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Gummiship Troopers: Ivalice
(2014-02-23 - 2014-02-24)
I lost my heart to a gummiship trooper~
Avira The call has gone out. Pilots wanted! Adventurers wanted! People looking to make a quick buck and try out some awesome new toys, also wanted! The time was set and the gathering point was determined. Today the prospects will find themselves upon the Giza Plains where a void point can be found.

Hovering above it is a massive gummi ship, currently the largest in existance. It is long and sleek with the overall shape of a massive spearhead. An obvious large bay dominates the stern, wide enough to admit a smaller airship or smaller gummiships. The bow is lined with in-built Blizzara-G projectile gummis. The colors of the ship itself are reds, blues, blacks, and greys.

Everyone is ushered aboard the large ship as they arrive and herded into a briefing room with rows of chairs set up. At the front before a blank wall that may or may not have a projector stands Avira, her hands clasped behind her back. Next to her is a small table with a strange cube-shaped object upon it.

She is clothed in her usual Ivalician dress which somewhat takes after the flamboyant styles of sky pirates (though in her case she is not opting to wear an inexplicable thong outside her shorts) but with a new addition. She has a hat.

It is a lovely tricorner leather hat. Upon the sides is a top-view wolf skull with crossbones beneath it.

"Hello and welcome to the Odin." Avira greets everyone once they are seated. "I am very grateful for all of your help today. Many of you may already know me as Avira, leader of VALKYRI, Captain of this ship, and current CEO of Wagner Industries. Today's mission has two goals. Mimir, if you would, please?"

Lines of blue light suddenly flare to life along the seams of the cube-like object and a circular apature dialates on the face facing the audience. Shutters move about the apature and a cheerful, British-sounding voice speaks from the cube. "Yes! Yes, hello everyone, this is my first mission briefing so if you'll just bear with me for a moment-AH!" A holographic image suddenly springs from the top surface of the cube and expands to fill the entire briefing room with a three-dimensional representation of the gummispace around the Giza Plains void point.

"As you can see my map of this is woefully incomplete-just look at all those blank spaces and-oh all those little red dots, those are Heartless. Big swarms! It's pretty bad. I really do not like the Heartless much-not because they can hurt me. Well. They can't. But they can hurt you and if they hurt you enough and destroy you in space, where does that leave me? Sad and alone and floating in spaaaace. You know, I once had a friend that was absolutely obsessed with space. Wouldn't stop chattering about it! Quite upsetting but that is not the case wi-"

"As our navigator is trying to say." Avira interrupts, with a hint of annoyance. "One of our goals is to better map the area around the void point. Mimir would need some time to do this so we will need to keep the Heartless away from the ship. Our second goal..."

Avira walks into the holographic image and selects a particular area, expanding the detail on it with hand gestures.

"Eee, that tickles!" Mimir squeals.

"I am picking up a shipment of gummi blocks from an investor here. Again, I will need the ship to be defended from Heartless attacks while we're completing the transfer." She steps back out of the image and turns to face the recruits.

"Now if there aren't any questions, I will have the crew escort you to the hangars to get acquainted with the new Hrist models."
Skoll Ulfang Gummiships.

Wolves in Space.

How unnatural. But that doesn't stop Skoll from tagging along for the ride. He heard about Avira's call out for business partners, and realized just how long it'd been since he'd seen her and talked to her. /Properly/ that is.

To think she's start a company. Things change so fast.

A hand goes up in the small 'crowd' of people who have gathered in front of Avira's Gummiship. And no, the first question isn't 'are you sure it won't explode'. Nobody knows about that...

Nope nope.

"What's the inflight movie, and at what time is the meal?" Skoll is making terrible references to Manhattan-world culture. But with that, he's also letting Avira know that he /is/ around.

His hands go right back into his pockets, and he flashes her a wolfish smile. There's a light to his expression. A brightness, if you may.
Serah Farron Serah Farron knows about movies and meals, but not so much about gumimships. She looks at Skoll at that, and frowns a bit "I didn't know there was any movies." She can be a little naive at times.

She looks back to all of the holographic displays, surveying around the different areas with heartless "Hmmm... It looks pretty big..." She means the space. She can't imagine how far it is from one end to the other.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about Gummiships, but I did hear about them. I helped gather the gummiblocks. But I never saw them in use." She plays with her ponytail a bit over her shoulder.
Warden Thache Among the gaggle of pilots, rogues, and adventurers that have gathered for this little group. There is a man that stands head and shoulders above the rest. This is because he happens to be taller than most of them. Don't hate him for that.

Warden has done many other and assorted things to be hated for beyond that!

The cat-eared fellow grins in a suprisingly vulpine way. "I'm sure I'll enjoy working under you, Lady Wolf." He pipes up. Somehow making that statement sound both sincere, dirty, and roguish all at once.

Those green eyes of his are bright, and the smile only grows when he sees the hat she's wearing. In fact it fairly dances with amusement. At least she knows that he's there now.

