2017/AWftF: Negotiations Forcibly Re-opened

AWftF: Negotiations Forcibly Re-opened
Date of Scene:	13 April 2015
Location:	Pokemon-2
Synopsis:	The Confederacy lays a trap for Kyra, to try and force negotiations on the Dragon Balls.
Cast of Characters:	38, 188, 626, 633, 642, 675, 738, 749
Tinyplot:	A Wish for the Future

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Lute (188) has posed:
     Spring has come to the Unova region. The sun is out, the temperature is pleasant. Flowers are beginning to bloom, especially along the beautiful coastline of Undella Bay. This long beachside is quite beautiful and scenic, and filled with Pokemon. It can be hard to travel, though. There are lots of hills, many cliff sides, and plenty of trees. Some of the paths through here are rather narrow as well.

     Lute is currently waiting on one of the beachside paths, wearing his normal casual clothes. It a dirt trail, with the beach just to the east, and a sheer cliff face to the west. A large number of trees are between the path and the cliff, granting enough coverage to hide plenty of Pokemon. Other things are hiding within them today, though. For, today, a trap has been set up.

     The whole Dragon Ball situation has been causing the Confederates a large amount of grief, especially considering the fact that the Union has managed to get ahold of one. And so, a decision was reached: Lure in Kyra Hyral. Make an attempt to capture her. Harm her if the Union doesn't give in. Make the Union realize how bad of an idea it was to ask too much of the Confederates, and to get involved in this whole situation.

     For now, though, Lute simply waits, standing on the path. Casual, smiling. He has some creatures hiding in the ocean. Just below the surface, an I-Class Destroyer is waiting. Further behind it, in the deeper ocean, Mr. Crabs lurks. And Lute himself shows no sign that he is planning anything. He simply looks like he always does. Happy and friendly.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    It doesn't take that long for Kyra to show. She's EXCITED. She's all ready to be the /first person ever/ from Galianda to catch a pokemon (well at least to her knowledge, who knows what Souji has gotten up to at the moment). She's come all kitted out with a hunting rifle and all kinds of her strange darts filled with who knows what-probably incapacitants given the last time she was here.

    Around her forehead is a little headband with a circular 'pendant' in the center. It is, in fact, a high end camera popular amongst professional dungeon runners on her world. The edge of the circular apature glows a faint red, indicating that the camera is on, the feed being piped to the official Light Warriors Mogtube.

    "Lute! Hey!"

Vega (749) has posed:
     This is some fucked-up shit right here.

     That's what this is, Birdie decides from his hiding place. The massive, mohawked man is crammed into the biggest bush he could find (this Birdie, he was adamant, doesn't go in trees), contemplating how his life got so fucked-up that this could be a possibility. Beating up a little girl to intimidate some kind of dimensional super-organization? This ain't right, Birdie swore up and down. This ain't right. There was crime, and then there was Shadowlaw, and then there was...man, whatever this was.

     But Balrog was insistant. The Spanish Ninja had encouraged Birdie to go and enjoy himself. It would, Balrog said, make for good relaciones with their newfound aliados.

     Birdie didn't speak Spanish. Balrog had explained it to him slowly and clearly.

     It didn't make him feel much better.

     Spread out throughout other bushes are a group of Shadowlaw enforcers. Birdie casts them a quick glance, his mohawk peeking out through the top of the bush like a shark's fin through the water. Man, they didn't have any trouble with this assignment. Maybe it was just that simple. Balrog was a Heavenly King. Heavenly Kings reported to Vega. Vega...

     Birdie suppresses a shudder, ruffling his leaves.

     Thinking quickly, he adds the least convincing "ka-kaw!".

     The Shadowlaw goons do the same. A chorus of "ka-kaws!" erupts through the trees.

     That'll probably convince 'em, Birdie decides, throwing him off his train of thought. It was just as well. Birdie couldn't spell 'Ethical Dilemma', let alone ruminate on it.

     He didn't know what 'ruminate' meant either.

Mordekaiser (738) has posed:
Lute has informed the Master of Metal he was to hide with the others, but in such a lively place hiding was going to be difficult for Mordekaiser. His armor caries the air of death and the living around his feet wilts away to decayed husks, so that brings the question, doesn't it? Where can Mordekaiser hide with those he freshly killed for this operation? Where though becomes very obvious when there is perhaps only one place where many living can not survive, at least not without gills or oxygen tanks.

Below the surface of the waves, ghostly aberrations wait patiently along side their master. Hungry children waiting to strike out at those who dwell in life and in the light. Mordekaiser himself stands upon a metal surface that he has constructed by his powers in order to not just sink in the watery, turning sands. Those red eyes gleaming from the darkness of the water, as the sunlight rays dance across his metal body.

Patience... he tells himself as his hand curls into a fist and lowers himself down to take a knee. Patience and wait...

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute waves in quite a friendly manner as Kyra arrives. His mouth smiling, albeit not too much. His posture, relaxed. Really, it looks like just any other time he's around. But, the camera on her headband is a bit of a surprise. Or at least, that's what he assumes it is. A little red light usually means camera, right? ...Well. Seems the Union will get the message a lot sooner than he thought.

     He tries not to glance at the bushes. Especially as the cacophony of 'ka-kaws' come out. The completely unconvincing bird cry. For the love of god, he is hoping that Kyra doesn't notice something is off.

     Still, though, he still needs to act like himself. And so, grinning, he reaches forward, and if allowed, he'll Kyra's hand, to kiss the back of it. And then, he looks straight in the camera, "...Man, you should have told me you'd be bringing a camera. That's what that is, right? I would have put more time preparing my looks. Anyways, I've heard there was a swarm of Eevee, right over there. ...You lead the way. I don't want to acidentally end up in the path of one of those darts."

