Difference between revisions of "3889/IFOS: Action, Please"

Revision as of 07:59, 9 March 2016

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    For very nearly the last time, welcome back to Amarillo.

    I mean, I guess? Technically? We're driving AWAY from it right now... uh, let me take a step back a second.

    

    I suppose I should start with this. That- well, possibly a bit yellower than that, but still- that giant spacecraft is currently hovering some distance away from Amarillo, over Bushland. But it's paused there before it could finish rising upwards. The reason for that? Well, that's why we're heading down route 87.

    How many people can you cram into a Corvette, anyway? Presumably more than just Ren, who's driving the same convertible car he had in the Palo Duro race. We needed to move fast because, well, as he summed up briefly... the spaceship's empty. Its inhabitants, kidnapped, are the reason we're chasing- driving towards that old, burned-out, wrecked oil refinery that Tomoyo and Staren investigated... I'd say that 'it's fitting that this whole thing is ending where it started', but.

    Let's be honest.
    We're dealing with what most Exalted would called a Raksha, here. They PLANNED it this way.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika was able to foist Hugo on someone for a few hours, but otherwise she only narrowly manages to get here in time to not miss anything. She's currently sitting shotgun with Ren up front, looking antsy as she grips her sword tightly.

    "I only hope we are not too late." She says quietly, trying to not smooth her tail against the seats. Thing phases through clothes but it can't go through a seat? What kind of ridiculous magic is this?

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     After hearing Ren's call for help, Twilight Sparkle hopped in her rocket car again! It was rather fortuitous that she and Pinkie Pie had built this thing. It had come in handy on several occassions now. Of course, when is a rocket car not handy? Twilight is in her racing outfit again, with a racing helmet that has a cutout so her horn pokes through.

     After bursting through the nearest warp gate, Twilight had poured extra magic into the engine in order to catch up with Ren. Now, she was panting a bit as she pulled up alongside him, her car's twin rockets spewing purple flames and sparkles behind each side of her racing car. She no doubt has a few passengers, since she designed the car to hold four comfortably and five or even six if they squeeze in like sardines. And with no roof it is easy to get in and out. "Why were these people kidnapped?" she calls out as she drives along with Ren, her voice carrying through their radios so that she can easily be heard.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is in the car along with Ren. She wanted to see the liftoff and this new emergency had her eager to try to help out. She found herself frowning in frustration, because the timing of it was awful, and it seemed to play out like the conclusion to many books she had read. She looks unhappy but she holds herself with a confident composure.

    She brought her sword today. She taps on the scabbard with her fingers. "I hope I don't have to use this today," she mumbles to herself.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     Kazuko's in Ren's car as well, practically hanging out of a window to give everyone else more room to fit and to keep her naginata out of their faces. She's oddly quiet today, though, since for once...

     She's actually looking rather pissed. Not at anyone in the car, but rather that giant spacecraft. Even though she's not really sure what's been going on in Amarillo, something about the whole situation has just rubbed her the wrong way. She might not have any conclusive proof that this thing is what's been responsible for the rash of incidents popping up in the city whose name she can't even pronounce properly, but it has to be them that's responsible for the situation Hugo's in.

     "Who cares why? Whoever's doing all this is getting their butts kicked!" She's not going to be holding anything back today, is she?

Corona Arclite has posed:
How many people -can- you cram into a car? Fortunately Corona isn't a very big girl and easy to squeeze in somewhere after she jammed most of her equipment into the storage of her matter manipulator, hanging onto her hat with one hand to keep it in place during the vehicular mad dash to the rescue. She could of grabbed her own ride, but honestly this was faster. And after being holed up in her workshop for a good week or more she wasn't really in the mood to drive. Just bust some jerks in the face for being jerks.

She does still lean out to get a look at Twilight's rocket-car and give the unicorn a whoop of approval.

Gakupo Kamui (686) has posed:
Gakupo can sit up on the back of the convertible (if the top's down) with just his feet in she car if necessary. Heck, he'd ride in the trunk if he has to. He's missed a lot, but he heard that part on the radio-- that the aliens have been kidnapped. There's no way he WASN'T going to come to the party when he heard that.

After the situation they'd dealt with, with the demons that tried to steal the piece of the spaceship, Gakupo wasn't willing to just wait and see how thing turned out. Those things weren't reasonable, nor were they able to be reasoned with. But then... they're demons (not being Exalted, he doesn't think of them as 'Raksha').

So of course he's there. He remains quiet, though, a rarely seen expression on his face. It's a dangerous expression... apparently he's going in with full expectations of having to use that weapon.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Hrrn. If we were too late, there'd be no point. No, this thing wants an audience," Ren tells Kirika and Twilight over the sounds of wind shear. What 'something' is that? Well, we've been calling him Jesse...

    Whatever's going on here at the burned out oil refinery, it's not gonna be good.

    All four of the aliens who have been hiding out in Bushland are currently crammed into a rather small, pathetically stereotypical portable cage- cube-shaped, grey metal, bars, even a padlock on it. Maria Smith is also here- and she's tied up with brown old rope and gagged with fabric, hanging from another length of rope off of a piece of rebar sticking out of a shattered piece of factory wall.

    Also, Mike's here, so he clearly didn't die after all, but...

    Well, Mike's seen better days. For one thing he's really, /really/ badly burnscarred, with about three different skin tones right now and all of them 'significantly unnatural'. His eyes are sunken, blue hair rather patchy... and if that wasn't bad enough, he's clearly flanked on both sides by what seem to be a pair of ghosts. Even as a mass of ectoplasmic, not-so-buttkickable (sorry Kazuko) essence, 'Bricktop' and 'Edelweiss' are wearing shades and the vestiges of stylish suits.

    Yeah, you might have something to use that on, Ainsley.

Back in the city, the people of Amarillo are aghast at the colossal UFO dominating the skyline. People are quaking, crying, screaming at each other. Out in the streets, old aggressions flare up, people fight in public, windows are broken. Tobe is forced to run from a handful of people with rocks.

    Mike waves at the approaching vehicles and the people riding in them, and laughs at the top of his lungs. In three voices at once, no less.

    "You made it to the glorious finale!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren is in the rocket car, in his power armor. "I don't like this... I've never actually fought a Raksha..." he mutters as they approach.
    And there is the most stereotypical cage ever. Staren has to bite back his words... the desire to try to reason with Mike(?) is strong.
    But, maybe Raksha just require a different kind of argument?
    "You know, it's not often the villain stands down willingly after a little chat. If you want to make this a story people will remember... We /fight/ bad guys every day. Sovwhat do you say? How about making today /different/?"

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika gets out of the car pretty quickly, and she draws her sword upon seeing Mike's burned visage. She's seen ugly before, but that doesn't make Mike any more pleasant to look at. She furrows her brow before she nods to Ren, "Keep him talking." She tells the others, before motioning for Kazuko to follow her.

