NationStates Jolt Archive

The day has arrived. The most anticipated day of all, with enough fun and games to keep the weary occupied and not think about the neverending war with the Empire, even if for only a short time. People streamed into the gates of Konoha, oblivious to a certain few that had other reasons for coming to Konoha. Stalls were everywhere and the merchants hawked their wares and haggled with their customers for the prices of everything from jewelry to souveniers. A games corner was set up to allow people to have amusement, sideshows before the real attraction would begin. Even pre-betting on the contestants began at this point.

The Final Test of the Chuunin Exam was a tournament. Ten of the best ninjas (and Jedi-ninjas) from all the Shinobi nations have been selected to participate by the brutal process of elimination. The Judges had several criteria for people wishing to become Chuunin. They must show, strength, speed, character, and most of all, the potential for leadership. For the Chuunin was a leader of squads, a step up from Genin, from Apprentice. He or she who achieves the rank of Chuunin will become the bulk of the forces that comprise the Shinobi Nations' Ninja, and by extension, the Coredian Special Operations Command (for Konoha-nin, that is). For that reason, and others, it is quite a coveted position for many a Genin, but this Test will determine which of the contestants will actually make it not just to the top, but to the rank of Chuunin as well.

Haruka and his master Jacob Masaki were one of the first ones at the stadium, chatting with people as they waited for the other ninjas and the members of the High Council to officially open the tournament. And in the Announcer's box was the one, the only...

"The Legendary Colonel Maes Hughes! Aye, that is me, welcoming you all to the Tenth Annual Konoha Chuunin Exam Tournament! And before I continue, I would like to thank my most wonderful sponsor..." Colonel Hughes quieted for a second while a hologram was produced. That of a smiling, waving little girl. Everyone who saw it sweatdropped. "My lovely six-year-old daughter Elicia Hughes! Isn't she cute? How lovely her dimples are! How beautiful she is in her dress! How--"

He was cut off by the sudden *Clonk* of a Spannerwrench®, a brand favored by mechanics everywhere and the hologram reverted to normal sponsors. Winry Masaki, the wife of Jacob, picked up the microphone and chuckled while Jacob sweatdropped. "Sorry folks. Colonel Hughes is suddenly unavailable for comment, but let me tell you now that there's a whole lot of people coming into the stadium, perhaps thousands by the time the tournament actually begins. No worries for those of you who couldn't make it, for the Tournament will be broadcasted live on the Holonet so stay tuned and keep on top of the giant holoscreens placed at convenient locations around Konoha! While you're at it, please enjoy the pre-Tourney refreshments and amusements in areas surrounding the stadium, fun and games for all ages! Thank you, and enjoy the show!"

Meanwhile, Travis, Naruto and I have decided to stop for autographs (mostly for me and Naruto as Travis is still a bit of an unknown as far as the people are concerned) while we wait for the High Council to sound the gongs for the tournament. And whereever people went, I continued to hear the whispers and rumors about my plans for the future of Coreworlds, especially under the Damascus sword of the Empire. How would we free Jurai? What will it take to ensure peace between the Empire and the Imperial Republic? How long will the war continue? And many more questions.

In other news, the military on the ground and in space was at its highest state of alert yet. Patrols were everywhere, detering pirates, pickpockets and prudes everywhere from doing harm. We don't want a repeat of the Konoha invasion of 14 years ago after all...

Daniel was well prepared for this, he was no longer feeling the effects of training and felt very confident in beating Katsuo. He knew Katsuo's puppet and fully expected there to be new poisons hidden within. He was stood alongside his sensei Eamonn, watching everything that was going on.

He especially watched Katsuo who was with his father and Masato whom appeared to be by himself. Sayuri was with Kimiko and a still heavily bandaged and on crutches Shun. Daniel didn't know where Katana was, she was probably somewhere with her mother.

“Good luck son,” came Kurt’s voice.

“Thanks father,” Daniel replied, turning around to see both Kurt and Quatre stood behind him.

As much as he tried, he couldn’t help but worry about their son. Especially after knowing the injuries that Shun had suffered.

“We know you’ll beat Katsuo,” Quatre said, partially assuring Kurt.

Daniel broke into a grin. “I have my eye on kicking Katsuo’s arse back to Suna,” he replied. “Then I’m going to kick Masato’s arse and so on.”

Kurt ruffled his son’s hair. “That’s my boy.”

The four SeaQuestian ships transitted from Slipstream five exoklicks distant at a thirteen degree vertical inclanation and a one-hundred-twelve degree horizontal angle from the world of Konoha. A wing of Whitestars escorting an Independence class modular multi-purpose vessel which, it wouldn't be obvious to the untrained eye, was in a mega-freighter configeration.

Transmitted to Konoha from the lead Whitestar:

This is Whitestar 1 of the Imperial Commonwealth of Seaquest. We have come here for two reasons. To give you what we can in supplies to make up for our lack of action concerning the fall of Jurai to the Sith and to deliver a group of representatives and their cargo to witness the end of the event you have designated the Chuunin Exams. Requesting orbital approach vector.

OOC: Meh, not my best work, but you seemed like you wanted me to hurry in your TG, CW.

"Seaquest? We thought some cataclysm had befallen you. Nice to know rumors of your demise were exaggerated." The traffic-nin replied politely. "Well, you're on the list, so please follow these coordinates *sends coordinates* and someone will meet you on the planet."

The coordinates include a landing pad set up for people arriving, like SeaQuest.

Response:

The old SeaQuestian Empire that you previously knew did indeed fall some time ago. We picked up the pieces and now stand stronger than ever before.

Thanks for your concern. Nice to know that people out here still care about what happens to others.

Once in orbit, two Puddle Jumpers emerged from the hanger of Whitestar 1. As the two shuttles descended towards the landing co-ordinates provided, Whitestar 16 and Whitestar 72 moved closer to the massive bulk of the Independence so as to decrease the amount of space the Imperial Commonwealth ships took up in orbit around Konoha.

The first Puddle Jumper touched down a few minutes later closely followed by the second. Two figures, Prince Abel Bridger (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/SeaQuest_Sim/Schematics/SeaQuestian%20Commonwealth/Character%20Pics/abel.jpg) (OOC: Not his full name (full SQian names are a bit longer than one would expect due to having, in order, a private personal name, public personal name, maternal bloodline name, and paternal bloodline name)) and the head of the Imperial Commonwealth's Ambassadors sometimes known as Kosh (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/SeaQuest_Sim/Schematics/SeaQuestian%20Commonwealth/Character%20Pics/B5_kosh01b.jpg) Prime in order to distinguish him from all the other Ambassadors who honored him by using his name instead of their own with people they don't personally trust, emerged as the aft hatch of the first Puddle Jumper hinged open.

"Ah. You're just in time." A white-haired ninja with a forehead protector over one eye suddenly said as he zipped to the Seaquestian delegates. "Your papers please? Anything to declare?"

"Papers?" asked Abel with a slight smile.

"The invitation," broke in Kosh in his 'chorus of voices' voice as he cocked his head to get a better look at their greeting party through his half-closed green 'iris'.

"I knew that," chuckled Abel as he pulled out the document from a pocket, "This what you wanted, or do you also need our passports?

"As for anything we brought, there is a little something we brought for those who pass these exams. That's over in the second Jumper. Its our way of honoring those who succeed.

"Other than that, all I have on me is this," Abel slowly pulled a compressed Fighting Pike from a pocket, "the two Imperial Guard and five Lancers do have Zatnika'tels though."

"Very well. It is beneficial to leave the weapons in your vehicle." Kakashi smiled behind that mask of his as he leafed carefully through the papers, checking them against the guest list. "After all, it would be most polite to allow the host to provide security. A measure of trust, I would say. Your papers check out. As for the gifts, present them to the Hokage. Genin Watabe!"

"Yes, sir!" A freckle-faced young boy ran up to his superior and saluted.

"Escort these delegates to the Hokage." Kakashi ordered.

"Sir, yes sir!" The boy was loyal, that's for sure. He nodded to Abel and his entourage. "Come with me, please."

Young Watabe, after the delegates left their weapons, led them efficiently to the Hokage's office, where Tsunade was preparing herself for the big day. Shizune, her aide, sat at a desk outside her sensei's office.

Before leaving, though, Abel took the opportunity to introduce himself and Kosh the white haired ninja who greeted them. He also expressed a desire to meet again some time to get to know each other better if it was possible.

When the duo arrived outside the Hokage's office, the Imperial Guard in the armor of the Horus Guard unit took positions where they could cover the room as they had been trained to do. The Lancers, however, had been given free reign to explore for the time being.

Noting the young women sitting at the desk, Abel bowed in greeting and said, "Greetings. Prince Abel Bridger and Ambassador Kosh of the Imperial Commonwealth Of SeaQuest to see the Hokage."

OOC: I hope you left the weapons in your vehicle as instructed.

IC:
"I'll buzz her for you." Shizune said and pressed a button, telling the Hokage who's outside. The ANBU guards silently watched the Horus guards.

"Be out in a minute!" Some words rang out. It took two minutes.

Tsunade stepped forth, her green cloak flowing. "Greetings, Prince Abel and Ambassador Kosh. If you would step inside please."

The office was a large, but not overly elaborate one, with comfortable chairs spaced evenly around a large desk. In one corner was a shelf full of medical books and a degree designating Tsunade's expertise as an MD (although she rarely uses the Dr. title). "I welcome you two to Konohagekure Village. What can I do for you?"

OOC: Yep. You had it mentioned in your post, so I didn't see any need to double up on the same information.

IC: "Its an honor to make your aquaintance," said Abel as he gave the customary SQian bow in greeting, "the man who met us at our Jumper, I'm afraid I didn't catch his name, suggested we come here. As you probably noticed, m'lady, we came down with two Jumpers. We were in the first and the second contains items we would like to present to those who pass these exams in honor of the occasion."

Kosh's 'iris' dialated a little. Due to the design of his encounter suit, he couldn't bow like Abel. However, he could, and did, incline his head respectfully upon meeting the Hokage.

Meanwhile, the Horus Guards returned the gaze of the ANBU through the glowing eyes of their avian shaped helmets. Curious to see how the local guards would react, one scratched his right armpit. At the same time, the other cocked his head as his helmet's ear crests expanded.

OOC: Yep. You had it mentioned in your post, so I didn't see any need to double up on the same information.

IC: "Its an honor to make your aquaintance," said Abel as he gave the customary SQian bow in greeting, "the man who met us at our Jumper, I'm afraid I didn't catch his name, suggested we come here. As you probably noticed, m'lady, we came down with two Jumpers. We were in the first and the second contains items we would like to present to those who pass these exams in honor of the occasion."

Kosh's 'iris' dialated a little. Due to the design of his encounter suit, he couldn't bow like Abel. However, he could, and did, incline his head respectfully upon meeting the Hokage.
"Would it be possible to see the items now?" Tsunade asked, intruged. "I'd like to approve them."

Meanwhile, the Horus Guards returned the gaze of the ANBU through the glowing eyes of their avian shaped helmets. Curious to see how the local guards would react, one scratched his right armpit. At the same time, the other cocked his head as his helmet's ear crests expanded.
Disgusting. One ANBU guard thought. But his face showed nothing as it was covered by a mask. All ANBU members wore masks of their own designs. Some were animal masks, as many were given such code names. Others were the masks of Oni or demons to intimidate the foolish. Still others were unusual in design, but still gave an unsettling gaze to those who would like to do ill.

"Would it be possible to see the items now?" Tsunade asked, intruged. "I'd like to approve them."

"I don't have a sample with me," Abel said, "as our friend at the docks requested we leave weapons behind.

"But I do have this," he continued as he pulled out a Holo-Orb.

Activating it, the photorealistic image of a compressed Force Lance was the first to appear. It then animated to show it extending. The image morphed to an extended Fighting Pike which animated to its compressed form.

"There is one more," he added as the image changed to display a compressed and extended example of both a Force Lance and a Fighting Pike, "but do to the unique nature of the design of each, it would probably take to long to show you all the possible permutations, m'lady. Though, if you wish, I can display a basic design for it."

Disgusting. One ANBU guard thought. But his face showed nothing as it was covered by a mask. All ANBU members wore masks of their own designs. Some were animal masks, as many were given such code names. Others were the masks of Oni or demons to intimidate the foolish. Still others were unusual in design, but still gave an unsettling gaze to those who would like to do ill.

The Horus Guard who had scratched his armpit could be heard softly chortling inside his helmet. The other one, obviously the superior, reached over and gave the first a resounding whack on the back of his helmet. The ringing, which could be clearly heard by all in the room, would be almost deafening inside the helmet where it continued to echo for far longer than it did outside.

Dropping his hand to his side, the higher ranking Horus Guard said, in English, "You'll have to excuse my friend here. He's good at his job, but he has one strange sense of humor."

"I don't have a sample with me," Abel said, "as our friend at the docks requested we leave weapons behind.

"But I do have this," he continued as he pulled out a Holo-Orb.

Activating it, the photorealistic image of a compressed Force Lance was the first to appear. It then animated to show it extending. The image morphed to an extended Fighting Pike which animated to its compressed form.

"There is one more," he added as the image changed to display a compressed and extended example of both a Force Lance and a Fighting Pike, "but do to the unique nature of the design of each, it would probably take to long to show you all the possible permutations, m'lady. Though, if you wish, I can display a basic design for it."
"I have heard of the Force Lance." Tsunade said. "Quite a versatile weapon. What say we procure some for our forces after this exam finishes?"

A gong sounded, loud enough for everyone in Konoha to hear.

"Well, that's the signal." Tsunade said, heading for the door. "Now, your invitation shows you your seating arrangements. As VIPs, you'll be near the choice spots, just so you know."

With that and a smile, she led them out into the hallway. "Shizune."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Shizune dashed away and the ANBU went like 'Hokage to Stadium' on their headpieces.

It was time.

The Horus Guard who had scratched his armpit could be heard softly chortling inside his helmet. The other one, obviously the superior, reached over and gave the first a resounding whack on the back of his helmet. The ringing, which could be clearly heard by all in the room, would be almost deafening inside the helmet where it continued to echo for far longer than it did outside.

Dropping his hand to his side, the higher ranking Horus Guard said, in English, "You'll have to excuse my friend here. He's good at his job, but he has one strange sense of humor."
"I'll say. I know this one guy who wears nothing but green and..." The ANBU began to tell the story of Rock Lee as they strode away to protect their principles.

OOC: All other participants in the Third Test and subsequent invasion will be given until the weekend to post. After that, they forfeit their spots. This rule does not apply to Huntaer or EWT.

A brief lull in the action for all has always been a sound philosophy during turbulent times. In a war where you knew it was going to be long and drawn out, getting your people's mind off impending threats and attacks is practically the best medicine next to the public execution of a well hated admiral of the enemy. With the invasion of Mationbuds being scrapped under the idea that it simply was not worth the resources, Lafiel's fleet had been requested in Konoha for a brief stay as well as granting temporary leave to the heads of the fleet.

The fleet had grown in time as ships had returned home from their tour of duty in other nations as well as the recent success of one invasion. Star Forces seemed to be back at full force for the moment. A second Paryunu destroyer had even been added to the bulk. It seemed that some in Star Forces felt that the people of Coredians took precedent over others and needed the greatest amount of aid. It was hoped that with the extra forces, the war against the Jedi could be brought to an end quicker then redircet forces to the larger war at hand.

A small shuttle containing three individuals disembarked for the planet below. Their arrival was expected and the formalities were dispensed with in the sake of efficiency. All that was left for them was to take in the sights of their surroundings and try to relax for a time. "So remind me what this is again."

Jinto sighed while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "For the fifth time, it's a combat tournament. Remember? Lord Rahl and Doron were both in one themselves and won the whole thing for team Shifting Sands in Neo Zeta. Though I believe this one is not to the death."

"Of course not. They are more civilized than that."

It seemed quite plainly that the abriel was being particularly difficult today. She could be so stubborn some time. "It's not that one people are more barbaric than the next. For the demons on Neo Zeta, that was the only way to assert dominance over another clan. Don't forget that you fight much the same way. You're pretty cut throat yourself my dear."

Lafiel hooked a loose strand of blue hair behind her ear while they continued to walk along. People were everywhere heading to this contest and to that one. Screens filled the walls showing matches and replaying old ones. She let out a small sigh. "Why is it that we always have to argue about that one detail?"

"I-" The cloaked figure that walked along beside them suddenly stopped, causing Jinto to pause in mid sentence. "If you will excuse, I am going to check into something. I will catch up to you later." His cloak snapped behind him as he moved through the masses. The sound of his hard heel boots clicking against the floor was drowned out by the thrumming noise of the multitude of voices.

Lafiel looked over at him with a half cocked eyebrow. The kinda looked where her blue eyes peirced into Jinto's brown orbs. "See why he's your son?"

Jinto fiegns innocence. "My son? How dare you say that like it's a crime. Afterall, he gets your stubborness."

[Soft but upbeat intro music plays]

Lady Katrina Masaki and I stepped into the VIP box (reserved for all the officials attending and the Masakis' best friends), clad in our best clothes along with the Council and the other members of the Masaki Clan. Even Uncle Yano took the time from his duties as the GFFA Ambassador to attend the Exams. After all, the bright rising star that is Travis Masaki is among the contestants. He's standing down there with Naruto at attention, waiting for the word. More VIPs arrived including the Hokage, King Kurt, Kazekage and others arrived in the box.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Colonel Hughes spoke into his microphone. "Before we begin our exciting Tournament, I would like to take a moment to announce to the galaxy that the Supreme Commander Daniel Masaki would like to say a few words to the public at large!"

Applause and whistles sounded from everywhere. I felt a nudge in my ribs as Katrina winked. "Go get 'em, Tiger."

"I will." I nodded. Then I teleported away to the announcer's box, grabbed a mike, then popped to the grounds of the stadium, facing the throngs of thousands of listening citizens.

"My fellow Coredians." I sounded, then a little feedback occurred. Everyone winced at the sound and I tapped the mike. "Sorry! My fellow Coredians. I regret to inform you that I have recieved word from Jurai. Grandfather Alexander Masaki has fallen to the hands of the Empire!"

A collective gasps and whispers of disbelief sounded everywhere. "The Patriarch? No way! No one could kill him! What now?"

I raised my hand to quiet the crowd. "I have been remiss from my duties, my people. I have been on the sidelines for too long. You, my people, have waited years. I apologize and hope you'll forgive me for this."

It grew quiet. Even the birds stopped chirping to listen in.

I closed my eyes, drew in a breath and let it out. I opened my eyes again, and my family and friends started to feel it. Feel the glow within me rise like a dragon. Feel the fires within me burn hotter. "No more hesitation. No more weakness. No more. From this day forth, the Coredian Throne shall no longer be considered empty. Once more the Masaki sits on the throne! Once more the Coredian people have an Emperor!"

Rumblings began to sound throughout the crowd as I roused the people from their long slumber. It started small, but it grew and grew until it was a tsunami, and more...

[National Anthem plays (Chrono Trigger Main Theme)]

"By unanimous decision of the High Council," Master Elendil came out to the grounds with a copy of the Book of Whills, containing, among other things, the Code. I put my right hand on it. "I, Daniel Alexander Masaki, do hereby vow to execute the Office of the Emperor and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the Imperial Republic of the Coreworlds! May the Force be with us all!"

"I take the name...of Raitei, the Lightning Emperor!" I shouted, and thrust my arm into the air, index finger reaching for the sky and lit off a massive Thunderbolt into the sky. An equally massive roar sounded from the crowd, the first time in a long time that I felt the people this happy.

"All right, Dad!" Travis yelled, whooping all the way.

"Way to go, champ!" Naruto grinned.

Suddenly, I felt a dark disturbance in the Force and scanned the cheering crowd for the source. Then it was gone, but I knew who it was, though I couldn't find her. Nightshade...

Lady Nightshade fought to compose herself when she heard her brother's speech, her anger leaking out and making babies cry nearby. Damn it all! Just you wait, Brother, just you wait...

"Good speech though it is a shame to hear of their loss." Jinto nodded his agreement at his wife's remark. They had found a spot off to the side and out of the way of everyone. Hopefully they wouldn't draw any attention here though they didn't see anyone that remotly looked like an Abh. Still the shadows could be very concealing even for a royal princess. They reclined at their leisure and enjoyed the brief time away from duties and the spotlight. Here they could be more themselves while laughing and joking about the past. All seemed right with the world though they both knew that soon they would have to extend their formal congratulations to Daniel once he put down the mike.

Perhaps even more elusive from public view was one figure that sat crossed legged on a rooftop looking out over the procession. His cloak was folded up neatly beside him while his two lightsabers rested easily on each side of his hip. Blue hair danced in the breeze rushing passed his pointed ears. Without a tiara, his froch was revealed in plain view in the middle of his forehead though no one could see it. There was a change in the wind, a quiet rumble in the ground, and a slight tingle in his senses. Something was coming, though he didn't know what. His dark violet eyes slid behind eyelids as he delved deep into his thoughts and began to meditate during the brief lull in fighting.

Kurt wiped a tear from his eye. He was happy to see Daniel take to the throne, this was the man who was there and helped when he had taken the Draconian throne. The blue elf was almost jealous as Daniel had it much easier taking the throne, no fighting off Azazel and his goons and no fight against ‘Atkatsuki’. It had of course come at a cost though, they had lost their Patriarch Alexander Masaki. A pain Kurt knew all too well, both he and Daniel had lost their parents.

The King and the others joined in with the clapping and cheering. Out of sadness came joy, he knew the Coredians needed all the joy they could receive.

“That, Kurt is how you deliver a speech,” Quatre remarked.

“He has a point,” Gaara agreed.

“Mine was fine,” Kurt protested.

But his protest fell one deaf ears. Both Quatre and Gaara looked at each other and nodded.

“You could learn a tip or two,” Quatre then said.

Kurt too then felt a dark presence. That worried him, something like that could cause a celebration to turn sour. He couldn’t tell who it was or where they were but he knew they were out there somewhere.

“Are the Sunaarashi still out with patrolling ANBU?” he then asked the Kazekage.

“Yes they are,” Gaara nodded.

Kurt felt a little better knowing that.

"I have heard of the Force Lance." Tsunade said. "Quite a versatile weapon. What say we procure some for our forces after this exam finishes?"

"An idea worth looking into," replied Abel, "They won't have the uniqueness our personal ones we hand-make for ourselves and, in a few cases, others, like those for the new Chuunin, but the quality won't be skimped upon."

A gong sounded, loud enough for everyone in Konoha to hear.

"Well, that's the signal." Tsunade said, heading for the door. "Now, your invitation shows you your seating arrangements. As VIPs, you'll be near the choice spots, just so you know."

With that and a smile, she led them out into the hallway. "Shizune."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Shizune dashed away and the ANBU went like 'Hokage to Stadium' on their headpieces.

It was time.

Kosh was the first to follow along. His towering encounter suit, almost seven feet high, was matched by Abel's height. When they reached the location of their seats, Abel sat. However, once again due to the design of his encounter suit, Kosh choose an out-of-the way location where he wouldn't be in anyone's way yet still be able to see.

[Soft but upbeat intro music plays]

Lady Katrina Masaki and I stepped into the VIP box (reserved for all the officials attending and the Masakis' best friends), clad in our best clothes along with the Council and the other members of the Masaki Clan. Even Uncle Yano took the time from his duties as the GFFA Ambassador to attend the Exams. After all, the bright rising star that is Travis Masaki is among the contestants. He's standing down there with Naruto at attention, waiting for the word. More VIPs arrived including the Hokage, King Kurt, Kazekage and others arrived in the box.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Colonel Hughes spoke into his microphone. "Before we begin our exciting Tournament, I would like to take a moment to announce to the galaxy that the Supreme Commander Daniel Masaki would like to say a few words to the public at large!"

Applause and whistles sounded from everywhere. I felt a nudge in my ribs as Katrina winked. "Go get 'em, Tiger."

"I will." I nodded. Then I teleported away to the announcer's box, grabbed a mike, then popped to the grounds of the stadium, facing the throngs of thousands of listening citizens.

"My fellow Coredians." I sounded, then a little feedback occurred. Everyone winced at the sound and I tapped the mike. "Sorry! My fellow Coredians. I regret to inform you that I have recieved word from Jurai. Grandfather Alexander Masaki has fallen to the hands of the Empire!"

A collective gasps and whispers of disbelief sounded everywhere. "The Patriarch? No way! No one could kill him! What now?"

I raised my hand to quiet the crowd. "I have been remiss from my duties, my people. I have been on the sidelines for too long. You, my people, have waited years. I apologize and hope you'll forgive me for this."

It grew quiet. Even the birds stopped chirping to listen in.

I closed my eyes, drew in a breath and let it out. I opened my eyes again, and my family and friends started to feel it. Feel the glow within me rise like a dragon. Feel the fires within me burn hotter. "No more hesitation. No more weakness. No more. From this day forth, the Coredian Throne shall no longer be considered empty. Once more the Masaki sits on the throne! Once more the Coredian people have an Emperor!"

Rumblings began to sound throughout the crowd as I roused the people from their long slumber. It started small, but it grew and grew until it was a tsunami, and more...

[National Anthem plays (Chrono Trigger Main Theme)]

"By unanimous decision of the High Council," Master Elendil came out to the grounds with a copy of the Book of Whills, containing, among other things, the Code. I put my right hand on it. "I, Daniel Alexander Masaki, do hereby vow to execute the Office of the Emperor and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the Imperial Republic of the Coreworlds! May the Force be with us all!"

"I take the name...of Raitei, the Lightning Emperor!" I shouted, and thrust my arm into the air, index finger reaching for the sky and lit off a massive Thunderbolt into the sky. An equally massive roar sounded from the crowd, the first time in a long time that I felt the people this happy.

