3981/ICoT: From Wharf to Wilds

ICoT: From Wharf to Wilds
Date of Scene:	04 April 2016
Location:	The Bastion
Synopsis:	"Well... no point in explaining what happens next, right?"
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, Priscilla, 236, Alexis, 673, The Kid, William Pauwel

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The Kid has posed:
    It's a mite bit cooler here than any previous location here in the aerial ruins of Caelondia. The reason for that is immediately obvious. Upon stepping out of the warpgate, everyone finds themselves standing upon a river bank, the soil underfoot cool and damp. The sky above is a deepening blue, indicating the incoming night. By now, one should expect desolate islands adrift in the air in this world, but it all seems different now.

    Before, each place visited could be viewed as a locale totally separate from all else. As the survivors said, they were once all connected, of course. But because this Caelondia is the only Caelondia that outside Elites have seen, it's easy to only see the drifting masses in the sky, separated from each other.

    This is the first time they seem connected.

    The river itself flows from another island above, and spills down over the sides. Some tumbles to the ground far below, boiling against the exposed volcanic vents to rise up as steam. Some tumbles down onto another island, which flows to another in turn, creating what looks to be the wildest water slide in history.

    Kid is here early, as usual. But he's not waiting around. Instead, he's standing on a wide river barge that must have survived the Calamity. It's name is painted on the side in faded ink; "Weeping Nellie." On the crumbling dock it's moored to is a pile of seats, boxes and miscellaneous junk that he must have cleaned off. What's left on board is a bunch of iron rings driven into the floor and evenly spaced out. Obviously there to tie on ropes that would secure items to be transported.

    Kid has ropes of his own, ropes that he ties one end onto the rings with practiced motions to create a strong knot. Once the last has been tied on, he looks up at the assembled. "C'mere," is all he says, his voice having a slight warble to it. Clearly, somewhat nervous about this whole venture.

    Should people board the barge, Kid'll stand them over each ring before tying the rope around their waist (or other suitable 'centre'). "This way, we can reel ya in if ya go overboard," he explains in a clipped tone of voice. "... this is nuts, I know. But the river's dryin' up. Give it a few days and we got no chance of reaching the Core, then the Ura can poach it however they like. Gotta be today."

    He clears his throat and walks among the group, tugging the ropes one more time to make sure they're secure. "We seen Windbags gettin' proper riled up along the banks, so watch out. I'll be steerin', so I'll need y'all to cover me, lemme know if anythin's in the way.

Alexis has posed:
If you thought Alexis wouldn't show up after how badly things went last time.... Well you don't know Alexis very well. It's going to take more than a tactical blunder and some mocking deities to turn her away from helping do something about this ramshackled world. Just look at that expression as she exits the warpgate. Don't let the girly pink hair mislead you, that's the expression of someone that's determined to make up for the past mistakes.

And this time she made sure to wear *all* her field gear, just to be on the safe side.

"So, just what sort of resistance are we expecting?" she asks while Kid is tying people in place like some sort of insane amusement park ride before safety harnesses were invented. "Turrets? Monsters actually trying to board? Any idea?"

Rory White (673) has posed:
"I'm not going to let things go the way they did before." Rory states, full of resolve. Her lips are set firmly together and for the first time in a while her expression seems pretty natural. The trouble is that her face is rather metallic and robotic, if colored properly. Her Flexbot, having taken a humnoid form, is still unmistakably robotic and covered in weird protrusions to accomodate its mass. The thing's already compressed as far as it can go just to appear humany. The end result is that she looks like she's covered in a weird armored robe thing, with big boots. Robot boots. And so on.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has come once more to lend a hand to those people who live in the Bastion she's not been sure about the gods of this world, though while she'll give them the respect they are due. She's not sure about such things otherwise. So she was clad again in the stelath suit which seemed to confirm she prefered mobility and sneaking about rather than up front combat if she could help it. She gave the Kid a nod and she's happy she's recovered from the beating she got at the Feds hands on the weekend more of less.

"So windbags again, and Got it I'll give you the best cover fire I can."

She unshoulders her SMG and deploys a few recon drones.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron doesn't like boats much. He always feels better when he's got his feet on the ground, and a boat is definitely not 'on the ground'. It moves too much to support him. So he's more than a little hesitant to board. But he does nonetheless. He is, however, glad of the rope. Kid might notice a slight sigh of relief there. But he Takes up a position on the barge to block anything that might be incoming from the bank as they go, whether that's attacks or boarders. He puts his sword before him as a shield; the blade is big enough.

William Pauwel has posed:
    The last time Will was around these parts, he damn near got turned into paste! Hopefully that kind of nonsense doesn't happen too frequently around Caelondia. "Aw, I wouldn't be much of an explorer iff'n I didn't know how to swim," Will replies cheerfully to the Kid's warning. He does have a rope wrapped around his belly though- can't ever be too careful, after all!

    Will spends as much time staring up into the sky as he does paying much attention to calls for tactical awareness, though. Seeing a broken world sent all up like that, just... hovering in weird jigsaw pieces is a bizarre experience. Floating islands aren't exactly the kinds of things he sees very often, after all.

But...

    "How did all this happen, anyway?" He asks, "The floating islands, the drying rivers. Y'all said there was a disaster of some kind, but... What could've done THIS?"

Priscilla has posed:
    It's been a while since Priscilla has had the time and freedom to leave Lordran, but she had been to this world before, and the Caelondian's plight had no slipped through her long memory. She hadn't been around to do much before, and just her luck, the day she shows up, it's down a long, absurdly oriented rapids ride the likes of which will likely never be seen again. The water isn't the problem, so much as falling into empty sky if the boat should buck too badly on one of those drops, and so with great reluctance, she allows the Kid to strap her in, already feeling uncomfortable with rope around her.

    "The causes behind the-" she catches herself "-event art yet unknown. I assumeth it shalt come up in our travels, or if not, it shalt not be relevant." she replies to William. "It is most important that the City Crest be used to forge a pathway forwards, or else leave these islands stranded from one another, and intraversible." The only way she's visibly armed is with the long, moonlight blue sword by her side, lightly planted point down at the bottom of the barge.

The Kid has posed:
    Those who are actually returning after last time, like Auron, Alexis and William get a small smile from Kid. He wouldn't have blamed them for washing their hands of all this after last time. "Windbags, like I said. But the River had security skiffs too. We've had bad luck with security, so if they're active, I reckon they might come after us."

    He stares at Rory for a long moment, and seems surprised when she speaks. He's probably too used to her showing up as weird drones. "Hey, me neither if I can help it," he says resolutely. To Kotone, he notes her chosen equipment and frowns slightly as he secures her to the barge. "Try not ta flip around too much. I'd rather no one need these."

    Kid does catch Auron's relieved sigh, and manages a wry smile. "Not to worry old man. Sure, I never made Skipper, but I know how ta drive a boat." This is followed by a firm slap on the guardian's back. Will starts to receive an answer, but Priscilla sums it up for him. "What she said. Don't even know what it looked like. Slept through it." Boys and their ability to sleep through things. Will probably understands.

    And finally, it's time to set sail. Kid draws that Machete of his to cut the mooring line, before taking a long oar to push off from the bank. Finally, he ties himself on next to the engine and rudder, getting the former running in a single go. Ol' Nellie had some good owners, before it all. He starts guiding the barge towards the island's edge. Hopefully, they'll drop onto the next landmass below...

    The drop begins.

    It's awful, stomach-lurching and has a sense of total finality. Feet begin to lift off the barge, the front tipping forward, the yawning chasm open below, waiting to swallow them all...

