RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Part 2: The Fight For The Lost

@Black Knights:

Yuzuki's next thermite round proved decisive, casting four mishhu aside into the walls and engulfing them in such flames that it overwhelmed them. The charred creatures' agonized struggle stilled. That left one, Nimura's, whom Nimura recovered enough from her coughing fit to attack - three strikes of her pulse cannon and that creature also settled to the ground, silent.

Nimura then sank back to the floor, lying on her back sputtering and gasping - her stamina spent.

A spray from Asher's flamethrower torched Kyou's assailant, loosening its grip enough so that Kyou could near instinctively clutch at the tentacle blade embedded in her to keep it immobile before jumping out of her aggressor's slack tentacles. Yuzuki's pulse cannons filled in the need to finish it off, allowing Asher to quickly pivot, skim crazily from one point to another sending sheets of plasma flame widely into the air.

The Ghost Mishhu, mostly phased, were not harmed by his attacks. But he had most of them daunted from attacking. Phasing in areas hot enough to flash-roast them was a very unappealing prospect.

Except one: drawn more widely aside from Asher's screening, Yukari and Kai were vulnerable. One of the four Ghost Mishhuvurthyar ghosted out of hiding over them, tentacles whipping out to snag them, seize them and twist them dead into its powerful coils.

Tom intercepted that one. His drones were faster, searing the thing's smoky-black hide with directed energy beams. Then his plasma rifle flashed, one bolt slamming into it and coaxing a shrill cry as he broiled it through its carapace. A second had it combust in blue-white fire. A third immolated it, charring it to a crisp. Tom's target attempted to phase away, but even as it turned ghostly it also slumped and died.

The air around Tom's plasma rifle was hazy with the tremendous heat wafting out of the weapon. Bits of the weapon were reddening in heat.

Meanwhile, Nyton engaged Melisson in melee, and doggedly kept close, launching attack after attack. Nyton struck, Melisson forearm parried. Arethusa lashed out with a tentacle, Melisson twirled into a dodge and went back in to slam her palm under Nyton's helmet hard enough to jar his lower jaw. Nyton countered by seizing the attacking arm and with a wrench snapping it at the elbow before taking advantage of the pinned Melisson to slash with a tentacle blade-tipped appendage, cleaving deeply through Melisson's face.

His opponent responded with a hard kick between his legs, and Nyton staggered in uniquely masculine pain, allowing Melisson to back away. The bones in her broken arm reset. The wound on her face was fixed up almost as fast as it had been made. As the pain in his groin dulled, Melisson asked him a questioning "Mel?", the shorter nickname alien to her, and didn't dignify the rest of his posturing notice as she pounced back to attack him.

With angered screeches, the three remaining Ghost Mishhuvurthyar split up. One went after Tom, another went after Yukari and Kai, and the third dived into the floor - though as Asher understood the thing's body language, it wasn't to flee but to attack from below.

Hinoto for her part answered to Nyton's text message:

"Everyone watch y'feet! We gotta land shark!" said Asher as he rose further into the air with the sight of one of the Ghost Mishhu taking refuge in the ground below them. The soldier hovered above the battlefield, seeing every aspect thus far. Nyton's melee with Melisson, Yukari's field surgery with Kai, Tom's lasting vigil over the two, and Yuzuki's and Kyou's recovery. While it was easy to see it through their eyes, it was nice to see it with his own. Though, no time to dwell! Things needed to die, and his friends did not.

Stick wit' me a lil'longa', Shikamaru... thought Asher, as the glow from his plasma torch ignited into a deadly, searing blaze. He placed that forearm under the forward grip of his flamethrower and soared over the battlefield, not sticking to any one spot, flames roaring forth from his plasmathrower as he went. Sheets, spots, and gouts of hellish blaze would cover the floor, and, when he passed by them, the path of the ghost Mishhu as they advanced on Yukari, Kai, and Tom. He tried to keep his flight patterns staggered, strafing left and then right randomly so he had no one set path as he adjusted his flamethrower to paint the lines on the floor.

