1455/So Far Away From Home

So Far Away From Home
Date of Scene:	31 January 2015
Location:	The Foothills
Synopsis:	The Dravanian Horde comes out once more, taking flight against a poor farmers town, and the best of the Multiverse come to match them. Though the Dravanians are not the only ones to march this day.
Cast of Characters:	56, 462, 522, 524, 530, 560, 583, 636, 667, 689, 702
Tinyplot:	Dragon's Bane

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Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Winter has claimed the beautiful foothills. The cold breeze rolls across the hills, the shuffling of orange leaves from the tall trees move in the wind. The sun peeks from time to time through the clouds and life, life is wonderful here.

Kids go to school. Father's work-- mother's take care of the homes. Some farmers even still manage crops that manage to survive the more colder conditions of winter. Each town is a little different and each town seems pretty much at peace.

That is until the clouds become haunted by dragons in the skies. The scale hide lizards, some as big as a semi fly about high in the air. Their roars piercing the winds and they circle around seeming to taunt the people below. Soon one of the dragons swoops down, his wings kicking up dust off the road and then lets out a loud roar that shakes the windows of the small buildings. "People of this land!" The Dragons voice thunders as he steps forward. His onyx claws easily digging into the ground under him. His tail swaying side to side. "You shalt surrender yourselves onto us and give us over your land! For those whom surrender, you will be taken to safety-- for those whom do not.." The the dragon then huffs out some flames. "You will be burnt asunder."

Another dragon then lands down, and a few more. Another one speaks up with a sharp hiss in his voice. "Do not make this hard on yourselves! Surrender and you may return to your lives with the protection of our Lord!"

At least the dragons didn't seem to be doing a full out assault this time.

Garen (530) has posed:
    Garen had already slipped into the zone, and made his way towards where the town was at. He was quite good at being places he shouldn't be. So, there he was. His blaster rifle was already aiming at one of the dragons, specifically the one that issued the first ultimatum. "Nasty lizard. Has no one taught you any manners? It's rude to threaten people." He says, holding off on firing for the time being.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    The distress signal is what Ryan heard. Seeing as his hobbies are few and far between, he often found himself doing simple everyday tasks to occupy himself inbetween missions. When he heard the sound of dragons attacking over the comms, moreover the panic of those under threat by them, a fury filled his face that was a great deal more trained than the last time they decided to do something bold.

    Pretty soon after this, Ryan was on a Union transport vessel. The quick jet-like vehicle was not meant for combat, just something to drop an Elite directly into the battle. His dragon-like tail swayed behind him as the wind battered his face, his eyes wide with that fury and not bothered by the irritation of wind against them. White puffs of fire-like light billowed from the sides of his mouth, a draconic threat display he was doing on reflex just from the sheer unhappiness.

    He leaped out of the low-flying plane when he judged the right moment to do so, and plummeted through the air toward one of the dragons that had landed. His wind-up happened a split-second before he would reach his target, his body turning so he can simultaneously drop-kick the target dragon in the snout, and use the dragon's mass to break his fall.

    The thunderous broken crystal noise he makes happens on impact, the sound of his challenging roar.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
The spaceship that cruises through the skies over the region known as the Foothills looks like it could of flown right out of a sci-fi adventure comic from the 60s; with it's finned oblong shape, bright red color with jury-rigged looking construction on the outside, and that towards the top of the front curve it has a visible canopy bubble style dome. But it is very real, as the pointed-star emblem of the Dominion is painted on the tailfin sides.

Inside, the cockpit was an anachronistic menagerie of futuristic computer consoles, holographic overlay screens, and then a plethora of dials, oversized levers and large buttons. In the middle of the protrusions of levers and controls sits Skuzzler, the Chua's size making the pilot's seat and harness look more like a booster chair.

Yes, most of the buttons are red in color. What else would you expect from Chua aerospace design?

From behind the chair Mantigora rests a hand on it to lean forward a bit, looking out the canopy at the plethora of dragons in the air. Glances over her shoulder towards the hold. Then back to the view outside. "... Give them a warm welcome, Skuzzler. We need air cover to deploy." With that she turns and walks back into the ship. A few moments later she walks into the hold, and pulls a large lever to open the rear hatch, which folds down and open into a ramp like the back of a cargo plane. "Careful, first step is gonna be a big one."

Up in the cockpit Skuzzler flips a few switchs by kicking them with his feet, then rubs his hands together with a sadistic glee. "Always good day for Chua when get to extort authority through gratuitous application of DESTRUCTION!" With more maniacl cackling he stands up in the chair to slam both paws down on one of the big and afformentioned red buttons. "NO CONQUEST FOR YOU! NYAAAHAAHAAHAAHAA!" At the lower front of the ship a pair of apatures iris open and large cannons slide out of them, lock into place, and pepper a barrage of explosive shells into the airborne ranks.

It's also good coverfire for Mantigora to jump out of the open cargo hatch, not looking the least bit bothered about going into a jump from the altitude.

Meriax (702) has posed:
One of these things isn't the same as the others ~ o/`
One of these things just doesn't belong ~ o/`

Flying in is a dragon. There are, admittedly, quite a few of those already here, but this one doesn't seem to match the others. For one, she's not flying in from the same direction at all. For another, she's a little brightly coloured: almost fire-engine red with a buff underbelly, with black-violet claws and horns. She's also shaped a little differently, not quite upright but not quite down, either, and comparatively quite small to the largest of the Dravanians.

Meriax is currently gliding on her approach, wings beating occasionally for speed and height. This may only be of interest to the milling aerial Dravanian dragons, because she's starting to get closer to them - and as if to show off, she exhales a plume of flame that doesn't hit anything, being well up in the sky and not aimed at anyone, but is certainly visible for quite some distance.

"Stupid dragons!" Meriax roars, her voice distant with distance. "I will show you who's boss here!" Her fingers clench and unclench repeatedly as she flies.

General Zod (524) has posed:
    A peal of thunder echoes through the air as a dark streak screams down through the skies to hit the ground with an earthshaking rumble and explosion of dirt and dust erupts from the ground near the Dravanian who's posturing, enveloping the dragon. Next is the sound of a whipcrack immediately followed by the sound of something hitting that Dravanian, like maybe an armored boot.
    "Hard?! Difficult?! You have no idea what that means when you face Elites!" comes a rebellious shout from Zod.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Emiya SHirou does dash from a warp gate, luckily in time to get a good idea of what's going on. So the dragons want dominion but won't start burning anyone unless there's a resistance.

    What?!

    He stops in his tracks on the fringes... and ponders.

    Had Bedivere not been teaching him about tactics he might've just charged in heedlessly, but Shirou presses his lips together thinly. In the interest of saving lives, perhaps no resistance at all would be beter. But that depended... who currently runs these lands? And what would demands would the invaders have?

    So he can't just leave this alone. He remains unarmed, apparently dressed only in a winter jacket and similar clothes, with his hood down. The amber-eyed redhead sucks down his fear and walks up towards one of the dragons who spoke.

    And asks a question.

    "And what demands will this lord of yours make? After all, he's going to the trouble of having you all come out here to begin with." Cold and straightforward. But Shirou's hoping that maybe...

    Just maybe... there's a chance this might work in people's favor? Reasonable protection's not a bad thing in the Multiverse.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    Jumping out of a fast moving space ship while under threat from dragons? Sure. This should be fun. The Adamant Golem was standing by in the cargo bay when Mantigora entered, and under the armored helmet, the man smirked, "Ladies first." He said, holding out one of his armored gauntlets to allow her to jump first.

