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Lyner Barsett      Last time on Ar Ciel-1...

     Bishop Radolf Scneizen held a press conference to address concerns regarding the threat of the mysterious golden menace. But during the conference, that same golden menace crashed the party. Literally. Right through the roof. The ensuing battle was a perilous one as the golden menace was fought inside the party hall, and through the skies of Nemo.

     In the ruckus, a mysterious girl named Soma attempted to use the fleeing masses as cover for an assassination, but was ultimately blocked, resulting in her retreat. But before doing so, she stated that the 'secondary objective' was incomplete, but the 'primary objective' was completed. Filled with worry, but no understanding, everyone cleaned up and moved to reinforce Nemo's defenses as the war against the unknown enemy continues...

     PRESENTLY:

     Lyner just finished getting a call from Shurelia. To say the least; shit has hit the fan. While Soma kept everyone busy in the lower lands, that strange, pink haired girl and her golden army took to the skies. Piercing through the Blast Line and taking the battle to Platina itself. According to Shurelia, the Knights of Elemia are locked in battle with the enemy in the air and on the ground. Keeping a defensive line, but things are getting far too close. They need backup.

     And so, Lyner has put out the call before beelining to the nearest airport to grab a ship capable of piercing the Blast Line. Thankfully, Krusche was around to hook a guy up. Because really, piercing through the Blast Line is a bitch. 'Why not just teleport through the warp gate at the Frozen Eye?', you ask? Because those golden things are ruling the skies and they need to be taken care of first.

     The meeting is brief. Everyone gets here, everyone gets the hell ontoo the ship. If they have personal flight abilities, barriers, giant mecha, then good. Otherwise? Get the hell onto the ship please. Everyone gathered? Okay, good. Because takeoff is swift, and takeoff is decisive. They leave the skies of Nemo, hurtling up into upper reaches of the tower.

     It's a sleek, but sizable thing. It can hold plenty people, and it has a special coating to contend with the Blast Line. And it's also equipped with several weapons. But who knws whether those will even be useful! Regardless the time is now, and they're going! Lyner sits in a seat in the common area, looking pensively out into the gradually darkening skies as they edge closer and closer to the Blast Line. "Alright, we've got a short time before we get to the combat zone. Any questions? Anyone?" He asks, looking out at the others. "Now's the time to ask before things get absolutely crazy."
William Pauwel What do you do when all you have is a gun and a prayer?

Ride along on the wings of a sweet-ass flying machine, is what. Will is only just a little bit distracted by opening various maintenance panels and peering down into the mechanisms at work therein, but he's definitely focused! His mind is on the job! You can tell, because his gun is already aglow at his hip. "Just one!" Will raises his hand. "Two. First: Weak points, do they have any? Second! If we fall, or get shot full o' holes, are there... parachutes, or jetpacks, or something like that?"
Young Arthur The young king of britain is dressed in white, an unmarked shield and a face-covering helmet. He's quiet aboard the ship, lacking any means of personal flight. He's calm, almost motionless as he looks across the railing from this flying contraption. Another new thing in the great multiverse, something to ponder the strategic utility of to take care of his rivals for the throne.

He briefly shakes his head, he is not here for the sake of britain, he needs to focus on the task at hand, and he reaches for the simple steel blade on his hip. The smooth stone of Avalon and the sacred Calibourne have been left behind out of fear he would not be able to recover them if he dropped either.
Kazusa Ujikane     On the one hand, the battle being in the air is tough, because Kazusa herself has no aerial capabilities. On the other, she has nothing with aerial capabilities /stored/, which means that she has a very good excuse not to use the one card still functional.

    And while she doesn't bring it up much, even Kazusa admits that she doesn't much care for using The Beast.

    "Ooh, I have one, I have one!" the girl says, raising a hand. "What are the turrets like? Are they hitsca- ah, um, are they instant-travel lasers, or projectiles? Are they solid objects, or magical? Do I have to worry about bullet drop, or will they go straight?"

    Someone's played entirely too many shooters.
Reina Kinney Reina Kinney has her own set of wings, but she decides to keep them docked and use the ship Lyner's taking instead. Namely since she feels her ship might not pierce the Blast Line so easily, and she doesn't want to risk getting chewed out by Laia again over making a 'stupid rookie mistake.' So Reina's here onboard the ship, keeping to herself mostly.

Sitting comfortably, Reina seems mostly intent on prepping herself for the mission mentally, although there is a physical element too, as one might notice the red-head's hair is hanging nearly past her waist right now. That is, until she takes out a scrunchee and, with little difficulty despite the thickness of her hair, manages to use it to pull her hair up a little and tie it into her trademark ponytail, leaving it out of her way.

Once she's gotten her hair taken care of, she looks up again but doesn't do or say anything really. She's still keeping to herself.
Taro     When suitably armoured, Taro is capable of flight. Still, he'll hitch a ride in the ship, so as to conserve energy for what it is to come. That, and this 'Blast Line' sounds rather ominous. Best to follow those that can navigate their way through it rather than find a path of his own.
    Just why is he here? That is an excellent question. Chances are that he has his own agenda. Or he may not. Regardless, he did help repel the attack on the press conference, and he shared that which he learned from analyzing what was left of the attacking creatures...
    The android priest is in the same place as Lyner, expression his usual faint dour frown as he props up a bulkhead, Propped next to him is a rather large and rather attempting-to-prove-concept rifle of some kind. He'll wait until the others have finished asking questions before adding any of his own. "Do we know the size of the opposing force, and whather they are like those that attacked Nemo?"
Deelel Deelel is at this point once again on her way to hook up with LAyner and she ha made good time it's not too long before she catches up and gets in their ride and think for a moment.

"No I have bno real questions other than one. If we capture the woman behind this? What are we to do with her? I'm not sure how we could hold that woman for long." She doesn't seem keen on killing but is trying to figure out how to do it. Basics were far eaiser to restrain than stuff native to the material plane of existance.
Jakuri     Where Lyner goes, lately Mir has been almost certain to follow. Although with an air of complaint or gruffness to her when she does. Yet she sticks close to him in a way most would find overbearing despite the grumbling, and today can be found standing beside him with her gloved hands held behind her back and a robot dog lying at her feet. She's rather serious-faced! ...Well, moreso than usual, that is to say. Eventually she glances up at Lyner as he makes a final sweep, as it were. Nothing to say from the Reyvateil for a rare change.
Yuna Kagurazaka When Lyner mentioned an aerial battle against those big gold things - combined with the fact that *airships* are having trouble - Yuna came up with one solution ... although she technically has an aerial form that's still basically human sized, those big golden monsters make her want as much armor and firepower as she can muster.

