2011-05-08 - DTV

In the eastern United States, specifically New Hampshire (instead of some cool, important state that everyone knows like Florida, Texas, or California), the headquarters of Neo-MTV can be found. Its employees continually churn out unfunny sketches and music videos that make children cry while the people upstairs laugh gleefully, rolling about in their mountains of cash. At least, that's what the Empire's intel says. Of course, their intelligence officers aren't known for their competence, so who knows how accurate it is. Accuracy doesn't matter to Zanki, though. As the nephew of the Empire's number one general, he needs a relatively safe yet impressive target to destroy in order to get on his Emperor's good side and prove himself worthy of a command position. Neo-MTV, as you all may have guessed, was what he chose. And now, as those execs roll in their cash and talk about ways they can avoid having anything at all to do with music, he approaches. A true Captain of the Empire does not need a squad for an enemy such as this! He only needs his own honor, courage, and resolve, and a top of the line Mechasaurus! The Zen, resembling a tyrannosaurus with a drill coming out of its forehead, a four-pronged claw for a hand, and giant metal Scrander-like wings, swoops down onto the front lawn of the headquarters. It strikes a pose for the cameras that are surely focused upon it, and roars to the heavens! "Come out, guardians of this wretched hive of scum and villainy! There's no fun in this without a fight!" Zanki transmits to all available frequencies, issuing his challenge to any in the area who might happen to want to defend Neo-MTV.

A vacation. That is what the pilot only known as 'Lin' had been looking for during her time on Earth. After being shaken by a recent battle with the Crusaders, the amnesiac framerunner had tried to chose the most unlikely place in the United States to take some R&R and enjoy a bit of the dubious and almost jokingly non-existant night-life. Sitting in her hotel room, the young woman is just slipping into something skimpy that shows off more than enough skin to draw the eyes of the poor local boys who probably haven't seen anything like her in a /long/ time.

That, of course, is when the announcement comes over her radio headset, blaring into the silence of the small room. Her eyes look towards it, narrowing slightly as her entire body tenses. "Seriously?" She asks, as if expecting some answer from the empty room. Is it IMPOSSIBLE to get away from the Crusaders for a couple of days? Maybe she needed a better travel agent. Looking down at her outfit, which includes a skimpy mini-skirt and a top that really only covers her breasts and a bit of her arms, the framerunner just face-palms. Without really having much time to change into a real combat suit, she tugs on the flight jacket of her Ootsukigata, and then pulls on her helmet, "Guess I might as well go play the hero." No, she doesn't sound very enthusiastic about it, or about having her vacation time interrupted.

So, still wearing the mini-skirt, Lin pulls open her window and clambers out onto her mobile suit, which has been not-quite-inconspicuously hidden between buildings. There is a moment or two to get settled before she launches, closing in on the location of the transmitted message. That, is when she spots the mechasaurus and a smirk plays onto her lips. "Maybe I really /do/ need a vacation." She muses, her bare legs pressing down onto the foot peddles as she lands the Ootsukigata a distance away, using the long-distance sniper site to follow the Tyranosaur's movements. "Just one? They never come alone..." Lin swivels her sight around, keeping an eye out for the reinforcements she fully expects to come. At the distance, she can pick and choose her target, hopefully without drawing much attention to herself until she actually engages.

Neo-MTV. Out of all the places they had to attack, it was Neo-MTV. And Ascian? Ascian was kinda happy about this. Running forward at impossible speeds in what looks like a monster of some sorts - that could make the Bellcross look like a cute puppy. A while ago, Ascian actually had gotten a message from Emperor King Gore, who basically asked him to keep tabs on Zanki. In a ways, one could see it as the Emperor asking him to babysit, but that's not exactly how Ascian saw it. There were many ways one 'watched' operations like this. And the opinion he had was the kind of 'watching' where he actually 'participated'.

So, having climbed into the EVA/Gunmen unit, to fit in a bit better, Ascian had launched from a nearby landed Tausendfuessler transport along with Seril - who he'd asked along. Why, might you think, did Ascian ask for someone like /Seril/ along for this ride? With her giant Sun God robot of destruction? Well, this goes back a way.

One Week Ago Earth Cradle Mess Hall

Neo-MTV is on, playing in the mess hall. A lady is talking and just finishes up; "And thus, hereby, we cancel Neo-Farscape, before the season can properly end." Cut to Ascian going: "WHAT!?" And looking surprisingly angry. Neo-MTV. The new Fox Network.

Back To Now

The Beast, as Ascian calls his EVA/Gundam. Technically, it was The Beast II, but who was counting? Losing it to something like a...

A few months ago

"HIKARI NI NAAREEEEE!"

Now

Yeah... that just doesn't count. The machine plods forth, its metalic teeth showing in the upper head, where the machine has its jaw open partially. A deep growl comes out from the machine. In a ways, Ascian might fit better with Seril like this, than when on the Amenthes. That is to say, this machine is much more beast-like. When he arrives, he already finds The Zen fairly soon, and halts a few yards before it, and turns about, looking around.

Within, he pulls and tugs a bit on the metalic handles, which somehow make a radar pop up. Ascian didn't /really/ need to tug on the controls, but somehow it made him feel like he was actually doing something, rather than just 'willing' it. Which, mind you, was harder than one might thing. The Beast lets out another drawn sigh as Ascian breathes out, the speaker at all times connected to what is going on on the inside - but making it impossible to recognize it due to the monster-like warping of his voice. Nothing yet so far - it doesn't look like the radar on it is strong enough to pick up Alina's unit.

One Week Ago Earth Cradle mess hall

Seril Vaskell rests her chin on her hands, cradling her face as she cheerfully watches TV with her big brother. This show is so fanciful and old fashioned, she can't help but find it fascinating. She hasn't even touched her meal. At last, the episode ends and she closes her eyes in a pleased expression, "That was great! I sure hope they'll be able to save the day next week--" 'hereby, we cancel Neo-Farscape before the season can properly end.' Seril's face goes pale, her eyes blank spheres of white and her lips a thin line. There's a shattering sound, and cracks run through her. The visage bursts like glass, returning to reality. The girl jumps to her feet, slamming her hands down. At the exact second as Ascian, she shouts, "WHAT?!" Now New Hampshire The Yatagarasu emerges from the mountains behind and beside the Beast, swinging its cannon arm up to rest across its shoulder. Inside, the fanged girl seethes with enough anger to raise the temperature of the fluid supporting her, "They cancelled my favorite show..! Why are we waiting?!" Inside the Yatagarasu's very core, the burning fury of the imprisoned god has become still and silent. Either it likes Seril this way, or even it has been struck speechless by such...immaturity.

The last time the Divine Crusaders launched an attack in the middle of a city and the Valhawk showed up to stop them, it didn't go so well. For that matter, the Valhawk didn't do all that well a couple of nights ago, when the Crusaders hit a military contractor in the mountains of one of the main Orb Islands.

But it's mostly because this is in the middle of a city that Kazuma chooses to deploy, not in the Valstork Family's prized mobile unit, but the Tengu battlesuit which he's taken such a liking to. It's small, it's relatively fast, and most importantly he can use it in the middle of a city and not worry as much about damaging the architecture. He still has to check his fire before pulling triggers, mind you, but it's safer overall.

And while Kazuma doesn't consider himself a guardian of this particular city any more than he would call it a 'hive of scum and villainy' (seriously, who talks like that in *this* day and age), he has no problem at all with barreling down the street towards the drill-headed Mechasaurus. "HEY, YOU BIG DINO-SORE!! I'm puttin' you back in the fossil layer!!"

