Scene #7530: Suddenly! Cheetahmen

Owner	Pose
Cantio	LAST TIME "Who are you? Why are you here?" "Did you come to stop Doctor Morbis, too?" NOW The Elites, having rescued three of the only animals/animal-people on the island that aren't hellbent on killing everyone that doesn't look like an animal or animal-humanoid, are now faced with suspicious stares from two of the three strange cheetah-esque men. Cantio and Jackson, too, are returning those stares with some confused ones of their own. Cantio: "Who are these men? They sound coherent enough. Sapient, even, despite being... Jaguars?" Jackson: "Not jaguars. Their spots are usually more ringed around the brown spots." Cantio: "Then... Cheetah men?" There's also the dead-eyed stares of several dead animal-men. They did kind of get shot and punched a lot, and it's probably going to smell bad fairly soon. "They helped us. They can't be that bad, right?" The largest one says, sounding mildly cautious despite his optimistic tone. "Aside from all the killing..." "That's exactly why we can't trust 'em, Hercules." The smallest one replies, still gripping a pair of dense wooden clubs tightly while circling around the group. "They helped us now so they can turn on us later just like the doctor did!" "Easy, Aries. They're... They look different from Morbis' sub-humans." The middle one chides, although he still keeps his crossbow in hand while looking over the (visible) Elites. The three look like they're all on edge, albeit to varying degrees. Jackson, the red-haired delivery guy with the machine gun, looks like he's about to say something, but he's stopped by Cantio before he can inadvertently rile up the Cheetahmen further. Based on the awkward glances towards the machine gun, it probably has something to do with that and all those shot-up bodies.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang returns, having been called away before she could assist last time. "Hey guys, what's goin'... on?" her chipper tone shifting to mild confusion as she approaches the warzone. Lilac eyes glance from Cheetahmen to Cantio and Jackson, before sidling over to the latter and placing a hand on top of the gun. "Miiight wanna put that away, cowboy." she suggests, before turning to the three warriors. "Yo, we ain't no s'sub-humans'... how 'bout we all put weapons away and have a chat, like civilized folk, huh?" she suggests toward everyone present.
Tomoyo Daidouji	Tomoyo is a bit delayed in arriving. The crashed airship was ferrying food for the hungry, and she'd like to ensure their safe retrieval. Though that's ultimately secondary to making sure no one was hurt. She arrives, eventually, on a rented jeep driven by her bodyguards, to a very confusing scenario. But she's a bright girl. She puts the pieces together instantly. Mad scientist, humanoid animals, a fight. She walks up to the three cheetah people and introduces herself with a bow, her four bodyguards joining her in a row behind her. "Good day. I am Tomoyo Daidouji. I understand your apprehension, but perhaps you would be willing to place trust in me at least? I wasn't involved in the fighting, and... well, quite frankly, I think it would be very easy for any of you to best me." The four bodyguards very aggressively do not react to those words. "And because I know that, I would not dare cross you. I think that would make it easier for you. Would it?" She smiles, and proffers her small hand for shaking.
Hibiki Tachibana	LAST TIME, ON MACHOM--FORESTMA--CHEETAHMEN "...Doctor who?" NOW: "...Doctor who?" Hibiki repeats after the second mention of Morbis, still staring back rather awkwardly as both groups talk amongst each other about the other. There's not much on this island that hasn't tried to murder them aside from some really nice turtles, so this is a bit of a surprise...but thinking back to a couple clues from back near the river, she starts to get a bit of an idea. But also there's quite a bit more tension in the air than she'd like, and it's Cantio's attention on Jackson's extremely buff machinegun that has her take a deep breath in--and then, there's a golden light that suddenly hugs her mechanical armor and undersuit before it all seemingly shatters into flecks of the same light that scatter and disappear. The de-transformed Hibiki, now back in casual clothes that are pristine despite the rest of her body still being bruised and aching after today's adventures, nods to Yang and takes a step forward herself behind Tomoyo. "Uh, sorry. We're not here to come after whoever you're talking about, we're just here to find some missing supplies and people." She brings both hands up to her chest and shows both palms to complete her metaphorical disarming. "...And I think I speak for everyone when I say don't want to fight if we can avoid it, after how everything in this jungle wanted to kill us."
