Bigger Than Your Head

Bigger Than Your Head
Date of Scene:	23 July 2013
Location:	Gummi Space
Synopsis:	Arthur has been busy studying Gummi Blocks. He however needs to collect more also hearing of the Magic Kingdom has hired several people to help clear the way to said world. Given how the heartless swarm the paths could always use some clearing, and it's time to clean house.
Cast of Characters:	Deelel, Shego, Shadow, Arthur Drover

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Arthur Drover has posed:
The Lanes Between are a dappled space of "interstellar" darkness, the darkness between worlds. Gummiships are entering more regular use and there is a fleet of rentals available from Montressor Spaceport. Decked out in these, our intrepid heroes for the night have synced up their cockpit radios to an open channel. Weapons are being tested. Chattering chipmunks are giving last minute tutorials and taking safety deposits. They're incredibly excited about how much they'll be able to do with the influx of funds.

And Arthur sits in the cockpit of his ship, activating the transmission.

<<"Good evening everyone. A simple route is programmed into your ships. From here to the Magic Kingdom and back. We will cover your fees but will be charging you if you don't return the ship, naturally. We're also paying a bonus for the danger of this mission. All Gummiships are equipped to salvage the wreckage of Heartless vessels. Please save what you can. The number of ships seems to increase proportional to how many of us are out there, so be careful.">> The smith scratches his nose and checks his satchel. Ledger, pen, signup sheet he'd obtained at the docks, hiring papers. And perplexingly, a paper contract with a dog's pawprint on it.

<<"And needless to say, this isn't worth your life. If you're in danger, just say and retreat. I know some of you are professionals willing to stay til the end but that's why I want to hire you again. We'll screen you. Coordinate your attacks together. Remember, all Gummi Blocks will be reserved, but anything we find out will be shared among the interested parties. That means the more blocks we rake in, the more likely we are to have something to share. Anyone who remains for the whole journey will collect a bonus that can be taken out in Gil, or my work as a master Synthesist. If you are not entirely comfortable with the parameters of the mission, feel free to back out now. Otherwise we will be on our way once I get a confirmation signal from all vessels.">>

The synthesist considers for a moment, turning to check his readouts. <<"Lastly, I'm as new at this as some of you are. Don't think too hard about it, and ask for help if needed. If you get lost, there is apparently an autopilot feature and steer-assist. I do not know what any of those things are. Good luck.">>

The camera pans out on the small armada of allied ships, Arthur's tonberry in the middle, crawling forward very slowly. Like /really/ slowly. This is geologic.

Shadow has posed:
If you put out a job there is a good chance that you'll end up with a Shadow in your party. There is actually a random chance this will happen, but as the fates have it-- you beat the RNG this time around! The ninja and his dog copilot (or is the other way aroud?!) appear without a word. Are you here for the job? Headnod. Do you have a ship. Headshake. Great, sign here. He signs with a scribbly 'Shadow'. Then he grabs a Remora-- launches-- and joins the A-team in space.

Because the reaper is only a step behind a guy like Shadow-- he mostly ignores the danger ranger about sanctity of life. Interceptor, however, how so much to live for. He even paws the intercercom << HOOOOWWWLLLLLL. Bark. >> Then static as Shadow fixes this issue. The speedy ship goes and finds itself in formation. Ninjas... IN SPACE!

Shego has posed:
AS IT TURNS OUT:

Shego was looking for money, again. This happened to be a fairly constant thing. And one day, standing in front of a job board in one of the little towns of this strange little universe, Shego happened to see a posting. "Space salvaging," she murmurs to herself. "Like... a sci-fi movie or something," she says, bringing up a gloved finger to tap her lower lip, her eyes narrowing somewhat as she makes a thoughtful noise. "Eh, why not?" she says with a shrug.

NOW:

Shego was actually a fairly quick learner, and so, by the time they were sitting in Gummi Formation (?) she had figured out a lot of controls. In her Tonberry-class ship. <<"Noooo worries about that, chief, I'm not the heroic, fight to the last kinda gal,">> radios Shego. <<"I'm as ready as I think I'll ever be, though, to start the mission and stuff.>>

A beat. <<These things do fly faster than this, right?>>

Arthur Drover has posed:
<<"Uhm. Good dog?">> Arthur murmurs into the radio before regaining his composure.

<<"As long as you stay within visible distance, scouting is okay. And yes they go much faster. I just know the beasts they are modeled after and had it on minimum throttle for effect while I did the paperwork.>> Arthur reveals he is a huge dork. Okay. Expected.