     He points, towards the trees a bit ahead. There is a patch of incredibly tall grass, nestled between the tree lines. And, Lute moves to position himself behind Kyra. Waiting for her to move forward. Once she's closer to the treeline, /then/ he'll act, and call in Mordekaiser and Shadowlaw.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan Sagittarius did not trust ... well, any of this, really. Lute's proven to be kind of unstable and the dangerous kind of snakes, the one that has a stupid-sounding facade -- if it's a facade at all, honestly. Maybe he's planning something. Being paranoid is part of what he does, after all.

     Thus, quite some distance away (the other town over, actually) while remaining in the same world, Soan Sagittarius is seated at a cafe, watching the result of the MogNet camera on his tablet. Everything looks ... well, it looks so far, he'd say. By not being there in person, he misses a lot of cues and other sounds. Birds caws, weirdly, but he's not sure if he can chalk it up on just the world's beasts being strange and unusual, or something else.

     Soan tap the screen on his tablet, pensive. Something IS bothering him about that. What was it? He could've sworn there was something about theses 'pokemons' that was important with the sounds they make.

Vega (749) has posed:
     "Ka-kaw," Birdie imitates again. There's another chorus from the Shadowlaw goons as they further improve/invalidate their disguises.

     Were they wondering the same thing? Two of Birdie's admittedly-lacking brain cells collide as he considers the possibility. Were the other Shadowlaw guys feeling the same sense of 'I'm a grown-ass man and this is some fucked-up shit' that Birdie was? No, probably not. Those guys in their helmets and uniforms probably didn't think about things like that. When you got paid to do the kind of things Shadowlaw asked you to do, you didn't think about things like that. You just did your goddamn job. You shut up and you hoped you didn't get noticed for slacking or, god help you, having a conscience. Rumor was it, Master Vega didn't like folk with a conscience. They had a nasty way of...being vanished.

     Why did I get myself wrapped up in this Shadowlaw shit? Birdie wonders. He knew the answer, of course - he wanted to be BIG LEAGUE. He wanted to be a HARDCORE CROOK, a smooth criminal, a real big man on the street. And he wasn't much good at anything but beatin' heads and smashin' faces. Heck, he wasn't even much good at that, compared to some guys he'd seen. But...

     But dammit, didn't Birdie deserve respect?

     And...and if this was how he had to get respect - a grown-ass man sackbeatin' a teenage girl like it ain't no thing - then that's how he was gonna get respect. The name BIRDIE was gonna be a household goddamn item!

     Birdie fiddles with the chain wrapped around his arm. It rattles.

     "Ka-kaw!"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    There is but a brief pause at the chorus of 'bird calls' that sounded kind of...off from Kyra. However, she's heard some pokemon cries before. Maybe she's writing it off as those?

    Lute gets eye rolling at the hand kissing but she seems to tolerate that. At least it wasn't on the lips, right? "Oh yeah, it's a camera. This is being livestreamed. Say hi to Galianda, Lute~!" Kyra gives a thumbs up ahead of her, presumably on camera where he can see it. Oh dear.

    Her eyes turn towards the tall grass and she takes up her hunting rifle in both hands. Lute can see that it's already loaded with darts-presumably more tranquilizers to soften up the targets and prevent them from running away. Who knows what she'll do when she actually gets one, though. "Hey, you got a pokeball for me?" she asks as she steps ahead of him, lifting her rifle and engaging in sneak mode as she edges forward.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra Constantine watches Kyra's camera feed from behind the red visor of her helmet. The wonders of Galainda technology. She remains where she is however, sat within a tree, perfectly still any movement almost as imperceptable as the glacier she was born on.

    The sounds of the local wildlife make her frown. Is that what pokemon sound like?

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     Landon, near Cirra, is similarly decked-out in his Judge Armor. The heavy plate mail isn't conducive to being stealthy, but he's very creative with Law Cards - he's already Silenced himself. He makes a hand motion at Cirra, Law Card in his hand.

     This is going to go poorly. But they're going to be there to make sure it doesn't go TOO poorly.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute doesn't answer Kyra's question about the Pokeball for her. Nor does he say hi to Galianda. Instead, he moves in behind Kyra. A hand moves to cover her mouth. The other arm reaches to grab around her torso, trying to keep her arms in place. And, he shouts out.

     "COME ON OUT, GUYS!"

     Imima appears from the ocean first. The I-Class destroyer, a mass of metal with teeth, opens its mouth. A large cannon is revealed. It aims its cannon towards Kyra. Immediately after, Mr. Crabs bursts up from the sea, standing tall, and looking down at Kyra. Lute expects his allies to come out of hiding any second as well.

     And, he speaks up, rather calmly. Hey, the camera probably has sound, too, he assumes, so.

     "HEY, anyone in the Union listening into that feed? Cause if so, well. We're going to beat the /crap/ out of Kyra, until you guys agree to give us the Dragon Ball. We're done messing around with this stuff."

     Lute is still rather incredibly casual and calm. It's actually probably a bit stunning how cool he is with this whole 'let's torment this person I've been having a friendship with' thing.

Vega (749) has posed:
     Birdie sighs and stands up. The man is *huge* - he's easily over six feet, and his torso is nearly as wide as Kyra is tall. There's a massive chain wrapped around one meaty arm, and a heavy-looking pipe in the other. A blonde mohawk decorates his head, if you can call something that looks like a reverse shark fin with a hole in it a proper mohawk, and a heart-shaped tattoo is stamped onto the side of his otherwise-bald skull. His moustache, brown, is mismatched horribly with his blonde hair, and his jeans and jean jacket clash with the other colors on him as well. All in all, Birdie's more offensive to look at than anything else, an assault on bad taste worthy of any evil.

     "Yeah," Birdie says, without much enthusiasm, "We're gonna beat you so bad, uh..."

