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun daa naa daa naa -- And then, from the side of the Tuatha de Danaan, the submerged form of Evangelion Unit-00 shoots out of the dark water like a shark, swimming toward the sub -- and /fast/. The ultimate goal, of course, being to /collide/ with the Orbulon super-sub, and latch onto it with creepy, sharp Eva-fingers. Rei remains silent, of course; no snappy patter about hitching a ride, just a huge blue beast-thing getting right up in the ship's grill.

The knife strikes into the side of the Mediator, if not deep enough to aggravate the leaks greatly. Marie makes an incoherent noise in the back of her throat, the M6AG's feet still firmly attached to the hull as the G-Revolver is raised upwards, aimed at her. She can't move fast enough to avoid it. She doesn't really think about what she does next, which is to hike up the Bushnell-issue shotgun up and incline it down, firing it after a near quarter of a second of just holding it there. There is a fury of bubbles - and the interfered-with bullets fall loose, down towards the sea floor below. "You think battle is supposed to be interesting?!" Marie screeches, indignation making her raspy-squeaky voice even worse, bordering on incomprehensible. "You came after us -- eat shit, you son of a whore!" The Mediator lunges forwards as Marie lets out an incoherent scream, something like 'shaaaaaaa,' the machine twisting around as the damaged big arm pivots, raising upwards, extending a wolfram-steel spike -- and slamming it down at the Sealion's midsection, perhaps to try and force it to stay in melee range! Or 'spare parts' range, either or. She also has her back to the Evangelion that's stalking her, which is probably to her long-term psychological benefit.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has attacked Mathias Romon. Grapple Spike added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has struck a major critical hit on Ekelia Mossberg's The Spectral using G-Driver.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has struck a solid hit on Mathias Romon's DCAM-004S Sealion using Grapple Spike. COMBAT: Mathias Romon has counter attacked for a minor hit on Marie Gosselin's M6AG Mediator using Counter Ram.

The Sheath Booster trails back to the Giganscudo, snapping into place just in time to be bought along to protect the large mech from the twin, intense beam cannons the Guncannon has fired at him. "Gah!" Shinguji shouts, bringing the Sheath Shields and...deflect them away, leaving nothing more than some burnt marks on the defensive weapons. He's not too sure how he managed to /do/ that, but he wont complain. That dude is serious -- but he got a bigger objective, here. He wont be able to hit that tiny target, so he might as well focus on the submarine. Speaking of the submarine, the rockets impacts powerfuly against the Giganscudo's hull, rattling the large russian mech from the underwater, muffled explosions. There is a path open, he noticed -- they're probably going to use that to escape. Fully aware that the Guncannon wont stop following him, Shinguji decides that it's best that he goes with it, suffer his attacks and rush down to intercept the Submarine in the best way the Giganscudo can: By flying straight into it and punching it good. "REAAAAAAAAARH!"

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has attacked Teletha Testarossa. Double Giga Knuckle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a minor critical hit on Ryusei Date's R-Wing using Holy Image.

Anything I ought to know about? She may scene-exit soon if that direction's clear after all." Anna looks over at Goh, who seems conflicted by his duty and what was the right thing to do. He listens to her assessment of the way the EFA seemed to operate these days. He always had his assumptions but at the same time, Goh was never one to give up on what he believed in. Even if the EFA was full of evil pricks, all it took was one good guy to start getting things back in line. He is silent for the most part. "I can't back down. You can go if you want but I have a duty to destroy that submarine on your side. You have your orders and so do I. I'm sorry but I need to see this fight through until the end. I won't chase you but other than that, I can't compromise my belief in that we're doing the right thing." The Godannar waits for Alia's response, waiting for what happens next. If he needs to fight her, he will just have to do it.

Good, the Evangelion's fallen into the water. That's one less enemy to deal with. The Gundam turns to face the Enact, but its footing (on one foot) is simply not good enough. There's nowhere to dodge, here on the ocean. "Tch...!" Amuro grunts, swinging the beam javelin towards the transforming machine, hoping to head the sonic blade off. It just doesn't work out that way. Instead, one of the Gundam's legs is cut right off. Fortunately, not the one it was standing on. Unfortunately, it now only has one leg. Swearing profusely, Amuro's hands fly over the control keyboard, calibrating for one-legged battle, adjusting for balance, and sending an updated copy of his will off to Karaba's lawyers. This is getting serious. The beam javelin tumbles down into the depths, useless yet again, and the Gundam's backpack flares, sending it up and away from the mercenary. "Got to... get some distance...!" he gasps, shaking out the Hyper Hammer and whirling it around in the air, like a huge, unwieldy propellor. Miraculously, this actually does slow the Gundam's descent towards the water, mainly by virtue of the morningstar's thrusters. "OOORRAAAAAAAAH!" roars the White Devil, slamming the Gundam's arm forward. The spikey orb of doom races across the skies, seeking once more to crush the Enact.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has attacked Ali Al-Saachez. Hyper Hammer Crush added to their queue.

Mathias doesn't even flinch a bit as the spike slams into his machine and drags him in... in fact, not only does he not flinch, he takes advantage of it to suddenly slingshot himself towards Marrie and slam his machine into her with a loud thud, "Just using the same backstabbing methods you people seem to be fond of~..." His tone is has a faint tinge of mocking to it as, undetered by the proximity, he kicks the thrusters in reverse and yanks away at the same time as he unleashes another barrage of torpedos right into Marie's face.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has attacked Marie Gosselin. Multijet Air-Water Torpedo added to their queue. COMBAT: Mathias Romon has missed Marie Gosselin with his Multijet Air-Water Torpedo attack. COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has missed Mathias Romon with her Power Saw counter attack.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has missed Ali Al-Saachez with his Hyper Hammer Crush attack. COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has counter attacked for a minor hit on Amuro Ray's Gundam using Meet Prince Ali.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has struck a devastating critical hit on Lavi St. James's Mk.2 Tengu MST using Beam Naginata Assault. COMBAT: Lavi St. James has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jaeger using Blade Tail.

Eek doesn't seem to be willing to discuss whether or not Ibis is a bitchy jerk jerk anymore presently, negotiations have collapsed, diplomacy is over, the pool is closed due to A I D S except that maybe it's cured but not cancer yet, it's very mysterious. Regardless, the battle has reached the climax, the deadly point of doom, the terrible time of terror. This is made evident when the mysterious G DRIVER activates, and the cannons slam through the Spectral not once... BUT TWICE! That's as many as two ones. The Sonic Cutter rips all the way through The Spectral, though the ghost mech seems to manage to hold its equillibrium for the time being. It does not dispel, nor does it dissipitate. "Right now." Eek says, and not even hilariously, "What I'm doing, is holding off enemy support. I have to do this so they have more time to escape, to plot a retaliation course, or an escape course, or something..." She manages. "If you people don't want to kill anyone...!" Eek draws out The Heat Hawk again and it splits into several Heat Hawks--all swarming forward as if their own volition to strike at the Divine Crusader, "THEN STOP KILLING!" The heathawks gleam, almost like a homing missile, as if a blood debt has to be paid.

COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has attacked Ibis Douglas. Divine Crusaders With The Heat Hawk In The Hollow Earth added to their queue. COMBAT: Ekelia Mossberg has struck a Dynamic Kill critical hit on Ibis Douglas's Calion using Divine Crusaders With The Heat Hawk In The Hollow Earth. Knock Out! Ibis Douglas's Calion unit has become disabled! COMBAT: Ibis Douglas has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Ekelia Mossberg's The Spectral using Sonic Cutter. COMBAT: Knock Out! Ekelia Mossberg's The Spectral unit has become disabled!

Alia... has to think on this. She sits silent for several seconds, and if Godannar has any video-link with the Rick Dias while their pilots talk, it's plain to see on her face that she's conflicted. "...I'm screwed," she finally decides. "Run away and I'll have all three armies after my head. Give up and I die. Shoot you down, you might not even deserve it and they'll just keep treating me like garbage anyway." Alia's eyes start to water, but she's keeping fairly quiet now. Then the Dodai suddenly turns 180 degrees, moving to let the Rick Dias re-engage with Godannar. Bazooka raised, she aims slightly above the super robot's head. A single warhead flies out, and Alia goes for a narrow miss; she hopes it'll be convincing enough to fool any observers.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Goh Saruwatari. Clay Bazooka added to their queue.