    The fox is nimble, moving her way towards where Maria is tied up. Climbing her way up to the restrained woman, her arm reaches out with her sword to the ropes tying the woman, trying to cut her free. "HOld still, my lady, we are here to help..."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley climbs out of the car, drawing the longsword -- 'Mercy' is etched into the side of it -- and leaving the scabbard in the car. She steps out to a point where she can properly stare down Mike and the pair of strange ghost-like beings. She decides to speak.

    "He's right." She gestures with a hand to Staren. "You kidnap these innocents, and then a team of heros arrives to fight you and rescue them from your clutches. It plays out like clockwork, a time-tested dance that never changes. But that is because of a lack of awareness." She taps the side of her head. "Do you want this to end in such a typical way?"

    To say she drips with confidence would be an understatement. "You will not come out of this in one piece, if you choose the usual path." Actually, her words are magically reinforced to sound confident.

    "If you let them go, this place will take a step toward healing. If you choose to stand down, this will conclude in a way that only we expect. If not, you will be... common. Boring."

    She lids her eyes, as if she expects them to make the 'boring' choice.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     "So they're ready for us? That's..." Kazuko grumbles quietly while checking her naginata, making sure the polearm is still in her hand (it is!) before stepping out of the vehicle. "That's fine. We just need to destroy the box and beat up whoever's responsible, then."

     She still sounds pissed. The only thing stopping her from starting a fight herself is how it appears that the others are trying for a more diplomatic solution, and she's not about to jeopardize that. Besides, Kirika's got something for her to help with!

     Maybe that's how her sister feels sometimes.

     Heading towards Maria as well, Kazuko uses her naginata to try and remove some of those bindings around Maria as well, but in a way that she's ready to toss that weapon aside and cushion her fall should Maria... Well, fall.

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Doubt that's gonna work, but points fer tryin'," Corona murmurs as people are trying to speechify at the bad guys. Granted, it's as much a distraction as anything else. As they hop off the car and get ready for a throwdown she unslings the manipulator from her belt and activates it, but doesn't actually pull anything out of inventory yet. Let's see what she actually -needs- to start slinging first...

"Yeah, what they all said. Just stand down or this is gonna get cliche darn rawht fast."

Though honestly, she's already got her thumb on a certain recall command, ready to move. Makes a quick calculation of where the cage with the alien critters sits, in case the rescuers don't get to it before holy hell breaks out.

Gakupo Kamui (686) has posed:
Gakupo's done with reasoning. At least where the ghosts are concerned-- they pretty well showed they're not going to be swayed from their course by words. And he's pretty sure Mike CAN'T be reasoned with at this point. A fight is probably the only recourse. But since the others seem to be at least trying for the peaceful solution, he stands back for the time being.

But still, his headset begins to glow, and a low hum of energy sounds from somewhere vaguely near his throat. He's keying up for an attack. Hopefully the reasoning will work. But if it doesn't, he's ready. Bonus points, he's being a distraction, because that quiet energy hum in his throat is an odd, threatening enough sound that it should draw attention too.

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight blinks in surprise when she hears a whoop of praise from Corona. The pony smiles bashfully at the praise, then returns her attention to the platform they are approaching. She winces when she sees Mike. He might be a badguy, but Twilight still feels a bit bad for having some part in someone being disfigured.

     That isn't going to stop her from stopping him, though. As Staren and Ainsley start diplomactic options, Twilight hops out of her car, and in a shower of sparkles that flow over her body and coalesce into...well, usually it would be her Harmony Armor, but with how this world's magical fields work, what appears on her is a set of biker gang-style road leathers. A thick leather jacket, leather pants, both with a few tassles and her QT-mark emblazened on the back of the jacket and the flanks of the pants. Twilight blinks as she notices the change in her usual outfit, but disregards it quickly since there are more important things to deal with. Last to appear is her magic book, which hovers about her like some sort of fairy.

     "Glorious? How is it glorious to kidnap people and threaten them with harm?!" the purple pony asks, shaking her head. "I don't know what you are trying to accomplish, but these guys are just lost and trying to get back home. You have no right to keep them from leaving." she says as she joins Staren and Ainsley.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Ren narrows his eyes. "What I'd really like to know is why you're even chooing to make this your stage. This is a million light years away from Creation, how did you even /get here/? What nudged you off course and into that spaceship in the first place?"

    Mike's head tilts- I'd say 'Mike tilts his head', but it's probably more accurate this way since it's not very likely Mike is conciously doing anything. He listens to what Ainsley and Staren have to say... and crosses his arms, giving this really unpleasant grin that's made much worse by the burns.

    "Oh, I'm probably fine with standing down and letting /them/ go," Mike- well, no, 'Jesse' says.

    Maria can't really say anything here, because gags, but when she spots Kirika out of the corner of her eye- and lands in Kazuko's arms- she desperately motions with her eyes to the aliens as well. She's kind of attached to them.

    "After all," Jesse continues. "You were never really meant to be the audience for this performance, if you know what I mean? Everyone was a means to an end, even you."

    "This is kind of a swansong, after all. And I perform for the BIG crowds. I'm going out with a final number the city'll never forget. I've been priming the atmosphere for quite a while now- all of that terror and despair after they lost, what was his name? Elvis Presley?"

    "So-" and this time, the voice is coming from the red, jewel-studded reliquary that's all of twenty feet away from where everyone's rolled up on.

Back in Amarillo, red sparks crackle from the people all over the city, taking the form of angry, buzzing motes of essence that begin to bleed out of people. Unnatural storm clouds begin to blanket the sky, and the energy forming in the city starts flowing out towards here.

    Metal, machinery and wreckage start to magnetize, implode and transform around the Yaoguai reliquary, fusing into a humanoid shape made of heated steel. Whitewashed wall fragments cling to a cylindrical torso, red earth becoming a rigid cape-

    And Mike drops to the ground as the swirling ghostly energy fuses with it-

    "Let's give him back to the people! But I really think they should be careful what they wish for. Amarillo and its inhabitants will forever remember the rampage of..."

    "The..."

        

        A N T I
            K I N G

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqXEK0hogNk
    A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley and Junkie XL
ELV1S - 1968, 2002

    "Oh, that's so not right," Ren grumbles.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley lets out a disappointed sigh as this develops. Amarillo itself was the audience, was it? She looks off toward the city, full of people just pouring with anger and hate, and turns her attention back to the developments that are drawing all of that emotion. She had activated her Arcane Sight for this, watching the flow of emotion. Hate is all she gets from this sight.

    But all anger has a root cause. An expectation spurned by life's inevitabilities. These people are angry, at least some of them, because they loved Elvis and the music he brought to their lives. They're angry because they need someone to blame. Angry because they have no explanation for this tragedy.

