Zondar Hellion - Part 2
Reis Duelar is a lot beefier than she looks, apparently, because when the air pressure strike hits her, she barely slides back. Her boots scrape along the ground for the slight bit before she braces herself enough to stop moving.
"Why do you stop me from helping her?" Reis demands, brushing her blouse free of dust. "I had no quarrel with you! And I would not fight you if you would not fight /me/!" She is actually starting to get upset. This means her instincts are kicking in.
She follows them. Reis charges Master Asia, hunched slightly and hands held at her sides - not in fists, but with her fingers slightly curled, as if cupping something invisible. Only at the last moment does she remember to punch and not claw, and it's obvious she has never had any martial arts training; it's just instinct and strength here, nothing more. "Get out of my way, or - or - !"
Reis Duelar hits Master Asia with her REIS SMASH attack.
Hey, don't mock the beamspam! Just because Fate isn't as good at is as Nanoha doesn't mean it's -that- weak. Of course, once she sees that her attack didn't do what she had hoped, Fate frowns slightly. Time for a different tactic.
Flying down toward the Zondar, Fate dodges around one of the globs of bodies. Another is sliced through by her scythe. A third is nearly dodged, but its irregular shape makes it a bit harder to predict, and part of it clips her leg as she flies past. She soon rights herself, however, and shifts her grip on her Device.
~Zamber Form~
The scythe blade disappears, and the head splits into a wide forked shape. Electricity crackles over the weapon, and a long yellow blade extends... and continues to extend until Fate is holding a large sword easily bigger than she is. "You down there! Be careful!" She's calling to the pirates, of course, but pauses as she sees one of them... stretch. Well, that's a new one. Huh. There's little time to wonder, though. Leaning forward, Fate goes into a quick dive, her sword held out to slash at the Zondar's crunchy machine parts as she moves.
Fate Harlaown switches armor modes to Zanber Form.
Fate Harlaown hits Sephi Graham with her Her Zamber blade went snicker-snack! attack.
You take 28 damage.
A second strike shield bit is snatched away, attached to the back of Parmesan's second hand. She does pause for a moment to glance back at the warring robots and the brave people fighting them-struck by the weird actions of the dialysis machine...thing.
It was doing /something/ to the zondar metal. She bristles. The general will find that the laser does make its mark, though it doesn't seem to hurt the Machine King very much beside leaving a blackened, smouldering hole smack in the center of that chest armor. Inside the hole looks like...liquid metal? It drips a little like blood.
Leaving the Master and his goons, Parmesan takes to the sky again, pushing both of her hands together where the stike shield bits split, white light gathering between the splits.
The other strike shields detatch and cluster around the first two, also charging until all six fire at once, melding into a massive single laser blast down at Haruko's...thing.
Parmesan hits Haruko Haruhara with her Yes, the THING attack.
Suck suck suck suuuuuuuuu OH DEAR
The filler tube is plugged by CREATURES OF EVIL. Whatever will it do!? Well, keep trying, for the moment - the filler tube continues to draw in the Zonder's component critters, trying to suck as much in as it can -- but then, at last, its programming cycle is broken when Luffy punches it one bajillion times, which finally causes it to pull away from the Hellion Zonder, and soaring and bouncing downrange...and falling right into the path of Parmesan's death ray, which pushes it hard into the ground.
Within, Haruko makes a sound that is either distress or "Yahtzee!"
The Master's thrown midget slaps into one of the vents, which opens and draws it in. THe pistons slide out, and the pressure rises within - forcing Zonder taint out of the captured core chunks, and...well, probably something altogether more important from the poor doll-ized Sontaran. Good thing he's dead.
But then something happens, as in the arm cylinder, the piston pushes down more, and more, until abruptly the whole chamber purges into a piping that runs throughout the thing's structure, filling the whole thing with...useless waste metal and /evil virus stuff/, right?
Ah, but like so many advances of modern science, Medical Mechanica knows how to /use/ waste...which is shown as the whole machine suddenly begins to vibrate with incredible power!!
Then, it shoots lasers out of its eyes. Not everything MM does has to fit a theme.
Haruko Haruhara buffs her POW to +2.
Haruko Haruhara hits Sephi Graham with her Why does it have eye lasers!? jab.
You take 28 damage.
"I stop you because it was requested of me by one I must consider an ally," Master Asia replies politely. "While her allegiance is no more permanent than that of my Valkyrie, her current task cannot be interrupted by the likes of you." He smiles and continues to move forward. "It is not personal - I would have stopped anyone of the IPA who came to assist. You are meddling in affairs that are beyond your ken."
The old man smils patronizingly as Reis charges in, and he holds his ground, crossing both arms in front of his chest. He absorbs the blow in the cross block, a soft grunt of pain escaping his lips as the force of Reis's punch sends him sliding back a foot or more. "Mmm," he grunts softly, shaking out his arms. "And yet...it seems I now have a second purpose here," he says speculatively. THe old man's hands reach down to the long silk sash tied around his waist, and he slowly unravels it, his shirt falling away from his abdomen as he runs his hands through the wadded cloth.
"You are more than you appear to be," he says firmly. "I would know how much more." Master Asia steps back and snaps his sash toward Reis, the cloth whipping out into a rigid edge that lashes out toward her chest in a diagonal cut.
Master Asia critically strikes Reis Duelar with his Accessory Slots As Weapons attack.
Free at last, free at last, Zoro is...
Getting groped by armless hands. This is about when he focuses less on fighting, than getting these FREAKISH things away from him. And how? He doesn't put down his swords. Instead, he slashes them about.. the arms falling off him in half, even if they were under clothing.. and his clothing with a few more drafts in it. Hey. Slash marks are slash marks.
But that's taken care of now. "That .. thing." He comments about the object that is made of those metal humanoid objects. "Not getting near that again.." For a few reasons. Standing up, he finally relaxes, rubbing his head.. while still holding all three blades. He does it carefully.
And then Fate yells down to them. "Eh?" He asks, to no-one, before turning up to Fate.. who is holding a blade.. a SWORD larger than she is.... and Zoro is suddenly in a rush, running straight to where Fate and the machine are near. "Be careful? .. Around you!? Not going to say no to this!"
He sort of misunderstood you fate.. "ONI-GIRI!" And is currently flashing right between you and the LARGE ZONDAR BALL OF METAL. The only good thing is that he's going to be slashing the Zondar metal TOO... the bad part is he might be slashing Fate as well. "Now stop monkeying around with that metal thing, and face me!"
Roronoa Zoro gets a glancing blow on Sephi Graham with his You're not the problem, but being close is clearly an issue here attack.
You take 8 damage.
Roronoa Zoro misses Fate Harlaown with his SWORD FIGHT MAGNET attack.
Hell, The Master thinks, a shiver of fear running down his spine. He knew he should've prodded the Rani, instead of giving her that much time on her own...
"It's here!" The Sontarian Captain screams, before the monster's claw sticks through the alien's chest. Sputtering, the Sontarian dies...
...and the others get out of the way, revealing a large, gleaming artillery gun. One of the Sontarians aims the weapon upwards, and fires a shuddering beam of light at the Captain, who's body shakes under the pressure, expanding...
...and exploding into a shower of acidic, well. This is a family friendly scene, but let's say 'bits' for sake of completeness.
"The DNA Charges is a success!" The Sontarian Lieutenant enthuses, to General Staal's satisfaction. The General motions, "Formation, around the weapon! Concentrate on the Zondar!"
The Master resists the urge to scowl, holding his laser screwdriver up. It flashes, letting off an orange blink of light once in a while, as the remains of the doll Sontarian stir, as if stretching a little, and the Master searches for Haruko Haruhara...
The Master gets a glancing blow on Sephi Graham with his Alien Tech Is Gross attack.
You take 9 damage.
The Master successfully targets Haruko Haruhara with his Ditto action.
Reis Duelar turns her body just a little when the cloth comes at her. She expects it to be trying to tangle her arm and pull her off balance; she lets it come at her torso instead, because it's larger and thus harder to encircle.
This means that she gets slashed right down the center of her chest. Reis recoils backwards, wrapping her left arm across her chest to hold up her now-bloody blouse while the other holds up one hand in case he tries it again. She's outclassed. She knows it - and she doesn't want to let her body do what it wants to. Reis snorts once, clearing out her nostrils before smoke builds in them, and it's barely visible as a tiny heat haze. "I understand exactly what happened! I don't want to let it happen to anyone else..."
With only one hand free, Reis cannot easily punch, but she can kick. Specifically, she slides off her boots, leaving her walking on bare feet, and then steps forward, to deliver a kick against Master Asia. It's almost a rake using her toes as much as an impact with her heel. She acts like she has claws, even though she doesn't.
Reis Duelar critically strikes Master Asia with her I Know Kung Fu (a little) attack.
"ZONDAR (ZONDAR (ZONDAR)" jealously mumbles, happily cheers, and threateningly shrieks the Hellion when Fate manifests a huge-ass sword and cuts a huge chunk off of it. A HUGE chunk, easily cutting off a quarter of the Zondar Robo's top. A brief purple glow is visible deep within the Zondar as the great slice slides off melodramatically. The mass of bodies quickly pulses and morphs, reforming into a sphere to protect all sides equally and not leave its top so unprotected.
During the shifting, Zoro dives in to strike and... is intercepted!? A pair of hands reach out of the mass and catch his blade mid-strike. Not perfectly, of course, one of the arms is shredded down to the elbow in the attempt, but it certainly stops the attack from being as damaging as it could have. Then another arm comes out to hit Zoro while he's at point blank range... except this isn't an arm. It's a giant drill, vaguely reminiscent of a dentist's tool, and it's trying to spear the swordsman through the shoulder.
The Dialysis Robo should not have eye lasers. Seriously. That's just mean-spirited. A rather large crater is blasted into the side of the Hellion, causing its entire surface to ripple for a few moments. Then it ripples a little more, pulling a body from near the core to the surface... a robot that it didn't even bother breaking down, shaped vaguely like a large hand with a great big speaker in the palm. The hand is hurled at Dialysis Robo and, should it manage to get a hold on the thing, will beginpumping an ultrasonic frequency into the machine in an attempt to get its tubes to shatter.
The exploded Captain soaks the various mannequins around it in acidic goo, causing them to twist and melt as the caustic substance eats into their bodies and boils them away. Metallic chunks fall to the ground, sizzling softly. Of course, while that deals with the immediately attacking mannequins, it doesn't do much to the big ol' floating mass, which only got a few drops against it.
