Scene #7622: The Trials of the Feathermen

Owner	Pose
Featherman Neo	The Feathermen all arrive at the mountain together, led there by Featherman Neo. He's taking them to the trial meeting ground, and talks along the way. "This will be dangerous! Heart-pounding! But there will be no lethal danger. Do not worry." As they reach the meeting ground, though, he immediately seems as if something's off. Several humans in monster and plastic human masks sit on the ground, crouched, not really responding to attention. They only speak when approached. "Reach the peak." Featherman Neo laughs, nervously, and moves forward to the first trial. It seems like it's supposed to be insane hostage rescue involving a gatling gun being fired at you, but the makeshift building has been torn apart. The gatling gun used as a weapon on a stand has been severed in two. "No...what's going on?" At this point, Featherman Neo starts rushing forward. Whether or not this is still a test is unclear. The next test is a series of buildings, which have been exploded. Someone's unconscious, but not dead. Semtex was set off, clearly. A medical professional has hidden with them, stabilizing them. "Please, get to the peak!" They don't sound as weird as the others. Featherman Neo is sprinting, beckoning the others to come with him. The final test before the peak was log climbing while being shot with bean bags. Both the bean bag gun and the logs have been torn apart. Agility test is a no-go. So, that means the peak. One thing about this mountain is that the oxygen is still fresh and rich up there, so you don't have shallow breathing. It's a great place to fight It's also a wide peak, enough for a whole group of four to fight a boss battle. The wind occasionally howls. The peak is craggy - falling off could easily become a wuxia fight down the sides. That's probably why She is here.
Hiromi	Here atop the mountain, someone has been making improvements. They're reminiscent, very possibly inspired by, things seen on the way up. Arrays of unevenly standing or rolling logs, a few buildings, narrow pathways over treacherously spiked -- not pits, since they're at ground level, but quite dangerous looking, regardless. The obvious difference, apart from them all having been placed in roughly the same place, breaking up what had been a nice, flat clearing, is that they're all made of rock. Just smooth, yet uncarved, natural stone, rising out of the mountain in the shape of walls and doorways. And there at the corner of the roof stands what one would be forgiven for thinking was a giant, though when she leaps down to the ground, her feet sinking into the mountaintop an inch before bouncing back up into a light step, it's clear she's not really twice the height of anyone here -- just not much less, and posessing the kind of bone-shaking presence that claws at the primitive base of the mind, reminding one of the fear of rustling in the dark, of untamed wildlands and, most pointedly for today, of a mountain not yet climbed, its stone cliffs towering high above. "Some promise shown," she says, her voice carrying easily without appearing to be raised, its volume 'vast' rather than 'high.' "But these, it's only playgrounds. Where is danger? I'm glad I sniffed these out. You are beyond newborn games, yes? Your eyes are open? No longer suckling for milk. Blood spilled, that's what growing pups need! Or will you disappoint me? Words, they're not enough." If one's paying enough attention, or has the senses for such things, they'll realize that there are a few other people up here, as well. They're not more intruders having already been here for the trials setup, but they're being quiet and waiting, mostly just out of sight.
Gareth	A trial full of peril, traps, and teambuilding. That's what Gareth was expecting when she was called to join Featherman Neo and the rest of the Feathermen at the mountain, already clad in her full suit of plate mail to establish her place as THE TOUGH ONE. And then it seems like something's gone really weird really fast. "Is that... Normal for this trial?" She asks as the masked people tell the group to reach peak, slowing down to look them over and see if those masks are actually masks at all with light pokes and waves in front of their face. "They look a little... Er. Tired?" "Hm... Maybe we just took too long to get up here. I've heard that mountains have low air to breathe or something like that!" She spouts some trivia to try and lighten the mood a little despite this particular mountain being rich in breathable air. Despite how efforts, however, it's hard to deny that something's wrong with it looks like several things have been destroyed ahead of time while others appear to have been made out of the mountain itself. She scrambles over rolling logs and leaps across wider gaps where she can to avoid having to worry about balancing on narrow paths, but she pauses every now and then to make sure everyone else is getting through okay. "I have a feeling this isn't quite what you were intending, Featherman Neo. Unless... Are you secretly a stonemason? Or did you... Hire one up there?" Gareth asks as she looks up towards the roof that has some kind of giant standing, watching, leaping towards the group. When the stranger lands and makes it clearer that she's still got a massive height advantage on Gareth, the knight stares at her wide-eyed and (figuratively) bushy tailed while letting out an excited noise. "Ah, so this is your trial! Hmhm... Alright!" Calling upon her shield and lance, Gareth stabs the latter into the ground before bowing formally to the kinda-giant. "My name is Gareth, seventh seat of the Round Table and challenger of the Featherman trial! It's a pleasure to meet you, and I'll make sure not to disappoint you!"
