NERV Hawaii: Episode Nine - Korean Crab Cakes

Darkling: After the visit to the sanctuary everyone came back to the main house for the rest of the afternoon. Right now Astrid was floating in circles on an inflatable flamingo pool toy while Tilde and Kayla were busy having a splashing fight with Ju.
 Darkling: Seo was busy rolling around in the sunlight on a towel, getting a bit of a tan, occasionally looking at the others and waving.
 Kaimana: Kai sat on the pool's edge with her guitar, gently strumming the strings. She looked relaxed even as she watched the other girls, glad they'd been to the sanctuary.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella is hiding beneath an umbrella near Seo, making a little drawing. She's regularly looking at one person or another, though predictably, mostly Seo.
 Darkling: PAM floated outside bringing pitchers of ice water, lemonade and fruit flavored drinks, setting them down and floating back inside.
 Kaimana: "Well you done me and you bet I felt it~ I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted~" She hum the rest of the lyrics as she continues the notes on her guitar.
 Stella Lacroix: "Hey, Seo... if I melted like butter would you still like me?"
 Darkling: "I mean, you'd be gooey and I could eat you up on food. We'd have to keep you cool so that didn't happen."
 Darkling: The splashing heads your way Kai.
 Stella Lacroix: "Yeah. Best that I don't melt. How about you? Want a drink?" Stella says as she looks to the drinks.
 Kaimana: "Eh?" She opens her eyes to check the action, strumming of the guitar slowing.
 Darkling: Seo nods. "A drink would be nice."
 Darkling: Ju is quite overwhelmed by the other two girls and backing up towards you defensively.
 Kaimana: "Need a hand?" She asks as she puts her guitar aside and hops into the water. She's using her arms even as she gets it, sending a retaliatory wave toward Kayla and Tilde.
 Darkling: Squeals echo through the yard as both girls retreat from the new onslaught
 Stella Lacroix: Stella goes off to get some lemonade. She returns with two cups, then goes through the motions of pouring something from an imaginary bottle into both. "Here you go."
 Darkling: "This wouldn't be spiked would it?" She asks raising an eyebrow. "You're not trying to take advantage of me are you?"
 Darkling: Ju climbs up out of the pool and leaves Kai on her own, to get a drink as well.
 Kaimana: "Tch, abandoned so soon. Oh well, I can handle you two on my own." She grins and advances.
 Darkling: The two girls circle out to either side of Kai.
 Kaimana: Kai does her best to start spinning, putting up a spraying wall of water 360 degrees.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella moves her umbrella to shield herself and Seo from any spray. "Ever heard of cryptosporidium?!" She calls out.
 Darkling: "Cryptowhat now?" Seo looks puzzled as she sips her drink.
 Darkling: Kayla splashes back at Kai fiercely as Tilde dives under and grabs at Kai's ankles to pull her off balance.
 Stella Lacroix: "It's some creepy parasite that gets into pools and stuff. Just one mouthful of contaminated water and its weeks of misery."
 Darkling: "Ew...” Seo rolls away and flops on her back.
 Kaimana: "Gah!" Tilde's dirty move does the trick, even the athletic Kaimana is at a disadvantage in the water. "Save me Astrid!"
 Stella Lacroix: Stella makes a slight retreat from the water as well. "Fear not. We're safe behind this trusty shield." She twirls the umbrella.
 Darkling: Astrid looks up and slides through the middle of her inflatable disappearing under the water.
 Darkling: "Always looking out for me, my hero." Seo swoons behind the umbrella shield.
 Stella Lacroix: "Part of being a knight." Stella says, offering a quick smile before she looks to the pool. "They've done it now. Agent Astrid is going to get them."
 Darkling: The water is calm a moment before Kai feels Tilde's grasp let go and the girl is above water flailing, Astrid clinging to her grinning wildly.
 Darkling: "What the heck?" Kayla looks bewildered by the display.
 Kaimana: "Remember this isn't the simulation!"
 Leon: It had been a quiet day for the most part. Everyone else had evidently gone out on a trip or something, leaving him behind to his own devices. That might have been more useful had he still been investigating, but with the main secret currently concerning them known there was little need to continue looking for answers, at least for now anyways. So he found other ways to keep himself busy that day. And so for that late afternoon he decided to go with his usual habit, archery. But as he left his room, bow and quiver on hand, downstairs towards the backyard / pool area, he realized something. They had all returned, and some of their schoolmates were there as well. "Ah... Didn't realize you all had come back." He says as he exits the house.
 Darkling: Astrid stops attacking Tilde, having managed to steal her bikini top and slides back into the water leaving Tilde holding herself.
 Darkling: "She looks possessed." Seo comments.
 Darkling: "Oh hello." Ju says to Leon as he comes out to the patio. "You missed a fun trip today."
 Kaimana: "I've unleashed a bikini-stealing monster."
 Darkling: Moments later Kayla goes under the water with a "Woop!"