    Turning after she leaves, he steps up to the edge of the ramp, and the heavy armor jumps. Have you ever seen a brick fly? Because that's the best way to describe how aerodynamic the Golem armor is. Thankfully as it nears the ground, the onboard fire thruster packs built into the armor flare to life and slow it's decent down to only a minor impact. It's still enough to leave a crater where the armor slams into the ground, though.

    Rising up to the full height, the magitek armor swings it's primary weapon around, and angles it upwards. A burst of weapons fire blasts into the sky, not aimed at any particular thing, before a wave of micro missiles follow it, airbursting around the dragons that are in the sky.

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Even the threat of death by fire or winter cold doesn't deter the Confederate vampire witch from her duty. After all, she isn't alone by any means. She maneuvers through the warpgate on foot, crossing the frozen ground at a pace that makes her nearly a blur. Only when she nears Garen's marker and sees dragons in the sky does Ariah slow her pace. She breathes out slowly, vapor forming past her lips.

     "A pleasure seeing you," she greets the sniper in her cold, quiet voice, and immediately takes a knee. Her white cloak should give her some measure of camoflage as she takes a measure of her allies on the ground and in the air. And she focuses, taking an ice pick and hacking into the frozen soil before her. Runes. She starts digging. Notches. Symbols. The most basic she can muster as she forces energy into them one by one.

     "If you could be so kind as to cover me?" she questions Garen absently.

Aurora (462) has posed:
    Not long after, a zipping purple glowing thing shoots out from the gate, emitting a soft white light just briefly. "She's around here somewhere." the tiny voice mutters, flying across the snowy field until the familiar sight of ... just white. And some Confederates. Slowing her flight down, the purple ball starts gaining definition until the Arnval Mark Two 'materializes' from the ball, floating closer towards Garen and company.

    The even more familiar sight of her Master brightens up the Shinki's face, darting close to Ariah.. "I came as fast as I could and even overcharged my batteries to make sure I was full to join you. What's going on? Where am I needed?"

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Garen, Ariah, and her Shinki remains undetected for the moment as bigger things start to the make the scene. For one Mantigora's ship comes racing in and opens fire on the flying ranks causing them to scatter. They swoop, dive, and twirl to avoid the explosions.

A few do get caught, but they quickly recover with a roar in annoyance. Those heading right for the ship itself and blasting out flames as they fly by at quick speeds.

When Meriax flies in and lets herself be known, two in the air glance at one another before they break ranks and head right for her. Their dark brown and black scales dull in comparison to her own, but they race toward her and go to try a flight tackle against the other dragon.

Zod slams into one of the grounded dragons making a threat. The boot slams the scaled beast into the ground which causes it slide a bit before stopping as it impacts into one of the houses, "Brother!" It screeches out before he turns his head and blasts fire right at Zod.

The other dragon, perhaps the one trying a bit more diplomat approach, glances over at the skies, then to his own 'brother' it would seem, and before he can speak, Ryu slams his boot down onto of his snout. The Dragon rears back and shakes his head, before he snarls his ivory teeth at the boy dragon. "We have tried peace.." he snarls out, "..and this is how it is received!?" Smoke bellows out from his nostrils as his eyes seem to almost glow. "All shall burn!!" He roars before blasting out heavy flames for Ryu.

Though Shirou is heard and the dragon glances over in his dragon. He snarls in his direction. "You should have asked before the battle started. We came here to claim this land. To make the people part of the new era! A era of rebirth!" His eyes then flicker with fiery light, "We Dravanians have suffered for long and we will not suffer as our ancestors did! We will not suffer again!!" He then goes to slam his tail down at Shirou, but seems to aim to miss.

"So begone peace talker! Your people have already made it clear!"

Grant's Golem aims up into the air with barrage of missiles and shots. This gets the Dravanian's attention as three of them swoop right down for him. One of them pulls up short as the other two keep going down. It rears up its head and then blasts out a massive fireball right for the Golem which races past the other two dragons.

Garen (530) has posed:
    Garen gives a nod towards Ariah and aurora as he takes aim. "Of courrse, my dear ladies." He says. Having his shot lined up before, he pulls the trigger, sending a bolt of blaster fire towards the eye of the dragon attacking shirou. "Perhaps this will shut you up."

Mantigora (583) has posed:
Flames blast across the surface of the ship as it passes, causing smoke to swirl in its wake as some of the piping on the exterior starts to melt and warp. But being Chua construction and it's greebly nature it's difficult to tell if those pipes were actually anything important. The spaceship shoots past the scrambling hord... and keeps going. Well, it's face, but it's not exactly maneuverable. It's going to take a bit for it to fly far enough to bank a curve and turn to the fight again.

But it did its primary job in getting the other passangers to the fight. Just before hitting the ground Mantigora slaps the buckle of her belt to activate the device her partner installed in it, triggering an gravitronic reduction field -- essentially a technological version of Feather Falling -- allowing her to hit the ground as if she had jumped from no higher than a couple stories, an easy landing for her species. The Draken pushes herself up from the three-point landing, and smirks a bit at the Golem. "Excuse me," she remarks, just before jumping up Grant's backside just long enough to land on the mecha's shoulders, and making a much more powerful leap from there.

Mid-air her battle clawblades deploy with an audible buzz-hiss from her forearms, and she lashes at the flank on a low flying dragon to try and 'grab' it with the claws and hang on.

Ariah (56) has posed:
     "Perfect," Ariah says quietly, but there's more warmth in her voice than usual as she directs that word towards Aurora. One might even see her smiling were she not so focused on carving runes, head bowed. Then she looks up to the Shinki, pausing her work. "Engage at will. Keep them off of Garen and I. I am attempting to create a small redoubt and if possible, erect a barrier that will help mitigate collateral damage to the civilians the dragons have come to bully."

     She moves a few feet over, starting her work again, "Do what you do best. Take flight, my little angel and make the skies rain blood." Ariah looks up again, upturning a palm towards Aurora, energy tendrils flowing from her fingertips, wrapping the Shinki briefly in a white-blue glow. Magical shielding. Temporary. But protection nonetheless. "I can only work for so long in the cold..." she breathes.

     "...I am sure that there will be plenty of blood to fuel me once battle is joined in earnest..." she says even more quietly, her position becoming more obvious the more she works, the runes in the snow starting to glow and hum brighter, shimmers and distortions in the air rising up in the rough line she's digging.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryan may be a dragon now, but it does not confer anything approaching immunity to fire. In fact, his eyes widen when he spots the blast after his landing, and he responds in kind-- he breathes in quickly and emits his own blast of white fire just to keep it from frying him to a crisp. He gets scorched as the flames billow around his own blast, but it keeps him from being knocked out of this so quickly. As the dragon breath dies down, Ryu is still standing there, smoke rising off of his arms and legs, and his horns, soot coating his body.

    But he's standing.

    "You suffered!?" he spits out, "You show up to someone else's HOME with an ARMY and you demand they follow YOU, you try to enforce yourselves with power, and not with reason! What a half-assed effort to talk it out, especially after last time!!"

    Once he has spoken, he makes it clear he's not really having anything of this Dravanian's words or perspective, and swipes one of his claws in a wide arc. Several points of light form behind his shoulders, glowing until they're the size of softballs, and then they emit slowly-sweeping beams of light magic, aiming at the dragon who would dare talk like it's a victim.

    "Leave!!"