Tom quickly slung his plasma rifle back and redrew his LASR. He had stressed the plasma weapon on his surprise strike and needed to give it some time to recover. Besides, with the ghost Mishu phased out, it wasn't like either weapon he had would be effective until they unphased.

His AIES notified him of the new tactical situation. With Yukari tending to Kai and Nyton combating Melisson, the chain of command fell on his shoulders. Working within Yukari's structure, the Juni tried to coordinate with the others. Trying to make himself a tempting target, the engineer changed priorities and traced his targeting at the ghost mishu going towards Yukari and Kai. In essence, he hoped to do the same thing Yuzuki would be doing once that ghost mishu tried to attack Kai and Yukari.

Kai said:

"HURRY!" He yelled at the Shosa, eyes wide in pain or horror, his face a grimace of the same, blood covering his chin and beginning to dribble down onto his uniform's chest panel.

Click to expand...

Asher said:

"Everyone watch y'feet! We gotta land shark!"

Click to expand...

Yukari still was wincing from almost being killed, as one of the Ghost's charred tentacles had left an ashy mark on her armor. Knowing she was targeted again, she knew they had to move.

Kai was dying in front of her, a small panel in her HUD roughly tracking the bug's movement inside him. Heading for his heart, aiming to kill him. She was not a surgeon. No time, no time! Stun or slice, stun or slice, she had to —

Stop. And think.

She was Nekovalkyrja. She thought and moved at speeds Yamataians only could dream about.

I cannot jam the blade in him without severely wounding him, and stunning him makes him a helpless target and burdening myself with protecting him. It must come out or die ... And I do not have time for surgery.

Her armor's AIES assisted her. Her armor stealthed as she and Kai took to the air, just a few meters up and away from the wall. Once up, Kai's armor was instructed to float with her. She awkwardly stuffed her revolver into her open right thigh compartment and took the sword. She maneuvered it so she held the blade, and kneed the part spaced between her hands.

She snapped off seven centimeters from the tip. She winced; her fingers hurt from the effort, but she had what she wanted. The rest of the blade fell to the ground as she saw the bug crawling, under his flesh. It was clawing his lungs but not burrowing through them. He would have been dead otherwise. Was his stomach bleeding? Her AIES wasn't sure.

Just another second! —

Yukari tried to decapitate the bug. She jammed the blade tip into Kai, below his heart, just as the bug's head came into a space between two ribs. The blade was parallel with the ribs, and almost every centimeter was inside of him.

Kai ordered his armor to keep him as still as possible for the next few moments- he knew he would try to convulse and did not want to make it any worse. as Yukari waited, the Yamataian's torso twitched and moved slightly, but the shakes and shudders from before had been suppressed. as the Shosa jammed the blade tip into Kai's ribcage, he let out a sharp, pained grunt, closing his eyes and setting his face. He could take it, he told himself. it would be over soon, and he could continue fighting. That's what kept him going right now, as the world around him exploded in fury and battle.

Nyton grit his teeth as the explosion of force ignited a blazing inferno of agony between his legs. As quickly as it started the fire turned into a burning cold that immediately spread out. If it could be visualized it would give the appearance of glass suddenly spider webbing out where it has cracked. These spider webs represented pain and it was taking the place of the previous sensation. This was no comfort because each branch was even more painful. As the pain spread out it would come into contact with the surrounding nerve endings near his muscles. Each nerve ending flared to life with so much intensity they inevitably affected the muscles. It gave him the sensation that his hip and abdominal muscles would contract themselves into a self made black hole and try to take the rest of his body with him. And it all happened in less than a second.

With much disciplined effort and not just a little bit of grimacing, Nyton forced himself to stand and keep his arms up. The cold pain never faded but dulled itself in reduction. All the while though, as his body became thoroughly introduced to the pain, his memory recorder was able to pin down each nerve ending through to the source. Like breaking in a new car, Nyton was being forced to relearn some of the pain deflection he had originally. The upside to this body over the previous one was that he could completely shut down pain after suffering it.

