2011-04-19 - Fallen Amazonian

Brazil is a quiet nation. Loyal to the EFA on the surface, it bubbles with discontent just beneath; abused and misused by the government, the Brazillians quietly back Katharon, supporting the rebellion with their hard-earned resources.

Resources that another, more shadowy organiziation could make much better use of.

The stormcloud that rolls over Brazil is the first sign; an unnatural black pillar of lightning and thunder, it casts a wide shadow across the largest city it can find, ignoring the clear and beautiful blue day. People look up as the shadow falls across buildings, across cars, across humans and animals alike; they know, instinctively, that this is no natural thing, no force of nature - or rather, it is a force of nature. A force of the nature of mankind, and the nature of evil.

For wrapped within that stormcloud as it crests over Salvador is something more than human. It is a giant ship; white and terrible, it carries the image of a skull on its prow, a warning to all that this can only be one man, one myth, one terrible legend:

DR. HELL!

Yes, Dr. Hell's terrible Air Fortress Gool has arrived above Salvador! As the defense systems scramble below, Patlabors and GMs and Wanzers rolling to defend the city, the monster within Gool's lips twists into a smile. For the commander of this mission is none other than the Ancient Strategist,

COUNT BROCKEN!

Brocken's fingers roll across the board; three spots are highlighted on the holographic HUD, three specific areas of strategic weakness where the Brazillian army would be unable to stop him. Brocken's eyes flick upwards to the Iron Cross Soldier in front of him.

"Release Onslaughter H-9, Galvanix Y-3, and prepare Gool for combat."

The Iron Cross Soldier raises his hand in a salute, and runs out. Brocken's smile grows ever wider. "Let us see how the defenders of Earth deal with this." He gets to his feet, grabbing his ridinng crop and stabbing it forward. "PREPARE ALL GUNS! As soon as Onslaughter and Galvanix touch down, /we destroy them!/"

The Bomb Bay doors open. From within, two Machine Beasts fall; one a great roman soldier, a huge sword in his hand, the other a swift bird that sweeps across the sky and roars like a dragon as it passes into the defensive line. Gool's weapons crackle, turning on Salvador below.

"It is time," Brocken declares, "Let all know the glory of Dr. Hell and the Divine Crusaders! OPEN FIRE!"

And fire rains down over Brazil...

Alicia sometimes happens upon things, as she glides through the skies of the surface world in the Wind Elemental Zefholm. As she passes over Brazil, there are unusual sights... EFA machines deploying. Far too many to be routine troop rotations, and they're not arrayed for a war game either. After a few minutes of flying about, she sees why: The skull-fortress in the sky. "Dr. Hell..." A quiet acknowledgement to herself, then a smile takes hold. "If I were to destroy some of his forces, that might be repayment for Mr. Tsurugi's kindness."

She begins looking through the various targets... she might be able to inflict major damage on the Gool, but it'd take too long. The 'roman gladiator' machine below likewise strikes her as plausible but heavily armored. The bird machine however... that will do. She veers off, trying to approach the Galvanix from one of its sides. Zefholm's wings spread out, the tips glowing... and then releasing a series of thin green beams at it!

"R... R!" Nell's voice rang outside the mobile home in the Raven's Nest as she banged her hand on the wood door of the actually nice home that belong to the Raven Founder. She was about to hit the door again as the door opened with a half annoyed dirty blond looking down at her. "Crest wants you in Strayed now."

Those glowing aqua green eyes just stared at her before he then looked away and went to shut the door on her.

"Damnit R! It was an S.O.S. from Brazil forces! This isn't a.." She tries to fight him closing the door which isn't much luck, "..nrrh.. this isn't a selfish request.."

The Door swings open again as R catches Nell before she falls over, though he doesn't look at her directly, "It is always a selfish request. It isn't my choice, it is theirs." He at last let go once she stood up straight again. "..right.. fine.. lets go.."

Nell watched him as he gathered his pilot suit and started to walk down to his bedroom. "I will meet you at the point. I'll send you the coordinates."

"Yeah yeah.."

"By the way are you.." however she was cut off as the bedroom door was slammed shut and a picture on the wall crashed to the ground. She grit her teeth a bit, "..I guess he is still upset.. man.. he can be such a child.."

Over Brazil

A White NEXT soared in the skies, flying high and flying fast. The aqua green visor had what was a center bright glow of light that was near white, that looked ahead, before it scanned off to the side slightly. Before the NEXT itself then looked down.

Nell's voice once more spoke of the comm to the NEXT, "R, Becareful with the Primal Armor alright? There are others here."

<<"I know. Lets just hope they don't move in to close then.">>

"I will also do my best to watch your back."

<<"... Thanks Nell.">>

-THAT DAY at the Manora Family Home-

Shirou Manora is bridging. That is, he is bending over backwards, balancing like a tripod on his head and legs, with a set of cinderblocks over his abdomen. It is as uncomfortable as you would imagine, especially considering the bed of hot coals beneath his arched back, threatening him with terrifying burns if his will or body falters for even a moment!

He's been at it quite a while.

The poor boy's face is flushed with excess blood and muscle strain as he struggles to maintain his stance. But his weekly exercise routine demands perfection, and so perfection is what he shall give! Sometimes he wishes that perfection was a litle less painful and a little less likely to cause him major neck pain later on in the day, but hey, whatever.

It isn't long before he'll be done for the day. Normally, soldiers on temporary leave don't try to push themselves like this. But this is no mere soldier! Shirou is a Gundam Fighter. A warrior of fist and fury in service of the EFA nder the illustrious Alpha Numbers.

But, he would not go through today's training uninterrupted.

A sudden ring of his phone! Shirou falls with a yelp and shortly follows up with a yell as he rolls out of the coalbed before his back fries. "Ow," he nearly cusses. But not quite. With a quiet 'oomph,' he rises to flip open his phone... "Uh. Hello? Lieutenant Potts?"

A pause.

"WHAT!?"

Heavy footsteps thunder across the Manora household as the youngest member of the family rushes to the living room. He nearly trips over his own feet, and only barely manages to skid into the couch before toppling over. "Raquel! Kaz! Emergency!"

-LATER. SALVADOR.-

A silhouette appears amidst the lightning streaking across the now stormy skies. A small jet-like machine is latched to its shoulders, wings spread broadly on either side as it sails across the sky. Green eyes ignite! They pulse with sudden power! A voice calls across the heavens--

"JET BOY! LATCH DOWN!"

With a heavy CLUNK, the clamps holding the humanoid machine to its flight pack release. The Tomahawk spreads its arms as if in freefall, falling, falling further, towards the Mykenese soldier-giant. Gracefully, it flips, reorienting itself so that its leg extends for impact with the distant monster.

"Warning! Impact in t-minus twelve seconds!"

Shirou grunts. His eyes burn furiously inside his head. "Yeah. I know that," he hisses. Six seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two... "TOMAHAWK! DYNAMIC! ENTRYYYYY!"

"KIIIIICK!"

You know, it had been *such* a nice, relaxing evening. Blessfield Ardygun, patriarch of the Valstork Family, had been talking shop (and other business) with the head of the Manora family; Kazuma and Macua were off somewhere, either training or snogging; given that unlikely but well-rooted pairing, either one was equally likely. Shihomi and Akane Ardygun were chatting over trivialities with Mrs. Manora; Mihiro was sitting nearby and doing something akin to homework, and Horis was back on the Valstork, currently nestled into a berth in the harbor nearest the Manora house, manning the bridge and minding the various readouts.

Then all Hell breaks loose out in Salvador, completely and utterly interrupting what had been a peaceful gathering of two families.

Blessfield is, predictably, somewhat annoyed about this, and would have offered a lift to Macua and/or Shirou if necessary for either of them; the Valhawk is, for a change, the *last* to take off from the Valstork's catapult. "Right, now who should I -" Kazuma begins, only to be interrupted by his father.

"We," Blessfield says curtly. "Pattern Cross, stand by!"

"... wait a sec, Pops, this is a *city* - !" Kazuma starts to argue. But he's maneuvering the Valhawk into position ahead of and above the Valstork.

"A city which needs protecting, and fast," Blessfield answers. "We're stopping that storm-shrouded flying island in its tracks, then pushing it back off the coast. Keep us in the air as much as you can. All right?"

"Yes sir ... !" Kazuma takes a breath, leaning forward as he grips the controls. "Let's do it!"

"BATTLE FORMATION, PATTERN CROSS!!" shout Kazuma and Blessfield in unison, and the Valstork begins transforming, starting with opening up a peculiar sort of docking cradle in front of the bridge module. The Valhawk begins its own transformation, dropping back and slotting into that 'cradle,' and then the combined craft and ship reconfigure further, transforming into one massive combined form.

The Valguard.

"HEY, DR. HELL!!" yells Kazuma as the Valguard's transformation finishes. "Two words for ya ... KNOCK, KNOCK!!!" Staying airborne, the Valguard accelerates towards Aerial Fortress Gool ...

And *PUNCHES*.

BRAZIL

Fire rains down over Brazil. Well, at least there were no /suns/ randomly spawning all across the city. Because that is the last time the SuiKyosha had to deal with when it came to the defense of Earth's cities.

