Match of the Millennium

Description: At Kanmon Bridge, connecting Kitakyushu to the main island of Honshu, the JSDF makes a stand against the encroaching Gear army. You would think a tense standoff would ensue as the Ikari Warriors face off against the Gears, but in FACT, the Gears are led by... a girl in a wedding dress? Join us for headbutting sharks, stray boomerangs, and girls with swords screaming at each other... after the break.

[ELPHELT]
The Tsushima Strait is all the separates two of Japan's main islands: Kyushu in the southwest, and Honshu to the northeast. With the UN's Gear forces attacking them from multiple directions, things look pretty dire for the Japanese Self-Defense Force, a perfectly modern and well-equipped military that hasn't fought in an actual combat actions outside of UN peacekeeping for a very long time. Thankfully for them, the Mishima Zaibatsu decided to step in and help with both tactical advice and more practical concerns: hardware, logistics, equipment. Thus bolstered, the JSDF Central Army's 13th Brigade dug it at Shimonoseki, across the straight from the port of Kitakyushu to the south. With the path through them being the only realistic land route onto Honshu from Kyushu, this seemed like the best idea at the time.

With bridges and embankments dug in with bunkers, sandbags, and whatever other fortifications could be deployed in time, the various bridges and port routes across the strait are effectively blocked, meaning the advancing UN Gear forces -- which landed in Fukuoka the previous day -- will have to plow through the entire 13th to get across to Honshu.

When they arrived in Kitakyushu, the Gear forces marched through the city, largely ignoring any non-violent humans... weird in and of itself. The center of their column carried, on a motorized platform, what appeared to be a... coffin, of some sorts, made of metal. The center of the coffin is decorated with a single red rose, and some engraving in a chancery script that's too small to be read by passersby without getting uncomfortably close to the Gears themselves. This procession marched up the Kagoshima Main Line train route until it reached the Kanmonkyo Bridge, and then turned onto the bridge, reaching the 13th Brigade's picket, and just... stopped.

And waited. And watched. For hours.

But now? Now... as the JSDF soldiers and Tekken Force backup are starting to emerge from bunkers to find out what's going on, there's a blast of steam from the 'coffin,' which suddenly opens to reveal a figure inside.

A figure... in a white wedding gown. Or rather, some messed-up, heavy metal interpretation of a white wedding gown.

In a hiss of steam, Elphelt Valentine slumps forward out of the 'coffin,' stepping out into the light and throwing back her sugar-pink hair.

This unlikely commander steps forward past her Gear soldiers, standing at the head of the column, and clears her throat... before shouting, at the top of her lungs: "EXCUSE ME, WOULD YOU MIND TERRIBLY SURRENDERING AND LETTING US PASS? THIS DRESS IS BRAND NEW AND I'D REALLY RATHER NOT MESS IT UP, AND GETTING YOUR BLOOD AND VISCERA ON IT WILL TAKE FOREVER TO GET THE STAINS OUT. THANKS IN ADVANCE."

............what.

COMBATSYS: Elphelt has started a fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Elphelt 0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Elphelt 0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-------|

[LITA]
The entire war has upended things that the former Lieutenant Lita Luwanda thought was true. Lita thought the UN was ultimately for the improvement of the world. Granted, she also saw indicators that things weren't what they seemed. There was the weird question Major Charlie Nash asked her when she was being interviewed for his task force about the relationship between Delta Red and the UN. The timing of that made all the more sense considering the timing of it was right after he had been injured by the paranormal entity(Testament) at the UN building attack. Afterwards, it was the activity during the King of Fighter's tournament. Sergei destroying a stairway to keep Daniel trapped after one King of Fighters fight until he could 'extract' him, Daniel being a no-show to the finals of their King of Fighters run due to what she would later find out was a successful extraction. Then there was the Mortal Kombat tournament where the Interpol chief sent Daniel to the tournament by knocking him out having him wake up on Shang Tsung's island. That she could just dismiss as Interpol being run by an idiot. When Justice nuked Mt. Fuji, she could not dismiss it any more and had to acknowledge as a whole that the UN wasn't what it was supposed to be in her eyes. But then the votes for war came in for declaring war on Japan, and the United Kingdom wasn't one of those dissenting votes. All Delta Red decided staying wasn't an option any more.

Lita's personal trip took her to the Ikari Warriors and she finds herself pretty much at square one. Her previous rank didn't matter any more. When Lita Luwanda approaches the Tsushima Strait, it's escorted by Faolan Sheehan, since the Ikari didn't trust her to act on her own(for good reason).

She no longer wears her Delta Red gear but instead, olive green BDU pants, olive green short sleeved button up shirt worn unbuttoned, a white tank undershirt and as the only nod to her privious affiliation a red beret though this one is devoid of the brass traingle that would indicate a Delta Red.

Upon arriving at the site, she stops and remains ready. For the purposes of this mission, Faolan is her commanding officer.

[COOPER]
If there's one thing you can always count on, it's that if you're outumbered and find yourself in need of a little muscle, there will always be someone willing to take payment to get their hands dirty. And bloody. Mercenary units are always nice, but sometimes a freelancer or two just really adds the little splash of color you need to really set off a war. Cooper is always willing to take money in exchange for his efforts. This time, due to the world economy no doubt being upended, his payment will come in the form of good old gold. The Aussie loves gold.

Assigned as an extra hand for the Ikari warriors, he finds himself approaching the straight as well, though he's not much in the mood for socializing with his new traveling companions, instead taking occasional glances through a pair of binoculars as he keeps tabs on the approaching gear army. He's got himself kitted out, fatigues, kevlar vest painted with his personal logo of a winding snake in reds, greens and blues, and a full compliment of his favorite weapons. "Well, this is gonna go straight to shit."

Lowering the binoculars, he sounds.. eager, despite the words. His mouth splitting into a cheery, toothy bright grin as he glances over at his partners for the brawl to come. "Hope you wore your muckwaders."