The trick was suffering it.

Nyton quickly messaged back to Hinoto as he eagerly faced Melisson's attack.

With Melisson unable to phase out, Nyton figured he could catch her leg with his arms. With Melisson's leg trapped the nodal weaponry could shred her leg at close range like he imagined his Grandfather's grinders could. If he could shred it fast enough he could avoid or deflect the other leg's counter along with whatever else she may employ, and press the attack with similar moves that would continue to destroy her body. One good thrust through the center and he could split her in two. At the same time he needed to be cautious with such a move since the body she used was so malleable that it wouldn't surprise him if she morphed into something else.

Yuzuki quickly changed weapons, pulling the APR from the hardpoint over her left shoulder, and returning the gauss bazooka to the right. She wasted no time interfacing with the weapon again. Ascending quickly from her low hover to try to get a better angle and view of what seemed to quickly be turning into a mess, and bearing the Juni's instructions in mind, the Heisho eyed the three phased enemies that she could see, and speculated on the position of the fourth with a certain wary sense of trepidation. It was part of the reason she had risen as far as she possibly could from the floor; at least, if she were the one about to be attacked, she might have a few seconds.

Her finger resting ever-so-lightly on the trigger, Yuzuki took pains to calm her breathing even though the armor's AIES would compensate for any minor, errant movement. She fought back the urge to blindly start firing at the exposed Melisson as soon as it arose, since even to her untrained experiance if the thing were to move, she would likely roast the Taii instead. Instead, she tried to cast back for a better feeling.

The smile came easily, and Yuzuki wasn't the only one wearing it; for months now the crew had rested in this small beach-house, beside the blackest sand. It had surprised her at first to learn that not all beaches had black sand, and in fact most of them had white, or yellowish colored sand, but now thinking about it like that was somewhat embarassing...

The sprite had to bite back the helpless peal of anger that surged up in response to the false memory. Unsatisfied, she tried again.

The locks of blonde hair had messed up the floor pretty badly, after Yuzuki had finished her crude, inexperianced attempt at hairdressing. The young, now shorter-haired pilot with his head in her lap had already forgiven her a dozen times over, but she still felt like apologizing. Every time she had said, 'Maybe I shouldn't have,' he had simply shushed her into silence. Then he had touched her face lightly, with the tips of his fingers, and there was a certain peace in it. Thirty minutes felt like hours, so long as the two of them could share that silence.

That was definately a real memory; even as she had lived it, she hadn't understood it, but suddenly in perspective with the false memories which had been created, presumably, from her own inner hopes and desires, it seemed to be the end of something. Or perhaps the beginning.

Blink, whispered her anger, Stop dreaming and give me a target.

@Black Knights:

Nyton's foot nastily stomped down Melisson's foot, opening her up to a flurry of more attacks from Arethusa. However, the interpreter woman dodged by sacrificing the flesh Nyton had trapped under his heel, separating one of her bug components. With her right foot reduced to being her heel only, she hopped back, avoiding in extremis lashing tentacles, her foot then almost instantly regrowing despite the crushed bug that was beneath Nyton's own heel.

If Melisson's body numbered 103 combined creatures (one less for Kai's, another less for the one lying under his foot) then she probably had a way of compacting them inside her body to offer a degree of regeneration for her human form through replacement. That, or more bugs that were tied to the Infection Queen could phase in and merge with her in order to 'repair' the humanoid body.

Still, Nyton kept attacking, forging on and lashing out with all he could muster. Melisson bounced back, weaved around blows and he was having a very hard time keeping her in melee range - she wasn't attacking anymore, she was only being elusive.

Nyton saw her glance over the volumetric displays during one dodge, as the weapon pods lashed out again, keeping the small number of defenders defending Hoshi from being overwhelmed.

