2008-12-08 - Hunt for the Red October Pt. II

It's been a long, hard night for both sides. The EFA's fleet has surrounded the small island that the TDD-1 Tuatha da Danaan has intentionally beached itself on. But the fleet has been keeping back, out of bombardment range for fear of suprise assaults on individual ships. Skirmishes and raids have been going on back and forth as each side races to reinforce themselves; the Valkyrie squadron the EFA sent to the Pacific Fleet only had enough time to stretch their legs after arrival; as soon as their planes were refueled they went right back into the air.

The acting wing commander, Lavi St. James, and the squad leaders argued against the plan. It's a bad plan, they said. Too many pilot casualties, they pleaded. But fleet command isn't willing to risk any more vessels after the loss of the HMS Tartar yesterday. And then the arguement quickly turned into one of numbers. How much to send, how much to hold back in reserve, how much to allocate the to the fleet... it's been a big damn mess.

The EFA's plan is a simple one. Send out the mobile suits, establish a beachhead around the de Danaan, and then overwhelm it. All the Orb Union has to do is hold them back until their committed forces have to pull back to their fleet.

On the flight deck of Over The Rainbow, the EFA's supercarrier flagship of the Pacific Fleet, Lavi St. James climbs the ladder into his mk.6 Flarebrass MST. If his pilots are going ashore, then he's going to lead them. He refuses to order men to their deaths for no good reason if he's not leading them personally. "This is 1st Lt. St. James. All pilots to mobile suits. Remember, the faster you get onto the beach, the more likely you are to survive. Begin launching and form up over the water, we're going in as a unified force!"

"St. James... Flarebrass... LAUNCHING!"

"I've never seen anything like this up close" said Orb scientist Actress to Orb scientist Bishop.

They are poking around the guts, some of which are on rather gruesome display, of Evangelion Unit-00, which has been secured via the method of 'leaving it pilotless near their beached sub.' The giant zombie corpse cyborg thing has had no repairs effected to it since Amuro Ray et al. beat it to hell. "Well, that little blue-haired girl said it was alive. But -- well, /was/ is probably the operative word here. Still."

"Wait -- the blue-haired girl?" Actress replies. "I heard she hasn't said a word -- or even done anything, outside of trying to kill herself. Twice."

"No, no, not the one we captured," Bishop replies. "The one who pilots the Zeta."

"Oh, /that/ girl," Actress replies. "Bit flat, but an ass like a peach."

"I hear that," Bishop says as they resume poking around the Eva's intestines.

 Alia Winchester sounds rather excited. "Looks like I'll be able to keep that promise this time!"

 Alex Rosewater transmits, "Reenforcements are en route. I will be leading them personally."

 Leena Toros transmits, "We're on the way too... soon as dad can get the Hovercargo through."

Thanks to a legal wrangle over tribal land, the Angelg remains a one-winged Angelg - and also way over ---> there, back in America.

That is why she is in a Gespenst. The Personal Trooper has no real distinguishing characteristics, which may be just the way that Lamia Loveless likes it. It launches, ascending upwards on its thrust, grasping the mech-scale machinegun firmly in anticipation of shooting people.

"In p-position," says Lamia, who still doesn't have an official number.

 Kai Shiden transmits, "Guncannon Detector is still working, though that Water Jet's dust by now."

o WIPEOUT

The sounds of a rocking drum solo and a trio of electric guitars echo out across the water, growing louder as time passes. A large wave rises over the horizon, approaching the shores, and within moments a pair of blue tail fins rise over the surging water. Enormous amplifiers, cranked to 11, sit atop the shoulders of an enormous blue mecha painted with flame highlights on its arms and legs.

It has a convertible for a head.

It is wearing a size (X)^70 L yellow Hawaiian shirt, which dangles open to the breeze.

It is also riding the wave with a giant surfboard.

Within the cockpit of the mighty machine, Coop Cooplowski and his best friend Jamie are bobbing their heads to the beats, Coop tapping out the snare drum's rhythm on the steering wheel. Kiva Andrews contents herself with tapping her foot.

Things have been tense on the impromptu Orb defensive facility built around the beached Tuatha de Danaan. Orb has shown quite a bit of its finesse and ability to improvise: Half-built wanzers have been repurposed as stationary missile turrets, and pilots from all the Orb armies have been snuck in when the EFA's defenses have been slow, using air drops or Mithril's ECS-equipped helicopters. It is a demonstration of the tactical and strategic importance of the de Danaan, that Orb would dedicate this much of its force to protect a single ship.

At the center of the mess: The TDD-1 Tuatha de Danaan, still undergoing rapid, jury-rigged repairs. It won't be up to its full fighting splendor, not on this island. The multi-billion-dollar submarine will not be so easy to repair. But the job isn't to get it up to full strength, only up to fighting trim.

Morale has been an issue. It always will be, in situations like this. Tessa and her command team have been doing their part to quell fears by working up front rather than retreating into their bunkers or command rooms, but even so, there is unease among the crew.

Tessa will confront this later, if she must. For now, Tessa has received word that an EFA attack is imminent, and the young Captain is now walking into the command center, a clipboard in hand, shoulders square. She's nervous, but she can't let that show. She steps up to her chair and thumbs the transmission button, announcing, "Attention all pilots. We're expecting an EFA attack any minute now. Your orders are to defend the de Danaan. Do not allow the EFA attackers through!"

Outside, Mithril's SRT is waiting, men perched on rocks and in the sands, awaiting the EFA attack.

 Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "I had them bring in my Tieqi. The defenses are ready."

The beach is, perhaps surprisingly, well-reinforced. It looks, from the variety of machines, that Da Han Zhong, one of Orb's allies, has simply thrown everything it had at building up the defenses of this previously unoccupied island.

Blocky things that look like nothing so much as particularly low tanks on small struts, Taita 4s, sit half-buried in the sand to be used as turrets capable of both anti-air fire (with tiny machine guns) and anti-mobile suit combat (with their significantly less tiny cannons). While they lack the power of a true wanzer, they are significantly better than nothing.

Tiandongs, the ubiquitous missile-bearing wanzers of the DHZ regulars, have been set up. Not all of them are full machines. Some of them are little more than upper torsos with one arm, but their missile boxes are in working order, and that's all that is required for them to fight. A few other wanzer weapons have been set up as improvised infantry-fired weapons, or given wireless hookups to fire on a signal. There are a very few additional full wanzers moving around, and two barely armed transport helicopters up in the air for scouting purposes.

One of the fully functional wanzers is the Tieqi 4, the upgraded commander's unit that Lan favours. She spent all night coordinating the RRF and their emergency defenses and is working on about three hours of sleep, but seems alert enough anyway. On the signal that further troops are attacking, she pulls herself back into the Tieqi, strapping herself securely in place before putting the VR-like helmet on.

Asuka, for one, hates the fact that 'mobile suit' is the new term default. Really, they should give everyone proper consideration, shouldn't they? But her only response to the order to preare her 'mobile suit' is a slight "Hmph," as she checks the controls on her Evangelion. Really, this whole matter is Eva business, and she and Shinji ought to be plenty enough to get Rei back.

 Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "... I wasn't going to do this, but... it was in the shipment, and it was Mr. Ray's redesign."

 Akira Tadokoro snorts. "'m awake, 'm awake!"

 Alia Winchester transmits, "Hm? You got something in there too? What?"

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has reset their systems to full.

The Third Child of Project E, also known as mild mannered student Shinji Ikari, is very busy hating himself for not having been around to watch Ayanami's back, like it is his job to do, hating the Orb Union for being somehow more high and mighty than the Divine Crusaders and then kidnapping teenage girls to experiment on them, his father for experimenting on teenage girls, and himself again because all of this hate is ultimately impotent, and he's not doing all that much good. On the other hand, this tense self flagellation is keeping him from fully processing that he is balanced on some sort of giant rocket surfboard, behind a dangerously unstable robot and an even more dangerously unstable pilot and, worst of all, the fact that some primal part of him is kind of enjoying it. Usually, he can safely ignore that part of himself, but it seems a lot closer to the top of his emotional ladder, tonight.

'Wonder why.' Shinji thinks sarcasticly to himself, honestly unsure of how he is going to act when he lands. But that's why NERV keeps him around, right? To be the zany x-factor that usually fails totally but sometimes manages to erk out a win without too much soul-crushing horror inflicted on everyone around him.

"Go team, go." Shinji deadpans out loud, trying to ignore how much the angry little boy cleverly hidden inside of the sad, passive little boy wants to get started.

Back at the Danaan, Alia had been upset at the lack of a replacement machine for her damaged Rick Dias. Then she found a white and gold Astray amongst the supplies shipped in, and the techs had confirmed; 'this is for you.' All of her petulant, irate behavior over the last several days had evaporated in that instant, and when reports of inbound EFA forces come out, she's ready. Eager, even. "My very own Gundam!" Technically true. "Finally, I'll show every last one of them what I can do!" Alia is probably overestimating the machine by a lot. Nonetheless, Alia's M1A Astray is loaded onto a launch area and sent into the airspace above the beached sub. "This is amazing... it even flies on its own power!" For someone who's about to get thrown into a large battle, she's pretty enthused. Beam sniper rifle in hand, her Astray takes aim at one of the oncoming EFA machines and fires a single energy ray at it. Such a shot likely won't make any huge contribution to the battle on its own... at most, minus one EFA mobile suit; big deal. But it makes a fine opening statement for Alia. Then she looks down to the Da Han Zhong defense line below, whistling. "That's something..."

Lieutenant Graham Aker was moved in just two hours ago, as reinforcements. He is familiar with this sort of work; Aker operated off an aircraft carrier during the One Year War in his fightercraft. Now, he has his Overflag resting on the EFS Over The Rainbow. He climbs into the cockpit of the black Mobile Suit; it has its limbs and legs folded into plane mode.

He flips on a few switches, as St. James speaks. The soldier nods his head as he listens. "Roger that, flight leader. Everyone, look alive and keep your eyes open!"

The thrusters of the Overflag kick in; it flies down the carrier's deck, before it banks upward and falls in with the other units, near the front of the formation. "Graham Aker, in the Overflag... up in the air!"

They had the Orb carrier now, if they could do away with it? It might cripple Orb's terrorist actions and other problem causing across the globe. The green Gespenst laumcjhes from the transport kicks in its hover systems and skim across the water as he closes to the beach. "Keep in formation, and they are like a trapped wounded animal they will fight beyond reason. They are Fanatics and will not surrender."

And then Shinji finds out that he's like, fatebound to Ryusei Date or something, because the R-1 is right behind the Evangelion, surfing along and headbanging along with its pilot. Ryusei is rocking out, unlike the nervous Third Child, but he's certainly loud enouhg over the music and radio feeds! "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YEAH! This is going to be AWESOME! Shinji, we're totally surfing in on a Super Robot Surfboard! THIS IS SO COOL!"

And so Ryusei is enjoying himself immensely before the fight.

Orb's leaders maybe trying to put up a brave front, but desperate times call for desperate meassures. And a meassure of that desperation arrives...

Trees bend and break, forced aside by the heavy armored wheels, cracking and splintering woods as a former EFA mecha arrives on the beach through the treeline, an MBR-004 Destroid Cheyenne, retired when the Destroid Defender and Tomahawks were introduced by the U.N. Spacey... but it's devoid of Spacey markings.

...A Mercinary. They really are scrapping the bottom of the barrel for defenses... Inside the cockpit, Juku cleans her ears with a Q-tip. Bottom of the barrel indeed. Juku Reimaru activates her CR-C75U2 Armored Core unit.

The beach that the EFA is intending to land on is well-guarded. With all of the various machines the Orb Union can bring to bear spread out to protect the Tuatha de Danaan there, it is no wonder it has a few oddities. Oddities such as the towering Buriki-Daioh, standing at close to two hundred and fifty feet of solid, blocky, ancient Babylonian steel. It practically gleams, now that it's been fixed up, and stands out like a sore thumb of titanic proportions on the beach.

Inside the cockpit, Akira has just woken up, having been up late last night helping fix up injured TDD crew members. Being a psychic that can heal with a touch helps; having morale-boosting snacks like Gutsy Taiyaki (which he currently is consuming at an alarming rate) helps even more. He stretches out, looking out through Buriki-Daioh's eyes, and trying to focus.

"Here they come... Lets go, Matsu! Time to kick some butt!" He hauls on the controls, looking out across the water, possibly ready to engage the EVAs. It might be staring in their direction.

And then nothing happens. Akira looks alarmed, and pushes the lever back and forth with a *click* *click* *click* *click*. "Uhhh... uh oh." A brass tea kettle falls from above, narrowly missing Akira's head. "Aw man, not NOW!"

Buriki-Daioh stands there like a big ol' statuesque target. It's quiet.

The attack on the Tuatha was brutal and they needed Mao's computer expertise to help with getting systems back online. The woman's been working around the clock without a drop of alcohol and technically no smoke break. But it's never enough is it? Orb is coming again. This time, they will find Melissa Mao at the front lines in her M9 armed to the teeth and she's in a -bad- mood.

When you have only been on Earth for six months, and are running on a scant few hours of sleep a night, oceans can be confusing. Leo Stenbuck was more than a little distraught when he quit his patrol route through orbit shortly before the scheduled assault on the Tuatha de Danaan, hauled ass across the planet, and arrived at his destination. Over the Atlantic Ocean.

It took him almost a full minute to process why there was no one, and indeed nothing, here. But eventually he managed to put two and two together, and the Vic Viper is only just now arriving on the scene as the EFA prepares to mobilize. Transformed into Flight Mode, as per usual, the LEV decelerates as it draws near to the forming battle lines, angling upwards and climbing higher into the sky over the island about to become a battlefield.

 Alia Winchester transmits, "Wait... what /is/ that thing? The black one with the red symbol heading out to water."

The EFA forces would recieve warnings as they started to launch their next assault, Orb Reenforcements were suddenly starting to form up along their eastern forces. Three large sub unints would be detected, though this would instantly be reconized as mobile suit transports, rather than actual battleships. As the three would become detectable on radar, another unit would become detectable as well.

The Big Fau stands before the three subs, and in the pilot seat Alex Rosewater holds the controls of the Big Fau as the message starts coming across the main screen of the massive unit.

CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD, YE NOT GUILTY.

"Deploy all mobile suits, we will break through the enemy line and reenforce the Tuatha de Danaa! Once deployed, captains, fall back to the main fleet. We can't afford to loose any more ships until we are ready to fight on our terms." Alex commands, and luckily he was mostly listening to Tessa's experience on this matter.

The Big Fau starts moving, it's drills starting to spin and starting to propell it through the water and attempting to litterally drill through EFA ships that would cause trouble for the deploying mobile suits. "BIG FAU! ACTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIION!"

 Akira Tadokoro transmits, "You mean the one with the crown and the jetpack?"

 Alia Winchester transmits, "That one. I don't think I've seen it before."

A shower of GN particles announces the arrival of one of Celestial Being's Gundams onto the scene - Tieria drifts down, allowing Virtue to kiss the deck lightly enough that he doesn't even leave a scuff mark on the top of the beached submarine. The purple haired pilot looks rather dispassionate inside of his cockpit - after all, this is essentially the worst position that they could be in. Better to be on the offensive than on the defensive. But there was no way they were going to manage that with the Tuatha in the shape that it was in now. And so Virtue hefts the GN Bazooka, looking out at the incoming enemy forces... and Tieria waits patiently. Soon - very very soon...

 Akira Tadokoro transmits, "That's Buriki-Daioh. I'm in it."

 Alia Winchester transmits, "Buriki-- ...really."

 Alex Rosewater transmits, "Mobile suit forces are deploying. We'll break through and make our way to the beach."

Kai Shiden does not launch from the Tuatha de Danaan in the Guncannon Detector. It does not fly into the teeth of the EFA assault in a fury, laying beamfire everywhere. What it does do is sit crouched in a thatch of un-knocked-down trees some distance away, draped with a false foliage net, backpack struts solidly braced on the ground.

Usually, when morale dips, Kai Shiden is a help in that regard, spinning One Year War tales, embarassing Amuro anecdotes, and generally being a rabblerouser. This time, however, he's kept to himself, leaning against 200% more doorways and brooding when he isn't taking a Bushnell out on yet another patrol, or interrogating one of the prisoners. Even now he sits slumped in his chair, eyes more sunken-looking than usual, helmet in his lap, a hand buried in his grey hair. His sensors ping as they read new enemies approaching - he doesn't take much interest.

 Akira Tadokoro transmits the 'click' of some archaic control mechanism being used. Then the same click another six or seven times in rapid succession, followed immediately by a *CLANG.*

 Alia Winchester transmits, "Well. I'm coming with you."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "Understood. The Taitas won't hold forever, but until they fall, we'll hold the beach for you."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro mutters, "Aw man, not now...!" Pause. "Uh, okay, but I'm having some... technical difficulties."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "Then I will make our break through as fast as possible."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "...Like /what/?"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "Like... it won't start."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "...I'm right behind you, Representative."

Cagalli, under normal circumstances, might not have taken out her particular unit in the resupply shipment. However, with its designer MIA, and the situation looking desperate... well... desperate measures must be taken. She was going to save it for the Fight -- but then, is the Fight really all that meaningful?

Two mission packs were shipped, one of them merely an update to a pack that originally was used on Mu's Sky Grasper, the other the same test model that Mu himself has -- she's left to wonder, very briefly, which the unit should actually be using here. ... the mobility's more important, Cagalli thinks -- being able to move around the battlefield fast is essential when defending a target from unknown angles.

Climbing into the cockpit as the equipment is loaded on, the Princess rolls her neck, still feeling a little sore from getting tossed around in her cockpit like a rag doll -- even if the Orb Union does have amazing pilot suits thanks to Mithril, and even if she /is/ used to Sol Tekkamen, some things never stop hurting. Watching the OS come up, and reading off that familiar acronym -- the Princess sorties her machine, hovering in the air behind Big Fau.

"Cagalli Yula Athha, Strike Rouge, launching with Aile configuration!"

Cagalli Yula Athha activates her Aile Strike Rouge unit.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "That's bad. Anything I can do to help from here, or do we need to pull you back?"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden grunts, "Kick it."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "Kicking it won't help, the thing's /ancient/. Toei said something about the power supply not connecting or something, I dunno!"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Just kick it really hard."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Okay? Where's the power supply? Is it external, something another machine can service?"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits a thump. "Kick didn't work."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "That is good to know, Ms. Athha."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Yet."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "...right. Uh, I'm the power supply, actually! It runs off psychokinesis."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "So it's.... not connecting to... /you?/"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "Somethin' like that, yup."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Um. How do we fix that?"

From what has been told of this area, something large had been happening. Something unplanned! It would do well to not only be involved, but to shape the battle in a way that would be beneficial for not just the Divine Crusaders, but also Dr. Hell. To conquer the world would be much harder.. if such a thing was not carefully done!

A ship within the clouds flies above, and on it, Baron Ashura stands, their cloaked figure, hood and all glancing down upon the battlefield.

"So they fight against each other.." The male voice speaks, followed by the female, "Both sides, each certain in their worthless goals!" For a moment silence within the floating ship, before both speak up in unity. "Then let us help them reach this demise they seek! Release the machine beast, Dayma U5!"

The staff carried glows as it points forwards, the Dayma U5 diving from behind the clouds, past the flying ship, as it travels towards the battlefield. "Ahahahaha! Let them deal with one more problem..! Let them perish in their hopeless struggle!" The beetle-humanoid like machine beast dives, making it's presence known.. as best it can.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "I'm open to suggestions, but mostly when I get mad I get stronger, I think. I mean, there's matango, too, but that stuff'll kill you." <Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Um? So... you're wanting us to make you angry? Is that it?"

Over The Rainbow's catapault hurls Lavi's MST out over the water. Before it splashes down, the Flarebrass' powerful booster kicks in, giving the machine the slight lift and strong thrust it needs to not break the water's surface tension, allowing it to slide across the top. As the flamethrower equiped suit glides over the water, it's quickly joined by other MSTs performing the same trick and Gespensts making their way to the landing zone. Lavi inhales a deep breath and then slowly lets it out as long range fire starts to leap off of the sand. The Tailypo on his flank takes a light hit which disrupts its balance just enough to make the machine disappear underneath the water. Tailypo's aren't equipped to operate underwater.

Valkyries and Messers start to straff and bomb the beach, making hell for the defenders as the assault forces get closer to the shore. Anti-air fire rises up to meet them in turn. And then the first EFA units start hitting the sand and that's, truely, when things start to get messy.

Mk.7 Hydra MSTs burst out of the water, launching torpedos and revving their breaching chainsaws for combat. The first mech to leap onto the beach from the water takes the brunt of a Boxer Shotcannon to the chest and slumps over, the pilot dead in his cockpit. Waterjet equipped Gespensts follow on their heels, with others coming up out of the water or arriving over top of it by skiming or flying. The battle is joined.

Lavi's not the first man on the beach, but he taxes his booster and tries to be. "COME ON!" Lavi shouts into his comm as his flamethrowers open up on one of the squarish tanks. "FOLLOW ME!"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "Give it a shot. I'll keep kicking it."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Jesus. That's the dumbest design I've ever heard of. Akira, why don't you just get out of that worthless thing? I can bring you something else or let you ride in here or whatever."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "Engaging the MST, unknown variant with flamethrowers. DHZ regulars engaging as well."

Inside the TDD-1:

While all this sound and fury is afoot, inside the Danaan's brig, the scene is a rather spare, quiet one. Two guards are posted, automatic space rifles in front of their stomachs, keeping an eye on the slim, quiet girl who occupies the small, box-like room on the other side of the forcefield. Rei Ayanami is not considered a flight risk, mind -- this is a suicide watch, as when Rei came to after yesterday's critical brain overload and realized that she'd been captured, she went for the most logical and immediate option at hand to end her captivity.

These two guards, however, are finding her incredibly boring at the moment.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "That might work if I didn't already know what you thought about super robots, Alia. And it's not worthless, it's just tempermental!"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alex Rosewater coughs.

Someone lit a fire under that blue-haired girl's ass.

Camille Bidan has slept in two hour bursts, the same mandated to most of the crew. See, he's a Mobile Suit wizard, and, as a result, he's been working -- on repairing Mobile Suits, and making the most use of what they've had in order to set up defenses. It was he who drew up the designs to retask Wanzers as turrets, setting them up and re-arranging them on the beachhead. The Zeta Gundam, mostly unharmed after the prior battle save for a few repairs, has been standing, crouched on the deck of the de Danaan. And Camille has been working -- hard, and silently. It's almost like he's trying to prove something.

"Ok!" he shouts, physically wrenching a a makeshift pipe patch into place before he starts running for the Zeta Gundam. "Camille Bidan, ready to sortie!"

HOURS AGO: Down in the brig, Camille Bidan decided that he could fix busted pipes and bother the prisoner simultaneously, so that's what he does, ironing out leaks. Rei has been placed, coincidentally, in the cell he occupied just twenty four hours ago. "Why do you fight if it makes you so miserable?" he asks, absently.

EFA forces aren't the only ones arriving from sea. From the distance, a large.... snail skims across the surface of the ocean. As it comes close, the Hovercargo activates its energy shield, forming a large protective dome in front of it. As it approaches the beach, the snail's head slowly opens. By the time it has reached the beach, the head is all the way open, and a large bison Zoid steps off the transport and onto the sand with a thump. "Thanks for the ride, dad! Careful on your way out!"

As Leena pushes her Dibison forward, the Hovercargo backs up, returning to the sea... or at least to a safe distance where it won't get caught in any crossfire.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "Okay, I'm here!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Tieria Erde transmits, "Virtue, prepared for bombardment."

Rei's response to Camille -- HOURS AGO, that is -- is to stare at her lap, her body slumped and head lolling forward slightly, knees pressed together but feet spread apart, arms hanging; her posture is not unlike a marionette that has been left to its fate.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "What, so I'm wasting my time telling you you're wasting your skill in that thing?"

"Damn," Jamie mutters. "Ryu's really rocking out."

"Yeah, but that Shinji kid looks pissed," Coop mutters, rubbing his chin. Kids that young shouldn't be so damn uptight. "What do we know about this chick we're gonna rescue?" he asks over his shoulder.

"Rei Ayanami," Kiva says, the First Child's picture prominent on her holo-display. Kiva scans the data NERV has shared with its allies...which is really not all that much, all things considered. "Pilots their prototype unit...that's it over there," she adds, pointing at the eviscerated Eva lying on the beach. "She and Shinji...and the other one, Asuka, are apparently in the same class."

"Damn," Jamie repeats, in a rare gesture of sympathy for his fellow man. "She's kinda hot, in a...weird kinda way. They hooked up?"

"Doesn't say," Kiva answers, closing the files with a shrug. She brings Megas's combat displays back up. "They could be just friends. Does it really matter?"

Coop, who has been silent through most of this discussion, rather thinks that it does. "Ryu! Get goin'," Coop says, then stares dramatically into the sun. "Everybody else better buckle up," he growls. "This ride's..." He puts on his sunglasses.

"...about to get bumpy."

(YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH)

Megas XLR leaps off the surfboard in a rush, flipping in the air before landing in the surf, water surging up into the air around it as the mighty maching sinks to its waist. Megas's right hand reaches down and catches the surfboard, raising it into the air and hefting it on its palm like a javelin. "Awright, kid," Coop says, flashing his thumb at the monitor. "You wanna save her? I got yer back!" Megas takes two steps forward, and then its arm surges forward, sending the surfboard - with Unit 01 still atop it - hurtling over the defensive lines, toward the wreckage of the NERV prototype.

The twin gattling cannons of the Destroid Cheyyene spin up with a whine as it's knees bend backwards and support struts unfold from the back of the legs and press into the sand below. Messers and VF-1s alike are treated to the Anti-air defense Destroid's twin cannons, but...theres something brutal about a Valkyrie getting wholes punched in it by a retired Destroid, another U.N. Spacey unit, if only formarly so.

Juku just whistles a tun as she keeps track of her ammunition meters. Tis machine was originally designed to be a turret defense on air-craft carriers, so it's sort of fitting that it's used to defened a beached submarine.

Now they assault. Lamia sees the incoming pattern from her aerial position, nodding vaguely to herself; it is perhaps not perfect, and executes no new tactical innovations, but it's pretty good. The presence of large enemy units is not 'pretty good'.

Neither is the arrival of a Machine Beast, nor the multiple high-end Gundams. Fortunately, Lamia has a plan. The maelstrom of fire on the beaches isn't somewhere she wants to be, but if she can get that advanced unit tangled up in there, stray fire may disable it.

The Type-M Gespenst lands towards the left flank of the beach, raising up the rifle in its hands and taking careful aim towards the shimmery-sparkly Virtue. The gun rattles as high-caliber shells burst out, the Gespenst moving to take transient shelter behind an MST.

The Evangelion, Lamia reasons further, is something different. Is it destroyed or merely severely damaged?

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Tieria Erde. M95 Machine Gun added to their queue.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "Yeah, 'cuz it ain't true."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Really? Watch this."

Alia gives up sniper duty in her Astray after just a few more shots; it's clearly not enough to repel the EFA, even if she is doing damage to a few of their oncoming machines. Instead, she finds the Buriki-Daioh far more interesting all of a sudden, flying over to it. "What a waste of time! Akira, just get out of that stupid thing! You call it tempermental, I call it a waste of space and whatever money goes into it!" The white and gold machine probably looks downright tiny next to Akira's machine, but Alia tries delivering a swift kick to the rear jetpack area. This is probably akin to a fairy punching a human; it's not going to do much. "You're better on foot anyway!"

The Overflag banks downward, sharply. Inside of the cockpit, Graham keeps a firm grip on the controls as he goes shooting downward towards the beach, and lines up the enemy with his eyes. He takes aim at one of the tanks near the Tuatha de Danaan, crosshairs flitting across his screen before locking onto it, rotating, and turning from a green color to a red color.

He cracks a grin. "Time to do this." He presses down on the trigger and the Overflag shakes.

The bladed linear rifle on the front of the machine shakes once, as he looses a few shots from it towards one of the tanks. It cuts into it; flame explodes into the air, and the Overflag sweeps by, moving up into the air for a second run.

The Taitas and the Tiandongs begin to fire slightly before EFA forces come in range, hoping to force them to divert and take odd approaches due to bullets, missiles, and cannon shells. One of the Taitas takes a Hydra chainsaw to the turret, which shears off, revealing a panicked-looking DHZ regular with private's markings; he throws a grenade and then immediately attempts to escape, making it about twenty yards before being mowed down by a stray round.

The Tiandongs do slightly better, even though they cannot walk. Immobile wanzers are something every pilot has to learn to deal with, and they have homing missiles, which helps. The spotting helicopters are also assisting; without actual guns worth using, they're feeding targetting data and nothing else.

