2011-03-13 - The Nuclear Potato

Ever since the death of Bian Zoldark and the seizing of Aidoneus Island by the Federation, technicians and engineers have worked tirelessly to restore the war-shattered former DC headquarters into something resembling working order.

By now, many of the autoturrets blanketing the island and the surrounding seas are in working order again, and sensor towers and stations all over the region have been repaired to working order. Aidoneus isn't quite the impregnable fortress it once was, but it is, slowly but surely, getting there.

But the Federation only has so many resources to go around. The budget has only become more and more stretched since the start of the Divine Wars, now years ago, as humanity's wars against both aliens and itself have destroyed more and more of its standing armies and the livelihoods of its peoples.

Aidoneus is still considered of major importance, of course. It's not that corners are being cut. It's simply that different parts of the defense network have been prioritized over others. And with a little subterfuge and sabotage, what token defenses have been propped up in those areas are easily taken out of the equation.

Which is why, at precisely 4:07 NGMT (Neo-GMT), the USS Las Vegas - a destroyer from the US Navy, part of the Federation naval fleet on permanent station around Aidoneus - lifts suddenly out of the water as a tremendous blade punches up out of the sea through its midsection. The ship's hull groans loudly for a moment, and then it snaps in two, the two halves plunging into the sea, throwing up enormous columns of froth.

As the remains of the Las Vegas sink below the waves, an enormous (and, ironically) red, white, and blue figure rises out of the water, aforementioned blade clutched in its hands. The good news is that this exposes it to autoturret fire.

The /bad/ news is that it has surfaced entirely behind the first and thickest line of Aidoneus's defenses, located in the water just off the coast of the island and on surrounding satellite islands. Instead, it's smack dab in the middle of the second line of defense, amidst the fleet on station and the defenses on and just off of shore.

The worse news is that it, of course, is not alone. Other ships in the fleet begin exploding as Killer Whales begin rising to the surface of the ocean, MS streaming out of their opening hatches. As the world erupts into flames and chaos, the machine at the center of it all lifts its enormous blade above its head, and the pilot lets out a cry of challenge, a challenge that echoes across all open frequencies as far as it can be carried amidst the spreading Minovsky ECM.

"I am Wodan! Wodan Ymir! The Sword of Magus!"

Wodan is not alone.

The dark frame of the SMSC Angelg rises from the deep like a rather oversized Aphrodite several seconds after Wodan makes his announcement, about the same time the Killer Whales start to rise. Water cascades down it as it lifts off from the sea, great wings spreading wide and shaking water off it; it makes it look like, momentarily, the black Angelg is haloed in a rainbow.

Echidna sits in the cockpit, unconcerned. This is a technically challenging operation but nothing she needs to worry about. Summoning the Angelg's spiked bow to its hand, Echidna lifts further off into the air, drawing a beam arrow back and letting fly at a turret. (The turret explodes.)

"Engaging," Echidna says, in a near-monotone.

Yesterday

A large table was found in the center of a large room with several people sitting in different chairs, all looking at the monitor. These where the board of directors of Crest, some even seemed like they may have been military personal, to even others who had different logos on their buisnesses suits. One the screen in the dark room was a female japanese woman, who looked..

Mildly annoyed. "Due to your attack on the corporation known as Acemos, that has caused some warm waters to be stirred up. Though we are buisness partners, you understand just what type of trouble you can be causing us as well if the Federation was to find out, don't you? We have a contract with them and because of you this contract may be terminated."

The head of Crest, sitting at the furthest back, had his hands clasps. He was an elder man, but he had sharp eyes. "Don't worry, your contract wont be in danger. We already working on cleaning up the area and helping the people in that sector. At least now we don't have to worry about /anyone/ getting their hands on that AI."

"So even you failed at obtaining it?"

"That would be correct, however perhaps we can place on the market something even better. We will change the world of war, Ma'am. That is what our goal is, and that is what it always has been. We just ask you stay on board with us a bit longer." He then smiled, "..and don't worry, in time, we will all be basking from this. We just have to keep Mirage off our heels, along with Navis, and the Federation themselves will even have a greater military might."

Now

How does the mighty Crest lend itself to the federation in asking for forgiveness? Simple, supply some MTs to help patrol, along with two of their best pilots. One in an AC called Dual-Face and the other in the state of the art NEXT called Strayed.

R however really didn't want to be here, he rather stay low and find another way to say 'sorry'. Like letting a lawyer unruffle feathers, but sadly the Corporation had his leash and there wasn't much of away to tell them no.

It was soon then that all hell broke loose. The NEXT quickly veered his head over, before turning to look to see the explosion in the water, then hear the radio chatter. That visor stared in that direction, before the aqua green, nearly white light streamed across the Visor to look over to the side at the Black AC, <<"Genobee, we got company. Nell, you awake.">>

"I hear you R." The blond female said gently. "I'm looking for target information now across the satellites. Just remember, becareful with that Primal Armor."

<<"Don't worry. You just send the federation that information; Who knows how many we are going to be saying hello too.">> Sure enough however, the NEXT was indeed walking with no Primal armor on. However, depending on where the fight took him, would depend on how long it be till that Primal Armor popped on to give him the extra defense. <<"..old skills.. don't fail me now..">> He mutters to himself.

There's another large form unde the water foloing along the hulking other machine. James is here in a machine he had a large hand in bringing back from the grave. Well not quite but still the de3sign lived once more, A Valison Kai marches across the sea floor along side Wodan's machine it's pilot for once mostly silent. James is checking the data, all things re good. Wodan is the first one out of the pool and may be drawing a lot of attention but he knows Wodan can handle it. But it's not like he's going to let his comrade be left snaping in the wind, a moment after the hulking machine of Wodan bursts out from under the waves. A machine whose not been seen in this place since Bian fell defending it.

A Valsion has returned to the island, it's divine blade is clutched in one hand, and it raises one arm sending a cross smasher into another warship. It is not like red like the original one but blue, still there are markings on it's shoulder, that bear the personal markings of James Heller.

"Unit two deploy."

 James Heller transmits, "Come to your end Federation!"

It just so happens that Aidoneus Island is one of those spots which the Gutsy Galaxy Guard has been paying special attention to - particularly since Meteor-3 turned out to be an alien superweapon waiting for its activation signal. (Of course, if they'd known that before the Balmarian invasion some months ago, they might have done something about it before then ... but the Guard's had its hands full before and since.)

But when a ship suddenly gets cleaved into an explosion and a submarine Divine Crusader assault force starts breaking the ocean's surface ... on the wrong side of the primary defense line.

It's not like GaoGaiGar deploys from underwater, though - the Amaterasu dives through the atmosphere, GaiGar and the GaoMachines emerge, and after seven shouted words being transmitted from Orbit Base, Guy chimes in with his two:

"FINAL FUSION!!!!"

And cue the stock-footage transformation sequence. Spherical green tornado surrounds GaiGar, GaoMachines dive in, reconfigure and combine ...

"GAO!!! GAI!!! GAAAAAAAAARRR!!!!!"

And the electromagnetic tornado is dispersed to reveal the King of Braves, ready to punch the Crusaders into next week's episode. Or get punched. Or both, but primarily to do the punching.

 James Heller transmits, "Erika we clear a path for the regular forces."

 Echidna Iisaki transmits, "I will be supporting W15."

"What the hell?! That thing just took out the Las Vegas!" shouts the Captain of the USS Dakota, "Scramble all units! Guns! I want that target down NOW! contact the rest of the fleet! we need to coordinate a def--" "SIR! high energy reading from below the surface! It's aimed at us!" "engines to power! Evasive maneuvers!" "It's too late--!" A moment later, a spiraling beam of red, purple, and white energy punches up through the hull of the Dakota, vaporizing the bridge and gouging a massive hole through the side of the vessel. The striken ship lists heavily as up from the surface of the ocean, a second Valsion Kai rises, it's blade gripped tightly in one hand. "Morning Glory, on site."

 Erika Keese transmits, "Understood."

 James Heller transmits, "Roger that W16."

"I hope they have enough life rafts..." Aoba bites her lip in worry as she sees some of the ships begining to explode and sink. Shhh, don't tell her how these things work. It's best she doesn't know.

After exploding from beneath the waves, Moribito-02 lands back on the surface and begins to skim across the water. Several shots from the defense turrents come its way, but are neatly deflected by the shield. "I really hope this goes well..." Aoba chose to come along primarily because she believes that the goal of the mission was just. This was Dr. Zoldark's base of operations. It -meant- something.

Besides, this was a military base. Aoba is... mostly okay with attacking those by now. She still prefers unmanned targets though, and has no trouble pulling out her Jinki's machinegun and taking several shots at the turrets that just fired at her.

Aidoneous Island 4:07 - Local Neo-GMT

"Hey kid!" a technician shouts over the din of active soldering. "Aren't you a little too young to be here!?"

Ensign K. Kabuto makes a face, "I've got clearance, damnit! Shut up!"

Even on duty, everyone challenges Koji's right to be /anywhere/.

Koji waves a radiation meter over a nearby energy generator, long since dormant. Aside from some minor background clicks, there's nothing. His cheeks puff out with a huffy sigh, there's nothing here. "What a waste of a Sunday," grumbles the young pilot.

"Whatever, kid," the technician pffs. "Why don'cha just act like a good little assistant and take our snack order? The /real/ techs are starvin' over here!"

Ensign Kabuto begins to narrow his eyes. His hackles are rising. Blood pressure rising, anger flourishg. His fingers clench tightly into his palm, beginning to elicit faint pops of his knuckles. Until suddenly..

An explosion off the coast penetrates the cement walls of the Institute. The foundation even lightly trembles, eliciting a faint wobble of the scientific bric-a-brac atop the tables.

Everyone turns.

"What.." Koji's eyes begin to widen. "..was that..?" But deep in his heart, he already knows.

Danger!!

The cry comes loud and clear, across the broadbands and even in person.

"SWEET BROW OF ZEUS!!" Koji yelps, completely unaware of just how dorky that sounds.

The technician snickers. "Hey, kid, that was pretty dorky--"

"Shut up!" Koji promptly flips out, launching himself toward the technician in order to crowd him toward the exit. "We gotta get out of here!! We're-- we're under attack!! No one's safe here! I gotta get to my robot, shit!!"

The New Aggressors squad aren't actually assigned to Aidoneus Island, but business still brought a few of their members out here today. Due to the amount of resources to secure the island, it's become something of an unofficial resupply base, with a lot of military hardware moving in and out as strategic goals are set and reassessed.

That means that today, Raidiese F. Branstein, among others on the newly formed Aggressors, was sent to oversee a delivery of equipment to their carrier. While the carrier remains in its position in orbit, the members of the Aggressor squads were sent down on a shuttle, just to oversee transfer of weapons and parts.

Raidiese was picked in particular, because among the 'weapons and parts' being delivered was his new Gespenst Mk. 4 mech. While others were sent as escorts along with their mechs, Rai had been removed from the R-2 when he was transferred out of the SRX project. Rai didn't like being taken out of the R-2's cockpit, but he was assured that the assignment was only temporary. Following the defeat of the Aerogaters, Aya, Viletta and Ryusei left to do some specialized training. Rai was set to go, until Kai Kitamura requested him in the new Aggressors to help get the team founded. Rai wasn't entirely happy about the situation, but orders were orders, so here he is.

This was supposed to be a simple job of overseeing equipment shipments, but of course things never go that simply, and the base comes under attack. Raidiese doesn't know why, but it doesn't matter. It's pretty clear what needs to happen here. "Power up my Gespsent. I'll meet the rest of you out on the field."

A few mech-lengths behind the heels of the Strayed was the black AC, Dual-Face, it's single crimson optic burning in it's head module. Inside the heart of the machine, Genobee leans back into his seat, eyes shuttered behind their lids. He draws a deep steadying breath, feeling himself mesh with his machine. His hands tighten around the controls and he looses it, eyes opening to reveal that they've become glassy, dull.

<<"I'm Ready.">>

The Dual-Face turns with two steps, staring distantly towards the eruption of war. A second later and it stoops into a bracing squat, it's primary thrusters whining as the jets come to life, sucking in air until they erupt with a sudden roar that causes a blaze of blue flame to come to life. The Dual-Face rushes forward, plumes of dirt and then water erupting into it's wake as it skates across the earth and then into the sudden surge of waves that the sudden appearence of the DC created.

<<"Moving to Intercept.">>

Wodan...Ymir.

Beneath the waves of the sea surrounding Aidoneus Island, a dark shape stirrs. It is a sweeping black and red thing, an engine born of Bian Zoldark's genius, manned by the best the Divine Crusade had to offer, defended by some of their strongest warriors. It coasts through the ground and the sea as easily as the sky or the stars; nothing can bar the passage of those who have their faith in the True Crusade, of those who serve the secret will of Zoldark, and of those whose duty is to mankind first and all else secondary. The machine coasts past defenses it has known for years, sliding through radar and detections without raising a single blip.

The Kurogane explodes from the sea behind the defensive lines. Radio chatter erupts over the wide-range, people demanding to know what's going on, where that machine came from, whose side it's on; panic sets in even more firmly, as not only does the DC breach from the outside, but the inside as well. And aboard that vessel...

"WODAAAAAAN YYYYYYMIIIIIIR!"

The voice of Sanger, Sanger Zonvolt, the Sword That Cleaves Evil, roars out across the wide-band radio. It is filled with fury; the righteous fury that it always carries is undertoned by something more, something more *personal*, something more *driven* than just anger wielded on the side of right. As the bay doors of the Kurogane open and the colossal Grungust Type-3 walks towards the exit, Sanger's eyes focus only on Thrudgelmir. The Grungust Type-3's fingers curl into a fist as the drills begin to turn, fire roaring from the booster rockets; the orange machine blasts from the Kurogane, roaring towards the Thrudgelmir without pause.

This is a fight between swordsmen. It should be a fight that has meaning, where two blades - two souls - clash against one another and bring both parties higher.

But beneath that, it is a battle of two men for the hand of one woman, one of those men ignorant of the true nature of the other, the other filled with incalculable rage, fury, and determination to make that woman love him at any cost. It is a battle fought over one woman.

Should she not be honored? The world will shake on her behalf.

"WODAAAAAAAAAAN YYYYYYYYMIIIIIIIIR!" Sanger roars again; he knows not that he fights for Sophia Nate's heart. He knows only that this man, servant of Vindel Mauser, must be stopped no matter the cost. And he is prepared to fight with everything he has to make certain that is the case.

He only hopes that it will be enough.

Flanking the Moribito is a red Qubeley Mk. II, a dead giveaway that Puru Two is here. "Just gotta do our best, right? You can't worry about things like that in the heat of battle, or you won't perform optimally." Seems like she's always saying things like that to her friend when they're about to head into battle. It's sort of nice, to have traditions like that.

Aidoneus Island. That brings back memories. Fragmented memories, in Puru Two's case. She's pretty sure she was stationed here once upon a time. She's definitely sure that she was here during the final battle of the Divine Wars, when the island was taken and Bian was killed. Aoba was there that time, too. But the details are hazy and full of gaps. It's a disturbing trend that's been happening ever since her mind underwent all that tampering at the hands of Haman Karn.

Visiting this place again is thus a good exercise to try and piece things back together. Aside from the obvious of course: blasting the federations into pieces for what happened that fateful day. She's always up for that.

It's already working. Looking at a section of Aidoneus's landing strip, she recalls, "This is where I defeated the Psyco Gundam for the first time..." Something which she was elated about at the time, but now feels somewhat different. She shakes her head. Should take her own advice, and focus only on the battle.

Funnels fly ahead of the red mobile suit, the remote weapons scattering to harass several automatic defenses at once with beam fire. "Alright, let's do this!"

After a relatively successful showing at the festivities, Arian-16 is feeling pretty good. Aside from cramming a bunch of hors d'oeuvres down her throat-- and somehow managing to smuggle some back to Arado after she made it back-- she was pretty happy to make it back into some comfortable clothing. Stuffed into the Yingzi's hold was a delivery from the Mitsurugi, a move that also surprised her.

Can't fault them for their efficency.

Arian-16 was handed a heavy binder with the details on how to operate the machine, as well as a sealed container. More curious as to the contents of the container, she cracked it open and lifted up the lightly armored garment from inside-- the flight suit she's required to wear while using it. An eyebrow arches, but she smirks.

"Huang and Lat are gonna /love/ this one."

AND THEN--

Catching a ride on a base jabber not long after deployment, the TSYF-22 Raptor steps off before the waist-mounted thrusters fire, carrying the machine out over Aidoneus' airspace. Swinging the assault rifle around into one hand, the smooth and angular machine draws closer...

... and the teal-haired Arian-16 shifts inside the cockpit, listening to the subtle bends and creaks in the skin-tight flight suit. The balance feels a little funny, but then again... she was also told to do what she does best with these.

"Arian-16 on-site... let's send 'em off with their asses on fire!"

Naoto, as always, has been itching for some action, and since the test results said that he wasn't glowing with radiation, he's been waiting for the Crusaders to try something. And what do you know, here they are now, attacking Aidoneus Island. Since it's an island, which means it's surrounded by water, he can't just take the usual route through the railway. That leaves him only one choice: Transport plane. Said plane doesn't get used often by the Foundation, but here it is now, flying Vavel and Naoto to the scene. The chairman is, of course, in his customary place on the Meganite's shoulder, drinking some tea out of a canteen. Ah, this brings back memories...not especially fond memories, but memories. "Chairman Naoto Tsukioka, on my way to Aidoneus Island. As the old adage says: Heaven or hell, let's rock!" he transmits, just before dropping out of the bottom of the transport and engaging Vavel's Gigantic Booster. He's close enough to the island that he should arrive within a minute or two.

