DragonierMan's 30k Run

Drago and the twins didn't let up the assault, and though the crippled Shredder managed to weave out of the way of one volley, and avoided another as it attempted to ram them again, it failed to connect, and was finally crushed under the force of their attacks. It hit the ground which a mechanical whine, then slowly began to break apart, leaving only Drago and the girls still standing.

There was no sign of the figure from before just yet, though; they had enough of a breather to collect their spoils and maybe check the contents of the mystery data before he showed up, if they were quick.


-=Second Wave Defenders=-

Shredder MkII: DELETED
Flintlock: DELETED
Catack: DELETED
Catack-Ex: DELETED
Drixol: DELETED

-=Second Winded Allies=-

DragonierMan.EXE: 195/200 [Metal]
Suzume.SP: 70/80 [Metal]
Aya.SP: 80/80 [Metal]

-=Second Battle on this Terrain=-

15% Missing [Scattered Patches]
40% Metal [Majority]
5% Normal [Scattered Panels]
10% Furnace [two small patches on the raised platform]
5% Cracked [Bottom of the Stairs]
25% Magnet [Between the bottom of the collapsed platform, and the remains of the Flintlock]

Roughly rectangular area, mostly metal to the north end as it ventures into more industrial/military landscape, with some normal ground to the south. A raised platform takes up a portion of the space, occupying some of the left (west) hand side, and the northern end. Narrow stairs lead up to it running up south to north, in the crook of the 'L' shape. The souther section of the platform has been collapsed, creating a steep ramp, running in the same direction as the original stairs.

To the right (east), the terrain grows increasingly occupied by debris and partial structures.

-=Battle 9, Victory!=-

2520z, TankCannon1, 50 Bugfrags.

Open GMD (Y/N)?

DragonierMan and the girls quickly gathered the rewards. Drago smacked his boots on every hard surface he came across until they lit up for a moment, finishing the reinstall of his FloatShoes. His frown then turned into a grin as he got his flight back. He then tapped the GMD to open it.

Open GMD: Y

(Slight miscalculation on the bugfrags has been amended to 50, from 49)

With his customiser fully functional again, Drago tapped the glowing crystal, which responded by spinning faster for a few moments, then splitting at the seams to release a veritable cascade of zenny; perhaps someone's stashed away nest egg or rainy day fund? Who knew, it was property of DragonierMan now.

The sound of a heavy pair of boots tramping over metal drew nearer, coming from the north. If they wished to eschew this particularly war-torn battlefield in favour of somewhere fresh, there would be enough time to go to meet their new adversary, or else they could simply wait for him to arrive, or even leg it completely. The time for the decision was now, however, with no more time for dithering.


((GMD: 2400 z))

DragonierMan, Suzume, and Aya readied themselves to fight a third time on this torn and blasted battlefield.

[Requesting Battle 10]

Whether it was seen as a fortunate thing or not, the trio didn't have very long to wait. The tramp of boots drew nearer rapidly, until the navi they had glimpsed earlier finally arrived at the north end of the raised platform. Up closer, it was clearer to see that his rifle was actually quite oversized, though he still hefted it easily enough. The dome of his helmet came low enough that only his nose and prominent jawline were visible, though in between taking a pull on his cigar he did lift it up enough to squint at the unexpected group. For the brief moment or two that his eyes were visible, they seemed to be a dull grey colour, before the finger propping up the hard hat was removed and it dropped back down.

The red and grey camo patterning on his fatigues was interspersed by a great many pouches and pockets, and as one might have expected from the tramping, his boots were large, thick and heavy-looking.

"Just who you think you are... coming in here and wrecking my stuff, then. You have any idea how long it took me to get those guys fitted up right and in good working order? It ain't easy doing maintenance on unusual pieces like that, you know." He barked the words at them, in exactly the sort of drill-master's voice one might expect. "Well you can damn well bet I'm taking it out of each of your hides, girly-girls or not." He rolled the old cigar to the other side of his mouth, then spat, sneering at Aya and Suzume before flicking his attention back to Drago and bolting his rifle with the heavy sound of sliding metal.

