Scene #8747: The Dark Colossus

Owner	Pose
Ishirou	The area was a shallow area of the ocean, near land but also far out enough that the land was also hard to see. Pieces of buildings and boats are trashed along the shoreline, but also far out enough to make various reafs. Along the abandoned ships and destroyed buildings life was growing again, along the bottoms and some even starting to reach just barely out of the water. A marine biologist would have a field day here, but right now that's not why you're here. Ishirou had called ahead for people to arrange here. This would be the battleground to fight the monster that had once gotten away, so large that at the time it could be driven away from a thriving city, but escaped to the deep sea before it could be killed. Out to see you can see a wing of Flight Units, special flight exoframes that are used as both power enhancers and provide flight-capable assistance to those using them. Right now they appeared to be flying /from/ something. Occasionally turning to fire along another mass that was coming slowly towards you. At first, it almost looked like a mountain, but it was getting closer. And closer... And closer... Until it stepped onto the shallower ocean floor and it reached the area set up to be an equal fight for it. Its maw was massive, easily tearing through the water and buildings alike. Each step it took was massive, earth-shattering... the absolute size of the creature was enormous. From your perspective, it would look similar to a massive turtle. A huge shell on its back, with an undershell that looked almost as impenetrable. One might call this a Kaiju, and in reality, they would be correct. Its upper shell was spiky, and dangerous looking, though the undershell was smoother. Its arms and legs stuck out from small openings, as well as its head. Unlike a normal turtle, however, it does not look like the head can slip in under the shell. Nor do any of the limbs. Each limb was covered in hardened spikes. Its head had two horns and a terrible mouth that almost seemed like it could eat anything. Two eyes can be seen, with one scarred over from its last fight with a group from the multiverse. It rumbles forward, chasing after the Exoframes that are laying down fire, with Ishirou at the lead trying to draw it deeper and deeper. The creature was only known by one code name: Tarrasque. The devourer of the world. It unleashes a roar, so powerful that it seems to shake the world itself. Aftershocks would be felt hundreds of miles away. But right now, the shock you have to worry about is the one it's causing you. Most of the Exoframes bank off, damaged, or depleted of resources. One chooses to stay, which is Ishirou's unit. "I'm sorry I won't be able to do much more than provide fire assistance and battlefield recon, the others are depleted from leading it here. So..." "It's your show now! Remember, the goal isn't to kill it, but for Rita to gain control of it! Once she has, then it's a victory for us! Honestly, for m-this entire world!"
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan is here because this is CERTAINLY a time to help. Having to see Rita Ma in action again is a poor side effect to that help, but he must muster his courage and help. He has fought giant monsters before. This should be easy, right? The squirrel squats at the battlefield. Bags under his eyes. His tail doesn't have quite the same energy. This is one time he doesn't actually feel bad using his GUN, a wooden and glass steampunk item of some sort. Attempting to save everyone within the computer hasn't helped his wounded body either. But if he DIDN'T come, what would be the point of being a knight? "Like birds leaving a forest," Aidan points out as the Exoframes rush out of the area, acting as herald to the rumbling of both water and land. Watching the shell crest over the waves before it even reaches the shore is an intimidating sight. Water comes down in sheets around the spikes, splitting into waterfalls. As the head crests over the water, Aidan stands up, biting down on a groan. Will he ever actually be better? When is he supposed to actually rest? "Suffocate me, that thing is big." Aidan mutters to himself as he watches the turtle crest fully out of the sea, adorned in spikes. How do you even START to fight something like that? The shield has impossible momentum, but that doesn't mean it can break through something that strong. It's not a fear of not fighting. It isn't even truly a fear of the character. There are many more powerful figures around him. It's that welling up fear that he is a fly compared to everyone else. Standing next to giants. RThe buckler rotates out, fanning into a massive lion headed shield. Aidan lets out his hitched breath into the shield, which roars to life. Energy pushes out to either side, and the roar goes along with it, simply sliding to either side around Aidan. The shield continues forward, building up speed as it aims right at the turtle's head. Red heat flickers around the shield as it builds up speed, giving little heed to air resistance. Aidan doesn't so much as move forward as he lets the shield drag him, flying forward into a mighty shield slam on the turtle's snooz.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine has gathered with the others at the shore, accompanied by a half-dozen large wolves of living ice. As the Tarrasque comes into view the wolves snarl and paw the sand. Once the monster has heaved itself up into the shallows, Madeleine and her wolves take off at a run toward the kaiju, paws and boots kicking up sand as they go. Before reaching the waterline the wolves open their mouths as one and all release a spray of frigid air and icy shards, freezing a path over the surface of the water towards the Tarrasque. "Come on!" the huntress shouts over her shoulder, urging her allies to follow in her frozen wake.
Combaticon	Onslaught is present alongside two of his Combaticons. Those who assisted with the Sharkticon retrieval will recognize the black and gray robot Vortex from then. To the leader's other side is a robot that hasn't been afield much so far; primarily white, pale blue, and gray. Depthcharge folds her arms with a scowl that only lasts a moment before a faceplate closes in over her mouth and jaw. All three robots are floating effortlessly some hundred meters above the water. Only Vortex has a clear mode of propulsion due to the spinning rotors on her back. "We're subduing that? They're braver than I thought," the aquatic specialist hisses. "Could be worse," Vortex offers with a shrug, her eyes dimming as if closed for a moment. "Oh please enlighten me," Depthcharge's bright white pupils roll aside, "Precisely what could be worse than a turtle the size of Starscream's ego." "Enough," Onslaught interrupts the bickering with one raised hand and a glower over his shoulder, "Depthcharge. Immobilize its forward actuators. Vortex. Blind it." "Got it!" "Fine." The black and gray robot ascends in a backflip, rattled through by the monster's roar. As she does so she contorts, folds, and expands into a full-sized attack helicopter with a distinctive sound. Quickly, Vortex ascends and banks to the right away from her fellow robots, flying sideways to keep her weapons aimed at the colossal Nullborn. Once she's sure of her target, she fires two pairs of canister rounds. The first set impact just above the eye, bursting into yellow-tinted, stinging teargas. The second set burst just before impact, clouding the beast's vision with dense white smoke. Depthcharge meanwhile simply... stops flying. She drops out of the sky, rattled by the volume and intensity of the monstrosity's roar. As she falls, her body reconfigures with that same distinctive noise, into a fully sized fast attack boat. Rockets on the stern ignite, propelling her forward even before she hits the shallow water-- such that she skips several times before she stays on the surface. "'Immobilize it, Depthcharge'," she repeats in a snide tone, "Does he think I carry planetary-grade tow cables everywhere? Honestly." On high-speed approach, panels on either side of the boat slide open and she ejects multiple pairs of long torpedoes. Swerving away, she looses the salvo at Tarrasque's front left leg. Onslaught remains where he floats, head-on to the approaching beast. When it roars, he can feel the vibration in his circuits, rumbling through every hydraulic line and servo pump. Leaning forward, the Combaticon commander suddenly, uncharacteristically, roars right back. The cannons on his back fire, one right after the other, launching explosive artillery straight into Tarrasque's mouth.
