2016-05-15 - Locks and Keys 6

Title: Locks and Keys 6
Summary: A direct continuation from Locks and Keys 5. Notably, the scene begins run in two separate rooms: in the first, the characters from Locks and Keys 5 hide from the seemingly ancient Drone Knights with whom they just lost a fight rather badly. Endo's Device, Fallen Stern, recognizes traces of himself in the old ship, and interfaces with it to unlock old memories -- and powers. Ren's Device, Souverain Heraut, is against this idea, and unlocks sealed functions just in case Fallen Stern goes out of control. This turns out to be prescient in a different way; this whole thing was a setup to download Fallen Stern's Device data when he was interfaced with the ship. It's uploaded to the Drone Knights (not as ancient as they seemed...), which is very bad for the second group who followed the first through the portal. Fortunately, the first group arrives to help (the two scenes merge at this point), and they manage to fight off the Drone Knights and escape, Key in tow, back to Earth, while the old ship burns up in atmosphere.
Who: Takeo Akamizu, Fate Testarossa, Lilian Abarth, Lera Camry, Setsuna Higashi, Endo Naoki, Ren Aizawa, Fuu Hououji, Setsuna Meioh, Hikaru Shidou, Jad Werke GMs: Honoka Yukishiro, Hotaru Tomoe
Where: A derelict Belkan ship crashed on the dark side of the Moon, and then ouuuteeeer spaaaaaace!
OOC - IC Date: 05-15-2016 - 10-21-2014

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

NOW: IN THE CONTROL ROOM

After fleeing from the Ancient Drone Knights, the first party managed to barricade itself deep within the complex, in a chamber that resonates with meaning. Every wall is full of control panels, and there's a central column which might be -- other than the drones, and sporadically some minor ship functions like the doors -- the only thing that crackles, if very, very softly, with power.

It is made out of a swirl of crystal pillars, all over with rainbows, in stark contrast to the grays of the labyrinthine ship. Fallen Stern, Endo Naoki's Device, has taken an interest in it. He rouses quietly, the gem on Endo's ring chiming softly, the chime itself oddly reminiscent of some of the sounds the ship, and the drones, have made.

<KNIGHT. THIS IS... FAMILIAR.>

He sounds unusually uncertain, if blunt as ever. But something is clouded within him, and he probes around it, only realizing its presence from the void its absence has created, all this time.

At its very base, a handspan above the ground, is its only adornment, easily missed in a rushed inspection: a panel the size of an open palm, with a single orifice, a keyhole --

-- precisely the round but faceted shape, and size, of Fallen Stern himself.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren's rested up pretty well since the fight, having spent most of the time until now discussing the next plan of action. They have to find a way out of here if they ever hope to return home, the portal they came through apparently a no-go in that department. Sighing heavily she props her back up against one of the walls and folds her arms as she ponders their situation. Though it's when she hears Stern speak up to Endo about the control column in the room that she truly takes notice of it for the first time.

"That's... a keyhole?" It certainly looks like one. She steps for a little, eyes moving from the keyhole to Endo and Stern, then back to the keyhole again. "Guys... are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She's close enough not to rest a hand on Endo's shoulder, giving him a look meant to prod him forward...

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Endo has been quiet for the most part, aside from checking and making sure everyone is okay. After that, though, he's been left to his own devices. When Stern calls his attention over toward the column he moves to examine it once again, his fingers touching the panel. "Huh. What's this? It looks like..."

He glances back toward Ren, and then at the gem in his hand. "Ah, well, I hope this does something. Not something bad. It's okay, right?" He waits for an affirmative before he carefully presses the gem-shaped device into the slot. "I hope this isn't one of those keys that makes a ship blow up."

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera feels more rested now. Once they started moving, she decided to transform again. Soaring Sky's lack of responsiveness -- he seemed distracted, more than anything -- made her decide to change her Devices. Now, she has the clockwork warhamemer form of Broken Ground clutched in one hand. A few motes of light drift away from the hammerhead as she walks forward.

She slows, however, at Stern's voice. Her eyes widen -- she glances, first, at Ren, and then she glances at Endo. She nods. "I think so," she says. "It's... shaped like Fallen Stern."

<...Be careful. They thought Stern was with them.> Broken Ground remains awkward. <Doubt it's a self-destruct. Probably?>

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvTsPjCgFXY

<Recovery.>

With that chime, Bardiche's poleaxe shimmers with golden radiance, and a moment later he is whole. That's a relief. Fate doesn't feel like she's whole though, battle weary and injured despite her now full stomach.

Fate steals a look at the Golden Marble holding up the axe blade as the blade shifts back into place. She's worried, obviously so, that she's putting too much strain on him. But that battle... it had been difficult.

They'd lost. It was absolute the right call that she'd come.

Metal boots step forward, her eyes falling upon the crystalline pillar as it shines with prismatic radiance.

Fate looks at Ren, then Endo. There's a certain amount of wariness in her eyes as Stern announces there's a keyhole. "Someone wanted us to be here." After all there'd been that portal. "But I don't think we're going to find out why unless we take the next step." A beat, "This time, we'll face it together, and we'll win."

<Pose Tracker> Fiat Silver [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

With a portion of a generously sized sandwich inside her insides, Fiat Silver is ready to continue engaging in crime! Well, not really. She is walking, though, and she comes up near to Ren and Endo.

Ren looks at Endo. Fiat Silver also looks at Endo.

<Self destruct?!> Silver Scorpion says with great concern.

Fiat Silver then looks at the modest form of Fate, smiling at her, one hand resting on her hip. "It isn't as if we'll be any worse off," <Self destruct?!?!> "if we take a risk. I'm with Fate here." <Self destruct????????>

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

"Is what you're thinking trying out the hollow?"

Setsuna's had a chance to rest a little herself, though she's spent a lot of it leaning on Lera and worrying in Fate's general direction. ...And, of course, eating her part of the sandwich. She may be quiet, but she certainly knows how to eat.

"Ground's right," Setsuna comments, "But if we're too careful, then we won't get anywhere."

She pauses, and looks at Fate. Someone... "...Right." She doesn't feel as confident, but she slips her hand back down to the Linkrun at her side, regardless.

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

The Magic Knight of Wind has been making generous use of her healing magic, for anyone who needed and wanted it, when the group had the chance to NOT be running for their lives. That said, the actual running part has been catching up with her, magical assistance or not, and every chance to catch her breath has been gratefully seized upon.

So. Crystal pillars, which have the odd side effect of making her think of another world, albeit a part thereof which she's never laid eyes upon for herself (and might not actually exist). "They also referred to Stern-san and Heraut-san as 'traitors,'" she points out in reply to Broken Ground. "But still ... Stern-san, were you created here? Do you have any recollections of this place, or one like it?"

She's not about to weigh in on whether to try fitting Fallen Stern into that socket - at least, not until they've had more of a chance to study out the situation. For now, the Magic Knight of Wind looks around again, picks a control panel more or less at random, and tries taking a closer look.

She's not touching ANYTHING - she wants to see if she can even read the labels or make sense of the panel's layout, and even then, she's not going to poke at anything until there's a consensus among the group about what to do. It may be that inserting Ren-san's Device is the best option to proceed with, in which case she's hardly going to argue against it.

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

Fallen Stern snaps straight into the central column with a satisfied little 'click'.

Then nothing happens, for just long enough that people might wonder if this was a bit of a bust, until something abruptly does:

Impotent grinding -- familiar, as the result of mashing buttons mid-battle earlier in the evening -- becomes, at last, potent, the grinding smoothing out into a basso rumble, a hum, a paean to awakening sung by an engine more ancient than most civilizations on Earth.

Fallen Stern's baritone sounds almost humorously high in comparison, but it isn't at all. It's just as ancient, and low, so low.

<KNIGHT. HEED ME.>

Whether he pauses for effect (and obedience) or because he's busy doing something is debatable; flecks of light are blossoming withing the swirling rainbow crystal he's mounted in, at any rate, creating an increasingly complex, if very abstract, light show.

To the sound of crunching moondust and exterior armoring, the ship painfully extricates itself from its Lunar crevasse. Its stability is drunken at best, sending those not well-braced or expecting it (possibly everyone) skittering across the floor.

He pauses again, uncertainly. The colors in the crystal are becoming gradually more purple, up and down the spectrum from Fallen Stern's dark purple to a lighter one that's almost pink. It's beautiful.

In Ren's hands, Souvereign Heraut is extremely quiet, but starting to glow softly. It's an unreadable statement of anything but, perhaps, grave concern.

The ship is loud, though. It grinds through space, a feat previously thought impossible.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren's eyes widen as Stern fits into the slot perfectly. "What's....?" She trails off, knowing the answer will very likely be revealed to them soon. And she's correct in that assumption. As Endo's device speaks, the ship lurches to life, and the sudden motion sends Ren stumbling down onto her knees. "Ow!" She grimaces, feeling herself slide across the surface of the floor a bit. "Ahhhh!" In a panic she grabs onto Endo's leg for dear life, hoping he'll be sturdy enough to keep them both from being pitched into a wall.

"S-Stern?!" She calls out, hearing what he says about this vessel being their way home. Heraut's glow isn't missed in all this commotion, either. Ren looks down at the glowing device, mouth still agape. "H-Heraut....?!"

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

"We'll do it together." Endo agrees with Fate, making a pointed shrug at ocncerns over self-destruction after. It's too late now.

He then takes a small step back when the ship lurches, hands flailing as he quickly ends up taking several more stumbling steps and falling over on his back. "I think that turned it on." A hand reaches to steady himself on the floor, asking, "Stern? Are you flying?"

Endo's eyes widen with concern as the pillar begins to change color, having no idea exactly what it or his Device are doing. A glance is given toward Ren and Heraut, and then a question of: "What's happening now?"

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.

Not long ago it had felt like an assault on the ears, now it felt like... something else, like the advent chorus of something she just didn't understand. Her eyes flit towards Fallen Stern. He may be commanding Endo but her attention is still on him.

... Which is why when the ship tears itself out of the surface of the moon, Fate is caught completely unaware. "Ah!" Her metal booted feet take a quick step to try to steady herself, as she rocks backwards, almost losing her hold on Bardiche. And then she loses her footing, sliding across the floor like a baseball player sliding to first until she hits a control panel against the wall.

Its kind of an embarrassing moment for someone who can fly really. She doesn't quite regain her footing, so much as grips it and pulls herself upright in a twist of cape fabric. "We're going home, in this?" Fate says with a sense of shock and wonder, her eyes fall back upon Stern, and there are only questions on her mind. What exactly, is the Crystal he's talking about? What is its significance? Was it a Lost Logia?

But she'd learned from time that Stern only revealed what he wanted to, on his own time. So instead of asking, she stays quiet, and listens. ... And also hopes that the ship wouldn't fall into a crack between dimensions like the Garden of Time. That'd be bad.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Setsuna finds herself staring into the pillar, looking for some meaning in the lights within. Or she tries, anyway; the sudden lurching of the ship catches her by surprise, and Setsuna slips, tumbling back along the floor with about as much grace as a bottle knocked off a table.

When she rolls to a stop at the wall, she blinks, looking up again. "What...?"

Pause. "...In /this/? You mean, it works?" She turns to Fate, looking between her and the pillar, before deciding something, crawling along the ground towards the younger girl.

<Pose Tracker> Fiat Silver [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Fiat Silver feels that voice in her guts. Wow. That's deep. She sucks in a breath through her teeth, tensing up -

She responds to the floor shifting and the huge rumbling and shaking by performing her characteristic inversion and landing on the ceiling thanks to her flight powers. This accomplishes little save meaning that when the next attitude shift comes, she's thrown 'into the air' where she topples ridiculously, pivoting herself and smoothing out her coat with a huff of mild embarrassment.

Nobody saw, though. She thinks. "Well! This is an excellent find, then, isn't it, Mr. Naoki..." Her arms fold and she answers Setsuna, "It seems operational. The hardest part's always takeoff or landing."

<Are you trying to be optimistic, madam?> "Yes."

She drifts nearer to Fate, perhaps to help her steady herself if she needs it. (Or so she can hide behind Bardiche's power - it's an open question.)

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Well, that definitely did something. As she gets back to her feet from the abrupt lurching, the Wind Knight's attention turns away from the control panel again and walks over to where the others are gathered. "So this place - a ship? - is tied to your past after all ... interesting."

She pauses, mulling over some of the questions and potential answers that have been uncovered thus far. If Fallen Stern is from this ship, and the guards called him 'traitor,' and if the socket is likely to restore the Device's lost or corrupted memories ... There are two possibilities which come to her mind in fairly short order. One is that Stern chose to rebel against his creators, and the drones earlier were still following their last programmed orders.

The other possibility is the one which really makes her worry, and which she actively hopes she's wrong about: that Fallen Stern's original programming was to be part of an invasion force - and that said programming is about to re-assert itself.

She's fairly certain that whoever sent this ship in Earth's direction didn't do so for peaceful purposes; there are at least two heavily-armed drones too many on board for that. (If you send a ship on a mission of peace, you only really need ONE heavily-armed drone at most. Such as Gort. Klaatu didn't need two of those, one was almost - but not quite - too many as it was.

"If this ship is taking us back to Earth," the Wind Knight suggests, "I hope it can turn invisible for our descent through the atmosphere ..." She gives no voice to her worries for the moment; she really, REALLY hopes she's wrong.

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

<YES. KNIGHT, I AM TAKING YOU HOME.>

Stern sounds oddly wistful, but also hazy. The light in the column is getting steadily more pale.

A screen blinks awake on a wall, showing the three Ancient Drone Knights, which have apparently also taken the time to heal, as they are now quite intact, fighting a second party of magical girls -- Jad Werke, Hikaru Shidou, Sailor Pluto and Lancelot all wink onscreen.

<Objection! This is a dangerous power. It was sealed to good purpose!> Heraut sounds both indignant and alarmed as he squalls to vocal life.

<YES... I WAS GLAD TO FORGET. BUT. KNIGHT. YOU HAVE BECOME STRONG. IT HAS NOT BEEN AN EASY JOURNEY. BUT... THIS IS A PATH YOU HAVE EARNED. NOW THAT I HAVE FOUND IT AGAIN... I WOULD BESTOW ITS MANTLE ONTO US BOTH. IF.>

<Don't you dare!>

Heraut quivers in Ren's hands even as the ship, guided by Stern, shudders through space.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren takes a deep breath. "Ok. I think we're good." They're just on an Ancient Belkan ship hurtling through space back towards Earth. Surely nothing is wrong about that, right? At least they're going home...

