[center][h3]Psychonauts’ Two - Sasha[/h3]
Sakura’s [@Zoey Boey], Pit’s [@Yankee], Luka, Yuito, Hanabi
[b]Word Count:[/b] 6,945
EXP + 7 [/center]

Sakura took in everything she had seen while hunkering down against a projectile storm. Sasha could turn off Sclerokinesis, meaning relying on the ability was a non-starter. Sakura looked at Pit, they nodded to each other, and then they rushed at Sasha from the sides. She curved her run to come at him from a different angle from Pit. If she managed to reach, she leapt forward with a spinning kick to try and knock him forward, closer to the wall of fire. 

On his opposite side, Pit closed in with the floating shields orbiting in a circle directly in front of him. Both orbitars fired bolts of energy at Sasha. The shots could hardly be compared to the man's wind bullets, but they were meant to provide some cover while he and the street fighter got within melee range.

When the new foes approached, Sasha promptly opened fire. Though he himself targeted Sakura, triple-shots hammering her in quick succession, Prism Break meant that a refracted barrage flew toward Hanabi and Pit as well. Those shots proved to be too much for the pyrokinetic’s fire wall and blew it out just as Hanabi partially Luka with a persimmon-flavored Medium Jelly. Sasha did not anticipate that the angel approaching in his peripheral vision would come packing something special. His wind bullets reflected off Pit’s orbitars and bounced right back to deal some damage. He stumbled briefly but collected himself to face the angel, not sure what had happened. As the orbitar bolts flew in he dodged away, then put his fingers to his head to nail Pit with a flurry of powerful psi-blasts.

Sakura had tried to dodge the shots aimed towards her, but getting clipped all she could do was try and find her footing and grimace as the triple-shots battered against her guard. In between shots she dashed and tried to move further to the side to continue to divide Sasha’s focus. When he turned to fire upon Pit, she figured this was as good a time as any. Sakura leapt forward, moving fast and bringing her arms up, and tried to slam Sasha from behind to knock him into the ground with a ranged Sakura Drop. Unfortunately for her, she hadn’t quite grasped the nature of his Prism Break ability. Even when he seemed to target Pit, Sasha’s refracted body fired toward her and Hanabi as well. Mid-attack, she got counterhit by the first refracted psi-blast and juggled by the rest. [color=f49ac2][i]”Bwah!”[/i][/color] Hanabi only avoided a similar fate by forfeiting any attempt at offense and running sideways the moment she got Luka to his feet. Right now, it was Pit’s time to shine.

A boost of confidence from catching Sasha off guard brought a small grin to the angel's face. He continued forward in doggedly pursuing Sasha, knowing that so long as he could see the Septentrion's attacks he could dodge, block, or reflect them. But because the Orbitars were so highly defense oriented, once he did get in close he'd have to assume some risk and quick swap to another weapon for the best chance to actually deal some damage and leave him open for their close range specialist to move in too. Even if the man fought with his mind, Pit doubted Sasha would go down that easily under a physical assault from just the Orbitars - after all he was slinging around those two big weapons.

Pit evaded the first couple psi-blasts, waiting until he was a little closer to reflect the psychic beams back to their originator. Staggering the man again would be great, but if he could just make him think twice about firing due to the bounce back it would be enough for Pit to close the gap with a burst of speed. His trusty Upperdash Arm would be able to give Sasha a taste of his own medicine and pop him into the air for follow up attacks while simultaneously giving Pit a moment's worth of protection, so long as he didn't miss.

As Pit approached, he narrowly evaded a few psi-blasts, and while Sasha’s excellent aim meant that the angel took a couple as well, those were hardly enough to stop him. This time, Sasha got the full scoop on how exactly Pit managed to shoot him, not to mention a faceful of his own psychic bolts when the orbitars returned them to sender. He stopped shooting, momentarily at a loss while Pit closed the gap. For a brief moment he thought he saw an opening as his foe sped through the final stretch, but when he leveled the barrel of his manacaster at Pit, his target armored straight through the spread shot to launch him off his feet and into the air. “Ugh!”

Seeing the chance, Hanabi skidded to a stop near Sakura in a cloud of flame rather than dust, her eyes landing on the spot where Yuito had fallen. Back on his feet, Luka blinked over to take hold of Yuito and teleport him to safety, but using Brain Talk the injured psionic sent a message Hanabi’s way. [i]”Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Seize this opportunity!”[/i]

Hanabi nodded, her face serious and determined. “Let’s go!” she cried, charging forth alongside the street fighter to join her for a tag-team combo on Sasha. 

