World Tree MUSH

    The Sun King Avad of the Carja, one of the local kingdoms, has asked for help from as many sources as possible. On top of that, even the Gardeners have taken an interest in this and quietly asked people to investigate. The ruined villages are following no pattern like a path, but obviously the same Thunderjaw, a gigantic robotic beast, is to blame thanks to the survivors. Evacuating beforehand has not helped, as the Thunderjaw never arrives in that case. So the Sun King and his advisors have quietly laid a trap. A village ready to evacuate, but secretly fortified. Aloy has come to guide anyone who arrives through the rugged terrain that used to be Colorado, holing them up in the quaint-looking village. The people here are builders, so many of the buildings are stone, even if the fortifications are hastily-erected wooden walls. A number of soldiers and hunters, a few even provided from the local Nora tribe, have tucked themselves away expecting a simple but aggressive Thunderjaw.

    It is very, very brief before things change though. Barely enough time to say hello to the defenders and villagers, all of whom are nervous and upset. A high-pitched whine is the first warning anyone gets, and a very not-native drone-flyer whistles overhead, rapidly losing altitude.

    Right behind it is a stampede of large, bull-like robotic beasts, heading for the village, along with a few raptor-like robots as well scampering alongside them. In the distance, 'herding' the stampede forward, is the Thunderjaw itself... a massive beast of metal and glowing wires, radar dish circling atop it... and with obvious otherworldly plating of glowing armor that has been bolted onto its sides and head. Someone has been tampering with it.

    "Ready! Defenses up!" Shouts the local guard, one of the Sun King's best. Several hunters hunker behind quick fortifications, while steel-armored mercenaries from the north steady a few primitive cannons to provide support. Aloy breathes out, "This isn't good. I expected a simple one to one..."

    "Robot dinosaurs, eh?" A white haired traveler says. He's sporting a sword that looks bigger than he is, and a red leather coat. "Guess this is gonna be one for the books." He's borrowed a strider for the mission, as he trots up toward the cute ginger archer lady. "Yo, firecrotch." He greets cheerfully, wiggling gloved fingers as he yanks on his horsebot's reins. "I'll run interference. See if I can't stem the tide a bit. HYAH!"

    Before anybody can respond, Dante's already charging ahead. "Faster, horsey! Let's go kick their ass!"

    Before the horse can even reach the horde of bulls and raptors, Dante leaps off his mount with a hoot and howl. "YEAHAHAHAH! TIME TO ROCK!"

    Before he hits the ground, the son of Sparda draws twin pistols, one stainless and the other blued, as the guns spit hot, demonic lead. Dante practically spins like a drill in mid-air during this torrent of gunfire, howling with glee.

    An ominous breeze fluttered his neckerchief like a tiny cape as Dillon stood atop one of the fortifications. As usual he doesn't have much to say, but gives the guards a nod in acknowledgement. The armadillo was still very much the strong silent type. But it's okay he's not really a talker because there's not much time for chitchat before the drone buzzes overhead... and the ruckus comes from the direction it swooped from. Scarred eyes narrowed slightly. Instead of one giant monster there is now an entire herd roaring straight towards the barely barricaded settlement.

    "Almost deja vu," is the first thing he says in a low drawl. In his experience the large 'boss' is the most dangerous, but you gotta go through the horde to get to them or they'll overwhelm with numbers.

    With that in mind Dillon leaps down from the wall, curling up mid-air and light briefly gleaming off the spikes in his shell as he starts spinning in place. Building up momentum and gyroscopic force in the descent so that as he hits the ground he immeadiately takes off at nearly full speed, roaring like a living wrecking ball towards the front line of the stampede!

    It has been a while since Athena was outside of her own world, but she's met Aloy... and the transmission from the huntress about wanting some help was heard and heeded, partly out of curiosity and partly to get some of her own need for battle out of her system. Seeing the town and the oncoming threat keeps her from socializing much, but... a quick nod toward some of the others is also assessing what she has to work with.

    "Okay..." she sighs. Athena eyes the giant robot beast heading this way, then rushes toward the fortifications. "We need to handle that stampede before we can focus on the giant one. YOU THREE! Over this way! Focus your attacks on that flank and try to divert the stampede as much as you can! We want to trap them where we can control their movements!"

    The goddess of War is going to be using that ability, for once, trying to arrange everyone so that they'll be in a good tactical position when the Thunderjaw arrives. "Looks like we have trouble incoming... what was that drone? Did anyone see where it went?"

    Right into the heat of things? That sounds fine with Cayde; jumping right into action is highly preferred over listening to speeches of any length, and he'd prepared himself for at least some rundown on the situation and as wordy a pre-thanks as one can get before everything went all to hell. 

    "Just point me in the direction of who or what to shoot," he'd been about to say, but his targets have been made quite clear with the incoming stampede. It's not hard at all to see the driving force of the problem, and although the Exo's not so versed in this world's mechanics (which are super weird what with the robo-creatures and all, and this coming from a human-turned-robot), he can tell there's something weird going on with the largest target trailing the rest. 

    "Ghost, whatcha got for me on these things?" he asks his floating AI companion. "-actually get back inside, tell me from there. Things are gonna get messy." He brings his free hand over his Ghost, practically shoving it towards his own head before it vanishes in a brief shimmer of light. 

    Giving a twirl of his trusty handcannon, Cayde takes position atop the wall, eyeballing the incoming. At the moment the Thunderjaw's probably just out of his range, so so much for the tactic of 'aiming for the head.' Well, he'll pick off some of the little ones first. The ones coming towards the wall are going to be a problem otherwise. Ace of Spades grasped firmly in his hand, he starts fanning the hammer as he opens fire.

Luke Gray has to start to really... ask more about a potential job before accepting, but well, they asked for help, and he was in the area after all!. Plus, how often one might see that many mechanical creatures!, or giant dinosaurs!. In any event, he ended up accepting, so the young pokemon trainer finds himself awkwardly perched on a large mechanical bull. He was considering going ahead and fighting the giant dinosaur but seeing the giant herd rushing at him makes him change his mind, his pokemon are tough and fast, but he is not sure they can survive being trampled by said stampede. In the end, the boy decides to settle closer to the fortification, and getting Dynamo on his side, ready to start attacking whatever stragglers of the mechanical group break past Dante and the others, the Electiger growling as it builds up it's charge.