So it's the Matrix Figure, El-Line, that ascends alongside the party's airship; Yuna is hooked in via radio with the rest of the party, and as Lyner asks for questions, the Savior of Light racks her brain for anything she can think of that's relevant to the approaching situation ...

"Do we know anything more now about those big gold monsters than we did when we first fought them a couple of weeks ago? *Anything* at all, even what they're supposed to be called?"
Lyner Barsett      Lyner glances at Will, whose been driving the ship's crew bonkers by opening up various panels and fiddling around inside. "Uhhh..." He considers the question. "Well, I mean- If you fall into the Blast Line, you're basically done. So a jetpack, parachute, prayer, none of that is going to save you." He grins despite how morbid that sounded. "So uh.... don't fall?"

     Real helpful. But also true!

     Young Arthur gets a look and a nod. "Oh yeah, thanks for coming too. Uh... Arthur, was it?" He did recall that name very vaguely. ...But why did he seem to remember that he was a she? Weird. Mind must be messing with him. Damn Multiverse.

     Kazusa asks the weirdest questions. "Uh- " Lyner blinks. "... You should ask the crew. But... I mean, I think they've got some energy weapons and some shell based weaponry?"

     BACK TO WILL

     "As for weaknesses and such, I read Taro and the church's compiled report.... No. These things have no weakness. They get hit and keep on coming no matter what arms or legs or heads they lose. It's really creepy!" He shrugs! "The upside is that they seem to be controlled by a hive mind or something. Once you damage them to the point uselessness, they tend to be abandoned Like the last couple we fought, really."

     And to Taro himself. "According to Shurelia, the size of the force is comparable to an army. Not anywhere near as small as the company that attacked Nemo or Karulu." He shakes his head. "What we need to do isn't wipe them all out. We've got to root out some kind of leader and take care of them." Pause. "And I have a feeling I know who it is. Actually, it's obvious." He hits a button on his gauntlet and projects a hologram of that girl from Karulu village. "We don't know her name. But she was riding one of those golden things. She called it Dainsleif, and it was big enough to destroy the entire village if it wanted to, just by landing. ... Ergh." He shakes his head.

     "Anyway, we take care of her, and maybe the rest of the forces will retreat. I hope. Maybe." Another shrug. "As for what kind? I don't know. The reports I've gotten state that they're flying types. And there's a ton of them through the skies.

     That said, Lyner nods to Deelel. "Alright. I'm not sure if we can capture her... But it's something we can certainly try!" He doesn't want to kill her, that's for sure. He glances down at Mir meanwhile. Nothing to say? Weird. She usually at least has some kind of biting comment no matter the occasion. "You okay?" He asks quietly and curiously. Just worry for a friend! Yep!

     And to Yuna, over the radio, Lyner responds. "We don't know any more about them than what Taro's research has managed to uncover. Some of it is hypothesis, but... It's the best we have to go on. Take them out decisively, and keep an eye out for the leader."

     All of that said, the ship suddenly undergoes extreme turbulence. And at the same time, the captain's voice speaks over the intercom. "This is Jack Hamilton, captain of this quaint little metal coffin. We're crossing the Blast Line right now. Hold onto your butts 'cause things are about to get extra crazy!" And true enough, They seem to be piercing through a rainbow hued field of crushing plasma from all around. It's seriously heavy stuff, and any unprepared airship would no doubt be crushed without proper protection. Hell, even the ship they're on right now is creaking from the pressure. But eventually, they clear it. And once they do, the turbulence ceases, returning them all to peaceful space...

     Peaceful being a relative term. Because almost immediately after they clear that last hurdle, the next comes in the form of scattered golden dots appearing in the upper distance... And then a kaleidoscope of laser fire piercing through the skies and impacting the ship.

     The vessel is rocked to and fro, followed by loud crashing sounds above. Then, Jack's voice sounds over the intercom. "Tch! Look at all this! -Alright, guys, get your butts up on the outer decks! We've got enemies landing! We'll take
Lyner Barsett      The vessel is rocked to and fro, followed by loud crashing sounds above. Then, Jack's voice sounds over the intercom. "Tch! Look at all this! -Alright, guys, get your butts up on the outer decks! We've got enemies landing! We'll take the distant ones firing and bring you closer. Anyone who can help, do it! Now get your asses in gear! Go go!"

     It's time.
Kazusa Ujikane     The ship rocks under the stress of hitting, and passing through, the blast line.

    Much like an episode of Star Trek, Kazusa stumbles slightly, holding onto the nearest bulkhead to steady herself while she's shaken about.

    Then they're through. "R-right! Um, lasers, lasers..." Kazusa grabs the nearest crewman and says, "Hey! Put me on a turret! I'm really good at shooters- I-I mean I'm pretty good at shooting things! Preferably give me one that uses energy, but I'll take whatever I can get!" Whatever directions he gives, she follows, holding her glasses in place the entire way.
Jakuri     "..." There's a flicker of something in Mir's expression as the ship shakes, briefly rocking her footing and apparently prompting ELMA to... Transform? Yes, ELMA can transform. From dog to hover tank... Thing. A gloved hand touches along the sleek metal before Mir gives ELMA a pat and the machine zips away and into the skies. What about Mir herself? Well... she begins to glow, eyes closed for a moment as she even briefly floats off the deck... And then she clicks down to the deck in a completely different outfit. A lot more skin is on display, and her lengthy hair is somehow about to remain perfectly curtain-capable such that she remains decent. Decent and perhaps also a little terrifying in appearance. Claws click-click along the deck as she follows on after Lyner, flashing a fang-toothed smile. "Better play the vanguard again for me, Lyner~"

    Mir might be a little mad, you guys.
Yuna Kagurazaka The first time Yuna heard about the Blast Line, what she was told was basically 'it destroys anything that tries to pass through it' and that was enough for her to keep a healthy distance from it; warpgates have been perfectly serviceable for going to and from Ar Ciel, after all, and even if her cruiser has its uses, it's a *civilian* craft that wouldn't make it through the 'cloud cover' without serious damage.

