Description: One girl. One man. One panda. One plan. When Wing and Cody are cast down from the heavens, a call rouses their broken bodies from the dust. Who is 'Tsang', and why have these two been chosen, seemingly, to defend China's interests from the depredations of the terrorists they might otherwise have joined? The one who unreflectively sought glory must face what she has become, and what better symbol of her impotence, trapped within the blood-stained cage that is her fate, than a-- giant robot twelve-foot-sword-wielding building-chucking samurai panda? Right? Right. (Winners: Street Prophets)
Wing Xiaoping, Queen of the Streets, opens her eyes at last.
"...nnngh."
Scars of lightning still trace the occluded reaches of a wasteland sky. Straight above, however, where her gaze finds itself directed, the leylines of light have frayed and torn, suspending crumbled debris high above. With her face slack and expression vacant, Wing, dark hair now unbound, might appear just another girl waking up for a day at school, were it not for her torn jumpsuit. But as long moments pass, the remnants of havoc wreaked high above stir the fog that besets her mind, and reluctantly, recent memories return -- her face darkening, eyes narrowing, and lips turning to more and more of a scowl with them.
"...fuck..."
First they fought.
"...this..."
Then they lost.
"...shit."
And then-- what was it?
*** THREE HOURS AGO ***
"Heeeeeelp! Anyooooone? How do we get doooooown? Heeee--"
*** TWO HOURS AND FIFTY-NINE MINUTES AGO ***
"--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH--"
*** TWO HOURS AND FIFTY-EIGHT MINUTES AGO ***
*whump*
*** NOW ***
Right.
Which must mean that she's-- alive.
Sighing, Wing rolls over, and off of Cody Travers's burly -- and conveniently fall-cushioning -- chest.
She lies there for a moment, her face resting in the ash-strewn dirt, making no movement to pick herself up from the dust. Even her hateful expression fades, not that there is anyone to see. Her eyes droop, then soften, then close altogether as she leans her broad forehead into the dust, as if seeking to bury her gaze altogether, turning it forever from the devastation that surrounds her. She is still for a moment-- and then begins to turn her head from side to side, slowly grinding her own face into the ground. Her speed picks up. Seconds pass, but Wing's only movement is that steady grind of her own head into the dirt, escalating to such force that she seems compelled to scrape her own face off -- sandpapering away every recognizable feature. She begins to groan. Softly at first, then, like the speed of her movement, reaching a crescendo. And it rises, rises into an agonized, furious, desperate, despairing cry, an animal howl of indignation and confused pain, of utter and complete--
*rriiiing*
She freezes, her noise abruptly ceasing.
*rriiiing*
She is completely still.
*rriiiing*
And then, with a final shudder, Wing gets to her knees, then to her feet, wiping her now-blackened face with the back of her little hand as she sniffs loudly and removes her Sanctum phone from her jumpsuit's pocket.
"...Yeah?"
*** ONE MINUTE LATER ***
"Fuck!"
Wing Xiaoping, Queen of the Streets, stumbles through the blasted land.
Her phone is clenched tightly in her trembling, white-knuckled fist. She staggers, almost tripping over a jagged rock, and swears violently again, hand tightening as though to crush the still-clutched object. In fact, she has forgotten it remains in her hand, much as she has completely forgotten her teammate, who may or may not be, but is hopefully, following her. All she can think is: she should have said something. She should have said something, while she had him on the phone. But she couldn't think of anything. Her mind stopped. He gave her an order, and it gave her something to do. Get some men to safety. Somewhere in this direction. She doesn't know. It doesn't--
"FUCK!!"
Screaming, Wing abruptly throws her phone down on the ground, face bright red.
"WHAT THE FUCK!!"
Feverishly, as if possessed, she stomps it into smithereens.
"What is happening!?" she continues screaming, spittle flying, as she reduces the circuitry to the dust of the earth with the sole of her shoe. "What am I doing here!?" she cries again, rearing her head back to the sky. "China!? Job!? I don't give a /fuck/! I don't give a fuck about /anybody/! I came--" Her chest heaving, she sags, as if trying to catch her breath, and her volume drops, even as she continues talking. "I came to fight. I came to win. To show that I'm the strongest, that I'm the... you know, the baddest. Right? Right!? I came to impress the badass motherfuckers here! So how is it-- how the fuck-- how am I a... a /pawn/!?" she finally finishes, voice rising to a scream again, addressing the heavens, the sinking feeling she had tried her best to deny emerging unbidden. "How come everyone else is so fucking tough? How come I have no idea what the /fuck/ is happening? How come I'm the one getting used? How come I get no respect? And how come-- how come I-- how come I--"
Wing begins to shiver, her shoulders heaving, her little eyes bloodshot.
"--how come-- that fucking guy-- that fucking girl-- how come they--"
Her fingernails dig into her palms, drawing blood; her head bobs up and down with each breath.
"I'm not scared! I'm not! I'm not-- and I'm not-- aahh-- aaaAAHH--"
And, unable to contain herself any longer, Wing begins to cry.
"Aaahh.. aaahahah... aaaahh..."
Sobbing piteously, tears streaming down her ashen, still blood-stained cheeks, the would-be lady gangster, forgetting everything, slumps to her knees in the middle of the wasteland, and attempts to wipe her eyes with only dirtier hands, blubbering like a child.
"...A... Aranha... Aranha!"
On the horizon, four men with broken guns lie prostrate on the ground. The girl has not noticed. She lowers her head, repeating that name, not knowing why, having forgotten to be ashamed.
