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Remee Halcyon Welcome back to Zi - well, no, actually you've never left.

Earlier today the group arrived at Treedrassil, the hub for the multi-factional effort, and got the layout of ongoing efforts there. The goal is to de-escalate the war between the Guylos Empire and the Hellenic Republic by cutting off their supply of war mecha at the source (here in Zi), but there's some preparation to be done first. There's ongoing efforts by those in Treedrassil to improve the weaponry, research, and supplies of the Monster Hunter effort, but they're in constant need of any parts that the visiting elites might be able to source.

Right now, the elites have a mission, via a combination of getting their feet wet and being put to the test. There's a scorpion zoid that's moved in from a different region, causing an ecosystem disruption. It needs to be removed, via whatever means the elite see fit.

BEFORE THAT, THOUGH, there's a chance to take care of any last minute errands there are in town, to socialize a bit, or just to psyche yourself up and prepare for the hunt - sorry, prepare for the feel-good biological conservation mission for peace. That just happens to involve fighting giant monsters.

The Luca's are still doing something or other with their cannon turtle. The Consanguinity of the Overwhelming Firepower is taking a breather from their marathon chanting session. The commander remains at the observation deck, observing. And the cats are busily arguing food science theory over a whiteboard, specifically on how feasible it'd be to turn low fat yogurt into negative fat yogurt.

Remee's here, as well - in the center of the small camp here, checking over her gear. She's opted to take one of the 'ecologically friendly' weapons - a giant bow made out of stitched-together metallic armor frames and wiring. She also seems more than a little bothered right now - the gear-checking looks more methodical than purposeful, as if she's just trying to find something to focus on.
Stanley Padgett     STANLEY PADGETT, MIGHTY MONSTER HUNTER

    Is taking advantage of the free food. Well, 'free food' but like, the cats are just like dishing it out all day every day so who's actually paying for it? Probably Remee, but who cares.

    The Brave Fencer has put away a plate of Questionably Sourced Sliders and Shrimp Onna Stick, and is working on... whatever this tasty pineapple drink they've got here.

    ....where does he put it all?
Ishirou Ishirou was doing his best to get intelligence before the actual hunt itself.  Trying to get a map of the area for one, so he can commit it to memory.  He also talks with anyone experienced in hunting about what to expect in the area as far as wildlife goes, trying to get a better understanding of the ecosystem they're working with.  

He's got all the info on the scorpion they could get, as well as the knowledge that they'd have to beat the thing up a little before he could pacify it.  So, hey that's good to know!

Right now he's back helping the Luca's, running scans on the turtle and offering insight into the Turtle Zoid to the best of his ability.  
Rita Ma      "We've managed to get members of the Watch and Concord on board with our efforts - a scorched earth giant mecha war being in nobody's best interests."

     It is certainly not in Rita's best interests, either. Her first visit, after soaking in the sights, is to the monks. She has a rough weapon design drawn up on her phone- some kind of spear, with thrusters attached to apply sudden impulses in a variety of directions- and aims to interrogate them, a little sheepishly, about what parts would be needed to make it.

     It's a little like the spear she's used in BladeCraft: Connect, and a little like the compressed-air weapons her older siblings had on the Union Busan.

     After that, she gravitates near Remee, having precious little else to do by way of preparation. "Um, are you feeling okay?" she finally pipes up, after a while of watching the wolfgirl's preparations over her shoulder. "You seem sort of tense, Ms. Remee. Can I get you some food?"
Kirishima Today, Kirishima spends her pre mission prep time hanging out with the cats, listening to them talk about so much food science like it's a regular thing. It's fascinating stuff for someone unfamiliar with so much of it, and she's even taking notes like some sort of reporter rather than a proper ninja.

She just also happens to have a gratuitously flapping scarf around her neck as she's taking those notes. "Negative fat... Hm. That could be great for marketing, or terrible for lawsuits. If it really worked, though..."

She'll have to see if they ever come up with a working version later. For now, though, she joins Remee in the gear prep zone! Kirishima does a quick once over or her provided gear, making sure the giant short sword is still firmly tied to her back and her chains are all in order.

"What is troubling you? Let your worries be heard so they can't fester without anywhere to release them! " She asks in her usual over dramatic fashion, contrasting sharply with Rita's more wholesome approach. "I do believe the cats are discussing some kind of yogurt-based work, if you're interested in that."
Remee Halcyon As long as Stanley's eating, the cats are making sure the tables at the dining area are stocked with a ridiculous amount of food. It's theoretically buffet style, though the food arrives in 'competitive eating contest' sized portions on giant plates.

The two Luca's (Lucas? Lucae? Persons Luca?) take Ishirou's help and run with it. "Once we're able to get close enough to one of the other camps - we should see if we can get our hands on one of their zoids," says Luca-F as they go over the before-and-after charts of the taming process.

"Need to find some advantage for that first - the commander's wanting to play this cautiously," comments Luca-M, with a tone indicating he doesn't entirely agree.

The weaponsmithing monks are more eager to talk shop than Rita is, and practically snatch Rita's design from her hands and cluster together around it, whispering. The phrase 'harpoonist style system' is mentioned once, by one of the more well-traveled monks.

"There's a few possibilities," says one, once they're done deliberating. "But the easiest set of parts to obtain would come from what's called a 'dibison' - a sort of missile launcher ox. There might be a herd near the center of the continent."

The fact that Rita wouldn't know what an 'ox' is doesn't cross their minds, and they're busy with other tasks before she can ask.