Marie can feel water seeping into her shoes. That's probably not good. The enemy's still talking, though, and she hears the CLANG as the two mechs slam into each other briefly. The Mediator's grappling arm relaxes slightly - A torpedo's launching?! The lefthand lower arm slices forwards at the last moment, slashing through the missile moments before it can impact the M6; apparently, this /actually works/, judging by the lack of horrible explosion. "Backstabbing -- Screw it! People like you, you treat words like cheap tools! Here is the methods of my people, asshole!!" The Mediator's left side seems like it yawns open as the subsidary arms deploy their tools. A magenta close-in welding laser fires, producing a curiously beautiful three-foot-long effect as the heat dissipates and flash-boils the high pressure water. This would be less beautiful, likely, if it wasn't trying to sink that claw of light into the Sealion's mechanical innards to rip and/or tear.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has activated a spirit command.

Remember the Calion's eruption forwards, thrusting hard and fast towards the Spectral? Yeah.. because it hasn't stopped. It never does cut through the spectral, but instead, as she charges head onto Eek.. Eek's Heat Hawks split, and rush ahead of her, attempting to strike straight onto the Calion! The Calion, and Ibis, still crash forwards, sonic cutters still glowing as she grows closer. And then there are heathawks. The Calion's nearly ripped clean apart from the assault at the current state, and struck as weak as it is.. Ibis holds it together as long as she can, before passing over the Spectral, the machine .. skipping on the water as it /bursts into flames/. Fortunately, there's alot of water as it crashes head first into the water, and bobs upwards from under it, and a ways away, ends up barely floating above. Yeah, Ibis got knocked unconcious, but isn't dead. Perhaps she's lucky! Perhaps.. SHE'S THE REVERSE.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has attacked Mathias Romon. Exploratory Surgery added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has activated a spirit command.

This is getting ridiculous. It was a trap. Traitors? Did Zonvolt...no, Amuro might say that, but Tessa trusts Sanger's honor. He does not deal in such things as petty treacheries. But that's even worse, because that means it came from /somewhere else/, and that means--no time, no time, no /time/! The Giganscudo keeps its attack up, and her own forces are having to force their way through the net of depth charges. People are dying. Her people. She wants to close her eyes, go somewhere and cry, but no, she can't, she has to be strong - /she/ is the captain, /she/ is the steel. She squares her shoulders, unconsciously. "CAPTAIN! An Evangelion!!" someone shouts, and Tessa sees the behemoth appear out of nowhere on her monitors. Can't dodge, depth charges everywhere. She's got to... "Forward torpedo tube, fire!" she shouts. "If it wants a free meal, it's got another thing coming! VLS system, fire an anti-ship missile, keep the Giganscudo occupied while we hammer through!" The bridge is nervous. There is a strong tension in the air. They don't complain, they don't shudder. These are professionals. But as the Eva sinks its fingers into the Danaan, even as the Danaan feeds it a missile, they are afraid.

The twin beams of the Shoulder Cannons pierce through the waters, curiously barely even disturbing the water itself. Since war is hell, some random soldier who was just thinking about his family probably gets hit - and since they are Kai Shiden's lasers, he survives, his escape pod hitting the water to float! Hurrah! Kai once again has to fire his jets desperately to stop himself from dropping into depths the GCD can't handle, and the constant jerking around nearly makes him vomit. For a moment, he has to just sit there, breathing heavily, sweat dripping into his eyes. He wants to take off the helmet, but under the water, it's too risky. The reporter settles for turning the oxygen levels up a bit in the cockpit. "...damnit," he declars, now seeing that the Shoulder Cannons have been deflected. He finally gets back into the action, rocketing back up, closing steadily with the TDD and its various attackers. First the Giganscudo, now an EVA... damnit. Kai starts planning vectors. The Guncannon Detector does three things at once, shifting positions. The beam rifle is in one hand, aiming for the EVA. The missile launchers spring open, orienting as best they can on the Giganscudo. Finally, the GCD produces a small sidearm from somewhere. He fires. A series of missiles come launching out, spiraling through the water on their torpedo engines, moving to swarm the Giganscudo. A series of grenades with similar engines launch from the bottom barrel of the rifle, actual detonations suppressed, trying to slam into the Eva and carry it away, even if only a little, before then detonating. The handgun, meanwhile, is fired for the TDD. But it's not a bullet! Kai Shiden, master of communications, has developed the RADIO GUN, which fires a small burst transmitter to send a single-shot message for a target deadened to other communications. If all is well, Kai's message will reverberate throughout the sub, in morse code: 'ORDERS RECEIVED. GREY CLOUD IS SHADOWING YOU.'

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has missed Goh Saruwatari with her Clay Bazooka attack. COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has missed Alia Winchester with his Counter Knuckle counter attack. COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Tasuku Shinguji and Rei Ayanami. Explosive Volley added to their queue.

Ryusei thought something weird was going on before. Now he's sure about it. Energy levels drop as the T-Link System output is destabilized further, the golden sphere surrounding the R-Wing causing Ryusei to blink. "What the..." He feels a the wave of peace and oneness wash through him, his headache vanishing in the pulse even as his mecha crackles with damage. "This... This is awesome!" Ryusei yells, before he clenches a fist. "Either I need to go to the doctor again, or this is some manifestation of ultimate Super Robot Spirit!" Guess which one Ryusei thinks it is. "ALL RIGHT! IT'S TIME! R-WIIIIIIIIIING ALTERED FORMATION!" What? "R-1 CHAAAAAAAAAAAANGE!" The mecha begins shifting, and Akira might need to move fast as the mecha begins transforming, because his current handholds are probably going to vanish. "AZUUUUUUURE.... SEVENTH SILVER STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" As the R-1 twists in the air, it descends towards Lan, kicking out in a SUPER BURNING T-LINK DROPKICK, the legs burning with TK energy and everything!

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. AZURE SEVENTH SILVER STAR added to their queue.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Mathias Romon has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has missed Mathias Romon with her Exploratory Surgery attack.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a minor hit on Tasuku Shinguji's Giganscudo using Explosive Volley.

"Heh," Al-Saachez says, sensing the flow of the battle as Amuro robot-backpedals from him and his awesome vibro-sword. Giving pursuit, the Hyper Hammer comes whistling at the Enact again just as Ali hits the thrusters -- doing an actual Mobile Suit flip over the thing and letting it crash into the hull of the EFA Destroyer with explosive results. Airborne again, Ali peppers the Gundam with ballistic bullet fire from the tip of his arm-mounted Blade Rifle before blasting forward to skate through the air. "Time to pay for these repairs, Amuro Ray," he transmits in that fantastic voice, pitched to the fervor of the BATTLE. "With your life, of course!" Ali cuts the thrust on the Enact to divebomb towards the water after the Original Gundam (OG). He locks the Blade Rifle into attack position and, at the last minute, cuts the distance between the two robots mere feet above the waters. With a roar of engines, the Enact tries to drive its huge Blade Rifle right into the chest of the Amuro Ray's robot. And with the other arm, the Carbon Dagger hisses into the Enact's grip, spinning in a counter angle to try and stab into the left side of the Gundam head!

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has attacked Amuro Ray. Furious Ambush added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a solid hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using AZURE SEVENTH SILVER STAR. COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has missed Ryusei Date with her Mingda 2 Machine Gun counter attack.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has struck a solid hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using Nightingale Missile Box. COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has missed Kazuki Takemura with her Shield Strike counter attack.

"OWaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!" Eek cries, the sonic cutters rippling through Eek's machine, The Spectral shimmers once as Ibis Douglas passes through, and then explodes vibrantly. Eek screams, "Cagalli!!" She cries dramatically, so dramatic that there isn't a dry eye in the house, everybody's shedding tears at the end of their favorite ghostling, "This...is all I can do! Don't believe in me, don't believe in the me that believes in you! Believe in...yourself!" The explosion fades, and when all is said and done The Spectral is no more. Eek is hanging in midair for a moment afterwards, as dead as she ever is. "Poop." She says before vanishing in a puff of implausibility.