You miss Roronoa Zoro with your THIS IS MY DRILL attack.
You critically strike Haruko Haruhara with your Medical Mechanica Tech attack.
Master Asia spreads his arms wide as Reis comes in toward him, his hands snaking down toward the woman's foot as she kicks him. The impact staggers the old man - were those ribs cracking? - but iron will and training keep his hands moving about their appointed task - in this case, tying the end of his silken sash around Rei's ankle.
"School of the Undefeated of the East!" he snaps, hopping quickly backward and gathering the other end of the sash in his right hand, his left arm held close against those injured ribs. He pulls hard on the sash, threatening to take Reis off her feet if she doesn't slip free, the spin quickly accelerating as dark chi envelops the martial artist. "Choukyuu!" he booms, his features a dark purple blur. "Haow! DENEIIIIIIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAAAN!" he screams, finally releasing the sash and sending Reis - if she is still attached - careening toward a nearby beer hall.
Master Asia misses Reis Duelar with his You Spin Me Right Round Baby Right Round Like A Record Baby Right Round Round Round attack.
Just as things typically go, Zoro is getting massive amounts of violence while Luffy himself is pretty much having the time of his life. After he finishes his flurry, he lands on the side of the robot, and stretches out an arm to grab hold and latch on, all whilst laughing and smiling as if it were all a big carnival ride. Even as the machine is attacked and thrown about, Luffy laughs and smiles, as all of the horrible attacks seem to land on every location except where Luffy happens to be hanging from! With another amused laugh, Luffy stretches his free arm out backwards, and begins twisting it like a corkscrew. "If it can withstand his attack, I'm definitely going to ask it to join my crew!!!" his unendingly enthusiastic voice proclaims.
And then, he lets his fist fly forward, aiming for the closest part of the Dialysis Robot he can see, with an accompanying cry. "GOMU GOMU NO RIFLE!!!!"
Monkey D. Luffy misses Haruko Haruhara with his SILLY ATTACK NAMES attack.
Pulling her hands away, Parmesan ascends higher in the air above the two battling machines, dodging acidic alien bits in the process.
Something happens and the zondarian twitches in annoyance. The shields shift again, this time four clustering around one arm, aimed down at the dialysis monster. They charget lasers again, this time for a whole lot longer than normal, white light swirling around the machine king as it builds.
This too is aimed at the meddling MM. Frustration, to her annoyance, was starting to settle in at this point. How dare that organic filth question her judgement! What does he know?
Parmesan hits Haruko Haruhara with her Smash ball get? super.
Haruko Haruhara has been knocked out!
~Sonic Move~
When the swords swing out, Fate... is no longer there. A brief yellow blur may be seen by those with sharp enough eyes, before she reappears a short distance away. "I don't know why you're attacking me, but now is most definitely not the time. There's an innocent person inside here and I intend to free her." Although Fate's voice is surprisingly soft and calm, there's a sharp look in her red eyes. She does mean business and will fight back if he persists. For now, though, there's something more important. "Time is of the essense. Bardiche!"
~Cartridge Load~
A part of the sword's handle slides back, revealing a revolver-like structure beneath. The revolver spins, and a cartridge is forced through. CH-CHUNK. It spins again, and another cartridge is fed in. CH-CHUNK. The cover closes, releasing a cloud of steam.
Shifting her grip on the handle, Fate suddenly moves in again. Instead of slashing, she dives straight toward the Zondar to embed the blade into it. It isn't just a stab, though... the touch of the blade is electrifying, and a large shockwave accompanies the strike.
Fate Harlaown buffs her AGI to -1.
Fate Harlaown buffs her POW to +2.
Fate Harlaown misses Sephi Graham with her Dimension Cutter! attack.
And .. well. "HEY!" Zoro suddenly feels the blades stop.. and while the monster doesn't have much luck REALLY stopping them, it seems to do it well enough.. before a drill attempts to spear Zoro through the shoulder. AS much as Zoro could TAKE it.. there's things you don't want to experience.
A drill to the tooth is bad enough. To the shoulder, and you got some horrible dentist horror stories right there! Kicking off the robot, one of the hands reaching for him actually helping for once, Zoro's up and off of the thing.
And as .. Fate doesn't have a sword anymore.. Zoro stares at her. "Wait.. you're not a swordsman? ... WAIT.. you're a...." Zoro stares. Formal uniform, jacket, trencoat.. AND NOW he notices the skirt. AND THE FEMALENESS.
He's sort of slow.
.. "Dammiiiiit." He attacked a girl. HE DOESN'T FIGHT WOMEN... but hey. He never hit her. Turning around, Zoro just kicks at the ball of objects. "Stupid thing actually helped." KICK.
Roronoa Zoro gets a glancing blow on Sephi Graham with his TINK feint.
You take 18 damage.
Reis Duelar manages to keep her foot from being tangled by a quick hop back, which is harder than it looks when you're high kicking in ankle-length dresses. Someone really has to tell her that pants on women are not wrong and immoral, and then make her believe it enough to wear some.
Reis stands again, still keeping her left arm across her body. "I still only want to help Graham! Although if you're helping Parmesan..." Maybe she /should/ kill Master Asia, or at least stop him? She edges sideways around him, kicking straight at his stomach this time in a push kick. No raking. It works fairly well on monsters...
Reis Duelar misses Master Asia with her Somehow, Though, Train Seems Destined To Fail On Martial Artists attack.
The Master, being a jerk, has slipped his way towards his TARDIS by now.
The Sontarians notice their main communicator and coordinator's beat feet, and take advantage of the break in attack to do the same.
Long distance to Parmesan and Haruko Haruhara: Sephi Graham hmms. "I wonder if we should call Merc in to DYNAMIC ENTRY the hell out of Hellion, since Parm did this to piss him off."
The old man is slowed slightly by the damage to his ribs - which seem to be cracked rather than snapped from what he can determine - but is still quick enough to spin to his right, Reis's kick rustling his loose-hanging tunis as he steps in toward her, two fingers jabbing toward her leg.
"While I have enjoyed this warm-up exercise," Master Asia says softly, driving both hands forward in a series of rapid jabs aimed at pressure points all over Reis's body, "I regret to inform you I can delay no longer...my colleague has discerned all she can from yours, and all that remains is to discard the husk."
He flicks one last jab toward her left shoulder, completing the temporary paralysis of her muscles if it strikes. "My task remains to ensure she has a....captive audience."
Master Asia stuns Reis Duelar with his This Is The First Joke Master Asia Has Told In Two Years, And It Will Likely Be The Last action.
The Master's dark work begins, working hard to locate, deep within the MM Robot's body, Haruko Haruhara, champion of justice! His work will be made difficult, however, because suddenly everyone hates Dialysis Robots! The Zonder blasts it with a shattering ultrasonic wave that causes the energy siphons to shatter all at once...Luffy's mighty fist misses only because the thing is literally blown flat by the force of the ultrasonic wave. But then its life is ended abruptly - blown to teeny tiny itty bitty smithereens by the power of ZONDER DEATH RAY!
KABLOOIE! Poor type [KD], offline forever! And Haruko, dead because it was destroyed before the Master's noble work was finished!
"Patooie! Ahhh!" a whiny voice declares, as shattered hyperplastic goes hurtling away from the impact zone, revealing HARUKO HARUHARA, CHAMPION OF THE WEAK! She is wet from some probably best-unexamined substance that looks suspiciously like only somewhat-diluted blood, however she still has her guitar, and it's still buzzing.
"I MEANT to do that!" Haruko declares, shaking gunk out of her hair.
Haruko Haruhara switches armor modes to Guitarist.
Haruko Haruhara fully heals Haruko Haruhara with her A NEW CHALLENGER HAS APPEARED action.
Reis Duelar has no idea why she is getting poked - which is not the word she thinks - by Master Asia. She tries to meet it but can't predict where he's going after next, and while she may disalign a strike or two, it isn't enough to save her from paralysis.
She stumbles and falls, her entire body going slack as she loses feeling in her limbs; both arms drop, and Reis ends up lying on her side, eyes about half-open, essentially unmoving. At least she can breathe, that's a nice touch, but it's about all she can do.
If Beowulf saw her in /this/ position, slashed-up dress and all, somebody would probably die.
"Hmph!" Parmesan snorts, dispelling the strike shield bits from her hand. "Now that /that/ distraction is out of the way..."
The hovering Machine King turns her attention back to her Zondar, taking stock of its condition and who is still attacking it. She recognizes that humans are still tangling with it like ants, but by now it has lost a considerable amount of mass thanks to their efforts and the filtering actions of the MM. As much as she'd hate to do so, she might have to cut her losses at this point.
When questioned by her ally, she informs him of this decision. Perhaps she could take the core and flee to a more secluded area to cultivate it.
Noting the crazy guitar woman again, her strike shields shift to point at her in warning. "Don't even /try/ anything funny, human."
Zoro's kick to the ball of objects (it really is more random bits of junk and machinery than bodies by now) manages to break off the drill-arm, sending it arcing slowly upwards and then back down into the Hellion, where it drills down a few feet and becomes stuck. The Hellion does not much care for having its own attacks turned against itself, and responds by sprouting several immense spikes out of its side to try and impale the swordsman.
As for the Dimension Cutter... Fate doesn't even get a chance to connect. An immense mechanical arm BURSTS out of the sphere of pieces as she comes in for the jab, trying to slam her torso with a wicked palm strike and send her flying away.
Haruko is left alone the moment, because she is not a hostile Medical Mechanica Robo and does not seem particularly delicious. Though, speaking of the Dialysis Robo, Speaking of, the giant Ultrasonic Hand has grabbed onto its remains and is starting to swing around, apparently building up enough of a spin to hurl the thing... somewhere.
You critically strike Roronoa Zoro with your THESE ARE MY... giant dental picks? attack.
You hit Fate Harlaown with your Talk to the hand! jab.
Fate Harlaown resets her buff status to neutral.
The spikes rip from the metallic object, creating SEVERAL IMMENSE SPIKES.. that do, indeed, go through Zoro. It looks like it MIGHT just hurt.. but the swordsman grits, pulling himself off the spikes, blood flowing more than freely. To the normal eye, it looks like it might have just hit an artery.. but he doesn't even begin to go down, focusing now if more than ever.