The Alpha Numbers is a quick response team, that needs to be able to get anywhere the problem is. So it is, that even though Rio is in space, she must be able to respond. Aidonius island is under attack! She rushes to the hangar bay, stopping and looking up with a slight smile at her brand new Gespenst Mk. IV, fresh from Daddy's company. Her personal unit is painted white, and right now it is completely unblemished and _shiny_. She rides the zipline up to the cockpit and climbs in. Sniff. Mmm, new mecha smell. Finally, her smile is replaced by determination, and she closes her helmet visor. "Alright, let's do it! Rio Mei Long, Gespenst Mk-IV, taking off!"

Rio looks down at the slowly expanding big blue ball of Earth that fills her vision, before turning the Gespenst onto its back and deploying ballutes. "I'm on my way, Aidonius!"

-A couple of days ago, Kurogane Deck number 12, men's bathroom-

Sweat beads on Ratsel Feinschmecker's brow as he finishes up the last of his triple-duty workday. He wipes his face with a fresh, cool towel, shutting off the cold-water valve at the sink with a spare hand. That's the last of it, for today. Cleaning four entire decks on a ship the size of the Kurogane is tiring work, but the man who would rides the Black Tornado takes it in stride. After all, it's for a good cause.

But this would only treat the symptoms, not the disease. Ringo Mason, how do to deal with you?

Perhaps... Perhaps /THAT/ would work.

-The Battle over Aidoneous Island, Kurogane Internal Hangar 01-

It had come much earlier than Ratsel had hoped. But that is the way of the world, and his skill was called upon once more. He could only hope that the ship's new substitute captain could command it just as well as he. Who, exactly is in control of the mysterious, TROMBE-colored vessel today?

"Ringo Mason," Ratsel intones into his communicator as he slides into the ever-iconic Huckebein's cockpit. "Today, a grave responsibility is on your shoulders: the lives of every man and woman on this ship- our home- are all in your hands! Carry it well, my friend." Ratsel's hands find the manipulators that control a vast majority of the Mk.II's upper body, his scarlet goggles reflecting the light of the monitors as the machine's engines spool up.

The Huckebein's eyes flash, glowing green in its well-lit hangar. Sanger had gone on ahead, but he would not be alone for long. Ratsel directs his machine toward the catapult, its legs locking into place. A sudden thrum of energy indicates the imminent launch of the electromagnetic platform. Ratsel smirks, his hands wrapping tightly around the manipulators, "Huckebein Trombe-- LAUNCH!"

Sudden acceleration pushes him back into his seat. His teeth grit as the black machine is hurled out into the sky, its weapons at the ready. Its thrusters ignite, glowing bright blue as he searches the battlefield--

And finds his prey. "Sanger," he says, "I'm moving out. Kurogane, begin operations!"

Earlier.

Ringo is standing over a waste disposal unit. In his hands is a bottle of whatever liquid he managed to sneak aboard. His hand shakes as he holds it, his heart saying one thing, but his mind another. He would heal without it, but the process was painful...almost too much to bare for the Sniper. In a matter of months his life had went to hell. How much had he sacrificed..and still ended up...

Ringo, uncharacteristically, crushes the bottle between his hands, shattering it's pieces into the disposal as well as the contents...and some of his own blood. Cursing he, walks towards the latrine, to clean up, and bandage his wound.

He, in that moment, knew that choice would stick with him for the rest of his life.

Later.

"Wait, Sanger knows this how?

A bit later.

"You want me to...I...I don't know what to say..." Ringo stares at the smirking figure infront of him. Truly touched. Or maybe he just saw the video footage...Ringo was sure he found all of the bugs though.

Now.

Sitting in the chair of the commander of the Kurogane, Ringo taps into the control consoul sitting on his right before speaking. "Right. I'll treat her better than I treat my Guarlion." He pauses and then commands... "Bring us around port side. Provide cover fire for Ratsel and Sanger as they launch. I want footage of the D-..." Ringo pauses as the immages of the Valsion's came on screen. Though he saw them in action, the mind forgets until it was brought back to the surface. "It seems we have our work cut out for us." he mutters.

This place, again, it all seems to start and end here.

"Lets not take the chance the Federation won't shoot at us. Monitor their positons too."

"Well now, it seems fortune smiles upon me, this day." The One Man Army, noted for his standing assignment of 'wherever the hell he feels like', is in fact currently /on/ Aidoneus Island, having accompanied his good friend and perpetually overworked A-LAWS science officer Billy Katagiri, whose expertise was needed for some thing or another; honestly, the masked man stopped paying attention about halfway through the trip over, instead dedicating himself to deep meditation, which to the layperson might have looked like he just up and fell asleep. Fortunately, though, the Crusaders decided to show up. As chaos unfolds in the vicinity of Aidoneus, and federal reinforcements begin to pour in, a black and white machine emerges from one of the island's own hangars, its spindly armored form gleaming darkly in the light. Resting easily in the famliar, Flag-style cockpit of the machine, the man who has been given the name of 'Mister Bushido' in place of the one he threw away watches as the situation degenerates, the violence growing, and he feels as though he can sense the pulse of the battlefield, the blood of warriors stirring. The GNX-Y901TW Susanowo draws its two black mixed-state GN katana, both of its GN-T drives spinning up as burnt orange particles spill furiously out of its verniers... And then, moments later, the Susanowo hurtles into the sky like a projectile itself, light dancing briefly under its visor. "COME, CRUSADERS!!" Bushido bellows over an open band. "WHO WISHES TO FACE CERTAIN DEATH?!"

"Aidoneous Island." Duat announces to Ascian, who is looking a hell of a lot more rested than normal. The cockpit is barely lit, as the unit just came back from a long trip using the Urenbeck Catapult, and it is taking the young man some time to get used to the brightness of the sun outside. A series of vid-windows appear throughout the cockpit, indicating points of tactical importance. "Old residence of the EOTI labs. Home of the late Bian Zoldark." The A.I. introduces the location. "During a scuffle quite a while ago, the Divine Crusaders lost this important lab, and island, to the A-LAWS - and the EFA with that." The framerunner just nods as his artificial intelligence speaks, whilst he takes a gander at the datafiles that come up.

"The EOTI once formed a coalition with BAHRAM. So it was a loss to our organization as well, when they took it over." A communication is going on between Ascian and a particular pink haired female. "So with other words, we really would like to get this place back under our control. Is that correct?" Ascian requests. "Correct. Failure will not be tolerated." The video-link cuts out. "Tssk. No pressure huh?" He lays his hands firmly over the half-orb controls, letting his fingers rest in the small crevices within.

The light within the cockpit slowly begins to rise, the red glow of Metatron energy pouring through the energy veins within, meeting up with the core hidden within Amenthes' structure, and then pouring further out onto the frame, which is plummeting from space right through the atmosphere. A shield already is raised, whilst its wings hide further behind it and move in closer to the body, to make adjustments where needed. The radar begins to do its work, linking with some of the DC operatives already approaching the battle theater.

"Sir. Detecting other orbital drops on vector with Aidoneous Island." A video suddenly appears at his left, indicating the red streak being made by the Gespenst Mk IV - as pilotted by Rio Mei Long. "Enhance." Ascian claims. And automagically, the unit's sensors increase the resolution of an image of the unit - as taken from a still image. "Remove friction related distortions." The image clears up. "A /Gespenst Mark [ansi(hw,Four)]!!!/"

The unit quickly turns, within the safetly of its bubble-shield, and aims its right arm towards it, extending it, grabbing in space, whilst it begins to alter into that of a rifle. Elongating, and finally he has a good target on the unit. "Let's see if we can pop a hole into it before it reaches the ground." Ascian claims, and squints his eyes. The red glow of the Orbital Frame is almost impossible to determine against the flames now licking against the shield. But thanks to the wings and the shape the shield is forced to take, it looks like a falling sphere with large firey wings attached it it. And it's from that 'sphere' that suddenly a foursome of red plasma shots dart straight for the Gespenst Mk IV.

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Ascian Luddite, reporting for duty. Currently committing to an Orbital Drop - and firing at a nearby incoming Gespenst Mark Four."

 Divada Kirador transmits, "Heh. I wake up from my naps at the worst times it seems."

The NEXT suddenly blasts those aqua green near white thrusters to life when it kicks its foot against the ground launching itself in the air and screaming across the island like a super sonic jet. That aqua green visor, so black at the edges, but brighter the closer your get to what direction the machine is looking. It screams across the air looking for a target that was causing some trouble, which was a good deal of them.

He soon finds his target, and the white NEXT suddenly halts in the air like stopping on a dime. The head of the unit looking directly at Puru Two who was having fun with the automated defenses. <<"Nell-- is that target too close?">>

"..that one? I believe so yes, so be careful."

<<"Understood.">>

So far no primal armor yet, however he attempts to see if he can draw up the gundam to him as Strayed lets loose with the assault rifle.

Meiya was hard at work last night at the festivitiies last night, comemorating the opening of Neo Japan II. If you could 'pissing off the supreme Alpha Numbers Commander' as work. None the less she was up at the crack of dawn and got her shuttle ride straight down to the island base and came to the hangar where Rai had been overseeing the new Aggressor's equipment shipment.

Meiya was already in her flight suit, the easiest way to move her TSF is to pilot it. "Leuitenant Comman-" she starts to say to Rai as she salutes, then the alarms start going off. Meiya looks up at the ceiling. "THey never take a day off..." Meiya climbs the gantry into her mech's cockpit and launches the Tactical Surface Fighter out of the Hangar towards hte approaching DC assault.

The purple Type-00R Takemikazuchi grasps one of t's curved blades from behind it's back in both hands and levels it at the Thrudgelmir. A transmission open on hte same frequency that Wodan used a moment ago. "Wodan Ymir. I am Meiya Mitsurugi..."

"Gundam Fighter For Neo Japan II!"

"I challange you to a Gundam Fight!"

Echidna Iisaki fires another pink sliver of light at an anti-air missile launcher just turning to track the Angelg. It explodes with a dull flash and thump, and a rising pillar of smoke.

With another beat of its large wings, the Angelg lifts higher into the air. Echidna seems content to shoot out defenses with mechanical hyperprecision; she has simply started directly ahead and is alternating to either side, taking out turrets in precise order from closest to furthest away.

When the defenders show up, though, Echidna switches her targets. As Sanger charges Wodan, Echidna draws the bow back again, overcharging the line of light; it pulses pink and white as she charges, reflections flickering across Angelg's glossy frame.

It leaves her open, just for a few seconds. But that might, to a truly fast pilot, be just enough.

 James Heller transmits, "I got your back Wodan, I'll deal with the scubs. Focus on Sanger."

A truly fast pilot? Where might we find one of those- oh, right.

A sudden burst of light rips across the battlefield. Two columns of power rip through the air, leaving great, hazy gaps of superheated air as they rush through- right for the Angelg's open flanks. The Huckebein Trombe chases them, but strafes left, then right, dancing just out of line of sight as it continues the bombardment of photon rounds.

Ratsel Feinschmecker's eyes narrow slightly. Ringo appears to be handling the ship well- his worries are abated. He can focus. Good. Because this one- this one will should prove to be an interesting opponent indeed.

Among the many units deploying from Killer Whales breaching the water's surface is the Weissaber--a unit yet to be deployed among the Divine Crusader forces. In the depths of its black and white hull, nestled safely in the core of its cockpit is one Lemon Browning. Surname...coincidental??

It doesn't advance upon Aidoneus as swiftly as the other units making their approach upon the island base. Instead, it lingers, as it were, drifting behind as if it were simply making observation, not directly attempting to get itself engaged in any sort of 'meaningful' combat. It's probably helped by the fact that it carries a large O.O. rifle in its company.

"Ah, his enthusiasm is as impressive as ever," Lemon muses softly to herself with a ghost of a smile. She doesn't bother with a normal suit, or even a helmet. It's like she just stepped out of the labs in her usual violet garments and slipped into her Weissaber. "I just hope he proves that his vigor is as powerful as his performance. Oh, how I would hate to have to deal with the repercussions." A wistful sigh follows.

James Heller is about to gun down some crazy GMII pilot that's standing his ground trying to take down the huge super robot. But he's saved by someone else getting his attention. The machine's barrier blocks the beam rifle shot and turns way stalking for the right with Wodan yamir. The huge machine moves faster than most things of it's size as it makes for the TSF that's trying to inctept Wodan.

"Sorry lady, you ain't going to get it, he's got someone else he's got a duel with. I'll be your foe for the evening."

The huge machine doesn't fire anything hurge at Meiya's machine no just a spider web of all things to try and pull her down.

"You got spunk Miss Mitsurugi but can you stand up to James Heller? Let's see shall we!"

The Machine redies it's other weapons as it closes in. The hulking Ghost of Bian's legacy is hungry for carnage and it may be about to get it.

Koji Kabuto's boots rapidly clack-clack-clack against the ruined concrete of the Institute. He's running with all his might, closing in on a mile until he can reach a collection of tarp-covered objects on a nearby runway.

Overhead, Koji can clearly see the GNX-Y901TW Susanowo with its GN katana drawn. Its pilot bellows his challenge and the young Ensign cringes slightly from the sheer thunderous power. "Damn," he winces as he keeps running, "And I thought /I/ was loud!"

Several huffs later and Koji races under the blue tarp. Beneath the plastic covering is the iron hand of a giant: a dream made manifest. The black palm might be cold to the touch, but for Koji, it has all the warmth of a comforting old friend. It lifts him into the air and places him into the plush leather confines of a cockpit. The controls are responsive -- as they always are.

Pitch-black clouds coalesce overhead. A rumble of thunder, the sound of Judgment From On High, works itself across the Oceanian skies. It's a prelude to a legendary battlecry and the shearing of blue tarp,

"MAAAAAAZINGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

The Armor of Miracles rises and stands, eyes lit with photonic energy. Its arms raised, fists brought up in a definitive challenge to the rising Crusader tide. Its pilot, a boy no more than seventeen years of age. His leather-clad fingers fixed over the T-shaped controls flight-yolk, eyes narrowed under the protective visor of his helmet.

His name?

"Ensign Koji Kabuto!"

His robot?

"MAZINGA ZETTO!"

His purpose?

"LAUNCHING!!"

Signalling out one of the attackers, Koji compels Mazinger to stretch out its right arm. Its fist bared. Weapon systems, check! Photonic battery, fully charged!

"ROCKETTO.. PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCH!!!"

Earth: defended.

Ringo smirks softly.

It is not quite the smirk of the captain of this ship, but it is enough to POWER THIS. That and the can of tiger's blood they shoved into the tank earlier today.

As the scene unfolds, Ringo picks up something.

"Bring us around! Target that one. It's attacking..." he hears the...

"Familar...voice." he notes, and then there is a meaningful flash back.

He has had enough of these lately, so he presses X to skip it, instead, he narrows his eyes. "Obliterate that unit." Even as he says this, torpedos start firing.

"Unit of the Valsion, you are driving a mockery of a man's greatest work. I will obliterate the monstrosity...rather you are in it or not." He pauses...

The blue and purple highlighted Valsion Kai marches forward, pausing only momentarily to cleave it's massive blade into the stern of the stricken Dakota to disable it's engines. water starts to kick up all around it as Erika engages the Tesla drive, and like an inexortable tide, it begins to move forward, pushing the water from it's path as it pushes forth.

"James, I'm going on ahead to try and cut off the reinforcements from the island before they deploy."

As the Super Machinery Humanoid streaks towards the island, it's right arm snaps up and another spiraling beam of cascading energy spills out, ripping across the coastal defenses of Aideonus.

Guy finishes his initial survey of the battlefield, and GaoGaiGar descends towards the Divine Crusaders' ranks, flying fists-first towards the enemy forces.

He had a hunch that giant-robot-swordsman would be focusing on giant-robot-swordsman; the Valsion Kais are a bigger concern, and it's on one of those two that Guy is now focusing his attention - closing in and swinging a punch, with all of GaoGaiGar's mass and momentum behind it.

He doesn't say anything, except to yell a kiai. The Crusaders should already know the drill: if they want to leave with their machines intact, they should flee while they can. If they don't ...

Hopefully the Killer Whales are equipped for scooping mecha and pilots out of the ocean.

An attack.

Where?

Echidna detects Ratsel coming and spins in place, releasing the flickering beam of light downward. It strikes nothing but water, a plume of steam rising up from the impact point. Even the fast backstroke of Angelg's wings isn't enough to get her out of the way of the photon blasts, though the reflective coating on the black robot saves it from crippling.

She recognizes the unit. Her lips curl back, just slightly. This will be... not entertaining. She isn't entertained. But it will be a challenge to keep him away from Wodan, won't it? Other than that, she feels little else.

Angelg's shield arm comes up, a green glow faintly visible inside the barrel on the shield. Echidna fires a spray of heavy green energy spikes at the Trombe, trying to catch it with one or another of them; they are long-lasting enough to embed themselves as if they were solid objects before exploding in flashes of green light.

The Strayed outpaces the Dual-Face by leaps and bounds. Genobee isn't quite 'there' to feel the envy or jealousy however. He restrains the thrusters, holding them back so that he can keep above the water's surface rather then sinking like a stone when they cut out for overheating.

His attention drifts with the attention of his unit's IFF radar, skipping from hostile to hostile. All seem well handled. It swettles at last upon R's target. Still a short distance away, he relies on the range of his unit's rifle, hefting it upwards and leveling it upon the red unit, finding it in his crosshairs before giving it a little lead. With a pull of the trigger the weapon speaks, a singfle bark of gunfire that sends a solid slug of ammunition hurtling up towards the girl.

"R.. right! I know, Puru Two!" Blue eyes shift to the left, glancing at the Quebeley through the side of the cockpit. "I'll make sure to keep my mind on what I'm doing!"

