Nine Quest: Believe In Getter and Hold A Determination to Build

[X] Be honest. You have no idea what a Symphogear is, but you know an Innocent Wave amplifier when you see one and have a healthy respect for (and moderate fear of) its power.
-[X] Ask if there was any strange energy readings before the explosion happened, if yes ask if you can review the data.
--[X] Tell that you have a database regarding certain energies that you would like to cross reference just in the case these energies may be one of the reason of the current problem, you know most of them don't tend to play nice when they are poked in the wrong way after all.

Being honest about your situation has served you well thus far, so you see no reason to change approaches now. The fact that this man could easily crush your head with a single hand has absolutely nothing to do with that decision, no sir.

"I have no idea what a Symphogear is; I've never heard that word before." Before Chris can protest, you cut her off. "But I do know what an Innocent Wave amplifier looks like, and I also know better than to pick a fight with someone carrying one around so casually."

"Innocent Wave? Is that how you refer to phonic gain?" Genjuro asks as he escorts you and Chris up the gangplank and into the frankly enormous submarine.

"I don't know what that is either, but I would not be surprised if they are similar in nature. Innocent Waves are generated by the power of love-"

"Of course they are! It always comes back to that!" Chris laments surprisingly vehemently. "Why does it always come back to that?!"

"If there's one thing I've learned about love during my extensive research into the subject," you stress, "it's that it's one of the most powerful forces in the multiverse."

"I couldn't agree more!" Genjuro adds at a slightly inappropriate volume. "The power of love has saved us many times over now, after all! Especially young Hibiki's love for-" he then stops as an absolutely tiny girl in a lab coat runs into him headfirst like an adorable rocket. "What's the matter, Elfnein? I thought you were on your way to the party."

"Oh, Commander!" The girl, apparently named Elfnein, responds. "I was about to head down there, but I got some readings from the Gjallarhorn explosion that I can't make sense of and thought I should report that to you first." She then turns to you in surprise, as if finally noticing your existence. "Hello! Are you our new cross-dimensional visitor? I have so many things I want to ask you about! These phonic gain readings don't make any sense, the dimensional coefficient is all wrong, and then there are these completely alien readings…"

You are briefly filled with the urge to ask more about this 'Hibiki' and her love, but you clamp down on that instinct in favor of focusing on more useful topics. "I think I can help with that, actually. Can you show me your data on the incident? I have a database full of energy readings from my own universe as well as several others, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the alien readings you observed were familiar to me. Some of those energies can be particularly… volatile," looking at you Getter Rays, "so I imagine that they reacted poorly with whatever this 'Gjallarhorn' of yours is."

"Oh, could you?" And with that Elfnein is immediately in your face, invading your personal space as she takes your remaining hand. "I can also do some repairs while you study them, I'm quite familiar with Autoscorer construction after all!" She then begins to drag you in a different direction over Chris's protests and Genjuro's knowing chuckles.

"I'm not an Autoscorer, but if you have lab space and repair equipment then I'll take whatever help I can get," you say grumpily as you follow Hurricane Elfnein en route to her destination. She has a surprising grip strength for such a small girl…

"I see! Well, whatever you're made of, I'm sure I can fix you right up if you tell me what to do," Elfnein says as she leads you into what is perhaps the strangest laboratory you've ever seen. Half of it looks like it wouldn't be out of place on the Yamato, with computer banks and what looks like a highly advanced virtual reality headset dominating the space. The other half, however, looks more like a stereotypical medieval alchemy lab, filled to the brim with towers of old books and covered in nonsensical equations filled with sigils that you would associate more with pre-New Correct Century pop culture than actual science.

Fortunately Elfnein leads you towards the more comprehensible side of the room, where the shattered remains of an ancient horn lie on a table inside what looks like a strange sort of MRI machine. The horn itself was clearly only recently damaged, judging by the fresh cracks all along its surviving fragments, but it's clearly in no condition to do… whatever it was doing before this happened. There is also a familiar slightly green glow to some of the fragments, which means at least one part of the mystery is already solved. Of course it had to be Getter Rays…

"I think I already have a basic hypothesis, but can you show me your readings?" You ask as you send the schematics for a new arm to a nearby terminal. "I'd like to have a slightly better idea of what we're dealing with if at all possible."

