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Wandering Dog Luthe is a colossal golden city on the sea. Pillars reach into the sky, gathering essence from the water, as a massive central dome connects to various smaller sections through enclosed pathways. It floats on the water, an open vehicle bay present, which is also how those invited by Wandering Dog to meet him are going to show up (they've been offered a boat from the warp gate if they don't have their own way to Luthe). Soldiers in armor flank the vehicle bay, but they recognize those invited Instantly, as if having seen pictures in the past, and salute them as they come. They're all human, pale with sea-like colors to their hair, ranging in ages but mostly younger adults.

Luthe's interior is beautiful, as the group would know. It's a mixture of Creation supertech and some Multiversal tech, layered with SUPERNATURAL GOLD because Solars love their excess, with various essence-powered single-occupancy vehicles being used to travel through the sometimes glassy corridors of the massive dome. As they pass, various civilians, the people of Skullstone, eye them, and if they're not speaking in respectful tones nearby, they're outright saluting them. It seems 'saving them from a man who was turning them into boats' was, for most people, something to make heroes out of.

At the 'elevator', a young woman in a crisp suit stands waiting for them. She introduces herself as Mei, the Admiral Wandering Dog's assistant, and has been asked to personally bring them to his presence. The essence elevator is quick, but doesn't take them to the command section at the top. Instead, it moves towards the personal living quarters below it.

The quarters of the Solars who used to rule Luthe have been torn apart. Besides the room Wandering Dog claimed for himself, they have been turned into trainijng and entertainment areas, and it's one of these training rooms that they're brought into. There's a large open space for fighting, with various common and Multiversal high-tech training implements, such as wooden dummies, weights, and the like set up.

The Wandering Dog, the older man shirtless revealing rippling muscles, wearing tunic pants and otherwise barefoot, strikes at a training dummy that's clearly been built to withstand him. As the group enters, Mei speaks up, alerting him to their presence, and the Wandering Dog turns, nods, waves a hand to dismiss her, waits for her to leave, and then speaks.

"Welcome, friends! I have very important news today, information I must tell you in person. Have you come armed as I requested?" Despite the fact he asked them to come armed, it doesn't sound like it was for an imminent invasion or the like, but at the same time, when he says 'very important news today', it does sound important to him. He's not attempting to waste their time.
Staren     The Star Hawk lands in the vehicle bay, and Staren gets out. He was told to come armed, and unsure of what the threat is he decided to just pull out all stops and be a robot. Sometimes it seems like there's basically no reason /not/ to be a robot...

    He nods and waves at the saluting groups. Glad to see them doing well. He nods approvingly at the replacement of opulant solar rooms with training areas.

    And then... there's Dog! Staren smiles and nods, "Always. What's this all about, though...?"
Starbound Flotilla     The STARBOUND FLOTILLA are here, in their standard Durasteel equipment! Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a divine-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow runes and inscriptions lighting up on stylishly gleaming golden armor and robes. Albert the monkey-man is wearing what looks like lab technician gear with extensive sets of tools and chemical protection, which integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a futuristic combat EVA hardsuit that glows a gentle red at the flat faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator.

"Of course. I wouldn't risk it if you know about something dangerous."
"Your request is honored, of course. We are ever-attentive."
"Hiiii sssailing-friend! What isss going on? Floran will help!"
"Curious. It doesn't seem like Luthe is at high alert. Is everything okay?"
"Sure looks fine to me, at least. Glad to see the changes you've made."
"Talk to me, Dog, what's going on?"

    The gang's all here. What all is happening here, Dog? They spread out in a perfect array of attentiveness through the chamber, curious to see where this is about to be going.
Haguro Being greeted as a hero is a rather odd feeling for Haguro. It's not a bad feeling by any means, of course, but it's not one she's used to considering that she's never really... SURVIVED long enough to see the aftermath of her work. The soldiers and civilians alike get awkward smiles and light waves from the Cruiser, but she doesn't dawdle for long.

She's here as per Wandering Dong's summons, after all. There's work to be done! She even has her turrets and armor plates on as per her usual armaments, and the light blue glow from her Abyssal armor lingers even through her uniform. Greeting Mei with a light nod, she follows her to the training area and gawks around briefly before turning to Wandering Dog when he speaks up.

Of course he'd be shirtless. Fighting down some slight anxiety, the Cruiser nods as she holds up her arm to show off the gun emplacements strapped to her wrists and shoulders. "Yes. And hello! What's going on here today?" She seems to be focusing a bit more on the facility rather than looking directly at Wandering Dog for anything longer than a few seconds.
Azure Armature The meeting was called, but the topic went undescribed. There was so many potential things it could be! So many threads to pull, so many crisis moments that could have occurred.

The one telling thing about the message was that it didn't describe the problem, simply 'come armed'.

Your thoughts betray you, Wandering Dog. Yes, your feelings for your friends are strong. Especially for...

In the meeting room, with the shirtless master, a shimmer in the air lifts hidden hands to flick a small holographic flame at head-height, the blue heat being drawn into a metal cylinder, before a long puff of smoke billows out.

"The city is not at alert. You have discarded your armor, such that it is. This crisis is personal, then. Or performative. I hope this isn't a waste of time, Admiral. There is little time for foolishness."

Her optical camouflage dropping, Armature draws her e-cigar from her lips with thumb and forefinger. "Little, but not none. One should budget for indulgences for morale purposes. What is it that you wish?"
Wandering Dog As everyone arrives, Wandering Dog smiles, nods, and steeples his fingers together. "So, some of you might see this as a waste of time, but I assure you, this is important to me." He glances between them, and then folds his hands behind his back. Azure Armature gets a laugh as she speaks up. "You're quick to catch on. Nothing's in danger, no. I'm not sure it's a crisis, but..."

