Description: Having heard that the Chinese military has been taking prisoners, Hayato sets out with the intent of raiding the military camp and freeing whomever he can. Cody, being unconcious and tied to the back of Hayato's new tank, comes along for the ride. But the military isn't too happy about their last encounter with the two men, and this time they're ready...
While all land bridges to Taizhou had been demolished in the initial occupation by Kagero, the military had been quick to erect one of their own in the confusion following their naval landing. This had been planned well in advance of the armored assault, and it's no coincidence that the prisoner detention area had been set up near here before the construction even began. As Team Manliest approaches, something becomes rapidly evident to them.
Something is amiss.
The ground appears to be blasted with all means of firepower. Crumpled tank shells can be seen here and there, craters that showcase what must have been extravagant missile barrages dot the landscape. But strangely...there isn't a single vehicle, let alone soldier in sight? Helicopters can be seen in the distance, but they seem to be keeping their distance from the appropriated battle tank, almost as if cowed.
They know this tank. They know what happened to the last people who challenged the people who liberated it. It would seem the military isn't particularly interested in losing more of their hardware in another ill-advised fight. At least...it seems that way, until they draw near to the final bridge approach. Something is waiting for them on the bridge. This tank is quite unlike their own. For one, it's roughly twice the size. Never a good sign. Second, there's something...very off about its construction. The turret appears to be on a spherical rotating mount, bearing twin anti-tank cannons and...Other Things. It's hard to tell exactly what they are, other than the fact that they're not standard equipment.
Behind the bridge lies the tanks that had withdrawn on reports of your approach, holding position at the far end of the bridge in case anyone else tries to make a break for it in the distraction.
The "master" tank begins to move toward the shore of Taizhou, pre-emptively cutting off chances of easy victory by taking out the bridge underneath it. Its turret adjusts to bear on your position, the first volley stirring up dust clouds near Hayato's tank as it begins to close in on firing range.
The gauntley, as they say, has been thrown.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z has started a fight here as a boss!
TYPE 1000Z
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0|---------------|------------===
When Hayato learned that there had been prisoners taken, it wasn't hard for him to make a decision. His actions may not have had a huge influence on the way events have played out in Taizhou, but his original intention was to help people. And the people captured by the Chinese military are likely quite in need of help. Having liberated a tank, the solution is obvious. How could a rescue assault go wrong? Hayato's got a tank! Sure, the military has a /lot/ of tanks, but... man, he's got a tank! And with a little help he managed to drive off the soldiers last time.
Of course, this time around Hayato doesn't have Antoine with him. He /does/ have Cody, but he's a bit worried about that. The guy did go kind of crazy last time. And hasn't woken up since Hayato punched him repeatedly. So he's tied up on the back of the tank for safe keeping. Having him wake up inside could get nasty. Not a fun place to fight against someone who actually knows what he's doing.
Nevertheless, Hayato rolls toward the bridge... then stops. Well, he wasn't quite expecting such a prepared welcome. So, they've got a bigger tank, and more tanks should that one be defeated? Hayato likes those odds! With a grin he shifts his tank into gear and begins rolling at max speed toward the bridge and the oncoming tank. While trying to align the turret with one hand. It's not easy to do everything on one of these by yourself, but Hayato's Burning Spirit has been stirred up now. He's itching for a fight, and little things like ergonomics aren't going to stop him.
Although maybe he should have stashed Cody someplace before charging into battle. Oh well.
COMBATSYS: Hayato has joined the fight here.
TYPE 1000Z
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Hayato 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Hayato gathers his will.
TYPE 1000Z
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Hayato 0/-------/---====|
Inside the experimental tank, the Snow Leopard commander and his second study the situation with grim faces. The latter turns to the former, which given the crowded conditions makes this quite a strain on the neck. "Point of no return, Captain. Full deployment?" The pause is momentary. The commander simply nods, both inserting keys into side panels and pulling back an adjacent lever. "Continue firing until it closes distance."