"Of course," Elfnein says as she takes a seat with the ease born of long practice. "This axis measures phonic gain, this constant is supposed to be the dimensional coefficient for this dimension, although it's a bit off for some reason, and this here represents our mystery energies!"

'Mystery energies' is more right than she knows; even with a year to study them, you still barely know anything about the Getter Rays, and that's putting it lightly. Making matters even worse is the orange shine that you somehow instinctively know is the power of the Golden Goddess from the dimension where you fought NevanEnde the Eternal Devourer. While you at least know a little about the Getter Rays, you know nearly nothing about the power that Harlock referred to as "St. Elmo's Fire" and know even less about how to reverse-engineer it. You could almost call it a divine power with how little sense it makes to you. With two overwhelming and volatile powers clashing in such a chaotic manner, it's not much of a surprise that things ended poorly.

Viewing the recordings is like watching the output of a fire hose being pushed through a straw; no wonder the Gjallarhorn collapsed and shattered under the strain. If anything, it was a minor miracle that the relic had lasted longer than a microsecond with so much force being pushed through it. You briefly flinch at the thought that you could have lost a lot more than just half an arm if the portal had collapsed any quicker than it had. The problem reminds you vaguely of Shin Getter Robo's camera footage from the Battle of Leptaporda and the portal that it and Shin Dragon had created by working in concert against the Invaders. Hopefully this isn't going to require nearly as much power as the two Getter teams employed that day; you would be very happy never seeing that much output ever again, thank you very much. On the bright side, if these readings are correct then you were the only one who got pulled through; most likely, your friends and other body are all home safe and sound, if perhaps more than a little traumatized by your sudden disappearing act.

"Well, there's your problem," you say with confidence born of experience with mysterious and highly frustrating sources of energy, "but that doesn't get us any closer to solving it. I can help out with the Getter Rays a little bit, but the St. Elmo's Fire is completely beyond me. I don't suppose we can just solder the relic back together?"

"I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's not how relics work," Chris chimes in as she taps her foot impatiently. "Not to mention there's barely any of it left in the first place." She has a point; if you had to guess, you'd say that maybe a quarter of the relic's fragments are still in some kind of recognizable shape, with the rest being reduced to powder or obliterated entirely.

"On the other hand, having plenty of relic fragments does open up a new possibility for us, doesn't it Elfnein?" Genjuro adds in with a smile on his face.

"Hm? Oh, you have a point! That might actually be an option, now that you mention it…" Elfnein replies before descending into a fugue state, mumbling rapidly under her breath about 'candidate compatibility' and 'possible manifestations.' So much for getting your new arm anytime soon.

"Hold on, old man! You can't seriously be suggesting that we turn the fragments into a Symphogear?!" Chris speaks up, confusion and concern both evident on her face. "Do we even have anyone who can use it?"

"I have no idea!" Genjuro laughs in response. "But it's better than just letting the fragments sit around in storage, don't you think? And good luck dissuading Elfnein now that she's got the idea in her head." Chris growls inarticulately in response, but you know Elfnein's type even if you've only just met her; once they get an idea in their heads, there's no stopping them until they see it through. She reminds you of Hamada; once he started developing Might Kaiser, he worked to the point of exhaustion with the rest of the Brave Express Corps until it was finished – and just in time, of course.

Which raises an important question. The welcome party is presumably for you, and it would be rude to not attend. On the other hand, you feel like you're making progress in your analysis, and you'd like to get just a little more work done first…

Vote Options:

[] Head down to the party now; the data isn't going anywhere, and it's always good to meet new friends and allies.

[] Keep working; you can always be fashionably late, and the sooner you make a breakthrough, the sooner you can start making progress towards getting home. Hopefully.

[] Write-In



A/N: I promise the giant robot violence is coming soon, just gotta do some setting up first!