Lan herself strides down the beach, raising the Tieqi's blocky arms and gesturing, signaling for different waves and patterns of firing. She speaks in rapid Mandarin through her radio, inspiring and cajoling all at once - she's good at what she does, and it shows, as she gets the undertrained DHZ forces with the occasional RRF elite to pilot at the best of their ability.

Lavi roasts a Taita, causing the crew to evacuate from the blast of fire. Only a few moments after that, the relatively fast-moving Tieqi, legs bent as it 'skates' along the ground, launches a spray of flame of her own as she passes by, intent on catching the Flarebrass from behind while he's occupied.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Lavi St. James. Huoyao 3 Flamethrower added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a solid hit on Tieria Erde's Gundam Virtue using M95 Machine Gun. COMBAT: Tieria Erde has missed Lamia Loveless with his GN Cannon Burst counter attack.

Asuka moves up to the front of the ship in Eva-02, looking out over the water. She thought Shinji would do something sensible... he's not usually so daring, so it's kind of a surprise to see he's already bailed out and is taking the giant surfboard in. ...Crazy. That's so not like him. Maybe he really has a thing for Rei, or something.

For some reason this makes Asuka a little pissed off. How dare he show off like that anyway?! She kneels down for a leap, and then springs off of the front of the ship toward the beach itself, the Eva tucking its long legs under its body, and pulling the Progressive Knife in to combat position.

Shinji Ikari has been very busy trying to focus his internal moodiness, teen angst, and the charlie horse sitting in a blood bath for six hours gives you into some sort of combat-ready state of mind, so needless to say, Shinji is a little suprised when Coop Cooplowski, who basicly is the big brother all depressed Japanese super heroes want deep down inside anyway, totally hurls him off of the space surfboard!

"W-waaauuugh!" Shinji shouts, Unit-01 kicking its legs in the air in tandem with Shinji's desperate thoughts, as he's Fastball Specialed right towards the wreckage of Unit-00! Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he knows his father would probably want the Evangelion back more than the pilot. This only serves as incentive as Shinji kicks at the air, flipping Unit-01 around and allowing him to hold his machine's legs out, sliding along the sand for half a mile before finally coming to a stop...Unit-01 looms over the corpse of its sister Evangelion, and some vague, fraternal instinct demands he speak to the ant-like scientists below, "She's only fourteen, you know."

"Where." Unit-01's eyes gleam, glowing a fiery shade of white as its facemask-loudspeaker barks out Shinji's voice roughly and its hand almost gently reaches down towards the scientists. "Is she? Please."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Where is who? Who's he talking about? Looks kind of like that other stupid... /thing/ from yesterday."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "I believe he is speaking about the pilot of the 'thing' from yesterday."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "Captain! I'm going to engage the Evangelion-types... there are two on the battlefield. If what happened yesterday means anything, they're threat number one! ... Plus, I wanna talk to those maniacs. Requesting permission to launch!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa takes exactly one second to be pleased at being asked.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Tieria Erde transmits, "Intercepting incoming Gespenst unit."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa then: "Granted."

"The enemy is moving to engage," Tieria radios to the rest of the Orb defense forces as one of the threat signals chimes in his head. He turns slightly, looking at the direction that Virtue has detected the incipient threat from, and he can already see the Gespenst raising its weapon towards him. "Virtue will exterminate the initial target," he continues in that same, flat level voice - and turns, one of Virtue's gun pods snapping up up and around to lock onto the EFA personal trooper. Several rapid pulses of energy ripple off towards Lamia's unit, and the barrage of machine gun shells smacks into the Gundam's chest a moment later, digging out chunks of its armor. As soon as he has the range calculated as best he can imagine, Tieria pulls back on the trigger, charging up both barrels of Virtue's shoulder mounted gunpod - and the unleashing a solid, continuous beam straight towards Lamia's unit. A moment later Virtue rises up, light particles showering out of its back as Tieria sets up for a more mobile combat stance.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has attacked Lamia Loveless. Double Barrel GN Cannon added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has struck a solid hit on Lavi St. James's Mk.6 Flarebrass MST using Huoyao 3 Flamethrower.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has missed Lan Xiao Hua with his Flame Thrower counter attack.

Conversations flow through the Guncannon Detector's radio rig, are converted to text, and broadcasted on one of its many monitors. With a touch, Kai routes one through, listening to every word, the tones, the inflections. Kai Shiden is back in his late One Year War mindset. He isn't a reporter, a pacifist, a defender of innocents right now. Right now, Kai Shiden is a soldier.

On the battlefield, mental weakness is as sure a killer as physical weakness, and someone's exhibiting a hell of a lot of it. Kai Shiden knows that Leo Stenbuck is just a kid, but he's on the battlefield the same as he is, on the opposite side. Yesterday, Kai wouldn't have taken this shot.

The beam rifle, covered by its foliage net, shifts just a bit to the side, and fires. A dark blue beam, from the middle of the forest nowhere near the Tuatha de Danaan, comes lancing out for the Vic Viper. Below, Kai pulls up his backpack struts, and starts moving to another sniping location.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Leo Stenbuck. Suddenly - From the Trees added to their queue.

Ryusei Date gives the Megas a thumbsup. "RIGHT! LET'S GO!" He fistpumps, and gives the Eva-01 a supportive tap on the, like, back or something since it's like twice his height. Regardless, Ryusei then sets himself. "IT'S GO TIME! SUPER-4, LAUNCHING!" With an explosion of boosters, the R-1 roars up into the air and past the Megas, Ryusei dramatically launching himself towards the beach... And the massive Big Fau rises before him, huge in its Super Robotness as it slams towards the ships. "WHOOOOOA!" Ryusei yells. "THAT SUPER ROBOT IS SO SWEET!" Which means that he is, of course, going to rush towards it. "HERE I COME! Z.O... FIRST KNUCKLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" He slams down towards the Big Fau, slamming a fist towards the hugeness with all of his Super Robot Spirit-powered might!

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Alex Rosewater. Z.O. FIRST KNUCKLE added to their queue.

The PRT guarding Rei are equal parts frustrated and relieved. It's infuriating to have to just stand there...but now, as things begin to explode outside, there's a certain relief to be found in not being one of the people actually /in/ a mech, getting shot at.

In the Command Center, Tessa sits in her chair. It feels wrong, she thinks, taht she's not even moving. She has relatively little to do right now; Andrei Kalinin is at his desk to one side of the bridge, handling the action. Tessa is here to make any decisions Kalinin directs at her, but that won't happen unless something truly calamitous happens; Kalinin is one of the most talented man she knows.

On the shores, the SRT begin their response, opening fire on the incoming MSTs and mobile suits with anti-mecha machine cannons and head vulcans to try and thin the herd to something manageable. They are dedicated to protecting the de Danaan itself; it is, in many ways, their home.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a minor hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using Z.O. FIRST KNUCKLE.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has missed Ryusei Date with his Fisticuffs counter attack.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Him again..."

Alia's harsh words don't do much but make Akira start to get agitated. It wouldn't be enough to get him going; he's about as frustrated with it not working as he is with her mocking it. If he didn't ask for it, it would probably work a lot better than it is, all things considered.

Then she kicks him in the pants. Well, technically, the jetpack, but what Alia likely doesn't realize is that when Akira is connected to Buriki-Daioh, he really is connected to it. He feels a swift kick in the butt, and that finally sets him off. "Hey! Okay, THATS IT. You can talk trash 'bout me all you want," he says, which is patently untrue, "but you ain't callin' Buriki-Daioh worthless! With it, me and Matsu can do ANYTHING!"

Suddenly, the massive robot turns around, pointing a huge finger at the skidding Unit-01. Apparently, Alia got it to work. "AND YOU," yells Akira over the open radio band, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, JUMPING PAST US?!" He reaches down and pulls a chunk of earth out of the ground, complete with trees, and hurls it at Shinji's 'robot.' "COME BACK HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" He points at the ground for emphasis.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "I am being intercepted by...I believe it was named the R-1."

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has struck a major hit on Lamia Loveless's Gespenst Type-M using Double Barrel GN Cannon.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Shinji Ikari. Destructable Scenery added to their queue.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a minor critical hit on Shinji Ikari's Evangelion Unit-01 using Destructable Scenery.

Those poor landbound unfortunates without flight or amphibious capability are stuck riding transport craft toward the island. The pilots of the various mechanical passengers spend several tense minutes in transit, helpless and utterly at the mercy of the skill of the transports' pilots. The relatively slower craft make tempting targets for the gunners on the beach; many are sunk before reaching land.

The survivors finally arrive on the beach, pouring forth their shiny metallic hordes. Among them, Kazuki Takemura takes a quick surveillance of the defenses and grimaces - this won't be a good day for anyone involved, he thinks. Shrugging, he squares his shoulders and charges into the fray, picking out a stationary Tiandong. The Zenislev lobs a grenade, following that with a few shotgun bursts as it closes.

Camille Bidan leaps up into the Zeta as the cockpit begins to close -- like an extension of himself, the Gundam climbs to its feet almost immediately, staggering into place. The Zeta Gundam takes off through the air, its velocity -- even outside of its Mobile Armor Waverider mode -- formidable. And, what's more, it seems to have a /very/ specific target.

That is to say, already, beam rifle fire comes down upon the Unit-01, hopefully drawing its attention away from the scientists. "Someplace that's sure as hell safer than back home with you!" he roars, over the radio. "Do you even know what that monster does to her?! You pilot one! You should know! How the hell could you stand letting anyone else get in the cockpit?! And then you act like you give a damn!" The Zeta Gundam lands in the sand, training its beam rifle directly at the EVA.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has attacked Shinji Ikari. Heavy Beam Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Leo Stenbuck has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a major hit on Leo Stenbuck's Vic Viper FM using Suddenly - From the Trees.

COMBAT: Leo Stenbuck's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has missed Shinji Ikari with his Heavy Beam Rifle attack.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has missed Camille Bidan with his Evangelion Melee counter attack.

"I'm not talking trash about you, Akira!" Alia insists. "I like /you./ I think your so-called super robot is just that, though! So-called!" That's actually pretty sincere on her part; she likes the pilot, looks down on his choice of ride. Then... Buriki-Daioh is moving. Good enough. Her Astray lifts up higher into the sky to get an overhead shot, as Akira closes on the Eva-01 that is making loud demands of Orb. Aiming the Astray's rifle down at Shinji's machine, she thinks she has a good shot at the head and fires a single red energy ray at it before Alia begins flitting off into a circular flight pattern over the super robot brawl that is starting.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Shinji Ikari. Type 71 Beam Rifle added to their queue.

<Radio: A - EFA General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Zeta? Camille? You're in this too, huh. Let me know if you need a hand at any time, alright?"

The Big Fau rips through one ship, as it turns towards the next, the R-1 nearly crashes into it. This causes Alex to raise an eyebrow, as he instead turns to give Ryusei's and his unit his full attention. The large arms of the Big Fau move up, as if he were getting ready to simply jab punch the smaller unit...however, the fist misses as Ryusei's fist smashes into him.

If the Big Fau looked damaged, it did not show it at all, besides minor cracks along it's large turbine arms. "Not bad. Perhaps you will be a worthy fight for the Big Fau..." Alex says, camly, as the Big Fau's arms attempt to grab Ryusei, and drag him down harshly into the water...the domain that the Big Fau had it's advantage in. However, the grab was none too gentle, aiming to crush down on the R-1 as the Big Fau dragged it to Davey Jones' locker.

Mr. Huge would not be defeated by anyone smaller than himself.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has attacked Ryusei Date. Grab and Drag added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has struck a glancing hit on Ryusei Date's R-1 using Grab and Drag.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has missed Alex Rosewater with his Steel Knife counter attack.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has missed Shinji Ikari with her Type 71 Beam Rifle attack.

More EFA machines start to make it onto the beach. They're taking casualties that are not good, but such is the nature of beachheads. The more heavily armored Gespensts come up behind the MSTs. Now out of the water, they open fire with their mega beam rifles. The Hydras are good in the water and make decent spearheads, but on land they're devoid of their heavy torpedos. As more and more EFA machines start to get onto solid ground, they begin fighting back in earnst. They take any scrap of cover they can. Rocks, trees, the Orb's tank traps placed to slow them down, and even their own fallen. Anything to increase their survival odds. There's a lot of them. And still, Lavi worries that it won't be enough.

Flame licks across the backside of Lavi's Flarebrass and his whirls, spraying flame from rapid reflex alone. "Son of a..." He keeps spraying as Lan skids past, failing to do anything better then lap at her heels. "Damn chink piece of crap!" Lavi shouts in frustration. "I'll show you the superiority of American machines!"

The Flarebrass' knees bend as its booster kicks in, allowing it to skate across the sand in much the same way. "A commander's unit... good." Lavi tells himself. "I take it out, the line will be that much closer to collapsing... HERE WE GO!" Twin jets of flame spray out of the flamethrowers on the outside of the MST's arms.

The counterfire hits the beach (or an MST, whatever; Lamia isn't counting) as the Gespenst continues strafing. It should be relatively easy prey. Right? Right.

The GN particles' characteristic sparkle makes her frown slightly, but only as an involuntary reflex. Of course, what is less involuntary of a reflex is the incoming GN particle /fire/, which splatters beautifully and destructively against the Gespenst's outer hull coating. (Hm,) she reasons, damage being 'bad'.

The Gespenst keeps moving laterally, leaving tidal pools in relatively untouched beaches as its relentless legs piston further upwards. It maintains focus on the Virtue, however, several pods on its upper torso irising open and sending several sub-munition packed missile packages at the Gundam!

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Twin Flame Thrower added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Tieria Erde. Split Missile added to their queue.

The Orbulon scientists poking at Unit-00 are suitably cowed by Shinji's 01 looming over them like a gangly demon. One scientist, drawing LCL from a tube inside the Eva's chest with Science Syringe, drops said Science Syringe, causing it to shatter against a battered crag of armor. "Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh--" one of them beings to stammer.

And then the Zeta strikes! Seizing this opportunity, the brave Orb scientists, armed with, well, prayers that their comrades can cover them, make a /run/ for it, dashing in a mad scramble toward the Danaan! And it would seem Shinji got his answer /anyway/. But can he survive long enough to realize it?!

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has struck a solid hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Tieqi 4 using Twin Flame Thrower.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has missed Lavi St. James with her Huoliu 1 Flamethrower counter attack

The Vic Viper climbs and climbs, and Leo busies himself with his radio as he reaches his desired altitude. He's only ten thousand feet above sea level, but that still puts him well above the main part of the battle. Face flushed red. He can't help but wonder how such important things - such as Rei Ayanami's capture - always get past him, with all the reports and intel he's been sifting through lately.

But Lavi is right. He needs to get his head in the game. Sure, people will die either way, but if someone has to die, it's better an Orb pilot than a Federation pilot, right? ... right? Leo swallows, grimacing, and surveys his minimap. If he just stays up here, this'll be easy. Up here they're just colored dots.

Pew.

Kai's beam rifle shot cuts through the hull of the Vic Viper like a hot knife through butter. Really, really soft butter. It pierces a hole clean through the left part of the LEV's fuselage, and the shrill siren that ensues in the V2's cockpit is enough to finalize Leo's mental preparations. The Viper rolls sharply to the right, noses downwards, and accelerates, rocketing down into the fray. Finding EXACTLY whoever made the shot would be a real bother in such an enormous firefight... so Leo just starts shooting at anyone or anything that might be or conceal a sniper, launching missiles at convenient Orb targets, trees, rocks, and maybe, if he's lucky, even the mobile suit of Kai Shiden.

COMBAT: Leo Stenbuck has attacked Kai Shiden. Tri Missile Barrage added to their queue.

The Lady Athha starts to get the hang of the Aile; the controls are more complex than she's used to, but since some of the models of the M1A have been used as a test bed for the same atmospheric flight packs used on the second-generation Strikes, it's not that bad. It's so responsive, she thinks -- it's easily the best she's ever managed to tease out of a machine, that's for certain. Maybe, unlike the Zaku II, this will actually be able to keep up when she kicks it into overdrive.

Graham's Overflag quickly catches her attention when she sees the tank go down; the desperation of the situation sinks further and further in. They're using /tanks/ -- cheap though they may be, they're practically cannon fodder in a fight against a modern MS. This isn't the One Year War -- some things can't even be /damaged/ by ordnance like that.

"Why don't you pick on someone who can actually put up a fight?" the Princess transmits to the Overflag's pilot, as the Strike Rouge rushes in; the Gundam's beam saber is drawn and hastily put to good use, two quick slashes aimed right for the planelike machine.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Graham Aker. Beam Saber added to their queue.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has missed Graham Aker with her Beam Saber attack.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has counter attacked for a minor hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge using Anti-Aircraft Missile.

The Green Gespenst see a unit ahead, one he thought didn't see much action anymore. "A Cheyenne?" That's a suprise as he skirts across the water he raises his rifle and opens fire, sending several beam shots at the Destroid and following it up with a swarm of split missiles, if he can melee this old thing into the ground.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has attacked Juku Reimaru. Mega Beam Rifle added to their queue.

Ryusei grimaces as the Big Fau turns its MIGHTY FISTS upon him. "Yeah! Come on! Come on! Come on!" He swivels, as the fists swing past. The arms grab out, and Ryusei flips, the attack scraping off against him as he pulls free. "NOT SO FAST!" Ryusei calls. "Do you really think you have the advantage?! You might have an awesome Super Robot..." Ryusei's eyes narrow dramatically. "BUT I CAN BEAT YOU REGARDLESS!" He plunges into the water, bolting around the Big Fau as he sweeps through the gleaming, chaotic waves. "I can't use my beams down here, but... I still have options! LET'S DO THIS!" Leg holders open with a bust of bubbles, and he whips up a massive handgun, which he levels at the Big Fau as he sweeps around it in a three-dimensional strafing pattern. "GIANT REVOLVER! FIRRRRRRRRREEEEE!" There are little explosions as the sealed ammunition detonates, propelling the bullets through the water towards the Big.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Alex Rosewater. G-Revolver added to their queue.

COMBAT: Leo Stenbuck has struck a solid hit on Kai Shiden's Guncannon Detector using Tri Missile Barrage.

The Dayma U5, large, humanoid but beetleoid as well, continues it's downwards spiral, flying through the air. Baron Ashura has commanded the machine beast to strike, and strike it shall, diving towards the unfortunate one whom has been chosen.

Towards the front lines, the thrusters on the back drive it, the back pack like object allowing the machine beast to burn ever closer. "Choose, machine beast! Who shall face your might this day!" The male side speaks, "Let them know of the hopelessness within war.." The female goes on, "Of Dr. Hell!" Both finish, as the Dayma U5 picks it's target.

The larger machine beast bears down onto Melissa Mao's M9, and rears back it's whip arm as it pulls closer, swinging the whip towards the head of the machine, aiming to wrap around as it passes, and suddenly light up with electricity!

A fate that may include Melissa's machine as well, and if not lucky, her!

"Ahahahaha!" The laughter may still ring through the air.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Electrowhip Arm added to their queue.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has struck a major critical hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using Mega Beam Rifle.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Russel Bagman's Gespenst Mk. II-M using Anti-Air Gatling Gun.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a minor hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using G-Revolver.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has missed Ryusei Date with his Laser Tentacle counter attack.

Enemy, the voice hisses in the back of his ear, enemy enemy enemyenemyenemyenemy...

Unit-01 hunches down, slightly, the only indication that Shinji has observed a threat. His nose broadens, a rush of LCL flowing into his body the stone is coming call up the ATField but the beast doesn't respond, and Unit-01 is smashed in the back of the neck by a boulder. Knees pump, elbows twist, and there's a sudden wave of sand!

Unit-01 is in the air, legs kicking out and spine stretching back so that where his head once was, Alia only shoots the space between his legs, while his arms finish ripping the rock out of his neck, hurling it forward in time to block the heavy beam laser, causing an explosion of dust and shards of rock to fly out over the area between the Eva and the Gundam! Unit-01 lands on its hands, its legs kicking in what some might call a 'helicopter spin' that might just disadvantage Alia as she's circling around, before Shinji kicks back to his feet, gets confirmation that Rei is, in fact, not on board Evangelion Unit-00 and procedes to squat down, struggling for a second before what's left of Unit-00's arms come ripping off, Unit-01 charging forward as Shinji swings the pair of blue and meat colored limbs like they were bike chains, before hopping in the air and hurling the gruseome weapons at both Akira and Camille's machines!

Unit-01 and Shinji both breathe, unsure of how exactly they managed to move like that. Oh right, he is angry. "She has to take pills." Shinji gets out over that open broadband radio, "Three times a week. Or she gets sick. I know she's in the sub. Stay out of my way, and I'll take her home without hurting anyone."

Clomp clomp clomp. The Dibison advances from the beach, approaching the growing firefight. After several steps, it begins to pick up speed, thundering closer and closer. "They just won't leave us alone, huh. Well... time to give them a few more reasons to go away already." Leena activates her Zoid's targetting sensors, scanning over the battlefield... and pauses when she sees those two Eva units. Now those... those are tall. "The bigger they are..."

Grinning, Leena activates her Dibison's missile pods. The Zoid lifts its head slightly, and the launchers on each side of the head swing open. "The harder they fall! Open fire!" The pods fire, launching over a dozen missiles streaking through the air toward that Evangelion. "Whatever you are, you're in a whole heap of trouble!"

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has attacked Asuka Langley Sohryu. Double 8-Shot Missile Pod added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has attacked Alia Winchester, Akira Tadokoro, and Camille Bidan. Evangelion Melee added to their queue.

Graham's eyes narrow, as he sees the Strike Rouge flying in from one side. "A new Orb Gundam!" he hisses underneath his breath, as the Aile Strike Rouge comes flying in from his side. He looses one of the anti-aircraft missiles. It drops from the leg of the Overflag, falls down a small distance, and then fires its thrusters, twisting around to come up for the Strike.

Then, it barrel rolls hard to the side. The beam rifle strikes fly past it, flashes of red that shoot over the black Mobile Suit, as it banks around hard. Graham's teeth grit together. "This is war, kid! If you get into a machine, that's the sort of chance you take--that's what you need to know as a Gundam pilot! Any pilot faces a risk against a robot like yours, and if he's not willing to die, then he's a coward!"

He swings the Overflag around, a sharper turn than he should be able to. The crosshairs flash across the Strike Rouge as he goes flying in, practically playing chicken with her. "Prepare yourself, GUUUUUUUUUUUUUNDAM!"

The linear rifle opens fire; it roars in the atmosphere, causing the Overflag to shake as a rapid burst of 120mm rounds are hurled from the electromagnetic cannon and sent flying for the Phase Shift armor-equipped Mobile Suit.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Linear Rifle added to their queue.

The beachhead combat is, if nothing else, messy. DHZ regulars are not doing well out there; they hold their ground as best they can, but many of them are conscripts and in less powerful machinery. The RRF elites are doing much better, as they actually have wanzers... but there aren't as many of them.

Abruptly, though, Lan signals for her first trick. A strand of trees nearly explodes as the dozen Boa-class wanzer bazookas hidden in it, tied together and wired for remote fire, all shoot cluster bombs at once. They burst along a particularly thickly populated part of the beach, damaging one of the Taita 4s used as bait but blasting its opponents much more powerfully.

She does this while skating backwards, firing her left-hand weapon, a more concentrated stream of flame instead of the previous wave. It fails to connect with the Flarebrass, although the twin flamethrowers fired from the MST damages the wanzer, scorching the paint and damaging the armour underneath.

Lan's face comes on the visual radio, clouded slightly by static; she is a dark-haired Chinese woman with a very serious face. "'Chink piece of crap'," she repeats, in her accented voice. "If it suits you. Doesn't your machine use Huoyao parts?" Probably not, or not anymore, although Lan does think that they reverse-engineered it.

She brings up both weapons, the oddly rifle-looking flamethrowers she favours, and fires a twin stream of flame at the Flarebrass while circling.

The armaments fired from either side produce a rather hazy field that hangs about the water, between where the Tuatha de Danaan had run aground and their forces, the Mithril SRT, had spread out to protect their investment.

Either sides of EFA and Orb Union have begun to clash, the fighting already increasingly hotblooded, escalating without a chance of slowling down. One side will be victorious by the end, there is no doubt. This does not stop a certain Super Robot pilot from entering the fray. At the very notion that the Orb Union was under a continued assault from EFA he had decided to go, see what he could for himself, and accomplish what the EFA could not.

The Granzon appears, long powerful strides, methodical in nature as it pushes through the water, moving towards the beached Tuatha de Danaan. The location does not slow the DC war machine, the water making way for the Granzon as it moves.

One of its hands moves towards the central generator, the semi-infinite energy source responding as the pilot beckons, a powerful light shining from the very core of the super robot, guided by the hand towards the many entrenched Mithril SRT.

As prepared they were for an assault from EFA, the assault from the Granzon, appearing out of nowhere, may be a little troubling, its presence vexing the entire opperations.

Shu Shirakawa pilots the craft without flaw or error, his visage as calm as he was reading a book or a manuscript.

It probably is not a good idea to leave the SRT to deal with the Granzon alone.

Battle Mastery: Stop the Granzon from reaching the Tuatha de Denaan?!

Shu Shirakawa activates his Granzon unit.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Lavi St. James. Twin Flame added to their queue.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "..."

COMBAT: Graham Aker has struck a major hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge using Linear Rifle.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has activated a spirit command.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Granzon!"

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has attacked Teletha Testarossa. Gravity Core That Shoots Lasers added to their queue.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "...It's him!!"

"Well," Kiva drawls as the surfboard hurtles well off into the distance, "Now we know that the laws of inertia are the same in this time frame." She does not /quite/ say dumbass.

"Oh, can it," Coop grumbles. "Let's get in there and help the little dude."

"Hey," Jamie notes, pointing out the window. "Isn't that their giant sub? Can't we just shoot it and end this?"

Kiva blinks. "....did you guys spike my white hot chocolate or did Jamie just come up with a workable plan?"

"Nah, forget about that," Coop says, waving a hand dismissively. "You gotta beat all the sub-bosses before taking out the big boss. Everyone knows that. Besides," he adds, revving Megas's engine, "There's a whole bunch of dudes attacking the kid. We gotta help him out!" Also factoring into Coop's decision, an objective observer might note, is that the Orb Union forces actually have on their side a robot that is comparable in size to Megas. Coop is really, REALLY sick of fighting midget robots.

o THAT'S NOT A KNIFE

"WAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Coop roars as Megas accelerates toward Buriki-Daioh from behind, reaching over its right shoulder and grasping the handle of a sword. The blade attached to the aforementioned handle is rather large. Titanic, perhaps. One might even say col...actually, maybe one might not say that. Megas swings the sword around in a sweeping horizontal slash, sand spraying upward as its tip carves a line in the beach.

A heavy hit to start with - well, he had never exactly been trying to be 'fair' in these battles. Tieria's main goal was to attempt to defeat his opponents as quickly as possible. Still, it seemed that it was a bit unfair to fight against a Gespsenst like this... But such did not matter. He simply needed to smash this foe as quickly as possible. The Split Missile comes roaring in, and Tieria raises both of Virtue's arms up in front of the mobile suit, plowing right into the missile and letting Virtue's armor deal with the hit. The Gundam erupts through the cloud of smoke and debris, both shoulder mounted gun pods snapping up and running out all of their barrels. Four beam cannons roll together into one massive wave of energy, roaring straight down at the Gespsenst like a white hot tide of destruction.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has attacked Akira Tadokoro. BFS added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a minor hit on Tieria Erde's Gundam Virtue using Split Missile.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has attacked Lamia Loveless. Twin-Linked Double Barrel GN Cannons added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "I am regretfully engaged with the R-1. I do not believe he is going to allow me to break free to engage the Granzon. Who is avalible to delay it's assault?"

One thing about the Cheyenne, it is not speedy. This is evidenced by Russel's beam blast slamming into the machine and nearly blowing it right over "Nhg!" Juku bounces around int he cockpit, causing the anti-ait gattling to drift, and fire right back at the Gespenst for a moment.

"Right, I almost forgot I was a target." She straightens the destroid back up and deploys the shoulder mounted rocket launchers.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "I'm on it!"

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has attacked Russel Bagman. Rocket added to their queue.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has missed Melissa Mao with its Electrowhip Arm attack.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has missed Asuka Langley Sohryu with her Double 8-Shot Missile Pod attack.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has counter attacked for a minor hit on Leena Toros's Dibison using Progressive Knife.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has struck a minor hit on Akira Tadokoro's Buriki-Daioh using Evangelion Melee.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has activated a spirit command.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Andrei Kalinin reports, "I am directing the SRT that way, as well."

