Scene #7194: Invitation to Destruction

Owner	Pose
Haguro	Malaysia as a whole has numerous places for a risk-taking vacationer to relax away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Some of them happen to be good places for questionable deals to occur without anyone asking too many questions, others have strategic value as forward operating bases to keep an eye on the region, yet others happen to be prime real estate for merchants coming and going from around the world, and a select few satisfy all of these criteria. Naturally, it's one of those few places that Elites are approaching today through various means. They're greeted by a number of curious sights as well. The first: The gun battery just a short jog away from the coast itself. Normally, a single defensive battery wouldn't be much of anything to look at, but it's rather out of place planted right at the edge of what would otherwise just be a nice vacation spot that would otherwise be untouched by war. The second: The fleet of numerous mismatched ships just off the coast, each bearing the markings of different countries. For whatever reason, none of these ships are shooting at each other, nobody is shouting demands to the other, and each one has all of their guns pointed out towards the sea at... The third: A single woman in a purple uniform and white admiral's cap, drifting along the surface of the water towards the fleet. Her shoulders and wrists have steel turrets that look oddly similar to the one seen within the coastal town, and she seems to be staring directly past the fleets between herself and that defensive battery. "This is more than expected... But that's fine. You know why I'm here, then." Haguro's voice blares through a loudspeaker held in front of her, the brief bit of feedback causing her to pause for a moment before continuing. "If you're intent on stopping me, then there's no need for further words. Shall we begin?" There's a firm tone in her voice as she issues her challenge to the ships present, those on the shore, and those who have come to help or hinder her. There's no doubts about it. Haguro is looking for a fight today.
Shigure	Shigure is approaching from a different angle, coming from the north with her fleet in formation behind her. "Yuudachi, Kuma, Secure the perimeter. Any ship that approaches, turn it back. You are weapons free if they open fire first. Yamashiro, with me. Secure the beachhead... I need to talk to Haguro." The destroyer makes a gesture, and her fleet splits off into two pairs. The cruiser and blonde destroyer peeling away to circle around behind Haguro, looking for any other ships that might be making use of the distraction and chaos. The black-haired girl and the taller miko battleship continue on straight to the island, Shigure's blue eyes locked onto Haguro's approaching form. "Losses are inevitable in this situation. Lets try to keep casualties to the minimum possible."
Athela Valemore	Amongst the international menagerie there is one afloat that is not actually a ship. Or even a boat for that matter. It's an exceptionally large sealion-like creature, appearing clad in armor that is like a knight of olde but with a seashell motif, long white whiskers bristled back likely with a scowl beneath his helmet as the to-be aggressors arrive. As the proclimation is made Athela rises to stand on his back. A brief coastal seabreeze blows, ruffling through her red locks and making her cloak flutter behind her. Expression knitted likewise in a determined grimace, seeing the only way this encounter is going to go. Yet makes no reply to the shipgirl's call. That her hand has already gone to tightly grip Resolute Blade at the ready is all that needs to be said.
Hesinca	pop That's the rather bland and quiet sound of a glowing floor tile appearing on the coast, and then a series of figures - most two legged, four-ish feet tall, and penguin-shaped... and one four-legged, ten feet tall, and most definitely not penguin-shaped. (Though not human-shaped either.) "Okay, doods," says the lead penguin-thing. "That's the objective, further up on the coast there. That gun battery. Let's roll!" "YEAH DOOD!" yells all but two of the penguin things. "EMPOLEON!" yells one, and "WAIT, DOOD!" yells the other. All eyes turn to the one who called 'wait'. "Yeah, um, dood... you say objective, do you mean protecting, stealing, or destroying the gun battery?" There's a long silence. "Um... dunno, dood." All eyes go up to their demonic boss, for clarification. "Eh," says Hesinca, shrugging.
Midway	There is an aircraft contact. Any radars can detect it. The observant can even see it-- a trio of tooth-lined white spheres flying in a loose formation, cylendrical drop tanks dangling beneath them as they coast on impossible, stubby wings. Long-range Abyssal scout planes. The squadron keeps its distance from the assembled fleet, but seems to care less about Haguro's batteries. Beneath the surface, eyes open into narrow, glowing slits of crimson. The figure reclines on the seabed, appearing for all intents and purposes like a discarded corpse, until it moves. A hand raises, fingers flick out in a gesture. Another shape twists in the shadows, amidst sickly coils and teeth, departing into the twilight depths.
Evangeline	Flying above the Hikari force is a small girl-shaped black thing. Those that are familiar with the somewhat reclusive creature know her as Evangeline the Neuroi. She doesn't seem to make any noise as she flies other than a slight metallic whisper like fingers moving across guitar strings. As Shigure gives orders, the flying thing heads toward Haguro as well. She notices the gun battery, and notes the similarity to Haguro's weaponry. She places herself between Haguro and the defending fleet at a comfortable distance from both, then just floats there. She watches Haguro for a few moments before tilting her head slightly. "...hello Haguro..." she says, her soft voice broadcasting over radios and her own speaker on her arm. "...have you considered...merely asking for it to be returned...?" she adds, her voice containing only the minimal inflection needed. "...you know we cannot let you attack all these people...please simply withdraw so no one has to get hurt..."
Rean Schwarzer	Rean hovers over the ocean, his uniform dyed iron gray from borrowing Evangeline The Neuroi's power again. He lets out a wide yawn, covering his mouth with one hand and holding his sword still in its sheath in the other. The bags under his eyes aren't quite as intense as they've been the last few weeks, but he's obviously still tired. He looks between the battery of guns, Haguro, and the bunches of ships clustered along the shore. He knows why she's here, and yet despite getting slapped in the face with her despair a while back, he can't quite bring himself to fully side with her. "I have the feeling she tried that already, given that there's all these ships here with their guns pointed at her." Rean says. "If she just tried to take it, there would already be a fight going on." "I'm...I'm sorry, Haguro." Rean says, drawing his sword. "I can't let you hurt these people."
Guzma	Guzma is here. Why? Because he'd rather be anyone than home. He's angry, he's frustrated, and it turns out kidnapping kinda sucks. He's standing on the coast, a Team Skull grunt with him spraypainting near the gun battery. Not /on/ the gun battery, that's Haguro's. But spraypainting any fences or metal near it, anything that isn't the gun battery itself. Guzma's sipping a can of coffee. He steps over to Haguro as the fleet comes out, eyes closed. "Kick their butts. I'm getting this gun battery out of here." With a throw of a pokeball, a Heracross is sent out, a big blue bipedal kabuto beetle-man. "Alright, you're new to the team, let's see what you can do. Rip that battery out. Work with Clip." Heracross clicks, and then, moves to join the graffiti-grunt, and start just, moving to find a leverage point on the gun-battery and rip it out of the ground. Heracross is, in fact, ridiculously strong.