OVER THE OCEAN EUROPE - BELGIUM

Far away, over the Earth's ocean, the SuiKyosha is floating over the sea, just having finished trading with some of the partners there. An importation of Belgian Bonbons, frites and mayonaise has the ship's hangars filled. A good sum of the hangar crew are eating frites from white pointy paper sacks, with a big dollup of mayo on them, picking at them with their plastic forks. New delicacies. Yum.

On the bridge, a sudden communication comes in to the SuiKyosha. "What is it?" Xiang was already there, sitting in a blue throne, the ornate gauntler on his right hand - finger tapping on the chair. "We're getting a signal from Brazil sir. They are requesting assitance. They fear an attack is being started on Salvador." Well, that is all the Emperor needs to know. Yu Zhi Wu, his XO who is standing next to him, quickly nods at the helmsman. "Open the watergate, we're entering emergency travel proceedings." The ship dives into the water, surrounded by a great blue magical glyph... and disappears!

BRAZIL

Salvadore is a port city. This is a good thing. Why is this a good thing? Because it means that the SuiKyosha can arrive there within an instant! A sudden gigantic blue glyph appears within the port's waters, pushing ships and animals aside, warping space! The water begins to rise in an absolutely gigantic column of water. It alsmost looks like something even larger than the Macross is rising from the waters! Did Dr. Hell bring even more vessels, like the submarine 'Saluud'!? No, this is different! The water, as much as it is rising in the air, aglow with a brilliant blue light, does /not/ reveal metal. No, instead, the water just keeps flowing up.

Like a torrent, it continues to flow, magically wrapping around, spinning almost like a water-tornado, seperate 'waves' of water that defy gravity spinning around this tornado seperately. This was /definitely/ bigger than the Macross. Whatever it was. But it looked more like a force of nature so far.

On board the SuiKyosha, the instruments are blinking and beeping, but everyone seems fairly calm. "Four seconds to re-formation, sir!" The helmsman claims, and pushes a lever forwards. "Roger that. Prepare for mid-air landing." The XO announces for the people on board the ship.

Then finally, that gigantic wave of water forms into the battleship SuiKyosha. A pulse of a blue ring forms around the water-tornado, and as symbols form and rotate, it almost 'carves out' a figure in midair, revealing blue metal with accents of pink and green, making this seem almost like a gigantic waterdragon which had been living within coral! And the moment this ship breaks out of the water, it lays down in midair.

A pulse of light quickly travels outwards from beneath it, creating the sudden illusion as if water was floating in the air, keeping the ship up. "To all hands, head to battle stations!" Yu announces. People all aboard the ship already were preparing, and those poor hangar folk have to cut down on their delicious fatty frites in favor of doing their job.

Gigantic cannons suddenly swirve towards Gool, whilst gates all across the ship open and the gigantic hangar doors at its top release and fold inwards as well. And from those many small gates which had opened, a sudden gulf of crystaline missiles dart out, sparkling ice-paths following straight after them, trying to intercept the Roman Warrior beast which was falling from the Fortress.

And then... something odd happens. Those dark clouds, already above Brazil, grow... different. The weather suddenly changes as magic tries to defy magic, and it begins to rain - centered around the SuiKyosha.

And whilst those hangar doors are busy opening, Xiang's mind comes through within Sinya's. >"Be careful out there."< He'd asked her to launch a small bit ago, but he still wanted her to know that he wanted her to be safe. And of course, he'd keep an eye out on her. But this communication of course has his XO glancing at him for a moment... was she smirking?

 Xiang Yuan transmits, "This is the T.D.F. SuiKyosha. To the Salvador invading forces, please remove yourselves from this area - we will have no wanton destruction of earth."

"Oh crap." Sinya curses to herself as the ships lights change and she gets a sudden flood of feeling that could only mean one thing. While her connection to the battleship is weak at best, and mostly channeled through her fledgling relationship with her captain, it doesn't mean that she can't read what is coming a mile away. Standing up from working on a skeletal gunmen, the catgirl throws the rag down and calls out, "Battle stations! Everyone get to your positions. Prep Arius for launch!" A few of the hangar crew look around in surprise, shocked to hear such command coming through from the hired-help. However, a moment later it is the XO affirming Sinya's words.

"You heard her, get moving!" Racing on quick feet over towards her guymelef, Sinya pulls out a worn dufflebag, pulling on her combat suit with hardly a sign of shame. Yes, a few of the hangar crew get a good view of half-naked catgirl. Not that many of them have time to really appreciate it. There is a sick feeling in her stomach, which is enough of a sign for the catgirl to realize that they had moved. Tugging her helmet down, she clicks it into place, nodding as the modified cybernetic uplink manages to display Arius's vitals.

It takes her two leaps to get to the pilot's compartment, which seems to open even without her actually giving any command. The strange, half-metal half-flesh of the guymelef gives way as she settles herself inside, clicking a few buttons on the modified unit before sliding her hands into the controls. "SuiKyosha, this is Hellcat. Ready for launch." Xiang's voice, or more specifically his mind is answered with only a faint hint of emotion. A self-assurance that seems to come only when she's piloting. It takes a moment for the hangar crew to clear her departure, the great doors opening as she engages her thrusters, taking to the skies over... Brazil?

It takes a moment for Sinya to scan the damage being done to the city, growling quietly to herself under her breath. "What is the point of this?" She asks, entirely to herself. "Target, SuiKyosha?" The interface between the two units is fast, all too quickly identifying the Roman beast machine. The heads up circles around him as she pushes her legs down, closing the distance between herself the hellish machine. From his side, the knight pulls forth his staff, swinging it across his chest as he gets in close - perhaps a bit too close for comfort. Then, moving that weapon ever so quickly, the knight seeks out places... any opening in the beast's armor.

 Shirou Manora transmits, "This is the Mobile Fighter Tomahawk of the Alpha Numbers. Doctor Hell, I won't let you take our home!"

 Macua Huitl transmits, "The Crusade has done enough harm here."

 Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "They went *PAST* enough, I thought!"

 Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Hitting a civilian city ... Dr. Hell, your repair bill's gonna be bigger than Salvador's by the time we're through with you!"

Shirou's Dynamic Kick is wasted; the kick bounces off the heavy metal of the immense Onslaughter; the machine looks up, swiping at its foe with a punch that goes absolutely wide, its giant brass hand swiping through the air with a whoosh. The Onslaughter H-9 is greeted again, however, with the power of water crashing against its blade; when the flood ends, and it is given room to pause and fling a heavy car at its foe as though it were tossing a rock at the ship. And then in comes Sinya's whirrlwind assault; fast, hard, brutal, it smashes into the Onslaughter and knocks it stumbling backwards.

The machine lets out a terrible roar of fury; that gigantic metal blade is unslung from it shoulders, slung wide at Sinya and Shirou, ready to decapitate them in a single instant; the sheer force of the slash cuts through the rain, wind pressure slicing towards the SuiKyosha and passing through the clouds as deadly as the blade itself. Those artifical muscles are fearsome...!

Macua Huitl is back on earth she's actually at home and she watching Shirou for a moment she seems amused for a moment but also a bit worried at what he's up to. She is watching him, his training has hit about the insanity of the things that Folka puts her though she's watching him through the kitchen window. However due doesnt want to interrupt him for a it might get him hurt. So shes been actually mostly helping mom in the kitchen of all things there was going to be a big dinner tonight as they had almost everyone home. She sees her bother running like hell stops apologises once to her mother and then is running. The Jenice is still missing half of it's upper body from yesterday on Mars.

She's running now at this point following her bother out. She doesn't seem happy at all, she'd planned to be off with Kazuma later at least after dinner but now isn't the time she's got ride, she's stripped off her clothing the ring comes down covering her with the trace suit and the Amazon Gundam is ready to deploy. She's riding on the Valguard's shoulder at this point and she leaps off she's not a happy woman as the rain starts, still that might help any rampant fires. She radios the local forces.



The Amazon Gundam takes a moment before it spots the machine beast. The Galvanix finds it self under fire from the head vulcans of the Gundam fighter. Macua shifts her machine and is very conscious of her environment she may very well be actually not making some attacks due to the collateral damage it may cause.

Galvanix seems to almost see the attack coming; Alicia's wing beams lance past the great electrical bird as it rolls to the side, a sweeping, lazy roll as it spreads its wings wide and lets out a mocking electrical-sounding screech. The Head Vulcans pelt across its armor; the machine turtles up, pulling its wings around itself with another electrical screech as bullet-holes appear in that cast-iron body.

"It will take more than that!" Brocken declares as the bird opens its jaws; beams of electricty score forth, blasting at Macua and Alica, ready to rock their systems to bits as the bird takes flight again!

Valguard's mighty fist is more than enough to startle Count Brocken out of his chair; as the immense fist of the other ship comes screaming in for a landing, Dr. Hell's most loyal dullahan stumbles and falls backwards from the sheer force of the impact. The Aerial Fortress rocks in the sky; its beams go wide, streaking around the Valguard helplessly and off into the blue-and-white.

"RETALIATORY FIRE!" Brocken screams as he (and the ship) right themselves, holding his command cane down against the metal; the Gool's laser arcs crackle with hidden power as they lance forth again, massive energy cannons streaking towards the Valguard with all they had, ready to punch a great hole right through the ship's armor!

Valguard's mighty fist is more than enough to startle Count Brocken out of his chair; as the immense fist of the other ship comes screaming in for a landing, Dr. Hell's most loyal dullahan stumbles and falls backwards from the sheer force of the impact. The Aerial Fortress rocks in the sky; its beams go wide, streaking around the Valguard helplessly and off into the blue-and-white.