So she knows who to throw off.

He doesn't seem worried about it in the least to be honest. Relaxed, smiling, he looks like he happen to be the king of all he surveys. And he is surveying quite a bit.

This /is/ one impressive ship.
Skoll Ulfang The /actual/ 'wolf' in the crowd seems to be standing near the cat. A cat and a dog...

Skoll naturally growls. But maybe it's just the way in which he was talking to Avira. Grr grrr.

It's a good thing this isn't a Disney game, or else the wolf would have chased the cat up a pole...

...

...
Avira Does Warden have catlike reflexes? Well it's time to find out. The moment the words Warden speaks have left his mouth, Avira turns and scoops Mimir off the table. The projected hologram of space tilts sideways before disappearing.

"Wait what are you-AHHHH!"

Avira hurls Mimir at Warden's head.
Sophia Dawnshade Sophia is not entirely sure what whirlwind chain of events got her into this. Maybe it was the call to (for?) adventure(rs). Maybe it was following that one guy from earlier. Maybe it was just a horrible sense of direction she'd developed.

How doesn't really matter. She's easily intrigued by the gummiships, by the blocks they're made of, by the diagram of space and of the enemies they'll encounter. A little too intrigued that she misses question time, and is only snapped out of her trance when the thing she's staring at gets hurled at the guy she met earlier. The heck?
Warden Thache Sadly Warden isn't /that/ kind of cat. His ears go back and his tail poofs out a bit as Skoll growls, but the irrepressible captain just smirks, revealing one fang. "Down boy."

He has to work at standing his ground but he manages it at least. Only shuffling slightly sideways and not running fully up a ships mast somewhere.

He has enough presence of mind to turn to Avira when she starts yelling. "Good to see you again, my dear! I'm glad you like your ha--WOAH!"

His hands snap up to clutch at Mimir as she flings the thing at his head. Thankfully it doesn't connect with his face, but it does send him staggering back and slightly offblanace.

Right into Skoll.

"You shouldn't throw your crew!" He shoots back towards her before looking down towards Mimir. "You should ask for an extra share for that."

Already he's inciting a mutuiny.

A pause again. "And don't worry, Lady Wolf." Again that grin. "I missed you too."
Skoll Ulfang Skoll catches Warden, because that's the kind of wolf he is. Even with Warden having told him to get 'down'. Nobody gets to tell him that.

Except for Avira. That one time. Stupid beastmaster voice. Skoll's hands lean on Warden's shoulders for a moment, holding him steady in place and making sure the two of them don't fall over, before carefully nudging him back where he was standing.
Minerva Minerva has been keen to try the gummi ships she once seen into the void between worlds and saw a horror that was in need of being handled. The Golem had seemed like a ship that would work for her once they got going. She looks over the Odin for a brief moment. She's about ready to go herself as she looks at the map, it really could use a good deal of work so they needed to get to it, right?

"Here we go once more then Avira."

She seems ready to launch her ship now and does not wish to waste much more time. Warden gets eyed, she's got a feeling about that man, he's totally trouble.
Avira "I'm afraid there wont' be any meals or movies today, Skoll." Avira smiles a wry smile. "Only some hardcore heartless-shooting action." This time it won't explode. Avira is sure! She's test piloted the Hrist a lot!

"Don't worry, Serah, they're not that hard to fly at all. If you can ride a bike or a horse or a chocobo you should be able to do this too." Avira gestures out the door to the briefing room where a few crew members are definitely waiting. They seem to be crew members at least. Avira can't afford uniforms yet so everyone on the crew has a nametag on instead. They've tried to at least color-coordinate with blue shirts for everyone. Yes, someone had suggested red shirts but Avira quickly shut them down.

But once Mimir is thrown, Avira seems to snap to the mistake of hurling her navigator at the pirate and quickly storms after him. "You should not be on this ship!"

"-hey, he has a point though, I should make extra if you're going to keep throwing me at things-"

"Mimir you don't make anything!" Avira reaches over and snatches the cube out of his hand then pushes past him. "Everyone to the hangar! Let's get this show on the road! Except for him-Skoll, be a dear and throw him off my ship!"

Sure, she could use the beastmaster voice for that. But that's kind of rude! Would the voice work on Warden, though? She'd yet to try-or really need to try.

Prospective pilots will be lead to the hangar by some crew members where a nice row of sleek-looking Hrist-type gummiships are waiting. There are also a few of the other older rental models there, in case someone wants to use them, such as the unreliable Tonberry or the bulky Golem. Not long afterwards, an announcement comes on over the in-ship intercom that the Odin is taking off soon. In approxmiately five minutes, pilots will be able to launch from the Odin into gummispace to begin the mission. What a beginning too! Heartless seem to start assaulting the ship almost immediately upon entering Gummispace. Were they attracted to the World of Ruin by the recent consumption of a World Heart? It's pretty /bad/ out there!

