FujiwaraPhoenix

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

Elise Kim

Saitama Prefecture

With Norika's focus placed solely upon the centipede-like Warped, Elise began to swerve about, shifting her position in the air to drag the attention of the lesser monsters on the ground towards her. Anything that looked like it was about to attack or was aiming at Norika would be at the top of her priority list, and with each shot fired the Frame Pilot removed another enemy from the fray. Any time that the barrage seemed to stall for a moment, though, the young woman would take the chance to fire upon the massive Warped that her partner was engaging. She expected to land no major hits, of course, but even chipping away at or pulling the enemy's attention for just a moment could provide an opening to abuse...

@JDubs

---

The raging winds within the avian Warped's beak grew to a fever pitch, howling and screaming as the monster's maw opened wider and wider still. Despite its target—the young woman now cloaked in flames—putting up a defensive barrier, however, it showed no signs of stopping. Nor did it have any reason to, as whatever it was charging up was let loose.

A massive beam, half-comprised of bladelike gales slicing and whirling through the air. The first thing that it met was a stray piece of debris, which soon became no more than bits of metal and concrete ground up and dragged along as incidental shrapnel alongside the already-threatening attack. Though the initial beam hit had been fired straight towards Pyralis, a timely punch from Hoshiko had forced the Warped (and its supernatural assault) upwards. Diverted as it was now, the Warped (who seemed only slightly worse for the wear) stopped firing the beam and flew in a U-shape, turning in the air as it rose into the sky.

The respite afforded the pair was short-lived, though, as it soon began to turn back towards the duo. Flapping its wings to remain suspended where it was, the Warped opened its mouth and began to charge once more before firing another beam—this time, sweeping across the ground in an attempt to catch both of the Frame Pilots in its wake.

@VitaVitaAR@Izurich

---

The komainu seemed to have expected little resistance from Louisa as it clashed with her head-on, and taken aback as it was when the comparatively smaller opponent did not only manage to resist its charge, but launch a counterattack on top of that.

And though that moment of pause was enough for Xuan-Yu to land a decisive initial blow upon the Warped, the followup would not be so simple. The komainu howled in pain as the weapon met its mark, and almost as if by instinct the beast shifted its body enough to force the blade that had pierced its flesh to barely avoid cleaving through its bones. Injured though it was now, the beast withdrew from its attack upon Louisa before letting out a roar.

With that roar came a surge of heat, and it seemed almost as if the monster's mane, jaws, and forelimbs were alight with fire. Glowing white-hot as it was, the monster stood out against the bloodied and broken bodies of the fallen beneath it.

Uneven as its gait was now with one leg partially crippled, though, the Warped seemed to have changed its target from the Chi-Mechframe at the vanguard towards the one that had been brazen enough to attack it while unaware. A bite, a slash, a slam—the enraged beast seemed to be turning the very earth around it into charcoal as it lashed out furiously at its new target.

@Laduguer@ERode

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

@Sanity43217: Mmm... With a cast of 8 right now and actual stuff underway, I think that I'm actually set in terms of players for the moment. Sorry, but I think we're full up for the moment.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Shokatsu Yu

Sunswept Plains — Riverside

"I... You know, fair's fair," Yu said, shrugging and shaking his head as he stared at the riverside. "Big fish are just more of a nuisance than anything; it's the sword I'm worried about..."

Walking closer to the deeper end of the water, the swordsman stared downwards for a few moment and, after seeing that the fish wasn't rising to the surface to chase him off, drew his own sword before simply releasing it into the river. The younger boy stared at Yu in baffled confusion as the Blademaster took a step away, but after a few moments, the sight of that very same fish that had chased him away from the weapon earlier leaping out of the river and away from his sword left him even more confused.

"Hm. I guess my angle was a bit off...? No, if I had a bit more speed there..." Yu mused to himself before turning back towards the boy still staring at him in shock. "One half of the problem's done; hurry up before that thing comes back, okay? As much as I can chase that thing around, moving that sword underwater's surprisingly difficult..."