"With acquisition of Luthe and the West shaken up by our actions, I've decided to retire from the Multiversal circuit. I'm going to focus my efforts solely on stabilizing the West and building Luthe as a premier society where men can be brothers. While this isn't a true goodbye, it's close enough to one. Haguro, as my vice-admiral, you'll be handling the Multiversal aspect of the Luthan fleet from here-on out." Wandering Dog turns to her, before continuing.

"And as this is close to a 'true goodbye', tradition demands something I've been waiting for. In some martial arts schools, when one leaves, his closest peers battle him one last time."

"I'd like you to all simultaneously fight me at my strongest. Right here, right now." He's grinning wildly. He might be a mad man, but Wandering Dog is excited for the prospect. He unfolds his arms and steps back, waiting to see who steps forward to fight him.
Haguro That's some heavy news to come out with. It's not all that unexpected, but it still takes Haguro a moment to figure out how to react. "Ah.. Y-yes, sir. Managing a place this large really would be a full time job, wouldn't it?" She chuckles softly and nods once, trying to look SHARP and DETERMINED even though the anxiety over having to live up to his expectations is pretty obvious.

"I'll.. I'll do my best, then. I've already looked around a few places already, and I think there..." She pauses, glancing over at the others before smiling and shaking her head. "I'll leave those details for later. Um. But if you wanted to fight, then wouldn't...

Another pause, and then she strokes her chin. "Actually, I guess a place like this /would/ be perfect. Even flooring, only thing to worry about would be collateral or whatever's around the room... So that's why you wanted us armed." Haguro taps a turret idly, then takes several steps back before settling into a combat ready stance with her hands spread out.

"Admiral. I accept your request!"
Staren     Staren listens, and... nods. This all sounds pretty reasonable, honestly. Dog has stuff to take care of he needs to focus on. And a fight... well, it's Dog's way, and they're not really putting anything at risk by fighting -- this place probably has First-Age medical facilities.

    Staren takes a fighting stance. Staren won't insult Dog by stating the obvious. After a couple seconds of waiting for Dog to make the first move, he reaches into his bag slowly...

    And then flings an energy grenade at him! More to force him to move, really.
Haguro And then the fight begins! Wandering Dog /did/ say not to hold back, so Haguro gets her guns ready. She takes aim at him, then starts advancing while firing quick blasts of anti-air flak at the martial artist. It's not particularly accurate, but there's plenty of sharp metal bits in there!
Starbound Flotilla "Woah... woah! Fight! Fight! Fight! Floran wantsss--"
"Silence. This is an event of tremendous gravitas."
"Retiring, huh? Almost envy you, man. But... Damn, you sure /made/ it."
"Harharhar! You got more treasure than most could hope for, that's for sure!"
"Thoughtful. This is farewell to you, then? Well... Congratulations, Wandering dog!"
"Hmph... rare that anyone gets to retire from this profession."
"Indeed. And it is our utmost duty to see it done with grace, beauty, and celebration. This cannot be some disgusting mob of violence. Let us make it an event worth remembering. Allow me to do this."
"What, alone?"
"Nah, just without the rest of us. He's like that."
"Bleh! Floran bessst fighter! But dumb fishface can hog fight if he wantsss."
"Hopeful. Moonfin Haruto is certainly the one who most matches your style, Wandering Dog. I hope you'll have a wonderful bout."
"It was I who saw the heights to which he ascended. I shall see this final chapter closed."

    Moonfin steps forward, reaching into his Matter Manipulator and drawing... a bokken, gripped dramatically in both hands. "Wandering Dog, you have wandered far." He says, taking dramatic stance. "Your legend is great. Let it be written and now known! En garde, warrior, and miss not one word!" He takes a wide stance. "The Legend of the Wandering Dog, and its CHAPTER ONE! A great exile! Betrayed by his homeland for the light in his blood, the hero was made! Denied his home, he found the sea. The waves would be the elusive residence of his heart, for now, he would wander!" Moonfin rushes, shouting a kiai! "He knew the true face of inequalities, of castes, of mark by birth! He would hound their source without a homeland to call his own -- a Wandering Dog who knew that all men are brothers!"

    His strikes, barrages of harsh and aggressive thrusts, are full of intense power, as he tries to pursue straight through the explosive strikes around him. It may be a bokken, but it's a bokken designed for sparring against people in power-armor, and it's brutally crushing, likely to make shockwaves; it would punch through lesser steel, but for Wandering Dog, it's a minor matter.
Azure Armature The whole situation was absurd. Attack him? The farewell to a martial artist? Certainly, he began as a Wandering Dog, but now...

Armature's throat rumbled with a dry 'hmmmmmmngh', the thick smoke from her e-cigar pouring from her nostrils. "An indulgence of your secret weapon. Having never found the perfect moment to use your power, and now your fight is over... You have regrets. 'What is the point?', you've no doubt asked yourself. Becoming a hero of your people, a guided star, a storied wanderer... And more. The secret you kept to yourself, that others would not - could not - see.""

Armature flicks her e-cigar with the tinking tap of her middle finger, the inner light deactivating so she can stow it in her harness.

"Power is meant to be used, Wandering Dog. The might to affect your will upon the world. To create impossibility by your own hand. You have been content to be the wandering hero, the admiral."

"You can feel that pathetic weight settle around your shoulders. It is your mantle."

Armature rolls her shoulders forward once, then back, popping her neck with soft pops and snaps that are altogether synthetic.

