2011-11-01 - The Nemesis Returns

Things had been quiet. At least, as quiet as one might expect with something close to an all out war going on on Earth. It's likely enough that the SuiKyosha had been involved in the battle against Lord Genome's forces, and more likely than that to have been part of the clean up crew to scour the lands in search of Gunman parts afterwards. Sinya, not one to be kept out of battle, had been injured - having caught a stray shot from an Federation mech that had mistaken her as an enemy (regardless of the blaring 'friendly' signature she transmitted). She'd been unconscious since then, which - admittedly - wasn't all that long ago.

Only a few days have passed, but things are already changing. The people of the SuiKyosha who had faced so much danger at the hands of the Spiral King were in a state of celebration. Their pilots, who had done quite well in the battle, were quite proud of themselves - including young Ling who earned himself a distinguished place by getting out a total of four downed mechs over the course of the campaign. However, with Sinya so gravely hurt, Xiang Yuan is bound to not be quite as much in the mood for festivities.

In the last couple of days, the SuiKyosha had begun salvaging wreckages of gunmen, scouring for survivors from both sides of the conflict. However, some areas seem mysteriously... empty. It almost seems as if someone had beaten them to it, leaving little behind but a few bits of scrap. Perhaps it is the intrigue of such a thing, or just needing to get away from the ship for a time, but something would lead him to come along with one of the salvage crews. One that just happens to be heading towards the outskirts of one of the major battles - an area that the previous day had reported signatures from multiple downed mechs.

However, there is more there than just what there seems to be. Active blips sound on the radar as they approach.

Indeed, Xiang's own personal celebration had been barely 'present'. With Sinya out of commission and unconscious, he has been quite upset as of late. Yu Zhi Wu had commented to him on multiple occassions how she could see his emotions - his anger and discomfort - break from his mask on several occassions. He tried his best to put on a happy face during the large three-day-banquet celebration they had put on to celebrate the death of Lord Genome, but he'd excused himself many a time. Sure, he could ask SuiKyosha to keep track of Sinya's status, but he could not help but sneak in himself now and again, while the doctors were off eating. Truly, it was such a troublesome thing, for their relationship not to be out in the open.

When the opportunity came up for him to investigate another troublesome thing though, it was only through Yu Zhi Wu's pushing that he actually went along. At least within the Azure Dream, he didn't have to hold back his emotions. Within that machine, he didn't have to keep up this mask of emotionless, of celebration. To say that Sinya was on his mind, and that he was distracted, certainly is an understatement. And he doesn't even realize the beeps on the radar until someone calls over the radio about this particular event.

The man's eyes widen, and he pulls on the right brace-controller to get his machine to turn about and take a step back, in order to face the direction of the blips. What was this!? An ambush!? Were there still Beastmen alive that were in some rebel faction, trying to engage them!?

Ahead of the SuiKyoshan salvage squad, there is a wide expanse with the wreckages of various downed Gunmen. Moving between them is a slightly larger-sized grouping of active Gunmen. These ones just might be familiar to Xiang, as they bare the markings of the group of soldiers who followed the exiled Liu Feng. There is a larger ship they are loading the salvaged parts into. This is obviously what has happened to so much of the wreckage, being taken for parts by these rogues. However, it is to Xiang's detriment that his mind is so full of other thoughts - because they spot the salvage squad before anyone so much as catches a blip on their radar.

"Well, look who we have here." The smooth voice of Feng comes over the radio, a laugh in his voice. "Take care of the others. His 'highness' is mine." The squad breaks from the wreckage work, the war machines far better suited for the task of fighting off Xiang's troops than his salvage suited machines. Soon enough, there are calls of incoming attacks over Xiang's radio, one that is nearly drown out as a direct line feeds from the lead Gunman.

"Well well... I think we have an Emperor outside of his kingdom. Do you know what we do to kings who wander outside their kingdom?" Feng laughs to himself, clenching a hand on the controls. "We kill them." With that, he launches forward, attempting to slam his own machine right into Xiang's Azure Dream, trying to use the surprise as a way of knocking him out of the sky.

Xiang bites his lower lip when he realizes just what is going on, and that voice comes in through the speakers. Indeed, he was wholey outgunned here. Or rather, his team was. The company with him is surprised by the sudden incoming blasts from the more long-ranged Gunmen on Feng's side, and he can see that some of them already are going down. The Emperor is of course quick to signal for reinforcements through the radio - so that the non-combat salvage crew might be given a chance to get out of here.

However, that moment during which his attention is elsewhere, the confused Emperor fails to manage and retaliate properly as Feng launches his machine at his. The machine slams into the Azure Dream's opened hands, and pushes it towards the ground. It's only through Xiang's skilled steering that his unit only takes limited amounts of damage. But the salvage squad isn't so lucky. "Get behind me." Xiang calls out to his friends, before his machine turns towards Feng's and frowns.

"Your anger is aimed at me. Leave your former comrades alone, Feng." The Emperor then calls out, and has his machine take a threatening step forwards. "And also know this, Feng. An Emperor out on the field, is not to be trifled with." His Gunmen immediately bends down through the knees, before it punches left and shows that this is a machine that responds well to its master, for the left-handed punch quickly halts wherever the head of Feng's machine had been, before a kick is thrown to the right, trying to capture him mid-evasion.