    And then, rocks, soil and water begin to assemble under the boat, holding it up and letting it slide downwards in horrid, jerky bumps. Thankfully, they arrive on the next landmass. Pantheon only knows how many years of their lives they lost.

    But, now the fun really begins.

    Windbags floating around the banks here, as if they're looking for something. Weeping Nellie and her crew probably aren't it, but they're happy to call off the search to deal with them. They approach, floating over the wild water with pickaxes in hand and murder in their eyes. But that's not all.

    On the opposite bank from where they were approaching are some sheds, busted open by something or another. And from them emerge skiffs, skimming over the water with great speed, practically flying towards them. They have turrets on them, turrets that are swivelling to point at the party.

    Three Windbags to port, two skiffs with two turrets each to starboard!

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron returns an amused breath of a chuckle to the Kid's words. "Good. I'd hate to end up with an impromptu swimming lesson," he quips. He's sort of admitting in a roundabout way that he can't swim that well. So a river like this is very likely to be... a bad thing for him to end up in.

    The drop gets a muffled sound of shock, and Auron plants his feet on the deck of the barge as well as he can. It may not make my difference, but it feels like it does, and that makes all the difference. The nauseating lurch isn't something he can help; he just bears it as well as he can. At least he keeps his stomach from rebelling, so there's that.

    The skiffs and Windbags are something that Auron expected, and so he firms up his stance, holding his sword more tightly before him. He's limited in long-range attacks. So he makes a wall of himself, so others can use him for cover if need be.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks at Rory's new form for a moment and smirks a little bit at her friend.

"I'll hold still if I hve to, I can make use of my Cameo to get first strike on them, or at least make me a harder target."

She does give Auron a look before she cloaks fading from view unless you look really hard and close at her. She seems ready now s they drop well she heard the warning about not bouncing about too much so she's not going to. She'll take a moment to line up her first shot with the winbags and opens fire on the ones to Starboard.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis nods a bit as the Kid fills in best he can. Okay, so ranged attackers and boarders. Plus what's probably going to be a wild ride to think about. She takes that into consideration. They're on the water, and while just splashing around wouldn't be much threat to a Fire type, she doesn't want to risk anyone falling in. Better stick to pokemon that can handle themselves on the ride somehow.

Alexis clicks two pokeballs, and after the usual flash of light a large yellow and blue arachnid manifests in front of her. Galvantula can hang onto the deck easily enough, and it wouldn't hurt to have someone with 'rope' handy as well. Next to him appears the Dewott that's been her companion several times in this world's adventures. A Water type is probably the best thing to have on a raging river rapids run.

It's definately for the raging part right, if that first drop is any indiciation. It's harsh enough Alexis grabs onto her rope just to be sure instead of getting any of her own weapons out. Tsunami flattens himself to the deck to keep his center of gravity low, and the elecspider is just hanging there as spiders do.

Sure enough, just like the Kid said, we've got Windbags coming from the banks, and turret skiffs hitting the water. Looks like the security boats are quicker than Weeping Nellie too. Alexis keeps hanging on with one hand, thank Mew she wore gloves so she won't get rope burns! The other hand points towards the skiffs coming out onto the water. "Looks like we're got company already boys. Take em out!"

Sparks crackle around the Galvantula breifly, and then it spits out a stream of webbing at one of the Windbags. Except unlike normal spiders this one carries an electrical charge, so Electroweb is more like getting hit with a powerful taser than spider spit.
Dewott pulls the shells from his thighs, holding them as hilts as the blades of elemental water form from them. He leaps at the next Windbag as soon as it gets to the boat and heaves a powerful Slash for it.

William Pauwel has posed:
    "Seems like that happens pretty often with this kind of thing," Will says with a sigh as he idly tugs a pair of goggles from around his hat to down onto his eyes. Should keep the water out of them, at least. "World-ending disasters and nobody knowing what happened afterwards, I mean. Ah well, that's what we're here to find out, right?"

    Well, partly, anyway.

At least he doesn't say anything about sleeping through the end of the world. Guys like them, they know what it's like to fall asleep and then just... not get up ever. Sleep is the friend that waits at the end of each and every long day, why would you ever want to leave it?

    Not that this is the kind of riverboat ride that you can catch a few z's on just like that! The first jerky slip of the Weeping Nellie down across the rocky riverbank as it literally comes back together underneath them sends a spray of riverwater right up into the explorer's face! It mists across his goggles, and he's suddenly thankful that he brings those things basically everywhere. That first series of bumps tell enough of how this trip's going to be to make Will cling to the edge of the barge like his life depends on it. It probably does, in fact! If he falls off, it's not the water that'll do him in. It's the fact that the river is prone to disappearing just as quickly as it rises.

He really doesn't want to find out what's at the bottom of all of these ruins.

    The rapids aren't the only thing they need to worry about, though! "Where'd those boats even come from!?" Will shouts as he unholsters the oversized handcannon at his hip. The Solano screeches as its energy cells spool up, unleashing rapid sequences of heavy plasma slugs downrange at the incoming skiffs and the turrets onboard. "They all get brought back up by the Crest too?"

Rory White (673) has posed:
In any other circumstance, Rory would be delighted to ride a ACTUAL BOAT and see what it's like! Record the XP of it even and share it. Well, she's recording. She's probably going to share it with the Argonauts like usual.

    But she isn't so delighted right now.

    The bumpy ride leaves her nervous, right up until they're about to go over the Abyss. THAT's where she yells in alarm and ducks, but... the ride continues. Phew.

    She'd sigh, except she doesn't breathe.

    Instead she takes a position on port side and ends up... frowning a lot. "You called it, Mr. Warrior." Apparently meaning The Kid, whom she's loathe to address too informally.

    Windbags. And security skiffs.

    "Starting to regret coming in a form that can ride this rickety thing!" Thankfully she does have some weapons. Her sides open up and fire tiny missiles at the Skiffs! They have quite some boom for their size, but not SPECTACULARLY so. Tiny fireballs pepper whatever they strike.

    "Windbags are melee opponents and need to close in! I'm prioritizing the Skiffs. Auron, be ready in case any Windbags reach us."

Priscilla has posed:
    Lords dammit this is exactly what Priscilla was hoping it wouldn't be like. She's never been afraid of heights, but it's almost impossible not to be worried about the way the boat lurches off the side of the island and straight down into the yawning abyss when one can't fly, tipping dangerously to the point that it looks like it might just do a nose first crash landing on the next stop. Her knuckles are even whiter than usual as she grips onto the side of the barge, trying to keep calm and level. After all, it wouldn't do for a queen to be seen panicking. She has to try equally hard to suppress a sigh of relief as the Crest kicks in, even as horrifically jerky and uneven the ride is before starting to smooth out.

    This is her first time seeing this world's native opposition to boot, or at least the lesser tiers of it. They look odd to say the least, but they seem to be few in number and well taken care of by the swarm of fire. She's more focused on those gun turrets, knowing full well how much it sucks to be riddled with bullets, and so she stands out of her seat, stepping one foot up on the bench, and flourishing her sword. With a single sweep over empty air, the blade roars like the sounding of an immeasurably massive, ghostly bell, sending forth a streaking arc of pale light. It's aimed straight between the two turrets on one skiff, aiming to cut down their mounts at the same time.

The Kid has posed:
    Auron actually gets a long, confused stare from the Kid when he admits he can't swim. Caels lived next to the sea, it was expected that everyone can swim. The idea that someone can't... and to be fair, he's not from a world that had a globetrotting leviathan to worry about. It was safe to swim, usually.

