Scene #5463: Monster Pharming

Owner	Pose
Kyoko Takada	The warp-in location turns out to be coastal. Very coastal, this is a sparkling beach, seemingly untouched by human hands in an age. Wind and tide sweep away debris, made easier by how little grows here. Just further inland, the ground is cracked and barren, apart from a thin layer of ash. Following the prescribed radio frequency gets one further up the coast, but not too far for anyone who brought transport or has some other way of getting around quickly off-road. When the actual destination is reached, there's a sign to mark it. A road-sign, revealing that part of this flat area must have been a road at some point, though little marks it. What's written on the sign is faded, but it's obviously a welcome for the town just beyond it. The buildings still stand, but nobody's home. Everything looks like it was just abandoned as-is, and then left to gather dust for decades. But there is at least one person still living, as there has to have been someone to set up that radio relay on top of the buildings. The girl called A-39 isn't standing by the relay. She's actually a ways off from it, within sight yet largely invisible, mostly buried and dumping dry dust of the earth everywhere as she rises from her sniper's perch only after people have arrived and she's confirmed that no one who /didn't/ announce their presence was attracted to her makeshift relay tower. You really can't be too careful.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang's bike comes out of the warpgate, engine roaring as the tyres strike sand. They kick up a plume of grit, as she tilts it over and turns inland, moving up the coast to the rendezvous point. She pulls up to the relay, dismounts and waits for her passenger to do so as well, before she keys in a sequence that causes the vehicle to drive itself off to a safe location. "Just so we're clear, Kohler. I still don't like you. Doesn't mean I won't work with you for this. Got it?"
Staren	Japan! Staren's never been to his world's japan. He hears there are ninjas. And, thanks to the rifts, areas of feudal japan alongside the high-tech parts. So, you know, pretty normal, for the Multiverse. He's been to other worlds' Japans though -- mostly Sakura's Tomoeda and parts of Kirito's tokyo. This Japan is nothing like any of those. Staren's first impression is of the buildings, a city... but, why is it deserted? There's no wireless infosphere indicating the internet and cell phone use you'd expect from a modern world, either. The combination of long-abandoned buildings and increased background radiation paints an ugly picture. Hearing Yang's bike, he takes flight and pulls up alongside her. "There's increased background radiation. Not dangerous levels for a visit, but... something happened here." he points out, since Yang and August probably don't have sensors for that sort of thing. When they reach the relay building, he flies up to inspect the relay, as it's much more noticeable than the hidden sniper.
Septette Arcubielle	Despite the warnings about minor radiation hazards and poisonous creatures, Septette arrives adorned in nothing more than her habitual earmuffs and floor-length purple shawl. Subtle clues present themselves- the way her eyes glow softly even in daylight, or how her steps seem to sink several inches into the sandy beach and leave raptor-like footprints behind- but by and large, someone unfamiliar with the robot could mistake her for a young human woman. That illusion would be swiftly dispelled by watching her approach the ruined town. It's hard to see any details of what's going on below her neck- the loose, obscuring shawl makes sure of that- but she covers ground unnaturally quickly, with long and almost leaping strides that cover more distance than she is tall. She slows to a quick jog outside the town limits; perhaps before the friendly sniper could catch sight of her, perhaps not. She's certainly not making any effort to be subtle or sneaky. A wary frown comes over Septette's face as she looks up at the ruined buildings from the streets below- the radio transmitter is up there, sure, but she doesn't entirely trust the postapocalyptic architecture to bear her weight. After a few moments of hesitation, she just turns to lean against the side of one of the buildings, pulling her shawl tight, and waits for the other Elites to gather. Better not to chance it.
Josuke Higashikata	Mercenary work? Josuke's in! Particularly in defense of a place that looks like Japan! He's not exactly a super-patriot, but he IS Japanese! So even if it's not HIS Japan, he's all for helping out! That said, it likely won't be Josuke who radios to A-39's position. It'll be someone from a group calling itself the 'Speedwagon Foundation', giving the description of their vehicle -- much like an ambulance, actually -- assuring the radio operator they were only dropping off one person, and describing that person. Josuke himself would have been warned not to stay long, due to the radiation, and to contact them when he needed extraction. Additionally, he's been given a radiation suit, one that fits... reasonably well. It's going to do a number on his hair, which he doesn't like. But even he realizes his hair can be fixed later; radiation damage isn't something that can be undone. So instead of the stylish dark-colored school uniform, Josuke shows up in a white radiation suit. The suit has the Speedwagon Foundation's logo on the back, a tan-colored wagon wheel with the words 'SPEED' and 'WAGON' above it.
Starbound Flotilla	The STARBOUND FLOTILLA are here, in their standard Durasteel equipment! Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a pirate-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow bands of energized fabric linking the pieces to her central piratey longcoat. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a futuristic combat EVA hardsuit that glows a gentle red at the flat faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator. Their gear should keep them safe from the radiation. But their arrival comes via a small collection of six hoverbikes, each with their signature color. They progress into it, slowly, but purposefully. Shifting into a park, they disembark and take positions around the relay tower, ready to begin combat. Moonfin is the one who gives the greeting to Staren, a polite and wordless bow. Biteblade, of course, goes to hug Septette. Josuke is recognized from the operations with Captain Flint, and Pavo gives him a quick "ahoy" in a positive, albeit not necessarily especially friendly way. Once August has made his presence known, George will be the one who gives him a friendly and joking greeting before he lights up a cigarette. "Nostalgic. I am reminded of the Mojave..." "Floran hopesss for hunt. Mojave prey, great hunt!!" "It is unfortunate that nature in this place is devastated in similar ways." "Hmph. People survive. That's what's important." "Aye, they surely live long enough to pay us." "Yep yep, plus a job open like that is probably super altruistic or somethin'."
August Kohler	August is armed for monster hunting. This entails a pistol in a holster and a reflective mirror bracelet. He is also on the back of Yang's bike, holding on tightly until it brakes, and giving off slowly after Yang. "Alright, think of me how you will. For the record, I don't care the same distaste you do, but that's a good policy. This is work." The redhead looks around those who have arrived, with a nod towards Septette, the Flotilla, and Staren in particular, as he speaks to them. "Got it. Will try not to get apocalypse cancer." As A-39 begins to rise from her perch, August approaches, very slowly, and not all the way. Into audio distance, atleast. "Hey! You going to come down and explain more about the hunt?"
Kotone Yamakawa	Japan, a ruined Japan, from the looks of it she notices some of the ruins are intact but no one's here. <Slipbolt have the ARMED suit ready for teleport if I need it.>> Kotone is currently clad in form fitting stelath gear. "God in heaven this looks like Tokyo after it got nuked... or Berlin." She trails off a bit as she looks around and makes for the building with everyone else. "Hey George, Pavo, Seft, Biteblade and Moonfin, see you got in on this too?" She makes note of August and Septette but as she's about to say something when A-39 makes herself known. "Looks like that's them and Hello Kohler, Good question there too."