     Birdie may be a few strokes short of a full par. He stops and thinks about it as the Shadowlaw enforcers rise out of their bushes, looking much more intimidating. Dressed in red-and-black armor, with black visors, black helmets, and an incredibly dangerous-looking winged-skull logo on their belts, the Shadowlaw enforcers actually look like the sort of men who *are* used to beating up girls in dark alleys. They advance as the wheels in Birdie's head start turning.

     "...so bad your parents won't be able to tell you from your bruises!"

     Birdie advances out of the trees, pummeling his pipe and trying to get himelf PSYCHED for this. Just remember, he tells himself - he does this for Shadowlaw and they'll make him a *real* crook. A REAL EDGY crook. Yeah. Yeah, maybe they'll even make him some kinda, some kinda lord! Some kinda Edgelord!

     Do it for the edgy, Birdie repeats in his head as the pipe whangs against his fingers menacingly. Do it for the edgy.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Lute grabs her from behind. At first she thinks it's more unwanted contact from a guy known for randomly dipsmooching any girl he can get his hands on. But when Mr. Crabs appears, she realizes that this is...probably something entirely different.

    An angry, muffled noise escapes from Kyra and she starts to squirm furiously. If he was hoping that her rifle was dropped during this, Lute will be disappointed to see that she actually has a shoulder strap for it but as it is right now, she can't manuver to aim it at him anyway.

    Birdie steps into view confirming that, yes, savage beatings are involved. If this guy can give beatings as bad as wardrobe, Kyra realizes, then she is really in deep trouble.

    More muffled noises ensue that highly resemble barely censored swearing. Her struggling ceases for a second, a calm before she suddenly throws her head backwards and tries to smash her skull into Lute's face.

Mordekaiser (738) has posed:
As soon has Lute's own creatures move, that is when Mordekaiser stands up and the metal surface starts to raise. The ghostly figures begin their march out from the ocean and onto land. They do not disturb the waves that roll around them or through. Their foot steps across the sand leave no foot prints and only cold chill area can be felt moving over the land.

Once the plate breaks the water's surface, the ocean water's pours off the armor body of the Master Of Metal, crashing back down into the ocean below. His deadly war mace resting on his heavily armored shoulder with ease, as those red eyes stare out at Kyra who Lute holds. That claw hand extends out, a glow emits from his hand as the metal platform starts to extend out toward the beach surface, and those heavy steps beat across with great malice.

"Do not forget our agreement, Lute." Mordekaiser's voice rumbles from the black void beneath the crown helm, as his glowing red eyes continue to stare at the two. "Or it will be, heh heh, your soul I take."

Once his foot steps on the sandy beach, his sheer weight leaves a deep imprint into the sand. He roars out to his ghostly souls that he commands, his words carrying with great power. "Secure the area! Leave no living alive!" He swings out his hand and his cape bellows out a bit from the swift motion.

The ghostly figures howl, as they rush around the area and leap into the bushes, causing wild pokemon to scatter. There is at least twelve ghosts here and with the combination of Birdie's own group, this place was overran with trouble.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     If Soan Sagittarius was a different kind of man, he'd mention the several hundred gils he just won on taking bets on how this first foray into the world of Pokemon would go wrong, how far up the views would go if things /did/ go wrong, as well as the names of all others who bet on wishing harm on this carefuly into his little note book.

     Fortunately, Soan is not that kind of man. He's far more of the 'hope for the best, prepare for the worse' kind of guy. The cafe waitress will find an empty chair next time she comes around with his refill of an expresso, knocked over, as well as a generous tip laid down on the table. The Thief is gone.

     Soan sails in the air, the scales of the Dragoon's Armor forming around him as he powers through the air like a missile. A very /shiny/ missile. Air rushes over his hair as the dragon-shaped helmet materialize out of conjured flames and spectral iron, adjusting himself to get as aerodynamic. He can't fly, sure. Jumping like this, however, might as well BE flying. Soon, he sees the high grasses where Kyra was headed at, and the hostage situation -- and to Cirra's intel, there is a bunch of henchmen hiding in the woods. Soan smirks beneath his helmet, his eyes glowing like embers. Time to make an entrance.

     Only a whistle telltale the arrival of DRAGOON MAN. Covered in friction from the air resisting his descent, the young man plummet into the crowd of trees where the Shadowlaw henchmens are so cleverly hidden in, sending dust kicking up all around him, breaking apart a few trees, impaled by Dragoon Man's greatspear.

     Only mere feets before he hits the ground, likely drowned by the following impact, a cry comes out:

     "BY THE SKIES ABOVE THE SKY!"

     Someone's gonna have a bad day. Well, a dozen someones.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    As Birdie's men move out Cirra looks over to Landon and nods. She moves sideways and with her steel clad legs around the limb of the tree. She flips updaide down and hangs there for a moment and then releases her grip and drops down.

    She lands feet on the shoulders of the Shadowlaw troopers. Cirra claps her hands at Lute's perfromance, then flips foward, the back of her heel hitting the chin of the trooper before she lands.

    "It won't win an Academy AWard, but bravo for effort."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    A few minutes ago, abord the UNSC Crimson Dawn:

    Suiting up into her War Master armor, Noble Six gets the coordinates sent by Soan sent to her helmet as she mounts up into a Pelican dropship. She slides into the pilot seat, and then lifts off. There's a warp gate not far that's going to lead her as close as she can get to the coordinates.

Right Now:

    The Pelican swoops out of the warpgate and engages it's thrusters, sending it flying at full speed towards where Lute is keeping Kyra held. From what she's been told, there's at least a dozen hostiles, including Lute and 'some big guy in armor', plus several Pokemon. She has to figure there's at least a few others that have not revealed themselves yet.

    Setting the ship to land nearby on auto-pilot, she opens the back hatch and leaps out, free-falling towards the ground. She engages her jetpack at the last moment and slows her decent enough to land without issue. Close enough to the gathered hostiles to get their attention. She wants it on her, not on Kyra.