    Either way, as the guardian guards, one of the turrets fires, the shot bouncing off the wide blade, same as before. One of the Windbags floats up and draws back its pickaxe, aiming to swing down at him. The wide opening it leaves would make the experienced warrior despair, if it weren't so easily exploited by him. More than enough to cut it down before it could swing!

    As Kotone goes into stealth mode, an issue crops up. The rope around her waist doesn't vanish with her, which means it is giving away her position still. Hopefully, the Windbags and turrets aren't smart enough to notice it. Her shots tear at the former's rubber flesh, allowing whatever vapors that animate them to seep out! They get a little more sluggish, but it'll take something a bit heftier to put them down for good. As for the turrets, one of her shots must have hit something important, because one bursts into flames right after! Sadly, the skiff is too wet for the flames to spread quickly.

    Galvantula sprays its electrical webbing all over one of the looming Windbags, and it's super effective! Whatever gasses exist inside the thing don't seem to take kindly to an electrical current, because the thing explodes right after, the flames releasing an absolutely foul stench. The second Windbag winds up a swing at the Dewott, but those flashing watery blades sink through its flesh before it can follow-up, it's body rupturing like a burst balloon.

    That's one half of the opposition dealt with, now the skiffs! "Old man said somethin' like that! Crest don't discriminate," Kid yells in response to Will's query. The Chaser's Solano scorches holes right through the turrets and skiffs! In a sense, it's almost too precise an instrument for this kind of operation. You want things with impact, diffusing force so as to disrupt mechanicals or make bigger holes to sink the target! He does manage to disable a turret by hitting something important though!

    Rory gives an excellent display of diffusing force, the explosions blowing sizable chunks in one of the skiffs, enough that it begins to list and fall back! Priscilla's ghostly slash cleaves right through the remaining one, causing it to start sinking immediately. That's the first hurdle overcome!

    But the island edge is fast approaching. Kid's face is grim, but driven as he revs the engine again, pushing Nellie for all she's got. Another sudden drop, that awful lurching as the world starts to rush up to meet them. Again, the Core conjures up whatever it can to create a whole waterway again, resulting in a bumpy ride to the next island.

    And what a welcome they arrive to.

    Windbags float above the churning water ahead of them, larger than the ones from earlier. They move to meet the barge head on... before starting to spin, their pickaxes put out. It's a trio of whirling death, and it'll be hard to dodge on their narrow ground!

    To make matters worse, more skiffs race up on both sides to flank the barge, fiery orange turrets placed on them. They swivel, and begin to spray flame at the party. Not only does the threat of being on fire suck, but the flames also threaten to damage their lifelines!

    One final issue makes itself known to those standing at the bow of the barge. Up ahead is a bunch of wharfs, probably the ones they're looking for to obtain the Core. Thankfully, there's no way they're going to overshoot it. Because there's also a gate in the water ahead, currently lowered. And with the flames, it seems like the Kid hasn't noticed it. At the speed they're going, Nellie would crash against it and most likely sink. And since everyone is tied to Nellie with a rather complex knot...

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron nods to Rory's words. He's got enough rope to move around a little, he should be able to reach Windbags that appear in a semi-decent radius of where he's anchored. And sure enough, here they come. The turret fires, the shot bounding off the blade. Hopefully the others have the turrets taken care of, so that when Auron raises his sword to take advantage of that opening in the defense of the Windbag that's attacking him, he won't end up turned into Swiss cheese.

    He's still going to take the shot, though. Best time for him to take a swing at it, when it's telegraphing its attack from a whole different post code. Maybe it's gloating, thinking he won't risk an attack with the turrets on the skiffs firing. If the Windbag thinks that, though, it will be very wrong. Clear shot or not, Auron stil swings his Katana at the Windbag. It's a large, heavy weapon, made for cutting through heavily-armored foes. It's unlikely a sentient balloon is going to be much of a barrier to the blade.

    Dodge? No, Auron is most definitely not made for dodging. Approaching the larger Windbags, Auron will try to position himself as far forward as he can, putting the blade of his sword forward, with full intent for at least one of the whirling pickaxes to strike it. He's a little more durable than a Windbag, he'd hope, so if someone's going to flinch back from the impact, he hopes it's the Windbag. It should create a momentary opening for someone else to take advantage of.

Priscilla has posed:
    More awful drops. More crashing and clattering and bashing and bumping and thumping and Lords it's just awful. Standing up, Priscilla is a little more free to brace herself, rather than clinging to the nearest railing. With the number of Elites present, she seems little reason to concern herself with further foes. The amount of firepower they're wielding, shooting out all angles with an unrestricted view, allows her to place some extra faith in them. The more immediate problem, which nobody seems immediately equipped to deal with, is the gate.

    Which is why she takes it. Fixed dead ahead on that portcullis of a barrier, she takes a few seconds to search for a switch or lever, finds none, and then works out its probable mechanism of opening. Her stare refuses to wave, without blinking even as the heat of the flames washes over her face and the water sprays up in front of her. There is an abrupt, skin crawling keening sound, like rasping voices and hissing fire and screaming steel, unfortunately hitting everyone nearby in the mind rather than the ear, and then her left eye is surrounded in a corona of searing light. She might even have overdone it, with how hard she goes on the gate, severing gravity, seizing the massive obstruction, and then hurling it straight up along its tracks where it remains trembling.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis leans a bit to one side, then the other, trying to keep a footing with rocking and bumping motions of the boat. This was not going to be a pleasant ride in the least. "Edge coming!" That's a cue for her pokemon to back up as soon as the Windbags are down and get ready for another drop. Galvantula skitters back a bit, while Dewott hooks an arm around Alexis' rope so he doesn't have to sheath his weapons.

And it's a good thing too, for as soon as they're on the next section of land and water there's more hordes of enemies on the move. And these one's are even madder, spinning like devilish tops and gleaming picks. Tsunami darts forward, holding up his sea-swords in a X in front of him. One spinning form slashes it's pick against them several times, sparks flying (despite the blades being water, somehow. Pokemon likes anime special effects, go figure) but he's holding it in place, splitting the trio up so the other's don't get pinned between them. He seems to be thinking on the same wavelength as Auron. Must be a swordfighter thing.

Then he scissors the blades together, catching the pickax between them, followed by kicking off the deck so the Dewott yanks the Windbag in the other direction with him.

"Now! BUG BUZZ!" Alexis tries to jump in on the opening the two are making, and her Galvantula responds in kind. A whine somewhere between an insect's buzzing and electrical build-up hisses from the spider-mon, until it erupts in an sonic pulse that is not only irritatingly loud, but produces enough pressure in the air with the shockwave to be equally painful.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa does see her rope isn't vanishing whelp she's going to hae to live with it should something smarter show up. For now though she'll take whatever edges she can get as she keeps firing more burst, but she's moving about on the deck, not sitting still as that would be a very poor idea for her. She will track turret and will end up lobbing a plasma grenade for one hopefully the toss will make it and take it out.

<<Looks like things are heating up, Rory You goit any ideas?>>

She takes nore of Alexis as she deploys her comrades? Pets? Akin to drones or trained attack dogs and that is quite the site for her to see.

William Pauwel has posed:
    The Solano's plasma slugs aren't precisely small, but they definitely leave a bit to be desired compared to some other weapons out there. Still, they get the job done and one of the turrets sinks down into the briny and infinite depths of Caelondia's yawning abyss. Will feels pretty good about himself for that one! Sure, it wasn't exactly groundshaking, but he put something down without losing a few ribs in the process.

That... Might change in a second here.

Because that sure as heck is a gate right up ahead there, and it looks like the Kid hasn't quite seen it yet.