And then the Grungust-3 emerges. "I.. it's Major Sanger!" Without even thinking, Aoba opens a channel to her former swordsmanship teacher, "Hi, Major Sanger! I'm still practicing every day!" She hasn't seen him in -ages-! OF course, then he and Wodan seem to have a Moment, and the Cognate quickly stops transmitting. She doesn't want to be distracting!

Being distractED is another matter entirely, though. "Is.. is that..." Aoba's eyes slowly widen. "It is... Puru Two! Puru Two! Look!" She points and, thanks to the pilot frame she's suspended in, so does Moribito. "It's MAZIGNER Z!" Yes, those are stars in her eyes, easily visible through the comm link. What was that about keeping her mind on things?

Of course, she sees that rocket punch. How could she -not- see it? "It... it's coming at -me-!" There is not one bit of panic in her voice... though she seems to snap out of her moment of awe long enough to bring up the Jinki's right arm. "Wh.. whoah!" The fist slams against Moribito's shield, grinding against it for several seconds... before a flick of the arm sends it flying off to the side. Moribito's left arm swings up, a panel sliding aside to allow a chaingun to rotate out and fire several shots. "This is -so cool-! I'm fighting -the- Mazinger Z!" Thrusters on the back of Moribito's legs fire, and the Jinki is propelled forward at surprising speeds, one arm extended toward Mazinger. It can't do a rocket punch, but this may be the next best thing!

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Ah, miss Tsuzaki. First time I've seen you since that time when you were still amongst the Balmarians. Glad to have you with us."

Vavel actually makes it to the island in under two minutes, much faster than expected. Naoto will have to congratulate Herman for the improvement later. For now, however, there are Crusaders who are just asking for a punch to the face, and Naoto's the one who's going to answer them. As soon as he's close enough, the chairman disengages the Gigantic Booster, leaving Vavel to fly the rest of the way with the power of momentum. While it's falling, Naoto catches a glimpse of a very distinctive DC super robot, something he never thought he'd get to see. "Holy shit it's a Valsion Kai!" he says, his inner super robot fan overriding his desire to beat up Crusaders for just a few seconds. And then he realizes that he's falling right toward that Valsion, feet first.

 Echidna Iisaki transmits, "W15. Understood. Engaging Huckebein."

 Aoba Tsuzaki transmits, "I.. yeah, I..."

 Aoba Tsuzaki transmits, "I'm fighting Mazinger Z isn't is so awesome! -Mazinger- -Z-!"

 Ascian Luddite chuckles. "Sure thing kid. Just keep your head in the game."

He connected. Good. But he can't rest on his laurels- that won't be enough to deal with the Angelg permanently! The Huckebein whirls through the air, dancing into and out of the clouds, putting distance between it and the buxom black angel before she has a chance to strike.

It proves to be a wise decision.

The burst of viridian energy pours down, raining out from the Angelg in a spread that could be nigh-impossible to dodge. But Ratsel has the advantage of range- and a very handy weapon for dealing with things like this.

"Beam Chakram!" Ratsel roars, launching the whip-like device from the Huckebein's wrist. He draws the machine's arm back and forth, up and down across its chest, disintigrating the incoming projectiles with quick flicks of the Chakram's whip-cord. Soon, the air is again clear, and he draws the chakram downwards to slam into the Angelg's already damaged side!

Ratsel's Smirk remains at a firm 11 and shows no sign of fading just yet.

And lingering in a battlefield tends to get you noticed.

The perfect example of this is found in Arian-16, the Boosted Child turning her head to regard the screens as more and more IFF tags scroll and shift, pop up and tell her of what's going on all around her. Her eyes lock onto one thing as the Raptor glides not far over the ocean waves-- she looks on the Weissaber.

"Heh heh... surprise!"

The feet sway forward to provide a break in forward momentum while Arian makes last-minute calculations, adjustments that cause the whole machine to lurch violently to a stop rather than a smooth turn.

Swinging the rifle up to brace the stock against the shoulder, bullets rip across the space, their empty casings raining and clinking against each other before they drop into the ocean-- all of those shots trying to catch Lemon by surprise!

Meiya's interruption.../annoys/ Sanger. It genuinely irritates him, for some reason he cannot really put his finger on. Is it the interruption of a duel between swordsmen, in such a selfish manner as a Gundamfight declaration? Is it the fact that she was in graver danger than she knew from that man, that he was certain was a master of Jigen-Ryu even if he could not place his identity? Is it the fact that she would, at best, be a distraction in this fight?

"Your battle is with me, Wodan Ymir, the Sword of Magus!" Sanger declares, fingers tightening around the controls of the Grungust Type-3. There would be no talking to this man; no talking to this monster who served in Vindel Mauser's interdimensional army, to this demon who wore his machine and wielded his style with the same strength - or more! - than he himself. This was not a time to talk. This was a time to fight.

"So come! I wish to see your strength - the strength of the Sword of Magus, against the Sword That Cleaves Evil! Come at me, Wodan Ymir! Come at me WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!"

The Type-3's arms rear back; both fists light with fire, Extra-Over Technology that powers the impossible Grungust Type-3 charging to life. The Grungust type-3 rears back its hand; Sanger's eyes flare, his swordsman's spirit - his desire for a clean, fair fight and nothing more - echoing forth from his heart as he slams down on the trigger.

"DOUUUUUUUUUBLLLLLE BOOOOOOOOOST KNUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKLEEEEEE!"

The fists roar outwards like missiles, screaming their way towards the Thrudgelmir with all the strength of the Grungust behind them. They would not be enough - but they would be a start.

Rio watches as the battle below grows closer. She's almost finished reentry. Hey, is that--

A sudden, instinctive use of the thrusters pushes the Gespenst to the side as the plasma shot hits and tears through the ballute, grazing the PT itself. "Shit! Alright, who tried to shoot me out of the sky?!" The Gespenst rolls upright, activating thrusters and its Tesla Drive, as the computer calculates the beam trajectory, leading back to-- A red, feminine Orbital Frame. "Alright, let's see how you do against the Mark IV! Do you really think you Crusaders can retake this island?"

Ports open to reveal the Gespenst's chest cannon, which fires a burst of plasma back at Ascian!

Several bullets catch Mazinger in its chest.

"Ngh!" Koji cusses as he witnesses his infamous Rocket Punch deflected by the Moribito's shield. "How is that possible!? It's durable!"

Momentarily missing an arm, Mazinger stands fast as Aoba closes the distance. Koji readies the Photonic Generator, cranking the dial up to five. His hand slaps down -- his intention to melt the head module right off the Moribito. Only..

WHUMP!

There's a loud clatter of metal as Mazinger Z is struck in the chin by its fist. The Armor of Miracles's eyes discharge, resulting in a wild *ZKRACK!* of condensed Photonic Power that streaks out and cuts a wide swath across a distant Institute wall.

Inside the cockpit, Koji is reeling. "Aghh!!" he winces as he's forced to have Mazinger stumble back two steps. "Those reflexes are uncanny! I can't let them keep this up! And there's gotta be something to penetrate that armor! Maybe.. the Mazinger Blade!"

Mazinger Z raises its left arm into the air. The skies above rumble and from those darkened clouds, a bolt of lightning crackles down to its outstretched fingers.

KRACKFWOOM!!!

Raw power coalesces into a length of Super Alloy steel clenched in the hand of Mazinger Z. Its surface, inlaid with sharp lightning carvings and a single letter, gleams.

"Let's do this!" Koji declares, adjusting several dials before returning his hand to the controls. He swings hard on it, rearing Mazinger's arm back.

"MAZIIIIIIIINPOWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The Mazinblade swings forward in a metal-rending arc!

Surprise /indeed/.

Still hanging off to the side, so to speak, the Weissaber is stationary in the air, thrusters open to keep the black and white D.C. unit hanging. Its pilot seems less interested in the battle and more on two particular machines engaged. However, before she can relax too much and just stay content with observation, warning klaxons immediately trigger.

Brows lift discreetly.

When the Weissaber turns to face the Raptor it has already unleashed the spray of shots at Lemon's unit. Attempting to counter the attack with one of her own, the Raptor and its pilot prove faster than Lemon; struck, the Weissaber is forced back violently in the air before it manages to regain its midair balace.

"Can't I work in peace?" Lemon wonders as the Weissaber lifts its Halberd Shooter, the prongs snapping open and gathering beam energy before firing a lancing shot aimed for the center of the Raptor's head. "I'm going to miss everything with this distraction. How am I going to collect proper data?"

The Valsion Kai pushes forward, making it's way inland. It doesn't make it very far though before it is intercepted by the GaoGaiGar and forced to guard against it's attack with the flat side of the Divine Blade.

Unfortunately for Guy, GaoGaiGar's momentum is nowhere near as great as the far larger Valsion, which shudders briefly from the impact before simply shoving the Super Robot aside with a massive sweep of it's blade.

"So, it's the Gutsy Galaxy Guard to the rescue... sorry, but I don't have time to waste."

Erika sweels her machine around and pulls the trigger, prompting a withering barrage form the chest mounted autocannons.

The green lances of energy explode after they fail to hit anything in particular, providing an interesting fireworks-like spray of tiny green particles, harmless to anything armoured like a mobile suit or even a car (though you probably wouldn't want to stand in one by yourself).

Echidna spares a microsecond's attention for the unusual readout in her cockpit - the status of Lemon Browning's Weisssaber. She's fine, relatively minor damage only, and so she goes back to dealing with the Huckebein. She sees the corded chakram incoming -

Angelg drops low and beats its wings, once and hard. The chakram ricochets off the armoured wing without apparent harm aside from denting some of the metal feathers. This does not seem to negatively affect its flight capability, either. Releasing the bow (where it vanishes in a cloud of sparkles), Echidna draws the pink-bladed beam rapier instead, diving in a long thrust towards Ratsel's Huckebein. She has the size advantage - she'll press that.

The shuttle door slides open as fast as the engineers on board can get things in order, and Raidiese F. Branstein stalks out in his Gespenst Mk. 4. The machine is painted up in Rai's 'ace colors', though he didn't ask for it. The light blue with dark blue trim has just sort of become his thing when he wasn't looking, thanks to the 'Azure Wolf', the R-2 Powered.

The blue Gespenst IV stalks quickly around the perimeter of the battlefield, going around while Meiya charges in. Rai hasn't worked with Meiya much, but he expects that she fights a lot like Ryusei; Charge right in and hope everything works out.

Of course then a Valsion Kai comes out of nowhere to intercept her. Rai has fought that model exactly twice, and doesn't have good memories of either. Still, Meiya is under fire. Rai immediately moves his mech to a good firing position. The flying units are always dangerous, but also good targets. Rai would rather fight on the ground where he can use cover. That's exactly how he plays it, moving between buildings for cover, and popping out to aim a rifle-mounted grenade shot at the back of the Valsion Kai's frame. That mech is much larger, and it'll take a lot to bring down, but if Rai is lucky the attack will distract the pilot long enough for Meiya to follow up.

"You should spend less time gloating, and more time watching your back."

Aoba sets a new record for saying she'll keep her mind on things and then not actually doing it. Pointing out Sanger stirs some slumbering feelings of anger within Puru Two, but she doesn't comment on that either way. Sanger is here, Wodan is here. She knows what's going to happen, and she's not getting anywhere near either of them while that is happening. Getting Mazinger Z pointed out to her just gets a "...so?" in response. No idea why Aoba finds that so noteworthy.

A sudden volley of bullets rattling against the Qubeley's frame draws her attention. "What the--! From where?!" That was an unfortunate slip-up. Was she that distracted? Locating the source of the attack however, she quickly returns fire with the Qubeley's Beam Launchers, realizing, "...something off about that one." While she much prefers fighting people with freaky mind powers like herself, R is in another category that's of marginal interest, the category of people she can't sense anything from for some reason. Placing him in the company of various robots and Shus. Also an unpleasant reminder of how heavily she relies on her ability to sense incoming attacks, she wasn't paying attention to her instruments at all.

A shot from another direction. This one she /did/ feel coming, but her reaction was too slow to avoid damage entirely, taking the long-range slug in the leg. Another one. And there's Pressure coming from this one. Good, that's both categories Of Interest filled at the same time. "So it's that time again, huh," she muses, sending Funnels to deal with Genobee's machine. "Alright, you asked for it! I don't care how many of you there are, I'll take you all on!"

The number of Funnels bearing down on Genobee increases rapidly, and another group heads for the Strayed. An even distribution of six Funnels for each mech, quickly surrounding the machines and firing beams from several angles simultaneously.

Tch. That didn't work out as he would have liked. The Chakram is withdrawn, pulled back into its dock by the sudden rewind of its tethering cable. But he has little time to think on it further. The Angelg charges right for him, and though he deflects the first few swings with sudden application of the Roche Saber, it isn't long until the enemy machine is able to plunge through the G-Territory and strike at the Huckebein's body.

His foe prefers melee, does she? Well then.

The Huckebein's thrusters push back, then away. The Roche Saber is traded for a larger weapon- a long, powerful rifle. The Huckebein locks on, weaving into a nearby cloud formation, before unleashing a trio of shots. The rounds rip through the sky, tearing great, spiralling gashes into the pillowy, white cloud as they race toward the Angelg's torso.

It seems his assessment was accurate. This pilot is... Impressive.

In the space of time the gun fires, Arian-16's mind has started to roll in circles, consider possibilities-- and realize that the only way to properly deal with a rifle like that is to /not be in it's path/. The control sticks are thrown forward while the Boosted Child virtually throws /herself/ ahead, the waist-mounted Verniers firing off to carry the Raptor skyward.

"/Damn/."

Twisting sharply at the waist, the machine rolls on the ascent while managing to keep it's path relatively straight, dodging just past the halberd launcher's shot-- and to reach out while the folding knife in the mecha's possession snaps open in a smooth motion... and cuts out at Lemon's Weissaber just as quickly.

"I like your rifle, but you're gonna have to do a lot better than that!"

Twisting around as the Raptor continues to ascend, beyond and above the Weissaber, Arian centers her grip on the rifle while the HUD helps line up the shot. The gun shudders once, and the under-barrel grenade launcher fires a single shot straight back at the personalized Ashsaber!

Strayed stared down at her, then to watch Genobee charge in as well, before the machine seemed to pipe over to Genobee, <<"Took you long enough.">> He seem to joke, before he quickly took notice of the counter attack coming before the Strayed suddenly darted off to the side to avoid the attack all together. His attention quickly now fully given to the Clone.

<<"If you plan to take us both on. Then you better up your game, lady.">> The voice says calmly before he then dives down, letting loose with the assault rifle, before zipping side to side quickly.

Thruster boost to one side, another to the other side, whipping around at speeds that could kill a human, but probably something a cyborg could handle. The machine then gets in close before rearing back its left fist and then attempts to slam the first right into the head unit with a swift punch. <<"Think fast!">>

"Incoming High Energy Projectile." Duat warns Ascian. The young man turns his head and sees the bullet come flying just as they break out of the atmospheric friction. The Amenthes suddenly halts, hoping to stop it from hitting him. But the burst still flares and streaks right past the bottom of the unit's shield, causing the entire Orbital Frame to flicker. "Tsssk... the Mark Four is indeed dangerous. We can't let it arrive at the scene. Prepare to ram it, Duat!"

"R... ram it?" The A.I. actually stutters, which gets a confused look from the young man. "May I suggest the Phoenix Burst Storm, to knock it off-course?" Duat then adds. (Press R3 to accept suggestion). "Fine. Have it your way." The unit spins about, then dives backwards towards earth, swooping to intercept the Gespenst. Luckily, the Orbital Frame - at least in the air - has the advantage of mobility still. Its wings expand outwards from its body, and folds form, forming Metatron crystals which produce further propulsion. The crystals at the back of its legs expand as well, further increasing its velocity.

Its path, littered by the red ember-like glow which look suspiciously like feathers dartling in the wind, takes it right beneath the Gespenst, where the unit turns its chest towards Rei's unit. That's where Ascian opens a video-and-sound commlink. If she accepted, she could see the bishonen blue haired framerunner - a red glow lightly glowing beneath his eyes, showing the distinct signs of Metatron poisoning. His entire cockpit is aglow with the light of Metatron.

<<"This is Ascian Luddite of the BAHRAM forces. You have no right to Bian Zoldark's heritage. Please leave this air space immediately!">>

He didn't comment on whether he believed he could take the new model of Gespenst. But clearly he believed the Crusaders /could/ in fact retake this island. The prehensile tails of the unit then suddenly flick, like living snakes, with their spade-ended heads aiming towards the unit, large orbs of red formed floating before them. Compressed space, contraining the volotile weaponized Metatron energy flow within, sparking those same ember-like red feathers, are made to look like balls of fire. High impact, high explosive projectiles.

<<"This is a warning shot, please leave this instant!">>

The fireballs flick at her, all four of them, creating a canted path that, if each explosion would hit, might very well do exactly what he was requesting of her; push her so far off course that she would not be able to make it for the island with a simple downwards descent.

When the Type-3's fists come rocketing out towards Thrudgelmir, the machine almost angrily tosses aside the Zankantou in its hands; as it drops towards the sea, the blade suddenly turns to liquid and vanishes back into the crossguard. The hilt, too, retracts up into the guard... and all that's left is suddenly caught by several bolts of purple lightning, which maneuver the discarded weapon back up to settle it onto Thrudgelmir's shoulder.

Of course, while all this is going on, the machine is far from still. It thrusts its own fists out towards the incoming Boost Knuckles, and Wodan, too, calls out, "Double Boost Knuckle!"

Thrudgelmir's fists erupt off of its arms on long jets of flame, streaking out towards the Type-3's hands. The four projectiles meet at the midpoint between Thrudgelmir and the Type-3 with a tremendous impact, and strain against each other, engines roaring with effort.