Hesinca	PRINNY VOTING RESULTS 19 VOTES: STEAL IT, DOOD! 18 VOTES: PROTECT IT, DOOD! 01 VOTES: EMPOLEON, EMPOLEON, EMPOLEON 01 VOTES: SILENTLY KICKS THE PRINNY NEXT TO HER INTO THE OCEAN 01 VOTES: HELP ME I'M DROWNING DOODS, BURBLE BURBLE "By a vote of 19 to 18 to 1 to 1 to 1, 'Steal It, Dood' has won the prinny poll, doods!" "Then can we get on with it?" says Hesinca. "My stomping hoof is getting itchy again." "Y- yeah, dood!" says the prinny, aware that Hesinca's 'stomping' hoof and her 'kicking someone into the ocean' hoof are different hooves. "CHARGE!" The massed force charges across the coast, zeroing in on the gun battery...
Haguro	EARLIER: "Understood. Be careful. It's heavy, and..." Haguro shakes her feet off as she starts heading towards the water. "... Well. They might start yelling at you, so be ready if you're sure about this." "And thank you, Mister Guzma." NOW: Haguro sees the battle lines starting to form. Rather, she sees and hears allies. Former allies. Friends. Something more complicated than that. Some of them move around behind her in the water to keep the other ships from getting baited out, others move in front of her in the sky pleading with her, and yet others seem to simply be watching and waiting for something to happen. "... It really would be easier like that, wouldn't it?" She asks nobody in particular, her turrets going over one more ammo check as she looks towards Evangeline as the first to address her directly. "Hello, Miss Evangeline. I have, and they refused. They're probably feeling confident about keeping it now, seeing everyone here. They know you're going to defend them." Her gaze shifts to Rean next, raising an eyebrow slightly as she notices that she has to actually look up at him. "When could you...? Er. Anyway. I know you can't, Mister Schwarzer. I'd be disappointed if you did. You and Miss Valemore, Evangeline, I'm... Pretty sure the rest of the Fifth is here as well. But you know that I can't stop, either." She's tempted to look towards the water, to catch those eyes beneath the surface, but she forces herself to look towards the shoreline again where her target awaits. "... They need to understand what refusal means." The turrets along Haguro's shoulders and wrists raise as she starts drifting towards the shoreline, all firing in a wide-ranging volley of both anti-air flak and explosive ammunition, aimed at Elite and ship alike. The ships from the rear fire back on her position, sending up plumes of water and shrapnel that quickly start to turn the sea into a battlefield. All attention is up front on the battle starting in the sea, leaving the gun battery itself relatively undefended in the face of the mighty bug and the army of penguins.
Shigure	Shigure radios. "The Prinnies are storming the gun battery, moving to intercept." radios the Destroyer, unclipping her backpack turrets and aiming. "Angle set. Launching volley ahead of battle line." her turrets belch out smoke and flame, launching 12.7cm explosive shells across the path of the Prinnies, hoping to dissuade them from further forward movement, but more than likely earning her some aggro. Yamashiro holds fire for the time being, attempting to look imposing behind the shorter, more slender destroyer girl as her massive turrets angle forwards.
Midway	The fight begins. Gunfire breaks the peace of the sea. And then something else. Erupting from the surface like some primal reptile; a distinctive head covered in corroded black steel, its maw filled with jagged mismatched teeth. A long, serpentine neck of white flesh with inset black tiles along the spine. And, finally, a pale-skinned girl with pink eyes that glow from within the depths of her hood. With water running down her body and hoodie-dress, the Re-Class Abyssal Aviation Battleship splits her lips into a wide, shark-toothed smile. Her hands pull from the hoodie's pockets, spreading to either side, while clusters of diamond-shaped black Abyssal aircraft erupt from her backpack and ascend into the sky above her.
Hesinca	Someone else attacks Hesinca first before she can launch a pre-emptive strike. This pisses Hesinca off. "HEY, HEYYY!" yells the demon centaur as the various penguin-shaped minions scatter in the face of incoming fire. "I'M SUPPOSED TO ATTACK FIRST! ARGH, I'm so over this!" She stomps her hooves, losing any previous composure she might have had, and then holds out a hand to the side. "MAGICHANGE!" "Oh, no, DOOOooooood....." goes the hapless prinny as it transforms into a gun in Hesinca's hand. "Take this, you stupid... whoever you are!" BANG, BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG! The hapless prinny-gun is tossed carelessly over Hesinca's shoulder once the clip is expended, and it has its own problems to deal with in that regard, but Shigure has a wave of oversized bullets headed towards her now!
Shigure	Shigure brings her tonfa turrets around, and presents an angled armour plate against those Magichange bullets. A couple deflect, but most manage to pierce through and cause smoke to pour out of the holes, fires set inside. "Fire Control, lay to the armory deck!" announces Shigure with a hint of urgency. She jukes aside, and allows Yamashiro to take point, hunkering behind the more well armoured Battleship. "I am Second of the Fusou-class. Yamashiro. And as one of our Land of Burgers allies would say. 'You snooze, you lose.'" 35.6cm turrets angle, align and resound as the shells slam home into the breach. "Main Battery, ready. FIRE!" Six barrels belch smoke and flame, but these shells are significantly bigger, detonating violently around the group of Prinnies and their demon commander.
Evangeline	Evangeline turns her head slightly toward Rean when he speaks up, then back to Haguro as she confirms his suspicions. "...I see...still...this is not the best way...if they stole your gun...we could have helped get it back peacefully..." she says as shells start exploding and impacting around them. She tries to protect one of the boats with her barrier, causing it to flare as flak impacts it. Then, she spots those aircraft. Her head turns slowly toward them before she starts toward them. Slowly at first, but quickly gaining speed. "...Abyssal aircraft...moving to intercept..." she radios to her allies before raising her arms. The ends gain a sinister red glow as she powers up a Breaker Beam. "...Abyssal...please vacate this area...if you make any aggressive actions...you will be fired upon..." she says, her voice carrying over radios to be heard once more. She hears Shigure's report on the Prinnies and turns enough to see the gun. "...perhaps...we should just let them take it..." she radios to her comrades. "...we still must protect the people here...but that is not theirs...it is Haguro's..."
