Xenospace - Pleroma Online Life is graciously hosted by RPGClassics.
A hollowed out asteroid for the most part, Pleroma is a much stranger place. The architecture is a mixture of the most modern technology, such as AGWS bays, service tunnels, and even launch facilities for spacecraft of all sizes. However, the base itself is remniscent of a gothic cathedral, with stone hallways, thin towering structures, and other such things of that ancient period. The heart of the base is the command center, with a variety of screens, stations, and other displays to monitor the activities of the U-TIC Organization. It is, at all times, well-defended and protected by an army of soldiers and AGWS.
It's been less than twenty-four hours since MOMO was taken, but there's been no indication of where she was taken or what it was Albedo wanted with her. Which is--strange, for the madman, all things considered. He's usually quite open about what he wants and what he'll do to get it--but for now, silence.
The Song of Nephilim, wrapped in its impenetrable cloaking field, drifts out in one of the vast interstellar voids between the asteroid base Pleroma and not all that far from Second Miltia. Could that be where he's taken her...?
Hey, it's the Courtain. It's no Durandal, but it's what they have at their disposal. The gang's all here, trying to find some clue as to where the Song of Nephilim, and MOMO, are. Well, everyone except the Little Master, he must have ran off on his own again.
Either way Ziggy is on the bridge with the others who have come to MOMO's aid. For now he stands in silence, arms crossed (does he know any other way to stand in a crisis?). H's feeling a tad helpless right now, as he can't do a THING until some trace of MOMO is found....
The Courtain is just as good as the Durandal, as Junior would vehemently insist. Its arrival from hyperspace isn't something really noteworthy to any of the asteroids and atomic particles out here, but the ship, for once, is entirely under the control of the bridge crew. The computer's AI knows to shut down whenever it approaches the Song ... and what should pop up on radar but that baleful triangular ship?
"Closing in on the objective at 200kph and slowing," one of the realians on the bridge chirps cheerfully. "Identification of 100 Series Prototype MOMO confirmed."
"Orders?"
The Kukai Foundation has its old friends, to be certain. Cless Alvein arrives from the back, an elevator coming up with the blond-haired swordsman in it. When the doors open, his presence is easily announced - he steps out, his armor clinking against the metal floor of the Courtain's bridge. The young man looks around, glancing at the person he knows: Gaignun Kukai. He smiles, nodding once to him.
"Mister Kukai," he says. "I'm here, as I said I would be. What's our progress on finding the girl?"
With Jr. mysteriously missing, someone has to take command of the Courtain. Gaignun might be better placed on the Kukai Foundation itself, but when your hotheaded older brother has dashed off and has gone missing for several hours...then you need to take matters into your own hands. The dark-haired Kaiser glances around at the various and sundry people collected on the bridge of the Courtain, then nods at the Realian reporting on MOMO's location. "Good work," he says briskly. "Close in, but be cautious." Gaignun glances back at Cless' arrival and nods to him. "Good evening, Cless. MOMO has been found, thankfully." Then, addressing everyone: "Prepare AGWS for those whom are heading out, so that they can board the Song and head in. Our objective is to find MOMO and rescue her. Wherever MOMO is, I'm sure Jr. and Albedo will be there as well."
Maya's here as well she's come a little late but it took her a while to get her after all right? So Maya's comming up a few moment later up the lift and on to the bridge. She's looking a bit worried about MOMO for one and the fact Junior's gone MIA as well has her worried. Could he have made an attempt and failed? She's not sure. "Any word on MOMO or Jr.?"
"Are you sure?" Ziggy's head snaps up immediately as one of the 100-Series speaks. He's not wasting any time, is he?
Stepping forward he keeps his eyes on the viewscreen. This didn't seem to be like Albedo at all, which is unsettling. It could mean that he is being successful in taking the Y-Data from MOMO. He's never easily lowered his guard in the past, only when he was either setting up a trap, or he was busy gloating over a victory. And Jr.'s absence, well... Ziggy has a good idea he's in there. Of course that there has been no word from him can only mean he's run into trouble himself. He'll have to lecture him on acting rashly later. Saving them both now takes top priority.
"Good." Cless looks ahead, out the bridge's main view port and at space itself. His arms cross over his armored chest, as he steps a bit more towards the center of the bridge. The young man, despite being of a medieval zone, has almost become used to space, now. Living in the Space Potato and years spent in Videoland have seen to that. There is, however, one thing he seems uncertain of. "AGWS?" he asks, looking back towards Gaignun. "I, ah, I don't know if I can fly one of those..."