... maybe technically that should've been "we," rather than "I," but oh well. Anyone who cares to correct him is free to do so. Hopefully somebody else will attend to the other machines.

Time off after the incident with the Divine Crusader at the factory Macua'd got her new Gundam Fighter a bit earlier than expected and all things considered it had done quite well for her self really - however things have not going too well as she's come to the states her self while with her friend. She'd have some fun her self, sure a few looks never hurt but as she can be she's not planning to cheat on Kazuma she's just likely going to see how he reacts if he hears of it.

She'd been getting ready to clean up herself before hading out. So she jumps out of hte shower grabs the nearest thing she can. given what's comming next anfd she's already yelling.

"COME OUT AMAZON CI GUNDAM!"

A old building nearby explodes as the new Gundam fighter makes itself known. She springsd across the street now leaps into the open cockpit and starts suiting up.

For a minute or so, Zanki is disappointed. He wanted to have a good, long fight against some humans, but it seems there aren't any around...oh, there they are. When the Yatagarasu and MP Eva show up, he almost shoots them, stopped only by a popup on his viewscreen telling him that they're allies. "Tch, why do I have to fight with a couple of monkeys? They'll probably end up doing more damage to themselves than the enemy, if the enemy even comes..." he says, then starts ignoring them entirely. And now the enemy shows up. Zanki only sees two mobile suits (the Tengu being just a bit outside his field of vision), but that's good enough for him. The hard part is choosing one to attack first...so he flips a coin. Zen roars at Macua's Amazon CI Gundam, then charges at it claw-first.

A beast, a dinosaur, and a evil looking robot - what a combination of things for Lin to see appearing on her system's sensitive radar. "Great, it's the 'Monster Mash'." She muses to herself, and then transmits over the radio, "Mistwalker to Fire Dancer." She watches as the tyranosaur makes for Macua's new gundam, hesitating a moment, "I'm guessing you can keep tall dark and nasty taken care of." It seems that the male in the smaller unit is on their side, but the framerunner doesn't make any great attempts to communicate to him, or to anyone but Macua over the radio.

Instead, she switches targets, the crosshairs settling first on the beast and then on the Yatagarasu. Something causes her to to not chose the beast creature, perhaps a bit of deja vu. There is an uneasy feeling about it, as if sensing something familiar. Instead, it seems that Seril's machine ends up her choice of the three. Yes, the two units with incredibly hard to type names get to fight each other! The mash up of letters will doom the world.

There is a high-pitched whine as Lin's long range cannon begins to charge, the targeting system locking in on the other smaller unit. Without her full flight suit, the lines of metatron on her hands shows clearly against the control sticks of the mobile suit, still glowing faintly blue from their all too recent contact with the Crusader Orbital Frame. Luckily, her hands seem to be steady, which means that it is all too easy for her to hone in on the enemy machine, squeezing the trigger slowly as she fires off a high powered blast of energy that arcs across the distance between her and the Yatagarasu.

 Tightbeam to Seril Vaskell: Ascian Luddite mutters, refering to the fact that Zanki just aimed a weapon and Ascian and Seril, "Don't let it get to you. New soldiers get nervous easily."

 Tightbeam from Seril Vaskell says, "I figured we probably scared him, it's alright!"

"Monkeys?" Seril seems confused by the gruff dismissal from the guy in the dinosaur-shaped robot, "But I'm not a monkey, I'm a girl." or a bird, or a monster, or ... *whatever* the hell is going on with her. But human, that's something she's certain she isn't anymore. A glint in the distance draws Seril out of her pondering, and she twists. Yatagarasu's upper half wrenches to one side, swinging down its cannon arm to counterattack by generating and hurling a superheated orb of solar plasma, "--Hey!"

"Big Brother, someone shot at me! I'm gonna burn 'em down before I go after that studio thing!" The godmachine lurches into motion, disappearing into the city streets save for the wisps of acrid smoke that rise from its armored hull. Seril runs through her options, realizing that the Yatagarasu isn't really equipped for long range combat until its power has had a chance to build.

So, she improvises.

With its free hand, the Yatagarasu wrenches a telephone pole right out of the ground. Rising up above the buildings, the La Gian mecha rears back, then hurls the post like a lawn dart. That should buy her some time to get closer!

When Zanki turns and raises that weapon towards the MP EVA, within that machine, an animated version of Chibi Dr. Hell turns towards the gun and starts flailing his hand and staff about and shaking his head, as if saying; 'don't shoot me! Don't shoot me!'. Ascian just gives it a wry look, and turns his head towards Seril's unit. And that means that the machine also turns its head towards the Yatagarasu, growling lightly, wondering what she thought of an ally sticking their gun towards them.

It seems that Seril is fine though. However, she suddenly turns her unit, and blocks an attack with a plasma attack. He wonders just /how/ did she managed to sight that. He didn't, after all. She runs off to take down the unit who'd shot at her, and at the same time, Dr. Hell suddenly pops up at the center of his cockpit and starts aiming two fans about, one pointing at the Tengu that just had come out, and another at a nearby crumbling building, as a Gundam comes out. It seems the chibi Dr. Hell can't make up which one to attack...

So Ascian does. "Let's go for the Tengu. For once, I'd like to /not/ have to go off against the Ace Pilots." It wasn't that he truly minded, but it looked bad for the records when he kept getting his unit blown up. And it wasn't like he had that fantastic track-record in The Beast to begin with. If he were ever to defeat the Mazinger Z... he'd have to learn to move this machine better.

So, he begins to get his unit to run towards the thing and... keeps running! Running and running and... he moves his leg back....

Yes, it's a Tengu. It's tiny. Ascian's about to try and soccer-kick Kazuma's unit and punt it into the Neo-MTV building.

The Tengu zigs and squats, thrusters carrying it along in a manner not entirely dissimilar to skating, and its manipulator claw lashes out ..

And the big machine and the little machine completely miss each other, Maybe Ascian was wrong about not having to deal with any ace pilots? And if he heard Kazuma's taunt to the Mechasaurus and its pilot, he probably recognized the voice - even if he couldn't place the source.

Whatever Luddite may think, the Tengu - now behind the Warrior Beast - raises its other arm and opens fire with the bigger machine gun. Kazuma's not wasting antipersonnel-size bullets at the moment.

"That's it..." Lin murmurs to herself, not seeming all that surprised that her long range attack had missed the mark. It hadn't been intentional, although her purpose was served either way as the godmachine draws away from the television station and comes after her instead. Fortunately, the call of challenge from the dinosaur-unit had caused most of the locals to already flee the area, leaving the buildings around her largely abandoned. There are still a few idiots gawking from windows and refusing to evacuate, but she couldn't be held responsible for them - if they died, they were just collateral damage. Sweatdrop - Probably not a good thought for someone who is supposed to be a 'good guy' - she thinks.

"Tchya." Quickly, she has to pull on the controls, shifting the mobile suit sideways and just barely away from being blasted by plasma and skewered by the telephone pole. Her hand, still on the firing controls squeezes off another, lower-powered blast from her main cannon, although it almost seems accidental rather than by design. Blinking, Lin looks over at where it sticks into the building at an odd angle, just a few feet away from her unit's head. THAT would not have been a good thing. Shifting her legs, Lin forces the Ootsukigata forwards, closing the distance between herself and the Yatagarasu. At the very least, she can try to avoid spreading out the range of damage too far from the station itself. "You're quick." While others seem to use the radio, Lin tends to simply talk to herself, perhaps as if she were used to talking to the A.I. in her Orbital Frame and hasn't quite gotten used to the silence of a mobile suit.