Outside, a heavy impact can be heard as four cyllinders, one at each corner of the vehicle, abruptly slam downward into the ground. The roar of drill bores can be heard, dirt spraying away from the tank in all directions.
It would seem that the tank has anchored itself in place. Very ominous. For now, it simply continues to sustain the anti-tank barrage as Hayato rapidly barrels toward it.
COMBATSYS: Hayato blocks Type 1000Z's Dual 125mm Anti-tank Cannons.
TYPE 1000Z
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Hayato 0/-------/-======|
The initial impact of cannon shells stirs Cody Travers into wakefulness. Rather than jolting awake in terror like a reasonable human being would, however, Cody merely groans, yawns, and rolls over. "Mmhngm," he murmurs, as he does.
Or, well... as he tries to. His attempt to roll over falls short, because he appears to be tied up. Only when that sets in does he open his eyes and realize that not only is he chained up, he's chained to the back of a tank. Cody's brow furrows as he half-heartedly struggles against his bonds. A tank, a tank... is that familiar somehow...?
... eh, it's probably not important. What /is/ important is to make sure he has 'that' with him. 'That', of course, is the twelve-foot long sword being dragged behind the tank like a plow. Technically, it, too, is tied to the tank, on account of how the massive chain lashed to its hilt is also the chain keeping Cody on the tank.
Having confirmed the presence of one of his few earthly possessions, Cody groans, closes his eyes, and flops his head back down onto the tank's surface. He's so God damn tired; he really just wants to sleep forever. "Turn that shit off!" he shouts up at Hayato. Obviously, all these 'booms' are the fault of the person driving this thing. Somehow.
COMBATSYS: Cody has joined the fight here.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Hayato
COMBATSYS: Cody takes no action.
TYPE 1000Z
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0|---------------|-----------====
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Cody 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Hayato
With his tank charging forward full bore, Hayato has a rather limited number of options for dealing with incoming fire. Tanks don't exactly turn on a dime. Luckily they /do/ have armor, and armor that's designed to be able to withstand a frontal assault. The incoming fire gives the tank a bit of a beating, but it's not enough to slow Hayato's forward progress much. Of course, he's going to have to do something soon. It seems unlikely that he'll be able to ram the large tank aside, especially after it just secured itself to the ground.
But for now, Hayato's managed to get his own turret lined up for the shot he wants. He grins to himself, and is just about to push the button when he hears Cody from outside. "Oh, so you're awake? Sorry about the chains, but I thought you might freak out again. Also, sorry about this!" This? And then Hayato pushes the button. BOOM.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z blocks Hayato's ZPT98 125mm Shell.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Hayato
The same theory holds true for the massive battle tank in front Hayato. Unfortunately, Hayato has a single 125mm, while the other is clearly a cheater since it has two of them. Fully intent on pressing this advantage while it can, the Type 1000Z Experimental continues to alternate its booming barrels while finishing its preparations. The vehicle seems to have completed its anchoring process, and now seems to have begun...vibrating in place, rather suspiciously. Sure, a normal tank does this, but it seems almost as if it's moving in place almost a little *too* much...
When the smoke from Hayato's cannon shot clears, Cody responds, succinctly, "WHAT?" Although far from eloquent, it is noteworthy as a response because of the fact that when he says it, he is no longer chained to the back of the tank, but rather standing on top of it, shouting down into the hatch, shattered chain links slowly sliding off his body. "I DIDN'T HEAR Y-"
Cody's own sentence is cut off by the returning fire of the Type 1000Z, and the American lets out a squawk of surprise and almost falls off the tank, dropping heavily into a kneel and clinging to the roof of the tank for support. "SHIT, CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS GUY?" Cody calls tiredly, jerking his thumb at the other tank. "THIS IS WHY I ALWAYS TOOK THE BUS! HERE, I GOT THIS-"
Cody rises unsteadily to his feet, cups his hands around his mouth, and shouts at the tank, "GET OUTTA THE ROAD, YOU QUEER! YOU DRIVE LIKE A GRANDMA!!"
