- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Or how he explicitly told Kyouko about Homura's power in PMAS.
Puella Magi Adfligo Systema
- Thread starter Firnagzen
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- puella magi adfligo systema puella magi madoka magica be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist bad decisions dating mami tomoe (tomoe mami) diabolical laughter friendship is the best ship handholding identity crises microwaving tea gets you put in the bad place names are important the body is the fursona of the soul this is not the baked goods thread we don't talk about rionna what could possibly go wrong? who in the world is azure sanfrancisco?
Or how he explicitly told Kyouko about Homura's power in PMAS.
Lowlife pt. 18
"I'm going to steal that ship," you decide after a moment of silence, each of you taking the time to contemplate the fell and terrible specter of a flying ship from afar.
A particularly dumb one, too. You glance from the ship to the city, trying to estimate distances and firing angles. And at a rough guess, even from their current position just outside the city, it looks like they'd have to at the very least roll over to the side to fire at the city, which... you assume they've done, judging by what you've heard about them taking hostages and destroying buildings.
"Would you consider sharing?" Yuki asks lightly. "I feel like ships are sufficiently building-like to be affected by my power."
"Speaking of buildings, are we... are we seeing any damage in the city?" you murmur. "They do that, right?"
"Perhaps not, if the local girls surrendered quickly," Mami says, turning her eyes to look.
You bite your lip as you survey Mandalay from afar. With the buildings crowding together, you can't see anything that looks out of place - not at this distance, at any rate, and you're not getting up close and personal without performing your due diligence in recon first. Not with your friends at stake.
"I believe I'll start scrying," Oriko says, returning to her seat.
"Mm..." you frown slightly, considering the situation. You're still a good distance away from the city, off to its north-east - just past a hundred kilometers away from the skyscrapers of the city center. A river slips past the city to its west, north-to-south, the curls of frozen waves snapshot in hues of grey, and there you see the gentle rise of Mandalay hill.
The Iowa hovers above the river, just outside the borders of the city proper. Which is one upside, you suppose - if they're over the river, you don't have to worry about them crashing into anything on the way down, if down they are going.
"We need to know if they have any hostages on board," you say. "Oriko, Sayaka, Umika, anything you can find out I'd be deeply grateful for. And... mm. Actually, ah, before you start - everyone?"
You turn a slow circle, meeting the eyes of your friends. A few encouraging smiles here and there, a few looks of calm consideration. Open excitement for a few: Sayaka and Kazumi and Kirika and Mika. They're all looking to you for guidance. You worry that you might not live up to that, but that's fine. You have that most powerful tool at your side: delegation.
"Alright," you say. "I... again, I'll defer to anyone more experienced than myself, but as I see it: our first concern is hostages, yeah? If we can confirm that they don't have any, then we can, uh, have our way with the ship. The second consideration would be collateral damage."
Honestly, you sort of want to just take the Iowa group and... push them somewhere else.
"Then we need to know where they are," Mami says, nodding.
"Does your compass tell you whether the scryer is, um, on the ship or in the city?" you ask.
"We're far enough out that it's difficult to say," Mami says, frowning. "I think she's on the ship."
"Right," you say.
"The disposition of their forces is the first thing to be determined, then," Yuki says. "Which falls to Miss Mikuni, Miss Miki, and... Miss Misaki."
Her words trail off as she pivots on her heels to level an accusing eyebrow at you.
"I, uh," you say. Madokami above, you can feel the stares on you from everyone else. "I swear I didn't plan that. I wish I could say I did, because that is fantastically alliterative, but I didn't."
"Your unconscious mind is a rogue punster," Kirika says, grinning. "I approve."
Sasami flashes you a tentative, discreet thumbs-up, out of line-of-sight of Yuki.
"What about the civilians?" Sayaka asks.
"That's a problem too," you say. "I- OK, you know what? Why are we all standing? Sit down, sit down."
You reconfigure all the seats into a neat circle once more, and while you're at it, you dissolve the walls surrounding the flight platform so you have a clear view of the landscape all around. Gentle swells of hills and the untidy checker of farmland abound, sewn together with the thread of roads.
"Not that I mind, and not that they're uncomfortable," Moe asks, "But I do wonder why no two of these chairs match? Loveseats for the lovebirds, sure, but..." She motions towards the rocking chair she's sitting on, and then at the pilot's seat Yuki claimed.
"Eh..." You shrug. "Variety is the spice of life?"
"I suppose," Moe says dubiously. Shadows lick up and down her chair, wispy darkness simmering in what might be jittery energy and anticipation.
"Let's get to business," Yuki says, leaning forward slightly.
"Right, yes," you say, taking a breath. "So. We have a preeeeetty clear identification of whoever was scrying to be the Iowa group. I think we're all agreed that we're willing to make a first strike here?"
"A clear identification?" Noriko asks blankly. "How so?"
"Eh?" you say, blinking. "I mean, that's the USS Iowa. Iowa group. I... really can't see it being anyone else?"
"Oh," Noriko says, turning to stare at the floating ship. "Right, sorry. I don't know boats. Yeah, I guess that makes sense then."
"Yeah... I forget not everyone's as critically nerdy as I am," you mutter, rubbing your nose sheepishly. Mami giggles quietly, patting your shoulder gently. "Alright. So... are we all good with this?"
You watch, taking in the wave of nods and agreements, and Kyouko's grumbled, "We better be fighting something today."
You feel an odd mix of worry and anticipation and gladness swelling within you. Anticipation, because in some ways, you're looking forward to the fight. Guilt chases on the heels of that - guilt for being excited for a fight, one that might be life and death. Worry, because you're going into a fight, and gladness, because you're not going into it alone. You have friends at your back.
"It's not like there are very many innocent interpretations of them being here, huh," Sayaka says, her eyes flicking over to the city again.
"Alright. Then... our primary concerns: our safety, safety of civilians and potential hostages," you say. "So I see two broad lines of attack here. One: if we can figure out some way to fight their antimagic, and if we can determine that they're all aboard, we can ourselves board and fight. Or maybe we can disable the ship from beyond time stop, especially if we can determine that they're not all on board."
"Can we force them to move elsewhere?" Kazumi asks. "So we don't have to fight them near a city?"
"I... don't know," you admit. "And I don't know if we can do it fast enough to prevent them from getting shots off first."
"Changing the battleground isn't a bad idea," Mami says, nodding at Kazumi. "We could also consider luring them elsewhere, but that would lose us the advantage of initiative and Homura's timestop."
"And if they have hostages..." Mirai worries at a chunk of her lavender hair, gnawing at it until Kaoru, sitting beside her, firmly removes it from her mouth.
"So that would be the first and most important thing to determine: the disposition of their forces," Yuki says.
You nod slightly, conceding the point.
"And any further details about the battleship in the room," you say, frowning. A tiny effort of will and imagination has Grief coalescing in the middle of the circle of your friends, shaping bulkheads and the imposing lines of a hull and the castle of the Iowa's superstructure. A petite one-to-hundred scale makes it just under three meters long, large enough to pick out detail, and large enough to look down the yawning depths of the triple gun turrets if you chose. "OK. I'm making this a map of sorts to help with planning... Oriko, Sayaka, Umika, if you let me know what's where, I can update this."