"All right, Dad!" Travis yelled, whooping all the way.

"Way to go, champ!" Naruto grinned.

Suddenly, I felt a dark disturbance in the Force and scanned the cheering crowd for the source. Then it was gone, but I knew who it was, though I couldn't find her. Nightshade...

Lady Nightshade fought to compose herself when she heard her brother's speech, her anger leaking out and making babies cry nearby. Damn it all! Just you wait, Brother, just you wait...

Kosh and Abel both perked up, in their own unique, individual way, at Daniel's declaration of taking the Imperial throne of Coreworlds.

<Now this is an interesting development,> Abel telepathically sent to Kosh.

Abel, while appearing Alteran on the outside, thanks to the unusually strong influence of the Alteran genes in the Bridger bloodline, was still completely different on the inside.

<Agreed,> replied Kosh on the same channel.

<Shame about Alexander Masaki though, Abel added, <From what I heard of him, I would have liked to have met him one of these days.>

Kosh only replied with the telepathic equivilant of a grunt.

The dark, foreboding that cropped in the air on occasion, a feeling that was felt in the bottom of the gut and not by the councious mine, was felt by both. The Balance on this world was shifting.

"I'll say. I know this one guy who wears nothing but green and..." The ANBU began to tell the story of Rock Lee as they strode away to protect their principles.

"Seems like such people crop up constantly in every nation," said the lead Horus Guard as he and his compatriat moved to follow the charges they were assigned to protect.

The Lancers, in the meantime, had split up. Two had returned to the Jumper, grabbed some popcorn, and were watching things on the craft's holo-display. The remaining three mingled with the common crowd in the regular seating, after changing into something a little more subtle than their Lancer uniforms and armor.

OOC: All other participants in the Third Test and subsequent invasion will be given until the weekend to post. After that, they forfeit their spots. This rule does not apply to Huntaer or EWT.

OOC: Note: When I use the term 'Balance', that was in reference to a SQian concept. The Balance, called different things by different nations, is the primal balancing act of all realties. If it were to fall to one side, all realities would cease. Small scale shifts in the Balance are normal. Big ones, however, can be dangerous.

"It's time." Max thought as he headed down to the section of the arena for the competitors with his sensai in attendence. He was as ready as he was going to be, and the knowladge that the Mizukage was somewhere in the stands didn't change anything. His team-mates were also in the stands and he knew that as well as cheering for him, they had promised much punishment if he didn't do well.

He listened to the man's speech and found the little lightning show a trifle ostentatious, but the people seemed to like it and for a politican that was what was important afterall. He closed his eyes to rest till the matches began, at which point he'd be watching each match with eagle eyes for the weaknesses and more importantly the strengths of those he might face.

The huntarian fleet remained cloaked on the far side of the planetary system, apairently and surprisingly, undetected. The Rear Admiral in charge of this little operation was surprised the fleet went this far undetected. She knew she was commanding the expert cloak fleet, but never expected this kind of success. With the troops on the ground, and the finnal Chuunin Exam underway, the invasion would almost be a peice of cake. She never expected it to go like this at all...

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

Meanwhile, Aelikes, Deshoonde, Shamman and the rest of the Necromen suited up in their phony clown/wizard costumes. The Necromen wore masks, ones which resembled those of animals, or famous people. One, even resembled Daniel Masaki himself. Shamman thought it would be "funny" if he wore the mask when he went with Janus and Jesse to capture Travis. A slightly confused Travis looking into what appeared to be his father's face would be quite amusing. Even if he didn't fall for it, the local idiots would. Amusing enough, Shamman thought to himself. Aelikes reluctantly agreed to Shamman's idea. Shamman and a small group of Necromen walked out of the camp and into the city, and began their phony performance of some kind of circus clowns/idiots.

Deshoonde and Aelikes took their own squads and walked off into the city. Deshoonde, however, went his own way with his men much closer and more alarmingly closer, to where the chuunin exams would take place. While preforming a mimik of what would be force lighting (but instead gave a warm funny feeling to the "victim" rather than pain), he focused his thoughts and energy on to where Daniel Masaki would be.

::Congradulations on your promotion, Daniel, however I wish the circumstances would be different. From the way my cousin descrbes your Grandfather, he sounded quite the man (Aelikes hated him very much). I hope you are prepaired for what lies ahead because if you are not, I can guarintee you, you will loose something with your recent promotion other than your grandfather's death. Something... Which might be a little worse for you. I do hope you took my previous warning seriously. You may have already felt your sister's presence...::

Deshoonde accidently slipped on something on the ground and made it look like he did it on purpose, "WHOOPS!"

The nearest necroman helped Deshoonde up and muttered, "Whaaattt arrrree you doing bosssss?"

"Just playing the act private, just playing the act. Keep moving, and wait for her signal."

Field Marshal Friedrich ordered the Dominionite fleet to move out and hide in near by space. They were not to far away and would be close enough to be called back in, if need to be. He left his brother-in-law, Field Marshal Marc Howlett, in control of the fleet until he arrived back to the fleet. He was going to be good ally and watch the Final Test of the Chuunin Exam of his Coredian allies.

A lone Tel'Tac Cargo Shuttle jumped back into the system, heading towards the planet. A message was sent to the suface. “Sorry, we are late for the final test. Had trouble with our ship” said Prince Freidrich.

The Tel’Tac moved towards the surface under the watchful eyes of the Coredian and lands at the nearest landing pad. As the ship powered down, the large crimson dragon man walked up to the shuttle, the side door opens at that time.

“Your later, my lord.” said Master Raidon.

“I know, I know.” said the armored Princes as he walked off the shuttle. His massive sword was not with him, he was unarmed. The blue cape flew in the air. “Had to make sure the fleet was ready.”

“Oh…here are your papers.” said Raidon, bowing his head. “Everything you need.”

Friedrich took the papers and looked through them. Behind him walked out his other brother-in-law, Master Matthew John Norris, a four hundred year old Warlock. Duel light sabers at his belts, hidden behind his strange hooded coat. Beside him was High Warlock Temple Guard Jason Howlett, the son of Field Marshal Marc Howlett, the eye of Ra on his white gloves. He was unarmed like Friedrich.

The nephew of Friedrich walked out next in a blue military uniform, he was Commander ]Charles Jaegar Lehnsherr. Next to him was his aunt, which was three year younger then him, Princess Lin Ming Cai in a silk green dress. Both were unarmed.

The Tel’Tac was under the watch for eyes of four clones in blakc and blue Dominion battle armor, holding staff weapons. The doors all shut, anybody want the ships would have to get pass them.

“This way, my lords.” said Raidon, leading them to desk to show them who they were and their invitations. Freidrich hand the papers to the person behind the desk.

“I hope we're not to late.” he said.

The Dominionite royal family members and Master Raidon were lead to the VIP box, they looked around before taking their seats. This would be the first time Daniel would meet Friedrich and his family in person. And the first time, the others would meet them too. He would wait for his host to walk over to him before he said anything.

OOC: Huntaer, check TGs (I should have sent that one months ago but meh). Also, I hope you noticed the patrols from last night at the end of the Chuunin Exams thread...explains why my forces are so hyperalert.

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

In the audience, Daniel's speech

Master Whitfield was the only Woodian delegate actually in attendance, and he would have much preferred to oversee the preparedness of the Woodian military, especially in light of what the scouts had found on the ground the night before. Unfortunately, diplomatic formalities necessitated his presence here, watching Daniel's speech. He never really was one for such self-proclamations, but it was to be understood that Masakis didn't always share his humility.

Moreover, he admitted that it was politically necessary. Still, the bad feeling that he had had for the last sixteen hours or so magnified...intensely. The Dark Side seemed to smother the end of Daniel's speech...

...The unmistakeable presence of a Sith nearby, and a powerful one at that.

In Konoha orbit

Aboard the Immortal Star Destroyer Battlestar, Admiral Riordan looked out through the bridge's viewport. Again. Ever since going on highest alert last night at the whim of the Jedi, he had grown a bit paranoid. Nevertheless, he looked out at the viewport again, thinking of the stormtroopers on speeder bikes uncovered last night...

He looked down at the star charts, comparing them with what he saw out the viewport. Something wasn't right...he thought a star was missing, but he wasn't sure...

"Captain Rearick, bring the ECCM sensors online."

"Aff." The captain quickly began flipping switches in one of the bridge pits, and giving further orders to his subordinates. A few of the lights dimmed as the ship diverted massive quantities of power to its sensor arrays...enough to register as a power spike on enemy sensors, in fact. Even if the Coredians were complacent, that was a word never applied to the Woodian military, especially since the end of the civil war.

The Woodians had several ways of detecting cloaked ships at their disposal. One of their favorites was tracing drive emissions from phantom ships. Another was tracing where everything in the electromagnetic spectrum simply seemed to disappear, much like the ways scientists use to infer the existance of black holes in MT. Still other ways involved tracing the presence of magnetic fields generated by the massive power requirements of most cloaking devices, more specifically, magnetic fields that shouldn't be there...

On the ground, barracks near the site of the Exams

Colonel Keith Allaire, Master Whitfield's apprentice, found the Dark Side a little too familiar to miss, as he had experienced a bit too much of it during his own period of enslavement to the Dark Lord. For that matter, the similar experiences of four of his peers meant that they knew that something wasn't quite right either.

Therefore, like the rest of the Woodian military anywhere near this place, they took the Jedi Master's (and Prime Minister's) orders from last night, to be on the highest alert, to the hilt, running twenty-four hour 'Mech patrols on the area. If the $hit started flying, they'd probably know before the Coredian military...

"And now, let the Tournament begin!" I announced to the end of the Anthem and disappeared, reappearing in the VIP box and took my seat.

Shikamaru the ref walked up to the contestants. "Ahem. If I may have your attention. For some reason, young Lialai appears to be missing, so we'll give her time to get here."

"What if she doesn't come?" Travis asked. He was looking forward to dueling her.

"She'll forfeit." Shikamaru shrugged. He pulled out a piece of paper showing an updated version of the Tournament rounds. "Should she forfeit, you will duel Sayuri and Haruka will face Max, with the winner dueling Kaneda (aka Jesse). Tetsuo (aka Janus) and Masato, please step forward. All others will be in the stands until their time comes."

"Alright." Haruka nodded. Crap. Facing that Mist guy so early...

The other genin lept up or walked up into the stands and then an invisible shield went up in case the duel went violent. Can't have the crowd hurt!

"As per rules, there are none. If there is a clear winner, I will cease the battle." Shikamaru said. "Ready? Begin!"

For a guy who's lazy, he was surprisingly quick at stepping back to avoid the battle.

A feral grin sprouted on Janus' face as lines of blackness could be seen through psychic means, reaching out for Masato like shadows, but not. His gravitational powers crumbled the area around him as they expanded.

I leaned forward, sensing the darkness pour from "Tetsuo". It was very familiar. Too familiar.

"Dad?" Travis said, coming up to the box. "The guy down there feels like Janus, the guy I fought a few months back. He's stronger than before."

"Good observation." I inwardly groaned as I saw, too late, the lapse in security. If one like Janus, one of Nightshades' twin sons, could pass through security, what else could have slipped through? Damn. "Keep an eye on him."

"I will." Travis nodded.

I sighed. Nothing to do right now but see the Tournament to its end.

=====

Several lightyears from Konoha

Darkness slipped through the interstellar space between systems. A Super Star Destroyer and its entourage of escorts moved slowly towards Konoha. But this one was different. In place of several of the turbolaser cannons, sixteen huge barrels on the dorsal and ventral sides (making 32 cannons) of the Super Star Destroyer betrayed its name: Obliterator.

"Hypercannons." Admiral Hoshiyomi, a man with a scarred face, mused. A new technology, it draws energy directly from hyperspace into the cannons to shoot purple beams so powerful and so piercing that they could slash open a Star Destroyer like it was a fish under the butcher's knife, shields and all. "And this will be their first real test."

"What about the Cassiopeia Galaxy, sir?" His XO asked. "I mean the old version."

"Doesn't count. Their SSDs were weak." The Admiral smiled coldly. "Any word on enemy forces?"

"They appear on very high alert, but otherwise...looks clear around us." Sensors reported.

"Very well. Keep scanning." The Admiral said. "And wait."

=====

In the forests

Patrols were at their highest state of alert at this point in time, so it was no surprise that the patrols began to notice movements in and around the forests of Konohagekure. The ANBU pursued, but the movements went away. It was rather nerve-wracking to say the least. Who are they? What is their purpose?

The second question had accurate guesses, but the first question was still elusive.

Masato stepped forward and smirked. From where he sat, Kurt felt a shiver go up his spine.

"Oh I'm looking forward to this," he said. He was itching to go and tapped the hilt of his blade.

"Looks like Masato's blood thirsty again," Daniel remarked.

Sayuri nodded in agreement. "Much like his opponent it would seem."

The blackness suddenly lashed out at Masato, attempting to smash him into the wall of the arena. Janus' opening move.

Masato quickly leapt out of the way. As he landed he drew his blade, the black flames looking angry.

"I won't hesitate to kill you," he snarled and swuang at Janus.

A red blade parried the black flames. Janus grinned. "Could say the same for you."

The blackness curled around and as they fought with blades, it moved to reverse Masato's inertia and send him flying into the air...

Masato leapt away from Janus and landed with some distance away.

"Twin Dragon Head," he yelled and two dragon heads appeared from the black flame heading toward Janus.

Lafiel and Jinto had moved into the arena to watch the matches as the tournament got underway. They found a pair of seats in the middle which afforded them a decent enough view. Neither of them knew any of the contestants nor knew who to cheer for. They simply watched the battle unfold before them and commented on the fighting of both contestants.

Something was stirring, like the build up of a massive wave. The sounds of birds calling as they flee from an oncoming storm. He quickly threw his cloak back on and stood on the ledge. One foot forward then the next as he plummeted down towards the hard street below. People walking around without a care in the world. Then he touched down as light as a feather. His eyes darted from one area to the next and he was off moving through the crowds with hood pulled down low to cover his face.

Master Whitfield sensed that something was wrong. Very wrong. Moreover, he sensed that Daniel would soon find himself in the thick of a duel with Nightshade...and he had an idea.

As far as thermokinesis went, he could outdo Taylor Masaki (he was the Flame Master, after all), and moreover, he knew that heat was one critical ingredient of thunderstorms, an ingredient that Daniel, for all intents and purposes, didn't know how to create.

However, the elderly Jedi Master might be able to help him with that...

For Whitfield, there was no chakra. There were no seals. There was only the Force--and the Force was all he needed.

He poured his attentions into the Force, focusing on one thing: heating the atmosphere. After a few seconds of concentration, he attained a rate of about one and a half degrees per second, causing a temperature spike that no one could miss. For that matter, his intense concentration at pouring Force energy directly into the atmosphere hiked the temperature from about 65 degrees Fahrenheit to 105 in about a minute.

Of course, this had certain ancillary effects, the rapid temperature increase causing air to rise with such violence that birds had trouble keeping a straight flightpath. For that matter, the huge updrafts skyrocketed all the way to 70,000 feet, and caused a huge drop in barometric pressure...

Some of the cumulus clouds overhead started visibly expanding...and quickly, as if they were developing into monsoonal storms themselves. Meanwhile, the uprising of the wind became so violent that a dust devil formed just outside of the stadium, then strengthened into what was practically a weak tornado without a cloud from which it came...

Suffice it to say, Daniel Masaki now had rocket fuel for his thunderstorms...it was pretty clear that eventually one was going to develop anyway, whether Daniel liked it or not. He just had to poke it around a bit to make it form faster.

Have fun, Daniel. Whitfield then got up, lightsaber in hand, ready to duel any Sith that came his way...

The royal family, only knowing one of the contestants, the son of Daniel, the young Travis Masaki, did not cheer for the two in the arena. They just quietly watched the fight between the two boys.

Friedrich focused on the fight, watching the movement of the two young fighters. He would watch and see who would win. As of now, the fight was only beginning to get under way.

The young Princess Lin Ming Cai, having ninja training in her home, watched the fight like eagle tracking it’s prey.

The others, Matt & Jason & Charles and Raidon, only watched to see a good fight and now trying to keep of with every movement.

Masato leapt away from Janus and landed with some distance away.

"Twin Dragon Head," he yelled and two dragon heads appeared from the black flame heading toward Janus.
The dragons smashed into Janus, only to find a burning log in his place. Janus smirked as he popped above Masato and executed a devastating graser-like assault that tore up the ground in jagged cracks. The cracks reached towards Masato...

=====

Hmm? I sensed a very fast, very muggy change in the weather. The temperature skyrocketed several tens of degrees and the heated air rose up quickly, creating a draft that tossed leaves and trash around. Clouds built up so fast that I knew that it was the Force at work, by someone manipulating weather.

"Daniel?" Taylor grinned, poking my back as he felt the heat rise. "Whitfield's doing it. He's the Flame Master after all."

"Not General Mustang?" I asked, raising an eyebrow with interest.

"Nope. He's more focused in heating, like I am. Whitfield's broader on the thermokinetic stage." Taylor said. "This is the greatest use of his powers I've seen so far."

I agreed. Heating the atmosphere up 40 degrees in only a minute is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. Caterers went out in droves to provide water and cool snacks as clouds continued to grow overhead. It would surely help my own powers of lightning when Nightshade struck...

Masato leapt up, aiming his black flame blade directly at Janus. A do or wait to try again move, if he got into trouble he did have the ability to teleport out of it.

Janus brought his lightsaber out again, parrying the black blade downwards and using the force of his parry to twist his body and propel his foot into the face of Masato with the force of a sledgehammer.

Masato saw the foot coming and twisted his body to avoid it. As they passed each other by, something that felt like an invisible rope covered in fur began to wrap itself around Janus' arms.

"You didn't expect this to be easy," he taunted.

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Janus grinned. His fingers twigged and an invisible blade of wind slashed into the invisible rope. Freeing himself, he then whipped his fingers in a diagonal slash upon Masato and the razor-sharp wind followed...

Nightshade nodded at the movement, taught to her son. "Perfect form."

The invisible 'rope' unraveled and Janus was given a facefull of purple smoke.

"Too slow," Masato taunted. "Black Flame Pillar."

And as in his fight against Nick, a huge pillar of black flame came screaming towards Janus. Cut in several places but not defeated, Masato was going to bring destruction on Janus.

The invisible 'rope' unraveled and Janus was given a facefull of purple smoke.

"Too slow," Masato taunted. "Black Flame Pillar."

And as in his fight against Nick, a huge pillar of black flame came screaming towards Janus. Cut in several places but not defeated, Masato was going to bring destruction on Janus.
"Damnit!" Janus cursed as he was smashed into the ground by the black flames. A few seconds passed and Shikamaru wondered if this was it for...wait!

The flames were repulsed, shoved back violently by gravitational energy. Janus' eyes burned with the fury of the Dark Side, as hot as the pain his burns caused him. He looked savage...

"Not many could get past my defenses." He said, each word a curse. "But I tell you, it won't happen again."

Two black balls crackling with dark energy homed in on Masato. If he teleported, they'll track him. If he ran, they'll chase him. And when they connected, a powerful explosion would result. "Black Impulse!"

Noting the arrival of the Abh representatives, Abel nodded in their direction as a form of silent greeting before returning his attention to the match going on below.

"Curious", he thought to himself as his enhanced nose caught a wift of scent from the arena floor, "That scent is similar to that of the Masakis up here. Only time I noted a similar effect was when they were members of the same bloodline. Most curious."

While Abel, not having had any experience with things outside the Imperial Commonwealth before, pondered what the similar scents could mean for the strain of humanity found in Coreworlds, he still kept the majority of his attention and focus on watching the match while the scent similarity problem shifted to drift in the back of his mind.

Masato smirked. "Want to play rough eh?" he said and teleported away.

Moments later he reappeared right behind Janus and glomped him.

"Gets me and gets you."

Masato smirked. "Want to play rough eh?" he said and teleported away.

Moments later he reappeared right behind Janus and glomped him.

"Gets me and gets you."
"Really?" Janus smirked and closed his eyes. A ball hit Masato's back and detonated, obsuring the view of the crowd. Janus was pitched forward by the explosion, bleeding and clothes torn in many places. He struggled to see where Masato went.

The force of the explosion flung Masato across arena. He rolled to a stop by a wall and slowly sat up coughing up blood.

"Heh," he said quietly. "No fucking walkover."

His clothes were shredded and he was covered in blood the the many wounds he suffered. That wasn't what he was worried about as he slowly reached for his blade, he only wanted to see where his opponent was.

Janus sensed Masato at the wall and before that boy knew it, a sphere of blackness surrounded him, allowing him no escape, not even for teleport. Janus spread his hand towards Masato, then squeezed, pressing the blackness around Masato until he suffocated...

Masato didn't move, he dared Janus to kill him. He chuckled as he gasped for air.

"Stop it!" Kimiko yelled out. "He can't fight back."

OOC: Huntaer, check TGs (I should have sent that one months ago but meh). Also, I hope you noticed the patrols from last night at the end of the Chuunin Exams thread...explains why my forces are so hyperalert.

OOC: Yeah, I just read your TG last night. I'll get to it soon.

About your patrols, I missed it.

IC:
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Shamman's squad of Necromen slowly walked through the security of the Arena, and made out to look like a few performers. Shamman watched as Janus threw the metal ball which then threw the two opponents across the arena. Shamman laughed wickedly at the sight, "When do weee ssstrrrike Warrrrrriorrrr? Meeee and my meeeen are hungrrry for ssssome burrrnt fleeesssh."

"Patients. Even those who use the dark side need to wait for their opponents," Shamman watched as Janus got up, all bloody from the explosion.
::Just give me the word my friend. Tell me when, for the Necromen are ready to carve some meat. It's hard to control their hunger...::

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

Near Whitefield...

Darth Aelikes and his group of Necromen slowly made it through the Arena where Daniel and Whitefield would be. While Aelikes would very much like to strike down Daniel, he knew that that would be Nightshade's job. Aelikes remained in his disguise as he walked on forward where he would eventually meet Whitefield. At the same time, if one would look up where there should be lights, they would see that the lights are slowly being consumed by some black clouds. Clouds which grew forward and consumed everything which produced light. Aelikes drew his dual lightsaber, The Dark Twins, but didn't activate them. He and his men his silently amungst the shadows, waiting for enemy arrival.

Masato didn't move, he dared Janus to kill him. He chuckled as he gasped for air.

"Stop it!" Kimiko yelled out. "He can't fight back."
Janus squeezed Masato to the point of unconsciousness, caught up in the moment. "Die..."

And suddenly, he couldn't squeeze anymore. "What? I cannot move!"

"Enough." Shikamaru said, a shadow trailing from himself to Janus, latching on to the boy. He forcibly used Janus to release Masato. "The winner is Janus!"

A number of boos occurred from the crowd.

Janus growled in anger, furious at Shikamaru. I'll kill you all...just you wait!

I sighed. "Travis, I hope you have a plan for that guy. His powers could kill you."

"I know." Travis said. "I've fought him before, so I know what's he like."

"All the same..." I mused as Shikamaru called Katsuo and Gabriel to the arena.

Kimiko went to check up on Masato as the medic nins took his seemingly unconcious form away.

Katsuo headed into the arena as Daniel teleported himself there.

"Your arse is mine Katsuo," Daniel grinned.

"You wish," came the reply.

The pair stared at each other waiting for Shikamaru to begin.

Janus squeezed Masato to the point of unconsciousness, caught up in the moment. "Die..."

And suddenly, he couldn't squeeze anymore. "What? I cannot move!"

"Enough." Shikamaru said, a shadow trailing from himself to Janus, latching on to the boy. He forcibly used Janus to release Masato. "The winner is Janus!"

A number of boos occurred from the crowd.

Janus growled in anger, furious at Shikamaru. I'll kill you all...just you wait!

Shamman grew worried over Janus's reckless anger, ::JANUS! Controle your anger! Controle yourself! Use your sense of anger for a later time tonight. Your time will come. You will get to kill Shikamaru, but please stick to the plan!::

Daniel and Katsuo placed themselves on either end of the stadium.

"Ready?" Shikamaru raised his arm. "Begin!"

Shamman grew worried over Janus's reckless anger, ::JANUS! Controle your anger! Controle yourself! Use your sense of anger for a later time tonight. Your time will come. You will get to kill Shikamaru, but please stick to the plan!::
Janus barely nodded and reeled back his anger. Nevertheless, he was already revealed, he just didn't know it...

"Interesting fight. Seemed like they were both out for blood." He thought as he watched the proctor end the match. He was both happy and unhappy at the weather change, as it closed and opened certain tactics.

Max sighed and hoped the next match would be just as quick, that or the weather return to what it had been as it was less than pleasent at the moment.

Near Whitefield...

Darth Aelikes and his group of Necromen slowly made it through the Arena where Daniel and Whitefield would be. While Aelikes would very much like to strike down Daniel, he knew that that would be Nightshade's job. Aelikes remained in his disguise as he walked on forward where he would eventually meet Whitefield. Jacen Masaki reached out to touch the rain, smiling as he realized just how much damage he could cause to enemies with the sudden monsoon. At the same time, if one would look up where there should be lights, they would see that the lights are slowly being consumed by some black clouds. Clouds which grew forward and consumed everything which produced light.