Cantio	Between Cantio's and Yang's urging, Jackson's anxiety over the relatively intelligent Cheetahmen subsides enough that he finally lowers the weapon. He doesn't toss it aside, but at least the tip's planted into the ground as he rests it against his leg instead. "Fine, fine. They're... Yeah, they're not hostile. Sorry." He mutters with a deeply relieved sigh, hunching over as he finally lets some of that exhaustion sink in a bit. Tomoyo's forwardness, meanwhile, has the Cheetahmen tensing up briefly until she starts to speak. They reconvene to whisper to each other, the one with the crossbow and the one with the clubs still looking apprenhesive despite her size (and also her bodyguards). The club-holder (Aries) still looks especially jittery, nearly about to step forward until he's stopped by the largest one (Hercules) stepping forward and somehow being faster at it. "I'd like that. I don't like fighting if I don't have to." Hercules replies, hunching down to get to eye level before reaching for the offered hand with an incredibly weak grip, almost as if he's being overly cautious not to hurt her. He's also mirroring the gesture with the opposite hand, so it might be hard to actually shake properly. "They're okay, Apollo." "They... You don't look like sub-humans, no, but you don't act like Morbis or that other human. Do you know them?" The crossbow wielder (Apollo) asks, looking from Tomoyo to Yang at that question in particular. He straps the weapon to his back as he steps forward as well, although he's still keeping a clear line of sight between himself and the Elites the entire time. "Of course they don't know 'em. They don't even smell the same." Aries snorts once and spins his clubs dramatically before strapping them to his sides and gesturing at Hibiki with his head. "You're talking about that weird flying box that came down, then? We're just looking for Doctor Morbis to get some answers." As if sensing an opportunity, Apollo looks towards the gathered Elites once again. "What is it you're looking to do here? What do you know about Morbis and this place? It's not that we don't trust you-" He pointedly avoids looking towards the easily-swayed Hercules "-but we need to be careful as well."
Yang Xiao Long	"Don't know anyone named Morbis... though he might get along with some guy called Merlot back on my homeworld." remarks Yang, arms folding over her chest as she regards the trio. "Like the others said, we're looking for the cargo the airship was carrying, and the rest of the crew, if they're still alive that is." she pointedly looks at the corpses scattered around the area. "With a welcome party like this, though, I'm kinda starting to doubt it." The blonde brawler takes a half-step toward the trio. "As for what we know about this place? Not much, only that the local fauna is really aggressive, and really weird, and our airship got shot down here... someone or something took a shot at it, and knocked it out of the air."
Tomoyo Daidouji	Tomoyo beams as her hand is taken. It doesn't matter that it's limp. It's the gesture that matters. A communion. "Excellent. Thank you Hercules." She offers a polite smile to the other Cheetahmen too, of course. She doesn't blame them in the least for being suspicious, but she hopes she can earn their trust in time. "Oh! It has everything to do with the thing that fell from the sky," she explains "You see, it was carrying food for some terribly hungry people who no longer had access to any." If she's aware of why, and Cantio's role in it, her tone or expression doesn't betray that. "But now that it's gone down, we need to make sure everyone who was on-board is okay, secure whatever food we can, and deliver it by other means." She looks to the burly humanoids and considers for a moment. "We would welcome your help. If there's anything I can provide to secure it, please ask. I'm open to negotiation."
Hibiki Tachibana	Though things aren't /entirely/ smoothed over, they're smoothed enough that Hibiki can let her shoulders drop and the tension she's had since coming back here fully loosen for the first time. Yang and Tomoyo mostly bring up everything she would've - the latter's ability to just walk in there and get a handshake is something she almost envies - aside from two very particular things. "This is the first we've heard of any guy called Morbis period. But from the way you're talking about him, you don't sound like you're on the best terms." She takes a moment to glance around the remains of the battle. "And all this. These guys are his--sub-humans, right? They didn't look like they wanted to talk. More like just stampede over everything around, including us." And then, after a pause and a glance to Apollo in particular, "Who's the 'other human'?" She asks with a glance to his crossbow, remembering a particular CLUE. "...He wouldn't have happened to have a funny accent, would he? Missing a hat? He might be one of the people we're looking for; we came this way because we thought it might have led us to him."
