Once Upon a Shrine...!

[Carthrat]

Carthrat outpaces the rest of her little group, stalking back to the main area of the shrine where everyone was.

"RYDER! Did you check out that other noise?" she barks, surveying the area. "And who the hell are these people?"

[RyderHakubi]

Ryder slowly and shakily stood up as she her laughing started to subside...

With a bit of a grin on her face, she replied, "The girl with the pink hair, incredibly short, absurd looking, uber-cute maid's outfit, and looking like a complete moron is Beanie-baby..."

Unfortunately, Ryder's leg injuries decided to return with a vengeance and she fell again.

[Carthrat]

Carthrat's lip twitched for a second, but somehow she managed to control herself enough to deliver a response;

"I wouldn't laugh, Ryder. You ain't looking much better. Your skirt is shorter than mine, and I slashed mine to size. At least with that weird outfit she's not flashing her legs for the world to see.

Be that as it may, I think we have more immediate concerns," says Carthrat, glancing around.

[Bean Bandit]

For the moment, the courtyard was empty. The house had a large hole in it, and the shed was non existent, except for a large staircase in the middle of the ruins of the shattered structure, with the broken trees interrupting the scene. The shrine itself was the only undamaged building.

Rei frowned, moving up to Minako and crouching beside her, putting her fingers to the wounds on her leg. "This is pretty shallow...we shouldn't need to call Ami-chan." she told the blonde. Motoko moved out from behind Ritsuko, and walked over to Tsuruko, giving Kurumi a curious look, but Celcia stayed close to Ritsuko, staring at Kurumi in fear and Amazment.

Kurumi cheeks turned red at the discussion of her clothes, but she ignored it and blinked at Ritsuko. "Yeah? Like what?" She asked, frowning at the red-headed girl.

The impact tremor sounded again, making the ground under their feet shake slightly. Nako, having reluctantly crawled out from under Tsuruko's protection, whimpered a little, steadying herself.

"Oh." Kurumi sighed. "Figures."

[Carthrat]

"Ryder! I told you to check it out!" says Carthrat, adding some colourful language to go with this exclamation. "Dammit! Com'on, Celcia."

With that, Carthrat dashes off towards the outer part of the shrine, gun in hand.

[Bean Bandit]

The tiny dog scurried after Ritsuko, without a word, and Kurumi blinked at Tsuruko.

"What's going on?" she wondered.

Motoko eyed the others, then Kurumi herself. "I wonder, myself." she admitted, then ran after Ritsuko. Kurumi blinked twice, then simply gave Tsuruko a puzzled look...

---

Ritsuko stopped short at the head of the stairs to the shrine, looking out over the street from underneath the somewhat battered torii, to see an utterly inhuman sight.

The APV that the soldiers had been transforming when she left was gone...at least, more or less. the vehicle itself was still there... but in a writing mass of metal, the structure was distended and warped, the steel frame having twisted itself into a vaguely humanoid shape,  a tiny head with beady, glowing red eyes at the very top, and huge, frightening arms and legs, apparently made from the other APV.

The huge beast stomped hard on the ground, and the ground under her feet shook again, rocking everything slightly. Off to the side, she couldn't help noticing, two red smears marked the pavement...

[Carthrat]

"Holy..." Carthrat stopped at the sight, and, quite wisely hid behind the nearest thing-which-can-be-hid-behind, pointedly ignoring the red smears on the pavement.

"Celcia.. I can't do anything to that thing," she whispers. "Except maybe shoot it in the head-like area.. best wait for the others to get here. Damn! I wish I had the tank.."

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: *pokes you all* Ryder, May...posts!

IC:

Celcia stared, her tiny paws going up to her mouth, and her fur nearly visibly standing on end. "What in the gods' names IS that?" she nearly shrieked.

The metallic beast's head swiveled nearly a perfect 180 degrees, it's unblinking, glowing red eyes fixing on the dog-sorceress. With a suprisingly swift move, the rest of it's body turned to join it, and with a ground shaking, ponderous, lumbering gait, the mechanical beast made for the shrine steps.

Kurumi appeared behind Celcia, and her blue eyes widened. "Boomer...crap." she murmured.

[Carthrat]

"If I shoot it, will it die?" asks Carthrat, straight to the point.

[Bean Bandit]

Kurumi frowned, curling a hand into a first anxiously. "Sure, if you have the biggest fucking gun ever, and Aim at just the right spot...Then yeah, it might die." she replied blandly.

[Carthrat]

Carthrat nods, trying to shove down that rapidly beating heart and calm herself down.

Calm DOWN, dammit! The small guy always wins! Have cartoons taught you nothing?

"Right. Right!" says Carthrat, nodding to herself. "Right. Like, everyone gets their biggest thing that goes boom and we all blow it up, right? That should work!

Or we could run. Running is good!"

[Bean Bandit]

Kurumi shook her head. "No, no...i've seen these before, I think...I can't be sure. It looks like a boomer, from the new Bubblegum Crisis. To stop it, you have to crush or destroy its heart." she replied, clenching her fists and bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet nervously.

"Which is located inside it's chest...if you have a rocket launcer, now's the time."

[RyderHakubi]

Ryder nipped up to her feet, and after a small wince from her minor injuries, ran over to the GateKeepers...

Hearing what she hoped wasn't what the cries from Rat and Co. were saying, she said to the pair, "Alright... intros out of the way first.  I'm Sailor Venus, Minako, or whatever the hell you want to call me.  I'm not evil, and I don't have plans to destroy the world.  In fact, I'm going to try and save it... Now, that loud rumbling is probably from something that isn't here to bring us milk and cookies, so if it's not too much trouble... do you think you can help us out?"

[Asrana]

Tsuruko followed Kurumi, shaking herself out of a momentary stupor. Waving Motoko to follow, she kept her katana in a one handed grip for speed.

Trying to calm herslf as she looked up at the 'boomer', she glanced over at Kurumi, and then Motoko. "Feel up to being a distraction, imouto?" she asked just loudly enough for her 'sister' to hear.

[Bean Bandit]

OOC:  Figures. >_> One thread goes active again, and the other slows down. x_x Post!

IC:

Motoko nodded, glancing uneasily at the others. "Shouldn't we have something to distract it -from-?" sher asked, glancing at the orange skirted girl interrogating the strange teenagers.

The two teenagers nodded dumbly at Minako, clearly out of their depth. Even as they did, the crashing rumble of heavy steps grew even closer, as the whole shrine seemed to rattle.

Kurumi turned to Ritsuko. "Well?" She asked anxiously. "Tell me you have something heavier than your pistols...please?" she muttered, staring at the oncoming monstrosity of writhing metals...which was charging forward at disturbing speed, as it reached the bottom of the shrine steps.