"Let the legend come to life. Become greater than the lord of a land, greater than a master martial artist. A leader among leaders, a boss among bosses. A 'Big Boss'. Your hidden power..."

Armature points accusatorily at Wandering Dog. "The power you so cleverly stole from my world, and hid from yours. If you challenge us, you aren't allowed to hold it back now."

With a flicker of math - far too obvious to be anything but a telegraphed translocation - she appears mid dive-kick over Dog's shoulder, timed with Staren's flash-bomb, to drive her heel into his neck.

"Cast your pathetic mantle off and indulge!"
Wandering Dog Everyone agrees to fight. Wandering Dog prepares himself...and a flurry of attacks comes out. An energy grenade goes flying forward, impacting with Wandering Dog as it explodes and he guards himself, forcing him to leap backwards to avoid the brunt of it. As this happens, others speechify in ways that make him proud (and in one case, confused, which we'll get to).

Flak blasts against one of Wandering Dog's arms, ripping minor holes in it, but the wounds regenerate as he starts impacting with them. And then, the bokken co mesforward to crush Wandering Dog, smashing into his chest and knocking him back. The dive kick is a surprise, hitting him head on, staggering him almost into a wooden dummy, and making him take a breath.

Azure Armature's point gets him wiping the sweat off his face and staring at her. "Hah...hah. Stolen from your world? I have no idea what you're talking about! I learned this art from a powerful sifu, and gained the power to channel it through the Gem of Resplendent Energy imbedded in my chakras! Your world has nothing to do with this..."

But there's a dangerous energy coming off him. Wandering Dog starts charging his anima to max. "But you want me to rip my mantle off and show the true me, huh? Very well! Tonight, you don't fight the Wandering Dog...!"

"Tonight, you fight Rabo Malaras, student of the Six Paths Style!"

The essence builds up into his anima, black and blue and bits of green aura flowing around him, first nonshapedly, and then in the form of paths appearing through it, and then finally...

It explodes outwards, into a powerful burst of oil/water essence. It's a damaging burst, but it's not as strong as what's to come, focused on Azure Armature.

"Six Paths Style! Channel the six alternate ways through myself!"

Step by step, Wandering Dog's body begins to change.

"Path One!" His hair turns into literal oil, whipping out longer than it used to be.

"Path Two!" His fingernails lengthen, turning into thick sharp crystal claws.

"Path Three!" His sweat turns into steam, coming off of his body in very hot bursts, as he pulls back his fist.

"Path Four!" Wandering Dog's body becomes coated in metal, thick layers encasing over him for armor.

"Path Five!" Smoke builds around his body, swirling around his limbs and claws as a weapon.

"Path Six!" And finally, Wandering Dog's eyes become lightning. The next step he makes, he disappears.

In a single step, he reappears in front of Azure Armature, moving to jab those claws into her like a beast, smoke burning into any wounds it makes. His body is different, inhuman, a supernatural man.

"Let me add to your story, Moonfin. Step by step. Once, there was a man named Rabo. He fell in love with a woman."
Staren Tonight, you fight Rabo Malaras, student of the Six Paths Style!

    What.

    Staren looks uncertain, he has no idea what this means... The essence blast scratches up his front and sends him stumbling back.

    And Dog starts telling a story. Staren will listen.

    But he'll also overcharge his beam cannons slightly and blast Dog with them while he's focused on Azure. That's what you get for focusing on one opponent!
Haguro So that's his name. Haguro has to hand it Azure: She really knows how to draw out Wandering Dog's fightiest. She chuckles softly, then starts trying to get her own FANCY WORDS out while preparing for that strange explosion of energy he's prepared for them.

"You know, Mister Dog... No. Admiral Rabo. When I... Changed that first time, you were one of the few people that didn't think to change me back. You came out to find me and protect me, even when..." She lingers on that for a moment, trying to find the words and having some trouble just speaking her mind.

Getting blasted with pure energy also makes it hard to speak properly. Haguro hunkers down behind her armor with one arm raised to bear the brunt of the blast, and sends her skidding back as that energy knocks off several plates and singes her right side. The sheer sight of Wandering Dog finally letting loose has her watching him with rapt attention, albeit mildly creeped out with the odd form his body takes on.

Despite all that, however, she's grinning. "... No. Especially when I was betrayed. And then after all that, you pushed me to keep becoming better than I was. Not just being content with my Abyssal side's nature, but to work with what I had on both sides. And even after I changed back to this form, you... You still trusted me enough to name me the fleet's Vice-Admiral. So..." Stomping once to halt her movement, Haguro grunts as she rears her arm back and hunches over, looking ready to launch herself right at the martial artist.

"I'll show you what I've learned all this time. There might be people more qualified for this, but... But I'll show you that I'm ready to act as the Vice-Admiral of the Luthan Navy! After this fight, you won't have anything to worry about on the Multiversal side of the fleet!"

Actions speak louder than words, of course, and the Cruiser is more than ready to show her stuff physically. Rather than settling purely for a ranged strategy, she moves in to engage the martial artist on his own terms. She goes for the claws, trying to catch them with rapid strikes of her own while transitioning to grabs whenever she can, then twisting and jerking around with her weight behind each move to try and throw him off his feet!
Starbound Flotilla     Moonfin batters and slashes at rushing, crushing water. "Second sea-- CHAPTER TWO!" He announces, weaving along the water and using his blade to blunt its impacts against more sensitive machinery. The story of Rabo is one he listens to keenly, hanging on every word, all three eyes laser-focused on his speech and motion. But he continues his own. A pair of dueling tales; a fitting summary of Wandering Dog's legacy. Rabo's tale will surely have a telling as fitting as Wandering Dog's, and one that the Hylotl will compliment with his own telling of Wandering Dog's last legend.

