Space Zone - Deep Space

This area of space is more a galactic wasteland than an inhabited area, no stars or planets dominating the place for hundreds of light years in any direction. A stellar desert of sorts, derelict spacecraft drift forlornly through the emptiness, abandoned, but perhaps not unihabited. There are things here, vast trails of space dust, eager for mining, and a few systems, hidden by the same. Ships go fast through this section of space, not wanting to get left behind... alone in the void.


Contents:
Ultros
Kukai Foundation <KF>
The Carrotus System <TCS>
The Omegamatic
U.M.N. Transport Column

Core Commander arrives from Space Zone - The Frontier.
M. Bison arrives from Space Zone - The Frontier.
M. Bison has arrived.
Agent 3D0 arrives from Space Zone - The Frontier.
Agent 3D0 has arrived.
Dark Link arrives from Space Zone - The Frontier.
Dark Link has arrived.
Albedo Piasora arrives from Space Zone - The Frontier.
Albedo Piasora has arrived.
Billy Lee Black has arrived.
Emeralda Kasim arrives from Space Zone - The Frontier.
Emeralda Kasim has arrived.
Waluigi arrives from Space Zone - The Frontier.
Waluigi has arrived.
Lady A arrives from Space Zone - Asteroid Fields.
Lady A has arrived.

In one of the fighter vessals around the Kukai Foundation, Ziggy waits for the attack to begin. Forgive the crummy intro pose, but hey, Ziggy /is/ mainly a reactionist, afterall.

Thanks to that little moment of fatal processing error by Core Commander, the Villain Fleet is being significantly less stealthy- well, at least, its 'leader' is. Scotty Johnson- whether everyone else agreed to it or not- is on point, in a ship that bears a striking resemblance to a Helicopter from Army Men: Air Assault, albeit black, with 3D0 logos on its sides. "Let's get this over with," Scotty says over the radio, to his fellow members of EVIL. "We can only spend so much time this close to something this stupid." He taps a few buttons on the controls, and missile compartments open up on the space-faring helicopter.

The Kukai Foundation has put itself out in force, and the shadows of its arsenal -- AGWS, fightercraft, and spaceships of various sizes -- are ahead and waiting for the encroaching armada. On the command ship, a decent-sized battlecruiser labelled the Zanzibar, the commanding officer of the space forces in the absence of Little Master watches.

"Enemy armada confirmed," one of the technicians at a bridge display states. "All squadrons report being ready."

"Understood," the elderly captain replies. He strokes his silver beard with one hand, his aging eyes narrowing just a bit. He sighs, and then smiles a little fondly. "Order the AGWS to move forward and prepare to engage, along with any fighters we have. Tell the fleet to ready its missiles, and prepare to bombard them."

"Yes, sir."

There are perks to living in a dimensional nexus. One of them, being put to use now, is that no matter where you park, EVERYWHERE is only a few minutes travel away. As is evidenced when the Crescent Wave flies out of a really pretty space distortion a few hundred meters away from the Kukai Foundation. Pulling into a stable orbit for a moment, the surprisingly agile battlecruiser's bow hangar opens, disgorging a complement of Gears and a motley assortment of space-refitted fightercraft.

Crescens itself deploys from the bay last, before the hangar seals shut again. After that, the ship pulls out of orbit silently, engines flaring blue-white as it moves out to give itself an angled engagement vector. All across it's frame, pristinely white cannons wrapped with gold stripes orient themselves, and missile launchers test-cycle in preparation of a long battle.

Floating before the Kukai, in all of its infinite pimptasticness, is El Renuazmo, the Gear of Father Black. The guns lift at the arrival on the assault, the empty chambers beginning to rotate faster and faster as the Gear warms up it systems.

And inside the crimson silk cockpit? Father Black of course! Relaxing in his spacious cabin, hands moving over the toggles and switches like a pianist, deftly striking the chords of the Villain's Lacramosa.

Somewhere a little further out in the void of deep space, a corona of blue light winks in and out of being. It leaves behind a single outsized AGWS, hovering at a high zenith 'above' the Kukai Foundation at its feet.

Simeon feathers its thruster-wings almost immediately on jumping in, but does not rush--with the rest of the villains--to the assault. Instead, it remains quite dead in space, cockpit recorders trained on the spacestation--and the massing fleets--below. At the controls, Albedo chuckles to himself, violet eyes narrowing. "Well well. /Somebody/ knew we were coming," he muses aloud. "This just makes it that much more /interesting/, doesn't it?"

He pauses briefly at some of the readings displayed by his HUD, splaying his fingers across the holopanel before him, his lips working slightly as he reads. "...hm. /That's/ interesting."

Lady A's Starfighter @emit There is a small streak of white light in the space above the Foundation.

It is the smallest, most untimidating-looking ship in Videoland. But for those who recognize it, they may see it is probably one of the most deadly...

Minerva. Atari Intergalactic Astroid Smasher.

Lady A sits at the controls, bearing down to assist the Foundation fleet.

Inside the cockpit of his fighter, Ziggy merely scans the vessals approaching. Standard villains sure, but he's not really interested in THEM. Ziggy's main concern is for /familiar/ vessals, he's worried that perhaps the U-TIC organization might try to take advantage of this confusion. And if not them, who knows who else might show up?

<Bleep>

Oh look, the Simeon. Zig only blinks once, then ajusts his flight plan to take his fighter towards Albedo's AGWS. He'd send off an audio threat to the URTV, but he's not one for threats, and he has a good idea how the looney will react anyway.

PLUMBERRRS! IIIIN! SPAAAACE(spaaace(paaace(aaaace...)))

Well, only one, really. Wario Is Missing(Waluigi's first starring role in a game!), so it's just Waluigi here. But he's currently in a space ship along with the rest of the EVIL armada! His ship is rather small compared to most of the others, but with big big engines. Think a Corellian Corvette(the first ship you see in Star Wars), but with spikes and it's black and more space piratey.

Waluigi's sitting in the captain's chair, with his space pirate crew he payed to work the ship. And he's wearing a captain's uniform. Like, a normal ship captain's uniform. "Rerout engine-a power to-a the shields-a! Modify-a the deflector dish-a to emit tachyon radiation-a! Re-a-align-a the power couplings-a!" A space pirate looks towards him, and hisses and clicks. Waluigi looks towards it, and says, "Whaddya mean that'd destroy-a the ship? Oh, whatever. Just bring-a the guns and-a shields up-a to full power. And get-a the gunner positions ready!" The space pirate nods, and turns back to his console.

A single cry rents the tense Night of the void...a single cry carrying hope, and power, and all the things that makes humanity the force to be reckoned with that it is.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

...the cry of Tony, pilot of the Tramp Freighter Elsa, driving like a maniac. But where? Where could the cry be coming from...THERE! A portal rips open in space and time, some distance away, a gate-jump through the Unus Mundus Network which reveals the sword-like Elsa, ripping through space toward the Foundation. Large laser cannons release from within the belly of the beast, and begin zapping at range any enemy craft they can hit - hell, even if they can't, they try - and cutting open a nice swath for Tony to zip through. Looks like it's heading for the Foundation...backup! But what?

Inside the cockbit of Renuzamo, Billy yanks back on a particular lever next to his head, and the organic Gear lifts upwards, its mouth open as an unholy screech pours out on all open frequencies. There, it hovers, one leg chambered, both arms held chambered with the two fists facing forward, as Billy hails the ships approaching.