Haguro	Chaos starts to unfold on land as the Prinnies and Hesinca start getting shot at by explosive shells courtesy of Shigure and Yamashiro while the Heracross bruteforces its way to the gun battery that seems to be the cause of all this commotion. The locals aren't dressed in anything particularly fancy, and even the beefiest looking ones only have some old rifles that they threaten it with while yelling at it to get away, but they seem wary of actually firing at risk of damaging the battery. The mixed navy, too, doesn't seem all that willing to turn their guns on the village being as focused as they are on returning fire on Haguro further out at sea. The gun battery itself is wedged in pretty deep with some relatively high-tech gear to keep it in place, and it's clear that whoever installed this thing didn't get help from the locals. Still, anything that's been stuffed into the ground like that can always be pulled up eventually. It's just a matter of time and deaing with the locals growing increasingly agitated at it, and one of the braver folks even rushes at the Heracross with a machete!
Athela Valemore	Athela Valemore closes her eyes for a moment. "You understand why we have come... And I for one appreciate your public challenge so we could be prepared." Then opens her eyes. "As the modern worlds say, Haguro, nothing personal. You desire to reclaim something that is yours." She draws her relic weapon fully. "But as a Knight of the Sword of Waterways, I cannot simply stand aside the threat your attack poses to this area. If there is no other means to resolve this..." It's not the turret Athela is concerned about, it's the level of harm a long protracted fight could do to this region of islands and waters, so to keep this as short as possible is optimal. Sure enough Haguro opens fire on the gathered fleet. "Now Lancer, Aqua jet!" Her Samurott roars in response and slams his tail into the water, kicking up a large swell of water to launch himself forward as the volley comes. He swerves to avoid direct hits, but shrapnel from shells slamming into the water or against the other ships still prattle down upon both, leaving rends and dents in their armor. Athela leans forward to grab one of the spikes of his armor to hold on as he picks up speed, gripping her weapon so the elongated hilt of the sword-glaive is braced against her arm as they close in on Haguro. But she does not strike directly at the shipgirl, not yet. Instead Resolute Blade shimmers as she channels the cryomantic side of her powers through the weapon and then she thrusts the blade into the water. The water freezes supernaturally fast, audibly crackling as it elementizes across the water's surface towards Haguro and bursts at outward angles in jaggedly sharp spikes, like great spears of ice abruptly thrusting from the frigid surge.
Hesinca	The prinnies continue to scramble around aimlessly as they're shelled. "Yeah? And I am HESINCA, of Hesinca and Etcetera, formerly The Repentence Firm of Trozrakath, Vonnaruun, Drongrothad and Jones-Smith!" The demon centaur pauses in her tracks, still getting shelled, as she considers. "I should probably go shopping for a better Title," she wonders out loud, before taking a shell to the face, knocking her to the ground. "Okay, screw Titles!" she calls, getting back up onto all four feet. She's not looking great, but she's looking better than expected for someone who just tanked artillery fire with her face. "In fact, screw whatever teamwork you have going on, too! You, hey, whatever ship it is she's taking cover behind!" Hesinca points out with an accusatory finger at the Yamashiro, and builds up her Demonic Authority gauge. "RAM INTO HER!"
Guzma	Heracross is Ridiculously Strong. It has to put in effort seeing how stapled into the ground this gun battery is, but it's not going to be stopped from this strength challenge. Well, they try to, with the machete-wielder coming at it. Guzma grabs another pokeball, presses the button, and throws. "Scizor. Tell them what they win for playing stupid games with my Pokemon." The Scizor clicks, and then boosts forward with superbug speed, a pincer going up and moving to slam into the gut of the machete-wielder. Scizor is not made to fight humans. It's made to fight creatures stronger than humans. But it can hold back and not kill - even if the person is going to be bruised and need medical attention. The machete wielder is sent flying backwards, probably groaning on the ground, Scizor zooming forward to catch the machete and snap it between pincers as a show of force. "Y'all want your gun? Either be better than that, or get outta here!"
Midway	The Re-Class glances across the waves towards Haguro, then lifts her eyes to the gathering cluster of fighters and bombers above her own head. The flare of red barrier gets her attention back on the enemy ship formation, fixating on the flying black-hulled Neuroi. A figure she recognizes. The charging lasers directed towards her prompts the ghastly girl to lower her face, obscuring her eyes with the edge of her hood. "Hmm... If I make an aggressive action, you'll attack me, huh?" Her head tilts slightly, "So wouldn't that just be you defending yourself, then? I mean," Her head lifts, eyes so wide they're nearly perfect circles, pupils tiny points surrounded by pools of glowing pink. Blue light leaks from the corners of her eyes in luminescent wisps. "But you're in the middle of a battlefield, girl. Nobody's gonna quit just 'cuz you asked nicely!" Her tail snaps its jaw shut, the teeth sending off a shower of metallic sparks when they slam together. The secondary battery turrets in the 'eye sockets' elevate, then fire in staccato. The aircraft over her scatter in attack and air superiority squadrons while she pelts the Neuroi with air-burst flak shells.
Rean Schwarzer	Rean shrugs at Haguro's surprise at him flying. "Ask her." He says, indicating Evangeline. Either way, Haguro opens fire on him and the other ships. Rean slashes at a few of the anti air flack, cutting some but not all of it. The parts he missses slam into him, knocking him spiralling downwards towards the water. He stops a couple of feet above the waves, then launches himself up at Haguro, aiming straight at her cannons. He rushes past her as one strike becomes many, trying to disable her guns.
Shigure	Yamashiro winces as the Demonic Authority tries to wrest control of her motor functions. She begins to slide backwards before a defiant kiai rips from her mouth and she instead charges forwards, running up the beach towards the centaur. "How about I ram into YOU instead!?" she bellows, couching a shoulder down and aiming the flat broad turret cap of one of her turrets at Hesinca. Shigure, meanwhile begins maneuvering, smoke finally ceasing to pour from her damaged turrets. She listens in to the tactical band, then relays over broadband the offer from Nagato. She can only hope it ends the fighting, but her optimism quota's been rather low lately.
Evangeline	Evangeline practically disappears amidst the flak bursts and the smoke they leave behind. She bursts upward, trailing smoke behind her. Her arms and legs are pock-marked with shrapnel impacts, and one of her ears is missing. A silvery glow starts to appear around the damaged areas as they start to regenerate. "...still...it is good to ask..." she says before aiming upward at the Abyssal aircraft. She fires with both arms, sending a blazing red beam nearly as thick as she is tall sweeping across their formations in an attempt to take out as many of the tiny craft as she can.
Hesinca	Hesinca takes it head-goddamn-on, bracing her shoulder towards the approaching Yamashiro, and then charging forward. "Yeah? YEAH! YOU REALLY WANT TO HAVE A RAMMING CONTEST, HUH? DO YOU?" It's two tons of Hesinca versus however many tons of Yamashiro. Hesinca takes hits from the cannons at point-blank range as she charges forward - ripping up her armor and concussing her insides yet further - but then she's in melee range, and impacts. It's a person-shaped battleship versus a centaur-shaped freight train. Who will win? The unstoppable force or the other unstoppable force? Only one thing is know for certain, whoever wins, the prinnies that wander underfoot lose.