Muramasa	Happy to see the suits working, mostly, as they ought to, Featherman Blue follows the red-coded leader up through the long walk to begin their trial. I've almost got the transformation system settled. Looking over Belt-san's notes really did give me a good idea of what I was doing wrong; and once that's done, they'll mesh perfectly with both Hibiki's Gungnir or even Gareth's Lance. This will just be a stress test for the basic functions of it. On the way there, if prompted, he'd have explained that their respective Blue, Pink, and Yellow costumes were made with an alternating diamene weave; which would start a small tangent about graphene, diamene, dilatants, polymers, and other such non-sense. The takeaway is that, even if they looked silly and colorful, they could be considered genuine spaceage battlesuits that on the point of impact, becomes multitudes of times stronger than steel, and proportionally harder than a diamond. Other than that, he goes on to say that while they may have extra functionality in the future, everything else was currently a work-in-progress. His injuries had laid him up longer than anticipated, and as a result he hadn't been able to put in as much work into them as he wanted -- though he hid the remaining consequences of his actions well enough, all things considered. " ... uh. Are they supposed to ... " he starts, though Featherman Neo's trepidition over the situation was telling enough of an answer. Casting his Berkut-themed visor back towards the rest of their posse, Blue nods affirmingly. "It looks like we'll be taking a trial by fire, instead. We owe it to everyone here to resolve the situation, right?" Featherman Blue shows off just how agile he is as he traverses the course shortly behind Featherman Neo, kicking off of surfaces and running up walls and crags easily enough. Though, Pink -- Hibiki -- also would have little difficulty discerning that he was underperforming, compared to usual. The new structures places over the old ones, are a good deal more difficult to maneuver through. They require more care for all of them to traverse given that they pose actual, real danger -- not that there wasn't some level of threat from the old ones, but these are simply more genuine, rather than having been explicitly designed for training purposes. It made much more sense once the colored comraderie find themselves face to face with the mastermind, at the peak of the summit. "You're -- "
Muramasa	The Archwolf, who had previously fought himself and his Master under their actual identities rather than as these alter-egos. At that time, things had turned out less than favorable for them, but .. This time, I'll do my best not to get caught flatfooted. Besides .. if I'm looking to test how much stress these suits can handle, I can't think of a much stronger opponent than her. Clenching one gloves fist tightly, Featherman Blue brings his arms up perpendicular to his chest and then bends them at the elbow, opening one hand so that his fingers tucked flatly together extended to point outwards. "Evil, be warned! Featherman Blue!" He transitions his dramatic pose into an equally dramatic point, "Whether you've come to try our mettle or to take this place for yourself, your interloping ways end here! If words won't reach you, then perhaps this will! TOH!" Quickly projecting a black and white blade into each hand, chinese sabers favored by a certain red Archer, he hurls them through the air at her before taking off with a leap, intent on dropping his heel into her skull while she defends from the two-pronged assault from Kanshou and Bakuya.
Gareth	".. Oh! Right, I should be introducing myself the new way, too." Garethe clears her throat, then strikes a pose that looks a little stilted between the stuff in her hands and the armor that clearly doesn't match with the rest of the Feathermen costumes. "For justice! Honor! And the love of all things... Something! Featherman Yellow!" The full plate armor disappears, and it's replaced almost immediately by Muramasa's provided costume with the power of SERVANT MAGIC. Bracing the lance under her arm, Gareth lets out a dramatically '''fierce''' battle cry before charging forward at full speed to just ram right into their opponent!
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki has shown up today in full Featherman Pink gear. Muramasa had lovingly crafted their outfits, and no matter the embarrassment she may or may not be feeling actually wearing it out in public - as public as it gets around the sacred mountain of the Feathermen, anyway - it'd be in poor taste to not come in proper uniform. Besides, as long as she has the helmet on, nobody can see the look on her face. Or the way it tenses up when things get weird on arrival. She had no idea what Featherman Neo would have actually set up for them, but this is...wrong. Really wrong. What's the matter with these people? And it only gets stranger and more worrisome the farther they go up. "This wasn't part of the plan, was it...?" She murmurs as they pass into the section of totally ruined buildings. No, people are actually hurt. With a strained gulp, her pace picks up alongside the others towards the high-up peak. Where /she/ is. "No way--you...!?" Any other time, and Hibiki might've noticed the others waiting in the wings. But at the moment, her attention is solely locked on the towering wolf descending from one of her naturally-crafted buildings. Hiromi. The last time they had met, it was as (one-sidedly) uncomfortable allies in Neverland. Before that...they had fought. It'd be a long time before she ever forgot that. And now she's...taken it on herself to handle their 'test'. Hibiki's not sure if she's angry, completely flabbergasted, or a mixture of a lot of things over the situation. Is this another idea of her 'playing'? But what she does know is that she's not going to have a repeat of before. With clenched teeth, she sprints forward after the others, kicking into full pace. She can tell--Muramasa isn't in full form. He shouldn't be fighting someone like her, not now. But the onyl thing she can do about that is ball her fist up, with all her momentum behind it, and throw it towards Hiromi in a leaping punch. "Fine, if words won't be enough...! I won't lose this time!"