[color=f49ac2][i]”Iku yo!”[/i][/color] Sakura shouted, her headband trailing behind her. [color=f49ac2][i]I’ll go high and send him down![/i][/color] She informed the pyrokinetic Hanabi.

Sakura leapt high into the air to meet Sasha before he could recover. She delivered a swift barrage of punches and kicks to various parts of Sasha’s body, each one causing them to almost float in the air just a bit longer. When she felt gravity begin to take purchase after a few strikes, she flipped and slammed Sasha down towards Hanabi, hoping she had something special waiting for him down there. The psionic did not disappoint, whirling around in a miniature hurricane of flame to deliver a home-run slam that didn’t just ignite Sasha, but also throw him dozens of feet down the street. 

The Upperdash Arm had faded away by the time Pit came to join the girls, letting out an excited [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Yes!"[/color]

As Sasha’s momentum petered out he recovered in the air to land on his feet with the help of Levitation. It would take more than one big combo to knock him out, but this was a good start. Hanabi realized the bigger problem when her focus shifted from the Septentrion to the war machine behind him.

By now, the Sectopod had more than enough time to turn back around. Narrow lateral vents had opened along its hull to give off steam as its internals cooled down from using its Wrath Cannon, but it was still very much in action. While the Seekers scrambled to catch Sasha, it adopted a high stance, towering almost twice as high and boosting its aim. The moment it had a shot, it opened fire with three crimson plasma bursts from its top-mounted blaster, one for each of the three. In the heat of the moment, Hanabi hadn’t noticed the threat until it was too late and wasn’t ready to dodge - but nearby, her angelic ally was just quick enough to pick up the slack. He had the means to prevent another vicious volley like the one that had downed Roxas and nearly himself earlier, so with a beat of his wings he pushed just ahead of Sakura and Hanabi. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Not this time!"[/color]

The Guardian Orbitars glowed brightly and projected the giant winged shield of their charge shot. This one couldn't reflect, only protect, but it was wide enough to cover both girls and Pit himself. The plasma shots broke apart against the shimmering energy wall, rocking the projection but unable to shatter it. A few seconds later the shield dropped, and Pit's arms along with them when he'd thrust them forward with the Orbitars. He was sweating from the exertion so soon after the wounds he'd so recently taken, but the three of them were unharmed from the assault and could continue after their target.

Hanabi swallowed. Her heart was pounding, and she’d be lying if she said her knees weren’t a little weak. With the damage she’d already taken, she might have been toast. But for the moment, she was safe. “Th-thank you!” she squeaked before clearing her throat, trying to regain her composure.

Sakura lowered her arms, the oncoming plasma beams having caught her by surprise as well. [color=f49ac2]”Ah! Thank you, Pit-kun!”[/color] She said, grabbing his shoulder reassuringly. The magic must have been taking its toll on him. [color=f49ac2]”Do you think you can keep that up?”[/color] It was a question worth considering.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Not constantly,"[/color] he replied, giving the girl a quick smile to let her know he was alright. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"but I've got a couple more in me!"[/color]

Sakura nodded, turning her back on the Sectopod to focus on Sasha. Charging up a more powerful but slower hadoken, she launched it towards the psychonaut and followed behind it. It would block some shots thrown her way and hopefully give her some free space. If he moved to get around it, she could just readjust accordingly. Then she afforded a glance over her shoulder to keep an eye on the Sectopod and what it was aiming at. A dangerous game, splitting her attention like this. It made her sweat. 

Sasha used SAS to activate Levitation. He flew up into the air, well out of the hadoken’s range. Prism Break had timed out at some point, so the refractory effect around him was gone, which he naturally knew better than anyone. While he had all the stacks of Enemy Insight he needed to make Dirge Shot a pulverizing deathblow, he needed to land some more attacks to charge that skill again. His manacaster floated out of his hands and took the place of his giant crossbow on his back, which itself floated into his hands. Done with close quarters for now and ready to snipe, he activated his second skill, Sunpiercer. His new weapon began to refract, and when he fired the harpoon-like bolt at Sakura, a second one shot at Pit.

Sakura was ready for it, watching the magic weapon aim at her. When he let the bolt loose, she sidestepped it and preemptively blocked any area of effect while its twin struck one of Pit's sturdy orbitars, falling to the ground. She looked up at him, tilting her head back, mouth falling open as she worked her brain to think of a way to get up to him. He just started to reload.

