I'm more of an "Angels of Doom"-type person, but that's really only because I haven't seen the TV series
or EoE. Just the first of the Rebuild movies.
...wow, this conversation would make no sense to anyone who doesn't know what
Neon Genesis Evangelion is.
And now for something completely different:
Chaaaange! R-Wiiiiiiing!--
Episode Fourteen
PAGE 40Draco: Gil's assistant, Lina Likemen, notices the commotion outside, and checks to see whether Gil had a plan for this sort of thing. And yes,
Gil actually has an "In Case I (Gil Maxwell) Am Missing, People Are Screaming In Panic, And You Need To Escape And Possibly Save People Plan" - as well as an anti-zombie plan and an anti-Gentleman Adventurer plan. Wow. This guy is CRAZY PREPARED! Anyway, Lina heads upstairs and, after grabbing what's left of Strife's leech gun (I'm wondering
how much is left), rides a flying bicycle to the Aerodome. Once there, she heads into a top secret area, finding a HUGE airship. One problem: she doesn't know how to fly it.
Gil himself, in the meantime, tries to fix the radio, but it starts playing a version of
Dies Irae (he'd rather have static). He calls out that people had better hurry and get on; the
Prime Minister Phantom Merc's only a ground vehicle, after all.
Huntress: As far as Hunty's concerned, the Commander position of
her world has long since been taken (wow, that did not at all sound like... yeah). The blarf starts running away from the Ooze OF DOOM, but Cap'n tells him (it?) to stop. At this point, we find that TMC's taken control of Rane. The resulting conversation is a tad odd, owing to the whole "two minds in one body" situation, so the important stuff is this: Hunty decides to stay away from Mage Manor, gets Rane/TMC to close the entrance in the hospital (with little effort, might I add), and gets her communicator to contact Fraze and ask for a spaceship.
Oh, and the hospital's on 13th and Plague Street. Heh.
Draco: Gil has a plan - get to Brassport and get his airship. Draco just wants to protect the NTWF, no matter the cost.
I wonder if Gil's airship has a manual; Lina finds the button she's been looking for, pushes it... and a bunch of means of getting on board emerge. Yeah.
Strife: In true villain fashion, Underdeep!Strife stands on top of the pillar and watches what's going on around him. He's suspicious of Cele, of course; he's visibly surprised when TMC/Rane shuts
this entrance, but hey, it's only one entrance out of
thousands; and he thinks about who he can use as a scapegoat - perhaps set the Mages and the Spacefleet against each other?
The citizens of Dunburrow who haven't been petrified are heading for Castle Kestrel. In the castle itself, a bunch of NPCs are preparing for the Ooze OF DOOM as best as they can.
And what used to be Merc HQ is now a bunch of stone-shaped things. It looks kinda pretty in the light of dawn, but please, don't get too close.
PFA: Bad things are happening all over the place - hospitals exploding, messages of doom, summarisers being unable to actually summarise due to overwhelming weather conditions, the works. Jernath decides to hop back into the Phantom Merc, wondering if things will get worse while doing so.
Celestial: And after a few days, the summariser is back! *ahem* Anyway, the fact that people are
not going to the Manor isn't good for Underdeep!Cele's plans. She flies over there; the Underdeep within connects to the Underdeep beneath the surface (why'd you think it's called the UNDERdeep, eh?), and uses her fire (and air) magic to create some firey demons that surround the blarf and mercs in Tabloid Town.
Draco: Apparently the
Personal Message Phantom Merc has machine guns! Gil tries shooting the fire demons with those, but it doesn't work. So he starts driving (at Draco's suggestion); Draco hops out along the way.
In B-Port (Brassport), Lina begins to steer the still-unnamed war airship, almost hitting some other airships in the process.
Amnei: Amnei thinks about shooting at Strife, but in the end decides to try and save the pirates instead. He even suggests trying to carry the blarf! The dropship flies over the pirate crew, and drops a rope ladder for people to climb, although hindsight tells us that that's kinda pointless.
Draco: Draco aggravates the fire demons and turns into his shadow form in order to escape. Then he does a
very stupid thing: he challenges Strife to stop standing there and do something! (He'll regret that later. You'll see.) After an inner monologue involving cooking, he tosses a kunai at the guy.
Strife: Underdeep!Strife's voodoo sword OF DOOM deflects the kunai. Then he grabs the sword, leaps all the way down, and basically says,
"I accept your challenge. You go first."Fraze: Just when things get better, they get worse... of course. It's the law of dramatics. Commander Fraze decides that now, it's a war - time to send down troops (with hovercraft), evacuate people, and prepare to declare martial law. Hunty's crew, grab one of the evacuation ships ASAP. Ethan (who he presumably grabs and pulls to safety), what's goin' on? And Amnei, broadcast a message telling people to evacuate.
Meanwhile, Merpo has been having trouble sleeping. Turns out he's not the only one who's been hearing voices; he heads outside the hotel, and sees a patch of Underdeep. So he switches his suit on.