Featherman Neo	As Featherman Neo is forced through stone traps, he clearly didn't expect them. He's super agile and parkour-y, so he makes it through, a little exhausted at the end. "You...you must be the Archwolf! How dare you injure my friends!" He seems incensed. He strikes a pose. "Featherman Neo! I will redeem you!" He's hiding his trepidation. He takes a stance... "I'm counting on you, Featherman Blue!" And there's a ding of his belt. Another locket appears in his hand. The Hanged Men have bonded. The locket is slotted into his belt. SNAPSHOT It locks in tight, revealing this exact moment. FEATHERMAN BLUE - THOUSAND SWORDS As Neo realizes what he's summoned, and notices those blades, he feels something in his heart. But he says nothing. His hand just grips on one of the guns, the one he never uses, but instead... He rips his hands free, and suddenly, starts flailing them. With every flail, a black and white knife appears, magically infused with power, flying to carve into Hiromi and try and force her back. They don't stop coming. It's a hellstorm. If the knives are deflected, they ricochet back at Hiromi, homing into her. If they are stopped any other way, they don't. She'll probably notice this quickly.
Hiromi	After the introductions begin, Hiromi stands tall, smiling with her arms crossed, the picture of smugly confident power in wolfwoman form. She responds to Gareth's battlecry with her own howl, just the way Hibiki and a certain blacksmith will recall. It's a not-word, a sound that touches the mind like memories that were never there, something that only be described by interpretation. It's only the impression, not the literal reality, of blazing words appearing in one's vision surrounding her, spelling out the message, "I am Hiromi," accompanied by a subtitle that could be 'The Archwolf,' though it could also -- it is, at the same time -- a dozen other things. It's the full description of Hiromi, with all the overlapping meanings that make up her name. There probably isn't really a long bar the color of dried blood under her name, either, delayed to several moments after she's first hit, as she's slowly roused to action. No, that's definitely not a real thing that happened. Kanshou and Bakuya reach her, in the technical sense, in that her firsts come down both, throwing the blades into the stone below her, while Blue's foot reaches her head. It's worse than kicking a wall. A wall, with nothing behind it, has a chance of giving. It's like she is the mountain. Let no one say she isn't hard-headed. Gareth and Hibiki, by contrast, both attack straight on. Gareth -- that is, Yellow, would probably have had a better time if she'd treated her very clearly unarmored opponent's bare skin as if it were heavy, enchanted plate, but that's the lesson she now gets to learn, having little more success than Blue. Hibiki's fist impacts straight to Hiromi's face. Is that blood on her lip? Yes, yes it is, though when she licks it up, there's no wound beneath it. "That's," she begins, leaning back and grabbing Blue by the leg, "the way!" and hurls him back at the forest of spikes beneath the narrow walkway. "'The love of all things,' now, think more, why you fight!" Yellow is next, as Hiromi aims a drop kick on her that, even if it just hits the ground, will shatter it hard enough to knock her back, if not send her flying up in the air from the shockwave. "Will you? Tall walls you climb, but," she says to Hibiki, "show me this!" punctuated with a spinning kick to her side, a palm aimed to drop hard between her neck and shoulder, and then a short leap, twisting mid-air to strike with both feet, then hit the ground with one palm and spin back to her feet. "'How dare' I? I am Hiromi," and it has all the same psychic force, "and this is your test!" Featherman Neo's knives find purchase, if only when there's clear paths to the target, not so much having trouble hitting her at all as they are in hitting her hard enough to actually wound her. The moment Hiromi's back onto her feet, the ground under her shifts, flowing like a liquid, shaking like an earthquake, and she leaps high into the air, twisting and coming down on his position like a dropped meteor. More broken ground, at least, is inevitable.
Featherman Neo	The meteor comes down. The meteor is HIROMI. The knives keep flying up at her even as she comes crashing down, but when she does smash down, he's rolling out of the way of a pin. Not good enough. The ground cracks, and the backblast knocks him backwards, sparking heavily. "I see...you said it was coming. I should have known! Very well..." Another knife is summoned. He should use his most powerful attack, but Muramasa is watching. He can't, unless things go wrong. So instead, he tries to create more knives, but uses his own throwing skills to curve then, making it harder to dodge out of the way. Anywhere Hiromi goes, those knives will find purchase.
Gareth	Hiromi's letting out a wolf's howl? That would bring a smile to Gareth's face, but she's sadly obscured by the Featherman Yellow mask. When her lance doesn't quite hits its mark or leave as much of a mark as she expected, she shifts gear into taking up a defensive stance as she watches how her allies fare against their opponent. "That brings me back... My King once called me a rampaging wolf, but I can see you're the real deal!" She can see that Hiromi's far tougher than expected, both in personal defense and in offensive might. When she comes in with that drop kick, Gareth is eager to test her shield and stance against it, stepping forward into the kick and getting blasted back several yards from the impact. "... Hehe. Ah, what amazing power!" Despite wincing as she shakes her arms off from nearly getting her everything caved in, Gareth still sounds and looks eager to continue as she approaches Hiromi again. Instead of charging like she had earlier, however, she changes up her strategy again: She goes for rapid, but controlled stabs, never quite moving in for heavy thrusts that would leave her open. Instead, it seems like she's trying to wear Hiromi down like how Featherman Neo is, stabbing and swinging her lance just as it looks like Hiromi might be winding up to strike as if trying to keep her off balance or distracted. And despite everyone else sounding almost hostile to Hiromi (in Gareth's eyes, anyway), she's still beaming. "Lady Hiromi, was it? Keep your guard up, then, because I won't be going easy on you just because you're unarmored!"
