2020-05-08: Some Light Terrorism: Difference between revisions

From Dream Chasers
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Created page with "*'''Log: Some Light Terrorism''' *'''Cast:''' Character :: Lunata Croze, Character :: Zhang Xiumei, Character :: Victory Storm, Character :: Jacqueline Barber,...")
 
(No difference)

Latest revision as of 01:57, 19 May 2020


<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

    Kattelox, by all standards amongst cities in Filgaia, boasts a pretty high liveability rate -- in part because of the numerous amount of Diggers attracted to the sprawling Kattelox Ruins, making it something of a conseqeuentially natural defence force for the city.

    That all changes today.

    It's a peaceful day in Downtown, with sunny skies and chirping birds. Perhaps you're here to enjoy a walk in the well-groomed park, or borrow some books from the Library, or peruse some of the shops in nearby Apple Market.

    Suddenly--

    *THROOOOOM*

    The unmistakable sound of machinery fills the place. Perhaps it's forgiveable to mistake it for construction at first, because the sound of wheels soon fill the area...

    But the ensuing *BOOM* as someone screams is certainly not.

    Three coloured machines that look like vertical tanks on wheels (IMG: https://i.imgur.com/iWlf2Tw.jpg ) soon roll onto an intersection, causing a panicked traffic jam as various civilian vehicles pile into a cluster.

    These are Blumebears, for those in the know, and they bear the Bonne Family logo. It's... a round cartoon skull. Yup.

    A lone white-haired girl runs up to them in the midst of all this.

    "Wait, wait, you three! You don't have to do this!" exclaims the incredibly ill-fated Lunata Croze, Fellow Terrorist (TM) (??).

    The hatch pops open. A foot-tall Lego Man (tm) (Claude would know) pops out of it, staring at her with a big smile and void eyes. "Miss Lunie, these are our orders~ You wouldn't want to get in our way, would you?"

    "I mean, I kinda quit my contract with the Bonnes..."

    "Well...~ I guess we could make an exception." A pause. "Not!!"
    "Yay! Give Miss Lunie the ol' Road Roller!"
    "Rooooger!"

    The Servbot pops back into the Blumebear, and it starts rolling forward. Lunata exclaims in horror, "W-wait, what are you doing-- UWAAAAAAAAH!!"

    "Miss Lunie is crushed under, bones and undead flesh all grinding into a fine paste under the tonnage of the Blumebear machine. Naught is left of her--"
    "Oi"

    The Servbot looks to its comms to its fellow servbot.

    "This isn't that kind of scene!"
    "Oh... sorry, I got carried away!" It bonks itself with a paper fan.

    Underneath the Bonne Machine, Lunata comes out the other side...

    ...

    She's a completely flat 2D object now. Even paper is thicker than her.

    "Eh?! Ehhh?!?!" Lunata exclaims, as she starts to float away under a casual spring breeze.

    "Now for the rest of them!" the Servbot exclaims.

    Roll's voice cuts in:

                                MISSION START!

    Objective 1: Repel the Bonne Invaders!
    Objective 2: Don't get squished into a flat 2D object! Unless that would be fun.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei is in Kattelox to purchase the new limited run board game, Triumph of the Armo Knights.

The purple-haired young woman is standing on the street, with a new copy of the game -- held in a canvas bag -- and looking up at the skies. Her eyes glance upward, peering into the sky. She sees the Servbots, and her mouth hangs open as she gets a look at the white-haired girl floating away.

Her eyes widen slowly behind her glasses. "Wh-what is happening!" she whines, looking sideways, at her very best friend, who she dragged here.

"...I-I think we need to get in there!" she says. "I think those robots are going to, um, do some bad things and..."

She clenches a fist. "...We need to protect the board games!"

<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.

    Victory was just happening to be out shopping. Seriously! Guy had to eat and he had to research stuff! The fact that's a sudden scream has him coming out of a shop just in time to see... well, that. And he stares a bit as he notices what happened.

    Then he sighs and packages his purchases into the pockets of his white coat before pulling out a rather ornate looking trident as he approaches the three robots. Then he suddenly leaps up and brings the trident back before trying to swing it and smack the one on the furthest side rather hard. With the trident's pointy end.


    "Hey! What do you three think you're doing!?" Victory yells up at the robots. "Seriously, does that even reverse?" He points at Lunata with his free hand. "If it doesn't, I want to talk to your creator so I can give them a piece of my mind! People are shopping out here, not trying to be pancakes!"

GS: Victory Storm has attacked Servbot Brigade with Grand Swing!
GS: Victory Storm has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Victory Storm has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline came to Kattelox City today to visit the library! Her weakness for books is well-known - she could spend hours there if allowed to, or no one stops her. Fortunately, she doesn't plan to today. She's timed her visit perfectly so that she can swing by the local bakery once she's done, at which point they should have a fresh batch of delicious pastries on sale. It's the perfect plan!

...Of course, plans don't always go exactly as, well, planned. Jacqueline's reading is interrupted by a loud *THROOOOOM*, followed shortly after by a *BOOM*. Jacqueline rushes out of the library just in time...

...to see Lunata flattened into a pancake!!

"A-ah! Lunata! C-come back...!" Jacqueline yelps in surprise, as Lunata drifts away on the breeze... She then turns the responsible Blumebear. Her glasses sheen ominously, concealing her eyes.

"I'm going..." With a gesture of her right hand, a bolt of lightning crashes down from the sky toward the Blumebear!! "...To give you such a scolding...!"

That threat might be more terrifying than the lightning...

GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Servbot Brigade with Lightning Strike!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Victory Storm's Grand Swing for 126 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Lightning Strike for 234 hit points!
DC: Zed switches forms to Manic Blade Master Zed!
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca is having a picnic in the park, using a fountain pen she bought in the market to write down her latest diary entry.

Still I can't help but wonder how she feels about the idea of taking the th

The THROOMMMM of machinery causes her to start, her ink blotting the page, and she looks at it with annoyance before giving the trio of tanks on the intersection not so far away a dark look.

"Can't a girl get some peace and quiet to jot her feelings down?"

Rebecca sighs, and flumps down backwards on the blanket, her half-eaten meal in a lunch pail beside her as she stars into the clouds, poking her pen at the clouds as if she could write on them. "This picnic would be so much nicer if I weren't running solo." She complains, in contradiction to her desire for peace and quiet.

And yet an argument draws her attention, enough to turn her head, and she props a hand behind her head. "It's got nothing to do with me."

She notes, that argument is getting pretty heated-

She then sits up suddenly as a Blumebear rolls over that girl, and she gasps. "Did they just flatten that girl!?"

Is that girl just floating away in the breeze?

She tries to keep telling herself its not her problem, and just can't. Snapping her diary shut, she caps her pen and calmly strolls up to the edge of the park, taking out a Medium, as she cups her hands around her mouth and calls out.

"Hey maybe you can tell me something?"

The girl says, as she invokes that Medium, hexagonal blue energy rising up around her. She's standing on the edge of a drainage ditch after all.

"If those things you're riding in are water tight?"

A bubble wavers into existence in mid-air, then collapses downwards in an explosive funnel of watery magic that blasts them with an aim to pressure soak them from within and without.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius doesn't like being in Kattelox so much, for one who has professed to being interested in lost and out-of-place technology. This seems to be a constant among the more developed, livable cities of Filgaia. The ambient noise of motor vehicles, the quiet and barely audible hums of power. No matter the plentiful opportunities current circumstances have provided in which to delve into the ruins underneath (and the rather silly number of times he has cheated security checkpoints to get to areas less accessible to the public)... it's just not an environment he can relax in. (Does this man understand the concept of 'relax' to begin with? Something more than 'occasionally blink,' that is.)
     CaraKin business sees him shuttled here and there, and today, 'here and there' is... Kattelox. He's in the middle of a cross-walk when the commuter cars start making panicked motions to the arrival of tell-tale tank treads, leading him to take a DRAMATIC ACTION DIVE away from the action. Beyond this physical motion the rest of his reaction is oddly subdued as he looks up towards the traffic lights, then back towards the Blumbears... and is witness to a grisly scene with a flat look.
     This lack of reaction seems to continue unabated as the very bestest friend (...or more) of the kinda-sorta victim turns her attention and their lightning upon one of the rampaging Blumebear. He stares at the flank of the tank, up and down. Most should be thinking of running the other way, shouldn't they? He doesn't even look that well-equipped to take on pirate military hardware. He has a long stick, at best!
     He in fact draws said stick and approaches one by their right flank and proceeds to nonchalantly poke at the steel armoring vigorously - it is unclear if he considers this a viable attack or is simply interested in hearing the sound it makes.

GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Servbot Brigade with Elemental Blast!!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Elemental Blast! for 113 hit points!
GS: Mighty! applied to Rebecca Streisand!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Servbot Brigade with Poke Poke Poke!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Poke Poke Poke for 90 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

In the months since his return from Magical Cow Patty Planet Again Only This Time It's An Ocean, Claude C. Kenny has been mostly based out of the port town of Parm. As the premier port of the nation-state of Guild Galad, Parm gets a fair amount of traffic from travelers - most of them very thirsty after a long sea voyage - and drunk travelers are the closest thing Filgaia can manage to a functional intelligence network. This makes it an ideal place to lay low and try to track down the Teardrop. It's also far enough away from the modern conveniences of Guild Galad that nobody looks too oddly at a prentice smith showing up with his 'wife' to set up shop.

They look at him oddly for other reasons, but there's not much he can do about that.

Every now and again, though, Claude has to take jobs - apprentice blacksmiths don't make enough cash to cover his food budget, let alone his and Cecilia's. His most recent job involved guarding the Royal Damzena line in the north of Meria Boule, an altogether pleasant little trip except for a) the attempted banditry and b) the fact that by stopping said banditry, Claude was helping the train's owner - Kaguya. Despite that little hiccup, however, it was a nice job for four days of mostly lazy work.

After a day back to Meria Boule, Claude took passage on the cheapest ship back to Parm - which involved a short port call in Kattelox to offload specialized cargo from the mainland. Hence why he is sitting in a charming little streetside cafe, absolutely demolishing a plate of bagels as he reads through a three-day-old broadsheet from Guild Galad. The young man rubs his chin, bagel crumbs tumbling absently from his mouth as he considers the large advertisement splashed across the bottom-left corner of the back page. "Genuine Baskar Medicinal Salts," he muses. "Composed of all-natural Rootes, Herbes, Barkes, and Leaves. Cleans and Makes the Bloode that is so life-sustaining." Claude turns the paper slightly to the left, trying to get it out of the shadow. He squints, reading closer. "Will cure Constipationne, Most Complaints of the Liver, Indigestion, Loss of Appetite, Scoralia, Chillse and Feveres Most Foule, as Welle as Any Other Ill Humor You May Care to Thinke. Only 500 Gella a bottle," Claude mutters. He frowns again as a growing shadow covers the paper again; he turns to his left to speak most sharply to the person responsible.

He stops, and looks up, watching a 12-foot Servbot stomp through the street.

Claude opens his mouth. Closes it. Opens it again.

...

He slowly lifts the paper back up to cover his face. A hand reaches out from under it to pluck a bagel from the plate before him; it vanishes behind the paper. Rustling and munching noises ensue.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed is here too!

He's not here to purchase board games though. He prefers Pioneers of Elluria anyway. No! He is here... Because Zed goes where there is sure to be trouble...!

And also because he'd caught wind that there was a treasure called the <ZET SABER> being used in a TV show around here somewhere, and misheard it as <ZED SABER> and immediately got it in his head that he deserved a royalty check. "Hrmph," Zed mutters from atop a lamppost, "I swear, you start becoming a <COOL GUY> and all of a sudden everyone wants to infringe on your image rights. Some people can be so rude, I swe--eh!?"

A newspaper(!?) floats by his face! It takes him a second to realize that it's ACTUALLY LUNATA, which is good because he almost grabbed her out of the air before she smacked right into his face. "Lunata...! I know you wanted to become <ONE WITH YOUR SWORD> but that doesn't mean that you needed to become THIS flat! You've gotten too edgy! You could hurt somebod--y?"

There's a tank there, being piloted by a legoman. "Oh," Zed observes, "Bonnes. That explains it!" Zed drops into a ready stance... and draws! A comet of brilliant energy blasts out from his blade and goes smashing right into a Blumebear's main gun! And then: "Uh, Lunata, do you need me to fold you up or something so you don't go... flying away, or... something...?"

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

In the months since his return from Magical Cow Patty Planet Again Only This Time It's An Ocean, Claude C. Kenny has been mostly based out of the port town of Parm. As the premier port of the nation-state of Guild Galad, Parm gets a fair amount of traffic from travelers - most of them very thirsty after a long sea voyage - and drunk travelers are the closest thing Filgaia can manage to a functional intelligence network. This makes it an ideal place to lay low and try to track down the Teardrop. It's also far enough away from the modern conveniences of Guild Galad that nobody looks too oddly at a prentice smith showing up with his 'wife' to set up shop.

They look at him oddly for other reasons, but there's not much he can do about that.

Every now and again, though, Claude has to take jobs - apprentice blacksmiths don't make enough cash to cover his food budget, let alone his and Cecilia's. His most recent job involved guarding the Royal Damzena line in the north of Meria Boule, an altogether pleasant little trip except for a) the attempted banditry and b) the fact that by stopping said banditry, Claude was helping the train's owner - Kaguya. Despite that little hiccup, however, it was a nice job for four days of mostly lazy work.

