Enter the Arena... As Your Avatar (v4)!

Back in her element despite the increased fire rate, Omega weaves between the lasers, returning fire with a couple more mini-Piercers from her off-hand gun, while her main-hand blaster cools off. However, she also keeps a weather eye out for any more minions, having learned from last time.

Yeah, maybe just give it a break trolling Pastry, eh? That's what really winds the boss man up... If you can't stand him, maybe just don't fight him, hey?

edited 30th Mar '15 3:01:30 AM by MicoolTNT

As soon as Kain's signal goes offline, his crew on the Heliot scrambles to get someone down to the arena to check him. By that, I mean they send down a large drop-pod down. Which may or may not land on top of any trucks driving around. Following this, one of the walls of the pod would be knocked down?, allowing the AS inside to step out.

@Syme:I forgive you. Mainly because unlike certain people, you're wiling to be mature about such manners.

As the jet flew past the Gecko, its "pilot" manages to see the incoming lasers and promptly dives and weaves like a fly in order to dodge the laser storm, despite several near-misses and grazing a few pulses; the jet came out of the hailstorm with negligible damage before it makes a tight turn to face the crawler tank and retaliate.

WEAPON SWITCH: MICRO MISSILE

The Fighter then fires a large swarm of missiles from its aft portion at the crawler, each ballpen-sized missile automatically seeking out a weak spot on the enemy machine: Namely the turret ring, the legs and the less-armored underside of the vehicle.

EDIT:Tell that to pastry. Something tells me he'll bitch even harder if I started to ignore him like the last time I did.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:04:26 AM by Questor

Seemingly angered, the Gecko now swivels around the buildings while spinning its legs. Gecko's improved speed and agility allows it to dodge the single frostfire orb. It also notices the mecha that came down via the drop pod...

The same cannot be said for the spam of missiles, and piercers, while a number miss, a number strike the Gecko in multiple sections, a few hitting it in its vulnerable, green weakspot.

The Gecko, seeing such mobile opponents, decides to retaliate- it charges a yellow laser, and fires it. This laser will home in on the aircraft, then Omega, then Joffrey before its homing capabilities are lost.

In the meantime, Gecko sends out a strange signal, and two red trucks◊ -with a different appearence (PWO43B "GLATZKOPF")- move into the fight...

Originally there's supposed to be one red truck, but since there are a lot of people...

edited 30th Mar '15 6:31:22 AM by ironcommando

The yellow laser hits Joffrey's head, causing him to get dazed and disoriented. Then, he shakes himself off it, and his eyes begin to glow a menacing red.

"Damn all my morals... damn this little piece of metal crap! You're going to die right now!"

Without as much as a second thought, he fires two Frostfire Orbs at the Gecko, not caring that doing so will cause him to become even more vulnerable as he gets exhausted easily if he uses such attacks in succession.

However, the tolls of the previous attacks plus his own is getting to him, and he is nearing unconsciousness. Still, he struggles to retain his focus.

Joffrey, you Determinator.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:12:12 AM by SymeSynth

Great… more minions…

Omega charges up her off-hand gun even while staying evasive, ducking and weaving and spinning to dodge the shining plasma tracking her, and once the golden beam breaks off her, she stops to point her weapon squarely at one of the red trucks:

   Piercer Shot!   

The bolt of pink-white energy wings its way towards the truck. Her Metatron reserves are starting to get somewhat depleted from multiple Piercer Shots, but she's still got plenty more juice to keep fighting a while longer.

I'm worried Omega is seeming too strong here, but TBH, this is a really bad match-up for IC, the evasion gunslinger against a shmup boss...

edited 30th Mar '15 3:17:49 AM by MicoolTNT

At first, the jet cleanly manages to dodge the yellow laser with a barrel roll; but as it was about to attack the Gecko's underside with its high-power lasers, it saw that the laser has homing capabilities; though it was no longer aimed at the jet after the first pass, the "pilot" got spooked enough by the homing capabilites to cancel his attack pass on the Crawler, causing the jet to promptly fly away from the Gecko... Only to see one of the red trucks it had called in and upon noticing that it was carrying a refracting array, the jet tries to strafe the thing with laser shots aimed at its cab.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:15:22 AM by Questor

The AS pilot curses when he notices Kain's disabled form on his camera's. Then he turns his attention towards the Gecko. [Alright, you go down.] Aiming his artillery cannon, the AS unit says one thing before firing.