Muramasa	"Gh?!" Caught by his leg as he attempts to rebound off of her skull, Blue can only grimace in cold sweat as he finds himself being hurled like a rock through the air moments later. I need to control my fall or else--!! Flipping in the air by tucking his knees to his chest, he manages to re-orient himself in such a way that he can catch himself on a craggy hold jutting out before actually being exposed to the spike pit. While his suit probably would have prevented him from being skewered, he'd prefer not to take un-necessary chances. "Whew.." Dangling there for several seconds as his and Red's bond solidifies and he unleashes his hail of blades, Blue stops to think about their situation, and what he could do to try and alleviate it. Although she looks a good deal more humanoid than last time, I have no doubt her body is as hard as ever ... Gripping tightly, he takes this moment to apply Reinforcement to both his whole body and the suit he wears, the blue-green grids of light being a tell-tale sign of his magecraft before he pulls himself up and propels himself into the air in the same motion, frontflipping with a smoothly tapered short-sword in hand that was in some ways, reminiscent of a jousting lance, even if far too small for such a thing. "Toh! I'm back in action!" Dashing forward, he works in conjunction with Featherman Neo's all-range attack to try and wear her defense down with skillful thrusts and slashes, seeming to test the waters of his own weapon to see how effective it even was against her, before doing anything too crazy. "Hah! Tah!"
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki's punch finds its mark. Blood is drawn. But there's only a split second where she's allowed to grimace at the uninjured face visible when her fist reels back before the counterattack comes in. Her forearm comes over reflexively, and she immediately regrets the action when the entire limb screams out in protest from trying to straight block it. "Gh--!?" It catches her just long enough for the palm strike to aim clean, knees buckling beneath her before the third strike is only narrowly avoided from an incredibly hasty lean back--where the force still sends her tumbling back and away. She goes about a dozen meters back the way she came before she catches herself enough to brace and skid to a stop, pushing against the earth with one hand and gripping underneath her helmet with the other. "I /won't/ lose this time," she repeats heavily, throwing off the headgear and gripping onto the necklace worn underneath to hold it up. "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron...!" Her team-centric outfit, sadly lacking the modifications to be compatible yet, explodes off into the same hammerspace her clothing always disappears to when she transforms. The golden light that explodes out takes the shape of the individual components of her Symphogear, coming into existence bit by bit. The scarf is adjusted when it poofs in as the final touch, and she stomps a foot forward into the stone before launching forward. "If there's a wall--I'll punch right through it!" And she's going to, literally. Simply and straightforwardly going to close the distance back again, alongside Yellow and Blue also charging in, she comes in with a momentum-driven elbow strike for Hiromi's midriff. The motion becomes her pushing off of the Archwolf's rock-solid abs on connection, into a whirling hook with the other hand aimed at the same spot. And with the piston in the arm ejecting itself backwards halfway through, the blow is going to have the same force she'd expect, plus the physical impact of the machinery smashing back in to send a rippling shockwave straight into her.