 Stella Lacroix: Stella waves over at Leon and nods. "It's just like that manga Satoshi rambled about. Seemingly innocent girl is periodically possessed by the spirit of a pervy old martial artist who steals girls' unmentionables."
 Leon: "Ah, did I? Where did you all go then?" Leon says as he walks over towards Ju, waving back to Stella as he walks.
 Darkling: "Or the one where the young man had to take on all those weirdly sexual women, but couldn't touch them or be with them, and they all tried to sleep with him incessantly." She taps her chin. "Most of the things he talked about were like that...”
 Darkling: Kayla resurfaces, her bikini top gone too. "Give that back!" She looks around to find Astrid but the pale girl was hard to spot in the pool.
 Kaimana: "She's...kind of a natural."
 Darkling: "We went to a giant marine sanctuary that is trying to convert the water back to its previous blue state."
 Stella Lacroix: "Funny how so many people we know have aspects that are a lot like those things...” Stella nods to Seo, looking thoughtful. She surveys the crowd, thinking of what sort of anime the others might be in...
 Leon: "Huh, sounds interesting anyways... Wonder how long it will be before the next trip?"
 Darkling: "Who knows?" Ju shrugs. "I would like to go back the sanctuary though."
 Darkling: Kai, you're suddenly topless.
 Kaimana: "Wha-- hey!" Kai crosses her arms and looks around.
 Leon: "That fun huh? What did you guys get to see and do there?"
 Darkling: There's a splash at the far side of the pool and Astrid stands on the edge holding her trophies.
 Darkling: "There was all sort of fish and whales and dolphins and jellyfish..." Ju rambles on until she's out of breath and takes a moment to recuperate.
 Kaimana: "You've done it now girl!" Kai says as she points to her. She starts pulling her long hair over her shoulders to cover her chest before making for the ladder.
 Stella Lacroix: "The trip there was..." Stella sighs and shakes her head. "Well, it was interesting. Once we got past the decontamination."
 Leon: "Decontamination?"
 Darkling: "Does the heavy petting come next?" Astrid asks as Kaimana moves towards her.
 Stella Lacroix: "They wanted to work on making the water not red again. So we had to strip down and be purged of microorganisms, and then..." She suddenly breaks out cackling.
 Kaimana: "Something's coming next." There's a wicked grin on her face as she looms over Astrid.
 Darkling: She waits expectantly.
 Darkling: Ju seems to have caught her breath. "Oh and there were baby seals they were OH MY GAWD SO CUTE!!" She squeals and jumps a little as she says it. "I wanted to take one home and just cuddle it all night!"
 Kaimana: "Tell him about the sea pancakes!" Kai calls over before looking at Astrid. Bare islander tits press against the albino as Kai grabs her and jumps back into the water, working Astrid's top off to match the others.
 Darkling: She screams and gets a mouthful of water gurgling.
 Leon: "Purged of Microorganisms... Sounds like that would be uncomfortable. And wow, certainly sounds like there was a lot to see."
 Kaimana: Kai emerges with Astrid pinned to her still with one arm, the other waving around her prize.
 Darkling: Cheers emerge from Tilde and Kayla who move to recover their tops.
 Darkling: Ju nods. "I hope to maybe work there in the future now."
 Darkling: She the pokes at the bow. "So you are still into archery?"
 Darkling: Astrid pouts in Kai's grip. "This isn't what I expected heavy petting to be like."
 Kaimana: "Heavy petting is more...adult. Y'know?" She grins again as she holds the bikini tops high and hopefully out of reach.
 Darkling: Seo whispers to Stella. "Poor Astrid, she doesn't know what she's talking about, does she?"(edited)
 Leon: "That would be an interesting job I'd bet, and yeah, still practicing archery for now."
 Stella Lacroix: "She doesn't. And somehow it's kind of amusing." Stella whispers back.
 Darkling: "Want to teach me how to use it?" Ju asks.
 Darkling: "How is she so sheltered?"
 Leon: "Sure, though we don't actually have a range over here, just a target really."
 Stella Lacroix: "Had a weird life I guess."
 Darkling: PAM floats back out bringing a tray of crackers and cheese then takes any empty glasses before heading back inside.
 Darkling: "Oh, well, if you don't want to." Ju looks at the ground and brushes at the patio with her feet.
 Darkling: Both the girls in the pool have covered back up and hold their hands on their hips. "You're pretty sneaky Astrid." Tilde gives her a thumbs up.
 Kaimana: "Kayla...answer something for me."
 Darkling: "Hm?" Kayla tilts her head.
 Kaimana: "We're both fairly athletic...so why are your tits so much bigger?"
 Darkling: She looks down at them and jiggles them with her hands. "I got more body fat than you maybe?"
 Leon: "Ah no, that's not it. I'd be happy to show you how to shoot... Well, the target is past the space in between the pool and that table, so let's head over there then?"
 Darkling: Tilde looks down at herself then at the other girls. "Don't complain when you're better off than me."