Kyoko Takada	There's not much to say about the relay, except that parts of it look military-issue and parts look like duct tape. Someone here had supplies, then started running out. Staren did announce himself, so he doesn't get shot. A-39 approaches the people gathering with her rifle still in her hands. It's a real piece of work, the kind you might point at an armored vehicle, but it's not pointed at anyone here. She keys into a near-broadcast band, easily picked up by anyone listening, though her voice, itself, isn't that hard to hear. This is mostly for the sake of confirming identity. "This is alpha-thirty-nine." It's the only name she's given anyone so far. What follows should about cover August's question. "Once we're all here, I'll guide us to the target location. We will be in danger as soon as we leave. The target is a large-type aerial demon. Others may be encountered." She's got a clipped way of speaking, clear enunciation, little tonal variation. Though after a pause, "Not a cosmological reference. Just what we call 'em. Most of the one we're after is made of deadly poisons, but a few parts are safe if you know how to cook it, and some of the deadly parts can be refined into combat boosters, if you know how to stabilize it." She doesn't offer to teach anyone either of those things. "Pay is a share of all spoils." Not for free, anyway. "We can expect more than a few people can carry." She'll give a minute for questions, but this pose won't because that can just be radio'd for those who have them. Her full, specific reactions may also be cut for time, though she clearly remembers August from the job a few days ago, and will recognize most of the people here by voice. She turns. "Follow me. Either stay quiet /and low/ or hang back. Radiation isn't too bad in this area for how long we'll be here, but we might have biochem." For her part, she moves under her equipment, the armor and hanging weapons, with barely a sound. No clank, grind, or even rustle, even while walking normally over flat ground. The ground doesn't stay flat. It gets rocky, and the footing progressively more difficult, as the path again leads to the coast. It doesn't get any better when everyone arrives at what must, from A-39's signal, be the hunting zone. It had better be, because it's going to be pretty difficult to proceed anywhere past it. The rocks continue as the elevation drops, until it goes from "clusters of rocks big enough to hide behind and paths filled with smaller, sharper rocks" to "the same, but filling with water," to "the sea, dotted everywhere with islands that would wreck any wooden ship to bump against them." The "rocks," on closer inspection, include a lot of man-made materials. Something shredded concrete buildings and then dumped the remains all over the place, trailing out to sea. A-39 doesn't go any further. Very quietly, she speaks to her radio receiver, "I'm setting up a firing position in the cover here. The target's nest is that tower in the water." The thing she's referring to is the remains of a narrow portion of some building, at least four stories tall, rising out of the water and complete with mostly intact window and doorways. It's not a complete building by any means, more like a corner of one by its narrow profile, and by the shape of the doors, was dumped at its current location upside-down. There are a few obvious things to do before the shooting starts. For A-39, like she said, she's taking cover here among the rocks. Perhaps noticeably, she hasn't touched the water once on the way here. There's a rough path, or several paths depending on your agility, that lead out across the water and to the tower, even if one doesn't try swimming. If the tower is a corner of a building, it has to be open on the opposite side, but from this side one would have to climb the outside of it, fly, or aim for one of the (missing) windows. There's the cry of some very large, very high-up animal, but it's not visible. Perhaps it's also far-off.
Miari	Barren, irradiated wastelands devoid of inhabitants don't bar Miari. She needs no protection from the radiation or the dust, and leaves no footprints or residue as she all but glides forth from the warpgate and to the meeting point as quietly as a ghost. The advantages of being one with the wastes. It means that her speaking up at the meeting point after their contact delivers her explanation may be surprising to a few people, as the smooth bell-like voice rings out warmly with, "Oh, I do wonder what other sorts of things their parts may be useful for! Experimenting with this could be great fun. The only difference between medicine and poison is usually dosage, you know." She's merry-sounding indeed, and quickly grows quiet again after saying such. Once again though, she drifts through the wastes like a ghost though. It's difficult to keep track of her whenever eyes wander far from her. She eventually works towards a boulder near the coast, eyes on the ruined tower... "Fascinating ruins... the wreckage of just one building could house hundreds, and it's sitting here doing nothing. I wonder if salvaging anything would bother anyone."
Staren	Staren's in his armor, of course. He gives Moonfin a polite nod in return. A-39 reveals herself. She looks closer than most to what he might expect to see on his own world. "Do these demons have any known weaknesses? Do they have any known resistances, especially to energy weapons?" He opts to hang back -- he can close the distance quickly enough once they go loud if he has to, but he'd prefer to fight ranged anyway. Which is why, when they arrive at the target area, he pulls the laser sniper rifle off his back and drops prone, taking aim at the indicated tower.
Josuke Higashikata	Josuke is visible through the front of the radiation suit, so there's that. It's one of those that has the rebreather and clear faceplate things. He raises a hand in response to the greeting from Pavo and waves. "Hey!" he greets, in a very definitely friendly way. Then again, he's kind of always like that, with anybody he hasn't got reason not to like. Thankfully he's got a radio that can pick up local band here, so when A-39 introduces herself and tells about the area, and the creature they're looking for, Josuke can pick it up. He blinks at the name. "Demon?" Though the assurance that it's not referring to actual demons gets a nod. He'll go with the group to the location. Though if things get rough going for him, he'll summon his Stand to pick him up and navigate the area. Though as long as there's enough of a 'path' for a reasonably athletic human being to get where they're going, he'll probably make it with only a little trouble (most of that being he's essentially wearing a giant plastic bag). For his part, he's hanging back towards the bac of the group, as per A-39's intructions, because he's not really a stealthy sort. Also his suit might be crinkly and loud, but he really can't tell. He's also doing something strange -- finding small debris on the ground and bringing this with him on the trip. Why? Because they'll be good projectiles. Josuke isn't an aerial fighter, so he'll need to improvise some ranged attacks here once the thing's flushed out.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang nods to A-39 as she explains things. "Sure. My Aura should be able to handle the worst of it, but I'll get a check-up afterward." she replies. The blonde doesn't look armed, and is wearing a rather revealing outfit. A bit orange scarf around her neck, brown jacket clinched around a yellow tank top, brown belt and black shorts, a pair of knee socks with one curled around the top of a big heavy brown boot. Along with two large golden bracelets on her wrists. She walks after the guide, looking very out of place in such an apocalyptic place. Vibrant and colourful. "I can be quiet, but if something looks this way out of those windows, well, it's gonna see me a mile off." she says, using both her Scroll in transmit as well as speaking. She listens to the radio, "So, stay out of the water. Got it." she remarks, cracking her knuckles. "Looks like I could get in through one of those windows... Get yourself setup threesy... it's Go Time!" And with that, Yang sets off at a sprint, leaping across fallen debris using just her Aura enhanced strength to propel herself between outcrops. Once the field begins to get a bit less dense, and she gets closer to the tower, her bracelets unfold into a pair of full forearm bracers, which she throws behind her and FIRES a pair of kinetic bursts to propel herself high enough to roll in through a window... hopefully there's floor on the other side. The report of the bracers firing echos across the water with the deep bass thump of heavy gauge shotguns.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa says "Sounds like the added fire power's going to be needed then." <<Slip Bolt beam the armsuit down heavy combat load-out>> It wont' be a moment for the taller hulking form of the multi armed powered amour beams in a pillar of light. It's front snap hisses open and Kotone hops in jacking several plugs into the back of her neck as she does so. It snap hisses shut and when they are told to lay low? The machine shimmers and vanishes from view as optic cameo kicks in. Kotone does however follow the advice or is it orders from A-39. <<Tokyo in my world has about ten million people or so living it, Miari and it's good to see you again.>> Kotone will send a signal to staren asking if he wants to share data with her while they are working together, She also takes note of Josuke as well. She makes note of Josuke's actions pauses and breaks off some wreckage with her suit's larger right hand to leave for Josuke, to make use of hopefull. <<Hope this is useful to you Josuke.>> OOC http://plamoya.com/bmz_cache/d/d3daf038bfe2f7d38af4bb63e917e9c8.image.422x500.jpg Armed Suit
Septette Arcubielle	Aside from returning Biteblade's overenthusiastic hugs and August's respectful greeting, Septette remains conspicuously inconspicuous for the brief meeting and the journey to the hunting site. A giant monster reliant on deadly poisons sounds like just about the best-case scenario for something she can fight up close- but the local expert wants her to hang back, so reluctantly, she does. As far as stealth is concerned, that's probably for the best. Delicate technological instrumentation and magical detection methods read a distinct spike of just about everything in her presence, and even mundane senses don't have any difficulty picking Septette out; her footfalls are loud and clanking, and her movements are accompanied by a distinct whine, like electric motors straining against something. Once she's reached the hunting site, Septette dispatches a trio of small floating drones to scout out her surroundings. Mercifully, they seem stealthier than the yggdroid herself. A moment later, she calmly steps into the water, wading in until she's submerged above her head; whatever she's made of, it doesn't seem prone to floating. Dimmed purple lights move beneath the liquid's murky surface as she makes her way towards the tower, but she tries to maintain enough of a distance to not alert the beast on its approach...
