Description: They've been battered. They've been injured. Yet the spirit of these young fighters is still shining brightly as they face off against a tank. Using only their bare hands (and feet!) as weapons, the Shooting Stars do their part to free the prisoners from a prison camp near Pran Buri.
The setting currently takes us to Pran Buri. It's early, about 4:45 in the morning and the sun is just starting to show signs of rising; and the stars don't have much longer to shine.
Intelligence has revealed a prison camp near the Pran Buri river, where perhaps the Shooting Stars, along with a handful of soldiers are residing. As far as the plan goes, they're just the defense. While heavily protected, the real problem here is the massive tank guarding rivers bridge, a model known only as Charybdis, just one of many nightmarish mechanical terrors that have single handedly wiped out villages. With that out of the way, there should be enough confusion for the rest of the army to charge in and take over.
The job of the Shooting Stars, then, is to take out that weapon. It looks like your general run of the mill prison in the background, a giant, rectangular brick barricade hides the prisoners and such within. The order is not to strike until the the two guards standing by either side of the machine are taken out, giving the trio a moment to quickly review whatever strategy they may have.
Drake isn't all for this. Let's think about this, here:
This is an effing tank.
Drake is an effing wrestler.
What's he gonna do, suplex it?
Nevertheless, the fearlesst Star leader is crouched at the bank of the river, having recently stolen a glance at the mechanical monstrosity. His expression when he settles back into his cover is... a frown. It isn't an upset frown - just a thoughtful one. Ideally, his Stars should be around him for this sort of thing. Helps with talking discreetly.
"H'okay," Drake starts, voice lowered into a hushed tone. "That thing's not pretty, and it has, like, an -arm-. I don't even want to think about what kind've molestation that arm can do." His eyes shift from Eva to Arika. "From what I know of us, ranged fighting ain't our forte. It'd put us at a disadvantage, and bad. So like it or not, we've gotta get up close'n personal. Good news is, it can't be shootin' in all directions at once. So scatter around it. Triangulate, y'dig? Try to keep moving with it so it can't get a bead on you, and hope no one throws a monkey wrench into our operations. If we keep it up, we'll get through this and save some lives." Pause. "Bad news is, it's a tank."
Drake glances between the girls again. "Does this sound do'able to you two?"
Now, now. Let's not be hasty. The stars in the sky may not be shining for much longer, but the Stars are -certainly- going to shine this morning, right?
They'd best, at any rate.
Bandages fully removed now, Arika is seated right beside the Shooting Stars fearless leader; a frown furrowing her brow and causing her facial features to look grim. Between thoughts that their last mission was won on pure luck or sheer angry perseverance and dealing with injuries, the punk rock princess isn't even sure that attempting the mission to free the prisoners is all that wise.
Nonetheless, here they are. "Triangulate.... right..." Pausing she tilts her head slightly and then peeks up over the bank at the mechanical monstrosity. "And punches are going to do much damage to that thing?" One solid punch and she's sure she'll wind up needing a cast for shattered bones. "We've got back up though, don't we?" Deep blue eyes shift toward the Thailand military forces that they've come with. Hopefully, when they take out those two guards, they can manage to damage the tank just a -little-.
Little choice though. They're the closest strategically to the location and it only makes sense that they make the attempt. "I'm game, you good Eva?"
It seems that their reputation has gone off and gotten them into trouble, in Eva's mind. There have been reports of fighters taking on tanks, and some have perhaps won against them, but the Shooting Stars aren't heavy hitters. Except for... Drake, but he's a wrestler, not a tank-smashing boxer.
As for this mission, Eva's not so sure as well. However, the idea of freeing villagers and soldiers, rather than just land, seemed more in line with what she intended to do here. And yet, Eva's back still hurts, the bandages and stitches still present underneath her clothing in order to keep the healing wounds from ripping open once more. Closing those ice blue eyes, she remarks, ".... At least we aren't having to choose between two tanks. Charybdis, in Greek mythos, was a sea monster that sat alongside Scylla. But this is no sea monster. Perhaps, we should try to somehow lure it into the water?"