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has missed Alia Winchester with his Evangelion Melee attack.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has counter attacked for a minor hit on Shinji Ikari's Evangelion Unit-01 using Heavy Vulcan Barrage.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has missed Akira Tadokoro with his BFS attack.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has missed Coop Cooplowski with his Metal Hit counter attack.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has missed Lavi St. James with her Twin Flame attack.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has missed Lan Xiao Hua with his Twin Flame Thrower counter attack.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has struck a glancing hit on Camille Bidan's Zeta Gundam using Evangelion Melee.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has missed Lamia Loveless with his Twin-Linked Double Barrel GN Cannons attack.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has struck a glancing hit on Teletha Testarossa's Mithril Task Force using Gravity Core That Shoots Lasers.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa's evasion attempt has failed.

The Big Fau slowly floats to the bottom, allowing Ryusei to follow him, even though he wasn't quite able to drag him under the waves. However, Ryusei followed him after...which makes the battle back on his terms.

The Big Fau and the R-1 Square off...Ryusei's acts first, a barrage from the revolver pepper the Big Fau, which looks like it's paint might have been chipped, however, there were burns now, so it was obviously being damaged.

Two soulder tentacle lasers seem to come up, and miss the R-1 as it attempts to counter attack. However, the radio causes the Representive to ponder the moment, it is unlikely the R-1 would allow him to engage the Granzon, so he is only left with one choice.

Eliminate it quickly.

The Big Fau comes on viciously then, attempting to draw the R-1 back into melee range, as it's massive fists come down, attempting to pummel it into the ocean floor.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has attacked Ryusei Date. Turbine Drill Punch added to their queue.

Now just how in the heck did Mao get so unlucky to face some creepy looking transformer reject? The Baron is not that hard to miss however and the M9's sensitive equipment immediately picks up on the incoming threat. Mao whips her head about and glares at the thing bearing down upon her. "Oh like -hell- I'm letting you anywhere near my ship!" She yells. She brings her machine gun upwards in a block position, allowing the electrified whip thing grab hold of that instead of the Arm Slave's sensitive head unit. There is a crackling sound as she lets go, counting the weapon as lost but this is a big fight and she did not come without spares. Reaching behind her, she grabs another one from the small cache she simply dumped at her feet. "I've been sober for over twenty four hours because of you punks! DO NOT MESS WITH ME!"

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. 40mm Machine Cannon added to their queue.

Kai Shiden moves with surprising stealth for a mobile suit through the forest, the GCD literally crawling on its hands and knees to avoid being visible through the treetops, Kai's own experience in moving stealthily (previously just to avoid getting shot at) keeping him from bumping trees overmuch. What this mode doesn't have, however, is speed. Explosions start rocking his section of the forest, and instead of trying to get up and clamber out of the way and open himself up to even more fire, he crouches behind a large boulder, which absorbs the brunt of the damage but not all of it.

His boulder crumbles down, and Kai moves again, not worrying about bumping trees as the rain of missiles are quite clearly shaking everything all over the place. Another beam rifle shot comes flying from the forest, an entirely different position, aiming for the other side of the fuselage just to make things pretty.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Leo Stenbuck. Beam Rifle added to their queue.

"Without hurting anyone? Without hurting anybody except for her!" Camille retorts, over the radio. The Zeta raises its shield to deflect the blwo from the Unit-01, emerging all but unscathed from the conflict. Twin flashes of energy -- one from a beam saber, one from the beam bayonet extending from the rifle -- illuminate the 01 in a purple glow. Camille seems ready to go straight to the quick of things. "How can you suffer just like she does -- the same machine, the same army -- and not understand a damn thing?! I.... I /don't understand it!/ Why the hell do you keep fighting? Why the hell do you make her keep fighting?!" The Zeta pushes back, pressing with its shield--

--and then it starts cutting and flailing with the twin sabers, angling to carve the arm clear off its foe. The Zeta is constantly attacking, pushing meter after meter forward with a wild series of swings. "Well!? What are you fighting for?!"

Asuka sees Shinji leap in to the fray and begin firing, but is suddenly shouted at by a pilot in a Zoid. She hears about the second half of what the woman was saying, which is plenty enough for her to realize she's being targeted.

Eva-02, rather than sidestepping, turns toward the other machine and leaps toward it, its steps kicking up sand on the beach and splashing in to the surf. She cuts across with her grip on the knife, dragging it through the armor of the bestial robot in front of her, as the missiles fly around the Evangelion and seem to be dispersed by its AT-field in its proximity. A few explode in air, others slamming in to the beach harmlessly before detonation. "You're going to try to taunt me with that ridiculous cliche!?" Asuka demands, already sounding pissed-off and frustrated. The Evas were going to take a lot of punishment today, but she's determined to give twice as good as she may be about to get. She holds on to the hilt of the knifeblade and stabs it straight down at the head of the Zoid, using both hands.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has attacked Leena Toros. Progressive Knife added to their queue.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has attacked Shinji Ikari. Dual Beam Swords added to their queue.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has struck a solid hit on Baron Ashura's Dayma U5 using 40mm Machine Cannon.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has struck a solid hit on Shinji Ikari's Evangelion Unit-01 using Dual Beam Swords.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has counter attacked for a minor hit on Camille Bidan's Zeta Gundam using Progressive Knife.

Alia tilts the Astray's head down to face the rising 'helicopter kicking' Eva-01, managing enough sheer upward velocity to get out of Shinji's way while returning fire with a stream of bullets for likely minor damage on that massive purple berserker. Shinji gets a mouthful: "There's no way I'll get hit by something like that! I'm in a Gundam now! I'll take those pills and ram them down your thr..." ...Granzon. The arrival of that armored module gets Alia's attention as several thoughts run through her. Momentarily, there's fear. Then anger. Then a very strong determination to get revenge for last time. "Shu Shirakawa!" A hostile radio transmission to him, though others may be able to easily overhear. "I made a mistake last time, but I went over what I did wrong! This time's different... you're mine!" And then the white and gold Astray levels its beam rifle down at Granzon, unleashing another red energy ray, this one aiming for the chest.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Shu Shirakawa. Type 71 Beam Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has struck a major hit on Leena Toros's Dibison using Progressive Knife.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has counter attacked for a minor hit on Asuka Langley Sohryu's Evangelion Unit-02 using Pulse Beam Gun.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has missed Ryusei Date with his Turbine Drill Punch attack.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a devastating hit on Leo Stenbuck's Vic Viper FM using Beam Rifle.

COMBAT: Leo Stenbuck's evasion attempt has failed.

The missiles are more than four, and thus cannot be dodged! Lamia - and the EFA - like to abuse that rule. Lamia herself does not smile, even as other, larger machines begin to strive, updates coming in: Prisoner in the TDD. She mentally adjusts her plan to try to shoot through its engine block.

The Gespenst turns to face towards the Virtue as the rays are aimed at her, and inwardly Lamia wonders. This strategy is direct and simple. It's almost... familiar. This couldn't be -

The Gespenst boosts forwards, ducking low as the beam cannons scream forwards and past its back, glassing beach sand as the left arm is brought up, fingers clenched in a fist as plasma spikes hum to life. It leaps finally from the sand, fist slamming into an uppercut as Lamia lets out an almost uncharacteristic "HAAAAAH!" of effort!

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Tieria Erde. Gespenst Punch added to their queue.

"Captain!" someone calls in the command center. "The sensors, they're reading...this can't be right, gravity tremors!? Here?"

Tessa's eyes narrow. "Granzon," she murmurs. "What's /it/ doing here...Mister Kalinin, I'm afraid we don't have a choice. Break off a team of SRT to deal with it."

"Yes, Captain," Kalinin rumbles.

A pair of M9s break off from shooting at the Hizacks and MSTs, two bounding huge distances into the air to land a ways off. The third handles the incoming attack by opening fire with its head vulcans, actually intercepting the incoming blasts with BULLETS.

The SRT are cool like that, don't think about it too hard. One stray shot manages to peg him in the chest, but by then Granzon has more issues to deal with: One of the M9s has pulled out its sniper rifle, and taken aim!

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has attacked Shu Shirakawa. 57mm Sniper Rifle added to their queue.

The machine beast dives, but the Dayma U5 was never known to be the most accurate. Many a machine beast relies upon the enemy's mistakes! And this one is not far from the tree. Melissa proves to be a feisty one, and the machine guns are brought upwards used both as a shield and a weapon, the Dayma U5 suddenly being fired upon, after crushing the weapon.

The blasts strikes against the Dayma U5, bringing it upwards, and back as well, before it dives once more towards the Arm Slave, the other arm being pulled backwards, before being thrust towards the body. If it cannot have the head, then the machine beast shall take the BODY!

"AHAHAHA!!" "I do not care of your personal troubles.." The male speaks, followed by the female. "Nor do I care of your worthless situation!" They both unify in voice, as the Dayma U5 strikes, their voice broadcast from the machine. The staff is thrust, as the Dayma U5 follows to a degree. "It is your submarine.. that once destroyed, will removed yet another threat!"

From the stopping of Dr. Hell's world domination!

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Drill Arm - Power Driller added to their queue.

The Strike Rouge is rocked by linear rifle fire; the Phase Shift armor soaks the worst of it, which is a pretty surprising amount after a little diversion of power in that general direction, but the pilot herself seems pretty rattled by the whole affair. She got cocky thanks to the Gundam -- which is, of course, a mistake she has no intention of making twice.

"So that makes it right to go straight for the weakest targets and end people's lives without even thinking twice about it?!" Cagalli shouts back, gritting her teeth; she doesn't have a whole ton of options that she's fully comfortable with yet, but there's gotta be /something/ that this machine can do that will put a good, clean dent in Graham's machine...

Sticking to the beam saber for now -- it is the only weapon on the machine she's fully comfortable with -- she lunges in toward Graham, doing a whirling dive toward the slightly faster Overflag. Just keeping up with /that/ is a stretch -- she wants to peel off and help handle the Granzon, but she doesn't think she can break the engagement with Graham so easily. As such, she at least realizes that continuing to think too hard about doing so is going to make things worse, and puts it out of her mind for the moment.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Graham Aker. Beam Saber Strike added to their queue.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has missed Melissa Mao with its Drill Arm - Power Driller attack.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has struck a glancing hit on Graham Aker's SVMS-01O Overflag PM using Beam Saber Strike. COMBAT: Graham Aker has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge using 20mm Machinegun.

For all of its faults, the EFA does not, at least, use conscripts. If only because conscripts are a very bad idea and a good way to arm people that probably didn't care about you before they were conscripted. The EFA's advantage is now more strongly with air support. As mechs start fighting on the beach, they start tieing up guns that were shooting at the airborne Valkyries. This allows the high speed transforming fighters to keep to the skies and bomb clusters of resistance below. It's one of the classic battle archetypes of history; entrenched defenders with boobytraps against overwhelming numbers with aerial superiority.

Lavi spirals slides laterally to evade the Wanzer's return fire as the two heavy machines dance at high speeds. "Not since the mk.2s, sugar." His face is obscured behind his visored helmet and oxygen mask, making for a slightly boring visual feed. "Now, they're all American, made in Detroit."

Both machines circle strafe around each other, spraying flame just on each other's heels. It's almost like a sick game of ring around the rosey. "C'mon... COME ON!" Lavi shouts, suddenly reversing his motion in a dangerous game of chicken. Protip: He's not backing down. He swings his right fist around in a heavy punch as the launcher mounted above the wrist sprays at point blank range.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Burning Dash added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Uruz team? Be careful, Granzon can attack from several angles at once! You want to get either really close or really far away, medium range plays right into his hand."

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has struck a solid hit on Shu Shirakawa's Granzon using Type 71 Beam Rifle.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has counter attacked for a solid hit on Alia Winchester's M1A Astray using Wormhole Beam.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has struck a solid critical hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Tieqi 4 using Burning Dash.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has missed Lavi St. James with her Hardblow counter attack.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has struck a solid hit on Shu Shirakawa's Granzon using 57mm Sniper Rifle.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has missed Teletha Testarossa with his Autocannon counter attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Gail McAllen transmits, "This is Uruz One, entering combat! I've got seventeen and fourteen, as well!"

Kazuki Takemura activates his Zenislev unit.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Melissa Mao transmits, "Be careful Uruz One!"

"Bah!" Leena thumps her fist against her seat in annoyance as the missiles go wide. "Sure it's a cliche... but that doesn't make it any less true!" Even as the knife tears through the armor on the side of the cannon array, it doesn't seem to be slowed down too badly. The Dibison is built like a tank, after all.

When she sees the knife coming down toward her Zoid's head, Leena quickly pulls her controls back, and the large machine rears back and turns quickly. The knife plunges instead into the Zoid's flank, just as the beam guns mounted there open fire. "Hey! What -is- it with you EFA people and trying to gut the cockpit?" The Dibison lets out a low grunt and turns again, the nine main mortar cannons locking into place. "Such a big target should know better than to get so close, though... so back off!" One after another, all nine of the cannons fire, each launching a mortar shell at the Evangelion.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has attacked Asuka Langley Sohryu. Mortar Cannon Battery added to their queue.

Inside the Danaan -- about when Unit-01 cannibalizes Unit-00's arms to use as nunchucks -- Rei suddenly leaps to her feet in her cell. The guards monitoring her snap to attention -- having let themselves grow distracted listening for news from the battle raging without.

There is a moment of awkward tension as Rei makes no further move -- she stands at attention, though, gazing upward, as if trying to look clear through the various layers of hull above her.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has missed Russel Bagman with her Rocket attack.

Buriki-Daioh brings up it's right hand to take the hit as the severed arm of an Evangelion crashes into it. The pilot's arm jerks back and he winces in pain, armor shuddering on the giant robot's forearm from the impact. Akira glances at his wounded hand, a bruise developing there, and then laughs for a moment as he realizes he really is in control again. "HAH! Now we're ready to rock!" He's cooled off slightly; now that the power is flowing, it would be hard to stop it. He holds the arm by the wrist and looks at it, slightly unnerved by the fact that he had a /severed limb/ thrown at him.

He doesn't have more than a moment to check it, though. Akira hears a roar of challenge, and Buriki-Daioh displays surprising speed for it's size, spinning around and swinging it's right hand out in a reflexive strike. Akira gets lucky; the sword that was coming right for him is met with the severed giant arm, and deflected off it's course. His counterattack, while unsuccessful--the elbow bent--saved him some damage.

"Woah! That's some sword!" Akira left his radio on; Coop may have accidentally been complimented just then. "You must be with the EFA... Alright, lets go! START THE MUSIC!" Is it some kind of battle cry? Nope; on cue, music starts playing from some unknown speakers, presumably installed somewhere in Buriki-Daioh. Akira yells as he strikes, swinging the robot's massive fists in to give Coop the ol' one-two punch and smack him with what's left of the arm in one hand.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Coop Cooplowski. Theme Music Override added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester sounds rather focused. "Okay... Uruz One, Fourteen, Seventeen... I'll get up close and behind Granz--" She's cut off by counter-fire from Granzon and shrieks.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Gail McAllen growls, "Of course I know that! When do you think I was born, yesterday? You worry about your own self!"

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a solid hit on Coop Cooplowski's Megas XLR using Theme Music Override.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has counter attacked for a minor hit on Akira Tadokoro's Buriki-Daioh using Arm Cannon.

"Don't give me that high-minded crap! This is a war, like I just said!" Graham shouts back at Cagalli. He sees the Strike Rouge coming in and prepares for his maneuver. The 20mm machineguns on the nose open fire, peppering the Strike Rouge with gunfire as it comes hurtling in for the machine. The beam sabers are captured in his eyes and he follows their movements. At the last minute, he jerks the Overflag to the left. The beam saber cuts into the side, the tip slicing into the armor and melting it, though the anti-beam paint holds it back a little.

Then, the Overflag unfolds; legs swing down and the chest comes up, the arms unfurling. One reaches down, drawing out the sonic sword - and an energy field explodes from it in contained form, striking hard for the Strike Rouge at point blank as the Overflag gets right up in its face.

"Orb soldiers would try to kill us just like we'd try to kill them! If you think you're above killing people in a war, then you're wrong, and if you spare units that can fight, you're getting your people killed!" Graham shouts. "That kind of attitude makes me sick!"

Graham Aker activates his SVMS-01O Overflag unit.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Sonic Sword added to their queue.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has struck a major hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge using Sonic Sword.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha's evasion attempt has failed.

The Turbine fists come down, and Ryusei, in the R-1, looks up with determination. "NO!" The fists come down and crush into the sandy floor, throwing up a massive obscuring murk. Ryusei vanishes in the murk... Before he launches from it yelling, "YOU WON'T BEAT ME THAT FAST, BIG FAU! LET'S DO THIS.... KING OF THE ASSAULT!" Missile pods open up, and a salvo of Split Missiles slurry forth to smash for the big Fau, detonating underwatr in an array of explosions!

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Alex Rosewater. KING OF THE ASSAULT added to their queue.

Unit-01 gets counter attacks rained down on it, and part of Shinji is fairly sure he wasted a lot of power on a pathetic little display. Most of him is seething with rage at the people who are keeping a sick person prisoner and calling him the villain. This does not give him space to avoid the giant laser sword coming straight for him! Shinji panics a little, his ATField simmering to life just as Unit-01 reaches out to grab the blazing weapon...

Ikari goes, "Gaaah!" as he feels his hand burn and bleed and burn more and a sick feeling in his gut as this crazy person repeats thoughts...words he's had with his coworkers. Did he really sound that...he doesn't even know the word. "Yeah, it hurts." Shinji says, then, since this kid won't listen, even as his foot kicks forward and Shinji sends a progressive knife into Camille's laser swordin' arm. "Everything about it hurts. The LCL hurts. Synchronizing hurts: If you don't do it well enough it hurts, and if you do it too well it hurts more. Moving hurts, fighting hurts, manifesting an ATField DOUBLE hurts, and between you, me, and the acrid smell of melted metal and bad oil? Just standing near it, hearing it breath, realizing that, somehow, it's lungs are moving in perfect time with yours, that if it had a heart, it'd be beating the same second yours did. That hurts like /hell/, angry guy. But what hurts most of all?"

Shinji lunges forward, Unit-01 shuddering as its super speed manifests itself, the progressive knife whipping out at the Zeta Gundam's chest, left shoulder, right shoulder, and finally the neck-like Shinji is trying to rip /around/ the cockpit. Which he is, as becomes fairly obvious when Unit-01 lands both of its feet against the Zeta's chest and, even if his previous goings on failed, KICKS off of the machine, sommersaulting through the air as the Third Child tries to strafe his way towards the Tutha de Dann!

Ayanami!, he thinks, for some reason, I'm coming!

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a minor hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using KING OF THE ASSAULT.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has missed Ryusei Date with his Turbine Punch counter attack.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has attacked Camille Bidan. Progressive Knife Mastery added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has struck a glancing hit on Camille Bidan's Zeta Gundam using Progressive Knife Mastery.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan's evasion attempt has failed. "You might not care, but I sure as hell do and I say you won't even get CLOSE!" Mao is all fired up today. But they've attacked her home away from home and there are people that she knows and cares about in that sub. The woman looks grim as the Dayma U5 launches forward. There is a subtle shifting, years of martial arts training coming into play as she suddenly steps to the side. The movement is almost too fluid for a machine of this size, but the M-9 Gernsbacks are the best when it comes to 'mass produced' Arm Slaves. The attack whizzes by harmlessly but even before the Dayma can complete it's pass, Mao has reached for one of the grenades hanging off of the M9's side. Deftly pulling the pin, she lobs it close range at the passing robot.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. Close Range Grenading added to their queue.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has struck a solid hit on Baron Ashura's Dayma U5 using Close Range Grenading.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Melissa Mao transmits, "You still owe me for last time so don't you dare go down on me!"

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a solid hit on Tieria Erde's Gundam Virtue using Gespenst Punch.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has missed Lamia Loveless with his GN Beam Saber counter attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Gail McAllen transmits, "Hah! Like I'm the one who has to worry!"

Da Han Zhong is notoriously weak in the air support department. They can field Shungfengs, the helicopters that are flitting around and giving targetting data, but Shungfengs only mount one light machine gun that works well on jeeps, but not so well on mobile suits.

The few Shungfengs they do have here are attempting to engage the faster Valkyries when required and doing a very bad job of it. They're not fast enough to keep up and their 20mm machine gun, even when it hits, isn't enough to take one down easily. They are assisted by the diminishing fire from the ground, but even so, it's not a great long-term strategy.

The ground fighting is getting even bloodier. A pair of Wudes piloted by RRF soldiers hovers by, using rifles and one of the experimental wanzer gatling guns to shred MSTs and mobile suits, but one of the Wudes is lost to a missile from the sky an instant later.

Lan's eyes narrow under the wanzer VR-like helmet hiding her eyes, attempting to keep a lock on the Flarebrass while turning like this. "I understand Diable Avionics makes a good flamethrower," she says, not sounding particularly amused about it. She's tensing. He's going to act -

/Now/. Lan brings her wanzer's foot up in a decidedly unorthodox strike at the attacking Flarebrass, but it doesn't manage to connect; she instead takes a flaming punch to the Tieqi's somewhat triangular torso, causing it to slide back and overcorrect until she gets the second foot back on the ground.

Instead of firing, she charges at the Flarebrass, head lowered to strike with one of the heavily plated shoulders - a Huffman-era shield has been placed there, less for defense and more to add a bit of striking power to her tackle.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Lavi St. James. Tackle added to their queue.

The split missiles detonate all around the Big Fau, most of them hitting. The armor was looking minorly damaged at this point, but the Big Fau still looked as dangerous now as it did before. Even through the missiles, the Big Fau attempted to break through to the R-1, rising into the water trying to get altitude over Ryusei, and punch down...only to miss the dodgy EFA unit.

The Big Fau would land once more, touching the bottom of the Sea floor as two shoulder cannons would rotate from somewhere on the back of the Big Fau. They aim towards the R-! as Rosewater, steadies his hand...trying to aim his shot carefully.

"You're skilled...but you can not hold out forever, EFA scum."

Hmmm - the way that Gespesnt moves - there was something odd about it. A sort of precision that seems vaguely familiar. Hmmm. Of course, there wasn't much to be seen except for the fact that suddenly the Gespsenst is leaping at him! That... he was not expecting. Perhaps he should try and fly a bit higher next time...! Tieria tries his best to lash out with his GN Beam Saber, the weapon popping out of a slot on Virtue's wrist and coming quickly to hand. And Tieria grunts, his slash going wide, even as the Lamia's blow slams into his chest, plasma spikes causing a small explosion as they impact. "...no, I will not fall to you here!" Tieria shouts, before ejecting the second beam saber from Virtue's other wrist. And he tries going to town with both of them against Lamia's Gespsenst.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has attacked Ryusei Date. Shoulder Beam Cannons added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has attacked Lamia Loveless. Double GN Beam Saber Fu added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Lan Xiao Hua says, after a muffled Mandarin curse, "We are losing the air, the Shungfengs are not capable of keeping up with their jets. And their bombing is giving the ground troops difficulties."

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has attacked Juku Reimaru. Split Missile added to their queue.

The sonic sword nearly cuts off an arm of the Rouge, but once again, the Phase Shift armor keeps the worst from happening; this time, the Princess has no excuse. Graham Aker, One Year War ace, is simply kicking her ass. "We shouldn't even be killing each other in the first place -- if I can find a way to bring down an enemy unit without killing the pilot, I'll take it!"

What to do, what to do -- at least it's in standing mode, she thinks. She sure as hell can't hit that stupid plane. This does open up a few new tactical avenues, she realizes, in what might be a slight improvement from her usual performance anywhere but 'the middle of the desert, with completely useless weaponry'. Now, how to capitalize...

Abruptly dropping her unit down as fast as possible, she disappears from Graham's immediate forward view for a moment; it's not much, especially against an ace pilot like Graham, but it might startle him. She then swings her mobile suit back up, shouting, "People like you -- people who just accept the killing -- are the reason we're still fighting!" before letting loose with a series of slashes for the Overflag's legs.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Graham Aker. Beam Saber Flurry added to their queue.

Mao may be fired up, but the Dayuma U5 can certainly take the punishment. The subtle shifting allows Melissa Mao's assault, as she whizzes past, fluid, to evade the drill's assault. Quit troubling. But no matter, in the end. She need only make one mistake. "Ahahahah! Oh, so you are a fighter!" The Dayma U5 is blasted by the grenading, as it hangs backwards, the machine beast taking the explosive weapon head on, a cloud covering it for a moment.

"But I am certain you will find you cannot fight forever!" The male voice touts, "For you are nothing compared to the machine you face!" The female one, in pride, states. "Ahahahah! Your defeat is impossible to avoid with such weak assaults! You are at our mercy!"

Erupting from the cloud, the electro-whip shoots forwards, attempting to strike hard against the frame of the machine, before wrapping around the body this time, aiming to use .. a SURPRISE ASSAULT, in it's actions, before the electricity jolts through.

Hopefully sapping the strength and will of the pilot!

"AHAHAHAH!"

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has struck a solid hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using Split Missile.

Kazuki Takemura is caught in the periphery of the mass of DHZ cluster bombs; his Zenislev is shielded by the MSTs closer to the epicenters, taking only superficial damage. After taking a few seconds to recover, he scowls and dashes his wanzer past the static defenses. This is when he spots the very bright and very obvious Astray flying nearby; it's a convenient target, and so he levels his shotgun at it and opens fire, hoping to take it by surprise.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Electrowhip Arm - Vicious Strike added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has attacked Alia Winchester. Desoto M300 Shotgun added to their queue.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has struck a major hit on Asuka Langley Sohryu's Evangelion Unit-02 using Mortar Cannon Battery.

The Granzon manuevers forward, its legs slogging through the ground, manuevering forward as it towers across the land towards the very beaches themselves. The gravity tremors that begin to appear are nothing less than manditory, only growing with the passing moments that the Granzon holds itself, pushing on towards the beaches, even as the assaults begin to batter it.

Alia Whinchester gets in the way of the Granzon, once more speaking abot her strength. Shu Shirakawa barely pays any attention towards the transmission, for such things towards him happen irregardless of what faction. Many are unthrilled at the price of the Granzon in DC, but they have to cope with it. It will not be going anywhere in a great deal.

Sitting back, even as the Granzon takes the assault from the golden Stray, the rifle ripping into the Granzon. The cuts across, knocking off pieces of armor, scathing the armor of the Granzon as it continues its assault.

The Granzon does not even face Alia, instread creating another later that rips out, this time into a wormhole that rips through the very fabric of space, cutting off any towards Alia's Astray. Shu Shirakawa's attention is given almost entirely to the Hizacks and MSTs, as well as the SRTs. The single shot that pegs the Granzon in the chest from the sniper rifle manages to put Shu off target for only a moment, stray autocannon fire ripping across the sandy beach.

"Hello, Captain Teletha," Shu declares, the Granzon stopping as it swivels towards one of the M9's, both hands rising towards its chest, summoning a pulsing ball of gravity, moving, living, simply existing. "I hope you are doing well."

The ball increases in mass, feeding upon the world with an ever increasing pallete. All of a sudden, the chant comes, the ball errupting from the chest of Shu Shirakawa's Granzon. "Graviton Gun!" Rippling across air, aiming to engulf the SRT whole.

The Zeta Gundam moves before it moves -- it evades before it could evade -- and brings the shield into place to deflect the Progressive Knife; One of its beam sabers is knocked out of its grip in the process, deactivating and rolling along the beach. The Progressive Knife digs into the shield, but, eventually, slowly, surely, the two mecha steady. Movement slows... and both stop.

"Do you think you're the only person who's ever been turned into a weapon? Don't you get it?! All you have to do is stop! Your friend... she tried to kill herself twice! Don't you get it? Just answer me! Why are you fighting?! Do you even know?!"

The Zeta Gundam pushes back with the shield, its remaining beam saber still in hand. One quick push and then a single, direct cut across the chest of the Unit-01. Let's show you what mastery really is.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has attacked Teletha Testarossa. Graviton Gun added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has attacked Shinji Ikari. Beam Saber Mastery added to their queue.

Another shot, another hole. The Vic Viper jolts violently as it loses another perfectly cylindrical portion of its hull, and it rockets straight downwards, maneuvering like a mobile suit despite quite clearly being a plane. This time the shot was much closer, and Leo doesn't doubt his ability to find whoever made it and destroy them.

At least not until there's an explosion. Sure, it's one of many, and more than a few hundred feet away from the Vic Viper, but it catches Leo's attention enough to get him appraising the entire battlefield around him. Leo's been on battlefields before, but they've always been in space, even if on or around space stations. Maybe it's because of how alien he still finds the Earth, but this, here, seems a whole lot worse somehow. His rapidly dwindling hull integrity doesn't help matters.

