[center][h3]Vs Head of Public Security, Monarch Akira Konoe the Hero[/h3]
Level 6 Goldlewis (138/60)
Susie’s [@Archmage MC], Sakura’s [@Zoey Boey], Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 7977 (+8)[/center]

[color=f49ac2]”Goldlewis-san! Susie-chan! Glad you’re okay.”[/color] Sakura said, happy to have met up with some other Seekers in this big place full of enemies. [color=f49ac2]”I don’t think things are going to get any easier. For them!”[/color] Sakura punched her palm. [color=f49ac2]”Haha.” [/color] 

When the next drop pod fell, Sakura got into her fighting position. [color=f49ac2]”You don’t know what you’re talking about!”[/color] She said to Akira. [color=f49ac2]”Once we destroy the Guardian, everything in Midgar will change: I think that’s what you’re all so afraid of.”[/color] 

Then, a very very big drop pod fell, and Sakura was blasted back with the others. Landing on her back, her bare belly spasmed as she sucked in a few shallow breaths before gasping. Pushing herself up onto her elbows she winced in anticipation as the cyberknight got onto his cybermech. [color=f49ac2]”Hoookay…one last big robot to close out the week.”[/color] Sakura said, pushing herself to her feet. 

While Konoe was monologuing and dramatically walking to his mech, Zenkichi quickly turned to the others. [color=BFBFBF]”Okay, quick notes. Electric and nuclear damage, if any of you have that stuff, is gonna hit his mech extra hard, Don’t bother with wind, psychic or holy damage. Thing’s gonna completely ignore it. And, if possible, I’d like to take him in alive. Though, that might get complicated once we unlock the door to the Guardian, he’s one of our ways in. That, and he’s from my world. My problem…”[/color] 

Sakura just nodded. While Ryu-san’s fireballs could be electric, Sakura’s owns were more fire and light based, so that would be no help. She’d just have to try to find the weak points of the mech and wear it down, while avoiding being squished. 

Susie could help with the damage types this thing was weak to, but only if someone supplied her with that element for her weapons. Otherwise she was just stuck with her blaster. [color=ec008c]”I only have my suit, my blaster, and whatever elements you can give me. ”[/color] Susie said, stating this fact. 

“Nuclear?” How was that a damage type? How did Zenkichi even know all this? Goldlewis guessed he’d have to chalk it up to him and Konoe being from the same world. As for what ‘damage’ he put out, Goldlewis couldn’t rightly say. Physical, definitely. Fire, probably. Explosion? Laser? Well, there wasn’t a lot of time to think about it when staring at a gigantic war machine, outfitted with enough futuristic black tech to make the leaders of Zepp blush. And even when they managed to scrap the Zephyrus, Goldlewis couldn’t help but assume that Konoe wasn’t just some upjumped businessman anymore. Taking him alive would be no easy feat, but then again, when had this ever been easy?

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSzN-YACU1k&ab_channel=PSC[/youtube][/center]

Sakura took off at a sprint, moving around to the left of the machine while Goldlewis covered her with a torrent of Skyfish bullets. She figured if they could surround it, it’d make their job a lot easier.  The moment of truth! Sakura leapt forward and aimed to slam both her feet into the knee joint of the mech to see if she could damage it through its armor at all. [color=f49ac2]”Hiyah!”[/color]

The blow left a distinct dent in the armor, and the whole mech shifted slightly, automatically adjusting to stabilize after the impact. That one interaction gave Sakura the confirmation she needed: that her martial arts could damage the Zephyrus at all. Of course, it would take a lot more where that came from, and Konoe wasn’t planning to make it easy for her. Sakura gasped happily nonetheless. Her feet still braced against the dent in that stretched moment, she bent her knees and pushed away, flipping back and landing on her feet. His mech lifted one leg and went to bring it down on her, a familiar maneuver she’d seen from the Sectopod last night, which forced her to dodge away or be crushed. [color=f49ac2]”Woah!”[/color] 

After that, though, Konoe planted his robot’s feet and fired up the crimson energy core in its chest. A radiant beam blazed forth, blasting the ground to create a circular area of constant, concentrated heat damage. As if that wasn’t enough, he immediately made it everyone’s problem by suddenly boosting forward without moving the Zephyrus’ legs at all; it just slid atop a thin, ultra-dense cushion of air. Sakura preemptively dodged when she saw the core heat up, not looking to get burned, and she had to dive out of the way with a shout when the entire thing surged forward. In that moment it became clear that this machine wasn’t in the same league as the clunky Sectopod after all, but a work of art bordering on fantastical.

Zenkichi summoned his regular greatsword as Sakura shot forward, waiting for Konoe to make a move. He remembered the fight against the giant mech pretty well, but it was a damned shame that the conveniently-placed railguns weren’t around like last time. Oh well. A simple stomp to start the fight, then a quick follow-up sweep of that annoying laser. Leaving no time to change strategies, the Zephyrus shot forward, forcing him to dodge out of the way or be trampled.

[color=BFBFBF]”Yep, still a giant pain in the ass…”[/color] He muttered, taking a few swings at the mech’s leg once he closed the distance, thinking things over. He could buff one of them with any of the kajas, and somebody else with Heat Riser, but the question ultimately came down to who got what. In the meantime, though, he could still deal some damage. [color=BFBFBF]”Valjean! One-Shot Kill!”[/color] He called to his Persona, intent on dealing some serious damage.