    "In his travels, this Wandering Dog found himself suddenly given great knowledge! He learned of a place deep beneath waves, a land of Luthe! A place that plagued the seas -- the seas that he would defend, even from that which would make its home beneath the waves!" He twirls a final slash to disperse the last major wave against his body.

    "The lost child that knew of it, who spoke of a city where the powerful were given their power by caste and birth, told Wandering Dog that there was another place of exile and inequality -- a place he would end! And so he traveled dangerous lands and dangerous seas, until at last he found them!" Moonfin slams a heel into the ground and then springs off its sole to close the distance, suddenly switching it up with dozens of swipes and swings that keep a dramatic, aggressive flow.

    It's becoming clear that each of these chapters links to one of his Seven Sea Hylotl Styles. "The THIRD chapter! And as he sought to right its wrongs, he found himself facing beasts of great power! None more powerful than the Brass Leviathan! He would pursue the beast! He would hunt the leviathan until he found its home! He would take its head or its heart, but he would have it when he returned to Luthe. For the wrongs that needed righting were vast enough that claiming even the strength of titans of old was within Wandering Dog's resolve! He journeyed, and journeyed, and journeyed, until at last he found /them/!"

    Moonfin's story sounds almost like a myth, when he tells it; it's homeric in its tone. He speaks it with as much respect for Dog's accomplishments in all this as he can have.
Azure Armature Flipping back after her connection, Armature lands in a quickly recovered-from crouch, drawing her hands up in a loose combat stance, spreading her feet a bit wider. "I won't lecture you on the basics of CQC, Admiral. But what I will free you from is your ignorance. Consider this your debriefing!"

With each 'path', Armature returns with a barking retort.

'Path One!' - "The Pole of Oil!"
'Path Two!' - "The Pole of Crystal!"
'Path Three!' - "The Pole of Steam!"
'Path Four!' - "The Pole of Metal!"
'Path Five!' - "The Pole of Smoke!"
'Path Six!' - "The Pole of Lightning! All six of the Great Maker's elemental poles. They are not of yours - Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Wood. Not of your dragons!"

He steps, his speed impressively enhanced, and Armature has to square her elbows weaving low around the claws. The superheated smoke curls and burns at her sleeves, the crystal claws raking across her guard in glancing hits that still sear and burn, smoking rents torn in her blue crystal powdered skin.

"You can't be taught that which doesn't exist in your world. It must be built into you."

She jabs out of her guard, fingers flicking open to shove Dog out and away as a followup to her strike, taking one step before launching into a tight flying knee right to Dog's chin, before disappearing -- and a half-heartbeat later, reappearing in a different configuration of limbs mid-air, momentum being added as she transitions without reset into a fierce flying right roundhouse kick to Dog's head.

"You've parted the process of the perfected lotus, and you blame it on your sifu?!"
Wandering Dog Beam cannons blast at Wandering Dog. A metal arm is lifted, blocking most of the blast, singing with the rest, as it turns out that his body is incredibly, supernaturally hardy with this. Dog moves over to him, rushes him, and does a straight upwards kick, trying to hit him backwards straight in the chin.

Haguro calls him Rabo. Wandering Dog nods. That's his name. And it's time to tear off the mantle and embrace it. As Haguro tells him how he helped her, he  nods, and then, she comes in for her claws, trying to catch them, and throw him off his feet! For a second, he's lifted off the ground, and off-balance. But quickly, the lightning kicks in again, and he's gone, moving like a blur towards Haguro and kicking her square in the chest with metal feet, which goddamn HURT like being hit with a truck. Lightning surges off the feet as well to strike into her, which should be terrible.

He lands back on the ground, right in time for Moonfin's special sword strikes to slash into him. They batter the metal body and send him back into the wooden dummy, forcing him to bring his arms up to block, until he's smashed straight through it. But he doesn't fall off his feet, despite the beating.

"Poles, huh? So you're saying this is related to your world...well, you have a point there."

Azure Armature's strikes come into him. Knee to the chin. Kick to the head. Wandering Dog staggers back, grabbing his head...and then moves to headbutt Azure Armature like he's a metal titan, bashing into her head, as oily hair whips out and moves to lash hard into her, trying to knock her to the ground for even a brief second.

"This style was stolen for me, and no one else. It has no other user, as far as I'm aware. That means...it's mine! My accomplishment! My Six Paths! No matter where they came from, they belong to me, and I'll use their full power."

Another lightning surge, leaving lightning in Dog's wake, as he returns to try and grab Moonfin by the arm. Steam burns into him, as does smoke, before the other arm is repeatedly punched into Moonfin, trying to make him catch metal hands. If all of that connects, Wandering Dog follows it up with a leap and a floating roundhouse kick, trying to send Moonfin flying backwards.

"The woman was a woodcarver, in a small village to the East. Rabo learned the trade from her, and they became lovebirds. For a year, he spent it with her, and they were expected to marry. But then, one day, Rabo packed his bags and went on the road. He never looked back. Certainly, her heart was broken."
Starbound Flotilla     Moonfin is caught. He is seared, like a fish, his armor's heat-resistance functions overloading hard. Power conduits burst in the wrist that's gotten grabbed. He takes several punches hard, and despite efforts to weave around them, he winds up stunned, dazed, and then suddenly kicked hard into the wall further back. It takes a moment of catching his breath to regain his footing.

