Shamitako

Artemis Artemis checked over her shoulder to see what Fowl thought. "Don't care. I really just want to take a nap." Her twin informed her. "Alright, that sounds like a good idea." Artemis said to Aera. She nodded towards the transporter, "After you."

Blink "Well, what I wanted was to fight her." Blink confessed, "But seeing how she was acting... I really didn't want to fuck with that." She winced a little. "I'm so gonna get my ass blasted for Lord because of this stunt." She then took a moment away from talking to Supernova and turned to face Hiroki. Since she couldn't properly look the girl in the eye, Blink instead opted to caress her cheek, catching her just before she could turn away. It crossed her mind that she was probably starting a million rumors with the action, but she didn't stop. "I'm sorry I got you caught up in my idiot scheming, Hiroki." she apologized sincerely, "I'll tell the others that I pressured you into it, the only one to take the fall here will be me." She released Hiroki and returned her attention to Supernova. "That goes for you too, Tai. It sounds like Nil tricked you as much as anyone. My word probably ain't worth shit anymore, but I'll use whatever worth it has left to convince the others that you're not at fault." SR vs. HUNTER Adam was already spinning away from HUNTER by the time she finished her spin. He only took some light scratched from the attack. The first sword stuck in his hull was flung to the edge of the arena. Unfortunately, due to the terrain, he didn't have time to counterattack again, so he just did his best to put himself just beyond the reach HUNTER had displayed with her shortswords. Hopefully she would have to work more for the next attack, granting him an opening.

Blink "What in the fuck do you mean?" Blink asked angrily. The way Nil had been talking... She sounded like a child who would rather break their favorite toy than let someone else play with it. "When did you let her get a hold of you in the first place?" Silent Requiem vs. Hunter Adam allowed the sword to cut into his armor. As soon as it had, he rotated his mech in an attempt to wrench it from his opponent's grasp. At the same time he deployed a blade from his hull such that if his opponent kept her grip she would be pulled against the outside of his mech and cut open by the blade. Normally he would taunt right about now, try to get his opponent to lose their cool. But after the desperate struggle of the last battle, he wasn't quite up to a chat.

Genie Tallow nodded. "Okay." He agreed. Now that the issue with Tallow was resolved, Genie had a chance to talk again. "I was checking something while you were busy and it seems like three children aside from Tallow were left in the facility but not placed in the bank." "Which ones?" Blink asked, "Any chance we can get them without another big ordeal?" "D3112, I234, and... D279." She seemed pensive with the last. "And the chance of an ordeal?" "Flower is a jerk but he'll be easy enough to deal with. I just don't know where he is. I234 is probably in a pod, she just has a special room." She paused, "And Caliber is Tallow's sister. According to the log she was never returned. She was in the infirmary when the evacuation started, so they probably sedated her and locked her in. I wouldn't want to be the one to let her out."

Cardinal Cardinal couldn't understand Tai's sentiment at all. What was so wrong with trying to protect someone she cared about? She was doing this for him. Couldn't he see that? Had he not seen Temperance for what she really was? Had the knight not just tried to murder him in cold blood? All she wanted was to save him before the gods' foolishness consumed him. "I don't know why!" She said, firing off another rift. "My chest burns whenever I see someone else try to hurt you." Yet another rift. "I don't care about this farce of a tournament. I'll just have to kill whoever wins." And another. Cardinal felt herself distort again. "All I wanted was to live. But it's more than that now. I don't know what makes it different, but this time it feels so much more real. I will survive. And I'd like you to survive with me." Cardinal distorted yet again, this one significantly more violent than the previous ones. She was out of time. Her rift shield collapsed inwards, taking her back home in its black folds. She landed roughly on the floor, having returned several feet in the air. She hated this. It was so much easier when she could reset after a mistake. Blink Blink breathed a sigh of relief when the Tenth left. Supernova's mech was still active, so regardless of the pain inflicted, he would be unharmed. Hiroki's escape had gone unnoticed as well. It seemed things had turned out alright in the end. Although Blink herself was going to have hell to pay later.