The ephemeral groan of twisting gears slowly begin to drown out Wing's wailing at the top of her lungs. A slow grind builds beneath the earth. And suddenly, something that /looked/ like it was once a conical sculpture of some kind breaks ground. The mass of steel, brass, wood, mesh and fabric at first seems as if it is no more than a moving pile of junk, but slowly, as giant limbs the size of motorcycles unfold, you can begin to make out a rough shape.
It's easy to get the impression from the way the nearby machine unfolds that it was meditating when it was awakened by Whip's crying. But when it does, anyone who is actually paying attention will know that no normal technology in the world could possibly had made such a thing move.
It is easily two stories tall.
Its knee tops out somewhere at eye level with Wing.
Just one giant anthropomorphized paw is easily larger than Cody's head.
It holds an all-encompassing umbrella over it, leaving only one red eye to glow in the darkness. You get a glimpse of a vague grimace and fangs. Lots of teeth. The groan seems to level off to an angry, noncommital growl as its shadow creeps over the earth behind Wing. Holding the umbrella high, the massive thing--an automaton in the shape of samurai armor--no, a one-eyed scarred panda wearing samurai armor and a pair of swords--seems to scrutinize Wing ominously for a moment, as if trying to decide what it thinks of a crying girl this close to the landing site. Momentarily, it is quiet as it contemplates.
Vents open on its boots, and eject an angry blast of steam at either side of its huge rear claws, reconfiguring and splitting from folded mode into a mobility configuration. It growls again.
One forepaw opens, revealing claws the size of small knives.
And then. it. /roars/.
The earth shakes.
A nearby building just falls the hell over.
Hyo drops P4N-D4.
COMBATSYS: TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK!!!!
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|---------------
SOME TIME AGO
Cody Travers's chest may make a good cushion, but there /are/ downsides. For instance, the fact that his chest is spattered with a now-drying mixture of red and green blood. It looks like he stabbed Christmas in the heart and then held it as it bled out all over his body.
He also does not even move when Wing, at length, crawls to her feet, receives a phone call, and wanders off.
NOW
"Cut... that shit... out," wheezes Cody, from behind Wing. It is a secret to everybody when he got up, and how he found her... but he's here now, hobbling up to Wing from the direction they landed in, half-doubled over, grimacing in pain. His clothes are in tatters, and so, indeed, is much of his flesh.
But that doesn't mean he can't dole out the wisdom. "Ain't nobody gonna... respect you... unless you make 'em," Cody explains... but that, it seems, is the limit of his wisdom, because he suddenly groans in pain and sags to the ground a few feet away from Wing, leaning against a nearby wall.
"Fuck me," he hisses, clutching at his right knee. "Fuck, fuck, /fuck/..." He takes a deep breath, and then swings his gaze up to Wing. "Listen, kid- I need- I need some medicine- I need... ... need..." He trails off as, behind Wing, a fucking giant robot panda rises into the sky. His jaw hangs open. That's... that's...
"You've got to..." Cody begins. He gives up before he finishes his sentence, and simply shakes his head and lifts his hand towards Wing, an indication to help him up.
Wing shivers once, her forearm held to her eyes.
Ain't nobody...
Sniffing loudly, quieting, she swallows as she pulls her arm away, blinking away her tears. What she sees would have shocked her to her core a week ago. Cody is an abject mess, more than ever before, the terrible mixture of fluids -- the result of transformations Wing has done her best, due to their convenience and with the help of her own berserk rage, to consistently ignore -- making a viscous Pollack painting of the ex-hero's body. She seems to be listening now, but her eyes are vacant, hollow. Her lips part, but no sound emerges, and she does not move, nor rise from her knees, as her teammate reaches out his hand in supplication.
Ain't nobody going to...
She shivers again.
And only then, as though the thought had passed first through a great mist before reaching her brain, does she realize why she is so cold: a terrible shadow has fallen over them both.
Blinking again, Wing glances over her shoulder. Still-hollow eyes regard the massive metal abomination towering over her, its forbidding glint in the milky, filtered sunlight enough to paralyze a mortal with knee-buckling fear. Wing is already on her knees. But she also appears to not be afraid.
What do we call that look?
'Weary' is not quite the word-- unless perhaps we mean--
"...unless you..."
Weary of living.
"...make 'em."
Her whisper is nigh inaudible.
But Wing stands, and reaches out her hand, so tiny in comparison to Cody's own that it will likely be engulfed, even as, with startling strength, she will aid him to his feet. Her eerie gaze has not changed-- but her eyes have widened. And as soon as he is standing, beleagured though he surely is, she will turn to face the enemy before them-- as her blood-shot eyes widen yet further, and she roars out the only battle-cry that can, in two simple words, express everything that churns within her heart.
"FUUUUUUCK YOUUUUUU!"
For whom does she fight? What is her purpose here? And has she done right--
"AAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Even by her own standards?
It doesn't matter. Once again, Wing falls into a berserk fury, her mind, with all his questions, subsumed in that blood-red, all-too-convenient fog. But it is not as it was before. Upon that platform, Wing sought to forget her crimes. In defeat, she knew, deep within her bones, that she could not escape them. And so it is that the girl runs forward, and not away. Understanding what has happened, is happening, and will happen here-- that may be beyond her, even within the scope of her own small part of this story. She may never know or understand. But for all her fear, insecurity, guilt, and shame-- a part of the girl rebels, with all heartfelt intensity, against this destiny. Perhaps it is simply a death wish. Perhaps she has suffered too late.
Or perhaps--
"TRAAAAAVERS!"
This is courage.