Umika nods silently, pushing her half-spectacle-monocle up her nose as she flips her book open, producing a pen with a quick flourish.
"That's remarkably helpful," Oriko says. Her eyes slide over to Sayaka, their gazes locking for a second.
Sayaka frowns, raising an eyebrow.
"I've found it considerably easier to scry something that I'm more familiar with," Oriko explains after a moment. "Having a model will help us both in our attempts."
"Ah," Sayaka says, scowling ferociously at the model of the Iowa.
"Assuming that the interior is accurate to the actual Iowa, anyway," you say with a sigh. "I mean, my model is accurate to what I know of the actual ship, BB-61, but whether theirs is an accurate replica or not... Well, help me keep an eye out for that?"
"I'll do that," Sayaka says. Her scowl deepens, and she glares at Oriko. "How are we supposed to get through that antimagic? You were the one who wanted us to be closer to it."
"Their antimagic doesn't seem to be as comprehensive as Kirika's," Oriko says. "I wasn't able to probe past it at a distance, but now that we're closer, I have every reason to believe that by focusing my search area, I can find a way through."
"That's my Oriko," Kirika says proudly.
"Kure's antimagic is pulsed," Sayaka observes. "I take it this one isn't, or we caught them at a bad time."
"It seems to be continuous but not as comprehensive," Oriko says with a shrug.
"Hey, uh... I don't think it would, but be sure not to somehow bring them into the timestop, yeah?" you say. "Or, like, pull back if you do so by accident."
You flash Homura a concerned look. She's been holding up perfectly well so far, but you can't help but worry about her, with the way her shoulders ratchet tighter and tighter. She hasn't raised a single word of protest so far, but... you can't help remember her concerns when this all began, and worry.
"In what way is it not as comprehensive?" Kazumi asks, pursing her lips. "Can we punch through it? 'cuz that sounds like the answer to all our problems."
"I'm not sure how to express it," Oriko says. "It's... leaky on certain... wavelengths?"
"I believe I can answer that," Mami says slowly. "It feels, in retrospect, as if the antimagic shield they have is one that blocks hostile effects more than anything else."
"That's kind of unfortunate," you say. "I suppose it means we'll have a harder time hitting them."
"Hey, I've got a question," Mika says.
"Yes?" you ask. You keep an eye on Oriko as she closes her eyes, her magic gathering within her. You're not the only one either, Homura's eyes boring into her, mirrored by Sayaka's cerulean blue - the latter glancing your way as she seems to notice your attention.
"They've definitely got some kind of illusion or perception filter or something going on, right?" Mika says.
"Either that, or they're relying on Kyuubey covering up for them," you say, turning your attention fully to Mika.
"Miss Nakano has a point," Homura murmurs, frowning deeply. "I've never heard of... this."
You nod slowly, absorbing that. If she had, she'd have tried recruiting them, you imagine - fruitlessly, perhaps, but she would have tried. And... well, you trust Homura. Of course you do. And more to the point, you trust that if she'd heard of them before, and their powers, she'd have mentioned something prior to all this.
"And neither have I," Yuki says. "So we know the powers of perhaps four of their roster."
"The ship, their antimagic, their mindfucker, their scryer, who might also be a weather mage?" Akemi says, counting them off on her fingers.
"Their antimagic and their, ah, mindfucker are the same person," Umika says, staring at her book, open in her lap. A faint glow spills from the pages, lighting her face from beneath as she looks up. "So that's three."
"Then I've found those three, I suspect," Oriko says, opening her eyes. "They're on the... bridge, I believe?"
"Point 'em out for me," you say, detaching the forecastle from the model and floating it over to Oriko. "In here?"
"They are," Oriko affirms, reaching out to tap the model with her finger. "There. All three of them standing together. I haven't found any of the others."
"Crew quarters, maybe?" Sayaka says. "Do you know where those are, Sabrina?"
"Uh... I mean, the Iowa's big enough to have multiple, distributed throughout the entire ship," you say. A thought 'explodes' your model into sections, the hull lifting off and sections separating from each other. A particular row of them, spanning the entire ship, you point out to Sayaka. "So as far as I know, all of these are crew quarters."
"A lot of ground to cover," Sayaka mutters. "I'll start with the ones nearer to the bridge, I guess."
"Miss Mikuni," Mami says. "Can you tell if the three on the bridge have reacted in any way to our activity prior to entering Homura's timestop?"
"Oh, yes," Oriko says, nodding. "They seem to be... having an argument between two of them. One of them I presume to be the ship owner, given her attire-" and you take that as a cue to add a pirate hat to one of the models, "-and the other their weather mage, again, given her costume. The third looks annoyed with all the noise."
"Their antimage," you mutter. "Alright, that's good. No hostages or prisoners there?"
"Not that I can see," Oriko says, shaking her head. "I shall continue to search."
"Hey, uh, Sayaka," you say. "While you're at it, can you check the middle turret, see if it's functioning?"
"Sure?" Sayaka says.
"The actual Iowa had that turret blow up," you explain. "It was never actually repaired before it was decommissioned, so it was just a dummy turret and like... I'm kind of assuming that the damn thing is actually a threat, turrets and all. If all of them are functional, then that's important to know."
"That's a safe assumption," Kyouko mutters. "Assume the fucking worst."
"Given the track record of the Iowa group, I would presume that the ship poses a threat, yes," Yuki says. "The threat of force aside, I mean."
"Hostages, I think," Sayaka says, her eyes springing open. "Uh- sorry, haven't forgotten about the turret thing, but I wanted to check the crew quarters quickly. They're... gimme that section there- no, not that one, that on- oh forget it."
Sayaka hops to her feet, rather than try to point out which of the many exploded ship-segments you have. She stabs a finger at the one all the way to the stern, furthest away from the bridge.
"There," she says. "There's a dead zone here. A different kind of antimagic in this room, it feels like. One girl who I think was on guard, another girl... here, two floors down, who looks like she's running towards them. Both of 'em are magical girls, obviously."
"Fantastic work," you say, marking out the rooms and the newly discovered girls. "Any guesses as to their powers from their costumes?"
"Search me," Sayaka says with a shrug as she returns to her seat. "Uh... Miss Umika?"
"I'll try," Umika says, scribbling furiously in her book.
"Speaking of their antimagic..." Kazumi says, sticking her hand up, simultaneously elbowing Mirai.
"I wanna test my bears against it," Mirai says. "If it's like Mami-sempai said, then my bears might work pretty well."
"I think we need a more generalized way of bypassing their antimagic," Mami says. "Having the bears would be helpful, certainly, but we can't rely solely on them to do all the work, especially not against experienced magical girls."
"Right... that's a good segue, anyway," you say. "Antimagic. That's a problem."
"Miss Kure, do you think you can counter their antimagic?"
