Level 1: Mecha and Monsters

[Justin OOC]

"I'm aware of that aspect of the plan, they want to detonate a neutron bomb and destroy all the life that's there.  So far, that's been the only way to take out a hive.   We've got only a few days until they drop it, whether we succeed or not."

Ryan looked at her.  "These Anvaari, they're highly adaptive, well with the metals in the mountain, when you drop the bomb this time they mutate again, and will become beyond any ability to deal with.  So how about we go in and deal with the queen ourselves?"

"The Hive is protected by hundreds of Anvaari like the ones you slew, as well as the little bugeyes.   They look like a pair of eyes with a short body, and legs, but they shoot hyperaccurate lasers up to two miles away.  its why any attack by air is doomed to fail.   We came here with three hunded Amor Gears, the mech I was piloting, and we lost half of them taking out probably thirty percent of the Hive's defenses."

[Quake]

Vesper rubbed her temple with an irritated sigh, then inhaled from her cigarette again.

"I mean..." she glanced over at a spot in the air above Ryan and the native mech pilot, "...the Therion could probably do it."

The pale-faced teen shook her head then and blew the smoke out.

"But I'd have to be there too. He doesn't go far. Ever." The last word had a little bit of venom in it.

[Ryougi Yuuki]

Half of an entire army of giant robots and their pilots dead, and a three day time limit. Madness. The green-haired shrine maiden rallied.

"I'm sorry for your losses. Our patron wouldn't have sent us with impossible instructions, though," she responded earnestly, resisting the urge to glance away from their guest, burying the doubt that such may have been exactly the case, "Can you take us to see this other Captain? If we learn enough to sneak in within two days and kill this queen... The killing could..."

She faltered, not certain exactly what would happen when they 'won' a level.

"It wouldn't get worse. Give us a chance to try."

[Justin OOC]

"Well, that's thirty percent we don't have to deal with.   So we can't go in through the air, we'll just have to walk in on the ground.  It's a long hike, but it beats getting shot by lasers."  Ryan answered and smiled.  "You guys are going to launch another assault, even though the last one failed, right?"

The Captain nodded.  "We will launch another attack to try to clear the bugeyes, so they don't shoot down the bomb."  

"Well, that sounds good, we'll attack from the other direction and penetrate the hive."  

"But our weapons can barely do that, and we deployed cruise missiles by the score."  

"I have faith we can get inside, once we're in we go to the queen and kill her, then you should have an easy time killing the rest."

[Quake]

Vesper blew another puff of smoke and glanced up at nothing again.

"So...I'm not a general or anything, but it seems like if you've got their attention, they may not notice us us coming. Or they might not care. Once we're inside though...then what? How do we find the queen before they figure out what we're up to and..."

She makes 'spider hands' and wriggles them around.

[Tori Cannon]

"Well if the plan is to get in undetected then I'm not going to be much good at that int this," Tori patted her mech, "but I can run interference and draw their attention while you three get in and do the queen"

[Justin OOC]

Ryan nodded.  "We'd have to approach on foot, which means a hike, and no mechs,   It's doable, so I say lets give it a shot."  He looked to Tori and shook his head.  "We will need you inside.  Since you can call your mech the way you do, it's the one mech we can get in past their defenses for sure.  I'm betting the queen is large, and needs to be moved around, and so do those monsters we fought, so it might me tight quarters, but your gundam oughta fit just fine."   He looked to Yuuki.  "We need to get you a bag of seeds or something.  I saw what you did to the tree."   

His gaze fell on Vesper, and he nodded.  "And you're gonna be on the spot abit, As I need you, or at least your buddy, to serve as our recon and early warning."  He looked at the local pilot, and nodded.  "Do you think your people will go for this?" 
 

Ryoko shook her head.  "Not right away, but they'd probably not believe any of this.  I know the attack will happen as soon as they reqpair from the Okinawa mission."

Ryan nodded.  "Then we need to get you to your base so you can fill them in, we'll set up a signal, and then head out for where we'll infiltrate the base"

[Ryougi Yuuki]

She didn't like it. She didn't agree to it. But she could accept it. What choice did she have?

It annoyed Yuuki that she hadn't thought of the seed pouch idea. But given what happened to the plants she augmented as she withdrew her energies, falling over into the sundered pits that they used to tower from... It made the caretaker in her squirm unless she had a way to flawlessly locate the seeds after she used them as living grenades. 

