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[center][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqGmPFp6KOA]*[/url][/center]
As the friends approached Rimoux from the sea, they could see and hear violent commotion from Norton City. Its skyscrapers, the ones that had not yet collapsed, were ablaze by fire and medium-sized detonations were sounding left and right from missiles and fragmentation explosions. The city had been almost completely destroyed already by Nautilus’ shock-attack forces, some of which could already be seen from the bow of the boat where most of the friends were located, ready to disembark the very second the hull touched ground. Piloted mechanical weapon systems—‘Mechs’ for short—vast in size, could be seen assisting the war effort on the Nautilus front, and elite soldiers were skimming across the battlegrounds with the aid of jetpacks. It was an intimidating sight, and as if it was not enough, hulking Dreadnaught-carrier ships could be seen hovering over the city providing artillery fire and one-man sized fighter jets with effortless multidimensional maneuvering capabilities. This was not a battle, nor was it an invasion, it was genocide.

Suddenly, the Captain of the boat began to shout violently about something stirring the waters ahead. A split second later, the vessel suffered an intense impact from whatever it was that lurked beneath the surface of the dark waters. Perhaps it was a xenomorph or some horridly mutated fish, it was impossible to tell from where the friends were standing. Similar ripples across the water surface ahead could be seen from the bow. Not five seconds later, another impact powerful enough to slightly damage the hull threw everyone off-balance. “She’s a fine vessel, but she won’t survive another impact like that!” The Captain shouted through a window on the bridge. Olivia hastily looked to the old cannon that had been covered with a tarpaulin, which she ripped off with a forceful jerk: “What about this thing?!” She shouted back at the Captain. “It doesn’t work! You people are soldiers, aren’t you supposed to have guns?!” He yelled back, slightly annoyed. “Doesn’t work? We’ll see about that,” the dark haired girl muttered underneath her breath.

Olivia instructed her friends to take a few steps back from the rusty, old contraption. She placed her hand on some part of the cannon that she did not know the name of, but it appeared to be at the base of the gigantic barrel. Marvelous sparks and electricity suddenly emanated from Olivia’s person and into the cannon and jolted it back to life. In the world of proper things and physics, Olivia knew that what she just did was impossible, but her lightning spirits had a will of their own when it came to mechanical things, able to destroy them when functioning and bring them back to life when malfunctioning. She did not understand how it worked, nor did she care. The slender brunette leapt into what appeared to be a seat for the cannon’s operator, complete with iron sights and a firing mechanism. Some manner of holographic display sparked to life and indicated that the cannon still had a few shells in the works. With a loud roar, Olivia began to fire the heavy shells at the creatures in the water: [i]Ka-POW!, shlink… Ka-POW!, shlink… Ka-POW!, shlink… Ka-POW!, shlink…[/i]

Suddenly, dozens of greenish-gray tentacles clad with myriads of pulsating eyes sprouted from the water all around the friends. Some horrid, cephalopod-like creature had attached itself to the hull, sabotaging the Captain’s ability to control the vessel and lashing its outgrowths at the friends. “Gaah! What is that thing?!” Olivia shouted. Whatever the friends might have been able to do about the situation did not matter, it was already too late. The solid, concrete docks of the Norton City harbor came dramatically closer for every passing second, and before they knew it, the vessel hit the docking wall with a forceful impact that catapulted the friends through the air. Olivia rocketed out of the cannon cockpit, slid along the extensive barrel, and into a ticket booth on the docks, breaking its windowed structure. It was not an ideal entrance, but it was a grand one. Luckily, she did not hurt herself much, nor did the rest of the friends (hopefully!)—basic falling techniques were mandatory in their training, so getting thrown off of a naval vessel onto solid ground was nothing to cry about.

Olivia could tell that this was going to be a night that they would not soon forget. The friends were not even spared half a minute before trouble arrived at their location. The spectacular entrance had caught the attention of a nearby Nautilus squad of Storm Guards and a Mech, which converged on the friends’ position extremely fast. Olivia muttered and groaned as she dusted glass off of her clothing and exited the tiny ticket booth, simultaneously unsheathing her gunblade. “Is everyone alright?” Olivia inquired, but before she could even do a headcount, the bullets of some automatic weapon on the Mech began to patter in the friends’ direction. Olivia quickly threw herself on the ground (again!) and rolled behind the cover of a large concrete barricade, which was designed to keep motor vehicles at bay—there were a series of these on the docks, where the friends had landed. Olivia also pulled the tagger gun from its holster, acquired all targets by slightly leaning around the edge of her cover, and then she fired a shot that whined through the air akin to fireworks before detonating into smaller projectiles, mid-air, that sought their way into the targets.