"Dunno," Kirika says, scratching her hair. "Can't say for sure without trying it out."
"I can fix that!" Kazumi says brightly. "Well, I can try. I can just copy their antimagic and let you test against that!"
"Cool," Kirika says, scowling. "Honestly, get me close to her and I can shut down the entire thing, probably."
"Think you can shut the entire ship down?" Kaoru asks.
"No idea!" Kirika says cheerfully. "Miss Kazumi? Think ya can whip up a copy for me to test on?"
"Uh..." Kazumi frowns and stands, gently displacing Kaoru and Umika from around her, before pacing to the edge of the platform, all eyes following her. She squints at the distant battleship, holding one hand out as if to shade her eyes. "Nnnnnno, I don't think I can copy that. That ship's..."
"It's her 'weapon', isn't it," you sigh. "I get a hammer, and she gets an entire damn ship."
"Think so. Or her specific Wish-thingy," Kazumi says with a shrug. "I mean, Wishes are these... fuzzy, wobbly things anyway. Feels like... not magic magic, but more like..." Kazumi makes a vague gesture with her hands. "Yeah. Point is, doesn't feel like I can copy the ship, but I can copy the antimagic field they've got. Which I'll do now."
"U-um... does that mean she can make more ships?" Yuma asks, looking deeply concerned, and really, can you blame her?
"... So we need to plan a way to potentially take out multiple battleships," you say.
"We should make our own," Sayaka grumbles.
"Don't tempt me," you mutter. "I really want to make a Montana in response. That's, uh, the planned successor to the Iowa that was never built, for everyone who isn't a ship nerd."
"I vote for the Yamato," Kirika chirps.
"Oi, Miss Kirika, sec over here? Wanna try this out?" Kazumi asks, waving her hand. "I've got their antimagic copied, let's try yours against theirs."
"Lemme give you a side platform to test it on?" you offer, a walkway already growing from the side of the disc. "And, uh, Mirai-"
"Yup!" Mirai says. You're already bringing her bears to bear, swinging that extra platform up into place at the end of the walkway.
"Cool!" Kazumi says, bouncing off. "Don't mind us~"
You do mind them, of course, if only to keep an eye out for Homura's peace of mind - her eyes track Kirika like turrets locked onto a target as Kirika bestows a quick kiss upon Oriko and hops to her feet to follow Kazumi.
"Something like this ship can't be cheap," Yuki notes after a moment. "Even if the Iowa-girl Wished for the ship, and she probably did, I doubt that she..." Yuki trails off, emerald-green eyes narrowing in thought. "Perhaps we're overthinking this. Can we just board and capture them one-by-one?"
The nauseating sensation of antimagic distracts you for a moment, your eyes flickering to Kazumi and Kirika standing at the end of the walkway. Kazumi's grinning brightly, magic hazing around her, and Kirika's evidently testing her own magic out, judging by the pulses that tug uncomfortably at your mind.
"That does rather depend on whether we can operate through the antimagic field," Mami muses, nudging her shoulder gently against yours. "And more importantly, can we capture them without connecting the rest of them to the timestop?"
"And uh... is it possible that they have a power amplifier, or a Grief controller or some other way to offset costs?" you venture.
It occurs to you that you wanted to do some tests with the antimagic, and it just so happens that you have a convenient means of doing so right here. All you have to do is to spare a fraction of your attention and a bit of Grief for the testing. Entirely doable.
"It's possible," Mami says, worrying at her lower lip. "Likely, even."
"Mrg. Sayaka, Oriko - are you still looking for the Iowa girls?" you ask, skimming bits of Grief into the boundary of the field Kazumi has up, an action you regret almost immediately as nausea roils through your stomach.
Mami glances to you, golden eyes widening with concern.
"Just testing something," you mutter to her. She nods slightly, and shifts so that you can lean against her without it being too obvious.
But-
The important thing is, despite the nausea that lances through you and threatens your lunch into making a reappearance, you didn't lose control of your Grief. Some precision in control, perhaps, but it's not Kirika's antimagic. And speaking of which, you can feel Kirika gathering her power once more, so you pull your Grief back fully.
Homura seems to have noticed your moment of weakness too, a concerned look darting your way.
"I am," Oriko answers, rubbing her forehead. "It seems they're all on the ship, or rather, I'm not seeing any evidence of them being in the city."
"Yeah..." Sayaka mutters distractedly.
"Then... can you see if they're connected in any way?" you ask, raising your wrist demonstratively, Mami's ribbon glowing gold even in the unearthly half-light of the time stop.
"Hol' up," Kyouko grunts, stirring and glaring at Sayaka. "A different kind of antimagic, you said. Izzit that the Iowa girls have a second antimagic girl that they're using to lock down their prisoners, or did they grab some hostages who're taking advantage and making a move?"
"Er," Sayaka says. "I don't know."
"An excellent point," Mami says with a smile for Kyouko, but her attention remains focused mainly on the ship - the crew quarters Sayaka pointed out. "That does rather change the complexion of things."
"Actually..." Yuki mutters. "Is it really a concern if they can make another ship or ten? We have enough heavy hitters here that we should be able to destroy them outright, and if they're newly created, then there will be no one aboard. And in fact, if they're simply conjurations, then we have less fear of them hitting something on the way down. The danger is in our opponents, not the Iowa."
"Barring teleports," Homura points out.
"Newly created ships will be empty barring teleporters, yes," Yuki agrees. "Miss Misaki, can you tell us anything there?"
"No teleporters in the area," Umika says. "There is a healer, but I'm not sure whose side she's on."
"Gotta be with the Iowa girls, right?" Kaoru says, brushing orange hair from her eyes. "They can't have lasted this long without one."
"Miss Misaki, can you determine all the powers in the area?" Mika asks.
"It's not so easy," Umika says, shaking her head. "But that's what I've been trying to do, yeah."
"Given that large portions of the ship are empty, can we just blast it?" Sasami suggests. "Break it into pieces... and you can catch the pieces if they fall, Miss Vee?"
"Yeah, that's possible," you say. "The problem is if they can just reform it, and if we're sure they won't take action against their hostages or the city."
"Speaking of, there are three antimagic users in the area," Umika says, her pen stilling on the page. "Miss Kure, then... well, two more. One of them also has perception effects of some kind, and the last one is unknown."
"That's a good start, so thank you. Uh... can you get a count of how many magical girls there are here, actually?" you say.
Umika shakes her head, looking apologetic. "My magic is kind of unreliable for this kind of thing," she says.
"That's fine - anything you can find out is helpful," you say, blowing out a breath that puffs your cheeks out. "Gah."
"Gah yourself," Kazumi says as she trots back, Mirai and Kirika in tow. "Good news, bad news?"
"Bad news first, if you please," Yuki says.
"Bad news is that my magic doesn't work great against the antimagic field," Kirika says, pouting grumpily as she throws herself at Oriko, the seer catching her in her arms. Kirika squirms around on Oriko's lap, turning to face everyone. "Good news is that I can definitely make it fizzle if I hit her. An' before you ask, I can't snipe from that far out. I'd need to be closer."