"Would it help if we spent a little time demonstrating you aren't crazy, or are your leaders an imprison and interrogate first bunch? Depending on how long it'll take us to get to Fuji from there, might even help to see what we're asked to kill," the shrine maiden added, glancing up towards the driver's seat

 

[Justin OOC]

"They wouldn't believe me if I told them."    Ryan nodded.  "Pretty much how it is in our world regarding us too.  Don't worry, we'll make good use of the opening."  

The rest of the plan was worked out, and with a highspeed run they brought Ryoko back to her base, and left, laying low, camping as it were in the woods.   it was somewhat boring,  roughing it, but Ryan caught fish from a river, and with Yuuki, they found other foods in the forests.  He slept outside, giving the trio of women privacy, such as it was, sleeping inside the mech's roomy cockpit.   Ryan had found an oak tree and taken some acorns from it for Yuuki, along with some other seeds he found once they'd set down.  Finally the time came, and three bright green flares.  "There we go. they're engaging.   It's time for us to head out.  Vesper, I'll lead, but have your friend go out before us, Tori, you're behind Vesper.  Yuuki you bring up the rear, since you're the best at protecting us."

Once they were in formation, they head out.  The hike wasn't hard, but it was fairly boring.   Surprisingly they encountered no enemies, and soon reached the mountain, which had come to resemble a massive anthill, with many new tunnel like openings, all of them easily large enough to have Tori's mech walk through.   They could hear the rumble of explosions from the other side of the mountain, the attack was progressing in earnest, and this was their best chance to get in and clear the level.

[Quake]

Vesper sighed and ground out her last cigarette on one of the boulders piled near the opening into the mountain. It was one of those days.

Her eyes focused on a spot in empty space ahead of Ryan and she said, "Go ahead a bit and watch around us. Don't let anything take us by surprise, but if something IS coming, come and warn me BEFORE you do anything. The less these things know about you, the better. Clear?"

The Therion was as taciturn as ever, his eyes concealed behind the gloom within his cowl, but the weight of his invisible gaze pressing down on her nonetheless.

"Okay," said Vesper, unsure that it was really that. "Do it then. Go on."

She relaxed a little when the hovering specter did as she bid, flashing down the corridor ahead of them, though not far. Never far.

To Ryan she said, "Alright. Lets do it."

[Ryougi Yuuki]

The shrine maiden brought up the rear  as they had worked out, one hand on the handle of her living whip, the other clutching the bag of seeds that Ryan had helped her find. Being in a forest with her powers active was... strange, like words she couldn't quite understand no matter how much she strained or a flashes of something out the corner of her eyes that wasn't there when she turned her head. It was frustrating, something her subconscious told her she should already know how to do. If you asked someone to help you, you should be able to understand their answer, especially with kami and their charges. It chaffed at her sense of stewardship, the presage of future guilt.

And with the lightshow her powers put out turning on, off, and every time inbetween if she were to practise... Maybe next world she could go wilder with her powers. Just a little. For practice.

Her very best social mask was in place, emotions cloaked. When trouble found them, Yuuki would be there to ward it away. That was what she was here to do, right? 

[Justin OOC]

They went in, and with Therion's warnings, somehow they were able to avoid detection, even when creatures passed within ten meters of them.   As they went deeper into the hive, they could feel it getting warmer.  Another trio of the large bugs wandered by, without seeing them, and they noticed that unlike before, Ryan was sweating.  When Tori went to move away from the rock wall but he shook his head.  looking at the wall there was a faint glow from his hand connecting them all where they touched the wall.  Finally the creatures were gone, and he withdrew his hand, and exhaled.  "holy shit that takes alot of power."    Ryan had been masking them, keeping them from being detected, but the effort cost him.   Therion reported that below them in a cavern or crystals were the queen, and roughly five dozen eggs.    There were three grown warriors there, tending the queen, as well as a dozen hatchlings.   

"You ladies ready for this?"  Ryan whispered.

[Tori Cannon]

"Guess it's time to suit up." She pulled her key fob from her pocket.

"I''ll charge in and draw the fire from the warriors you guys hit the queen. Lets do this."

Tori thumbed the button on the key and the tiny sliver disc flew away from it's place growing and unfolding to it's full 20 meter height.

"No going back now!" she said as she lept into the cockpit and started flipping switches

 

[Ryougi Yuuki]

Yuuki nodded once before unfurling her whip with a crack and flung it at the mech's leg. It stretched and wrapped around the massive metal limb before tugging it's wielder up with the faintest of clangs. She took care to double check that her grip was secure before looking down at Vesper and Ryan.