A few more steps back for Melisson and the M8 power armor that dogged her, and she was at the base of the ramp (cratered with holes courtesy of Kai's earlier mini-missiles). The armored hatch above the ramp rumbled open.

* * *

Asher's HUD indicated the fuel level of his plasmathrower had been reduced below half. His hosing seemed to be paying dividends in keeping the lurking ghost mishhu at bay, but he'd eventually have to replace his canister with another. No doubt the Ghost Mishhu, in that brief moment, would have its opening to attack.

Kyou for her part slumped down and was still. The blade impaled vertically behind her collarbone had been slick with mishhu paralytic venom and the toxin - delivered deeply in her innards - had quickly won over.

* * *

Yukari makeshift operation succeeded. The bug invading Kai promptly found its head severed from the rest of its insectoid-like body. It twitched and became still.

Hovering up and stealthing herself proved only a flimsy delaying measure in regards to their opponents, however, The ghost mishhu that had swung their way hesitated with only the ailing Kai being seen floating, but close scrutinery revealed Yukari's stealthed, glassy form as the thermoptic stealth concealment lagged slightl in compensating for the bright pyrotechnics from Asher.

Just as Yukari finished her 'procedure', the insubstancial monster unfurled its tentacles to have them pass through her form, intent on incubating broodlings into her.

As for Kai, his life was saved. However, he felt far from okay. A relatively deep cut had still been made through his ribs, his insides still felt raw around the flesh where the mishhu bug had forced itself through, and the thing's corpse formed a lump of molten pain. His breathing was stifled, his heart felt squeezed for space... through that kind of agony, it would take everything he had to provide some semblance of being combative.

Not to mention being in a power armor with an opened up torso armor - baring blatant vulnerability - would make moving around downright awkward.

* * *

Tom danced around.

It was no thespian dance, meant to impress onlookers. The cut Eve dealt him stung enough so that he would have no heart for such. No - this dance was one of survival: one Tom performed with his Daisy for partner as he sought to evade the many phantom tentacles of the Ghost Mishhuvurthyar that had come after him.

He had fired a few token shots, just for the sake of trying, but as expected it didn't deter the creature, which kept after him. His breath panted harshly in his helmet as he forced himself to move in ways he knew tore at the clotted wound and stained his uniform with more red.

Finally, his enemy lost patience with the finesse approach. splaying tentacles wide to corner him, it phased in back into reality to grapple him and twist him to death in its deadly coils.

...and Yuzuki fired, staggering it. The phasing creature lacked any armor save its natural chitin, and each triggerpull blasted of shell, flesh and body juices out of it. Not enough to kill, but enough to wound. Hot lancing beams from drones burned across the same flesh.

With that distraction, with the mishhu above staggering, Tom lifted his LASR up and opened fire full-auto. The rifle chewed through its ammunition magazine like mad, but that same ammunition was delivered into the teak-hard body of the Mishhu, penetrating past its somewhat softer underbelly, savaging through its opened toothy circular maw, savagely opening the underside to force it to splay down the innards the chitin and cartilage had been holding inside.

The mishhu died and loosely slumped over Tom, whom in a no-nonsense fashion batted it aside with his shield a-la-Nimura. His power armor was a bloodstained mess, but there were now only two ghost mishhu left to contend with.

Beep Beep! went the chiming of Shikamaru's AIES inside of his head, giving him the best sound to catch his attention for the ammo counter on his flamethrower. The Malifarian had begun to sweat slightly, cursing things like rational physics when it came to the container of his ammo. Still, he zoomed over battlefield trying to keep a perceptive look on the rest of his allies views and perceptions as he held back the flames. He had a cunning plan.

Well... He thought it was cunning.

"Shit!" he said audibly as he stopped mid-flight for a moment, eying the flamethrower, and slapping his hand against the canister. He shook the device before began to randomize his flight patterns again. "C'mon... Now's not tha' time t'fuck up!"