>> SUMMARY[Luke Gray] >> Luke stays closer to the fortification, not wanting ot risk his pokemon being overcome by the stampede. Dynamo uses charge!

    Rydia of Mist has largely been hiding of late. Aside from recruiting the wizened Sage, Tellah, she has by and large remained holed up in Hyrule's Snowpeak Garrison, recovering from the emotional traumas of dealing with Copen, Vivian, and various other sundry horrorterrors that make a small girl want to hide under her sheets in the dark of the night.
    Right now though, she's in the kingdom of the Carja people on Aloy's request, and so the small Summoner is probably an odd sight to see among the Carja and Nora people, her bright green clothes and hair at odds and standing out with the sunset colors of the Carja people and the more natural browns and greys the Nora prefer to wear.
    There's also the fact that she's mounted upon a great golden bird.
    The chocobo is WILDLY out of place, but rather calm and docile as Rydia holds the bird's reins, walking alongside it in the village, when the whine streaks through the air, and the calls of alarm and stampede begin.
    Immediately the small, green-haired girl swings herself up into the bird's saddle.
    And reveals that in spire of how small she is, she can be *surprisingly loud*.
    "OKAY. Everyone, LISTEN UP. Yes, you-- I MEAN YOU. OVER HERE, LOOK AT THE GIRL ON THE BIRD." She shouts.
    "While the others are handling the defenses, we are going to begin a calmly leaving the village for safer, higher, ground. There should be some hunters around here who know the way to higher ground, follow them, and most importantly: DON'T PANIC."

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> LOOK AT ME I AM ORGANIZING THE EVACUATION.

    Behold!

    Super Hiro & The Mighty Baymax!

    The San Fransokyo Superheroes have decided that helping people outside of their world is going to be one of the most fun things they can do. Well, also, it goes along with the helping people stuff. Which is always good for the conscience and morale. Not to mention he'd much rather be doing this than the homework assignment he's got sitting on his desk back home.

    "You got it! We totally got your back!" is said to, well, everyone that's combining their forces to protect this village from various levels of harm. Or, y'know, robot dinosaur harm. It's a lot to take in.

    The Mighty Baymax turns to look at the Stampede headed towards them and allows for a, "Oh No." to come from his vocal processors but there's no time for him to display much more worry because Super Hiro is already headed for him, "Come on, buddy! Let's fly!"

    Super Hiro leaps onto The Mighty Baymax's back, wings expand from the armored fluff-bots back and the Duo takes off into the sky, swirling and sailing off to meet the stampede... but from an aerial point of view.

    The Mighty Baymax, of course, immediately sets about to scanning the Stampede because that's just what happens when a medical robot encounters something new. But that's not going to help lay them down. Not yet, anyway.

    As soon as they get close enough, Super Hiro raises up on The Mighty Baymax's back and points down at the Robot Beast Stampede of Doom. "Alright! Baymax? ROCKET FIST!"

    Baymax raises his arm and aims at the Stampede below. Panels on the gauntlet open up to reveal small thrusters and the huge metal fist explodes off Baymax's hand and sails towards the beasts for some Ranged Punching Action!

    Aloy lifts an eyebrow at Dante's name for her. She almost says something... except that he's already on his way into the stampede, shooting and shouting. Sigh. "Try not to get yourself killed!" She spurs her strider on to gallop alongside the fortifications, lifting her bow to shoot a few potshots at the stampede in supporting the others.

    It looks like most have chosen to deflect the stampede. Good idea, because the charge is crashing into the hunters and their fortifications. It's not quite so bad as a head on collision would be... several crash through the smaller embankments and fortifications, but for every one that slams in, two are going down, with bullets blasting a few watchers and causing some of the bull-types to stumble, Dante's bullets and Dillon's crashing down coming from amidst the stampede and causing it to split, which makes them easier targets for Cayde's own bullets to headshot a few. Bull-types are skidding to the ground and the smaller Watchers, the raptor-types, are skidding to a halt and trying to find which to attack. The stampede is broken up partially already, and the distraction lets the hunters, organized by Athena, start to prod them to the side. A few are stubborn, and one or two are gored, with loud cries of shock... but with Luke's pokemon there, the turning is partly successful and the stampede's assault somewhat blunted. Many are on the ground or driven into the small canyon at the side of the village.

    The evacuation is already under way, but even organized as it is, there are lots of shouts and scuffles. The odd sight of the bird helps... because the children keep wanting to go toward Rydia, and that forces the parents to pay attention and head that way as well.

    But the stampede, though weakened CONSIDERABLY, is still smashing into the fortifications. The rocket fist from Baymax slams into one of the larger bulls and causes the wave to break a little, but this drives part of it toward the Thunderjaw. Baymax and Hiro got some breathing room, but it isn't yet fully taken care of.

    And that is when the Thunderjaw, approaching with steady, stomping and ground-shaking steps, lifts its head. IT isn't in range for the cannons, but the launchers on its back hum up into a whine and send spinning explosive discs into the town's wall, blasting the wooden supports.

    After crashcoursing through several robo-dino bodies Dillon starts to lose velocity with the impacts, so he unrolls onto all fours to use his claws and spurs to break to a stop. He stands up, pondering what to get after next when the sound of weaponry fire can be heard from the Thunderhead. Tarnation, the thing is like Gungrock too? Lovely.

    "Someone stop those guns!" For someone that doesn't talk much Dillon can definately shout when it's important. The THunderhead is still farther back, better for someone with some long-range options to deal with it's alien(?) arsenal.

The Ranger turns his attention back to the stampede. It's been broken but not put down, and some of the more stubborn robots still trying to smash through the fortifications while people are seeking shelter.

    With a grunt he takes a few running steps and in true cowboy style makes a leap to get on the back of one of the bull-bots. Dillon makes a few quick stabs to dig the claws of one hand into it's metal hide and get a grip. Then with the other hand pulls off his hat, which he leans forward to stove the stetson over the bull-bot's face as he leans to the side, trying to divert it away from the walls and trampling some of its smaller allies while it's trying to shake him off.