...With a bunch of suped up drones waiting to be unleashed. Yeah. That part isn't so good. Not so good at all in fact. And things only seem to slide into even worse territory when Stern starts to wax on about a great power -- which Heraut audibly takes objection to. Ren can feel the indignation radiating off of her intelligent device. She doesn't like it one bit. "Heraut! What are you talking about? Please calm down! We can work this out, o-ok?!"

Even as she says that however she feels as though her words are ringing hollow. The sudden display of several other magical combatants, having arrived late, only makes her despair further. Did they stand a chance? It's... hard to tell, but her gut feeling is...

She turns away from them, focusing on Endo alone. "Endo-kun... I don't know what to tell you to do... But do what feels right...!" She grips his hand and squeezes it tight, hoping to provide him with some comfort in this highly stressful and confusing time.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.

Setsuna slides near her, and she reaches out with a gloved hand to clasp hers, "Apparently. I didn't realize it was a ship..." Honestly it had seemed like a fortress! She accepts Fiat Silver's aid if its offered. But eventually finds her feet.

As Stern turns on the screen, Fate makes a small sound of distress. She recognized at least one of the people fighting. And Stern assures them that they'll lose...

What happens next is a debate. And it's not one that Fate hasn't heard before, thought about. After all, she'd pursued those Jewel Seeds for so long. She knew the effects of dangerous sealed power first hand.

But...

Fate's eyes trace up to Heraut, "Maybe it would be a bad thing to unseal it if he were alone. If he were seeking to use it selfishly. But he's not."

There's this tiny smile on her lips, "He's strong. But he's even stronger when all of us are with him. It's one of the important things all of you taught me. So I think it'll be okay if he wants it."

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

That definitely doesn't sound like Fallen Stern is about to turn on them all and attack, does it? The Wind Knight lets out a soft sigh of relief, seeming relieved - odd as that may be - at Stern's offer.

What's NOT a relief is the imagery on the screen which just came up. "Hikaru-san ... !"

The Magic Knight of Wind turns to face Ren. "I shouldn't wish to influence your decision, Ren-san, but - it's clear that our collective enemies are only growing more powerful. And we need to find a way to rescue our friends," she indicates the screen, "as well as making our return to Earth. I don't know how those drones are programmed, but if they would launch attacks outside of the ship when we touch down, then we probably need to destroy or disable them before we land.

She pauses briefly, then bows to Ren in apology. "I realize that I can't help but be a little selfish; one of my fellow Magic Knights is in the same peril as we were. If I have to join their battle alone to help her, I shall do so, whatever the outcome. It's up to you whether to weigh my desires or not."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

"Me, either. It seemed more like a base." Setsuna was thinking along the same lines as Fate, really. She starts to stand, too, this time leaning on the wall to support herself.

But Setsuna sees the monitor, as it flickers to life. Hearing that they'll lose seizes at her heart. "No," she protests, shaking her head, but--wait. Power? That...

That worries her.

"Power... atracts power." Setsuna shivers, and shakes her head. "I... I don't know. It sounds dangerous, but..."

Ren trusts him, she can tell. Fate has a point. ...Fuu's friend is there.

"Stern--it's dangerous, but... Will it hurt him? Will he be all right? We have to do something, but there might be another way. Are you sure?"

<Pose Tracker> Fiat Silver [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Fiat Silver looks to that screen. Her lips thin as the sight of this smaller force contending with the same group of creatures that had smashed all of them make her gasp and feel a sympathetic twinge of pain at the same time.

She swallows. Her armored hand tightens around the baton of war even as the other helps balance Fate briefly. "Maybe I'm stealing the wrong things, Fate, what do you think?" she says parenthetically, maybe to try to lighten the mood.

As for the current situation, she calls ahead; "If he does this-- can he deactivate those damnable things?!" She waggles the baton at the screen. "Or control them! Tell them to stop what they're doing!?" <Good thinking!> Silver Scorpion says, supportively.

Fiat Silver hasn't thought through that this means Endo would have his own rampaging red and blue super-knight minions, but she did get banged around a lot by /those very things/ a few hours prior.

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera nods to Fate's resolve. She didn't expect, however, for Fallen Stern to cause a ship to lift off the moon. She gasps, softly -- she stumbles a little from surprise -- when it lifts up. Then, she glances at Endo and Stern.

She listens, after that.

She swallows, before she turns to look at Endo. "You gotta do what's right, y'know?" she says, echoing what Ren said -- and the others. She glances, briefly, at Fate; then she thinks of the times she talked to Endo Naoki in the past. She smiles.

"But... I know you'll do what's right, Endo-san," she says. "You've never let us down there."

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

"Ah-really?" The idea of going home sounds pretty good to Endo.

The rest of it, though, is a little more concerning. He watches the displays, wincing when he spots the drones up and running again, and with new targets to boot.

"I-" He doesn't want people to get hurt. Especially when he could do differently.

He remembers sitting in an empty construction yard, eyes cast up at concrete and steel beams. He remembers what he was taught: People make great things when they work together. Be good to them. Don't be afraid of hard work.

Sometimes he wondered if his father was proud of what he'd done. Today he would be.

"I will, Stern." He nods in affirmative, his hand squeezing Ren's tight before it slips free and the boy steps forward. He spares a glance back, to his friends gathered all around, a grateful nod. "Yeah. I'll do whatever it takes."

<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.

<KNIGHT. THIS IS WHAT WAS MISSING. THIS IS THE KEY TO THE LOCK I HAD FORGOTTEN. REPEAT AFTER ME.>

Fallen Stern gravely intones each line before pausing for Endo's response, which also helpfully pops up in typically ornate Device script across that view-window, momentarily obscuring it from view.

      <ON MY HONOR THIS IS MY OATH>       
  <GRANT ME YOUR POWER>   
     <AND I WILL DESTROY MY ENEMIES>      
   <TOGETHER WE WILL PIERCE THE CLOUDS>    
     <TO BECOME A STAR, SHINING THROUGH THE HEAVENS>      
 <GIVE ME YOUR STRENGTH>

<FALLEN STERN AUFPRALL...>

They scream "SET UP!" in unison.

And a pillar of purple energy roars up to the ceiling, and down through the floor, and spills outwards, pouring from the chalice of the crystal column to engulf Endo, filling his soul beyond imagination, engraving itself even into the marrow of his bones. In the same moment, Fallen Stern detaches from the column, assuming its sheathed form, ready for Endo to claim... and draw.

With a miserable shriek, the ship's engine rises in pitch by a factor of eight, becoming inaudible and painfully, agonizingly so, tearing straight through the head as effectively as any sword. It's during this moment that Stern's pillar of light fades, and the screen showing the other battle flickers.

It wasn't going very well, but now it's about to go a whole lot worse, because, unmistakably, the Drone Knights have undergone a similar transformation. Their head-spheres change from red/blue/white to a familiar purple, the same purple that edged the portal that took everyone here in the first place -- and then darken.

And their weapons shimmer, fade out... and reform as copies of Fallen Stern.

<Alert! Warning! Warning! Fallen Stern... you've been tricked! Finding the key here was too good to be true -- no coincidence at all! You weren't alone...>

It's true. The crystal column still pulses with power, more of that light purple magical energy, and within it one can faintly see the gorgeous whorls and arcs of Fallen Stern's spell diagrams. They've been copied -- all of them -- even as he remembered them, and bequeathed them to his Knight.

There's briefly a laugh, a man's laugh, a laugh of terrible, terrible malice... and then the column goes dead.

As does the ship's power.

There's a window -- one can clearly see the Earth getting a lot bigger through it, very quickly. If nothing else, it seems unlikely the ship is going to /miss/...

Fallen Stern trembles with fury, some of it present, some of it remembered. <HISTORY WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO REPEAT. MY KNIGHT WILL NOT ALLOW IT. ALTHOUGH THIS IS NOT HISTORY. THESE DEVICES... THEY ARE NOT OF THIS SHIP OR IT'S TIME. THEY ARE SOMETHING NEW.>

Soverain Heraut trembles, too, and then his glow becomes a beacon of equally massive power. It encloses Ren entirely, briefly veiling her from view. Well -- it's brief to the others. To Ren, it's an eternity of warmth, of a new strength, one impossibly greater than before. And of shared purpose.

Soverain Heraut feels very close, as though he's speaking not from inside his gem, or her head, but rather her heart. She can feel his frustration, and his fear... but also his trust.

Afterwards -- the battlefield at the other edge of the ship awaits. A wrong to be righted, friends to be saved. They still know the way...

OOC: After Ren and Endo pose their new transformations/forms and reactions (as well as your own reactions, and if you like, transformations), let's all head to battle on the Moon!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Stern's request is no sooner made than done. "On my honor this is my oath" He repeats it solemnly, falling to a knee. It seems like the right thing to do, everything considered. His voice is shaky at first, then steadier, and a shout by the time it comes to an end: "The sword that tears through the darkness, Fallen Stern AufprallSET UP!>

Endo's hand stretches out towards Stern as energy floods from it, sheeting over him and changing him. It courses over the boy's body, familiar outlines appearing as it cascades over him. Armor, cloth, cape. There are new trimmings, symbols stamped in gold bearing Belkan crests and stylized images of meteorites.

Then he grasps it, his hands closing around the hilt of the weapon tight. There's a moment where he pauses there, and then he pulls. The rectangular hunk of metal releases when he does, compartments unlocking with the hiss of machinery as the knight draws his weapon in one smooth motion.

There's a sword inside the sword. It's still huge and unwieldy, but this new one at least is less of a rectangular club and more of a sleek, sharpened mass of metal. Like one would expect a sword to be, save for the semi-circular curve of the blade at its end that evokes a meteor-like image. Vents and circuitry criss-cross the surface, all pulsing softly with ugly purple light.

When the light around him finally fades he turns, first to Ren in awe, and then the rest. "Ah. Well. Let's go help, huh?"

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has fully healed himself.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki transforms into Barrier Jacket Aufprall!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren lets Endo's hand go as he walks forward to accept Stern's ultimatum. Still clutching Heraut tight in her grasp she watches with bated breath, the oath scrawled out before them all being recited with the utmost clarity. And then, when it reaches the end with a shared shout of "SET UP!" between Endo and Stern, she shields her eyes as the pillar of light bursts forth and envelops him. She can hear Heraut's panicked shouts within her ears as the light eventually fades, and the new transformations of the Drone Knights are revealed. Her heart skips a beat as she considers with horror how they may have just made things so much more worse. The sinister laugh that erupts from nowhere doesn't help matters either, of course.

"Heraut... did we...?" Power seemingly cuts out from the ship just then as they still drift with great haste towards the Earth. Are they going to crash?! Or... miss it completely?! Ren shivers, shaking her head. No. This isn't how things were supposed to-

Stern speaks again, making his intentions to ensure that history will not play out like it once did as long as he and his knight are together. Ren takes a step forward, and it's at that moment her vision goes white.

When she can see again she's no longer on the ship. Or... rather, she is still there, but not entirely. It's a head scratcher that's for sure. Her surroundings are nondescript -- an infinite whiteness that spreads out for what seems like eternity. "Where...?"

And then Heraut speaks, and just like that Ren gains a clarity she has never felt before. It's invigorating. Shutting her eyes she smiles with a nod. "I get it. I know what has to happen now. Thank you. Together.... With everyone else... We'll win. Now, let's go."

Ren holds a hand up to the sky, "Souverain Heraut Lustre! SET... UP!"

As is drawn down from the heavens themselves a tangle of effulgent ribbons spiral down and wrap themselves around her. Ren spins elegantly, basking in the energy as it fills her body. In a few flashy winks her barrier jacket forms -- entirely different from her former one. It's... princely, to be blunt. A cream-colored vest with trailing coattails and jewels for buttons down the front of it, under which she wears black long-sleeved underarmor that stops short of her hands, leaving them exposed, coupled with a bronze-colored cravat wrapped around her neck and matching heavy-duty britches tucked into dark-leather boots adorned with a multitude of jewels. Ren opens her eyes, and in her outstretched hands forms a mighty, blindingly white lance decorated with etchings and finery meant to astound onlookers.

And then just like that she's "back" on the ship, transformation complete. She turns to Endo as he turns to her, smiling brightly. "Yeah...!"

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa transforms into Barrier Jacket Lustre!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

It WAS a trap?! But she thinks that it wasn't Fallen Stern's trap. Either way, the Wind Knight staggers again as the ship's speed increases massively; the glimpse she gets of the Earth's image growing on the monitor tells her that if nothing else, there's a very definite time limit on this battle. She's not even sure how large the ship is, but at the very least, if it lands in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, a lot of people are going to have a very bad time. If the ship hits hard enough *anywhere*, the 'bad time' will likely cover most - if not all - of Earth.

On the plus side, two of her allies are newly powered up, and given the time limit which they're under for taking out the drones and overcoming the ship's programming, they're going to need every bit of it.

The Magic Knight of Wind is still in her armor, and she's had enough time to recover her energy, including healing her own injuries from the first round against those three drone knights. She squares her shoulders briefly, rising back to her full (but still modest) height. "I'm sure you didn't know what was going to happen, Stern-san. Ren-san, Endo-san, congratulations. Everyone ..."

She looks around at her allies, smiling with renewed optimism. "Shall we go?"

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.

Fallen Stern's oath. Something about it, it feels like a Midchildan authorization code for using an Intelligent Device, yet it sounds more stately, like there's more ritual to it. She's not certain how it makes her feel. But she's quite certain that she's proud of the wielder for being able to accept it, as he's engulfed in a pillar of purple energy.

Fate whirls about quickly to face Heraut as he announces the trick. She's ready to face any physical threat but... as her eyes fall upon the light of the purloined spells. Then follow them to the Drone Knights where they each have taken up wielding copies of Fallen Stern. "No!"

That laughter... well at least it wasn't her mother's, but that's small comfort. Because then the power of the ship goes out. With that beautiful blue earth looming so close. It's a disastrous moment, and Fate feels guilty about advising them to spring what she felt was a trap but then...

She feels it, that momentary warmth, that power enclosing Ren. And where there was some pride with Endo, there's more delight with Ren as she shines with Lustre in her new Princely Barrier Jacket.

She bobs her head once firmly at Endo saying that its time to help. Bardiche's head shifts up and back like he's performing a diagnostic of his functions, then clicks back into place with a chime. "This time-" <Ready.> "-we'll win." And it'll be because of the power of these wonderful, marvelous friends who had helped save her.

Cure Passion can't exactly fly, can she? "It'll be faster if I carry you." She looks up at Setsuna and says casually.

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera feels more than a little proud, as she watches her friends. She remembers when her mother helped her unlock Soaring Sky's full potential. She knows how hard it is -- and how rewarding. She has a few tears in the corners of her eyes, but she blinks them back. It isn't the time for that -- not the least of all because of that terrible laughter and Fallen Stern's final proclamation at the end.

