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Outside the wall, soldiers march.
The Mountain Sun's troops advance just as the Baroness' do. Trolls and humans on both sides, but one has hulking metal drones as well. It doesn't seem fair.
Until you count the superpowered teenagers flying around, that is.
So, superpowered teenagers in question. What's your move?

I look at Quin, and pointedly at the Baroness's troops far down below. "Ready?"

I nod, and push off the ground and into the air. It's occurring to me that I've barely flown, but hey. I make it up there. "Alright, Hale. Get mad."

"Oh, believe me." I glare at the opposing army, leftover rage from my previous disagreement with the ancestors boiling anew. "I don't need to."

A familiar crackling green blur strikes the center of a row of drones, exploding a few directly underneath and bowling others over. Not a second later, they buzz up into the sky again, darting in and out of battle.
Rigel drops Ryker in front of the Mountain Sun's line, and he turns around to face them, shouting an order. They give a rallying shout in reply.
Etoile gently sets Cashel down in front of the troops as well. He just stands there, looking over the wave of enemies, then tilting his head up at the moon. It peers out from behind the lines upon lines of ships littering the sky.

I float a bit higher off the ground, taking in the oncoming troops, before holding out my saber and going for the nearest drones, trying to deal as much damage as I can.

I grip my axe with both hands as tightly as I can and reach deep inside, drawing upon whatever source of rage I drew upon before, when I decimated that training dummy. Except more. So much more. Everything is at stake. I grit my teeth, pure anger and determination coursing through my veins, hot and destructive and electric and powerful. I start to shake with the effort of containing it, and if I looked down, I'd notice that I'm glowing a deep, angry purple.
I raise the axe. Just a LITTLE longer.
I couldn't protect Fiddler. But I'll be damned if I can't protect this island.
And with a yell, I swing down towards the soldiers, releasing everything in a devastating shockwave of solid rage.

I close my eyes and try to focus on the energy around us. My hands are still shaking from before, and I let myself fall deeper into the feeling of hurt and bitterness at the shitty world around us. I'm going to make her regret not finishing the job when she had the chance. I do my best to feel the current of rage like I did in the training room, but on a bigger scale. I feel Hale next to me, already building it up, and I search the battlefield for more.

Lanval can feel the thought expand out, blowing over the like the wind, washing over them like the tide. The calm before the storm; the eye of the hurricane. But now, the hurricane is here.
The wave of pure, concentrated rage echoes out and shatters a few drones. It stops hearts dead and blows the rest back, blood and bones spilled and split, snapped and shattered. Luckily for you, you can't see any of this. All you see is the bodies fall.

"C'mon Quin," I grind out, already powering up for another sweeping attack, "I got plenty left in me. Make good fucking use of it."

Higher than the troops, but lower than the rage players; Etoile stops next to Rigel, and the two nod to each other. Etoile flies up, Rigel extending his hands. One by one, eight trees die. Their leaves shrivel and dry, some dropping right off. The bark sinks into itself and the roots dry and weaken, cracking at the base.
Etoile takes a deep breath and raises her arms. The eight trees snap from their roots and soar into the sky. Etoile thrusts her arms forward with a grunt of effort, and they go flying. They knock down everything in their path, crushing metal and flesh alike.

"Sorry." I frown, and concentrate harder. Anger wrenches my gut, sudden and hot, and I grit my teeth and feel the corners of my eyes sting as I try to wrestle it from Hale. It builds until I can barely keep my stomach level. I grip my fists together and hunch my shoulders, hearing the air crackle around me, and send it flying outwards towards any Mountain Sun troops I can reach.

i hover to some higher point on the island, briefly scout around and quickly descend toward the newly identified area with the greatest concentration of vegetation. floating shortly above the grass, i hold my hands stiffly forward, taking a deep breath, and forcibly unearth a series of flowery vines and roots, aiming their rapid growth in the direction of the nearest drone or two. once the vines are within range, i clench my fists with a slightly hesitant lean backwards, causing the plants to wrap tightly around the drones in question, ideally rendering them practically immobile if not crushed to the point of partial or total disfunctionality.