"RETALIATORY FIRE!" Brocken screams as he (and the ship) right themselves, holding his command cane down against the metal; the Gool's laser arcs crackle with hidden power as they lance forth again, massive energy cannons streaking towards the Valguard with all they had, ready to punch a great hole right through the ship's armor!

Alicia winces as her shots are avoided, hands clenching tighter on the crystal ball-like controls in Zefholm's cockpit. She looks aside to notice the Amazon Gundam, but her thoughts don't linger on it or its pilot; there are arcs of lightning coming her way! Zefholm darts aside in the air, and begins charging at the Galvanix. "I'll show you what the Elemental of Tempest can do in the skies!" Even as her machine rushes, it extends a palm at the Galvanix and conjures a horizontal tornado about half as wide and tall as the machine beast itself is. This swirling storm tears through the clouds, trying to rip through its target!

The small car bounces off of the hull as if it had just hit rubber, and ends up bouncing further back and comes crashing inside of the open hangar door. Car: GET! Sure, a small crack had formed in its armor, but it isn't really something the people on the ship even manage to notice. It's a city-ship, it's well buffered against massive impacts. And cars rarely do much. However, the swipe of windpressure is different! Xiang sees it coming however, even mid-swing. He's a trained martial artist, and though the technique itself may not be something he directly recognizes, it is similar enough to a technique he /does/ know. "Evasive maneuvers." Xiang puts his hand forward, pointing at the helmsman. "Thirty degrees starboard side, fourty percent thrust forwards." The helmsman quickly pushes against a lever again, taking it to the instructed speed, and begins flinging his hands over the sturdy wooden steering wheel.

The illusion-like water beneath the SuiKyosha torrents, and the gigantic ship flits through the sky at much more speed than one would expect out of a massive battleship like that! The entire air-cut rushes straight between two of its 'wings' on its left side. "Take us further into the city. We wanna make sure any fires get put out. Put us directly beneath that skull-ship." Xiang continues to command, and the ship continues to move whilst dispensing gigantic shells down towards the ground, away from the Guymelef that is assaulting the Roman looking machine as well - so that she can lead it into its firing pattern. As the shells land to the ground, they form gigantic crystals of ice that burst out, but remain where they are.

The sudden sound of the beast's roar is enough to slick Sinya's ears back, her hands tightening on the controls. Her tail puffs up, and her heart seems to skip a beat as her body goes into a fight-or-flight response, and this one is most certainly fight. Gritting her teeth, the catgirl hisses under her breath, slamming her feet down into the guymelef's control peddles and launching him upwards at surprising speed. The force is enough to throw her back into her harness, the guymelef speeding through the rain that pours down across his wings. At the very least, there were no fish to distract her, this time.

With a hard pull of her arms, the gryphon knight turns in mid air, pulling quite an unusual amount of speed in the process of circling back towards that Roman looking beast machine. It brings her back into range just in time for that huge sword to be unslung. "Crap." Her eyes go wide, the smaller unit reacting much quicker than the path of that heavy, quite deadly sword. With her heart beating hard in her chest, Sinya turns her hands, her legs following in the strange dark space of the guymelef's chest, causing the entire unit to spin on it's axis, the metal wings lashing out in a counter attack that encompasses the beast's arm.

As the spin stops, Sinya's head seems to follow it for just a moment, dizzy from her own technique. Swallowing, trying to keep herself from getting motion sick from such a technique, she squares her eyes on the target, focusing on it as the center of her vision. The gryphon knight pulls his staff back, spinning it between his fingers, making it hard to tell just where the attack will come from. When he does lash out, though, it is a strong thrust of that bo-staff, sweeping it out in hopes of connecting with the beast's arm, if only to try warding off another attack from that huge blade.

"Damn. Too slow!" Shirou growls in frustration as his leg is repelled. But the Tomahawk's jump thrusters push it even further. The Tomahawk leaps over the blade, vaulting over the swing like a gymnast jumping over a pole. A foot arcs downward, slamming into the flat end of the sword and propelling the Tomahawk back into the fight. Its legs shine, lighting up with a harsh, viridian glow as it takes another step, kicking into the massive soldier's arms.

"But not this time!" He roars. The Tomahawk becomes a blur of radiant power, its fists and feet wreathed in powerful, concentrated barriers. The Tomahawk leaps into the Onslaughter's stance, its fists and thrusters pushing into the colossus' torso- to push it back, into the sea. Out of the city! "I won't allow you to take another step!"

With everything he has, with every ounce of power at his disposal, Shirou pushes. The mobile trace suit burns red with the strain as he pushes. A roar, issued in protest to the storm raging overhead, punctuates the sudden eruption of the barriers surrounding the mobile fighter's fists, sending a concussive shockwave into the Mechanical Beast's hardened body. "Get. Out. Of. My. COUNTRY!"

 Tightbeam to Alicia Zania Branford, Sinya Leland, Macua Huitl, Shirou Manora, R, and Kazuma Ardygun: You say, "Please cycle to channel 11514, I have initiated a Trailer Dissuasion Fleet channel for this operation - so we may coordinate our defensive efforts."

 Shirou Manora transmits, "This is Shirou Manora, pilot of the Mobile Fighter: Tomahawk."

 Alicia Zania Branford transmits, "I feel so much intensity... this is home to many of you?"

 Nell Aulter transmits, "I picked up the transmission from R and both have been set."

 Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Kazuma Ardygun here, main pilot of the Valguard. And it's my girlfriend's family's home, not mine, but I take it personally when anyone attacks a civilian city."

 Sinya Leland transmits, "This is Sinya Leland, Trailer. If you need repairs, give me a shout. I can fix you up on the fly."

Onslaughter's not waiting around this time. As the Ice crystals come in, it snags one of them in its hands; the machine lets out another terrible, raging roar, knocking aside the others as it physically *hurls* the chunk of ice back at the SuiKyosha with brutal force, all the power in those explosive muscles straining. Shirou's right in the way; as his fist comes stabbing down and knocks a huge chunk of metal armor, exposing the wirey muscles and gear bones, the ice is released, possibly passing right through him on the way. So, too, does Sinya's attack find its mark; the iron monster stumbles in pain as laser beam eyes begin to lance forth at its numberless foes. It was going to make them hurt, it had decided; it was going to make them suffer.

Such was the way of Dr. Hell.

 Shirou Manora transmits, "That monster is trespassing on my country. On my home!"

Macua Huitl isn't so lucky as the bird comes in nd the beams cut a swatch of destruction would would have she actually tkes the hit, it hurts if the feed back is any indication of it. She does fire back with the head vulcans though nd now she springs into action.

"I'm just getting started. I'll send you back to your GRAVE!"

The Amazon Gundam is now breakinginto a run as the otehrs start fighting. She hears the comm notification and calls to the computer to switch to that channel. She tracks Alicia as she goes in once the Zefholm is done it's attack she strieks she's got enogh air Time she's airborn and kicking the hell out of the machine beast!

Valguard's micro-missiles erupt all down the line of the Gool; even as lightning flashes and crackles, disrupting their defensive systems and destroying chunk after chunk of them, a few still manage to get through. Brocken's screams of retaliation echo through the air; beams of energy lance forth, blasting into the sky and knocking aside what few missiles do manage to bypass the electrical defense grid. By the time there's any solid impact, only two or so missiles remain.

Brocken clutches his command staff, pointing it at the Valguard out the window. The looming machine was beginning to irritate him..."Fire the main cannon!"

The Gool swings around; its jaw distends, a terrible cannon extending from within. Fire pours out the battle fortress's eyes and jaw; flames lash against the Valguard, white-hot napalm ready to lick through and burn those within to a crisp. Brocken's not playing around here...!

 Alicia Zania Branford transmits, "Having one's home attacked by the DC is horrible... I will gladly help you defend it!"

Strayed may be late, but it was late then never. The NEXT dropped down from the skies toward the bird. The Primal Armor was active, however it was hard to see. The one thing that was easy to see was the bright sick, aqua green kojima black activate and attempt to slice right into, if not try and take off the wing of the bird.

 Xiang Yuan transmits, "Having one's home attacked in general is a terrible thing. And I will do my best to help you protect your homes."

 Shirou Manora transmits, "All of you..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Thank you."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Blessfield Ardygun transmits, "This is Blessfield Ardygun of the Valstork Family. Don't worry too much about us or the Valguard; we brought our home *into* this fight. That said, Kazuma, don't get reckless."

Of course, this time around, Alicia is much more successful; the tornado sweeps over the bird destructively, razor winds lashing at heavy armor and shaking the machine to the core as it attempts to stabilize itself with those massive metal wings!

But it's off-guard; Macua's ripping Machine Kick smashes into the off-balance robot, tearing through a chunk of the armor on the great bird's tail. It lets out a screech of irritation as R follows up with a Kojima Slash to the wing - but somehow that iron armor is just too tough to tear through. How does he /do/ that?

From the storm up above, lightning begins to arc its way down onto the giant metal bird; Dr. Hell's monstrous minion gathers its own artificially-generated electricity to itself, channeling it into its batteries and lighting up the sky around it. A burst of destructive force follows; an ever-expanding electrical field that bursts lightbulbs, sets cars running into each other, and is prepared to deal some intense overcharge to the three would-be-heroes!

