2011-03-29 - Revenge Of The Baguette

France - Bayonne 3 o'clock AM

To be more serious about things; recently, one of the Divine Crusader admirals had a serious run-in with one of the local military leaders, and ended up losing the struggle over this busy commercial 'city'. It has two rivers running through it, but doesn't house much in the terms of military strenght. But a small group of resistance warriors recently made this area their base, launching from a submarine in one of the rivers.

It's this very submarine - and its units - that the admiral had lost a group of four Barrelions against. Quite pissy, and a man with quite some pull, he had gathered a group of Divine Crusaders to launch against this town - claiming it was housing many EFA operatives, and was home to quite a series of dastardly thieves who kidnapped little girls and used them for unmentionable things. Also, they smelled funny.

France, a place that the Empire isn't really all that interested in. It's smelly, the food tastes like garbage, and the people creep the dinosaurs the hell out. Then again, this is all the more reason to send someone out to blow things up there, and what do you know, Admiral Ruyter just sent a request for assistance. Emperor Gore doesn't know about this operation, but he doesn't have to. The recently promoted Captain Gram has, in his time on the surface, developed a liking for motorcycles, collecting any he comes across and...what was the phrase? "Tricking them out". And now that there are bikes that transform into battle armors, he has no reason not to bring one into battle with him in an occasion such as this. He spent months modifying it to fit his body, and he's quite proud of his work. Now is the perfect time to take it for a test ride. Within the Garuda's hangar, Gram waits on his beloved machine, revving it every now and then just to hear that wonderful motor-y sound. He can't wait to get on the ground and actually start riding around with it, wreaking havoc on the city of... whatever, it's France. It doesn't matter what city it is, they're all in need of more dinosaurs on motorcycles. In fact, every city ever needs more dinosaurs on motorcycles.

Earlier Earth Cradle

As a soldier, when you get an order from a higher-up, you just nod yes and go with it. That's how Ascian had been brought up to behave, and there was no way he'd suddenly go and alter this behavior. Admiral Ruyter, one of those higher ups, had send a direct request for Ascian Luddite to go terrorize the village. But not in the Amenthes. No, he was to use that 'sin against God', which he himself rather refered to as the EVA-Gunmen, or The Beast. It'd been quite a while since he last used it, mostly because he was kind of afraid to lose another one. The memory of the last time he used that machine was still fresh on his mind... Cue flashback.

Quite a few weeks ago Photon Power Labs

"HIKARI NI NAAAREEEEE!"

Back to 'Earlier' Earth Cradle

Yep. That'd been quite the bad day for him. Dr. Hell had not been entirely too entheused that he'd lost one of his creations. But he'd been quite kind enough to hand him out a few one; believing in the young man. Or at least, that's how Ascian saw the whole deal. Either way, a few moments after being briefed, the young man is on a flying transport - a Garuda. The EVA Gunmen machine is sitting somewhere in the back, along with a series of Divine Crusader mooks in Barrelions, and a few others of the more elite.

Now France

The back of the freighter slowly opens as the arrive above the village, letting the humid and somewhat stinky air slip in. Some of the men immediately complain about escargot and stinky Frenchmen. So rude, these Divine Crusader folk. The Barrelions are the first to launch, but Ascian in The Beast remains behind for a bit more. He's standing at the back ramp of the ship, looking out on the night sky beneath, trying to spot the submarine in the water. And then suddenly, air sirens go off, and big flashlights burn into the sky, as alarms go off. They had been discovered. Divine Crusaders! Over France! But then... they might just be trying to find out where that dinosaur on the motocycle had went. Damn dinosaurs.

"Okay... I can do this..!" Seril announces mostly to herself. The access pipe out Yatagarasu's back seals itself shut, and the armored plates slide closed over it. The stonework machine's eyes flicker on to their pale golden shade, and the machine begins to rise within the Garuda's hanger. Inside, the girl leans forward, cradled by the fluid filling her piloting chamber, "...Yeah..! Yeah..! Nothing can stop me like this!" What happened to the self-conscious girl from La Gias..? -My Divine Flame.---You are strong.---Show them that strength.---Incinerate.- "...Yes..! Yes, I will!" Seril declares. Yatagarasu straightens, reaching aside as it rises to grasp the beam bazooka from a dormant Dom Tropen. Using this to pull itself to its feat, the La Gian machine then wrenches the weapon out of the Trophen's hands and begins inspecting it. "..I won't release you.." Seril says, her voice low, "..But I will see if I can make use of this!"

It just so happened that a nominally independent Trailer merchantman/escort frigate/smallish freighter/ship-of-many-purposes was in port around Bayonne tonight, having come to sell colony-raised foodstuffs and buy some finished edibles.

Of course, it's the middle of the night here, but there's always somebody on duty and on watch aboard the Valstork. Tonight, that just so happens to be Horis and Kazuma - and when the Crusaders drop into town, Kazuma wastes no time in dashing down to the hangar, detouring to pound briefly on the door of Mihiro's quarters before heading to the launch bay, and firing up the Valhawk for launch ...

Havelock Auros is a wayward knight, a man who has lost his kingdom, lost his lord, and lost his title, rank and nobility. So why is this man from La Gias in France? Well, that partly has to do with the fact that his ship is currently soaring the seas and skies of the Surface, funneling tourists and supplies from port to port as it continues its never-ending quest to secure profit in the name of /profit/.

Right now they're in France. So there.

But this is, unfortunately, yet another tumultuous day on the surface. It seems that there are dinosaurs invading the city- something that Havelock had understood usually only occured in Japan and on sometimes in the city of Cumberland, USA. But that, too, is unimportant. What IS important is the here and the now.

Alas, flying a magical battleship and unleashing its arcane might in the middle of France is probably not a very good idea. However, for situations like these, Captain Auros has a special unit prepared. It looks clunky, it looks /old./ Its joints vent magical steam gouts with every movement, and its single ocular sensor moves across the visor-like void where its eyes should be. The machine is squat but hefty, and much resembles the hull of a boat welded to stylized, if stocky joints. In other words, it's the kind of thing a Dwarf might pilot.

But this is no Dwarf at its controls.

The Kinkobu lands on the streets of this particular city, brandishing its rather ornate-looking half-and-half sword and a broad, angular heater shield. Havelock cracks his neck in the strange, padded cockpit. A small steam pipe vents near his head and little dial-meters turn mysteriously, revealing symbols he does not quite understand as he brings the KinKobu to battle-ready mode. Its blade whirls overhead once, before it drops into a defensive position before the Motorcycle Dinosaurs. Alright. /Bring it./

The blade glows, the meters whirling as he channels spiritual power through the machine's alchemical pathways. He is ready!

FACT: At no point in his life has Murata 'Murata' Murata ever given a shit about French people.

FACT: Murata's overly customized Guarlion 'Mumyou' is currently being serviced due to damages suffered when Mister Bushido tried to murder him.

FACT: Murata's handler, Lorenzo 'Dirty' Di Montegnacco arranged for the wandering swordsman to join this Divine Crusaders operation to help cover his repair costs.

FACT: Believe it or not, repairing a Guarlion is actually pretty goddamn expensive despite it being an Armored Module--especially when said Guarlion is equipped with extra boosters and was barely in proper repair to begin with.

When the Garuda's launch doors open, Murata is among the first wave of Barrelions to taste the open air. His personal style all but demands that he find a place on the battlefield as soon as possible, whether it be to wait in ambush or to assault a target directly; if someone ever invents a way to snipe people with swords, he'll probably be first in line to have the system installed in his mech, but 'till then, he has to be content with taking the point position whenever possible.

FACT: Besides his customized Guarlion Custom 'Mumyou', Murata maintains a customized Zaku II.

Yes, that's right, a Zaku II.

The near-prehistoric Zeonic suit clutches the polished hilt on its left hip as it descends--falls, really; 'descend' is far too polite a word for the way the Zaku utilizes its thruster backpack to prevent its eventual contact with the ground from ending with its demise. Its legs will need some servicing once they've gotten back, but the unit should remain functional. The Zaku is about as well kept as Murata's Guarlion, with numerous patches in its armour and a dullness to its primarily rust-hued paint job.

Were it better kept, the descent would probably not be an issue.

FACT: Murata's Zaku II 'Ronin' is still equipped with Rishu Togo's legendary Shishioh Blade.

Dukedom of Riksent Several hours ago

Koji Kabuto has encountered Arian-16! Koji Kabuto used PICKUP LINE!

Koji slides the straw back and forth in the cup, which squeaks against the edge of the lid. "For someone dangerous," he says as he looks back to Arian. "You're pretty cute."

The grin on Arian-16's face becomes a little bit more of a smirk. "Please don't tell me Stenbuck set this up."

.... ....

It's not very effective.

Fifteen minutes ago

"Shit!" Koji's eyes widen as he watches the FedNet's breaking news of Crusaders spotted over France. "The Crusade is attacking France!" He suddenly jerks his head forward, his eyes sloooowly squinting down at a particular blob on the screen. "... Is... is that a dinosaur on a motorcycle!?"

Ensign Kabuto lightly tosses Arian's helmet at her. "C'mon! We gotta go do something!"

Five minutes ago

The Pilder's fan-units flip up as it slides into Mazinger's head cavity. There's a clunk of magneto-locks engaging into place, facilitating the connection of circuit linkages. The console lights up, one system after another switches on!