Of course, part of what enabled Sasha to assume a less aggressive fighting style was the threat of the Sectopod. After only a few seconds, it was ready to fire again. That was when Luka’s voice cut through the chaos of the battlefield to enter Sakura and Hanabi’s minds with Brain Talk. [i]”Watch closely.”[/i] The captain teleported across the street in a series of blinks, his final jump putting himself right next to one of the Sectopod’s legs. He transferred his momentum into a huge smash into the walker’s armored ankle, then ignited his Weight Hammer in Hanabi’s flames and brought it down on the huge metal foot. Whipping around, he dealt one final blow to the Sectopod’s other leg before teleporting away again, and a second later the Sectopod unleashed a flash of lightning in a circular field around its legs. With that out of the way, it began targeting the Seekers again, only for Luka to reappear and stub its toes once more. He promptly fled before the war machine could shock him, disappearing into a hiding spot to recharge his Teleportation while he helped the others fill in the blanks.

[i]”I’ve fought alongside Sectopods before. They’re designed to electrocute anything that gets into the blind spot directly beneath it. However, they can only execute three attack commands in quick succession, so each shock is a shot it can’t take.”[/i] He paused for a moment while the Sectopod used its last action, firing at the car he was hiding behind. With it primed to explode, Luka started running, but he continued transmitting as he did. [i]”I have one other idea. We can try teleporting above it to take out its blaster. We’ll need to coordinate it though, and we’ll get shot if we try it while Sasha’s on overwatch.”[/i]

[i]”Okay!”[/i] Hanabi replied back.

[color=f49ac2][i]’That sounds like a plan!’[/i][/color] Sakura chimed in. They needed Sasha distracted, and Sakura was right underneath him. But she wasn’t sure she was best for the job of air-to-air combat. With a frustrated little sigh as she ran around the battlefield, she turned and ran back towards the Sectopod. She sped along the street, the big robot growing in her field of vision. With a leaping spin kick, she aimed to slam into one of its knees with both her feet. [color=f49ac2]”Hiyah!”][/color] She yelled. Bending her knees from the impact she pushed away, back flipped, and looked to see if that had successfully triggered a shock from the robot. Her success was confirmed when her hair began to float and get staticky, the electricity gathering beneath the bot before it shocked the entire area. Sakura circled around it, keeping it having to circle, dashed in, kicked at its knee joint and then dashed back out. While she worked at this important but repetitive task, avoiding the occasional deadly stomp, she kept an eye on the battle with Sasha to see when he was distracted so she could target the cannons with the others. 

[color=f49ac2][i]”Alright, I’m babysitting this big ugly robot, go get him!”[/i][/color] She reported over Brain Talk. 

Though not quite privy to the plan, Pit was aware enough to recognize what his allies were doing. If they had something in mind to deal with the robot, then he would keep his focus on the Septentrion. So it was that while the Sectopod was being engaged, Pit took the fight to Sasha once again. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Here we go!"[/color]

He couldn't fly, but at least he could use his wings to get up high. He leapt up, beat his wings and kept going up in what amounted to a triple jump. The Orbitars still circled around him, firing at their target while ready to protect their user. This time his goal was to get a hand on Sasha, bring him down onto a more even playing ground, and surged towards the man with that in mind.

Sasha instinctively aimed the tip of his newly-loaded crossbow bolt at Pit when the angel rose up to meet him, but he didn’t fire. Instead he focused on evasion, dashing through the air. Those orbitars were a big issue. One might say the [i]only[/i] issue. The spectacular aim and overabundant output of Psych-OSF’s Septentrion Third Class could spell the end for almost anyone, but a projectile reflector was a hard counter. Oh well–maybe it would be fun to put in some real effort for once.

Simultaneously, he used SAS to activate Sabrina’s Psycho-ergokinesis and Will’s Precognition. He began by using Future Sight, foretelling an attack that would befall Pit in twenty seconds on the dot. Then he let go of his crossbow with one hand and thrust his palm forward, emitting a heavy force wave with Psychic. This wasn’t a projectile; just raw motive force. He was interested to see how this experiment would turn out. 