She is rushing toward the giant beast, channeling all her latent energy into one diminutive fist, plunging toward a being that, in its looming, feels ten times taller than she. In its size, it only seems all the more a symbol of the seeming inevitability of her disgrace here. Wing cannot tolerate its existence. And her rage is such that rocks and sand and broken guns are swept up in her wake, crying out to her ally for aid as she thrusts out her fist, launching all of that gathered wind and debris directly at the giant monstrosity. She neither aims nor even looks for any weak point. She attacks it directly, with all the power at her disposal.
Enough is enough.
She will be recognized.
COMBATSYS: Wing has joined the fight here.
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|---------------
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Wing 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 endures Wing's Dragonforce.
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|--------------=
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Wing 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Cody has joined the fight here.
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|--------------=
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Cody 0/-------/------=|====---\-------\0 Wing
The massive beast's chassis lurches low on its body, sinking its total height by two feet or so as it vents more steam. It doesn't seem to readily determine the difference between fear and courage at that level--indeed, doesn't seem to readily determine a lot of things, but there is one thing it understands--and that is when an attack is directed towards it. Wing runs towards it. And the panda groans ominously.
The collection of steel and bamboo hardly budges as Wing's miniature tornado blasts into it with chunks of steel and halved QBZ machine guns, its forearmor, a mix of wood, lacquer, iron and silk, cracking with the impacts. But the machine does not move, lifting itself taller as a seal activates on its breastplates, sweeping a /huge/ pale green searchlight with the Ryouhara clan symbology across the scorched earth to settle on the courageous singular. In the reflected light, you can see the massive scar where an eye would have been if the automaton were a normal creature, the articulated muzzle of the thing firmly shut as it regards Wing and seems to evaluate the diminutive character as a threat. The encroaching shadow of that umbrella falls overhead.
The samurai panda takes a step forward.
Pistons hiss. Its fuselage lowers. Its whole upper body pivots--
And then it arcs to punch Wing dead in the midsection.
Cody groans as he hauls himself to his feet with Wing's help, and is stil dusting off his ass when she flings herself at the panda robot. He was going to say something, even... but that goes right out the window when the Queen of the Streets charges off, shrieking.
"Jesus Christ," Cody mutters, as he begins to hobble slowly after Wing. "Kid needs some... fuckin' ritalin."
It only takes him a few steps to decide he is not, at all, up to actually getting in this thing's grill... and although he can feel his heart starting to beat faster, feel the budding rush of euphoria and energy that comes with the thrill of the fight, his knees hurt like motherfuckers, and he's just not good to go yet.
He needs a jumpstart.
So he bends down, with great effort, to scoop up a fist-sized rock. He straightens up again, tosses the rock up and down while eying the panda... and then hauls off and throws the thing at the P4n-D4's eye, arcing it through the air in a lazy lob.
Then he musters all of his energy and shouts, at the top of his lungs, "HEY, YOU PANDA FAGGOT!"
"/EAT ME!!/"
COMBATSYS: Wing endures P4N-D4's Quick Punch!
P4N-D4
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Wing
Thus is Wing punched by a building.
"AAAAAAAgggkkkhh--"
Yes, more specifically it is a giant samurai panda robot, if you must know, but the point is that it is the /size/ of a building, being two stories tall, and if buildings /could/ punch people, this is what it would feel like. P4N-D4 may be aiming for Wing's midsection, but given its size and, uh, her size -- given their relative sizes -- what I'm trying to say is, the fist is probably only a little smaller than she is.
The girl flattens like a pancake against the punch, scream cut off abruptly. But even as she gurgles out the remainder of her continuing war cry, she is clambering up and over that obstacle -- or rather, her arms and legs are windmilling wildly, and one way or another it seems to propel her up and over the impact. She has no plans to clamber all over the robot as of yet, however. Of course, she has no plans at all. It is sheer violent instinct that compels her to bunch up atop that clenched metal fist before springing off, leaping high and closing in toward the unscarred portion of the panda's face, aiming for whatever represents its extant 'eye'.
And as she thrusts out her fist in an arcing upward punch, a sudden blast of all the power her little body can manage as she hurls herself fully, sacrificing all defense for offense, toward her enemy, a new battle cry erupts unbidden from her lips.
"BINGO!"
Hey--
Where'd that come from?
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 blocks Cody's Small Thrown Object.
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|------------===
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Wing
COMBATSYS: Wing successfully hits P4N-D4 with Strong Punch.
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|-----------====
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1 Wing
It is unthinking. It is unfeeling. There is a distinct sense of uncaring about the way the machine operates, seeing things in only terms of chi emanations and attack patterns. In the face of this sort of offense, what does Wing's sudden rush of defiance even mean? What is courage to the tide? When this machine meditates again, will it contemplate what it has faced here today?
Would it, in fact, find you both worthy?
The machine almost crushes Wing right there with its simplistic attack pattern, its paw balling fiercely as Wing chases up it like a nymph up a tree. But it's not Wing that the machine is paying attention to. The searchlight from its chest immediately cants to one side, responding less to the insult that Cody just spat, but the harsh sound of his voice, a groan and a blast of steam suddenly lifting one of its shoulder panels and --bouncing the large rock off of its surface ineffectually. It gives Wing a moment of the machine's inattentiveness as it takes two steps the length of small cars to reorient on Cody.
In fact, the plate raises behind Wing, and momentarily traps her between its head and its shoulder.
This close to its eye, Wing might notice it does not in fact, /have/ an eye, but a rotating metal orb with a circular seal on it in place of an eye, which is what seems to be emitting the glow. However--punching the eye.. is a lot like punching iron. There is an audible crack, but...
It seems to just annoy the damn thing.