"Oh - yeah, actually, some food would be good," says Remee, snapping out of it. "I... haven't had anything since... I forget when."

Her stomach rumbles.

"Ah - it's complicated," she says to Kirishima. "Just - family trouble. Things I gotta deal with."
Stanley Padgett     Stanley thanks the cats for their time and food, and then stands up from his spot. He's clad in his school's winter uniform, a stiffer fabric than usual, and horrible plaid pants.

    He also wanders over to Remee, and hands over one of the Shrimp Onna Sticks. "I get that, the family thing. Troubles and all that."

    It's a lie, but hopefully a good one. "So we're capturing the critter now, and not disassembling it?"
Ishirou "I understand you want to stop them as soon as possible, but if we rush in and fail, it'll only make things worse for the Zoids in the long run.  We have the advantage right now in being able to pick our fight, while also having to play a bit reactionary to keeping things from going off the rails too far.." Ishirou says, frowning a bit as he runs his hands over some screens.  

He blows something up, noticing a little difference there and showing it to the Lucavai.  Wait, no, wrong plural.  The Luca's.  Ishirou's stomach rumbles a little, realizing he hasn't eaten since he got here...and he's been workin' hard on this.
Rita Ma      "Wait, you've heard of-" But her questioning is cut off. She walks away from the monks a little dazed, trying to commit the word 'ox' to memory. It's probably like an octopus, right?

     ----

     "Mmmm! Of course, Ms. Remee! It's important to take good care of yourself, especially before missions. Here, have some of my lunch, too. You like meat, right?" She produces something like sashimi from her satchel and foists it on her teammate before going to hassle the cats for something meaty too.

     When she returns and hands the second plate off to Remee, she gives Staney a nod and a little affirming noise. "I hope so, Mr. Stanley! There's... something I can do, to make it friends with us. Like with Jack the Ripper's shades, remember? But we'll probably have to beat it up first, either way."

     Apart from snacking on the remaining half of her lunch, she seems perfectly ready to go!
Remee Halcyon "Oh! Yeah, this smells good..." says Remee, taking the fish, and finishing it off before Rita returns.

Once everyone's done with their preparations, it's time to set out. The group's given a rough map and directions, along with some satellite imagery - the presence of so many gigantic metal trees does make the top-down view a bit harder to divine anything from, as the canopy obscures most of the terrain features. Ishirou's scans from ground level are more useful here.

The trip first involves a three hour hike, passing first through the woods, where there's a few close encounters - quadrupedal zoids of various canine and feline 'breeds', that either don't notice the group or decide to just continue on their way. Remee shares what she knows - 'Ligers' and 'Command Wolves', among other names.

After that, the rough trail emerges from the thick forest and skirts along the edge of an inland lake... one that Rita would realize has things living inside of it, and Elara would pick up flashes of thoughts. There's a brief flash of something mechanical - a pincer or a tail fin, maybe, but then it's gone again with only ripples left behind.

And then, past the lake, there's an entrance into a canyon - one still covered in metallic foliage, but more along the lines of shrubs and ferns than giant trees, and most of which is closer to 'normal' scale, albeit still large.

The various spotters in the group can pick out the target well beforehand - the scorpion is here. It's in the canyon, about a quarter mile north ambling along generally towards the group's position, but it hasn't noticed the group yet. There's a chance to get a drop on it.

https://i.ibb.co/d7dqPw4/Ojrdeathpion.webp
Kupot Kupot, aren't you only interested in stopping how many people to have to kill to save your world, life, and make up for everything you have ever done wrong.

Yes, but. These are giant monsters. Everyone knows it's perfectly okay to kill giant monsters, they drop loot and money.

Thus, the party is increased by one Moogle with a katana. And weird bug eye covers. As this is a hunt, he has brought his motorcycle to wait in reserve if necessary. The motorcycle is quite large, for a normal person, and thus very large for the moogle. But it is not as large as the cannon turtle.

The Sleipnir gives a low rumble of its engine as it is brought near the Cannon Turtle. Kupot puts a hand over the leather seat, bringing the engine noise back down.

He takes in the land scape, his optics hiding the brief appreciation in his eyes. A world where metal is part of everything, rather than slowly consuming it for progress. This ability to perceive the serene beauty is somewhat dampened by the constant visual assault of data within his own eyes.

Once over the canyon, Kupot turns his head, as if drawn, to the scorpion, taking in weak points and weaponry.

"I can distract it, kupo."
Kirishima "Fair enough. Just remember that you have allies with you, so do not force yourself to shoulder the burden alone!" Kirishima suggests, clearly trying to reassure Remee and bolster her spirits.

The hike, of course, hasKirishima studying the local wildlife/zoids. She won't go off and attack any of them just for parts, but she'll need to remember to collect stuff for the cats and the chanters later.

The sight of the scorpion-ish zoid, then, is what finally gets her fired up. "Our quarry is close. Stay vigilant. When the moment arises..."

She's not going to wait all that long for whatever that moment is. Instead, she's already sprinting towards the mechanical scorpion with her giant short sword raised. Instead of going straight at its from where everyone else may be coming from, though, Kirishima circles around to the side first before charging in with a lunging stab to try and get it focused on her.

Clearly, she's got the same idea as Kupot. She just isn't looking for weak points so much as- "I, Kirishima, have come to challenge you!" Shouting a lot to be the most obvious/earliest nuisance.
Ishirou Ishirou, probably bullied by the Luca's to get some food does that before they go.  Once full up, Ishirou and POD walk out towards the gate to meet with the group.  Before they go, Ishirou needs to get ready...

