What Comes After (Pixel, Shadow)

[PixelatedShinobi]

Ayna weaved around the laser, watching Sylvia's wing being clipped. "Roger that, making another attack run." She ejected her empty energy clips, the two clattering to the cold ground after being thrown by the freezing wind, spinning her smgs and inserting two more. As automated targeting systems locked in on the arms and legs of the Grungust, Ayna held down on the triggers and fired a spray of rounds at the limbs.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

The third unit was take out completely, a massive gash where the explosive had went off. The remaining two units would not drop their damaged shields, even as the picks exploded chunks of them away. The Randgrids raised them up as Grant fired his rifle at them, the heavy metal making them up chipped away but not outright destroyed. Both units raised their shotguns back up, advancing and alternating fire with each other, clearly attempting to use suppressing fire against Grant.

The Grungust took the barrage of SMG fire like a champ, bullets pummeling it’s joints and visibly causing a lot of damage to it’s ill maintained joints. The giant of a Mobile Weapon turned its attention to Ayna, violently swinging its arms at the red weapon in an attempt to smack it from the sky. And as they engaged, a final combatant on the side of the Directory scrap heap stumbled out of the hangar- A half scrapped MP Grungust, Army Green and missing both arms, wildly firing it Eye Solid Lasers at the Lyrath.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

Spotting the Green Grungust walk out of the hangar, Grant knew he was going to have to push his limits just a little bit. So he did just that. As the Randgrids came closer, the Orphes would suddenly bolt upwards as it jumped.

“Eyes off my little girl!”

The Orphes would soon rapidly descend on top of one of the Randgrids, using its foot to smash into the head unit whilst it pulled out an energy pick which it quickly stabbed into the back of the other. With the Dusk Rifle still it’s hand, the Orphes took aim and fired at the Green Grungust, ensuring that the laser would not fire for long.

Sylvia would breathe a sigh of relief as she ceased her evasive maneuvers. “Thank you.” She said simply as the Lyrath made a turn for another gun run. This time it would move to hit the Green Grungust from its back, firing off a few shots of its beam cannons. However as the Lyrath ended its gun run, instead of flying overhead, it would begin to make a sharp turn. It spun around quickly in a spiral-like motion before diverging off towards where the Orphes was.

 

[PixelatedShinobi]

As the Grungust swung at Ayna, Ayna thrust her machine sideways with a burst of jet fire, delivering a parting kick to the Grungust's head as she flew upwards into the sky, arms at her sides like an ascending angel of rocket fuel.
"Alright, alright. Maybe it's time to be a little more strategical about this." She scanned the environment, zeroing in on the green Grungust.
"I think I have a plan..."

 

[Tackle Jackie]

As the canopy of the Randgrid crumpled and failed, the Mobile Weapon began to stumble back, giving the Orphes just enough of an angle to stab into the back of the other, whatever systems still hooked up to its backpack firing off prematurely, wrecking itself in a blaze of unfired ammunition.

Both Grungust’s took similar blows to their heads- One a kick, the other a nasty glancing blow from a Dusk Rifle, both having a similar effect of sending their opponents reeling back for a moment. With the hiss of hydraulics, they would begin to correct themselves, starting to wind up some sort of heavier attack this time around…

“What’s that plan, Ayna.” The radio crackled as Millicent’s voice responded, garbled by some metallic distortion.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“If it involves knocking the Grungusts into each other, you’ll need a good follow up. They’re big, not clumsy.” The Orphes stowed the Dusk Rifle behind its back as the Lyrath soon approached its position. A face of silent concern was written all over Sylvia’s face, she did not like where this was going one bit.

The Orphes raised its arm into the sky solemnly as Grant spoke in a similar manner.

Both the victor

and the vanquished are

but drops of dew,

but bolts of lightning

Thus…
​

The Orphes quickly leapt up towards the Lyrath flying overhead, it firmly landed atop the the machine’s air frame as it took two pods from the top of the Lyrath. “The time to strike, is now!” The Lyrath began to pick up speed as it flew right at the two Grungusts.

“Safety lock, release! 80%… 90%!” As the power levels began to rise, a blue light began to emit from the Orphes. A light of hope, a light of life. Ayna felt it pulse through her body despite being quite far from it, but she felt herself becoming invigorated slightly from the light’s presence.

“100%!”

“Kick it now!”

The Orphes leapt off the Lyrath as it threw the two pods at the two Grungusts, both pods connected by an energy string. The Orphes would pull off something neither Ayna nor Millicent had seen before from it. The wall of reality shattered right in front of the Orphes, a hole within the fabric of space-time. It almost seemed like something you would see at a science experiment gone wrong, yet here it was doing it almost casually. The Orphes soon disappeared inside of the breach it had created, presumably to create another elsewhere.