Feng seems to have no real remourse for the downed Gunman at the hands of his men, even if these might have one been his fellows on the SuiKyosha. In truth, it is easier to just assume they are the enemy - one of the beastmen that Xiang had brought into their midsts, or one of the outsiders already corrupting their ancient ways. "Tsk tsk. You think things are as simple as that, Xiang Yuan?" He laughs once more, crushing his machine in close against the other Gunman, keeping it from being able to move as he keeps the skull machine's head close against the Azure Dream.

"All those who stayed behind are traitors to the cause, and all those who follow you deserve our retribution." When the Emperor calls for his people to get behind him, it only causes Feng to laugh harder. "Look. His highness has finally gotten down off of his throne to mingle with the commoners. But don't think I've forgotten who stayed behind all those times we went to battle. The one who refused to fight along side his people." He hardly sounds afraid of the threat, or the call for reinforcements.

"Call all you want, you'll be dead before they get here." The smaller Gunman is quick, and moves with ease under the hands of the skilled pilot. It ducks out of the way of the kick, and then moves forward quickly, slaming his skull once more into the Azure Dream. "So, tell me. Has that little pussycat betrayed you yet? You know what they say about their kind. They'll purr to anyone's touch." It's a taunt, and worse-so, a low-blow at this time most of all. "Oh wait, I forgot. They shot the little hairball down near Teppellin. I wonder how much of a splat she made when that sorry excuse for a Gunmen hit the ground."%r%rStill in such close combat, the skull gunman's mouth opens, stretching out far enough to aim at latching on to one of the Azure Dream's arms, trying to crush the metal between its teeth.

"Things ought to be that simple." Xiang replies as his machine is outmaneuvered by Feng's smaller one, and he finds his bad temper to only cause him to make more mistakes as the large skull smashes into his and forces him a few paces back, while shattering pieces of armor. Still, he manages to draw his allies behind him and continues to move across the battlefield, halting and otherwise taking hits from further Gunmen on Feng's side. "And I'll have you know. I won't die that easily."

He doesn't bother to respond to the fact that after they'd left La Gias, he had been less and less within his own unit, and had sent his men out for more and more skirmishes. The SuiKyosha, which required him to be on-board to control for the most part, had played a massive support-role during each and every one of those, but nobody knew that he was the only one able to steer that ship.

"As for miss Leland. She is doing just fine. And she has not betrayed me - unlike you." The Emperor responsd and finally moves forwards again and attempts to push the arms of the Azure Dream against the open mouth of the opposing Gunmen and tries to literally /crack/ it open! The normal martial arts which Xiang would perform... the man seems to have no patience for.

The attempt to crack open the smaller Gunman fails to do little more than scratch it, which causes another of those sarcastic laughs from Liu Feng. "Is that the best you can do? No wonder you never flew with us. You would have been laughable next to my trained men. Pathetic." Feng nearly spits the word as his Gunman moves back a little, hovering in the air as the rest of his squad begin to circle around, aiming to trap the remainder of the salvage forces and keep Xiang from having an easy way of escaping - at least with them in tow.

"That's not what I heard. I heard kitty had her brains scrambled across half of Siberia and hasn't woken up yet. Good riddens. One less sorry beastmen in this world." Apparently there are still some on the SuiKyosha, or at least those who work along with those onboard that still are in communication with the exiles. "It's too bad that those Feds mistook her for a Gunman. Oh wait... that was because we tampered with the transmissions." He laughs, the sort of sound that seems made to irritate and infuriate. He's pushing the Emperor's buttons.%r%r"Let me show you how a real warrior fights." Drawing one arm back on the smaller Gunman, Feng launches it forward, lashing out with a hard blow aimed right at the head of the Azure Dream.

Well, that much had drawn a confession out of Feng that there was a traitor on board still, for there was no other way to get that information. He'd have to look into that later. Thought at the same time, he wouldn't really stop them. After all, there are friends and family amongst the exiles. To say that Xiang's mind isn't in the battle really... is an understatement. And when Feng claims responsibility for what had happened to Sinya, his Gunmen squints its eyes.

Xiang goes silent for a moment, and the man just has the Gunmen stand completely still. Feng's smaller Gunman slams its head straight into that of the Azure Dream, shattering further pieces of armor and even going so far as to knock the entire unit back. Within the machine, Xiang is biting his lower lip, his hands trembling in anger. In fact, his whole body is just about shaking.

The Gunmen ends up knocked back into a set of rocks, where it lies motionless for a while. Xiang is trying his best to calm down, but he's failing miserably. Around him, the survey team is having horrible luck as well, being rounded up like a group of cattle, while he remains useless against their combined forces. Was he really this weak? No... no, he'd fought Feng before. He knows he can defeat him. Just not in this... this 'state' he is in. Constantly thinking of Sinya.

The Gunmen's insides then suddenly just go dead. His will to fight, for a moment, is so low that the machine just doesn't respond for a while. He starts to pull and push on the braces, and shouts at the machine, but... it does nothing. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He shouts out, but the sound doesn't break out of the cockpit. He only possesses anger.

