2011-06-02 - Anger Over The Pacific

Go, agains the monsters from space's end! Go! you still heart no one will bend! Aaaand I feel safe knowing you are here A thousands weapons you have Never give up your fight! Uncoooonquerable Adamantium Geeeneraaaaal... GAIDAIZOOOOOR SEVEEEEN!

As the custom Gespenst type-TT darts across the blue, calm plains of the Pacific Ocean, today thankfully even more pacific than usual thanks to mild weather and weak winds, some really old song lyrics can be faintly heard coming fron the cockpit.

Hey, patrol can be a boring job. The Gespie's on autopilot, the radar automatically bleeps as soon as something unusual comes into range, so Ryusei can relax and enjoy some good music.

After being nearly shot down on Mars (or actually shot down, he's not sure if that counts as being shot down or not), he really needs a bit of relax.

Ryusei isn't the only one out for patrols. Ascian, after recent events, has been pulled off of the job of traveling between Mars and Earth to craete better relationships between BAHRAM and the other factions. Instead, he has that same simple job. To scout out the world and find any pesky Federation units that might be floating over their teritory. So... why is Ascian over the North Pacific? That's because he's looking for a fight, that's why! Sure, there is a Divine Crusader submarine nearby he's also supposed to protect, but with his sensors at full range - pinging quite loudly - there is no doubt that this specific Lieutenant is trying to /find/ someone to kick around.

A while ago, he had launched from that very submarine, right along with Seril - who might very well have gone along because she was worried about her Big Brother's behavior. After all, when was the last time she'd seen him cry - yet be so angry? Let alone be so quiet around her. "Seril." Ascian talks through the secure comm-system between the two units.

"I am detecting a Federation unit." That's all. No 'I am going to engage him' or 'let's kick his ass'. Just the statement that he's found someone from the federation. However, what he is planning becomes clear to even someone like Seril, as the two arms behind the Amenthes shift into a set of rifles and its wings spread out all the way to allow for maximum acceleration, driving the Amenthes /into the ocean/, so that he can get beneath the Federation unit and strike from a position where it might be harder to notice that...

AMBUSH ATTACK! Plasma Bolts fire up past the Gespenst type-TT, and the path of assault quickly bends towards his unit, trying to create a nasty pockmark at the bottom of it as it goes straight for the cockpit!

 Ascian Luddite mutters, "Engaging target."

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "I'm right behind you!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Seril, help me kill this bastard of the Federation."

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "He'll feel the burn, big brother. Don't you worry. Yatagarasu! Do what I say! Open your eye *right now*!"

And the shot, coming from just barely beyond the Gespie's radar range, completely catches its pilot by surprise. The first sign that something went wrong is a massive explosion throwing the robot off asset and into the water with a loud roar, bits and pieces of its outer armor being sprayed all around.

"DAMN! DAMN YOU! STUPID RYUSEI! YOU'RE STUPID! AND YOU'RE GONNA BE STUPID AND DEAD! If you don't get more careful!"

Answering to the pilot's commands, the Gespie emerges from the water and draws the Mega Beam Rifle from an unseen compartment, pointing it at... the skies.

"Damn you! Where ar- THERE YOU ARE!" A "suspected hostile" radar reading is enough to earn a laser bolt straight on, regardless of circumstances. It's payback time!

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "If you stay low and I stay high, we'll have the enemy trapped!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "That's right!"

Seril had indeed tagged along out of concern for Ascian. She knows that just being around him can cheer him up, so the awkward girl had been counting on that. It hasn't been working so well, though. She doesn't understand why, either. But when Ascian decided to deploy in Amenthes to chase down a Federation patrol, far be it for Seril to leave him all alone.

Fired from the submarine mobile suit launcher, the Yatagarasu erupts from beneath the surface. It throws out its arms, and inside, Seril shouts, "Yatagarasu! Do what I say! Open your eye! *RIGHT NOW*!" Immediately, that gleaming crimson gemstone slides open. A blast of heat instantly dries the machine, obscuring it in an enormous cloud of steam, from which the Godmachine ascends out of with a beat of its black energy 'wings'.