Is she game, though? "..... I'll do what needs to be done. This may be a difficult one for us, however."
Looks like Eva's been doing her homework! The good news, it seems, is that there does appear to be one tank on duty. One can only hope that it stays that way. And while the Stars have legitimate concerns, well.. A duty's a duty and they're going to again have to work togeather to overcome this problem.
It's very quiet otherwise, just the sound of wind howling and water splashing. And the time for chat is over.
One Shadaloo soldier on the tanks left suddenly clutches his chest and drops to the dusty path to the bridge, quite dead. Then the one on the right follows suit, though staggers back and meets his own watery grave.
If a tank could look confused, it would be how its upper half turns left, then right, and then gradually drudges forward, firing away at the source of the fight with a large shell blasting from its main cannon. It sails into the air toward the stone rubble and explodes, sending bodies flying into the air and scattering in various directions!
COMBATSYS: Charybdis has started a fight here on the right meter side.
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|-------\-------\0 Charybdis
COMBATSYS: Eva has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Charybdis
COMBATSYS: Arika has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Charybdis
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Arika 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Drake has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-------|
"Considering our resources at hand, being... well... hands... and maybe a foot or two, I'm not for certain how we're gonna lure it into water. Unless we focus our attacks on one end, and that's a gamble by itself. Not only that, but it lines us up to get blown to so many pieces," Drake notes. "Keep low and hit hard."
And at that time, there's the sound of cannonblast. Drake's eyes widen and he looks over in time to see bodies sailing through the air.
"All the time we've had. Move!"
And Drake is the first one up, rushing across the ground in a full-on assault against... the tank. Indeed, it likely looks a bit ridiculous. Drake is in no way hulking or imposing. The only thing that might might unnerve a spectator is the sheer look of no-nonsense and determination on his face. The Star leader seems to have every confidence that they can pull this off. Even if his torso is still mostly wrapped up in bandaging.
But Drake is not running on pure cockiness. Rather, he attempts to skirt behind the tank and flank it at the back-right corner to begin the triangulation.
Hands chamber back at his sides, and the celebrity wrestler channels his focus into his oncoming attack. His palms then rocket outwards, aiming to smash against the tank's hull with as much force as he can muster in a double palmheel strike. At the point of contact (if any), his hands ignite in a dazzling white flash of concussive energy, adding more push and power to the strike.
Right. They're going to defeat this tank by -punching- it. For some reason, the punk rock princess wears an incredulous expression as she listens to her teammates. Her hands, injured as they still are, are not going to do much damage to a metal monstrosity. Unless they stopped building tanks like they're supposed to and started building them out of subpar plastics.
Watching the first soldier drop onto the bridge; Arika pushes herself up from her seated position, but remains low. Watching the second stagger into the water, she's up on her feet. As the call to 'move' comes, she's rushing along behind Drake.
Yes, she's using him as a shield of sorts.
Until Drake breaks off to the rear-right of the tank, at which point the diva chambers her own fists at her sides and twists in to take up the second rear position. Preparing for a series of repetitive strikes, she brings both fists in toward the left rear corner. No head to drum upon, but at least the metal should make a rather interesting rhythmic noise should her fists hit their mark.
Bodies being blown into the air. This earns a horrified look from Eva, causing her to pause momentairely as the other two stamp ahead. Blood. Burning flesh. It was worse than the raid at the tower, where at least the opponents faced each other head on.
".... Such a horrible way to die..."
Grasping the pendant around her neck, Eva mumbles a prayer and stands up, biting her lips. Come now, you can keep moving. This is what you came here for, so move it and don't let those soldiers' deaths be in vain.
Darting until she's ahead of Drake and Arika, Eva veers to the side, screaming her lungs out. Instead of punching or attacking, she just keeps screaming, veering randomly to keep the weaponry from immediately aiming. That is, if she's guessed right about the intelligence of whatever pilots it, be it human or AI.
COMBATSYS: Eva assists Drake.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Drake's Whiteout.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis endures Arika's Drum Solo.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/------=|
It would seem the soldiers underestimated the tank a bit, that's for sure. But before they didn't have the resources to gather more information about the weapon. The good news is -now- they have some of that.