After a day back to Meria Boule, Claude took passage on the cheapest ship back to Parm - which involved a short port call in Kattelox to offload specialized cargo from the mainland. Hence why he is sitting in a charming little streetside cafe, absolutely demolishing a plate of bagels as he reads through a three-day-old broadsheet from Guild Galad. The young man rubs his chin, bagel crumbs tumbling absently from his mouth as he considers the large advertisement splashed across the bottom-left corner of the back page. "Genuine Baskar Medicinal Salts," he muses. "Composed of all-natural Rootes, Herbes, Barkes, and Leaves. Cleans and Makes the Bloode that is so life-sustaining." Claude turns the paper slightly to the left, trying to get it out of the shadow. He squints, reading closer. "Will cure Constipationne, Most Complaints of the Liver, Indigestion, Loss of Appetite, Scoralia, Chillse and Feveres Most Foule, as Welle as Any Other Ill Humor You May Care to Thinke. Only 500 Gella a bottle," Claude mutters. He frowns again as a growing shadow covers the paper again; he turns to his left to speak most sharply to the person responsible.

He stops, and looks up, watching a 12-foot Servbot stomp through the street.

Claude opens his mouth. Closes it. Opens it again.

...

He slowly lifts the paper back up to cover his face. A hand reaches out from under it to pluck a bagel from the plate before him; it vanishes behind the paper. Rustling and munching noises ensue.

GS: Zed has attacked Servbot Brigade with Arcane Edge - Comet Crash!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Zed's Arcane Edge - Comet Crash for 115 hit points!
GS: Jam! applied to Servbot Brigade!
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHJbQ5NH2c4

Kattelox City is such a strange and wonderful place. built on the bones of the past, ruins, citadel walls from ages past. It is enjoyable to come here each day! There is always something new hauled in by a Digger or two. A new tool. A fancy ancient weapon. What purpose did this island serve, and why?

Well, that question is why Dash Caskett makes a living! Than, and a questionable drive to delve regardless, for reasons even he does not know. Even so! A smile is always on his face in this city.

"Woohoo!"

Even if it may be hard to see right now.

A high pitched spinning noise that sounds like a mixture of wheels spinning and a grindstone, peals around a building corner, as Dash FLIES past some civilians. "Sorry!" he says, regaining his balance. He is zooming across the city without even making a footstep! Some observing from afar may notice new fitures to his armored feet. "These are awesome!" It is nice to get to have fun right after a dig. Perhapsd he should have unequipped his gear to see how fast he could really go beforehead!

A good test of the Jet Skates.

BOOM

And then it goes bad. "Uh, what was that?" Maybe it was good to NOT do that last thing. His attention lost unfortunately leads him to a metal bench! "WAIT--"

CLANK.

Dash skids hard on grass after a gnarly wipeout, and denting a bench pretty badly. "Oooof..." Well, looks like something is afoot, may as wall invesigate!

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jt0Xxgt8yc

"Wh... pirates, here???" he says on arrival, as others approach the situation. W... Was that someone flattened and flying on the wind??? Dash visibly sweatdrops. "Hey, I recognize that symbol from the beach! What are you doing here with those! Those types of weapons aren't allowed in the city!" The boy says, pointing the Mega Buster their way.

They show no signs of relenting, which leaves Dash the unfortunate choice of launching hot plasma their direction!

GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Servbot Brigade with Buster Salvo!
GS: Dash Caskett has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

    Kattelox is pretty much tailor-made for Shalunes of all shapes and sizes. Every time the mechanic has come to the city, she's found something new to fixate on, whether it's the array of different foods on offer or the promise of sprawling exploration or the distinctly adorable design of the Reaverbots that emerge from the ruins or simply a new stall she hasn't yet stripped for anything remotely useful.

    She's kind of gaining a reputation amongst the merchants for being very good to do business with, and not just because of a tendency to overpay and a complete inability to haggle - but also because if you give her a few minutes to browse she's probably going to figure out how to fix that broken gizmo, do it for free, then let you keep it anyway to sell it on.

    Fresh off of one of these benders, she'd been waiting to meet up with Lunata, a fresh steaming curry bun stuffed half in her mouth. The crash that echoes down the road is not something she pays the greatest amount of mind, her thoughts elsewhere and chalking it up to just the noise of a big city - but the large leaflet that gets caught by the wind and nearly flutters into her face does catch her attention, and she yelps as she instinctively grabs at it, missing by a hair.

    At least it's enough to catch sight of it, and her eyebrows rocket upwards. "... woah. I didn't know that Lunie was famous enough to get posters," she blurts without thinking, feeling a burst of sympathetic pride well up inside of her right up until the creeping suspicion overtakes it. "Lunie? Lunie?!" she adds, her eyes turning into blank white circles in shock. "LUNIE YOU TOTALLY PROMISED YOU WEREN'T GONNA FLOAT AWAY FROM REALITY--"

    Everything else is lost as the wall next to her bulges and then caves outwards in a mess of groaning stone and metal, and she has just enough time to let out a stunned yelp before her instincts kick in. When she plunges out of the billowing dustcloud at a full sprint she's got the collapsed form of her shotstaff held in her teeth and her bag in her hands, digging through it as quickly as she can manage given she's also trying to avoid the sweep of cylindrical arms. "Iff thif--" she tries, and spits the metal rod out into her hand. "Is this what I get for tryin' to fix you guys!?"

GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Shalune Amira with Flux Form!
GS: Shalune Amira has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action.
GS: Shalune Amira takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Flux Form for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! applied to Shalune Amira!
GS: Riposte! applied to Shalune Amira!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    It is a known fact that Kattelox is one of the better places to obtain various bits and pieces of machinery in Northern Aquvy, this side of the salvagers of the Thames and the perhaps rather more questionable collection available in Damzen City.

    This is, allegedly, also what has seen a certain country doctor out this way, and, in fact, Citan is in the middle of regarding a selection of various mechanical odds and ends when a loud sound resounds across the city.

    He, rather like Jacqueline, emerges from the shop just in time to see a rather flattened Lunata go tumbling away on a stiff breeze. "...Miss Croze...? Is that..."

    After which his attention slowly shifts to the resposible party.

    "Oh dear," he remarks, at the sight of the Blumebear... and the other assorted would-be invaders in town today. "This could be trouble."

    To the eyes of most casual observers, the doctor simply stands up a little straighter, rolls his shoulders, and adjusts his stance.
    Ignore the very slight luminous effect at his hands. It's just chi*.

    (*honest)

GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Citan Uzuki with Kouga!
GS: Citan Uzuki assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action.
GS: Citan Uzuki takes a solid hit from Citan Uzuki's Kouga for 0 hit points!
GS: Cover and Riposte! applied to Citan Uzuki!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"What," Eleanor states eloquently of the events that come to pass as Xiumei looks sideways at her, and she observes... Servbots. And Lunata.

"I don't have any idea what--" It's a machine all right. It's on wheels. And there's... a number of...

"y-yes," Eleanor agrees with Xiumei. "We really probably should. But do be careful, I don't want to have to try to reinflate that many people..."

Even imagining it is something of a headache. "Oh! At least Dash is already on the scene. Let's..."

She thinks about it, and hands Xiumei--a pastry??? "I'll back you up!"

It's not just one she coldn't finish, is it???

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Mystic Eclair!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade has activated a Boss Action!
<Pose Tracker> Servbot Brigade has posed.

    Triumph of the Armo Knights... known for its realistic depiction of bouncy Armo Knights, which can bounce as a formation of six. Just make sure they're not punctured by arrows.

    Xiumei has a powerful motivation. The board games need to be protected! Well, at least most boardgames are pretty flat, aren't they? At least when they're packed in. Fortunately, Eleanor is on hand to assist her... with a pastry! The most powerful of all buffs!

    Victory yells at the robots, and smacks it onto the Blumebear, which has an unexpected reaction of... the skull forming a D: face as if in pain, as it bounces around on unseen springs?!

    "Uwah! As expected of the Drifters, already!" the Servbot excitedly yells as it rocks around inside.

    "Uh oh. Here comes trouble."

    Jacqueline has righteous anger on her side today, as one of the Servbots sweats and laughs. "Oh, oh, I wasn't expecting on Miss Jay being here today--"

    *BZZZT*

    The blue Blumebear machine flails as lightning strikes!! "Oh noooo! We're going to get scoldeeeeed!

    Rebecca, meanwhile, is busy with the most complicated depths of her feelings, being given form in prose within her most guarded of journals... and sends a blast of elemental power at the Servbots for their troubles!

    "Oh, oh no, they have magic tooooo!" the Servbot beams.
    "Well, duh?" speaks another.

    Ethius may not be able to relax as much in here at Kattelox, but perhaps combat is more of his... forte, one could say. (Drop the bass at that!)

    *pause*

    He's poking at the armored Blumebear now. "Huuuh? Oiii, this one's just poking away at me..."
    "Maybe he's trying the Dreaded Tickle Attack?! I know of how Drifters apply that sometimes!!"

    The Blumebear makes a hollow metallic sound when poked -- but surprisingly, or perhaps not to Ethius, it starts boing-boing-boiinging around, as if it was propped on springs!! Is it its weak point?!

    Zed is here in search for the Zet-Sabre, but where could it be? It's a deep mystery. Some say it's hidden behind a nefarious 100-question quiz involving U.S. of A. Presidents which no one on Filgaia would have heard of. Except Claude, maybe. He sends a comet of energy striking onto the gun...!! It falls apart.

    "It's not like I wanted to be squished flat!!" Lunata retorts to Zed, and then looking towards Shalune and flailing away at her, but it's no use! There's no grip strength she has left inside of her!! "Shaluune, Jay, pick me up before a Rito decides I look like mail! I don't want to be Sent!"

    A pause.

    "Not, like, Summoner-Sent, mind you-- JUST HELP ME"

    Claude is browsing around Kattelox's finest, perusing some of the medicines on sale and... consuming bagels. Bagel-consumption is an important part of the day. Combat can wait, honestly.

    "I want a bagel too," whines the Servbot.

    And Citan... comes in just in time to comment that things may be trouble. He prepares his chi, as if to become more...

    "That glasses guy... he looks more chi-tinous, all of a sudden."
    "Are you sure you're not just rubbing your chi-n and grinning at your own jokes?"
    "Uwa-hahahaha!"

    It's that kind of scene, after all.

    "Enough of that! Prepare to taste... True Heck!!"

    The three Blumebears start moving, damage be darned! And with their tiny stubby arms, they lift up...

    Big Cartoon Bombs! With the Bonne logo on them. Seriously, you know you're into the villainy business when you print every consumable explosive with your own logo. They're tossed around and about!

    The damage is kind of indiscriminate, all told.

    In the midst of this, though--

    "We're going to change you from 'Zed' to... 'Bed'!"
    "Because beds are flat, get it! Hee hee!"

    The Blumebear goes towards Zed! If he's not careful, he'll share... Lunata's fate of flatness!!

    Meanwhile, Dash sets the proper BGM as per canon as he... tries to adjust himself to his Jet Skates, and-- *CLANK* falls on the grass. He launches hot plasma in the Servbots' direction, but he hears a scream near him!

    "H-hweeeeh?! What's with this thing?!"

    He sees... a black-haired girl in pink and black clinging onto a streetlamp, with an adorable dog barking away at her?

    EXTRA OBJECTIVE 1: There is a dog. What will you do?

GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Buster Salvo for 92 hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Dash Caskett!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Citan Uzuki with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Dash Caskett with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Eleanor Klein with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Shalune Amira with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Victory Storm with Bombs Away!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Zed with Can You Feel the Damacy Burning Inside of You?!
GS: Servbot Brigade has completed her action.
GS: Rebecca Streisand takes a solid hit from Servbot Brigade's Bombs Away!! for 132 hit points!
GS: Shalune Amira takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's Bombs Away!! for 62 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's Bombs Away!! for 59 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Dash Caskett completely evades a hit from Servbot Brigade's Bombs Away!!!
GS: Claude C. Kenny guards a hit from Servbot Brigade's Bombs Away!! for 98 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from Servbot Brigade's Bombs Away!! for 25 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber's Force Guard activates!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Citan Uzuki takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's Bombs Away!! for 68 hit points!
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Servbot Brigade's Can You Feel the Damacy Burning Inside of You? for 172 hit points!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Mystic Eclair for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's Bombs Away!! for 70 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Nobody chooses the edge-life, Lunflata Croze," Zed says with as sage a nod as he can muster. "It is the edge-life which chooses you...!"

Truly, the wisdom of ages.

Zed is so impressed with himself that he takes a moment to close his eyes and bask in the glory. "Hmhmhm, even the sky pirates know my name now. What a magnificent da--wait did you say bed-"

                                  *CRONCH*

The Blumebear rolls Zed AND his lamppost perch up! They make a terrible clattering noise as a METAL DEMON is transformed into a SHEET METAL DEMON. "Augh!" Zed protests as he goes fluttering, aluminium-foil thin, into the breeze. "No! I didn't mean for the edge-life to choose meeeee---"

In a state like this, Zed could end up being caught by a crosswind and sent flying across the sea! He could be caught by a seagull and turned into nest-bedding! He could even be... recycled...!

(for 1000 zenny, only redeemable at the Apple Market Bakery)

It's fortunate, then, that he's flying... toward some guy with a newspaper and a bagel... Who Zed... Recognizes!? "Claaaaauuude!" Zed whines, "Save meeee! I'm supposed to be a scimitar man, not a foil man...!!!"