I'm right in tha' open y'lil squiddy bitch... thought Asher, his eyes surveying the area around him as he continued to 'struggle' with his 'weapon malfunction'. Betta' get it ripe 'fore it gets rotten.

'Cause I aint' scared a'shit.

Even if my weapon's fucked.

Could you even fool a telepathic enemy?

Yukari saw the tentacles coming from somewhere below her. Even as a Neko, she did not have enough time to think it through, but she reacted on instinct.

She spun in place and quickly floated backward into Kai, hoping his moved armor panel would blunt her crashing into him. As she spun and floated back, she stuck out her right arm at where she perceived the target to be, and let loose with her forearm weapon.

Breathe in, breathe out; the thrill of the kill nipped at Yuzuki's sanity, and of all the stimuli acting on her at the moment, she felt that particular feeling very keenly. The Anger was rejoicing, smiling like a living thing, laughing at the sight of blood. For a brief period, in the back of her waking mind, Yuzuki wondered if this was what everybody felt like when they went through combat - if this mad, exilerating, all-encompassing lust for violence was spread equally among all of her sisters, or if it were just her in particular that felt it.

Had she been born this way?

Not for the first time, Yuzuki wondered.

Programmed? Well, I wasn't programmed to...

I don't understand... had been the reply.

Please don't hate me. I just wanted you to know.

Blink, the Anger growled more earnestly, and Yuzuki was aware suddenly of Yukari's predicament. Jarred into action, she began to strafe and take aim. Maybe this wasn't the time to be losing herself in old memories that might not even be real. Well, it was; she could cross verify it if she wanted. Even though the memory was real, and calmed her in a sense, after the experiance she had just undergone the texture felt changed and different. Gradually, Yuzuki began to blank her mind. She had to focus on the combat.

Hey...

And in addition, she tried to breathe steadily, but it wasn't working anymore.

Give me something to shoot at!

Her trigger finger twitched.

In support of Yukari, Yuzuki opened fire.

Kai convulsed, and had to bite his tongue and gag a little to keep from screaming, the result was instead an odd gurgle that was soon cut off as Yukari backed into the Yamataian, whom hadn't even had time to override the manual lock and allow himself to move again. As soon as Kai had signalled the AIES to unlock the armor, he began jerking in pain, heaving up and down in a very chopped motion, obviously in a great deal of pain. He grabbed the chest plate, and flipped it back up, the sudden addition of pressure causing a short cry as his armor began drifting lower, before he put his helmet back on.

It wasn't until then that Kai realized that he could barely breathe, but the Daisy now seemed to be trying to stabilize him, but the pain was still just as bad if not worse than it had been before. All Kai could really do was grit his teeth for the moment, thinking to his AIES "Please fire on anything that comes too close using the forearm guns" to provide for his own defense. Kai worked hard mentally now, struggling to get the Yamataian body's OS to shut down or at least dull the pain reception in his chest, though he knew he couldn't do it to the level a Neko could, even if he was at his best.

Nyton took note of the armored hatch opening. While he was successfully keeping Melisson busy he was uncertain to which end he should take it. The door meant either she was intending to escape, reinforcements were on the way or she was luring him away to isolate and ambush him.

The other concern was all the past damage he had taken. Nyton only managed to overcome the pain through tremendous exertion. With Melisson on the defensive he was forced to push himself just to keep up. There was no reason to pursue Melisson beyond the door. If he followed he could be trapped. If she evaded him then he would engage her again if she chose to return.

With a fluid motion during the attack, Nyton swapped out the tentacle blade to the nodal weaponry and quick drew his left ASP. Nyton began shooting at Melisson at close range while still attempting to engage her at close range before she passed through the open hatch at the top of the ramp. At the same time he remained alert for any reinforcements that may be approaching from the doorway.

Tom was thankful for his cardiovascular endurance. Although it protested loudly, his heart beating fast enough for the engineer to feel the blood pulsating through his head, it held firm.