"Going to drop my grove around the mech when it lands," she called, looking like someone's idea of a belt ornament, "Give Cannon a bit more of a fighting chance while you get in place. At least to start."

Her grip tightened on the seed pouch gifted to her, trying to look more certain than she felt. Hopefully 'hive queen' in this case meant more fat and helplessly pregnant, not epic monster to make her 'children' look cuddly. Yuuki wouldn't bet on it though.

 

[Quake]

"Okay, so...I just stand in the, uh, trees and have Therion hit the queen?" Vesper asked. She hadn't lit up in here, wary of the smoke attracting attention through whatever Ryan was doing...but she was holding her fingers as if she had one out of sheer habit.

She made a mental note to herself not to count 100% on the 'tree' stuff Yuuki could put down. She had some defenses too, after all.

"Alright, lets get this over with."

Three of those things were pretty close, and who knew how many weren't much farther off. All the ones fighting the natives would probably break off and come straight down here the second the attack started.

They'd need to get this messy work done fast.

[Justin OOC]

The summoning of the Mech, drew the adult's attention, and Ryan summoned his sword again, and looked to Vesper and Yuuki.  "i'll draw the adults  until Tori gets going, you two knock off the hatchlings, and try to move closer to the queen."  With that he leaped over the side down into the cavern, headed straight  towards one of the adult warriors, his sword ringing against the armored claw, even as his feet hit the side of it too, where he jumped off, dodging the other claw's swipe and tearing a deep furrow down the creatures back.  It vomited acid towards him, but it missed, etching the cavern wall, and now all three warriors turned to engage him as he landed in a crouch, rising and brandishing his sword.   He'd drawn them in, and close together too.   Meanwhile the queen was starting to turn to them, and the hatchlings already moving underfoot.

Go ahead and make your posts, and we will continue.  please include your rolls in a spoiler. 

[Tori Cannon]

The Banshee's rockets propelled it into the cavoernous chamber , flying low Tori saw what Ryan was doing and  as soon as he was clear flared up fired off the buster cannon twice at the clumped monsters and landed before the shots even covered the distance

Spoiler

Two cannon shots at the clump 

buster: 2d6+8 15

2nd buster: 2d6+8 14

each shot does 110 damage and is area 4

 

[Ryougi Yuuki]

The black-clad shrine maiden braced herself against the force of Tori's jump and the thunder of gunfire, enhanced muscles going taunt as her verdant whip held true to it's task as an anchor. She dropped to the ground between the mech's feet in a single sleek motion, one hand clenched tight and blazing green with her magic. "Sacred Bamboo Grove Ramparts!" came the by-now familiar incantation, Yuuki casting the spellseed at her feet.

Mech and maiden were surrounded by a leafy, spiritual fortress in seconds, a flaring challenge to the monsters of the cavern. Yuuki's mouth was open for another call even as her body flared like a green sun in the dark, hair flaring up from her head in the grip of a second surge of power. "Bounded Field Blooming," she incanted, gold eyes flashing around the chamber to take in all the details.

The magic glare flashed out in a wave along the floors, walls, and ceilings of the cavern, rushing out to try and claim all green and growing things in range as tools for the shrine maiden.

Spoiler

Activating Forcefield as a Free Action, +40 armor for all inside the circle...

 Activating Plant Control. (2D6+13 => 17)

  

[Quake]

Vesper brought her hands up, crossed at the wrist, and the hive around her trembled slightly. The tough, resinous walls cracked slightly, and bits of dust and debris started swirling around the pale-skinned girl. She said aloud, "Kill the queen. Don't let them catch you out."

As the Therion swooshed invisibly towards the Queen, Vesper turned her baleful glare on the nearest of the guardians. Malice lashed out, tearing at the creature's mind!

Activating forcefield. Therion moves to engage the Queen next turn, hopefully with surprise.

Mind blast (30 damage, psychic, drain mind 2, drain 25 energy): 2d6+6 17

[Justin OOC]

The twin blasts from the mecha's canon did serious damage to the trio of warriors, With the mental blast from Vesper Finishing off the first of the trio, even from behind the shield Yuuki had erected.   Therion moved in on the queen,  and the scythe sliced deeply into the massive monster's right arm, getting a eardrum splitting scream from the beast, as it whirled around trying to find its tormentor.    Yuuki found no plantlife within the chamber, from the looks of it, these creatures fed mostly on meat, of all kinds.   