The bad news is, it will take casualties to get that info, at least that is unless the Shooting Stars are able to force it to do it's worst upon them instead.
For the time being it's quiet on the Thailand Forces end, but it's also quiet on the Prison Camps end, leaving Charybdis on its own for the time being. The pilot inside of course can't be seen, but he's grinning rather smugly, "This is going to be too damn easy, I was lookin' for some action."
Drake and Arika's double team quite honestly doesn't seem like it did much at first. Drakes double-palm slam shakes up the hull slightly, making it rock just a bit on it's suspension and twist to the right. Arika's flurry of strikes seem to do the same, and actually seems to rock the tank forward, but its upper half twists around further to the right now to point it's left 'arm', it's chain-gun toting arm, right at the punk rock princess.
Smoke first spews from the barrels and then a hail of bullets follow, a good six seconds of exploding metal hailing toward the young fighter.
"Circle, circle, circle!," Drake shouts to his crew.
The tank is doing just as he expected it to, swivelling about trying to target one of them. Keeping moving should hopefully prevent it from getting a straight enough shot on any of them, though. But now that it's rotated and the front is looking undefended...
"Eva, move in!"
And then Drake gets to see what the tank is capable of. Look at that. An arm. With a machinegun. Firing at Arikaohmygod. He manuevers around more to its left side in full, glaring at the tank's sturdy shell. "HEY! Over here!," he taunts. He doesn't want Arika to get any more busted up than she already has been since her squaring off with Kurow.
So Drake tries to use what moves of wrestling he can against this thing. He hops into the air, curled up into a ball. He then THRUSTS both boots out towards the right side of the tank, attempting to bash a dent into it. A dropkick! Or, hey, maybe even bowl it over! Wishful thinking, but the Star leader is so very full of ambition.
COMBATSYS: Arika blocks Charybdis' Heavy Chain Gun.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
What a way to build up a complex.
Apparently, Shadaloo forces like to take on the diva. On a good note? The tank isn't focusing on Drake. Be that as it may, it's not focusing on the distraction up front either, and so Arika isn't exactly prepared to roll out of the way when the chain gun spins in her direction and begins to fire.
Let it be said that there are some things the punk rock princess doesn't mind in a battle, but weapons are the one thing she loathes. Still, this is a war and she was expecting to be attacked with weaponry at some point. Just... not in such an up close and personal manner. Be that as it may, she's able to twist her body enough and crouch down. Arms shoot up over her head in order to stop herself from being hit full on. As she drops down into the crouch though, two bullets graze into her left shoulder, each searing the flesh and tearing it as they drag along leaving gaping, bloody wounds.
Crying out in pain, Arika takes a few steps backward and then springs up so that she's situating herself -on- the back of the tank. Her body swings around in a quick circle and her right leg is drawn up in a vertical manner. Rotating her hip, she swings her foot toward the gun-toting arm in the hopes of knocking it off or spinning it in a direction that's away. From her, at the very least.
The tactic didn't work as intended, with Arika recieving the first blow. However, this break is what is needed for all three to circle in like jackals on a lion.
Of course, going up against a tank has left Eva with an interesting... predictament. Her usual attacks won't exactly work here, correct? She has no clue how the tank is seeing the world around it, and where to block with said coat. If even that. So, using more chi to coat her arm to help cushion what will be a painful hit for the girl if it connects, Eva rushes ahead in a crushing move, leaping up and throwing a punch at the tank's arm from the side, hoping to at least begin to form a dent on the weapon's side, which, if further dents are applied, may help to impend its ability to shoot.
COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Eva's Medium Punch.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Arika successfully hits Charybdis with Rhythmic Roundhouse.
- Power hit! -
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Eva 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis fails to interrupt Heavy Kick from Drake with Whirling Flail.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
It's seem that Eva's plan didn't quite work out, no, but it's arguable that it simply just wasn't possible to target the woman when it was forced to turn in another direction.