[X] Write-In: Head to the party and introduce yourself, but before you leave, make sure to warn Elfnein about Getter Rays and their… problematic tendencies. Shin Getter isn't here, but better safe than sorry.

You threw enough parties for the members of Earth Fleet Tenku to know how annoying it is to wait for the guest of honor, so you're going to be polite and head down with the others. Before you go, though, it would probably be best to warn Elfnein about the Getter Ray contamination before she does anything unwise.

"Before we go," you begin, "there's something you should know about that green light. It means that your relic has been exposed to Getter Rays, which in turn means you're going to want to be extra careful with it."

"Can you be more specific, please?" Elfnein asks you. "And what exactly are Getter Rays, while you're at it?" You hiss in annoyance; that's the million-dollar question, isn't it?

"I wish I had all the answers to that question myself, but I can tell you that they're a kind of cosmic ray that's apparently not native to this dimension. It's closely associated with evolution through means that are still not entirely understood, which can be either a good or a bad thing depending on the situation." You begin to pace back and forth as you engage what Sis occasionally refers to as Lecture Mode. "Among other things, Getter Rays can fuse organic and inorganic matter, so if you find yourself becoming part of the relic or the floor stop what you're doing immediately and focus on reversing it. Sufficiently strong willpower can also reverse the process in others, so in the worst case scenario find the strongest-willed and most stubborn friend you have and ask them for help."

Elfnein is furiously taking notes while Chris and Genjuro are staring at you like you've grown a second head… which you could technically build for yourself, but that wouldn't a very efficient use of resources right now. Right, get back on track! "Much like other forms of radiation, large doses of Getter Rays are poisonous to humans; while there aren't enough in this area to cause any problems, make sure to quarantine your lab if the radiation intensifies any further. Sufficient quantities of Getter Rays can also attract or in sufficiently large quantities outright spawn Invaders, an extremely deadly species of alien. I don't think that's a major risk at the moment, but you should be aware of it just in case." You take a deep breath; time for the really crazy part. "Finally, and I know this is going to sound ridiculous, Getter Rays are likely alive and aware somehow. No, I don't know how it works, and no, I don't know what they want. If I knew, please rest assured that I would tell you." Now everyone is staring at you like you're a crazy person, but in time they'll come to understand. You briefly shudder as you flash back to that thing on the other side of the portal at Leptaporda; it was a Getter Robo the size of a planet, and you could have sworn as you reviewed the footage that day that it was looking right at you somehow. Not the pilot, mind you, but the machine itself.

Once Genjuro is able to pick his jaw up off the floor, he coughs and motions for everyone to follow him. "That was… quite a story, Nine! I really hope that we won't be dealing with any of those problems you mentioned, but I'm sure that Elfnein will exercise proper caution in any event. And we have quite a bit of latitude with the government after some unpleasantness earlier this year, so rest assured that no unauthorized individuals will be able to access these Getter Rays of yours. Now then, shall we head down to the party?"

You nod in agreement as Chris and Elfnein finally gather themselves and begin to follow you. "I've thrown enough parties in my time to know that it's rude to keep your host waiting, so I'll follow your lead, sir." Chris is still staring at you like you're some kind of lunatic, but that might just be her default reaction to new people going by how suspicious she's been of you ever since you landed.

"Excellent! Let's make haste then!" Genjuro calls back as he begins jogging deeper into the submarine, hopefully in the right direction. You could simply infiltrate their systems and pull up a map yourself, but you'd rather not intrude if you don't have to. People tend to get slightly twitchy around you when they learn that you've hacked into their systems even if you haven't done anything with them yet.

The trip down to what appears to be the sub's cafeteria is quick and quiet; Genjuro is busy humming what sounds like some kind of movie soundtrack, Elfnein appears to be lost in her own head, and Chris just keeps staring at you while cycling a variety of unsettled expressions across her face. Before you know it, you've arrived at a room with a banner hung between two pillars welcoming "our newest visitor to S.O.N.G.," which was nice of them if a bit excessive. There's plenty of food and drink as well as plenty of new people in blue uniforms for you to meet, most of whose names you commit to your memory storage banks but otherwise forget within moments of being introduced. The main one that you remember is one Aoi Tomosato, mostly because she's the one who offers you something warm to drink.