So he weighs his options. On this hand, you've got the threat of death and a rapidly declining ability to pay attention to, and react to, his surroundings. On the other, you've got... what? "Victor 2, pulling out. I'm too damaged," he broadcasts quietly. The Viper suddenly angles itself straight upwards and, with a tremendous burst of flame, erupts skywards. It does not stop going until it is in space.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has struck a major hit on Teletha Testarossa's Mithril Task Force using Graviton Gun.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has missed Lamia Loveless with his Double GN Beam Saber Fu attack.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has counter attacked for a minor hit on Tieria Erde's Gundam Virtue using Sword Paper Fist.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has struck a major hit on Melissa Mao's M-9 Gernsback using Electrowhip Arm - Vicious Strike.

COMBAT: Kazuki Takemura has missed Alia Winchester with his Desoto M300 Shotgun attack.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has struck a solid hit on Lavi St. James's Mk.6 Flarebrass MST using Tackle.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has missed Lan Xiao Hua with his Incindiary Grenade counter attack.

"Yeah, I'm kind of with them," Coop admits, hurling the sword back over his shoulder - after all, if it got blocked once it'll just get blocked again. "So you better step off or else me an' Megas are gonna..." Coop trails off as, all of a sudden, something shifts in the universe. He tilts his head. "Are we....do you hear that?"

"Dude," Jamie says, nodding. "He changed the theme music. You just got served."

"Say /what/?" Coop snaps. The severed arm slams into Megas, causing it to take a step backward; Coop brings the giant robot's left arm up, firing a few shots from its wrist-mounted lasers to give him time to dig around in his glove compartment. "That one," he says, pointing. Jamie looks at the small grey cartridge, shrugs, and shoves it into Megas's dashboard.

SUPREME DOUBLE NINJA NINJA FORCE II EXTRA RADICAL EDITION

"Oh man, pick Twinkimaru," Jamie says, pointing.

Coop shakes his head, moving the cursor. "Sorry, dude, we're going with the classics." He flicks his monitor over to transmit to Nuriki-Daioh, his fat face filling the screen. "Hey guy, nice try!" he says as he presses buttons. "But first player always picks the stage." The music shifts again to a vaguely punk 16-bit beat, The Thing That Goes Doink sounding in the background. Coop quickly works quarter-circle-forward and punch on his controller, causing Megas to send a glowing blue ball of fire toward Buriki Daioh. He then continues to repeat until Buriki Daioh stops blocking.

Coop is a master of the Shotokan school of fighting.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has activated a spirit command.

The answer is simple of course: Asuka doesn't really care where your cockpit may or may not be. This isn't a tournament battle where she might have to deal with something like 'rules'. But she simply harrumphs when Leena tries to attempt some sort of moral authority over her tactics. She holds her arm up, though this time she's not fast enough to defend much against the blasts going on around her, and a few of the mortars rip through the AT Field of Unit-02, splattering against its armor and ripping a few blemishes in to it. "I'm not going to back off until you're through! So unless you want to run away..."

Asuka takes another step to get in close to the Zoid, and pulls out her battle ax, which she brandishes two-handed. She lowers it down in a great chop, mostly across the back of the other hostile unit. "So touchy about your stupid cockpit."

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has attacked Akira Tadokoro. The Ladies Call Me Hadouken Because I'm Down Right Fierce added to their queue.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has attacked Leena Toros. Battle Axe added to their queue.

Rei Ayanami -- still in her cell -- continues to determinedly stare upward, as if she were watching some invisible display. "Shinji?" she asks aloud, oblivious to the guards as they exchange a look like 'what?' On the beach, armless and disemboweled, Unit-00 remains inert; its foot, rested on an unstable sand dune, sags downward.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Kai Shiden transmits, "The Vic Viper's getting out of here. Who needs some artillery?"

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has struck a solid hit on Graham Aker's SVMS-01O Overflag using Beam Saber Flurry.

COMBAT: Graham Aker's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has struck a major hit on Leena Toros's Dibison using Battle Axe.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has missed Asuka Langley Sohryu with her Pulse Beam Gun counter attack.

Alia shrieks as a gravity-ripple tears into the Astray, damaging the hip and sending metal trailing to the ground as armor plating is ripped off. Then just a moment later, Kazuki fires at her, and she either dodges by coincidence or somehow knowing what was happening even with her back turned to his wanzer. "Huh?" A quick look around, and she identifies the likely source of the target. "You again? I don't feel like fighting you right now... Granzon's here!" After that quick remark to Kazuki, Alia sends her Astray flying down toward Granzon. She's trying to swoop down behind Shu, hoping to get to very close range; easily melee range even though she's still using a gun. Aiming the beam rifle down, she picks a shot at Granzon's rear hip, attempting to return the favor with a well-placed red ray to there. "Uruz One, go for it!" Hit or miss, she tries to send the Astray flying off to the side.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has struck a solid hit on Akira Tadokoro's Buriki-Daioh using The Ladies Call Me Hadouken Because I'm Down Right Fierce.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has missed Coop Cooplowski with his Not Quite LaoHuZhiWhu counter attack.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Shu Shirakawa. Sniper Beam Rifle added to their queue.

"Tell that to the Divine Crusaders, then!" Graham shouts at Cagalli. "The colonies have never wanted to leave well enough alone with us! They want a war with the Earth and they'll keep firing colonies at us until they get it! You want the war to end?!" the soldier shouts, even as the Rouge drops down out of his sight. He looks down, angrily, and starts trying to find her again - and sees her rising up. "Help us defeat the DC, and we'll talk! All your damn country's done is make this war more complicated and longer!" Aker yells. The beam saber cuts into the right leg - and slashes through it at the calf, slashing off a chunk of it and sending it falling down to the island below. It hits the beach, sending up a wash of sand. He stabs down with the bladed portion of the linear rifle, trying to stab the pointed end of it into the Rouge's shoulder hard.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Bladed Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has missed Shinji Ikari with his Beam Saber Mastery attack.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has missed Camille Bidan with his Progressive Knife counter attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "This thing is tough!"

COMBAT: Graham Aker has missed Cagalli Yula Athha with his Bladed Rifle attack.

This time, Juku launches flares from the shoulders of the Cheyenne, causing the split missiles to explode prematurely, reducing how much damage they do. "Hnf." Juku flips a switch, and the legs of the machine bend in an uncomfortable seeming backwards position and wheels descend from the calves as the toe gaurd flips up. The Hunch back like Destroid spins it's wheels, sending sand flying everywhere as it powers across the sand, turning it's torso sideways as it moves laterally to straffe the Gespenst with a hail of anti-aircraft bullets.

The incoming beam saber strikes are assessed. Lamia estimates the characteristic lag pattern behind what must be the enemy's stroke-intentions: The two-weapon style rules out one possibility, decisively and finally. However, there is at least one other, possibly more; they can't know how long it's been. The Gespenst, still airborne, weaves to the side away from the slashes, aiming an open-handed strike at the side of the Gundam's arm for the sake of adding injury to - - injury. However, the mysterious woman piloting the Gespenst may recognize that she probably doesn't want too much penetration from dual beam sabers, and so the Gespenst scoots backwards, drawing out a longer-barrelled weapon. As Lamia attempts to maneuver over the TDD, the Boosted Rifle is carefully aimed towards the Virtue's left shoulder and fired, once, hopefully with devastating effect.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Tieria Erde. Boosted Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has attacked Russel Bagman. Crouching Destroid. Hidden Mobility added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a minor hit on Tieria Erde's Gundam Virtue using Boosted Rifle.

"Aaaaa KIDNAPPER is telling me," Shinji's voice has cracked, taking on a savage, almost feral tone. It's more growling than speaking. "What's best for my friend?! NERV...has one job! To stop the Angels, and any other Fortean Being bent on wiping out the planet! I'm not fighting to put Alex Rosewater's corporation where the UN is now, and I'm not fighting because I think Bian Zoldark is the bearded, violent reincarnation of Jesus Christ, because they're not! They're power hungry maniacs who are dragging this crap out while the aliens keep coming, and coming-and when they do attack, I never see a Crusader or an Orb pilot there!" Shinji barrels forward, knife arm stabbing like lightning-and the beam saber and sonic knife clask in mid air, sparks and light screaming from the enhanced weapons as the two boys try to disembowel eachother for the sake of world peace!

"Ayanami's got it rough. I mean, she was raised by my old man, and that's just the start of her problems." Shinji breathes, "But no one's making her stay, any more than any of us. She /taught/ me that. We deal with piloting the Evas because they're the last, best hope we have at stopping alien things we barely understand well enough to defend ourselves from. If that means putting up with those idiot Titans, and the partisan morons in the EFA, fine! Because we all need the planet, Zeta Gundam Pilot-it doesn't matter who's right if the Angels manage to blow it up while we're busy trying to kill eachother!"

"So back off..." Unit-01 presses forward, grabbing at the shoulder of Camille's machine and trying to spin around, building up speed until it can hurl the lighter, faster machine, widgets and all, through the nearest downed enemy mecha. "...before I do something we'll both regret."

Jesus, Shinji thinks to himself, I've been watching too many action movies.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has attacked Camille Bidan. Scenery Destruction added to their queue.

The strike hits and Mao is already leaping backwards to avoid a potential follow up. She spares a moment to glance at the direction where the TDD-1 rests and her squad mates are fighting. But Ashura's voice cuts through the cloud and she turns her attention back to her fight. She's scanning the cloud, looking for the potential source but it's too big and too many things interfering to get a good read. There is a sudden jolt of electricity, it courses through the M9, bringing several systems in the communication suite off line. Mao herself bites her lip as she feels the sting and she hunches over, catching her breath. For a moment, a doubt crowds her mind. Can she does this? Shu is here and he is attacking the Tuatha directly and this -thing- that is working for Dr. Hell has done a number on her system. She shakes her head, trying to clear it. "I... No! You want to see real strength?! Then get ready you piece of !" The with a cry, she launches the M9 forward, arms swinging for an inelegant bare-knuckled brawl.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. Brawling added to their queue.

"Yeah, and once we mass produce the Bl--" But Lavi's cut short and thus spared from death.

After his excellent maneuver, the Flarebrass' left arm reaches down to the stick grenade at it's hip, hefting it for a hurling throw. But Lan's machine is faster then Lavi anticipates. The impact crumples chest armor inwards and throws the MST backwards with the strength of the blow. Lavi loses hold of his grenade in mid-throw, it lands in a clump of trees and explodes in a blast of flame.

"Damn you!" Lavi spits, taking time to glance about the beach. He finds himself wishing, for a moment, that he didn't have to, that he wasn't responcible for the lives around him. He wishes he could have done /more/ for them, had a larger say in the battle plan. But he keeps getting passed up for promotion after promotion. If only there was a different way... a better way. But the chain of command must be respected. It has to be. His grandfather walked that path and innocent people suffered because of it.

Lavi steels himself. He's done what he could in the war room. Now he has to lead them from the front lines, pull more then his share of the fighting. "Man up, son." He whispers to himself. "Man up." Sweaty palms grasp the control yoke of the Flarebrass once again; its getting uncomfortably hot in the cockpit but Lavi ignores it for now. When the reactor hits orange he'll worry about the temperature. "LET'S DO THIS!" Lavi roars as the MST leaps to the assault, both flamethrows spewing forth a pair of contrails of flame for the enemy machine.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Flame Corridor added to their queue.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has struck a solid critical hit on Baron Ashura's Dayma U5 using Brawling.

"And you guys are so much goddamn better, huh?!" Cagalli counters, as she brings the Rouge's reinforced shield up to intercept Graham's strike, weaving out of the way using Graham's momentum against him. "If the way NID4 turned out was any indication, I'd say the Earth Federation is spoiling for a war just like the Divine Crusaders! Putting one warmonger in power to stop another isn't how we're going to get peace!" The Princess is, at least, finally getting used to having a shield. She never does, either due to having it placed somewhere /completely retarded/ (Zaku II) or throwing it at someone's face out of desperation (Gelgoog). It's a powerful defensive tool -- she might actually learn to use it for something other than 'shoving in people's faces,' at this rate.

Of course, her apparent tactic seems to be just that -- at least, at first. Coming in like she's going to bash Graham's Overflag in with her shield, the Lady Athha feints with an initial shield bash to Graham's right. Of course, that puts Graham precisely where she wants him to be, if he moves out of the way; her /real/ attack is an aggressive beam saber combo, starting at the Flag's head and working its way around -- eventually -- to each extremity. It seems unusually resistant to beams -- a full-scale assault is really the only way that seems sensible to actually go at it.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has struck a solid critical hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Tieqi 4 using Flame Corridor.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has struck a glancing hit on Ryusei Date's R-1 using Shoulder Beam Cannons.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Graham Aker. Beam Saber Assault added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has missed Camille Bidan with his Scenery Destruction attack.

"Like I'm gonna run away!" Leena is every bit as hot-blooded as the next redhead, and it's going to take more than a little damage to her Zoid to make her flee! Expecially after seeing her mortars finally affect the giant thing. When the battleaxe comes out, though, Leena's eyes go wide. "Wh..whoah. I thought that dinky little knife was too small for such a big robot." The pulse beam guns on the back of the Dibison fire once more as it turns... but not quite fast enough. There's a sickening crunch as the axe cleaves through some of the armor across its back, sparks flying not only from the tear, but also from the leg joints as they struggle to keep from giving out.

"Fine then..." Leena flips a few switches on her control panel and the Dibison suddenly ducks and charges forward, pulling itself free of the axe. Despite those massive horns, it really isn't meant for close combat... which only makes this all the more difficult for her. "Can't fire this at such close range.. or this.. aha!" The head of the Dibison lifts slightly, a soft whine coming from the cannon slung on its underbelly. "AZ Shock Cannon, fire!" A trio of soft FWUMPs can be heard as all three barrels open up, launching explosive balls of energy toward the Eva's legs. Well... it's not like a weapon mounted there can target hte torso of something so tall!

COMBAT: Leena Toros has attacked Asuka Langley Sohryu. AZ 3-Barreled Shock Cannon added to their queue.

Kai Shiden gives Leo a verbal parting shot as he reads the Vic Viper flying the hell away - all the way away. He continues to keep aimed on it with his sensors until it exits the theatre, finally standing up to move quickly to a fresh patch of forest. The head and shoulder armaments of the GCD are clearly visible, at least until it crouches back down.

A few moments later, Kai has picked his next target, one which really should have been obvious. Three grenades arc gracefully through the air, and have a very low chance of missing the immense Granzon. Kai swabs his forearm over his brow, sweating despite his AC. He fumbles for a bottle of pills, shaking out three of them and swallowing them without water. The back of his head is still killing him.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Shu Shirakawa. Grenade Launcher added to their queue.

"/Shinji/..." Rei says, staring up blankly still, putting her hand out to touch the forcefield keeping her penned in. What people may not notice is Unit-00, still disabled, still thoroughly clowned, still pilotless, still sprawled on the beach -- as its foot lolls, suddenly its knee spasms.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has struck a major hit on Asuka Langley Sohryu's Evangelion Unit-02 using AZ 3-Barreled Shock Cannon. COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has counter attacked for a minor hit on Leena Toros's Dibison using Grab.

As Mao takes the terrible jolt of electricity, the Dayma U5 falls backwards.. but not fast enough, as Mao's head unclears... her fists only seem to get stronger! "Ahahaha! Yes, show me what strength you contain!" The Dayma U5's response is .. being struck, over and over, with such bare-strikes, smashing again and again against the hard metal of the mechanical monster. But due to the Baron's influence, the damage is not what it should be.

"So you believe.. you have such strength?" Comes the female voice, for a change of pace. "I believe you have nothing of the sort! Nothing of the strength required to defeat our machine beasts!" In close is a dangerous place, as Mao proves, the arms of the M9 denting, breaking pieces of the Dayma U5, but as it bows forwards..

The blades on it's head aim to clamp about the M9, from it's own strike!

"But watch as your strength is turned against you! WATCH, AS YOU STAND HELPLESS BEFORE THE MIGHT AND GENIUS OF DOCTOR HELL!"

The laughter is far louder now, and still from the cloud.

That machine is so going to be shot down if the Baron keeps laughing.

"Now stand still... and let me clean that impudent mouth of yours!"

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Head Pincer Crush added to their queue.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has struck a glancing hit on Melissa Mao's M-9 Gernsback using Head Pincer Crush.

It seemed the skill this one had in close combat was, to say the least, somewhat impressive. Tieria is willing to give them that. But as the Boosted Rifle shot goes off, he simply narrows his eyes - and calculations take place, computing the direction and velocity of the oncoming shot. And ports open on Virtue's legs and shoulders, sending GN particles streaming out in all directions. The bullet slams into the shield, spinning against it for a moment until it finally breaks through - but the shell is robbed of much of its velocity. It still slams into Virtue's shoulder, and Tieria grimaces. If she wanted to play the long distance game, he could play that game. And he reaches around, grabbing the GN Bazooka from its holster on the Gundam's waist. And brings it around to aim right at the Gespenst. Energy gathers along the barrel, and the Meister's eyes narrow. If the blast from the shoulder cannons was bad - this is worse. A massive collumn of energy roars down across the bean and out towards the ocean, creating a rapidly rising pillar of water from the force of the explosion. The question is... was Lamia's Gespenst in the way of the blast?

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has activated a spirit command.

As old as Buriki-Daioh is, it does have some modern technology in it. Stuck in with the ancient controls is a video display likely stolen from a busted mass production mech, and Coop's face pops up unexpectedly on it. Akira looks back, possibly appearing, to Coop at least, to be the traditional spiky-haired protagonist from many a Japanese video game. Oddly, he appears to be glowing. He appears to be about to reply when the fireballs start, and immediately becomes a little distracted with them.

Buriki-Daioh intercepts the occasional laser shot with an arm block, and then blocks the first couple fireballs, dropping it's guard for the second or two between shots to move forward. While Coop is a master of Shotokan, Akira only pretends to know Xin Shan Quan kung fu, and eventually mistimes a shot. While he's reaching forward to grapple Megas, a fireball hits him square in the chest, causing the robot to stumble backwards a step, and then another, and a third as he gets chain hit. Akira's chest turns an angry red, looking slightly burned and getting worse every time he gets hit. Due to his lack of a shirt and open-coat policy, this is obvious on the video display, since he's running back and forth across the big cockpit to make the robot do things.

"Grrrr!" The teenage pilot glances down at his now-wounded chest, wincing, and then looks at the camera. "Where I'm from, the /winner/ picks the stage," Akira declares loudly, manipulating the many controls with the zeal of an arcade fighter scorned. A golden glow fills the cockpit, flaring out from the eyes of Buriki-Daioh, and it rushes forward at Megas, heedless of the fireballs. The Great Tin King throws the rest of the arm forward and then lunges for the big blue mech, crouching and leaping upwards, intending on delivering a powerful uppercut and carrying it into the air.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Coop Cooplowski. Lightning Upper added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has attacked Lamia Loveless. GN Bazooka added to their queue.

Within the bowels of the Zeta Gundam there is a small device -- a device that eats the psychic energy of its pilot and funnels it into the very framework of the Gundam itself. And that frame, that Bio-Sensor, has finally reached capacity. The Zeta Gundam flickers red and purple before everything -- everything about it -- changes. "I'm /not/ my Mobile Suit! My name is Camille! Camille Bidan! And you... you all think you're so damn alone!"

The Zeta Gundam and the Unit-01 fail to make contact, so, flashing bright purple, the Zeta lurches forward to bring its knee into the chest of the Unit-01. The AT Field rises into place, and... ...

... and the Zeta passes through it, like it wasn't even there. As though, to it, the AT Field was entirely permeable -- as though the barriers between people weren't so thick after all. All to knee the Unit-01 in the gut. "Bastard!"

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has attacked Shinji Ikari. Zeta Kick added to their queue.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a solid hit on Coop Cooplowski's Megas XLR using Lightning Upper.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has missed Akira Tadokoro with his C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER! counter attack.

Tessa doesn't really speak. What would she say? She listens to the battle reports, eyes watching the monitors, but in this situation it's more up to Lan and Andrei than herself to command. She fidgets. She feels powerless. But she must be here. She can't leave the bridge - she is the commander, here. She must be present, even if mostly her job is to be present and not break down in tears.

The SRT aren't fast enough, this time; Shu's Graviton Cannon hammers the trio of M9s, and the three of them scatter in different directions, bouncing around the island. The M9's specialty is its agility, particularly for a suit with no thrusters whatsoever; they can leap higher than most mobile suits can, even with thruster assistance. And they abuse this now as they get into position to return fire.

On the bridge, Tessa quietly replies on her communications line, "Hello, Doctor Shirakawa. I'm afraid you've caught me at a bad time. Could you call back later?"

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has attacked Shu Shirakawa. Three Guys With Assault Rifles added to their queue.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has missed Graham Aker with her Beam Saber Assault attack.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has counter attacked for a minor hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge using Sonic Sword.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has struck a solid hit on Shinji Ikari's Evangelion Unit-01 using Zeta Kick.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has struck a major hit on Lamia Loveless's Gespenst Type-M using GN Bazooka.

Ryusei jukes from side to side as the explosions disspate, sendingp ulses of water and torrents of murky sand flowing all around them and obscuring the view. "YEAH! I GOT HIM!" Ryusei exults, until he sees the massive hulking Big Fau looming out above him, cannons pointing towads him. "What?!" Ryusei says in shock, "He can't use lasers down here!?"

A moment later, Ryusei proves how wrong he is as the beam weapons surge forward. Only speedy reactions keep Ryusei intact as they sear off a hunk of his armor. "Damn... I need to pay more attention..." He looks up at the Big Fau, stationary as the mecha's fists clench. "You call me scum... WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?!" Ryusei Date yells, as a burning light gleams in the R-1's visor. "You think you're going to win so easily!? I don't need to hold out forever... Because I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU DOWN! It's not a matter of who's got the better unit! It's a matter of who's got the better Super Robot Spirit!"

A burning light begins to shine up from the water, an azure brilliance surging as a gauge begins to rise past critical points. Arcs of energy travel down Ryusei's hands, gathering in his hands and causing them to burn bright with flaming TK force. The water churns and swirls around him as he sets himself. "T-LINK SYSTEM, ACIVATED! LET ME SHOW YOU THE SPIRIT IN MY FISTS! HERE IT COMES! THE ULTIMATE...." Boosters flare, and Ryusei launches forth, driving his fists for the Big Fau to deliver the explosive energy to him personally in a brutal bunch combination. "T-LINK KNUCKLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Alex Rosewater. T-Link Knuckle added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Uruz One, is your squad okay?"

"To hell with that!" Graham shouts, as his bladed rifle slams into the shield and slides it along the front. His teeth grit together, as the shield comes in. He deftly moves away from it and then readies himself for the beam saber slashes coming in for him. The sonic sword rises up to meet the strikes - each of Cagalli's blows is narrowly held off, beam saber clashing against sonic sword with huge bursts of lightning and sparks where the energy fields clash together.

At the final strike, Graham pushes the sonic sword over the beam saber and stabs it towards the Strike Rouge hard, trying to slash it into it. Then, he throws the bladed rifle up hard with the other arm, sending it into the air - and pulls back another sonic sword from its sheathing.

"And to hell with YOU! You don't prove this kinda point by making the war THIS MUCH WORSE!" Graham shouts, the energy field coming to life, as he tries to cut through the Strike Rouge's shield with a wide slash and then finishes it by striking the beam sword out for the Rouge's head.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a glancing hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using T-Link Knuckle.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Sonic Sword Combo added to their queue.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has struck a major hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge using Sonic Sword Combo.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a solid critical hit on Shu Shirakawa's Granzon using Grenade Launcher.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has missed Shu Shirakawa with her Sniper Beam Rifle attack.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has missed Russel Bagman with her Crouching Destroid. Hidden Mobility attack.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has struck a solid critical hit on Shu Shirakawa's Granzon using Three Guys With Assault Rifles.

The Tieqi actually stops after impacting with the Flarebrass. Lan's forward momentum all went into that blow; she's barely going anywhere now, rocking once before coming to a stop in the sand. She checks her readout of the forces in the area. The DHZ troops aren't doing so well. They're not dead, and they're not routed, but that's about it. Some of them are being heroic, and some of them are on the verge of panic, but they still stand. As long as all those who can come back alive, Lan thinks. They're /her/ troops. She's a little protective of them.

Lan gives orders, causing some of the more mobile ground troops to pull back, toward a rocky outcropping. It's probably the most fortified place around the de Danaan; she's survived it's lasted as long as it did. More soldiers are there with concealed weaponry. She'll make taking the island costly.

Flame washes over Lan as she stands still, raising both flamethrowers and taking very precise aim. She ignores some of the warnings; her screen comes up red, and a few audible alarms sound. Triggering the spray to as fast as they can be set, Lan blasts a blistering, white-hot wave of flame out in front of her, big enough to be visible as a billowing cloud at quite some distance and melting the sand underfoot.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Lavi St. James. Hellfire added to their queue.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has attacked Leena Toros. German Suplex added to their queue.

To answer Tieria's question: Yes.

But not completely. The Gespenst had seen the weapon steering around towards it; indeed, Lamia had started pulling up when she saw Tieria detach it from Virtue's waist. What does this mean? It means that the Gespenst doesn't explode, it's just emphatically rayed.

Metal sizzles on its outer framework, facing the Gundam Virtue. There isn't any paint there any more. Lamia's cameras have given out; she flicks switches, auxiliaries irising open in the Gespenst's battered head. "Hm," Lamia says, sweat running down her skin in the stifling-hot cockpit. The Boosted Rifle's trigger is pulled, to no effect. At this point it is cast aside, possibly banging on the ceiling and startling Rei.

Lamia says something, then, to Tieria. "Y-you are in my way." Her head tilts down fractionally. "Nothing p-personal." Then the rear-mounted jets (still intact!) fire, the plasma spikes glowing to renewed white heat as Lamia does /not/ let out any sort of shout of killing intent, except for a slight alto grunt as the searingly-bright fist is slammed at the Virtue's head!

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

The Big Fau doesn't dodge, instead, a very strong current from the battle cuts through the area, causing the Big Fau to move slightly as it prepares to defend instead of counter attack Ryusei. The large arms coming up, and just as the T-link Knuckle comes in, The Big Fau turns, trying to cusion the blow as it turns...

The Result as the T-link Knuckle grazing across the arms of the Big Fau, instead of a direct hit. However, This time, the Big Fau levels one of it's arms towards Ryusei. The Drills start turning as the engines located on the back of the arm come active. The entire arm shoots out towards Ryusei, aiming to use close range to it's advantage, and attempt to slam it against the bottom of the ocean floor. The rocket fist, once it was done, would find it's way back to it's master, reattaching after a few moments.

"Do you think that yelling very loud will win this fight? You will make a mistake, and that is when the Big Fau will capitalize on it. Spirit is important...but it is not everything.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Tieria Erde. Jet Magnum added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has attacked Ryusei Date. Turbine Rocket Punch added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has missed Ryusei Date with his Turbine Rocket Punch attack.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has counter attacked for a minor hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using Steel Knife.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has struck a major critical hit on Lavi St. James's Mk.6 Flarebrass MST using Hellfire.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a solid hit on Tieria Erde's Gundam Virtue using Jet Magnum.

If this were the Gundam Fight, the Rouge would have come very close to being disqualified. Unfortunately, it is not the Gundam Fight, nor does Graham's push for the head actually hit the head; instead, it cleaves neatly through the side, as Cagalli brings the machine into a hard vertical pull at the last second. The Princess does not counter Graham's words -- there's no reasoning with him on this one, certainly not here and not now.

Rolling her neck, the Princess tries to find a weak point on Graham's machine, somewhere, /anywhere/... but there isn't one. The Overflag is possibly one of the best machines the EFA is fielding right now -- certainly a near-match for the Zeta in a lot of ways. Even here, she's distinctly outclassed. ... admittedly, this isn't a particularly new sensation.

As such, she elects to go for the most straightforward, balls-out assault she can muster, sending the Rouge in at Graham directly. The assault is remarkably straightforward and simple, if nothing else; the Princess's first strike is a hard slash with her saber, much like Graham's. The second, however, is a direct stab for the torso of the machine, followed by a downward drive -- only to finish, in turn, by punting the Overflag right back off of the beam saber, sending it spiraling down.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Graham Aker. Beam Saber Mastery added to their queue.

Shinji Ikari screams. He FEELS the Newtype grabbing into his brain, and the...the...whatever the ATField is made of, the Newtype is EATING it. "T-that shouldn't be...get out! Get the hell out of my head! Get ou-" traintrackslaundrysoapbloodysunglassesmommademewatchherdiemywetdreamsscaremewhyamiloneliestinacrowdherhairsmellslikesomethingredhesnotsurewhatisshemysisteranddaddidn'ttellmewhycantigetthatnightoutofmyheadimasickbastardwhycaninotevenbeinpainright?!