    "The FOURTH CHAPTER!" He shouts, as he stands. "The Saigoth that Was! This hero knew the only key to the heart and the head of the Leviathan was to plunge without fear into the Sea of Shadows! To dive deep into the abyss, and to take from it! The Wandering Dog plunged into the dark. There, he found the smallest traces of light, the fellow Dragon-Blooded, and there, he worked to ensure they would see daylight again! There, he adventured, he explored, he fought to find the lair of the beast, and the keys that would take control of the monster of the depths itself!"

    As if speaking to his own technique, Moonfin's bokken suddenly rushes with watery light, and the exotic aquatic radiation energies roil around it. He surges forward, delivering huge, splashing overhead strikes that threaten to catch the man in the waves even if he manages to dodge the main impacts! Dangerous energies threaten to plunge into his flesh, making him an energized beacon for Moonfin's targeting systems.
Haguro It's time. Haguro doesn't gloat when she gets Wandering Dog off the ground, both because it's not in her nature and because there's just not enough time to do it. With Wandering Dog zipping around like literal lightning, She can barely even keep up with what he's doing or where he's going! "What speed...! If we had met in any other way, I wonder..." She shakes her head, setting aside thoughts of the whatifs. "No. This is the way it had to be. For us to work together, to fight like this... Don't hold back! Show me everything you have, sir!" As luck would have it, she looks in the right direction at the right time, and she's able to bring her arms up in time to avoid getting kicked square through the chest.

Her arms are another story. The force of that impact, combined with the lightning crackling around his limbs, knock the Cruiser right off her feet and into an awkward tumble that has her digging her hands into the ground just to avoid bouncing off the ground helplessly. Tearing off her sleeves, Haguro settles into a grappling pose once more despite not being physically near the melee. She doesn't advance immediately, though, instead raising an eyebrow when speaks of his time with the woodcarver.

Honestly, she's not sure where he's going with it. Haguro holds those uncertain thoughts in her head for now, And she instead moves in for her next attack. Intead of walking or running, however, she just stands there for as her thrusters power on. As the blue lights intensify, she suddenly disappears. A second later, she reappears behind Wandering Dog!

... With her back to him. She grasps at the air in front of her on reappearing, stares ahead blankly for a brief moment, then whirls around with a backhand aimed high, a gut punch from the other hand, and caps it all off with a bigger hook with that first hand!
Staren     Staren sees some kind of attack is coming and puts up his forcefield. The angle's not the best but the kick still shatters part of it and sends Staren sliding back. "So. A man of mystery. Using Autocthon's elements. Perhaps the story behind that is one I'll never learn."

    When Dog leaps, he strikes. It's not showy. It's more beam blasts. It's persistance. Dog will be forced to use an air-dodge technique, and it's one more distraction from the other attacks.

    "I'm not gonna tell you you should've stayed. Even if your reason for leaving sucked, you don't know how it might've gone. Love isn't everything. Relationships get strained. Sometimes people make it work. Sometimes people move on."
Azure Armature Dog -- no, Rabo -- is a moving juggernaut, and addresses Armature's combination of strikes by taking his metal body and ramming it into her chest, sending her slide-tumbling back, derezzing into colorful voxels just before his whiplike hair slashes at her.

She reappears a healthy distance away, sitting on a jutting piece of hard-light architecture that wasn't there before, arms casually against her knees.

"If that's what you heard, I suppose it's reasonable. Better to seize and claim and take mastery of things than blame your successes and failures on others. It's unbecoming a leader."

Flipping up, she stands gingerly on her perch, her arm cannon manifesting around her right arm and pointing down at Rabo to pelt him with a burning spray of plasmatic essence.

"But I'm not seeing anything worldshaking from you! Perhaps a continent, or a small province! This isn't the arts of a man who would change the world in his image: It's the technqiques of a mere local hero!"

"Become more, or your indulgence will just show that you're the same man I met a year ago, without a soldier's paradise to command!"
Wandering Dog Moonfin continues the story, and so does Dog. As the attack impacts into his skin, splashing overhead strikes both impacting him and fusing energy into his skin, Dog stubbornly speaks.

"Rabo regretted it immediately, however. But he couldn't turn back. He refused to. It was his greatest shame. He cast aside his name, and took a new one. The Wandering Dog."

Haguro's punches flurry into Dog, causing him to stagger even more, almost losing his footing again.

"The Wandering Dog is thought by many to be a name of pride - a man claiming himself to be a loyal animal, an animal like man."

As Dog leaps at Staren, the beam blasts impact into him. Dog dodges in mid-air, scorched, metal turning black.

"It was a name of shame. The mongrel, the wandering mutt who left everything he knew. There was never pride to it."

"And so, I cast it away!"

Dog - no, Rabo - is impacted by the plasmatic bursts. They start melting away the black metal, finally, but it starts to rebuild with the essence.

"My name is Admiral Rabo Malaras of Luthe! If you want to see something more, let me show you something more! Let me show you the power of this 'Big Boss'! you called me! A new path to add to the style that is mine - something to create!"

Rabo taps into his essence. All of it. If his chakras are plugged into a battery, it's being max-drained, as his essence fires up again, glowing like a volcanic eruption around him.

"SIX PATHS BECOME ONE!"

Rabo is faster. Stronger. Tougher. He's at his Absolute Peak. He comes in towards Moonfin, first, and tries to grab him by a fin, moving to throw him up into the air, leap off the ground, and then surge energy through his metal fist in a /catastrophic/ punch. It's raw energy, bleeding through into the Starbound Flotilla member.