<<"As I understand it, everyone gets attacked when they travel. So it's not a question of if we'll meet resistance, but when. Which is after all what we're counting on. This will be good experience for anyone who needs it. The Tonberry class ship is made to get in close and let loose. Pick a target and stay on it, Miss. Remora class, cover us from above. We can use the terrain out here, there are walls and barriers we must fly through as well as avoiding debris. I have a small array set up to reinforce your ships, but I don't fully know how it works yet. Results may be unpredictable.>>

Arthur looks at the array of big green, blue, and red buttons and tries to decide which to mash as he speeds up slightly and wins the award for "fastest a tonberry shaped thing has gone" by an amount of yes.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel had left the Arcade again, why? She needed to find TRON to talk to him about the broken game sprite who he might be able to fix. She had no idea what chaos that might lead to, but for now she's thankfully ignorant of such. She'd caught wind of a job related to Gummi space, she needed some more experience out there and busting heartless was always a good idea when one had the chance. Any way to keep them under control was generally a very good thing.

SO here she was listening to the briefing on finding the way to the Magic Kingdom? She'd only heard whispers of the place and that they needed to help find the way to get there. There was some additional information and Deelel was honestly just here to help. While furthering her own objectives. There could be information in the archives of that world that might be of help to them after all, right? So here she was.

<Your terms are more than acceptable.>

Deelel's voice would be strange to her employer it had a digital warble to it when she spoke, it wasn't heavy but it was always there whenever she spoke. Those who knew her at all might be used to it and not think about it much.

<Then lets get this started shall we...also hello Interceptor I see your ready.>

with that Deelel's own ship fell into formation with the others.

Shadow has posed:
<<"Understood.">> says the voice of the 'actual' pilot-- Shadow. It is a nice, raspy voice. Not because he is going for best Solid Snake impersonator-- its more that your voice can get a bit froggy if you dont use it for, oh, days at a time. Man might end up mute one of these days. A mute ninja... no one will notice!

The Remora class ship banks off-- much more graceful than the last thing the ninja piloted. That is, of course, until Interceptor gets back on the comm and talks to Deelel. Its not talking so much the sound of a dog licking the intercom with a bark going out to Deelel. The line cuts out again as the ninja severs the co-pilot line. Again.

Shego has posed:
Shego manages a wicked grin, as she clutches the controls tighter. <<"Yeah, yeah, it gets in close, and does heavy damage. It's a gamble to fly,">> she says, that wicked grin only growing wider. <<"But I'm good with odds,">> she says, her voice bearing a bit of the wickedness of her expression.

With a few little twists and turns of knobs, her own Tonberry-shaped ship starts to accelerate, the woman's eyes flickering across the expanse of... space, she guesses, before she clicks on the comm, as well, <<"Hey. You're that... computer... psycho type that's been getting in my way more often than not, right? DL?">> she says, <<"We're here working a job now. None of your funny business.">>

Arthur Drover has posed:
<<"Goblin class. Stay in close. You're more mobile than us, so hold the line when possible and reinforce. We're going to commence now. Good luck.>> Arthur's ship moves slower than the others except Shego - but he pulls ahead by virtue of having the right heading. It isn't long before the sight of distant ships begins to paint his vision. There are rings and obstacle courses, walls with turrets on them. A veritable gummi garrison exists along the route to the Magic Kingdom. This is going to be a long trek. The synthesist listens as Interceptor re-connects his intercom and speaks in it again. That is some dog.

<<"Charge your weapons. We will be in range within five minutes. Watch out for unusual activity. There have been strange rumours on these routes. I encourage you all to fire a few ranging shots, both to get a feel for your weapons and because it is fun.">>

At least the smith is no stranger to ranged weaponry. A consummate archer, he knows this isn't the same - but it is similar enough. He fires a single Comet-G shot and then corrects and fires another.

<<"The ships all have their own eccentricities. No infighting, settle it in the docking bay after, and charge ticket fees. It's nice to meet all of you. May I take this opportunity to advertise the Heart's Desire shop in Alexandria?">>

Shadow has posed:
Shadow notably does not fire a tracer shot. He is familiar with how the ship works well enough to conserve his-- well his actions. Energy isnt so much of an issue. In fact, he seems pretty intent to do a whole auto-pilot cruise where he sits in the squad formation. Notably he is in the back. An assassin... in the back... What could possibly go wrong?