    "Uhhh," the Chaser non-says as he stares after the massive gate in the distance. He doesn't stare like Priscilla stares though. Teenage boys don't usually come equipped with catastrophic eyebeams. What he does do, though, is drive. He drives well, in fact, and he knows a little about the kind of situation they're in. Boats aren't too different from world to world, from what he's seen. But this one's going a little too fast, too close to a huge wall of steel and who knows what else.

    "Hey, Kid! Gimme those!" Will calls, clambering over to the controls. He sort of sidles into the Kid, trying to wrest control of the ship before their trip is cut abruptly and dangerously short. "We've got trouble up ahead! Big gate out in the water, buzzsaws swinging left and right. We need to slow this thing down 'fore we're a bunch of waterlogged pancakes!"

    Provided he's allowed to, and after a few awkward, veering turns, Will draws back on the speed, letting the turret-boats sail ahead of them before kicking in the motor to put the boat's maneuverability through its paces. He swerves, weaving left and right to give his buddies onboard some breathing room between those god-awful spinning sawblades and dodging around turret-shots. Of course, there's not exactly much room to maneuver on a river, but he can damn well try!

Rory White (673) has posed:
Rory was EXPECTING windbags. She's seen enough of the hostile... 'fauna' of this world to have come up with plenty of counter strategies by now. A request is sent over Mesh to her Matter Manipulator as even MORE of the Windbags appear. A sizable buckler-type shield materialies over her right forearm and locks in place against the microbots that make up the Flexbot construction, binding tight.

    What she WASN'T expecting was a situation that called for much heavy ordnance. Like blowing a distant gate to bits. She can't possibly reach it faster than the boat's moving, and doesn't want to SET IT ON FIRE with lasers for obvious reasons. Kinetic weaponry would put HOLES in it... missiles would take chunks out of it...

    "If anyone has heavy ordnance, that would be great right now!" She's not bothered by flames, being entirely made of very futuristic metal alloys, and her array of sensors can see through smoke like it was nothing.

    And what she sees is Priscilla just mangling the thing to bits.

    "... Seems to be covered!"

The Kid has posed:
    The final Windbag is easily cut down by Auron, that heavy blade cleaving through no problem. It's eyes widen in its last moments as it deflates and sinks into the river, Nellie quickly going over it as it goes off the edge. As he faces up against one of the inbound spinning Windbags, blade clashes against axe, and the thing is brought to a total stop! It regards Auron with apparent surprise, now totally open!

    A second one has a Dewott to contend with, likely even more surprised than the first. At least Auron is man-sized! The Pokemon leaps, yanking the Windbag to the side... and into the flames from the skiffs! At least one part of the boat is being protected by the Windbag's mass. The one that Auron has pinned down ripples in a disturbing manner in response to the Bug Buzz, until its skin reaches its tensile limit. It suddenly ruptures, spraying gas and liquids all over!

    Kotone's plasma grenade proves to be a fine idea! The explosion seems to rupture an important part of the skiff's anatomy in making a huge whole. The rapids immediately make short work of the boat, tearing it to pieces and taking the flame turrets with it.

    As Will comes rushing over, Kid looks at him like he's mad. But as the young fellow grabs at the rudder, the white-haired youth gives a nod. The deck becomes more treacherous as a result of their ropes stretching across it, but Kid joins the fray! Will's expert piloting pulls the party's fat (literally) out of the fire, and makes that final Windbag miss entirely! Kid's Musket he retrieved from the Fort is brought to bear against the remaining targets as he overstuffs the barrel with pellets, shards of scrap metal and gunpowder. When he pulls the trigger, a thick cloud of flying metal is produced, piercing the turret's gas tanks and igniting them! The skiff is sunk, and the Windbag is consumed by the fireball.

    The gate was still oncoming, but Priscilla has more than taken care of that. Indeed, her calamitous eye seems to make the Kid shudder powerfully, but none can deny its effectiveness as the party passes under the gate. "Okay! Cut the engine as we go over this drop, this is it!" he calls back to Will.

    And indeed, another drop is coming. That lurch almost seems old hat now, the bumps easier to brace for. It helps that this drop is much smaller, Nellie washing up against a network of docks criss-crossing among themselves. Windbags are floating all about, smashing open crates, busting open bait stalls and overturning boats, as if they're hunting for something.

    "Core was 'round here," Kid explains as he unties himself. "Almost looks like the Windbags're lookin' for it too..." he murmurs. And then, to make matters worse? Across the smaller spits of land in the sky, an Ura party arrives, leaping down onto the docks and starting to cut down the Windbags!

    "Damnation!" Kid spits as he leaps off Nellie. "Go get the Core! I'll watch the boat, get her ready for ya return!" He seems to be eying some crates right next to the boat, emblazoned with pictures that resemble those turrets...

    Anyway, there's a whole series of docks, one Core, and two other groups hunting for it. Better get moving!

Alexis has posed:
"Dammit!" It's mainly at their being Uras about again that Alexis is cussing at, but it gets the point across all the same. "Tsunami, go. Livewire, stay here. You can web people down so we don't have to mess with the ropes to get out of here quickly." She pulls herself free of her own rope, and bounds for the docks not far behind her pokemon. This time, she was ready to not let her emotions get the better of her.

Dewott surges forward, quite literally as his form is engulfed in a rippling aura of elemental energy. He aims for the nearest group of Windbags, intending to ram them like a watery comet and send them scattering so the others can get past.

But instead of rushing in herself, Alexis grabs a different pokeball and tosses it into the air. "Go, Firehawk!" The screech of a raptor rings out as the ember patterned avian appears, already blazing ahead as she finishes. Take to the air and get over the obstacles. "Chase them away from the Core!"

So it's probably not quite as terrifying as seeing the Charizard was last time, but a big predatory bird is still something to be wary of, right? Especially when this one swoops towards the Uras and unleashes a blast of flame from it's beak at them.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron assists the Dewott in keeping the Windbag occupied, binding up the gasbag's weapon. The loud buzz from the bug Pokemon is painful-- Auron's hearing is pretty good-- but he bears it. He turns his face away from the explosion though. He doesn't want to get burned by whatever gases that animate these things setting his face on fire. As it is, he's liable to get sprayed by whatever it was that animated the thing. Which is going to burn like nobody's business, but he can put himself out.

    Thankfully it's just a few more turns, the skiffs, the remaining Windbags, and the closed gate are taken care of. And once they're at the docks, Auron unties the rope from around himself as well. Suddenly he's made aware of a problem. More groups are destroying things, looking for the Core. Would the Windbags be looking for it themselves? Or would they be under the control of another mind? If so, who? He doesn't ask; the opportunity will come later. What's important is getting to the Core before either of those other groups does.

    He gives a nod to Kid's words, and notes, "Cutting off our means of escape would be a valid tactic. I'll stand guard." He's not really fast enough to chase down either group. So he remains on the dock, keeping an eye out for things that might mean the barge harm.

    If he notices the symbols on the crates, he doesn't mention it. It's likely it doesn't occur to him, as he doesn't know what the symbol means. All he's concerned about is if things explode out of them and try to attack.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is able to take out the Skiff with a bit of help from the rapids, that's more than enough for her. Still things keep coming down and she know they are getting closer but well Priscilla is more than able to deal witgh the door from the looks of it. AS they arrive she's now coming to a halt. She gets the rope untied, recloaks and gets to it making to go after the prize even as Elxis is able to knock out windbags getting in her way.

<<I'm going ahead to try to get the Core if I'm able to..>>

With that the young cyborg is prehaps being prewtty brash for her but she's heading on ahead hoping the others can keep things busy or she could be making a huge mistake, who knows?