-My Divine Flame.- -At last you accept your destiny.-

"Shut up!" Seril roars. She's unable to withstand the god's maddened ramblings, whipping her into a frenzy as she ascends. A particle beam strikes the Yatagarasu on its shoulder, sending the Godmachine into a roll and knocking its counterattack wide. Righting herself, Seril grits her unnatural teeth, thrusting her arm downward. Yatagarasu mirrors the action, aiming with its right-mounted arm cannon, "BURN you miserable little insect!" Magic pulses along the weapon, forming into a searing orb of solar plasma at the end, which is hurled down at the Gespenst.

Once again, an attack rocks the Gespenst type-TT from top to bottom.

But it's not just ANY attack. It's more like a glowing towering pillar beam of fuck you you're going to die.

Yeah, one of the worst. Struck head-on, the Gespie flains ineffectively with his weapons, dual-wielding the beam rifle and the machine gun in what might be the general direction of the enemy. The superheated metallic body of the machine vaporizes water where it hits the ocean's surface, stuck in that space between sea and air, pinned by a terrible crossfire.

Ryusei isn't THAT stupid. He knows he has no chance in a gespie against two opponents. All he can do is buy time for reinforcements. Ryusei being Ryusei, he dos so in his own way.

The Gespie's engines roar and launch the battered mass-produces machine in a high jump towards the Yatagarasu. Hardly what anyone would expect from an outdated, outnumbered and outmatched machine.

"SHOW ME YOUR PRIDE, GESPENST TT! OLD PAL OF MINE! SHOW ME! JEEEEET MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!"

The next contact to enter the Northern Pacific zone reads as ... a base jabber?!! The flat platform-like craft is not alone, of course, as it arrives from the southwest. Riding on the platform is the Mitsurugi Group's own TSYF-22 Raptor, carrying about as many rifles on it's person as possible via the hardpoints on it's back. With the skirting armor and the in-set flight systems ready, the ride she's caught is solely for convienence and not burning up her entire fuel supply in-transit.

"This is Arian, I'm on-site!!"

Reaching over it's right shoulder with one hand and left shoulder with the other, the Raptor snaps up a pair of the stout assault rifles and takes aim on both the Amenthes and the Yatagarasu, moments before the skies fill with blazing hot lead!

"Let's rock and roll, y'sons of bitches!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Look out, Seril!"

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "Ow..! He's gonna pay for that..!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "I will take down the one who just interfered!"

The Amenthes continues to rush through the water underneath the Gespenst, and continues its support by firing plasma burst upon plasma burst upon Ryusei. But, much to Ascian's shagrin, he's managing to outmanuever the Amenthes' shots - even whilst concentrating on Seril's Yatagarasu. "Enough!" He mutters, and pushes his hands firmly down upon the half-orb cores of the cockpit, and lifts the Orbital Frame right out of the water and shifts the left arm into a blade; metal shifting, the inner skeleton being pushed to warp further as Ascian unleashes his will on the machine. The bioluminescent glow, normally calm, is rapid and eradic. And he's just about to try and stab Ryusei's unit in the back when suddenly a wave of hot lead comes screaming past through the sky.

"The hell!?" Ascian demands to know, turning his head - a motion the Amenthes follows, as a vid-window is opened, concentrated on the enemy raptor on approach-vector. "More Federation dogs!?" Duat does seem to indicate that an Alpha-Numbers IFF is coming from this particular unit. The wings of the Amenthes stretch, and the unit quickly makes a circle around and between the Yatagarasu and the Gespenst, allowing Ryusei to catch sight of who'd fired at him, before it blasts off - wings almost seeming to 'flap' for a moment, leaving a streak of red ember-feathers dartling in the air behind it.

<"Don't interfere!"> The Divine Crusader Lieutenant calls out over the radio at Arian-16 and has the Amenthes raise both of its arms up. The one that had previous shifted into a blade turns back to a futuristic rifle, before releasing a manic amount of red bullets from it - whilst the other releases more aimed fire - right for the enemy's headunit.

