[Rail IC] Academy City

[Kasanip]

Kazumi

"Yes. That is my senior." Kazumi says with a small sound of embarrassment. But she nods and hurriedly walks at the wall.

"Hey Sakurako! Don't run away like that!" She yells. She seems not embarrassed about this kind of behavior, in a strange way.

[Lillith]

As soon as Kazumi went after Sakurako, Jane ran into the same direction, trying to keep up. She wondered what had happened and if this kind of disturbance was an every day occurrence in Academy City.

[Rhydeble]

After another day of hard (and boring) study at Azabu, Cale was walking around, trying to keep himself calm. He had just heard that the Schmirnovich family was at it again and was somehow found innocent of seven hundred and twenty eight charges of blackmailing at the same time. While walking around he came past the Tokiwadai Middle School, where something appeared to be happening.

[Anyr]

It was quite a while before Jirou felt well enough to rejoin the outside world once more. Aside from the simple task of getting his breath back, he'd also been forced to pry himself free of the mysteriously sticky wall and scrape most of the alley's gunk off his shoes. Finally, when restored to his previous level of scruffiness, he stepped back out into the street and walked away as nonchalantly as possible.

"Ugh, that was disgusting, but it's all over now. Those Judgement freaks ought to watch themselves; Strutting around with their orders and their attitudes and where in the world am I going anyway?"

With an abrupt jolt he suddenly realised that the surrounding area was totally unfamiliar to him. On reflection, he really should have expected that; His escape from the forces of justice had been rather hasty and had involved a lot of random corner turning. Apparently it had also covered a good distance too, because this place was a lot seedier than the surroundings of Tokiwadai. Was this just an isolated bit of squalor a stone's throw from the parks, or had he somehow crossed into an entirely different district without even noticing? Whichever it was, it definitely wasn't the sort of place in which to linger. Casting a few nervous glances around the seemingly deserted street, Jirou picked up his pace. After everything that had happened today, he was in no mood for any more surprises.

[13_CBS]

Somewhere

"So who's this guy, anyway?"

"Uhh, let's see..." Someone rummages around what sounds like his pockets. "...Sato Catarino."

"Foreigner eh? Thought so."

The second voice continues. "Level 3 ESPer, this says."

"Huh. What can he do?"

A pause.

"Uh...'Animal...Neuro...logical? Communication and Empathy: Focus on Genus Falco', or something like that."

"So, what, he talks to birds or something?"

"Looks like it."

The first speaker whistles. "Man, how'd boss get this kinda info?"

The sound of clothes ruffling--a shrug? "I ain't got a clue, man. Sources, I guess."

A snort. "Ha! Like there's any hawks in The Strange."

"Falcons."

"Huh?"

"Bird Boy here talks to falcons. That's what the paper says."

"...whatever, man."

As the two thugs talk about nonsense, Catarino can just sense the presence of three falcons--two cavorting in the sky almost 10 miles to the south, another perched on a power line nine miles to the west.


Elsewhere

The rapid sounds of a computer keyboard being typed. A sipping noise, then the dull *thump* being placed back down on a table cluttered with notes, tools, and machine parts.

"Come on, ten more lines of code and I'll be done with this damn protocol software." As much as he loved coding software, Eternal Love: Gaze Into My Pools of Longing was on soon, and he refused to miss his daily dose of hack soap operas.

"Seven more lines..."

He types as fast as he can, his fingers all but abusing the keypads on his heavily customized PC.

"Five more...and..."

A voice.

"Ugh. WHAT." He tears off his headphones and tosses them straight into his keyboard.

"NO, for the last time I am NOT going to--"

*Bleep*

A message pops out, cheerfully heralding the news,

File "Combat_Protocol v.1.03" Sent! <3

"Huh? Wait....no. No no no no." His face grows pale. "No. No. No. NO! Oh DAMMIT!"

He throws on his jacket and stomps out the door.