Hiromi	Neo will be the first to discover the other course hazard prepared, in the form of a sneak-attack to the back of his head (if he doesn't turn in time) with a length of wood, hard enough to shatter the makeshift weapon. The assailant is a man he's likely to recognize, being one of the workers here, though he was never at the level of 'mildly inhumanly strong,' before. He gives a halfway apologetic, "Sorry, but you really should be watching your back in a fight!" In his mind, he's just following orders as part of the trial, and while unusual, nothing today qualifies all the way to 'strange.' The others, lurking around the edges of the stone buildings or other newly-made course hazards, are following the same instructions: Wait until someone gets close who isn't paying attention, and then step out to give them a good pummeling. Hiromi isn't above forcing that scenario, as she responds to Yellow's strikes by leading her toward a building corner, moving around her other side, and kicking up and into her shield with the kind of force that would buckle armor if it didn't instead launch her backward. At that angle, it's a hammer without an anvil. But falling back means two men in rubber monster suits leaping into place to smack her around while yelling, "Keep your guard up!" "Don't hyperfocus! Stay aware of your surroundings!" They're hitting hard enough to mutilate an unarmored person, which might make the lack of serious intent in their words sound odd, but that shouldn't be a big problem for her. Blue strikes next, and between dealing with Yellow and with Neo's throwing knifework, and using a real blade, this time he visibly breaks her defenses, at least through her stone-like skin. It was probably the Reinforcement that got through, though it's also true that hitting flesh is harder than breaking bone. Either way, blood comes away on one thrust, and flies through the air on a following slash. If only a thousand cuts were enough to resolve the situation. Hiromi cuts that short by stomping the ground, this time not shattering it beneath them, but causing a wall to raise up in front of her, right under Blue's feet, and in the way of Neo's knives. If he's quick, Blue will at least avoid getting hit between the legs before being catapulted again, this time right on top of Yellow, where the two workers still have a supply of two-by-fours to get through. They'll retreat back out of the way after they're done, at least. They're clearly not part of the win condition, and will say as much if asked. There's no time to clear space before Featherman Pink arrives -- oh, that's Hibiki -- but Hiromi responds to her challenge by stomping another wall into raising up in front of her, anyway. She'd asked for it. Hibiki breaks through the first, but the second wall is Hiromi, herself. She strikes, and turns the first into energy for the second. The final force explodes out Hiromi's back, not only leaving the Archwolf coughing blood, but ruining the back of the silk martial gi she's wearing. It was one of her favorite tops, too. And yet, she doesn't look unhappy. The surprise fades right back into excitement. "Well said! Claw your way up from defeat. Rise again, or crawl, but up, always. Forward, always!" Hiromi steps back into a stance, fist behind her, hips lowered, muscles tensing, holding like a coiled spring. "You've earned this. Behold strength." Power and might, the building of a body to perfection in the form of overwhelming force. The not-word is fairly simple to understand as a word, as is the concept behind it. The result is something else. When Hiromi's fist advances, everything within meters of its past ceases to hold any form, crumbling apart and scattering. The air only explodes afterward.
Featherman Neo	There's only one way Neo notices the sneak attack. As the man approaches with the length of wood, Neo recognizes his mind-signature, and suddenly moves to divert his arm, causing it to take the brunt of the blow. He moves to disable the guy with a quick knife chop, non-lethal but decently brutal... And then, the fist comes. He rolls out of the way, but he still feels the exploding air in the background. It burns against him, knocking him back... As he charges Hiromi. Muramasa is the only one who will see it, in the sea of knives that spills out at her. He draws the second gun. It's black and white, with a blade on the end, underneath the barrel. Curved knife. It's not mystical, but it's distinctly recognizable, besides the slot for a locket on the handle. Featherman Neo places Muramasa's locket in it. It's a surprisingly smooth fit. SNAP SHOT FEATHER SLAYER - SMITH SHOT The following blast is blue and white, aiming to blast Hiromi straight on the chin with everything he's got. "You've affected their minds..." And then moves in for a follow-up melee slash with the gun's blade. "So now I'm incensed!"
Gareth	Despite Gareth's movements becoming more strategic, Hiromi still manages to stay several steps ahead of the knight. She follows the wolf towards the building as expected, although it doesn't seem like she's particularly worried about whatever might be lying in wait. She blocks that kick as expected, providing a sturdy launch point that would otherwise just lead to Gareth giving chase moments later if not for the ambush. Judging from the startled noise she makes at said ambush, she probably wasn't worried about it because she wasn't expecting it at all. The ambushers force Gareth right back on the defensive, taking a rough hammer blow to the side before she gets her bearings straight enough to defend against them more directly. "Minions?! Ah, right, because this is... Understood! Even when we're fighting the leader, the soldiers will always be lying in wait!" Despite getting whacked with boards, she still sounds like her usual eager self, although she seems somewhat hesitant to actually strike back at what she can only assume are assistants rather than Hiromi herself. Good thing, too, because that hesitation means she can actually catch a glimpse of ~~Mura~~ Featherman Blue falling right at her. She tosses her lance aside and catches the briefly flying Featherman, first with her free arm and then with her shield arm to keep the momentum from snapping something important to being alive. It also has the side effect of making it look like she's carrying him like a princess. "Are you alright, Blue? That looked a little painful in the... Yes!" She doesn't comment further, just letting him down once he's ready before picking her lance up once more. "Now, where were we... Right! Staying aware of your surroundings!" She sees Hiromi really laying into Pink while Neo goes all out with an unfamiliar gun, and then she starts sprinting. "We can all take advantage of that, then... I'm coming for you, Lady Hiromi!" yellow shouts while catapulting herself into the air, lance starting to glow with a bright blue light around the tip. As she falls towards Hiromi, she fires off two blasts of mana from her weapon before capping off that overly flashy (and potentially distracting) maneuver with giant overhead slam of the lance and shield held together!