Seril winces when the Gespenst rockets up, its fist connecting solidly with Yatagarasu's stoney armored form. The machine hurls its arms out, forming a circle of stars around its feet which spiral upward in a protective wall of plasma spheres. The entire point is to drive the Gespenst away. Whirling on Ryusei's machine, Seril thrusts her hand out again. Gunshots pepper Yatagarasu, and she suddenly swings the weapon towards an incoming bogey, releasing a lance of solar plasma.

Inside, the girl pants softly, teeth grit against the sharp pain. She shoots a look to one side, at the hazy circular 'screen' showing Ascian's face, then returns herself to the matter at hand, "Right!" The Yatagarasu's arm cannon splits, the six panels sliding apart and flattening out. The mechanism within is exposed only briefly, as the entire arm becomes engulfed in an enormous spike of searing plasma. "If you want to play close, then let's play close! But don't cry if you can't stand the heat!"

Yatagarasu's wings pump once, hurtling it after the Gespenst while it swings with that *enormous* not-quite-a-beamsaber, "I! CAN'T! STAND! CRYBABIES!!"

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "Right!"

Ryusei screams, as the red-hot machine slams into the poor old Gespenst-TT. The ensuing explosion rocks it and sends it spiralling downwards, trailing fire and smoke.

"EEYAAAAAAARGH! NO! NOT AGAIN! NOT LIKE THIS!!!" Suddenly, the horribly damaged Gespie recovers, just barely, just a moment before slamming against the flat surface of the ocean, regaining throttle, blasting back upwards in a second jumping assault!

"YOU MIGHT HAVE FIRE, BUT I HAVE FIST! EAT PLASMA, DIVINE CRUSADERS! SHINING FURY PUNCH... GEEEEEEEEEEEESPEEEENST JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!"

She /did/ manage to hit the flying one that's on fire, but the other one managed to get away clean. The Raptor's left arm jerks around to provide a bit of coverage from the return fire, though it scrapes up some of the forearm and elbow. Arian's gold-colored eyes narrow a moment later. "Tch, Orbital Frames..."

He's going for another shot-- he's aiming-- crap--

The YF-22's left foot lifts up just high enough that the entirety of the base jabber bucks up from behind... and then she /stomps/ it back down, kicking up the front end as the beam from the Amenthes cuts a hostile line her way. It climbs, just a bit, just in time for the shot to blow straight through the bottom of the base jabber... and straight through the /top/. The beam collides with the Raptor at an odd angle, searing a line of heat across the chest and left shoulder... and causing a wickedly large explosion, to boot-- not just on the YF-22, but the base jabber itself.

Falling backward, Arian clenches her teeth and yanks back on both control sticks rather hard. Bursting out of the plume of smoke and flame as the mobile platform goes spiraling out toward the ocean, the teal-haired pilot is cracking a fairly wide grin, because this thing is holding--

"Don't underestimate one of the Boosted Children!"

-- a freaking three-tube missile launcher. And they all fire /at once/.

The Yatagarasu thrusts back, beating its wings twice to keep itself clear of the Jet Magnum. Thrusting out her hands, Seril throws up a second ring of spiralling suns to further deterr the Gespenst's attempts to get close. The spike of plasma from the arm cannon dissipates, and the weapon folds in on itself again with a mechanical hiss and jets of gaseous plasma. Seril considers the spells in her arsenal, quickly settling on one. However, she suddenly decides against it.

She might hit Amenthes.

Yatagarasu backwings again, then folds its wings forward. Plasma erupts behind it, hurtling the godmachine forward as a missile. More searing energy spreads over its protectively folded arms, the edges of its wings, and the rest of the hull, surrounding Yatagarasu with a burning halo. Inside, the girl screams with unrestrained fury, "YOU'RE TOO LOUD! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UUUUUP!!"

Ascian watches the explosion with great joy. "HAH! Take that, Federation dog!" Ascian laughs maniacly. "Hrmmm... huh?" The YF-22 releases itself from the plume of smoke, and Ascian quickly has the unit reverse in direction and scoops upwards to the skies, whilst at the same time those three missiles fire at the same time. <"Tssk... don't underestimate ME!"> Ascian's response to Arian's claim comes, and he flips the Amenthes over backwards in the air - making for a fine corkscrew, after which the unit plunges towards the enemy unit.