COMBATSYS: Cody takes no action.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Hayato
COMBATSYS: Hayato blocks Type 1000Z's Dual 125mm Anti-tank Cannons.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0 Hayato
Hayato doesn't particularly want to stop directly in front of the other tank. Sure, they can rotate their turrets to track him, but in front is where they have the best view of him. And so he begins veering to the side, swinging his own cannon around in preparation for an assault on the other tank's side. Impacts rock the tank, denting the armor and knocking Hayato around inside, but they don't knock him off course. While he's doing that, he glances up at Cody. "Oh, good, you're up! These guys have taken a bunch of prisoners that I want to set free. Feel like kicking some ass with me?"
As his tank continues to move into position, Hayato attempts to delay the Type 1000Z's ability to respond by launching a barrage from one of his missile racks. He takes a moment to reflect on how much fun it would be to have one of these for commuting to work. Traffic? Ha!
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z blocks Hayato's ZPT98 AT-11 Missile.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Hayato
The missile strikes true. After all, anchored as the tank is, it's not as if it can *dodge* it or anything. That leads one to wonder though, exactly why *is* it anchored as such? The dual 125mms look like the heaviest armament on board, and they shouldn't need that much balance given the vehicle's weight.
%RT"They've deployed one fighter. It's them alright. Firing a secondary round."
There's a momentary lapse in the tank's firing, before it takes a single shot at Hayato's treads, then adjusts its firing angle slightly and lobs the contents of the other barrel directly at Cody himself. Once the shells impact though, whether or not they land their mark...
They explode in a shower of grey ooze that begins to slowly harden on contact with the air. Splort.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z successfully hit Cody with Glue Shell.
> Determined Hit! <
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Hayato
Wait, rescuing prisoners?
Cody drops his gaze down through the hatch again, brow furrowing. "YEAH, UH, 'RESCUES' AIN'T REALLY MY THING," he shouts, hands still cupped around his mouth even though it's now pointed down at a man like four feet away from him. "BUT I GUESS IF-"
He never finishes his thought, because, all of a sudden, a blur of color strikes him and drives him right off the top of the tank. He crashes into the ground some forty feet behind the vehicle, disappears in a cloud of dust, tumbles out of it, and rolls for about ten more feet before the glue starts to harden and he vanishes inside a cocoon of grey ick.
The cocoon lasts for about four seconds, and then suddenly explodes as Cody Burly Brawls his way out of it. a sneer written across his features.
That may have just made him mad.
The blonde slams his foot angrily into the ground, and the severed chain of his ridiculous sword is bounced into the air just high enough for him to snatch it. In the same fluid motion, he crouches down and then breaks into a run, charging straight for the giant tank that just shot him with some sort of /goop cannon./
Mysteriously, despite all the hullabaloo about the sword, Cody ignores it in favor of eventually simply ceasing his run, jamming his right foot out like a piston, and sliding about ten feet to slam his stiffened leg into the front of the Type 1000Z.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z successfully hit Hayato with Glue Shell.
> Determined Hit! <
TYPE 1000Z
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0|---------------|--=============
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Cody 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Hayato
Hayato's tank rocks with the impact of the shell striking his treads, then again as the glue hardens and the treads begin to seize up. The tank starts swinging around as one set of treads keeps running while the other is locked in place. With a frown Hayato starts pushing and pulling some levers, and there's a grinding noise and some smoke from the locked up set of treads. With the sound of cracking glue and tearing metal the tank breaks free, but there's smoke pouring from one of the treads and a constant sound of grinding metal now. It's also running somewhat slower.
But Hayato still manages to swing it back on target, coming up alongside the larger tank. This is especially important now, because it would be really unfortunate to hit Cody instead of the enemy tank. Total waste of a shot. Hayato slams his fist down, firing another barrage toward the Type 1000Z and trying to ignore the fact that part of the floor beneath him is starting to get awfully warm.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z blocks Hayato's ZPT98 125mm Shell.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Hayato
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z blocks Cody's Ruffian Kick.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Hayato
Pfft. What's a tank compared to a fighter, right? That's what Cody proved last time, even terrorizing a few helicopters for good measure. His kick hits the tank...
