2021-06-26: The Worth of a Miracle

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<Pose Tracker> Dominia Yizkor has posed.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1424QBsltfo

The fighting has continued for a short time at this point outside the sheltering shield of Shevat. Solaris' forces can't possibly break through the shield, but if they keep this up -- if the engineers can't repair the damage dealt to Siebzehn's systems -- then there is a real risk of this turning into a prolonged siege.

Shevat can last with the supplies it has for a while and of course can grow its own fuel. But there are things that its people rely on the surface nations to produce, and so, eventually...

...eventually this will become a major problem. And of course it simply won't be possible for anyone to come or go as long as this is going on. Anyone within Shevat is stuck there, and anyone seeking access to Shevat has not even a chance.

And all of this is simply assuming that Solaris doesn't have another trick up their sleeve, some means of handling the barrier or otherwise causing devastation to Shevat.

It had started quite out of the blue.

Sorties with Solaris are not unknown to Shevat and its people, but they are typically dealt with swiftly, courtesy of Maria and Siebzehn. The Shevite commanders simply believe it to be Solaris 'testing' their defenses, perhaps as build-up to another invasion. Solaris has been getting more agitated, in recent years, their intelligence suggests.

But this time, after the great blue Gear had handled one of Gears in the small squadron, one of the others had swept into close range to her and...

...it had exploded in a ball of crackling electricity. Had it even been piloted? Had Solaris really...

Regardless, the effects of the detonation had been immediate: Siebzehn, shielding Maria, had left itself exposed and was thus afflicted. All its systems had locked up and it had begun to plummet from the sky.

It had taken a number of Gears, Heimdall included, to rescue her and Siebzehn and retreat back into Shevat to see what they could do for the afflicted Gear.

After that, Solaris Gears had swarmed the sky around Shevat, seemingly coming out of the woodwork. Several of them have made attempts to probe at the barrier, which so far has held as expected. So this had been their plan of attack all along -- disable Maria's Gear, and then follow by staging an active siege.

But what is their plan? They can't simply be attacking the impenetrable barrier for the sake of attacking it.

Which had left Shevat with no choice: with only a handful of their own pilots and a large amount of enemies at the gate -- even if the gate cannot be breached -- they had turned to the Drifters still within Shevat (and sent a distress call to those without) to ask for what aid they could provide.

The siege must be broken.

One Gear stands out among the rest of the Solarian forces: favoring white exterior plating like most Solaris Gears do, it has been accented with magenta along the thighs and back.

Until now it has been locked in combat with a Shevite Gear, making excellent use of its blade.

"Haaa!"

Until now, as one swing of its crystal-encrusted sword cleaves the Shevite Gear in two. The burning pieces rain down towards the sea below.

"Useless," announces the pilot, Dominia the Earth Element. "Why prolong the inevitable? Surrender and shut down the barrier."

While most of the Solarian forces are massed with her, close in to Shevat, there is a small cluster of them located a good distance away. They're difficult to make out clearly, but the fact that they're not doing anything at the moment might make some people uneasy.

<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

Another Gear stands out - literally - from the other Gears it's with by not looking like them at all.

White, with a red mane with a golden plate, a candy-cane striped tail as the segments alternate between white and red, and great red-plated wings, it isn't humanoid at all but a large winged lion. It's also bigger than most Gears, simply by virtue of being a quadruped rather than a biped; it's below average at the shoulder, but it's noticably longer than most Gears are tall.

It also stands out by not standing; it is flying, making great circles around the battlefield before darting in for a blast of flame, or raking at a Shevite Gear with claws and teeth and tail like a stinger.

"Well you don't have to be mean about it," Seraphita sends back to Dominia, though she keeps her comments off the main channel so that the rest of the Solarians can't hear it. "I'm sure they'll give up as soon as they realize it! It's all military out here so it's real easy to let loose~ - and they know they can't stand up to that!"

Grandgrowl dives again, landing for a moment. Clamping down on the stone with all four clawed feet, it 'inhales' and breathes a stream of flame like a flamethrower into a cluster of defenders, forcing them to break their lines or melt down.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Shit...!" Fei swears as he throws himself into Weltall. "I should've spent more time discussing how to even get to Solaris than about dumb past life bullshit...!"

But then he would have always wondered, wouldn't he? This is ... His homeland in a way even if Adlehyde has long since become 'home' to him. But to make matters worse... Siebzehn is downed and... Elly doesn't even have a functional gear right now.

"We can't lose. We can't... Otherwise Elly might..." Fei murmurs to Weltall. "So whatever happens... We save Shevat. Okay ... partner?"

At least it's easy to tell which are the commanders here. If they can fend them off, Fei thinks, maybe Solaris will back off. ... Provided they can make this quick enough.

"Just ... don't destroy the city. Okay?"

No promises

Fei grimaces but he doesn't have much choice. Instead he launches out, propelling like some kind of battering ram towards the Bladegash. Fei should say something dramatic, shouldn't he? All the other robot pilots would say something right now.

He tries to think of it but ultimately doesn't have enough time to provide a quip of any kind before throwing his fist towards Dominia's gear.

He sighs to himself. "I guess I'm not really that kind of robot pilot. Would've been nice, though. I just hope Elly'll be okay."

He doesn't want to end up like Lacan. The idea of being stuck as Grahf for a thousand years makes him feel sick to his stomach.

...He hopes his fuel holds out.

...He hopes he isn't knocked to the earth below.

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Oh Shit It's Weltall!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Command Gear Dust Dragoon!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Oh Shit It's Weltall for 145 hit points!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied doesn't really have a Gear that she'd like to take into battle; there is Muni-Muni, but the Dragon's never been one for heavy, prolonged combat -- she's always been the one who'd rather play with children and become a bouncy castle -- and there's also the question of the exposed cockpit and all, which wouldn't do much good when facing actual Gears -- let alone Solaris' Elite.

    No, her role throughout the attacks has been part of the first responders and medical team, where she should be; as Shevite Gears burn away and are cleaved, there's a wince from the Hyadean as several Shevat soldiers shout and make a hasty retreat.

    It's an incredibly perilous job, trying to rescue the wounded in the middle of an active battlefield; the first responders don't really have suitable vehicles to make it even remotely safer. All they have is some Gears to protect them, but...

    Her eyes widen, when Grandgrowl engages one of the Shevat defenders coming in close -- their protection. In one fiery burst, the Gear's incendiary burst of flames causes it to melt down--

    "I--I can't hold on much longer--!!"

    Riesenlied winces as the pilot's cry is cut short by an explosion; the Gear's legs turn into little more than slag, and then explode; there's another cry as the medics take cover, the fire and debris threatening their position.

    "Hurry, that way is not barred...!" Riesenlied exclaims as she thrusts her hand, a familiar golden barrier of light buying time as various molten bits and parts of shattered Gears bounce against it; she's flagging as well, as Seraphita's fire is simply too much to deal with right now -- their power difference is too great.

    A yelp, as the scathing drafts start to singe; there's no other choice.

    "Leon-- Lily, can you hear me, anyone?" Riesenlied blurts random friendly names. "The Medic team is struggling, our Gear detail was taken out..."

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon told Queen Zephyr that he would help protect Shevat. Part of having an alliance is keeping allies safe; to that end, he has to assist with that. The fact that they could repair Weglaff is a boon. When word came of a siege in the making, his decision was simple: sortie the Wolves, and try to break it.

Fortunately, Shevat can do more than repairs. He stops as he looks up at Weglaff; it now has a new backpack, with a large thruster cone in the center on a ball turret, and several smaller ones. He stares for a second, then glances at a mechanic.

"It should fly, Captain Albus," they say.

"Good," Leon says. "I'll try to not burn the system out on the first flight." He cracks a smile, and then begins to climb up.

A LITTLE LATER

One of the hangars on Shevat opens. There is a blur of blue, as the Weglaff Custom launches out -- and a streak of red from the single camera eye mounted inside the head. It swivels, turning to lock onto Dominia's Gear. The crystalline sword reflects on the HUD, glittering.

And Weglaff, if more shakily than Leon would like, is flying. "Leon Albus, Weglaff Custom!" he says into the local network. "Launching!"

Weglaff lifts up -- and flies up behind Weltall. Then, over Weltall, hovering high in the air. Leon leans forward in his cockpit, teeth gritted, as he grabs one of the controls. Weglaff's arm lifts -- and then the huge gatling cannon on it opens fire, pouring out a burst of rounds that go hurtling towards Dominia's Gear.

His radio crackles. His eyes widening as he hears Riesenlied's voice. His jaw sets; he feels a tension in his chest and neck. "Riesenlied. I read you. Where are you located? Can you get deeper into the city?"

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Gatling Strafe!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Leon Albus's Gatling Strafe for 120 hit points!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    A part of Ethius feels exposed after the inquiry about whether or not he was of Shevat. There are precious few places left he could be from, and something about that has him on pins, needles, and other sensations uncomfortable to someone whose presence very rarely ever reassures. Nonetheless, the Symbologist saboteur is among those who answers the call, albeit with a careful adherence to more or less following the leads of others rather than innovate a charge or action himself.

     The Aiguille - a salvaged Gear from the Kattelox region - deploys among the others with its laser rifle-staff at the ready, maneuvering in short rapid bursts with dash jets that do not project heat readings so long as they stay in such short spurts. (It has nothing to overcome direct visual line-of-sight of it, though.)

     Somehow, the borrowed flight equipment comes to Ethius a bit more easily than he'd admit out loud, to the point he recognizes the inherent peril of having some key information gauges missing. He does not speculate out loud on specifics.

     "Aiguille," comes Ethius' voice, "I'm moving to reinforce from the west."

     The rifle-staff is raised, its segments charging energy between one another before the one at the forefront discharges a thin, needle-like lancing burst of energy towards one of the key identified targets. (The Bladegash's pilot will have zero issue in triangulating where it's come from - that is the downside of using beam weaponry.)

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Snap!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Evil sky people, attacking FRIENDLY sky people? Not in Cyre Lorentz's sky, people!

Of course, high-tailing it from the literal moon complicated things somewhat. The trip from Gagazet back to Filgaia and then back up Babel Tower had taken more time than Cyre would have liked. From what he had heard, the situation was... not immediately dire, but shall soon be that dire. Hunger can kill just as easily as a bullet, and that applies to both humans and machines. Tight as the Solarian blockade has become, there's little hope for relief until the flying city's most stalwart defender can come back online.

But then, that's only if Shevat's second-most-stalwart defenders aren't able to pick up the slack.

The flickering, booming flashes of distant gunfire high above the clouds are all the signal Cyre requires. The Huracan was built from a high mobility frame, but reaching the lofty heights where Shevat resides is impossible for any ordinary flying machine. Thankfully, an elevator did most of the climbing for him. From here, atop Babel Tower, the approach is as simple as pushing a big red button on his console.

...And then bracing and hoping that the oversized Overboost Module mounted to the Huracan's shoulders don't explode.

The sky disappears into a rush of blue and white as velocity takes hold. The Huracan shoots through the air at frankly ridiculous speeds, a dozen auxillary thrusters blazing white-hot across the Huracan's shoulders. Cyre grits his teeth to keep from biting through his tongue as he races by Solaris and Shevat gears alike. Now all he has to do is thread the needle, and...

"SHIT--" Cyre hisses through his teeth, struggling against his controls. The Huracan sails forward and-- clips a corner of the sky-city's main gate. A chunk of armor goes flying and smashes into the rifle of an unfortunate Solarian Gear, and the Huracan itself goes spinning wildly into the front gate...

...And, as it happens, potentially directly into a certain red lion.

...Shield first, of course. There's a damn good reason Cyre has one on hand.

GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Seraphita with TRTG-XIV Strike Shield!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

There is a part of Lily Keil that was waiting for something like this--was waiting for Solaris to strike, knowing that it was inevitable. But that isn't the sort of thing one wishes on an ally. Nevertheless, when the call was put out... she was already on the way to her Gear, already moving towards it and then starting up its initiation sequences. Hellerune Custom has been through many battles since it was first stolen from a Solarian convoy, and this will be yet another where it faces those it was meant to serve.

It will not, if Lily has her way, be the last.

"Lily Keil, Hellerune Custom! Launching!," Lily says over the radio to the others, her great Gear sailing through the air. Hellerune is black and humanoid, resembling nothing more than an armored soldier with a Gear-scaled spear on its back, limbs spindly and head adorned with pointed helmet.

'Leon-- Lily, can you hear me, anyone?'

"Hellerune here--I copy, Riesenlied. I'm on the way!"

"Hope you're ready."

Hellerune is not alone, after all. The black Gear rushes towards Riesenlied's position, boosters blazing behind as it flies. She charges straight towards Grandgrowl's flames, Ether booster rumbling to life as a sudden rush of ice-cold blue mist large enough for a building crashes towards the flames, while Hellerune Custom hovers in front of Riesenlied's golden barrier.

"Inevitable my ass," Lily crackles over a common frequency. "Magilou--how do you feel about fire?" Her displays hone in on Riesenlied in particular, her Gear's hand stretching out towards her.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Seraphita with MistBurst!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Shevat was under attack. They owed a lot to them - the cooperation of Shevat was key to their plans to deal with Solaris. But more importantly, there are people there in need of protecting. Jacqueline doesn't like fighting, if she can avoid it, but she isn't going to abandon them.

And so that's why the CK-01 Jaeger, Jacqueline's Gear, is presently standing on one of Shevat's platforms. A wall of earth has been constructed for cover, which is currently being used to steady her ARM as she takes aim for Bladegash - unleashing an aimed shot right for what she thinks might be a fuel supply. And then, she fires, before quick ducking the Jaeger back down behind her barricade and swapping out her sidearm's ammunition.

She notes, with a glum frown in her cockpit, everyone else flying about here and there. This isn't the first time she'd found herself wishing her Gear was equipped with flight capabilities. When this battle is over, she might need to have a chat with some of Shevat's engineers.

GS: CRITICAL! Seraphita fully evades Cyre H. Lorentz's TRTG-XIV Strike Shield for 0 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Fuel Snipe!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Seraphita critically guards Lily Keil's MistBurst for 52 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Riposte applied to Lily Keil!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Snap for 115 hit points!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: CRITICAL! Dominia Yizkor takes a glancing hit from Jacqueline Barber's Fuel Snipe for 102 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Disease and Corrode applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

As much as Solaris has been banging on Shevat's front door, so Xantia has been doing the same from the other side, metaphorically speaking. Nobody needed to ask her to help to defend Shevat, she's been practically begging to let her go out there. This policy of Shevat's to handle their problems by themselves as much as possible isn't something that Xantia's ever understood, but it absolutely doesn't make sense anymore now. They were asked for their help, so why aren't they letting her help? Some of her friends needed to step in to calm her down and stop badgering the Gear hangar staff members, only trying to do their jobs.

Still, asking Xantia to be patient and not rush into things is asking a lot normally; it's that much more difficult for her to agree where Solaris is involved. Motivation to fight them is bordering on a compulsion these days. She'd be lying if she claimed the urge wasn't so strong that she considered forcing her way out. Her rational side won out in that regard, but not so strongly that she wasn't just about to storm off to seek permission from Queen Zephyr herself. Thankfully, at that time their assistance is finally, finally requested.

"You should've said so in the first place!" Xantia responds as soon as she hears this, wasting no more time in prepping for launch.

Well, 'launch' as in 'leaving the hangar', at any rate. Her Gear hasn't received any sort of flight upgrade yet. Xantia can only make it as far as the edge of Shevat's outer ring, clutching the controls in frustration at being unable to engage as directly as many others can.

Light reflects off the silver, skeletal form of Silvestris as it stands facing the assembles Solarian forces outside of Shevat. The challenge it bellows comes in the form of a guttural screech, not just unpleasant on the ears, but also on mechanical systems, serving as a form of sonic attack.

Had all gone as planned for the Gear, it may have been on the opposite side - it was originally meant for Gebler's use. Who's piloting is now has not been officially confirmed by Solaris, but considering they know it's with the Black Wolves, and several of their members' Gears are known, who this must be can be narrowed down considerably.

It's only now that Xantia fully takes stock of the enemies in front of her, noting Grandgrowl in particular. "Huh... that one looks like you a little. Think that's what they meant to make you look like, Silvy?"

...yes, she gave her Gear a nickname and talks to it at times. Doesn't everyone?

GS: Xantia has attacked Seraphita with Hypersonic Screech!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Seraphita takes a solid hit from Xantia's Hypersonic Screech for 232 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break applied to Seraphita!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "Oh, we're under attack. Fancy that! Oh, well, I'm sure you can handle it."

    "Oh? You mean to say the big, bad sky city is being incontrovertibly mean to you? I don't see how that's my problem. I'm a fragile woman in her prime, you know! I know better than to kick a giant robot!"

    "Oh, by the way, do you happen to know the way to service exit?"

    When Magilou was handed a radio in the midst of this terrible idea, this is exactly what she said: "This so does not go with my outfit. Magikazam!" Lo does she cast a magic spell, only to pry one of the knobs from it, wires and all, tucking the metal around her ear. Somehow...

    ... somehow, it still transmits over that little bauble, even though there's none of the machinery involved??? The radio, discarded on some surface or another, does SEEM to still be working. Has she created a bridge between the blood and bones of this radio..?! When will the crimes of witches cease?!

    It was a radio, of course, given to her by...

    There's something on Hellerune's shoulder. a tiny speck of hot pink and midnight blue. "Right, right," says the speck, as Hellerune's shoulder, bursting through those flames --

    -- gains a glorious glittering beehive barrier --

    -- courtesy the ancient witch standing there, one hand steadying herself on Hellerune's metal. "Fire is dire, but let's put water down to the wire!" Magilou chirps, a terrible rhyme which nonetheless transmits over her gutted excuse for a radio. "Hope this works..."

    Here's a fun point of order about Seraphic glyphs. Now Magilou is standing on Hellerune, it just so happens that the aqua ring of magic swirling around goes to the robot's feet, at robot size.

    "... Aqua Split!"

    And so, water splashes over the fire of Riesenlied's medic gear, giving her a path to Hellerune and safety. Somehow, it doesn't seem to actually hurt Riesenlied. That is the power of cinematics.

GS: Magilou has attacked Seraphita with Cinematic Aqua Split!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Seraphita critically guards Magilou's Cinematic Aqua Split for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraphita activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    As it so happened, Ida had just finished a long trip up Babel Tower, her Gear laden with specialty goods and raw material. Her cargo included two crates of assorted good liquors, destined for the Deep Sea Bros.--while not technically bootlegging, it helped put an illicit spin on the oenerous trip up Babel Tower. Fortunately, her first journey to Shevat gave her an idea what not to do, and she was lucky enough not to run into any particularly troublesome obstacles.

    TEN MINUTES AGO

    "Solarian craft inbound," says a voice over the emergency intercom. "Remain calm and proceed to shelter segments. Military and medical personnel, report to your stations."

    Ida looks up. The warm, welcoming verdance of the royal gardens fall away, leaving only the broad sky, and glints of silver against the clouds. Moments later, lights flare out, and the shield ignites; blossoms of fire bloom against the protective glow.

    "Solarian craft inbound. Remain calm and proceed to shelter segments..."

    Ida rises from her seat. She's still wearing her pilot's suit, the old Day of Collapse-era flightsuit her father refurbished to protect her. She plucks the helmet from the bench beside her, dons it, slides the seal into place. The familiar scent of filtered, recycled air fills her nostrils, and she begins to run.

    NOW

    Yet another Gear bursts from Alphel Aura's primary hangar, its livery blue and gold and black. Unlike Weltall, Weglaff, and Hellerune, it can't fly--so instead, the Dust Dragoon burns its jets, hard, brute-forcing its way through the air. In its cockpit, Ida keeps her foot on the pedal, well aware of the yawning sea far below. She doesn't relax until the machine finishes its arc, landing with a heavy thunk next to one of the city's defensive turrets. Even then, well, this is a fight. Ida never truly relaxes.

    "Not today," Ida says to the Solarian pilot. Her voice could freeze hell. "You've taken enough from us. From all of us. Now you get what you deserve." She toggles the radio over to the friendly band before continuing. "Black Wolves, this is Dust Dragoon. Preparing to provide support--opening AWACS channel. Standby for data uplink."

    The Three-Dragon Cannon--the Dust Dragoon's primary armament--slides up from the rack on its back, flipping over the machine's shoulder on rails. The Gear grabs the weapon, panels on its hands sliding loose to allow a close interlink--but it doesn't fire. Instead, Ida trains the machine's sensors on the blade-wielding Gear, whose pilot she doesn't recognize. Data pours into Weltall's banks as soon as it comes in, giving Fei a better idea of what his foe can do.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Early Warning!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong accepts Ida Everstead-Rey's Early Warning for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Fei Fong Wong!
GS: Riposte applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

Billy did not participate in the previous sortie - with everything he's gone through recently, the former(...?) Etone hasn't been entirely together enough for that. But, he is here, at least. Perhaps predictably, with his relationship with his farther repaired somewhat by recent revelations, Jessie has proceeded to eff off to God-knows-where assisting the Shevat leadership with investigating the M Plan and shoring up their local defenses. That was proved more vital by the attack by Odessa some weeks back - and now Solaris has shown up to deal their own blow.

Well, Billy has his own ways of helping.

Renmazuo isn't first off the mark, but soon enough, the fluttering blue-and-yellow cape of the blue-and-yellow Etone Gear roars out of the launch catapults, Billy's hand guiding the throttle. "Fei! Leon! I'm here!"