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Sinya Leland transmits, "You're welcome. We'll do our best."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "You can always count on the SuiKyosha. I promise you."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "Now, in the immortal words of the great Demon Lord Kamina... Let's show them who the hell we are!"

"Chii-nee, check our six!" calls out Kazuma as the Gool opens its 'mouth,' charging up what Kazuma can tell is going to be trouble.

"All clear!" Akane responds quickly - and not an instant too soon, as the Valguard finally DOES take evasive action rather than simply throwing the floating fortress's aim off with a counterattack. Fortunately, there's nothing else along that vector for the Gool's main cannon to do any real damage to, and Kazuma answers it by raising one of the Valguard's huge hands .... and firing a set of green beams of plasma from the 'fingertips,' trying to damage the cannon itself before it closes up. Assuming it DOES close.

Whether or not it does, though, Kazuma keeps bringing the pain to the Gool, another barrage of micro-missiles taking flight to shower down all over the floating island, even as he's starting to steer the Valguard away from the city, and trying to lead the Gool away as well ...

The crystal shard stabs right into the SuiKyosha's lower hull, and the thing suddenly seems to 'glow' throughout, like a living organism reacting to a painful experience! Those gigantic cannons suddenly move, and a new series also suddenly expands from the belly of the machine even as the laser passes over its hull! There where it was to impact, the metalic hull suddenly turns into a thick layer of water, which sends a gigantic steamexplosion throughout the area! Upon the bridge, Xiang suddenly grabs for his head and winces slightly. He's bound to his ship in more ways than one, and he can hear the Elemental God on board this ship almost cry out in pain. "Don't worry, SuiKyosha." Xiang whispers. "We'll do fine."

He then suddenly stands up and grabs for a shell-like microphone that is sitting near to his throne. "Engage the Geyser weaponry!" Is all he needs to say, for the crew to understand what is being asked of them. Like a gigantic pump at work, water within the walls suddenly lowers slightly, and begins to re-well up as gigantic torrents of water suddenly rise from the water beneath, connecting to the ship itself.

Those gigantic cannons on the ship fold open. Some look like gigantic clams, others like simple two-barreled cannons. Connected by what look like coral structures to the hull, they energize in a blue light, and massive geysers of water suddenly flow from the barrels, straight for the Roman warrior, trying to /crush/ it against the ground with its massive kinetic force. But there was more. If it'd hit, it would surely freeze after hitting, making it easier for Sinya to hit it!

Knowing how to pick points within an enemy unit tends to be one of Sinya's strong points, perhaps due to her raw mechanical knowledge. However, that doesn't make her one of the best fighters out there. In fact, she has no real combat training outside of a bit of martial arts and a couple of times getting herself in over her head. And this is one of those times. The catgirl is far too close to the beast machine when it retaliates against her. Unfortunately, her attempt to counter fails this second time. While Arius spins to try and lash out, the blast from the lazer cuts across one of his wings, sheering off a strange angle.

The blast is enough to throw the unit off-target, causing Sinya to have to re-adjust her thrusters all while her guymelef is spinning in space at an odd axis. Eventually, though, the gryphon stops his spinning and the catgirl manages not to lose her lunch. Clapping a hand over her mouth, she coughs, and then closes her eyes, trying to get rid of the worst of that nausia. "Okay. Had about enough of that."

Arius draws his hand back, extending his fingers in a display of hyper flexibility. At first, it seems to do nothing at all, but wait... the rain around the guymelef's hand seems to be swirling in an almost invisible pattern of air. "Tttsssyaa!" Sinya snarls, drawing that hand outward, seeking to sweep the gryphon's talon out across the arm of the beast machine. As the guymelef's hand comes close, though, that wind has solidified, seeming to form the shape of unearthly claws, ones far more dangerous than anything the knight could weild on his own.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Alicia Zania Branford transmits, "Hmm? So your Guymelef can control the winds as well..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Sinya Leland transmits, "Sometimes. It's... hard to control."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> R transmits, "Are you two alright? That didn't seem like a friendly electrical attack."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Yu says, "We are quite fine, mister R. So, how about a drink after this?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "Miss Yu. Now is not the time."

Pain. Pain. The color red. Crimson agony.

Shirou growls as circuitry explodes all across his trace suit. Feedback races down his arms and up his legs as the ancient colossus assaults him, raining radiant power down on him. The Tomahawk's limbs scream with pain as the beam tears into the barriers protecting its body. Searing heat melts through the walls of force, but doesn't penetrate them. The Tomahawk holds, it stands its ground. It...

It...

/Advances./

Shirou pushes forward, the Tomahawk leaping surging forward in a sudden explosion of motion. He presses past the pain, through the eldritc energies searing across his unit, burning across his own flesh linked to that of his machine. The movement is feral, wild, but, somehow, incredibly focused. Training, instincts honed to their absolute- that is the source of this technique!

This movement...

--MONTHS AGO--

Shirou Manora is about to die.

His breaths come in short, painful wheezes. Spiderweb networks of frost feel like they're stabbing into his chest, constricting his lungs, choking the life out of him. But he can't stop. He can't stop running. He can't stop-

Because at that very moment, a Kodiak grizzly is thinking that mister Manora would make a very, VERY nice snack.

Memories flash across his mind. Oh Raquel. Oh Isaura. Forgive your foolish, idiotic brother. Farewell life! To die is to--

"HRRAAAAH!" The voice shakes the tundra. It rattles the trees and shakes the stones in the valley. A man with muscles as thick as the armor on a Grungust, with innumerable scars, slams his fist into the beast's torso. The bear gasps momentarily, before falling away and running, yelping, into the woods. "Damn, kid," Lieutenant Shio grunts, shaking his hand loose, "You sure know how to get yourself into a lot of trouble, don't you? Look. When you're in a situation like that, you have to punch right where the other guy is falling. Let gravity do the work, you know?"

--NOW--

"HRAAAAAH!" Shirou roars, his hands pushing forward as one, slamming into the mechanical beast's torso- at the opening in its armor he had carved into its chest. The Tomahawk's leg lashes out, slamming into the inside of the giant's stance as the barriers about the mobile fighter's hands ignite and expand, punching into the beast's very heart!

But will it be enough!?

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Alicia Zania Branford transmits, "I am unharmed thus far! I can only hope everyone in the city has gotten inside, given this storm..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Sinya Leland transmits, "I've got some minor damage to one of Arius's wings. It's making maneuvering difficult, but otherwise we're still good to go."

Strayed quickly pulled away once the Kojima Blade didn't go through, the blade deactivating as the NEXT spun in the air and took into the skies with ease. As electricity started to curve around as the beast monster machine then blasted out electricity toward everyone.

It was like slow motion for the NEXT. He moved between the arcs, nearly avoiding as the electricity attempted to ground upon the metal. His movements nearly seem inhumanly fast; His focus never seeming to break from his target the whole time. It was till time returned to normal that the assault rifle came around and opened return fire on the metal bird. <<"Are you two alright? That didn't seem like a friendly electrical attrack.">>

As he moved around the missile pod on the NEXT shoulder activates and then fires off several missiles for the bird.

<<"Lets talk about that after we get out of this, Yu.">>

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "I have a bad feeling about this. Miss Leland, find cover."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> R transmits, "Lets talk about that after we get out of this, Yu."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Leave this to me."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Sinya Leland transmits, "Roger."

Macua Huitl is attacking the bird pretty savagely but it's not enough. It's never enough with this this sort of machine beast. They always seem to take more than it should be. After all, Hell just makes them out of /iron/ and yet they tend to be pretty durable for what they are. Let alone the firepower they carry, but as she's dropping she takes a few punches. That costs her, as the horrible electical attack hits her machine and over loads some of it's surge protectors. The cockpit is insulated, but that's about it. Still the damage is bad and she's got the feed back. It's pretty messy. She does however hit the ground and doesn't fall. The impact jars her pretty badly as she gets up and unleashes a torrent of shots from her machines wrist blasters.

The Radiant Buster beam smashes across the iron; it melts away at some of the chunks of the Galvatrix, leaving the machine drooping and dripping with its cast-iron chunks. Apparently even magic is no match for Dr. Hell's bizarre machines...? What sort of witchery does he build into them?!

The bird nimbly evades the missile pods, however; it dodges away with a shriek, evasive maneuvers rolling at full....

...right into the arm-blasters. The torrents rip through the bird explosively, ventillating it quite brutally; rain and metal drip down through the body, it screams in pain and rage and suffering, but it's still not down...

The Geyser Beams rock the Onslaughter brutally; the machine falls backwards, roaring and screaming in pain as huge chunks of metal are melted right off it. The roman skirt? Gone! As it stumbles, it narrowly evades Shirou and Sinya - /by accident/. But...

Micro-missiles are countered by micro-missiles; they score across the metal of the Gool, and Brocken's rage is palpable as he orders counter-attack after counter-attack. Each strike does nothing; each explosion counters incoming explosions as the Gool is pelted by bombs of fire and smoke and the crew is sent scattering through the air. Brocken's roars of 'control' and 'fire brigades' echo through the ship as he turns back to the monitors.

His soldiers are losing. At this rate, he wouldn't even have time to deploy and steal the supplies; his fists clench into frustrated lines around the staff as he raises it above his head. No choice, then.

"Onslaughter! Galvatrix! THUNDER GOD FORMATION! DESTROY THEM!"