When threatened by the mech’s giant laser Goldlewis hastily stowed his minigun and hustled away from the others, ensuring that the beam’s area of effect couldn’t get everyone even if Konoe moved it around. He jumped and airdashed over the crimson splash to smack one of the walker’s thighs with his coffin, and upon landing he hopped backward just in time to see Valjean plug the Zephyrus with a super-sized spectral bullet that seemed to drill straight through its target. It left no hole when it vanished, however, and Konoe showed no signs of stopping just yet. Red emitters on both of his mech’s feet began to glow, and two much smaller beams shot out at knee height to sweep across the battlefield as the Zephyrus turned. Their speed caught Goldlewis by surprise, and the blast of ionized gas took his legs out from under him. “Damn it!” he growled as he scrambled to his feet. “That hurts somethin’ fierce.”

Sakura was lucky in that the beam was closer to Goldlewis than her, so she managed to get her quick feet into the air, eyes widening as it sliced just beneath her. She landed on one leg, teetering. [color=f49ac2]”Woah!” [/color] 

Susie meanwhile had gotten airborn with her transporter and took potshots at this thing with her blaster to see if it did any damage at all. This kept her safe from the laser that would’ve been difficult to avoid otherwise. She wasn’t sure how badly Goldlewis was hurt. But she saw he had taken a lot of punishment before, and summoning their only method of healing this early wouldn’t be a great idea.

Zenkichi, having recognized the attack, was quick to react, hopping straight up into the air and over the sweep, though he grimaced when he saw Goldlewis get wiped out. [color=BFBFBF]”Uuuuhhh, right, that’s my bad! He’s got missiles, too! Heat-seeking, of course, because he spared no expense in actually [i]making[/i] his psycho robot!!! And he can shoot the fist off like a rocket! You can dodge the missiles if you’re quick, but if you don’t see the fist coming, better guard it!”[/color] His piece said, he rushed in for a combo of swings, deciding to give Goldlewis a hand to make up for his mistake. [color=BFBFBF]”Rakukaja!’[/color] He called out, really making him the Secretary of Defense. 

[color=ec008c]”Of course it has missiles and rocket fists…”[/color] Susie muttered.

That was a lot of information to receive and act on in the midst of battle as lasers flew left and right, but Goldlewis felt bolstered by both the advice and the defense buff. “I owe you one!”

“How do you know all this!?” Konoe roared in disbelief, his voice amplified by the Zephyrus. “Well, knowing is one thing. Let’s see you use it!”

Sakura strafed to the side, trying to keep the mech in the middle of all of them. With this thing floating along the ground, she wondered how effective attacking its legs would really be. Closing the gap she leapt forward and tried to latch onto the mechs back, grabbing onto some of its many details for a grip. Headband trailing behind her, she looked for something sensitive to start smacking, such as some boosters on the back to prevent it from pushing itself forward so fast, or maybe some kind of weapon compartment. She began to slam her fist into it to dent the armor and create gaps to work her fingers into it to rip something off. 

On the mech’s [url=https://i.imgur.com/rJHi0Pg.png]back[/url] Sakura not only found its propulsion systems in the form of two giant thruster jets (that her current handholds left her dangling in front of), but also found a blind spot where neither the arms nor lasers of the Zephyrus could seemingly reach her. For the moment Konoe focused on Zenkichi and Goldlewis, firing off a rocket punch at both. Approaching with his coffin as a shield, the Secretary of Defense was big and strong enough to knock the giant fist aside with only chip damage, then let out his chain’s slack and swing the coffin around for a hefty wallop. The sheer size of this thing meant that he could only hit the foot, but he reasoned that if he hit it enough, it would fall. Recouping what momentum he could after the impact, he delivered another mighty strike just as the hands of the Zephyrus reattached.

Then Konoe commanded the Zephyrus to jump into the air, propelled by jets of superheated gas from its afterburners. Though surprised to see the hulking contraption even get off the ground, Goldlewis got a sense of what was coming and jumped, only to be clipped by the mech’s body mid-descent. It struck him and bounced him off the ground as it slammed into the ground, his arms flailing until he came down on his back. Thanks to Rakukaja, though, Goldlewis could take it. Zenkich probably knew to jump over the shockwave (and not toward the mech), so he was more worried about Sakura, both in terms of getting blasted off and then violently jarred loose.

Staring at the thruster jets, Sakura grimaced  and scrambled up closer to its shoulders, leaving the blindspot. She tried kneeing at the thrusters to keep up her damage, but it was pretty awkward so it was just relying on her brute strength. Sakura had yelped when she felt the mech taking off, and hung on for dear life as it soared upward. Having found its blindspot she was expecting it to try and back up into a wall to squish her, not something so dramatic as this! Her stomach dropped, and it began to descend. In a panic, she figured letting go and trying to land on her own two feet was better than crashing into the ground. For a moment she was in freefall, feet pointed straight down, arms out to the side. The moment before impact was punctuated by a sharp cry from the brunette before the shockwave blasted her. A breathless Sakura was sent flying before going into an uncontrolled tumble. With a final skid along the floor she ended up winded on her back. [color=f49ac2]”Itai…” [/color] She complained quietly, pushing herself back to standing. 