0Episode 1: Wagner Industries: The Flight of the Valkyries
0VICTORY CONDITION: All pilots survive five rounds
0DEFEAT CONDITION: All pilots shot down
0BATTLE MASTERY: Defeat all Heartless within five rounds
Serah Farron Serah Farron hmms and nods at Avira as she reassures her about it. Well, its worth to try and help. She doesn't really know one from another, so... she picks the Hrist for now, since its newly introduced. What's the worse that can happen, that they explode?

Actually that would be kinda bad, especially while she's inside. But she's going to trust the development team on this one.

She gets hlped into her ship, trying to figure out the controls. There's alot of blinking buttons at first glance. "Uhm... what's this one." She suddenly is blaring Backstreet Boys music over the docks. Ack. Abort, abort! "That's not what I wanted to do, why is there even such a button!" >_<
Skoll Ulfang "Harsh. You really don't pay your navigator anything?" Skoll ends up agreeing with Warden. Not paying your crew? Tisk tisk! Even a werewolf like Skoll knows that you have to keep your employees happy! "I mean, the cat's got a point."

The werewolf keeps his hands in his pockets and is just about to follow right along into the hangar when Avira asks him to throw out the cat. The biggest wolfish grin comes to show on his face.

"Aye, I can do tha'." Skoll has been hanging around a certain Scottish lasse too much.

So the werewolf tries to literally grab Warden at the neck. Where he expects there to be scruff. So he can pick him up and literally 'toss him out'.
Sophia Dawnshade Sophia's content to just amuse herself with the banter between the others. Well, the banter and the one instance of accidentally pressing the wrong button and blaring music all over the place. "That is a very good question."

She's inexperienced with gummiships as well, having never really seen one before, so after a minute or so of jaw-dropping amazement, she slowly regains her composure, looking around for one she'd like. While the Hrists were recommended, the Golems are bulky, and bulky generally means hard to damage. She'd know; she'd fought a few actual golems back before the worlds went all weird.

How much like riding a chocobo it is is somewhat debatable, but that doesn't stop her from trying to figure it out quickly. After all, being a sitting chocobo out there because of not knowing how to pilot the damn thing would be bad.
Warden Thache Warden smirks slightly as he feels Skoll grab him by the shoulders. "Thanks, mate." The irish-sounding pirate replies as the other man props him back up. The a pause. "I'm gonna pay fer that later, ain't I?"

He again, doesn't sound that worried.

When is he ever.

"Wait? No payment! Hold out for two shares at least mate! Even digital people need to get proper compensation!" He calls towards Mimir as Avira yoinks the sphere from his hands.

He leans forwards as she does. His drawl sounding entierly sinciere and entrely amused. "You know, according to Pirate Laws. You accepting my hat means that we are engage--URK!"

The problem with taunting would be he wasn't focued on Skoll there and he gets grabbed. There /is/ no scruff, but there is the collar of his jacket.

A pause.

"Warden." He finally says as he grins once over his shoulder. "Name is Warden, not 'cat'." The grin only grows. "And what say you let me actually help fight off the Heartless? /Then/ we can talk about throwing me off a ship." He nods towards the cloud beginning to darken the skies around the Odin.

"You might need the thelp."
Minerva The Monk is making for her ship at this point, she has made ready to dpat and wants to get to the job. She doe seem amused about her friends comments about movies and such. It's a good thing someone had explained those to her, it really is so she's heading to her own ship and prepared to launch she takes a moment to get in, suits up as it were and is ready to launch. Yes she's learned how to use them, it would be foolish not to.
Skoll Ulfang Skoll lets out this long drawl out sigh, looking at the feline in the jacket... continueing to lift him up. "He has a point." Skoll admits, and decides to drag him into the hangar with him.

Skoll, the nice guy with neigh-Unlimited patience. In fact, he drops him into one of the Hrists. "But I am not letting my eye off of you." And closes the hatch right behind Warden. "We'll pilot this one together."

Time to get cozy?
Avira The announcement goes off. They are in Gummispace. Even before the Hrists and other ships are launched, the Odin rocks suddenly from impacts along the bow. Heartless are already attacking-huge swarms of them that look like dragonflies with a few much larger, four-armed spinning ships interspersed amongst them. The larger ones seem to be capable of unleashing reams and reams of laser shots.

"It's bad out there!" Avira's voice comes on over the in-ship intercom. Within the gummi ships themselves, there will also be a little monitor for transmitting visual feeds from other ships or the Odin itself. "Launch!" she beckons. "Now!"

By then the hangar doors have already dropped open. The 'runway' through the door can bear at least two ships launching at the same time, given the size of the Hrist is not very big.

People will have to launch fast. The dragonfly-types are already trying to get inside the Odin via the hangar. Crew start to yell in panic and run for cover.
Serah Farron Serah Farron gacks as she's thrown into space (pink girls in SPAAAAAAAAAAACE). Her gummiship tumbles through the open, as she stries to get control over it. The computer is there for most of it, she just needs to guide it, fortunately. But still, its a bit jarring.