His hands find the weapons controls, and Renmazuo's outstretched arm shifts only slightly before cracking forth with a series of blasts from the wrist blasters, Ether-infused shots landing and exploding into sacred Etone seals that scar Bladegash's hull.

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Lily Keil with Saved by Lily!!!
GS: Riesenlied has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Hard Snap!
GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Riesenlied calls for people to intervene, and many Gears come to the aid of Shevat, in various states of repair and build, of differing abilities and types.

    Including..... one that just got repaired, ready to begin the grand task of establishing a trade route with a city lost within the clouds.

    "Don't worry, Riese! I'm comin' in! Thank Guardians I fueled yesterday, because man, that'd be *awkward* and wait, just how many are attacking?"

    Gwen Whitlock, super courier and temporary defender of Shevat, is here.

    A Gear, built like someone was inspired by a chicken but couldn't figure out if they should go with an egg shape and then just went 'heck with it, I'll make it look like a Gear on chicken legs and it will be a fishing vessel' flies in, with a new coat of blue-green paint!

    "Soooooooooooo." It's Gwen's voice, over the intercom. ".... Would'ja be interested in just callin' it even and going back? I mean, you're kinda outnumbered here, and Solaris can't match, like, the combined will of a buncha scrappy Drifters, y'know?"

    One of the Halcyone's arms revolves, revealing an opening where a harpoon shoots out, aimed for Seraphita's Gear. "I got a new A/C and a new coat of paint, so I'm just itchin' t'see just how great my baby can do against the might of Solaris's finest!"

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Seraphita with Portman-tow!
GS: Gwen Whitlock enters a Counter stance!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

It seems as if they won't be keeping that promise after all, thinks Elly van Houten, hugging her knees while sitting upon a bench, alone.

Alone, to some extent, on purpose. She had volunteered to go out and try and do a last round up for stragglers and to help anyone who had run into problems to get to the interior, sheltering blocks - the places, largely improvised and after the fact, with greater armor protection. Places which can be contained; places which are, in principle, more protected.

Elly does not know everything of Shevat but she has enough experience with sky-life, with the construction of places like this, to know that this is a vain hope: its main advantage would be to...

To what, Elly thinks, her chin on her knees in the eerie silence. The air has the faint and subtle scent of the Chu-Chus, even now, but they have gone to their own shelters. Perhaps the last place they will go, Elly thinks.

I should... she thinks.

The thought doesn't gel. The receptor site of the internal grammar reaches for a subject, for a predicate. 'Go to Fei and Emeralda,' perhaps. 'Run away,' that's a popular one, Elly thinks. I should...

I should just...

Her eyes shut, even as a distant announcement reminds the people of Shevat for the umpteenth time, in a gentle and calming voice, to -

"Chu should get to shelter, young lady."

Elly startles up. She recognizes the Chu-Chu: he recognizes her in the same moment. Graying fur, a slightly crooked incisor, a little dot of gray in one of his eyes. An elder of the group.

"Oh! I remember chu," the old Chu says: "Chu had that panic attack the other week, right? Did chu get separated from your family?"

Elly swallows, and says, wanly, "Yes."

"Well..."

The old rodent considers and Elly thinks: By sunset, he might...
All the others might...
The Queen and her people might...
Riesenlied, Leon, Lily might...
Billy, Dr. Uzuki, Yui, little Midori might...
ALL of them might...

Maybe not Fei? Or Emeralda? A false hope, Elly thinks. Fei might survive with his power, or Emeralda with her unique body. But in some ways, it might...

The old rodent speaks: "Chu should try to get to where they are, but if chu don't think chu can, we have room in our block. Chu might just find it a little short."

Despite the kindness, Elly hugs her knees closer to her chest. "... You're worried about me, even in a time like this? I'm surprised you're not already with the others."

"Someone's gotta look out for the strays," the old rodent answers.

Elly's thoughts are silent for moments. The distant announcement begins again.

"I can't stay forever, Miss. I gotta check the whole level. Do chu think chu can walk?" the old rodent says, still gentle.

"I don't know where to go," Elly says.

The old rodent begins to speak - stops - and offers: "Chu should go where you won't have any regrets."

"I'm scared," Elly says, quietly.

The old rodent steps forwards, bracing himself with a small metal pole as is his wont. As he passes near Elly, he reaches up, one small, warm paw atop the back of her hand.

"Me chu," he says. "It's okay. What matters is that chu do what chu can, despite being scared. I hope I'll see chu again, young lady."

He walks off.

Moments later, Elly stands up, and walks towards the empty holloways of Shevat.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

I'm scared, Elly thinks.

It's not really an adequate word to encompass the writhing visceral agony of what she felt then, when she saw THAT machine, and when she felt THAT place, and which doubled and redoubled when she saw the cockpit block open for her without a single signal or anything. She had thought for a moment that the Queen might have been putting on a show for her, but the theory didn't hold water: if she wanted to make her do it, she would not have...

The wisps of paranoia dissipate as Elly's feet move. Her eyes stay downturned, her arms wrapped loosely round herself.

I'm scared because I think I do recognize it, a little, and I don't -

I don't want to be someone else, Elly thinks. That's all well and good for the ancient people or even the people without amnesia. Fei's struggles. He has that dark and terrible power within him, even if it isn't, perhaps, what she feared. But she just wants to be Elly. She wishes she had never gone to Jugend (even if it means she would still be there). She wishes she had never gone to school (even if it means she would have been too ill). She wishes...

Elly stares at the lift floor.

What a failure, Elly thinks. I couldn't raise a hand against Siebzehn and because of that now I can't raise a hand *for* Siebzehn. All I did was dither. I'm lucky I didn't die, and I suppose maybe now I will.

Her face tightens where nobody can see it. I shouldn't have said that stuff to Tidus. Now they'll be counting on us. Elly's eyes water: Why did I even assume any of this would go well?

Elly watches the hangar floor as she keeps walking.

At least they might succeed, Elly thinks, before...

Her head tilts back and she gazes upwards.

The cockpit of the Gear is open; whether still, or again, she can't say.

Elly feels that clammy leaking sensation in the back of her body, and the sudden surge in her pulse rate, and the sweat dampening her skin, as the panic tries to climb back up her throat and spine. She pants to herself, tightens her jaw, and shakes her head in tight little arcs fast enough to make her hair rustle.

It feels like magnets of the same polarity pushing away from each other, somehow. As seconds tick, Elly thinks, for some reason, not of any of her usual allies and comrades and beloved, but of someone she has only met a handful of times.

Yuna, Elly thinks: Yuna stood up to evil, stood up to evil to its *face* with only a handful of friends. If Yuna was right here she would have gotten in already. The adrenalin-panic fizzes in response to a cupful of shame, but the psychic chemistry is eased enough. Just enough.

Elly hugs herself a little tighter. I can't just think of myself, she thinks: Even now, I'm being selfish. I -

There is a silent, smooth motion, punctuated by sonorous machine-sounds on either side of her, as the Gear kneels down. When Elly opens her eyes and looks up, a hand has already been slid down: somehow, she is unsurprised. She clasps onto the Gear's thumb, and she rises up; she is swallowed inside; and the front of the Gear slides soundlessly shut.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

OUTSIDE:

Everyone with an Empathite crystal radio sees it flicker and glow for a moment, accompanied by a curious hum, or perhaps a brief choral note. This lasts less than a second, then passes.

That is not quite true. Not everyone with an Empathite crystal radio: Only those who are within visual line of sight of Shevat, or perhaps a little more; as well as a space on the side of Filgaia directly opposite of Shevat, but in the same hemisphere.

Perhaps four heart beats later, Elly's voice speaks out. It comes through with such crystal clarity, free of the usual little burrs and crackles that accompany inter-Gear communication or any sort of electrical signalling - or Empathite voice transmission for that matter - that some might wonder if Elly was in their cockpit all along, and just didn't say anything til right now.

"Dominia... Seraphita... is that you?"

'Leon-- Lily, can you hear me, anyone?'

"I hear you," Elly says - to everyone, but also, to Riesenlied.

"All attackers," Elly says. "If you want to leave these forces... power down your weapons and land on the surface. But... I don't expect that you will."

"But you have to leave," Elly says. "Stop the attack now. Alright? There won't be any point to it. They'll resist you to the last... none of you, none of them, nobody needs to suffer any longer. Just... turn around, and go. Please."

At this point a new-looking Gear emerges from Shevat's hangars.

It floats easily, with low-visibility thrust. Salmon-hued fins and feathers and pauldrons extend around it, a cladding around a slim doll's body. In its left hand is a mace; that is the only discernible weapons system.

It looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/c0plw0Y.png

DC: Elhaym van Houten switches forms to El-Regulus!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes a solid hit from Billy Lee Black's Hard Snap for 231 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mighty applied to Billy Lee Black!
GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Dominia Yizkor has posed.

    "Hmph. Fools like these don't know when they're already beaten," replies Dominia to Seraphita over that private channel. "It's time to make it clear to them. Besides..."

    Something else is on Dominia's mind -- Seraphita will be able to tell that much, knowing her as well as she does. But precisely whatever it is may remain a mystery to her, even now.

    It might well have been that Dominia would have set her sights on another one of the few Shevite Gears out on the field, further debilitating their numbers. But instead, in comes Fei in Weltall rather like a battering ram. Bladegash pivots sharply, interposing its well-armored left arm to take that blow across it. The Gear's arm shakes for a moment but holds.

    "You--!" shouts Dominia, gaze falling upon that Gear, that Gear that all of Gebler knows so very well. ...And which she, in particular, has come to know. "...I see. If you are here, then 'she' must also be here! Elhaym, where are you? Show yourself!"

    Her Gear grips its blade tightly and swings for Weltall in a wide arc.

    And she would have followed up on it, if it had not been in this moment that the Weglaff, still in flight, closed in upon her. A hexagonal shield bursts into existance before her Gear, but a few stray shots still find their way to Bladegash, marring its plating for the moment.

    "Tch," hisses Dominia, before swinging her sword with force; a wave of pressure scythes through the air towards Leon's Weglaff.

    That barrier of hers flashes into existance again in the next blink of an eye; Bladegash's head turns in the direction of the Aiguille as the compacted energy wave unspools and washes across its surface. "Not quick enough," she says to Ethius, swinging her blade through the air to rip off another shockwave in its direction even as she begins to break away from Weltall, perhaps picking her next target already.

    The Gear turns abruptly, as if it had seen something coming--

    And even the Element's Gear is not quite fast enough to escape that shot that rocks through the air and punctures one of Bladegash's tanks. "--Tch, the tank," she says over the line to Seraphita. "Don't worry about it, Sera. I'll make sure they don't get another shot." And she rockets through the air towards Jacqueline's machine, descending from above with her blade as if intending to break her Gear to pieces with the impact.

    Billy, taking advantage of this particular moment, though, lines up his shot and takes it. No shield appears before the Ether-infused shots erupt across Bladegash's armored plating; whatever the precise reason, it's clear that the Element did not expect him (or anyone) to do that. As a result, she breaks from Jacqueline's airspace, putting distance between her, Jay, and Billy's machines alike.

    "What 'I' deserve, is it?" Dominia replies to Ida. "And what would that be? I know your ways. Deceitful Lambs..."

    The air around her Gear twists, sharp stone and crystal manifesting in the space surrounding Bladegash. "...this is what you've earned!" The stone and crystal erupts like a storm around her, screaming through the air for Renmazuo and Dust Dragoon without mercy.

    'Inevitable, my ass', says Lily, and the pilot of Bladegash cannot help but bark out a laugh. "Do you see, Seraphita? They're all fools!" In the distance the arrayed forces of Solaris still on standby yet loom, waiting for some signal or sign, perhaps. Other Solarian Gears continued to make their attempts at the barrier. No trick of theirs seems to have much effect, still. And yet, one might be given to wonder still what they're planning.

    This is far from the first attack ever made on Shevat. This is not the first time they have engaged the barrier.

    Bladegash raises again its blade.

    And a new Gear arrives in that very moment.

    "What sort of Gear is that?" Dominia asks of Seraphita, over their private line. "I haven't seen one that looks like that before. Wait..."

    The pilot of this strange new Gear has begun to speak.

    "Elhaym! There you are. I knew that you had to be here! After all he is here, isn't he? I've heard the rumors, Elhaym."

    Bladegash has begun to advance on El-Regulus, blade raised.

    "Leave? I don't think so. We've been told to recover you if at all possible. And we have a mission to complete. ...That's right. 'Disable Shevat's defender and destroy the barrier'! And I aim to complete it! En guarde, Elhaym!"

    The air itself screams as Dominia snaps her sword in Elly's direction, the shockwave itself as sharp as a blade.

GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Rising Blade!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Leon Albus with Negation Edge!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Straight Slash!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Celestial Strike!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Terra Catalyst!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Billy Lee Black with Terra Catalyst!
GS: Dominia Yizkor spends 1 Combo on Interrupt!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Intrude!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes 45 damage from Corrode!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has completed her action.
GS: Leon Albus takes a glancing hit from Dominia Yizkor's Negation Edge for 106 hit points!
GS: Jam applied to Leon Albus!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Dominia Yizkor's Straight Slash for 270 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Dominia Yizkor's Rising Blade for 153 hit points!
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a glancing hit from Dominia Yizkor's Intrude for 114 hit points!
GS: Elhaym van Houten activates Evade bonus!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey critically guards Dominia Yizkor's Terra Catalyst for 27 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Guard bonus!
GS: CRITICAL! Jacqueline Barber takes a glancing hit from Dominia Yizkor's Celestial Strike for 189 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Glad to have you with us, Billy," Leon says. "Let's see what we can do about this one."

He glances towards Hellerune -- and there is a flash of relief to see that Lily rushes to Riesenlied. Then, his eyes are back onto the Gear that Dominia pilots. He grits his teeth; then he hears a voice crackle over the empathite radio. "Elly!? But--"

She isn't in Vierge, he realizes. He cuts himself short -- and then he nods his head. "I hear you! Fall into formation with us! We'll push them back!"

He looks back to Bladegash, already doing battle with Weltall. He sees the blade cut down -- and the blast of pressure slicing through the sky. "HYAH!" Leon shouts, as he makes the Weglaff Custom shoot to one side, the blast of pressure scraping along armor plating on the left calf. Rivets pop out, raining down on the ground below, as some of the armor crumples inward.

He flicks a switch -- and the crosshairs on the HUD twists, turning red -- and the gatling cannon opens fire again. This time, the stream of rounds is constant -- and with the flight pack, the Weglaff begins to hover and rotate, rounds shooting at the Bladegash from the side, too. "Fei! I'll steer clear of you! Let's not let her get too much attention on Elly!"

GS: Leon Albus spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Gatling Lock!
GS: Leon Albus enters a Counter stance!
GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

"Okay!" Seraphita's response to Dominia is bright and upbeat and exactly what you might expect from her. "But if there's trouble, I'll be there like a shooting star! More trouble, I mean. I don't let my people get hurt if I can help it!" Her people - Dominia is one. She has so few, but the Elements - they're together forever.

Seraphita doesn't aim at medics. It's a rule, and she follows the rules - at least rules like that. She has decided that this, being a strictly military operation, is going to be fought between her and soldiers, or at least fighters.

But Shevite Gears *are* targets, and she won't apologize for flaming the one she did. She turns aside from it afterwards.

"...!"

Whether a sixth sense, a prodigy's skill, or long hours of training, Seraphita suddenly jerks her controls just as Cyre plummets down from above. She doesn't recognize the Huracan as its shield impacts the ground where she was a moment later, and because she doesn't recognize it her response is instantaneous; already channeling flame, Seraphita flares it, causing a circular pulse to radiate away from her.

And it's a good thing too. The flame pulse gets to Cyre, but it can't progress further, because it is encountering two things that stop it: Lily's ice and Magilou's water. The flame dies down, but not before it flashes some of the water to steam (though not the part that Riese is escaping through) and dulls the cold of the icy mist. It leaves Grandgrowl standing in the open, but shrouded by mist and steam and smoke.

"Hey... those aren't Shevite Gears at all. Those are Drifter Gears!"

Grandgrowl hops, turning in place without really taking off again. She starts to say something else, but Silvestris' roar drowns her out. And worse. In the cockpit, Seraphita lets out a pained cry, her ears drooping more than usual as her eyes water. She hastily pulls the speaker override.

"Ow!"

nfortunately, Seraphita put her microphone and loudspeakers on when she flipped the speaker. She's not receiving anymore - only broadcasting. "Don't do that! It really hurts...!"

Seraphita has big ears, okay.

But even when she's talking, she's acting. Grandgrowl opens its own mouth wide and *roars* (Seraphita can't hear it; she turned her microphone pickup off), emitting a scrambling pulse that distorts sensors and disables systems.

This means that, for the moment, Magilou and Riesenlied are safe; the scrambler does nothing to them, and Seraphita hasn't decided to target either directly. Because...

...she's distracted. "Elhaym?" She can hear her fine - Seraphita turned off her external sound pickup but not her radio. And everyon can hear Seraphita, because she still has her mic and loudspeakers on. "Elly? What are you - ?" A moment's pause.

"Sorry! This is 'duty'! We can't run away! ESPECIALLY not now! But you can, too, you know. If you want to - you could come back! I'll make it right! I know you said no before, but... do you still want to stay here...?"

GS: Seraphita guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Portman-tow for 121 hit points!
GS: Seraphita activates Guard bonus!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Flame Halo!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Scrambler Roar!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Lily Keil with Scrambler Roar!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Xantia with Scrambler Roar!
GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Riesenlied with 'Leave it to me!'!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Magilou with 'Leave it to me!'!
GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraphita has completed her action.
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz fully evades Seraphita's Flame Halo for 0 hit points!
GS: Riesenlied guards a hit from Seraphita's 'Leave it to me!' for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield applied to Seraphita!
GS: Riesenlied heals Lily Keil! She gains 220 temporary hit points!
GS: Lily Keil takes a glancing hit from Seraphita's Scrambler Roar for 0 hit points!
GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, Slow, and Weaken applied to Lily Keil!
GS: COUNTER! Gwen Whitlock counterattacks Seraphita with Counter Attack!
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Scrambler Roar for 0 hit points!
GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, Slow, and Weaken applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Gwen Whitlock activates Sufferer!
GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Scrambler Roar for 0 hit points!
GS: Break, Cripple, Jam, Mute, Slow, and Weaken applied to Xantia!
GS: Xantia activates Countermeasures!
GS: Magilou takes a solid hit from Seraphita's 'Leave it to me!' for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield applied to Seraphita!
GS: Magilou activates Arcane Font!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    "We are pinned down," Riesenlied responds to Leon. "The medics have wounded to evacuate..."

    But fortunately, Lily comes to the shining... well, the dark rescue, because of Hellerune's colours and Lily's aesthetic. The Gear descends in front of her, and she says, "T-thank you, Lily!"

    She turns towards the medics, flagging them to take this chance -- with grateful nods, the Shevat first responders haul the gurneys on their feet to flee down the Bay door. The Hyadean nods gratefully when Hellerune's hand reaches down, and she crawls onto the enormous metallic finger and slips out of her wheelchair...

    "Good luck, Miss Riesenlied...!"

    One of the medics picks up her Cucco Plated wheelchair and nods, folding it and hauling it with them. Hey, it's important to not leave that behind too.

    Meanwhile, Magilou creates Seraphic glyphs and splashes water on the medic gear! Riesenlied looks on with a bit of awe at the display of magic power, and even moreso with relief when the wounded pilot manages to crawl out of the wreckage and limp to safety.

    "T-thank you, kind sorceress!" the pilot cries out over the radio.

    Magilou saved a life!! How does it make her feel? GOSH, what if people think she's kind of HERO?

    Gwen comes to her rescue as well; really, there's so many others here as well on the scene -- Jay, Ethius, Cyre, Xantia, Billy, Ida... they're all here to defend Shevat. She isn't alone.

    There's a relieved breath, then she says, "Thank you, everyone...!"

    A pause.

    "And t-thank you too, um... I did not hear your name," Riesenlied calls out to the powerful speck of hot pink and midnight blue, Magilou. A pause. "Oh, you are the lady who encouraged me to coo! Like a dove!"

    Then-- a little twitch, because she hears... no, feels something. She hears Elly's voice, and her eyes widen. "E-Elly? Where are you-- are you all right?" Concern, above all else; it was like she's in her mind.

    Is she sensing her? Is she communicating with her on an empathic level? Something is resonating, deep inside of her...! Then El Regulus emerges -- a strange looking Gear that wasn't Vierge. Was Elly in... that Gear? A faint resonance. Something feels oddly familiar about it, in a strange sense. As if it reminded her of... father.

    Riesenlied pauses, her hand on her chest. "I... believe in you, Elly..."

    Then, Grandgrowl blurts out that it hurts!

    "T-then, please, let us stop this battle!" Riesenlied calls out, over the radio... though she um... she doesn't really understand how radios work. She doesn't know if she's connected to the enemy, or if Seraphita can hear her. "Everyone is hurting... please, this is not..."

    Seraphita speaks of duty, and she can't run away. Was she speaking to Elly...?

    Grandgrowl's roar forces her to clamp her ears down; there's a wince for a moment, and then she senses something is wrong with Hellerune because... well, she's been in Hellerune before. She just has that connection.

    "Lily, Miss, allow me to..."