Haguro	Athela's words actually have Haguro smiling slightly. "It's good to know somebody understands. I have no personal grudge against you, but..." She taps a finger against her earpiece. "Well, you're hearing it already. It's them or me." Bracing her hands in front of her, Haguro winces as the ice from Athela's water-manipulation lances into her and tears through some of her armor, leaving red streaks and sparks of metal in their wake. Rean charges towards her right afterwards, his multi-pronged attacked crashing into one of her wrist turrets as she swings her arm up to... ... Absorb the blow? As his sword grinds against her turrets and armor alike, Haguro shifts sideways to grasp at the swordsman's arm in mid-strike. "They can give it back all they like, but they made their choice when they refused. When I told them what I would do and they still refused." Twisting on her heel, Haguro whirls around to try flinging Rean right into Athela, following up her maneuver with some more anti-air flak sent their way and another volley of shots towards the ships defending the village. "Now... Now, it's too late for them unless you can stop me!"
Shigure	Yamashiro storms in, and at the last moment fires her cannon. NOt at the centaur, but into the beach, using the recoil to launch herself sideways and out of the full brunt of Hesinca's charge. 2tons of centaur still cripple one of Yamashiro's turrets, breaking the ring and locking it in place from the impact. Yamashiro skids around, drawing an arc with one foot in the sand, before launching herself into Hesinca's side, aiming to wrap the centaur-like demon with powerful arms, and simply hoist her up and over in a wrestling suplex.
Haguro	Whoever put this gun battery in, they certainly expected it to get shaken around and blasted! They didn't expect something to try and just rip it out of the ground, though, and there's already straining noises from far below as the ground sarts to crack from the sheer force being exerted on it. The machete wielder gets internal bleeding at best from the Scizor's smash right into his gut, buckling over while the other villagers start to get their bearings and try not to look too intimidated by it snapping the machete. They're not doing very well. "M.. Monster! What did we ever do to you?!" One of them shouts while bringing up an old hunting rifle, hastily firing off a shot at the Scizor.
Hesinca	Once upon a time, Hesinca was the smallest of three other demon centaur sisters, who picked on her mercilessly for only being ten feet tall, and often launched harmless pranks on her like throwing her out of third story windows. And so Hesinca learned to defend herself against falls, and also gained a complex about her height. The end. In present day, Hesinca braces, but she still goes down hard against the ground, the impact knocking her armor loose. (Well, at least the enchanted-steel armor she's wearing. She's got a thick coat of chitin underneath that.) She gets her footing, as much as she can, finds a point of leverage... and then tries to reverse the grapple and the suplex, sending Yamashiro in turn up into the air and then slamming down into the ground!
Midway	A large number of Abyssal planes disappear in a sudden, horrifying scarlet light. What few aren't fully engulfed instead lose wings or tails, spiralling down into the sea on trails of smoke. On the surface, Re-Class straightens her posture, tucking her hands back into the pockets of her hoodie. Her tail twists, more aircraft spilling down out of her backpack and taking to the air to replace the large number lost. The turrets on the end of her tail emit a persistent, low sound of grinding metal. But the real threat is the aircraft which had managed to avoid obliteration. The level bombers break away into low altitude approaches, while the dive bombers break away and ascend, both on attack runs towards scattered targets amidst the gathered defensive fleet. Evangeline finds herself beset upon by the fighter squadron. Pairs of aircraft routinely dive on her to fire, then accellerate and ascend away, coming from multiple angles, sometimes multiple dives at a time, peppering the Neuroi with autocannons.
Athela Valemore	And then Haguro throws Rean at her. Bugger all. She doesn't want to hurt Rean, but him crashing into the water at the speed Haguro can likely throw him would be disasterous. Making a split-second decision she drops her weapon so she can catch Rean. For a measure of help, as he still impacts with her hard enough to knock her backwards, but when they hit the water they, thanks to her water-walking abilities, only skid across the surface instead of sinking. "Oof!" Followed by a soft sigh. "There is no changing her course at this point, I am afraid. The only means is to see it through." With that she gives Rean an upward boost to get him back into the air. With no one on his back her Samurott rises in the water, revealing that he's been carrying Athela's Dhelmise against his underbelly this entire time. The compass affixed to the steering wheel atop the anchor shivels to the <--> mimics an angerly slanted eye, followed by one of the anchor's haunted kelp-coated chains unreeling from it's body and lashing out towards Haguro!
Shigure	Surprisingly, Yamashiro is a very difficult being to get a good grasp on. She disengages, hopping back and out of close range. This is only to allow Shigure to open fire from the sea again, lobbing shells in a steady stream of high explosive blasts. The Destroyer adds in a few tossed torpedoes, thrown like kunai that explode on impact to the mix, the shaped charge warheads built to punch holes in battleship plate.
Hesinca	Hesinca charges forward as Yamashiro moves back, trying to stay within close distance, but is met by battleship-punching fire. She staggers - and then she gasps for air, grabbing at her chest over the hole that the artillery fire punched straight through her. "... No, no, I'm fine. I think it hit a lung, nothing important," she declares, and then stands back up straight, and grabs for a pair of the ever panicking-prinnies who have been running around the battlefield this entire time. "But as for you...!" Rather than finish that thought with her voice, she decides to let her hands do the talking - in this case, throwing a pair of penguin-shaped high explosives at them both. (The prinnies only look and act like minions, in reality they are far more useful as ammunition.)
Evangeline	Evangeline gets many of the bombers...but not all. But rather than turning to face the fighters, she charges right through the incoming fighter fire. Her spherical shield of translucent hexagonal energy plates flares what must be hundreds of times, but it can't stop all of them and dozens more holes appear on her form. She was already fairly slight in build, but now she is nearing stick figure appearances. Still, she goes after the bombers, though her flight pattern is a bit sporatic thanks to all the damage. She charges up again, but this time fires a multitude of small vectoring red beams that seek to pinpoint as many of the remaining bombers as she can. "...I will not let you harm those ships..." she says, her voice meek voice hardly matching the fierceness of how she fires off those lasers and spirals as much as she can through the fighter fire.