My eyes look upon the open battlefield, filled with humans and trolls alike, as the fighting begins. I stretch my wings out behind me, their expanse long and feathered, and fly up into the airspace, neither too high nor too low. Just high enough to get a look of the situation at hand, and to get within hearing distance of our Mountain Sun troops. I throw my arms out, puffing my chest out. I can feel energy flowing through my body, from my head to my toes, but it’s different this time. Rather than a decaying, energy draining sense of danger, it’s the exact opposite. I extrude positive energy, feel lighter, brighter, in control; Hopeful. Without even looking up, I can see my hair streak glowing a bright white above me.
I loom over the troops, and with as much strength as I can muster, shout out words of encouragement, positivity, and praise. I redistribute the hopeful energy of winning the Baroness’ troops carry, and in turn, transfer them to our own troops.

You find yourself sorely disappointed. The Baroness' troops have little hope to begin with. They're terrified, and you're certain they only walk forward because the fate that awaits them if they turn back is far worse than what you and your friends have to dole out. Watching what Hale does to them, you wonder what that could possibly be.
Nevertheless, hope surges out from you as you fly, swirling around you and cascading down on the troops. They cheer as you pass.
Quin, on the other hand, helps the soldiers in the other direction. Their cheer turns to a shout, energy in the form of swinging blades. They charge down the hill, Ryker at the front of the lines.
The vines wrap around the drones and thread through their wiring. Most of them crumple with your attack.

I set my weapon beside me in the air, now, and stretch both hands out. Time to see if those tips from Cashel earlier are actually helpful. I scan the battlefield for any drones that haven't yet been destroyed.
There.
Three drones rise into the air, struggling. I grit my teeth, and shove with all my might, sending them streaking back towards the airships far away.

Maia charges the lines of drones. In the blink of an eye she's in front of one, slicing through it cleanly. It's dizzying to try and keep track of her movements, jumping, diving, disappearing, multiplying and reappearing. She seems to teleport, jumping from drone to drone. She decapitates them, slices them open, and sometimes a few other clones of herself will cut their limbs off and render them immobile.
Ryker shouts to Cashel, and he slams his staff on the ground.
Slowly but surely, towers rise from the ground, punching through the dirt and grass and rising high into the air. Two soldiers run at each and jump on top of them as they rise, seating themselves in the turrets on top. Cashel lightly steps onto a ledge in the side of one as well, watching the battle.
The drones rotate and flail as they soar. They're far heavier than anything you've moved before, obviously. The training dummies were nothing.
They get close to one of the ships and slow to a complete stop before they hit it.
They hover there for a few seconds, but slowly turn and begin to drop back towards the earth. They accelerate, faster and faster, arcing for the Mountain Sun soldiers.

"NO!" I yell, and shove again, knocking them off course. With luck, they're now falling toward the Baroness's troops instead.

They shudder and tilt out of the way, crashing in the middle of the open field, harmless to either side.
But it wasn't about the drones.
A bolt of lightning races from one of the ships straight towards Hale, who is currently too distracted to either notice or do anything about it. Quin sees it and shouts, diving for Hale midair and shoving him out of the way.
It continues down, straight for Cashel.
Navy races in front of it from all the way across the battlefield moments before disaster, absorbing the entirely of the impact and going spinning towards the ground, bouncing off the dirt and rolling to a stop.

I watch Navy fall in horror, before shaking my head and surveying the scene around us. I don't have time to worry right now. I see the carnage and wince. "God," I mumble, and turn to Hale. "You want to try that again? I can give you energy this time and see if it works better."

"That trick with the drones?" I glare at the fleet. "Won't end well. We can save that for later. Power me up anyway. I have an idea."

I close my eyes again and take a deep breath, letting go of the energy I've been trying to grab and instead forcing it all onto him.

It drains from the air around you into your hands, and out of your hands into Hale. It wraps around you like a vine, but you can sure feel the rage as if it was your own. Cashel leaps off the tower and to the ground, running for Navy. Pythia swoops down from the air, following closely. Cashel retracts his cloak as he kneels beside them.

i wince as i watch navy fall before pausing the vine stuff and bolting towards where they landed. not expecting pythia and cashel to be there, i find myself just kind of hovering there and staring at them. looking back and forth between them, i point my finger at the life symbol on my shirt, so as to say "i don't know what you guys were gonna do here, but this is kind of my field, if you want me to do something."