His words seemed to shock the boy out of his apparent trance, and with a nod he dove back into the water. However, when he returned without the weapon and with an irritated look on his face, Yu couldn't help but be curious about what the issue was now.

"...It's stuck," the boy spoke before diving back down to try again. This time, however, he returned with the weapon in hand, bare steel slightly warped, chipped, and rusted but otherwise intact.

"The sheath's still down there, but this is still fine," the boy said, placing the weapon off to the side as he dragged himself out of the water fully. "Thank you, mister..."

"Shokatsu is fine," Yu said, looking at the sword and the boy intending to carry it back. "Uh... You sure you want to be carrying that sword back like that the whole way, though? I don't know where your home is, but..."

To this, the boy seemed to realize the issue present in actually bringing the weapon back home, and crossed his arms in a mix of irritation and contemplation.

"...We could bring it back to your place come tomorrow?" the swordsman suggested, glancing at the sun in the sky as it continued to set. "Don't know where you live, but if you're able to make it all the way here and feasibly make it home, then it can't be too far, right?"

Of course, it was up to the others to decide if they wanted to detour in the first place, but... Well, hopefully the two girls would be done with their bath soon enough to be able to make a call on that matter.

@Sho Minazuki@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

---

Sen Rynta — Sanctuary

With entry into the village not being an option, the group of travelers would be left with little recourse but to set up camp outside of its walls. There were a few other groups of travelers there, it seemed, who had fallen victim to the same problem that they had, but at least their presence meant that they wren't alone in their exclusion.

The spot that they had chosen, amusingly enough, seemed to be one right next to what seemed to be an older man who was resting against a tree. With a rice straw kasa upon his head and a simple cotton shirt and pants, he seemed oddly out of place near what was otherwise a very Western-looking townscape, but for the most part the others seemed to pay him no mind as they spoke with their traveling partners. He seemed to remain silent for the most part, his hat tipped over his face to hide it from the remaining sunlight...

At least until he suddenly rose to his feet, startling those nearby. There was a brief pause as the older man turned to look towards the group, his face still somewhat hidden by his hat, before he let out a sigh.

"Aah... Sorry 'bout that. I thought I felt something off just now," he said, his deep and somewhat gravelly voice somewhat familiar to the players nearby for some reason. "Need to go check the source of that out tomorrow..."

As to what 'that' was referring to or who this person was... That would be left to those present to ask and find out if they so wished.

@Hammerman@Operator Luna@A Lowly Wretch

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

Elise Kim

Saitama Prefecture

Grimacing as she stared down the sights of her rifle, Elise continued to fire at the Warped on the ground as they continued to lob chunks of concrete and stone into the air. Dodging them was irritating enough, sure, but having to quickly take aim and fire before moving out of the way meant that not every one of her shots met their mark—or anything at all, really.

"Maybe I should try shooting from under cover one of these days..." she grumbled as a particularly grotesque centipede-like Warped seemed to burst out from underneath the ruins and barreled straight towards Norika. There was a momentary expression of disgust and horror that crossed her face, but the shock factor of seeing such a thing was quickly reined in by a cluster of concrete and rebar narrowly whizzing by her head.

Right. Combat.

"What sort of abomination even leads to that?!" she finally shouted, firing a few shots at the Warped in question before realizing that Norika was already diving in to clean up the less threatening enemies (at least, in comparison to whatever this was). "I can handle the small fry from here; try and engage that human centipede if possible. As long as I'm up here taking them out, they can't afford to focus on you alone!"

@JDubs

---

Despite Warped after oni-like Warped falling to the continued onslaught of a single girl, the monsters seemed unrelenting in their attacks upon the human in front of them. They seemed to not care how many of their number were felled, as more soon seemed to arrive to reinforce them from further out from their current position. A storm of punches in kicks met with enemy after enemy, leaving the battlefield broken and bloodied all the same. Supported by the vicious flames that left its targets annihilated, it seemed as if the advance team of Pilots would find little issue...

Were it not for the ear-piercing shriek that rang out from the distance. A strong gust of wind soon shot through the area, blades of wind soaring through the area indiscriminately as they left gaping holes in whatever they touched.