You briefly make small talk with her and several of her coworkers and manage to learn a few things about S.O.N.G. in the process. First of all, their actual name, Squad of Nexus Guardians, which strikes you as a name that was definitely designed with the acronym in mind first and foremost. Secondly, you learn that not everyone is here, as some of their members are split across different responsibilities and therefore different time-zones. Apparently Chris is only one of seven Symphogear wielders, but of the remaining six two are on a school trip, two more are touring abroad, and the remaining two are currently in their dormitory and will be joining you later. While none of their names mean anything to you, you're able to learn a bit about them by watching Chris and her reactions to each of them being brought up; the last pair in particular provoke the strongest response. The "Hibiki" that Genjuro mentioned earlier, who Chris refers to exclusively as "the idiot," is apparently someone who causes her no end of grief. Apparently you're not the only one who annoys Chris just by existing in her general vicinity, although from the sounds of things Hibiki is far more prone to spontaneous hugs and other displays of affection than you are.

You also learn that Genjuro really is as kind as your first impression suggested; despite being the commander of nearly everyone in the room, he doesn't hesitate to mingle with his subordinates, nor does he hesitate to shepherd you into a quiet corner once your social battery begins to run dry. Your parties for newly declared ace pilots tended to be relatively small affairs, after all, and you rarely had to throw more than two or three in quick succession. On the bright side, even on a far-flung Earth they still have the little party hats that you're so fond of, and while Genjuro has chosen to don a top hat for some reason you don't hesitate to claim a yellow-and-orange party hat for yourself.

As the party mood goes into full swing, however, it's soon shattered by the sound of blaring alarms and the lights suddenly dimming and turning red. The sub suddenly tosses and turns as if it were thrown into a typhoon without warning. Genjuro is the first one to react, putting one finger to his ear and requesting a status report. "Fujitaka! What's going on out there?!"

"Commander! We've got four unidentified objects and one Giant-class Karma-Noise! They just appeared out of thin air, I don't know where they could have come from, and they're targeting the sub! The unidentified objects vaguely resemble slightly smaller and less powerful versions of the Sarcophagus that we faced in Antarctica, almost like a mass-produced version of it! They don't seem to possess its freezing abilities, but they still hit like the original!"

And just like that, the party is clearly over; everyone scatters, with Genjuro and a number of command staff including Aoi and Elfnein heading for the bridge. Chris, meanwhile, heads in a direction marked "Launch Tubes." You have no idea why she would be going there of all places, but nobody else treated it as unusual so you'll trust that she knows what she's doing and leave her to it. Surely she can't be intending to launch a missile, can she…? Everyone seems to forget that you're even there for a moment, which is slightly annoying but also grants you greater freedom to act.

You immediately hack into the submarine's systems, accessing both its internal schematics and external cameras; the security systems are impressive by human standards, but you're made of sterner stuff. There's the bridge, there's Elfnein's lab, and there's… a simulator? Interesting. It bears a passing resemblance to the simulator that you coded back on the Yamato, which is even more interesting. Apparently it can create replicas of things called 'Noise' and 'Alca-Noise' that can be as large as small buildings and can generate real physical force using hard light, which gives you an idea. It's probably not the best idea you've ever had, but desperate times just might call for desperate measures. The only question now is which path to take.

Vote Options:

[] Join the rush heading for the bridge. Hopefully your command-and-control abilities will be helpful up there.

[] Head for the lab. The relic fragments are probably fine, but better safe than sorry, right?

[] Hack into the simulator. If you can turn it inside out for just a moment, you might be able to use your recorded data from home to do something extremely reckless…

[] Write-In

[X] Head for the lab. The relic fragments are probably fine, but better safe than sorry, right?