Smaug (689) has posed:
Out of the north, one more dragon comes. However, this dragon, soaring down from the north is something far more different from the majority that have come to this place. The first difference comes through the air, the sound of a roar that did not seek conquest nor destruction. Instead this was a sound of rage, and nothing more. The second difference was in appearance. Red scales, (though not as bright as Meriax's own) covered this dragon from head to toe, with a lighter hue running along its underside. 35 feet long from his shoulders to his tail-base, 15 feet wide, this is a larger dragon than the ones that have invaded the area. The last difference, and perhaps the source of the rage in both his roar and his body language, is the trio of recently healed, but deep scars that run across his right shoulder. A place where, once, something struck so deep that without aid, this dragon would not be flying in now.

The question that begs to be asked is... Why is this dragon here?

The answer is? There is no reason.

This dragon goes where he pleases. He takes what he wants, destroys what he wants, and none will dare resist. His for manifests many things at once: swords, spears, shields, and even storms. A rage so potent, that even a true storm would turn away at its wrath. And now?

    Now he's going to kill the whelps before him.

Wings fold back, another roar is unleashed, and then the last great fire drake of the Third Age plummets out of the sky toward the nearest 'whelp' that dares to fly in his skies. Fire is sent ahead of him as a herald, but the sheer strength of his decent, coupled with claws seeking to tear scale and hide from one another would be the primary source of agony for the poor wyrm that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. One should worry where this rage will turn next once he is done with his first victim..

General Zod (524) has posed:
    Although Zod reflexively throws his arms up to shield his uncovered face, he doesn't really burn all that well. Does make it hard to see though. When the fire is through and his metallic armor is aglow from the heat, charred in places, but intact. That's going to be kind of uncomfortable to wear now.
    Zod sneers at the dragon as he shrugs off his armor, letting it fall to the ground where it sizzles and heat mirages waft upward from it. "Oh? That was your brother? If it's revenge you want, try and catch me, lizard." And Zod takes to the skies in his black undersuit, weaving in and around the flying dragons. He is deliberately trying to paint a giant target on himself, to draw the Dravanians' attention so they ignore his allies as much as possible. Where he can (despite the inevitable retaliatory attacks), Zod slams or elbows the flying dragons in the wings to reduce their aerial advantage.

Meriax (702) has posed:
Meriax is momentarily distracted by the descent of another dragon, even smaller than she is. Her sharp eyes focus on Ryu, but at this distance even she can't make out much - not when she has to deal with a probable attack. She lets out a little puff of smoke as she looks, though, thoughtfully.

Compared to the dragons coming to menace her, Meriax is tiny. Either one of them outweighs her impressively; she, with her tail, if she stretches out just as far as she can, /might/ be two thirds of the length of one of the other dragons' bodies without ther tail.

But tiny doesn't mean helpless. She rolls, using her agility (good, for her size) to pass under the closer of the two dragons when they try to simply slam her out of the sky. While passing beneath the other dragon, Meriax lashes out - with the clawed spurs on her arms and her heavier taloned feet - to leave long slashes along the stomach.

With a challenging roar, Meriax rolls back upright, diving slightly to get out of return claw range. Unfortunately, that means she's lower, and lower is usually worse in an areial battle. Her wings beat frantically to lift her back up to cover for what might have been a mistake.

In the distance, Smaug arrives. Meriax's head swivels that way as if it was magnetically attracted. Someone got her attention.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Wh-whoah!" Shirou sees the tail's incoming angle but still flinches and takes a leap backwards. It's not a very graceful moment, but he's able to keep his balance at least. Could be even CLUMSIER, right?

    But he doesn't immediately react to all of the chaos. Even as yet another dragon comes swooping in and wreaks havoc on... the dravanians?!

    "This isn't peace or negotiation, you're just coming in here to take what you want without a care for the suffering your own presence brings! Retreat and rethink this--" Well he's being too naive.

    But the sight of chaos unfolding all around him's enough to get him joining in. Even if he grunts unhappily about it all...

    "TRACE, ON!!"

    Golden light flares and surges in his grasp, solidifying into the ornate golden spear of Dragonslayer Ornstein. He takes aim at the nearest dragon - even if that's the one he was talking to - and...

    The spear's tip sizzles with lightning... then launches a bolt like the judgement of Zeus has come!

    It's a fairly small lightning blast, but for a dragon it will be utter agony.

    This weapon was meant to slay them, after all!

Aurora (462) has posed:
    Aurora gives a smile, the Shinki gives a firm, affirmitave nod as the glow envelops her body. "Yes ma'am!" she gives with vigor as she floats away heading towards to the battlefield with a firey "heart". Protect her master and a charge... that was her order. She'd do this well! And to make the field rain red? All for the better of her Master.

    She closes in with the rest of the 'army' and looks around for someone who looks all imposing... welp.. Master didn't give her a target so... oh, wait. Anything that seems to be targeting her Master and Charge. She does take a look around, an army of dragons versus a rag tag bunch of people. Seems she has her target now. A flash of light erupts from her arms, the beam rifle she carries sets up into her hands, taking bead on a target to let a few high powered pulses of energy fly towards one of the Dravanians!

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    The Golem accomplished what he set out to do, as the dragons swoop down upon him. His gun angles upwards at the dragon that's about to breathe fire on him, and he lets loose with the heavy caliber weapon. Channeling mana into the weapon to unleash explosive energy blasts.

    The fire does wash over him, but his armor's designed well enough to withstand tht kind of impact, at least the first time it comes in. He's going to keep on firing, changing targets between dragons, turning in place to fire at more dragons when they near him. When his ammo drum eventually runs dry, he drops it to the ground and slams a new one into place, bringing the gun back online to resume shooting.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Garen's weapon is fired and the ring causes the one the Zod to attack to try and get back up far more quickly. The bullet however clips the other one, though it hits right at the eye ridge causing the scales to snap off and the dragon to rear back a bit. He snaps his attention down to where Garen had fired and snarls.

He then lets out a bellowing roar, which is heard by a few in the air. Those that do hear it, quickly swoop down and start to make their way for Garen's position-- which also mean that two others could be in trouble as well...

Thankfully Aurora is able to hold some defensive for the two, as her beams cut into the wings of the dragons incoming and forcing them to swoop back up into the skies, though one of them caught dead on by the blast crashes down into the very ground. The people trying to find shelter quickly flee from the area.

Mass panic may arise soon by those to stubborn to leave...

When Zod does leave, the dragon he managed to keep down, gets back up and goes right after him. "Get back here!" The dragon bellows out, "I shalt make you pay!" Zod also soon may find a few others chasing after him as well...

The one confronting Ryu and Shirou, the one that took a bullet to the eye ridge, hisses at Ryu. "It was /man/ who started the war thousands of years ago. It was /man/, who took away our homes. If not for the our Lord Bahamut, we not be alive this day!" The beams of light slash across the dragons form, however it does not hold him back.

Instead the beast runs forward, even with parts of his body bleeding slightly. His onyx claws digging into the ground before he leaps into the air and actually goes to pounce on the smaller dragon boy. He teeth probably snapping at his face.

Or would be, as Shirou's own judgement bolt slams into the dragon, shoving him back and heavy onto the ground. The Dragon roars in pain and then blasts a fireball right at Shirou. Though the surge rolls over him, he does try to stand still. "..and I gladly die.. if it means to crush.. our enemies, all of our enemies.. under claw so the future generation may live without the knowledge of war..."

Up in the skies...
Meriax manages to slash the under scales of one of the dragons, causing him to nearly collide into the other. However the other swiftly pulls around smack his tail in the other's face as a silent 'get over it'. Though while Meriax tries to get air time, her distraction may cost her.

Because that one dragon she didn't get, is charging right for her with his claws extended like a bird of prey, ready to snatch the smaller dragonness from the air.