Ryan moved with impressive speed, Cutting through damaged flesh to cut the heart out of first one Warrior, then The other.   With the trip gone, he was turning to head to the queen when an even larger bug burst from the ground, looking like an armored tank, and charging him.   The Impact would have exploded most any other living thing, but Ryan was sheathed in a blue energy, as well as the forcefield, which was battered down by the impact, and he was knocked int the wall of Nest area, Into a not that small crater.   The first sign he wasn't okay was the amount of blood he coughed up after the hit, and the way his sword disappeared, even as he sagged in the crater.

  new monster type

 

[Ryougi Yuuki]

Golden eyes going wide with the sound of fleshy impact, Yuuki didn't think twice about darting out of ring of spectral foliage protecting her and the others. Her whip uncoiled from her side, sprouting the beginning of new leaves and vine along it's entire length even as she came to a halt between the bone-helmed horror and Ryan. He knew how this all worked, and if he died when she could have done something, was tough enough to distract the monsters from him long enough for the mission to succeed... No.  

"Rooting Strike!" she called, lashing out with her weapon. It shifted as it hurled at it's target, forking and sprouting into a living net that hungered to anchor this horror in place for another blow to destroy.

Spoiler

Okay, using Verdant Whip with Flexible 2 (-2 to his defense roll) and Entangle 3 (if it hits, -3 to his to hit and he can't move until 15 damage is dealt to the vines pinning his legs down)

2D6+7 => 10

Well. At least it's not a botch...

 

[Tori Cannon]

Tori watched in horror as Ryan was nearly  splatted like a bug on a windshield she was relieved when he moved at least showing that he was alive. "Yuuki! See if you can get to Ryan!" She shouted her voice amplified and broadcast by the towering Mecha.

Twisting back to face the entangle monster she cut loose with her autoguns, stitching the beast with round after round!

Spoiler

autoguns: 2d6+8 14

autoguns: 2d6+8 16

 

[Quake]

Vesper reached out, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

"Keep on the queen!" she shouted, and the Therion's dread presence did indeed stay near the 'leader' of the alien hive.

Meanwhile, Ryan found himself slowly starting to lift off the ground. It felt as if gravity was easing away, letting him float dreamily upward. Then he was falling...falling backwards though, away from the battle towards where the girls were struggling to fight off the monsters. Abruptly, yet with very little sense of movement, he came to a halt in midair near Vesper and lowered gently to the ground again.

"Be more careful," she said tersely.

(Using TK to pull Ryan out of immediate danger; Therion's Attacks)

Therion attack/attack, 72 damage/hit, Spreading 3: 2d6+8 16 2d6+8 15

 

[Justin OOC]

Yuuki's attack served to momentarily restrain the massive Armored rhino like creature, even as the the almost incessant hail of shells from Tori struck the armored prow.   While they did manage to blast small chunks from the armor with nearly a dozen strikes, Everyone could tell that it really wasn't hurting the entangled behemoth, mostly just pissing it off as it burst free of the vines rooting it, turning again to Yuuki now and preparing to charge.    

Therion's attacks hit home, but the queen was far from unprotected, her armor taking much of the strength of the spirit's blows, and illiciting a change, The Queen began to sprout dozens of razor sharp quills, and in an instant sent them flying. Due to the Angle, only therion and Tori were targets, the blast of quills pitting the armor of the mech, but mostly bouncing off.   One did impale therion, rendering him visible, and doing considerable damage.

Ryan, awake now, called back his sword,  Just in time to hack down two of the juveniles who'd closed in on Vesper while her attention was on him.   The other dozen or so were closing in too, soon they'd have a real fight and be overwhelmed.   
 

He called out loudly   "Shoot it in the Ass it doesn't have armor there!"   A quick look showed the truth of his words, while the front of the creature's head was like the armored prow of a battleship honed to a knife edge, the rear of the animal was simple flesh, with odd lumps of hair sticking out.  Meanwhile the queen was following therion, made visible by the impaled quill, and moving to swat him down with a massive hand.

  Therion takes 55 damage,  The mecha takes 50 damage after applying armor

[Ryougi Yuuki]

Ryan was clear. Good. Now she just had to keep this thing focused on her while Tori got the pleasure of looking at it's ass. The glimpses of it's mouth behind the shield was gross enough, reminding the shrine maiden of worms and bark beetles that had brought down one of the big old trees near the school, hardwood splintering into choking dust between her hands.