 

[PixelatedShinobi]

Ayna, hopped up on adrenaline from the battle and now the strange pulse of light from the Orphes, shouts with excitement and passion
"LETS DO IT!"

She soars into the sky once again, her extra weaponry tossed aside as her thrusters propel her upwards. At a point, they switch off for a second, leaving Ayna in free fall for the tiniest moment.
As the Falken begins to give to air resistance, Ayna switches her jets back on at full force, angling every single thruster and stabilizer opposite her feet, as the Falken brings both legs together and ROCKETS like a meteor towards the Grungusts.

"BUUUURNNIIINGGGGG"

"PHOENIXXXXXXXXXX"

Trails of fire shoot off from the Wild Falken, and though it was probably just rocket jets, it almost looked like it was burning up like a spaceship in re-entry as Ayna descends.

"KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!"

Ayna crashes into the torso of the first Grungust horizontally, likely knocking back both if she didn't pierce straight through the torso of the first. A massive wave of hot air smashes out from the impact, melting snow on the spot.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

The disappearance of the Orphes had provided more than a significant distraction to the Grungusts, both units having switch their attention to the disappearing unit, before the Wild Falken smashed into the first Grungust. As generous it would be to pierce through the super robot, these things were still quite sturdy.

The hulking weapon, with no arms to balance itself, did indeed fall backwards and slam into its sibling, the ground around them shaking as they landed in a heap. The second unit seemed to still have a spark of life to it, struggling under the now limp first, the force of the attack having destroyed just enough-

“Grant, whatever you’re doing, now’s the time to finish it-“

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

As the Grungusts slammed into each other, the energy string weapon boosted towards them and began to suddenly wrap the two together into a neat bundle. The Lyrath soon made a pass at them, grabbing one end of the energy string as it flew as fast at it was able to. Meanwhile, the Orphes made a reappearance right in front of the Grungust Ayna had kicked, shattering the wall of reality there as well. It halted its boost as it took hold of the other end of the energy string before tugging on it hard, pulling the Grungusts back through the breach it had created.

The Orphes came through the first breach it had made in the air, pulling the string down as it landed and hoisted the twin Grungusts by the breach. Once the Lyrath managed to create enough tension on the string, the high life resonating energy suddenly began to reach a climax. The feeling of existing simply being made into an extraordinary feeling to the people around them. With the string hoisted over the Orphes’ shoulder, a concentration of its power formed at its fingertip.


“Hear it, the sound of hell’s thunder!”

The Orphes plucked at the string, causing energy from both the Lyrath and the Orphes to travel down the string before meeting at the breach. The result was a fantastic explosion with copious amounts of energy. Not only from the sheer power put into the attack, but also from the breaches which were suddenly shut with the Grungusts between them, dealing an even more decisive blow.

 

[PixelatedShinobi]

Ayna threw her thrusters into hard reverse, wrenching herself out from the tangle of Grungusts and the oncoming explosion from the Orphes' attack. As the machine flailed backwards, the explosion went off - Ayna was fortunately far enough away from it to not be vaporized or what have you, but the Wildfalken was still sent flying and ragdolling limbs flailing about, thrusters firing randomly, leaving Ayna skidding in the snow for several meters until eventually screeching to a halt on its back. Shepanted, and then whooped excitedly.

"WOOOHOO!! Let's do that AGAIN!"

The Wildfalken scrambled to its feet, brushing some snow off of itself, and Ayna took a fighting stance to meet whatever came next.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

“Let’s not, please?”

As the twin behemoths fell back to the earth, crumpling to the ground, a figure emerged from the tree line at the base of the mountainside hangar. Millicent looked a tad rough, as could only be expected for someone just in a crash. Clothes torn, slightly singed, but otherwise unharmed.

“I’m willing to bet that’s all that’s all that was left functional in there… Come on. Let’s get in and do some digging.”

The pilots would be encouraged to join their temporary boss as she entered into the hangar, feeing all the more confident in her search.

———————————

The bowels of Golgotha stretched far beneath the mountain, small chambers that must have lead towards the ocean around them. The air was stale, but as the group drew closer to their goal, fresh air would begin to be pumped in.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Thanks for compliments, kid. But I’d rather not… ugh-!”

The Orphes for some strange reason powered down for a moment, its head tilting downwards as it seemingly ran out of power. Grant was holding on tightly to the controls, as if he might slip away should he let them go. His breathing was harsh, with beads of sweat dripping down from his forehead as his body had pushed itself to the limit. He was barely holding on at this point.