So it seems that the Shooting Stars have some, albeit rather limited, control over manipulating the weapon. The attacks are well synchronized, it's impossible for the pilot to tell what's coming first and what's coming second, but first Arika kicks the living hell out of the tanks gun-arm, and it twists sharply to the right, seemingly in tandem with Eva's strong (in it's own right) punch. At this point the weapon is like a buzz-saw, and with it's arms extended, Charybis hopes to at least catch Drake up in the twirling madness, but his double-footed kick is just too well timed-
It seems it lands quite powerfully and he gets away before all of that.
A loud *bang* comes from the tanks rear, and puffing smoke follows. It seems it needs a moment to recover from the madness.
Drake lands flat on his back, but stays down only for a moment before curling into a backroll to rise up to his feet again. The whirling arm was certainly noticed, and he quietly acredits his full count of limbs and fingers to lucky timing. But then he notes positioning.
"Don't cluster, don't cluster! Spread! Triangulate!," he shouts, trying to remind the girls to not get too close together and become a single target.
Drake hunkers low and rotates to the left a short ways, trying to keep out of the tank's direct line of fire. But if there's something he's noticed, it's that this tank's not your pappaw's tank. This is one seriously confusing, unorthodox mammajamma. But one thing he -hasn't- noticed is the battle going on around him. He can only hope the Thailand resistance forces have closed in and are doing what they can while the Stars are keeping the Big Bad here busy.
Drake hunkers low and squints his eyes at the hull of the tank. His right fist clutches tight, then blasts outwards, hoping to punch a hole through the shell. If ever there was a time for his ridiculous training regimen to pay off, now would be it.
Poor tank. Were they crowding it?
Arika really didn't notice, considering she was too busy being -shot- at. However, eyes shift in Drake's direction and she allows for an almost imperceptible nod to be given to him before she's backflipping off the back of the tank as the loud bang rings out.
Heading in the opposite direction of the team leader, the punk rock princess diverts her attention from their mark long enough to ensure that Eva is still doing alright. Everything looking fine on the Stars end, she begins to rush in toward the tank again. Nothing fancy or special at this juncture, just swinging in with with a heavy one-two punch to the thinnest piece of metal she can find on the side.
Poor tank indeed! Eva herself is quick to back away from the retaliating tanker, nursing the newly bruised knuckles on her left arm. Sure, she could throw a better punch with her right, but does she really want to sacrifice the hand she paints and throws good punches with?
Keeping with Drake's command to keep spreading out, Eva keeps falling back, and does something that is... well. Completely out of character. Going a distance away, she turns around and valiantly flashes a middle finger with that right hand, tucking her left arm in the bend of the assaulting finger with a mask of a rakish grin.
Eva's trying to get the tank's attention, yes, but there's an experiment going on here. She's trying to test if the tank is run by AI or by a person. Unless the AI was programmed to do things like target people making offensive gestures, a person is more likely to respond to that gesture that Eva makes.... Unless the AI of the tank had already decided to aim at her. In that case... well. Hopefully, she'll be able to at least see how it chooses to react.
COMBATSYS: Eva assists Drake.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Drake's Strong Punch.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis endures Arika's Strong Punch.
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Eva 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
The action is definatly getting heavy. With the Shooting Stars keeping Charybdis busy, it's only a moment longer before the Thailand Forces can storm in, the small squadron rushing over toward the bridge as the sirens of the prison camp finally begin to wail. Twenty armed men rush into position surrounding their end of the bridge.
The two armed tank has his own share of problems obviously, and can't deal with those soldiers just yet. Drakes heavy punch this time has to go through a thin wall of smoke, it definatly hits something, but it doesn't rattle up like at the matches beginning. Somehow it seems to have tightened itself. Thinnest metal? That arguably would be the lightly armored, teethed 'wheels' when it comes down to it; immobilize maybe? But it isn't quite enough yet. The tank trudges forward; and seems to take EVa's 'bait', successfully angering the pilot. It's opposite arm retracts it's knife, leaving a hole in it's 'palm' and suddenly starts to draw in a tremendous amount of suction to bring Eva toward her. Should the weapon succedd and forcefully pull her into it's grasp, Charybdyis' arm twists at the 'wrist' and then would slam Eva like a tent-spike into the ground, right beside Drake.