Blink As soon as the crowd started murmuring about the intruder, Blink was ready to dash in and help. But someone caught her by the shoulder. "Don't" Seeker commanded. Blink hesitated. She was already in hot water with the other gods but she had promised Hiroki she would help. "Amelia I'm not stupid." Seeker continued in a softer tone, "I won't stop you. But if you go down there I will no longer be able to defend your actions." "Then thanks for defending me until now. I'll take my own defense from here." Blink shook herself free of Seeker's grip. Her mind was made up. She would not leave Hiroki out there alone, even if it meant an end to her already strained relations with the others. She vanished from the crowd, heading into the arena. Cardinal "N-No st-stop." Cardinal feebly reached out in a vain attempt to end Tai's suicidal charge. She had tried to protect him, and he had told her to leave. Her body flickered and distorted for a moment. Rage welled up inside of her. "I said stop." she snarled. She teleported herself in front of Tai, raising her shield rift in a sphere arounds herself. Supernova simply came to a stop when he collided with it, all of his forward momentum draining away into nothingness. "Why?" She asked him, "I just wanted to protect you." She fired a pair of dimensional rifts at his torso. They distorted his mech, causing severe damage to its systems as they ripped through reality. Yet worse was the excruciating pain that ripped through Tai's own body. "All I wanted was to keep them from hurting you." Cardinal's wrath was growing. "So then why?! Why do you run from me?! Why won't you let me protect you?!" She fired another distortion through Tai's torso. Blink Blink was forced to hesitate again as she listened to Nil turn on Supernova. She exited into reality behind Hiroki and whispered a message to her over comms. "We're a bust. I don't know what the fuck the Tenth has going on in her head, but I ain't fighting her like this. She might turn on the crowd. Dismiss your mech and make a break for it on foot. If you're lucky she won't see you. If not I'll do my damnedest to distract her."

Tallow Tallow double checked to make sure they weren't here. "It's my big sister." He confessed, "She's always really angry and gets in trouble a lot. I don't like trouble. She always checks on me when she's not supposed to. And her eye is scary like yours." Tallow understood she was doing it out of caring, but he really hated all the attention she brought with her. He didn't feel the same attachment she did and really wished she'd leave him alone. (OOC: This will not be the last time your eyes scare/upset someone)

Cardinal Cardinal's eyes widened in shock. Tai had surrendered. No one else besides herself and the two competitors could have heard it, but her had definitely given up. In the state he was in, Tai wouldn't have time to react. Cardinal herself didn't have time to warn him, let alone shift to project through him. She didn't have time to think of alternatives, only time to act. A pitch black rift opened up in front of Supernova, absorbing the Knight's treacherous attack. Cardinal herself stepped out from the rift. "I am C-Cardinal, the Tenth G-God." She announced to the Knight, "A-and I refuse to let you h-hurt Tai. You've al-already won. So l-leave him alone!" She spread her arms wide, a gesture that she was pretty sure meant she was guarding whatever was behind her. The crowds were rife with confusion. They didn't know exactly what was happening, but it was obvious that something like this wasn't normal.

Tallow Tallow popped back into his usual human shape. He glanced around nervously. "I can't go outside." He mumbled in Cheryn's general direction. He kept looking over his shoulder, expecting a certain someone to appear behind him at any moment. He'd come to this room because he knew they hated it and wouldn't look for him here. Merlin "Very well, Forge stays." Merlin acknowledged, "Bartek, our mission has the greatest urgency, so we're leaving right away." To punctuate that urgency, she immediately walked into the facility once more, expecting Bartek to follow. Optimally she'd have Ice helping her, as the resistance she expected would be better dealt with by destroying it than guarding against it. But Ice was incapacitated and if for any reason she did need a shield, Bartek was perfectly suited to give her one.

Genie Cheryn's trap worked quite well. Tallow appeared in his wisp form and tried to escape, but simply rebounded off the barrier. Merlin Merlin appreciated any attempts to cheer her up, she would make a better effort to express that at another time. Their mission wasn't quite over yet. "We have two primary tasks right now." She said, "We need to tend to the wounded and find our comrade. The place is apparently ours now, so I figure we can help ourselves to medical supplies. In other words, we can achieve all of our objectives the facility. There might be a few more traps but they won't be lethal, Ansuz wanted to get me into that room alive. I need one person to stay here with Anemone, Ice, and Charity. Two to search the area MSC came in through for Cheryn and Amelia. One to come with me to find medicine. And the last needs to go find Bear, I know he's around here somewhere."