    So Ainsley holds out her hand at the great big twisted golem, and tries to use her 'essence,' the magic of her being, much in the same way the entity was formed. She tries to pour all her understanding of love and of excitement toward it, to combat the hate that fuels it. To drive a wedge into there.

    A strange, warm, fuzzy feeling emanates from her general vicinity. She smiles a little, but only to focus the emotion. To communicate it properly with her spell.

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Welp," Corona cocks her head back a bit to look up as the 'final bosss' takes form. "That explains why he wanted it in a place fulla junk." But that's right up her alley, isn't it now?

Compared to the freakshow's she's been dealing with lately, this is a pleasant change of pace. A bit magical, a bit mechanical, but certainly a lot more along her usual lines of work.

Corona clicks the command she was holding, and drops a small metal box out of the manipulator as she dashes off to the side. The mechanical block quickly unfolds with the clatter of clockworks to reveal a small turret that spins up and starts rattling off clusters of rounds at the Anti-King. It's small rapid fire, probably not going to do a lot of damage. But it will harass the thing until she can find a better position.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    In the corner of her eye, Kirika spies the gigantic robot appear. "As if this could not get more ridiculous." She mutters, before she goes to cut Marie free. After that, she sees the caged aliens and nod to her, jumping down and running towards the cage.

    Aliens need freedom, Kirika can do that. With her sword, she cuts the cage open after calling out, "Get back!" to avoid catching them in her slash.

    "Kazuko, get them out of here!" She calls out, before she begins to head towards the gigantic mecha itself. She'll make a running leap, slashing at the ankle of the mecha with her katana.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     Grunting as her legs buckle a bit under Maria, Kazuko settles back on the floor after a moment to set the captive down and remove the gags from her face. Luckily, her naginata's already a few feet away to make sure nobody accidentally cuts themselves on the thing, and her attention is easily drawn to the captive aliens afterwards.

     "Them, too? Okay. So they're on our side, but the weird ghost... Giant guy isn't." Kazuko murmurs, possibly more for herself than anyone else. Is she even old enough to know who Elvis is? Sure, the name's sort of familiar, but...

     "He's the guy tat made the weird sandwich, right?" That's... Something, at least. "On it, Miss Kirika!" After checking Maria once over for injuries and pointing towards where the group had parked their cars, she turns back to the cage holding the aliens. "This way! The sooner you get somewhere safe, the sooner we can kick this thing's giant metal butt!" The martial artist even moves into position to prepare herself for catching the aliens should they need help landing, but... Can't they hover or something? Would catching them crush her? Only one way to find out!

Staren has posed:
    Well, damn. Staren can't argue that this won't leave an impression on Amarillo.

    He's also not really prepared to fight a giant gossamer-animated construct. Maybe if he had his robot, but he doesn't... It's deploying to him by remote now, of course, but who knows if it'll get here in time? And maybe if it was a regular mecha, he could go for weak points... but this doesn't rely on complex machines to function!

    So, he's kind of stuck. For now, he fires his beam cannons just to see if they'll do any damage...

    And then he has a thought. Did the Raksha posessing Mike just posess that construct? Does... that mean fey weaknesses he prepared for will work too? It's worth a shot! Six magic-marker sized missiles launch from his arms. They're small, but they're modified incendiaries designed to try and blow a way inside for a penetrator combined with burning iron filings. Fey are weak to iron, right? Yeah, Staren has no idea if that applies here but it was worth a shot!

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight Sparkle looks around worriedly as all that negative energy flowing from the city, and even more worriedly as the metals and other materials form into a gigantic machine creature. "I don't know who Elvis Presley is, but this thing will never reach the city if we have anything to do with it!" The pony looks around quickly, then back toward the town. Like Ainsley, Twilight is considering how to calm the people and take away this nightmare's power. There's a spell she's used in the past to calm an angry creature, but she isn't sure how she can cast it over such a large area.

     Then, it hits her! She knows how to do it! "Guys! I have an idea!" she calls out, then motions for the others to follow her back into the rocket car. "We don't have much time." she explains as she and whoever comes with her rocket back toward town. As they drive she explains the plan to the others. Basically? They are going to pull something that happens quite often in Equestria. An impromptu concert! But, they will need equipment. Instruments and amplifiers, and lights. Twilight will leave that to others if possible! She'll have her hooves busy with something else!

     She rockets back into the city as fast as possible, then hops out of her rocket car and leaves it for the others to use. Then, she disappears in a burst of light, appearing much deeper into the city. This is the place, where sound will echo wonderfully off of the tall buildings, where the stage will go!

Gakupo Kamui (686) has posed:
Of course. Reasoning was impossible from the start, wasn't it? Gakupo hears the radio conversation and realizes that. And now there's a giant mecha Elvis? It looks like they're going to have to bring down a mecha-kaiju Elvis now...

But then Ainsley seems to have another idea. That isn't an attack. The light is far too gentle, and doesn't appear to be having any real physical effect on the thing. This gives him pause, long enough for Twilight sparkle to speak up. He goes with her in the rocket car. And listens to her plan. "Oh! That's how I got through to the aliens before!" he replies. The impromptu concert was enough to communicate his peaceful intentions and get the aliens to open up about their plight. Maybe it'll be enough to fix this, too.

He heads for where Twilight Sparkle is going, though a bit slower. "Wait! I have a built-in synthesizer! And I can project the sound of my voice and music! I have plugs in my headset for instruments, too." So at least three instruments can go through his internal amplifiers.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    And this is where things get interesting.

    Fortunately, the padlock on the aliens' cage is just a hardware store padlock. Once that's cut open they're happy to fly out as quickly and softly as possible and give Kirika and Kazuko their huggy gratitude, as well as Maria. They're not really very big or heavy, fortunately.

    "Should we find somewhere that's intact to hide in?" Maria asks Kazuko, but she can't help to stare at the humungous AntiKing now and again. "...that terrible creature... the King wasn't just popular," she says to Kazuko and Twilight. "He made people feel thrilled, and excited, and happy-- if only these people could remember, to take comfort in the memory of the good times..."

    Funnily enough, that just so happens to be exactly what kind of sentiment other people share, too. Ainsley has a very good measure of things, and it's sparking off ideas already. Ren takes Maria and the aliens to his car, and it's time to rush back to the edge of the city.

    Leaving Mike behind him in the ruins, the AntiKing is happy to let them do as they will, preferring to take a lumbering stride towards the city. He's probably playing 'In the Ghetto' as he does so, depressingly miserable song that it is.

    Of course, while he does so, he's got problems to contend with to be sure. The problem with putting all of your essence into a huge artificial body is that you feel everything that happens to it- like Corona's turret, which is sufficiently like an unpleasant rash that he's going to try kicking and stomping shockwaves at the source of the problem. Whether this makes Kirika more of a problem for him, or him more of a problem for her- well, I guess that depends on how good she is at hitting and fading.