All which would be seen is Aelikes's glowing red eyes, and the necromen's yellow eyes hovering in the darkness. The Kirtir Dark Lord knew that Daniel would recognise his presence after their little dual durring the Chronoskimmer Project, so he took out his lightsabers. Soon, the sound of lightsabers could be heard, but nothing would be seen. The Dark Twins, Aelikes dubbed his lightsabers due to their pure black blade and handles, would strike in the darkness...
A disturbance in the Force. That's all it took for the ANBU guards to discreetely move closer to the VIPs. My senses were heighted. Taylor began feeling a coldness in the air that was most definitely not the wind or a cloud. Lightsabers and ninja weapons were discreetly adjusted. Even as the duel went on between Katsuo and Gabriel-Daniel (to distinguish from myself), war was in the air.

Then came the weather report on some of the screens. "The Konoha Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for the following villages: Konohagekure Village, Watabe Village, Enricha Town, Wave Country Village...We go to the Weather-nin, Cumo Numbus for the story."

Chuckling slightly at his pun of a name, Cumo spoke as a hologram of the storm formed behind him. "As you can see, in the last few minutes, a sudden increase in cloud formation within the last fifteen minutes has meteorologists baffled as to the cause and the lightning prompted them to issue a Severe Thunderstorm warning for the Hidden Leaf Village, among other places. You can see a very strong, very rapid rotation over the Village, prompting meteorologists to call this a supercell, one which will bear watching as it may produce severe hail and damaging winds..."

When the signal to begin was given, Katsuo leapt into action. His puppets arms extended towards Daniel in quick motion. But the blue elf was too quick for him and leapt out of the way, skidding to a stop along the ground.

“Hmph,” he remarked.

“Just starting up,” Katsuo smirked.

A poison dart shot from the puppets mouth, aimed at Daniel. The elf raised his hand and blocked it with a sand shield.

“We know each other too well,” Daniel remarked.

“Yes we do,” Katsuo agreed.

Daniel smirked and pulled a large fresh fish from his gourd. Smelling that, Katsuo’s cat appeared and the prince threw the fish away from them.

“Fish seasoned with catnip, irresistible to any cat,” Daniel grinned.

“You bastard,” Katsuo said through gritted teeth.

His cat ran after the fish and as soon as he got to it, Daniel squeezed his hand and the cat was trapped.

“Save your cat or fight me?” the blue elf mentioned. “He’s your extra eyes, ears and nose.”

Katsuo gritted his teeth, he wasn’t about to take the bait. He was a puppeteer he could work with his cat imprisoned. He knew that being a cat lover, Daniel couldn’t hurt any cat. With swift finger work he moved his puppet around to repeatedly attack Daniel and fire poison darts at him. Daniel dodged each attack, they did know each other too well.

Sand could only block or crush and Daniel never got the opportunity to cover the puppet in sand. Instead Katsuo’s puppet brought out a pair of swords to fight with and Daniel knew he had to bring out his new weapon. His chakra katanas, no secret since Katana kept spying on him.

“So thats what Eamonn-sensei taught you,” Katsuo remarked.

And without allowing for a reply, Katsuo attacked further. Daniel fought off the attacks, blade hitting chakra. After several minutes of Daniel saw his opportunity and struck, cutting Katsuo’s puppet in half. In a moment of confusion for the puppeteer, Daniel leaped over and ran along the chakra strings toward him.

“Shit,” Katsuo swore.

He was about to try and pull the strings back but he felt the sand swirling at his legs. Without the eyes of his cat he had been left open and Daniel had taken advantage. Within moment Katsuo had all but been encased in sand, he could no longer move his hands to control his puppet.

“You’re stuck, concede defeat,” Daniel said.

“Bastard,” Katsuo cursed. “I… concede damn you little fucking bastard I’ll get you for this.”

Daniel smirked.

"Well, that was fast." Travis commented on Gabriel.

"Gabriel-Daniel is the winner!" Shikamaru announced, eliciting applause from the Blue Elf Fan Club and other well-wishers. "Umino Haruka and Maxwell (Theao), please come on down!"

"Look! Haruka's up next." Katrina said.

"Go get 'em, kid." Jacob grinned. Iruka, one of the guards for the Hokage, smiled proudly.

"Will do!" Haruka put two thumbs up and lept down the arena.

Daniel bowed and allowed Katsuo and his cat to go free. As Daniel rejoined the others, Katsuo's cat ran off dragging the patially eaten fish with him.

"Wow he really beat you," Sayuri remarked as Katsuo walked past.

"Bite me," was his only reply.

Maxamillion stood and headed down to the arena, slightly surprised at the speed the second match ended. Gabriel-Daniel would bear watching, thought it was obvious that he had known his opponent quite well and thus been able to target his weaknesses.

Walking over to the opposite side of the arena from his opponent, he waited for the match to begin. "This is going to be interesting."

Maxamillion stood and headed down to the arena, slightly surprised at the speed the second match ended. Gabriel-Daniel would bear watching, thought it was obvious that he had known his opponent quite well and thus been able to target his weaknesses.

Walking over to the opposite side of the arena from his opponent, he waited for the match to begin. "This is going to be interesting."
"And...begin!" Shikamaru announced.

"This ought to be a good one, folks! Haruka Umino is known to have been trained by the Jedi Alchemist himself, Jacob Masaki!" Colonel Hughes commented.

Haruka clapped his hands and touched them onto the ground. From there, a dangerous spear sprouted out of the ground, with a wicked-looking blade on either side of the long hit. Haruka spun it around and pointed it forward. "Let's do it!"

Max grinned as he watched his opponent arm himself. He decided to begin with one of the classics, and also one of his personal favourites, Kirigakure no Jutsu. As the mist, that was as thick as the proverbial pea-soup, began spreading he activated his Kekkai Genkai and disappeared into the mist with a come-get-me gesture and a smile.

Three fights: a bloody one, a quick one with the little blue elf, and the this one. One boy makes spear come out of the ground. The Dominionite royal family members of loving this whole deal. If the Coredians do this every year, they will get more Dominionite watchers.

Friedrich would have to ask Daniel about this later and see if Dominionite ninjas could be placed into with the Coredian ninjas.

Max grinned as he watched his opponent arm himself. He decided to begin with one of the classics, and also one of his personal favourites, Kirigakure no Jutsu. As the mist, that was as thick as the proverbial pea-soup, began spreading he activated his Kekkai Genkai and disappeared into the mist with a come-get-me gesture and a smile.
"Not again!" Haruka groaned. Then he had a thought. His sight was gone, but not his other senses. He closed his eyes, remembering Jacob's training and began to feel the air around him, to listen for the slightest sound, and to sniff for the slightest scent...

Max grinned as he watched his opponent arm himself. He decided to begin with one of the classics, and also one of his personal favourites, Kirigakure no Jutsu. As the mist, that was as thick as the proverbial pea-soup, began spreading he activated his Kekkai Genkai and disappeared into the mist with a come-get-me gesture and a smile.

OOC: No mist, I'm modeling the storm after the desert monsoon types that pop up in RL places like Arizona during July and August. Surface dew point would be around 68, temperature around 105-107; that'd put relative humidity at the surface at about 40%. Still moist enough to rain, but you'd have to go up into the cloud to find mist.

OOC: No mist, I'm modeling the storm after the desert monsoon types that pop up in RL places like Arizona during July and August. Surface dew point would be around 68, temperature around 105-107; that'd put relative humidity at the surface at about 40%. Still moist enough to rain, but you'd have to go up into the cloud to find mist.

OOC: If I'm not mistaken, I believe the mist is a result of a water jutsu and not Whitfield's atmospheric manipulation.

IC: Abel knew that genetic memory and the things that made SeaQuestians what they were wouldn't normally be found in non-SeaQuestians. He also knew that apparent age and actual age didn't always coincide with each other. Even with all that, the fact that honor duels occured in SeaQuest, and other stuff, he still visibly winced at the brutality of the first match. Why one so young would be so violent was far outside his experience. The confusion it caused made him miss on the tension being created elsewhere that would soon release in such a way that he wouldn't be able to miss it then.

Kosh, on the other hand, maintained his usual silently stoic facade. Not even Abel could really know what Kosh was really thinking. Of course, what carbon based life-form, like Abel, could truely read what a crystaline being, like Kosh, didn't want to be seen, heard, felt, sensed, or known.

Max grinned again as he ghosted throught the hidden battlefield. He knew of the weaknesses of the mist jutsu and had prepared for it in two different ways. Reaching into a pocket, he drew out two moss green orbs. They were filled with ammonium sulfide, sure to put a nose questing for the mild body oders out of commission.

Flicking his wrist, he sent both orbs to shatter so they'd cover the most area. He also drew out a kunai with his other hand and let it fly at Haruka. He intended not to use his second method to bolster his Kirigakure no Jutsu unless it was needed.

Max grinned again as he ghosted throught the hidden battlefield. He knew of the weaknesses of the mist jutsu and had prepared for it in two different ways. Reaching into a pocket, he drew out two moss green orbs. They were filled with ammonium sulfide, sure to put a nose questing for the mild body oders out of commission.

Flicking his wrist, he sent both orbs to shatter so they'd cover the most area. He also drew out a kunai with his other hand and let it fly at Haruka. He intended not to use his second method to bolster his Kirigakure no Jutsu unless it was needed.
"Aww man! What a foul odor!" Hughes moaned and pinched a pin on his nose. "Ammonium Sthufide, volkths! One of the sthinkiest chemicalsth known!"

The crowd scrambled to put something around their noses. The caterers came down with convenient nose masks and were nearly trampled by the many folks wanting them.

"Damn! That stinks!" Haruka winced as the stink bomb filled the arena, then felt the kunai flying his way. The spear moved into the kunai's way and got knocked out of the air. "Ugh. I think I'm gonna be sick...but not yet."

Haruka planted his spear into the ground and clapped his hands again. Energy crackled around him and blew outward and a heavy wind blew into the area at the same time. The combined winds of alchemy and the weather blew away the mist, clearing the arena of white and stink. Now...

Slamming his hands down, a long alchemic reaction began, and a large shape began to form. The shape of a living statue of rock: a Golem! Rock-nin in the area silently swore at the excellent use of alchemy to form this thing. The golem attacked Max...

OOC: If I'm not mistaken, I believe the mist is a result of a water jutsu and not Whitfield's atmospheric manipulation.

OOC: Thank you, I don't really go for the seals that much because I have no idea what on Earth "*insert Japanese word here* no jutsu" means. To all participants in this thread: If you RP a seal/jutsu, you'll have to explain it in a little more detail than three Japanese words strung together for me to understand it.

Max grinned at the announcer's comments and the sights of the crowds and the lucky caterers. The wind was a bit of a wrinkle he hadn't expected, and something the crowd standing in the path of the oder would not appreciate.

The appearence of the golem made the match more interesting. Before the living statue was fully formed he began the seals for Suiton: Bakusui Shōha, to partially flood the field and turn it into a muddy slurry that the golem should sink into and get taken out of commission.

As yet Haruka seemed to be trying to feel him out, something he was doing as well and he wondered if his opponent would make his move or if they would continue thier deceptive dancing.

Max grinned at the announcer's comments and the sights of the crowds and the lucky caterers. The wind was a bit of a wrinkle he hadn't expected, and something the crowd standing in the path of the oder would not appreciate.

The appearence of the golem made the match more interesting. Before the living statue was fully formed he began the seals for Suiton: Bakusui Shōha, to partially flood the field and turn it into a muddy slurry that the golem should sink into and get taken out of commission.

As yet Haruka seemed to be trying to feel him out, something he was doing as well and he wondered if his opponent would make his move or if they would continue thier deceptive dancing.
The water wasn't a problem as the Golem was made waterproof with alchemy. It roared and attacked Max with a surprisingly quick punch.

Max was caught off-guard that the golem could still move at speed considering the ground beneath it was rapidly turning to slurry like mud. The punch caught him a glancing blow, causing him to land on the dry dirt that ringed the muddy pit he'd created to trap the golem.

Gesturing for Haruka to come and get him with one hand, his other dipped into his pocket to pull out and palmed three orbs of the same size as the stink bombs.

Haruka noticed that the Mist-nin had something in his hand. Oh no you don't!

The Golem continued the attack, punching and backhanding Max, intent on knocking him out of the duel.

Max skipped back as he dropped one of the orbs in his hand. Shattering, it enveloped a goodly portion of the arena in smoke. As the golem swung wildly Max utilized some of the water in the swamp, drying out a small portion for a water clone.

With the golem likely distracted by the dodging clone, he whipped both remaining orbs at Haruka. Each held an exceptionally potent irritant. He also decided to add his Kirigakure no Jutsu to obscure the battlefield yet again, doing the handseals as the orbs left his hand.

"And now, let the Tournament begin!" I announced to the end of the Anthem and disappeared, reappearing in the VIP box and took my seat.

Shikamaru the ref walked up to the contestants. "Ahem. If I may have your attention. For some reason, young Lialai appears to be missing, so we'll give her time to get here."

"What if she doesn't come?" Travis asked. He was looking forward to dueling her.

"She'll forfeit." Shikamaru shrugged. He pulled out a piece of paper showing an updated version of the Tournament rounds. "Should she forfeit, you will duel Sayuri and Haruka will face Max, with the winner dueling Kaneda (aka Jesse). Tetsuo (aka Janus) and Masato, please step forward. All others will be in the stands until their time comes."

"Alright." Haruka nodded. Crap. Facing that Mist guy so early...

The other genin lept up or walked up into the stands and then an invisible shield went up in case the duel went violent. Can't have the crowd hurt!

"As per rules, there are none. If there is a clear winner, I will cease the battle." Shikamaru said. "Ready? Begin!"

For a guy who's lazy, he was surprisingly quick at stepping back to avoid the battle.

A feral grin sprouted on Janus' face as lines of blackness could be seen through psychic means, reaching out for Masato like shadows, but not. His gravitational powers crumbled the area around him as they expanded.

I leaned forward, sensing the darkness pour from "Tetsuo". It was very familiar. Too familiar.

"Dad?" Travis said, coming up to the box. "The guy down there feels like Janus, the guy I fought a few months back. He's stronger than before."

"Good observation." I inwardly groaned as I saw, too late, the lapse in security. If one like Janus, one of Nightshades' twin sons, could pass through security, what else could have slipped through? Damn. "Keep an eye on him."

"I will." Travis nodded.

I sighed. Nothing to do right now but see the Tournament to its end.




"LIALAI GET UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", Lialai heard as she was shaken awake by Gordunt and Shaoel. She had overslept. She quickly jumped up. "Damnit, why didn't you wake up earlier. Lialai quickly got dressed and looked at the time. The first match certainly had already started.

She thought to herself, I must get to the tournament quickly. The Force surged throughout her body as she teleported outside of the stadium. She quickly weaved through the crowds to the stands. She saw where her masters were sitting and began to work her way over there.

Den voiced to her, For a minute there I didn't think you would make it. Lialai smiled and replied back, Just a little extra sleep. Nothing big. Another match was currently going on. She quickly made her way up next to Barak and Den and began watching the match. Barak then said, "Your fight is up soon. You have to be more prompt Lialai. I've told you about this." Lialai nodded and said, "I know."

Lialai started thinking back to all of her training. She had learned a lot. She spotted Travis in the stands. She knew that this would be a fight to remember. She thought to herself, I am truly ready for this match. I hope you are too, Travis. She then looked back at the tournament.

OOC: Where are all of the Kages located? I need to know of the Raikage's surroundings.

OOC: I am so lost. The invasion has begun huh? Okay I got something for it.

IC: Lialai sat and watched the first match. Once it was over she looked around at everyone. Something was wrong. Something very wrong. Barak's hair began to stiffen as the Force told him what was about to happen.

Then it began.

Hourds of enemy ninja revealed themselves to them. Barak looked around and yelled to his team, "Get to Raikage!" Lialai looked towards the VIP Box. There were already enemy shinobi on there way up.

Barak sent a strong current throughout his hair and yelled, "*Shock Needles!" Hundreds sharpened hair needles erupted from Barak's head and hit three rock nin in the back.

Den lept into air and came down with his purple lightsaber impaling a shadow nin's head. He began throwing force balls in all directions and trying to keep enemies away from the VIP Box.

Gordunt and Shaoel quickly lept into action by taking on a tremendous golem. Gordunt looked at Shaoel and said, "That thing is huge." Shaoel replied, "Yep," as lightning appeared in his eye. Gordunt pulled out his Crimson Blade and charged towards the golem. Shaoel did a series of handsigns and yelled, "Raiton no Justu!" Lightning bolted down from the sky and struck the Golem. It stopped for a second and kept coming towards the pair. Gordunt said, "Well it looks like we are going to have to try something else." The golem raised a mighty fist into the air and attempted to smash them, but the two cloud nin quickly lept out of the way.

Meanwhile Lialai was making her way towards the middle of the floor. She saw Travis engage in battle with another contestant and began running towards him until she was confronted by another sith. Lialai quickly drew her lightsaber and began battle with the sith.

The Raikage stood up from his seat inside of the box. Lord, everytime I leave from my village I have to fight. He took off his hat and robe and stepped outside of the box and dared someone to come up to him. He would show the true strength of the Cloud Village.

- tag -

A couple of enemy nin made the mistake of attacking the Raikage, jumping high and running low to kill him with blades of steel.

The Raikage saw the man running low coming. He smirked and said, "Idiot." He punched the ground and sent a huge lightning ball through the ground electrocuting him to death. He withdrew two kunai and slung them at the nin in the sky. He then made a hand sign and yelled, "Lightning Release: Mystic Bolt Jutsu!" Five green bolts of lightning struck the man as the two kunai slashed his legs. The Raikage turned around as the man who was aerial landed on top of the dead body of his comrade. He began walking towards the center of the arena defeating any enemy of Leaf and Cloud on his way.

OOC: If I could be so bold as to request that the RP and any attacks based on the CW/Huntaer situation be postponed for the moment, till CW can return and retconning can commense?

OOC: If I could be so bold as to request that the RP and any attacks based on the CW/Huntaer situation be postponed for the moment, till CW can return and retconning can commense?

OOC: Agreed, but let's not go on post-deleting sprees either until CW gets back and has a chance to respond to these OOC developments. I'd like the RP to be in the same condition that it was when he left, and as such, I won't be posting ICly tonight, either.

Max skipped back as he dropped one of the orbs in his hand. Shattering, it enveloped a goodly portion of the arena in smoke. As the golem swung wildly Max utilized some of the water in the swamp, drying out a small portion for a water clone.

With the golem likely distracted by the dodging clone, he whipped both remaining orbs at Haruka. Each held an exceptionally potent irritant. He also decided to add his Kirigakure no Jutsu to obscure the battlefield yet again, doing the handseals as the orbs left his hand.
"Ah. Damn!" Haruka got irritant on his skin. As soon as the mist formed, it was blown away yet again by the incoming storm's high winds. Better check the weather next time! Haruka clapped his hands, performing a transmutation to get rid of the irritants. Then, he went on the offensive, taking up his spear and assaulting Max with it.


"LIALAI GET UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", Lialai heard as she was shaken awake by Gordunt and Shaoel. She had overslept. She quickly jumped up. "Damnit, why didn't you wake up earlier?" Lialai quickly got dressed and looked at the time. The first match certainly had already started.

She thought to herself, I must get to the tournament quickly. The Force surged throughout her body as she teleported outside of the stadium. She quickly weaved through the crowds to the stands. She saw where her masters were sitting and began to work her way over there.

Den voiced to her, For a minute there I didn't think you would make it. Lialai smiled and replied back, Just a little extra sleep. Nothing big. Another match was currently going on. She quickly made her way up next to Barak and Den and began watching the match. Barak then said, "Your fight is up soon. You have to be more prompt Lialai. I've told you about this." Lialai nodded and said, "I know."

Lialai started thinking back to all of her training. She had learned a lot. She spotted Travis in the stands. She knew that this would be a fight to remember. She thought to herself, I am truly ready for this match. I hope you are too, Travis. She then looked back at the tournament.

OOC: Where are all of the Kages located? I need to know of the Raikage's surroundings.
OOC: Again, VIP Box. But this time, the invasion hasn't started yet! :p

IC:
I scanned the crowd every so often as I watched Haruka and Max duke it out. In moments, I spotted Lialai, and smirked as I sent a telepathic message to her. As Team Seven would say: You're late! Here's a quickie: Tetsuo won by default, Gabriel-Daniel won as well, I now have the title of Raitei or Lightning Emperor, and you and Travis are next.

Max leapt back so he was at the edge of the mud pit. Unless Haruka was not paying attention, he would notice the muddy ground behind Max and all things going as they should, try and drive him into it.

Shifting his stance slightly he drew a kunai and waited for Haruka to attack as his mind whirled in preparation.

Max leapt back so he was at the edge of the mud pit. Unless Haruka was not paying attention, he would notice the muddy ground behind Max and all things going as they should, try and drive him into it.

Shifting his stance slightly he drew a kunai and waited for Haruka to attack as his mind whirled in preparation.
hmm. Muddy ground. Max being driven towards it. A trap to begin! Haruka thought, analyzing. He jabbed and whipped his spear forward, but not hard enough to overreach himself...

Max parried and blocked with the kunai as he inched backward, fighting defensively and slightly desperately. He got so that one good assault should be able to drive him back into the mud. He was counting on Haruka to deliver that attack.

Max parried and blocked with the kunai as he inched backward, fighting defensively and slightly desperately. He got so that one good assault should be able to drive him back into the mud. He was counting on Haruka to deliver that attack.
"Hah!" Haruka focused the point of his spear into Max, clearly forcing the other boy to backpedal into the mud. Now's my chance. This is it!

He stabbed his spear into the ground again, clapped his hands and focused right on the muddy ground. Suddenly, it began to move and trap Max's feet in place...

OOC: Theao, your post #73 needs a delete.

Max grinned as his opponent lunged, driving him into the mud. Backpedalling he saw Haruka stick his spear in the ground and dropped to the ground. While he had appeared to sink in the slurry-like mud he had made, he had used his chakra to keep his feet and legs clear of the mud.

Leaping up and back in the instant Haruka clapped his hands together for his alchemy, he threw a star and kunai at his opponent aiming for incapacitating but otherwise non-fatal points.

ooc: Done

"Ugh! Ow!" Haruka gritted his teeth as the sharp points sunk into his flesh, drawing blood. But he refused to stop and the mud transformed into whips that snagged at Max's legs, then traveled up his body...

As the alchemized mud whips began wrapping around his legs, Max drew one of his remaining kunai. Slashing down and throught the whips, he flipped back and landed, breathing heavily as he watched Haruka for signs of weakening due to blood-loss or muscule injury.

After the mud whips were slashed, the mud seemed to pulsate in anger and reached out with a hand, almost smashing down on Max as he landed. Then, the mud hand hovered inches from Max, crumbled away. The Golem too died.

"Huff. Huff. Huff. I give up." Haruka smirked tiredly at the point of victory. His face was pained as he held the blood back from his wounds. "Look where you are."

Behind Max was the corner wall of the arena.

"Between the Golem, my spear attacks and alchemy, I've cornered you into the wall. I would have ended the battle then, but there's no point in pushing myself to the limits for a win. After all, had I gone any further, I would have run out of chakra."

Smart kid. Shikamaru smiled slightly. "Max wins by submission!"

Taking up his spear, Haruka walked into the corridors where medics waited to treat him before the cheers of the crowd, cheering for both boys. Though he may have lost the battle, he may very well have won the war.

"Next up: Lialai and Travis! Come on down!" Shikamaru ordered.

"Finally!" Travis yelled and headed down to the arena. Did I mention he was quick about it? I shook my head. I hope his plan works...

"I know where I am." Max commented for the first time in the match. He had been aware of the distances to the wall the entire fight thanks to his bloodline-limit. He had also been prepared to deal with the situation, but it was no longer relevent.

"Thank you for a challenging match." He added as he likewise headed out of the arena to let the next match take place.

"You're welcome." Haruka said as bacta patches went on his wounds to clean them.

Jinto and Lafiel both applauded as the match ended. It had proved to be an honest fight between the two and both faught well enough of acknowledgement. "It seems that both contestants fought with everything they had."

Lafiel finished clapping and relaxed back into her seat. "Of course they did. It makes no sense engaging in combat and not fighting with all your might and will."

"Oh, right."

The royal family added their claps into the mix. Now here was the fighter Friedrich wanted to watch, Daniel’s son in a duel. In the back of his head, he wants Travis to win the match.

Go get a win for your family name. said Raidon using the Force to send it into Travis’ head.

I will! Travis said, doing a little stretching while he waits for Lialai.

Shikamaru looked at his watch. "How troublesome..."

Abel held his applause for the time being. He had viewed the match as an interesting duel, but, in his opinion, it felt so anti-climactic to clap his hands at such a time. When he heard that one of the Masaki bloodline was in the next match, he glanced up from the between-match musings he had sunk into.

"If I've heard correctly," he thought, "The Masaki bloodline's gift is a rather exceptional control of Electricity. Perhaps that could indicate a possible aptitude for the fifth Element of Magick."

Kurt rubbed his chin as he waited for the next match to start. He had enjoyed the matches that had taken part so far, particularly his sons win over his own team-mate.

I look forward to seeing if your son can win as well, he told Daniel.

Yeah. I tell you, he's going to be full of surprises. I replied with a smile.

Oh I'll be looking forward to it, Kurt replied with a chuckle. And I'll tell you, expect more from Gabriel.

Meanwhile, Master Whitfield simply observed the fights, not particularly attaching himself to any one outcome or any one combatant. He had more important things to worry about; he considered his presence here mere diplomatic formality.

As Whitfield, on high guard even for an experienced Jedi Master such as he, sensed a dark presence growing closer, he left the storm brewing overhead to itself; by now he had fed it more than enough energy to grow on its own. Moreover, if he raised the temperature too much further from the current hundred-seven degrees Fahrenheit, the relative humidity would drop a bit too low for his liking. He could also use the colder air twenty to thirty miles away to create a mini-stationary front to prolong the life of the storm, if he needed to.