There is a blaring sound, enough to make Lin wince as she bashes her hand into the controls to silence it. A warning that she'd overheated the mobile suit's long range cannon. "I know, I know." She whispers to herself, having to focus more on combat than on silly things like the proper upkeep of her unit. That's what techs were for. The right hand of the Ootsukigata raises up a smaller beam rifle, hovering a bit above the buildings as Lin squints, the motion of her eyes enough to cause the advanced targeting system to swivel and then zoom in on the Crusader machine. Her expression, normally cold and emotionless in combat, is strangely worried. She hadn't quite had enough time to sort out her feelings from the last battle against the Crusaders, and here she is again playing the reluctant 'hero'. "Back off..." She mutters, squeezing off an aimed shot towards the shoulder of the Yatagarasu. The aim of her shots doesn't actually seem to be at vital points - something that could be read as inexperience.

The new Gundam has a very interesting weapon to be sure that spare it may very well be the Esh's old spear as it unpacks and Macua uses it to deflect the attack. She's not able to get an opening however and can't counter attack still she's done pretty well she smirks and replies.

"I was just thinking the thing about Dinosaurs." She gives a radio to Alina in return. "Man we were just going to have a fun night out, but /no/, this had to happen! I hear you Mistwalker. I'll see if I can keep them busy."

She spins the spear in one hand and then rushes for the attacking hostile unit but she's moing so fast she's blurring. Something strange then happens, there seems to be four CI's; all of them attacking from various angles. Only one is real though! But which one? Also Kazuma is noticed and she's muttering.

"This night just keeps getting..."

No, he hadn't been able to place the source. That's the whole problem. When he sees Kazuma, he expects the Valhawk, not a... Tengu. However, when there is no Valhawk, and the Tengu suddenly slides behind him and tries to fire at it with its machine gun, he realizes quickly that he was out of luck on the matter! The earlier lash of the Manipulator Claw /had/ in fact touched on it, but it'd simply glanced on some of the metal and did fairly little but scratch some of the black paint.

The monsterous EVA/Gunmen growls and launches a blanket of little missiles upon the little thing as it fires those machine bullets, and then hides itself within the explosions and rubble - circling the Tengu. Within the cockpit, Ascian at least gets a heat vision for a moment. Like as if he were some kind of predator or something. It then dives down close to the ground, digging its claws into the ground and gets on... all fours.

Within the machine, Ascian is now kind of facing the ground, but somehow, this works. He looks up in the 360' degree viewscreen, and has the machine quickly move past the Tengu. He wants to keep an eye on the Mechasaurusses. It seems they are fine so far, however... they are up against a Gundam Fighter. He better try to take care of this Tengu while he has the element of surprise.

And how better to get the element of surprise than to... "They cancelled Neo-Farscape! It was the only thing good on that channel! Now they gotta die!" What was he trying to do? Confuse Kazuma with stupid. His voice doesn't really sound like Ascian, so Kazuma may have a hard time recognizing him. But then, how many people use an EVA/Gunmen. And it didn't seem like Kazuma was in there. Although... that guy just MAY be crazy enough to do the same thing!

He doesn't even turn around. Instead from the tail of the EVA/Gunmen, a gigantic drill is suddenly formed that launches straight back towards the Tengu and tries to crash into it and send it... again... into another building! What was up with this EVA like machine and drills anyhow!? Also, seriously, flying drill tails?

If overheating was a problem under normal circumstances, closing range with the likes of Yatagarasu is only going to make it worse. Temperatures begin to rise in proximity to the unit as it charges. It brings its empty hand down, a ball of plasma forming over its palm that the fist clenches around. The matter squeezes out into spike-shaped darts, and just as the Yatagarasu's shoulder takes an inconsequential hit, the godmachine hurls these darts out in an uncontrolled fan. Seril squeaks from the hit, flinching, but in too much of a frenzy to let it slow her down.

"Don't underestimate me!" the girl within the monstrous machine shouts, "You're the one who beat up my big brother the other day!" The act of throwing its counterattack has drawn Yatagarasu's cannon arm up and back, behind it. The plates forming the hexagonal shape of the weapon slide sideways, flattening it out, and a beam of concentrated plasma shoots out in a broad 'blade' shape easily as long as the Yatagarasu itself is tall, "I'll never forgive you for that!"

The Radiant Blade, a sword made from raw solar plasma, is swung in a wide arc. Even if it doesn't strike the Ootsukigata, a building or two are probably going down, "Hah~!" At least it seems she's separated this mobile suit from the other two units. That's good. Now she's trying to separate this mobile suit...from itself!

The Gundam deflects Zen's claws, causing it to stagger backwards a bit. Zanki, being rather smart despite his arrogance, knows that this is a bad thing when your opponent has a blade on a stick. He tries to get closer, past that spear, but he ends up taking a hit to his flank when the Gundam suddenly starts pulling some afterimage trick. Still, he does smack it with the back of Zen's hand, so at least it wasn't totally pointless. The Mechasaurus is, of course, leaking purple blood from the gash in its side now, but as with all dinosaurs in the Empire, this isn't enough to stop it. It rears its head back, taking a deep breath, and then leans forward and lets it out along with a jet of flame. "Stupid monkey! You've got some skill, but an ape like you has no hope of defeating me! I am Zanki, the nephew of General Bat!"

In the corner of Lin's HUD there is a little temperature guage. Normally, it stays fairly steady, but blip by blip the number starts to climb, slowly edging into the yellow as it rises above the normal cabin temperatures and forces the Ootsukigata to engage secondary cooling. A sheen of sweat begins to form on her forehead, but the framerunner has already disabled the warning alarms, so she ends up oblivious to the danger of getting into such close quarters with the Yatagarasu.

As that blade of energy appears from the arm of the godmachine, Lin can't help but swear under her breath. Close range combat is not her specialty, and the other unit ends up in too close for her to raise a decent defense. With a last-minute squeeze of the trigger that goes quite wide, the Ootsukigata's shield-arm ends up taking the worst of the blade's slice, naerly sawing through half of the shield and lashing off part of her shoulder armor. Where the plasma touches, it leaves the metal red and slightly glowing with the intense heat. "Shit." Forced to press her legs downward, launching backwards away from the Crusader.

Lin doesn't respond over the radio, perhaps because she knows all too well just how little she knows about the world and the last thing she wants is to reveal herself to anyone, especially an obvious enemy. An enemy she honestly had nothing against and had no real will to fight.

"Need to be more careful." She comments to herself, lifting one hand off of the controls in order to wipe the sweat onto her skirt. There is a bit of a darker glow to the metatron lines, as if they were reacting to something, beating fiercely with the pace of her own heartbeat. Even while moving backwards, trying to keep some distance between herself and the godmachine, Lin fires off another shot, this one aimed towards the legs of the enemy, trying to slow it down.

The problem with using giant robot weapons to try and hit something that's not too much bigger than human size is, put simply, that they're usually designed to hit *other* giant robots. You almost have to cut the computerized or otherwise-automated targeting and tracking systems offline and handle aiming and firing manually - not unlike trying to drop a couple of torpedoes straight down an auxiliary thermal exhaust port.

Kazuma's task is somewhat easier, at least as far as *hitting* the Warrior Beast ... but hitting hard enough to *damage* it? That's gonna be a little harder, yeah - even when his Tengu carries weapons which ought to be up to the task of cracking a larger and heavier opponent's armor. After all, these things get used out in the Luciferian Sphere to swarm the behemoth BattleMechs which are normally favored in that part of space; the downside is, they usually do so in packs, not in single combat.