If Alia could see in the cockpit, she'd notice the girl also in Goh's unit. The older pilot frowns, knowing this was the kinda thing hated about war: people on opposite sides rarely could remain or become friends. The older pilot almost finds himself crying, caught up in the anger that this girl didn't really deserve to be in this situation. The Bazooka round is desentigrated by the plasma mane, exploding in front of the massive super robot. The punch in retaliation just doens't have the same will behind it anymore. He's phoning it in now. Anna looks back at Goh again. "Goh. Lets stop this. We don't need to do this." "No. We have no choice Anna. Take a good look because I have to do this...Otherwise I'm a traitor to everything I believe in. Even if she gave up on the Federation, I never will." The Goddannar attempts to punch at the Rick Dias with the same half assed focus. Goh is conflicted. The Super Robot morals in him tell him to stop, the soldier demands he presses on.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has attacked Alia Winchester. Burning Fist Punch added to their queue.

Lan Xiao Hua wishes she had the Tieqi here. Wishing, however, changes nothing. She'll fight the two elites with or without her preferred machine, because she must, and without complaining. Except in her head. The kick from Ryusei strikes the back of the Wude as she fires the Mingda up and out, missing by several yards but probably getting close enough to worry Akira. It almost - /almost/ - puts the front of the hoverskirts in the water, which would probably cause a wipeout at the speed she's going. It doesn't, though; Lan spreads the Wude's legs for stability, cutting its speed well down for a few instants before accelerating back up - even faster, this time. She rockets toward the Shinyo, arm outstretched. She takes the hit from the missiles as she approaches, knocking her offline just well enough that the swinging heavy shield passes by the Shunyo without impacting. The Da Han Zhong wanzer (not Chinese; close enough, though) fires its machine gun as Lan braces it against the outstretched shield for stability, letting her whirl past Kazuki while she attempts to shoot him down.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Kazuki Takemura. Mingda Rapid Shot added to their queue.

COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has missed Alia Winchester with his Burning Fist Punch attack.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a solid hit on Rei Ayanami's Evangelion Unit-00 using Explosive Volley. COMBAT: Rei Ayanami's evasion attempt has failed. The Sealion proves to be an elusive beast to catch though as Mathias skillfully maneuvers it in reverse and sidesteps each attempt to latch onto him, "Call it whatever you want, but when you show up in the middle of a battle and attack one side from behind, it is called a backstab by default... and all the pretty words won't change that fact." Steel knife is once more drawn as the Sealion continues to dance about erratically, taunting Marie to hit it. "You may call it intervention, but making war is still making war, and those you kill are still people, with hopes, dreams, and families... so lets cut out all the flowery bits. We are not heroes, or soldiers, or good men and women." The Sealion suddenly darts in, it's steel blade aiming for the side of the mech to stab, and then viciously rip out with savage enthusiasm, "We are all paid /murderers/..."

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has attacked Marie Gosselin. Rip And Tear added to their queue.

COMBAT: Amuro Ray has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has struck a devastating critical hit on Amuro Ray's Gundam using Furious Ambush. Knock Out! Amuro Ray's Gundam unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has missed Marie Gosselin with his Rip And Tear attack. COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has counter attacked for a minor hit on Mathias Romon's DCAM-004S Sealion using 180mm Recoilless Cannon.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has struck a devastating critical hit on Kazuki Takemura's Shunyo Mk111 using Mingda Rapid Shot. COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using Hardblow.

As the Evangelion secures its foothold in the side of the sub, it is faced with two challenges -- one, that Kai Shiden's Guncannon is shooting grenades; two, that its hips are unfortunately positioned right over a torpedo tube. Rei reacts quickly -- but not quickly enough. Attempting to clamber along down the side of the sub to safety, the torpedo launch passes between the Eva's long, limber legs, but only barely. Unfortunately, this evasive course has left the anorexic flank of the spindly blue monster open to Kai's barrage, and the grenades explode against Unit-00's side. Inside the plug, Rei nearly bites through her tongue to keep from screaming; it's all she can do as the Eva's side is blown open, water sucking into the wound, LCL poisoning the ecology. The Evangelion is thus forced to let go of the sub, floating down beneath it. Surely, it's dealt with forever. /Forever/. Right?

Random soldiers always get the brunt of things, just because they're /nameless/. It's not fair, I tell you. At least Kai Shiden's lasers are mercifull, even if they are deflected by an enormous defensive war machine. Altought right now, the status of 'defensive' war machine is to be disputed about the Giganscudo. He don't really like attacking like this, but he has to do it anyway. First, the anti-ship missile fired from the submarine was far to be appreciated by the Giganscudo. "Man! I hate thoses!" Tasuku complains, gearing up and bracing for impact. It hits the shields, sending upward an impressive geyser of water above the ocean, damaging one of the shields lightly. It's pretty good, really, the Ultimate Shield didn't liked that one at all. While he was busy dealing with that, the Guncannon manages to sneak in (as much you can sneak a swarm of torpedos) his cloud of projectiles, exploding in the back of the Giganscudo. Gritting his teeth and bracing himself from the impacts, Tasuku decides that he had enough. "EVA-00! Take care of the sub a moment! I've got to take care of that guy!" Shinguji lets out on the radio, veering the large mech around and spreading his arms. The V-shaped golden collar unfolds out into a vaguely rectangular pyramid-shaped cannon, gathering in an dark blue crackling energy. "GIGA BLASTER...FIRE!" The Guncannon Detector might be small and agile compared to the Giganscudo, but can it ignore SCREEN FILLING laser blasts?

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has attacked Kai Shiden. Giga Blaster added to their queue.

Akira has seconds to react to the sudden loss of his handholds. These seconds are, quite predictably, spent flailing around and dropping straight down, as even he cannot completely defy gravity... or /can/ he? With a telekinetic shove that knocks the wind out of him, Akira pushes himself back towards the now-humanoid R-1, bouncing off the armor and managing to grab onto the back of the knee joint at the last second. He's lucky he did that, too; if he'd waited a moment longer, he would have been shot up by the narrowly-evaded fire from Lan's machine. That would have been unfortunte, to say the least. Now that he's back in action, though, catching his breath and holding on takes all the focus he'd need to do anything elemental. Akira starts punching the joint, a series of telekinetic hammerblows rather than a truly powerful strike. It must be some sort of joint-locking technique!

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Ryusei Date. Not Quite LaoHuZhiWhu added to their queue.

Desperation drives the Nemo teams. Hizacks are good machines, but Nemos are just plain better. With support from both above and below, the Orb units gun for the only thing standing in their way, the HMS Tartar. The destroyer's Hizack and Destroid teams are getting overwhelmed quickly from the multi-directional assaults. Tartar's captain is a good man, he knows what's happening and that his ship is going to go down. "All hands, abandon ship!" He orders. Men start piling towards the life-boats. The gun crews stay at their station, determined to protect their escaping comrades as long as they still have ammunitions to fire. The captain stands on his bridge alone, prepared to go down with his vessel. A Nemo comes in low over the water, firing his beam rifle across the Tartar's aft. The mega particle beam smashes into the ship's reactor and the resulting explosion nearly tears the ship in half. There's a hole in the line from which the Tuatha da Danaan can escape... but how far can it possibly get in its condition? The EFA fleet is out of formation and out of position to do much of anything about the sub itself. Even mobile suit attacks on it slacken as MSTs and Hizacks start fishing sailors out of the water. An anti-beam coating? On an MST? It's Lavi's piloting that keeps his Tengu from falling apart, not the technology that built it. The MST twists about to evade the blow. The best he can achieve is to minimize the incoming damage. He rips the Tengu around like a madman, whiping the segmented, bladed tail around Cagalli's Gelgoog and launching himself upwards into the air, dragging it along for the ride. The tail blades bite in deeply, securing a latch. He's furious, almost inarticulately so. It's getting away! The damn submarine is getting away! The God damn sub IS GETTING AWAY! The Tengu and the Gelgoog rise upwards until Lavi just jetison's the tail and lets Cagalli float upwards under her own momentum. She's got about three seconds to make a survival plan before the Tengu comes around again, accelerating dramatically as it rams the Gelgoog downward, giving it's thrust to aid gravity. At this height, hitting the water would be like hitting concrete and Lavi wants the Gelgoog to hit it as hard as possible. He stammers and sputters almost incoherently, before screaming, "JUST DIE, DAMN YOU!"