Drake feels his fist connect with.. well.. something. Punching through smoke isn't the most effective way to handle a situation like this, he has to admit. And he doesn't appear to be doing too much against it. Blast it, he really should've trained more with Chae Lim when he had the chance. Sharpen up his martial arts a bit more.
As Drake begins to manuever around the tank, drifting to the right to keep himself mobile and an uneasy target, he catches Eva out of the corner of his eye. What in the heck is she doing way off there?
"Eva!," Drake shouts. "Close in! Get in here and start dishing out some of those punches!" He told her to triangulate! What she's doing way out there, he doesn't know.
Nor does he know that she's being attacked right now. He's on the wrong side to see that arm in full. So Drake presses his assault, opting for another Tae Kwan Do strike. His left foot slips behind his right, bringing him aside briskly in a half-spin. At the end of the footwork, his left fist snap backwards harshly, aiming to deliver a firm backhand against the tank's hull. He can't be sure if their attacks are -really- cutting through its defenses, but he -does- know that they're occupying it enough for the rebellion to do what they came for.
At least she hit the wheels. Issue with that though is that teeth of said wheels slice into her knuckles, leaving a trail of blood trickling down the backs of both hands. Before retaliating again, Arika glances about at her teammates. Best to know what everyone is doing. The rest of the battle can be worried about when their 'area' of the mission is taken care of.
Watching Drake maneuver to the right, she decides to stay put. Her eyes catch Eva, and she realizes that the younger girl is attempting diversionary tactics so that the rest of the team can pick up on the assault.
Then she notices the arm focus on Eva and start acting like a vacuum cleaner.
"EVA! Look out!" Spinning around quickly, the diva hops back up onto the back of the tank. Landing shakily, she jumps up again but this time she's kicking forward with both feet in a pedaling motion attempting to land a bicycle kick to the arm and knock it off course from sucking up her teammate.
COMBATSYS: Eva blocks Charybdis' Vacuum Crusher.
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Eva 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Arika 0/-------/-----==|
What is Eva doing? She's triangulating! Well, at least, she's in the process of doing so. And distracting Herr Tank while doing so. Multi-tasking! "... I think it's being driven by someone, or else radio-controlled," Eva relays loudly as it seems to focus on her. "A computer wouldn't react like that!" At least, the girl reasons so. She could be wrong!
The tank's reaction, however, was not entirely expected. Shooting? Yes. Napalm? Yes. Vaccuum of doom? .... No. Eva has trouble escaping the tugging of air, and she's soon stuck to the monster tank's palm. Briefly before the arm's wrist twists around, the girl gathers her knees to her body in a protective fetal position, bracing her body for the slam that occurs. "GKT-!" That hurt. Stumbling to her feet as the 'arm' is pulled back, she realizes her position to Drake and pulls back from him, trying to get to a side of the tank not dominated by either Arika or the model.
When she is able to get some distance away from Drake to avoid the availability of providing two birds for the tank to hit with one stone, Eva sets about her next attack, Eva applies the momentum she's gained from darting to this position to leap in the air, swinging a foot around to add another dent to the top of the tank's frame, trying to weaken the surface of where she thinks the driver is. ...... which, due to her limited knowledge about tanks, is hit and miss, no pun intended.
COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Drake's Crescent Fist.
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Eva 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis dodges Arika's Heavy Kick.
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Eva 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis fails to interrupt Medium Kick from Eva with Grappler Drive.
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Eva 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/-----==|
That's certainly how Charybdis gets its reputation, it's a very unorthodox weapon, that much is for certain. However the Shooting Stars seem to be doing a bang-up job on their behalf.
It seems the calvary is arrving just a little late, Shadaloo soldiers storm toward the bridge, and are abruptly forced back by the Thailand soldiers sudden firearm assault. It's likely going to stay neutral there for a while.