Yeah. That whole 'ace pilot' thing is going to need to swing pretty seriously in Kazuma's favor if he's gonna win here. Time to polish up his alleged skills as a Gundam Fighter.

He decides to start by charging at the Warrior Beast again, this time trying to leap onto one of its feet and open fire nearly straight upwards with the variable-speed laser, just a quick barrage for the moment.

Macua Huitl is keeping an eye on the strnge machine that is the EVA/Gundmen. It's a good idea given what EVA's can do really. It be bad to totally ignore it but just what is Kazuma after really there? As for Seril's machine that mech just gives her a terrible feeling but she's got to worry about the dinosaur for a moment. She smirks a little bit.

"Bat huh? So they sent someone who might not be worthless for once?"

The Dinosaur howeer doesn't get her nay she's back flipped out of the way and is now trying to keep him gtting distracted by someone els eor after something far more vunrable than her. She turns around closes again and starts kicking the other thing rapidly possibly in the jimmies as well...

Within the Yatagarasu, Seril's lips part in a grin that would be somewhat unsettling on a normal girl: A little predatory, perhaps. But given her fangs, the expression comes off as downright offputtingly feral, if not crazed with the cheerful aggression dancing within those violet eyes. The feel of the Radiant Blade biting into reinforced armor and shield is much the same as when a predator sinks its teeth into its prey, and that is the expression on Seril's face. When she gets no reply, the girl narrows her eyes. "What's wrong?!" Another shot hurtles downward, and Yatagarasu leaps skyward for a narrow miss. Rolling itself, the machine thrusts its legs out in preparation for landing, simultaneously aiming its arm cannon so it can unleash a sphere of superheated material in return. This shot goes low, searing through the structure beneath the Ootsukigata instead. Yatagarasu comes to a landing on another rooftop, caving in the top story. The extreme heat begins igniting things inside as it rises, surrounding the machine's legs with flames, "Can't talk?"

Seril's teasing is interrupted by a ... something. A feeling. Ah. Yatagarasu's magical flow has reached its peak in this sealed state. That means, the girl muses, she can use her more potent assault magic! "Or are you just a robot with nothing interesting to say?" The Yatagarasu raises its free hand to point upward, while magic surges along the cannon assembly on its arm. A pinpoint of light on that upraised fingertip rapidly swells into a burning sun, some 20 meters across. There's an explosive sound, followed by this star's sudden explosion, hurling orbs of solar plasma in all directions. It's an unfocused attack, perfect for a girl who doesn't care about collateral damage, "I hate fighting drones, so I'll kill you quickly! Than big brother will praise me!"

Well, that hadn't worked! To disturb Kazuma enough to lose that important moment... to distract him. It's not exactly normal for Ascian to use such tactics, but he simply doesn't feel as comfortable outside of the Amenthes. He feels much more vulnerable within this machine, even through his skills in it have greatly improved. The machine peddles back a bit after the gigantic drill crushes into the Neo-MTV front building and sends an explosion and high pitched screams into the area. It's not actually people, there's a series of recordings playing of some pop artist. And no, it's not actually a young girl, it's some teenage boy artist called Bustin Jieber!

The Tengu itself gets near it quickly and tries to grab at its leg. Almost reflexively, Ascian tugs on the metal bracer on his right, causing his machine to smash its hand right into the thing and throwing it off, after which he aims those fingers at it and launches a series of missiles. Where'd they come from!? The fingertips certainly didn't grow smaller... must be a sprite issue. Either way, Ascian quickly stumbles back. Kazuma, Kazuma. How do you unnerve a pilot like him?

"Hey Trailer Trash!" The machine suddenly growls at him loudly, laughing, as it moves back on all fours and its back begins to spew acid as it begins to... open up. Bones begin to flash up from its right and left shoulderblades, and green energy is spiralling above it. "Hey Trailer Trash! Kazuma! I saw Ado~... Macua Naked! And she /liked/ it." Oh my, good going there Ascian, hiding who you are inside that machine by not calling her Adom Nazir. Also, as much as most of it was true, the fact that she'd liked it was a bald-faced /lie/.

"And I'm about to blast her away /again/!" The green energy forms, and suddenly, there's a /gigantic/ cannon... like an entire satelite, hooked on the back of the EVA/Gunmen. How was that even possible!? It was leaking with green acid and vine-like veins that linger all throughout. It is pulsing... alive. And a wave of energy quickly forms around it. Pulse, pulse, it charges. And then, a stream of green spiralling energy suddenly fires straight... at the Amazon CI, aimed to pierce right through its lower torso! Was Ascian trying to goad Kazuma into taking that hit!?

 Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "Macua, heads up!!"

"Worthless?" Zanki says, just before getting knocked back again by some kicks. The Zen quickly steadies itself, slashing at the Gundam with its claw while Zanki continues his bantering. "No Imperial soldier is worthless! But indeed, I am far more capable than the others you may have encountered thus far. And as the nephew of one of the most prestigious men in the Empire, I will not allow myself to lose to a peasant, and a /monkey/ at that! En garde!" And suddenly, a shaft shoots out of Zen's wings, a blade springing out of one end as the Mechasaurus deftly grabs it from the air. And, instead of stabbing or swinging it, just throws it at Macua. For you see, it is no spear, but a javelin! Of course, the difference between the two would be completely lost on most random people on the street.

Within the cockpit of the Ootsukigata, Lin's lips set into a thin line as the words of the other pilot seem to hit her like daggers. The normal, cold way that she approaches piloting seems shaken by recent combat, and the continued odd feeling that won't quite leave her chest. It's almost infuriating, causing her to show a flash of teeth that might not be quite as bestial as Seril's, but no less fierce or predatory. Rather than giving an outloud response, Lin bashes her fist hard into the coms system, causing a blare of feedback that comes from the Ootsukigata's speakers. If nothing else, it might show that there isn't a drone inside, not that it matters.

Lin's blue eyes widen slightly, the temperature reading within her unit reaching the red as a few beads of sweat run down her cheeks. Fighting this thing was quickly becoming more and more dangerous, especially for a pilot only just learning how to manually control a mobile suit. Her fight against the Orbital Frame had been luck, intuition, and only fractionally about skill. More plasma! More of that ultra-hot energy that could all too easily melt through her suit's armor. Raising what remains of her shield, Lin braces herself against one of the wildly shot blasts, ending up knocked backwards. Luckily, from her mid-air standpoint, she manages not to take out any buildings, engaging the suit's thrusters to spare at least the one beneath her.

"Too hot." She pants, her voice coming in a pant as the humidity within the unit's cockpit was making it harder to find breath. The words the enemy says, though, 'big brother' - they seem to cause Lin to wince as if she'd been slapped. "Why?" She murmurs, raising one hand to the side of her helmet. An image flashes in her mind, so brief that it seems like just a trick of the light, but it almost seems as if a second set of blue eyes looks back at her through the steam building on her visor. "Get away from me!" She yells, sounding paniced, and this time the voice gets transmitted over the speakers. It's a shame for Ascian that she and Seril are so far away, because at the distance, the voice is so garbled and distorted it couldn't have a chance at being recognised. Closing her eyes, Lin fires off a set of wild shots, obviously still distracted by the momentary hallucination.

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Seril! Are you okay over there!?"