August Kohler	"Aerial demons. Assuming flight." August considers as he's replied to, and then nods to the rewards. Dealing with dangerous monsters is useful, and some of this stuff is probably useful as well. As they approach, August is slow and cautious, remaining near the front, keeping his pace as slow as he can to not make a sound. When they actually reach the coast, August is pulling that mirrored bracelet up, as he glances to Yang. "Well, I guess stealth's out of the window. I'll back her up." The German dashes towards the building, but stops a fair distance away...to pull the mirrored bracelet up to his eyes. "Persona." The Tin Soldier is summoned, and then moves to leap and slam through a door, pointing its gun leg forward and flashing fire from it threateningly. August is hoping his soul can't get radiation sickness, here.
Starbound Flotilla	Albert gives an affirming grunt to Kotone. "Mmh. Mercenary work. The usual reasons." He says. "Good to have you again." And they begin to handle the situation properly. "Alpha-Thirty-Nine, Starbound One on station. Roger wilco, we are saddled." Albert's more a pilot than a soldier, but from the sound of this, that'll be fitting. All six of them get into action, going low and quiet as they begin to accompany. Biteblade has to be yanked away from attempting to hug Apricot as well, as is her traditional greeting. The group has no trouble following weird and rocky terrain. Climbing picks, microthrusters, small grappling hooks, and other gear help move them over the area fairly easily. Their durasteel gear is rated for cosmic radiation, so they seem to be doing just fine under the current Environmental Protection Projectors they have. When they finally settle in, and ready for the assault... "Threat. Green twelve, no joy. Draw out the bandit. Grapple the structure. Starbound Six, sap. Banzai in five, four, three..." Albert mutters. And as the countdown hits, the Starbounders rush into action. Five grappling hooks hit the tower, at varying points, and intending to wrap around it, attach to it, or lay over it. George, on some kind of auto-zipline, reels up fast, Matter Manipulator in hand. He's not going to be at the same speed as Yang, but he's got a different strategy altogether. The most effective way to draw out the enemy is to smash the nest. The most effective and safe way to smash the nest, by Albert's reckoning, is to pull the entire building down using those grappling hooks and George chewing through the supports of the fourth floor with his Matter Manipulator. If this works, Yang will have plenty of time to get up there, or at least plenty of dramatic opportunity to jump around falling debris. Assuming it works in the first place.
Kyoko Takada	Murky water is great at protecting things from notice. That's why it's somewhat unlikely that Septette will realize there are things in the water until she is completely surrounded. And by "completely" we do mean in all three dimensions. Things that are vaguely squid-like, or more like a nautilus, are almost literally carpeting the sea floor past a certain point, just under the sand. The tentacles (or arms, for those who care to split hairs over biological terminology) of those nearest her feet are the first to reach for her, and after the first touch the sea floor erupts with the nearest several dozen of the things, coming at her from all directions. Tentacles stretch out to grasp, and mouths open. Fun fact: Non-demonic squid tentacles are covered in teeth that function as hole saws, and so are these. Everyone vaguely near the water is in danger, but for the first few seconds it's just Septette. The swarm extends far enough that you won't get anywhere vaguely within the range of the tower, on the water, without more of these things shooting out of the sand and for your face. Yang has already made for the tower, so she's out of it--unless the tower falls with her in it. Those who are actually hiding on the coast, like A-39 and Staren, are spared for now, along with anyone hanging back, like Josuke. From the shore, it's going to take a few seconds before they can even see the things. Bashing open a door is easy enough, though the doors are at the top floor, on account of the building being upside-down. It's still a bit difficult to reach without some flight assist, like Yang's use of Newton's Law. Yang does find there is a floor, though it's above her head, and she lands on a ceiling. This is less fun, because it means running straight into a bunch of criss-crossing supports and pipes instead of a thing people are meant to stand and walk around on. There's a stairwell sign down the hall. Starbounders try pulling the tower down. This is only partially successful, in that the pieces they attach to have a tendency to come loose, rather than the whole tower being treated as a single unit. Its structural integrity suffers for the attempt, which will make further attempts easier if they put some demolition know-how to it. The noise is definitely attracting attention, either way. There's /something/ up there, coming down through the clouds. That animal cry resounds again, bouncing off the water. It sure is loud.
Staren	If Septette alerts them to the presense of killer squid, Staren will relocate a bit further from the water. Either way, he turns his sights to the sky, looking for the creature. It's hard to snipe what he can't see yet!
Josuke Higashikata	Kotone breaking away some of the wreckage for Josuke gets a thumbs-up from the radiation-suited teen. "Thanks!" he says, though quietly. He'll find himself a place with something he can reasonably call 'cover', if such a place exists, and make a small pile of the debris next to him. Though suddenly all hell is breaking loose with the gathered Elites. He facepalms. At least for once it's not HIM who's just rushing in. So this time Jotaro won't have anything to gripe at him about! He expects pretty immediate resistance from this 'demon', so he summons his Stand and hands Crazy Diamond a piece of palm-sized debris. He waits, Crazy Diamond there in front of him, floating just slightly off the ground with the piece of debris in its hand. The cry of the monster gets Josuke's attention, and he tenses. Crazy Diamond draws back the arm it's holding the debris in, but doesn't throw it just yet. There's no visible targets just yet, and he's not going to waste ammo.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang's flight doesn't end in a graceful roll out onto floor. No. She has to skip across a few crossbeams, kick off a wall to bleed momentum then wedge herself in as the building rocks from the Starbounders efforts. "Wh-Whao! Jeeze, didn't think you'd try bringing the place down with me!" she grouses over the comm... then winces a bit at that loud shriek from above. "And I thought Nevermores sounded terrible..." she muses. Well, she looks around, and heads off towards the stairwell sign, looking to see how best to ascend from here. "I'm heading up... or down, I guess, the place is inverted, okay?"