Deelel has posed:
<>

Seriously some users she just didn't know what to do with them and Shego was one such user. She wasn't looking for trouble she really was not. She was here to help clear the way to the Magic Kingdom, while she had explore the place later she was focusing on this.

Shadow meanwhile get notice as he's got a new machine once once more which is launching with the rest into Gummi space.

<<I know and I'm also the one to keep the rest of the fleet together. Don't worry.>>

she falls into formation as requested she also suddenly starts some high paced music over the coms. She couldn't help it with all her growth she was still a media program, you could take her out of the grid sure but you couldn't take all of the grid out of her.

She meanwhile keeps her weapons armed and prepared for battle. Though her focus will be keeping the other ships from coming apart.

Shego has posed:
<<"Roger doger, bossman,">> says Shego, cutting off her comms as she rolls her eyes noticeably in her cockpit. With a few taps of those oversized keys, though, she runs a scan on Deelel's ship. Just for... safety's sake, really. She /can't be trusted/. Another few taps of buttons, and her weapons charge up (easily the first thing Shego learned how to do), her physical eyes scanning space.

<<"Not gonna practice shooting anything, dog-boy?">> says Shego, her eyes flickering to one of the rings along the side of the 'road'. Twisting her little ship, she jabs down on the 'fire' buttons, sending bolts towards one of those rings - which endures the fire. <<"Don't be a stick in the mud, alright?">> A beat then, and she twists back into formation. <<"Heart's Desire? Yeah. That sounds like the kinda shop I'd go to.>> Shego transmits. <<"Why don't you tell us all about the inventory there, alright?">>

Although the response of the healer causes her to roll her eyes again, <<"Yeah, I'm not worried at /all/.">> she says.

Arthur Drover has posed:
Rings, floating crystals, corridors amid the light that need to be navigated. The "space" here is psychadelic and colorful. Arthur maneuvers slowly and steadily among these, seeking the first enemy. It doesn't take long.

Ships careen out of the darkness, wheeling and writhing with potential danger. They are coming from BEHIND the group, funny how some of these waves always do that. Plates of light spin in the air, and asteroids dot the field. Thinking he'd clear a few out of the way, the synthesist unloads in the direction of the arriving ships, but succeeds in hitting only the asteroids. Which explode into ... blocks? Simple shield gummies such as you could buy at the dockside but it was useful information.

<<"We make custom arms and armor, but we'll talk later - blow up the scenery! Gummi blocks are nested in it. And watch out!">>

Waves of ships arrive in perfect unity, they move with eerie calm as if out for blood, some don't even have weapons - just deadly intent to ram. Then in the distance Arthur sees it. A wall miles and miles long, covered in turrets and energy beams flying their way very slowly. Their doom and burning can be SEEN coming in the form of pre-emptive fire. Taking very slow evasive maneuvers he shifts downward, but this is unlikely to help. He powers up weapons and tries to find a vulnerable target in the sudden scrum of fly-like swarming.

And then the first few ships ram into him.

Shadow has posed:
The Remora class ship stalls back as the ships come-- dropping down and avoiding the incoming attacks. Shadow figures they are just probing based on some of the other attacks he has seens all of one time in space. Still, he cleanly avoids damage. Now would be a great time for a smart alec remark-- which the ninja does with a great, "..."

The nimble ship returns fire-- firing off a salvo of Thunder-G shots to the next squad. NOW he will practice with his weapon. Pew pew.

Shego has posed:
At the warning, Shego slams on her controls - doing - yes, a barrel roll to one side, her eyes narrowing sharply upon the enemy waves. <<"Jeez, not kidding about all the enemies here,">> she says, gritting her teeth. Pushing on an afterburner, Shego cannot help the smile from spreading on her lips as she approaches one of the waves, unleashing a little bit of ultraviolence on said starships.

Deelel has posed:
<<If you make throwing weapons I may have need one actually. For now let's deal with this viral swarm. Tch to think this sort of thing could exist beyond worlds like mine.>>

The basic's own gummiship moves in as the heartless attack she's however caught in the line of fire unable to evade. The shots from her own machine do little to help against he swarm but what she can do however it help her allies as she falls back a little bit and launches several shells. One for Arthur and Shego they would find on impact that their ship's systems were actually being boosted to better levels of performance Deelel doesn't say anything else as she keeps back falling behind the two more heavily armed ships.