 Kaimana: "We were on practically the same diet when we were living together. Have you been eating more fried foods?" Kai looks down at her more meager chest.
 Darkling: Ju smiles and jumps happily. "Alright!"
 Darkling: "I may have snuck some pie now and then." She looks away coyly.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella begins scribbling something frantically in her notebook.
 Kaimana: "Ah hah! I thought there was a little more curve to those hips."
 Kaimana: "If you feel bad Tilde you can feel mine, see what it’s like."
 Darkling: Kayla reaches over and pokes Kai in the underboob, but gets swatted by Astrid. "She said Tilde!" The girl says defiantly.
 Darkling: Seo watches Stella as she scribbles, eyes going wide.
 Kaimana: "Psh, they're not that big but I think you can all share. Go ahead."
 Darkling: Tilde hesitates, but under Astrid's glare gives them a poke.
 Leon: "Right, well... I'm not really an expert or anything, but I can show you and try to explain what I do. I'm mostly self-taught, so my actual form is probably different from the norm." Leon says as he leads her to the spot and points out the target a fair distance away.
 Darkling: "That's okay, you're like a master to me, and I am your student." Ju bows and giggles a bit.
 Darkling: Astrid looks pleased by the pokes and gives one of her own.
 Darkling: "Can I have my top back now too please?" She asks.
 Kaimana: They're soft but as promised not very big. "Kayla and Astrid, you can poke them too." She drapes Astrid's top over her head.
 Stella Lacroix: "It's fortunate that yours are divinely gifted and immune to this sort of thing."
 Darkling: Seo nods agreement. "This is why I am queen."(edited)
 Stella Lacroix: "The queen has spoken!"
 Darkling: With that Seo finishes her drink.
 Darkling: "So, what do I do first?" Ju asks Leon.
 Darkling: Astrid pulls her top back on and fixes it in place.
 Darkling: Out floats PAM again heading for the barbeque with some metal platters. It fires up and she sets the platters down waiting.
 Leon: Leon chuckles a bit. "Well, as my first and likely only student then, let's get started then. First, you'll want to practice holding the bow and pulling back the bowstring. Like so." Leon says as he holds out his bow into position and pulls back on the bowstring, holding it back for a few moments before slowly pulling it back to its original resting place. He then offers it to Ju.
 Darkling: Once the bbq has heated up PAM goes about cleaning and seasoning it before covering the grill with kebab skewers.
 Stella Lacroix: "This is classy. PAM cooks before our very eyes."
 Darkling: Ju takes the bow and tries to mimic Leon, finding it much harder to pull back the string than he had.
 Darkling: "Even the queen doesn't have such a lovely and magnificent servant."
 Darkling: "Are you not going to put your top back on?" Astrid asks, poking Kai again.
 Kaimana: "I guess I could." She puts her top back on and adjusts it.
 Leon: "It takes a while to get used to it, or at least it did for me. Though how hard it is to pull depends on the make of the bow."
 Stella Lacroix: "Maybe we could get her to do a few as a Korean barbecue? I've heard it's delicious."
 Darkling: Ju manages to pull the string back but her arms are noticeably wobbling. She gives up and takes a deep breath.
 Darkling: "Ooh!" Seo looks excited by that.
 Darkling: "So..." Tilde says, staring at the others.
 Stella Lacroix: "PAM! Can we get some Korean barbecue to go along with what you're making?"
 Darkling: "Of course ma'am." PAM shuts the lid on the bbq and floats off inside with the platters.
 Darkling: Seo looks even more ecstatic.
 Darkling: "What's different about Korean bbq?" Astrid asks from the pool.(edited)
 Stella Lacroix: "Different ingredients and prep methods."
 Darkling: PAM again floats back out to the bbq with a new platter, having either pre-prepped this meal ahead of time, or just that efficient with a knife, she lays out thin strips of marinated beef and short ribs on the grill.
 Stella Lacroix: "Sometimes she's scary."
 Darkling: "Scary awesome." Seo agrees.
 Darkling: "So, how do you aim?" Ju asks.
 Leon: "Well, that's harder to explain I think? It's more of picking a sight for yourself and shooting, and then adjusting it depending on where you were trying to hit, and where you actually hit."
 Darkling: "You show me." She practically shoves the bow at you to watch.
 Darkling: Meat and kebabs sizzle on the bbq. Astrid slowly lowers down into the water disappearing.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella stares at the food longingly.
 Leon: "Ah, alright then." Leon takes his bow back and pulls an arrow from his quiver. He faces the target, aims, and lets loose an arrow.
 Darkling: Well, the arrow goes off target, but Ju doesn't seem to mind at all and looks delighted.
 Darkling: "Again!"
 Darkling: The smell from the bbq is starting to get quite nice as PAM labors.
 Leon: Leon grabs another arrow and fires again, readjusting his aim.
 Darkling: Astrid resurfaces at the edge of the pool, her eyes peeking up at what PAM is cooking.