When something can take a punch to the eye and not blink, it's pretty clear that it doesn't seem to be noticing physical damage. Groaning angrily, the machine shifts all of its moulded armor chest sections outward one step with a sudden burst of force, each piece twisting to vent steam from its inner recesses before snapping shut again. However, when it does so, it does so violently, making Wing's current perch at its neck untenable. Moreso the sudden shut of the thing's massive mesh old-style Japanese umbrella--the speed of the motion enough to kick up a cloud of dust as the machine shuts and then violently opens the thing again. There, with the delicacy of a seal handling a lightbulb on the tip of its nose, the samurai attempts to catch Wing on the leading edge of the parasol, balance her...
And then proceed to break a large number of bones in her body by spinning the karakasa with her on top of it.
COMBATSYS: Wing blocks P4N-D4's Rolling Shield Capture.
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|--------=======
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=======\====---\1 Wing
Cody's rock bounces off with a *dink*, and he just squints up at the panda robot for several seconds while it proceeds to manhandle Wing.
Now he's upset.
It's not that he cares that it's doing stuff to Wing... he's just mad that it just sort of casually blocked his rock.
And, even worse, that it's /ignoring/ him.
Scowling, Cody... turns, and hobbles angrily away around a corner. This panda robot is really making his blood boil...
... which, it turns out, is for the best.
Exactly nine seconds after he wanders off, a nearby wall suddenly explodes outwards as a huge boulder explodes through it, tumbling end over end as it flies through the air at P4N-D4, a globe of rocky doom.
A moment later, Cody hobbles up to stand in the newly created hole in the wall, and repeats, "/EAT ME!/ /EEEAT!/ /MEEE!/"
"Whooooooaaaaahhh--"
This is less fun than it looks.
"Iiiiii'm gooooonna beeee siiiiick--"
Wing's impromptu and mostly unconscious mimicking of one of her teammate's techniques worked out well enough for her, but not so well that she can get out of the way in time. The abrupt shift of the panda's armor leaves the girl scrabbling for what little purchase she had to begin with; she hadn't thought far enough ahead to consider what she was going to do after punching the giant samurai robot panda in the eye.
Okay, so, she didn't actually think at all.
For all that, she does land fairly poised upon a shoulder plate after her strike. This turns out not to be the best place to stand. It is the most she can do to leap up into the air and try to escape the blasts of steam that seem to emerge from, well, basically everywhere. Her livid eyes narrow with an animal cunning as she spies the seams in the panda's armor, quieting tucking away the observation as she considers intuitively how best to strike-- only to be immediately confronted with the point of the robot panda's robot umbrella.
And thus we find ourselves here.
"Eeeeyaahhhh!"
To her credit, Wing managed to react in time to protect herself, twisting her body like a falling cat to dodge the point of the rust-prevention implement (?) and then curling up to protect herself as she rolls and bounces around the rim of the shield. Eventually, of course, she simply ends up flung off the edge, though not before she has been bandied and knocked about considerably. Still, having protected herself as best she can, despite the comical way in which the great abomination has tossed her around, Wing flips in mid-air and lands with some semblance of dignity.
More importantly, she's still enraged.
"Daaaaamn iiiiiit--!"
Charging again, this time she gives her bizarre adversary plenty of chi signature to deal with, lowering her head like a bull and focusing her energies upon her mighty forehead, a gleam of gold leaving afterimages like a comet's trail, copies of her skull flashing behind as she lunges, leaps-- and aims, as best she can, for the center of where some of those armor seams appeared to meet, heedlessly driving her own head, chi-cushioned and -enhanced, into the solid metal. A direct hit may be unlikely-- but it may equally be able to project some of that impact through the robot's protective shield, and cut through where the vents lie to whatever designs lurk beneath.
Got to damage this thing somehow.
It won't respect her--
"Grraaaagghhh!"
Unless she makes it.
Okay, so, admittedly, it's a robot, and it has no concept of--
You know what, just deal with the headbutt.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 blocks Cody's Huge Thrown Object.
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|--------=======
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 Wing
COMBATSYS: Wing successfully hits P4N-D4 with Taiga Style.
P4N-D4
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0|---------------|-----==========
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=======\=====--\1 Wing
P4N-D4 falls asleep.
P4N-D4 wakes up.
Throwing Wing off of its shield like not much more than a beach ball, the machine fails to show a significant reaction when Wing doesn't land in a crumpled mess at its feet like the last person it executed that strategy against. Plates along its legs shifting, it takes a single step towards Wing, its countenance as grim as a machine without remarkable facial expression can conceivably appear. It isn't particularly impressed, nor intimidated. The only consideration it seems to make is--
Wing's still standing.
Cody ran off, as was almost expected by the calculation jutsus inscribed somewhere in the interior of the massive thing--it was dealing with Cody much in the same way one would a civilian or a child because of all the rock throwing going on over there, through pure intimidation and not much else. When Cody gets angry and hobbles off, it seems to focus solely on Whip. It's right leg shifts into a higher stability mode, as it shifts its weight from one let to the other. Wing is still only being regarded as a marginal threat.
At least until it's rammed by a ballistic chinese kid.
Torso shifting, it takes one step back to compensate for the damage that occurred when Wing plunged her forehead into one of its armored seams, splitting and disrupting the reconfiguration panels, and causing a telltale split in the sudden venting that occurs there. Slowly, it returns its weight to both legs, reconsidering. Its eye flashes red. It looks to one side.
And then it lowers its umbrella, the machine sliding back an inch or so as a massive boulder smashes against the ballistics mesh shielding. The karakasa it carries is not just a rainguard. One red eye glowers over the edge of the iron, bamboo and mesh concoction. A soft groan emanates from the entirety of the machine as it lifts up to its stable height, settling back on its haunches as if to anchor itself. There is an audible click. And then red lights glow in a small constellation underneath the dark brim of the parasol it holds high.
