They all felt it. Maybe it was consequence of being Psycodrivers, maybe just spending way too much time around dimensional energy, or maybe the run-ins with DAMON were taking their toll. Whatever it was, as Tian Di's MP Asclepius hefted its rifle and locked it into a crack in reality, a pulse went through the collective minds of the knights. Like the sound of bells, or at least a flexatone.
It also just helped that the Kaiser Scanner's perception was so accute.
Somewhere between the two, their minds were alerted to the danger about as swiftly as it was conjured into being. In that instant, uncounted hours of rigorous team training went into effect. The ability of the knights to sense each other's hearts and minds. The honed instinct and intuition. The sheer number of evasive patterns and planned formations. The endless tactical drills. And - okay, no, it wasn't really any of that. It probably... may well have helped! But to be honest, it wasn't that hard a call for them to make. I mean really come on, where else was there to go? When sitting in front of a boulder and someone aims a cannon at your back, you either hide behind the boulder and pray, or run like the wind. The joined Ignis/Aura, and the Aqua Kaiser - presented a binary choice, each had a 50/50 shot of doing the same thing as their counterpart.
So it was that the G-Dimension Shoot raced toward them. And so it was that, about halfway to tanning IgnAura Kaiser's backside, the intended target blinked out of existence. As did its counterpart. Both reappeared almost instantaneously in the shadow that Ghosto-Granzon was casting by the light of the cannon shot. And both were subsequently shielded as the beam instead washed over the many Spirit Soldiers, the boulder being pushed along by the sheer force of the beam. In order to both maintain relative distance and help distribute the readily offered font of ghost-incineration, the IgnAura Kaiser braced its mighty hands on the back of the giant glob of eldritch and began to roll. The Aqua holding position behind it, and both still belting out missiles and beams.
Or to put another way, given a large tumbling log caught in a coursing stream, half-a-kaiser opted to rapidly kick its arms to stay atop it. As a lumberjack does.
Soon enough, though, the MP Asclepius's beam began to wane. Having been thoroughly basted in fire on both sides simultaneously, the spirit soldiers were running thin - thin enough indeed that those flailing hands could finally latch firm hold on the sides of the Granzon's torso. Hands that then froze over in a green rime of Orgone just to be sure. And then, as previously mentioned, the orgone cloud kicked into gear. The arms locked in place, the torso between them rotated instead, the Aqua following suit to flip itself in place and face its propulsion to the Granzon's back. Aqua thus led the charge, IgnAura partially drafting, partially boosting in its wake. Three Orgone extractors working in sync, the green comet took off toward the surface, following the detected flow of magic evil waves back upstream to its source.
As consequence, this only made it even easier for the MP Asclepius to chase the end of its own beam and close the distance to the Granzon, latching onto the slabs of metal presently passing for shoulders, and allowing Tian Di to stand in the doorway of her open cockpit projecting an aura of hopes, dreams, comradery, and prana
(okay mainly prana) to her mount. With all the magical potency of the crowd fervently clapping their hands to save a poor little pixie's life uncounted centuries prior, that prana aura indeed wound itself around the toasty remains of her dearest mechanical friend. And so the convoy of Aura Kaiser, half-a-Kaiser, half-a-Granzon, and photocopy-of-Asclepius barreled along toward the Lunar surface, spirit soldiers peeling off like so many patches of poorly-affixed rubber from tires just as badly in need of repair.
- Which brings us back to the moment at hand. -
Behind them now, the ghosts were coalescing into even bigger and more monstrous ghosts. From Boo Didleys to bigger Boos that... well maybe they weren't quite big enough to be King Boos, but at least Jack Boos? And like any other reputable Jack Boos they flowed down smoothly, albeit with an acrid bite that some people enjoy if they're into that sort of thing. They were all too eager to warm all the machines and their pilots from the inside. And the assembly, knowing that, kept on merrily running away from them. They were headed primarily for the surface, roughly for the vicinity around the Apollo Ruins.