The both sword arms deploy, replacing its previous long-range arsenal, and sending the unit into a downwards spiral, he cuts straight through the first missiles, and the second! But the third still manages to impact with the shielded chest of the Amenthes - wrapping it within fire and sharpnel, and cloaking it within a firey and black blast.

But when the dust settles, the Amenthes is still there, its red eyes set firmly on the figure of the YF-22. "Heeeee." Ascian continues to grin his gleeful grin. He's feeling somewhat happy, somewhat de-stressed. Finally. Finally someone to take his anger out on. <"You there! Boosted /kid/. Just sit there and die, will you?!"> It would appear that the Framerunner is back to his previous obnoxious behavior!

The Amenthes then twists in the air again, rushing forwards and spinning into a double-helix for a moment whilst sending a full volley of homing-beam lasers at the enemy unit, attempting to cut right into it from every direction one could possibly get hit from. For an experience jet-pilot, this basically would be Itano-Circus... with lasers instead of Homing Missiles!

 Seril Vaskell audible tooth-grinding, "This loud jerk is pissing me off...!"

 Ascian Luddite hisses, "Just /burn his mouth SHUT/."

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "Not a bad idea! Hold still you twit..!"

GAIDAIZOOOOOR SEVEEEEN! You'll live forever! GAIDAIZOOOOOR SEVEEEEN! You'll never bleed! GAIDAIZOOOOOR SEVEEEEN! Steel is your will! GAIDAIZOOOOOR SEVEEEEN! Huge is your fist! GAIDAIZOOOOOR SEVEEEEN! You're the best that there is!

The Yatagarasu narrowly misses the Type-TT in the confused mess that is melee combat between giant robots flying at roughly the speed of sound in all directions at once, and with the very last bit of charge its jump boosters can muster, Ryusei sends it in hot pursuit.

Just as the Yatagarasu, after its missed pass, turns around.

Therefore roughly multiplying by a billion times their relative speeds. Or, well, it feels like it. You'd need to be a super newtype, or a mind reader, or god, to react effectively at those speeds.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try anyway.

As the acceleration reaches its peak, the Plasma Stakes on the Gespenst's left arm begin to glow again.

"SHOW ME YOUR MOVES!"

And from a hidden compartment in the Gespenst's frame - a glowing green bladed frisbee possessed by telekinetic energy flies forth!

"BURN, MY SOUL! BURN WITH THE FIRE OF BATTLE! BURN WITH THE LIGHT OF VICTORY!"

A raging aura of TK fire gathers around the T-Link Rupper, the Type-TT's custom telekinesis-guided "option". Inside the Gespie's cockpit, Ryusei is screaming all his concentration over the theme music of Gaidaizor Seven, but his mind is crystal clear, only showing himself, the Ripper, and his target.

Still keeping airborne despite the jump jets being completely exhausted, literally kept aloft by Ryusei's fighting spirit (and a small help from the T-Link System, of course), the Gespenst just straight up -RAMS- its remote-controlled gizmo of death in the Yatagarasu.

"MY SOUL SCREAMS! TAKE THIS--- HEAVEN AND EARTH UNITE AS ONE, T-LINK RIPPER DEVASTATION PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCH!"

Funny story: Arian-16 has spent a whole lot of time hanging out on the bridge of the Yingzi, the dreadnaught of a ship, the flying artillery, that was designed and built by Huang Qin Shi and the Federation. What makes this story relevant is that she also has come to know some of Huang's tactics, and understands many of the ideas and tricks behind one of those Itano Circus-style attacks, be it from missiles or be it lasers that start tracking her down.

/That/ is why Arian grins, instead of panics.

The hip-mounted thrusters fire, and with a clever application of physics, the YF-22 /flips backward/ in the sky. They fire again, selective and direct, and the Raptor does not try to dodge or straight-out run away from the assault. Instead, the teal-haired pilot throws everything forward, flying straight /at/ the array of beams as they come in with the full and expressed intent to rip the machine apart.