Zenkichi, unfortunately having been mid-charge as the rocket fist was launched, managed to block the attack, though the sheer force of the giant mech-fist did some solid chip damage. It also pushed him back a few feet as he grit his teeth and dug in. [color=BFBFBF]”Oh, I know all about you, man! I know about your plans, I know about your twisted hero fantasy, and I know what you’re doing to people because you think it’ll let you control them and wipe out evil! It’s not gonna work! People have to be free to make their mistakes, to choose to do the right thing!”[/color] While he knew he wouldn’t be able to talk down the big bad guy like in some Shounen anime, Zenkichi was still righteous enough that he had to try. 

Unfortunately, he also had to jump to avoid the giant blastwave, and grunting midway through his heroic speech definitely took some of the oomph off of it. With Sakura getting pretty seriously wounded by the Zephyrus’ slam, Zenkichi took a quick breath and turned to the Street Fighter. [color=BFBFBF]”It’s coming back, Sakura! Heat Riser!”[/color] Once more using his greatest buff skill, Zenkichi let out a little sigh. He’d [i]definitely[/i] need a breather after this fight, even if just for a couple minutes. He was putting down a lot of buffs, and there was still a Guardian to face after all this. Rushing back in and wasting no time, he put the pressure on the Zephyrus to keep it off the others. 

[color=f49ac2]”Arigato!” [/color] Sakura exclaimed, hopping up and down and grinning. 

“People are fickle,” Konoe declared. “Given the chance, they’ll choose wrong every time. Those that cannot help themselves need someone to help them!” As Zenkichi attacked him, he struck back, launching lasers to make the detective ease off. “The Ever Crisis is proof positive. Even with such evil right on our doorsteps, people would rather hurt one another! It has brought Midgar to our knees; only united can we stand!”

With Zenkichi’s help, the Seekers rallied, ready to go another round. Goldlewis couldn’t lie to himself, though; this titanic machine was a pain in the ass. It was beefy enough to shrug off his attacks with impunity, and for someone like Goldlewis, that was a problem. His whole gameplan came down to overwhelming his opponent’s defense with crushing, guard-breaking blows and then making every hit count with punishing combos. Against this foe, he couldn’t get started. Still, he wasn’t helpless. Keeping his distance, he sent out a Thunderbird to fly at the Zephyrus and explode against the glass of Konoe’s cockpit. Instead, the self-proclaimed hero swatted it out of the sky with the back of his mech’s hand. Goldlewis groaned. Maybe Zenkichi had been right about those damage types. “Where’s Giovanna when you need her,” he muttered, missing his coworker’s green lightning. Not even the spirits he had would be of any use, as far as he knew. With no other options, he charged in to help Zenkichi in melee range.

Meanwhile, Konoe kept talking as he shot and stomped. “Maybe you don’t believe me. Maybe you too have lost hope! But the night is darkest before the dawn. Justice CAN prevail! It WILL prevail! The people just need someone to remind them that they can do better. Be better!” He paused, spreading his arms wide as the missiles in his mech’s great wings flashed red, arming themselves. “And here I am!”

[color=f49ac2]”Okay, sounds good!”[/color] Sakura answered with a verbal shrug. She didn’t really have anything against this guy, he was just in charge and trying to stop them from destroying the Guardian. And with Galeem here it was impossible to talk him down. The only conversation here would be a conversation of strength and skill. With Zenkichi’s Heat Riser on her side Sakura would be remiss if she didn’t push the offensive. Feet nearly blurring as she sprinted forward, she looked to slide underneath the wing and launch a mighty upwards kick into where it joined the main body. She floated in the air and delivered a few slicing spin kicks before blasting herself a short hop away with a mid-air [color=f49ac2]”Hadoken!” [/color] And as soon as she landed she would dash back in and do it all over again. As long as Heat Riser lasted she would attack. 

[color=BFBFBF]”Man this guy’s head is still so far up his ass…”[/color] Zenkichi muttered as the three melee Seekers wailed on the Zephyrus, not holding anything back. [color=BFBFBF]”But we just gotta keep on him. This thing ain’t invincible!”[/color] He cheered, trying to keep morale up.

Susie knew her business suit was smaller than this thing, but she might have to use it given what was going on here. She moved into midrage to summon her stryker, Deckard, who did what he did best, throwing out healing potions for people to drink for some healing and trying to throw a triangle of sealing under the enemy to root them, but mostly the first thing. Seeing as the mech hadn’t moved much this fight, Susie doubted if that rooting ability would even help, but at least there were potions about for healing.

When Konoe’s missiles armed themselves, Zenkichi might have realized what would happen were his attention not on hacking away with his greatsword. Sakura also focused on offense, her eyes on potential targets rather than enemy weapon systems. Only Goldlewis caught on in the nick of time. The big man naturally commanded a lot of space when he fought, and the situational awareness honed over the course of many deadly battles could never be turned off. “Incomin’!” he hollered, hopping back to raise his Wall of Light. “Get behind me!”