"I thought zhat would work better." Navy groans, curled into themselves on the dirt, wincing. "I expected to zteal the lightning, not fucking eat it." Cashel sets a hand on their shoulder lightly and beckons you closer.

i approach the three of them and descend to the ground.

"Thanks," I manage.
I'm a conduit, right? That's what Cashel said. Power flows through me, and I direct it. I take a deep breath and let the rage flow in. I can handle it. It's what I do. I stretch out my hands again, this time grabbing as many drones as I can handle. I'm not doing anything too complicated, just raising them two dozen feet into the air. This is for those that stayed behind.
I slam my hands down, and the drones drop like stones, screaming little robot bombs, falling back into the clusters of hopeless Baroness troops, where they should cause a good amount of damage.

They crumple effortlessly, imploding and spraying shrapnel everywhere moments before the Mountain Sun's line meets the Baroness'.

My eyes widen in shock, before I close them again and turn to look away. I feel sick.

"Can you heal Navy?" Cashel asks. Pythia just crouches beside her, frowning, deep in thought.

"i.. don't know, but i can try," i tell him, looking down at them. i stand back a bit, close my eyes and take a deep breath before sticking my hands out in navy's direction and tensing up. here, rather calmly, i attempt altering the state of navy's life, hopefully for the better; however many scrapes and scratches covered back over with skin, any broken bones mended, a refill on lost blood if possible, and maybe even repairs to any damages in navy's godtier outfit, depending on what that's made of. were navy to open their eyes during the process, they would likely see that their entire body is glowing the same pale green as my palms, though less intensely, and were they to stand up afterwards and look back down, they would likely see that there is now a patch of multicolored flowers fully bloomed in a silhouette of the position in which they landed, similar in nature (heh) to the newly grown patches below my feet.

I stay in the air, and keep on redistributing hope. If not from the Baroness’ troops, than from myself. I have plenty to go around. For once in my life, I’m *not* hopeless. “< it may seem hard now, but this battle is ours! >” I shout from the sky, arms moving as I yell. My voice is beginning to sound a little hoarse, but I keep on. “< we’ve got this! we’ve trained all our lives for this moment! we ccan do this! >”

I land a small distance away from the Baroness’s troops for a moment to catch my breath, still brandishing my saber. I glance over to where Navy just went down, worried. I can't think about that now though, there's a lot of fucking drones and troops that need to be taken care of, and the longer they're mobile, the more likely it is that more of my friends are going to get hurt. A second later I charge back into the fray, hacking and stabbing at anything and everything I can. I'm back in my element over here, fighting drones is something I've been doing for a long time. The clones, of course, are new, but very helpful, I'm using them to my advantage as best I can, attempting to attack multiple drones at once. I stay on the ground for the most part, but on occasion do jump or fly up to slice a drone's head off.

The scratches from rolling across the ground are nothing, the largest wound a burn on their side. Navy themselves is broken and bruised, but those wounds are much older than these. They have more scars than you've ever seen before, but they've only grown stronger for it. They bury their face in the flowers below them silently as you heal them.
In a moment, they're back to normal. Cashel nods and looks back up at you, standing up. "Excellent work, especially for your first time."

i shake my hands in front of myself a bit as if trying to remove some residue of doing glowy life powers with them. with a fairly proud grin, i look up at him and say "oh! thank you!"

"Something is wrong." Pythia muses, out of the blue. Navy props themself up, sitting and looking at Pythia with an eyebrow raised. "Navy, I need you to find Sebastian. I can't see anything." She glances up at Cashel, who frowns.
"You haven't even fought anything yet."
"I know." Pythia offers a hand to Navy, and the two stand. Navy runs off and leaps into the air, beelining for Onatora.

i hover a bit, preparing to depart in either of two directions. "uh, should i go back or follow them?"

"Go back. They'll need you." Pythia nods shortly before propelling herself straight up into the air.

"alright!" i say, heading back toward my grassy area from before. on the way, if i stumble upon anyone on our side that happens to be injured, i float down and heal them in a similar manner to navy before proceeding.

Luckily, few people are.
Pythia soars up next to Hale and Quin. "You two busy?"

"We can take a break," I say quietly. I turn to look at her instead of the scene below us. "What do you need?"

How does the army below me look?