This isn't history.

<They've gotten a lot stronger.> Broken Ground sounds distant, instead of proud, when he says it.

"Yeah," Lera says, with a smile.

<Good.>

"Let's go!" Lera agrees. She looks at Setsuna and Fate, then she grins. "You can carry her this time, Fate! I took her the way here. Dibs when we get out of this join, though!"

<...Let's smash them.> Broken Ground says. <I owe it to both of you after everything.>

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Setsuna is still worried, watching. There's a tension she feels, and some of that may just be power. Endo says that he'll do whatever it takes, though.

And so she watches that oath sworn, ees widening at the purple column of energy before them. Before she can think to even start to say something, the sound echoes through her, and Setsuna lifts her hand from the wall to cover her ears, crouching in pain.

When she opens her eyes, she sees the change on the screen--and she finds her thoughts echo Heraut's words for a moment. "No--" The laugh chills her, but she starts forward anyway... Until the ship dies. "Wait--" She stops. Stern's words ring through to her. "New? But if they aren't from this ship, then... Ren!"

She /was/ worried. But Lera trusts both of them, and Setsuna has seen them in action. More than that, when the light clears and she sees the changes to their attire, it doesn't /look/ wrong. Setsuna spends extra time lingering with her gaze on Endo's face, and then Ren's, and what she sees...

It's good enough. It's more than good enough; she can't say she doesn't stare a little at Ren's new dashing attire, before she glances away suddenly conscious of doing the same. The younger girl bobs her head, as much to what she sees and to move ahead as to Endo's plan.

"Just like you said. We can do this together." Setsuna smiles, before she stands up straight, lifting her Linkrun with a serious expression.

"It doesn't matter what we knew," Setsuna says to Fuu. "What matters is what we do /now/. We--"

Her attempt at a speech is halted by Fate's very calm comment. The older girl actually goes faintly red. ...A little /more/ red as Lera chimes in. "W-what? Carry me? That's--Lera!" It comes out as almost a whine.

While pointedly not looking at the girl who'd brought her through the portal to begin with, Setsuna then nods. "W-whatever, later is later. We'll go in together!"

She takes a breath, before a crimson light envelops her, and there stands Cure Passion, voluminous pink hair ruffled in an unseen breeze, her red attire standing out in the darkness. "Just point me at one and we'll take them, Fate."

COMBAT: Setsuna Higashi has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Setsuna Higashi transforms into Cure Passion!
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket Aphelion!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has fully healed herself.

<Pose Tracker> Fiat Silver [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

The Earth's getting closer. A lot closer. Fiat Silver sweats in her barrier jacket, just a bit. But the greater act here is the fusion of the devices, these new dawnings of powers... The lenses on her mask grow more opaque, just a little, as she half-raises her hand to block the beauty that's formed.

Then she looks at the screen when Fate exclaims her dismay. "Wh-- How does that even work!?" <They've replicated Fallen Stern! Foul play!>

The incoming noise - shrieking and hellish - makes both Device and User wince, albeit in very different ways, simultaneously. With her teeth set on edge, Fiat Silver breathes, "Come on --" And her feet float off of the ground as she leans forwards, prepared to flit swiftly. "We have to hurry!"

Fiat Silver does say "Congratulations," as she ends up nearer to the two newly empowered, though.

Silver Scorpion concurs, <Congratulations indeed. Do you know if it will be possible to arrest our inevitable demise vis a vis our plunging towards the surface of this planet?>

COMBAT: Fiat Silver has fully healed herself.

At the same time, in the Portal Room:

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

TWO EPISODES AGO ON LOCKS AND KEYS

A Key activates on the Rainbow Bridge, then is dragged (along with the woman who had contained it in her heart) into the deeps of Tokyo Bay by a massive, kraken-like protodaimon! Magical girls respond en masse, defeat the demon, and rescue the woman, but in the aftermath, the Key is nowhere to be found.

EARLIER TODAY

The missing Key's light shines through a purple Midchildan portal hanging off the edge of the Rainbow Bridge. The closest magical girls investigate, disappearing through the portal. They have a fight on the other side -- a fight in which Ren Aizawa and Souverain Heraut are named a 'Priority Target Rebel Scum,' and in which Endo Naoki and Fallen Stern are called 'Betrayers.'

It is not a fight they win, and because they've learned that the portal is one-way, they're forced to hide within the strange ruins they've wound up in, to regroup and heal.

NOW: TOKYO

In the last several hours the portal's size has grown exponentially. It is now about two-thirds the height of Tokyo Tower, scant inches above Tokyo Bay and extending high, high above the Rainbow Bridge. It is still pouring white Key light into the city, and freaking out the populace -- an evacuation warning has been issued, and parts of Tokyo closest to the shore are emptying upland.

Someone's got to go through that portal and find out what on Earth -- or off of it -- is going on. And once they do, they're greeted with a real sight to see:

The wreckage of a chamber that clearly was the sight of a major battle. It's like a weirdly high technology castle, with gray stoney surfaces for walls, floor and ceiling that aren't really stone at all, and many panels and mosaics of buttons on said walls and floor which could be tapestries and rugs but definitely aren't. Everything feels ancient even while, simultaneously, being both anachronistic and futuristic when compared to modern Earth.

Some of the buttons have been permanently jammed down, and there are scorch marks everywhere -- not to mention that one of the walls has been blasted into rubble and dust. Behind it is the impossibly smooth curvature of a very faintly shimmering force field, and behind /that/ is the surface of the Moon, pockmarked and cratered with merely the passage of millions of years of meteors, rather than whatever rather more recently ruined the decor inside.

Space is cold, even with this mystical shielding.

But the six burning eyes that flare instantly into life upon the arrival of a second party through the portal -- two per robot, for three robots total, each one ten feet tall and looking like massive, archaic, ornate armor with a big smooth round marble for a head (there's a red one, a blue one, and a white one) -- are colder still. Each Ancient Drone Knight is armed with an axe in one hand and a sword in the other.

Having had a few hours since their last battle to run their auto-recovery magical routines, the battle robots show no signs of it; their armor is depressingly pristine.

They speak in the manner of Intelligent Devices, Midchildan-style magic, though amongst their three terse voices they have surprisingly distinct personalities.

<< More intruders! >> << Let us commence their destruction. >> << DIE, REBEL SCUM! >>

Their fighting styles are not so varied; they are appallingly fast, appallingly tough, and appallingly deadly. They use all of these advantages with brutal efficiency, intercepting the magical girls even as they come in with a nasty combination of attacks.

<< Faultierstreik!! >> The White Drone Knight lays about with abandon, summoning ice to the edge of its axe, chill which cuts to the bone even more terribly than the blade itself.

<< Fangenblitz. >> The Red Drone Knight weaves a net of raw energy out of the air; it crackles with electricity, and promises agony to anyone caught within it.

<< Flugelaufregung! >> The Blue Drone Knight becomes a blur of sword and axe, a whirlwind of steel, eager to smash its enemies into the walls and floor.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro transforms into Drone Knights!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has fully healed herself. She is now ready to take on 12 opponents!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fangenblitz on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Flugelaufregung on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Faultierstreik on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Faultierstreik on Jad Werke.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Mana Charge on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro accepts Honoka Yukishiro's Mana Charge, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Honoka Yukishiro is Reinforced by Honoka Yukishiro! 
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Flugelaufregung, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates!  Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates! 
COMBAT: Jad Werke narrowly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Faultierstreik, taking 10 Fatigue damage! 
COMBAT: Jad Werke's counterattack, Reverse Tide, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro! 
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Fangenblitz, taking 10 Fatigue damage!  Lancelot is Quipped! 
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Faultierstreik, taking 39 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Jad Werke [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

So part the first- Jad had heard something was going down that Fate, Lera, and the others had gone to be involved in! That meant that it was time to try and get some work done, possibly relating to the whole key thing - he hadn't really been entirely clear what was going on, but that was nothing new.

Part the second was that Jad had not been anywhere near the area needed to actually join the group during the first portal... jumpy... leapy thing-a-ma-jig. So he had been running late - literally in this case, there was a lot of running - when he had been informed that no one had really come out of the portal. Which was not a good thing! You sort of hoped that people would check in and all that. Which meant that he had two options when he finally reached the portal. He could secure the perimeter, wait for backup, that sort of thing. Secure a line and wait for someone to spot him and maybe pull him back, which would have been smart. Perhaps wait for Lindy to get here and give him a tracker or something. That would have been a wise decision.

Going headfirst into the portal as soon as he got there did not rank up on the 'wise' meter. But guess what happens as soon as Jad arrives? If you guessed that it was 'shout and immediately leap into the portal' then congratulations, you get a piece of pie!

Which means that he is probably the first one to plow straight into the drone knights on the toher side!

"DUNNO WHO YOU ARE BUT OUTTADAWAAAAAAY!" Jad shouts as he comes roaring through the portal, a wave of water appearing under his feat as he skids along the ground. The blue drone comes whirling at him, and the blue haired young mage raises one hand, pulling a ball of water from the surge he has created around his feet and slamming it into the incoming sword. The impact sends a splash out in all directions, and Jad whirls away to land on the wall, shaking his hand back and forth. "Man that stings," he grouses, flexing his fingers and then looking at the drone.

He doesn't bother to come back down to the ground - the surge of water around his feet leaves him attached to the wall, and he points at the blue drone! "Hey, you! With the robot parts! I'm looking for my friends - few girls who came through that portal! You may have, I dunno, ATTACKED THEM or something! Where did they go!"

<I suspect the hole in the wall might answer that question.> Schwartzritter comments absently. <These uncouth drones probably ran them off. Such ungentlemanly behavior - AIs should know better!>

"Well, always up for beating a lesson into these drones!" Jad states, and slams his fists together, the armored gauntlets of his device making a clanking sound. With that, he leaps off the wall, sliding along his water surge as he comes straight at the blue drone. A quick moment of calculation, and he leaves the ground - one foot snapping up, the water surge tailing along behind it as he crashes down towards the blue knight. "GENERIC DROP KICK ATTAAAAACCK!"

COMBAT: Jad Werke has used Wave Drop Kick on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Jad Werke's Wave Drop Kick, taking 7 Fatigue damage!  Jad Werke is Psyched!  Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Verhaltnis, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Jad Werke!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The Fire Knight was all ready for combat, but had no idea what to expect at this time. That was, until she found herself getting attacked by... whatever it is! The Fire Knight doesn't see it coming until it's too late, meaning her attempt to protect herself doesn't work as well as she hopes, causing her to grunt a little in pain.

"Unngh... where's Fuu-chan when you need her?" The Fire Knight thinks to herself aloud as she regains her stance after that. She knows that her ally, the Wind Knight, is nowhere to be seen for now, but she does not let that get her down. What gets her, though, is the fact that she has no idea what she's truly up against, since the blow knocked her senseless a little. All she can do is grip her sword and hope for the best.

"Here's to hoping!" The Fire Knight thinks as she swings in the general direction of where her attacker came from. She's hoping that her strike does some damage at least, to prove that she's not defenseless in the least, and that she's willing to fight to the end!

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Sword Slash on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Earlier

Takeo stood looking at the portal as the people around him were being evacuated. He put a hand to the wound at his gut where the Proto-Daimon had bit him. He could still remember taste that permeated his mouth when he bit the thing back. He winced. It wasn't delicious. It wasn't delicious at all. He knew what was delicious. Bacon.

Mmmmm Bacon.

He shook his head. There were things more important than bacon right now. He winced. Not believing such thoughts went through his head. He took a deep breath and grasped his amulet. He may be hurt, but he had a job to do. He had to protect Tokyo. He had to protect his parents and his sister Mika. He nodded and held the amulet aloft, as lightning swirled from the amulet and a storm raged around him. "I SWEAR TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT!"

Now

Lancelot ran through the corridors, Arondight held easily in his hand. He spins around a corner only to see a Knight Drone weaving a web of lightning and hurtling it at him. He blinks and throws himself against the wall, the energy sparking against his armor and he winces. "Huh. So that's what that's like..."

He pushes off the wall and twirls Arondight. "You want some Lightning?" He asks. "Try this on!" He launches himself at the Knight and slashes, blue white lightning flashing and slashing toward the lightning wielding knight drone. Thunder cracks and echoes against the walls of the ship as he cries out: "LIGHTNING SLASH!" He lands in a crouch, prepared to spring again.

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning Slash on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Lancelot's Lightning Slash, taking 4 Fatigue damage!  Lancelot is Psyched!  Honoka Yukishiro's Block ability activates!  Honoka Yukishiro's Parry ability activates!  Stagger applied to Honoka Yukishiro! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly dodges Hikaru Shidou's Sword Slash, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Dodge!  Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

The awareness of another Key's sudden appearance in the city, and then the strange wrenching feel of its mystic transit through the portal, presses on Pluto's mind. She answers the call out of duty and out of curiosity -- her vested interest in the fate of Tokyo's Keys -- suited up in full Senshi regalia, Garnet Rod by her side as always, with the black domino mask perched on her face as it was during her previous battle.

Having guarded one for milennia, Sailor Pluto is more comfortable than most with magical portals. The sheer size of the one looming above Tokyo Bay sets it apart from most, though, and so she enters with what measure of caution is possible given the circumstances, allowing Jad Werke and his battle cry to rush ahead before she herself leaps through.

Sailor Pluto takes in the castle and her surroundings in a quick glance, also being used to strangeness...

...but then halts, mid-stride, her mouth in a very uncustomary 'o' of shock as she takes in the blasted, dead surface of her former home. The sight stabs her heart, renewing a long-buried ache, and distracts the normally unshakeable Guardian of Time at a critical juncture. By the time she sees the oncoming frozen axe blade it is too late to get clear.

She leaps even knowing she cannot avoid the blade, and just barely avoids edge of the blade itself, taking the bruising-cold force of the strike from the haft instead and falling to the strange floor with it. It drives a cry of pain from her -- "NGH!" -- but she still finds it in her to roll away with instinct borne of long years fighting alone, always alone, with no one to protect her if she fell.

Her roll takes her to the great white robot's side, and she springs up to launch a flurry of strikes at its legs with the Garnet Rod spinning end over end. She pushes through the dull ache in her ribs just as she pushes through the ache in her heart, brows drawn together with the effort.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has used Pendulum Blitz on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Sailor Pluto's Pendulum Blitz, taking 4 Fatigue damage!  Sailor Pluto is Psyched!  Honoka Yukishiro's Block ability activates!  Honoka Yukishiro's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

The Blue Drone Knight seems unimpressed by Jad's questions, which are really more like statements -- but the kick it treats with moderately more respect, bringing up the sword in its off-hand to intercept.