Muramasa	It's working -- between my Reinforcement and this sword; I'm managing to break through ..! This hopeful thought does not last long, as moments later, a blunt rock is launched directly between Featherman Blue's legs. The suit visibly strains as it hardens, the reinforcement glowing in that part of his get-up disappearing as the force eats through it in an instant. The good news is that his battle suit really was effective enough to prevent him from being permanently maimed here. The bad news, however, was that despite this he was still attacked in what was basically his most sensitive organ. In other words, it still hurt terribly, and leaves him as catatonic as a statue as he is launched through the air like as if he had been a mortar launched at her. It is a testament to Gareth's kindness, chivalry, and skill as a knight that she catches him as easily as a pro rugby player catches the ball. "I thought I was done for.." Blue grumbles, doing his best to shake off the shellshock of having endured what he just had, "T-thank you Yellow, you really saved me." ... even though it felt really bad that he had to be caught in her arms like that. Once he was set back onto his feet, he wields his sword and engages the mind-controlled mobs at Featherman Yellow's side in a Toku-Mook-Fighting-Sequence that involves gratuitous amounts of sparks flying everywhere. At least, until Featherman Neo's loud, weaponized retort catches his attention. FEATHER SLAYER - SMITH SHOT That pistol. It's ... Featherman Neo, he can't be, can he..? he pauses, a foreboding sweat on his forehead. It's not possible. Besides that, this is no time to worry about such a thing though. It was a no-brainer to understand that whether or not his knee-jerk suspicion was true, it was something he absolutely must keep to himself at this juncture. Maybe forever. Yellow charges directly ahead while Blue takes a step back and inhales a steady, calming breath -- now that he thought about it, it'd be a good idea to make these helmets a little easier on the lungs. Focus. "Alright, Master - er, Pink ... the other two've given us a good opening, so let's give it our best shot. I'll blow her defenses wide open, so let's both hit her as hard as we can..!" With his intentions conveyed, Blue also charges in, twirling the shortsword in his hand to the side as he comes to a stop. "No more non-sense, Archwolf! It's time to let these people free, and put an end to this trial by fire!" "Release - The Provisional Sword!!" The shortsword in his hand glows, a green light emenating from its tip and spiraling down across its body. Upon reaching the base, it begins to transform, and grow longer, wider, thicker, retaining its shape as it churns. For a sword, it greatly resembled a drill. She is a foe who embodies all the strength and hardiness of a mountain range. But .. this sword, its stroke is that which will fell even three mountains. I am not that great hero. Even so. I ask you ..grow! And give me the strength to win! Rearing the now suitably supersized weapon back with a great amount of strain, he takes a reinforce step that cracks the ground and drives himself forward in a powerful thrusting motion, fully intent on planting the tip directly into Hiromi's body. He was confident, after all, that it would only defeat her rather than kill her. "Spill into the spiral ...." "Into the revolving rainbow!" "CALEDFWICH CALADBOOOOOOOOLG!" The multicolored light that is released is blinding.
Hibiki Tachibana	Reeling back as her blow lands home, Hibiki is left panting as the Archwolf coughs up blood--at least until their opponent's surprise gives way to joy, and her own resolute expression is the one that changes to shock. Not at Hiromi coming back from a blow like that so easily, that's something she knew she could do. But because of her body tensing. Might building up. With a fighting style like her own, she knows what it looks like very well. Just not on this scale. Everything in her body is telling her to get out of the way, right now. But the only thing she can do as that fist comes forward is brace herself as much as humanly possible against this superhuman force, eyes wide and the resulting scream drowned out by the sound of air detonating. By the time it's passed, Hibiki is on her back at the edge of the gouge in the stone that couldn't stand up to her fist, coughing and wincing as her entire body is shot through with pain. Some sections of her Symphogear, mostly the parts she had been trying to defend with, have either crumpled or been burned away under the force, and the undersuit and scarf have been also torn and burnt several places. "Damnit...not yet...!" With exertion that gets her hissing in pain again, Hibiki uses her elbows to throw herself back up to her feet, stumbling briefly before steadying and tightening her hands back into fists. "I said I wasn't going to lose...!" It doesn't matter if she actually can beat Hiromi or not. But if she went down from that, if she couldn't force herself to stand back up after all...there's no way she could take that. It's difficult to tell if she's even fully aware of the people being turned against them, or the harassment the other Feathermen have suffered at their hands. That definitely goes against any teamwork portions of this 'test'. But beyond her laser focus on Hiromi...she's not going to let the others have to fight her alone. Hibiki digs her feet into the earth again--and launches forward with a full-strength kick. Keep moving forward. Her way has always been taking the shortest and simplest path, a straight line. "Then I WILL!" Her arm comes around into a hook aimed to smash into Hiromi's rock-hard body once again, dead center. But the motion keeps carrying her past after delivering the blow, to skid to a stop behind her and lunge back in for another punch from a different angle. The same as before, she goes to pummel her in passing with a last-second shift and a boost from her thrusters, speeding up each time until she's a blur of motion, assaulting her from several different angles in rapid succession. None of them have her armor's mechanisms reinforcing their blows, they're simply attacks that have all the raw strength she can manage put behind them. "HAAAAAAH!" Until the last one, where her speed takes her directly overhead the Archwolf--and she blasts straight down from above with her fist outstretched, Gungnir's internal energy takes the form of a golden shine within the damaged gauntlet. She puts everything she has into driving Hiromi down into the mountain, discharging it all at the end in an explosion that'll carve her own meters-wide mark on the peak.