...And bizarrely, the tank *gives way*. The body rocks back with the force of the blow on a suspension system. This is no ordinary tank alright. Apparently it was designed to combat fighters!
The 1000Z's hull, once again, doesn't seem terribly phased by Hayato's cannon fire. He's eating away at the thick exterior hull, but for now it's simply refusing to give way to focused assault. In the meantime, it can't easily line up shots with both fighters at the moment, so it tries something else instead. A rotary barrel on the turret begins to spin up, gunfire spraying across the ground as it swings a path from Cody back to Hayato again. Only...when the shots hit the ground, their impacts are accompanied by red sparks and smoke. Seems that they're pulling out all the stops this time; normal bullets just aren't cutting it.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z successfully hit Cody with Weakened Incendiary Vulcan.
>>> Punitive Hit!!! <<<
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Hayato
Huh. Well, that's unusual. Usually these things break as easy as a Japanese-built car... but, well, at least Cody will be able to continue his assault unchallenged. It's not like a mere /bullet/ can do anything to Cody Tra-
"AH, FUCK! FUCK!" screams Cody, because /holy shit he is on fire./
Cody Travers has been a lot of things. He's been beaten, stabbed, cut, shot, thrown, smashed, bashed, lashed, lots of other things that end in -ashed, electrified, set on chi fire, and, yes, even set on regular fire.
Of all of these things, being set on regular fire is his least favorite.
"FUCKING SHIT FUCK!" the blonde screams, staggering backwards away from the tank, swatting furiously at his tattered - and now flaming - clothes. After a few seconds, however, he regains control of himself enough for his sheer retardation to overwhelm the extremely basic human instinct of 'DO NOT BE ON FIRE', and, still flaming, he reels in his giant sword, swings it above his head, and begins smashing it down at the tank over and over.
He is still screaming the entire time, because, well, he has to have /some/ outlet for the fact that he's ON GOD DAMN FIRE. "I'M ON FIRE!" Cody screams. "I'M ON FIIIAIAAUUGH!"
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z successfully hit Hayato with Weakened Incendiary Vulcan.
>>> Punitive Hit!!! <<<
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Hayato
Well, Hayato's tank already had a fire going. The sudden rain of incendiary bullets certainly helps it along, though. There's even more smoke pouring out of it now, and Hayato's starting to choke and cough a bit inside. Still, he's not about to give it up just yet. It looks like his new toy may be fatally injured, but he can still get a bit more use out of it before it goes. With the sound of grinding metal Hayato shifts the tank back, turns it around, faces it toward the big tank and jams the accelerator down.
He doesn't expect the impact to actually do /that/ much to the larger tank... but how much is it going to be able to sway back and forth with something pushing constantly against it in one direction? It'll also put Hayato in place for a point black shot if his tank lasts that long, but he'll probably want to get ready to bail out before doing something like that...
COMBATSYS: Hayato successfully hits Type 1000Z with Deep Strike.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Hayato
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Type 1000Z with Epic Random Weapon.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Hayato
Hayato is a quicker thinker than most people realize at first glance. It's hard to design a tank that can handle an assault against a fighter, let alone fighters and other tanks at once!
The huge tank rocks back with the force of the collision, armored plates splintering apart with the force of the impact, leaving it wide open to further assault from Cody. It doesn't take much for him to carve out chunks of hull that had already been been dented from cannon fire, and while the tank remains resilent to such force...it seems that the armored coating becomes weaker as he continues to dig in.
%TNeedless to say, the occupants in the tank are less than pleased. The second in command simply flips a switch. An ominous hum begins to fill the air...
COMBATSYS: Cody Toughs Out Type 1000Z's Electrified Hull!