A moment later, the navi glanced left and right, then stamped one boot on the ground loudly a few more times.

"Oi! Flags, Ox, get your lazy good for nothing tails out her now!" The response was disappointingly prompt. On his left, a small spark of light flashed just above head height, and a scrawny, lanky male tumbled out, turning two quick somersaults in the space between the light flare and the ground, to land on a foot and one knee. He was also dressed in Hades-style camo, but bore a large white panel on his chest, which acted as a background field for a symmetrical red cross. A similar white-and-red cross arm band was cuffed around his upper arms and he was holding a blue semaphore flag in his left hand, a red one in his right. Rather than the domed soldier helmet, this one was wearing a simple cap, though is looked to have a number of radio fittings attached to it, and a mic curled down near his lips.

On the other side, a similar light flash announced the arrival of the soldier's other support, though his entry was far less graceful. This one was a hulk of a man, taller and broader than the soldier himself, and looking like he was about to burst out of his fatigues at any moment. He landed heavily, and stood heavily, though his actions were deliberate and precise, despite being slow.

Flags jumped back, taking up a place a short way behind the Soldier, and off to his side a little, eyes darting quickly between the trio before them, while Ox moved over to partially cover his master adopting a low, defensive stance.

"Think we can take 'em, Sarge?" Flags sounded uncertain about the prospect, but his boss just grunted.
"'Course we can. Who's the toughest navi in these parts, after all?" It was a barked response that didn't necessarily expect an answer, but the other support program did anyway.
"You are, Sir."
"...'at's right. You ready to dance, intruders?" He puffed on his cigar fiercely enough to cause small licks of flame to curl up from the glowing end and raised his rifle. A small targeting eyepiece folded out over where one might assume his right eye would be... if not for being obscured by his helmet. Apparently, it was time to throw down.

-=The Very Model of a Modern Major General=-

SargentSniperMan.Exe: 500Hp [Metal]
Ox.Sp: 140Hp [Metal]
Flags.Sp: 100Hp [Metal]


-=Eyes Fully Open To Their Awful Situation=-

DragonierMan.EXE: 195/200 [Metal]
Suzume.SP: 70/80 [Metal]
Aya.SP: 80/80 [Metal]

-=It's Understood, I Think, All The Ground=-

15% Missing [Scattered Patches]
40% Metal [Majority]
5% Normal [Scattered Panels]
10% Furnace [two small patches on the raised platform]
5% Cracked [Bottom of the Stairs]
25% Magnet [Between the bottom of the collapsed platform, and the remains of the Flintlock]

Roughly rectangular area, mostly metal to the north end as it ventures into more industrial/military landscape, with some normal ground to the south. A raised platform takes up a portion of the space, occupying some of the left (west) hand side, and the northern end. Narrow stairs lead up to it running up south to north, in the crook of the 'L' shape. The souther section of the platform has been collapsed, creating a steep ramp, running in the same direction as the original stairs.

To the right (east), the terrain grows increasingly occupied by debris and partial structures.

-=If You Give Me Your Attention, I Will Tell You What Is Here=-

Black RockCube: 200Hp [At the top of the stairs]

-=Battle 10, Start!=-

Battle of the Soldiers
SargentSniperMan, Ox, and Flags vs. DragonierMan, Suzume, and Aya

DragonierMan, Suzume, and Aya watched as the north-western section of the raised platform became occupied by an enemy force. Three soldiers, two under the command of a man with a large, high-powered sniper rifle, stood upon the battlements. The south-eastern section of the platform they were standing on was a wreck, bent and twisted by the previous battle. Resting atop a pile of spent shell casings and broken machinery, it would only serve now as a steep ramp up to the still standing north-western section. The only other way up was a staircase connected to the north-western section, but it was currently blocked at the top by a black cube made of stone. And not everyone in Drago's party could just fly over it.