Arthur Drover has posed:
Arthur looks at the tuned experimental array. The chipmunks had assured him it would "Setyouuprealgoodthere".

<<"Engage Tonberry Sync.">>

A gummi block that looks a lot like a lantern descends and lights up on Arthur's vessel. Then on Shego's.

<<"Grudge mode, active!">>

The waves of light energy as the systems sync up and the Excalibur G and Orichalcum G cannons come online are powerful to the point they cast the synthesist's vessel slightly off course. He lines up to target a particularly large enemy Heartless, and begins floating slowly toward it, making incremental progress. A few more asteroids are shot, but the blocks they disgorge are probably still common fare as they get scooped into the hold.

Arthur Drover has posed:
The heartless ships mass up, a wave of purple covering the space corridor. The distant guns rail with the sound of energy discharge. As the first ships begin a pirahna-like feeding frenzy upon the structural integrity of Arthur's vanguard, their "comrades" shoot wildly past them oblivious to the risk of destroying allied heartless ships if such a thing is even possible. The blast is a searing hot light that comes from everywhere and nowhere. There's something dark and hungry in it. The darkness wants a hug. The darkness needs your warmth. It is lonely. And it is coming to play.

At least it is easy to think things like that when the shelling is this intense. The number and power of the enemy seems to increase in response to how many people are travelling. It is as if they are antibodies rejecting something from the body, and nothing is going to slow them down. The response seems to increase proportionate to their destruction, even as Shego and Shadow blow a few of them up, blocks raining down to be scooped up by the mercenary ships for later inspection.

Right now, there's too much to do. Two ships, larger than even the Tonberries, ram past and attempt to disgorge further lasers at the point when the others arrive. Those are slow moving lasers, but that doesn't make them hurt any less when they arrive.

Shadow has posed:
Being the ninja that he is, within a ship that allows him to actually move around, Shadow banks his ship gracefully around the laser blasts. His movements are minimalistic-- only moving when he needs to. With that in mind-- he needs to, a lot. First the ship goes up-- ignoring a salvo. Another set of shots force him back down-- and finally he has to avoid the two mega ships as they ram past with the large lasers. Its a tense moment, but the ship comes out unscathed.

<<"...">> We all saw that coming.

The offensive shifts, allowing the shady assassin to pew pew out a few more debilitating rounds to the horde. Thunder-G rounds, activate!

Shego has posed:
Shego glances out of her cockpit towards DL's ship, when she notices the shells heading towards her. And even hit! Squawking, Shego pulls her ship into a quick dive, bringing up that old firing solution to target DL, when her readouts tell her that no damage had been taken, and she was actually buffier than before. Nonetheless, DL gets the stinkeye from Shego, the woman bringing two fingers up to point at her own eyes, before pointing at DL's ship.

Not that she could see any of that, of course.

Focusing again on the battle, Shego frowns deeper as the enemy opens fire, and this time - the ninja was ready. Pulling up, and anticipating their moves, she jerks and pulls the Tonberry vessel out of the way of fire, ending up in just the perfect position behind one of the big ones - with a feral grin, she waits a moment - and then unloads on it, her fire starting small at first, before it increases in severity.

Arthur Drover has posed:
Arthur takes a massive blow, the blocks bruised by a laser blast. He manages to correct the ship back on course enough that none of its fire will go near allies. Then the lantern glows more brightly. With a sudden rush, the Tonberry flies toward the nearby large Heartless that came in from the rear. It swoops into the air and it unloads a massive shot dappled with apparent flames from the lantern. Whether this is a trick of the light or a lucky break is irrelevant. Power surges down the ship from its engine block - Someone is getting blown up.

<<"Good work everyone. Keep gathering the spoils and keep in tight! Remember to activate the Special Systems when you're in trouble, that's why we have them.">>

Then Arthur's ship does an almost impossible flip. <<"OH NO.">>

An UNINTENTIONAL flip. Followed by every gun on the vessel lighting up the sky at once and raking an entire oncoming wave of the Heartless ships. Hopefully it works because it'll be embarassing otherwise.

Arthur Drover has posed:
The Heartless are responding to this assault in kind. Deelel buffs systematically, aiding her side by giving them incremental edges while she remains behind to limit exposure. Accordingly, none of the Heartless can draw a bead on her through her evasive maneuvers. Shego and Shadow on the other hand have moved to the forefront of the threat list. Shadow is pecking away as if he were throwing shuriken - managing to take out key targets, such as ranged combatants or turrets in stationary positions. Blocks rain down toward him from his conquests, their status registering on his screen.