As they struggle, Thrudgelmir goes rocketing past them, the drills on its back at full spin once again. It may not have hands at the moment, but apparently Wodan doesn't think he needs them; as the Special Unit closes on the Type-3, the enormous drill horn on Thrudgelmir's forehead spins to life, and...

... well, there's really no fancy way to dress up Wodan's tactic, which is, functionally, to smash his face into Sanger's over and over, with a wordless roar.

Lasers, Lasers every-damn-where.

Being able to predict your enemy's next attack when all you can predict is being hit! The funnels surround and pound away at the Dual-Face's heavy armor, rattling Genobee in his cockpit as hit after hit is scored on the AC. The chest mounted vulcan speaks up, rattling away as Geno' tries to escape the harrying fire that comes from nearly every angle, trying to shoot them down with a barrage of gunfire while slinging a few bullets in the direction of the Qubeley Mk. II almost as a after thought. Tension mounts despite his disconnected state, jaw gritting tightly as beads of sweat form on his brow.

With a feint, a fake, and another double-fake Genobee manages to slip from the the firing hailstorm of lasers that Puru Two's funnels had locked him in, weaving around several more shots and even seeming to pirouette out of another! While R moved in close, Genobee kept his distance, working around at sea level to try and catch the young girl in a pincer between the two, seasoned pilots. The rifle snaps up once more, finding her in it's sights and then firing. Twice it speaks this time, trying to catch her in the back or those massive shoulders.

"S... so?" Aoba blinks once. She blinks again. "B.. but... But -Mazinger Z-! Look at it!" You can't get more iconic! Of course, she also sees her friend coming under fire. "Oh! Be careful!" Maybe distracting Puru Two by explaining just why Mazinger is so awesome might be a bad idea right now.

It's probably a good thing that Koji didn't get to try melting the head off Moribito-02. That's where the cockpit is... and in fact, since part of it appears to be glass, or at least transparent, it might be possible to see the pilot in her harness, near the rear of the cockpit. "That's..." Aoba's gaze shifts upward as the sword comes down, but at least her instincts remain true. Moribito's shield comes up to catch the sword, and the left arm darts forward in a quick body blow. Sparks fly between shield and sword... and not just the sparks of metal against metal. Some of those sparks are red and gold.

"I can... I can do swords too! Though it's not as cool of a sword..." The Jinki reaches back, taking hold of the handle that rests behind its shoulder, and draws its own sword... though it looks more like a long razor blade with a handle on one end than a traditional sword. It still seems to handle the same way, and Aoba brings the blade down in a diagonal slice. "Yaaa!"

"Hmn, faster than anticipated," Lemon notes, as the Raptor ascends and summarily evades the shot of the Halberd Shooter. A swift yet discreet little grin dances momentarily across Lemon's pale face. Fast, but it won't be fast enough.

The folding knife of the Raptor slashes, but manages to graze across the chest of the black and white Weissaber. It backpedals, so to speak, evading the directness of the assault before it wastes no time ripping its rifle from its side. With a jerk of its arm, the Weissaber snaps the O.O rifle's lengthy barrel forward.

Lining up the shoot within mere seconds, Lemon offers a soft chuckle in response to Arian-16. "Pardon my error then. I will not make the same mistake twice, miss."

Then, /fire./ A large gout of energy lances through the air, aimed to blow out the center of the Raptor's chest.

GaoGaiGar brings an arm up to take the impact from Erika's autocannon rounds, and Guy can be heard wincing a bit at the impact. "I hate to be a rude host, but you're going to have to *make* the time - because whatever the Crusaders want with Aidoneus Island, I'm not letting you do it!!"

GaoGaiGar abruptly swerves at Erika's Valsion Kai, trying to grab it - and to slam it into the water, just before letting go and attempting to drive it beneath the surface with a massive kick. Granted that underwater combat isn't really GaoGaiGar's strong suit ... but Guy is gambling that it won't do the Valsion Kai any favors, either.

James Heller has got some attention with his machine. he pauses for a moment as the huge warship that's opening up at his machine. He has clearly got Ringo's attention.

"Oh your alive? Well better you than Karan. Pitty you never did manage to kill the useless empty headed idiot. Now now man, it's a shame to waste something like this!" HE'll counter fire and locks on to the missile with the cross smasher and fires a blast taking out the missile, and it keeps going for the ship.

Now comes the Vavel and its operator Naoto Tsukioka! James however has seemed to have time to pracitce with this unit. He moves sqwiftly moves to get out of the way and then lash out with his divine blade.

"Nice entrance but you got to work on that landing kid!"

Then enters the guy who totally ain't Rat's brother. He's totally not sexy enough to be related to that mysterious cook! However what Rai is good enough to do in the new gespenst is catching him in the back with a long barrage of fire from the m90 rifle. A wise choice all things considering with what defences the super robot might have.

"If that's the case then bring it on, let's see what you got!"

He's lost track of Meiya and that might cost him, but he can't worry about that right now he's got other people to deal with. The Cross Smasher on each arm fires, one blast at Ringo's ship, and another at Rai's Gespenst!

Echidna Iisaki seems to have no particular preference for melee or ranged, given how fast she swaps between them. Her piloting style is mechanical, without much in the way of personal touches; she performs textbook-perfect maneuvers without any flourish or unnecessary deviation.

Unfortunately this occasionally backfires; when she simply does not know an appropriate counter Echidna has difficulty improvising one. She tries, a fast evasion sideways and back, but the rifle rounds impact her machine's flank even as she fires more green spikes back and into the cloud.

Returning the deactivated hilt back to its clip on the back of the shield, Echidna resummons the bow. This time she holds still for proper aim, and the beam arrow doesn't just glow - it literally burns, trailing a wispy line of flame behind it as it shoots through the night sky.

Despite it's massive size and nature, the Valsion Kai is no slouch in the maneuverability catagory. Something that Erika proves as she quickly swings her machine to the left and weaves out of the path of the flying kic, bullets trailing after GaoGaiGar.

Erika sighs, "I expected as much. The Federation never likes to give things up once they have a hold of them. That's the entire problem."

the Valsion twirls it's blade around before sheathing it, then snaps up both arms as energy starts to gather around the barrel, "DUAL CROSS... SMASHERS!!"

Energy erupts from the barrels, spiralling and twisting around one another to drill through the GaoGaiGar's impressive armor.

"Wait a minute!!" Koji shouts from Mazinger's crown.

"Are you a... a GIRL!?"

The revelation renders Koji scandalized. Added to his Mazinger's right fist still on the ground, it makes it awful difficult to bring the Mazinger Blade up into a defensive position. The Jinki's Iron Blade swings across Mazinger's chest, eliciting a furrow across its Super Alloy plating along with a series of minor explosions that send it hurtling back.

"Shit!!" Koji exclaims, his hands feverishly working at the controls. Stabilize the gyro-balancers, divert Photonic Power stream! "What're you.. what're you doing!? Why are you doing this!?" the young Ensign yelps back at Aoba. "..And where the hell is my right hand!"

Mazinger Z takes a defensive crouch. Its spiked head turning left and right, looking for its missing extremity. "Launch the Jet Scrander at once!" Koji shouts into his radio. "I'll need every advantage I can get against this guy! Er, girl!"

JAPAN

A red jet-looking device is loaded onto a launch catapult.

"/He's fighting a GIRL!?!?/" Sayaka about blows her top within the Photon Power Labs. "He can't do that!! That, that hussy!!"

Professor Yumi lets out a long, tortured sigh as he buries his face into his hands.

Teenagers.

AIDONEUS ISLAND

Mazinger Z levels its head at the Jinki. The wind turbines stored within begin to spin, sucking air into its grille-shaped mouthplate.

"RUSTOOOOOO.."

HURRICAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!"

A great and terrible sparkling wind is expelled from Mazinger Z. What metal it touches, turns it immediately into rust!

"God that asshole." Ringo says. "I thought he would have been killed by now...and when the hell did he get the ability to pilot?!"

"Sir, a few months ago, his unit came through some dimensional rift."

"Goddamn shadow mirrors..." Then the interceptors crack something. "This is Ascian Luddite of the BAHRAM forces. You have no right to Bian Zoldark's heritage. Please leave this air space immediately!"

Everyone on board the Kurogane pauses, looks at Ringo, who is now sqeezing the arms of the chair so hard that it threatens to crack. "Turn us about! Antiaircraft turrents online! Blast that fucker out of the sky!" The Kurogane turns, slowly putting both James and Ascian on one side of it as it starts firing barrage after barrage of anti-aircraft shots at them.

"BAHRAM soldier. You have done fucked up. Prepare to be shot out of the sky!"

Rio's Gespenst is slammed into and stabbed. So much for that untarnished paint job. "Does telling the other side to give up and leave _ever_ work? I don't care about Zoldark's legacy or who has a 'right' to it... This is a war, you really think we'll just _let_ you win any part of it because you asked?" The Gespenst's free fist is brought back and the plasma stakes energized, and it tries to PUNCH the Amenthes away!

So his opponent is more talented than he had originally projected. But that's fine. Ratsel has more than enough distance to deal with it. As soon as he picks up that glowing projectile manifesting in the Angelg's hands, the Huckebein disappears. It vanishes into a blur. Ratsel's shoulders press hard against the restraints inside the cockpit as it accelerates, throwing him against his seat.

But the corsair never moves from the Angelg's black body.

Then, the radio crackles. Ringo says all that needs to be said, and Ratsel's smirk droops right down to nine. Those who know him well realize this to be A) The Shu Shirakawa Smirk, just under the Ingram Prisken and B) That Ratsel is very displeased with something in the immediate area. As the arrow whizzes by the Huckebein's head, he draws the rifle up. A round is pushed out of its chamber with a telling 'clack' as the corsair moves, slightly, upwards- to the Angelg's head.

He suddenly has a reason to finish this fight here and now.

Vavel flies right past the Valsion and crashes into the ground, smashing through a couple of buildings and gun emplacements as it skids to a halt. Naoto's impressed by the Crusader robot's speed. That thing can really move! "Of course, something like that is to be expected of a DC machine," he says to himself, turning to face the larger super robot. He drinks the last bit of tea from the canteen and tosses it over his shoulder. "Still, a job's a job." The Meganite gets a running start, careful to avoid destroying any more Federation property. As it approaches the Valsion, Naoto fires up Vavel's boot jets to send it up into the air, using its momentum again to help add a little more force to the hook punch he sends James's way.

Arian's eyes widen as the rifle unfolds, the full length of the O.O. being brought to bear on her. That thing is a lot... bigger than she had expected it to be. A hesitant bead of sweat forms along the side of her face, caught in the rigid jaw guard as she starts to do math.

A lot of math.

The beam blasts through the air toward the Raptor, and Arian has a pissing contest with the machine's gyro-balance system. Leaning it backwards, she cuts the thrust of the flight unit in the waist, feeling the hard forward pull of the machine as it flops backwards, just /barely/ out of the path of the rifle's beam.

It drops, and drops, and the teal-haired girl winces hard as she manages to fire the flight systems back up, pushing the machine both upward and backward while trying to keep the YF-22 from both falling backward again /and/ impacting with the ocean waves. It's a bit of a fight, but she succeeds, the toes of the robot gliding across the surface of the water with a rushing splash of the sea.

Arian breathes a little hard, a more and more predatory grin pulling across her face-- all that's missing from this shark's smile is the jagged teeth. "Now I /really/ want that rifle, lady."

Stowing the assault rifle, a heavier weapon comes out and around-- a missile launcher, no less-- and Arian charges straight toward Lemon. Firing a staccato one-two-three, they spiral toward the Weissaber while the gap between them begins to close!

Ratsel fires. Angelg doesn't quite lose its head; it moves at the last moment, and the round impacts its shoulder instead, driving it inward with a metallic squeal. Echidna may not be able to stop her machine from taking damage entirely, but she can at least do that. The bow vanishes again in the glimmer of light.

And, moments later, so does Angelg, fading into a prismatic haze before disappearing entirely.

It reappears moments later, above and behind Trombe. Its wings are spread, its body is almost parallel to the ground as it stoops in an impressive dive; Echidna has the sword again and she literally tries to impale Trombe through from behind, dispatching it in one terrible blow.

Wodan Ymir comes screaming in; without his hands, though, he is surely no threat, an average rookie would think. Why, he must be completely insane to attack me without hands - doesn't he realize what this means?!

Sanger Zonvolt is not an average rookie. Sanger Zonvolt knows a headbutt when he sees one coming; he knows how devestating such an attack can be firsthand, having wielded it himself in the past - without something as useful as a spinning drill horn to make the attack twice as deadly. But without hands, he cannot parry - all he has are stumps and drills-

Ah.

Sanger's knuckle-less stump snaps upwards; the drill atop his shoulder comes off, attaching itself where normally a fist would be, and the Grungust Sanshiki's eyes flare to life as its own jets come burning to life. Sanger is not about to allow wodan the chance to ram his head into him over and over; the drill-arm screams to life with a loud whir as Sanger brings it up into Wodan's horn's path, parrying drill with drill. Sparks explode, falling to Aidoneus below; the drill on drill, will-on-will struggle continues for all of five seconds before Sanger pulls away to allow Wodan to continue onwards with his smashings.

Meanwhile, the twin fists of Sanger Zonvolt make their way back to his arms; they link up with a whirr and a click, settling back into their proper places as the drill does the same. The Grungust would be pushed to its absolute limit against this machine, this dark, shadowed mirror (ha ha) of itself; Sanger would have to use every trick in the book to fight his dark opposite.

At the moment, though, he was just going to punch the living daylights out of him with as much force as the Grungust could muster.

The Sanshiki whirls around towards Wodan's machine; it rages after him, fists drawn back like a common street brawler. The massive fists go right for the Thrudgelmir's face, to beat in that faceplate that roared so loud, to smash it into pieces and reduce the monster to nothing but scrap. It was a bad dream; it was a bad dream, and Sanger's fists would be the daylight that banished it from this place.

"You will not have Aidoneus Island, Wodan Ymir! Whatever you seek - I will not allow it!"

There's a reason that the 'Anubis' game gets promoted for 'High Velocity Robot Action!'. And Ascian isn't shy to show off the Amenthes. As a transmission suddenly comes through, and Duat warns him of a series of guns suddenly aimed at their position, the entire units cants down, until the framerunner is literally upside down in his cockpit. He was so glad that they had installed a decent flight-harness, so he barely notices the gravity taking hold on his body. The unit then quickly begins to spin over its vertical axis multiple times whilst flak crashes through the air.

The framerunner can feel the explosions nearby rocking his frame, but Amenthes isn't even registering the damage, that's how sturdy the SSA is being at the moment. Its rifle arm aims straigth down and unleashes a barrage onto the very guns firing at it, until it suddenly halts in mid air and spins around; aiming the rifle up in attempt to stop the Gespenst that was coming its way right where it was.

Sadly, the approximations for how fast Rio's unit was moving ended up not being adequate enough, and the spike ends up penetrating its defensive maneuver and stabbing into the lower torso of the unit. "Shi~" Crash! The entire unit shakes, and the Amenthes is forced to a momentary plummet downwards whilst the unit tries to reassert itself in the air. There is one good thing about being in an Orbital Frame though. And that's that they /float/. Ascian pushes his will further into the machine, and he ends up floating right between the battleship and the Gespenst - still further up in the air. "Tssk."

The wings suddenly let go of the main frame, and begins to spin wildly around the unit, around its horizontal axis - aiming their tips towards the Gespenst. "No it doesn't ever work. But I wanted to make sure you were a soldier - ready to lay down your life! I don't want to kill those who aren't ready to lay down their own lives in battle." Since when did he start caring about the innocent? Only on Tuesdays and Bank Holidays really.

"NOW STAY THERE!" Suddenly, a surge of twelve red beams sully the air with their fluorescent light. They rip through the skies, straight for the Gespenst and defy gravity by changing direction in midair, forming a beehive-styled net that begins to form around the Gespenst in a large sphere. If Rio would not escape, she'd soon find herself trapped within, and forced to take the full brunt of thick cutting continuous lasers to escape!

Tch. He wasn't able to disable it. That's not good. Indeed, as moments later, the Angelg reappears overhead and dips into a sudden dive to ram the Huckebein through! But there is a flash of light, and the sudden, tell-tale projection of that miraculous defensive device deploying!

Geometric patterns appear in a great shell at the point of impact, slowing down the Angelg just enough for Ratsel to avoid being rammed straight to hell. The Angelg cuts into its side, opening a gash in the Huckebein's torso, but it isn't cleaved in two. Not as she would have hoped.

Ratsel pulls back, the Huckebein firing a barrage of vulcan fire as he withdraws. But it doesn't get very far. The Huckebein's arm reaches around, grabbing hold of a thick, black bar! A flick of the risk and the weapon expands, blooming into a three-pronged boomerang. Violet lightning crackles between its ends as the Huckebein hurls the weapon forth, looking to cut the Angelg in two!

Yeah Aoba, maybe you /shouldn't/ be distracting Puru Two any more than she already is. The Qubeley takes additional damage from the Strayed and Dual-Face's counter attacks, causing the pilot to frown deeply. "What's wrong with me," she mumbles to herself, trying to refocus her mind on the task at hand. Maybe it's this place. Too many memories that she's desperately trying to recover.

Oh, she's /trying/ to think fast, but there's just too many thoughts at once. And she can't even keep mental track of the Strayed's pilot, which is proving to be a much bigger handicap than she thought. Before she knows it, the enemy is right in her face, and then punches it. "Ahh! This... this guy, what's wrong with this guy?!" Perhaps the better question. And now the main camera's damaged, so she's having to see everything through static, as if things weren't looking bad enough already.