 Zanki transmits, "Heh, I knew you apes couldn't handle it."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Just keep yourself safe, mister Zanki."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "And don't worry about us 'Monkeys'."

That seems to have struck a chord, though the burst of feedback through her radio makes Seril wince. The dispersed orbs of the broken sun scatter throughout the city, inciting fires in a radiating pattern around the Yatagarasu. The building it's on begins to crumble, and the girl notices this, so she crouches and then sends the Yatagarasu into a soaring leap after its fleeing target. She swings the cannon arm back, preparing to strike with it. However, when limited, the Godmachine is not exactly ... graceful in midair.

It's unable to avoid the shot, which strikes the chestplate hard enough to crack the divined obsidian and knocks the Yatagarasu backwards. Inside, Seril screams, clutching at her chest. Inertia does what inertia does, though, and the La Gian machine's flailing legs act as an impromptu counterattack.

"Ngh..!" Seril blinks her eyes open, gritting her teeth in determination, "I..won't let you get away..!" Yatagarasu reorients itself, using its arm cannon to propell it after the Ootsukigeta, "I won't lose..! I'll make big brother proud of me!" Rearing back with the cannon arm, Seril weilds it like a surprisingly sturdy club, superheated from all this use as a cannon and magical focus. While somewhat clumsy, as Yatagarasu cannot fly, she seems to be aiming to mangle the arm carrying that troublesome beam rifle, "You brought this upon yourself, you know!"

"Macua, heads up!!" Kazuma yells into the radio as he sees the Warrior Beast preparing to blast the Amazon CI; he knows Macua's already got her hands full with the Mechasaurus, but he also knows that she's eminently capable of taking care of herself - and more to the point, if he tried to tank that blast with the Tengu, he'd likely do more harm than good, either to Macua directly or just to the city.

In the Valhawk? Or anything else that's big enough to tangle conventionally with Ascian's abomination? Different story and he'd be glad to be heroic about sheltering Macua. But he's pragmatic and realistic ...

And he raises the variable-speed laser to open up on the Warrior Beast, aiming for those revealed cannons while Ascian is still firing. "Nice try, Ass-cian!!" he snarls over the radio. "But Macua's too much woman for a prick like you to even dream of handling; you probably caught a glimpse out of the corner of your eye and passed out with a critical nosebleed! You couldn't look straight at a girl like her even to save your life!"

Well, Ascian succeeded at ONE thing, anyway: he ticked Kazuma off.

 Seril Vaskell shriek! ... "Nhg..! I won't lose!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Get behind me if you need protection!"

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "It hurts... but I won't hide..!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "It's okay to run away from the pain sometimes, and let your big brother protect you!"

 Zanki transmits, "Yes, it's okay to hide behind others if you can't do it yourself! Heh heh heh."

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "D... don't make fun of me!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Zanki, watch your words. Survival is important to us."

 Zanki transmits, "What? It's not my fault you monkeys aren't good at it."

With her eyes still closed, Lin continues to retreat if only by the fact that her feet are plastered down to the floor of her mobile suit's cockpit, making sure the thrusters are fully engaged in reverse. Her hands shake slightly, but this time it isn't due to the influence of metatron. Something else - something that had triggered her scrambled memories. Flashes of light flicker in her peripherial vision as ghostly images that seem almost like holographic Orbital Frames. To say that it is distracting would be an understatement.

However, when Lin's eyes open, they seem to have grown a bit more wild. Emotions flare - tied to memories she can't even make sense of, or grasp as they flit out of reach of her holding onto them. "Fire Dancer, this is Mistwalker." Over the channel she shares with Macua, "If I'm having some trouble here. Think it's the metatron blast from yesterday playing up with my head. I'll try to hold out." She winces again, something about the other girl's voice, or her words is enough to fuel the change in her that started with the Orbital Frame fight and seems to be growing worse here. "So be it." She mutters under her breath, not bothering to transmit this as the framerunner grits her teeth, reaching for the control stick once again. There is a quick movement as she shifts from retreat to attack, catching only a glancing strike from that cannon arm against her own gun.

While close confines are not her strongest point, it's clear that Lin plans on using this to her advantage. It isn't the smaller gun that fires at the Yatagarasu, though. Instead, the big beam cannon begins to glow. It doesn't have long to charge, and is already overheated by the waves of energy given off by the godmachine, but somehow still seems to be able to fire - even while causing all of Lin's warning lights on her display to blare a sickly color of red.

 Seril Vaskell transmits, "..Rrrh..!"

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

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Shirou Manora transmits, "Huh?"

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Mihiro Ardygun transmits, "Oniichan and Macua-neechan are helping fight off a Divine Crusaders attack - he's in his powered armor, I'm not with him this time."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "I'm...not a monkey! I..!" shhhhVWOOOO~VWOOOO~VWOOOO~!! "..AM A GIRL!!""

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Zanki transmits, "A girl monkey. Big deal."

<Radio: A - Trailer Chat> Shirou Manora transmits, "Oh. Oh! Good luck guys!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Sir Zanki, please pay attention to your own problems. You don't want us Monkeys distracting you."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Zanki transmits, "How unusually intelligent of you. You are right, I must keep my focus on my own fight."

The Yatagarasu falters at last. Unable to fly, its assisted leap has reached its limit and the godmachine plummets to land in the street, ripping up asphalt. The extreme heat causes street lights to burst as the machine straightens. Inside, Seril seethes with rage at the arrogant dinosaur spouting off through her radio. The enraged girl glares after the Ootsukigeta, panting between her teeth. The expression changes when she notes the glow. Glowing things are *bad* when they aren't yours.

Squeezing her eyes shut, the girl shrieks in frustration as Yatagarasu wrenches its cannon arm up, generating a star immediately in front of it. Using this as a shield, the machine takes one step back and re-orients its armcannon. Plasma begins coating the device, incinerating the ground beneath it until Seril unleashes a shout, driving Yatagarasu's right arm into the street up to its elbow.

Underneath the Ootsukigeta, the ground erupts in a geyser of magma and plasma, an obscuring jet of superheated material. And as the small volcano's eruption begins to subside: There it is. The Yatagarasu, surging forward. Inside, Seril screams into her radio, interrupted by the sudden announcement of an enormously loud and distinctive alarm klaxon eminating from Yatagarasu itself. A booming 'VWOOO~VWOOO~VWOOO~!!' that echoes throughout the city. Magic surges along the armor, focusing into the control nexus at the end of the cannon arm, and when it is lifted, Yatagarasu explodes with light.

Six truly enormous spheres of plasma shoot out in a circular pattern, rotating around the godmachine. As these expand, a second ring of four spheres emerge, swirling in the opposite direction. She attempts to trap Alina's mobile suit inside the swirling pattern. Which only becomes worse when the Yatagarasu raises its empty hand. Energy coalesces, then bursts outward, sending rings of smaller stars into the swirling suns *just* to be a bitch.

"SEE THIS?!" she seems to be shouting at Zanki, rather than her true enemy, "IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP, YOU'RE NEXT..!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Gnnn... hn... Seril... get over here."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "...What's wrong, big brother? I'm coming!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Just... I need you at my side."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> James Heller transmits, "You guys okay?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "We're fine."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "But I... ... Okay. I'll be right there!"

In some ways, it is a very good thing that Lin isn't privy to the chaos going on inside the Yatagarasu or on the side of the Crusaders. The confusion in her own mind is bad enough. It is almost impossible to tell if her shot had been absorbed completely in the massive shield of plasma used by the godmachine, or if it had simply gone wide due to some intention, or distraction. The damage sensors of the Ootsukigata begin to blare as the temperature rises to dangerous levels. Sweat pours from the framerunner's face as she searches through the haze of her eyes for the eject button.