    Probably not what 'cowpunching' literally means, but what works works right?

    Turns out stemming the tide was a good idea after all. Dante hits the ground. He swaps from guns to swords, a blade of wind and fire somehow emerging from nowhere. "BROTHER! IT IS TIME!" "YES, BROTHER!" The swords bellow.

    "Oh Jesus, didn't I tell you nitwits no talking?" Dante begins to slice out the legs of the stampeding raptor bots regardless, gale force winds and blazing flames melting through ankles with ease.

    "YESSSSSSS! MORE, MASTER GIVE US MORE!" "So powerful, master!" "Ugh, fuck it."

    Dante promptly gives up with that rule, as he begins to spin-slash his way through the faster moving machines, severing limbs and heads like a fire tornado made of swords.

    The stampede really is a problem. Athena scowls, but at least her approach is working, right? "Regroup right over here, and hit them while they're confused! Try to herd them into the canyon!" she shouts. "We don't have to kill them, just keep them away from us!" She starts to guide the others in helping, and...

    Athena also agrees with Dillon, when the discs blast into the wall. "We need to take out those launchers! Luke, can you help with the stampede while the others take a shot at the artillery?" She knows the trainer at least a little. She only hopes the others here will spend some time on the launchers.

    Well, Dante seems to be arguing with his swords, and also hit on Aloy instead of her, so she doesn't expect much from him! Athena is a little vain.

    While the others deal with the stampede and oncoming rush of angry machinery, Rydia has her own issues to contend with. It is, perhaps, a small grace that she can get the attention of the children. Because that means when the parents are forced to pay attention, she can get a little more done.
    "Oh, I have your attention now? Good!" She decides, when the younglings get the right idea to pay attention to the very loud girl on the bird.
    "Everyone get organized, don't break off from your groups, stick with the hunters that-- What do you MEAN you don't know which hunter to follow-- huh? How am I supposed to know-- wait wait slow down, you're supposed to go the other w-- OOOOOH!"
    The girl's frustration mounts easily as she tightens up on the reins of her bird. The thin layer of mist shrouding her swirls slightly, before an almost electric crackle hums through her body.
    "*GOBLINS, GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME DEAL WITH THIS.*" She snaps at no one in particular.
    It's just the span of a few heartbeats before four small mounds of dirt shift and rise. And from the four mounds erupt four squat figures.
    Rydia barks something at the Boss Goblin, which immediately gurgles something irritable back at her. In an instant the exchange devolves into an all out arguement, the small girl and the goblin bickering violently for a brief few moments, before an irritated look flashes across the child's face.
    She reaches for the whip coiled at her belt.
    Immediately the four goblins understand they are out-argued and listen for orders.
    "Start leading people to the hunters."
    Now with four helpers, Rydia has an easier time organizing people and beginning to send them on their way. But goblins rarely work for free, and definitely not for longer than they have to. They'll basically sod back off as soon as Rydia's back is turned within the next fifteen or thirty seconds tops. But having them getting people to at least start moseying is better than just yelling.

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> Summoning a gang of goblins to get people to go places for one turn.

    [Cayde, there's something going on with the big one!] the Guardian's Ghost reports as Cayde continues to blast the things below. "What, other'n it using these guys as blockade runners?" If that's the case, tell him something he doesn't know! Which is what his Ghost begins to clarify, even as its Guardian takes a moment to look at the rest of the situation on hand. "Thinning 'em at least. Kinda? These guys aren't too shabby-- Anyone follow up with Athena on that drone? -Oh hey, even the kid's here! .... Is that guy yelling at his swords?"

    [I'll try to locate the drone. But Cayde, the Thunderjaw- its systems are pushing well past what the smaller ones ar-- Incoming!]

    "Kwah? -oh crap!!"

    Cayde jerks his head up as the Thunderjaw fires, and upon impact of the wall the Exo flails as he loses his balance. His Ghost shouts in his head as he tumbles forward, and he boosts his jump midway to lessen impact as he tucks into a somersault upon landing. "-is it wrong that I want one?" he asks no one in particular, quickly lashing out with his Hunter's knife as a raptor thing gets too close, following up with more rapid-fire from his handcannon. 

Luke Gray keeps an eye on the approaching mechical bulls, waiting for them to get closer, trying to focus on them, when he hears Athena's request, "I'll try!" he replies, adjusting his cap, because of course he is wearing a cap. "Ok, Dynamo, charge beam!" he calls, pointing at the group of stragglers approaching.
     The Electiger roars at the command, the already charged pokemon sparking even more brightly and opening it's maw. Most of the electricity gathers in a large orb, building in size, before it is unleashed as a straight beam at one of the mechanical bulls, the electric charge blasting the mechanical/robot, and jumping to the ones closest to it!.

    Of course, as with all good Rocket Fists, it comes sailing back after some long distance punching to reconnect to Baymax's fist. A hovering Baymax with a semi-worried Hiro clinging to his back.

    "Sooooo uh... that worked. Kind of. Now, let's make another pass. But this time let's use both fiisssaaaaahwhat is that?!?!"

    Hiro points wildly at the huge Thunderjaw thinger that is making its presence known and all of that. Which, y'know, is probably not the best thing that could happen right now.

    Baymax, of course, doesn't freak out. Instead, he offers a simple answer, "That is a big robot. If you would like more information, I could ask--"

    "I know what it is, Baymax. I was just-- nevermind." Hiro turns to look behind them and spots the wall and the fact that it is being wrecked and that there's people in need. "Baymax! Back to the village. We gotta' help."

    Baymax turns and speeds back towards the Village and over the wall. He lands inside and Hiro jumps off his back quickly. "Okay, um." Hiro takes a second to notice the girl on the bird doing, y'know, evacuation things and listens up. "Baymax!" Hiro points. "Help her, help them get outta' here!"

    Hiro looks down at a downed RoboRaptorThingy nearby and smirks just a little bit to himself. "I think I'm getting an idea."