[b]Battle II[/b]
The Storm Guard soldiers were tagged, but the last projectile was unable to attach itself to the Mech. “I guess we are fighting that thing blind,” Olivia muttered, as the tagger gun did not display its information. However, as the Mech was a mechanical construction, it was bound to be weak against elements such as lightning and water, one of which was Olivia’s specialty. Either way, she attempted to speak her orders through the commotion, but it was taxing on her voice: “Thael, you’re with me on that Mech, keep its attention! Kat, you’re also with me on the Mech! Maggie, Emily, Roy: rip the soldiers apart with those nightmares you call spirits! Freddy, Aaron--!” But, before Olivia could mention another name or utter another order, the assailants were upon them with heavy fire. She raised her hand, slightly, with only the index finger pointing towards the sky and gave it a short twirl, as a sign to engage the enemy with improvisation.

When there was a brief moment of seize fire from the enemies, Olivia pushed herself up and vaulted over the concrete barricade, and in mid-air she vanished in a thunderous flash and instantly reappeared next to the Mech, which suffered a surge of brilliant sparks, but was unaffected by the blinding light. Olivia proceeded to let her energizing spirits possess Cerberus, her gunblade, and engulf it in brilliant lightning, which she then swung at the massive Mech. Radiant sparks erupted from every impact. Olivia struck its crural and patellar in two fluid motions, which left dark, ashy marks from her blade, and then she leapt at what appeared to be the head and the cockpit of the Mech, swinging her blade in a triangular motion, which also scarred the silvery machine. However, the pilot was not some amateur out on a Sunday drive. He timed and calculated the girl’s arc trajectory and intercepted it with a forceful blow from the Mech’s forearm, which sent Olivia flying through the air and into the wall of a nearby, bricked building. The initial impact shattered the fragile blocks, and then she fell two meters to the ground. “Okay,… that hurt,” she muttered.

[hider=Enemy "Tagger Gun" Information]
[b]--Nautilus Storm Guard--[/b]
[i]These are the standard infantry men and women of Nautilus. They wear magnetic padding underneath their armored shoes, which allow them to attach themselves to aircrafts or Mechs without falling off. These soldiers primarily use automatic rifles and retractable night sticks, giving them ranged and melee capabilities.[/i]

[b]Stagger Meter:[/b] 230
[b]Attack[/b] (Stagger/Limit): 35/20
[b]Element-Immune:[/b] Air
[b]Spirits:[/b] None
[b]Items:[/b] 1x Hyper.

[b]--Nautilus Mech--[/b]
[i]???.[/i]

[b]Stagger Meter:[/b] ???? 
[b]Attack[/b] (Stagger/Limit): ??/?? 
[b]Element-Weak:[/b] ???
[b]Status-Immune:[/b] Darkness
[b]Spirits:[/b] ???
[b]Items:[/b] ???
[/hider]

[hider=Enemy Stagger]
Storm Guard Alpha: 0/230
Storm Guard Beta: 0/230
Storm Guard Gamma: 0/230
Storm Guard Delta: 0/230
Storm Guard Omega: 0/230
Nautilus Mech: 740/????
[/hider]

[hider=Player Stagger]
Olivia: 125/350 
Thael: 10/750 
Freddy: 0/600 
Katherine: 0/300 
Jynnette: 0/400 
Kimberly: 0/500
Remiel: 0/475
Royce: 0/350 
Magdalena: 0/425 
Emily: 10/300 
Aaron: 0/525
[/hider]

[hider=Limit Breaks]
Olivia: 50/1000
Thael: 10/1000
Fredrick: 0/1000
Katherine: 0/1000
Jynette: 0/1000
Kimberly: 0/1000
Remiel: 0/1000
Royce: 0/1000
Magdalena: 0/1000
Emily: 0/1000
Aaron: 0/1000
[/hider]