Her gaze hardened, molten gold fury at the thought of these things doing the same to sacred Mount Fuji. "Rooting! Strike!," She called, snapping her whip straight up and back down at the monster, weapon blooming into a second entangling mass in the moments before potential impact with the brute, her posture tall and confident in challenge. Maybe this was what it felt like to actually want to do what you needed to do?

Spoiler

Second Verse, same as the first!

2D6+7 => 17

That's more like it. Yes.

 

[Tori Cannon]

Tori darted forward the Mechas feet slamming the ground shaking her surroundings as she closed the distance on what looked like a frontal charge she suddenly hit her jets and launched herself into the air twisting and flipping she fired her jets again to soften her landing behind the monster.

Tori gritted her teeth and lined up her shot on the beasts butt and triggered her cannons.

Spoiler

autocannon: 2d6+8 19
autocannon: 2d6+8 19

40 damage each if they hit

 

[Quake]

"Keep on the queen!" Vesper called to the Therion, as the spectre wrested the spike out of itself and flew up to avoid the smaller creatures. From above it twirled the scythe, slashing twice across the queen's thick hide. Meanwhile, Vesper glared across the cavern at it, trying to flay its mind with her will!

 

Therion attack/attack, 72 damage/hit, Spreading 3: 2d6+8 14 2d6+8 16

Mind blast (30 damage, psychic, drain mind 2, drain 25 energy): 2d6+6 11

[Justin OOC]

Entangled once again, the rhino type was held fast, long enough for a seemingly endless hail of autocannon rounds to shred its unprotected rear.  Ryan moved forward, wading into the smaller hatchling creatures, which proved no match for him, as he took down 3 in a few swings of his sword.  Vesper and therion's assault on the queen was starting to harm her, and vesper felt little resistance to her psychic assault, though the normal draining effects didn't seem to fire.

 

In response the remaining hatchlings went after Ryan, as the queen tried to swat down therion to no avail, though her tail had lashed out and only narrowly missed crushing Vesper flat, leaving a massive imprint in the rock where it had struck.

[Ryougi Yuuki]

Ryan wasn't alone for long, Yuuki turning her focus from the bullet-riddled corpse of the bone-plated monster to the smaller beasts swarming her teammate. For a third time, she called out the words that caused her weapon to surge with living magic even as she snapped it at a outlier of the pack, sinuously homing for the gibbering horror. With Vesper doing as well as she was, Kami willing, they should be able to finish these lesser spawn easily...

Spoiler

Third time's the charm? 42 damage with entangle if I hit...

2D6+7 => 13

 

[Tori Cannon]

Tori landed the mecha with a thud the rhino was no longer a threat but that left the small ones and the queen, Yuuki and  Ryan were too close to the Small beasts for her to use any of her weaponry without fear of hitting them, that left the queen. A glance at the power levers indicated that she had only a few shots left so it was time for some close up work.

leaping past the smaller monsters she triggered her jet and unsheathed her combat blade and roketed toward the queen with the intent of coming down on it's unprotected back and burying the blade!

Spoiler

blade attack: 2d6+8 15   damage is 98 if she hits

 

 

[Justin OOC]

With five hatchlings and the queen left, The quartet of players continued their assault.    Vesper and Therion were first into the fray, Though Vesper's mental blast failed to really have an effect, Therion manages to hit with one attack, though the cut is shallower than normal, Even as Vesper takes cover behind one of the boulders on the field.    Yuuki and Ryan worked to clear away more of the hatchlings,  With Ryan hurling his sword to protect Vesper from one sneaking up on her and then causing one to explode with his fist.  Yuuki split one with her vine whip.    Tori drives in making a series of cuts and feints trying to find an opening but also trying to distract and draw the queens attention away from the others. Let it beat on her.  Her strike hit home, cracking the armor and penetrating deep, drawing a scream from the queen even as the two talon tipped hands stabbed into the mech, peircing armor and tearing rents in it, but not doing serious damage.  Most alarmingly, the Spines on the queen's back were extended again, indicating she was ready to launch that devastating attack again.