"Damage control. Oh my god I hate damage control. Don't wreck the place while I'm gone."


This whole escapade would later be known as the Winter Rampant Robot incident, destined to be the talk of Academy City students for years to come. But for now, certain unlucky students were destined to have the day of their lives.

With an abrupt jolt he suddenly realised that the surrounding area was totally unfamiliar to him. On reflection, he really should have expected that; His escape from the forces of justice had been rather hasty and had involved a lot of random corner turning. Apparently it had also covered a good distance too, because this place was a lot seedier than the surroundings of Tokiwadai. Was this just an isolated bit of squalor a stone's throw from the parks, or had he somehow crossed into an entirely different district without even noticing? Whichever it was, it definitely wasn't the sort of place in which to linger. Casting a few nervous glances around the seemingly deserted street, Jirou picked up his pace. After everything that had happened today, he was in no mood for any more surprises.

Jirou's Location

It comes straight at Jirou, giving him no time to pause and think, to figure out where he was--what was obviously a robot, roughly four feet in height and five in width, scooting towards him on treads. Its domed shell opens up a panel to reveal a device the size and shape of a pen...and launches straight at Jirou a small plastic dart connected to a thin wire.

No rest for the wicked.

After another day of hard (and boring) study at Azabu, Cale was walking around, trying to keep himself calm. He had just heard that the Schmirnovich family was at it again and was somehow found innocent of seven hundred and twenty eight charges of blackmailing at the same time. While walking around he came past the Tokiwadai Middle School, where something appeared to be happening.

Near Tokiwadai

Indeed, there was something happening--a domed machine on treads, apparently running amok. A handful of students, some of them wearing Judgement badges and others wearing Tokiwadai uniforms, are already fleeing the scene or are calling for backup. Fortunately, the area is mostly empty as it is some time after school.

The robot begins spinning around in a circle and blasting the area with flame from a nozzle sticking out of a panel on its right.

[Hajime - District 15]

District 15. A wonder in a practical city-state of wonders.

People roaming all over the place. Money trading hands as goods are bought and sold. Advertisements attempting to convince those who come here to buy a certain product and others like it. This district truly shows Academy City's metropolitan side, rivaling that of New York City or Akihabara.

Hajime tried to avoid it as much as possible, at least during hours where people were most likely to be there. The more he is exposed to people, the greater chance someone will act on his rather unusual appearance and status. That, and the commotion often left him essentially deaf, unable to determine what exactly is going on at any given time. However, he knew this was a worthy cause, so he took a deep breath and dove head first into the crowds.

Amidst the masses, there had to be some place. Some place passed over time and again, some place dark, mysterious, some place Catarino would be.

If such a place existed, Hajime was going to find it.

District 15

Not even District 15 is safe from cybernetic rampancy, it seems. A third robot bursts out of an alleyway and begins firing tear gas grenades everywhere, scattering terrified and confused shoppers and pedestrians.


Katsu

Spoiler

Show

I'm not sure where Katsu is at the moment, so I'll wait until you confirm his location and what he's doing.

[Rhydeble]

"Fire-spitting robots, the day just couldn't get better", Cale thought upon seeing the metal monstrosity. He took a moment to concentrate and pressurized a wall between him and the automaton. He really didn't want to get caught up in a mad battle between man and machine, that would be judgement's job. Having blocked the robot's route toward him, Cale started to walk away from the panicking masses.

[Anyr]

If this latest paragraph in the life of Kiyoshi Jirou had begun on an ordinary day, there was a good chance that it would have been the last one written. Luckily (or perhaps not), this day was far from ordinary; This was the day where Heaven and Hell collided. A realm where wonderful new friends could be found around one corner while horrific banshees lay in wait around the next, with barely a minute's break between them. Consequently, when a heavily armoured engine of death suddenly attacked out of nowhere, the event was not half as fazing to Jirou as it should have been. He was still surprised at the specific nature of the threat (he'd been expecting a gang of Skill-outs with lead pipes), but that didn't slow his reflexes much.