Septette Arcubielle	She may be operating relatively blind in the murky depths, but Septette's reaction times are as sharp as ever: she begins forming a plan the instant one arm touches her leg. A silent fire-magic incantation triggers at five milliseconds after first touch, just as she brings up her heel to crush the creature. Twenty-five milliseconds, her heel comes down, crunching it against the mucky lakefloor, and her body begins to glow ever-so-slightly. Two hundred milliseconds. Her arm-blades deploy, hacking at the nearest squid-things to delay their grappling. Three hundred milliseconds, her body is red-hot, an ominous glow visible through the pond's surface. Just as their arms wrap around her in a dangerous embrace, the lake around her erupts in a full boil, hurling the creatures away in an explosion of bubbles and water vapor if not cooking them outright! Fractions of a second later, the explosion of steam is followed by a magical electrical current that cascades from her fingers through the murky waters, sufficient to stun mundane fish for several moments- who knows what effect it might have on these creatures, though! With that, she leaps out of the pond and towards the opposite shore, closer to the tower. Boiling a significant portion of a lake isn't doing their stealth any favors, but she's out- for now. Hopefully they won't pursue her onto shore... After all, they've got bigger fish to fry.
August Kohler	The Tin Soldier is fairly strong, leaping up through the door and barrelling through it, before flipping upside down, shrugging at Yang before it shakes from the rocking of the building. The Tin Soldier follows Yang along towards the stairwell, dashing silently alongside her as it tries to wobble across the pipes, glancing up (or down, or SOMETHING) when the bird makes the noises. August, meanwhile, is probably in trouble. He turned most of his attention over to the Persona, and therefore doesn't notice the squid monsters nearby. They could easily lunge at or grab him with his lack of awareness, and he's taking little precaution. Though he leaps back when he hears the explosion, tilting his head over to it only briefly.
Miari	<Millions? Hard enough to imagine thousands or tens of thousands. Millions living in one place tells me it's a safe paradise in comparison!> Miari messages back with a mere thought, not missing a beat. This is good, because thoughts are in short supply when the shoreline ERUPTS WITH TENTACLES hunting for prey! And she'd made the mistake of advancing on the beach experimentally to scout! THAT gets Miari shrieking! ... And rising straight off the ground, buoyed by ribbons of swirling scarlet winds! "STAY AWAY!! Sea creatures, they unnerve me...!!" And for good reason. She outright SHIVERS at the sight of so many tentacles swirming across the sands. But very quickly she spreads her arms and cries out, "Have at you, foul beast!!" The air sizzles, crackles... and then a storm of lightning bolts splits the skies in symphonic coordination for a few seconds across a wide swath of the infiltrated, soaked sands!
Kotone Yamakawa	<<It's good to be working with you guys again too. I honestly missed all of you.>> She keeps her machine moving, she was glad to lend Josuke a hand he did seem like a good kid and had the sense to wear protection. She'll likely need to be cleaned when she gets back from this but that doesn't bother her for the moment. Water and the displacement her Armed Suit causes is one of the things that will give a pretty big tip off to her presence. She will keep with the Starbounders as they make a good deal of noise she readies her suit's weapons ready as something is indeed coming from the skies. <<Looks like you have it's attention.>> The Tentacle monsters, ya she's glad she's not over there and she now waitswith the Starbounders...she does hope thopse in the water or near it are ... all right.
Starbound Flotilla	George doesn't have time for bombs! He'll have to make due! The others fire their grappling hooks close to his grip, letting them slam through windows near him enough to grab them, and then he brings them around the structure itself, such that the hooks will wrap around supports without being able to detach! "Sorry Goldilocks, you're cool, but so is dropping the whole nest into the water, apparently. Please, like, punch Albert if it goes bad. Seriously. Punching albert isn't something you should ever feel bad about. Go ahead and do it if you wanna." He calls out, then mutters over the Flotilla radio. "Hey, so, first, fuck you for picking me for this job. Second, I think it's angry enough as-is, isn't it?" "One driven to a grand rage will not attempt escape." "Ssscramble! Ssscramble! Ssscramble!" "Awkward. And it shall reduce the further incidence of predation..." "We'll heave later, mateys! Now's a time for swords drawn!" "It is descending. We'll reserve the toppling for a time of advantage." The Flotilla members out past the shoreline plant their grappling hooks and ready themselves for combat. Four draw a variety of ranged weapons, while Moonfin, for reasons unknown, draws a katana.
Staren	Staren waits. As soon as the creature drops out of the clouds, he takes aim. No fancy trick shots -- he simply aims for center of mass and fires a three-pulse burst of light so concentrated, the sheer energy imparted would blow a normal human to pieces many times over. If it goes for Yang despite his and A39's shots, while waiting for the laser rifle to cool he follows up with micromissiles, little marker-sized anti-tank projectiles that explode into lances of weaponized physics when they get close, trying to if not pierce something vital, at least give it something else to worry about besides the huntress!
Kyoko Takada	The water explodes. This makes it increasingly dangerous to be anywhere near the water, though for other reasons than demon-squid. Exploding water means rain, and no one should want to be under that. It is, at least, not reaching as far back as where A-39 took a sniper position. Everyone else will have to individually determine their proximity. Fortunately, Septette was thorough enough to not have anything hanging onto her when she jumped out. The beasts are far tougher than they have any right to be, but still not that tough, and superheating fries the ones caught up in that. Electrical current, spread through the sea, proves less effective. They do come up after her. Rather, they come up after everyone. Josuke has plenty of targets right away, without even that long to wait. They don't exactly fly, but they leap out of the water shell-first, then get around with remarkable alacrity for a sea creature on land with just a bunch of tentacles to move itself about. They're about as disturbing for the typical person to watch as centipedes, and about as quick. August, in particular, gets a few leaping at him even as he jumps back. Either he or the Stand can deal with those, but there's scores more to follow, unless they're already at the edge like Miari was. This is soon followed by more coming for every Starbounder except George. Inside, the inverted stairwell is more like a ramp. Either way works, as it sends the Tin Soldier and Yang up to the "first" floor... which is entirely missing. The floor is missing. The ceiling, which is now Yang's floor, is still there. It's still as obnoxious to walk over, but now she can see the "nest." It's something like a bird's nest, if the bird was unfathomably huge and a messy obligate carnivore. It looks like it smells and it smells like death. And then the clouds part. It's hard to get a sense of scale when you're close to the thing, but it's big enough that the "roof" doesn't give that much space for it to amble around. This thing could eat cars, and its beak would definitely crush them. The closest usual Earth-type match would be a vulture, but only because it's bird-like and ugly as sin. Vultures aren't usually covered in spiked, chitinous armor, nor are their tongues covered in teeth, as this one's is briefly visible as it screeches in what could be either disapproval at trespassers or delight at an impending meal. Yang is the obvious target, assuming George didn't follow her up and Tin Soldiers aren't truly edible. A-39 fires, with a retort that matches nicely against a round that should bust open a tank's frontal armor. It strikes the massive beak mid-swoop, jerking the head to the side without breaking anything. Staren hits the barest moment later, with the result of superheated armor exploding off the thing's body at the struck points, shedding heat. It's still mostly armored, but not only does that open a weak point, but the explosion and the strike to the head jerk it off course, and instead of strafing anyone on the rooftop, it comes to a hasty and clearly uncomfortable landing before righting itself and spreading its wings.