Yuuki moved quickly the defensive bamboo thicket vanishing from one place to around Vesper, helping to shield her even as she cut down another Hatchling.  Seeing the attack coming and knowing Therion couldn't take another hit, Vesper had him go Ethereal, to avoid it, even as she blasted the Queen with her mental might.   The queen howled in pain as neurons fired and fried, she'd never met something that could injure her so.  Still it was enough to halt the thought to use her acid breath attack, even as Tori moved in, trying to grapple the queen and keep her from using the spine attack once more.  Despite her valiant attempt, the queen manages to fend off the grapple, and fires, though her spines fail to hit anyone, there are several near misses.   Most telling was the destruction of Vesper's cover and the breaking of the shield by the hammerlike tip of the queen's tail, had it hit, it would have taken her out of the fight.  The Queen used her tail to swipe and knock away Tori and her mecha, even as Ryan retrieved his weapon then slew another hatchling.  

Untdettered, Therion became corporeal and then slashed at the queen, hitting once, carving another rent in her armor.  Vesper's mental blast angers the queen further, and Ryan killed the final hatchling before moving to run up a wall and set up for the sort of jumping slash he used in the city ruins.   Yuuki had tried to attack the hatchling but missed.   Tori took aim and slashed at one of the two mace arms on the queen and succeeded in amutating it, driving the queen to attack, both large blade arms carving the mechs legs and a talon claw ripping into the side and back, sending a warning to Tori that flight was now impossible without repairs.

Tori reacted quickly, slashing at the remaining mace arm and the blade arm on that side, amputating it even as Therion's attacks came in too shallow, skittering off the Queen's armor, as the queen parried the attack against the blade arm.  Vesper's attack served to distract the queen, even as once agian Yuuki shielded Vesper with another bamboo thicket.   Ryan's attack was the most telling, launching himself through the air and with a single massive attack , severing the queen's tail, nearly at the base.   The creature screamed and then kicked him into the wall, so hard it left a crater, and raising all four arms to strike him down for its severed tail.  once again, spines protrude from the queen's back, ready to fire off and impale them all.

Yuuki, seeing Ryan's weakness, moves to shield him, casting an acorn before him and using all her power to cause it to grow into an oak that reached the ceiling.  The queen tried to cut it down but failed, even as Ryan rose shakily to his feet.  Therion's attacks hit home, doing more damage, severing both blade arms as they found the weakpoint in the armored joints.  Tori, heedless to the damage she'd take, grappled the queen from behind, sinking the mech's combat knife deep into the queen's neck, Even as Vesper blasted the queen once more, the front of the queen's skull blasting out.   The Queen began to fall forward under the mech's weight and gravity, and it was then that Ryan launched himself upwards, bringing up his sword, which grew two sizes at least as he swung, and finished severing the head of the queen from her body, ending the fight.   When he hit the ground he fell over, his sword disappearing, and he began to laugh.   "What a Finish ladies, one hell of a finish."

He laid there a moment, and looked to Tori's mecha.  "You may want to radio our allies and let them know it's done, no need for the bomb."
 

[Ryougi Yuuki]

"Very much seconded," agreed the shrine maiden, golden eyes scanning the chamber for signs of hostile movement or any movement other than themselves period. She exhaled and restored her whip to it's resting place on her black-clad hips. Walking over and touching one palm to the bark of the giant tree, she let the energy revert back to it's natural flow. Only a fraction of the magic diverted from it's downward flood back into the ground, but even that fraction was enough to light her up like a neon sign one more time. When the glow faded, she stood there next to the pit that her mammoth tree had drilled through the bedrock, clutching an oak seed in one hand.

"Thank you, friend," Yuuki offered to the tiny, unheeding thing and stepped back from the crumbling edge as the ground settled into the void left behind.

"So. Once Tori makes her call and saves the sacred mountain, what's next? How do we get home?"

[Tori Cannon]

"Banshee run damage report diagnostics and see if you can get me the Bomber Command on the comms." Tori instructed the mechs computer while she used the controls to extract the heavily damaged mecha from the  dead queen.

"This is central command, this is a restricted frequency. Who is this?" Came an abrutp and somewhat annoyed sounding voice cutting thru the static.

"This is Tori Cannon, one of your allies we have assaulted the queens chamber and she is dead. I repeat she is dead. Standby for battle replay upload and call off the bomb run."

[Quake]

Vesper shrugs at Yuuki.

"Our crazy overlord-boss-whatever will probably figure it out, then bring us out," she guesses.