“Dad? Dad snap out of it!” The voice of his adoptive daughter gave Grant something to anchor his focus on as the Orphes slowly regained power once again, standing up straight as it turned to the open gate now before them.

“I’m fine… damn that was rough on my body again. It’s getting worse.” The Orphes began heading towards the gate alongside Millicent. This whole place just screamed: secret government facility you shouldn’t be in. One thing popped in the back of Grant’s mind as the Lyrath hovered behind it. ‘Why exactly was there a facility here? Just what type of secret did it hold? And if there was anybody home.’

“Dad? Maybe you should take a break.”

”Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Honestly makes you wonder why there isn’t a lower level limiter for this damn thing. Am i right?” He was clearly trying to allay his daughter’s fears with a bit of a jest. But her silence simply told him that she wasn’t buying it and was simply staying vigilant should any more of Grant’s problems surface.

 

[PixelatedShinobi]

Ayna turned on the Falken's floodlights, casting beams of light into the tunnels.

"So this is the big secret we're here for? It'd better be worth it."

She took some steps into the hangar, rapping one of the walls with a mechanical fist.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

As the quartet made their way into the hangar, it would be clear that they would have to travel in further on foot.

“Should be safe enough to leave your Weapons in here, let’s start making our-“

Before she could start encouraging the team to split up and search for clues, she started to fall apart quite literally. Only a few meters into the vessel, the young detective would seemingly ignite. Her body erupted in white, vibrant flames so quickly that she didn’t even have an opportunity to scream.

The lights of the hangar flickered an alien blue for the briefest of moments, before the doors behind them started to close. A deep, unsettling voice filled the chamber, as Millicent finally started smacking at her arms, her head, the flames refusing to be extinguished, but… didn’t see to be actually burning her?

הקשת חוזר?
הגנב חוזר?​

The voice would repeat itself, over, and over, and over again, while the ground they all stood on began to shift.

The Archer Returns?
The Thief Returns?
You’ve made friends?​

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Holy- What the hell‘s going on now?“ Grant and Sylvia watched on in horror as Millicent was set aflame, though thankfully she didn’t seem to be burning. The situation only got worse once the ground started shaking, and that forboding voice called out from somewhere in the depths of this facility.

“Well if any place is gonna be an evil lair it’s gonna be this place. Everyone, get ready. There might be more we’re not aware of.” The Orphes took a readied stance, an energy pick held upright in the right hand as it surveyed the shifting and rumbling surroundings.

Sylvia all the while remained silent, her eyes shifting between their surroundings and her father’s health. After a stunt like that, he’s not going to be in the best shape for fighting anymore opponents. “Just show yourself already. Get this over with so we can leave.” She sounded less frightened and more concerned for the well-being of others in this situation, hopefully it was naught more than a scare and not a primed threat ready to pounce on them, or rather drop them.

 

[PixelatedShinobi]

"Holy shit!" The Falken jumped back as Millicent burst into white flame. Ayna moves to draw the weapons on the Falken, tense as she feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. This place does not feel right to her, and she desperately misses the open air right now.

 

[Tackle Jackie]

“Hold.”

Millicent’s voice sounded warped as she finally managed to find it, holding up her hand. The flames seemed to settle a bit, biting at the tips of her hair, appearing more and more like it was starting to become a part of it.

“They- It doesn’t mean any harm.”

Voices started to fill her mind, indistinct, inconsistent, as though she was listen to a hundred different stations at once. With a deep breath, Millie began walking deeper into the vessel, not paying much attention as to whether or not her companions would follow her.

“You can wait here, or come with me. I won’t be long, regardless.”

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“We follow then. We didn’t come all the way here just to leave without answers.” The Orphes began walking down into the darkness of the facility, unsure of what exactly it was that waited down there. Hopefully it was something good, something that can help people.

“This is too dangerous, you should hang back. I will g-“

“Sylvia, I’m fine. We’re going together.”

Sylvia sighed and shook her head in disapproval, the old man never did like listening to her advice of staying out of danger. She just hopes today teaches him something about picking his battles a lot better instead of just rushing headlong into danger as he tends to do on almost the daily.

Regardless of what she thought, Sylvia pressed on, ensuring her adoptive father didn’t keel over from overusing the Orphes. She just hoped Millicent was right about this all being quick.

 

[PixelatedShinobi]

"Well, uh... if you say the crazy fire thing is okay, you're the boss. I doubt I'll be too much help in these cramped tunnels, though, so I'll stay up here and watch our backs."
She turned the Falken around with a light, swift movement to face the doors. checking her ammunition as small pistons on the mech oscillated.
"Don't get lost down there."