"Fire Dancer. Macua. Can't hold out any longer. Need to eject now." Her voice is clipped, as if each word is hard to get out. The heat sucking the oxygen out of her lungs. There is one final look through her visor, like looking into the sun itself, and then Lin punches the button, launching the cockpit from the chest of the Ootsukigata. As it speeds off, she has one last look down at the battlefield below - at the godmachine, the beastmachine, and the dinosaur. Then, blissfully, Lin passes out, the escape pod speeding off in a random direction, obviously out of control.

The mobile suit itself is left behind to the fate that would have befallen Lin if she hadn't managed to escape at the last moment. The plasma spheres along with the intense heat combine to make a massive explosion, sending bits of the Ootsukigata everywhere, some lodging into buildings, others falling in smoldering heaps to the ground. What is left of the unit is a hot, pulsing mess of melted metal. So much for her new mobile suit...

Macua Huitl has some rather unexpected loud speaker chatter. She pauses for a moment wait what someone who saw Adom naked wait what? She's almost paused but she managed to evade the incomming atytack she leaps bounds rolls and almost sems to be dancing out of harms way.

"Huh, were you trying to hit me I'm afraid you'll have to do better than that."

She notes and the Amazon CI still has the spear in hand as the Dinosaur comes after her, she's quick again she counter attacks with the spear evading the attack as she's got in close however.

"Humm is that it from both of you really?"

the Gundam plants it's feet for a moment and the spear collapses and tilts it's head. Then there's a bolt of motion as as she heads for the Dinosaur machine she strikes out punching rapidly then leaps up gets on it's back and kicks off heading right for the Gunman to drop kick it and start up a chain of rapid fist strikes.

"Really? You thought I liked it??"

"Copy that be there soon as I can."

The Amazon CI turns about and kicks the Machine EVA Beast Thing again.

Ascian... can't seem to help but look towards the direction of the fight between Seril and Alina. He heard /a/ voice. Incredibly garbled. But still, he couldn't help but look in its direction, as if it was calling for him. It's a similar feeling to what he'd had a few days back, when he'd fought that strange pilot in the rare - yet Mass Produced unit. And that, together with anger driving Kazuma, and the realization that the guy just recognized him, is plenty to get Ascian to make a stupid mistake. The Tengu's lasers rushes forth and cuts right into the gigantic cannon, which then quickly overloads and explodes!

Ascian was only just in time on purging the weapon and moving his unit, but its explosion still sends the EVA-Gunmen right into a wall and flings it /into/ a building. Within, Ascian actually is tossed around for a moment, and it takes him a moment to get proper balance back. The rubble falls off of the machine as it gets back up, and the words finally start 'making sense' again. "I saw Adom Nazir..." He pants. "Naked... when this strange Gundam..." Again, a pause, as the pressure of the machine is getting to him. "... activated a field. And I saw her naked... just floating... in space." Pause. "She was kinda hot. Liked her better with the white hair."

The machine slowly walks out of the broken building, its six red eyes glowing fiercely. "Also, I had her sitting in my lap, when I gave her a... 'lift'... in my Orbital Frame, a few weeks back. I can see why you like her. She's nice." Wait... okay... that last part wouldn't really anger anyone. Ascian's not really /good/ at this whole, trying to piss people off on purpose. Inheritly, he's still somewhat of a good guy.

The machine gets on its back legs again, standing up like the Humanoid machine it is, and smacks its fists into eachother. Now, normally, one'd expect this time be a show of 'I am about to smack you'. But no, when he pulls his fists away, a twosome of gigantic miniguns have appeared... but before it can start firing, the Amazon CI got up close all of the suddenly and sends a series of rapid punches right to its chest - where its big mouth shows. The machine is pushed straight back into the Neo-MTV building, and only after she kicks at him - and suddenly start firing bullets. With Drills. For Heads. WHO COMES UP WITH THIS STUFF!? Really!? And somewhere at the back of the building, a crash can be heard as he finally rams into a wall.

Ultimate destruction. Several blocks are consumed by the rotating stars over the several seconds they remain, incinerated by the fury of the Yatagarasu. It's not a precise machine. It's not a weapon used for surgical attacks in populated areas with the goal of low casualties. This, and its appearance in Calcutta, and France, and even in the Orb Union, it's all proof that the Yatagarasu's true element is that of a weapon of terror.

Inside the fluid-filled cockpit, Seril leans forward when the light from her ten evil stars begins to fade - The reactions producing such heat are not stable enough for the stars to last on their own, and once the magic is cut off they die quickly. With a grim expression, the girl regards the twisted scrap metal resting where the Ootsukigeta had been standing. Something bright catches the corner of her eye, and she snaps her head up. Immediately, the Yatagarasu raises its armcannon towards the fleeing ejection pod. Magic surges along the cannon, forming an orb of solar plasma.

'Seril, get over here.' 'I need you at my side.'

She hesitates when she hears Ascian's voice, confused. She could just pop off the shot, kill the enemy pilot, and then go to him... But she hesitates. Slowly, the Yatagarasu's aim tracks the pod's position until it's out of sight.

The bright orb dissipates, the cannon is lowered, and Yatagarasu turns to return to the field of battle. Surrounded by smoke, flames, and crumbling buildings, it virtually disappears. Last known trajectory puts it on a rendesvous path with The Beast.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Enemy unit destroyed. I'm coming now!"

<Radio> Tightbeam to Seril Vaskell: Ascian Luddite whispers, "Thanks..."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Ascian Luddite says, "Um... You're welcome..? Big brother, what's going on?"

<Radio> Tightbeam to Seril Vaskell: Ascian Luddite says, "I... don't know. Just... something."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Seril Vaskell: Ascian Luddite says, "Something about that pilot you were fighting."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Seril Vaskell says, "If it helps you feel better, I didn't shoot her down when she ejected."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Seril Vaskell: Ascian Luddite say, "Thank you, Seril."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Seril Vaskell: Ascian Luddite say, "I appreciate it."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Ascian Luddite: Seril Vaskell says, "If I see her again, I'll try to get her name, okay? Though I think she's afraid of me."

<Radio> Tightbeam to Seril Vaskell: Ascian Luddite hrrm.

Zanki couldn't care less about your petty human squabbles over who saw who naked and who liked it. He's here to beat up some Gundams and blow up some MTV headquarters, and since Seril has just demonstrated what she can do when she's angry, he's decided to focus on those instead of antagonizing her further. When Macua comes after him with her combo, he manages to get a slight grip on her Gundam's legs with Zen's teeth, tearing a small chunk of its armor off but achieving little else. The Mechasaurus staggers some more, but is still on its feet. "Foolish monkey. Don't you know that the more you keep fighting, the more dangerous we dinosaurs get?" Zanki transmits. Zen roars again, then charges at the Amazon CI Gundam, attempting to headbutt it. And since it has a drill on its forehead, that headbutt will be a little more painful than usual if it hits.

"You just keep running your mouth, Luddite," Kazuma snaps as Ascian makes the terribly egregious tactical blunder of continuing to taunt two enemies at once. "Thanks for confirming where the tabloids got those photos from, but we've got more truth than you want to worry about! Besides, you've got bigger problems - or should I say *SMALLER ONES*!!"