"May I have your attention please? The space you are entering is currently under the protection of the Ethos, and the United Heroes of Videoland. It is at this time we ask you turn around, and return home. If you do not...well. We hope to never get to that."

From its vantage high above the Foundation, Simeon easily picks up Ziggy's fighter on its long-range scanners. With a chirp of a proximity alarm, the AGWS' computers paint the target on its HUD--and Albedo looks up, smirking. "That was quick," he mutters, raising a hand to adjust Simeon's target priority list. /Then/ he smiles.

On the space side, the AGWS shifts in place, pivoting to lock its sights on the approaching fighter. Weapons cycle, and blue light flickers in to life along the thruster-wings. <> its pilot burst-transmits to the fighter, his voice carrying undertones of malevolent laughter.

The HUD chirps again, registering a UMN gate-jump. Albedo looks up, noting the new arrival with a slight furrowing of his brows, and shifts the target priority list once more. "...and you brought friends..."

Still, the massive AGWS waits. Let the cyborg come to it--even as Simeon begins painting the fightercraft with firing solutions for its missile payload. Hello, Ziggy.

"The arrival of the Elsa has been confirmed," one of the technicians aboard the Zanzibar states. The admiral smiles slightly, and nods his head. That was some of the best news he had heard all day, as well as that of Lady A's arrival. That gave the old man some more hope.

"I am happy to hear this. Send them, Lady A, and Father Black my regards." The officer crosses his arms behind his back. "Launch the initial missile bombardment!"

The ships of the Kukai Foundation's batteries open up, slipping out of the armored bulkheads to reveal tube racks of cruise missiles. Streams of ion-vapor fly out from ship after ship as the payloads are unleashed, and start closing in on the vast armada of EVIL.

Minerva lines up to face out the villainous fleet, weapons prepping. Lita isn't the type that waits for the enemy to fire before striking, but she won't fire the first shot herself....taking a cue from the Foundation defenses. "Lady A reporting in. All systems ready," she says, transmitting a message over her personal speakers and right into the heart of the Foundation.

The Helicopter bobs back and forth, up and down, as Scotty transmits, "Well, then. You're all here. Let's get this over with." After he surveys his own forces, however, he notices one of his opponents. The Minerva. And that can only mean...

"Lita."

So Lita is defending Mini Guy-Goon's space boat. This certainly gives Scotty much more incentive to win- as if hitting Junior back for that incident a couple months ago with Cody and the AGWS wasn't enough. He switches his radio to a short-ranged, public frequency, and cackles for a few moments. Afterward, he gloats, "Well. Miss /Atari's/ here. Now we /know/ that there's no way you Heroic idiots can win. You picked the worst possible person to help defend." And, with the pleasantries out of the way, a sizeable dose of machinegun fire is sent in the direction of the Minerva.

Agent 3D0 strikes Lady A with his Fire The Main Gun! attack.

Ziggy's cockpit chirps with warning signals as well. The Simeon noticed him as expected, it wasn't as if he was trying to be stealthy. His face remains expressionless as Albedo's psychotic voice carries through the radio.

"None of your twisted plesentries with me, you'll find your mind games ineffective." Is all he replies with.

Zig lets his mechanical hand handle all the complicated button pushing, while his organic one manipulates the levers. In other words, he's attacking the Simeon with his fighter's weaponry. It's not an AGWS, but it's not a pushover either, Gaignun Kukai came through for him there.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Albedo Piasora with his weak Opening Shot attack.

Not having any particular villain in it's sights, the Crescent Wave deploys towards the right flank of the Evil Fleet. The reason for it being so far out of the way of everyone else on it's side becomes obvious when the main hangar opens again... and a BIG norking cannon barrel pops up. A slight crackle heralds the short-range transmission system coming online, and a steady-voiced Emmy announces, <"Hyper-Ether Cannon charged and firing. I hope your insurance was paid up on those ships, Side-Boss."> This is followed by a blue-white glow making it's way from the back of the Crescent Wave, along the keel to the barrel of the cannon, before it unleashes itself into the void, aimed at those ships it can target.

The ensuant energy beam and explosion could be termed 'Most Impressive'.

Not fightning hand to hand leaves Lady A open to some vulnerabilities, but protected from others. She's so busy, in this case, keeping her eyes on the fleet before her, that the attack from one single ship isn't as expected. The shots strike into her fighter's hull, and she pulls forward a bit too late, trying to backtrack and loop around the helicopter. The insults don't damage Lita...only the shots. But as she banks around, she returns the transmission, calmly. "Take your fleet and go. You can't get your ENTERTAINMENT from destroying the lives of innocents."

Weaponsfire patters across Simeon's hull, doing little more than score the AGWS' heavy armor. Its weapons continue to cycle as it shifts slightly in place, limbs moving fractionally as Albedo adjusts for a better firing solution. At the controls, the URTV grins, eyes flicking toward the damage readouts, then back to the fore. "Ha! And I thought the Foundation gave better toys to their dogs!"

Abruptly, the outsized AGWS heels over into a sideways dive away from the fighter's trajectory. At the controls, Albedo flips the safeties off the weapons and triggers a barrage of missiles. They burst into space, sensors going live as they lock on Ziggy's fighter and flood toward it like a swarm of angry bees. Meanwhile, Simeon continues to 'fall' toward the Foundation at an angle, not yet using even a fraction of its fearsome speed. It's almost as if Albedo doesn't particularly /care/.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his weak Missile Barrage attack.
You have taken 10 damage.

Lady A strikes Agent 3D0 with her weak Minerva warning shot attack.

"Sir, we've confirmed the presence of the Simeon," a tactical officer states with a distinct note of fear in his voice. "Ziggurat 8 is currently engaging him."

"Understood." Any veteran of the Kukai Foundation had at least some inclination that Albedo was not good news -- and the admiral was no different. He sighs, thinking it over for a moment. His first impulse, to rush in and try to overwhelm him, is fought back. "Alert Ziggurat 8 that we will be moving in AGWS Sniper Unit 1 and 2, to try and get a lock on the Simeon."

"Yes, sir."

In the mean time, the squadrons of AGWS have started arriving at the approaching fleet. Waves of missiles, beam weapons, and laser fire are thrown out into the fleet, even as the undoubted counterfire begins to take its toll. Three AGWS break off, and fly at the vessel occupied by Waluigi. Strafes of machinegun fire from their rifles are hurled at his ship as the mechs pass.

Ziggy manages to dodge a few of the missles, but the majority of him nail his fighter. Pity MOMO isn't here to drive for him. Of course, if she WAS, then chances are Albedo would be paying a lot more attention to him. He'll have to settle for taking advantage of his lax attitude towards the Foundation, he's probably waiting for Jr. to come out. Flipping a few more switches on his control board, and a set of twin blasters starts firing orange colored lines at the Simeon. I mean, laser bullets, or... well, whatever that ammo you so often see in space anime is. Looks like orange colored lines to me.

Ziggurat 8 misses Albedo Piasora with his Orange Colored.. I mean, Laser Bullets! attack.