Haguro gets a flying kick. But then, Rabo blurs again, and appears around her, moving to kick into her back, over and over again, and then, point-black, roars at her. Energy suffuses from his mouth, oil blasting forward to force her back and burn into her skin, before he follows it up with another punch.

Staren's barrier is a problem, so Rabo's going to break it. He slides backwards from Haguro, moving to spin, punch into the barrier, and then, let energy come off it. It's another burst of raw energy, infused with water energy, that slowly goes over the barrier, and then explodes from the punch, hopefully shattering it and allowing Rabo to punch again with the exact same technique and damaging Staren's robot body.

Azure Armature is turned to with a gaze. "Now. Let me show you my final technique I will invent tonight. The Dog's Regret Surpassed!"

Rabo dashes at her, spinning while he does so, and then lands in a punch at her chest. The momentum from the spin surges through him, as he then strikes again, and lets forth a massive burst of essence through the punch, like a pillar. It's highly draining, highly dangerous, and enough to possibly kill someone.

It's pure indulgence.
Haguro Even a Creation-clueless person like Haguro can see that Rabo's burning at both ends to indulge in this one last fight. Instead of screaming at him to stop, to hold back, to not destroy himself, Haguro just braces herself. She's seen this sort of thing in her shows before!

It's the last battle for a true warrior, and it's her responsibility as his semi-successor to see it through to the end. "Amazing.. Show us your full power, then!" Haguro shifts into a defensive stance as she prepares to catch whatever it is that's being thrown at her next, but it's not the sort of technique she normally sees.

Normally, she can see what's coming at her. The flurry of kicks coming from so many directions at once leaves the Cruiser battered and bruised, and her armor is in shambles by the time he transitions to blasting that oil into her. What she lacks in speed and reactions, however, she makes up for with stubbornness and supernatural sturdiness!

Mostly stubbornness at this point, though, since her uniform is all but melted where it still exists in tatters and leaves burns exposed almost everywhere. That last punch sends Haguro ricocheting off a wall, and she nearly has to muster up her reserves just to get back up several long moments after Rabo's already directed his attack towards Azure Armature.

"That's... That's what we needed to see. If I can't keep up with something like that normally, then..." The blue lgiht flares up behind Haguro again, and she disappears once more. It takes significantly longer for her to reappear this time, but when she does?

"Then I'll just start from one and work my way up!" She's actually in front of him this time. She brings both arms around to try and catch the martial artist in a mighty bear hug. If she can get a good hold of him, she slips her arms down further before flipping Rabo back behind her, aiming to slam him behind her face first!

Should that actually work, she'll roll backwards to do it again. And again. And a fourth time!
Staren     "I'm not going to say go back to her. It's been years. But I'm not going to say don't, either."

    Little does Dog know that the best way to destroy Staren's forcefield is sustained physical contact, or lots of physical impacts in rapid succession.

    It doesn't matter because Dog's attack is full of so much energy it destroys it anyway. Staren blocks the followup punch with his arms crossed in front of him, and the armor dents and cracks on his arm, shards of metal following to the floor, wires underneath exposed. The armor where the liquid energy exploded against it is battered, all over. Staren jabs his fingers at Dog, but is too slow.

    "Ngh... I'm going to tell you this! Even if you stay out of our affairs... remember the possibilities of the Multiverse! Use anything you can in pursuit of your new dream! And you'll be unstoppable from those too small-minded to do the same!"

    He takes off after Rabo, firing a few anti-tank micromissiles... and then the rest of the external armor plating on his arms falls off and he keeps running as the metal 'skin' underneath begins to glow with power.

    Staren crosses his forearms in front of him in an X, and then as he comes into reach of Rabo, there's an flash and -- unless Rabo dodged, Staren's arms, now charged with some kind of high-frequency cutting field, are trying to cut through him and simultaneously discharging nigh-everything Staren's reactor can put out to electocute him!

    He can only keep it up for a second or so before stepping back, vents in his armor hissing steam. "I thought you'd want to experience that technique... if it were a martial arts move, what would you call it?"
Starbound Flotilla     "THE FIFTH!" Moonfin cries out. He rushes towards Rabo Malaras as he approaches. As his grip strikes out for Moonfin, his hand wraps around -- nothing! A noise like a gun ejecting a spent round sounds out, and Moonfin is above him! A pair of hefty depleted hyperglass cartridges are ejecting from ports at his lower legs, and he's going for a drop attack... But then comes the punch! His armor practically overloads with the sheer amount of intense exertion required to perform a /second/ Hyperglass Maneuver. It's sparking and crackling with electricity all along its surface when he skids to one side.

    "He returned! He returned to Luthe, with his great and powerful weapon! With the light of Saigoth sent to the surface! With the world righted the way it ought to be!" Moonfin readies his blade dramatically near the side of his face. "And still more to right! He surged into the city! He ended those who used caste as chain and birthright as shackle! He ended slavery, he made men brothers as they ought to be! The great monster of Luthe, whose shadow loomed over a city of pain, was slain!"

    He rushes in hard, dancing and weaving in his sixth style. Shallow slashes -- he's starting to amp up and ready himself for something terribly spectacular. "THE SIXTH!" He calls. "But was that all? No! Luthe and Leviathan in hand, he found his path, his choice to return to the homeland that scorned him. Having overcome his present, he overcame his past as well! He found the chance to strike down his tormentor, the haunting specter of his past! He, alone among us, could strike down the Bodhisattva Annointed by Dark Waters! He alone could face navy, specter, and ancient deathlord all! With six paths, he reduced them past death into nothing! With six paths, he /tore out a Deathlord's own heart/!"

