3986/The Mountain Cycle

The Mountain Cycle
Date of Scene:	05 April 2016
Location:	The Great Ruin
Synopsis:	Iskandria is under attack by horrible robotic legions. They send out a call for help, and help answers... Only to discover something waiting for them beyond the horde.
Cast of Characters:	William Pauwel, Silica, 342, 967, 707, Starlight Bandits

---

William Pauwel has posed:
    The only sovereign state in this ruined world with enough land area to actually be called a nation. The High Seat of the Expanse controls comparatively immense stretches of territory, from the marshlands in the west to the rolling hills and dunes in the east. In this world with so much void for power to fill, Iskandria has swelled to encompass as much as nature has allowed it to grow. Its expansion is limited by the mountain ranges flanking its northern and southern borders, and by the desolate sands separating it from the distant tower of Evance. In terms of sheer manpower, few in this world have been able to match Iskandria.

None of that helps much when they're trying to fight off giant killer robots with gunpowder and spears.

    In the northernmost reaches of Iskandria where the marsh turns to tundra, a set of mountains colloquially known as the Great Horns have recently... split apart. Almost literally, in fact. One avalanche triggered another, which triggered a landslide, which revealed an enormous gate flush against the shared ridges of two of the chain's largest peaks. Not long after that came the horde of bloodthirsty machines. Whirlygig flying pulse-gun drones and roving whirlwinds of steel axeblades and worse quickly overran much of the surrounding wilderness. The Iskandrian legions can handle those, usually; it's the enormous, frosty behemoth that emerged from the gate that did them in- the aforementioned giant killer robot.

But when danger calls, the Chasers will inevitably answer.

    Small frontier settlements have formed near the massive gates to service the explorers brave enough to plumb the depths of the ruins. Many of them have even more recently been turned into smoldering ruins of ash and broken dreams by one of the meandering bands of mechanical menace. Nobody has actually even reached the ruin yet; the space immediately outside the gates are thick with murderous robotic sentinels and the frozen remains of the legionnaires that crossed the giant lurking within the ruins. Even so, there are still those who are brave, foolish or greedy enough to try their luck and risk their lives for their work.

The massive bonus ensured by one particularly eccentric member of the Iskandrian legions helps quite a bit.

    The curtain opens in one such frontier village: the appropriately named settlement of Thermopylae, tucked in between a pair of small crags not far from the ancient gate. Here, a particular Chaser waits for some of his friends and associates to turn up. The place is riddled with wary eyes and practically infested with Iskandrian legionnaires, carrying what appear to be heavy shields and what appear to be long, bayonetted combat shotguns.

Thermopylae is bustling with activity. It looks like a bunch of Chasers are about ready to get ready for another shot at the gates.

Silica has posed:
    Silica comes winging in, literally. The tiny looking Cait Sith is fluttering overhead on transluscent yellow pixie wings, followed closely by the small form of her Familiar, Pina. She circles overhead for a bit, then descends to land, her wings evaporating as she comes to rest. "Okay... Um... I'm here!" she says, looking around at all the people... "It's kinda weird out here, I can't see anyones Cursors or HP bars." she muses to herself, then shrugs a bit. A gesture with her left hand opens her menu, visible only to her, and she stands there, poking at the air for a few moments, bits of her equipment shining before being replaced by something different. Finally, she hits one more 'button', and a small baggie of nuts appears in her right hand. She takes one out, and offers it up to her shoulder, where her Familiar has landed, perching patiently. Pina nibbles the nut and chirls softly, earning a scritch under the chin from the little Beast Tamer.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    More than anything, Nozomi is here because Will is here. She's come to think of him as something of a friend. So if his world is in trouble, there's a nervous slip of a girl willing to help.

    More importantly, where there's a nervous slip of a girl willing to help, there's also a quarter-ton-plus robotic magitech tiger willing to help as well.

    It's not hard to hear the TIGER unit coming, for that matter. When he walks, there's a distinct soft 'clunkita-clunkita' to his movements, along with the whisper-quiet hiss of whirring servos and artificial musculature. If there's something hard like concrete, stone or blacktop under his claws, it's not so quiet at all. And besides, he's huge, black, and has a schoolgirl seated on his back, riding along. Hard to miss that.

X (967) has posed:
Having heard that there's going to be an expedition into an ancient ruin that's probably full of dangerous Mechaniloids - and that PEOPLE are going down there, not exploratory drones or anything sane like that - X has decided to make an appearance. He approaches the gathering of Chasers on, ironically, a Ride Chaser. The futuristic hovercycle leaves a cloud of dust behind it, pushed by what seem to be plasma thrusters! That thing must have an insane power plant...

    But it comes to a halt and settles down onto the ground near other vehicles - what few or possibly none there are - and X quickly hops off. To the untrained eye he might appear as just a dude wearing particularly tight-fitting armor, but yeah. Pretty unmistakably a blue robot with a human face.

    "Hard to believe people actually live out here!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Looking for giant robots? Count Xiaomu in ... not that she has much experience dealing with giant robots in person, but those kinds of things always make for an awesome boss battle and/or sidequest.

Well, usually.

More often than not.

.... look, you get the idea, okay? Besides, the sage fox has had a hankering of sorts for a giant robot of her very own, and while the odds of that are roughly the same as her ever catching up with everything she wants to buy for her collection(s), she'd at least like to see what we're dealing with. And maybe render some judgment of her own whether or not the rich lady who wants this mecha is the sort to use it more or less wisely.

... again, Xiaomu's biases may come into play, for better or for worse, more likely the latter. Either way, though, the sage fox from Shinra is here, looking for William and for the others who are going to help him Chase down this mystery ...

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Among those in Thermopylae is a common unit. The 1996th Expeditionary Legion, easily identified by their patches depicting a pair of crossed golden keys under an aquila in red and gold, with 'MCMXCVI' beneath. And with this legion is a woman!