"The other good news is that my beautiful bears are unaffected!" Mirai says brightly.
"Completely so?" Mami asks.
"Not completely," Mirai says. "I need to focus more on controlling them. The antimagic feels more like, er, turbulence. Or interference, or something like that."
"Really now?" Yuki says, looking up with sharp interest in her eyes. "That bodes well for us."
"My Grief control works too, but it, uh, makes me nauseous," you say. "Something I can get a hang of, but not something I want to fight through."
"If I may," Oriko says, opening her eyes once more. "I haven't seen anything to indicate that they might be linked together, but I believe I've found another two of their number. They are below the bridge, and if you could-" Seeing as Oriko is trapped by Kirika, you obligingly bring the model closer to her, "-thank you. Here, and here. One of them is turning towards the rear, apparently in the direction of their... prisoners? And one towards the bridge."
Yuki frowns sharply and nods. "That does lend credence to Miss Sakura's idea that their prisoners might be staging a breakout."
"Haven't really found any, um, normal humans on board either," Sayaka says.
"We should board the ship," Homura murmurs.
"I'm inclined to agree," Mami says, nodding. "If they're breaking out, then we should be helping them."
"Split our forces, maybe," Mika offers. "Half of us keep watch for any nasty surprises, half to sneak in?"
"Maybe," you say, considering the model of the ship.
[] Go in under the cover of timestop
- [] To rescue the prisoners - they need the help
- [] To capture the Iowa girls - neutralize the threat
[] Assault externally - a distraction for the escapees and neutralization the threat
[] Write-in any details
Honestly, this update fought me tooth and nail, and I'm not really happy with it still. Way too meander-y, if you ask me, but here it is. I might tighten it up at a later point.
A particularly dumb one, too. You glance from the ship to the city, trying to estimate distances and firing angles. And at a rough guess, even from their current position just outside the city, it looks like they'd have to at the very least roll over to the side to fire at the city, which... you assume they've done, judging by what you've heard about them taking hostages and destroying buildings.
"Would you consider sharing?" Yuki asks lightly. "I feel like ships are sufficiently building-like to be affected by my power."
"Speaking of buildings, are we... are we seeing any damage in the city?" you murmur. "They do that, right?"
"Perhaps not, if the local girls surrendered quickly," Mami says, turning her eyes to look.
You bite your lip as you survey Mandalay from afar. With the buildings crowding together, you can't see anything that looks out of place - not at this distance, at any rate, and you're not getting up close and personal without performing your due diligence in recon first. Not with your friends at stake.
"I believe I'll start scrying," Oriko says, returning to her seat.
"Mm..." you frown slightly, considering the situation. You're still a good distance away from the city, off to its north-east - just past a hundred kilometers away from the skyscrapers of the city center. A river slips past the city to its west, north-to-south, the curls of frozen waves snapshot in hues of grey, and there you see the gentle rise of Mandalay hill.
The Iowa hovers above the river, just outside the borders of the city proper. Which is one upside, you suppose - if they're over the river, you don't have to worry about them crashing into anything on the way down, if down they are going.
"We need to know if they have any hostages on board," you say. "Oriko, Sayaka, Umika, anything you can find out I'd be deeply grateful for. And... mm. Actually, ah, before you start - everyone?"
You turn a slow circle, meeting the eyes of your friends. A few encouraging smiles here and there, a few looks of calm consideration. Open excitement for a few: Sayaka and Kazumi and Kirika and Mika. They're all looking to you for guidance. You worry that you might not live up to that, but that's fine. You have that most powerful tool at your side: delegation.
"Alright," you say. "I... again, I'll defer to anyone more experienced than myself, but as I see it: our first concern is hostages, yeah? If we can confirm that they don't have any, then we can, uh, have our way with the ship. The second consideration would be collateral damage."
Honestly, you sort of want to just take the Iowa group and... push them somewhere else.
"Then we need to know where they are," Mami says, nodding.
"Does your compass tell you whether the scryer is, um, on the ship or in the city?" you ask.
"We're far enough out that it's difficult to say," Mami says, frowning. "I think she's on the ship."
"Right," you say.
"The disposition of their forces is the first thing to be determined, then," Yuki says. "Which falls to Miss Mikuni, Miss Miki, and... Miss Misaki."
Her words trail off as she pivots on her heels to level an accusing eyebrow at you.
"I, uh," you say. Madokami above, you can feel the stares on you from everyone else. "I swear I didn't plan that. I wish I could say I did, because that is fantastically alliterative, but I didn't."
"Your unconscious mind is a rogue punster," Kirika says, grinning. "I approve."
Sasami flashes you a tentative, discreet thumbs-up, out of line-of-sight of Yuki.
"What about the civilians?" Sayaka asks.
"That's a problem too," you say. "I- OK, you know what? Why are we all standing? Sit down, sit down."
You reconfigure all the seats into a neat circle once more, and while you're at it, you dissolve the walls surrounding the flight platform so you have a clear view of the landscape all around. Gentle swells of hills and the untidy checker of farmland abound, sewn together with the thread of roads.
"Not that I mind, and not that they're uncomfortable," Moe asks, "But I do wonder why no two of these chairs match? Loveseats for the lovebirds, sure, but..." She motions towards the rocking chair she's sitting on, and then at the pilot's seat Yuki claimed.
"Eh..." You shrug. "Variety is the spice of life?"
"I suppose," Moe says dubiously. Shadows lick up and down her chair, wispy darkness simmering in what might be jittery energy and anticipation.
"Let's get to business," Yuki says, leaning forward slightly.
"Right, yes," you say, taking a breath. "So. We have a preeeeetty clear identification of whoever was scrying to be the Iowa group. I think we're all agreed that we're willing to make a first strike here?"
"A clear identification?" Noriko asks blankly. "How so?"
"Eh?" you say, blinking. "I mean, that's the USS Iowa. Iowa group. I... really can't see it being anyone else?"
"Oh," Noriko says, turning to stare at the floating ship. "Right, sorry. I don't know boats. Yeah, I guess that makes sense then."
"Yeah... I forget not everyone's as critically nerdy as I am," you mutter, rubbing your nose sheepishly. Mami giggles quietly, patting your shoulder gently. "Alright. So... are we all good with this?"
You watch, taking in the wave of nods and agreements, and Kyouko's grumbled, "We better be fighting something today."
You feel an odd mix of worry and anticipation and gladness swelling within you. Anticipation, because in some ways, you're looking forward to the fight. Guilt chases on the heels of that - guilt for being excited for a fight, one that might be life and death. Worry, because you're going into a fight, and gladness, because you're not going into it alone. You have friends at your back.
"It's not like there are very many innocent interpretations of them being here, huh," Sayaka says, her eyes flicking over to the city again.
"Alright. Then... our primary concerns: our safety, safety of civilians and potential hostages," you say. "So I see two broad lines of attack here. One: if we can figure out some way to fight their antimagic, and if we can determine that they're all aboard, we can ourselves board and fight. Or maybe we can disable the ship from beyond time stop, especially if we can determine that they're not all on board."