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 1/----===/=======|=======\==-----\1 Hayato
The scent of ozone fills the air as electricity streams down Cody's sword and into his body, arcing over his arms and chest. After a moment, it is joined by the faint scent of burned flesh; hairs all over his body stand on end, parts of his hands scorch black, et cetera. It is basically horrifying.
But not nearly as horrifying as the fact that he doesn't even slow down. In a disgusting slap to the face of physics, Cody cuts his electrocution short when he simply yanks his sword out of the tank's hull and shouts, "SO THAT'S HOW YOU WANNA DO IT, HUH?! ALRIGHT, FINE!" These punks wanna make themselves on electric, Cody has ways to get around that.
As he proves when he turns sharply and circles towards Hayato's tank, dragging his sword behind him. Obviously, he's going to go utilize some of the tank's weaponry, right? He draws up to the tank, and now he's going to climb into i--
He's not climbing into it. He is, in fact, walking right past it. He turns sharply again once he's behind the tank, shoulders his sword like a baseball bat, plants his feet, and then... swings the flat of the sword into the back of the tank.
The fact that this successfully propels the tank forwards into the Type 1000Z /really, really hard/ is basically insane.
COMBATSYS: Hayato endures Type 1000Z's Electrified Hull.
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/---====|=======\=====--\1 Hayato
Looks like Hayato and Cody are on the same wavelength. Hayato managed to jam his tank in there, but he can only do so much, especially with a busted tread. The tank just doesn't have enough power to break all the way through the armor, or wrench the Type 1000Z out of the ground. But what it does have is a point blank firing position. Aiming isn't really necessary at this point, which is good, since the inside of Hayato's tank is by this point actually on /fire/. And all the sparks that go flying when an electric current is sent racing through the tank doesn't help at all.
All sorts of warning lights are going off, Hayato's inhaling smoke, he's pretty sure his pants are on fire but the air inside is so hot that it's hard to tell, his heart's beating a bit oddly after having all that electricity pumped through his body... but he's still grinning. And then he starts flipping some switches, rams the accelerator so far forward that it breaks, and starts climbing out of the hatch. He sees Cody coming up behind the tank and gives the guy a thumbs up... then kicks the firing controls with his foot just before he hauls himself up out of the hatch and leaps to relative safety. Somewhat faster than would be normal, since he's propelled by the sudden explosion behind him that Cody just rammed right into the bigger tank.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z Toughs Out Cody and Hayato's Random Explosion!!
*KNOCKED AWAY*
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Hayato
Between the electricity coursing through the badly damaged tank, Hayato engaging every damn system he can at the same time, and the force of Cody's rediculous savantry with improvised (and insane) tactics, a few things happen at once.
All of the missiles either arm, fire, or explode inside of their housings.
Sparks find their way to the fuel tank. It's hard to say whether it's the electricity or the explosions, but Cody's impact rupturing the compartment and imbedding half of it in a neighboring space that it was never meant to occupy probably has a great factor in making magic happen.
The ZPT98, with its last dying breath, pushes further into the monsterous Type 1000Z Experimental, only to be given a neighborly swat in the rump by Cody. This in turn causes chunks of the very ground itself to be uprooted as the enemy tank is forced further back against its suspension than it was designed for.
%THayato's tank explodes in a glorious fireball, raining shrapnel in all directions.
The Chinese tank is sent rocking back by the force of all of this, forward anchors *snapping* on their supports, the front end of the tank jumping several feet into the air briefly. Onward the wreck of the ZPT98 continues, raking across the underside of its larger cousin until it uproots the *rear* anchors. This does quite a great deal of damage to the underside of the Type 1000Z, and Nirvana's Defenders are treated to the muted sounds of klaxons constantly going off inside of the enemy vehicle...which is currently parked on top of the ruins of their own tank at an odd angle.
"Sir! Sir, that last hit took out the secondary generator. We won't be able to arm the EMP devi--!" One last explosion inside of the ZPT98 causes shrapnel to pierce the underside of the tank, travelling through the driver compartment and killing the lieutenant of the Snow Leopards before he can finish his sentence.