What comes next is ineveitable and yet, still thoroughly jarring. Koji warned Arian things would get loud. Just how loud, she may not even be able to anticipate.

Now

"MAZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A Basejabber's thrusters roar, an immense black figure clinging to the flying platform. It stands, catching a stray bit of moonlight that glints off its chrome and leaps..!

THUD!

Mazinger Z slams down before Yatagarasu, the Beast, and the MS-06-R Ronin Custom. Chunks of concrete and earth give way beneath its mighty feet!

The impregnable Iron Castle takes position beside the Kinkobu, its arms raised up into the air in clear defiance of the Crusade's vile intentions. At the controls, Koji Kabuto squints his eyes behind his helmet's goggles. He lifts at the grips, leveling Mazinger's head at the troublesome trio. Its eyes flash yellow, Photonic Power welling up within its capacitors.

The Heavens gather overhead, colliding and rumbling.

"You will go no further!" Koji calls out, his voice loud enough to carry without the need of an external radio emitter. "Turn back at once!"

 Murata transmits, "Really."

 Murata transmits, "Hnnh."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Hrrm?"

The GNX-612T/AA Superbia GN-X.

Despite it's designation, this sleek black machine that operates on a GN-T Drive is actually on par, if not /better/ than the standard GN-X. In fact, it's got an edge even on the latest, cutting-edge GN-XIII. Designed with the beam needle launchers, the e-carbon GN kunai, and the ability to move freely through underwater conditions by way of it's unique assault lander, it's often considered to be a special ops machine that is surpassed only by a slim few... such as the elite GNX-704T Ahead.

Unfortunately, she left it at Ame-no-Mihashira.

When the call came in, she was waiting for her ride to arrive from the Yingzi. Whether it was divine providence, dumb luck, or someone was a freaking Newtype 'cause they saw it coming a mile away, they arrived with the back end of the cargo transport filled with a conspicuous form covered in a whole lot of tarps.

Arian-16 grabbed the technician sent from the Yingzi and looked deeply into his eyes, her voice dark and serious. "I could kiss you right now."

But she doesn't. Aww. "I don't wear that outfit for this one, Kabuto!!"

After breaking out the appropriate Mitsurugi-issued flight suit and changing while her machine was being prepped for emergency launch, securing her headgear along the way, the Boosted Child makes a confident stride to the TSYF-22 Raptor standing tall and proud at the hangar entrance. Despite the thrust systems equipped, it would still take more time than she would like to get there.

AND SO--

The Raptor finally makes an arrival in Bayonne, standing astride a second base jabber. Holding the AMWS-21 assault rifle braced against the shoulder as the DC raid commences and more units continue to spill out over France, the Boosted Child squints her yellow-hue eyes and allows her tongue to glide across her lips.

"You're not gonna get away /that/ way!!"

And bullets start to blaze through the sky, aimed at the Garuda.

 Murata transmits, "Nothing. Kill the loud one."

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "With pleasure!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Be careful, little sister."

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "It's fine, Big Brother. I'll melt him down!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "That's not normal armor you are dealing with."

France, land of cheese, wine and romance.

And Mitsurugi Zaibatsu Coperation's European branch. With the negotiations with France's goverment over a new standard Tactical Surface Fighter, it's important to show the french goverment what current models are capable of, especially the TSYF-22 Raptor, even if the french keep whining 'it's too big, it'll ruin our important cultural landmarks, whaa whaa whaaa'. Some cheese was offered for their whine.

When word of Dinosaurs on motorcycles comes around, Meiya's own sense of duty, along with her /sister's/ sense of oportunity, combined with the unfortunate fact that her Takemikazuchi is having all of it's armor replaced thanks to a Black Ashsaber blasting it clean off.

So, a second TSYF-22 launches into the air towards the descending DC hord. Meiya glance at her sensor readout and frowns. ".../Murata/..." the Raptor descends towards the Zaku II. The AMWS-21 rifle is held out in both hands, and a spray of 36mm bullets sent in the direction of the Zaku II.

When suddenly the EFA, A-Laws, and even Trailers come out to defend, Ascian wonders... just how they got here so fast. He conciders this for a moment, and decides that in his report, he will write that admiral Ruyter is compromised. After all, that was the only way this made sense. The machine nods its big head, then leaps out! "Duat!" ... ... Oh right, this isn't the Amenthes. God-darnit, he hates it when this happens. Especially since he keeps forgetting that, unless he puts some good bit of will into this machine, it aint' gonna fly. Literally!

Then suddenly, bullets go flying. He's just barely out of the hangar, and the thickly armored Garuda is already under attack. The gigantic transport plane quickly attempts evasive maneuvers. That is, turning about three degrees to the right, and going one mile an hour faster. That'll show that pesky fast raptor... thing... with your machine gun and all that!

Deciding that it's best to try and take that guy down, before some serious damage is done to expensive (read: stolen) Divine Crusader equipment, Ascian makes The Beast move its right arm to its back and punches a red button that's sitting there. CLICK! CLICK! Two big wings suddenly stab out on each side. Someone had put a jetpack onto this Gunmen thing!? WHAT THE!?

And to make things worse, it is suddenly firing missiles. Out of its toes! Toe missiles! /Green/ Toe missiles, thanks to the power of SPIRAL POWER! Make that drill toe missiles. Missiles are flying at the raptor, with drill bits at the tips, leaving clear green trails behind them.

And Koji Kabuto's speech? God, if Ascian got a penny for every speech that was given on the battlefield. Admittedly, he was a hypocrite in that aspect, and he loved to give his own speeches. But they were usually... less on the gusto side of things.

'Kill the loud one', the order comes. Inside Yatagarasu, Seril's lips twist into a fanged smile. The loud one. Wasn't that robot attacking her ally in Calcutta, all that time ago? There's a pulse of pressure through the machine, the will of the sealed god exerting its will upon her. Seril's fists clench, likewise the hands of Yatagarasu tightening on the its pilfered beam weapon.

With such a direct challenge, how can she resist?

Yatagarasu takes three great steps and then drops, hurtling down into the French township of Bayonne. It doesn't seem to have any ability to fly, and when it lands, the machine stumbles slightly into the side of a building before it rights itself. The eye in its chest remains closed, so that - at least - is fortunate. Rather, Yatagarasu brandishes the weapon it had borrowed at the Mazinger, "You dare place such a demand on me!?"

-Crush it.-

One might expect Yatagarasu to open fire with that beam rifle as it storms forward. What comes is, instead, a complete lack of understanding in how the weapon works in Seril's own mind. Wielding the beam rifle in two hands, Seril brings it up and then down on the Mazinger like a club.

"Take this!"

"Hngh!" Koji grunts. He pulls back on the grip, Mazinger bringing its forearm around to protect itself from Yatagarasu's improvised attack. The beam rifle clatters against Super Alloy Z armor-paneling.

The blow is hard, but the Steel Guard weathers it! The force is enough to push Mazinger back a step, its heavy feet crunching into the Bayonne countryside. It's one helluva pothole!

"It's strong..!" Koji's eyebrows bob up within his helmet. "What is this strange new machine!? I must be stronger..!"

Mazinger pushes back with its left forearm, enabling it to point forward with its right fist. Koji throws back the lever and shouts,

"ROCKETTO PAAAAAAAAAAANCHAAA..!!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Be careful!"

The door opens, and Gram can see the city below in all its smelly French glory. But wait, there are defenders! Well, that just makes it more fun, doesn't it? Can't really test your new ride without someone proper to test it against. Gram revs the motor one more time, releases the brakes, and goes sailing off into the French sky on his awesomebike. He's freefalling, but the sensation of flying through the air on a motorcycle that transforms into battle armor overrides any feeling of fear he might have had (which would be very little, really). Problem is, he just needs to find something to slow his fall, or this ride will be pretty short-lived. Oh, look there. A big, black robot just begging to be used as a stepping stone. He adjusts his direction until he's falling right toward Mazinger Z, aiming for that big red spot on its head. This is probably a bad idea, but A. he's a dinosaur, and B. he's a Captain of the Empire. They're made of bad ideas.

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "I can't figure out this stupid weapon! Is this how you use it?"

Leaning forward in her seat a little more, Arian-16's eyes narrow further until she's forced to squint. Occasionally, these cockpit monitors throw her keen vision right off-kilter, forgetting that natural acuity is nothing when you have something like a 'zoom option.'

The Warrior Beast's feet start projecting missiles from it's feet. Not only is such a tactic a logistical nightmare and totally impossible otherwise, it sends the Base Jabber's pilot into a bit of a freak-out, what with the sky filling up with projectiles headed their way. In the cockpit, her eyes flick left and right at high speeds, the teal-haired girl sucking in a breath through her nose.

And then bullets start to rip through the sky.

Not aimed at the Garuda, per se, but the 'toe missiles' meet their sudden and violent end before they can blow up close enough to the Base Jabber to cause it-- or the Raptor-- any damage. With a light tap on the top of the support craft, the Boosted Child takes a few steps toward the edge. "Pull back, I got this!!"

And then the Raptor drops off into the sky. The flight unit fires, slowing the descent toward the ground. One leg advances, keeping the machine steady as it hits, slides, and comes to a halt on the ground. Swinging the rifle upward, options change, and a grenade fires from the assault rifle's secondary tube. Aimed high, Arian intends for it to smack the Beast somewhere between the head and chest-- the throat, if the world were kind to her.