    He's working himself up with momentum, trying to get timing and such right to stay in close quarters and figure out... well, there's no gaps in the Six Paths, of course. But to find the least guarded of the moments to strike is what he intends. There's one last strike... a final chapter to all of this. Yes, he just might be working up the strength for that one truly huge heavy strike.
Azure Armature There's a lot going on here. Too much.

"The six poles - my elements - are to be used by the Maker's chosen. You have some of that inside of you, some internal power, but you are not Alchemical. Alchemic, perhaps, but you are not..."

Haguro 'lets Rabo off the hook'.

"It's sufficient. The lotus of the Stars, powered by the poles of the Maker. It's just mummery!"

This is not a good idea to shout at the dude flaring out his anima and blitzing around like bolts of lightning.

He connects first with a shimmering barrier field, and crashes through it like stunt glass, then through, the pillar of his force sending Armature blasted clean through an Orichalcum and Blue Jade wall of Luthe, smoking and disappearing into the distance. It is a felling strike - a dispatching strike, one that would have levelled pretty much anyone it hit.

It levelled her, pretty factually.

She blinks back, still smoking, most of her harness vaporized by the essence blast and down to the scorched bodyglove below.

"Six poles. Five Elements. An infinite sea of stars. Beyond the masters that taught you, beyond the dreams of thieves?"

Armature's arm cannon reconfigures, voxellating and streamlining as she fires a stream of smoking, burning wood, superheated water blasts, and a flurry of pneumatically-launched metal flechettes.

"Earn your title, Big Boss!"
Wandering Dog "She's dead. Two hundred years." Rabo responds to Staren, but there's only a bit of wistfulness, as the strike comes at him. A super electrocuting x-strike. Rabo moves to block it in a weird way that shows he still has his Martial Arts Master style. He rips off part of his sash from his pants, and twirls it around his fist right as the strike impacts. The electricity surges through the sash, burning it to crisps, but can't get past the metal. "Lightning Crosses The Way."

Moonfin is almost done with his story as he just /dodges/ Rabo's techniques, causing him to grin as the shallow slashes cut into him.

"What it is, is my inheritance! Some day, I'll pass it onto a successor. But until then, I'll proudly use it all out." As the blasts of elements come at Rabo, he leaps up, and moves to land on them. They still burn, but only shallowly into his feet, not enough to cause much damage, as he bounces from projectile to projectile, and then lands over Azure Armature.

And then Haguro suplexes him. Over and over. It hurts, but his metal body protects him, even as his energy levels are going deep in the tank. "Time for a finale! Everything I've got into a few more attacks!"

Rabo surges forward, and into everyone, he impacts them. Haguro gets a shallow hit meant to recharge his energy, but the other three get one last supercharged essence punch, meant to break bones (or bend steel and armor). "Don't worry about injuries - Luthe's medbays are open to you all if you need them! Because that's what comrades are for!"
Haguro "You've been holding onto that name for so long, then..." Haguro utters quietly, partially from being utterly spent after doing all those flips, and partially from trying to still be coherent even while tearing up at the story. She doesn't wipe her face or let out any further noises, though, instead smiling broader than before even as Rabo comes in for that shallow strike.

"I won't lie, she... She was probably angry at the time. She might even still be angry now. The fact that you remembered for so long, though, and learned from your mistakes.. That's still worth being proud of." Haguro chuckles lightly and leans into the hit to take it square against herself, coughing and hacking out some blood/oil. She's probably getting into this fight more than she should be, but it's all worth it.

... Except now she's a little too tired to strike back. Those suplexes really took it out of her, and Haguro only has enough in her tank left for one last hit! Hunkering down for a moment, she pulls off her turret to leave one arm bare, then rushes at Rabo for one last clothesline aimed across the face!
Staren     Staren blinks when Rabo says the girl he loved is long-gone. And then Dog completely blocks, and names the technique. Staren looks shocked at the former, then smiles at the latter. "I like it."

    And then Rabo throws an essence-supercharged punch, and Staren tries to dodge, but is juuust too slow. It doesn't hit full on, but it still cracks and dents armor, tearing a hole in Staren's side and sending him tumbling to the floor--

    --but Staren feels no pain, and can still think clearly and react. Wings of transparent orange energy suddenly appear at his back, buzzing and righting him. He thrusts out his right arm to fire the beam cannons... which were on the armor he dropped. Dog's earlier punch busted one of the cannons, anyway.

    So the missile racks pop up behind his shoulders, and Staren fires a salvo of tiny missiles at Rabo, then tries to fly behind someone else for cover!
Starbound Flotilla     Moonfin moves to intercept the strike. The punch /shatters/ the highly reinforced power-bokken. Despite all kinds of super-strong technologies woven into the traditional sparring weapon, it's snapped in half by the strike, ripping clean into his body. Armor blasts off his chest as he's slammed backwards and smashes into a far wall, splinters flying. He falls to one knee, holding himself up with both hands, as the other half of the bokken tumbles to his side.

    "Chapter seven." Moonfin speaks. "Ode to the Dog. The hated foe defeated, the broken world healed just a little bit more, the Wandering Dog, loved by men and by legend, found himself with Luthe. With a city. A nation that could be something great. A seed from which a tree of brotherhood might sprout. At last, he was no mere hero. At last, he had taken from the corpse of the silver-tongued tyrant the chance to be a paragon. Now, the decision was his. He would make a nation where all men are brothers. He would bring to Creation a place where no man's birthright dooms him."

    He pushes himself up off that knee, panting and gasping. Glass falls out of his visor. He picks up the shattered half of the bokken in his free hand, holding it like a knife. The broken bokken's hilt in his main hand still gleams with polished wood. He takes a cross-armed, crouching stance. It's odd, almost an entirely different pose and posture than he usually takes.