"That's how it's going to be ...." Zoro comments, before backing off.. "Well.. That's it!" .. And then he staggers back a few more times..
Before then suddenly just plain FALLING OVER. Hands clenching the blades, and mouth as well.. but a new sound joins the din of battle.
And it sounds like someone .. is sawing wood. Lots of sawing.
The swordsman is given a brief glance. "I am a Mage, Midchildan class." The fact that she also fights with a sword has nothing to do with this, though Zoro might still appreciate seeing one of the many battles that take place between Fate and Signum.
But she has to focus on her attack! As Fate dives in, however, she finds herself swatted aside by a giant arm. It impacts with a loud thump, sending her flying back a good distance and crashing into the ground with a large cloud of dust. "That... hurt." Taking a breath, the blonde pushes herself back to her feet. Rather than charging in again, however, she lifts an arm and points toward the skies. Perhaps... a dramatic point!
Far overhead, dark clouds begin to form, already rumbling and sparking. This is most definitely not a natural meteorological phenomenon. "May the lightning come down and bless me with its power. I call the storms to give me their aid..." The cloud grows larger, larger... and Fate lifts her sword high. "RAIJIN!"
A loud CRACK of thunder resounds and a bolt of lightning comes down, striking the sword and running down through Fate's body. She doesn't seem to be hurt by it at all, though. "You will release the girl and never touch her again..." Gripping the handle of Bardiche Zamber with both hands, Fate swings it down and around...
~Jet Zamber~
Suddenly, the large blade, yellow energy crackling with purple lightning, extends outward. The sword blade extends toward the Zondar, growing at a remarkable speed, to impale the robot. Once the extension is complete, Fate shifts her weight and swings the blade to the side, tearing Bardiche Zamber out past the point of impact. "AAAAAAAAAH!"
Fate Harlaown hits Sephi Graham with her A sword Sanger would be proud of super.
You take 51 damage.
Parmesan also winces as a /really big sword/ is taken up against her Zondar.
...something was familiar about that, uncomfortably familiar.
As the hulking Dialysis Robot is mortally wounded, Luffy is able to barely manage to lose his grip and then escape certain empathetic pain. He falls to the ground, using a hand to clutch his beloved straw hat to his head, he simply extends his feet and lands naturally. But yet, as he appears unharmed, he... cannot take his eyes off of the robot. He stands there, completely shocked, as it makes it's final death throes and then is destroyed... forever. "You..." he mutters in disbelief, his voice quivering. "You killed him." Luffy pulls back his straw hat. "YOU KILLED HIM!!!!" he then yells, an absolutely crazy look in his eyes. He starts to sprint towards the Hellion Zondar, greeting and clenching his teeth all the meanwhile. "YOU KILLED ME NEW CREW MEMBER!!!"
Of course, that is point we could be reminded that the Dialysis Robot wasn't his crew member, wasn't even a -person-, wasn't his crew member, was controlled by a woman who might just be as bad as the one who destroyed it, and that Luffy was as responsible for its downfall as anyone else!
But when it comes to will and determination!!, SUCH THINGS ARE MEANINGLESS!
Haruko shakes her head a little more, taking one step...and then oh, dear, Strike Shields. She looks up at Parmesan, /truly/ unimpressed, and demonstrates this lack of concern by pointedly pulling her left glove off, and then jamming her finger up her nose and twisting in search of glory. "You really think I /care/ what you do, don't you?" she jeers. WHILE PICKING. "You're just a little speed bump compared to what I need! Why would I care about one Zonder? Or two, or five? Jeeze."
She pulls her finger free, and inspects it with greater care than she is spending on addressing Parmesan. "I'll fight 'em because they're in my way, not just 'cuz they're there. What kind of idiot would do that?"
She flicks something off her finger, and then turns her attention up to Parmesan. "I'd say today was kind of interesting, nya~" she says, grinning that maniac look she gives when she's being sneaky. "I didn't know MM had a trick like /that/ up their sleeve. Tricksy hobbitses, always getting underfoot, nya!"
...she doesn't attack the Zonder. Just kind of stands there, being weird at Parmesan.
There is a presence behind Reis. She probably is quite worried about it, given her situation. A pair of hands touch her, quickly picking her up under her arms and dragging her over into the shelter of a nearby building. There is the recognizable, distinctive hiss of steel being drawn, and then a coat is draped around Reis' shoulders. It's a familiar coat. A trenchcoat, in fact, which probably does well to deal with her clothing situation.
Mercade steps around Reis, giving a tip of his fedora. "Be safe, Reis. I'll be back." Abruptly, he bolts from the room.
Parmesan knows he's coming. That burning fire of emotion can't be hidden from a Zondarian, much less one as sensitive as she. This is why the investigator doesn't even bother with trying to ambush her. With a roar, the investigator lunges from an alleyway, striking downwards with a gladius... And then a second blade follows, this one not bright steel, but the dull glint of worked iron. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" Mercade yells at Parmesan. "DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?"
Mercade Alexander hits Parmesan with his SNEAK ATTACK! attack.
That unmistakable spike of rage! Parmesan has felt it before and it brings a smile to her face. Yes. /Yes/. The other half of the reason. Something did work out, though it was really a secondary objective. She gives Haruko a catty grin before turning away to face the detective.
She doesn't even attempt to block, the gladius cleaving right into her chest, followed by the second. The blow is actually strong enough to slap her down to the ground.
She doesn't attempt to get up either, or even attack. She just /laughs/. "Oh, you KNOW what I did to her, detective! YOU KNOW!"
The mocking tone only makes the fire hotter. Mercade doesn't even withdraw the weapons, leacing Parmesan pinned to the ground as he pulls out a gun, pressing a barrel to Parmesan's forehead. He leans in, his voice low and hissing. "Undo it. Release her." The gun hand trembles, the detective clearly trying to /not/ put a bullet into the Machine Queen's head yet. "Do it, Aya. Don't make me do something you'll regret."
As the sky darkens, the Hellion begins to glow. Or, perhaps it would be more precise to say that the Zondar had been glowing the entire time, but so faintly that the sun needed to be blotted out before the faint purple light could be seen glowing out from gaps between the robotic parts.
It begins to hum ominously. A long, drawn out, "Zonnnnnnnnnnnnnnn..." The machine parts begin to ripple again, some faint bit of intellect somewhere within the creature realizing that something very bad is about to happen as lightning flashes and paints the creature's features in relief.
And then... something very bad happens. The creature screams in every emotion the human mind is capable of producing as Fate's blade easily slides into it and is viciously torn out, sending a spray of parts into the adjacent buildings. The purple core of the Zondar is easily visible for a few moments before sealing up again, the remaining pieces trying desperately to retain their spherical shape. Where once the Zondar managed a healthy twenty-plus feet, however, it is barely ten in diameter now.
This is about the time that the hand reaches the necessary spin it requires. It begins to wobble off-kilter, getting a proper angle, and then releases the remains of the dialysis robot into the Zondar Hellion, sending it into a nearby building and ricocheting down the street for several dozen meters. Eventually it manages to catch itself, and pulsates for a few moments as if chewing the other Robo's form.
Finally it stops. Completely stops. Parts begin to fall off... slowly at first, but quickly turning into a torrential downpour of ruined machinery. As the last piece falls, what is revealed is perhaps more disturbing than its previous form...
The core of the Zondar is clearly visible now, glowing a virulent shade of purple. Barely visible within it is the curled up form of Sephi, head bowed down and clutching her knees to her chest. Surrounding this is a thick web of various mechanical pieces, pipes and bars. And from the core extend four tentacle-like arms, upon the end of each one is mounted one of the laser batteries from the Dialysis Robot. They no longer need to filter energy out of slag, now that they are hooked directly into the Zondar Robo itself.
Lasers which are now glowing a terrible violet. Immense beams of sickening violet light tear out of each laser, flailing wildly and shearing through the nearby buildings. There is no control here, simply mindless lashing out at the surrounding area. Those still here would do best to get out of the way... considering how much damage the weapons are doing to the buildings, the amount of pain they could inflict upon a body is... frightening to consider, to say the least.
Now that the legion of bodies is gone, all that is left is a single voice. A voice which shrieks desperately, amplified through a series of speakers that still make up part of the core's shield.
ZONDAR!
You miss Parmesan with your You took my heart super.
You hit Haruko Haruhara with your Deceived me right from the start super.
You hit Monkey D. Luffy with your You showed me dreams super.
You hit Fate Harlaown with your You broke a promise and made me realize super.
You hit Mercade Alexander with your It was all just a lie. super.
Reis Duelar, by the time Mercade comes for her, is already starting to move again. She is glad for the trench coat, though; she was very drafty, and Beowulf would have gone insane.
A few moments later, she comes out with it buttoned all the way up to her chin. It is actually not /that/ much too big for her, as Mercade is a stick of a man, but it is a little long. The lasers prodded her the rest of the way into action, apparently; even if none of them hit her, she /felt/ that in her bones.
She starts to run. Between being tangled in her skirts and her new long coat, it isn't quite as easy to do as she'd like.
Reis Duelar successfully targets Reis Duelar with her Hey, Free Coat action.
Haruko just hops down from the corpse of Dialysis Robo, tossing something up and down in her hand as she strides away from the wreck, while HELLION ZONDER does its horrible work, viciously and horrifically EATING the remains of the MM Robo, and Haruko just laughs, and laughs. "See how that tastes..." She grins, taking a look at the object - a metal plate with some identifying nubmers on the side. "Hmmm...this one?" she murmurs, and looks off - over, toward the vast iron-shaped Medical Mechanica plant in the distance, which suddenly stops blaring sirens and starts blasting thick gouts of steam into the air, obscuring the heavens themselves.
The steam is thick, and not nearly as white as one would expect - indeed, it seems as much smoke as harmless vapor. The Vespa Woman snickers. "/Hell/ yeah!" she laughs.
At which point Zonder Hellion finishes its terrifying transformation, and knocks Haruko right the hell down by shrieking at the top of its impressive vocal range.
"WAAAAAAAGH! HOLY CRAP! What is this, Spinal Tap!?"
Mercade is so intent on Parmesan, that he only barely sees it coming.
If he didn't see it coming, this would have gone differently. The massive laser sweeps across Mercade, sending him flying back to crash into a wall. The sonic blast pulses out, shattering him through the wall in a noise of loud, collapsing stone.