No less than 88 Chinese-style sealing rockets streak out from underneath the brim of its umbrella. A cascade of colorful smoke trails twirl and weave all over the battlefield as the flood of weapons cross over eachother, kiting high into the sky before each acquiring individual targets. They curve down slowly, some cutting shorter paths straight towards the two, others seeming to dance with one another, coordinate or even curve pointlessly around nearby buildings as they find their way each, individually, to one of two targets: Wing or Cody.
When they explode, they do so in large furniture-sized bursts, putting huge potholes in the ground as they chew up the earth through sheer numbers alone.
COMBATSYS: Cody Toughs Out P4N-D4's Karakasa Rocketry Array!
P4N-D4
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Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1 Wing
"/EEEEEAT MEE--/ oh hey," Cody says, leaning back to watch the barrage of colorful rockets rise into the air. It's... is it shooting /fireworks?/ Did it just stop in the middle of a fight to shoot /firewor-/
Ohp, nope, there it goes.
Cody's eyes narrow as the rockets slowly turn to point towards him... and then his expression spreads into a broad grin. He plants his feet, puffs out his chest, and holds his arms out to either side invitingly.
And then a volley of God damn rockets strike him, consuming him in a battalion of rolling explosions. Smoke and flame consume him entirely, and the wall he was standing 'in' collapses into a huge pile of rubble. Eventually, the explosions die down, and the smoke begins to clear...
... and then the pile of rubble suddenly explodes upwards and the smoke billows upwards as Cody emerges from within it, leaping a good thirty feet into the air.
But not straight up, oh no, that'd be too /easy/; Cody arcs through the air, right towards the P4N-D4, and as he reaches his chest he slams both of his legs straight outwards at the robot panda in a vicious dropkick.
Whenever he hits the ground - whether by backflipping off of the panda after he strikes, or through mysterious other means - he lands in a kneel, one fist pressed into the ground, and then slooowly rises to his feet, rolling his neck and shoulders to loosen him up. "Not quite what I had in mind," he admits, still grinning, "But that's /muuuch/ better."
P4N-D4 falls asleep.
Her skull-- it's full of stars.
"...Bluurghhh."
Wing's instinctive plan works out rather well, all things considered; she can feel something important give way as her forehead's blow penetrates between the chinks in the formidable beast's armor. Nevertheless, hard-headed though she is, running face-first into a golem has its downsides. As soon as she figures out which way is down, she'll be sure to let everyone know what they are.
It is the forbidding sound of hissing rockets that finally snaps the stumbling Wing to attention, and just in time. Blinking her wandering eyes back into submission, the diminutive thugette has only time to blink once more before reacting promptly and appropriately.
"Gaaaaaahh!"
Desperation? Courage? Whatever. /Missiles/.
Wing turns her back on the enemy and runs, wailing in terror and frustration as roughly half those rockets spiral in her general direction. Knowing she is beyond escape, she dives to the ground, covering her head with her hands-- and her body is rocked as explosions send shuddering waves of force through her. Yet she quickly looks up, blinking again, once she has sensed that the danger has passed, and somehow, not a single missile has struck her.
"Wh--"
And there he is: Cody Travers, in all his glory. In his reckless plunge forward, every single missile that might have been meant for her erupts against his own invincible form-- trailing fire, he continues through, lunging out into an incredible kick. All fury forgotten, the girl's eyes shine as she gazes up at her airborne teammate.
"/Yeah/!!"
Pumping her fist excitedly, practically hopping up and down, all of her problems are forgotten in that moment. Wing Xiaoping has never been so inspired. She breaks into a run, dashing toward the very foe she fled from only moments ago, hoping to catch the beast as Cody does. She might not be able to catch up with him, but if she can't soften up the robot panda, she can at least exploit whatever weakness her teammate might expose himself. And she seeks to do so with abandon: hurling herself at the robot's closest leg, seeing as its kneecap is at face-level for her and all, she hits it with everything she's got, crushing punches and kicks as she seeks to dart around, searching out potential weak points -- the back, perhaps? -- and aiming focused, penetrating blows at every opportunity she has, while the monster remains, hopefully, distracted.
P4N-D4 wakes up.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 endures Cody's Heavy Kick.
P4N-D4
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|-------------==|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1 Wing
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 endures Wing's Combo Attack.
P4N-D4
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
1|-----------====|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1 Wing
With a deep and abiding clunk, the ninkou unanchors itself from the ground. Not that it was strictly needed--the 360 degree spinning attack of the rocketry array guaranteed little opportunity to allow the machine to tilt over, but the explosions and chasers might at one point cause the machine's balance to be disrupted in the case of a partial misfire. Plus, the anchoring system had other more primary uses.
As Wing ducks and covers, she'll notice a pool of water shivering as the great automaton lumbers past her in footfalls that shake the earth, each step seeming an event of steam-powered gear miracle more than anything else. It slowly pursues Cody, the criminal seeming to have finally gotten its attention more than the diminutive Wing. Sheathing its massive parasol behind its back, it strides inexorably towards the dust, the length of its false hair topknot waving in the wind, the ripples muted over the sound of its own gearwork. Its searchlight sweeps the obscuring haze.
It only has a moment to look up as Cody sails like an extremely ragged eagle out towards it, the machine twisting in an odd pattern as the back of its leg is tackled just at about the same time it's assaulted with a vicious dropkick. Ponderous bulk flagging, the machine tumbles cataclysmically, hitting the ground and shaking a lot of what was left of the building Cody tried to use as a hiding spot (minus the one to two walls) to its core.
