Operation: Gigas Freedom Event Start

[bravenewmods]

True to their word the Seekers lead the teams discretely through the winding streets of Gigas and into service entrances, gaining them admittance into the heart of Gigas’s political compound. Bringing them stealthily along the catwalks, the Union infiltrators were brought to the inner sanctum, close to the captive Gigases and their mission.

Sharp-looking soldiers in fatigues holding machine guns patrolled diligently, although their demeanor was not especially tense. It seemed no immediate operations were taking place at this time as no engineers were present. And in their enormous cages, the Gigases slept. Waiting.

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[demenscantrix]

The attacks coming in dazed Nero, almost cracking into the walls of her own ego. She staggered back and took around to recover, but all that about divine power? That was too much. She flashed bright pink, a nimbus of power blazing up around her.

"You're naught but a thief! Die, Cur!"

She launches herself forward once more, leaping into the air and summoning her Rapidash. The fiery horse caught her easily, and since Nero was pretty short...she didn't hit the roof. Whew.

"Ride him down, Sextus!"

And forward the Pokemon went, coming in for a Flare Blitz, while Nero herself struck out with another Critical Enhancing Red Flash. Her aim wasn't on the Emperor's main body though, but rather on the hands reaching for Rose. Maybe she couldn't kill him in a single strike, but she could hopefully stop him from hurting anyone else. That was the right thing to do. Protect one's soldiers where one could.

[sparrowfeathered]

The claw grabs Rose. Her eyes widen -- she screams, even -- and then it squeezes. She crumples after a moment, with a panicked and terrified shout. Her sense of place is suddenly gone; at the moment, all she can think about is that pressure, and the way she feels her ribs (most of them) crack audibly. Her left arm, too, snaps like a twig and there is a bone-chilling shriek of pain.

Then she goes limp, though she is still breathing. Tears bud in her eyes. It's lucky, then, that Nero's shot is coming when it does; Rose can't respond.

Efreet the Combusken stares at this. Then, he begins to panic. He clucks, before he rushes at the Emperor. A clawed swings back; flame ignites around it, and he swipes the three fiery claws down again and again at the Emperor's armor.

"KEN!"

1/2

[bnw_void_npcs]

The attacks slam into the Emperor and the claw reaching for Ryuko is pushed back, while the claw holding the Emperor releases Rose, dropping her to the ground. Immediately, they begin reforming into enormous hammer-like arms, but there's a flash of crackling lightning and an enormous bird slams into the Emperor's armor. It's form is familiar, having fought for Union on the day the Elite Four attacked, and it stands now where Santiago once was. The force of the charge is immense and pushes the Emperor back, but the might armored arms move to catch it, halting the charge as they grip the bird tightly.

"So much the better! Another false god to add to my collection!"

Spinning the bird around, he launches it into the ceiling, where it bursts through the ground, revealing open sky. There are screams as several civilians suddenly fall through the new hole that appeared beneath their city and begin falling through the complex, surely to their death if none intervene.

2/2

[bnw_sheepy_npcs]

A sonic boom echoes across the battlefield, the sound mingling with the screams from outside. Flying through the large opening, a strange red and white pokemon charged in, energy generating around its body. Honing in on the Emperor, it kept its distance, launching a number of Mist Balls at the mechanized commander with reckless abandon.

The air crackled with an unsteady Pressure, mostly directed toward the Gigan leader, but still easily felt by the group as a whole.

"THIS ENDS NOW, EMPEROR!"

The God's voice was undeniably familiar, even in this extreme fit of rage.

[vulcanblazer]

Adell's eyes widen as Santiago's form seemingly changed. Sure, he'd heard of shifters, but this was something else. He had no idea what kind of Pokemon that was, just that he knew it had to be a god among them. But then, the Emperor slammed Santiago into the ceiling, and things became a blur, too much happening at once.

All he knew was that there were people falling.

His warp band flashed, bringing in two more allies, a Houndour and a Beedrill.

"Beowulf, protect Rose! Tabitha, Andy! We're going after the falling people!"

The Calderan said nothing else but bolted toward one of the falling civilians and leapt high into the air to catch them. His Blaziken would follow suit, and the Beedrill would attempt to catch someone smaller, or if nothing else, try to slow their descent enough to prevent injury.

[heartandsoul]

"Zapdos!"

The cry ripped itself from Maka's throat as the Pokemon was struck--the sequence of events next force her to concentrate on the people being harmed and the new god that's joined the fray. She summons Stella--her Meowstic--and Viola--her Ralts--from her Warp Band, telling them without spoken words that they will concentrate their psychic energy to help the falling people. The Emperor can wait for the moment.