The dart launched by the robot sailed through the empty space where Jirou had previously been and past the convenient dumpster which he was now crouched behind. A second later the wire attached to the dart was severed by a swift application of Dissolution, leaving it lying uselessly wherever it had fallen. Despite the gravity of the situation, a rather unhealthy laugh subsequently filtered out from behind the dumpster.

"Sending a machine to do the dirty work? Big mistake. If this thing had a pulse it would have been a lot harder to deal with."

With that he poked his head out from behind the dumpster and focused the full weight of his abilities on the marauding robot. If this motorised dustbin thought that fancy armour was anything more than tissue paper to him then it was about to get a nasty shock. As far as Jirou's power was concerned living flesh was impenetrable, but metal? Metal was easy.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Sakurako

She had to admit, it was slightly disappointing to discover that there was nothing too terribly interesting happening on the other side of the fence, apparently only arriving in time to catch the after-math of whatever had happened. Plus the girl she had 'saved' was decidedly creepy, something that earns a slightly disturbed look as she looks down at her.

Who would spy or attack Tokiwadai? It has to be one of the worst targets from a logistics stand point...wait...maybe it was the same person who wanted that little cutie to be kidnapped!

"Quick, which way did he go? What does he look like?" she asks quickly, feeling her heartbeat begin to pound. This could be another lead! Though a flash of rememberance in the back of her mind reminds her that she was with company, prompting her to look back over her shoulder at Kazumi and Jane, somewhat sheepishly.

"Er...Hey, you two want to help me track down a suspect?" Sakurako says, sounding a bit embarrassed by the prospect of having forgotten about Jane and her friend, if only for a moment.

[InyutheBeatIs]

District 15

Not even District 15 is safe from cybernetic rampancy, it seems. A third robot bursts out of an alleyway and begins firing tear gas grenades everywhere, scattering terrified and confused shoppers and pedestrians.

Hajime was about to ask a local stand owner about Catarino's possible whereabouts, when suddenly a robot shows up. For a second, all Hajime can hear is the screaming of the crowds nearby and the sound of the machine firing tear gas grenades everywhere. Had this been anyone else, Hajime would have probably made some sort of deadpan about how much he hated mondays, but as is all that Hajime does is widen his eyes at the sight.

Then, he bolts into the crowd, aiming to keep a safe distance from the robot as he pulls his shirt over his mouth with his right hand. He looks at the robot, analyzing it, trying to find patterns, weakpoints, anything that he can use to take it down. At the same time, he taps into his abilities to grow two things: a vine as tough as rope around his left arm, with a hook at the end, and a bamboo spear of sorts, sharp as a fine knife and just as long.

[Lillith]

When Jane had finally reached the place where Sakurako had sped off to, she quickly found her classmate and some unknown girl talking about... something. Though Jane didn't have time to focus on what had been happening yet.

Sakurako
"Er...Hey, you two want to help me track down a suspect?" Sakurako says, sounding a bit embarrassed by the prospect of having forgotten about Jane and her friend, if only for a moment.

"Ah suspect?" Jane blinked, a girl her age going after a suspect? Like in police shows? People could do that here?! THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! But then again... what could Jane do? Also she had homework that would take her some time to finish by deciphering her text books... Then again, when was she going to 'work on a case' right?

Jane looked at Sakurako and was about to reply, "That sounds..." when she saw something over Sakurako's shoulder on the other side of the street.

Near Tokiwadai

Indeed, there was something happening--a domed machine on treads, apparently running amok.

"Uh... what's that over there?"

The robot begins spinning around in a circle and blasting the area with flame from a nozzle sticking out of a panel on its right.

Jane let out a high pitched scream that sounded a lot like cat nails screeching over a school board.