POD vanishes, and combines with Ishirou.  The helmet, roughly POD-shaped comes over his eyes with a large black visor.  Grey armor, which is more skin-hugging than bulky washes over Ishirou.  His hands are covered with slightly bulkier gloves, with several blue gems embedded on the back of the hand and on the palm that hum with electromagnetic energy.

It comes down into a pair of boots that go up passed his knees, covering and protecting the legs, while also enhancing his movement and speed.  The boots have knee actuators to help support his speed, and larger 'boot' style feet to protect him from long falls and also enhance his movement.  

"I'm ready!" he says, with an upbeat tone.  Ishirou also takes the time with the hike to get to know the various flora and fauna that they pass.  Trying to also nail down if there were smaller but closer to normal, animals, or if the entire ecosystem were Zoids.  

At this point, he crouches and uses his scanning abilities to get the info on the Scorpion, and calls out its location.  He'll set up a TACNET here for the group, allowing him to provide them with data as the fight goes on.  Once that's set up he places his hand on his visor as people walk up to challenge it.

"Guys.  How about I do this first..." he says and takes the time to set up a trap for the Scorpion.  It's not much, but some dead fall traps temporarily disorient it and give people an early advantage.
Stanley Padgett     Stanley Marigold Padgett is about to fight his first Monster that isn't a person and it isn't a Tyrant. It's a big old robit, and now he's feeling all the world like Condorman Black on her first fight with the Flight Team in Mondo Featherman G. Right. Okay.

    Hands dust at his school uniform, he takes a hold of the massive 'rapier' he'd been handed... and exhales. And then Stanley, anxious school boy is not standing there. Instead, it's... The Fool. His hair flashes over to a garish neon green, and there's a digital haze that peels away from the school uniform, replacing it with a techno-modern tunic and fencing robe, in gold and neon.
    Behind him, there's a sudden image of a towering, faceless fencer, carrying a pair of long swords, that fades away. "Right. COME, MERCUTIO."

    And he simply leaps from the turtle, and goes for an extremely normal diving stab attack at the stinger of the Robo-Scorpion, looking to take off the weapon immediately.
Rita Ma      "Do even the fish have metal parts, too?" Rita muses, staring off into the pond. "I bet they'd be awful to prepare." Then something big disturbs the surface, and she startles with a little squeak. It takes a second for her to self-consciously compose herself and keep walking.

     When other biomechanical monsters come uncomfortably close to the party, she gets tense, as anyone should. But the flavor of the tension isn't right. It's like the tension of someone who can't stand to see two of their friends arguing.

     When the scorpion comes into view, it's almost a relief. Kirishima and Kupot draw its attention, which suits Rita perfecty well; she's scaled the canyon wall in a few effortless superhuman hops (something she tries to do when nobody's looking, but isn't terribly fussed about), sprinted past the scorpion below, and then hopped back down the side of the canyon to land behind it.

     She has enough faith in their diversion (or in her own agility?) to not bother cloaking herself during the flanking maneuver. A ""telekinetic"" blade (really a sharp invisible tentacle, but shh) strikes at the joints of the scorpion's back leg once she gets within about thirty feet.

     It's not a very scary blow, however precise it might be. But it's meant to draw whatever the creature has for blood.
Metamorph One     Remee did say that the Concord was on board with this. Not seeing any Elites in town wouldn't technically be a strong refutation, given the numerous ways that the Concord's backing could manifest behind the scenes, in the broad scale of a war between two nations. But it probably still shouldn't be surprised to suddenly see new hands on site without advance notice. Not literally, though. They're not quite so in the way that anyone entering the canyon would see them.

    "Contact. Four hundred meters. North-northwest! Do you need me to plug you in?" "No. I see it. Heading checked. Speed . . . seventy?" "Seventy two!" "No cover or concealment along the entire route. Verify." "Verified!" "Then there's no problem. Four hundred meters is nothing." "Please remember that the objective is to not blow the target to smithereens." "I'm always careful." "You know what they say about telling lies on the battlefield~ Bringing drones two and four around. ETA fifteen to triangulation." "Sure. But I bet you I can eyeball it before then. Loading spikes."

    Now slightly less than a quarter of a mile away from the scorpion zoid, on the upper shelf outside the canyon crevice, a heap of assorted (metallic) foliage cover is blown away by the flash of a heavy cannon, visible from practically anywhere. A silvery white vapour trail streaks a short distance up into the air at a shallow angle, and disappears. At the head of the canyon, where the Elites are entering, the sound of a percussive explosion, punctuated with a sharp, electrical crack, echoes from the canyon walls pretty much immediately. On the scorpion's end, an incredibly dense triangular metallic spike, the size of one of its own legs, falls from the sky on top of it a half-second before it can even hear the cannon report, not aimed for any bodypart in particular, but to nail it to the canyon floor like a . . . bug.
Kupot As everyone else is trying to immediately attack it without first coming up with a plan, Kupot will simply have to deal with this.

Fortunately, it is a giant monster, and has no soul, therefore doesn't require him to wait for a chance to go elsewhere. Besides, they probably aren't going to kill it. Kupot leaps from the top of the canyon towards the DEATH SCORPION, latching onto its... face...window. He brings back one fist and simply punches it. Mostly to annoy it.
Remee Halcyon Kirishima's taunt gets the deathpion's attention. It looks at her with what could be curiosity - fleeting curiosity, as it goes in to attempt to grab at her with one of its claws in a way that isn't going to leave much to be curious about.