    She's dressed in what could be described as 'modern action scientist.' The traditional white labcoat, over some brown leather armor, with a whole bunch of sections that looks like they've been patched over with other types of leather. Her blone hair is pulled into a bun that's ornamented with some kind of tooth, but with many loose strands. She wears thick coke-bottle glasses, the lenses heavily scratched and the arms patched up in several places.

    Sewn onto the sleeves of that lab coat, just below the shoulders are military patches! From a distance, they looks like the same patches that the rest of the Legion has. But upon closer inspection, it actually has 'MCMXCV' under the keys, with the last 'I' being sewn on at the end, a visibly different gold than the rest.

    Also differentiating her is the grenade launcher hanging from her belt, as opposed to the gun lances the rest of the 1996 carry.

    "Hey, c'mon! Don't be so glum!" she says to a Chaser who is going over his ammunition, which seems severely lacking. "Think of bullets like accessories! Nice to have, but you can pull it off without 'em in a pinch!" She walks on, leaving the Chaser with only a gun to his name looking at her back incredulously.

    "C'mon people! Let's see your war faces!" she yalls, clapping her palms, blue eyes shining behind her shiny glasses. "We're here to advance science and get robots! Big goddamn robots, with enough firepower to wipe out everything in my-I mean, OUR ways! There's no time for half-assing here, so get your whole ass ready!"

William Pauwel has posed:
    Will's friends and acquaintances have arrived! Or rather, one of Will's friends, one of his acquaintances who is somehow also literally a fox, a robot he talked to briefly over the radio, and some dame with yellow buggy wings. Three of the four get some very strange looks- Nozomi because she's literally riding on top of a giant robo-tiger and X because he's ACTUALLY a robot. Silica is regarded with some curiousity, because apparently flying on your own power isn't something that happens too often around here.

Xiaomu is treated like pretty much any other eccentric, independent Chaser. Looks like fox ears aren't considered strange in these parts.

    The young Chaser gives Nozomi a wave and a smile before he answers the group's appearance. "Hey there Nozomi! And all y'all," Will says with a grin, hopping off from the top of his very own motorcycle. It's not nearly as advanced as X's amazing technological wonder, but the Mistral seems to bristle with power all of its own. "Glad y'all could make it. I don't know a few of you, so lemme introduce myself. The name's Will Pauwel Jr, Chaser and explorer of ruins! This one's a bit of a doozy though."

    Will jabs a thumb over toward the gates, visible through the trees in the distance, "There's practically an army between us and whatever's inside that there ruin. Chances ain't the best we'll make it through, but--"

    Will glances over. That... Over there is their employer, it seems. She seems... maniacal? "Uh. Well. Anyway! We'll be fine, y'all are good at this kind of thing, right?" Will chirps, optimistic as always. He turns his bike about and putters over towards the lady with the glasses, "Hey miss Melchior! I've got a posse together, so we'll head on out and give this thing a try!"

And then he just... keeps right on going. Without waiting for an answer.

    It looks like Will's feeling pretty gung ho today. It'd make sense if he is; after all, the last time there was a giant robot, things turned out pretty well! So why not this time, too? "Come on y'all," he calls from the edge of camp, towards the great gates in the distance, "Let's get a move on!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
So that's the lady who wants the giant robot claimed for her?

Xiaomu takes a good long look at Melchior, keeping her expression neutral as well as she can while simultaneously discerning as much as she can about the local lady in question. Does she look like the sort who'd park a giant robot on her lawn as a conversation piece? Or to take it out and go conquer as much of the countryside as she can before someone else with their own giant robot manages to stop her?

These are important questions.

... but they're not so important that Xiaomu doesn't grin (maybe a bit cheekily) and wave before turning to look among her allies. "Name's Xiaomu," she introduces herself. "I mostly work for Shinra, a government agency back in my home world."

.... and that's all she says about that, although she DOES categorize the rest of the party (or 'posse' to hear Will tell it) as friends/allies, probably not people she needs to hide much from.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    The greeting gets a warmer response out of Nozomi than most see. "Aah, hey," she replies, with a little nod of her head to Will. "I can make no guarantees as to my ability to penetrate a defensive deployment of automated troops. But I am military-grade hardware, so if nothing else, it is not impossible." He falls into step with Will casually.

    Nozomi, meanwhile, keeps glancing at Silica, but then looking away after a second or two. It's impolite to stare! But... but... catgirl.

X (967) has posed:
What a strange gathering. X finds himself blinking quite a bit as he scans across the gathering. He's got a positive look about his face, though his smile's just a bit subdued. It's hard to feel truly happy about walking into a death zone, as much as he's intrigued and interested by all the strange people!

    "What is she?" he murmurs to himself when Silica arrives. But guessing at her age isn't hard and so he gives her a friendly wave... only to then question in his head. Isn't she a bit YOUNG to be going into a deathzone?

    The more he examines the others here the weirder he feels about this.

    "My name is X! This would be my first time exploring ruins from another world, but the equipment for the job's part of my loadout." He sounds confident about that at least.

    Though he finally asks Nozomi and Silica, "You both look really young for this... there's killer robots out there!" A question that has plenty of concern burning in it. It asks, 'ARE YOU INSANE?'

Silica has posed:
    Silica looks up as Will addresses the group. Her ears flick and twitch a little, tail swaying back and forth idly of its own accord. She tilts her head curiously at him for a moment, then looks around at the others.

    Nozomi earns a smile and fingerwiggling wave from the Cait Sith, Pina chirping at TIGER, maybe she thinks the two are a Beast Tamer duo like herself!

    Xiaomu gets and awed little expression, which then turns into a smile. Don't want to be rude, after all!

    X's arrival gets another awed expression, though she doesn't smile /quite/ as much afterward, the robot is still kinda awesome.

    Back to Will, Silica salutes. "I've cleared my share of Dungeons! This shouldn't be all that different!" she offers, "And besides, I have Pina, and I've been working on my Water magic, so I can do some healing too!"