Beams are dodged, beams are deflected. One strikes the left side of the head, melting or stripping bolts and supports, ripping armor straight off the frame. The pauldron, with the "YF-22" emblem, is virtually turned into frayed bits of scrap, sending the machine twisting around as she continues to charge through the field--

-- continues to charge the Amenthes. "Don't you know?!!"

BGM Interrupt!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYG_ZPJr2Jw

Swinging around the bulk of the AML-99X Railgun, the smell of ozone and the crackle of electricity sounds out as the machine aims to get into point-blank range with the Orbital Frame, to quite nearly /slam the muzzle/ into the Martian machine. There's a distinctly loud *WHAM* when it fires--

"I'M INVINCIBLE!!"

The Yatagarasu spreads its wings after the rive misses, whirling on itself. The Gespenst is right on its heels, and the Godmachine thrusts its arms down to either side. Its entire body becomes engulfed in a truly enormous boiling sphere of plasma, which is hurled foward at a slight downward angle. The angle is wrong, though, as it misses the Gespenst entirely. The blow lands, and the Yatagarasu whirls again. Inside, Seril shrieks with pain, crossing her arms over her chest. Exteriorly, the Yatagarasu mirrors the action, defensively cradling its torso as it falls.

Before it can hit the water, though, Yatagarasu thrusts its wings out, recovering and shooting across the ocean surface, throwing up a rooster tail. Inside, Seril pants, though the sweat beading on her brow is swept away by the near-boiling fluid filling the Yatagarasu's cockpit. "...Pissing me off...! Come on! Give me something!"

-My Divine Flame.- -Let your fury rain from the heavens.-

"SHUT UP!"

And yet, despite that scream of protest, Seril finds herself doing what the Sun God recommended. After all, it *is* a good idea, isn't it? Yatagarasu snaps its wings, then ascends. Hurling the cannon forward, the Godmachine jet-propells itself in the opposite direction iwth a blast of plasma, searing across the sky and leaving a trail of solar energy in the air in its wake. This con-trail coalesces into a cloud of pulsating golden stars.

Coming to a stop, the Yatagarasu raises its single hand, then swipes it downward. An alarm klaxon echoes off the ocean for miles around as the stars react by tripling in size, then raining down on the ocean in a dense swarm.

"YOU WANNA BURN!? THEN /BURN/ IN THE MAKER'S FIRE!!"

 Seril Vaskell hahahahaHAAA HA HA HAAA~! "BURN! /BURN/ in the Maker's fire..!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "GAAAAH... TSKK... WHY THIS..."

The Gespenst, poor old EFA workhorse it is, is almost blasted into nothingness by the force of the blow. As the outer hull begins to melt into slag, only the automatic eject system saves its pilot from a grisly end.

The cockpit is ejected backwards just as the Type-TT explodes in a flash of light, it's burning pieces falling to the ocean leaving trails of smoke.

Inside Yatagarasu, Seril rears back, arms tucked at her sides and then lifted, her fingers curled in cruel talons as she laughs. It's not the laugh of an innocent La Gian girl, but something far more sinister as the scene unfolds before her. The stream of stars descending into the ocean and erupting into enormous geysers of steam. The battered Gespenst erupting into a ball of flames and littering the sea below. The ejection pod, containing its loud pilot. Seril laughs.

Within the core of the Yatagarasu, the god laughs as well.

Turning suddenly, there's a flash of red in her eyes as the girl wheels her Godmachine around to face the duel between Amenthes and the YF-22. She hesitates, though, leaning forward and taking a deep breath. So much magic used to subdue that Gespenst... She can't help but feel the strain. And such, the girl is relegated to float there, looking menacing. Within the machine, Seril leans forward as one does when they're out of breath.

On Ascian's side, the girl lets out a winded-sounding cheer, "You can do it, big brother. I believe in you!" Her eyes ... are still purple. But something doesn't look right. When did she get highlights?