It leaves the perfect opening for Stanley to come in, blindsiding it by going for its stinger. The attack cuts in - but doesn't go through entirely, managing only a partial cut. Still, from the way it reacts, coiling back its tail, that's a point it'll need to guard.

Rita goes in at the side, and draws first blood. Well, first 'blood'. It's not full-on blood, but there is some fluid being carried around its body, acting as some sort of combination coolant and lubricant and hydraulic, and it trickles out freely enough once Rita digs in far enough. But for all intents and purposes (particularly Rita's specific needs), despite being artificial instead of biological, it counts as blood. It was produced in its body, it's pumped by its heart, it needs it to live.

The spike comes in, hard, slamming straight through the thing's side. It staggers, going off course - And that's when it goes straight into Ishirou's trap, triggering it, and falling into the pit.

The scorpion flails around, and goes to more or less blind-fire at the assailants that to it came out of nowhere and surrounded it. The tail laser fires out, machine gun turrets open up along its body, and Kirishima and Kupot have to deal with its claws!
Ishirou Ishirou runs to try and avoid the tail laser.  Thankfully, he doesn't take the full brunt of it, managing to produce a shield to brunt the attack somewhat and leave him sizzling.  He'll need to do better than that, he realizes, if they're going to take this thing down.  

"Flight Unit, come to me!" he calls out.  His subspace pocket opens up, and a smaller bird-plane flies out.  It disassembles around Ishirou.  His gloves glow, as the various bits of the bird-plane connect to him.  Soon enough, he's dressed in the new armor, with his old armor at the center of the construct.  

Ishirou takes flight, after switching from humanoid mode to flight mode to get some distance.  Moments later, he flies down, aiming a barrage of bullets down to try and pepper the scorpion.  In those bursts comes a blast of his hacking, aiming to try and start messing with its motor control.
Stanley Padgett     the laser passes cleanly through Stanley Padgett, and evaporates him in one pass, leaving nothing but charred ashes and- wait no that was one of his afterimages.

    Actual Stanley is already on the move, that rapier coming around again. There's an inimitable glow to the young man as he joins Rita in scaling the nearby higher terrain for an advantage. Though rather than trying to surrepitiously scale and leap, he simply runs and scampers up the cliff face in a gangly speedster's ramble.

    And up top, he high-fives Rita, and then turns in place, planting his feet. "MERCUTIO, POX IT." The ghostly afterimage of Mercutio whooshes into view behind the boy with a was of digital noise, and then a massive cloud of toxic gas blankets the front bits of the scorpion. Today we find out if magical turbo-diseases work on Robots.
Kupot Kupot's katana flickers out. The dark monoblade catches the claw with the back of the blade, pushing it to the right, just an inch. Hand tight on the hand, Kupot flows with the motion to leap up onto the back of the claw. His feet plant on the back of the smooth curved weapon, magnetically locking into place to give him stability as the Zoid continues to follow through. Another fluid motion and the sword is back at his side.

Bullets from above. Kupot deflects one out of his way, then tucks into a roll onto the back of the scorpion. Kupot's meat brain focuses on the scorpion, katana slashing out in quick cuts, flickering out at each claw bearing arm, at the tail. A twist of the body, a single flowing strike with all of his weight.

Meanwhile, his non-meat components start the search for a port of some kind that Kupot can jack into.
Kirishima Despite the predicament she's found herself in, Kirishima looks quite enthused when the deathpion turns her way. Just as she's eager to rush into danger by drawing its attention, so too is she eager to test her might against it when it brings those claws out to start grabbing and swiping at the group.

"I've got it's attention! And it's got... A strong grip! Haha!" Somehow, she manages to laugh even though she's got a giant mechanical claw closed right around her, wedging her sword in against one side while her gauntleted forearm covers her from the other side.

Seeing the vague blood-ish fluid leaking from the thing when Rita slices at the deathpion, Kirishima gets An Idea! "I wonder whose strength can hold... That of a ninja, or that of a machine? Let's see who can withstand each other longer!"

Once again, she bellows out a challenge to the creature as she steels her resolve and starts shoving sideways against the deathpion's claw. Rather than make any effort to actually use a ninja's classic evasion techniques to move, she aims to keep that claw occupied with her own body. "I don't suppose it's territorial, is it? Ah... We shall see!" Kirishima shouts, perhaps a little too excited in trying to restrict one source of the deathpion's general might and give her allies more opportunities to subdue it.
Rita Ma      Oil-blood stains an invisible blade, which pulls back to Rita so she can lick its edge. When the scorpion fires wildly, she doesn't flinch: a crackling spherical forcefield of bio-electricity snaps into existence around her at just the right instant, pinging the bullets off before dissipating again.

     It's all very cool, until she actually tastes the 'blood' and makes a comically disgusted face and coughs, which she then frantically has to hide when Stanley approaches.

     "Ah-! Mr. Stanley!" There's clear panic in her eyes when his afterimage disintegrates, but she recovers into relief just in time to return the high-five. The cloud, for her, is a considerable tactical complication. "What does that 'pox' do exactly? It's not safe for us to touch it either, is it?"