Shego has a momentary scare from Deelel, and there is some minor bickering, but it is eventually resolved. The Tonberry in Shego's hands operates like a precise instrument, ripping a few ships apart then blowing a hole through a series of asteroids. Shield and Power gummis rain to her, the generic stock in trade of the breakable terrain. She finds herself subject to scrutiny. A series of purple ships line up, stationary and distant. It is these Arthur tears into, and they explode, leaving a clear field through which the "

Deelel has posed:
Deelel knows there's too many for her ship to face them directly so she's hanging back and lending support to her allies. She's got more of the support shells already loaded even as the high paced music continues to play. She picks up a warning as some heavy fire is coming their way. The Heartless fleet is just coming on very hard, very darn hard.

Her ship is moved at speeds that might injure an organic pilot but soon over the comm comes a whoop as it's clear Deelel has managed to evade things without being harmed. She firs off more shells again. Shadow, and Arthur find themselves hit with the same sort of shells that Deelel fired off last round which should hopefully give them quite the boost in performance but the problem with these rounds is that they could be pretty random still anything in a fight to give you an edge right?

Arthur Drover has posed:
The Heartless are responding to this assault in kind. Deelel buffs systematically, aiding her side by giving them incremental edges while she remains behind to limit exposure. Accordingly, none of the Heartless can draw a bead on her through her evasive maneuvers. Shego and Shadow on the other hand have moved to the forefront of the threat list. Shadow is pecking away as if he were throwing shuriken - managing to take out key targets, such as ranged combatants or turrets in stationary positions. Blocks rain down toward him from his conquests, their status registering on his screen.

Shego has a momentary scare from Deelel, and there is some minor bickering, but it is eventually resolved. The Tonberry in Shego's hands operates like a precise instrument, ripping a few ships apart then blowing a hole through a series of asteroids. Shield and Power gummis rain to her, the generic stock in trade of the breakable terrain. She finds herself subject to scrutiny. A series of purple ships line up, stationary and distant. It is these Arthur tears into, and they explode, leaving a clear field through which the "good guys" hastily dart.

Then the purple ships beyond notice the gap in the line. They move aside. A previously unseen model - it might be a one-off - emerges. It looks like a single big rocket booster strapped to a tiny cockpit. It is a mockery of engineering, sensible astrodynamics, and "sense" itself. And then its engine lights up.

No one sees it move. They simply feel its passage. Heat, and then maybe they feel what it is like to be that tiny bit closer to the aching devouring void of space.

Shadow has posed:
Thats it. Thats the one. Assassin Ma-- oh wait, they are in space.

Shadow's Ramora banks to the left-- avoiding a salvo from another turret. Some come very close to his ship, but none land. Evasive maneuvers quickly kick in when the 'big bad' shows itself. The ninja-assassin-quietman throws the flaps on his nimble ship up-- slowing down and rocketing upward above the attack plane. There is a brief stall as he locks down onto a larger target-- unleashing some heavy BOOM BOOM cannonfire as he takes on a brief role in artillery fire for the team. For a loner-- he certainly is giving plenty of flak cover to give the recently mangled some room to breathe.

Shego has posed:
What comes over the airwaves was anything but ladylike. And in spite of Shego's less charming qualities - when the chips were down, she was more or less still capable. Noting the oddly shaped ship, Shego immeadiately twists her own gummi around to fire upon it - and... probably should have dodged the other way instead.

That oddly pleasant sense of heat, and then the oddly metaphysical sensation that follows throws her, and for a moment, she does freeze - until the warning klaxons blare her back to reality. In an instant, she slams on the controls, dodging further fire. With a beat, she grimaces, plucking a potion out of her belt and slamming it into an opening on the dashboard, and God knows how that worked, but it seemed to. <<"Alright, ladies,">> Shego murmurs. <<"Time to light these guys /up/,">> she says, her cannons springing to life and opening fire on ze enemy.

Arthur Drover has posed:
<<"Keep together! They're regrouping. We're well set up, the kingdom isn't far off. Engaging recovery systems!">>

Arthur's ship glows with energy as he slaps a potion into the dash too. He REALLY doesn't know why this works, maybe it's like nitrous. He doesn't know what that is, but if he did he might appreciate the parallel.