    Baymax waddles off in the direction of the evacuatees and goblins to assist, immediately offering a "Hello. I am Baymax." to. "Hello. I am Baymax." everyone. "Hello. I am Baymax." he. "Hello. I am Baymax." sees.

    "Hello. I am Baymax."

    As for Hiro, he's going to see if he can't get a panel open on one of these RobotBeast things and see what's going on inside. It might be time to put that super brain of his to work.

    "Hello. I am Baymax."

    Yeah, that's going to be a thing for a while.

    The explosion on the wall makes Aloy wobble, and she has too much going on for her attention to match it all. The huntress staggers, but then she steadies herself while she watches what's going on with... the stampede. "Wow... that's pretty effective," she says, watching Dante ignore orders... but perhaps for the best, as the blades cleave off a Watcher head here, and a bull-type's leg there. Right next to a stumbling bull, a raptor-type leaps up... only for that glowing, charging eye to get Cayde's knife right through the lens, causing it to crash aside before the charging bull is shot down, keeping Cayde and Dante's area clear.

    "THERE'S OUR CHANCE!" One of the hunters shouts, rushing out from cover as Luke's pokemon lets loose a blast of electricity. This works well, causing several of the bulls to crackle and stagger, stunned for a moment. This not only provides a new barricade for the charging hunters, but allows them to disable the robots, breaking the stampede partially.

    With both sides disabled, the stampede is looking for some kind of leader to follow. Dillon's rodeo-style takeover works well with this, and grappling hold of the Broadhead to ride it out. This lets him guide it, and the remaining part of the stampede rushes into the canyon thanks to the combined efforts of the heroes. This is something unexpected, and a ragged cheer comes up from the town. The evacuation is spared some strain... but the Thunderjaw is still incoming.

    Aloy steadies herself and hears what Dillon and Athena say. "Good idea," she agrees, her Focus drawn up to get a quick scan of the creature. The Thunderjaw that is. Drawing her bow, she lets loose a whistling arrow that... thunks into the Disc Launcher. Then a faint humming noise starts before the concussive explosion tears into the armored reinforcement, loosening the launcher slightly.

    The evacuation is chaotic, but soon Rydia summons some goblins. The townspeople get the idea. "Follow the short things and the... white... thing!" The white thing being Baymax, of course, who is helpfully offering his assistance in ushering people to a lower-threat area. Hiro himself will easily be able to get some parts, but he'll have to choose quickly what to grab. He can easily see this tech is WAY advanced, but it's obviously of human design, or close enough. He can grab either an intact power plant reformer of some kind, or something of the motivator, or what appears to be the memory cell of the 'brain' of the machine before things get messy.

    And things ARE getting messy, because the launchers fire again, hammering the village wall relentlessly. Timbers creak and snap, and some fall over. Meanwhile, its maw charges, unleashing a blast toward Dante, pure energy followed up by a strafe of blaster cannons across Cayde and Athena.

>> SUMMARY[Aloy] >> Stampede is taken care of, evacuation proceeds more efficiently. Dante blasted by giant cannon, Cayde and Athena by machine cannons, and the wall is hit hard again.

    Dante is just about to get defensive when Cayde stabs that last watcher is stabbed to death. "Thanks, man." He offers a salute to Cayde, taking the fact he's some kind of sci-fi cowboy robot in stride as he sees the Thunderjaw draw closer.

    Of course, the good feelings are short-lived as Dante sees something get really bright behind him, before he's smashed with energy. The red-clad devil hunter is practically smashed into a nearby boulder, leaving him a bloodied mess before he pops his neck. Wounds will heal shortly, but he's gonna get turned to paste if he doesn't do something about that big t-rex lookin' fucker.

    "Okay, so you're gonna be like that, huh?" He switche out Agni and Rudra for Ebony and Ivory again, taking aim at the Thunderjaw's launchers when he sees Aloy fire on them as well. It's INHUMAN how fast he can shoot those guns, any regular firearms would be falling apart from that kind of furious fingerwork. Except Ebony and Ivory aren't ordinary firearms.

    Athena ducks as the explosion hits, and she stares at the sheer destructive power of this thing. "Is this really a construct?" She marvels at what she's sensing with her Tech Sense, as it's really confusing given most are using bows and spears here. But there's something to worry about later. "Little Owl, see if you can't find that drone thing. It felt different from the rest."

    The drone detaches from her shoulder and beeps. "On my way." Then it darts up, flying off toward the village. If Cayde's Ghost got any data, that would be helpful to relay right now.

    Meanwhile, Athena whips out her energy rifle... and dives aside! Cannon fire blasts her armor and sends her tumbling behind cover, a smoking set of holes in her battle armor. That took the brunt, but she's wincing from the pain shooting through her now. "Too close," she mutters.

    Rising up from cover, she takes aim and fires a shot at the launcher Aloy and Dante damaged.

>> GAME >> Athena spends an Edge for: Multi-Action: Little Owl to Drone, and shooting the Launcher.

    At the end of the wild ride Dillon jumps off the robo-bull and leaves it to tumble into the valley with the rest of the routed stampede. Shakes himself off a bit and puts his hat back on, giving the brim a firm tug to snug it back into place as he surveys the remander of the fight. That big threat is still out there... But that it's done damage to the defenses is hard to ignore. Especially when they're made mostly of wood. But maybe...

Dillon grabs one of downed robots and uses his claws to pry a piece of metal off of it. The goes to slap it over one of the damaged spots in the wall, using his own strength to try and bend it into place. The metal is stronger than wood, even if it's a bit of a hodgepodge attempt at repairs.

    Cayde twirls his knife, bringing it up in a quick salute back at Dante even as he lifts his gunarm up and fires at another target behind him. It's the shout from his Ghost that has him snapping his attention back towards the huge death machine on chicken legs. Are those things tamable? That'd be an awesome thing to ride around the EDZ... Well okay, so first he'd have to figure out how to get back to his world--

    Know what, he'll come back to that. Getting shot at really puts a damper in anyone's daydreaming. "Agh!" He dives in an attempt to avoid the spatter of blasterfire, his shoulder jerking as a shot clips him, but he struggles to keep his feet under him rather than eat dirt.