<< Verhaltnis. >> With an unholy howl, the sword starts vibrating, making it an extremely unpleasant perch! And the robot follows up, eyes burning brightly, blade tearing brutally through the air, trying to swat Jad while he's still midair in his leap, to make contact and slam him into one of the ancient walls. << Atemberaubendschlag! >>

Hikaru and Sailor Pluto attack the White Drone Knight simultaneously, and it speeds so quickly out of the Magic Knight of Fire's way that it might as well have teleported. Pluto's able to keep up, though, but the way that her weapon clanks off of its legs is rather demoralizing. Hardly a dent is left. This ancient artifact is ridiculously, supernally tough. Hardly a 'monster of the day.' Indeed, power radiates off of all three robots in palpable waves.

In response it tries the net that its red counterpart tried on Lancelot, sticky, clinging, burning, shocking. It's summoned from nowhere in no time at all. << Fangenblitz! >>

Lancelot finds little more luck assaulting the Red Drone Knight -- it takes his lightning slashes head on, and they leave a little red scratch across one pauldron, but not much else. << All rebels will die. >> It presses the knight back with blow after blow from its sword.

And then -- quite unexpectedly -- the lights flicker on. They haven't been, this derelict lit only by the various magical items and auras suffusing those aboard. Even now the power seems iffy, flickering, not every bulb igniting and those that do as gentle as a butterfly's wing.

The noise isn't delicate at all -- it's a basso rumble, a hum, a paean to awakening sung by an engine more ancient than most civilizations on Earth.

To the sound of crunching moondust and exterior armoring, the ship painfully extricates itself from its Lunar crevasse. Its stability is drunken at best, sending those not well-braced or expecting it (possibly everyone who isn't a Drone Knight) skittering across the floor.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Atemberaubendschlag on Jad Werke.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fangenblitz on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Fangenblitz on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Flugelaufregung on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Mana Charge on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro accepts Honoka Yukishiro's Mana Charge, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro is Reinforced by Honoka Yukishiro! 
COMBAT: Jad Werke narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Atemberaubendschlag, taking 11 Fatigue damage!  Jad Werke's Block ability activates!  Jad Werke's Parry ability activates!  Diversion, Stagger, and Stun applied to Jad Werke! 
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Flugelaufregung, taking 5 Fatigue damage!  Lancelot's Block ability activates!  Lancelot's Parry ability activates! 
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou fails to counter Honoka Yukishiro's Fangenblitz, taking 13 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Hikaru Shidou is Quipped! 
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou's counterattack, Red Hot Blade, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro! 
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto perfectly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Fangenblitz, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Counter!  Sailor Pluto's Reverse ability activates!  Sailor Pluto's Tactician ability activates! 
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto's counterattack, Garnet Ball, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Jad Werke [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

The drone and the mage collide in mid-strike, Jad's fist pushing back against the sword from the drone for a moment before the two of them break apart. Jad leaps backwards once, skidding backwards across the ground for a moment as the water surge builds up behind him. He can still feel the force of that impact - his arms have gone a bit numb. Probably better to not try and clash head on for a little bit.

...probably better, but... nah.

"Not bad, not bad," Jad states, one hand on the ground as he finally comes to a stop. He smiles, not rising from his crouch for a moment as he considers his options.

It looks like quite a few more people just came through the portal as well. These girls looked like they could take care of themselves, and Jad states quietly, "Schwartz, can you detect any of the others' devices from here? I want to make sure they're safe first - then we can come back and deal with all these robot... knight... robot things."

And then the ship awakens. The unexpected motion of the floor, the fact that they're suddenly rising is unexpected! It's a space ship! They're on a space ship!

They are on an EXTREMELY CRAPPY SPACE SHIP! Who doesn't build proper inertial dampers into their ship? "Woah, woah - what is this, a carnival ride or something!?!" Jad shouts as the deck cants at an unexpected angle.

The floor suddenly becoming less than stable is surprising, and Jad slides along the ground for a moment. But his style is a fluid one, and he's used to being in motion. The trick was to use it! And so he slides across the room, towards the huge hole in the wall - but only to come to a stop near to one of the larger pieces of debris. "Alright buckethead! Lets try this one on for size!" Jad concentrates, a triangular magic circle appearing around him - and over one of his hands. He raises the fist up, and then slams it into the ground. "GEYSER LAUNCHER!"

And then several large pieces of debris leap into the air, propelled upwards by jets of water. A single twist of his body, and Jad snaps one fist forward - a number of magical circles appearing behind the pieces of wrecked and propelling them at the blue drone knight at extremely high speed.

COMBAT: Jad Werke has used Geyser Launcher on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Jad Werke has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Jad Werke's Geyser Launcher, taking 21 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Lancelot leaps back, Arondight's shining white blade flashing to deflect the Red Knight's incoming assault. He lands and crouches low, still parrying, but then he presses. Holding his blade against the Red Knight's and pushing with all his might. He pushes the blade to the side and spins away, Arondight arcing electricity that flashes and whips along the walls of the corridor.

Then he launches forward, with Arondight moving faster than what people can follow. Each swing of the Arondight is a flashing bolt of lightning, sending waves of the blue white lightning thundering toward the Red Knight before him. As he attacks he calls outm "FURIOUS ASSAULT!" The words barely heard over the rapid fire assaults of the blade. He ends the attack with a mid body slash and stands there with Arondight held at the ready. "I don't suppose you want to surrender?"

He pauses and then looks around. "Wait. Are all spaceships castles?" Then he blinks. "Holy Bacon! Does this mean England is full of spaceships?! ohmygosh. England has an Armada.... That is so cool..."

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Furious Assault on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Lancelot's Furious Assault, taking 16 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

After the Garnet Rod clangs off of her opponent in disappointing fashion, Sailor Pluto steos back and exhales, and her breath comes out in a frozen cloud. The first blow of the axe she took paves her lungs with crystals of frost, freezing Pluto from the inside out. When the Drone Knight summons lightning and casts it down at Hikaru and her, Pluto knows she needs a moment to recoup. She thrusts the Garnet Rod high above her and shouts, a painful wheezing in her voice: "Garnet Ball!"

The top section of the Garnet Rod floats up and free of the staff to interpose itself between its mistress and the oncoming threat. A shimmering barrier erupts around Sailor Pluto, casting her in the deep red of its energy, and the net settles onto it and crackles violently before dissipating with a *fzzt* of escaping energy.

The sphere of crimson flickers and fades, leaving Pluto standing unscorched. She lifts the Rod once more and reunites it with its Orb.

She sees Lancelot and the crackling electricity accompanying him and notes his presence -- they'd had an unfriendly meeting -- and hopes the absence of Homura Akemi will remove any bone of contention between them. The thought is interrupted by the shaking of the castle and its true nature becomes apparent moments later as Pluto slides along the tilting floor. She crouches as she can, holding the Rod sideways for balance's sake, and catches one of those strange panels as she nears a wall.

Thus stabilized -- at least unless and until the ship moves more violently -- Sailor Pluto decides she has had enough of fighting these robots without knowing their true natures, as well. The Garnet Rod rises once more and she peers through the crystal atop it, invoking memories of foes past that might lend wisdom to her fight against these deadly Drone Knights.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has used Golden Eternity Lens on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Sailor Pluto's Golden Eternity Lens, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro's Block ability activates!  Honoka Yukishiro's Parry ability activates!  Analysis performed by Sailor Pluto!  Stun applied to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Casting fire upon her blade and gripping it tightly, the Fire Knight attempts to go in and strike back at her target, but it is no use. She is knocked away and lands on the ground hard. Grunting but pushing herself back up, the Fire Knight feels the adrenaline burning within her, even if her mind is telling her to just retreat and be done with it. The Fire Knight knows she cannot give in that easily!

"You hit me hard, but I hit even harder!" The Fire Knight says as she calls for the magic of flame to come to her. "Fire Arrow!" She cries, conjuring a flaming arrow shaped projectile and shooting it directly at the drone that just attacked her. "May you burn for this!"

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Fire Arrow on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Hikaru Shidou's Fire Arrow, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Panzerhauer, partially gets through, doing 32 Fatigue damage to Hikaru Shidou!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Jad's Device quickly confirms the presence of other Devices -- five of them! But there's some kind of shielding in the walls, rendering the usual communications impossible. There's also shielding in the floors -- they crack a little under Jad's strain, but it's mostly a few pre-existing chunks of debris from the time one of the robots shattered a wall in the previous battle that are available for chucking.

All that said, they chuck very nicely. It's a pity the Blue Drone Knight doesn't hang around to appreciate it; it ducks under the first, swerves around the second, and slashes through the third, a slash that summons a bolt of terrible energy, one that continues its path right towards Jad's face with equally terrible force. << Panzerhauer. >>

The White Drone Knight summons a bolt that is its equal to engulf, and then continue past, Hikaru's Fire Arrow. << Panzerhauer, rebel scum!! >> It's into it. Before the explosion has even cleared, it's already speeding along -- across Sailor Pluto's field of vision -- to press its advantage. << Verhaltnis! >> Its blades summon vibration, and pain, as it slashes about -- and flicks yet another of those terrifying energy bolts towards the observing senshi almost as an afterthought.

Before that happened, though, she got a good look at these creatures, and obtained one key observation: while this ship is terribly ancient, doubtless explaining its propensity to GRIND through space miserably rather than soar, the drones aren't old at all. They look old, but that is an appearance designed to decieve. They're brand new -- and unimaginably powerful -- and... about to get much, much worse.

One doesn't have to be Sailor Pluto to see the orbs that comprise these drones' heads filling with color. They're all becoming light purple; the same purple that edged the portal that brought everyone here in the first place.

<< No surrender. >> The Red Drone Knight swirls around Lancelot faster than he can slash, and receives only light wounds for his considerable trouble. Slamming its axe and sword together, the two weapons merge in a burst of white energy, becoming a single massive greatsword, which the Red Knight brings down with deadly force. << Atemberaubendschlag! >>

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Panzerhauer on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Panzerhauer on Jad Werke.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Verhaltnis on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Atemberaubendschlag on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Mana Charge on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro accepts Honoka Yukishiro's Mana Charge, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Honoka Yukishiro is Reinforced by Honoka Yukishiro! 
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Atemberaubendschlag, taking 18 Fatigue damage!  Diversion and Stun applied to Lancelot! 
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Verhaltnis, taking 18 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Hikaru Shidou's Block ability activates!  Hikaru Shidou's Parry ability activates! 
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Panzerhauer, taking 17 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Sailor Pluto's Block ability activates!  Sailor Pluto's Parry ability activates! 
COMBAT: Jad Werke narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Panzerhauer, taking 23 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

"Oh. Crap." Lancelot says as his eyes go wide at the fusing weaponry into a great sword. He throws himself flat against the wall, narrowly avoiding the Red Knight's greatsword and then back peddling quickly, not sure what what to do next. His head whips from the left ot the right as he searches for anything he can possibly use as an advantage in the fight that he is very clearly loosing.

He frowns slightly. He has to drive this back, take the offensive in this fight. It's like in a Kendo spar. The person who attacks and maintains the offensive will win. He had to go on teh offensive. "BLADEFURY!"

As he calls out, he launches forward once again. While not as fast as his previous assault they do come remarkably quick, but these are more precise, more focused. Arondight flashes and releases lighting in a thuderous detonation with each attack as he continues to hammer at the Red Knight before him.

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Bladefury on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Pluto peers through the Garnet Orb, looks deep... and finds menace in near-overwhelming quantity. There are few analogues to be found, but the touchstones that do flash through the depths of the Orb speak of incredible power, both offensive and defensive. While she has only turned the lens of time and space on one of the Drone Knights, she feels it safe to assume they are equals in power, even as she wonders at the discrepency in age between them and the ancient ship they inhabit.

Well, then.

The threat does not dishearten the Guardian of Time. That there are touchstones at all means she has faced down threats like this before -- or, perhaps, that she will some day yet to pass in this timeline -- and Sailor Pluto can take comfort in that. Her will does not falter.

The oncoming bolt of energy rushes up on Pluto and she snaps the Garnet Rod up in front of her, trusting its eternal strength to absorb the shock. It does, somewhat, but then the energy crackles and leaps to her arm, scorching her clean white glove all the way to its cuff at her elbow.

Sailor Pluto winces but her grip stays firm. It would take far, far more than that to get the Guardian of Time to lose hold of her charge.

Another pitching of the ship and it levels for a moment, enough for Pluto to gather her legs beneath her and take off at a run -- straight for the White Knight, letting her breaths stab through her frozen chest with each step. As she closes with it she launches into the air to drill toward the great robot's torso, heels leading.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has used Sailor Pluto Kick on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The more the Fire Knight takes, the harder it feels to keep things going. Yet, even though she barely defends against the latest attack, the Fire Knight still refuses to give up. She holds herself steady, even though her breathing is becoming a bit heavier. She doesn't want to go down without a fight, but it's feeling like it might be like that now. "The flames will guide me..." The Fire Knight weakly says, conjuring up more fire.

This time, it seems more like a huge fireball than an actual shape. "I'll burn you to a crisp!" She cries out, shooting forth that fireball.

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used You're Fired on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Jad Werke [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

"Haha, put on the pressure!" Jad shouts. Really that wasn't a pun. Probably. He's not the sort to make puns in combat, at least. He tries to be a good person that way.

Unfortunately that means that there is quite a bit of opportunity for the other drone to strike back - it's not like he managed to smash it or anything. And it comes roaring at him, the massive bolt of energy roaring right towards Jad.

He pushes back, barely managing to leap out of the way. The blast of energy roars straight past him, slamming into the wall behind with a rather harsh *crunch*. He slides down the wall, muttering under his breath for a moment. "Oooowww... right. That wasn't nice at all." Slowly pushing himself upright, he glares at the knight drone for a moment.

I believe that I have detected the others. However the material of the ship is blocking communications. We will need to break out and attempt to locate them.>

"Well, that's some good news at least, Schwartz," Jad states, pushing himself upright. "If they're nearby, hopefully they'll be back here soon." And with that, Jad leaps forward, running towards the blue robot. And then he leaps... clear over it. He holds out both hands, a magical circle appearing in front of him. "TIDAL BIND!" he shouts - and tendrils of water erupt from the ground, reaching up to lash around the drones and restrain them, making movement difficult and keeping them from lashing out as effectively. "I'll hold em, everyone Go for it!"