 Leon: This time his shot rang true and he struck the center of the target. "Ah, got it."
 Darkling: Ju bounces up and down a few times clapping. "Amazing!"
 Darkling: "How many times have you gotten a bullseye in a row?"
 Leon: "Ah, thanks... In a row? A few times when I've been having a good day I suppose."
 Darkling: "You're like a regular Peter Pan and his Merry Men!"(edited)
 Darkling: PAM shuts the bbq lid again and floats off inside. Once out of view Astrid lifts herself out of the pool and walks over to the bbq opening it up.
 Kaimana: "Careful Astrid~"
 Darkling: She's already reaching in and grabbing a sizzling piece of meat to pop in her mouth.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella stares at Astrid.
 Leon: "Like... Peter Pan and his Merry Men? Well, I think I'm missing the Merry Men part, anyways."
 Darkling: "Aww. I can be merry for you!" She giggles and jumps around a bit. "See!"
 Leon: Leon chuckles. "Yes, you're definitely right then."
 Darkling: Astrid's eyes go wide and she's running for a drink, chugging down the jug of ice water and spilling it everywhere.
 Darkling: "Can you shoot an apple?" Ju asks.
 Darkling: PAM floats back out with an assortment of sliced fruit and starts laying them out on the grill. Astrid plops back down into the pool and wades over to the girls who've been quite quiet. "That was tasty and hot!"
 Darkling: "Food is almost ready." PAM announces.
 Stella Lacroix: "I'll wait for it to cool off. My mouth is delicate."
 Kaimana: "Gotta be careful not to burn yourself."
 Leon: "Well, I imagine I could? It should be about the same, just a smaller target."
 Darkling: Ju runs off inside, coming out with an apple, though she manages to slip and fall on a wet spot on the patio, coming down in a heap with a thump.
 Leon: "Ow, are you alright?" Leon asks as he goes over to Ju and helps her back up.(edited)
 Darkling: She's cringing quite a bit but holds up the apple. "Uh.. ow.. huh."
 Leon: "Come on, let's go sit for a while." He says as he leads Ju over to the table and chairs.
 Darkling: She limps over with him and sits down in one of the chairs.
 Darkling: "Dinner is served!" PAM announces loudly, filling clean platters with food from the bbq and laying out a huge spread on the table for everyone.
 Darkling: "Is there anything else anyone would like?"
 Stella Lacroix: "Can we have some alcohol?" Stella asks hopefully.
 Darkling: "I'm sorry ma'am, but that is not allowed. You need permission from Miss Elle for that." Two of her robotic arms cross. "Anything else?"
 Stella Lacroix: "Lemonade, please." Stella moves to sit at the table, nabbing some food.
 Kaimana: Kai climbs out of the pool so she can stuff her face on proteins.
 Darkling: "Very well miss." PAM serves her a glass of lemonade then hovers silently away from the table.
 Darkling: Astrid, Kayla and Tilde all climb out of the pool and into towels and join the meal.
 Darkling: Seo bounces over and plops in beside Stella. "It smells amazing!"
 Stella Lacroix: Stella takes one of the Korean barbecue skewers and holds it up to Seo. "But is it authentic?"
 Darkling: There's a few dozen kebabs with a mix of vegetarian, pork and beef, thin sliced beef and short ribs Korean bbq style, as well as grilled zucchini, pineapple, and small mixed veggies.
 Darkling: Seo digs in, her face saying everything as her eyes roll back in food heaven.
 Darkling: "Okay, we never eat this good." Tilde says, filling her plate.
 Kaimana: Beef kebabs rest on a small mound of short ribs and mixed vegetables once Kai can be bothered to get a plate.
 Darkling: "It tastes even better not burning." Astrid points out.
 Darkling: "I am definitely a little jealous of your robots cooking skills." Kayla agrees.
 Stella Lacroix: "PAM helps make Hawaii livable." Stella begins to sample some of the food herself, looking pleased.
 Darkling: Soon enough of course the meal is over and PAM takes everything leftover inside to clean. With the sun starting to set Astrid starts building a fire, and Tilde moves to help her out.
 Kaimana: Kai is sitting nearby with her guitar again, tuning the strings and clearing her throat.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella seems content, resting with her head on the table.
 Darkling: They have a decent fire going soon and Astrid sits down on a nearby bench. Kayla joins Kai, resting her head on her shoulder.
 Darkling: "You guys get treated pretty nice here, compared to the rest of us, huh?" Ju says to Leon.(edited)
 Kaimana: "Don't be fooled by appearances, they put us through a lot."
 Stella Lacroix: Stella absently rubs around one of her eyes.
 Leon: "Yeah, the training is definitely not a highlight."
 Leon: "But overall, it hasn't been too bad of a place."
 Darkling: "Do you have any blankets?" Tilde asks and Astrid points to a wicket chest against the house. Retrieving one Tilde sits down and wraps it around herself and Astrid.