The laser is still cooling off after Kazuma's last barrage, which paid off rather nicely if he does say so himself; in lieu of that, he goes plowing in towards the Machine Beast, igniting the thrusters to give him a good jumping start, and begins to climb up the Warrior Beast's body, starting from the back of its leg.

And, of course, commencing to maul the heck out of it as he goes.

Macua Huitl is savaged at this point she's quick enough to avoid the full wrath of the dinosaur pilot. he's quite better than the average trooper she has to give him that. "Thats one of the few things I can respect you didn't just... succumb to despair did you?" It's a cruel twist of fate really that has pitted the Dinosaurs against the mammals. She doesn't intend to lose though but she's not quite quick enough to evade the full force she lets out a cry as she's forced back and caught in the EVA Gunmen's attack she's not quick enough this time she knows which gundam's he's talking about. She doesn't trust the CB cept maybe Lockon and that's more because of who he is than anything else Sumeragi and whatever this forced brain networking weapon they have has not gained them any points with her. She's hit pretty hard as she's punched again. She swears at it hitss the building she'd had brough people enough time to run though. Still she's not down as the blast clears however. Her machine is damaged but clearly more durable than the Amazon MKII was from the looks of it. Macua then comments.

"Allow me to show you something, but really can you keep up with it?" Macua summons the spear again and launches her self agianst Ascian's machine attempting to stab it several times before she attempts to grab the machine and boot it into the air. The spear then collapses and Macua will if successful leap after the machine and start to savage it while airborne attacking what may be very well weak points and aiming to strike deep into the other machine as the pair reach the apex she'll slam the other machine to start falling again.

There's a war cry from Macua as she drops towards them with chain of savage attacks intent to just drive the other machine into the ground.

Yeah, it's true. Zanki hasn't succumbed to despair. In fact, looking back now, he's not even sure he's ever known despair in any form. He's always been so sure of himself, so certain of success at every turn. He got top marks in training, and when he fought the other three top trainees for the honor of full Captain status, he defeated them all. Sure, he still has to complete this mission to actually earn the rank, but well...oh look, the Gundam is attacking Ascian now. "There is no despair in the Imperial army! Especially not for one such as I, Zanki!" he says, then turns on the Tengu. Since Macua wants to fight Ascian now, apparently, Zanki will just have to settle for the monkey in the metal suit. He's pretty sure he could just step on it, but where's the fun in that? Another javelin shoots out of Zen's wings, but this time a beam blade appears on the end when it catches it. It takes a few moments to get a good lock on such a tiny target, but as soon as he does, he throws the beam javelin at Kazuma with all the strength he can muster.

Aaactually, Ascian didn't take those pictures. That was all just outside work. But that was besides the point. In fact, he was kinda starting to feel bad about saying these things by now. He's /really/ not that bad of a guy. It's just that the stress of battle sometimes gets to him like that. "I didn't!" He finds a need to defend himself. Yep. He's feeling bad now. The machine growls and hunkers down slightly, sending a gigantic wave of missiles forwards and uses them to hide himself again in the mess as the building starts to come down on both of them, and punches his way out the back of the building. However, with Kazuma still stuck on him, he quickly leaps backwards and tries to ram the machine into a nearby wall and launches another set of missiles - hoping that it might drive back Kazuma and send him into that building so it can crush him!

Then suddenly, there's a pull on his ears. That feeling he gets when he knows he needs to pay attention. Macua is talking to him, and above the building, he sees the machine with that lance. Within a moment, he recognizes it. That lance! There's a quick flashback to the past. When Adom had launched an attack upon him that had almost been too fast to even be seen with the naked eye. Instinctively he pulls his arms back on the machine. No, this one could not hide within the vector trap. And in fact, that whole maneuver had been such a lucky thing that time - that Amenthes had decided to protect its runner through those means.

But this machine, this machine was different. All he could do was trust it and plunge his ever bit of will into the machine, and hope it would protect him. He puts his will in, his will to survive, his will to come out of this alive. "I'M SORRY!" He suddenly calls out, and the machine suddenly thickens. The flesh bulges within a moment, the armor plating shifts, and the monster's mouth opens grandly. A green fervent glow eminates from it, and a gigantic shield forms armor it, swirling. The shield then crushes in on the unit itself and seems to almost take away anything that might slow it down.

And then it moves! The green energy changes to red, and it taps away the first stab of the lance. However, the second stab gets it in the upper leg. Again, Ascian tries to concentrate. He can't follow it with his eyes, but somehow, he's able to follow it. Something is helping him. Like a second pair of eyes looking over his shoulders. The red Metatron energy that normally flows under his eyes is bright, blindingly and painfully so - it actually is burning him slightly. But he doesn't notice. He's too concentrated!

Another series of stabs, which the shield blocks, then the kick! He indeed gets launched into the air, after which Macuarushes up and aims to strike into it. Finally, Macua sees through it. That last strike! Just like he'd seen that one time! He smashes the hands as firmly to his front and /catches/ the lance. The Kinetic shock however rams through the machine still, and within the cockpit, Ascian suddenly coughs up some blood as the lance forces him down, a set of wings suddenly form from its behind! Green acidic liquid splatters everywhere, and a set of... Phoenix Wings come from the machine!? It's truly starting to heed and form after Ascian's will! But it's leaving the young man drained.

When he settles safely on the ground, away from Macua's magnificent machine, he's panting, his eyes unfocussed, and just kinda of... staring at the floor of the cockpit. The machine itself falls onto all fours and its head comes down. A red liquid falls from its mouth, as if the machine itself was bleeding too.

Then slowly, it comes up, the red liquid still drooping from its mouth, fizzing against the ground as it touches the pavement. Two of its eyes at barely burning anymore, and another one is clearly on the fritz. The machine is on its last legs. But, Ascian in his 'Will to Survive', and barely the one controlling the machine anymore, has the machine raise its right arm and forms a gigantic hole in the palm of the hand, from which he sends a gigantic heat-seeking rocket straight for the Amazon CI, before it falls forwards again. Groaning. Panting. Grunting... lightly crying. Why did he get into this machine? It made him feel /horrible/ each time he did. But it protected him from some of the things Amenthes did to him.

Enemy in front, big damn wall behind, missiles all around, only way out is down. Kazuma's Tengu simply lets go and speeds away, trying to outrun the missiles -

And then a beam javelin shears through the Tengu, *juuuust* behind the pilot's space, barely far enough from Kazuma's own flesh to spare his life. It does not, however, spare the SRM-3 missile which is stashed back there.

Cue one massively impressive explosion which sends the Tengu hurtling about twelve blocks, mostly in head-over-heels fashion before it skids to a smoking halt.

On the plus side? Nothing else in the Tengu is going to blow up due to that. Kazuma is gonna be in a hell of a lot of pain when he wakes up, though ....

Macua Huitl has no idea about the picture but she's just comming at Ascian and not letting up at all here. This wasn't spear dance, this was something else. Something employing more Machine God Fist Style upon that something. Still, it's not enough at this point to put Ascian down. She's still in the fight though. She pauses as Kazuma goes down.

"KAZUMA?"

Macua herself is not down. She's not defeated, and she's still in the fight. She's not giving Ascian a moment to breath; it's still moving and she's going to make sure it stays down. She's angry and... well... it is clear; as Kazuma once said Adom isn't really dead in there. She does pause though. Wait, takes some distance. But then the attack is underway and she's evading the former retaliation whilst punching and kicking for anything she may perceive for a weak spot. Macua needs to see this battle through.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Zanki transmits, "Well, I've had my fight and I've taken out an enemy...on foot though they were. Can you monkeys handle the...Gendum, or whatever it's called?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Gundam."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Stop calling me that or I'll set you on fire!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Gundam..."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite like a broken record - not entirely 'there', "Gundam."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Seril Vaskell transmits, "Hang in there, big brother, I'm almost there! It's kind of tough to navigate when I can't fly."