    When Will calls the march, Silica falls right on in, taking a middle position, so she can get in and out of a fight quickly, or back off to play Mage easily.

    "Oh! How rude of me! I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Silica! And my friend here is called Pina!"

William Pauwel has posed:
Emilia Melchior is a lady who knows exactly what she wants and exactly why she wants what she wants, and what she wants is a giant robot. Why she wants a giant robot doesn't matter right now, because money.

Regardless.

    "Silica and Pina and Xiaomu and X," Will repeats as the Mistral carries him steadily down out of the woods. His eyes flicker between the tops of Silica's and Xiaomu's heads, before... strangely, pivoting towards Nozomi's. He seems to consider something briefly, but keeps it BURIED DEEP INSIDE HIS SOUL. "S' a pleasure! Don't worry, we'll do just fine!" He looks towards TIGER, giving him a quick grin, "Don't say that. I remember the last time y'all came with me. That was incredible!"

    As the trees begin to thin, yielding to tundra and frozen, mossy foothills, Will shrugs over at X. "She isn't that young. Chasers come in all ages- I'm just around seventeen myself. Y'all should've seen the last couple of places I've ran through. Nozomi can tell y'all about the one out in the desert."

Soon, though, they descend towards the crest of a small hill. Out in the distance, nestled into a craggy chasm splitting a pair of neighbouring peaks in two, loom the Gates; enormous structures of polished, jet-black material that glimmer like obsidian in the sun. Out in front of them, filling the gap of the chasm, is a veritable army of glimmering, glittering /things./ Clouds of powdersmoke are telltale signs that surround phalanxes of Iskandrian legionnaires pushing and being pushed by their mechanical foes near the mouth of the chasm. Will tugs his goggles down over his eyes and tightens a scarf around his face and neck, "Well. Are y'all ready?"

Silica has posed:
    The thing about having large ears... you tend to be able to hear /very/ well. X's mumbling earns a twitch of those big dish-like ears, and she turns to look at him. "I'm a Cait Sith(pronounced Cat See), and for your information, I'm 17 years old!" she says, hands on her hips as she backpedals and grumpily leans over at the robot guy.

    Nozomi's glances don't go unnoticed, and she hops and bounces lightly over to her, falling in beside the TIGER unit. "Hi." she offers up to the other girl, beaming happily.

    It doesn't take long though, before Silica can see the distant shapes. She squints her eyes a little, irises glowing faintly as she tunes in her enhanced sight. "There's people fighting over there... we gotta help them!" she says, and is about to charge off on her own, before she remembers how well /that/ worked out for her last time.

    If someone could see her internal monologue, it'd be a series of flashing images in greyscale. Three giant ape-monsters, a flash of agony as one clobbers her into a tree, watching a small dragon intercept a fatal strike only to die itself.

    Instead, she pauses, holds up both hands and begins to chant in faux-Norse. The words locking in before her, before they expand outwards, and circle her allies. A minor Cold Resist Buff.

    She does this a couple more times, one for Physical Resist and another for Regeneration. "I don't know how well these will work outside of the game, but... that's all I got for now." she says, panting a little bit, then quickly quaffing a glimmering silver potion, which seems to perk her back up.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "My user will be quite alright," Taiga replies to X, turning to look briefly at the Reploid without pausing in his casual walk. "She is rather more fierce than she appears."

    A cornered mouse would be more fierce than Nozomi appears.

    Silica's approach actually causes her to curl in on herself just a little, lowering her head and going into full 'shyness implosion' mode. "H-hey," she replies to the Cait Sith in what's barely more than a mumble. "Hello," Taiga adds, more casually. However, that's when they crest the hill, and...

    "I believe I underestimated the numbers of the enemy forces," Taiga says, his voice somewhere in the neighborhood of 'concerned'. "Nozomi. I am not certain that I can keep you safe in such a situation as I am." There seems to be some sort of unspoken question between them, one Will at least probably grasps. 'Do you want to transform?'

    It's one that leaves her looking out at the battlefield, uncertain. "I..."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Sadly, 'money' isn't a good enough reason for Xiaomu; Ms. Melchior might have to content herself with an improbably large lawn ornament if the sage fox has to make that call. "Never judge somebody's competence by their apparent age," she asides to X with a grin. "Somewhere in the Multiverse is a ten-year-old who can kick your armored butt."

That doesn't mean *she* knows where to find that hypothetical ten-year-old, of course, but hey - law of averages, plus the preponderance of kid heroes across literature of various media, means she has to be right *somewhere*. And that's good enough for Xiaomu.

"Good to meet you, Silica," Xiaomu greets the Cait Sith - actually offering Silica a handshake if there's a chance along the way. Pina gets an attempt at some gentle scritching between the ... well, where Pina's ears probably would be .. but if either Silica or the little dragon try and ward her off, Xiaomu backs off with a reasonable amount of grace. Nozomi doesn't get that sort of focused attention, just a polite bow.

Shortly thereafter, the 'army'. "Huh. Well, that's not remotely an imposing sign, is it," the sage fox comments. "We going around, over, under, or through?" The buffing spells are noted, and Xiaomu nods to Silica with an appreciative grin before adding, "I'm not sure I like our odds for 'through' but that *would* probably be fastest .... if we can cut through those two armies to begin with."

X (967) has posed:
Having such a ferocious-looking robot declare something so confidently sets X at ease regarding Nozomi. The concern he's showing dwindles considerable, at least regarding her. "So you're her guard." He states as if relieved to hear it.

    His reaction to Silica's protests doesn't go well. But having an undersized young woman, seventeen or not, giving him such a look, gets him responding with a kind of sheepish look of his own. "Okay, got it. But if things get too dangerous let me handle the worst of it." He doesn't sound too confident that he CAN, but he'll definitely try.

    Which leads him to ask William, "People your age and so running around around dangerous robots is a normal thing around here?!" This is... beyond ridiculous to him. Quite shocking!