Cantio	"Something shot it down? Then perhaps..." Apollo glances at Aries, Aries glances at Apollo, Hercules is busy trying to figure out this handshake business, and Cantio's finally giving Jackson some space while he and Apollo make eye contact. They stare at each other for way too long as they seem intent on sizing each other up despite not being the physically biggest or strongest ones in their respective groups. Hercules, thankfully, has enough sense to not hold that handshake for longer than necessary. "So you're here to help other people? That's good. We saw his sub-humans taking someone to his lair in the mountains. I don't remember seeing his people taking the food, but..." He turns to his brothers while standing back up, still being extra-cautious while he's around Tomoyo and her bodyguards. "The other animals have been very angry lately, haven't they?" Aries nods in response, crossing his arms over his chest as if mimicking Yang's pose. "That's right... Who knows? Maybe him shootin' your flying box down got them all riled up. I know I saw some frog guys gathering some stuff." "Then perhaps Morbis may have the answers you're looking for." Apollo finally speaks again. "He created sub-humans like us, and he already had terrible weapons even when we were barely old enough to walk." As he says that, both Hercules and Aries grimace visibly, as if remember something particularly foul and practically confirming what Hibiki says. "He experimented on us when we were young, but he cast us out after we questioned his methods." "He wanted us to steal from a village and kill anyone in our way." Hercules elaborates with an uncomfortable tone in his voice. "His newer sub-humans are more loyal to him, and we've been fighting them since. Um... He didn't have a hat, though. But if you're looking for that human with the hat..." The Cheetahmen's jaws clench in unison, almost as if they're all coming to the same uncomfortable realization about something. "Morbis has him." Apollo answers quickly, clearing his throat before pointing towards the mountains in the semi-distance. "We can take you there. It'll be easier for you to find your man and some answers, and for us to stop his plans if we work together on this." "Do we have a deal?"
Yang Xiao Long	"Can't talk for everyone here, but you got a deal with me boys." remarks the blonde, stepping forward. "Strength in numbers, and all that." she grins broadly at the trio of cheetahbros, and then looks toward the mountains. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess there's a lot more angry things between us and this Doctor? Wouldn't be the first time I've had to punch my way through some goons to get to the brains behind it all. I remember not long ago I helped bust up a crime ring in a big city." she glances at Hibiki. "She can confirm, she was there too."
Tomoyo Daidouji	"Oh dear..." Tomoyo's look of concern is palpable. "And this Morbis has been doing this for how long? This cannot stand... all right. We'll help you." Tomoyo's bodyguards look to her uneasily. "Ma'am, with all due respect, we're not equipped for that kind of rescue mission. We were expecting injuries, dehydration, starvation. But this is an assault on an entrenched opponent." Tomoyo nods. "Yes. But we have Yang, and I know how strong she is. And also the young lady I've yet to introduce myself to. And Hercules and Apollo and Aries! I think together, we can do it." It's genuine faith, not blind optimism. The bodyguard doesn't sigh, but she doesn't seem entirely happy about it. "Just stay back, understood." "Of course, of course. I'd only get in the way."
Hibiki Tachibana	So it's pretty much on the table that Morbis is the one responsible for shooting down Cantio's airship. It's confirmed he has one of their missing crewmembers. ...And last but not least, he doesn't sound like a good guy in the least. That's more than enough for Hibiki to narrow her eyes and nod almost right away to Apollo's question. She's not entirely sure if the three's 'oh crap' moment has anything deeper behind it, but since they seem like good (cheetah)men and they're all on the same page here, she doesn't press on it either way. For right now, anyway. "I also can't speak for everyone, but that sounds like a plan." She says with a glance back towards Cantio and Jackson, then back. "It's hard getting through just this forest, we'd never be able to track him down on our own. Whatever his reason for doing all of that, we won't let him keep doing all that awful stuff. If he's been at it since you were kids..." She trails off, but Yang gets her to look back towards her. "Yeah. You could say we have some experience with this kind of thing. Sort of." And then to Tomoyo, who she now realizes she indeed hasn't been introduced to, "Uh, call me Hibiki. Hibiki Tachibana. Any friend of Yang's is a friend of mine." She looks between the four bodyguards one by one ending on the one who relented. "I'll also make sure nothing happens to her. I promise." She punches a fist into her palm for emphasis. It doesn't really have the same effect as when she's transformed, but she does sound sure of that.