Kukuru	The roar of the giant turtle has Kukuru wincing painfully, not so much from the shockwaves despite how much they're rattling her bones, but from the sheer volume of that noise. She grips onto her own horns defensively at that, shivering briefly as she regains her bearings before finally looking back up at Ishirou. "That's fine, dear. We'll take over the heavy lifting, so just do your best and we'll all be okay." She chimes in with a reassuringly confident smile on her face, pumping her fists briefly before straightening out her jacket. Knowing that today would involve a battle with something or another, she's opted for the grayish black outfit with the jacket, shorts, and boots that don't look particularly suited for the water. With the arena set up to fight the tarrasque outside of the deeper ocean, though, she probably won't have to worry too much about that. Kukuru doesn't look worried about that, anyway, as she looks over at where it had come from first, looking for a good spot to teleport to before realizing its back is just as good as anywhere else. "Wonder how sharp those are... Ah. I'll find out!" She calls out with that hopeful lilt in her tone before stepping through one of her usual dark cloud only to reappear in the air above and behind the tarrasque. Once she sees its back properly, she then sets up another cloud to deposit her right onto said back rather than risk falling and impaling herself on one of those many spikes. It's around then that she starts wondering if those spikes might be poisonous, but... Too late to worry now. "Hmm... Can you understand us?" She calls out while slipping her claws on over her hands, then unceremoniously banging away at the tarrasque's shell and spikes while trying to make as much noise as a possible in doing so. Despite her strength, she's more trying to force it to turn its attention towards her on its back, like some kind of weirdly annoying itch that's also shouting at it.
Wisconsin	The combined forces of Task Force Bravo are out on the ocean today, running interference for this operation. A whole fleet of Eagle Union ship girls, scooting too and fro across the waves, keeping civilians back, working with Ishirou's forces, and coordinating with the Concord naval engagement. And steady as she goes, straight in the path of the Tarrasque, is USS Wisconsin. A cloud of information drones is circling the area, taking in telemetry ahead of the first volley, but a bunch of those pitch over into the water, busted by the force of the noise of that roar. A cascade wave rocks the fleet's escorts back, and they quickly make way, backing off as the combat starts. "Well this is just downright exciting! Haven't fought something this big in ages." She bellows out over the water. "Kukuru, incoming fire on your left side!" Her rig manifests, the heavy guns take aim, and lob ranging shots at the massive beast, looking to pepper it, and see what sort of full ordinance she'll have to bring out for this one.
Sarracenia	As the exoframes back off, two airships fly in from the flanks of the creature. Grand galleons of the style one might expect from the Spanish colonial days. Large, some 200 feet long. Hulls broad and thick-looking. And wooden. And also, flying! instead of sails they have large horizontal propellers on their masts, a few per mast. While both ships are large, one is slightly larger than the other and has more gold along its railings and hull. And a golden effigy of everyone's favorite princess on it. It's name plates along the rear sides of the ship read 'Sundew Sovereign'. As they close in, doors all along the sides of both ships are opened in a wave, and in another wave dozens of old navy cannons are rolled into place. Sarracenia is standing on the prow of the Sovereign with a radio in hand. A piranha plant in silver Spanish conquestidor armor is holding a similar radio on the prow of the other ship. The ships are still dwarfed by the turtle kaiju, and the Piranha Plant captain looks a bit worried judging by the frown on his big lips. Especially when that ear-splitting roar is let loose. The boards of both ships rattle, but luckily they were not quite close enough yet to be shaken apart. "Hold steady, captain." Sarracenia's voice comes over the radio. "As soon as we are in range we rain fire down on the head! Ready?" The two ships close in on Tarrasque, getting quite close before Sarra finally yells "FIRE!" In a crescendo of cannon fire, a barrage of what must be a hundred cannonballs is fired off as the two ships pass over the shoulders of the creature, then in a coordinated banking maneuver they pass each other by and arc back around, preparing for another pass. And despite the threat and the situation, Sarracenia can't keep her grin under control. She just really likes fireworks. And fighting. And a good entrance. Really, she's just enjoying the whole thing right now. It's a heroic moment full of the grandure of facing a giant monster!
Angela	Nonon is still wearing the King of Greed EGO Gear. There aren't too many people in her team that can fight a Tarrasque, rubbing her shoulder with her ungauntleted hand. She waits patiently for a headsup on when to get going. She is a little distracted today, honestly, and she looks over to Madeleine. On her arm is the pad--it's just Gebura today which means it's one Agent and one Sephirah supervising. When Madeleine creates a path, Nonon whistles, "Ice job, Mads!" She punches her palm with her gauntlet and starts a-running across it only for the roar to hit her with enough force that she goes flying back on to her back. "Wow! What a big, nasty critter!" She hops back up to her feet. She stretches her arms from side to side before moving forward after Madeleine, "This path isn't gonna just fly apart if I run too hard is it?" She rears back with her gauntleted arm, throwing a heavy punch forward for one of the Tarrasque's legs rather than aiming for someting like the shell or something! "Heh... This EGO Gear might normally be Gold Rush, but today it's..." MEANWHILE Gebura says, "Something like this gonna be helpful in the ocean? Maybe it can spin around with its shell or somethin'..." Gebura murmurs, crossing her arms.