And he knew he was flexible, but the ghost mishu had pushed that aspect of him to the limit as well. He felt the dull aching of his leg muscles as well. It was a familiar discomfort, one he felt several times in practice, and the only way to work though it was to keep moving. Stopping to rest would only result in him cramping.

He felt the heat wafting off his skin and the painful scratch and sting of his raw chest wound. It was a constant, stinging jab at his chest, frustrating him with every wincing move he made.

Through squinted eyes, he saw the moves being tallied. Kai and Yukari in danger, Yuzuki taking aim at the ghost mishu. Asher in ammo trouble. Nyton still up. Kyou and Nimura down. Kai nearly helpless, Yukari underarmed.

Two ghost mishu left. Somehow, they had to outlast them.

No time to reload. Tom reached back and rearmed himself with his plasma rifle. Hopefully, the downtime gave it some of its resiliency back.

He had to trust Yuzuki with the protection of his fiance.

One ghost mishu unaccounted for... he needed to be the eyes for the group, lest it get the jump on them and score a quick kill.

Where was the phasing bastard?

He took a defensive stance, his drones swarming around him, and waited for the monster to appear.

@black Knights:

The hidden Ghost Mishhuvurthyar leapt for Asher in his faked moment of vulnerability. Misting solid as its tentacles unfurled whiplike to seize him in its coil and then twist him, crush him until he was broken armor and fleshy pulp.

Only a new burst of Shikamaru's plasma flamethrower came roaring at it, broiling it over its chitinous shell, withering the tentacles that had reached out for Asher and melting its four eyes off. When the fuel of Asher's weapon petered out, the agonized screech of the creature could be heard as it writhed from its burns.

Tom was there to pick up where the plasma flamethrower had left off, drone-fired energy beams and plasma bolts slamming into the creature and dropping it to the floor dead. It occured to Asher that, for a gentle man that claimed to have a peaceable nature, Tom Freeman was racking up a whole lot of kills ever since he joined the fighting on Amaya's Gate.

The surviving ghost mishhu's attack on Yukari was thwarted by her quick dodge, which had it spawn out a triplet of broodlings from its tentacles in mid-air rather than inside her body. The little beings phased in and briefly twitched in confusion before Yukari mowed them down with her outstretched forearm weapon.

With Yuzuki pumping shots through its ethereal form, it did not continue its attack and instead phased out enough to become wholly invisible.

Nyton's own battle with Melisson went on, both trading mostly ineffectual hits on the other. The Nepleslia-born man eventually recognized that while the interpreter might have been able to gradually tear pieces off the usual power armor, Arethusa's unique regenerative capabilities made that an impossibility for her. Aside from adding to his growing collection of bruises, she simply was not laying down enough hurt to win a fight against him.

Through his struggle, Hinoto replied to him:

Bringing the gun into the fight brought an end to the stalemate as Nyton fired, but Melisson dipped under and batted his outstretched arm aside in an acrobatic flip that ended up with the tip of her foot flicking under his helmeted chin, snapping his head back in neck-wrenching pain.

Nyton stumbled back, Arethusa lashed out, and Melisson tumbled backwards and away, finally gaining enough distance to phase away. Before Nyton could recover, the ghost mishhuvurthyar that had fled Yuzuki and the other surged out in the real once again and barreled into him. Giving out a mighty roar, it tentacles seized Nyton's legs and it swung him around like a flail against a corner of the wall leading into the passage Melisson had fled through, and then the opposite corner.

Nyton reflexively had his arms come up to protect his head and Arethusa blunted the blows as well as she could while trying to saw away at the attacker's tentacles, but pain exploded several times in Nyton's lean back, sending stars dancing across his vision.

I'm having some SHITTY LUCK today-! was the only thought that went through Nyton's mind as he saw Melisson get away while being slammed against the walls. Grunting and cursing out loud in pain, the man closed his eyes to shut out the stars and grit his teeth.