Over with Grant and Mantigora...
Mantigora leaps into the air and attempts to grab onto one of the Dragons, an attempt that is partially successful as the beast tries to roll away from her grab. This in turn also forcing the dragon to suddenly pull up with all that speed.

Though if she acts quick, she may be able to keep that ride.

One of the dragons finds themselves eating bullets and slamming down into the ground near Grant, while the one who fired the fireball, quickly rolls out of the way. It flies about in a circle-- as if waiting Grant out-- and as soon has the man seems to have to reload, that is when the dragon comes down for the Golem and goes to slam its full weight into the armor.

Though with the roar of Smaug and his own entrance, this causes a few of the dragons in the skies to quickly take notice. A few swoop down to avoid the larger dragon; Perhaps even in great internal fear. Those caught by the larger dragon stand little match as his claws tear through them. A few roar in pain, a few try to bite and flame back, while others fall from the skies unable to continue on-- and crash into the ground below.

Garen (530) has posed:
    Garen grins as the dragon looks over, even cheekily waving at the lizard. As the other's move and summarily get a bath of laser fire, the sniper joins the fray. Taking aim at flyers, he aims at their wings, planning to pierce through them. Also, he snaps a few shots at the leader again...once more trying to take an eye out.

Smaug (689) has posed:
    Whelps. All of them. This wasn't kinslaying, this was mercy. Reducing these pathetic lizards to naught but lumps of flesh, however, was hardly satisfying to the larger red that flew in from the north. As they start to fall from his claws, his fangs, and his might, Smaug's gaze would survey the field, looking for the largest of these 'whelps' that he could find. Once spotted, a roar of challenge would ring out before the red would dive toward that one next. He does not bother to waste flame against another dragon, at least, not until there was a place to make sure such a flame would have an effect against the other.

        "WORTHLESS! EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!

Ariah (56) has posed:
     The sounds of battle make it to Ariah's ears, her senses certainly able to pick up the cries, blasts, and more even from those who are in the sky. She's more concerned with the panic on the ground. But she works, taking her time, ensuring the runes are solid, cohesive. Another series of symbols, another white glow rising from the ground and another distortion in the air. After what feels like a brief eternity, she pulls herself to her feet, eyes cast towards Aurora's laser fire, Garen's marksmanship, and the efforts of her other airborne allies. Even the Union ones. Then she looks towards her feet, at her handiwork, the line of runes in a rough semi-circle.

     Then she turns, her white cloak fluttering behind her, towards the panicked villagers. "Calm yourselves and take shelter immediately! Do not attempt to stand and fight! Retreat to your cellars, bar your doors!" she yells out in a surprisingly loud, clear voice. "The soldiers of the Confederacy and her allies, albeit temporary, will do our best to safeguard you," she says firmly. A half step, and then another has her turned back towards the hordes. She holds her staff up in both hands, then drives the end of it into the ground at her feet, equidistant from the tips of her toes.

     A rush of energy surges from her body, into her staff, and into the frozen soil. A cloud of dust erupts from the runes in all directions when the symbols are charged. Those shimmering distortions in the air rise higher, curving, shining like glass and arc towards the village. It's little more than a half dome of shining magic, but it should be enough to impede dive-bombing dragons, projectiles, and flame. The witch herself clings to her staff, eyes open and glowing bright purple as she fights both the cold and the energy expenditure combined.

Meriax (702) has posed:
Smaug seems to have Meriax's attention for a few long moments, for whatever reason - just like Ryu did, earlier, in fact.

Too long! The dragon she'd missed comes in from above, grabbing at her. Meriax lets out a rather undignified squall as claws dig in; it's hard to get a good grip on her shoulders because of the heavy overlapping plates, but the other dragon is big enough it could honestly just grab her around the waist without any real issue. Some blood trickles down her flank, but the biggest problem is that she's being seized.

And, of course, she takes this opportunity to yell at Smaug. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING WORTHLESS?"

Meriax tries to free herself from the grip of the other dragon before it shakes or squeezes. Her beating wings try to at least scrape with the wing-talons, and she cranes around with one hand and spur to slash too, but her mail goal is different. She inhales, feeling the pressure build within her.

Meriax is flexible, and she bends her head and neck as far back as they go. She can sort of see the dragon holding her from there - and so she exhales, a sustained stream of flame like a flamethrower. She cranes her head left and right, trying to immolate the face of the dragon holding her so that he lets go - and if he does, she'll be off like a shot.

Aurora (462) has posed:
    Voiceless, the Shinki's eyes scan the battlefield quicklky, a pair of drones detach from her jet armor and starts to orbit the purple Shinki. Eyes keep targeting with each shot being placed hopefully where it needs to go. Stoic in her shots, the drones aren't so much stoic as they start firing randomly at the dragons there! The only thing she's caring about at the moment is protecting her Master and that marksman near by.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
For a moment it looks like the dragon's rolling maunevuer is successful in dislodging the Draken... until one realizes that Mantigora purposely let go at the precise moment that the dragon's motion would throw her upward instead of horizontally. Which allows her to aim and come back down on top of a dragon! If its the same one or another one, she doesn't really care.

She just capitalizes on the oppritunity when she has it, and goes for stabbing both sets of blades into it's neck and shoulder region.

By this point Skuzzler has gotten the ship through its wide turn, even as dragons spit fire at it, and coming around for another pass. "Stupid dragons! It's SPACE SHIP. It has HEAT SHIELDING!" Followed by hitting the fire buttons and sending another volley of gunfire into the swarms.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryan snorts at the dragon's words, which don't mean a lot to him. Their actions now only serve to reinforce his understanding of war: When you lash out at others, it results in problems like this. When the other dragon pounces at him, he braces himself against it-- and the large dragon would find that there is TITANIC strength in the comparitively smaller dragon, who rooooars from the effort and the pain in his muscles as he holds back the snapping jaws with both of his own claws.

    "You bring war on future generations, by picking fights all over the Multiverse, you self-damned fool!!" he shouts in that crystalline voice coming from the same force that creates his dragon fire, actually getting emotional about this... because he wants them to see reason, and it's plain in the way his voice cracks from the conflicting emotions.

    Shirou's bolt strikes the dragon, sending it back off of him. But when the fireball comes rolling toward the apparent battlemage, the white dragon gets MORE angry at this one, and breathes in a huge lungful of air to prepare for a much more dangerous fire than he used to defend himself. The white fire shines extra bright, casting long shadows behind Ryu and anything or anyone nearby!

    The fire is Holy/light in nature... it'll burn, but more in a raw destructive way, that has nothing to do with heat or fire. It digs a huge gouge in the ground as it goes and kicks up dust around Ryu, the explosive force much greater than a traditional firebreath attack! It makes a resonating, squealing crystal noise as it rips through the air!

General Zod (524) has posed:
    Zod gets roughed up by various attacks as he taunts the winged Dravanians with his speed and mobility, deliberately going in too close to give them just a taste before darting away, abusing his durability. Massive claws snag on his limbs, forcing him to spin and re-adjust in mid-air. Vicious teeth gnash, some very narrowly missing Zod while others rake an arm or a leg before he yanks it from their maws. The man is trailing flames as the dragons let loose with gouts of flame. One does catch him with a tail only to be caught and swung using the momentum, though it does knock some of the wind out of Zod's sails.
    The goal of this, in truth, is to piss the Dravanians off. So they won't notice they're chasing Zod into Skuzzler's firing lanes or right into Smaug's rampage. There is a lot going on for Zod to keep track of, and hopefully he will avoid being shot or mauled by his erstwhile allies.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    And so the dragon takes action. Shirou's faced with an onrushing fireblast. He hadn't expected the dragon to be able to retaliate and now, briefly, panic sets in.