    Internally his Ghost continues to try and keep up with what's going on around them, any immediate threats although it looks like the stampede has thankfully shifted its course. It recalls its earlier directive and tries to scan for the drone from earlier, and if it manages to find anything it'll ping Athena's drone with information as it can. And Cayde... 

    "Yeah, you're not out of range now!!" The Exo seems to be grinning as he dashes towards the Thunderjaw and leaps, once-- twice to get some decent height, aiming his weapon at the blasters flanking the big metal beast's head. Pew pew!

    Baymax is in the middle of ushering people to safety when things start hitting the wall. It is with no hesitation that Baymax spins and leaps over to Hiro to plant himself and his armored body in front of him.... just in case. It is his duty to protect Hiro from all kinds of harm. Including discs of doom that are breaking through. "Hiro?"

    "One sec." Hiro's trying to finish grabbing that memory 'brain' out of the downed beast and shoves it away into a slot on his own super suit. Where it immediately begins downloading. It's going to take a moment, though.

    "Oh man." Hiro stands up to his small height and peers around Baymax at the wall and the destruction of it. "We gotta' do something. These people still need to get out of here. Uhhhhhh..." Hiro looks back at the robot nearby... and the other ones that are broken and such. The walls are wood but these things are metal. Hm. "Baymax? I need a cast."

    Baymax looks at Hiro, likely scanning him. "You do not have any broken bones."

    Hiro uses the electromagnetic pads on his gloves to cling to that robot thing he just stole the brain of, lifts with some strain and slams it up against a hole in the wooden walls. "Not me. The wall."

    Baymax looks at Hiro. Then the wall. Then back at Hiro. Then at the wall. Then at the people running for their lives. Then at the Thunderjaw outside the wall. The computations finally finish and Baymax raises a gloved hand, opens his palm and fires some insta-drying cast plaster at the wood and the metal thing that Hiro's holding up there.

    "Woo! Way to go, buddy!" Hiro shouts some encouraging words at Baymax. "I just hope this holds..."

    Baymax raises his other hand to double the wall-cast efforts.

     Luke sees the stampede is finally taken care of, and that people are engaging the huge mechanical dinosaur!. In a bit of a contrast of his previous unease at approaching, Luke awkwardly rides the mechanical bull towards the giant mech, his pokemon close behind, "Dynamo!, get that thing's attention!." he calls, seeing how it tried to blast at Dante and the others. It's a bit of a weird... command, but Dynamo complies, rushing further ahead and roaring at the dinosaur, attacking the beast's leg with a blast of electricity, while Luke moves to one side, trying to flank it, at least he is on the mechanical ride.

    The golbins help... Some. Rydia scowls when the amble back off almost as soon as as they drop people off with a few hunters. But it's better than nothing.
    The girl spends a moment longer flagging people down, directing them one way or another, whistling sharply for attention when she needs to.
    And then...
    And then... Baymax.
    Rydia just stalls entirely for a moment, the green-haired girl trailing off in her quick instructions to a lost villager when she has to just... Stop and stare at Baymax. Ambling from person to person. Introducing it... Himself? Sure, the robot is helping, but...
    "...Wh... What...?"
    Even her chocobo tilts his head, peering curiously with one vividly intelligent eye.
    "... Kw... Kweh...?"
    It takes her a second to rally, but as soon as she regains her composure, she loses it when the village wall shakes from another impact. Her avian steed twitters and rears, but remains surprisingly calm, which helps her steady herself.
    There's still a lot to do though, as she wheels her bird around.
    "Whyt, go see what you can do to help the others."
    Again it seems like she's speaking to no one... Before the thin mists clinging to her detaches. The mist soon takes the semi-solid shape of a dragon hatchling, which burbles in the affirmative, floating towards a damaged section of wall and trying to replace a few wrecked bricks and help Dillon and Baymax out.

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> Mini-Mist Dragon helping at the walls.

    The launchers are armored well... but still weaker than the bulk of the Thunderjaw. Dante tanking the blast gets a surprised look from Aloy. "Are you... okay?" She calls uncertainly, before it ends up she doesn't need to worry. Dante may be injured, but his hand cannons are still working, and chewing off the extra armor at a prodigious rate. With Athena blasting it as well, the launcher looks almost ready to fall off.

    Athena drone and Cayde's Ghost are also working to find the quickly-fading signal of the drone. It's still in the air, but Little Owl's laser can, if Athena wishes, quickly zap it to take it down and mark its position.

    Cayde's bullets slam into the cannons, and cause the head to jerk back. The armor is flaking off, showing that yes, they are vulnerable to being blasted away or disabled. Unfortunately this gets the attention of the Thunderjaw more, and it decides to fire a few shots at Cayde.

    It isn't too far into blasting that barrage that way before Luke decides to charge out on his Broadhead. Aloy yells, "BE CAREFUL!" Now she's worried, panicked as the youth is rushing right into danger, but causing a jolt to the Thunderjaw that distracts it. The massive beam that was attacking Dante turns instead toward the electro-tiger. That's bad news, as it's pretty powerful when it lances out toward Luke's pokemon.

    Meanwhile! The heroes take an unexpected approach, but one that is quite... well, heroic. The sheets of metal clang into place, and Dillon's strength plus the spraying adhesive of Baymax's system seal them in more securely. Whyt joins in the attempts, rapidly patching the holes made and covering for the evacuation. Just in time, too. Aloy looses another arrow, staring intently with her Focus enhancing her vision, but it isn't enough to knock off the launcher. The wall is pounded by two more explosions from the disc launcher, fragments raining down... but with all that support it's holding up much better than the flaming wreckage it might be without that help.

    And now that the stampede is out of the way and the Thunderjaw is distracted, the hunters are charging forth! "This way! Surround it!" They spread out to harry the giant beast.

    Dillon glances over as the boy and his robot have the same idea, but Baymax has something much more suitable for an adhesive. There's also the small dragon(?) putting pieces back in, but the robot is what's got most of his attention. And gives him and idea, remembering what Baymax did earlier in the fight.

    He gives a nod of approval as he hustles over, the points at Baymax. "You. Big fella." Another point at the Thunderhead. "Aim for the head."