Susie herself had moved back a bit before pulling out her cow mangler to shoot at the mech with her own energy rockets. That was when Konoe unleashed an immense barrage of bright red heat-seeking missiles, flying en masse from the wings of the Zephyrus in spectacular fashion. “Justice will find you!” When her cow mangler clip was empty, Susie hopped into her business suit, eating several rockets while doing so, using the suit to block the next two. She then unleashed her own rockets from her suit, and soon it was a stalemate of rockets colliding with rockets and causing a fireworks show in the sky. Her two sets of shields really dampened the rocket damage she took, otherwise that would’ve really hurt.

Though she defended herself as best she could, only two places were safe from the inundation of missiles: directly behind the Zephyrus, and directly behind Goldlewis’s energy shield. Even then, the massive damage output quickly put his Wall of Light out of commission, just before the barrage came to a close. He returned fire with the Skyfish, bullets pinging off Konoe’s cockpit. Konoe fired up his mech’s main laser, then scooted backward, forcing the Seekers to scatter. They were definitely doing damage, but it was slow. None of them had the type advantage they needed. Meanwhile, Konoe had everything going for him. Goldlewis knew he needed a breakthrough.

Zenkichi was quick to react once Goldlewis made the call, though his missing the initial trigger meant that a couple missiles tagged his rear as he dove for cover behind the Wall of Light that Goldlewis had so kindly put up. [color=BFBFBF]”Thanks for that one…”[/color] He groaned in appreciation. 

“All these damn weapons,” Goldlewis grunted as he broke off from the others to try circling around. “I ain’t winnin’ this arms race…” Wait…arms! Just like that, he had a brain wave. He gunned it, going for a conspicuous flanking maneuver. Konoe saw him and lifted his walker’s fist, firing it off on blazing rockets. As it zoomed toward Goldlewis, he came to a stop and got ready. If this was going to work, timing was everything. When the fist got close enough, he lashed out with a Behemoth Typhoon, clipping the metal knuckles. That impact didn’t stop the rocket punch, but it did allow Goldlewis to perform a red Roman Cancel, briefly slowing time for the fist while he phased around to its side. His burly arms clamped down around the flying arm, followed shortly by arms from inside the coffin. Taking notice, Konoe amped up the thrust, trying to recall the arm before his foe could damage it. As the fist dragged the veteran along, swerving to one side and then the other, Goldlewis dug in his feet, and the UMA reached out more arms to help prop its partner up. Together they maneuvered the fist around, straining against its power, and when they had it pointed at the Zephyrus they finally released it. The fist shot off at a tremendous speed, and though Goldlewis promptly fell on his ass, he scarcely felt it thanks to the satisfaction of seeing Konoe’s own fist strike his mech square in the center.

“GAH!” Konoe yelled, his voice almost drowned out by the noise of the terrific collision. It did a lot of damage, leaving his main laser emitter cracked. “Villains!” he cried, getting his machine under control. “You’ll pay for that!”

[color=BFBFBF]”Oh, damn, good call!”[/color] Zenkichi cheered as Goldlewis turned one of the Zephyrus’ own fists against it, Zenkichi tried to get a look around at the arena they found themselves in. Eyes narrowing at a battery lantern hiding in the corner of the place, Zenkichi made a break for it, pausing once he reached the lantern. [color=BFBFBF]”Now…just gotta…here we go!”[/color] Muttering to himself as he looked the thing over, Zenkichi took a big swing with his greatsword, carving through the lantern as if it were made of paper mache, and hefted the top part, still sparking as the high-capacity battery inside poured its energy out. [color=BFBFBF]”Get down!”[/color] He warned the others, and in a moment right out of a damn anime, tossed his projectile up, summoning his greatsword again and [i]slamming[/i] the flat of the blade into it, launching the lantern-and its discharging battery- directly at the Zephyrus for a concentrated blast of super-effective damage. 

He wasn’t alone. At that point Sakura had gotten the idea. Not that anyone did, but much like Konoe Sakura didn’t play well with electricity but once she saw Zenkichi go to town the environment, she let go of her reservations. As long as it didn’t blow up in her hands she’d be fine! [color=f49ac2]”Chance!”[/color] She ripped a battery lantern from its post and flung it towards Konoe.

Well, seeing what Zenkichi was doing, Susie decided to do the same. But she had an easier time than the guy pulling out the lanterns, and their batteries, from the grund with her mech suit and tossing them like missile javelins at Konoe, able to throw two since she could easily one hand them with her suit. It would be nice if she could just imbue her rockets with electricity, but thats not how her tech worked so this was the best compromise.

Now that they were using the environment -not to mention the Zephyrus itself- against their opponent, the Seekers were getting somewhere. Their barrage of brute force and lightning turned the tables, overwhelming both mech and pilot, and before long its systems couldn’t take anymore. All of a sudden Konoe’s controls stopped responding, and the Zephyrus sank to the ground, jerking around feebly as sparks flew. “Scoundrels!” Konoe seethed, fighting the controls as he tried to coax his mech back up. In this state it was a sitting duck, ripe for an all-out attack.

Sakura had been saving up her meter for this. [color=f49ac2]”Shinkuuu…” [/color] She charged up a mega blast of ki energy that began to swirl in her palms. Her hands shook as she struggled to contain the energy before they evened out, the vortex becoming a calm sphere. [color=f49ac2]”Hadoken!”[/color] With that, a fireball three times the size as normal shot out from her extended hands and surged towards the base of his mech. 