The eyes of the Onslaughter and the Galvatrix light up as one; the Galvatrix swoops down, linking onto Onslaughter's sword as thunder crackles from up above. The machine wraps around the iron blade; it synchronizes with the other, equally-damaged monster, as it opens all its connections and brings the lightning from both the SuiKyosha and the Gool's cloud covers to bear. The lightning crackles through the sky as the Onslaughter swings its sword...

Thunder echoes through the city of Salvador; glass erupts, buildings are crushed in the wake of the Thunder God Blade as the roman centurion and the electric bird. What about our brave heroes...?!

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Sinya Leland transmits, "I'm drawing back to support the SuiKyosha."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun grumbles, "Have I mentioned how much I hate Dr. Hell's guts?!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "Strayed is holding up at hundred percent. If anyone needs R to cover them, let him know."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "I'll have to make an emergency water-landing."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Sinya Leland transmits, "I'll see what I can do, Xiang. Hold on."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Raquel? RAQUEL!?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Macua - hell, *Adom* even - what's your status?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora's mind slowly and very /audibly/ snaps.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "Adom? Isn't that a Balmarian name?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Long story, we'll tell ya later."

Why does it seem that whenever Sinya goes out in her guymelef, she somehow manages to always end up being blasted by something big enough to crush her unit into scrap metal? At the very least, she does manage not to get the full force of the attack, but the guymelef certainly is worse for wear. Actually, it's a surprise that the guymelef is even still flying. "Let's... not do that again." Her tongue sneaks out, licking a bit of blood away from her lips.

As her eyes sweep over to the SuiKyosha, her heart sinks at the damage done to the battleship. Perhaps it is her connection to it, but the damage is enough to make her heckles rise. Thrusting her feet downward, the guymelef speeds backwards with a sudden flare of his wings. It doesn't take long at all for him to be brought along side the ailing battleship. For some, trying to repair the damage to such a ship might be nearly impossible, but there is a type of magic in Arius like all things from La Gias. The energy crystals in his chest flare bright blue, which seems to echo a glow across the ship's hull even as the Guymelef reaches ... seemingly inside the other ship, reforming things as if the SuiKyosha's hull were clay.

There are times when you think before you act and there are other times where you just act. This is one of those times where you just end up acting. The energy is bring drained off the city's power grid. No good can come of this Macua's already realising what's going on some level. The Thunder God Formation is coming there's only one thing Macua can really do. She lunges at the attackers and charges right into the attack head long.

The Amazon Gundam MKII meets the lighting bolt head on it just savages the machine melting off armor plating overloading various systems and there's a chain of explosions. The entire trace suit has turned red and is staying red. Macua's feeling the full force of the feed back and trying to keep conscious but that's not going so well the Amazon slams into the ground leaving a crater as it hits and hits quite hard so hard it leaves a crater. Macua screams again and the Amazon Gundam goes Still for now. It's smouldering there in the crater should the rain still be coming down? The crater would start to fill with water an the optics of the Gundam sputter finally going out. The optics are now a dull lifeless green the head sags. Worse there are no sign of movement from the machine at all and nothing from Macua over the radio either

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Macua Huitl lets out a scream and then nothing....

The NEXT once more moves like it didn't even have a human pilot within it. Defying anything a normal man could ever handle; It was bolting down toward the ground; The lightning strikes around him. The Thrusters turning into over-boost as it accelerates at dangerous speeds. The Kojima blade then comes to life at the very last second once more as he twirls the NEXT's body as the lightning strikes around him, and slashes the blade into the roman beast monster.

Then in that split second the foot of the Strayed only touches the ground for just a split second before it pushes itself into the air. Then charging up the Kojima blade, it glows brighter as Kojima particles are rammed into the blade. Then suddenly boosting himself down once more he attempts to cleave the bird right off the sword.

It was a gambling move, but one he was willing to try!

As for Macua's status, R goes unotice of it. The scream was heard, but his focus, his sheer focus was on the machine beasts.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "RAAAAAQUEEEEEEEEELLLLL!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun snarls, "Sinya, get to Macua's Gundam and do what you can - for HER, not the hardware. Everyone else ... SINK THAT FLYING FORT IN THE FREAKIN' SEA!!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Sinya Leland transmits, "Yuan. Status report?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "All of them- all of them will BURN!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "We'll be fine."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Sinya Leland transmits, "Alright. I'm on it Kazuma."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Suikyosha. The robots. Obliterate them."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "Roger that."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Kazuma, with me."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Once I deal with /this./"

Alicia winces as booming thunder continues to roar through the area. She's fortunate in that Zefholm is dampening the sound being played in her cockpit, but it's still very jarring, very loud. It's the prelude to serious damage to the city and surrounding area... even with Alicia avoiding the city, she has to contend with the lightning head-on this time. And she does, zipping Zefholm through little gaps in the storm, lightning arcs falling every which way around the Wind Elemental. When the storm finally lulls, she gets an emotional jolt as Kazuma uses a Balmar name; Alicia never gave out her own, more than glad to let her 'Aerogater self' die unknown, but hearing any of them, especially one she recognizes... is jarring. A brief argument with Kazuma follows, leading to neither side really coming to an understanding... ...But it does fire Alicia up, and she realizes that the city probably can't take another blast like that; it's time to move in whether she likes it or not. Zefholm ascends slightly, tracking the Galvanix and pointing its feet at the machine beast. "Whirlwinnnd..." Alicia chants, her prana energy pouring into the machine as a tornado is created, one large enough to house the entire Wind Elemental within. "SMASHER!" With this cry, Zefholm plunges into the tornado feet-first, driving its tip toward the Galvanix and trying to, quite simply, drill or plow through it!

The bird detaches itself from the sword just in time for R to slice into it; still crackling with power, the Machine Beast's armor shatters, lightning pouring forth into the air. Alicia's whirlwind whirls about; the feet of Zefholm come smashing into the machine, knocking it against a building with an explosive screech and a crackle of lightning as glass is rammed into its already-exposed weak point. And still, it carries on.

For the glory of Dr. Hell.

The machine beast lets out a terrible scream as it gathers unto itself power; drawing electricity right from the building it was impaled upon, it gasps, spreading its wings. Each feather then spreads as well; lightning rolls down the wings, and with a single, massive flap, those electrified feathers come screaming out in a storm towards Alicia and R, the brave defenders of Brazil who have been doing so well so far. How will the bird's strike fare?

When electric hell suddenly strikes the SuiKyosha, that earlier pulse of light ruffles through the ship once more. Blade scarring its hull, the ship almost audibly screams - metalically that is. Like a robotic whale-song, the gigantic battleship begins to move again, turning towards the water even as Sinya's Guymelef flies up to the gigantic city-ship.

On the bridge, Xiang has fallen back on his throne, and Yu Zhi Wu is standing before him to shield this moment of painful weakness from the crew. "Open all cannons, we're firing at both beasts in unison!" The ship continues its descend down towards the port of the city, and finally lands in it. A gigantic splash is sent up, waves of water crashing against the sides of the city, whilst massive cannons turn to face the lightningbird that plagues South America.

Within the vessel, the god-like entity sends its magic out through the many conduits of the ship, feeding into those cannons. Whilst the crew may be trying their best to work miracles and get things to work again - and Sinya is managing to repair and sooth the spirit of the ship that is keeping everything together, it tries to help its captain. Here and there, floodgates are closed as holes within the ship form, to stop the SuiKyosha's people from drowning... and then...

A grande series of gigantic blue glyphs appear at the tips of the cannons. Little eddies begin to form within the port's water, and the winds begin to sweep more violently. The water turns into snow within a SNAP moment, whilst those glyphs at the cannon ports grow larger and larger, until they reach their intended size and...

Dragons of water suddenly fly from those barrels, attempting to rush for the bird-knight combination and surround them within a torrent of cutting and snapping water, elements of ice and kinetic force, as well as the God Battleship's magic attempting to leave nothing but fine powder!

The scream from the bird is heard and then the electricity blasts out. The NEXT jump quickly into the air, just in time to avoid the attack as the assault rifle opens fire on the birds body. He wracks the bird with bullets. Though now he holds himself in the air.

That Assault rifle now takes aim once more. That glowing visor seems to stare down the sights of the Assault rifle. He was looking for a weak point - something to end this once and for all.

<<"Polly want a cracker?">> He teased out to the electrical bird before the assault rifle was used almost like a sniper rifle with a few controlled bullet fires go right for the electrical beast machine.

Alicia extracts Zefholm from the Galvanix after impact, ascending again and preparing for what she believes will be her finishing blow. She's almost right, just... not quite in the way she expected. Instead, she finds herself encircled in a storm of... lightning feathers? A strange attack form. She tries to rush one edge of it but has no luck getting out that way, Zefholm rocked back into the storm as feathers pierce and electrocute, gashes forming all over the machine! Within the cockpit, Alicia shrieks as her vision goes black; she doesn't feel quite the same feedback that a Gundam Fighter does, but she is connected to her machine... her partner, really. Guilt runs through her as she realizes Zefholm is getting ripped apart, and if she doesn't do something this is going to be the end of both it and herself. A moment's focus, a shout... and a counter-storm engulfs Zefholm, a protective tornado shielding it and blasting free of the feathers. Ravaged, Zefholm begins to glide sideways from the Galvanix, trying to line up a shot; missing from a straight-on blast would no doubt gut a building and its occupants! Instead, she's trying to fire from the side, aiming over little more than empty street. Halberd tip pointed at the Galvanix, a pink prana circle forms. "Radiannnt... BUSTER!" Once more with the wide, thick beam streaking across the city skyline!