El-Line, thankfully, is made of sterner stuff - and it has its own defensive aura, much like the one which surrounds Yuna in her Light Suit and its variants. Even so, it's like burrowing through a thunderstorm times a few dozen in intensity, and -

Well, if Yuna was screaming her lungs out on the way through the Blast Line, Elner was at least good enough to mute the radio so nobody else had to hear her freaking out like a girl half her age.

Then they're out of the Blast Line and into the firing line. "SHUGOSEIHEKI!!" Yuna calls out, materializing her kite shield at El-Line's scale, already strapped to the Matrix Figure's left arm as Yuna tries to tank at least *some* of the bombardment that's aimed at the airship. And then, with a follow-up cry of, "LIGHTNING SHOOT!!" she aims El-Line's right hand at one of the golden destroyers, unleashing a crackling blast of concussive radiance. It's far more like the 'hard light' blasts of her Matrix Divider than anything electrical, but it *looks* close enough to explain the name.

Thankfully, she doesn't see fit to repeat the yell with every single blast she unleashes, although the called attacks seem to pack some extra punch by comparison. Or maybe that's an effect of her putting more of her will into those particular blasts for which she calls her attack?

Either way, she's trying to thin out the monsters which are approaching the airship like they plan to touch down. Once any individual golden behemoth gets too close to the ship, she leaves it to the ship's own defenders; she doesn't want a missed shot (or an overpenetration) to do MORE damage to the ship.

After all, everyone else is depending on that vessel to get home again safely at the end of this mission - and if things go too badly for Yuna herself, so will *she*.
Taro     Well. That lends answer to a few unspoken questions that have been gnawing at him since he first got involved. Such as whether their opponents had enough forces committed to their stated goal of genocide. Presuming that their statements are true. It also affirms that yes, boarding the ship was the proper choice - he hasn't the proper personal shielding to have made it through the barrier otherwise.
    Taro hefts his prototype weapon with notable care, trying to not jostle it too much. "If the opportunity presents itself, I will try to tag her or her mount," he nods to the projection of the young woman, "with a tracker. If she escapes, perhaps we can learn where she's going..." He sways with the ship as it rocks, keeping his balance while tightening his grip on his rifle. "In the meantime, let us find out if these creatures are vulnerable to the usual things toxic to organic life, hm?"
    With that, he heads out along with the others onto the deck, and from there heads for a spot clear enough for him to unfurl his armor's wings and take to the sky.
    A rather crowded sky, from the looks of things. He takes a moment to lock down what IFFs he can to avoid friendly fire. Hopefully the courtesy will be extended in kind.
Young Arthur Arthur is not a great archer, he's a passable one, but he's trained primarily for lance and sword, so when the battle comes he calls upon his other talents. In particular, he takes of his helmet and walks in the direction of fire, raising his shield to protect him as much as it can, and then he speaks. "All free hands return fire, show them what you're made of!"

That this is not his ship, that these are not his men to command is not his worry. His words carry weight, his words have power. This boy is a natural leader, and his voice does not suffer incompetence. Follow his commands, and there will be competence, thus is the King's true strength.
William Pauwel The Blast Line. It's the first time Will's seen it up front and personal like this. He's always been curious about the weird prismatic region surrounding the top of the tower, with those huge glass shards floating all around it. But to see it in person...

High energy density plasma detected. Beginning analysis.

Well. Looks like he's not the only one curious about this whole thing. Being outside could be risky, but... "Hey Lyner! I've got an idea of how to clear us a path, but I'm gonna need some time and some tools and parts! You got anything that can like... Gather or focus energy, or something!? Judgment, y'all keep analyzing that plasma. I'll stay in contact!"

And with that he drops into the cargo hold. To do... Things. Apparently
Reina Kinney The moment things get crazy is when Reina's got an idea. She has managed to summon her craft past the Blast Line and has gotten it near the airship. "I'm switching to my craft, the Delta Falcon. I'm still nearby though, so don't worry." She gives a thumbs up before tapping a few buttons on her wrist device before disappearing from the airship and reappearing on her craft.

Once she's in the cockpit, she brings up her weapons systems and smirks a little. "Been awhile since I've had some aerial combat action! Come on, bring it!" She says as she heads towards the enemies.
Deelel Deelel says "Right We'll see how it goes then Lyner."

That's the last thing Deelel has to say on the subject of the neemy for the rest of hte tirp. IT doesn't take too liong before there's some toruble aheadbut she's not too worried she does have ... a drop pack function on her light rod. Then agian it might not save her form it, however it's time to get moving. She gets moving with inhuman speed, Dual Disc is summoned to one hand and soon she's moving to form up on deck weapon ready.
Lyner Barsett      Fortunately for Kazusa, Captain Jack gave the crew one solid order before all others; The the Multiversal Weirdos do their jobs. So despite being given the Weirdest Look. That man nods numbly. "Right... Follow me." He'll lead her down to one of the weapons decks and to an unmanned turret. Energy based, with continuous laser fire, and projectile mode. You take a seat then grab the steering wheel like controls while looking through a virtual crosshairs view out the outside. "Just be warned, these things have a minor cooldown if you use the continuous laser mode at max settings for too long. Other than that, do your best." He salutes, then rushes off to take care of other matters.

     Mir sends ELMA off to go help, and she then ... uh.... she.... well... she transforms. This is nothing new to Lyner. He's seen Misha and Aurica transform into whatever outfits they got from their Cosmospheres plenty times, but... "Uh, Mir?" He starts, unsure if he should why or how or anything. ...No really, what did Croix do in her head for her to get an outfit like that? Inquiring minds have to know!

     Or maybe not. They're in the middle of a clusterfuck right now. "...Y-Yeah, sure." Ignore the crazy demonic looking Reyvateil's appearance. He's seen worse. ...Yeah. He puts that aside and heads up to the outer deck, leading to way for Mir and keeping his eyes up for those landed enemies.

     Yuna valiantly braves the Blast Line... and Elner mercifully mutes her radio. Thank you Elner. But she makes it out with El-Line still plenty intact. Which is good enough becaue she's already locked into a dogfight with a cluster of Golden Destroyers. Assaulting El-Line and the ship with a colorful flurry of lasers. A handful land on the ship's deck, and another handful all come at Yuna's mecha, aiming to engage in melee combat with bladed arms.

     They swing and swerve, and several got shot down by her blasts. Enough that whatever hivemind controls them deems those units useless. Several more are fired on at the ship's deck, providing cover fire for those down there engaging the enemy directly. But she's got her own problems to contend with soon enough.