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Lavi St. James has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Lavi St. James has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Power Drive added to their queue. COMBAT: Lavi St. James has struck a devastating critical hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jaeger using Power Drive. Knock Out! Cagalli Yula Athha's MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jaeger unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has struck a solid hit on Kai Shiden's Guncannon Detector using Giga Blaster. COMBAT: Kai Shiden's evasion attempt has failed.

Alia continues to charge toward Godannar, jumping sideways off her Dodai while that flight-board climbs sharply, going off and to the other side of Goh's massive ride. And suddenly, her tone becomes louder; more upset. "And as for what's wrong with your stupid machine even if it's not Gekiganger... I'm sick of being told to back off from everyone that has umpteen trillion to spend on a single so-called super robot, like I'm just a joke!" The Rick Dias' head panel flips open, revealing a pair of small guns as Alia flies beside Godannar. The body and head turn to aim at the machine, and begin sweeping bullets at it. Some will likely hit, but she's intentionally targeting areas that appear to have the heaviest armor. Yet many of the bullets will visibly be sweeping well off-target, going off to Godannar's sides before the barrage stops; a token attack at best. And then the Dodai loops back around to let the Rick Dias land on it, veering off vaguely eastward again, albeit at a lower speed than before.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Goh Saruwatari. Vulcan Phalanx added to their queue. COMBAT: Alia Winchester has missed Goh Saruwatari with her Vulcan Phalanx attack. COMBAT: Goh Saruwatari has missed Alia Winchester with his Counter Knuckle counter attack.

The steel blade arcs towards the side of the Mediator - as Marie steers the upper arm forwards, shoving at the Sealion and knocking it clear, if only by centimeters. "And of course your sides are better!!" The 180 mm cannon spits explosions at the Sealion as Marie scooches around again, feeling the TDD shake beneath her feet. That's likely bad. "I bet you're just insulting me like this," she continues as the recoilless launcher dumps out shell casing, the autoloader burbling as it has to work more slowly underwater. Marie feels water lap at her ankles. Oh well, she thinks: it was a good run. "Because I have a cute voice!" she concludes, a little shrilly. The cannon fires twice, twisting to try and track the Sealion's probable line of retreat. She has no idea what's going on, and still hasn't seen the Evangelion.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has attacked Mathias Romon. Double Fire 180mm Recoilless Cannon added to their queue. COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has missed Mathias Romon with her Double Fire 180mm Recoilless Cannon attack. COMBAT: Mathias Romon has missed Marie Gosselin with his Gatling Gun counter attack.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has missed Ryusei Date with his Not Quite LaoHuZhiWhu attack.

As the Wude nears, Kazuki instinctively moves toward it, apparently forgetting just which wanzer he's in. The result is fairly predictable; the Shunyo's flying elbow makes a satisfying impact, but it's nothing compared to the legion of rounds that tear into the lightly armoured wanzer at point blank, chewing up its thin armour like it was nothing. "Damn it!" Kazuki curses as his display suddenly pops up with a succession of red lights, complete with annoying little warning sounds. Well, obviously he needs to get a bit of distance between them, and so he sends the Shunyo backward in a circular motion. Desperately, Kazuki locks onto the Wude and pulls his missile trigger like it was a broken elevator button, sending a salvo of missiles to distract Lan.

COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Salvo added to their queue.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has reset their systems to full.

The Sealion continues it's mocking dance as Mathias weaves around the close range fire and fires off a half-hearted barrage of gatling gun rounds towards Marie, before remarking with slight distain, "Hardly. You don't suit my pecular tastes..." The steel knife and revolver are stowed away as the Sealion weaves away from melee range and swings around for an attack run, "But this is beginning to bore me. You can go and die now." And then suddenly there are torpedoes. Lots of them!

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Mathias Romon has attacked Marie Gosselin. Multijet Torpedo Barrage added to their queue.

The one-legged Gundam is doing its best, but it's an 8-year old machine no matter how you slice it. Sure it's had upgrades and overhauls, but it's just an inefficient vehicle for those modern technologies. Amuro Ray was a fool to think that his sentimentality would be anything other than a burden. And at no time is that more obvious than it is right now. The Newtype 'Ace', who has done nothing remotely ace-like in the past 6 months, just can't keep it together. The Hyper Hammer keeps going wild. The beam rifle's out of charge. The clay bazooka would be useless against an enemy this agile. Amuro curses in frustration as he scrolls through his options, but the reality is that he's in a damaged antique, sinking into the ocean, with no reliable way to get back out of the water. The itch in the back of his mind, telling him to go East, only adds to his irritation; he sent the Nemo teams that way, but he won't be able to join them. Finally he sighs, sitting back in the old comfortable seat, watching Ali Al-Saachez approach. "Alright then," he says softly, running a hand over the old instruments. "I didn't think this would be how I went out." He smiles a little, weakly. "At least Beltorchika will be taken care of... and it's not like I had /that/ bad of a run... is it?" He thinks back, over the past 8 years, over the past 5 months, and shakes his head. "Well... I guess it could have been worse, at least." The Enact roars in, ripping and tearing at the just-rebuilt Gundam, handily dismantling it, undoing all of the months of labour Amuro Ray put into finding and rebuilding the machine. Water was already leaking in through the hole left by Rei's assault, but more and more leaks spring up. The water rises to Amuro's waist, then up to his chest. Red lights spring up all across the board. Klaxons sound. Hayato tries desperately to raise the 'White Devil' on his comm, but the Devil in question is leaning back, eyes closed, looking blindly up towards the stars. The water reaches his shoulders. His chin. And it keeps rising, as the Gundam keeps sinking, deeper and deeper into the ocean. Lalah. I'm coming.

COMBAT: Mathias Romon has missed Marie Gosselin with his Multijet Torpedo Barrage attack. COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has counter attacked for a minor hit on Mathias Romon's DCAM-004S Sealion using 180mm Recoilless Cannon.

The armor of the Godannar dents under the fire from the Rick Dias, prompting the machine to take another half hearted swipe at the machine buzzing around its head. Goh glares at the controls and finally just strikes a switch, shutting off the twin drive system. "We're out of power." The red mech grows still as the plasma suddenly jumps back into the slit before steam begins to pour out of the joints. Goh breaths heavily, looking at the top of the cockpit. "Damnit!" He slams his fist into the side of the cockpit, looking down to Anna. "You did the right thing, Goh-chin." "I hope so. I really hope so." He looks toward the Rick Dias, hoping it takes the hint and leaves like it said it would before. "Dannar Base, This is Goh. We're going to retreat from battle and head back to base via the transport." The boat begins to back out of the battle, the large imposing force of Godannar still staring at the Rick Dias.

THEN: "Let me out of here! I've got to get to the fight!" Somewhere, deep in the bowls of the Tuatha de Danaan, Camille Bidan is in the brig. It's a long story. The point is, this time, he's not breaking out. He's been chained to the wall; there's not any trickery or judo that can bust him out of THIS. And his guards are impassive to his pleas. Whatever he's done, it's bad, if the crew refuses to let him out even in these desperate situations -- They'd rather go down than be saved by the likes of someone like *Camille*. "YOU IDIOTS! LET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" NOW: A sign of hope: A flash of blue and white. The RX-78-2 Gundam sinks into the water, destroyed under the dual fire from Saachez's Enact and the Evangelion. As it falls, a swift shadow passes over, flooding Amuro's cockpit with black for a moment: The Zeta Gundam enters the fray, coming up from the bottom of the sea -- it must have deployed from the TDD-1 and plunged straight down, and then up! "/Amuro!/ You can't give up now! Amuro Ray.... Amuro Ray would /never/ give up! If you've forgotten... if you've forgotten that... then I'll remind you! Just hang on! This is Camille! Camille Bidan! Reporting for duty!" THEN: "LET ME OUT! You have to! You have to..." Camille slumps uselessly against his chains. The guards are impassive, uncaring. Ignorant. Camille's tone darkens. "... please... please, you have to let me fight. I've got to protect her. I've got to protect the Captain. I've got to save the ship." The two guards stop, and look at each other. Well, it's a start."