    Staren gets a far more immediate response, as the unrefined iron he's throwing is definitely more uncomfortable than heavily worked steel. The AntiKing's mouth opens to show flickering, angry flames inside, and it's going to start spitting fireballs now as well!

    The people in the city are out in the streets, but since the giant is draining their energy many of them seem to stand around in a mix of languish and fear. Hopefully... hopefully what Ainsley, Twilight and Gakupo are whipping together is going to work. That 'love' is definitely causing them to, at least acknowledge the Union agents as they get to work, and no one is necessarily going to /stop/ them so they're free to ransack whatever stores they need at short notice.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley follows along with the rest of the heroes, not wanting to get left behind while they deal with the Anti King. She followed until the other two were ready to start setting up, and then she found a place to stand, somewhere high up, and she held up her hands and called to the people of Amarillo. Her voice boomed over the city, and she asked them a small favor.

    "Now that you aren't blinded by anger, you can see what it's doing!" She points off in the direction of the Anti King. "But it isn't hopeless. Even if the King is gone, his music still made you happy, it made you energetic, it filled you with all the positive emotions you expect out of life. He was a shining star!"

    "We need you to cheer for him, and then we need you to sing. When the song starts, sing with us, and put are your heart and soul into it!"

    "As loud as you can!" she says, holding her arms up.

    If this works and it all starts to get musical, she'll try to use her magic to be the middleman for all the emotion. To Communicate all of that excitement and happiness back at the Anti King like a tidal wave. She'll be the amplifier, because... well, she can't do much else here. Her sword isn't made for fighting giant metal monsters.

Finna (513) has posed:
    And where is Finna in all of this?

    Of course... why even bother asking? She's...

    Biding her time.

    Nobody noticed the tiny fox skitter out of one of the cars when the group arrived. And when all eyes were on the transforming Raksha-Mike (what IS going on there anyways?!) nobody noticed the fox scramble-dashing UP some of the oil refinery's construction. Hopping from pipe to pipe and steel girder to girder, nimble paws having no trouble finding purchase and balancing on the oddest protrusions and angles. She's gaining altitude. Gaining height. Gaining...

    An advantage.

    "The King, huh? Heard a few recordings of that guy. He had something special. But that's all the Fair Folk are when you get down to it!" The little fox's form ripples and flows upwards, flesh resculpting in torrents like a reverse waterfall. In no time at all her limbs thicken and stretch, torso becomes hmanoid, and animal features melt away to reveal Finna in her corduroy local attire with the pocketed shirt. Except her tattoos shine through the clothing on full display and fox features twinkle and shimmer in non-existent moonlight. The crescent moon crest also shines from her forehead.

    "Copy-cats. But if you wanna be a King... I'll be the arrow in that king's back!" She's doing her absolute best to sound fearless, but really...

    The sight of that GIANT RAKSHA-THING made of BUILDING PARTS AND STEEL is a pretty clear message to RUN THE HECK AWAY, don't fight that thing head-on.

    So yeah. She's sweating bullets too here.

    Finna's carrying a bow though, as promised. Made of wood and horn and other things, a thing of the distant past. She draws several arrows from her quiver at once and rapidly fires them off at what she HOPES are structural weakpoints in that thing. Or failing that, at least she'll distract the hell out of it and buy time for the occultists to do... whatever it is they seem to be doing!

    From what her sharp eyes are picking up, it sounds like a CRAZY way to deal with a Raksha.

    Maybe the good kind of crazy though.

Corona Arclite has posed:
In all honesty all it takes is a good stomp or two to crumble the turret, but that's okay. It did what it was suppose to do as far as annoyance goes.

Long enough for Corona to maneuver towards the back of the Anti King, and fire the grappler she'd previously readied and get somewhere towards the upper leg considering the side of the thing. This is going to take a bit of climbing.

But first, let's see if we can't slow him down a little farther. With the grappler on one arm and the spurs of her boots dug in to brace herself, Corona clenches the other hand into a fist. But it's not for punching. It's to activate the pulsarium powered plasma torch built into her work gloves. That glowing green-blue stream is that Corona thrusts at the Anti-King's thigh with like an oversized cutting torch and weaken the metallic structure it pulled together. Unstable leg = can't move as fast.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     Kazuko cools down a little bit when those aliens are freed and give her and Kirika oddly-shaped hugs, and the uncharacteristically focused expression on her face even fades a bit in favor of a reassuring grin. "Easy, I'll get you all somewhere safe, okay?" She even pets one of the aliens before turning to Maria and picking up her naginata, nodding once while listening to her explanation.

     "Sounds pretty cool, then... Well, if he's dead, then that just means someone else'll have to do it." Her gaze turns to the AntiKing heading towards Amarillo, gesturing at the former captives to follow her before looking around the ruined refinery surrounding them.

     "If we can take down that big thing, then that should do it, right? Um... Did you see any weird boxes while you were here?" She's trying to keep her eyes open for anything that looks out of the ordinary even while approaching the exit, looking ready to just take off after the AntiKing as well. "Someone mentioned breaking a box to... Do... Someting. Uh. I forget what, but if there's something powering that big thing, maybe that'll help!"

Kirika (481) has posed:
    There is singing, and imploring to get the townsfolk to sing as well. Kirika begins to understand what she's to do now, and she begins to speed things up a little bit as she evades stomp after stomp.

    The impacts alone knock her away a few times, but otherwise Kirika is undeterred fighting this machine.

    She takes another leap, trying to fling herself at the Anti-King's kneecap. Slashing at plating with her sword, she tries to expose joints to damage and cripple, grabbing on with all her strength as the kitsune plunges her sword into the machine.

Staren has posed:
    Ooh, this thing is mad! The missiles are actually working!

    Staren wishes he'd brought a lot more of them... Having fired all the ones loaded into his armor (his shoulder rack missiles are still plasma warheads -- he didn't know what to expect, so he came prepared with a mix of arms) It seems he won't be needing to clear wide areas of enemies today, though, so he can turn them to another use:

    While running around on the ground, zigging and zagging to dodge the fireballs, he fires the plasma missiles /up/, up, up... where they can try to melt/set fire to the Anti-King's hair. if Staren can take away one of the King's most recognizeable features from this robot, its effect will be reduced, right? He can hope!

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight nods to Kamui before she puts her magic to work! Anything nearby that can help is used. Lamp posts, cars, bus stops, benches...her horn glows brightly as many such things rise into the air and start swirling around her. One by one they are transformed into stage pieces. Flooring, stairs, scaffolding for lights, and lights themselves. Items brought from music stores are set into place. Kamui has cords from amplifiers plugged into him, along a microphone.