The suddenly, calmth. Or rather, just... something broke. "Feng..." He whispers. And suddenly the Azure Dream reactivates. Red angry eyes with a frown on the momentarily show, before the machine takes a few steps forwards. The normally blue shade of the machine seems to turn red for a moment, like there was some kind of aura enveloping it. An aura of anger and rage. A killing-intent so strong, that it's actually capable of being /felt/ by those around him. So strong, that the Spiral Power within his machine goes out of control for a moment, and red spiral-dragons leap off of his machine and attempt to pierce nearby enemy machines.

"Hit a nerve, did I?" Feng laughs as he watches the machine go dead in front of him and his men. "Pathetic." He kicks dirt into the face of the fallen gunman. "Once again, we've proven that you're a sorry excuse for a leader." Even that rage, that outpouring of hatred that normally would never be seen from the Emperor only causes Feng to laugh as he flips backwards out of the way. "Is that anger I see? Don't tell me you actually care about that little whelp?" He chuckles to himself, and it seems that a few of his men join in the joke. "Poor Xiang Yuan, swayed by a bit of pussy. Don't worry, you won't have to worry very much longer. Once you're dead, I'll slit her sorry throat."

With a grin spread on his face that extends further onto the features of his gunman, Feng moves forward the huge jaws of the skeletal Gunman extending as far as it can go, reaching forward in an attempt to rip the head right off of the Azure Dream.

The Azure Dream remains unmoving. Its arms go out for a moment and grab onto the jaws of the skeletal Gunmen, but they are no match for the immense strength behind it as it does indeed perform its duty of chomping off the top head of the Azure Dream. Within the machine however, Xiang Yuan has been cooking. His anger rising further and further even as Feng continues to challenge him.

He doesn't even reply as the massive jaw bites down on his machine. Instead, the arms of the Azure Dream fall for a moment, before the machine suddenly moves downwards, and an immense surge of power leaps into its fists. And though this may not be the proper form of this very technique. Though this may not be the true ability which he'd once used in the caverns to blow up those Gunmen beneath the city of sin...

That doesn't take away its power. Xiang's right hand trembles in anger, and the dragon-head that is structured on the right arm of his machine flares up in raging torrents of water. It seems uncontrolled, but Xiang's Will is so strong that even though it isn't properly performed, the machine manages to bite together that energy and draw it into a drill-like dragon form that is rammed straight towards the gut of Feng's machine, aimed straight at where his cockpit is. If it hits - it may miss his cockpit, but if it does, it won't be far from it...

The power that Xiang manages to summon is enough to give Liu Feng pause as he watches the anger of his former Emperor grow stronger and stronger under his taunting. This is /just/ what he wants, to infuriate him enough that he'll lose his head and not be able to pilot properly. However, when that dragon-like blow comes towards his cockpit, Feng has little choice but to draw backwards, the force behind it ripping off part of the armorment and leaving a view of the pilot beneath. Feng's eyes narrow. "That is the last time you'll ever hit my Gunman, Xiang Yuan. It's time to die."

Drawing his hands back, the powerful Gunman lashes out with blast after blast from his fists, aiming for every part of the Azure Dream's chest and body. He's so focused on this task - this final assault on the Emperor's ship that he doesn't notice the blaring on his own radar - the distant arrival of another vessel, one bigger and more powerful than his own.

Xiang's machine is thrown back and the man just goes silent when he notices that he's missed his target almost entirely. He just lets go of his machine's controls and closes his eyes. "Fine..." He whispers to himself. "Guess master was right. Lose yourself in anger... lose yourself... lose the battle... lose your life." He's practically surrendered himself onto that fate as Feng continues to ram into his machine, breaking the armor apart, slowly making it look like a disheveled mess. A tear falls down one of Xiang's eyes. "Guess I don't get to see Sinya waking up after all... I'm sorry..."

And he just lays his head back and listens to the power of the fists as they hit into the chest of his machine, and after a few more which rock his entire machine, the Azure Dream is rammed into another hard piece of rock, and the massive blow rocks Xiang's body about enough within that cockpit that he soon loses consciousness. He's not even capable of sensing the fact that the massive battleship, SuiKyosha, finally has reached its destination. However, its gunports do not open without its master's permission, and instead it is the large sum of Gunmen that descend from it that ends up moving out in front of Xiang, while creating a large volley of artilery-fire that seperates Feng from his target.

"Sir. Sir, we've got incoming." Feng seems as if he is right about to make the final blow when the message from his men finally sinks in. He mutters a curse in something close to Chinese, and grips the chest plate of the Azure Dream. "This isn't over, Xiang Yuan." Even if the Emperor can't hear him, the others in his salvage squad can. "And the next time, we'll face off in front of the people, and I'll show them who is the true Emperor of the SuiKyosha." Shoving the limp form of the mech back against the ground.

Under heavy fire from the SuiKyoshan forces, Feng and his men fall back, but not without taking a few pot-shots at the big battleship, blowing a few holes into the armor and sending water splattering down like rain. This isn't the end, it's just the beginning.