COMBATSYS: Cooper has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Elphelt 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cooper
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Lita has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Elphelt 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cooper
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Faolan has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Elphelt 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Cooper
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Faolan
> //////////////////////////////]
|-------\-------\0 Lita

[FAOLAN]
It is hard to stay truly neutral sometimes, but the Ikari Warriors often tiptoe that line rather well. In this case they are in Japan not to support the UN nor are they here on behalf of the defending Japanese forces. They are here to save innocents and eliminate a threat early on before it becomes too powerful of a force. Even the big guns are out with Heidern and Leona accompanying a unlikely ally in Sol. Ralf and Clark remained at the base just in case the UN decided to try and attack while the forces were spread out which left the command of the other group of Ikari in Japan to Faolan. This might not have been the best of Heidern's decisions.

Standing there with Lita and Cooper nearby The Irishman stands there with bata lightly resting over a shoulder. He has seen some real weirdos as of late and they just seem to be getting weirder. Sol, the crazy guitar chick and now this. He'll have to say one thing. The Ikari life is never dull. "Yeaaaaaah. We can't let you by. Looks like I got orders here to say we are to send you packing. Don't suppose you won't climb back into that fancy bed of yours and turn around either? Please say you won't."

This might not be a fight he survives, but he isn't backing down. Lita he feels he can trust. Cooper on the other hand? Well the guy is a mercenary. Heidern is paying the man well, but it is always hard to tell if a merc might turn tail and run if things get too bad. He lazily shifts into a more battle ready stance as his gaze remains on the gear army and its leader. He can only hope everyone is prepared for what is about to go down.

[ELPHELT]
Well, in Elphelt's defense: she asked nicely, and it IS a really nice gown. Through his binoculars, Cooper can see the mass of gears surrounding her start to move restlessly, even though El herself hasn't done anything particularly threatening. When Faolan denies her request to just, you know, march on by, she DOES look disappointed, however. In like a 'teen girl pouting' way, which is about as far as one might imagine from 'active military commander leading a troupe of eldritch cyborg abominations' as possible.

"WELL," she says, still shouting, probably for no reason other than she thinks she's supposed to, "THAT'S KIND OF A DOWNER, BUT I WANTED TO AT LEAST ASK FIRST? THAT SEEMED POLITE."

What is even going on right now.

There's a pause as Elphelt half-turns to the shambling horde next to her, and then nods once before turning back to the bridge. "I GUESS THAT MEANS WE HAVE TO TRY TO KILL EACH OTHER? IF YOU COULD DO ME A FAVOR AND TRY NOT TO BLEED ON THIS DRESS I'D BE REALLY GRATEFUL." And then, bringing back her arm, she heaves it forward like a softball pitcher, hurling a reddish projectile right at Faolan, who stupidly decided to actually engage her in conversation instead of attacking first. The projectile, once it gets closer, is revealed to be...

Uh, well, it's a very large strawberry. Which is weird enough, but it's also 1.) glowing red and 2.) emitting a faint ticking sound which is probably A Bad Sign if Fao doesn't move his ass, although there's also the matter of

3.) the Gear horde, which decide to swarm across the bridge at that very moment in a big ungainly sprawl; in their rush to have at the JSDF picket, a few of them head for Cooper. Five or six of them -- little stick-figured things with bodies like cartoon crescent moons in purple and pink, extend spindly arms and attempt to just... well, chuck him off the bridge. Not fancy but it works.

[LITA]
Who the hell wears white to the battlefield? No one look at Lita's tank undershirt? The better question to ask would be who wears white to a battlefield and not expect blood on it? Those are the questions tumbling through the former Delta Red's mind as she watches the red strawberry arc towards Faolan.

As the giant glowing fruit tumbles past her, the ticking noise draws her attention as she mouths the words, 'Oh shit.' She breaks into a run as much to get the hell away from the ticking time fruit as it was to rush towards the source of the glowing produce. Lita looks the Gear in White in the eyes before whispering, "We can't always get what we want, love."

Lita proceeds to grab Elphelt by the shoulder. She then moves hip to hip with the gear and attempts a hip throw. Should she get that initial throw, her hand stiffens into a knife-hand as she attempts to stab said hand into the strawberry chucker's chest.

COMBATSYS: Cooper blocks Gear Swarm's Medium Hurl.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Cooper
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Faolan
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Lita

[COOPER]
There's a moment where Cooper doesn't know what to think. He's seen his fair share of weird things in his twenty-some odd years on this Earth, but a giant ticking strawberry and flailing moon gears are not in them. He very casually gives his arm a little pinch.

Nope, not hllucinating. That means it's time to smash things. He likes smashing things.

Perhaps he took a little too long in contemplating whether or not the mushrooms he had with his lunch were the funny kind, as one of the gears latches on to him. He quickly breaks the hold and bursts into action.

One swing goes off to a gear on the right, another towards a gear on the left. He's not trying to hit them, just get them to back off a little. Then he focuses on the one that tried to grab him. He leaps in the air and tries to plant a flying double kick right into the stupid thing's face. Does it even have a face? It must. And it needs a good kicking.

COMBATSYS: Faolan barely endures Elphelt's Berry Pine.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Cooper
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Faolan
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Lita

[FAOLAN]
Faolan would probably be in the same boat as Cooper when it comes with weirdness if not for his previous two encounters. Really at this moment the army and their odd leader feels pretty much just par for the course. "No promises! I try not to have time to bleed." Heheh....Jesse Ventura eat your heart out.

Bad adjusted quotes aside Faolan finds what he thinks is a giant strawberry coming at him. One that he hears ticking as it gets closer. Well as any proper Ikari, or one not named Leona, Whip or Heidern, he decides to take it the proper way. Stepping right into the damn thing with a headbutt which causes an explosion and blasts Faolan back several feet where he lands on his back. "Oww......"

He clambers back to his feet quickly though. Hurt as it may he is already looking to help try and stop the incoming army starting to storm the bridge. Lita decides to engate the berry thrower, but Faolan decides to help out Cooper as he starts to funnel energy into his bata and he thrusts it forward and sends out a giant ball of black, electrical energy careening through the army.

COMBATSYS: Lita successfully hits Elphelt with Delta Strike.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Cooper
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Faolan
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Cooper successfully hits Gear Swarm with Kangaroo Strike.
- Power hit! -

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Faolan
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm blocks Faolan's Irish Curse.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Faolan
> ///////////////////////////// ]
|=------\-------\0 Lita

[ELPHELT]
A lot is going on right now. 'Erupts into chaos' is so loaded a term, but as soon as Elphelt has started the skirmish in earnest, the Gears taking their cue from the world's most adorable command gear (suck it Jack-O), everything really does just become a whirlwind melee of nonsense all going on at once. The Gears surge forward; the JSDF and their Tekken Force backup open fire. Faolan gets clipped by a grenade in the form of a strawberry while Cooper struggles out of the grasp of cyborgs apparently inspired by the 1980s 'Mac Tonight' McDonalds commercials.