    He blinks Nozomi's way, wondering just what her deal is.

    But his gaze narrows more fiercely as the group approaches... trouble. His right hand whirls and glows, shifting into X-Buster mode in no time at all!

    "So we have to push through THOSE?!"

William Pauwel has posed:
    Magic is something entirely foreign to Will's world. It's still a bizarre sensation, that feeling of sorcery swirling around him is strange and unusual, but not entirely unwelcome. Aside from the cold resistance spell, he can't tell WHAT it's all doing, but it's not hurting him, so it's probably good. "Thanks," he says with a nod, unlimbering the enormous handcannon at his hip. He runs a cable from somewhere on the Mistral into where an ordinary gun might normally have an ammunition clip, "Can't exactly shoot straight iff'n the wind and the cold get my fingers numb, right?"

    Then he hears... something. Something in Nozomi's voice that makes his heart falter ever so slightly. Will leans over and gently squeezes at the girl's shoulder. "Y'all don't need to if you don't want to. We can make this work, just us seven. All we need to do is play it smart, okay?" The Chaser gives a cheerful grin and another quick shoulder squeeze, "Trust me. Chasers make their own luck!"

"Also," he says, gesturing at the crag in the distance, "I've got a plan. Y'see, that whole thing over there is fresh earth. Opened up with a landslide, so the rocks are still probably pretty loose. 'Course, the Iskandrians have a lot of things, but they don't have the kind of firepower to knock down as much as we'll need."

    "So what I reckon is, we get in there, push those varmints back far as we can, then we use the biggest guns we've brought to trip a rockslide down into the chasm. 'Course, we'll need to outrun the rocks then, too, but that's easier than things that can actually chase after you, right?"

It looks like 'young' isn't exactly 'dumb!' Even if this particular plan is kind of... shaky, in some ways. Will gives X a nod, "Yeah, pretty normal! Gotta get started early, else y'all might just miss out on the really good finds."

"Anyway, that's my plan. So iff'n y'all agree, we can get going and hope everything turns out well."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu leans on her staff for a moment, looking over the clashing armies and considering Will's plan as he lays it out. "Might work," she assesses. "I've heard crazier plans, and been party to worse ideas, so ... I didn't bring more than -"

She pauses, checking the interior of her vest.

"- three grenades," she continues, "but probably better to use those *outside* rather than *inside*, especially if the place is still geologically unstable. And which 'varmints' are we pushing back, the mechanical-looking army?" Xiaomu inquires, pulling something else out of her vest; it looks like an electronic baton of some kind.

Up until it 'breaks' in half at the midpoint, followed by lines and circles and curves of light swirling into existence and eventually resolving into a lightcycle, thrumming softly beneath Xiaomu as its engine powers up. "Just want to make sure I start harassing the right side of the field," Xiaomu finishes, leaning over the lightcycle's controls/'gas tank,' ready to charge - maybe to LEAD the charge - once she's confirmed the details of the plan.

Silica has posed:
    Silica looks back at Xiaomu, and takes that handshake happily enough. Pina, having migrated from shoulder, to atop the Cait Sith's head, chirls softly at the scritches, bumping her head up into Xiaomu's fingers. The AI on this thing is pretty lifelike!

    "I don't have much in the way of attack spells... I could fire of a couple bursts of Vacuum Blades, but, they're not very powerful for the MP used." she muses. "And I don't use a bow, all I have is Pina and my Dagger." she draws the latter, a wickedly barbed looking thing that gleams in the light as she gives a bit of a flourish. "I'll support you where I can though! Pina can use a stunning breath attack!"

    Pina hops up off the Cait Sith's head, and flutters in the air, chirping affirmation and getting ready to fight.

    Nozomi's indecision earns a sympathetic look from the young looking Cait Sith. "Hey... don't worry! We'll get through this. We've got lots of friends here, and besides Pina can heal too!"

    She looks at Pina, then points to Nozomi as a form of targetting. "Pina, Guard!" A chirp and the Feathered Little Dragon flutters over to hover around Nozomi, ready to defend the 'weakest' link in the group.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "Not quite," Taiga says in response to X, this time without even looking. "It would be more accurate to say that I am her weapon."

    Speaking of which, the girl sits there astride her weapon, pondering whether to take it up. Rather ironically, it's Will's encouragement that makes her decision for her, and Silica's protection that cements it. She looks at Will, and Pina. She looks out at the gathered forces. And then she realizes that he, Taiga, and everyone else here would be risking their lives to protect her from harm just so she can ride along and be useless.

    "Th... thank you, everyone, but... Taiga."

    The robotic tiger knows that tone. "Very well."

         "Disengaging Independent Mode. Rerouting Gensou Engine power        
                        to motive and combat systems."                        
                           "Rampart Mode engaged."                            

    Will has seen it before. Seen the way the TIGER seems to simply unfold, come apart. Cannons become gauntlets, body plating becomes armor. The way the bodysuit appears around Nozomi, the way her hair turns from brown to jet black and her eyes fade to gold. Will has seen the way the armor locks in place, the way her expression grows cold and hard.

    For the others, seeing the quiet and timid girl transform into a hard-eyed, armored warrior swinging a jet-powered zweihander up onto her shoulder, is probably somewhat disconcerting. She speaks not a word, but simply looks out at the scattered drone forces, and then floats up off the ground about a foot or so on a set of thrusters built into the suit's back. Ready to execute Will's plan, it seems.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
And just like that, Xiaomu goes from 'ready to engage the enemy' to 'starry-eyed fangirl' as she watches Nozomi's transformation sequence.

Taiga's. Both of theirs.

WHATEVER. The point is, the sage fox is in full-on otaku mode, well and truly distracted from the reason WHY Nozomi/Taiga just transformed. "And me without my autograph book ... !"