     Down on the ship's outer deck meanwhile, several of those large, menacing things having landed, featureless golden heads 'peering' down at those scrambling out to face them and stop them from destroying the ship as it races through the darkened skies. Lyner stares up at them, blade ready. "...Yeah, this is going to be something alright." A glance back at Mir. "Well, uh- You know what to do!" Lasers pls. Lots and lots of them. He looks back ahead and nods Arthur's way.

     "Gotcha! C'mon!" But then Will calls for him, making him stumble a bit. "-Buh? Huh, an idea?" He thinks quickly. "Uhhh....-" At that point, those enemies landed on deck start to attack with wide sweeping swings of their bladed arms. "-Crap! Uh! I can't think about that right now! Ask Jack! Hey Jack! Help him out! You're the gun guy!" And he dives into the fray, blade clashing against much larger golden ones, keeping those things away from Mir and any other ranged fighters, like Taro. "Arthur, Deelel! We've got to keep this defensive line up so that the ones behind us can work! Don't let them gain an inch!"

     Jack's voice pings over the intercom about the point Lyner calls him the 'gun guy'. "Seriously? Tch, fine fine. You want to focus energy? We've got our main cannon, if that'll work. Otherwise, there's parts down in the cargo hold, let me know what stupid idiocy you've got going on. Maybe we can use it to not die."

     Nice.

     Reina departs from the ship, and hops back onto her own craft, after summoning it past the Blast Line. Clever move. The Teru would frown on it, but who the hell cares right now? These things need to be stopped! And she joins the fray. Good timing, because Yuna could proooobably use a little help. Not to mention the literal rain of rainbow laser bolts piercing through the skies and forcing constant evasive manuevers and shielding. Damn. No rest for the weary.
William Pauwel     "It's simple in principle!" Will says through the communicator as he starts rummaging through a few boxes in the hold. He starts gathering things that look like they could be useful; someone more well-studied in song science could probably identify them as Parameno and Grathnode crystal devices, but Will is just grabbing whatever looks like it might be used to focus power in this particular neck of the world. Those sorts of things have a specific look to them, after all. Sure he might only be right five times out of ten, but that's still pretty good. "The Solano is a weapon from my world. One of the things it's really, really good at is focusing high-energy plasma from heaven knows where into blasts that hurt stuff REAL bad."

"So I figure that once he's done analyzing the stuff outside, Judgment's probably got some kind of algorithm or program that might be able to harness it directly! I just need some way to gather and re-emit the energy, and we MIGHT be able to turn the Blastline itself into our trump card!"

"Does that sound like a plan to you, Mister Hamilton?"

(It probably sounds vaguely like suicide)

(But then, so does 'this entire mission')
Kazusa Ujikane     "Just about what I'm used to, then!" Kazusa replies cheerfully before settling in. "Hehehe, it's just like that one stage of Skies Over Ava... no, no, focus, gotta focus." Clap clap clap, the gamer slaps her own cheeks lightly. This is an actual life or death battle! She takes the controls, first starting in projectile mode to give it a try. First, a steady stream of shots, then as she gets a feel for how they fire so that she can aim better, she switches over to shorter bursts. Spraying a stream of bullets out into the air is good for dialing in how they behave, but it's ALSO good for showing the enemy exactly where not to be.
Jakuri     A flicker of clawed fingers along with a wicked smile are the reply to Lyner's uncertainty! "I'll tell you the story sometime if you ask reeeeally nicely," she replies simply, Mir clicking along behind him while looking rather... Determined. Her expression is still that fierce way it was ever since they took off, but with the addition of her current outfit, well. It's intimidating, which may be the point, of course.
    Meanwhile, anyone already on deck will be aware of a dark form sailing through the sky among golden ones, firing blue beams and missiles as it leaves a trail behind it like a high-speed aircraft. That'd be ELMA, bobbing and weaving between targets.
Taro     Hypothesis: If these creatures are comprised of organic matter, probably proteins, then they should be vulnerable to corrosive agents just like other organic tissues.
    Taro jinks and weaves his way through the sky, angling for a section where the action is not yet heavy. This is in part to avoid being an accidental casualty of crossfire, but also in part that he doesn't accidentally hit one of his comrades with stray fire. He's also keeping an eye out for the creatures' leader, though she (or he, if someone else is leading this part of the forces) isn't his immediate target.
    The ka-chunk of the first round loading into the rifle's firing chamber is more felt than heard as he brings his rifle to bear on the first creature he deems suitable for his experiment - large but not too large, relatively unscathed. The soda can-sized cartridge fires with a blast of propellent, and if his calculations were correct, with enough force to pirce through its hide. Said cartridge is filled with a strong industrial solvent, extremely corrosive to organic tissue to the point of dissolving on contact. Let's see well that works in dispatching them...
Deelel Deelel is fast on her feet and shes' going to need it as things come after them Deelel is alreayd moving to use the keyblade. The spells start foig mostly protect and shell which she's rapidly casting to support the rest of thepeople on deck get them better protected means people can keep int eh fight longer once that is done she's going to stat top engage the attackers but given her spell casting it's going to delay her getting into the fight.

"I'll do what I can to help us hold, I Promise you that!"
Young Arthur As soon as creatures land, the young king once more wears his helmet. And then shield raised forwards he approaches. The sword he wields may be a mundane piece of steel, but it's well-made and the strength in the sword arm behind it betrays that the scrawny youth is more than he appears. A man taught to fight giants and dragons as well as humans, he aims for joints or other mobility spots.

And most of all, he stands his ground. He doesn't skip past them or create openings for them to slip through. He is doing his part of being in the defensive line. Sure, he's a kid, no more than fifteen years old as best.

He's also been training how to wage war since he was old enough to stand on his own two feet.
Reina Kinney Seeing that Yuna is in danger prompts Reina to fly into the girl's general direction. "Hold on, I'm coming!" Reina says as she flies towards the enemies Yuna is dealing with at the moment. "You messin' with her? You gotta answer to me!" Reina comments as she brings up the standard fire shots on her craft. "Hahaha! Take this!"
Yuna Kagurazaka Of course it wasn't going to be as easy as just shooting all of the Destroyers down, thinks Yuna as she draws her power back from the Lightning Shoot - and instead calls forth El-Line's melee weapon, the Lightning Sword, its blade not only reflecting light from around them but flaring with its own channeled power. Rather than trying to parry most of the Destroyers' attacks, though, Yuna keeps her kite shield interposed, the Wall of the Guardian Star generally living up to its name as she takes as many of the incoming slashes against *it* as possible.