[Rhydeble]

While walking away safely from the rampaging rebellious robot, Cale heard a scream, a scream that was reminiscent of the untold horrors that would be released upon the world when the stars were right. Now this was annoying, this was VERY annoying, for the logic was very easy to grasp. Cale's ESP didn't stop sound, it only slowed it, doing nothing about its range or loudness. So there where two possible options. The first option was to run away from that most maddening and eldritch of screeches, the second was to put a stop to it. The second option was faster, and thus in prefferable, but ther was a problem.

It would imply working, most probably in the form of taking out that annoyed robot.

Still, physical activity is in no way as bad as listening to that far too high scream, so Cale turned around and started to form a large long light spear in his right hand. Forcing the nitrogen into a sharp edge, a white wavy outline appeared around it. While it formed, Cale released the wall of air between him and the robot and readied his arm for a throw.

He aimed at the current location of the mechanical foe, threw, and focused on being able to release his hold on the spear if its flightpath went eerie.

[Frozen_Feet]

Jason just waits there as his order is being cooked. After shifting around for a few seconds, his attention is directed at the kitchen. He thought he heard the sound of something sizzling on a grill. His mind went blank for a moment as the imaginary scene began to play in his mind.

He had a vision of a piece of chicken on the grill sizzle on top of it. Then slowly, the vision grew closer and closer to the chicken. His imagination stretched to the molecular level. He could imagine all the molecules moving rapidly around, reforming themselves with the new abundance of heat and energy. Water molecues in the blood spead up and soon launched themselves into the air. The molecues of the meat (He didn't know the atomic formula for chicken meat. It just showed a large molecular pattern.) were breaking off and reforming.

He just stood as still as a statue with this entire vision playing out before him.

"Here you go, Sir. Teriyaki chicken, onigiri and cola." Jason's mental gymnastics are interrupted when his order is suddenly lowered right before his nose. He might wonder where the waitress is, before spotting Hinata's arms on both sides of his head, realizing he's right behind him. "Itadakimasu ~ <3 !" Hinata chirps to his ear.

[Silverraptor]

Jason jerks when when he realizes she right behind him. Blushing slightly at the arms hovering around him, he takes his tray. It takes him a moment to find his voice, much less to remember the right words in japanese.

"Oh... uh... Th-Thank y-y-you..."

[horngeek]

Tsubasa looks at the fellow Judgement member. "...I apologise for my current state of mind. I should be back to normal whithin half an hour."

She then looks around. And points. "I believe they went that way."

...of course, then the robots attack.

[13_CBS]

With that he poked his head out from behind the dumpster and focused the full weight of his abilities on the marauding robot. If this motorised dustbin thought that fancy armour was anything more than tissue paper to him then it was about to get a nasty shock. As far as Jirou's power was concerned living flesh was impenetrable, but metal? Metal was easy.

Jirou's location

The robot turns and maneuvers to get Jirou back into its line of sight, which meant that Dissolution ends up disintegrating half of its right treads. It falters, trying to compensate, while another panel pops open and shoots at Jirou a jet of orange flame.

Then, he bolts into the crowd, aiming to keep a safe distance from the robot as he pulls his shirt over his mouth with his right hand. He looks at the robot, analyzing it, trying to find patterns, weakpoints, anything that he can use to take it down. At the same time, he taps into his abilities to grow two things: a vine as tough as rope around his left arm, with a hook at the end, and a bamboo spear of sorts, sharp as a fine knife and just as long.

District 15

As far as Hajime can tell, there may seems to be a slight gap between the treads and the edge of the robot's dome shell. The robot itself detects a meatbag heading straight for it, and opens up a curved panel unveiling a tube that shoots out a mesh net at Hajime.

Jane let out a high pitched scream that sounded a lot like cat nails screeching over a school board.

He aimed at the current location of the mechanical foe, threw, and focused on being able to release his hold on the spear if its flightpath went eerie.