    She momentarily focuses, eyes closed. The Hyadean clings close to Hellerune's finger and... glows briefly. The Dragon's Tear at her neck oscillates with the colours of the rainbow and--

    The Ether systems within Hellerune ebb and flow, and slowly, the jamming and system disruptions start to clear up, one after another, as Riesenlied passes 'through' the machine.

    Such is the resonant, shining power flowing throughout -- that Magilou finds a natural font of protective power to draw upon from as well, forming a barrier around her. The power of the Ley, channeled through the Hyadean... something empathic and warm. Ew?

GS: Riesenlied has activated a Force Action!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Leon Albus's Gatling Lock for 75 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Corrode applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Lily Keil with Ley Channeling - Spiriting Away!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Magilou with Ley Channeling - Spiriting Away!
GS: Riesenlied has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied heals Lily Keil! She gains 220 temporary hit points!
GS: Restore! Break, Cripple, Jam, and Mute removed!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Right--! Thanks Captain!" Fei says, since he just can't help himself. Leon's presence does make him smile, just so.

But first he has to worry about Dominia. "That's right... Me!" He says. "I won't let you get your hands on Elly--"

He considers Ida's words but ultimately even for Solarians he can't bring himself to say words like 'What you deserve'. Because even if he feels that way sometimes, he knows if he gets too comfortable with it...

Billy too arrives and Fei says, "Thanks, Billy! We need all the help we can get!"

Dominia takes a moment to swipe into Weltall with the blade and pushes it back, a thick chasm cleaved into the mech--though not so thick as to hit the internals.

"Recover...?" Fei says. Even now, they want to RECOVER her? "Can't you people just leave her alone?! And these people, you had a DEAL with them--and now here you are trying to conquer them! That feels like deceit more than anything to me! THESE people were up front...about their mistakes too... Can you say the same for your people?"

He swings a leg around and tries to triple kick Dominia's mech with Weltall's legs. He hopes that Riesenlied will be okay, but he's already feeling swarmred. Evne so--

--those feelings. He can't shut them out no matter how hard he tries. Not because he couldn't, but because it won't be allowed.

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Raigo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Riesenlied heals Magilou! She gains 110 temporary hit points!
GS: Seraphita guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Counter Attack for 121 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily seems unsurprised that Magilou is capable of wielding magic on the scale of her Gear, for some reason. She says nothing of what Solaris 'deserves' for now, instead focused upon her current task--that of getting the medics out, Riesenlied in particular.

A different Lily might feel sympathy for Seraphita going ow. She is more concerned at the moment with Dominia and Elly's exchange at the moment--at what the mission is. "We won't let you have her," Lily communicates to Seraphita and Dominia both, because her radio is all that works for a moment as she hovers over the city--the scrambling mechanisms distort all her systems' readouts, and Lily narrows her eyes as she starts flipping switches to compensate. But switches won't quite be enough--

"...-Time to set things right,-" Lily mutters in Zeboim, the Ether Booster once again roaring to life, shielded by harder systems than most of her Gear's. Red light begins to shimmer around the Silvestris and the Halcyon, a ruby-red field purging their systems partially of external influence and coalescing into barriers.

"That damn dove story," Lily mutters over her radio as she hears Risenlied and Magilou speak. And then she has the chance to look upon the El Regulus. Upon Elly's Gear, as she makes quite the entrance....

"We'll be relying on you, Elly. And we'll be here to back you up!"

Lily feels the magic in Riesenlied's power, or the power in her magic--and she can feel the Gear's systems starting to work properly already. Hellerune starts to rise, cradling Riesenlied in its mighty hand. "Time to fight fire with fire..."

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Lily Keil with Ruby Sector!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Ruby Sector!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Xantia with Ruby Sector!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Lily Keil heals Lily Keil! She gains 400 temporary hit points!
GS: Restore! Slow and Weaken removed!
GS: Burst applied to Lily Keil!
GS: Lily Keil heals Xantia! She gains 400 temporary hit points!
GS: Restore! Break, Cripple, Jam, and Weaken removed!
GS: Burst applied to Xantia!
GS: Lily Keil heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 400 temporary hit points!
GS: Restore! Break, Cripple, Jam, and Mute removed!
GS: Burst applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Gwen Whitlock activates Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    That got a reaction, all right. Ida breathes, observes her anger as it spikes and boils in the wake of Dominia's words. "Deceitful," Ida says. "I was going to finish that thought, but by all means, do continue. Tell me everything you think about us. Everything we did to you." Her fingers tighten around the control yokes as she remembers Bishop Stone. But she remembers Citan's words, and thinks on them. The anger flares, but it doesn't erupt.

    Instead, it becomes fuel.

    ETHERIC SPIKE flashes across the Dragoon's screen. Ida braces her machine; it twists to the side, presenting a thinner, lower profile to its foe. A Hyadean power signature ignites within the Dragoon's chest; energy flickers to life around it, a glowing silvery-green aura made of hexagons. It's not a moment too soon. Dominia all but lowers the machine into an industrial grinder. Crystalline fragments churn and roil around the shield, applying crushing, tearing pressure from every angle. Ida watches a heat gauge climb higher and higher, sweat beading on her brow. Not yet, she thinks. Not yet--!

    Dominia's assault ends a fraction of a second before the capacitors give out. Ida allows herself to breathe again.

    And then...
    A new machine launches from the flight deck. For a few moments, Ida wonders if it's Siebzehn, brought back from the brink by the hangar team, but her sensors quickly put the lie to that. Its reactor signature is tagged as "best-guess" and has an output measured with scientific notation. The inbound radar detector begins pinging furiously as the new machine's sensors scan the Dragoon; Ida feels, for a moment, like she's being keenly watched, but somehow, she isn't afraid. Perhaps it's the machine's design--impossibly, it looks like Vierge--or perhaps it's Elly's voice. It feels like she's here, in the cockpit, with Ida.

    The heiress' mouth falls open as Elly addresses her former comrades. It feels like she's witnessing a miracle.

    "...Elly?" Ida breathes. "Where--how--what is that?" The Solarian pilots entreat Elly. Ida lets her speak first, of course, display her conviction. "She's made her decision," Ida says, over the open band. She's quieter than when she spoke to Dominia, earlier. "And I wouldn't engage that Gear, if I were you."

    LOCK ACQUIRED

    The Dragoon shifts its weight, swinging its cannon up and bracing it against its shoulder. A sharp CRACK echoes through the thin air, and a rail slug goes flying right at Dominia's machine.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Rail Accelerator!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline's aim is true... but unfortunately, it ends up drawing unwanted attention. The Bladegash descends upon her. Jacqueline gasps in surprise, jerking the controls to the side in an impromptu leap. The platform she was standing upon, thankfully uninhabited, is torn apart by Dominia's blade, falling to pieces down below.

Jacqueline's Gear clings to another nearby platform, a large scar down its chest from where Bladegash cut. It's only a well-aimed shot from Billy that stops Dominia from capitalizing on the compromising position.

"Th-thanks..." Jacqueline asides to BIlly with a sigh, as the Jaeger scrambles up onto the next platform.

A light shines on Jacqueline's dashboard. Her Empathite radio - she had it installed for coordinating with the Carakin during field work, but she didn't expect it to see use here of all places. And it's coming through, crystal clear...

"Elly?" Jacqueline remarks, surprised. She listens as Elly requests the attackers stand down... but unfortunately, they do not.

"She's talented... is everyone alright?" Jacqueline asks. She turns her attention, then, toward Bladegash - and its pilot, Dominia.

"I see you've earned your confidence. Might I ask who I have the honor of facing today?" She asks. She'd heard Elly say a name over the Empathite, but she can't tell right away which is which. As she speaks, though, she takes aim for the Bladegash once more, firing off another shot - this time, special ammunition designed to impede a Gear's automatic recovery systems.

GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Perpetuating Shell!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

*WHAM!* There is no helpful, lion-shaped platform for the Huracan to go crashing into, so it instead ends up crashing into pavement. Its shield unfolds at the last moment, however, and seems to flare with arcs of coruscating electricity. Something hidden within the bulwark-- a kinetic energy absorption system-- activates and soaks up much of the force of impact. The Huracan's thrusters continue to scream, sending the nimble machine spiralling about like some kind of bizarre mechanical break dancer, before finally hurling it out of the way...

...Just in time to narrowly avoid the wash of flame erupting out of the Grandgrowl.

"Tch. Close. Looks like you're outnumbered, though," Cyre smirks, then-- stops.

That voice.

That... voice.

"You... Seraphita. Hah. What the heck kind of luck is this...?" Riesenlied, living emotional telecommunications antenna that she is would possibly detect a flare of something distinct and ugly emanating from the Huracan. A flash of ire, a ping of hate beyond just the ambient distaste for Solaris in general. The Huracan skids to a halt, its auxillary thrusters falling to the pavement in a heap. With a snap of its arm, a long, broad blade falls into its right hand... And then unfolds, bifurcating along a central axis.

"What was that you said? 'I guess we'll just have to fight...?'" Cyre takes aim-- and fires. The split-blade flashes and pops with the scent of ozone and an arc of capacitors discharging. A magnetized slug erupts from the weapon, apparently some kind of railgun, and sails toward the Grandgrowl's left hind leg.

A disabling shot...?

"Well. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I guess this means it's Rabbit Season!"

GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Seraphita with KRSW-XIV Rail Cannon!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Oh no, the evacuees are thanking her. "It's nothing," Magilou waves Riesenlied off, though, notably, she's keeping an eye on her to make sure she's firmly established on Hellerune. She doesn't have Magilou's nimble mobility! It would be a shame if she fell off and died, wouldn't it?

    "I am the one, the only, the wise sorceress Magilou!" Magilous Magilou, a hand to her chest. There is a beat of a pause. Riesenlied may well sense ANOTHER PRESENCE, currently unseen inside of the witch. "It is absolutely wise to come out here," Magilou insists, like she's responding to one half of a conversation. "For if I had not, you all would surely perish!"

    Magilou, they have giant robots, they'll be fine.

    "But if you coo like a dove," she adds, with a cheerful and entirely too confident wink, "I'm sure the doves will protect you." Yes, Lily, it's that damn dove story again.

    And yet, is it really just Riesenlied who needs protecting, as voices come through her radio knob? "Oh, no," Magilou exclaims, which her bauble helpfully picks up for everyone. "No one told me the big bad sky monsters were adorable. This changes everything!"

    A beat, as she settles back on her heels, a hand to Riesenlied's shoulder. "Yes," she repeats herself, "this changes everything. For you see, now..!"

    Witches can cackle, did you know? It's a magnificent cackle. It probably sounds way too loud over a radio. "I'll crush you with the very element you love most..!" Could it be that Magilou is... an EVIL sorceress?!

    There's another Hellerune-scale glyph as Magilou flourishes with a floating paper doll, but this one is red, angry as a fateheld sky. "Paint the town red... Blood Moon!" She incants, and, indeed, the moon SHINES over Grandgrowl, red as a dying sun, as it expands out, and out, and OUT --

    And in that circular expansion, of course, is fire. It's all fire! Everyone gets fire!

    ... you really didn't think Magilou was going to help Solaris take someone back for mind processing, did you?

GS: Magilou has attacked Seraphita with Blood Moon!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Two people ask if it's her. "Yes," Elly replies to them. "It's me."

There is a brief fluting noise from the Omnigear for a moment. Leon might intuit that controls (?) are being used without experience. Troubling, but then again... Leon gets his answer. "Right!"

Elly replies to Dominia. "... I don't know what you mean. ... what...?" She seems, sounds, is surprised to hear the latter news: To recover her. A moment later Dominia's Gear sends a screaming vortex-blade, a truly demonic fang of power towards the levitating Gear, which is struck - El-Regulus reels back, thrusters fluttering and flaring up with subtly tachycardic intensity for a moment.

In a curiously featureless cockpit, Elly breathes heavily for a moment. The Omnigear doesn't transmit that.

"Seraphita... I'm sorry. I can't run away either. You're very kind to make that offer... but I can't accept it. I hope you'll take care of yourself." (Will Seraphita survive if they do manage to (??) DEFEAT SOLARIS (??), Elly wonders.)

Elly answers Riesenlied, a moment later. "I'm fine," she says. "It's just -- this is a very different kind of Gear...!"

How different?

Elly has already determined that this system is using some kind of nerve-induction communication system, because she is seeing screens and monitors that remind her, dimly, of the pilot and sensor pits on the Tzadkiel and other Gebler craft. Artificial reality of information... but those presented panoramas and integrated scanner tanks, not... not this; Elly can't put her finger on *what* it is.

Because every single Gear she can see, as well as a constellation of other things, has... some sort of a... point, or dot on it, Elly thinks. Something else appears, in text written in an archaic form. Elly's eyes run up and down, gleaning the gist, but there is no time to quietly review.

For a moment she feels very small again. She would know what all of this did if she hadn't been a coward.

But everyone's putting their faith in her.

The three closest to Dominia, are -- Elly feels her hand brush over smooth glass that isn't there, AND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0rxpQI0ZbY

Inside of Weltall, Weglaff, Renmazuo. For a moment a screen pops up with a message:

lioness00 would fane connect: permit? _y_

A moment later there are other effects. Targeting software flickers in Renmazuo, reloading in higher resolution, reticules more responsive. Power readouts abruptly shift - the top end moving meaningfully upwards, if with a little flex. There is little to do with Weltall, and so there Elly simply seems to appear in a window for a moment, seated. She turns to look at Fei and smiles at him, before disappearing in a fractal sparkle of induced holography.

"I can't explain very well right now, Ida, but you can ask them later... after we win!" Elly replies, as the over-the-air connections and optimizations set off a small chorus of bell-chimes in the Omnigear.

GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Fei Fong Wong with AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World-!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Leon Albus with AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World-!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Billy Lee Black with AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World-!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
Fei Fong Wong says, "+big oh no that attack name"
GS: Fei Fong Wong accepts Elhaym van Houten's AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World- for 0 hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Lock State applied to Fei Fong Wong!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Riposte applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Raigo for 184 hit points!
GS: Leon Albus accepts Elhaym van Houten's AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World- for 0 hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Lock State applied to Leon Albus!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Riposte applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Rail Accelerator for 178 hit points!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes a glancing hit from Jacqueline Barber's Perpetuating Shell for 76 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hex applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Evade bonus and Countermeasures!
GS: Billy Lee Black guards a hit from Dominia Yizkor's Terra Catalyst for 60 hit points!
GS: Corrode applied to Billy Lee Black!
GS: Billy Lee Black accepts Elhaym van Houten's AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World- for 0 hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Quick applied to Billy Lee Black!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Riposte applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Seraphita takes a glancing hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's KRSW-XIV Rail Cannon for 125 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cripple applied to Seraphita!
GS: Seraphita activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    There is an ample demonstration to be made in the gulf between 'elite Solarian unit' and 'a decent salvaged machine,' where the words 'not fast enough' are heard exactly once.

     When the shockwave leaves the Bladegash's sword and covers the distance about as fast as live ammunition might, carving through the attacking target with enough turbulence that Ethius' cross-armed hold of his cockpit's controls threaten a nasty cramp along with whiplash, the words 'not fast enough' are in effect spoken twice.

     Smoke escapes where the shockwave enters and exits (left side, about the hip), and the Aiguille's pilot returns to steadying their flight after having to shake out their right arm.

     Impassioned words are shared over the air. Desperation for the fighting to stop, disdain for grudges. The apparent look of things that, some way or another, Solaris is responsible for so many of the problems plaguing the surface of Filgaia.

     Ethius, there, in his relative silence-- "I've taken a hit. Systems remain functioning, mobility... reduced to eighty percent," relative silence, as just said, there is something clinical about his approach. A lack of passion.

     A lack of stake? His earliest waking memory in the mountains of Lacour was watching Gebler bear down on him without much of an idea of who they were, or... why he was running from them.

     Engaging the 'healthier' stealth dash jets, he veers a hard right with strafeing laser fire - forced to close in as to not be caught in some of the crossfire happening with the Grandgrowl and the others present there.

GS: CRITICAL! ROU|LET|TE: Moderate! Seraphita guards a hit from Magilou's Blood Moon for 145 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Disease applied to Seraphita!
GS: Seraphita activates Guard bonus!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Strafe!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia is surprised to hear the voice coming from Grandgrowl, reflexively alarmed by hearing that she caused someone pain. "Sorry!", she says in the same reflex, only to quickly correct herself, "Wait, no, you're the enemy!" Not that anyone can hear her say these things since she neglected to broadcast it outside of her Gear. She doesn't quite succeed at putting anything more together at that time because that's when she hears a familiar voice coming through her speakers.

"Elly...?" She doesn't know the particulars, just that Elly wasn't with the rest of the Wolves just now. This is a little unexpected. Which turns into a lot unexpected when Xantia notes the new Gear. "Is that...?" She's not sure what she was about to ask, exactly. It just feels like there's something about that machine...

Once again, her brain abruptly shifts gears. It started to dawn on her earlier upon hearing that voice... and Elly just spelled it out who that is, piloting Grandgrowl. "What...? But... that can't be right..."

This time she's interrupted from a follow-up by all her systems suddenly going haywire due to some kind of scrambling. She frantically tries to get her instruments to responsive, without much luck, until Hellerune intervenes. "Lily... thank you!" With the camera static clearing up, she can see Grandgrowl clearly again, and she finally has the opportunity to speak her mind, sending a direct broadcast to the other quadruped Gear.

"...Sera... is that you? I don't understand... you're a Hero, right? What are you doing with Solaris?" She gasps audibly, filling in the blanks in the only way that makes sense. "So they got to you, too! Hold on, just sit right there, I'll get you out of there! I'm sure we can undo whatever control they're using on you!"

It's unclear whether Xantia actually believes that anyone would sit still when they can clearly see Silvestris's single 'eye' glow a bright orange, powering up an energy beam intent on cutting Grandgrowl open. She's not actually thinking about that right now, it's difficult enough to keep trying to convince herself of her own narrative. Listening to the back and forth, it sure doesn't... sound like Seraphita's presence here seems unusual to anyone else...

GS: Xantia has attacked Seraphita with Laser Cutter!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Seraphita takes a glancing hit from Xantia's Laser Cutter for 116 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

El-Regulus arrives. Billy watches it burst free with something familiar fluttering in his heart. A feeling like awe and reverence washing over him for just a moment. "What Gear is that....?" he murmurs.

And Elly offers them mercy just the same. Billy closes his eyes and thinks about her words. He contemplates Dominia's burning answer - and her violent reprisal! Renmazuo's thrusters flare as Billy jerks the control handles, the Etone Gear blasting its way to one side - not quite fast enough to escape the spear of crystal that sheers through part of the leg, scraping armor free.

"Gahhh," Billy curses, and snaps Renmazuo's arms down, retrieving the pair of heavy-caliber handcannons from its thigh compartments.

"I can see that," Billy says to Fei. "This one doesn't seem inclined to take her leave quietly. We'll send them packing."

His eyes harden. "That is what one does to creatures like this," he says, coldly.

Before that goes much further, the permission request flashes across his screen. "What...?" Then the OS...adjusts? Updates? Regardless, the targeting sensors reload swiftly. The readouts from the slave generator boost - he hears something crackle deep in the belly of the beast, some jury-rigged circuit from the kids not quite equipped for the load. But nothing breaks, so he takes it without worry, jetting in Dominia's direction, then breaking hard, retrojets blasting flame toward Dominia as Renmazuo's legs kick up and guns kick forward, firing rapidly in her direction with the heavier-caliber, more physical rounds of the magnum handcannons. There's just enough give in the maneuver that he gets close enough to spin Renmazuo around and drive its heel into Bladegash's face before jetting away.

GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Gun Blaze!
GS: Billy Lee Black assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Billy Lee Black takes 50 damage from Corrode!
GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    The harpoon, looking like something that would not be out of place in the Thames or some higher tech fishing boat, manages to snag onto a part of the Grandgrowl, the reinforced cording attached to it drawn taut enough to vibrate in the open air between Gwen and Seraphita. Then, it tears back out of Seraphita, winding back up into the Halcyone's arm.

    Gwen found it was best to not fiddle with this one remainder of her Gear's former life for a reason, as there are many ways that return could have gone.

    Of course, this *does* also mean Gwen has to hold on for dear life as Bladegash lets out a roar that not only makes Gwen clap her hands over her ears, but also reduces the readouts on her dashboard to fritz to unreadable static. "Damn it! I'll have t'go manual, looks like..."

    As Gwen begins to punch in some buttons with her left hand, she overhears Dominia's declaration: they're here not just to destroy the barrier, essentially leaving Shevat open, they're here to take Elly.

    Gwen looks back and notices the pink and white Gear there, baton in hand. ".... Elly...." She doesn't know the particulars about this Gear, but Elly makes it clear: she's not going.

    Lily restores the Halcyone's systems with the power of that red light. "Thanks, Lilly, I owe ya!" A few switches are pushed, and Gwen grins. "How 'bout a taste of your own medicine?"

    With her bare right hand, Gwen presses it into an opening compartment in her dashboard, filling surface before her with a pulse of familiar yellow energy.

    ".... I meant that to the Solaris gear, not you, Lily. Obviously."

    A bolt of lightning shoots from one of the Halycone's outstretching arms, crackling towards Bladegash!

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Seraphita with Spark Plug!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Dominia Yizkor critically guards Ethius Hesiod's Strafe for 56 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Riposte applied to Ethius Hesiod!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes a glancing hit from Billy Lee Black's Gun Blaze for 139 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Seraphita guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Spark Plug for 74 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Jam applied to Seraphita!
GS: Mighty applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Seraphita activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

"What?"