Thankfully the other guy can still be sensed, the clone soldier not actually needing to rely on her instruments to 'see' him coming. Spiralling up into the air to avoid the Dual-Face's gunfire, the red mobile suit takes stock of the situation from a higher vantage point. Damage is stacking up rapidly, things are looking pretty bad at this rate. But she can't back down from this now, that would just be humiliating. "Grrr... you think I'm just some average pilot? I'll show you!!"

The Qubeley raises it arms, a faint glow visible coming from the general direction of its hands. It's the only warning before both hands are rapidly thrust downwards, and twin large energy blasts are sent forth from the mobile suit's forearms towards both its opponents. Using the full power of her beam weaponry may not be a very efficient use of the energy she has left, but the Newtype can't afford to hold back her resources for an extended battle. At this rate, the battle's going to be pretty short either way - she has to take these guys down quickly, while she's still flying.

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Puru Two, do you need any assistance?"

Blink. Blink blink. "Y.. yeah?" She didn't expect something like that to be so... jarring. Nobody else seems to ever care too much! "I'm doing it because.. because..." She bites her lip lightly. How much is she allowed to tell? Well... some things are obvious, at least. "This is where Dr. Zoldark had one of his bases and we need to get it back! And..." Leaning forward a little, she smiles widely. "And I always wanted to see Mazinger Z up close! It's so -cool-!" Yes, those are stars in her eyes. Maybe SAyaka should be jealous after all!

"Oh, um.. I think it bounced away somewhere?" Aoba glances off to either side, trying to spot the missing arm, but she doesn't have too much time to search. "Whoah!" Aoba's arms cross in front of her, and her Jinki does the same, but the force of the wind is still enough to drive it back a short distance, leaving furrows in the ground. "Moribito?" A few warning lights begin to blink over her head, and Aoba gasps when she sees the display. Parts of the shield are beginning to... dissolve. "But... how?!" She'll have to be extra careful now, or she might lose the shield entirely! "I.. um... Oh!" The Cognate taps a button on the inside of the arm controls. "Send it over... I think I may need it soon. I'm fighting -Mazinger Z-! How cool is that?"

Venezuela A rather ordinary-looking Jinki pushes a large box out of one of the hangars. "I don't get what the point is. At least she's not crying again..."

"Ruuuiiiii! Get it launched!"

"Yeah... fine, already!"

Aidoneus Island

Moribito-02 takes a few steps back. Aoba doesn't want to risk her sword getting destroyed as well, so it may be a good idea to get a little space. "I hope this will work..." The sword is replaced along Moribito's back, and a large gun is drawn in its place. The other arm reaches back and pulls out a long metal tube... which is affixed to the end of the gun, creating a rifle that's longer than the Jinki is tall. "N.. now just hold still! This is hard to aim!" Why in the world would someone she's fighting hold still just because she asked?

They're too close for the Protect Wall; the best Guy can do is tank the heck out of the Cross Smasher - and he does so, although the King of Braves looks somewhat the worse for wear when the beams subside. "What did you expect when the Divine Crusaders were formed, and Zoldark declared war on the rest of the Earth Federation?!" Guy ripostes as he stabilizes GaoGaiGar's flight and heads after Erika's Valsion Kai again.

In all honesty, Guy prefers not to get into battles against the Divine Crusaders unless it's a matter of defending a civilian target - but military or not, Aidoneus Island is of *extremely* high value. And more importantly, Guy was ordered to deploy; the fact that it's not so personal for him just doesn't factor in.

But he can still do his best to wreck Erika's machine, without killing her in the process ... and he continues to do exactly that, delivering a series of punches and kicks to wreak havoc on the Valsion Kai's systems.

 Puru Two transmits, "A... as if, I can handle this!"

 Aoba Tsuzaki transmits, "I know you can do it, Puru Two!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Don't be too stubborn to ask for help. We don't want a repeat of what happened with Haman."

The Gespenst IV-TT's first say of combat is not a good one. Rio braces herself for the attack as she charges the Gespenst through the lasers, hopefully escaping the _worst_ of the attack. "Rrrgh... I'm not going to be defeated this easily! This ends now!" Readying the mega beam rifle again, she starts firing shot after shot, while charging in close again in an erratic, 3-dimensional zigzag. Suddenly, once Ascian's gotten used to dodging beams, the beam shots are replaced by a hail of bullets and grenades! "Take this!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Puru Two transmits, "That's totally different!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Different. But you still didn't ask for help."

While the Gespenst IV is a lot smaller than the Valsion Kai, that's not necessarily a bad thing. For one, it lets Rai make use of cover. When the Valsion tries to turn around and nuke him with its Cross Smasher, Rai retreats behind the buildings, firing a pair of Split Missiles to cover him as he pulls back, the blast obliterating the ground where he was standing. He's got to be careful using cover like this...These buildings are part of the base, even if they're all in disuse.

Rai's Gespenst doesn't spend long hiding before it dashes out of cover again, rifle hefted and firing as fast as it can, putting out bullets and grenades at the Valsion Kai. The target is big and heavily armed, so Rai doesn't bother aiming for anything in particular. Better to hit it with as much combined fire as he can and burn whatever he can while he tries to figure out a plan.

"Don't underestimate me. You may have some fancy machine, but do you know how to use it?"

When the lock between drill horn and drill knuckle breaks, Sanger slipping sideways as Thrudgelmir's horn bites suddenly into empty air, the Special Unit is lunged forwards by the force it was putting into its headbutt. It's only off balance for a moment before it whirls to face the Type-3 again... but in that time, Sanger's hands return to him.

Wodan's, regrettably, are about a second behind; he is now farther from his than Sanger was from his own, and the change in position since firing them has added another half-second onto their return time as they're forced to recalculate the host's position.

What this means is that when the Type-3 throws its punch, Thrudgelmir is forced to snap its half-complete left arm up to parry clumsily with its upper arm. It draws its right hand back as it does so, the Boost Knuckle returning to the limb with a loud *thunk*, but before Wodan can swing the newly recovered limb forwards in counterattack, Sanger's left hand crashes into Thrudgelmir's face. The force of the blow drives the machine backwards away from the Type-3; it only regains control of itself after it's been knocked some four hundred meters away, the drills on its back flaring to life.

All in all, the fight so far resembles less a duel and more a bar fight. Rishu Togo would probably be ashamed of both of them.

And that, it seems, is unlikely to change now. As Wodan's remaining hand returns to its host, Thrudgelmir lifts its arms to lie level with its shoulders; its drills, still spinning, suddenly detach from its back and are maneuvered by purple bolts of lightning onto its fists.

Wodan lets loose a cry of, "Double Drill Boost Knuckle!" And, lo and behold, the rapidly spinning drills erupt off of Thrudgelmir's arms, curving through the air up towards Sanger, shrieking like robo-drill-bats out of robo-drill-hell.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Puru Two transmits, "So?! It's... it's just two guys! And they're not even using Gundams!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Don't underestimate NEXTs."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "There is a reason Mars is not free from the EFA. And it's not just their Gundams. The Frightners cause BAHRAM quite a lot of trouble as well."

Erika frowns as the GaoGaiGar comes at her once again... tch, what a troublesome person. One of those 'Never give up' sorts that are always a trouble to fight against just because they're so tenacious. She quickly goes for her blade once more and swings it up... a moment too late however as Guy gets under her guard and delivers a punch right to the gut, followd by several more. A quick knee block interupts the combo however as Erika pushes Guy away and regains the advantage of reach, then sweeps her blade up and brings it crashing down upon Guy's head.

A soft whistle slips past Lemon's lips as the Raptor, again, proves faster than she gives it credit for. She's only slightly disappointed--mainly because the time spent focusing on someone that is engaging her is time lost watching over the W's. And she was looking forward to seeing with her own eyes how well the two were doing in combat, too.

"Impressive maneuvers. I am surprised," the woman notes softly, the faintest of grins hinted in her tone. "However, I regret to inform you that this is something you can gain possession of." Not that the weapon is completely unfamiliar to much of anyone on Arian's side. "But I am flattered by your desire."

The missile launcher is pointed and fired; however, with each shot fired the Weissaber zigs and zags, evading the assault before it corrects itself and its several wing funnels detach, moving independent of the machine before snapping open and firing off shots at the Raptor.

<Radio: B - Trailer Secure> Genobee transmits, "R: Pull Back."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Puru Two transmits, "I... don't think I know what those are. Ugh, I feel so lame."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Aoba Tsuzaki transmits, "Just because they're not Gundams doesn't mean they're not tough."

Strayed stared at the Gundam for a moment as the fist made contact. Then he could hear her frustrations in her voice. Her anger rising; He couldn't help but smirk within the core of the machine. <<"Hm. No, your a good pilot. Just seems your head isn't in the game.">> The pilot of Strayed replies before he quickly goes to move as the Gundam lets loose with a massive of energy. It shreds the ground where the NEXT was staying, but the fast machine was gone in a blur; At least that is how it seemed at glance.

Instead the NEXT moved on the other side of the Gundam, before it swung around with a spin, the kojima particles activating on the object on its left arm, building into a form of energy blade, before slicing into the Gundam for its trouble. If Puru Two had any sensors online, it may have for just that moment picked up radiation, but it was quickly gone as the blade deactivated and the NEXT swiftly pulled back. The missile pod the raised up, before it sent then missile flying for Puru Two.

Echidna Iisaki goes through the gravity shielding. She always found passing through it slightly unpleasant and today is no exception; inasmuch as she cares about things like that, it annoys her. At least she drew a wound to make up for it.

Echidna does not immediately teleport again. When the three-pronged boomerang whips at her, Echidna deflects it, blocking it with the beam rapier and smashing it as far aside as she can manage by sheer Angelg arm strength. Only after that does she fade away.

When she reappears, though, there isn't one of her but four; one of the Angelgs is tinted faintly bluish, one reddish, one yellow and one green. All four of them are wielding beam rapiers of the appropriate colouration, and they swarm Trombe, attacking from all sides.

The real one, several seconds later, dives down from above almost pure vertically. Echidna feels the G-forces and ignores them; to a human, they would be crippling, but to something like her, they are barely palpable. She strikes, the wings of Angelg venting flame and causing a huge explosion behind her that destroys her illusory copies. She does not care. They did their job.

Angelg pulls up at the nadir of her dive, only yards from faceplanting in the sea. Angelg does leave furrows behind it until it pulls up, sparkling with water.

Echidna Iisaki goes through the gravity shielding. She always found passing through it slightly unpleasant and today is no exception; inasmuch as she cares about things like that, it annoys her. At least she drew a wound to make up for it.

Echidna does not immediately teleport again. When the three-pronged boomerang whips at her, Echidna deflects it, blocking it with the beam rapier and smashing it as far aside as she can manage by sheer Angelg arm strength. Only after that does she fade away.

When she reappears, though, there isn't one of her but four; one of the Angelgs is tinted faintly bluish, one reddish, one yellow and one green. All four of them are wielding beam rapiers of the appropriate colouration, and they swarm Trombe, attacking from all sides.

The real one, several seconds later, dives down from above almost pure vertically. Echidna feels the G-forces and ignores them; to a human, they would be crippling, but to something like her, they are barely palpable. She strikes, the wings of Angelg venting flame and causing a huge explosion behind her that destroys her illusory copies. She does not care. They did their job.

Angelg pulls up at the nadir of her dive, only yards from faceplanting in the sea. Angelg does leave furrows behind it until it pulls up, sparkling with water.

Genobee's mind moves a heartbeat ahead, he can see it, the powerful beam that streaks down towards him even before Puru has pulled the trigger. His body catches up, the Dual-Face's crimson optic turned up towards the Qubeley, he can see light welling up within the barrel of Puru's wrist mounted launchers. By the time the beam escapes the barrel, he is no longer within their line of fire, a quick burst of thrusters coupled with a added kick from his extension boosters pushing him well out of the way with a sudden, left turn.

<<"Not Good Enough.">> he intones dryly, passionlessly. The Dual Face brings about it's big guns, the massive cannons that rest on it's back coming into play, barrels flipping forwards and locking into position. This is not overly note worthy. Many AC units have such weapons mounted on their units. What is note worty is that Genobee is still on the move, thrusters firing as he positions himself into a firing angle on Puru Two. Moving with those cannons deployed should somehow be impossible!

<<"R: Pull Back">> is the only warning he offers before he opens fire, both cannons speaking in unison as his thumbs settle down ocver their buttons on his controls. THOOM, THOOM, THOOM! Grenade launch out into the air towards Puru, three salvos lobbed into her airspace. They don't make it all the way however, detonating in the air with powerful explosiones, scattering shrapnel and concussive force.

The Divine Blade comes down - and is roughly smashed aside by GaoGaiGar's right forearm, losing some armor in the process but otherwise remaining intact. And Guy speaks again - but not to Erika this time.

"PHANTOM RING!! PLUS!"

As GaoGaiGar raises its right arm, the gold ring which caps the Drive Booster nacelle on its right wingtip detaches and floats into place, settling around the middle of the forearm - and then ring, forearm, and fist all start spinning up into a magenta blur surrounded by a bright golden halo as GaoGaiGar closes in on Erika's Valsion once again.

"BROKEN ... !!" GaoGaiGar rears back, winding up, then swings forward, trying to punch the Valsion Kai in its torso, somewhere away from the cockpit or powerplant - and if the fist connects, Guy holds it here, spinning knuckles starting to grind into the armor, Phantom Ring advancing to cut into the Valsion and weaken its resistance to the pressure of GaoGaiGar's fist ... but the forearm doesn't detach and rocket forward until Guy finally finishes the attack call, "*PHANTOM!!!!!*"

Thrudgelmir's Double Drill Boost Knuckle is brutal; it's more brutal than Sanger's by far, filled with killing intent and out and out hatred and fury barely contained, spilling out as purple lightning and god only knows what else. Sanger is not, however, unprepared for the attack; his own hands snap up to detach the drills of the Grungust Sanshiki, wrapping the grungust's fingers about them and bringing them around just before Wodan's own robo-drill-hell comes crashing into him. He screams out his own cry of "DOUBLE DRILL BOOST KNUCKLE!", launching the twin drills towards Wodan just before Wodan's hit lands.

And, oh, boy, does it land.

The sound of drills screaming against metal, pushed by jets against something harder than steel, echoes through the base of Aidoneus Island. More sparks, more violent and brutal than the parry's own, erupt from the shoulders of the Grungust as the drills fight against Sanger's own will; in the cockpit, his arms shake as he struggles with the controls, trying his damnedest just to keep the machine afloat before it's shattered into pieces by the amazing tension. Wodan's attack is pure brutality; Sanger, focused as he is, can only redirect the blows away from the vital points of his mech, unable to completely turn them aside. This man is a berserker of the highest caliber.

The drills break through the armor explosively; they pierce right through the shoulderblades, fire roaring from the Grungust's thrusters as it screams in frustration at what is being demanded of it. Flame licks from its insides; systems begin to fail one by one from the sheer force of the drill punches that have even now penetrated through to the other side and exploded out the end, leaving destruction in their wake. Alarms blare in the cockpit;

<-Warning-> <-Warning-> <-Warning->

<-Arm Servos Damaged. Shoulder Systems Rerouting Power From Thrusters. Initiating Emergency Repair Protocols->

Sanger, if he were the kind of man to swear, would do exactly that. But Sanger Zonvolt is not that sort of man; even armless, handless, and with his machine suffering severe damage against the one person he truly cannot afford to be in such danger against, he does not let loose his fury in such ways.

No, he has a *much* better way of dealing with it.

Sanger flies straight at Wodan, once again; this is a fight in which neither of them wants to be out of the other's reach, because, like the mirrors they are, they fight with blades and fists and strength and passion and rage; ranged attacks are neither of their fortes. Except in a very, very specific circumstance.

Sanger's chestpiece begins to glow, and the eyes of the Grungust glow to match it; the triggers of the Grungust's controls pop open, a single button in the middle of the panel. Sanger's hand clenches into a mighty fist; he roars the attack at the top of his lungs as his hand comes slamming down onto it, declaring his intent for all the world to see.

"OOOOMEGAAAAA BLASTERRRRR!"

Light, energy, pure power, all rage from the Grungust's chest at absolute point blank range. How would Wodan Ymir respond to the torrent of destruction that would streak off into the sky and part the clouds high above before petering out into nothing?!

A normal pilot would have been stricken down and dashed across the rocks after staring dumbstruck at the Angelg's impossible maneuvers. A normal pilot would probably be in his grave right now. Ratsel Feinschmecker is not a normal pilot. The illusions appear one after another, whether conjured through magic or technology, but Ratsel is not phased. In fact, he stays perfectly motionless. But one might notice that something is... off.

Specifically, that the Remote Slasher hasn't yet returned to its master unit.

The weapon swings back as the illusionary machines charge forth, passing through and dispersing each one. The true Angelg drops from on high, and the Remote Slasher pulls back into the Huckebein's open hand. It swings in a great arc, knocking the Angelg just off course as the black and red machine rockets away. Corsairs realign across the Angelg's head--

This time, he won't miss!

James Heller is very good at annoying Ringo by breathing, he's be smirking if he knew about it, he does reply back to Ringo. "Well now seems to to me we're going to have a good fight on our hands!" The ship again opens up on his machine, he brings up his right hand intercepting the rounds they bounce off the hand and he smirks returning fire with a cross smasher.

Rai meanwhile is also a problem, three on one is not the best odds nor is it the worst odds. The computer keeps track on where Rai's machine is as he Rai opens fire, on him and he fires off another shot from the Cross Smasher back at him.

"And your using a Gespenst! Only a fool doesn't realise how dangerous they ARE!"

The Mirrors are evil but they are of the school of the Gespenst!"

Oh hell there's a whole bunch of bullets ripping into the huge machine.