"You're on!" Drago roared back at the challenge. "We'll see who is the toughest when I'm through with you." His clawed gauntlet lit up as the talons extended. "Suzume, Aya, fall in!" he barked. "Aye!" Suzume replied as she quickly moved behind Drago. "Aye!" Aya said at the same time with Suzume, moving to stand behind Suzume. Instantly, both girls lit up like Christmas trees. Sparks and sparkles poured off of them, sending stray bolts of lightning to crackle into the air and onto the ground around them. Drago didn't turn around to see this new development, but could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stick up. He thrust his glowing clawed hand out towards the staircase. "Charge!"

The trio brought up a boisterous din of a battlecry as they charged up the stairs in a line, Drago in the lead. He thrust his glowing claws at the RockCube, trying to dig deeply into the stone. If he succeeded at finding purchase with his claw, he would bend his legs, stretch out his other arm to grip the obsidian stone, and heave. His muscles tightened with effort as he lifted with his legs and arms, hefting the great stone block into the air. He then steps forward and hurls it mightily at SargentSniperMan like a titan. "Take this!" Drago bellows as the huge stone block flew from his hands like a meteor, causing destruction wherever it hit.

Drago then quickly stepped aside for the twins, having opened the path for them. The lightning-charged twins raced up the stairs and attempted to get on the platform with their three opponents. The girls flung bolts of electricity from their hands as they came on, scorching the metal with the exploding firebolts. Lightning leaping from their fingertips like Norse Gods. Their eyes were sharp and keen on their targets: their number among SargentSniperMan's SPs. They tried to aim their bolts so that the spread would strike all three of their opponents, but their primary concern was a single SP each. Suzume took on Ox, while Aya took on Flags.

The common saying was to cut off the head of the snake and the body will die, but in the face of a tough commander, robbing him of his troops would be a close second. Also it would give Drago's side a numbers advantage, making the attempt at cutting off the head that much easier.

Drago, however, was after the title of the strongest. So he tried to get right up in SargentSniperMan's face and slash him with his glowing claw. He ran up the remaining leg of the staircase, jumping the last step, and brought his clawed hand down upon SargentSniperMan in a sweeping chop. "Die!" he bellowed as his cloak billowed out behind him, making him seem larger and more intimidating, as he dived upon his prey in a blaze of glory. Not unlike a great eagle swooping down upon a mouse. The talons on his clawed hand sung out the call to battle as they thrust downwards, painting the air with rich and scintillating colors. Painting a portrait of doom.

With a thud, Drago landed on the metal floor of the platform. The blazing talons gouging deep into the steel, melting where the claws rent. He pulled the bright claws out of the softened metal and pushed off the ground swiftly to his feet. He sped forward again, weaving towards his opponent, giving him little time to react and chasing him down like a hunter. He shifted to SargentSniperMan's right side and then ducked quickly to the left, bringing his bladed arm up for a slashing uppercut underneath SargentSniperMan's chin. Claws flashing with dread purpose. "I shall rend you limb from limb!"

((That's correct; chip specifics aside, 'Throw', as by rage-claw, is in the same category as TK and Microburst, and objects used thus deal their Max HP as damage, and are destroyed, if they connect))

Perhaps the other navi hadn't been expecting so zealous a reaction to his challenge, but Drago's rapid assault on the sniper and his allies took hold of the battle's initiative and ran with it. The large RockCube blocking the stairway didn't even slow the dragonier down, and the bulkier of the Sps, Ox, only had enough time to move more completely in front of his commander and brace himself, before taking the full force of the massive stone dead on. As much as taking hits for his navi was clearly part of the ponderous SP's duty, the blow still rocked him and drove him back a foot before he recovered.

As the dust and rubble of the shattered cube settled, a solid-looking shield that, admittedly, would have served him much better a few moments faster, took shape over one of his forearms. Ox showed no real expression in response to the violent assault, but resettled his stance, bearing his shield towards the attackers.

The other thing that happened as the dust settled was the commander leaning out from behind his sturdy defender, snapping the lock closed on his rifle and firing it once with a loud roar. The barrel itself had reconfigured into a wider-mouthed bore, and the result was a sparking fire bomb being lobbed in a low arc to the head of the stairs where Drago was only just making room for his own SPs to move up.