     The spike that protrudes from its body is out of the cloud, though. Judging that it needs to be roughed up just a little bit more, Rita double-checks its vital points with Kupot's data on her phone- that spike isn't anywhere lethal, right?- and then sprints towards the pit-immobilized scorpion and leaps into the air, landing on the embedded projectile with a diving kick to drive it deeper before leaping away again.
Metamorph One     "Told you I could." "I never doubted for a minute. But we're I'm getting confirmation from those Elite IFFs." "What's the word?" "That they're trying not to kill it." "Huh?" "The joint operation is to 'tame it', they're saying." "I'm plugging in. And what do you mean joint operation? I thought this wasn't a battlefield." "Well, it's not, but--" "So really they're asking us not to ruin their fun little hunting trip, right?" "Di, it's actually more complicated than that!" "Then they should have-- !!"

    Being up on the canyon shelf itself already protects the waiting Concord blip --now exposed on sensor systems-- from the bulk of the return fire from the thrashing zoid. The pilot of the white and orange quadrupedal mecha only has to slam the sticks and stabilizer switch to expediently drop the vaguely tank-profiled hull straight to the ground, and so many wildly fired bullets and lasers can only chew the rocky ledge to pieces or go flying overhead. A stray shot bounces from the crumbled cliff corner and ricochets into the sleek turret mount just above, spanging off what looks like it should be merely plastic hull with a burst of sparks rather than a leaving a mark of any kind.

    Even further above, two glittering stars appear in the midday sky, slightly iridescent, and moving with the aerial gait of a UFO or will-o'-wisp. Ishirou offers TACNET access, but it's he who is pinged in the end for the effort, where a connection that doesn't show up on any channel wavelengths feeds him a composite birds eye view of the scorpion with all of its firing arcs and effective ranges marked in helpful red cones, its vision in blue and movement track in green.

    "So how do you 'beat up' a giant robot scorpion 'just a little'? Electricity?" "That would leave the chassis intact, but if it's powered by an artificial intelligence, then frying its computational hardware load is as good as killing it, isn't it?" "Then I'm arming launchers one through six. G payload." "I'm sure that'll work. Plug in and I'll notify them of the active radius."

    Legs extended spider-like to keep its body profile as low as possible, the machine begins to backpedal. Small blue thruster flames ignite from invisible recesses, and the whole thing skates backwards on four plumes of ground up dirt, drifting further back into cover. Alternating triangular silo covers open up along its flanks, suddenly gushing streaks of clear white rocket exhaust in unison. The TACNET is overlaid with several small moving 'pie plates' in real time all the way up until the moment of missile impact, this time directly from above. A half-dozen car-sized craters appear in the canyon floor under them, perfectly flat rather than spherical, where the metal foliage has been pressed into a paper thin film across the bottom. Any stray zoid bodyparts overlapping them are crushed by a column of immense gravity.
Remee Halcyon Remee continues to fire her arrows at it, though she's otherwise content to let the rest of the group take the lead.

Ishirou digs in with his hacking, getting into the zoid's motor control. It's slow going at first - the control circuit layout is different from the turtle's, but he's able to grab hold of enough system threads to start slowing it down, compounded by Kupot's efforts joining in. Internal systems start fighting back against the control, but it's certainly burning up a lot of its energy and processing power to do so.

As it turns out - magical turbo diseases do in fact work on robots. There's enough systems in a zoid that mimic 'biological' processes that enough of something will take hold, even if it's not a perfect match-up.

Rita's kick drives the nail in further - causing a digital screech of pain. It definitely did not like that. It staggers to the side - right into the craters that the Metamorph pair set up, damaging it further via the intense gravity.

The zoid seems to make a decision as it gets worn down rapidly quickly. It raises its free claw, and vents open up between the pincers, rapidly launching a barrage of round orbs into the air - on impact, large quantities of smoke are released! Is this setting up for a sneak attack?

... Oh, no, actually, it's using the thick cloud of smoke to turn and start running away through the canyon, heading down a ways before making a sharp turn and heading through a gap into a dark cave.

The danger here isn't from the smoke. The danger here is the possibility that the hunting group might let their quarry slip away...!

... Well, there is actual danger to Kirishima in that it still has her in its claw as it runs, and it's not at all being gentle with her.
Kupot Kupot lets out a heavy cough as smoke begins to billow around him, putting his hand up around his mouth. Then a sudden movement before his sensors catch up, the scorpion's mass shifts under him enough to bring the moogle backwards!

Onto the rumbling back of Sleipnir. The skittering noise of the large robot is enough for Kupot to rip out of the smoke cloud on the back of the motorcycle and towards the dark cave. Dirt in the canyon flies in every direction as the Sleipnir lifts up, the roar of the engine calling out to the canyon before it slams down again and speeds towards the cave. The motorcycle chews through the distance as if it were a tiny alone dirt bike.

In truth, it is an interesting test. To take down such a powerful monster without killing it. The deadly force of his katana is useless. He must use every other skill.

Like his Legenia.

"Heroes of Old. Grant me strength beyond strength! KUPO!"

The orange orb at the bottom of his katana suddenly glows, as the Sleipnir gets closer. The katana goes away in a flash and Kupot grabs for the tail of the Scorpion. A small hand against such a mighty foe.

SUPLEX

A lift of the back. A bend backwards. And Kupot attempts to LIFT the entire Scorpion back out into view for everyone.
Stanley Padgett     Stanley's bowled over by the rampaging scorpion, but not enough to stop him from chasing it. He smashes into a rock, but flips over it and starts chasing the damn thing as he calls up some inner energy... but also one of those cans of weird energy drinks he's always got. He downs the shot of Legitimate Gas Station Beverage, shaking his head, and huffing. "Right, okay, you got this, Padgett."