Merlin She couldn't deny that it was a pretty good plan, but Merlin couldn't help but feel uncomfortable anyways. "What if the barrage doesn't unlock the conditions for my Phantasm?" She asked. She could think of plenty of other things that could go wrong, but for the most part she felt those were things beyond her control. Her Noble Phantasm required a "clear advantage" to be activate, and she could only manage it once in any given encounter. She had designed it specifically to be an ultimate finishing attack. Even if it allowed her to use Halloween Bomber, she wasn't sure a single barrage of fireballs would do enough damage to use it for its intended purpose. She didn't like the idea of blowing her trump card so early into a fight.

Genie With Cheryn momentarily out of the way, Genie once again attempted to coax Chip into helping. "Hey, Chip." She said, gently touching the girl on the shoulder. "I made Miss Chernobyl go away, can you help find Tallow now?" Chip turned around, she looked over Genie's shoulder at Cheryn and saw that the red-eyed girl was looking away. She seemed to consider Genie's offer for a bit before nodding. This was when the facility began to shake again. There had been no sound of explosion to signal it coming this time. everything had simply started rattling. Chip's eyes went wide and she grabbed Genie, latching on tightly. "Yeah, it's scary, isn't it?" This time it was blink who was speaking. "So, shorty, here's the thing. If we don't find Tallow, that scary shaking might hurt him, that's why we need your help." "The shaking isn't scaring me. I'm not a baby." Chip said, her soft voice surprisingly indignant, "There's a big energy that's making it." "Well, we're worried that Tallow might get hurt by a big energy like that." Genie explained. "The big energy won't get him. It's far away." Chip said with certainty. "But what if Tallow's far away too?" Genie said. Chip sat back in the pod. By the look on her face, she hadn't thought of that. "Look, kid." Blink said, "You seem pretty smart. But you gotta understand, Genie here has a labcoat, so she's way smarter than you. You should listen to her." Chip nodded, "Okay. I'll help." She closed her eyes and concentrated. After a short while, she opened them again and pointed. "Tallow is over there, not far." "Thanks Chip. You can rest for now, okay?" Chip didn't need to be told twice. she laid down on the hard metal of the pod, stuck her thumb in her mouth, and shut her eyes. Genie brought Cheryn back over and told here what had happened. "Chip said he's close, so he's likely still in this room, and we've got a general direction. If we had some way to completely encase him in energy then we might be able to catch him. Otherwise we'll have to convince him to trust us." she explained, "Any ideas?"