[Warhead rounds.]

IMHO, Joffrey here would not be a good match against practically everyone here, since he doesn't really rank high into the Super Weight compared to the others... but his Determinator tendencies really make him shine here, so I've decided to keep using him for now.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:17:55 AM by SymeSynth

Despite Gecko's dodging and swiveling, one of the Frostfire Orbs hits the Gecko squarely in the body, exploding and dealing some damage to the underside.

Both red trucks, slow as they are, are unable to avoid the Piercing shot and the Lasers, and are quickly dispatched.

Gecko, knowing that its special attack had failed, and realizing that its homing laser causes disorientation, decides to send another homing yellow laser, this time targeting Omega, the jet, and the newcomer that had appeared.

It then calls in three red trucks into the scene.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:20:39 AM by ironcommando

Joffrey, seeing as he is being ignored by the Gecko for now, fires a trio of Frostfire Bolts towards the Gecko's general direction, unsure if they will actually even scratch the Gecko.

He continues to try and retain his focus, still dazed.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:21:25 AM by SymeSynth

Obviously, Vic Viper is a natural predator of the rare and majestic SHMUP boss. But he's also fragile unlike other Metatron-fueled machines.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:26:40 AM by Questor

When the Gecko fired another homing yellow laser, the jet's "pilot" got on edge and was about to go evasive up until he saw that the thing fired only one laser and that it spent a few moments harassing one of the other combatants before moving onto the next, the next one being him. Rather than go evasive, the jet instead does something incredibly audacious and risky: It makes a beeline towards the crawler tank, going at a speed just fast enough to keep the laser from tagging it but not enough to actually completely leave the beam of plasma in the dust, should the laser have chosen to keep pursuing him due to the threat that the fighter presented to the Gecko.

WEAPON CHANGE: RIPPLE SHOT

The Fighter's twin nosecones then began to glow blue as it got closer and closer to the Gecko...

edited 30th Mar '15 3:29:41 AM by Questor

I can’t keep this up… those Piercer Shots take a bunch of Metatron…

Omega sees the next homing laser coming and spins gracefully away from it again, but with her depletion and the fact that she’s still recovering from her Piercer Shot, the blast grazes her, burning away more of her Barrier Jacket and skin, revealing metal beneath, though it fortunately doesn’t sever any Metatron channels.

She spots the new trucks, and forces her half-cooled guns to charge again, firing a couple of not-quite-Piercer-Shots at one of them.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:30:46 AM by MicoolTNT

[Shit!] Seeing the beams heading in, the AS unit tries to boost away. Only for the homing lasers to turn in and smack into it. Causing several systems to shut down, and deactivating its shielding. [I am so dead.] Effectively a sitting duck, the pilot lets out a groan.

Due to the multiple attack that Joffrey used, two of his three frostfire bolts hit- one in Gecko's body, and the second exploded on his underside, dealing good damage to it.

Gecko realizes that one of its red trucks is still online, and finally finds its chance to perform its ultimate Combination Attack.

It prepares to risk a powerful attack from the jet to use it, dodging less as it aims for a truck...

Gecko charges up a purple laser, firing it at... one of the remaining trucks?

The truck's reflectors absorb the laser.

AND FIRES OUT A POWERFUL, BLUE BEAM THAT SWEEPS THE GROUND!!!

In the meantime, Gecko's desperation also causes it to fire green lasers rapidly, at the Jet, Omega, Joffrey, and the AS unit...

edited 30th Mar '15 3:35:36 AM by ironcommando

"Oh, crap."

Joffrey underestimated the Gecko's abilities, hadn't he?

The green laser strikes him, finally making him drop in a dead heap on the ground, unconscious.

It should be fairly obvious that's he's very much done for at this rate when the blue beam hits him.

And Joffrey's down! Lol.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:37:19 AM by SymeSynth

As soon as the Jet was in spitting distance with the Gecko, it unleashes its charged attack: Two volleys of blue ring-shaped lasers shot out of its nosecones that while slower and less accurate than its normal lasers, hit much harder. But then the large laser beam sweeps towards it and it makes a rather desperate and extremely tight turn in order to avoid getting vaporized by the thing, only to be struck several times by the Gecko's lasers; doing heavy damage and causing the jet to trail smoke and sparks, yet despite the damage and the very noticeable drop in its performance; the fighter was still in it and it manages to get out of the field of fire as it distances itself from the Gecko.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:42:28 AM by Questor

It’s becoming desperate… looks like I’ll have to risk this…

Secondary Metatron Batteries coming on-line.