"Protect Cashel. If nothing else, keep him company. His thoughts are eating him alive." She doesn't wait for an answer before she flies away to where Rigel hovers. Etoile dives down to Chlori on the field, landing beside them.

I glance at Hale. "Do you want to go for him, or should I?"

I call my axe back to my hand. "I got it," I say, before diving down to the ground, wherever Cashel is.

Alright. My battery source is gone, so time to do whatever I can. I focus on the Baroness's troops to try to gauge how much anger they have that I can use.

Cashel stands back, next to a tower with his arms crossed, staff resting against them. The Baroness' troops aren't... angry. They feel miserable, if anything.

Oh god. They're not even angry, huh?

They're miserable and terrified. If you had to guess, you'd say they know they're going to die.

I look down at all of them dejectedly, my fists curling at my side. This is pointless - fighting these troops is only taking more innocent lives. I've already contributed to it. I HATE it. The thing behind all of this isn't even down here with them, she's just sending them off to die like everyone else. The bodies of those who have died are all still plastered all over the field. I feel my chest ache with grief, and I take out my spear and point it up at the ships. I try to absorb as much rage as I can muster and fire it at them.

I cross my arms, too, hovering beside him. "What's wrong," I say bluntly, not making eye contact and instead surveying the battlefield as I'm sure he's doing.

You generate more than enough rage to fire. It streams from the tip of your spear, a solid burst of energy. It curls up and around, going on top of one of the three large ships and vanishing without a trace.

i hover around the fields where enemy soldiers approach the wall, scanning the zone. at practical random, i select a moderately sized area with a good concentration of soldiers and aim a hand towards it. the entire arm feels heavy from the sheer amount of life i'm trying to move, but i lift it as steadily as i can as the patch of grass and several feet of the dirt below ascend into the air. with the tilt of my hand, i rotate the land such that any soldiers unfortunate enough to have retained their balance on the platform lose it nigh instantaneously and fall directly into the newly formed pit. i tilt my hand back to normal and carefully lower it, causing the dirt to descend shortly above the hole, before dropping it altogether, sighing with relief as the weight drops from my arm and using my other arm to hold it at my side. they are in the ground now, which is cool. who's afraid of suffocation now? hah.

You can feel the life slowly drain from the soldiers, giving way to rotten death as they run out of air. Nobody will remember them.

sweet!

I see the landslide overtake the soldiers and feel tears run down my face. The more time we waste, the more people die. I point my spear again, readying another attack. I squint and make out the Baroness, and level my aim as best I can at her before firing.

Too late, you see a concentrated orb of purple energy hovering above her palm.
The next shot fires, and just like the last one, it corkscrews through the air and loops around her, lumping itself in with the last shot you fired. Cashel glances up at the moon. "I should ask you the same. Th..."
He furrows his eyebrows, looking back up at the moon. He slowly turns his head to the side, scanning the sky.
"Something is wrong."

I feel my face pale. Alright. I thrust my spear towards her and focus, trying to draw any energy I can away from her again.

"Well, how do we fix it."

In the space in the sky beside the moon, the stars warp and shift.

I take a step back in midair, holding my axe out in front of me. "Oh. FUCK. What's going on."

A ripple expands from one point, deep colors bending in a rough circle.
A ship emerges.
Then another, and another.

HAHA UH OH WRONG CHAT

Thousands of small ships, a design you've never seen before, pull themselves out of the warp gate.
Just behind them, a few medium ships pull out of the same design.
Just behind those, a colossal ship of the same strange form emerges.
They're black, dark steel and other materials unknown to you. Spires protrude from the front of the ship chaotically, no symmetry or symbolism to note.
The largest ship moves over the city, beginning to spin.
Cashel frowns at them, uncrossing his arms and taking up his staff. "They look li-"
He stops short and his free hand flies to his head, groaning in pain.
Across the battlefield, Etoile and Chlori cry out and grip their heads likewise, falling to their knees.
The front of the large ship doesn't look like the others. It's triangular, three distinct pieces coming together to form it.
The three pieces shift with a screech and a groan of metal, sliding out and expanding to reveal a spinning power core, turning to aim straight for the city.
The smaller ships swarm around it, spiraling chaotically. Nothing can touch it now.