"Can we force them to move elsewhere?" Kazumi asks. "So we don't have to fight them near a city?"
"I... don't know," you admit. "And I don't know if we can do it fast enough to prevent them from getting shots off first."
"Changing the battleground isn't a bad idea," Mami says, nodding at Kazumi. "We could also consider luring them elsewhere, but that would lose us the advantage of initiative and Homura's timestop."
"And if they have hostages..." Mirai worries at a chunk of her lavender hair, gnawing at it until Kaoru, sitting beside her, firmly removes it from her mouth.
"So that would be the first and most important thing to determine: the disposition of their forces," Yuki says.
You nod slightly, conceding the point.
"And any further details about the battleship in the room," you say, frowning. A tiny effort of will and imagination has Grief coalescing in the middle of the circle of your friends, shaping bulkheads and the imposing lines of a hull and the castle of the Iowa's superstructure. A petite one-to-hundred scale makes it just under three meters long, large enough to pick out detail, and large enough to look down the yawning depths of the triple gun turrets if you chose. "OK. I'm making this a map of sorts to help with planning... Oriko, Sayaka, Umika, if you let me know what's where, I can update this."
Umika nods silently, pushing her half-spectacle-monocle up her nose as she flips her book open, producing a pen with a quick flourish.
"That's remarkably helpful," Oriko says. Her eyes slide over to Sayaka, their gazes locking for a second.
Sayaka frowns, raising an eyebrow.
"I've found it considerably easier to scry something that I'm more familiar with," Oriko explains after a moment. "Having a model will help us both in our attempts."
"Ah," Sayaka says, scowling ferociously at the model of the Iowa.
"Assuming that the interior is accurate to the actual Iowa, anyway," you say with a sigh. "I mean, my model is accurate to what I know of the actual ship, BB-61, but whether theirs is an accurate replica or not... Well, help me keep an eye out for that?"
"I'll do that," Sayaka says. Her scowl deepens, and she glares at Oriko. "How are we supposed to get through that antimagic? You were the one who wanted us to be closer to it."
"Their antimagic doesn't seem to be as comprehensive as Kirika's," Oriko says. "I wasn't able to probe past it at a distance, but now that we're closer, I have every reason to believe that by focusing my search area, I can find a way through."
"That's my Oriko," Kirika says proudly.
"Kure's antimagic is pulsed," Sayaka observes. "I take it this one isn't, or we caught them at a bad time."
"It seems to be continuous but not as comprehensive," Oriko says with a shrug.
"Hey, uh... I don't think it would, but be sure not to somehow bring them into the timestop, yeah?" you say. "Or, like, pull back if you do so by accident."
You flash Homura a concerned look. She's been holding up perfectly well so far, but you can't help but worry about her, with the way her shoulders ratchet tighter and tighter. She hasn't raised a single word of protest so far, but... you can't help remember her concerns when this all began, and worry.
"In what way is it not as comprehensive?" Kazumi asks, pursing her lips. "Can we punch through it? 'cuz that sounds like the answer to all our problems."
"I'm not sure how to express it," Oriko says. "It's... leaky on certain... wavelengths?"
"I believe I can answer that," Mami says slowly. "It feels, in retrospect, as if the antimagic shield they have is one that blocks hostile effects more than anything else."
"That's kind of unfortunate," you say. "I suppose it means we'll have a harder time hitting them."
"Hey, I've got a question," Mika says.
"Yes?" you ask. You keep an eye on Oriko as she closes her eyes, her magic gathering within her. You're not the only one either, Homura's eyes boring into her, mirrored by Sayaka's cerulean blue - the latter glancing your way as she seems to notice your attention.
"They've definitely got some kind of illusion or perception filter or something going on, right?" Mika says.
"Either that, or they're relying on Kyuubey covering up for them," you say, turning your attention fully to Mika.
"Miss Nakano has a point," Homura murmurs, frowning deeply. "I've never heard of... this."
You nod slowly, absorbing that. If she had, she'd have tried recruiting them, you imagine - fruitlessly, perhaps, but she would have tried. And... well, you trust Homura. Of course you do. And more to the point, you trust that if she'd heard of them before, and their powers, she'd have mentioned something prior to all this.
"And neither have I," Yuki says. "So we know the powers of perhaps four of their roster."
"The ship, their antimagic, their mindfucker, their scryer, who might also be a weather mage?" Akemi says, counting them off on her fingers.
"Their antimagic and their, ah, mindfucker are the same person," Umika says, staring at her book, open in her lap. A faint glow spills from the pages, lighting her face from beneath as she looks up. "So that's three."
"Then I've found those three, I suspect," Oriko says, opening her eyes. "They're on the... bridge, I believe?"
"Point 'em out for me," you say, detaching the forecastle from the model and floating it over to Oriko. "In here?"
"They are," Oriko affirms, reaching out to tap the model with her finger. "There. All three of them standing together. I haven't found any of the others."
"Crew quarters, maybe?" Sayaka says. "Do you know where those are, Sabrina?"
"Uh... I mean, the Iowa's big enough to have multiple, distributed throughout the entire ship," you say. A thought 'explodes' your model into sections, the hull lifting off and sections separating from each other. A particular row of them, spanning the entire ship, you point out to Sayaka. "So as far as I know, all of these are crew quarters."
"A lot of ground to cover," Sayaka mutters. "I'll start with the ones nearer to the bridge, I guess."
"Miss Mikuni," Mami says. "Can you tell if the three on the bridge have reacted in any way to our activity prior to entering Homura's timestop?"
"Oh, yes," Oriko says, nodding. "They seem to be... having an argument between two of them. One of them I presume to be the ship owner, given her attire-" and you take that as a cue to add a pirate hat to one of the models, "-and the other their weather mage, again, given her costume. The third looks annoyed with all the noise."
"Their antimage," you mutter. "Alright, that's good. No hostages or prisoners there?"
"Not that I can see," Oriko says, shaking her head. "I shall continue to search."
"Hey, uh, Sayaka," you say. "While you're at it, can you check the middle turret, see if it's functioning?"
"Sure?" Sayaka says.
"The actual Iowa had that turret blow up," you explain. "It was never actually repaired before it was decommissioned, so it was just a dummy turret and like... I'm kind of assuming that the damn thing is actually a threat, turrets and all. If all of them are functional, then that's important to know."
"That's a safe assumption," Kyouko mutters. "Assume the fucking worst."
"Given the track record of the Iowa group, I would presume that the ship poses a threat, yes," Yuki says. "The threat of force aside, I mean."
"Hostages, I think," Sayaka says, her eyes springing open. "Uh- sorry, haven't forgotten about the turret thing, but I wanted to check the crew quarters quickly. They're... gimme that section there- no, not that one, that on- oh forget it."
Sayaka hops to her feet, rather than try to point out which of the many exploded ship-segments you have. She stabs a finger at the one all the way to the stern, furthest away from the bridge.