 Captain Gram transmits, "Well, this was a stupid idea."

A gun.

A /gun/.

A /gun/.

Meiya Mitsurugi's first act upon spotting Rishu Togo's greatest failure is to shoot at him. With a goddamned gun.

"Desperation," he succinctly observes as his eyes narrow on the flare surrounding the AMWS' barrel. The Zaku reaches behind itself.

"Very well: there's no shame in feeling fear. Your understanding is imperfect; it's only natural."

Between the ticks of seconds, bullets that would--/should/ be exploding through the antiquated mecha's chassis are precisely sliced from the air in a blur of steel and tightly controlled fury. Only when the Zaku stretches its right arm out to its side to cast the halves of the Raptor's last, bisected bullet away from its body is its wakizashi even visible.

It's only a Zaku II; it shouldn't be /able/ to move with such speed or precision, and yet its unmarked armour tells a different tale.

The pause is fleeting; the mobile suit quickly moves to sheath its sword, and as it does it explodes into the air to pursue the TSYF. By the time it's reached the Mitsurugi mobile suit, the wakizashi is gone; the polished green hilt hanging by the Zaku's side has taken its place in the Zeonic suit's right hand.

"Be grateful: this lesson won't take long."

The Zaku has intentions of passing the TSYF by with mere inches between the two machines.

In passing, it will draw the Shishioh Blade in a swift, horizontal cut aimed across the Raptor's entire body, and by the time it's reached the enemy mobile suit's other side, the weapon will have been sheathed.

France, George De Sand is france's fault and this is not forgivable it can not! But in all seriousness to James this is just another rade as his small Heavy Gear is speeding through the street in its SMS mode, more commonlyh known to others as wheel spinners. He catches sight of the strange unit. His own machine is strange in the flight suit and helmet he looks more like one of Lemons mass produced creations than a man, but it gives him some very useful things such as very good hud control. The Dark JAguar checks the IFF it'snot one of theirs he opens up with the auto canon in and comments.

"Your wasting a work of art on something like this?! What the hell is your problem! I should take that thing from you!"

"Wait, that's not right," Seril recoils from her attack, peering at the beam rifle in Yatagarasu's hands when it didn't do anything interesting with her wielding it that way. Fumbling, she doesn't really pay attention to the Mazinger when it aims its arms at her and launches its fist on rockets. 'Rocketto Paaanchaa!' gets Seril to look up, at least, but not in time. She thrusts out her hands defensively, dropping the beam rifle in the process. It clatters and shoots a pink-purple beam in the Mazinger's direction the same time that the rocketfist glances off Yatagarasu's forearm, "Oh--!"

Pause. Yatagarasu stoops, collecting the weapon, "Oh. So that's how it works!" oh dear. Seril's fangs are bared again, "But I think I prefer my own powers... Let's go, Yatagarasu!" Still clutching the beam rifle in its free hand, the stone and steel machine lurches forward. Its cannon-encased right arm lifts, and matter compresses behind the Mazinger. There's an eruption, a star forming in empty air with a diameter slightly larger than Yatagarasu itself is tall. Lowering its shoulder, the La Gian mecha doesn't seem to be slowing down. Rather, it's speeding up its charge.

Yeah. She's trying to ram Mazinger right into a tiny sun. Which is still pretty damn hot.

-Release the seal.---Burn it with your power.-

"No, I won't do it!"

The Valhawk tears its way through the sound barrier very, very quickly after leaving the Valstork's launch deck, swinging around hard and spinning through a couple of barrel rolls as Kazuma heads towards the battle, already in progress. "All right, who've we got here ..."

He pauses. Silence answers him, until Kazuma shakes his head, looking annoyed. "Too used to having Mihiro," he mutters, and taps in a couple of commands to put known-unit-identifier tags on his own screen. Not that he needs it for Mazinger Z, or Meiya's Raptor. The Crusaders, though ...

Well, just because the Valhawk's computer goes O.o;?! at a dinosaur riding a motorcycle - and for that matter, so does Kazuma - doesn't mean he can't figure it for a target when he sees it. And with that, the Valhawk snap-rolls into alignment with the street the dinosaur is on, and Kazuma executes a quick strafing run with the Laser Vulcan.

Havelock's spellcasting is, unfortunately, interrupted by a sudden burst of autofire. The knight 'tsks' audibly, prana surging through every one of the strange machine's vast essence pathways. He roars, raising the KinKobu's shield to defend against the sudden onslaught of lead. Its thrusters fire, pushing it into the burst and toward the Dark Jaguar with incredible speed.

As it approaches, its glowing blade rises in a single, swift motion and slices a small gash in the Jaguar's leg. "Work of art," he nearly growls, "What are you talking about? This is my armor, this is my sword and my shield!" The metal slab on the KinKobu's arm rises to club the Gear in its torso before following up with a lancing blade jab, "You use guns? Fight me like a man!"

The Gunmen keeps on a steady flightpath with Arian-16, both hands forwards, like some kind of superman... beast... thing. It's not really clear what The Beast is aside from an amalgam of Machine Beast, Gunmen, and /EVA/. That's right, there's an EVA in there. It's what makes this thing that much more monsterous and dark. As Ascian pilots it, pulling and pushing on the metalic braces within to steer it, and a twosome of long wires dangle into the cockpit which allow him to move the jetpack. It's a very prehistoric way to allow himself to be flightcapable really. But then, what do you expect out of a Divine Crusader who launches with someone like a lacky of Emperor King Gore? Everything is suddenly set a few decades back! The screen itself is filled with a 360 degree view of the world around himself.

However, the Raptor is clearly indicated. A red reticule is surrounding her unit, and there is even a 2D image of Dr. Hell in a pink tutu, pointing his staff at the unit to point out 'It's here!'. It even sparkles when the enemy suddenly changes its direction and begins its descent. "Tssk." Ascian mutters inside, and The Beast itself, with its big head, suddenly shows a big sneer. "HORRRYAAAAA!" He pushes the bracers forwards, which somehow makes the machine goes down. He didn't know exactly HOW these controls worked, but almost like with his Orbital Frame, this things moved the way he needed it to move. His feet pull back to make sure the jackpack follows when suddenly... SNAP. SNAP! Both ropes break.

"Shit."

Cue to The Beast floating there in midair like Wile E. Coyote. In fact, it suddenly holds up a sign claiming: "WHOOPSIE!", before it begins its descent down towards earth, flailing its arms and legs around. Its descent luckily gets decelerated by Arian-16's rifle shot so accurately firing up at its shoulders, which ends up sending the unit into a tumble. It begins to dispense missiles, which just fly all over the city, whilst it continues its descent. Further and further. Until finally its course is clear. It is right on course with the Raptor itself. If Arius-16 didn't move, she'd suddenly have to deal with a EVA/Gunmen Machinebeast pinning her down.

Clank!

Mazinger is caught in Yatagarasu's charge. Koji lets out a wince as he's jerked hard in the Pilder's chair. It's as if every impact or insult incurred by the Armor of Miracles is also felt by its courageous pilot. Truly, perhaps boy and machine are as one.

A blast of condensed Photonic power from Mazinger's eyes is not enough to thwart Yatagarasu as the smaller creature forces it toward its created sun. Its black plating heats up easily, glowing red against the thermal emissions. Koji, too, is feeling it. Thick droplets of sweat work slide down his brow, rolling down his feverish cheeks. "Nngh...! Can't.. let it.. succeed...!" Sweat and pilot's leathers are quickly becoming a bad mix.

"I think it's time you cooled off!" Koji declares as he compels Mazinger Z to force Yatagarasu back. He presses a button and wraps his fingers around a dial. "RUSTOOOO.."

The grille-structure comprising the Black Knight's 'mouth' begins to expel tremendous winds from its internal turbines. Along such gusts are a glittering corrosive--!

"HURRICAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!!"

Meiya has fought against and along side Sanger Zonvolt, she has spoken to Master Rishu at length. She knows what the opening moves of the Jigen-Ryu school of sword fighting typically are.

With typical bullheadedness, Murata rushes Meiya. His stroke is perfect, it could cleave a smaller mecha in twain, if it had stayed in place. Meiya fires the large shoulder mounted jet engines to slip sideways around Murata's incoming Zaku II.

"Typical, /Ronin/." she spits the word as she brings the Raptor around in a tight spin, lifting it's leg up to ram the pistoning knee spike at the back of Murata's Zaku II.

"Release the Shishio blade!"

When it loses all of its momentum, Yatagarasu digs its toes into the roadbed and tries to shove the Mazinger, but that isn't working as well as Seril would like. She growls, dismissing the sun looming behind the god-forged super robot. Wind builds up suddenly. While it's enough to shove Yatagarasu away from the Mazinger, it isn't enough to throw the heavy machine's balance off enough for it to fall over or damage itself, "Wind, against the power of the sun!?" As it reels, Yatagarasu snaps up its cannon arm, unleashing a quickly formed solar sphere before it catches itself from falling.

"Who are you?!" Seril demands, "Why do I feel this rage.." The stolen beam rifle is cast aside carelessly, and Yatagarasu rears back, thrusting its now-empty hand into the sky. A star materializes on its fingertip, growing quickly, "..Burning deep inside the very core of my being..!"