At least she has the option of *evading* stuff this time, too - that's a luxury which she didn't have at Karulu, and being able to fall back or dodge is a great benefit when you're basically alone against multiple enemies; Yuna has no shortage of allies in this fight, technically, but most of them are gathered on the airship - but not all, she sees, as Reina's craft flies over to assist her. *That* changes the dynamics of the fight some more, and Yuna tries to set some of the Golden Destroyers up so they're easier pickings for Reina to blast away at. That might be more effective than the Lightning Sword will be ...

But still, if one of the Destroyers makes itself vulnerable - overextending or what have you - Yuna has no compunctions about focusing her power into the Lightning Sword's blade, and discharging it to enhance the damage from a slash of the sword.
Lyner Barsett      Jack listens to Will.

     Jack is silent.

     Jack laughs.

     "Ahahahahaha! That sounds like suicide!" He replies right after. But then, after having a deep breath to get air back, he just says; "Yeah, sure. Go for it. Not like it's any worse than *diving headfirst into an army of these things*. Show us what you got, Mister Power." It's Pauwel. Pauwel.

     Kazusa takes to the controls like a dudebro to Call of Duty, and soon enough, she's shooting holes through a good number of those things. They fire on the ship in return though, and though evasive action is being taken, bolts of energy still pelt the shields and rock the vessel now and then. Not so much that anyone's screaming bloody murder, but this can't last forever.

     Oh look, one brave little... okay, big golden sentry dives through the air, weaving through energy shots with a bladed armed reared back to try and strike at Kazusa's turret!

     ELMA does its job of assisting th aircraft with any stray bogeys around the ship, keeping damage to the bare minimum, or helping to anyway. One robot isn't enough, but every little bit helps. Mir herself stands on deck and prepares to do her thing. Which Lyner knows well enough to not even bother specifying what song or anything. ...Actually does he know her songs at all? He just kinda lets her do whatever. ...Well, it's worked so far. No need to fix what ain't broke!

     With Deelel and Arthur standing with him, the three hold the line, parrying and defending, while countering any swings and stabs that come their way. At one point, he has to just barely lean his head aside as a giant pointed tip of an arm stabs past his head. Damn. There's a trickle of blood that slowly falls from the graze, but he doesn't stop. The knight keeps it going, working in tandem with Arthur to trip one, then disarm the thing completely. It stops moving, disconnected from the hivemind once it's deemed useless, and then it's onto the next one, which stands way at the very end of the deck... and a hole opens in it's head, causing energy to build up. Then a piercing green blast of energy is fired out across the deck at all present. Which includes Lyner, Arthur, Deelel, and Mir.

     Meanwhile in the skies above, Yuna, Taro, and Reina are locked in a confusing, twisty mess of a dogfight. Thought for Taro it's more experimentation than anything else. He turns his weapon into the nearest target, which was headed for Reina's ship, and opens fire. Naturally, these things have no pain sense, so the shot lands true, and the cartridge pierces it's body. It's distraction enough for it to stop and turn to face the man. Silently, it switches gears and dives through the air for him instead! It lashes out with a bladed arm swinging overhead, but then something weird happens.

     It's arm seems to melt and fall off. It doesn't stop. It lifts it's other arm and takes another swing for Taro. But it misses again as a hole opens up in it's chest and causes the entire body to tear sideways. EVEN STILL, this thing doesn't give up as it's torn in half, a hole opening up in it's head as it fires a blast of energy at the solvent firing researcher.

     Stubborn things.

     Reina and Yuna meanwhile work in unison to cover each other's backs and take these things out methodically. Yuna distracts, Reina shoots them down. It's a decent plan! ...Except for when, after a while of successfully doing this, they start to adapt. The cluster of golden creatures pause briefly. Then they split into three different groups and attack Yuna, Taro, and Reina crafts at the same time. They can learn. Or maybe they've being given new orders on the fly. Who knows! But it's not being made easy. They create formations now, with melee attackers rushing the aerial fighters, while ranged types stay back and offer cover fire.

     Awfully frustrating.

     On top of that, even as they speed through the skies, the army of gold in the distance gets closer and closer, they're clearly firing on Platina, and airships can be seen firing back. There's one par
Lyner Barsett      On top of that, even as they speed through the skies, the army of gold in the distance gets closer and closer, they're clearly firing on Platina, and airships can be seen firing back. There's one particular enemy that stands out the most.

     A gigantic golden dragon that orbits around Platina, firing down at it periodically. It's Dainsleif. The dragon that girl from Karulu was riding. Is she on it? It's too far to tell, but she likely is.
William Pauwel PERMISSION ACQUIRED.

"Ahahahaha! You got it, Mister Hamilton! And uh. My name's Pauwel! Will Pauwel! Not... Not Power." Even though that's literally what his last name IS in Hymmnos. "Let's get this up to the main gun--" Will crawls back up through the ship, popping open conveniently placed ventilation shafts as he makes his way towards the vessel's primary turret. It may be hell out there, but Will's feeling the heat down here, too! After all, there are a lot of those... THINGS out there, and if they start focusing their fire...

Well. It could be bad.

"Alright, let's see now." One minute. Time limit indeed. Will's hands move as fast as he can push them, his fingers a blurr as he starts pulling panels off the main gun's framework. Cables are connected between the Chaser's glowing handcannon and the electronic intestines of the vessel's primary gun. He turns and lobs something out a nearby window-- a strange hobnob cluster of crystalline doo-dads connected to another cluster of crystalline doo-dads on the other end by a chain of more crystalline doo-dads. It's a daisy-chain of Parameno and Grathnode, designed to ferry energy upwards towards where Will has... shoved a bunch of the crystals into the back end of his gun.

And his gun into the main power circuit of the main cannon.

"Alright, let's hope this works--!" Will grins and grips the turret controls. "Hey Jack! We're ready to fire! I'll stay up here and make sure everything goes smooth as I can! Y'all pick your targets-- I'd recommend the thickest bunch you can find... Or that big golden feller way up there! Either's good!"

Fingers crossed, now.