Silence reigns.
For a time, it seems as if that might have been the story of the machine. At least, that's what most might hope--the beauty of that level of teamwork can only produce results, right? Well. Yes and no. Inevitably, the sound of armor twisting and reconfiguring to a rising mode is heard from the construct. No, it takes a little more than that to slow it down. One paw strieks the ground, anchoring claws setting in, before shortly followed by the other one as the machine gets to its feet and anchors itself into the building's foundations, gripping a corner with its foreclaws and sinking them deep into masonry.
Yes, that would be the other use of it's anchoring.
You know that building those bits of wall belonged to? You know, the other two and a half to three walls, roof, and presumably reasonably-sized partially-collapsed second floor? Well..
The machine labors, steam blasting out of every crevice of its armor as one by one, bits and pieces of the brownstone crack bit by bit, water pipes bursting. A toilet comes loose from its bolts and tumbles out of the second story window as the machine simply picks up what was left of the building, its massive trunk-like arms laboring, searchlight dimming as it hefts the entire mass of concrete over its head. Gears grind ominously as it rotates at the hip farther than is humanly possible until it is facing exactly behind it with the building held high above its head. Yeah, it's looking at you two. And it is so extremely displeased with you right now.
It groans angrily.
And then /lobs/ the building end-over-end at you two.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 successfully hits Cody with Epic Thrown Object.
P4N-D4
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|--------------=
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Cody 1/---====/=======|=======\====---\1 Wing
A wise man once said: "KAPOW! I RUMBLE THE GROUND! DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DESTROY ME NOW?!"
Words to live by.
Cody apparently deems his joints loose enough moments before P4N-D4 lifts the remains of a building above its head; his grin flickers, and then vanishes, and he tilts his head up again to look at the /fucking building/ the robot is holding up.
Then it throws it.
Cody frowns, and says, "Well, shi-"
The building strikes him in a tremendous explosion of dust and debris. The already damaged remains all but entirely collapse, leaving only the foundation, a few meager interior walls, and several massive piles of rubble. The shockwave from impact knocks over a handful nearby, already ramshackle buildings.
It takes almost twenty seconds for the smoke to clear, and when it does, Cody has simply been... crushed. The remains of the building smother where he stood; he's either a splatter, or pinned under several tons of debris. He's not going anyywhere anytime soon.
At least, that's what 'science' would have you believe.
The foundation of the building begins to shudder and tremble, loose piles of rubble on it clattering together in a terrible cacophony. After a few seconds of this, it begins to lift into the air. Slowly, a mere inch at a time, but it does.
As it gets high enough, one can see Cody underneath, his arms extended above his head, fingers digging into the concrete, a sneer plastered across his features. Blood streams from the corners of his mouth and his nose, and sweat pours from his body, his limbs trembling with the effort of what he's doing.
"A LITTLE HELP, KID?!" he screams hoarsely, as he takes a staggering step forwards towards P4N-D4.
Okay, this time, she's seriously going to die.
Wing Xiaoping has done her utmost: crying out with each fierce blow, slamming fists and feet against solid metal, aiming for the great beast's joints; bloodying her knuckles, quite possibly breaking a toe, all so that P4N-D4 might be just that much more unbalanced for when Cody's mighty and heroic dropkick slams into the giant creature's body. It topples dramatically to the ground, in a cloud of dust and scattering debris. The tremors almost floor Wing herself; as it is, she stands shuddering in the fallen colossus's shadow.
Until it rises, and a much greater shadow falls over her.
"Ohhhhh, nooooooo--"
And she thought missiles were bad.
Like a little lemming, Wing repeats history, turning her back on the samurai panda once again as she scuttles as fast as she can away from the terrifying assault. She, uh, is not fast enough. She has never tried to outrun a building before. As it is, she can only make it to Cody's frowning self before tripping and collapsing at his feet, sweating profusely, looking up to wail one last time as the building descends-- and with it her fate.
But only a Street Prophet could predict what happens next.
Sure, it's only about half a building at this point. That's still one man lifting it above his head. And when Cody Travers, man among men, cries out for her aid, Wing, once again protected in his shadow, seemingly unscathed by the falling rocks, scrambles to her feet, blazing with chi and intensity. "YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAH!" is her wild reply, as she looks up at the cracking foundation just inches above her head-- and begins to punch it.
Wing isn't exactly the Hulk. But while she can't help Cody lift the building per se, that first blow seems to pop it an inch higher into the air. With the leverage Cody's given her, the girl has all the room she needs to put her full power to the task, and after that first punch-- her fists become a blur. Who can count the strikes? Her fists barely seem to move, as though her arms are simply outstretched and faintly quivering, her elbows not so much seeming to bend as blurring wider to the sides. But she is punching. And the constant, relentless, heedless stream of strikes pushes it up, and up, and then--
Their powers combine. With a final mighty effort, Cody hurls the building with all momentum gathered from Wing's ninety-nine punches straight into the air, spinning as he does-- immediately, Wing leaps directly toward him-- his body spinning wildly with inertia, he catches her in one great hand, and casts her up into the sky. She pursues the hurled half-building--
"URRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
--and, with hands half-broken but strength unabated, gives it one final push, leading it home: an explosive uppercut to a key cornerstone, sending the entire hunk of house directly into the dented robot in one final, devastating impact.
devastating impact.
/devastating impact/.
/devastating impact/!
P4N-D4 falls asleep.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 interrupts Wing Dynasty from Wing with Ninkou Samurai and is partially hit by Random Weapon!! from Cody and Wing.