Priscilla has posed:
    Thank everything. All said, Priscilla is happy to be off that boat, if only to stop being throw off of cliffs every couple of minutes. Her frame feels like it's buzzing when she casually snaps the rope and leaps out from the deck, briefly stopping to confirm with the Kid on what they're looking for, before breaking off from the group. Rory says her sensors are capable of detecting the crystal Core they're looking for, but only at short distances. Priscilla's senses can't pick up on objects, and so she goes as far away from the flexbot shell as possible to cover ground outside of that range.

    Ever since her reception of the Lordsouls, she's been ridiculously fast on her feet when she wants to, rivaling or surpassing some of the greatest warriors the land had to offer. Only able to search manually, she is a blur of silver and white; a slashing wind where Windbags are a signifcant obstacle, and a heavy hammer as she briefly stops to smash in doors where necessary, ignoring the crates and barrels for the thought that something so important would likely be kept deep in the wharf, perhaps in storage.

William Pauwel has posed:
"Cut the engine as we go over what dro--"

Oh

Will yelps like a spooked puppy as his stomach is abruptly floats up into his chest. Fortunately he IS able to keep enough self control to drop the speed as they tumble over. The rest of the rapids might go well for the others, but Will isn't a rough and tumble river runner! His teeth chatter at each rock and underwater protrusion as they go down, down, down...

Until finally, they make landfall again.

    The Chaser stands up out of the rudder-well on shaky legs. He stumbles a bit on some loose planks but manages to catch himself before his face catches any splinters. "Ugh," he groans as the others rush off, pushing back up to his feet. "Right. Just give me a second," Will says, unlimbering his handcannon again. "Lot of those purple varmints huh?" He kicks his heels against the ground. Tiny but powerful motors begin to wail as the Sirocco spools up, carrying him forward at speeds enough to keep pace with the others. "I got somethin' for 'em."

Windbags're big and they're full of air.

That means they're basically giant targets, right? RIGHT!?

    The Windbags get bombarded with plasma shot regardless. Will seems... reluctant to open fire on the Ura. Still, he's on a collision course with their column as he races into the docks to try and track down that elusive core!

Rory White (673) has posed:
Rory hops out of the boat, eager to get untied from the contraption. And now that they're on land again she's begun a reconfiguration. Some of the flexbot's mass from her sides has begun reshaping, stretching out into new limbs. It'll be a minute or two until they're ready. For now she walks the old-fashioned way with her shield on one arm and her opposing hand formed into what looks like a gun barrel. Probably a light laser or maybe light plasma bolter, hard to say.

    But her sensors are pinging the area, hunting for weird energy signatures in the electromagnetic spectrum consistent with the Cores...

    "It's probably in one of the dock buildings or a bit further in..."

The Kid has posed:
    Dewott's onslaught clears a path! The Windbags are knocked aside, still hovering of course. But now they're not blocking the narrow walkways, allowing the party to progress forward. Meanwhile, Firehawk starts terrorizing the Ura party! They scatter from the flame-spewing bird, but they're not entirely helpless. Some come packing Fang Repeaters like the Kid has, and others have tall bows, similar to yumi from Earth's Japan. As Nighthawk completes it pass, they open fire on it, bolts and arrows flying!

    The Ura take notice of the group, and one of them begins barking orders in their language. It's not Zen today, it seems. They scatter, using that impressive physical capability to leap across the gaps in the dock! They attempt to flank the party before moving in, slashing with weapons that resemble naginatas and firing muskets!

    Some of them break off to try and get a clear shot on, as a member of the enemy race. At the moment, he is not in a position to defend himself. He's dug out some inactive turrets from those crates and is working on attaching them to Weeping Nellie, his back to the Ura. Hopefully Auron can step in!

    However, as fast as those Ura are, Priscilla clearly has one up on them, the queen ghosting across the docks, smashing through anything in her way, likely with Kotone backing her up. Rory's scans pick up the signature... among a pile of rubble? Should Priscilla smash it, with or without the cyborg's input, she would find an iron cage with the hovering blue crystal inside, the thing thankfully hidden due to the Calamity.

    But now that the party has found it, so has the Ura.

    More orders in that language, and they begin to move even more aggressively! While Will is polishing off the Windbags with bursts of plasma that ignore the greasy Windbags, one leaps in to try and cut him with a naginata! Priscilla and possibly Kotone receive the most attention, five Ura massing at them and throwing smoke bombs at their feet before attacking with arrows and blades! However, because of Kotone's cloaked state, their focus is only on the queen.

    Another three head for Nellie, the leader among them. He glowers at Auron and Rory. "Hand over the Cael, and you may go," he says, pronouncing 'Cael' like another kind of four-letter word. Kid, to his credit, ignores their intent to commit a hate crime and keeps working.

Auron (236) has posed:
    That is precisely why Auron remained where he was and stayed near the boat. It's the calling of orders that catches his attention, always hearing trouble first. He turns his remaining eye in that direction and sees the massing Ura. It doesn't take him long to realize Kid's got other things on his mind. And turrets on the barge may come in handy. Hopefully it won't make the barge too top-heavy.

    For now, though, he needs to defend Kid. And so as the request is aimed at him, Auron moves to take up as much of the pathway to the barge as possible. He slides a foot back to lower his stance, Katana propped on his right shoulder. His remaining eye narrows. "If you want him so badly, come and get him yourself," he says.

    There is, however, just one catch to that statment. The first one of them that gets close is getting a swing. To note, Auron will be using the flat of his blade to swing at the Ura, to try to avoid lethal injuries. It's still likely to hurt like a you-know-what to get smacked with that blade at Auron's full strength. Like getting hit by a giant metal boat oar!

Priscilla has posed:
    Rushing to find the core has proven successful. Kid had the right idea by getting here as early as possible. It seems that they've only beaten the Ura to the site by minutes. Rubble isn't difficult for Priscilla to manage, swiftly breaking it apart to find the luminous cerulean crystal, and then looking up to instantly see that the Ura have it in their sights as well. Smoke bombs land at her feet, immediately filling the area with choking, irritating smog, but they've made a mistake in trying to engage the crossbreed in tactical concealment.

    As soon as those bows draw, the smoke blows apart with Priscilla at its center, now completely invisible to go alongside Kotone, leaving them with precious little to shoot at. The first volley guessing at her location has one of the arrows ripping through her hair, though thankfully not her skin, before she is out of the way, sidestepping and taking a wide circle rather than charging straight on. She heads right for the archers, making shallow leaps over intermittent obstacles to make sure her feet don't splash into the water, before turning her sword on its flat and smashing heads from behind with its heavy, fluted golden pommel. She's not entirely sure how okay it is to kill these people, other survivors as they are, so at the very least she's trying to restrain herself to concussions rather than fatal wounds.

    This leaves Kotone with the swordsmen, but Priscilla assumes she is smart enough to back up and use her SMG, so she can catch them from behind in a pincer. "Fire, then taketh the cage without exchange of ammunition. I shalt see to any remainder, simply pick it up and run."

Alexis has posed:
The Talonflame lets out a squack as the Ura's fire back, twisting in the air to avoid most of the arrows. The Repeaters, with their faster firing, manage to rattle several shots on the Pokemon despite it's speed and maneuverability, forcing it to pull back and loop around as well. It'll give them a brief reprise, until it finally comes back and starts spitting fire again.

But some of the Ura approach the boat. Others are on the Core, so Alexis can keep her attention here. "The only thing we're handing you is a beating!" She retorts to the Uras, clenching a fist, but keeping her emotions in order this time... and decides its a good thing she kept one pokemon nearby. Galvantula pokes its head up out of the boat. All it takes is one look, and then a hideous sound emits from the giant spider. Several bolts of electricity arc over the docks towards the Ura.