The Lady Athha gets caught off guard by Lavi's power drive; her Gelgoog is slammed into the water by its fierce drag-and-drop maneuver, and it lands hard, skidding along the surface. The right arm is the first thing to go, followed by the head, due to how it lands; the top part of the torso crinkles like a can, and the Princess finds herself in a functionally useless unit. The leg verniers are still going, but that's about it -- all she can do is sit here and tread water now. Instantly, she starts weaving awkwardly away from the battle, further east -- she can't fight, but she sure as hell doesn't want to die.

Alia has enough presence of mind to dive beneath the Godannar's fist, getting one hell of a view as a massive shadow passes through her cockpit's panoramic camera. "...What the? Running away? No way, I didn't hit him that hard..." She makes absolutely no effort to fire on the retreating super robot, surprised by what just happened. But as he goes, Alia is now free to check out the rest of the battle. Amuro's down; she immediately decides she doesn't care. Instead, she veers toward Cagalli's Gelgoog J, lowering the Dodai to be on vertical level just above the water. Bazooka stowed, Alia's Rick Dias starts to offer its remaining hand to the princess' machine. That would be an incredibly touching sentiment, if not for Alia making a spectacular effort at burning bridges, transmitting straight to Cagalli's cockpit in a mocking, petulant voice: "Someone pull Ms. Athha back before she gets killed!" Then back to a normal, but angry tone, "Get on."

Marie has a sense of steadily increasing doom, even as the Mediator suddenly kicks off the TDD, letting the torpedoes streak past as it rises upwards with almost dreamlike slowness. Its cannon fires again as Marie thinks, uselessly, of how slow everything seems to move down here... It's almost pretty, she thinks, even as one display panel flickers. Maybe that's what this jackass was talking about. "You're going to run out of torpedoes soon," she predicts, even as the shotgun gets brought up again, sending another rain of penetrator pellets down towards the benthos. The Mediator's head camera turns slightly, seeing something white falling towards the sea bed - but what? There's a guy with torpedoes right there, she can worry about that later.

COMBAT: Marie Gosselin has attacked Mathias Romon. Bushnell Heavy Shotgun added to their queue.

The Danaan keeps moving. It has no choice, even as superconducting armor peels away amid endless explosions. Men are dying. Tessa can't hear them, can't feel them like the Newtypes can, but her heart aches just the same with the knowledge. Men under her charge are dying. But she doesn't change the order. They are coming up. The Tartar sinks. There's a hole in the net. The Danaan charges through, onward. There's nowhere to go but forward. That's how it always is.

Ryusei pounds into the Wude, bouncing off and skidding across the surface of the water on boosters. The R-1 is still in nominal condition, and nothing can possibly go-what? Ryusei suddenly looks up, a weird look on his face. Could it be... The Psychodriver Pwing? "Ugh, I shouldn't haven eaten that Hot Dog MRE." Nope. Ryusei grunts, and pulls on the controls, preparing to head around to attack again... When he spots something out of the corner of his eye. The R-1 spins, throwing up a wash of water... And sends Akira's strike wide! "What the hell?" Ryusei yells, reaching up for Akira and trying to grab onto him or knock him off or SOMETHING. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOT?!"

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Akira Tadokoro. Ryusei Swat! added to their queue.

Like a lion pouncing its prey, Ali's Enact pulls itself out of Amuro's dying Gundam to launch back out of the water and into the air. Hovering on a steady stream of solar powered thrust, the pilot laughs at the single and bubbling visage of the Gundam as it fades beneath the waves. "You shouldn't have come to the battlefield in an such a stupid relic," he declares in a socipathic attempt at justifying his murder of one of the world's favorite people. Scanning the IFF signatures on the Enact's HUD, Ali laughs. There's nothing left for him to achieve in this battle. With a swivel, the Enact transforms and starts launching towards the stars.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a glancing hit on Akira Tadokoro's On Foot using Ryusei Swat!. COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has struck a solid hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Wude 3 using Salvo.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has counter attacked for a solid hit on Kazuki Takemura's Shunyo Mk111 using Mingda 2 Machine Gun.

Ali Al-Saachez activates his Enact Agrissa Plane Mode unit.

The Princess of Orb hastily fires her jets, starting to take Alia's Rick Dias's hand -- but jerks it back as she hears the sass-mouth from Alia. Instead, she just fires the Gelgoog's verniers with the last little bit of power she has, getting up on the Dodai on her own. They're going to have to have a talk about this once it is sure that they are not all going to die. Lan Xiao Hua continues to fire as Kazuki pulls away, hosing the area down with bullets as he starts to pull back. And then she sees it. It is an opening to the east. She knows for a fact that the Wude is faster than the Shunyo; the Shunyo is not designed for hoverlegs, while the entire Wude is built around them and has the speed for it. Lan's Wude crouches slightly and accelerates, leaving sea spray in its wake, as it takes a zigzagging, erratic course east. It does not even fire backwards - it doesn't have to, it will get out of range soon. She hopes.

As the Tuatha de Danaan pushes forward through the hole, the Zeta Gundam accelerates through the water. One mechanical arm wraps around the shoulder of its predecessor, snaring the Gundam from certain death. "Amuro! I've got you! Come on! I'm going to show you... I'm going to show everybody..." "We can't give up! We can't ever give up!" The Zeta Gundam pushes forward; it's not quite weightlessness, but the Gundam is easier to haul around under the water than it would be above ground. Two generations of Gundam are propelled through the water before the Zeta Gundam takes its position: Directly in front of the TDD-1 as it pushes through the net, already opening fire on Amuro's fleeing target.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has attacked Ali Al-Saachez. Heavy Beam Rifle added to their queue.

Strangely enough, the cockpit hatch of the Gundam is already open. No one seems to be inside. Clearly, the White Devil has been kidnapped by mermaids.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE WATER: There is nowhere for the Danaan to go but forward -- and nowhere for Evangelion Unit-00 to go but /up/. Rei is starting to feel the burn of the power supply flagging -- but considering that the other option is sinking, even a little retard like her knows she can't just give up. She knows that she has to make this count -- that it's all riding on her. That's not to say Rei feels dramatic about it; she's not thinking about the glory or the guts or any of that, just about the Mission and what's needed of her. The TDD-1 must be crippled -- if this kills her, it kills her. Those occupying the sub might feel a bump. That is because Unit-00 has swam up beneath it -- and activated its Absolute Terror field. With no earth beneath it to push off of or gain leverage from, Rei is stuck in a battle of wills -- mind versus matter. Her nose starts to bleed and her stomach muscles convulse to the point of feeling like they're trying to leap out of her flesh -- but she doesn't stop pushing -- she can't. Everything else becomes irrelevant as the corners of Rei's vision become blurry. There is only the Mission. And the Mission is to /push/.

Akira, as suddenly one-sided as his fight seems to be, isn't in nearly as bad shape as some of his allies. Eek's already gone, and in the confusion, he couldn't back her up. Cagalli just skipped like a stone across the ocean. Amuro... who knows where he'll end up, beneath those waves? It's all looking fairly one-sided right now... but Akira's not one to give up. Unable to do more than a normal fist might against the joint by barely scraping it when the R-1 spins, Akira scowls and looks up at Ryusei. He's about to shout up a reply when he gets hit by the hand, pressed back against it's palm by the force of the hit. "Ow," he wheezes, holding onto the hand with one arm and working to worm his way out of it with the other. "/I'm/ tryin' to save my friends lives!" While he's at it, Akira kicks at the thumb. It may or may not be a futile gesture, but for some reason, he alternates between crazy strong and normal strong. It may just be the edge he needs to get onto it's arm, which is a place Ryusei probably doesn't want him to go.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Ryusei Date. Low Kick added to their queue.