And pretty much the moment she makes it into space, the first salvo hits the side of the gummiship, making her ship shake over, but still resisting "Aghhh! That's not fair!" She grits her teeth, trying to move the ship around to counter attack. Where are the attacks on these again?

She sees the handles, gripping them up with her hands, and using the crosshairs to move toward the enemy ships "I'll get you!" A series of magic-induces missles shot toward them.
Minerva Minerva is not here to deal out a lot of damage with her ship, even as she opens fire with her ship's guns. No it's here to support her allies and make sure everyone makes it through this mess safely. She brings one of the support systems online asn Skoll would find his ship getting soem much needed support.

She sighs it seems Skoll's got himself into a fair of trouble. Still he's nto down yet so they got a chance, right?
Warden Thache "Fine fine," Warden calls as he is deposited in the pilots seat. Already the man's clever fingers are flying over the controls. The engines of the unfamiliar airship warming up. His smile grows. "Not quite what I'm used too...but..." He reaches for the controls as the hangers drop open.

And he laughs.

Wildly.

Skoll might regret this.

"HOLD ON TO YOUR TAILFEATHERS BOYO!" He ads as he caresses the throttle. "IT'S GOING TO GET BUMPY!"

He slams the forwards and the engines scream to life. This would be the stress test of this model of airship now wouldn't it? He's still laughing as he tears out of the hanger. The Heartless pass by the wings and turret close enough to almost see the reflection on their dead and blank eyes.

The second he clears the hanger doors he throws the airship into a power dive. A vertical power dive to get clear of the mass of heartless, his other hand is busy removing any safeguards from the engine systems.

Cause really. Who needs those.

"You don't have a problem with speed do you?" He tosses back towards Skoll.

Or going streight down.
Skoll Ulfang On the way out, Skoll yelps, "I'm not a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~"

Outside.

"iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiird!"

Indeed it was getting bumpy real quick. The werewolf holds on for dear life as he climbs into the gunnerypod and gets himself comfortable. "I don't have _any_ problem with speed. Just don't crash /into/ anything!" Like that heartless just now, that got way too close to the turret!

And here they go! Out in space, with swarms of heartless coming at them. Skoll knows what to do. He doesn't falted for a moment. All the guns! Right then! The Lo-Blizzara-Gs send an enormous blue swatch of gummi-powered gunnery out into space, precision-firing on several heartless that get too close to the Odin or Warden and his little ship.
Sophia Dawnshade Minerva's not the only one opening with support. As soon as Sophia gets her gummiship out into gummispace (and manages to re-orient herself after the initial salvo), she's scrambling around enabling support systems, trying more for a wide-spread shielding than for heavy focus. Their job is to get through this alive. Shooting down the Heartless would just be a bonus.
Skoll Ulfang Upon failing to properly connect with the heartless, the werewolf is of course quick to nag at Warden. "Don't jostle us around so much!"
Warden Thache "Aim better! I'm busy!" Warden calls back to the werewolf.
Avira As soon as the gummi ships are launched, the hangar doors close right the heck back up! Fortunately, thanks to the new targets swarming out the backend of the Odin, Heartless do not actually get inside the ships. Good thing, too, because fighting one of those on foot might be kind of disasterous!

The Odin starts to move and the pilots realize they will have to fly along with it. It does, after all, need to move around to map and explore-not to mention to receive this shipment that Avira mentioned earlier.

Serah blows a hole into a dragonfly formation with her agressive attack. The remaining heartless scatter in several directions before regrouping as additional Heartless peel away from the Odin to target their newer, more agile foes.

For Skoll and Warden...well, they're going to have to work on their TEAMWORK clearly. But will Warden's Spirit Comman-er, shell gummis save their Hrist from retaliation? They will find out in a few moments as the evasive dragonflies double back and converge on the pair from all sorts of angles. It'll take some fancy evasive manuvers to get through that.

If that wasn't bad enough, one of the strange four-limbed Heartless ships disengages from the Odin and starts spraying copious amounts of laser pellets at the gummiships. This particular unit apparently doesn't care if it hits some of its own to get at the real targets.
Serah Farron Serah Farron managed to hit some! Maybe she's not as bad as she thought! So... what else is there to do than blowing up more!

Although first, she needs to avoid the incoming attacks. And that's not as easy as it seems, when you feel like you're driving a cow on skates. That's what it feels to her anyway.

She spins the ship over, mostly by accident, but the resulting barrel roll makes the incomming attacks whiz by harmlessly. It was an accident, really! or maybe its just that the ship's controls are pretty good too.