With the Windbags down and done, Dewott bounds over and sheaths its swords, so it can give Kid a hand getting that stuff onto the boat. The sooner they're ready to move out when the others get back, the better.

Rory White (673) has posed:
Thanks to her sensors, Rory's quite aware of the Ura's approach. And she's waiting patiently this time instead of freaking out like she used to do ages ago when enemies approached. Keeping her composure, remaining stalwart.

    Since she doesn't have any opportunity to go help the search party just yet, her focus turns towards these Ura... and defending the Kid and their way home.

    "Both your nations are in shambles and you'd rather cleave to these tribal ties instead of band together and seek a future together. I'll never understand this way of thinking, the hatred seething between your peoples... but just the same, you cannot have him OR the Core."

    Her tone turns a bit apologetic... as her shoulders open up and reveal... shiny panels?

    There's no warning, no opportunity to consider dodging besides reacting to that tiny mechanical motion. These panels don't emit anything visible. They don't glow.

    They're MICROWAVE AGONIZERS, and anything organic in their path's going to immediately feel like their flesh is ON FIRE, what isn't covered thickly enough to deter the microwaves, that is.

    It doesn't inflict any serious injury, but the sensation's intolerable to just about anything alive.

William Pauwel has posed:
    Tearing through these windbags is like shooting fish in a barrel, except somehow even oilier. Will speeds along through the marketplace, firing slug after slug of coruscating energy into the rampaging servitors. Beating up the workforce of a dead civilization like this, it's almost like he's back home!

Almost being the operating word.

They didn't have naginata ninjas back home.

    Will is caught unaware by his would-be assassin. The first inkling that there's something wrong is the sudden jolt of pain in his shoulder as the Ura's blade finds his collarbone. Will screams as the blade cuts deeper, but levers the barrel of his gun against the polearm's shaft and opens fire, turning the pole to cinders near the blade. "Where'd you come from, you varmint!" Will yelps, desperately kicking his skates into reverse to put some distance between himself and the Ura, "I ain't got no quarrel with yer kin! What're y'all so interested in these core things for anyway!?"

He's returning fire, but his shots are mostly going wide. It's almost as if he's not actually trying to hit. Suppressing fire is the best he's putting out against that Ura.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is also quite fast and her not being easily scene does give her a good set up to help Priscilla she's able to make some p0rogress with Pricilla. She'll leave Priscilla on point here she does seem to know things far better than she does. She does however get some attnetion, okay a lot. She's hard to see it gives her an edge but she can be seen still and the Ura seem to be on their game enough she taking some fire.

Still she moves in to help the Queen and she'll be attempting to bumb rush and use her shock gloves to disable the Ura who she engages the swordsmen she knows how best to dea, with this. She's not the most trained brawler but she's many stimes stronger than a normal human and with the shock gloves which are made as a riot conrol weapon. At least she thinks she got what the Queen had to say right? She's using some older english words she's not so used to and there's no easy net access here to double check. She will use her SMG if she has to however, she's not a coward but if she can drop someone without killing them she's prone to that. Given her own origins it might be understandable as to why.

The Kid has posed:
    The trio at the boat stare as the Elites refuse to budge. Auron is regarded warily, a spark of respect at the recognition of a fellow warrior in the leader's eye. Rory receives unnerved stares due to her state, while Alexis just seems to be dismissed. Perhaps Zen spoke of her hostage?

    When Rory begins evangelizing on the merits of working together, the leader scowls, so visibly angry at the concept that the veins in his throat bulge. "You speak of matters on which you are ignorant, creature. The Ura would rather die than work with Caelondia!"

    And then Rory's microwave emitters make them feel like they are dying. They scream, but rage has a way of focusing pain into action. The leader steps forward, raising that blade to swing, but his focus is dulled, the attack slow. So he takes Auron's flat head-on, falling off the docks from the impact. The other two raise their weapons also, but get shocked by Galvantula, slumping and convulsing.

    The Ura that attacked Will looks a little regretful, but also surprised as his polearm has the handle disintergrated! "We only wish to take back what is rightfully ours. I am sorry child, but all who stand with Caelondia must die." He draws a curved dagger, but is forced to take cover by the random plasma bursts, giving Will ample time to retreat! Except... cover doesn't do much against the Solana, does it? One stray shot bores right through the cover, the Ura behind it letting out a strangled yell. I-Is he dead?...

    During the war, the Ura's greatest tactic was to kill from seemingly nowhere. The Caels preferred to dig in, slowly advance and crush anything in their way. The Ura would flit in and out like ghosts, the concept of 'territory' alien to them. The land was theirs, and they would use it as they see fit.

    So it's a bit surprising to them when Priscilla and Kotone start exercising the same tactic to a supernatural degree. Their heads are knocked soundly by the pommel of her blade, the pale people reeling and collapsing before their smoke even cleared. Kotone's shock gloves put the swordsmen down easily also, allowing the party to take the Core unopposed!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is quick on her feet, she weave in and out of the swordsmen as they drop one by one, she decloaks once she's certain all of them are down and shakes her head a bit.

"the world's ended and they keep going on like this. We should be working together to save what we can... Target is secure, we need to get moving, the shock gloves won't keep them down too long."

She also sends several signals.

<<Slip bolt I got some targets to beam up, they are out cold but they need to be secured them dropped off at Afterus when all of this insanity is over.>>

<<Wary: Understood Captain but is this wise?>>

<<Maybe not, but I been on the losing end of someone more powerful maybe some mercy will get through to them as well.>>

the downed Ura vanish in pillars of light as the Blue Nose beams them out.

"We should be quick about it also that was something Priscilla..."

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron's not going to count that Ura out who fell off the dock. He doesn't know if they can swim or not. So he calls back to Kid, "Careful. I lost track of one." He listens for any more of the Ura-- or anything worse-- that might be coming to cause them trouble.

Alexis has posed:
Maybe she expected them to be ignorant of her because of last time, and that's why Alexis didn't bother with a more elaborate speech. That and Rory has the area covered. She just takes a step back moments before Galvantula lets the electrical bolts fire, perfectly timed. When she kept a lid on her frustration the synergy between Trainer and Pokemon was much more finely honed.

Though as much as she'd love to punch one in the face, she turns and vaults back onto the boat instead. They're still running on a clock here, considering how the land chunks start to react to a Core being removed. She whistles sharply and Firehawk swoops back to her, landing on the edge of the boat. "Let's pack up and get the Core out of here before they regroup," Alexis echos Auron's sentiment.

William Pauwel has posed:
    'Take back what's rightfully theirs?' "Do the Cores belong to your people, or something? I thought they were parts of something or other that Caelondia was workin' on!" Will answers over the din of his own gunfire. Unfortunately, when you return fire, no matter how much fire or how wide you intend your own shots to go, sometimes things go wrong.

    The Ura's voice goes up in a yell. Will's heart drops out of his chest. "Oh no. Oh no no no," the Chaser mutters, suddenly throwing his skates into a brisk rush towards the ruined market stand. "Hey, hey, you ain't dead are you? I didn't mean to--"

There's no caution here. He opens fire recklessly on whatever windbags might try to get close. He skates a wide circle, but only because the Scirocco can't handle tight corners without the kind of maneuvering that Will isn't really prepared to do right now. He swings behind the bit of broken cover, looking for the injured Ura.

It doesn't cross his mind that this might be an ambush.

Idealism and inexperience are a dangerous combo, but all Will has in his head is a life that's at risk.