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Who even knows what Ethius is thinking when he is poking at the armored Blumebear? The hollow metallic sound has him drawing back a step as he brings a hand to his forehead.
     ...Sound report does not turn up any odd response. He thinks to himself. The hollow sound reveals much of its construction is in line with outer appeara--
     Then the Blumebear goes boing-boing-boing like a Jack-in-the-Box and clips him upside his head, sending him sprawling a cartoonish distance as he corkscrews towards the grass. (He does this to a dramatic backdrop of exploding Bonne bombs, washing him over with heat and concussive force from the outer edges of the explosion. Physically, yes, this is a glancing blow. Emotionally speaking...)
     The strange Symbologist is now face-down in turf and is doing a much better job of blending in with the local populace than usual! He might even have a dialogue prompt come up over his head if someone walks close!
     ...
     He gets up, a visible bump on his head. He sees three tanks rolling around together in the wake of a huge dome-shaped low-poly smoke effect. He has a quarterstaff in his hand. He comes back up the right flank of the armored Blumebear - again, same angle and all! - and starts poking. The exact same way.
     ...How does this sound... Ethius thinks to himself as though this were an entirely novel and important instinct to have after the fact.

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Servbot Brigade with The Amnesiac Archetype Strikes Again!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca just stares at them for a while, then glances sidelong at Rebecca and Xiumei, starting at seeing ARMS present. "I know they just flattened someone but it's a little hard to take these guys seriously when they act like this."

Like a bunch of little kids in tanks, she thinks. However that's before they start to move, and lob a bomb her way.

Rebecca tries to fall into a backwards somersault to get away, but the bomb detonates in mid-air, proving just how dangerous they truly are. The shock wave knocks her into the drainage ditch hard, and she comes out of the muddy water more than a bit scorched - and sopping wet in equal measure.

"Should have stayed back at the picnic..." She comments, before trying to psyche herself back up as she stands up, stretching out her now battered joints, "No... no... you're in this now. You're committed. No sense complaining about it."

Drawing her Portal Gun, she lays down a portal on the street. Then rushes into cover. Counting to herself. "One-one thousand. Two-one thousand... Three..."

She fires it again in front of her, and suddenly draws up her revolver, spinning it up into her hand.

And dunks her head into the portal in front of her. Out of the portal in the street, a girl's torso appears from the abdomen up, squinting through one eye as she points the ARM one Blumebear's Axel, just where it connects to one of the wheels. "Let's see how much mischief you can get up to if I hit... right there..." Suddenly snapping loose one shot each Blumebear, she aims to hit three in one and then drop back down to safety through her portal. "...Bingo!"

It's a nice theory. Let's see how it works out for her when the Blumebears see half a girl appearing out of the street - a great target for a second flattening.

GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Servbot Brigade with Pizzicato Pistol - Round Beat!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's The Amnesiac Archetype Strikes Again for 90 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Pizzicato Pistol - Round Beat for 108 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! applied to Servbot Brigade!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Thank you, Nora!" Xiumei says, taking the pastry. She takes a bite of it, then she steps forward. She looks up at the Servobot stumping down the street, and her eyebrow shakes once. Then, she holds a hand up.

"Armor change! Model AV!"

Light flashes around her. Her vest, shirt, and skirt flash away -- and then her black bodysuit and armor appear, with an energy saber in hand. The blade of energy flashes out into existence, and then she goes bolting straight towards the Blumebear. Her eyes dart to Zed -- and then leaps high.

She clutches the Pulse Saber between both hands, then swings the blade down two-handed, cleaving towards the top of the Servobot.

"Leave the board game shops and everything else alone!" she yells.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline's lightning strikes true!

"You certainly are! Don't you know how dangerous a vehicle like that is? You need to be careful and watch where you're going, or else more people are going to get hurt! Why did you even bring such a thing here, anyway?" Jacqueline scolds, frowning directly at the Servbots! It... probably isn't going to change their attitude any, but it might be dizzying enough to distract them. Her scolding is interrupted, however, when the machine starts throwing out big cartoon bombs! Thinking quickly, Jacqueline gestures with her left hand and hunkers down behind a pillar of stone. This absorbs the bulk of the blast, leaving Jacqueline herself largely unharmed.

"Anyway, as I was saying... You need to be more considerate of others! Being a pirate is not a free ticket to cause trouble. You really need to-" Jacqueline pauses, as she hears Lunata calling for her help. "...Hold that thought, would you?"

Jacqueline looks toward Ethius, poking away at the machine.

"I need to help Lunata - keep up the good work down here, okay?" She says...though, she does wince when he ends up with yet another head injury. And then, with a gesture of her left hand, a pillar of earth bursts up beneath Jacqueline's feet! She uses the momentum to bound away after Lunata.

"I'm coming, Lunata! Try to slow yourself down! Flap your arms in the other direction, maybe...?" Jacqueline calls out to her as she moves. She sees Shalune down on the ground, too, and waves at her.

"Shalune! Try to cut off her flight from the other direction!" She calls out. And then, with one final leap... Jacqueline jumps, and tries to catch Lunata in her arms...!

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Servbot Brigade with Pulse Saber - Jump Slash!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Servbot Brigade with Scolding!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Saber - Jump Slash for 139 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Scolding for 16 hit points!
GS: Weaken! applied to Servbot Brigade!
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

Where do this pirates get off throwing explosives! They are gonna damage the buildings and homes in this ward! Who is gonna pay for all this damage then, huh?!

...Don't answer that.

The trio of Blumebears launch all sorts of bombs, that look like they are more made for making a statement than leveling their foes. But do seem effective at this job as well! "Ooof! Hey scarf guy! You okay?!" he shouts, seeing what befell Zed. Despite being foil thin, he is talking, so... okay apparently?

That seems highly improbable.

Xiumei! Eleanor!" Dash shouts from near his crash landing spot. "Looks like its a job for use to send them packing!" he says. "Time to take out the big guns!" Dash says, pointing his fearsome-- Drill Arm??? "Oh. right."

Those bombs make it his way in his moment of realization, and he has to react fast! "Reverse! REVERSE!" he shouts, as the mechanical grinding kicks up and sparks fly under his feet, sending his speeding backwards-- out of the explosion range. As he speeds, he reaches into his orange pack, and whips his own small explosive toward the Blumebear trying to run people over!

As not being to well trained with these skates yet (They don't even look like skates, how do they even work, Roll? Like Heeleys???) he loses balance and thuds to the ground onto his rump. But right next to something odd. A young lady with black hair, with black and deep pink colored clothing. Looks like she is clinging to a streetlamp for her life! From a... very small dog. "Um."

Standing up, he recalls seeing this dog before too! Around town.

Meaner people might kick this dog away to save the lady. Dash is not that mean. "H-Hey doggo! Uh, be a good boy! Girl?" Dash does hsi best to soothe the small dog into leaving the young lady alone. "Gimme a sec," he asks of her. He will also offer to pet the dog! In the middle of battle?! It is never NOT a good time to pet a dog! Where have you been!

GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Servbot Brigade with Grand Grenade!
GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny's reluctance to immediately engage in relatively discriminate violence may seem unusual to those who know him fairly well. Or even, you know, at all. But what only a specific few people will know is that Claude - having just seen a twelve-foot toy that looks disturbingly like one he played with as a child, on Earth, BUNCHES OF LIGHT YEARS AWAY FROM HERE, stomp through a Filgaian city - has reached his own conclusion about what is going on here. He does not think it is a pirate attack. He has reached a more sinister and, in his eyes, believable conclusion: the Guardians are trolling him.

"Look, Chapapanga," Claude mutters sotto voce. "I thought we'd been sort of cool recently. Like, we stopped Mother, and I'm still keeping people from ganking Cecilia, okay?" he says. He bites off half a bagel, and continues talking around it, because semidivine spiritual beings probably don't care if your mouth is full. "And yeah, I get it - still not worthy or whatever, but come on I am working on it. Can we just maybe chill out and let me eat my f---"

It is right about then that the cartoon bomb lands in the foyer of the charming little cafe - which everyone but Cluade evacuated a solid minute ago - and explodes. The low-yield blast is thankfully not confined, and equally lucky is that there's nothing between it and Claude to turn into shrapnel. So rather than melt or get poked full of holes, Claude gets thrown out of his chair and smashed into the menu, then the wall, of a charming little sidewalk cafe in a town his people would kill him for standing on.

This is still not the worst Friday evening Claude has ever spent. This says a lot about his life choices to date.

Regardless, the young man comes up to his feet with the taste of blood in his mouth, and a ringing in his ears. He kicks the remains of a table off of his body and then rises upward; he stomps out from the cafe, hackles up and looking for a fight. What he gets instead is... a floating paper. Of Zed.

If it was anyone other than Zed, Claude would have known he was being trolled by the Guardians. But this is well inside the wheelhouse of what passes for 'normal' with Zed.

The young Earthling reaches up and catches the slowly-drifting two-dimensional Hyadean out of the air. He blinks owlishly at Zed for a moment, his brain still a little scrambled from the bomb blast and a light concussion. He can see Zed's mouth moving, but the ringing in his ears is too loud to make it out. Claude squints his eyes, relying on his talent for perceptive abilities to discern Zed's meaning.

Talents
   Originality Dexterity
   Writing Ability Pitch
   Sixth Sense Sense of Taste
   Sense of Design Sense of Rhythm
   Love of Animals Blessing of Mana

"Okay," Claude says, worryingly, as he folds Zed lengthwise, tucks one of his arms in, then grips the two-dimensional Hyadean around the ankles. He gives an experimental 'swish' or two. "Yeah," Claude syas a little too loudly, on account of the tinnitus. "Yeah, I can work with this." He turns toward the nearest Servbot, draws Zed back, and focuses his energy. "AIR SLASH!" he roars, sweeping the Z-Sword forward and achieving the prophecy of the Great Ka---

Er.

---sending a vacuum blade hurtling toward the hero of one of Claude's favourite childhood movies. More or less.

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Servbot Brigade with Air Slash!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Grand Grenade for 91 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! applied to Servbot Brigade!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Claude C. Kenny's Air Slash for 113 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

    Growing up in the Adlehyde slums gives you a definite edge when it comes to situations like this. It teaches you important life skills like knowing how to skid and weave at full speed around stalls and cluttered streets, how to navigate cobbled roads without twisting your ankle, how to abruptly twist your body away from someone unexpectedly stepping out of a doorway just in front of you--

    ("Sorry, sir!!" she blurts at Citan as she sweeps past, and then apologises a second time in her head at the thought of 'yay, he can take the aggro instead'.)

    --and most of all, how to sense at about a two mile radius the exact moment at which Jacqueline turns her glasses opaque. A spidery sort of fear trails up her spine and leaves her shivering, and between that and Lunata's yell for help she yanks a plate of metal out of her pack and throws it forwards. Given everything else going on, the familiar form of her flying scooter doesn't really unfold so much as just pop cheerily into existence just in time for her to leap on, climbing for height as she aims for the flattened girl.

    She yelps as a chain of explosions rocks the scooter and nearly knocks her off course - but somehow they feel more like style over substance, and it's not enough to stop her from gritting her teeth and lunging over the handlebars for her friend. She almost reaches - but then a gust of wind carries Lunata further forwards, slipping just out of reach. "W-what do we do?!" she blurts in a mixture of panic and relief at Jay's call."Wait-- wait--" she adds, rapidly starting to burble as she drops to her knees and starts to rummage through her pack with renewed speed. In her haste she barely even notices the last of the explosions detonate just over her head - nor does she notice that the bulk of what she's throwing back over her shoulders with a constant mumble of 'not that, not that' are incendiary bombs almost as round and friendly as the ones being fired at her, carpet bombing the space the Blumebear is driving towards.

    Because she's too busy yelling with triumph as she pulls out a little handheld fan, swoops her scooter in a barrel roll above Lunata, and aims the little device downwards with a tiny 'vrrrrrrrrr'.

    ... ... in her head, this was a lot more climactic and impressive.

GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Servbot Brigade with Star Scatter!
GS: Shalune Amira has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Claude you are the best in the whole world," Zed breathes a sigh of relief as he's rescued. This is hard, considering that whatever passes for his lungs are presently squashed flatter than a pair of pancakes. "We need to find some way to fix me! This isn't how I want to live my life Clau--wait what are you doing"

Zed is folded.

Zed has always talked a lot about being one with the sword, of achieving unity of body and spirit with his favorite class of weapons. But this? This is taking things a bit too literally, isn't it!? "Uh!!" Zed protests, and the folded paper tip of the sword that he has become wiggles like the mouth of some kind of low-polycount 3D model. "Okay. Alright. I can work with this. Just let me-- nnnnnngggg---"

The tip... scrunches up! Like it's concentrating REALLY HARD! And then... A couple of LONG, ORANGE SCARF-BITS swing up out of his flatness! And together, they're gripping...

...Another sword.

"LET'S GO! SINISTRAL FORMATION...!" AIR SLASHES occur...! But not just from one (Zed-)saber being swung! But from two!! Claude's sword still has a sword of its own to wield, after all! "DUAL BLAAAAAAADE!"

GS: Zed has attacked Servbot Brigade with Dual Blade - Air Slash!
GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Star Scatter for 171 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Zed's Dual Blade - Air Slash for 139 hit points!
GS: Victory Storm has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.

