ten_fwd | [Away Mission:] Day 3, Alemar III (Final battle)

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[Away Mission:] Day 3, Alemar III (Final battle)

Something strange begins to happen underground. Those pretty, glistering crystals that twinkle from the walls and ceilings start to move, sinking down into the rock, and disappearing from all sight. In each cave and cavern, every arching ceiling and cramped tunnel, they all vanish.

The main cave where the visitors were brought during the tour feels darker now. It has weathered the trauma of the last three days better than some places, but that's all about to change.

[ooc: And welcome to the kickoff of our final leg of the Alemar III plot! Day 3 has officially begun, which means all team posts moving forward should reflect that. Below, this post is split into two sections: the first is for any teams or individuals who want to establish themselves as being in the main cave for the final action of the plot; the second is for our teams of fighters and all who wish to assist them. Bear in mind that the historians and empaths won't step in to reveal what's going on until the next group post; this is primarily for the last battle and gathering all the fractured teams back together. If you're not sure where your group is, check in with your plotting e-mails or the plotting post; if you don't want to join the main group until the fighting stops, the next post will also have a place for your characters to enter and reconnect with friends. If there are any questions, leave them in the plotting post and a mod will get back to you asap!]

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The main cave has weathered the last few days well, and the small group of Enterprise visitors have been safeguarded against attacks from the Crystaloids thanks to the two bands of fighters who've warded them off. Unfortunately, that's all about to change.

The ground begins to shake.

The walls rumble, pebbles and pottery and tools left from the archaeologists rattling as the shaking intensifies.

There is a horrible sound, and the ground opens up and splits, crystals pouring from the open wound. Just as the visitors have been learning about what the Crystaloids can do, the Crystaloids have been learning about the visitors. This time, they don't simply take on one shape, they take on three.

A terrible, nine-foot-tall quadruped clinks together on the right side of the room, its paws a nest of bitterly sharp claws. Its large head boasts a maw of equally deadly fangs. To the left side of the room, the Crystaloids join into a long centipede, but its legs are long and bowed like a spider's, and its tail arches over its back the way a scorpion's would. At its head is a pair of pincers, big enough to trap two full-grown men at once, and the high-pitched hum of the crystals sound like an awful hissing noise. By the time the crystals have stopped joining, it has to be twenty-feet long, and it moves quickly.

Finally, in the center of the room, out from the new hole in the ground climbs a shape much like the Almarians and humans and those of their ilk, so tall that its giant head nearly touches the ceiling. It's broad and strong, slower than the other two shapes but twice as powerful, crystals forming two mean fists. The Cyrstaloids have poured all their hatred into this shape, forming their impression of the cruelty of man.

Without prejudice, each terrible monster moves in to harm the unlucky people gathered around.

A swipe from a horrifying leg decides his fate: the Blue Ranger is battling a centipede. And it's clearly a losing battle, no different than before: his weapons, good as they normally are, are useless. His only hope is to somehow use the crystaloids against themselves...and that's looking like an impossibility right now.

He's on the run, parrying with the two halves of his lance. Thankfully, they're holding up, but this is quickly turning into being cornered. Bad news, he thinks, bowing his head and gritting his teeth.

He desperately waves an arm toward anyone else---the problem with the secrecy oath is that he has to keep voice recognition to a minimum.

Aeryn wouldn't say she's fond of any of the people she's been stuck in these tiny spaces with for whole solar days, but when she says she's going to help people get out. She'd going to help them get out, or she's going to go down swinging. Even strangely dressed mute people who show up in the odd costumes like this guy.

"Dodge!" She yells once, when it stops, starts shaking and suddenly attacks at the blue soldier with its sharp barbed tail. Trying to miss him even as she's taking shots at the tail itself.

Edited 2014-09-14 03:46 (UTC)

Blue Ranger obeys, hissing at the force of an impact. It's blunt, nothing piercing him, but still not good news. He scrambles out, his lance stabbing at potential weak spots along the way.

Nothing---but he does get himself kicked away. It hurts, but now he's free to regroup, standing near the officer he's spent so much time with lately. He nods once and moves right back into blocking blows again, trying to force the thing away from her.

Back to keeping the front end busy, he assumes.