    Death. Death is approaching.

    For Shirou, everything goes red. His thoughts freeze, seeing the world in the slow motion that only the fear of death can invoke. His heartbeat's now pounding loudly in his ears and eyes are wide. If he does nothing, the dragonfire will cook him. It's coming closer, ever closer, there's no time to dodge, no time to think, no time to--

    "MONTAUBAN!!"

    Just as the fireball reaches him there's a titanic explosion, a surge of sizzling, arcing prana bolts, and a furious rush of wind!!

    But as the smoke and dust drift away, they reveal... A segment of castle wall jutting impressively from the ground as though it grew there naturally. The wall's purest white stone by texture, yet made of a ghostly, filmy, translucent projection of prana. Indeed, Shirou's standing behind that barrier, breathing hard. His jacket's been slightly scorched from the sheer heat and flames spreading AROUND the wall, but he deflected most of it.

    That went up JUST in time.

    Yet it doesn't last long. The wall crumbles and fades, eroded by an invisible wind into particles of prana.

    BUt just as Shirou's protection fades... Kanshou and Bakuya appear in his hands. He HURLS them both in opposite arcs, aiming for them to collide on either side of his assailant.

    "Don't be stupid! That'll just get people trying to wipe you out again! That's not how you live together!"

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    Having taken down the dragon, the Adamant Golem is quite happy with his prey going down, until the second one takes advantage of his need to reload and comes swooping in. While he manages to get the weapon reloaded, he gets slammed into, dropping the chain gun from the impact.

    He's not defenseless just because he doesn't have his gun, though. He reaches in to try to grab the dragon and roll with them as they tumble across the ground. Once they come to a stop, Grant decided to prove why he has Berserker as his secondary job. Rolling out of the fight with the dragon he reaches down to his lower back and grabs two metal tubes there. Those tubes, however, unfold into what would be a two handed battle axe, for a normal person. Grant is anything but normal. His thrusters on the suit engage and propel him at the dragon, swinging both axes as he goes.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Dragons detoured by Aurora move swiftly, but one of them gets sniped down by Garen who crashes into the ground and lies there crying in pain. Including as it tries to get up, but goes to lay back down on the ground once more.

This has also given Ariah the time she needed as she calls to the people to take shelter, which they do. The shield comes up to defend the homes and places of sanctuary from the carnage that rains in the streets and skies.

As Meriax tries to claw away, she does break a few of the larger dragons scales and causes him to drip blood, but the dragon seems content to hold onto her. "Stop you attempts! If I wanted you dead, I would have done so! You could join us! Join us in the rebirth!"

However whatever answer Meriax may be ready to give, is quickly halted as the dragon is found in the path of Smaug. The Far larger dragon slashes off his wing and the smaller dragon roars in pain, his claws releasing Meriax as he falls from the sky. Crashing into the barrier brought up by Ariah and slamming in the ground beside.

Though Smaug may find himself being dive bombed by several of the dragons above, attempting to rack their claws against his hide and go for his very wing membranes. They are giving it their all!

Aurora and Skuzzler both start to fire at the dragons. Some get out of the way, others go crashing to the ground, some dead-- a few still alive.. but in great pain. Slowly bleeding out and probably wont be part of the world soon. Actually such a dragon sneers at Aurora and speaks in his draconic tongue, >"Pest!"< Then blasts a fireball in her direction as his final moment.

Mantigora happens to land on the same dragon and with her on his back, she jabs her blades successfully through his hide. It screeches out in pain, before rolling its body as it falls. Its actually heading for the ground upside down, making it very obvious what it plans to do!

Zod is successful in his attempts to get them to follow and a few do get in Smaug's path and a few others in the path of Skuzzler as well. Though far more seem to pull out and head higher into the air. Soon Zod may find himself being ignored, that is until he looks forward and finds a mass of dragons flying /right/ at him at swooping speed.

Grant takes on the dragon against him and once the two break. The Dragon unfurls his wings and tries to make himself even bigger as the man wields two axes. The Dragon hisses and flames lick around his maw. His tail sways side to side, even as he slowly starts to walk around Grant.

Then with a lunge he goes to tackle Grant once more, with flames raging out around his sharp, fanged teeth.

The Dragon leader snarls at both Ryu and Shirou. "You know NOTHING!" He bellows out. "Nothing of our people! Our pain! Our Suffering! Our time is now!!" He then goes to meet Shirou dead on, even as the boy archs his blades. The slashes cut across his form, but he does not stop.

It is when Ryu blasts out suddenly the massive white blast does it catch the dragon. The dragon roars out Bahamut's name in draconic as the holy flames blast past him. Once the light dims down, the leader dragon comes to lay on the ground. His scales smoking-- what remains of them, and bloody dripping out from his maw. "..we will die.. before we ever.. hold the same fate.. as our ancestors..." He says with a gasping breaths.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
In the distance though the Warpgate has opened as several armored men come marching out of the portal. Their armor a white chrome in color. Blue lines can be seen course at times as they march. Some hold lances in hand, others with swords by their side.

Though heavy in armor, they move effortlessly and easily as if wearing cloth. Each step precise as a well trained engine in the military. Though as they come out, they do not enter the fray. Only one of them, his armor white as the others, but he holds himself as a commander with black chrome-like metal mixed in.

He places up his hand toward his men as he stares ahead, before he then lowers it.

Two of his men raise a gun-like weapon to the air and then open fire with them. Two red flares fly into the sky before exploding in the air with brilliant bright light.

This grabs the dragons attention and they all start to head toward the men on the ground.

As the dragons start to make their way, another group comes out and start building up some type of cannon. They do so quickly and efficiently. The cannon has a rather large barrel on it and its easy to see them installing the Ceruleum tanks...

(( MUSIC CHANGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk3HC-mUfRg ))

Aurora (462) has posed:
    The shots ring true with the Shinki's firing, finally perking up. "Master! I got on..." her voice is slienced as her face turns towards the speaking dragon. "Wha...?" And is suddenly met face to face with a ball of fire, sending her flying back, sizzling into the snow close to Garen and Ariah. She twitches a bit, melting the snow around her from that heated ball of magic. Fortunately, it looks like she's still alive as limbs slowly move... "Don't... touch me. Heat sensors... going crazy."

Smaug (689) has posed:
    Yelled at, roared at, screamed at, the Red from the North doesn't seem to care about any of it. The feeling of a wing coming loose in his claws is the first satisfaction he has felt tonight. He would ride that feeling all the way to the ground, that wing likely shattering under the weight of his impact. However, shortly after touching down, he would have to deal with a swarm of those upset by his actions in the sky above.

    Words? None. Roar? Not now. A breath, however? That is taken. His wings fold close to his sides before his head turns about, unleashing a blast of such primal fire that perhaps these dragons will be pushed back. Or perhaps not, but there is one thing such a fire can do, even to other fire drakes. It can obscure their vision.

With that gout of flame moving from one whelp to the next, the Red brings an arm around, lashing out at each dragon in turn so long as the fire continues to pour out. It was a Really Deep Breath!

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    Planting both axes in the dragon's chest, the Adamant Golem finishes it off, and then puts them away, grabbing the gun and hot footing it over to where Garen is. That guy said he needs cover, so cover he's going to get.