Nevertheless, Mercade rises from the stone in a rush of crashing noise. "DAMN YOU!" His shirt has a massive burn across it, flesh beneath scorched... But somehow not burned through. He looks like he's clearly been seriously hurt, but amazingly, he's not down.
The laughter fades, a serious look overcoming the Zondarian's face. "It already is. It's unravelling, becoming undone. Can't you see? She can't sustain it..." Parmesan can /feel/ that, and she's not sure about the cause. Maybe it's aggrivated damage or complications from Haruko's machine, or even that Master guy.
The Zondar was not maturing.
She's about to contest that Aya thing, though instead she does say something slightly different. "Why do you people keep insisting that it's me...?" Unlike Mercade, she's very aware of the Zondar's state and is more than prepared to get out of dodge.
The moment Mercade is distracted, she takes advantage and allows her body to melt away into a mess of goo and wires, which meld with the ground, then vanish.
Once the swing is complete, Bardiche returns back to normal still-far-too-big-for-Fate size. She slowly hovers up into the air again, holding her Device easily in one hand. "Is that the core? I think I see it." She also sees tentacles with laser cannons. Before they can fire, the blonde extends her free hand forward.
~Defensor Plus~
The gem on Bardiche glows for a moment, and a large translucent yellow dome forms over Fate, barely an instant before the beam lands. The force is a bit more than expected, however, and she leans forward into it. The shield appears to hold for a moment... then cracks form over its surface, and the remainder of the beam smashes through and washes over the Enforcer.
When the light fades, Fate is still hovering in place. Her Barrier Jacket is still in tact, though there are dark marks across her face and legs. "There will be no more of that." She holds her hand out again, and that panel on Bardiche slides back. CH-CHUNK. CH-CHUNK. CH-CHUNK. After three cartridges are loaded in, a crackle of electricity appears on the ground and rubble all around the Zondar, and a large dome forms over her. No more of that laser stuff is allowed!
Perhaps understandably, Mercade is /pissed/. "AYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He screams, firing at the goop that is Parmesan as she flees. The bullets spang off of the ground, harmlessly. He begins to tremble as he walks forward, holstering the gun. Hands reach down, pulling the blades from the ground, quietly staring at the pockmarked area.
And then he looks up, glaring at the Zondarized Sephi. "I promised I would protect you." He says, as he strides forward towards the machine. "You keep making me into a liar, don't you, Sephi."
Eyes narrow, slightly, as he hops up onto a half-slagged car. "Nevertheless, I'm coming. Just hold on." He launches forward, leaping up and bouncing off of a lightpole, sailing over Haruko's head and spinning to land in a crouch, a blade in each hand. He doesn't speak again, running faster than a human ought to be able to and sliding in just before the dome manifests. This might just mean Mercade's trapped inside with that... thing. He leaps, pouncing onto one of the tentacles and sliding down it, flipping over a lashing hunk of metal. There is a ring of steel, as Mercade strikes, slamming blades into the framework that still surrounds the Core, over and over. He leaps, rebounding off of the speaker and trailing his blade, before spinning and cutting down at the lattice, sparks flying with each strike.
Mercade Alexander juggles Sephi Graham with his Peeling The Onion combo.
You take 16 damage.
Mercade Alexander juggles Sephi Graham with his Peeling The Onion combo.
You take 19 damage.
Sephi Graham breaks Mercade Alexander's combo.
The Zondar shudders and buckles as Mercade climbs it, apparently not very stable. It begins to thrash around, thankfully sparing the surrounding buildings even further destruction by Fate's magic barrier. "ZONDAR," the Hellion laments, the Greek Scion's blades lashing away at the mechanical latticework holding the core in place. One by one pieces begin to slough off, before an entire tentacle falls away and throws the entire thing off balance. It hurls itself against the walls a few more times before plummeting to the ground and flailing weakly. Parmesan was right, the Zondar is rejecting the metal. Perhaps Sephi is simply too young to have emotions mature enough for a true Zondar to grow off of. It would certainly explain the half-complete form that the creature had taken.
You hit yourself with your Zondar Metal Rejection super.
You take 35 damage.
You get a glancing blow on Mercade Alexander with your Be careful the core doesn't land on you! jab.
Reis Duelar continues to hustle. She comes up - well, not quite to Mercade, but to where he jumped from a few moments ago; shading her eyes, she looks up at him jumping around and trying to free the core.
And then he /does/, and expecting she is stronger than him (nobody told her anything about him) Reis picks up speed again, holding her arms out. Maybe she can catch the Core - maybe, if she's very lucky, and it bounces just the right way. Yes, they said not to do it without a healing spell or something, but /maybe/ she can fake it if she has to. Is Zondar like chicken pox? Can you get it more than once?
Haruko slowly, oh-so-slowly, rises, shaking out her head again after the sonic wave blew up her eardrums and also her mind.
"Huh," she says, turning back around. The Zonder's falling apart. "Core rejection...?" she mutters. "Or...eh, something like that anyway." She stands up, stretches...and sees something in the distance. She spies it coming, arcing in from on high--hmmmm.
Oh. Oh dear.
"Looks like trouble," Haruko murmurs. "Better...ooooh." She spies the core - falling, falling, to its inevitable doom! Oh, what soul will take pity on it!
The Vespa Woman grabs her guitar, pockets her prize from the MM Robot's core, and then LEAPS at the Zonder Core, bounces off a building, ricochets off of a signpost, streaking toward the core - the guitar's motor suddenly revs up as she gives the generator another tug, and Haruko yells, "KID, ONE LESSON!" with a crazy, crazy laugh. "If you want to get /anywhere/ in this stupid world, you can't be afraid to...!"
She swings the guitar - hard, hard enough that it would've shattered the armor of the Zonder earlier. Now, it will probably send the core hurtling into the air.
Haruko Haruhara hits Sephi Graham with her "SWING THE BAT!" super.
You take 41 damage.
You have been knocked out!
As soon as she sees the core come loose, Fate drops her hand, and the Field dissipates. There's no real need to contain it anymore if it's not going to be attacking anymore.
Of course, she was not expecting a certain crazy wasp woman to immediately go charging in and smacking the thing with her guitar. "Wait!" Not like calling out will stop that. All Fate can do is try to keep an eye on the core and be prepared to move.
Mercade may parkour and basejump for fun, but even he has issues keeping his balance occasionally. Occasionally. The Zondar flails, and Mercade is knocked off, falling. He twists, preparing to launch a counterattack, when the dissolving mecha promptly falls on him with a crunch.
Mercade's yell is muffled and somewhat undramatic. "AGH! GET OFF ME, SEPHI! YOU'RE HEAVY LIKE THIS!"
The core twitches as Mercade struggles to get out from under it, meekly whining "Zondar..." once more.
SUDDENLY, HARUKO!
The Core goes airborne with a cracking sound, lines spiderwebbing across the surface as it arcs higher and higher, then sloooowly begins to feel the effects of gravity and come back down. About halfway to the surface the core breaks apart, purple shards drifting away from the falling body of Sephi and evaporating into nothing.
Uh oh, Reis thinks, as she watches the Core go /up/ again. Up is somewhere she can't go!
She can go along, though, and with her neck craned all the way up, Reis hustles as fast as she can towards where she thinks it's going to come down. She's strong enough to catch a falling body - she hopes - and she isn't so badly cut that it will hurt /too/ badly.
Mercade, however, is faster than she is.
Haruko finishes her followthrough, and then whips her guitar back around to rest against her shoulder.
She grins. "Pop fly!" she crows. Then she turns on her heels, beginning to walk away from the battle site - smirking to herself, as she beholds the distant iron-shaped MM factory billowing black smoke, the sound of fire engines wailing in the distance.
Mercade is handily saved by... Haruko?
Any gratitude he might express is quickly dismissed in the face of the evaporating Zondar Core. "SEPHI!" Mercade yells, scrambling to his feet and immediately leaping up to a fire escape, pushing off of it to rebound onto the top of a telephone pole. From there, it's a simple leap to catch the falling Sephi in midair. He reaches out, his arms wrapping around the gothloli carefully as he falls... His arc rapidly becoming a quick downward descent.
Unceremoniously, the wounded investigator drops right into Reis' arms, with Sephi in hand. "Ooof!" He says, blinking over to Reis. He hopes he didn't squish the woman. "Reis! I owe you one!"
One of Mercade's hands, however, is already moving on its own, pulling a gun from an underarm holster and leveling it at Haruko without Mercade even looking. It's clear what /he/ thinks.
Reis Duelar can catch and hold up one person, especially when they are as slight as Sephi is. Two is pushing it. It doesn't help that she's already been bruised and beaten by Master Asia.
She gives a decidedly unladylike grunt as she wobbles on her feet and, as delicately as she can manage, puts them down without taking her back out.
Under some circumstances, Fate might be concerned with preventing the crazy wasp woman from leaving. However, there is the more pressing concern of the girl who has been flung up into the air.
~Assault Form~
With a few sparks and a hiss, the blade of Bardiche Zamber disappears. The hilt folds into itself, with several releases of steam and some clunking sounds, until the Device once more resembles an axe.
When Fate spots Mercade leaping up to atch the falling girl, she decides it might be best to remain on the ground. He might hurt himself if she snags the girl out of the air. However, when he falls toward Reis, Fate is suddenly -there-, one hand resting on the dragoner's shoulder for support. "Is everyone alright?"
Fate Harlaown switches armor modes to Impulse Form.
Sephi grunts as she's snatched out of the air by Mercade, apparently unconscious, and again when they land on top of Reis. She appears to be no worse for the wear, considering what just happened. The band-aid on her head is hanging off limply, and the Zondar Metal is... gone. Completely gone.
Well... perhaps 'no worse for the wear' isn't right. There are streaks of tears running down her cheeks, a decidedly un-Sephi-like feature.
Haruko blithely keeps on walking away. Does she know Mercade is aiming at her? /Could/ she know? She's done stranger things than that, to be sure...
Either way, she doesn't turn back - she's walking down the street, toward where the mysterious "light-speed Vespa" is awaiting its master.
Mercade considers, for a moment, firing.
He decides against it. Getting dropped by Reis helps with the decision. Despite his rampant desire to finally put some holes in ONE of these assholes, he holsters his gun, instead using both arms to pick up and hold Sephi in his arms. "Persephone..." He shakes his head, and hugs her for a moment. "You'll be all right now." He looks over to Reis and Fate. "Thank you both, for everything. I owe you one... I should get her back home." He nods, and begins walking off.