The source? A massive bird-like Warped, soaring through the air and straight towards Pyralis. The monster seemeed to be seamlessly weaving through the rubble and debris still being thrown into the air, and with speed uncanny for a creature of its size, seemed to be rapidly closing the distance as it opened its mouth, a torrent of wind forming from within its maw...

@VitaVitaAR@Izurich

---

Compared to how the soldiers had been faring prior, barely holding off wave after unrelenting wave of Warped, the arrival of the four Frame Pilots seemed to immediately shift the tides of battle to something less slanted in favor of the monsters. Monster after monster was felled in short order, and without having the beasts bearing down upon them relentlessly, the Japanese forces had at least some time to take some breaths to recover. Their job was nowhere near finished, but without death within arm's reach, they could at least regroup and reorganize in preparation for the next wave.

Such respite was not long-lived, though, as the sounds of something crashing through the nearby woods grew closer and closer still—and a massive Warped, almost the size of a truck, broke through the weaker among them and slammed one leg down to announce its presence. The monster seemed somewhere between a lion and a dog—ironic, given the origins of such creatures in mythology—and its gaze seemed trained upon the woman in armor standing between it and the solders firing away. With a howl, the Warped bound forward, leaping into the air as it attempted to slam down upon Louisa and break through the frontlines.

While the larger Warped had taken the attention of the soldiers and those it was bearing down upon, however, those with sharper senses would notice a momentary shimmer—a movement of something through the battlefield with singular purpose. Though it would soon disappear from sight soon enough, the faint traces of the creature as it moved around the concentrated firepower directed at the large creature barreling towards them and towards the occupied soldiers would be more than worthy of concern...

@Mole@Laduguer@Medili@ERode

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

@ERode: Accepted.

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

Elise Kim

Saitama Prefecture

As she barreled down through the sky, Elise brought one hand up towards her ear instinctively as she heard Norika's quip through her headphones. Both Hoshiko and Pyralis had already begun to clear out the area, judging by the streak of flames painted across the ground visible from where she was now. The young woman took a moment to consider the situation before finally redeploying the wings on her back, leaving her hovering in the air as she brought the rifle in her hands up towards her face.

"I'll-whoa!" she began to say before noticing the doublers being lobbed at their current position. With a grimace, the Frame Pilot leaned to the side to dodge one that had almost clipped one of her wings before bringing her gun back up to aim.

"Rude. As I was saying..." Elise began, slowly taking aim and firing at one of the oni-like Warped on the ground. A piercing flash of light seemed to fire out from her weapon, piercing straight through a rock in its way and into the head of one of the Warped about to throw another boulder at the duo.

"I'll handle air support as you make your way down. Once you're down there, both of our jobs should become a lot simpler."

@JDubs

---

As Pyralis' flames burned violently as they scorched the earth and Warped alike, it seemed that the initial blitzkrieg offensive by the Pilots had succeeded in what it had intended to do. The weaker enemies were left scorched and burned by the fire, no more than charred corpses convulsing on the ground after the first wave of flames had swept over the area; the stronger, though able to shake off what had stuck, were left standing but wounded.

The element of surprise now removed from the equation, though, the monsters that remained soon began to regroup in an attempt to mount a (somewhat sloppy) counteroffensive. Those around Hoshiko began to close in around her, seemingly unfazed by how she had been able to destroy one among them with a single hit, while others seemed to be taking the same measures that their peers were towards the other pair in the area—namely, by lobbing broken pieces of the land around them towards Pyralis in an attempt to at least interfere with her ability to complete another sweep across the ruined suburbs that they claimed as their territory.

@VitaVitaAR@Izurich

---

While the advance team began their assault, the arrival of the others onto the frontlines (either by dropping down from The Horizon directly or by an airlift out of the hangar) did not elicit so much as a cheer from the Japanese forces to which they were aiding.

Not because of their lack of thanks, of course, but the hordes of Warped bearing down upon them. Behind barricades of steel and barbed wire, the constant sounds of gunfire and explosions were the only things that the soldiers could hear, and with their eyes trained upon the enemy clawing at their necks, discipline was the only thing that could keep them from staying.