COMBAT: Jad Werke has used Tidal Bind on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Jad Werke has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to brace Lancelot's Bladefury, taking 34 Fatigue damage!  Lancelot is Psyched! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly dodges Hikaru Shidou's You're Fired, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Dodge!  Honoka Yukishiro's Fade ability activates! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Sailor Pluto's Sailor Pluto Kick, taking 7 Fatigue damage!  Sailor Pluto is Psyched!  Honoka Yukishiro's Block ability activates!  Honoka Yukishiro's Parry ability activates! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly counters Jad Werke's Tidal Bind, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Critical Counter!  Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, REBEL SCUM!, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Jad Werke!

---

The two rooms converge:

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Lancelot manages to seize the momentum at last -- each of his huge hits carves off a tiny bit of armor from the Red Drone Knight, who's behind, by just a beat. He's attuned enough to the ebbs and flows of this battle to realize that something is going on; there's no reason for his opponent to be abruptly, noticeably, slower. Even as sparking-red circuitry pours out of one wound -- circuitry recognizable to those who fought and paid close attention to a drone that looked rather like one of the late Precia Testarossa's robotic soldiers back in Harajuku (ed. note: Locks and Keys 1) -- it is rising with energy, pulsing with it, that light purple pouring all over it.

It's the same with the others. The White Drone Knight takes Sailor Pluto's kick full-force, and she leaves a satisfying dent; Hikaru's fireball closes towards it even as Jad's watery energy binds appear on all sides. This is their big chance, the tide is finally turning...

...but...

...then everything goes wrong at once.

With a miserable shriek, the ship's engine rises in pitch by a factor of eight, becoming inaudible and painfully, agonizingly so, tearing straight through the head as effectively as any sword.

And then lights go back out, the engine dead. In contrast, the sense of power within the Drone Knights finally hits its maximum and explodes. There's a flash of blinding purple radiance, and afterwards, the robots are, besides unburnt and unbound... different.

Their armor is sleeker; their bulbs are no longer diverse, but all of them a beautiful, darker purple. It's a familiar purple, and made moreso by its association with their new weapons, which momentarily faded out of existence...

...and then reformed as massive greatswords. Just immense, putting the one that the Blue Drone briefly summoned to shame. They're black and purple and more like rectangular clubs, in a way.

No, wait. Those were the sheaths. Fallen Stern -- Endo Naoki's weapon -- has apparently never been drawn, all this time.

Until now.

The air groans when the blades split it. They're coated in circuitry and vents, and the edge may have no thickness at all; what lights there are flinch away from it, unable to catch it for long.

<< Blauverschiebung. >> The three Knights intone in unison. Their voices are altered, too -- more grave, though not quite true twins of Fallen Stern. They dive towards their four opponents, any single one of their blows aimed not to stun, not to disable, but to kill.

OOC: The newcomers have my permission to cover the targets! Please work out for yourselves who's covering whom (and you're also welcome to deal with the incoming attack yourself if you prefer, of course).

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro transforms into Drone Knights: Stern Mode!
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Blauverschiebung on Jad Werke.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Blauverschiebung on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Blauverschiebung on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Blauverschiebung on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Mana Charge on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro accepts Honoka Yukishiro's Mana Charge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro is Reinforced by Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Cure Passion covers Sailor Pluto for Honoka Yukishiro's attack, Blauverschiebung, taking it upon themselves instead!
COMBAT: Lera Camry perfectly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Blauverschiebung, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter! Lera Camry's Reverse ability activates! Lera Camry's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry's counterattack, Mantle Heart, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Cure Passion fails to brace Honoka Yukishiro's Blauverschiebung, taking 31 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lancelot fails to dodge Honoka Yukishiro's Blauverschiebung, taking 38 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji tries to cover Hikaru Shidou for Honoka Yukishiro's attack, Blauverschiebung, but cannot get there in time!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji covers Hikaru Shidou for Honoka Yukishiro's attack, Blauverschiebung, taking it upon themselves instead!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji fails to brace Honoka Yukishiro's Blauverschiebung, taking 33 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

The blade comes crashing down at Jad Werke, and the sheer size of Fallen Stern promises a problem; the power behind the attack, however, could make it end him. Before the blade hits, however, a series of lines of green light trace out in the air between Jad Werke and the sword. They form a dome made of hexes.

The hexes fill in with yellow light and the blade slams down into it, bouncing backward. Lera Camry comes flying in, hurtling towards the trio of Drone Knights. Her coat flutters after her; her teeth grit together. "Sorry we're late!" she yells. "We had to get the ship started!"

<Camry. Smash them.> Broken Ground rumbles as much as he chimes. Lera swings the warhammer in her hand out, the hammer's head drawing in motes of golden light. Then, a bolt of golden yellow energy, tinged red on the edges, flies straight and true for the Red Drone Knight. "Just what I was planning on!" she yells. "I'm real curious who you're working for!"

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Molten Bolt on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

"Look out!" There's a blur of color, as a pink-haired girl in crimson cloth armor darts between the drone's massive sword and Sailor Pluto, the gems at her head flashing in the light. She lifts her arms against the blow, but it breaks past her guard easily, sending the Cure a step backward, though she wasn't its intended target, and isn't struck down by a blow aimed not for her.

It's a deep wound, but she doesn't cry out--she stares up at the Drone. "I won't let you do whatever you want!"

Without looking over her shoulder, she calls to Sailor Pluto, "I'm Cure Passion! I know Sailor Moon!"

...The outfit's familiar, after all.

"Haaah--!" She doesn't stop to chat. As soon as she's recovered her balance, she darts forward, swinging in her leg for a kick just like the one that she used against a drone earlier, to disarm him--

And slides right past as soon as it looks like she's committed to the blow, following up with a trio of supernaturally-reinforced punches.

COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Flash Feint on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Jad Werke [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Jad watches as the sword comes arcing around towards him, threatening to do terrible amounts of damage. But there are people here who are willing to help, and Jad grins as Lera leaps into the path of the attack, knocking the weapon away as she lands a perfect counterattack.

"Well, I can see that this is a failure of being backup on my part! But I'm glad to see you, Lera!" He leaps to his feet, raising one hand and gathering his magical power again.

"Dunno what these things are, they're not exactly communicative." Well, besides shouting about traitors and all that, but Lera's probably heard that as well. Which wasn't the most communicative thing they could have said. "Well, let's work on cleaning up, and we can decide what to do from there!" And the mage leaps into action, charging at the blue drone knight again. He holds out one hand, several spheres of water appearing around him. And rather than getting in close like he usually does, Jad begins to use a punching motion to launch the water orbs directly at the blue knight. Each one is like a bullet that aims to crash into it, leaving dents or (even better) punching holes in its armor where they can break through. These things are being quite a pain, and he'll be glad to be done with them soon!

COMBAT: Jad Werke has used Tsunami Barrage on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Jad Werke has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Lera Camry's Molten Bolt, taking 6 Fatigue damage!  Lera Camry is Psyched!  Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Resonant Frequency, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Lera Camry! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Cure Passion's Flash Feint, taking 2 Fatigue damage!  Cure Passion is Psyched!  Honoka Yukishiro's Block ability activates!  Honoka Yukishiro's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"Hikaru-san!!" a familiar voice rings out, and then a green-and-white shape (not quite fast enough to be a blur, but it's close) interposes itself between the Magic Knight of Fire and the Drone Knight of Security.

That sudden defense would probably have been rather more effective with a Winds of Protection, but the Magic Knight of Wind didn't really have the time for that. "Ouch ..." the Wind Knight mutters, then looks over her shoulder with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for not being here sooner; how are you faring, Hikaru-san?"

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Favorable Observation on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou accepts Fuu Hououji's Favorable Observation, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Hikaru Shidou is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.

Fate Testarossa streaks into the room, a golden blaze of light, carrying Cure Passion by her single free hand. It looks like a dire situation, so she's going particularly fast. Especially when she sees the three Drone Knights intoning their spell. "Passion, go!"

With sudden twist, and a swing of her arm she throws her towards the ground. Not too far from Sailor Pluto. She's not saying that she has to save her... but the fabulous magical warrior does look like she's having a rough time, doesn't she?

Fate then swerves around in a wide arc to the side. Lera is attacking with motes of golden light. Their blades were powerful before, but now that they look like Fallen Stern she's wary about being a little less able to predict them. Well... Fate stops suddenly at the edges of the room. She spins around Bardiche in a sudden flourish, as she begins the ritual that she'd etched within her heart "Arcus, Cultus, Aegeas..."

A runic ring of concentric circles appear at her feet, shifting in opposite directions. <Photon Lancer> There's only a moment's hesitation, out of concern for her Device, but then out of her lips comes, "Phalanx Shift."

Suddenly the edge of the chamber begins to wink into what looks like countless distant stars. But they're not. Instead they're by spheres of lightning, radiant, terrible, and wonderful all at once, crackling with violet energy along the edges of gold. They stand in formation like tiny soldiers, as Fate raises her poleaxe over her head, and swipes them down like she's a general directing them, "FIRE!"

They lance towards all three of the drones, as she blankets them with them, the air blossoming with small explosions and clouds of smoke. It's meant to be a distraction for... "Ren! Endo! You can do it!"

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Photon Lancer: Phalanx Shift on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Endo comes bounding forward into the room, weapon raised high. The same weapon that all the drones are carrying, which is somewhat concerning. He is, however, definitely not on their size. There's a shout as he propels himself forward, rushing to the side of one of the drones. He bursts from Fate's cloud of smoke, bringing his weapon around in a sweeping cut while the drone is distracted.

"Fate! Got it!" And, to the machine: "Hey! Take this!"

<IMPOSTER.>

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Suddenly finding himself slammed against a wall by the force one of the upgraded Drone Knight's new and improved greatswords. Lancelot bounces off the wall and then slams into the groun. He rolls onto his back and groans slightly, before he begins to slowly push himself back to his feet. He grips Arondight tightly and locks his eyes on the face plate of the Dron Knight that was once the Red Knight.

He stands up and rolls his shoulders. He points Arondight at the Drone and bolts of lightning arc and flail in a river of lightning. He shouts "LIGHTNING!" as the power sparks and whips toward the enemy drone. He walks forward as the lightning fires, trying to drive the mechanical knight back. The light dances and shadows play along the edges of his armor.

All the while his other hand draws power toward him. He narrows his blue eyes, the power flooding him even as he unleashes the torrent of electricity toward his foe.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has used Blauverschiebung on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Ren comes bursting in on the intense fighting along with her cohorts, stopping short in midair to survey the area. No one seems to have fallen yet, which fills her with hope for the end result of this battle. Lera, Setsuna, and Fuu rush to cover several of the other combatants, and Ren takes this moment to get herself into position to strike back at one of the knights -- specifically the blue knight who took her out hours before.

"Hey you!" She shouts, and that's all the warning the drone gets before a very fired up mage girl is rushing at him with a shining, pointed lance!

>Thanks Fate-chan! Please be careful too!<

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Just when the Fire Knight thinks she's done for, her ally comes from seemingly nowhere and takes the brunt of the attack. "Fuu-chan!" The Fire Knight calls out cheerfully. "You came to help me!" She smiles. "I knew I could count on you!" She smiles even more when the Wind Knight encourages her. "We'll do this, don't worry!"

She turns to face the enemy, then looks to the Wind Knight again. "I just need a moment. I'm sure we can do this!"

COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has used Skip A Turn on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Hikaru Shidou accepts Hikaru Shidou's Skip A Turn, taking 0 Fatigue damage! 
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Lance of Faith on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lancelot has used Lightning III on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Fate Testarossa's Photon Lancer: Phalanx Shift, taking 42 Fatigue damage! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Ren Aizawa's Lance of Faith, taking 10 Fatigue damage!  Ren Aizawa is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

CLANG!!*

The two heels of Sailor Pluto's boots connect simultaneously with the metal body of the White Knight, and the sound rings out like a church's bell tolling the hour.

The robot stumbles, unexpectedly, and Pluto springs away, nimble enough for that at least despite the pain in her chest. She lands on her feet a meter or so away, ready to rush in as many times as are needed, and tries not to think of how tireless and resilient these massive foes are. Fire and lightning detonate nearby as the others attack the Drone Knights, strobing the room with the stormy fireworks of magical combat, and Pluto's red eyes narrow against the brightness. The light glints off her earrings.

Then she hears Jad's cry to "Go for it!" and whips around, her long cedar-colored tail of hair twirling about her with the movement, to see his binding tendrils of water reach for the Drones... and wash off like the tide going out, leaving the massive robot Knights untouched. Her mouth twists in a grimace, dismay breaking her frown of concentration.

The engine screams. The lights go out. The robots glow, violet light flaring -- Pluto catches their brilliance full-face and blinks furiously to clear her vision.

Sailor Pluto hears the cavalry coming but does not see it. Eyes blurry with tears of reactive pain, all she sees is light splitting as the massive greatsword heaves toward her. The senshi -- mysterious in a black domino mask but still dressed suspiciously like the Sailor Scouts who help protect Tokyo -- calls on muscles frozen and slowed by the Knight's earlier attacks and feels them falter and quiver.

She won't be able to move in time.

Pink and red flash before her. It's not the rending of her own flesh, as Pluto expected, but the heroic appearance of Cure Passion to defy the Drone Knight's deadly attack. A final tremor runs through Pluto's muscles and then she rallies, forcing limbs to obey, driven to action by the bravery of the young girl standing between her and death.

"My thanks, Cure Passion!" The bemasked senshi doesn't respond to the second bit, somewhat conspicuously. Instead she steps up alongside the Pretty Cure, leaving enough room between them that she can safely launch into an attack of her own. The Garnet Rod whirs in Pluto's hands, blurring as she puts all her strength into striking the robot over and over with renewed fury.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Endo Naoki's Blauverschiebung, taking 15 Fatigue damage!  Endo Naoki is Psyched! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Lancelot's Lightning III, taking 2 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro's Block ability activates!  Honoka Yukishiro's Parry ability activates! 
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has used Pendulum Blitz on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro perfectly dodges Sailor Pluto's Pendulum Blitz, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Dodge! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Jad Werke's Tsunami Barrage, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  Jad Werke is Psyched!  Honoka Yukishiro's Block ability activates!  Honoka Yukishiro's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Fiat Silver [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

During transit, Fiat Silver didn't rush as far ahead as she could -- there is hesitation in her in this approaching rematch, but at least she has put two and two together and come up with what is hopefully a reasonable approximation of four.

<Do you think we're getting too far in over our heads with all of this, madam?> Silver Scorpion asks.

"I don't think so," Fiat replies.

Fiat Silver's lips purse. "... Well, I found my family by chance, so, if chance throws something else at me, I can't turn away, can I?"

<... Well said! I think. Ulp, here we go-->

"Grenadier Mode! Come on - Flare!" Fiat Silver says, raising her baton in front of her as she swoops ahead. What bursts out of this proffered stick of doom is a simple globular structure of sparklingly coruscant energy which shoots outwards, not striking at any of the three Drone Knights directly, but swerving just a bit -- like a curved baseball -- to try to get in between them, pulsing irregularly.