    Mercutio explodes into form behind the young man, the fencer's two long swords sweeping out to the sides. "Come on, MERCUTIO. LET'S GO." There's an explosion of motion from the general location of Stanley, and suddenly 12 Stanleys are scattering down into the valley all at the same time.

    And in a sweeping set of green arcs, all of them fly in at the Scorpo-Bot in graceful curves... and one by one, they fizzle out, as attacks and debris pass through the illusions. And in the end, there's just one Stanley Padgett, that massive ramshackle rapier pointing straight down as he tries to pin the robot to the dirt like it was mounted on a pin board.

    "METEORA!"
Ishirou The black smoke makes it next to impossible to see.  The problem is that Ishirou didn't need to see with his eyes in the visual spectrum.  His eyes covered more than that, and his sense of hearing could compensate for that.  He flies out of the cloud to try and clear the residual smoke off of himself and does a system purge.  

His hands work furiously across the keyboard, and thanks to Kirishima being caught in its claw he's able to track it down very easily.  "Burrower!  Come forth!" he summons a different machine out of his subspace pocket this time.  The flight unit detaches and reforms, entering the pocket again to go on standby, while the borrower, a small tank-like entity with two drills on it detaches and attaches to Ishirou.

While he is doing this, he's calculating vectors.  He's updating timetables, and he's attempting to figure out locations.  How to get it to move just the way he wants it, and how to put his allies there.  He sends a plan to both Metamorph One pilots and Rita, aiming to try and coordinate a plan.  Tactical data is uploaded, and Ishirou hits the ground and starts burrowing.

Moments later, he comes up right underneath the Scorpion, aiming a blast of electrokinetic energy upwards.  That is today, he's burrowing and throwing the ground UP at the Scorpion to try and scare it out of the hole and hopefully, have Rita right where she needs to be.
Kirishima "It's working! Don't let up, but don't get too reckless. We don't know what it's capable of if it's backed into a corner!" Kirishima warns as she continues thrashing about and struggling with the deathpion, all but ignoring the mounting cuts and bruises building up on her from getting pinched and swung about so haphazardly.

It's not as though it doesn't hurt, but Kirishima's finding ways to make it work for her. "Feisty little giant thing... I've got it right where I want it!" She shouts despite clearly being where the deathpion wants her (in a claw) (being crushed), but her tone and her face show no signs of concern. After all, a bit of blood here and some tattered clothes here just make her look more battle-damaged and cooler!

Plus, it'd be hard to miss where they're going. Kirishima's scarf continues billowing out behind her through the smoke even during the deathpion's escape, and she's making sure it really goes out there so as to keep the chase on despite the machine's best efforts.

Once they're in the cave and the need for light increases, Kirishima comes up with a new daring plan: She's going to set the machine on fire. Running through all manner of complex-looking hand seals with her free hand, she finishes it off by raising her sword in the other hand, then turning it downwards and slamming the tip of the giant knife downwards against the offending claw while the blade is suddenly coated in flames*!

*It's actually a fireball** being launched at point blank range at the same time as her downwards stab.
**It's actually an explosive cannon shot. It just looks like a fireball.
Metamorph One     "Target's retreating. We're not being paid to hold the point. Engaging pursuit?" "Affirmative-- I mean yes, let's go! They won't be able to tame it if it escapes, after all!" "Mmm, that top speed isn't bad, but it's moving in a straight line along the canyon. Easy." "The smoke is going to be a problem for those guys though, right? I'll call it out from here."

    No longer under fire, the machine springs up from its low hunker in an instant, the smooth whine of mechanical articulation revving up to high gear as it turns and sprints in the same direction as the fleeing zoid, following a parallel path from above, carving up solid rock with alternating lunging steps that push it well over highway speed, just before the rear afterburners kick in the instant its weight is fully raised, and send it rocketing forward at triple that speed.

    The doppler shriek of the engine. A rapid sequence of chest-rattling explosions. Blossoms of fire erupting from a canyon wall up ahead. Thousands of pounds of rock are liberated into a tumbling landslide ahead of the zoid. A flash of blue fire from above. The green light trails of fast-moving optics. The white-orange mech crashes almost vertically against the collapsed wall, then leaps off sideways and smashes into the ground just before the rubble pile, adding to the barrier with a physical bodyblock. Frontal ball turrets saccade to it like eyes, and unleash twin hails of rapid energy fire staight into the charging scoprion's face, forcing it to shield itself. A grapnel cable fires from beneath with a whisper thin crack, hooking to one of its legs and reeling to pull it out from under.

    At the same time, the pursuing Elites on the hunt are given their update. Less a message, and more a vision. An eerily clear composite of the zoid itself, laid over their physical sight as if it were projected onto one eye. The strange hueshift surrounding it doesn't seem to matter to the accuracy of pursuing and attacking it, save those with the propensity to notice that its most damaged and least armoured weak points are marked with what colour theory refers to as 'hungry colours'.
Rita Ma      Following Ishirou's map data on her phone- and after a moment of disorientation and a soft gasp, Elara's psychic vision-, Rita dashes through the cloud after the scorpion while weaving around the gravity pieplates. Once she shimmers into invisibility, she even overtakes it.

     Nobody can see the way she runs, now. But the prints in the canyon's dirt don't look bipedal anymore.

     She only reappears when she's next to Metamorph One, bolstering their obstruction.