In the end, the choice is simple. As much as you would like to try a dangerous and fantastic stunt with the simulator, you're just not in any shape to do so at the moment. As for the bridge, while you think you could help out there, the middle of battle is not the ideal time to insert yourself into a foreign command structure and interrupt their way of doing things. With both of those things in mind, you race back the way you came, heading for Elfnein's lab and the irradiated relic fragments within. They're probably safe where they are, but you would really rather not risk anything where the Getter Rays are concerned. If there's one thing you've learned from your time with the Getter teams, it's that caution is paramount when studying them.

Nobody seems to notice as you move in the opposite direction from the stampede, which is good; saves you from wasting time explaining, at the very least. You quickly make your way to the door into the lab, only to find it locked. Once again, however, standard human technology proves to be no match for your superior hacking prowess and you easily force the door open and make your way inside. A faintly glowing golden rune pulses in response to your entry, but when nothing explodes you write it off as an alarm rather than an armed defense system. Your deduction is quickly validated when you receive a ping and are directly connected via voice call to Elfnein.

"Nine, what are you doing back at the lab? You'll be safest on the bridge, is everything alright?" Elfnein seems remarkably composed considering the surprise attack, but clearly you and S.O.N.G. both have plenty of experience with sudden enemy attacks. You hope you're not distracting her from anything important; half the reason you came down here in the first place was to get out of the way and let this dimension's defenders to their work uninterrupted. "There are also some sensitive materials down there that you probably shouldn't be alone with…" And there's the other half of your reason for coming down here.

"Sorry, but somebody has to keep an eye on these relic fragments." You respond as you close the door behind you. "Getter Rays are also prone to increased activity when in the presence of violent battles and strong wills, so I want to make sure that nothing strange happens while you defend the sub. By the way, what happened to… CHRIS?!" You exclaim the last part as you noticed a missile firing from a launch tube; apparently she really was planning a launch! And that's when things start to get weird.

The missile's casing opens almost immediately, revealing not a warhead but Chris herself, wearing a strange set of power armor that reminds you of Cephiro's Magic Knights for some reason. She's also singing, which strikes you as strange; while you've heard Ange sing in battle before, that was only useful under very specific circumstances that you don't think will be replicated here. Whatever she's doing, though, it appears to be working for her, as she somehow pulls out of thin air a set of quad-linked miniguns that look strikingly similar to those wielded by the Gundam Heavyarms Custom. You've only ever seen footage of the latter from the Xelguard's memory banks, but the resemblance is uncanny. She then opens fire on the enormous black monster the sub's cameras helpfully label a "Karma-Noise" with the guns while the words Billion Maiden inexplicably flash inside your brain. You're not quite sure what kind of nonsense world you've ended up in, but it's certainly very different from any of the worlds you've seen before.

As her song begins to echo in your ears, Elfnein finally responds to your question. "That's her Symphogear! Much like the Innocent Waves you mentioned before, it accesses the area of the brain responsible for love and manifests the wielder's desire to protect what they love as power. It also requires phonic gain to function, which means she has to sing in order to power it. Does that answer your question?" It does, but only in such a way that it raises further questions. Once all this is over, the two of you are going to have to have a long talk about your respective worlds and the bizarre energies that can be found in them.

"It does, at least for now. It also makes me incredulous that she would feel the need to brandish it at me while I'm down an arm, but I've gathered that she's had bad experiences with androids before." You respond as you briskly make your way over towards the machine that the relic fragments have been sliding around in. Elfnein, for her part, goes quiet for a moment in response to your unspoken question.

"We've… all had some bad experiences with Autoscorers, yes. It's a bit different for me compared to everyone else, but I can't say that her paranoia was entirely unjustified. Chris is a good person though, so I'm sure she wouldn't have shot you even if you made a bad first impression." That's not entirely reassuring, but at the moment you'll take whatever you can get.