They are probably a lot different than an Airbird.
"Yes!" the Realian replies to Ziggurat as he checks the readout. "It seems that she's somewhere near the center." The information agrees with this as well.
"MOMO has been found," Gaignun reports to Maya. "Jr.'s whereabouts are as of yet unknown...but I've a feeling we'll find him there." He casts his gaze out at the Song of Nephilim, expression guarded but intense. He shuts his eyes briefly, then addresses the group. "You'll all have to head to the hangar to acquire AGWS. Ziggurat, you know the way; please lead everyone there. You'll receive a signal when everything is ready. --Don't worry, Cless," he adds with a nod in the swordsman's direction. "We'll support you from here and give you a crash-course instruction on how to use one. Maya and Ziggurat can help you with that as well."
A serious, if not grim everyone's way. "Godspeed, everyone."
Maya can help she's still got the loaner AGWS if its needed and with what's in the Song? It's pretty certain it will be useful if only to prevent Gnosis contact with them. "I'm on my way and Cless thankfully the suits do have melee payloads." She figures a pair of swords would do Cless better than ranged wrapons. "Right well we better be on our guard as we don't know what Albedo could have waiting for us."
Ziggy nods to Gaignun, and leads the way for the others down to the AGWS hanger bay. His combat-effectiveness is actually lowered using an AGWS, all things considered, but he'll take on into the interior, at least. However he's not as familiar a pilot as one would think, so he'll let Maya explain the finer details to Cless.
"Once we launch, we'll head right for the nearest docking port. I'm sure we can expect heavy resistance once we get inside, so stay on your guard. We'll be heading to MOMO's last known coordinates. Albedo has likely planned for a rescue attempt, so don't let your guard down, stay sharp."
Fortuitously, just as Ziggy makes note of this, the Song of Nephilim's cloaking field--winks out of existence.
"I understand," Cless replies to Gaignun. He still looks rather nervous, as he begins to approach the elevator again. He may not have met Ziggy before, but he can recognize such a look on a man's face. He wants to get moving, quickly. He can take their word for it. He looks once at the blue-haired girl, blinking and then grinning just a bit. "Melee payloads, huh? That would be helpful. Are the easy to fly?"
He then looks to Ziggy, as he follows him down to the AGWS hangar bay. The young man nods to the cyborg. "I understand. Will we be fighting in AGWS in there? I don't mean to boast, but I'm probably more useful out of one..."
He taps the sword at his side, knowingly.
Maya looks to one of the Foundation techs and quickly tells them to mod the AGWS that Cless is using for melee. Namely get it a pair of swords. Maya starts to explain the baisc operations keeping it as simple as she can, Cless is smart but after all some of the tech here is pretty advanced. "At least flying over in them, we should be able to make use of the auto pilot for some of that. As for fighting its up to you once we're inside you can dismiss the AGWS if you wish."
Ziggy nods. "We will at least be flying inside within them. Whether or not you wish to stay inside if fighting breaks out is up to you. I won't be either, myself." Saying that he climbs into one... not very easily though. The AGWS are typically designed for slender people in thin flight-suits, they're not at all made for cyborgs with big clunky legs. But this'll have to do for now.
"Let's go."
"I understand," Cless replies, once again. "I'll probably get out, myself, then." After all, he has fought heavily armored vehicles from modern zones outside of an AGWS. The swordsman looks up, at the opened cockpit, before he takes a leap up into it. As he sits down, the cockpit closes. He blinks a few times, then runs through the start-up procedures outlined by Maya.
His voice comes over the radio. "Does the auto-pilot know what it needs to for it to take me there, yet?" he asks, his voice crackled with a bit of static. "Should I wait until we launch to turn it on?"
Maya climbs into her own AGWS and seals the hatch, she gets comfortable for the moment and starts to warm up the unit. "I'll give it the data before we launch." Maya gets it powered up and then tromps towards the lanch bay and waits for the others. "Well i'm ready here."
"You can just set your AGWS to follow our coordinates, if you're unsure how to fly." Ziggy says. He taps a few buttons on his control panel to prep the AGWS for launch. The three (four?) AGWS get a green light, and the hatch opens, sending them all out into space, with their destination dead ahead. They're going in as they are, and they're coming back out with two more.