"Innocents, no. But right now, fighting you is much more appealing," Scotty replies over the radio, shortly before his ship is sent 'downward' and a little to its left by the shot. Instead of trying to recover, however, he continues with the downward motion, hoping to strike the underbelly of Lita's ship with a barrage of very small rockets. The ship is pushed even /further/ down by the force of the launch, but- having done what he intended to do below Lita's ship- he begins steering it to his right, and trying to get on the level with the Minerva once again. Sure, being under a ship may be excellent for sneak attacks, but height can win the day after such an attack is finished.

Agent 3D0 strikes Lady A with his weak Live For The Swarm Rockets! attack.

Inside the bridge of Waluigi's ship, the plumber is covering his ears from that stupid screaming robot thing. "Gaaah! Sonofa-" Wait a sec, he's wearing a yellow uniform with a triangular badge over his heart, now. When did he change? "So... he wants-a us, to... goaway, huh? Well, then, let's give-a him our.... answer." He looks towards another pirate, and says, "Shoot..." Dramatic pause for a full minute. "...him." The Space Pirate stares at Waluigi, then turns away, and starts pressing buttons.

The two double-barreled turrets on either side of the bridge/head area aim towards Billy's Gear, and fire, sending four beams of purple energy shooting towards him.

Waluigi strikes Billy Lee Black with his Open Fire! attack.

The Elsa tears through space, ripping through whatever forces get in its way as it makes a beeline on the Foundation at insane velocities that many of those present can scarcely imagine. Finally, it rockets past one of the airlocks inside...leaving behind a present.

A blue-haired present.

A blue-haired present that rapidly punches in a command to unseal the airlock, so she can get in quickly, and bypass the normal pressurization process. The doors open, the blue-haired one slips through, and the doors shut, before any lasting harm can be done. With a simple message to those prsent, then, KOS-MOS begins running at frightening speeds toward the site of battle. The Android is come.

Immediately, within the cockpit, a hologram of Renuzamo's computer persona appears next to Billy. The hologram is an exact duplicate of Billy's little sister, Primera. Only this duplicate can speak fine. "Excuse me, Billy. But I believe that ship has just caused external hull damage to us. It is my suggest-"

"I'm on it, Renu." says Billy in a frustrated tone, as the Gear turns, legs out at shoulder-width, as both hands point out, palms out. The two gunbarrels from within the palms extend, and open fire, semi-automatic shells, moving through zero gravity at miles per second, the shells floating out from the elbows, discarded into space.

Lady A's fighter shakes under the impact of the shots, blasting it upward slightly. "Happy to give you that gratification." Lady A's retort is so deadpanned, it sounds as if it isn't even sarcastic. She turns the ship in a tight flip without even moving foward; this particular model turns just as well when completely still, a function of its odd control design. The nose points downward, flips, and levels out just as the helicopter comes even with it, a function of 3D combat Lita is hoping 3D0 wouldn't expect. A shot blasts out from the nose of her ship, this one a multiple barrage of digital lasers.

Billy Lee Black misses Waluigi with his Casings Constellation attack.

Lady A strikes Agent 3D0 with her Minerva tripleburst attack.

That would be machinegun fire with tracer bullets. But who's counting?
Simeon may not BE a fighter, but under Albedo's touch, the big AGWS handles like one. It jinks away from Ziggy's assault, rolling to avoid all of the shots fired at it. Only one manages to ping off its thick hide, doing nothing except scratching the paint. Again, the HUD beeps--this time, as KOS-MOS jumps out of the Elsa. Albedo spares it only a little attention, long enough to call a heads' up over his radio, before focusing on the task at hand.
Namely, killing Ziggy.
The thruster-wings flare as Simeon reaches the nadir of its rolling fall, and it lunges toward the opposing fightercraft. A glow around one of its massive hands materializes into an actinic line of blue light, and with this, it slashes out at the fighter--even as it shifts into a climb that will put it 'above' Ziggurat's current trajectory.

Albedo Piasora misses Ziggurat 8 with his Beam Sabre Flyby attack.

With the Simeon advancing, slashing upwards, what's Zig to do but manuver downwards? Well there's technically no 'downwards' in space, but it's downwards in relation to the Simeon. The saber just missing coming in contact with the hull, Ziggy launches a pair of homing missles 'up' at the Simeon.

Take off every Zig! For great justice!

Well someone had to say it. At any rate, killing this wily cyborg will to be more difficult than the URTV probably thinks.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Albedo Piasora with his Take off every Missle attack.

Zot. Scotty wasn't quite expecting that, though he had a general idea that something like it was coming; the barrage slams into the tail of his 'copter, spinning him around wildly. "Urgh..." he grunts, with his radio on. The spinning is none too pleasant, and throws his aim completely off; thus, he realizes, he must use something that doesn't /require/ aim for the moment. He slams a red button on the control, deploying a guided missile. Lita's ship may be maneuverable, but perhaps its agility will fail it. Either way, the point is, there's a missile headed for the Minerva.

Agent 3D0 misses Lady A with his Beep. Beep. Beep. BeepBeep. BeepbeepbeepbeepbeepBEEEEE-(Explosion) attack.

"The AGWS units are engaging the enemy," an officer on the bridge states. "We're suffering some losses, however."

"Understood," the admiral replies with a sigh. "I want our main cannons to be armed and readied. Prepare to scour their fleet with repeating blasts. Start off slowly to avoid overheating, but if they get past Red Line, begin firing at full capacity."

"Yes, sir."

On the Kukai Foundation fleet, the turrets of the ships turn and start aiming ahead. Clicks and servos would be heard, if it were not the void of space. Instead, there is dull silence -- even as the barrells of the largest cannons glow with a slight blue light.

"What about the sniper team?" the admiral inquires.

"They need three more minutes, sir."

"Wish him luck."

The Minerva takes off, now, barreling forward, starting to build a little momentum. It's enough momentum that the missile totally misses...and enough that Lady A can turn the ship bow around again, getting behind the helicopter. Lita's actually a bit happy that the Agent is underestimating her... maybe she can really surprise him.

It doesn't seem as if that little ship can hold much in the way of devistation, so the little side-guns under the folded wings will probably come as a surprise when they open fire on the helicopter, letting out an almost invisible burst of digital rounds loose with a rat-tat.

Lady A strikes Agent 3D0 with her Sidegun streak attack.

Both homing missiles slam into Simeon's back at a low angle, detonating and pitching the AGWS forward from the imparted momentum. Albedo is jerked forward in his restraints before the inertial dampers around the cockpit can compensate--but all he does is chuckle, and kick the AGWS into a spin. The thruster-wings activate briefly halfway through the maneuver, before Simeon rolls around to face Ziggurat's fighter from 'above'...drifting back and away from the fighter as it does.

Albedo keys another firing solution, and triggers some of Simeon's secondary weaponry with a grin. Twin bursts out autogun fire criss-cross through space, trying to catch Zig's fighter in the intersection.

For great justice this, you punk.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his You Have No Chance to Survive attack.
You have taken 19 damage.

After unleashing it's main gun on the right flank of the evil forces, the Crescent Wave retracts the Hyper-Ether Cannon, and pulls a hard turn, surrounded by it's complement of Gears and fightercraft. Opening up with it's secondary weaponry, the space around the ship is soon turned into a wide-range killzone of missiles, energy blasts, and explosive cannon shells... All headed towards Waluigi.

Crescens, meanwhile, is performing support work. Specifically, Emmy is throwing Thermo Geist spells like they were going out of style.