Seraphita pauses for a moment. Someone is talking to her, but she can't make it out. This is enough - after a few moments - to clue her in as to what she did with the microphone and speakers, and she gets things sorted out with some clicking noises. "No, it hurt my ears," is Seraphita's eventual response to Riese. She's a little confused.

"I mean, I want Elly to come back because she's my friend!" When you are a beastfolk at Jugend, and an Element candidate at that, put above good high-ranking Solarian children, you take your friends where you can get them. Seraphita's response to Lily - and Riese, sort of - is impassioned if not very well-thought-out. "That's not wrong! But if she doesn't want to..."

Seraphita trails off. Maybe if she could talk to Elly privately, one on one - but that is not to be. She can't even manage to set up a private communications link - she could with Vierge, but this machine which is *not* Vierge, she doesn't have the first clue what the radio system is. She sets part of her computer to figuring that out while she deals with the battle. "I'll just fight for the barrier!"

For the first time, Seraphita realizes there are small people hanging onto Hellerune, and she hesitates. How do you shoot the Gear without hurting the people on it? Some of her hesitation vanishes when Magilou drops a flaming sphere on Grandgrowl. Magilou has a very strange sensation in her magic as Seraphita starts to pull it apart, causing the flaming ball to fray at the edges, breaking into wispy flames more bright than hot. It's fire. Seraphita knows fire.

She is RATHER DISTRACTED in this when a slug blasts from Cyre's machine. Grandgrowl takes off and this time it does not land, hovering in midair; it doesn't hover very well, it has to beat its wings and fire thrusters on the downbeat. But it is enough so that the slug hits the heaviest part of the plate rather than a weak point, and it is enough that she starts moving forward afterwards, toward Cyre's Huracan.

"I guess we will have to fight! You always wanted to fight me anyway, you only didn't because we were in a city. Well, now we're outside! And you don't need to call me a rabbit. I already know what I look like... and anyway, I don't call YOU a cat...!"

Seraphita's first assault is toward Cyre. Grandgrowl dives toward the Huracan, rolling in midair so that it passes the other Gear almost sideways; all four of its claws lash out, the tips glowing white-hot as she tries to tear a whole bunch of lines right across the side of the Gear. Spreading its wings, Seraphita rights Grandgrowl, breathing flame down at Hellerune - Riese and Magilou *are* going to catch some flame this time, there's really no avoiding it.

And then - Xantia. This is slightly awkward. But only slightly, because Seraphita doesn't know what awkward means. "I'm Seraphita, the Fire Element of Solaris! I earned this position! With hard work! And guts! You don't need to take me away... it's okay." The laser tears in toward Grandgrowl; Seraphita uses its wing as a shield, deflecting the bolt - it must be coated, the laser seems to fracture, stray beams lancing out in multiple directions.

Unable to make up her mind, Seraphita fires some of the smaller-caliber guns hidden in the ports in Grandgrowl's stiff metal mane, firing a spray of bullets at Silvestris. She didn't really mean to fire it at Halcyone, but it happens anyway; the lightning makes Grandgrowl jerk as some of its joints seize mid-maneuver, and Grandgrowl drops, landing once again - but not disabled. "Electricity is not medicine!"

GS: Seraphita spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Lily Keil with Fire Breath!
GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraphita spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Magilou with Fire Breath!
GS: Seraphita has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Seraphita spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Riesenlied with Fire Breath!
GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Superheated Rake!
GS: Seraphita has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Mane Vulcans!
GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Xantia with Mane Vulcans!
GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraphita has completed her action.
GS: Riesenlied guards a hit from Seraphita's Fire Breath for 81 hit points!
GS: Xantia critically guards Seraphita's Mane Vulcans for 44 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper applied to Seraphita!
GS: Xantia activates Guard bonus and Countermeasures!
GS: Xantia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Superheated Rake for 304 hit points!
GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Seraphita's Fire Breath for 181 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Magilou takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Fire Breath for 141 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Magilou gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Magilou activates Arcane Font!
<Pose Tracker> Dominia Yizkor has posed.

    "Understood, Sera." Even Dominia can't help but sigh and smile slightly, in the darkness of Bladegash's cockpit. "But I'll be fine. They've already transmitted their data to me. Once the Hecht is in position..."

    In the distance, that small cluster of Gears continues to loom ominously. There's something else back there. Something big.

    "What? Didn't you know?" Dominia says to Elly, advancing far far too close to the other Gear. "They're saying that you ran away."

    "That you fell in love with a Lamb."

    "...Tell me, Elhaym. Is that true? Is that why you're siding with them?"

    That shielding protocol of hers pops into the air again as Leon takes a shot at her, perhaps in an attempt to peel her attention off of Elly and towards himself; though it catches most of the rounds as before, some of them get through... and what's more, the shielding crackles this time, having absorbed the force of not only this shot and his last, but those of others as well.

    "A deal?" Dominia asks of Fei, sounding almost bewildered. "What in the world are you talking about? They are our enemies!" ...Perhaps the deal of which Zephyr had spoken of to Fei is far from common knowledge in the Solaris of today. But Weltall comes in for her hard, kicking out for her Gear with a flurry of kicks. She's forced to turn away from Elly, giving her the much-desired space that Leon had asked for; Bladegash raises an arm to try and defend against the blows as best as its pilot can. Even so, there is spiderweb cracking on the shielding over the left forearm -- the same that Fei had punched at earlier.

    And she returns the favor to him by slashing at him again with her blade, before jetting off towards Leon to similarly attempt to give the Gear that has attempted to harry her some grief.

    "So you want to know my name? Very well. You face the Earth Element Dominia Yizkor," she informs Jacqueline, not asking her name in return.

    "We'll see about that!" is her retort to Lily. But it is Ida who, as she asks Dominia to tell her exactly what she thinks of them, that truly seems to set her off. "Do you need me to tell you? How you war among yourselves, how you seed nothing but chaos and despair? Foul Lambs... once we eliminate Shevat, there will be nowhere left for you to hide!" Seraphita -- and perhaps Elly, too -- might note that their classmate, while always the harsher sort, has been trending more towards the extreme today. Something is eating at her. Perhaps that something might be the very presence of the woman in that unusual, almost organic-looking Gear.

    Ida responds in her own way by taking that shot, once it's left open for her; that hexagonal barrier snaps into existance as Dominia turns to ward off the strike but,

    But the shield hisses and crackles, struggling against the shell. Though slowed by the barrier's efforts, it continues on to crack against the heavy plating of Bladegash's shoulder. Across that personal channel among the Elements, Dominia cries out.

    Her counterattack is swift. Her blade catches fire, a roaring bonfire curling over the sword's edge. Like a meteor, she is for the Dust Dragoon, that burning sword leading the charge.

    It may be some relief to Ida that, come what may, Dominia draws back at this juncture, perhaps to give herself more space for whatever technique follows. Jay takes good advantage of this and takes another shot, one that sends some of the early warning systems within the Gear whistling even as she tries to sidestep the projectile... to little avail. It nicks something towards the back, briefly sending up sparks.

    "It's nothing, Sera," Dominia speaks over their shared line. "One of the subsystems is offline. It won't affect my ability to fight!"

    Indeed, even as the Aiguille strafes at her, even at the speed it's managing, even with her shielding protocol straining at the limits... it still snaps into existence to intercept most of those blasts as she jets backwards, apparently seeking a particular point in the air. She's a moving target at this point, but one that Billy is able to hit; his shot explodes off the edge of the armoring on her Gear's right arm, the shielding not even attempting to try to deflect this one. Perhaps it couldn't.

    She reaches the zenith of whatever point she was attempting to hit. And around her Gear, the very air shakes, the impression of the movement of the earth carrying in spite of the opposite medium. But then, a master of the element would be able to enforce it, wherever they might stand.

    Or float, for that matter.

GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Straight Slash!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Leon Albus with Straight Slash!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Inferno Sword!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Terra Surge!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Terra Surge!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Billy Lee Black with Terra Surge!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Terra Surge!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes 42 damage from Corrode!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has completed her action.
GS: Elhaym van Houten guards a hit from Dominia Yizkor's Terra Surge for 111 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Elhaym van Houten gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Dominia Yizkor's Terra Surge for 196 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Dominia Yizkor's Terra Surge for 108 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jacqueline Barber gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey fully evades Dominia Yizkor's Inferno Sword for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cover applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Evade bonus!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Seraphita's Mane Vulcans for 130 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Shield applied to Seraphita!
GS: Gwen Whitlock activates Guard bonus and Sufferer!
GS: Billy Lee Black takes a solid hit from Dominia Yizkor's Terra Surge for 196 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Billy Lee Black gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: COUNTER! Leon Albus counterattacks Dominia Yizkor with Counter Attack!
GS: Leon Albus takes a glancing hit from Dominia Yizkor's Straight Slash for 133 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Leon Albus gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon blinks once at the image on his screen. He nods -- and then monitors shift, power readouts surging, and information flashes across. "Elly... I don't what you did -- or what that machine is -- but it seems to be very effective!"

The Weglaff Custom keeps firing its gatling cannon, rounds pouring into the side of the Bladegash. He keeps firing until she slashes her blade, and it crashes into the shield mounted on it. Sparks explode and fly out.

Leon grits his teeth, then. "An Element... I'm not surprised that one of you would be out here!"

He shakes his head. "We won't let you have Shevat! Maybe we're lost... but we don't need the likes of Solaris to guide us!"

The air around her Gear shakes, as if the earth itself is summoned into it. This doesn't deter Leon. The other hand of Weglaff grabs a handle stuck into the shield-gatling cannon combo, then yanks out a coal black-colored metal shield.

Weglaff surges froward as Leon hits the thorttle, rushing in close. The blade swings back -- and then SLAMS down with a mighty crash towards Bladegash.

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Armor Slasher!
GS: Leon Albus has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied spares a glance towards Weltall; some part of her (specifically, perhaps the dead girl inside of her) stirs, but... they've all got their hands incredibly busy at the moment.

    It turns out she doesn't have to work overtime or harm herself to fix Hellerune, since Lily's also on it! It's rather a good thing, since the last time she actually 'entered' Hellerune...

    It was definitely not an adviseable thing to do.

    "Good luck, Lily..." Riesenlied speaks through the radio. Fire with fire... she'll have to be ready with a barrier so she doesn't get in the way.

    Magilou introduces herself! Riesenlied's eyes are a little sparkly, as she comes down and places a hand on her shoulder. "Wise Sorceress Magilou... I see!" she's a fan already?! She senses someone else, on the witch's person... could it be a familiar? Is it a dove familiar? An adorable dove--

    No, no, Riesenlied, don't get distracted by cute round birds.

    But the witch makes a grand and dramatic statement of using the very element she loves most. She pauses for a moment, then nods!

    "Eheheh... mm, the cuccos will protect me, I am certain," Riesenlied answers, even if there aren't actually any cuccos around. Does Shevat have Cuccos? Do Cuccos count as an invasive species, if she were to introduce one? The mind wanders...

    Elly speaks, saying it's a different kind of Gear. "O-okay. I trust you can handle it...!"

    She overhears Xantia calling a name out. 'Sera'? Was this someone Xantia knows? That makes it even more difficult... even if, right now, her role is more firmly in protecting her allies. She can't really hurt Grandgrowl without spending power on something that hurts herself. She promised Noeline and the others she'd take care of herself...

    "Xantia, do you know the pilot...?"

    She stops, because Seraphita herself responds, which isn't something she was expecting; but the Element has her attention now.

    "Elly is your friend..." Riesenlied whispers. Something churns inside her; her heart sinks a little bit. Seeing friends have to fight is one of the most awful feelings ever. "I cannot speak for her, but I am sure she does not think of you any less as a friend either...! So why..."

    The answer is because of 'duty', in the end -- as she says, when she says she'll fight for the barrier. Grandgrowl dives in the direction of Hellerune, and fire breathes down on the Custom gear--

    "Aah!"

    Even if she's mostly shielded from it, the hand gets super-hot! Fragments of her capelet burn away as errant licks of fire find their mark; mostly, she's guarded around a barrier of light... as always.

    "E-everyone truly is using fire today...!" Riesenlied says the obvious. Is she the only odd one out? She almost feels like she's peer pressured to use fire too!

    ...

    ...

    [ Riesenlied does not know how to use Fire. ]

    *sad fanfare*

    She catches Seraphita's name -- the Element of Fire. "T-The Elements... that was the group Citan was part of before, was it not?" A master of the elements...

    "Magilou... I will-- channel more of the Ley, that you may use it for your magic," Riesenlied speaks. She's already in danger; she has to risk it. The light-haired Hyadean focuses once more, her palms cupped to the little rainbow-emanating gemstone affixed around a silver dragon at her neck...

    "Nnh--"

    She grimaces, and for a moment-- a bit of blood and smoke exuding down between her scales. Magilou can feel it: the very act of Ley-channeling burns her body, a vessel not meant to literally house the lifeblood of the world.

    But the power it produces... is raw and powerful indeed, as she places the power as an arcane font for the witch to utilise.

GS: Riesenlied spends 1 Combo on Reload!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Magilou with Ley Channeling - Arcane Font!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Magilou accepts Riesenlied's Ley Channeling - Arcane Font for 0 hit points!
GS: Magilou activates Riesenlied's Reload!!
GS: Fei Fong Wong critically guards Dominia Yizkor's Straight Slash for 54 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Watching Seraphita tear apart fire magic is fascinating--if Lily were a more heartless sort, she'd care more about that than about the lives on the line here, or about the medics who manage to escape now. As it stands it's still a strong draw on her attention. Just fight for the barrier...

It seems Seraphita won't be easy to simply hate. But she'll fight her regardless.

Flame cascades down at her--Lily channels more Ether to strengthen her barrier to absorb the powerful fire magic, heat bouncing off of heat and causing an even brighter explosion between the two Gears. Without her barrier, that would've melted a great deal of her plating outright.

Xantia and Gwen's thanks receive a simple, "Anytime. I'm here to back you up." Then Gwen... clarifies. "...Yes, I understand."

And, "The Fire Element," Lily repeats. "...You sure do make some friends, Xantia."

"All right, Seraphita. I'm Lily Keil. I've looked forward to facing off against the Elements properly... this will have to do."

"You don't have to use fire, Riesenlied."

But Lily's going to. Her Ether charges up, and to someone trained in Gebler's approach to magic, it's very strange--it doesn't have the same 'feeling' at all as Solarian fire, though it is still hot. It is simply excitement of energy, and Lily lifts her Gear's free hand to extend a burning rush of flame for the Grandgrowl, focusing on it to keep it intact and try to work against the way she saw her interacting with Magilou's before--

It's a disadvantage, using fire against a master, but... Lily's not going to pass up the chance to test it.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Seraphita with Blaze Wave!
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Leon Albus's Counter Attack for 118 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Guard bonus and Countermeasures!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Leon Albus's Armor Slasher for 190 hit points!
GS: Dispel! Cover removed!
GS: Break applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Sounds good, Billy." Fei says. He's kinda gotten used to seeing Billy as a member of the team real quickly.

It's strange though to feel like he has such amount of friendship going on that he is having trouble keeping tabs of all the friends that he's worrying about. It's disconcerting. Maybe he should've made fewer friends so he'd have less to worry about. But then he'd be lonely. Why is life so hard.

Lioness00 would fane connect: Permit? _y_

"Huh? No I--" Fei begins and tries too reject the connection because he has no idea what lioness00 is and where it's coming from but instead he accidentally hits accept because he doesn't actually know how to say no. "Ahhh--!"

He looks to Elly a moment later in realization. "Oh!" He says. "Duh." He pauses. "...Lioness huh...? Where'd you learn how to pilot that?"

How come when ELLY jumps into a random gear she never piloted before she is already an instant expert and doesn't blow up any towns?? That's really kind of unfair, even if--okay--Fei knows it wasn't really an accident anymore. Maybe jumping into gears you don't know how to pilot and just figuring it out on the fly is how it normally goes?

INstinctively, Fei brings up his own gear's arm--no doubt in part thanks to Ida's calculations and Elly's...

...Elly's smile.

That's more powerful than any data coming in. Regardless, the effect is that Fei bats away the blade from WEltall before it can do more serious damage. Dominia doesn't seem to know so Fei doesn't press it.

"That's not why she's doing it!" Fei shouts, even though okay it might be PART of it. But he knows the bigger thing here is a little more elemental than some kind of Surface Crush. Elly could've just dragged him to Solaris as a pet if that's what she wanted. Apparently it's common enough.

"They don't tell their Commanders that much huh...?" Fei says. "I feel...guilty fighting you like this--!"

He pauses. "..."

He pauses again.

"...Wait, I thought... Ramses was the Earth Element."

He seems confused but then he seems to remember something and he says, "Whatever name you prefer!!"

And then he tries to plow two robot fists into Dominia's gear. Fei is kind of a dumbass sometimes.

GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Hazan!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Seraphita critically guards Lily Keil's Blaze Wave for 51 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    'Electricity is not medicine!' says Seraphita.

    Gwen blinks. "W-well, yes, you're right, but-NGH!"

    The Halcyone seizes its arms back in a futile attempt at a guard, leaving many of the bullets to hammer against Halcyone's metal frame.

    "Hey, it's one of Xantia's special qualities!" Gwen butts in, as she recovers. "Plus, the Fire Element ain't that bad a person, really. I bet if our only task was to eat a giant cake, we'd all be peas in a pod, y'know?" Gwen is _helping_.

    Looking about, Gwen notices Ida out of the corner of her eye. At least, she notices the Dragoomn.

    She makes a thoughtful sound.

    Turning on a private com to Ida's Dragoon, Gwen's voice crackles softly over Ida's speakers.

    ".... Are you plannin' somethin' big? Because if y'are, I'm enabling it." She pauses. "And enabling some others too, of course."

    She doesn't even wait for an answer, as she flips a few switches..

    "Special delivery, guys! Here's the Whitlock special! Which... is better to accept if you're in a Gear, so, my apologies, Magilou. Though, looks like Riese's got that covered."

    That little compartment is still open, the metal flap stuck halfway down from the initial impact Gwen took earlier. She snakes her right hand in, metal fingers against a conduit in dashboard's underside. The mechanic who helped her with it likely was expecting Gwen would use such things as 'a last ditch effort', but Gwen...

    Gwen is Zed's student _for a reason_.

    Sparks of energy fly out in several directions with a pained inhale from Gwen, who then exhales as she sees the result, holding her left hand in a thumbs up. "Here ya go."

GS: Dominia Yizkor takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hazan for 352 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Four claws rake against the Huracan's (admittedly flimsy (though not quite tissue paper)) armor, but it's not the dozen or so gashes carved into the gear's armor that's trouble, but the superheated metal dribbling out from the fresh wounds. Those claws are deadly weapons, more than easily able to tear an average gear to shreds. Only the swift interposition of the Huracan's shield saves the machine from being obliterated outright.

"'Hero,' she says?" Cyre mutters, picking up chatter from Xantia's direction. "Hah, as if someone who extols the virtues of a place like Solaris could possibly be anything even remotely close to a 'hero!'" The Huracan pivots, its thrusters firing in reverse to put distance between itself and the Grandgrowl before Seraphita can continue her assault.

...But also because of something else.

Compartments along the gear's shoulders and waist opened up as it retreated, releasing a cloud of floating, gyro-driven orbs. As each one alights, it unhinges like a splitting egg, revealing a single, flashing green eye... That abruptly turns red as each of the drones turns and begins trying to intercept the Grandgrowl's flight path.

And if they get too close... *boom!*

In other words, Cyre has deployed aerial mines.

"I think you're misunderstanding something though," Cyre says gravely. "I don't want to fight you. I want to see Solaris brought to its knees, level it to its foundations, and see every person it has ever oppressed set free! We're fighting because you're standing in my way!"

GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 2 Combo on Inspire and Reload!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Bullets and Boons for All!!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Bullets and Boons for All!!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Xantia with Bullets and Boons for All!!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Riesenlied with Bullets and Boons for All!!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Lily Keil with Bullets and Boons for All!!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz accepts Gwen Whitlock's Bullets and Boons for All! for 0 hit points!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz activates Gwen Whitlock's Reload!!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Four claws rake against the Huracan's (admittedly flimsy (though not quite tissue paper)) armor, but it's not the dozen or so gashes carved into the gear's armor that's trouble, but the superheated metal dribbling out from the fresh wounds. Those claws are deadly weapons, more than easily able to tear an average gear to shreds. Only the swift interposition of the Huracan's shield saves the machine from being obliterated outright.

"'Hero,' she says?" Cyre mutters, picking up chatter from Xantia's direction. "Hah, as if someone who extols the virtues of a place like Solaris could possibly be anything even remotely close to a 'hero!'" The Huracan pivots, its thrusters firing in reverse to put distance between itself and the Grandgrowl before Seraphita can continue her assault.

...But also because of something else.

Compartments along the gear's shoulders and waist opened up as it retreated, releasing a cloud of floating, gyro-driven orbs. As each one alights, it unhinges like a splitting egg, revealing a single, flashing green eye... That abruptly turns red as each of the drones turns and begins trying to intercept the Grandgrowl's flight path.

And if they get too close... *boom!*

In other words, Cyre has deployed aerial mines.

"I think you're misunderstanding something though," Cyre says gravely, even as Gwen's supercharging machine-life-energy beams send the Huracan's fuel gauges through the roof. "I don't want to fight you. I want to see Solaris brought to its knees, level it to its foundations, and see every person it has ever oppressed set free! We're fighting because you're standing in my way!"

GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Seraphita with R-0113-R Aerial Mine!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
GS: Xantia accepts Gwen Whitlock's Bullets and Boons for All! for 0 hit points!
GS: Xantia activates Gwen Whitlock's Reload!!
GS: Xantia gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Lily Keil accepts Gwen Whitlock's Bullets and Boons for All! for 0 hit points!
GS: Lily Keil activates Gwen Whitlock's Reload!!
GS: Lily Keil gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Praise comes in (that I don't deserve, Elly thinks) but she nonetheless says, "Thank you--! I just hope it's going to give us enough of an edge, given the forces they still have out there..."

But Dominia is asking her some pretty pointed questions. El-Regulus turns its head slightly - the great fan behind its head keeps it from moving too dramatically, but it nonetheless regards the Element.

"I did fall in love," Elly says. "But I left because I couldn't tolerate what Gebler was doing to the surface dwellers...! Everything that you're saying... None of this is guidance, it isn't 'shepherding' at all! It's pillaging... controlling and extracting... trying to take their fates from them... Dominia, I can't -"

She is faltering. Inside of the cockpit, she feels her eyes swim. (Inside of her brain, cranial nerves scream in a deficit of glucose: plenty alive, but *hungry* and *aching* - painlessly - before a pounding heart replenishes them.)

But that momentary gray patch...

Subsystems, Elly thinks.

A different set of visions blur into her view. Familiar, like putting on gloves you find in an old coat pocket. Elly reaches out with her left hand, feeling that same haptic illusion. This time she does not sweep across the nearby people.

-- Externally, the Omnigear flits behind one of the two close-range fighters, its mace held to guard its center. It is Leon, as it turns out, although this is a simple accident of proximity. A hand reaches out -- and the salmon-hued cowlings on the Omnigear *crackle*. Empathite crystals flicker with light again.

Though it is probably well hidden in Bladegash's cockpit, there is a brief harmonic tension...

... and then: Connection

Elly hallucinates briefly. Something - a 'firewall'? She imagines lights within lights, a rigid crystalline structure that seems to be melting away from the rippling spaces produced by the fast darting of - something? - her - yes? Yes, it's her! A little simple shape, three dots that make a triangle, a unification, and -

In the material world, the crackle behind and around the Omnigear forms a momentary coronal display of wan pastel, some stray arcs disipating harmlessly against Shevat's aura.

A flickering pane appears in front of her and Elly just smashes her palm into it while making the peculiar finger-forked gesture she always used to reset her tablet computer back when she still got them from Gebler's supply issue. Except, of course, it's not a tablet computer's control panel.

"Is this... what... they did in the past?" Elly says, with a quaver in her voice. "Was this how they fought...?"

GS: Elhaym van Houten spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Dominia Yizkor with AHT-Attr Down -Stack Overflow-!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Ethius gives a status report and Jacqueline frowns, nodding in acknowledgment.

"...Alright. Keep me informed - I can't do much from here, but I can provide some cover if you need it." She replies.

The pilot of the Bladegash gives her name - the Earth Element, Dominia Yizkor... Jacqueline nods to herself. It almost feels appropriate that they'd fight someday.

"A pleasure, Miss Yizkor." Jacqueline replies. Dominia doesn't ask, but Jacqueline decides to introduce herself anyway - it's not like Solaris isn't already well aware of her. "Jacqueline Barber."

She could rise to the defense of the nature of Lambs... but right now, the others have that well in hand, and Dominia's mind seems pretty set anyway.

Dominia attacks with the power of earth. Jacqueline can't help but feel a little respect for her - she doesn't know how Ether differs from Crest Sorcery, but she knows what kind of skill that takes. Jacqueline calls the earth to her own defense, a wall rising to intercept the attack. It doesn't stop it completely, the wave pushing her back to the edge of the platform... but not, thankfully, off completely.

"Not bad at all..." Jacqueline remarks. ...It's just a bit of a shame, she feels, that she can't really meet her for Sorcery for Sorcery right now. Still - going for hampering her systems has worked out pretty effectively so far, so she once again swaps out her ammunition.

"Let's see if you can shake this off..." She murmurs to herself, taking aim. She tracks her through the air, trying to lead her fire, and then unleashes it. It's a bullet with a rather vicious payload, design to invoke malfunctions in all combat-based systems.

GS: Seraphita takes a glancing hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's R-0113-R Aerial Mine for 109 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Slow applied to Seraphita!
GS: Jacqueline Barber spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Misfortune!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "Family reunions are always so messy," Magilou sighs, with a broad, what-can-you-do shrug. She points, at Grandgrowl; her radio will be better at conveying her target, at least. "Hey, you! If you want to make nice with your childhood friend, ditch that discount Red Dragon and discuss it like a demotic denizen!" It's... it's a robot, Magilou. Not all big things are dragons.

    It is an odd sense to how her magic is received, which regrettably makes Magilou more, not less, interested in the element of flame over there. Flame breathes out, and Magilou says, "Oop!", as she trips back off of Hellerune,

    which might have been exhibit A in why NORMAL PEOPLE DON'T COME TO GEAR FIGHTS,

    except for the woosh of air as Magilou, riding on an elongated shikigami like a surfboard through the sky, weaves around the edges of the flame. It's still terribly hot, by magnitudes more than most ground mages could muster. Even exiting the stage, Magilou can't help but be burned by such a scathing review. How terrible!

    She still seems whole when she swoops back into view, though. Back up around, she lands beside Riesenlied, just in time to catch her own query. "Citan, huh? So there's a retirement plan, after all." She doesn't immediately recognise the name, but the fact that someone has left is applicable information, particularly to...

    ... well. Let's not worry about that.

    "You really are a remarkable channeler," Magilou says, to Riesenlied, and indeed Magilou is VERY good at eating magic, where it bubbles to the surface. "Connected to the shallow waters... but it's rather a tenuous connection, isn't it? You... ah, you were born for something else."

    There's something fey in her expression, regarding Riesenlied, in that moment; perhaps it's the way her eyes aren't just green, not entirely. There's that purple, leaking in.

    "One should be careful dipping one's toes into the Ley, lest you fall right in. Do you know how to escape a place like that? Most don't. Consumed by what is and what has been, they wither... and fall."

    Magilou smiles, a thousand mysteries on her lips. "It's all right," she assures her, and the gentleness there may well be more shocking than the strangeness. "It's sweet you would, but you needn't push yourself so far to give me power. I'll show you a trick for making a wellspring from a rival."

    Cheerfully, Magilou turns her attention to Grandgrowl. "Spell Absorber!" She invokes, and her body is light, white and all-consuming, collecting into herself with butterfly scraps of lilac-turquoise light. That light expands out in a halo, far, far enough to reach Grandgrowl -- though, given her relative size, it DOESN'T reach Dominia and her blade -- and with it is a sense of taking, hungry like the ocean.

    The infinite ocean that is Magilou.

    A well which will consume a Gear's own magic.

GS: Magilou spends 1 Combo on Interrupt!
GS: Magilou has attacked Seraphita with Spell Absorber!
GS: Magilou enters a Counter stance!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Misfortune for 0 hit points!
GS: Cripple, Jam, Mute, and Corrode applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    'They're saying that you ran away. That you fell in love with a Lamb.'

    Fresh anger washes through Ida's brain. It isn't just that she's protective of Elly--that hit too close to home. But the Elements--Ida knows just enough about them to know that they're among Solaris' finest, and she's not going to do anybody any good if she's a carbon smear.

    "Dominia, then," Ida says. There's something visceral about the way Dominia pours out her own anger, and it resonates. Her mouth opens, a retort already on her lips, but Dominia doesn't give her the chance. Bladegash jets down at her, and unlike the Dust Dragoon, it is fast, and it has the advantage of flight. Ida is pinned between the Solarian Gear and the turret she was using for cover; the only angle left to her leads directly into open air. She glances sidelong at the shield capacitors, sees the charge crawling back towards halfway. Not nearly enough.

    Ida slams her foot down, vectors the jumpjets backwards. The Dragoon lifts off a bare ten feet, and shoots backwards, chased by Bladegash all the way. Ida toggles the radio to tightband to shout: "ELLY! CATCH!"

    Ida's Gear jets over the edge, hangs in the air for a scant second or two. Dominia's blade scrapes the chest armor, draws sparks, and then gravity takes hold. The Dust Dragoon begins to fall, its jets pulsing quickly and furiously. Ida would have to burn hard in order to get back onto solid ground, and that would give Dominia another chance to cut her Gear in two.

    Instead, Ida opts to trust in her friend.

<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

Renmazuo moves quickly, and Billy is a trained Gear pilot - one of the many talents an Etone needs. It lets him keep up somewhat with Dominia, but the enemy Solarian remains an Element. One of the finest soldiers Solaris has at its disposal. Billy's able to land his hit, but Dominia makes him pay for it soon. Renmazuo isn't...REALLY made for full-on midair combat, so he's having a bit of difficulty keeping the machine stable in the sky. He does alright, mostly, but Dominia's next maneuver, grinding him against earth that isn't there, grates at his machine's frame badly. A screen pops up, warning of danger and spreading damage.

But it gives him a moment - mere seconds - where his machine is technically in contact with the ground. That gives him the stability he needs to level his ether cannons at the Bladegash and draw in a steadying breath. "So this is what's become of Father's unit," he breathes.

"...sad."

The guns roar, firing ether-infused shells that spatter out into sacred emblems on impact.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius holds his composure as the Bladegash's shields are further tested and stressed, laying down what support fire he can - though such a skille defensive looks more like 'he can't.'

     He quietly listens to some of the vitrol and retorts shared out in the open. "Nowhere left after the fall of Shevat, then," Ethius muses aloud (this is an accident). "No other power to turn." He does not say these words with any sense of desperation or resignation.

     He doesn't get much more opportunity to muse as earthen Ether shakes and fractures the air itself, and the Aiguille is not much reinforced from this manner of assault. The ability to apply sorcery to Gear scale weaponry remains yet a terrifying and exotic technological development.

     Things rattle noisily. Something gets loose, there's a grinding noise Ethius can only steal a glance at from readings before he can say with reasonable confidence it's not imminently life-threatening.

     He loses some altitude in the effort to regain control of the Aiguille through the earth-laden turbulence, but maintains a stable enough path as his current course means he has to risk passing by the Bladegash. He keeps the rifle-staff level, as energy charges through it...

     It's a feint. He drops it from shoulder to hip, as if a jousting lance, to try and ram it past the Bladegash's side as he attempts to pass through.

GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Blaze Shot!
GS: Billy Lee Black has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Billy Lee Black's Avenger stance ends.
GS: Billy Lee Black takes 49 damage from Corrode!
GS: Mighty expired!
GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ethius Hesiod spends 1 Combo on Interrupt!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Ram!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Praise comes in (that I don't deserve, Elly thinks) but she nonetheless says, "Thank you--! I just hope it's going to give us enough of an edge, given the forces they still have out there..."

But Dominia is asking her some pretty pointed questions. El-Regulus turns its head slightly - the great fan behind its head keeps it from moving too dramatically, but it nonetheless regards the Element.

"I did fall in love," Elly says. "But I left because I couldn't tolerate what Gebler was doing to the surface dwellers...! Everything that you're saying... None of this is guidance, it isn't 'shepherding' at all! It's pillaging... controlling and extracting... trying to take their fates from them... Dominia, I can't -"

She is faltering. Inside of the cockpit, she feels her eyes swim. (Inside of her brain, cranial nerves scream in a deficit of glucose: plenty alive, but *hungry* and *aching* - painlessly - before a pounding heart replenishes them.)

But that momentary gray patch...

Subsystems, Elly thinks.

A different set of visions blur into her view. Familiar, like putting on gloves you find in an old coat pocket. Elly reaches out with her left hand, feeling that same haptic illusion. This time she does not sweep across the nearby people.

-- Externally, the Omnigear flits behind one of the two close-range fighters, its mace held to guard its center. It is Leon, as it turns out, although this is a simple accident of proximity. A hand reaches out -- and the salmon-hued cowlings on the Omnigear *crackle*. Empathite crystals flicker with light again.

Though it is probably well hidden in Bladegash's cockpit, there is a brief harmonic tension...

... and then: Connection

Elly hallucinates briefly. Something - a 'firewall'? She imagines lights within lights, a rigid crystalline structure that seems to be melting away from the rippling spaces produced by the fast darting of - something? - her - yes? Yes, it's her! A little simple shape, three dots that make a triangle, a unification, and -

In the material world, the crackle behind and around the Omnigear forms a momentary coronal display of wan pastel, some stray arcs disipating harmlessly against Shevat's aura.

A flickering pane appears in front of her and Elly just smashes her palm into it while making the peculiar finger-forked gesture she always used to reset her tablet computer back when she still got them from Gebler's supply issue. Except, of course, it's not a tablet computer's control panel.

"Is this... what... they did in the past?" Elly says, with a quaver in her voice. "Was this how they fought...?"

Of course there is a downside to all of this discovery, which is that the Omnigear, in all of its auroral beauty and strange power, is not moving very fast. While Leon provides her with some indirect cover, the Earth Ether does not connect to Earth itself - the *sheer elemental force* smashes into the Omnigear's legs, making them jerk back, the Gear itself pitching and yawing before resting a foot on the barrier-sheathed wall of the flying city, kicking back off - and then Ida speaks to her.

Elly looks up and --

-- It just HAPPENS: the Omnigear twists round its mace, holding it with both hands, and -- did it just extend? Or was she adjusting her grip? The descending Dragoon lands upon that proffered bar and is, a moment later, launched up!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Seraphita has no way of knowing to what degree her words hit Xantia like a ton of bricks. Though there is some indication in how Silvestris's laser wildly veers off-target shortly after being deflected, the Gear sharply turning its head in response to a sudden movement from its pilot.

Xantia is hunched over in the cockpit, hair fallen forward and covering her eyes. The words sound shaky as she repeats them. "Seraphita... the Fire Element...?"

Something changes radically as a result of these words. Not only is the notion of Seraphita being her friend violently pushed aside, it is replaced by a new sense of urgency, stemming from memories that she doesn't fully understand. She doesn't even hear what those speaking to her are saying. The response to these overwhelming feelings is also the only response that they receive, the words sounding hollow as they come from somewhere deep within.

"Priority... target..."

Temperature readings coming from Silvestris build rapidly. Before long, red-hot flames burst forth from its frame. This is not normal. Silvestris's systems can only generate electricity. But this is different. This is Ether. Silvestris shouldn't even have the capability to harnass Ether in this way.

...No, this isn't Gwen's fault, even if this happened to occur right after receiving that extra measure of energy, which is probably helping Xantia in whatever way she is making this happen.

Then, without warning, Silvestris leaps. Anyone would think Xantia must have taken leave of her senses, jumping off the edge of Shevat with a Gear that can't fly. From a standstill even, there's no way she could get very far. Which would be true normally, but through the application of Ether, the Gear is propelled forward like a rocket, straight for Grandgrowl as by magnetic attraction.

Silvestris is the smaller Gear by a good measure. But even if the fire it surrounds itself with probably isn't an issue, an impact at that speed, combined with its sharp edges, would probably be problematic regardless of size.

Not only that... after one pass, Silvestris turns in mid-air, and repeats the feat a second time from behind. Only to end up exactly where it started, scattering flames around itself as it lands back on Shevat's Outer Ring. Whirling about, the machine emits a low growl, its single eye glowing red as it sinks through its knees in a threatening manner.

Xantia does not speak a word throughout any of this, nor does she do so afterwards.

GS: Xantia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Xantia has attacked Seraphita with Inexorable Beast!
GS: Xantia enters a Counter stance!
GS: Mute and Slow expired!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Seraphita takes a solid hit from Magilou's Spell Absorber for 0 hit points!
GS: Mute applied to Seraphita!
GS: Mighty applied to Magilou!
GS: Seraphita has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
GS: Seraphita takes a solid hit from Xantia's Inexorable Beast for 368 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Riesenlied accepts Gwen Whitlock's Bullets and Boons for All! for 0 hit points!
GS: Riesenlied activates Gwen Whitlock's Reload!!
GS: Riesenlied gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

"-Is it in position yet?-" Seraphita sends back to Dominia. "-They didn't even tell me what it was going to do! They said the orders would go straight to the pilots.-"

Seraphita is an officer, but she doesn't always handle the in-battle command - Dominia is a better tactician than she is, and Seraphita has an unfortunate habit of talking. It's not like they're hiding it from Seraphita; she knows perfectly well there are things she doesn't know. Sometimes, that's just the way special forces work.

More worriedly, "-Are you okay? I can cover for you if you need to pull back... I don't want you to get hurt either! And you already got your extra tank shot.-"

She does all of this while maneuvering, which is impressive in its own way. Flipping back to her broadcast, and switching languages from Solarian, Seraphita's voice comes back online: "Yes! We're the elite Ether-users of Solaris. Right now, both Dominia and I are part of it!" Seraphita is proud. "He was before my time, though..."

Lily has been looking forward to her? That's a surprise. Seraphita didn't know anyone was. "Well," she says, before: "There's CAKE?"

...yeah Seraphita would probably be up for that.

She turns her attention back to Lily because she can *feel* the fire start to build up. It's not quite the same as her fire; flame, but not. Still Ether, though, which means it's very tangible to Seraphita. "Then I'll show you what I can do!"

She can't figure out how to disassemble the spell, but what she *can* do is coopt parts of it. She reaches out with flame of her own, a ring - a web of semisolid flame that catches the blast wave, bending against it, and starts to burn up the wave. The excited energy is all too happy to burn, flaring bright.

Too bright; some of it still connects, causing a flareup. Grandgrowl is fire-resistant, but not truly fireproof, and it overloads some of the Ether circuitry. There's a bright flash in the cockpit, and Seraphita recoils, swerving up and away.

This passes her into the minefield. "Well I won't let you take apart my home! It's my home!!" Seraphita avoids one, shoots bullets at a second to prematurely detonate it, and catches a third with one wing completely accidentally. It is simultaneously smashed downward and explodes, saving her from some of the blast but not all of it. The wing smokes. It doesn't look in great shape.

"...Xantia?" Seraphita isn't sure what Xantia is doing. One flaming quadruped against another is ordinarily a fair match - Seraphita wouldn't necessarily say she has the advantage, but she certainly wouldn't think she would be disadvantaged. Except that looks wrong. Grandgrowl rolls with the blow, trying to catch Silvestris with its legs and kick it to make it vault past, giving her a moment of clear space.

And then she feels it. Magilou, draining her Ether.

"Hey!" Seraphita's response is to pull *back*, a hard mental yank that puts her - energetically, if not physically - in very close proximity to Magilou. She can feel Magilou's power, and Magilou can feel hers: a surprisingly deep well with complex outgrowths and flows. Airheaded she might act, but Seraphita knows fire Ether; she can do tricks with it no non-specialist could even begin to form the beginnings of sorcery for.

And she does one now; when Magilou pulls, Seraphita forms something and lets her take it, using Magilou's own pull as guidance. Which means -

A ring of fire appears around Magilou, drawing tight. It isn't as hot or burning as it should be, but it's solid - as hard to break as iron, though slightly less rigid. It feels rubbery-taut and, if it manages the initial catch, aims to squeeze and pin her.

As for everyone else, flaming Ether rushes out of Grandgrowl in a rush, filling the area around Seraphita with flame - a concussive blast, like a bomb. A *lot* of Ether. Seraphita would never do something like this inside the city - but, well. She's not. The shield is still there. Nobody inside is getting toasty.

Just the defenders.

GS: Seraphita has attacked Magilou with Heat Ring Binder!
GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraphita has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Thermo Nova !
GS: Seraphita has attacked Xantia with Thermo Nova !
GS: Seraphita has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Thermo Nova !
GS: Seraphita has attacked Lily Keil with Thermo Nova !
GS: Seraphita has attacked Riesenlied with Thermo Nova !
GS: Break expired!
GS: Seraphita has completed her action.
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Thermo Nova  for 278 hit points!
GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Thermo Nova  for 167 hit points!
GS: COUNTER! Xantia counterattacks Seraphita with Counter Attack!
GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Thermo Nova  for 400 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Lily Keil takes a glancing hit from Seraphita's Thermo Nova  for 400 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Lily Keil enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: COUNTER! Magilou counterattacks Seraphita with Counter Attack!
GS: CRITICAL! Magilou takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Heat Ring Binder for 208 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Magilou gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Entangle applied to Magilou!
GS: Magilou activates Arcane Font!
GS: Magilou enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Gwen Whitlock's Bullets and Boons for All! for 0 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Gwen Whitlock's Reload!!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes a solid hit from Billy Lee Black's Blaze Shot for 264 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Dominia Yizkor enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Ram for 112 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
GS: Seraphita takes a solid hit from Xantia's Counter Attack for 230 hit points!
GS: Seraphita guards a hit from Magilou's Counter Attack for 111 hit points!
GS: Seraphita activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Elly's machine is below her. Ida closes her eyes, and for a few, fleeting seconds, prays she doesn't kill the both of them with her risky maneuver. She watches as one of the lower cams swivels down, and sees El-Regulus lifting its mace.

    Another miracle happens. Ida doesn't so much as twitch a muscle, but her machine lands on the offered weapon with grace and poise. A heartbeat later, and she's launched upwards, leaving the Dragoon's computers--as well as herself--to wonder what the hell just happened. What kind of machine can do that?