A shining white aura lights up around her as she ducks and weaves between the green shots, but distracted by her evasions and her own internal situation, Omega fails to take into account the purple laser fired at the truck until it’s too late and the raging blue laser is headed her way. She tries to outrun it, but too late, too much sideways momentum from dodging the greens… and the blast washes over her.

When it fades, she’s lying crumpled on the ground, her weapons back in Caster Form and sparking, her Barrier Jacket reduced to blackened scraps, her body torn with burns and gashes.

Metatron levels critically low, Barrier Jacket completely compromised… if I hadn’t activated my Secondary Metatron Batteries when I did… I’d probably be dead…

Looks like Omega just got bleeped, seems this one's down to Vic Viper...

edited 30th Mar '15 3:44:53 AM by MicoolTNT

The Gecko's underside is hurt and greatly damaged by the ring lasers that the Jet had fired. Realizing that most of its opponents are down, it tries to dispatch the lone Jet that had somehow weaved around and survived its assault, not noticing any of its other opponents.

"Sie nicht der Einhander?"

As its purple laser had not finished cooling down, it fires its yellow laser to track the Vic Viper three times.

edited 30th Mar '15 3:52:10 AM by ironcommando

As the pilot watched the fight go on, his uselessness became obvious. Even though his systems were slowly rebooting, the beam coming in would destroy him before they finished. With a sigh, the pilot accepted his fate. After all, living under Kain was dangerous.

Only, he could hear a mindless roar before impact. Kain, as if sensing the danger one of his crew was in, somehow activated himself with a damaged ai core. Moving in the way of the beam and extending his forcefield enough to take the damage himself. After the beam has died off, Kain's damaged form drops to the ground.

Surprised by this, the Pilot looks to Kain one more time. Right as his systems come back online. [Alright, ONE LAST SHOT.] Dramatically aiming his main weapon at Gecko, the unit loads its strongest ammo type. [Deploy, STARSHOT!] With that, he fires an artillery shell loaded with the very same material as Kain's core.

Or not...

Wait… Metatron levels rising...

My Secondary Batteries... still online…

I’m leaking significant amounts of Metatron, I won’t last, but... I might just have enough to…

   _{Sharpshooter… Mode…}   

One of Omega’s In-Built Devices seemingly disappears, returning to its Standby Mode on the palm of her hand, but the other transforms into a sniper rifle, and begins gathering Mana and Metatron, every last drop that Omega can spare, drawing on every ounce of power she can without killing her Metatron Crystals completely… an IS Template appears in front of it as she trains it on the Gecko, lying prone…

   _{Piercer… Shot…}   

The spear of pink-white Mana-infused Metatron lances out one last time, bigger, stronger and faster this time thanks to the different weapon mode, crackling pink energies dancing around its main bolt.

But then her eyelids begin to droop…

Is… is this it…? I can’t…

Man... just like old times... thanks, you guys. I love you all. No homo.

edited 30th Mar '15 4:11:59 AM by MicoolTNT

Questor: WTF?

Questor, quick, finish this! =D

Whatever happens, happens...

OVERCHARGE: COMPLETE ASSAULT

Shimmering with a tainted white light, the dying fighter jet makes one last, foolish, courageous dive towards the Gecko; it dodges the first time the laser tried to strike it with a jink, barely manages the second time by suddenly diving and gets its left wing sheared clean off by the third time the laser came for it; causing it to begin rolling uncontrollably, but despite its chaotic roll; the thing still flew straight and true towards the Gecko and before the crawler tank's crew knew it, the little fighter jet unleashes hell in the form of a massive swarm of micro-missiles zooming out of its aft, almost a dozen proton torpedoes launched one after the other from its belly and a literal rain of marble-sized balls of plasma shot out of compartments hidden on its nosecones.

As the Japanese used to say: BANZAAAAAIII!!!!

Even with the massive wall of explosives headed for the Gecko, the jet was too fatally damaged to correct its heading and it promptly smashes into the Tank or perhaps near it; going off in a rather powerful explosion.

Really gotta go...

edited 30th Mar '15 4:14:46 AM by Questor