Luckily enough, the efforts of the advance team had already begun to allow the soldiers to begin thinning the wave on one front, leaving them some small amount of breathing room on this deafening battlefield. To what extent their support would be able to relieve the pressure placed upon them, however, remained to be seen...

@Mole@Laduguer@Medili

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

You've got questions, I've got answers. Let's break this down.

It has money to match governments and has provided the Chi-Mechframes that the PCs are going to be using, and presumably has enough political influence to operate internationally without causing too many governments to freak out.

Yes and yes.

The Chi-Mechframes that are currently available around the world (?) get their Cores from small-sized Warped and are produced specifically in Japan, where the organization's headquarters are. So going into this RP then, our characters would be totally fresh potential Frame Pilots, rather than having had any sort of training prior to this?

Generation 0 (the prototype) was made in Japan. I was leaning towards 'multinational coalition' in terms of prototype creation, so the production logically would've disseminated worldwide. The efficacy to which anyone could create one is up for debate and largely relies on what the nation has access to by this point in time.
The organization in question is located within a skybase of sorts; I used XCOM 2's flying airship as a point of reference here, except multiple times larger. As for the matter of training... 6 months from the start of the RP would have been the maximum time to have gotten used to the Chi-Mechframe's functionality. Anything before that is up to player preference.

How big does a Warped need to be to be unkillable through conventional means?

As a general rule of thumb, the ones around 30 meters in length are usually killable with very heavy investment of resources and firepower. Below that is probably doable by modern military arms, but it would take a fair amount of concentrated firepower to be able to take them down. The really big/durable ones (read: anything bigger than ~40) are usually too resilient to take down without investing something within the realm of "too many missiles to be worth it".

WITH THAT SAID: Warped are weird, and this is not a 'one size fits all' sort of situation. Variance will be variance and all that.

And yeah, generally speaking, my thought is that the current incursion of Warped means that there's not enough safe land around to feed large populations (unless there's mysterious tech out there to grow food in labs). The high casualties and low chance of success is part of the point of that initiative, while the voluntary nature of this makes it slightly more palatable that the forced conscription that occurred during the early stages of the war. Think of it as something advertised like "offer up your lives for the chance to open up the future for humanity" or some propagandist bullshit like that. I didn't particularly point towards how large the project was or how many volunteers it has though, so it could be as small as necessary to remain a dirty secret.

See, I'm not denying the theoretical possibility of the act and never did, just that the knowledge of which and the requisite factors to be able to execute upon it and obtain visible returns (even if out of sheer numbers) is not something that can be hit with a small sample size other than out of coincidence. Of course, a lot of things in life are coincidences, but if they obtained a success from said small sample, I don't doubt that they would expand recruitment for more tests, which would quickly even out the numbers and likely put at least some of those facts out on the table for people to come by, even if they are somewhat hidden initially.

Could you explain how the scouting process works by the by? Right now I'm reading it as: this international organization has tabs on medical records on a global level while countries are reduced to city-states and when an asymptomatic Echidna victim emerges, they toss money at the country in order to obtain all their background information, then try to snatch up the Frame Pilot before the country in question does (or just tosses more money at the country to buy the potential Frame Pilot off of them)?

Yeah, you essentially have the right of it.

Oh yeah, some more elaboration on what you mean by an 'investment' would be cool. Does it take a shit ton of resources just to keep Echidna victims in quarantine? Or is that just in reference to the idea of a country letting a Frame Pilot go after having made a Chi-Mechframe for them?

Just the latter. Making the equipment is expensive, and letting both the Pilot AND the equipment go would likely be a loss that could not be easily recouped.

And I'm of the belief that this character's personality would work fine with a cast like this, when you already have sadistic loners and suicidal heroes. I'm fine with sanitizing it though~

See, I understand the logic behind the character and why they are the way they are. Their worldviews make sense given everything that they've experienced, and I'm not denying that fact. With that said, this line stands out to me:

Xuan-Yu is a bastard, a callous, cruel bastard who masks his inhumanity with an unburdened smile.