Then it erupts with searing, distracting light, sparkling and bursting afterwards. It does not do anything in and of itself past that, though it might burn one a little if it goes to strike the flare down.

COMBAT: Fiat Silver has used Scorpio Flare on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fiat Silver has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly counters Fiat Silver's Scorpio Flare, taking 12 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro's Reverse ability activates!  Blind applied to Honoka Yukishiro! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro's counterattack, Resonant Frequency, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Fiat Silver!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lr9Ld4r-JM

Who knows what battles this chamber has seen? The robots may not be ancient after all, but this whole derelict ship certainly is. It comes from a far-off empire, a different time. Even so...

...this violent joining may number among the most fierce.

The Formerly Red Drone Knight (they're all purple now) is stopped in its tracks by Lera's shielding, but refuses to let her seize the momentum; when her counterattack comes in, it takes it right on that blade. It impacts loudly, and then quiets, as the blade resonates at a dangerous frequency... then releases the energy twofold, straight back at the Midchildan. Things might have gotten uglier still at that point had Lancelot not forced it to contend with another round of lightning; again it blocks with its copy of Fallen Stern, which ejects steam in a grim hiss, before going into a series of powerful, spinning slashes, which threaten both Midchildan and Arthurian alike with a swift departure from their mortal coils. << Meteor Absturz -- Intimidation Shift. >>

That was grossly unfair; the Belkan triangle ripoff of Fallen Stern morphed into a Midchildan circle just as the second slash went towards Lancelot. They're evolving...

It's then that Fate Testarossa and Fiat Silver essentially carpet-bomb the entire room with a blend of lightning blasts and flares, and it's a successful distraction even if the beleaguered Formerly Blue Drone Knight manages to catch the center of the flare on its blade and redirect it back towards the phantom thief. Perhaps /especially because/, even; Jad, Ren and Sailor Pluto all close in while it's recovering from that overextension, and while it's falling back from Pluto's punishing rod, then blocking each of those water bullets as they come in, it can't /also/ keep Ren from skewering it with her sparkling new lance. It goes straight in one side and out the other, tearing a pauldron right off, revealing more of that sparkling red circuitry. Its eyes flare; it grabs the tip of the lance, yanks it out, then tries to fling it, and Ren, back and away, while using its other hand to more clumsily wield that sword than it would have with two. Still, its sheer mass is plenty to threaten Pluto and Jad as it weaves drunkenly back and forth.

Finally, Cure Passion and Endo converge on the Formerly White Drone Knight. Passion's feint is a great success -- it keeps the sword but takes three harsh blows to the back of its sort-of-neck, bam bam bam, which leave healthy little dents. Endo opens that up into a healthy big wound with the simple passage of his blade; the Drone fell back, away from it, respecting the true Fallen Stern with extreme prejudice, but that didn't save its armor.

Frantic to keep everything from going south, it bunches its legs, then lunges forward, counter-charging. << Asteroid Eilen! >> Its version of the sword sizzles through the air as it swings back and forth both like and unlike Pluto's pendulum metaphor. This one doesn't quite obey the laws of physics -- as it heads towards Endo, it abruptly drags upwards in a strange and unpredictable way.

No, wait.

There was a 'CLUNK' from somewhere deeper within the ship right as that happened. Everyone's hair and cloaks are the first to start floating about, and then it's obvious: the gravity generator has gone out, totally blowing it right as this situation has become truly grave.

Because the Drone Knights are all too happy to bring the fight to Hikaru and Fuu even if the Magic Knights were otherwise staying out of it. Their swords transform into... something else, it all happens too fast to see -- but somehow or other they've launched energy bolts right at the two girls, and they glow with intense power. << Meteor Strum! >>

OOC: Zero gravity combat! Because space is too good a setting to not play around with.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Absturz on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Intimidation Shift on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Borg Sword on Jad Werke.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Borg Sword on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Lance-a-lot on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Asteroid Eilen on Cure Passion.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Asteroid Eilen on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Hikaru Shidou.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Fiat Silver.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Mana Charge on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro accepts Honoka Yukishiro's Mana Charge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Honoka Yukishiro is Reinforced by Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Cure Passion narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Asteroid Eilen, taking 43 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Cure Passion's Fade ability activates!
COMBAT: Jad Werke narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Borg Sword, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Jad Werke is Quipped! Jad Werke's Block ability activates! Jad Werke's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Fiat Silver narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 34 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Lance-a-lot, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Absturz, taking 34 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry's Block ability activates! Lera Camry's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Intimidation Shift, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Lancelot is Quipped! Lancelot's Block ability activates! Lancelot's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 27 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji's counterattack, Storm-Dance of Kamaitachi, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto narrowly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Borg Sword, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Sailor Pluto is Quipped! Sailor Pluto's Reverse ability activates! Sailor Pluto's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto's counterattack, Aoristic Fulcrum, partially gets through, doing 3 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro! Honoka Yukishiro is Quipped!
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 18 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki narrowly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Asteroid Eilen, taking 24 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Endo Naoki's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki's counterattack, Asteroid Eilen, partially gets through, doing 17 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"STORM-DANCE OF KAMAITACHI!!" shouts the Wind Knight, as if making up for lost time, when the Meteor Strum is unleashed at her and Hikaru. The resulting tempest doesn't divert all of the projectiles, but it knocks some of them off-course, at least - and she manages to inflict some counter-damage on the drone for her trouble. At this point, she'll take whatever she can get.

And she's not sure whether the abrupt failure of the ship's artificial gravity is going to work in the drones' favor or not .. but it's not like the situation can become that much worse, or at least, so she hopes.

So how to turn things back to the girls' advantage ... ?

"Winds of Admonishment!!"

That spell didn't work so well the first time around, admittedly, and the Wind Knight remembers that quite clearly. But without gravity to anchor their weight and let them stay in one place on the floor, maybe the binding whirlwind will do more good this time. She hopes it will; it kind of has to, if only by dint of the law of averages.

COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has used Winds of Admonishment on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Fuu Hououji's Winds of Admonishment, taking 10 Fatigue damage!  Fuu Hououji is Psyched!  Trap applied to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Metal shod feet slide and spark across the ship's decking as Lancelot barely manages to get Arondight between himself and the drone formerly known as Red Knight. He strains as the impact pushes him back, and grimaces when, despite having parried, the blade still digs into his shoulder pouldron. Lancelot screams in rage and pain as he is pushed back and then drops to a knee, using one hand on the hilt, and the other on the flat of Arondight to try and keep enough leverage to avoid being impaled by the onstrosous thing.

He tilts arondight to the left, allowing the blade to move past him finally ina last desperate shove, and leaps to the side. The shining white blade lashes at the Drone Knight's heel. No thunder, no flashy moves. Just a quick slash toward the mechanical knight's heel in an attempt to slow it down. Keep it off balance. He lands in a roll and comes up ina crouch. Panting and nervous as he scans the room. The carpet bombing by two fo teh magic users creating quite the spectacle. "I have got to learn how to throw bigger lightning bolts." He says to himself calmly, once again attempting to draw power into himself.

COMBAT: Lancelot has used Disabling Strike on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly braces Lancelot's Disabling Strike, taking 2 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro's Block ability activates!  Honoka Yukishiro's Parry ability activates!  Stun applied to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The Fire Knight continues to stand strong, but her strength diminishes. She looks to the Wind Knight and gives her a weak gesture, adding, "You're on your own, Fuu-chan.... I'm sorry..." She then collapses to the ground. The flames appear around her, then when they're gone, so is she. She's not gone per se, just in a better location...

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Her lance finding purchase produces much better results than before. The last time she rushed at the formerly Blue Drone Knight it... didn't end well. But this time is different, thankfully. Heraut chimes, the topaz gem in the hilt of the intelligent device sparkling.

<Hello foul abomination! This is payback!> He really can't help himself. Ren smirks, though falters a bit when the knight grabs onto the lance and yanks it out of itself, tossing both device and wielder backwards into one of the walls. "Ugh!" But they can't keep a good mage girl down! She gets back to her feet and- W O A H! Gravity decides to take a vacation! Good thing she can already fly, and she can only hope that the knights have reduced maneuverability now.

>Lera-chan! Fate-chan! Endo-kun! Let's focus on that one!< She points to the same knight she engaged just moments ago, obviously singling it out more than the others. "Heraut, are you ready?"

Ren holds her lance up, and before her a Midchildan circle traces out in the air. With her free hand she performs a serious of complex hand motions, ending when her fingers brush faintly against the shaft of her lance. The lance immediately takes on a bronze sheen, and in the next breath she levels it out in front of her, pointed at the runic circle.

"Now Heraut!" She yells as she thrusts it forward through the center of the circle.

<Bane...>

"CROOOOOOOOOOOOOOS!"

The Midchildan circle EXPLODES out into a bright laser of light -- one that'll be hopefully joined by those of her teammates.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Her lance finding purchase produces much better results than before. The last time she rushed at the formerly Blue Drone Knight it... didn't end well. But this time is different, thankfully. Heraut chimes, the topaz gem in the hilt of the intelligent device sparkling.

<Hello foul abomination! This is payback!> He really can't help himself. Ren smirks, though falters a bit when the knight grabs onto the lance and yanks it out of itself, tossing both device and wielder backwards into one of the walls. "Ugh!" But they can't keep a good mage girl down! She gets back to her feet and- W O A H! Gravity decides to take a vacation! Good thing she can already fly, and she can only hope that the knights have reduced maneuverability now.

>Lera-chan! Fate-chan! Endo-kun! Let's focus on that one!< She points to the same knight she engaged just moments ago, obviously singling it out more than the others. "Heraut, are you ready?"

Ren holds her lance up, and before her a Midchildan circle traces out in the air. With her free hand she performs a serious of complex hand motions, ending when her fingers brush faintly against the shaft of her lance. The lance immediately takes on a bronze sheen, and in the next breath she levels it out in front of her, pointed at the runic circle.

"Now Heraut!" She yells as she thrusts it forward through the center of the circle.

<Bane...>

"CROOOOOOOOOOOOOOSS!"

The Midchildan circle EXPLODES out into a bright laser of light -- one that'll be hopefully joined by those of her teammates.

<Pose Tracker> Jad Werke [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

And suddenly Jad is just floating around! The loss of gravity isn't a good thing, and it seems that they're far enough from the moon that free fall is going to be a thing.

Now being weightless isn't entirely new for someone from Mid - after all, space travel is a thing and you get to feel weightless from time to time. Now FIGHTING while weightless is something else entirely, and Jad is not AT ALL used to it.

Which means that the best thing he can do is create a surge of water to push himself towards the ceiling. Which takes a moment,m but allows him to land heavily for a moment. He snaps his head around, and looks towards the blue drone. "I don't think that there is a lot of good trying to land one good hit. So!" He raises one hand, hand open as another magical circle springs up around him. "If you can't break a rock with a single large blow, then use a hundred smaller ones! Let's do this, Schwartz! GRAND GEYSER!"

And then a massive array of water orbs appear around Jad, and he leaps into action. With a rapid barrage of blows, he hurls himself at the blue knight - and he goes in close, fists lashing out. Each one catches one of the water orbs, transforming it into a blade of water that he drives at the drone, trying to hammer it over and over again - one shot after another, each trying to do some critical damage to the drone.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Jad Werke has used Grand Geyser on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Jad Werke has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Fiat Silver [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Fiat Silver's green hair raises upwards in a dramatic way behind her, as she floats heedlessly. Her flares have worked out (she is immune to them - the eyepieces of that mask are handy that way, they filter out that exact frequency!) and they have an opening, just in time for -

Oh.

The barrage snaps forwards, lancing bolts pincering through the space around her and making Fiat Silver go into a panic-dive to get near the floor, though her effort to do a tight Immelmann loop and avoid that streak of fire are not working out nearly as well as she had hoped. More strikes on her still-slightly-singed Barrier Jacket...

"Telson Mode!" <Capacitance loaded,> Fiat and Silver say at once, and another of her blue ribbons of energetic light snaps outwards, uncoiling with day-glow intensity from the baton. Then she lashes out with it - aiming to wrap round another of those Drone Knights' legs and hopefully PULL.

Her head's screaming already, or still, and at this point Fiat Silver's lost track of which of these was originally which -- but maybe at this point it doesn't matter. And as she does, Ren's circle blossoms in light, and Fiat Silver looks up at it with an audible gasp!

COMBAT: Fiat Silver has used Scorpio Seize on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fiat Silver has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has started a combo targeting Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The Fire Knight stood strong and fought bravely, but in the end it was too much for her. She looks to her ally, the Wind Knight, and says, "Please... help me...." Before she collapses on the ground, unconscious. The last thing she feels is more like regret that she couldn't do more, rather than the humiliation of defeat...

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Fiat Silver's Scorpio Seize, taking 12 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Tangle and Trap applied to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.

>I'll do my best. Ren.< The Drones fight well. Scarily well. And now she's having more trouble predicting them as they evolve more and more into a form of Fallen Stern she'd never even seen, with new spells to match.

A clunk in the ship... sounds ominous. And a moment later her hair starts to free float. Fortunately Fate can fly, but it's kind of eerie, how her twintails split apart, into free floating with a life of their own, swaying in the strange physics of Zero Gravity. Even so, she has to make small adjustments, and make sure to brake better else the inertia will just keep on carrying her. So it's not like she's having /more/ of an easier time.

She's in the middle of experimenting with this when suddenly the energy bolts start to fly towards, her. Fate swipes Bardiche's polearm head suddenly, cutting through each one to prematurely detonate them in explosions of bright force. However... the concussive force of the explosion carries her backwards a little far, and she hits the wall with a 'hrrk'. She takes a deep breath as she peels herself off the wall, her cape floating just as strangely as her hair. "We'll have to compensate." <Don't worry.> He chimes.

Well Fate was worried and rightfully so given her patchwork fix, but she still trusted her Device wasn't just giving off false reassurance. He was always there, always helping her.

At Ren's telepathic insistence, her eyes follow Ren's finger until it falls upon the Knight that's her target, >Right. On your mark.< <Sealing Form. Set up.> Bardiche's head folds forward until its pointing the same way as the pole, feathered wings of golden mana erupting from the back of him.

"Just like we practiced. No need for a firing lock." <Yes Sir.> Why not? Because everyone else will be firing too, at very close range. Fate swoops in close, perhaps almost perilously close, gripping the haft of the now 'glaive' like device with both hands. Except less 'glaive'...

The end gleams.