<<"Punching through is the most important. We don't have to destroy them all, just enough to arrive unobstructed. Use every tool.">>

His ship remains floating there, moving slower as it enters repair mode, but the shopkeeper is scanning for danger and the route map is being transmitted as he does. Gummi blocks continue to rain down, scooped up automatically by the ships as if they were reuniting with old friends.

Deelel has posed:
Things are getting pretty crazy with all the fire coming their way, She's managed to well not get blown up so far her allies are taking a Arthur is the worst off of the lot at this point too as she sees the damage displays for his ship coming up over one of her displays. This would not be a good thing to one lose someone, two lose the person whose funding this trip in the first place.

she pull up hard trying to get into a better firing position now and she lines up a shot on Arthur's machine and fires?!

What madness is this? Well it's more she's firing a healing shell at the other ship the three shells should impact with Arthur's ship and it would start to rapidly regenerate, Deelel's already pulling away into a better formation with the rest of the small force.

<Keep it together this still isn't as bad as it was the last time we faced a Heartless Fleet. They had something the size of a moon. Shadow should recall that thing!>

Arthur Drover has posed:
Shadow's consummate professionalism and endearing back-watching does create enough of a gap for some breathing room. This is perhaps why Arthur isn't shot out right away when he spends time resting. The Heartless armada is looking somewhat frayed.

Two unique-looking Heartless ships emerge from the direction of Magic Kingdom. They look like hemispherical ships with rocket boosters all over them and one flat side. They float vertically oriented in space, across from one another. They pause and - begin to glow ominously.

Tendrils of darkness, appearing wrong even on the deeper darkness of space, shoot between the two flat surfaces. The darkness thus created begins spawning ships, dozens of smaller ships. Reinforcement. This is not a good day.

Shego manages to blow the last of the turrets off that big wall, in fact all that remains of the enemy are the two "gates" spouting reinforcements wildly into the interstellar night. And they don't seem to be stopping. In fact they are slowly advancing away from the group, fast enough to stay "stationary" relative to them. And something about the way they bend space suggests arriving at Magic Kingdom is not happening while that black gate is spouting foes.

The thing in front of them is approximately the size of a moon and it is having babies.

Shadow has posed:
And you know what Shadow does? He dodges. Ninja dodge left. Ninja dodge right. He joins the third dimension and ninja dodges up and down, too. Why? Because he can (and something about a ninja).

The speedy ship evades another wave of attacks. It looks like getting the breathing room for a break worked. Keeping his formation position as rear support, he goes back to bombarding with debilitating thunder rounds-- thinning out the herd of smaller ships that are swarming their way and leaving the big damage to the Tonberries. Pew pew!

Shego has posed:
Features turning grim, Shego spots the enroaching army of fighters, sucking on her teeth as her hands grip the controls. Shego dodges, as well, but not as expertly as Shadow might - potentially owing to her more unwieldly class of ship. For every shot she evades, two more slam into her, and she was seeing once-green lights turn to yellow. "/Last/ time I drive one of these big hunksa..." she murmurs to herself, grasping the radio and flicking it on, even as she turns her ship to aim more for one of those gates.

<"Hey. Hey precious - yeah, the glitchbrain in the ship? Fancy healing bullets, anytime, okay?"> Shego says, dodging around one burst of fire, before opening up with a decidedly lighter barrage on the gate proper.

Arthur Drover has posed:
Arthur's ship has recovered sufficiently to move once more with the help of Deelel's healing shots. The Tonberry has fairly limited abilities, so it sticks to what it is good at. Flying upward, the vessel fires two huge barrages of Comet-G right at the left disc of the Heartless ship.

<<"Concentrate fire as I have. Don't let the little ones overrun us, but focus down the discs! We're in the home stretch, I hope.">>

They better be, their ships are depleted and the sheer volume of enemies is presenting an almost physical pressure on the pilots, exhausting them beyond reason.

<<"Just think of what we can learn. Discounts for everyone if we make it through this.">> Drunk on adrenaline, or perhaps his flask of booze, the synthesist gears the tonberry down and continues his barrage while waiting for the ships to choose a target so he can aid Shadow in covering fire when it becomes relevant.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is under fire again and is taking some pretty heavy fire from the heartless fleet. He ship is knocked about pretty brutally, she manages to recover and does something Shego might not expect. She falls in behind her and opens fire with the healing shells again. She doesn't say a thing as she once more flits away and this time? Deelel has plans for the heartless she has some surprises that Shadow Might remember her having on board her ship the last time they engaged the space forces of the Heartless.