    Something flickers behind Ida's conscious thoughts, a flash of white and black and neon color. A fragment of a half-forgotten dream.

    The Dragoon lands on Shevat's hull, a good hundred meters away from Dominia's machine. Ida breathes, deep and steady, as Gwen's voice filters through the radio.

    'Are you plannin' something big?'

    "When am I not?" Ida says, flashing a daredevil grin that is mostly sincere. She tries not to think about how her heart almost fell into her stomach. Energy rips through the air, and rather than smashing into the Dragoon, or crawling over its armor, it just... sinks in, as if absorbed. Ida tries not to think about the mechanics behind that, either. She glances at the gauges, takes a breath, and allows her eyes to go unfocused.

    Ida's body jerks against her crash harness. Tendrils of biometallic flesh snake through the seal of her helmet--Hyadean nerves surrounded by a cushion of skin and supporting muscle. One by one, they plug themselves into the circuitry above and below and behind the pilot's seat. More tendrils erupt from the seams of Ida's gloves and boots, linking into the control panels and sinking deeper into the machinery. Cells multiply with impossible speed. Ida's body jerks again, as if hit by lightning. Her radio crackles with a hard, throaty gasp as the connection tightens, and the synchronization completes.

    The Dragoon slides its cannon back into its mount, but this time, the motion doesn't look programed. It looks organic, almost, like there were a living mind directly attached to the machine.

    "Elly is both more eloquent and compassionate than I," Ida says, and there's an odd metallic rasp to her voice. "But let me just say that it's so very Galadian to literally sit above your lessers, blaming them for their failures while you grind them into the dirt. What do you think of that?"

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with First Method - Steel Colossus Synchronization!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Stoic stance ends. She enters the Avenger stance!
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Ida Everstead-Rey's First Method - Steel Colossus Synchronization for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper, Lock State, and Shield applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's AHT-Attr Down -Stack Overflow- for 192 hit points!
GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Corrode applied to Dominia Yizkor!
<Pose Tracker> Dominia Yizkor has posed.

    Leon keeps firing; that barrier pops into existance as he does and after absorbing a few shots erupts into sparks before fizzling out altogether. Inside her cockpit Dominia frowns but does not relent on her course.

    "Of course! They would not leave a mission like this to 'just anyone'!" Dominia declares, as Leon remarks that it's unsurprising that one of the Elements would be in charge of this.

    The response from Fei seems to actually rattle Dominia, but it might not be the part he would have expected it to--

    "Th, the Commander was the former Wind Element!" Dominia sputters, as if she were aghast.

    And that may be part of the reason that both fists collide solidly with the front of Bladegash, sending Dominia -- currently standing atop the solid-enough barrier -- flying backwards. She arrests that motion after a few seconds more, hovering a moment just above the barrier.

    This is when Leon charges her, slamming into her with his Gear's blade.

    Dominia's Gear's exterior plating holds, but, there is a rend there, where it had been pristine moments ago.

    She raises her blade. Blue energy curls off of it, suggesting and then becoming the waves of the sea. She is already a skilled practitioner of the Solarian Blade Arts herself, as tutored in Jugend, and that ability extends to her Gear. When she swings for Leon and for Fei too -- bolting away from the Black Wolves captain to close the gap between herself and the black Gear -- it will be as if her sword itself were the sea.
R
    She doesn't stay among them. Elly speaks to her, and as she speaks, Dominia's blade gains a rolling flame once again. "So it's true," she says to Elly. "That rumor. So you really are the child of a surface-dweller." Elly might make her pleas for the sake of those on the ground -- state her case against Solaris' guidance, but it's clear that Dominia isn't willing to hear it. "So you've sided with your own kind!" she shouts, swinging that flaming blade for Elly, even as--

    Ida

    intrudes in her own way, lending Elly strength. A light comes in inside Bladegash's cockpit, the monitor one screen winking for a moment. The air ripples even in the depths of Dominia's cockpit, and then... and then things begin to go subtlely wrong. She's getting status report errors from things that shouldn't have given her status report errors--

    But she still turns towards Ida, determined to continue even so. "Your voice... what are you? What is that Gear?" she asks, but does not wait for an answer. The aura around her blade has blurred, sparking as if it were full of the terrible wind and fury of a stormcloud.

    Which she brings down crashing upon the Dust Dragoon.

    'Father's unit', Billy says, and here Dominia's attention snaps his way. "Are you... his son?"
    She makes not a sound at the final remark from Billy. Invisible to the world, fury colors her face; Bladegash swings its sword and the force of that swing again rends the air, sending a piercing wave rolling through the air for Billy.

    "'Jacqueline Barber', is it," is Dominia's response on that front, apparently the colder one of the two elements currently present. "Hmph. Don't think that you're doing yourself any favors. You are an enemy!"

    A fact that Jay makes quite clear, as she takes careful aim and fires; without the backup of her shielding module, Dominia twists to attempt to intercept the shot along her well-armored left forearm... and is rewarded for the strike that barely lends a crack in her armor with the error code that abruptly fills the screens in her system. "What--"

    An exclamation that she follows up, pending some rapid-fire maneuvering to attempt to skirt the incoming charge from Ethius and manages to twist at just the right moment to send it carving across her Gear's torso -- but not as deep as it might have otherwise cut. Between Ethius and Jay as her systems begin to reboot, still afflicted but functional, she begins to channel Ether.

    As before, sharp stones and crystal with the edge of a knife are called into the air around Bladegash; when they set to fly forth, they are as a cloud, the air full of the earth Ether projectiles. This may be a problem for those immediately near to where Dominia has positioned herself.

    To the back, the tight formation of Gears have started to move into position for something. There's... some extremely large ship approaching from where they were. But it's still a distance away.

    "They've reported that the Hecht is ready and in position for advance on target location. How is the barrier, Sera?" Dominia says over that private line. "They can proceed at any time." There follows a brief pause. "...It's a bomb, Sera. This is the last weapon of its type, a weapon handed down to us from Solaris' height five hundred years ago. We can't waste it. With this, we should be able to destroy Shevat!"

GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Leon Albus with Maelstrom Sword!
GS: Dominia Yizkor enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Maelstrom Sword!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Inferno Sword!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Tempest Sword!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Billy Lee Black with Negation Edge!
GS: Dominia Yizkor spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Terra Catalyst!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Terra Catalyst!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes 43 damage from Corrode!
GS: Hex expired!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has completed her action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Dominia Yizkor's Terra Catalyst for 63 hit points!
GS: Corrode applied to Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Dominia Yizkor's Terra Catalyst for 52 hit points!
GS: Corrode applied to Ethius Hesiod!
GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Dominia Yizkor's Maelstrom Sword for 336 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Leon Albus gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Weaken applied to Leon Albus!
GS: Mighty applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey guards a hit from Dominia Yizkor's Tempest Sword for 217 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Slow applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Riposte applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a glancing hit from Dominia Yizkor's Inferno Sword for 181 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Elhaym van Houten gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Cover applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Elhaym van Houten activates Evade bonus and Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    A ring of fire appears around Magilou -- and shortly DISAPPEARS.

    This is not to say it fades without fanfare. That light flashes, and all the red of the too-solid flames are drawn in, in, in; Seraphita may well know, in this moment, the enemy's gate is down. Magilou invites her magic into her, pulls it into the core of her, and there, inside her, makes it hers.

    All burnt up on the inside. Oh, yes. In this instant Magilou has an astounding sense of the depths of Seraphita's flame. She has never truly been a specialist, but Bienfu has a particular talent for enabling flame -- enough to give her a deep understanding of just how hot the woman of Grandgrowl burns.

    It's always the people who are easy to dismiss who are the biggest threats. But then, no one had to tell Magilou that. Perhaps she'll keep these embers in the place where her heart should be.

    But for now, on the outside, Magilou drains that Ether into herself, unto herself, through herself. She IS Seraphita's magic, for one glorious, agonising moment. And then she opens her eyes, and replies, chipper, with just what she shapes it into in that moment:

    "Calamity Flare!"

    Lily has faced off against it, once before. This time the tidal wave of flame emanates FROM Hellerune, rather than towards her. And Lily, who has faced Calamity Flare before, may well see the difference between the towering walls then and now. Perhaps that is the consequence of consuming so much, all at once.

    This does not stretch fifteen feet into the air -- it is LARGER than that. Just as flaming Ether rushed from Grandgrowl to consume them, now Magilou's own flaming Arte rushes to Grandgrowl, tall enough to sweep over it, collapse down over it. On foot it could consume an entire fleet of foes; here, perhaps, it can catch Grandgrowl entire.

    It's not the sort of thing which is very nice to cities, either, but as Seraphita has determined: there's a barrier, so it's fine.

    There's a scuff of ash at Magilou's cheek, as it splits into a grin, as she comes down from the balls of her feet. Don't call it sagging. That's far too sad a word for how entertained she looks. "You," she remarks, cheerfully, through that radio bauble which has somehow still survived, "you're really quite good, aren't you?" It's the sort of thing that could be mocking, but it isn't, not really. Magilou, it seems... is just having a good time?!

    Maybe she and Lily aren't that unalike...

    "I'm not personally invested in any of this, so don't take it the wrong way. Even so, I can't just let you take that girl off for reprogramming." Magilou... still seems entirely confident in saying that, even though she's barely a speck on the battlefield. She doesn't know Elhaym personally, but...

    "But there's no use telling you not to fight," and all the radio transmits is a slight dip in her tone, even as Riesenlied can witness the brief fatalism on her face, smile falling to a grim sorrow. It's gone in a moment, of course, as Magilou waves a hand, and a floating shikigami waves with her. Brightly: "... so I won't!"

GS: Magilou has activated a Force Action!
GS: Magilou has activated a Force Action!
GS: Magilou has attacked Seraphita with Calamity Flare!
GS: Magilou has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"No argument," Leon says. "They would entrust it to their best--and that presents me an opportunity!" The Black Wolf shouts that, even as her Gear's blade -- wrapped with blue energy -- slams down into his machine. Ether catches the Weglaff as much as the sword, and both leave a vicious, terrible rend in the Gear's armor; plates are shorn back and half broken, as the Weglaff goes flying backward.

But the flight unit manages to stop its descent, and it lifts in the air -- if shaking, almost unsteady. He sees the crack in the armor -- the damage that is mounting -- and he gives a nervous glance to Elly's new Gear.

Then, he looks back at Dominia. Opportunity, he reminds himself. He lifts up the gatling cannon, and fires again. Rounds explode from the barrels, raining down upon the Bladegash. The cannon keeps firing, as Leon sends his Gear flying forward, the throttle slamming him backward against his chair.

The gatling cannon fires until it runs out of rounds -- the weapon starts rotating with an empty clicking sound, then -- and then Weglaff swings back the black blade. There is a crackle from it; the air shimmers, like a mirage.

It turns a bright red hot, and then Leon slashes the blade hard for the same spot where he struck the armor before.

GS: Leon Albus spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Formation! Leon Albus has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Lawnmower!
GS: Leon Albus has launched an attack Link!
GS: Leon Albus enters the Avenger stance!
GS: Leon Albus spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Leon Albus has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Superheated Blade!
GS: Jam expired!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Dominia Yizkor critically guards Leon Albus's Lawnmower for 71 hit points!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Dominia Yizkor enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Dominia Yizkor takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Superheated Blade for 465 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Riesenlied has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    "That is a very Lily thing to say," Riesenlied whispers quietly, trying to manage a smile through her pain. Lily would be the one to be all, 'I've always wanted to encounter a great foe!' after all...! She wouldn't really be her without that spark, would she?

    She senses something in the air -- and something from Halcyone flows near and around her; there's a quiet gasp as she clutches herself, perhaps sensing Gwen's own pain.

    "Gwen, please, do not overdo it--" She stops, because she realises she's exactly in a Kettle calling the Pot black situation. "Um-- and I will not either... mumble mumble..." Riesenlied finishes lamely, embarrassed.

    Whoosh! Magilou is afloat on a shikigami... how wonderful! She truly is a wise sorceress, able to fly under her own power. It makes her miss her wings something terribly bad for a moment. The little stumps under her capelet wiggle for a moment.

    She lands, and calls her a remarkable channeler; some part of her wants to be proud at that, but... her warning sobers her up as well, as she looks to those green-purple eyes.

    "... I will," Riesenlied nods, almost obediently, but... there's a look of knowing. "I know firsthand... how dangerous it is. The people who made me this way made sure of that."

    Riesenlied didn't really want to think about Mother and Alhazred again, but... they're never far from her mind, when she channels the Ley. Something a little grim, a reminder...

    Fortunately, Magilou's there to distract and cheer her out of that again -- because she shows her a sweet trick! Her body turns into light, and she's receptive to light; expanding outwards, towards Grandgrowl. Spell Absorber...!

    She wonders for a moment if she can do that... she's confident about her ability to channel, but not about her ability to manipulate Ley. "Wow..."

    Seraphita talks about how she and Dominia are the current Elements. "I see... yes, that does make sense." That Citan was before her time. There was inevitably a massive reorganisation, wasn't there.

    Something Seraphita says reminds her of something, though... ... it reminds her of herself, once upon a time.

    "Seraphita, please tell me... is it true that there are many underclass people in Solaris? Third Class... I think, was the term. Surface Dwellers brought there... to labour hard and suffer. I know you love your home -- most people do. ... my home was very harsh to me. I was effectively the same as a Third Class citizen to them, yet..."

    Oh. Oh, that's a lot of fire. Flaming, swirling Ether rushing around Grandgrowl in a rush, not unlike a bomb, full of concussive force; there's another yelp as she ducks underneath Hellerune's finger again.

    It's only through the Gear's well-armored hand and some of the magics in the air -- perhaps the line from Grandgrowl to her dampened through the Spell Absorber,

    She still comes out the other end dizzy, and more of her clothes are a little bit more burnt; she coughs through the remnant smoke and black, shaking her head and trying to get herself upright and not-disoriented. Oriented, is what she wants to be.

    "I understand. You are fighting for your home, for duty. I... I do understand being in that situation. Then..."

    For the very first time in this fight, Riesenlied looks like she's about to do more than hurt herself or hide behind a finger and amplify Hellerune, not that those things aren't very important to do! (Except the hurting herself part. Stop doing that, Riesenlied. (No. (Why am I arguing in narration?!)))

    Instead, she kind of... leans upright against the giant finger, so she can prop herself up -- and she's got that Dragon's Tear seated at her palms again. "I have to do what is important, too... so... here goes."

    She closes her eyes...

    ...and in her, another eye opens.

    She feels it. The currents of the very sky. The immense heat lingering from the thermal blast. The cries of medics as they, even now, continue to save lives; triage happens. Someone doesn't make it -- a code black. An anguished heart; the medic steels herself, because a code red is right next to her.

    Her consciousness expands. Something strange happened to Xantia's Gear; it's red-hot, as if it became a feral beast for a moment... was she all right? She can't hear, right now. Something mysterious and beautiful is happening on Elly's end too -- that Gear that somehow causes a kind of resonance with her... something crystalline and otherworldly.

    More. More.

    Pulsing, pulsing...

    The beats of dozens -- no, hundreds of hearts...

    She sees Seraphita, for a moment -- beyond the wall of metal, beyond the guise of Grandgrowl. And it is there that she channels...

    Seven fantastic seals in revolution around her. She spreads her arms out gently, the Dragon's Tear hovering in the air before her. A power that is grand by some standards, and genteel and warm to others, swells.

    "I want to understand you. I want to understand this home of yours. What you love about it... because all I understand so far is what I can see from the outside! So please, take this shine... my...!"

    Understanding, of course, comes in the form of an enormous Magical Girl Beam (tm).

GS: Riesenlied spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Seraphita with Sparkle! Our Positive Rainbow!!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: Very High! Seraphita critically guards Magilou's Calamity Flare for 78 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Seraphita's Thermo Nova  for 300 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock activates Guard bonus and Sufferer!
GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Slow and Weaken expired!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily doesn't notice Riesenlied's whisper, save for feeling a strange warmth that she can't quite explain. Lily doesn't comment on cake. Instead she watches Seraphita as she works to co-opt the spell, bending against it, burning it up. "Fascinating," Lily can't help but remark as she does. But--

Xantia's changed voice, the hollow words--her actions as a result. Lily is suddenly quite alarmed at Xantia, though not for her immediate safety as much, given the feats her Gear undertakes in the next few moments. She's going to need the extra boost Gwen gave her if she's going to keep an eye out for her friend.

Once again, Seraphita's flames cascade forward, flaming Ether blasting like a bomb. It would be enough to take out most Gears easily, and as it stands Lily has to devote her full attention for a long few moments to her barrier--and even then the Gear smokes and sizzles as the barrier fades, only able to stop the brunt of the attack rather than all of it.

Lily does not comment on her plans for Solaris. After all, Magilou gave her the perfect plan for how to take it down before, right? If only... she... was willing.

"Xantia!" Lily calls out. "Get ahold of yourself!"

She does recall Calamity Flare quite well, and she sees the difference--clearly, just feeding straight into it is a dangerous move. ...She doesn't regret doing it, though. She just feels Riesenlied's power there, pulsing, those many hearts. Yes... the grand power there, what Riesenlied wants to understand--

Lily lifts her Gear's free hand again, and there's a sudden flash of power--before Lily rushes forward in Hellerune, holding Risenlied still carefully as she does nothing but try to score a touch on the Grandgrowl, as if trying to grab it and hold it in place for the spells to come.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Yes, but even so..." Jacqueline replies. "At the end of the day, we're still two people fighting for what we believe in, even if we're on different sides. It's important to remember that."

She gets a little more breathing room, taking the opportunity to recenter her Gear on the platform. This proves convenient, as she's soon met with a volley of earth projectiles. This time, Jacqueline quickly draws a Crest Graph - a twinned Wing - and inserts it into the slot on her dashboard. The Jaeger out her combat rod and swings, unleashing a gust of wind that knocks some of them out of the air. The rest impact the machine and forces it back... but, her positioning is still solid.

"Systems are still okay... I can keep going." Jacqueline mutters to herself. "Alright... time for the silver bullet."

Once more she swaps out her sidearm's ammunition. Within the cockpit, Jacqueline takes a deep breath and aims. Dominia's bound to be onto her by now - it's time to make it count. And she fires - placing her hopes onto that bullet.

But as she aims, she notices movement in the Solarian Gears. Jacqueline frowns.

"...Something's happening. I don't know what it is, but... be on your guard, everyone!" Jacqueline warns, addressed to her allies.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Seraphita with Hold It Right There!!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated a Force Action!
GS: Formation! Jacqueline Barber has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Lockdown Shell!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes 38 damage from Corrode!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Yes, but even so..." Jacqueline replies. "At the end of the day, we're still two people fighting for what we believe in, even if we're on different sides. It's important to remember that."

She gets a little more breathing room, taking the opportunity to recenter her Gear on the platform. This proves convenient, as she's soon met with a volley of earth projectiles. This time, Jacqueline quickly draws a Crest Graph - a twinned Wing - and inserts it into the slot on her dashboard. The Jaeger out her combat rod and swings, unleashing a gust of wind that knocks some of them out of the air. The rest impact the machine and forces it back... but, her positioning is still solid.

"Systems are still okay... I can keep going." Jacqueline mutters to herself. "Alright... time for the silver bullet."

Once more she swaps out her sidearm's ammunition. Within the cockpit, Jacqueline takes a deep breath and aims. Dominia's bound to be onto her by now - it's time to make it count. And she fires - placing her hopes onto that bullet. A bullet that causes shutdown in defensive systems, to hopefully create an opening for the others to exploit.

But as she aims, she notices movement in the Solarian Gears. Jacqueline frowns.

"...Something's happening. I don't know what it is, but... be on your guard, everyone!" Jacqueline warns, addressed to her allies.

GS: Seraphita takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Sparkle! Our Positive Rainbow! for 408 hit points!
GS: Riesenlied drains Seraphita! Riesenlied gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Fei Fong Wong critically guards Dominia Yizkor's Maelstrom Sword for 94 hit points!
GS: Mighty applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Guard bonus!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Lily Keil's attack becomes clear!
GS: Seraphita takes a glancing hit from Lily Keil's Omega Protocol for 207 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraphita activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

The touch is all it takes. Hellerune's power erupts in a flash of darkness every bit as fierce as Riesenlied's sparkling light, an imploding cascade of power that burns photonegative colors into the eye.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    'So you've sided with your own kind!'

    Again, Ida's anger swells to a peak, and this time, it's visible in the Dragoon's body language. "Ah," she says. "The Watcher didn't tell you, did she? She said I no longer belonged in this world." As the sword comes down, bearing all the fury of a hurricane, the Dragoon steps forward, twisting on its heels and snapping out its right hand to catch Bladegash's right forearm. It's a close-combat technique, preparation to disarm--but Dominia's nothing if not well-trained, and what could've been a simple guard turns into something messier. The blade comes down, aimed right for the Dragoon's shoulder. The Gear shifts its weight again, its right forearm snapping up with speed it should not be able to muster. Dominia's sword chops into the thicker armor on the Dragoon's forearms. Plating rips free like tin siding shearing off a house caught in a Badlands twister. It penetrates to the superstructure beneath; metal groans, coolant and lubricant lines snap. Ida feels the pain spiking through her arm, and bites back a "Ghk--" that carries over the radio.

    The Dragoon stumbles back, its motions still too organic. Hyadean flesh glimmers in the tremendous hole Dominia just put in its arm. Strands pull taut...