Josuke Higashikata	Josuke isn't aware of the beastie under the waters until Miari's general area ends up getting be-tentacled. There probably won't be anything left after Miari gets done with them, but if there is, Crazy Diamond throws the piece of debris that it had been holding at the tentacles. Mind, Crazy Diamond's strength is such that it can eventually break through diamond-hard substances, so that's probably a pretty hard throw. And then they start coming up out of the water! "GYAH!" Josuke yelps. Then further complains, "Things with tentacles aren't supposed to be able to move that fast!" He's rather disturbed, yes. Particularly because HE'S IN THE LINE OF FIRE! Well, the thing is, if something's going melee with him, he can go melee back. So the first tentacle or tentacled beastie that gets to close, is going to get his particular brand of greeting. Abandoning his previous plan, he starts to make rounds of the beach. These things aren't just attacking him. So he and his Stand will be trying to keep these things off of the rest of the group. That way the others can concentrate on the bird thing.
August Kohler	The Tin Soldier, sadly, pretty rapidly disappears from the battle, leaving Yang to the fight alone. The reason is simple: August is being attacked by sandsquids and cut the connection, as several lung at him, knocking him to the ground. He draws his pistol and begins firing at the one on top of him, trying to throw it off as he pulls himself back, bruised and scraped up by the swarm's attack. August begins strafing backwards, continuing shots at the squids, as he shouts over the radio. <"Sorry, Long, I'll have to group up with you again later. The hell are these things?"> A reload with his spare clip, and another round of firing at the squids, as he begins to retreat for...the Tower, window side. "Can someone get rid of these damn squids?!"
Septette Arcubielle	The swarm of ammonite-like critters is a tempting target, but at A-39's urging, Septette breaks away from the encroaching swarm after laying down a fireball to gain some breathing room and leaps into the air towards the tower. The fact that the Starbound Captains failed to bring it down easily gives her significant confidence in the building's structural integrity, and she scales its exterior with inhuman speed, sinking her blades and talons into its walls where no handholds present themselves- presumably, the horde of squid can't climb a sheer surface as quickly as she can! A few moments later and she reaches the top floor, dragging herself up onto the roof and brandishing long, curved blades that extend from hinges at her wrists. The rest of her is still hot enough to boil off the remaining water, but the blades specifically are rapidly building in temperature, from angry red to searing white. She shoots Yang a wide grin and a nod, before glancing at the exposed chinks in the bird's armor... then breaks across the rooftop at blinding speeds, only to pivot hard on her heel within a few feet of the creature and channel her enormous forward momentum into a carefully-aimed strike! Robotic precision ensures an accurate strike, but her frame's density prevents gross course-corrections; if the bird is agile enough, it may be able to turn the blow into a glancing strike. "Hah! On me, birdie," she roars, making minimal apparent effort to defend herself from the inevitable counterattack. With the Tin Soldier gone, she seems intent on pulling its attention away from Yang... though she may be unsuccessful, if it's prioritizing targets by apparent tastiness!
Starbound Flotilla	"Starbound Two, hostile contacts closing. Give cover." "With pleasure, Mr. Petrov." Moonfin steps forward, as if having known this would happen. The second tankiest of the Flotilla, he hopes he'll be able to handle this. Dramatically sweeping his katana, he says, "First Sea Hylotl Style: Unbroken Shoreline." And with a series of microthruster-boosted dashes that sweep back and forth, he attempts to keep the swarm at bay!! At least until Josuke Higashikata can help them. Precisely how damaging this will be to the Hylotl himself, who draws all their damage onto him, will depend on their strength and power. His armor-enhanced superhuman properties will probably keep him from being squeezed to death, but if these horrid... Mutants? Batter him with enough force and strength, they could smash heavily through plates of armor, creating painful bruises all along the body, and some dangerous joint stress, enough to heavily injure Moonfin since he's acting as a lone combatant. But sea life is something Moonfin knows, something he grew up with. He's a fishman! He should be able to handle this. This basically means that the Starbound Flotilla's anti-ranged-damage specialist is completely disabled by combat either way, though, so if the main demon target starts flinging ranged attacks at the Flotilla, they're going to be /screwed/. So for now, they focus on what they can do. Heavy ranged ordinance. Super-heavy magnetically-accelerated arrows fly out in elegant streams from Biteblade's bow, Seft is urgently handling loading for Albert's heavy-duty rocket launcher, and Pavo fires what looks like... Some kind of anti-vehicle HARPOON GUN, with a massively superheated durasteel harpoon! She's hoping to spear into the weakpoint Staren made, if she can ge tthe aim right, and while it may not do a ton of damage on its own... She hopes it can make sure the thing has something keeping it in engagement range. And also making a line that others could use to scale to the creature if they needed one! That is... if it can lodge in there at all. That bird's TOUGH if it tanked that rifle fire straight on!
Staren	Huh. For once, Staren's weapons neither seem to barely hurt things nor to be total overkill. After a few seconds for the laser to cool, Staren dares to attempt a headshot since the beast has made the mistake of /landing/ and not staying constantly mobile. He holds back on further missiles at the moment, though if it comes for /him/ he starts launching explosive minimissiles from his armor's shoulders to encourage it to stay away. He doesn't want to have to try his armor against that beak...
Yang Xiao Long	Yang looks up at the giant demon vulture with a cocky smirk. "Hah, and I thought Nevermores were ugly, but you take the rotten cake on that!" She holds her ground as it dives and gets knocked aside by the incoming attacks from A-39 and Staren, gripping onto the wall and bracing her legs on the support struts as it crashes hard. "No no, don't get up, here lemme get you a SANDWICH!" bellows the brawler, punching her fists together and leaping up. "Next stop, ground floor, ass kickings, beat downs and death by punching!" she caws, a flicker of golden light surrounding her body, as she aims to slam her fist down into that ugly head, the contact joined by another of those heavy shotgun blasts, sending a kinetic 'ripple' through that chitinous armour, and possibly the rest of the beast as well!