She manages to get it back under control to return fire again "Go away! take that! I'll blow you all to pieces!" Yeah, a bit of power lust there.
Sophia Dawnshade More Heartless assaults, more risk to everyone. Sophia has to activate an auxiliary shielding system or two for a brief moment to make sure her Golem stays intact. Speaking of shielding, she turns on another of the main shields, once more spreading its protection. Survival is the prime directive here.
Warden Thache The Pirate just smirks slightly. "Hey!" He calls back towards his reluctant gunner. "Evasive action!!" See look! He warned him!! Thats sort of teamwork isn't it?! "I'm heading right though them!" See more warin---wait? Right though the mass of oncoming heartless? Is he crazy?!

Yes. Yes Warden is.

For the record.

Wild laughter accompinies the manuver as the man kicks on the High-blizzard rounds-fixed forwards. The Heartless charge him from every direction and instead of standing still he pulls up. A near black-out degree of a turn as most of Heartless pass by harmlessly below him. He tears back towards the Odin before angling towards the largest mass there and triggering the guns.

Repeatedly.

"SEE! NOW THIS IS FLYING!"

Oh god, everyone run. The pirate is enjoying himself.
Skoll Ulfang "That's not evasive actions!" Skoll reminds Warden with a series of barking shouts. "It's really really not!" Some of the heartless indeed pass by harmless. But it really looks like the rest of them are concentrating on the gunnery-turret. Skoll ducks his head down as blast after blast rains down on his little cubby-hole.

"Don't forget that this thing is a bit taller than just your cockpit!"

The werewolf continues firing on anything that gets close. But he's a bit more careful this time.
Warden Thache "Maybe if you didn't grab people by their jacket they would remember about the size of the airship!" Warden calls back helpfully.
Skoll Ulfang "Maybe if you weren't such a _catty cat_... jerk... with Avira." Nope, Skoll isn't too good at being mean to people. "Jerk..."
Minerva The Ofin is making it's move and Minerva's Golem us moving in formation attempting to keep the others in the fight while she worries about the incoming attacks. Things are just going to keep getting worse and worse it seems as there's more and more fighters keep on coming. She contiunes to keep firing now trying to help bring the horde of hostiles under control for the moment. Her guns are not as powerful as she's like to have however.

"You seem to like picking on things out of your league, Mr. Thache!"
Warden Thache "But she makes the /best/ faces! The why her nose wrinkles when she gets /really/ furious! Adorable!" Warden tosses back towards Skoll, and then. "Nothing is out of my league! I'm a pirate! I make up my own league rules!"
Skoll Ulfang "... it really does, doesn't it?" Skoll muses, wistfully looking up into space for a moment - before realizing he shouldn't think like that. "W... hey! No! She has a boyfriend now! I think Maira said something about her being engaged even?" Orrrr? "Look, no! Bad kitty! Bad! Don't make me like... get a waterbottle or something." He's blaming Warden for getting stuck in his pace.
Avira 0Turn 3

"...engaged?" Avira sits back in her super awesome Captain's chair on the bridge of the Odin. "Well that's not true at all. Maira only wishes it were." She and basically the rest of the TDA APPARENTLY.

Serah apparently has a hidden talent for piloting gummi ships. Or at least she has a hidden talent for shooting things down in gummi ships as she barrel rolls past a group of dragonfiles trying to take them out and blasting them to pieces from behind. Of course, this attracts even more attention-but it is successfully keeping it away from the ship! Great job, pilot, now don't get blown to pieces by that V-formation of dragonfly-type Heartless coming at you!

Heartless around the Odin are somewhat being held at bay by the inbuilt Blizzara gummis but Warden's strafing run breaks up a mass that was congregating around the Odin's guns, trying to destroy them. Heck, even Skoll manages to hit a few this time but Warden would have cause to laugh at him if he hadn't. The Heartless swarm was as big as a barn.

They peel away from the ship and turn on their agressors, backed by that strange four-limbed cross-like larger Heartless. The four-limbed Heartless does not fire the masses of lasers, instead turning and 'snapping' itself upon Minerva's ship.

"We're doing good." Avira announces over the common band. Seems she hasn't queued the Odin to its own frequencies yet. She's the only other ship out here right now anyway. "Keep it up, we almost have the area mapped."
Warden Thache "Oh Neptune's tri-ended spear, you /too/?" Warden sounds entirely too amused. "She has a /harem/ doesn't she?" He calls tauntingly back. "Oh oh! I should call and tell her that. Where is the radio!" A pause as he finds it then. "HEY LADY WOLF! YOU HAVE A HAREM!"

Apparently Warden doesn't care for radio silence.

He also doesn't apparently care for dodging. As the heartless rush in the man smirks slightly. "ALRIGHT SKOLL! YOU WANT ME TO HAVE THEM MISS THE GUNNERY PLATFORM! WE'LL DO THAT!"

He simply barrels though the mass that is charging him. The armor peels off the Hrist, but /somehow/ the gunner pod? Untouched.

The rest of the ship. Not so much.

The pirate is laughing as he comes out the other side before he angles in on the enemies infront of him. Again the Blizzard cannon light up with power as he aims to blow any Heartless angling for the bridge of the massive Gummiship to tiny little bits.