Rita Ma	Rita's 'true form'- a sickly-smooth concrescence of the human and monstrous, a girl in a pale dress at the center of a dozen blossoming leg-thick tendrils- shouldn't be a stunning reveal to anyone here. What's weird is her exposing it right off the bat. "Ripping off the bandage", she'd probably call it. She looks queasy, not happy. But her mouth is set in a tight line, eyes just as unfocused as they need to be. "Thank you, M--" The roar. One of her tentacles reshapes itself, becoming pale green chitin studded with gemlike inclusions. It flexes and projects a crackling spherical forcefield around her and Ishirou both, which lasts just the half-second it needs to. "--shirou. You've done enough. It's time for me to try my best, too." Rita crouches. Then she's gone. Her path is traced by a backscatter of kicked-up sand, gouged bits of ice from Madeleine's created path, and white seafoam in that order. One of her tentacles loops around the Tarrasque's neck as she zips in from the side, which takes a stretch even at her sixty-foot span. She 'swings' upwards on it like a kid on a swingset, gracefully turning her velocity into an upwards parabola. At its peak, another tentacle becomes stylishly dark chitinous armor, and the change flows down the rest of her body as a frilly-knightly suit. Her weight immediately triples from it, and the 'downswing' turns whipcrack-fast. Exactly at the midpoint of her swing, a third tentacle specializes, turning craggy with orange veins- a facsimile of the space whale that Dysnomia helped her 'talk to'. That that one's recognizable as being from a specific monster says unsettling things about the others. It flexes and wraps her in a bubble of starlight, and with its null-gravity effect, letting go on her second upswing sends Rita zipping hundreds of feet into the sky with the unrestricted momentum. Her tentacle turns bladed as it lets go, chainsawing around the Tarrasque's neck. She doesn't even wave hi to Sarracenia's airship on her way up. How rude.
Ishirou	Aidan and his shield fly forward at the Kaiju-sized turtle beast. The blow smashes against the turtle's head, causing it to stagger slightly to the left and the turtle itself slowly rolls its head back, unamused at having been struck with that much force across its head. The monster rumbles in an unamused way and turns its head fully to Aidan. Thankfully, Madeleine provided some cover for Aidan, as the wolves she commanded fired blasts of arctic chill into the seawater beneath it. The chill is felt through its lower half, but the ice does little to restrain it. However, it DOES hurt it, not used to the temperature change causing it to shake its entire mass in pain. Depthcharge's torpedoes and Onslaught's cannons rock the lizard, bringing firepower to challenge the might of the Tarasque. This is only the beginning, as a canister fires at its head, covering it with smoke and detritus to try and prevent it from being able to see. The plan comes together perfectly, it seems to be temporarily blinded by the attack. This gives Kukuru a chance to get onto its back, while she hammers across its back, the terrible strength of Kukuru is enough for it to feel across the entire creature. It roars, challenging Kukuru to fight, but it can't seem to find the /far/ smaller creature. The blows feel as if the creature should be seen, but instead... Wisconsin, on the other hand, is finding that the tough shell is harder than even her weapons expected. They smack into spikes, and they explode, but they don't seem to pierce enough to make impactful indents into the creature, more or less adding to Kukuru's rampage, but otherwise, it seems to not be all too bothered by the assault. Cannonballs seem to have a similar effect to the bombing from Wisconsin. Though there are a lot MORE coming from two airships, the balls have a hard time cracking the shell from where it's hardest, either caught in spikes or bouncing off the shell itself. Not that they aren't doing any damage, or that it's not respectable! Nonon is here, and today instead of bringing the pain. She dashes over the ice, and under the creature to where she launches a fist towards the leg of the massive creature. It hits, finding a part of its shell that is weak enough, and causes the creature to tilt more from the other strike on its leg. It collapses onto the shallow sea, shaking itself for a moment as it tries to get up...! This gives Rita an advantage on her Spider-Man shenanigans, using her body's increased weight and her momentum-changing powers to throw herself high into the air, but using the neck of the Tarrasque to do so. This act creates a tentacle-based garrote and both cuts and chokes the Tarrasque at a very vital point, silencing its roar and causing it to rapidly breathe to try and make up for the lack of oxygen. It makes choking sounds but soundlessly forces itself back up to its feet.
Ishirou	Its glowing eye brightens, as it decides its first action is to flip on its back, aiming to try and squash both Kukuru and (incidentally) try and crush Wisconsin and Depthcharge. Its growl slowly returning, it aims its mouth at Aidan, as a ball of fire shoots from its mouth, aiming to smack into him and carry him into an arch towards Madeline, aiming to try and wipe both out. That same mouth moves up, aiming to fire another ball of fire towards Sarracenia's ships, aiming to try and shoot them down so they'd stop shooting at its shell, and it turns its head to find Nonon. Its foot craves revenge, so it aims to stop down on her, aiming to crush her under its weight, though likely the force of the ocean and the foot itself would tear her apart long before the foot reached her. Spikes from its shell fly into the air, as it tries something. However, all that appears to happen is that Rita is forced to dodge mid-air against a LOT of spikes rocketing towards the stratosphere, in an attempt to catch Rita by surprise!
Wisconsin	"Ah HECK." Wisconsin sees the big bastard rolling in on her and the others, and she hightails it backwards, seaspray cascading around her frame as her engines churn as hard as they can. It's not fast enough though, and she's sent tumbling ass over teakettle into the water for a long moment or two. But she's not panicking. She can bear to have a few wet decks, even if she can feel a few bulkheads stressing from the crashing water. Some of her torpedo cladding too. "Tch." She spits oil into the water, wiping her mouth, and resets herself in place. "No fussin' with saving the Good Stuff then." She angles the main guns. "Gonna see if I can't make a few holes!" She says, even as she can see the damn thing reforming that thick shell. Hells.
Kukuru	Hearing a warning from Wisconsin, Kukuru looks over reflexively towards those dots in the distance. Spotting some familiar faces, she pauses in her back-slamming to wave towards the fleet in greeting, then slides over to her right to give them that much more room to aim. In the process of doing that, however, she sees another familiar sight nearby, coiling around the Tarrasque's neck. It doesn't take long for Kukuru's expression to brighten visibly, even as the giant starts to tilt backwards. "Oh! He-llo, Rita dear!" Even if the timing is terrible, she can't help but feel her heart lift a little more, and she raises her hands in a broad double-armed wave just in time to starting wondering exactly why the giant turtle is tilting this far. By the time she realizes what's going on, she's already getting pinned underneath the beast, choking out a painful screech that's drowned out by the rest of its body still being right on top of her for that moment. She's lucky, then, that it soon turns its attention towards everyone else soon afterwards, and Kukuru takes a few moments to let her nanites re-set her bones and mend her body back together that she can even feel her claws over her hands again. The tricky part, though, is how she still can't move all that well after getting flattened so hard just a second ago. Hissing through her teeth, Kukuru grasps her shoulder and gives it a nasty-sounding tug-pop while looking back up at the Tarrasque and trying to figure out her options. And then she sees it shooting more of those spikes at Rita, and all that planning goes right back out. Closing her eyes, Kukuru falls through another portal, this time sending herself several dozens of feet above the giant turtle's face. As she plummets, a sickly green and ominous purple glow surround Kukuru, almost like she's preparing to unleash something indescribably painful once she reaches the tarrasque! It's all visual, though, since she's just slowing down her fall with repeated teleportation clouds while healing herself to keep all those wounds from bursting open again. It's a ploy, after all, to try and keep its attention on her while discreetly sending some of that healing and power-boosting nanites Rita's way on her way down. "Heeeey! You! If you can understand me... Get readyyyyy!"