Arthur Drover has posed:
The Heartless half-sphere shape seems impervious to Arthur's shots. They travel into the dark portal between the two and vanish as if falling into an abyss. Deelel is successful in patching Shego up, and it may be this boost to the system which influences the later effects. Power flows between the two ships even as smoke beads off Deelel's vessel. Shadow's shots suffer the same fate as Arthur's- they fall uselessly into the void. It has its own attraction that pulls shots out of the way, and it seems to eat them with relish or perhaps ketchup. Shego's bullet hits one of the rocket boosters on the left sphere, which explodes. The portal flickers, cutting an assortment of ships in half with explosive results. More ships simply pour out in response, as if drawn to the light and fire of their cohort's annihalation.

The intensity of the portal as it increases in power is undeniable - it just keeps shooting things into the night. Bullets rain down from the would-be salvagers and their holds are full of their blocky spoils. But that is meaningless if their ships all explode.

The Heartless armada forms a giant sphere around the half-sphere portal through which they emerge, growing more massive by the moment. As one, they all begin to charge their weapons. Lightning shoots from one to the next, connecting them into a huge and powerful array - those guns aren't going to fire until they can all fire at once and fill the void of space with aching rending talons. The "gravity" in this place is sucking in toward them, like a hole in the fabric of the void. The ships shake, but no "damage" is done to them.

On the HUD of every Gummiship, sensors begin to count the graph of their own doom:

60...59...58

WHY IS OMINOUS.deathcount EVEN a function call in GummiOS?

Shadow has posed:
Onoes! Critical Rest! Though that countdown doesn't look good. Shadow taps the energy gauge on his gummi to make sure it shows the right reading. Not a whole lot there. The ninja plays it on the risky side-- giving all that she can in a steady stream of salvos over to the enemies. All or nothing time-- lets get dangerous!

Arthur Drover has posed:
<<"There is simply no way we can let this happen. Fire everything!">> And lo the Synthesist does indeed fire everything he can at what is basically a vast wall of Heartless. The intent is to sever them so their lines of lightning can no longer travel neatly from one end of the field to the other.

"Prepare to retreat if this goes bad! We need to keep as intact as we can!"

Very aware of the treasure trove in their cargo holds, the synthesist angles around, looking for any vulnerable point on the larger portal. He looses a few small bullets toward the physical shell, hoping this time it won't be for naught.

And still the numbers count down.

Shego has posed:
There was a long beat of silence from Shego as DL fires her heals into her. A loooong beat. <<"Thanks,">> she says, simply. Grasping her controls more tightly, Shego levels out as she stares at the big moonish thing, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she leans into the controls - pushing her gummiship nearer.

<<"That countdown look good to anyone?">> she says, a bit rakishly. But after breathing out a sigh, Shego just grins wickedly, pulling on a lever near the controls, a light in the cockpit growing red as she aims upon the ship. "Feliz Navidad~" she says in a singsong, before pulling the triggers, and firing absolutely everything she can.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has fought her way through Gummi space before, she knows what they can bring about, the power they have at their disposal the larger force are what draw Deelel's attention they are nearing just where they should be. What is she going? She's aware they are charging up to fire. Her ship has some weaponry to be sure, she'd been keeping it in reserve for all intents honestly.

Her machine presses forward going right for the enemy forces she knows what she has to do and she sends a message.

<IF we don't break up their forces now they will fire, we need to bring them down. Or we are going down when they open fire.>

Deelel's weapon systems are primed and she opens fire, every last gun is spraying fire across the enemy formation she's got to bring them down she knows what's coming she darn well knows what could be coming. So she's being perhaps reckless as heck about this, yet what option does she have?

Arthur Drover has posed:
Shego's cannon hits one side of the portal.

Now the logic of such things is that when you have two paired ships and they are creating an ominous portal between them and you blow one up, this destabilizes the energy field which destroys the whole portal, the other half of the gate mechanism, and the entire fleet it summoned.

That's just how things work. You get a two-for-one special. Instead, when Shego blows up one side of the gate, half of the force explodes. And the portal between the two? It just severs in half. Apparently each side can independently make a door. They just combine up for symmetry or something. These waves do seem to like symmetry. What this means is there is still enough of a force to cause some problems.

Gummi blocks rain down from the giant gate, absorbing into the ships and entering their holds. The other half is about to fire.