Charity Charity was, in fact, still looking quite exhausted. She was also more than a little shocked. She had been the sole witness to all the events that had transpired. She had saved Ansuz, she knew it was a bad idea, but killing him--especially while he lay there crying like he did--just felt wrong. But then he'd turned that huge cannon on Merlin, and everyone had tried to save her. There had been just enough time... Gypsy was already so weak, he couldn't move Merlin out of the way. But he had enough energy to do something much simpler. He had swapped places with her. Gypsy had vanished from his place next to charity, and Merlin had appeared in his place. That corpse that had been there, it was Gypsy. He was dead. Charity couldn't help but blame herself. If she'd just let Ansuz die... Merlin Merlin stared down the corridor that Ansuz's massive cannon blast has created, looking at the body of her friend. She hadn't wanted anyone else to suffer for the things she had done. She'd tried to resist, she really had, but even in his weakened state he'd overpowered him. Perhaps it was her own fear of death that had brought about this outcome. Some part of her had wanted to live, and was willing to give up his life to survive. Through the corner of her eye she spotted the last of her students escape through the opening Bear had made. She landed and walked towards it, stealing one last glance at Gypsy's remains before breaking into a run. She didn't get far before the room behind her lit up in a silent beam of red light. She didn't have to look back to realize that it was many times more powerful than the blast that had killed Gypsy, it must have taken hours to set up. She was glad everyone had escaped. She hoped Cheryn and Amelia were alright and that they'd found the boy. Eventually she and the others made it to the entrance where team Those Guys had entered not long before. So much had happened that it felt like days had gone by, yet it had really only been a few hours. And standing outside was a face that brought tears to Merlin's eyes. She pushed past the students in front of her and ran up to meet him. "Gypsy!" She exclaimed happily, "you're alive!" But Gypsy shook his head. "I'm not." He said, "I died in there. Right now I'm just travelling into the future, I don't have much longer before I have to return and go through the events you just experienced." Merlin hugged him, crying into his shoulder. "When you go back, you have to live. Let me die instead." "You know I can't do that. And even if I could, I wouldn't." "No, you can't die like that. Not for me" Merlin sobbed. "I'll die for whoever I damn well please." He lifted her her up and looked into her eyes through her stream of tears. "Look, Mackenzie... I'm going to go back, and I'm going to die. I'd like to go without any regrets." Merlin sniffled and nodded. "Of course." Gypsy leaned into her and kissed her. It was a gentle kiss, one full of caring and a hint of goodbye. Their lips stayed locked together for some time before Gypsy finally pulled back. "It's time for me to go." He said, pushing Merlin away. She wiped her eyes and smiled at him. "I'll miss you." "I love you." He vanished into thin air, several tarot cards appearing in his place. The floated softly to the ground. The first two landed face down and the third face up atop them. Merlin looked down at it and her tears began to flow again. The card on top was Death.

Genie "If he's not hooked up to his machine then I don't know." Genie said. But then she thought of something. "Oh, but I know someone who might be able to find him." She activated her mech, its lush vines growing out of her back and surrounding her. Like tentacles, some of them reached out and grabbed a stasis pod from one of the shelves, carefully setting on the ground in front of her. Inside was a young girl, probably six or seven years old, with short brown hair in a mix of dark and light tones. Genie pressed some keys on the side of the pod and it opened up. She turned her mech off, returning to her normal outfit and being trapped in her own labcoat. Although not for long, because Blink went ahead and untied her, for which she whispered her thanks. The girl in the pod shifted in discomfort and let out a soft moan. Genie reached down and touched her shoulder. "Hey, Chip, it's time to wake up." she cooed. The girl, Chip, shifted again and rubbed open her eyes. She sat herself up, her face the undisguised scowl of one just awoken from a comfortable sleep. She looked at Cheryn and Blink for a moment, then back to Genie. Her scowl softened slightly. "Morning kiddo, did you sleep okay?" Genie asked softly. Chip responded by shoving her thumb into her mouth. Genie continued talking to her softly. "So hey listen, you remember Tallow?" Chip nodded. "He ran away again, can you try to find him?" Chip shook her head. "Are you sure? We really need to find him." Chip didn't do anything. "Why can't you find him, Chip?" Chip pointed at Cheryn and then turned her back to Genie. Genie sighed. "Chip's really shy." She explained, "I think the 'glowing red eyes' thing is scaring her. Would you mind hiding yourself for a little bit, Miss Chernobyl?"

Libra vs. Strider The railgun fire exploded against Temperance's armor, but by the time the smoke cleared, she had already repaired it. "Wow!" Temperance said cheerfully, "That's a really cool gun." The crowd was extremely excited by this flashy showing. "This seems like it's going to be rather easy." Kayli chimed in. "It seems like it's going to be a lot of fun!" Temeprance shot back. The slings whirred to life, charging up and firing two chunks of metal at Strider. With the charge time, temperance didn't expect them to hit, she just wanted to keep up the fight's momentum. The crowd's energy was skyrocketing along with hers. Morgan could feel her own excitement rising exponentially. Her heart raced and hot blood ran through her, she felt like she could do anything. Cardinal Cardinal watched Tai fight. She could tell that this was next to unwinnable for him, but she refused to give in just yet. She promised herself she wouldn't help him. It was his fight, and the Hellfire Knight wasn't a monster like Temperance. Still, she couldn't help but be a little scared for him. Aries Aries was watching Mommo's fight of course. He was tempted to send her a message letting her know he was there rooting for her, but decided against it. Best to let her focus. He didn't know whether she'd win or lose, but just seeing her fight... It confirmed it, he knew for certain how he felt, no question about it. Blink Also among those watching Supernova and Heck fight was Blink. But unlike Cardinal, she wasn't here to see who would win, she already knew Hiroki would be the victor. It wasn't just that Supernova was outmatched in construction or skill, no, it was more than that. Hiroki wouldn't lose in a fight like this, she would overwhelm any opponent. Not because she was better, but because she had to be better. And so, confident in Hiroki's ability, Blink focused on listening for Nil to show herself.