Cantio	"Oh, definitely. We're pretty used to fighting his soldiers, but the wildlife's been a pretty bad problem lately." Aries replies to Yang, not noticing Cantio glancing aside uncomfortably at that very moment. Instead, he raises an eyebrow-adjacent thing when Yang makes that remark about crime rings to Hibiki. "That so? Then ya better not fall behind." He even snorts once after that, sounding agreeable to this resolution especially with Tomoyo's bolstering of his and his brothers' spirits. Cantio, meanwhile addresses the concerns raised by Tomoyo's bodyguards. "If anyone's injured on the way, I'll be able to take care of it. I mean, as long as nobody dies since... Er. I mean, I haven't tried healing death out of someone before, but..." She trails off, a thoughtful look crossing her face. "I mean... Could I? Not that anyone should die just to try it! I mean..." She turns to the bodies still lying around. It's starting to smell a little, and she wrinkles her nose while she does some testing with her healing magic while the conversation continues without her. (It doesn't work.) "After seeing you all in action, I'm not that surprised." Jackson comments on the confirmation of gang-fighting from Hibiki, finally shouldering that machine gun once it sounds like everyone's in agreement. "Having the extra eyes would really help, especially if you guys know your way around." He follows up, getting a satisfied nod from the Cheetahmen as everyone starts to introduce themselves. "Apollo, elder brother of the Cheetahmen." "Hercules. Uh. I'm the middle one." "Aries. Let's get movin' already." "Cantio, dr... Um. Sub-leader of Cadenza." "Jackson. Er... Pilot." With their name-based introductions complete and the full party of Elites and Cheetahmen united against a common foe, they begin their ascent towards Morbis' lair! The Cheetahmen lead the way, taking them through the densely forested area to a more mountainous region. It's easy to tell that they're no longer in the forest, even, when the masses of trees stretching as far as the eye can see are eventually replaced with rocks! Cliffs! More rocks! Lots of treacherous falls with impossibly solid yet conveniently moving clouds to bridge the wider gaps! Also, even more wildlife hellbent on attacking everyone. Rather than the forest animals that had accosted the group in their past excursions in this region, however, they're instead assaulted by pterodactyls! Not just any pterodactyls, though, but human-sized ones with murder in their eyes and acid in their mouths, screeching terribly and flapping their wings to both batter and burn the humans and Cheetahmen alike. Some of these pterodactyls also don't seem to know how to actually take advantage of their ability to fly, instead content to just run forward and focus all their attention on offense as the vanguard for their flying brethren.
Yang Xiao Long	"Yang Xiao Long, Huntress. Lets go kick some ass!" She follows along, chattering at the brothers as they walk, until the terrain changes, and those things start coming in to attack. She's a bit slow on the draw, deploying Ember Celica just a fraction too late to use the metal strikeplates to absorb or deflect that incoming charge. She gets hit, knocked aside and trampled before she can get her legs under her again, growling almost like a feral beast as she fires both gauntlets behind her. She launches into the air, going up high, before peaking and dropping down like a rock into the ground, slamming a fist down and firing at the same time, sending a ripple through the ground that causes shrapnel to fire off in all directions around her. Through design, or just luck, none of it goes at her allies.
