World Tree MUSH

    A few days ago, the Thunderjaw and a mysterious rider had nearly brought down a small village, and possibly been ready to cause even worse damage. In fact they HAD managed to destroy the village! Only through the valiant efforts of some passing heroes were the villagers themselves saved, and able to survive to rebuild. The Carja are good at building, at least, so perhaps the new one can be even better... not that those who lost things would feel much better about that.

    What might also make them feel better is if the crippled Thunderjaw and its mysterious rider were taken care of. Fortunately it's not hard to track such a thing... a smoldering, damaged robot T-Rex is not exactly the most difficult thing to find. Even trying to 'hide' behind a rock formation doesn't help, because the damage Li-Ming and Natsu(and others) inflicted on it have it trailing parts and limping. The strange rider is also there, but staring at it with a loss, apparently unable to repair it.

    Tracking... Is something 9S is good at. The YoRHa Scanner unit putting his systems and his Pod's abilities to use to hunt down the crippled Thunderjaw, with 2B trailing behind him for once.
    "It should be over this way-- wait. It's still moving. Though from the damage everyone did it looks like it's limping." The young-looking android says as he hacks through vegetation with his katana. "Yep. There's a part. That's a part. That's a biiiig part."
    "9S focus." 2B grunts at her partner's lackadaisical hunting manner as they trudge along and...
    "There they are!"

Emily wasn't here last time, but the news of the battle caught her attention, so now she's here flying over in the form of a four-armed woman with auburn hair in a bun and glowing purple eyes; she's dressed in a black ancient Greek-style peplos dress, with blue jeans and neon pink sneakers underneath it.

She regards the smouldering monster and its erstwhile rider, and raises her eyebrows. "Well, I certainly missed some fun!" she remarks to no one in particular, smiling her trademark amused and faintly smug smile. "Hey, 2B! Hey, Nines!"

     Similarly to Emily, the young trainer simply heard of the situation, and the mention of 'robot t-rex' certainly caught his attention, especially after doing some search on what a 'T-rex' was, certainly sounded like an impressive thing!. He quickly learned that he wasn't the only person around, so, the boy, flanked by two of his pokemon this time, begin to follow the tracks as well as they can, at least his pokemon are good for that!. So, a boy, a very round looking 'tiger' and what looks like a guy in a pink, black and white 'bear' theme park mascot costume make their way through the greenery!. They do run into at least a familiar face or two, so Luke waves and approaches, "Hi!"

    What a day that was. Calamity strikes, wizards, fire slingers and amazing robot killers were only just enough to prevent needless deaths. Li-Ming trails along with the pack, doing her best to keep to the hacked-clear path while also steering clear of the bits and bobs the robot monster left along the path.

    Who knows, there could be parts that explode!

    "Mmm. So it is. So then, do we let the assailant speak their peace?" She has her own approach in mind, of course, though the presence of someone younger- strange bodyguards along with him or not- leaves her at least somewhat less eager for violence.

    Just a little.

    "Anyhow, shall we?"

    The Thunderjaw is probably not going to go without a fight, but at the moment the rider is not on it, which might make things easier. Approachinng him though? That shows more detail. Or less detail, as the case may be. A fit and slender man with a lance makes for a good, striking figure of a rider... but the flickering darkness that seems to cling to him and give a sense of being insubstantial is not normal.

    Without a goal, he isn't as aggressive, though his lance comes down to point toward the ground in the direction of those approaching. At the ready but not threatening.

    So it's not immediately to violence, then. Li-Ming continues forward, aiming to put herself out in the open but at a respectable distance. Reactionary gap! She keeps her hands empty, though doubtless the shaded lance wielders knows well she's plenty dangerous without holding a weapon.

    "So then. Here you are, having fled your attempted slaughter of an unwitting village. If I may, what was your ploy? Is there some angle you're playing at that you must boast to us of? Please."

    She makes a show of standing firm but as unaggressive as she can manage while her nerves itch to deal retribution. A glance back at her companions - someone more familiar with the world might have been useful but she supposes that everyone here will make do.

    2B's katana is drawn. Do they give him the chance to say anything?
    "You have fifty words or less." The silver-haired android says firmly.

Emily nods in greeting to Luke and his pokemon, then simply floats over after Li-Ming, upper hands on her hips and her lower arms folded. "I mean, yeah," she says in agreement. "Nobody here is exactly a fan of the whole 'massacring an entire village' thing." She focuses directly on Li-Ming. "... I'm just following your lead, all right?"