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa has been waiting cloaked as she looks up to the skies keeping her attention there, Kotone see the creature could eat her machine and she's going to be making ready to back up everyone else. She brings up her heavy rifle making it ready. She's getting more and more concerned for the people fighting the squid things near the water but she'd have to break off from here and it may be too late to do anything. Then again it seems some of them are coming for her. Either way she'll line up her rifle with the birds and fires controlled burst shots at the flying things. She gets there are Squids coming and she's going to keep shooting at the birdy hoping to lend more support to dealing with the bird first. <<Miari when this is over I'm taking you out to eat on me.>>
Miari	What with being airborne, Miari's not terribly concerned with the beasties on the beach anymore. She swoops sideways and begins to swiftly circle-strafe the newcomer to the battle - that enormous ugly bird-thing - in a lazy pattern of observation. "Quite... a unique beast, isn't it?" She's shifted back to trying to be a little more polite now that she's not shocked, apparently. Ambition's fires burn in her eager gaze. Ambitions that see the possibilities of NEW MEDICINAL COMPOUNDS to screw with! Still floating high in the heavens, Miari brings her hands together, with a mighty gleeful look on her face. "No need to make a big deal about this!" She hopes, anyways. The Sorceress brings her hands together... and enters a series of complex Essence-charged gesturings which ends on the Sign of the Hooded Horseman. Grey-silver energies congeal above her head as she raises her hands and stretches out into a spinning disk. It slows just a bit, solidifying into a lengthy metal chain made of many linked blades, weights on its ends. The chain's spinning kicks up some pretty drastic winds... and with a flick of her wrist, Miari sends the entire thing soaring across the heavens for the poison-bird's neck! It swoops up and around with its own volition, changing course mid-flight to go straight for the thing's neck! Against human opponents, this chain would simply snip the head off and return with it. It'll probably have trouble with THIS thing though...
Kyoko Takada	A-39 chambers the next round, adjusts aim, and fires. An out-stretched wing on the avian demon is hit, a hole bursting through the comparatively vulnerable feathers. A third round is chambered, aim adjusted... and she's lost the target. More on that in a moment. At the least, she can make it suffer if it lifts. It's suppressive fire, of a sort. And this, really, is why she called in help for this job. The squids can climb up, but once out of the water and they've lost the first jump's momentum, that's a lot harder for them than scrambling forward. People up on the tower have some breathing room, especially with all these tasty targets on shore. Thanks to those wading into melee, those not in melee can keep up the covering fire. Perhaps those on shore would also wish for covering fire, but there are only so many snipers available. Septette was right about the structural integrity being good enough to let her climb up. That is, the tower is not too hard to put holes in, but has so far managed to stand no matter how many holes get put in it. She strikes, but the bird's already on its feet (such as they are) and ready, movings its wings with enough strength to turn her blow to a less fatal one, sinking into the chink but shallowly at an angle--in time for A-39's shot to strike raised wing. Staren follows up, chitin exploding again to discard the heat, but it's not as dead-on as that first sneak attack, before the snipers' position was known. The Starbounders' aim is thrown off as the avian is already evading, but the harpoon still strikes, sticking into the side of the demon after having penetrated partway in. Evading and counter-attacking, but not quickly enough to avoid Yang's strike entirely. She hits the head, doing little obvious damage but staggering it long enough that it doesn't have a chance to bite anyone. The counter-attack happens regardless of damage, staggering or otherwise, as some of the hideous growths over portions of the demon release a noxious cloud. It's not quite poison breath, unless it's breathing all over its body, but it's something close. The cloud congeals quickly against anything solid, turning into something that, while technically very poisonous, is more pertinently a flesh-and-bone melting acid. In fact, it's melting just about everything it touches, including portions of the building. Altogether, the ceiling/floor fails its integrity check, what with the pounding attacks, crashes, and acid. Giant demon and assailants together fall one floor down with at least one giant crash, pulling the group outside of where the snipers can easily hit. The target is wounded, harpooned, and still reeling, more of its armor broken, but it'll be even harder to keep it staggered now. Or, it would be, but Miari's chain comes flying in at that moment. It doesn't strike the neck only because a raised wing gets in the way, but the blades bites into the relatively unarmored feathers, and cause a screeching cry of indignation from the demon. That'll buy another moment, and make flight that much slower. Meanwhile, back on shore: The swarm is dangerous more for its numbers than anything else. They can be cut through using reasonably strong weapons, but cutting through more than one at a time gets increasingly difficult. Just being touched by the tentacles isn't too bad, but it's once they latch on and grow in number that things get really dangerous, even through durasteel armor, as they grind away at the target, quite literally. It promises to be exquisitely painful to exposed flesh, so it's good that Moonfin doesn't have any and August is wisely moving back as he fires. Stands are probably less vulnerable, though the GM isn't clear on that.
Josuke Higashikata	Josuke knows the vulture is the main target. And A-39 HAS instructed them to ignore the squids. But that's not so easy for the people who are actually in the area of their attacks. So he has to prioritize. That bird-thing is armored, and there's not a lot that simply tossing debris will do to it, even thrown by something with Crazy Diamond's strength. So he turns his attention to the squids, and to their attacks on the rest of the group. He doesn't mind at all acting as support for the group. It's August he hears first, and mentally directs Crazy Diamond to literally pick him up and throw him towards where the be-tentacled beast is menacing the Persona-user. This will, of course, throw him out of range of his own Stand, forcing it to dematerialize. But when he gets to the right place, the Stand will reappear and catch him. And then get August some breathing room to retreat! This shouldn't take but a moment or two, since August is smart enough to actually be retreating. Though Moonfin also seems to need some help, and seems quite far into the fray. So Josuke will repeat the process of having Crazy Diamond throw him at the trouble, and catch him. He'll probably end up back-to-back with the Hylotl to face the squid-monsters, with Crazy Diamond in front of him and Moonfin behind him. Mind you, Josuke is not coming out of this unscathed. Crazy Diamond's getting grabbed at and smacked at, particularly on its arms and legs -- Crazy Diamond is punching at them, and it makes sense to try to grab a humanoid target's legs to pull it down. And it's not just the sheer power of a swat or a constricting grab to a limb -- these things have teeth on their tentacles, so flesh is actually being torn. But the damage to Crazy Diamond isn't showing on the Stand. No, it's showing on Josuke. Arms especially have been torn into by these things, and though the suit he's wearing is still more or less in one piece, the pained look on his face is visible. A slap to Crazy Diamond's face sends the Stand reeling, but opens a gash on Josuke's face, precisely in the same place. Though if it were actually Josuke taking the hits he'd probably end up getting shredded in no time. So yes, it's bad... but it's not as bad as it could be.
Staren	Another hit, more weak spots exposed. But then things get... messy. He may have to move closer for a better shot. Those wings activate again, carrying Staren towards the tower. He uses the laser's underbarrel grenade launcher on the squids and fires a couple of warning shots with his beam cannons as he passes, but he's mainly focused on getting more shots on their primary target!
August Kohler	As August continues to retreat, he resummons his Persona with another call. The Tin Soldier appears...and scoops him up, before leaping into the tower and rushing towards the floor of the battlefield, as August calls out to Josuke. "Thanks!" Climbing back over and through the weird layout, the Tin Soldier gently chucks August into a corner, flinches from the feedback, and then points its gun up at the giant demon bird. And then, the gun ignites...and then, a massive burst of fire is sprayed at the bird, hoping to burn through it. "Sorry I'm late. Situation was a little fishy down there." August quips, as the Tin Soldier silently roars its head back, spinning the flamethrower around in an attempt to cover the entire body. "I heard they burn well. Let's find out."