In response the Orbitars ceased their fire and came together in front of Pit. They didn't bounce the psychic wave back, but their divine protection blocked Pit from damage and even from being pushed. It also slowed his own momentum considerably, resulting in the angel falling short. He grabbed onto a light post on his way back down, swinging himself up on top of it and getting ready to try again. He couldn't let up lest the man interfere with Luka's plans to take down the Sectopod. And... if Sasha was playing defense, then he might be able to get away with switching to something a little more offensive. Maybe even take the man by surprise again by quick-summoning the Orbitars into being this time.

It could work, but it could also fail spectacularly. Without Lady Palutena's risk assessment, Pit quickly made his choice. [i]Nothing ventured, nothing gained![/i]

He felt he had to take the chance that the Septentrion would try and focus on the opponent in front of him rather than those battling the Sectopod. Pit fired off a few more shots from the Orbitars at Sasha for a little cover, then switched over completely to his bow. As one weapon faded away and the other faded into existence, Pit leapt towards Sasha again. The bow should work - its arrows faster and stronger, its reach longer, and since he wouldn't be caught in the slow effect he could still use angel ring for some last ditch defense if he really needed to. Pit drew the drawstring back and fired, the arrow of light already tracking its target. The angel himself followed soon behind, ready to bring the man to ground.

Sasha hung in the air while Pit broke his fall and gathered himself up for another go. If he wasn’t moving, his stock of borrowed Levitation power decreased at a negligible rate, so he calmly loomed above the battlefield to take stock of his experiments’ results. As expected, the orbitars couldn’t reflect a wall of force, but it looked like those wings of Pit’s weren’t much good for actually flying. The Septentrion cataloged that factoid and readied himself for round two. When more shots flew up toward him he kept moving, steadily hovering just fast enough to outpace the divine volley. When his opponent changed weapons, Sasha found himself intrigued. Why would Pit trade out the orbitars that had already proved themselves rather effective against his own abilities? Once fired the arrow homed in on Sasha tightly, and while he didn’t manage to dodge it, it dealt low enough damage that he could focus on cutting short Pit’s ascent. [i]What a novel concept.[/i] He took hold of his crossbow with both hands and fired–not a crossbow bolt, but a single psi-blast from his forehead, fast enough that Pit might not notice the difference until it was too late.

A veteran despite his youthful looks, Pit reacted swiftly and simply. He saw something headed his way and flicked the bow in his hands to deflect it. Whether it was a physical, elemental, or psychic attack, Pit was sure that heavenly material could handle it. The psi-blast in flight curved slightly to miss his weapon, not unlike his own arrow, and strike Pit instead. A brief moment later, Future Sight took effect, dropping a payload of psychic energy directly on top of the angel like a huge sack of flour. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Guh!"[/color] The psi-blast he could have powered through, and fully intended to, but the mysterious sudden force sent Pit plummeting to the ground again. He bounced when he hit the pavement face first, that impact snapping him back into action. He was on his feet again faster than one could blink, wiping the blood that dripped from his nose while his face burned hot with embarrassment.

[i]That was a cheap shot![/i] He thought, having fallen for the invisible, unknown sucker punch of an attack completely. But more than that, the sight of the Septentrion just floating up there... [i]Stupid PK levitation... If I could fly on my own, this would be a totally different fight![/i]

But he couldn't just stand there and seethe. He was fine sticking to the role of defending if he had to, really he was. He'd learned a little while fighting together with Giovanna, so he knew he didn't have to try and handle the bulk of a fight on his own. Still, he'd wanted to at least try and soften Sasha up more for when the others were done with the Sectopod. To keep him busy but also deal damage... Pit needed a totally new kind of weapon.

[center][hider=Pit Level Up][b]New Power:[/b] Violet Breaking Palm.
Another divine weapon initially appearing as a whirling rainbow orb, the palm allows its user to harness their own life energy in the palm of their hand, conjuring projectiles with the best homing and rapid fire capabilities of any of Pit's arsenal. When summoned it replaces Pit's currently equipped weapon and the orb is absorbed into his skin, appearing as a colorful glowing tattoo on his right arm and hand. It has the ability to fire near constant barrages of homing shots like arcs of light, limited only by Pit's stamina as it draws on his vitality to do so. The shots don't do much damage individually, relying on quantity of hits, but they do more damage the closer they are to the target and the energy can be combined into one much larger, stronger shot by charging or dashing. It also boosts the power of Pit's melee attacks, particularly palm strikes.[/hider][/center]
The Palutena Bow in his hand disappeared, gold sparkles falling to the ground. In its place a bright, shimmery rainbow orb of energy, the Violet Palm, was willed into being. Pit raised his right arm, hand open as the orb was absorbed into the center of his own palm. The rainbow aura wrapped around his entire limb, staining his skin from fingertips to shoulder with colorful, glowing ribbons.