And Lita? Well. She decides to get up close and personal with Elphelt. When the Delta Red op tries to grab the command gear's shoulder, Elphelt winces away, dragging it out of reach, shouting "Hey--!" The rest is lost, however, because El had expected the grab attempt to be the end of things, and it was not; the hip bump and knife hand send her stumbling backwards, rubbing a hand to her breastbone. "Ow! Hey!" Elphelt huffs.

And then she whips her hand around and tries to smack Lita in the face with what appears to be a full bouquet of red roses. That doesn't SEEM like it would hurt but, in fact, should they connect, it's a bit like taking a blackjack to the face. Or rather, six of them, if they were roses and not cudgles. "STOP THAT."

Meanwhile the Gears assaulting Cooper try to scatter away from his kick, but to little avail; one of them still gets caught right in the... face?... and skids across the bridge before going right over the side. This is enough warning for them to turn toward Faolan and, weirdly, huddle up, linking arms; the result is a little... moon ball, or something. The black orb slams into the huddle but the formation appears to disperse the energy equally across them all, perhaps some built-in Gear defense intended to let them work as a unit. Having made himself the threat (AGAIN), the majority of the gears turn away from Cooper and drive for Faolan en masse, still in their little ball... which is to say they look to Katamari Damacy right over him!

COMBATSYS: Lita blocks Elphelt's Medium Punch.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Faolan
> /////////////////////////// ]
|===----\-------\0 Lita

[LITA]
The bladed weapons specialist draws back her hand before letting it relax into an open, slightly curled guard, just like her other hand. The chaos of combat breaks out and in the meanwhile Lita is oddly calm even though she knows she has no right to be. She takes account of the two allies with slight glances. They opted to take on the gears. It just means her function will be to wreak as much merry havoc with the commanding officer.

The only warning she has for what comes next is the commanding officer gear ordering her to stop doing that. The roses make a meaty smack noise aginst the new Ikari conscript's arm as she deflects the bouquet. She is used to unconventional weapons. She makes it a point to train in unconventional weapons because she never knows if she'll be in a sitation where she would be deprived of her weaponry. She plans on utilizing this piece of weaponry and hoist Elphelt by the figurative petard. A literal one might be possible later.

As Lita reaches out for the bouquet wielding hand, she goes for a foot stomp on the gear as both a distraction and a way to keep her in places as she grabs the hand holding the flowers and painfully twists it towards Elphelt's outside which if all goes well, would allow her to also disarm her of the bouquet and claim the weapon as her own... Temporarily.

[COOPER]
Cooper lands in a crouch as he watches moonman going over the side of the bridge with a smirk of smug satisfaction across his face.

His attention darts between his two companions for the time being, trying to decide which one might need his help more. Faolan is outnumbered, or is he still with all of them being one huddle mass of annoyance, or is the commander the more immediate threat. The Aussie merc seems to settle on the latter for the moment, hand dipping behind him to flick one of those lovely little boomerangs out of the holster hooked to his belt.

"Oy, Bridezilla. Can it." With a quick flick of the wrist he sends the boomerang flying across the battlefield towards Elphelt, luckily keeping him where he is just in case he needs to switch the focus of his attention on to a different threat.

COMBATSYS: Faolan blocks Gear Swarm's Elegy of Lost Opportunity.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Faolan
> /////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Lita

[FAOLAN]
Wouldn't it be nice to fight a regular army once again. Since becoming an Ikari normal isn't exactly a word that get thrown around too much. It has given the Irishman a whole new outlook in life and he has gotten to go to neat places and fight weird people. The weirdest being the most recent. Even among all this oddness a crazy girl in a dress coming out of a coffin leading an army of moon shaped men does sort of take the cake.

Lita and Cooper seem to have coffin lass taken care of at least for the time being. That means the Ikari will deal witht he army itself as best he can. At least they are nice enough to link arms and become some weird Katamari deathball that wants to run him over.

Instead of pulling a Indiana Jones and trying to outrun the giant deathball he holds his ground. His hands gripping the ends of his bata and thrusting it forward to let the giant ball of Gears slam into it while he falls backwards and looks to just up and monkey flip the mess over him and away.

COMBATSYS: Elphelt dodges Lita's Armed Combo.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Faolan
> /////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Elphelt blocks Cooper's Devil Toss.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Faolan
> /////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm interrupts Medium Throw from Faolan with March to the Bitter End.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>---\1 Faolan
> /////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Lita

[ELPHELT]
The best laid plans etc. As Lita lunges for Elphelt, the weight of the weaponized bouquet swing actually carries the command Gear with it as she finishes the arc of the blow, meaning that Lita's attempt to grab El ends up hitting empty air. Whether that was was dumb luck or planned, the world may never know, especially because the very second Elphelt comes out of her spin she shrieks and thows up her hands to guard against a... boomerang? Which connects, though thankfully for El, she's able to ineffectually bat it away rather than taking said boomerang on the chin. "Ow!" she yelps, because it hurt.

Turning to Lita, who seems determined to have a close-quarters combat battle with the command gear, Elphelt thrusts a finger in her face, saying with indignant fury: "YOU! Are very rude. Excuse me for one second."

And then she turns unceremoniously to Cooper, kicking the boomerang that just smacked her away with her foot and producing, from within the folds of that gown, a... well. It's a rifle. At least it's shaped like a rifle. But it's also bright pink and has a bow on the chamber near the stock. "I DON'T NEED YOUR MISOGYNIST EVALUATION OF MY DESIRE FOR WEDDED BLISS, _JERK!" she shouts, before pulling the trigger, firing a single powerful shell from that utterly ridiculous rifle at the mercenary.

The Gears, meanwhile, continue to prove a rolling stone gathers no Faolan, as his impromptu defense does pop the ball upward... sort of. But the Gears, midway up, suddenly break formation and instead reform, on their way back DOWN to Faolan, into a *stack* rather than a ball. Realistically, this is the same amount of mass, but the difference between a ball and a stack is that with a ball, the impact point of the weight is dispersed over the surface of the sphere. With a *stack*, the result is that Faolan is rather unceremoniously body pressed by what amounts to an extremely heavy, moon-shaped anvil 9 feet high.