This tactic! No, Arian is not the first to do exactly /this/. But god, this goes way back. See, funny story. When Ascian was still pretty-much an asshole, and a certain man of fire told him to go blow up random cities to make money, he'd decided to attack New York. And there, it had been a certain youth named Maximillian Jenius who had caught him, and used this precise tactic. To just go straight forward - at the Amenthes.

The lasers cut closer, twisting, indeed cutting intot he YF-22 whilst it rushes for the Amenthes. But Ascian doesn't halt! The Amenthes continues on that very same flightpath, trying to meet the raptor right in the middle. Both of its arms shift into blades, and crosses them before itself... then Ascian suddenly thinks better of this tactic and shifts them into hands which stretch out and try to /grab/ the gun! "GRAAAAH!" And as if he were some kind of hot-blooded pilot, without the speakers on, Ascian yells out as he waits for that crash of the two machines!

Grabbing around the weapon, he tries to use the unit's morphing and self-regenatory abilities along with its shields to cancel out the enemy fire, which comes crushing against the hands and sends the Amenthes backwards whilst it is still exuding those homing beams past Arian! Why is he still using those anyhow? He should really have turned those off by now... right? The Amenthes then gets thrown further back as the YF-22 continues to speed along, Ascian's body being throw forwards due to the sudden jerk of momentum, and the belts on his body almost digging into his flesh. But his eyes remain firmly forwards, looking at the enemy unit's cockpit.

And whilst the bolts of the YF-22's cash, right above Ascian's head, and the two units go into a momentary spin down towards the ocean, those homing lasers FINALLY curve back! They are continuous for a reason. <"WELL, THEN STAY HERE AND PROVE JUST HOW INVINCIBLE YOU ARE!"> He calls out through the radio, whilst the homing beams have cut off the path backwards, trapping her within, whilst the gun continues to unload.

Tears form all across the Amenthes as shrapnel cuts into the metal, lashing away at the plyable armor and actually /rips/ one of its arms to pieces as the hand moves too far in front of the nozzle and the shield finally breaks down. Always that god-damned right arm! And those lasers continue on their way back, and would not bend until just against Amenthes' body! And at the same time, Ascian has the remaining hand try to keep grabbing at the enemy unit, raising the shield output up further, and attempts to pull it down into the ocean with it.

Yes...

The homing beams still work in the ocean.

 Seril Vaskell sounds, suddenly, winded, "You can do it, Big Brother..! I believe in you!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Of course I can do it!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Just you see! No invincible Boosted /whatever/ can beat your big brother!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Seril!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "That pilot... KILL HIM."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Kill the Federation dog..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Make it so he can never shout ever again."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "You really hate him, huh? Okay!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell ahem.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Where there is one federation soldier, two will shortly arrive...then three, then four, then five."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "You idiot."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "That guy is key in one of the systems anti alien defence weapons. Just leave em Sides hell's right."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Rather than waste your time attempting to kill one, I /highly recommend/ a strategic retreat - unless you believe that your machines are capable of taking on their friends, and their friends' friends.."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite tssk. "We'll retreat soon enough."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "If we leave him alive, he'll just come back and be a nuisance later!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "And if you kill him, his friends will come streakinng for vengeance, reinvigorated by his loss."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "It is too soon."

The old Type-TT's blue-greyish, half-burnt cockpit bloc descends slowly towards the ocean, hanging from three huge red parachutes painted with an older variant of the Alpha Numbers logo. Inside, Ryusei is blind and deaf, the cockpit's systems cut off from sensors and just about anything else. Frustrated and impotent, he turns off his mini-disc player and folds his arms. Once again, he has to wait to be rescued. Well, maybe it was his fault if he went out in the Type-TT instead of waiting for the R-1 to be repaired...

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Then when is the right time? Huh? Or are we always going to fight with kid gloves on? I'm tired of sparing the enemy! They wouldn't spare me!"