Tomoyo Daidouji	":Tomoyo Daidouji, tailor!" Her bodyguards neglect to name themselves. They march, one of the bodyguards bringing the jeep in the rear. As the attack begins, Tomoyo obliges by immediately falling back. "Be careful!" she shouts to everyone. Her three bodyguards on-foot all produce extending batons and clash with the walking pterodactyls. It's not pretty. One gets their acid on their sleeve and very quickly slaps it off. The others strike with a combination of baton and bare-handed blows. They're shockingly capable.
Hibiki Tachibana	With all the introductions out of the way, Hibiki already feels a lot more familiar with everyone. It gives a much-needed boost in energy after everything they had to plow through to get here, and she's suitably pumped up to storm Morbis' lair! They still have to get there though. Fortunately, Hibiki is starting to get decently good at platforming segments! Between the turtles, storming a Wendy's (don't ask), and now this, she doesn't even need to transform again to navigate the rocky terrain. A good day to be physically fit! Even if the first couple of times she needs to hop-skip across a cloud she seems really antsy about falling. Whether off or through. Compared to what's waiting for them as they go though, she'll take the fall any day! "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron...!" Which is her cue to actually don her Symphogear again, mechanical armor appearing piece by piece around her body in bursts of the same golden light that it vanished in. Conveniently back in perfectly undamaged condition! Which is good, because she immediately has to flip up into a wheel kick to deflect a glob of acid. It splatters against her leg armor but only sizzles the surface, and Hibiki uses the momentum to flip backwards and brace herself against the cliff behind her--and then launch herself forward towards one land-bound dino to then hop off of it hard enough to send it smashing into the ground. Right up towards one of the actual flying ones, which she then proceeds to try chain jumping off of to keep going forward while also getting them out of the way! "So by the way, Morbis /isn't/ the one behind the animals around here, right? Are they just...native!?" She calls back towards the Cheetahmen as she goes.
Cantio	The fighting commences, and it's once again clear that this massive force of sapient beings is just too much for any of the local wildlife to contend with individually. Even with numbers on their side, the pterodactyls don't really fare too well at all while swooping and charging in with uncoordinated charges. Yang's ground-destroying shrapnel punches neutralize several of the pterodactyls at once, piercing through their wings and sending the mildly luckier ones plummeting off the cliffs. The unluckier ones are still face to face with the Elites on the mountain itself, not quite able to fly away but not quite capable of defending themselves as they're used as platforms for Hibiki to bounce off of and batter their brethren with fancy air-dash maneuvers and chain strikes. The really unlucky ones get the shit beat out of them by Tomoyo's bodyguards, focused down easily in a matter of seconds. Even the pterodactyls without wing damage don't fare much better, lacking the power of opposable to even think about catching those painful rods to the face. Cantio, Jackson, and the Cheetahmen are holding their own against the fauna as well! Apollo and Jackson shoot down whatever they have a clear shot at, Hercules and Aries wade into the front lines to beat the everloving crap out of anything that moves and isn't human-looking, and Cantio swaps between the two roles like some kind of magic user with a sword. Progressing up the mountain is a tough task, but the Elites make good time in advancing between their efficient methods of dispatching the first wave of pterodactyls and maneuvering through the complex terrain whether through their own abilities, physical aptitude, or even cheating by getting tossed over larger gaps by Hercules. By the time they reach the halfway point, however, they're accosted by something far more treacherous than before... EVEN MORE CREATURES. It's actually kind of a mess the further they go up, with pterodactyls apparently teaming up with fire-spewing skulls that roll about on their own or multi-colored frogs covered in acid being dropped by the pterodactyls at the Elites. To make matters worse, there's even boulders being hurled down from near the summit of the mountain by what looks like a white rhino man! Said rocks don't really come anywhere near hitting anyone unless they're really unlucky, though. There's still a pretty huge distance between where the rhino man is and the Elites, so hitting anything from that distance would be more of a fluke than anything resembling skill.
Yang Xiao Long	Boulders start raining down, along with acid frogs, and more of those terry dackers. She jukes around the incoming airstrike... right into the path of one of those boulders, getting smashed into the ground beneath it. The boulder stops still where it hit the blonde brawler, it looks like she's out of the fight, permanently. Right up until the boulder gets launched with an explosive burst of golden light, sending it sailing back up toward the rhino-man at the top of the incline. "TAKE. IT. BACK!" comes a furious bellow as the brawler then chases the boulder up the mountain-side, bullrushing through any poor mook that gest in her way on her path to go fight the boss out of sequence.