Alia makes an indigniant 'Hmph' as Cagalli boards the Dodai, then Alia has the flight-board begin to gain altitude and resume the general eastward course. Damaged as it is from the battle with Goh's Godannar, it's still in one piece, and has plenty of room for two mobile suits. "I heard a voice earlier..." Now Alia's sounding less like a jerk, and more confused. "Something about an island this way. I don't know what that's about, but I'll get you there. Do you have any idea where I'm supposed to drop you off? I don't."

Kai expected piloting with the Water Jet to be similar to operating in space, but momentum is different down here, there's more drag, resistances he hadn't factored in. He tries to stop himself again, but his engines are slow in turning him to get out of the way of the energy blast his sensors predict coming, due to the gathering energy. The blast smashes into the Guncannon Detector. A few moments later, it emerges spiraling from the side, armor damaged, various parts of the Water Jet System broken away, but still in one piece. Kai Shiden lets out a little laugh - thank God they were underwater, even a Super Robot's beam is diffused down here without the proper equipment! Kai has to put Amuro out of his mind for the moment - it's still a fight, and he's separated from trying to help by this enormous machine. He grits his teeth as he directs himself back to the deck of the retreating Tuatha De Danaan, barely landing on it, backpack struts extending just as it makes its final charge out of the circle. "Amuro, you idiot, don't die out here in some random attack..." A swelling headache begins to bloom at the back of Kai's head, and he snarls through it, lifting up his beam rifle even as the shoulder cannons and the sub beam gun all align. "Goddamn Giganscudo... GO DOWN!" All the beam weapons fire, centered on that point from before. With the backpack struts engaged, it may even serve to give the TDD a little push in the /right/ direction.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Tasuku Shinguji. Focused Beam Shot added to their queue.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a minor hit on Ryusei Date's R-1 using Low Kick. COMBAT: Ryusei Date has counter attacked for a minor hit on Akira Tadokoro's On Foot using Jab Punch.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a minor hit on Tasuku Shinguji's Giganscudo using Focused Beam Shot.

Rei comes out of the water. Tessa sees it coming but it's so fast that she doesn't even know what to do before the Danaan is being shoved upward rapidly, and the battered EMFC can't keep up, and Tessa has no idea what orders to give or how to give them. It is in these situations that the Resonance comes to the fore.

More bullets rip into the badly damaged Shunyo until it manages to put a decent amount of distance between them - but then the Wude has turned its back and is tearing off. Kazuki maintains a missile lock and watches cautiously for any signs of it being a ploy.. but it seems it isn't, and so he grunts and turns his wanzer toward the downed ship, speeding toward it to give what aid he can.

COMBAT: Ali Al-Saachez has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has missed Ali Al-Saachez with his Heavy Beam Rifle attack.

Lavi's blood boils and his rage burns brightly. But for all that it burns hot, it burns fast, leaving the young man spent and exhausted. As his Tengu falls into a flight path back towards Over The Rainbow, he lets in and out a few ragged, hard breaths and scans the remains of the carnage below. It's not a pretty sight. The remains of Mobile Suits sinks fast, but bodies don't. Oil slicks dot the water here and there, and sometimes bits of mobile suits don't sink. Lavi frowns, bringing his machine onto the supercarrier's flight deck. He's low on fuel. The EFA's fleet has fallen back to regroup. They aren't persuing the Tuatha da Danaan in favor of recovering those that made it off of the Tartar. There's a few firefights going on between mobile suits here and there, but things are slowly ending. The fleet isn't persuing the da Danaan... but it isn't entirely out of altruisim for their comrades. The da Danaan can't get far as it is. They're already fairly certain where it is going to end up. Now, it's only a question if they can reinforce themselves more heavily then the Orb Union can reinforce the da Danaan while they make repairs. And if there's one thing the EFA has, it is numbers.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has activated a spirit command.

Ryusei grimaces as Akira kicks his hand and snaps the thumb on the hand. It sparks for a moment from blown servos, and Ryusei yells, "Damn it, it's too late for that! If they surrender, no one will have to die! Do you think I want to be here? No! Now... Hold still!" Ryusei punches out quickly at Akira... and then grabs for him in an attempt to keep him solidly held for a moment.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Akira Tadokoro. Grab The Pebble From The Hand added to their queue. COMBAT: Camille Bidan has activated a spirit command.

Beam Rifle shots whistle past the Enact. One of them fizzles against the wake of its engines, jarring the cockpit of the Mobile Suit. Al-Saachez's jaw hardens. "I don't like these odds," he declares to himself, yanking hard on the control sticks of the Enact to bring it into a straight inverted climb. He drops the thrust lever to the floor, the Enact hitting its top velocity to clear out of the threat area. Once clear, Ali opens a secure communications channel to his mysterious benefactor. "I don't know why you care, but as you requested -- Amuro Ray's been defeated," he says. "If he managed to survive, his confidence will be even more shaken. He will never become the man he used to be."

The Zeta Gundam fires endlessly, cutting down anything that gets into the TDD-1's path -- until Camille's mind is hit, twice at once. "Captain... That's the Captain's voice! ... Roger! But... who is that..." Camille flinches. "Eagh-- so much desolation. Suffering like this... it can't be a pilot! No way..." With the EFA fleet drawing back, the Zeta Gundam breaks off: A quick pitch sends the Gundam floating slowly into the bay of the TDD-1, before the Zeta zips around to the underside of the TDD-1... "What the--... that thing... that thing's alive!" he shouts, staring at the EVA. "You idiot! You're going to die! It's not worth it! There's got to be /something/ you can live for!" he shouts, over the radio -- not even sure WHY he's saying these things, or on what level he empathizes with the EVA's pilot. "Break away! Break away, or I'll have to drive you away!" he shouts, propelling two grenades through the water at the EVA. "That field... what is that field... what is that /thing/?!"

Save them, Marie thinks, suddenly as the Sealion goes away towards - She descends back down, towards the Tuatha De Danann. If God's telling her to go there, then she should listen, even if God sounds awfully anxious, which is really out of character for Him - She stops thinking about God when she sees the familiar spindly, glossy-outlined shape of the Evangelion. She can't really see the difference between units; her mouth goes dry and she answers Camille inadvertently with a horrified, weak moan. She doesn't shoot at it.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has attacked Rei Ayanami. Dual Grenade Launchers added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a solid hit on Akira Tadokoro's On Foot using Grab The Pebble From The Hand. COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has counter attacked for a minor hit on Ryusei Date's R-1 using Holy Ghost.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has struck a major critical hit on Rei Ayanami's Evangelion Unit-00 using Dual Grenade Launchers.

Unit-00, as is its long-held tradition, does not respond to radio communication in the heat of battle; certainly not from enemy combatants, anyway. But really, Rei can't come to the phone right now -- she can all but feel her synapses blowing out as she pushes herself to the breaking point and beyond. Keep going -- keep moving upward -- keep pushing -- destroy the Danaan -- do it for the EFA -- do it for NERV -- do it for Gendo. Who knows why Rei's mind went /there/ -- but it might have something to do with that sassy young Newtype hollering at her. In any case, the AT field keeps moving upward, and the Eva -- despite being a bit of a ragged wreck at this point, still taking on water and trading it for precious LCL -- stretches its gangly abomination of a shape out, skinny arms reaching for heaven to try and push the Danaan clear out of the water and into open air. Which, of course, leaves it /wide open/. The Zera's grenade salvo strikes home, detonating against Unit-00's chest and stomach, exploding violently in the water and still tearing violent, gaping holes in the beastly cyborg's form -- armor shreds floating free in a giant cloud of bubbles. Inside, Rei thrashes, the field outside flickering and beginning to fail -- which of course threatens to unbalance the Danaan even further. The young Eva pilot's body rebels against her violently, pushed far beyond the sane limits even for Evangelion usage, her brain all but melting down her spinal column from the stress and pain being channeled directly into her cortex.

Tessa's choices are limited. Even as she struggles not to fall apart screaming incoherently at the totally unexpected action, she knows she can't act - she has /nothing,/ nothing she can do at all, because the Danaan can't move under its own power anymore and if she drops depth charges they'll just scrape armor off the /bottom/, and, and, and, and-- Her mind opens wide, lashing out at anyone with even a scrap of psychic potential, digging for someone to save her.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has activated a spirit command.