    Setting up into a position behind Garen, the armored man looks down at hime, "Make your shot. I've got your back." He just hopes Garen can make the shot with lots of bullets and rockets being fired from near him, as that's what Grant begins to do almost instantly, going after any targets that present themseleves as a threat to Garen and his sniper shot.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    The dragon is knocked down with the white fire, and Ryu finds no need to continue fighting it now that it's prone. The white fire dies down, some flames still dancing and swirling on the ground between him and the wounded creature. He approaches the dragon, and considers him, eyes lidded. There's some kind of understanding in Ryan's face, once the fight is done. He reaches forward to rest a hand on the dragon's head. There's still a lot of wariness in Ryan... he's not going to try to slay the dragon, but he's not so relaxed as to give an opening for a lucky shot.

    "You keep saying that like your ancestors fate has anything to do with you. 'What they experienced' is something to honor or to grieve, not let control who you are. You aren't them, but you don't want to be them. So why do you die for a people that don't exist anymore? Why do you keep fighting and threatening when coexistence is still possible?"

    "Why do you need to dominant other races, in order to feel free? Don't you already own the skies? I can hear the pride when you talk, but you don't show it in your actions. You all seem afraid of being dominated, like you need to prove some kind of strength to others."

    "But you aren't independant, or strong, or protecting anyone or anything. You're bullies and servants, from my perspective."

    Ryan has been /baffled/ by the reasoning of these dragons, and having one here unable to smack the hell out of him for trying to talk to it.

    "Dying is worthless to those you want to protect, because you no longer have the ability to continue fighting. You should never have pride in abandoning those you actually care about."

Garen (530) has posed:
    Garen watched as the legionnaire's set up the cannon, and already plotted out two possible shot angles. Of course, that's also when he finds out the easier of the two wouldn't work. 'Isnt that always the case?' He thought to himself. But in the end, he did enjoy showing off a bit. So, he dropped down to a knee and drowned out the rest of the world. The only things that existed to him in that moment were his rifle, his scope, and his target. He took a single breath, and placed the rifle to his shoulder. Tunnel vision had already set in for him, and in this state his chiss discipline and imperial training took over. Explosions aroun him only made him shift his stance. This was not a shot he could miss, nor one he planned to. He exhaled and as he took another breath, moved his finger over the trigger. In one complete motion, he exhaled and let fly his shot, aimed straight down the barrel of the cannon, and straight for the cereleum inside the tank itself.

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Aurora's fiery crash is noticed by the witch. She leaves her staff plunged into the ground, letting it remain a solid, standing conduit for the magic she's siphoning through her body and into the barrier. Ariah moves to the fallen Shinki, "You are durable. That is why I chose you. There are reinforcements and your cover is needed with the others." Taking a knee, the white sorceress holds her hands out to her purple-toned companion regardless of the risk. "You require less heat and I require more energy," she states simply as if it were the most elementary of math.

     She focuses on the remnants of magic from the fireball, the heat overloading her companion and burning off into the air slowly. The link is visible, the chain obvious. Her fingertips draw the heat in streams of white-blue into her body, then much the same from her body to the nearby staff, trickles, drops of power to keep the barrier topped off just that much more.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
There's not enough time for her to pull her blades out and jump off, so instead Mantigora hangs on for the ride! The dragon wheels over, slamming into the ground backside first, throwing up all sorts of rubble as it's dying descent grinds the Draken into the farmland before finally coming to a rest.

It takes a moment, and then the dragon is pushed aside, allowing Mantigora to pulls herself out of the rut in the ground. She's battered and her armored longcoat has some of the exterior fabric tore up, but her personal shielding ate most of the impact thankfully.

And now the dragons were retreati -- no, regrouping. Moving to cover the men and their cannon. And out of her primary combat range. Skuzzler just made a pass and is going to need time to turn around again. So they're moving away from her range of lethality.

Fortunately, like a good ex-soldier she made preperations, pulled a few strings and called in a favort two.

Which is why she is able to reach into her inventory system and as she pulls out a weapon and shoulders it the device expands into a sizable missile launcher type weapon. With a grunt she gets down on one knee to brace herself, levels the weapon at the dragons, and fires.

Call it a show of the Dominion's strength and advancement when it comes to waging war, as the projectile isn't even a typical missile, but an explosive ball of energized plasma.

Meriax (702) has posed:
"Ugh," is Meriax's reply to 'joining the rebirth' (not that she, in fact, has any idea what that is). "If I wanted to be a puppet I would have stayed at home! I'm going to be a queen and have a kingdom of my own with treasure and minions and everything - I'm the great dragon Meriax! I don't have time for - for - "

Words fail her. "Whatever you're doing!"

Smaug sort of saves her. Possibly accidentally. Meriax looks up at the much bigger dragon as /he/ breathes in, then out - and Meriax lifts up, getting even higher, above Smaug while he's breathing. She circles, her clawed fingers scrabbling at... what?

One of the advantages of being as small as she is is that her agile fingers are remarkably useful. If she's careful, she can even use things sized for humans: they look amusingly small in her hands, but she can do it. Which is how she manages to, very delicately, pull a wand out of where she'd hidden it: strapped on the inside of one of her arm-spurs, not near the talon.

She holds the length of wood almost delicately between two fingers. Too far away to do much with the cannon, she helps Smaug instead. Drawing the power of the wand out into her, letting it suffuse her body, Meriax feels something... shift inside of her, a change in pressure and flow.

Meriax exhales. She doesn't exhale a gout of flame this time - she exhales a blast of flame so concentrated and condensed it's more like a white-hot beam, penetrating right through the target (if she hits) and drilling a hole clear through some of the other flying dragons - including Smaug's opponents, to give him a hand, and the ones Zod is leading over! She carefully avoids hitting either Smaug or Zod, though - as narrow and concentrated as her breath is, she's not likely to hit him by mistake.

General Zod (524) has posed:
    The only real direction Zod can go is... up through the virtual wall of dragons. Face scrunched as he is assaulted by dragons on his way up, Zod pushes upward, arms trying to fend off the flurry of blows as he puts on speed. He sees a larger dragon in his way and swings an arm upward as he picks up speed, slamming the fist directly into the Dravanian impediment. What happens to it, Zod cares not. He rushes upward into the sunlight at breakneck speed, carrying him above the clouds. He takes a deep breath of the clean air, soaking in the unhindered sunlight for a moment. And then...
Zod notes the dragons are regrouping or something similar. He sees them going for an infantry formation, likely the ones Gaius mentioned on the radio.
    Down Zod goes, into a grouping of trees. He starts uprooting them, lighting them on fire with his heat vision, and hurling them like javelins towards the infantry formation. Hope there aren't any Ents about...

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    With the Dragon seemingly disabled, Shirou breathes a sigh of relief. Then... forces prana into his legs to power a small leap atop a nearby farmhouse. He goes tumbling across the roof from a lopsided landing but DOES make it up there. Here, he tries to gfigure out what's going on. He just doesn't have many words to spare for the injured dragon.

    "Do you even know what a successful nation's LIKE?!"

    Not that he can lecture about it, but he knows they sure don't have any good idea here.

    But something unexpected happens. He sees familiar kinds of armor appearing a distance away. With a bi of prana forced through his eyes, he sees it in great detail. And the weapon they're assembling and preparing.

    More specifically, where it's aimed.

    "... What are those guys doing?!" And of course, the things that power it. He's seen Cerulean before, thanks to a few previous incidents. "If that goes off...!!"

    Bye-bye, large chunks of the town, probably! And the dragons, and the defenders. "Morons, what are they doing?!"

    Since he cannot possibly reach that location in time, he instead projects a black bow and Naegling. The boy takes aim... and aims for the cannon's undercarriage. He fires the sword, modified into something more akin to an arrow, right for his target. Its flight draws a bright streak of light through the air and gathers a wind!