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine's ice wolves begin to circle the Tarrasque, skirting away from its stomps and giving the Lobotomy Corp agents room to maneuver. The huntress herself is... hit directly by the kaiju's fireball. Or she appears to be. As the flames disperse, collapsing a portion of the ice-bridge, a figure falls into the water - without its posture changing at all. The charred, half-melted plastic decoy floats away, carried on the waves spread by the Tarrasque's movement. Meanwhile, Madeleine is in fact halfway up the creature's spiky leg and climbing quickly. She jams her speartip into the bases of the spines as she goes, leaving a growing trail of monster-blood pouring down the titanic leg. Her goal it not to seriously injure, but to cause enough pain to discourage another stomp...
Combaticon	The Tarrasque goes down. Depthcharge briefly celebrates, inwardly, that her perfectly aimed torpedo barrage upset its footing. Except-- The beast is leaning over, digging the edge of its shell into the water, and rolling at her with that huge spiked shell. "Oh, slag," The speedboat swerves. Inside the pilot cabin, the throttle rams forward of its own accord, hauling the boat up on the water until only its stern skips across the waves intermittenly. Being a rocket-propelled boat has its advantages in cases like this. As the shadow of the beast falls over her, she finds herself riding up on the wave created by the roll, ultimately surfing to safety while weaving between enormous spines curving in from above. Vortex isn't one to miss an opportunity. With Tarrasque briefly on its back, she folds her wings and rotors back, exposing jet engines, and accelerates. Bombs disconnect from the undersides of either wing. As they drop, the bombs split open into multiple smaller bomblets, carpetbombing the Tarrasque's underside. "Do we have any way to bypass this armor?" Vortex calls out, "Even the underside is crazy!" "No protective scheme is perfect," Onslaught's tone remains measured and stable, "Aim for articulation points. It must be weak by necessity of flexibility. Like so." Floating where he is, the blue 'bot straightens his posture. His arms fold behind his back, just below the cannons, while his eyes search for the best possible angle. Once he's found it, his artillery guns go off again, one after the other. With the right timing, those shells should descend on Tarrasque just as it's rolling back over; dropping right into the opening where its right foreleg emerges from the shell and exploding in a flare of explosive purple-tinged light. "Few things are going to be precisely the same. There are certain rules that govern all things, however. This is one of them." "Uh... Right."
Rita Ma	Rita's one cruel blue eye flicks between the pursuing spikes as she ascends through the clouds, gauging each one's trajectory. Two years ago, this was too much for her-- for everybody. Back then, she would've been three steps ahead. This 'her' would have turned out to be a decoy all along. Was it really always this simple? Could I have always gotten away with being this careless? That pale-green-plated tentacle flexes, encasing her in a bioelectric forcefield again. All but one of the incoming spikes simply glance off. The last one- after Kukuru's enhancing nanites wreathe her- she casually smashes to bits with her chitin-plated hand. No. It isn't carelessness, I think. Rita turns off the starry field of antigravity that she got because of Dysnomia, now a good few thousand feet up. One tentacle becomes black-and-gold streaked as she deploys a time-distorting power that she got because of Lilian, and one 'gauntlet' of her armor adopts a fizzy-crystaline grid-traced hue with a carbonizing alchemical configuration thanks to Hibiki letting her have those Noise. Maybe it's just finally living up to other people's trust. For one second, the only real things are 'Rita' and 'the planet', so she accelerates without air resistance. Then another second of instantaneous absence, and another, until her plummeting cloud-trail looks like vertical morse code. The streaks get longer and longer, until-- I wish I could feel good about that. Rita impacts the Tarrasque's neck off-center at several hundred miles an hour, just off-center. Her hand alchemically carbonizes flesh, carving straight down until she craters the water's surface on landing. It's hard to draw delicious blood without risking killing it. She'll have to hope she struck the balance.
Aidan Proudpick	A single giant eye looms over Aidan. He skips back, holding his arm out behind him. With a yank, the fireball sears just past Aidan's right side, singing the fur on his fingers and yanking on his shoulder HARD. He pulls the shield under him, ducking down into a roll. Being a squirrel means he can do this without too much training, rolling his legs over his head and coming back up into a Blade Pose with the shield up in front of him. He watches the Wisconsin's fire hammer into the shell. Sarrancia's bombing run. Nothing seems to be working. At least, nothing seems to be working QUICKLY. This big bastard is going to take something extra to weaken it. Besides, if they crack the shell, it won't really be helpful in battle. A mad idea suddenly coalesces into Aidan's mind, a grin spreading on his face. "I have an idea!" Aidan waves his arms up into the air. The sudden worry he will get ignored for even mentioning that the turtle has a butt comes to him. No matter. This is a big battle, and it should be overlooked. Wind. Aidan needs wind. Hggrh, if he could just do that thing Kale does!! Aidan reaches out into the surrounding area, trying to grasp the wind, to pull it towards him. The wind bursts out of the knot again, heedless of his efforts. RADIO:Madeleine says, "Will do." She lets out a howl - uncannily similar to the real thing - and the wolves reply in kind. Ice layers up around the back of the Turtle, blocking its backend from being in the water. It shoots up the shell, forming a small icy shell around the Turtle's hindquarters. Aidan needs to do something NOW. He turns away from the Turtle. Brute force it is. His fingers flash out, a simple gesture, and grab the wind, a single strand of it. Don't look. Don't glance at the comet. Don't stare at the comet. Focusing everything on what he is doing is enough to distract him from the horrifying crash of Rita's form, the lethality of that hand. The shield roars to life again, dragging Aidan away from turtle. And with it, Aidan attempts to drag away the air from the Tarrasque's lungs.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia lets out an awed 'Oooh!' as starclad Rita goes flying past. That just makes her grin wider. She doesn't even notice that Rita doesn't wave on the way past. No one waves to the airship they just passed in such a moment. As the wooden airships are coming back in...they are met with giant fireballs. It isn't all that easy for ships like these to dodge things, and so despite both trying to evade...only one makes it. The Sundew Sovereign gets scorched, but its support vessel takes a direct hit. The front lower section of the hull explodes, raining firey debris down below. A number of piranha plants end up ejected, but parachutes open on their way down. But, even with almost a third of its hull missing the airship stays in the air. For how long is anyone's guess, but for now it continues on its follow up run. It is definitely losing altitude, though. It takes a wider arc to avoid impacting Terrasque on its way past, and just fires a few parting shots as its captain tries to head back to port. The Sovereign lets loose another volley of cannon shots, but Sarracenia is watching Rita with rapt curiousity. "Just how does one take over a monster like this, anyway?" she wonders aloud before...Rita strikes like a meteor and tears into that monster. Sarra can only watch wide-eyed and in awe. While the princess stares, the piranha plants aboard her boat decide to add to the icy onslaught. They all line up along the rails and cannon ports, and suddenly a hailstorm of ice bolts is falling on Terrasque.