"We're not gonna surrender to /you/--oof!" Akira is struck with a giant fist, a battered but not down. He's awfully resilient for some random guy. He can't prevent something that big from grabbing him, but he can slow it down. An angelic, golden-haired woman appears out of thin air, almost as big as the R-1, wearing white and wielding a massive silver cross... which she promptly hits the R-1 on the head with, a disapproving frown on her lips. It's short-lived though; she's gone as quickly as she came, and Akira is... glowing? A red, angry outline appears around him, and four red clones of Akira pull their way free of his body and stand on the arm of the R-1. They look up at the head as they and he change colors to a bright, vivid blue... and then explode into pillars of flame, threatening to melt the armor right off of the machine. "Get outta here if you don't wanna be here, then!"

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Ryusei Date. Flame Image added to their queue. COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a solid critical hit on Ryusei Date's R-1 using Flame Image.

Camille clutches his eyes shut. "So much pain... nobody should feel so much pain! Nobody should have to suffer like this! /I won't let it be!/" The battle burns on, and with Captain Testarossa's mind burning in synch with his, his reaction only grows more and more powerful. "I WON'T ALLOW A WORLD THAT HAS THIS MUCH SUFFERING IN IT!" Somewhere in the guts of the Zeta Gundam, the Bio-Sensor 'clicks'. The Zeta flashes a brilliant, burning purple, an impossible and inexplicable reaction with the psychic power of its pilot. The Zeta Gundam accelerates like a comet for the EVA-- --and something impossible happens. The Zeta Gundam punches /through/ the already flickering AT Field, swooping in to push the Eva off the sub without sinking it -- pulling it off and holding it steady. "Do you hear me!?" Camille shouts, his Gundam a comet of psychic energy. "I don't *CARE* how ugly this world is! I'm going to change it, even if I have to do it one person at a time!" The Zeta Gundam attempts to snatch the Eva away, and pull it right out from under the TDD-1 -- leaving the sub to drop to the sea. Hopefully, that doesn't sink it.

Lan Xiao Hua continues to accelerate to the east... ...where the Tuatha de Danaan is. She can see the Evangelion by now, and pick it up on sensors, but she is not entirely sure what she can do about it. If she had her Tieqi, she'd have an idea. But instead she just pulls up nearby, holding the machine gun and very deliberately taking aim at the Evangelion, pointing downward through the water. She can't dive herself, not with the hoverlegs on. She has to wait for it to breach the surface, even a little, or get a little closer... She fires anyway, a fast burst, more deterrance than anything else. If it gets distracted and moves its force shield somewhere else... it doesn't look like it curves all the way around the machine, either by eye or by sensor.

Alia jolts in her seat suddenly. "Again!? I heard a voice..." She starts looking around for the source of it, and finally realizes a few things. First, the TDD is rising. Not airborne yet, but that's still Bad. Second, the sub is apparently the source of this. "Alright... Cagalli, if you want off, now's the time. Otherwise you're along for the ride." And then the Dodai loops around to head off toward the TDD's radar signal. She has the same idea Camille has, just with a different target. Rather than going for the Eva, Alia's aiming to submerge and head after the sub, trying to apply thrust and brace the machine's right arm against the TDD to give it even a little forward momentum. This may not go quite like how Alia is hoping, but she's giving it a try.

"That," Marie says aloud as she sees the shimmering blue-shifted fields of light that seem to radiate out from both the terrifying devil-machine and the Zeta Gundam, "That's impossible. It's not -" She trails off into silence, hearing that impossible cry out. Why is she being begged?! The Mediator steers (sinks) towards the TDD, perhaps for a lack of any clearer way to obey the apparent desparate mandate from /the Lord and Savior/. Unfortunately, the Giganscudo does not go down, despite how hard Kai Shiden wanted it to happen. The focused energy beam powers through the Ultimate Shield, plowing through it's frontal armor and making a neat hole into it's hull. Warnings and situation reports blares, Shinguji gritting his teeth. That Giga Blaster hit him, yes...but it didn't do hardly any damage at all! But at least the firing systems remained unarmed.

However, now, Tasuku has another objective and it's going to be really tricky. The Giganscudo lifts it's enormous arms up before floating away the fastest it can toward the alive mech abomination that is on his side -- the EVA Unit-00. "REI!" He shouts on the radio, "We're pulling out!" No answers. In fact, the thing, trying to lift the whole submarine, get viciously ripped apart by the Zeta Gundam's grenades. Gritting his teeth, the mechanic has to make a decision. The Giganscudo is about the slowest, fattest mech in existance in the EFA forces, but the pilot that uses this mech sometimes manages to pool everything he has into that, pushing the Great Shield to untold speeds. Of course, that's like saying a bicycle is faster than a tricycle, but, hey, you get my point, jerks. Some amazing things happens on his way there. An EVA lifts up a sub. The Zeta Gundam blow through it's AT field...and manage to pull it away. He's going slow, with that Guncannon still on his trail -- trail that he fires off his Sheath Boosters over at him -- as he closes up. "ZETA GUNDAM!" Tasuku shouts on the radio, "Get out of the way! I'm taking her!"

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has attacked Kai Shiden. Double Sheath Booster added to their queue.

Ryusei gets bopped by some random holy woman, which causes him to blink... And then suddenly his arm is on fire. Armor vaporizes and melts right off as Akira begins pyrokinesing it away, and the mecha begins blaring alerts. Ryusei shakes his head. "You know what? I'm not going to argue this with you!"

He turns, and points dramatically in the direction of the TDD. "JUST /LEAVE/!" He winds up, folding his hands together in a baseball pitch stance... And then Ryusei screams, "ULTIMATE BURNING METEOR RUSHING LAUNCHER THROW!" Burning blue TK energy surrounds his hands, and he pitches Akira straight for the TDD, encased in a shell of protective TK force! Sort of protective, anyway... Hope he has a retrieval unit!

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Ryusei Date has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Akira Tadokoro. Ryusei... ULTIMATE BURNING METEOR RUSHING LAUNCHER THROW! added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has missed Kai Shiden with his Double Sheath Booster attack.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a apocalyptic hit on Akira Tadokoro's On Foot using Ryusei... ULTIMATE BURNING METEOR RUSHING LAUNCHER THROW!. COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has counter attacked for a minor hit on Ryusei Date's R-1 using Holy Ghost.

It's only right and natural that the girl goes limp in the arms of the action hero coming crashing through -- that's how these things work. Except right now it's not a girl, it's an Evangelion; the action hero is the Zeta Gundam, and he just /broke an AT field/. If Rei's brain was on the verge of collapse before, the psychic feedback from that impossible act was akin to strapping her brain to a rocket and wishing it luck in its new life on Mars. Rei is a quaking mess inside her plug -- unable to control her Evangelion, unable to control herself, barely able to twitch her face in a wide-eyed expression of vacant stupor, which is all she's really doing about now. Unit-00, meanwhile, with no input from its pilot, does nothing. Its long, thin form, rent and ravaged from various attacks throughout the scuffle, is limp in the Zeta Gundam's arms, wounds still bleeding, a couple chunks of armor hanging on by threads.

"Why?!" shouts Camille, over the radio. The Zeta Gundam keeps on a straight path, curving around in an attempt to rendevous with the TDD-1. "So you can send her and the other one back out to fight?! So you can put more people in these monsters!?"

Akira is summarily encased in a psychic baseball and hurled at the TDD. The angel woman shows up again, and swings her cross, aiming to strike Ryusei with the long end--but ends up hitting the protective shell around Akira instead. He bounces back and smashes into the R-1, then flies off and skips across the water to the TDD, glancing off of Unit-00's leg on the way there, and floating in the ocean for a moment. And then the bubble disappears, dumping Akira in the ocean. He's way too far away to effectively fight Ryusei anymore... so he shakes his fist defiantly and tries to figure out what the heck to do from here.