The storm, fed by more than a sunny afternoon's worth of daytime heating in the timespan of only a minute, quickly developed a black cloud base...that turned more like a dark greenish gray. Moreover, a strong rotation, never a good sign for those that liked their weather peaceful, also started to form at the base of the still-growing thundercloud. By now, the sky filled with cloud-to-cloud lightning strikes, but it hadn't started raining yet. The updrafts, registering on wind gauges as sustained fifty miles per hour with gusts to eighty, were still too strong for that...

The storm brewing overhead was moreover a fairly accurate reflection of what Master Whitfield sensed in the Force. Some unidentified fell darkness stirred his senses...

"As you can see, the storm is actually intensifying and despite reports that the sky is growing an ugly green color, there is no rain to come yet. But when it comes, prepare your umbrellas and ponchos, folks, because we're predicting several inches of rain in a very short time." The Weather-nin reported amists a Severe Weather update.

Max grinned in pleasure as he heard the weather report while waiting for the second match to begin. He'd be able to cut completely lose as he'd have a large volume of water that would require less chakra to manipulate than having to create it himself.

The updrafts continued to lift up items such as empty trashcans and heave them about; they continued to rip umbrellas out of spectators' hands, and generally cause mayhem as they strengthened.

While Max waited for his match to start, several strokes of lightning lit up the darkened sky, so much lightning that the crowd watched it almost as much as they watched the fights. It did not take long for lightning to strike the field of combat of its own volition, either; whilst Max waited, a couple of strokes lit up the field...

Then everything that the wind had sucked up into the air, it threw back into the ground as the huge updraft became instead a downdraft...a hundred-mile-per-hour microburst was more like it. Suddenly hail the size of baseballs started bouncing off of everything, making all manner of noise, and exposed spectators moved quickly to cover their heads. Not long after, sheets of water came pouring down to the tune of an inch every ten minutes; the field of combat, innunated not only by rain, but melting hailstones, became, in merely a minute, a muddy cesspit that would suck in all manner of shoes. If there was one ounce of good news for those gathered, the temperature started to fall rapidly, courtesy of evaporative cooling...

Yet for Master Whitfield, it still seemed suspiciously quiet, given the darkness he sensed in the Force...

-----

OOC: My understanding that both scheduled combatants can manipulate lightning and such, no? This one should be interesting... :D

"Aww damn!" Travis yelped as he was knocked down by the wind and pelted by the hail. Muddy as the ground was, he did have the presence of mind to alter the grip of his shoes to prevent slipping as he raced for shelter.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like the arena's hailing, and I don't mean it's calling for a taxi! Please stay calm as we deal with the situation." Colonel Hughes said through the speakers.

In moments, the arena was flooded, not a problem for people who can walk on water, and patrons were given towels by the caterers to dry off. The roofs extended to cover the stands but any thought of cancelling the Tournament was brushed off as the crowd waited for the next fight.

"Lialai of the Cloud ninjas appears to be unavailable!" Shikamaru announced to the crowd. "She will be given ten minutes to show up or else she forfeits the match!"

"C'mon, Lialai." Travis mumbled.

As people headed to bathrooms or meal and game stalls for the ten minute break, I wandered over to Whitfield. "Say, what made you such a great closet meteorologist? Even I wouldn't be able to do this in such a short time."

With an amused snort, Abel gathered a handful of his hair and twisted to wring out the water. With a wry smile, he noted Kosh telekinetic powers had kept him dry. At the same time, Abel dried out the rest of his hair and his clothes in one go. Not by using heat to steam dry, but using magick to simply pull the water into one purified glob floating next to him. It continued to grow larger as he pulled more and more drops out of his clothes and hair. Any and all impurities formed into a second glob.

"During my original term of Prime Minister, before I became a Jedi, I saw the climate in Evil Woody Thoughts go from subtropical to boreal in a matter of a few years. I do remember Polar Cyclone Arlene quite well...imagine a Category 5 hurricane that brings snow, not rain, and occurs in December. One cannot effectively govern in such a situation without surrounding himself with climatologists." The old Jedi Master gave Daniel a wry grin. "And the effect of temperature on weather is not to be underestimated."

"Interesting." I noted, looking up at the powerful deep-green sky. "I know you sensed Nightshade among the crowd somewhere. This would amplify both our powers for sure. Although Taylor appears to be none too pleased..." I smiled at my brother's expense.

Taylor just pouted, sitting on his chair. General Mustang wasn't much different in mood. Former master and apprentice's gloves were useless in weather like this, as Lt. Colonel Riza Hawkeye-Mustang pointed out dryly (excuse the pun). Still, they rubbed air molecules together around them to dry themselves out. At least that aspect of temperature manipulation hasn't changed...

On the other hand, Jacen Masaki's mood was very cheerful, as he just loves the rain. And he can keep himself dry like it was nothing.

"Anyone know where I could get buckets to put these things in?" asked Abel in regards to the sphere of pure water and the one of impurities he had pulled from his now dry clothes and hair.

Kosh turned his 'head' to glance in Abel's direction for a moment before returning his gaze to the floor of the arena below.

"Interesting." I noted, looking up at the powerful deep-green sky. "I know you sensed Nightshade among the crowd somewhere. This would amplify both our powers for sure. Although Taylor appears to be none too pleased..." I smiled at my brother's expense.

Taylor just pouted, sitting on his chair. General Mustang wasn't much different in mood. Former master and apprentice's gloves were useless in weather like this, as Lt. Colonel Riza Hawkeye-Mustang pointed out dryly (excuse the pun). Still, they rubbed air molecules together around them to dry themselves out. At least that aspect of temperature manipulation hasn't changed...

On the other hand, Jacen Masaki's mood was very cheerful, as he just loves the rain. And he can keep himself dry like it was nothing.

Master Whitfield looked at Taylor, who looked to be pouting because he couldn't use his gloves. Almost as if to address him, yet speaking to Daniel, Whitfield replied, "I refuse to use charms, gloves, or any other such nonsense. For me, there is no chakra, nor seals; there is only the Force. As long as the storm is not quite needed yet, I suppose it can be considered a little statement in that general direction. And yet..." some oxygen in front of Whitfield burst into flame... "my powers seem to be unaffected."

Shamman' ducked for cover , not necessairly going indoors, after the rain broke out. Damn it! Shamman thought to himself, [b]at least water will conduct electricity thrown by either myself, or my team.[/i]

A gust of wind caused shamman to finnaly decide to force his team into the inside of the Arena to help avoid

::Aelikes! It's pouring out here! How will the troops beable to fight through this!?::

::They have special visions in their helmets. I don't much care about them that much. I think I'll even help out the weather... Ready for a storm?::

::You wouldn't!::

OOC:
If you don't mind CW.

Master Whitfield looked at Taylor, who looked to be pouting because he couldn't use his gloves. Almost as if to address him, yet speaking to Daniel, Whitfield replied, "I refuse to use charms, gloves, or any other such nonsense. For me, there is no chakra, nor seals; there is only the Force. As long as the storm is not quite needed yet, I suppose it can be considered a little statement in that general direction. And yet..." some oxygen in front of Whitfield burst into flame... "my powers seem to be unaffected."
The two Fire Knights were mortified as Whitfield used his fire powers in the rain! Blasphemy! Heathen! And yet superior than them in the ways of the flame, they grudgingly admit.

I shook my head at their astonishment. "Yeah. Thing is, their gloves contain material that easily spark when they snap their fingers. Then the spark ignites when they concentrate the oxygen in an area, like around an enemy. Bombs on demand, in other words. But if it's damp or it rains like today...no sparks. Of course, I'd say they still have much to learn...like how to ignite stuff in the rain."

"But..." That comment completely deflated General Mustang's considerable ego.

"You're thirty-nine years old, Roy." I smirked. "There's time enough for you to learn a few new things from this Flame Master. Same for you, brother."

The two hung their heads in a slump. Definitely feeling the pinch of the truth. Now if only that girl Lialai would come out and start the match...

tag

The time was right for Friedrich to meet Daniel in person, the armored Field Marshal walked over to Daniel and the older man he was talking with. Something strange was that he had no water on his armor or the blue cape, what kind of trickily is up that that?

The two would find out in a few seconds, Friedrich was selectively generating heat around his body to make the rain disappear like it was in sun light. The rain just did not exist around this tall armor man, a Prince of another kingdom. A hidden Dominion but that would not last that long anymore with them siding with Daniel.

“Greetings, Emperor Daniel.” said Friedrich with a bow. He looked over at Whitfield. “And you too, sir. I’m Prince Friedrich Wildegraf Lehnsherr, an Field Marshal of the Dominionite Grand Army.”

"Hello." I smiled. "I hear the Count's sent his Royal Family here."

Aelikes began to close his eyes, and muttered silently. When he was done, he oppened his eyes and they were replaced by bright red glowing eyes, and he shouted out in a disoriented voice as though something posessed his body, "By the command of the Kirtir God Skorm, let there be sudden powerful, dark gusts of wind!"

"Hello." I smiled. "I hear the Count's sent his Royal Family here."

“Yes, he did. My father send me here.” said Friedrich. He looked back at the others. “And the others sitting with Master Raidon and two more with our fleet. You meet my brother, Reinhold, at the Houston Temple.”

Charles walked up now. He bowed his head to both men. “Meet my nephew, Charles Jaegar Lehnsherr, a Commander in our Zoid units.” said Friedrich. “One of our best pilots.”

The two Fire Knights were mortified as Whitfield used his fire powers in the rain! Blasphemy! Heathen! And yet superior than them in the ways of the flame, they grudgingly admit.

I shook my head at their astonishment. "Yeah. Thing is, their gloves contain material that easily spark when they snap their fingers. Then the spark ignites when they concentrate the oxygen in an area, like around an enemy. Bombs on demand, in other words. But if it's damp or it rains like today...no sparks. Of course, I'd say they still have much to learn...like how to ignite stuff in the rain."

"But..." That comment completely deflated General Mustang's considerable ego.

"You're thirty-nine years old, Roy." I smirked. "There's time enough for you to learn a few new things from this Flame Master. Same for you, brother."

The two hung their heads in a slump. Definitely feeling the pinch of the truth. Now if only that girl Lialai would come out and start the match...

Master Whitfield sensed the deflated egos of both General Mustang and Taylor Masaki, even if they did not always say it. "There is something that I have deliberately refrained from telling either of you up until now...I very strongly disdain the use of mechanical aids such as catalyst gloves for manipulating the Force. Catalysts can fail if conditions are not right, such as now. The Force is the Force, and not to be trifled with..."

The time was right for Friedrich to meet Daniel in person, the armored Field Marshal walked over to Daniel and the older man he was talking with. Something strange was that he had no water on his armor or the blue cape, what kind of trickily is up that that?

The two would find out in a few seconds, Friedrich was selectively generating heat around his body to make the rain disappear like it was in sun light. The rain just did not exist around this tall armor man, a Prince of another kingdom. A hidden Dominion but that would not last that long anymore with them siding with Daniel.

“Greetings, Emperor Daniel.” said Friedrich with a bow. He looked over at Whitfield. “And you too, sir. I’m Prince Friedrich Wildegraf Lehnsherr, an Field Marshal of the Dominionite Grand Army.”

"And greetings to you too, Prince Friedrich Lehnsherr," Whitfield replied, bowing as he stood up, thinking it disrespectful to address him for the first time from a seat, as if it was just idle chat. "And I am Prime Minister and Jedi Master Jacob Whitfield, of the nation of Evil Woody Thoughts."

Aelikes began to close his eyes, and muttered silently. When he was done, he oppened his eyes and they were replaced by bright red glowing eyes, and he shouted out in a disoriented voice as though something posessed his body, "By the command of the Kirtir God Skorm, let there be sudden powerful, dark gusts of wind!"

The winds picked up a bit, as if that was really possible, and Whitfield sensed a dark presence in the Force interfering with the weather. He looked distracted for a moment before having the presence of mind to say "Excuse me, Prince Lehnsherr, I sense something is askew..." before trailing off again. The Jedi Master thought of how to countervail it by forcing the storm to dissapate. He had put heat energy into it...and he could take said energy out of it...

Without heat, the storm would briefly flare into a blizzard, then die and fade away. If the Dark Side was going to use it to its ends (Whitfield had intended for it to amplify Daniel's powers in the event of a duel with Nightshade), Whitfield figured, best to get rid of it.

He grinned. "I hope you all have coats with you, because the weather-nin are going to be really busy now." He then closed his eyes, concentrating on making the temperature fall...

From eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit to seventy. At this point, Whitfield found it slightly harder as further cooling meant wringing moisture out of the atmosphere, for the air was now saturated in humidity. This meant that even though the storm was ultimately weakening, the rain actually got heavier, as if the storm was going through a cloudburst.

As if the storm was imploding upon itself...which was exactly what Whitfield wanted. The temperature fell further, to sixty, then fifty...

A minute or so later, snow started mixing in. Yes, that's right, after a high of 107 degrees not a half-hour ago, a heavy rain/snow mix inundated the arena. Master Whitfield grinned as he was keeping the weather-nin quite busy indeed...and the temperature was still falling. Darth Aelikes would have his wind, but not for long...

More flashes of lightning erupted right before the wintry mix turned to all snow, causing white-out conditions over the arena. The thunderstorm had turned itself into a full blizzard, complete with thundersnow, at Whitfield's behest. But the storm would exhaust itself soon.

Such was Whitfield's plan...

"And greetings to you too, Prince Friedrich Lehnsherr," Whitfield replied, bowing as he stood up, thinking it disrespectful to address him for the first time from a seat, as if it was just idle chat. "And I am Prime Minister and Jedi Master Jacob Whitfield, of the nation of Evil Woody Thoughts."

“Nice to meet you then.” said Friedrich.He thought about the nation’s name, Evil Woody Thoughts. A nation not on the Dominion record bases. During his thinking, the Jedi master was doing his time with the weather. But the prince knew nothing about it.

“I think this the first time that a Dominionite is meeting Woodian.” He offered his right hand to the prime minister to be shaken.

“Nice to meet you then.” said Friedrich.He thought about the nation’s name, Evil Woody Thoughts. A nation not on the Dominion record bases. During his thinking, the Jedi master was doing his time with the weather. But the prince knew nothing about it.

“I think this the first time that a Dominionite is meeting Woodian.” He offered his right hand to the prime minister to be shaken.

"I am very pleased to meet you," the Prime Minister replied with something of a grin on his face, shaking the Dominionite's hand after he had a few seconds available. "I do hope you like cold weather..."

"I am very pleased to meet you," the Prime Minister replied with something of a grin on his face, shaking the Dominionite's hand after he had a few seconds available. "I do hope you like cold weather..."

“Cold weather is fun.” said with a grin. A rare thing for him. “I was born with my own built in heater.”

The snow storm did not mess with him, he had an enough heat surrounding him to keep him warm. He was steaming, I mean he was really steaming. Cold air and hot air mixed around his body, creating a smoke looking thing surrounding him.

Master Whitfield sensed the deflated egos of both General Mustang and Taylor Masaki, even if they did not always say it. "There is something that I have deliberately refrained from telling either of you up until now...I very strongly disdain the use of mechanical aids such as catalyst gloves for manipulating the Force. Catalysts can fail if conditions are not right, such as now. The Force is the Force, and not to be trifled with..."
"You didn't have to rub that in our noses." Taylor groused.

"Yes. We're adults that know our own weaknesses." Roy Mustang nodded in agreement.

"Tell that to the time you two tried to snap your fingers and you nearly got swamped by a pirate group in the middle of a storm." Mustang's wife, the beautiful but deadly-with-blasters Riza Mustang sighed. "Overbearing egos have no place in a combat situation."

"Please!" Mustang and Taylor sang as if about to cry. "Enough with the torture!"

Katrina and I just laughed my heart out. Then we suddenly got snowed in.

The winds picked up a bit, as if that was really possible, and Whitfield sensed a dark presence in the Force interfering with the weather. He looked distracted for a moment before having the presence of mind to say "Excuse me, Prince Lehnsherr, I sense something is askew..." before trailing off again. The Jedi Master thought of how to countervail it by forcing the storm to dissapate. He had put heat energy into it...and he could take said energy out of it...

Without heat, the storm would briefly flare into a blizzard, then die and fade away. If the Dark Side was going to use it to its ends (Whitfield had intended for it to amplify Daniel's powers in the event of a duel with Nightshade), Whitfield figured, best to get rid of it.

He grinned. "I hope you all have coats with you, because the weather-nin are going to be really busy now." He then closed his eyes, concentrating on making the temperature fall...

From eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit to seventy. At this point, Whitfield found it slightly harder as further cooling meant wringing moisture out of the atmosphere, for the air was now saturated in humidity. This meant that even though the storm was ultimately weakening, the rain actually got heavier, as if the storm was going through a cloudburst.

As if the storm was imploding upon itself...which was exactly what Whitfield wanted. The temperature fell further, to sixty, then fifty...

A minute or so later, snow started mixing in. Yes, that's right, after a high of 107 degrees not a half-hour ago, a heavy rain/snow mix inundated the arena. Master Whitfield grinned as he was keeping the weather-nin quite busy indeed...and the temperature was still falling. Darth Aelikes would have his wind, but not for long...

More flashes of lightning erupted right before the wintry mix turned to all snow, causing white-out conditions over the arena. The thunderstorm had turned itself into a full blizzard, complete with thundersnow, at Whitfield's behest. But the storm would exhaust itself soon.

Such was Whitfield's plan...
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Konoha Weather Service has issued a...what? Blizzard warning?! But it was 107 not a minute ago...oh, jeez." The Weather-nin's head started to spin. "Yes, folks. We've got a blizzard warning. Watch out for ice and prepare for cold weather...in summer?"

"First a thunderstorm with hail, now a blizzard. What next?" Travis grumbled. "I hope I can start my battle before the weather gets wild again..."

Parkas, self-heating blankets and hot chocolate were handed out by the caterers. It's the weirdest thing, really. No matter what the problem is, those caterers always seem to have the right equipment for the job. It's just one of those commonly weird things that happen in Coreworlds.

I sighed as I pulled on a heavy cloak. "I wonder if the weather would get any wilder...So Whitfield, what's with the sudden freeze?"

Taylor and Mustang's moods cheered up now that at last, they could be of use heating up the air around people who wanted the walking fireplaces' help. And at least they could test out manipulating the temperature without needing the gloves. They'd be overkill anyway.

"Is the weather always this strange?" Kurt asked the Kazekage.

Gaara shook his head. "Not from what I remember on previous visits," he replied.

The King sighed. "This is something I'd expect on the Norns planet." He shuddered at the memories of that place.

“Cold weather is fun.” said with a grin. A rare thing for him. “I was born with my own built in heater.”

The snow storm did not mess with him, he had an enough heat surrounding him to keep him warm. He was steaming, I mean he was really steaming. Cold air and hot air mixed around his body, creating a smoke looking thing surrounding him.

"If you were born with your own built-in heater, I do hope you enjoyed the heat of a few moments past," Whitfield grinned."

I sighed as I pulled on a heavy cloak. "I wonder if the weather would get any wilder...So Whitfield, what's with the sudden freeze?"

"I sensed an agent of the Dark Side basically hijack the storm, so I had to kill it. There is a snow squall now, but if you were to reach out with your senses a bit, you would find the storm actually weakening. Which is what I want at this point. The cloud tops have dropped from eighty thousand to sixty thousand feet in the last few moments. I suppose I'm just lucky my apprentice isn't here..."

"I sensed an agent of the Dark Side basically hijack the storm, so I had to kill it. There is a snow squall now, but if you were to reach out with your senses a bit, you would find the storm actually weakening. Which is what I want at this point. The cloud tops have dropped from eighty thousand to sixty thousand feet in the last few moments. I suppose I'm just lucky my apprentice isn't here..."
I chuckled dryly. "He won't be happy about that, that's for sure. Besides, I wouldn't doubt he'd be able to see all this wild weather happen while he's on patrol whereever he is."

How troublesome. Lialai hasn't arrived in ten minutes. Shikamaru sighed. "Lialai forfiets the match! Travis is now to battle..."

A slight twing in the Dark Side occurred. Lady Nightshade grinned.

"...Kaneda!" Shikamaru announced. Hmm? I felt something weird...

Jesse (aka Kaneda) looked up in surpise. Travis did so as well. "It's about time. I sure wish I could duel Lialai..."

Travis and Jesse stepped onto the snowy arena, the wind whipping their clothes around. They were too psyched to feel the cold much.

"Ready?" Shikamaru raised his arm, then snapped it down. "Begin!"

*Crack* In less than a second, the two boys moved in blurs as if they teleported, reappearing with their lightsabers ablaze...attacking air.

"Huh?" "What?" They were on opposite sides of the arena.

Interesting. Their speed is equal. I thought.

Jesse recovered first, whipping his chain out at Travis, who jumped high to avoid it and cast Kage Bunshin no Jutsu after landing. Ten clones poofed into existance to assist Travis and lept at Jesse. The white-haired boy smirked and whipped his chain around, striking the clones with ease and poofing them away. Then his chain caught and wrapped around Travis. "Gotcha."

"Damn it! Aaaaaah!" Travis was struck by devastating electromagnetic energy that traveled through the chain, sapping his strength. Then with all his willpower, Travis rebounded the chain's energy with a Thunderbolt technique of his own. Now it was Jesse who recieved the shock of the day, shaking in electric convulsions. He forced himself to break off chain contact with his cousin and it shattered into metal shards that raced at Travis. It struck him...only to reveal a log taking the hit for Travis.

Jesse's senses scanned the area, then his eyes widened and he just barely dodged a devastating Reigun bolt that put a sizable hole in the duracrete wall of the arena. Reigun? When did he learn that?

"Hah! There's more where that came from!" Travis laughed, lined up his hand in the form of a gun and snapped off a second glowing blue shot, which knocked Jesse back despite the shield he put up around himself.

How the hell did he get so powerful so fast? Jesse thought, his mind racing to counter. "Malacia!"

"Malacia? That's not an easy technique to master." Katrina noted.

"Mmm." I grunted.

"Ugh!" Travis suddenly felt extremely nauseated and clutched his stomach, willing himself not to throw up. Jesse took the advantage by launching powerful punches and kicks at Travis, banging him up good. Then Jesse inflicted a headlock on Travis. It doesn't look good for the young Heir Apparent...

"This Kaneda kid is putting up a good fight," Kurt remarked. Hey Daniel, looks like your boy has some serious competion here eh?

The Kazekage leaned forward, his eyes watching Jesse's every move. "Something about him I don't like," Gaara said.

"He reminds me of Masato," Daniel said, placing his hands behind his head. "That's why I don't like him."

"Damn it! Aaaaaah!" Travis was struck by devastating electromagnetic energy that traveled through the chain, sapping his strength. Then with all his willpower, Travis rebounded the chain's energy with a Thunderbolt technique of his own. Now it was Jesse who recieved the shock of the day, shaking in electric convulsions. He forced himself to break off chain contact with his cousin and it shattered into metal shards that raced at Travis. It struck him...only to reveal a log taking the hit for Travis.

Jesse's senses scanned the area, then his eyes widened and he just barely dodged a devastating Reigun bolt that put a sizable hole in the duracrete wall of the arena. Reigun? When did he learn that?

"Hah! There's more where that came from!" Travis laughed, lined up his hand in the form of a gun and snapped off a second glowing blue shot, which knocked Jesse back despite the shield he put up around himself.

How the hell did he get so powerful so fast? Jesse thought, his mind racing to counter. "Malacia!"

"Malacia? That's not an easy technique to master." Katrina noted.

"Mmm." I grunted.

"Ugh!" Travis suddenly felt extremely nauseated and clutched his stomach, willing himself not to throw up. Jesse took the advantage by launching powerful punches and kicks at Travis, banging him up good. Then Jesse inflicted a headlock on Travis. It doesn't look good for the young Heir Apparent...

Shamman laughed wickedly, but quietly, as he watched Jesse beat Travis up on the ground. He was enjoying this match. Dispite the sudden change in weather. So he is trying to interfere. It would seem that my master is being beaten by a miserable Jedi... I can't wait to gloat in his face.

Damn, this guy is good... No matter. If he thinks he can just change the weather to get rid of the storm, then I'll just flow with the current weather conditions to my advantage... Aelikes lifted his hands, as if he was trying to reach the sky, and brought them down. Soon, temperatures droped even more. The storm grew cold, and the winter winds continued to pick up. It was only a matter of time before it would be as cold as the clasic planet of Hoth.

Yeah. I replied to Kurt with a frown. He's familiar, though. If I had a hunch...

I narrowed my eyes in surprise as the Force spoke truth to me. No way. That's Jesse, son of Nightshade.

=====

Travis choked, struggling to draw breath under the strong arms of his cousin Jesse. Then he drove an elbow into Jesse's ribs. "Oof..."

Jesse doubled over, allowing Travis to throw him over his shoulders. Travis followed up with a punch to his face, enhanced with the metal plate on his gloves, powered with lightning. Jesse rolled over just in time, feeling sparks sting his face and flipped back a couple of times. Then he noticed the small crater where his head would be. "Damn. You're strong."

"Heh." Travis smirked, moving into a stance as he wiped his mouth. "Let's go."

Lightsabers went out once more, but this time, they crashed, sending sparks everywhere. Travis was mainly on the defensive, but that means that Jesse has to double his efforts, especially as the fact that Travis' lightsaber proved somehow slippery to his magnetic powers. Then they locked blades.

"By the way, what are you doing here, Kaneda?" Travis asked with a smirk. "Or should I say...Jesse?"