Lute (188) has posed:
     As Kyra slams her head back into Lute's, his grip loosens a bit. His head is bleeding a bit from the impact, and he's forced to back up a bit. He keeps rediscovering; he really isn't as strong as he used to be. Still, though, as he stumbles back? He speaks, shrugging a little. The order is given.

     "Imima, disable her mobility!"

     The I-Class moves closer to the beach, and then fires, aiming straight at Kyra. The cannon from its mouth aims straight at her, trying to impact at her legs. Injure the legs, her makes escape harder. It keeps its mouth open, preparing another round.

     In the meantime, Mr. Crabs keeps moving towards shore. With its massive gait, it's already at the beach. It looks down towards Kyra, and makes a massive growl. Yes, she's from a world where giant monsters are fought frequently. But, the eighty tall monstrosity that is Mr. Crabs is probably not somethign to be messed with.

     And then suddenly a number of people are coming in from the sky and the trees. Damnit, did Kyra somehow know there was a trap? Was there an information leak? Or has she just been planning this every time Lute and her met? It helps reinforce Lute's viewpoint, though: Union women are /not/ to be trusted, at all.

     He yells out to the others, "YOU GUYS TAKE CARE OF THEM. I'm going to keep beating the crap out of Kyra!"

     And then Lute gives a flat look at Mordekaiser. "...We aren't actually planning on killing anything. Just beating the crap out of her over and over until they give us what we want."

Vega (749) has posed:
     So that was unexpected.

     Dragoon Man hits the field like a meteor, slamming into the Shadowlaw forces like a cannonball. It flings aside one group, sending them spiralling into a cluster of trees with a series of loud and angry *thud*s. The body armor softens the blow, but they're still thrown for a pretty good loop - they're not much more than normal guys in pretty good armor with some decent training. None of these guys are really what one might call the cream of Shadowlaw's crop, and it's pretty obvious.

     Cirra's heel smashes one of the Shadowlaw goons right in the chin. He gets a really good view of the sky, then comes down on his head, sprawling out in a nasty position. Hopefully, Shadowlaw has good health care.

     Some words are exchanged over the Confederate band, which Birdie has temporarily been given access to, that much relieve his conscience. Beating up a little girl to send a message was kinda fucked-up, and MURDERING a little girl to send a message was REALLY fucked-up, but kidnapping and extortion? Naw, that was right in line with Birdie's sensibilities. The big man lumbers forward, swinging his heavy pipe at Dragoon Man and Cirra.

     "What, you think you're some kinda sooper-heroes?" Birdie enunciates the word like every back-alley gangster trying to sound tough in every superhero movie ever as the pipe goes whizzing forward, "You think you're gonna save this kid from me? Don't you kids know who I am?"

     "I'm the mighty Birdie, huh! And you're lookin' at the next big name in Shadowlaw!"

     Birdie's soldiers, meanwhile, move to flank Cirra and Soan, forming a sort of arena around Birdie. Stun-guns and more advanced-looking weapons level at the teenagers, as if to enforce the idea that leaving is probably not a good one.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Birdie swings and Cirr ducks down low. The pipe sails over head as she puts her hands to the ground. "In Shadowlaw? Hardly. That organization doesn't entrust it's fate to men with no talent like you."

    Cirra swings her feet out and around like a dance move, colliding her legsd with Birdie's ankle and wrapping them around it as she twists her body over, trying to pull Birdie off balance and let him come down under his own weight.

Mordekaiser (738) has posed:
Mordekaiser rolls the mace on his shoulder as Lute lets him know they are not out to kill 'anyone'. "How dull..." Is his only reply with a deep rumble. "...long as I get my payment... I do not care what the restrictions are." As he speaks, his sights move to observe the strange craft starting to move into the area, then watches as the hatch opens.

"Hmm, heh heh... a true challenge arrives..." He says with a sadistic amusement in his voice. He starts to make his way as Noble Six leaps out from her Pelican and goes to land down. While his undead army is dealing with keeping anyone else from entering the area, his focus becomes solely on Noble Six.

The Master Of Metal drops his mace from his shoulder, which impacts the ground with a heavy thump, and as he walks onto the grass, the mace's spike drag across the ground with ease. The grass and blooming flowers wilt away and become sickly brown around him. The bushes he walks by begins to wither, as brown leaves drop to the ground and branches become brittle under their own weight snapping to the ground.

Once Noble Six fully lands on the ground, the metal hand of Mordekaiser extends out, a glow emits from his hand. Noble may hear it first, as the turbines whine unnaturally. The crunching of metal is heard shortly after the whine, as the jets start to crunch on themselves. Fire explodes out one, before the other explodes shortly after. The metal wraith then grunts as he draws back his hand with a hard pull, his foot having to step around to compensate for the motion.

The Spartan III will see her Pelican VTOL coming straight for her on fire....

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     The most annoying part of fighting a Dragoon is that, after landing in a completly physics-breaking fashion, they're able to just start unleashing their wrath on the crowd that had the misfortune of being the target of. Over the radio, 'negociations' are happening, emphasis on the quotes. Dragoon Man stands, slowly, dust settling off his armor as he gives a look around the goons he knocked aside. Cirra is here, certainly. She's going straight for Birdie. He gives him a look.

     "Call me what you will. This is the wrong fight, and you know it very well."

     That leaves him the several dozen other guys, forming a circle around them. Well, well. If they are going to block the way. The Dragoon stands tall, keeping the Shadowlaw goons at bay while his spear is aimed at the ground. Soan calculates his odds, the numbers. When Cirra attacks, DRAGOON MAN leaps off from his spot, a brief dragon's roar following his wake as he plows himself straight into the edge of Lute's direction. His Great Spear swings, aiming at their stun guns, spinning to swing with as much reach as possible. While he battles, he continues his comments to Birdie, unheeding to the fact he's got a Judge in the face.

     "It's messed up. Lure a girl in, beat her a bit, then claim it was all deserved."