"There," she says. "There's a dead zone here. A different kind of antimagic in this room, it feels like. One girl who I think was on guard, another girl... here, two floors down, who looks like she's running towards them. Both of 'em are magical girls, obviously."
"Fantastic work," you say, marking out the rooms and the newly discovered girls. "Any guesses as to their powers from their costumes?"
"Search me," Sayaka says with a shrug as she returns to her seat. "Uh... Miss Umika?"
"I'll try," Umika says, scribbling furiously in her book.
"Speaking of their antimagic..." Kazumi says, sticking her hand up, simultaneously elbowing Mirai.
"I wanna test my bears against it," Mirai says. "If it's like Mami-sempai said, then my bears might work pretty well."
"I think we need a more generalized way of bypassing their antimagic," Mami says. "Having the bears would be helpful, certainly, but we can't rely solely on them to do all the work, especially not against experienced magical girls."
"Right... that's a good segue, anyway," you say. "Antimagic. That's a problem."
"Miss Kure, do you think you can counter their antimagic?"
"Dunno," Kirika says, scratching her hair. "Can't say for sure without trying it out."
"I can fix that!" Kazumi says brightly. "Well, I can try. I can just copy their antimagic and let you test against that!"
"Cool," Kirika says, scowling. "Honestly, get me close to her and I can shut down the entire thing, probably."
"Think you can shut the entire ship down?" Kaoru asks.
"No idea!" Kirika says cheerfully. "Miss Kazumi? Think ya can whip up a copy for me to test on?"
"Uh..." Kazumi frowns and stands, gently displacing Kaoru and Umika from around her, before pacing to the edge of the platform, all eyes following her. She squints at the distant battleship, holding one hand out as if to shade her eyes. "Nnnnnno, I don't think I can copy that. That ship's..."
"It's her 'weapon', isn't it," you sigh. "I get a hammer, and she gets an entire damn ship."
"Think so. Or her specific Wish-thingy," Kazumi says with a shrug. "I mean, Wishes are these... fuzzy, wobbly things anyway. Feels like... not magic magic, but more like..." Kazumi makes a vague gesture with her hands. "Yeah. Point is, doesn't feel like I can copy the ship, but I can copy the antimagic field they've got. Which I'll do now."
"U-um... does that mean she can make more ships?" Yuma asks, looking deeply concerned, and really, can you blame her?
"... So we need to plan a way to potentially take out multiple battleships," you say.
"We should make our own," Sayaka grumbles.
"Don't tempt me," you mutter. "I really want to make a Montana in response. That's, uh, the planned successor to the Iowa that was never built, for everyone who isn't a ship nerd."
"I vote for the Yamato," Kirika chirps.
"Oi, Miss Kirika, sec over here? Wanna try this out?" Kazumi asks, waving her hand. "I've got their antimagic copied, let's try yours against theirs."
"Lemme give you a side platform to test it on?" you offer, a walkway already growing from the side of the disc. "And, uh, Mirai-"
"Yup!" Mirai says. You're already bringing her bears to bear, swinging that extra platform up into place at the end of the walkway.
"Cool!" Kazumi says, bouncing off. "Don't mind us~"
You do mind them, of course, if only to keep an eye out for Homura's peace of mind - her eyes track Kirika like turrets locked onto a target as Kirika bestows a quick kiss upon Oriko and hops to her feet to follow Kazumi.
"Something like this ship can't be cheap," Yuki notes after a moment. "Even if the Iowa-girl Wished for the ship, and she probably did, I doubt that she..." Yuki trails off, emerald-green eyes narrowing in thought. "Perhaps we're overthinking this. Can we just board and capture them one-by-one?"
The nauseating sensation of antimagic distracts you for a moment, your eyes flickering to Kazumi and Kirika standing at the end of the walkway. Kazumi's grinning brightly, magic hazing around her, and Kirika's evidently testing her own magic out, judging by the pulses that tug uncomfortably at your mind.
"That does rather depend on whether we can operate through the antimagic field," Mami muses, nudging her shoulder gently against yours. "And more importantly, can we capture them without connecting the rest of them to the timestop?"
"And uh... is it possible that they have a power amplifier, or a Grief controller or some other way to offset costs?" you venture.
It occurs to you that you wanted to do some tests with the antimagic, and it just so happens that you have a convenient means of doing so right here. All you have to do is to spare a fraction of your attention and a bit of Grief for the testing. Entirely doable.
"It's possible," Mami says, worrying at her lower lip. "Likely, even."
"Mrg. Sayaka, Oriko - are you still looking for the Iowa girls?" you ask, skimming bits of Grief into the boundary of the field Kazumi has up, an action you regret almost immediately as nausea roils through your stomach.
Mami glances to you, golden eyes widening with concern.
"Just testing something," you mutter to her. She nods slightly, and shifts so that you can lean against her without it being too obvious.
But-
The important thing is, despite the nausea that lances through you and threatens your lunch into making a reappearance, you didn't lose control of your Grief. Some precision in control, perhaps, but it's not Kirika's antimagic. And speaking of which, you can feel Kirika gathering her power once more, so you pull your Grief back fully.
Homura seems to have noticed your moment of weakness too, a concerned look darting your way.
"I am," Oriko answers, rubbing her forehead. "It seems they're all on the ship, or rather, I'm not seeing any evidence of them being in the city."
"Yeah..." Sayaka mutters distractedly.
"Then... can you see if they're connected in any way?" you ask, raising your wrist demonstratively, Mami's ribbon glowing gold even in the unearthly half-light of the time stop.
"Hol' up," Kyouko grunts, stirring and glaring at Sayaka. "A different kind of antimagic, you said. Izzit that the Iowa girls have a second antimagic girl that they're using to lock down their prisoners, or did they grab some hostages who're taking advantage and making a move?"
"Er," Sayaka says. "I don't know."
"An excellent point," Mami says with a smile for Kyouko, but her attention remains focused mainly on the ship - the crew quarters Sayaka pointed out. "That does rather change the complexion of things."
"Actually..." Yuki mutters. "Is it really a concern if they can make another ship or ten? We have enough heavy hitters here that we should be able to destroy them outright, and if they're newly created, then there will be no one aboard. And in fact, if they're simply conjurations, then we have less fear of them hitting something on the way down. The danger is in our opponents, not the Iowa."
"Barring teleports," Homura points out.
"Newly created ships will be empty barring teleporters, yes," Yuki agrees. "Miss Misaki, can you tell us anything there?"
"No teleporters in the area," Umika says. "There is a healer, but I'm not sure whose side she's on."
"Gotta be with the Iowa girls, right?" Kaoru says, brushing orange hair from her eyes. "They can't have lasted this long without one."
"Miss Misaki, can you determine all the powers in the area?" Mika asks.
"It's not so easy," Umika says, shaking her head. "But that's what I've been trying to do, yeah."
"Given that large portions of the ship are empty, can we just blast it?" Sasami suggests. "Break it into pieces... and you can catch the pieces if they fall, Miss Vee?"