Rory White (673) has posed:
Rory can only flinch rather visibly at this reaction. She moves to bring up the shield - but Auron's right there much faster than she can think of going on the offensive.

    "Not as ignorant as you think. No, I'm educated on the situation. The war. The raw deals. The discrimination. The suffering. Now is as good a time as any to move past all of it... build a new future!"

The Kid has posed:
    Will rushes over to check on the Ura, who actually has a sizable hole burned through his stomach. He manages a rattling gasp, looking up at Will... before Kotone beams him up, along with the rest of the hunting party. At least he was alive, right?...

    When the Core is retrieved, it's time to continue downriver. Since Will has clearly proven himself a better captain, Kid lets him take the helm from the start this time. The Core is wrapped in canvas and securely tied to the deck with multiple thinner ropes tied through several of those rings. Kid wants absolutely no chance of losing it overboard.

    "We're goin' into the Wilds now. Be ready," he says as he pushes Nellie away from the docks. Again, time to go down and then downstream. Another drop, one that seems worse now that they've had a break from them. The flow seems to speed up now, getting choppier. Ahead in the distance is land that is easily the lowest islands yet. Covered in thick green foliage, they're also by far the biggest chunks with the smallest gaps between them, the whole area having lasted rather well.

    The Wilds.

    And then, from the trees, a black cloud emerges, and flies towards them, the air heavy with caws and fluttering wings. "Peckers," the Kid spits angrily, raising that musket to fire into the cloud. The turrets also swivel up, here to help by shooting those blasts. The cloud is too thick though, and soon the aggressive birds are upon them. And certainly, they do their part by pecking and scratching at the team. But a majority mass upon the Core, pecking and ripping at the ropes holding it!

    But that's not all they have to deal with. More Windbags along the bank, and they're the biggest yet. They float on up... and start trying to smash Nellie herself! Seems they've decided that if they can't win in a confrontation, they'll sink the whole affair!

Alexis has posed:
"They're aptly named!" Alexis hisses in annoyance as after all that and another drop they -still- have trouble to deal with. With a growl of annoyance she holds up an arm to shield her face from the birds, letting them snap and poke at her bracers instead. "Don't let anything happen to the core!"

When shots and turrets prove to not be enough, Firehawk launchs off the boat and into the air again. Flames near the boat aren't a good thing, so instead he beats his wings even harder, whipping up powerful gusts of air to try and blow some of the birds away.

Ropes start to snap and weaken, so Galvantula scuttles over and starts spinning spider webbing to hold it back down. It's body crackles with electrical static to ward off any birds that try to peck at it, too. Once it's going Alexis grabs onto some of the webbing to help pull and hopefully keep the Core netted in.

"Dewott <In other circumstances their relentlessness would be admirable.>" notes the otter as he braces himself against the boat rocking from one of the Windbag's slamming against it. Instead of drawing his shell-swords again he channels his water powers, and sends a huge gout of water hurtling at a Windbag to knock it away again. Hydro Pump, aptly named, as the pressure hits just as hard as being pumped out of a firehose would be.

William Pauwel has posed:
"Oh. Oh no," Will murmurs, reaching for the fallen Ura-- moments before he's beamed up and out of harm's way.

Well. Presumably.

At... At least he was alive?

    Will seems a bit subdued as he captains the Nellie further downstream, his shoulder covered in a makeshift, blooded bandage. He brightens up a little as they reach a much more... intact section of the world. The rapids pose a bit of an issue, but Will's gotten some practice at the helm now. He steers smooth curves around the roiling rapids, doing his part in lessening the turbulence at least a little bit.

    "This whole place ain't looking too bad, Kid. Looks like part of your world's doin'... alright, I guess." Not well, particularly. The windbags are still around, and those damn birds are swarming all over. Will grunts, drawing the collar of his jacket up over his face and neck, almost sinking his head down into his coat. Fortunately, his goggles protect his eyes from the worst of the clawing and the pecking, but it's enough to bloody his face and tear into his adventurin' leathers!

He can still control the ship well enough, though. Which is good, because he has his hands full trying to avoid the windbags threatening to capsize the entire vessel!

Priscilla has posed:
    As Kotone doesn't seem to be about to grab the Core, as the swordsmen are dealt with, Priscilla rushes in, the planks creaking under her footsteps before the cage appears to lift off of its own volition, bobbing off into thin air at breakneck speed, and arcing straight onto the boat, as if obediently summoned by magic. Priscilla only drops the veil once the boat is off the shore, but even that isn't enough to be the end of it; the chaotic mess of a ride continuing even as they make good on her escape.

    "For what purpose dost these /creatures/ flock to our prize? What possible use couldst they hath for it? I cannot imagine why it wouldst attract them so!" She tries to stand ward over it, but there are simply too many of the awful birds, even with streams of gunfire ripping into the suicidal flock. Having finally had enough, she takes a deep, bracing breath, puts her hand to her mouth, and then blows out a vicious torrent of glittering, blue-white, fine crystal flakes, looking almost like snow save for its luminescence, and sounding almost like glass, but being just as razor sharp, and degrading into an infernal haze of raw magical energy, incinerating Peckers with arcane force. She sweeps the breath weapon back and forth like a flamethrower, aiming to wipe out most of the flock, before having to take another breath.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
<<Worried: Captain one of the Ura is badly injured, I am beaming him to Rory's vessel for proper treatment. Miss White respond swiftly even with your medical technology this man does not have long>>

Kotone grimaces but they were lucky they had a chance but now the time is to go. She make ready to get going she's going to bug out and she's already getting her weapon out. The SMG roars as she opens fire on the Windbags as she gets ready to move.

She trusted Priscilla with the core who was frankly more powerful and better able to defend the core than she would be right now. She muses slightly on tht while she's taking shota at the Windbags.

"It's time to go!"

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron moves to protect the Core as the birds begin to peck at the ropes holding it. The birds have to come in melee range to do their damage to the ropes anyway. This is a bad idea for them, because that blade is big enough to hit more than one of those things at a time. And unlike with the Ura, Auron's not worrying about keeping his attacks non-lethal.

    Briefly he wonders if these things would be good to eat. But the thought's pushes away, mainly because he's taking a featherbomb to the face. He only has one remaining eye, so he rather needs to keep it intact. But he's concentrating more on the birds on the ropes. That leaves him at the mercy of claws and beaks, but he doesn't move from his spot.

    There isn't a whole lot he can do about the Windbags, though, since his ranged attack options are limited. They're unlikely to be affected by many of his abilities. Besides, most are for single targets, and there's a whole lot more Windbags than just one.

Rory White (673) has posed:
Everyone finally regroups and gets BOATING AGAIN!

    Leaving Rory still frowning heavily about the Ura matter.

    "The Ura and Caelondia have a very hostile history. There was a war that technically ended, but left the Ura in heavily disadvantaged. There's been a deep rivalry between the two nations ever since. And now... something has happened that devastated Caelondia. Based on the destruction's nature I wager it had to have been some kind of superweapon... one with very odd properties. Why Caelondia was the target I don't know. But the Ura are furious. Many of their own were in the city when the calamity struck, and there's no telling what kind of damage was wrought to their tunnel homes. They aren't very willing to communicate or cooperate." Rory explains in the moments between the chaos to Priscilla.

    Though there aren't many moments to count before BIRDS. Awful birds!

    But Birds are alive, like people. And animals tend to be even MORE deterred by pain, unwilling to force through it. She turns the Microwave Agonizers panels on the Peckers going after the Core! It's a simple, not-very-dramatic solution.

    Hopefully the Core doesn't do anything weird when exposed to microwaves.