Draco: Lina turns on some sort of public address system built into the war airship, and asks for "shipless people" to get on board. Some people get onto the big airship, as do some other vehicles.
Gil successfully gets out of Tabloid Town... and decides to head to Brassport! Although he'll drop people off at Mage Manor if anyone wants to go there.
Draco knows that he alone won't be able to stop Strife, but if he can buy the others some time, then that'll be more important. And the first move he makes is... wait, what the hell?! Shoryuken?!
Kiddo: Kiddo has clearly lost her mind. Her reaction to the ooze OF DOOM? Freak out and attack the nearest mage... who turns out to be Aly.
Strife: Cyclops acknowledges Fraze's orders, and broadcasts a message to Spacefleet: we got a Code Yellow situation on the planet, and we need soldiers down there, stat!
Cue the Battle Hymn of the Republic from Star Wars. Haggoth is... well, I'm not sure
pleased would be the right word, but he does seem to be glad to have something to do. Even better if explosions are involved!
Underdeep!Strife, meanwhile, borrows from his RPer's knowledge of
Street Fighter lore, and decides that the best way to avoid a Shoryuken would be to... well, avoid it. He does so, gets behind Draco, and decides to try a Rising Slash.
Michelle: Aly is, needless to say, not exactly pleased about being attacked by a crazy beast. She somehow ends up using dark magic, only to then realise that she was using dark magic... which I guess she wasn't supposed to!
--
PAGE 41Draco: --realises that his attempt to imitate... whoever does the Shoryuken
(explanitory comment in 3, 2, 1! Or, y'know, I could just use Google) has failed. He gets out of the way of Strife's attempt at a Rising Slash (somehow putting a boulder where he'd once been), unsheathes his dark katana, and dashes at his opponent, sword at the ready.
Huntress: Well, having fire-demons that scare the blarf surround you in every direction except one (or two; the second being UP) is
not at all suspicious. Why, these things happen
every day! Anyway, Hunty is glad to see that Fraze is safe. In response to the whole evacuation thing, and to the dropship offering a ladder, Cap'n says that whoever wants to get on the dropship can. The rest are going back to the White Weewoo to fetch some stuff - such as the other Meepits. Oh, and Rane goes to get his crew. And the weasels sing that song about it being the end of the world, and they feeeeeeel fiiiiiiine!
Lupehunter: LH turns into his wolfie form and runs back to the Manor. Upon arrival he sees Cele, concludes that she's possessed from the way she's acting, and wonders how he can get her to be de-possessed.
Kiddo: I think we can describe this as an "oops" moment on Aly's part. Apparently, dark magic makes Kiddo more powerful... or... something. After jumping back and making an angry stare at the mage, the night creature turns and runs towards the dojo. Exposition is had - seems there's a mental battle between Kiddo and creature going on!
Fraze: Someone called Nameless (I wonder if there's anyone called "Nanashi" in Spacefleet?) suits up, but before she gets onto a ship she's interrupted by Haggoth, who asks her to give something to the Subcommander on the ship she's going on. Subcommander Whozit gives exposition to everyone on board said ship, recieves the "something" (turns out it's for Fraze), and the ship touches down.
On the planet, Merpo does some reflections and weighing of options, then comes to a decision. He approaches one of the 'Fleet troops with an offer - his suit can protect from the Underdeep, but he needs something in return. Of course, the troopers want to see if the suit can actually do its job.
Strife: Underdeep!Strife's BFS clashes with Draco's katana, resulting in an EPIC SOUND (please do not make). After noticing that Spacefleet seems to have issued Code Yellow, the Big Bad of the Underdeep messengers leaps back (ooze still moving...?) and swings his sword horizontally.
Jina: Having restocked on chloroform, Jina rambles to a weasel before wondering if they can find the ship now.
Owen follows LH back to the Manor. He sees Cele and notices he can't attack without knowing what side she's on, so instead he steps out and says, "Hey, where's the armies?"
Somehow Patri can... fly or something. She sends a message to Sandra to get back to the hospital, and turns to face Sarn.
And Halin and Corenu climb out of the Underdeep, notice what's going on, and decide to... sit back and wait for a while. Yeah.
Draco: Draco is Not In A Good Situation - ooze closing in and whatnot. He kicks (at) Strife, twice, before landing in the ooze, realising he's turning to stone, and readying one last attack.
Zylaa:
HOLYCRAPTHESUMMARYLIVES.
*ahem* Took a while for the effects of the flashbang to wear off on Zylaa. She points out that, y'know, the end of the world doesn't necessarily mean a colossal, planet-destroying explosion. Just ask that one guy from that one
Final Fantasy game and no, I'm not going to tell you which one I'm referring to. She also mentions that the Mages might have golems - hey, that'll probably come in handy, later on! Zylaa tells her weasel horde that they're going to Spacefleet... you know, the big shiny place in the sky? They're happy to oblige.