X (967) has posed:
Magic! Magic flowing into him is a BIZARRE sensation. X isn't sure WHAT he's processing when it strikes him. He's HEARD of it, knows how to recognize the chants... but just seeing it in action gets him staring in amazement! "That's... magic! Incredible! This feels weird... I'm not even sure which sensor's picking that up." Or IS it a sensor? The idea that it might not be is actually pretty creepy.

    Oh well, for now... much more serious things to deal with. Like the mission at hand. X listens to the plan with a critical ear, examing the crags all the while. "I see. Sounds solid enough. A landslide will put a dent in any arm, robot or no! My buster should be enough for that." He claps his free hand against the barrel with a clank and steps forth on the frozen ground.

William Pauwel has posed:
    A quick glance down at the battlefield isn't really necessary to confirm Will's grasp on the situation, but he looks anyway. "We're goin' after the machines, yeah," he answers Xiaomu. "I'd actually appreciate it if y'all lob those straight at the crag walls once we get 'em packed in there. The more rocks fall, the better."

    "Yeah, that's right! We ain't doin' this alone," Will says to Silica, a firm, confident note rising in his voice. "We ain't the only ones who'll need the support though. Them soldiers down there're are givin' it as bad as they're gettin' it, so maybe when we get down, y'all can keep them in the fight?"

    Will has seen it before. It's an amazing miracle of science and technology, but... Still, it's not exactly what he was going for there. Will leans back as the transformation finishes. "Y'all didn't have to..." Will murmurs, rubbing at the back of his head. "I know you don't like to," there's guilt there- the sense that he feels like he's dragging her into doing something she shouldn't, and a pang of hurt that she has to become... like that for this fight.

But...

Nozomi's doing her best too, right?

"Thanks, Nozomi," he says after a minute. "I know this ain't easy for you."

    "Alright. So if we're all good," Will says, adjusting the goggles over his eyes. He leans forward into the Mistral's control and gives the engine a rev. It roars like some kind of great savannah beast in reply, sending a deep rumble of motor-thunder through the hollow of Will's chest. "Let's ride!" He yells, kicking his bike into gear. The Mistral takes off like a shot, earth and snow blasting up in its wake!

---

--A FEW MINUTES LATER, AT THE CHASM--

    Things are... Not going well for the 59th Northern Legion. Bolts of crackling energy scream into their shield walls, heralding the arrival of the hammers and the axes. Soldiers roar bravely, gunpowder firing slugs of heavy metal downrange, but their voices and their guns are drowned out by the clamour of hundreds of whirling rotors and the heavy boots of lead stomping inexorably into their line. A ten foot tall mechanical monstrosity like some kind of robotic minotaur walks straight through the frozen, statue-like bodies of their comrades and brandishes a polearm with many whirring, metal teeth. Their resistance is futile; the reinforcements they've found- the few Chasers bold enough to come out all this way- bought time, but that's all.

They are but flesh and bone, and so few now against the horde.

If something doesn't change soon, they'll be overrun.

And then... Who can say?

Hopefully nobody will have to find out.

    "Here we go--!" Will yells over the din, the Mistral cresting off a hill. It launches forward and upward, wheels spinning through empty air. The Solano roars as it draws from the bike's power supply, bolts of coruscating energy leaping from the gun's barrel and finding purchase in the heart of the one of the enormous, mechanical minotaurs. "Let's scrap these varmints!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"HIGH SPEED XIAOMU!!!"

At least Xiaomu got her head back into business mode without hassle; her lightcycle tears across the battlefield, catching somewhat less air than Will and Mistral, and she opens up on the mechanical soldiers with the Roc's Icebrand, trying to encase a number of the mecha-mooks in layers of ice - probably to make it easier for her allies to hit the army without getting hit back so easily. The sage fox is ready to swap to grenades at the right moment, but she only has the three and she wants to make them *count* for best effectiveness.

Silica has posed:
    Silica is watching the men down in the valley. She hears them crying out in desperation and pain, and she freezes for a moment. A distant look in her eyes as memories surface unbidden... she's watched people die before... in that game. Out here it's even more painful to watch, because the bodies don't just shatter into pixels and vanish.

    (Sequence music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHJM0sDyUtE )She grits her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut, as tears peek out and roll down her cheeks. "No. Not again. I won't let it happen again!"

    Magenta eyes flash open, yellow wings spring to life and she surges down the slope into the chasm.

    Once she's close enough, she ROARS, a shrill sounding battlecry which makes her entire body glow. Fighting Spirit an Aggro Boosting skill that will likely not affect the robots, but that doesn't stop her. Silica lights her dagger blade, the metal gleaming with chilly blue magic and trailing crystals of ice in her wake as she gets into the line of battle. "GLACIER SLASH!" She pirouettes in mid air, and slams the blade down into the closest robot, sending an explosion of ice out the other side before she backflips away, landing on the ground and banishing her wings. "HOLD THE LINE! Pina! Bubble Breath!" she points at the giant mechanical Minotaur, and Pina chirps then expels a stream of bubbles. They pop around the robot in question and any near it... hopefully stunning them for a few precious seconds. "Switch out!" she orders the front liners.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Nozomi looks straight at Will. There's no verbal reply, of course, but for a brief moment, her expression softens. Just a little, but in her state right now, it speaks volumes just seeing that cold gaze warm up even faintly.

    When they get moving, however, she's off into the sky without a second thought.

    The biggest equalizer she has is probably her ability to fly; her ranged weaponry and the EM Zanbatou make her dangerous, but it's her flight that ensures she can be wherever on the battlefield she needs to in short order. Her first destination is, in fact, where the fighting is the fiercest, and the instant she's in range, one gauntlet is raised, firing off globe after globe of magic-infused yellow energy.

X (967) has posed:
X decides to take his Ride Chaser along with the group! And there's room for a passenger. Maybe two if they squeeze or are small!

    And hang on really hard!