Unit-01 and Shinji both hold their heads in their hands, stumbling backwards a step or two before the flaming Camille Kick smashes into his chest, causing the Evangelion to stumble backwards and slam...

...the Tutha's crew might hear the faint echo of the giant robot slamming into its outer layers of armor. Shinji's eyes open-they're the size of pin pricks, as his breathing becomes shallow, grasping, his teeth grind against eachother and his hands dig so strongly into his skin that Shinji can feel the blood start to well up...

COMBAT: Graham Aker has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has missed Graham Aker with her Beam Saber Mastery attack.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has struck a major hit on Leena Toros's Dibison using German Suplex.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Cagalli, break out of melee."

Suddenly: that which should not be.

With a distorted, deep bay that sounds like a cow being slaughtered somewhere in the ghetto of Hell, Evangelion Unit-00 kicks to its feet. Pieces of broken armor and its very guts -- huge though they may be -- hang off of its spindly, ragged shape, its armless stumps quivering as it now truly /looks/ the part of reanimated corpse. "GGGGAAAAAUUUUUUUU" it screams, its voice horrible and echoing, rattling in the brains of those close enough. It arches its back, facing the sky to scream a third time, wracked by these terrible convulsions.

It's unclear what exactly Unit-00 can do without arms.

It's even less clear what Unit-00 can do without a /pilot/.

But nonetheless, it has selected its target. Legs twitching with every fierce, insistent step, Unit-00 strides toward the beached Danaan, attempting to bring up its heel to give the sub a good kicking, still screaming and quaking the whole time.

Coop and company, meanwhile, are busy staring at Akira on the display. "Dude," Jamie says, looking away from the screen. "I can totally see nips. Not cool, man."

"And you should seriously eat something," Coop adds. "You're like...a buck thirty. Tops."

"Wow. Do you work out?" asks Kiva. She frowns as the guys turn to stare at her. "What? They're the first abs I've seen in a year. Shut up." She flounces back in her seat, reddening slightly.

Meanwhile, there is still a fight going on. Buriki Daioh's fist slams into Megas's chest, the mighty impact sending the blue titan hurtling up into the air. Coop makes a grab for the thundering arm, misses, and then decides to change tactics. "This guy's not bad," the big man admits. "But let's try this then!"

o THIS THEN

Megas's armour plating suddenly begins sliding away from its arms, legs and abdomen, causing row upon row of every gun you could possibly imagine to sprout out from places they logically should not have been able to collapse into, which is then followed by each of the fingers sprouting a pair of arms which wield handguns. Turned sideways, of course.

Coop flips on the turbo option on his controller, and holds down a button.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has attacked Akira Tadokoro. Guns Guns Hee Hee Ho Har added to their queue.

Russel Bagman does the last thing Juku might expect him to do, he stops for half a second and he's not where Juku was expecthing him to be. HE gets moving once more and he's heading right for her. Then it pulls back it's arm to punch the Destroid in the head should it get close enough.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "--did the EVA pilot escape?!"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "Negative, Yan says he's looking through her cell door right now."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "The 00 is moving!"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "I noticed."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Without arms."

Sparks fly as metal clashes against metal. Mao is caught up in the moment, just using pure strength in attempts to overcome her opponent but it's only denting the armor. Just what does she to do to take this guy -down-?! She snaps backwards, fist pulled back to punch again but she's nearly forgotten that a beetle has more than just armor to protect itself. It has powerful mandibles, sharp things that can pierce and crush. The soldier instinctively turns, leaning backwards in a move that would normally be impossible if it were not for the specs of the M9 so instead of being crushed, the blades simply tear a giant gash through the breast plate. Cables spark in the trail, coolant oozing but Mao just grits her teeth. "Sorry buck-o but I need this mouth to chew out the new recruits! You're just going to have to settle with some of this old fashioned ass-kicking alright?" She spins about, an undamaged foot roundhousing straight towards Damya!

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "So, what, shoot the legs off?"

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has attacked Juku Reimaru. Gespenst Punch added to their queue.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has missed Akira Tadokoro with his Guns Guns Hee Hee Ho Har attack.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has counter attacked for a minor hit on Coop Cooplowski's Megas XLR using Metal Hit.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. Street Fighter X: Mecha Edition added to their queue.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has struck a solid hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using Gespenst Punch.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has missed Russel Bagman with her Rocket counter attack.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has struck a solid hit on Baron Ashura's Dayma U5 using Street Fighter X: Mecha Edition.

"You've got to do MORE THAN THAT, GUNDAAAAAAAM!" Graham snarls as the first strike comes in. The beam saber slams into the sonic sword, energy crackling, and he swings the other sonic sword down - neatly deflecting the stab that comes for him. He drops the sword, then, hits the thrusters, and swings the Overflag's other hand out. The linear rifle falls through the air and is neatly grabbed by it.

The sonic sword slashes again, chopping for Cagalli's Strike Rouge from above, before Graham hits the main thrusters and flies on by the princess. The Overflag folds up again, into plane mode; the damaged leg sparks and groans in protest, but the other holds intact. Graham does a sharp, hard turn; the whole thing shakes, but as he banks around to come at Cagalli, missiles go hurtling off it and fly towards the Rouge to finish the attack off.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Graham Special added to their queue.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has missed Cagalli Yula Athha with his Graham Special attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "Wh.. she just bodyslammed my Dibison! What the heck!"

Ryusei flips in the water, spinning as the massive Turbine Arm launches off his body But Ryusei, long a mecha aficionado, ALWAYS EXPECTS THE ROCKET PUNCH. He flips, twisting in the water out of the way of the turbulent turbine arm, and lands on it, running along the massive limb. The G-Revolver pops out again as Ryusei does so. "No... You're right, I can't win on just spirit... but I ALSO HAVE HARD WORK AND GUTS!" Ryusei yells again, even as he showers the Big Fau with more revolver shots, before he leaps off of the mecha. "NOW CUT, COLD STEEL KNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE!" He drives down, striking as he leaps in the afterath of the barrage with a mecha-size blade. It's tiny compared to the Big, but hey, every little bit counts, right?

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Alex Rosewater. G-Revolver added to their queue.

Graham Aker activates his SVMS-01O Overflag PM unit.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "This one... This one's the same."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Like how?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "All the EFA's EVA pilots -- their mechs are driving them insane."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "...Literally?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "This one seems...mostly sane. I think."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "Maybe."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "These machines are monsters."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester sounds less than thrilled at Camille's conclusion. "...Nhn."

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a minor hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using G-Revolver.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has missed Ryusei Date with his Turbine Punch counter attack.

Despite being smaller, the Destroid Cheyenne is built tough and has quiet a bit of armor, the Gespenst PAAAAUNCH smashes in part of the chest armor, but doesn't seem to have really detered the pilot. One of the gattling guns swings around, revealing the manipulator arm on the other side, that tries to grab the larger Gespenst and shake it violently, while linning it up with the remaining gatling gun at close range...

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has attacked Russel Bagman. Anti-Air Gatling Gun added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "... I think they're alive..."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Is that even possi-- ...it is. So, what's that /mean/?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "Wait, it is? -Another- alive one?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "I don't know! Maybe it's like the living steel. Either way... for now, I'm going to move on!"

The strikes from Mao begin to grow even stronger, the Dayma U5 beginning to falter under the assaults. But despite that, the Dayma U5, piloted by .. NO ONE.. and the Baron, commanding it from the safety of the flying cloud ship, continues to watch on. It's getting too close now. That .. THING needs to be taken care of now, even as the mandibles crash against air. The blades tear a gash, but do not strike.

How .. troubling.

"How close!" "You are growing slower, aren't you?" The voices chime, female and male respectively. "Would it not be good to give up? Because no matter how long you struggle.... in the end, you .. will never succeed! AHAHAHAHA!" The laughter begins anew, as the Dayma U5 is struck by the terrible roundhouse, causing the machine to stagger backwards from the assault.

But it is forever assaulting.

Diving once more at the M9, the Dayma's terrible mandibles open once more... and the machine flies straight towards the M9, attempting to clamp down hard against the machine, ripping parts asunder! "You cannot possibly outlast this machine beast! Accept your fate!"

The Baron is in a bit of a trouble spot.. but if they can render the other worthless.. it is a win either way!

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Head Pincers added to their queue.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has struck a glancing hit on Melissa Mao's M-9 Gernsback using Head Pincers.

"I'm afraid I'm booked through out the next week," Shu replies towards Tessa on the communications line, "I was hoping that you would welcome me with open arms. This does not exactly seem to be a red carpet, but I will take it." The Granzon manuevers forward, slow and methodical, it finds itself under a great number of assaults. Alia thrusts herself into Shu's vision once more, even as he had tried to leave her behind, escape her by turning the other cheek. Cause her to disappear by his very will. But it does not happen as he had hoped. Fate is kind, it happens even better. The Granzon manuevers forward, the rear hip shot barely misses, whipping by and colliding into the sand. Shu makes no movements towards her in turn.

"I do not have time for you today." Shu says, "I have more pressing matters." Step by step, the Granzon approaches. Kai Shiden, from behind, finds a targert upon the Granzon, laying down a heavy layer of grenades that arc towards it, and detonate across the ground, ripping into the entirely powerful frame that constructs it. The Granzon does not stop, rather, it manuevers even further forward, wounded leg or not. One can see open circuitry, but it does not slow the Super at all.

Even the strength that resistance gives is not entirely effective, even as they use their firing line to attempt to drive the Granzon back. Moving into the bullets, albiet a terrible idea, is effective in this case. The monsterous Granzon tanking them all as it gains ground upon the beach, stopping only, once more, to take aim.

Inside the cockpit, a rather lavish screen is shown, Shu Shirakawa sitting back as the recticle dances upon the screen. It manuevers across the many M9 units, the Mithril, the SRTs. And finally, Shu Shirakawa finds what he is looking for. The recticle, upon finding the beached Tuatha de Danaan.

"Ah. There we are. This was a fine last ditch effort," The gravtitic generator once more comes to life, thrumming with neverending power, growing at a dramatic rate at the front of the Granzon. The black hole sizably rips into existance, growing and growing as it comes to a final point. There it rests for moments upon end. "Do you think that it's enough?" Shu Shirakawa asks, puntuating the moment with doubt.

"Graviton gun! Hassoh!" Once more, the black hole sears across the sky, aimed entirely upon striking into the very core of the Tuatha, to make a great deal of it simply disappear within a single shot.

The aim is perfect, the grounded sub cannon escape in its current state of disrepair. It would take a miracle.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has activated a spirit command.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Lan Xiao Hua says something off-radio in Mandarin. Then, in English, "Much as I appreciate the intelligence, perhaps we should deal w ith the fact that we are losing this battle first. The DHZ regulars won't stand much longer."

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has attacked Shinji Ikari. Graviton Gun added to their queue.

After the Dibison fires, it lowers its head, preparing to be charged again... but Leena isn't quite expecting the Eva to grab its horns. "Wha... hey! Let go of me!" The head shakes back and forth vigorously, but isn't able to break free of Asuka's grip. "What do you think you're doing? You can't lift the Dibison like that!" Only... it seems that Asuka -did-! While it may not be as heavy as some of those huge Super Robots, the Dibison does pack some serious tonnage, so it's all the more surprising when it's lifted up into the air and slammed against the ground.

Battered, but not completely out, the Zoid kicks several times in the air before finally managing to get enough purchase on the ground to right itself...slowly. "Alright, you. No more Ms. Nice Zoid Warrior!" One by one, the mortar cannons lift upward and lock into place. The pulse beam guns flip forward and begin to charge. The missile pods on the side of its head open, as does its mouth, revealing -another- missile pod. "I'll show you to hurt my Dibison! One Leena Special... coming up!" She depresses the trigger, and havoc breaks loose. All the mortar cannons fire, the beam guns and shock cannon blast, and nearly two dozen missiles of various sizes streak through the air toward the Evangelion.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has attacked Asuka Langley Sohryu. Every Gun Ever Made added to their queue.

Cagalli plays well in the clutch, even if she plays horribly at any other time; the Princess's machine explodes into motion as Graham goes in for his signature technique, the Princess whirls her machine around to 'lie' on its back in midair and push away, Graham's sword catching only the space between its legs. The machine then does a quick roll in midair, neatly avoiding the missiles altogether.

The Princess puts away her beam saber finally, realizing that the anti-beam coating and Graham's superior piloting are making it hilariously ineffectual. This leaves her with the question of just what to use against him, of course -- and then she realizes. She's not doing what she knows best -- she can learn the saber a little better later. Right now, it's back to Mobile Suit Martial Arts.

"You want better?! Fine!" Using the immense maneuverability of the Aile pack, Cagalli closes in on Graham fast; her maneuver this time is all too simple. Grabbing out at the plane, she tries nothing more complicated than a simple grab and toss -- but when aided by the considerable thruster strength of the Aile, that's one hell of a grab and one hell of a toss.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Graham Aker. Hand To Hand - The Basis of All Combat added to their queue.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has struck a major hit on Graham Aker's SVMS-01O Overflag PM using Hand To Hand - The Basis of All Combat.

COMBAT: Graham Aker's evasion attempt has failed.

The Gespents and MSTs are slow to chase up into the rocks as Lavi shouts at them to regroup and go in unifed. The MSTs were hit particularly hard and the Messers have had to turn around to refuel in mid-air halfway to the carrier. "Send the second wave!" Lavi orders as Gespensts and MSTs start to man trenches that Wanzers were in only minutes ago. "We need them /now/ damn it, we're gonna get wiped out, we don't have the strength to push again like that! And send a message to the Admiral, tell him we need those god damned Dragoons!" Hizacks and a handfull of Marasai Mobile Suits start making landfall, the non-aquatic Titan machines coming in after the EFA regulars have established a blood foothold on the beach itself. Those with the clarity to notice really don't think it's at all fair.

It's still a desperate fight for the Orb Union's defenders, but the EFA is running out of forward momentum and running out of strength. The de Danaan is in sight and some of the longest ranged weapons can target it, making the lives of those scrambling to repair it hell, but there is still hope and it is in sight.

"Oh, shit!" Lavi curses, boosting backwards as white flame blossoms around his machine. Overheat warnings pop up across his controls and the left arm locks up as the armor casing around it fuses the shoulder armor to the joint coupling. The camo paint is out-right melted off of the machine. Lavi forces himself to keep his eyes open, he's expecting the fuel tanks to go at any second. All it takes is one small puncture and...

He doesn't think about it. He's still alive, damnit. "Idiot... you hid me with your own smoke! NOW YOU'RE MINE!" The MST comes boosting around the cloud of smoke and black glance, siding to the side with one leg splayed out to stabilize. The magnetic rings around the shoulder cannon spin rapidly as the rail launcher prepares to fire. Three rounds lock into the chamber. "GO DOWN, YOU DEVIL!" Lavi screams as the Magma Cannon fires its three warheads off. The missiles explode by proximity, adding a trio of white light explosions to the beach and causing a crater down to water.

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

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

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Magma Cannon added to their queue.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has struck a major hit on Asuka Langley Sohryu's Evangelion Unit-02 using Every Gun Ever Made.

Rosewater attempts to punch at the R-1 once more, and for his efforts, Ryusei shoots him again. The armor is looking a bit more beat up now, but again, not anywhere near what something going this long against the R-1 should look like. This is a miss match in power, one that might end up fatal for the R-1.

Or he'll pull a Stenbuck and solo the Megadues.

Reguardless, the Big Fau recover's it's stance...and seems to glare towards the R-1...

"Hard work and guts? Well...maybe I will show you some of my Hard work and Guts."

With that, the Big Fau starts moving...it's foot comes up, trying to kick the R-1...or horde it in the direction the pilot wants him to go. Then, both drills on each hand start rotating, attempting to catch the R-1 by surpirse, each one slamming into it repeatedly, before attempting to throw it down into the bottom of the Ocean. Then, without mercy both arms come up...

And then down towards Ryusei.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has attacked Ryusei Date. Double Turbine Punch added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has struck a major hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Tieqi 4 using Magma Cannon.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has struck a glancing hit on Ryusei Date's R-1 using Double Turbine Punch.

Alia is very annoyed at being brushed off by Shu. "I'll make you have time for me! I..." ...He's breaking off to engage something else. Okay. She flits off toward the Uruz squad to check on them, and after a few seconds she insists to Uruz One, "You seem alright. Come on, a little bit more and we'll have that stupid Granzon finished off! We'll be fi--" Shu is engaging /the ship./ "Ahh!" She can't get in the way of Granzon's shot; not enough time. But she can quickly take aim at Granzon itself, targeting the head with a sniper shot that she hopes will mess up the camera a bit. Too late to deal with this attack, but she can hope the Danaan survives and that this'll mess up Shu from here on, at least.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has activated a spirit command.

Miracle, you say?

Shinji Ikari, shuddering as he feels the first horribly familiar strings of the berserker fury, looks up at the Granzon. He's seen it glow like that before-when that...that evil ship wiped out a battleship twice its size. When it dominated an entire group of EFA pilots singlehanded. When it almost killed him. Oh my God, Shinji thinks, everyone beneath me is going to die.

No they are not, a different voice, a different Shinji Ikari whispers into Shinji's mind. Unit-01 obeys the feeling of strength surging again into its master's limbs, as Shinji feels the uplifting force, his mind clearing, cooling-focusing. Unit-01's legs snap up, kicking the machine to its feet, and it stumbles forward, careful not to step on anyone. He's not above stepping on /things/, but people? people. ayanami.

"Asuka!" Shinji shouts to the only person in the world who could understand, "Get Ayanami out of this damn place!" He looks like he wants to say something more, but now's not the time. "ATField..." Shinji murmurs, Unit-01 holding its arms out to allow the psychosomatic process to be reinforced, "...FULL POWER!"

A glowing field of orange and red octagons ripples into reality, as Shinji and his Unit-01 manage to project the secret weapon of the Evangelion project, an ATField into existance! It's taking all of Shinji's concentration, but...he's got to hold out. He can't. All those people would die. "I won't run away...!"

Asuka's attention suddenly shifts as she hears a strange, unearthly bellow... from Unit-00, which should not be moving at all. "What--?" It gets up... and begins to move and attack, all on its own. Asuka would watch this more, but... she does have her own problems, directly in front of her. She scrambles up after throwing the Zoid down, pushing in the sand to get Eva-02 back to its feet. She then braces herself for a wall of pain, the Zoid using everything available to blast back at her. The guns rip in to her AT field, doing damage to the unit beneath as well, the armor ripping off in places to reveal something disturbingly like flesh. The Evas are quite a bit alike on the inside, and they all have the capacity to bleed.

Grabbing the axe where she dropped it on the ground, Asuka flips it in to one hand, and then leans foward toward the Zoid as one of 02's legs seems to drop beneath it, bringing it down to one knee. With one hand, she makes a sideways strike, to sweep the legs of the heavy unit out from underneath it. "You should've run away... while you still could!"

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Shu Shirakawa. Sniper Beam Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has attacked Leena Toros. Battle Axe added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has struck a solid hit on Shinji Ikari's Evangelion Unit-01 using Graviton Gun.

"That's more like it!" Graham shouts, as the Strike Rouge slams into the Overflag. Its armor is hardly as strong as a Gundam's; it crumples and folds where it is grabbed, and the plane mode machine is sent flying. He grits his teeth, flying hard and losing control. A few rapid thruster bursts are necessary, verniers firing rapidly to bring the Overflag back into control.

It goes flying forward. More missiles are unleashed, firing off rapidly and shooting towards the Strike Rouge. Graham grits his teeth. "She's good," he murmurs to himself, away from the radio. "Almost too good. At this rate, Orb will have better units individually. Then, soldiers like me..."

He looks down at the Strike Rouge. His eyes narrow. "...will have no place on the battlefield! I can't let that happen!"

The plane mode Overflag flies away in a circle, seemingly to come back on another missile run - before it moves up, drops down, and unfolds again in midair. The sonic sword is pulled free and swings down quickly, slashing hard for the Strike Rouge at its waist, in an attempt to cut through it. This time, when he shouts, he transmits.

"I call this move the GRAHAM SPECIAL! If at first you don't succeed, TRY AGAIN!"

COMBAT: Graham Aker has attacked Cagalli Yula Athha. Graham Special added to their queue.

Graham Aker activates his SVMS-01O Overflag unit.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has struck a major hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge using Graham Special.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha's evasion attempt has failed.

Knock Out! Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge unit has become disabled!

He'd have to keep working on this one. Even with the direct hit from the GN Bazooka, the personal trooper is still capable of fighting. It would be... problematic if this was going to continue. Tieria can see that Virtue has to put out more power! He brings both hands up as the Jet Magnum launches out towards the mobile suit's head, and the heavy armor plating caves in slightly - but he stops the massive damage that would have blinded his Gundam. "Even if you need to go through me, you won't succeed! I will break through..." And Tieria stops, his eyes widening for a moment as he tries to gather some information about this unit. And there's... nrg. There was *something* for a moment. Enough that he knows that he can't take this easily. Reaching out, he grabs onto the Gespenst with one hand - and aims with the four beam cannons on Virtue's shoulders, aiming point blank at Lamia, and getting ready to blast her clean away.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has attacked Lamia Loveless. Point Blank Cannon Burst added to their queue.

The Zeta Gundam takes unsteady aim at the Unit-01 as it fails to respond -- "What the..." Camille is, for a change, baffled. "Hey!" he calls. "Hold it together! You've got to -- you can't let it eat your mind! Dammit--" And then Camille's attention is drawn elsewhere: To Shu Shirakawa. Or, more properly, to the monster of a shot directed straight for it. "--No!" he says, too close to get out of the way, and with no way to protect the Tuatha de Danaan. Both the Zeta and the de Danaan... are about to be obliterated.

And then everything changes. "... Hey! Whiny pilot!" Camille calls. "You want to save your friend... fine! First things first--"

The Zeta Gundam takes off at a charge for the Granzon. "KISAAAMA! I don't care how fancy your mech's supposed to be! I can't stand that guy... but you... you'll pay for that!" The Zeta raises its beam saber... and then it grows. To impossible sizes -- a skyscraper-sized pillar of purple energy, a beam saber augmented by impossible Newtype reaction, thin enough and sharp enough to tear through anything. In the heat of battle, Camille steals a line from another hot-blooded, transforming robot pilot: "SHUUUUUUU!"

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has attacked Shu Shirakawa. Sword of Rage added to their queue.

It's only troubling because clearly the Baron has never encountered a member of the SRT before. Within the elite ranks of MITHRIL sit the Special Response Team. They are, in a word, the best. But they are only human and Mao does not have the same kind of robot-style fighting skills that Sousuke has. She is slowing down. It's not because she's hurt but because the M9 is damaged. Vital systems are still functioning but there's lag. She's not sure just how much more she can hold out against this monster. "Hah! You think that's my plan?!" Heck no. If she can hold this guy off long enough for the rest of the units to hold off on the Shu then she'll get back up. That's all she needs to do for now. "The point of this exercise, boys and girls, is not to outlast the big nasty robot." She grins nastily even as Dayma zips towards her. The great pincers tear off another piece of armor from the M9's arm, exposing cabling, artificial muscles and 'bone' underneath. "The -point- is to prove that MITHRIL will not be bullied by someone like you!"

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has activated a spirit command.

Kai Shiden sees Graham wheeling around for Cagalli - the Strike Rouge is already not looking good, the second-best OYW ace having experience on his side - along with being more than a little crazy. He has to think fast.

A moment later, the GCD rises from the forest, back jets firing before it folds up and converts into the glorious white-and-grey brick of its jet mode. Spiralling, Kai Shiden barrels straight up, slicing through the space between Cagalli and Graham, his passage helping to foil the momentums in the area, screweing everything up because Kai Shiden is kind of a dick. He immediately converts back into humanoid mode, turning around as he drops back down into the forest, impacting hard and shattering trees - then he drops back down into a crouch, vanishing into the forest again. However, in his charge, he lost the foliage net - his form is clearly visible in glints of light as he takes aim up to give further support.

An instant too late, a grenade comes floating up for Graham Aker, abruptly intercepted by a beam rifle shot. Maybe not quite as special.

"Shit... I'm not letting another one go down-!" He opens a channel to Cagalli. "Get out of there, I'll cover the retreat. We can't lose two people...!"

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. Gernsback Martial Arts added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Graham Aker. Full Rifle Special added to their queue.

Elsewhere in the world, Masaki's head snaps up as he hears the sound of endless rage being uttered at his arch-rival. "..." Kuro looks over at him. "What is it, Masaki?" "It's... nothing. I just felt like someone else was screaming at that smirking bastard."

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has missed Graham Aker with his Full Rifle Special attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Melissa Mao transmits, "I doing alright against this Beetle thing but I could use some back-up when someone's got some breathing room!"

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has struck a major hit on Baron Ashura's Dayma U5 using Gernsback Martial Arts.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has struck a major hit on Leena Toros's Dibison using Battle Axe.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has counter attacked for a minor hit on Asuka Langley Sohryu's Evangelion Unit-02 using Seventeen Gun Salute.

<Radio: B - EFA Tactical> Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "... The Rouge is down."

"Oh just deal with it," Akira growls via comm at Jamie. "And I eat plenty! Heck, I sell taiyaki all the time, I've just got an active--hey, she's kinda cute." He's thrown off his angered reply, looking like he's trying to peer around the edge of the display (and Coop's mass) to get a look at Kiva. It's kind of a surprised one.

"You're not bad yourself," Akira grudgingly admits. Buriki-Daioh lands back on it's feet in a crouch, the ground shaking beneath it, and... kind of stares at the suddenly gun-filled Megas. That's a lot of weapons. Akira doesn't keep the ancient robot on the ground very long, though, leaping into the sky to try and outrun the stream of deadly fire as Coop takes the lazy way out and just holds down the button. He grazes Megas as he comes down, a quick kick at it's left arm, landing behind the gunbot.

Without missing a beat, the Babylonian machine spins around and throws it's entire bulk at Megas, leading with it's shoulder. Akira makes it power forward, holding into two archaic levers and pushing and pulling them in an attempt at shoving Megas into whatever large chunk of terrain he can find.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Coop Cooplowski. Buriki Blow added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has missed Lamia Loveless with his Point Blank Cannon Burst attack.

<Radio: B - EFA Tactical> Kai Shiden transmits, "I'll cover you. Graham Aker's a veteran."

There's something to be said for trying the same trick twice. Every now and again, it actually works, as Graham has just demonstrated. The Princess's machine doesn't get out of the way a second time, taking the slash at the waist even as the missile run misses. The slash itself is more than enough, though -- primarily because it is at this exact moment that the Phase Shift armor gives out, and the Rouge is cut neatly in half at the waist.

The Princess's machine falls, inert. Nonessential systems start to power down, and the Rouge sits on the beach. ... well, the upper half does; the lower half, for its part, starts sinking into the ocean.

It looks like Mao will not only outlast but /defeat/ the Dayma U5 at this rate. The machine is grasped, the great pincers instead being struck, the machine beast falling. It is nearly defeated. The Baron is /anything/ but pleased. "AHAHAHA! So you can fight against the Dayma!" "I am impressed.. but perhaps.. you may yet fail!" The voices come in normal order, as the machine beast, nearly ripped apart, lunges, perhaps but one last time, towards Mao.

The drill arm does not seem to simply crash into the machine. It intends to impale it straight through, to dig within the machine, to rip cable and other pieces out and about with a single strike.

"But no matter.. victory now or not .. you have shown me something grater! AHAHAHAHA!" The Baron is not on a win or lose basis here.

"Face me yet.. so that you are forced to forget your friends!"

/SOME TIME AGO/ "I don't have /time/ to waste with tests, didn't you get the message? All I need to know is, is it operational?!"

"Of /course/ it is, but there's still diagnostics to run before--"

"Well, the best way to run a diagnostic is through practice, right?"

"Wh-- that's not-- Mr. La Flaga! Stop--!"

A minute later, a distinctive, monochromatic suit roars to life, blazing out of Onogoro Island as grays and whites begin to bleed away into subtle shades of purple.

"Time for take two...!" /NOW/ The berserking, armless Unit 00 advances upon the beached and vulnerable Tuatha de Danaan. Even while the rest of the fight rages on, perhaps obliviously, the Danaan is not alone. Fast advancing on the strange gigantic robot and the prone submarine is a single form; far smaller, but /fast/, propelled through the air by a bright red pair of thrusters roaring out gouts of blue flame. The mobile suit's right arm snaps to the side, wrist compartment opening as the cold black metal of a beam saber hilt flies out, gripped up within the palm of the machine's hand. Green energy flares and compresses...

"Hey, how about you get a dance partner that can actually move, huh?!"