     The worse part for Shadowlaw, however, might be the fact that the Dragoon interrupts himself to suck in air, then breathing out flames in a large arc.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    The moment Kyra breaks free of Lute, he gets treated to just what exactly that hand was holding back, "LUTE YOU MOTHERFUCKER! I'M JUST A UNION ALLY, WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS?" Kyra whirls to face him, green eyes blazing with hate. The hunting rifle lifts to point at him, her fury focused only on the pokemon trainer, leaving her open to an attack from behind by the I-class. It hits the back of her legs and she falls forward onto all fours, swearing further. Psyber was right-it was a trap but she never fathomed it would be /this extent/ of a trap. Lute was markedly obsessed with the Fleet Daughters-"So who put you up to /this/?" she hisses, shuddering as she sees the growing shadow behind her of the approaching Mr. Crabs. "Vegeta? Serori? No, wait, it was Serori wasn't it?" Of course it was the female saiyan. Cringing, Kyra lifts a hand to cast a cure spell on herself to negate the damage done by the I-class. White magic starts to gather in her hand but without warning, it turns yellow and spirals upwards, fleeing her form.

    Magical particles in large amounts suddenly start leaking off her body and the white mage grows still, her eyes becoming blank. Dark clouds suddenly gather over the ocean of Undella Bay, twisting like a hurricane forming, a purple glow in its rotating center.

    The pupils in Kyra's eyes disappear, the whites of her sclera gradually filling with yellow light. Her mouth drops open and a sound pours out, a train whistle mixed with sounds of a legion of human voices, screaming.

    The clouds glow with the same yellow light before an immense train suddenly bursts through, a black iron engine ridged with bones, possessing a massive yellow eye. Those astute enough to see will find human figures shuffling about in the train's cabins, ghostly forms lit in light blue and green.

    Doomtrain loops down from the sky, plowing over the water, aimed at Mr. Crabs, aimed at Kyra, aimed at Lute, and aimed at anyone else in the surrounding forest that does not have the sense to get the hell out of the way. Black dust is left in its wake and it continues past and through the fight for several hundred more feet until it bursts into a blue scattering of magic particles that fizzle and disappear.

    Kyra, left where she had fallen, does not appear to have been flattened by a train. She also does not appear to be healed and instead looks severely drained, sweat pouring down her face.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute shakes his head slightly, smiling. "I wouldn't do it for Vegeta, so of course it's for Serori. Not really about anything romance related either. She's been a long time friend of mine. ...though, honestly. Don't feel too bad. It was just decided you'd be the best target. I don't have anything personal against you, at all."

     He looks over towards the others. The Dragoon is making their way towards him. He... really needs to beat Kyra, and fast. He starts to reach for his Pokeball, simply laughing as Kyra heals herself, "You know, we can just make you hurt /again/ if you want." But, his laughter is cut off short. The sky darkens. A giant screaming train appears. It slams into Mr. Crabs, causing him to stumble into the canyonside. It props itself up, so it won't crush anyone, but only barely. Lute himseif is run over completely, laying on the ground. And, really, he's baffled as much as he is hurt. He had no idea Kyra could do this. She would have used it during the Giratina capture mission, wouldn't she have?

     Still, there isn't much else he can do at the moment, aside keep going with the plan. He lifts up a Pokeball, and opens it.

     And, Giratina appears. Giratina does something quite simple, though. With Kyra on the ground, drained, sweating, and in pain? Giratina simply steps on her, trying to pin her in place.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The sound of crunching metal and twisting engines gets Noble Six to turn her head and spot the ship as it starts to get ripped apart. She frowns under the helmet as the ship starts to fly towards her. She knows she's going to have to get the hell out of the way, or at least find some way to take the blow. She drops down to a knee and slams her fist into the ground, her armor lock engaging as the ship hits the spot where she is.

    The resulting explosion is enough to kill most anyone, but thankfully the armor lock overcharges the shields. She survives the explosion, but the system will require way too long to recharge to be effectively used to block everything that comes her way.

    Still, the SPARTAN emerges from the flames of the wrecked ship, visor locked on Mordekaiser, "You are participating in an illegal Confederate act and have been deemed a priority target. Some members of the Union would probably offer you a chance to surrender. I'm not one of them."

    Noble Six is on the move as soon as she finishes her statement, charging towards Mordekaiser, her grabbing two weapons off of her sides. Twin caseless SMGs. She just hopes this metal will be moving too fast for him to control it as she peppers the armored man with shots.

Vega (749) has posed:
     "You, you don't know nothin'!" Birdie snarls, but the snarl loses some of its power as Cirra nearly upends him. Cirra's grip is really strong, and her attack is well-placed - but Birdie is full of surprises. As she knocks his legs out from under him, Birdie's feet come 'round, swinging for her head with surprising dexterity. As he hits the ground, he tries to make sure Cirra does, too. "Shadowlaw gonna make me FAMOUS!"

     "You think I don't know that?!" Birdie snaps, "You think I think beatin' up a little girl is worth my time?! Man, have you seen these weirdos! That dude's got some kinda dog-boat thing and THAT guy's the creepist sonovabitch I ever met in my life!"

     The big man pulls himself to his feet and stomps like a bull. "But this is the price you gotta pay to make it big! The big V's gotta know that Birdie is a mighty mighty man who takes the jobs nobody else gonna take!"

     Birdie goes plowing forward for Dragoon Man and Cirra like a giant, rampaign bull. His mohawk is tilted down, his arms are spread, and he just kinda plows forward, all full of force. There's something about this attack that's more than just a headbutt, though! Maybe...is it his ki?!

     As Soan dispatches the Shadowlaw goons' weaponry, there's some chatter on the radio. Something's happening, because suddenly, all the Shadowlaw guys rebound in morale, fighting twice as hard and twice as strong.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "The /best target/? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kyra angrily fires back moments before her accidental summoning.