"I'll try to do that," Cless answers. The swordsman taps a few times at his console; thankfully, it proves rather easy, because of a fairly easy to understand console. The AGWS then moves along, following after Ziggy's; such is the joy of the auto-pilot.
"You better set the auto-pilot!" Link calls up to Paula as he works the pedal and foot controls on their AGWS. At least with the fact that the psychic is in the Ghost outfit, Link doesn't have to worry about looking up her dress. "..last thing we need to do is get lost in space!"
"..set to follow, right. Looks like you won't have to do anything down there, Link." Paula says pleasantly, tapping on the controls. She may have piloted Impact once, but she's no AWGS driver.
Once Ziggurat, Cless, Maya, Young Link and Paula (hey, where'd they come from?) are all ready and speeding out towards the Song, the voice of Mary Godwin echoes cheerfully on the speaker. "Ahl right, y'all, this is it! Hang tight an' take care of MOMO an' the Li'l Master! Don't you worry 'bout a thang but savin' them. We'll take care of the rest!"
If one could hear the wheels turning in space, the creak of the ancient cogs set in motion when the universe was first formed by the watchmaker's hand--perhaps that's the sound that might echo through the ears and minds of those poor brave souls as they head toward the Song of Nephilim. Do they have any idea of what they'll find waiting for them there? Do they even know if their friends are still alive, or if Albedo is waiting for them, or if...
Or if it's all a -trap-? For once the AGWS have their course, something begins to shimmer into life not far from where the visible Song rests, space warping and contorting. An eerie psychic hum suffuses the surroundings as more and more wrinkles appear in the fabric of space and time, before the starry void belches forth--
Proto Merkabah. The station more than dwarfs the Courtain, and the AGWS are but molecules beside Mizrahi's masterwork as it shimmers into being. The attended smaller gate-outs prove to be Gnosis capital ships, appearing in huge numbers with smaller members of their kind as escorts.
And over it all, a laugh--piercing, splintery, and full of wicked amusement. << "They say the line between geniuses and madmen is a thin one! I like to think I'm a little of both--but you should SEE the kinds of things Mizrahi had in here! /There/ was a man! But first, take a look at this, will you?" >>
Albedo's found himself a new toy.
Cless may not be familiar with all of the complicated ins-and-outs of how to fly an AGWS, but he is familiar with a basic feature of them: the brakes. His foot slams down onto the appropriate pedal in his cockpit, which causes vernier thrusters on the front of his vehicle to flare to life and bring it to a halt. A moment later, his voice - marred with static - echoes over the tactical network.
"Gaignun, Mary, Ziggy! Someone!" he shouts over it, staring at the terrible space station before him, as well as the vast horde of Gnosis around it. "What in the hell is that thing?!"
"Mizrahi's?" Ziggy says, staring at the giant vehicle of heaven. "So he must have gotten the Y-Data afterall..." Traces of regret in his voice, he shakes his head. So their target is just a lot bigger, they still have a job to do. << Keep a tight formation, everyone, and be ready to move out of the way. Those Gnosis will probably come straight at us, but we must maintain a steady course to the station. >>
Just what is Albedo planning to do with that? Shouldn't he have already gotten what he wanted? Or is he now just flexing his new muscle? That's not like him, though, there's got to be something else...
Coming up from the lower half of the control deck, Link squeezes in next to Paula, and stares out. "Whoa.. that's pretty big." he murmurs quietly to his girlfriend.
It's Gaignun that replies to Cless' cry of distress, speaking to everyone there, though the source of his transmission is not from the bridge of the Courtain, but from his office therein. <"That is called Proto Merkabah. It has a long history behind it...and we don't precisely have time for explanations. I hope it will suffice that it's dangerous, and that it's a result of Albedo finding what he was looking for. Follow Ziggurat's orders, and be careful. We'll handle support.">
There is a certain terseness to his otherwise calm voice, but considering the circumstances, one can hardly blame the Kaiser. Meanwhile, the Courtain's guns open; Mary and the others on the bridge obviously have seen the fleet of Gnosis, and like hell they're *not* going to open fire on them, however carefully.