"What?" Jesse was taken aback. Travis took the opportunity to press his advantage, striking out at Jesse, driving him back with every series of blows. The shock of Travis revealing him made him drop his disguise. Naturally white hair, steely black eyes with that sharp assassin look, a red long-sleeve shirt with a white T-shirt over and black pants. That's Jesse for sure.

"So it's you after all..." Travis chuckled as they locked blades again. "The hair gave it all away."

"You cocky bastard." Jesse growled. His anger manifested in pulling small metallic implements into the arena and shooting them at Travis. Travis blocked his face with his arms, but was slashed by the sharp implements anyway, yelling in pain. The boy stood his ground, erecting a shield of his own. But numerous cuts bled and Travis was losing strength bit by bit...

=====

Nightshade grinned. So. He has been revealed. No matter, for it begins...

She looked up at one of the ANBU guards. The "guard" nodded, and soon enough, sleepy feathers started to fall amongst the crowd. Those without the ability to see through this illusion soon grew drowsy and fell asleep. Then men and women revealed their position as Sound, Rock and Shadow nin/Dark Jedi. Konoha-nin realized the danger and started intercepting the enemy. It has begun.

VIP Box

The Dark Side has revealed itself in a major way, and everyone in the Box knew it. The ANBU guards stopped several enemies coming our way, but there were just too many and we were forced to fight.

"Somebody get to Travis, now!" I ordered, cutting an enemy in half before frying one behind me.

Jacen Masaki turned the rain and sleet into sharp shards that slashed into enemy troops. Taylor and the General focused their fire powers to keep their gloves dry and snapped their fingers, blowing up enemies left and right. Katrina pulled a rose out of her hair and it transformed into a very sharp, very deadly whip, lashing out and slashing apart enemies. Jacob mainly used his lightsaber, but a Reigun of his own kept ninjas at bay.

"Crap! It's like the Sound/Sand/Leaf War all over again." Naruto grumbled as his Rasengan tore apart the insides of a Sound soldier.

"Yeah. This is going to--SHIT!" Sasuke cursed as a man five years older than he is, with the same looks as himself, appeared, seemingly from nowhere. Two Konoha Ninjas were sliced in half without effort. Sasuke's eyes spun red with concealed fury. "Itachi..."

"Brother...it has been a while." The S-level criminal spoke coldly. "Let's see if you can take me on this time around. Or perhaps my niece can continue the Uchiha tragedy..."

"You stay away from my daughter, bastard!" Sasuke launched himself at Itachi. I'm not the only one with sibling problems, after all. Speaking of which...

Tsunade punched a ninja, instantly killing the Rock-nin with her uber-strength, then she noticed an old enemy looking down upon her from a rooftop. "Orochimaru. You have a lot of nerve showing up here and now. I would have thought you've learned your lesson!"

"Please, my dear Tsunade. You know what I want." The old Snake smiled wickedly. "Just hand it over and no one gets hurt."

"Never will I hand over Konoha to a fool like you. You'll turn it into you own twisted nightmare!"

"Then all shall be swept away to make way for my grand design! Die!" The Fifth Hokage engaged Orochimaru in what would be later remembered as the longest fight of her life.

I spotted Nightshade, advancing for Travis. No way is that bitch getting to my son! Just seconds before she reached the boy, I assaulted the Dark Lady with fierce blows of my lightsaber. "Travis! Get out of here! About time you showed up, Sister. I was wondering when you would begin the fight."

The boy, still bleeding, nodded and flickered away. Janus and Jesse followed.

"He is weakening. Soon, he shall fall and be mine..." Nightshade hissed.

I growled. "Over my dead body, Fiona."

Snarling, she retorted. "That can be arranged!"

Three intense, emotional duels began at the same time. The culminating of betrayal and disappointment, anger and hatred, sadness and fury clashed...

=====

The fighting intensified. The war triggered a response from the ground forces laying in wait outside of the capital village. Summons were called, giant vermin that salivated with the possibility of human flesh. Rats gnashed their teeth. Scorpions tested their claws. Spiders chittered evil words. Locusts and wasps flew overhead to provide air support until the fleet came. And the troops advanced.

And in space itself, the Obliterator fleet was notified.

Admiral Hoshiyomi Danzo smiled cruelly as he learned that the attack has begun. "Finally, we can advance. I have been waiting long for this. Sarutobi, watch as your nation crumbles under the might of the Empire. All ships, advance and prepare to engage the enemy!"

From its hidden spot two lightyears from the Konoha System, the fleet of the Obliterator prepared to perform a textbook microjump right on top of the Coredian forces and their worthless allies...

Just outside of the Arena Gates...

All the meanwhile, the extra Necromen who weren't involved with Shamman, Deshoonde, or Aelikes advanced through the city in their public disguises, just like the rest of the troops. One of the commanding Necromen, soon spotted a Huntarian Space Marine run up towards him with his armor shot up from the sharp snow Jacen Masaki created.

"We just got confirmation Commander!"

"Good! Charrrgee thrrrough theee city! Kill all in yourrr path! Noneee shall be sparrreed!" With that, the Commander lifted his Powersword and pointed it into the center streets of the city, and ran on forward striking at random civilians and enemy Coredian Guards. The Space Marines continued through the streets, but they met enemy troopers. The marine's opened fired their Kirtir Battle Riffles, and shots rang through the air at the enemy. The Terminators which were on the ground though... Their Dreadnaught Armor Mk II proved to be quite usefull against the snow shards. Having the strongest armor around, comparable to vehical armor, resisted the snow shards with ease and proceded through the city.

Friedrich watched the fight as he stood by Daniel and Whitfield. His eyes watching both boys. But his nose was doing something else, something was up with the other boy. So being a vampire, he smells the blood of both of them. His eyes widen after a little bit.

What? he said to himself. It can’t be.

He looked at Daniel, “Who is that boy your son is fighting?” he asked.

Before his question could be answer, Travis answered it for his father. “Jesse?” he said out loud. “One of Nightshade’s boys.” Then it happened, all hell broke loose.

He moved to the side as Charles send five purple lighting-like object at an enemy ninja trying to enter the VIP box. The explosive kinetic energy hit the ninja in the chest, creating a mess that nobody wants to clean up. “Go boy.” said Friedrich, at that time his claws show themselves. Six two feet long metal claws.

His eyes moved to his family, to see Master Raidon and Matt going Warlock on some enemy ninjas with their blue and orange blades. Lin Ming ripped part of her dress as she kicked another ninja. “Shit! I need my weapons.” he said.

“Chill, Aunt Lin.” said Jason as hit a ninja with his bio-electricity charged hands, a power stolen from his close by aunt.

The Dominionites were fighting on two side of the VIP box. The claws of Friedrich, the purple kinetic energy of Charles, the bio-electrical charged hand of Lin and Jason and the Warlock powers of Matt.

OOC: Huntaer and I have come to mutual agreement regarding detection of fleet; said agreement will be reflected in this post.

Shamman laughed wickedly, but quietly, as he watched Jesse beat Travis up on the ground. He was enjoying this match. Dispite the sudden change in weather. So he is trying to interfere. It would seem that my master is being beaten by a miserable Jedi... I can't wait to gloat in his face.

Damn, this guy is good... No matter. If he thinks he can just change the weather to get rid of the storm, then I'll just flow with the current weather conditions to my advantage... Aelikes lifted his hands, as if he was trying to reach the sky, and brought them down. Soon, temperatures droped even more. The storm grew cold, and the winter winds continued to pick up. It was only a matter of time before it would be as cold as the clasic planet of Hoth.

So he thinks he's going to take advantage... Whitfield thought of the mysterious Dark Side Force-user trying to hijack his storm for his own ends. I'll have to find another way to destroy it...

First order of business: killing the storm. Second order of business: Helping his fellow Jedi out, before they started to feel the side effects of hypothermia, the hypothermia being the main reason why dealing with the storm came first.

As he was the Fire Master, an idea popped in his head. Turning to the nearest ANBU trooper, he said, "I think I need an incendiary, and I need it now. Preferably rocket-propelled or equivalent." As the trooper had seen him start a spark of fire in the rain, he would know he was dealing with the Fire Master and he was not really in a position to argue...

The fighting intensified. The war triggered a response from the ground forces laying in wait outside of the capital village. Summons were called, giant vermin that salivated with the possibility of human flesh. Rats gnashed their teeth. Scorpions tested their claws. Spiders chittered evil words. Locusts and wasps flew overhead to provide air support until the fleet came. And the troops advanced.

Meanwhile, LTC Raúl Vigil and Major Chris Mrozik, along with two other Coredians out on 'Mech patrols, encountered the beasts and vermin that the Dark Side had summoned. Pulse lasers and PPC bolts filled the air wherever they approached the 'Mechs...

LTC Vigil sent an urgent priority transmission to Colonel Allaire indicating the patrols were coming under attack. But it was not the only urgent transmission the Colonel was about to receive...

And in space itself, the Obliterator fleet was notified.

Admiral Hoshiyomi Danzo smiled cruelly as he learned that the attack has begun. "Finally, we can advance. I have been waiting long for this. Sarutobi, watch as your nation crumbles under the might of the Empire. All ships, advance and prepare to engage the enemy!"

From its hidden spot two lightyears from the Konoha System, the fleet of the Obliterator prepared to perform a textbook microjump right on top of the Coredian forces and their worthless allies...

The sensor crews on the Immortal Star Destroyer Battlestar, on highest alert since the discovery of stormtroopers on a patrol the night before, remained vigilant, running the Star Destroyer's full ECCM suite on a scale that sucked down fully a third of the ship's reactor capacity.

Such vigilance was finally rewarded. "Admiral Riordan, we are picking up a diffuse ion drive emission signature. Like a few wings of starfighters. Several million klicks out yet, it'll take a couple of moments for them to get here."

"A few wings of starfighters..." The Admiral mused for a couple of seconds. "Then there is probably a supporting fleet around somewhere..."

Then it dawned on him.

Admiral Riordan quickly made two transmissions in the first couple of seconds while the Immortal Star Destroyer's computers acquired the targeting data necessary for long-range fighting. The first was an urgent transmission to Colonel Keith Allaire, the highest-ranking military officer on the ground (and a damn good one, too): "Prepare for planetary invasion!"

The second one, he transmitted straight to the Coredian command. "ECCM scanners have detected what we believe to be several wings of fighters. Supporting fleet is inferred. Prepare for battle and possible invasion. Get the planetary shield up yesterday! Divert civilian power grids into the shield to charge it faster!"

The next orders came to his gunners...

"Route all weapons power through PPC #15. We're going to give the enemy a little present when they decloak."

"But sir! This ship doesn't have weapons designed to handle that kind of yield!"

"I do not care what this ship was designed to do; I care about what it can do! Are you interested in a Trial of Refusal, Lieutenant?"

"Neg!" Some hapless lieutenant routed all weapons power such that when PPC #15 fired, it would draw on every weapons capacitator on the ship, leaving the Star Destroyer's power signature to look more like a Coredian Artillery Star Destroyer to sensors, both friendly and enemy alike...

On the ground

Colonel Keith Allaire received the Admiral's transmissions, as well as those from LTC Vigil, and it took him but a second to put the two together. It did not take long for him to reach the barracks intercom. "All 'MechWarriors, to your 'Mechs. Planetary invasion imminent. This is NOT a drill."

As he scrambled to his own 'Mech, he fired off a quick telepathic note to Whitfield, who answered it whilst waiting for the ANBU trooper to produce the incendiary device he so required. Planetary invasion fleet, apprentice/military adjutant warned his master. Request permission to redeploy White Diamond defense forces.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, the Jedi Master nodded his telepathic assent, giving the Colonel the authorization code via secure Force telepathy. As Colonel Allaire and the others powered up their 'Mechs, the Colonel encrypted his commlink to send an urgent-priority transmission to the homeworld:

Redeploy all Star Destroyers and half of frigates to Konoha immediately. All units to DEFCON 1. Authorization code follows...

He knew that it would take about three hours for the fleet to get here at best speed but he was sure he could delay the enemy on the ground for that long...

"Crap! It's like the Sound/Sand/Leaf War all over again." Naruto grumbled as his Rasengan tore apart the insides of a Sound soldier.

"With quite a difference," came Temari's voice behind Naruto. She leapted down, smashing her fan upon the head of a Sound Nin. "This time we are on the same side."

"Daniel, you stay with Quatre and the Kazekage," Kurt told his son. "Get to safety, Gaara I'm placing them in your care."

Gaara nodded and as the King teleported away, he led them out through the back of the VIP box. He covered all three of them in a sand shield to protect them from projectiles from above.

Kurt had teleported to the top of the Third Hokages head to scout out the area bellow and see where they were coming from.

OOC: Huntaer and I have come to mutual agreement regarding detection of fleet; said agreement will be reflected in this post.



So he thinks he's going to take advantage... Whitfield thought of the mysterious Dark Side Force-user trying to hijack his storm for his own ends. I'll have to find another way to destroy it...

First order of business: killing the storm. Second order of business: Helping his fellow Jedi out, before they started to feel the side effects of hypothermia, the hypothermia being the main reason why dealing with the storm came first.

As he was the Fire Master, an idea popped in his head. Turning to the nearest ANBU trooper, he said, "I think I need an incendiary, and I need it now. Preferably rocket-propelled or equivalent." As the trooper had seen him start a spark of fire in the rain, he would know he was dealing with the Fire Master and he was not really in a position to argue...

Now just what are you planning to do now hmm? Aelikes thought to himself. Aelikes continued to fuel the cold and snow continued to fall harder, and heavier. Making visibility hard for both sides. The odds should be even... For now. Or so he thinks.



The sensor crews on the Immortal Star Destroyer Battlestar, on highest alert since the discovery of stormtroopers on a patrol the night before, remained vigilant, running the Star Destroyer's full ECCM suite on a scale that sucked down fully a third of the ship's reactor capacity.

Such vigilance was finally rewarded. "Admiral Riordan, we are picking up a diffuse ion drive emission signature. Like a few wings of starfighters. Several million klicks out yet, it'll take a couple of moments for them to get here."

"A few wings of starfighters..." The Admiral mused for a couple of seconds. "Then there is probably a supporting fleet around somewhere..."

Then it dawned on him.

Admiral Riordan quickly made two transmissions in the first couple of seconds while the Immortal Star Destroyer's computers acquired the targeting data necessary for long-range fighting. The first was an urgent transmission to Colonel Keith Allaire, the highest-ranking military officer on the ground (and a damn good one, too): "Prepare for planetary invasion!"

The second one, he transmitted straight to the Coredian command. "ECCM scanners have detected what we believe to be several wings of fighters. Supporting fleet is inferred. Prepare for battle and possible invasion. Get the planetary shield up yesterday! Divert civilian power grids into the shield to charge it faster!"

The next orders came to his gunners...

"Route all weapons power through PPC #15. We're going to give the enemy a little present when they decloak."

"But sir! This ship doesn't have weapons designed to handle that kind of yield!"

"I do not care what this ship was designed to do; I care about what it can do! Are you interested in a Trial of Refusal, Lieutenant?"

"Neg!" Some hapless lieutenant routed all weapons power such that when PPC #15 fired, it would draw on every weapons capacitator on the ship, leaving the Star Destroyer's power signature to look more like a Coredian Artillery Star Destroyer to sensors, both friendly and enemy alike...

On the ground

Colonel Keith Allaire received the Admiral's transmissions, as well as those from LTC Vigil, and it took him but a second to put the two together. It did not take long for him to reach the barracks intercom. "All 'MechWarriors, to your 'Mechs. Planetary invasion imminent. This is NOT a drill."

As he scrambled to his own 'Mech, he fired off a quick telepathic note to Whitfield, who answered it whilst waiting for the ANBU trooper to produce the incendiary device he so required. Planetary invasion fleet, apprentice/military adjutant warned his master. Request permission to redeploy White Diamond defense forces.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, the Jedi Master nodded his telepathic assent, giving the Colonel the authorization code via secure Force telepathy. As Colonel Allaire and the others powered up their 'Mechs, the Colonel encrypted his commlink to send an urgent-priority transmission to the homeworld:

Redeploy all Star Destroyers and half of frigates to Konoha immediately. All units to DEFCON 1. Authorization code follows...

He knew that it would take about three hours for the fleet to get here at best speed but he was sure he could delay the enemy on the ground for that long...


"Admiral! We got confirmation! They've begun to attack the city!"

"Charge towards the enemy fleet. Remain cloaked."

"Ma'am... They'll detect us!"

"I know that! They probably already detected us anyways considering their fleet movement. And I want Phantom Squadron to be launched now! Have them cloak and procede towards the enemy fleet!"

"Aye Ma'am..."

The cloaked fleet moved forward at an alarming pace for the enemy fleets. They know that they'll be even more easily detected, stealth wasn't what they were realying on now. It's the fact that the enemy should have a slightly difficult time targeting them with their weapons.

So he thinks he's going to take advantage... Whitfield thought of the mysterious Dark Side Force-user trying to hijack his storm for his own ends. I'll have to find another way to destroy it...

First order of business: killing the storm. Second order of business: Helping his fellow Jedi out, before they started to feel the side effects of hypothermia, the hypothermia being the main reason why dealing with the storm came first.

As he was the Fire Master, an idea popped in his head. Turning to the nearest ANBU trooper, he said, "I think I need an incendiary, and I need it now. Preferably rocket-propelled or equivalent." As the trooper had seen him start a spark of fire in the rain, he would know he was dealing with the Fire Master and not really in a position to argue...
"Ah, yes sir." The ANBU member gave the Fire Master a class-A thermal detonator grenade with a launcher and moved on to continue fighting.

The sensor crews on the Immortal Star Destroyer Battlestar, on highest alert since the discovery of stormtroopers on a patrol the night before, remained vigilant, running the Star Destroyer's full ECCM suite on a scale that sucked down fully a third of the ship's reactor capacity.

Such vigilance was finally rewarded. "Admiral Riordan, we are picking up a diffuse ion drive emission signature. Like a few wings of starfighters. Several million klicks out yet, it'll take a couple of moments for them to get here."

"A few wings of starfighters..." The Admiral mused for a couple of seconds. "Then there is probably a supporting fleet around somewhere..."

Then it dawned on him.

Admiral Riordan quickly made two transmissions in the first couple of seconds while the Immortal Star Destroyer's computers acquired the targeting data necessary for long-range fighting. The first was an urgent transmission to Colonel Keith Allaire, the highest-ranking military officer on the ground (and a damn good one, too): "Prepare for planetary invasion!"

The second one, he transmitted straight to the Coredian command. "ECCM scanners have detected what we believe to be several wings of fighters. Supporting fleet is inferred. Prepare for battle and possible invasion. Get the planetary shield up yesterday! Divert civilian power grids into the shield to charge it faster!"
General McNeil, in charge of ground defense, heard the order. The civilians would grumble, but he knew that was a small price to pay for their survival. "Divert power grids to the planetary shields!"

"Sir, the civil..."

"People are dying, trooper! The civilians can argue about it later!" The general snapped.

"Yes sir!"

Brownouts and blackouts were reported as the military took control of the planetary grid and poured all their energy into the shields. Now, instead of fifteen minutes, it would only take five minutes for the planetary shields to be thrown up.

The next orders came to his gunners...

"Route all weapons power through PPC #15. We're going to give the enemy a little present when they decloak."

"But sir! This ship doesn't have weapons designed to handle that kind of yield!"

"I do not care what this ship was designed to do; I care about what it can do! Are you interested in a Trial of Refusal, Lieutenant?"

"Neg!" Some hapless lieutenant routed all weapons power such that when PPC #15 fired, it would draw on every weapons capacitator on the ship, leaving the Star Destroyer's power signature to look more like a Coredian Artillery Star Destroyer to sensors, both friendly and enemy alike...
"Whoa, sir! Power output increasing on EWT Star Destroyer Battlestar!" A sailor exclaimed to Grand Admiral Pellaeon. "Looks like it's going to fire the equivalent of one of our Artillery Star Destroyer!"

"Amazing what our allies would dream up." The Old Man of Space smiled thinly. "All forces to Red Alert. Ask the Woodians for telemetry support and prepare for battle!"

On the ground

Colonel Keith Allaire received the Admiral's transmissions, as well as those from LTC Vigil, and it took him but a second to put the two together. It did not take long for him to reach the barracks intercom. "All 'MechWarriors, to your 'Mechs. Planetary invasion imminent. This is NOT a drill."

As he scrambled to his own 'Mech, he fired off a quick telepathic note to Whitfield, who answered it whilst waiting for the ANBU trooper to produce the incendiary device he so required. Planetary invasion fleet, apprentice/military adjutant warned his master. Request permission to redeploy White Diamond defense forces.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, the Jedi Master nodded his telepathic assent, giving the Colonel the authorization code via secure Force telepathy. As Colonel Allaire and the others powered up their 'Mechs, the Colonel encrypted his commlink to send an urgent-priority transmission to the homeworld:

Redeploy all Star Destroyers and half of frigates to Konoha immediately. All units to DEFCON 1. Authorization code follows...

He knew that it would take about three hours for the fleet to get here at best speed but he was sure he could delay the enemy on the ground for that long...
The Coredian Fire Knight recieved the 'Mechwarrior call on his comlink. "Roy! Got to go to my Mech. Think you can handle the fire support?"

"Who do you think I am? Go on. Shoo." Mustang waved Taylor away. Then he noticed Huntaerian troops killing everyone in Konoha. "Time to start the burning."

Taylor nodded and teleported to the barracks. Spotting his 'mech with a grin, he jumped into the cockpit, put on the neural helmet and got ready to rumble...

"Ah, yes sir." The ANBU member gave the Fire Master a class-A thermal detonator grenade with a launcher and moved on to continue fighting.

Whitfield smirked as he took it. "Thank you."

He then took the launcher, loaded it, and fired the thermal detonator straight up into the sky, using the Force to send it up higher into the cloud...

He smirked as he detonated the thermal detonator in the thundercloud...

It was not your ordinary thermal detonator detonation, but rather one enhanced by The Flame Master and one of the most powerful Jedi around. The entire base of the thundercloud suddenly ignited in a huge ball of flame hot enough to incinerate anything in it, as Whitfield used the detonation to ignite the atmospheric oxygen itself.

The heavy snow suddenly stopped, as it was all instantaneously converted to steam in the cloud. The base of the cloud effectively incinerated itself, burned off, like afternoon sun burns off morning mist, weakening the storm immensely and allowing Whitfield to concentrate on raising the temperature to at least above freezing, if only slightly. Not exactly an everyday sight...

OOC: Will reply to the rest later, just wanted this part up ASAP.

Master Raidon moved higher to see the city and what was happening. He was cutting down enemy ninjas or frieding them with Force lightning. His eyes widen at the sight of civilian being killed by the enemy soldiers. Raidon was a former Sith, but that was not now, he is a Master Warlock.

“Prince Friedrich!” he yelled. “They are killing civilians.”

Friedrich spun to see nothing but he white smoke of Raidon’s teleport spell. “Oh shit, where did he go?” he said out loud. His question was answer as one by one his family had disappeared. He was the last to go.

Minutes later, they were all around the Tel’Tac shuttle. “Raidon, Matt, move out and help the Coredian Jedi and ninjas.” ordered the Field Marshal. Charles and Jason were already heading to the shuttle. Friedrich looked at Lin. “And you, go have fun.”

All Lin did was smile and ripped her dress off to show off her ninja suit (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/CountJWolf/LinMingCai.jpg), if you want to call it that.

Charles came back out carrying to staff weapons, Jason on the other hand had a staff weapon, a black bag and a black cloak. Friedrich was handled a staff weapon and Lin threw on the cloak with the bag over her shoulder. She jumped off the landing pad and heads off to find trouble, with a tantō in each hand.

The only ones of the landing pad were Friedrich, Charles, Jason and the clones. The Tel’Tac closed up and locked. “Move out!” ordered Friedrich. The seven men moved out with staff weapons at ready.

OOC: A'right, as everyone's posting (and its been about the 3 hours EWT asked for), I'm assuming I can repost this now. If I'm wrong, let me know and I'll just delete this copy and repost it later.

IC: Surface - Arena - Stands

Not trained in the ways of magick or psychometry (OOC: Mental, non-magick powers), the trio of plain clothes Lancers that had taken positions in the stands with the regular crowd were lazily starting to drowse off as the illusion took effect. One, though, did managed to trip an enemy ninja going past so that he fell flat on his face prior to the Lancer blanked out. Once word reached the Imperial Commonwealth ships concenring what was going on, they would be beamed out. Until then, though, they slumped in their seats fast asleep.

Surface - Docks

Whitestar 1 made an unprecidented move. Using a trait not seen in many craft outside SeaQuest, she descended into the atmosphere coming to a hover over the two Puddle Jumpers she had launched earlier. Once in position, troops began leaning out to provide cover fire for everyone trying to reach a ship and escape.

A message was transmitted to the local flight control:

I don't know if all ships down here have FTL ability or not. Thus, we are offering the use of our Indepence up in orbit as a safe refuge for as many as can reach her. At eight klicks long by five klicks wide, we should be able to fit quite alot in.

Meanwhile, the two Lancers who were watching the Chuunin Exams for the Jumper grabbed Zat'ni'katels and hurried to help with protecting fleeing civilians. The pilots of both Jumpers also grabbed Zat'ni'katels so they could guard the shuttle. While the weapon choice had been close to the instincual level, they still made sure to grab weapons that wouldn't kill on the first shot but still had that leathal option available if it was needed.

Surface - Arena - VIP Booth

The two Horus Guards, not expecting the sleep inducing illusion, had drowsed off on their feet before they were able to respond. Noting that the action had started, Abel used the tops of seat-backs as stepping stones to leap over to them. Once there, he activated the control crystal on their gauntlets causing them to dissapear in flashes of white light as they were automatically beamed aboard Whitestar 1.