The Captain stares grimly forward, briefly not perceiving his surroundings as they cloud with a red mist. It isn't blood, no. The prospect of failing the Chinese military as an elite unit's commander, the humilliation of being beaten back by foreigners, the anger at himself for allowing his most promising subordinate to be killed...all condenses into a one singular rage.
A loudspeaker clicks on. "Miserable CURS, I will BURN YOU ALIVE and use your ashes to replant the soil you've defiled!!"
The turret, still operational, swings on Hayato and Cody as the monsterous tank rumbles into motion once more, crushing the remains of the ZPT98 as it closes distance. An acrid smelling gel is sent in the direction of the two fighters, before an igniting device lights up with an ominous click.
And then the world was on fire.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z successfully hit Cody with NP2 Supernapalm Spray.
> Determined Hit! <
TYPE 1000Z
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0|---------------|===============
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Cody 1/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Hayato
Well, Cody certainlt wasn't expecting the tank to /explode./
But then, Cody doesn't bother thinking about the consequences of his actions a good 90 percent of the time, so he can't really complain, because technically speaking he wasn't expecting it to do anything.
Other things he wasn't expecting: the other tank to still be moving. Cody recoils as the tank sprays yet more gel on him, and unlike Hayato, he goes up instantly, because, well, he was /already/ on fire. The addition of the tank's igniter just makes him even more on fire than he already was. In other words, it pushes him into being double on fire.
"GOD /DAMMIT!/" Cody screams, more out of frustration and exasperation than pain. "DON'T YOU COCKSUCKERS HAVE ANYTHING THAT SHOOTS GOD DAMN /BULLETS?!/"
Cody spends several seconds thrashing around wordlessly before he casts his sword aside - that chain is starting to get really, really hot - and simply leaps at the Type 1000Z, screaming wildly. He comes in low and swings his fist up into the front of the tank, twisting his forearm savagely as he does so...
... and then a tornado appears underneath the tank, plunging up into the vehicle's belly.
Cody is so on fire that the tornado is also kind of on fire.
COMBATSYS: Hayato dodges Type 1000Z's NP2 Supernapalm Spray.
TYPE 1000Z
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0|---------------|===============
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Cody 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Hayato
Hayato gets some pretty good air time, thanks to the explosion behind him. And when he hits the ground in a heap and rolls for a bit it manages to put out the flames crawling up his leg. He's looking a bit roasted at the moment. Being inside the tank didn't really provide all that much safety once the thing was /on fire/. The teacher starts pushing himself up when he sees the sky suddenly become full of burning ooze.
That's... a really big looking spray of fire. It's covering a pretty wide area... so Hayato shoves himself to his feet and runs /toward/ the tank, passing underneath the arc of the falling naplam. There's a hiss as some of it lands on the edge of his jacket, but it's not too big a deal right now. Hayato's already been smoldering anyway. And now... Hayato just needs a second. When he coughs, black smoke comes out. He inhaled rather a lot of it. But who needs oxygen? Or blood? Or skin that hasn't been horribly burned? Hayato has got his Burning Spirit, and a little bodily injury isn't going to stop him!
COMBATSYS: Hayato's Burning Spirit keeps him going!
TYPE 1000Z
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0|---------------|===============
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Cody 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Hayato
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z blocks Cody's Criminal Upper.
TYPE 1000Z
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1|--------------=|===============
[ \\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Cody 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Hayato
The tank is heavy, and proves rather difficult to uproot even with the assistance of HOLY CRAP FLAMING TORNADO. Cody is treated to the site of splintered armor plates stripping away from a combination of force winds and heat, but just as the armored monstrosity begins to left into the air...it abruptly crashes back down again. The force was enough to send it rocking back two feet however, thusly sparing his arm and face an inconvenient crushing accident.