Yoy Twin. If you have any of those you're particularly attached to, I'd be happy to help you work through their powers a bit We've talked plenty already so I don't have much to say here but I'm saying something anyways This isn't necessarily geared towards beginners, but I'm sure you'll be fine. I'm happy to work with you and help you get into RPing ^^

Ansuz Fight Ansuz dispensed a rune from his unfrozen arm into his palm. He held it up and unleashed a powerful telekinetic blast that knocked even the massive Bartek away. The cannon unleashed another blast, but Anemone had been correct in assuming that the cannon's aim was fixed while it fired. With a little help from Exile she was able to dodge it unscathed. The cannon dug a hole deep into the ground, but harmed no one. Ice's attacks all hit their marks. They pierced Ansuz's heart and eyes, causing the boy to scream in agony. He reached up and desperately tore the frozen needles from his eyes. The one through his chest had pierced all the way, there was no way he could remove it so he would have to bear the pain. The cannon was already selecting a new target, charging up to fire a blast at Ice, who was now completely crippled. It seemed it would be ready to fire before anyone was in position to stop it. But just in time, a black and orange blur shot out from behind Those Guys. A stream of fireballs launched out from it, knocking the cannon off-course. Ansuz fractically tried to adjust his aim to deal with this. The blur resolved itself into a recognizable form. A red haired woman in a short black dress and a needlessly large hat sat floating atop a broomstick, glaring down at Ansuz. All color drained from the boys face. "How?" He asked, his voice a mix of terror and relief. "Sacrifice." Merlin responded with tearful eyes. She fired another barrage, which Ansuz attempted to block with his frozen arm. The attack shattered the ice that encased it. But it didn't stop everything. Several fireballs snuck through and hit his torso. He stumbled, tripping over bits of ice and snow on the ground around him (the attack that froze his arm had frozen some of the moisture in the air as well). He managed to keep his footing, but the next barrage was already on the way. He took it head-on and it flung him into the wall. The cannon faded away and his outfit faded back to its normal state. He coughed a few times and blood spilled out. Now that his mech was gone, the frozen spike through his chest was fatal. It hadn't completely destroyed his heart, but the damage to that and his lungs was more than he could recover from. "And that death looked so promising too. How unfortunate." A man's voice echoed through the room in a sing-song tone. "Oh well. The girl is a promising subject, so I'll be taking her with me." A green ribbon spun into existence around Ansuz, vanishing along with the wounded boy. "You can keep the building. The subjects we left as well. Not that you'll have them for very long. Seeing as you'll all be dead momentarily." A bright red rune began to glow on the ceiling, it menacing light filling the room. "Goodbye." Bear Bear had been trapped outside by the walls Ansuz had constructed at the start of the encounter. He'd been trying to blast his way through the entire time, but had only just broken through. Seeing the red symbol, he immediately flew his bees up to cover as much of it as he could. He didn't expect much. He wasn't sure what all had happened in his absence, but the massive holes suggested cannon girl. He hoped that whatever the symbol did, he could delay it long enough for the rest to get away. Genie "I'm Blink, God of-" "You're Blink?" Genie cut her off, "But you're so..." The tiny, itty-bitty, flat, petite, little girl glared at her, causing her to rethink using any of the previous descriptors. "Young and beautiful?" Blink rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm Blink. And yes, I am aware of my stature." "I've never met a goddess before. That's so cool!" This conversation was cut off by another explosion and more shelf rattling. Although no one could hear the shelves over Genie's ear-shattering scream. Slow as always, didn't think to stop until her lungs started screaming themselves that she needed air. When she finally calmed down she bowed her head sheepishly and whispered, "So, was there anything else you wanted to ask me, My Esteemed Lady Miss Goddess Blink-sama Ma'am, Miss Chernobyl?" Blink poked Genie's cheek. "Oi, screamo. Just call me Blink or Mel, short for Amelia, whatever that shit you just babbled out was a million times to formal." "R-right. Did you have any more questions, Lady Mel?" Blink rolled her eyes again but accepted that was as informal as she was getting.