This was a pleasant surprise. How much of his old divine arsenal could he summon if he just wished really hard? Regardless, Pit grinned and took aim.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Just what I needed!"[/color] The colors of the [url=https://i.imgur.com/b1DDJBd.jpg]tattoos[/url] surged, and from the center of Pit's palm a fusillade of prismatic energy shot out, converging toward Sasha all at once with speed rivaling that of his light arrows.

Just as Sasha geared up to take Pit down with a psychic barrage, the angel pulled out something new from his bag of tricks. Rather than be impetuous he paused to see exactly what form the weapon would take, and what Pit unveiled did not disappoint. “Hm.” The Septentrion began to move, dashing through the air to avoid the barrage. This was quite the bullet storm, but the sky was vast; he knew he’d be able to avoid it as long as his Levitation held. Which wasn’t much longer. He could see the SAS gears for his entire squad in his mind’s eye, and Milla’s Levitation was almost out from all his aerial maneuvers. Precognition and Psycho-ergokinesis were dwindling too, so Sasha switched them all off so they’d start recovering faster. Of course, the moment he hit the ground, this fight was on for real.

Once he switched back to his manacaster and engaged Prism Break, the dance began, filling the street with divine rays and roaring winds. Pit and Sasha ducked, dodged, and swerved like hummingbirds in flight just above the ground, belting out an absurd amount of shots that polluted the area with magic. Neither could avoid them all, and nor could they really tell how much it was working on one another, so they both kept at it, confident they could wear their opponents down before they themselves succumbed. While their shootout couldn’t be called ‘tame’ from the get-go, the party got even crazier as both gradually moved closer and closer, as both their weapons grew stronger at close range.

It was an intimidating display, a veritable tornado of fireworks almost impossible to get into, but Hanabi knew she needed to help. As hard as it was to tell, it looked like Prism Break might be giving Sasha the advantage. With only one opponent in range, each triple-shot turned into nine all aimed at Pit, and since they could hit no other targets they all received a damage boost on hit. She couldn’t just sit on the sidelines, and despite the danger, she had an idea. Borrowing Yuito’s Psychokinesis, she seized a large street sign and brought it to the ground. Once she jumped on, she tried lifting the sign beneath her to fly into the air, but in her haste and unfamiliarity she couldn’t get the thing off the ground. “Urgh, come on!” she grumbled, stomping the sign.

“Here, let me help.” A certain hand fell on Hanabi’s shoulder, her face reddening as she realized who it was. She turned to see her childhood friend climbing onto the sign behind her. “You can’t force it. Why don’t we work together.”

“Yuito!” Hanabi couldn’t help but smile, though she also looked a little worried. “Aren’t you still hurt?”

He shook his head. “I’m fine. Besides, if we can’t help our friends through this, it won’t matter if I spent a few more seconds resting. Let’s do this!”

“Let’s!” Applying their Psychokinesis together, the two floated into the air atop their street sign. It began to fly through the air like Gisu’s hoverboard, the weighty object quickly picking up speed. After a moment it soared into the divine windstorm, soaking up stray projectiles with the sign’s underside. Sasha was so laser-focused on solidifying his victory in the firefight that he didn’t notice the soldiers flying in until it was too late–and it smacked him right in the shoulder, bowling him over with a grunt.

With the projectile storm on pause, Pit's allies could get a more clear view of him. He was littered with the evidence of Sasha's Wind Bullets and their effectiveness; his chiton torn near to shreds, leathers scuffed, and body wind scorched. Raw, red wounds dotted his form. There was a particularly painful throbbing in his wings where he'd been hit, unable to keep them completely protected, and he was so out of breath that it looked like he might double over at any moment. Stubbornly he stayed upright.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Nice going!"[/color] he gasped, sucking in a breath of air at the same time. Pit let the energy in his Palm coalesce and moved in. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"I've got him!"[/color]

Pit wasn't a master martial artist, he much preferred his ranged weaponry to anything else, but he was a soldier and he knew his basics. Not to mention the Violet Palm was uniquely suited to this kind of "unarmed" combat. First, an angled strike, not unlike a beast attacking with its claws. A quick follow up with the back of his knuckles let him pull his arm back only to thrust forward again in an open palm attack that poured the divine weapon's gathered power into it.