Emeralda Kasim misses Waluigi with her weak Edge of firing radius explosions attack.

The Helicopter rocks back and forth, taking more and more damage from Lita's little ship. He drops in altitude once again, readying for another attack on the underside of Lita's ship. He continues to fly away, until- looking out the window, and not on radar- he disappears, and the sound of another swarm missile barrage is heard. The group of small shots streaks upward, and the 'copter leans to its left, flying upward as fast as it can to try and get /above/ Lita, this time.

Agent 3D0 misses Lady A with his omh miss rush kekekeke attack.

Ziggy is also rocked in his chamber as Albedo's attack connects, no chuckling for him though. Idly, Zig checks the ship's hull endurance, thankfully it can go on for some time yet. So it's the perfect time to bring out one of the larger weapons. Like all space fighters, installed on Zig's ship is a BFG. Engaging the thrusters, he advances on Simeon again, closing up the space between them, and fires. Someone set Al up the Boom. That someone being Zig.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Albedo Piasora with his Yet another AYB attack attack.

Waluigi sees the Gear lifting it's arms on the wide screen TV- er, the viewscreen, and yells out, "Dodge-a it!" The space pirates look at him confusedly, as though to say 'With a starship?' Waluigi sighs. "Fine. I'll-a do it." He then presses a button, and a car-style steering wheel pops up infront of him, which he grabs, and spins it to the left. The ship's starboard thrusters flare to life, and it does a barrel roll, moving up and out of the way of the bullets fired at it. Then the missiles and lasers and shells come at him, from another side! Waluigi powers up the engine, and the ship zooms forward, as he pulls back on the steering wheel, causing it to swing upwards, dodging the shells and energy blasts, but the missiles are still on his tail! Luckily, he's got his own missiles! Half a dozen missiles shoot out from the launchers on either side of the huge engines, and intercept the other missiles, detonating them at a safe distance. His ship has now made it's way to the top of it's loop, and is now upside down above Emeralda's ship. Waluigi grins. "Perfect-a." Several panels open up on the top of the ship, and launch about a dozen missiles downwards, straight for Emmy's ship from above.

Waluigi strikes Emeralda Kasim with his Missiles Away! attack.

The Minerva keeps steady, Lita watching her internal screen as the helicopter does some fancy moving of its own. She streaks to the side with a well-timed move. Though the Agent's own movements are hard to follow, her vehicle has excellent radar, and she quickly spots his new position. She turns the nose of her craft, and climbs upward...well, as upward as there can be when you're operating in space. A white shot aims for the helicopter, to bury right into its underside.

Lady A misses Agent 3D0 with her 3D outerspace combat manuuever attack.

Emeralda Kasim frowns as missiles impact along the flight deck of Crescent Wave, but doesn't have much time to consider it... since she and Crescens are blown free by the assault. Not that this bothers her very much, since Ether works everywhere. Stabilizing Crescens, she orders the larger carrier to go forth and join the rest of the fleet (placing it under Ultros' command), while she launches herself upwards to assault the annoyance. Her first attack, quietly announced, is <"Anemo Dharm."> It sends a small flurry of vaccuum 'blades' searing towards the ship, in a wide pattern to try and reduce dodging ability.

Emeralda Kasim misses Waluigi with her Anemo Dharm, Space Version attack.

Once more, Simeon is sent tumbling as the attack bursts across its hull. This time, though, the AGWS' maneuvering thrusters engage, stabilizing the spin with little trouble. "Much better," the madman at the controls murmurs, amused.

As soon as the AGWS is free of unwanted spin, Albedo pulls it into a rapid climb--'up' and /away/ from Ziggurat. Is he retreating? Not quite--he just needs a little space. His HUD chimes as one of the AGWS' heavier weapons finishes cycling to full power, and he switches his firing relay to the new weapon. "Now--" ThreetwoONElock. A firing reticle converges on Ziggy's fighter, and Albedo pulls the trigger. "--try THIS!"

A massive yellow beam, complete with ionized corona, lances out from the AGWS, straight for its opponent.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his Beam Cannon attack.
You have taken 17 damage.

Vacuum blades in a vacuum? Um, okay. Waluigi sees the blades coming, and quickly activates the top maneuvering thrusters on the rear of the ship, and the front ones on the bottom of the bridge, which flips it so that the bridge is facing Emeralda's armor, and makes it a smaller target. He then guns the engines, causing it to shoot forward again, as it bobs back and forth, the spread-out vacuum blades giving him some very tight squeezes as he weaves in between them. Once he's past that, he continues to head straight for Emeralda's Gear, seemingly on a collision course. But he then swerves just enough to keep the main body of the ship from crashing into the giant robot. However, the blade-like cannon barrels and assorted spikes on the hull are a different story.

Waluigi misses Emeralda Kasim with his Flyby Slicing attack.

Emeralda Kasim drifts Crescens out of the way of the sharp bits on the ship fairly easily. This could be because Crescens has this interesting habit of ignoring such things as momentum and inertia. Very handy in space. But we digress. As the ship goes by, the slender mecha's wing-hands deploy, attempting a spinning-smash, followed by a double-bash, and ending in a finger poke. Yes, a finger poke. Don't ask me, it's the combo.

Emeralda Kasim misses Waluigi with her Dance Bash attack.

If Zig were the type to curse, he'd probably curse right about now. "..." Thankfully, he isn't, and spends his time trying to actually dodge the beam. The beam collides with his fighter anyway, so he spends his attention trying to get out of the blast as fast as he can. There is some damage, but the shields are still holding, thankfully.

"Computer, override safties in propulsion control, and disable auto-navigation, reroute all control to the thrusters to this station."

Giving the command, the computer carries it out. What's this? Does Ziggy believe he can control the ship better manually than the computer can? Well, I'd have to say a resounding 'yes'. Though, MOMO or Tony could probably out-class him here, Ziggy still manages to close the gap between him and the Simeon pretty quickly, and even tries to fly around the AGWS fast enough, restores the auto control, and sends another barrage of Homing Bullets the Simeon's way.

Ziggurat 8 misses Albedo Piasora with his Homing Bullets (got it right this time) attack.

Waluigi's ship goes into another barrel roll as he notices the blades missing their target, and it edges out of range of Emeralda's wing-arms. He then stops the ship's spinning, and spins it around so that the engines, which have been cut off suddenly, are facing directly at the Gear. On the bridge, Waluigi grins evilly, and slides the 'Engine Power' bar from zero all the way up to 100%, which causes the engines to flare to life, causing the ship to shoot forwards and away from Emeralda's gear, while also most likely cooking the robot a good bit.

Waluigi misses Emeralda Kasim with his Engine Backwash attack.

Doing a vertical U-turn, the 3D0 Helicopter avoids the assault on its underside; it's a good thing, too. Underside shots are /pain/. And he's still above Lita... yes. It is time. Scotty hits all the buttons that were /actually on/ the flightstick that are still visible, save the one to fold the device back up; and, on the underside, two missile compartments open up. Swinging to the left, then back to the right, he begins dropping large missiles as rapidly as possible, toward the Minerva. Grinning madly, Scotty unloads an incredible amount of firepower for such a comparatively small helicopter. On foot, stealth is the key. In space, sometimes you just require the big guns.

Agent 3D0 strikes Lady A with his In Hell, There Are No Stairs Or Cartwheels smash attack.