Lurching forward, the Yatagarasu's open hand clenches shut, and the star above it shatters into a spread of indescriminate orbs of superheated material. Inside, Seril gnashes her fanged teeth, "WHY ARE YOU SO ANNOYING?!"

Gram misses his mark, instead just bouncing harmlessly off of Mazinger's shoulder. He's not even sure if the pilot noticed him, really. Well, fine then. He'll just have to find someone else to trade shots with. Maybe one of those flying robots, with their beam guns and laser swords and... Gram's dino sense is tingling! He leans to the side, just in time to move out of the way of some vulcan shots that pepper the road just inches away. Well, if that's how they want to play, then he'll just press this button here, and bingo! In a split second, the bike under him shifts and folds and all manner of transformy type verbs into a suit of powered armor, and he immediately starts rolling to avoid breaking his legs or something. He ends up on his feet and skidding to a halt, beam cannon in hand and tracking the Valhawk's flight. Now, he's not exactly the best shot in the Empire, but he's pretty sure he can hit something like this. Just have to keep it in the crosshair, lead the target a little, predict any evasive maneuvers they might make...and he fires. "Come on, come on, come on! Let's see how fast you are!" he says, not realizing that in many cases, this is a deadly mistake.

Looking up at the EVA-Beast's head as the lips curl back in that horrifying sneer, even someone like Arian-16 is forced to recoil a little bit. Her eyes widening as she breathes out a hard "guh!" through her teeth, the Boosted Child urges the Raptor to fall back a step...

... but it doesn't help that there's even more missiles coming, this time in a much more randomized spread. Arian hits the flight systems, firing off into the air just enough to glide over the ground. As it reels back, the TSYF-22 continues to fire, bullets aimed to take down missiles in the course of her evasive maneuvers. Some spiral right by the gunfire, exploding in mid-air or erupting against the Raptor's hull.

Arian keeps her eyes open as the cockpit fills with flashes and bursts of static, lifelong training kicking the ever-loving shit out of human instinct. Teeth bared and hands tightening up on the control sticks, she guides the machine to drop back down to the ground. "You son of a..."

The Raptor swings the rifle back and stows it in the next moment, pulling out a much larger, heftier sort of gun. Leveling it on Ascian's odd machine-beast-machine-Eva-/thing/, the Boosted Child fires a cluster of three missiles one after another back at the Divine Crusader!

The Rust Hurricane.. misses!?

"W-what!?!" Koji Kabuto sputters. "No way! It's too fast!" He wrestles with the Pilder's controls, but as far as they're concerned, they might as well be inoperative. Yatagarasu is moving too fast and is keenly opposing his manuevers with blasts of sun-power.

Mazinger Z is wounded, its sensational armor looking bubbling under these constant assaults. Yatagarasu is hot! But the blood in Koji Kabuto's veins burns hotter! "I'll need to balance it out!!"

Overhead, a point of light appears in the darkness. It's speeding toward the battle, moving faster and faster! And as it approaches, it gets larger..!

"Annoying!?" Koji sputters past gritted teeth and sweat-damped lips. "You gotta lotta nerve!!" His hands swing the controls forward, powering thrusters beneath Mazinger's feet. With a push of its mighty legs, it launches up into the air!

The oncoming object nears, a red flying device with scythe-like wings. The Jet Scrander, the wings of Mazinger Z! It sharply angles in mid-air, flying around behind the Steel Guard to combine!

"SCRANDAAAA CROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSU!!"

There, overhead, Mazinger flies! Turbines slide upward, locking those scythelike wings into place. It flexes its arms, Photonic Power welling up within its circuits! "I told you that you needed to cool off!!"

The gold spikes on either side of Mazinger's head glow, orbs of blue energy coalescing around the very tips.

"REITOU BEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!"

Twin lances of blue light leap toward Yatagarasu! Whatever they touch, they freeze into place!

~"REITOU BEAM!" the announcer near-convulses with excitement. "Majinga unleashes a blast of intense cold from its horns! Any enemies caught in its frigid wake are left frozen!!"~

"Typical," Murata flatly mimes as the Zaku once again reaches behind itself. Its fingers tighten around the wakizashi's hilt, and when the Raptor tries to drive its knee spike home, the deadly implement is caught against the blunt side of weapon.

The Zaku doesn't turn, not even a little bit; either Murata's upgraded its sensor suite significantly, or he's a goddamn psychic now.

"But the Shishioh Blade isn't really your concern, is it? A cup of tea with Togo doesn't make you a swordswoman--these continued, tiresome displays are amateurish at /best/."

/Now/ the Zaku turns, and as it does, steam shoots from its right thigh as the hydraulic catches on a hidden compartment are released, and perhaps more importantly, its backpack and foot-mounted thrusters all fire to maintain its altitude. /Another/ hilt pops up from within, easily within the mobile suit's reach.

"Honestly, girl: if Sanger, Bullet and Rishu /himself/ are ill-equipped to use it, what claim do you think /you've/ got to it?" The last few words are said as the Zaku finishes its rotation; at the same time, it yanks its formerly hidden weapon free, revealing...

... a Heat Hawk.

Either Jigen-Ryu makes allowances for axes or--

--well, there is no 'or', really, it's just plain unusual.

In a way, though, a Zaku /without/ the searing amber blade that was its main stay throughout the One Year War would be a whole other sort of strange, so in that regard it isn't /so/ unusual. In the end, though, the Heat Hawk isn't particularly important.

The Raptor's chest, however, is.

Because that's where Murata's aiming.;

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "Are you doing okay, Big Brother? This thing isn't s-"

 Seril Vaskell SHRIEK

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "SERIL!"

( How does such a little machine have a gun with THAT much of a punch!? ) O o. wonders Kazuma as the beam cannon's blast slams into the Valhawk while he's trying to line up a counterattack. This is definitely not off to a good start; if Kazuma had known what he'd be up against he would've just brought out his Tengu.

He's not about to double back to the Valstork for it, though. "All right, so you wanna play small, fast, and hard-to-get?" he mutters, checking his systems and lining up another shot. "Let's see how you like *this* ..."

The Valhawk accelerates - and transforms, converting into Close Combat Mode and 'skating' along the street of Bayonne in pursuit of the dino-ridden MOSPEADA, and aiming to simply scoop the powered suit up and toss it down the street like bowling.

Seril is feeling pretty good. This Mazinger thing isn't hurting her too badly, and she seems to be doing okay against it! The loudmouth inside is grating on her, though. Yatagarasu lifts up its cannon arm defensively when the enemy machine springs into action, hurtling ... into the sky? Seril leans back, shielding her eyes with Yatagarasu's hand as she does so. What is it doing?!

When she sees an attack incoming, some kind of beam weapon, she lurches Yatagarasu back. A spike of plasma surges from the end of its cannon arm, swiping out defensively. The girl inside screams when her machine is engulfed in frigid power. The heating plates on Yatagarasu's body crack from the thermal shock, conveying the damage to the girl inside by making her feel like her skin is on fire. Tears streaming from her eyes, her hands shaking, she tries to get a grip on herself through clenched teeth.

"I...I..can't..give up..! Big Brother is here.. I have.. to prove I can take care of myself..!" Slowly, her shaking hands clench, and Yatagarasu does the same, though its steaming frame still cracks and groans as it moves. It rears back, waiting until the Mazinger is on its level again. The cannon on its arm is held overhead, with power pouring through the battered body. Inside, Seril steadies herself with renewed determination. She will show Ascian that his little sister is not afraid.

A familiar, piercing klaxon alarm blasts through the streets of the town. An alert that Yatagarasu's power output has passed dangerous levels. A ring of stars winks into life around it, spiralling outward, intent on catching the Mazinger within their rotating death spin. Immediately, a second ring of stars bursts out from the Yatagarasu, scorching in arcs in the opposite direction. It's absolutely devastating to everything around the La Gian machine.

"I'll show you..! Not to take me lightly..!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "It's okay Seril! Don't overdo it!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "You'll make your big brother sad if you end up badly hurt!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell, over Yatagarsu's warning klaxon, "I'll show you.. Your little sister isn't afraid..!"

The Gunmen finally lands on the ground, or rather, on a building, which softens its fall. A big sign claiming: 'Francoise Bistro' clatters down before the 'eyes' of The Beast. And just when Ascian lets out a loud groan and is about to get up, he sees a cluster of missiles coming his way! Not thinking for much longer than a second, he grabs this sign and holds it in front of him with the machine's two claws. Only a bit later realizing, things that look big up close, are not that big from a distance. He's holding the sign betweent he unit's two thumbs and index fingers. "... fuck." Again.

GrrrwaaaaWAAAAM! The first missiles crashes into the sign, sending The Beast reeling. Ascian pulls back on the metalic braces, then pushes forwards again and uses the integrated beam laser to carve into one of the other missiles, causing it to explode right near a random French Man who was enjoying his late-night coffee, and was too stubborn to move amidst a fullout Mecha battle! Even not when there's dinosaurs involved. The third however, rams itself right into the open mouth of the machine. Even though the cockpit is right behind the chest-mouth, somehow when it is open, there's only 'darkness' behind it. It literally bites down, and SWALLOWS the missile, which suddenly causes a flare of green light to come from it.