Hopefully this won't kill them all.
Deelel Deel is doing what she can toback up the defenders are holding the line of the moment. Deelel now throws the keyblade, at times but the main focus on healing the healing spells start going and she works with Arthuer and hte knight She hopefully cna help keep people up as they need it. Though she is attacking now here and there, and the keyblade is proving to be a pretty nasty weapon. Deelel does seem to know ho to use it well enoguh even if she's mostly self taught in it's use.

"How many more of them are there?!"
Taro     Hypothesis proven. Excellent. Taro bares his teeth in what most people would call a parody of a grin, one that swiftly disppears as he realizes that the creature is still firing at him even as it's dissolving. He tucks his wings in and dives to avoid the incoming fire, the half-controlled maneuver avoiding the brunt of the blow though the heat scalding him for his trouble.
    The rifle also hisses from within. That's ominous.
    As the airbourne android rights himself, he finds that he's attracted the attention of part of the flock. Or the commander of it. The effect is the same, regardless, and he's forced to be far less judicious in his targeting before firing several more shells in rapid succession at them all. Then he's on the move again, weaving back and forth and up and down to dodge as much as their return fire as he can, even as he leads them into the firing range of the main ship.
Kazusa Ujikane     It doesn't take long for Kazusa to find her groove. She's even careful about her target choice - aiming for the targets that pose the most threat to /their/ aircraft and people, followed by the thickest concentrations. And for the time being, she sticks with the projectile mode. But it's hard to stick with the 'safer' mode when one of the big ones decides you look like you'd make good ribbons. "O-oh crap, oh crap oh crap-!"

    Quickly, she wheels the turret around, aims at the big one, and switches over to the beam fire mode. She'll unload as long as it takes to take the thing down... or if it looks like she's not going to win THAT game of chicken, she'll just dive out of the turret seat and take cover.
Yuna Kagurazaka Right, they adapt. Did they adapt before?

Well, they're adapting NOW and Yuna has to counter-adapt in a hurry. The Lightning Sword is dismissed again, and Yuna resorts to the Lightron - El-Line's beam rifle, more precise than the Lightning Shoot. She's also doing a LOT more evading now - very consciously trying not to get swarmed by the melee types, keeping them running in pursuit of her, and snapping off shots each time the Lightron's capacitors reach a reasonably full charge. She could put more power into it, but that would take even longer, and drain *her* more.

Oh, and the Lightron is designed for two-handed use. Shugoseiheki makes that difficult, although not impossible - but between dodging, being dodged, and trying to protect herself when dodging's not enough? Yuna's accuracy is pretty lousy; the Lightning Shoot is *easier* to aim with one-handed, but she hasn't had much of a choice in the matter here.

She's also trying to lead the 'train' into the firing arc of the airship's main cannon. It sounds like Will has been tinkering around to interlink the Solano with the airship's weaponry; Yuna just hopes that it works - because, if it doesn't, they're *ALL* going to be in a whole lot of trouble ...
Reina Kinney Adapting enemies? Not entirely new for Reina, but definitely not something she expected in her craft.

"Falz," She curses, attempting to pull back briefly to survey the area before re-evaluating her battle tactics. "Looks like I need to make a few changes here as well." She briefly changes her weapons around a little, before moving in closer again, firing again.
Lyner Barsett      Will does THINGS.

     To any other ship captain, this would be distressing indeed, but the bandanna clad captain just smirks as he watches Will work once he comes climbing up through a ventilation shaft to the main gun. He shouts orders to the other crew members manning stations, and taking stock of the battle situation outside. Once the Chaser finishes his slipshod work, the blue haired mind gives him a look and a thumbs up. "Alright then. Time to find out just how lucky we are." He sits down in the commander's chair and watches outside. "Wait for it... wait for it..."

     Kazusa is stuck in her own battle as one Destroyer decides it's time take out that one weirdly effective turret. It dives at it, and it hit full on with a blast of continuous laser fire. Sparks shower as there's a struggle between the beam and it. Parts and chunks shear off of it as it dives closer and closer. Becoming more and more disfigured. But then, when it's only got barely a few chunks left, and consists of a single bladed arm; that arm crashes point first into the turret and right into the seating bay!

     Then... then it slips free and falls into the Blast Line uselessly.

     ...V-Victory?

     Deelel meanwhile joins the fray with Lyner and Arthur. Just in time to help defend against a lovely little... big, yes big, energy blast. "Ah, crap!" Lyner growls as he leaps back away from the golden creature that he and Arthur just worked together to take down. And he lands right before Mir. "Shield of Bond!" He shouts, drawing the dagger from his pauldron and crossing it over with his main blade as the two glow, forming a luminescent barrier just as that wave of energy crashes into it. "Tch-!" He grits his teeth, looking out and hoping that Deelel and Arthur both have adequate protection. But keeping the Reyvateil out of harm's way is his job, and he's gotta do it.

     In the air, Yuna, Taro, and Reina have to switch up their tactics in response to the enemy adapting fairly quickly. The only upside is that they *are* weak to super concentrated solvents. And they can't adapt to that, or the regular attacks from Yuna and Reina. Still, it's a problem if they start attacking smartly!

     Several solvent shells are fired at the company that's turned it's eyes on the aerial android. The melee frontliners take the shots and soon start to melt down. The ranged units open fire on him as they whip and weave through the skies, being lead away to the front of the ship all the while...

     It's much the same for Yuna as well. Her 'kill' rate's gone down, but that's not important. What's important is leading these things on a wild goose chase. One that just so happens to lead right into the line of fire of the main cannon of the not actually named Quaint Metal Coffin.

     Once Reina leads her pack away into that same spot? Well... It's time.

     Jack glares into the skies and thrusts an arm outwards.

     "FIRE!"
Jakuri     JUst what HAS Mir been up to all this time? Well, she's been Singing, of course! Lyner has done an admirable job of guarding her from harm, and where he hasn't been able to... ELMA has, the tankdog doom machine having landed on-deck at some point and resumed her canine form in aid of her mistress. Said Reyvateil hovers above the deck slowly, eyes closed and energy surrounding her as she sings the sacred Hymmnos verses once more. It's difficult to tell just which song it is she happens to be singing this time... Although as if on cue her eyes fly open and she suddenly floats with clawedlimbs outstretched. She grins in the most deranged way possible, something likely familiar to Lyner, but the most disturbing thing is likely the fact that the sky becomes rather luminescent and blue; a far cry from the beams fired by the fleet of golden deathdealers. As this occurs, Mir slowly brings her hands together... "...Phantasmagoria." The sky becomes all the brighter, before it focuses, and a gargantuan beam of energy cuts across the air and through the monstrosities. That's a really big laser, last seen enfeebled by a whaledragon thing controlled by a surfboard.
William Pauwel "FIRE!"