The Kid has posed:
    "Just means the Wilds were too much, even for the Calamity..." Kid mutters darkly to Will. After all, any place called 'the Wilds' must not be a picnic. But it's right after this that the attack begins.

    Firehawk's gusts prove to be quite effective, disrupting the Pecker's flight so that they splash into the water, the current sweeping them away. With wet feathers, they shan't be returning soon. Galvantula's webbing only seems to irritate the Peckers, some of them going after it with extra vehemence. The fact that it has a lot of eyes to go for doesn't help... Meanwhile, Dewott's Hydro Pump saves Nellie from a few holes in the barge, but the efforts of the other Windbags are really starting to add up! Water is splashing on deck, the barge starting to list a little...

    "Couldn't tell ya! Always said though, only good Pecker's a dead one!" Kid yells angrily as his hands blur, constantly reloading that Musket to fire into the swarm, again and again. Auron's slices take out five or six at a time, their bodies landing at his feet. Priscilla's strange crystal breath rips through them, making the deck slick with blood and viscera as well as water. Some of the Peckers get into the turrets and start ripping things out. One shorts out, and then the other.

    The Peckers are the most immediate threat, as they rip at the Core. But the Windbags' long game threatens to doom everyone, more and more holes being smashed in Nellie. Kotone's bullets make them flinch a little, but they keep going! "C'mon old girl, hold together..." Kid urges, as the end of this island approaches.

    A drop. The biggest yet.

    The party plummets, crashing into the foliage of the Wilds. Old Nellie bucks and twists as it slams into trees and branches, the ropes yanking hard and dragging everyone with it. Finally, it comes to a stop next to a relatively gently brook, utterly trashed to pieces. id groans, and gets back to his feet before helping anyone stuck or tangled by their ropes, cutting them free with the Machete. He then retrieves the Core and looks around. "I think... this is 'round Prosper's Bluff. Should be a Skyway near here..."

    The air is cool here, in spite of proximity to the burning earth. The soil is soft and loamy, the air filled with the calls of creatures.

    And... a woman's voice, singing.

I dig my hole, you build a wall...
I dig my hole you build a wall...
One day, that wall is gonna fall...

Alexis has posed:
"Here we gooooooooo!" Birds windbags and batter boat with it's worn ragtag crew go toppling over the edge. If there really was an edge of the world to disappear off of, this is definately how it must of felt!

Being able to fly does have a few perks. Alexis and the other pokemon, not quite so lucky as the Talonflame is. As the poor boat starts crashing through trees instead of waves Tsunami takes advantage of the terrain shift, jumping off to the trees, bouncing off a few branchs before digging his shells into the side of a thick trunk to drag down and slow his fall. Alexis and her Galvantula, despite being roughed up, stubbornly hang on to make sure the Core isn't lost.

They say it's not the trip that's dangerous, its the sudden stop at the end.

And this sudden stop comes with a crashing not quite in the water.

It takes a moment before Alexis grunts, dislodging a busted board off so she can get up. "... Did I hit my head on the way down, or is that... singing?"

There's a faint whump as Tsunami lands next to her after grinding down the tree. "Dewott. <No, because I hear it to.>

Firehawk only gives a squack of agreement as he perchs on an overhead branch.

Rory White (673) has posed:
Rory yells wildly when the boat finally meets its end, tossed through trees and coming to a stop after a hard imapct with the ground. She's quiet for a moment, running some diagnostics. Minor damage to some of the Flexbot's mass, but not enough to impede performance after some shape adjustments to cycle out damaged microbots for repair systems to handle.

    Shoving up to her feet in a weird motion that requires only one arm, she quickly folds her hands and gives the remains of the boat a sorrowful look. "... I hope so, because that old boat has done all it can for us."

    Hold on... is she hearing a song on the wind...?

Auron (236) has posed:
    The barge is falling apart anyway, so when that drop happens, Auron shifts to plant the blade into the deck of the barge. Poor ship. But it's better to do that than be thrown off the deck! Particularly since he can't swim. Or fly. Both of those are incredibly useful skills in this world. It's one hell of a ride, too. Finally though... the barge comes to a stop. Thank the Fayth. He can't get off of that barge fast enough. Particularly since, yes, he does have to push his way out from under a pile of debris first.

    Auron hears that song too. He turns his head so that his ear faces the direction the song is coming from the loudest, and his eye narrows. He takes note of the lyrics if he can understand them. They might be useful for later...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is able to help keep them back and she keeps shooting as they need. Well then they drop and they fall into the wilds. She's shockingly able to catch one flip about and otehrwise break her fall as she comes dowen and pulls off a three point landing, but she may have just lost her SMG.

"Is ... eveyrone all right and ... yes I hear it too Rory."

The Kid has posed:
    "I hear it too. Could be..." Kid immediately ties the Core to his back with rope and advances towards the voice. Machete drawn, he hacks through the thick plant life, leaving a trail for everyone to follow.

Gon' build that city on a hill...
Gon' build that city on a hill...
Someday those tears are gonna spill...
So build that wall and build it strong,
'Cause we'll be there before too long...

    The song suddenly stops as they get close, the singer no doubt hearing the Kid's tromping and hacking. Moments later, he makes a path into a clearing. A campfire has been set up, a bed made from leaves next to one of those Skyway panels...

    And kneeling there is an Ura girl, clutching a harp.

    Considering their last encounter, the sight of another Ura might not seem too welcome. But she doesn't regard the clearly Caelondian Kid with any hostility, only surprise and wariness. "... hello there," she eventually says. "Uh... hi." Kid replies. "You uh... from the City?" "Yes, my whole life," she replies. Kid immediately relaxes at this. "Listen. We got a safer place than this. The Bastion. You're welcome to come with us."

    Her face lights up. "I had heard about it, but... this Skyway isn't working." She gestures at the bronze panel, but Kid just grins and marches over to it. "Old man showed me how they work. I'll get it runnin' no worries." Immersed in his work, the girl is left to regard the other Elites. Considering how alien they are, she does so with much wariness.

    "Hello... I'm Zia."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis is too wore out from that adventure to worry about it. She does rub her shoulder with one hand briefly after giving the girl a wary look, but then just flops down by the campsite after recalling her trio of monsters. "You do that.. need to catch my breath." Whump. Can't go anywhere until Kid gets the Skyway working, anyways. May as well take a load off.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron is... actually not sure what the difference between the Ura and the Caels are. So he doesn't react with immediate wariness, because he can't immediately tell that she's Ura. All he sees is a young girl who looks scared. He sheathes his sword as she speaks, and offers a polite nod of greeting.

    Alexis seems to have the right idea, where Auron's concerned. He's been smacked around, scratched up, sprayed with whatever's inside a Windbag, and generally is tired on top of that. So as Alexis sits, he does as well, giving a wince and a sigh as his legs protest the movement. He's getting too old for all this.

    He's not going to ignore the girl, either. "Hello," he offers politely. And he introduces himself in return, "Auron."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa pauses for a moment at Zia and gives her a way look.

"Kotone and please, please tell me your not looking for a fight. I had enough for today and take no real joy in it either." The cybor shoulders sags a little bit it's clear while not physically tired? Emotionally she may be so...

Rory White (673) has posed:
Finally, someone who isn't hostile. Rory smiles, but considering her robotic appearance this might actually just be kinda unsettling to someone unused to robots! "Rory. Apart from that young man, we are all from far away, here to help the survivors of this disaster. It's a pleasure to meet someone who can sing in the face of such tragedy. Greetings, Miss Zia! ... You're of Ura descent, if I'm not mistaken?" At least she sounds completely not bothered by this. More curious!