 Darkling: Ju swings her head back and forth to Kai's music. "It is quite nice here. When are we going back to our houses?" She asks.
 Kaimana: "Maybe in the morning."
 Stella Lacroix: "Unless we find the secret passage."
 Darkling: "Secret passage?" Ju asks
 Stella Lacroix: "Just something I daydream about every now and then. Finding a secret passage leading to a haunted crypt or a lost treasure."
 Darkling: "Ahh."
 Darkling: The night steadily grows closer, the fire lighting up the pool and patio more and more.
 Stella Lacroix: "The cancer ball is letting out its last breaths for the day. Good."
 Darkling: Seo also gets up at this point and gathers a blanket to wrap around herself, settling near the fire on the patio stones.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella plops down, giving the fire a lazy stare. "Got room for two in there?"
 Darkling: She opens the blanket up for access.
 Darkling: "Aren't they cute." Ju says quietly.
 Stella Lacroix: In she goes, oblivious to Ju's remark.
 Leon: "Yeah, they seem very close."
 Darkling: As the last of the sun disappears behind the distant hills and ocean you hear the boom of thunder.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella goes stiff all of a sudden, her breathing quickening. It takes her a while before she seems to realize it's only thunder and she relaxes a bit.
 Kaimana: "Might be time to go inside ladies and gentleman."
 Darkling: Seo tightens her grip on Stella and pulls her closer.
 Leon: "Well, unless you enjoy sitting in lightning storms, anyways."
 Darkling: You see part of the dark sky light up orange and another boom of thunder echoes through the air.
 Darkling: Little orange balls fly off from where you saw the light, trailing through the sky before arcing down towards the ground again.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella shudders at this and clings to Seo, wide eyed.(edited)
 Darkling: "That doesn't seem like thunder to me." Kayla mutters.
 Leon: "... Huh, That's... doesn't look like lightning."
 Kaimana: "Let’s get inside." Kai is up and trying to encourage people toward the house.
 Darkling: You see another bright orange light in the distance, something going up in a giant fireball from the ground.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella doesn't even seem to have noticed Kai's encouragement. She's looking pretty statuesque about now.
 Darkling: Kayla is up, as is Ju who is already inside.
 Kaimana: Kai's tone take on a sharp, hard edge as she repeats herself, “Inside, now!"
 Darkling: Seo's dragging Stella up with her if the girl is still unmoving, and Tilde has Astrid by the hand leading her in. "But it's pretty." Astrid complains.
 Leon: Whether it was the next strange orange light or Kai's tone, Leon does head inside soon after.
 Stella Lacroix: Well, that manages to do it. Between Seo and Kai Stella is up and moving.
 Darkling: Elle is running down the stairs from her room and hanging up her phone. "Shit shit shit! In the basement everyone."
 Darkling: She manages to curse a few more times as she buttons up the suit jacket she hastily threw on.
 Darkling: "Not sure how this thing slipped our radar, but we've got an incoming target and need everyone with me for safety." She looks at all the kids visiting. "You guys are in for a bit of a ride."
 Leon: "Slipped past? Also... No, never mind I guess... This means what I think it means, right?"
 Stella Lacroix: Stella, now looking somewhat more back to her senses, suddenly has an entirely different sort of dread on her face.
 Stella Lacroix: "..."
 Darkling: -----------------------
 Darkling: Elle ushered everyone down into the basement and punched her security clearance into the panel in the wall which slid away much to the surprise of your guests. They did not have much time to gawk however, as she rushed everyone onto the super train and got everyone buckled in to speed away to headquarters.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella is quiet along the way, looking sullen. Every now and then she might shoot Elle an odd look.
 Kaimana: "What happened to years apart?"
 Darkling: She stands there counting heads before sitting down and buckling herself in. She looked a little more stressed than normal as the train whips into gear and blasts them through the tunnel.
 Leon: "Evidently it's a false theory now."
 Darkling: "Our scientists did the best they could with the data we had." Elle says, not looking as if she believes it herself.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella bites her lip.
 Darkling: The trip was of course short when you're going 300mph through the hillside. The train stops and they disembark into the frenzy that is the headquarters.
 Kaimana: "So we do to this one what we did to the last one."
 Stella Lacroix: "We do." Stella says with a sigh, resigned.
 Leon: "Not much else we can do, anyways."
 Darkling: "Basically yes." Elle led the group through the people running around frantically, and got to a small board room. "Our guests will have to wait in here though."
 Darkling: Seo made a sad face, but the rest of them just took a seat. "How long will we be in here?" Tilde asks as she sits.
 Darkling: "However long the emergency lasts." Elle responds as she shuts the door on them with an audible locking noise.
 Stella Lacroix: "Hang in there, Seo." Stella says. When the girl is out of sight she seems a little relieved.
 Darkling: "Alright, come on you five. Time to get into your suits." She hurries away leading you to the lockers and change rooms.(edited)
 Kaimana: "Damn, I hate those suits."