<Radio> Tightbeam to Seril Vaskell: Ascian Luddite says, "Just take him out. Screw them."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell's voice gets positively /frightening/ in the span of time it takes him to take his next breath. "The Federation's death must come where their friends are present. Where they see their own powerlessness to protect those they love, where their allies are within reach and /fail/ to defend them."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "When a Federation pilot dies, he must die in a way that enforces the hopelessness of their cause and their desires and their very /hearts and wills/."

"Get your goddamned hands OFF OF ME!!"

As the two machines drop, as Ascian tries to drag the Raptor straight down into the ocean, Arian manages to get the bulk of the single shot railgun twisted around, trying to butt the back end of the weapon against the Amenthes' body and wrench itself free. For it's size, the Raptor is a spry and tricky, but--

-- impact. Arian holds on for dear life while the YF-22 strikes the ocean, lurching forward in the cockpit chair and doing her best to not start bouncing around inside of the enclosed space like a rubber ball. Beams strike again, and again, and again, and no matter how water diffuses beam weapons, makes them work wonky, it means little when they strike the right /places/. The damaged face, the holes in the shoulders and arm-- both erupt into underwater explosions, and a particularly violent variety of them in the process.

The chassis, armor, and frame lurch and groan from the pressure, and the teal-haired girl in the seat starts pulling the emergency switches and levers. There's just enough push in the thrusters to make the torso break the surface of the water, but the YF-22 is clearly not in combat condition... and it's hard to say how long it'll be before the machine starts to sink, again, as it flops backward onto the surface of the water.

"Shit. Ugh... Mitsurugi's gonna kill me for this one..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Otherwise it inspires them, uplifts them, and invigorates them."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Dr. Hell transmits, "Do as you will. This is merely my /recommendation/."

The Yatagarasu whirls about in midair, thrusting its wings down. A burst of exhaust hurls the machine up and forward, trailing smoke as it arcs after the Gespenst's ejection pod. The six panels forming the shell of the Godmachine's arm cannon slide apart and flatten, exposing the mechanism briefly. This briefness is due to the entire arm becoming engulfed in an enormous gout of shining golden solar plasma.

Spotting the parachutes is easy enough. The temperature within the descending cockpit block likely starts to rise as yatagarasu draws closer, that enormous saber blade raised overhead for a finishing blow..!

Aki sweeps the Brynhildr through the air just above water level, cutting a lengthy V shape through the surface in her wake as she pushes the Brynhildr to its limits. The engines whine and groan, able to take the power feed but not quite used to being in use yet; most of them are new parts, freshly bolted on after repairs from the assault on Mars.

Eagerly leaning forwards in her seat, she even manages to spot the battle before it comes on short-range radar - it's a little hard to miss the extensive pyrotechnics ahead of her, after all. She flicks over from radio to her loudspeakers just as she converges on the battlefield, her spear igniting and extending a blade of white-hot plasma from its tip that dips into the sea and leaves a cloud of superheated steam behind her mech. She doesn't recognize whatever she's about to get in the way of, but she sure does know who she /can/ yell at right about now.

"Ascian! Get th'hell off 'em! That's enough!" she yells over the speakers, actually sounding angry as opposed to just eager. Her spear crashes into the Yatagarasu's blade, trying to parry and divert its blow... and everything hangs in space for just a single heroic slow-motion moment as the Brynhildr's other arm reaches for Ryusei's pod at the cost of its own defensive ability. The next moment time has reasserted itself and she's rocketed out from underneath the attack with it clutched in her hand, earning a tear along her unit's armor for her troubles.

Sudden increase of temperature, shaking, impact, jerking motions, all of this is felt inside the cockpit without Ryusei really understanding what's going on or in what kind of danger he is.

"Damn...! What the heck is going on out there?!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "...Tsh. Guess we can't do it anyway. Come on, big brother. Let's go home."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite tsssk, "Yeah. Let's go."

"Tssk." Ascian watches as Arian's machine falls and he lowers the Amenthes' rifle down at her position, and this is just when his radar bleeps frantically to indicate the coming of Aki's machine! "Shit... why must they get in the way." Yes, Dr. Hell was right. Where-ever there were feddies, there'd be /more/ feddies. Aki just serves to prove this. The beam, charging on the rifle, disengages as the Brynhildr darts past and AScian calls out a warning to Seril, before he blasts off right for the submarine, turning around once from a bit of a distance.