The Therion's shadow falls over her as it moves from the remains of the Queen back to Vesper. However, the shadow is faint and getting fainter. The towering spirit is already fading away, leaking a strange gaseous 'something' from where the creatures' claws had torn at him while manifested. A moment later he's gone entirely, and there is again no sign that anything particularly bad would happen to someone making a wrong move around her.

The pale, black-clad teen fumbles another cigarette out from wherever she hides them and lights it up. With a nod at Yuuki she adds, "Thanks for the, uh...tree things. Or whatever those are."

[Justin OOC]

"This is Ryoko, we acknowledge your completion, the Swarm has stopped moving.  We are recalling the bombers.  We're all safe and accounted for."   This got smiles from the others, that was two conditions cleared.

Ryan rose to his feet, his sword appearing once more as he moved towards the corpse of the queen.   using his blade to hack away at the torso he revealed a large glowing orange sphere.   His sword grew another size and he swung with all he had, splitting the sphere, at which point the phone chirped for all of them.

"There it's done now."

There was a white light, and they found themselves back in their world, at the shop, with the GameMaster standing there smiling.  "Congratulations on clearing the first level together.   What did you all think of the experience?"
 

[Quake]

Vesper looked around, then looked at her hand.

"So...is this real? Or some kind of weird dimension made up Matrix level stuff?" she wants to know. "It seems real? But then you're over here calling it 'levels' and it's weird."

[Tori Cannon]

"That, weird goth chick, is an understatement." mumbled Tori as she too stared at the suddenly altered enviroment.

[Ryougi Yuuki]

Once she gathered where they were, the shrine maiden's golden eyes widened in alarm, her voice urgent as she bowed slightly, "Gamemaster-Sama. May I use your restroom?"

The old man chuckled and waved a hand in the general direction of the shop's rear, and Yuuki darted  that way, green hair swooshing behind her, smell of blossoms trailing in her wake. The door slammed to mark her entry into the aforementioned room.  

[Justin OOC]

The GameMaster smiled at all of them.    "I trust that you completed the tasks, and since you're all in one piece, You're not Injured, well no moreso than you can heal in your case, Ryan."  The Older teen shrugged.   "Yeah I'll be fine in an hour or so Old Man.   So where's the payout?"

When the other two looked at him he nodded.  "That's the deal, we get more power with each level we clear, or at least that was the explanation I got.  So here we are, back from the Level and I'm interested to see what happens.  i mean technically I already beat one before, so I guess getting to come back was my reward for that one, but this time was an actual completion."

The GameMaster nodded.  "You are correct Ryan, Your powers will increase in some way.  How exactly I do not know.  When Yuuki returns, we can go through the process together."

The GameMaster looked to Tori and Vesper.  "This is most certainly real, and you are home as it were.  I use the terms "Levels" and "Players" because it makes things somewhat easier to think of.   You are effectively my champions, fighting to achieve objectives across a nearly infinite multiverse of plane and worlds within them.  Your success is mine, and in return my power is yours.  If you fall, I can never recover that lost power, and without sufficient power, There can be no players or champions, and the damage done to the multiverse will never be repaired.  Whole planes will be lost, and this diminishes all that exists."

"This is the grandest of games, played for the fate of everything.   I cannot fight directly and so I invested each of you with some of my power to fight for me.  Of course you can each awaken new abilities, beyond what I have granted, and with each Level Cleared, I gain power that I can then share with you as well."

[Ryougi Yuuki]

Door closed and locked behind her, Yuuki exhaled and looked at her reflection, or at least the reflection of the stranger the Gamemaster's gift let her become. Not a stranger she wanted to walk around as in the 'real world', especially since she was wearing something so embarrassing. What if someone had seen her? She breathed in and out again, calming the fear by inches. Well, fear and a shade of temptation. She didn't *have* to change back, she didn't think. Just walk away from the shrine and everything... Help people. The whole thing had been... fun. Terrifying but fun. If she find someone to... No. No. Bad. She had the Duty. Yuuki clapped her cheeks to clear away the distracting thoughts.

"Spring Ends and Petals Fall," she intoned and felt the taunt strings of energy fall away from her, a storm of shining sakura petals flooding her vision. When it ended, and the last of the glow faded, a far more familiar face stared back at her, immaculate of all the traces of her journey.

An unlocked door later, the mousy Ryougi Yuki they met at the start of this rejoined the group, looking up at them with a smile that didn't quite reach her brown eyes. "My apologies," she offered with a slight bow, "I didn't want to ruin things by drawing the wrong kind of attention."