[b][i]Mission Five - La Naval de Manila, Segunda Vez/Segundo Beses/Second Time[/i][/b]

[b][i]West Philippine Sea Airspace - 12/25/2022, 5:19, UTC+8[/i][/b]

Lotus Squadron sliced through the air, each pilot's jet flying like a silvery dart as they cleared the skies, firing lines of death that caused the enemy's cockpits to ignite into blossoms of flame. They knew what Cao Bao could do - reassemble physical objects that had been broken, teleporting them to his side. This could restore the wounded, but not bring the dead back to life; corpses were reconstituted intact and fresh, but were still corpses.
 
Drones were another matter, especially the newfangled fiber-optic ones made by the Russians and sold to the Communist Chinese. These can be destroyed and reassembled as many times as Cao Bao's energy permitted it, same for the Iranian Shaheed Drones and other, faster, prototype models that, though easily brought down by a dedicated pilot, were still a swarm of metallic pests. 
 
Nevertheless, in three days, the quality of the PLA Air Force and whoever else they got to pilot for them had been reduced; the same planes still flew, but the twists and turns were more basic, the lucky hits fewer, and the overall willingness to engage danger less. 
 
Those three days were enough for Admiral Yi Yeol to move into position to engage the PLA Navy as his own flotilla advanced halfway to Scarborough Shoal; there, in the open waters of the West Philippine Sea, they would fight the decisive engagement of the ASEAN War... 

[hr]

[b]BRP Jose Rizal - 12/28/2022, 5:00, UTC+8[/b]
 
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[i]BRP Jose Rizal[/i][/center]
 
Callie could see him, either through Charter or more mundane means (spy drones existed). 

Cao Bao was walking the deck of the Guandong Type-004 Nuclear Aircraft Carrier, reconstituting the latest jets brought down by Lotus Squadron particle by particle. It was the first time in those three days that the black-coated, well-muscled, weary-faced officer whose stubble and the cigarette just above it expressed a constant burden of aggravation strode so openly; before that, the jets just reconstituted on the ship's deck, the drones, likewise. 

Admiral Yi Yeol knew it was a trap; he wasted no time telling Callie and Cristina that over the radio.

"Specialist Lindmann, Volunteer Bernardino," his voice crackled, "This is not the real Cao Bao, but an impostor; his file marks him as too... self-preserving to show himself just when the battle is starting. Special Agent Makraig... You're in reserve as we are going to spring that trap."

The noise of explosions from ships too far away to see were already reaching their ears, even in the BRP Jose Rizal's communications tower, where they had gathered to make better use of Callie and Myron's Noble Arms. Inside, they could see the mass of monitors and panels, manned by cool-headed, mundane personnel who sorted through the data that flowed through bundles of fiber optic cables that fed the blocky, modular consoles.

Admiral Yi Yeol continued, "Task Force Obsidian goes in, takes out the Imposter and those protecting him, then gets out. Do not try and take the Aircraft Carrier for yourself; assuming that the real Cao Bao is still alive elsewhere, focus on killing enemy personnel. But if you [i]must[/i] capture someone, have Henri use his Anti-Magic Field to remove Cao Bao's 'marks' from them and their equipment. Now, Move Out; we have a war to win..."

[hr]

[b]Type-004 Guandong-class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier - 12/25/2022, 5:19, UTC+8[/b]

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[i]The owner of this media, RXY398, hereby permits anyone to use this piece, provided that they credit the owner. Taken from the Modern Warships Wiki.[/i]
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Newly built, but hardly bloodied, the Type-004 Guandong-class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier was the flagship of the People's Liberation Army Navy. Weighing up to 110,000 tons and capable of carrying up to a hundred aircraft, its steel-gray deck was a landscape of its own, brimming with just-restored fighter jets and a smattering of helicopters and drones. Beside a stealth bomber, Cao Bao waited for Task Force Obsidian, standing there as they portaled or teleported in - [i]A sign that this was an impostor.[/i]

'Cao Bao' stood tall, then dissolved into what seemed like iron filings. From boxes of maintenance equipment, prefabricated armor plates, and boxes of metal with no discernible purpose except to serve as barricades emerged the barrels of anti-materiel and heavy machine guns, along with the occasional grenade launcher. 

Then someone strolled from around the corner of a large cargo container.

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[i]The Other Son Goku from Saiyuki[/i]
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"Hey, hey, hey!" the young man in flamboyant but torn clothes that looked straight out of a Wuxia film said. "My name is Wu Shufen, the Second Monkey King! I'm the Monkey of the Zodiac - The People's Republic of China's Zodiac, not the imitation ones you guys have!"

Still in his chipper tone as he waved about his quarterstaff, he continued, "Now, I won't ask you guys to surrender; Huo Ren's a black mark on us and so is Ai Chen and Yulian is still alive as far as I know, so let's fight; the most wily wins!"

[@Chiro][@Nimbus][@Gerlando][@Digmata][@ctrlsaltdel][@Ducksworth][@Gerlando][@Hyperion338]