    Afterwards, she groans and reaches for one of the darts on her bandoliers. Dragging it free, it appears to be filled with green liquid. Without hesitation, she stabs herself in the leg with it, letting the potion undo the damage that her own magic couldn't.

    She starts to get up when Giratina appears and places a foot down onto her back, pushing her into the ground. A yelp of pain follows as she claws at the ground, "Lute get this thing off me or...or I'll hit IT with Doomtrain too! ...Doomtrain is my bro!" Magic gathers in the palm of her hand again, though this time it actually looks like real white magic. Lute can see Kyra chanting and will certainly remember that, back when he first gained Giratina, Kyra hit the thing with holy.

    She scrambles to reach around, trying to put a hand on the giant ghost-dragon, clearly eager to repeat what happened earlier, despite how tapped out she feels right n ow.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Train whistle. That only means one thing around Kyra.

    When Birdie doesn't go down as planned she brings up both her arms to take the blow from his feet. Cirra is sent rolling across the ground, but she uses the momentum to keep going.

    The Judge kips up to her feet and keeps going, until Doomtrain takes down some of Birdie's men.

    She runs, straight up the side of a tree as black smoke seeps out of her armor. She leaps off the tree and spins around, bringing her knee up into one of the Shadowlaw goon's face, she rides down the fall man and rolls across the ground, leaping up to arm bar another, spiiknning him around and throwing him at Birdie.

    "Famouse? They'll keep you around to take out the garbage. Thats all upstarts like you are good for."

Mordekaiser (738) has posed:
Mordekaiser doesn't stop his approach toward Noble Six as she takes the full force of the exploding Pelican, but when she rises from the fires of the wreckage, he does come to a stop. There was a slow tilt to his head, like a confused puppy dog, before he can only chuckle at the fact she still stands before him.

As Noble Six explains that he is committing an illegal act, he can only shrug his heavy metal shoulders to her words, and as she explains she will not ask for his surrender a twisted smile can be heard in his voice. "I am glad to hear you are not, heh heh, or this would be the most shortest of battles."

The Metal Wraith then roars as he goes to charge right for her, yet the pace was not fast, loping at best. The steps heavy with weight and for the female SPARTAN, he would be easy to dodge when he gets in close. Her bullets click and clack against his armor hull, a few biting in as he doesn't even try to knock them aside.

The mace raises up high, as he gets ready to swing, his red eyes glowing like bright stars in the night sky, she would need to avoid the massive head of the mace, but thankfully for her there is an mild interrupt in this duel between the Metal Wraith and the SPARTAN. This interrupt is the Doom Train....

The ghostly train rolls in with a loud whistle and Mordekaiser is caught in its stampeding path. It slams into him and shoves him aside, there may been sparks of light as metal grinds across metal. His body twirls, as the cape's edges are torn apart. Once the train rolls by, between the cars Noble Six can see Mordekaiser raising to his feet. The dented armor and metal parts ripped in hanging shreds starts to pull itself back together. First the shreds bend and twist back into place, before the dents pop and crack.

Once the train passes, Mordekaiser rolls his neck and then his massive shoulders, before holding his mace in both hands. There was still scuff marks against his unholy armor from where the impact had happened and even Noble Six's own bullet holes remain. The Master of Metal rumbles lowly. "That was unexpected, wasn't it?" his eyes then flicker with eerie red light. "Oh how I ENJOY this world beyond Runeterra!" with the dark glee in his voice he extends out his hand before he yanks it towards himself, "Come here, Union warrior!" The wreckage could be heard groaning as metal starts to move, before pieces of it attempt to fly out at the back of Noble Six, trying to shove her right toward Mordekaiser.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan don't worry himself with Cirra, she's a big girl, she can handle herself. You don't become the Prince's bodyguard and being a slouch in combat or not knowing how to handle crowds.

     Then something wrong happens. Soan can smell it. Not quite like chaos, but Doomtrain still has a level of... creepiness. Dragoon Man's glowing embers that serves him for eyes burns brighter. He knew Kyra's magic could get volatile sometimes, he had no idea it could get LIKE THAT!

     Soan takes to the air, feets barely grazing the rampaging's roof of the Doomtrain, leaping and bouncing above the various cheminey and ramps before. Seen from a distance, it's rather comical to see him fumble to not get caught underneath the track. He lands, in a crouching position. Birdie's replies and rampage makes him shoot up a glance in a hurry.

     "Ah yes!" Dragoon Man's echoing voice booms from his helmet, leaping upward straight at the rampaging bull. "You are certainly making an impression, Canary-man. Be careful of prices you have to pay for false desires!"

     Dragoon man's armoured foot lands itself on the rampaging Birdie's face, followed by one squashing down on his magnificent spiked hair. In the few moment he has foot on his head, Dragoon Man pushes down his feet, bending his knees to gain himself with his springing ommentum, then launches himself off birdie.

     His Great Spear burns to life, glowing with a searing white light. His destimation is the Dragon-Like creature on top of Kyra, a whistle of purificating white light streaming from his mouth. Light is faster than mass, in general, the Light Breath pouring out against the Legendary Pokemon's direction.

     Then followed quickly by Dragoon Man's charge. Momentum is still a thing Dragoons must obey to.

Lute (188) has posed:
     Lute frowns a little, trying to stand. Kyra is... threatening to do it again. It strikes him odd that she is just threatening, as opposed to doing it again. And suddenly, he has a realization, albeit the wrong one: She doesn't want to hurt him. She still wants to forgive him. And, for the first time, he feels a bit of regret about this plan.

     Still, though, he wants to /try/ and win. But, he also expects failure now. And so, he shouts orders, "Mr. Crabs! To the ocean, be ready to escort us out. Giratina, just... Keep toughing it out! And... Go, Registeel! SHADOW RUSH KYRA!"