The incendiary round struck down in the midst of the trio and detonated with a fiery blast. Despite the almost certain-seeming hit, The explosion seemed to have no real effect on Drago himself, the flames rushing by him without so much as leaving a scorch; maybe aligning oneself with dragons had its perks after all? His SPs weren't quite so fortunate, and though Suzume managed to dodge for cover behind her master, ill luck saw Aya caught exposed in the painfully burning flames, which clung and seeded under her armour, refusing to extinguish even as the blast itself faded (-60, Burn10).

Despite this level of sudden torment, both girls made their positions and unleashed a counterblow in the form of truly devastating electrical blasts. Suzume was targeting Ox, who made no effort to dodge the blast as it crackled towards him, taking the brunt of it on his shield. What he failed to account for, though, as the electricity blew the shield clean off his arm, was the way in which it arched and spread, dancing past him through to his commander, behind. SargentSniperMan was, unfortunately, quicker on his feet than his defender, and jumped to the side and back, away from the lethal lightning, but this only brought him into range of Aya's assault instead. Aiming at Flags, behind, her electric reel would have stopped with the semaphore SP, if not for the sniper's evasive action.

Flags himself had been watching the battle begin without acting, and as the scorched girl attacked him, he performed a nimble, flag-spinning flip, jumping back onto one hand, then rounding off to the side with a flourish of his semaphores. The needlessly acrobatic dodge kept him safe but his commander wasn't so lucky, and the spreading electricity licked almost playfully at the muzzle of his rifle, then coursed through it in full force, reacting with the paneling underfoot and sending an overwhelming amount of volts through the sniper. His response was a blue streak of unprintable words that might have been suitable recognition for the injured SP's revenge.

His curses turned into a more unintelligible snarl of anger as he brought his rifle around and tucked it low to his hip. The gun reconfigured quickly again as the barrel narrowed and shortened into a snub-nosed machine gun which he sprayed mostly in Drago's direction, still biting down on his cigar hard enough to almost chew it in half.

It wasn't a particularly accurate spray of gunfire, but the individual rounds were of a larger bore than one might expect from a rapid-fire weapon, and though the majority of them pinged and ricocheted into the metal panels around the trio, Drago's skilful evasion could only save him from so much, and three of the rounds clipped him, sending a startling level of pain from each wound (3x-30). One of the missed rounds clanged off the rail and diverted right towards Suzume, and it was only by virtue of her own instinctive reflexes that the girl avoided a painful winging of her own.

Taking such a bold and open opportunity left the Sargent dangerously exposed, once his machine-gun was spent, and Drago wasn't about to let an opportunity like that go to waste. Even as the rotating chamber of the commander's gun spun dry, the dragonier was on him, closing the remaining distance in a flash to strike a scoring, clawed blow across the other navi with enough force to crumple him. With a cry and a curse of pain, the sniper punched the panels once and rolled away, scrambling to his feet. Snarling and biting his cigar, he spared one look for the navi attacking him, and another for the battle in general, then did what any self-respecting sniper might do: he began to leg it.

With two strides, he reached and vaulted the rail, rolling as he landed and kept running, crossing the battlefield back towards the end that Drago and his party had come from, trying to make some distance on his opponent. Ox turned as thought to follow, but he wasn't nearly as fast as his boss, and Flags seemed momentarily off-guard by the unexpected damage toll occurring so quickly, spinning his flags in his hands in hesitation.

Unfortunately for the soldier, Drago wasn't interested in letting him get away, and moved easily to keep up with him. He closed enough to score another brutal hit on the soldier as they crossed the flat, lower ground of the area, and sent him tumbling forward. He rolled dangerously close to one of the missing gaps in the panels, but as he righted himself, turning back, a danger of following so closely behind the fleeing sniper revealed itself.

Coming up to one knee, SargentSniperMan faced the oncoming dragonier with his rifle at the ready. It had returned to its normal appearance, and with another growl, he pulled the trigger. At nearly point-blank range, the rapid spray of tracer was almost unavoidable. The fire itself was almost inconsequential; each individual, tiny tracer was barely enough for Drago to even feel them strike him, but the gun unleashed a very great many of the rounds, and very quickly. So close, an impressive twelve of the sixteen tracer rounds managed to find their mark on drago, and even as insignificant as each of the shots were, the volume of them began to add up (12x-5).