"Cashel? Cashel!" I drop out of the air and land on the tower beside him. I grab his shoulders and shake him lightly, mostly out of concern. "What the fuck is going on! Hey!"

Cashel drops his staff and raises his other hand to his head, barely managing to stay on his feet. He doesn't respond, clearly in excruciating pain.
The three arms of the ship move out the slightest bit more and the power core rocks, humming to a peak.
Etoile raises her hand to the ship weakly and screams. "NO!!!"
It fires. An inconceivably dark beam of whirling energy fires straight for the city and embeds itself in the shield, splitting into three parts and tracing around the outside as if searching.
It's moments before they find their three targets and lock on.
A surge of power comes from the ship and the shield shatters, disintegrating before your eyes.

I grab him and zoom out of sight. I don't know where I'm going, but it's not here.

"FUCK!" Pythia shouts. "EVERYONE FALL BACK TO THE CITY!"
Cashel, Etoile, and Chlori regain themselves.
The Baroness' ships move back over the city and tilt. Large spires fall from some of them and into the city, holding who knows what. Countless ships descend, carrying soldiers. The turrets on top of the city can only take out so many.
You realize that the beach was only a distraction. Outdated drones, cowardly soldiers.
They've been waiting the whole time.
Cashel shakes your shoulder. "Slow down!"

I stare at the scene, completely distracted, before sending the baroness one last withering look at returning to the city to meet back up with the others.

I clear the tree line and bolt for the rest of the group.

The ancestors waste no time, zooming back to the city. They call for the descendants to follow the, as they head to the steps of Keystone Hall.

"City, right. We have to defend it."

The army turns back to Onatora.

i follow towards the city as quickly as i can.

I stop looking at where the shield was a moment ago, in complete shock, before backing up and kicking off the ground, flying back towards the city.

I follllow everyone’s lead.

I bank left, hard, flying back to Keystone Hall. I set Cashel down as soon as I land.

He rolls his shoulders and waits for more people to land, pointedly not making eye contact, glancing back up at the moon. Pythia lands and runs into Keystone Hall, straight to the planning room.
The dome displays a map of the city. Contact points for the spires that were dropped, enemy forces and friendly forces. Lirium, Sebastian, and Navy are in here.

I whistle and have my new family of dogs follow me to Keystone hall, running through the city and joining the main group.

"I knew something was wrong." Mutters Sebastian. "Anyone know who those fucks are?"
"They're Katanalosi's worshippers." Cashel states dryly.
"There are so many of them." Lirium adds quietly.

I glance at Pythia. We’ve heard that name a lot recently. “Does that mean she’s coming?”

Pythia shakes her head. "No. She'll never make it here in time, and she doesn't really want to. For all her grandeur, she wants to kill and consume as much as she can away from us."
"But her worshippers..." She sucks air through her teeth, wincing. "They're bad. Really bad."
"And they haven't even dropped yet. They must be planning something else."
"For now we need to clear these spires and normal troops. You're going to see a lot tougher people and drones here. This is the real deal."

"So the beach was a good practice round, then." I crack my knuckles. "Fine."

I glare at the dome at the mention of Kat, before looking at Pythia. More drones and troops should be fine, even if they are going to be a bit more of a challenge to get through. “So we’re just going to wait for her worshipers to make the first move?”

"Absolutely not, Maia. Who do you think I am?" She winks, then squints at the hologram, spinning it around. "Adjuvants, you deal with the spires. Figure out what they are, dismantle them without anyone getting hurt- including yourselves. If you need backup, call for it."
"One of the ancestors-" She glances around the room. "Likely either me or Parker, will have to stay here to keep an eye on everything as it happens."

“You should go with us, I think,” I say quietly. My face is white as a sheet.

Pythia glances at you and her face softens. "Okay. Parker can stay here, then." She rotates the city again, thinking.
"We need a team in the air, spotting danger, engaging in drop-in assaults, and recharging turrets. The rest of you should split up into teams, search and destroy. You should try to split any medical experts available between your groups."
Navy grins. "I'm air zupport. No queztionz."

I tighten my grip on the hatchet which has most certainly been in my hand this whole time. “Mme ttoo. Powers shoulld be usefull.”

"wouldn't call myself a medical expert, but," i shrug, "functionally, i guess i'm close enough"

I raise my hand.