She can't resist a smirk at 2B's display. "Wow," she says dryly.

    "My ploy?" Even his voice has a faint echo to it, but the man seems surprised, and shrugs. "I am but an echo, a shade of the hero I once was. I serve the underworld now, and the need for fresh souls compels us to seek them out. It is not a task I enjoy, but it is a task that must be done. This land is ripe with death already, a small push is all that is needed."

    The Thunderjaw rumbles, a glow starting in its mouth, but when it lifts its head it doesn't attack. Wrapped loosely around its neck and jaws, a thread of glimmering gold shows what appears as a bridle, with crawling pulsing light along the circuits originating from that point. The man, gesturing to stay the Thunderjaw's attack, continues. "I died once before. In shame and defeat. Now I must serve."

Luke Gray does not have weapons per se, so he is not as good at looking threatening as 2b is, but his pokemon seem to pickup the vibe of the situation adn pick up the slack, growling loudly. The 'tiger' looks at least somewhat threatening for sure, with electricity visibly arcing around it, glaring towards the mechanical dinosaur. The pink and black bear seems more interested to the shadowy person, bringing it's 'hands' together and somehow cracking knuckles, before simply pushing aside the tree it was resting against. "Anything I need to know about that... thing?" Luke asks, glancing at the Thunderjaw, with his electric pokemon's sparkign glowing in intensity when the machine seems to charge up.

Emily lets out a noncommittal grunt. "Oh, one of these jokers," she says. "Thought so." She raises her eyebrows. "He's all yours, 2B. To the extent that he's already dead and will ... probably just ..." She stops. "Remind me if we found out what actually happens to shades when you ... quote-unquote kill them?" She was very out-of-sorts that time with Athena ...

    9S is rapidly counting words on his fingers.
    2B frowns intensely.
    "2B, he's 26 words over." The Scanner unit says.
    "I know." The Battle unit replies darkly, grip shifting on her katana as soon as the Thunderjaw looks ready to attack. Even when it doesn't... She suddenly breaks into a sprint, katana gleaming in hand, leaping for the giant mecha dinosaur. There's a series of quick flashes, blade slashing faster than the eye can see as she just intends to start cutting down and gutting what amounts to being another machine lifeform, in her eyes.
    Anything Luke needs to know about it? Nah, 2B will just attack it.

>> SUMMARY[2B] >> I counted.

    Following her lead? Oh dear. Li-Ming glances from Emily, to 2B, to whom she dips her head in apology. Certain aspects of these have ridden her nerves hard since the village. "Yes," she answers to the figures initial reply.

    Everything uttered twists her guts into a knot, though, as her suspicions are proven unfounded. Instead, she's quietly horrified that her estimation fell well short of reality. "So then, servant of death, where does your quest bring you next?" She does her best to still the tremble of rage in her voice. "Already, you seek to despoil and reap from worlds uninvolved in your endless conflict? What will you say to Malthael when I send you back to him?"

    Mistaken identity, perhaps.

    2B doesn't wait and neither does she, following up the robot-killer's charge with a spherical blast of arcane power, carrying enough force to blast a deep crater in the somewhat soft tropical earth. Or ideally, dash this villain to bits against the hide of his mount. Wishing isn't winning, though, and so it's a fight! "Be wary of the lance it carries! It can be thrown deceptively fast!" She'll leave off warning against the robot lizard. It's probably not long for this world. Right?

    Li-Ming's accusation makes the shade look confused. "Who? This is not what my superior wants either, but it is the only way. This is what we MUST do." He sighs, shaking his head. The lance is going up, but just warily, "I have no current orders, but this beast will likely cause problems. As for me, when destroyed I disperse. I will reform in the Underworld in a few... years." He shrugs, apparently without much care for whether this happens or not.

    His head whips up when the Thunderjaw is attacked. He... does not move to defend it, but the empowered beast is still strong, and the roar it lets out is followed by a sudden spattering of energy bolts from a turret atop its spine. A hail of gunfire tries to cut down 2B, but not before one of the cycling lasers on its jaw is sliced off, spinning into the distance. The Thunderjaw counters with a large leg kicking out toward her.