Sakura dodged a stomp and rolled through the legs of the Sectopod and stood behind it. [color=f49ac2][i]”Are we ready to take this thing out?!”[/i][/color] She asked in Brain Talk.

[i]“It’s now or never!”[/i] Luka replied.

Sakura leapt on top of the Sectopod, there being a long half-second as she pinwheeled her arms as she ascended. But she managed to land, grabbing onto the top with an exhale. She eyed the troublesome cannon from the side. Clambering up, she grabbed onto the top of the cannon for balance and began slamming her fist into the futuristic steel. There was a dent and a few resounding bongs, but Sakura pulled her fist away and shook her wrist, wincing. 

In a flash Luka had teleported up beside her. Rather than try to push his small frame against the blaster, he ignited his Weight Hamer with Hanabi’s Pyrokinesis and attacked the weapon itself. “Just hit the stupid thing!” The weapon itself was a lot more delicate than its mount. Unfortunately, they’d made less-than-stellar use of precious seconds. Recognizing the atypical behavior at last, the Sectopod began to withdraw its blaster to seal it in its compartment, preventing further attack. With a grunt of frustration Luka made the call, jamming his hammer into the mechanism to halt its movement–at least until his weapon broke. He activated Psychokinesis to reach for anything he could use to strike the blaster with, but right now it was on Sakura to make this moment count.

[color=f49ac2]”I’m gonna try something!”[/color] Sakura yelled. The problem was she didn’t have the leverage or balance to really lay into this thing like she normally would. Sakura had enough stored power for an EX-move or two. Time to put it to use. She crouched and eyed a small gap between the cannon itself and the chassis. Grabbing onto the gun with one hand, she pulled her other fist back. [color=f49ac2]”Midare Zakura!”[/color] Modifying her uppercut she slammed her fist into that gap and then wrenched it upwards. For a moment she almost vibrated as she pulled against the cannon. Then she flew up into the air as she pried it off, the cannon flying high into the sky. Flailing in mid-air, she used Mental Connection to attach herself to Luka and pull herself back onto the top of the Sectopod. 

Thanks to the pair’s combined efforts, but especially Sakura’s flashy finale, sparks flew and the Sectopod staggered as if in pain. [b]”...Critical damage to secondary weapon. Secondary weapon inoperable,”[/b] its deep mechanical voice confirmed. Of course, that was only the beginning of the walker’s problems while multiple bogeys remained perched atop its chassis. The Sectopod wasn’t built to emulate a bucking bronco, but there were ways that its artificial intelligence could try and salvage a situation like this. Turning ninety degrees, the Sectopod started moving toward the nearest building. It quickly covered the distance thanks to the huge stride of its high stance and showed no signs of stopping.

“Time to bail!” Loathe as he was to abandon his weapon, Luka wanted to get smashed through a solid wall even less. After a final fruitless tug of his hammer’s exposed shaft, he teleported away. 

[color=f49ac2]”Crap crap crap![/color] Sakura yelled, and joined him, leaping away into the air before teleporting herself down far away from the ground. The next moment the Sectopod banked and slid into the brick facade of a three-story craft brewery, hard enough to send anyone still standing on it into the wall. Of course, the Sectopod could easily just walk through the building if it wanted, but the Septentrions’ directive had been clear: property damage at an absolute minimum.

Meanwhile, Sasha had picked himself up off the ground. It had been a while since he’d hit the pavement like this; Pit’s assault following his allies’ interference wounded his pride as much as it did his body. Still, a Septentrion could take much more than that, and Sasha wasn’t about to lose his cool. He had five foes to work through here, and couldn’t spend any more time on this one. “Hmph.” Letting go of his manacaster, he activated Brain Drive, and as his hood popped up to veil his face in shadow he put both index fingers to his head. Immediately a psi-bolt surged forth, split into three by Prism Break. Two of them shot in the direction of Hanabi and Yuito, who were in the middle of recovering after their shared spill, but Sasha assumed direct control. All three curved toward Pit, snaking through the air at high speed. Tuckered out and with Palm still equipped, it was all Pit could do to try and avoid them, but it was no use. They chased down his dodges, confounded his blocks, and bypassed his attempt to reflect by curving around the quick-summoned orbitars. After an all-too-brief moment they converged and hit home, each boosted by 225% percent and converted to physical damage. Pit got launched and comboed in the air by subsequent hits, and just when it seemed to be over Sasha sealed the deal with a bolt from his crossbow. Prism Break had just run out, but Sasha was still armed and dangerous.