That bird is brutally powerful; when R's shot stabs through its head, exposing crackling circuitry and lightning, it continues to fly, hovering there through what forces only God and Hell know. When the Radian Buster pierces through its shoulder, it continurs to fly; the chunks of metal rain down, but it flies, if wobbly. It needs to regain its strength - it needs to recharge. Which means feasting on the only available object at the moment.

Galvatrix soars, with the speed of lightning; it crackles, ionization and shockwaves strong enough to destroy foes in a single blow in its wake as it perches atop the Amazon Gundam Mk. 2. With a screech, it begins to dig in; each chunk of metal ripped from the gundam is a chunk of metal that emerges on the machine's body. Self-repair...?!

It's like looking into the eye of a typhoon. Electric madness surges all around him- the slightest touch means annihilation. Reflexively, the Tomahawk leaps through the wreath of eldritch fury. Its white paint burns jet black with even the slightest contact with the maelstrom, but somehow, by some strange miracle, he manages to make it through. The stinging sensation on his skin is the only reminder that he just managed to /dodge lightning./

And then he looks up at the Tomahawk's radar- and he notices something is... missing. It takes a moment for him to realize just what's wrong- but when he does, he feels it. A sudden 'snap' at the back of his mind. The terrible, sinking feeling in his gut. "Oh no. Oh no, no no no no no--"

She's gone. Missing. Why? Why? Those machines--

Raquel. Raquel Raquel Raquel Raquel Raquel Raq--

"YOU!" Shirou roars. His rage is palpable. It surges through the psionic signature of the battlefield. He is no psychic, but the raw emotion carried in his voice, the sheer feeling of /hatred/ towards these monsters, eminating from his machine- they are undeniable. A newtype might suddenly feel as though something was /very/ wrong. Staring at him, it would be as if one was looking into a gaping, black maw.

And that maw was on the move. Advancing. Closing. Its teeth gnashing and locking about the colossus that was partly responsible for the destruction of his sister's unit. Rage surges though every blow. Anger empowers every punch. They come rapidly, they tear, they rip, they surge like a cyclone about its body, slamming into every weakness, punching through the pain surging up his arms. "YOU! I WILL CRUSH YOU!"

"I WILL BURN YOU TO THE GROUND! I WILL SCATTER YOUR DUST INTO A VOLCANO AND THEN OBLITERATE IT!"

"YOU. WILL. FALL!"

The lightning-sword combination attack from the joint Machine Beasts actually hits the Valguard, and hits *hard*; consoles spark all over the ship-turned-colossal-mecha, including the main bridge and the cockpit, and Kazuma grits his teeth, fighting to keep the Valguard airborne.

In the middle of that, he sees the Amazon Gundam getting next-to-obliterated, and hears Macua screaming before her radio cuts out.

Shirou screams in rage. Kazuma's rage, though, is cold and quiet, and just as lethal as the vacuum of deep space.

The Valguard thunders into motion once again, heading straight for Gool without any further words - and starts PUNCHING, plasma energy focusing into the Valguard's fists as Kazuma swings, again and again, every blow trying to drive Hell's aerial fortress further out over the water, further from the Machine Beasts, further from Kazuma's allies and from whatever's left of Macua's Gundam ... or of Macua herself.

Finally, Kazuma breaks his silence to the Gool ... in a throat-bursting, lung-ripping, bestially hot-blooded roar, green-tinged lightning flaring and crackling around the Valguard's fists as the giant machine winds up one more time .... and swings *HARD*, as if trying to punch the flying fortress in half, right there.

Onslaughter remains. As it is pelted by the destructive forces of the SuiKyosha, it remains standing; it may be standing by a hair's breadth, as water dragons rock across its body, as it stands like a zombie with chunks removed from its form, but it stands. Its great metal sword is brought down like a bolt of lightning onto the deck of the ship, clanging across it with a *whoom* like thunder that rings out across the room.

And then Shirou puts his fist through it and it explodes, colossaly.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "DIE!"

Alicia stares in disbelief as the Galvatrix remains functional, but has little time to think on it; she has to guide Zefholm back from the electrical outlash, hurriedly flitting backwards from the shockwaves and ducking behind a building to evade the worst of it. When Zefholm emerges, Alicia sees her target is moving... and tries to intercept it, halberd tossed away - it vanishes in a flash of light. Instead of chasing the Galvatrix directly, Alicia crosses Zefholm's arms, bracing herself as she pours yet more of her life's energy into the ravaged Elemental. "Tempessst..." A tornado forms, flying out to try to overtake the Galvatrix or at least be poised to lift it off the Amazon Gundam. "DIVIDE!" Zefholm's arms spread, and when they do the tornado splits into an identical copy of itself, both trying to converge atop the Galvatrix and hopefully rip it away from the downed Gundam!

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora's fist collides catastrophically with something. It sounds like it ends poorly.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "NEXT."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Yu Zhi Wu says, "Don't scratch the paint."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Xiang Yuan transmits, "The SuiKyosha has no... oh... right... joke."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "..oh hell.."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "What did R get hit with?!"

The NEXT goes to follow the bird, perhaps in foolish gesture. Nell telling him to back off, however as the Bird was going for the Gundam Fighter's unit, R-- R himself couldn't let that stand. As The NEXT moves down to kick the bird it seems the focus he had is directed away, or just by sheer bad luck the Lightning at last finds him.

The Electricity surges through the NEXT before it almost seems to seizure up. There was a near yell of pain. A mix a yell between man and machine. The Visor flared bright, the Boosters flared, sparked, sputtered, and then died.

Soon the NEXT slammed into the ground, the Kojima field fading before such happened and the machines tumbles, rolls, and slams into a near by building which halts it still. The Assault rifle soon crashes alongside the NEXT and then with a little flicker of light from the visor, it soon fades, and then goes black.

"NEXT!" Shirou roars. His flesh burns in the cataclysm exploding from within the fallen colossus. The Tomahawk's paint sears away, revealing the jet black color hidden underneath its normally pristine coat. Viridian power burns on its limbs, surging through the smoke and the flame and the haze. Shirou Manora does not stop. He does not relent.

To anyone who hurts those who he loves, he becomes utterly /terrifying./ A monster. A beast in the guise of a young man. And now that beast turns skyward. Spiralling like a comet into the heavens. Its hands blaze with an awesome power. Its back is obscured by the Tomahawk's jump jets being pushed far beyond their limits. It tackles the Gool, fists tearing and slamming into every pocket of resistance it can manage.

Shirou has been driven to the brink. He will put the fear of Manora into these men.

The Galvatrix refuses to be interrupted from its meal of the Amazon Gundam; as chunk after chunk of metal is ripped apart and swallowed into its gullet, the machine bats away the incomng mystical attack with a wave of its powerful wing, ignoring its foe's desperate shot in favor of continuing its feast. That Gundam is really getting savaged...!

Speaking of savage, those wing missiles spiralling towards Alicia are probably going to hurt quite a bit! Explosive, too! Zefholm better move fast - the Wings of Hell are taking flight!

Alicia stares in shock as her twin tornados are struck away, breath ragged; she doesn't have much more to give after that... and is ill prepared to guide Zefholm afterward even as missiles come in. Bracing for the worst, she simply throws Zefholm's arms up in front of its chest, smoke and explosions filling the air. When it clears, Zefholm is emitting magical sparks from several new gashes and one of its arms isn't there any more. This gives Alicia a lot to think about. She /should/ withdraw, and leave this to the surface worlders; this is their problem, not Langran's. It's tempting, and for a moment she starts to do just that. Yet something compels her to try again. "If the winds won't work, then...!" She cuts off with an aggressive, near-desperate shout and sends Zefholm beelining toward the Galvatrix. Its halberd re-appears in the Elemental's remaining hand, tip set forth in what amounts to a jousting charge!

In the Gool high above the battlefield, Brocken licks his lips in amusement. This was the true power of Dr. Hell! This was the undeniable strength of the Master of Evil!

"Evasive maneuvers!" Brocken barks; the Gool wheels to the side as Valguard comes screaming in, and the two great machines very narrowly miss each other as Gool is rammed by Shirou's max speed full power. The little Gundam clangs off the side of Gool, leaving a heavy dent in the armor - more than many forces could say they had done!

"Tch...that you think you can fight me evenly irritates me!" Brocken declares, "Fall before the power of Dr. Hell - fall, you pathetic weaklings, and bend your knees before his majesty!"

The Gool's lightning storm begins to crackle - electricity lines its every lightning rod, powering up each line of guns. The Valguard - and Shirou - are treated to the full power of the storm beared against them for their heroism - will they continue to stand?! Or will Dr. Hell's forces win this day?

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "..I'm not getting any signals off his life support.."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "RAAAQUEEEEELLL!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "RRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGH!"

The NEXT's hand twitches, before it pulls itself free from the building. The Visor still black, as it starts to rise up, reaching for the Assault Rifle beside it. There was a hum deep within it, before the visor started to flicker and then come to life once more. There was a step, then a slight off step. The NEXT's visor continued to flicker before the singular glow of the one optic became bright. The vents inhaled air, quickly cooling off its systems and feeding the super charger deep within.