"That's what a good first impression looks like?" You snark as you check on the relic fragments. "Remind me never to get on her bad side then." While the surviving chunks of Gjallarhorn mostly seem to be as you left them, one fragment in particular is concerning you. Where the glow of Getter has faded to a slight sheen in all the others, this one's light is rising and darkening in a rhythm not unlike that of a beating heart. You've seen a lot of unsettling things where the Getter Rays are concerned, but this probably makes the top five considering the potential implications. As you draw closer to the monitors, trying to do some kind of useful analysis while you're down here, you begin to hear something new; another song? This one is different, though. This one feels right in a way that Chris's song doesn't. It's almost like this song was made for you…

As you process that bizarre non-sequitur, the glass case holding the relic fragments shatters. You yelp in surprise and scoot your chair backwards, only to see the loose wires from your torso snaking out towards the relic. The fragment, for its part, is now glowing brighter than before and is now suspended in mid-air. It's almost as if it's waiting for your components to come into contact with it. Your mind immediately flashes back to the warning that you just gave Elfnein about Getter Rays fusing things together, but it's too late now.

"Imyuteus Gjallarhorn tron…"

Once contact is made, your awareness abruptly shrinks down to the world in front of you as something is born from the fusion. The wires entangle themselves around the relic before shooting back into your torso, healing the damage as though it was never there. You can't really appreciate the help, though, as you abruptly feel as though you have been lit on fire from the inside out. Is this how Go feels all the time as a person born of Getter Ray manipulation? If so, you owe him an apology, because this hurts. Almost as soon as you think that, though, the pain fades, with the flames quieting to a dull roar as your body begins to shift and change. You can feel crystalline matter wrapping itself around your imitation blood vessels and invading your organs; one strand even wraps around your central power core, although it thankfully doesn't pierce into it. You're not sure exactly what would happen if the antimatter within was released like this, but it would almost certainly be a bad time for everyone within a considerable blast radius.

As the fusion progresses, the music gets louder and louder; you can dimly hear someone on the bridge shouting "The Gjallarhorn?!" into your ear, but it gets swiftly drowned out by the rising rock instrumentals building within your chest. Then your back explodes, shredding what's left of your dress as tendrils of machinery burst forth once, then twice, before shrinking back into your body, all the while bathing the room in a sickly green glow.

Chains of green lightning race up your body from the feet down, leaving panels of red machinery and armor in their wake; the tattered remnants of your dress are reborn in a red-and-blue color scheme that doesn't quite suit you in your opinion, but you have bigger things to worry about right now. Red pauldrons with gold spikes form on your shoulders before shooting out sharp single-bladed axes, one for each hand. And you do have both hands now, your left arm having regenerated good as new and now covered in the same red armor that covers so much of your body. Blue panels form over your chest and your head is crowned with a red helmet that doesn't actually cover your face, instead framing it as it builds up to a five-pointed front-facing crown on top. The whole thing seems to be a mix of Chris's outfit and the markings of a Getter Dragon… is this a Symphogear?

And then you black out. When you've awakened again a few seconds later, you're on top of the submarine and Chris is screaming in your ear. You can actually hear her twice over, once through your communicator and again through the actual air. This bodes poorly for your plan to stay out of the way of this fight. You're also singing. Why are you singing, and why does it sound so right for you?

"Burn your passion! We'll definitely catch our dreams someday…"

Looking behind you, you can see that you've torn a massive hole in the roof of the submarine stretching all the way from Elfnein's lab up to the surface. Oops, you're definitely going to have to help fix that later. You resolutely avoid making eye contact with Chris, trying to will the embarrassed blush away from your cheeks as you focus on the enemies before you.

One of the mass-produced Sarcophagi is already down, but the other three look no worse for wear and Chris is clearly favoring her right shoulder. On the bright side, your blind rage-induced attack seems to have cut off the Karma-Noise's right arm entirely, although it's still alive and ready to throw its remaining hand against yours.

"-I don't know what the hell you think you're doing with that Symphogear, but let me take point! I've got experience with Ichaival, you've only just attuned to that relic!" Chris shouts as she keeps her eyes focused on the enemies. "Hang back for now and back me up when I call for it! Better yet, hold out until the idiot and her girlfriend get here!"

