Post by CMPunkCMPunk on Dec 18, 2018 3:59:04 GMT -5
On the Way through the Mid-Atlantic Desert, walking and driving
Garnet's sultry voice wafted over the radio. “So.”
“Soooooooooo...” said Jamie airily.
“So.” said Coop, boredom dripping from the word.
“So!” said Logan and Sonya in sync. In fact, they harmonized a bit.
“Soooo!” sang Steven and Greg, sounding more practiced than the amateur UA employees.
“So what's the situation with Jamie and the redhead?” Square Mom got to the point.
“Which Jamie? The guy in Beach City or the one in the car with you?” asked Sonya.
“This one.” She poked the skinny slacker hard enough that the sound came over the radio.
“He has a crush on her, right?” Logan asked, his thoughts also occupied by appreciation for his mecha not being the sort that would fuck up in the sandy abyss.
“What?! Dude, who told?” asked the dumbfounded young man. He sounded more shocked than angry.
“Did you think it was some kind of a secret?” asked the Ambassador, who had been told by Kiva herself.
“Yeeees, I did! I'll make my move when I'm good and ready, Garnet.” Jamie was doing that thing where he tried to sound more legit than he was. Logan had already become familiar with it.
“Is that the best idea? The pair of you don't have much in common.” Logan obviously did not want to say 'she is an elite space commander and you are some stoner from New Jersey'.
“Eh, it could happen,” said Garnet matter-of-factly, before accepting an audible high five from the cute-but-lame subpilot.
“Hey, if Rose could fall for a guy like me, I'd say Jamie's got a shot!” Gregniverse said just so that it was obvious he had a smile on his face.
“Oh hey. Do you shoot, by the way? That's a weird way to phrase that – what I mean to ask is, what is your official role on Megas? Are you a gunner, navigator, or helm or something?” All Logan knew was that Coop didn't really pilot much without the skinnier man.
“Oh, that's simple. I ride shotgun here with Coop, and together we kick people's ass! Only if they give us lip, though.”
“But what are you doing physically? I know that's a highly advanced piece of machinery, must have tons of functions.”
“Oh hell yeah we do! From my seat, I have all kinds of stuff I can press. There's my personal climate control system in front of me, as well as the compact and convenient storage space.”
Sonya snickered and said, “I put one of those on this thing, if it's what I'm thinking of.”
“I'm not finished! I can also reach our interior lumination controls, and even the cross-ventilation enabler. The one on my side, anyway. And on Thursdays, I get to pick our tunes.” The hat-clad New Jersey native said all of these things.
“Do you ever hit the buttons for the weapons?” Logan asked, knowing some must have been in reach from what little he'd seen of the interior.
“Sometimes!”
“Damn, that is pretty cool,” admitted the Ambassador, who admired Megas's arsenal.
“You know it! Yeah, sometimes I just tell Coop who needs their ass kicked, and he hits those buttons for me! I'm more of an idea man like that.”
“The brains of the operation! Eyy, just like me! We should compare notes on our goofball pilots sometime!” Sonya said with genuine enthusiasm.
“They really are a handful, aren't they?” Jamie snarked.
“The worst,” she said before placing her hand atop Logan's affectionately as he worked the machine's handle.
“Great,” the greyhead groaned. “Now they're turning against us. Greg, you're still on my side, right?”
“Eh, I bet I have some Gem stories that I could tell. Might need to join this party!” joked the older Universe.
“We're screwed, man. Screwed.” Coop said to the mission's leader, who hoped that this wasn't the case.
Before Leaving
“Wait! WAIIIIIIT!” cried a strained voice over megaphone. Logan was really keen to keep on schedule, but he recognized who was yelling for him. It was Mayor Dewey, and if the Wonderchild's cameras weren't screwy, he was sure that the elected official was carrying a super-long hose.
The Ambassador motioned to the other vehicles to hold on, and squatted his mecha down as low as he could get it. “Hello Mayor. Please tell me you aren't trying to refill the ocean,” he said, projecting on low volume.
The older man momentarily looked down at the hose, which was indeed conveying water. “Ambassador, whatever this plan of yours amounts to... Well, it's just that you have to do it! It has to work!”
“I know that! Mayor, you've known me for a while, so let me say something you'll know is true. There isn't a single situation that would require me to launch in this robot that I would take lightly. The only way I've gotten the kind of outcomes I have is by treating every single one like life or death.” Logan leveled with the mayor.