    He opens the throttle up to full on those thrusters, mirroring Will's manuever! Up, up, UP it goes, arcing... but even before the Ride Chaser reaches ground level a flurry of shots are brought down upon the hordes, starting with a mighty CHARGE SHOT from X's buster! This opening shot's one heck of a ball of plasma, nearly as big as X himself! But the shots that follow it are a brigade of small blasts from his buster AND the small blaster at the Ride Chaser's front.

    All the while, X is gritting his teeth. What he's seeing is bone-chilling. If he had bones.

    All these people risking their lives against... "Rogue Mechaniloids are just a threat on any world, I guess...! Grr!"

    Boy is he unhappy. Who designs robots as MURDER MACHINES? Defense of a place is one thing, but this... is unacceptable.

William Pauwel has posed:
    If the robotic horde was expecting anything at all, it probably wasn't a bunch of crazy bastards on motorbike that swooping in like the Ride of the Valkyries. Xiaomu's frigid shots pound into the mechanical menace, freezing many in their place and outright dropping many of the whirlygigs right out of the sky as their rotors jam and fail. More ice quickly follows in the wake of Silica's assault, waves of rime blossoming out from one robot's back to pierce through three more behind it. A stream of bubbles smashes into one of the minotaurs, giving a beleaguered Iskandrian time to jam his bayonet up into its chest and hollow out its insides with a blast of buckshot.

    The rest of the legion stares up at their saviors with wild, desperate eyes. Suddenly, a voice goes up, "Soldiers!" Someone bellows, "Shield wall!" The front line seems to step forward in grim defiance, the bottom rims of their shields slamming down hard into the ground. The line behind them steps forward and sets *their* shields over those stacked in front of them. Plumes of smoke and a roar of gunfire suggests that they intend to hold their ground, but...

"Rear guard," the same voice cries, "Vanguard, staggered retreat!" As commanded, the rear ranks begin drawing back. The van seems to be buying time for their escape!

If nothing else, these men and women have discipline.

    As if sensing their intent, the mechanical horde suddenly presses in. Will grits his teeth as they advance, the Solano's steady stream of plasma taking down one minotaur, then another, but each is replaced by the one behind it. Soon, the mechanical advance turns into a tidal wave of whirling steel and bolts of scorching plasma.

Right up until Nozomi and X prove to be far more than the mere machines arrayed against them. Spheres of golden power blast down into the crushing masses, twisting metal into scrap. These things, whatever their bodies may be made of, have no resistance to magic; it tears through whatever it makes contact with, blasting minotaur and whirlygig alike into useless slag. X rides in overhead, unleashing a rain of shots not too dissimilar from the one Will is wielding-- but he tops his off with a roiling blast of power unmatched by any ordinary energy weapon on this particular battlefield.

But there are just so many of them.

    Minotaurs stomp over the fallen bodies of their fellow machines and grind cooling corpses into the ground. Cylinders alight over their shoulders and begin unleashing bolts of crimson energy, returning the fire they're receiving from X and Xiaomu with their own deadly blasts. Others press in against Silica, brandishing terrible implements of whirling metal that resemble chainsaws on sticks more than any kind of ordinary polearm.

    Recognizing that Nozomi is probably the most dangerous thing on the battlefield at the moment, the whirlygigs leap into action, and begin... hurling themselves at her in a great, buzzing swarm. The moment they get close enough, they intentionally collide into the TIGER frame and explode.

Kamikaze drones!?

    Will picks himself up from where one of the minotaurs smashed into him, righting the Mistral and parking behind it for cover. He grits his teeth as the swarm presses back in, but the roar of the Solano as it fires over and over again is a sure sign that he's still alive and kicking.

Behind, the double-line of the Iskandrian vanguard begins its slow retreat.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Nozomi dives and darts in the air. She keeps up a near-constant stream of fire, even opening up on a couple of the drones that have picked X and Xiaomu for their targets. And as soon as she gets in range, she's swinging the EM Zanbatou as well, carving up what she can - only to have one slam into her back and explode, nearly knocking her out of the air.

    There is no cry of pain. Only a voiceless hiss of breath. But she turns herself around immediately, facing the horde, still on her (metaphorical) feet thanks to the TIGER's defenses; her eyes narrow, and then she suddenly lurches over, dives down, and goes rocketing across the battlefield.

    And weaving in and out of the minotaurs.

    Oh sure, she might lash out here and there with the EM Zanbatou, and she's still taking the odd potshot, but most of what she's doing is tightly maneuvering around the big bots so that the kamikaze drones become a hazard to /them/.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Yeah, Xiaomu isn't quite loaded for THIS kind of a brawl. She was expecting to go in fast, hit them hard, collapse the terrain wherever, and hightail it onwards to the ruin ... not get stuck in a drawn-out battle trying to get to 'collapsing the terrain'.

Oh well, no help for it now. The Roc's Icebrand clicks on empty and the sage fox shoves it back into its holster, inside her vest; then she draws her sword.

Yeah, her staff is also a sword - the blade sheathed within the shaft, which stays wedged across her back for now. Additional waves of ice magic radiate off the blade as Xiaomu slashes at the mechanical minotaurs, less concerned with carving open their armor and focusing on trying to immobilize their internal systems with ice. She's not even going out of her way to visibly finish them off - there are too many to focus on destroying them individually, even with the good guys' numbers, in her opinion - but just to try and turn the weight of enemy numbers to their advantage.

A wall of immobilized minotaurobots should do quite nicely for THAT, right?

X (967) has posed:
If the group had more time to get to know each other, X would have been quite happier with the situation. Not that he'll EVER be happy about a situation like this, but...

    Not knowing ANYTHING about his allies means he's not sure whether Silica or Nozomi needs more help at the moment! Though he's in something of a pinch himself. Against one or two bots this wouldn't be any big deal. But here's a HORDE of them.

    The robot finds himself under fire. "Auto park, 1 kilometer!" He instructs the ride chaser as it starts taking shots. It's lightly armored, but the armor's being quickly weathered down by these shots. So X leaps off it. The vehicle, seemingly of its own accord, ZOOMS OFF.