Drakes strike lands clean into the mobile weapon, and while it's clear he did some damage, the metal even cracking a little, it's difficult to tell what exactly did get broke as a result. Arika's flying kick toward the arm is the same moment the upper half-shifts, causing her to attack at nothing but air.
For a moment it seems that Eva would be making a mistake diving at the frame, and as such, the grappling arm, but it's sudden thrust forward makes a whiff not much unlike Arika's- Her foot slams down hard atop the main cannon, and there's another loud bang, and an even thicker eruption of black smoke follows, spewing from the barrel, and from the bursting cracks from the sides. Electric sparks from the machine dance in various directions, it for the moment again seeming to be out of comission.
Drake pulls his hand back and moves a couple steps away from the tank. His fist is given a look-over, noting how his skin has been broken from the impact. Hmph. The tank's hull isn't giving way enough. That and Drake is so far not used to trying to punch holes in metal.
Oh, but how that will change! Something new to add to his training!
Eva's actions are noticed, and... Drake gets an idea. "Eva, keep that up! Try'n find the pilot and let'em know what we think of his driving! Arika! Let's amputate these arms and help'er out!"
With that order given, Drake leaps up to follow the trend his female teammates set before him. He plants his feet firmly on the right side of the tank's hull, and makes a grab for that side's arm. If caught, his left hand sets to its connecting joint, and he tucks its furthest point under his right arm to keep it harmlessly outstretched.
Drake crouches into the hold.
Teeth grit.
Eyes narrow.
The muscle along Drake's slender body flex noticably as he attempts to wrench and break the arm off the tank completely, growling in determination.
Are any of them used to trying to punch holes in metal? Is there actually any -training- for attacking tanks with fists? If there -is- perhaps interested fighters could look into it the next time some megalomaniac gets the idea to overthrow a country. If there -isn't- perhaps it's something that can be looked into as a venture when or if things ever return to normal.
Why is she thinking about all of this now though!? They're here actually -fighting- the tank, so she's got to pay attention!
As she flies over her intended target and lands, she tries to pull her focus back into the fight against the metallic monstrosity.
Drake's words are heard and she gives another nod. Watching what he does, she blinks slightly. He's going to -wrestle- the arm of the tank? Interesting, to say the least. It's enough to distract her for a good long moment as she watches his muscle flex before forcing herself to snap out of it.
Wrestling the arm is a good idea, but instead of attempting that she leaves it up to the one person on their team that would have the luck for it; their leader. The diva does do as told though and swings in for another attack. Since her kick missed, she frowns slightly and swings in at the arm closest to her with a quick jab-like punch. A moment later she feels extremely foolish, but she follows through with the heel of her palm, trying to bash into it as much as she can with a blast of bright violet energy.
Is anyone used to trying to punch metal at all? Eva certainly isn't. She's trained to hold her own through pain through and through, but punching a tank seems just outright *insane*. And yet, here she is, doing just that.
At least her punching is strategic.
Eva seems to take Drake's words to heart, backing off to complete a much more complicated kicking manuver that her teammates probably remember from earlier. Running forward to gain momentum, Eva leaps in the air, legs radiated outwards in a near-perfect spilt as she turns one time in the air, attempting to hit both feet against the hull of the tanker.
COMBATSYS: Drake successfully hits Charybdis with Strong Throw.
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Eva 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Arika 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Arika's Diva Allegro.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Eva 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-------|
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Arika 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Eva successfully hits Charybdis with Flying Crescent.
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Eva 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Charybdis
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Drake 0/-------/-------|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Arika 0/-------/----===|
The shootout continues, and it seems still that Thailand Forces are managing to hold off the Shadaloo soldiers, keeping them from getting too far along the bridge. And with just a little more time, they'll be able to push forward and really call some havoc. The second wave of soldiers is just about to come in at this point, and boy are the guns blazing!