    Victory meanwhile sees the bomb coming, and swats it away. Or at least tries to get it far enough that it's not going to harm anyone. Then the explosions happen and he ends up blown back a bit. Shaking his head from the ringing, he brings back a hand upon seeing someone else flattened.

    One handing the trident, Victory brings a hand up and calls out, "Shadows of the world, protect my allies!"

    Immediately, shadows seem to spring up around those fighting the robots as the knight brings his hand upwards, forming hopefully helpful barriers against the robots trying to flatten people. The white coated knight calls out, "Hope this helps against these things trying to run people over!"

GS: Victory Storm has attacked Dash Caskett with Shadow Armor!
GS: Victory Storm has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Shadow Armor!
GS: Victory Storm has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Shadow Armor!
GS: Victory Storm has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Victory Storm has completed his action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Victory Storm's Shadow Armor for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! applied to Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Cover! applied to Victory Storm!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Victory Storm's Shadow Armor for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! applied to Ethius Hesiod!
GS: Cover! applied to Victory Storm!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Are you--" is about as far as he gets as a certain familiar young woman (read: Shalune) zips on past him. And then there are other, more immediate things to be concerned about.

    Very quickly, the plaza here becomes a very unsafe place to be. Bombs are sent flying here, there, and everywhere; Citan has only the time to note the explosive as it rolls to a stop at a place far, far too close to comfort for his preferences and take immediate evasive action.

    And even then, the blast still catches up with him. He rises to his feet swiftly, shaking off whatever lingering effect the explosion might have had upon him.

    Purely by chance, this ends up taking the doctor that much closer to where Xiumei and Eleanor take the fight to one particular Blumebear.

    In particular, he's ended up somewhat to the back of it. He gazes up at it but for a moment, as if to assess it up close.

    "I do not suppose that either of you would mind the assistance?" the perfectly ordinary country doctor asks then, abruptly snapping from his standing position to deliver a forceful barehanded strike to...

    Well, there is a section of plating back here that seems at a glance to be perhaps that much less dense than the rest of it. That's all.

GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Servbot Brigade with Ukigumo!
GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Citan Uzuki's Ukigumo for 134 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Of course!" Eleanor answers Xiumei, and she does not have a transformation as much; she just readies her Crests, dusting off her clothes and readying--which sees her jumping to the side away from the bombs that come, taking cover behind a bench because it's better than nothing!

From there as the battle progresses, she looks p, narrowing her eyes at the great machine and thinking. But that's when she catches the arrival of a nice, ordinary, "Dr. Uzuki!" Eleanor seems if anything relieved for the help. Though, surprised at the thing he actually does. "Wow," she says. "Make sure you're not touching i--"

Eleanor pulls a Crest and magic begins to sparkle around her, "That which is said, that which is heard, hold out! Acrimonious Echo!"

Lightning!!

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Servbot Brigade with Acrimonious Echo!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Acrimonious Echo for 169 hit points!
GS: Jam! applied to Servbot Brigade!
GS: Dash Caskett takes a solid hit from Victory Storm's Shadow Armor for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! applied to Dash Caskett!
GS: Cover! applied to Victory Storm!
GS: Servbot Brigade has activated a Boss Action!
<Pose Tracker> Servbot Brigade has posed.

    "Z-Zed!" exclaims Lunata as the Metal Demon, too, gets squished as flat as a sheet. "I guess you're now vorpal-thin too!" A pause. "Ugh, why did I even get wrapped up in the jokes too?"

    You don't choose edge-life. Edge-life chooses you... so be careful, before you get a paper cut!

    What will Zed do now, though!? Will Claude be there to save him!? And indeed.. Claude is, when he grabs hold of his rivaleternal friendsomething or other and fires... an Air-Slash! Through the Z-Axis! The vacuum of energy shears off another gun off the Blumebear, which causes it to start smoking.

    "Those two look really cute together, I must say...!"

    Zed himself is sending a second strike, rending more of that armour off, a dual blade that has the Servbots exclaiming--

    "Just what sort of maxim is this they're using?!"

    Xiumei, empowered by pastry, transforms into her Armored form as she charges forward with the Pulse Saber! A clean slash is delivered, rending across the hatch as the Servbot waves up happily to Xiumei.

    "Ah, I'm not sure how to put it, but-- this lady feels very 'Mega' too."
    "It's that kind of rocking feeling, huh?"
    "Just like that boy in blue!"

    The Servbot seems excited to goad her along.

    "We'll destroy... all the board games, because that's the Bonne way!"

    Ethius is unexpectedly sent flying when he goes 'bonk' gainst the Jack-in-the-Box-esque Blumebear, which lands him, fortunately, against the grass.

    "Uwaah, now that guy got knocked back! Good thing Miss Tron made this machine super-boingy, huh?!"

    Indeed, the smoke effects are little more than 2D sprites (as flat as Lunata and Zed) positioned carefully. What will he do, except--

    "Waaah! He's keeping on poking! If this keeps up, our machines will be super Pokey!" the Servbot whines, even as it goes 'boing oing oing' again!

    Does Ethius just enjoy this? Is there a secret high-rate-of-fire attack method to this? It certainly seems to be effective!!

    Meanwhile, Rebecca starts thinking with portals, and creates one on the street and the other in front of her-- the better to suddenly shoot underneath the wheels! There's a loud noisy POP as her shots connect and suddenly one of them comes loose!

    "Whoa! That wasn't just acrobatic shooting!"
    "That was the-crobatic shooting!"
    "Does that mean anything?"
    "Eeeeh- You know, don't worry about it..."
    "Playing with portals is just cheating!"

    The joking-around gets stopped dead cold when Jay unleashes her powerful scolding, however.

    "W-weeeh, Miss Jay is scary today..."
    "Maybe we should've spared Miss Lunie?"
    "But that's not part of the Bonne Code!"

    Lunata tries to flap her arms, but it's all for naught! But Shalune is there a moment later with the Little Dipper to fan Lunata back in Jacqueline's direction, enough for the Sorceress to burst upwards in a pillar of earth and... take hold of Lunata in her arms!

    Meanwhile, cute bombs explode in the Blumebear's direction! "Aah, a cute explosion is righteous, indeed," the Servbot nods as the Blumebear continues to catch on fire.

    "... it's the first time I'm in Jay's arms and it's like this ..." Lunata laments. "I'm not gonna forgive them!!!"

    Victory, meanwhile, takes the literal road to victory as he summons helpful barriers to assist in his allies' defence against the flattening robots!

    It is at that time Citan proceeds onward to strike with the flat of his palm, and the armor plating just pops loose!

    "Whoaaa! He's just a simple country doctor?!"
    "Well, in a way, aren't we just simple country robots?"
    "I'm not sure I'm really all that country..."

    "Don't you know, shadows are incredibly flat by nature...? Hee hee..."

    While this is going on, Dash sends a bomb of his own their way and the Grand Grenade explodes and sends one of the already-breached Blumebears toppling! "Oh noooo!"

    But he has another issue in his hands and-- decides to spoil and pet the dog, who ceases its barking and... nuzzles against Dash's hand for a moment, before padding away.

    Awwww.

    EXTRA OBJECTIVE 1 COMPLETE

    The girl pauses, realising that a dog isn't fully aggroed onto her anymore, and slides on down, knees jelly.

    "Um-- thank you," she grumpily answers. "It's not safe here, you'd-- you'd best go," she huffs, before pacing away with a puff on her cheeks.

    Well, as if a battle wasn't just happening thirty feet away...

    But, as if on cue, the hatch on one of the Blumebears pop open.

    "You've left us with no choice... but to summon our brethren!" the Servbot exclaims. It draws in a breath and blows a whistle, beep beep!!

    "Hey guys! Curry Rice is on!!"

    Nothing happens.

    ...

    *rumble*

    *rumble rumble rumble*

    Oh-- oh--!! A tremendous roar of the earth! From the distance, an enormous tsunami composed of nothing but other Servbots is rushing at everyone! The dreaded technique that is only spoken of softly in rumors...! The--

GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Eleanor Klein with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Citan Uzuki with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Victory Storm with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Zed with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Shalune Amira with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Dash Caskett with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Rebecca Streisand with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has completed her action.
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 133 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Rebecca Streisand takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 67 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Rebecca Streisand!
GS: CRITICAL! Dash Caskett critically Guards a hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 39 hit points!
GS: Victory Storm completely evades a hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!!!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Victory Storm gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Claude C. Kenny critically Guards a hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 27 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 63 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Shalune Amira takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 68 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Shalune Amira!
GS: Shalune Amira's Force Evade activates!
GS: CRITICAL! Eleanor Klein guards a hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 120 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Poison! applied to Eleanor Klein!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 140 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Zed!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 62 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Ethius Hesiod!
GS: Citan Uzuki takes a solid hit from Servbot Brigade's Servbot Lunch Rush!! for 136 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Citan Uzuki gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Poison! applied to Citan Uzuki!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Dash!" Xiumei calls back. "I'm glad you're here, too!"

She sees the flash of lightning that explodes from her friend's spell. Xiumei comes down, straight at the Servbot, and then her eyes screw up. "D-Destroy every board game!?" she repeats, furiously. She kicks off the side of the Servbot, and lands on the street, skidding across it. She looks up, and feels the earth tremble...

...and then Servbots stampede forth. They strike Xiumei like a tide, starting to carry her away. "Aaaah!" she whines. "Nora! Th-they're everywhere!"

The Pulse Saber vanishes. Instead, the gem atop Xiumei's headband flashes -- and then around her, but somehow sparing those with her -- space briefly freezes in place. Green and white combine, light dropping down, as time seems to...

...stop.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Servbot Brigade with Timestopper!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes 19 damage from Poison!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Timestopper for 0 hit points!
GS: Entangle and Shieldbreak! applied to Servbot Brigade!
Eleanor Klein (Eleanor) pages Citan Uzuki and Zhang Xiumei: I guess that means
Eleanor Klein (Eleanor) pages Citan Uzuki and Zhang Xiumei: i should attack...!
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.

    Victory, meanwhile, looks to see what is happening. Brethren? That can't be good. That has him looking off towards what is coming with the rumble.

    Nimbly, the elf knight plants the trident, then vaults upwards. High upwards. And manages to avoid the entire horde that charges through by latching on to a wall with the trident sinking in.

    Victory looks at the horde that passed by, then to the three robots. "Seriously, your creators need to stop."

    Then he pushes off of the wall at the nearest robot again and brings back the trident in mid-air, the shaft of the weapon sliding in his hand before he suddenly thrusts forward in an attempt to skewer the bot from the side. Full on as shadows seem to encircle him. Afterwards, he rolls to get out of the way of incoming magic and whatever else might be coming at the bot. Hopefully!

GS: Victory Storm has attacked Servbot Brigade with Sonic Trident!
GS: Victory Storm has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    It is an incredibly odd thing to do! Just walking up and poking a certified pirate war machine with a large stick! What could Ethius possibly be thinking by doing that again, as he draws back a step once again and brings the same hand to his forehead as a young woman - that's Jay - divides up the labor and tells him to keep up the good work. Something about that seems odd - not in the sense of her approving of what she's doing, but that something's going on at all as he collects his thoughts on the sound his poking makes.
     ...Sound report does not turn up any odd response. He thinks to himself... again? ...Why is that sound familiar...? If I heard it bef--
     Then once again the Blumebear goes boing-boing-boing like a Jack-in-the-Box and gets him upside the head once more. He careens through the air in another dramatic corkscrew with another funny lump on his head. This time he gets some serious air from being sproingy-struck...!
     He lands atop a huge crowd of hungry Servbots making their rush for a promised lunch! He doesn't flatten them, their catching him cushions the fall. His semi-conscious body is now in the middle of crowd-surfing the assault-class lunch line. His ears fill with the swimming, unfocused sound of cheering, rampaging Servbots carrying him who-knows-where. He blinks every so often.
     ...Their sounds of joy. Ethius internalizes. He is in the company of some very happy-sounding small creatures capable of carrying him. If... if I am in the company of those in such jubilation, then... there's... nothing wrong going on, is the--
     Then, Ethius receives aid in the form of swirling shadows. His eyes widen. He knows that light doesn't normally work that way, as they start to protectively envelop him.
     "Get down!!" Ethius calls as he springs to consciousness and starts trying to push down various members of the Servbot lunch line as confusion reigns over the flight-or-flight instinct - even forcefully trying to shove down those Servbots who seem to be running about heedless of the danger that is this strange set of swirling shadows that do not parse to him as a shielding blessing but a threat!
     ...A confusion that works, vaguely, towards the purpose of 'stopping the Servbots.'

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Servbot Brigade with The Budding Tragicomedy of Another Ethius Misunderstanding!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes 25 damage from Poison!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca pauses at Zhang Xiumei's defense of board games, and anger over the idea of destroying them. "Is this like Dean's Golem Obsession?" Do other people have to deal with this??? Suddenly she feels a certain kinship with Eleanor in that fact alone.

The Servbots address her as cheating with portals though. "There's no cheating when it comes to a fight like this. When you aim an ARM at someone - they have the right to shoot back."

She says, quoting Greg there. There's a small pause, and the girl in the street notes, "And... you threw a bomb but same difference."

Rebecca cocks her head in the air though, squinting with a peculiar look, "Curry Rice?" A rumble is growing louder, but she has her eyes on the Blumebears and they're not moving enough to make...

Rebecca turns around just to see herself facing down the entire horde of Servots - gaining a deer in the headlights look just before she quickly ducks her head under.