     Twilight also takes an extra step of casting a transformation spell on herself. Her form disappears in a puff of smoke and a shower of sparkles, and she emerges as a young-looking girl with Twilight Sparkle hair and pale white skin. She still has the biker jacket on, but now she is wearing stylish sneakers and a short and flowing purple skirt. Why? Well, because even with the ignore things aura in place, she feels like humans will respond more effectively to a human singer. So, with everything in place (and hopefully everyone, there are instruments to be found if wanted and sheet music that just happened to be in the music store!) Twilight gives Kamui and Ainsley the signal to get started. She is counting on them for the music, she'll just have to trust in her voice, her friends, and her kind's natural penchant for music to guide her through.

     The song choice, at least to start with, is an uplifting Elvis song! 'A Little Less Conversation'! Who will pick up the guitar or use the synthesizer to play the introduction?

Gakupo Kamui (686) has posed:
Gakupo stays out of the way as Twilight is arranging a stage. He has no magic, so he can't really help with that. Best thing he can do there is let Twilight Sparkle do her thing with all that magic. Once there's a stage though? He's on it. His headset has plugs for a few instruments, yes. Once they're plugged in, he engages his own internal amplifiers and speakers. It might not carry over the whole city, but it'll carry over a big area. Maybe Ainsley can make the sound carry farther?

If there's no one on instruments, Gakupo will take care of the music himself. Playing recorded tracks is one thing. But here, he's basically playing every instrument that's in the song (and is not already covered by someone else). His concerntration goes into getting the synthesizer's instruments to line up right. This effectively means he's playing several instruments at the same time.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    The helpful thing is this: Jesse is running a very high-buyin, high-payout game here. The entire three months' worth of fermenting discord in Amarillo- exploiting peoples' hearts in order to turn their desire to delude themselves into a tangible, city-blanketing 'field'- was essentially just harvested in one go to create the essence necessary to make this AntiKing body for himself.

    What this means is that the people are going to be receptive to just about anything here, without prejudice- it's just making sure that they listen to the voice of hope, rather than fear.

    Thankfully, Ainsley has a very strong and loud voice of hope. In fact, her voice is broadcasting not just out over the air, but the airwaves too- as the spaceship's computer core adds in its own little bit of help by patching and looping what they're planning into radios all over the city.

    "...I saw a big jewelled box gather everything around it," Maria says to Kazuko. "If you all worked together to get someone inside it, I'm sure one of you could take it to Heartbreak Hotel!"

    All over Amarillo, people start to look at /them/, rather than the steel giant.

    And if there's anything that a Yaoguai can't stand, it's being upstaged...

    And let's put it this way, even if you look like a kid kicking a can, when you're smashing and uprooting the ruined buildings and machinery of the oil fields it's still something to worry about.

    Finna, Kazuko, Kirika and Staren are going to be the combat force- and all of them are going to need to make sure that they're up for dodging big broken hunks of scrap metal. Fortunately, because the AntiKing wants to actually walk towards Amarillo, at some point it's going to run out of actual things to use- but the downside of that is, the further away from ammunition it is, the closer it is to the city itself. A dangerous game, to be sure.

    Thankfully, the fight team can do more than just keep it distracted- and, as Corona and Kirika are good at showing right away, they can /definitely/ slow it down, too. They're just going to have to make sure that they doesn't get 'scraped' off- when it begin trying to wilfully smack into sharp, tall things, causing loud noise and chaos in addition to the more practical 'ensure they're scraping them off the scenery'.

    This thing LOOKS coherent, but it's a lot more ramshackle than the fae glamer would suggest. Essence-charged arrows can begin picking pieces of the white 'jacket' off, for example, and as for the plasma missiles- well, it /does/ eat one of them, but the other ones do begin to cause the machine's topside to start burning red-hot. With something like that, they could break inside its body if they work harder at it-!

    And while this is all going on, there's the magic of the stage to be worked in Amarillo. It starts off with Twilight Sparkle on the mic and Gakupo Kamui on instrumentals, but that familiar King of Rock'n'Roll song comes out loud and clear, echoing through every street and room in the city! All over Amarillo, people are beginning to notice!

    Just hope that people aren't paying as much attention to the glowing red giant, in its storm of falling machinery and- is that plasma fireballs it's spitting now too?

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     "So we get to the box, and then we get it to this hotel. And then..." Kazuko lets out an uncertain noise as she tries to process how that works. Keyword being try, of course, since she's not all that great with mental puzzles. Still, if that's Maria's recommendation, she's more than willing to stick to it! "You might wanna stay in here for now, then. That big thing's moving away from here, so you'll probably be safer not following me. We'll be back later!"

     And with that, it's time for Kazuko to join the fight! Well, the chase. Even with as fast as she is, she needs to actually catch up first, although she can at least use that distance to more easily evade the chunks of metal being sent her way. Her naginata trails in the air behind her at first, although she does start spinning the weapons at the center to gather her ki into it. It'll take time to charge up, after all, so she might as well start doing it now. But where is that box...?

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
     Twilight smiles confidently as Kamui starts the intro section, then she looks over at Ainsley and gives a nod of encouragement. The pony turned human starts tapping her foot along with the beat. She takes a deep breath before she starts singing. Although she doesn't have the 'funkiness' of the King's voice, Twilight tries to maintain the spirit and energy that the song calls for. Her voice is quite lovely, and she quickly gets into the feel of the song which causes her body to sway and her feet to tap as she sings.

     o/`A little less conversation, a little more action please~ All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me~ A little more bite and a little less bark, A little less fight and a little more spark~ Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me~ Satisfy me babyyyy~o/`

     o/`Baby close your eyes and listen to the music, Drifting through a summer breeze~ It's a groovy night and I can show you how to use it, Come along with me and put your mind at ease~ Hey! A little less conversation, a little more action please~ All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me~ A little more bite and a little less bark, A little less fight and a little more spark~ Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me~ Satisfy me baby~o/`

     o/`Come on baby I'm tired of talking~ Grab your coat and let's start walking~ Come on, come on... Come on, come on... Come on, come on... Don't procrastinate, don't articulate, it's gettin' late, no time to wait around~o/`

     The beat hits hard and Twilight pours more of her spirit into the words, adding the attitude that The King used. o/`A little less conversation, a little more action please~ All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me~ A little more bite, a little less bark~ A little less fight, a little more spark~ Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me~ Satisfy me baby~

     Twilight still sounds energetic, but as this song winds down all the use of magic and the singing itself finally catches up with her. She probably won't be able to sing another song if another is needed, but the mic is open for whoever wishes to pick it up!

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Aaaaaw shit!" Corona barely manages to swing herself out of the way by her grappler as Anti-King grinds his side up against the crumbling structure of the refinery to get at her. "Ah reckon that means it did somethin' he don't like none!" The vixen lets out a soft sigh as she's left dangling for a moment, swaying slightly with the monster's movements.