... and the Strike Mu Gundam descends upon the Eva Unit 00 in all its purple glory, spiraling through the air as it attempts to drag that beam saber /straight/ across the massive beast's offending leg.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Drill Arm Mastery added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "I'm going to stop the Granzon! I've gotta... Captain! You can count on--rrrgh--me!"

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a glancing hit on Coop Cooplowski's Megas XLR using Buriki Blow.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has missed Akira Tadokoro with his That Cool Energy Sword Thing counter attack.

COMBAT: Mu La Flaga has attacked Rei Ayanami. Beam Saber added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Mu La Flaga transmits, "Strike Mu, engaging the... ... whatever the hell that thing is."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "I understand. Thank you."

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has activated a spirit command.

The positions against the outcropping were picked specifically so that the defenders could fire into the trenches they abandoned. There are rifleers there - not just wanzer rifles, but a few of the Da Han Zhong anti-armour infantry rifles wielded by the RRF pilots that Lan could not find any wanzers for. Any one of them is not a threat to a modern machine. Five firing in a volley can do some damage, though, and they aim only at already damaged machines, trying to do the last bit of damage necessary to put them out of commission.

There are missiles here, too. Less of them than before, mounted on the few remaining Tiandongs that pulled back. If the EFA forces weren't nearly exhausted, this wouldn't be a fair fight at all - the DHZ would lose... but it looks like they might hold, even if it will never be a landmark victory. Lan smiles.

Her smile vanishes when she sees the Granzon go up and fire its enormous gravity cannon, only to be shielded by a machine she does not understand and has only seen once or twice before. Distracted, there is little time to react to the Magma Cannon, although she tries - pulling back and covering the torso with the arms.

The missiles blast off one of the Tieqi's arms entirely and damage the legs enough that a black cloud of smoke rises, the machine almost immobilized by the blasts of heat and force. Lan feels like she's roasting. She barely wants to touch her controls, and actually pauses a moment to tug her thick leather gloves up a little higher despite the heat.

In English, as she fires her remaining flamethrower, Lan says, "If I am the devil, than what are you - a soldier who led the attack? Look at our men die! Look at that DC monstrosity trying to kill the both of us? Stand down or perish!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "I'll...see what I can do from here."

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Lavi St. James. Huoliu 1 Flamethrower added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "It's... -bleeding-. I think I might be sick.."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "Do not be distracted! Stand firm and repel the attackers!"

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has missed Melissa Mao with its Drill Arm Mastery attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Blah blah /blah./ 'I need backup!' 'I'm down!' 'Granzon's firing!'... keep talking like this and we'll lose... it's late-game, pull it together!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "..."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "..."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "Enough. Alia."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "We are trading targets."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Gail McAllen snaps, "Who the HELL do you think you are!?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Someone who doesn't plan to watch this keep going this way, that's all."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "Alia Winchester."

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has struck a major hit on Lavi St. James's Mk.6 Flarebrass MST using Huoliu 1 Flamethrower.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has counter attacked for a minor hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Tieqi 4 using Blaze Punch.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "I will not repeat myself."

There is a lot happening aboard the Danaan. Tessa sees the two threats that she can only barely react to: The Unit-00 getting up, armless, and beginning to stomp toward her Danaan. Several SRT act quickly to stop this, because a kick in this state would kill dozens of people; they lash out with binder cables and wires, trying to catch the great machine and make sure it cannot punt the battered de Danaan.

Then Granzon opens fire, and there's nothing she can really do - what, dodge? ha ha, no. The Danaan is sturdy, but...

Tessa closes her eyes, waiting for the hit.

It never comes. She hears a hoot of surprise, and snaps her eyes open. Unit-01 has moved to repel the blast. Camille is likewise stepping in. Good. OK. She can live with this.

Down in the brig, Yan Jun-kyu steps down the hall with purpose, and without so much as the courtesy of a nod at the guards, he swings the thick steel door to Rei's cell open, and says, flatly, "Miss Ayanami," because he knows her name from the mandatory identification widgets, "your machine appears to be trying to kill us. Care to explain this to me?"

And meanwhile, the SRT, spared from the blast by the arrival of Camille and Shinji, swoop away - snapping out tow lines to the halves of the Strike Rouge, and pulling out emergency repair equipment to try and get it in at least /less/ parts.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has just effected repairs on Cagalli Yula Athha's mech.

The grenade comes flying at Graham's unit; the grenade flies past, as he fires the verniers to avoid it, and then quickly deactivates the engines and falling, the beam rifle shot going wide. He fires his thrusters and engines again, limbs folding back into the plane mode, and the Overflag goes down. A grin shoots across his face. "Another one, eh?! I'll take that bet!"

He drops down, quick and low, and looses several missiles that go raining down into the forest that the Guncannon Detector has taken to hiding inside of, riddling the woods with a ridiculous amount of firepower. He might make the VF-1 pilots near here proud. At the same time, though, the linear rifle on the nose opens fire.

Rounds rip into the ground, firing for both Kai Shiden's unit and into the ground, riddling the ground with more explosions as the railgun furiously shells it.

Graham Aker activates his SVMS-01O Overflag PM unit.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has attacked Kai Shiden. Strafing Run added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "And your target is? I'm busy with Granzon over here."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "The R-1."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "..."

As the guns fire, Leena snickers. Then she laughs. Then? She -cackles-. "BWAHAHAHAHA! Take that! And that and that! That'll teach you to.. to..." When the Evangelion still stands, two things run through her mind. "You... your mech is still functioning. How?" It took so many hits!

The second thing is that the robot is starting to look like something not-a-robot. "Is... your robot -bleeding-? Gross!" It isn't the first organic machine she's fought... but she didn't like fighting that one either. "I think I might be sick..." Leena shakes her head, trying to clear it. "But I'm not running away. I'm not about to let you go do what you want to that submarine." The Dibison takes a step back, lowering its head slightly and tilting it to the side... so the axe catches first in one of its horns. There's a very noticable catch, too... since whatever the horns are made of, they're incredibly durable. "...gotcha." While holding the axe back, the mortar cannons open fire again, sending a volley of shells at the Evangelion. "Ha! Take that, you... oh man. don't freeze up on me now, Dibison!"

Even though the horn caught that axe, the force was enough to jerk the head much farther to one side than it was meant to be. Far enough to tear some of the connectors leading into the body. The Dibison isn't quite falling yet, but some of the systems aren't responding anymore. Angrily, Leena jerks on the controls, but the legs refuse to move, and the mortar cannons don't pivot from their place. "Of all the times to... -fine-. Your robot is alive." And as she says this, the Dibison lets out a snort. "And it's gross. So I'll make this as quick and painless as possible." She doesn't mention that she's not able to fire the mortar cannons at the moment, and that's why the missile pods on the side of the Dibison's head open up and launch their payload. At least -those- work.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has struck a glancing hit on Kai Shiden's Guncannon Detector using Strafing Run.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden's evasion attempt has failed.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Leena Toros has attacked Asuka Langley Sohryu. Double 8-Shot Missile Pod added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Cagalli?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "... huh?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "I'm having trouble with my Dibison's controls. It doesn't want to move. I just hope this scares that bleeding robot off."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "I am waiting for you to acknowledge, Ms. Winchester."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Kai Shiden, coldly, "Yeah, she got taken down. Maybe if you were caring about your comrades rather than your idealistic fantasy world you'd've noticed. Now talk to your superior before you get corrected."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester seems to be consciously avoiding answering. She keeps talking to Cagalli. "Generator still working?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "Ugh, barely. I think the TDD has a mechanic team attaching the legs again -- the cut was pretty clean."

COMBAT: You have struck Rei Ayanami with a minor hit using Beam Saber.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has missed you with her Swangin Heads counter attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "I'm going to pick you up, get you going from there."

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has struck a glancing hit on Russel Bagman's Gespenst Mk. II-M using Anti-Air Gatling Gun.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using Plasma Stakes.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "... Right. Thanks."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "If you are taking Ms. Athha back, you will then ground yourself."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "We will find someone more compentant to put into a high performance machine."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Whatever. Bring your target toward me, I'll be on it in a minute."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa like ice, "/Miss Winchester./"

Lamia doesn't pull back, not even as the enemy's guns trail on her. The fact that, down there, the hideously wounded Evangelion has self-activated and is moving into battle, is noticed but not really comprehended. This entire thing is a remarkably vicious little battle, Lamia thinks: But is it not ever thus on a small atoll?

The Gespenst answers the Gundam with the solution to all wars' problems - a hug. The strike turns into a drawn-back arm as the Gespenst's arms are thrown around the Gundam Virtue.

This, of course, does no real damage. Lamia realizes this; she is out of rifles, has about two Split Missiles left which she thinks will not immediately explode, and is generally in a bad way. And so that's why she has to improvise, the Tesla drive nozzle on the Gespenst's back pivoting to point straight up.

It fires, then, forcing the Gespenst, and by extension the Gundam, down towards the cruel and -- sandy -- ground, hopefully at metal-twisting speeds!

<Radio: B - EFA Tactical> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "You do not say 'whatever' to a superior officer."

<Radio: B - EFA Tactical> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "Ever."

COMBAT: Leena Toros has struck a major hit on Asuka Langley Sohryu's Evangelion Unit-02 using Double 8-Shot Missile Pod.

Knock Out! Asuka Langley Sohryu's Evangelion Unit-02 unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Asuka Langley Sohryu has missed Leena Toros with her Progressive Knife counter attack.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Tieria Erde. Into The Sand added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "I believe we will be talking once this situation is resolved."

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has struck a solid hit on Shu Shirakawa's Granzon using Sniper Beam Rifle.

Inside the brig:

Rei stands in the cell, looking down from the ceiling as Yan Jun-kyu enters. Finally, she speaks to an Orbulon: "I have to go now," she says, as flatly and blandly as if she were trying to wheedle her way out of going to a luncheon. "Otherwise it may hurt my friend." A touching moment -- Rei's acknowledgment of friendship with someone -- rendered, well, only a little neutered by the fact that it is to an Orb crew member in an opened jail cell. "Take me to it and I may be able to help."

Outside: As Mu La Flaga drops in, uninvited as usual, Evangelion Unit-00 finds itself quaking and shivering as the SRTs attempt to stop it. It stomps its feet, ducking its head low like a T-Rex to try and use whatever offensive capabilities it can possibly manage in this state -- either that, or its seizures are getting worse. Ignorant of Asuka's troubles or Shinji's heroic efforts, the berserker Eva whips around, catching a beam saber to its ugly, gnarling spine, and whiffing as it tries to slam its head into Mu in the process. "GGGGUUUUUAAAAAAOOOOOOOO"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa has had a bad day: "I don't see a reason to talk it over. Insubordinate officers are demoted off of the pilot roster."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "...Really."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "That seems reasonable to me."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Mu La Flaga transmits, "You don't get considered a 'hero' or an 'ace' or any fancy words like that if you ignore your superior officer's orders just to be reckless and stupid."

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a solid hit on Tieria Erde's Gundam Virtue using Into The Sand.

Asuka hears Shinji's instruction to go get Rei, but it's a little too late as the Zoid is opening up on her again. She knows it would take just one good hit to disable it, so, she reaches for her knife, but is a bit too slow with her injured machine. Eva-02 is shot again, bursting out its kneecaps and causing it to tumble over, with the pilot still inside. Unlike the unearthly motion from 00, 02 doesn't look capable of moving on its own for right now, and bleeds out in to the sand.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has struck a devastating hit on Shu Shirakawa's Granzon using Sword of Rage.

COMBAT: Shu Shirakawa has missed Camille Bidan with his Gran Sword counter attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Akira Tadokoro takes a moment out of his busy fat fight, sounding about as mad as usual. "And we need all the pilots we can get, so I think you people might wanna overlook the insubordination crap till /after/ we're not all fightin' for our lives and yours!"

Mao is a little surprised that she's holding so well against this big thing. She's going to have to thank Tessa and the crew later for keeping her M9 in such good condition. But she can't let her ego get to her now. 'Focus on the prize Mao.' The woman braces herself, the sparking Arm Slave moving into a position most commonly adopted by martial artists everywhere. The bare right hand lifts with it, makes the classic 'come and get it' motion. "Come closer big boy and I'll show you something even better than that," The soldier states with a grim smile. When the larger machine bumrushes her, she is ready. The good arm suddenly rises up and there are sparks as the drill of the Dayma grates against the armor of the M9. A flick the mecha's wrist and the path of the drill is suddenly diverted off to the side. In the same motion of using her opponents own force to push the drill away, the Gernsback ducks low and the other arm twists, the palm aiming to slam into the cracking chest of her opponent in an open palm strike.

The original beachheading teams have had enough as fire comes down on trenches they were praying would protect them. MSTs and Gespensts start to fall back as the Titans advance. Things get confused and when confusion spreads, things get muddled. And that leads to death. Some of the Hizacks start falling back with the MSTs. Some get down in cover and give the retreating units supporting fire to protect their falling back. And some of the Hizacks continue to press forward as they're supposed to, but without the full support that should be their, the advance is staggered, allowing the entrenched defenders to start picking off Mobile Suits one at a time.

"You think I wanted this?!" Lavi spits, almost lividly. "MY suggestion was to use the long guns to turn this piece of real estate into a pile of glass, not Iwo Jima the Second!" The Flarebrass comes forwards through the wall of flames as if Lavi were ignorant of his own safety and survival. "HOW CAN I CALL THEM OFF AFTER SO MANY HAVE DIED? HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO TELL THEM THEIR FRIENDS AND BROTHERS DIED FOR NOTHING?!" The Flarebrass' fists launch outwards several times, punching forward and spraying gouts of flames.

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

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has attacked Lan Xiao Hua. Reckless Bravado added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "Hmph. They're basically saying I'm screwed after this battle, from what it sounds like."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "--I'm receiving reports that the prisoner, Ayanami, thinks she can stop the machine's attack."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "Captain! Trust her!"

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. Brawling added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "...understood, Camille."

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has missed Baron Ashura with her Brawling attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Mu La Flaga transmits, "I'm gonna hold it off 'til then, then. Jeez, this thing is ugly...!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Akira Tadokoro growls, "Alia, I swear, if you don't cut the crap and go kick some serious butt /without/ the attitude to the people that graciously let you fly one of those things, I'm gonna break that tin can and punt you into the Atlantic ocean!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester transmits, "...I see. So that's how it is..."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "And yes, I'm aware what side of the world we're on! There's no time for this in the middle of a fight this big!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Akira Tadokoro transmits, "You can be surly /later/!"

Did it work? It did! It was a move of desperation, and it looks like it paid off. Though the Dibison still isn't moving. "..hey. Hey! Pilot of the bleeding thing!" Leena brings her hand down hard on the monitor to one of her sensors, but it remains staticked out. "You okay in there? You're still alive, right?"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "What the-- the Granzon... it's still functional! Rrrgh... alright! Charging up the Hyper Mega Launcher!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "So.. while you guys are arguing. I got some good news and bad news."

"Hey, hey!" Coop grumbles. "Flirt on your own time, all right? I'm kinda busy kicking your ass right now." The big man's robot touches down hard and steps back to meet Buriki Daioh's charge, slamming its palms together and then slowly pulling them apart. Glowing red energy wells out from between Megas's hands, forming a sword that is perhaps blazing with energy just in time for contact. Megas places its left hand on the blade and catches Buriki Daioh's shoulder on the flat of the sword, momentum driving the big robot backward, its feet digging deep in the sand and rock.

"Careful, Coop," Kiva says over engine-revving noises. "We're nearing 85% of maximum power output. The strain's damaging the..."

"DONNA GIVE ME NO EXCUSES!" Coop bellows. "AH NEEDS MORE POWER!"

"Ah, Coop," Jamie points out, "The engineer is the Scottish guy, not the Captain."

"I think the Captain gets to decide who the Scottish dude is, thanks."

o MISERABLE BLOODY WANKERS

Megas's engines blaze with power, sending the mighty robot soaring into the sky as a long kilt slides out from its waist, painted in the tartan of the Clan MacLeod, because Highlander is an awesome movie. Of course, with Megas being over Buriki Daioh, this means that if Akira looks up, it will be looking up the kilt.

And into the giant energy cannon concealed underneath.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has attacked Akira Tadokoro. Context-Sensitive Red Button added to their queue.

Inside the cockpit of the Guncannon Detector, Kai Shiden flexes his left hand, the traditional correction hand of White Base. This is a portentious act, especially from the normally lackadasical Kai Shiden.

BACK TO ACTION?!

Kai Shiden is finally /directly/ engaged. Graham Aker's shots scatter the ground, the GCD unable to hide effectively now, but it stays on the ground where it is properly braced, rearing up and skidding to the side right through a thatch of trees. Bullets spang off the armor, one shot going right into one of Kai's cameras - of which he has many.

If he has to, as long as the sensor arrays stay up, he can fight blind.

As the Guncannon runs, the shoulder beam cannons start to twitch, as Kai plots a proper target vector from a point several yards in the future. Suddenly, the machine hops, turning to the side, backpack struts skidding to a stop. He halts right on the planned point, energy already swimming up into the big beam cannons on the shoulder. Two wide shots lance out, and pan across in an arc, right for the flying Overflag.

As he does so, the lights on the machine's face light up, as Kai probes the hell out of Graham's machine.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Graham Aker. Shoulder Beam Cannons added to their queue.

Russel Bagman is hit and he manages to get off a counter attack with the uncharg plasma stakes then he comes around again, once more. "Not enough, I don't know who you are but it doesn't matter. Orb will not win this day. JET MAGNUM!" The plasma stakes glow with a less than awesome power and he starts punching the Destroid.

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has struck a minor hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Tieqi 4 using Reckless Bravado.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has attacked Juku Reimaru. Jet Magnum added to their queue.

Asuka is... awake, but feeling miserable. It's a lot of effort just to take her hands off of the controls and unbuckle herself; when she does, she falls forward on to the console because of the position of the cockpit currently.

She pushes down the radio button on her unresponsive machine and replies politely to the woman who is inquiring about her status. "Go to Hell!"

Stenbuck and Ryusei are good friends, you know.

The mighty Turbine Punches come down, smashing Ryusei away and leaving him hanging dangerously in the water. There is an explosion of cresting waves as the huge drills streak past. They hammer into the R-1, shredding into armor and cutting the mecha, as they bear Ryusei down... And slam him towards a deadly final resting place in the bottom of the ocean. Alerts go off as Ryusei yells senselessly...

And there is an impact.

Quietly dust rises from the ocean, the deep impact crater formed by the Twin Turbine Punch leaving no sign of Ryusei or his R-1. Could he have been obliterated?

"THAT'S NOT ENOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUGH!" Ryusei screams, exploding from the crater. Trickles of water spurt into the cockpit, but Ryusei doesn't care, as the R-1 streaks in for the Big Fau. "I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE UP! I AM SICK OF YOUR SUPID CONDESCENDING ATTITUDE! WHERE THE HELL DO YOU GET OFF! JUST SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" With a roar, the TK power forms in his hands again, as Ryusei drives forward for the head of the Big. "BURNING... T-LINK KNUCKLEEEEEEEEEEE!"

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Alex Rosewater. T-Link Knuckle added to their queue.

The impact of the Gundam and the Gespenst into the sand is enough to dig up a huge plume of sand, sending it scattering in all directions. Tieria grunts as he is thrown in the cockpit, his head whipping from side to side, his body feeling a little bruised from the impact. But he's made to absorb tougher acceleration - and deceleration - than this. He grits his teeth, and snaps one hand to the side, grabbing onto the head of the personal trooper and shoving it back. Just far enough to get the GN Bazooka pressed into the chest of Lamia's unit. The two shoulder cannons snap up and around as well, locking on as well, and Tieria states, very flatly, "I will not allow myself to be humiliated by a grunt again." Grrr! Of course, he tries to make this point with a point blank shot - with all of Virtue's weapons. The result is going to be a massive, rising column of energy, all of Virtue's weapons firing at once in one massive salvo.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has missed Akira Tadokoro with his Context-Sensitive Red Button attack.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has attacked Lamia Loveless. Virtue GN Full Blast added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has struck a glancing hit on Lamia Loveless's Gespenst Type-M using Virtue GN Full Blast.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has struck a solid hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using T-Link Knuckle.

The woman braces herself, and the 'come get it' motion .. may very well signify her doom.

"So you believe you wish the Dayma U5 to come closer? Then follow, machine beast! Follow her commands for now, and give her what she so foolishly wants! AHAHAHA!" The laughter continues, as the Dayma U5 moves forwards, nearly breaking apart as it does. But the machine beast is steady, and despite the broken machinery, the drill keeps spinning. It's only as the M9 ducks low, twisting, and attempting to palm the chest of the Dayma U5 that she may discover a problem. They are not truly as slow as they look. At least, not the Dayma U5.

"Now that we have granted you one wish.." The Baron speaks, deep male voice speaking, "Let us grant one for ourselves!"

"Dayma U5! .. DESTROY HER!" The staff is thrust, Baron's teeth gritting, as the Dayma U5 erupts into the sky, the blow missing the target, as it shoots upwards. But as it comes down back towards the M9, it comes in an odd way. Straight downwards. Those massive pincers attempting to only strike.. after headbutting her straight into the ground!

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Head Pincer Crush added to their queue.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has missed Juku Reimaru with his Jet Magnum attack.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has missed Melissa Mao with its Head Pincer Crush attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "Good news: that red Eva.. thing is disabled. And bleeding over everything. Bad news... My Dibison can't move. I won't be able to be of much more help here."

Mu La Flaga might not be the most empathically attuned Newtype in existence, but even -he- gets a sudden, white-hot pang as that beam saber digs into the back of that would-be machine. "What in the world is this ugly thing?! Is that -- an Eva...?" the Hawk of Endymion mutters to himself, finally taking note of its gutted appearance -- and the absolute lack of arms.

Of course, having no idea what has happened prior to this moment, all Mu can think aloud is, "These new creatures the Federation is churning out really aren't that practical, are they-- woah!" The massive head of the Eva swings down, and it's only due to Mu's own piloting skills that the purple Strike spirals /just/ out of the way. Thrusters ignite to full as the Gundam suddenly vaults backwards through the air, ripping free a single, massive rifle -- and aiming it straight at the Eva's face.

"... Sorry about this."

The Strike squeezes the trigger, and a volley of beam shots flare into existance, pastel green bolts shooting at the face of the massive, armless beast.

COMBAT: Mu La Flaga has attacked Rei Ayanami. Beam Rifle added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "And I think the pilot is alive, because she's cursing at me. Not sure which category that falls under."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Kai Shiden, dryly, "Female."

Yan Jun-kyu frowns, turns to one side, and reports Rei's request to the bridge. A tense few seconds pass...

...and then Yan turns to Rei. "...you're not really planning on coming back, are you," he says. It's not really much of a question.

"I..." Shinji's eyes widen, wheezing as he feels...yep, the chest of his plug suit has been burnt off. "...I did it..." The Third Child closes his eyes, a terrible weight off of his shoulders. "I actually..." Did what? The Orb still has Rei, and their Zoid pilot took out Asuka while you distracted her, and another Orb pilot is attacking...the animated remains of Unit-00. Oh God. Ayanami must be.

"They have to be hurting her." Shinji concludes, since the idea that /friendship/ could summon the wraith of the Evangelion is outside of his experience. Asuka's Unit-02 isn't moving. The Zoid pilot's MOCKING her. The Granzon's still up there, waiting to attack again. And, "...I didn't accomplish anything, did I." Shinji hands his head as shame overwhelms him, "Except hurting the people I'm supposed to be helping. I'm so worthless. I'm pathetic. I'm the worst...I can't even hurt people right. what kind of a person lets his friends get hurt so his enemies don't die? what kind of..."

Our kind of man, the other Shinji murmurs in his ear.

"Okay." Shinji Ikari surrenders to it, because what else is there to do?

Unit-01's head shudders and shakes, eyes glowing with hate, as it tugs at its horrible face mask...trying to rip its own face off?! No. No, that's not quite it. There's a crack, and a fissure snap, and the horrible secret of the Evangelion is revealed!

Unit-01 roars his war cry to the heavens, wounds allready beginning to seal up as the pulsing remains of the boy's mind turn their attentions to the list of priorities: Downed comrade cannot be allowed to die. Unit-01 rises, horribly, and leaps into the air, unnaturaly agile for a machine that large...sommersaulting around once, kicking a leg out, and letting gravity do the rest as the Eva flies screaming towards its target!

Shinji Ikari activates his Berserk Evangelion unit.

Juku narrows her eyes and licks her lips, grinning from ear to ear. When Russel's Gespenst throws the Jet Magnum at the smaller Destroid, Juku activates the rocket booster in the back, jumping the machine up and backwards, only to land on it's rollerblade like feet.

The arm that previously had it's hand out to wrangle with the Gespenst, flips back around as the machine 'skates' backwards over the sand, both gatling cannons spinning up to full speed.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has attacked Russel Bagman. Double Gatling Guns added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has attacked Tieria Erde. Rip And Tear added to their queue.

Alex has a long long discussion over the Radio...

Then the TK fist comes in...once more Alex uses the armor of the Big Fau to it's full advantage, causing the armor on the arms to buckle and crush under it's force, but it was still functioning...still alive and kicking apparently. The Fau's turbines start spinning, causing it to start approaching land and leave Ryusei in the water...slowly, the monolith would start breaking the water, standing out for the first time sense it started the fight...hopefully Ryusei will follow...but Alex doesn't care about him any longer.

A certain wanabe ace pilot will be handling the R-1...Alex decides what his next target will be...two threats are apparent, the Granzon and the Berserking EVA.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "There, Ms. Winchester."

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has struck a major hit on Graham Aker's SVMS-01O Overflag PM using Shoulder Beam Cannons.

COMBAT: Graham Aker's evasion attempt has failed.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alia Winchester sounds really shaken. "Clearing Granzon, then firing..."

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has missed Tieria Erde with his Rip And Tear attack.

"I'll stay here, thanks." Leena deactivates her radio transmission, letting out a long breath. That was close. Far closer than she had wanted the fight to be. Not wanting to look at the bleeding Evangelion, she lifts a hand to her head and rubs her eyes.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "--Crap! The purple Eva's gone nuts!"

Shu Shirakawa awaits the blast that would most definitely destroy the Tuatha.

It never comes. There's a powerful light instead, one that even makes Shu react, even to the slightest. It was surprising. He had not expected, out of everything, for one on the EFA to interpose themselves between the blow. But it had happened.

"An interesting field." Shu begins, his graviton gun striking in, but ultimately failing to pack the power that it should have, crashing against the very side of the ATF field, and stopping.

Shu has seen much, a man of much intelligence. The shield itself is something he may one day attempt to backwards engineer, but that is not what surprises him. The barriers between EFA and Orb seem to break for a moment. To protect what Shu Shirakawa had so desperately had his sights set upon.

There is an clap transmitted, and nothing more as the ensuing damage is done upon the Granzon.

Clap.

Alia winchester moves in, still attempting to get Shu Shirakawa to notice her. Out of everything, he aims upon keeping her at bay through whatever means possible. Her presence was more of a nuiscience then it was, a gnat that would not let go, a tick that imbeds itself into flesh. But this time she strikes. The shot connects, ripping a hole into the Granzon. It doesn't strike anything terribly important, but what it does is fine enough. Fuel and energy lines.

Clap.

Camille moves in, calling out Shu Shirakawa's name. He had prepared for Masaki. But it was not at all. The Gran sword comes down, moving to meet the Zeta gundam's own blade to persuade him to stay put. Shu Shirakawa mistimes it, instead having the blade pierce forward and rip into the very size of the Granzon. Much of the armor that Shu Shirakawa had been keeping imbedded in case a mistake had happened comes to use. The blade dives deeply, cauterizing important valves and systems. The Granzon, for once, is on the edge of collapsing. Its systems, however, still work phenominally.

Clap.

The Tuatha de Danaan stands, unhurt, unaffected. the SRT and M9 move about securing the area. The Granzon, of all things, slowly parts with the beach, lifting off into the sky as a powerful gravitic field effects anything around it as it rises, stopping weapons, suits, and anything else as it escapes into the air. Firing at it or going after it would only find the projectile or suit crushed against the very ground, unable to move without their very lives in danger.

The Granzon moves above, into a cloudline. It does not come out the otherside.

A late transmission appears towards Tessa, marked urgent without a specific subject or address.

"Impressive." Is all it reads.

BATTLE MASTERY UNLOCKED

SHU SHIRAKAWA PUSHED AWAY: TUATHA DE DANAAN SURVIVED

The DHZ regulars do not take advantage of the confusion. They just want to go home, or to have the EFA go home, or ideally both. In fact, it turns into a near-rout on their side as Tiandongs and the few Taitas that survived back away for cover. Nobody abandons their vehicle, but that's as far as it goes.