There's a difference between that and, say, the aforementioned 'sadistic loner'; while that character does have problematic tendencies, they're not... I don't know, averse to meaningful social interaction? Like... Heck, since I'm reminded of Metal Gear Rising when I look at the character and their backstory, let's use Raiden as an example. Dude's got hangups, sure, and he's definitely more than a bit psychotic at times. But the way he sees the world and responds to things are representative of his mind, and thus allows for the other characters to respond to those in kind. The character you've posited (and I could be wrong) feels like they're not willing to at least put themselves out there and speak candidly. That lack of trust (even on a base level) could very easily be problematic, and given that the characters would have by this point spent months together, being unable to trust someone (with your life or someone else's) is not a good sign.

I'm not asking for someone who can throw themselves onto the pyre for someone else, obviously (and it's not like we don't have someone like that already), but dialing back from 'callous and cruel bastard who puts up a front' would most at least put the possibility of reliability on the table with respect to the character. Even if they're not necessarily affable (or anything close to it) 24/7, being able to interact with them during downtime without being shut down by insincere niceties would be a marked improvement on all side, IC and OoC. That's my opinion, at least.

I hope that answered everything?

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

@ERode: Well, 'tis only right that I give the same analysis towards this form, then.

• The most immediate problem is... Well, once again, the fact that the character is being told to apply rather than be scouted. The origins and personality of the character would not be unknown to the higher-ups, and in the process of creating a group of individuals suited towards team missions and cohesion as an organization, this character's personality would likely not mesh well with the current cast. Even should the character apply, background checks when you have money to throw around are nothing to scoff at, especially when something like a mass initiative to force Pilots into existence (which, in all likelihood, would produce far more losses given pure statistics anyways), are easy to see from an external PoV and thus not something that the top brass here would necessarily want to directly associate with given their face as an organization.
• I will repeat what I said about the other form as well: countries will seldom invest inane amounts of resources into someone or something without a return to show for it. China would likely have the resources to invest and the means to do so, but letting said resources slip by just as easily would be another issue entirely. Of course, this is ignoring the possibility that China ended up fractured into like a dozen different states again, which is another can of worms, but still.
• Bit more minor, but the timeline of the presence of the Chi-Mechframe that the character has doesn't quiiiite line up, if only because of the presence of a different Chi-Mechframe being responsible. Every other Warped used as a basis for another Chi-Mechframe for the other characters was taken down by nebulous means (but still standard firepower all the same). It's a minor thing, so if that given Chi-Mechframe doesn't exist, the problem doesn't exist.

Ah... Yeah, that's about it as far as I can tell.

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

Elise Kim

The Horizon — Engineering Bay

Following the conclusion of the briefing session and an apparent lack of any pressing issues, Elise returned the commander's dismissal with a brief salute before following the others out of the command room. Choosing to take a detour to change into something more suited for aerial combat, though, the young woman swapped her current outfit out for her usual garments for combat—a military-style dress with proper insulation—before heading off to pick up her Chi-Mechframe from maintenance.

Giving a smile and a wave towards the staff on hand, the white-haired girl promptly retrieved the object in question—a single glove into which was embedded the mechanisms for Selene—and gave her thanks to the team before moving towards the hangar. Compared to the rest of the Pilots she worked with, her Chi-Mechframe was not something to be equipped on a whim—not when it had the risk of accidentally hitting something or someone in the process, at least.

With enough spare cleared out for herself, Elise calmly slipped the glove onto her right hand and pulled it tightly into place to make sure that everything felt right before nodding and clenching her hand into a fist in front of her chest. Departure was soon to come for those without flight, but the ones who could were always made to do so before the others.

"Shine, Selene!"

The back of the glove soon began to glow as a glowing halo of light seemed to grow above the young woman's head and spin around. Though slow at first, the halo quickly ramped up in speed, and before long a faint whirring noise would be audible to the Frame Pilot. From here, the light that had made up the halo seemed to be forming on other parts of her body; the faint traces of wings at her back soon cascaded out and flashed, turning into an all-too-familiar mechanical form. Following that, the rest of her equipment—a set of mechanical shoes equipped with stabilizers, auxiliary tools to feed her information around the halo, and the rifle she had come to know inside and out—formed, piece by mechanical piece.