"You have the idea, and are actually worth my time! This is so much better than putting down Brittianian vermin!"

The Meganite is isn close combt with him now nd he moves using the Divine blade, and the spirit of Captain Falcon is with this one as Wham he catches it in the face of the other machine forcing it back.

"Heh, not bad now eat this CROSS SMASHER!"

Ringo and Naoto would find themselves on the business end today as the machine fires a twin high powered blast at The warship and at the super. James pulls back a bit and makes a comment.

"But still are you strong enough and do you even understand the horror of what you will get if there is total peace? Humanity will rot and stagnate!"

Arian-16 has a very long history with funnels and bits and all kinds of remote weapons. Of course, it isn't exactly a good history-- Ingram Prisken and the gun slaves of the R-Gun Rivale, the way that her Huckebein was torn up more than once-- how badly the Superbia was damaged, and all of the maneuvering in the world could not save her from the agony of those little flying guns. Maybe Huang's dislike of them makes a little more sense, now.

The Schoolgirl completely throws aside the notion of a counterattack, instead focusing on avoiding the shots from the Sword Breakers. She ducks one way, weaves another-- and even takes a glancing shot across the Raptor's forearm. It's a little closer of a call than she wants to admit-- but she's made it through it with little more than a rip on the outermost layers of the armor.

"This ain't a Boosted Rifle, but let's see how you like it--"

Arian-16 breaks out a lengthy-- perhaps not the impressive sort of the O.O., but it's a fairly large gun in it's own right, more like a LMG. The slug also doesn't have the rocket propulsion on the Boosted Rifle, but she's always had a bit of a soft spot in her heart for a weapon like this. Her old Lion even had one.

There's electric forces, there's parts shifting and moving... and then the rifle lines up on the Weissaber for one hell of a high-speed shot aimed for the dragoon's abdomen!

"Railgun!!"

The Amenthes tries its best to outrun most of what is flying at it, but the moment the first buster beam crashes against its shield, and with its wings not yet attached back to its spine, it fails to properly do as such. The bullets and grenades cut through the SSA of the Orbital Frame, ripping holes into the armor plating, and generally turning the unit into a pock-filled mess which has both of its hands trembling up towards the Gespenst. The sudden assault from behind it didn't help - as

Was he trying to say 'enough'? The communication had cut out. Had he give up?

No. The arms suddenly shift in form, and the glow of the entire unit springs back to life! A glow suddenly erects onto the unit, like a gas that is escaping its body. Pieces of armor plating can be /seen/ moving up towards its arms, flowing into it as more energy is gathered. The clouds behind Rio's unit suddenly begin to warp, the disperse, as the entire area between space and the Amenthes begins to compress.

Within the cockpit, Ascian is hastily putting in commands through rapidly touching his fingers against the controls, rushing through little windows as he tries to balance out the machine. "Sir. Please let me take over." Duat requests. "No Duat. I gotta learn to pilot Amenthes without you one day, so I can chase mister Pleminger." Ascian states firmly, the glow under his eyes that much brighter. "There!"

The arms suddenly shift together, join, and form what looks like a large buster rifle! Piece of metal are sticking out here and there, and it looks somewhat unfinished. The stress is getting to the unit, and sparks fly here and there across the Orbital Frame. But it's holding together, whilst the flow of bioluminescence rushes towards the tip - a purple glow forming.

"Take this!" Suddenly the sky filles with a wide purple glow as the Amenthes spreads the weaponized Metatron energy through the tips of the double-barreled beam rifle, which tries to envelop the Gespenst and then thins to a more concentrated beam in order to cut directly through its chest and head - aiming just barely away from the cockpit.

So Vavel managed to smash the Valsion's face in this time. Good, good. Unfortunately, this also puts the Meganite within range of the Crusader super robot's overclocked Cross Smasher. What does Naoto do here? Does he try to dodge, quick boosting to the side in the hopes of avoiding the blast? Does he block, letting Vavel's arms take the worst of the damage? Nope, he just punches it away. Even Naoto himself is surprised that actually worked. He just sits there and stares, slackjawed, at the fist that deflected a giant super robot beam. After a while, though, he realizes that there's still a battle going on, and quickly backs away from the Valsion, using Vavel's Gigantic Booster on a low setting to keep it airborne. "Buddy, you're crazy. I don't know why you guys are all hooked on war, but I only have one thing to say to you." he transmits to James, tapping a few buttons on his controller with practiced ease. Vavel raises both arms toward the Valsion Kai and fires off its fists, one after the other. "DUAL KNUCKLES!"

Ratsel is entirely correct: he does not miss. This time he actually manages to hit Angelg full in the face; the green faceplate shatters as her forward movement is fully arrested. Broken glass showers downward, revealing the hidden face of Angelg - feminine, green-eyed, and very, very human.

Aside from the colour, anyway.

Echidna mutes the alarms as she pulls up, trying to recover from the face-impact, but she fails; Angelg tumbles into the water, vanishing from view. Underwater, Echidna takes a moment to check Lemon's status - better than hers - and considers her move. She'll only get one or two.

Angelg stands up. In the shallows, the water only comes up to its waist; waterfalls cascade from the shoulders and helmet of Angelg, down the body and to the sea again. Her bow is in hand, and she's drawing it back, but there's no arrow there...

Or there is, but it is in a spectrum of light not visible to the eye. EVen a lot of sensors have trouble picking it up as anything more than a ripply haze as Echidna looses the invisible arrow. It may be her last shot; she needs to make it count.

Puru Two comes to the sudden realization that she has no idea what she's even fighting. What is a NEXT? A miserable little pile of something that isn't a Gundam. That was plenty of reason to underestimate the machines completely. They're proving to be far more dangerous than she ever gave them credit for. Most annoying of all, the one she can't sense seems able to tell exactly what's wrong with her. But before she can even think of the appropriate indignant response, he's already slashing into her mech again.

Afterwards, she does find that response. "Arghhh! You're infuriating!" Getting angry tends to lead to pilots making mistakes, but in the case of Puru Two, it actually helps. With a sudden quick motion, a Beam Saber flashes to life in the Qubeley's hand, intercepting the incoming missile by slicing it in half before impact.

Obscured by the resulting smoke, she planned to strike back immediately, but that's when Genobee intervenes, the explosions and shrapnel of the Dual-Face's grenades blasting back the red mobile suit. Alarms blare in the cockpit, but Puru Two silences them. She can't withdraw, not without causing these things some significant damage, or her allies could get overwhelmed.

Oddly enough, she sounds calmer when she speaks again: "Heh... you know, you're right. I guess I'm not at my best today. But even if I don't win this one..." Suddenly, the Funnels are back, flashing by at a much increased speed from before, sharply increasing the already high difficulty of tracking them. "...I'll at least give you something to remember me by!"

The Funnels' behavior is completely different now. During their previous attacks, they relied on simultaneous fire from several angles. Now, they swarm the Strayed and Dual-Face, at speeds that make it seem like they're in several places at once: even though there's 'only' twelve in total, it's easy to mistake the number as twice that. Whereever one looks, there always seems to be a Funnel there, ready to fire. Is there any escape?

Discreet is the feeling of annoyance that burns in Lemon's chest. The more she engages with this Numbers girl, the more she finds precious time being lost. She wanted to see that Wodan has made progress--his actions speak of something, she just isn't sure what. And Echidna--

Gritting her teeth faintly, Lemon just lets the O.O. rifle lower from hip level as Arian quips back. The gun she produces is impressive, yes, but it is by no means on par (in her opinion) to the Weissaber's O.O. Still, it's a threat nonetheless.

"Then show me what you can do. Actions, they say, speak louder than words."

The rifle lines up on the black and white D.C. unit, but the dragoon simply evades as the shot is fired. Swerving sharply to the side, thanks in part to her simply killing the thrusters and relying on an only-slightly painful descent, the Weissaber barrelrolls before its thrusters kick in. And when they do so the Halberd Shooter is aimed at the Raptor, its prongs open and a /lot/ of energy gathered.

"I am tired of playing games. I think it's time we end this."

And then the Halberd Shooter fires ...a lot of energy.

The Amenthes and the Gespenst are in a deadly dance through the sky... Rio sees the Amenthes aiming the rifle, and fires a cloud of missiles to try and obscure her position... But it's too late. Critical damage alarms go off... Rio growls and clenches her fist on the control stick. "Dammit..." But it's no use getting herself killed. The Gespenst starts to head out of the area to rendezvous with Alpha Numbers ships in case Aidonius _does_ fall.

Rio spies the Amenthes likely doing the same. "Least I got him, too..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Shit. I need an extraction."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Aoba Tsuzaki shrieks over the sound of metal tearing, "Kyaaaaa!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Echidna Iisaki says, through static, "Angelg is damaged but still operational."

A few beats after his own Drill Boost Knuckles impact the Type-3, Wodan throws up what remains attached of Thrudgelmir's arms to defend against Sanger's own drills. They bite into the Special Unit's limbs, burrowing into them and spraying tremendous clouds of sparks into the air as they tear through armor.

Luckily for the masked man, Sanger's do not penetrate quite as deeply or as quickly as his own did. Although he's still wrestling with them by the time the Type-3 comes charging in, its chest aglow, they've only penetrated about halfway into the Special Unit's arms.

Unfortunately for Sanger, Thrudgelmir's fists beat him there; the two projectiles, drills still attached, come swooping in past him to redock with the white machine's hands a few moments before Sanger's dive can take him there.

In one smooth motion, Wodan sweeps his arms past each other; the drills still mounted on his fists impact the drills burrowing into his arms, and the bad drills are torn free, spinning away into the air.

That's all the time he has, though, before Sanger is upon him, chest thrust out. Wodan lets out a snarl of fury--

-- and then the sky fills with light as the Omega Blaster fires, blasting a column of brilliant energy up into the sky. It's tough to tell exactly what happens, because looking directly into the blast is a lot like looking directly into a really bright light; it's stupid, and you should feel dumb.

What /is/ clear is that when the light fades, Thrudgelmir is simply... gone. Perhaps Sanger's attack obliterated it entirely...?

Ha ha, no, seriously though.

The sudden (if slight) drop in light level is even more noticable after the Omega Blaster... and it isn't hard to find the source. High in the sky, floating before the sun, is a humanoid figure...

"I am Wodan! Wodan Ymir!"

Thrudgelmir, little more than a black silhouette with the sun at its back, lifts its now drill-free right hand, fingers spread. Purple lightning erupts from the limb, raking across the Special Unit's shoulder, tearing the crossguard of its Colossal Blade free from the armor. The hilt, almost as tall as the machine itself, snaps out of the weapon's guard as it is maneuvered into Thrudgelmir's hand, and an instant later the blade erupts out of the weapon, a swirling torrent of liquid metal that solidifes into what is known, colloquially, as a sword so large that it is literally retarded.

"The Sword of Magus!"

The drills on Thrudgelmir's back roar to life, and the machine dives out of the air towards the Type-3, its Zankantou held above its head. Lightning streams from its eyes as its robotic mouth opens, bellowing a wordless, mechanical roar across the battlefield, even as its pilot cries out;

"Zankantou Shippu Dotou!"

"CHEEEEESTOOO!"

Thrudgelmir and Wodan both roaring, the machine brings its weapon down in a massive, two-handed, overhead strike. Whether it hits Sanger and goes through him or misses, the machine continues downwards, its blade biting into the ocean with such force that it causes what can only be described as a tsunami.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Puru Two transmits, "Hehe, s-sure showed them... but something tells me this isn't going to go quite as planned."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Sorry that I could not be more use to you guys."

The NEXT floated down slowly to look more at level with the Gundam. It rested the assault rifle gently against its shoulder as it floated there effortlessly. That visor glow just 'staring' at Puru Two. There was no words from the pilot, just sheer calmness as he watched her perform her next attack. In that critical moment the visor started to glow, as the pilot within was focusing as the funnels released; Flying toward him at speeds his NEXT flew.

He was just waiting, and like slow motion he lowered down the assault rifle, before taking aim and opening fire. He was going to move at the last minute. That is all he had to do; Just move at that very last critical...

"R!" Nell's voice suddenly yelled over his radio.

<<"GAH! Damnit Ne-- SHIT!">> That critical moment just passed him, as when he should have moved, he /damn/ operator had to distract him and the blasts shredded into his NEXT. No primal armor up, nothing protecting the armor... It about torn it apart.

Armor pieces went flying, cooling units impacted and the pilot within--

The pilot within let out a yell in pain, before the NEXT flew back and slammed into the ground. The dirty kicked up into the air, before there was a cough heard, before the gears could be heard grinding. The NEXT was rising to its feet. <<"..nell..">> His voice said calmly, though in great pain as the mech walked out from the dust, before reaching down to pick up the assault rifle. <<"..don't ever..">> He then snapped the clip back in correctly, before clicking the side of it as if reactivating something. <<"..do that again.">>

Nell's voice was soft, "..I'm.. I'm sorry.. are you alright? Your vitals are low.. you probably should.."

<<"I'll be fine.">> Then suddenly that NEXT stared at Puru two, before its foot skid back. The thrusters started to hum to life as the Over boosters then opened up as well. Then in just a few seconds the NEXT was fighting the thruster building before he let it rip and heading right toward the Gundam to tackle it directly in the air, <<"RRRRAAAHHH!!!">>

The Amenthes suddenly finds herself plummeting downwards to the ground once more. "Did we get her?" Ascian coughs, his body suddenly feeling painful. "Acknowledged." Duat replies. "But sir... the SSA is failing." Ascian growls. "Tssk... I got it Duat." He sends out a request for assistance, and within seconds a dropship falls from the sky to intercept the featherfalling Orbital Frame.

"I can't believe we still get taken out this easily. I must improve as a pilot." When the unit settles down on the roof of the unit, the Orbital Frame gets directly launched into the direction of Afrika, where he knew that the Earth Cradle was awaiting his arrival. "Sir?" Duat inquires. Ascian just shakes his head. "It's alright Duat. It's just irritating. I can't see to beat these aces. I need to find someone. Someone who can teach me to be better. Because as much as combat experience seems to be giving me a slow improvement in reaction times, it's just not good enough."

Their work done, the grenade launcher's disengage, their barrels disconnecting and folding back to their readied state. And then they come, again. The Funnels.

It is like a horrible, Birdemic, save for the birds are not in actuality birds at all, but rather a half dozen little laser bits that seem to make themselves appear at three times that number! He cannot seem to out-maneuver a single one, no matter the direction he jukes or evades towards, there is one waiting for him to wander into it's shot. The Dual-Face's heavy armor is oblitorated, pounded again and again by laser fire, stripped away to reveal the machine's skeletal frame beneath the heavy layers. It is left in tatters and scrap, but it is left standing.

He finds her, even as R roars forward, riding as overboost deep into her personal space.

His approach is so much less personal, the rifle leveling towards her once more, finding her in it's crosshairs. His eyes narrowed with focus, his finger nestling over the trigger. R was so flashy, she should be focus on him. Which way would she move to evade, where would she escape to, left, right, down, up? He tried to dforce his mind to move that one, crucial heartbeat ahead. His finger squeezed the trigger, hammering a bullet down the barrel out into the sky. Not to where Puru was, but wehere she could be in just a heart beat from now.

"He was not a villain!" Aoba pauses and thinks that over. "W..well, not -really-! It was for a good cause. He... um..." Oh jeez, how to put this. "I don't understand it enough to explain it right now! B.. but he made himself a bad guy for the sake of the world!" Aoba's gaze falls. "Besides... he was really nice." The Cognate sniffs softly, closing her eyes. No, she's not going to cry over something like this. Rui will make so much fun of her. "Wha..? No, I don't want to steal it!" Snapping her head up again, Aoba stares out at Mazinger. "I.. I mean it would be the coolest thing ever to pilot it sometime, but that's it! I could never give up my Moribito!" It's been taken away from her too many times already!

"G..going out?" Aoba's eyes widen, and a tinge of red comes to her cheeks. "Me? Um.. but I... have a boyfriend." A nervous giggle still escapes her though. "Sorry.. he'd be really upset!"

The cannon shell fires... and misses. It strikes th eground a long distance away in a giant explosion of sand and earth. She's tried to be a better marksman, but it's -hard-! "What?" As Mazinger Z looks up, Aoba glances up as well. "What is that?" She's never seen the Jet Scrander before! But as it links to Mazinger, and as th e-theme song- is heard from -somewhere-... Aoba once more gets stars in her eyes. "Th.. that's... so... awesome!"

Pause. "U..um! Like I said, I can't! But...!" But she has to get her head back in the game! As the sword swings down, Aoba quickly throws up her right arm. The rifle is in her left, and there's no way to quickly draw the blade again... so the shield will have to do!

...the shield that was heavily damaged earlier in the fight. CRASH! Bits of shield go flying everywhere as the remains of it just shatter to pieces. The arm manages to withstand the first attack... but the diagonal strike cuts deeply along Morobito's torso, and the third slash tears a deep gouge along the robot's hip. "Kyaaaaa!"

The Jinki drops down to one knee, and Aoba slumps slightly in her harness, breathing heavily. "That..." A quick glance at the damage readout tells her what she fears. Moribito might not last much longer in this fight. But... wait. There's... something tugging at the back of her mind. "Where... aha!"

Off in the distance, a round object approaches! A crimson light glints off of it as it flies, coming closer and closer. "I... won't.. give up...!" Gritting her teeth, Aoba straightens up, forcing Moribito to its feet. "Alpha Ball!" The Jinki takes a staggering step backwards, then leaps into the air. "Elnie-style..." As that object flies closer and closer, it appears to be... a giant soccer ball? Thrusters fire, and Moribito flips over in the air, performing a perfect bicycle kick. "SHOOOOOOOOOT!" As soon as foot hits ball, it's instantly accelerated, driving straight toward Mazinger Z.