Tsubasa looks at the fellow Judgement member. "...I apologise for my current state of mind. I should be back to normal whithin half an hour."

She then looks around. And points. "I believe they went that way."

...of course, then the robots attack.

Tokiwadai

Cale's spear strikes true, but it bounces off the curved dome of the robot, leaving behind a noticeable dent. The main body of the robot seems to be at least lightly armored.

Sensing an enemy, the robot begins to drive around Cale in circles, firing darts.

It doesn't seem to have noticed either Jane or Tsubasa yet.

[InyutheBeatIs]

District 15

As far as Hajime can tell, there may seems to be a slight gap between the treads and the edge of the robot's dome shell. The robot itself detects a meatbag heading straight for it, and opens up a curved panel unveiling a tube that shoots out a mesh net at Hajime.

Hajime notices the weak point, a bit dissapointed at how narrow it is, and hoping that attacking it will take it out. However, his thought is cut short by the robot suddenly shooting a mesh net at him, aiming to bind him up. On instinct, Hajime tries to jump out of the way, and roll back onto his feet.

[Rhydeble]

How nice, some idiot over at the R&D section found it funny to armor rampant battle robots, couldn't the day ever go well?

Cale pressurized a wall around him that should be strong enough to stop the average dart, and started gathering vaporized water for his next spear.

[Anyr]

Jirou just managed to get back behind cover in time to keep his eyebrows. On reflection, maybe this thing deserved a bit more caution after all. Opting not to risk poking his head out again, he instead focused on getting the robot back into his sight through other methods. At his direction two coin-sized holes formed in opposite sides of the dumpster, creating a makeshift spy hole. If the contraption hadn't managed to move too far yet, this would hopefully let him assault it from relative safety. That troublesome flamethrower would make a good first target, but he'd settle for any part of the thing that entered his sight.

[Maximum Zersk]

Catarino

As the two thugs talk about nonsense, Catarino can just sense the presence of three falcons--two cavorting in the sky almost 10 miles to the south, another perched on a power line nine miles to the west.

He calls out to the falcon perched on the power line. Hey, falcon, he says.

The falcon looks up. Hm?

Hey, I need help. It's me, boy who can speak to you guys. Get into position so you can see inside room, but people inside can't see you. Understand?

The falcon assented, and moved into a position where he could see the inside of the room. The falcon would send back the image of the inside of the room to Catarino.

Cici

Cici's room was basically a nerd cave. A large customized computer was sitting in the corner, and her bed was in another. A whole bunch of electronic junk was strewn over the floor, mixed with general mess and such. On the walls were a few posters, including a certain duo of oddly drawn heads with the words ゆっくりしていってね！ on it.

Cici was sitting at her desk putting together a part of the olfactory robot. This was taking a bit longer then she expected, but she'd hopefully be done soon. She laid back for a second and looked out the window at the streets below, probably seeing people walking by and a bot or two patrolling.

Bots.

"Huh?" she looked outside, again, maybe seeing the combat bots outside.

[Mina Kobold]

Katsu

Spoiler

Show

I'm not sure where Katsu is at the moment, so I'll wait until you confirm his location and what he's doing.

Spoiler

Show

No specifics had been posted yet, except that he is hungry

Katsu looks down at the streets from the wall of an apartment building, sitting on a ledge that would quite frankly make most of the passersby pass out in terror of someone actually sitting on a few inches of stone three stores above them, if they looked up that is.

"Funny how nobody ever look up-"

Katsu say while taking a bite off a hot-dog he had bought roughly ten seconds after school ended.

"They miss so much"

[13_CBS]

Hajime notices the weak point, a bit dissapointed at how narrow it is, and hoping that attacking it will take it out. However, his thought is cut short by the robot suddenly shooting a mesh net at him, aiming to bind him up. On instinct, Hajime tries to jump out of the way, and roll back onto his feet.