Black Ranger was already on the way, jumping right over the swinging tail, dodge rolling back to his feet and swing his Power Axe as the barbed tail went after his friend. He quickly switched it over to its Gun Mode, aiming powerful shots at it.

"Mind if I join the party?" He asked rhetorically, switching modes once more to Axe. "Aeryn, try to keep the back and out of its range. Blue Ranger and I can keep up on the close combat front!"

Ranged fighters were meant to be in the back for a reason, but she was a great asset just now and he would hate for her to get hurt because of them.

"These guys keep getting uglier." Andros retorted, joining the fight.Their best option at the moment was to stick together. Maybe if they defeated one, the others would go away. Or, if nothing else, they'd have one less to worry about. He didn't know how the others were fairing, if Adam and Billy had stayed morphed the last few days at least they wouldn't be that hungry. Problem was they weren't at full stregnth, bodily or team wise.

And these guys didn't seem to have any weaknesses. Besides the old hit it really hard and hope you damage it. At least the Crystaloids didn't eat their weapons. That got old fast.

"How you guys doing?" Andros asked, keeping his Spiral Saber out in front of him, gauging the enemy, moving and twisting.

"Rough few days, but we lived," Billy finally answered---his voice sounded like he'd swallowed sandpaper, but that was more of a deliberate attempt to disguise his voice than an indication that he was really sick. He easily fell into line behind his more leadership-inclined teammates, following them.

"You?"

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awol_redranger - 2014-09-15 18:44 (UTC) - Expand

A - Henshin! - CycloneMetal
When the walls began to shake and shudder again, his stomach sank. Not again. He was already exhausted. He'd dealt with some marathon fights before, but this was a little absurd. Still, he smirked a little to himself. Things were looking up for the first time in days and all they had to do was hold out a little longer. Surely the Enterprise knew what was going on by now.

Without seeking cover, like the Rangers, he pulled his belt out again. "Round two, Philip," he told his partner. This time, he went straight for Metal, since that was the most effective. This was tedious and exhausting, since most Memory Breaks were just absorbed by the crystals. A creature that better withstood a finisher like that than normal attacks was unheard of for him. Well, there was a first time for everything.

The silver Memory joined the materializing green and in another swirl of dust and debris and crackle of green and silver energy, there stood Double in Shotaro's place. "Now, count up your sins," he said, pointing at the nearest of the creatures, the quadruped. He reached behind him for the staff off his back, and leapt in swinging.

B - Giving backup - LunaMetal

Not only was Shotaro busy knocking crystals off of the creatures, but he was also keeping an eye on his fellow fighters, such that he could. They were all in this together, and a part of getting everyone back to the ship meant no one should get overwhelmed. Luna and Metal gave enough flexibility to hit get out before reprisals came. For the most part, anyway.

Spotting someone in dire need of help against that scorpion's tail, he swung the staff in their direction. The yellow end of it extended like a whip and wrapped around the end of the crystals. He gave it a sturdy yank. Even if it was still too strong to stop the movement entirely, it was just enough. "You okay over there?" he called over.

C - In over his head - HeatJoker

It was time to take the fight to the giant in the middle. "It's your turn," Shotaro said, crouching briefly before he launched himself high in the air. He kicked up off the figure's shoulder as he switched Joker from the belt to the Maximum Drive slot on his side.

"Joker Grenade!" Shotaro and Philip called out together. Double split in half right down the middle, each half pummeling the chest and head of the giant with explosive kicks.

But they didn't get to finish. A massive hand swung up and swatted them out of the air. Double crashed against the wall of the cave. On impact the bright colors of Double faded to grey and dematerialized around Shotaro. Fortunately, the angle of the swat did not leave him tumbling too far. Even so, he tried to roll to keep from injuring himself on the stones too much.

Finally, he came to a stop at the bottom of the wall, panting and flinching. Okay, that hurt. That thing in the middle was not to be underestimated. He reached for his fallen hat before starting to get back on his feet again. "We're not finished yet..." he muttered, both to himself and to Philip. Try as someone else might to convince him to sit the rest of it out, he wasn't going to hear it.