     That electric forcefield snaps into existence around her again, serving as a hard roadblock- trying to ram through will only get it electrocuted. Even so, seeing something that size charging her down is enough to make her eyes widen and heart race.

     Rita forces herself to stay composed. She raises her hand towards the weakened monster, fingers outstretched, but no attack is forthcoming.

     Stop. Acknowledge me. Those aren't really words. They're a command written in instinct, a wrenching realignment of biological priorities. I am your Queen.

     She's tasted of its 'blood', after all. Any monster linked to her should be her subject.

     The forcefield snaps off, and Rita walks forward, laying her hand on the zoid's head. It's a surprisingly gentle gesture, but it remains to be seen whether the scorpion will respond in kind.
Remee Halcyon Via the group's efforts, they manage to catch up with the deathpion, and blast away at it... Meteors, and fireballs*, and energy shots, with grappling attacks and SUPLEXES and electromagnetism all keeping it in position-

And Rita comes in, with a command that can't be disobeyed.

The zoid shudders - fighting back against the damage being done both outside and in. It's been ambushed, worn down, chased, pinned down, and ultimately, finally, Rita's command can't not be obeyed.

It stops.
Its tail lowers.
It releases Kirishima.
It bows its head.
It accepts the pats.
Ishirou Ishirou burrows up out of the ground and lands.  The drills and armor that just connected disconnect and reform into the Driller.  It reenters the subspace pocket, as Ishirou runs up to Rita and the Scorpion Zoid.  "Hey nice, it worked.  Let me work on making it tame.." he says, holding a hand on the Zoid.

He'll just have to reprogram some things to make it more docile for the crew and listen to them.  

"I can't believe that works on Zoids..?  Biohacking didn't seem to take hold as much as normal hacking...though I guess it's because it's more animal-minded?" he guesses, not entirely sure.  
Rita Ma      A deep, deep sigh of relief escapes Rita when it slackens and accepts her touch (and when it puts down Kirishima, but that's secondary).

     "It's okay," she murmurs softly. "It's okay. You're hurting, aren't you? We can get that fixed up later."

     It's only once she's climbed up its leg onto its back that she starts looking a little self-conscious, turning her body halfway away from the rest of the group. "Um, thanks. For making that possible. And for trusting me with it. It'll behave, I promise."

     Ishirou's question, even if not completely off-topic, does provide a slight distraction. She perks up, a little baffled. "What do you mean? It's 'a monster', isn't it? Why shouldn't it work?"
Kupot After MIGHTILY FLIPPING THE SCORPION, Kupot stops to watch Rita Ma. A long pause. Then an ahhh, "You have that ancient kupo. Powerful, in the right hands. One of the ancient legendary skills."
Ishirou Ishirou blinks, not exactly sure what to say to Rita's response.  Sure it's not human, but would you really call a Zoid a monster..?  He's not sure, they're animal robots.  They're not specifically here to kill humans, right?

"Rita, what...is a Monster in your definition?" he asks, not sure how to phrase it, so decides to go directly.  "Would animals fall into this category?"
Kirishima Kirishima sees bits and pieces of what's happening to the deathpion. She sees the swarm of rapier-wielders rushing at it from above, the electricity-blasting drill from below, the colors telling her where to strike, and then everything turning upside down. Rather than scrambling out from the zoid's claw, she accepts her fate in being (indirectly) suplexed with it (along with looking briefly excited at the apex of the maneuver).

It's not until the dust clears and the deathpion finally relents under the unseen command that she finally pulls herself out from its grip, and her confusion grows when it's suddenly...

"... Obedient? Did something change?" The ninja holds back a wince as she pulls herself back up, looking between Rita and the deathpion several times to make sure her eyes aren't playing tricks on her. "... Well, it seems our mission to subdue the machine alive has been a rousing success!"

Without really knowing just how it happened, Kirishima simply looks pleased even though her mouth is completely covered by that mask. She chuckles lightly at Rita's thanks, approaching her and walking up the scorpion's leg (literally, no climbing needed) towards Rita and only then noticing the strange angling of her body.

Kirishima stops abruptly, takes off her conveniently large scarf, then throws it over Rita as if offering her something to cover herself with. "Our faith is well placed, Miss Rita. Do not worry, as we know you'll be able to handle this swimmingly."

Still keeping her gaze averted while probably having the wrong idea entirely, she hops over towards Kupot to offer him a fist bump. "And that technique of yours at the end... Quite formidable, even if the machine beast may not know how to sell it yet."
Remee Halcyon When the group's ready to go back, the scorpion follows orders without too much trouble. The trip back is, actually, slightly more fraught with the giant scorpion in tow than not - it attracts a bit more curious attention, it's a bit more of an apparent threat than the half dozen small things that were intruding their way across various territories.

After a few more close calls, the expedition returns to Treedrassil... and the Luca's are there at the gate, eager to get the zoid situated in the makeshift mecha bay and start examining it. The commander is waiting there as well, and gives the group a single nod.

"Nicely done. I think that puts to rest any lingering doubt about your abilities... not that there was much to begin with."

With one more zoid to examine, there's a shift in the camp's economy (so to speak), with resources being freed up that were previously being set aside, and the expedition having more clout to reallocate them. It's not a wagonload of dismembered zoid parts, exactly, but it's just as good and in some ways better. And along with that, no shortage of opinions coming at the elites about how to handle that reallocation. "Getting these tame is one thing," says Luca-M, as the deathpion gets situated. "Figuring out how to ride them is going to be another. We could use just a bit more help. Could get you some support out in the field - or see if we can't set you up with one to ride."