Back on the platform, Flags finally collected himself and began to do his job. He raised his flags above his head in a cross formation, then lowered the blue one to point at his commander, sending a small swirl of restorative energy his way, then did the same with the red flag. This time, the energy trail was white and red, and it formed a small restorative IV pack, attached by a band to his master's right arm.



-=The Very Model of a Modern Major General=-

SargentSniperMan.Exe: 218/500Hp [Metal][IV][Lower Area]
Ox.SP: 40/140Hp [1-Hit Shield Broken][Metal][Raised Platform]
Flags.SP: 100/100Hp [Metal][Raised Platform]


-=Eyes Fully Open To Their Awful Situation=-

DragonierMan.EXE: 45/200 [Metal][Lower Area]
Suzume.SP: 70/80 [Metal][Raised Platform]
Aya.SP: 20/80 [Metal][Burn(10)][Raised Platform]

-=It's Understood, I Think, All The Ground=-

15% Missing [Scattered Patches]
40% Metal [Majority]
5% Normal [Scattered Panels]
10% Furnace [Two small patches on the raised platform]
5% Cracked [Bottom of the Stairs]
25% Magnet [Between the bottom of the collapsed platform, and the remains of the Flintlock]

Roughly rectangular area, mostly metal to the north end as it ventures into more industrial/military landscape, with some normal ground to the south. A raised platform takes up a portion of the space, occupying some of the left (west) hand side, and the northern end. Narrow stairs lead up to it running up south to north, in the crook of the 'L' shape. The southern section of the platform has been collapsed, creating a steep ramp, running in the same direction as the original stairs.

To the right (east), the terrain grows increasingly occupied by debris and partial structures.

-=If You Give Me Your Attention, I Will Tell You What Is Here=-

Black RockCube: DELETED

DragonierMan stumbled backward and dropped to one knee. His body was smoking, his armor was dented in multiple places, and his cape was full of holes. He reached up and took his helmet off, revealing his dark gray hair, slicked with sweat. He tossed it aside and stood up, wiping his forehead clear. "Not bad, not bad at all. I underestimated you. There are some capable fighters in this dump."

He reached into his pockets and retrieved a data crystal. "Suzume, Aya, we are leaving. Let them keep this ruin... for now." The twins' heads turned toward their leader in momentary confusion, before straightening out and nodding. The trio of Navis had given them a run for their money. Giving back as good as they received. Drago activated the Escape Subchip in his hand and fixed his gaze on SargentSniperMan. "I work for the NeoShogunate. You can find me there, if you want more of, everything."

Summary
Activate Escape Subchip.

There was a quiet moment between the two fighting navis, each of them on one knee, attacks spent for the moment, one panting and hurt, the other smoking and sweaty. SargentSniperMan didn't rise quite as swiftly or smoothly as his opponent, however, leaning on his rifle as he pushed himself up. Ox was still lumbering slowly towards his master, and Flags twirled his flags uncertainly in the combat lull. The sniper seemed to accord something of a look of respect for Drago, when the other navi didn't immediately capitalise on his own winded need of a break. Brief as the skirmish had been, his confidence of handily defeating the intruders had been shaken into doubt about whether he could win at all, and he held his tongue as Drago and his SPs announced their departure.

Despite the fact that one was leaving and one remained, it was clear from the look on SargentSniperMan's face, at least as much as one could read without clear sight of his eyes, that he certainly didn't feel like he'd won. As Drago disappeared, he rubbed contemplatively at his jaw.

"The Shogunate, huh..." He murmured to himself, before turning and walking back, slowly and still visibly injured, towards his base.

((Escape successful))
((DragonierMan gains 2 SargentSniperMan Fxp, for begrudgingly mutual combat respect))

DragonierMan and the twins disappeared in beams of light.

[DRAGONIERMAN LOGGED OUT!!]