Back upstairs, Philip pushed himself off the floor. "Don't be stupid, Shotaro," he said aloud for anyone around him to hear. "It's abundantly clear that you're in no shape to fight. Stay back for now."

He pushed himself back up onto his feet with a groan. While the hat was incredibly dusty from all the abuse it'd taken these few days, he still took a moment to brush some of the worst of it off. As he caught his breath, he flinched a few times. That impact hadn't done his ribs any favors. Okay, maybe a short breather was in order. He wrapped an arm around his middle, just above the belt. Concentrating on breathing made it easier to ignore pain in the rest of him. He smirked though, somehow. "My reckless partner telling me to back off?"

"You've broken at least two ribs and you haven't eaten since we left the Enterprise," Philip pointed out sharply. Remember, partner; he can feel your pain when transformed. "Furthermore, it's obvious that Double's attacks are useless at best. You should at least rest."

If only he could get down there, and if only he had Fang...

While it was true he was in rough shape, he also knew Double served as fine glue to keep him held together in a pinch. But Philip was right, and the second point was more annoying than the first. Hopefully someone had something that could make this battle into less than a marathon. He didn't like being outclassed on such a large scale.

He pushed his hat onto his head. He didn't answer right away, instead just concentrating on breathing in a way that didn't hurt. "Fine, fine," he answered, and glanced around for some kind of cover, just in case. "If it wasn't for the annoying neighbors, we'd be pretty close to getting out of here. Anyone on your end get in touch with the Enterprise yet?"

As the crystal giant looms in, the hum of metal cutting through the air can be heard before Steve's shield pting!s off its head. The Crystaloids let off a high-pitched sound and recoil in time for him to catch the shield and throw it again mid-run, aiming it so that it bounces off the monster's neck, the nearest wall, and slams back into the creature's middle before returning to his waiting hand.

He stops in front of Shotaro and offers him his hand. "You OK?"

For a guy that had just taken a hit that would have normally killed a man, he was in remarkably good shape. He reached to pick up his hat before he accepted Steve's hand to help him up.

"Yeah." But he still flinched as he tried to catch his breath. His breathing was a bit shallow and quick, on account of the pain and broken ribs that were a couple days old now. "Nice shield you've got there." He gave Steve a bit of a grin. Even if he was in no small amount of pain, his spirit was still healthy as ever.

Sometimes spirit was the only thing that kept the 107th and Steve's Commandos going through the war, so Shotaro's grin doesn't look out of place to Steve's eyes. Even if he can tell this kid is hurting, that he's taken hits that would bring a man twice his size to his knees, Steve does him the duty and the honor of grinning in return.

"This old thing? Yeah, it'll do," he says, giving Shotaro's hand a bracing squeeze before he lets go. He nods over his shoulder at the battle, tone dry when he continues. "Looks like I've been missing all the fun."

Giant glowing rock monsters? Sure, why not.

His feet were still under him, his partner by his side (in a metaphysical sense) and there was lots of help with the crystal threat. Overall, he'd been in worse situations.

He wrapped an arm around his middle above the belt. "It's round two for most of us. I'm glad to see some fresh meat down here."

Giant glowing rock monsters weren't all that different from tyrannosauruses made out of junk and debris from a destroyed building. Right?

Steve takes in Shotaro's pallor, the way he grabs his middle, the curve of his back. The kid is beat up. No wonder he's glad to see Steve.

"Maybe you should sit this round out," he suggests. "I can take your place. I have some experience fighting things like this."

Re: C!

tanteiotaku - 2014-09-18 08:49 (UTC) - Expand

Re: C!

stark_spangled - 2014-10-15 03:36 (UTC) - Expand

One of the advantages of Jack's particular ability is that wounds heal quickly, far more quickly than they should for anyone who isn't a fixed point in time. He's feeling very few ill-effects from what felt like half a cave falling on him just two days ago, all his wounds now either healed or healing.

Yeah. The regenerative abilities are amazing.

When the creatures appeared, there seemed to be a few people around who were, if not expecting them, not as surprised as Jack is to see something he's never seen before, and that's saying something when you're as old and as well-traveled in time and space as he is.

Even if there's no sign of Rose or the Doctor here to protect, Jack's still ready to fight. He has his Webley drawn in an instant, aiming carefully at the giant scorpion.