     And, Lute lifts the Pokeball up. Registeel appears. The giant creature of steel pops up, and stomps straight towards Kyra. Even with her pinned down, and likely grabbing Giratina rather easily? Registeel is rushing forward, trying to tackle straight into Kyra. Its body filled with Shadow energy, the ground itself cracks as it moves forward. It also uses its massive claws to try and stab into Kyra a bit.

     At the least, Lute can tell Kyra that he tried.

     Lute moves towards Mr. Crabs. But, he looks towards Dragoon Man. And he swears over and over. The Light based breath is tearing at his Dragon type Pokemon, burning it quite horribly. Giratina reacts appropriately, flapping its wings to, finally, get off Kyra. Possibly after she manages to touch it. Lute swears some more as the Dragoon lands, and, he gives an order to his I-Class Destroyer, his little pet Abyssal. He shouts, "IMIMA, FIRE AT DRAGOON MAN!" He points, and the Destroyer opens its mouth yet again, aiming for the Dragoon. The cannon fires an explosive round right at Dragoon Man's center, hoping to burn him a fair amount.

     And, finally, Lute shouts to the other Confederates, "HEY, SHADOWLAW GUYS! Get over here, we're leaving on the back of this giant crab! Also... KNIGHT DUDE? You can get back home yourself, you psychopath!"

Vega (749) has posed:
     Birdie gets almost *totally* wrecked. First Dragoon Man JUMPS off his head. Then Cirra hurls one of the Shadowlaw soldiers into his stomach, which actually works out to his advantage, because Birdie's movement is *unstoppable*. Like the juggernaut, Birdie just plows right on over the guy, trampling him under foot.

     The Shadowlaw soldier gets to his feet as Shadowlaw forces start falling back at Lute's call. Birdie crashes into, then through, a tree. It plummets forward, smashing into the forest as Birdie slows himself down and turns back to the group.

     "I...I ain't payin' for false desires! I don't even know what you're tryin' to say!"

     "WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN! SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHIN' OUTTA A COMIC BOOK!"

     Birdie, seeing Shadowlaw bailing, goes running for the crab, too. The goon team gets on the back of the crab, Birdie flailing his feet as he dangles off the crab's arm.

     They take this very well. Working for Shadowlaw is crazy.

     "H-hey, man, I don't suck..." Birdie adds to Lute, "That was...that was really hurtful, you know? Besides, Balrog's the one who had me do this...said it was right up my alley...y-you know, Balrog! Spanish Ninja guy, right? You know him?"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra's bluff, turns out, works in a very unexpected way. It sounded like Lute at least believed her even if she was completely talking out of her ass about being able to summon. Souji seemed to have noticed the incident too...but she'll have to worry about that later.

    Though valiant in her attempt to holy Giratina off her, this does not actually succeed, leaving her open to be attacked by Lute's scary-looking golem monster she's never seen before. It slams into her with its full weight, painful cracking noises following. A gurgle eminates from Kyra and she slumps onto Registeel's claws.

    Likely a bad sign.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra lets the Birdie and his men escape, she has other things to worry about. The Judge gets down on her hands like she was on starter blocks. Eyes narrow behind her red visor as more whisps of smoke pour out of her armor.

    The Judge takes off at a sprint that tears up the earth in large clods, she holds her hand out to the side as a crystaline blade forms in her fist.

    Cirra hits the Registeel, swinging that balde around with enough force that the collision sends out a wave of sound that flattens the glass around them for a dozen feet in every direction.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    The arrival of Doom Train was not expected at all. It's not the kind of thing Noble Six could hope to prep herself for, but it does a good job of taking out her opponent for her. Or so she would have thought. Nope, it seems that this guy is a lot more than a man in armor. Noble Six frowns behind her mask as she watches him challenge her. And of course, this is a good distraction.

    The SPARTAN gets smashed from behind by the peice of wreckage, knocking her down and sending her flying towards Mordekaiser. She doesn't make it the whole way, rolling over on the ground a few times as she hits the ground. She reaches back behind herself, between two of the armor plates, and pulls out a jagged peice of metal from between those plates. She lets out a breath as the wound fills with bio foam, sealing it, as she pushes herself back to her feet.

    "Looks like your comrades are abandoning you. Better go with them before you get left behind and face the full weight of the Union." She motions to the retreating Confederate forces, "If you want to stay and fight, I'll oblige you." She makes a motion with her hand at him, her left hand moving down to her side to grab something off of her hip, while her other hand brings up one of those SMGs again, leveling the weapon at Mordekaiser, "Last warning."

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Whatever Soan was saying to Birdie, he's not too sure himself. It just felt like something he should say, or at least further confuse the guy. Which seems to work, at the very least. Maybe he was trying to make him feel bad about what he was doing? Eh. Whatever.

     The Dragoon lands past as Giratina reacts to his searing light breath. An logical way to answer to it. However, they are still outnumbered, pushing himself off to his feets as he turn around to face the cannon fire. Soan's first reaction is /not/ to get out of the way: it is to stand there, slamming his spear into the ground and hold it.

     The cannonball powers into the armoured chest of the Dragoon, making a sickening crushing sound, his armor caving into itself at the impact point. Soan grits his teeth, biting his lips beneath his helmet as he grips his spear tighter, powering trough the pain. The explosion sends multiple shards of spectral steel in all directions, as well as several bits of strange lava-like liquid, which dissapear within moments. Dragoon Man's embered eyes flares, glares at the tiny creature. He's hurt, but at least Kyra is not hit by it further. This is likely in Lute's retreating plans.

     "Rrrnngggg..." Dragoon Man growls out, his rage building up. He spins around, deliberatedly ignoring the Abyssal Pet, switching the hold on his spear like a javelin.

     He swings around, throwing the Great Spear over with the full advantage of his momentum, careful to not hit Cirra and Kyra -- it helps that he's from another angle than they are.