Then with a Hard push-off with its foot, the Thrusters come to life the NEXT sped into the air before the Assault Rifle comes to aim at the bird once more.

There was no words from strayed, only just that hold of the weapon. Though it was the hold of the weapon, what came around on its shoulder was a massive grenade launcher which aimed down with the rifle and then with a loud explosion, the grenade launcher fired.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "..I.. I am contacting Crest to get the.. wait.. its moving? ..How? ..damnit.. that attack must have scrambled the internal equipment."

He will stand.

With everything that he is. With everything that he /has./ He will stand, and he will fight. It is questionable whether he even knows how to retreat at this point. All that he can do, all that his body will allow him to do, is to obliterate the target of his fury. The focus of his rage--

And the blows do not stop coming. Fist after fist after fist after fist pound into the dent he had made in the Gool's underbelly. His fists slam upward, climbing with each punch up the side of the colossal vessel. Electricity arcs about its body, surging just overhead, but the Tomahawk dodges, evading the fury of the storm by lurching the Tomahawk to one side, leaping laterally across its side before resuming its climb.

It seeks to scale the behemoth that is Gool. Heaven only knows what he will do once he has reached the top.

"Oniichan," Mihiro manages to speak up, "that bird machine beast ..."

Kazuma spares a glance towards the avian Machine Beast as Mihiro draws his attention to the Galvatrix, and his expression darkens further. "Right. Time to roast a turkey. Neechan, how many more missiles've we got, I need most of 'em."

On what would normally be the Valstork's bridge, Shihomi raises her eyebrows. "These do cost money, but I think I know where you want them ... micromissiles ready, fire at will! Or at Dr. Hell's machinery~"

"Targeting verified," Mihiro sounds off. "Let's give Hell hell, oniichan!"

"Agreed! EAT THIS, YOU ROBO-BIRDBRAIN!!!" shouts Kazuma as the missiles go flying, half for Gool, half for the Galvatrix.

Macua Huitl isn't awarey if he efforts were in vain or not in her half concous world there's only really confusion some sense of where she is and pain. Oh yes a good deal of pain actuall she's dimly aware of Shirou and Kazuma. She's trying to get up but it's not responding it's not responding at all. Sinya is indeed on her way yet it's not in time s the beast latches on to her machine it starts to feed upon her machine it's ripping off peachers and macua screams as a limb is ripped away and devouted then other bits and the feedback system is broken it's not cutting out. Then Sinyra's arrives. if she acts quickly she should be able to do something at least when the machine beast is delt with. The Amazon still doesn't move as it's being devoured if it were organic it would be gruesom even as it is it's still kinda of like that.

There is a sigh of relief from Sinya as some of what she does seems to help. It's odd, since the SuiKyosha isn't mechanical like so many other things she was used to repairing, but somehow her feel for the ship itself seems to be enough. With the guymelef's hand still resting on the hull, she nods her head to the status report from within. As her eyes survey the damage done to the city, Arius's sensors try to pick up the form of Macua's gundam amongst the wreckage. It takes two sweeps to find that crater and then to plot a course taking her low through the city, hopefully out of sight of the attackers.

"This is Hellcat to SuiKyosha hangar. I need two rescue units dispatched to my location. Immediately." Placing a beacon to the ground, Sinya turns, looking skyward towards the battleship in time to spot two blips coming her way. Gunmen - part of the SuiKyosha's own crew. It takes a moment or two for them to land, inable to secure the downed Gundam, but still able to grab Macua from the wreckage. "Get the mech to the hangar and have a medical crew enroute." Sinya herself is getting antsy, knowing full well that her ship, her crew were still in the thick of battle. Wait, her ship? Since when did she consider herself part of the crew? Hrm.

Pressing her feet down into the guymelef's controls, she speeds back towards the battle still raging, hoping that she isn't too late to do more than serve as a rescue squad for other pilots.

A lightning sword is stabbed into the SuiKyosha's upper hull, cracking it partially open and revealing torrenting water beneath, which the lightning then courses through. Within the ship, the Water God cries out in pain, a sound which only is reserved for Xiang and Yu to hear, who both try their best to keep their concentration on the battle before them. The massive cannons turn to face this new foe, but luckily Shirou comes in and rips the piece in half, saving the water battleship from any further pain from that particular source.

"What is our status?" The Emperor manages to mutter. "It's not good sir, the ship is taking in water." Now, normally, that wouldn't be an issue. But the ship's God is rather tired and in pain, and is having a hard time balancing out its output between offense and defense. They can even hear the groan of metal fatigue setting in now and again, ringing throughout the ship.

It was hard for Xiang Yuan to make a decision in this kind of situation. He had his own people - a whole city - to think of. But he also had to defend this city, and with the rate things were going, he couldn't just depart. Could he? No, he couldn't. The ship however, remains parked. But its hangarbay remains open, ready to receive both the Arius and Gunmen troops carrying Macua without her unit.

After Sinya and the Gunmen troops arrive, the SuiKyosha immediately submerges into the water. The Emperor has decided that too much damage has been done to the SuiKyosha, and continueing this battle would put the SuiKyoshan people at too much of a risk at this point in time.

The Halberd lands true; the bird is unable to retaliate in time, the missiles scattering into the air harmlessly and exploding in the sky. It's knocked off its perch on the Amazon Gundam, falling to the ground and screeching furiously as it attempts to right itself.

Not fast enough; the Grenade Launcher from the Raven and the Micro-Missiles from the Valguard pelt the machine mercilessly, keeping it pinned to the ground. The bird screams in frustration as it thrashes about helplessly; it's unable to rise, it's unable to fight, it's unable to retaliate. All it has left is one more shot...one more shot, and then...

And then it will cease to exist.

But it is everything for Dr. Hell!

The bird is struck by a final bolt of lightning; the lightning expands once more, spreading outwards across the field in a massive wave of EMP. The damage to its own systems will surely be intense - but in the name of Dr. Hell, sacrifices must be made.

In the name of Dr. Hell, a brave bird gives the last of its power to release a burst of destructive electrical force upon its foes.

Alicia disengages from her halberd-charge when she sees R's grenades coming in; the explosions would no doubt finish Zefholm off, and getting the Galvatrix off the Amazon Gundam is a good enough result without pressing it. Continuing to glide backward proves to be a very good idea, one that carries her out of range of the latest electrical discharge... and the last one she wishes to risk. "One more... just one more," she urges... herself? Perhaps so. Too exhausted to conjure up the massive storms she was flinging around earlier, Alicia settles for trying to find another roadway to see down, to take a long-range shot at the Galvatrix. Wings spread, gems glowing, she releases another spray of thin green beams at it!

Menawhile, Gool is being battered by the twin forces of Kazuma and the Valguard's missile bombardment, and Shirou's brutal martial arts techniques; Count Brocken snarls irritably. His window to get the supplies had already passed...random destruction and mayhem was all well and good, but Dr. Hell...Dr. Hell had a purpose, and desire, and he had failed that!

"Dammit...Helm, prepare to take us out of here. We'll keep up the assault for now. All guns, let's see if we can't grind that little pest off us...let's see how he likes being run into his friend and smeared across his armor."

The great Gool wheels about; it begins moving as fast as it can, plowing straight towards the Valguard. Brocken looks down at the controls, sitting down and bracing himself and his head.

"Aerial Fortress Gool has achieved ramming speed," reports the Iron Cross soldier at the helm.

This might suck just a bit for Shirou...and the Valguard, too!

The NEXT quickly avoids the EMP and lightning speed. It circles around and does so hard. The Kojima field almost seeming to glow as the EMP burst touches it lightly. The NEXT then activates the Kojima Blade once more, a loud hum can be heard from deep within. The Super-charger kojima reactor going into full speed. The Visor glowing bright as the Beam sword starts to glow near white. The Field itself seem to almost be drawing into the Kojima blade as its length grows out slightly.

The NEXT's hand extends out toward the bird. <<"..I am..">> He says softly as the blade continues to pull power, <<"..I am... your.. DESTROYER!..">>

Then with a hard swing of his body in a circle sweep, he lets the energy of the Kojima Blade go and sends a massive blade wave of Kojima mass right down for the Bird itself.

The bird explodes, atomized into dust by the combination of its own assault, Alicia's massive blast, and the destructive power of the Kojima Blade's wave. Nothing is left, except the broken, ripped-apart, electrified remains of the Amazon Gundam, and the wreckage of what has been done to Salvador in the name of Dr. Hell.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "KAZUMA."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "/GRAB HOLD./"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Keep it steady for me. Don't let it get away."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Got *just* the move for that!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "Status on everyone?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Punching a flying fortress, gimme a sec!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "..I just hope R doesn't do anything stupid.. I can't get ahold of his radio."

The only thing which could have made the Galvatrix's final moments any more satisfying to Kazuma would be if the Valguard had a shotgun to scale. As it is, the near-simultaneous attacks force Kazuma to give the Gool little more than a tap - just enough to knock it off course rather than letting it ram the Valguard - and let the island soak up the lightning intended for the Valstork Family's combined machine.

But while the Gool is over the Valguard, the Valguard's right fist seems to come alive with another crackling surge of green lightning - plasmatic discharges from the Proton Drive's full power being routed into the Valguard's arms and hands ... and with a furious roar, Kazuma brings the Valguard up to its full height, trying to drive that fist *deep* into the Gool's underside, and drag it to a halt.