10...9...8...

Deelel weaves in like a force of nature, blowing things out of her path. This is just another game, another ominous last boss. And she knows what to do. The second half goes down in a rain of crimson fire, the engine weak points giving way to gummi blocks frozen in crystals and homing in on the nearest ship. But the chain reaction is a beauty to behold. Shego just blew up one half, but before the last explosion from that chain of weakened vessels ends, the rest have begun to go up like fireworks. Married to their mothership, the vessels blow in Deelel's wake. The black gate fades, and Magic Kingdom resolves into view.

<<"What say we take the slow and steady route back this time instead of looking for trouble?">>

Shadow has posed:
<<"Either way.">> is Shadow's response to the request to back slow and steady. He checks his readouts-- his ship is still in nominal position. The energy tank still needs some refilling-- but the man does what he is paid to do. Need a man garroted? We have that. Need your dog walked? Tuesdays and Thursdays. Want to cruise back with a load of gummies? You're the boss.

An unexpected request comes over the comm channels, though. <<"How is everyone's ship holding up?">> What? Is that concern? Nope. Interceptor won't stop barking in the background until the ninja asks. Puppy: Leon-Light Level of 4.

Arthur Drover has posed:
<<"We're doing alright. We can get repaired at the kingdom below and be more careful going back. Our holds are full so we needn't dally seeking further spoils. You've all earned the pay. You need a contract again, come my way. We're hunting monsters next week to get a lair in shape for example.">>

The gummi tonberry slowly cruises into port. These things are deathtraps.

The synthesist can't wait to fly one again.

Shego has posed:
<<"Whatever you want, bossman,">> says Shego, leaning back in her seat a bit as the magic kingdom comes into view. Pulling her seat a little ways away from the dashboard, Shego swings her boots up to rest on a safe part of the dashboard, feet crossed at the ankles, flicking on the autopilot and pulling a nail file from... her utility belt, utilizing said file upon her nails.

<<"That you, dogboy?">> Shego says over the comms, flicking her hair over her shoulder before filing more. <<"My ships' doin' /great/. I take it yours is still flying, back there,">> she says, a little snort coming from her at Arthur's mention of work. <<"That's just what I like to hear, bossman. Pay. And it better be worth the risk, that's all I'm gonna say. Shego no likey when she gets gypped.">>

Deelel has posed:
Deelel replies back over the comm.

<<Functional I should be fine, anyone with damage? I should be able to keep you flying till we reach our destination>>

Arthur seems to be all right some things considered and they did a good job on the contract. She should have some money to look into getting that alternative weapon she needs. She so does not want to keep throwing her light disc /at/ cybugs, that would end very poorly for her given a portion of her should is upon that thing. It would end very badly so she's wisely going to see about getting a throwing weapon like that is /not/ part of her in such an intimate way. Well it seems it shouldn't be too much further to their destination so all is well right?

Arthur Drover has posed:
Arthur sounds amused. <<"You're worth your rate. At least you all have standards to uphold, and you know where to find me, whether for good reasons or bad.">>

The Magic Kingdom comes into view, a land of wonder and one of the original homes of Gummi Ships. The port area is staffed by officious looking palace guards who guide the dockers in with big paddles, and the "boss" sends a transmission.

<<"We'll head back later, there's no rush. I'm having the gummis offloaded onto my ship while repairs are underway. I suspect we'll owe those chipmunks for repairs, but resale and a few lucky breaks will see us right as rain again. Worth the investment. I'm going to get a little rack time after I unload, so see the sights. They're worth seeing.">>

Something sparks a flag in the smith's memory, <<"You might consider a Chakram, young lady. We have schematics in the shop. They are a type of thrown armament, unwieldy but one can get considerable backspin. We can discuss paying you that way if you like, though we may need additional objects. Mr. Shadow, Miss Shego - I shall recommend you to the whole ones of friends I have who can afford you.">>

Shadow has posed:
Shadow doesn't click on autopilot just yet-- wanting to do a few more checks on the system before letting his guard down. In space no one can hear your dog bark. Or can they?

<<"Thanks. I'll collect at the garage, then.">> the ninja-assassin-doglover replies-- though the 'Thanks' seems more of a professional word of courtesy than anything someone could consider sincere. He finally is content with the read-outs to plot the course and head on back. Privately he figures out now to send a message to Deelel's ship 'Mine is fine. This one runs much better than the last.' Candid dialog? Ohoho!