Zenkichi leapt in, Fury activated and greatsword swinging as fast as it ever had in his hands, tearing chunks out of the weakened metal of the mech. Each blow did further damage as shockwaves of Almighty energy exploded from the tip of Zenkichi’s blade, carving through the Zephyrus.

With the Zephyrus offline for a bit, Susie could fire her missiles at the thing without them getting deflected or shot out of the air, hitting it with her own missiles. They were pretty bulky things too, so that was her contribution to this attack, but unlike the other members of her group, she didn’t have a ‘super’ move like the others.


The Zephyrus reeled, its limbs and joints moving in ways they’d never been designed to. Its weapons had been broken, and its armor shattered. Only the loudspeaker seemed to be working, and it broadcasted Konoe’s bewilderment with satisfying clarity. “But the hero can’t lose!” With a final mechanical groan, his once-splendid mech fell to its knees, only kept from crashing cockpit-first into the ground by a planted fist. It wouldn’t move an inch no matter how much Konoe struggled, seemingly still in denial. “He must be victorious! Work, damn it-!”

From the cracks in his armor, bright light began to shine. He stared at it for a split second as the glow built up, and the next moment, the Zephyrus exploded in a massive fireball consuming the entire center of the arena.

Goldlewis held up his forearm, shielding his face from the heat -and flying pieces of scrap- as the flame gave way to smoke. “Damn. He put on a mighty brave face, but I guess that thing looked a whole lot stronger than it was.”

[color=BFBFBF]”Don’t count him out just yet…”[/color] Zenkichi muttered, not letting his guard down. [color=BFBFBF]”He’ll still have gas in the tank for round 2, just watch.”[/color]

Susie stayed out of this conversation, she really didn’t care. Good and evil weren’t really things, just opinions. 

Just then, a voice issued from the burning wreckage. “A hero must stand his ground.” Through the flames strode Konoe, his gilded armor soot-stained but unbroken. “He must not let evil overcome him!”

Goldlewis clenched his fist, getting ready for another round. “You ain’t the hero of this story, hoss. If good beats evil, let’s see who beats who.”

“Hmph!” [url=https://i.imgur.com/vbrMPQL.png]Konoe[/url] took a shining beam saber in both hands, leveling its tip toward his foes. Around him, the ground churned with inky-black tar, producing a trio of [url=https://i.imgur.com/rynonSf.png]shadows[/url], that grouped up around Konoe and posed like action heroes. “You see? Justice is on MY side. Let’s end this.”

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdabXlguFpA&ab_channel=PSC[/youtube][/center]

[color=f49ac2]”Justice always wins!”[/color] Sakura shouted, trying to join in. [color=f49ac2]”...Just kidding, heh.”[/color] She rubbed her nose and got into a fighting stance, ready for phase two. [color=f49ac2]”Now we gotta deal with these jerks again.”[/color] Sakura said. [color=f49ac2]”Four on four, and we already know they aren’t as good as we are. Let’s do it!”[/color] 

Sakura rushed forward, looking to take on one of these shady guys for what she figured would be an easy win. She would open up with a sudden kick to the knee before following up with a [color=f49ac2]”Shenpu!”[/color] A spin kick that would leave her right in her opponents face, ready to throw some vicious elbows. Her pre-emptive strikes racked up a respectable amount of damage before the G-man could transform, but once his hat flew off his body melted in a burst of tar to reveal his true form, a demonic [url=https://i.imgur.com/uGHPAj5.png]Sui-ki[/url] with eight horns and a double-sided bludgeon, capable of ice spells and physical attacks–though not as good as Sakura’s.

Zenkichi, on the other hand, drew his revolvers and stood back, calling on Valjean while the enemy was still grouped up. [color=BFBFBF]”Now, Valjean, hit em with Megidola!”[/color] Valjean was quite adept at avoiding allies from experience, so the blasts stopped short of Sakura, but still managed to hit the other Shadows, and more importantly, Konoe himself if he didn’t move quickly. The monarch was already in motion, having launched toward Goldlewis to lock the big man down with rapid laser slashes, but Valjean’s magical warhead caught the other three shadows in its blast. They quickly transformed, dissolving into a [url=https://i.imgur.com/ej4lcE1.png]Fortuna[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/6lds5AT.png]Ganesha[/url], and [url=https://i.imgur.com/hXz5XE9.png]Eligor[/url], and while all looked shaken, the war-hungry horseman seemed very hurt.

Against Konoe, Goldlewis was on the backfoot from moment one. That monarch might have looked like an ordinary businessman before, but with that armor on and sword in hand, he moved and fought like a superhero straight out of the comic books. His sword slashes came hard and fast, and they demanded just about everything Goldlewis had just to block his onslaught, let alone strike back. The strikes Konoe landed never led to a combo, but they hit the veteran where it hurt, and he could sense that if his opponent seized the momentum things might go south in a hurry. “Go to hell!” Spending half of his burst, Goldlewis pushed forward with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/kEEVJfI.png]Wild Assault[/url], armoring through a flurry of laser strokes to beat Konoe back and knock him down.