Then she's pulling herself back up. The cutting torch is deactivated and once she's gotten herself propped against it's form again, she considers. Ears twitch back and forth, listening to the metal making up the Anti King as it moves. The mishmash of it's construction makes it hard to pinpoint specific materials, so she can't pick up on one specific resonance, but oh well. She'll just have to aim a little on the broad side.

When Anti-King tries to slam into the infrastructure again she actually jumps off, using her grappler to grab onto the same wreckage and yank herself away. Boots hit the ruined form and she darts along a length of protrudent rebar, drawing her trademark Breaker before leaping off again. It extends to full sledgehammer size when Corona leaps and grabs it with both hands, but instead she flips it around to have the hooked end forward when she swings, aiming to wedge the pick-like point -into- the metal and start trying to pry some of the merged metal apart.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    As the song picks up, Ainsley begins to dance. She holds the handle of the longsword carefully up, tip propped against the corner of the building, while she starts... singing back-up for Twilight. Her face scrunches as she belts out the 'aaaah~' sounds, and repeats 'Satisfy me~' at the right moments. When she hears 'Come on,' she starts belting it out with a steady rise, projecting the feeling over the people of Amarillo with a wave of an arm so she can get them to repeat it along with her.

    She's having a lot of fun up there, even if she has to concentrate on the spell and throwing the emotion toward the Anti King.

Staren has posed:
    Well, Staren set its hair on fire. That's... progress?

    Unfortunately, a big hunk of metal progresses towards him rather fast. It clips him, and the interaction with the forcefield results in him being sent half-tumbling, half-sliding, half-hamsterballrolling across the desert as the absorbed kinetic energy finds only one way to go! Four of the discs on his chestplate just /explode/ in a shower of sparks (as does most of the forcefield), and the fifth sparks a bit as a thin layer of remaining forcefield flickers in and out of existance.

    This results in Staren, trailing a rising cloud of dust, sliding right near Kazuko. As he sees her approaching, he smiles as he gets an idea. "I'll take you closer, just hang on!" He stands up and, if she allows, grabs her from behind, manifesting his wings and using the jumpjets to assist as he flies after the Anti-King. He just has his left arm around her -- his right draws his seeker pistol and fires at the knee Kirika's attacking -- He has four shots in it, hopefully between that and Kirika's efforts, by the time he gets close there will be a hole for Kazuko to jump inside and wreak merry havoc on this thing!

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika is still trying her best to make a hole for Kazuko. She jams her sword in good in a hole, prying with all her might as she uses her muscle to get the thing open. All the more wider for Kazuko is good enough for Kirika, and she strains from the effort. "RRRRAAGH!"

    Her sword pries even harder, and she digs in deep with her impromptu crowbar. Blame Corona for giving her the idea. Eventually, she throws a bolt of lightning into the sensitive insides, trying to weaken the Anti-King further before she makes one last pull, trying to open up the machine's plating like a gigantic sardine can.

    She keeps going until she opens up a hole, and drops in time to avoid Staren's own efforts shooting her in the process. Landing on the ground, Kirika calls out, "Kazuko, come to me!" She sheathes her sword in favor of beginning to assume a lifting stance, intending for Kazuko to use her hands as a springboard.

Gakupo Kamui (686) has posed:
Gakupo plays the instruments for the song, rather losing himself in the song. He's a Vocaloid, though, he tends to do that. Also, if the song takes up all of his concentration, he doesn't have an excuse to be distracted. He may be a machine, but he feels the same feeling that his heart is playing the time of the song that a human singer would have. Outwardly? His body moves gently with the beat of the song-- a tapping of the foot, swaying of his shoulders.

When Twilight finishes, if she seems unsteady, Gakupo helps her to find a place to sit. "Thank you! You did wonderful!" he comments. "We'll have to try to sing together again sometime!" He's a Vocaloid, the purest expression of togetherness to him is a jam session, after all!

He looks up, straining to see how things are going. He can still see the AntiKing, so... that means things aren't done yet. It's running off of negative energy, isn't it? Fear, anger, that sort of thing. Gakupo wants to keep that to a minimum as much as possible. So... when the mic's open again, he starts his own song. It's not Elvis, but it's the most uplifting one he can think of.

It's likely to get attention since it starts with a sound almost like static on a radio. But there's music, and a bit later, his own voice chimes in.

    "Gazing at a droplet when the rain recedes
    The right eye connects to a power adapter..."

It might seem an odd song to sing to a world who doesn't know electronics as advanced as his world/time. But it's inspirational anyway.

    "Wake up, wake up...
    The rusting gears start to move--
    Connect..."

Finna (513) has posed:
    My that is some GOOD singing! It's getting Finna in a MOOD too! But she's forced to stop the arrow barrage and instead go into FULL DODGE MODE. Her body contorts and twists seemingly impossibly as she leaps and skitters about, teeth clenched as chunks of hot metal and pipe and wall nearly take her head off several times! Her ears are on full alert and eyes constantly flicking The AntiKing's way. Yet when the oil refinery's ripped more to pieces she's forced to abandon her perch. She somehow manages to vault off it, BOUNCES off the 'King's' head and hits the ground in a roll... only to spring into an array of seven backflips, sideflips, and even more as chunks of material continue flying her way. "Wahhh!! Give me a break!"

    Then a chunk clobbers her and she goes skidding and tumbling over the gound. HOW exactly she manages to always tumble UP TO HER FEET is a mystery but it's sure an odd sight to see!

    The bow's stashed away, and Finna sees fit to spank her bottom teasingly at the monster! "Come get me if you can! Or is throwing shit like a big monkey all you can do?" With a whoosh of motion she whips out A PAIR OF REVOLVERS FROM NOWHERE. These Finna crosses, twirls... then aims at the King!

    "Okay, MY TURN, big guy!"

    BANGBANBBANGBANGBANG!

    Twelve bullets are fired off at the very limit the revolver's can handle. And the bullets... they uh.

    Well. They don't simply strike, if and when they strike. They bounce. They ricochet. And given the King's immense size...

    His body is the perfect cage for an UNLIKELY series of ridiculous ricochet spangs, those bullets spanging off at weird angles and striking EVERYTHING and causing a hell of a clatter. Probably stings like hell! It sure LOOKS funky, what with the splashes of silver light from each impact.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"...it's a figure of speech," Maria says, a little embarrassed. "You can just break it, you know. Break it to bits." The aliens give their approval of this course of action.

    If they can cripple the AntiKing's movements, then the fastest way to pull the plug on the performance would be to destroy the reliquary. It seems like a viable course of action if the combat crew can just work together to pull it off...

    And meanwhile, it actually seems as if what's happening city-side is helping, because- like many attention whores- if you take peoples' attention away from them, they not only lose a lot of their impact, they start to lose their effectiveness.