Hiromi	Not knowing what Neo will try next after his knives, but correctly intuiting that he'll step it up, Hiromi immediately assumes that the gun aimed at her is something worth her attention. She can read its path, but she doesn't try to dodge it. Instead, she grabs a falling piece of stone from where a wall had been, moments earlier. It reforms in her hand to the rough shape of a long sword, then glows with what a certain blacksmith might recognize as like, but distinct from his own Reinforcement craft. Hiromi puts her other hand on the back of the sword-club, blocking the blast from the FEATHER SLAYER with both, but when the sparks and smoke clear, the stone sword is shortened, and her hand is blackened and missing fingers. She looks at it, flexes the two left, and takes the follow-up strike on the same arm, before clashing with her now one-handed short sword-club. "You're surprised? Strength compels. Pups follow parents. Weak follow their leaders. Do you not lead? Do you not give order? Change minds?" Her body isn't as hard with her arm hurt like that, even farther down from the obvious wound. It's not a material property making her so difficult to cut into. Over by Blue and Yellow, the two rubbersuits are quickly put on the back foot. They retreat (if not hit too hard before then), having accomplished their jobs. They don't think this is a life or death struggle, though that's just their own understanding of it, since Hiromi never said otherwise. Then comes everyone else, coming all at once, aimed to overwhelm her in this moment of... not weakness, perhaps, for even while wounded, Hiromi radiates feelings of dangerous power, but the vulnerability of being pressed and off-balance. Yellow strikes first, and for the lance to be a ranged weapon was outside Hiromi's expectations. The mana-charged attacks prove powerful enough to pierce her defenses, striking her legs, bloodying her, before Yellow drops down for a slamming attack. Pink hits next, recovering from the attack she'd just withstood. Hiromi takes this moment, rather than defending herself, to praise her efforts. "Good. There's no strength without will." The first strike she simply takes, shaking the ground and air with the impact. "If you'd turned to dust, I'd honor your memory as one worthy," but by the third, she's catching or blocking each with her one good arm, moving on injured legs, "of witnessing my strength." The constant assault seems to be pushing her back, keeping her from regaining anything like that power stance, up until Pink flies up. That last blow blows open a hole in the mountaintop, forcing Hiromi down into it, and scattering debris. When the Archwolf laughs, it's rasping. She's held in place like that, for a moment, on the verge of being brought to her knees, as Blue arrives, wielding a sword for destroying mountains. If that reached her, unable to avoid it, bleeding from a dozen wounds, one arm useless, that would be enough to end the fight. Intuition demands this as the only possible result. Even thought she'd survive in some form, just like she had that time before, that would be 'a win.' It almost worked. Flesh flows and warps and then takes its correct place, whole and fresh, bloodstains left only over what had not needed to regrow. Pink is pushed off in the barest fraction of a moment before the Rainbow Sword descends, and two healthy hands catch the weapon. The sword shimmer, the rainbow itself, cuts into her newly healed flesh just as it had cut the landscape with its original wielder, but Hiromi herself holds, her knees never bending. She roars as she lifts it skyward again, leaping from the pit with Blue, now, earning that particular attention. It's an expression of mad curiosity, though whether it's that of finding one who wields an extraordinary ability of uncertain limits, or of finding a toy and wishing to see how far it can move before it breaks, that's difficult to determine.
Hiromi	There's nothing really around but stone. When Hiromi lands and says, "Interesting. My turn, now," there should be nothing for her to use as a weapon. A stone sword, even enhanced in some way, didn't stand up to Neo's gun. The only thing she can use, then, is the mountain. Hiromi claps her hands together, just once, and the ground drops away all around her. Her, Blue, Neo, Pink, and Yellow are subjected to the drop through the mountain that had been hidden under them since the beginning, though Neo may know that this particular shaft, containing nothing but a few supporting pillars that stretch implausibly tall, hadn't been here before. In freefall, then, is where Hiromi kicks off one pillar, plows into Blue fist-first, then back again to kick Pink into the smooth-sided wall, then grabs Yellow to to throw at Neo, then tears a chunk out of one wall (the stone sliding strangely, smoothly into her grasp) to crash against them both. Any attemp to slow the fall results in swift retribution, moving from one target to another, giving no mercy so long as they're still energetic enough to be making noise, right up until the crash at the very bottom. There is, from here, a passage that leads outside again, near the 'proper' areas of Mount Featherman.
Featherman Neo	Featherman Neo doesn't get a response out to Hiromi, as she takes his blow and leaves him in shock. It should have been a surefire KO, even on someone like her, right? Featherman Neo is grabbed with the others and smashed down the mountain shaft. As he is thrown into Gareth and roughly slides down the wall, he impacts hard with the ground. Hard enough to de-belt. Once the others are conscious enough of him to look at him, he's already snuck off, fleeing. He's very stealthy. The true form of Featherman Neo will not be revealed in this episode.