District 15

The robot doesn't miss a beat, and continues to press the attack on Hajime. It pulls out a miniature flamethrower and blasts it at Hajime.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

How nice, some idiot over at the R&D section found it funny to armor rampant battle robots, couldn't the day ever go well?

Cale pressurized a wall around him that should be strong enough to stop the average dart, and started gathering vaporized water for his next spear.

Tokiwadai

The dart bounces harmlessly off the wall. The robot pauses for a moment to calculate the next move, then pulls out a mechanical arm ending in a buzzsaw while charging straight at Cale.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Jirou just managed to get back behind cover in time to keep his eyebrows. On reflection, maybe this thing deserved a bit more caution after all. Opting not to risk poking his head out again, he instead focused on getting the robot back into his sight through other methods. At his direction two coin-sized holes formed in opposite sides of the dumpster, creating a makeshift spy hole. If the contraption hadn't managed to move too far yet, this would hopefully let him assault it from relative safety. That troublesome flamethrower would make a good first target, but he'd settle for any part of the thing that entered his sight.

Jirou's location

Jirou can see the half-disintegrated track of the robot through the newly made eyeholes, maneuvering to face Jirou. Tubes pop out of the back and lob two potato-sized objects over the dumpster and at Jirou's feet, hissing white smoke--tear gas, from the looks of it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Catarino
He calls out to the falcon perched on the power line. Hey, falcon, he says.

The falcon looks up. Hm?

Hey, I need help. It's me, boy who can speak to you guys. Get into position so you can see inside room, but people inside can't see you. Understand?

The falcon assented, and moved into a position where he could see the inside of the room. The falcon would send back the image of the inside of the room to Catarino.

Catarino's location

Through the falcon's eyes Catarino can see the room he's trapped in.

There are two teenagers sitting in worn folding chairs near what Catarino recognizes as his own self. They seem to be playing cards to pass the time. Catarino can vaguely recognize them from the night before--the ones who distracted him as another tranqed him from behind.

The room itself, located on the second floor of a very worn building that seemed to have used to have been a warehouse at some point or another, is fairly large and mostly empty.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cici
Cici's room was basically a nerd cave. A large customized computer was sitting in the corner, and her bed was in another. A whole bunch of electronic junk was strewn over the floor, mixed with general mess and such. On the walls were a few posters, including a certain duo of oddly drawn heads with the words ゆっくりしていってね！ on it.

Cici was sitting at her desk putting together a part of the olfactory robot. This was taking a bit longer then she expected, but she'd hopefully be done soon. She laid back for a second and looked out the window at the streets below, probably seeing people walking by and a bot or two patrolling.

Bots.

"Huh?" she looked outside, again, maybe seeing the combat bots outside.[/QUOTE]

Katsu looks down at the streets from the wall of an apartment building, sitting on a ledge that would quite frankly make most of the passersby pass out in terror of someone actually sitting on a few inches of stone three stores above them, if they looked up that is.

"Funny how nobody ever look up-"

Katsu say while taking a bite off a hot-dog he had bought roughly ten seconds after school ended.

"They miss so much"

Spoiler

Show

OOC: For the sake of convenience (and because having too many rampaging robots in the City at once would be a little too weird), I'm going to have to have Cici and Katsu be in the same location encountering the same robot.

If you'd rather not have this and instead fight your respective robots separately, give me a holler and I'll fix it right away. I would have given you a heads up much earlier about this, but I only just got to these posts and I need to reply as soon as possible as to not hold up the game.

[quote]
Cici's Apartment

The first thing that Cici sees when she looks outside again is that, indeed, there is a robot fight in the streets--a fair-sized, domed robot on treads fighting a standard Academy City tri-legged security bot. A jet of flame from the domed robot later, the City Sec robot is down, its circuits badly overheated.

The second thing that Cici sees is a thin, long-haired boy eating a hotdog sitting on a ledge right next to her window.

Katsu, of course, looks down and sees what appears to be a hardcore version of Robot Wars, with flames and explosions and death¹.