The space between the two fleets, filled with its combatants, suddenly is filled by the first battery of energy weapons. Blue beams fly through the openness of space and at the enemy fleet. Criss-crosses of light and energy, which threaten nothing shorten of demolecularization of what it collides to in the enemy fleet. Warnings are thrown out to allied forces, providing coordinates of where to not be for the coming onslaught.

However, it was elsewhere that a more personal set of blasts was occuring. On the bridge of the Zanzibar, it was confirmed with something that brought a wrinkled smile to his lips: "Snipers are in position."

In the cockpit of the first of the two AGWS on sniper detail, there were no words. There was no verbal sparring. There was merely a pair of crosshairs over the Simeon, and it was joined by another elsewhere. And then, there was...

An X of blue energy, slicing across the skies at Albedo's AGWS. The positions came from the two sniper AGWS that had previously been hiding behind two frigates.

Emeralda Kasim demonstrates a venerable fact to Waluigi. Engines on a ship are spaced apart so a Gear fits tidily between them. Especially when said Gear is moving with the ship to try and stay in melee range. In fact, Crescens is doing something that SHOULD be impossible... It's trying to pull off a grab. If successful, it will then lead into a suplex against a convenient chunk of space-rock. Followed by another grab and a slam-dunk of spacial proportions.

Ultros misses Albedo Piasora with his sniper beam rifle X-strike smash attack.

Emeralda Kasim misses Waluigi with her Dead Drive attack.

The white hull of Lita's pristine ship is cracked, dented, and burned with the force of the helicopter's attack. The ship is actually blown backward down its intended line of ascent, pushed in an unintended direction as the bullets slam into its hull. Lady A makes amends...pulling the ship out into a steady path. She takes a risk...

And strikes the 'jump' button. The whole ship simply vanishes from its current position, disappearing from all detection. Suddenly, it appears again: directly behind the helicopter, and making a forward dive. "Jump successful," Lita mutters, as she tigthens her grip on the control stick, and pushes the weaponsfire button. The front gun, and side guns, all converge, offering the helicopter a taste of its own medicine.

Lady A strikes Agent 3D0 with her Look out behind you! smash attack.

Unfortunately for Ziggy, the Simeon is frighteningly fast when it needs to be. The AGWS' relative 'height' above the fighter gives Albedo enough time to see the attack coming--and evade. The thruster-wings glow briefly, and the massive machine flips into a surprisingly quick snap-roll, falling away from the fighter--and the bullets.

But it's not safe yet. Albedo reorients his AGWS, still grinning--until another proximity alarm /screams/ through the cockpit, warning him of an impending target lock from another opponent. The grin fades to an expression of intense concentration as he tries to triangulate where, and how--

And Simeon nearly disappears, trailing ionized light as it jerks into a rapid climb away from the sniper shot. The blue beams come close--very close--intersecting perhaps a hundred meters below the soaring AGWS. The URTV's reactions saved him, that time.

Albedo's grin returns, though it's more of a grimace now, purple eyes bright with malevolence. "Snipers," he breathes. "How /cute/." Still moving at top speed, Simeon pivots, locking on the nearer of the two sniper AGWS by triangulation. The massive machine swings into a tight arc, its trajectory putting it on a collision course for the other AGWS...until the barest flicker of Albedo's hands sends it a fraction to the left.

Simeon skims past the other AGWS by no more than a meter. A near miss? No--the ionized shockwave trailing the oversized AGWS slams into the sniper, and the nearby frigate, a fraction of a second after Simeon passes. It's powerful enough that the bare fringes should even reach Ziggy.

And that is why Simeon moving at top speed is a frightening creature to behold.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ultros with his trivial Shockwave attack.
Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his weak Shockwave Wake attack.
You have taken 9 damage.

Waluigi's ship is helluva fast, foo! It's got big big engines for a reason. It quickly out-distances the giant robot, moving a thousand or so feet away, before spinning around. Waluigi growls, and presses a few buttons on his chair, which causes a sort of VR visor to flip down over his face, and joysticks come out of the chair arms. "So, this-a guy wants-a to fight up-a close, does-a he? Well-a then..." Space pirates steal all kinds of ships, you see. This one used to be for building space stations before they stole it and stuck big engines and guns on it. But they also modified the manipulator arms and made them into weapons. Two long strips of metal are jettisoned from the sides of the ship, allowing a pair of arms to unfold from within it, each one tipped with a space-pirate-style mantis claw. The ship then rockets forward, one of the arms extended forward, aiming to slice into Emeralda's gear as it rockets past.

Waluigi strikes Emeralda Kasim with his Hooray for Claw Hands! attack.

Ziggy is lucky he's not frightened easily, or else the Simeon would intimidate him. To Zig, it's just another tactical hurdle he needs to clear. The shockwave damages the shields only marginally, compared to what was hitting them before, and Ziggy focuses back on the offensive. A joystick pops up on the control board, setting the thrusters on auto, it's time for Ziggy's latest attack, manually controlled missles. Let's see if he has better luck with these than with his piloting skills.

Crescens staggers back as it's carved into, dripping fluids for a barest moment... before the wounds seal over, as if they were never there. Emmy's voice, calm and cool as ever, announces, <"So you want to play rough, huh? Thermo Geist."> The ravening hellstorm of the Ether-based attack, powered up even beyond the abilities of the Gear's formidable systems by the Ether Doubler connected to it's inner workings, tears through the blackness of space, creating a sphere of destruction around the white and aqua Gear's frame.

Emeralda Kasim strikes Waluigi with her Thermo Geist smash attack.

Ziggurat 8 misses Albedo Piasora with his Manual Missle Blast attack.

Nope

The two snipers are struck by the shockwave attack. The two buckle over, the passing of the Simeon leaving in its wake two spheres of flame where the sniper team had been. On the bridge of the Zanzibar, there is a silence of disappointment and saddening at their passing.

Lita, too, knows how to bring in the noise, and bring in the death. The Minerva's guns knock the helicopter around painfully, sending it far ahead of the little ship. But it being knocked away, however painfully, can be used to its advantage, as it lets loose a smaller guided missile. It's not the caliber of the previous one by any means, but it'll do for a recovery shot. "Good, but not good enough. I'm afraid you're not going to win with something that weak, Miss Atari!" he yells into the radio, as the missile bobs up and down slightly, but- generally- heads for the relic of a ship.

Agent 3D0 strikes Lady A with his weak I'll Let You Go Out In Style! (-n Style!) attack.

Albedo cackles as Simeon's shockwave scythes through nearby space, the AGWS' sensors confirming the destruction of the two smaller craft. <> he burst-transmits, even the tinniness of the radio unable to conceal his amusement. <>

This time, the URTV catches sight of the inbound missiles on the fringes of his radar, before the proximity alarms go off. He shakes his head, and kicks Simeon into a climbing loop. It kills a lot of his speed--but then, he doesn't /have/ to be moving that fast, not all the time. The AGWS swoops above a formation of smaller Kukai machines, Albedo keeping his eyes open for his target.

And there it is. Simeon's thruster-wings flare once more, and the AGWS comes out of the loop in a high-speed dive for Ziggy's craft, like a hawk out of the sun. While it's not moving at top speed anymore, the shockwave following it should be quite respectable.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his Shockwave Redux attack.
You have taken 18 damage.