Maya's own ride starts to slow as Maya's AGWS slows down like the others are doing at the moment. She pauses to just gape at the ship, the desgin of such a craft is just amazing, the next thought is the power demads of it. She's impressed but worried given Albedo has a new toy... <
"All right, then... lead the way, Ziggy," Cless replies. His AGWS slows down, next to Maya's. He glances from his windows, at his allies; Maya, Ziggy, and the AGWS with Link and Paula. He can see easily enough that they happen to be immensely outnumbered. The young man gulps once, and reaches his hands down to the controls for the melee weapons. He may need them.
<< "Yes!" >> Albedo lilts, as if picking up on Ziggurat 8's thought. <'< "Magnificent, isn't it?" >>
The Song's already begun docking with the massive spacestation, just as it was designed to do. Like a hand into a glove, or a sword into its sheath. << "Ma pêche was SO helpful in securing it for me--I really have to /thank/ her. That is--if she--or any of you--get out of this ALIVE." >> Another hysterical laugh accompanies this, before the open channel cuts off.
The Song finishes its docking procedures with a soundless -snap- of gears and airlocks. Flash-frozen oxygen hisses up around the edges of the pyramidal spacecraft as the final procedures are completed. ...now what? There's at least one open port on the side they can make it to, and the Gnosis have bigger fish to fry in the form of the Courtain at the moment.
Ziggy thrusts his AGWS forward, after locating the most suitable docking point. << We'll just have to trust the Courtain to cover us while we break inside. Once we're in it's up to us. Just focus on one thing at a time. >> Now fly, dammit! Albedo's gloating isn't making anything any easier. Nevertheless they're making a bee-line for that port. Then they'll see what Mizrahi's labyrinth has in store for them, depending on how much Albedo will be making use of it.
Maya radios back <<Right, lets go Ziggy, your in the lead.>> Maya's suit follows after his and she radios <<I have to admit it certainly is quite the feat.>> With that she pauses at the Gnosis, <<Gnosis?! This isn't good we got to get onboard soon>> Maya's worried given what she knows about this zone's tech.
Cless brings his AGWS through space, fairly quickly. It is easily enough to make his head spin; the distortions in depth perception, the sense of directionless, and the vast field of Gnosis throw him off. He tries to stay away from them, grateful the Courtain's guns have them occupied for the moment.
He moves the mech down, slowly and carefully, into the docking port. Being new at landings and with enough common sense to know that they can be among the most dangerous parts of flying a vehicle, he takes a great deal of care in landing. The grey-eyed warrior tenses, trying to keep Albedo's words from his mind. Dwelling on what that madman has to say could just distract him, for the moment.
"Is everyone ready?" he asks over the radio. "This sounds like it will be difficult. Link and Paula, are you two all right in there?"
The first boarding 'party' to leave the Song's docking area are not a band of ruthless trained killer machines, or a platoon of maddened combat realians. As the airlocks and all systems read 'secure', three little girls move within the larger complex of Proto Merkabah.
"Twelve, obtain structure schematics. Twenty eight, locate the entry point of the guests." asks the lead whitehaired girl, her arms crossed beneath her garb. Did Mizrahi make combat Kirshwassers, or is this just a wierd child?
<<"Thank you, Uncle Gaignun.">> Paula responds to Gaignun and the Courtian crew as he explains what this thing was, and that they would provide cover to-wait, dock? They have to board that? ...well, at least it isn't the Song. It's likely that Paula can't hear the song anyways.
"<<We're alright! Don't worry about us, Mr. Alevin!">> Paula responds cheerfully, sinking back into her seat, the AWGS itself still trained to follow Ziggy.
For several long moments, Proto Merkabah is completely quiescent. Long enough for the boarding party to begin landing.
Then all hell breaks loose. /Some/ sort of distortion erupts from around the space station, ensnaring the nearby Gnosis no matter what size and pulling them inexorably toward the space station. They're swiftly sucked inside and somehow metabolized, disappearing altogether once they hit a vanishing point not far from the station's apex.
What the hell did Mizrahi create this thing to do?!
Luckily, Ziggy and co were already boarded by the time the Merkabah has the munchies for Gnosis, so they have one less thing to panic about. But not to worry, they'll likely have many more things to worry about in the near future.
Disembarking his AGWS, Ziggy takes the lead. He's not familiar with the schematics of Proto Merkabah, but he can vaguely tell they need to head towards the center. Good thing Mizrahi was courteous enough to install accessible maps along the way.