IT IS TIME.

    "ALRIGHT!" Will roars from his front row seat to the greatest show on Ar Ciel. "Here we go! Either this works and we win, or this doesn't and we're eaten and die! OR this doesn't and we explode and fall into the Blastline! One-thirds chance of survival sound like my kind of odds!" That is not how probability works. "Shhh. Alright."

Will grasps his favorite handgun. "No more science now. Only beam."

He squeezes the trigger.

Something terrible happens.

    Not terrible in the 'oh no we're all going to die' sense, necessarily. Terrible in the 'oh dear mother in heaven what has science done' sort of way. Terminal Judgment seems to ignite with terrible chromatic fire as a current like the aurora borealis surges up the length of Will's makeshift power cable, filling the entirety of Will's main cannon compartment with RAINBOWS. Contact established. Firing calculations confirmed. Power output stable. "Here we go!" Will roars. "FIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!"

He releases the trigger.

The main cannon's barrel flashes. All the colors in the spectrum strobe across a hazy, cloud-like region just in front of it. And then it all goes white, as the power of the Blastline is funneled up through Terminal Judgment, transformed into a form of energy compatible with its mounting by the Ancient technology within the weapon, and discharged in a single, enormous column of pure, destructive power.

Will's radio goes silent. Probably because he just fried it.
Kazusa Ujikane     "Come on, come on, go down, go down, goooooooh crap that thing's determined...!"

    The Destroyer dies, which is good. That doesn't stop it from trying to stab Kazusa, which is VERY BAD. She's able to avoid being impaled, but the tradeoff is that she has to /dive out of her seat/ to accomplish this. Technically safe, but she's now stopped firing entirely. It's going to take her a moment or two to scramble back up into her seat and start shooting again; so at the very least, the deceased creature has successfully stopped her from firing for a brief while!
Taro     Taro will be quick to put this knowledge to good use once this battle is over. Provided that he survives, that is. That he is agile and a relatively small target is in his favor, but even those factors only carry him so far in the face of this much laser beamspam. He's clipped once along the side as he twists to avoid two beans puts him in the path of another, and again along the back as he swerves to avoid a worse blow, and his hair gains a new part as one beam just narrowly misses his head.
    Then, the sky goes white and the air resounds with the crash of thunder. A blinding and deafening one-two blow of Mir's and of Will's extremely powerful weapons. He reactively tucks his head in and brings up his free arm to shield his eyes, and if he were as faithful as pretends to be, he'd be praying to the CyberGoddess that those bursts take out their enemies but not him..
    There's an unhealthy ka-chunk from within the prototype rifle as the next round jams, and the hissing grows louder. The trouble with such solvents is that the chemicals also tend to become very excited in an exothermic sort of way when improperly handled, and all of that energy still crackling through the air has helped that reaction along very nicely. It's almost too late when he realizes what's happening, and he flings the rifle as far away from him as he can before it bursts into so much ultratech shrapnel.
Lyner Barsett      It happens.

     Will pulls the trigger and fires.

     Mir unleashes her song magic at last.

     What results is a laser beam so huge, so powerful, so colorful, that it paints an aurora across the skies of Ar Ciel.

     Somewhere in Gensokyo, a laserwitch looks up to the sky, knowing that somewhere, someone just fired a magnificent laser.

     FWOOSH

     Those twin beams tear a rainbow across the sky and blast the distant golden army, chiefly Dainsleif itself as the ship barels closer and closer to Platina. And the results are instantaneous. Like something out of a Gundam show. Chain explosion dot the distance and the army is blasted apart. Dainsleif itself is rocked and the assault oon Platina is halted. Just in time for Everyone to slip past enemy lines and fly right into Platina's airspace.

     Now? Now they're among allies with airships of the Knights of Elemia gathering all around, and the golden forces forming up. Much, much less than they were moments before. And from up on high... the damaged Dainsleif lowers it's head, revealing that pink haired girl standing atop it. She glares over at the gathering forces of man, and scoffs. "Hmph. So you managed to arrive after all."

     There's a smirk as she gestures down to the city. "But look. Your dear Platina is in shambles." The girl grins. "What did you come here to save exactly?" She talks like that, but her own forces aren't exactly looking hot either.

     MEANWHILE ON THE BRIDGE

     The main cannon's circuits short out and there's a minor explosion as the thing craps itself from the sheer output of that laser. People scatter from the vicinity and Jack shields his face with an arm. "Well shit- Uh. Good news? We're alive. Bad news? Our weapons are fried." He chuckles. "Let's not have that girl up there find that one out, huh?" And he glances at Will. "Yo, Will, you okay over there?"

     Lyner meanwhile sighs and comes to a rest as Mir and Will's combined handiwork seems to have destroyed most everything in the vicinity. But now they have to deal with that girl up there. He looks down over the deck at Platina in shambles below, and he frowns. "...Where's Shurelia? And dad?" He asks firmly. He should probably ask who she is, but he's not thinking about that right now!
Deelel The fight is going well enough but it seems that they are far form done here. She is able to get some protection from Lyner and she's going to ow him one. Still the fight keeps oging and noe she's leaps away for a moment and readi her self for another attack but she wonders what can do now. Even with the proteciotn h'es huert and her inhuman nature shows through a seris of cracks in her body, which bleed a teal light before she now moves and throws her keyblade at the attacker.
William Pauwel It's a full minute before the hatch to the main cannon pops open.

...Letting a very frazzled-looking William Pauwel drop to the main deck, more or less completely singed and with the occasional electrical arc zapping between stray limbs and the ship's corridors. "Uuuuugh," he groans, staggering to his feet. There's a little puff of soot-dust when he coughs. "That... Was a bad plan."

"...But... That beam was pretty great...!"

Eventually, he staggers to a chair in the main cabin and replaces an exploded communicator with a less exploded communicator. "Uh. Testing, testing. One-two. Ahem."

"Y'all should probably give up, dragon lady. We've got more gun where that came from."

That's a lie. Kind of.

WILL still has a gun.