Angela	Nonon glances to Rita for a moment before turning back to the Tarrasque, "Ha!" She grins. "How do you like THAT? YEAH? How do you like THAT?" She starts to look up and then-- FWOOMP. A Tarrasque foot slams down upon Nonon and slams her into the ice. Even with Gold Rush worn, she can only endure so much. The ice cracks undenreath her body and uh ... It is probably best to not inquire as to the internal damage into her body. This is a Tarrasque after all, it's a bit like getting stepped on by a house. Fortunately, Kukuru is here. Her nanomachines restore Nonon's body enough that she can jab herself with an HP Ampule that gets Nonon pushed up to her feet. She shakes her body out and then looks to Kukuru. She smiles. She says, "Hey. Thanks." She offers a thumbsup. And she rolls her shoulders back and then shakes her hands out and then steadies herself once more. She glances over to Rita again. She seems... So strong right now, Nonon thinks. It's tough to reconcile the Rita she sees now with the Rita she usually sees. It's not really about the tentacles or anything like that, it's about temperment. But maybe, Nonon thinks, these two sides of Rita actually aren't so different, but feed into each other? Maybe... She isn't so sure. What happened with the God Antegent's leftovers was ... It was a thing. She swallows and then throws herself forward, intending to shoulder tackle the beast with all her strength.
Ishirou	Wisconsin releases another volley, but this time it's to give some aid to Kukuru who was trapped on its back. Thankfully, her precision shots are enough to distract it from the massively powerful creature on its back and turn towards trying to use the thickened part of its shell to protect itself. This comes at the same time as Madeleine runs up its legs. These spikes leave a nice trail of blood... but every time she seems to find purchase, she slams her spear down into a surprisingly thick part of the armor, misjudging how the creature is created due to perhaps its strange and alien biology. Nullborn are not created with sane biology. They are creatures of magic and sometimes nonsense. So while she draws blood, that... appears to be all she does. Vortex uses the creature showing its belly, for just a little bit of time, to drop everything she has on the creature. While the shell is still a shell there, it is /far/ less thicker here and causes the creature to scream and shake as it rolls back to its legs again. It rumbles with anger and looks toward the skies again. Something tells you that something is coming because the skies are starting to darken. Kukuru uses his time to slam into its face, trying to grab its attention by hitting it as hard as she can and shaking its head to the right from the force of the blow. It staggers but slowly turns towards her again, growling in annoyance and pain from what it just did. Its teeth grind and it rumbles with displeasure. This was nothing compared to what happened next. Distracted with Kukuru, it doesn't even SEE Rita come down. The force of her falling SMASHES into the side of the Kaiju, sending it falling, staggering, and reeling from the blow as it tries to recover. It can only fall to its stomach from the sheer FORCE put upon its neck, nearly shattering it in one shot. Blood pours out of its mouth and ears, causing it to cough on its blood. Aidan attempts to draw alllllll of the air in the area out of the lungs of the Tarrasque, but he does not realize the amount of air he would need to do so... and worse, the biology of the Tarasque lets it stay underwater for... days at a time without needing to surface to breathe. It looks largely unphased by the attack. Thankfully, while the princess is distracted by the awe of the conflict and the violence brought down by Rita Ma, her citizens are not. Ice shots blast across the hide of the creature, but this time they find purchase, hitting parts of the turtle that are easier to hit now that it's no longer moving. Staggered from the shot from Rita, it's all but a very large fish in a very large barrel. Nonon throws her weight into the beast, it was already on the ground, but it was enough to throw it onto its stomach again. This might provide anyone else another free shot before it rolls back onto its legs again, and slowly... far slower to its feet. It bellows... The sky darkens, as the spikes it shot earlier come raining down. Like meteors, they rain down from the heavens, aiming to add destruction to everyone who wasn't close or on the Tarrasque itself. They come in red hot, thanks to friction from the air, and almost unilaterally explode on contact with the ground. This will forever change the coastline itself because spikes hit far outside of the battlefield too. Those near it, have to deal with something else. It's massive jaws as it snaps at each one of them, aiming to try and either throw them off, or take off a chunk of them before throwing what was left into the water. It's mean, efficient, and powerful, but right now it's injured and both in pain and afraid. Afraid of something it's slowly growing aware of. That something stronger than it might possibly exist.
Wisconsin	"WISKY GET OUT OF THERE." Yorktown's panicked voice yells over the comms of the Eagle Union ships. All of Wisconsin's alarms go off at the same time, as the incoming hailstorm of truck sized spines start to fall on her position. "Got no time!" The Battleship turns, and Wisky's Rig folds in and around herself, the point defense turrets spinning up to life as she starts tracking incoming fire. And for each Tarrasque spine that reaches her position, the CIWS brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrts, shattering the incoming missile into shards that still pepper and spray against her armor. But they aren't skewering her in one go. And that's going to have to be the best she can do, until the rain of death finishes... The skies brighten up again, and Wisky can see the damage that Rita and Sarra have already delivered on the beast... and she cheers. "Hey hey hey! Diabolical! That's jazz, baby." Wisky turns in place, lines up her shots again, and starts loading HE rounds. Time to start lighting this thing on fire, now that she's got access to Delicious Unarmored Flanks.