Then fly past and tip his hat towards those on the bridge.

Because he can.
Serah Farron Serah Farron might just be lucky, but she seems to manage to weave through the attacks pretty well. That, or some Ai entity is controlling her ship. That's possible too, there was that one contrilling Odin after all. Might explain it. Or beginner's luck. Anyway, she's managing to put holes into the heartless ranks, and not getting holes in her ship. That's good right?

It might have to do with the support Sophia is giving her too, which are ansswered up over commlink "Hey, thank you for the support! They are starting to thin out, keep going!" And with that she goes back to attack them once again. Zoooooooooooom through space!
Sophia Dawnshade Okay, that cross-Heartless-thing is being rude to Minerva's ship. Turning her attention away from her shielding duties, Sophia activates all the guns she can find on the ship, and points them at the thing latched onto her teammate's ship. Before she can fire, though, the compliment from Serah comes in. It makes her happy... it's nice to know she's been helpful, but it's time to help out a little in a more directly offensive way. Better get that thing off the damn ship.

"FIRE. MAIN. CANNON!"
Skoll Ulfang Skoll kicks down at Warden from the gunnery-cockpit in the middle of it all. "Now she's mad at me! This is your fault! Don't make me change my mind and just throw you out in the middle of space!" Skoll calls down at Warden, just as the crazy captain decides to go and crash into heartless. Skoll can literally seem them /bouncing/ off of the hull as he attempts to gun a few of them down.

"... I hate you so much." The werewolf grunts, sweatdropping.

Still, he has to hand it to the feline. The gunnerypod was untouched in that assault. With a worn down look on his face, Skoll just gives in to the crazy and continues to fire on the heartless, filling space with more blue colored pew-pew.
Minerva Minerva is taking a lot of damage, she sees the status report for her Gummi ship. It's likely the worst off, of the entire fleet. So far they manage to not lose the Odin or any of the escort.

":You an Mercade are not, Avira? I thought you were betrothed at this point."

She gets off the comm at this point he's got more heartless to deal with and it's just getting more on the insane side. There's lasers and worse coming for them she's hit again and fires not at the heartless but at her self and Sophia's ship.

T Both ships would start to regenerate from damage they have taken is starting to reverse somewhat also their defence systems would be boosted for a little bit.
Warden Thache "Oh thats because you don't know me well yet!" Warden calls back to Skoll with an almost audible grin. "When you do then you'll positively lothe me!"
Skoll Ulfang "... you're really not helping your case on the whole 'going to throw you out of this gummiship right here' thing." Skoll reminds Warden with an annoyed look on his face. But he's too busy with trying to keep them alive to really do any such thing.
Avira Avira turns red in the face once Warden has figured out the radio and starts taunting her about harems. She actually yells at Skoll for a few moments for not actually throwing this guy off the ship. Then he starts making that cute little doggy whine noise at her and she has to stop. It makes her feel so BAD.

Instead she sinks in her chair and puts a hand over her face. "Everyone focus! We're going to be making our approach to the delivery site shortly!"

Gummi AI is a little bit beyond the capabilities of Wagner Industry. Perhaps Serah was BORN TO BE A PILOT. She should consider doing this professionally! Or, well, she should at least request a gummi ship made entirely out of red gummi blocks in the future or some kind of ridiculous ace custom ship. Regardless, Serah's next pass is again quite successful, breaking the V-formation of dragonflies that were coming in at her. Three peel off in scattered directions, regrouping, coming at her again only to get shot down a second time, leaving none left in that little group. The hunter-Heartless seems to vacate Minerva in favor of harassing Serah now with reams of lasers, which spares it some upcoming wrath from Sophia.

The Golem's heavy Comet-G cannon fires, scything through a large swath of Heartless dragonfly ships throughout the battlefield. They barely have any time to react, so unexpected the attack had been freom Sophia. All the sudden a large section of Heartless fleet had simply ceased to exist.

"You know I forgot that model even had that cannon." Avira remarks. "It was so slow and bulky I never wanted to pilot it."

Skoll shoots away at the Heartless around the guns. As the pair near closer, they'll see a different type of Heartless clinging to the ship that resemble small spiders-only they only have four legs. Skoll's fire shoots them down and they evaporate into darkness.

From out here, it's hard to really see through the windows of the bridge to where Avira and the bridge crew stand and sit. But given the HUD inside showing the movements of the Heartless and the ships, she knows that the Hrist being flown by Warden just went overhead. Fortunately there weren't many Heartless angling for the bridge but Warden takes care of them neatly.

"We are not, Minerva!" Avira's face grows redder, "He hasn't proposed yet! I mean sheesh, it's a big decision you know!"

Just when they think that they've got the upper hand. Just when they think that they're thinning the numbers...something awful happens.