    With that said he taps the buckle of his belt to activate the charger for an extra bit of oomp, then rolls up into the big spiky armadillo ball in front of the duo.

Luke is focused on his task, glad that the creature is both distracted, adn stunned as he reaches to his belt for a second pokeball, and aims it at one of the monster's legs. A red beam of light, and a large bear creature, orange furred, with a flame on it's forehead, emerges form it. 
     It seems momentarily confused as it appears right next to the dinosaur's leg. "Agni, climb up and attack those things as hard as you can!" Luke commands, pointing to the launchers.
     The fire pokemon nods and quickly clambers up, making it's way to the robot's back, at least there are plenty of footholds for it!. Once in position, it tries to apply it's considerable strength on tearing at one of them, sharp, fire enhanced claws slashing at the darn thing.
     Dynamo meanwhile knows what to do when something throws energy at the him. Oddly, rather than outright run away, the electiger roars loudly, electricity building up again, forming a bright orange dome of energy around it, partially transparent. The dinosaur's beam collides with the light screen, most of the energy diverted from reaching the target, and as the smoke from the blast settles, there stands the Electiger still, not looking very hot, but certainly several steps over 'a scorch mark on the ground'.

>> GAME >> Luke Gray spends an Edge for: Using both of his pokemon, one to distract the robot dinosaur, the other to attack the launchers on it's back.

    [Incoming, Cayde!] his Ghost warns, although the Guardian's already tensing in the air as the metal creature turns its head towards him.

    One doesn't go blasting a giant target head-on without the expectation of some retaliation. Still, it's a close one as Cayde twists in the air once more shots hurl towards him. Then he lurches forward, pushing himself off in midair with one more boost, angling right for the Thunderjaw's head. 

    Guess he wasn't kidding about riding the thing.

    Dante holsters his pistols, before he grabs the massive sword on his back. Rebellion practically sings as he begins to sprint toward the Thunderjaw. Crackling electricity surrounds the devil hunter, as he lunges toward Thunderjaw, his sword thrusting out with great force. "You ready? I am!" He calls out, before unleashing a TORRENT of swordstrikes.

    His sword dances in his hands as Dante lets out a barrage of slashes, thrusts, chops, and great swings. As it goes, he grows more demonic, his battle cries becoming more guttural and echoing with unholy power.

    His Devil Trigger is kicking in, and Dante's going all-out on this thing as he propels himself into the air with an uppercut swing, letting off a rapid barrage of additional sword strikes, each hit landing with demonic energy aiding his already considerable might.

    Hiro and Baymax are forever focused on putting the wall back together as quickly as it is getting torn apart. Good thing there are all these spare parts lying around. "It's working, Baymax! Keep it up!'

    Hiro stops for just a moment to check the status of that 'memory' downloading into his systems. There's still a whole half a progress bar left. Maybe there's a bunch of stuff interfering with the downloading process. Hiro makes a mental note to upgrade his suit's systems. There has to be a way for stuff to be faster than that.

    Hiro blinks, though, before he grabs another piece of downed robot when Dillon speaks to Baymax. Both Hiro and Baymax watch Dillon roll up into a ball and Hiro grins. "I don't know who you are, dude. But you have the best ideas." Hiro slides over to elbow Baymax and nods towards the DillonBall. "Okay, Baymax. Remember that time we played baseball?"

    "I do not forget. I have a recording of the entire day. Would you like to see it?" Baymax asks, preparing to upload the video for viewing.

    Hiro waves his hands. "Later. But right now, we've got bigger fish to fry." Hiro points at the Thunderjaw. "You heard the man." Hiro grins.

    Baymax looks down at the DillonBall. At Hiro. At the Thunderjaw. Then back at the DillonBall. It only takes another moment for the computations to finish up, because he's using all of his robotic technological tomfoolery to plot a course and scoops up the DillonBall.

    "Stepping up to the mound is the best pitcher we've ever seen here, folks. Hailing all the way from San Fransokyo... it's Baymax!" Hiro goes into baseball announcer mode.

    Baymax bounces the DillonBall in his palm a couple of times and then goes into a full on Pitcher's Pose. He raises an armored fluff-leg as high as it can go, DillonBall behind his back and everything. Baymax takes a second to check the bases that aren't there and moves right into the pitch perfect pitch form.

    "And here's the pitch!" Hiro's having too much fun right now.

    As Baymax goes for the release, though, those thrusters on his gauntlet open up and those rocket boosters kick in with dramatic turbo boosting flair to carry the DillonBall on a course straight for Thunderjaw's Head.

    Teamwork, baby. Yeah.

>> GAME >> Dillon spends an Edge for: Powering Arma-Charge while being rocket launched into Boss Monster

    "LUKE!" Yes, Athena is usually all about letting warriors prove themselves, but what Luke is doing is really dangerous and reckless. And also, as he does that maneuver, incredibly brave. She dives out from cover, whipping up her laser rifle to shoot a few blasts toward the Thunderjaw... walking them upward. The launchers could be a problem if they were directed toward everyone else, even if it looks like the reinforced walls will hold. She's aiming for the launcher again.

    And the Goddess of War gets a surprise as Baymax, Hiro, and Dillon come up with an improvised attack to back up the mechanical soldier, Cayde, and assault the head all at once. Maybe that will help out in some way.