"And..." Before landing, as soon as it's upright, Moribito ejects a small putt of metallic chaff from a port between its shoulders. A great deal of mental energy begins to build up around the Jinki, pulsing outward from the cockpit.

"PHANTOM!"

Thrusters fire, and as soon as Moribito's foot touches the metal chaff... it vanishes. Or, at least, it seems to vanish. Rather than teleporting, it simply accelerates to incredible speeds, moving faster than the eye can see for just a split second... but all that speed is being directed right toward Mazinger Z, as the Jinki seeks to impact it right after the soccer ball!

The shot goes wide. Arian's eyes go wide, teeth clenched while a tightness forms in her chest. "Shit!" is the first word out of her mouth. Tilting the control sticks inward and thrusting both arms forward, the Raptor's flight unit blazes to help push the machine further off into the air, toward the Weissaber. The railgun is stowed, just long enough for the right hand to hold the closed dagger, almost protectively...

... and then the beam comes down on her.

The left arm swings up and around in a defensive pose, the beam /SLAMMING/ into the Raptor head-on. It lurches backward as she struggles to hold on, pushing against it, feeling the strain in the arm as armor starts to rip and tear away. And yet--

-- it continues to charge, in spite of this. The forearm is torn away to the very chassis, snapping off and erupting into a stout burst of flame, the explosive force consigning the removed hand to the seas below, but Arian-16 continues to charge straight in.

"One... more... strike!!"

The left arm swings away. The hand shifts, and the combat dagger flips open as Arian seeks to break right into that dead zone where a rifle's length becomes the ultimate /disadvantage/-- and she thrusts that knife forward, aiming to drive it into the right-hand side of the Weissaber's neck...

... and then /rip/ it across! James Heller totally not on Roboroids! He fights clean man. Really he isn't on them and he replies to Naoto.

"Heh, fine."

HE counter attacks with his blade but this time WHAM! ROCKET PUNCHES slam into the Valsion Kai. A lesser unit would have been destroyed by this point. But the damage is horrible. Stil his machine staggers onwards a bit longer.

The assault from Ringo's ship he's commanding, the Impact Canons score a direct hit, the salvo hit.

"The ... hell how did?! /NEWTYPE/."

James is still trying to weather the storm when here comes Rai/ intent to ruin his day.

"Too true and the Gespenst tends to draw the most dangerous pilots in it's world to drive them!"

Raiu then does a whole lot more damage with the m90. The Valsion is starting to slow down it may not have much longer before it goes down or it's forced to flee. Still it grips the blade two handedly and in a shocking feat of agiulity rushes his foes, Naoto wouild find himself the first victem as the massive sword comes down at him three times, before the super is on the move agian. It's barreling down on Rai, now and he swings again trying to lop the Gespenst in two. Finally? He leaps with a full thruster assited flight right for the Kurogane, and is going to try to run the blade along the hull of th ship!

"WHAT'S YOUR MAN GOT TO DO WITH ME!?" Koji shouts back at Aoba.

Proximity sensors light up within the Pilder. "Wh-what!?" he sputters, focusing his eyes on the round object quickly arriving. "What is that!?"

It's a giant soccer ball! And the Jinki is using it as a power-up! Duh!

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit..."

The soccer ball cracks against Mazinger Z, rendering a tremendous dent in its mighty chest. It's thrown through the air, limbs trailing behind it. "Damn it!" Koji swears again. He's frantically working at the systems, trying to regain control. "Come on!! Come on Mazinga!!"

Another proximity alert! The Jinki is charging right after Mazinger.

"GODDAMN!" Koji howls.

The sound is deafening.

Crush on crush??

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Koji yelps as he, and Mazinger Z, are sent straight through one of the Institute's facilities. Super Alloy limbs turn concrete and metal into powder. Support structures give and suddenly, the roof is beginning to creak.

Mazinger Z is on the ground. Koji is wincing, his goggles cracked and a trickle of blood running down from his forehead over his eyes. "Come on... Mazinga Zetto...!!" He struggles, the systems are sputtering and the roof is caving!

"I just need to..."

The opening made by Mazinger Z, for the moment, is there. Koji does his best to calibrate the Pilder's targeting systems for it. Mazinger's arms raise, its sword clutched on by its blade and grip.

"ROCKETTO PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCH!!!!"

The attack was a success. He can see its shattered visor and the face underneath. For a moment, he has to wonder: Bian Zoldark, did you design yet /another/ femmebot for some distant relative? He wouldn't put it past the man behind the Valsione. A father's love for his daughter is undeniable, but sometimes it can go a little too far. At any rate, he can muse all he wants about the strange hobbies of that strange, magnificent man after he deals with... All of this.

It strikes him that the Angelg took a Boosted Rifle to the face and hasn't quite lost it yet. It seems that he'll have to use a bigger weapon. And, with the number of 'Divine Crusader' ships occupying the waters around the island, there is no better weapon to deal with this invasion than /that./

<Radio: Kurogane> Ringo, launch the G-Impact Cannon.

The Huckebein's engine whirrs in protest. It's starting to run low on power, but it has enough for one shot. But something seems strange. That enemy machine hasn't yet moved. Why--

Why are its arms drawn back?

Ratsel's eyes go wide as he realizes just what's going on. He can't see it, but /something/ is there. Something he needs to not get hit by. The Huckebein lurches sideways just as the invisible arrow is released. It passes through where Trombe used to be, and disappears into the wild blue yonder. Whether it dissolves harmlessly or gives someone on a distant planet a very bad day some five hundred years from now is up to how deadly Shadow Mirror Technology truly is.

<<--The Kurogane-->>

A burly man grunts as he finally lifts the last fuel cell into the G-Impact Cannon's delivery system. The crew has gotten used to living in the relatively relaxed, if still somehow intense atmosphere of the Kurogane. It's their home, and as long as they do their jobs well, they are more than able to wear whatever they like. In this case, the engineer named William has come to work in a kilt. Nobody bats an eye.

He nods as the G-Impact cannon is lifted and hauled off to the catapult by the one of the Kurogane's hangar cranes. It lands with a 'WHAM' on the platform as the capacitors build power for launch. A moment later, and the massive weapon is on its way out of the hangar. The breeze stirs William's kilt, and a nearby technician, wearing a rather conservative blouse begins blushing vivid crimson as she realizes, mouth hanging open--

That when William wears a Kilt, he /wears a kilt./

<<--Aidonus Island-->>

The G-Impact cannon roars across the battlefield! Ratsel's smirk curls upward somewhat as he sees it approach. His attention goes briefly to the navigation system as he lays out just how he wants his weapon to approach. It involves slamming right into the Angelg, in preparation for the ensuing gravitational shockwave. The weapon collides with a /WHANG/, slamming into the Angelg's shoulder as it flies upward, docking with the Huckebein's waiting arms. Reticles line up as the gravitational shockwave generators whine with incredible power!

Violent quantum bullshit leaks in harsh anti-light from the weapon's barrel. The shot is heard- or rather, un-heard as the sudden gravitational pulse disrupts all sound in the surrounding area- around the battlefield as it fires. But one thing carries- one voice!

And that is: "FIRE, TROMBE! With this power, divide the battlefield! G-IMPACT CAAAAANNNNOOOOOON!"

<Radio: B - Trailer Secure> R transmits, "Genobee-- What is your status?"

<Radio: B - Trailer Secure> Genobee transmits, "Systems at Twenty-Six Percent. Still Combat-Ready."

<Radio: B - Trailer Secure> R transmits, "I am getting orders from Crest to pull out. I suggest you follow the same. Don't push yourself to hard."

<Radio: B - Trailer Secure> Genobee transmits, "Acknowledged. Withdrawing."

"Ah, have I overdone it?" Lemon wonders as the Raptor reels from the assault, its arm snapped off and a smoldering mess where the stump remains. Smiling faintly, the woman's gaze hoods slightly as she observes the damage done. "No, it is simply an inferior unit to my Weissaber. Or any Crusader technology, really."

But Sixteen just won't give up.

"I would applaud your courage and perseverance if I weren't in a mood right now," Lemon insists, seizing the Weissaber's controls as she focuses on the other, incoming unit. Charging. Really? Such a mundane and brutish tactic!

The combat dagger attempts to rip the neck of the Weissaber--and its connected head--off. However, the dagger is intercepted by the Halberd Shooter's closed prongs, parrying the attack. Lemon's lips pull into a tired smile. "Ah, I lied last time. Now we end this--"

The O.O. rifle is withdrawn once more. At point blank. Several initial shots fire, to push Arian's unit back. Only once she gets space does the large port on the rifle charge...before firing a blueish black gout of pure beam with enough energy that could very well raze a small village in its wake.

"Forgive me, but I am in no mood for games today."

One of the problems of firing off both rocket fists at once is that if you don't knock your target down or something like that, you leave yourself open to getting slashed up by divine blades. This, as anyone can tell you, is not fun. Still, the damage isn't too bad. Vavel's armor is doing a good job of keeping up with the Valsion Kai's attacks, even if his plan to knock the blades aside with the returning assault knuckles didn't quite work out. As soon as they reattach to the Meganite's arms, though, Naoto goes right back on the offensive. He falls back to the ground. "I'm not done with you yet!" he shouts, propelling Vavel toward the Valsion Kai with the Gigantic Booster again. Once he reaches a certain distance from it, the reason he dropped back to the ground becomes clear as he changes direction and flies upward, spinning fist-first at James's machine. "Shoryuken!"

This was Puru Two's last ditch effort, and she knows it. The most that she could still accomplish here was to make sure that the Trailers would be in such awful shape that they wouldn't be very likely to consider causing more headaches for the rest of the DC. Either way, after this she was done, one way or the other.

Naturally the enemy would prefer it to be the other way. The Strayed's sudden rush was surprisingly straightforward, but after focusing so much of her mental energies into making the Funnels go overtime, she can't react to it quickly enough. While the Qubeley makes a motion to dodge, it's just a fraction of a second too late, and it gets clipped in the side, knocking it violently through the air.

And right into the path of the Genobee's rifle. It doesn't take a Newtype to know what's going to happen next. As a final farewall, she sends her Funnels to dive-bomb into the Dual-Face, before the mobile suit takes the slug in a critical area.

A violent explosion rocks the Qubeley, sending it spiralling away in the direction it originally came from, back towards the water, trailing thick black smoke all the way. Hopefully those Killer Whales are standing by for pickup, she's gonna need one.

Oh.

Fuck.

The Thrudgelmir appears; it appears in a flash of light, as the Special Unit's massive Zankantou suddenly expands from its own arm, as Wodan begins to do his dramatic speech that resounded in Sanger's ears with so much familiarity and yet was not his own. The sword of Magus suddenly comes blazing towards Sanger - and Sanger Zonvolt does not hesitate, not even for a single, solitary instant.

Sanger's hand goes to the controls as the arms of the Grungust reattach. The computer finishes rerouting power; the Omega Blaster, burned out, is no longer a factor. Fingers close around the Zankantou's hilt as the liquid-metal blade expands around the katana in a move that perfectly matches Wodan's own, transforming the once-proud Samurai blade into a European broadsword, bringing Sanger's german heritage in line with his samurai beliefs. Sanger's eyes flash; he meets the Grungust head on, a flash of light erupting at the point of impact in a single instant so fast that even the two Sangers might have trouble following its path.

There is stillness; no movement, though above them the clouds have erupted into rings to let light shine down upon their aerial battlefield. There are no words; no sound fills the air for an instant except the ringing of steel on steel that has already passed long ago.

And then the face of the Grungust Type-3 cracks, a deep cut slashing through its face, and oil rolls down its cheek like blood as Sanger's eyes widen in shock.

That was a perfect parry. It was a perfect strike. Wodan's attack was responded to perfectly - and yet it had made its way through, and his own had not. This man, this Wodan Ymir, was even more dangerous than he had suspected. This man was an impossible man.

So Sanger would have to do the impossible.

The Grungust turns in the air, screaming in protest. Sanger's eyes narrow; determination becomes focus becomes the razor's edge, the center of the blade that he would wield to cut down this man who boiled his blood, who sparked a desire to get stronger that he had not known for so long, who incited his rage in a way that no other ever could. This servant of Vindel Mauser...would know his fury.

WODAN YMIR!

The Zankantou is drawn around onto the damaged, sparking shoulders of the Grungust, the finger of the mighty orange machine stabbing towards Wodan's heart in a single declaration. Fire burns from its back, keeping it aloft despite the intense weight of the Ship-Cleaving Sword; Sanger opens the radio channels with a flick of the switch.

I AM SANGER! SANGER ZONVOLT!

THE SWORD THAT CLEAVES EVIL!

The Grungust Sanshiki roars to life once more; the Colossal Blade is brought down to its side, whistling through the air towards its target; Sanger's infamous CHEEEESSSSTOOOOOO kiai echoes over the radio as the Grungust moves towards its foe, oil streaming down its face and away like blood from a wound as fire follows in its wake. This is power, brought to bear above Aidoneus Island; power and skill and raw mastery brought against power and skill and mastery and rage. Would righteous fury overcome mindless rage? Or would mindless rage swallow his fury into nothingness?

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"ICHIIIIIIMOOONJIIIIIIII GIIIIIIIIIIRIIIIIIIIII!"

The shot from the Kurogane strikes true, as Ringo smirks...

However, James' return fire was not unexpected, neither were his words. "Yes, I am. It's not something I broadcast about myself, because unlike the rest of Zeon, I don't think myself above any other guy." Ringo says, as the drill of the ship starts to spin. There was only one way...

The beam covers where the ship was...

But, unbegnownst to James, Ringo had decided to dive.

Without warning, the Kurogane would burst through the surface of the earth, right under James. "TIME TO RETURN THAT TO HISTORY!" Ringo shouts, as a button was pushed and the G-impact cannon was launchted towards his commander.

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The orange machine surges towards its blue-and-white counterpart, power about to explode across the stage. The only question above Aidoneus Island is thus: who would win this confrontation? Sanger Zonvolt, the Sword That Cleaves Evil...or Wodan Ymir, The Sword Of Magus?!

"WAGA ZANKANTOU NI TATENU MONO NASHI!"

Echidna Iisaki manages to get another flaming shot off as Ratsel prepares his own shot. She is trying to get it inside the barrel, to interrupt the charge sequence of the G-Impact Cannon, but the physical impact of the cannon against her threw her shot off; it goes wide.

Angelg is caught full in the blast and apparently starts to disintegrate. Armour plating starts to peel off the front, pulling it up and away with squealing noises while the frame starts to compress inward. It struggles, using the small shield on it to cover where the cockpit must be - dead center in the chest - even as the shield compresses and expands and twists into an unrecognizeable chunk of metal.

When the gravitational shockwave clears, Angelg is no longer there. Several black twisted plates from its frame have fallen into the water like deranged abstract art; the shield is on top, twisted into a shapeless mass. The machine itself, however, is just gone.

Elsewhere, Echidna breathes out for the first time in four minutes. Angelg's teleportation is not really meant to be used like that, and certainly not while physically under attack - wherever she went, she is not coming back for some time.

The impact is enough to rattle Aoba as well, but it seems Moribito comes out of it fine... there's not a dent on it. Er... just those giant slashes and tears from the swords. "I.. I'm sure you're really nice and all, but..." Aoba pauses. "...would I get to pilot Mazinger, just once?" No! Bad Aoba! Don't be tempted! Just because the robot is awesome!

Focus. Taking a deep breath, the girl closes her eyes, just briefly. The Jinki-scaled soccer ball goes flying off into the distance... likely to return from whence it came. It's got a long way to go, but who knows the limit of telekinetic soccer balls? "Right..." Blue eyes open... and Aoba gasps as she sees not one, but two rocket punches heading her way! "Whoah!" With sparks shooting from its damaged armor, Moribito-02 still manages to leap back quickly, falling back... and lifting a leg to kick up at the flying fists and sword. The foot knocks them enough to make them arc upward and away, and both of the Jinki's arms reach back to catch it before it hits the ground. A quick boost from the thrusters, and it finishes its backflip.

"I'm really, really sorry..." She doesn't specify whether that apology is for the date or for what she's about to do, though. "But..." As soon as Moribito's foot touches the ground, that speed kicks in again, and the Jinki is suddenly -right there-, though this time it isn't just ramming into Mazinger. Instead, it reaches out with its right arm to take hold of the other robot's shoulder. "Hissatsu!" The left hand curls into a fist, and sparks of crimson and gold begin to run across the armor to gather in the hand.

"BEAT--" The left fist slams forward in a punch to Mazinger's center of gravity, then pulls back again, fingers uncurling.

The left hand drives forward again in a flat palm thrust, unleashing an immense telekinetic force upon impact. "--BREAK!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Echidna Iisaki transmits, "Retreated."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Puru Two transmits, "...uh. Yeah. Retreated. Into the water. I might need a little push here."

Puru TYwo's last nail is not quite enough to seal what would be Genobee's coffin. It does much ton discourage his continued aggressions however. Systems scream inside the confines of his cockpit, diagnostics displaying in a annoying shade of paniced red.

<<"Withdrawing.">> he announces plainly, veering his machine away and back towards dry land to give his over-taxed thrusters a much needed break.

Would I get to pilot Mazinger, just once?

"WHAT!?"

Koji howls back, incredulous.

"GIRLS CAN'T PILOT MAZINGA! IT'S FOR MEN! YOUR OVARIES WILL EXPLODE!"

Already on the floor, Mazinger Z is an easy target for Aoba.

The telekinetic force drives Mazinger -through- the floor of the now-flattened Institute building, sending it deep into sub-basements upon sub-basements.

One of the Jet Scrander's wings is bent, the other completely shorn off. Worse, Mazinger is disarmed.

But not defenseless.