Yuito and Hanabi ran in, their weapons ready to beat Sasha down before he could shoot them first. The Septentrion seemed to read their mind, however, and practically the second they both activated Sclerokinesis, Sasha dispelled it. “Karmic Quietus!” The next instant a psi-blast shot out Yuito’s leg from under him, bringing him down hard.

“Yuito!” Hanabi cried, turning to look at him. Almost immediately she took a psi-blast to the gut, doubling her over, followed by one the jaw. She went slack-jawed and saw stars, barely even feeling it when she hit the ground beside her friend. The air behind Sasha distorted, and Luka teleported in to grapple him from behind. He grabbed hold and strained with all his strength, but to his dismay the strength he’d spent so long trying to cultivate in his tiny body wasn’t enough. Sasha held firm and fired two psi-blasts that arced around and struck Luka in the back, prompting him to release his hold with a gasp. The Septentrion whirled around with a backfist, then calmly reloaded his crossbow and fired it point-blank. Luka hurtled backward, struck a trash can that bowled him over, and did not rise.

By that time Yuito had picked himself up to one knee, cradling Hanabi in his arms. She just groaned, completely dazed. Without a word, Sasha levitated his manacaster again and took it in his left hand, the crossbow in his right as he used his mind to put a new bolt in its place. Just one foe left standing.

At that moment, however, he heard one word that shattered his composure. [i]Sasha.[/i] Letting go of his weapons, he whipped around and fixed his gaze on the fallen woman down the street, over whom Midna and her flygon were looming. An ice-cold hand gripped his heart. He and Milla were unstoppable together, but they’d fought separately, their trust in one another complete. Now, though, he realized he’d made a critical mistake. “MILLA!” he bellowed, breaking into a headlong sprint. His weapons floated after him as he sped away, his speed boosted by Levitation–the one thing that told him that his beloved Milla was still alive.

That left just the Sectopod against Sakura, Pit, and the Psych-O soldiers. It also realized what was going on, and ran to position itself in between Sasha and his opponents to make sure that he could make it to Milla safely. [b]”Assuming point position,”[/b] it said, shifting to low stance. Its Wrath Cannon, the only ranged weapon it had left, began to charge. [b]”Hurry, commander.”[/b]

Sakura’s jaw dropped, watching several of Luka’s platoon including Luka himself be down for the count. Sasha was distracted, though, after that. Breathing elevated, Sakura stared down what was still her primary target- the Sectopod. It began to charge up its big one, the one it already fired. [color=f49ac2]”There’s nothing for it, Pit-kun! We gotta!”[/color] 

The street fighter ran straight on. She used Teleport to cover the rest of the distance, and then slammed her foot into the knee joint of the Sectopod. Dropping onto one leg she spun, flashing orange and blue as she did a low, sliding spin kick into the very same joint, before punishing it even more with a final straight kick. In her desire to interrupt its cannon, she didn’t relent, kicking and punching and trying to break this thing's leg to get it to cancel its Wrath Cannon. [color=f49ac2]”Can we knock it onto its back?! Watch for the zappy!”[/color] She exclaimed. If they could get it pointed skyward the blast would do nothing! 

After Pit picked himself back up, he let out a vague little noise of agreement. With no real support or healing to offer, getting back into action as quickly as possible was the only thing he could do to help. The tattoos on his arm faded away, though for a moment nothing replaced them. Pit blinked, refocusing - it just took an extra second or two. Right now he determined the best thing he could do was to bring the Guardian Orbitars back into play. If they couldn't disable the Sectopod, at the very least he could stop its cannon fire... assuming his shield held.

[i]It [/i]will[i] hold,[/i] he told himself, and then launched himself forward to join Sakura's attempts to topple the machine. If she, Luka, Yuito, and Hanabi destabilized it, he might be able to give it the final push to knock it over using the same heavy uppercut that he had when first breaking through Sasha's attacks. Until the chance came up the orbitars fired upon any of the Sectopod’s perceived weak spots, ready to defend against its cannon if their gambit failed.