Yang Xiao Long	Yang grunts a bit, the gas congealing just above her flesh, caught by her Aura. She shakes her arms to get rid of it quickly, but a faint crackling of yellow 'electricity' can be seen skittering over her body now... the defensive field no-longer strong enough to maintain full integrity all over at once. "That, coulda gone better." she muses, dodging away from any counter attack the beast may do, now it's out of sniper range. She punches the 'air' a few times, loosing off small explosive packets that have a mild homing ability at the demon, trying to buy some time. What's she buying time for? Well. "If a sniper can see me from where they are, shoot me." she calls over the radio. "I know that sounds crazy. It is. But I've got a plan." It's not a very good plan. Should she get shot, her Aura flares brilliantly, before the field fails completely. "Let me tell you a secret, ugly. My Semblance has three stages... You've seen the first stage, lets skip the second and go a step further beyond..." her eyes lift, burning a baleful red in the shadow beneath her bangs. She lifts her arms, purges the spent shells and reloads, before slamming her fists together. "I BURN!" The explosion of her Semblance activating would be enough to send chunks of the upper wall crashing into the water, should they be unstable enough. Yang then sets herself steady, before surging forwards, aiming a series of heavy, kinetic-shell boosted blows into the exposed weakpoints, heedless of the acid burning at her now exposed flesh, though most of it should be clear from the force of the release.
Miari	Miari is VERY grateful for being able to keep a distance from this creature. Seeing it start to MELT AN ENTIRE BUILDING sends shivers up her spine. Of both excitement... and horror. Being on the ground right now is FAR from appealing! She scowls but a moment at the Flying Guillotine accomplishing far less than envisioned! "Tough bird..." Which brings her to snap off a quick reply of, <If this thing's noxious body doesn't ruin our appetites!> Because the smell is far from appealing. She's forced to close in some though, with everything collapsing inwards and blocking her access. So she swoops in towards the collapsed building, draws out her fan... flicks it open... and... "The hard way it is!" Whoosh whoosh! A few swipes of it send very visible wind blades hurtling through gaps!
Septette Arcubielle	The corrosive cloud isn't as harmless to Septette as she'd like- she backs off, skidding to a halt outside the cloud, and holds her hands a few inches apart. Red and blue magical circles flare around her as arcane energy sparks in her hands, but this isn't a direct attack: complex, carefully-calculated thermal currents whip through the area, dispersing the corrosive clouds in a small eye of safety. But the instant that her cloud-scattering thermals are up, Septette goes back on the offensive- while the beast is hopefully distracted with Yang's dramatic theatrics, she darts back in close, aiming at the bird's feet, bringing both of her arm-blades down in overhead strikes! They flare with icy enchantments, dramatically turning the blood on their edges from the last attack into red icicles, and then come down, trying to skewer and freeze its feet onto the concrete roof! "Attempting to limit its mobility," she shouts, even as the ground around her loses its integrity. "Aim for vital points now!"
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin is being battered hard. Heading back-to-back with Josuke is the optimal strategy! "Ah, Mr. Higashikata. Such wonderful generosity. You've my gratitude, it is far more easy to act with appropriate elegance with half these numbers." Translate: Thanks, I was getting beaten up. He seems to be feeling a bit better here, and ready to resume! Though unfortunately, he still can offer little immediate support to his friends, this means he's still tied up in hacking and slashing! And getting squeezed violently by dangerous demons. The Starbound Flotilla have to pull back to avoid that gas -- they're armor-dependent, corrosion will BRUTALIZE them! -- but they continue their efforts. Yang calls for being shot... For... Some reason... So Biteblade loads up a CONCUSSION ARROW! It's one of the tools the Starbound Flotilla use for rocket-jumping. Loading it, she pulls her Power Bow back and charges it up to the point that leaking energy creates dramatic shockwaves around her, before firing it at Yang! For a normal person, the flat, blunt bolt would slam into their body and then bounce them back with a shock of gravitational force. For Yang, it should be a case of minimal damage for maximum energy! Disorienting as all heck, though, and the force of firing it actually blasts Biteblade back far enough to launch her out of the fight for now. This leaves Pavo, Albert, and Seft. Pavo's harpoon is degrading, but not so fast that she can't use it. George is taking cover from that toxin, using microthrusters as air manipulators to shove it away but not able to do much else besides. Some leaks through, and sears away his precious EVA hardsuit fast. He launches his own grappling hook around the harpoon's chain, though, trying to work together with Septette to make sure it stays STUCK on that building! And Albert and Seft... Begin unloading shot after shot at the weakened and apparently vital points, especially the wings, with heavy incendiary rocket blasts!
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa has turned her suit around now and the massive thing decloaks there's no need to burn power on stealth the enemy knows where they are and this is a straight up slug fest in the end. The Armed Suit breaks into a run as she heads to join the fight against the swarm of squid like things. She'll make use of the rifle sure, but the big thing she has is an grenade launcher, she however isn't keen to use it with so many people ups close. She does keep an eye out for an opening where she can make use of it. She opens fire with the massive rifle at the squid swam. Aiming to do her dmanest to help thin the things out also she's big and has a big gun she might draw a lot of attention off her less heavily armoured allies which could give them a chance to shoot the demons up the back side. <<Sorry about the delay.>> The stabounder seem to be doing pretyt good and Miari is just letting lose with some sort of magic from creation. <<If anyone needs to take cover use me for it!>>
Kyoko Takada	A grenade launcher is a pretty good tool for a swarm like this. Except for the swarm seeming to not care how many losses it takes. It's probably not literally endless, but there's hundreds of the things in sight, either in or out of the water, and most of them still living. The small-type demons certainly don't care what losses they take, single-mindedly pursuing and attacking. Josuke, and particularly Josuke's radiation gear, are lucky for that damage reduction via Stand-use, but it's still hard going. And like A-39 warned, this position is going to get overrun. It just hasn't been yet, thanks Josuke, Kotone, and Moonfin fighting on the ground, and for that the swarm is barely noticing the fight on the tower. Flight makes it easy to get a better angle, and while it would be dangerous to be up there if the large-type demon were in flight, it's pretty well pinned into an on-foot battle. More shots fired, more armor blasted or feathers broken, as it tries to avoid getting hit in any of the increasing number of chinks in its defenses, whether by instinct or some calculative intelligence. It's a losing struggle, but even an ordinary predator would try to kill as it dies. The corrosive cloud doesn't burn very well, and fortunately avoids exploding. But using a flamethrower on the cloud does cause it to push away from the Tin Soldier, effectively clearing out a space to work in. Septette has a similar idea. Using the flamethrower directly on the demon isn't immediately effective in any obvious way, except in that it very much does not like being thrown flame. Giving this huge monster any breathing room would be a terrible idea, but with this many people getting on the point, little fear of that. Miari's wind blades strike from above. Septette, still within the window of opportunity, extends it effectively by driving through the thing's talons and into the building. The clawed feet are immensely tough, and in a moment the building is going to be torn away again as one of those claws come up to try to throw her off. That would happen, at least, if not for George making use of the harpoon, and if Biteblade hadn't taken the shot so Yang could take a bigger shot. There just isn't enough armor left, and too many angles of attack. For that matter, it's impossible to shake loose Septette quickly enough to avoid the punches, or even to roll to throw off Yang's aim far enough. The flesh underneath is far weaker, and however tough this thing is, those charged-up strikes through its exposed flesh are too much for it to take. It gives one last screech before it, and another quarter of the tower half the party is now standing on, collapses. There's still enough of it left, but it's a good thing the squid-swarm wasn't focusing that way, because that brings everyone that much closer to the water.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang is a flurry of punches, her arms moving so fast they blur out of unaugmented sight, each fist striking flesh unleashing a hammerblow of kinetic force with each shotgun-like blast. Someone looking from a distance might think the thing is trying to take off with the sheer force of the Berserk Brawlers fury. The shriek makes Yang snarl back as the beast dies. "GET BACK UP YOU UGLY SON OF AN URSA! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" she howls, lifting her burned, blistered fists up above her head, clasping them into an axehandle before slamming them down onto the end of the harpoon, driving it deeper into the creature's body. That should make the others lives easier. Yang's much worse for wear now. Her jacket melted away, leaving her bare save for the tank top, her scarf in a tattered mess, billowing in the breeze along with her mess of yellow hair. She pants, wincing as the anger finally starts to fade out, and the pain from the acid burns along her arms begins to seep in.