Muramasa	"Gh...no way ... how seriously tough are you .. ?" Having come here injured in the first place hadn't been, necessarily, the best idea -- and it was finally coming back to show. He'd staked everything he had left on that shot with Caladbolg, and failed to defeat her. Although he wasn't on the ground yet, it didn't need to be said that without the ability to project something meaningful, his usefulness had ran practically dry. This, along with the aches in his body, does not stop him from raising his fists to prepare for close quarters combat. I seriously don't like that look on her face. It's like I'm being eyed up for all I'm worth ... or maybe it'd be closer to a hound spotting a tasty morsel. This is bad. The floor crumbles beneath them. "--?!" "What..oh no, I have to try and --" His mind calls forth the image he needs, but he does not have the ability to project it in this instance. What he lacked in energy would need to be made up for in time, and vice versa, and he had neither. To begin with, because it was not a sword, it wasn't something he could just use on the fly, and needed to be prepared in advance. That lyre would have been a perfect countermeasure in this situation, but he'd glossed over it in favor of going for a weapon that could win, rather than an implement to make the opponent beatable. This, he supposes, was his biggest mistake. Featherman Blue puts up a valiant fight with his legs and fists in the air, attempting to kick off of debris and walls in a similar manner as Hiromi to fight, but he is outmatched at every turn, and before long even his suit begins to fail and break apart, shattering slowly like a ceramic under the mighty weight of her fists. By the time he hit the bottom, half of the suit's upper body was shorn away, the legs had tears in them, and the helmet had been completely smashed. Blue -- rather, Muramasa, was totally unconscious.
Gareth	"That's the power of my lance.. Now, show us what else you can do, Lady Hiromi!" Gareth stomps forward once as she hunkers in position, eager as ever to take Hiromi's full-force attacks head on. It's almost like she's using this to test herself as much as it is the Featherman trial. Granted, she's not quite expecting the floor to just fall out from under her, and Gareth yelps as she no longer has her footing and defensive stance to rely on when Hiromi starts bolting around the giant mountain shaft. She can still keep track of the archwolf, at least, bracing just in time to get grabbed and hurled into Featherman Neo. It's probably a good thing she changed out of her armor into the Featherman suit, or that could have gone way worse. It's still not pleasant getting part of a wall thrown into her and having to withstand the impact to protect the Featherman leader from getting pasted, though. After that impact, she hacks and coughs painfully several times, but still keeps her banged up shield and lance grasped firmly against her as she sees the floor coming way too quickly. Surprisingly enough, however, Gareth actually lands on her feet! It's a clumsy landing, to be sure, but the impact leaves a nice little crater beneath her feet while the knight-turned-Feather props herself back up slowly with her shield. "That was new... To think someone could use the very mountain as a weapon, too! Ah..." Featherman Yellow laughs, and she lurches over slightly while biting back a pained hiss from having her spine battered as much as it has already. She takes another moment to breathe, then looks up at the massive tunnel above her. "If we were any lesser people, that sort of fall alone could have killed us! And to be able to continue attacking us so precisely even while falling like that.." She breathes a heavy, weary sigh, then moves over to Muramasa while noticing that Featherman Neo's beat a hasty retreat. "Let's face off again someday, Lady Hiromi. You've shown me how a real wolf fights, so I'll have to make it up the next time we meet!" She manages a quick bow and another wince and then, if Muramasa and/or Hibiki need a lift, she'll just hoist them right up onto her shoulders and book it right out of there.
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki, having put everything behind her attack, manages to snap barely back to reality between Hiromi pushing her off of her, and the bright light of Featherman Blue's rainbow sword. What's that dummy doing making something like that when he's supposed to be taking it easy in the first place? "Ah--" If she just has a moment to get herself back together... That moment doesn't actually come. In a flash, she remembers Hiromi's usage of the earth in their last battle. She falls and plummets like a rock, slowing and trying to get her descent under control via her armor's thrusters all too slowly. No sooner than she does, their opponent belts into her with a foot and sends her flying away. Her back hits the wall with enough force to bounce back off of it and keep on falling. There's no chance and no time given to get herself back under control, her attempts at beating Hiromi back every time she charges back in meeting with reaction times slightly too slow. Blows are traded and traded and traded, until there's no tunnel left to fall down, and a considerably exhausted, near-insensate Hibiki lands with a deafening crash and a plume of dust and debris. When it clears... ...She's laid out, for lack of better wording, her Symphogear having forcibly deactivated from how much damage she's taken. Despite the damage done to the rest of her body, the Featherman Pink suit she's back in is still as pristine as when they started. With a few coughs, she just barely manages to lift herself to her hands and knees, glancing up through her wince to see Gareth assisting Muramasa...and Neo is...gone? She doesn't think she could pull a vanishing act like that herself. No sooner does she think that than her limbs give out and she collapses back forward, not quite unconscious, but unable to move. "...Ugh...I can't even tell if that was a win or a loss..."