"Why do you stop me from helping her?" Reis demands, brushing her blouse free of dust. "I had no quarrel with you! And I would not fight you if you would not fight /me/!" She is actually starting to get upset. This means her instincts are kicking in.
She follows them. Reis charges Master Asia, hunched slightly and hands held at her sides - not in fists, but with her fingers slightly curled, as if cupping something invisible. Only at the last moment does she remember to punch and not claw, and it's obvious she has never had any martial arts training; it's just instinct and strength here, nothing more. "Get out of my way, or - or - !"
Reis Duelar hits Master Asia with her REIS SMASH attack.
Hey, don't mock the beamspam! Just because Fate isn't as good at is as Nanoha doesn't mean it's -that- weak. Of course, once she sees that her attack didn't do what she had hoped, Fate frowns slightly. Time for a different tactic.
Flying down toward the Zondar, Fate dodges around one of the globs of bodies. Another is sliced through by her scythe. A third is nearly dodged, but its irregular shape makes it a bit harder to predict, and part of it clips her leg as she flies past. She soon rights herself, however, and shifts her grip on her Device.
~Zamber Form~
The scythe blade disappears, and the head splits into a wide forked shape. Electricity crackles over the weapon, and a long yellow blade extends... and continues to extend until Fate is holding a large sword easily bigger than she is. "You down there! Be careful!" She's calling to the pirates, of course, but pauses as she sees one of them... stretch. Well, that's a new one. Huh. There's little time to wonder, though. Leaning forward, Fate goes into a quick dive, her sword held out to slash at the Zondar's crunchy machine parts as she moves.
Fate Harlaown switches armor modes to Zanber Form.
Fate Harlaown hits Sephi Graham with her Her Zamber blade went snicker-snack! attack.
You take 28 damage.
A second strike shield bit is snatched away, attached to the back of Parmesan's second hand. She does pause for a moment to glance back at the warring robots and the brave people fighting them-struck by the weird actions of the dialysis machine...thing.
It was doing /something/ to the zondar metal. She bristles. The general will find that the laser does make its mark, though it doesn't seem to hurt the Machine King very much beside leaving a blackened, smouldering hole smack in the center of that chest armor. Inside the hole looks like...liquid metal? It drips a little like blood.
Leaving the Master and his goons, Parmesan takes to the sky again, pushing both of her hands together where the stike shield bits split, white light gathering between the splits.
The other strike shields detatch and cluster around the first two, also charging until all six fire at once, melding into a massive single laser blast down at Haruko's...thing.
Parmesan hits Haruko Haruhara with her Yes, the THING attack.
Suck suck suck suuuuuuuuu OH DEAR
The filler tube is plugged by CREATURES OF EVIL. Whatever will it do!? Well, keep trying, for the moment - the filler tube continues to draw in the Zonder's component critters, trying to suck as much in as it can -- but then, at last, its programming cycle is broken when Luffy punches it one bajillion times, which finally causes it to pull away from the Hellion Zonder, and soaring and bouncing downrange...and falling right into the path of Parmesan's death ray, which pushes it hard into the ground.
Within, Haruko makes a sound that is either distress or "Yahtzee!"
The Master's thrown midget slaps into one of the vents, which opens and draws it in. THe pistons slide out, and the pressure rises within - forcing Zonder taint out of the captured core chunks, and...well, probably something altogether more important from the poor doll-ized Sontaran. Good thing he's dead.
But then something happens, as in the arm cylinder, the piston pushes down more, and more, until abruptly the whole chamber purges into a piping that runs throughout the thing's structure, filling the whole thing with...useless waste metal and /evil virus stuff/, right?
Ah, but like so many advances of modern science, Medical Mechanica knows how to /use/ waste...which is shown as the whole machine suddenly begins to vibrate with incredible power!!
Then, it shoots lasers out of its eyes. Not everything MM does has to fit a theme.
Haruko Haruhara buffs her POW to +2.
Haruko Haruhara hits Sephi Graham with her Why does it have eye lasers!? jab.
You take 28 damage.
"I stop you because it was requested of me by one I must consider an ally," Master Asia replies politely. "While her allegiance is no more permanent than that of my Valkyrie, her current task cannot be interrupted by the likes of you." He smiles and continues to move forward. "It is not personal - I would have stopped anyone of the IPA who came to assist. You are meddling in affairs that are beyond your ken."
The old man smils patronizingly as Reis charges in, and he holds his ground, crossing both arms in front of his chest. He absorbs the blow in the cross block, a soft grunt of pain escaping his lips as the force of Reis's punch sends him sliding back a foot or more. "Mmm," he grunts softly, shaking out his arms. "And yet...it seems I now have a second purpose here," he says speculatively. THe old man's hands reach down to the long silk sash tied around his waist, and he slowly unravels it, his shirt falling away from his abdomen as he runs his hands through the wadded cloth.
"You are more than you appear to be," he says firmly. "I would know how much more." Master Asia steps back and snaps his sash toward Reis, the cloth whipping out into a rigid edge that lashes out toward her chest in a diagonal cut.
Master Asia critically strikes Reis Duelar with his Accessory Slots As Weapons attack.
Free at last, free at last, Zoro is...
Getting groped by armless hands. This is about when he focuses less on fighting, than getting these FREAKISH things away from him. And how? He doesn't put down his swords. Instead, he slashes them about.. the arms falling off him in half, even if they were under clothing.. and his clothing with a few more drafts in it. Hey. Slash marks are slash marks.
But that's taken care of now. "That .. thing." He comments about the object that is made of those metal humanoid objects. "Not getting near that again.." For a few reasons. Standing up, he finally relaxes, rubbing his head.. while still holding all three blades. He does it carefully.
And then Fate yells down to them. "Eh?" He asks, to no-one, before turning up to Fate.. who is holding a blade.. a SWORD larger than she is.... and Zoro is suddenly in a rush, running straight to where Fate and the machine are near. "Be careful? .. Around you!? Not going to say no to this!"
He sort of misunderstood you fate.. "ONI-GIRI!" And is currently flashing right between you and the LARGE ZONDAR BALL OF METAL. The only good thing is that he's going to be slashing the Zondar metal TOO... the bad part is he might be slashing Fate as well. "Now stop monkeying around with that metal thing, and face me!"
Roronoa Zoro gets a glancing blow on Sephi Graham with his You're not the problem, but being close is clearly an issue here attack.
You take 8 damage.
Roronoa Zoro misses Fate Harlaown with his SWORD FIGHT MAGNET attack.
Hell, The Master thinks, a shiver of fear running down his spine. He knew he should've prodded the Rani, instead of giving her that much time on her own...
"It's here!" The Sontarian Captain screams, before the monster's claw sticks through the alien's chest. Sputtering, the Sontarian dies...
...and the others get out of the way, revealing a large, gleaming artillery gun. One of the Sontarians aims the weapon upwards, and fires a shuddering beam of light at the Captain, who's body shakes under the pressure, expanding...
...and exploding into a shower of acidic, well. This is a family friendly scene, but let's say 'bits' for sake of completeness.
"The DNA Charges is a success!" The Sontarian Lieutenant enthuses, to General Staal's satisfaction. The General motions, "Formation, around the weapon! Concentrate on the Zondar!"
The Master resists the urge to scowl, holding his laser screwdriver up. It flashes, letting off an orange blink of light once in a while, as the remains of the doll Sontarian stir, as if stretching a little, and the Master searches for Haruko Haruhara...
The Master gets a glancing blow on Sephi Graham with his Alien Tech Is Gross attack.
You take 9 damage.
The Master successfully targets Haruko Haruhara with his Ditto action.
Reis Duelar turns her body just a little when the cloth comes at her. She expects it to be trying to tangle her arm and pull her off balance; she lets it come at her torso instead, because it's larger and thus harder to encircle.
This means that she gets slashed right down the center of her chest. Reis recoils backwards, wrapping her left arm across her chest to hold up her now-bloody blouse while the other holds up one hand in case he tries it again. She's outclassed. She knows it - and she doesn't want to let her body do what it wants to. Reis snorts once, clearing out her nostrils before smoke builds in them, and it's barely visible as a tiny heat haze. "I understand exactly what happened! I don't want to let it happen to anyone else..."
With only one hand free, Reis cannot easily punch, but she can kick. Specifically, she slides off her boots, leaving her walking on bare feet, and then steps forward, to deliver a kick against Master Asia. It's almost a rake using her toes as much as an impact with her heel. She acts like she has claws, even though she doesn't.
Reis Duelar critically strikes Master Asia with her I Know Kung Fu (a little) attack.
"ZONDAR (ZONDAR (ZONDAR)" jealously mumbles, happily cheers, and threateningly shrieks the Hellion when Fate manifests a huge-ass sword and cuts a huge chunk off of it. A HUGE chunk, easily cutting off a quarter of the Zondar Robo's top. A brief purple glow is visible deep within the Zondar as the great slice slides off melodramatically. The mass of bodies quickly pulses and morphs, reforming into a sphere to protect all sides equally and not leave its top so unprotected.
During the shifting, Zoro dives in to strike and... is intercepted!? A pair of hands reach out of the mass and catch his blade mid-strike. Not perfectly, of course, one of the arms is shredded down to the elbow in the attempt, but it certainly stops the attack from being as damaging as it could have. Then another arm comes out to hit Zoro while he's at point blank range... except this isn't an arm. It's a giant drill, vaguely reminiscent of a dentist's tool, and it's trying to spear the swordsman through the shoulder.
The Dialysis Robo should not have eye lasers. Seriously. That's just mean-spirited. A rather large crater is blasted into the side of the Hellion, causing its entire surface to ripple for a few moments. Then it ripples a little more, pulling a body from near the core to the surface... a robot that it didn't even bother breaking down, shaped vaguely like a large hand with a great big speaker in the palm. The hand is hurled at Dialysis Robo and, should it manage to get a hold on the thing, will beginpumping an ultrasonic frequency into the machine in an attempt to get its tubes to shatter.
The exploded Captain soaks the various mannequins around it in acidic goo, causing them to twist and melt as the caustic substance eats into their bodies and boils them away. Metallic chunks fall to the ground, sizzling softly. Of course, while that deals with the immediately attacking mannequins, it doesn't do much to the big ol' floating mass, which only got a few drops against it.