This is not without cost, however; after the impact, a Gear or two roll away, sparking and twitching. Looks like they didn't exactly escape that little maneuver scot free, either.

COMBATSYS: Elphelt successfully hits Cooper with Ms. Confille EX.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/---====|>>>>>>>\>>>>---\1 Faolan
> /////////////////////////// ]
|==-----\-------\0 Lita

[LITA]
Lita's stomp is evaded by Elphelt's (lucky? fancy?) footwork and her hands don't manage to gain purchase onto those hands and subsequently that bouquet of roses with which the gear attempted to rock her world. Out of the corner of her eye she sees a boomerang whizzing by only for it get batted aside. She had to acknowledge that the Aussie was good to be able to thread that boomerang through even if it got knocked away.

The next surprise is the rifle coming out of nowhere. Originally she would've thought the shot would be for her but the shouting made it clear it was definitely going for Cooper. Glancing back to see how Cooper would be holding up enabled her to see Faolan get stack stomped causing er to cringe.

Lita's intent was to get in Elphelt's face to prevent any more surprises like the strawberry explosive or rifle coming into play. It was clear she was, to borrow terminology from MMO, going to need to hold aggro.

"With an attitude like that it'll be hard for you to find a partner to wed..."

There's the taunt and then she decides to up the ante a bit more. She hits the quick release latch on her sword and draws a big fucking sword. She then stabs it into the ground at an angle, using it to shovel it in her eyes, mouth and all over that dress of hers.

[COOPER]
Oh, a rifle. Well that's not fair. Not that the Aussie expects fair, but if he was going to be shot he'd hope it was something less.. gaudy and more masculine.

Cooper takes the hit in the shoulder as he tries to get out of the way of the incoming shot, his body twisting a bit from the impact, but he doesn't let the wound slow him down, adrenaline is pumping, mind is focused, there's no time to worry about a silly little thing like a bullet wound.

He continues his tactic of alternating between targets as Faolan gets nailed by the looney mooney tower. He's close enough to dash into melee range with the gear swarm and try to get it off his scompanion, by punching it really hard.

Cooper tries to solve most of his problems by punching it really hard, in some instances it even works, and hopefully, nailing the bottom of the stack with a solid uppercut will send some toppling over the edge of the bridge.

[FAOLAN]
"Hah!" Faolan feels pretty good about himself in the fact he deflected that rolling ball upwards. Then he realizes what is going on as he looks up. "Oh shit...."

Instead of up and over it turns into an upwards and shift in form. The restructuring mass of enemies coming right downwards on Faolan who actually tries to catch the damn thing. Yeah, that was a bad idea as he gets crushed.

A few gears wiggle off here and there. Others start to get scattered by Cooper, but Faolan remains buried. Then there is a rumbling and upwards several of the gears still resting atop of Faolan go flying everywhere as the Irishman Kool Aid man's himself out of the ground. "That's it! No more Mr. Nice guy!"

He starts to twirl is bata about at a high speed. It is almost like a lawnmower blade in action and he intends just to use it like one as he starts to cut through the group of gears nearest to him by nailing them with hard shots or using the bata to sweep their legs out from under them. "Get your asses out of JAPAN!"

COMBATSYS: Lita successfully hits Elphelt with Fighting Dirty.
Grazing Hit

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Elphelt 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/---====|>------\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Faolan successfully hits Gear Swarm with Carry the Coffin EX.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Elphelt 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/=======|>------\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm dodges Cooper's Uppercut.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Elphelt 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/=======|>------\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////////////////////// ]
|====---\-------\0 Lita

[ELPHELT]
Well... well.

Over toward the blockade, the Gears that went after Faolan see the incoming Cooper and, abandoning their stack formation, scatter from the Australian's attempt to just power fist right through them, his blow scything through now-empty air. This is, however, a problem in terms of the avenging bata of Faolan who has, let's be fair, suffered disproportionately at the hands of the eldritch cyborg things and who, at last, gets his revenge. Already distanced from each other and scrambling to avoid Cooper, the moon-shaped Gears are disadvantageously placed to deal with Faolan's furious assault. In what is probably a satisfying visual result, more than a few of them are just literally flung off the bridge by the force of his blows.

MEANWHILE:

Stowing her rifle as swiftly and incongruously as it appeared, Elphelt turns to hear Lita's verbal jab and gets the words "ExCUSE m--" out before realizing that the Delta Red agent is literally fighting dirty, trying to step back away. She... mostly succeeds. MOSTLY. Of the ground excavated in Lita's attack a stray rock flies up, rebounds off something else, and smacks into the bottom of Elphelt's chin, snapping her head back. When it comes down again, she's holding her nose and her bright blue eyes are wide with shock and annoyance.

As if summoned by her emotions, from behind her emerge more of her Gear soldiers. Unlike the moon-shaped bodies, there are fewer of these, only two... but their bodies are bigger, thicker, basically like the mid-body and head of a shark on a four-legged tank body. Surging past Elphelt, they both leap at Lita, attempting to just... ram right into her with their heavy, blunt heads.

For her part, Elphelt suddenly produces... well, it looks like a high-tech riot shotgun, essentially, also pink. But rather than fire it, she follows her sharks in and attempts to ram it right into Lita's chin, hard, shouting "WHAT KIND OF FILTHY GIRL ARE YOU?! I BET YOU'VE NEVER HAD A BOYFRIEND!"

COMBATSYS: Lita blocks Elphelt's At First Sight.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Elphelt 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/=======|>------\-------\0 Faolan
> //////////////////////// ]
|=====--\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm successfully hits Lita with Medium Bite.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Elphelt 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 1/-------/=======|>------\-------\0 Faolan
> /////////////////// ]
|=======\=------\1 Lita

[LITA]
Lita got exactly the reaction she was going for... And then got way more than she bargained for in terms of aggro. The disappearing and appearing weaponry impressive. and just for that, Lita might consider asking her about her stylist. Because while she can't hide her sword in that gown, think of all the kunai she could store in there!