A few servbots fall through her portal, immediately launching themselves back into her. One of them slams right by her head, as she scrambles out of the way, beginning to run as she reloads her ARM, massaging her head as she goes.

Running in a circle at the flanks to try to avoid the Servbot Stampede, she brings up her ARM and tries to send a shot through the throng.

The shot ricochets off one Servbot, then another, then another - and if she has her way, it'll deflect its way all the way back to one of the Blumebears.

"I wonder if Dean and Avril are having a day this weird...

GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Servbot Brigade with Pizzicato Pistol - Quick Repeater!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Rebecca Streisand takes 25 damage from Poison!
GS: Mighty expired!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

"Okay, this can work," Claude C. Kenny mutters to himself, giving his Z-sword a bit of an experimental twirl. The lack of weight is a bit off-putting - Claude prefers lighter swords as a general rule, but there's light and then there's /all of your mass slipping between dimensions - but in many ways a sword is still a sword. Even when it's your friend. "Nice try!" Claude calls out mockingly. "But you won't..."

*rumble*

"...get..."

*rumblerumblerumble*

Claude turns around, his eyes widening as he spots the sudden rush of little bobots (Precis's term, which fits better for this planet than the technical one), swarming toward a free lunch of curry, and showing every sign of bowling over Claude to get to it. Claude responds the way he's trained; he drops to one knee, grounds his sword in a guard, and presses his shoulder into the back of the weapon to brace the defence.

Fortunately for Claude, the majority of the servbots crash into his sword and bounce off. Unfortunately for Zed, he is Claude's sword right now, so he comes out less well.

"Ha!" the young man calls out triumphantly. He turns and leans forward on his grounded sword (again, Zed) and casually covers an exaggerated yawn with the back of his left hand. "Nice try on the tin can tango there, little dudes!" Claude calls out mockingly. "Why'd you think that would work? Oh, I know!" he says. "I bet you've got, like... terabyte processors or something! I have more than that in my toaster* back home!" Claude laughs.


* - This is true. This is partly a reflection of the evolution of technology and quantum computing over several thousand years of history, but also a reflection of the complexity required of your average household toaster oven in the Pangalactic Federation, which is home to several thousand species, not all of which follow humano-centric anthropomorphic tendencies. A device that can toast everything from a pop-tart to the physical manifestation of ennui** takes more than a little processing power.
** - For the record: tastes like chicken.

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Servbot Brigade with 104th Century Smack Talk!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Victory Storm's Sonic Trident for 112 hit points!
GS: Riposte! applied to Victory Storm!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's The Budding Tragicomedy of Another Ethius Misunderstanding
for 80 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Pizzicato Pistol - Quick Repeater for 136 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Claude C. Kenny's 104th Century Smack Talk for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

It's okay, Shalune. It's plenty impressive to Jacqueline. Jacqueline leaps for Lunata, and for a second it looks she's going to miss her... but then, Shalune's handheld fan gusts her right into her arms.

"Nice work, Shalune!" Jacqueline cheers.

"S-sorry..." Jacqueline replies with a sheepish chuckle as Lunata laments. "Well... I'm sure we'll be laughing about this later on down the line. For now, though, we'll just have to find a way to make up for it!"

But that might have to wait until after they've put a stop to the rampaging Servbots.

"Hold on, let me find something to secure- ...wait, do you two hear that??" Jacqueline starts. ...And, indeed, in the distance, there's an ominous rumbling. An ominous rumbling that foretells the arrival of a truly prodigious number of Servbots, all with one thing on their minds -

/Lunch.

"Th-they're everywhere...!" Jacqueline gasps in surprise. With a tight hold on Lunata she hunkers down behind a pillar of earth as the mass of Servbots breaks against it like a wave, surging past the lot of them. Fortunately, Victory's spellwork helps in this situation, offering a bit of a buffer between them and the hungry Servbot horde.

"I can't do much fighting in this situation, so... please take this!" Jacqueline says. With her free hand she digs out a bottle of golden liquid, adds something to the mix, and then shakes it up. And then, with a touch of sorcery, the liquid evaporates into gold sparkles, scattering over Shalune and Victory!

It's one of Jacqueline's more costly, but energizing mixtures - it really gives you a boost!

GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated a Force Action!
GS: Jacqueline Barber spends 2 Combo on Inspire and Reload!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Victory Storm with Aura Bottle!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Shalune Amira with Aura Bottle!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes 29 damage from Poison!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Shalune Amira! She gains 188 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Shalune Amira!
GS: Reload! Shalune Amira gains 15 extra FP from Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Shalune Amira gains a Combo from Inspire!
GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Victory Storm! He gains 188 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Victory Storm!
GS: Reload! Victory Storm gains 15 extra FP from Jacqueline Barber!
GS: Victory Storm gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Just as I thought," remarks the doctor, dropping back after the panel falls away. He shakes his hand, just the one time. "I wonder when maintenance was last conducted...?"

    Eleanor calls out. "Ah, Miss Klein! I thought that must be you. These are unfortunate circumstances for a reunion, I am afraid!" He takes advantage of her spell to move over towards them proper, taking up position near the two of them.

    Which is when the ground begins to tremble, quaking as if at the approach of...

    "Ah? What is..." He turns his head slowly to regard the direction from which the sound is...

    ...is...

    "Oh dear," remarks the doctor for the second time today, widening his stance and bracing himself for the charge that is no longer avoidable. Alas, even this isn't enough against the onslaught -- the sheer press of bodies and tiny trampling feet bowls him over...!

    "That was... rather unpleasant," Citan remarks, pulling himself back on his feet, sparing but a moment to readjust his glasses. His gaze shifts over at Eleanor and Xiumei, the both of them apparently similarly worse for wear. "Allow me," he says, moving his hands in a few select mudras, which he absolutely certainly needs to do for this sort of manipulation of chi. He then releases an upwelling of cleansing force, unfolding in a circling spread about himself, Eleanor, and Xiumei.

GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Eleanor Klein with Renki!
GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Renki!
GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Citan Uzuki with Renki!
GS: Citan Uzuki has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Citan Uzuki's Stoic stance ends.
GS: Citan Uzuki takes 22 damage from Poison!
GS: Cover and Riposte expired!
GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action.
GS: Citan Uzuki takes a solid hit from Citan Uzuki's Renki for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Poison removed!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a solid hit from Citan Uzuki's Renki for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Poison removed!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Wahahahaha! Behold our peerless combination attack!" Zed cheers, which is really hard to do when you're a two dimensional object. All Zed can really manage right now is a vaguely 16-bit arm-pumping motion with his scarves. Scarf-pumping? It's not really very clear with the sort of resolution that he has to work with. "We should have tried this ages ago! Though I guess we would have needed some kind of Zed-crushing machine to pull it off. And I'm pretty sure that this is going to be painful later?? Hmph, well whatever! Clearly I am edgy enough to rival ANY sword--"

*rumble*

"--eh?"

*rumblerumblerumble*

Claude turns around and enters a DEFENSIVE POSTURE. This is excellent for Claude, but not nearly so excellent for Zed. Zed, who is forced to stare helplessly as a tide of adorable yellow and blue lego-men sluices towards him in a curry-induced frenzy. Zed, who finds himself having become the lone long-piece in a sea of jagged, blocky shapes, whose only hope for salvation is to bend himself this way and that to avoid being trampled to death.

It doesn't work very well.

For some reason, Zed finds himself hearing... Some kind of jaunty, vaguely Kislevi melody as Servbot after Servobt smashes into his face. Until, at last, there's a terrible, ear-piercing *FREEEEM* as Zed finally slots into just the right spot...

...And sword-blasts the adjacent Servbot walls.

"Claaaauuude," Zed groans, "I think I've got a concussioooonnnn."

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Rather!" Eleanor agrees with Citan. "But here we are!"

"Wait--E-every board game?" Eleanor wonders, and then the earth trembles and--oh there are a great deal of them, actually. "Aaah!" She also is struck by the tide of Servbots and is extremely easy for them to start to pick up and carry off. "I am not here to be picked up!" Eleanor complains. Though it's true she doesn't have to be running. No--no that isn't helpfl. But as space freezes...

"Oh, thank you," Eleanor answers, and shifts to try to get to a clear spot, pulling a bottle of antidote in the process--at which point Citan's technique takes effect. She blinks a little, and puts away the item. "No complaints here," she annonces cheerfully, pulling her Crests once more, this one a configuration she has not often brought to ARMS missions: Muse intensified. From the northwest the first wind starts, and it becomes another, and another, until gusts at odds with one another are buffeting the machine arrayed against them and the Servbots around it like--like--

'Buffet' is the important word here, okay?

"Since you were kind enough to assist," she says to Citan, "I'll get to try this new Crest..."

GS: Eleanor Klein spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Servbot Brigade with Mistral Judgment!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

    Shalune breathes a solid sigh of relief as she watches Lunata float down into Jay's arms. "But! But but, isn't it kind of romantic like this?! You're all adrift on the wind, or somethin' like that, and Jay's here to pump you back up! --oh, speaking of--" she adds, and the next thing she manages to turf out of her back is... well, sure enough, it's a battered but servicable looking air pump, last seen when she tried to travel the aforementioned cobbled streets of Adlehyde on a bicycle.

    It's about right now that she actually gets round to picturing what trying to use it to save Lunata would actually look like, her mouth and her brain stalling for a moment as the mosaic-filtered image plays in her head. "Uh. Never mind!" she blurts hurriedly, reverting back to mild panic. "Maybe you can-- maybe you can give her mouth to mouth, or something! Blow her back up!"

    ...

    "I'm gonna-- I'm gonna go stick my feet in my mouth somewhere else!" she adds hurriedly, not daring to meet anyone's eyes as she jets forwards to round the next corner before Lunata can revert to 3D out of the sheer desire to wring her neck. Not exactly watching where she's going, she only becomes aware she's about to ram a Blumebear before it actually happens, yelping as the impact bar she'd welded to the front of the Little Dipper smashes against the armor of one of the tanks.

GS: Shalune Amira spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Formation! Shalune Amira has attacked Servbot Brigade with Storm on the Wind!
GS: Shalune Amira has launched an attack Link!
GS: Shalune Amira's  stance ends. She enters the Avenger stance!
GS: Zed has attacked Servbot Brigade with Tetronimo Technique - Slappin' Into A Slim Jim!
GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zed takes 20 damage from Poison!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Mistral Judgment for 160 hit points!
GS: Slow! applied to Servbot Brigade!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Storm on the Wind for 178 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Zed's Tetronimo Technique - Slappin' Into A Slim Jim for 148 hit points!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a solid hit from Citan Uzuki's Renki for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Poison removed!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

Her scooter lodged in the large robot, Shalune can only hang onto it for dear life and stare dumbly at the Servbot who just whistled for lunch, watching as more and more of them start buffeting both machines and clambering onto and climbing the Blumebear to back up the first.

    Her cheeks puffed out, Shalune feels a determination start to build within her. If she's going to make a stand, this is the time. Backing down from this attack simply won't do. She can't allow it - she won't allow it.

    "Yeah, well-- well-- I bet your Curry Rice isn't anywhere near as good as Lunie's anyway!"

    Oh no! The top of the Blumebear has suddenly erupted into an all-out dustcloud of starbursts, yelling, emotional damage, and occasional flying plates!

GS: Shalune Amira spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Shalune Amira has attacked Servbot Brigade with Soaring Clouds!
GS: Shalune Amira has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Shalune Amira's Avenger stance ends.
GS: Shalune Amira takes 25 damage from Poison!
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Shalune Amira's Soaring Clouds for 214 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Rather!" Eleanor agrees with Citan. "But here we are!"

"Wait--E-every board game?" Eleanor wonders, and then the earth trembles and--oh there are a great deal of them, actually. "Aaah!" She also is struck by the tide of Servbots and is extremely easy for them to start to pick up and carry off. "I am not here to be picked up!" Eleanor complains. Though it's true she doesn't have to be running. No--no that isn't helpfl. But as space freezes...

"Oh, thank you," Eleanor answers, and shifts to try to get to a clear spot, pulling a bottle of antidote in the process--at which point Citan's technique takes effect. She blinks a little, and puts away the item. "No complaints here," she annonces cheerfully, pulling her Crests once more, this one a configuration she has not often brought to ARMS missions: Muse intensified. "Into is, into was, into will be--a closed sky of forbidding wind! Mistral Judgment!"

 From the northwest the first wind starts, and it becomes another, and another, until gusts at odds with one another are buffeting the machine arrayed against them and the Servbots around it like--like--

'Buffet' is the important word here, okay?

"Since you were kind enough to assist," she says to Citan, "I'll get to try this new Crest..."

<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

DOG SUCCESSFULLY SHOOED!

That poor girl looks shaken and ragged! What did she do to provoke the little dog! Wasn't its name Paprika? "Eh.. you okay? Dash asks, offering a hand up to her. "I, well... oh." Before he can drum up a response, the girl is walking off.

Dash has a look on his face that clearly says 'I have no idea what just happened there'.

An internal alert warns him of a Timestopper again, and turns to see Xiumei in action, this time the strange ability levied at someone else! "Yeah, get 'em!" he shouts to her. Getting to use the formed Model AV as a friend is so awesome. He wonders how the two AI are getting along with her now. Asking her about it sometime is definitely on his list.

Some kind of shadow layer forms on his armor, and the source traces back to someone unfamiliar. "This doesn't hurt, right? Uh, thanks if it doesn't! He calls to Victory.