Spiralling quickly in and out of its backs, a set of fleshy butterfly wings flare out from its back, sending hissing green acid in all directions, and making sickly flesh-tearing sounds as it appears. It looks wet and disgusting, and the machine - lowering its head slowly... suddenly does the name of 'The Beast' a lot more justice. All six eyes burn in fierce red as it takes a step forwards.

The mouth then opens, and a /gigantic/ drill pushes out. It begins to quickly spin around like there was no tomorrow, green light spiralling out of control around it and digging into the streets around the unit. Ascian pushes it to step forwards, out of the crushed building, as the energy flowing around it carves grooves into the area around it, until finally it lets a gigantic beam of spiralling light RIP out of it, going straight for the Raptor. And don't think the EVA/Gunmen can't change the path of that thing!

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "It's okay to be afraid sometimes!"

Oh yeah, Gram's doing good. However, the Valhawk isn't down yet, and that's a problem. The Captain has to think on his feet here, and he starts skating backwards, away from the Trailer machine. Yeah, his Mospeada has skates. Why doesn't yours? Even so, Kazuma catches up to him pretty quickly, and Gram is forced to act now or get thrown down the street. So he kicks the Valhawk's hand away and ducks under it, spinning around once he's behind the much larger robot to keep facing it. Don't want to let it out of his sight; that will only end in pain. He could probably tear the thing up pretty good at this range with another shot from the beam cannon, but he doesn't want to risk it overheating. Fortunately, he has a couple of missiles on his arm to take care of that. "Hey, I'm right here! Come and get me, monkey!" he taunts, launching one of the mini-missiles at the Valhawk's back while continuing to rocket skate backwards. It's a long, straight street. There's no worry of hitting anything that could impede his movement and give Kazuma a free shot, right?

Mazinger Z dives toward Yatagarasu, the noise from its Jet Scrander deafening. Flames belch from its thrusters, propelling the Steel Guard in a reckless charge for the sun-powered fiend.

Yatagarasu aims upward. Its collection of stars coalescing around to unleash its radiance upon Mazinger..!

-- but Koji seems undaunted. Even as the light threatens to overwhelm his eyes, he keeps Mazinger locked in. "UWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" he screams, his will to succeed overpowering his senses.

The ring of stars blasts Mazinger Z -- enveloping it with its sheer power!!

An explosion rings out across Bayonne, a saucer of light ripping outward across the sky! Night becomes day! And an overwhelming sense of dread fills the citizenry! Such power! Such destructiveness! Nothing could survive that! Nothing save for...

-MAZINGER Z-

The Armor of Miracles emerges from the blastwave, severely damaged. Its right wing bent at a wrong angle, its left wing completely melted off. Super Alloy bubbles down its frame in superheated rivulets, exposing chunks of machinery. Yet, in its strong hands is a length of shining blade stamped with the mysterious -Z- etching! It's coming down on Yatagarasu! .. Can anything stop it!?

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" Koji Kabuto bellows, streaks of blood running down from his forehead. His goggles are cracked and his skin a deep shade of red, undoubtably second-degree burns. Yet he is undaunted! He is charging ahead!

"I CAN'T LET YOU SUCCEED!"

Mazinger Z swings its Z-blade in a deadly arc!

"MAZINPOWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

James Heller isn't a magic user is about as magical as a brick himself really. He does however get a reply.

"That machine your using. I never seen anything like it I can tell the thing's old and it's maker put their soul into it. Your going to waste it you savage?!"

He actually close sin pulling out a small Knife like weapon it humms as he moves to strike his strikes are pretty precise too as he gets into close he then slide skids coming out behind him.

"Careful for whatcha want."

The first two missiles work out to her favor, but the third ... doesn't quite work out. There's a moment of shock and awe as she comes to realize that this thing literally /ate/ a missile, but ... at the same time, she can't be too surprised. After all, she remembers Bob the Hell Squid off the coast of Hawaii once upon a time...

And then the bestial-Gunman-Eva-thing fires a rather large blast straight down at her. Again, Arian slams down on the thrusters, the verniers aiding the Raptor in moving fast enough that it can duck-- at least partially-- down enough to grab an abandoned city bus by the bumper end and /lift/. It doesn't provide her with total cover, given the Raptor's height, but it certainly provides her with a little bit of shielding, shielding that--

-- is torn through in short order, of course, but it keeps the blast from outright annihilating the Raptor's torso armor. The TSYF-22 sprawls backward in the middle of the blast, landing on it's back and tearing a swath through the streets as it slides hard across the ground. The cockpit doesn't look that good, either-- the screen to her left is cracked and showing more static and distorted pixels around that break than she would prefer, and a bit of blood runs down over her left eye, trickling out of her hairline.

Getting back up to it's feet, the YF-22 doesn't assault the Gunman directly. Instead, it takes a step to the side, dodging behind one of the taller buildings near an intersection and crouching down to take cover while damage reports start scaling back to her, and she has the time to wipe off her face with the back of her hand.

"Kabuto, Mitsurugi, I'm not gonna last much longer out here... but I'm gonna see if I can take his ass out in one shot."

She moves quickly, heading for side streets and gaps wide enough to move the TSYF-22 through. After a few moments more of this sneaking about, the Raptor emerges in a nearby intersection off to the DC Beast's side, and not armed with an assault rifle... Instead, it reaches over one shoulder, breaking out a rather /large/ rifle. Parts shift and lock and start to warm up while the electric twinge and smell of ozone fill the air around the Raptor. It drops down to one knee and aims, all while Arian squints at the Gunman from afar.

The target: The side of the odd unit's head. Arian grins, much like a great white shark.

"Hey, dickhead," she says on the comm line. "Did you realize you're goin' up against a Boosted Child?"

BLAM.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Ah..! I..I can't take any more.. I'm sorry, big brother..!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Go, I'll follow!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Are you alright?"

Sparks fly as the vibro-knife meets the KinKobu's mighty bulwark. Shocks of light and bursts of noise whine through the air as the smaller machine knocks aside strike after strike after strike. With a mighty shove, it continues its advance. Where the gold plated metal is scraped away by the knife, radiant energies pour out to mend the wound. Havelock frowns- his foe... isn't bad. He isn't bad at all.

"This machine is one that I found at my most desperate moment," he roars, knocking thrust after slash after thrust away with carefully measured nudges of his shield. "It is an august companion and a mighty weapon. Something like this doesn't deserve to sit in a glass box to be gawked at all day! It needs to be used!"

He grunts, diverting prana into the blade at his side. Light surges through its edge as he swings it diagonally in a rising motion across the panther's chest, "A machine without a purpose loses its soul! And you dare tell /me/ to leave it to rot in the annals of history!?" Havelock roars, slamming the sword back down into the Gear's shoulder--

"I could never, /NEVER/ let an old friend succumb like that! We fight to the end!"

"You have no right to it at all!" Meiya replies. "You're nothing but a masterless, honourless dog!"

The knee spike that missed Murata jetisons a switchbalde like combat knife into the air. The Raptors grasps the weapon and the blade unfolds as it's slammed down into the Zaku's chest at the same time as the heat hawk slams into the Raptor's, tearing out a glowing gouge from the stealth armor.

Meiya, nhhgs, but presses on with the close in combat. The Raptor reaches over it's shoulder and pulls the long straight blade from it's cradle. "That sword belongs to Togo rishu. Not a dog like you!" The engines of the Raptor whine as they power up and drive the machine right back into at the Zaku II.

THE sword is swung, perfectly from lower right to upper left, but instead of the hard halting motion that comes from Jigen-Ryu, Meiya's attack flows and follows through, allowing her to quickly bring the weapon around for the second strike across the Zaku's shoulders.

Kazuma seriously has to wonder if his Tengu's firepower wreaks that kind of havoc on larger machines - and it doesn't feel like he does anywhere near THAT well with it against larger adversaries. He's getting a little ticked off ... and unlike his dinosaur adversary, Kazuma actually CARES about the surroundings, so he can't just cut loose with massive amounts of firepower and hope to squash the MOSPEADA in the midst of a frenzy of explosions.

The Valhawk emerges from the explosions of the micromissiles, and after taking stock of the situation, Kazuma deploys the Ray Blade. He'd prefer not to simply obliterate his opponent, but finesse is a luxury which is clearly being denied him in this face-off; accepting that, he activates the beam saber and tries to plow the plasma blade right through the transforming powered armor ....

The downward slash from Mazinger crosses right over Yatagarasu's chest. The blow scores the armor and the obsidian stone, but doesn't cleave the machine. It's far, far hardier than its pilot, it seems. Inside, Seril shrieks again, clutching at an invisible pain searing down her front. This is, expectedly, mirrored by the Yatagarasu itself. It staggers back.

Panting and in pain, Seril blinks back the tears filling her eyes, "I.. I can't take it anymore.."

-Do not run.---Are you so weak?---Your power is great.---Realize that, and you are unstoppable.-

"Shut up!" she barks at the voice only she can hear. Yatagarasu thrusts its cannon arm downwards, generating a sun beneath its feet. This erupts into an explosion, hurtling the normally flightless machine into the sky. Reorienting itself, a second high-velocity sun shot hurtles the superheated machine into the hanger of the Garuda that had dropped it off. Once it's relatively safe, Seril sinks to the bottom of the fluid-filled cockpit, beating her hands on the smooth surface, "Shut up..! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up..!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "I..I'll be okay.."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I promise extra whipped cream!"