It was at that moment that she get jumped by a pair of shark headed gears. She tries to slip them, as she attempts to keep her eye on the prize which would be Elphelt but they drive the swordswoman backward. Thankfully, the gear commander obliges her but stepping forward to ram a riot shotgun into her face. That, she was ready for and she brings her sword up to deflect it.

She dances around the two shark headed gears as she repositions her sword and then comes down with diagonal slash from shoulder to hip, a follow up slash across her stomach and a final one right down upon her shoulder. Her lips curl up into a grin, "I'm not looking for Mr. Right at the moment but you can only hope to find Mr. Right-now. They'd run away screaming after dealing with you, love."

[COOPER]
"Oy!" Cooper's brash voice echoes across the battlefield as he turns his attention away from the one mess of gears and back towards Elphelt. "No one shoots me and gets away with it!"

Someone should teach Cooper about restraint, but then again, he's not hired for his restraint. He gets jobs because he's a bull in a china shop, and sometimes that's exactly what you need. And so he's rushing the gear commander, intending to get a little pay back for his bleeding shoulder.

At least he's showing enough discretion not to get directly in Lita's way, but when he's set his mind to something, well..

The headlong rush doesn't seem to be coming to an end, he's not grabbing a weapon, or readying an attack in any obvious way. And as the inches close he has less and less time to do so. Until it becomes clear exactly what he's doing, he's using his head and attempting to drive it right into Elphelt's midsection.

[FAOLAN]
The flurry of attacks slowly comes to a stop and Faolan is panting a bit heavily. Maybe he went all out a bit too much. He staggers back a step and then regains his balance as he looks about. The others are still standing. That is good. The bad is that there are still a shit ton of enemies left and their commander is proving to be tougher than she looks.

"Just keeping going." he mutters to himselfand his gaze sweeps about again. It seems Lita is keeping the commander distracted well enough and Cooper is doing well to keep assisting whoever needs it. That means it only seems proper for Faolan to keep up the assault on the army proper.

"Hup!" he lowers his shoulder and he starts to just move forward and bum rush through a group of the Gears and plow through them. Sadly the one right at the end of that charge is met with a nice big headbutt from the Ikari Warrior.

COMBATSYS: Cooper successfully hits Elphelt with Headbutt.
- Power hit! -

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 1/-======/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Faolan
> ///////////////// ]
|=======\==-----\1 Lita

COMBATSYS: Elphelt interrupts Triple Slash from Lita with Consider Better Half.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////// ]
|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Lita

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm blocks Faolan's Celtic Crush.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 1/------=/=======|>------\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////// ]
|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Lita

[ELPHELT]
Stop picking on the bride.

Both Lita and Cooper decide they want to try and take out the commander all in one go, which is... a bit much for Elphelt to handle. Lita's banter isn't exactly psychological warfare, but it might have distracted Elphelt long enough that when Cooper comes in for the headbutt, she's barely looking his way, and he lands it hard enough to push her back into the coffin-esque thing she emerged from with an 'oof!'. Which is bad enough on its own, until Lita is right there beside him, lashing out with her sword in that first cut, which slices a long line of crinoline out of the dress in addition to all the other negative effects you'd imagine a sword might have.

That might have been a mistake on Lita's part, however, because if she's looking down while preparing for the rest of her combination slash, she might see, in Elphelt's right hand where it wasn't before... well, it's a decorative cake knife. The kind you use to slice a cake. Only it's, you know, slightly longer than a baseball bat.

It also has a little pink ribbon on the sword-like crossguard because of course it does.

"BACK..." Elphelt yells, before swinging the cake slicer up, HARD, right into Lita's torso/chin, taking the rest of the woman's slashing combo out of the equation. "...OFF, _HAG_!"

Good job keeping your feminine composure there, El.

MEANWHILE: Faolan is trying to make his way through the Gears, and it's... probably not the progress he was hoping for. The moon guys have been reinforced by one or two of those big, hefty sharks, and it is these that suddenly interpose themselves into the Irishman's forward momentum, hunkering down in a defensive posture. Faolan connects, and clearly does some damage to the superstructure, but they don't seem ready to yield the floor just yet.

Back up at the other end of the fight, however, Cooper has made himself the latest potential threat in terms of Elphelt's Gear squad, which may have been a bad idea. One of the shark tanks (get it) suddenly reaches back, grabbing two of the little moon dudes, one in each 'arm' and then, with a loud grunt, hurls them both at Cooper.

That's it. He picked up his fellow dudes and chucked them. But there's some strength in those arms. Fins. Whatever.

[LITA]
When that cake slicer connects with her stomach there's a bit of a shriek for two reasons. First of all, that slice hurt... a lot. The second reason was the slash opened her sleeveless athletic undershirt up and if not for her following Elphelt's directive by taking a step back due to the pain she felt from previously mentioned slash(not because she told her to back off) she would have no dignity left to preserve. As it stands, her shirt is barely holding on and the splatter of blood gets everywhere.

The former Delta Red looks down at her shirt and at her bloody stomach. She looks at her allies, both men who she doesn't know particularly well. And she turns red with rage. Her hand reaches down to touch the blood dripping from her open wound and then she screams right back at Elphelt, "YOU... /BITCH/!!!" Her voice drops into a barely audible whisper as she says, "We're about to have a red wedding."

She takes her stance once more, bringing her big fucking sword up into the air as she charges at the Gear Commander and goes into a vicious series of stabs, slashes, and hacks at the arms torso and legs as she attempts to take her anger out on Elphelt.

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm successfully hits Cooper with Reliquary of Shattered Souls.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|>------\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////// ]
|>>>>---\-------\0 Lita

[COOPER]
Well.. that's not good. Cooper is a little too pleased with his ability to crush Bridezilla on his forehead, hardened with endless can crunches, to really notice what those gears are doing. And when he does it's a little too late to respond in any effective manner.

He takes one out of his own book, slammed by a pair of.. okay they're not quite boomerangs, but the shape is right. Sending him back a few feet to land on his back with a solid, "Oomph."

He lies there for a second, looking dazed before popping back up to his feet, face contorted into a mask of annoyed pissiness. He reaches behind him and flips a boomerang free of its holster, staring daggers at the shark that dared to hit him. With a roar of fury he chucks the boomerang with as much force as he can towards the shark. Maybe he shouldn't have tried so hard because the boomerang ricochets off the ground right in front of the gear, and bounces off to the side.