Despite its damage and its lack of options, the Sectopod held off against the nimble fighters as best it could. By pre-charging its electric pulse and then bringing a foot down with a stomp, it could take its shockwaves to its opponents, but it met with only limited success. Sakura (who could take more hits) fought offensively, while the rest (who could not) helped out more conservatively, spread out enough so that even if a giant laser blazed their way, it couldn’t erase them all. This was a dangerous game, after all, and it had reached its final round. Between Sakura’s attacks and the psionics’ thrown objects, damage to the walkers’ legs mounted, their armor weakened. Its Wrath Cannon was its last chance. It stepped back, its targeting lasers locking on to Sakura, and braced itself.

[b]”Firing main cannon.”[/b]

[color=f49ac2]”Oops.”[/color] 

 The huge beam illuminated the street once more, breaking the fog of war with a crimson dawn.

Sakura’s form was completely consumed by the light as she stuck out her hands and turned her head away, squeezing her eyes shut. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Sakura!"[/color] Seeing the Sectopod focus on her, Pit banked in her direction with the orbitars stretched as far from his body towards her as they would go. He hadn't expected it to fire on someone so close to itself, so he was farther away from the girl than he should have been. Now it looked like his shields wouldn't make it in time to cover her.

When the light cleared, she was laying on her back much farther away from the Sectopod than she was before. She opened one eye and rolled onto her side with a groan. Her whole body was stinging. It was hard to breathe, and she certainly couldn’t take another hit like that. But on the whole… [color=f49ac2]”That’s…not even the biggest giant laser I’ve been hit by.”[/color] Sakura said, genuinely surprised she was still conscious. She was thinking it would be worse than Ryu’s Shinku Hadoken, but in reality it wasn’t even as powerful. If she had the meter for it she probably could have clashed with it with a Shinku Hadoken of her own and tied, or even come out on top. 

 [color=f49ac2]”I-I’m okay! I really thought that would be a lot worse!”[/color] She exclaimed with a nervous laugh. [color=f49ac2]”Just gimme a second.”[/color] She began to push herself to her feet. If she had just face tanked it, she’d probably be down until Round Two as it were. Instead, though, she had used her defensive ki to block it.

It was a surprise, and a huge relief, to see that the street fighter was alright. Well, maybe not a total surprise; she was one tough cookie after all. Still, her laugh broke the tension, and so Pit turned back to the Sectopod. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Okay then,"[/color] the angel said, taking a deep breath. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Let's finish this thing off already!"[/color]

He led the charge while Sakura recovered, moving in with the Upperdash Arm and ready to smash the thing apart. With its limited arsenal, the Sectopod couldn’t do much to stop it. The Upperdash Arm crashed into its leg strong enough to momentarily destabilize the walker, proving the the damage levied against it earlier was adding up. It then went for an electric shock to try and capture the angel in a defensive blast of lightning. It was only the fact that he knew what was coming thanks to Luka's earlier demonstrations that Pit could avoid the electricity in his fatigued state. He hopped back twice, getting out of the lightning's range. With the Sectopod standing in one place and unsteady, he didn't have to worry much about missing with his Arm either - so once the electric field petered out he repeated the motion, this time dashing in and jumping up to smash the robot's main chassis, where he hoped some control center would be close to frying.

Sakura re-emerged from behind and spun forward with an EX-Tatsu, slashing three times into the back of the bot's leg before slamming into it with a mighty straight kick. [color=f49ac2][i]”Seyah!”[/i][/color]

Thanks to their combined efforts, the two managed to close it out. Impaired motor functions meant that the Sectopod couldn’t mitigate the damage to its legs for long, and after a little more punishment, the walker’s limbs buckled beneath the weight of the chassis. It hit the ground hard, cracking the asphalt of the street. For a brief moment it just lay there. The fight was over, as it could no longer mount an assault. There was only one thing left it could do.

[b]”Forgive me, commander.”[/b]

The Sectopod’s red lights began to blink as its five-second self-destruction sequence began.

“Get away from it, now!” Luka yelled hoarsely, his voice uncharacteristically panicked.

[color=f49ac2]”Yup!”[/color] Blinking red lights always meant a bomb. Sakura promptly booked it and then dove away, covering the back of her head. Letting the Arm fade from his own, Pit also retreated. He turned to watch the explosion from a safe distance, shading his eyes with one hand as the force pushed hot air out around it.

Now that they were both clear of the explosion, Sakura sat up. [color=f49ac2]”Phew!”[/color] She rose to standing, and then lifted her hand to Pit for a high-five which the angel enthusiastically obliged.

Before moving onto rejoin the others, Sakura scratched her head and looked upon the ruins of the Sectopod. She didn't expect for it to talk to itself... Sakura looked away and moved on.