    Things are getting a little hectic, but Rydia feels she can safely leave the evacuation process to progress on its own with the locals. A tug on the reins of her avian steed and she starts personally heading for the wall. Just in time to catch Dillon curl into a ball and watch in near-awe as the white robot launches him through the air.
    "... What's a baseball?" She asks the most pressing question that comes to mind as her dragon dissolves back into a mist that lingers about her once again. She surveys the actual fight against the mechanical beast. It's too far for her to effectively use her magic, and it would be too dangerous for her to get closer, personally, pondering for the span of a few heartbeats how to contribute.
    It hits her. She can't reach it.
    But she can *Call* something that can.
    Hiro might be able to feel it, with Rydia standing close by... An almost electrical crackle of magic surging through her body as she exerts her will upon a pacted beast and draws it from wherever it may be.
    The air grows cold and a chillingly murderous howl sounds out, keening and baleful, across the land.
    Bounding from seemingly nowhere, an absolutely gigantic white wolf emerges into the fray- larger than a wolf- almost as large and tall as a standing man. Its fur is a pure snow white, massive ice crystals jut from its body and it snaps and snarls.
    "*White Wolfos! Go!*" The girl commands, and the massive beast leaps at the Thunderjaw, teeth flashing, every snapping bite strong enough to rip a man limb from limb, intending to tear off armor and seek out delicate joint mechanisms.
    This proceeds for a few savage beats of vicious ultraviolence, before the Wolfos howls and shifts its attention.
    "... What? ... Wait wait no! Focus on the machine!" Rydia shrieks, as she realizes her control is slipping.
    Those hate filled scarlet eyes glower, smoldering like murderous coals as it leaps off the Thunderjaw and snaps. Barking and snarling, claws lashing out, jaws CLACKing menacingly at anyone too close to it and the giant machine...
    Before Rydia's control lapses entirely.
    And with a snarl, the White Wolfos is upon Dante, massive jaws full of monstrous fangs tearing violently into the Son of Sparda in a brutal display of feral rage.

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> Meet my pupper. He hates everything. Especially me. But most especially Dante, right this second.

    In times of stress and danger, people are really coming together aren't they? The insane barrage of gunfire shears armor and plating away from the bulk of the Thunderjaw, making it shudder and twist with a roar. The maw opens, readying another massive beam... but then the spinning ball of Dillon slams right into its head, knocking it aside and sending the beam blasting upward, thanks to the velocity imparted by Hiro's pal, Baymax. That keeps it from trying to shoot down... Cayde, who manages to land right atop the robot's head, giving him clear access to everything from there.

    Speaking of insane moves, Luke's Dynamo sends a crackling blast that causes a massive foot to stomp nearby, and then the blazing Agni tears into its back, forcing a shake. Luke unfortunately should realize now how dangerous things are, as the tail swipes toward him in a dangerous arc! There are two things that are going to help him though. The bull he's atop will tank some of the blow... and so will the villagers, several of whom leap in, and are caught by the blow. Bruises and possibly a few broken bones will follow, but the beast is too unfocused to make a lethal attack.

    Then, out of the blue, Athena's blast follows the smoking trail of Dynamo's attack. The sparking disc launcher is hit, hard enough that it finally shears off, flying through the air. The other one still fires off toward the wall, but it's looking in much better shape after the patches. It can probably stand up to several more hits.

    With Cayde atop its head and Agni on its back, the Thunderjaw is /pissed/ now. It stomps backward, shaking head violently to try to dislodge the Soldier of the Light. This is making it fire cannons wildly, and not actually hit anything. Aside from the tail swipe, everyone is spared any effective attacks. Good coordination.

    While it's off balance, Rydia's summon comes into being. The mystical Wolfos streaks toward the Thunderjaw, and at first a ragged cheer comes up... as the jaws tear into the plates that Luke has already damaged around the legs, and rip into the exposed mechanisms, forcing the Thunderjaw down onto its belly in its thrashing.

    A cheer that turns into confusion when it turns upon Dante, though.

    Aloy turns her strider about and stares at the ongoing battle. With the head occupied, she can take a long draw of her bow, then release an arrow toward the Thunderjaw's exposed side. The arrow bursts, starting a sputtering electrical fire to add to all the damage. The villagers rally around the heroes, their spears and bows harrying...

    And then the cannons fire, joining in the assault to batter the staggered robotic beast.

    This was a rediculous idea. But that's what heroes do in times of trial.

    Dillon can withstand great speed and friction normally, activating the Arma-Charge was just some extra insurance against how much extra forces Baymax's thrusters put out. It also amplyfies his physical strength and durability directly, so thanks to Baymax he hits quite literally like a wrecking ball into the Thunderjaw's head. THAT is how you do teamwork!

The force of impact is enough to rebound him off the beast's head in an upward arc as he has too much momentum to go backwards. But this is actually a good thing. Or at least he makes good on the oppritunity.

    Dillon uses his own gyroscopic motion to bend the arc down so he's directed towards the Thunderjaw's back, still spinning as he does so. The combination of spiked shell and energy sparking from the charge makes him like a living buzzsaw coming down right towards whatever passes for the beast's spine.

    Though the spine part may be lucky placement, he's not use to fighting monsters with actual anatomy. Just giant rocks.

    Huh, big inflatable balloon robot. "What, the Michelin Man's here too?" He quips, as he trains his shotgun on the Thunderjaw.

    And then, he gets hit by a wolf the size of a person. It hits with bone crushing force, with Dante suffering horrible amounts of force as the wolf mauls him. Sheer, murderous hatred bites down HARD on his chest, drawing blood while he's shook like a ragdoll. He goes completely limp, before fighting back with strength of his own. Despite the puncture wounds being the size of dagger stabs, despite the fact he's only got ONE good limb right now that isn't dangling weakly...he's still trying to fight off the wolfos before it disappears and lets him land on the ground.

    "Ow." is all Dante can say, as he feels his body knit itself back together, his demonic supermode wearing off as he tries to shake off his injuries. Body part by body part, he can feel himself glue back together. Before he's back to full strength, he grabs his sword, before Dante lunges toward the Thunderjaw's leg with a slash. It's not exactly a full-on flying stab, but a weak slash with a sword like Rebellion is still a slash from Rebellion.

>> SUMMARY[Dante] >> AUGH GOD WOOFER

    Wow, that is a lot of... heroic acts that Athena is genuinely impressed by. "... if these were from my world, I'd honor them," she admits. The woman shakes her head and snaps back into the fight, not that she really left it. The battle and the assault has brought some precious moments for her to sprint toward the Thunderjaw with a dual purpose: to check on Luke, who has no place in the battlefield himself, and also to make a dive for that severed launcher.

    With her ability to understand technology, and the fact this is a WEAPON, Athena can quickly lift the launcher and spray a disc or three outward to the side, trying to tear off the plating to allow the others to strike the innards.

    She calls out to Luke, "Are you all right, kid?" Yes, speak like a goddess, Athena. Her host might be talking more right now.