"We're close to a breakthrough," says Boss Cat, when the topic comes up later. "Got some meals planned that'll knock your socks off - knock the zoids socks off, the other armies' socks off, everyone's socks off. Heading out with a good meal and killer rations in your packs can do more than you'd think."

"Of course we can always use some more supplies," comments one of the monks, at one point. "We're trying to arm an entire operation, and our faith demands we deliver nothing less than the best. You'd benefit as well, of course."

There's only so much to go around - whose pet project here gets progressed first?
Rita Ma      "An 'ancient kupo'??" Rita glances down at her teammate, obviously not understanding. And yet, the categorization seems to relieve her- the idea that it's a known thing she doesn't have to explain is appealing.

     She receives Kirishima's scarf, and praise, with her legs pulled up against her chest and a bashful smile blossoming on her face. "Thanks! That looked really scary when it had a hold of you. Are you okay, Ms. Kirishima?"

     Rita's halfway through pulling Metamorph One's spike out of the zoid's body when Ishirou's question hits her. "Huh? Of course animals aren't monsters. Monsters are..." She sounds confident at first, but then realizes she doesn't actually have a definition to hand.

     "I think it's..." 'Bleeding' hydraulics are stemmed with the crude tools she has to hand. Someone more skilled can take a closer look at them later. "... I don't know. I've never had to think about it very hard, Mr. Ishirou. You just know it when you see it. A monster is a monster, right?"
Kupot "Does the animal kupo fire?" Kupot asks, this is certainly an easy question.

Kupot looks at the fist briefly. He is still clearly in fight mode and has to take a breath, relax, think once again, and pound knuckles with his fist. "Another ancient technique. Perfected by the monk heroes of kupo."

BACK AT HOME BASE. Kupot frowns. "You will need more supplies, kupo. You cannot continue to hunt without armed hunters."
Ishirou Ishirou will work with Rita to help the internals compensate for the damage outside by rerouting power and instructing the creature internally on how to avoid hurting itself more.  To Kupot, and the general question at large about where to resource things...

"I agree with the Luca's.  The more breakthroughs we make with the Zoids, the more resources we'll have for everything else, including extra support on the field.  This also comes with knowledge about how the Zoids live and act out in the wild.  This will give us a major tactical advantage over the two empires trying to turn them into war machines, as well as sure up the advantages and head, start they have on us."

To Rita he seems to think on her words for a moment.  "See, when I think of monsters..." he says, calmly, "I think of the monsters from your world, the monsters from Lilian's world, and the Nullborn from my world.  They just...hurt and kill humans specifically, for no other reason than they have to."

"But..." he says patting the Zoid, "It's more an animal.  Sure it's /dangerous/ but it's acting on instincts and not ill will toward humans specifically.  I think maybe your power has more influence than you might consider.  Or it's advanced with your time out in the Multiverse..?  Has it worked on anything else?"

He pauses, remembering that doctor, and he looks anxious for a moment.  "You know what, never mind.  It's not important unless you think it is... what /is/ important right now are protecting these creatures, right?"
Kirishima Turning back to Rita, Kirishima's mask creases slightly from the confident smile coming up underneath it. "Of course! A ninja knows no fear against any opponent, no matter the size difference or power gap between them. That unwavering courage is what it means to be a true ninja!" She boasts, following a far different approach than what Rita may have seen of her in their adventures elsewhere.

Even with all that posturing, however, Kirishima will certainly feel the aches and bruising in the morning. She's still working off the adrenaline right now, though, so it's easy to keep her spirits high before that all sets in.

Or by the time the group gets back to camp, even. Luckily, she has the mask on, so it's easy to hide the mild grimaces with each step. When the topic of how to allocate resources comes up, Kirishima has a pretty easy method in mind already: "I believe they should be split between improved gear and improved food. Stronger equipment is vital for facing off with stronger opponents, and better food will sustain morale during longer projects such as this."
Rita Ma      "Is that what being a ninja means?" Rita says on the ride back, soaking up Kirishima's description with not a trace of skepticism. "But Ms. Rose and Ms. Violet never said anything about bravery. Are you from different schools, maybe?"

     ----

     For a tiny girl huddled up in a soft scarf, Rita is surprisingly firm with Luca. "It's still 'mine', you know. If you want to have people ride them when I'm not here, I don't mind. But it isn't like we'd need that to be supported."

     She slides off of its back and raises her hand, to demonstrate. The scorpion raises its claw at the same time.

     "But, for that same reason, if you could bring me any other tame ones you get... that'd be a big help. I'd still like that spear built eventually, but I think that's a good use of resources."

     When Ishirou presses her a little further, she smiles a sad little smile and can't look him in the eye.

     "I know I'm not pushing the limits of what I can do, Mr. Ishirou. That's sort of on purpose. I don't think it's a good idea to. Whenever I have in the past, it's changed me in ways I didn't like. Maybe I could experiment a little more, but..."

     She shakes her head, still looking at a corner of the floor. "These aren't the kinds of powers that you 'train'. That's how I feel."
Stanley Padgett     After all that running around and walking for hours and travel and fighting and eating 4 people's worth of food, and the weird energy shots and-

    Stanley Marigold Padgett is passed out. Like, dead to the world, in whatever safe, soft, dark spot he can find. Back to a wall, hugging at his sword.