Aidan Proudpick	If he could just force more air. If he could grab, shift, if he could actually command the damn winds like Kale could. "Suffocate him and his stupid training-" Aidan snarls. He can feel it. All the air inside the tarrasque. A mass in there he COULD move if he were just better at magic. The sky darkens, "How... how can it do that." Spikes come down like meteors. Destruction rains from the heavens. Like colossal spears. "I can do this." Aidan mutters to himself. "I'm a hero." He hoists the shield directly over head. "I'm a knight. And I will show everyone." The shield takes off, starting off at a jogging pace. Then faster. It roars into the speed of a car, pushing everything that is ahead of it behind it with no care for the laws of physics. Faster. Aidan keeps flexed around his legs and core, holding himself at a bend with an admirable amount of core strength. He rockets up towards the first spike, ready to hit it head on. The shield turns off. Aidan flexes his body around, groaning in pain, until the shield is at an angle. The red energy flares to life again, and the spike slides off, suddenly changing direction towards the Tarrasque. Aidan keeps going, letting the shield carry him higher into the air. Another flex, turn, and shift, diverting spikes from those battling on the ground, trying to force them off course enough to hurtle towards the Tarrasque and pierce that shell.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine feels Rita impact the Tarrasque as its entire body shakes from the collision. She smiles and halts her climb, holding tight to one of the leg spikes. As the creature thrashes, Madeleine jams her spear again and again into the base of a nearby spine, digging into the stony flesh. As blood sprays around and over her, she finally catches the spine it by the root. And she pulls. The spike slowly tears free, an experience which must be agonizing even if it won't risk the creature's life. It may be just enough pain to push it over the edge, to convince the Tarrasque to yield.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia is still staring wide-eyed when several loud WHOOSH sounds pass by. Her dress and hair flutter in a few directions, and the sounds snap her out of her awe. She blinks and looks over the side of the ship to see one of those massive spikes that missed her spot on the ship by mere inches. She then looks around at what her piranha plants are doing, then coughs lightly. She snaps, and chests are brought up from the hold. When opened, the contain a collection of just about every Pipeland power-up that can give someone a ranged attack. Fire. Ice. Hammers. Boomerangs. The piranha plants throw everything they have at Terrasque. Sarracenia meanwhile starts tossing up Bullet Bills and with an acrobatic leap and a swing she hammers them toward the creature with all her might. Fireballs burst, ice bolts freeze, falling hammers bash, boomerangs somehow make it all the way down. And as one more layer, the cannons on the Sundew Sovereign unleash fire from their barrels as well!
Kukuru	The ploy goes far better than Kukuru could have expected. Even though she isn't fully aware of what it is Rita's doing further above her, she doesn't need to know as long as they're fighting for a common goal: Making sure she gets to eat! Then again, Kukuru isn't that keen on getting eaten herself in such a way, and there's a moment when she's worried it'll catch her in its mass of teeth, but... She's safe. With so many attacks coming in after her decoy maneuver, Kukuru lets out a relieved noise as she lets gravity carry her towards the water and letting her nanites start mending her wounds more thoroughly. A safe water landing means she doesn't even have to worry about slowing herself down, so... Wait. The tarrasque is still moving. It's spikes are still raining down at everyone, and it's looking right at her. One more burst of nanites goes out to provide a little more extra healing to her kids, one last burst of energy to her niece (notification pending), and then she almost disappears between the giant turtle's oversized fangs. It can tell easily that its caught onto one of its targets, too, between the flow of blood and the painful scream coming from Kukuru while she's still stuck inside of it. Survival instincts kick in, and she starts clawing at whatever she can reach. The inside of its mouth, a tongue, gums, whatever's fair game for her to just starts thrashing at wildly. If she can get her claws in, she starts tearing and lashing at it, ripping up as much as she can on the way out before it throws her away.
Combaticon	The beast thrashes. Onslaught tilts his head back, his eyes glowing bright red in the shadow cast by his visor as he glowers down on the beast-- which is easy to do when one can fly. When the sky starts to darken, his arms finally unfold. The left thrusts out to the side, extending a rod and set of supports. The matrix of interlaced hexagons in bright purple energy locks it together into a shield and-- as a spike descends on him-- the Combaticon commander swipes the shield up and to the side. The impact shudders the entire massive structure, throwing it off-course. With a shower of violet-tinged sparks, Onslaught is pushed aside... but remains airborne. He swipes the shield back into a resting position, shifting his glare back to the Tarrasque as if it somehow has the ability to appreciate the gravity of his mood. Depthcharge banks right on the wave created by the monster's movements, sliding along it rather than in the same direction the water is moving. A launcher unfurls and swings around, loosing a pair of surface-to-air missiles on the beast. She would fire more, but one of those great red-hot spikes slams into the torpedo boat's bow. Angular momentum swings the craft up and smashes the topside against the spine's smooth surface-- and then it explodes. "Depthcharge!" Vortex, weaving through the spiny rain, dives low in the smoking aftermath. She reverts to robot mode to skim the surface, only jolting back when a figure erupts from the water. What emerges is-- a still functional Decepticon, minus an arm and a leg and half of her face. "I don't need your help, greenhorn, Depthcharge hisses, her voice filled with static. Lifting her gaze, she raises her voice, "Onslaught. Your power core better be ready." Depthcharge then sheds off the broken mountings of her arm and leg and several other parts, her body twisting and rearranging as it does when these beings change their shape. Except this time it isn't a speedboat or even a speedboat-submarine. Depthcharge has transformed into A colossal beam rifle easily intended to be wielded by a far larger robot than any Cybertronian present. "Vortex," Onslaught intones as he joins the two 'bots at the same altitude. He doesn't say anything further-- his left shoulder has already changed; rotated around, arm withdrawn, exposing a massive rotational joint. "Uh..!" The younger 'bot jolts back a bit, casting a look at Depthcharge, then over her shoulder at the Tarrasque. After a moment, she returns her gaze to Onslaught and nods with conviction, "Right!" Vortex reconfigures herself back into a helicopter-- and then the helicopter reconfigures again. Extending, separating at the middle to create an elbow; extruding a massive five-fingered hand. A hardened lug affixes to the exposed connector on Onslaught's shoulder. He visibly flinches as connections form, lock in, and then close up in armor plating. Without hesitation, Onslaught sweeps his new, enormous left arm forward and snatches up the colossal rifle. Bracing himself in midair with his flight jets, he hefts the cannon one-handed for the monster's face. After a moment, he reconsiders, dragging his aim down and to the left. Reticles lock in on the connection between the beast's right shoulder and exposed arm. When the cannon fires, it's a deep violet energy beam that he braces into, kicking up the shallow sea around him. As the flash of it fades, the three robots have been separated again, floating in robot mode; save for Depthcharge, whose remaining half-body smolders in Onslaught's arms.
Angela	Gebura suggests, softly, "I know it isn't your specialty but try to avoid getting stepped on by a house-sized beast." Nonon bobs her head quickly in agreement but bobbing her head in agreement as she slides back along the ice. She is so focused on the legs that she doesn't recognize that the MOUTH is coming in until the last moment. Nonon then has two options: Get bitten in half, or jump into the mouth and fight from the inside. She chooses the latter, pulling her feet up and hunching her body forward as she goes sailing into the beast's maw. It's a big maw! And this is bad! Nonon knows what happens when you go into a Whale and she can't imagine what happens when you are in the maw of a Tarrasque is much better. But it's fine. Rita must've been in a Whale once, she thinks, so just get out fast. Nonon turns on her heel and starts punching her fist toward the interior side of the massive teeth, saliva floating up and sloshing around her. Each strike starts slow but she rapidly spins up into a flurry of blows for a furious combo, golden shockwaves erupting out from each strike. "Come on... Come on come on!" She shouts. "Give up and we'll putcha to greeeat use!" She swings her gauntleted fist back once more, "So give in already! We're OUTTA TIME to waste!" And she throws one last strike, hoping to open a route back out.