She's probably just a weird child. The Courtain has its own things to do, however, and from within it, the 100-Series Realians begin to unleash the Hilbert Effect. Which is what they were charging to do last pose. Not opening fire on the Gnosis. ...*cough* Before it can do any good, however, the Gnosis begin to disappear, pulled into Proto Merkabah.
Mary gapes at the show, not quite believing what she's seeing. "What *is* that contraption doin'?!" she asks aloud, before she turns to the crew. "Everyone, prepare the guns to give Ziggy an' the others cover fire, just in case! We don't know *what* to expect!"
Meanwhile, in his office, Gaignun is...copying information. Hmm.
The 'eating' of the Gnosis is noticed by Cless on the sensors mounted in his AGWS, and with a quick glance outside of his AGWS, sees it underway. The swordsman scowls. He can only assume that this is bad - some sort of trick being played by Albedo. He throws the hatch open, having no time for contemplating this too much. "All right, Paula. I'll see what I can." Then, he jumps out and onto the ground again.
The young man falls down onto the ground, crouching, before he stands back up. He begins walking after Ziggy, one hand falling down onto the central hilt of his long sword. "This place is probably going to be huge," he says to the cyborg.
Maya gets out of her AGWS and dismisses it for the moment, she'll call it back if its needed later. She's ready to roll as she unslings her rifle and comments "I'm glad Grubb isn't with us, he'd run off to study the place if we looked away for a second." A bit of humor at this dark time. Maya's trying to forget the whole eating Gnosis that her sensors shwoed just before she landed on the ship. "We're going to have to keep our wits about us here."
Boy it feels good to not be a gnosis right now, since Paula doesn't need to worry about becoming space station snacks. The kid's AWGS lands not long after Ziggy's, albiet in a slightly bumpy manner. The psychic scrambles out of the AWGS, pausing only to wait for Link to catch up, then it's off to follow Ziggy since he seems like he knows where he's going. "...probably. I hope we don't meet those gnosis in here."
Paula seems worried, which is probably a bad sign for everyone.
Scrambling after Paula, Link's expression is sour as he grabs Paula's hand, and takes off with her after Ziggarut. Time to put some trust in the experts. "Keep an eye out, Paula!" the boy warns quietly. "..I don't know about this place.. it feels.. off."
"Off or not, we still have to move forward." Even if Albedo has gotten his hands on the Y-Data, they still have to rescue MOMO. There's always the chance he didn't get all of it. And besides... he wouldn't be much of a bodyguard if he just left her. He also needs to make up for his failure the night before. "We'll keep heading towards the core." On top of rescuing MOMO, they should try and blow this place while they're at it. Can't have Albedo with a toy THIS grand, now can they?
Maya has to agree with Link this place smells of ghosts to use the old expression, lost of old supplies like it was just well left by its crew with the intent to return at a later time." Hey Maya cares about MOMO she's the important thing here, if Albedo has the data there is nothing they can do about it now. Maya keeps up with the others passing old labour drones and shuttles. "There could be automated defences or some old Combat Realians if we're unluckly."
No, they most certainly cannot, Cless thinks. The swordsman trails after the cyborg, with his hand remaining upon his sword hilt. The blond-haired kid looks once towards Maya, nodding his head. "I would expect something. Hopefully not Gnosis," he murmurs. The young man then looks back at Paula and Link. He tries to put on a grin and speak of happier things. He looks too worried for it to work. "Well, um. Have either of you been into the belly of a terrible weapon of the ancients and-or forgotten makers of great power before?"
The Gnosis don't just provide a convenient "snack" for the station, though. It rolls lazily through space, putting Second Miltia in its sights even as several more battlegroups of Gnosis begin plunging out of UMN space to attack those unfortunate enough to be outside. A low thrum of gathering power rattles the deckplates underfoot as the boarding party makes their foray into the bowels of the space station; the lights dim, then brighten, then dim again before a massive outflux of energy causes the entire thing to shudder.
Several thousand kilometers away, Second Miltia's satellite net dies an ugly, firey death.
<< "Hmmm! A little closer and they would have had to get a -third- Miltia!" >> Once more Albedo's eerie laughter echoes through the halls.
Focusing on the map, there is a moment of thought: The facility was not big, it was as anticipated HUGE. Still, the visual was exactly what she needed and within a few moments a suitable location was selected.