[color=BFBFBF]”Deal with the shadows!”[/color] Zenkichi called to Sakura and Susie, unleashing a hail of gunfire on Konoe from the side to push him off Goldlewis for a moment, before rushing in with Closing Statement at the ready. [color=BFBFBF]”He may be tough, but he’s far from invincible! We’ve got this, man!”[/color] He cheered, swinging for a combo on Konoe. 

[color=f49ac2][i]”Un![/i]”[/color] Sakura yelled out an affirmative as she crossed her arms in front of her, the oni’s club slamming into her forearms. Shoving it to the side she slammed her fist into the demons armored chest, causing him to slide backwards as he grounded himself. Raising his club he brought it down and sent a wave of ice Sakura’s way. She jumped over it. Frost was one of her elemental weaknesses, freezing her stun meter and making concussed far more easier. Today just wasn’t her lucky day. Still, a shapeshifting G-man could never take her out! She landed and met an iceball with her fireball, the two clashing mid-air in an explosion of chunks and steam. Sakura charged up the next one and it blasted clean through Sui-ki’s next iceball. As he sidestepped it, Sakura rushed forward. Sui-ki reacted with a warding swing towards her chin but she saw it coming and stopped on a dime, smacking the club to the ground. Sui-ki still held on but was open to Sakura’s advancing spin kick towards his face. It spun him around and Sakura grabbed his shoulders, hurled herself feet first into the air around him, and then used the gathered momentum to roll forward and toss him a considerable distance. 

Susie meanwhile approached a little bit, but mostly stayed at range firing off her missiles at the elephant looking Ganesha. He was a wide target, so she figured he’d be easy to hit. Her missiles were also quite cartoonishy large as well, so it was a sound idea. Said elephant shadow wasn’t the most agile as Susie thought, eating quite a few missiles as it approached Susie. On top of the damage he took while forming, it was a testament to how tanky he was that he took a large amount of firepower before he got into melee range of Susie. 

Activating his charge ability, Ganesha rushed at Susie upon getting into range before striking her business suit, the smoke from her missiles clouding his accuracy. While inside the smoke cloud however, he unleashed his ability to discharge a ton of radiation in order to hit Susie regardless of her blocking or not. It was a good thing she was a robot, otherwise this could’ve had some super nasty lasting implications. Still, Ganesha wasn’t looking so well after taking all that damage, but now he was in melee range where he could do things. 

As Sakura and Susie dealt with the G-Men, Zenkichi kept Konoe occupied, tanking laser blade hits while pressuring his archnemesis. [color=BFBFBF]”Goldlewis, think you can back them up so those G-Men don’t start hitting us from the side? I can keep this guy busy a minute.”[/color] He asked the Secretary of Defense, before buffing himself with Rakukaja. Between his own sustain from Vampiric Strikes and the defense boost, he could last at least until the Shadows were taken care of. 

“Fine by me!” With Susie and Sakura taking on one shadow each, that left the other two to back Konoe up, but the boss man himself demanded both Seekers’ attention. If Zenkichi could hold down the fort, then Goldlewis would get the others off his back. After throwing a Thunderbird at Konoe to help keep him engaged, the veteran charged toward Fortuna and Eligor, and once they registered the challenger both turned to face him. “Come get some!” He couldn’t fight just one, so he’d need to occupy them both, even if that cost him.

As Fortuna whipped up wind magic to cast Garudyne from what she thought was a safe distance, Goldlewis lifted and hurled his coffin right at her. “Go long!” The massive object counterhit her with remarkable force, dropping her to the ground in a half-conscious heap. Goldlewis immediately turned his focus to Eligor as the horseman unleashed Maragion as a wave of roaring fire. He jumped up and airdashed over the inferno, coming down with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/OjdAT6a.png]double knee[/url] against the head of the knight’s steed. To someone smaller the horse might have been an intimidating wall to get past, but Goldlewis only saw a target. He fired off a couple heavy slugs, pounding the horse’s head like a punching bag. Eligor aimed his spear and took a stab at the veteran’s head, but Goldlewis deflected his thrust with the horseshoe on his glove, then lifted his leg. Any southerner worth his salt knew a thing or two about horses, and when it came to horses Goldlewis knew just how catastrophic an injured leg could be. He hit the horse’s knee with a door-buster kick that left it reeling. Eligor could have steadied himself as his mount began to fall, but he went for another stab instead, sinking his spear’s blade just beneath the veteran’s collarbone before the weapon snapped. Goldlewis clenched his jaw, grabbed the horse, and wrestled it to the ground. The demon knight found his leg trapped -maybe even broken- beneath his steed, and after pulling the upper third of the spear from his shoulder, Goldlewis plunged it down to finish the knight off.

At that point, Fortuna had not only recovered, but slipped away from the UMA’s attempts to grab her. She cast Matarunda, hampering her enemy’s attack, then Concentrate to amp up her own magical power. All that setup allowed Goldlewis to close in, but the question was whether or not he could deal with what came next. Fortuna cast Vacuum Wave, unleashing a huge tornado out of nowhere. Much too big to avoid, Goldlewis stopped and blocked as best he could, the wind carving into him. After a moment it broke his guard, blew him off his feet, and whipped him around and around as he yelled bloody murder. “Aaaaaaaaah! Why the-! Hell’d I-! Use my-! Goddamn! Burst!” Then, just as quickly as it began, the windstorm stopped. As the pain and disorientation receded, Goldlewis found himself in freefall above the arena. Fortuna was beneath him, using Concentrate again. He knew another cyclone like the first one might be the end of him, but he had an idea. As he fell, he used his airdash to move directly above her, then fell upon the shadow with the mother of all body splashes. 