[sparrowfeathered]

Rose hits the ground. It's unceremonious. She isn't knocked out, but her injuries are severe enough that her vision swims with the pain. She looks up at the Emperor and Santiago weakly. "Oh, no," she gasps. It's pained. She tries to force herself up -- and then crumples back down. Her left arm hangs at an angle, and it's lucky she hasn't looked at it yet.

Her Combusken stares up, trying to make sense of Santiago's change and the sudden appearance of Latias. Then, his eyes narrow, and he goes dashing. He wall-jumps, bounding across the roof, and tries to clutch one of the Gigan citizens out of the air, before landing in a crouch.

[guitar_case_vagabond]

Chompers falls back when the claw she's perched on is suddenly shoved out from under her feet. She spins once in the air before righting herself and quickly zipping to snatch a falling citizen from the air. On the ground, Blob slimes across the ground to break someone's fall before they hit the hard ground. It's gross and smelly but it's better than hitting the floor.

Ryuko though... as soon as the claw's pressure eases up, she gives a yell and with a burst of force she throws it off. She stands in place on slightly shaky legs, bristling with steel blades, steam swirling from her skin and murder in her eyes aimed straight at the Emperor. If she's aware of the havoc being caused by the appearance of the gods, or the screams of falling people, she doesn't show it. All that's there is her and her enemy AND SHE IS GOING TO BEAT HIM!

With a nearly inhuman roar of uncontained fury she throws herself into the air hard enough to leave a dent in the floor and flies straight to the old armored man. A halo of red burns in her hair and her sword whistles through the air as she brings it down with power far beyond what somebody of her level should have.

[senpaidol]

Between her monitors focused on the situation and the ease of following "Maeve" as she leaves the command center, it's the work of the moment for Himiko to embrace Rise and Teleport the two of them to midair above the scene, amid the falling civilians. Even in the midst of teleportation, Rise transforms into her Mega Evolved State, glowing pink psychic appendages reaching out to grab falling Gigan citizens while Himiko desperately focuses on Latias, automatically Tracing her ability to Levitate and desperately trying to keep her trainer in the air, or at least falling at a slower rate.

Guys, Rise's voice echoes telepathically this time, also trying to reach the gods, this whole place is set up just to power up the Emperor. We need to get out of here, now.

[demenscantrix]

"WHAT?!"

Nero's roar of surprise echoed through the hallways. So much was happening and it was disorienting even without her constant migraines. She staggered backwards, interposing her sword between Rose and the Emperor. The whole place shook, and there was a new Pokemon coming into the fray.

And in that moment things tarted to click. The Seekers weren't human. They were...what? Union's Gods? Hell.

HELL.

"SEXTUS, GET HER OUT OF HERE!"

Her hand reaches out and grabs Rose unceremoniously by the front of her shirt, settling her into place on the Rapidash. The former commander herself leaps clear and spurs the Pokemon onward. And then she turns to the downed men. None of them are familiar, and they are all very, very much in danger. One is very definitely dead, beheaded by her sword, but the others? Well. She'll do what she can. She grabs one and heaves him over her shoulder and starts to leave with all haste, letting the gods go at it.

1/2

[bnw_void_npcs]

The combined maneuvers of the Union fighters manage to catch all of the falling civilians, who are safe albeit wailing in abject terror.

A massive shield in the form of the great Gigas appears, absorbing the Mist Ball barrage although not without cost as major cracks appear. They are, however, quickly repaired as the Emperor straightens himself, drawing again upon the Steel Gigas.

As the Union forces begin to withdraw, the Emperor fixes his gaze on the only ones foolish enough to remain, the girl, and the dragon goddess. Giving Ryuko a snarling grin, the mighty Gigas of ice appears behind him as he extends a hand. Ryuko finds herself caught as ice quickly forms around her body, stopping her forward motion and guiding her right into the armor's hands, which quickly clench down on her with a sickening crack. She feels a burst of pain as some of her ribs break, and the world spins on its axis as it opens its hands and launches her out, directly at the dragon and propelled by a mighty Ice Beam.

2/2

[bnw_sheepy_npcs]

Good, the Unionite children would not be in her way. Seeing their forces move quickly, the Dragon Goddess honed in on the powered armor, the blue crest on her chest glowing brightly. Focusing power into that one point, she launched it at the Emperor, a pure Thunder Wave hitting his armor full on. Arching upward in her trajectory, she readied another attack, now that her target would (hopefully) be stationary.

Unfortunately, she would not get that chance, feeling the attack mere seconds before it hit. Eyes snapping open quickly, feeling the presence of something organic somehow within the ice beam itself, Latias, rather than dodging, flew toward the beam, reaching out for Ryuko and snatching her in mid-flight. She curled her large body around the broken girl and casting Protect, taking the beam's blast full force and crying out physically and psychically in pain.