The gigantic laser follows the raptor, and when he finally has a mini Dr. Hell grabbing two fans and jumping up and down, waving them around, stepping left and right to cheer him on, does he realize he just hit. Thank you mini Dr. Hell avatar. The young man lets out a heavy sigh and lets the unit sink a bit down when suddenly. A scream in his ear. His unit rips to the left and looks out towards a gigantic explosion occurring in the distance, followed by the Yatagarasu trying to rush off towards the Garudo. "SERIL!" The Beast lifts one hand towards it, yelling wistfully, then turns back to how it was standing. "Shit..." He mutters and then turns back to where he'd been facing before. The cockpit is suddenly strangely silent.

Then suddenly, Chibi Dr. Hell begins to rapidly point towards his right. "Huh?" The machine goes, and Dr. Hell start pointing at that side with his staff, glitter springing out. Ascian's head quickly turns, and there he finds... Arius in her Raptor, still alive somehow, aiming that gigantic rifle at him. "OH SHIII!" BLAM! The bullet comes his way. He does the first thing that comes to mind. He puts his right arm towards her and tries to stop the bullet! A gigantic spiralling screen of green energy suddenly erects before him, whilst at the same time a gigantic swarm of missiles rush out from the wings of the unit... somehow... and try to crash down on his opponent's position.

The bullet from the gigantic rifle in the meantime is trying to force its way through the spiral barrier. The field flickers under the stress, and the Gunmen is slowly being pushed back. It digs its feet into the ground, carving into it, but gets dragged further and further back. "Daaaaaamniiiit!" Ascian calls out, which causes the machine itself to talk and /roar/ at Arius-16 who was saying something about Boosted Children. "LIKE I FUCKING CARE! A PERSON IS A PERSON IS A PERSON! NEWTYPE, OLDTYPE, BOOSTED CHILD, FUCKING CLOWN! I DON'T CARE!" More missiles rush towards her side, somehow getting /bigger/ as Ascian gets angrier...

And then finally the screen shatters before the bullet, which literally rips through the back of the unit, cutting off its wings and sending a spray of acid into the area behind it. Houses begin to melt and the Gunmen/EVA Beastmachine falls over. Barely moving... at first. "Move you damn machine!" The screens have turned off. Entirely gray. It had shut down. "Move move move move mooooove!" His little sister had been hurt! He had to punish the big bully! "MOOOOVE!" Then suddenly, big thumb-ups appear, followed by a Dr. Hell giving a freshmaker smile and giving him the thumbs-up. It even was helped by a pink and purple background. WTF?

The Machine suddenly stands up, and turns about... and begins to run. Faster and faster, jumping onto a building, using that as a foothold to jump higher and higher, until finally the Mazinger Z comes into view. "TAKE THIS, YOU BIG BULLY!" Ascian calls out, which has the entire unit blabbing its gigantic monsterous mouth - teeth metalic sticking out, green goo hanging from them. The green spiral energy has grown darker, but still spawns a gigantic quantity of missiles before it that all... move together and begin to... combine!?

That's right, a gigantic swarm of little drill missiles grow arms and legs, and begin, together, to form a gigantic drill rocket! The drillbit activates, and dives for the Mazinger Z, hoping to crush into its chest. It is followed by a spiralling green line it leaves in the air, whilst Ascian's Gunmen follows straight after it, firing a gigantic onslaught of lasers.

James Heller has been testing the person with how they really feel about it. He smiles he realises his foe understands the value of the machine he has. "I see, you actually understand what you really have there! Good then no need to hold back. Let me show you what a Heavy Gear can do!"

The machine moves and some how surives an horrible strike that could have rendered it apart the shoulder's damaged and brings and end to his ability to melee from the looks of it.

"Now..."

The machine's stealth system kicks in and would vanish from anything but visual and prehaps magical detection systems. He pauses sending Murata a date feed on Meiya's combat data he's picked up in the past.

"Put it to good use."

He turns his attention back to Havelock and now the machine speeds at the other machine it's fast, it's shoulder it's rifle and using it's good arm lobs a grenade at the other machine.

The unrelenting fury Ascian Luddite summons is completely lost upon Koji Kabuto.

In fact, he is too busy calming down. Sitting at the chair, fingers still clutching at the controls with an iron-grip. He's flushed with heat, fat droplets of sweat that roll down his skin more a searing kiss than anything else.

Arian is not dead.

"Hhh... hhh... hhh.." Koji wheezes and huffs, his chest heaving hard as he tries to catch his own breath. His heart is a thunderous drum in his heart, beating so hard that it nearly threatens to collapse under its own strain.

Dimly, Koji is aware something is coming. He can barely see it past the sweat-drenched shards of hair that jut past his eyes. Something clanks against Mazinger's chest. Koji can feel it, too. He hurts, yet, he can barely tell it.

Leather-bound fingers creak, possessed by a force beyond even Koji's abilities. An ethereal hand, resplendant and shining in gold, reaches from up on high. It guides Koji to the controls.

Zeus ex Machina

Mazinger Z lifts its chrome crown, its eyes still lit with Photon power.

Wind expels from its mouth-grill. At times, the whims and passions of mortals are but the buzzing of flies to the gods.

We are all of us living in the shadow of Mazinger Z

A missile spray that couldn't get any worse unless it was coordinated by Huang Qin Shi comes blazing her way moments after that bullet is fired. Arian-16's teeth clench and weight shifts in the cockpit as she stands the Raptor back up and begins evasive maneuvers. The YF-22 ducks and weaves, pulling itself backward while missiles start to chew up the city streets before her.

"If that's the case, why are you gettin' so pissed off over it?!!"

She doesn't have time to change weapons. Her thumb moves instinctively to the hot-switch that would trigger the head-mounted vulcans, but it's just a pleasant dream that does not come to pass.

There's a lot of fire. A lot of concussive force. A lot of flight, not all of it being under her own power. The TSYF-22 hits the ground with one final crash, landing sprawled out onto it's side. The rail gun tumbles out of it's hands, and the machine stops moving while smoke and fire pours out of varying holes from shoulders to knees...

'Ariaaaaan--!'

"Ugh... I'm not dead, quit yellin'..."

She's slumped halfway out of her seat. Arian sits up slowly, or as close as she can get. Nothing works, and the cockpit is pitch black. It takes some groping around in the darkness, but she manages to find a glowstick. Cracking it on and letting the cockpit fill with a neon green luminescence, she stares at the hatch and frowns. Could she get out?

Does she really want to?

Reaching up to her head, she touches where the blood is matting down her hair and comes back with a large red mess in the palm of her glove. The Boosted Child frowns slowly.

"That dick."

There /is/ no second stroke because Meiya's sword is halted before it can even touch the Zaku's body on the /first/ pass; the Heat Hawk, in addition to being a deadly close ranged weapon, is more than serviceable for parrying, and so it went directly from the Raptor's chassis to the space between the two of them for that purpose.

"The Shishioh Blade belongs to whoever has the will to wield it, child; Rishu may have /forged/ it, but he doesn't understand it. He never did--I don't think he /can/." Murata's tone dips a bit towards genuine regret towards the end.

"It's regrettable; he's a fine man, ignoring his blindness."

The Heat Hawk's shimmering blade dims as Murata shoves the CIWS-2 away from his robot's body; as soon as it's been tucked back into its hidden sheath, the Zaku grasps the Shishioh Blade--the /source/ of this deadly duel and slides it an inch out of its sheath. The Zaku's single eye locks onto the Raptor as Murata readies his hands upon its controls.

"Pity; a few years beneath my wing, and I'm confident you would come to resemble a swordswoman," he adds, still with a tinge of regret--and mockery; for a murderous, double-sized dwarf, he manages to blend the two disparate tones well.

As soon as he finishes speaking, the Shishioh Blade leaves its sheath; rather than the initial lightning-like stroke, he raises the sword high over head for a brief, terrible moment before aiming to bring it crashing down upon the Raptor's head.

This is the core of Jigen-Ryu; there /will/ be a hard stop somewhere within the Raptor's body if the sword strikes true.

"Hrrragh!" Murata exclaims as the blade descends.

"Oh come ON!!" snaps Kazuma as the MOSPEADA leaps up and tries to kick the Valhawk in the head; it desn't do much more than clip where the ear would be, while Kazuma manages to get a shot off with the Beam Shot Launcher and scorch his opponent while the powered armor is in mid-air, high enough that Kazuma doesn't have to worry about hitting a building if the shot misses.

But the Launcher is quickly returned to its holding bracket as the powered armor descends again - and the Valhawk's hands come down on top of it, trying to maul the dino-driven machine. "If you don't want your ride messed up," Kazuma snarls over the external speakers, "then DON'T PICK A FIGHT WITH IT!!!"

Tch, he missed. Gram manages to get enough of the Valhawk under his feet to kick off of it and back into the air, at least. And when you can do that, there's always an opportunity to try again. This time, he scores a small, but acceptable hit on the larger machine...and gets tossed around for his trouble, smacking into the pavement hard enough to crack his helmet's visor. "God damn monkey...you're gonna regret smashing me up!" he says, getting back to his feet. He still has the beam cannon, and from here, he shouldn't have any trouble scoring a direct hit. "It ain't over until one of us is in pieces!" He pulls the trigger several times in quick succession, firing multiple shots at the Valhawk and whatever happens to be behind it. It doesn't matter, all the buildings here are owned by French people anyway.