Vote Choices:

[] You've got plenty of (simulated) CQC experience, a brand new melee weapon, and a burning spirit, so get in there and crack some heads!

[] Chris is the veteran here; listen to her and hang back for now. You still don't really know what this power can do, after all.

[] Write-In

[X] Chris is the veteran here; listen to her and hang back for now. You still don't really know what this power can do, after all.

As tempted as you are to give in to the lure of your newfound power and starting carving things up, Chris has a point. You barely even know what a Symphogear is and you certainly don't know what will happen to one that's been irradiated by Getter Rays, so it really would be wise to hang back and let her take point here. You've learned your lesson from the development of the VangRay and how its kludged-together nature almost got Sis killed in the end when she went up against an opponent who actually knew how to use Gardim technology properly. A quick look back at the damage you caused to the sub serves as further evidence in favor of caution; you're trying to defend this place, not destroy it, and there's no telling what could happen if you lost control again like you just did.

Speaking of which, this seems like a bad time to have a moment of panic over losing control like that, but apparently your subconscious didn't get the memo. You sway slightly on the battlefield as you try and fail to avoid flashing back to your time as a puppet of Gardim and holding Sis at gunpoint. Those memories will likely haunt you for the rest of your life, even if it did work out for the best in the end. This time you don't have any memory of carving open the deck like canned food, which in some ways makes it even worse. How much more damage could you have done if someone had been in your way at the time? Could you have accidentally killed an innocent person without even realizing it? The thought sends shivers down your artificial spine. No; you got lucky this time, but you will not lose yourself like that again, not ever.

While you're having this crisis, the battlefield has not been idle; Chris focuses her fire on the Karma-Noise, trying to capitalize on the damage that you did in your moment of berserk fury. Unfortunately, the beast is simply too large to be so easily slain, and you can instinctively tell that she simply doesn't have the time to charge up one of her more powerful weapons in the current chaos. The three surviving Sarcophagi are charging forward, moving in an oddly similar formation to what your data banks tells you is know as the Jet Stream Attack. You fend off their first charge by throwing both of your axes like boomerangs, the words Double Tomahawk Boomerang flashing across your vision as you do so. You continue to sing about the importance of 'making sure you're still alive' as the song in your heart spurs you onward. Somehow, despite having never heard these lyrics before, you can perfectly recall them and feel like they express everything you feel in your heart. Is this what it feels like to wear a Symphogear? If so, you could get used to this, assuming you can get past the blind blackout-inducing rages.

In response to you fouling their charge, one of the Sarcophagi turns towards you as the other two maintain their focus on Chris. She manages to clip one with her miniguns as she swings around towards them, but cries out in pain as the other slams her injured left shoulder in retaliation. While it's clear that she's far from harmless in CQC, it's equally clear that it's not her specialty, especially while the giant Karma-Noise is still demanding the lion's share of her attention. As much as you would love to help her, you've got your hands full with just the one MP Sarcophagus coming after you.

Chris is somehow able to spare enough attention to shout for you to "look out," but she needn't have bothered; you can see the homicidal giant penguin robot coming for you just fine, thank you very much. For just a moment you're reminded of Catherine Vuitton and her 'Snooby' robot, but where that abomination was trying to look cute and failing this one instead menaces with spikes of steel and is clearly a weapon of war first and foremost. Based on the snippets you overheard earlier, this one also doesn't have freezing projectiles, which is good; this fight is going to be hard enough to handle as it is.

The Sarcophagus circles around you to the left as you match its movements; it's clearly trying to get between you and Chris, but there's nothing you can do to prevent that as things stand. Instead, you focus on the axes in your hands and ready a charge of your own. Boosters unfold from your waist and hurl you into the air as you prepare for a vertical cross slice, only for the machine to raise its arms and deflect your blow before slugging you in the gut with what feels like a freight train for an arm. You gag and are thrown back towards the hole in the deck, losing one of your axes as you go. You slam the other one down to stop your tumble, tearing a much smaller gouge in the deck and nearly wrenching your arm out of its socket as a result. As the Sarcophagus closes in for another punch, you adjust to a two-handed grip on your remaining ax and swing, the words Getter Tomahawk appearing before you as you do so. You are promptly rewarded by the machine's right arm flying away and over the side of the deck, your enemy screeching in rage in response. Just as you think you might be getting the hang of things, Elfnein promptly raises you on an open channel.