    Light's ultimate creation lands and skids across the ground in a rather ungainly, clumsy fashion... but maintains his balance through some unusual swaying motions to counter the momentum. All the while he's peppered by shots - what few he can't weave around or duck under. The plasma burns his Titanium-X casing, leaving gouges and sizzling holes that lightly expose some of his inner workings.

    Well. Silica can fly, and isn't being DOGPILED - or Catpiled as the case may be - the way Nozomi is.

    "You can't take all of them alone! Grab my hand for just a moment!" The robot has made his decision. he's going to help Nozomi. And he does so with a few parting shots at his attackers... then LEAPING pretty spectacularly to the side and angling his shots at the swarm - well, ones that haven't reached her yet anyways...

    Except when he turns to meet with her... she isn't there. Instead he's left gazing in some awe at her handiwork. That... that is a human, right? With robot aid? And... her specs are INSANE. She's WREAKING havoc.

    "... I stand corrected." ... She can't just FLY. but fly well enough to make Storm Eagle peer!

    He wasn't expecting THAT from anything themed after a TIGER.

    So he turns his gaze back towards the minotaurs. This time... there's a much fiercer look in his eyes. "Time to try harder then!" He slams his X-Buster's open barrel against his opposing palm, ducks down... and kicks off with a low leap. Blue Titanium-X alloys shift weirdly, warping to shades of yellow-gold and greyish. Then he RAMS the X-buster - which is now encased in layers of extra armor - into one of the Minotaurs. KABOM! There's a sound like a shotgun going off...

    And there might be a minotaur-bot knocked into a boulder or something too.

William Pauwel has posed:
    The horde is great, the horde is many. Its numbers are its strength; the fact that it can drown individual Elites in a tsunami of steel and ceramic is something that it uses to massive advantage. But at the same time, its sheer size means that it can easily get in its own way.

    Nozomi exploits this flaw masterfully. Her aerial gymnastics take her down into the swarm, the EM Zanbatou cleaving cleanly through machine after machine as she races between the minotaur units. Suicide drones struggle to keep up, bobbing and weaving as best they can around their allies, but no machine is perfect. One whirlygig smashes into a minotaur, consuming both in a plume of smoke and flame. Two more follow as they swerve to avoid the first collision. The result is a chain reaction of collision, attempted evasion and mutual termination.

    Further towards the front of the mechanical line, Xiaomu, too, has found a way to take advantage of her opponents' sheer numbers. Instead of destroying them, however, she uses her ice magic to arrest their advance. Suiren's freezing touch washes over the advancing minotaurs, freezing them into solid walls of ice and steel that the machines behind the front line struggle to break through. Chainsaws and plasma blasts chew at the machines' frozen compatriots, but she's built up a buffer.

Behind her, the Iskandrian vanguard draws out of the chasm into open field.

    Meanwhile, X has evidently weapon-copied some kind of ridiculous super-strength. One of the minotaurs turns as it notices the Ultimate Robot's sudden advance-- but too late to stop X's punch. Metal shears and tears with terrible noise as the minotaur is transformed from mechanical monstrosity to a projectile of twisted metal. It smashes into one of its neighbours and carries through, robot colliding with robot in series until what hits a canyon wall is an amalgamation of about a half-dozen broken machines.

By now, the Iskandrian line has withdrawn far enough. Will glances over his shoulder to confirm, then turns towards the others and yells, "ALRIGHT Y'ALL! Let's bring the whole place down on top of them!"

That's the cue!

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    The horde has been thinned - on its own troops, no less. The enemy forces aren't completely gone, but they're down enough that Nozomi can afford to swing back around. In doing so, she demonstrates that she didn't actually miss X moving to assist, too, because her course is a beeline straight for the reploid. A swerve here or there to go around some wreckage, but overall, she's there within seconds, floating above him and to one side, in a position where she can easily provide support should any further machines move to attack.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"You got it!" Xiaomu calls back to Will, and wheels the lightcycle around before pulling out the first of her grenades.

She actually has to gun it back the way she came to get into position for the first grenade toss, but the pin is pulled, the spoon is discarded, and the little ball of magically-enhanced explosives flies over the mechanical army's heads before detonating with an extra dose of fire-element magic, amplifying the normal effect of the grenade's blast. About halfway down the enemy line, the second grenade is primed and chucked; she's most of the way back to the 'start' of the skirmish line when she throws her last grenade.

And with that done, she peels away from the mechanized forces and seriously pours on the speed, heading towards the party's destination as fast as her lightcycle will go over somewhat rough terrain. 'High Speed Xiaomu' is almost an understatement.

X (967) has posed:
WHUMPF! CLANG-CRUNCH! X has no reason to hesitate in trashing guard robots. They're not sapient, they don't feel. They're not people. Just dangerous hunks of metal.

    So whenever a Minotaur gets near he ducks under their predictable swings and delivers a solid punch to its gut just like with the first. All until Ember Celica's weapon energy depletes to dangerous levels. Then he takes a few hops back...

    And hey, there's Nozomi. He looks up, expression brightening with relief. "With someone like you around, the team hardly needs an outdated robot like me." he comments lightly, admiring her prowess. But his tone quickly gets back to full seriousness for the appreciation. "But whoever built these bots has a LOT to answer for!" Speaking of which...

    Time for retribution.

    As Will makes the call, X turns to run... but he doesn't do only this.

    His body shifts back to the blue color scheme... and light gathers near his buster. As the charge grows, bigger and bigger motes gather and swirl in towards his weapon and body, light radiates from his armor alloys and a hell of a noise emanates from the weapon. A high pitched revving noise, capacitors and energy compressors screaming in protest.

    "IF this doesn't bring that wall down--!" Nothing will.

    X leaps around mid-run, and unleashes a torrent of roiling plasma from the buster at the distant rock and dirt!