    Where it strikes... hopefully just beneath the cannon - it goes off like a small grenade. The goal?

    Throw that thing's aim WAY off. Straight into the sky, in fact.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Dragons are trying to regroup and even some /are/ retreating. The final stage of battle is here and it was now time to see what /could/ be done with more firepower. While others start to take down dragon after dragon, and while others manage to escape their deaths or falling the ground heavily injured.

The leader lays there on the ground, even as Ryu comes over to him. Those burning gold-red eyes stare at Ryu. He tries to lift his head, not in aggression, but to stare at the young dragon better. "You.. do not know.. the pain of our world. We are the forgotten children of the light... or so.. we were.. but she has given us hope.. she has given us.. /His/ son.."

The dragon's head goes to lay back down on the ground, coughing gently even with a soft mrrh from the pain. ".and we .. do not rule anything in our lands.. they have taken it from us... All of man.. most of man.. has taken it from us.. with their machines of metal.. and weapons that defy the laws of nature.."

He then goes to close his eyes. "..only those.. of the Son's.. are worthy..." Though he doesn't finish his words, the picture he maybe has painted isn't a pretty one. Dragons who's pride has been stripped and their skies taken.
Himver back at the troops...
When Zod throws the tree, several of them turn their lances and slam them into the ground. Just at the last moment a blue beam of light explodes slightly outward creating a barrier of some kind of blue energy.

The trees slam into the Barrier where hexagon like shapes can be seen during the impact. Though with each impact the shield starts to crack, bit by bit-- it can't hold out for long. This is only added to the stress as Grant opens fire. Though as he does, several of those in the back step back, kneel down and take aim with their own lances.

They are actually snipers it looks like and they start to open fire at Grant. The bullets come in and when they hit, even around the man, they have the force of armor piercing rounds, but worse they have a low charge explosion that flashes with blue light and fire. -- Ceruleum bullets

Though it is thanks to Garen and Shirou do things go suddenly /south/. The laser shot from Garen goes right into the barrel and that causes the leader too look back at the Cannon, "..Well then.." He then quickly roars out, "GET BACK!"

It was easy to see the blue flames starting to rise from the port vents and blue glow starting to form from the Cermet and steel form.

Shirou's exploding arrow then explodes under the Magitek Cannon, sending it in the air just as it explodes. Shrapnel flies around the area. Some of it claiming the men with the shield lances, some impact the dragons. It scatters near and far.

Those that don't get hit, quickly get back up to their feet and make their way back into the portal as the commander motions with his hand for a full retreat. Though those with the shield lances pull up their lances, including those that were that of their fallen comrades and start to pull back as well.

They do actually try to also grab up their fallen and/or dead to get them out as well.

As for the dragons...
They are on full retreat as well, though taking high into the skies. They do not, however, go back for their fallen or their injured. All but one...

One dragon swoops through the Carnage and the Mayhem. Avoiding most of the shots and the flames. Though a few blasts nick his scales. He soon lands down near Ryu and the fallen leader. He snarls at Ryu before roaring out, "Get away from my brother, whelp! You shalt not have his soul!"

Garen (530) has posed:
    Garen watches as the cannon is both hit by his shot, and sent flying into the air by Shirou. "You'd almost think we'd planned that..." He muses to himself. Though that's when he notices the snipers. "My turn.." He says simply. With quick motions, he twists his stance and aims to do a bit of counter-sniping, every shot aimed for the glint or flash of enemy rifles.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    The snipers are hitting the Golem armor hard, and each shot is met with a slight shifting of his position, as he turns his cannon on the general location where the shot might have come from and unleashes a flurry of shots back in that direction. The overall plan should be pretty simple, right? He takes a hit, figures out where it comes from, and shoots back.

    Sure most people would try to avoid those hits, but he's hardly most people. As the various forces begin to retreat, he turns his attention to them, unleashing the firepower he has left at them, trying to take out as many as he can, and help spur along those he doesn't hit to retreat quicker.

Smaug (689) has posed:
Regardless of if his tactic was effective or not, once the blast of flame from Smaug comes to an end, the wings tucked against his side would snap out, trying to brush aside the number of 'whelps' that came down on him, before sending him skyward once again. If these fools thought they were going to be able to just turn tail and leave, they were wrong. Those too close would find claws sent through membranes or smaller gouts of flame sent toward eyes. What catches his attention, however, is the 'trio' that included Ryu, a fallen, and another trying to be a savior. Given that he wasn't too far from the ground, the northern red moves closes distance, lands, "Oh... but you -are- leaving without him, aren't you, whelp?"

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Ariah returns to her staff when she has purged the overheat from her Shinki, satisfied that her partner is no longer at dangerous levels. Her fingers wrap around her weapon and she focuses on actively manipulating the shield, bracing it against the blast from the destructing cannon. "Well-placed shot," she says towards Garen, taking a breath when the blast wave hits the shell around the town. Shrapnel and debris pepper the shield, the magicked barrier flickering, cracking, but holding. She maintains her efforts on keeping the remnants from raining down on the village as well as reinforcing the areas that incoming sniper fire may impact to protect herself and Garen.

As forces retreat, however, she starts to draw the energy back to herself, into herself, warming her from the cold when the threats are whittled down by the rest of the team. "Stay by my side, Aurora. We will see to your paint once we are sure the rest are secure."

Meriax (702) has posed:
Heat radiates from Meriax, far warmer than she normally is. Every time she exhales, there's a momentary heat haze around her mouth and nostrils from whatever supercharging the wand did to her breath weapon. Even she notices that the inside of her mouth is uncomfortably hot - but it'll pass. Apparently, they won - something certainly exploded over there.

"Ah ha ha ha!" she crows, doing a wingover for a victory lap. "That'll show you, dragons! I hope you brought your treasure, because I'm coming hunting!" Her maneuvers also make her a harder target for gunners, if any of them are deciding to take potshots at her.

Smaug goes... somewhere else. Meriax actually manages to lose track of him despite his impressive size for a moment, but she spots him a moment later. She starts to descend, though remaining in the sky - just not as high. "Just laugh at him some more," she opines, looking between Smaug, Ryu, and the other dragons. "Then he'll knwo you're better than him."

Mantigora (583) has posed:
Downside to special occasion weaponry like the plasma launcher? They tend to have unusually long cooldowns on them. In this case to keep the weapon from melting itself into a puddle, but still an annoyance as Mantigora sets it aside. Not much else she can do with the retreating forces at this distance.

So instead she turns and walks back towards the dragon that had smashed her into the ground, tail swaying with clear predatory amusement. Instead of her claws she pulls a large, tribal looking hunting knife from her belt. Flips it back and forth a few times in her hand before seizing it fully, blade downward in a hunter's 'field dressing' grip as she looms over the beast. Tongue briefly flits past her fangs to lick her lips.

"Oh, you are going to make fine trophy..."

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryan listens to the leading dragon's words, and more conflicting emotion shows on his face. His face scrunches up as he imagines what the other dragons must've gone through, the wars and having their open skies taken from them. He rumbles in sympathy to the dragon, but that's the best he can do. He lets the other dragon rest there, not even turning his head to look at the explosion as the Magitek Cannon is destroyed. He hears pieces of shrapnel whistling through the air.

    When the dragon's comrade comes to roar at him, he doesn't fight him. Instead, a soft white light shines over Ryan, and he provides a very slight healing to the downed dragon so that he doesn't, at least, die before he gets home. Stabilizing. He knows that, ultimately, there's no reason to kill this dragon when the problem isn't rooted in him at all.