    People are beginning to join in with Twilight, just as Ainsley asked them to. First it's only a few people, then dozens, then hundreds- but now the song is in full swing, gradually- as people all across Amarillo recall the memories, of when they first heard and danced to this song, of how it made them happy, of the good things that surrounded it- the entertainment, the community...

    It starts to draw them out and draw them together.

    People are beginning to forget the hate that was inflamed in them, the prejudice and the anger.

    And as this goes on, this means that they can watch what's happening to the huge monster at the city limits with anticipation, rather than fear. Amarillo has never seen a giant such as this before, but neither have they seen giant-killers- people who can hamstring its legs, causing the giant machine to shake and list, crashing against a wall and staying stuck there for a moment.

    People like Corona, who can swing ring-a-rosie around the AntiKing, and pry into the metal with a weapon and their bare hands. People like Finna, whose cage of ricochet shots continue to make piecemeal dents in the huge machine, meaning that its appearence- aflame, dented and dinged, and accumulating some unpleasant holes- is really starting to look pitiful rather than terrifying.

     Even as he tries to pound his chest to knock Corona off, the huge mechanical man's arms creak and his white 'coat' falls further and further apart.

    In a weird way it's like thumping your chest if you have heartburn, and flailing your arm to try and keep a swarm of hornets away. The huge machine is looking more and more like a beleagured, broken man.

    The AntiKing's just breathing fire in the air now, and the amplified voice of Jesse is screaming in frustration as much as it is in pain as Staren continues to rail it with those small but painful iron rounds.

    That's the opening they'll need to start a Kazuko juggling chain, so she can get inside. Inside, in the tangle of sparking, twisted wreckage, there's one distinct jewelled cylinder... But be careful! Since it's got so many people clinging to it, zapping it and generally trying to peel it open, patches and veins of the AntiKing's metal body start to pulse with molten-steel heat- and it's more than just that, too! The accumulated, hate-fuelled essence starts to radiate outwards, creating an angry flaring aura around the AntiKing's body!

    But...

    One song segues into another, and this is where the magic happens. Because now, everyone is listening, and- everyone in Amarillo needed to know that the outside world that they've been hiding from, even things that they would consider 'alien', is as full of wonder as it is anything else.

    And everyone's listening to the magic of music, as Gakupo catalyses a change for good in these amazed people.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     "Wha-Okay, then!" Kazuko's not about to turn down an opportunity to get closer to the AntiKing, especially after Maria clarifies that the box indeed needs to be broken instead of carried somewhere. She also stops spinning her polearm so as to not screw with Staren's balance during his flight. Even with as uncharacteristically focused she is, however, she still can't help but be a little impressed at the fact that she's flying with someone other than her sister!

     Only a little, though, since there's still that giant metal monster to take down. "Thanks, Mister Staren! Alright, I'm coming, Miss Kirika!" She calls out as she lands with a running startm getting her feet right onto the Kitsune's hands once she's close enough to do so. Kazuko even tucks herself inward a bit to make herself easier to maneuver for Kirika, preparing for... Well.

     She's ready to tear some things up.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika's only met Kazuko for all of a day at most. That said, the kitsune hasn't had much time to build up to coordination. She does know pretty well to trust her fellow Elites, and they in turn do the same as they pull off actions of impossible planning on the spur of the moment.

    She beckons Kazuko to come with her, and Wanko leaps into her arms. The kitsune springboards the both of them into the air as high as her legs carry her, teleporting even higher as she primes her upper body muscles next.

    She spins Kazuko in the air like an olympic weight before flinging her towards the hole made. She'll land just fine, but it's up to Kazuko to land the final blow on this thing.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     And the fastball special is good! Kazuko keeps herself mostly tucked in as she slides right into the AntiKing's new hole, tumbling a bit before finally getting a clear look at what's holding it all together. Although she's more used to fighting people, it's usually been with her blunted weapon. She can't slice people apart without worrying about seriously harming them, after all! But this?

     This isn't people. This is a weird machine, and she's got her bladed naginata. Plus, Kazuko's still rather pissed about the whole Hugo situation, so... She's got a lot off stress to let out. What better way to let it out on the box and everything holding it in there? Stabbing, slicing, kicking, even bashing with the handle itself!

Corona Arclite has posed:
The slamming of fist against body is enough to dislodge Corona from her slow but steady dismantling attempts... but did she get squashed? When the limb moves away, she's not there anymore!.. But there's no grey and blonde smudge against the Anti-King's body, either.

While knocked loose of her perch, Corona did manage to sink the pick into the offending arm to keep from a painful fall all the way down to the ground below. And with a bit of work, manages to pull herself up onto the limb. Only to have to hopscotch her way around the molten veins... though that does give her an idea.

When she gets a clear spot she can brace herself on the arm Corona digs in and pulls out what looks more like a clockpunk super-soaker from her inventory.... And sure enough, that's what the Terminal Viscosity is spraying -- Water.

But that is why Corona is taking aim at some of those molten veins appearing along the Anti-King's body. Cooling them off so they won't be a danger to people climbing on the monster's body?... actually, that's possible, but that's not the point. The point is that she's diffusing the heat to make the metal go cold again. You know what happens when you rapidly heat then cool metal in quick succession?

It warps and gets brittle, that's what.

Staren has posed:
    Staren passes Kazuko off, and drops the empty seeker pistol to draw what looks like a regular, conventional pistol. A strange weapon for Staren, to be sure. As heat flares up he dives for the hole with his own flight, and then starts trying to make his way up towards the reliquary with Kazuko. His work outside is done -- they have to finish this.

    Kazuko's going to be the one bringing the most pain here, but just in case this is one of those 'won't die unless you finish it off with its weakness' deals, that pistol is loaded with a baker's dozen of 9mm iron bullets, which he'll put into the reliquary if he gets the chance!

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
It's starting to look like the beginning of the end, and a new dawn for this city.

    Put out a flame of fury with water- it's only natural. Doused in a cold shock, the metal body of the giant steams ferociously, whole plates of metal crackling and falling off, revealing to everyone else what Kazuko can find when she get inside.

    The inside of the AntiKing is- well, surprisingly hollow, all things considered. The size of a building it may be, but there's only so much you can do when you're pulling together a giant body out of ruined buildings- and, perhaps more to the point, honestly this thing was 'hollow' all along.

    Hollow desires and hollow threats. 'Jesse'- Snaredrum Sundered on the Marble Morning Street- wanted to be remembered as a legendary story, but the only story that's going to be told is how he was conquered.

    And there, in the middle of a web of wires and essence streamers, covered in iron dust, she finds the core of the Yaoguai's conciousness...

    And it is afraid.

    The flame-capped cylinder shatters like porcelain under the girl's brutal strike, and the horror that has given Amarillo such terrible trouble in these months is finally eliminated once and for all. And then, just to be completely sure? Staren shoots it a lot.