Either it was a stupid throw, or a well planned act of geometrical apptitude. Because now that stupid boomerang is spinning on a collision course right for Elphelt. It was on purpose.. honest.

[FAOLAN]
He just keeps hitting things, but it seems more are just moving in to take the place of the fallen Gears. "Christ how many more are there?" he mutters to himself as his gaze shifts about to survey the battlefield.

Lita and Elphelt still seem locking horns and both aren't perhaps looking in the best shape. Faolan also knows better to get between two angry women so he is not even going to go close there. Cooper seems to be faring well in trying to support both Faolan and Lita when he can so he shouldn't have to worry about aiding him.

For now the Ikari stands his ground and his hands shift to hold the bata at both ends as he brings it forward and takes a deep breath. The black electric like energy he wields starting to coil down and around his arms and siphon into the old piece of wood. If he can't take them down by brute force maybe he will just blow everything the hell up.

COMBATSYS: Faolan gathers his will.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////// ]
|>>>>---\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Elphelt dodges Cooper's Platypus Toss.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////// ]
|>>>>---\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Lita successfully hits Elphelt with If It Bleeds I Can Kill It.

[ \\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Elphelt 1/---====/=======|=======\====---\1 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////// ]
|>>>>---\-------\0 Lita

[ELPHELT]
If Elphelt were the type to revel in schadenfreude, she would probably have a grand old time at the fact that Lita lost her composure over something so TRIVIAL as having her tity out on the battlefield. COnsidering the cut of her gown and the fact that her decolletage is pushed practically up to her NOSE, it's unlikely that Elphelt would feel similar shame, but you can never be too certain. The emotional state of Lita, however, is perhaps secondary to the fact that she has now gone Batshit Fucking Loco, apparently. The shift in tone is sharp indeed. As is the sword, probably.

Blinking at this Jekyll/Hyde moment, Elphelt gives a tiny 'eep!' and starts backing up, away from the frenetic series of blows. And for a second or two, this really seems like it's going to work! Maybe! Lita's first swing goes wide as El fades backwards, but the PROBLEM is that she did not account for Cooper's boomerang in this situation (largely because it looked like he was throwing it at someone else). This means her evasive pattern has to adjust on the fly to hop over the incoming weapon... and as a result Lita's weapon slams right into Elphelt mid-evasion, letting Lita's follow up swings take hold. At the end she goes flying, being surprisingly lightweight, and slams into a support pylon on the bridge past her Gear servants in a cloud of dust.

After a moment or two, the dust clears, and El emerges from it, looking... well. That clearly hurt A LOT, but there is surprisingly no blood (maybe she can't bleed?). Her wobbly movements suggest that things are getting a little dicey here for the commander gear, but the biggest problem is the dress, which is... uh.

Let's just hope it's not a rental.

Seething, Elphelt locks eyes with Lita and shouts, at the top of her lungs: "OH that is IT!" And then she is... uh, she's literally flying across the distance between the two riding her bouquet like a witch's broom, stopping a few feet short and quite literally swinging the bouquet at Lita like a bat, a murderous look in her eyes...

Meanwhile, back at where Cooper is standing, the shark-bot that threw his compatriots at the Australian is just sort of... staring at him. That is one lifeless fishy face there, that's for sure. Vacant. Expressionless. Perhaps with Elphelt's attention distracted, they ju--

And this is when the sharkbot just attempts to tackle Cooper, dorsal fin-first, taking them both to the ground if successful. Nope. Looks like they're fine.

COMBATSYS: Elphelt has reached second wind!

[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan
> ////////// ]
|>>>>---\-------\0 Lita

COMBATSYS: Elphelt successfully hits Lita with Magnum Wedding EX.

[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan
> ]
|>>>>>>>\>>>----\1 Lita

The bouquet connects, and the result is that Lita goes flying. Like, a long, long way. Discarding her bridal flowers, Elphelt reaches into... well, into her cleavage, and withdraws something with one hand: a rifle shell, which flips up in a perfect spinning arc. She brings up her pretty pink rifle and, falling, the bullet -- now glowing with a bright pinkish-red light -- drops cleanly into the slide. "My last resort... the Magnum Wedding!"

And then she takes careful aim at the still-flying Lita and, with a single sharp retort of the rifle, shoots that special empowered bullet right at her.

The bullet itself trails hearts through the air.

Really.

[LITA]
Lita's never seen anybody fly on a bouquet of flowers before. The soldier just doesn't see it coming. Getting bashed by the bouquet was old hat by now. Unfortunately she still hasn't gotten the timing of dealing with the bouquet and so she gets sent for a ride. The bullet after is just insult to injury.

The female soldier rises back to her feet with a wild look in her eye and her olive drab shirt and bdu pants covered in blood and her blonde bangs matted down with blood as well. She lets out a slight hiss with every step as she moves closer and closer to Elphelt. In the process of getting closer, she locks in her sword on the quick release latch.

One blood caked eyebrow(which is presumably the reason her bangs were matted in blood in the first place) rises as she says incredulously, "You seriously named a move after a wedding that uses a shotgun? You based a technique... around a wedding that happens as a result of being knocked up before marriage in a mad dash to have the ceremony before the birth takes place. What. Type. Of. Bloody. Harlot. Shit. Is. This?"

Lita doesn't give her a chance to verbally respond before she bodily launches herself at Elphelt and shoots in, wrapping her arms about the legs of the Gear and drives her shoulder into the thigh in an attempt to perform a double leg takedown. Should she get that far, she'll reposition herself to get into full mount where she rains down hammerfist after hammerfist from alternating hands before releasing the quick release latch once more and then bashing her in the face with the hilt of her ridiculously big sword.

COMBATSYS: Lita can no longer fight.

[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/------=|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan

And then Lita rolls over on her side, her body not having enough left in the tank to continue the fight.

COMBATSYS: Cooper fails to counter Dirge of the Forsaken from Gear Swarm with Rainbow Serpent Strike.

[ \\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/----===|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan

[COOPER]
Perhaps the heart-pooping bullet was just too much for poor Cooper to handle. He stares rather confusedly at the sight of the whole display from the crazy gear commander. "Well if that ain't some of the stupid.."