Shigure	Shigure and Yamashiro juke aside as the prinnies come arching in. Their point defense batteries open fire, spraying the prinnies with machine gun and autocannon tracers. The Prinnies explode prematurely, showering harmless debris across the ships armoured sections. Shigure brings her tonfa into position again, and waits for an extra moment, a resounding clank coming from within the assemblies. "Armour Piercing loaded. Target ranged and locked in." she fires, white tracers following her shells, that don't explode immediately, but instead pierce through then explode inside of their impact target. THe detonation isn't as strong. Yamashiro adds to the barrage, her remaining four barrels lobbing shells in a slower salvo than Shigure's, but these explode on impact, orangeish tracers marking the heavier shells paths.
Midway	Evangeline dives. A good number of fighters break off the attack, while a handful dive in pursuit, peppering the Neuroi's defenses as she chases the low-flying level bombers. Lasers are unleashed, and the bombers swerve to evade as best they can, to little success. Plane after Abyssal Plane erupts in a ball of flame, crashing into the water, its payload unspent. Quite suddenly, the pursuit fighters break off, shooting past Evangeline and ascending at high speed, forming up into pairs. There's no sign of the dive bombers over the defense fleet, not even escapees or crashing wreckage, so where-- The formation dives down out of the sun, loosing bombs and pulling up and away. In order to hit their target, it had to be low and slow. Like, perhaps, if it were pursuing low, slow-flying torpedo bombers. Their target is the Neuroi girl herself. "That's fine, I just want air superiority!" Re-Class calls out across the waves.
Rean Schwarzer	Haguro grabs hold of Rean launching him into Athela at high speeds. Luckily Athela thinks fast, catching him. "Ngh. ...Thanks." Rean says to Athela. He rights himself, climbing out of Athela's grasp to just hover a bit over the waves. He then turns to look up at Haguro. " ...Yeah." Rean says letting out a sigh. Rean launches himself at Haguro again, sword ignited as he aimed to get past Haguro's guard.
Hesinca	"What the - why do you useless prinnies keep missing!" "Sorry, boss dood!" And then there's explosions. Lots and lots of explosions and bullets and overall just a general ruckus as both ships bomb the crap out of the coastline where Hesinca is standing. And when it's all over, she's lying on her side in a puddle of her own blood (which is glowing faintly). And then, slowly, she gets up. "Ugh..." "Hah! You losers can't aim for shit!" she calls, swaying slightly. "You only took out one of my hearts!" And then she starts moving, getting a bit more speed built up as she gets momentum going and shakes the loose bullets out of her body. She gets down to the coastline, and then she leaps into the air, aiming to bring her hooves right down onto Shigure in a jumping stomp attack!
Haguro	"I have to say... It's refreshing when things are straightforward for a change." Haguro comments to Athela as she adjusts her footing in the water, taking on a more defensive stance even while watching the Samurott for further attacks. It's the Dhelmise that launches the next one, though, and Haguro has to simply brace for damage instead of trying to power through it, wincing as those kelpy chains batter against her. "I was expecting... Hn. It doesn't matter, anyway." Haguro grunts lightly as Rean comes charging in next, the flaming sword causing her eyes to widen in surprise. She actually yelps when the flaming blade slides right between her forearms in her attempt to stop it with her wrists, and she only narrowly avoids getting stabbed in the face while taking a shallow cut across the shoulder. With those chains and that sword close by, though, Haguro continues doing what she's trained excessively to do: Grab, pull, and improvise. Gripping the chains tightly, she launches chains of her own from her wrist turrets, using the knives at the end to try and bind hers to the Dhelmise's. She swings her head forward in a rough headbutt aimed at Rean's face, and then once she's confident in her hold, she starts swinging again, but not in haphazard patterns. They're all targeted flicks of her wrist and jerks of her arms, aimed to batter the Samurott, Rean, and Athela with the Dhelmise in one mighty swing!
Shigure	Shigure is a slippery thing, but even she can't dodge everything. Those stomping hooves come down, and Shigure brings one of her turrets up to catch the impact. Metal shears, buckled and something seems to catch inside, causing the entire thing to detonate, the destroyer tossing the ruined turret aside into the water, where it splashes down spectacularly. One arm unencumbered now, the destroyer reaches into the small of her back, and draws a short blade made of black steel. Shigure lets the gimbal arm of her remaining tonfa take it and latch it back into place, swapping hands with her short blade and leaping up onto Hesinca's back, aiming to stab the centaur repeatedly in painful places.
Guzma	They shout at Guzma. They shoot a gun at Scizor. Scizor lifts a metal pincer, and deflects the bullet off its armor, sliding into the dirt. Heracross continues to lift the gun battery up. "I said-" Guzma says, until he taps his radio. Someone's calling him. They have words. Words that make him unsure... "Teach them a lesson." Guzma says. It's indirect wording, a show of cowardice from a man who doesn't /really/ want to kill. Scizor dashes forward again, and grabs the gun, smashing it backwards into the gunner and then throwing the rifle at a window, shattering it with sheer force. "Next time, it's your house!" Guzma shouts out. "You should have evacuated, you know..."
Hesinca	Hesinca gets stabbed repeatedly. The blade stabs in again and again, but at this point she barely feels it, with all the other holes in her body. "Let's go for a little slam around the coast, shall we!" she calls as she heads up onto shore, trying to take advantage of the opportunity to get Shigure out of what seems to be her favored terrain. If Hesinca can get a grip, she yanks Shigure off of her back and just simply hurls her inland and away from the water!
Evangeline	Evangeline really hasn't had to deal with this sort of attack before. The bombers are gone, and so she kind of assumes they are all down. The only warning she gets is a blip on her radar before... Kaboom! She goes tumbling toward the water after the devastating bomb impacts. Her upper body goes one way, and her lower body goes another. It isn't quite as graphic as it sounds thanks to her metallic-crystaline structure, but it does expose a fist-sized red crystal within her that glows like a lighthouse. Her falling legs start to disintegrate, and a silver glow starts to flow downward from just below her chest as her body works to reform itself. Still, she is having a lot of trouble staying aloft at the moment and ends up falling toward one of the ships. She lands hard on it, just a half of her former self. She props herself up on her arms as she tries to reform herself, then looks across the water at Re-Class. "...for what...?" she asks, then sits herself up on deck. And with a sudden and powerful sound like a hammer hitting an anvil, the deck of the ship turns Neuroi black. Another hammering sound and more of the ship converts to Neuroi black, with red hexagons appearing along the sides. Another sound, and the entire ship is now a Neuroi. There is a much more noticable sound like fingers sliding on guitar strings, and the ship floats into the air. "...whatever it is...I do not think it would be good for these people..." she says, her voice being broadcast over the ship's loudspeakers now. The bow of the ship turns Neuroi red and starts to glow. "...so...I will send you back into the depths now..." she adds as the glow reaches a peak, and a massive beam fires from the bow of the ship, aimed right at Re-Class.