Ganesha and Susie were in a bit of a brawl themselves, giant mech vs giant elephant. Both were fairly slow in how fast they could move, so it was more a matter of who could overpower whom. A battle that was going mostly in Susie’s favor whenever Ganesha didn’t have his Charge available or his radiation burst ready. He was a tanky guy though, so while Susie could lay into him outside of these moments, he was built to take the punishment and distract the mech lady from coming at his boss. 

Eventually Susie got tired of this glorified slapfest, and grabbed another lamp post from the ground to use as a weapon. This electrified melee weapon started to put some real damage into Ganesha, who’s regeneration couldn’t keep up with the attacks from what was his weakness. In an attempt to save himself upon his Endure ability activating, he discharged a large area of radiation damage to get Susie off of him and possibly recover. While this did do a fair amount of damage to Susie, wiping out her shield and hitting her directly, knocking her away didn’t really save him when she threw the light post at him, zapping him and finishing him off.

Sakura did her part, avoiding several frost blasts of the frost oni, before jumping on its back and bringing her elbows down on its skull over and over again. The two fell to the floor and Sakura pushed her enemy back with a series of kicks and ducking under swings. There was a big blast of blue energy from Sakura’s hands.

While Susie, Sakura and Goldlewis were taking down the Shadows, Zenkichi and Konoe clashed. [color=BFBFBF]”I know you can’t stop, but I just wanted to say that I would’ve tried to save you. If I knew. I’ve thought a lot about what you said last time we fought. I still think your way is wrong, that people have to have the right to choose. That your beliefs are the result of the things you’ve endured, the pain you’ve suffered. But even knowing all that, all the hurt you’ve caused…I would’ve tried to save you, if I were there.”[/color] 

Zenkichi broke the clash, stepping back as Konoe stared at him. “I don’t know how you know so much about me, or what you [i]think[/i] you know about my past, but you are right that I can’t stop. I [i]won’t[/i] stop until all this world is rid of the evil that plagues it!” His declaration came with a new attack in his arsenal beyond just using his beam sword: Konoe held out his hand dramatically, and Zenkichi cursed as he dodged out of the way of the laser that burst forth from his palm, sweeping in an arc past him. Luckily, he couldn’t sweep the whole battlefield and take the others by surprise, but the range on that one caught him off guard.

Zenkichi rushed back in to meet Konoe mano e mano, Closing Statement slashing out in a short combo that Zenkichi finished with a push kick to make some room. Pivoting around Konoe to get closer to a piece of the Zephyrus’s wreckage, he baited out a Cross Slash from Konoe, jumping over the blade and onto the chunk of steel, then in a feat of acrobatics, performed an aerial front flip, landing on Konoe with an overhead slash boosted by gravity. He managed to catch the former Monarch by surprise, slamming him into the ground brutally, only for Konoe to recover with a leg sweep, knocking Zenkichi to his own butt before leaping backwards.

“This is the power to annihilate the wicked!” He shouted as energy began to build up around him, extending outwards and sucking in Zenkichi and anybody else within a wide area around him. 

Goldlewis, recovered from his fight with the shadows and headed over to help, found himself sliding across the floor despite his remarkable weight. “What in the-”

In the same boat, Sakura was equally baffled, her feet giving out from under her as she scrabbled for purchase on the smooth floor. [color=f49ac2]”H-huh?!”[/color]

[color=BFBFBF]”Oh crap, oh CRAP! Guys, don’t let him suck you in!”[/color] Zenkichi shouted as he tried to dig his sword into the ground and prevent himself from being pulled in. He could feel his blade being dragged along as well, however, and after about five seconds of the suction field being up, Konoe triumphantly shouted and cast his ultimate attack. 

“MEGIDOLAON!!!” Came the battle cry as a line of energy seemed to descend from the very heavens, detonating in a huge explosion that left Konoe himself completely unharmed, but dealt massive Almighty damage to everybody caught in the explosion, Zenkichi included. 

Though repeated backdashes helped slow Goldlewis down, he couldn’t ultimately stop himself getting dragged into Konoe’s vortex. Unable to find a foothold or stop himself with an embedded blade, and unwilling to attempt an interrupt, he could do little but get ready to spend some tension on Faultless Defense as he braced himself for whatever the monarch had in store. A moment later the Megidolaon dropped from the sky like his own Burn it Down, only to erupt into a gigantic outburst of ungodly power. Normally Faultless Defense could eliminate the chip damage from even the strongest overdrives, and here it certainly helped, but even so Goldlewis couldn’t take that standing. He bellowed like a wounded beast as the blast threw him to the ground, down but not out. 