 Stella Lacroix: Stella moves along quickly and changes.
 Darkling: As she leads, her phone rings again and she answers it, you can audibly hear anger in the tone of the caller as she holds it away from her face.
 Leon: "Right, right."
 Kaimana: "So I was thinking, I might know a few things about spearfishing I could use to really piss off an alien."
 Darkling: "What do you mean out of commission?!" There was more yelling on the phone, and Elle frowned and pointed to the change room door for everyone and waited.
 Stella Lacroix: In she goes, giving Elle a curious look.
 Kaimana: Kai follows after Stella, stripping before she reaches her locker. "Well that didn't sound good."
 Leon: Leon doesn't fight the inevitable and heads for his locker and such, getting ready for another improbable mission.
 Stella Lacroix: "I'd like to know what it's about."
 Darkling: Inside changing you can hear Elle yelling louder into her phone and then a sudden slam.
 Kaimana: "Someone's in trouble later."
 Darkling: When you eventually emerge it looks like she may have broken her phone and her face is in a scowl.
 Darkling: "Come on." She growls. "Turns out they haven't finished repairs to Astrid's unit and for some reason Adam's won't launch into prep mode. So it's just the three of you going in."
 Kaimana: "You'd think they'd have bugs worked out by now. Well fuck it, we'll kick this one's ass too."
 Darkling: She leads you to your synch chambers. "Alright, you guys know the drill. I'll talk to you in a minute."
 Stella Lacroix: "The fun part." Stella almost smiles a moment.
 Kaimana: "Drowning is never fun."
 Leon: "Yeah, pilot the giant robots and fight the giant monster."
 Darkling: She's already left the room leaving you to get in your chambers.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella does, closing her eyes afterwards and breathing deeply.
 Kaimana: Kai groans and climbs into her plug.
 Leon: Leon climbs into his plug chamber and readies himself for piloting it again.
 Darkling: Once inside they lock and hiss behind you and begin to fill with liquid as they did before, immersing you completely and not stopping until completely full. A rumble or two and it feels like you're moving as screens flicker to life and give you a dark view of the storage lockers the robots are kept in.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella gets comfortable, eyes still closed. As with before the liquid does a number on her hair.
 Kaimana: Kai ties her hair back to keep it out of the way, "I miss the pure blue water at the facility."
 Stella Lacroix: "I like this. It's really relaxing somehow."
 Leon: "Well, it's something anyways."
 Darkling: Another few rumbles and your controls raise up to a comfortable level as Elle's voice comes into your ears. "Alright, five minutes to launch."
 Kaimana: "So what does it look like this time?"
 Darkling: "We have not got a full visual. We'll patch through what our VTOLs currently see." A screen pops up directly in the center of the console, a hazy could roiling with smoke appears. A few other VTOLs are in view as the approach the cloud.
 Kaimana: "Oh so it’s just a big fart. Someone get a really big fan."
 Darkling: You see the smoke and clouds shifting and moving around something large, and what can only be described as a large claw comes out with smoke t railing, smashing through two of the VTOLs.
 Stella Lacroix: "Don't think a fan would do much good on that."
 Kaimana: "Oh shit."
 Leon: "Well, at least it isn't a living cloud that shoots lightning. Just your average monster instead."
 Darkling: Then another of the VTOLs just explodes against an invisible wall, seemingly tearing itself apart before the feed from the camera goes to static.
 Darkling: You can sense rather than see the robot coming to life around you. "Alright, we're sending you out, ready pilots?"
 Kaimana: "Ready as I can be."
 Leon: "Sure."
 Stella Lacroix: "I'm ready."
 Darkling: "Launching.... now!" You all feel the thrust as your view blurs and lights up with the sky in moments.
 Darkling: "Target is 8 sectors away from you, move forward and engage."
 Kaimana: "Yes ma'am."
 Darkling: You can see the storm in the distance, rolling in over the city. Below the clouds you can see smoke and fires, and spindly spiked feet scuttling slowly in your direction.
 Kaimana: Kai tries to psych herself up inside the plug. Her Evangelion has a new wing port, now capable of carrying a combat spear into battle.
 Kaimana: "I'm going in!" Kaimana's machine pulls the spear free of its mount and charges ahead.
 Darkling: In response the cloud and smoke moves and you hear the ruble of thunder and a weird echoing cry reverberate through the air.
 Darkling: "The target seems to have noticed your presence, if you can, lead it away from inhabited areas." Elle orders.
 Kaimana: "You got any suggestions?"
 Darkling: "Act like bait. Lure it away."
 Kaimana: "I mean where."
 Darkling: "Empty hillside, back into the ocean. Where people aren't."
 Darkling: She almost makes it sound like that was a silly question Kai.
 Kaimana: The girl sighs.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella's unit makes an agile dash off to the side. The unit doesn't seem to have changed much, though those time around it's packing a firearm rather than a spear. "My suggestion? Hit and run, lure it away."