Haguro	If Guzma is showing any sort of cowardice, the villagers certainly aren't seeing it. What they are seeing is a red thing that can probably fly, can certainly crushed their weapons, and has probably given two of them enough injuries to need a medic sooner rather than later. Some of the villagers are starting to panic while others drag the injured away, the panicking ones looking torn on whether to try shooting Guzma or to hightail it out of there. The window getting shattered certainly makes the latter more appealing. For the time being, the villagers around Guzma are frozen in fear, giving the Heracross free reign to keep working on that gun battery and Guzma ample opportunity to start pumping himself up, leaving more of a mark on the town, or whatever else he might have in store for them while everyone's occupied!
Athela Valemore	The knife-chains easily entangle with Dhelmise, because the anchor and wheel are physical objects. The spectre is in the kelp covering those, haunted seaweed animated the collection of ship wreckage. And now you know why Dhelmise is a Grass/Ghost type instead of having Steel or Water. But Samurott also refuses to let go of the other pokemon, and while fairly big and bulky it isn't enough to keep Haguro from yanking and swinging them around, getting slammed several times into the water which isn't pleasant at all even for a Water type. Finally Dhelmise has had enough, and spins its wheel to dislodge the chains from it. Which unfortunately sends the two pokemon hurtling across the water from the momentum, and into the side of one of the other defending ships. WHUMP! Samurott is rattled hard by the impact, but Dhelmise grabs onto him with a chain and lobs up some of its seaweed tendrils to grab the side of the ship and pull themselves up. Seeing this as she approaches, Athela decides to take an alternate route and dives into the water while Haguro is swinging everyone else about, blasting along as fast as a naturally aquatic creature would. The Tide Caller hydromancy made water like a second natural home to her. She's also hoping that Haguro will be too busy with her two pokemon and Rean to notice her alternate approach, up until she comes surging out of the water in an upward thrust with her sword-glaive!
Haguro	The ships in the bay, meanwhile, are having trouble holding their ground. With the bombardment from Haguro intensifying within that battle with Athela and Rean, with Hesinca and Yamashiro and Guzma's Pokemon creating more panic within the village, and with Evangeline's and Re's contest of beams and bombers, some of the ships start to sail away from the village. Not all of them are leaving, though, as they continue firing on Haguro while remaining mobile, almost as if they're trying to turn the coastal village and nearby sea into a more contained battlefield!
Rean Schwarzer	Rean takes the headbutt straight on, and lets out a shout. He staggers back, wiping the blood from his nose...just in time for him to get hit with a sentient anchor. Rean goes flying, skipping across the water a few times. He sways as he rights himself, dizzied by those attacks and his sleep deprivation. He's still hanging on for now, though. "ARCUS, activate. Volcanic Rain!" Rean shouts. A ring of blue light surrounds him for a moment, and then a spell circle appears in the sky above Haguro. Flaming rocks rain down around her, splashing into the water and if she's not fast enough, onto her.
Midway	"For what?" Re-Class lifts her shoulders in a shrug, "'cuz Mama asked me to." The Neuroi disappears. Before Re-Class has any chance to contemplate what that might be, the ship the little creature sank into starts turning into that distinctive black and gray coloration. When the hexagonal surface texture makes itself apparent and the vessel lifts off, Re-Class blinks slowly. Her hands move out of her pockets when that crimson laser powers up. "Forgot she could do that..!" The Aviation Battleship is promptly engulfed in searing crimson light. The sea boils around her, hissing against the energy wave for its entire duration. When the beam at last abates, the Re-Class still stands, her tail arched forward to protect her body with its great, flat-topped head. The entire roof section, which forms the end of her flight deck, is red-hot. Huge sections of the tail's flesh are missing, oozing a nasty black sludge. One of the eyesocket secondary guns explodes out of its mounting, disappearing quickly beneath the water. When Re-Class lifts her tail, parts of her hoodie-dress are on fire, but her face is split into a wide, unsettling shark-toothed smile. "That's the good stuff! You almost had me, there!" Her tail lifts, jaws opening in a steel-shrieking roar, "You even trashed my flight deck, nice!" From that gaping jaw, a trio of large cannons are extruded, "But I'm a battleship too! And now you're big enough!" In quick succession, those three heavy guns fire shells in high arcs, directed to intercept the ascending Neuroi-fied warship.
Shigure	Shigure does appear to be more at home on the water, it's true. The slam into solid land makes her cry out, and something crack in her rigging. Shigure pushes herself back to her feet, but looks more unstable than before. "Land or sea, matters not." she grunts, bringing her tonfa back around, and firing another shell at the centaur, though she's clearly starting to flag, smoke beginning to pour from her remaining turret.
Guzma	The person on the radio talks to Guzma more, and he thinks about fate, about destiny. About what's been keeping him alive lately. Heracross flexes its chitin, and tries to pull the gun battery above its head. The blue bug's face is strained, as Guzma turns to the crowd. Before, he was angry. He still is - but he's not going to take it out on them. That's not going to make him happy. "Now! Whoever wants to live, get off this island. Otherwise, you'll get your consequences. Make your choice. And remember the name, either way you go. Guzma, Alola's strongest!"
Haguro	With the Pokemon out of the way and Athela having presumably sunk or something, Haguro can turn her full attention to Rean. Once again, he hammers hard on her aversion to fire, and her first instinct is to shield her head while waiting for death or unconsciousness to claim her. For the first few moments, at least, it looks that is indeed what's happening. And then she snaps. Not figuratively, but literally as Athela comes at her from below. The sword-glaive strikes hard against Haguro's armor, even going as far as lifting her off the surface of the water, but it's enough to get the cruiser's head back into the fight. It takes a great deal of clamping down on the weapon with her bloodied arms to keep it from piercing right into her gut, and Haguro weathers the worst of the flaming rocks as they leave a mess of scorches and burnt uniform all along her back. Once she finds her footing on the water once again, Haguro activates the odd blue thrusters on the back of her legs while holding tightly onto Athela's wrists. "I've never tried this before. Let's see if it works anyway!" Bellowing out that challenge, the thrusters carry her towards Rean, and it seems her intended trajectory is to slam herself, Athela, and Rean together into a painful mass of bodies to see who comes out best by the time they land.