You miss Roronoa Zoro with your THIS IS MY DRILL attack.
You critically strike Haruko Haruhara with your Medical Mechanica Tech attack.
Master Asia spreads his arms wide as Reis comes in toward him, his hands snaking down toward the woman's foot as she kicks him. The impact staggers the old man - were those ribs cracking? - but iron will and training keep his hands moving about their appointed task - in this case, tying the end of his silken sash around Rei's ankle.
"School of the Undefeated of the East!" he snaps, hopping quickly backward and gathering the other end of the sash in his right hand, his left arm held close against those injured ribs. He pulls hard on the sash, threatening to take Reis off her feet if she doesn't slip free, the spin quickly accelerating as dark chi envelops the martial artist. "Choukyuu!" he booms, his features a dark purple blur. "Haow! DENEIIIIIIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAAAN!" he screams, finally releasing the sash and sending Reis - if she is still attached - careening toward a nearby beer hall.
Master Asia misses Reis Duelar with his You Spin Me Right Round Baby Right Round Like A Record Baby Right Round Round Round attack.
Just as things typically go, Zoro is getting massive amounts of violence while Luffy himself is pretty much having the time of his life. After he finishes his flurry, he lands on the side of the robot, and stretches out an arm to grab hold and latch on, all whilst laughing and smiling as if it were all a big carnival ride. Even as the machine is attacked and thrown about, Luffy laughs and smiles, as all of the horrible attacks seem to land on every location except where Luffy happens to be hanging from! With another amused laugh, Luffy stretches his free arm out backwards, and begins twisting it like a corkscrew. "If it can withstand his attack, I'm definitely going to ask it to join my crew!!!" his unendingly enthusiastic voice proclaims.
And then, he lets his fist fly forward, aiming for the closest part of the Dialysis Robot he can see, with an accompanying cry. "GOMU GOMU NO RIFLE!!!!"
Monkey D. Luffy misses Haruko Haruhara with his SILLY ATTACK NAMES attack.
Pulling her hands away, Parmesan ascends higher in the air above the two battling machines, dodging acidic alien bits in the process.
Something happens and the zondarian twitches in annoyance. The shields shift again, this time four clustering around one arm, aimed down at the dialysis monster. They charget lasers again, this time for a whole lot longer than normal, white light swirling around the machine king as it builds.
This too is aimed at the meddling MM. Frustration, to her annoyance, was starting to settle in at this point. How dare that organic filth question her judgement! What does he know?
Parmesan hits Haruko Haruhara with her Smash ball get? super.
Haruko Haruhara has been knocked out!
~Sonic Move~
When the swords swing out, Fate... is no longer there. A brief yellow blur may be seen by those with sharp enough eyes, before she reappears a short distance away. "I don't know why you're attacking me, but now is most definitely not the time. There's an innocent person inside here and I intend to free her." Although Fate's voice is surprisingly soft and calm, there's a sharp look in her red eyes. She does mean business and will fight back if he persists. For now, though, there's something more important. "Time is of the essense. Bardiche!"
~Cartridge Load~
A part of the sword's handle slides back, revealing a revolver-like structure beneath. The revolver spins, and a cartridge is forced through. CH-CHUNK. It spins again, and another cartridge is fed in. CH-CHUNK. The cover closes, releasing a cloud of steam.
Shifting her grip on the handle, Fate suddenly moves in again. Instead of slashing, she dives straight toward the Zondar to embed the blade into it. It isn't just a stab, though... the touch of the blade is electrifying, and a large shockwave accompanies the strike.
Fate Harlaown buffs her AGI to -1.
Fate Harlaown buffs her POW to +2.
Fate Harlaown misses Sephi Graham with her Dimension Cutter! attack.
And .. well. "HEY!" Zoro suddenly feels the blades stop.. and while the monster doesn't have much luck REALLY stopping them, it seems to do it well enough.. before a drill attempts to spear Zoro through the shoulder. AS much as Zoro could TAKE it.. there's things you don't want to experience.
A drill to the tooth is bad enough. To the shoulder, and you got some horrible dentist horror stories right there! Kicking off the robot, one of the hands reaching for him actually helping for once, Zoro's up and off of the thing.
And as .. Fate doesn't have a sword anymore.. Zoro stares at her. "Wait.. you're not a swordsman? ... WAIT.. you're a...." Zoro stares. Formal uniform, jacket, trencoat.. AND NOW he notices the skirt. AND THE FEMALENESS.
He's sort of slow.
.. "Dammiiiiit." He attacked a girl. HE DOESN'T FIGHT WOMEN... but hey. He never hit her. Turning around, Zoro just kicks at the ball of objects. "Stupid thing actually helped." KICK.
Roronoa Zoro gets a glancing blow on Sephi Graham with his TINK feint.
You take 18 damage.
Reis Duelar manages to keep her foot from being tangled by a quick hop back, which is harder than it looks when you're high kicking in ankle-length dresses. Someone really has to tell her that pants on women are not wrong and immoral, and then make her believe it enough to wear some.
Reis stands again, still keeping her left arm across her body. "I still only want to help Graham! Although if you're helping Parmesan..." Maybe she /should/ kill Master Asia, or at least stop him? She edges sideways around him, kicking straight at his stomach this time in a push kick. No raking. It works fairly well on monsters...
Reis Duelar misses Master Asia with her Somehow, Though, Train Seems Destined To Fail On Martial Artists attack.
The Master, being a jerk, has slipped his way towards his TARDIS by now.
The Sontarians notice their main communicator and coordinator's beat feet, and take advantage of the break in attack to do the same.
Long distance to Parmesan and Haruko Haruhara: Sephi Graham hmms. "I wonder if we should call Merc in to DYNAMIC ENTRY the hell out of Hellion, since Parm did this to piss him off."
The old man is slowed slightly by the damage to his ribs - which seem to be cracked rather than snapped from what he can determine - but is still quick enough to spin to his right, Reis's kick rustling his loose-hanging tunis as he steps in toward her, two fingers jabbing toward her leg.
"While I have enjoyed this warm-up exercise," Master Asia says softly, driving both hands forward in a series of rapid jabs aimed at pressure points all over Reis's body, "I regret to inform you I can delay no longer...my colleague has discerned all she can from yours, and all that remains is to discard the husk."
He flicks one last jab toward her left shoulder, completing the temporary paralysis of her muscles if it strikes. "My task remains to ensure she has a....captive audience."
Master Asia stuns Reis Duelar with his This Is The First Joke Master Asia Has Told In Two Years, And It Will Likely Be The Last action.
The Master's dark work begins, working hard to locate, deep within the MM Robot's body, Haruko Haruhara, champion of justice! His work will be made difficult, however, because suddenly everyone hates Dialysis Robots! The Zonder blasts it with a shattering ultrasonic wave that causes the energy siphons to shatter all at once...Luffy's mighty fist misses only because the thing is literally blown flat by the force of the ultrasonic wave. But then its life is ended abruptly - blown to teeny tiny itty bitty smithereens by the power of ZONDER DEATH RAY!
KABLOOIE! Poor type [KD], offline forever! And Haruko, dead because it was destroyed before the Master's noble work was finished!
"Patooie! Ahhh!" a whiny voice declares, as shattered hyperplastic goes hurtling away from the impact zone, revealing HARUKO HARUHARA, CHAMPION OF THE WEAK! She is wet from some probably best-unexamined substance that looks suspiciously like only somewhat-diluted blood, however she still has her guitar, and it's still buzzing.
"I MEANT to do that!" Haruko declares, shaking gunk out of her hair.
Haruko Haruhara switches armor modes to Guitarist.
Haruko Haruhara fully heals Haruko Haruhara with her A NEW CHALLENGER HAS APPEARED action.
Reis Duelar has no idea why she is getting poked - which is not the word she thinks - by Master Asia. She tries to meet it but can't predict where he's going after next, and while she may disalign a strike or two, it isn't enough to save her from paralysis.
She stumbles and falls, her entire body going slack as she loses feeling in her limbs; both arms drop, and Reis ends up lying on her side, eyes about half-open, essentially unmoving. At least she can breathe, that's a nice touch, but it's about all she can do.
If Beowulf saw her in /this/ position, slashed-up dress and all, somebody would probably die.
"Hmph!" Parmesan snorts, dispelling the strike shield bits from her hand. "Now that /that/ distraction is out of the way..."
The hovering Machine King turns her attention back to her Zondar, taking stock of its condition and who is still attacking it. She recognizes that humans are still tangling with it like ants, but by now it has lost a considerable amount of mass thanks to their efforts and the filtering actions of the MM. As much as she'd hate to do so, she might have to cut her losses at this point.
When questioned by her ally, she informs him of this decision. Perhaps she could take the core and flee to a more secluded area to cultivate it.
Noting the crazy guitar woman again, her strike shields shift to point at her in warning. "Don't even /try/ anything funny, human."
Zoro's kick to the ball of objects (it really is more random bits of junk and machinery than bodies by now) manages to break off the drill-arm, sending it arcing slowly upwards and then back down into the Hellion, where it drills down a few feet and becomes stuck. The Hellion does not much care for having its own attacks turned against itself, and responds by sprouting several immense spikes out of its side to try and impale the swordsman.
As for the Dimension Cutter... Fate doesn't even get a chance to connect. An immense mechanical arm BURSTS out of the sphere of pieces as she comes in for the jab, trying to slam her torso with a wicked palm strike and send her flying away.
Haruko is left alone the moment, because she is not a hostile Medical Mechanica Robo and does not seem particularly delicious. Though, speaking of the Dialysis Robo, Speaking of, the giant Ultrasonic Hand has grabbed onto its remains and is starting to swing around, apparently building up enough of a spin to hurl the thing... somewhere.
You critically strike Roronoa Zoro with your THESE ARE MY... giant dental picks? attack.
You hit Fate Harlaown with your Talk to the hand! jab.
Fate Harlaown resets her buff status to neutral.
The spikes rip from the metallic object, creating SEVERAL IMMENSE SPIKES.. that do, indeed, go through Zoro. It looks like it MIGHT just hurt.. but the swordsman grits, pulling himself off the spikes, blood flowing more than freely. To the normal eye, it looks like it might have just hit an artery.. but he doesn't even begin to go down, focusing now if more than ever.
"That's how it's going to be ...." Zoro comments, before backing off.. "Well.. That's it!" .. And then he staggers back a few more times..