    "Look, dear children, dear listeners, to the horizon. Where the waves crest, if you watch closely, perhaps you will see them. Perhaps you will see the work of the man who was denied any home, and who denied home in turn. Perhaps you will see a home, one that wanders for his sake. When tyrants rise on the backs of their blood or their family, when men are not brothers but kings and subjects, perhaps the tide will come in, and a Wandering Dog shall bring Six Paths to their fleets, to their barracks, to their castles, to their thrones."

    He takes a deep, heavy breath. For a moment, it almost seems like he's shedding his own pretentiousness. There is less grandstanding and beauty in his posture. And that gorgeous style he insists on falls off his body in waves. He is not using the long-forbidden Seventh Sea Hylotl Style, but perhaps, for a moment, he dips into it, in respect for Wandering Dog. The beauty he sheds for just a moment fills the air with the sensations and impressions, marked in echoes in one's battle instinct. The perceiving mind sees him attack ten thousand times at once for each muscle that eases to release the arrogant look.

    Moonfin rushes with a cross-strike that's more ninja than samurai.

    "And that is the legend of the Wandering Dog. Wandering Dog, who finds light in the darkest places. Wandering Dog, who wandered with such force that Creation itself bowed and gave to him a wandering home. Wandering Dog, who could take heaven's own tools, for he saw them equal. Wandering Dog, master of Six Paths, creator of the seventh."

    "Wandering Dog, who looked death and tyranny in the eye, and said, 'No. I shall stand, instead.'"

    Moonfin drops both halves of the Bokken dramatically. The gentle noise that the polished, finely-engraved wood makes when it clacks against the metal floor is almost musical. It rings with finality. When he turns, it's not to attack. Instead, it's to bow.

    And for once in his life, he means it.
Azure Armature "Open your ears, Rabo!" comes Armature's voice, but she has some final things to deal with.

Another full power wave-punch comes, Rabo's synthesized trick swinging in towards her, contrails of essence following the path of his fist.

It's a strike that would shatter mountains. Flatten an entire legion of soldiers in a single stroke.

Armature remembers a trick she had to re-learn mere weeks ago. "It is a very good punch. But combat among your peers is never so simple."

The ground fills with geometric spiderwebs around her, and six 'extra' phantom spider legs spread out around her like a cloak. Her eyes seem like two and eight, and her appearance blurs in a haze of blue.

Her left hand swings up, seven layers of voxellated honeycomb force interposing themselves. Blowing through each absorbs effort, absorbs essence. The ablative shields burst one after the other, but the power is lensed, the essence blast diffused, redirected.

That leaves only the fist. A strike with full intent behind it, even though this is a 'friendly' finale. As far as finales go, it is one where if you couldn't survive a punch like that, you really should have taken the smarter move and not shown up.

Armature's shield hand remains extended, fingers splayed, and she takes the fist as if recieving a training punch. This is not a training punch - it connects with her fist and the force visibly recoils all the way through her elbow, the rotational force spinning her palm, and the fingers attached around in an entirely unnatural three-sixty rotation. Her wrist audibly snaps, and down her arm, the skin buldges as stuff goes on inside her arm that arms strictly do not do.

But her palm flares, with energy. It conducts, through her ruined left hand into her heart, a flare of power. Five colors. White, Green, Blue, Red, and Brown. A star, ringed with six colored lines - Sky Blue, Black, Grey, Yellow, Silver, and Charcoal - forms over her chest, before running down her right hand as her arm cannon dissipates.

"Trancending the forms of Creation, and the Great Maker, and the heights of the united Lotus, I will return this fist."

She places her palm almost gently on Rabo's own chest, her open fingers braced against his bare skin.

"A seventh path you may have found, but any martial artist knows that the first mystery is the first step. There will be a form for it."

"There will be a cap-stone at its peak. Perhaps you will find it."

Azure Armature 'pushes', and the force flares with all 'Eleven' named elements - clearly copied, wisked off and reinvested back into the Wandering Dog in an explosive qi-blast.

"Something to work on, while the Big Boss builds his own outer Yu-Shan."
Wandering Dog Attacks fly into Rabo. Haguro comes in for a clothesline - he sidesteps, but doesn't counter-attack her. Instead, he turns to her. "Because I'm probably going to be unconscious shortly, make me proud."

Mini-missiles impact into the metal skin, as Moonfin's sword slash rips into him, tearing into skin below and finally drawing blood. But the real impact is Azure Armature's.

"...you're right. I'll change the world of martial arts, as well as the West. I'll create a style unlike any other, to the point that even Heaven looks on in awe!"

And then, the Eleven Element Strike impacts. Rabo goes flying, as he puts the rest of his essence into surviving it.

He goes into a wall anyways. He's in a heap. He can still move, still breathe, still laugh, but he's down. He can't fight anymore. A little more could kill him. And even then - the ache is hell. Even through the metal, that strike broke ribs, could have killed him if he wasn't careful. He'll need to heal for a while, but...once he does, he'll be ready to start styling again.

"Thank you. All of you." He means it from the bottom of his heart. The story of the Wandering Dog is over.

The story of Rabo Malaras continues on.
Azure Armature Armature, for her part, has her flaring anima gutter and die, before she falls over, tumbling forward with a groan.

"I am certain everything I did was very respectful of your moment, and also incredibly stupid. I will be availing myself of your medical facilities, as you offered. Before you go off to make your own world, your own form."

"We still have to save this world, whether it likes it or not."