"All clear. No abnormalities detected," Elise said, watching as a set of messages appeared out of the corner of her eye as the hangar opened in front of her. Glancing off to the side towards her partner for the upcoming operation, the young woman gave Norika a nod before walking out the open hanger into the open skies over Japan.

"Selene, launching."

Folding the mechanical wings upon her person back, Elise began to dive towards the round, a holographic visual on her screen showing her their intended destination a few dozen kilometers northwest west of Tokyo's northern border. Japan had already begun operations earlier that day in securing the area immediately outside the city, of course, but this was where their jobs would begin.

---

Saitama Prefecture

Filled with residental suburbs as southern Saitama had been, the presence of Warped in the area was but a given. The sounds of gunfire closer to the south from where the Pilots would first touch down showed that the JSDF had already begun to move their offensive line out in the hours before their arrival, but an operation like this could still fall through depending on outlying circumstances.

But that was why they were here, after all.

As far as the Warped went, those closer to the city seemed to be less overtly dangerous in terms of combat capabilities. Likening them to goblins or similarly-built oni would not be far from the truth, and their appearance—grotesque and somewhat beastlike, with large fangs, claws, and horns—marked the norm for the region. Among their number, though, stood no few number of bulkier oni-esque Warped, each wielding massive makeshift weapons borne from the ruins around them.

Though initially the entire horde seemed to be moving towards the defensive line, the arrival of new enemies meant reason to shift their focus towards them instead. The lack of presence of the more threatening varieties of Warped frequent in the region was a boon in and of itself, where they were instead remained to be seen...

@VitaVitaAR@Izurich@JDubs

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

@DarkRecon: Hm...

Well, there's... A lot to unpack here, but I'll go down one by one.

• Minor point: Infection by standard means (read: mouth) guarantees mutation. Can't have that.
• The character as a whole seems very... How do I put this... Flat? Amnesia plus lone wolf plus no connections to people means that the character has no stake in... Well, pretty much anything, as far as I can tell. That's probably the biggest problem that I have here; from getting dragged along by the government into being sent off for a 'goodwill' program (which is also something I'll get to), the dude has next to no reason to interact with other characters and thus in my opinion wouldn't mesh well with the rest of the cast.
• The reason that people are scouted is because they haven't been picked up yet locally; national security is very important to pretty much every city-state/nation in the current state of the world, and so giving up perfectly usable personnel to an international organization (even if they do provide aid) does not seem like something that would happen in the first place—doubly so given that they are essentially a PMC in the grander scheme of things. I also believe that such an offer would likely be rejected out-of-hand given the timeline and circumstances anyways; Chi-Mechframes are expensive and gearing temporary personnel comes at a loss, and sending staff with said equipment carries a very heavy financial burden on the party offering with a very real risk of no return. Presenting an 'offering of goodwill' to an independent organization with high risk and comparatively low return does not sit well with me, and I doubt that it would with any high-ranking officials in-universe.
• Minor point two: given that he is an amnesiac that was found in an abandoned apartment, how would he even have any material possessions? There wouldn't be anyone to confirm if they were his or not on-location, and given that search-and-rescue was the means by which he was found, anything not explicitly important to him (e.g. any form of ID, which given the circumstances of his name he would not have had on his person) would likely not have been retrieved.
• The walking contradiction that is the despondence of the character towards any intent of pressing forward in spite of the circumstances and the presence of a strong will is also... Odd? As it stands, they come off as wholly resigned to their fate and only continue to push through because of a combination of what momentum they have and people around them more or less forcing him ahead. Things just don't line up on that front.

Hmmm... Yeah, that's about it for my thoughts on the matter at the moment. As for equipment design... I'd probably prefer something more akin to, say, tokusatsu outfits than smaller mecha to fit with the current cast aesthetic, but that part is less mandatory than what's been stated thus far.