¹Only robots were harmed in this tragic incident.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere

*Pant* *Pant*

A figure runs down the street, a touch-pad device in hand.

"They just had to be set on Combat Mode, didn't they? Dammit, the Directors are gonna kill us...

As he runs, he tries his best to type in some sort of computer code into his device.

[InyutheBeatIs]

District 15

The robot doesn't miss a beat, and continues to press the attack on Hajime. It pulls out a miniature flamethrower and blasts it at Hajime.

Hajime tries to roll out of the way, but gets grazed by the flamethrower. The left sleeve of his shirt caught on fire. In response, Hajime tried to cut off the sleeve entirely. Thankfully, it appears the vine didn't catch on fire too much, only a few leaves that were easily snuffed out. The sudden lack of sleeve reveals several small scars on his arm, and the vine wrapping around his arm.

Hajime decides it would be best to just go for broke and aim for the weak spot between the dome and the treads.

[Maximum Zersk]

Catarino's location

Through the falcon's eyes Catarino can see the room he's trapped in.

There are two teenagers sitting in worn folding chairs near what Catarino recognizes as his own self. They seem to be playing cards to pass the time. Catarino can vaguely recognize them from the night before--the ones who distracted him as another tranqed him from behind.

The room itself, located on the second floor of a very worn building that seemed to have used to have been a warehouse at some point or another, is fairly large and mostly empty.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cici's Apartment

The first thing that Cici sees when she looks outside again is that, indeed, there is a robot fight in the streets--a fair-sized, domed robot on treads fighting a standard Academy City tri-legged security bot. A jet of flame from the domed robot later, the City Sec robot is down, its circuits badly overheated.

The second thing that Cici sees is a thin, long-haired boy eating a hotdog sitting on a ledge right next to her window.

Katsu, of course, looks down and sees what appears to be a hardcore version of Robot Wars, with flames and explosions and death¹.

¹Only robots were harmed in this tragic incident.

Catarino

Catarino looks (or thinks, in this case) over the map of the room. He quickly thinks over the best form of escape.

Cici

Cici looks at the scene below in confusion. "The hell is--" she looks over at where Katsu is sitting.

"...Uh, hi?" she greets him, a little wary.

[Terry576]

Hisagi is out in the park, playing the violin with closed eyes.

He's attracting a rather... large crowd.

[Rhydeble]

As the robot started charging, Cale was about a quarter done with his vapor-spear. he was about half done when the robot had pushed through the barrier. This was incredibly annoying, seeing as he was focusing on gathering Vapor, he couldn't just switch to a new wall of nitrogen. If only he had a little more time...

[Mina Kobold]

Katsu, of course, looks down and sees what appears to be a hardcore version of Robot Wars, with flames and explosions and death¹.

¹Only robots were harmed in this tragic incident.

Cici

Cici looks at the scene below in confusion. "The hell is--" she looks over at where Katsu is sitting.

"...Uh, hi?" she greets him, a little wary.

Katsu waves at Cici

"Hi, how's it going? Do you know what's with the robot?"

He finishes his hotdog and stands up on the ledge, looking down at the robot.

"Maybe I should stop it?"

[Anyr]

Jirou can see the half-disintegrated track of the robot through the newly made eyeholes, maneuvering to face Jirou. Tubes pop out of the back and lob two potato-sized objects over the dumpster and at Jirou's feet, hissing white smoke--tear gas, from the looks of it.

Upon seeing this latest brand of assault being launched into the air, Jirou felt his jaw actually drop in disbelief.

"Oh come on, this is getting ridiculous! Grenades?! Did they pack a super soaker and custard pie launcher in there too, just to cover all the bases?"