"Why don't y'all just tell us what you even want, anyway?"
Taro     Taro is still in the air as reinforcements in the form of Elemian airships gather around the one that brought them here. The remaining enemy forces meanwhile regroup around their leader, who shows herself at last...or more likely, it's that she can be spotted now that her forces have been so greatly reduced. He's listing ever so slightly to the left, no thanks to a damaged stabilizer, but at least he can still fly.
    She's too far from him ensure a direct hit with a tracker. Curse it. He weighs the odds of closing the distance against the odds of surviving concentrated fire, and finds it likely not in his favor. Still....
    "And what was the point of all this, really?" He's not so much shouting as projecting his voice as he would giving the weekly sermon. "Are your losses worth your goals?"
Yuna Kagurazaka "We came to save our allies," Yuna replies - and as much as she dislikes this pink-haired emissary of destruction, as willingly as Yuna has wrought destruction on the golden behemoths, there's no hatred in her voice right now. It's not just that she's too tired to be properly hateful, either (although she *is* kind of worn out); hate has never come easily to Yuna, even for her greatest enemies.

Instead, her voice is heavy with disappointment and frustration. "Even those of us not from Ar Ciel have contributed to saving our allies - not because they owe us anything, not because we *want* them to owe us anything, not even because we hope they can help us stop the destruction you've declared ... but because they're still alive, and their lives are precious beyond measure. But you wouldn't understand that, would you?"

The Lightron vanishes in a flare of light. "You've already written off an entire world full of living people just because somebody failed a test that *we've never heard about*. They don't matter to you. They don't have any worth to you."

"THAT'S WHY WE'RE FIGHTING YOU!!!"

The last sentence, suddenly a scream, seems to carry all the anger and anguish that Yuna bears over the situation, condensed into just a few words. But Yuna still doesn't launch any attack of her own ... partly because there are others already primed to do so, and Yuna can't muster the harmful intent to even pull a trigger at the moment.
Lyner Barsett      The girl looks down at the fried looking ship and quirks a brow. "Really?" Another scoff. She finds that hard to believe. Lyner gets a glance next. "The Administrator? ... Hm. She's still alive. For now." She doesn't answer about 'dad' though. Because who cares? She doesn't.

     Will and Taro ask pertinent questions and the girl sighs. "I already told you people what I wanted. What we wanted." A shoulder is shrugged. "We're the Will of Ar Ciel. Humanity failed its test, and so, we're wiping the slate clean. Simple." If it were that simple... why not just nuke the towers from orbit? Something else is going on here. But she won't say what.

     And Yuna... She just smiles at Yuna. "You and your worthless benevolent platitudes. There's a sigh and the girl looks upwards into space. "Maybe. Maybe if there were more people like you one thousand- no, even further back, I wouldn't be stuck with this job." Her eyes close. Or well, her one visible eye. There's silence for a bit. And then, she opens her eyes and goes on.

     "But the past can't be changed. And this world's future's been decided." She sounds so resolute when she says it too.

     "Now, why don't I call your bluff, huh?" There's a smirk as the girl directs an arm downward. "Dainsleif. Destroy." The dragon opens it's mouth in response, energy building... building up to something terrible, but then...

     It stops.

     She looks off into the distance at nothing. Almost as if she's listening to something or someone. But there are no voices on the wind, nothing that seems obvious. She just looks distracted. After a short bit, she frowns. "... Nevermind. I'm done here." She shakes her head. And Dainsleif closes it's mouth. "Consider yourselves lucky." She smiles in a cruel manner. "My mission was accomplished regardless. You can have fun picking through the ruins of your once great monument to humanity's failures."

     At that, the pink haired emissary of destruction turns around, and Dainsleif follows suit, it's body curling to fly away, and into the distance. The remaining forces of the golden army follow suit. The assault finally ended.
Taro     There are far more efficient ways of committing acts of mass extinction, yes. Not that Taro is going to suggest any to her. Instead, he says, "I have found humans to be far more formidable than they appear, and far more deadly when threatened in the way you have done. This will not end well."
    That far-off look in the woman's face is something he suspects shows her receiving a transmission of some kind. Receiving reports from her subordinates? Or is she a subordinate receiving orders? Another good question....
    He grunts almost silently as he realizes he's not going to get the shot he'd wanted. Still, he has something to show for his personal efforts, which the others might or might not find useful, and he's survived to bring this information back. That will be enough.
Deelel Deelel Says "The past is read only but the future? That's an entirely diffeernet matter I seen i..." Deelel isn't too badly hurtbut she's going to be taking it easy for the next few says she thins she looks up at the pink haired Emissary destrucion departs but she looks concerned.

"I Don't like this why is she doing this weneed more ... data on why."

She's said some sort of test sure but thats it she doesn't know more and she needs to fix that.
Yuna Kagurazaka There are some hints of answers, and if Yuna weren't so strung out from the battle thus far, she might - *possibly* - be able to latch onto something that she can follow up on with Lyner, piecing together Ar Ciel's history and what the girl might be talking about. But before she has a chance, the order is given to 'Destroy' -

There's no way Yuna can stop it. Even if she were in position fast enough, even if she and El-Line were at full power instead of depleted from battle, it would be virtually impossible for the Matrix Figure to repel a blast powerful enough to pierce through the Blast Line and obliterate a substantial target on the planet's surface. What she MIGHT accomplish would be if she could destroy Dainsleif before it could unleash the blast, but again, there's no time, she's too enervated, it's not possible, she's not strong enough ....

The blast is never unleashed. Dainsleif closes its mouth without unleashing that terrible force, and retreats with the pink-haired girl and what's left of the swarm of golden beasts.

Thankfully, El-Line's visage is as utterly impassive as those of the Matrix of Light - two eyes set in a smooth, otherwise-featureless 'face'. Nobody else can see into the cockpit to witness the look of exhausted distress on Yuna's face as she slumps in her seat, closing her eyes. "Elner, go to autopilot and rendezvous with the airship," she whispers. "Wake me up before releasing the combination, I ...."

I don't want them to see me this weak, she doesn't say. She can hear her allies talking, but there's so much going back and forth that she can't keep up.

El-Line's shield is dismissed as well, finally, and the Matrix Figure flies over to take position above the airship that brought them this far. Yuna will need to release the combination - dismiss El-Line and let the members of the Matrix of Light reform their normal bodies - and get inside; she doesn't trust her power to hold out for the trip back down through the sky barrier.

But if she can dawdle a bit and try to pull herself together? She needs to.