Too late does he notice the shark gear barreling down on him. Energy suffuses Cooper, causing him to shimmer like a heat mirage as he raises his hand towards the chargeing shark. But whatever he had planned, it was too late at that point to turn the attack back around. He holds up his hand with all the confidence of a man expecting the shark to just stop for him, but the lash of energy he extends fails to keep the gear in check, and instead he's trampled in the most undignified of manners.

He growls as he lays on the ground for a moment, a cough passing his lips as he tries to figure out what might be broken. "I hate sharks in the water, they're worse on land." He drags himself to his feet, lips parting to expose his teeth as he turns his attention to the gears and their commanders. "And now, I'm pissed."

[FAOLAN]
Things looked like they were going well. At least through all the chaos Faolan thought everything was looking good. It is strange how quickly the tide of battle can shift and ultimately he isn't sure if there is a winner in the catfight going on, but out of the corner of his eye when planning his next move the Irishman saw the newest Ikari recruit go down while trying to take Elphelt with her.

Then a moment later Cooper gets crushed under one of the huge shark bots things which only makes things seem that much worse. "Well shit..."

He might not be able to take enough time to properly prepare himself to blow up the whole battlefield and for now instead looks to help Cooper out. He makes tabs on Lita though in case someone decides to go after the unconcious lady because seriously.....that is some rude stuff right there.

"Hello boys!" Bellows Faolan as he looks to get in close to where Cooper is and he takes a few swings to knock away the gears that are close by. "Just wanted to say hi." He deadpans as each connected swing also gives the gear it hits a nice electric shock due to the chi that was funneled into his bata.

COMBATSYS: Lita knocks away Elphelt with Seeing Red.
- Power hit! -

[ < > //////// ]
Elphelt 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/----===|>>>>---\-------\0 Faolan

COMBATSYS: Faolan successfully hits Gear Swarm with Saying Hello.

[ < > //////// ]
Elphelt 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/---====|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan

[ELPHELT]
Apparently, using her most secret of secret techniques (one might say it's her Victoria's Secret technique) made the flagging Elphelt get a... well, a second wind, as one she fires off that enhanced slug at Lita she stops saying quite so heavily on her feet as she was before. The rifle is stowed (again, somehow) and Elphelt's about to say SOMETHING when Lita suddenly, uh... it's difficult to describe exactly what happens but apparently the Delta Red agent has some very specific thoughts about pre-marital sex and what constitutes a valid marriage that she delivers, at speed, and with some considerable volume.

Elphelt manages to get out the words "I didn't say 'shotgu--" before Lita rams into her and, after what is ideally a cathartic combination of attacks, sends El flying.

MEANWHILE:

A shark was really happy that it managed to take down Cooper without any further damage, as the number of Gears the Ikaris have taken offline or, in a couple cases, knocked clear off the bridge, is beginning to pile up. In fact it's SO self-satisfied (maybe? it's hard to tell, because it's a freakin' shark on four robot legs) that it doesn't notice that Faolan decided to rocket from the back line and get up in its gill (GET IT) with his bata, which sends it flying.

Rumbling some sort of non-verbal communication, a fellow shark decides to take its revenge, spider-crawling across the battlefield to attempt to grab Faolan and just... spin with him, for a very long time, before letting go. As if it were some sort of shark/tornado hybrid. Which would just be silly.

BACK AT THE WEDDING:

As she flies through the air, Elphelt -- whose dress is becoming more of a disaster by the second -- looks back at where she just was and, reaching into her dress, pulls out... a bazooka.

YES IT'S PINK AND THERE'S A BOW SHUT UP

But the IMPORTANT part is that she aims it in the... well the general DIRECTION of Cooper and Lita and then pulls the trigger, firing off a glowing rocket which will quite definitely explode if and when it connects with something.

As for El?

COMBATSYS: Elphelt has reached third wind!

[ \\\ < > //////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 0/-------/---====|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan

COMBATSYS: Faolan interrupts Keening of Winter's Embrace from Gear Swarm with One for the Road EX.

[ \\\ < > //////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Faolan

...she lands in an ungainly sprawl before stumbling to her feet, grinning wildly. "Ha HA. THE POWER OF LOVE PREVAILS." What does that even mean, El.

[FAOLAN]
It is around the point he is getting that giant shark thing knocked away from Cooper that he sees Lita with her last bit of strength lay into Elphelt. And then somehow after that beating Elphelt still gets up. She is one weird chick, but apparently she is damn sturdy. "Dammit, just stay down." he mutters to himself.

Even if he wanted to go and finally try and put an end to the commander of the gear army it looks like said army has other plans. Mostly shark boy apparently had a friend that didn't take too kindly to what the Ikari did to his buddy. It comes right at him with arms extended looking to grab onto Faolan.

But his hands never quite reach what they were grasping for because Faolan thrusts forward and that bata slams hard into the gear and embeds itself into the stomach.

"Nope. Tired of your shit too." He grunts and hefts the gear up over his head still attached to the bata and releases all the energy he had been gathering into it to blast the damn thing high into the sky and away. "Have a nice trip!"

COMBATSYS: Cooper blocks Elphelt's Genoverse.

[ \\\ < > //// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Cooper
[ \\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Gear Swarm 1/-------/=======|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Faolan

[COOPER]
Cooper is still pissed. A pissed off Cooper doesn't think. In some cases that's a bad thing, in some cases it's a good thing. In all cases he tries to go out with a bang.

He's not really paying attention to Elphelt at the moment, that shark pissed him off and is the target of his anger. He looks like he wants to dismantle it piece by bloody (or not so bloody since it's a machine) piece. So he moves in a head-long charge, psy energy pouring off of him in waves as he launches himself forward.

He brings up his arm in what is essentially a waste of effort to ward off the worst of the explosion, but he comes out on the other side, much worse for wear but still keeping up his momentum.

He raises his fist as he closes the last few feet between him and what remains of the swarm of gear creations, then slams the fist right into the ground.

At the moment of impact all the psy energy he built up pours out of him, into the ground, and then rverses directly up into the front of the swarm, the air shimmering and breaking apart the light like a fountain made of heat mirage.

COMBATSYS: Cooper can no longer fight.

[ \\\ < > ///////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/----===|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Faolan
[ \\\\\ <
Gear Swarm 1/-------/=======|

Either way, as soon as the energy drains from him, he allows himself a final grin, and falls over to the side.. snoring.

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm endures Cooper's Bunyip Burst Strike.