Rita Ma	Rita floats up out of the red-tinged water, which sluices cleanly off of her frills. There's the starry antigravity again. For a second she keeps her sleek predatory focus: the Tarrasque is bleeding, so it's finished. The rest is just a formality to be followed through on. Then she spies a familiar pair of legs sticking out of the turtle's jaws. "--Ms. Kukuru!!" Wait, but that's fine. Kukuru can just-- "MS. NONON?!" Rita blinks to just beside the Tarrasque's head, shoves the green-plated tentacle through the gap that Kukuru's hips and Nonon's fists have made, and flicks on that spherical bioelectric forcefield around all three of them to force the Tarrasque's mouth open. Kukuru is scooped up in her arms, Nonon in her tentacles, and then she jumps backwards into the beach's shallow surf with them in tow. (It's probably a good thing that Kukuru blood isn't remotely human.) Both of them are squeezed close to her in a different way, in the quiet moment that the forcefield lasts. But she can't spare much more than that. Carefully setting them both down, she kneels in the surf and scoops up red seawater in both hands, swallowing down several gulps. Rita winces at the taste, coughs, and then drags her eyes up to meet the Tarrasque's while wiping her blood-pinked lips on a white 'sleeve'. "That's enough," she mentally commands. "Stop."
Ishirou	This time, Wisconsin has a good sight of something. Her shots fire, despite the danger and damage she was exposed to a moment ago. Shots rain across the side of the Tarrasque, until she can hear the thing squeal and scream in pain from each shot finding purchase between the spikes, peppering it down, and causing it to thrash in the throes of pain. Spikes fire up at Aidan as he soars down. These were going to be more powerful attacks to follow up on what it just launched. The two collide in mid-air... and despite the fact Aidan was flying off in a different direction, the spikes were off course as well. It wouldn't be able to fire another barrage in time... meaning Rita could have her shot! Spear after spear digs out one of the spines on the large leg of the creature, piercing and spilling more vital blood everywhere... including across Madeleine herself. With some effort, the spine is weakened, and with even MORE effort, she yanks the thing out with a terrible show of strength, causing it to roar and thrash again, its jaw snapping uselessly near her. The barrage from the, somehow sailing, flying ships is amazing in its own right. Fireballs, ice blasts, hammers, whatever they had on board as well as cannons and bullet bills come raining down at the creature, carving another bit of flesh on another flank. It roars again, but at the rate things are going one might be easily able to confuse such sounds with a whimper. The Combatacons combine their efforts, work together, and finally unleash a powerful shot from one of their many heavy weapons at the mouth. It explodes, however, across the horns... and while it misses any vital point, it DOES sink into the flesh behind their horns, and causes incredible pain despite not going where it was intended! In the mouth Kukuru struggles, fighting back against its terrible jaws, and to her credit, gives as good as she takes... perhaps even more than she takes. Claws tear at sensitive, well more sensitive, bits of the creature, aiming to tear pieces of it off and it inadvertently during all of this loses its grip on Kukuru...! Still caught in its mouth, Nonon has an uphill fight trying to get out before the Combatacons unleash hell on the face of the creature. She pushes, she punches, she strikes, and she STRIVES to survive. To avoid getting eaten, make sure each push forward it towards the exit and not farther in. She knocks out a tooth..! In between the teeth comes Rita's tentacles, helping both Nonon and Kukuru find their way out, and of course avoid having to find their way to the ground and water without hitting it at terminal velocity. However, at thus, Rita utters a command. The large creature stops. It's remaining eye turns glassy and turns towards the floating Rita. It obeys her without question, recognizing her as both queen and one of its own. That is until... something odd happens. The eye becomes green-blue instead of red. It... speaks. "You who have taken my child..." it sounds old, raspy, tired... dying. "I can not stop you, but I request that you make sure it can return home when you are done, to let it die here in its homeland. To let it help restore the world. You have proven stronger than it, my child..." It gasps. Speaking like a sickly and dying person can, "Please... let the humans remain gone, allow the new humans who have replaced them to stay, and allow my creatures to finally die to restore the land," it says, that eye focused on Rita, before moving to the rest of you. In turn.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine walks back to shore on a fresh ice-bridge, wolves at her side. She stops to rinse her gloves in the shallows, leviathan blood blooming like ink into the water. Something in the water catches her eye, and she pulls a thin piece of driftwood from the sand. The wolves crowd around her as she winds up for a throw and hurls the stick far along the beach. Her canine companions rush away, eager to fight over the makeshift toy. With most of the monster blood washed away, Madeleine steps out of the shallow water and approaches the group. The huntress steps around Rita to look the girl-creature in the eye, but not with the twisted delight she displayed last time she saw Rita in this form. Her gentle smile is genuine, even if it is a little measured. "You did good, Rita. Only..." She turns to face the kaiju where it stands out in the deeper water. "How in hell are we getting this thing through a warp-gate?"
Sarracenia	The airship's assault comes to an end as the creature seems to be either dying or just stopping. A cheer goes up from the piranha plant crew, and the Sundew Sovereign makes its way down toward the water. There are plenty of plant people floating around after all. Wooden speed boats and small wooden helicopters are deployed to retrieve the men overboard. The princess takes one of those helicopters to join the others on the shore. "That was amazing!" she gushes, not seeming bothered much by Rita's appearance. "You all were too good! I didn't even have to get off of my ship! Which is kind of a shame, really. Usually I would be in there with my hammer!" she says. Madeleine asks how they will transport it, and the princess smirks. "Oh, I think I have an answer for that." She pulls out her phone and makes a call. And in a few minutes...the hum of huge propellers fills the air. More large wooden airships. Dozens of them! They fly in and take up positions over the creature, then lower down ropes and piranha plants. They proceed to tie on to the Terrasque. Hundreds of ropes are tied on. The princess just watches with a haughty smile as they go about their work. And soon enough, that hum of propellers rises in pitch. They are ready to move. Sarracenia turns back to Rita and the others, and gives her hair a smug toss. "So! Where are we headed?" She pauses for a moment. "And...will we be coming back? Apparently this thing is needed here even in death."