Charybdis continues to have troubles, the trio really doing a number here. Drake gets a good firm grip on the arm, and seems to decide to finally put some of that grapplin' to good use. Bolts pop, sparks flare, and while he manages to break off three quarters of that arm, just snap crackle, pow! Arika's dealing with the opposite? Not quite as destructionating there, but it does its job, slamming into the arm, yet the mechanical appendage seems to deal with it suprisingly well, almost as if brushing it off to the side while the smoke continues to pour upward. Eva's double-footed attack is simply the nail in the coffin at this point, the hull indents, crunching inward but that seems to be it. If there were alarms on the outside of this thing, they would be wailing like mad, and the upper half of the tankproceeds to twirl around slowly, arms going limp and electricity dances about the machine. You know what that means, right?
It's exploding right about now, an explosion with such impact that it leaves a small crater in it's wake, orange and black roaring up into the sky in the shape of a mushroom cloud.
COMBATSYS: Charybdis successfully hits Drake with Algorithm 178B.
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Eva 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Charybdis
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Drake 0/-------/-======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Arika 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Charybdis has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Eva 0/-------/------=|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Drake 0/-------/-======|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Arika 0/-------/----===|
Spark.
Fizzle.
Crunch.
SNAP.
Drake stands upright, vicious grin on his face, right hand holding the broken appendage high. "That's -right-!," he shouts down at the tank. "Got nothin' on us! You hear me? -Nothing-!" He's likely trying to yell at the driver inside the tank. Either that, or the professional wrestler habbits have kicked in again. Ah, showmanship. Drake's left arm lifts to draw his thumb horizontally across his neck with a smirk, then chucks the broken appendage to the ground below.
It's entirely likely that that might have signified a 'finisher' from the model. But right then, the tank begins to spin. Whatever technique he was about to pull out is aborted in favor of grabbing ahold onto what's left of the appendage on the tank for balance.
Then... boom.
"WAAUGH!"
Drake hits the ground gracelessly, despite his usual acrobatic finesse. He tumbles over a few times, shrapnel and bits of the tank pattering and bouncing along with him. He finally comes to a stop upon his back, duly stunned, hands setting briefly to his face. Ow. What the heck just happened?
Drake pushes himself to sit up, peering across the battlefield towards... the crater where the tank once was. They really -did- punch and kick and rip a tank to pieces with their bare hands. The only thing Drake can say to that is...
"Oh, snap."
COMBATSYS: Drake has left the fight here.
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Eva 0/-------/------=|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Arika 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Arika dodges Charybdis' Algorithm 178B.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Eva 0/-------/------=|
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Arika 0/-------/----===|
Tanks - so far as Arika is concerned - aren't supposed to sound like bowls of Rice Krispies with too much milk. All the snapping, sparking and crunching can only mean one thing:
"OH SHI---"
Without further adieu, Arika is ducking for cover! That's to say that she's literally -diving- from the back of the partially destroyed tank. No time to call out to her teammates, she rolls herself into a human ball midair and lands a good distance away from the metallic monstrosity before the 'fireworks' are set off.
*BOOOOOOM*
Glancing back in time to see Drake go flying she begins to army crawl toward him, trying to stay down out of the way of any shrapnel that is sure to be flying through the air. Smirking as playfully as she can manage while she makes her way to the leader of the Stars she teasingly accuses, "You made it angry! You made it go boom!"
Deep blue eyes then glance toward the other end of the disaster to see if Eva was able to make it away from the suicidal explosion unscathed.
COMBATSYS: Arika has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Eva 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Eva dodges Charybdis' Algorithm 178B.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Eva 0/-------/------=|
After the attack placed Eva on the hull, she was already leaping back off and running, afraid for a possible counterattack to come at her while she was in such close quarters. Thus, she narrowly escapes the full brunt of the blast, her body sailing from the rush of wind pushed forward by the fiery ball of gas and smoke. Grass makes for a decent pad to land upon, allowing Eva to get back up with only a few bruises to her name.
They won. They went to battle with a tank and *won*. This is *insane*. Eva just stares at the crater at the sheer impossibility of it all, and yet, she feels just as tempted to join in with cheers and joyful tears.
And yet, they're just a few people on this field; the battle is still being fought. Also, the crater and what it suggests leaves Eva room to ponder her emotions over what just transpired.