Which decided to take it as a personal insult and lurched towards him, swinging its tail even as it takes the impact of the bullets.

Damn.

For a moment it looks like Jack's going to face another unpleasant death as the creature mimics his attempts to get away, but then somebody -- he has no idea who -- in some sort of weird armor leaps in and manages to grab the scorpion's tail with some sort of whip or something he's never seen before.

It gives Jack time to get away, to raise the Webley again and take a few more shots, though they don't seem to be doing much good.

And now he has to reload. This is not going to go well.

"Yeah. Thanks."

Finally, the tail gave up its assault on Jack for another target. Shotaro reeled in the end of the staff lest they get yanked along with it. "Hate to see something happen to that coat of yours, Jack," Shotaro told him. His voice was unmistakable as the detective he'd shared a drink with what felt like so long ago. Accordingly, the eye on the silver side of the suit flashed.

"You should leave the fighting to those of us better-equipped for it," Philip quipped, his voice distinct from Shotaro's despite seeming to originate from the same source.

... So that thing is apparently Shotaro, the guy he'd met when he first got here. Hell of a detective, apparently. Looks like Jack isn't the only one with more tricks up his sleeve than he admits to new acquaintances. There's a second voice, too, one he doesn't recognize, but both of them are teasing, and that's enough to make Jack bristle, albeit just a little, mostly in competition.

He's fought more crazy alien creatures in his time than just about anyone, and if these crystal things don't count, he's not sure what does.

"This coat's been through worse than this!" he calls, flashing a cocky grin at Shotaro.

He's not about to stop fighting, whatever the guy (guys?) in the armor says.

He keeps the revolver raised.

He's been edgy since the attacks had stopped yesterday, as the creature faded away, because they'd had no way of knowing what that meant, if it was regrouping to come back, why it had attacked them, or even just what the hell it was. He'd never heard of the crystals from the walls of a cave coming alive, and he's seen a hell of a lot of weird stuff lately.

Still, with more people here, there's a sense they are finally on their way out of here. Especially since at least one of them has come down through the elevator shafts. There are a lot of survivors, far more then he and Irian had feared, and some of them are faces Dylan knows.

Because things are never as simple as they seem, though, the cave starts shaking again.

"You've got to be kidding me."

He takes a step back as the hole opens up in the ground, as crystals flow out of it and start drawing together, not just into one huge monster, but three.

For a moment, Dylan just stares; he's weak, he's tired, and this is going to test the limits of his endurance on his third day since he'd eaten or drunk anything. Still, he draws his force lance from under his coat again and, before anyone has a chance to dash forward to attack the creatures, fires off a few effectors, the little drones whizzing home to their targets.

"It's never easy."

Jim looks up from his now-empty quadruple-emergency backup hip flask and sighs.

"Oh, for the love of Batman."

His pistols are out and a hail of a dozen solid projectiles whistle toward their targets across the cavern.

He eyes Jim for a moment, considering the lance in his hand. He doesn't have unlimited ammunition. The effectors seem to have some effect, at least, but so did attacking the thing at close quarters.

Jim can't have unlimited ammunition with him, either.

"Do you have enough ammunition to actually take these things on?"

At least there's a good group of fighters here now; the people Dylan had been stuck with, and Tyr and the others he'd been with. Others are already jumping in, and Dylan's reluctant to do too much shooting in that situation.

Jim considers the question as he reloads.

"Depends," he says. "I can hold out a while, but it's not like I'm storing these bullets up my ass. You got a plan?"

He's not optimistic.

"I've always got a plan."

Usually two.

That doesn't mean that it's a good plan; he's fond of having a little more time to strategize before he goes into a fight.

"Doesn't mean I like it."

With only a handful of people here likely to be inclined to follow his orders, he's not in a position to make the sort of plan that would be his usual recourse. Not without authority. Or Rommie.

His force lance whirls at a twist of his fingers, passing through a full 360 degrees before he holds it, parallel to the ground, out in front of him.

"Want to cover me?"

[Away Mission:] Day 3, Alemar III (Final battle)

Joining the Final Fight

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Pick a card, any card! - OTA!

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C!

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B!

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