Trying to compose himself, Dewey agreed. “You aren't as lackadaisical as some of the superpower people out there, but this isn't just life or death. We're all alive here, at least for now. This is a matter of our livelihoods. If the sea doesn't come back, it won't be the citizens dying – they'll move if they have to. What we'll lose is a way of life established here for centuries. Beach City's a small town, but it's rich with the soul of the Delmarva Shore!”
Logan muted his speaker and sighed.
Within visible range of a massive tower of ocean water, evening
“Woo! We made it, baby! Alright smokies, let's refuel and get that convoy moving!” yelled the pilot of the mighty Megas XLR.
“Agreed. Sonya, you're still solid on that hot swap you suggested?” Logan asked face to face with his engineer.
“No, I had you carry the extra battery in the Wonderchild's hand for no reason,” answered Sonya. Despite this, she made the move towards the cockpit hatch. “If I'm gonna do this fast I'll need you to stay in here and move me into position with the left hand. Bet your dumb ass'll drop me though.”
Logan said nothing and just winked at her as Adam opened the door. Soon she was gone, and as he manuevered the Wonderchild's hand to carry her, he stared at the supernatural wonder in front of him. It was tremendous, roughly cylindrical, and dwarfed anything he'd seen before. Not only did it outsize his W-E, the edifice of solid water stood so high that even huger machines like Megas and Eva-01 couldn't stack up. To the diplopilot twas almost comforting to look at such a gorgeous thing before shit got out of control. Speaking of which, as he moved both the arm holding Sonya and the arm holding the replacement battery, he got on the radio once more. Clicking it, he realized how shitty of a conversation this was going to have to be.
“Team, I just thought I'd check in to see how ready everyone is. Over.” Logan decided that the time was ripe to start saying that phrase.
Coop answered first. “Got plenty in the tank, brah! Been a while since I kicked a new alien's ass, too! Over.”
“We don't really have to kick her butt, right? Lapis seemed so nice...” Steven said, before adding, “Oh, over.”
There it was – the part he wasn't looking forward to. “Steven, I know we kind of went over this back there, but there is a decent chance that we might have to fight her to stop whatever she's planning. I am acutely aware that she's your Hot Town Summer in the City Friend, but I need to ask you a question. If it turns into a scuffle, you'll be able to keep yourself safe, right? I know we fought the Holo-pearls, but what kind of experience do you have with fighting actual gems? Over.”
Instead of allowing Steven to answer, Garnet said, “As Amethyst told you, that monster you saw fighting the mantids was a corrupted gem. That's common for us. Over.”
“That doesn't mean I like it!” yelled Steven as his voice cracked over the radio. “Even fighting the corrupted gems stinks – they were the same as us once, and I'm kind of hoping they can be again!”
Logan did not wait for 'over' to ask, “Holy shit, really?! You can turn into giant monsters? Over.”
“Alexandrite could be called a giant monster. Over.” Garnet didn't sound too hurt at the crude question.
“No, I mean alone like the corrupted ones. Can you turn corrupted?! Is Lapis in that state? Over.” Logan was very curious, having previously assumed the giant monster back in California was from Godzilla's universe.
“Don't even ask that. Corruption is one of the worst things that can happen to a Gem! If Lapis Lazuli has lost herself, don't even think twice about ending her pain. It's the only kind thing to do, over.” She still didn't sound pissed, just serious.
“You know, I have a giant monster, over!” Coop offered.
“Really? You have a friendly kaiju? Jersey must be weirder than I thought, over.” Logan was legitimately impressed at what the tubby guy brought to the table.
“Yeah, lemme show him to ya!” Coop then held the radio close enough to his pants for the sound of him zipping his fly down and then back up again quickly. Then the line was held up by him and Jamie cracking up like hyenas. Even Garnet chuckled. “Over!”
“High brow stuff, Coop.” said Logan sarcastically as he diverted his attention back to keeping Sonya steady. It wasn't a physically intensive switch, despite the size of the battery. It all mostly slid into and out of place once she opened some panels that were covered in armor during battle. If the rest could go that smoothly, it'd be nice.
Choice Time!
>The team approached Lapis as soon as Sonya was done swapping the battery in, which wouldn't be long. Time's a wasting, and they could fight by the moonlight.
>Since night had fallen, the team powered down their robots, and caught some Zs to get an early start dealing with her the next day.
>The team ended up sending everyone ahead while Logan waited on the battery switch.
Choice Time As Well!
>Taking no risks, they went in with their weapons armed and ready to fire.
>As a sign of good faith, they went in without things like the Triad Cannon charged.
One Additional Choice Time For This Post!