[ \\\ < > ///////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/----===|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Faolan
[ <
Gear Swarm 1/-----==/=======|

[ELPHELT]
Let's leave Elphelt for a moment and make our way over to Cooper and Faolan, already in progress.

For the Irishman, these Gears have proven to be effective at putting on the hurt, but they have yet to down the plucky Ikari Warrior. By contrast, he's been Smash Bros.-ing them into oblivion left and right, and the shark that tried to sharknado him is no exception; hurled skyward, it actually accidentally intercepts a thrown grenade from the JSDF side of the bridge and rather than coming back down explodes in a spectacular red and orange fireball. Yikes.

Meanwhile, as Cooper was ground zero for a huge and inexplicably pink rocket explosion (shut up), he suddenly became the target of a number of sharks and moons and whatever other lucky charms Gears Elphelt's forces include, which circle around the point of impact curiously, waiting for something to emerge, ready to pounce... or do whatever approximation of pouncing they are capable of. What ACTUALLY emerges is a gigantic freakin' burst of energy that, frankly, sends the entire mass of gears flying in every possible direction. Moons, stars, clovers, whatever: Gears EVERYWHERE. While not entirely wiped out, between them, Cooper and Faolan have decimated the forces.

Slight problem: a lot of them were at ground zero of a high-intensity explosion of force which means a LOT of them are now flying at Faolan. Like, a LOT. And with their critical levels of damage, their programming has shifted into one mode: Take Them With You. Meaning that a bunch of sharks and moons and what the hell ever else are using the last of their power to right themselves, mid-blast off, to have the BEST possible angle in which to slam into Faolan, very hard, before finishing their trip off the side of the bridge.

Behind them, stumbling to her feet, is Elphelt Valentine, who watches her soldiers Team Rocket their way into a watery grave. "It's okay!" she says, inexplicably. "I can see their parachutes!"

COMBATSYS: Elphelt takes no action.

[ \\ < > ///////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/---====|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Faolan
[ <
Gear Swarm 1/-----==/=======|

COMBATSYS: Gear Swarm can no longer fight.

[ \\ < > ///////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/---====|>>>>>>-\-------\0 Faolan

COMBATSYS: Faolan blocks Gear Swarm's Gravestone of Final Acts.

[ \\ < > ////////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/---====|>>>>>--\-------\0 Faolan

[FAOLAN]
The battle could be going better. At the same time it could be going a lot worse. It looks like finally most of the army itself is being taken care of between Faolan and Cooper. THe downside of that it looks like Cooper is out of commission too. And holy shit that is a lot of gears coming in at him from all sorts of angles.

It makes for no real room to get out of the way and that means only one real good way to handle this. Even as he looks like he is about to be buried in gear or even pushed off the edge of the bridge Faolan starts to move forward against the enemies coming his way. His hands gripping the bata tightly as he uses it to knocks some of them out of the way as he gets staggered back a few times and finally it looks like he is overwhelmed and buried under a pile of bodies.

Elphelt gets a few moments thinking she has finally won. Maybe even a moment to gloat before the pile shakes a bit and Faolan bursts out of it looking really annoyed now.

"Yo, bride bitch." He calls out and he moves forward. The big man breaking into a run as fast as he can and he looks to aim and thrust the bata forward as the tip begins to crackle with gathered energy. "Let's dance!" He goes to ram it right into the stomach of the already battered Elphelt and try to put her down for good.

COMBATSYS: Faolan successfully hits Elphelt with Bata Thrust.
Grazing Hit

[ < > ///////// ]
Elphelt 0/-------/-======|>>>>>>>\-------\0 Faolan

[ELPHELT]
This is the least climactic clash in the history of combat, at this point. Faolan erupts from a pile of dead(? broken? who knows) Gears to charge directly at Elphelt, who is, frankly, more than a little dazed after all these repeated blows to the head, torso, and other various body parts. Like, the Irishman is getting VERY CLOSE to her before it seems like she's even thinking of moving, and then at the last second she steps BACKWARDS, like a big step, and it happens *so close* to the end of Faolan's strike that it... almost succeeds? But hilariously, just the tip of the bata gets her right in the stomach.

There's a sort of tumbleweed moment where she is just... LOOKING at the bata, and goes: "ow."

Another brief pause, and then everything that just happened seems to come on Elphelt all at once, and she suddenly swings around, pointing her bright pink Barbie Dream Shotgun at Faolan and attempting to just blast him POINT BLANK with a burst from it, shouting "WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE CALLING ME SUCH AWFUL NAMES?!"

And then? Well...

COMBATSYS: Elphelt can no longer fight.

> ///////// ]
|>>>>>>>\-------\0 Faolan

...she unceremoniously pitches forward on her face, unconscious.

COMBATSYS: Faolan just-defends Elphelt's Ms. Travailler!

> ////////// ]
|>>>>---\-------\0 Faolan

[FAOLAN]
The angle wasn't quite right, but in the end the bata at least makes contact and that seems to be enough. Even if there is an awkward pause where he is standing there with arm still extended and bata tip pushed against Elphelt. It is one of those moments where he should have been caught by surprise from the sudden gun being shoved in his face.

And it is just reflex when his free hand shoots up to open palm slap the bottom of the gun's barrel and push it up to where it doesn't go off in Faolan's face. His hat isn't so lucky and it goes blasted away. He staggers back a few steps and looks ready to go on the attack only for Elphelt to fall flat on her face. He gives her a nudge with his foot a few times and lets out a sigh of relief. "Gonna be sore in the morning....."

He backs away just to be safe a bit further before he finds his hat and picks it up. With a sigh he drops it to see it is a lost cause and moves on to check on both Cooper and Lita. "Maybe it is time to ask the boss for a raise. Maybe even a vacation." he mumbles to himself. Cooper ends up hefted over one shoulder and Lita over the other as the Irishman keeps walking. "And maybe one of them Metal Slugs to pilot. Not too much to ask."

For the trio and the supporting Ikari it was a victory. A tough one, but it seems at least one assault has been stopped. All Faolan can do now is wonder how Heidern and Leona are doing.

COMBATSYS: Faolan has ended the fight here.

Log created on 20:07:52 11/27/2017 by Elphelt, and last modified on 00:36:03 12/06/2017.

Match of the Millennium

KOF 2017 - Act 3: Mission 3) White Dress, Red Wedding