Lute (188) has posed:
     As Cirra attacks Registeel, a large dent is put into his metal body. The spear? It actually manages to pierce straight through the monster of steel, creating a hole in it. Luckily, no vital organs seem to have been hit. Registeel still falls, collapsing down onto the beach.

     Lute frowns for a moment as Registeel falls, but he smiles as he spots Kyra. Unconcious. Well, at least they did that. But, still, the retreat will need to happen. Lute holds up a Pokeball, and recalls Giratina and Registeel.With Birdie and the other Shadowlaw troops on the back of Mr. Crabs, or the arms, or whatever part they're grabbing onto? He gives the order, and Mr. Crab starts to walk away, towards the ocean. Eventually, he's just swimming along, floating in a way that no one is going to be /completely/ underwater, but many will be partially underwater.

     And Lute flips his middle finger to point over towards the distance, towards where the Union Elites are.

     Yes, he is that petty.

Mordekaiser (738) has posed:
Lute calls out to Mordekaiser that they are leaving, but the Metal Wraith doesn't even comply. His spirits though start to fall over and begin to fade away as their time has played out in the mortal world. Lute will notice that the Master of Metal is hyper focused on Noble Six and her words of challenge do not help this cause either.

Even as Kyra gurgles and her body crushed, Mordekaiser does not care what happens to the original target, he was entranced by the maiden warrior before him, as he would see her on the ground or his own misery to her hands.

"Comrades..." He says with a sound as if rolling it over his tongue that he does not have. "Heh heh... Hah hah! I HAVE no comrades!" Mordekaiser starts to walk toward her once again, his pace slow and methodical. Those clawed metal hands chocking the shaft of the war mace, it creaking from the sheer force he was apply to his own weapon. "I only came here for the pleasure of the battle... as I serve NO one. It is others who SERVE me."

He then thumps part of the shaft into his hand, before he prepares the swing even as Noble Six says she will oblige him further conflict and it was his last chance with those weapons of hers aimed at him, unaware she is reaching for something behind her. "Show me maiden warrior... show me your warrior soul and maybe I'll reserve a place for you on the Shadow Isles..." His eyes glow brightly, "For life is overrated and you would better serve me!" He roars out before moving to slam the massive war mace right down at Noble Six.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
The Shadow Isles. Sounds like a wonderful place. Maybe one of these days Noble Six will visit it with a flamethrower. But for now she doesn't have a flamethrower. She only has her wits, her SMG, and the plasma grenade she just pulled out. His huge mace comes down towards her, and she brings both hands up to try to grab the weapon. A bad idea to say the least, even with her enhanced strength she's not going to overpower him.

    But overpowering him isn't the idea. The blow drives her to the ground, the weight of the massive weapon crushing part of her armor in the process. Once on the ground, though, she rolls off to one side and lobs the grenade up towards him. A small, blue sphere of sticky plasma, designed to adhere to any targets that it gets close enough to. She's aiming for his helmet, but she'll settle for sticking him anywhere. The blast should be enough.

    As soon as she throws it, she's back on her feet, trying to get away from him and out of the blast radius.

Mordekaiser (738) has posed:
Noble Six catches Mordekaiser's mace and if it wasn't for her armor, the mace's own metal may try to eat away at her own living flesh under it, try to cause it to decay from its unholy aura, but there is metal between it and its deathly effects. The Metal Wraith can only chuckle a bit as her body starts to give way to his pure strength and power, there was glee in those glowing red orbs as he refused to pull his weapon away.

It is when the SPARTAN rolls does the mace slam onto the ground and those red eyes go wide, "What?!" This was followed by a blue spark of light flung onto the side of his helmet, "What trickery is..." Mordekaiser's words are cut off by the sudden explosion and the Metal Wraith falling backwards from the sheer force of the plasma blast.

As he falls the blue plume of plasma covers over where his head is, the mace crashes down to the ground, and as his body impacts the floor it is clear to see the massive metal dented, torn, and that side's crown horn broken apart. The piece that was broken is actually flying through the air before it lands solidly into the ground. For a moment it may seem as Noble Six has one, but the Metal Wraith chuckles, then actually bellows a laugh, as he starts to rise slowly up on his feet.

"You... heh heh," He says as the helm starts to repair itself, but not all the dents give way across the metal surface. "...hah hah... You I will have great pleasure in chasing to the far reaches of this world..." His hands glow brightly and the ground begins to tremble under them, it starts to crack under Noble Six as he calls upon the ores of metal from underground to his command.

"Now FEEL MY PAIN!" He roars out as spikes rise from the ground attempt to impale Noble Six, but something unexpected happens once the spikes rise up. The Metal Wraith's eyes start to flicker before they fade out of existence. His body then falls to the ground before the armor seems to scatter across the area. His final move to inflect great suffering on her, ends up removing him from the actual battle field, as sickly green haze can be seen rising from the armor before the haze vanishes.

This is followed by the armor starting to melt down and seeming to dissipate into a ghostly mist that rises up into the sky, with the mace disappearing from existence. The spikes that rose up, have quickly sunk back down, returning to their original state as a deep rumbling voice whispers on the wind, "I will find you... warrior maiden... and your friends as well..." before the deathly presence is gone for good.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    She heard the word Runeterra, Noble Six knows some of the Union's members are from that realm. She'll have to ask them about it. When she's not trying to dodge spikes jabbing out of the ground at her. She manages to dodge and duck a couple of them, cartwheeling out of the way of another, but one spire cuts upwards, catching her along her side and splitting her armor as it slashes her side.

    No sooner does the attack strike than it subsides, her opponent vanishing into the mists from whence he came. She doesn't know what to think about that. But she does know she's going to need a ride home. She sits there for a moment, hand holding her side and trying to stop the bleeding with biofoam. She takes her helmet off and sets it next to her, looking out over the wreckage of the field. Something tells her this isn't the last time she'll see whoever the heck that was.