    And the Dragoon flexes its right fingers in an un-Gear-like way, turns its head to Dominia. "Right," Ida says, to Jay. "Let me deal with her, one moment--"

    She's going to need more than just 'one moment'. Thankfully, Leon Albus provides.

    The Dragoon reaches for its equipment rack--a long metal pole ejects from its holder, and the machine grabs it as it unfolds. One end telescopes outwards into a sturdy, reinforced haft, while the other twists into a curved, razor-sharp spearpoint. "HAAAAAH--!" Ida roars, the metallic undertone becoming the boom of a giant's voice. The Dragoon's jumpjets ignite, picking it off of the city's hull. In an instant, it's above Bladegash, looking down at the other machine. In the next instant, it's driving its spear down at the Solarian Gear, and that spear is cracking with electricity. Ida is going right for the head, for where (hopefully) the sensors are located.

    The moment it lands, the Dragoon steps back again, and charges in a full-force, jumpjet-assisted lunge, driving itself towards Bladegash. If Dominia doesn't dodge somehow, she might end up pinned to one of Shevat's sensor arrays. Violently.

GS: CRITICAL! Dominia Yizkor takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Lockdown Shell for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Entangle and Shieldbreak applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Lightning Lance!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Yeah, like something being someone's home has ever stopped Solaris before," Cyre retorts, and immediately pays for his tremendously bad vibes. A tremendous wave of ether-flame washes over the Huracan. Flame is sometimes described as 'liquid' but never in quite so literal a way as this. It's almost viscous, nearly equivalent to being slammed into by a veritable tidal wave of fire. The Huracan braces as best it can, raising its shield to create a shadow, however small, that it can hide inside. It's nowhere near enough. The gear's armor melts like candle-wax, its cockpit screams with klaxons and angry, flashing warning lights. Thermal limits are being pushed far beyond even the most radical of safe limits. Cyre screams as he finds brief and terrible kinship with grilled kielbasa sausage.

If it weren't for a certain witch siphoning off a good deal of that ether, he would have been cooked alive. Instead, when the wave passes, the Huracan is simply left... smoldering, partially melted, and in far worse shape than is at all fit for battle.

But it moves regardless, heedless of the damage. It moves because if it does not, its joints will lock up as melted metal fuses together. It moves because admitting defeat to just one of the Elements means the goal of seeing Solaris brought low is that much further away.

And because Cyre still has an abundance of fury to work out, and a certain other feline (mechanical though it may be) isn't going to be left in the lurch all on its own.

"Ugh. What the hell. Is that one of those 'ether doubler' things at work?" Cyre grunts, even as a dual supernova of emotional energy and far more bog-standard (or as bog-standard as such things can get when Magilou is involved) magical energy blazes into the sky and raises the question of whether they're actually doing a decent job of 'protecting' Shevat with all this going on. "Whatever. Outreach or what-have-you is something for the others to do. Solaris... After everything it's done, Solaris doesn't get to keep existing."

A button is pressed, a trigger is pulled. The bifurcated rail cannon fuses into a sword once again, but is then shoved into the half-melted wreck of the Huracan's shield as if being placed into a hidden sheath.

...Except, no. The shield then unfolds as a dozen energy capacitors engage. All that accumulated heat, all the absorbed impacts, all of it has been stored as electrical energy that now crackles and pops and sizzles around a sword-and-shield turned zweihander. With a roar, Cyre hurls his mech forth, swinging the fused weapon in a vicious overhead arc. Inexplicably, the majority of the (thoroughly electrified) shield then rolls forward like a buzzsaw, captured at the end of the modified blade. It whirls, looking to bite into the Grandgrowl's frame and chew deeply into it, all while unleashing a veritable thunderstorm of stored power...!

GS: CRITICAL! Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Lightning Lance for 244 hit points!
GS: Corrode removed!
GS: Blind applied to Dominia Yizkor!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Guard bonus and Countermeasures!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has activated a Force Action!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz spends 4 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Seraphita with Capacitor Discharge - Charged Blade!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
GS: Seraphita takes a solid hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Capacitor Discharge - Charged Blade for 362 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Cyre H. Lorentz!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The Omnigear has been scuffed badly by Dominia's assault, but the armor is not showing a crack. *Can* it be broken? It has a certain suggestion of interleaved ceramocomposite that may not be breachable by conventional force without something truly overwhelming... but it moves: it isn't just a Gear-shaped lump of immortal material.

And it has a pilot.

Elly's vision blurs again for a moment as Dominia's words come in to her. They sound so terribly loud, Elly says, even as she dry-swallows and answers her: "I have sided with my own people. The people who have cared for me... the people who have reached out to me again and again, even when they had no reason to... They could have simply moved on their way, but they, who had so little, still tried to help... even when I was still their enemy...!"

This isn't good, Elly thinks. Something about this is...

"Leon," Elly says, although the sound is looped in to Fei, Billy, Jay, Ida, Ethius as well, despite a lack of real formal intent: "Her emotions are out of control... her Ether power may spike, be careful--"

Point of order: The flaming blade; and this one, with Bladegash's surging advance, carves a visible divot in that seemingly-immutable machinery. Elly is rattled backwards, panting for breath as panic sneaks up behind her. I can't fail here, Elly thinks, followed by: STOP IT you are going to go into a loop, THINK -

And that is where Elly makes a wonderful discovery.

"Oh thank heavens they just mounted it in the dorsal," Elly says, which is probably NOT WHAT LEON WANTS TO HEAR RIGHT NOW, but the question of what 'it' is becomes rapidly clear when the auroral glow behind and around the Omnigear fades.

The machine comes to light on a projection of Shevat for a moment, raising the mace upwards into the beautiful blue sky. Breathe in. Breathe out. Did...

This one doesn't feel like putting on her own glove. The configuration is different. But... it recognizes her, somehow. When, Elly thinks, before her eyes lose focus and --

She SEES it: The entire battlefield, white dots on a deep gray background, Shevat an enormous white mass behind them. Colors reverse: Light, so-light gray, black objects. That one shows better. "A visualizer?" Elly mumbles, before she draws something with her mind, and:

The Ether Amplifier, unused for five hundred years, works just fine. There is no hum in the Omnigear. Elly feels her shoulder muscles tighten. Elly just reaches up for the top of the visualizer, somehow, and:

There is a minor disruption at the boundary of the troposphere, an electron flow aiming to pour into the nearest point of GROUND. Elly has set that to be Bladegash. A moment later and:

            THRAK!

A lightning bolt from a clear blue sky! Yes: it *is* possible. The flash is enough to make Gear cameras white-out for a fraction of a second.

GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Anemo Bolt -Can't Beat The Classics-!
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Oh." Fei says. "Sorry I--there's a lot of names, okay, and there's like five," Pause. "Four elements but there's---teams I guess? It's kind of like knowing the graduating class of 483 of a particular college when you never went to school--"

"I think it was because you both used swords? And...your fighting style seems a little--"

He brings up his hands, catching the blade--or perhaps the sea--between Weltall's palms. Dominia's strength is greater and gradually he's being pushed back, but he can hold it off before she snaps the blade free tomove onto her next target, taking a moment to breathing a sigh of relief.

"...This has nothing to do with that!" Fei shouts. "You keep trying to find excuses for what Elly's done, but the only real difference was that she was willing to take a real risk because of what she knew to be right!"

He doesn't think of the Solarians as evil people. That's what makes it all the more damning to him. They aren't demons, or the unsent mystically configured to succumb to some kind of hatred for life--"It's just easier to not save the world so you don't. If Solaris really wanted to save the world, they could've done it ages ago."

He exhales once, channeling power into his fists--

--before he darts forward, throwing a quick series of combo strikes for Dominia's (BILLY'S DAD'S??) mech before flipping back and punching both hands forward, unleashing twin beams of blue energy towards Dominia.

...Only to push further into the strike to swing back a leg and swing it down, another blue burst rippling out from underneath it, trying to catch the Bladegast from below!

GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action!
GS: Fei Fong Wong spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Kosho X!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has launched an attack Link!
GS: Fei Fong Wong spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Goten X!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Billy Lee Black critically guards Dominia Yizkor's Negation Edge for 50 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Billy Lee Black gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Billy Lee Black activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius fails to fully disengage before the channeled Ether of sharpened earth, suffering lacerations throughout the machine and a few finding themselves caught and clogged within sensitive openings.

     As he passes, he does see something assembling behind him. "I see something incoming," he shares. "A formation of Solarian Gears, escorting a far larger ship." He transmits the information accordingly across compatible communications of those allied to Shevat's efforts - there's still that detachment, when such a thing should herald incredible danger.

     The Aiguille sputters and sparks as Ethius has to start maneuvering to ensure there isn't ocean beneath him should engines stall or fail, disengaging back to longer distance as he shoulders the rifle-staff and allows the energy within it to start to build.

     It's not much to say - he's wielding older hardware, and it comes with high visibility when it's engaged - but it is a respectable blast of needling laser fire as he considers his placement and the things shared out in the open.

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Shoot!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes 55 damage from Corrode!
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Silvestris just stands there. There isn't even an attempt at dodging the massive blast of fire Ether that comes in retaliation. Thankfully, Lily's barrier is still there to intercept it. It may be unclear whether it was consciously taken into account, or the still-burning Gear would've held its ground regardless.

As it is, in protecting Silvestris, the barrier is turn asunder, completely shattered by the violent flames... but again, something unusual happens. Segments of the broken barrier remain floating in the air around the machine, as do some of the flames that just passed over it. For a second or two, it looks like the scene has frozen in time. Then in an instant, all of it is drawn into Silvestris, which begins to glow. Flames make way for a pure, bright radiance, as Fire Ether is rapidly converted into pure Light.

Without warning, Silvestris opens its maw, and all that energy is launched towards Grandgrowl in the form of a sizable light beam. Again, not something that it should be capable of, but it's happening anyway. It probably doesn't need to be said to anyone who knows what elements Xantia is capable of harnassing that this is all the pilot's doing, using massive amounts of Ether to make her machine do things that it wasn't designed to do.

To those who can tell - Xantia's emotions during all that were just... gone. Considering her actions, it may have looked like she was enraged, but that isn't the case. She wasn't feeling anything. It's questionable how much she was perceiving at all during these past few moments. And yet...

Xantia! Get ahold of yourself!

Upon Lily's words, Silvestris's temperature drops back to normal almost instantly, sending up a cloud of steam, and it's immediately possible to sense emotion from the pilot again. Unsurprisingly, she's feeling more than a little confused. "...Lily? I..."

In the cockpit, Xantia brings a hand to her forehead. Her head hurts. She's still feeling some kind of strong compulsion urging her to continue the fight against Solaris. That much isn't new, but... what was that just now?

For a moment, it may seem like Xantia is about to continue like she has been. Silvestris's segmented tail suddenly lashes forward, its sections shifting to elongate itself, with nothing remaining at the tip except for a giant spike, which she seeks to drive into Grandgrowl's side. This doesn't do much in the way of actual damage however - in fact, it's easy for the spike to snap off after it finds purchase. Xantia broadcasts a message to Seraphita at this time, sounding as if she's exhausted.

"...Sera, you... you should leave. I... I wanted to talk, but... something's wrong. So... go. Please. If you need an excuse... I just gave you one."

It may take a little time still before it becomes clear what she meant by that. If that needle hasn't been removed by then, it will detonate in a shower of sparks, an act of sabotage on Grandgrowl's internal systems.

GS: Xantia spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Xantia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Xantia has attacked Seraphita with Plague Needle!
GS: Xantia has launched an attack Link!
GS: Xantia has attacked Seraphita with Debilitating Energy Cascade!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Seraphita guards a hit from Xantia's Plague Needle for 0 hit points!
GS: Dispel! Hyper and Shield removed!
GS: Hex applied to Seraphita!
GS: Seraphita takes a glancing hit from Xantia's Debilitating Energy Cascade for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Drowsy, Slow, and Weaken applied to Seraphita!
GS: Seraphita activates Evade bonus!
GS: Seraphita enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Cripple, Disease, and Jam expired!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

Billy probably shouldn't have let that slip, but...he feels a heat burn him, rushing from his heart throughout his body. Despite the conditioned cockpit, he's suddenly desperately hot.

That familiar anger he works so hard to tame. "I am!" he says, with a ferocity he doesn't notice. They should know it. They should know that their own arrogance is why they have to deal with him. They should feel the sting of it on their backs, every one!

Billy raises his weapons again for another shot. "And you're--" he starts, but Dominia's own anger replies well. He's in an attack posture, he wasn't ready to defend! It's going to hit directly--!

"BILLY!" roars a rugged voice, and a blast of ether light fires through the melee, dispersing much of Dominia's attack.

The Buntline cruises up, the comparatively tiny Gear already on interlock trajectory with the Renmazuo. "Get ahold of yourself, boy! A little birdy like this ain't worth the spirit you're brewing!"

"Father," Billy croaks out. "Ah...y, yes. Right." He reaches out and finds the toggle to activate the interlock with Buntline.

The smaller Gear, nearly angelic all in white and gold, rapidly transforms from its robotic form to a HONKING GREAT CANNON, which proceeds to clamp onto Renmazuo's shoulder and present a firing apparatus that completely blocks Renmazuo's view.

Fortunately, they're in Gears, so there are targeting cameras. The barrel of the Buntline starts accumulating power.

"As for you, lady, all I gotta say is if training a unit like this is what Kahr's been up to for ten years, then he's slipping. Now how about I give you a proper Elements hazing, eh!?"

The whole sky turns, briefly, gold, as Buntline fires a massive burst of Ether which detonates on contact, shining briefly brighter than the sun!

GS: Billy Lee Black spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Dominia Yizkor with Forbidden Ether Hyperaccumulation Gear Buntline - Jessie Cannon!
GS: Billy Lee Black takes 40 damage from Corrode!
GS: Corrode, Hyper, and Quick expired!
GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! ROU|LET|TE: Severe! Dominia Yizkor takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's Anemo Bolt -Can't Beat The
Classics- for 468 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak removed!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Kosho X for 244 hit points!
GS: Dominia Yizkor critically guards Fei Fong Wong's Goten X for 90 hit points!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Guard bonus!
GS: Dominia Yizkor guards a hit from Ethius Hesiod's Shoot for 211 hit points!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen can hear the grin in Ida's voice as she answers back in the affirmative. Gwen laughs. "That's the Ida I know, alright."

    As the power distributes, Gwen shifts in her seat, leaning back. "I know, I know, Riese, but c'mon, you can't be the only one powerin' people. I can do that too."

    She hears Ida's gasp over the radio and snaps straight back up, trying to crane her view towards the Dragoon.

    She's... okay. Gwen thinks Ida is okay. ".... Ida, just be caref--" Gwen grimaces. "Man, we're the worst bunch of hypocrites there are."

    Then her vision is Red.

    Fire paints her cockpit window yellow and red, drawing a panicked scream as the Halcyone dips, then tumbles like a toy robot in a flaming tornado.

    The Fire Element is no joke. Solaris knew full well what they were doing.

    Halcyone centers itself, its pilot's breathing audible over an intercom that never got a chance to be flipped off.

    "...."

    Breathe.

    Gwen coughs, and projects a smile, as if everyone could see that instead of the smoke and cinders coming off her Gear.

    "... So ya got a casual personality but you hit like a speeding train. No wonder you n' Xantia got along..." She looks back towards Xantia as she says this, or... wait. Where is Xantia? Is that her Gear...?

    The boost of Gwen's power may not be the reason for Xantia's transformation, but Gwen, naturally, seems to blame herself.

    ".... Xantia...? Guardians, Xantia, please don't tell me I screwed something up again!!" The panic in her voice is real enough, cutting through the usual static. "Xantia..."

    When Xantia attacks, and seems to snap out of it, Gwen wipes at her face. "It's okay. One of us'll figure things out. We'll have cake n'... we'll be okay."

    Two harpoons project from Halcyone's hands. "Y'take your duty seriously, Seraphita. That's your name, right? So we gotta show that we're on the same level." She maneuvers her Gear around, building momentum, cables whistling in the wind.

    "The Halcyone ain't a Gear of war, but I made sure it could at least keep up with me. N' now, I'll show you what it's capable of, straight on!!"

    She pivots the swinging harpoons around and then down at Seraphita's Gear, metal blades flashing in the light.

    "Take this!

GS: Dominia Yizkor takes a solid hit from Billy Lee Black's Forbidden Ether Hyperaccumulation Gear Buntline - Jessie
Cannon for 367 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dominia Yizkor gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!
GS: Dominia Yizkor activates Countermeasures!
GS: Dominia Yizkor has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Seraphita with Gwen Reaper!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Seraphita guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Gwen Reaper for 212 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

Seraphita has never, not once, fought someone who could absorb her entire output and ask for more. Magilou is not a specialist in the same way, but experience is its own teacher (or Seraphita is pretty sure that's the saying, anyway) and Magilou has far more experience than Seraphita could possibly match.

She feels it slide in - and then she feels Magilou give it a little twist. More than a little twist; a change, an alteration. And that's when Seraphita knows she's in trouble. "Uh oh."

Seraphita does not even try to absorb it going the other way. She hunkers down and builds a shield - a network of flame, streams and lines of white and gold and red all around her, surrounding Grandgrowl with a sphere. It looks like a second sun come to earth - well, sky.

It helps. To an extent, the flare and the flame burn through each other, but it *hurts* to hold; Seraphita feels like her mind is burned, an internal pain that she is unaccustomed to. Having to hold it makes her an easy (easier?) target for Riesenlied. Grandgrowl isn't moving. It's hunkered down. The blast drills right into the flank of the leonine Gear; Seraphita takes off, but it's clearly missing a whole lot of plating down its left side, where the blast went down the length of the Gear without stopping.

Ordinarily Seraphita might not have answered Riese, but... if any time is the time now is. "I know about Third Class," Seraphita says, with a bit more seriousness than she's had in her voice. "Because... They aren't all from the surface!" She told someone, once, that she was lower than a -Lamb- once. And that's all - she says no more this time. "It's still my home. It can be better! It IS better then the places where people starve because the noble wants a new crown! But it's my home, and I'll make it the best it can be!!"

Lily manages to get in while Seraphita is taking off. Seraphita's response is to kick downward at the other robot to try to get it to go away while she's reaching liftoff, but that's a mistake; Lily manages to get Hellerune's hand on Grandgrowl's already damaged leg, the implosion crushing it inward. In the air, of course, that doesn't stop Grandgrowl. It's awkward but not crippling. In the air.

It's not great, though! Cyre comes in - Seraphita has started to tune out his voice, but not his actions. She saw the blade coming, and rocketed forward to avoid it: fine. But the buzzsaw was beyond her expectations, and the extra length is enough; it digs into Grandgrowl's side where the Positive Rainbow put a rent in the armour, causing the whole machine to roll with the force of the blow and the electrical discharge. Seraphita lets out a faint whine in her cockpit, frustration and pain together. She's getting pretty rattled in there.

Not helping: Xantia. A stinger-tail is not a surprise; Grandgrowl has the same trick (though her 'stinger', which is more like a knife-edge blade, does not come off). It's the detachment that makes it work; Seraphita actually does avoid getting stabbed with it, but it tangles in the battered, broken armour from the previous blows and sticks anyway. "Huh? What excuse - "

<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.

It discharges into sparks. Seraphita starts getting error messages - well, more error messages - from Grandgrowl; alerts all over her cockpit. She starts to seriously consider it. "-Dominia, I don't know how much longer I can hold all of them off... but if you still need me, I'll stay! Just - don't overdo it either! We can always try again. Shevat isn't going anywhere, so retreat if you need to!-"

She has just enough time to say that while trying to not plummet out of the sky. Gwen speaks to her. "It's important!" is her response. Of course she takes it seriously. Something like this...

But Grandgrowl is nearly crippled. One harpoon hits, but not straight-on, and glances off to fly past Grandgrowl; it will need to be pulled back in. The other embeds itself in Grandgrowl's chest. Seraphita backbeats the wings to try to free it by main strength, firing the thrusters - if Gwen doesn't let go, Halcyone is going to be lifted several meters off the ground by the other Gear before the cabling snaps, overheated by Grandgrowl and stretching until it pops.

Dominia makes a transmission. One more.

"-...A bomb?-" Seraphita said that in Solarian, but not on the private channel. There is a long moment of silence. For Seraphita, *very* long. Almost like she was struck mute.

And then her voice comes out, talking too fast. Not panicked, but definitely with reckless haste. "You can't! The barrier's still up. If you hit it when it's up, everyone on the Hecht will die in the blast! And if you hit it when it's DOWN, everyone in Shevat will die instead! That's a bad order! We're here to TAKE Shevat, to win the war, not to kill everyone here...!"

"That's not what the Elements are for! We're the best, not the worst! Dominia, tell them to pull back! Because if you don't, I will!!" Seraphita *probably* did not mean to air Elements dirty laundry in public. But, well...

(Seraphita can give that command? She seems to think so.)

Meanwhile, Grandgrowl attempts to ascend, beating its wings. Seraphita banks as best she can with the battle damage, toward Bladegash - she's not leaving without Dominia, either by escorting her or simply carrying her - bad orders or not, Dominia is her friend.

<Pose Tracker> Dominia Yizkor has posed.

    "Hmph," Dominia opines to Jacqueline, all the same. "If you insist. But I will not yield!" It's a far cry from the remark that will follow to another, moments later.