Celestial: Underdeep!Cele isn't too happy about the fact that Spacefleet is leaving, although thanks to the power of hindsight I don't think she'll have to worry for too much longer. She has other problems, anyway... like someone asking her about those armies she mentioned. So she/it does the same "de-possess" trick as before; Cele says that the ooze is the same thing that's possessing her. Then it possesses her AGAIN. Is anyone surprised?
The fire demons go "poof!" - and then tiny Underdeep entrances start opening up everywhere. And then an Underdeep tornado appears, and it doesn't like the dropship, apparently.
Nasuella: Nasue jumped onto the dropship's ladder the moment she could, but paused when she considered that Cap'n hadn't told her to do so or otherwise. Thankfully, Hunty's okay with it, so a grateful coati climbs up into the ship. She tempts fate by wondering if things will get worse, immediately regrets it (the winds are gettin' stronger), and goes into Shinji Ikari mode, collapsing to the floor and sobbing uncontrollably...
with glowing yellow eyes and voice.
Out of desperation to stop a scene from stalling, I ended up godmoding Sev a little. Sev asks Kovaran if firebirds don't revive, to which Kovaran says, "no, they don't revive". Then BOOM. Ikkin elaborates on what happened in her next post, so stay tuned!
Fraze: So Spacefleet is evacuating people. That's good. Fraze drops down to speak with Subcommander Whozit, and gets his skinsuit. Then he's reintroduced to Merpo. Merpo just wants to get back home, and Fraze is willing to oblige, as long as the ex-'Fleeter will help them with the anti-Underdeep protection. Then it's revealed that said protection involves a combination of magic and technology... hmm.
After getting a call about the suspicious weather and telling people (including the guys on Amnei's ship) to not get too confident, he contacts Huntress and asks if she can tell him anything about Merpo. Because you can always trust your girlfriend in apocalyptic situations. *nod*
Rider: --wonders if the situation would be better if she was drunk, has an internal monologue involving RPG metaphors and her pal Schzain the Hard-To-Pronounce, and wishes that she could escape, like Shiva and the Meepits can. Then something stirs in the water, hungrily eyeing the ship.
And meanwhile, Adeline keeps waiting for passengers. Look! I made a summary that's longer than that part of the post itself! =D
Amneiger: Turns out that Nasue's safely inside the 'Fleet ship when the weather takes a turn for the Underdeeply. Amnei orders the technicians to fly out, but to be careful about it; his plan, apparently, is to keep the Underdeep distracted. Turns out "being careful" means "pretend the engine is broken"! Then Amnei notices the Shinji-esque Nasue, and helps her up into a seat.
Strife: Draco is doomed. Strife knows this, so he leaps back and summons a big pillar of stone, splashing some ooze onto the ninja. (That does it, sir - you're paying the dry-cleaning bill!) Then, seeing that everyone else is occupied, he heads into the heart of Tabloid Town to make himself comfortable. Eep.
--
PAGE 42Draco: If you're going to be petrified, you might as well strike a cool pose. That is what Draco does - he faces death with dignity... or
does he?We now get a scene inside his mind. The Underdeep speaks to him, offering the ninja a familiar deal with the devil. He decides to accept, under the logic that sometimes, the light must travel through the darkness to protect. But this time, the U-Deep does something different: it brings out Draco's dark side, who is only too happy to take control of his body.
Back in the real world, the statue explodes, and Draco is apparently fine... except for the static in his eyes. "Draco" promptly puts some shades on. Turns out the good Draco is powerless to do anything except watch through his own eyes. Sweet dreams, people! Evil!Draco begins heading towards the heart of Tabloid Town, in his ninja-y way.
Celestial: Seeing through the eyes of the Underdeep (I suppose), Celestial sees what the ships are doing and decides
not to go easy on them. The Underdeep agrees.
So what does it do? Something that caused quite a bit of discussion in the OOC thread - it gets little bits of itself (ewwwww), intensifies the weather by creating more tornadoes, surrounds the ships, and sends bits of Underdeep flying at the ships - or rather,
into them. One particular tornado chases the ship Amnei and Nasue are in, and gets some Underdeep inside the cockpit by... going through the window? Huh?
Lupehunter: Lupehunter decides to make his move - that move being "turn into human form, send a ball of light at Underdeep Dragon, and then tackle her". Oh, and congratulating Owen on distracting her.
Ikkin: Remember when I said that Ikkin would say what happened after Sev burst into flames? Well, she did. She also said what Sev did
before then. Mr. Phoenix only starts paying attention to Kovaran's monologue when he mentions that firebirds are "almost immortal", and when he finds out that firebirds don't revive, he says that he is one... and then lets himself burn into ashes. The ooze of DOOM, however, covers the ashes and creates a copy of Sev. In response, the real Sev revives and decides to get the big lizard to Mage Manor.
Ikkin herself waits for the tiger to do something, only to notice the ooze. So she decides to get the heck over to - where else? - Mage Manor.