The Garuda scoops up the Yatagarasu cleanly when it makes for the skies, and at the same time drops a cargocontainer down on a hapless French man who is moving a set of baguettes, right next to the Gunmen which had been forced down with a whirlwind of sorts, pushing it down into the streets. Its eyes, all six of them, are swirling around. "Man... what just hit me..." Ascian shakes his head, and feels like something isn't quite right. He's feeling tired again. "Oh shit, it's coming." The backlash of using this unit. He quickly looks around and finds that box. He crunches it open with the Gunmen's right hand and takes out... a jetpack!

He quickly puts the jetpack onto the back of the Gunmen, and activates, not realizing that there are Baguettes stuck in the back of it. They somehow had pierced the metal casing. The thrusters engage! The Gunmen lifts off! And then suddenly... BOOOOM! The unit is sent flying, flung by an explosion, straight into the hangar of the Garuda. Comedical blast off!

Mazinger Z trudges across the Bayonne countryside. Each heavy thud of its feet makes the very ground tremble, shaking leaves from the very trees they stand upon! The battered Knight is triumphant, having cleaved aside lesser gods and their sinful followers. Its blade dirtied in infidel mechanical fluid, its tip dragging a great furrow into the land.

The Armor of Miracles stops before the wreck of the TSYF-22 Raptor, hunching its great shoulder forward to provide a protective shield. Above, the canopy of the Pilder flips open and Koji Kabuto, still blushed from the heat and likely suffering the effects of sunstroke, leans outward. "Hey!! Can you open your hatch!?"

Mazinger Z trudges across the Bayonne countryside. Each heavy thud of its feet makes the very ground tremble, shaking leaves from the very trees they stand upon! The battered Knight is triumphant, having cleaved aside lesser gods and their sinful followers. Its blade dirtied in infidel mechanical fluid, its tip dragging a great furrow into the land.

The Armor of Miracles stops before the wreck of the TSYF-22 Raptor, hunching its great shoulder forward to provide a protective shield. Above, the canopy of the Pilder flips open and Koji Kabuto, still blushed from the heat and likely suffering the effects of sunstroke, leans outward. "Hey!! Can you open your hatch!?"

Meiya hns! during the blade lock "Don't think so highly of yourself."

The Raptor desingages from the sword lock and leaps backwards as Murata raises the blade, not letting him use it to intimidate her in the show of force. The engines of the Raptor rotate to point towards the Zaku, driving the Raptor backwards far enough that th esword slices down through empty air and into the ground below. "Every time you touch that blade, you tarnish it's good name and the good name of it's maker!"

Meiya resets the Raptor's grip on the folding combat dagger in it's left hand, and the grip on the straight sword in the right flexes. "You are a theif, and a dishonour to all samurai. Ronin. If I allowed myself to be taught by you, my master Saburo Guren would find me, and rightly break my back for associating with you." The Raptor's engines take their normal position, pointing to the back and slightly down. "I'll make you regret your actions!"

The Raptor's engines fire at full afterburn, slamming the Raptor across the ground in mere blink of an eye. Closign so rapidly that Meiya's swing with the combat daggar is more like a visual after thought. The smaller weapon seeks to turn aside Murata's defense and allow the longer straight blade to cleave directly into the opening, tearing through metal and plastic so fast nothing but a silver cresecent from light off the blade can be seen.

Arian shifts forward in the cockpit, climbing out of the chair and angling herself toward the manual release for the hatch-- why wouldn't there be one, what with how a machine can go from cockpit-slash-escape pod to cockpit-slash-death trap in such a short time?

It'll take a few tugs, a grunt, and then a heavy hiss of metals sliding aside before the YF-22's hatch pops open, and Arian-16 is able to emerge in that space. There's blood smeared on her face from where she tried to wipe it away, and her left hand is still pressed against the wound, but the Boosted Child looks like she's had worse.

And she has.

"You look like shit, Kabuto."

James Heller is just using it to try and throw his foe off, but it's not enough at this point as they surive the grenade, it could be worse he laughs for a moment.

"Your pretty damn good." He's not fast enough as he fires off a barrage from the auto cannon he carryes the damage is bad he's got some movement system problems, well if he left SMS mode at least. He checks, he can't hang in this fight much longer but he does lock on with the shoulder pods. He fires all of the rockets, all of the rockets!

The Valhawk is still going, which is a big problem for Gram. If he can't take it down soon, it'll end up killing him before he can have some proper fun! Speaking of which, it seems to be charging up for something big, and he's not exactly enthusiastic to find out what. However, just as he jumps out of the way and tries to fire his pulse beam gun at Kazuma, a ball of plasma suddenly vaporizes his leg. Insert cursing in both English and saurian here. But it's not in a dinosaur's nature to stop fighting just because a limb is missing. Dragging himself to the nearest wall, he leans against it to keep himself standing, and thinks about what else he could do here. And then he sees it: A stale baguette, known for being harder than diamond and among the deadliest of blunt weaponry. So he picks it up, stuffs it into the beam cannon's barrel, and shoots it at the Valhawk. Desperate? Gram's not desperate at all.

You look like shit, Kabuto.

The grin that edges across Koji Kabuto's lips causes him a bit of pain. His skin is tender now, as the effects of sunburn have begun to seep in. He squints slightly in a look of pain before disappearing momentarily.

The Pilder ejects a zipline and Koji is atop it, riding it all the way down to the ruined Raptor. "You're still pretty cute," he mentions aloud as he descends to Arian. "For someone who ought to be dead right now." He reaches out as his foot touches down on the shattered Mitsurugi-designed chassis. "C'mon, let's get you out of here."

"Missiles!?" Havelock yells as ALL THE ROCKETS streak towards him on ALL THE FUEL. This- this is going to hurt if he doesn't do it right. His blade snaps forward in rapid, machinegun-like thrusts, pouring like rain into the hail of missiles. Stab after stab after stab after stab slams into the nearly endless swarm of projectiles. It seems like an eternity, but, at last, he seems to have weathered the storm. The last of the explosions rock the tip of the KinKobu's blade. Havelock pants softly, his prana reserves draining into the Golden Spirit Armor as he completes his maneuver- but he's not done yet. His foe is still standing!

"Of course," Havelock grunts, "My blade has claimed the throats of countless beasts. My sword is honed under the knighthood of Angrim-Fal, it's a matter of fact that I am 'good.' He whirls his blade, the weapon hissing through the sky like a steel typhoon. His voice rises in a vicious roar one last time, before swinging the silvery weapon in a vicious arc across the Panther's neck. "Let that be a lesson to you! Never underestimate a warrior of La Gias!"

There are enough warning lights flashing on the Valhawk's diagnostic displays that when Kazuma sees a loaf of bread the approximate size and shape of a railgun slug getting stuffed into a cannon barrel and pointed at him, Kazuma does NOT feel like taking chances - he hits the Valhawk's thrusters with what power his machine has left, and tries to get the frack out of the way.

He almost pulls it off, too - but "almost" has a long and glorious history of not counting in actual combat. And such is the case here, as the baguette rockets upwards as if launched out of a weaponized oven, carving a furrow along the Valhawk's flank and tumbling hard enough that it actually manages, somehow, to get yanked into the engine's intake on that side.

The result is slightly less than catastrophic - the Valhawk careens out of control, and Kazuma only keeps it from plowing through a building by killing the thrusters and digging in his machine's heels, flailing with the arms to shed velocity.

IT still makes a dent in the front of an office building. Rather a massive one, really - but given some time and money, it can be repaired.

Swearing under his breath with all kinds of language that he could never get away with if Mihiro *was* in the cockpit, Kazuma sets the Valhawk back in motion - jogging back to the port where the Valstork is docked, and debating how to tell Horis and the rest of the Valstork Family that he lost to a dinosaur with a transforming motorcycle and a loaf of stale bread.

Whatever caused Koji to start getting sunburned and suffering heat exhaustion, she sure hasn't seen it. At least, that's what happens when you get assaulted with a ton of missiles from absolutely everywhere.

Toe missiles? Really? What are they going to do next?

"I bet you say that to everyone in obnoxiously tight clothing in a battlefield," Arian says, glancing beyond the Mazinger pilot and off into the distance at the violence and gunfire going on in the near distance. She reaches up and pulls herself out of the cockpit proper, and then steps closer to Koji with the aim to grab onto the zipline as well. Of course, this also means she has to take her hand off the gash in her head until they get into the Mazinger.

"Besides. I'm invincible."

"'Rishu Togo' is /just/ a name--just syllables. Just letters. Sounds. 'Shishioh Blade', too; they aren't 'good' /or/ 'bad'--they /are/. You're as silly as Togo if you imagine otherwise, child."

Murata has his hands full with maintaining the Zaku's altitude while trying to conduct something akin to a proper sword fight, so when faced with the incredible momentum of the Raptor's feinting slash, the mobile suit loses some of its height--and, more importantly, its balance.

This leaves it vulnerable to the Raptor's /real/ blade, which leaves a slim, angry line slicing diagonally down the Zeonic machine's front; sparks and smoke immediately leap from the gash and the fluids that keep its heat and friction in line jet freely from it in several places.