William Pauwel has posed:
    Machines take potshots at Xiaomu as she races by, but the light cycle's speed makes her a hard target to pin down. Her grenades swing up into the air-- and detonate, one after another. Explosions shock the walls of the chasm as the bombs cook off, fire magic pulverizing rock and loosening soil.

And then X unleashes one hell of a charged shot.

    It goes up like a flare- like a miniature, rising sun, and slams hard into one of the battered stone walls. Suddenly the tellurean rain Xiaomu began transforms into a deluge of frozen earth. The first boulders tumble from on high, smashing groups of minotaurs into useless scrap. They're the harbingers for what's to come.

    Sheets of ice and stone slip down off the walls on cascades of flowing dust. Machines are buried and swept away, swallowed up by a rising cloud of loosened soil and powdered snow. Will smirks as the walls come tumbling down on top of the robotic horde. Whirlygigs are caught by falling earth, smash hard into minotaurs and burst into blossoms of heat and light. It's about when the second grenade goes up and another landslide that Will decides it's high time he get up on his motorcycle and ride the hell out.

This proves to be fortuitous, especially since the waves of falling earth actually catches up to him halfway out into the field and nearly sends him into a tumble.

...But as he glances back at the collapsed chasm, and the enormous gates still looming behind it all, Will can't help but feel just a little bit proud of himself.

Just... You know, a bit dusty.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    It's only after the group has returned to safety, the mission complete and forces withdrawn, that Nozomi finally sets down. The transformation back to 'girl and tiger' is much the same as the setup in reverse; the EM Zanbatou gone, the armor unfolding, the undersuit disappearing in favor of her street clothes, the color seeping out of her hair... it's when the gold fades from her eyes that 'Nozomi' reasserts herself, and that's when it hits her all at once.

    A visible shiver, a sudden lowering of the head; the girl hugs herself, suddenly looking very small indeed. Her hesitance suddenly makes sense, if it's this unsettling for her afterwards. As soon as Taiga's sentience has re-emerged, he's ambling over to her side, leaning into her very slightly. Enough to show support until she's calmed down a bit.

William Pauwel has posed:
    It's kind of unfortunate how the thrill of victory readily gives way to the terrible guilt that comes from remembering just what it took to achieve it. Will finds it hard to watch Nozomi's return from the... weaponized state that fusing with Taiga forces her into. He's not sure exactly what goes on when that happens-- only that it hurts her. It seems to leave her an emotionally drained, depressed wreck. Was beating that horde back worth it?

Maybe. They saved a lot of lives today, but...

    "...Hey, Nozomi," he says, sitting against the Mistral's scorched and battered frame. "If you don't want to do that again, just... Just let me know, alright?" Will glances away, staring out towards the half-buried gateway in the distance, "But-- still, thanks. I mean it."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "N-no, it's... it's alright," Nozomi mumbles. Her voice is shaky, but she's /trying/ to be reassuring. "I... I-I don't mind, if... if it means I can protect people..." Taiga does not say anything, but does turn his head to give her leg a little nudge. Taking her cue, she turns and carefully climbs onto his back - it's showing some damage from the fight, but he's still functional.

Silica has posed:
    Silica waits for a moment, she can see the army guys falling back. That's good... but now, she's being singled out by some of those giant minotaur-like things. Their chainsaw poleaxes find purchase, glancing though it may be, as she starts to duck and weave about them, angrily, glowing red lines appearing where she's hit, eavealing the weave pattern underneath. She goes for the one point she can get at, striking at legs with that same glowing blade, this time slashing and leaving behind a layer of solid ice in its wake.

    Once that's done she lifts up into the air, and with a chant of magic, fires off hoping blasts of wind magic to help with the swarming whirly-gig robots. "Seir Slita Fimm groenn Vindr!" The boomerange-like 'blades' lash out from her outstretched hand.

    Though she checks her HP gauge... "Darn it," she mumbles. "I gotta switch out!"

    She turns and joins the retreating army, using them as cover and helping to cover /them/ before she's clear of the combat zone, so she can safely do this. "Do fylla heill austr" her body glowing faintly with green-white light.

    If the army guys pause at any point, she'll turn that same magic onto them. "Seir fylla heilagr austr brtt svalr bani!" A wide swath of the soldiers would feel their bodies mending, aches receding and cuts closing... though it's not a very /strong/ heal and they would still require proper medical attention.

William Pauwel has posed:
Will gives Nozomi a long look, like he doesn't quite believe her. On some level, maybe what she's saying is true, but-- she's trying to put on a strong face. It wouldn't be right to just... take that down. "Yeah," he says after a moment. Will glances over as Nozomi clambers up onto Taiga and gives her a smile, "Well. We'll be goin' in after that giant miss Melchior's after soon. So uh... If you wanted to come along...?"

X (967) has posed:
Judging by his surprised expression, X isn't really sure what to make of Nozomi's situation. he's never SEEn anyone transform before... or come out of one. But her demeanor shift's beyond obvious and brings a concerned frown to his face in no time at all. But as Will approaches her first, he just keeps an eye and ear open her way for now. He's got to scan the battlefield after all, see what aid he can render, even if it's only carrying the wounded to clearer areas for medical assistance, and hauling wreckage up for trapped people to escape....

    But a bit before he sets about helping with that, he rather visibly winces in sympathy. As if maybe he can understand exactly Nozomi's pain over the situation.

    Because he probably can.

    "We did well, all things considered." The robot softly states.

Silica has posed:
    "Mister X?" calls Silica. "If you could bring the wounded over here, I can heal them until we get them back to the village." she offers, quaffing another mana potion... "Whew, I've got... four of those left, should be enough to get everyone stable at least. Pina, Heal!"

    The little dragonling flutters over and lands beside one of the wounded soldiers nearby, opening her mouth and exhaling a warm mist that helps to seal wounds and remove fatigue. It's even weaker of a heal than Silica's, but it's something.