Before then suddenly just plain FALLING OVER. Hands clenching the blades, and mouth as well.. but a new sound joins the din of battle.
And it sounds like someone .. is sawing wood. Lots of sawing.
The swordsman is given a brief glance. "I am a Mage, Midchildan class." The fact that she also fights with a sword has nothing to do with this, though Zoro might still appreciate seeing one of the many battles that take place between Fate and Signum.
But she has to focus on her attack! As Fate dives in, however, she finds herself swatted aside by a giant arm. It impacts with a loud thump, sending her flying back a good distance and crashing into the ground with a large cloud of dust. "That... hurt." Taking a breath, the blonde pushes herself back to her feet. Rather than charging in again, however, she lifts an arm and points toward the skies. Perhaps... a dramatic point!
Far overhead, dark clouds begin to form, already rumbling and sparking. This is most definitely not a natural meteorological phenomenon. "May the lightning come down and bless me with its power. I call the storms to give me their aid..." The cloud grows larger, larger... and Fate lifts her sword high. "RAIJIN!"
A loud CRACK of thunder resounds and a bolt of lightning comes down, striking the sword and running down through Fate's body. She doesn't seem to be hurt by it at all, though. "You will release the girl and never touch her again..." Gripping the handle of Bardiche Zamber with both hands, Fate swings it down and around...
~Jet Zamber~
Suddenly, the large blade, yellow energy crackling with purple lightning, extends outward. The sword blade extends toward the Zondar, growing at a remarkable speed, to impale the robot. Once the extension is complete, Fate shifts her weight and swings the blade to the side, tearing Bardiche Zamber out past the point of impact. "AAAAAAAAAH!"
Fate Harlaown hits Sephi Graham with her A sword Sanger would be proud of super.
You take 51 damage.
Parmesan also winces as a /really big sword/ is taken up against her Zondar.
...something was familiar about that, uncomfortably familiar.
As the hulking Dialysis Robot is mortally wounded, Luffy is able to barely manage to lose his grip and then escape certain empathetic pain. He falls to the ground, using a hand to clutch his beloved straw hat to his head, he simply extends his feet and lands naturally. But yet, as he appears unharmed, he... cannot take his eyes off of the robot. He stands there, completely shocked, as it makes it's final death throes and then is destroyed... forever. "You..." he mutters in disbelief, his voice quivering. "You killed him." Luffy pulls back his straw hat. "YOU KILLED HIM!!!!" he then yells, an absolutely crazy look in his eyes. He starts to sprint towards the Hellion Zondar, greeting and clenching his teeth all the meanwhile. "YOU KILLED ME NEW CREW MEMBER!!!"
Of course, that is point we could be reminded that the Dialysis Robot wasn't his crew member, wasn't even a -person-, wasn't his crew member, was controlled by a woman who might just be as bad as the one who destroyed it, and that Luffy was as responsible for its downfall as anyone else!
But when it comes to will and determination!!, SUCH THINGS ARE MEANINGLESS!
Haruko shakes her head a little more, taking one step...and then oh, dear, Strike Shields. She looks up at Parmesan, /truly/ unimpressed, and demonstrates this lack of concern by pointedly pulling her left glove off, and then jamming her finger up her nose and twisting in search of glory. "You really think I /care/ what you do, don't you?" she jeers. WHILE PICKING. "You're just a little speed bump compared to what I need! Why would I care about one Zonder? Or two, or five? Jeeze."
She pulls her finger free, and inspects it with greater care than she is spending on addressing Parmesan. "I'll fight 'em because they're in my way, not just 'cuz they're there. What kind of idiot would do that?"
She flicks something off her finger, and then turns her attention up to Parmesan. "I'd say today was kind of interesting, nya~" she says, grinning that maniac look she gives when she's being sneaky. "I didn't know MM had a trick like /that/ up their sleeve. Tricksy hobbitses, always getting underfoot, nya!"
...she doesn't attack the Zonder. Just kind of stands there, being weird at Parmesan.
There is a presence behind Reis. She probably is quite worried about it, given her situation. A pair of hands touch her, quickly picking her up under her arms and dragging her over into the shelter of a nearby building. There is the recognizable, distinctive hiss of steel being drawn, and then a coat is draped around Reis' shoulders. It's a familiar coat. A trenchcoat, in fact, which probably does well to deal with her clothing situation.
Mercade steps around Reis, giving a tip of his fedora. "Be safe, Reis. I'll be back." Abruptly, he bolts from the room.
Parmesan knows he's coming. That burning fire of emotion can't be hidden from a Zondarian, much less one as sensitive as she. This is why the investigator doesn't even bother with trying to ambush her. With a roar, the investigator lunges from an alleyway, striking downwards with a gladius... And then a second blade follows, this one not bright steel, but the dull glint of worked iron. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" Mercade yells at Parmesan. "DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?"
Mercade Alexander hits Parmesan with his SNEAK ATTACK! attack.
That unmistakable spike of rage! Parmesan has felt it before and it brings a smile to her face. Yes. /Yes/. The other half of the reason. Something did work out, though it was really a secondary objective. She gives Haruko a catty grin before turning away to face the detective.
She doesn't even attempt to block, the gladius cleaving right into her chest, followed by the second. The blow is actually strong enough to slap her down to the ground.
She doesn't attempt to get up either, or even attack. She just /laughs/. "Oh, you KNOW what I did to her, detective! YOU KNOW!"
The mocking tone only makes the fire hotter. Mercade doesn't even withdraw the weapons, leacing Parmesan pinned to the ground as he pulls out a gun, pressing a barrel to Parmesan's forehead. He leans in, his voice low and hissing. "Undo it. Release her." The gun hand trembles, the detective clearly trying to /not/ put a bullet into the Machine Queen's head yet. "Do it, Aya. Don't make me do something you'll regret."
As the sky darkens, the Hellion begins to glow. Or, perhaps it would be more precise to say that the Zondar had been glowing the entire time, but so faintly that the sun needed to be blotted out before the faint purple light could be seen glowing out from gaps between the robotic parts.
It begins to hum ominously. A long, drawn out, "Zonnnnnnnnnnnnnnn..." The machine parts begin to ripple again, some faint bit of intellect somewhere within the creature realizing that something very bad is about to happen as lightning flashes and paints the creature's features in relief.
And then... something very bad happens. The creature screams in every emotion the human mind is capable of producing as Fate's blade easily slides into it and is viciously torn out, sending a spray of parts into the adjacent buildings. The purple core of the Zondar is easily visible for a few moments before sealing up again, the remaining pieces trying desperately to retain their spherical shape. Where once the Zondar managed a healthy twenty-plus feet, however, it is barely ten in diameter now.
This is about the time that the hand reaches the necessary spin it requires. It begins to wobble off-kilter, getting a proper angle, and then releases the remains of the dialysis robot into the Zondar Hellion, sending it into a nearby building and ricocheting down the street for several dozen meters. Eventually it manages to catch itself, and pulsates for a few moments as if chewing the other Robo's form.
Finally it stops. Completely stops. Parts begin to fall off... slowly at first, but quickly turning into a torrential downpour of ruined machinery. As the last piece falls, what is revealed is perhaps more disturbing than its previous form...
The core of the Zondar is clearly visible now, glowing a virulent shade of purple. Barely visible within it is the curled up form of Sephi, head bowed down and clutching her knees to her chest. Surrounding this is a thick web of various mechanical pieces, pipes and bars. And from the core extend four tentacle-like arms, upon the end of each one is mounted one of the laser batteries from the Dialysis Robot. They no longer need to filter energy out of slag, now that they are hooked directly into the Zondar Robo itself.
Lasers which are now glowing a terrible violet. Immense beams of sickening violet light tear out of each laser, flailing wildly and shearing through the nearby buildings. There is no control here, simply mindless lashing out at the surrounding area. Those still here would do best to get out of the way... considering how much damage the weapons are doing to the buildings, the amount of pain they could inflict upon a body is... frightening to consider, to say the least.
Now that the legion of bodies is gone, all that is left is a single voice. A voice which shrieks desperately, amplified through a series of speakers that still make up part of the core's shield.
ZONDAR!
You miss Parmesan with your You took my heart super.
You hit Haruko Haruhara with your Deceived me right from the start super.
You hit Monkey D. Luffy with your You showed me dreams super.
You hit Fate Harlaown with your You broke a promise and made me realize super.
You hit Mercade Alexander with your It was all just a lie. super.
Reis Duelar, by the time Mercade comes for her, is already starting to move again. She is glad for the trench coat, though; she was very drafty, and Beowulf would have gone insane.
A few moments later, she comes out with it buttoned all the way up to her chin. It is actually not /that/ much too big for her, as Mercade is a stick of a man, but it is a little long. The lasers prodded her the rest of the way into action, apparently; even if none of them hit her, she /felt/ that in her bones.
She starts to run. Between being tangled in her skirts and her new long coat, it isn't quite as easy to do as she'd like.
Reis Duelar successfully targets Reis Duelar with her Hey, Free Coat action.
Haruko just hops down from the corpse of Dialysis Robo, tossing something up and down in her hand as she strides away from the wreck, while HELLION ZONDER does its horrible work, viciously and horrifically EATING the remains of the MM Robo, and Haruko just laughs, and laughs. "See how that tastes..." She grins, taking a look at the object - a metal plate with some identifying nubmers on the side. "Hmmm...this one?" she murmurs, and looks off - over, toward the vast iron-shaped Medical Mechanica plant in the distance, which suddenly stops blaring sirens and starts blasting thick gouts of steam into the air, obscuring the heavens themselves.
The steam is thick, and not nearly as white as one would expect - indeed, it seems as much smoke as harmless vapor. The Vespa Woman snickers. "/Hell/ yeah!" she laughs.
At which point Zonder Hellion finishes its terrifying transformation, and knocks Haruko right the hell down by shrieking at the top of its impressive vocal range.
"WAAAAAAAGH! HOLY CRAP! What is this, Spinal Tap!?"
Mercade is so intent on Parmesan, that he only barely sees it coming.
If he didn't see it coming, this would have gone differently. The massive laser sweeps across Mercade, sending him flying back to crash into a wall. The sonic blast pulses out, shattering him through the wall in a noise of loud, collapsing stone.
Nevertheless, Mercade rises from the stone in a rush of crashing noise. "DAMN YOU!" His shirt has a massive burn across it, flesh beneath scorched... But somehow not burned through. He looks like he's clearly been seriously hurt, but amazingly, he's not down.