Kukuru	Kukuru lets out a wet, gurgling noise as she's extracted from the tarrasque's mouth, briefly swinging one more time at those teeth on the way out before going slack again in that somewhat familiar hold. Unable to let her nanites stray further for much longer, she draws them back towards herself, only allowing herself to relax again as she recognizes those tentacles holding her as belonging to Rita and not the giant turtle. "You've grown so much..." She murmurs in a daze, giggling lightly before letting her head drop back against the ground behind her. All that rapid movement is really starting to get to her, and she has to press her fingers into her eyes gently as she starts hearing things. "I'm sorry... Hah. I wanted to do more for you, but there's..." Wait. She's still hearing things. It sounds like speech. It takes a little longer for Kukuru to realize that the voice is real, and massages the motion sickness out a little bit more (not really) before sitting back up to look into that massive green-blue eye. "You're... Oh. This is yours, then." She murmurs, almost inaudible as she feels a pang straight to the chest. How could she deny the earnest request of another parent, even if their child did just try to bite her in half? Instead of answering right away, Kukuru instead gets up long enough to drag herself over to Nonon, then starts pouring some of those healing nanites into her and steadily spreading over her to start seeking out mending any injuries she can find following the battle with the tarrasque. "I came to help Rita today. I dunno what's going on with your world outside of that, so... Um. If that's what she wants to do, then suuure." She answers with a lazy yawn, rubbing her side before looking over at Rita with a pleasant smile. "What do you want to do, dear?" She pauses, then continues, a little more quietly. "What do you have to do? Whatever you decide, I'm with you."
Wisconsin	THREAT SUBDUED - MISSION SUCCESS Wisky's engines wind down from full combat speed as Rita... seems to handle the Big Guy. She knew, coming into this, this wouldn't be a regular operation, and while putting the head of something that big on the trophy case would have been... something... parts of Wisconsin, the parts she is nominally crafted to resemble, know that something like this belongs... In the war materiel inventory, of course. "Good work, folks! Mission... complete!" The voice rattles around the field, in the brains of the people gathered, and the Shipgirl works a finger in her ear, trying to get it out of her head. "I'm not sure about that, buddy, but I guess that choice is up to Rita now." A glance up at the Queen Of All Monsters, to her control of the Tarrasque, and the EU girl sighs. "Some girls get all the cool toys. One of these days."
Angela	Nonon was sort of really banking on being able to knock a tooth out and fortunately she's able to manage getting a tooth out. She makes a step forward to try and clamber out but her foot slips...! Nonon's eyes widen as she lashes out with her hands to grab onto something or anything she can to avoid tumbling deeper into the creature's gullet-- --and fortunately Rita's tentacles there catch onto her before she becomes a giant monster's dinner. She sort of hangs there as she's pulled in close. "Thanks Rita!" She says, deciding that jumping straight into the mouth might be someting to not try so quickly next time. What she doesn't expect, though, is the creature ... speaking? "Woah!" She says. "Is there a Momma Tarrasque out there?" Even the 'Baby' was big enough to be squish her!
Combaticon	Onslaught floats where he was left in the aftermath of the beam rifle report, glowering at the Tarrasque as it finally capitulates to Rita's command. When it speaks, using the voice of the World, his head tilts forward slightly in a way that gives his expression a more serious air. This ends abruptly when Depthcharge plants her hand on his face and pushes him away, "Put me down you waste of tin!" "Depthcharge, please, you've fried basically every circuit you have in that explosion," Vortex tries to calm her teammate, only to get clocked by Depthcharge's severed right arm courtesy of a distressingly accurate throw. "I am not some protoform to be coddled!" the scientist objects, "I am a Decepticon. Release me at once!" Wordlessly, Onslaught does as requested. With a surprised shout, Depthcharge drops like a steel ingot right into the water and sinks out of sight, with both remaining Decepticons staring downward. One face shows indifference. The other, surprise. After a long silence, Vortex speaks up. "Sh... Should we..?" "In a cycle or two."
Rita Ma	Rita's transformed tentacles revert to jelly-blue; her armor cracks and falls off into the surf. "Thank you for helping, Ms. Nonon," she says, her voice rich with relief. "And you did amazing, Ms. Kukuru. I can't ask for any more." Her tendrils gently pet them both: Kukuru across the forehead like she's checking a child's temperature, and Nonon around the shoulders like a side-hugging arm. Rita startles and looks around when she hears the voice. It's easy to tell the exact moment when she pinpoints it: her spine goes ramrod-straight, face flat, eyes wide as dinnerplates. Her tentacles curl protectively around Kukuru. Her experiences with distant rulers speaking through monsters haven't been positive. She relaxes, slowly, around when she hears "restore the world". Her eyes drop down to meet Kukuru's. "I think..." she starts, pained. "... I think I can't make any promises. I'm sorry. My world's dying too," she says, meeting the gaze of the huge green eye. "I can't afford to keep it completely safe. But I'll try my best. I really will. I hope that's enough, Miss." Her head tilts forward, in what might either be sadness or a little bow. "I'm sorry." There are so many other questions. 'Who are you?' 'What do you mean, new humans?' 'Restore how?' But they feel trivial, unsuited for the gravity of the moment. When the moment's passed, Rita shakily stands, offers Kukuru a hand up too, and looks over at Madeleine. She smiles sheepishly. "Thank you. You seem different? ... Oh, um. I thought I'd just take it and swim until we found a warpgate. It only takes a day or--" She looks over Madeleine's shoulder at the airship crew trussing the Tarrasque up, and a little giggle works its way up from her chest despite herself. She covers her reddened mouth with a hand. "Oh. That's probably faster."
Ishirou	"That is all I can ask... save your world, and the others connected to it, queen of the Nullborn," It says, hopeful, but also sad. Slowly, the eyes of the beast close, as if tired, and then snap open again as if suddenly awakened. It looks... confused but then remembers where it is and whose presence it is in. It lowers its head, allowing the ships to try and start transporting it. With Rita's command of it, it acts like a tamed animal, but a tamed animal is still an animal. It is better to be careful than reckless with such a beast in your care. Obtained: The Largest Nullborn ever birthed, a code-named Tarasque.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine doesn't answer at first, instead giving a sheepish grin while she scratches the back of her head. Then, when the others are distracted by Sarracenia's display of aeronautical strength in numbers, the huntress steps a little closer to Rita. "Truth be told, our picnic gave me a lot to think about. You're a beautiful monster, but you're more than that. I ought to show you the proper respect." She looks down at her feet, frowns, and gently kicks at the sand. "Sorry for making you uncomfortable last time." The ice wolves return with stick in tow and they bustle around the pair as a little smile returns to Madeleine's face.