Hayato...managed to avoid the napalm? Distressing. Seeing as how Cody is very much ON FIRE, the Snow Leopard Captain seems to be mostly concerned with fulfilling his earlier promise: setting everyone on fire. The tank rumbles on its treads, backing away from Cody as the turret swings to face the teacher once more. The napalm dispenser seems to be something that it can't lean on constantly.
Fortunately, that's what the secondary flamethrower is for! A blast of flame is belched in Hayato's direction, sustained as the driver attempts to run him down while keeping him pinned under flame.
Meanwhile:
Cody Travers is still on fire. He's so on fire, in fact, that he's not even really distinguishable as Cody Travers anymore; rather, he is a vaguely humanoid-shaped /flame man./ He could be the Human God damn Torch, for all anybody knows.
But it's okay, because it isn't really slowing him down, and as the tank turns to chase Hayato, Cody in turn gives chase after it without a moment of hesitation. He takes a few bounding steps after it and then springs forward fast enough to sort of crash himself harmlessly into the thing's rear. Less harmless: when he plunges his hands out and tries to slam them into - and through - the tank's armor, fingers digging into metal as he digs his heels into the ground and tries to prevent the thing from chasing Hayato.
It's sort of surprising, really, how he's doing something to try to assist his 'teammate'. Cody doesn't usually do stuff like th-
Oh. Oh, nope. He's not helping Hayato. He's just trying to hold the tank still so he can headbutt it infinity times.
Also, he's still screaming. "AUGUAHDGISGDHHS!!"
COMBATSYS: Hayato dodges Type 1000Z's Short Range Flamethrower.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Hayato
In his last fight against a tank, Hayato had a plan. Get inside, past the heavy armor shell, and beat up the soft, gooey center. It worked pretty well, and Hayato got himself a tank out of it. RIP, Burning Roller. Now, the Type 1000Z is already looking pretty damaged, so Hayato may not be able to take this one with him, but the first part of the plan should still work, right? So Hayato's already got it in mind to get up on top and break in. This works out well for him, because he's already leaping when the flamethrower scorches the spot he'd just been on.
The Burning Phys Ed Teacher yet again avoids having his title become literal, although his back is getting pretty hot now. No time to shrug out of his jacket, though, he's got a hatch to bust open! He tries to find anything that looks like an opening, before pounding at the metal in an attempt to dent himself some leverage, maybe break off some bolts. Who needs armor piercing rounds when you have flaming fists of justice?
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z blocks Cody's Savage Combo.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 1/----===/=======|=====--\-------\0 Hayato
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z endures Hayato's Manly Punch.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0 Hayato
More klaxons begin going off inside of the experimental tank as the it continues to take a beating from the outside. All of that armor makes it a tough nut to crack, but every added dent is creating additional pressure on subsystems that is beginning to exceed their designed tolerances. One of those components happens to be the drive system, which Cody has discovered by using his skull as a dowsing rod. Even more smoke begins to billow out from the rear exhaust pipes as its plodding ground speed staggers to inching along. Hayato has the smart idea of trying to go after the pilot again, only to learn that science has progressed in this area as well. By virtue of having an opening, it's still a structural weak point, but still nothing that can be ripped off and plunged into without more effort.
The Snow Leopard Commander knows that the writing on the wall is done at this point. Shutting down locomotion entirely, he reroutes what power he can with the secondary generator dead in a last ditch effort to pry the heathens off of his damn tank. The turret swings on Hayato, but instead of belching more fire...a low hum begins, that quickly turns into a blast of force that not only packs a punch, but likely makes his ear drums scream in agony.
THe good news is, Cody is - slowly - starting to go out, as his clothes finally give up the ghost entirely and the fire begins to run out of fuel.
Of course, it's not TOTALLY out of fuel, because he's still covered in God damn goop.
He is, of course, still screaming, as his head crashes into the tank's hull over and over. "AIGISRGUSGDHS! AAUAGUHGGUBSUDUGH! AAIFASGU-" Suddenly, he stops, not only his screaming but his headbutting. "You know," he muses to himself, his arms still buried up to the elbow in the tanks' armor, "Once you get used to it, it really ain't that bad!" In fact, he's starting to feel kind of good! This must be like when women get facials and shit; his pores are /mad/ clean!
