[@Plank Sinatra][@Krayzikk][@Onarax] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrpVYxmfyYw][B]ENEMY TURN[/B][/url] Last words in fiction are usually of a suitably dramatic nature. The heavy hitter vowing to his comrades that he'll handle the mooks before pulling off some suicidal attack (heavy hitters and Sailor Mercury, that is). The romantic rival begging the protagonist to protect 'her' in his stead. The old geezers sacrificing themselves to ram an entire fleet and extolling the virtues of the next generation as they do so. The ace pilot fulfilling his early boast that he can make the impossible possible. Audiences eat it up. Everybody assumes last words to be meaningful. Unfortunately, that's only if you're a named character. [right][i]"Watc-arER-" "N-"[/i][/right] The last words of James McDonald and Susan Heidmark, the two Rook-piloting pirates who had attempted to bring down the Judah, were a far cry from the beautifully dramatic utterances made by fictional characters. In fact, despite being humans with perfectly workable names, they didn't even get to finish their lines, for their bodies had been immediately torn apart into scarlet goop and crushed between their destroyed cockpits by Father Joan's divine reprisal, before being vaporised in the explosions that followed. Luck had not favoured them today. All that remained of their existence on this battlefield were two, barely-recognisable corpses of refitted Rooks, mangled beyond belief. Thankfully, cremation was not against their spiritual beliefs. Elsewhere on the battlefield, Sasha's attack against the Messer with her vulcans missed, the drone darting out of the way of the bullets with rapid, irregular motions, while the blue unit behind only deployed its left shoulder shield into one hand to block the shots, before pulling off an incredible burst of speed to fly 'upwards' to dodge the beam shot, a motion that seemed almost impossible for even a refitted Rook. It may not have been as agile as the G-Valkyrie, but it was definitely appeared to be on par with the current generation of HFVs. Her immediate follow-up attack on the retreating shield-less Rook, however, was more successful. Her attempt at taking him by surprise worked, but just at the last moment, the damaged HFV was able to notice the incoming shot, barely moving its torso out of the way, but losing a leg and the associated thrusters, the beam of the G-Valkyrie tearing through the limb. The second Rook was not as fortunate, but the pilot managed to eject just before his machine exploded like the Parthenon after the Ottomans turned it into a gunpowder magazine that ended up being struck by artillery. In fact, the metaphor was quite fitting, given the presence of the Rook's ammo-loading backpack. And the third damaged Rook immediately decided that cowardice was looking like a pretty good idea, and nabbed his pal's cockpit before flying as fast as he could away from the battlefield, a decision that the other Rook Sasha had struck was making as well. The flurry of beam shots flying at the G-Valkyrie, as well as a long beam strafing across its form, however, were signs that the Bradley and blue unit were yet to fall back. The former had already closed in, one arm outstretched to fire off the repeating shots, while the other arm swung forth to grab her with a rocket anchor. And the Messer was already following, peppering Sasha with rapid-fire attacks. Although Husam may have expected the upgraded Rook to abandon its weapon, it instead acted in a manner that seemed more befitting someone who was quite suicidal. The heavily armoured, highly-agile skirmisher unit allowed Husam to grab onto the railgun, but didn't let go, and immediately burst forth with frightening speed, taking advantage of the close of the Sword Shroud to swing itself into the OSDT unit. The flurry of bullets tore away at layers of its armour, but the pirate refused to stop, moving past the range of the weapon and into the Sword Shroud. And within seconds, it followed up the sudden action with the deployment of the beam saber in its other arm, buzzing blade of particles in a reverse hold stabbing with great heat and power down towards Husam's machine. And the other three Rooks were already upon them, with one pirate firing a beam from its rifle into the Sword Shroud's right, while the other two were flanking it from the top and bottom, their weapons