With the tentacles seizing his legs there was less of a purchase for Arethusa to saw away at the tentacles. Given enough time he figured she could do so but he would be a rattled bag of broken bones by then. Not the best option.

Using his gravimetric control he then timed for the next moment of impact to immediately fly back towards the Ghost Mishhu. With the kinetic force of the thrashing being expended most when he hit the wall he should be able to launch himself at max speed into the underside of the mass to unleash nodal hell into it's flesh while shooting the ASP into it at close range.

"Wha--...! Why would yo--...? I thought you were a nice gu--...! Argh! Shit-fuck shit bitch dick cu--!" Asher exploded in a maddened fury of curses as he let his Plasmathrower canister flip off as he jabbed it in Tom's direction. The Malifarian was in a fit anger extremely deepened by the sudden wrong put on him. "That... That was my-- Argh!" His arms shook as he slammed another canister into the weapon. He had been keeping count of everyone's kills thus far, and it was true, Tom was catching up. Though, that didn't bother him, everyone on this team had a lot of experience, and he had been expecting more competition anyone.

Though... One thing he hadn't expected was one of Tom's drones stealing his kill.

"Son of fuck! Bitch shit fuck dick!" growled Asher, still rather perturbed at this sudden betrayal of trust between comrades. Murdering each other was one thing, that solved conflict, murdering each other's targets though... That's just making conflict. He would've understood if there was someone else fighting with him, or if it was a desperate situation, but Asher would've had it! All it would've taken was a simple lancing with his forearm torch.

"Eat shit!" roared the man, flying over the side Mishhu that was bearing down on the rising Nyton. "and die!" A fresh breath of flame flooded down over the shell of the Mishhu.

Yukari saw Asher focus his rage on the Mishhu attacking Nyton and took a moment to draw her revolver. "Nakamura, status!" The armor's AIES could not give her readings on Kai's vital signs. She searched her surroundings and saw Kyou badly hurt but free from attack.

Going down to her amidst all the fire was not a wise choice in her mind; she had to wait for things to clear.

Asher's ranting harmlessly slid off Tom. The engineer was like a gladiatorial warrior: covered in blood, cut up and tired, but still alive and looking for his next target.

And like a gladiatorial warrior thrust into battle, this was anything but a game for him.

More information to process before taking action.

Rin, Kai, Kyou: down. Yukari: tending wounded. Nyton: ambushed. Asher: assisting Nyton. Yuzuki: Free.

He didn't know Asher's next course of action, but the berserker covered up his line of sight to the ghost Mishu attacking Nyton. He sent his drones to assist the fight, despite not being able to draw a bead on it without risking friendly fire.


Gun out, he backed slowly towards Yukari and Kai's position, defending the Shosa and scouting for Melisson.

She had been too quick, and spooked it. The inexperianced sprite bit her lip in frustration so hard that she could taste the blood from it and let out an ineffectual, muffled, wordless growl.


Checking herself, though just barely, the sprite turned her attention to the broader battlefield, although Asher's profuse swearing still buzzed around in her ears, fueling her darker instinct. Automatically, the memories on that subject which she had held in reserve flooded forth; it was with rising ire that Yuzuki realized that almost every time she had ever seen Westwood - only twice? Maybe three times? - he had been a crass, uppity bastard.

Shut the fuck up, whispered the Anger, vindictively, so suddenly that Yuzuki just barely resisted the urge to scream it over. It took a moment for her to realize that it was the type of disrespectful thing Asher would say. A memory verified; nobody else onboard swore like that.

Why was he talking to the Juni like that? Why?

At some point, after enough had accumulated, oxygen made the chemical transition into Calm, and with that calm came a little bit more focus and clarity - in varying amounts.

Making sure to move slowly, to maintain her stealth, Yuzuki began to drift towards the little group, paranoia gradually stealing over her as she strained to catch any small sign of extraordinary movement that might be Melisson reappearing.