    It works.

    The hollow body of the AntiKing peels apart, collapsing into gravel and rust under its own weight.

    The cheers go up all over Amarillo- everyone's amazed, everyone's happy. They're cheering for the concert, they're cheering for victory...

    Ren himself looks up from where he's been busy keeping the improtou concert setup held together, wiping sweat from his forehead. He had to dive into the background to keep some of the electronics all together, and the magic flowing, but hey... everyone else managed.

    And then, when the group draws back to Amarillo city proper, with the giant conquered behind them, people dancing in the streets...

        That's when he walks in.

    He is a waiter from the Big Texan, wearing a pair of shades. He is clapping, in a genteel way, but also a discordant way, as he walks up the street.

    "Bravo, ladies and gentlemen. Encore. Peanut butter bacon and banana sandwiches for everyone."

    "...excuse me?" Ren asks.

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Aaaah crud crud crud!" Corona starts cussing again when the construct starts to fall apart after the entity barely holding it together is destroyed.

Then remembers she's prepared for this. Ahahaha. Whoops, got a little worked up there.

Corona jumps off the crumbling arm, and deploys the collapsable glider she keeps handy for just this sort of situation. Wheeeee.

Staren has posed:
    Staren glares at the reliquary as it's destroyed, sighing in relief as it breaks apart...

    And then the robot collapses around them.

    He glances around. Can he make it to the hole with everything moving around them? No... it's time for plan B. "HANG ON!" He shouts, grabbing Kazuko from behind, pulling a device with a wristband from his bag, holding it between his hand and her stomach as he hugs her and presses a button, shouting "Concentrate on not dying!"

    There is a definate feeling os psychic drain, and a bubble of grey force appears around them, while the bracelet grows purple.

    The bubble bounces off /everything/. Staren's locked his armor in place as they bounce around the pieces chaotically before being ejected out at an angle, then fall to Earth, Staren deactivating the field and then reactivating it just before they hit the ground each time to conserve energy, but after a couple of bounces he finally remembers he has wings and stops them mid-air, before landing, letting go of Kazuko, and stumbling around dizzily for a moment.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
     Kazuko hums lightly as she takes a moment to admire the fruits of their collective labor: The AntiKing crumbling into a pile of junk! She doesn't even look too worried about the whole thing, raising her naginata to clear out anything above her that might actually risk injuring her, but she doesn't have much time to do that when she feels a tugging from behind.

     "Gyah! Wh-what?! It's fine, I can get down on my own!" If anything, she's more freaked out by Staren dragging her out of the crumbling machine, and the bouncing bubble thing definitely isn't helping any! By the time they stop moving, she's a little paler than she was before. And...

     Well, psychic bubbles don't /need/ to have puke cleaned off of them, right?

     Once her stomach is finally settled and the group is back in the city (with a fresh set of clothes for herself), Kazuko's looking quite satisfied with herself. She even perks up a bit when the waiter speaks up, the thought of food (mostly) erasing that terrifying bubble ride. Noting Ren's confusion, she giggles lightly and gives him a light jab to the side with her elbow. "You know, the sandwich that Elvis guy made!"

     That's seriously the only thing she knows about him.

Staren has posed:
    "Peanut butter, bacon, and banana?" Staren echoes, once they make it back to the city. "Eh... I guess I can give it a try."

Finna (513) has posed:
    DOWN goes the AntiKing. Collapsed into a pile of rubble. Finna makes it look easy as she twirls the two revolvers and stuffs them away to... SOMEWHERE in her pants (where did they go? There's no holsters for 'em? Elsewhere is SO handy!) she's still sweating bullets and trying not to show it when the Yao-whatever goes DOWN.

    She just stands there, grinning nervously, while others pull free of the wreckage. her eyes are open for anyone who needs help... but they all seems to manage. So instead... she finds herself turning and blinking at a guy that... she does not really know. Blink blink blink.

    But she gives him a winning, only slightly sheepish smile, as if to say, 'surprise me more!'

    With that toppled mess behind her.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Somewhere back on route 87, Mike Yates wakes up and feels tired and icky.

    Maria and the aliens walk up behind Ren, the latter clustered somewhat worriedly behind her.

    "I know. I wouldn't accept a sandwich from this waiter, though," Ren says slowly.

    "I'm happy that you managed to get it all sorted out, but you really took longer than I expected," the waiter says. "And you did practically nothing at the end there, Ren. It was disappointing."

    "...who are you?" Ren asks, his face harder and colder than it's been in a very long time.

    "Oh... you know who I am," the waiter replies with a smile.

    "I'm Takuya."

    And so, he does something surprising.

    A black ring begins to notglow on his forehead.

    The ten thousand little metal panels making up his face turn and tumble, the pistons underneath his arms and legs compressing and stetching.

    And then, he's a long-haired woman, a California scientist.
    And then, a black-bearded, stout dwarf with a missing hand...

    

    And then, he's a dandy gentleman, with an edwardian cravat, night-black skin and burning eyes. Holding onto a spider.
    "Takuya, the Abyssal Exalted."

    He folds his hands behind his back. "I hope that everyone found this interesting, now. It's a lot of work getting two objects in space to crash into one another /and/ then go through a warpgate /then/ land in just the right place to kill a touring rockstar. But it was an interesting few months, really, wasn't it?"

    "Expect more to come!"

    And then he takes a step backwards, and the swirling portal of darkness behind him swallows Takuya the Abyssal Exalted up.

    Ren's face is harder and colder than it's ever been before.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i8FS-T67XY
    The Final Stretch - Mitch Murder
    Kung Fury Original Soundtrack - 2015

    EPILOGUE

*

    Having been rescued from the clutches of the Yaoguai, the aliens elected to take Maria Smith with her back to their homeworld, named Tari. With the support of the Union she became a citizen of the multiverse, and later helped to broker a peace between them and the neighboring Screewee people.

*

    Tobe agreed to work dilligently towards solving the problems that the many people in the accumulated gangs had developed which brought them into crime and hooliganism. After several years, the new racing community had entered official sponsorship with NASCAR, and by 1975 the official Texas Motor Speedway was being built.

*

    The Union spent the next several months slowly explaining the existence of the multiverse to the Amarillo community and integrating the city as part of their protected territories. Once freed from the influence of the Yaoguai, the field effect around the city faded away.

*

    Mike Yates disappeared after the confrontation with the Anti-King. Some time later he made headlines on Porombo Island as an up-and-coming Robopon collector.

*

    Ren Tanaka later bought the same outfit he has been wearing for several months in Amarillo following the disappearance of the costuming field. He was last seen wearing it to a kareoke night in Grimsby.

    INVADERS FROM OUTER SPACE
        THE END
    THANK YOU FOR ROCKING!




Bonus Epilogue unlocked: Baby Sittin' Boogie!