Thus, while Drake and Arika are giddy in the face of what seemed to be an impossible victory, Eva decides to be of a much more sympathetic frame of mind. The man died in an explosion, trapped within a hot metal coffin. Even if he was the one who sent many soldiers to their fiery deaths, Eva can't help but bow her head, saying a mental prayer in her head for the deceased man, much as she did with the earlier people. She takes care, however, to make sure her two companions don't see her, instead seeming like she was simply gazing at the crater the tank left behind.
The Shooting Stars deserve a chance to see and celebrate victory, especially after that desperate fight with Kurow and Marise. Turning around to face the two with a wide, joyful smile, Eva finally says, "I'm glad we're all alright."
COMBATSYS: Eva has ended the fight here.
For the Shooting Stars, it's definatly a victory, they've done their part,and from this points it's smoother sailing for the Thailand forces. What the machine could do in mere minutes, would take much longer for Shadaloo soliders to accomplish! Managing to make their way across the bridge, they'd need only a little assistance at this point as the second wave of soldiers come in which would, eventually, allow them to bust down the prisoner camp and completely overwhelm the opposition in the process. It looks like another good end for the time being.
Wow. Just.. wow. Drake's on cloud nine. He wasn't completely certain they could -destroy- it. Delay it? Distract it? Certainly. But -destroy- it? He didn't actually expect it! And look at them! All in good condition still! Egotistical as he may be, this only makes him feel more capable as the leader of the Shooting Stars. The triangulation strategy and coordinated disabling attack seemed to work well! So he continues to sit there, observing the smouldering crater with a proud grin.
When Arika moves up to him and teases, his grin is redirected towards her. And very eloquently, he replies with, "Rar."
Eva is looked to next. He nods to her, then looks back to Arika... then to Eva. "That was totally Vin Diesel of us, you know." The grin returns, and he pushes himself back to his feet.
"Now let's see this thing through to the end! C'mon, Stars! Back up the resistance!"
And with that, Drake is charging to assist the soldiers in any way he can - either by bashing down enemy troops, kicking in doors, or opening really tight jars. He's so blitzed on adrenaline, he's too anxious to care even how menial the task is.
Out of the corner of her eye, the punk rock princess notices Eva and smiles. If she's noticed the younger girl murmuring her prayer, she makes no mention of it. Let Eva have that to hold onto without potentially embarrassing her on the field of battle. It's the very least she can do.
At the 'Rar', Arika's attention turns back to Drake, but she holds in the laughter that wants to bubble up. Shock has settled in, considering that three rather small humans must managed to decimate a tank with their bare hands. Granted, they had a tiny bit of help thanks to a suicidal pilot but... she's fairly certain that whomever was inside would only have done something like that if there were no other option.
Mouth opening to make a witty retort about how she is -not- in any way, shape or form, Vin Diesel; she opts for keeping her mouth shut for once and just shaking her head.
"Right, let's do this!" With no weapons. With little back up. They can just rush off into battle and hope not to be shot. Subconsciously, her eyes drift to the wounds on her shoulder. Like their leader though, she's back up on her feet and rushing into the fray to help out in anyway she can.
Where Arika is shocked, Eva bursts into a fit of giggling, which she tries to stiffle with a hand pressed against her mouth. It's something that the girl has greatly needed, having been so serious and solemn during her stay here. Like any bubble, this one had to come to the surface sooner or later. Rar, indeed.
Also, Vin Diesel. "... It was?" Eva rubs the back of her neck in a bashful fashion, looking to the side. "... I guess I'm glad we came away without any major damage." Looking to the prison, she murmurs, "I suppose, however, that our fight is not over. As long as there's not any more tanks, however, I believe we will be fine. But let's not get ahead of o-" Already, Drake is off, with Arika trailing behind. Eva lets out a sigh and fumbles for the strange pendant around her neck that had recently replaced that ever-present locket. "... I promised I'd be back, but whether if it's in one piece is another matter entirely..."
Log created on 18:15:19 06/26/2007 by Arika, and last modified on 11:11:35 06/27/2007.