REINFORCEMENTS! (BGM change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fshEON1kdRE)

Swarms come from all sides, numbers so thick that space becomes hard to see. Avira swears openly and all of the Blizzara-gummis upon the Odin go active.
Skoll Ulfang "That's a lot of heartless." Skoll mutters. They get closer. "A lot of heartless..." It's as if he's trying to get someone's attention. "A LOT of HEARTLESS... coming right /FOR US/..." He is drawing out some of those words.

"STUPID CAT, HEARTL~..." Skoll ducks out of the gun-turret and quickly presses the 'secure' button that protects the gummi's insides from the harsh darkness outside when the heartless inevitably /explode/ the gunturret at the top.

... "I hate you."
Serah Farron Serah Farron needs to keep on the offense... but while making sure she's not getting punctured either. SSadly, she can't help much the other ships. Which is sad for her, since she's usually a healer for everyone. But there's no repair command on these machines it seems. So she'll just have to make sure she gets them down before they get everyone.

She looks at her handles for a moment "What are these for..." Looks like there's more than one shooting button. And these... are alot flashier too, sending out larger missles with ice magic infusions. She eeps "Well I hope that does the trick!
Sophia Dawnshade Oh crud huge amounts of Heartless. In more than a little of a panic, Sophia puts up every single shielding and defensive system she can find to ward off attackers, which... does actually serve her well, creating an invulnerable barrier that everything just bounces off of. It's doubtful she can do that again, but... it was well worth it.

Someone's gotta protect Serah. She may be an ace pilot but that only makes her more important to keep safe. Shunting her shielding attempts, she puts a sturdy force-field barrier back up on Serah, hoping it'll be enough to ward off the Heartless until the crew is done here.
Warden Thache "WELL DUCK THEN!" Warden shouts back towards Skoll. "I CAN ONLY DODGE SO MANY OF THEM!" However he does a fairly good job of it. The little airship spins on an axis. The pilot's hands fly over the controls. The sky is blotted out by the swarm.

The man just smiles.

"I like the odds."

Warden drives the Hirst into the heart of the swarm. He can feel the explosion of the turret behind him. A hand dives into his coat and he removes and throws a potion behind him, towards Skoll. "Drink! It'll fix ya right up! And I KNOW THERE ARE HEARTLESS! I'm trying to keep the rest of the ship intact."

The Hrist is a manuverable little thing, but the stress that Warden puts on the ship in the next few heartbeats is way beyond design specs. The engines scream in protest as he turns the airship up on one wing, and then further over still till its compleatly upside down. The Heartless close in and he reaches for the throttle of the little machine and slams it so far into the red zone that by all rights the engines should give out right there.

The ship is shaking like it just might.

He really hopes Skoll is buckled in.

By the pirate's will or by some other miracle the little thing holds together and an inch away from death the mad cat opens fire. All the forwards guns roar at once and he lies down fire. One of the guns explodes. A second one overheats. The man doesn't stop fireing. This close its impossible to miss the Heartless.

From the outside it would almost seem like the wave of Heartless envelop the Hirst entirely, until the front of the mass baloons outwards in a series of explosions and the airship screams out of expanding blasts trailing fire and Heartless bits, but still very much intact.

Except for the gunpod of course.
Minerva Minerva has had about enough with the Heartless at this point. Her ship is being ravaged others are going down there are bricks almost ready to flake off her ship. She grips the controlls muttering about infernal machines as she does so, sit's prehaps a wing prayer and duct tape at this point. However all the guns come on line and she turns off the safeies and opens fire with a huge asss wave motion blast from all her combined fire.
Avira 0Round 5

The assault is relentless. Not only are the intrepid pilots under attack but the Odin as well. Avira can be heard yelling over the radio about possibly losing a Blizzara-G in the process. The giant ship shakes, not that it can be seen from where the other pilots are right now.

A dragonfly collides with the gunturret on Skoll and Warden's ship, sending the gummi blocks scattering off into space. The secure option works quickly and seals the rest of the ship off.

Warden will quickly find himself with a problem for manuvering. The swarms are so thick that at first it seems impossible to find anywhere to manuver to. By keeping the forward guns firing continuously, he more or less is able to chew holes through the swarm to his freedom. A hole explodes outwards from his efforts, Heartless pieces scattering everywhere as they evaporate into darkness.

Serah finds herself with a similar dilemma but seems to have little issue navigator-or hitting, really. It's difficult not to hit. It takes some time, but her continuous sprays of ice missiles seem to be thinning the crowds. It seems to help that, while numerous, these heartless were not very strong. No, those are the Hunters. One such Hunter swoops for Serah's Hrist.

But Serah manages to nail it right in the center. The Hunter seems to lock up, then break apart from this strike. Does the Heartless have a weakpoint...?

As the Heartless close in around the Odin, Minerva comes in and deploys a massive strike that Avira swore the gummis were not capable of doing in their current form. Avira will not complain as it blows off the swarm from the Odin like a snuffed flame.

"Alright, we have to open the hangar doors to receive the shipment. Defend the rear of the ship while this is going on or we'll lose it!" True to her words, the hangar bay doors start opening once the ship nears what seems to be an anchored package in space. A few smaller utility gummi ships deploy from the Odin to guide the cargo in.