Tomoyo Daidouji	The jeep is abandoned at the base of the mountain. Taking it up those narrow paths probably would be a bad idea. A few supplies are bought along however. Flare guns, medkits, water and food. Tomoyo bears most of it in a big backpack, clearly straining under the weight a little, but smiling regardless. "Someone who isn't fighting can still help, you know?" The climb is trecherous, with the boulders coming down. One of the guards grabs Tomoyo's wrist and keeps her close, helping her navigate the bouncing boulders. The other three rush the rhino, two interlinking their hands to launch the third in the air as he lifts another. She slips in between the rock and his head, swinging down at his neck mid-flight, aiming to make him drop it on himself!
Hibiki Tachibana	The Cheetahmen are a very welcome addition to their party. Their experience in beating the everloving crap out of sub-humans and apparently also not-really-humans is showing! She figured everyone else would be able to take care of themselves down there while her makeshift method of mountain climbing was being done, but it's good to see. Those bodyguards are also even more capable than she was giving them credit for. Not many can say they batoned a bunch of sprinting pterodactyls into submission. Actually, they might even be the first. But soon enough, Hibiki is once again reminded that this island is awful except for those extremely nice turtles. She really does miss them. Thankfully, she manages to evade the first gigantic rock that comes barreling down towards them, only to have to watch Yang get flattened. "--! ...Oh. Right." She's reminded of why she didn't have to worry a split second later. Content that the other fistfighter will be juuuuust fine, she braces herself against the incoming onslaught of fire and acid-covered living projectiles. Frogs are easy enough to slap aside with minor damage, but flame licks past her limbs to singe at her skin. But not for too long before she retaliates with a shift of her footing, a slight change in her stance--and then pulls back the pilebunker in her gauntlet to slam in as she drives her fist down into the ground in front of her! It's not fancy. It's actually just a giant explosion of raw force and rocky debris right in front of her to clear out the path ahead of them and send as many of these things as she can flying! While Yang and the bodyguards enact RAGE and TEAMWORK respectively, she'll help keep them clear.
Cantio	Even the rhino man looks surprised when one of those boulders actually lands on Yang. Before Cantio can get some healing magic sent her way, though, the boulder is already hurled right back up in a gravity-defying launch that has the rhino-man reconsidering... Actually, he looks just fine with that. He's looking positively rabid as he gets another boulder raised overhead, ready to launch it right down to intercept the brawler. Before he can, however, the rhino-man is himself intercepted by another not-quite-flying flyer! The bodyguard's strike at rhino man's neck hits just right that it nearly cripples his ability to hold onto anything, never mind that boulder. It comes down behind him at just the right time that Yang's return-boulder smashes the rhino-man right between both of them. Cantio, meanwhile, joins Hibiki in fending off the ever-growing and then ever-shrinking swarm. The frogs find themselves hurled off the cliff and into each other by the force of that mighty explosion from Hibiki's pilebunker-powered punch. The fire-breathing skulls don't fare much better, getting launched with far more force and exploding on contact with the pterodactyls for some reason. Meanwhile, the Cheetahmen and Jackson just stare upwards momentarily to reconsider their own place in all of this even while fighting with their own combination of projectiles and physical force. Hercules: "So strong..." Aries: "Yeesh. Glad we ain't fighting against them." Jackson: "And I'm out of ammo, too... At least we're not the only ones stuck down here. Right, boss?" Cantio laughs awkwardly, keeping her jaw nice and firm and definitely not forcing a bright smile. It seems she's been peer-pressured into keeping her feet on the ground rather than transforming to speedrun as well! What the Elites soon realize, however, is that the rhino-man wasn't the boss of this area. They hear the boss coming before they see it, in fact, as a deafening roar echoes around the mountain. Just as the top of what looks like a radar dish can be seen at the top of the mountain, a giant dinosaur's horned head peers from behind the cliffside. Seeing the Elites, it lets out an anger-filled howl before spitting rings of fire at them. The rings are rather slow-moving, but they explode with a deceptively huge burst of heat in their aftermath!