Then, Abel glanced at Kosh, who nodded his 'head' in understanding. As Kosh's encounter suit wasn't built for combat, well not this one at least, he activated his own transponder and also disappeard in a flash of white light as he was also beamed aboard Whitestar 1.

Abel, balancing on the back of a chair, glanced around for a enemy to target. Spotting some, he took a group down with Mage Bolts to the chest that hit with the same effect as a Blaster Cannon. Then, with a flip, he landed in a second group and began introducing the enemy ninja in it to each other the hard way.

Of the seven mist-nin present, only one fell victem to the genjutsu and she was quickly brought out of it by her team-mate. The Mizukage was not in sufficiant shape to aid in the defence of Konoha and his two attendents were there to protect him rather than the village and had thus evacuated him.

Meanwhile the fact that there was a massive amount of water on the ground and in the air meant that the three genin and the jounin from Kirigakure were in thier natural element.

Max and Rafael were each opperating individually to eliminate opponents, while Victoria and Merry were working as a tag-team as while each was skilled they were most effective as a team.

Just outside of the Arena Gates...

All the meanwhile, the extra Necromen who weren't involved with Shamman, Deshoonde, or Aelikes advanced through the city in their public disguises, just like the rest of the troops. One of the commanding Necromen, soon spotted a Huntarian Space Marine run up towards him with his armor shot up from the sharp snow Jacen Masaki created.

"We just got confirmation Commander!"

"Good! Charrrgee thrrrough theee city! Kill all in yourrr path! Noneee shall be sparrreed!" With that, the Commander lifted his Powersword and pointed it into the center streets of the city, and ran on forward striking at random civilians and enemy Coredian Guards. The Space Marines continued through the streets, but they met enemy troopers. The marine's opened fired their Kirtir Battle Riffles, and shots rang through the air at the enemy. The Terminators which were on the ground though... Their Dreadnaught Armor Mk II proved to be quite usefull against the snow shards. Having the strongest armor around, comparable to vehical armor, resisted the snow shards with ease and proceded through the city.
Citizens fled from the Huntaerian troops, screaming "Monsters!" and "Demons!" running towards what safety they could fine. Many were gunned down, no matter who they were, men, women or children. The General concentrated on one of the Space Marines and focused on the flesh and blood inside the armor. Then the oxygen content surrounding that Marine became so concentrated that it would take one spark...which the General so lovingly provided with but a snap of his fingers...and BOOM! One Space Marine superheated inside his armor, with the lovely explosion to let the others know what happened. In a series of finger-snapping that would be characterized as a dance if it wasn't a battle, the General taught the Huntaerian troops why he has gained the title of Coreworlds' Flame Master.

With a warcry, Sakura Haruno Uchiha used superstrength taught by her Master, Tsunade herself, and grabbed the first lamppost she could find and tore it out of the ground, concrete and all. Acting like it was a baseball game, she started whacking Necromen left and right. Woe to the ones who scorns her! The other shinobi and more normal troopers under her command struck out with heavy blasters, lightsabers, and powers of their own.

Meanwhile, Naruto outmaneuvered several Sound and Shadow nin and beat them to a pulp with his Shadow Clones, then moved for Tsunade to assist her against Orochimaru. A rumbling in the distance let him know that there was more pressing concerns...like gigantic vermin right outside Konoha!

"All right! Time to kick some rat ass! Kuchiyose!" With a poof, a large, menacing toad with a sword on its back (not the Boss Toad), appeared and started for the vermin, stomping them flat. It grumbled about the cold, but Naruto's powers kept it warm.

=====

The Obliterator fleet dropped out of hyperspace and started blasting ships left and right over . Admiral Danzo stroked the head of his staff and ordered the Hypercannons to prepare to fire. Thirty-two ship-killing cannons drew power directly from the wild currents of hyperspace itself, a totally new technology from the scientists at Tenetia, and prepared to fire while her normal turbolasers and the fleet assets blew away the enemy.

"Sir! Planetary shields are raising! Estimate three minutes before total protection!" A scanner operator reported.

"Oh no they don't! Send off the ground forces, now!" The Admiral roared. In moments, streams of stormtroopers and AT barges rained out for the planet, but surely a lot of them will die before they safely land.

=====

"Attack those transports! Don't let them get to the planet!" Admiral Pellaeon ordered. "Rayen and Dominator squadrons are to concentrate on that Super Star Destroyer! Independence Squadron will take out the escorts."

"Yes sir!"

Two Star Destroyer squadrons took their time to pound upon the Obliterator as Admiral Pellaeon opened a folder for the strategic battle plan that was drawn up for this situation. The Independence was a Missile Star Cruiser and so were her sisters, lighting off with a massive swarm of missiles that crippled an enemy Star Destroyer and obliterated some of the Carracks and Lancers, despite their best efforts.

"Sir! Sensors are detecting ghost-like objects moving towards the planet! Recommend we cut them off before they reach it!"

"Very well. Move Chimera and Tyrannosaur battlefleets to intercept the ghosts!" Pellaeon ordered. The two largest battlefleets in Coreworlds would soon move to cut off what would be revealed as the Huntaer fleet. Already, manual targeting lit off the Elite Star Destroyers' and Coredian Mk III Star Destroyers' beamlaser cannons, sweeping across the sky towards the area of the increasingly visible enemy fleet. And when they are fully exposed, that's when the fun would truly begin...

It seemed complete chaos had settled in over Konoha with enemy troops sprawled throughout the city. Duels erupted here and there until finally Doron made his way into the arena to find Lafiel standing with a Star Forces sidearm in her hand while Jinto had his own out. "Mother, Father! It's time to go, now!"

Lafiel holstered her pistol and gazed out around the crowd. For the moment everything looked alright. "I need to get back to the fleet and contact HQ. Jinto, can you find us a shuttle to fly out of here?"

"I can try but it's going to be hard securing one and getting it past any imperial ships."

"Don't worry, I'll be with you as long as our ship is still in one piece. Doron, I need you to find Daniel. When you do, link in with your clyuno and will coordinate our defenses."

His hood went back and both lightsabers floated up into his waiting palms. "I'll find him and get in touch with you. Take care you two." With a final nod, he was heading down through the stands where another dual had broken out. This time it was between Nightshade and Daniel.
----------------------------------------

"Commander Sobach."

"Yes Highness?"

"We have a situation on the planet. How are things among the stars?"

"Not good Admiral. Imperial ships have arrived firing on Coredian vessels and Huntaerian fleets are moving in to bombard the planet. I strongly recommend that you vacate the planet as soon as possible."

"Don't worry about us Sobach. We're moving back to our shuttle right at this moment. How is the fleet?"

"At the moment we have gone relatively unnoticed."

"Good then you have the element of surprise if they are that ignorant to ignore you. Commence the attack at will and watch for our shuttle. We'll need a Whitestar to break through lines and pick us up. I leave you in command until I arrive."

"Understood Highness."
The flashing of light on her clyuno ceased and Lafiel let her hand drop to her waist where she redrew her sidearm. In one she carried her sidearm and in the other was her command saber. Jinto ran along by her side with his sidearm as they made their way through ally ways and headed back to their shuttle.
-----------------------------

Sobach breathed a heavy sigh. This would be a great test for her in her first time commanding an entire fleet. She sat uneasily in the chair of a Victory Class Destroyer. "Attention Star Force fleet, at the moment I am assuming command of the fleet until Admiral Abriel returns. At the moment planet bombardment has begun while there are still three Abhs on the planet's surface. The enemy fleet is between us and the planet and our people. I intend to show them a version of Abh hell that has never been seen before for some time. Every ship firing on the planet will be target for massive punishment. You will all ignore pleas for surrender. Every ship will be destroyed. If you run out of ammunition, then tear them apart with your bear hands."

She settled back into her chair. "All whitestars, break and engage enemy fighters. Write your names in their ashes. Destroyer group, stay on the lookout for larger enemy ships. I'm betting ten skuls that there are a few star destroyers preparing to make their entrance."

Nimble and quick, whitestars could manuever with the best of any class of ship. They came in like a tempest, firing pulse cannons and beams of energy from their neutron cannons. Ships aquired targets as they came down from the side and tried to strike hard into their flanks.

"Engineering, bring the Rambirds online. I want to pick out my kills as soon as possible."

"Right away ma'am."

"Ma'am! Enemy fleet dropped out of Hyperspace and has begun attack."

Sobach smirked slightly. "Someone owes me ten skuls. All destroyers launch fighters. Victories begin your attacks concentrating on command decks. Fire main weapon only at my command. Engineering, send out the Rambirds. I want two to a destroyer."

"Yes ma'am."

"Communications, keep me a line with the second Paryunu. It seems our destroyers have a challenge before us with the enemy's main flagship."

Victory destroyers opened up with energy beams focusing on the smaller star destroyers. Green beams kept focused as they poured what they had into the shields. Shadows danced through space as Rambirds utilized their Hyperspace taps and shimmered from one end of the battlefield to the next. Large capital ion cannons were revealed as the nose of each black ship split in half and fired large blue bolts into Star Destroyers. Two bolts had been fired on one ship that they were targeted for and one Rambird went for the plunge as it targeted the command deck. Engines accelerated to max speed as the ships appeared to disappear with their high speed.

Meanwhile, LTC Raúl Vigil and Major Chris Mrozik, along with two other Coredians out on 'Mech patrols, encountered the beasts and vermin that the Dark Side had summoned. Pulse lasers and PPC bolts filled the air wherever they approached the 'Mechs...
Many beasts were either torn apart in hot bloody chunks of meat or compeletely vaporized by the mechs by the time Taylor arrived to assist. Cannon fodder has its uses, but not in these losses! But there would be more dangerous opponents to come as AT barges came streaming down onto the planet and began deploying their cargo.

Whitfield smirked as he took it. "Thank you."

He then took the launcher, loaded it, and fired the thermal detonator straight up into the sky, using the Force to send it up higher into the cloud...

He smirked as he detonated the thermal detonator in the thundercloud...

It was not your ordinary thermal detonator detonation, but rather one enhanced by The Flame Master and one of the most powerful Jedi around. The entire base of the thundercloud suddenly ignited in a huge ball of flame hot enough to incinerate anything in it, as Whitfield used the detonation to ignite the atmospheric oxygen itself.

The heavy snow suddenly stopped, as it was all instantaneously converted to steam in the cloud. The base of the cloud effectively incinerated itself, burned off, like afternoon sun burns off morning mist, weakening the storm immensely and allowing Whitfield to concentrate on raising the temperature to at least above freezing, if only slightly. Not exactly an everyday sight...

OOC: Will reply to the rest later, just wanted this part up ASAP.

Hmm... So he thinks he can just destroy the clouds? Let him. I have something more... Devestating, in mind. Aelikes staired up into the clouds and focused on the force winds in the upper atmosphere where it is always windy. Aelikes then forced the winds to move in and out of the realm of the necrominus, thusly turning the winds to darkness. Eventualy, due to the constant winds in the upper atmosphere, it will spread throughout the entire planet engulfing the entire planet with darkness. Preventing light entering the planet, thusly cutting off the supply of planets. Leading to the eventual death of the local populus...



OOC:
Here's the power I used- note: I replaced the realm of the spiris with the Necrominus.

Clouds: This is a similarity to the effect of the nuclear winter, but only there is no radiation. This spell is effective against a whole planet or moon. The caster summons the forces of the winds and tries to force them into and out of the realm of the spirits at a very quick rate, thus making the winds turn black. And since the winds are usually always present in the higher layers of the atmosphere, the winds would make the whole sky dark, completely blacking out the sun for the inhabitants of a planet. This effect has no possible reverse and causes most of the planet's population to die from cold and hunger.

Temporary Outpost, Thirty Parsecs from Kohona System

The Thrashian Imperial armada that had gathered after the sacking of Jurai and led by Grand Admiral Thrawn once more assembled at a small backwater system that contained only a single star and three unihabitable planets. The fleet sat in formation and were constantly on alert; patrols were regularly sent out and ComScan techs were working around the clock.

Captain Isaard rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sucked in a cold breath of reprocessed air. He stood on the bridge of the Olympus, watching as her crew kept the ship in a nominal orbital pattern over one of the planets that inhabited the system they were in. The fleet had been there for well nigh three days, after the five day journey through hyperspace from Jurai.

"Captain, is our fleet still alert?" asked a voice behind Isaard's shoulder. The captain turned to see the command chair of the bridge rise up out of the floor and in it was a tall man with blue skin and dressed in a grand admiral's uniform.

"Yes Grand Admiral Thrawn, we are. I've even seen to it yesterday that some of the ships go through combat exercises to keep sharp." Thrawn nodded and brought up his tactical data pad once his seat finally locked and finished its accent. The Grand Admiral's state room was directly below the command bridge and it was his favourite mode of travel when going between them.

"Very good. You may then prepare the fleet for a hyperspace jump. Your destination will be the Digor System," said Thrawn, not looking up from his typing fingers.

"B-But Admiral, aren't we suppose to go enter combat at Kohona? We recieved a message from the Huntaerian Emp-"

"Tell me," interrupted Thrawn, he looked up at Isaard, "do you serve the Thrashian Empire of the Huntaerian Empire?" Captain Isaard gulped.

"The Thrashian Empire sir."

"So do your duty and follow your Emperor's will," said Thrawn. His glowing red eyes shifted down again as he went back to his work. Captain Isaard nodded and walked over to the communications station to begin readying the fleet.


Within three hours the entire fleet was prepared and began jumping into hyperspace at intervals. The Thrashian Imperial Fleet would not being going to Kohona.

Orbit - Whitestar 72 - Bridge

"New targets dropping to sublight!"

"Friendlies?"

"Negative. Reading Galactic Empire transponders!"

"Sir! Incoming enemy fleet is being led by an unknown class of Super Star Destroyer," called the Tactical Officer as the Obliterator came on screen, "Reading First One level weapons."

"Big, bulky, and unwieldy," laughed the Captain, "Comms, send a burst signal to HQ requesting reinforcements. Tactical, aquire that Executor. Helm, alter course to intercept new enemy contacts. Engineering, I want you to squeeze every last scrap you can out of this old bird. Let's show them what true masters of First One tech can do."

A chorus of 'Aye, sir!' rang out after his orders had been given.

"Time to teach these Imperial fools a lesson they won't soon forget!"

Orbit - Exterior

Darting out from under the bulk of the Independence, Whitestar 16 and Whitestar 72 with their weapons ablaze in righteous fury at the invading ships. They had been protected from the earlier salvoes of enemy fire due to their position hidden under the Independence. The giant ship itself took several hits to her armor's outer layer before she was able to bring her defenses on-line.

If any of the refugee shuttles took the offer of using her massive interior as a safe haven, they would be allowed through the shields via selectively opened windows in their flight path.

In the meantime, the weapons of the Independence began to came on-line. While not amoung the most powerful available to the Imperial Commonwealth, the sheer numbers made up for it. Waiting for a clean shot, she let loose at the nearest Imperial ship with a salvo of 350 OM-5 standard offensive kinetic kill missiles followed closely by a salvo of twenty Photon Torpedoes.

Surface - Arena - VIP Booth

Abel leaped out of the pile of enemy ninja he had smashed their faces together (OOC: Ie, the ones he introduced to each other, the hard way). His hair was in disarray and his eyes had a slight crazed look to them as his instincts and training began to take over in the thrill of the battle. He had a few bruises and was bleeding from a handful of cuts. From the looks of things, he would have a pretty nice shiner on his left eye later.

With a snarl, he dive tackled a Sound ninja sneaking up on one of the other represenatives there and despined the man. Then, using the flexible spinal column like a whip, he took on another group of enemy ninja.

When the sky went dark and the lights went out, he simply shifted his vision into an alternate part of the EM spectrum and continued to take down groups of enemy ninja at a time in dramatic, bloody spectacles. It would seem as he had made it his personal goal to clear the VIP booth of all the cannon fodder ninjas before moving on to his next enemy targets.

OOC: Let me know if this gets too gruesome for your tastes and I'll try to tone it back.

"Whoa, sir! Power output increasing on EWT Star Destroyer Battlestar!" A sailor exclaimed to Grand Admiral Pellaeon. "Looks like it's going to fire the equivalent of one of our Artillery Star Destroyer!"

"Amazing what our allies would dream up." The Old Man of Space smiled thinly. "All forces to Red Alert. Ask the Woodians for telemetry support and prepare for battle!"

The bolt of superheated ion energy emanating from the single platform was the thickest PPC bolt *ever* fired, containing a bit more raw energy output than a Coredian Artillery Star Destroyer. So hot was it that firing it flash-melted the gun barrel from whence it was fired...it contained enough energy to easily slag an Imperator-III's Star Destroyer's shields, then melt, warp, and deform its hull until the reactor breached...

And it just happened to target an Imperator-III in Nightshade's fleet...

"Admiral, we should charge up another one, quiaff?" the same lieutenant that Admiral Riordan had all but dared to fire in that manner earlier asked.

"Neg. Take out those transports now. Conventional firing." The admiral pointed to the fleet of transports charging the planet, readily visible in the bridge viewport. Without further fanfare, as weapons had the chance to recharge themselves, which was quickly as the Immortal dropped all nonemergency functions for combat as SOP to free up additional reactor power for combat needs, turbolasers, ion cannons, PPC bolts, and Gauss Rifle slugs all streaked towards the transports...

As such occurred, the Admiral saw it fit to deal with Admiral Pellaeon's request for telemetry support and shot him a quick reply. "We will shut down most of our ECCM as soon as the enemy decloaks to free up reactor power. However, we will keep our drive-tracing sensors on for the fighters as by themselves, the power drain is not horrendous. We will upload positional data on cloaked enemy fighters to your fighters in real time."

The Coredian Fire Knight recieved the 'Mechwarrior call on his comlink. "Roy! Got to go to my Mech. Think you can handle the fire support?"

"Who do you think I am? Go on. Shoo." Mustang waved Taylor away. Then he noticed Huntaerian troops killing everyone in Konoha. "Time to start the burning."

Taylor nodded and teleported to the barracks. Spotting his 'mech with a grin, he jumped into the cockpit, put on the neural helmet and got ready to rumble...

Many beasts were either torn apart in hot bloody chunks of meat or compeletely vaporized by the mechs by the time Taylor arrived to assist. Cannon fodder has its uses, but not in these losses! But there would be more dangerous opponents to come as AT barges came streaming down onto the planet and began deploying their cargo.

As the 'Mechs consolidated their position, as Taylor arrived, and as the Woodian officer corps arrived to pour more firepower into the Dark Side beasts, and then to pick off Imperial units headed for the city, Major Mrozik looked up and informed his superiors, "Incoming transports!"

Colonel Allaire, also arriving, looked up and identified them as the first AT-AT barges, getting in before the planetary shield went up. "Concentrate all firepower on those barges," he ordered, "and when they land, concentrate all firepower on the walkers inside, as they will be in a prone position before they get up and deploy. Let us use those precious few seconds to our advantage. After that, harry the walkers, run circles around them, flank them, and generally give 'em hell. Take out any flankers with any significant degree of firepower first."

The 'Mech crews obliged, pitching torsos up and spreading out to get better firing angles before pouring their firepower into the transport barges before they could land...

The bolt of superheated ion energy emanating from the single platform was the thickest PPC bolt *ever* fired, containing a bit more raw energy output than a Coredian Artillery Star Destroyer. So hot was it that firing it flash-melted the gun barrel from whence it was fired...it contained enough energy to easily slag an Imperator-III's Star Destroyer's shields, then melt, warp, and deform its hull until the reactor breached...

And it just happened to target an Imperator-III in Nightshade's fleet...
The Undertaker suddenly found its shields collapsing and hull pierced like it was a balloon, then detonated as the PPC shot broke through to the reactor.

"Admiral, we lost the Undertaker! Enemy units are attacking. Coredian, Humankind Abh and a nation known to old records as SeaQuest."

"I see. Weapons release for Hypercannons." Admiral Hoshiyomi ordered quietly.

"Weapons release for Hypercannons!" The order called out.

The Super Star Destroyer seemed to glow a deep purple color as the massive cannons targeted Coredian ships. Then they let loose thick purple beams of death, piercing a Star Destroyer and detonating that, then cut another one in half lengthwise, shields and all. That CSD too blew up. All around the Obliterator, enemy ships fell to the Imperial onslaught. Then it stopped and would remain so for a few minutes.

Admiral Pellaeon glared at the Obliterator. "How the hell did the Empire manage to get a weapon like that, and can we counter it?"

"I have no idea, sir."

"Well, find out! In the meantime, prepare the Artillery Star Destroyers. Aim for the weapons!"

Three Artillery Star Destroyers targeted the Obliterator and let loose with a devastating volley that cut through and eliminated a few of the weapons, not to mention causing serious damage to the local areas.

"Sir! We lost Hypercannons 2, 8, and 17! Stations 4 through 16 reporting breaches!"

"Close the breach and reroute the power from those cannons into the others." Admiral Danzo ordered. "Havoc squadron will fire on those Artilleries!"

The Star Destroyer Havoc and its escorts targeted their heavy turbolasers upon the Artillery Star Destroyers. Shields flared heavily as the Artilleries fought to get into safe lines, but one was destroyed in the process.

In the meantime, Humankind Abh proved to be a tasking enemy for the Rancor squadron as their ion cannons and Rambirds proved devastating to the loss of bridge control. The enemy Victory destroyers were then targeted by a massive sheet of destructive green energy even as their own beams lacerated Victory Star Destroyers and an Impstar.

Things were not looking good for the Imperial ships.

=====

As the 'Mechs consolidated their position, as Taylor arrived, and as the Woodian officer corps arrived to pour more firepower into the Dark Side beasts, and then to pick off Imperial units headed for the city, Major Mrozik looked up and informed his superiors, "Incoming transports!"

Colonel Allaire, also arriving, looked up and identified them as the first AT-AT barges, getting in before the planetary shield went up. "Concentrate all firepower on those barges," he ordered, "and when they land, concentrate all firepower on the walkers inside, as they will be in a prone position before they get up and deploy. Let us use those precious few seconds to our advantage. After that, harry the walkers, run circles around them, flank them, and generally give 'em hell. Take out any flankers with any significant degree of firepower first."

The 'Mech crews obliged, pitching torsos up and spreading out to get better firing angles before pouring their firepower into the transport barges before they could land...
Taylor inclined his 'mech upwards towards one of the transports and let loose with a volley that blew it out of the sky before it even reached ten-thousand feet, showering the forest with fiery shrapnel. "Got it!"

Between onslaught of the EWT Battlestar and the devastating 'Mech forces on the ground, less than a division of stormtroopers and armored vehicles managed to get to ground, and even less managed to extract themselves when the Mechs used the few seconds of deployment to take them out. Still, that amounted to about ten walkers, five Juggernauts to escort them and fifteen AT-STs. And large, squidlike droids known as Sentinels.

=====

The darkness Aelikes created began to spread across the land, darkening the sun in a classic case of evil seeking to overwhelm good. But it won't last for long, not if I could help it...

In the meantime, lightning crashed down onto the ground, blowing up and electrocuting enemies whereever they were spotted. That must be Chris Thompson. I trained him well. My own lightning bolts lashed out on the Dark Lady, who barely dodged each blast. It was a tossup which duel was fiercest: mine or Tsunade's. I suspect mine. I got in an opening and launched another massive bolt of lightning at Nightshade. "Aaarrgh!"

I moved to strike her down but was blasted by a sudden tornado, punting me into a house. "Aah!"

Bruised, I was forced on the defensive through the kitchen and dining room, and out a door. The damage we caused with slashes and telekinesis was horrendous, but the people have evacuated already. I hope.

I had the thought to lure her as far away as I could and with another Thunderbolt to cover my retreat, I ran for it. I mean to make her get as far away from Travis as possible, which happened to be the Valley of the End some kilometers to the north.

"Coward! Come back here!" Nightshade roared and swiftly ran after me.

Tsunade and Orochimaru fought on the roof of the Arena, a battlefield with enough space for each of them to trade blows and powers.

"My. This brings back memories." Orochimaru sneered, sending poisonous serpents after her. "I believe I killed our dear Master Sarutobi right on this very roof."

Tsunade stomped the snakes, tied a couple in knots and slashed a couple in half with her lightsaber. She spit at the remark. "You bastard."

Fire, in the form of a Grand Fireball, rushed out of her mouth. Orochimaru countered with a wall of mud. "Is that the best you can do---argh!"

Tsunade, using the fire as a distraction, had teleported and kicked him a hundred meters to the edge of the roof as he talked. "You always talked too much, Orochimaru! Now it's time to end your foul reign once and for all..."

The fight continued to reverberate throughout Konoha...

=====

Travis, having utilized Kage Bunshin no Jutsu again to get the Evil Twins off his back momentarily, took the lull in fighting to heal his wounds in a large tree. "Heal."

Cuts clotted up. Blood stopped flowing. And Travis felt a little better now that the nausea went away. Then his danger senses acted up and by instinct, he jumped away, barely missing a Dance of Wind Blades technique that ripped apart the branch he was standing on. "Crap! They found me!"

Janus smirked darkly. "You thought you'd get away with that little trick? I don't think so!"

Jesse stood behind Travis. "As a courtesy, I shall simply ask you to surrender and come quietly so that no one has to get hurt."

"Not a chance!" Travis yelled, his golden blade ablaze once more.

"Very well. If we have to cut your limbs off to stop you, we will!" Janus charged, red lightsaber ignited. Travis ducked under the blow and deflected one from Jesse, then jumped overhead to gain some distance, using what he knows of Form IV to keep him moving so as to not get hit by his evil cousins. The fight continues...