[MISSING LANVAL RESPONSE]

"I could..." Etoile clears her throat. "Get you a bigger one?"
Pythia opens her mouth to speak, but sighs and gestures for Finn first.

“oh thats cool i can wait” I lower it halfway.

Pythia shakes her head. "Spit it out, Ladom."

“oh uh ok”
“well if kat isnt technically here”
“wouldnt it be a good idea to go after whatever is in that ship now”

I cough a little, giving a meaningful look at Pythia. “Do you think those following the Baroness would weaken if we... went after it? The thing puppeting her around?”

She shakes her head again. "We wouldn't get there, not to the big ship. I don't know if that thing can fire again, but if it can, we need to clear the city very fucking quickly so we can deal with it. As for the Baroness." Pythia sighs. "At this point, it doesn't matter if we kill her. Her troops fight for Katanalosi now, and her worshippers sure aren't going to stop."

“Is it still giving orders?”

"Maybe, but I couldn't imagine there are any impo-"
"Forget her." Cashel interrupts. "Just forget her. We have a city to save."
"Every moment we spend standing here is another not in the fight."

I deflate a little. “Okay.”

"How many teams."

I nod at Cashel, I am ready to go back out there and fight. I look down at my saber once again, I’m probably going to be more helpful on the ground.

"However many you feel like." Pythia steps back. "Cashel is right. Let's haul ass. Figure out where you're going and go. Adjuvants, lead the way."
Sam steps up and offers her hand to Quin with a smile. "Side by side, this time?"

I wince, and look down. I briefly consider telling her about the deal I made with Pythia, and how by the hour, I get more worried she’ll have to follow through. “Okay,” I finally say, but my voice is filled with dread. I take her hand. “Let’s go.”

She smiles wider and turns, running out of the building. Ryker runs behind them, and Cashel spares a nod at Hale before following. Pythia turns back to the other ancestors and gives them a thumbs up before she flies after.

I try my best to wipe my tear away as discreetly as I can as I run with her.

QUIN AND ADJUVANTS

Etoile pulls out a long, simple pointed rod, a leather band wrapped around a spot near the middle. It looks like your ice pick, but bigger and without a handle at the end. She's quiet for a minute.
"...This was Svalin's."

[MISSING LANVAL RESOPNSE]

Etoile smiles gently, hesitantly. "They're your ancestor. They..." She trails off, then shakes her head. "They were something."

I walk up to Parker, and in the tone a regular teenage might use to ask if he can drive the car, ask “hey uh mind if I bring the dogs with me while youre here”

[MISSING LANVAL RESPONSE]

Etoile freezes for a moment, but softens and hugs you back. "You're welcome."
"I hope you find what you're looking for." She adds as she pulls away.

I scan the rest of the room, finally settling on Maia. I walk over purposefully. "Hey. Saw you fighting the drones earlier. Team up?"

“Uh okay I’mm outt before we alll gett bllown tto bitts!” I say, somewhat cheerily. Time to fly.

Navy jumps up and races out past you, whistling.

I look up from my saber, and give Hale a nod. "Sounds fucking great, let's go."

I follow them, waving at the others. “Good lluck!”

"Oh! Sure!" Parker smiles, but his ears droop. "Don't get into any trouble, okay?"

"Cool." I run out, taking to the air as soon as I'm outside and scanning the streets for somewhere to throw down.

MALE Okay pretend Pirine is here sorry he’s just standing there idk My ears drop as well. “okayyyyy i wont do anything too bad quick follow up question i know cinnabar and sams dog is clover but what are the others names” He smiles, ears perking up. "Oh! Their names are Cerberus, Campbell, and Clementine." I grin. “very cool” I whistle and have the dogs, who I assume have been playing around the periphery, head outside with me. Before I leave though, I yell to Silas. “hey si you wanna come help me help munroi and pakaru” i perk up. "huh? oh yeah sure!" The dogs, oddly enough, do not come. They aren't anywhere around. Huh. That’s weird. I turn to Silas. "so change of plans we need to find our rides first" i have since approached, and i am now near finn, by the way. "uh, alright!" I snap out of it and look up at Levett and Navy flying off, “Aw $$hit, wait up!” She pushes off the ground and flies after them. AIR SUPPORT currently do not have this link! FINN AND CO currently do not have this link!