Frost gathering where she was hit, she took to the skies again, flying out through the hole, shuddering as she gained altitude. The human children better move quickly, she would not enjoy going back in again. They had maybe a minute, if her Thunder Wave could be trusted.

[sparrowfeathered]

Rise's voice makes Rose grimace. She falls quiet, though, as she goes on the back of the Rapidash. Her eyes turn to look at the Emperor; she narrows them, then grits her teeth. He knows that Union did this. And he was far, far stronger than they could have ever expected. She hisses, softly, before she closes her eyes.

Her sides hurt. Her arm feels like it's on fire. It's a miracle that she doesn't pass out.

But it does some good to see Efreet land. The Combusken looks at her, worried, and then starts to run off next to the Rapidash. Rose winces, then she glances back at Nero. "Thanks," she manages, though it's grumbled through the pain.

[guitar_case_vagabond]

Ryuko's eyes widen when the ice forms around her, cutting off her movement. She gets all of a second to try to stubbornly struggle enough to break it before the Emperor solves that problem by doing it for her. Along with... her.

The pain is enough to dispel the cloud of rage in her mind and her eyes go even wider and what would have been an agonized scream comes out as a simple gasp as the air is crushed from her and she feels her body crack. That's followed by a terrible, freezing burn as the Ice Beam sends her tumbling through the air and into the red flier.

She'd lost... she hurts everywhere and she feels so tired, like she'd just spent days running as hard as she could but her chest hurts too much to breathe. Not that she has much time to consider that thought as the light fades from her hair and she goes limp in Maeve's grip and the world goes black, her sword dropping from her grasp and into Chompers' as she joins the retreat alongside a flash of light as Blob returns to her Warp Band.

Next time....

[heartandsoul]

Maka can control her empathy effectively now, it no longer overwhelms her, yet still Ryuko and Latias's pain ripple through her soul. Gods, it hurts, the pain of loss, the pain of others, the worry she feels. Even trying to carry her damaged self and maintain the power to keep the people she helped aloft doesn't hurt as much.

Don't worry, Viola's voice echoes in the girl's mind. Zapdos is too stupid and mean to die, Ryuko will recover. And we won't lose, even if we're not strong enough to fight him.

We won't lose. There's still hope. Everything will be all right.

It's all Maka needed to hear to remind herself of the mantra--courage. They kept innocent people from dying, they stand together as Union. She believes.

Everything will be all right.

[vulcanblazer]

A whole complex dedicated to charging up the Emperor's power suit with the power of the captured gods of Gigas. No wonder they couldn't dent it. And they never had a chance in this fight, did they? Even two gods themselves could barely keep the damn thing at bay. Their team was strong, sure, very strong, but they were but humans, not gods. It deeply spoke about how bad this situation was.

He could only watch in horror as Ryuko foolishly charged the Emperor again, and was punished dearly for it. She was crazy strong, one of the most brutally powerful in their lot, and even she got cast aside like it was nothing. He had been ready to try to get her out of there, but thankfully, she was in better hands thanks to Latias.

With that concern out of his mind for now, he hefted the stunned and scared Gigan civilian a bit higher, and then recalled Beowulf. Tabitha and Andy could at least help carry innocents out. He looked to the Gigan civilian with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Don't worry, we're getting out of here."

With that he bolted, running with all of his might, followed closely by his Blaziken and Beedrill companions.

Everything still hurt from that Stone Edge, even if he ignored the pain. The blow to his pride was worse, frankly. But there would be another time. Everything went very badly here... but next time, it'd be a different story.

[senpaidol]

Rise, in her Mega-Evolved state, feels the pain and disappointment around her like a club to the head, all the worse from Latias's psychic cry. She squeezes her eyes shut at the split-second of pain, and does her best to tune out the aftereffects as she and her Pokémon land. Himiko takes the opportunity to fire off a Heal Pulse at Latias.

"H-Himiko, get us out of here. Anyone who needs a Teleport, grab on!" she instructs, waiting as long as she can before nodding to Himiko to Teleport out with her and anyone else she can carry.

[demenscantrix]

Nero...not stopping to even consider what's going on, rushes to safety and grips hold of Rise's arm with one hand, her other supporting the Gigan.

"When you are ready. I will keep what I can at bay till we are gone."

[heartandsoul]

"You heard the lady," Maka says, setting down the people she had been carrying gently to the ground. "Go with her!"

She then turns to her partners--mentally counting to be sure they're all with her--and sends them back into the Warp Band. "I'll be fine!" she insists as they vanish. Of course, she's more focused on getting others to safety, typical cliche protagonist crap.