Yang Xiao Long	Yang doesn't reach the rhino-man in time before he's smooshed by the return boulder. She /is/ in time to get burned by one of the fire-rings from the giant floating dinosaur head on a stick though. She gets send skidding backwards, nearly tipping over the cliff-side, before she steadies herself, slamming her fists together as her Semblance goes into overdrive. Instead of leaping into action again, she sets her feet, sspreads her weight and begins punching the air. Her gauntlets reconfigure slightly, the strike-plates angling fully toward the knuckles as the chambers rotate and the second line of shells begins cycling into the breaches. Each punch is accompanied by a shotgun-like report, sending a glowing bolt of explosive flame back at the giant Boss Lizard, each bolt exploding like a tank shell as she channels all her built-up power into the shots.
Hibiki Tachibana	The skulls explode. She knew they'd explode. The last time she tried to punch skulls, they also exploded. Into fire. And ice. Not this time though. Not this time... It's nice fighting alongside Cantio still though, and she even pointedly looks away and says nothing to not blow the other girl's cover when Jackson's comment comes in. But the feelgood times are cut short when it turns out to not be over right when she thinks it might be, the view of what seems to be their goal being loomed over by--! "It's huge...!" Not any weirder than fire skulls apparently being part of the wildlife, but definitely a lot more threatening! "...But we'll take it down just like all the others! Once we're past it, we should be close!" She adds on to Aries' statement, turning to face it down. And after a brace of her feet against the rock beneath her, she jumps! Into one of the projectiles, because it is in fact moving so slow that it threw off her idea of how to move past it more than if it was actually hard to evade. It's also a /lot/ stronger than she thought it'd be, enough to send her tumbling back through the air out of the haze of heat and explosion of flame. She catches herself with a burst of her thrusters, grimaces, and then pushes them to the max to propel forward again! Where this time, she uses the cliff itself as cover, waiting for a ring to move past before going to dash the whole mile - and then, come up from below the ring-spitting dino to pull back her pilebunker-driven fist a second time, and slam it upwards into its jaw from below! The initial punch to force its mouth back shut, and the follow-up piston slam right behind it to add a massive force to rattle through its entire head and send it reeling!
Tomoyo Daidouji	Tomoyo approaches the downed rhino, making sure he's okay. "I'm sorry sir. We'll make sure you don't have to hurt people any more soon." This concern for her opponent leaves her open to the great head spitting fire. "Get DOWN!" a bodyguard shouts, tackling her charge to the floor and protecting her from the heat blast with her body. She wasn't immolated, but Tomoyo has to help her put out the flames. Meanwhile, another digs through the backpack Tomoyo has brought, Producing a flaregun intended for calling for help, she points it at the great head, waiting for it to open its mouth again, before firing into it. An improvised attack, but effective should it scorch the back of its throat.