P4N-D4
[ ||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////// ]
Cody 0/-------/---====|=======\=------\1 Wing
With a whirr and a click of disengaging anchors, the machine bleeds off excess heat from its exertion by venting from its shoulder pieces. The building falls on Cody and Wing with a massive crush of stone and steel, and honestly, one would not blame even a human for judging the two simply crushed and out at that point. Surveying the wreckage, the machine sweeps it once, twice with its searchlight. If it can sense the chi signatures of the two underneath there, it doesn't seem to aggress any further, turning finally and walking away slowly, its plates shifting--and pausing.
The machine makes a faint groaning sound as the building lifts behind it.
Its red eye pulses in the fading light to meet its growl.
It shifts its lower armor plating to full ventilation mode.
Drawing both blades of the twin pillars of steel that may be considered katanas more suitable to be wielded by dragons, the ground ruptures beneath its massive paws. It less runs and more slides on massive steam jets towards the thrown building angrily, plowing into the mass of masonry with a cacophonic crash of armor on stone. And the building--/stops/--in midair. There is a horrendous shearing sound.
And then the building is just cut in quarters, angrily white-hot lines of force rippling off of the angry shear lines as the machine, vomiting thick oil and venting steam through broken plates of armor does not stop--most emphatically--does /not/ stop as it barrels down towards the two to try and just bowl them aside. A voice that sounds like the gravel rolling down the side of the mountain groans as it counts off the sword swipes it unloads on the closest target, massive blades carving huge rents in the stone as it flashes them in systematic sequence--"II!" "NI!!" "SAN!!"
Two sweeping cuts that could have each on their own levelled the scattered raiding party. and a final thrust dead through the midsection--Wing seems to be the one most unlucky enough to be in the way. She'll be lucky /not/ to be run through on the end of that damn thing's twelve-foot long daito.
SOmetime in between the first of the panda's slashes and the second, Cody... disappears. For someone who usually fights like he's a fucking Terminator, the guy can be pretty spry when he wants to be; where exactly he's gotten off to isn't clear until P4N-D4 delivers its final sword thrust at poor, poor Wing.
At that point, it only becomes apparent because Cody is... standing on the back of the robotic samurai panda's extended sword, his arms folded behind his head. "Man," he sighs, leaning back to look up at the robo-panda's face. "You suck."
He sounds almost disappointed.
And then, perfectly casually, he lifts his right leg and slams it into the blade of the sword, dropping into a weird half-crouch with one leg extended. He plants his foot so hard, and at such an angle, that the force of it actually drags him forwards; he skates along the back of the sword blade, sparks spraying up from the soles of his feet.
He grinds all the way down the blade and then keeps going, seeking to bury his leg up to the kneecap in the panda's robo-hide.
At no point does he even think of doing something like 'turning to see if Wing is okay.'
Wing Xiaoping, Queen of the Streets--
"Gaaaaagghhh!"
--is lucky.
Furthermore, though the final propulsion-via-uppercut required for the epic random weapon's impact makes her the centerpiece of her and Cody's combined strike, she does, after all, have a building in front of her. Of course, that giant blade seems prepared to make short work of whatever might otherwise shield her, but for all the radiance of her chi signature at maximum capacity, the girl is obscured by the massive object she is guiding. That may be the only reason that the first slash carves inches away from her, missing her comparatively miniscule form just barely. Her eyes snap wide, a none-too-elegant squawk emerging as she attempts desperately to kick away from the exploding debris before her.
It goes well enough at first. The flailing speck, as she appears from the ground, pinwheels around, the cuts that split the rock -- and would likely shear her to pieces if they connected head on -- each missing her by a seeming hairsbreath. The thugette bounces from chunk to chunk of the shattering edifice, using the falling rocks as improvised bases from which to avoid certain death. All in all, it's fairly nice work for someone operating purely under abject terror, so she can perhaps be forgiven when she grins to herself, blinking away sweat, as the final slash cuts a meter away, the building around her at last completely destroyed.
"EheheheAAAAAHHH--"
The thrust, however, she does not expect.
It doesn't impale her, at least. Or eviscerate her. But while no internal organs are lost, the deep cut left as it shears along her midsection does not look pretty, the middle section of poor Wing's beleagured jumpsuit torn away as she cries out in agony. Spinning uncontrollably now, she tries urgently to right herself, reaching out to find something to grasp onto lest she become entirely vulnerable to a killing blow. A big chunk of rock, for example.
Unfortunately, it finds her instead.
Adding injury to... injury, Wing turns, arms outstretched, only to meet the boulder she was theoretically seeking directly face to face, the free-falling stone slamming directly into her head and knocking the now completely stunned girl out of the air. She lands in a limp heap, blind to all but the flashing lights within her skull.
Groaning, she does not make any real effort to move.
Take care of it, Cody.
COMBATSYS: Wing gains composure.
P4N-D4
[ |||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|----===========
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Cody 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Wing
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits P4N-D4 with Ruffian Kick.
- Power hit! -
P4N-D4
[ |||||| ]
0|---------------|-==============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Wing
The ninkou samurai flicks a blade with expert precision after coming very, very close to fileting Wing where she stood. The blade whips the blood off of it in a pre-determined pattern--the machine executes it so perfectly that it leaves a vaguely discernible rendition of the 'RUIN' kanji on the ground at its side. Wing is off somewhere on the ground, and this time it doesn't seem she is in a great hurry to get up. The machine lifts its blade again, presumably to suss out the location of Trave-
....The machine pauses, as if reconsidering its options.
It growls.
And then is kicked /right through/ the shoulder.