Genie (OOC: How much I love playing Genie seems pretty clear now, huh?) Genie mulled over that proposal. It was true she'd been left behind... "You don't seem to like treating these kids like mere experiments. We have that in common." The little blonde girl that had tied Genie up in her own coat said. "It's unprofessional to call them kids... But I don't like being professional." Genie furrowed her brow in deep thought. "Alright, I will trust you." She cleared her throat. "I think you misunderstand Ansuz's situation. She came to us not long back and offered to trade us knowledge of magic in return for help integrating her magic into a mech. The experiments performed were focused on that. I was not directly involved with that part of the experiment, but the results were quite favorable, although unfortunately impossible to transfer as the integration was only made possible by usage of Ansuz's unique ability to prepare magic in advance. I haven't seen it, but apparently her mech is unmatched in offensive power. That's probably an exaggeration, but I would still be pretty scared of being on the receiving end of her attack." That just about covered Ansuz. Now Genie had her own question, "Before you ask anything else, could I get your names?"

Genie Others like Tallow? Genie wasn't sure precisely what was meant. She guessed that magic was being referred to. She began listing off experiments in that field. "K073: Failure. A292: Failure. D3112: Flower, Success. F266: Failure, Deceased. F276: Comet, Success. I0110: Bulwark, Success. Manager Archaea: Cinnamon, Failure. D304: Tallow, Success. C097: Gust, Success. I234: Failure. Assistant Pluto: Nerves, Success. Mage Natasha: Ansuz, Success. E3112: Animus, Success. Assistant Genealogy: Mint Tea, Failure. G032: Cheesecake, Failure. D279: Caliber, Success. G018: Chocolate Chip, Success." List complete, Genie moved on to how she'd ended up in the pod. Her mind finally managed to catch up again. "Wait. I can't tell you guys stuff, you're the enemy, aren't you?"

Artemis "A secret weapon would be cool." Artemis supposed she didn't mind waiting if that was the case. But really, what sort of secret weapon could he even have? "Maybe that old lady is a secret weapon?"

Genie "A friend? All the way out here? Odd." Genie wasn't so much suspicious as curious. "Yes, I was in one of the pods. No clue why, we were supposed to be evacuating." Genie grabbed a notepad and pen from the chest pocket of her coat. "Can you describe them? I can request a search. Don't get your hopes up though, the others rarely take my requests." She readied herself to write, but as she did so, her mind finally processed an earlier thought. "Holy crap we're supposed to evacuate!" Her hands shot up to the sides of her head in panic, flinging the notepad and pen into the air as they went. "We have to get out of here!" She panicked, "We have to get the ki- experiments to safety!" It was at this point that Amelia, who had been standing behind Genie ever since she'd heard Cheryn's telepathic message, finally decided to intervene. She grabbed Genie's coat, flipped it fully over the girl's head, and tied it back behind her. Genie looked rather stunned at her now trapped arms. Realization dawned on her face. "You! You're the emergency!" "Chill." Amelia commanded, "We're not gonna hurt you or the kids. Right now we're looking for a skittish boy that runs away through walls, you got any way to track him down?" "Oh, you mean Tallow, right?" Genie seemed devoid of any wariness towards her captors. "He wouldn't be in this room, the stasis pods don't work for him, even his water wisps make too much heat. There's a room not to far with a special machine for keeping him still. There's only one though, so if the others took it then he could be anywhere in the facility by now. He can't go outside though, the ambient light makes him sick for some reason."