What, if anything, did the Ambassador tell the mayor? Just for kicks.
Garnet's sultry voice wafted over the radio. “So.”
“Soooooooooo...” said Jamie airily.
“So.” said Coop, boredom dripping from the word.
“So!” said Logan and Sonya in sync. In fact, they harmonized a bit.
“Soooo!” sang Steven and Greg, sounding more practiced than the amateur UA employees.
“So what's the situation with Jamie and the redhead?” Square Mom got to the point.
“Which Jamie? The guy in Beach City or the one in the car with you?” asked Sonya.
“This one.” She poked the skinny slacker hard enough that the sound came over the radio.
“He has a crush on her, right?” Logan asked, his thoughts also occupied by appreciation for his mecha not being the sort that would fuck up in the sandy abyss.
“What?! Dude, who told?” asked the dumbfounded young man. He sounded more shocked than angry.
“Did you think it was some kind of a secret?” asked the Ambassador, who had been told by Kiva herself.
“Yeeees, I did! I'll make my move when I'm good and ready, Garnet.” Jamie was doing that thing where he tried to sound more legit than he was. Logan had already become familiar with it.
“Is that the best idea? The pair of you don't have much in common.” Logan obviously did not want to say 'she is an elite space commander and you are some stoner from New Jersey'.
“Eh, it could happen,” said Garnet matter-of-factly, before accepting an audible high five from the cute-but-lame subpilot.
“Hey, if Rose could fall for a guy like me, I'd say Jamie's got a shot!” Gregniverse said just so that it was obvious he had a smile on his face.
“Oh hey. Do you shoot, by the way? That's a weird way to phrase that – what I mean to ask is, what is your official role on Megas? Are you a gunner, navigator, or helm or something?” All Logan knew was that Coop didn't really pilot much without the skinnier man.
“Oh, that's simple. I ride shotgun here with Coop, and together we kick people's ass! Only if they give us lip, though.”
“But what are you doing physically? I know that's a highly advanced piece of machinery, must have tons of functions.”
“Oh hell yeah we do! From my seat, I have all kinds of stuff I can press. There's my personal climate control system in front of me, as well as the compact and convenient storage space.”
Sonya snickered and said, “I put one of those on this thing, if it's what I'm thinking of.”
“I'm not finished! I can also reach our interior lumination controls, and even the cross-ventilation enabler. The one on my side, anyway. And on Thursdays, I get to pick our tunes.” The hat-clad New Jersey native said all of these things.
“Do you ever hit the buttons for the weapons?” Logan asked, knowing some must have been in reach from what little he'd seen of the interior.
“Sometimes!”
“Damn, that is pretty cool,” admitted the Ambassador, who admired Megas's arsenal.
“You know it! Yeah, sometimes I just tell Coop who needs their ass kicked, and he hits those buttons for me! I'm more of an idea man like that.”
“The brains of the operation! Eyy, just like me! We should compare notes on our goofball pilots sometime!” Sonya said with genuine enthusiasm.
“They really are a handful, aren't they?” Jamie snarked.
“The worst,” she said before placing her hand atop Logan's affectionately as he worked the machine's handle.
“Great,” the greyhead groaned. “Now they're turning against us. Greg, you're still on my side, right?”
“Eh, I bet I have some Gem stories that I could tell. Might need to join this party!” joked the older Universe.
“We're screwed, man. Screwed.” Coop said to the mission's leader, who hoped that this wasn't the case.
Before Leaving
“Wait! WAIIIIIIT!” cried a strained voice over megaphone. Logan was really keen to keep on schedule, but he recognized who was yelling for him. It was Mayor Dewey, and if the Wonderchild's cameras weren't screwy, he was sure that the elected official was carrying a super-long hose.
The Ambassador motioned to the other vehicles to hold on, and squatted his mecha down as low as he could get it. “Hello Mayor. Please tell me you aren't trying to refill the ocean,” he said, projecting on low volume.
The older man momentarily looked down at the hose, which was indeed conveying water. “Ambassador, whatever this plan of yours amounts to... Well, it's just that you have to do it! It has to work!”
“I know that! Mayor, you've known me for a while, so let me say something you'll know is true. There isn't a single situation that would require me to launch in this robot that I would take lightly. The only way I've gotten the kind of outcomes I have is by treating every single one like life or death.” Logan leveled with the mayor.