"We move, girls." is the only thing the lead whitehaired girl says as she begins to walk away from their current location, mentally calculating the most efficient methods, risks, and running mental simulations with what little data she knew.
Truthfully, she was running fairly blind, but she still had more knowledge than they did for the time being.
"Everything's off-" Paula falls silent, hearing Albedo again. "...it's times like these I'm glad I never brough the subject of MOMO up with him." she mutters, scampering after Ziggy. One of her hands flicks out to her side, thumb and middlefinger meeting each other to snap, a PSI shield flickering in around her soon after.
"I think I'd rather be on the Song." Link admits. After all, he's learned that place a little, thanks to being the gardner there. Reaching into a side pouch, the boy withdraws a blue crystal, and comments, "Nyaru's Love." And with that, a blue shield flickers to life around Link.
Another deep, powerful thrum runs through the station, a basso profundo note as it pulls in more Gnosis to ready itself to fire again. What in the world is Albedo up to--does he really intend to destroy Second Miltia entirely? << "Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock! --My, how late it's gotten! You really -are- taking a long time, aren't you? Hmhmhm! I wonder--will Second Miltia just come apart at the seams, or go spinning away, a lost cosmic billiard ball, until it smacks into some flaming sun and -pfsh-! Toasts! Let's see, shall we...?" >>
"Be ready for anything." Ziggy says as they continue through the seemingly never-ending hallways. Yes, anything. Even Sailor Kirchwassers.
Cless glances down at the children, as he walks along. They must have some sort of defenses against this place. He even starts to comment, before Albedo's voice rings out. His teeth grit in annoyance - and a little bit of anger. This cannot bode well. "I think you're both right," he says, quietly. "Something /is/ off." His voice falls an octave lower and grows a bit quieter. "What the hell is this thing supposed to do?"
Leave it to Cless to be distrustful of superweapons from the past. His face scrunches up as the sprinklers begin to go off.
"Well, I've been in Death Mountain. Does that count as an anctient evil?" Link asks, looking towards Cless, a thin smile appearing underneath the helmet of the Hammer's armor. As it starts to rain on their parade, the Hylian looks up and then around, ready to pull meatshield duty at a moment's notice.
"It could be anything." Paula says gravely. The space zone was sort of confusing-this zone in particular additionally. The girl frowns, peering up at the sprinkler system. "It could also be on fire, which is probably even worse."
Despite the sprinklers, the station is not on fire. There are, however, Gnosis, several of which choose to make their presence known at this particular opportunity by leaping on the boarding party from ambush. Despite their bestial miens, they attack swiftly and silently, trying to rip apart these human invaders before they can get much further.
Maya's moving along the hallways then pauses "Hold on a moment I think I saw an active terminal." Maya says heads over to it boots up the holo comp she has and gets to work. "Just give me a moment." Humm there isn't too much left but she starts a transfer and will look at the data when its over as Albedo lets out his next message. This wasn't good at all as she disconnects. "I think this is more recent evil with the chance to become ancient evil." She disconnects and dollowas after the others again.
As the Gnosis fall upon the party, Link lets out a yelp, "Paula, we have company!" he calls out, moving next to the girl, and grabs his sword, swinging it around at the nearest target. However, with the sprinklers going off, the boy has a brainstorm. "...sweetie, freeze them up!" Looking up at the pipes, he lifts up one of the SMGs, and unloads it into what he hopes is a steam pipe, grunting in pain as a Gnosis slams a claw into his armor and flings him back against a wall.
"Definitely," Cless replies with a similar, thin-lipped smile at Link. The swordsman then stops, as the Gnosis begin coming - leaping out at them from the shadows and nearby area. His teeth grit and his other hand goes down to the crossbar on his sword, yanking the blade out with both hands. As he steps back, avoiding the first swipe of a Gnosis' claw, the blade lashed out in an arc at the offending Gnosis. "Look out, everyone!" he shouts, before he presses the assault against this Gnosis with a final blow: a flash of energy, in the form of a blade, that shoots at it over the ground, in the brief distance between them. "Demon Fang!"
Oh crapper, there /are/ gnosis in here. Yelping suddenly as the creatures lunge, she responds in the exact same way when faced with a gnosis before-when it bears down on her, she flicks out a hand and reflexively unleashes a burst of telekinesis to repell the creature. "..can't let them touch me.." Paula mutters, glancing suddenly to Link. ...the sprinklers? That's a good ide-
HEY, when'd Cless learn Kratos's move?