"Look out, Nine! Behind you!"

Sadly the warning comes just too late for you to avoid the small flying drone that tackles you in the back. Its color scheme reminds you of the Sarcophagi, and it suddenly clicks; those spikes weren't spikes at all. They were launching points for these small drones! Unfortunately, the Sarcophagus that's focusing on you doesn't give you time to process this revelation before smashing into you with its remaining arm and launching its second and final drone directly into your face. You're able to get your head down enough that your crown blocks the worst of the blow, but it's still painful and disorienting, like having your ejection seat fire. There's no time to rest, though, as both drones are coming around for another pass and the Sarcophagus is readying another punch. You instantly run a combat analysis and conclude that you need to clear away the drones immediately, and as if in response to your request the circle in the middle of your crown fires a bright green Getter Beam at one of them, disintegrating it instantly. Once again your attack's name is broadcast in your heart and mind as well as to all those watching, and once again you are left wondering how exactly that works. You don't ponder it for long, however, as the punch that the Sarcophagus was throwing finds its mark on your left arm, heavily damaging the elbow joint that your transformation had just fixed. Fortunately, being down an arm means that it can't easily follow up, so you're able to gain some breathing room without much difficulty.

With a moment to stop and think, you realize that Chris hasn't asked for your help at all; despite being swarmed by enemies and dealing with the angry kaiju on top of that, she's kept her head in the game and has even been trying to look out for you on top of that. You feel torn between gratitude and annoyance; on the one hand, it feels nice to know that even on a new Earth, you've immediately found people that will have your back. On the other hand, you really wish she would trust you enough to return her help in kind, inexperienced or not. You're supposed to be a team, at least for the moment, and even if she wants to take the lion's share of the burden you want her to trust you! Unfortunately, your moment to think is promptly interrupted by the second drone, which buzzes past you and dodges your retaliatory beam.

Realizing that the second drone won't be as easy a target as the first, you improvise and throw your remaining ax at it, then fire your Getter Beam; while the drone dodges both individually, your beam deflects off the edge of the ax and splits into multiple weaker beams like a shotgun. Several of the beams lance into the back of the drone, causing it to explode and leaving several new scorch marks in the deck. Your song swells in response, your heart lightened by the knowledge that you can actually contribute in a fight like this.

A brief glance over at Chris reveals that her fight is going about as well as could be expected; both of the MP Sarcophagi are down, but there are still two drones harassing her and a heavily injured but still standing Karma-Noise to deal with. Chris herself looks a bit worse for wear, with her helmet cracked and her right heel missing a small chunk of its armor. Unfortunately, she'll still have to fight on her own for now, as you have to finish off that damaged Sarcophagus before it chases you down. Both you and it are damaged and low on power, but you should hopefully be able to outlast it. Wait a minute, why is it going back to circling around you? It's out of drones and doesn't have any ranged weapons, surely it realizes that it has to close the gap if it wants to hit you-

A chill promptly runs through you as you realize that it's not after you at all; it's heading for the hole in the deck of the sub. The same hole leading directly to Elfnein's lab and the irradiated fragments contained therein. Horror sweeps across your heart as you realize that there's only one target it could be after. It's going for the remnants of the Gjallarhorn! In theory it could also be aiming for the bridge, but some instinct tells you that it's definitely not doing that. Chris is still busy with the Karma-Noise; it's up to you to stop it, but what should you do? What can you do?

Vote Choices:

[] Intercept it face-first if you have to, but keep it away from the relic fragments!

[] Jump in ahead of it, grab the fragments and run. Lead it on a merry chase until backup can arrive; surely Hibiki and her girlfriend must be close by now, right?

[] Write-In

A/N: How's my fight writing? I'm more than a little out of practice there, so any feedback is appreciated!