 Leon: "Sure, shoot and run, or I guess run and shoot first." Leon says as his unit makes after Stella's, albeit not quite at the same pace as hers.
 Kaimana: "When did you get so quick with your bot?" Kai moves along after Stella, keeping a close eye on the enemy Angel.
 Darkling: Another explosion appears as the legs stomping through the smoke and city continue their slow scuttle.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella's unit continues to move, though it slows a bit as it closes the distance.
 Leon: Leon continues to run after Stella, attempting to keep pace with her.
 Darkling: The creature keeps to its own pace, you can see the clouds swirling behind it in almost a reverse tornado or a dirty ice cream cone, as it spirals up in the sky.
 Kaimana: "Maybe we need to motivate it? Try shooting it Leon."
 Leon: "When I get in range of it, sure."
 Kaimana: "How much closer do you need to be? Does that thing just have a shitty range or what?"
 Darkling: "You do appear to have its attention it just doesn't want to move."
 Kaimana: Kaimana groans and runs forwards, spear ready in the unit's hands.
 Darkling: The creature waits, you can see more and more of it as the clouds part. Dozens of insectile legs skitter restlessly underneath a massive spiraling cones shell covered in wicked looking spikes.
 Stella Lacroix: "Right behind you." Stella says as her unit moves ahead, landing near Kai's.
 Leon: "As well... though that thing doesn't really seem to notice or care about us right now, does it?" Leon says as he follows.
 Kaimana: "It noticed us, you just need to get it pissed."
 Darkling: There does happen to be two eyestalks protruding from the monsters shell, the black lightless orbs sitting lifelessly on top might be pointed in your direction.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella stares at the strange eyes and fires off a shot from her rifle, though the shot is off.
 Darkling: The eye stalks shudder.
 Leon: Leon continues to move forward for a bit before stopping as he sets to adjusting his aim. "Alright... should be ready to hit that thing soon."
 Kaimana: Kai's Evangelion finally stops its constant movement, sliding to a halt next to Leon's. "Smile you sonuvabitch!"
 Darkling: As Kai approaches the eyestalks focus on her and the legs skitter faster underneath itself.
 Kaimana: She points dramatically, waiting for Leon to fire.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella unleashes a quick shot from her rifle, hitting a leg.
 Darkling: The shot appears to ricochet harmlessly off the leg, but the creature does pull its eyes down into itself and the skittering legs quell.
 Kaimana: "Well...that’s something anyway."
 Leon: After a few more moments of aiming Leon fires, landing a glancing blow upon one of the monster's legs. "Well sheesh, damn monster crab."
 Kaimana: "C'mon already you stupid crab!" She's moving again, pointing the humming tip of her spear at the crab. "Come get some you alien bastard!"
 Darkling: At first it seems like it is just going to hide in its shell, unmoving. A moment later two massive claws unfold in front of it as every tiny leg underneath propels it forward at Kaimana.
 Kaimana: "Oh shit!"
 Darkling: Despite its size it moves quick across the ground and slams its whole bulk into Kaimana, tossing her backwards away from it, winded.
 Stella Lacroix: "What the..." Stella opens fire on the thing hastily, alarmed at seeing Kaimana tossed aside. The shot, unfortunately, goes way off.
 Leon: "Damn, I guess we got its attention finally."
 Darkling: Without missing a beat one of the giant claws snaps forward, failing to grasp Kai.
 Kaimana: Kai is back up in its 'face' and making a thrust with her spear! Unfortunately the spear head skids along the shell. "Oh shit." she repeats, despair in her tone.
 Darkling: "What's going on?" Elle asks.
 Kaimana: "The shell is too hard!"
 Leon: "Isn't that obvious? We're fighting against a giant crab, and our weapons are proving about as effective as arrows against a tank."
 Darkling: Another claw shoots out at Kai, catching her across her mid-section and clamping down.
 Kaimana: "Whu-- hey!"
 Leon: "Shoot, which isn't working at all." Leon says as he unloads a full barrage of fire into the crab.
 Darkling: "If you can't break through the shell you've got to think of something else. Can you see any other weaknesses?"
 Stella Lacroix: "It's got its claws out... maybe we can aim there? At least cripple its ability to hurt us?"
 Leon: "Well it had visible eyes out for a while until we started attacking it. We'd probably have to get up close to hit them now."
 Darkling: Pahu's grip doesn't relent, only growing stronger around Kai's waist, slowly crushing inwards.
 Kaimana: "Ngh! Fuck!"
 Darkling: This close to it Kai, you can see the eyes have really just folded in underneath the shell, peeking out underneath, as well as its mouth that is furiously gnashing away at nothing, foaming and bubbling, awaiting your tasty insides.
 Kaimana: "Guh! Shit! Its eyes are peeking out from under the shell!"
 Kaimana: Kai manages to use her spear and pry the claw open just enough to escape its clutches, quickly making an attack of her own once she's free! It misses.