at the ready. --- [U]BATTLE STATUS:[/U] Yukine: leaving the battlefield The Ball: leaving the battlefield G-Valkyrie: pursued by the blue Rook and the Bradley Judah: free Sword Shroud: One Rook attempting to stab into it. Another Rook shooting it in the side. Two Rooks flanking it from above and below. [i]Rooks destroyed/disabled:[/i][list] [*]Cockpit and large part of torso vaporised, currently floating through space. [*]Totally blammoed, pilot ejected. [*]It's a cockpit in a torso with just a leg, bruh. [*]Aimlessly floating through space, lost its lower body and right arm. [*]Literally space wreckage [*]Literally space wreckage [*]Exploded, cockpit ejected[/list] Rooks with noticeable damage:[list] [*]Slightly damaged right arm, lost right shoulder shield, damaged frontal armour, attacking Sword Shroud by stabbing it. [*]Left shoulder shield missing, leg missing, running away [*]Lost one arm and missile launcher, running away[/list] --- [B]LUMEN TEAM[/B] A highly energetic beam of particles passed carelessly through the void, barely missing a Rook that dodged out of the way, only to run straight into the blade of Francis Betrand's personal, light-green OSDT Rook. It was a clean blow, one that stabbed deep into the pirate's cockpit, vaporising the pilot within almost instantly, and Francis quietly pulled his weapon out, his beam saber dissipating with a hiss as he disengaged from the intact, but now deceased, Rook. "Ten dollars, Lumen 3." "Chief, bets don't work like that," said Lydia in a defeated tone, having obviously been affected by missing a second time with her GT-010's Mega Beam Cannon. "And you can't just refuse a bet only to take it when it's looking good for you!" "Consider it a motivation to miss no further shots then, Lumen 3," replied her leader casually as he deployed one of his Rook's shoulder shields, grabbing hold of it to block a glancing blow from one of the pirates' railguns. "The more of our foes you neutralise, the better off your financial situation." "Is that really a motivation?" asked Buddy Wang, whose own Rook had lost a leg in an attempt to slice apart a pirate. Two beam sabers were being held in his hands, sizzling with energy. "You can't force her to give you her wallet, can you?" One of the pirate Rooks loomed behind him, only to receive a kick to the face from Lumen 2's M5-改, landspinners immediately activating to grind apart the armoured enemy's cranial sensors. Barely a second later, the familiar light of the Mega Beam Cannon flared past them, annihilating the poor Rook in a wave of exotic particles as the M5-改 bounced away. "Well, whether or not Francis has the ability to do so, it looks like it's working," commented the Italian, whose voice did little to hide the fact that he was obviously smiling. He was already in motion, his highly agile machine already flitting past another enemy Rook and peppering it with vulcan fire. "Keep it up, Lydia. Don't allow an initial string of bad luck to keep you down." "Gotcha!" was the reply from the GT-010's pilot. The next shot was already charging in her massive cannon, exotic particles swirling around and building in density, before erupting forth into the black void and into another of the pirate's Rooks. No matter how well-armoured they were, the sheer firepower of Olympus Arms Company's artillery unit was a threat that one would be remiss to underestimate. Five pirates in total had already fallen to the Lumen Team despite the relative inferiority of the OSDT's own machines. One of the enemy Rooks had been disassembled into pieces, the result of Buddy's wild beam saber swings, while another had lost several limbs to Francis' attacks, contrasting the intact nature of the pirate he had killed mere moments before. Two other Rooks were barely existent, bodies nearly entirely vaporised by the GT-010's Mega Beam Cannon. The rest of the pirate machines were still capable of movement, but each and every one of them, including the Bradley, had taken some damage. Three were missing all their shields, while another two had lost a leg each. A sixth had lost its cranial unit and an arm. However, they seemed to moving away, joining up with the surviving units that had attacked Paper Tiger. However, they had taken up a more defensive position. What was their plan now ...? "All units, the pirate forces are regrouping," announced Francis. "They may be attempting to retreat."