And the only thing better than clean pores is a /dead tank./
Which is why, equally suddenly to his cessation of screaming, Cody rips his arm out of the tank and draws his right fist back again. The instant before he launches it forwards, blue light flashes around it and his feet... and when he throws the punch, after the longest millisecond of all time, it's with such speed that the arm leaves hazy blue afterimages.
Cody smashes his fist into the rear of the tank once, twice, thrice, and then... turns around. It's only for a heartbeat before he whips back around to face the tank again and resumes punching, but that doesn't make it any less retarded. He punches three more times... and then turns around again.
This continues for awhile.
Eventually, however, a fourth punch comes after the third, and then a fifth, and then they start coming faster, and before long Cody is not so much punching as he is trying to drill into the tank like he's Dig Dug and there's a lizard in the center of the armored vehicle that he's going to cram a bicycle pump into and inflate until it explodes.
COMBATSYS: Type 1000Z successfully hit Hayato with Noise Cannon.
>>> Punitive Hit!!! <<<
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/------=|=======\=------\1 Hayato
The good news is, the fire on Hayato's jacket is out. The bad news is, this is from the force of the blast that strikes him from just a few feet away. Hayato doesn't even really /hear/ the cannon. It's too loud for that. There's a sudden pressure on his chest, then everything goes silent as his ears are overloaded and a moment later an invisible hammer hits him in the chest and sends him flying backwards. And it's a fair fall from the top of the tank, too, landing in the churned up dirt below.
And yet Hayato still springs back to his feet, shouting at the top of his lungs. Even though he can't actually hear himself. There appears to be some blood trickling from his ears, too. His gaze darts around, and then he snatches up a piece of twisted metal from the ground. His fists are bleeding through the tape wrapped around them by this point, and his shinai is just really not the best weapon to use against a tank. The length of metal serves as an acceptable substitute, becoming surrounded with an orange glow as Hayato grins at the tank. And then he leaps forward, holding the makeshift weapon out in front of him like a jagged, burning propeller blade as he spins toward the tank, drilling into it from the side opposite Cody.
COMBATSYS: Cody successfully hits Type 1000Z with Final Destruction.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Hayato
COMBATSYS: Hayato successfully hits Type 1000Z with Burning Windmill.
TYPE 1000Z
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Cody 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Hayato
At least, the armor buckles. And how.
Caught between two fighters with experience in the fine art of laying waste to machinery, both of them giving it their all, the tank itself is caught in a meatgrinder. A meatgrinder of MANLINESS.
As plates give way to the devices contained therein, the fighters don't stop. They just keep going. Metal begins spraying out from both ends of the tank as they tunnel their way through it, ultimately resulting in the behemoth giving off one final, desperate heave of effort before finally collapsing into silence. Gasoline seeps out one side, oil the other...like the mechanical blood of a great beast slain.
Only...the fighters don't really stop there. Why stop there when they can meet in the middle, after having gouged out the entire tank? This...is a prospect that occurs to the Snow Leopard Commander, the lone operator of the vehicle. Capture by the enemy was never on his agenda. Problems: the tank no longer has power, and the manual release on the hatch isn't working due to Hayato's attempt at manually "operating" it from the outside. A deep scowl runs across his face. There's really only one option, isn't there? Either way, there is no return for him to his former life, whether it's capture or release.
One last sound is heard. A single gunshot.
By the time Cody and Hayato reach the passenger compartments, there are no survivors.
Across the bridge, tanks wordlessly begin to draw back from the shore in an organized line. They'll hold this position as long as they can, but at this point...it is clear that there will be no containing the island.
Fighters have proven mightier than the technology of the world's militaries yet again.
Log created on 18:43:17 07/11/2010 by Hayato, and last modified on 17:14:50 07/31/2010.