...and slightly more cannon. Rings of runes appear around the edge of it. One, then two, as energy gathers just beneath it, an orb of pulsating light. It's gathering hellishly fast, it doesn't need as much as most shooting spells.

Because everyone is with her.

<Photon->

"-CROSSSSSSSS!"

She shouts as loudly as she feels her heart beating in her chest, the pulse of magic beside it. The orb at the end collapses, into a riotous beam column of golden mana, trying to pierce through Ren's target to converge on one singular point to form a bright cross with the spells and blades of the other mages.

And fortunately for her, Bardiche was already working with her to compensate for the force of firing the spell because otherwise she'd tumble backwards into the wall, again.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Jad Werke's Finisher, Grand Geyser, taking 81 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit! 
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has joined the combo started by Ren Aizawa!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Passion doesn't look back at Fate yet--but she doesn't need to. She was able to get exactly where she needed to be thanks to the younger girl's flight magic, and she doesn't intend to stop her momentum.

"I can't just sit back when someone's having trouble," Passion says to Sailor Pluto, now fighting near the Guardian as she hammers new patterns into the Drone's armor. "Hup--"

She cuts off suddenly, seeing the sword swinging straight for where she's about to be. Passion shoves against its armor with her hand, trying to hurl herself out of the way, but she can't; the blade hacks across her side, the force of the impact sending her flying and...

...And not landing. It's just intertia that carries her onwward, her sleeves billowing as she rolls herself into a ball to try to brace for impact.

She bounces off of the wall, and with nothing to throw her down, finds herself blinking mid-air, sailing back towards her opponents. "...Wait..."

She looks out to her friends over there--and can't quite suppress a grin through her fatigue. They're working up something big. Passion

Passion throws her arms up, giving her just enough force to push back towards the ground... and then kicks off there, leaping for another surface.

Three jumps later, Cure Passion is flying hard at a drone that used to be White, uncurling with her heel aimed straight for it. She'd call out to her new ally, but...

Sailor Pluto never gave her a name.

COMBAT: Cure Passion has used Pinball Passion on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Cure Passion has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Cure Passion's Pinball Passion, taking 32 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Lera grimaces, when the bolt of energy she shot at the blade is thrown back at her. She raises her arm across herself; the blast slams into her and rolls across her Barrier Jacket, crackling with light. She hisses -- even as she is a little amazed. Ground knows how to make a sturdier Barrier Jacket than Sky.

She sees the rapidly evolving magical circles (or triangles). Her eyes start to widen. "These--it's like Stern said! These are something else!" she yells. "The laughing man..."

Then, she lifts off the ground. She gasps. <Zero gee. I'll keep the flight spells up.> Lera nods; Ground may make a sturdier barrier, but he isn't as fast.

<Right!> she answers, telepathically. "Ground, you ready?"

"Right! Together, we've got this!"

Lera turns, floating in midair, and aims the hammer down at the knight that Ren and now Fate have fired upon. The hammerhead splits in half; motes of green and golden light draw inside of it. She moves, to face directly across from Fate -- and perpendicular to Ren and Endo -- and then Ground yells:

<Magma...!>

A duo of control rings appear, spinning in front of the Midchildan girl. Then, a beam fires from the split open hammerhead -- and through the control rings, slashing through Ren's beam and meeting Fate's, all centered on one point.

"...CROOOOOOOOOOOSS!"

But one leg of the cross remains.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has joined the combo started by Ren Aizawa!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

The Garnet Rod rebounds off the robot, leaving nary a dent, and the Guardian of Time knows herself to be weary, thoroughly bruised in body and mind by the sheer force of the battle. She barely has time to marvel at the idea of uncalled-for reinforcements, so unlike the solitary battles she is used to, but gratitude still finds a way to knot her throat.

Pluto swallows and coughs to clear it, her breath emerging once more as a frozen puff. The scorched white fabric of her left glove cracks as she fists both hands around the Garnet Rod. There is another sliver of comfort to be had, a timeworn one: Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are not here, taking the same beating she is. It's a hollow sort of comfort and it rings less true than it has in the past... she's now known the joy of fighting alongside them. There's really no comparison.

But she'll take what she can get, in this dire moment, and let it strengthen her heart against the ice in her chest. Her face betrays only the determination of a warrior, as steady as the march of the second hand across a clock face.

When the transformed Formerly Blue Drone Knight lurches her way sword-first she is ready. Sailor Pluto steps sideways and the Garnet Rod flashes out. The impact rings out, a bright silvery sound, and the blade's downward force deflects enough that she merely grunts with the impact. The Drone Knight lumbers past with the momentum of its swing and Pluto stands clear in its wake.

Surprise registers on her face when gravity disappears with a floaty lurch in the pit of her stomach. Boots lose contact with the floor... but then, it's not really the floor any more if there's no more down, is it? Just another surface to push off of.

If she was close enough, that is. Adrift and out of reach of any solid object, Sailor Pluto floats free, looking about for a place to land and reorient from even as she takes in the battle raging around her. She takes this forced opportunity to recover, curling up to warm herself and present a smaller target. The Garnet Rod extends out above and below as she tumbles in the free fall, end over end, and the raging crescendo of potent attacks dizzies her some as she spins. She never hears the call that Cure Passion is unable to make, a sad consequence of the mystery she maintains.

COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has used Watched, the Clock Watches Back on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto accepts Sailor Pluto's Watched, the Clock Watches Back, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.

Endo spots the drone coming, and he-wait a second, he knows that attack. "Stern!" <ASTEROID EILEN> It's like a mirror, the way he positions the blade. Straight out, forward, and then after the Belkan symbols flash the weapon is rocketing him forward to meet his attack. They even swerve the same way, gravity lurching briefly before the two blades smash together.

They hit at their points. Clank. There's an awkward second where Endo hovers there, blinking, and then the shockwave slams him backward and into a wall. Which he starts to float away from.

"Ah? Stern! Stern! CAN WE FLY NOW!?" At last!?

<NO.>

"Really? Why are you like this?" Endo doesn't have too long to sulk before Ren is calling to him. He nods his head, replying >>Got it! I'll help too!<< Hands grip his weapon, asking, "Ready, Stern?"

It responds in a way he doesn't quite expect. The blade begins to shift, changing, until he holds not a greatsword but a giant bow. <BALLISTA FORM> Endo, once he gets over his surprise, turns it toward the knight the rest of the mages are targeting.

"CROSS!" Purple light flashes out, a blinding streak toward their target.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki has joined the combo started by Ren Aizawa!
COMBAT: COMBO! Ren Aizawa, Fate Testarossa, Lera Camry, and Endo Naoki have used Raid Cross on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro narrowly dodges Ren Aizawa, Fate Testarossa, Lera Camry, and Endo Naoki's Combo: Raid Cross, taking 118 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Ren Aizawa, Fate Testarossa, Lera Camry, and Endo Naoki are Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Fuu's whirlwind does a bang-up job of restricting the drones' motion -- they have thrusters on their heels, but it's hard to operate unexpectedly in zero-gravity, and the pull of the spiral keeps them momentarily contained.

Lancelot's slashing the corner off of one such heel -- the Formerly Red Drone Knight's -- removes the thruster with a sputter, sending it into an even less-controlled spiral. Cure Passion slams into the Formerly White Drone Knight with her own heel when it tries to escape, sending her away, and it back to the center of the whirlwind.

And while those two are occupied, the end comes for the Formerly Blue Drone Knight.

It comes from four directions -- Endo's violet, violent bolt, Ren's lance laser, Fate's lightning stream, and Lera's molten flame -- and it takes absolutely every ounce of ability of the robot to avoid instant destruction. It bends and weaves, wise to not even attempt to block this tactical torrent, and when it comes out the other side, if robots could pant with exhaustion, it would be.

Which leaves it easy prey for Jad -- all at once, it's sprouting ice knives at every armored chakra. Its purple orb flashes once, sounding like a gong... and then it explodes.

So let's make that the Formerly Formerly Blue Drone Knight, because now it's not even a smear.

There's a window, or at least, there's that one piece of wall that got blown out and we're not all sucked into the void because this ship also generates a force field around itself. That.

Through it one can see that the Moon has been left far behind, and the Earth is beginning to approach with dangerous speed. Indeed, for the first time ever it's no longer quite /cold/ in here... things are begining to heat up.

The first flicker of orange tints the force field -- re-entry friction.

<ALERT. THESE IMPOSTERS ARE BLOCKING TRANSPORT FUNCTIONS.> Fallen Stern announces this with a certain vengeful relish.

Formerly Red and Formerly White see no particular reason to make that easy. They avenge their fallen brother with all the finesse of Fallen Stern's copied programming, which is to say, with extreme prejudice and no survivors.

That's the idea, anyway.

Bolts rain down from their ballistae towards the group, peppering the party and more problematically, tearing more holes in the increasingly structurally unsound ship's hull. If at any point the force field generator, wherever it is, gives out, the battle is going to end abruptly, painfully, and fatally.

Then their weapons cock back with an audible 'click,' the bolts' width expanding markedly and alarmingly, and with a twin invocation of << Kosmische Kanone. >>, Jad is met with his own criss-cross, an eerie mirror of his allies' strategem. Writ large across his body, if he's not careful.

COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Endo Naoki.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Sailor Pluto.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Lera Camry.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Cure Passion.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Fiat Silver.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Lancelot.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has used Meteor Strum on Fuu Hououji.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Honoka Yukishiro has used Kosmische Kanone on Jad Werke.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Jad Werke narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Finisher, Kosmische Kanone, taking 35 Fatigue damage! Jad Werke's Block ability activates! Jad Werke's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Fiat Silver perfectly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Fiat Silver's counterattack, Prosoma Guard, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Fuu Hououji's Fade ability activates! Fuu Hououji's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 34 Fatigue damage! Fate Testarossa's Fade ability activates! Fate Testarossa's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Endo Naoki narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 30 Fatigue damage! Endo Naoki's Block ability activates! Endo Naoki's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Cure Passion narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Cure Passion's Block ability activates! Cure Passion's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto narrowly braces Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Pluto's Block ability activates! Sailor Pluto's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Flash ability activates!
COMBAT: Lancelot narrowly dodges Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 19 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly counters Honoka Yukishiro's Meteor Strum, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry's Reverse ability activates! Lera Camry's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Lera Camry's counterattack, Mantle Heart, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

One drone knight down, two to go. If she had known what happened to their color schema, the Wind Knight might be surprised that their colors didn't shift from purple towards pink - but she has other things to think about.

Like the fact that the Fire Knight is now out of the battle, and needs cover. Also the fact that the two surviving drones are still trying to kill everyone in the room who ISN'T a drone - that's actually kind of overwhelmingly important, and the Wind Knight has to worry about more than just herself ... plus she doesn't have the benefit of gravity to help her push off from the floor.

She settles for taking partial advantage of the Fire Knight's proximity. "I do deeply apologize - !" the Wind Knight starts as she manages to grab hold of the Fire Knight, just by her sleeve at first - but that's all she really needs ...

Well. She needs a better grip on the Fire Knight, but only briefly; then she pushes off as hard as she can, sending the red-haired Magic Knight sailing across the room in one direction. The Fire Knight is the lucky one, really; the maneuver successfully gets her away from the drones' barrage without further harm, as far as the Wind Knight can tell. And 'as far as she can tell' isn't as reliable as she'd like, with the un-dodged portion of the Meteor Strum hammering away at the Wind Knight herself, putting a lot of extra (and unwanted) spin on her flight.

Fortunately, a clear head and some careful angling of limbs, plus a touch of wind magic, stabilize her drift across the room and bring her field of view around to the two remaining drones. "I'm not entirely sure how the idiom translates into Japanese," the Wind Knight says with a smile as her hair and seemingly-un-armored clothes begin ruffling around her, "but I believe 'physics' is the operative term ... but more importantly? EMERALD CYCLONE!!!"

The act of swinging her arms forward to unleash her most powerful spell has the side benefit of propelling the Wind Knight further away from the drones - but she really doesn't much mind that right now, being more interested in ripping the drones to shreds with the wrath of the tempest at her command.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fuu Hououji has used Emerald Cyclone: Full on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fuu Hououji has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

<We need to crush them to not turn into a fireball.> Broken Ground chimes, then adds: <That's physics.>

"Uh... yeah, Ground," Lera says, with a blink. She looks up, and she smiles at the effect -- watching Jad finish off the drone they caught in their crossfire -- before she grins, and nods her head. She sees the shots come raining in for her. <Mantle Heart!>

That dome of interlocking hexes appears again, this time around Lera. The energy blasts slam into it, but the barrier cracks apart at the last moment; Lera lets out a soft sigh, before she looks down at the formerly white Drone Knight. "Passion!" Lera yells. "Let's finish this one off! We--we've gotta get back home!"

<Cure Passion. I'll open the way.> Broken Ground rumbles. <Break through!>

Lera swings the hammerhead down, pointing it directly towards the white drone. Motes of light draw in, much like before. The golden motes vanish, though, as they reach the square gem at the center of the hammer. It shimmers. Then, two dozen orbs of explosive, glowing magma rip out, twisting and turning.

They move in an intricate, swirling pattern -- one that Cure Passion can weave through -- before they come crashing together, all at once, on the formerly white Drone Knight. <Bombadier!>

"Cascade!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Lera Camry has started a combo targeting Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Fiat Silver [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

The sea surges around Fiat Silver, or at least, near her. "What!" <It was that fellow over there!> A helpful audio cue later and Fiat Silver looks at Jad Werke with astonishment. BUT HEY, you can't complain in a situation like this!

Then comes a streaking purple flare. <Such coordination!>

The knights unleash ballista fire, then, which combines with the increasingly perforated state of their craft of residence to alarm Silver Scorpion. Even as Fiat Silver pulls up and out of the immediate path of fire, the Intelligent Device makes a trenchant if worried observation. Which he shares with Ren and anyone else who happens to be listening: <I am noticing there is a distinct trend here in which they appear to adapt to the techniques used against them. Quite the problem!>

"I'm not sure," Fiat Silver says.

<Eh??>

"I'll explain in a mo PROSOMA GUARD!" Fiat Silver says; her gauntleted arm erupts in luminous blue as she snaps her arm around, the small but stout impact point of her barrier whipped round to deal with a thick thatch of ballista bolts. As she does this, Fiat Silver continues: "They have to remain intact in order to imitate things, won't they? And if they could do it immediately... we'd have been crushed already."

Fiat Silver looks downwards, having put herself for the moment 'above' one of the creatures. "And we're already losing parts of the ship... But... I'm not afraid."

"Two reasons," Fiat Silver says. "One is that... I don't know how to put it. I'm confident in them all. The ones we know and the ones we don't."