    "The Watcher--?!"

    There is a note of something -- shock? fear? -- when Ida drops that name. "Who are you? How do you--" She but cuts off that remark, jetting back from such close quarters with Ida and her Gear, hovering for a moment before landing atop Shevat's barrier once again.

    "Then take your best shot!" Dominia calls back to Leon, bravado back in force. Her first response may come in the form of cannonfire, as it rains down upon her left forearm, with its armor plating merely cracked instead of broken. Her blade is raised high in her hand, as if in anticipation of a follow-up strike.
    It comes, but not from an angle she was anticipating. His blade comes for her, the air hissing about it as it cuts through the air. An awful sound follows; the armor plating -- all of it, external, subdermal -- rains down upon Shevat's barrier. In one swing, Bladegash's left forearm has been stripped to the 'bone'.

    Dominia hisses out a breath over that private channel. "...I'm still in the green," which is a lie, her warning systems are hovering at a yellow and dropping. "We only need to last a little longer!"

    Long enough for the barrier to be weakened, for the Hecht to launch and reach destination without interference.

    And lightning now crackles on the edge of her blade as she lets swing for Leon's Gear, without any hesitation or concern for what else he might come to bear.

    Jay's shell impacts off the side of Bladegash in this instant; the surge that rolls through the Gear's systems with pinpoint precision ruins its precision and debilitates its defenses. Dominia's response is to simply swing her sword towards Jay's Gear; the storm still swirling about the blade unwinds off of it in a long and terrible line directly for her.

    "Be quiet!" shouts Dominia as Fei natters on at her. "Stop insulting the Commander!" Technically speaking, Fei really isn't, but perhaps the difference doesn't amount to all that much at this juncture. Dominia seems... pretty mad right now. In fact, she doesn't even respond to the rest of what Fei has to say to her, blue energy curling about her blade as she guns her engines and charges for Weltall--

    And ends up meeting Weltall halfway. Cracks erupt across the armor plating on Bladegash's chest; without question the pilot is jostled around in the cockpit. But even as he ducks back in his Gear, as he fires that beam...
    She bears her sword before her and slices through the trail end of it, all the force of the tides pouring off of it towards Fei.

    "The people who 'cared for you'?!" Dominia shouts, turning away from Fei to jet upwards to meet El-Regulus. "Don't you give me that, Elhaym! You ran away! You left us and the Commander!!"

    Is... that even just a little bit of what this is about?

    "Yes. A bomb," she says to Seraphita, and Seraphita alone, not even noticing the fact that it's struck her friend and teammate so hard, this revelation. Part of this may be her generalized (and focused, towards Elly) antipathy given free rein at the moment...

    but another part of it might be the fact that she is receiving heavy fire from Ethius' Gear. With her shielding module nonfunctional, her armor plating damaged, and her systems compromised, the best she can do is attempt to evade what she can and deflect the rest with her blade. Zeroing in on him under such fire, she advances towards him at speed, blade raised as if she were going to simply run him down. Which, she does.
    But it's not where it ends. Bladegash veers hard to one side and moves at a pace that seems fit to make the eyes water, as if she were occupying far too many points on the field around him than would be physically possible. Naturally, her sword is there to meet him, too. But it's not a maneuver that Dominia will be able to keep up.

    Ida, that spear she wields crackling with electrical force, lets fly.

<Pose Tracker> Dominia Yizkor has posed.

    It doesn't, as it happen, pin Bladegash to any part of Shevat. But what it does do is go clear through her Gear's shoulder, sparks erupting in a pyrotechnic display, and go on flying to land, perhaps, at some distant point. "You--!" Dominia calls out, her Gear's left arm hanging limp, as if it were lifeless.

    And she surges ahead, flying for the Gear that can only be the home of some sort of monster, now, the edge of her blade glittering with sharp crystal. The very air shakes in the advance of her one-handed swing.

    "I can still fight!" she insists to Seraphita over their channel, as she turns towards Elly, still brandishing that brilliant blade. And it's true. As long as she can swing a sword, she can still fight. "Let's finish this, for the Commander--!"

    The bolt that sings down from the heavens out of nowhere strikes Bladegash dead-on. The whole machine spasms terrible for a moment, and it seems almost as if it were about to drop out of the sky outright. But,

    "No! I won't let you!" Dominia calls it and she surges ahead, one armed, to strike at El-Regulus with that still-glittering blade.

    And Seraphita, in this moment, speaks to her.

    "I know the barrier's still up! We can't give up now!" she says, over the public channel. "The Hecht might be enough to break through the barrier -- maybe it won't be enough to destroy Shevat, but we need to try, for the Commander's--"

    'That's not what the Elements are for! We're the best, not the worst!'

    It might seem for the moment that what Seraphita has said has been sufficient to strike Dominia mute herself, with the way that she suddenly falls silent and her blade's tip droops a few critical degrees, as if she were straddling the edge of a terrible decision and uncertain which which to choose. "Sera, I--"

    And this is all the opening that Billy -- and Jessie -- require. The Ether bolt impacts the Solarian Gear dead-on in a massive detonation.

    When the smoke fades, the entire cockpit door is hanging loose, Dominia clearly visible within. She is not, and this much is as clear as day for anyone who can sight her, a pure-blooded Solarian. Neither is she even human.

    The cockpit door choses that moment to fall off entirely, clattering against Shevat's shield and falling away.

    "...You're the former leader of the Elements, aren't you," she remarks to Jessie, eyes narrowed.

    "...Attention. This is Dominia. Abort. Repeat, abort. We cannot hold this position for the Hecht's advance," she announces, even this audible generally due to the damage rent to her Gear.

    The Gear jets upwards suddenly. "Seraphita. We're leaving," she says, her tone clipped, before the heavily damaged Gear flies off, back for the Solarian line.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Simultaneously, perhaps, Magilou is entirely unused to someone taking the full force of Calamity Flare with the protection of more fire. She really is quite good, isn't she? Magilou won't say as much out loud, but for all her centuries of experience, Seraphita's talent with flame is still grander.

    It's not surprising that such a loathesome organisation as Solaris sounds to be would have such talent, though. They do... collect them, don't they? Throughout the years, and years, and years...

    She knows about Third Class, Magilou hears, thought that clever little knob. She says very little and very much, like a commander who was never respected, no matter her strength of arte or spirit.

    "Heh," Magilou says, saying very little and very much, grin all tugged to one savage side. "Fight all you like." She says very little, but Riesenlied, beside her, may find something a little more to the words. When it comes to empathic senses, she's rather much a black hole at the best of times, a yawning LACK of anything which would support the enthusiasm she musters. But... listening to Seraphita clinging to her home...

    ... there, in a wan, dull moment, as if its legs were cut off and it was left to crawl to existence, is the dim spark of nostalgia. Nostalgia -- and regret -- and resignation, the resignation which consumes everything else, returns it all to the fatalistic grey of nothing which her anhedonia demands.

    Her gaze tracks to the other quadrapedal Gear in this sortie, though; given the trick Magilou just showed Riesenlied, it's no wonder she recognises a similar shape of trick when Xantia herself tries it. Transforming power to dehibilitation... "Nice trick," Magilou says.

    But is it enough to get Seraphita to retreat?

    Maybe the question is moot. Seraphita reminds her of herself for a good reason, after all. She reveals on public channel what Dominia kept under wraps -- well, the important parts, anyway. The destruction they may well bring.

    She mutters something under her breath which is entirely unfit for radio transmission. "Go on!" Magilou tells Seraphita -- or, perhaps, encourages her? -- and there's no more fire following Grandgrowl, as she attempts her retreat. Even Magilou is tense, looking over at the field.

    But, Dominia --

    Magilou looks into that cockpit. The woman there... did she hesitate, for that one, singular moment, at the point of Seraphita's moral injunction?

    That one question might well have saved them all, she reflects, as Dominia and Seraphita's gears go to the retreat.

    Magilou lets out a breath, in a long, relieved sigh, and sits herself right down on Hellerune, all in a slump. Solaris... they don't make it easy, huh. Oh, well. Lily can carry her back.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia is glad for Seraphita's decision, and for the first time, also glad that her Gear lacks the ability to fly so she has no way to pursue, no matter how much her memories urge her to. She knew that could get bad, but for a moment there it felt like she'd zoned out, and just kind of... went on auto-pilot.

...Not the first time that's happened. Lily was there the first time. Perhaps that's why it was hearing her voice that caused Xantia to become aware of the parallels.

Regardless of what happened, and the alarm caused by hearing a Solarian word that she was able to understand, she can't help but smile when she hears Seraphita's words in regards to that order. "A bad order... huh?" Perhaps there is also such a thing as a bad memory... and the way she should respond to that is exactly the way Seraphita responded just now. Even if she's with them... perhaps calling herself a Hero wasn't wrong.

In the wake of this, Silvestris is quick to slink off to the hangar. It may seem that Xantia is trying to avoid a conversation about what happened, when in fact... that is exactly what she's doing. She needs to process this... as well as some other things she hasn't completely figured out yet. Give it time.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    It isn't just Riesenlied this time -- all three of them are unleashing enormous powers. Perhaps that's a point they all have in common. The Calamity Flare that erupts is... in a way, it's familiar -- it's power on a level that she's seen from Lily, but different in other ways; towering power, rushing towards Grandgrowl.

    She's sitting (dangling) between titans of fire -- Seraphita, Lily and Magilou, at the moment.

    But her role isn't necessarily to be the one who discharges power; she's the one to notice some details, like that brief shift in Magilou's tone. There's something ancient, familiar and tired in her voice.

    Lily's voice rings her out of it, as she joins in with a rush of power -- she has to grip Hellerune tighter than ever, her capelet fluttering in the rush of displaced wind and space. Then...

    Power.

    A flash of darkness that joins in with her light, the colour black coiling amist her rainbow seals, a strangely beautiful dance of opposites. For a moment, she sees in the photonegative.

    There's a moment of levity as Gwen answers her. "... true. I suppose we can only both do our best, can we not?"

    Then, she hears Xantia's struggling voice -- "I-- goodness, Xantia, are you all right?" she calls out. "I could not feel you for a moment -- I feared the worst. Please do not overdo it... okay?"

    And something does chime inside of her, once more, as Magilou snarks a little to Seraphita -- but she senses, amidst the careful guard of a void that she puts up over what Riesenlied feels is decades upon decades of caution...

    Nostalgia. Nostalgia, tinged with regret... and then regret leads to resignation. It's something she's seen before -- it's something she nearly fell into.

    Seraphita tells her something -- that the Third Class aren't all Lambs, which is... honestly something that surprises her. And yet, after the surprise wears off, she realises she shouldn't be -- after all, the same thing literally happened with the Tainted in the Photosphere.

    Where class division exists, there are those that inevitably will be cast to the bottom. And she can read between the lines. She knows the Third Class-- was she...?

    "... okay," Riesenlied answers. She can't say no to that. She can't argue. She realises things could be better. She wants to make it the best it can be, because...

    ...

    ...

    Riesenlied, the Metal Demon Lieutenant, is back in a frost-slicked castle, its parapets buried in snow. She is back there, when she first witnesses a fallen mother with her child in her arms...

    The sky cracks.

    Riesenlied, the Metal Demon Lieutenant, is back in a burning fairground. She lifts her hand, and a red balloon passes by... she desperately tries to take hold of it, but fails.

    She instead takes hold of the hand of the child that it belongs to...

    The sky cracks.

    But something more alarming happens, when Seraphita speaks up -- something about a force so strong it will either kill... the Solaris battleship outright, or everyone in Shevat?

    But her words ring and resonate true with her, when she stands firm with her morals. She remembers Magilou's feelings, just now.

    "... Seraphita, please. Just one more thing," she speaks urgently.

    "I understand... being stuck between duty and home. I understand... being lifted from the gutter, and wanting to do everything for those who saved you from that fate, no matter how grim. But... please, if you take something away from today..."

    A pause, as she clutches the Dragon's Tear at her heart.

    "Do not let it cloud that feeling that things can be better. Please. Do not let that hope go."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly's attention is drawn towards the faltering machine - that's Ethius, isn't it? - and -

The Omnigear responds to her will before she knows what it is. Even as Dominia expresses her passion, her heart, the Omnigear's hand extends out towards Ethius. And...

Something flickers on one of Ethius's screens...

"A ship? Their mobile base?" Elly says, even as there is a sudden withdrawal followed by an electromagnetic static hum. The corona rises around El-Regulus anew, before seeming to pass forwards, like a ripple, to engulf the Aiguille. Renewal: power restored. Somehow. It is, frankly, not working the way that Frame Restorer kits do (spot welds and spackle and prayer, mostly) -- but there are few skeptics in the sky.

Then Elly looks up and Dominia is coming dead at her. The Omnigear is not in a defensive position. The thrusters flare but it will just give her an additional second of life, Elly can tell. Oh: she thinks. I should have -

-

-

But...

They're in dispute? Elly blinks several times. She doesn't speak up. The near peril moves over her, like some great shark that has just opted to swim on by: digested not at all, simply passed forwards. There is a great SLAM from the Buntline; a moment later, Elly can see Dominia directly.

She feels a thought: Save her. Save her right now. Open the cockpit door and bring her in. She's going to fall out. If she falls out, it doesn't matter how tough she is: the water will be like concrete at this height. Being caught by one of the Gebler Gears will be little different. Save her. Reach out and save her!

Elly feels a sense of disquiet when El-Regulus does *not* react to the thought.

By the time the disquiet passes, they're retreating. Elly breathes out, slumping in her seat, before pressing the heel of her palm to her forehead because she can't just... pass out, she's in the air, Ethius needs her to (??? to what, what is this feature, she thinks in a sidewise dish), they'll probably say goodbye with their leftover artillery:

Elly speaks in that crystal-clear transmission. "Aa," she says, first thing: second thing is, "If you've got engine failure, speak up -- I'll support you, back to the hangar..."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Deep inside, Ida knows she's made herself more of a target just by dropping that name. She allows herself a moment's satisfaction as her foe's voice wavers. "Ask yourself," Ida says, "what else are they keeping from you? From your comrades, who risk their lives for their grand scheme?!" Ida's voice is pained and angry; that deep, basso roar echoes behind every word.

    The Gears clash. Dominia proves far more slippery than Ida expected; it is equal parts frightening and exhilarating. The spear goes skidding off, embedding itself in the casing of a sensor array. Ida grimaces, makes a note to retrieve it later. "Yes," Ida says. "Me. You're good, Dominia. Powerful. I can see why you made it this far."

    Dominia pushes herself into one last charge. Ida would call the move reckless if she hadn't done the same, so many times; instead, she meets the Earth Element with everything she has to offer. The Gear steps forward, planting a foot on the decking with thunderous force. With a mighty cry of "HYAAAH," it raises both its arms, crossing the undamaged one over the damaged one. The Dragoon's shield ignites a moment later, a shining barrier to meet that blade. Sparks fly. The Dragoon skids back across the deck from sheer force.

    "But Elly has strength, and that's why she's going to win this."

    And she does. But then Seraphita speaks, and the whole game changes.

    "What--?" Ida gasps out, the metallic boom behind her voice more of a dull scrape of surprise. "That was--" For a moment, the Dragoon stands there, ready to draw its cannon and fire at that battleship--Ida braces herself, wrestling with stomach-churning guilt even before she pulls the trigger.

    She doesn't. She doesn't, because Seraphita shows strength of her own. The Dragoon's head turns to follow Dominia and Seraphita as they retreat... and it nods, once, as its pilot acknowledges the Fire Element's bravery.

    What kind of monster would do that?

    Elly asks them to report in. "Dust Dragoon, still in the green. I may, ah, need some assistance retrieving gear and returning to the hangar. I'm not flight-capable." A pause. A sigh, which sounds far more human than everything else that's come out of Ida's mouth in the last few minutes. "Good work, Elly. I'm proud of you."

<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

Buntline disengages, letting Renmazuo fly on its own thrusters as the two machines part.

Despite Jessie's smartmouth, his eyes narrow with thought at the sight of the new Element of Earth. "Those ears," he mutters, clicking his teeth. "That woman's not even full human, let alone Solarian. How in damn-ass hell did Kahr get Command to approve somethin' like that?"

"Keh," he decides, scratching furiously at his head. "Think about that too much I'll just need a drink."

Billy grunts at that, watching the Solaris line turn and run. "That woman...I doubt we've seen the last."

"The Elements may have changed, but that doesn't mean they're a joke, Billy," Jessie says, then starts to turn Buntline back for the hangar.

Billy turns a camera down to where one of Renmazuo's legs has been fully crystallized by Dominia's magic, jagged spikes sticking out of exposed holes in the armor. "Yes, Father," he says, chewing his lip.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

A bomb? A BOMB!? They're going to throw a BOMB at Shevat and kill EVERY SINGLE PERSON ONBOARD!? "Solaris! Is there no low to which you will not stoop...!?" Cyre demands of a heaven that has no answers which could ever hope to quench his rage, for it is mighty indeed.

"Ugh, damnit, the thrusters--" Aren't firing, as the vernier apertures have melted shut. The Grandgrowl leaps away, having survived a truly prodigious amount of punishment, with armor that a CERTAIN METAL DEMON is sure would belong across the mighty chest of a towering Super Robot. But that's neither here nor there. Servos struggle and sizzle as the Huracan tries and fails to lift its sword in time to intercept, or even to ready its rifle mode to hit the retreating Grandgrowl with a parting shot.

...Which is probably good, because as much as Cyre would hate to admit it, Seraphita is the only thing standing between the lot of them and potential doom. "Damnit..." He hisses, vitriol burning deep in his chest, "They got away! Do we have anything that can shoot down their mothership? Does Shevat have guns or-- anything like that?"

No, it does not. OR RATHER, it does, BUT that gun is named Buntline and Jesiah already went and blew his load for the mission. Sadness...

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

     Thankfully for Gwen's one harpoon, Gwen's already retracting it as Seraphita retreats. It becomes a struggle handling the drastic gulf in momentum between both, but Gwen manages, all while feeling tired.

     .... it would be simpler to blame it on how she's already used her Gear to cycle her energy through the air, as well as that one shot.

    Her hands are still shaking when she rubs her face.

    If Seraphita wasn't Seraphita, Gwen wouldn't have been able to put up that act. If Halcyone wasn't Halcyone, she'd be burnt.

    Something about a bomb, deaths. The Earth Element showing her face, those ears marking her as not human. But Seraphita was the same way, right?

    The entire city of Shevat in flames, with nowhere to go but down, down, down. Fire, fire everywhere, smelling of burning flowers and screams.

    As flowers of flame bloomed in the streets.

    "... I think I need to land." Gwen's tongue feels thick as she speaks into her com. "Halcyone's... it's okay. Will need some work, but it's fine. Got a little shook up, but Elements, eh...?"

    She pauses. "Elly, you gonna be okay, though?" She shouldn't be the one to ask this. She's just doing it to not fold in on herself. "... I guess... that's kinda an unfair question t'ask. I'm gonna be thankful we got some downtime from that retreat and leave it at that."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"It's unfortunate, but I wouldn't expect you to." Jacqueline replies to Dominia with a shake of her head. Dominia swings her sword, and it's enough to tear at both her Gear and her foothold. It's dangerously precarious... but thankfully a distraction prevents Dominia from pressing the attack. Jacqueline exhales a sigh of relief.

The fight rages on, and in the process Dominia's cockpit is destroyed. Jacqueline can see her inside - not Solarian, not human.

...Was she reconditioned? Or did she truly believe that strongly in Solaris's goals...?

Whatever the case, Seraphita lets slip some very pressing information.

"A bomb...!?" Jacqueline remarks, surprised. This could be bad... but, fortunately, the bomb won't be used today. She exhales a sigh of relief and her Gear sinks down into a sitting position.

"...It's alright. Let them go." Jacqueline replies to Cyre, shaking her head. "I hate to admit it, but... that retreat order is the only thing keeping us intact. I don't want to give them reason to rescind it."

Seraphita seemed sympathetic enough, at least... but who's to say how she'd react to firing upon them during a retreat.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Where Dominia moves to cut the Aiguille down and put an end to its sustained support fire, the Bladegash's multiple appearance locations goes under scrutiny by the overly sensitive hostile identification systems that has been equal parts a boon and an annoyance when the Aiguille has been brought to expeditions - and it is the interception of others that prevent the Aiguille and its pilot from being taken down on the spot as one such blade maneuver cuts cleanly across one shoulder to a visceral explosion.

     Beyond the Bladegash, the Omnigear extends a hand towards the reticent man and his machine - a flickering on a screen. It is a timely moment in which the Elements withdraw, and Ethius once more has to wrangle with his crossed arms on the controls (for it is made for someone right-handed, which he is not, and has been fervent about not changing the layout of the cockpit) to stabilize as engines start to sputter.

     "...This is the Aiguille," comes Ethius' voice, who really should identify himself by name because the Drifter community as a whole knows it and this is extremely silly, an uptick in his speaking tempo as if acknowledging that his position in the air is precarious, "I'm in the red. Disengaging weaponry to reroute to auxiliary power. Your unde-- escort would be appreciated."

     In the cockpit he may be staring blankly as if realizing his own canned dialogue, so practiced and scripted as it is, will be his undoing in more nuanced scenarios.

     He weighs little on matters of moral superiority or what is or isn't, in the moment - somehow, he feels both caught in the center and the sidelines at the same time, as difficult revelations about how close they were to oblivion save for this timely retreat on their part dance about the communications lines around him with little more of import for him to impart on that.