Just in time, too! A call for curry rice is made! "Hey! Roll likes that stuff. But uh, why did--"

Like a mighty tremor, or more like a mighty tummy rumbling, Servbots sugre in from all over. "Hey! No, stop! Augh!" Dash tries to resist the onslught of very hungry robots, and does so, but not without extreme effort and being comedically spun around a few times.

"Ooorgh... Okay, that does it!" he says, re-orienting himself, and cutting on the Jet Skates, striahgt at one of the Blumebears! After picking up enough speed, the skates shift, and Dash falls into a slide, where a birhgt colored forcefield erupts from around his foot armor. He uses it to bowl right through the gathered Servbots and collide with the vehicle's base!

GS: Dash Caskett spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Servbot Brigade with Charge Kick!
GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Charge Kick for 67 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! applied to Dash Caskett!
GS: Servbot Brigade has activated a Boss Action!
<Pose Tracker> Servbot Brigade has posed.

    The Servbots stampede into Xiumei in their hunger to find Curry Rice, exclaiming, "Carrots! Potatoes! Chimkin!" as they search and ravenously try to discover food! However--

    The gem atop Xiumei's headband flashes, and-- *freeze!*

    "Oh no!" the Servbot exclaims, as a large portion of the Servbots stop dead in their tracks. "What a terrifying Special Weapon! Truly, she's a Master of Robots...!

    Eleanor is side by side with Xiumei as she manifests the intensified power of Muse -- and buffets the machine with gusts and strikes hard and true!

    "Ooh... I could go for a buffet right now," the Servbot muses (ha ha) in the middle of being buffeted by wind. They're just winging it in the fray, okay? Now geo-locate a food place for them.

    Victory finds himself in the midst of the horde, but Jumps out of the way as he strikes at the Blumebear from the side!

    "Hmm, that might be a bit of a problem," the Servbot muses. "She doesn't really know when to stop, ho ho!"

    BONK! Ethius gets bonked yet again. Will he finally learn his lesson? Or is there some mystery behind all this that still has to be uncovered? He mistakes a power-up from a teammate as danger, however, shouting at them to GET DOWN--

    (several Servbots go and get down with him too, hunkering next to him with XD faces)

    "Wow! This Drifter just saved us! He's a hero!"

    Ah... that's how it is, isn't it?

    "Hmm... hmm...!" the Servbots whine at Rebecca's unassailable logic. "We'll get portals too one day!" Hopefully, the day never quite comes, as she uses her portals to protect herself and send some of the Servbots flying out the other end -- speedy thing in, speedy thing out, after all.

    Ping! Ping! Several of the shots send the Servbots flying ("Ya ra re taaaaaa~!" exclaims one as a band-aid appears on its head. Why was that not localised? Perhaps it's one of those mystery untranslated lines...)

    Claude sends a taunt the Servbots' way, all the while defending himself (but not Zed) from the swarm. Poor Zed winds up being in the way of many attacks and has a concussion! Oh no!

    "Terabyte? What's he talking about?"
    "Ooh!" exclaims one Servbot. "I think he's talking about dinosaurs! Like, trilobytes?"
    "I see! He's calling us old! How dare he!"

    The Servbot lifts from the hatch again. "Yeah? Yeah? Well... your mama!!"

    Whoa!! Rude, Servbot!! Will evoking Iria work, though?

    Jacqueline, with Lunata held in hand like a piece of paper grumbles, "W-we'll definitely have to go on another date." A pause, as she wonders if she's technically working in the Servbots' favor by distracting Jay. But-- then the Servbots come!!

    She defends herself behind an earth pillar as Lunata exclaims, "Downtown! Downtown! The Curry joint's not to be missed!"

    Shalune then drops the fated line about blowing her back up and--

    Wow, you can actually see her puffing up a bit. Perhaps embarrassment is the key, filling her full of steam? Or perhaps empty flattery, filling her with hot air might also work?!

    "Lunieeeee," whines Lunata. Yet, at the same time, she's on a collision course with the Blumebear as--

    "Uh oh, here comes Miss Shalune," the Servbot gulps. "And that means--"

    *B O N K !!*

    One of the Blumebears topples over and explodes.

    Citan finds himself in the midst of the swarm, but with mysterious country doctor powers pulls himself up before long; he gathers his chi and works through the motions of several mudras to empower the members of ARMS--

    "I guess he's not in the... mud-ra to talk, huh?"
    "Oh you..." the Servbot shakes its head. "Chi-n up!"

    Guffawing from inside the Blumebears. How insidious can these little munchkins be?!

    The girl may have stormed off with a bit of a puff on her cheek, but Dash has earned the eternal gratitude of Paprika the Dog. And that's what truly matters.

    And then, the dreaded kick which is thankfully not utilised against the Dog is used...!! With a charge, Dash slides and erupts into power with his foot, sending Servbots flying!! "Uwaa!"

    The Servbots are in rags right now. Only several of the Blumebear machines work, and half the army is down, having not found their Curry Rice...

    "This calls for desperate measures! CODE:

    K.O.B.U.N.!"

    ... what is that

    The skies seem to darken as the Servbots still standing swarm into one spot. Little by little, they merge into one... enormous... towering... ultra-gigantic... 120-feet...

    Mega-Servbot!!!!

    "... ah, this has become terribly silly, hasn't it?" muses the Servbot inside the Blumebear.
    "Let's just rock it!"

    The Mega-Servbot summons an enormous Pow Hammer (yes, we believe in theme integrations here) as it starts lifting and swinging, piko- piko- piko- piko- pow!

    Be careful if you don't want to get POWWED!!

GS: Servbot Brigade has activated a Force Action!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Dash Caskett with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Eleanor Klein with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Shalune Amira with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Zed with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Citan Uzuki with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Jacqueline Barber with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Claude C. Kenny with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Rebecca Streisand with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Ethius Hesiod with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Victory Storm with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has attacked Zhang Xiumei with CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Servbot Brigade has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Servbot Brigade has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 100 hit
points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Rebecca Streisand guards a hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 75 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rebecca Streisand gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Zed guards a hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 78 hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 74 hit points!
GS: Dash Caskett completely evades a hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer!!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dash Caskett gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Citan Uzuki takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 71 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 133 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jacqueline Barber gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Shalune Amira takes a solid hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 124 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Claude C. Kenny takes a solid hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 169 hit
points!
GS: Victory Storm critically Guards a hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 27 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Ah--thank you!" Xiumei cries back to the simple country doctor, as she pulls herself free of the Servbots. She watches the wind pushing away the Servbots, and then lets out a breath of relief. She glances sideways at Eleanor, and then looks back at all of the Servbots.

Their numbers are reduced -- and yet, she sees them swarm, and turn into a massive one. Xiumei's eyes widen for a second -- and then she yelps, leaping to the side. The hammer crashes down.

She just moves out of the way, rolling across the ground. Xiumei comes up, kneeling, and her left hand extends to her side. Data cubes form, into a cross shape that resolves into a cross-shaped boomerang. Xiumei shouts, then throws it, and the weapon sweeps out.

Teal light trails after, as it strikes across the side of the Mega-Servbot. "Why are you doing this!" she yells. "And why did you squish that nice white-haired girl!"

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Servbot Brigade with Barrier Cross - Boomerang Strike!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Hyper expired!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Servbot Brigade's CODE K.O.B.U.N.! Mega Pow Hammer! for 65 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Ethius Hesiod enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny is too busy trying to process the fact that he is somehow not one of the dumbest 40 people in this conversation to really think much about dodging. He also wasn't quite expecting to see a giant servot pulling out a giant squeaky hammer. Nor was he expecting it to be quite so damn painful, so he gets pounded.

As the dust settles, Claude is still standing, but woozy. He is also slowly starting to be able to hear Zed again. "You know what fixes concussions?" he asks aloud. "Violence!" Claude hauls back and throws the Zed-sword in the direction of the Blumebears, then starts focusing his chi. He's gonna need a second or two.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed also gets pounded. However, his present state of being has led to UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES. The Zed-Saber braces for impact as best as a two-dimensional object possibly can. The hammer goes piko~*n right into his face, and he...

sort of just... flops back and transfers all the momentum right into Claude, because he's a two-dimensional object you see, and you can't make him even flatter than he already is. Everyone knows that paper beats rock, and what is a hammer but a rock on a stick!?

(Hammers are not rocks on sticks, though rocks on sticks CAN be hammers.)

"H-hah! I still function!" Zed declares, though he's really not quite sure how true that statement is. Can he really be described as 'functional' right now? He's a sword! Swords are functional, but Zed's function was not meant to be 'is a sword!' "You're going to need a much bigger hammer to put a dent in the likes of meeee---"

Zed is flung... into the air.

In that moment, his emotions are a roller coaster of fear and surprise, but then he reaches the zenith of his arc, and somehow... Somehow, Zed feels something else entirely. Maybe it's the concussion talking, but for once he finally understands how his sword must feel... Being chucked into the air for a cool special attack...

It's... It's exhilerating......!!

"Ahahahahaha!" the Zed-Saber roars with laughter. There, in the sky, it burns with pure Zedder energy. "Behold, little yellow robots! This is the power of three souls become one! Here I go, combination attack--"

                                 COMMENCE!

Zed is not one, but two swords. He is a sword himself, and he has a sword as well, and both of these things are two dimensional objects. With a sudden burst of will, Zed swings both himself and his blade, unleashing a terrible flash of energy...

...That disappears entirely if you look at it head-on.

From any other angle, it looks as though he's just hurled a pair of FLAMING, METEOR-SHAPED SLASHES down at the Servbots. And indeed, that is the true name of his attack. But translated here, into a three-dimensional(??) world, a two-dimensional attack like this one...

...Could very well split its victim at a molecular level*.....!

"Claude!" Zed calls as he falls, still burning with emerald power, "Catch me!"

(*Probably not, but the whole thing acts as a very shiny pair of giant swords anyway)

GS: Formation! Zed has attacked Servbot Brigade with Dimensional Divider - 2D Meteor!
GS: Zed has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Zed takes 19 damage from Poison!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


"Pretty sure you'd just end up getting hurt if you did. You know how long I had to train to use portals properly?"

Rebecca cheers, pumping a fist into the air as one of the Blumebears topples over. "Awesome! That's one down! Keep it up everyone!"

And then - the Servbots enter Code Kobun.

Rebecca looks up, and up. And lets out a little strangled noise. "Why did I leave the Eurydice back at the Thames again?"

And then it begins to swing that hammer. There's no time to duck into cover, and it's too big for her to avoid.

Rebecca suddenly invokes her Medium, and a blast of stone erupts out of the ground the same instant that the Pow Hammer would have come down on her.

The Hammer meets the rock just above her head and...

POW!!!

Flattening herself on the ground, she's struck by a rain of the rock shards she summoned, but she's at least not flattened. A moment later, that blast of Earth fades away entirely.

"Aha... that was..."

Getting back up to her feet, she looks pretty banged up from all the cuts and scorches and bruises.

"... well. If it's like that."

Using the Portal Gun, she aims it at a nearby building, several floors up. And then again at her feet, falling through. She rockets out towards the opposite building and begins to kick her way up, each time shooting at the Mega Servbot - peppering it with live ammunition as she goes.

As she lands on the roof, she's already snapping out the spent shells and popping in a new clip.

She unloads it again. And again - as she hops from side to side on a rooftop in an acrobatic flourish. Then a third time in rapid succession. It's like she's definitely showing off a little.

It's only when the smoke clears that the degree of showing off takes form to everyone else, assuming they all hit that all of her shots roughly spelled out a single word in the armor of the Mega-Servbot.

     B A N G!!.

Yes just a dot on the third exclamation point. Three clips wasn't enough to put more than a dot there.

GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated a Force Action!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has activated a Force Action!
GS: Rebecca Streisand spends 3 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has attacked Servbot Brigade with Justice To Believe!
GS: Rebecca Streisand assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Rebecca Streisand takes 25 damage from Poison!
GS: Rebecca Streisand has completed her action.
GS: Zed has canceled their attack on Servbot Brigade.
GS: Zed has activated a Force Action!
GS: Formation! Zed has attacked Servbot Brigade with Dimensional Divider - 2D Meteor!
GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zed takes 26 damage from Poison!
GS: Poison expired!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius stays low with the Servbots who are also equally confused about what's going on. The shadows continue to swirl ominously (yet protectively!) around the strange Symbologist. He turns his head gradually as if to get a better peek at what is creating the shadows and causing them to orbit around them. No better insight comes. The shadows do not attack. They just continue to orbit protectively, because the shadows are part of a buff.
     Ethius remains on the defensive as he considers which spell he wants to cast at this swirling darkness. A Surge Bolt, perhaps... as the skies darken. The Servbots taking cover with him flee off to join into a huge light that erupts into a ginormous... Mega-Servbot!!!
     ...A thought comes to mind through this troubling situation, as Ethius brings a head to his forehead... then they widen.
     Yes, the answer, all along... this must be it...!