The machine lurches dangerously. It lists to one side. Energy crackles from the deep kick that Travers put through it. It tries to anchor and fails. One blade is planted into the earth to stabilize it, but that shoulder fails and its claw opens. It groans ominously, the sound of a hundred gears stripping emanating from underneath its armored hide. Finally.. it recognizes defeat, and sheathes its remaining blade, seemingly ignorant of the criminal still clinging to it.
Legs folding into a slimmer configuration... the machine crosses its legs in a feat that you didn't imagine something with that much bulk could accomplish: a full lotus meditation position, near its buried blade. It's actually fairly easy to see that it was in a similar position at the beginning of the encounter, except that its parasol was open and propping up the pieces of a structure. Its plates shift, steam draining from them. They lock. And then, with one last titanic groan, the machine's single red eye slowly fades into darkness. Now no more active than a statue.
With its plates locking, though, Cody might find it a little difficult to get his foot dislodged.
You might literally have to break your foot off in it.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 takes no action.
P4N-D4
[ ||||||| ]
0|---------------|-==============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Wing
Frei says, "Because RPGmaker is awful but I am for the idea"
Cody clings uncertainly to the stump of the robo-panda's shoulder as it... settles the hell down? What the fuck is it doing, it's just- it- graagh! As the thing takes a seat, Cody starts... shouting insults. It's no fun if it quits! "COME ON, YOU PUSSY, YOU GIVIN' UP?!" the man taunts, banging his fist noisily on the machine's locking plates. "YOU A BUSTA, MAN! A FUCKIN' BUSTA!"
When taunts do not immediately work, and the thing deactivates, Cody sighs heavily and begins attempting to dislodge his foot from inside it, which... ... seems... more difficult than he had thought it would be...
... hm.
After several seconds of vainly attempting to pull his foot out, and then half-heartedly attempting to pry open a larger gap to escape from, Cody turns awkwardly to scream back towards Wing, "HEY! HEY, KID!"
"GET ME A FUCKIN' CROWBAR!"
COMBATSYS: Cody takes no action.
P4N-D4
[ ||||||| ]
0|---------------|-==============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Wing
A crowbar, eh.
Wing Xiaoping doesn't have anything like that. In fact, Wing Xiaoping barely has her skin intact. She blearily gets to her knees, eyes watering from the pain, her hands clasped about her injured belly, and blinks up at where--
Whoa.
"Uh," she finally manages, "did you... did you kill it?"
Yes, it appears Cody has kicked a giant robot to death.
"W... wow."
Yup.
The enormity has sunk to a sitting position, its eye flaring into darkness, the threat seemingly dissipated. All that is left is Wing, her unbound hair whipping in the wasteland's dusty breeze, and Cody, pounding ineffectually at the broken shoulder where is foot is lodged. Crowbar, huh.
Clearly still dazed, Wing nevertheless rises shakily to her feet. Though she has yet to regain full conscious faculties, she appears to have a vague idea of what's required of her -- until she breaks into a run toward the fallen robot. A decidedly crowbar-less run. This doesn't look good.
"AAAAAAAHHH!"
It is in fact only after her scream that the rage that had been stifled within her surges as though at a boil; her own war cry triggers a forgotten fury. This beast-- this creature-- it is the symbol of everything here beyond her comprehension, everything that means to keep her down. That destroying it is only in the service of yet another mysterious figure-- that itself, rather than being forgotten, only enhances the feeling of impotence and insignificance against which Wing rails. Before, she might have convinced herself through her bullying that she is worthier than she fears. She is certainly no less reliant on violence now. Still--
This defiance seems more than delinquency.
With all the gung-ho recklessness of a born berserker, Wing takes aim--
"TRAAAAAVEEEEERS!"
--and slams a chi-sheathed forehead directly at the last vent of the locking, damaged metal that seeks to trap her partner forever, targeting the final seam a mere moment before it snaps shut to leverage that last possible weak point-- and break it with her face.
COMBATSYS: Wing successfully hits P4N-D4 with Taiga Style.
P4N-D4
[ ]
1|--------------=|===============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Wing
The meditating machine is clobbered savagely by a very small and very loud Xiaoping. The machine cracks, the plate dislodging as Wing just headbutts the thing clear off, potentially dislodging Cody's leg with a clatter. But.. oddly?
The beast does not move. It seems no more than a statue now, truly holding space with Buddha and the bodhisattva. There is no dramatic explosion. No furious power from beyond, no explosion of sudden vitality. It just.. doesn't respond to Wing. Without emotions to show, without an eye to read, or a voice to tell, it seems an inscrutable thing, infuriatingly beyond Wing's comprehension. But maybe.. just maybe...
It's satisfied.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Wing
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 has suffered catastrophic damage and fallen offline.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////// ]
Cody 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Wing
Well, it's not a crowbar, but it'll do.
Wing headbutts the plate pinning Cody clean off, and the blonde drops to the ground like a rock. The fact that he lands on his head, rather than, you know, breaking his neck and killing him, proves merely a minor inconvenience, and he flops onto his back and then sits up rubbing at the bump on his head.
It takes him only a few seconds to climb fully to his feet, dust himself off, and then turn to survey Wing and, more importantly, the disabled panda robot. "Pussy," he mutters again, scowling at P4N-D4.
Then he declares, "Hey, kid, help me get that sword outta the ground. I'm runnin' low on knifes."
Cody Travers spends the next fifteen minutes struggling to get the sword out of the ground. Does he succeed?! Find out on the NEXT exciting episode of...
... of...
... ah, forget it.
Log created on 23:36:52 05/31/2010 by Wing, and last modified on 12:06:05 06/02/2010.