"Yeah, that's possible," you say. "The problem is if they can just reform it, and if we're sure they won't take action against their hostages or the city."
"Speaking of, there are three antimagic users in the area," Umika says, her pen stilling on the page. "Miss Kure, then... well, two more. One of them also has perception effects of some kind, and the last one is unknown."
"That's a good start, so thank you. Uh... can you get a count of how many magical girls there are here, actually?" you say.
Umika shakes her head, looking apologetic. "My magic is kind of unreliable for this kind of thing," she says.
"That's fine - anything you can find out is helpful," you say, blowing out a breath that puffs your cheeks out. "Gah."
"Gah yourself," Kazumi says as she trots back, Mirai and Kirika in tow. "Good news, bad news?"
"Bad news first, if you please," Yuki says.
"Bad news is that my magic doesn't work great against the antimagic field," Kirika says, pouting grumpily as she throws herself at Oriko, the seer catching her in her arms. Kirika squirms around on Oriko's lap, turning to face everyone. "Good news is that I can definitely make it fizzle if I hit her. An' before you ask, I can't snipe from that far out. I'd need to be closer."
"The other good news is that my beautiful bears are unaffected!" Mirai says brightly.
"Completely so?" Mami asks.
"Not completely," Mirai says. "I need to focus more on controlling them. The antimagic feels more like, er, turbulence. Or interference, or something like that."
"Really now?" Yuki says, looking up with sharp interest in her eyes. "That bodes well for us."
"My Grief control works too, but it, uh, makes me nauseous," you say. "Something I can get a hang of, but not something I want to fight through."
"If I may," Oriko says, opening her eyes once more. "I haven't seen anything to indicate that they might be linked together, but I believe I've found another two of their number. They are below the bridge, and if you could-" Seeing as Oriko is trapped by Kirika, you obligingly bring the model closer to her, "-thank you. Here, and here. One of them is turning towards the rear, apparently in the direction of their... prisoners? And one towards the bridge."
Yuki frowns sharply and nods. "That does lend credence to Miss Sakura's idea that their prisoners might be staging a breakout."
"Haven't really found any, um, normal humans on board either," Sayaka says.
"We should board the ship," Homura murmurs.
"I'm inclined to agree," Mami says, nodding. "If they're breaking out, then we should be helping them."
"Split our forces, maybe," Mika offers. "Half of us keep watch for any nasty surprises, half to sneak in?"
"Maybe," you say, considering the model of the ship.
[] Go in under the cover of timestop
- [] To rescue the prisoners - they need the help
- [] To capture the Iowa girls - neutralize the threat
[] Assault externally - a distraction for the escapees and neutralization the threat
[] Write-in any details
[X] Discuss presumed enemy powers and come up with counters.
-[X] Weather control. Homura's timestop and Mika probably both counter.
-[X] Could one of the Iowa Crew be a power amplifier, to explain all this?
-[X] Are there gaps in Iowa's powers they would need to fill in order to safely operate as they do?
-[X] If battleship artillery counts, everything you've seen from the Iowa Crew displays a capacity for extreme range; That could make fighting from afar tricky.
[X] You have a mass of enchanted grief that can make any one tool.
-[X] If you can't disable the antimagic field by other means, or need really heavy armor, you might try copying a certain witch's ability to just no sell everything.
-[X] Weather control. Homura's timestop and Mika probably both counter.
-[X] Could one of the Iowa Crew be a power amplifier, to explain all this?
-[X] Are there gaps in Iowa's powers they would need to fill in order to safely operate as they do?
-[X] If battleship artillery counts, everything you've seen from the Iowa Crew displays a capacity for extreme range; That could make fighting from afar tricky.
[X] You have a mass of enchanted grief that can make any one tool.
-[X] If you can't disable the antimagic field by other means, or need really heavy armor, you might try copying a certain witch's ability to just no sell everything.
=====
Honestly, this update fought me tooth and nail, and I'm not really happy with it still. Way too meander-y, if you ask me, but here it is. I might tighten it up at a later point.
- Location
- Elsewhere
Hey, maybe they're the Nebraska Group... that stole a USS Iowa for irony... and also came to Japan... for reasons.
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- Location
- LEO
Well, who wants to make a Battlestar for Yuki?
- Location
- Columbus, OH
Oh no, it's contagious.
Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
- Location
- Russia
@Firnagzen, does the shipguca really have a pirate hat? This is important.
Is she does, we are stealing it with the ship.
Is she does, we are stealing it with the ship.
Hmm... Infinitely sharp grief blade, bisect the ship? Hostages and guards on one side, the rest of the Iowa group on the other?
Not sure how it would interact with timestop, though if doing that and boarding drags both halves and their respective passengers into timestop and keeps them there Sabrina can muscle through the nausea to keep everything afloat if she has to. Maybe bubble the front half, shake it like a snowglobe?
Edit: Going full lethal is obviously easier -drop something massive on the bridge to splat the anti-mage, then trash compactor the front half of the ship- but I'm assuming people are going for live captures unless their hands are otherwise forced.
Not sure how it would interact with timestop, though if doing that and boarding drags both halves and their respective passengers into timestop and keeps them there Sabrina can muscle through the nausea to keep everything afloat if she has to. Maybe bubble the front half, shake it like a snowglobe?
Edit: Going full lethal is obviously easier -drop something massive on the bridge to splat the anti-mage, then trash compactor the front half of the ship- but I'm assuming people are going for live captures unless their hands are otherwise forced.
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Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
- Location
- Russia
The immediate problem is Sabrina loses finer control of Grief under antimagic field, so I'm not sure we can make something as precise as an infinitely sharp blade.
Nickballas
Pride is an interesting aspect of human nature.
- Location
- Greece
A wind blade produced by air vibration then?
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
We might have to split into three groups: one for the prisoners, one to hit the bridge, and one to run over watch and support.
- Location
- ⇙
That was quite a lot of useful information.
That they're concentrated on the bridge and near the prisoners is fairly convenient to be quite honest. That we know where the shipgirl and Miss Antimagic are is good as well. Since the ship is more or less confirmed as some sort of wish/weapon it's probably better to assume that touching it will pull everyone on it into timestop acting like a giant ribbon connecting people that are standing on it.
Boarding the ship seems like a good idea at this point, but I don't know if sneaking in is really required. There could also be a two pronged approach with one team crashing the bridge while the other team helps the prisoners with someone staying back as backup and mission control.
That they're concentrated on the bridge and near the prisoners is fairly convenient to be quite honest. That we know where the shipgirl and Miss Antimagic are is good as well. Since the ship is more or less confirmed as some sort of wish/weapon it's probably better to assume that touching it will pull everyone on it into timestop acting like a giant ribbon connecting people that are standing on it.
Boarding the ship seems like a good idea at this point, but I don't know if sneaking in is really required. There could also be a two pronged approach with one team crashing the bridge while the other team helps the prisoners with someone staying back as backup and mission control.
I've got something resembling a plan here.