     ...SOME MYSTERIOUS AND VAGUE AMOUNT OF TIME AGO... ANOTHER FLASHBACK DISPLACED IN TIME OF PROBABLE IMPORTANCE TO DECODING THE ULTIMATE MYSTERY

     The air was full of low-resolution smoke and dome-shaped fiery explosions of simple solid-colored stripes that faded into nothing. Three looming tanks roamed the streets. A woman's voice - a younger one, teenage perhaps? - yelled out as they took shelter on a street light before a beast.
     But that wasn't his concern. One other young woman, bespectacled, praised him and bid him to do more as she saw to another. He didn't pay much further heed. The grass felt level and flat underneath his feet, as though level like concrete.
     He moved up the right flank of the most heavily-armored vehicle. Its construction captivated him. Nothing seemed to off from the onset, but he had to be sure. He had to be sure of the sound it made if he hit it. He would know if something was wrong.
     ...It wasn't. He had to hear it. Why? Why did he--
     Blunt force strikes.

     RIGHT NOW IN THE FUTURE OF ARGUABLE MERIT OF CALLING ANY FORM OF MEASURABLE DISTANCE AS AN ADJECTIVE DEPENDING ON WHETHER YOU JUDGE THERE IS A DISTANCE WHEN THE FUTURE IS RUDELY INVADING YOUR PERSONAL SENSE OF SELF, LIKE, RUBBING ITSELF AGAINST YOU LIKE A CAT, EXCEPT IT'S NOT A CAT BUT A CREATURE THAT DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT, THAT KIND OF DISTANCE OF A FUTURE

     Ethius stands tall before the Pow Hammer as it slams down not too far from him--
     Oh, huge Pow Hammers are good at shaking the ground, as all heavy things do when they hit it, and his dramatic stand turns into a series of silly-looking stumbles to the point he doesn't dramatically dash off, but rather has to stumble-hobble along towards the rampaging Mega-Servbot as the shadowy protection spell falls apart underneath the repeated ground shocks.
     "I have had enough of this," Ethius remarks as he takes his quarterstaff in both hands. "You will not elude me this time." Usually, this would be a cause for concern - the sort that comes with complex chants and grandiose gestures, of great building amounts of heat set to come down and leave a ruinous scorch on the ground. There is that sort of energy in the tension the Symbologist finds as he...!

GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    ...Takes his quarterstaff and pokes at the ankle of the huge 120-foot Servbot only moderately more vigorously than previously observed.

     ...

     This is even sillier and exponentially more worrisome than the alternative!! Somehow!!!

GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Servbot Brigade with Poke Poke Poke!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ethius Hesiod takes 21 damage from Poison!
GS: Poison expired!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Barrier Cross - Boomerang Strike for 83 hit points!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Zed's attack becomes clear!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Zed's Ultimate Attack of the Week for 221 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Yes, definitely!" Jacqueline agrees with Lunata, as she suggests another date, even as a wave of Servbots crash down on them. And while this happens, Shalune makes a suggestion!

"That might work... I'm not sure what else we can do." Jacqueline considers. ...She doesn't seem to realise why Shalune and Lunata reacted the way they did!

But, indeed, she's distracted - so distracted, that she doesn't notice the Servbots swarming together into one until a massive shadow falls over the lot of them.

"...Ah." Jacqueline remarks at the last moment, as the Mega Power Hammer falls with a *WHAM*. Jacqueline lies dazed in the rubble of her pillar for a moment, before picking herself up with a cough.

"Alright... I think it's time we finish this before they cause any more damage." Jacqueline decides, sliding her glasses back onto her face. "Lunata... let's do this together!"
Jacqueline bounds away, using another pillar to land on the roof of the nearest building, so she has a good vantage point on the Mega-Servbot.

"Alright... it's team attack time! I'll show you what happens when we work together!" Jacqueline says...and raises the Paper Lunata up! It becomes clear a moment later what Jacqueline means when she says 'work together', because soon Lunata begins to sparkle as Jacqueline invokes the power of Mystic, using her as a focus...!

It's a good thing she doesn't count as a consumable item. But does that mean she counts as a magic item? Maybe it's better not to think too deeply about it.

GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Rebecca Streisand's Justice To Believe for 158 hit points!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Servbot Brigade with Mystic - Lunata!
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes 27 damage from Poison!
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Poke Poke Poke for 94 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Mystic - Lunata for 140 hit points!
GS: Shield! applied to Jacqueline Barber!
<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.

    With the incoming hammer, Victory had managed to dodge around before being the last in line to potentially be smacked. And the elf knight apparently had enough of running.

    Malevolence explodes around the red haired, white coated knight as he dodges another swipe and raises his trident high. Swinging it around to make a halo of light that breaks even as the mighty hammer comes down towards him again.

    When the flood of light and Malevolence clears, Victory has been replaced by an armored figure that is holding up the hammer two handed before suddenly shoving it and rolling forward. The trident is brought back as shadows seem to gather and he continues forward at the robot.

    "Alright machina! You've taken the whole flattening thing too far!" Then the armored Victory unleashes a flurry of shadowy seeming strikes with the trident. Quick, fierce jabs aimed to punch into the robot's armor and hopefully drive it back. Hopefully being the key word.

DC: Victory Storm switches forms to Mist Knight Garm!
GS: Victory Storm spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Victory Storm has attacked Servbot Brigade with Shadow Trident Dance!
GS: Victory Storm has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Cover expired!
GS: Victory Storm has completed his action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Victory Storm's Shadow Trident Dance for 189 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny didn't exactly need the verbal cue from his rival - he was actually keeping as close eye as you can on a two-dimensional object floating impossibly through space. (A situation which, surprisingly, the Federation Academy never trained him for - he intends to write a strongly worded letter to the Commandant upon his return, assuming he's not in jail awaiting execution). But the words nevertheless trigger an instinctive reaction in the young blonde-haired swordsman, who surges forward, blue and yellow energy (not green; each separate) flaring out from his body as he leaps, hand extended, catching Zed by the feet-hilt.

And then---

"OH MY GOD!" Claude shouts aloud as the sheer power of the green-haired swordsman starts blazing in his fist. It's... a humbling sort of moment, actually. Claude has known since the first battle of Adlehyde that, for all they treat each other as equals and rivals, Zed was his superior. A semi-immortal Hyadean with alien physiology and battle experience against a teenaged Earthling with an impressive six-pack; small surprise that when they finally went all out, Zed emerged triumphant. But Claude has known for years that Zed was stronger than he was, until this moment, he hasn't known it. Felt it.

He falls down toward the cobblestones, staring openly at the blazing green energy clenched in his right hand. Claude lands, and he laughs aloud as he whirls the Zed-sword into an aggressive, forward stance. "Is this what you feel like all the time?" he asks aloud, then smiles broadly, showing his teeth. "Well, suits me fine. I'll take all you've got to give!"

Claude flashes forward in a burst of chi, landing on a nearby rooftop. "Because if there's one thing---"

Another flash-step, and Claude is on the opposite side of the Servbot horde. "---that can overcome---"

Flash, and land, in a third point on the star. "---the power of a Dark Hero---"

Flash, and land. "---it's the power---" Claude says, then throws Zed upward, sailing high over the Servbots. As Claude leaps upward, the greenish trail of power from his previous jumps arcs out behind him, forming a crude five-pointed star; he flickers back into sight overhead, catching Zed, his aura blazing as he adds his own chi to the mix. "---of a WARRIOR OF LIGHT!" Claude shouts as he starts to descend.

"Edarl Blade Arts Ultimate Technique---"

               \\
                \\
                 \\
                  \\
                   \\
                    \\
                     \\
                      \\
                       \\
                        \\
                         \\
                          \\
                           \\
                            \\
                             \\
                              \\


Claude slides to a halt thirty yards from the Servbots; he twirls his sword around in his hands and sheathes it as the blazing green slash explodes outward in a detonation of raw power.

Actually, three.



     | |
     | |
     | |
     |___|

                    ____
                    |
                    |___
                       |
                    ___|

                                        /\
                                       / \
                                      /____\
                                     / \
                                    / \

GS: Formation! Claude C. Kenny has attacked Servbot Brigade with Burger Flipper - Liberty Bell!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Claude C. Kenny's attack becomes clear!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Claude C. Kenny's Freestyle Combat Arts for 208 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

Bowling for Servbots! And indeed, someone or something needed kicking! How about this little hooligans, then? Dag friendship is indeed worthwhile to cherish!

The connect felt good, and Dash bounces off the hit and flips backward. "Oh, wow! That was really cool! I gotta tell Kamui and Xiumei about that..." he muses. He can do cool moves like them, too!

He doesn't just jump and shoot anymore!

THe maneuver also overtunes Dash with temporary energy, and it would be good to put it to use! But there is trouble first...

The gathered Servbots gather even more! HOW CAN THIS BE? "W-Wait, they are like, modular? C-Cool..." Dash ekes out. And then... giant hammer. "Oh."

Now, there is fine and fantasical weaponry out there. Guns that fire elements, Busters that shoot plasma. Swords that summon mighty power. But sometimes a weapon is jsut a weapon, and is very effective. Take this giant hammer summoned. It does one thing really well.

It bops Drifters.

"Look out!" the boy calls, and goes int oevasive action! Backflip-flip-flip, and he barely gets away from being flattened like that poor... uh, undead girl? How are htey alive? Zed is clearly alive because he is too cool to die, but what about Lunata? What if it gets other civilians?

"Okay, break it up!" Dash shouts. Hm. He actually gets an idea with that new weapon data. He may not have the Active Buster, but...

The boy runs at this huge Mega-Servbot, and jumps high in the air, as he routes the data to the Drill Arm, A spray of near white-hot plasma rains down fro mthe Mega Buster, and the Drill Arm keens loudly. "If you won't break it up, I'll do it for you!"

The drill spins at hyper-speed, and creates a vortex of energy with Dash at the center of the spiral, attempting to slam it into this bot and send Servbots flying!

GS: Dash Caskett spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Servbot Brigade with Radiant Rain!
GS: Dash Caskett has launched an attack Link!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Radiant Rain for 57 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Servbot Brigade!
GS: Servbot Brigade has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Indeed... I wonder what their aim might be. They certainly have, ah, an unusual way of approaching this," he comments back to Eleanor, just moments before getting trampled by a horde of Servbots.

    As he draws upon his arcane understanding of chi, Citan's gaze returns to the Blumebear they are up against proper, and nigh-imperceptively, he narrows his eyes. Did he hear that just now and is he feigning ignorance, or...?

     "You are quite welcome, miss! This is, ah, an unusual circumstance, I believe?" Because Citan may have mysterious knowledge of many things, but he has not yet met Xiumei (in either form) and does not actually know her name.

    "I see! Then this is the first you have used it in battle?" ...He continues to carry on conversation with Eleanor, as if everything were not, say, taking place on a battlefield in the middle of a town, with explosions and Servbot rampages and other hazards too dire to mention.

    Speaking of too dire to mention, though--

    "What in the world... are they doing now?" Citan utters, as the Servbots swarm, merge, and...

    "--Both of you, scatter!" he shouts to Xiumei and Eleanor, diving to the side as the hammer comes down with a crash; evading it is a narrow thing. Rising onto one knee, he watches Xiumei for a moment as she summons that boomerang. Then, with a slight wince, he stands. "Interesting," he remarks, as she lets it fly for the enormous Servbot.

    Then breaks into a dash instead towards that Blumebear, perhaps belying that earlier grimace, which they had been collectively engaged against just moments before. Again, he slams his palm for its side with force, but this time glances up at the machine's 'head'.

    "I would advise," he says, in the same sort of tone he had used when conversing with Xiumei and Eleanor just moments ago, "that you cease and desist this course of action immediately."

    The fact that the metal plating might be currently melting under his hand is nothing to be surprised or alarmed about. They probably teach this sort of thing in medical school.

    "This is, of course, only advice."

GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Servbot Brigade with Full Burst Drill!
GS: Dash Caskett has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action.
GS: Citan Uzuki spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Citan Uzuki has attacked Servbot Brigade with Kasei -Goku-!
GS: Citan Uzuki has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Citan Uzuki has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Full Burst Drill for 219 hit points!
GS: Servbot Brigade has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Citan Uzuki's Kasei -Goku- for 187 hit points!
GS: Mute! applied to Servbot Brigade!
GS: Servbot Brigade has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

    At least Shalune can take a small victory in getting Lunata to puff up a little back towards normal. Or she could, if she were actually paying attention - but she's a bit busy in an extended dust-up with the Servbots in the fallen Blumebear, not even minding the explosion as she seeks to defend Lunata's cooking from all comers. "I bet your curry rice comes outta a packet!" she yells, scuffed and rumpled but finally thrown off of the tank just in time for it to form up with the others.

    Buoyed up by adrenaline, Shalune plants her hands on her hips. "Oh, what, nothin' to say? You're just gonna run away 'cause you know I'm right?" she blurts even as she watches the gigantic Servbot build itself up, her brain running away with her a little right up until her eyes widen and she watches the Pow Hammer descend with a cheery, drawn-out, and not at all ominous *SQUEAK*.

    "Waaaugh!" she blurts as she ducks, rolls, and then absolutely scatters towards the nearest bit of cover she can find-- but it's much too late, and by the time the hammer lifts from its thunderous descent, Lunata has a compatriot - where she's tall and thin and stretched-out, Shalune is now squat and round and flattened.

    "Beh... at least I coulda been taller if I'd gotten rollered..." she whines as she flops down to the ground.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

The green one is Wing. It's fine.