Waluigi's ship gets caught by the sphere of pain, and sent flying from the force of it, causing large pieces of armor to fly off. Waluigi wrestles with the controls, getting the ship back under control. "Graaah! @%$#@# &*@*$!" He hits two buttons on the console, the first one causing one of the mantis claws on the arm to jettison, revealing a robotic hand, and the other causing the belly of the ship to open up, the hand reaching inside and pull out... a really big gun. It looks like one of Waluigi's guns, too. He then aims the BFG at Emeralda's Gear, and pulls the trigger, firing one of those GIGANTIC Bullet Bills at his enemy, which will smash into the giant robot, then explode! Whee.

Waluigi misses Emeralda Kasim with his BFBB(Big Freakin' Bullet Bill) smash attack.

"What's the status?" the admiral asked. Sometimes, from the bridge of a ship, it could be hard to entirely ascertain how a battle in space was truly proceeding. There were few lines from which to hold them back, and there was no single field of battle -- any plane could be one. It was all a matter of how close, in a spherical grid, the enemy was to the Foundation itself.

"We seem to be holding them, for the moment, sir," the executive officer on the bridge responds. He sighs. The younger man is less familiar with battle, unlike the officer. And he is also less familiar with the capabilities Albedo can demonstrate. "However, the Simeon seems to be winning out over Ziggurat 8."

"He is on his own for now," the officer admonishes. His tone is nothing short of grave. "Continue bombardment of the enemy fleet."

So this shockwave hurts a lot more, and a few warning lights start going off. But he's not in critical YET, and now a light blinks on in the corner of his monitor

<Charging complete.>

"Excellent, deploy BMP55SX and fire on my mark." BMP55SX? Seems Zig had his particular fighter outfitted with some of his own weaponry. A compartmant in front of his ship opens to reveal a fairly large gun. Ziggy takes control of the targeting sensors, and once the Simeon is in his sights with about 99.5 percent chance of contact...

"Mark!"

Ziggurat 8 strikes Albedo Piasora with his BMP55SX smash attack.

Lady A's ship is struck in one of the tail wings, and hit for a bit harder than the Agent probably even intended. The ship rolls over into a barrell roll as Lita tries to adjust it. Still flipping, she doesn't even bother to straigthen up as she fires the next few rounds of shots, letting machine gun fire strike out in an almost spiral-like pattern. Only after a moment does she regain control, and, the bullets are already well on their way to the target when she punches the Minerva into a downward dive.

Lady A strikes Agent 3D0 with her Spiral blaster attack.

Waluigi isn't gonna be hit by his own Bullet Bill! Because that Bullet Bill works for him! It looks up towards the robot on top of it, and grrs. Then it starts flashing, and a few seconds later, it explodes! Emeralda might get away while it's flashing, but does she? Let's see.

Waluigi misses Emeralda Kasim with his Kaboom! attack.

Emeralda Kasim rides the explosion as narrowly as she can, using it to conceal her approach to the ship of her tormentor. And lo, as she gets near to it, she doubles both wing'fists'... and tries to sledgehammer a hole in the irritating thing. *WHANG*

Emeralda Kasim strikes Waluigi with her Going for broke - You Got Whang! attack.

Spirals were not meant to be used as weapons. They were meant to be used for other things. Like, uhm, not killing Scotty. But, that doesn't matter; the blades of Scotty's helicopter bend, struck by some of the shots. Circling around the Minerva, the helicopter lets loose with its own barrage of machine gun fire. Yellow streaks burst through the air in every which direction, and- in Scotty's ideal situation- at least some of them strike the ancient fighter. The resulting sound is like a hundred beats of a drum, in a space one could normally fit only perhaps ten.

Waluigi is smashed by the giant robot, which busts open a hole in the side, causing the Space Pirates in that area of the ship to get sucked out into space! Whoosh! Inside the bridge, everything's all red from the lights in the ceiling turning red. "Damage report!" *hiss* *click-click* *hissss* "Well, have-a them attack-a the robot!" Yes, space pirates can survive in space! What a suprise. They cling to the robot, and start trying to blast through it with their energy beams and cut into it with their claws.

Agent 3D0 misses Lady A with his 'Course, Sound Doesn't Carry In Space, But... attack.

Waluigi strikes Emeralda Kasim with his It's Like Stepping on an Anthill... Only the Ants Have Lasers attack.

Emeralda Kasim blinks and peers at the irritating little forms scattered across her 'body', grimacing at the miniscule pains they are causing. Then smirks faintly, and begins throwing them back into the hole she caused as best she can... charged with Ether so they explode into little fireballs when they hit things.

Emeralda Kasim strikes Waluigi with her I feel like Gojira tonight! attack.

This time, the close, high-speed pass Simeon is making compromises Albedo's ability to avoid incoming fire. He hears the warning from the AGWS' sensors a fraction of a second before the attack comes; all he bothers to do is grit his teeth.

Surprisingly, the strike doesn't rock the AGWS as much as it could. At this high speed, it does send Simeon tumbling--but once more, Albedo's reflexes kick in, and he rights it with little trouble. The thrusters cut out, but the lingering momentum means it's drifting away from Zig's craft rather quickly. <> he cries over the radio channels.

Within the cockpit, Albedo reaches down to activate one of the weapons he's been holding in check. The AIRDS system was already hot, so at his touch, the back-mounted drones spring to life. They form up in an array, targeting lasers bracketing Ziggy's craft.

And then they fire, gigajoules of energy death in the form of tracking lasers pouring forth from the array and--with any luck--into the fighter.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his AIRDS Deployment smash attack.
You have taken 40 damage.

Waluigi's ship is hit with exploding space pirates! He grrs, and yanks on one of the joysticks on his chair, causing the still be-clawed mechanical arm across, heading right for Emeralda's gear! This could hurt.

Waluigi strikes Emeralda Kasim with his Not that it'll hit. attack.

Emeralda Kasim is sent away by the crashing hit from the arm, but grabs onto it as it does so, calling out, <"Terra Feist">. Spires of rock attempt to manifest themselves IN the grasping arm, following the control circuitry down into the ship proper if they manage to accomplish that task. If not... well, the arm probably won't be hampered at all by the rocks floating around it, if she fails.

Now the warning lights are flashing red in the cockpit. Oncoming blast! Shields failed! Hull will not withstand! Is this the end of our cyborgic hero? Not yet. Hitting the big red button next to his chair, Ziggy is ejected into space before the ship explodes, though he is not spared some injury himself in doing so, he is still fine. He has what looks like a jet pack strapped to his back as well, as he activates it and proceeds to fight the Simeon toe to toe. Times like this Zig is glad he no longer needs oxygen, though he doesn't want to be exposed to the vaccuum of space for TOO long. It may seem like a suicidal move, but Ziggy isn't doing this without a plan. His trajectory takes him right on a collision course for the Simeon's cockpit. His switchblade snaps out from his elbow, as he holds it steady in front of him, seems he wants to get to the rich white creamy Albedo center in one blow. ... ...forget I said it like that.

Emeralda Kasim strikes Waluigi with her You May Feel A Shooting Pain attack.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Albedo Piasora with his How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Simeon-pop? attack.