"Nnghh.." Koji groans. His hand shakily reaching for a button, his vision fuzzy and tinged with his own blood.

A door on Mazinger's belly flips open, revealing the red tip of a warhead.

Okay, so it's from the belly and not the groin. But it's close enough, okay! SYMBOLISM.

"MISSILE PAAAAAAAAAAAANCH!"

The rocket fwooshes out of the launch bay, spiralling off toward the Moribito.

Mazingers are for men.

Not girls.

The knife stops dead in the strike-- and Lemon has the upper hand, in one of those moments where if the camera were set at exactly the right angle she would be able to say 'just as planned.'

Arian sucks in air between her teeth as she reels the control sticks backward. The cockpit's managed to hold together admirably, hell, the whole /Raptor/ has managed to hold together pretty well under the stress that she's put the machine through, but Lemon's got a bit of an upper hand on her here... as well as both arms.

"Don't underestimate a Boosted Child!!"

Releasing the knife entirely, the YF-22 swings an arm over it's shoulder to grab the assault rifle once again. With no real control or regard for aim, bullets and grenades firing in a continual and violent mess of violence and chaos, but it doesn't do her a whole lot of good. Not when...

O.O. is comin' to get'cha.

The beam engulfs bullets, grenades, and Raptor alike, the shot powerful enough to vaporize armor and otherwise annihilate most machines in it's wake. It carves a line through the ocean behind it, cutting a strip all the way up to the Aidoneus coastline...

... and then the Raptor bursts out of it-- more or less. The right arm is likewise missing, the head unit split open like an over-ripe melon. The chest is torn and sundered, and the machine drops to the sandy beach with a clamorous noise; sand and water erupt alike at the point of impact.

Arian-16 shifts after a few moments pass. She cracks open her right eye, blood splattered over the left side of her face, forcing her eye to remained closed.

"... damn it..."

The NEXT looks beaten, worn, and electricity is flicker from time to time over its form. The cooling reactors to help keep in the Kojima field was also starting to fail; or the Pilot himself was having a hard time controlling it at this stage in the ball game.

Nell's voice then rang up once more, "R. I am being told by Crest for you and Genobee to leave the area. You both have assisted the federation forces enough."

The pilots makes a soft tsk sound, <<"There is still targets to fight, we can't..">>

"R-- its an order from the higher ups. Not the techs."

<<"Fine. Switch me over to radio frequencies.">>

"Right."

The NEXT then looked over to Puru two, at least where she fell, before it then moved over near where her unit was. It then stared down at her for that moment, before he watched Genobee take his leave. That visor optic then looked down at her once more before it flickered softly. Then the NEXT took its leave; Head back home to the pick up point as instructed.

The NEXT looks beaten, worn, and electricity is flicker from time to time over its form. The cooling reactors to help keep in the Kojima field was also starting to fail; or the Pilot himself was having a hard time controlling it at this stage in the ball game.

Nell's voice then rang up once more, "R. I am being told by Crest for you and Genobee to leave the area. You both have assisted the federation forces enough."

The pilots makes a soft tsk sound, <<"There is still targets to fight, we can't..">>

"R-- its an order from the higher ups. Not the techs."

<<"Fine. Switch me over to radio frequencies.">>

"Right."

The NEXT then looked over to Puru two, at least where she fell, before it then moved over near where her unit was. It then stared down at her for that moment, before he watched Genobee take his leave. That visor optic then looked down at her once more before it flickered softly. Then the NEXT took its leave; Head back home to the pick up point as instructed.

The Valsion Kai finally comes for Raidiese in his Gespy, and it finds Raidiese prepared. Rai doesn't try dodging to the left or right; He's sure the pilot would expect that. Instead, his machine leaps into the air, thrusters carrying it up above the towering machine as the Valsion obliterates the ground where the Gespenst 4 was standing. Inside, Rai has come to the same conclusion that James has: The Valsion is in bad shape, and needs to be brought down fast, before its pilot gets desperate and starts causing reckless destruction.

"You still don't understand," Rai says calmly to Jame's last comment about dangerous pilots. "The machine and the pilot...Allow me to show you what I have learned. Come Mk.IV...Let us show him..."

The Gespenst hovers in the air for just a moment before Rai flips everything into reverse. The thrusters that were holding it in the air suddenly flip around, adding to the pull of gravity as the machine rapidly plummets to the ground. The machine twists in the air, one leg pressed forward to lead its rapid decent as it flies down like a meteor, crashing towards the ground, aiming to slam the whole weight of the machine, powered by its flight thrusters, straight through the back of the Valsion as James pulls away.

"The Gespenst Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!"

"R.. realy?!" Aoba's eyes go wide. "That would really happen? How do you know?" Maybe she.. believes him? It's a scary thought, anyway! Even scarier... how did he find this out?

Steam and sparks rise from the left hand as Moribito pulls it back from the impact. "N...now. Can we stop fighting? Please? I thin--" The Cognate cuts herself off as she sees the missile. "Wh... hey, put that away!" It begins to launch...

...and Moribito-02 is not there anymore, having kicked off and seemingly vanished again. The missile flies up and, thankfully, away from the Jinki, and Aoba lets out a relieved breath. "Don't spring that on me suddenly!" It was scary! Rather than landing again, the Moribito remains hovering in the air. "Now.. just stay down, okay?" Sparks flow over the Jinki's arms again, and both hands are drawn back together. The sparks jump from its fingertips this time, collecting into a large sphere of Rebound Electron particles in its hands.

"Rebound...." Both hands are thrust forward, sending the sphere of crackling particles hurtling downward, which looks absolutely nothing at all like a particular common fighting move. "PRESSURE!"

"My mistake initially was underestimating you; however, you have proven yourself more than enough, young lady," Lemon replies, her words again laced with the faintest hint of humor. "Still, I really wish I didn't have to deal with you right now. I was very busy..."

The Raptor reaches for its rifle in an attempt to counterattack. However, by this time Lemon has already locked and loaded, firing off several shots before completely consuming the Raptor in a massive gout of high-power beam force. The Alpha Numbers unit goes flying for miles, parting the seas from sheer force like Moses.

When the dust settles, the Raptor is a horrible mess--and out of commission. Nodding her head softly, the Weissaber's pilot dismisses the remains of her Numbers opponent in favor of returning her gaze to the battlefield momentarily. The Angelg is out. Thrudgelmir is still engaged with the Type-3. Hmm.

Rather than stay and be assailed unwanted again, the Weissaber docks its O.O. rifle and turns, thrusters roaring as it ascends to the skies, presumably for a tactical retreat. "I wonder...his intentions...could it be..?" she muses, watching the Thrudgelmir as she departs.

"D'AAAAAAGH!"

Koji spasms in the cockpit of the Pilder. Electricity has leapt out from the controls, enveloping pilot and robot alike. His entire physique shakes, mimmicking the ragdoll movements of Mazinger Z in the crater it's been effectively stomped into.

"I--.. I can't.. g-give up...!" Koji sputters as his body is wracked with pain. His uniform creaking with every movement he makes.

"..There's no staying .. down!"

His eyes are alight with a strange yellow color.

IN THE DISTANCE

Mazinger Z's fists begin to tremble on the ground. They begin to reaffirm their grip on the Mazinger Blade and the rockets within their forearm housings ignite.

IN THE BUILDING

"YOU'VE GOTTA STOP AND I'VE GOTTA BE THE ONE TO DO IT!"

Rocket boosts roar behind the Moribito.

It's Mazinger's rocket-powered fists!

And they're carrying the Mazinger Blade as it swings after the Jinki, seeking to slice just beneath its control module.

Snicker-snack!

James Heller is not going to run away, he stands his ground even as he attemps to fight the others, the reactor's output is being strained but he knew tht would be a possiblity. The W series may be creations of Lemon but they are still Shadow Mirrors and he ain't going to leave Wodan to get dog piled by the guys he's fighting. He looks up there's a huge drill, who let Ringo in a Battleship?! Seriously the guy's crazy enough to drill him like that! Clearly Sanger and not Elzam are contagious!

The Valsion evades by leapin g and landing face first, it's rising as Naoto comes in at him and he brings up the blade and uses it to partially deflect the incomming super robot.

"Heh, you guys are good. You fight better than.... heh a lot of people I met. I got to admit I love this world! You people KNOW HOW TO FIGHT!"

Then there is a disturbance an attack whose origins are lost to everyone save one man known as Gilliam is launched at him. It doesn't matter evil knows on some base level to fear the kick, they know very well to fear it and he doesn't sit still. The Kick is close, so close that it misses by only a few feet and the Valisoin is turning to face it.

"The hell?! So your like him. I should have known."

He takes the divine blade and rushes at Rai, he hacks she slashes and tries to force the other back.

"So you are clearly badass, it's funny your the lucky one you some how surived a black hole didn't you?!"

He pulls away now turning and firing off a twin blast from the Cross Smashers at the warship Ringo is commanding hopefully before it can recover!

As Sanger turns to face Wodan, so too does the masked man turn back towards The Sword that Cleaves Evil. Thrudgelmir lifts its blade out of the water, liquid pouring off of it in thick sheets, and raises it into a ready position as the pilot of the Type-3 begins to cry out his fury.

Amidst the battle still raging around him, Wodan is a pocket of tranquility; he can still feel the tightness in his chest and throat, the fury bubbling underneath, but it's suppressed by his absolute certainty that soon, he will cut down his foe.

Sanger comes screaming down, his Zankantou whipping about furiously. Wodan's own blade snaps up--

The two weapons meet with a sound that is, quite literally, like thunder, or the detonation of a bomb. A shockwave ripples out from the two machines, whipping up another tsunami around them; boats that were already on uncertain footing after the first capsize, rolling over and going belly up. A few Killer Whales are lifted out of the waves entirely, toppling onto their backs or sides; one unfortunately placed one is even flung up onto the shores of Aidoneus Island, its hull crumpling as it lands on the beach.

But in the eye of the storm, Thrudgelmir and the Type-3 are unharmed, their Zankantou locked together.

As Sanger's parry was perfect, so was his strike.

As Wodan's strike was perfect, so was his parry.

Wodan's heart soars; he sees the opening, he need only take it, and Sanger Zonvolt will be--

Wodan's HUD, kept minimal by Thrudgelmir's settings, suddenly stirs to life, filling his screen with... low energy warnings? The soaring of Wodan's heart abruptly becomes a sinking. It has been a long, long time since an opponent has run his tank dry. Sanger cannot defeat him, clearly, but without the Gift of Magus...

Wodan breaks the blade lock with a sudden shove, the drills on Thrudgelmir's back angling down to lift the machine up and away from the Type-3. "Sanger Zonvolt," the masked man rumbles, as he lifts into the air. "You lack the conviction to defeat me. You are... a failure, once and always," he sneers, hands balling into fists.

Thrudgelmir's head turns back and forth to survey the battlefield. The Divine Crusade is...

... losing?

It shouldn't surprise him, he supposes. It is Sanger's fault; his intervention has cost Magus her memorial. Wodan's fists, still balled, begin trembling. Emotion of this strength is another thing he has not faced in a great many years, and he is unsure of how to cope with it... or even to react at all.

"We will meet again, Sanger Zonvolt," Wodan growls. Thrudgelmir turns its back on the Type-3, its zankantou falling out of its hand, once more melting away into a simple crossguard that is manipulated onto its shoulder armor with several arcs of purple lightning.

And then the drills on its back spin up once again. Thrudgelmir dives into the still heaving sea, and, within moments, is gone.

Beating on someone who's already down is -painful- for Aoba to do. She bites her lip nervously as the Rebound Electrons strike, hovering back far enough to touch down on the ground again. "Is that it? Maybe.. maybe it's all over.. finally..." The girl takes a deep breath and glances back. "I hope everyone else is okay."

But then he begins yelling again. "Wh.. wait, why do you have to do it? You'll be in danger if you keep fighting!" She doesn't want to attack him again if he's just going to lie there! But then... "This.. feeling..." Aoba winces slightly as a Very Bad Feeling comes over her. Her bad feelings have -never- been wrong. Slowly, she turns her head, Moribito does the same... and the girl gasps as she sees the sword flying at her. "Moribito!"

Right before the sword hits the Jinki's head, a brief flash of light can be seen, and the blade just... deflects off of seemingly nothing, redirected to the Jinki's shoulder. There's a sickening tearing of metal as the knife slices into and through Moribito's left arm, neatly cutting the limb right off. "I..." Aoba is -certain- she could still fight, but with the left arm severed and the right arm severely weakened, it would be a very bad idea. Grabbing hold of the left arm, the Jinki turns and is nearly bowled over by the shockwave of Colossal Blade meeting Colossal Blade. For a moment, she can only stare in wonder... but then she realizes it would be a very bad idea to stick around. "I... I have to go!" Moribito takes two steps before pausing. "...I hope I didn't hurt you!" And with that, the Jinki runs several more steps before leaping into the air, thrusters carrying it away from the island.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Aoba Tsuzaki transmits, "This is Aoba. I.. I have to pull back."

Shakily, a battered Mazinger Z pokes itself out from the cratered building it had been smashed into. The canopy over the Pilder slides back and a bleeding Koji Kabuto stands up, trembling as he watches the Jinki fly off.

"SO DOES THIS MEAN WE CAN'T HANG OUT SOMETIME!?!?!?!" he hollars into the distance.

"...."

Koji makes a face. "..damn women."

Well, that didn't work out so well. Vavel just sails right past the Valsion, which completely ignores him and goes for Ringo's ship. For some reason, Naoto feels compelled to protect the Kurogane, as he gets the strangest feeling that if it explodes, bad things will happen. "Don't you ignore me!" he transmits to the Valsion, tapping a button on his controller. In a process that only takes a few seconds, Vavel's body transforms. The spikes on its shoulders rotate upward, the stabilizers on its forearms deploy, and the strips of armor that usually conceal its missile launchers flip down and toward its back, becoming vents for the extra heat the Meganite starts putting out as the Alchemic Drive's output increases.

"Vavel, Volcanic Mode, go!" the chairman says to the head next to him, which seems to growl in response. Its fist starts to glow bright red, the energy being channeled into it from the Drive enveloping it in a fiery aura. Vavel aims it at the Valsion like it would for a normal Assault Knuckle, except this time, the rockets are much more powerful. And when it fires, it seems to cross the distance in an instant, leaving a reddish orange trail behind.

"VOLCANIC ERUPTION!"

Debries from the drill proect it from the counter of the monster...and as he turns to level even more gun at James, Ratsel and Sanger declare that the battle was concluded. Ringo, sitting back, nodded to the bridge crew.

"You heard them. Lets pick them up and fall back to the retreat point. Activate the titanic drill...we will submerge once we have them both safely on board."

The ship turns, turning away from the battle, and manuevering to let both units on. Before submerging into the earth and quickly from view

The eye of the storm. The twin machines pushing against each other with all the strength they can muster. The world screaming around them, and Sanger screaming against him. But Wodan's rage is too strong; Wodan's strength is too much, his power is too great. And Sanger knows he's left an opening; he's hoping Wodan will take it, hoping Wodan will mistake it for a fluke-

-...and Wodan either sees through it, or notices his forces losing. Wodan retreats, teling Sanger what Sanger knows; that Sanger is not as strong as wodan, and that soon there will be a reckoning. As Wodan retreats into the sea, so too does the Grungust Sanshiki depart for the Kurogane without a word; they would need to retreat before the EFA decided to stop them and question them, and at the moment, Sanger could not be certain that he would not do something...very foolish.

Wodan provoked such fury in his heart as he had never known. Such drive, such a desire...someone who knew him as well or better than he knew himself, who could cut right through to his heart and dig in as deep as a knife, cutting through his defenses and leaving his mind open and unarmed. Wodan was a master at fighting Sanger Zonvolt.

So Sanger Zonvolt would have to become a master at fighting Wodan Ymir.

Hopefully, Huang Qin Shi would pull through before their next duel...

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "Taken heavy damage, I'm going to pull back"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "I think they hit part of the power systems from the looks of it."

The change in mood over Raidiese when James mentions the Black Hole incident is clear. Before, Rai had been dealing with this professionally, like any other mission. However, James had to say one of those terms that makes the fight personal to Raidiese. That's usually a bad idea. A shadow passes over Raidiese's face, and his eyes narrow just a little bit.

"Black Holes...? You know something about that."

Well now, Raidiese has a new goal. The M90 Rifle is put away, and replaced as a telescopic rifle unfolds into its hands. A massive energy weapon, which looks reminiscent of Balmarian weapons, but is clearly of human design. The Gespenst moves back a few steps, aims the massive CP Cannon at Jame's Valsion, and fires several blasts of energy. The cannon is powerful and fast, and Raidiese fires several focused blasts at the limbs and where he figures the power systems to be. He's not trying to destroy the enemy, but at the same time he isn't playing around anymore, trying to rapidly disable the enemy machine and render James helpless.

"Tell me what you know! Or I'll take the information from you by force!"

James Heller is able to evade naoito's attack he seems to have got a feeling for him.

"I wasn't, kid."

The attck is just stopped cold by the machine's blade but it forces the huge super robot. He's forced back and back from the force of the attack.

"This world isn't the lioving dead. People still are actually alive here."

Then he turns oh hell it's the Gespenst wait the hell why is it behaving like a Balmarian Knight gun?! When did hte Feds back engineer that technology?! The blast hits, it htis bad, the huge super robot is badly damage but the thing /surived/ the hit. IT staggers like a wounded beast and James says "It doesn't matter, heh. I'll be keeping my eye on you. It seems that Sanger has departed I have no more reason to remain another time!"

As the rocket fist returns and James retreats, the tiny video screen on Naoto's controller displays some text, one word, all caps. VICTOLY! The chairman just sighs. So much for punching the Valsion's lights out.