Trying to compose himself, Dewey agreed. “You aren't as lackadaisical as some of the superpower people out there, but this isn't just life or death. We're all alive here, at least for now. This is a matter of our livelihoods. If the sea doesn't come back, it won't be the citizens dying – they'll move if they have to. What we'll lose is a way of life established here for centuries. Beach City's a small town, but it's rich with the soul of the Delmarva Shore!”
Logan muted his speaker and sighed.
Within visible range of a massive tower of ocean water, evening
“Woo! We made it, baby! Alright smokies, let's refuel and get that convoy moving!” yelled the pilot of the mighty Megas XLR.
“Agreed. Sonya, you're still solid on that hot swap you suggested?” Logan asked face to face with his engineer.
“No, I had you carry the extra battery in the Wonderchild's hand for no reason,” answered Sonya. Despite this, she made the move towards the cockpit hatch. “If I'm gonna do this fast I'll need you to stay in here and move me into position with the left hand. Bet your dumb ass'll drop me though.”
Logan said nothing and just winked at her as Adam opened the door. Soon she was gone, and as he manuevered the Wonderchild's hand to carry her, he stared at the supernatural wonder in front of him. It was tremendous, roughly cylindrical, and dwarfed anything he'd seen before. Not only did it outsize his W-E, the edifice of solid water stood so high that even huger machines like Megas and Eva-01 couldn't stack up. To the diplopilot twas almost comforting to look at such a gorgeous thing before shit got out of control. Speaking of which, as he moved both the arm holding Sonya and the arm holding the replacement battery, he got on the radio once more. Clicking it, he realized how shitty of a conversation this was going to have to be.
“Team, I just thought I'd check in to see how ready everyone is. Over.” Logan decided that the time was ripe to start saying that phrase.
Coop answered first. “Got plenty in the tank, brah! Been a while since I kicked a new alien's ass, too! Over.”
“We don't really have to kick her butt, right? Lapis seemed so nice...” Steven said, before adding, “Oh, over.”
There it was – the part he wasn't looking forward to. “Steven, I know we kind of went over this back there, but there is a decent chance that we might have to fight her to stop whatever she's planning. I am acutely aware that she's your Hot Town Summer in the City Friend, but I need to ask you a question. If it turns into a scuffle, you'll be able to keep yourself safe, right? I know we fought the Holo-pearls, but what kind of experience do you have with fighting actual gems? Over.”
Instead of allowing Steven to answer, Garnet said, “As Amethyst told you, that monster you saw fighting the mantids was a corrupted gem. That's common for us. Over.”
“That doesn't mean I like it!” yelled Steven as his voice cracked over the radio. “Even fighting the corrupted gems stinks – they were the same as us once, and I'm kind of hoping they can be again!”
Logan did not wait for 'over' to ask, “Holy shit, really?! You can turn into giant monsters? Over.”
“Alexandrite could be called a giant monster. Over.” Garnet didn't sound too hurt at the crude question.
“No, I mean alone like the corrupted ones. Can you turn corrupted?! Is Lapis in that state? Over.” Logan was very curious, having previously assumed the giant monster back in California was from Godzilla's universe.
“Don't even ask that. Corruption is one of the worst things that can happen to a Gem! If Lapis Lazuli has lost herself, don't even think twice about ending her pain. It's the only kind thing to do, over.” She still didn't sound pissed, just serious.
“You know, I have a giant monster, over!” Coop offered.
“Really? You have a friendly kaiju? Jersey must be weirder than I thought, over.” Logan was legitimately impressed at what the tubby guy brought to the table.
“Yeah, lemme show him to ya!” Coop then held the radio close enough to his pants for the sound of him zipping his fly down and then back up again quickly. Then the line was held up by him and Jamie cracking up like hyenas. Even Garnet chuckled. “Over!”
“High brow stuff, Coop.” said Logan sarcastically as he diverted his attention back to keeping Sonya steady. It wasn't a physically intensive switch, despite the size of the battery. It all mostly slid into and out of place once she opened some panels that were covered in armor during battle. If the rest could go that smoothly, it'd be nice.
Choice Time!
>The team approached Lapis as soon as Sonya was done swapping the battery in, which wouldn't be long. Time's a wasting, and they could fight by the moonlight.
>Since night had fallen, the team powered down their robots, and caught some Zs to get an early start dealing with her the next day.
>The team ended up sending everyone ahead while Logan waited on the battery switch.
Choice Time As Well!
>Taking no risks, they went in with their weapons armed and ready to fire.
>As a sign of good faith, they went in without things like the Triad Cannon charged.
One Additional Choice Time For This Post!
What, if anything, did the Ambassador tell the mayor? Just for kicks.