    "That..." He gestures at the protective dragon, "That is what you should be fighting for," he indicates, and placatingly says, "I know who I really need to fight, and it isn't your kind."

    His head turns to view the soldiers and the familiar armored individuals in the distance, as the retreat is made. Then something happens. Another dragon, not one of the Dravanian Horde, and much larger, shows up.

    Ryan looks up at Smaug, and rumbles at him angrily. He doesn't say a word, but it's quite clear that one physical twitch that even LOOKS like trying to take advantage of the weakened will piss off this comparitively small dragon. He... doesn't seem at all afraid of Smaug. Or if he is, it's being translated into instinctual ire.

    Meriax doesn't get more than a glance, her remark getting a quizzical 'rrf?' out of him. "What?" He's not offended, just confused.

General Zod (524) has posed:
    The Confederacy needs information. That means a prisoner.
    Zod rockets forward towards the retreating infantry, then snakes around to come in from the flank and slightly above, aiming to barrel through the retreating infantry. He reaches out with his arms and attempts to grab one of them on his way out of the pack, bearhug with that hideous strength if he does snag one. Assuming that works, Zod will rocket back to the battle line with a prisoner.
    Just to rub salt in the wound, Zod bellows as he approaches. "Did you think it would be easy?!"

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou shields his eyes from the explosion, only to cast a weirded out look Garen's way. They REALLY DID manage something weird there, didn't they? But he soon raises the bow again, the moment Smaug drops in!

    Oh sure, he'd seen the great dragon's rampage, and in a way appreciated it. But...

    He simply cannot stomach THIS.

    Yet again, fear grips Shirou. He should run. He should run and stay far, FAR away from the speaking beast that's approached and moved to perhaps finish off the Dravanian leader. That's what the smart people would do.

    yeah, since when does Shirou follow THAT pattern?

    He will NOT run away like a coward if there's a life he can save. Even, in this case, if it's an enemy's life!

    "Don't you touch them!" Shirou howls the old dragon's way.

    And if anyone turns to see just what he's putting behind that ultimatum...

    They'd see that he's drawn his bow again, and mounted another weapon. A very odd-looking sword - its blade is cracked all over, though this doesn't reduce its durability. A subtle magic's woven through it, but who here can detect it?

    His aim? Straight for Smaug's chest, of sorts.

    Crackling prana, emerald green, gathers around the 'arrow,' which begins to glow ominously...

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
When shots come their way, the Magitek suited troops, turn on heel and use their Magitek to create a hexagon pattern shield to block the shots. Though one does get nailed as he isn't fast enough. So he takes aim with his Gunblade and starts to open fire, rapid shots at that.

Zod however does manage to capture one, but by Gaius own warning-- he doesn't seem that bothered by it. He only laughs gently, the full face helm hiding that grin behind the man's voice. "We came, we saw, we got what we wanted." He then chuckles. "This is /far/ from over..All Hail Nael Deus Darnus!" He says loudly and clearly, as there is a beep in his armor.

Zod may notice the blue lines become bright-- which may be an indication to let go, because he is going to blow up in the man's arms.

As for the Dragon with Mantigora, it seems pretty much dead. Unlike the city though-- the dragons whom have died here are /not/ vanishing. Their bodies are actually remaining on the field... At least, that is how it seems for the moment.

Ryu's healing magic does help the downed leader, though with Smaug there, the brother can only snarl at the larger dragon. "By Bahamut's scales I will!" The dragon growls out. "I shalt not leave my brother to die in the lands far from home!"

His wings unfurl and his tail comes around defensively. Trying to make himself far more opposing. Though it seems Shirou steps in and goes for the attack. "..what?" And this-- confuses the Dravanian.

Meriax (702) has posed:
Meriax is still 'running hot'. She looks down at Ryu - and Emiya Shirou, now. One of them is cute. The other is a menace. His weapon feels... strange, not that she can tell much about it.

Meriax lets out a puff of smoke from her nostrils as she circles. "I don't care about him," she says. "Not one bit! He knows he's been beaten. Let him stew in his own inferiority! Let him remember who's the best and maybe he won't try anything again!"

Performing another wingover, Meriax abandons Smaug, Ryu, and Emiya. She doesn't want to get shot, and if Smaug wants to keep bothering the other dragon, that's his business; as far as she's concerned, she's already shown total superiority and has thus lost interest, since there is no apparent treasure in the offing.

General Zod (524) has posed:
    Zod laughs and hurls the dead man towards his comrades. They can deal with the explosion if they find life to be that cheap.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
Mantigora puts a foot on the neck to hold the dragon in place, grabs a horn with one hand and goes for the neck with the knife in the other. The head will be a fine trophy, so she goes for that first. Draken kind of have a thing for collecting skulls. Including a ceremony that involves safaris specifically for collecting skulls to pile up and magically ignite like a spiritual bonfire to their gods of war and honor.

This skull, however, is more likely to get hung over the door of her homestead, both as a prize and as a warning.

The rest of the body... eh. Head first. Remains later.

Smaug (689) has posed:
A look of disdain is sent from Ryan, to the leader, to Shirou, and then the northern red just snorts in disgust. "What a pitiful lot," he finally grunts, turning his head away, peering down at all of them with a single, large, golden eye. "You would rather let this cripple live in agony then die with pride? So be it. He'll be dead in a year, if these whelps have any sense of pride between themselves," the eye focuses on the leader, "Beaten, broken, and you're the leader of this waste of scales? If I see you again, you will never be in the sky, again,". Another snort, the same eye rolls away from the lot. "How utterly boring," and then the red just starts to walk away, looking from one building to the next, as if looking for something. Maybe he could salvage something out of this trip..

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryan stares up at Meriax, and then looks over to Smaug. "There is no pride in death," he spits at Smaug, /furious/ at the very idea. He's someone who has lost friends and allies to that kind of thinking. He just lets Smaug go, though, when he starts moving to scavenge. He grunts at the sight, not happy, but he's severely outnumbered by the Confederate presence here.

    He looks at the two dragons, and then swipes his hand angrily, trying to shoo them off.

    "Are you stupid!? Get the hell out of here!!" he bellows out of them. "Take your brother dragon and LEAVE!!"

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Well, Shirou doesn't like Smaug's answer.

    But that's no reason to escalate the situation. He lowers his bow slowly, and when he's finally sure Smaug's really going to retreat he banishes both weapon and the 'arrow.'

    They vanish as if they were never there to begin with... just illusions.

    He turns to say simply towards the confused Dravanian, "What? Hurting someone who's already down's just being simply brutal. I'm not letting someone die because of that guy, even if he is bigger than I am! Listen, just dropping in and saying you're taking over doesn't win you allies. I don't have anything against your people's plight but you're going about this the wrong way. My name is Emiya Shirou. You should get out of here and take your forces with you. We can talk later, when you've recovered."

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Mantigora is able to take the head as a trophy, but for the rest, it be hard to do. Cause even as Ryu shoos over the dragon to take his brother and go-- even as Smaug leaves in sheer boredom. The bodies of the fallen dragons start to glow and then become motes of aetheric energy.

Slowly rising into the air and seeming to slowly disappear.

As for the dragon, he gathers up his brother, nuzzles him gently and goes to take flight. Though he pauses as Shirou speaks to him. He growls lowly at the man, "Just because you came to 'help' my brother, doesn't mean you simply be /allowed/ into our lands."

He snorts softly. "But we will /see/. If the Lord wills it--- perhaps it shall be."

That is when he then takes off.