 Darkling: Losing its prey the giant crab monster hunches down into itself and stops moving.
 Leon: Leon just aims his rifle towards the crab, waiting for the right shot.
 Darkling: The spires on Pahu's shell begin to glow and fire off balls of light, one landing near Leon and Stella, exploding in a searing heat between them.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella fires off a shot in retaliation. What was she aiming at anyway? A passing seagull?
 Kaimana: "Payback!" Kai shouts as she lunges with her spear, aiming for an eye.
 Darkling: The eye explodes in an orangey-red goop and the creature shrieks, rearing up on all its dozens of legs.
 Darkling: "Wait! Did you see that?" You hear Elle say over the comms.
 Leon: "The eye exploding? Yeah, it definitely didn't enjoy that."
 Darkling: "No no. When it reared up. Play that back for them."
 Darkling: A video screen pops up of Kaimana's view replay the crab rearing up exposing a soft and fleshy underbelly where all the legs join together.
 Leon: "Alright... still not really to shoot while it's standing upright."
 Stella Lacroix: "So we need to tip it over and attack its weak point..."
 Leon: "Yeah, but it isn't like you can just wave your hand and knock the damn thing over." Leon says as he casually waves his free hand towards the Crab, which is soon followed by a sudden gust of wind and force which rushes past the creature.
 Leon: "Or... maybe you can...?"
 Kaimana: "Ah geez, the two of you now?"(edited)
 Stella Lacroix: "Don't worry, Kaimana. I'm sure yours will hit puberty soon, too."
 Darkling: The dozens of undulating legs skitter helplessly in the air reaching for something to cling to and drag itself back upright.
 Kaimana: As soon as the soft underbelly is revealed Kaimana strikes with two quick thrusts of her spear!
 Darkling: The spear comes away covered in more grange-red goo as it gushes out from the underside of Pahu.
 Darkling: Another shriek from the beast and it rolls, up righting itself and staggering back and forth a bit.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella starts shooting at the crab, grumbling as she hits its shell.
 Darkling: As she grumbles a great claw reaches out snatching onto Kai again.
 Kaimana: "Dammit!"
 Leon: "Tch," Leon mutters as he fires another shot into it which just bounces off as he prepares for his next one.
 Darkling: The claw tightens around Kai, metal and synthetic materials cracking.
 Kaimana: "Gah! Fuck, my leg!" The Evangelion's leg breaks, Kaimana crying out in pain. "Why the fuck do robots need to feel pain?!"
 Stella Lacroix: "Leon, I'll give you a bit of support here..."
 Darkling: "It's just a sensory feeling." You hear Elle say coldly.
 Leon: "Right... Let's see if I can do a repeat... Just hang in there."
 Stella Lacroix: Stella seems to focus as well as Leon does his thing.
 Leon: Leon attempts to recreate the feeling and motions he had during his first attempt and waves his hand once more, again creating the burst of force and wind towards the Crab Monster, and unfortunately, Kai as well.
 Darkling: Pahu seems to focused on crushing the life out of Kai to notice the incoming attack and is flipped over, exposing itself to the world legs splaying out like Marilyn Monroe's skirt in those iconic photos.
 Kaimana: "I'd like to see one of you sit in here when it breaks a leg and then say that," she says through gritted teeth, pushing her machine up.
 Kaimana: She tries to strike at the flipped alien crab but a twinge of sympathetic pain shoots through her leg and she misses.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella manages to take a deep breath and calm herself, opening fire on the crab's vulnerable spot. Thus a new orifice is created, lubed with fresh blood. And gore.
 Leon: Leon takes the opportunity to add a spray of his own bullets to the Crab's growing collection.
 Darkling: Some of the bullets even make it through the hard shell on the other side, cracking the giant conical shell in places.
 Kaimana: Kaimana, her hot blood calling for vengeance, finishes what her fellow pilots started. Using her spear she begins the bloody and gore-soaked work of hacking the crab's softer under flesh to bit.
 Darkling: Amid all the shredded flesh you can see deep in its body a glowing red orb.
 Leon: "What is that? It's heart?"
 Stella Lacroix: "I don't know, but let's shoot it!"
 Leon: "Well, regardless we might as well fill it with holes, yeah." Leon says as he unloads the rest of his clip into it.
 Darkling: "Basically." Elle says.
 Stella Lacroix: Stella unloads along with Leon!
 Darkling: Holes appear in the red orb and it glows brighter and brighter until you hear the sound of glass cracking and it shatters to bits.
 Darkling: "All vital signs are null. Good job pilots. Standby and we'll get you out of there. We have a medical team waiting for you."
 Kaimana: "Ugh, that fight sucked. I hope the next one is a looong way off."
 Leon: "Great... Well I suppose tests are going to be starting again." Leon mutters as he holds his left hand out in front of himself.
 Stella Lacroix: With the threat over Stella sighs, suddenly distracted.
   Darkling:  ============END===========