The laughter fades, a serious look overcoming the Zondarian's face. "It already is. It's unravelling, becoming undone. Can't you see? She can't sustain it..." Parmesan can /feel/ that, and she's not sure about the cause. Maybe it's aggrivated damage or complications from Haruko's machine, or even that Master guy.
The Zondar was not maturing.
She's about to contest that Aya thing, though instead she does say something slightly different. "Why do you people keep insisting that it's me...?" Unlike Mercade, she's very aware of the Zondar's state and is more than prepared to get out of dodge.
The moment Mercade is distracted, she takes advantage and allows her body to melt away into a mess of goo and wires, which meld with the ground, then vanish.
Once the swing is complete, Bardiche returns back to normal still-far-too-big-for-Fate size. She slowly hovers up into the air again, holding her Device easily in one hand. "Is that the core? I think I see it." She also sees tentacles with laser cannons. Before they can fire, the blonde extends her free hand forward.
~Defensor Plus~
The gem on Bardiche glows for a moment, and a large translucent yellow dome forms over Fate, barely an instant before the beam lands. The force is a bit more than expected, however, and she leans forward into it. The shield appears to hold for a moment... then cracks form over its surface, and the remainder of the beam smashes through and washes over the Enforcer.
When the light fades, Fate is still hovering in place. Her Barrier Jacket is still in tact, though there are dark marks across her face and legs. "There will be no more of that." She holds her hand out again, and that panel on Bardiche slides back. CH-CHUNK. CH-CHUNK. CH-CHUNK. After three cartridges are loaded in, a crackle of electricity appears on the ground and rubble all around the Zondar, and a large dome forms over her. No more of that laser stuff is allowed!
Perhaps understandably, Mercade is /pissed/. "AYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He screams, firing at the goop that is Parmesan as she flees. The bullets spang off of the ground, harmlessly. He begins to tremble as he walks forward, holstering the gun. Hands reach down, pulling the blades from the ground, quietly staring at the pockmarked area.
And then he looks up, glaring at the Zondarized Sephi. "I promised I would protect you." He says, as he strides forward towards the machine. "You keep making me into a liar, don't you, Sephi."
Eyes narrow, slightly, as he hops up onto a half-slagged car. "Nevertheless, I'm coming. Just hold on." He launches forward, leaping up and bouncing off of a lightpole, sailing over Haruko's head and spinning to land in a crouch, a blade in each hand. He doesn't speak again, running faster than a human ought to be able to and sliding in just before the dome manifests. This might just mean Mercade's trapped inside with that... thing. He leaps, pouncing onto one of the tentacles and sliding down it, flipping over a lashing hunk of metal. There is a ring of steel, as Mercade strikes, slamming blades into the framework that still surrounds the Core, over and over. He leaps, rebounding off of the speaker and trailing his blade, before spinning and cutting down at the lattice, sparks flying with each strike.
Mercade Alexander juggles Sephi Graham with his Peeling The Onion combo.
You take 16 damage.
Mercade Alexander juggles Sephi Graham with his Peeling The Onion combo.
You take 19 damage.
Sephi Graham breaks Mercade Alexander's combo.
The Zondar shudders and buckles as Mercade climbs it, apparently not very stable. It begins to thrash around, thankfully sparing the surrounding buildings even further destruction by Fate's magic barrier. "ZONDAR," the Hellion laments, the Greek Scion's blades lashing away at the mechanical latticework holding the core in place. One by one pieces begin to slough off, before an entire tentacle falls away and throws the entire thing off balance. It hurls itself against the walls a few more times before plummeting to the ground and flailing weakly. Parmesan was right, the Zondar is rejecting the metal. Perhaps Sephi is simply too young to have emotions mature enough for a true Zondar to grow off of. It would certainly explain the half-complete form that the creature had taken.
You hit yourself with your Zondar Metal Rejection super.
You take 35 damage.
You get a glancing blow on Mercade Alexander with your Be careful the core doesn't land on you! jab.
Reis Duelar continues to hustle. She comes up - well, not quite to Mercade, but to where he jumped from a few moments ago; shading her eyes, she looks up at him jumping around and trying to free the core.
And then he /does/, and expecting she is stronger than him (nobody told her anything about him) Reis picks up speed again, holding her arms out. Maybe she can catch the Core - maybe, if she's very lucky, and it bounces just the right way. Yes, they said not to do it without a healing spell or something, but /maybe/ she can fake it if she has to. Is Zondar like chicken pox? Can you get it more than once?
Haruko slowly, oh-so-slowly, rises, shaking out her head again after the sonic wave blew up her eardrums and also her mind.
"Huh," she says, turning back around. The Zonder's falling apart. "Core rejection...?" she mutters. "Or...eh, something like that anyway." She stands up, stretches...and sees something in the distance. She spies it coming, arcing in from on high--hmmmm.
Oh. Oh dear.
"Looks like trouble," Haruko murmurs. "Better...ooooh." She spies the core - falling, falling, to its inevitable doom! Oh, what soul will take pity on it!
The Vespa Woman grabs her guitar, pockets her prize from the MM Robot's core, and then LEAPS at the Zonder Core, bounces off a building, ricochets off of a signpost, streaking toward the core - the guitar's motor suddenly revs up as she gives the generator another tug, and Haruko yells, "KID, ONE LESSON!" with a crazy, crazy laugh. "If you want to get /anywhere/ in this stupid world, you can't be afraid to...!"
She swings the guitar - hard, hard enough that it would've shattered the armor of the Zonder earlier. Now, it will probably send the core hurtling into the air.
Haruko Haruhara hits Sephi Graham with her "SWING THE BAT!" super.
You take 41 damage.
You have been knocked out!
As soon as she sees the core come loose, Fate drops her hand, and the Field dissipates. There's no real need to contain it anymore if it's not going to be attacking anymore.
Of course, she was not expecting a certain crazy wasp woman to immediately go charging in and smacking the thing with her guitar. "Wait!" Not like calling out will stop that. All Fate can do is try to keep an eye on the core and be prepared to move.
Mercade may parkour and basejump for fun, but even he has issues keeping his balance occasionally. Occasionally. The Zondar flails, and Mercade is knocked off, falling. He twists, preparing to launch a counterattack, when the dissolving mecha promptly falls on him with a crunch.
Mercade's yell is muffled and somewhat undramatic. "AGH! GET OFF ME, SEPHI! YOU'RE HEAVY LIKE THIS!"
The core twitches as Mercade struggles to get out from under it, meekly whining "Zondar..." once more.
SUDDENLY, HARUKO!
The Core goes airborne with a cracking sound, lines spiderwebbing across the surface as it arcs higher and higher, then sloooowly begins to feel the effects of gravity and come back down. About halfway to the surface the core breaks apart, purple shards drifting away from the falling body of Sephi and evaporating into nothing.
Uh oh, Reis thinks, as she watches the Core go /up/ again. Up is somewhere she can't go!
She can go along, though, and with her neck craned all the way up, Reis hustles as fast as she can towards where she thinks it's going to come down. She's strong enough to catch a falling body - she hopes - and she isn't so badly cut that it will hurt /too/ badly.
Mercade, however, is faster than she is.
Haruko finishes her followthrough, and then whips her guitar back around to rest against her shoulder.
She grins. "Pop fly!" she crows. Then she turns on her heels, beginning to walk away from the battle site - smirking to herself, as she beholds the distant iron-shaped MM factory billowing black smoke, the sound of fire engines wailing in the distance.
Mercade is handily saved by... Haruko?
Any gratitude he might express is quickly dismissed in the face of the evaporating Zondar Core. "SEPHI!" Mercade yells, scrambling to his feet and immediately leaping up to a fire escape, pushing off of it to rebound onto the top of a telephone pole. From there, it's a simple leap to catch the falling Sephi in midair. He reaches out, his arms wrapping around the gothloli carefully as he falls... His arc rapidly becoming a quick downward descent.
Unceremoniously, the wounded investigator drops right into Reis' arms, with Sephi in hand. "Ooof!" He says, blinking over to Reis. He hopes he didn't squish the woman. "Reis! I owe you one!"
One of Mercade's hands, however, is already moving on its own, pulling a gun from an underarm holster and leveling it at Haruko without Mercade even looking. It's clear what /he/ thinks.
Reis Duelar can catch and hold up one person, especially when they are as slight as Sephi is. Two is pushing it. It doesn't help that she's already been bruised and beaten by Master Asia.
She gives a decidedly unladylike grunt as she wobbles on her feet and, as delicately as she can manage, puts them down without taking her back out.
Under some circumstances, Fate might be concerned with preventing the crazy wasp woman from leaving. However, there is the more pressing concern of the girl who has been flung up into the air.
~Assault Form~
With a few sparks and a hiss, the blade of Bardiche Zamber disappears. The hilt folds into itself, with several releases of steam and some clunking sounds, until the Device once more resembles an axe.
When Fate spots Mercade leaping up to atch the falling girl, she decides it might be best to remain on the ground. He might hurt himself if she snags the girl out of the air. However, when he falls toward Reis, Fate is suddenly -there-, one hand resting on the dragoner's shoulder for support. "Is everyone alright?"
Fate Harlaown switches armor modes to Impulse Form.
Sephi grunts as she's snatched out of the air by Mercade, apparently unconscious, and again when they land on top of Reis. She appears to be no worse for the wear, considering what just happened. The band-aid on her head is hanging off limply, and the Zondar Metal is... gone. Completely gone.
Well... perhaps 'no worse for the wear' isn't right. There are streaks of tears running down her cheeks, a decidedly un-Sephi-like feature.
Haruko blithely keeps on walking away. Does she know Mercade is aiming at her? /Could/ she know? She's done stranger things than that, to be sure...
Either way, she doesn't turn back - she's walking down the street, toward where the mysterious "light-speed Vespa" is awaiting its master.
Mercade considers, for a moment, firing.
He decides against it. Getting dropped by Reis helps with the decision. Despite his rampant desire to finally put some holes in ONE of these assholes, he holsters his gun, instead using both arms to pick up and hold Sephi in his arms. "Persephone..." He shakes his head, and hugs her for a moment. "You'll be all right now." He looks over to Reis and Fate. "Thank you both, for everything. I owe you one... I should get her back home." He nods, and begins walking off.