=====

Order began to come out of chaos. The Village Hidden in the Leaves became a true battlefield as blood was spilled on both sides. But the Old Crowd and the Jounin Nine, along with the other ninjas in Konoha, racked up kills with their superior skills. Rock Lee and Maito Guy were smashing enemies with blows that snapped their necks. Kakashi efficiently dealt with foes surrounding him, dispatching them to Kamisama (God) with dragons made of snow and ice. Asuma, Kurenai and Iruka teamed up against a smirking Kabuto and fought to defeat the traitor. Even the Genin fought with impressive skill.

Keith summoned a Varactyl and mounted it, slashing at foes like a cavalryman of old. Haruka whirled his spear around, catching foes with either blade or blunt end.

"What do we do?" Kagome asked, back to back with Nick.

"We'll have to go after Travis!" He replied, pumping laser holes in the chest of foes. "He needs our help!"

"Right. Let's round up the Genin and go after him!" Kagome nodded and instantly froze a Rock nin before shattering him with her staff.

Sharingan activated, young Uchiha Reika slashed a Sound nin in half as she overheard Team Seven. "Heard your plan. We'd better move quick!"

Then one of the people in charge of the ninjas ordered his troops to search for the children evacuated from the Academy. His name? The insane Lieutenant Colonel Zolf J. Kimbley, A-level criminal. A Konoha nin attacked him, but screamed in excruciating pain instead as Kimbley threw him aside and alchemized his body into a bomb. The scream was almost erotic to this monster.

Then alchemic energy crackled and spears lashed out for the Crimson Alchemist, who nimbly dodged them. Jacob's face hardened as he realized the foe he faced. "Kimbley. You shall not pass."

"Jedi Alchemist." Kimbley cursed. "The one who put me away."

"And the one who will finish off what he started today." Jacob responded, alchemizing more spikes from the ground.

"We'll see about that." Kimbley cruelly smiled as he dodged yet again. His alchemy crumbled the ground under Jacob, who had to jump up to a nearby roof lest he got caught in the blast. "Die!"

In the meantime, Humankind Abh proved to be a tasking enemy for the Rancor squadron as their ion cannons and Rambirds proved devastating to the loss of bridge control. The enemy Victory destroyers were then targeted by a massive sheet of destructive green energy even as their own beams lacerated Victory Star Destroyers and an Impstar.

It sat there silently for a moment as time seemed to have frozen around the one Victory. That was until it exploded flinging shrapnel in all directions and sending out a massive blue shockwave from the reactor. It was the first destroyer of its kind to have been destroyed in an engagment and it was the first loss that Sobach had to deal with as commander. Her designated chief shook her from her contemplations and disbelief. "Ma'am. We've lost one destroyer with another four severly damaged. Captains are requesting permission to pull back."

"Permission granted. Contact the whitestar squadrons. Tell them to disengage with enemy fighters and target destroyer groups. We'll leave the smaller fish for the allies. I want those destroyers obliterated. Target weapon ports and their engine exhausts if possible. If you can shove a missle up their ass, do so. Fighter squadrons go in with the Whitestars."

"Yes ma'am."

Whitestars throughout the battlefield stopped chasing the smaller fighters and pivoted to aim for the destroyer groups. Starfurries rallied to their side as they charged in towards star destroyers firing pulse cannons along with beams of neon green energy straffing across shields and hulls. Some destroyers were left untargeted for the moment though.

"Victories 4, 7, and 9 are to commence level 2 firing on target 8 immediatly."

"Yes ma'am."

Hull lights dimmed as all energy was reverted to the weapon systems. Three prongs began glowing yellow as energy pulsed and seethed from them crawling forward towards the bow of the ship where it was sent of screaming towards the desired target as it had finally reached its full potential. (yeah visuals (http://www.b5tech.com/movies/testfire2.asf))

"Engineering, I want Rambirds reassigned to new targets. Target enemy's flank."

"Aye ma'am."

Rambirds shimmered and disappeared leaving the disabled destroyers to be mopped up by allied forces as they moved out towards the side of the Imperial fleet formation following through with the same routine as last time.
---------------------------------------------

"It's just uphead Lafiel. It seems emeny forces have left our shuttle alone."

"We're not of this at the moment. We steady to safely navigate through a battlefield." Lafiel put her sidearm away as both of them entered the shuttle and prepared to head back into space.
---------------------------------------------

All that was left for Doron to follow was a swath of bodies and destruction. The Jedi was proving quite difficult to find and if he couldn't find Daniel shortly, he would have to abandon the search and tend to his other duties.

A grunt of pain and a few raised voices caught his attention off in the distance. A new lead perhaps or perhaps it was some one else in need. Either way both his red lightsabers came to life in a hurry as he made his way to the source of the commotion.

Friedrich knew what he was doing, leading his two nephews and the clones through the city. Enemy ninjas and dark animals attacked them as they moved through out the city. The staff weapons stopped those attacks hard. One or two hits drop the cannon fodders enemy to the ground.

“Marc, get some battleships into the system.” ordered Friedrich through his com link built-in his glove.

The seven men moved back towards the arena, taking out any enemy that gets in their way.

Meanwhile, in the space, the five Ha’Taks jump out of hyperspace and figure out who is the enemy and who is the good guys. It did not take long, the Ha’Taks began firing at the enemy fleet (Nightshade’s fleet). Their staff weapon, a thousand on each ship, rain fire at the enemy.

The surface, the sky grew dark. Something was up, the royal family had night vision. Raidon, being a dark elf/vampire, had night vision too. The clones on the other hand had to use their armor’s built-in night vision.

“Master, we need to find Daniel.” said Raidon as he moved in to attack an enemy ninja.

“True, something is up.” said Matt as he blocked an incoming ninja attack.

Raidon had his back to an enemy ninja as he jumped from the shadows, the ninja attack with his blade, landing on the crimson dragon’s right arm. Cutting a large cut on his arm, dropping his lightsaber. Raidon using his left hand and grab the ninja by the neck and twisted, a loud cracking noise could be hear.

Raidon looked at his arm, the large cut bleeding out. Matt jumped over him and attacked other ninja. “Looks bad.” said Matt. “Heal it fast, I watch out for us.”

“Okay.” said Radion, calling up as much power to heal his wound. Matt fighting off what every came at them.

Secret IC: Imperial Commonwealth Space - Pendragon Complex - Command And Control Center

"Admiral, we are picking up a signal from one of the Whitestars Prince Abel took with him as escorts for his visit to the world of Konoha in the nation of Coreworlds. Apparently, Galactic Empire alliance forces are in the process of invading said world and the Whitestar's captain is requesting we send back-up. There is also mention of First One level weapons being equipped aboard the enemy flagship."

"Crap! Have as many available ships that you can prep for launch. Also, recall as many as you can. Those leaving from here will have to be the first wave until our big guns can get here so we can send them off."

"Aye, sir!"

"Prep the Hyperspace Rift generator."

"Sir?"

"We're going to be needing to get the first wave of back-up their as quickly as possible. We still have the co-ordinates that Whitestar 1 and the others used for their trip there, so opening a Rift to the same point is feasable."

"True, but its untested."

"The unit, maybe. But the tech is sound. I've been assured by the engineers who built it that its fully fuctioning. Its just a Jump Point generator that's been supped up to First One level. And First One level tech is something we've had plenty of experience with.

"Aye, sir. I'll have them start prepping it, sir."

Imperial Commonwealth Space - Pendragon Complex - Exterior

Whitestar Is, Whitestar IIs, Bluestars, Redstars, Rath'Dials, Liandras, Sinclair Is, Sinclair IIs, Sinclair IIIs, various Whitestar varients, various Liandra varients, and other various sundry ships began coming on-line as their crews boarded. Some even began leave their berths and gather in a bunch as they awaited deployment. Not all would be part of the first wave as some had to remain behind in case of a counter assault by enemy forces.

OOC: Will arrive in next post. The one's considered heavy hitters by SQian standards will come in later.

IC: Konoha - Orbit - Exterior

Whitestar 72 broke off from her strafing run on an Imperial frigate and banked towards an incoming Star Destroyer. Twisting and diving in and around the Imperial ships, all the while not letting up with blazing fire from her guns, Whitestar 72 would vent her fury on the Imperials who dared disrupt the proceedings.

Meanwhile, Whitestar 16 was having a field day blasting countless droves of enemy fighters from the sky. No known fighter used by the Galactic Empire could stand up to the righteous fury of a wronged Whitestar class monitor.

Konoha - Surface - Docks

Whitestar 1 rotated so her bow guns were facing the enemy walkers. While still hovering protectively over the Puddle Jumpers, one of which, the cargo one, was taking off and heading for her hanger, the Whitestar locked onto an Imperial AT-AT and fired off a salvo from her Pulsed Neutron Cannons at the mecha.

Konoha - Surface - Arena - VIP Booth

Abel continued to use the spine as a weapon. Even going as far as to use it to garrote(sp?) an unspecting enemy Ninja. However, doing that caused it to become entangled with the man's own spinal column, thus both were stuck together. So, Abel rolled as a kunai knife went flying over head to embed in the far wall. When he came up, he had grabbed a lightsabre from the corpse of its former owner. Activating it, he went into a deadly dance so rapid it was almost a blur of color as he struck down enemy after enemy. His moves, while not Force enhanced, were still quite impressive. It was apparent that not only was he quite fluent with the use of blades, but he was no stranger to the use of a lightsabre either.

The Undertaker suddenly found its shields collapsing and hull pierced like it was a balloon, then detonated as the PPC shot broke through to the reactor.

"Admiral, we lost the Undertaker! Enemy units are attacking. Coredian, Humankind Abh and a nation known to old records as SeaQuest."

"I see. Weapons release for Hypercannons." Admiral Hoshiyomi ordered quietly.

"Weapons release for Hypercannons!" The order called out.

The Super Star Destroyer seemed to glow a deep purple color as the massive cannons targeted Coredian ships. Then they let loose thick purple beams of death, piercing a Star Destroyer and detonating that, then cut another one in half lengthwise, shields and all. That CSD too blew up. All around the Obliterator, enemy ships fell to the Imperial onslaught. Then it stopped and would remain so for a few minutes.

Admiral Pellaeon glared at the Obliterator. "How the hell did the Empire manage to get a weapon like that, and can we counter it?"

"I have no idea, sir."

"Well, find out! In the meantime, prepare the Artillery Star Destroyers. Aim for the weapons!"

Three Artillery Star Destroyers targeted the Obliterator and let loose with a devastating volley that cut through and eliminated a few of the weapons, not to mention causing serious damage to the local areas.

"Sir! We lost Hypercannons 2, 8, and 17! Stations 4 through 16 reporting breaches!"

"Close the breach and reroute the power from those cannons into the others." Admiral Danzo ordered. "Havoc squadron will fire on those Artilleries!"

The Star Destroyer Havoc and its escorts targeted their heavy turbolasers upon the Artillery Star Destroyers. Shields flared heavily as the Artilleries fought to get into safe lines, but one was destroyed in the process.

In the meantime, Humankind Abh proved to be a tasking enemy for the Rancor squadron as their ion cannons and Rambirds proved devastating to the loss of bridge control. The enemy Victory destroyers were then targeted by a massive sheet of destructive green energy even as their own beams lacerated Victory Star Destroyers and an Impstar.

Things were not looking good for the Imperial ships.

Admiral Riordan noticed the sudden and unanticipated destruction of several Coredian Star Destroyers. The rest of his bridge crew did, too, even as all of the transports and barges were accounted for: either landed or destroyed. Most destroyed.

"Admiral! The Coredians have lost several Star Destroyers to the enemy Super Star Destroyer marked Obliterator!"

"Charge the weapons for PPC #24, now that the transports are accounted for. They used superweapons, quiaff?"

"Aff, Admiral. We are recursively tracing the fire now. It came from several ballistic weapons emplacements that are now recharging, on a scale roughly equal to an Artillery Star Destroyer. Coredian ortillery has destroyed three of the emplacements."

"We'll have to destroy another. Weapons, target #24 to one of the hyperballistics."

"Aff. Ten seconds to full charge..." The weapons officer on the bridge relayed gunners as the ship's targeting computers locked onto one of the emplacements that had fired on the Coredian Star Destroyers.

"Wait for the charge, then fire."

And so it was, another thick, dark blue PPC bolt of superheated ions with the full reactor power of the entire Battlestar behind it fired, bound for the enemy Obliterator, more specifically, one of the remaining hypercannons. Another one of the Battlestar's own weapons slagged by its own output, not designed to handle that kind of heat.

So it would be every forty-five seconds or so, until the Star Destroyer ran out of particle projector cannons to self-sacrifice to the greater good of destroying or disabling enemy fleet in an expedited manner.

Well, if ever there was a second generation of Immortal Star Destroyer, that would have to be corrected...

Taylor inclined his 'mech upwards towards one of the transports and let loose with a volley that blew it out of the sky before it even reached ten-thousand feet, showering the forest with fiery shrapnel. "Got it!"

Between onslaught of the EWT Battlestar and the devastating 'Mech forces on the ground, less than a division of stormtroopers and armored vehicles managed to get to ground, and even less managed to extract themselves when the Mechs used the few seconds of deployment to take them out. Still, that amounted to about ten walkers, five Juggernauts to escort them and fifteen AT-STs. And large, squidlike droids known as Sentinels.

Against five full lances of siege assault 'Mechs, five of which were piloted by the best 'MechWarriors that Evil Woody Thoughts had to offer, including one that had defeated Taylor Masaki in 'Mech combat. But don't remind him of that.

And speaking of Taylor, he just happened to be one of the fifteen Coredians in the group...

Notably absent, however, was Master Whitfield. He had other concerns at the moment.

"Take out the AT-STs first, then Juggernaughts. Use maneuverability to the hilt. Stay where the AT-ATs can't fire, and outmaneuver the Juggernaught turrets," Colonel Allaire ordered, as he himself fired twin PPCs at one AT-ST, then another, firing pulse lasers on top of that as his heat situation allowed. Using what abilities in the Force he had, which included rudimentary cryokinesis by virtue of training under the Flame Master, he cooled down his reactor a bit so the PPCs could fire again when they reached another charge. The others followed the Colonel's lead, firing their weapons at the AT-STs before moving on to the Juggernaughts.

Meanwhile, the entire time, he, as well as everyone else, ran circles around the enemy formation behind the AT-ATs. They took a few hits from the Juggernaughts, but not really enough to cause problems, as their turrets had a hard time tracking the movement of the 'Mechs at full throttle. They weren't exactly known for their maneuverability, after all.

The AT-STs, however, presented more of a challenge, which is why the Colonel wanted them taken out first. More of them scored hits than anything else, sending damage displays into yellow and even a bit of orange here and there. However, the 'Mechs still had a bit of an advantage over them in that they could swivel their torsos as partial turrets, which they used ruthlessly...

The darkness Aelikes created began to spread across the land, darkening the sun in a classic case of evil seeking to overwhelm good. But it won't last for long, not if I could help it...

Whitfield noticed the sky darken a bit as well, as if it was dusk, sensing the Dark Side behind it all. And he wasn't particularly in the mood to suffer Dark Side insolence either...

He reached out with the Force to trace the source of the darkness. It did not take long for the Jedi Master's senses to find it. So this is Darth Aelikes...

After pinning down his location, Whitfield used all manner of Force-jumps, enhancing his speed with the Force as well, to outmaneuver the crowd of spectators to the whole debacle. He also did not hesitate to use mass-Jedi mind tricks to induce people to clear him a path, which quite a few did anyway seeing a Jedi in a hurry to get somewhere, considering the circumstances.

He would reach him in just a few moments. He hoped Daniel would be there too...but if not, he would deal with him alone.

OOC: SQ, I told you that you were to be a mere spectator. No backups!

Admiral Riordan noticed the sudden and unanticipated destruction of several Coredian Star Destroyers. The rest of his bridge crew did, too, even as all of the transports and barges were accounted for: either landed or destroyed. Most destroyed.

"Admiral! The Coredians have lost several Star Destroyers to the enemy Super Star Destroyer marked Obliterator!"

"Charge the weapons for PPC #24, now that the transports are accounted for. They used superweapons, quiaff?"

"Aff, Admiral. We are recursively tracing the fire now. It came from several ballistic weapons emplacements that are now recharging, on a scale roughly equal to an Artillery Star Destroyer. Coredian ortillery has destroyed three of the emplacements."

"We'll have to destroy another. Weapons, target #24 to one of the hyperballistics."

"Aff. Ten seconds to full charge..." The weapons officer on the bridge relayed gunners as the ship's targeting computers locked onto one of the emplacements that had fired on the Coredian Star Destroyers.

"Wait for the charge, then fire."

And so it was, another thick, dark blue PPC bolt of superheated ions with the full reactor power of the entire Battlestar behind it fired, bound for the enemy Obliterator, more specifically, one of the remaining hypercannons. Another one of the Battlestar's own weapons slagged by its own output, not designed to handle that kind of heat.

So it would be every forty-five seconds or so, until the Star Destroyer ran out of particle projector cannons to self-sacrifice to the greater good of destroying or disabling enemy fleet in an expedited manner.

Well, if ever there was a second generation of Immortal Star Destroyer, that would have to be corrected...
Along with the Battlestar's PPC, several more Artillery fire continued to pinpoint the hypercannons. Now it came down about 22 cannons...make that 18. And falling quickly.

"We're losing Hypercannons, sir! Estimate total loss in seven minutes!"

"Well, that won't do! Target that Star Destroyer and the Coredian Artilleries!" Admiral Danzo ordered.

The Obliterator's hypercannons targeted the enemy once more. Purple beams of uberdeath lanced out once more and struck the Artilleries, blowing them to oblivion. Then a Hypercannon targeted the Battlestar and let loose with Imperial fury...

OOC: Waits for Huntaer to respond to Admiral Pellaeon's move.

Against five full lances of siege assault 'Mechs, five of which were piloted by the best 'MechWarriors that Evil Woody Thoughts had to offer, including one that had defeated Taylor Masaki in 'Mech combat. But don't remind him of that.

And speaking of Taylor, he just happened to be one of the fifteen Coredians in the group...

Notably absent, however, was Master Whitfield. He had other concerns at the moment.

"Take out the AT-STs first, then Juggernaughts. Use maneuverability to the hilt. Stay where the AT-ATs can't fire, and outmaneuver the Juggernaught turrets," Colonel Allaire ordered, as he himself fired twin PPCs at one AT-ST, then another, firing pulse lasers on top of that as his heat situation allowed. Using what abilities in the Force he had, which included rudimentary cryokinesis by virtue of training under the Flame Master, he cooled down his reactor a bit so the PPCs could fire again when they reached another charge. The others followed the Colonel's lead, firing their weapons at the AT-STs before moving on to the Juggernaughts.

Meanwhile, the entire time, he, as well as everyone else, ran circles around the enemy formation behind the AT-ATs. They took a few hits from the Juggernaughts, but not really enough to cause problems, as their turrets had a hard time tracking the movement of the 'Mechs at full throttle. They weren't exactly known for their maneuverability, after all.

The AT-STs, however, presented more of a challenge, which is why the Colonel wanted them taken out first. More of them scored hits than anything else, sending damage displays into yellow and even a bit of orange here and there. However, the 'Mechs still had a bit of an advantage over them in that they could swivel their torsos as partial turrets, which they used ruthlessly...
AT-ATs were often noted for being able to absorb heavy energy fire, but the PPC bolts from the 'Mechs proved to be just as dangerous as orbitial turbolasers. Superheated ions melted the starship-grade armor as well as anything else and maneuvering out of the AT-ATs' frontal arcs didn't help the Imperials any either.

The Juggernauts fared a little better, mainly because of the missiles they used. But they were not prepared to face the heavy firepower and high agility the Battlemechs possessed and that proved to be their downfall. Didn't help Captain Ross' nerves much as she was hit by a missile and her damage display turned orange in some parts, but she clamped down and blasted that Juggernaut to pieces.

It was the AT-STs and the Sentinel squids that proved to be troublesome. The Chicken-walkers were manuverable in their own right and their lasers drilled yellow and orange into the armor of the 'Mechs. But they were lightly armored, enough so that pulse lasers were all it took to take them out. PPCs gave them the overkill they required. The Sentinels hovered above the ground at high speeds, making them the most maneuverable and dangerous of the bunch, requiring rapid bursts of laserfire to take them out. As such, one of the casualties of the Mech squad came from a Sentinel that grabbed it with it's long, wicked tentacles and bore into the cockpit with its laser cannon, killing the young soldier horribly by spearing a tentacle into his chest.

Taylor got another Sentinel on his cockpit, but a powerful Force Shove fixed that. "Damned squids! Don't tell me Nightshade stole one of our older combat droid projects!"

Not only stole, but revived and updated them as well...

OOC: Hmm, a'right then. I'll RP it that the Rift generation didn't work.

IC: Pendragon Complex

The Hyperspace Rift generator powered up, and exploded in a shower of sparks. The pulse generated temporarily sealed off the complex in what would be defined as an FTLi that extended farther than the ships gathered there cared to travel at STL speeds.

Konoha - Surface - Arena - VIP Booth

Abel threw his 'liberated' lightsabre into a group of enemies, decapitating a bunch of them. As their heads rolled across the ground, he retrieved the blade and liberated another one.

Konoha - Surface - Docks

Having recovered both of the Puddle Jumpers, Whitestar 1 began to move towards the Arena. Once there, they would lock onto the transponders each of the plain clothes Lancers had and beam them aboard.

IC: Konoha - Orbit - Exterior

Whitestar 16 and Whitestar 72 both launched their compliments of four RF-42 Centaur class tactical fighters each. The eight fighters came out blasting at enemy fighters with blasts from their dual AP cannons.

Citizens fled from the Huntaerian troops, screaming "Monsters!" and "Demons!" running towards what safety they could fine. Many were gunned down, no matter who they were, men, women or children. The General concentrated on one of the Space Marines and focused on the flesh and blood inside the armor. Then the oxygen content surrounding that Marine became so concentrated that it would take one spark...which the General so lovingly provided with but a snap of his fingers...and BOOM! One Space Marine superheated inside his armor, with the lovely explosion to let the others know what happened. In a series of finger-snapping that would be characterized as a dance if it wasn't a battle, the General taught the Huntaerian troops why he has gained the title of Coreworlds' Flame Master.


"Concentrate your firepower on the Flame Master! Lock and load your grenade launchers! Take him out via fire power! Distract him so that our clones can move on ahead! We need to wait for back up to arrive!" The space marines were taken back by surprise when their nearby comrade was blown from the inside out, though this wasn't a power they've never seen before.

Meanwhile....


With a warcry, Sakura Haruno Uchiha used superstrength taught by her Master, Tsunade herself, and grabbed the first lamppost she could find and tore it out of the ground, concrete and all. Acting like it was a baseball game, she started whacking Necromen left and right. Woe to the ones who scorns her! The other shinobi and more normal troopers under her command struck out with heavy blasters, lightsabers, and powers of their own.

Several Necromen were hurtled towards nearby building walls, and windows. The ones who weren't hit by the lamppost shot lightning at Sakura from a distance, hoping to get her while just being out of range from the new baseball bat she created...


Meanwhile, Naruto outmaneuvered several Sound and Shadow nin and beat them to a pulp with his Shadow Clones, then moved for Tsunade to assist her against Orochimaru. A rumbling in the distance let him know that there was more pressing concerns...like gigantic vermin right outside Konoha!

"All right! Time to kick some rat ass! Kuchiyose!" With a poof, a large, menacing toad with a sword on its back (not the Boss Toad), appeared and started for the vermin, stomping them flat. It grumbled about the cold, but Naruto's powers kept it warm.

The Clones who weren't in combat were stunned to see a giant toad appear and wield a sword. In polite response, they began to throw their grenades and shot wildly at the toad. Most of the troopers got the idea that they should be shooting at the eyes, hoping to blind it.

Travis, having utilized Kage Bunshin no Jutsu again to get the Evil Twins off his back momentarily, took the lull in fighting to heal his wounds in a large tree. "Heal."

Cuts clotted up. Blood stopped flowing. And Travis felt a little better now that the nausea went away. Then his danger senses acted up and by instinct, he jumped away, barely missing a Dance of Wind Blades technique that ripped apart the branch he was standing on. "Crap! They found me!"

Janus smirked darkly. "You thought you'd get away with that little trick? I don't think so!"

Jesse stood behind Travis. "As a courtesy, I shall simply ask you to surrender and come quietly so that no one has to get hurt."

"Not a chance!" Travis yelled, his golden blade ablaze once more.

"Very well. If we have to cut your limbs off to stop you, we will!" Janus charged, red lightsaber ignited. Travis ducked under the blow and deflected one from Jesse, then jumped overhead to gain some distance, using what he knows of Form IV to keep him moving so as to not get hit by his evil cousins. The fight continues...


Shamman and his squad of Necromen rushed towards the twins and Travis, and Shamman released the same horrific scream he produced durring the second chuunin exam trials as he charged the group. Shamman ignighted his lightsaber, which glowed red and pointed it at Travis. A burst of flame was shot from the blade and it sped towards the Masaki. The Necromen surrounded the group in a way so that Travis would have a difficult time escaping. They launched their lightning at him as they surrounded the boy. Shamman then grinned wickedly. He had a very strong feeling that the boy will eventually colapse from the pressure. He's far to young to resist all of this. No matter what blood line he comes from.

Whitfield noticed the sky darken a bit as well, as if it was dusk, sensing the Dark Side behind it all. And he wasn't particularly in the mood to suffer Dark Side insolence either...

He reached out with the Force to trace the source of the darkness. It did not take long for the Jedi Master's senses to find it. So this is Darth Aelikes...