Murata still smiles, even as he struggles to bring the Zaku to a halt several feet beneath the Raptor.

"You've nothing to worry about, child; I wouldn't--/couldn't/ teach someone so ruled by her own fears. You would /break/."

The Zaku pulls the Shishioh Blade in close, twisting it just so to turn its blade outwards; the mono-eye settles on the Raptor again, glittering ominously as Murata locks its systems onto the speedy mobile suit.

"The Shishioh Blade is a tool--/Jigen-Ryu/ is a tool, and they're ones Rishu and his litter aren't worthy of; I've liberated the former. That's all; you're /incapable/ of understanding me as anything but a thief, regardless, and I understand that."

The Zaku's thrusters all flare to life as Murata slowly slides its throttle forward.

"And I forgive you."

The Zaku ascends--and it ascends not blade first, but shoulder first, aiming to crash directly into the Raptor to ruin /its/ balance just as the Zaku's was.

"And I will liberate you, too, child. Haaa--"

Only after contact is made will the sword come into play as the Zaku seeks to cut smoothly across the Raptor's torso from its lower left to its upper right.

And then from its lower right to its upper left.

And then from top to bottom.

And left to right.

And right to left.

And--and--

And /everywhere/, from a dozen angles. The Zaku is a relic; it shouldn't be able to strike with such speed, but it does. Only /after/ the onslaught - which might last for all of a few seconds or an eternity, depending on the perspective - will be seek to deliver the sharp, terminating blow so core to the study of Jigen-Ryu.

And all throughout, he will - in contrast to the hard, steely determination of moments ago - intone, "Mudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Two words:

Breast Missiles.

Koji Kabuto can't stop grinning. Whatever the hell possesses Mitsurugi to design such piloting uniforms, they've clearly been touched by an ecchi-genius. "I'm going to put my arm around you," he looks at her unflinchingly in the eyes. There's an incredible sense of mirth in the Mazinger pilot. Given how she reacted the first time he laid hands on her, he figured this time he'd lead with a warning.

Yes, Virginia. Those Kabuto men can learn.

"To keep you steady on the ride up," Koji adds. His intentions are about as pure as a snow left on the side of a road. Dirty as can be. When Arian grabs hold of the line, Koji reaches to curl his arm around her waist. If she just so happens to be pressed against his chest, well, that was totally coincidental. Accidental, even! Right?

Koji tugs on the line with his other hand. The zipline retracts, ascending these two pilots up the battered yet resilient frame of Mazinger Z.

Elsewhere.. the Shishioh Blade descends and the Dark Jaguar suffers a crushing defeat.

Not that Koji notices. All he can do is stare hopelessly at Arian, that goofy grin never ever leaving his face not for a second.

James smirks and says, "Never did, I got ... priceless combat data on you and your machine!"

Damage is worse than expect the machine loses armor a good deal of armor. The Dark Jaguars' stealth systems kick out but it's fleeing now from the other machine. A Ashsaber appears the fuck out of nowhere grabs JAme's machine kicks in it's mysterious drive and is /gone/

Havelock utters a mighty 'harrumph' as James beats a hasty retreat. Its blade spins once, and then twice overhead, before gleaming with impossible light, "That you may have, villain. But I am no mere pilot. You can study me all you like, you can plot to your heart's content, but you haven't even begun to sample my true potential!"

Havelock allows his weapon-arm to drop, sheathing the blade once more at his side. The knight looks to the battle still raging between the two samurai. The Kinkobu turns, its joints hissing, before its thrusters fire and carry it towards the sea- towards its home. For now, that would be enough.

But...

A sigh- now he'll have to deal with turning this into /propaganda./ It turns his stomach, being so underhanded.

"...." "...."

"You sure know how to kill a mood, Sixteen," Koji Kabuto lets out a faint sigh out of amused exasperation.

The zipline ends and Koji facilitates Arian's boarding of the Pilder. "It's a single-seater," he explains as he joins her. "Though for reasons that escape me, it's still pretty spacious. Watch your head."

The canopy slides down.

Arian's eyebrow lifts. "I'm still not sure what the hell that's supposed to mean," she says, tilting her head.

Once they reach the cockpit, she gives it a little bit of a surveying stare, looking around as though she were casing a room that were potentially booby-trapped or rigged to kill her when she turns her back. Paranoia: Healthy in doses or when you're about to get into the one-seater cockpit of a machine piloted by a guy that threw some pretty horrid pick-up lines when they had known each other in person for all of five minutes.

Of course, with one seat, this means that there's only one thing she can do:

Sit across his lap, threshhold style.

"Floor it, Jeeves. If I have a concussion I'm gonna be pissed."

"....!!"

"Uhhh..." Koji visibly pales with Arian on his lap.

Must be the blood rushing somewhere else!

"I--uhh..." the Ensign is flustered. "Hai so desu..!" he manages to bleat out. His shaky hands manipulate the controls, engaging Mazinger's Jet Scrander. The engines sputter and kick in, rocketing the Steel Guard back to base.

07:06, March 30, 2011 (UTC)<3

Normally Meiya tries to avoid taking damage at all, it's just natural. See incoming sword, avoid it, counter attack. Perfectly routine. But lately Meiya has realized that sometimes to be able to /beat/ someone you have to be willing to take damage to get yourself into the best position to be able to strike the opponent down.

The Raptor crosses it's arms in front of itself. The enhanced super-carbon armor plates of the forearms taking the punishing brunt of Murata's assault. Weathering the deadly assault remarkably well for a such a lightly built machine. The Zaku II's age has no bearing on it at all, a sword is a sword, aging or newly tempered. If it is used and cared for it will perform as it's wielder requires it too.

And the Zaku II and Shishio blade definitely perform. Chunks are carved out of the forearms of the Raptor, the large shoulder pauldrons with their built in lateral engines are cleaved straight off. Leaving smoking, sparking messes of wiring and flaming jet fuel lines behind. The Raptor falters, one of the main engines threatening to cut out as Murata drives down the final cut of the Shishio blade.

Either fate or fortune saves Meiya from being completely cut to pieces, the engines gives out and the Raptor weaves back for a split second as the blade hits, sparing the raptor from a perfect strike. The Raptor hits the ground with both feet, digging furrows in the ground as it slides backwards, leaving a smoking smoldering machine. But one thats still standing and functional.

"Fear?" Meiya grunts as the Raptor stiffly stands up straight. "You're going to have to do a little better then being cryptic and vague if you want to impress me with anything." The raptor restarts it's engines and launches skywards again, up underneath the Zaku II. The straight blade in it's right hand slashing out at the lower half o the Zaku "Karugiri-"

The Raptor spins around and kicks out at the Zaku with one leg, aiming to set it up for the next attack. The short blade slashes out agian, but this time it's a true feint, a fake attack meant to distract instead of engaging Murata's defense.The long straight blade follows through with Meiya's flowing swordsmanship style as the Raptor deactivates it's right engine, causing it to spin like a top as such brutal but brief speeds that the  force of air from the blade is enough to do damage as much as six feet away from the tip of the blade. "-Tzujikaze!"

"Fair," Murata states as the Zaku descends--falls closely behind the Raptor. Its knees crack as soon as it lands and smoke belches from its backpack and billows from beneath feet; the wound crossing its chest widens just a touch, threatening to split the mobile suit in two.

"The world is /full/ of people so wrapped up in their own misconceptions of it that they can't /help/ but destroy it, and each other--people too ignorant of the full shape of it to be of any use to themselves or others." He sheathes the Shishioh Blade as his eyes lid; the Zaku's hand does not leave its hilt.

"The Shishioh Blade is the best way--the /only/ way I know to /heal/ that rift in perceptions."

With that, he bends the Zaku's already damaged knees; it nearly buckles, but the servos manage to hold. He expects an actual sword stroke - something he can /parry/ - but it doesn't come when it should; he is, instead, met first by slashing winds, and so while he manages to partially unsheath the Shishioh Blade in time to protect himself from the actual blade... the Zaku is nonetheless decapitated. Its head bounces heavily before rolling away.

"Hnnngh--" Murata grunts as the sheer pressure of the TSYF's air burst threatens to finish what the first sword stroke began. Despite the sparks popping violently from the wound, there's no time to worry about silly things like the integrity of his mobile suit's systems; if he doesn't act, this girl might kill him.

Or worse, she might lay hands on the Shishioh Blade.

"--KIIIIIYA!" he exclaims as he forces the Zaku to leap /into/ the rending pressure. It isn't a high jump, nor a long one; it'll still cost the mobile suit its legs.

Just as well, though; he wagers he won't need them much longer.

The Shishioh Blade slides along the Raptor's sword, but it won't threaten to bite into the Mitsurugi Zaibatsu's flagship unit again; in fact, it won't even be drawn, at least not fully. Instead, Murata merely draws the Blade far enough to hammer the Raptor with the end of its hilt before landing.

And suffering the catastrophic loss of both limbs to crumpling and explosions.

"Ultimately," he murmurs as the Zaku settles on its shattered thighs and slides the Shishioh Blade back into its sheath.

"I suppose you wouldn't understand."

With that, he settles back in the cockpit to wait for the Garuda or some /other/ ship to pick him up.

As for that dinosaur on the motorcycle? He's disappeared somewhere, probably to call his lizard buddies for a ride home. That leg's gotta be smarting right now.