Cantio	The fight against the long dinosaur is a quick, but brutal one. Although the long dinosaur keeps spitting its hot fires at everyone whenever it can, it's not particularly fast or maneuverable. It's questionable at best if it even has much of a body to begin with beyond what they can see, judging from the fact that it's not actually moving around the mountain or anything. Yang's explosive bolts are nigh/actually impossible for it to avoid, the flames merging into a explosion that's too hot even for it to withstand for long. It screeches as it burns, thrashing about however little it can to try and put out the flames. All that howling, meanwhile, means that Tomoyo's bodyguard has ample opportunities to get a flare in there. Or even several, if she's so inclined. Despite its reliance on fire-based attacks, fire coming in from the other direction creates a rather nasty sizzling noise from the inside of its throat that only mangles the strained noises coming from the creature further. Hibiki's uppercut catches the beast right in the jaw or whatever jaw-adjacent face thing it has, muffling that screeching and what would otherwise be a howl of pain as it inadvertently rams some of its teeth into other teeth. Thankfully, its mouth is screwed shut by that impact, sparing everyone the sight of the inside between all the internal burning, external burning, and horrendous dental problems it must surely have at this point. Tomoyo's act of mercy, meanwhile, gets an oddly strained noise from the rhino-man. It's hard to really make out anything he's saying thanks to the boulder sandwich, but he certainly isn't in any condition to fight. [Rhino-man will remember that.] The Cheetahmen, working best as a team, utilize their strengths to get their hits in as well. Hercules acts as both a decoy and shield for his smaller brothers, allowing Aries to get in close and pound away at the dinosaur's neck while darting in and out of its line of sight much like Hibiki is while Apollo isn't aiming crossbow bolts into its eyes. Even Jackson is getting in on the action, rushing in with his machine gun to start clubbing away at the thing as if he was overcompensating for being out of ammo. If it works, it works. All those successive attacks have a rather odd effect on the dinosaur as, instead of just keeling over, it appears to be shortening. Not shrinking, but literally shortening as chunks of its neck just disappear over time and force its head downwards to compensate. Its mouth is soon level with the ground, and it eventually doesn't stop shortening until it falls out of sight towards the base of the mountain. Jackson: "So... Have you seen that before?" Apollo: "No. That's new. I don't think even Doctor Morbis could come up with whatever that was." With the rhino-man and the long dinosaur defeated and/or dead, the Elites are finally able to make their way up to the summit of the mountain with no other fights worth speaking about. Upon reaching the top, they're greeted by lab that somehow looks incredibly sturdy, yet lacking entirely in any sense of architectural logic. The magnificently and excessively high front door is about three inches off the ground and off-center, the windows are all at different heights to accommodate the various inconsistently sized stone slabs making up the walls, and the radar dish is partially embedded into the roof. "This is it, everyone. Doctor Morbis is probably already expecting us." Apollo speaks, looking towards the Elites as Cantio tends to everyone's wounds with healing magic while Aries gathers up crossbow bolts that still look sturdy enough to reuse. "Once you're all ready, we'll take the fight inside, and we'll get whatever answers we can out of him."
Yang Xiao Long	"And STAY DOWN!" bellows Yang, before letting out a breath and letting that golden fire that was licking around her fade. She then follows the group up to the lab, walking right up to the large doors. "Yeah... guys like him probably have cameras or something rigged up all over the place. Paranoid assholes." she grouses, then returns to the group. "I'm good to go whenever."
Hibiki Tachibana	Through the power of UNITY, and also intense amounts of physical pain directed towards one unfortunate thing, the kaiju expy is toppled. The Cheetahmen are something else. And Jackson once again proves how he survived here for several days completely on his own when he goes in for smacking. Flipping back and landing nearby him as the monster falls--/shortens/ and shortens, she remains silent as she watches it go until she can't see it anymore. "...This island is scary. Really scary." That's her simple observation following up on Jackson and Apollo. After a final check over everyone to make sure they're alright - and a second-longer-than-you'd-expect glance towards Tomoyo speaking to the squished rhinoman - they're all ready to keep on moving. Thankfully, they really weren't that far off. No more pterodactyls or anything else standing in their way. She's ready. ...Just not entirely for what she actually sees. "Why is...?" She looks towards the offset windows. And the slabs replacing functional walls. There's a slight lean to the side as she looks over the door up and down, as if a slightly different angle will help her make more sense of it. It doesn't. Abandoning thinking, Hibiki instead takes a deep breath and then exhales. "...Alright. Let's put an end to this. Even if he's expecting us, we'll punch right through anything he has waiting." There's another fist-into-palm. "I won't let him get away with what he's done...and we'll find out why he shot down the airship in the first place.
Tomoyo Daidouji	Tomoyo fusses over her burned guard. One of the uninjured ones nudges her aside to begin to assist. Another, the one with the acid burn, is being tended by the fourth. "Is everyone else okay?" Tomoyo asks, looking to Yang, Hibiki, Cantio, the Cheetahmen, Jackson. "That was... intense. All these people..." Not creatures. People. "How can he do this? Morbis?" She's upset. And a little angry. "We have to stop him. Understand why."