Emily pauses. "... Okay," she says, "that works too, I guess! Releasing capacitor seals three and two!" She's surrounded by three distinct auras, one gold, one silver, and one pearlescent; the first two shatter, and the third fades away, and in a swirl of what appears to be silvery glitter, a pair of xiphos shortswords appear in her upper hands.

She then tosses them forward with what, by all reasoning, should be barely enough force for them to land three feet away. What actually happens is that they shoot through the air, and start hacking away at its lower jaw! There's no elegance to this; she's just following the "hit/stab things until they stop moving" school of combat.

    The Thunderjaw lashes out for a kick. But when it does, 2B nimbly skirts aside, kicking up a trail of dust in her wake.
    "Dssghshsf! 2B! Be careful!" 9S calls from the sidelines as the Battle unit leaps again.
    This time she makes one cleaving stroke with her blade, hacking off one of the Thunderjaw's own disc launchers and catching it out of the air as she lands, taking aim and unleashing the machine monster's own weapon against it.

    Li-Ming begins to circle to one side, shifting clear of Emily as she begins her attack. She recognizes that the girl is dangerous, so. Best to stand clear of whatever may be coming. Those tosses are affirmation enough!

    Still, the response she gets from the shade is peculiar. Certainly not what she anticipated which ever so slightly quells her mounting fury. "Mm." Unwilling pawns are an awful thing to bear witness to! Just awful, though her sympathy has limits. "Then, to whomever you return, please." She holds out a hand and a sphere of blackness dotted with twinkling lights appears above her outstretched left palm. The violence going on nearby gets a look, even as dust swirls about the field. "Go, and bring them our regards."

    Wasting no more time on banter, she fixes on a point in space with her arcane power and tries to rapidly, violently compress it and encompass the poor, damned soul in the effect. It's not /really/ a black hole but it's certainly going to look like one until it breaks loose of her grip and explodes!

    Looks like most of the people are going after the Thunderjaw. In its damaged state, this is not as much of a challenge, because half of its joints are broken or melted from fighting Li-Ming and dragonslayers and so on. The sword slicees through the heavy weapon, and before the Thunderjaw can bring itself about to attack 2B, Emily's light show does more than illuminate, blasting into the jaw to disorient it and make it stagger. A loud hum rises from the back as it engages radar to attempt to compensate... which is still pretty hard, with most of its 'face' blown off.

    Then the disc launcher unloads into the side, which already has most of the armor slagged off from its fight with Natsu. Explosions pepper the inside as it roars, tumbling to the side and thumping tail on the ground, shattering a rock. It's not technically dead, but finishing it off will be trivial now.

    The shade Bellerophon doesn't move, when Li-Ming confronts him. Shrugging, he sees she's preparing an attack but does not move to resist. "Send me back if you will. The Queen desires souls, but I am far from the only one collecting them offworld. The Executioner will be far more effective."

    So he doesn't shriek or anything like it when the dark body is TWISTED toward the attack, his spear dispersing and his shadowy presence vanishing in a puff as the strange quasi-material making up his body is torn apart.

Emily recalls the swords, and they vanish in silvery glitter once more. "The notion that there's someone called an 'Executioner' running around does not fill me with joy," she says dryly, summoning five golden bolts of light and firing them directly into the Thunderjaw's side. "... So, anyway, the ruler of that guy's netherworld is named Persephone, also known as 'Kore'. I ran into her once, and one of her shades barged into 2B's world another time." ... She actually shudders for some reason. "I just might have to drop by her homeworld again, see if I can't pick up a clue there. Or just annoy her."

    Thunderjaw problem: solved.
    The shade: handled.
    Though as Bellerophon is sent on his way back to the netherworld courtesy of Li-Ming... 2B frowns.
    "Executioner? That doesn't sound ominous at all, huh 2B?" 9S asks.
    2B doesn't respond to her Scanner ward.
    "Yeah." Is all she mutters back at Emily, before she sheathes her katana without further word.

    "Executioner," Li-Ming echoes, then drops her hand. "Mm. Drop by her homeworld? Perhaps I might join you." She might, though this has turned her thoughts to her own odd situation.

    "Though really, I should attend to my own troubles. It would seem there are more beings that I originally thought competing for the souls of the dead." It's troubling, imagining what the purpose of all that might be! "Nevertheless, I'm glad this went well." Pause. Glance.

    "Where did the boy go?"