The RRF soldiers remain. This means that fire is very sporadic, but still present, aimed to disable the attack and slow down the Hizacks so they can be mopped up. Lan can be proud of their discipline, if nothing else; they're the DHZ's equivalent to the Green Berets and it shows.

Lan takes the pounding, using her remaining arm as best as she can to block the impact. It doesn't work well. The Tieqi is almost disabled - almost, but not quite, holding on by a thread with one arm and its torso still functioning. Her face is almost expressionless. "Do you expect me to do the same for the Changdi regulars? Nobody /chooses/ to fight except for the insane, the desperate, or those with nothing to lose, and yet here you are. A career soldier - you deserve to die for how many you've killed today!"

She brings up the flamethrower. The elbow doesn't seem to be working right; it's jammed. She can't extend the wanzer's arm all the way. She doesn't care; Lan fires the entirety of the fuel cylinder in about three seconds, a wash of fuel that leaves the Tieqi almost helpless afterwards, badly overheated and without fuel for its weapon or any way to reload with only one working arm.

But Lan doesn't care.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has attacked Leena Toros. Rip And Tear added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has attacked Lavi St. James. Inferno added to their queue.

<Radio: B - EFA Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "Um.. guys?" <Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "Why is the big purple one coming this.. way..."

Alia breaks off from the battle with Granzon suddenly, even as Shu himself opts to disengage. She's following the SRT team toward Cagalli's new ride. They've done what they can for the immediate moment, and her Astray reaches down to... pick the Rouge up, setting it on the ground. "Cagalli? You're the only one on command that's even tried talking to me, so... I hope you'll be alright." Then Alia turns to look at the R-1, having been given orders to fire on it. "But as for everyone else... no matter what I do or how good I do, they just talk down on me like I'm /trash/, and now everyone's telling me to murder my friends and that I'll be punished afterward anyway." "So... fine." Alia sounds immensely disappointed. But her Astray rises, rifle aiming at the distant R-1, zooming in... past the Big Fau, watching Ryusei's moves. She thinks she knows where he'll move from Burning PT experience, and fires. Technically she fires at Ryusei, but she's aiming to intentionally miss by inches, hopefully sending a red beam right past R-1's head. She wants it to look good.

COMBAT: Lan Xiao Hua has struck a devastating hit on Lavi St. James's Mk.6 Flarebrass MST using Inferno.

Knock Out! Lavi St. James's Mk.6 Flarebrass MST unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Lavi St. James has counter attacked for a minor hit on Lan Xiao Hua's Tieqi 4 using Flame Thrower.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has activated a spirit command.

The beam cannons shoot up into the air, lancing into the plane mode Overflag. Two large chunks are eaten out of it; half of the left arm vanishes, electricity shooting out and crackling across the arm. The right wing is shorn off, and that makes the Overflag start to have a real problem. It banks down, as Graham tries to fly with one wing - which is hardly a good idea.

He grits his teeth together, throws down a release lever, and the limbs of the Overflag unfold out. One swings back its sonic sword, the energy field exploding to life, and the blade comes downward as the Overflag drops out of the heavens.

Graham tries to bisect the Guncannon Detector, cutting down hard with the blade. When the foot of the Mobile Suit hits the ground, its armor crumples upward in a shockwave - and the thrusters fire, as with one leg, it can't very well stand. The blade swings back, then, in a wicked diagonal strike.

Graham Aker activates his SVMS-01O Overflag unit.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has struck a major critical hit on Russel Bagman's Gespenst Mk. II-M using Double Gatling Guns.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using Split Missile.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has attacked Kai Shiden. Sonic Sword Combo added to their queue.

The Gespenst releases its grasp as the Gundam hits sand, leaping backwards as the cannons are fired at point-blank range. The searing blast is intense enough to send part of the forward chest plate falling off, sudden sea air bursting in and relieving the stifling heat from the overstrained air conditioning.

A small head looks outwards, as Lamia says aloud (the radio is, at this point, busted; so it goes) "Corr-rect. You will not." The right arm raises, fingers curling into a fist as the plasma spikes warm up again --

The Gespenst, probably on its last legs, slams forwards towards the Gundam Virtue's center of gravity, Lamia letting out another rising scream of fury as she moves!

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "Where's the cockpit on these things? Dammit, where's the cockpit?!"

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Tieria Erde. Jet Magnum added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Ryusei Date. Sniper Beam Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has missed Kai Shiden with his Sonic Sword Combo attack.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has missed Graham Aker with his Sub Beam Gun counter attack.

COMBAT: You have struck Rei Ayanami with a solid hit using Beam Rifle.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami's evasion attempt has failed.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Teletha Testarossa transmits, "Nora said it was located in the back."

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has missed Ryusei Date with her Sniper Beam Rifle attack.

Asuka Langley Sohryu struggles her way out of the cockpit, actually kicking the door a few times before, in a rush of fluid, she tumbles out. She coughs a little bit, spitting some of it up, but at least she's still alive in there.

From across the battlefield, the Zeta Gundam narrowly avoids death, instead lashing the Granzon with the Sword of Rage -- something impossible, unreasonable, irrational. It's not a real robot's weapon, and yet... Covering his eyes from within the cockpit, Camille and the Zeta Gundam are left, quite alive, at the end of /that/ skirmish. "Ha... I think we did it!" he says, aloud, before more warning lights begin to flood the cockpit. Oh, /nuts/," he says, before wheeling around to face, now some ways away, the berserking 01. And then he takes aim.

The distance is great. The distractions are many. The stakes are high. Camille zeroes in... zooming, zooming, zooming: Right on the head of the 01, as far from the cockpit as possible. "Sorry about this," he says, under his breath. Wait for it. Wait for it...

"NOW!"

And the entire battlefield is cleaved apart by a single massive pillar of energy: A mech-level weapon with the sheer output of a battleship cannon. It could only be called...

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has attacked Shinji Ikari. Hyper Mega Launcher added to their queue.

"I would not be of any strategic use to you anyway," Rei Ayanami replies calmly to her captor. She keeps her eyes on him, but is staring almost unfocusedly -- she is looking right through the man. She at the very least does not make an effort to run for it, standing there and waiting with the patience of a block of wood. "There are more pilots for Unit-00 where I came from."

Meanwhile, Evangelion Unit-00's head /explodes/.

The back of the Evangelion's cranium explodes outward, causing the landscape to be assaulted by a sudden downpour of metal, spoiled meat, and rotted brain-like substance. The psychic feedback is intense -- even Rei can suddenly feel it, a tremor causing her body to seize up for just a moment, like she'd been given an electric shock.

"AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHH" Evangelion Unit-00 tries to cry out, unable to mount much of a counterassault now that Mu has disabled its primary means of attack -- save to risk destabilizing itself by thrusting forward a powerful, stomping kick. In this berserker state, without a mind, it's doubtful that 00 cares, let alone thinks about it.

The thing knocks her off her feet as it launches upwards at the moment of the strike. "What?! IT DODGED!" Mao screams as the palm strikes open air. "Oh hell no, I'm not letting you get away from me!" Her remaining scanners track the path of the large machine. She was expecting an arc but alarms and last minute calculations tell her it's doing something that should be nearly impossible. Its nosediving. Leaping backwards as the larger Dayma crashes into the ground, Mao realizes just how close she was to being destroyed. But there is no time for her to rest on her laurels. She launches herself with a jump kick at the the thing stuck in the ground. If the foot connects, she follows it up with a hard -stomp- from the other foot which would launch her back up into the air and then land gracefully in a crouch. The good hand will then raise upwards, curled up into a hard fist to smash forward.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. Gernsback Martial Arts added to their queue.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has attacked Mu La Flaga. I Was a Teenage Braindead Evangelion added to their queue.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has missed you with her I Was a Teenage Braindead Evangelion attack.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has successfully covered Leena Toros.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a solid hit on Tieria Erde's Gundam Virtue using Jet Magnum.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has struck a solid hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using Rip And Tear. COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has counter attacked for a minor hit on Shinji Ikari's Berserk Evangelion using Turbine Punch.

When she lowers her hand, Leena lets out another breath. And then she sees a very large, very angry, very purple thing running at her. "Wh.. uh..." Quickly, she activates her radio again. "H.. hey! I'm not a threat here anymore! I can't even move! Don't come this way!" When Shinji continues to charge, she grabs her controls and shakes them as hard as she can. "Come on, Dibison! Move! MOVE!"

Panic begins to come into her voice as she tries frantically to get out of the way of that purple Evangelion. "Don't come any closer! Stay back!" She squeezes her eyes shut, bracing herself for impact...

But the hit never comes. Slowly, she opens one eye. "I'm.. alive?"

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has missed Baron Ashura with her Gernsback Martial Arts attack.

COMBAT: Camille Bidan has struck a major critical hit on Shinji Ikari's Berserk Evangelion using Hyper Mega Launcher.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has counter attacked for a minor critical hit on Camille Bidan's Zeta Gundam using Rip And Tear.

Akira takes a moment to mutter inaudibly into a tiny earpiece of a radio, looking angrier than he was before. He then glances out the eye-windows and at the screen. "We'll see who kicks who's butt," replies Akira, looking pretty determined. He's actually smiling slightly despite the angry face; maybe he's enjoying the opportunity to fight something as big as Buriki-Daioh is for a change, much like Coop must be.

A less than successful charge is no reason to give up, though. Akira rolls his own shoulder, the one that Megas' sword struck, and dashes to the other side of the cockpit. He watches Megas blaze into the sky and deploy a kilt--which also makes Akira's mind kind of boggle--and... looks up. As terrible a thing as this is, it also lets him notice the giant energy cannon that he would probably be wise to try and avoid.

So he doesn't.

Buriki-Daioh leaps into the air in a physics-defying jump, it's weight theoretically making it unable to go quite this fast or high. It extends a foot, the other leg bent, pointed straight up at Megas in a flying kick. And it is no ordinary flying kick, oh no. This is the type of flying kick where the background streaks by in a wave of bright colors while it's name is normally shouted, which it is. Shouted, that is.

"BABYLOOOOOOOOON KIIIIIIIIIICK!" The energy blast narrowly misses Buriki-Daioh, the armor on it's back singed by the shot as it ascends. Coincidentally, it's foot is aimed right between Megas' legs, which, though possibly not particularly damaging to the pilot physically, might be mentally.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Coop Cooplowski. Babylon Kick added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "I'm.. still alive? I think?"

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a solid critical hit on Coop Cooplowski's Megas XLR using Babylon Kick.

Despite its blocky appearance, the Guncannon Detector has amazing response time. It slides back from the first shot, the small gun mounted on front of the shoulder spitting out a few panicked shots which either go wide or are straight out avoided - at the second swing, the GCD's left hand comes up with a steel knife, intercepting the swing - however, the sonic sword cuts nearly all of the way through it, and the blade is ripped out of the Guncannon's hand.

Kai attempts to open a channel with Graham. Considering he can brute force these things, he's doing him a kindness by asking.

However, don't mistake it for surrender, Graham Aker! The upper cannons spring open, revealing themselves to be rocket launchers, because the Guncannon Detector is very heavily armed. Even as the mobile suit is backpedaling rapidly, drawing closer to the main melee, missiles are pouring out, spiraling around themselves to further damage the Overflag.

"I thought you'd say something like that," Yan murmurs, nodding. "Alright, then. Captain, I'm taking the pilot out...it's as you said, it's unlikely she's of much use to us beyond what we've already gathered anyway."

"Understood, Yan," Tessa nods. "Get her out of here."

Yan turns to Rei, and says, "Please follow me. I'll take you outside." And then he's moving to go. He's not heartless, he makes sure she's with him and so on, but let's be honest, extensive prose on how nice he is will not have a lot of effect on Rei Ayanami.

MEANWHILE: "JESUS CHRIST ITS HEAD BLEW UP! AND THE OTHER ONE'S GONE NUTS!" Uruz Fourteen shouts, and Gail McAllen, Uruz One, says, "Keep it together! Christ, you were a Green Beret? Get your head in the game, man!"

And then he does the truly, monumentally insane, and LEAPS skyward, brandishing a monomolecular cutter and driving the vibrating monomolecular blade down into the Evangelion's back!

Gail McAllen is probably about to take a trip.

It is perhaps some strange trick of the GN Particles that Tieria can hear what Lamia is saying. He doesn't think about it too hard at this point. Instead, he just tries to block the Jet Magnum attack as best he can - unfortunately, Lamia's attack slams headlong into him, and he manages to keep it from punching straight through the torso of his unit. He kicks up, trying to shove the Gespenst back. And his eyes flash, multicolored light. "I won't lose!" And suddenly Virtue is... not quite there anymore. There is a flash of light as explosive bolts ripple across Tieria's unit. Armor pieces explode upwards, blocking Lamia's view for a moment as chunks of the extra large Gundam go flying everywhere. And Tieria leaps up and away, grabbing onto the GN Bazooka as he flies back. And he swings it around, the suddenly lighter, slimmer unit he is piloting flashing in the sunlight as he pulls the trigger - sending a massive bolt of energy right down at Lamia's Gespenst.

Tieria Erde activates his Nadleeh unit.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has attacked Graham Aker. Rocket Launcher added to their queue.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has attacked Shinji Ikari. Monomolecular Cutter added to their queue.

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has attacked Lamia Loveless. GN Bazooka added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Tieria Erde just lets out a shout of pure, frustrated rage.

As Shinji comes in, bearing down on Leena, a shadow would cover the battlefield...and in turn, both the EVA and the Zoid.

It was the shadow of a Megaduce, which weights at least twenty pounds. However, the large arms of the Unit come in, as Alex Rosewater grunts, getting into a grapple with the Eva.

Two two dance, the Eva tearing into the Big Fau, as the Big Fau counters with a bunch from it's strong MEATY arms. However, the Big Fau cocks both of it's large arms back, and activates their drills, before coming forward...attempting to drill right through the body of it...and attempt to punch all of it's blood out.

Oh, and XYBER HUGE mode was activated.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has attacked Shinji Ikari. Turbine Drill Punch added to their queue.

Russel Bagman is shot full out ploint blank the Gespenst reels from the force of the hits. IT sparks smoked and is otherwise ravaged but it's still comming, whatever this Gespenst is? It's not normal or is the pilot just that good?! One can not stop it that easilery whatever the case and the machines fist comes about again

COMBAT: Tieria Erde has missed Lamia Loveless with his GN Bazooka attack. COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has counter attacked for a minor hit on Tieria Erde's Nadleeh using Split Missile.

Mao's out of the way as the Dayma crashes into the ground, getting stuck in the ground, as the pincers dig deep and hard into the soft earth. It's there that Mao would have potentially rested if she did not move. "Ahahahah! Don't you see, no matter how long you fight, it obeys my command. Keep fighting. But no matter how long you fight, you continue on, it will all end the same way!"

Mao follows up, aiming to jump kick at the machine.

The thrusters on the back suddenly burst to life, ripping the pincers apparent, allowing the damaged machine beast to escape it's doom, the foot striking the ground, and hopefully.. before she can react.. the electro-whip grasping the foot as it's brought downwards, the machine aiming to drag the M9 off it's feet, shocking it as it goes, before throwing it upwards, and following up with a terrible drill assault!

"So fight! FIGHT! AHAHAHAH! With all your tooth and nail, I shall see you fail YET!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater grunting... "Get back...I got this monster..."

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Two Pronged Assault added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Leena Toros transmits, "I... thanks. Thank you. I'm still fighting to get the Dibison to move though."

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has missed Shinji Ikari with his Turbine Drill Punch attack.

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has counter attacked for a minor hit on Alex Rosewater's Big Fau Prototype using Rip And Tear.

COMBAT: Teletha Testarossa has struck a minor hit on Shinji Ikari's Berserk Evangelion using Monomolecular Cutter.

Knock Out! Shinji Ikari's Berserk Evangelion unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Shinji Ikari has counter attacked for a minor hit on Teletha Testarossa's Mithril Task Force using Rip And Tear.

COMBAT: Kai Shiden has missed Graham Aker with his Rocket Launcher attack.

COMBAT: Graham Aker has counter attacked for a minor hit on Kai Shiden's Guncannon Detector using Sonic Sword.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has missed Melissa Mao with its Two Pronged Assault attack.

Unfortunately for Akira, the car is involved in an internal debate of sorts. He can see it because the screen is on, but they are somewhat focused on their own ridiculous argument. "Forget this," Coop grunts. "Sword's no good, guns're no good...what else do we got left on this thing?"

"You could try the sword with the engine on it," Jamie offers.

"Naaaaah, I forgot to gas it up."

"The rocket-propelled chainsaw?"

"We used the last one fighting those robot lumberjacks."

"The chainsaw with battle axes instead of teeth?"

"Ooh, good call," Coop says, rubbing his hands. "I've been looking for a waah! Nutshot!" Megas slams its legs closed, transferring the impact of Buriki Daioh's kick to its thighs, which crumple with the force of the blow. Coop grins viciously and tries to continue to trap the enemy mecha. "Now you're mine, slim!" he shouts angrily.

o MISSILES

o MORE MISSILES

o EVEN MORE MISSILES

o EVEN MOST MISSILES

o MISSILES THAT SHOOT MISSILES

o MISCELLANEOUS MISSILES

o NOSE MISSILES

"Megas doesn't even have a nose," Jamie says.

Coop shrugs and then runs his thumb down all the buttons.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has attacked Akira Tadokoro. All The Goddamn Missiles added to their queue.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has attacked Juku Reimaru. Gespenst Punch added to their queue.

Thanks to a mixture of help from Mithril technicians and a very irate Ms. Winchester, the Princess of the Orb Union gets her unit up and running again at long last. It's weak, and she doesn't want to actually /walk/ with it or put it through too intense of aerial maneuvering, but it's at least up and standing again, which says a lot. "... Thanks -- we'll talk about this later," Cagalli says, not wanting to come down nearly as hard on Alia even though she's been pretty bratty lately.

What can she do to help bring down Graham, though -- she can't go straight into the fray again. Moving toward an unoccupied section of the beach, the Princess reaches down, fishing for something; since people have already written her off as 'down,' she probably has an easier time of it than she would otherwise. Eventually, she finds what she's looking for -- a big, big rock.

As Kai finds himself on the losing end of an exchange with Graham, Cagalli decides to try to even things up a bit; her method, of course, consists of taking this large rock and hurling it, as hard as she can, at the Over Flag. It's a technique that dates back to the beginning of time -- and even in mobile suit combat has a prestigious heritage in the One Year War.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has attacked Graham Aker. Cucuruz Doan Groove added to their queue.

COMBAT: Cagalli Yula Athha has struck a major hit on Graham Aker's SVMS-01O Overflag using Cucuruz Doan Groove.

Knock Out! Graham Aker's SVMS-01O Overflag unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Graham Aker has counter attacked for a minor hit on Cagalli Yula Athha's Aile Strike Rouge using Bladed Rifle.

Unit-01 has the crap beaten out of it by a Big, Zeta Gundam, and a submarine shooting it with everything.

It just slumps in a heap, because it was shot from behind in the kidney and that doesn't make much of an epic death scene.

The ripples of the Evangelion's pain is immense; bolts of mental anguish stab into Mu's mind like a hot knife, only dulled by his own desensitization to such terrible sensations. Teeth gritting, the former Mobile Armor-pilot clenches tight on the controls of his Gundam. "I don't like this one bit," the Hawk says to himself, frowning deeply. "It feels like I'm punching a baby, or something."

But, the ace pilot bears through; this is made slightly easier by the fact that the Evangelion is trying to /stomp him/ to death. It's as that leg lifts that Mu sees his opening. The Aile pack ignites at his command, contrails of blue suddenly jetting the purple mobile suit /forward/, almost suicidally, towards the Eva. The Gundam lurches upwards, beam rifle swiveling, pointing towards the only leg the Eva is left standing on.

"This oughta keep you down--!" Spiraling around the stomping leg, the Strike Mu strafes /directly/ between the massive creature before squeezing off a single blast of energy, aimed very specifically for the Evangelion's knee, to rupture it and hopefully send the creature toppling.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has struck a solid hit on Akira Tadokoro's Buriki-Daioh using All The Goddamn Missiles.

COMBAT: Mu La Flaga has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Mu La Flaga has attacked Rei Ayanami. Aimed Shot added to their queue.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has struck a solid hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using Gespenst Punch.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "...The machine is down."

COMBAT: You have struck Rei Ayanami with a minor critical hit using Aimed Shot.

Knock Out! Rei Ayanami's Evangelion Unit-00 unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has missed you with her Flying Leg Chunks Hitting Mu as He Flies By counter attack.

The channel is opened to Graham. He shouts pretty much instantly. "What the hell do you want?!" he yells, as he brings the sonic sword around. As the missiles are fired, he fires his thrusters - and leaps over the volley. It rains hell onto the beaches, explosions rippling across them behind the Overflag. The Mobile Suit flies through the air, coming down towards Kai Shiden's Mobile Suit.

He narrows his eyes and throws the sonic sword; it becomes a blur, flying for the Guncannon Detector. He finishes by readying a kick with the remaining leg, which is right when he and detects a rock moving in for him. His eyes go wide and he looks at the nearly, but clearly not quite, bisected Strike Rouge. "How in the hell--eh, screw it!"

He throws his rifle. It goes spinning through the air like a knife, the blade slamming for the Strike Rouge. That is when the rock hits the Overflag. A good chunk of it crumples and folds around the huge chunk of stone, as it flies off to the side, slams deep into the beach, and winds up pinned there.

"Shit," Aker swears.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "This is Camille Bidan. I think... I think they're withdrawing."

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Camille Bidan transmits, "Or at least they oughta be--"

Ryusei smashes into Big Fau, only to see it begin heading out. "Fine... leave, then." Ryusei grunts... Only for the beam to fire past his head. "WHAT?!" Ryusei turns, and looks up. "Alia..." He whispers. "All right. If that's the way you want to do this..." He could tell Alia had been avoiding him. But there's only one response on the field of war. "I'll make this fast."

There is an explosion of light, and the ocean begins churning around the huge glow beneath the waves.

"T-LINK SYSTEM... MAXIMUM POWERRRRRRR!" Ryusei yells, and the waves swirl into a whirlpool as the TK eenrgy swirls around R-1. "YOU CALL YOURSELF THE WHITE AEGIS.... BUT CAN YOU BLOCK..."

There is an explosion of water as it fountains up, the R-1 streaking from beneath the waves as he arcs through the air towards Alia. His hands are slammed together, the power surging into the air as he brandishes a brilliant beam of TK energy. "BLAZIIIIIIIING... T-LIIIIIIIIINK SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD!"

He sweeps in, smashing in towards the Astray with everything he's got!

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Alia Winchester. T-Link Sword added to their queue.

Juku's hands fly over computer readouts inside her cockpit even as Russel's Gespenst punches the Destroid in the chest again, but Juku is already rerouting systems faster then the damage can be done.

"Okay," Juku says to herself. "Time to put those expensive missiles I don't get a deposite back from ANY to use." the Unit leaps up into the air again, the readar dome on the back scans for potential targets, Russel's Gespenst, obviously, and the Baraon Ashura's....monster thingie.

Once lock is established, the optional missile tubes attached to it's back swing out and launch their payload, the missiles flying and twisting through the air in coordinated, deadly patterns.

Yes, thats right, it's the...

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has attacked Russel Bagman and Baron Ashura. Itano Circus added to their queue.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has struck a glancing hit on Russel Bagman's Gespenst Mk. II-M using Itano Circus.

Rei Ayanami is brought out of the Danaan -- in time for the leg of Unit-00 to /burst/ like a /sausage casing filled with spider eggs/, its knee fragmenting outward, chunks and shrapnel trying earnestly but failing to hit Mu as it all sprays everywhere. With one final "GUHRHH" the Evangelion finally falls, going stiff on the ground -- if it somehow goes buckwild without a pilot again, it'll have to make do with trying to wing whatever walks up within range of its stumps.

Rei watches this, stomach quaking, trying to keep herself from vomiting, or at the very least falling over. It takes a moment -- but the blue-haired girl manages. She turns toward Yan, expression empty, and says, "I am going to go now."

Without waiting for a response, Rei Ayanami begins to walk along the beach, ignorant of any SRTs fighting overhead, shelling, mobile suits doing mobile things in the skies over the water -- she strolls slowly through the chaos, toward where her Eva has fallen, to wait for whatever comes next.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has missed Alia Winchester with his T-Link Sword attack.

"I'm not career so I can kill people, I was commissioned to serve a higher cause!" Lavi shouts back. Both machines stare each other down, blasting away with white-hot flames that turn the sand around them into molten glass. As the flames of both subside, the two machines stand there, inert, staring each other down. Lavi inhales and exhales rapidly, thankful for the mask feeding him fresh oxygen; his lungs burn for it. But not even Lavi can ignore the red lights in his cockpit anymore.

"The reactor... NO!" Lavi shouts, his hands ripping across the cockpit canopy and smashing their way through the ejection sequence. It feels ham-handed and slow. But when you've got seconds, things always feel like they're taking minutes. But thankfully... blessedly, the ejection sequence kicks in, the cockpit block lurches forwards, and Lavi's chair launches into the sky, moments before the Flarebrass explodes in a blast of flame and kinetic force.

As Lavi's parachute deploys, he's got nothing better to do but stare down at the carnage strewn beach below. EFA mechs are still trying to advance. Slowly now. The Evas are going... what the /hell/ are those things, anyway?! Inside, Lavi's spirit breaks. "Call them back." He orders into his radio. "Call all of them back, NOW, DAMNIT! Get recovery teams out here pronto. Grab everyone you can and get the hell back to the ships!"

EFA and Titan machines now start to pull back in a unified fashion as orders get relayed down the chain of command. Downed pilots are scooped up, wrecked suits are dragged... the EFA's pulling back. Camille Bidan has connected.

Pant. Pant. Pant. "You keep talking like you know something," Mao is hunched over her console, the filtered air burning in her lungs. She'd -kill- for a cigarette right now or a beer. She really really -really- wants that beer when she's done here, alert level be damned. The M9 backflips, neatly avoiding the whipping electric thing. The weight being placed on the unsupported arm causes it to creak and she winces as the warnings come up again. Tessa is going to take this out of her hide later. But that's one of the dangers of battle right? "Not today mister! Never under-estimate a woman who's suffering from nicotine addiction you   !" A unit in the side of her leg ejects and she draws a mech sized bowie knife from it. The edge makes a whining sound as the chain edge whirls to life. She concentrates, aims and throws straight at the baron.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. Knife Throw added to their queue.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "They're pulling back."

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has missed Baron Ashura with her Itano Circus attack.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Alex Rosewater transmits, "Good. It appears most of the Mobile Suit force that are your reenforcements made it. The Big Fau will need repairs."

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has missed Baron Ashura with her Knife Throw attack.

Alia trades a few words with Ryusei. He insists he'll make it fast, and her response is to break down crying, managing a "Thank you" during it. Then he's coming in with one hell of a heavy-handed attack, and she throws up the Astray's left arm as a precaution, knowing it may be all that stops the TK Sword from going into her cockpit or generator. But even as he gets close, she suddenly barrel-rolls off to the side, just out of the R-1's path. "The AEUG's White Aegis... who the hell was I kidding!? What a stupid joke!" That's when the Astray draws a beam saber, flying to lunge at R-1 and plunge the energy blade toward one of its limbs... rather, the narrow space right between an arm and the torso. It's another case of hoping she knows Ryusei's moves well enough to make this a convincing near-miss.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has attacked Ryusei Date. Beam Saber added to their queue.

The explosion washes over the Tieqi, damaging it further. The machine is not going anywhere; its legs are locked in place, half-melted and with shattered knees. Only its natural stability is keeping it up at all. The remaining flamethrower smokes from the barrel, the drops of napalm that didn't make it all the way out cooling rapidly.

"There is no higher cause," Lan sends back, unsure whether his radio is still working. She wiggles the controls of her Tieqi - nothing. She's stuck.

Unbuckling herself, figuring she may as well sit more comfortably if she's going to be locked in the overheating Tieqi for a while, she goes back to giving orders.

Russel's first through Destroids wait how is it doing something Valk pilots normally. Oh dear lord Missiles! HE opens up with his rifle shooting at the missiles as quickly as he can, he fires off several of his own to intercept the majority of the shots, one gets close and he's slightly damaged from the attack. Damn who is in that old ground pounder that's giving him such trouble? But then there's a call out to pull back, damn it. Nothing he can do orders are orders as the Gespenst but he's going to get shot in the back if he runs, so he's got to deal with this enemy solider before he can pull out. The rifle keeps shooting as he's starting to back off.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has attacked Juku Reimaru. Mega Beam Rifle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has struck a solid critical hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using Mega Beam Rifle.