The half-formed Kaiser and its aquatic leg wingman maintained best speed as well as they could. At the same time, they also maintained that tenacious grip, the sheathe of orgone crystals both bonding their hands to the hull of the Granzon and providing a regenerative physical barrier against the MP Asclepius's tendrils should the auto-pilot attempt to assail them. Sir Kiraly hold course, only shifting her flight sticks as the scanner readings indicated, following the mysterious flow back to its source. It did seem to be working after all - now that they were closing in, the ghosts had peeled off, hadn't they? Sure, now they were hell-hounds nipping at their heels, but it was better than literally being in their faces.
She spared a glance for the proximity indicator. The Terra still wasn't back yet. It was a danger they'd been aware of, taken willingly. That the struggle to secure the queen and the one to nullify this apocalyptic unit, while ostensibly representing two different threats that were in opposition to each other, still managed to work in tandem to divide and conquer the moon's defenders. To save the queen, or to save the moon. Thankfully, such situations were entirely why Kaiser was built as a combining unit - few emergencies ever played out neatly, and fires weren't keen to line up for disposal. Putting them out meant being in multiple places at once, and trusting your colleagues to cover your back as you covered theirs.
On one inset was the camera feed of what was going on on the other side of the Granzon. The familiar sight - same suit, same build - of the Directory pilot they'd burnt so much Eitr to save. Speaking into the physical comms, her voice was carried by vibration out through the Kaiser's arms, into the Granzon's hull, through the MP Asclepius's fingers, up its arms, and out to the cockpit step Tian Di stood on.
"Bold of you to come back, after all we did to spare your life. This machine must be important to you, huh?"
As the lunar surface loomed ever nearer, the crew in the Aura sent signals back to the mothership to update their present location and situation. Close enough that it could have been in return, however, they now received an open broadcast from the
Fenossa, the sound of Sir Richard's rallying cry echoing around their cockpits, further kindling the resolve in their hearts.
"Rise! Rise and rally to me, Children of Everglory!
The undead tide beckons at our doorstep, cleaving Terran and Moon-Dweller alike!
Yet so long as this ship sails, so long as our homeland looms at our backs, so long as we can draw breath and brandish steel in this endless night, Everglory stands!
For those of you who need repair, resupply, or healing, our hangar is open and ready.
For the rest of you who yet hold honor and valor in your hearts, fight on!
For the Queen and the Pale Lady! For the Moon! For ourselves!
FOR. EVER. GLORY!!!"
What was surprising, however, was when a subsequent relay carried the voice of someone else.
"To the soldiers... No.
To the Knights of the Moon. This is Brigadier General Rodgers of Taskforce Upsilon.
Please permit us the honor of fighting alongside you."
She couldn't help but to smirk at that. Goodness, mercy, the common bond of humanity. Perhaps even basic chivalry. These were the things they believed in - the reason they hadn't simply let this woman be gobbled up by the black holes she had sought to condemn others to. Knowing little of Volkruss or the backroom dealings of the Directory, to their eyes Tian Di was just a soldier like them - someone who took orders, someone who shouldn't have to shoulder the blame of decisions larger than her, or pay for others crimes with her life. She just doing a job. And likely, making sure a high level Directory unit didn't fall into the hands of another government was also one of those jobs. Or maybe she was just fond of it like they were of Kaiser - like many pilots are of their machines.
Whatever the reason, there was none to fight her anymore, nor to antagonize her with threats. She doubtless already knew what they could do. Instead, Sir Kiraly flicked a switch to bounce the transmissions back across the bonded comms, particularly the latter one. Then, she spoke again.
"Guess it's our lucky day... seems our commanders are of one mind, and our comrades are working together now to take on... whatever THOSE things are."
Hands pulled levers and flicked switches. And finally, with only a scant mile to spare from slamming into the moon, the proximity scanners gave Sir Kiraly the news she'd been waiting for. The IgnAura and Aqua alike flipped back over, the orgone crystals shattering at last, the hands parting from Granzon's sides. One moment they were all hurtling toward the surface, and the next...
The next, Granzon and the attached MP Asclepius were left to float gently down to the surface, under the delicate pull of Lunar gravity.
In contrast, there was a resounding crash as something else hit the firmament, and hard. Hard enough to kick up a sizable dust cloud. Within the cloud, the silhouette of a masive humanoid figure rose and stood. Its featurs obscured, save for the blaze of a pair of green eyes.
"Guess you have a choice. You're free to run away if you want. Or... you can stay and stand with us, and we can fight these monsters side by side! Whaddya say?"