Sound does not carry in regular space, but in video game space, explosions are mandatory. However, in this case, there is no sound simply because there is no sound to carry, at all. The shots from the helicopter strike empty air, as Lita pulls the ship up out of its dive, and into a full loop. The blaster at the front of the Minerva engages and clips, right for the helicopter. Now that the blades are hurt, making it less manuverable, it's time to clip its engines and finish it off. "One less attacker aimed at the Foundation..." Lita mutters, hitting her transmissions signal without even thinking about it. She can only hope that her duelling the Agent has saved some lives today, but worries about what else might be happening out there.

Lady A misses Agent 3D0 with her Fancy flying, but can she shoot too? attack.

The engines are unclipped, however. The ship still wobbles, side to side, floating in space. Granted, it's been compromised, but it's still in the air. And, thus, it can still attack. Scotty reaches for the machine gun once more, but pauses, as he comes up with a better plan. Pulling up sharply, the Agent drops a pair of objects that don't look like they could cause terribly much damage, seeming fairly boxy. Of course, when the sides of said boxes fall off and reveal numerous explosives, the boxes may very well be taken a bit more seriously. The bombs plummet, and Lita may get caught in the explosions if she doesn't pull off some more of that fancy flying.

Agent 3D0 strikes Lady A with his If Only There Were A Bridge... attack.

Waluigi gets rocks inside his ship! This causes some damage, because, well, rocks are hard. "Graaah!" Waluigi pushes the VR thing off his face, and gets up. "Keep-a firing at-a that robot!" *click click hiss?* "I'm-a going to-a get out in-a my car." The Space Pirate shrugs, and goes back to pressing buttons. The ships cannons turn towards the giant robot, and starts shooting at it.

Waluigi misses Emeralda Kasim with his Zap zap zap. attack.

Ziggurat 8. Is coming after Simeon. With a switchblade.

What the hell.

Albedo's eyes narrow with malevolent glee as he watches the fightercraft detonate under the AIRDS barrage--then widen again as he sees Ziggy eject. That was new. And, with any new thing, it only delights and amuses the mad URTV.

Simeon's thrusters ignite once more, steadying it in space as the last ripples of Ziggy's dying fighter lap against its armor. Albedo, at the controls, merely waits to see what the brave little toaster--ahh, cyborg--is up to. "Surprise me, you tin can," he mutters...

In time to be--surprised, as Ziggurat closes to actually *grapple* with the AGWS. Unfortunately, he won't get into the cockpit so easily; the plas cockpit 'glass' is probably one of the toughest parts of the machine. But even if the switchblade slides off that, it gouges an appreciable furrow in the armor nearby.

Albedo gives a delighted bark of a laugh. "Well /well/. They DID cut out your fear centers. Why am I /not/ surprised..." He shifts his right hand from the flightstick, immersing it in a holomatrix that corresponds to Simeon's fine motor controls. The AGWS' right arm comes fully to life, reaching across its body to grab at the daring cyborg...and try to crush him like a grape.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his Squeeze, Squish, Pop! attack.
You have taken 17 damage.

Emeralda Kasim twists and spins out of the way of the cannons, announcing quickly, <"Aqua Dhaum">. Water, pure, Ether-borne water appears... and promptly freezes solid in the vaccuum of space. Some of it attempts to crystallize on and in the barrels of the cannons, while other shards form viciously sharp spears that attempt to lance into the hull of the ship itself.

Emeralda Kasim strikes Waluigi with her Frosty the Spearman! attack.
Waluigi has been knocked out!

"We've confirmed a commander's vessel has been taken out by a Gear!" one of the technicians on the Zanzibar states, her tone elated. A victory in this battle is /more/ than welcome.

It is not lost on the admiral, either. He crosses his arms over his chest and chuckles, watching the battle proceed with an impressed gaze. "Send the pilot our regards. And get me a status report on Lady A's porgress, if she isn't too busy!"

Zig is grabbed, and squozen, but not broken. He's not a mere human, his metallic skeletal structure can take more than that, though it certainly deals quite a bit of damage to him, though. Still, Albedo is quite right, they DID remove his fear centers, or rather, messed with his brain enough to just block out most emotions entirely. Always able to think clearly, Ziggy's never without a plan, almost never, anyway. He'd make a comment to Albedo, but sound doesn't carry in space, and he has no one to one radio equipment on him at the moment. Seems he's in a bit of a prediciment, but lucky for the cyborg he still has one hand free, that's all he needs. The most important strategy when fighting an AGWS one on one, is to take out the pilot, or at least stun him.

Waluigi's ship is shredded by ice, and, oh crap! The engines are hit! KABOOM! There goes the ship, and all the space pirates. But what about Waluigi? Well, he's flying away in his supercar! Yes, it can fly in a vacuum. He knew he was gonna lose, which is why he went to his car. To escape before it blew up.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Albedo Piasora with his Red Mark stun attack.

/Bang./ Albedo jerks back, briefly dazzled by Ziggy's assault. His right hand loosens fractionally; the AGWS' systems, reading it as a command, release their grip on Ziggy. Now he's drifting free in space--what's he going to do?

Emeralda Kasim lets the shockwave of the explosion throw her away from the ship... and spins casually in mid-flight to land on the deck of the Crescent Wave, which came back for her, still picking off smaller vessels. Heaving a sigh, Emmy concentrates on Crescens, bringing online the Frame HP Repair systems to fix up what of the damage they can manage. Then swinging around to survey the rest of the battle, recuperating from the drain of combat and waiting to see if her intervention is required anywhere else in the battle.

Emeralda Kasim strikes Emeralda Kasim with her Frame HP Repair healing attack.

The boxes free-fall into Minerva's path, and Lady A can't pull out in time. They strike on top of the ship, and blast away part of the Minerva's tail. Hull breaches aren't impossible at this point.... and that gives Lady A cause for some examination of her flight pattern. She pushes a button to void the internal atmosphere, since she's already wearing her breathing gear anyway, and, makes preparations for a tricky move. Then, she pulls the Minerva out of the loop, and pulls it away. She gives the engines a kick, looking as if she's retreating fullspeed from the area. She's either giving up, already, or she's about to try something risky.

Though Ziggy's 'flightpack' was damaged, he's not completely helpless. It's still usable, though ineffiecent for precise manuvering. As the had releases Ziggy, he grabs onto one of the fingers just for a moment, and kicks himself back towards the cockpit. If puncturing force from the switchblade wasn't enough, let's see how the glass stands up to a little blender action.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Albedo Piasora with his Cyclone attack.

Scotty turns his ship every which way, trying to track down his opponent. She lost him. "Urgh. Annoyance." Has she retreated? Is she going to come back and cause him severe pain? Scotty doesn't know, at this point. All he knows is that he has to be ready for anything. Lita may not be as smart as Scotty thinks that /he/ is, but she has an unusual ability to use every resource at her disposal when the chips are down. He searches for the Minerva, but he can't seem to find it... what /did/ that girl do?

It seems Ziggy won't be the only one going EVA.

Simeon's cockpit glass shatters in a burst of plas shards and frozen air--and blood. Albedo still has /some/ human limitations, after all...and he does explosively decompress like a human would on sudden exposure to vacuum.

But, what do you know, he keeps coming. Regeneration buys him a second to grab his helmet, complete with emergency oxygen supply, and clamp it down on his head. It seals with the collar of his flightsuit, and he reaches to release Simeon's cockpit restraints with a flick of a clawed finger.