Hesinca	Somehow. Somehow. SOMEHOW. Hesinca is still standing. She's not standing by very much. She's bleeding glowing blood from everywhere. Her natural armor is mostly stripped away - her artificial steel armor was lost long ago. There's a lot of big holes in her. It looks like both back legs are broken. And yet she still stands. "You say..." She lists a bit to the side, but then shakes herself back to standing up straight. "That it doesn't matter - land or sea. I say it matters. Because I am Hesinca, of- of- screw titles, I am just HESINCA, and you will learn to fear that name!" "Everything trembles before me! People, souls, entire armies, even - even the LAND ITSELF!" She lifts a hoof, just a single hoof - - and she brings it down. And the land itself starts to shake, and rumble, an earthquake erupting from the ground with Hesinca as the epicenter. The ground trembles, and rips and tears as the shockwaves crash back in against themselves, forming deep crevices and jutting spires of rock. "HESINCA! REMEMBER THAT NAME!"
Haguro	Finally, the gun battery creaks as its supports are ripped right out of the ground, chunks of dirt and steel supports cracking off the bottom of the entire thing while the villagers gasp in horror at the might of the Heracross. Guzma's scary enough that they're not willing to tangle with him or his beasts any longer, and the shaking of the earth beneath them courtesy of Hesinca's land-rending stomp have them convinced that the very planet has turned against them. Several of those that had been holding onto their weapons back off and flee. Another grabs a loudspeaker to start shouting towards the sea. "Th.. There! See, you got it back! You can stop now, right?!" Haguro turns towards the source of the shouting, staring right at the shouting person. She sighs lightly, then raises her arm towards him. "It's too late for that now. You should have accepted the first time I asked." There's a moment of hesitation before Haguro fires, and she turns her attention back to the pile of body that is herself, Athela, and Rean. Meanwhile, Guzma, Scizor, and Heracross, are treated to a rather gruesome sensation for multiple senses being as close as they are.
Shigure	Shigure stumbles, already unsteady from the damage. This is exacerbated by the earthquake. She drops un a crevice as it opens up, and then gets speared by a spire of rock. It penetrates fully through her chest, black oil-like fluid leaking out around the puncture wound, and being coughed out by the destroyer. Yamashiro doesn't fare much better, her turrets destroyed and outfit shredded by the tumult of the quake. She does have enough power remaining to grab Shigure, and retreat into the ocean. "Hikari, Fifth Strike-3, Yamashiro. Critical mission failure. Flagship has taken critical damage. Fifth Strike is retreating from combat zone. Repeat. Critical Mission Failure."
Athela Valemore	That the ships have been trying to keep the fight contained so it doesn't put the other nearby islands at as much risk is appreciated, but there is not a time to voice such things. Not when her tactic proves successful, but not nearly as much as she had hoped when Haguro grabs onto the weapon and uses it to take her for a wild ride. Not wanting to be whipped loose and disarmed Athela actually uses the elemental properties to freeze her hands onto her grip. And then... well, it's hard to tell who collides with what as there's one big mess of bodies and water and everything else. And there the battery is claimed. Now they can -- no, of course it's not that easy. Guzma makes proclimations like the Big Boss Jerk he is, earthquakes ravage across the island, and Haguro shuts down whoever was shouting at her. Sigh. Never as simple as it should be. "No. Never it is never too late." Athela plants her feet onto the water, her abilities giving her traction inspite of it. She grips tighter, channeling her hydromancy into the relic weapon. "There has been enough suffering. Take your prize and leave." A massive torrent of hydrophilic force erupts from the weapon in an outward stream, pressure of the depths of the seas brought forth to seperate the weapon from Haguro's grip and propel the shipgirl as far as possible away.
Evangeline	As a big flying ship, Evangeline doesn't have much maneuverability. All she can do is brace and just watch the shells arc toward her. She realizes a bit too late that there are probably people on this ship and they could get hurt by these shells. She floats down closer to the water, but those shells still hit, and hard. The trio of blasts is likely easily visible across the sea, and the ship drops like a stone before hitting the water while a red sparkle goes flying off from it from the explosion midship. But, the holes in the hull start to close up before the Neuroi black and red starts to dissolve. The ship is hopefully restored enough not to sink from the hits, but Evangeline is reduced to her core. The red multi-faceted crystal lands in the sand on the shore with the water lapping against it.
Rean Schwarzer	Haguro rams into him, dragging him across the water into the others, turning them all into a giant mass of people. Rean grunts, the wind knocked out of his lungs. At this range, he picks up on Haguro's hesitation. Of course. "Ngh...Haguro, is this really what you want to do? Will punishing them truly make you feel better?" He sees her aiming to fire and thinking quickly, swats at her arm to derail the shot. "If your heart's not in this, then why are you doing it?"
Guzma	Heracross heaves the gun battery aboves its head, soil against its body, as the thug with him dances alongside, before dashing towards the warpgate at Guzma's command once he realizes the guns are being fired. Once they are... Guzma returns Scizor to his pokeball, and gestures at the boommic guy that he should probably go too. And then, trailing behind Heracross, the pair start dashing to the warpgate for safety.
Hesinca	"Yeah... yeah, remember that name." Hesinca sways back and forth a bit as she watches the two ships leave. "I'm gonna go... and spend a whole damn week in my spa." She trudges back to the glowing floor tile and disappears into it.
Haguro	"Leave? That would... That would be too easy. Too light." Haguro spits out, panting lightly as she pulls herself back onto her feet. Or rights herself in the water, anyway, staggering a bit and not bothering to take another shot at the man that nearly got turned into a fine mist only thanks to Rean's quick reflexes diverting her shot. One of his arms is still missing a large part of it, but at least he's still alive! Haguro, too, remains distinctly alive, although it looks like she isn't for a few moments as that surge of water blasts directly into her, blowing one of her turrets clear off as she tumbles in the water and very nearly sinks from the weight of her gear. It takes several more moments for the cruiser to resurface, drenched and bloodied and more than a little shaken, and even her demeanor is different compared to before. "The time to avoid this was back when I asked the first time. Before battle lines were drawn. Before weapons were brought out. These people... Humans won't learn without examples being made!" Haguro spits out in an uncharacteristically venomous tone, pulling off a busted piece of armor from her hip and tossing it aside as she stares down Rean and Athela. "If I can't even show them that actions have consequences... How's anyone supposed to learn from this?!" It's not clear who's supposed to learn what in all of that, but the vague questions don't slow her next attack down in the slightest. Haguro's remaining turrets continue to bombard them with explosives from afar, some of the turrets themselves creaking from being forced to fire so rapidly on short notice!