<"Shut up, Aki! THIS ISN'T A GAME!"> Ascian gets to open a video-audio link to the girl again. She might notice that he's... looking different. More angry than normal. Much more angry, and with the Metatron-poison-light clearly shining from underneath his eyes. <"Just... SHUT UP."> Followed by his turning his head. "Seril, We're leaving!"

And he cuts the communications again, and the Amenthes turns one last time - its back aimed at the Federation forces, and blasts off at full-speed for the Submarine, certain that Seril can follow him on her own. Normally, he'd waited for her, or flown besides her. But now, it's almost for a moment, like he doesn't even see her.

The Yatagarasu's High-Tension Blade halts against Brynhildr's beam spear, though the strength is incredible, it's stayed enough to save Ryusei from a searing demise. Inside, Seril bares her fangs, "Get out of my way!" Still, she wrenches the blade downward. It's a fruitless gesture, though. Yatagarasu fans its wings out, darting back for clearance in case there's another fight. After a moment, though, the Godmachine disperses the plasma emitting from its arm and turns. The cannon folds shut, and Yatagarasu takes off after the Amenthes until it catches up with methodic beats of those broad energy wings. In the vicinity of the still-submerged submarine, the machine backwings. The eye on its chest closes, the wings disperse, and those spars fold into its back. Like this, the Yatagarasu simply ... drops beneath the waves, unleashing a blast of steam as it descends to where it came from.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "...Big brother, I think it's my turn to make you feel better."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite grunts, "I'm fine."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell insistantly, "No you are not!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite sighs.

Before he rockets off, the video link establishes for just enough of a moment for Ascian to get a glare in response. It looks quite foreign and strange on her face; apparently, she isn't playing around today, either. The Brynhildr finally stops circling the battlefield as he barks the retreat order, and hovers its way protectively over the YF-22 instead, keeping that escape pod firmly in one hand and the crackling, buzzing head of the spear in the way of any potential assault on Arian.

Only when the Yatagarasu finally lifts off does the spear fizzle to an inert state, and Aki's face pops up in a corner of her charge's viewscreen as she pants with worry and panic, and rubs at her forehead. "H-haahh..." she finally breathes out, then adds lamely with a wan smile, "An' nice t'see yer, m--Arian. Y'wanna lift?"

The display comes on. With emergency power enabled, the cockpit is a little bit on the dark side, but Arian-16 is still visible inside of there, from the teal hair and gold-color eyes to the skin-tight black and blue flight suit and all, arms folded and looking somewhere between mad and a little self-satisfied.

She's also a little younger than Aki.

"Yeah, hold on, I'll see if I can stunt the block ejection so I don't go flyin' off to Kansas or somethin'," she says, checking the console. A few moments later, the cockpit block starts to purge-- but instead just kind of "pops up" from the YF-22's frame, making it a whole lot less obnoxious to carry than a /whole machine/.

The older pilot mostly just looks happy to see Arian alive, and thankfully does the courtesy of foregoing any attempts to big sister, nanny or mom. At least, for the moment. "Y'sure?" she adds as her machine tucks the spear into a set of holders along one leg, bands of metal securing around it to lock it in place and free up a second hand. "I'm not kiddin' when I say this thing has power t'spare. It's the Tesla's latest reactor, an' I've got the best jumper cable yer've ever /seen/."

Despite that, the Brynhildr takes the cockpit block in its now empty hand, carefully manhandling it up with a minimum of rocking and jostling. "Either that or, y'know, I can do the /sensible/ thing and come back fer it later, I guess. Either-or."

Arian tilts her head and looks over her shoulder. "I have no idea how to even wire this thing up to alternate power sources. If you wanna jigger it around and see if you can hot wire it, be my guest, but I'd rather not keep Captain Skippy over there hangin' for too long in the dark. So, uh." Arian wings a finger forward into a finger-gun position. "Let's go. I'll deal with the fallout later."