First, we should go ground level. Find local Meguca, pull them into timestop, and brief them. Establish an alliance.
Second, we get in close so Kirika can pop Iowa's AM bubble. Extend a boarding plank.
Third, Homura dumps us from timestop and proceeds to go in alone, while she's still in timestop. She rescues hostages, leaves some nasty surprises for Iowa if possible, and then comes back and hooks us and the guca she rescued up to timestop again.
Fourth, we assemble our angry mob, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon style, and proceed to board their ship.
First, we should go ground level. Find local Meguca, pull them into timestop, and brief them. Establish an alliance.
Second, we get in close so Kirika can pop Iowa's AM bubble. Extend a boarding plank.
Third, Homura dumps us from timestop and proceeds to go in alone, while she's still in timestop. She rescues hostages, leaves some nasty surprises for Iowa if possible, and then comes back and hooks us and the guca she rescued up to timestop again.
Fourth, we assemble our angry mob, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon style, and proceed to board their ship.
blast flame
How far will we go if it means lighting the way?
- Location
- Perth, Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
It occurs to me that we probably need to spearhead the prisoner rescue ourselves, just in case something goes wrong. Because no one else is going to be able to communicate with them.
...except that (if the Iowa group are American), being Caucasian, we're more likely to be confused for an Iowa group member by the prisoners. So we'll have to be careful in our approach too.
...except that (if the Iowa group are American), being Caucasian, we're more likely to be confused for an Iowa group member by the prisoners. So we'll have to be careful in our approach too.
BlackoutSampler
So Easily Forgotten
Well, if we're doing a boarding party, at least some of the squad is pretty easy to figure out:
Sabrina, Umika, and Oriko are shoe-ins for Overwatch, as Sabrina's needed for the ship, and Umika and Oriko can do everything they can to help just fine in the nice safe UFO. (although if Oriko wants to join the boarding squad with her GF, I won't stop her)
I would prefer Mami on overwatch with Sabrina and Homura as well, since the the three together pretty much represent infinite firepower, and lets us immediately react to any sort of major shift in the ship.
That said Mami and Homura are also useful on the boarding party, as they can instant evac should things go pear shaped. I'm just worried that the Ship will act like a conduit to pull the Captian!Guca into the timestop. giving the enemy a chance to work under Timestop would be absolutely disastrous.
Kyoko is a shoe-in for Boarding Party. She's pretty much the best at CQC in the squad, and is pretty much doing nothing sitting back in the HQ with Sabrina.
Kazumi and Sayaka are obviously flexible, but I feel both do better on the Boarding Party, as that's were the flexibility will matter most, (in enemy territory)
Yuki could be a gamble here. If her power can let her Hijack the ship, or at least contest it's control, then having her on the Boarding Party will be a must as she could freeze the ship from firing on civilians, on the other hand, if she can't effect it, she's stuck in enemy territory without anyway to flex her power.
Kirika is pretty much guaranteed Boarding Squad material. If she can Full Nelson the enemy Anti-Magic meguca, then we can swoop in and drag this confrontation to somewhere less populated.
Everyone else, I kinda forget their names, because we've got a lot of people with us, and they all have those eastern styled names that sorta blend together after a while.
A list of people actually here vs. still chilling at home would be a godsend for my tiny monkey brain.
Sabrina, Umika, and Oriko are shoe-ins for Overwatch, as Sabrina's needed for the ship, and Umika and Oriko can do everything they can to help just fine in the nice safe UFO. (although if Oriko wants to join the boarding squad with her GF, I won't stop her)
I would prefer Mami on overwatch with Sabrina and Homura as well, since the the three together pretty much represent infinite firepower, and lets us immediately react to any sort of major shift in the ship.
That said Mami and Homura are also useful on the boarding party, as they can instant evac should things go pear shaped. I'm just worried that the Ship will act like a conduit to pull the Captian!Guca into the timestop. giving the enemy a chance to work under Timestop would be absolutely disastrous.
Kyoko is a shoe-in for Boarding Party. She's pretty much the best at CQC in the squad, and is pretty much doing nothing sitting back in the HQ with Sabrina.
Kazumi and Sayaka are obviously flexible, but I feel both do better on the Boarding Party, as that's were the flexibility will matter most, (in enemy territory)
Yuki could be a gamble here. If her power can let her Hijack the ship, or at least contest it's control, then having her on the Boarding Party will be a must as she could freeze the ship from firing on civilians, on the other hand, if she can't effect it, she's stuck in enemy territory without anyway to flex her power.
Kirika is pretty much guaranteed Boarding Squad material. If she can Full Nelson the enemy Anti-Magic meguca, then we can swoop in and drag this confrontation to somewhere less populated.
Everyone else, I kinda forget their names, because we've got a lot of people with us, and they all have those eastern styled names that sorta blend together after a while.
A list of people actually here vs. still chilling at home would be a godsend for my tiny monkey brain.
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Might want to test how well Mami's ribbons operate in the field before going in, if she's still capable of sufficient precision she could potentially pull off a preemptive gem snatch (or just yoink the entire girl if it comes to it) if there's enough of an opening to slip her ribbons in without actually coming into contact with anything but her target.
If Homura can go on the ship without dragging it into timestop, she can just Za Warudo the enemy MGs while she's there. No need to mess around with any of that other stuff, save for knocking out the anti-magic.
If Homura can go on the ship without dragging it into timestop, she can just Za Warudo the enemy MGs while she's there. No need to mess around with any of that other stuff, save for knocking out the anti-magic.
SRLYWHYTHO
Tzeentchian Pragmatist, Deutaragonist of my Story
- Location
- A very cold place.
Oh, right, we still have the Obrez! and now that i think about it, making grief 7,62 x 54 R bullets would count as fine control? As for the experience problem, we just really need to be strong enough to shoot it, since it's basically an oversized pistol, having no more reliable range than 50 m or something like that.
We could also do something like bolting them into the ship. Like, make stakes like the ones used for tents and we should be able to do so. Mainly targeting the antimage/mindfucker of the group. that one must be gemmed inmediately.
As for fighting on timestop, I agree with jmcdavid. Droping it might be a good idea once the fight starts, because we definetely won't be able to manuever while connected.
As for formations on the boarding parties, I don't have much of an idea on that one.
We could also do something like bolting them into the ship. Like, make stakes like the ones used for tents and we should be able to do so. Mainly targeting the antimage/mindfucker of the group. that one must be gemmed inmediately.
As for fighting on timestop, I agree with jmcdavid. Droping it might be a good idea once the fight starts, because we definetely won't be able to manuever while connected.
As for formations on the boarding parties, I don't have much of an idea on that one.
AionVal
(Verified Figment)
- Location
- Beyond The Veil
'Brina: Chairs are the offerings we give to Madokami to pray for her favor in this fight.
Mmm... Lets do both!
[X] Swarm the Iowa with Mirai-Bears and Sayaclones.
- Location
- LEO
The gun is a cool souvenir, but Sabrina can shoot lead pellets using her grief manipulation. We sent lacking for raw force.