There are still a few Heartless left and they still try to attack what defenders were available. Some even make a break for the Odin.
Skoll Ulfang Skoll catches the potion and flips it between his hands a few times, before glancing up at Warden. "Careful! On the left!" ... "On the right!" ... "Right above!" Backseat driver. Ugh, the worst. Still, he's holding on quite well. "Don't forget the ones on the Odin's hull!"
Sophia Dawnshade Sophia hardly has to worry about the last few Heartless. Minerva clears the last few out, and Serah and Warden's ridiculous onslaughts had taken out enormous clusters before. At least things were... mostly intact? Hopefully? She probably could have done a better job keeping everyone safe, but... it's a bit late to think about that now. She opens a communications channel with the others, just to make sure. "Status report?" It's phrased as a question. They're not required to answer, but she wants to make sure they're all okay...
Warden Thache Warden turns compleatly around in the command chair. The pirate taking one hand off the controls. "WOUDL YOU LIKE TO DRIVE!?"

This is possibily brilliant planning or simple annoyance. Who really knows with someone like Warden. The Hirst noses over like a stone and the remaining Heartless that were aimging for it fly /over/ it.

And directly into the fire of the Odin and the remaining airships.

The man pauses.

"...I ment to do that."

OF COURSE HE DID.

Yes.

He grabs the controls again, pulling the airship back to a level playing field and angling back towards the Odin. At the orders, he just can't help himself.

"Rodger, Lady Wolf." You can once more just hear the grin. "I will potect protect your rear. It /is/ a rather nice one. Wouldn't you agree?" The last to Skoll.

A pause. "Oh wait you ment the ship. That would be the /aft/, luv. You really should get your terms right."

...Skoll really /is/ going to throw him out at this rate.
Minerva Things are not looking as good as they could be, the Heartless keep coming, her weapons have let out a mighty shot into the Heartless ranks. Who knows for all we know Minerva my have powered the blast her self, no one will know. She's having problems with her hsip the weapons are suffering from issues from a shot like that she lets off a few more shots as she's bombarded again, but will it be enough?

"We should not dalay too long, once we have the cargo we need to go."

She'll fall in with the main ship tyring to keep things together for now, but she hopes they will not have to keep this up for too long.
Avira 0BATTLE MASTERY ACHIEVED!

Heartless near the shipment area but never actually make it close enough to interfere thanks to the cover fire provided by the ships. Working quickly, the cargo is hauled into the Odin but the hangar does not close.

They will notice that the Heartless have been thinned considerably but are not by any means completely gone. Could they be a permanent fixture of gummispace? How could they be stopped completely? For now, they can handle their victory of having destroyed enough that the Odin will have no problem returning to the Giza Plains void point and landing.

"Good work everyone. Return to the ship, we're going to leave. The missions were successful." Avira beams as she stands, her hands clasped behind her back.

Warden speaks. Avira bristles. "It means the same thing!" she sputters. "You shut your mouth!!"
Skoll Ulfang "... are you talking about the Odin, or about Avira?" Skoll gives Warden the dryest look he can manage. He isn't actually thinking about Avira's rear side at all. There's a different rear side he has his eye on. When Warden corrects himself, he whaps him over the head with a rolled up newspaper. "Don't be a wise-ass." Where the F* did Skoll get a newspaper from!?

Skoll continues on to waggle the newspaper at Warden. "And you totally didn't mean to do that."
Skoll Ulfang Just as Warden is about to say something else, because Skoll /knows/ something else wise-assed will come out of that mouth of his, he whaps him over the head again.
Warden Thache "See." Warden waves at the radio as if he is at some science lecture, laying down the laws of the universe. "Adorable. She is totally doing the nose thing. Right now. While the hat I made her."

A smirk again is angled towards Skoll. "Yes." He answers the question with little help at all before he gets /thwapped/.

"Hey now! At least I wasn't a--"

THWAP!

"AT LEAST LET ME FINISH BEFORE YOU HIT ME AGAIN! Gods man."

A pause.

"And I entirely did."
Skoll Ulfang THWAP!

"I'm a wolf. Not an idiot. You won't get a lie past me." The last person who tried to lie to Skoll was made to feel really... really... /really/ bad about it.
Warden Thache "Fine fine! It wasn't intentional." Warden pauses. "It was unconcious /skill/." This is going to be a reoccuring argument. Then he makes a grab for the newspaper. "AND STOP THAT!!"
Skoll Ulfang The Odin in the meantime, has disappeared into the distance, landing on New Ivalice. Warden and Skoll's damaged Hrist remains floating in the middle of the Realm Between, as the two continue to bicker on for another while...

< TO BE CONTINUED >

 
This scene contained 61 poses. The players who were present were: Skoll Ulfang, Avira, Minerva, Serah Farron, Warden Thache, Sophia Dawnshade