Josuke Higashikata	Josuke offers a quick thumbsup to August, to show that he heard. He's in the middle of a swarm of squidthings, so he can't take his eyes off the fight in front of him. And to the sides of him too. Yang's instructions over the radio -- and the subsequent eagerness of at least Biteblade to follow them -- get a wince. Hopefully the girl knows what she's doing. If not, he just hopes he can get out of this mess fast enough. Josuke nods to Moonfin. "I'll try and fix people up after the fight," he notes. "Just a little longer!" He knows Moonfin's messed up pretty bad. He doesn't want to underestimate an ally here, but he's quite concerned over the Hylotl's health. And for good reason, since these things are stupidly strong. Midway through the fight, the call comes over the radio to retreat, that the bird has been downed. They're still surrounded though! He looks at Moonfin. "Time to go! We don't have time to hack through!" Turning, the Stand moves behind both of them, making to grab an arm on both Josuke and Moonfin. Why? Because if it can grab hold of both its user and its user's ally, it'll quite literally throw them both further towards land, away from the shore -- hopefully away from the swarm of squidthings, too. There's enough time beforehand for Josuke to call out, "Sorry!" He's careful to miss A-39's stream of bullets, too. And the Stand can also catch the both of them so they don't get hurt on the landing.
Septette Arcubielle	The harpoon, if nothing else, is embedded deeply and solidly- Yang's making sure of that. Confident in her teammate's strength, Septette takes a moment after pulling her blades out of the concrete to wrap the heavy chain around one of her arms, tying and sautering it tightly in a couple of seconds. "I've got this," she says confidently- then glances at a more secure portion of the floor, twenty feet away. And glances back at the enormous bird. Well. Nobody ever said that monster hunting was easy. It takes several seconds for the little yggdroid to drag her quarry across the ground and into the secure corner, and a few more for her to erect icy walls around it- not terribly resistant to crushing impacts, but might be enough to ward off a few stray squid that make it through! "Ugh," Septette groans, sounding exaggeratedly tired over the radio. "Captains, I hope that solution of yours is coming through soon..."
Staren	The problem of /moving/ this big heavy thing over the water without getting it IN the water is one Staren's not sure how to solve. He lands in the tower once the acid cloud is dispersed -- and then Septette shows she can just cover it in ice, allowing it to be floated out. Well, okay then. Once it's out of the lake, he asks, "Do you need me to go get a vehicle, or does someone have another way to move this?"
Starbound Flotilla	George reels in some of that chain, and tries to hand it off to Septette. "Hate this, hate thiiiis..." He mutters, his armor wearing away more and more, his air filtration system getting thinner and thinner... "Hold long as you can Bones!" And he's gone! A segment of the tower is collapsing, and he runs to the edge of it, messing with something on his hardsuit's bracer. "Come on, come on, come on..." Moonfin is grabbed. "Wait whaaaAAAAAAAA!!" He calls out, as he's suddenly launched bodily up and out of the front lines. He'll be grateful, one assumes, after being very grumpy and huffy about having been so... Inelegantly taken. He's beaten BADLY though, so it's a good thing Josuke pulled him out! A shining light descends from above. It's one of the Flotilla ships, a mid-sized shuttle with a heavy set of engines! The gleaming steel keeps some distance away from the corpse of the creature, and especially from the dangers of that cloud of toxins. George immediately beams aboard. "Boooooones!" He calls out. "Gonna try to bring it up!" Cargo hooks -- now repurposed as meathooks -- descend, trying to yank their way around joints where the creature's weight won't tear it apart. He'll need someone with free hands to help there! Miari? Maybe Kotone? Maybe Septette and Yang will handle it either way. And then, with that hopefully secured, they'll be able to fly it away!
Kotone Yamakawa	It comes down to does the party have more ammo and the ability to keep up melee or other forms of combat against the horde's numbers? That's the real question there. Still they are keeping them from the tower. In her machine human sized set of arms, which contain her actual arms, right hand? Is a matter manipulator She thinks about grabbing what she can of the meat from the squids but it's not really what they need she'll fall back and moves from there with Josuke getting everyone else clear. She'll make sure to get to the huge corpse and will move to do what they can to help, the rifle is fixed to her machine's back and the larger hands will go to work. <<Extream Butcher Shop Adventures huh? Good thinking on how to get this thing ou of there.>>
Kyoko Takada	"Those on the shore, fighting retreat." The time for sniping has passed. A-39 pops up from her perch, AMR slung and SMG coming to play. She advances, but only far enough to be in easy range of Josuke's position, firing in short bursts with the kind of practiced ease of a native of this blighted hellhole of a Japan. "Covering." It's a lot easier to hear her over radio than over gunfire. After that, she's backing up at a steady pace. Once the others have a clear path, she's booking it. Things do get easier farther from the water. The squids don't seem to like getting too far away, as their uncanny speed slows down. Josuke and Moonfin get far enough away via throwing. Yang drives in the harpoon. Septette preps it. A spaceship drops in hook and take it away. That about covers things. A-39 gives a warning about active aircraft attracting more of these monsters, but it's not like there's another nest in the immediate area. As long as everyone's quick, it won't be an issue.
Septette Arcubielle	It takes just a few swift motions for Septette to drive in most of the hooks- she works with a quiet, efficient violence in her movements, sinking even the blunted pieces of iron into the beast's joints and bones like a knife moving through butter. It's a careful balance, sticking them in weight-bearing places without ruining anything that looks like it might be valuable, but she does her best, aided by lifetimes of dissecting beasts for profitable parts. Once that's done, she pulls a single gossamer thread out of her satchel and tugs it between her fingers. Her shoulders slump, and for a moment- drenched, mildly corroded, hair dripping and lights dimmed- she looks very, very tired. Then she straightens up, forcing the light back into her eyes. The thread snaps, and Septette disappears in a small, glittering column of light. Another mission complete.