Luke lets out a loud yelp as the dinosaur's tail trashes at him, trying to jump out of the way, letting the poor mechanical bull take most of the hit, and ending up with just moderate wounds. Agni does not have too much time to try to continue attacking, before it too has to bail it's perch for Dillon's saw attack. It seems ready to resume attacking, when it spots Luke on the ground and instead rushes. "I have been better." Luke calls, grunting as Agni helps him stand up, the bear thing snarling at the machine. The trainer recalls Dynamo into it's pokeball, "I think I might have been too careless."

    The skills between all these people is impressive. It's reminiscent of watching Fireteams go at it, except usually all Cayde would be doing would be hearing it tableside as he pretended to do Serious Work at the Tower.

    Of course, with everything being directed at one target, the Exo also realizes just how precarious a position he's just thrown himself into. He can just hear his Ghost sighing in spite of the blasts and slashes and combined attacks of everyone else. 

    "Huh! Didn't think that would work!" he half laughs when he finds himself on the Thunderjaw's head. And then it begins to move, obviously upset at...well, everything right about now. Yelping, Cayde grabs for a handhold, perhaps momentarily resembling a cowboy at a rodeo, except he's got a gun in the other hand. Right. Gun!

    While trying to maintain balance, the Hunter Vanguard thrusts his Ace of Spades skyward, and as though the one motion triggers something, his entire body from foot to his beautiful, beautiful horn ignites with a golden fire. He brings the muzzle bearing down at the Thunderjaw's head, his finger brushing the trigger to squeeze off one blazing ray of a blast before he loses his grip with his other hand, and as he's flung he continues to fire off the remaining shots charged on his Golden Gun.

    That rocket fist comes sailing back after asssiting Dillon with that crazy teamwork. Hiro's definitely going to have to remember that for when he decides to actually build himself some weapons or something. Then again, he seems to be doing pretty well so far. So it's working out.

    Hiro realizes that this thing is still standing and it's not a good thing. "We better get the rest of these people out of here. Just in case." Hiro has faith that the others will be able to take this thing down but Big Hero 6 has always been about helping people and that's what they're going to get back to doing.

    Besides, what's a little Rocketball Special between ushering people to safety, right?

    Hiro and Baymax turn away from the wall and the battle and focus their efforts on trying to help get whatever stragglers and such may be to safety.

    "Hello. I am Baymax."

    Here we go again.

    Rydia summoning the Wolfos is something worrying Athena. She remembers when the wolfos was 'tamed' and... now it isn't too tame. Even if she's a little angry at Dante, she has to wince at what the creature does.

    Athena drops the smoking launcher when she finishes firing, and tries to grasp the battle. Being the Goddess of War this isn't very hard, and she can tell they're on the edge of victory.

    That was not supposed to happen.
    That was NOT supposed to happen.
    Jade eyes watch transfixed in abject horror as the White Wolfos savages the half-devil in red. It is brief, but almost an artistic display of violence, the monstrous Wolfos lays into Dante for only a fleeting moment before he- not only reveals himself to have not been instantl killed- but actually fights back.
    It decides, in this moment, that discretion is the better part of savagery and detaches, loping off into the distance to return from whence it came.
    Rydia still remains locked, staring at Dante the whole time as he picks himself up from what should have- and would have killed anyone else. Something that SHE caused.
    Her hands clasp over he mouth as she just stares, horror stricken. The little mist dragon manifests and nudges at her, soon joined by her large feathered steed as they try to calm her down.
    She'll need to work with that Wolfos some more. ... A lot more.

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> Oh hey I think I traumatized myself, this time.

    Even an upgraded Thunderjaw is no match for the sheer power of this group all working together. The sword from Dante slices through the OTHER leg parway, enough to stymie the attempts of the Thunderjaw to rise again... but at least it doesn't have a spine to sever when Dillon crashes into it. There are some delicate components there, though, and the radar is completely gone.

    The Thunderjaw roars then, and whips its head about, but it's dying now. Explosions slam into it from the launcher, its own weapon tearing gaping holes in its shattered plating. Fires pop and explode, and a rain of arrows and spears join the other attacks. Cayde's blast causes a chunk of the head to shear right off, and it thuds on the side, struggling to get up.

    Not really happening though. With the struggle to get up, the villagers are able to attack with impunity. Most of the people are safe even if there were a sudden surprise... all the noncombatant-capable are, and only the protectors and a few stragglers are left.

    Aloy lowers her bow, riding toward the others with a deep breath. "This wasn't normal... we should take a look at that drone you were talking about." Funny how she knows that word when she's a hunter from a tribal society. "I think we're safe for now. Is everyone... all right?" Dante is bloodied up a lot, others have been shot, and Luke looks worse for wear, as does Dynamo. "We'll have the healers take a look before reporting in what we learned."

    WE GOT THE DRONE (woo)

    WE GOT THE ROBOTS (woo)

    Dante's not feeling like shit anymore! (woo)

    He sheathes his sword with a flourish, before he sees Rydia in the corner of his eye. THe very girl that summoned the big wolf thing.

    For someone who just got mauled by a giant magic wolf, he's looking pretty casual as he approaches Rydia and...kneels down in front of her. "Hey."

    He pats her on the head. "I don't blame you." Patpat.

    Dillon rolls away from the collapsing Thunderjaw to be sure to not get trapped underneath before he finally stops and stands up. Shakes off his hat and puts it back on his head. He's roughed up from all the smashing into things but no worse than his usual adventures.

    "Bigger they are..." You folks know how the rest of it goes.

    Somewhere well away from the battered wall and the fallen Thunderjaw, Cayde lies sprawled across some slightly crushed bushes. His Ghost has emerged again, giving a twitching 'headshake' sort of gesture as it circles its reckless Guardian, light playing from its glowing blue core over the Exo as it begins the healing process.

    "...did we win? Sounds like we won." 

    The Thunderjaw being taken care of is nice, but...
    Even while getting patted on the head, Rydia just stares at Dante like she just watched him get ripped limb from limb.
    Because she kind of did.
    Give her a few, she'll be fine.
    Aside from something new to add to her nightmares.