The Giganscudo dives forward, and Kai refuses to let up, staying braced on the beleagured Tuatha De Danaan. His head is pounding, and he stubbornly attributes it to the water pressure around him, and not the various thrashings of the mind taking place all about him. The normally calm and sedate pilot leans forward, eyes wide, teeth bared as the Giganscudo charges him. "Geeeeet BAAAACK!" he roars, not even on the radio, and the focused blast diverts the charging Giganscudo up and away, saving himself and the submarine from a horribly fat death. The nozzles on his shoulder beam cannons finally give way at the last moment, splintering out into the water. The orange beams suddenly fade to yellow, and then green, fanning out uselessly in the water until Kai finally unwraps his hand from the trigger, fingers cracking. He hasn't been in this headspace for years - not since the desperate battles of the One Year War. Kai knows that the Giganscudo will likely retreat if he gets the EVA, but he's not thinking clearly now. Kai whirls about to follow the Super Robot as it passes over him, the Guncannon Detector raising its beam rifle even as Kai is reaching up, pulling down the large sniping setup. "I still got this...!" With entirely unlikely speed, Kai lines up his shot, putting a cluster of beam rifle bolts into the ever-widening hole.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Tasuku Shinguji. The Original Gundam Snipe added to their queue.

The Evangelion is battered enough to back off, but as impossible as the de Danaan is, it cannot ignore the will of the great granddaddy of cosmic curses upon humanity, Sir Isaac Newton. Its still shooting upwards, even as Tessa cries, "GET US UNDER CONTROL! FULL SPEED AHEAD!" "But..." someone stammers, helplessly, totally overwhelmed and unable to even think beyond basic realizations. "Captain, the /island/ is straight ahead!" Tessa grits her teeth. "THAT'S RIGHT! ALL HANDS! BRACE FOR IMPACT!!" There is a scream of metal and a thunder of sand, as the mighty Tuatha de Danaan - the multi-billion-dollar assault submarine of the Orb Union, the flagship of Mithril's West Pacific Fleet, and the backbone of Orb's pacific operations - drives right up onto the beach of the island at around thirty miles an hour, throwing trees aside as it beaches itself. Tessa slumps in her chair, spent. "I want," she says, exhausted, "a damage report."

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a minor critical hit on Tasuku Shinguji's Giganscudo using The Original Gundam Snipe.

"It is tragic that all that is left in this scarred world is violence," Alejandro Corner speaks softly as he presses the rim of his glass to his lips, watching war calmly from the safety of his penthouse as one might watch a movie. "People continue to fight and kill each other because it's simply our nature. We were built to kill, because that is how we live on and survive."

"Don't you believe in the ideals of Orb Union?" Ribbons asks curiously of the red-suited man, tilting his head in a slight angle. Alejandro merely smirks dryly, and takes a long sip of his drink.

"The eradication of war is the pursuit of fools, Ribbons. But then..."

Alejandro shakes his head. Setting his drink to the side, he watches as the fights begin to die down. Ribbons observes from just behind his employer, purple eyes focusing on the red Enact blazing off -- only to be intercepted by the distinctive form of the Zeta Gundam. The young man smiles, but says nothing.

"... Regardless, for the sake of this world, I hope that the Danaan survives," remarks Corner as he sighs. Slowly, the brown-haired man lifts to his feet. Wordlessly, he turns to leave the penthouse's main room, even Ribbons looks on in a thoughtful stare. As Corner disappears into the other room, Ribbons' gaze drifts back towards the warzone unfolded neatly before him.

"I wonder if that's really what you hope?" Almark speaks to himself; distantly, a communications device beeps incessantly as Ribbons continues to watch the screen, a serene smile spreading across his lips.

Alia veers off when her Rick Dias' cockpit begins making collision warnings, in sync with the TDD striking land. She has enough water in which to do this, turning away and rising back out of the sea, and looks down at the beached sub. "...Wow." That's a pretty good summary. After a few seconds of admiring what just happened, her Dodai slows down and lands nearby. Then she looks to Cagalli's Gelgoog and comments, "We're here. I'm going to have them orbital drop my Schutzwald in as soon as the rest of the fighting clears."

Lan Xiao Hua looks at the immobile 00 through the water. She fires another shot at it just for good measure. It fails to react. She ignores it after that and accelerates toward the island, the hoverskirt of the Wude going over sand and rock as easily as it went over the water before. The cloud of dust dies down as the Wude's systems quiet, then stop, the machine perching on the ground near the beached Tuatha de Danaan. It looks a lot less impressive this way, Lan thinks, as she unbuckles her piloting suit and climbs out, her heavy boots hitting the ground with a thud.

"You think I like what they're doing to them!?" comes Tasuku's spirited reply as the Giganscudo closes in, pointing an enormous finger at the Zeta Gundam, chasing after it. It's not much, but at least it's better than doing nothing. "I hate it just as much as you do! But I've got to get her back!" BANG. That, that was the noise of Telsa Drives reciving a pretty nasty hit from behind, from the wrongly ignored Kai Shiden's Guncannon. "What!?" He cries out as alarms blares and...well, the Giganscudo's only moving foward thanks to momentum, and that's not meaning much in water. "Grrrngg... Zeta Gundam! YOU TAKE CARE OF HER!" He litteraly can't catch up, now. However, with some clever use of his secondary thrusters, he can -- and does -- fires the Giganscudo upward and straight for the Guncannon Detector, to slam it's enormous arms against it and...grab it, to then toss him away. "AND YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!"

COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has attacked Kai Shiden. Giga Uragano added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has activated a spirit command. COMBAT: Tasuku Shinguji has struck a devastating critical hit on Kai Shiden's Guncannon Detector using Giga Uragano. COMBAT: Kai Shiden's evasion attempt has failed.

The Zeta Gundam lands on the crashed TDD-1's deployment bay -- with the Eva-00 in grasp. It's bigger and heavier, so both sort of crash to the deck. Thud, thud. Worse: Both mechs are functional. Which is why the Zeta aims its beam rifle on the EVA-00 as soon as its pilot gets his wits about him.

 Camille Bidan transmits, "Uh... all hands! The enemy mech is still functional! I think..."

 Marie Gosselin transmits, "Heading... over. Camille, I'm out of ammo and - I - uh - I believe in you, yeah."

 Camille Bidan transmits, "What... what is this thing? It looks it's got a face. A real face!"

Alia was about to try to find a place to park her Rick Dias, then Camille started spouting several warnings, cutting off other various discussion as she starts bringing the Dodai into the air again. She's not immediately sure what to do, but she's definitely looking around for what's going on.

 Tieria Erde transmits, "If the enemy continues pursuit, we will neutralize the threat."

People scanning the TDD may do a brief double-take as Kai Shiden leaves his artillery position on the back of the Tuatha De Danaan, to sail ahead of it far faster than he should be capable of, in fact beating it to the beach. The Guncannon Detector impacts hard into the trees, sending delicious ripe coconuts that make Tessa jealous /everywhere./ It digs a wide furrow in the ground. There is a brief moment of tension as the sub surges up onto the beach, charging forward toward Kai Shiden and his downed mobile suit. Dramatically, it halts just a few inches away. Slowly, the machine picks itself back up, banged, damaged, the rest of the Water Jet shattered away. He won't be able to get another one of those from Karaba for a while. The lights in the GCD are dead, only the red emergency lights illuminating the cockpit. He tugs his helmet off, the visor cracked, and sits there, slumped forward, breathing hard with sweat dripping from his head. His hand slaps at the console until it finds the radio. <"...Amuro... who recovered Amuro?">

Akira has, by this point, nearly reached the island that the TDD is stuck on. He also has this burning anger that they're making a live-action Gekiganger and he /can't figure out why/.

Unit-00 remains rather useless; its pilot has recovered from the veritable shiv to the brain only to find herself unable to patch the wound as her consciousness bleeds out. The Evangelion, a terrifying gaunt shape rendered even uglier by its current tally of vicious damage, from beam saber slashes to an exploded stomach cavity, is keen to just lay there. As Rei Ayanami finally goes completely unconscious, the plug's failsafes are triggered, and it anti-climatically pops out of the monster's back, landing in the sand below for Orbulon soldiers to surround. Unit-00's fight ends not with a bang.