"HEY GUYS!! WHATEVER YOU'VE GOT LINED UP TO HIT THIS THING WITH, *GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT AND THEN SOME!!!*"

The Valguard holds that position, straining against the Gool's engines and the very elements which may be brought to bear against it .. and all the while, another surge of energy is building up, this time in the Valguard's LEFT fist, Anyone close enough to hear it would pick up on a rising shriek of energy, as every erg of power that isn't needed to maintain other systems is routed into the weapons housed in that arm ...

(Other attacks go here, at least theoretically

And when the time comes, that fist will be driven into the Gool as well - and only then will the energy REALLY be released, as the Proton Cannon emitters rotate open and unleash their destructive force, *inside* the depths of the aerial fortress.

Alicia sags with relief as the Galvatrix is destroyed, looking about the damaged city with blurry vision. All that remains that she can identify as an obvious threat is the skull-fortress in the sky, the Gool easily seen even in her deep fatigue. Others are already attacking it... Kazuma in particular has opted for a headlong charge! Alicia doesn't join in on that sort of assault, not head-on at least. Bringing the shuddering, torn-up Zefholm further into the air... she points its remaining hand at the spot where Kazuma attacked. She waits, waits for the Valhawk to move... and once she sees an opening, shouts and conjures another horizontal tornado, this one attempting to drill through where Kazuma struck!

Strayed watches as the Bird becomes nothing more. That visor flickers before he attempts to seek his next target. The motions were not as fluid. The electrical damage the NEXT took earlier did indeed seem to do something to the machine and who knew what the status of the pilot was in.

However at long distance the NEXT looked to the remaining target. The missile moved up on its shoulder and then another missile was fired out heading for its target.

The ascent does not stop. The advance does not cease. It does not pause for anything. His goal is in sight- the skull at the very front of the Gool's hull. Soon. Soon. But... Why is everything speeding up? Shirou grunts, pressing himself tight to the colossus' body. Bullets race overhead and all around it. But still the climb continues. Pain surges through his body as a few of the rounds slam into the Mobile Fighter's blackened body. Tears well up in his eyes, but he does not stop. He does not pause--

But... This velocity is distressing. And what is that shad- ohgodthat'stheValguard.

Shirou yells, leaping suddenly from his position on the Gool's hull. The Tomahawk lopes on all fours, charging like a rocket propelled wolf up the side of the silver and violet Hell-fortress. It lands with a sudden 'clang!' on the diabolical warship's back. Black marks tear across the Gool's body as he skids the landing, barely managing to stay aboard by grabbing hold of the Gool's colossal fin and digging in. The impact nearly shakes him free, rattling the Tomahawk's body against the warship's armor. But by some miracle, he holds on.

Slowly, carefully, the Tomahawk moves to stand- a mere speck on the giant that is Gool, upright in defiance of everything Doctor Hell seeks to sew in the heart of man. Where there should be terror, there is only rage. Where there should be awed subdual, there is only righteous indignation. Mad courage overcomes primal fear, and the need for revenge overrides all else.

"Doctor Hell- or whatever you are. Your armies. Your GENERALS. If you return here again..."

Shirou's body twitches with the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Viridian energy ripples from the Tomahawk's arms and legs. The barriers burn crater-like holes in the Gool's thick armor as it advances- and then runs. The Valguard's fist slams into the battleship, and the Tomahawk explodes into action.

"If you ever hurt /anyone/ I love again--!"

Its arms lash out like emerald lightningbolts. Each punch slams into a nearby turret. Each kick penetrates deeper into the Gool's armor as he pushes himself forward, to the battleship's grinning skull-like maw. It kicks, slamming into the Gool's body, launching the Tomahawk onto the sky. Its arms surge with every last mote of power its reactor can funnel into the barrier projectors. Its legs radiate with deadly energies as it shifts, reorienting itself in mid-air, one leg extended to slam into the colossus' neck.

"I will hunt you down--"

The Tomahawk carries its momentum forward. Palms opened into tiger-claws. It swipes, over and over and over again, honing the barrier into razor-sharp blades over the Fighter's curved hands. Faster and faster its arms swing, cutting deeper and deeper with each strike--

"And I will /OBLITERATE/ YOU!"

"Now, GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY!"

"Count Brocken!" One of the Iron Cross soldiers roars over the din of explosions, "There's something going on inside Gool! It's some kind of energy reaction, it's-"

KABOOM! The Cross Proton Punisher erupts, brutally, inside the machine's armor; it peels off a huge chunk of the ship, smoke pouring forth as Gool attempts to right itself with its powerful thrusters. Brocken is shaken about; the Iron Cross soldiers who aren't vaporized in the attack pull themselves to their feet, plates of steel coming down to cover and contain the gigantic breach.

But it's too late; the damage is done, and the tornado roars through the closing doors and pries them open long enough to dig deeper into the colossal Aerial Fortress's side. A hole is ripped straight through sheet after sheet of metal; Brocken roars in absolute outrage at his escape being delayed, and the engines of Gool begin to whine in protest. Alicia's attack widens the hole already made.

And then, in come the NEXT missiles. They spam the hole with explosions, the power of the NEXT raging through and starting fires all throughout the lower decks. Brocken is livid with rage as the Gool begins to turn away-

-and is caught by Shirou, whose fist onslaught rips apart the upper layers of armor like a missile, tearing through it piece by piece and leaving the Gool trailing more smoke. The cloud cover breaks apart as the Gool wheels about; Dr. Hell's dullahan general roars in fury.

"HELMSMAN!" He shrieks, "TAKE US OUT OF HERE!"

The Gool's mission, a failure. For today, the men and women of Brazil remain free; the great zeppelin takes off at top speed, trailing smoke as it retreats from the country and over the water.

For today, they win.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Hrrrrr..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "...Bastard ran."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Status report."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "...And where is Raquel?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Blessfield Ardygun transmits with remarkable calm, "His kind tend to run away a lot when their lives are in imminent danger. The Valguard is generally intact, although we may need to lay over at Jaburo for a night or two. All personnel are physically unharmed; emotionally, I'm a bit concerned for Kazuma but if Macua is all right, he'll pull through in good order."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "...Damnit."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "I let her get shot down again."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "/Again./ And..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Alicia Zania Branford transmits, "I'm returning home... I wish you luck in tending to yours."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Kazuma. What was that you said about an... Adom?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Alicia Zania Branford transmits, "Please do not use that name so casually. If someone else does not explain it to you soon, I will do so next time we meet."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "All right. Long story short ..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Some of the Earth Sphere natives who got kidnapped and brain-programmed by the Balmarians? When the programming broke, their Balmarian identities went away."

The battle was won and the NEXT lands down on the ground and the Kojima field around it seems to vanish. The NEXT then just kneels down to one knee as the visor glows gently and flickers off once more. It wasn't to soon after this a Crest Drop-ship sped over the area, before turning about and several high-tinsel lines dropped down. it looked though it was victory for everyone, the Corporation's pet project was being dragged back home for repairs, with pilot in tow.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Macua's ... didn't *quite* disappear - but Adom Nazir was subsumed back into the girl we know by the name Macua Huitl."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "And. Macua was the one named Adom Nazir."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Macua's told me that Adom is basically part of her now. And it shows, if you know what to look for."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora may in fact be twitching audibly, if that is at all a possible thing.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Nell Aulter transmits, "... I am sorry about her condition now.. I hope she recovers soon."

Alicia watches as the Gool begins to disengage. It's tempting to give chase... but it's a thought she abandons almost immediately, knowing that in her current condition such a pursuit could only end in her capture or death. The Gool isn't the only machine trailing visible damage as it moves; Zefholm is little better off, and Alicia herself is very tired from expending her prana so thoroughly. That leaves her rather alone, as everyone else here has some sort of support; friends, allies, or this being their home. There's the potential for misunderstandings, or attacks by opportunists... she heard 'Crest' being mentioned, and that means possible links to mercenary organizations. It's time to leave. She winces as Kazuma begins explaining recent Balmar history, opting to cut communications and begin to fly away from the area. If the fear of attacks from others wasn't enough to drive her off, this topic certainly is. It's time to go home, and her home is pretty distant.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "I... I feel horrible for eleven different reasons."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Yeah, Shirou. She was. And speaking of her condition, who the hell has my girlfriend and Shirou's sister, or we're going to start busting skulls to find out ..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Alicia Zania Branford speaks to Kazuma, "I removed the machine beast from her Gundam. Beyond that, I don't know her situation." Then she drops off the band.

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Zako Sounds staticly "Xiang's ship! We get trip!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Hey, Zako. How's Macua?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "I- I saw her when she was still Adom. All Adom, I mean. And then..."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "We fought. And I was going to put the fear of me in her. And--"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Oh God I feel sick."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Zako says, "Damn it Kazuma! I'm a Zako! Not a Doctor!"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "And- and she was a /space amazon./ And I- Oh my God."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Shirou Manora transmits, "Oh my God I thought my sister was /hot./ E-excuse me. I need to go."

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Right. Pops, I'm gonna need to head over to the SuiKyosha. Should I drop Mihiro off before leaving the Valstork, or do you need me to take a different machine?"

<Radio: D - T.D.F. Operation> Zako chirps, "BAD SHIROU! BAD FAMILY GAME