Even as the AGWS begins depowering, the URTV lunges out of his seat, 'swimming' in a practiced zero-g maneuver toward his assailant. Both hands lash out, as he reaches for Ziggy--hooking a foot into one of Simeon's cockpit restraints to anchor himself as he does. /Then/ he yanks on the cyborg, aiming to smash him head-first into the edge of Simeon's ruined cockpit.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his Dirty Fighting, EVA Style attack.
You have taken 22 damage.

"Lady A appears to be retreating from the battle," the communications technician states after a moment. She frowns and glances at the admiral. The bearded man looks at the strategic display on his console, of where the vessels and everything else are involved... Yet he cannot think of what the woman must be trying. Had the Gamemaster really left?

This SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! A no holds barred, EVA style brawl! Al vs Zig! Fighting for the sake of MOMO! Will she be protected or molested? Find out, this SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Al vs Zig, EVA style, coming to pay per view!

In other words, Zig isn't going down yet. Though he still hears warning signals, this time coming from inside his head, his self-preservation protocols (hey, KOS ain't the only one with those stupid things). But, Zig manages to thwart those protocols with this reasoning. MOMO is his primary mission, Albedo is apparently the biggest threat to his primary mission, so staying to fight him takes priority over his own survival. ...even though a sneeze could KO Zig at this point, were it possible in space. Still! He goes for one last assault. Grabbing hold of part of the smashed cockpit, he tries to execute his patented and notatallrippedofffromChun-Liinanyway attack, the Cyber Kick, mostly in hopes to send Al off into the void of space, or to damange him, whatever works.

Ziggurat 8 strikes Albedo Piasora with his Cyber Kick.... IN SPACE! attack.

Maybe the Agent expected it. Maybe not.

But Lady A isn't going to make another teleporting hyperjump, so... She just needed to make some room. When it's almost out of sight, the damaged Minerva kicks back around, turning on a dime to engage in a precisely reversed flight pattern. Lita pushes forward on the control stick, her knuckles glowing white under her gloves, and the Triforce of power shimmering there, in anticipation of oncoming destruction. The engines kick in with a burst of white fire, Lita pulls her ship into...

Ramming Speed.

She drives straight, without even the slightest arc, nose-first, to slam right into the cockpit of the helicopter. It looks as if she's going to cram the nose of her craft right into 3D0's passgener compartment.

Lady A strikes Agent 3D0 with her RAMMING SPEEEEEEED smash attack.
Agent 3D0 has been knocked out!

CRASH! Scotty, along with the helicopter, is /severely/ damaged as Lita rams the Minerva into the cockpit. It's unorthodox, but... effective. Scotty rapidly works the buttons of the actual stick- still intact- and after some doing, manages to warp the battered ship, along with himself, far away. When there's a massive hole in your ship, you run away; simple as that. You can't continue the battle in such a position, after all. A /large/, ghostly 3D0 logo is left behind by the retreat.

It might almost work. Albedo's anchoring on the AGWS is tenuous at best--and when the kick connects, bonecrackingly, with his chest...he's pitched off of Simeon.

But he doesn't tumble free. Once more, quick reflexes save the day. The URTV twists around, grappling on to one of the AGWS' thruster-wings. He digs in his claws, pulling himself up onto a perch on the thruster-wing by main force alone.

This--while not grim--is not the best of situations for the URTV to be in. He grins wolfishly at Ziggy through the faceplate of his helmet...

And then he moves, clambering in a blur up and to the top of the thruster-wing. His movements are exaggerated as he climbs, as he's very aware of how easy it would be to kick himself off into space with one wrong move. Even so, he is frighteningly fast, achieving the 'top' of the AGWS in less than a second. He leaps--

Into a sliding kick for Ziggy, casting out a hand even as he does to grab the ruined edge of Simeon's cockpit. Glass scythes through his hand...but his grip is solid. Let's see if /Ziggy/ can stay on, if Albedo's foot connects with his face.

Albedo Piasora strikes Ziggurat 8 with his Boot to the Head attack.
You have taken 17 damage.
Ziggurat 8 has been knocked out!

"Agent 3D0 is confirmed to be down!" the cheer went across the bridge of the Zanzibar. The interim flagship of the Kukai Foundation was met with celebration at the fact. An enemy Gamemaster's fall was the best possible outcome they could hop for.

It took the Admiral lowering his hands to calm his crew down, but they did so. "This is excellent news," the aging officer says. "I want us to ready a spearhead into the enemy formation. Maybe we can force a general retreat, with some luck. And send my regards to Lady A, and see if she would like to help with pushing them out! Contact Kasim, as well!"

He sure doesn't. The kick to the head is strong enough to add critical stress to artificial processors, and cause a few physical cracks to his metallic spinal column. In otherwords, Ziggurat has been shut down. And... there's not much else to it, he's still ALIVE, thankfully, he's tougher than that, but he's out cold, and adrift in space. No more than a mere rag-doll adrift, let's all hope Albedo isn't THAT perverted.

Lady A has no need to pull her dented ship out of the corpse of the helicopter....since it's already gone. But she has to make an effort to pick up a few of her own. She turns the ship around, the engines now weary from expending effort, and, pulls it toward where Ziggurat is floating.

Emeralda Kasim launches Crescens once more as Ziggy falls silent, transmitting on the open frequency, <"Leave him and go away or you will deal with me."> as she moves at a fair clip towards the Simeon and Albedo. Her Gear looking a trifle battered, but still more than game for a fight.

Albedo grins fearsomely as the kick connects, sending Ziggy out into space. He converts the last of his momentum into a body-jerking flip that lands him back in Simeon's cockpit, and settles back in his seat. The AGWS hums up to full power once more; even having its cockpit out won't stop it. Or Albedo, as he rests his hands on Simeon's flight controls--and stares at the two coming to confront him.

His eyes narrow behind the faceplate of his helmet. The thruster-wings feather, blue light once more glowing around them. Ziggurat hasn't drifted out of arm's reach of the massive AGWS yet, and Albedo shifts his hand to the left-side holomatrix. Once more, Simeon reaches out, cradling Ziggy in one of those massive hands. Not to crush, this time, though the AGWS' powerful servos could break the cyborg cleanly in two.

No. Simeon turns carefully in place, Albedo manipulating the maneuvering thrusters with a delicate hand. The AGWS now faces Lady A. But he burst-transmits to Emmie: <<I'll leave him. In fact, I'm even willing to /give/ him back.>> The signal terminates in his laughter, and he /throws/ Ziggurat at Lita's limping fighter.

Albedo Piasora misses Lady A with his Want him? Take him! attack.

Emeralda Kasim scowls faintly at the throw, and one wing'hand' clenches into a fist as she transmits back, <"Not funny, laughing boy. Thermo Gord."> A burst of flame streaks forward from the clenched fist, aimed directly for the cockpit of the Simeon. Seems someone has aggravated the little nanogirl.

Emeralda Kasim strikes Albedo Piasora with her Thermo Gord Sunburn attack.

Whoa! That was unexpected. Lita has to change course suddenly, just to avoid the untimely collision of body to space-fighter, which, in her current state, could very well have disabed her. She pulls the ship up, and engages a tractor beam, grabbing onto Zig's body before it can float too far away. She pulls him toward the ship...and takes a glance out her visor window, quickly examining the villain who caused the damage.


Online Life is graciously hosted by RPGClassics.