Thanks to early warning, the first of the two grenades was reduced to dust as soon as it came into view. The second, however, survived more than long enough to discharge its payload, emitting a dangerous amount of gas before it too met its end. Jirou's eyes were already stinging and weeping within a matter of seconds, but even so he didn't retreat more than a few steps. Coming out into the open now was as good as suicide, and there was no other decent cover nearby. Instead he forced his eyes to retain at least a little vision and desperately tried to destroy any approaching gas that he could make out. Gases were difficult targets at the best of times, so right now it took all his concentration just to keep the stuff from completely overwhelming him. Flailing wildly against the gradually diminishing cloud, he silently prayed that the tank had finally run out of new tricks.

[13_CBS]

Hajime decides it would be best to just go for broke and aim for the weak spot between the dome and the treads.

[quote]

Hisagi is out in the park, playing the violin with closed eyes.

He's attracting a rather... large crowd.

Spoiler

Show

I'm gonna do the same thing I did for Cici and Katsu here. Again, give me a holler if you'd rather keep the fights separate, and I'll fix it right away.

District 15

A screaming passerby distracts the robot momentarily, just for a split second--all Hajime needs to get in close. His wooden weapon lodges neatly into the gap between the armor and the treads, and Hajime can already see a weapons panel starting to dislodge from the force of the blow...

Meanwhile, a dart that missed Hajime flies over and severs Hajime's bowstrings.

Catarino

Catarino looks (or thinks, in this case) over the map of the room. He quickly thinks over the best form of escape.

Unknown Location

The two thugs in the room spot the falcon.

"Hey...what's that?"

"I dunno. A hawk?"

Both of them stand up and move towards the falcon.

"Screw off, bird!" One thug starts rapping at the window, bullying the falcon.

Both seem somewhat distracted.

Flailing wildly against the gradually diminishing cloud, he silently prayed that the tank had finally run out of new tricks.

Jirou's location

The robot manages to swerve and trundle its way over to where Jirou is; perhaps his coughing was picked up by the robot. It slowly, but menacingly, moves past Jirou's cover, and aims a flamethrower at his face...

As the robot started charging, Cale was about a quarter done with his vapor-spear. he was about half done when the robot had pushed through the barrier. This was incredibly annoying, seeing as he was focusing on gathering Vapor, he couldn't just switch to a new wall of nitrogen. If only he had a little more time...

Spoiler

Show

Would you rather have me wait for Horngeek, or should we move on?

Elsewhere

The figure continues to sprint down the streets, still typing furiously into his device. He barely avoids crashing into anyone, twisting out of the way of other pedestrians.

[Maximum Zersk]

Katsu waves at Cici

"Hi, how's it going? Do you know what's with the robot?"

He finishes his hotdog and stands up on the ledge, looking down at the robot.

"Maybe I should stop it?"

"I'd imagine so," Cici said. "I think I can do something. Come on."

She climbed out of the window and started climbing down the wall, using small charges of static electricity to keep her clung to the wall.

Unknown Location

The two thugs in the room spot the falcon.

"Hey...what's that?"

"I dunno. A hawk?"

Both of them stand up and move towards the falcon.

"Screw off, bird!" One thug starts rapping at the window, bullying the falcon.

Both seem somewhat distracted.

Catarino's eyes open up. Quietly, he gets up and turns toward the thugs. He twists his tied up arms in front of his body. If his legs aren't tied up, he executes a hard kick on one of them on the side of the neck. Right after that, he brings his arms around the other thug's neck, in a position to strangle him.

[Frozen_Feet]

Jason jerks when when he realizes she right behind him. Blushing slightly at the arms hovering around him, he takes his tray. It takes him a moment to find his voice, much less to remember the right words in japanese.

"Oh... uh... Th-Thank y-y-you..."

There's a mischievous glint in Hinata's eyes. As he pulls his arms off, he stops to pinch Jason's cheek. "Remember to eat things other than fast food as well. Little boys don't grow up to be strong men if they don't!" Jason might find himself with a slight nosebleed as the "waitress" skips away, whistling cheerfully as he goes to take orders from other customers.