The sonic sword does its work, slamming right in between the beam cannon and the rocket launcher on the left side - this causes something else to disconnect, and the whole backpack assembly sags back, almost unbalancing the machine. The struts deploy to keep it standing more than anything else. Impatient, Kai just lets the whole thing fall away, standing up again.

The Guncannon Detector reaches down to take hold of the boulder that the Cag suddenly Doan'd into the mix, pushing it aside before he continues. The beam rifle stays dropped on the ground as well. All Kai has is that sub beam gun and a FAT LOT OF GOOD THAT DOES HIM. So Graham is probably safe.

"Ali Al-Saachez. You know anything about him?" It's a shot in the dark, but he really doesn't know much about the Trailer save that he rolls around and is a huge dick.

And that he might have killed Amuro Ray.

Clearly, with the removal of all that added weight from the Dayma U5, there's a speed machine beast just /waiting/ to leap over a building. Mao is hitting physical limits. Meanwhile, the Dayma U5 is an unfeeling killer machine beast. One of them continues to go on, after they hit a limit.

"Perhaps I don't.. but I am learning as you continue." The left side admits, male voice speaking. "But you make it so enjoyable. Why should I end it so soon?" The Dayma U5 is directed in a pre-set path, listening, following the Baron's commands given by the staff it holds in the cloud hiding plane.

And then.. missiles. Missiles every where, this way and that, the missiles fly, making patterns this and that way in the sky. But the Dayma U5 swoops and swishes, having not grasped the human, forced now to fly about like a loon!

But it is not a loon. There is much swooping about the missiles. Airborn, the Dayma U5 does not wish to land. And the knife that is spiked into the air, the chain edge flying with it .. swishes past the Dayma as it moves upwards, and then dives towards Mao.

But it moves upwards half way.

Instead, something else.. missiles, many of them from the head, are launched, straight down towards the M9.

It has been saving a surprise for it, and it is a perfect time to deliver it. The Dayma .. does not really lack something of a distance problem. It just does not have many of these.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Fly By Head Missiling added to their queue.

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has missed Melissa Mao with its Fly By Head Missiling attack.

"What the hell--!" is Mu's eloquent response as gore is unintentionally used as a weapon against him, the knee of the Unit-00 used like grenade shrapnel. There's so much, and so many, that at Mu's close proximity outmaneuvering all of it should be close to impossible.

Should be.

It practically is, too; as it stands, Mu reacts swiftly with preternatural skill. The Strike Mu swerves and rotates through the air in ways that would almost seem improbable by most standards, awkwardly maneuvering through the rain of machinary and meat. What can't be avoided is struck down before it can even impact against the Gundam; beams of scorching hot green rain upwards through the air as Mu blasts away debris and skeletal mass, beam saber cutting through what is too close to be shot down. "Damn, I didn't think I hit /that/ hard--"

A second later, the thrusters on the Gundam die, and it topples to earth, hitting with an earth-shaking collapse onto its knees. The Strike Mu makes its shuddering landing just as soon as Rei stalks towards the Unit-00; within his cockpit, Mu squints. "That's the pilot...?" he mutters to himself. "... Kids keep coming into this hell way too young."

A second later, the voice of Mu La Flaga booms via speakers from the purple Gundam looming just beyond Rei, the commanding volume somewhat lessened by the casual, laid-back tone of the man's voice. "Listen, kid -- get out of here, alright? This is no place for a girl like you, you should be out -- eating milk and cookies or something, I don't know." A pause.

"And start piloting things that have /arms/ if you're going to keep fighting, alright?"

Juku flips the gatling gun/arms around, bringing the short stubby manipulator arms up infront of it's body, Russel's megabeam cannon blast impacts into them, nearly vapourizing their armor, well she won't be grabbing anything for the rest of this fight.

The Cheyenne ducks down and flips it's arms around again, the gattling guns both spin up again to give an extended burst.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has attacked Russel Bagman. Double Gatling Guns added to their queue.

COMBAT: Alia Winchester has missed Ryusei Date with her Beam Saber attack. COMBAT: Ryusei Date has counter attacked for a minor hit on Alia Winchester's M1A Astray using Steel Knife.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has struck a glancing hit on Russel Bagman's Gespenst Mk. II-M using Double Gatling Guns. COMBAT: Russel Bagman's evasion attempt has failed.

This is new.

The sudden explosion and the revelation of the smaller, more ladylike spirit within makes Lamia blink several times. She is also irradiated with GN particles, which would probably sterilize her in other situations. As it is, she feels a mild sting on the skin. "..."

The bolt of energy is a good sign that she's done. Lamia is well aware of the parameters of the Gespenst, and the assault is pulling back. In Angelg, maybe she would gamble; in this piece of domestic crap, no, not really. She sends some token missile fire after the Gundam, but Tieria can likely tell that this is 'stay back' rather than 'tactical retreat'.

The thruster starts complaining; Lamia ends up landing on the beach, not far from the tennis-court or so that can arguably be defined as EVA-00. The whole 'blue chunks' in the area help pad out this impression. She doesn't seem that terrified, and when she sees the toddling Rei, flips open the forward hatch (probably unnecessary since it's halfway gone)

Buriki-Daioh's foot catches Megas' thighs and does some respectable damage... but doesn't go anywhere after that. Akira overshot or Coop closed them at just the right moment, the huge, heavy robot suspended in mid-air and apparently defenseless. Akira, on the camera, is hanging from the console in a rather entertaining fashion, as the cockpit has been rotated ninety degrees and he doesn't have a chair to sit in. This causes the robot to flail it's arms around comically.

Suddenly, Buriki-Daioh stops moving, and covers it's head and torso with it's big arms. It wrenches itself free as the missiles begin to fire, explosions engulfing the machine. It falls to the island with a trail of smoke and fire and /even more missiles/, the cloud of burning, explosive death expanding with every shot poured onto it.

Eventually, it ends, leaving a crater on the beachhead billowing with smoke. The communications feed has gone dark, smokey and generally distorted.

A white outline pulses, clearly visible through the smoke cloud, and Akira is back in view, apparently lighting up the room with some weird glowing field all around him. He grits his teeth, grunting, "Not bad. That one... hurt." He looks beat up, and sounds it, too. Akira reaches out and smacks a button, opening ports all over Buriki-Daioh. Coop won't see that part, though. What he will see is a swarm of short, wide, bullet-like missiles streaking out of the smoke cloud, parting it like gaseous swiss cheese in their wake. There are a lot of them, and they're more solid than they are highly explosive.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Coop Cooplowski. Jomjom Bullet Raid added to their queue.

<Radio: B - EFA Tactical> Tieria Erde transmits, "...my opponent is disengaging. I am falling back now."

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has struck a minor hit on Coop Cooplowski's Megas XLR using Jomjom Bullet Raid.

Rei Ayanami, her Evangelion still dead on the beach, stares at the sound of Mu giving her an /old man lecture/, and at least has enough respect hardcoded into her default responses to stop and listen for the entire litany.

Rei does not respond. She looks around to see if an escape craft has made its presence known yet, and then resumes walking toward the downed Eva.

Lamia flashes the headlights at Rei a couple of times. She'd honk the horn but Tieria shot it off.

"Ali Al-Saachez?" Graham grunts, with a hiss, as he looks up at the Guncannon Detector. Sparks shoot out of the damaged Overflag; it sparks and shudders, armor crumpling some around the thing. The rock is pushed and shoved away, leaving the Mobile Suit mangled - but with power. It might be able to fly out. "Never heard of him. What about him?"

The Zeta Gundam seems to have done its job -- the Tuatha de Danaan lives for another day, that is. Turning tail, the Gundam heads for the TDD-1, intent on standing guard from there.

COMBAT: Alex Rosewater has activated a spirit command.

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "Coordinating the Changdi Army remnants. It looks like we have managed it, ladies and gentlemen."

Flashing lights catch Rei's attention, if not clearly expressed interest -- /that/ is expressed in how she slowly ambles over to Lamia's Gespenst, ready to exit. If she feels bad about leaving dear old limbless Zerogouki to its fate, she doesn't show it; but then, if she feels anything, she doesn't show it, so it's really just par for the course.

The saber comes in, and Ryusei spins, retaliating with a spinning strike of the Steel Knife, pushing it away. His technique is as always fast and fluid. What he does one time might not be what he does the next. But this time, Ryusei strikes along the blade, throwing up sparks as he closes in with the Astray. Alia's tears don't seem to move him. "You can't give yourself a name, Alia. You need to earn it from others! What kind of name you get... Depends on the kind of person you are!" The Steel Knife gleams as he pulls back for a moment. "What kind of person do you want to be, Alia!? If you don't want to fight, GET OFF THE FIELD! This isn't a game!" He strikes out with the Steel Knife again, slashing out with a pair of quick strikes.

COMBAT: Ryusei Date has attacked Alia Winchester. Steel Knife added to their queue.

Kai didn't open a video link, just voice. This is good. Graham doesn't get to see him looking miserable, already-sunken eyes like hollows in his head. He swallows another trio of Advlevol, trying to fight that headache he can't shake, and just turns away from Graham to reclaim his armaments.

"Never mind, it's nothing," he says, his voice thick enough that it can't possibly be nothing. He locks his weapons back on, pulling the sonic sword out and just flinging it away. "Get out of here."

Russel Bagman is dancing across the water/beach in his Gespenst, and he's still not dead yet, Russel's not a god but he's experianced. He manages to evade most of the shots but damn those old things are nasty the tales of one of the earily pilots giving variable mecha trouble seem to be true. It is possible but away goes a split missile in reply, enjoy the missiles!

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has attacked Juku Reimaru. Split Missile added to their queue.

"Hah, he's totally screwed," Coop says triumphantly, dusting his and Megas's hands. "Nobody could survive that much smoke."

Kiva sighs. "Coop, we can still see him. We know he's alive."

"/SO MUCH SMOKE./"

"But..."

"COULD NOT SURVIVE."

Needless to say, Buriki Daioh's survival is not precisely a shock to the inhabitants of Megas XLR, although Coop at the very least pretends that it is. "Damn!" he shouts. "If only we had more power or had trained harder? We could defeat him!"

There is a long pause, and then Coop looks meaningfully at Jamie. Jamie rolls his eyes and deadpans, "No, Coop, you must trust in your hidden power. Believe in your friends."

"Coop, why the hell are you doing this?" Kiva asks harshly.

"Come on," he says, pointing at Akira's image. "Spiky hair. No shirt. Giant clunky robot. Mysterious glow. He's totally an anime hero. If we're gonna fight him, we need to fight fire with fire." Coop frowns. "Or...well, you know."

o HIDDEN POWER

THe hidden power, as it turns out, is a sawed-off shotgun the size of a tour bus.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has attacked Akira Tadokoro. The Other Context-Sensitive Red Button added to their queue.

Cagalli takes down the Over Flag, much to her surprise; she was expecting to set it up to get tagged in turn by Kai, but not to actually take it /down/. Still, in a desperate situation like this, she can't really be picky about the magnitude of damage she does with her tree large boulders. She scans the battlefield quickly, watching the routing EFA targets.

The thrown weapon takes a chunk out of the shoulder, but that's not what disabled it the first time; as such, the machine stays up. As the EFA units retreat, the Princess likewise starts to pull away, moving from points of cover as best she can, trying to keep the Strike from getting disabled /again/.

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has missed Akira Tadokoro with his The Other Context-Sensitive Red Button attack.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has struck a glancing hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using Split Missile. COMBAT: Juku Reimaru's evasion attempt has failed.

Alia winces as Ryusei manages to cut her Astray's left arm; it's not crippling to the limb, but still unexpected. "From others!? I've been trying and trying, ever since I believed their stupid evidence about 30 Bunch... and all they do is threaten me and look down on me!" 'Get off the field'... she thinks about that for a moment. The EFA is said to be retreating, meaning that Orb command will turn their disciplinary attention on her very soon. She flits back several meters to aim the beam rifle at Ryusei again, then hastily adds, "I'm sorry!" And finally... Alia turns and flees. The Astray is capable of atmospheric flight, and she begins flying away from the island. She has a destination in mind, though it is pretty far out. Regardless, it's away from Orb's lines, and also away from the EFA. Wherever she's going, she's apparently leaving alone.

"Oh -shit-," Mao says quietly as she watches the missiles fly through the air. She tries to track them all, stepping backwards to get a better view. So damn many and that giant machine is going even faster than ever as it soars about and between. The patterns are almost pretty in a strange psychedelic way. Then it stops and the Dayma U5 unloads it's entire payload in the head and Mao's eyes open wide. A long stream of curses erupts from her lips as the M9 takes running. It goes off in a straight sideways line and it is by some huge miracle that none of the missiles actually score a hit. The ground beneath it is torn and shattered, debris spraying up at the breaking M9 but no solid hit. She's panting now. Her knife is gone. Her gun consigned to god knows here and the Baron is flying so high and mighty up there. If Sousuke could force back a hind going full force, she can do -something- right? The mercenary looks about and reaches for a massive piece of discarded robot, remains from an earlier fight. "ALRIGHT! YOU'RE GOING TO COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW SO I CAN GIVE YOU THE SPANKING YOU DESERVE!"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden, omniscient. "Leave that machine somewhere we can find it, Winchester. You're too soft for war, but it isn't, and we'll need it."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Why!? So you can just kill me after I eject!? I've had enough of being yelled at and threatened no matter how good I do!"

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. Robot Discus Is Impromptu Range added to their queue.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Welcome to the military."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Now you know why I'm a journalist."

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has missed Baron Ashura with her Robot Discus Is Impromptu Range attack.

And the Gespenst has run off! And Tieria can't even say that he's the one who chased her off! He stares at the console for a moment, before giving an inarticulate cry of rage, slamming his fist into the console in front of him. "DAMN IT!" he shouts, before hammering his fist into the console again. "How could I have made such an error in judgment?" There was something, he had just... why had he been that reckless? "Veda, what have I done?" Tieria asks, leaning back in his chair as he absentmindedly orders Nadleeh to withdraw to the island that Celestial Being is based off of. "...I've deviated from the plan. Why? Why would I do something like that...?" The slim Gundam, with its red hair falling down around it from ports on the back of its helm and around the sides of its face, whirls around and rockets off towards the distance. Tieria is barely even looking back at what is going on - it might seem like some sort of abandonment, if he hadn't been so heavily damaged.

These damn Cheyennes are definatly buitl to last, thats for sure. No wonder they've found their way into the Trailers when they were replaced by Defenders.

Sand sprays up as Juku throws the unit into reverse skating from side to side and looping around suddenly. The split missile's submunitions explode in the sand-wake tossed into the air, only managing to add more low level damage to the Destroid's armor.

The Cheyenne performs a power slide, sending up even more sand as the shoulder mounted rocket launchers send another wave of explosive projectiles at Russel.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has attacked Russel Bagman. Rocket added to their queue.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "Alia, just because you shot down another ace and didn't get as much praise as you wanted doesn't give you the right to act like a conceited brat when you're told to switch targets! We're all fighting desperately to keep ourselves above water, and you're just going to run away having a hissy fit?!"

<Radio: B - Orb Tactical> Melissa Mao transmits, "-GOD DAMN IT- GO DOWN ALREADY YOU GIANT BUCKET OF BOLTS!"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "You think that's what this is about? The hell with you!"

"Hn... I see." Graham nods his head. "I'll keep it in mind." Ali Al-Saachez, he thinks. A name he will have to remember - a name that made Orb worried enough to ask him! He will have to move on that, act quickly, and find out just who that man is. The Overflag lifts up; the thrusters sputter as they fire, but it gains a low altitude. The sonic sword is left there, deactivated.

It rises up into the air, as Graham looks at the retreating EFA. His fingers grip tightly around the controls - and the Overflag blasts off, slowly, smoke pouring out of it.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "Winchester. Calm down. Do your duty - which is defending this island. They're pulling back; it's recovery. Make sure your comrades are not dead or dying. I won't have any more losses."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Forget her. We don't have the luxury of keeping children's self-esteem up."

Lamia makes room for Rei in the Gespenst's exploded cockpit. It smells like a woman's locker room at this point. Lamia has nothing to say to Rei, which is probably going to suit Rei fine.

The Gespenst does turn to shoot a tow cable at what looks like the largest central point of the Evangelion, and then turns to march steadily back to the sea. Lamia keeps an eye on the still-functioning screens, not yet thinking about the possible issue of 'the cockpit is now open to the air'. That or that's what the rocket is for.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "'Comrades.' You've got to be kidding. Why would I think of you as allies when all I've got to look forward to is being yelled at, threatened, and punished no matter how I improve? I've done my fair share!"

The missiles fly. And then THEY FLY SOME MORE.

And then explode on the ground, the Dayma U5 continuing to assault the M9. Perhaps the 9 signifies it's power?! Yet, as Mao continues to fight, the grasp on the discarded part is thrown at the cloud ship. This is a problem. "Ah, Baron, we have an incoming!" "WHAAAAT!? Engage evasive maneuvers! Don't just ask me, idiot!"

The cloud transport begins to circle within the air. They are not leaving without the Dayma or the M9 DEAD AND GONE.

But it's as the M9 focuses upon the cloud ship, does Mao forget about the Dayma .. PERHAPS. Because from behind, the whip is slung, aiming to wrap around the neck of the M9, before constricting.. and suddenly sending a /terrifying jolt/ through the machine, and Mao if it works.

"Forgetting something, are we? I think you should first deal with your friend.. the machine beasts don't like to say goodbye as much as you might! You might say he's getting attached to you! Ahahahah!"

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has attacked Melissa Mao. Electrowhip Arm added to their queue.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "I'll say it again."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Welcome to the military."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Teletha Testarossa finally snaps. "Improve what, you intolerable brat!? Your piloting skill may be impressive, but it takes a thousand times more than that to make a real.../anything/! You expect us to treat you with respect when all you do is whine!?"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Now you k--"

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "I started off just fine around here! My problem started when you started it! And the hell with you, Kai!"

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has struck a major hit on Melissa Mao's M-9 Gernsback using Electrowhip Arm.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Kai Shiden transmits, "Forgive me for being cliche'd, but war /is/ hell. And now I gotta carry another man's burden on top of it. I've seen your type before."

The enemy has disengaged. New orders come in. Ryusei drops to the charred glassine beach, the white r-1 getting streaked with soot and flame as he crushes the solidified slurry of melted sand. He looks over the battlefield, surveying it as they all leave. "War..." Ryusei shakes his head. "Damn it, there has to be a better way than this..." He turns away, and the R-1 boosts away from the area, searching for fallen to get them back to base... Either for repairs, recovery.... Or perhaps burial.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "War is a horrible thing, Winchester - I am sorry, I don't know your rank. Ensign? Perhaps you're not suited for the army - and there's no shame in that. But for now, keep those you promised to protect alive."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Teletha Testarossa emits a low hissing sound before cutting off, because she has something resembling self control and a 50-year-old British admiral giving her the Frown.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "I'm pretty sure I don't have a rank at this point. And that sort of deal's a two-way street. Maybe I'll send this thing back when I find a replacement. Maybe."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Marie Gosselin transmits, "You're a dumb bitch, Winchester. I'm taking your room."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "Ensign, be very sure you know what you are doing before you do it."

Lavi eventually splashes down in the water off of the coast. He's glad, he almost can't smell that acrid burning out here. He rips away his restraints and starts treading water until a Gespenst comes up underneath him. It's a slow ride on the machine's shoulder back to Over The Rainbow. As Lavi sits on the PT, he can't help but stare back at the smoke rising from the still burning beach and think about those that didn't make it off. As he takes off his helmet... that's a sixty thousand dollar helmet, like wearing a Cadillac on your head, he just throws it into the water behind him.

He just can't get over how they didn't listen to him. How they should have listen. Next time, he'll make them. But by God, they will listen to Laverious St. James.

He will /make/ them listen.

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has missed Russel Bagman with her Rocket attack.

Mao's M9 is specially equipt for sniffing out others and when she sensed a ship that was just floating there, she just had to give it a try. But with her back turned, she did something very very stupid. She left herself open. The whip comes down again, coiling and crashing about the throat of the M9. A scream erupts from Mao this time as the electricity shoots straight through and into the cockpit. A soothing female voice begins speaking, "Warning. Warning. Shock absorption damaged. Power output lowered by 60 percent. 37.64 percent functionality." The hands of the Arm Slave reach up to grapple with the thing coiled about the neck, attempting to loosen it. Damn it. Mao punches the self eject button and there is an alarm, "Self Eject not working. Mechanism blocked." Just her luck. And there's no way this -thing- will let her simply flee unless she beats it into the ground first. Mao takes a deep breath, the ozone charged air making her cough but it clears her mind for a moment. "It's do or die huh?" She hehs and reaches behind her and begins to pull -hard- at the whip, tugging it forward as she drops to her knees. "HRAAAAAAAAAAH!" She pulls even harder, attempting to use the momentum to -throw- the Dayma over her shoulder, her head and into the distance. If she fails.. well, the Dayma is a hard robot to throw and she's not in a very good position.

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has attacked Baron Ashura. JUDO THROW! added to their queue.

Akira glances only once at the screen, just rolling his eyes and growling. "You can fight me instead of mockin' me, y'know! I'm not a character on some TV show, I'm just a guy tryin' to kick your butt to stop you from hurting /them/!" Buriki-Daioh points at the de Danaan for emphasis, and climbs to it's feet as the shotgun is drawn.

Yeah, that's some hidden power. Unfortunately, hidden power is apparently not enough to stop the Great Tin King, Buriki-Daioh! The robot rushes Megas as the weapon fires, jerking to one side, the shot from the bus-sized weapon tearing across it's side for only cosmetic damage. "So you can either get outta here or /bring it on/!" Akira is apparently assuming Coop has been holding back on him. This might be somewhat correct, with all the guns in there.

The theme music plays dimly in the background, and Buriki-Daioh reaches out to grab Megas' outstretched shotgun-arm. Then, one of two things will happen, depending on how well Megas is holding together: either Akira will rip off the arm and beat Megas with it, or he will pull him close enough to perform a rather sudden and likely not all that intelligent headbutt. Maybe that's /his/ secret power.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Cagalli Yula Athha, meanwhile, has no British admirals. "Amuro Ray is missing in action, the Tuatha is beached, we are fighting for our lives, and you have time to -- just --"

COMBAT: Melissa Mao has struck a major hit on Baron Ashura's Dayma U5 using JUDO THROW!.

Knock Out! Baron Ashura's Dayma U5 unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Baron Ashura has counter attacked for a minor hit on Melissa Mao's M-9 Gernsback using Head Missiles.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has attacked Coop Cooplowski. Bird-of-Paradise Whistles in the North added to their queue.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Marie Gosselin transmits, "Hnh, Americans."

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Akira Tadokoro has missed Coop Cooplowski with his Bird-of-Paradise Whistles in the North attack.

Russel Bagman has downed comrades to pull out, damn it this went south if they'd had some more support they might have been able to put an end to the Orb Warship, and the elite crew it carries. Which would have brought a lot of pressure off the EFA, but that's not the case. He hit but the shot doesn't manage to breach the armor, much to his suprise. But he's got an opening now. He pulls out his back up weapon, it looks like a giant pistol of some sort and he fires solid slug ammo at the old Dusty!

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has attacked Juku Reimaru. G-Revolver added to their queue.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Lan Xiao Hua transmits, "I would talk, Ensign, if I could. As is I have soldiers to check on the safety of. Forgive me."

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "Be sure of what I'm doing, you say. If I come back now, I'll probably catch even worse hell at this point, wouldn't I. Locked up for X number of years or probably even just flat-out executed, huh?"

COMBAT: Russel Bagman has struck a solid hit on Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne using G-Revolver.

Knock Out! Juku Reimaru's Destroid Cheyenne unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Juku Reimaru has counter attacked for a minor hit on Russel Bagman's Gespenst Mk. II-M using Anti-Air Gatling Gun.

"Hey, dude," Coop says with a shrug. "Ain't tryin' to disrespect you none, but if the shoe fits..." Coop whirls Megas's wheel to the left and slams on the gas, sending the big robot into a diving roll to avoid the grab, tossing the empty shotgun away as he does. "'Sides, you may be tryin' to defend folks, but the way I see it y'all shouldn't be kidnapping no little girls neither."

"So," Kiva asks. "In your cartoons, what do the heroes do when they unleash their hidden power and it doesn't do anything? Do they go home and stop by the coffee shop on the way? Because I would kill for a brownie."

Coop shakes his head. "Nuh-uh," he says seriously. "The only solution is to..."

Jamie covers his face with his hands. "Oh god, he's gonna say it."

Coop's face is backlit by streaking flashy lines as his eyes seem to catch fire. "...TO LET OUR POWERS COMBINE!" Coop's index finger rises up dramatically into the air. "Ryusei!" he booms. "With this finger....I put Megas's power in your hands! WAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!"

"Uh....Coop?"

The fat man's finger stops an inch short of the button, and he closes his eyes. "Dangit, Kiva," he sighs, "I am totally tryin' to team up here. It's really a..."

Kiva spins her holodisplay around and underlines several letters. "We're being ordered to retreat. Ryusei too."

Coop's eyes widen. "But...power....in his hands..."

"/Coop./"

"Man," Coop grunts as he puts both hands on the steering wheel. "The army is no fun at all." Megas's engine roars, and the big blue mech starts rocketing up into the sky. "Sorry, Slim Jim!" Coop calls down to Akira. "We gotta do this again sometime. Later!"

COMBAT: Coop Cooplowski has retreated from the area, leaving himself open to Samuel L. Jackson, Kai Shiden, Mathias Romon, Russel Bagman, Bit Cloud, Goh Saruwatari, Lan Xiao Hua, Kazuki Takemura, Leena Toros, Teletha Testarossa, Alia Winchester, Alex Rosewater, Ryusei Date, Camille Bidan, Dr. Wily, Amuro Ray, Baron Ashura, Neo-Granzon, a tree large boulder, Graham Aker, Melissa Mao, Tasuku Shinguji, Rei Ayanami, Cagalli Yula Athha, nerd rage, Lamia Loveless, Shu Shirakawa, Lavi St. James, Asuka Langley Sohryu, Juku Reimaru, Tieria Erde, Ekelia Mossberg, Mu La Flaga, Coop Cooplowski, Shinji Ikari, and Akira Tadokoro.

<Radio: A - Orb General> Cagalli Yula Athha transmits, "Well you're sure as hell not in them now!"

It comes, finally, as the Dayma U5 is thrown over the shoulder of the M9, pulled far too strongly. The Dayma U5 attempts to resist, the missiles crashing against the foe, but it is too late. Thrown, it bounces a few times, nearly breaking apart, before stopping.

"AHAHAHAH! So you have defeated this machine .... even despite the poor repair job that was provided for it! I am certain.. there is no way the Mechanical monster would do so poorly at the start. So.. enjoy your near defeat.. against a weakened machine beast!"

The cloud transport, and the full of hot air Baron, are dipped downwards, the transport producing GRABBY HANDS before grasping the broken down machine beast, which is pulled upwards and flown away. With .. laughter.

"Ahahahah.. AHAHAHAHA! I will be back.. and then you will learn.. to fear BARON ASHURA!"

ZOOooooooommm.....!

<Radio: A - Orb General> Alia Winchester transmits, "That's pretty much the core of the problem I'm in now."

Despite continuing to spin the gatling cannon to spray Russel with more bullets. The G-revolver's slug pentrates into the armor of the Destroid and a warning alarm goes off in the cockpit "Hmn, well I wouldn't want the reactor explode without getting paid..."

The smoking Destroid 'skates' bakwards over rock and sand, deep into the forest treeline.

Buriki-Daioh falls forward, Akira surprised at the sudden withdrawl of Megas and it's snarky crew. It pushes itself back up as Coop flies off, the pilot blinking and momentarily stunned that he's not being shot at, laser sworded or chainsaw battleaxed. "What--hey! You can't just run off like that! That's--that's--"

Akira sputters, not sure what that is. He picks up a chunk of melted armor and hucks it at Megas on it's way out. Buriki-Daioh, being hella strong, can throw hella far. "And my name's Akira, not 'Slim!'"

Russel Bagman doesn't even move to finish off the merc it's fleeing, he can pull out. He's pulling back now and the Gespenst only stopped, to aid downed comrades along the way. Pilots are people and can't be replaced, machines can be, which is how Russel sees it. They will return and finisht his, they have to for the sake of those who didn't make it home. The M9's frame shudders at the combined strain of shifting such a huge robot over itself and the missiles that thud into it. But she managed to fight it off for now. Sweat drips from the beneath protective headpiece Mao is wearing onto the cracked panel before her. She's alive. She managed to survive that. The woman tilts her head back and begins laughing as the M9 picks itself up off the ground and lumbers back towards the Tuatha mauled, in heavy need of repair but not broken. At least not the spirit of MITHRIL and Orb. But god, she's going to need that beer.