As Xiumei looks her way, Eleanor looks back to Xiumei and makes a 'well? it's not so bad' kind of look with a shrug before she rolls her arms. Except... it does get worse. The hammer comes down, and Eleanor blinks, hurling herself to the side hard enough to not be smashed, but--

But, well, hitting the ground and rolling hurts especially if you're not that athletic in the first place, and she comes to a stop on one knee a couple of yards away, catching her breath. "Augh," she complains, rising and dustin herself off again. "Well that's bothersome. Oh, dear..." She looks to Citan again thoughtfully. But he asks her a question and Eleanor nods. "That's right! I only recently changed out for it; typically I've preferred a more support-oriented set of Crests, but I find in my duties for ARMS that I require a little more firepower."

Pause. "Or windpower, as the case may be." She watches Citan and Xiumei both move forward. ...She watches the metal plating move. That's probably normal.

So for another, "The holy foundation on which all else rests, break earth! Crag Essence!"

Eleanor's crest shines with Geo's power and the earth itself erupts like sands from an hourglass but sideways, turning into great big hunks of rock.

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Servbot Brigade with Crag Essence!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Servbot Brigade takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Crag Essence for 146 hit points!
GS: Break and Mute! applied to Servbot Brigade!
GS: Servbot Brigade has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Servbot Brigade has posed.

    Xiumei questions why they're doing this-- and why they had to squish that white-haired girl.

    "Oh no, oh no, it's that question! Quick! Think of a clever answer!" whines the Servbot.
    "Why?" answers one Servbot who's been waiting for this. "Because she was a threat that had to be... flatlined."

    A pause, and then the Servbots start laughing at their own joke. Somehow, the dramatic air of the line has been... flattened.

    Which is just fine for Eleanor, as she chimes on in after her powerful Wing burst with a powerful and vigorous incanatation of Geo, slamming deep onto the Blumebear and causing it to explode! One down!

    Claude, seeing even deeper depths of dumbness than what he's used to, decides to pull out all the stops and throws... Zed towards the Blumebears!! Zed flings through the air with graceful abandon as he fires meteor slashes towards the Servbots, some of which turn blackened and start smoking! And as he descends...

    He calls upon Claude to catch him! My goodness!

    Then, Rebecca invokes her Medium. It protects her from the worst of the Power Hammer rather than if it'd just smashed her directly, but...!

    "Training with portals... perhaps, someday, we can too...!"

    BANG!

    The Mega-Servbot starts burning from the acrobatic flourish of the powerful shot; perhaps, one day, the third exclamation point can shine on its own.

    And then, Ethius arrives on the scene, still on his feet despite his persistent poking and getting bonked for his troubles. There is a flashback. Try as they might, the Servbots can't peek into personal memories to make some kind of glib off-timed comment...!

    He makes his dramatic declaration, and performs the manuever that we might be able to call 'the wakeup 2AAAAA'.

    POW! It strikes deep against the Servbot's foot and it starts to wobble, worryingly...!!

    Victory unleashes his full terrific might, as Malevolence takes hold around him--

    "Uwah, this one's become very scary all of a sudden."
    "Do you think, if there is malevolence, that there's also a femalevolence?"
    "This is no time for thaaaaaaat~!"

    --and the repeated jabs strike and blow up one of the robot's arms! It's on its last legs...

    Just in time for Claude, once more, to unleash true power! As he dwells upon Zed's own power, taking it all onto him. The Warrior of Light utilises the power of the Dark Hero to--

    *Tshiinng*

    "Usa?" muses the Servbot at the last moment.
    "Usa...gi, perhaps," chirps the Servbot, like a rabit.
    "You ess... ey," remarks the Servbot quietly, as the Blumebear explodes.

    Finally, Dash gets the upper hand as he raises his new weapon and first lands buster shot, before charging forward with a drill that won't break the heavens. I mean, what's the measure of a drill if they're all compared to that, anyway?

    At the same time, the drill does pierce -- and sends a few more Servbots flying! "Uwaaaah!"

    Citan muses about the powers Eleanor is using, as if they're not in a battle-- and dodges narrowly as he seizes hold at the machine's 'head' and tears apart half of its metal plating! Somehow, the metal melts in his hands.

    It's a normal doctor thing. Don't worry about it.

    "His chi-kara is too strong for us," the Servbot nods a few times.
    "Ah, after this, we might not have the opportunity to make so many chi-sy puns. Thank you, Doctor."

    Lunata seems to be in terror for reasons Jacqueline doesn't quite wonder, as she thinks 'if this is what I have to remember for my first kiss I'm never forgiving those Servbots!'. However, it doesn't quite come to that as...

    Eh? Eh?

    Jacqueline raises her flattened form as if using her as an item.

    Shalune keeps dissing the curry, which is riling up a number of the Servbots! "We'll show you! The ultimate curry!!" But then she's squished into a very round, flattened Lunie!

    "Am I..."

    Things seem to slow to a crawl as her thoughts become extra-loud.

    Am I a consumable item?
     Am I an accessory? A piece of equipment?
     Am I a tool? (Yes, thinks her self-flaggelating inner thought)

    Then, Lunata's Mystical power is unleashed!! And what comes out is... is...!

    *pewww...*

    An enormous, 120-foot bowl of Curry Rice falls from the sky.

    "There it is! The fabled Curry Rice!" one of the Servbots exclaims. The forty-something odd cadre of Servbots starts to climb onto the bowl and ravenously devour their richly-deserved (??) meal.

    It seems to have pacified the Servbot lot, and the violence has all but dissipated.

    ...

    Mission... Complete?

    Somewhere in a high part of Kattelox's wall, a mysterious shadowy figure is watching the battle unfold. She's totally mysterious, despite her haircut and silhouette telling us viewers that it's the same girl Dash just rescued moments ago.

    "Hmph... I guess these Drifters are something else. We might have to do something else about those Sub-Gates... hmm--?"

    The mysterious shadowy figure of Dog suddenly appears and lets out a bark.

    "B-bwaaawawawah?! Why again?!?!" Mysterious Shadowy Girl is chased off by Mysterious Shadowy Dog.

    THE END

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"That isn't an answer!" Xiumei complains back at them, hands balled together. She makes a face -- and then lifts one hand, and catches the Barrier Cross.

She lets out another, shaky breath -- and then she blinks as bowl comes crashing down. It hits the ground, and the Servbots go running to it. She blinks her slightly aglow green eyes, then turns to look back at Citan, then at Eleanor.

"I-I suppose..." She trails off. "...all is well that ends well?"

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Friendship, rivalry, you can call the bond that exists between Claude and Zed many these things and more. But for as long as he's known Claude Kenny, the boy from space, it was never really power that linked them. No, it's something much deeper than that-- a bond born from the connection of two lonely, unappreciated, and punch-drunk souls...!

Relative power is immaterial. Zed knows that in Claude he has someone who understands what it means to be beaten down by power, to be forced into a shape that doesn't at all fit...!

They're a pair of misfits and dorks, and this is something that Zed would not trade for the world.

"Ahahahahaha! Of course! Why do you think I'm always BRIMMING WITH ENERGY!?" Maybe not literally, but Zed is definitely the madcap type. Maybe... Maybe this 'Zedder Power' is the reason why...!?

Or maybe it's the natural result of a diet that consists of random dirt, rocks and churros.

"A Dark Hero and a Warrior of Light eh...!?" Zed-the-sword cackles manically as PATRIOTIC POWER burns in his wake. "Nahahaha! I like it! But it's a bit long for a TEAM NAME isn't it? It's more like... Like the title of a book! Or a chapter!"

Beat.

"...Hm. I wonder how I'm gonna... Un-flatten myself. Hmmm."

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude pauses. "That's... a good question," he says, rubbing his chin.

...

He unfolds Zed from a sword form and into his proper shape, then grabs one of Zed's fingers. He draws in a deep breath, sticks Zed's finger in his mouth, and blows hard.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline invokes Lunata's mystical power, and out comes... the biggest bowl of Curry Rice she's ever seen! Jacqueline stares at it, mystified, and then at Lunata, stars in her eyes.

"Lunata... your power, it's amazing!" She says enthusiastically. It seems to do the job, too - the Servbots seem to forget their duty, flocking to it en masse. It kind of feels like rewarding them for misbehaving... but on the other hand, this seems to have pacified them, so perhaps it's alright.

"All's well that ends well, I suppose..." Jacqueline murmurs, unknowingly echoing Xiumei. "Let's see if we can't get you back to normal."

...She pauses, then, spotting the squished Shalune.

"...Ah, scratch that, let's see if we can't get both of you back to normal."

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Uh hold on I don't think this is rating-appropri--" *POP!* Zed! Suddenly returns from his sojourn through lower dimensions! "Augh!" The Metal Demon staggers! It's disorienting, suddenly going from flatland back into three dimensions. "W-wow! It... It actually worked! I'll have to remember that for the next time! Thanks!"

For the record, Zed's finger tastes vaguely like one of those big metal ball bearings that every playground kid would bring to the marbles game when he got tired of being beat every time they played.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius stands well too close to all of the carnage and chaos as the gigantic Servbot wobbles to his mashing of his crouching jab attack. He doesn't seem to get the idea he should... move, from all the chaos, or the explosions or the huge uptick in localized Malevolence as he finally draws back his weapon and makes a quiet assertion to himself that will most assuredly be an illuminating and important statement to the story.
     The sound is as expected. ...
     A giant Curry Bowl falls down and tempts the lot of Servbots in there, and that seems to be about that.
     ...I cannot say I hold further concerns. Says Ethius as he walks by Zed getting cartoonishly re-inflated by Claude without giving either another look.

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

    2D Lunata takes one long look at Claude pumping Zed back up to full-life through blowing his fingers.

    She takes one look at Jacqueline and Shalune, and quietly melts into the pavement in embarrassment.

    Lunata's struggles will continue for a bit longer.........

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

"HEEEEY!" Claude shouts toward Jay from across the square, waving his hands in the air like he just don't care. (He does, a little.) "I WAS GONNA GO TRY TO FIND MY BAGEL, BUT DO YOU NEED ME TO BLOW UP THEM TOO?" he asks.

...

"I'VE GOT PLENTY OF CARDIO, I CAN BLOW THEM BOTH IF YOU NEED ME TO!"

<Pose Tracker> Victory Storm has posed.

    The Malevolence subsides as Victory's armored form disappears to leave him back as himself. And then he stares at what just happened.

    The giant bowl of Curry Rice has Victory looking at it in disbelief. Then he sighs. He looks at the others. "I'm heading back to Sieljie...." He turns to just walk off. Yep.

    That has to be the craziest thing that Victory has ever had happened.

<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

With mighty blows all around, the Mega-Servbot is felled! "We did it!" he shouts aloud, rather upbeat at the battle's turnaround. But then the Servbots sorta win as well??? "H-Hey, where did that food bowl come from?" he asks, looking skyward. Giant chef in the sky? Airdrop from a carrier? Huh.

The boy also looks around, and notices Paprika is gone as well.

Dash looks toward Zed, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand once the Mega Buster shifts. "Uh... you gonna be okay, guy?"

Dash heads over toward Eleanor and Xiumei. "Hey! You two okay? This was rather weird, huh?"

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "If that is how you wish to see it," is his response -- at last! -- to the Servbots within.
    Drawing back, Citan lands on his feet, taking the moment to again shake out but the once the hand with which he struck the construct.

    Suddenly, from the heavens, there descends--!

    A bowl of curry.

    In his life, he has seen a great many unusual things. This, however...

    He tilts his head to one side, as if to better take in the sight, then blinks.

    Then glances over at Xiumei and Eleanor.

    "...Yes, I suppose so."

    Sometimes it is best in life to not consider things too deeply.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor, who had been smiling at Xiumei at the matter of all's well, is happy that her spell worked, that everything is fine, and that there is the scent of curry rice in the air. She opens her mouth to say something in reply, perhaps even something funny--

'I CAN BLOW THEM BOTH IF YOU NEED ME TO!'

At about the same time Dash comes to ask if she's okay Eleanor Klein just starts coughing for no apparent reason. Until she falls over.

....It might actually be laughing.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Nora," Xiumei says, "is that man offering to blow people? Is he... um..." She makes a motion with her hand, and then looks down at her friend as she falls over. She tilts her head -- more and more to the side -- until there is a flash of light, and she wears her skirt, shirt, and vest again.

"U-um--"

She looks at Citan, and then at Dash. She waves a hand; the other is again filled with the canvas bag and her boardgame. "Hello, Mister Dash! This was weird," she says. "Do you know what those were?"

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca climbs off the building to approach Eleanor and Xiumei after the battle.

'I CAN BLOW THEM BOTH IF YOU NEED ME TO!'

Rebecca stops in her tracks. Then becomes a shade of red that she didn't know that she could hit.

Putting a hand over her face she retreats in short order. She'll talk to them some other time - when she can form coherent words.

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Citan, as Claude shouts that statement out to the world and the heavens, merely clears his throat.

    On closer inspection is... he trying to keep a straight face...

    "Perhaps it is best not to dwell on it," he offers, shaking his head.

    Fortunately, Dash intrudes before things can get anymore awkward!

    "Hello," he says to the young man, noting in passing that Xiumei's appearance has undergone a sudden shift, "Are you familiar with our, ah, 'friends' just now?"

<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

Dash looks between Xiumei and Citan. He is insure who the gentleman is, but seems to know Xiumei!

"Ah, those are Servbots," Dash comments. "They are the workforce of the Bonne Family pirates. They aren't the best folks as they attack citys for money and technology."

A look to the feeding Servbots. "They are kinda... goofballs though. It is hard to tell if they are really bad. I mean, look, they stopped raiding the town to eat curry."

"some of them are even napping."