Athela Valemore	Sheer reflex and intuition are the only things that allow Athela to bring up her weapon defensively as the gunfire begins. Despite being worn down she is still deft enough to intercept the shells, though the shockwave of them slamming against the indestructible blade is enough to rattle her down to her bones. Grip tightening to keep a hold, knuckles white from the strain. "Maybe, if you actually stopped to think instead of just repeating your supposed reasoning over and over..." Athela takes a moment to dip the weapon in the water to cool the blade and rinse some of the soot off of it. "... But you are already beyond that point aren't you. Trying to reason is pointless." The sword is removed from the water... But instead of attack Athela stows it away. "Just as continuing this is pointless. You have your oh so precious guns. Leave." Athela turns and does just that, waterskating off to retrieve her pokemon and head ashore. Between the stealing, the shelling, and the quakes caused there are going to be people needing help. They need it more than Haguro needs to be fought now.
Rean Schwarzer	"And this isn't consequence enough!?" Rean says, gesturing at the town and that guy that lost an arm. Shells come flying at him and he weaves around them and cuts through them as best he can...but eventually one slams into him, knocking him under the waves. Rean quickly resurfaces, shakily hovering over the water and clutching his chest. He lets out a few coughs, spitting out water and some blood. How long could he keep this up for? Rean sheaths his sword....and then rushes forward again, unsheathing his sword as he passes. The single strike blooms into many again, just like before, but the attack is focused, hitting as much of Haguro's weaponry and gear as he can. Once he's on the other side of her, he turns around to face her and continues talking, sheathing his sword again. Perhaps he's wasting his time, but... "...I get it. You're mad that they took something from you - took PART of you. But I'll ask you again - Can you honestly say that taking revenge on these people will make you feel better? Because that's what this is. Not 'teaching them a lesson.' Some part of you knows that, I think, and that's why you hesitated just then." He lets out a sigh. "But if this is really what you want, then we can keep fighting."
Haguro	"You're... You're just leaving?" Haguro sounds incredulous when Athela falls back, somehow evenlooking disgusted after another moment. "You haven't... You haven't been paying attention at all, have you? This was... What, an opportunity to posture until you got tired? Maybe the regular humans aren't the only ones that need to learn something, then..." With that, Haguro's turrets turn towards the village itself. She gets off a number of explosive mortar shells launched, creating more craters within the village and turning a few more people into corpses, but she's soon occupied by Rean once more. Her expression actually softens for a moment as he continues fighting against her. They may be fighting tooth and nail, but something about... Whatever it is he's doing seems to be doing wonders for the cruiser's spirits. "At least you're still sensible in all this... Don't lose that, Mister Schwarzer." As reassuring or confusing as those words might be, Haguro does't take Rean's strikes sitting down. Even as he targets her gear, she stays on themove, slamming her forearms and legs into each of those strikes to minimize damage to the more delicate parts of her gear. She seems to be having trouble moving one of those arms, too, but she hasn't stopped moving yet as she charges right back in to go for yet another grappling maneuver. "... But yes. Yes, it does. Humans think that just because they try to apologize /after/ the pain they've caused, /after/ they've wasted so many lives on pointless wars, /after/ they've taken advantage of so many people for their pride... They think they can just apologize and give words to erase all of that." At that range, there's only one thing left for her to do: Headbutts. Lots, and lots of headbutts. "If more people were good, aybe, but... How am I supposed to believe that? You saw it in Egypt!"
Athela Valemore	As she reaches the shore Athela does stop and look back for a moment, only raising her voice to be heard. "You only care for your own spite. Your missing weapon was an excuse to indulge in it, disguised as a punishment you have no right to claim to beyond retrieving your item. I will waste no more time feeding your disguisting desires." That is all she has to say, as she heads into the town to search for anyone that requires help, mostly in getting out of the way of harm. Towns can be rebuilt, lives are much more fragile and permanent in loss. The fight is left behind her. Protecting the people is her duty as a knight, and right now she can protect them more by getting them away from the lost cause of a shipgirl determined to blow the place up than trying to fight her off. If that pisses Haguro off more than staying to fight... well, acceptable side effect. She really does not give a shit about how Haguro feels by this point.
Rean Schwarzer	"...Right." Rean says, nodding. Some part of him is surprised at being called sensible for once, but at least it seemed to be working. And he did in fact see what happened to Haguro, he /lived/ it in a sense. And given recent events, well, he understood that desire to just turn his back away from everything, to just not help people anymore if so many were just going to act without caring about who it hurt. Many sleepless nights over it, in fact. But he didn't like the idea of becoming that person, and maybe right now he could help Haguro not go that way. "...But right now, you're just inflicting the same pain they did on you on them. Is that what you want? Maybe words won't do anything...but maybe actions will. And they need to be alive for that." Then Haguro's headbutt hits him in the stomach, and Rean coughs up more seawater. He float staggers back, dazed. As Haguro comes at him again, through bleary eyes, he swings a punch at Haguro's head.
Haguro	"The same...? No, no, this is very different." That, at least, Haguro sounds completely confident in. It's a somewhat morbid sort of confidence, too, and she doesn't sound particularly happy about any of it. "These specific humans might not be the ones learning it, but... Word will spread. Others will know." Gritting her teeth, she rears her head back to slam it right into Rean's fist, taking that impact head on! There's a rather forceful cracking noise at that, too, but Haguro holds her ground as she opens her eyes with another direct stare into Rean's eyes. "It'll be just like the... The stories parents tell their children, won't it? To be honest, to learn how important their words can be..." Grasping his shoulders once more, she twists on her heels and just flings Rean with as much force as she can towards land. Unfortunately for Athela, her search doesn't turn up any more intact people. It was already a small village to begin with, multiple craters and scorches cover the ground with faint outlines of where people had stood, and those lucky enough to still be alive at all soon stop being alive as the bombardment continues, punctuated by Haguro screaming incoherently in the distance. All in all, it's not a reassuring picture. Searching the village further doesn't get any more reassuring, either, especially considering that a ship built for war would be particular effective at doing exactly what is happening. It's entirely likely that those who fled prior to the attack and during it are the only survivors left at this point. The fighting had bought them precious time, at least, if they had enough sense to leave from the threats or seeing the writing on the wall.
Rean Schwarzer	"They won't learn that, Haguro. They'll just learn to hate /you!/ You'll just end up in this situation again, as people decide it's better to get rid of the monster-" There's a loud crack as Haguro rams into Rean's hand, probably breaking a bone or two in there. She then grabs him, and looks him straight in the eyes. It was what she wanted. Rean flies through the air, skipping across the water, before washing up unconscious on the shores, to the sound of the village being bombarded behind him. At least he could sleep tonight.
Haguro	Eventually, the shelling ends, and Haguro is in a rather messed up state. The few turrets that are still attached are practically melted, her uniform is in tatters, and it's a wonder how she's even drifting towards the warp gate. She stares at the water with a vacant expression and tears falling, but it's not until she reaches the warp gate proper that she finally cracks the slightest of smile. "... I've gotten stronger."