The Beast's chest heaves. The last attack had missed, and within, Ascian's mouth is now slightly tipped over, just staring blankly before himself as the enemy machine comes in - punching and kicking. And the Amazon CI strikes true. This was something new to him, something he could not read as easily. But then, he wasn't a Gundam Fighter. He was horrible when it came to close combat. The first kick pushes The Beast to its legs, after which a rapid machine-gun punches forces it back, even with its claws still to the ground, after which an actual palm-strike sends it straight back...

But it doesn't fall over. It keeps standing up, the machine raising one arm towards Macua's machine. "Gundam..." It growls. "Gundam...." No, he isn't Bushido, he's actually responding to something on the radio he could easily answer. His steps falter, even as it seems rather obvious that it is trying to 'reach out' towards the Amazon CI. "Must... win..."

He's almost like a zombie at this point. Ascian, as much as he's truly a good guy under there, his mind and will are not as strong as one who'd be able to properly pilot this machine. He isn't a Super Robot pilot. At least, his mind has not properly matured along with Amenthes yet. "Must... win..." The machine growls again, taking another slumping and hesitant step forwards, before it suddenly puts its fists to its sides and expells a shockwave of green spiral energy. "MUST WIN!"

And the feathers of the Phoenix Wings suddenly detach, turning to green spiral energy - no longer able to hold their colored form, as Ascian clearly is at the end of his reserves, and as it moves its hands forwards, it launches them straight for the Amazon, trying to strike the arm and leg joints as well as the neck, as to disable its main power feeds and hamper any movement it may be capable of!

Well, now that one enemy is down, Zanki decides to go after that big building with all the corporate executives rolling in piles of cash. It's just sitting there, so inviting, just asking to be shot. And, well, since Macua is otherwise preoccupied... Zanki wants to enjoy this, so he slowly and dramatically reaches for the BIG RED BUTTON. He savors the tingly feeling people of all races get when they are moments away from pressing the BIG RED BUTTON, even licking his lips. And then he slams his palm down on it. Zen's wings split apart in the middle, opening up and allowing a massive beam cannon to slide out. The inside of the barrel glows pink for a few seconds, just before a beam as impressive as the cannon suggests fires from it and wipes the headquarters of Neo-MTV off the face of the Earth. "And mission accomplished," Zanki says, smirking like a smug bastard. "Returning to Machineland for my promotion."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> A few hours later...

<Radio: C - Global> Emperor King Gore smacks Zanki upside the head so hard it can be heard on Global.

Macua Huitl without warning the CI seems to realise something's up. She's turning away from the other one she's attempting to break off and get in harms way; she doesn't know if there are people left at all in there. She's moving to intercept and just doesn't see Ascian's Attack comming as the other machine blows out the back of the Amazon Gundam. The feedback is too much Macua lets out a scream and drops falling forward on the ground leaving a smoking hole in the back of the machine and it's not moving.

And there it is. Emerging from the smoke of its own creation mingling with the raining wreckage from the demolished Neo-MTV building, the Yatagarasu arrives in the vicinity of the battling Amazon Gundam CI and the Beast. Staying off to one side, so as not to attract crossfire, the sinister Godmachine pulls its armcannon from its shoulder and swings the weapon down, slamming it into the pavement hard enough to crush the road down into the underlying sewer system. Inside, Seril nibbles her lip nervously. She'd become convinced that Ascian was really in trouble, but now it seems he's doing just fine. The girl thrusts her fists down, invading the Frame Runner's comms screen with a bust-up image of Seril's pouting face, "You sounded like you were really in trouble! I came all the way over here because I was worried!" She pauses, then, the pout fading to a more relieved half-smile one fang showing, "But I'm glad you're all right." The La Gian girl glances aside at the crumbling structure, then back towards the Beast, "I think we should go. Those jerks learned their lesson, they'll never cancel a good show again!"

When Seril opens that comm-screen however, which even puts a pink and red border around her face and a big yellow son at the top-right border, just to make /sure/ Ascian could see who it was he was talking to... Seril might be able to tell that Ascian... wasn't okay. He's hunched over in the cockpit, his arms at the same level as his back - heaving and coughing. The machine has come to a full stop and is growling, on its knees and keeping itself up by its arms. That red liquid which had fallen from its mouth is still drooling down in small trails. In a ways, The Beast was looking scarier than Yatagarasu. Not in its base form, but in how badly damaged it was. Wounds all across it, flesh loose, metal sticking out left and right, and its body shuddering in synch with Ascian's body within the cockpit.

Slowly, the young man raises his head as he hears his little sister's voice, and raises his upper body slowly. He turns his head towards the monitor and... doesn't even manage to smile. Though he means to calm her, all he manages is an emotionless tone and stare as he replies; "I'm... fine." There's a little bit of blood at the right of his mouth, from when Macua's ealier attacks had committed enough kinetic force to push through. No, wait, a small smile appears. But it is so feint, so weak, it only draws more attention to how much Ascian is /not/ okay. Sure, physically, he'll probably be fine. But this machine, which runs off of his literal will, tends to reduce him to almost the state of a puppet when exhausted.

"I'll be fine." He whispers at her, after which he goes into a dramatic coughing fit and turns away from her to hide the nasty sight. He then lightly pulls on the metal bracers, forcing the EVA/Gunmen to stand back up. Its muscles shake as it does so, and it actually has to try and hold onto a nearby wall to keep upright. "We should go... yes." He mutters, and looks around with an open mouth... not sure /where/ to go.

Upon getting a good look at Ascian's face, Seril's smile disappears. Yatagarasu remains stationary, though the girl leans forward, pressing her hands around the image's 'frame' in the fluid-filled bubble of her own cockpit, "B... Big brother..!" With a little frown, she leans back, her eyes darting from side to side as she evaluates her options. After a moment, those violet orbs drift closed.

"God of fury, awaken and behold this tainted world. Break the seal, open your eye! Merge your strength and mine!"

A red crack appears on the battered Godmachine's chest, quickly widening into the fearsome crimson Eye of Yatagarasu. Rearing back, it deploys its wing spars, rapidly filling them out with the dark energy 'feathers'.

-My Divine Flame.-

"Shut up!"

- ... -

Thus deployed, the Yatagarasu steps forward. Seril struggles inside, pushing out a small smile as she restrains her machine's attempts to superheat its exterior, "Come on, big brother.. Let's go home. I'll carry you."

Ascian remains to be somewhat dull, but when his little sister gives that offering to bring him home. The fact that she unlocked her machine's powers to do so, does have that kneejerk reaction of him wanting to say no first, but he only mouths this at her, not for her to see - for she's already closed those newly purple colored eyes of hers. By now, he's figured out that the machine is indeed changing her. And for her to 'unlock' it like that, in a way, is scary. He's worried about her. But so little of this can come out to the surface right now.

Instead, all he manages to end up saying is "Sure." When she offers to carry him, and The Beast moves one arm up to put over the Yatagarasu's shoulder, and the other moves across its chest so that he can hold on. He figured that, wings means they were going to fly. He quiets down and kind of... falls asleep within the machine. When they'd come back to the Earth Cradle, at least the people there will know what to do. That is, to feed the young man and stick him in his room so he can rest and recover.