Yelling, Sakura emerged from the blast and tumbled along the ground. She came to a stop. Chest heaving, she rolled over onto her belly and pushed herself onto her hands and knees, but if she was being honest that took a lot out of her. She was tough but not as tanky as Goldlewis and with no Faultless Defence to cushion the blow. Sakura dropped to her elbow and then flat against the floor, resigning herself to just riding the aftermath of that big hit out on the ground. [color=f49ac2][i]”...itai.[/i]”[/color]

Standing up with a groan, Zenkichi sighed. [color=BFBFBF]”That’s my move, man. Not cool.”[/color] He grumbled, hefting his sword and approaching Konoe. [color=BFBFBF]”But fine, two can play at this game. Valjean. Heat Riser. On me.”[/color] As the omnibuff gave Zenkicki a hefty boost to his attack, defense and speed, he ran in with a yell, knocking aside Konoe’s beam sword slash with a swipe of his own, keeping his momentum going and shoulder-checking his old boss. Konoe managed to keep his feet under him, but Zenkichi activated Fury and bashed him in the face with the butt of his sword, following it up with a sweep. Every second drained his already-battered vitality, but as long as he kept up the offense, he could buy himself time for the others to take shots at Konoe. Goldlewis joined in, first with a barrage of bullets from his Skyfish to lock Konoe down, then charging it to help corral the monarch with Behemoth Typhoons. Each battering blow that he landed dealt appreciable damage to Konoe’s armor, softening him up for Zenkichi. 

“Ngh…I won’t accept defeat….the hero has to win. Justice has to win!” Konoe bellowed, guarding and gritting his teeth as Zenkichi and Goldlewis beat into him, unable to put forth a counter-attack for fear of taking a heavier hit. 

[color=BFBFBF]”Yeah. That’s why we’re kicking your ass, if you hadn’t noticed.”[/color] Zenkichi replied coolly, sliding his leg behind Konoe’s and pushing the other man, knocking him to the ground. As he struggled to get up, Zenkichi’s foot slammed into his chest, and his sword buried itself in the ground next to the man. [color=BFBFBF]”Akira Konoe, you are under arrest for crimes against Midgar, against Japan, against this world and all others.”[/color] Taking a deep breath, he looked over at the others. [color=BFBFBF]”Trust me?”[/color] Nodding to himself, he reached deep within, pulled out a Friend Heart, and shoved it into Konoe. He had to trust that his conscience would reign supreme. If not…well, he’d probably just gotten them all killed. 

As memories of disparate lives flooded into Akira Konoe, his eyes opened in shock and confusion. He lay on the ground, breathing heavily and staring up into Zenkichi’s face. “You….I….what have I done…?” He panted, looking around. He saw Goldlewis watching in mild astonishment. “What…what happened?” 

[color=BFBFBF]”What happened is that everything you did in Japan, you did again. You made innocent people into your pawns, stole their free will and used them to consolidate your own power, all while playing into the hands of an even more diabolical manipulator. I’d be amazed if I didn’t do the exact same things as last time when Galeem brought me here. Give it a couple of minutes while you start remembering, but we have to get moving soon. We have a way of freeing Midgar from that monster, but we need you to get us in the door.”[/color] Konoe practically jumped at the chance to make up for his crimes, and as Zenkichi removed his foot from the man’s chance, he raised himself to his knees and bowed. 

“Of course! I…you…you’re the man that arrested me last time, aren’t you…? I am so sorry, for what I did to everybody, your daughter included.” Konoe’s voice wavered, but he took a deep breath and raised his head, nodding. “If I can help, I’ll do whatever you need me to. Anything to repent for my crimes…”

Zenkichi sighed. [color=BFBFBF]”Now’s your chance to be the hero. For real.”[/color] 

After the detective seemingly resolved the situation, Goldlewis couldn’t help but shake his head, impressed. “Well, ain’t that a kick in the pants,” he muttered. “I guess this is just round two for you, after all, but you got some serious guts to stick with it.” He wasn’t sure if he believed Konoe’s words. Could someone just see the light and repent, just like that? It seemed too easy. But the man seemed powerless, and if he could be an asset, Goldlewis didn’t plan to refuse. “Nice goin’.”

Sakura groaned and pushed herself up to her feet, laughing through her heavy breathing. [color=f49ac2]”You did it, Zenkichi-san!”[/color] She ran up and hugged him from the side. In Sakura’s experience, it really was that easy about half the time. She skipped up to Akira and nudged him in the shoulder.

[color=f49ac2]”You’re really freakin’ strong! Or, I guess, smart? I know I couldn’t pilot that thing. Welcome to team good guy!”[/color] She congratulated the armored man.

Seeing the fight over, Susie got out of her business suit and dusted herself off. [color=ec008c]”Well either way, we have more work to do. Shall we continue?”[/color] Finding one of those healing stations would be nice, sos he could save her striker for another fight that was inevitably to come.

Zenkichi gave Sakura a little pat on the head, looking over at Goldlewis. [color=BFBFBF]”I was banking on Galeem pulling us from the same time, where Konoe had…well, let me put it this way: he gave up a multi-billion dollar business on national television, confessed to all his crimes, and was about to leave his headquarters to turn himself in when we rolled up to arrest him. And after that, we found out that even he was being manipulated by something more powerful. I still can’t forgive him, but…I had to give him a chance. Besides, he’s our literal key in there. Our chance to save everybody. Maybe not from everything, but at least from being brainwashed.” [/color]