Fiat Silver raises her free hand and pinches her index finger and thumb together. "Because us, we only make a tiny little bit of a hole. Hardly bigger than a bottle cap. You won't even notice it's there."

<UNDERSTOOD,> Silver Scorpion replies. The baton is pointed downwards, its larger aperture first. "Grenadier Mode..."

Fiat Silver's attacks tend to be a little less flashy in their overt casting circles and dramatics than some of her allies', despite the nature of an Intelligent Device. Some of this is habit, some of it is choice, and some of it is because she offloads the flash from herself personally. None of this is true right now. Spirals of silver and lapis-lazuli whip round her, circles rapidly forming as she becomes for a fleeting moment /perfectly stable/.

The blue-and-silver sheets twist in front of the baton. "Scorpio...!!" <Target locked. Guiding the shot for maximum disruption.> Fiat Silver finds herself holding a breath she didn't know she had.

"SABOT!"

The circles in front of the baton snap outwards to about eight meters' distance. A titan pulse of light snaps outwards, hitting each circle and shedding chromatic hues as it is increasingly and narrowly confined, every step turning the blast into a thinner, more intense hue. It's a rainbow, if a somewhat muddy one, seen from the side.

From the perspective of the Drone Knights -- and Fiat Silver is trying to shoot through BOTH of them, if she possibly can -- it's like a pencil is trying to fly through them. An intense, carefree pencil. Of shockingly refulgent energy. (The pencil analogy breaks down a little.)

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fiat Silver has used Scorpio Sabot on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fiat Silver has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (4)] has posed.

It's satisfying, seeing one of these go down from everyone's efforts but... Stern and Heraut's joint pronouncements, along with the sudden heat and the friction like rumble of the ship hitting the atmosphere. Fate realizes there just isn't much time. And thus she has to take Heraut's suggestion here. Destroy them before the ship explodes.

She had to think about how to help the others score a decisive blow, but unfortunately these things had proven to be pretty well insulated...

Her eyes fall upon Arondight's sparking, metallic gleam.

More bolts come and that distraction nearly costs her, as Fate suddenly does a desperate mid-aerial dance of dodging and weaving as the air around her explodes. She has to shoot across the full length of the room, guiding the locked on bolts into pillars and columns and more beside, but her breathing is very ragged once she's... finished.

She flies closer to Lancelot, floating in mid-air. "How much lightning can you manage?" It's a very matter of fact question, despite her asking a touch breathlessly. "Because there isn't much time. I'm going to try to overload them as best as I can so the others can destroy them. Please back me up." That might sound a little condescending for the average elementary schooler to ask to a high schooler to back her up. But this was a desperate situation and Fate was very confident in her abilities.

It starts again with the rings of concentric gold at her feet, turning in their intricate patterns of the arcane. But that's only the starting point, because from the circle, mana boils off of it like golden flames in response to a desperate desire in her heart. Static thrums in the air, Fate's hair and cape floating in a way that makes certain if its being lifted by her own power or the zero gravity.

"Arcus, Cultus, Aegeas..." Like before the ritual writ in her heart begins, and numerous golden sphers appear, but they don't remain in formation, instead the countless globes of ball lightning converge upon an outstretched hand like a singularity. And in that hand, a lance of lightning begins to take shape as the energy is transferred into the spell. It hovers, suspended just above that hand, growing almost four times as long as she is tall. When she sees that the other is ready, she states...

"Spark-"

She casts her hand forward, and the lance of thunderous power slides through the gap in the space of a split second, rocketing towards the center of the remaining drones.

"-Endo."

When it strikes, it collapses in a titanic explosion of lightning, from the outside in it looks like a colossal translucent plasma globe, arcs of golden lightning streaming along the edges of it into a central explosion of sparking... DESTRUCTION!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fate Testarossa has started a combo targeting Honoka Yukishiro!

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

One explodes outright, and Passion sails right back upward toward the ceiling, smirking down. "Two left!" Rushing around as she is, she doesn't even notice the heat for the moment. She wouldn't notice the flickering fire outside at all if not for the two Devices speaking up.

"We're--"

'Hurry', at least, is something Passion is good at. Her eyes widen, just in time for the next salvo. Curling in on herself in zero gravity to become a smaller target, Passion swings at the bolt searing towards her, slamming it off-target and saving herself a terrible blow at the cost of one that still jarrs through her whole body.

They're going down much too quickly, and Passion doesn't see a way to slow down without stopping her opponents. She looks once at the shearing hull--before she hears Lera's voice.

"...Right!"

While Lera prepares her magic, Passion doesn't seem to do anything at all; she hovers, mid-air, relaxing. Earth--they're crashing towards Earth. ...Where her friends live. Where her teammates are. Where...

Passion sets a hand to her heart, to the four-colored clover emblem, and sets her red-eyed gaze down on her opponent. "I'm coming, everyone. ...Right. Ground! I'm counting on you!"

She's in motion too quickly to see; suddenly, she's just a blur of crimson light, kicking off the hull and rushing down to the ground. The same blur spins through blasts of magma, to either side of each orb; near one, then another, a blazing pattern of kicks and strikes to try to slam this thing straight into Lera's magic.

When the explosion strikes, Cure Passion is already at the other side of the Drone, crouched with her arm still held up behind her. She doesn't look back.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Cure Passion has joined the combo started by Lera Camry!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Steam hisses from vents as they expose themselves along the length of the intelligent lance weapon, and Ren is overjoyed to see that the formerly Blue Drone Knight is no more. "Yes!" She cries out, excitement overtaking her for a brief few moments. Heraut chimes up too: <Excellent work everyone! Now, let us help dispose of these other two trash bots!>

"Yeah!" Ren shouts in agreement, clenching her hand into a fist. "We don't have a lot of time. Everyone! Give it all you've got!" She shouts that last part to everyone on the battlefield -- Mages, Cures, Senshi, and Knights alike. "We all have people precious to us back home to return to! Let's make sure we do it, yeah?!"

Ren holds her lance up high, and in a flash of light it grows to nearly triple it's original size. Somehow it's not scraping the very top of the hull of the ship -- perhaps just barely avoiding it. "Que les dieux..."

As she speaks those words, a pair of translucent, bejeweled angel wings of bronze unfurl on either side of the hilt of Heraut, spreading themselves out to their full, massive span. They hum and vibrate with an intensity that only seems to build with each passing moment. A targeting circle traces out before the formerly White Drone Knight, who has been unlucky enough to be chosen as the target of this grand attack.

"...eux-mêmes me guider!"

<EOS...!>

"...FRACTURE!"

The lance is brought down during this final cry, and the wings burn brightly as they launch themselves forward from the hilt and down the length of the lance in a manner akin to a high-powered railgun. They spiral their way towards the drone knight, burning up the air ferociously in the process. There's the distinct smell of ozone lingering in their twin wakes.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Ren Aizawa has used Eos Fracture on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ssS-UIKZh8

The barrage of attacks from enemy crossbows send Endo bouncing off the wall, rolling barrel-rolling and flailing as he tries to get oriented again.

He manages it eventually, grabbing a wall and steadying. "Ah, that's not good. Stern! Ren! Everyone! We need to finish this quick!" His hands are grasping his giant crossbow tight, fumbling, as if unsure what to do with it.

He figures it out eventually. When the other combatants start firing, he does too. The weapon is raised as Belkan symbols begin to whirl around its end, three triangles lined up in a neat row. It looks suspiciously like something the automatons just did. It's a good hint to get out of the way.

The discharge is vicious. Stern doesn't fire an arrow. It gives a huge discharge of energy, a massive column that bursts from its end and goes tearing through the ship toward the knights. It blossoms even wider as it travels, leaving a burning after trail behind.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Endo Naoki has used Kosmische Kanone on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Endo Naoki has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Jad Werke [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

There's not a lot to do but keep defending. Jad isn't in great shape as he gets slammed several times by the blade of the drone's sword. But he also spins his shields as fast as possible, a triangular barrier appearing in front of him just before the sword finds something that would hurt quite a lot. Six times the sword hammers down on him - and six times the barrier holds for a moment and then shatters into pieces. The barrage is enough to force him backwards, each time the blow sapping more of his strength, draining more of his magic. It's a painful onslaught, and by the end of it the blue haired mage is panting and trying to catch his breath.

But hen looks up and grins. "That... all you... got?" he asks after a moment, before dropping to one knee for a moment. And then he slumps back against the wall as the other start going all out against the thing. "...OK, I'm... I'm good I think," he states. "...owwww."

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Pluto [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

The brilliant cross of elemental energies burns vivid afterimages into Pluto's vision. An explosion scrubs that into bright white, and when that fades, the Formerly Blue Drone Knight is no more. She watches the four from which the power erupts and, in the long mental diary that is the life of the eternal Guardian of Time, she notes this day in red: something tremendous has happened here, today, in this dying starship hurtling toward the Earth.

Her evergreen hair whips in all directions from the force of the blast, and that force is also push enough to send Pluto near the creaking remains of a former wall. She reaches out and brings her tumble to a gentle halt, orienting herself that so that her 'up' matches, roughly, the rest of the battlefield.

The ballistae zip through the air, and one rips through the wall right by her, so close that the shattering cabin surface snaps back and smacks Pluto in the shoulder. "Agh!" With her other hand she catches the broken wall, refusing to go flying through empty air again.

No, she will strike back at these abominations.

Ice still crackles in her breath. She embraces the cold, lets the chill roll down her limbs to join the cool pressure of the Garnet Rod in her grasp.

"Dead..." The word comes out a whisper, but a whisper that cuts through the booms and shrieks of the ship's accelerating destruction.

This starship's deck has seen many battles, soaked up much blood. It has seen the final gasps of many, many souls. The whisper reaches them too, pulls at them, relentlessly calling them up until the echoes of their pain swirl about Sailor Pluto in a terrifying crescendo, bending the space around her and warping it.

Then she levels the Garnet Rod at the nearest standing Drone Knight and gives the howling agonies of the dead a direction.

"...Scream!..."

Grey-tinged violet energy howls toward the Drone Knight with the force of battlefields past and future, engulfing the robot in its vortex to batter it with the shocking accumulated agony only battlefields can carry.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Pluto has used Dead Scream on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Sailor Pluto has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Lancelot [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H31KNBevLF4&index=91&list=PLE3D07CF18375CFC0

Coming up into a crouch looks cool, but it doesn't really work as well as one would like when the gravity inexplicetly turns off. Lancelot instead finds himself flailing uselessly for a moment, not really knowing how zero gravity combat works. He sees the incoming attack and flails some more, trying uselessly to get out of the path of the Drone Knights attacks.

The attack hits him and sends Lancelot tumbling through the chamber to slam into a wall on the otherside. He winces, and barely opens his eyes, before he rips one of the bolts from leg and tosses it aside. He casually rips one out of his side, and then out of his right shoulder. He closes his eyes, and hears Fate speaking to him.

There is a fierce determination when he opens his eyes. He spits a glob of blood to the side and then wipes the corner of his mouth wiht his free hand. "I can manage ... A lot of lightning ..." He gives Fate a grin and wink, hten he plans his feet on the wall, and puts one hand there to steady himself.

Lightning begins to coalesce around Arondight as he says in a soft and calm tone, "Charging -"

By the time he finishes the word Arondight is a bright white star of twisting, arcing and crackling lightning. "This is for my parents. For my sister. For my horse and for ... Aw hell. She knows." He nods and then pushes off with all his might toward the middle of the storm that Fate herself is about to unleash, and screams "ASSAULT!" Letting loose all the energy of that white star of electricity he holds in the balde of Arondight. A hundred thousand lightning bolts erupt form the blade, and each accompanied by their own peel of thunder.

Once the blinding after image is done, a boy floats there. Broken and bleeding, his fingers clutching a medallion with a sword etched into it.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Lancelot has joined the combo started by Fate Testarossa!
COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Fate Testarossa and Lancelot have used Combo: Lightning Cross Apocalypse, composed of Spark End and Charging Assault, on Honoka Yukishiro.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Lancelot has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Fiat Silver's Finisher, Scorpio Sabot, taking 86 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Lera Camry and Cure Passion's Finisher, Combo: Crushing Passion, taking 224 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Endo Naoki's Finisher, Kosmische Kanone, taking 80 Fatigue damage! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Ren Aizawa's Finisher, Eos Fracture, taking 148 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Honoka Yukishiro is unable to keep fighting! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Fuu Hououji's Finisher, Emerald Cyclone: Full, taking 75 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Honoka Yukishiro is unable to keep fighting! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Sailor Pluto's Finisher, Dead Scream, taking 103 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Honoka Yukishiro is unable to keep fighting! 
COMBAT: Honoka Yukishiro fails to dodge Fate Testarossa and Lancelot's Finisher, Combo: Lightning Cross Apocalypse, taking 251 Fatigue damage!  Honoka Yukishiro is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

The ship isn't holding up too well, and a rushing vortex at its center, courtesy of the Magic Knight of Wind, isn't doing too much to help that as atmosphere begins to press around its outside. By the time Ren's lance, Fate's lightning ball and Endo's ballista-beam are scraping the various edges of the ship, it's quivering.

Ironically, it's Fiat Silver's pencil-width superbeam that does it in; it punctures first Red, then White, and finally... the hull.

It shatters, sending bits of debris everywhere, but the fight is still going on! And as gravity is asserting itself, terribly pressing everyone down, there's nowhere left to stand but ON those larger bits of debris. It is from such vantage points that the group gets to watch the flames close in on the failing force field--

--and their own attacks rip the final two Drone Knights to shreds. From the aforementioned superbeams to Ren's railgun-shot energy wings and Lera and Cure Passion's pinpoint, all-directions explosions, to Lancelot's lightning contribution, delivered at bladepoint, and Sailor Pluto's invocation of the pain of the dead, attacks warp the enclosed space in all directions. There's so very /much/ mana in the air, now.

It's much more than the Drone Knights can take, and they are rendered unto naught, leaving nary a clue behind as to their maker. But unfortunately, it's also more than the force field can take.

It flickers.

The Earth looms ominously in the near-field, what of it can be seen past trickling, tormenting, tumultuous flames.

And then purple and golden light combines, a Belkan triangle superimposed over a Midchildan circle into something beautiful, something new, something quite unusual, indeed.

<EMERGENCY...> <...transfer!>

The rune shines as bright as the moon behind them, and then there comes, once again, the rush of true teleportation, a long-distance transport back down to the ground.

Down to Tokyo, down to the waterfront, by the Rainbow Bridge. The portal is gone -- it winked out in the heat of combat.

But, perhaps due to an odd sense of humor, or else an imperfect command of a complex situation... the missing Key, softly humming the Japanese National Anthem, is glittering on the grass nearby.

2016-05-15 - Locks and Keys 6

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