"Link, cover me if you can, don't let them to-" Paula darts out of the way of another quite narrowly, wincing. Her gauntleted hand gestures through the air, icy blue trails following her fingers. A PSI freeze is unleashed, drawing from the water in the air, centered first on the gnosis near herself, then branching out to the other agressors if possible.
Paula needs time? Link's more than willing to buy her that time. They didn't get a chance to work together last night, but now, oh yes, the tandem pair is ready. Pulling himself off of the wall, Link pulls out the tri-attack boomerang, sets it for ice, and flings it at a Gnosis getting too close to the couple, firing off a few more rounds of SMG ammo at other Gnosis as Paula gets her ice princess groove on. $r
The mercifully part in all of this is that Albedo seems to have been distracted by something, wherever he is, and so for the moment the laughing transmissions have ceased. The party tears into the Gnosis--except Maya, who barely missed the ambush--and the Gnosis reciprocate, even as a few of their number dissolve into salt and dust. Link's gambit works marvelously--the steam, while it doesn't dissolve the monsters entirely, does scald them and send them reeling back silently. More press forward, a Unicorn lunging close to try to spear both children with its horn, while a pair of Kobolds make a beeline for Ziggy and Cless.
Oh snap gnosis?! Maya was lucky in the fact her little data download delayed her as she's able to see the ambush ahead as her friends are already fighting the horrors from another dimension. Maya unslings her rifle and opens fire soom of the gnosis with a swarm of seeker missiels. Got to love smart weapons.
Well, they were right about one thing. Junior is already here, minus his jacket but not without his guns. As the party rip into the Gnosis, he turns a corner and discovers them with evident surprise. "..Oi, get your acts together people! Let's go!" He expects those Gnosis to get killed! "I know where we're going." And if they don't follow when the minivirus darts off again, he'll circle back around, but he's clearly very impatient.
A unicorn, a familiar sight to Paula, and certainly spared no mercy. A hand is leveled at the charging monster, but this time, it's simply a /very/ concentrated blast of PSI fire, fueled by seething hatred for a race that possesses similar feelings to her own.
The familiar voice of Junior is caught by the psychic, and she takes off immediately after the URTV. "Going, going! C'mon Link!"
"Damn, there's even more of them!" Cless shouts. The young man rushes forward, towards the pair of Kobolds coming at him and Ziggy. The two Gnosis find a quick, two-handed slash aimed at them, as he stops and uses his sudden shift in momentum to hurl the blade in their direction. As it ends, however, he brings it down, the point touching the floor for just a moment.
"Light Spear!" he shouts, before he then leaps up, raising the sword as he does to slice in a spiral at both Gnosis. The Kobolds soon find a blast of light, in the form of a helix, following the blade, before Cless comes down and ends with an overhead slash aimed at the one on the right.
When he lands, he notices Jr. and quickly moves forward. If the Gnosis aren't dead, they will be soon - by his hand or Ziggy's, in all likelihood.
Maya doesn't have to be told twice by Junior to get a move on as she just unloads with severa sphere barages on the near by Gnosis. With that cover she speeds after the midget virus. "One problem down one to go let's get after junior!" With that she's running after Junior doing her best to keep up. Hopefull the sphere shots will get Gnosis out of the way.
As Paula unleashes a PSI-Fire, Link adds to it as he draws back a fire arrow into his bow and fires it a point blank at the Unicorn, moving in front of Paula, bringing up his shield to defend himself and her.
Young Link has activated title: Paula's Meatshield!
Junior doesn't get too far before he skids to a stop and spins right around, pointing to Ziggy and Maya. "Hey! You two go after MOMO and get the heck out of here! Hook a left at the next junction and keep going straight til you find the stairs. Two floors up, three rooms over!" Don't mind having a gun pointed at you, he doesn't take the time to get rid of them before making a gesture. "The rest of you, come with me, we gotta shut down Merkaba." And then he runs off again. That kid has pure sugar for blood or something.
<'Note: At this point I was forced to leave the scene due to it being too darn late. From this point onward the party split into two groups. Ziggy and Maya went to save MOMO from one section of Proto Merkabah, while Jr. and the others confronted Albedo at the core. Stuff blew up, they all barely made it out alive, the cloaked Testaments decided to be a bit snarky, and they all saved the day. Happy End.>>