After pinning down his location, Whitfield used all manner of Force-jumps, enhancing his speed with the Force as well, to outmaneuver the crowd of spectators to the whole debacle. He also did not hesitate to use mass-Jedi mind tricks to induce people to clear him a path, which quite a few did anyway seeing a Jedi in a hurry to get somewhere, considering the circumstances.

He would reach him in just a few moments. He hoped Daniel would be there too...but if not, he would deal with him alone.

Aelikes easily noticed that someone was coming for him. It was who, he couldn't tell. Either way, he stopped his concentration and focused his energy on the battle ahead. The blackness which was created will stay there for quite some time now at least. He took out his two swords, and activated them. The blades hissed, and two black blades appeared. He was ready for his rushing enemy.


OOC: Waits for Huntaer to respond to Admiral Pellaeon's move

Which move?

Meanwhile…Friedrich’s small group moved towards the arena. They moved through a city in chaos, in mayhem, enemy soldiers and ninjas everywhere. Their dark beasts attack civilians. Staff weapons, which are slow but pack a powerful punch, fired at everything that attacked them.

Friedrich was heading towards the arena for the fact that a high ranking Coredian could still be there. Or that was what he hoped for.

As the small group walked through the city, Charles said out loud. “I’m a Zoid pilot, I’m better fighting ina Zoid then on my feet.” He saw an attack coming toward him, he dove to the side before the enemy fire hit him. The fire did hit something, the clone behind Charles in his chest. Staff weapons fired at the location of the enemy shot, all target in that one area. The clone drops to his knees, a large hole in his Dominion battle armor chest piece, his staff weapon fired off one last shot before the clone fell on his face.

Charles, Jason, and a clone ran into the alleyway to their right as Friedrich and the other two clones moved into the alleyway on left. Down to six and both sides were divided into two groups. This was not the plan.

With the sides against Friedrich and his smaller group, out of nowhere a lone black cloaked figure lands in the alleyway with Friedrich and threw some makibishi in the path of a few enemy ninjas trying to attack the group from behind. The makibishi were to slow down the enemy ninjas. The clone turned and fired at the ninjas with their staff weapons.

“Looks like you boys are having fun.” said Lin as she threw shuriken after shuriken at more enemy ninjas and soldiers.

Friedrich and the other two clone laid down cover fire as Charles, Jason, and the other clone ran across the street. Charles and Jason made it but the clone was hit in the head.

Using his shoulder, Friedrich knocked down at door and entered a building. The rest followed after him. Friedrich moved toward the building, keeping an eye for any enemy.

Raidon and Matt were on their way towards the arena, too. But they were traveling across roof tops. “I feel Daniel near us.” said Raidon as he jumped to another roof top.

“We'll head that way then.” said Matt, locking on Daniel’s being of Force power. The two Warlocks moved changed durations and heads towards Daniel. They were fighting blindly without knowing what was going on.

OOC: Based on MSN conversations, I'm assuming your hypercannons fire once every 3-4 minutes. Lemme know if such assumptions are incorrect.

Along with the Battlestar's PPC, several more Artillery fire continued to pinpoint the hypercannons. Now it came down about 22 cannons...make that 18. And falling quickly.

"We're losing Hypercannons, sir! Estimate total loss in seven minutes!"

"Well, that won't do! Target that Star Destroyer and the Coredian Artilleries!" Admiral Danzo ordered.

The Obliterator's hypercannons targeted the enemy once more. Purple beams of uberdeath lanced out once more and struck the Artilleries, blowing them to oblivion. Then a Hypercannon targeted the Battlestar and let loose with Imperial fury...

The Battlestar shook at the impact of the hypercannon on the shields, its more unprepared crew members had to avert their eyes from the massive purple glare. Nevertheless, the shield held enough to severely blunt the energy of the blast and dissapate the beam, although it left a huge hole in the shield.

As for the shields...they remained at 100% strength but for the gaping hole that the projectile had left. It took a couple of seconds for them to redistribute power, which they did automatically; when they did, shield strength was more like a uniform 40%.

"Bastards." Admiral Riordan mused to himself before giving orders. "Charge PPC #27 at half rate. That means recycle time of a minute, thirty seconds. Shut down nonessential systems, such as garbage compactors, mess hall, et cetera. We should still get two shots at their weapons emplacements before they fire again. Dump all excess power into shields with the front of the ship double-shielded."

A chorus of "Affs" greeted the Admiral's orders. Seven months ago, the Immortal Star Destroyer's ability to regenerate shields on the scale necessary to duel collections of planetary batteries, given a high enough percentage of the total reactor output, had infuriated the Coredians. Now, it would work in their favor. Woodians had never understood why other nations considered ships with excessive reactor output for their size a bad thing; such allowed for flexibility such as this.

The first of two shots lashed out at one of the Obliterator's hypercannon emplacements, once again slagging the PPC emplacement from which it was fired on account of the extreme heat.

"Charge PPC #28 and prepare to fire in ninety seconds." The Admiral was quick to give the order the moment he saw the first blue streak of death emanating from his ship.

By the time the second shot was ready to fire, the shields were back up to about 90% for the front section, facing the Obliterator, and 45% for the rest of the ship...it was quite obvious where Admiral Riordan was stashing his ship's reactor output, preparing to take another hypercannon hit. PPC #28 slagged itself, sending another dark blue stream of death at the Obliterator's primary weapons systems...

The crew of the Battlestar braced themselves to take another hit in return...

AT-ATs were often noted for being able to absorb heavy energy fire, but the PPC bolts from the 'Mechs proved to be just as dangerous as orbitial turbolasers. Superheated ions melted the starship-grade armor as well as anything else and maneuvering out of the AT-ATs' frontal arcs didn't help the Imperials any either.

The Juggernauts fared a little better, mainly because of the missiles they used. But they were not prepared to face the heavy firepower and high agility the Battlemechs possessed and that proved to be their downfall. Didn't help Captain Ross' nerves much as she was hit by a missile and her damage display turned orange in some parts, but she clamped down and blasted that Juggernaut to pieces.

It was the AT-STs and the Sentinel squids that proved to be troublesome. The Chicken-walkers were manuverable in their own right and their lasers drilled yellow and orange into the armor of the 'Mechs. But they were lightly armored, enough so that pulse lasers were all it took to take them out. PPCs gave them the overkill they required. The Sentinels hovered above the ground at high speeds, making them the most maneuverable and dangerous of the bunch, requiring rapid bursts of laserfire to take them out. As such, one of the casualties of the Mech squad came from a Sentinel that grabbed it with it's long, wicked tentacles and bore into the cockpit with its laser cannon, killing the young soldier horribly by spearing a tentacle into his chest.

Taylor got another Sentinel on his cockpit, but a powerful Force Shove fixed that. "Damned squids! Don't tell me Nightshade stole one of our older combat droid projects!"

Not only stole, but revived and updated them as well...

The Woodian 'MechWarriors caught on to the squidlike Sentinels with a hive-mind-like mentality that only Force-sensitives who had worked together extensively before could muster. The five Woodian officers, all of whom were Force-sensitive (there was a reason why they all held the rank of Major or above despite being Taylor's age and graduating from academy only three and a half years ago, after all), spread out and used their pulse lasers for precision targeting of the Sentinels attaching themselves to other 'Mechs without so much as scratching the paint of said 'Mechs, all reinforcing each other....

Aelikes easily noticed that someone was coming for him. It was who, he couldn't tell. Either way, he stopped his concentration and focused his energy on the battle ahead. The blackness which was created will stay there for quite some time now at least. He took out his two swords, and activated them. The blades hissed, and two black blades appeared. He was ready for his rushing enemy.

Master Whitfield, who himself had some experience dueling with dual lightsabers, extracted his own lightsaber, The Flame of the Sierra Nevada, named after the place where it was, quite literally, forged. But he didn't ignite it quite yet...but Darth Aelikes would be in for quite a surprise when he initiated the duel. Almost eighteen inches long, the mithril-hilted lightsaber contained three focusing crystals, capable of extending the violet blade up to three meters. Whitfield had specifically designed this lightsaber to defeat Darth Ebolus six months ago (in a duel that took a full hour to conclude), a Dark Jedi Lord who, thanks to sucking off Force energy from a Force-amplifying planet, had become about as powerful as Daniel Masaki or Lady Nightshade. Whitfield's outer appearance as an eighty-one year old politician were about as deceptive as Yoda's appearance as bound to a cane when it came to lightsaber dueling...

...With his other hand, he extracted his other, backup lightsaber, intending to use them both. But he did not ignite this one either, yet.

Master Whitfield didn't know who Darth Aelikes was, but he knew he was there, indeed, he sensed that he was about to attack him...

"Concentrate your firepower on the Flame Master! Lock and load your grenade launchers! Take him out via fire power! Distract him so that our clones can move on ahead! We need to wait for back up to arrive!" The space marines were taken back by surprise when their nearby comrade was blown from the inside out, though this wasn't a power they've never seen before.
Explosions sounded around the General, but instead of killing him, he smirked as something like a shield of fire formed around him. His clothes were singed and cuts sprouted from his face, but he was alive. "Well, well. Appears you've tried to fight fire with fire. Won't work on the one and only Coredian Flame Master!"

He snapped his fingers again. A massive explosion, something akin to a thermal detonator, erupted in the middle of the space marine squads, superheating armor and flesh alike. When the dust settled, parts of the street was melted...

Meanwhile....

Several Necromen were hurtled towards nearby building walls, and windows. The ones who weren't hit by the lamppost shot lightning at Sakura from a distance, hoping to get her while just being out of range from the new baseball bat she created...
The lightning hit Sakura...and poof! A bench took her place and blew up against the lightning. A replacement technique!

"Heeya!" Sakura screamed as she reappeared above the enemies SMASHED her "bat" down on the ones who dared to throw lightning at her. The impact actually shook the ground as well.

The Clones who weren't in combat were stunned to see a giant toad appear and wield a sword. In polite response, they began to throw their grenades and shot wildly at the toad. Most of the troopers got the idea that they should be shooting at the eyes, hoping to blind it.
Naruto focused on the grenades, exploding them before they could hit the toad while the Swordstoad lept up to avoid the eye shots and slashed downwards and out with lethal efficiency, cutting into armor and bone alike.

Kunai in hand with burning exploding notes glued to them, Naruto threw several down at the clones. In a second, the notes detonated with the force of concussion grenades, complete with fire and blastwave.

Shamman and his squad of Necromen rushed towards the twins and Travis, and Shamman released the same horrific scream he produced durring the second chuunin exam trials as he charged the group. Shamman ignighted his lightsaber, which glowed red and pointed it at Travis. A burst of flame was shot from the blade and it sped towards the Masaki. The Necromen surrounded the group in a way so that Travis would have a difficult time escaping. They launched their lightning at him as they surrounded the boy. Shamman then grinned wickedly. He had a very strong feeling that the boy will eventually colapse from the pressure. He's far to young to resist all of this. No matter what blood line he comes from.
"Eyaah!" Travis was hit by the scream, leaving his ears ringing. But the Force came to his aid again as he 'replaced' himself with one of the many logs in the forest, letting the wood take the hits. Then a golden blade appeared in one of the Necromen's chest, cutting not just his insides, but straight into whatever soul he possessed. Such pain would be unlike any other to evildoers, but will do nothing to those with pure hearts (aside from normal lightsaber damage). About half of the Necromen were hit by Travis' blade as he moved amongst them, but the scream had slowed him down, enough for Janus to get in a shove that knocked him into a tree.

The last thing Travis saw as he looked up at his grinning cousin was a black nothingness that swallowed him whole. "Shit..."

"Prison of Darkness. A modification of Mother's Void of Darkness." Janus smirked as he picked up a heavy black orb in the middle of a crater where the tree once stood. "It appears my efforts to develop this technique paid off. Alas, it only works twice in one day. Uses too much reserves otherwise."

"Then the other use should be for that Gabriel." Jesse said.

"I know." Janus turned to Shamman and the remaining Necromen. "Search for Gabriel. Leave no stone unturned! And when he's found, call for us."

The Twins then went on the move for Gabriel-Daniel, heir apparent of Draconis Nightcrawlis.

Damn! I'm too late! An old man with long white hair cursed himself, seeing the evil ones disappear. But perhaps it's not too late for the other!

Jiraiya, one of the Sannin of Konoha and one of the most powerful people in Konoha, headed towards Gabriel's location to warn the boy...

=====

"Travis!" I felt something wrong happen to Travis, like he just disappeared.

"You feel that, brother?" Nightshade asked as she began to perform a Kuchiyose. "My nephew has just been persuaded by my sons to join us."

"How dare you!" I yelled, ready for another attack, but was blasted by a powerful wind and smoke. "Damn! A Kuchiyose!"

In her place, stood a massive scorpion-fly-dragon-horse hybrid, as tall as a skyscraper and twice as long. A wicked tail with a hypodermic blade curved over the beast's shoulder while its mandibles and pincers gnashed and clawed at air. It had the body and wings of a dragon, and the head of a flesh-eating horse. Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies, was Nightshade's Boss Summon and she was on the head, between the ears! "Meat! Flesh! Freedom!"

One of its many eyes spotted me, and I barely jumped out of the way of a tail strike that gouged deep into the ground.

"Ryujin won't be able to take this thing on..." I mused quickly, performing Kuchiyose myself. "Kuchiyose! Dragon King Sarinon!"

Another massive poof of smoke appeared and a large golden dragon appeared, as big as the Super Vermin. "Daniel? This is the first time since Chronosia attacked that you've summoned me..."

"I know, your Majesty." I spoke on his snout. "But we've got problems. Big ones."

Sarinon narrowed his eyes when he saw Beelzebub. "I see. So Nightshade has finally released the Abomination..."

"Hahahahahaha!" Nightshade crowed. "Foolish as always, brother! You won't beat me now!"

"We'll see about that!" I yelled back. "Let's go!"

At the same time, both dragon and demon took to the air, beginning one of the battles that will determine the future of Konoha. If I struck her down now, I could easily free Travis...

Which move?
"Sir! Sensors are detecting ghost-like objects moving towards the planet! Recommend we cut them off before they reach it!"

"Very well. Move Chimera and Tyrannosaur battlefleets to intercept the ghosts!" Pellaeon ordered. The two largest battlefleets in the area would soon move to cut off what would be revealed as the Huntaer fleet. Already, manual targeting lit off the Elite Star Destroyers' and Coredian Mk III Star Destroyers' beamlaser cannons, sweeping across the sky towards the area of the increasingly visible enemy fleet. And when they are fully exposed, that's when the fun would truly begin...

Gaara, Quatre and Daniel all headed through the streets of Konoha, to protect the heir to the throne Gaara knew exactly where to go. It had been the Kings orders, Kurt did not want his son getting caught up in the worst of the fighting. A familiar face came running toward them.

“Masato,” Daniel scowled.

“Sorry but Temari sent me, they need your help Kazekage,” Masato said, his voice showing he was out of breath.

It sounded believable so Gaara just nodded. “Then you take over here,” he said. “Guard these two with your life.”

“Yes I will,” Masato said with false promise, he tapped his blade to reassure the Kazekage.

Satisfied, Gaara made his way back.

“Come on, better get you out of here,” Masato told both of them.

As he walked off, Daniel and Quatre followed, the blond man resting a reassuring hand upon his sons shoulder. Daniel wasn’t happy with it, out of all the people he had to be protected by it just had to be Masato.

Hey Sons of Nightshade, if you’ve picked up your target how about lending me a hand with mine.

Gaara, Quatre and Daniel all headed through the streets of Konoha, to protect the heir to the throne Gaara knew exactly where to go. It had been the Kings orders, Kurt did not want his son getting caught up in the worst of the fighting. A familiar face came running toward them.

“Masato,” Daniel scowled.

“Sorry but Temari sent me, they need your help Kazekage,” Masato said, his voice showing he was out of breath.

It sounded believable so Gaara just nodded. “Then you take over here,” he said. “Guard these two with your life.”

“Yes I will,” Masato said with false promise, he tapped his blade to reassure the Kazekage.

Satisfied, Gaara made his way back.

“Come on, better get you out of here,” Masato told both of them.

As he walked off, Daniel and Quatre followed, the blond man resting a reassuring hand upon his sons shoulder. Daniel wasn’t happy with it, out of all the people he had to be protected by it just had to be Masato.

Hey Sons of Nightshade, if you’ve picked up your target how about lending me a hand with mine.
Right. Be right there. Jesse replied. "Easier than we thought. Let's go."

Janus and Jesse made way for the general vicinity of Daniel and then jumped down in front of them. Jesse spoke. "Gabriel (smirk), you're coming with us. Come quietly and no one gets hurt."

Sand raised from behind Daniel. "I think not," he replied.

"I think so," Masato replied. He brought out a dagger from inside the sheath of his blade and in a quick movement he stabbed Quatre in the abdomen.

"Father!" Daniel yelled.

Quatre knelt to the ground in pain and bleeding badly.

Sand raised from behind Daniel. "I think not," he replied.

"I think so," Masato replied. He brought out a dagger from inside the sheath of his blade and in a quick movement he stabbed Quatre in the abdomen.

"Father!" Daniel yelled.

Quatre knelt to the ground in pain and bleeding badly.
"If you want your dear father to live, I suggest you come with us. Now." Janus said.

Raidon and Matt were nearing Emperor Daniel’s location, when out of nowhere two larger then life beasts appeared out of nowhere. The two Warlocks stopped and looked at the demon looking beast and the golden dragon.

“Daniel and Nightshade.” said Raidon out loud, looking up at the two beast as they entered the air. “Can’t help here. It is up to brother and sister to finish this fight.”

“On to find somebody that we can help then.” said Matt. “Follow me, I tracking those two boy of Nightshade. Or some people that have their blood on them.” Matt took off toward their location. Raidon followed after looked at the golden dragon one last time.

May the Force be with you. he said.

OOC: They will arrive after the twin escape or whatever. Maybe to save Quatre‘s life. Unless you two want to have some Warlocks try to save Daniel from the dark side.

Friedrich and his group moved through the buildings, staying out of the way of the enemy as they head towards the arena. A few more blocks they would be there.

"Liar you'll just leave him for dead," Daniel replied.

Masato kick Quatre over and placed his foot upon his neck. "But I can kill him now."

Daniel's eyes turned green and a bat-like length of sand knocked Masato away before covering Quatre in a protective lair.

"You will not take me."

"Liar you'll just leave him for dead," Daniel replied.

Masato kick Quatre over and placed his foot upon his neck. "But I can kill him now."

Daniel's eyes turned green and a bat-like length of sand knocked Masato away before covering Quatre in a protective lair.

"You will not take me."
"Then you will be taken by force." Janus spoke and sent a wave of darkness to strike Daniel.

The Battlestar shook at the impact of the hypercannon on the shields, its more unprepared crew members had to avert their eyes from the massive purple glare. Nevertheless, the shield held enough to severely blunt the velocity of the shell and break it up into a couple hundred fragments, which to dissapate the beam, although it left a huge hole in the shield.

As for the shields...they remained at 100% strength but for the gaping hole that the projectile had left. It took a couple of seconds for them to redistribute power, which they did automatically; when they did, shield strength was more like a uniform 40%.

"Bastards." Admiral Riordan mused to himself before giving orders. "Charge PPC #27 at half rate. That means recycle time of a minute, thirty seconds. Shut down nonessential systems, such as garbage compactors, mess hall, et cetera. We should still get two shots at their weapons emplacements before they fire again. Dump all excess power into shields with the front of the ship double-shielded."

A chorus of "Affs" greeted the Admiral's orders. Seven months ago, the Immortal Star Destroyer's ability to regenerate shields on the scale necessary to duel collections of planetary batteries, given a high enough percentage of the total reactor output, had infuriated the Coredians. Now, it would work in their favor. Woodians had never understood why other nations considered ships with excessive reactor output for their size a bad thing; such allowed for flexibility such as this.

The first of two shots lashed out at one of the Obliterator's hypercannon emplacements, once again slagging the PPC emplacement from which it was fired on account of the extreme heat.

"Charge PPC #28 and prepare to fire in ninety seconds." The Admiral was quick to give the order the moment he saw the first blue streak of death emanating from his ship.

By the time the second shot was ready to fire, the shields were back up to about 90% for the front section, facing the Obliterator, and 45% for the rest of the ship...it was quite obvious where Admiral Riordan was stashing his ship's reactor output, preparing to take another hypercannon hit. PPC #28 slagged itself, sending another dark blue stream of death at the Obliterator's primary weapons systems...

The crew of the Battlestar braced themselves to take another hit in return...
The loss of yet another five hypercannons from the enemy fleet did not impress the Admiral. "When next the hypercannons recharge, I want all of them to target that Star Destroyer!"

Meanwhile, the normal turbolasers peppered the enemy ship with green fire.

The Woodian 'MechWarriors caught on to the squidlike Sentinels with a hive-mind-like mentality that only Force-sensitives who had worked together extensively before could muster. The five Woodian officers, all of whom were Force-sensitive (there was a reason why they all held the rank of Major or above despite being Taylor's age and graduating from academy only three and a half years ago, after all), spread out and used their pulse lasers for precision targeting of the Sentinels attaching themselves to other 'Mechs without so much as scratching the paint of said 'Mechs, all reinforcing each other....
In the end, it was a tactical victory. In the end, the Tenetian ground forces and summons were defeated by the Woodian and Coredian Battlemechs. None of them made it to the inner circle of Konoha's defenses, who fought off what few vermin made it through with relative ease. But there was still the issue of the Huntaerian troops inside the walls of the city itself...

Daniel was about to teleport away when something that felt like lightning hit him in the back and left him vulnerable to the impending darkness.

Daniel was about to teleport away when something that felt like lightning hit him in the back and left him vulnerable to the impending darkness.
"Excellent." Janus smirked. Daniel too found himself swallowed by the blackness and an orb was all that stood place of the furry blue elf. Janus felt exhausted after he picked up the orb. "Let's go."

"I don't think so." Jiraiya said, jumping down in front of the threesome. "Release the boys, now."

I'm exhausted. Janus told the other two. Jesse nodded and moved slightly in front of his brother.

It was a classic standoff. Two-and-a-half evil youngsters verses one of the most powerful people in Coreworlds, and the Toad Sannin, no less!

=====

Tsunade was breathing hard after pummeling Orochimaru to the point of death. She grasped her one-time comrade in a death headlock. "Orochimaru. Never again will you kill for your 'dream'. Never again will you use innocent people for your twisted desires. And never again will you disturb the peace of Konohagekure Village! And I will make it so. Go...to...Hell!"

For once, Orochimaru's eyes widened in fear as he found he couldn't transfer his spirit into another body. Tsunade's sheer willpower prevented it. The Snake struggled as his neck twisted, but Tsunade was resolute in her decision to execute Orochimaru personally. And finally, his neck snapped, ending his reign of terror instantly. The Master Medic of Coreworlds dropped the body of Orochimaru onto the ground. She looked down on her former comrade without a touch of sadness or pity. "It is over."

Only then did she notice the darkness taking over the sky. Only then did she notice the carnage in Konoha, which was actually lessening with every victory over the enemy. Only then did she sense that something was amiss even among the few cheers of the people who managed to catch her defeat the worst enemy Konoha has ever had.

An ANBU soldier bowed before her. "Hokage-sama? Your orders."

She smiled, for once. "Rally our forces. Tell all that Orochimaru is defeated. We shall end this battle and triumph over the enemy!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The soldier jumped away.

With the realization that Orochimaru is dead, enemy morale, especially among the Sound plummented and friendly morale rose greatly. And the defenders fought twice as hard as a result...

Masato moved forward up behind Jiraiya, his eyes no longer upon the unconcious form of Quatre. Two pairs of eyes were and as the other were distracted by the Toad Sannin, they pulled Quatre away to safety. With Daniel no longer around the sand no longer formed a barrier and was left as normal sand.

"We have to find someone to help him."

Despite their youth, the silver-haired twins carried him away.

Kurt felt his son seemingly disappear, he had also felt what had happened to Quatre. "Gaara what have you done," he scowled.

Despite their youth, the silver-haired twins carried him away.

Matt and Raidon jumped from the roof tops and lands in front of the silver haired twins. Their eyes widen as looked at who the twins were carrying.

“You two need help?” asked Matt.

OOC: Verified with CW how many hypercannons remain that can actually target my ship.

The loss of yet another five hypercannons from the enemy fleet did not impress the Admiral. "When next the hypercannons recharge, I want all of them to target that Star Destroyer!"

Meanwhile, the normal turbolasers peppered the enemy ship with green fire.

The normal turbolasers were nearly inconsequential as so much of the Battlestar's reactor output was poured into the front shields that they continued to hold their charge. But suffice it to say that when the hypercannons were fired, the Admiral was greatly displeased.

One of said hypercannons, fortunately missed entirely, while another grazed the ship's dorsal shields, causing them to evaporate into oblivion, but missed the ship itself. How unfortunate that if Admiral Riordan had his way, the enemy admiral would never get a chance to yell at his gunners for inaccuracy. The other two, however, caused problems...

They both hit on the front shields, but not on the same exact spot. The shields flared a deep red as they dissapated one of the shots entirely, while only being able to handle most of the other shot. Nevertheless, about the first four hundred meters of the Immortal Star Destroyer's 2.5 km hull was slagged as if it had been hit by a giant PPC blast.

Admiral Riordan knew he wouldn't survive another blast like that, and he was greatly pissed off. It usually wasn't a good idea to piss off a Woodian admiral...

"All hands, prepare to ram! Sappers, prepare charges! Shut down everything and divert to engines! Keep Gauss Rifle capacitators online, we may need them as vector thrusters. Dump our final recordings onto the Coredian fleet."

To this, there could only be one response from the crew, and it was a unified one. "Seyla."

The Woodian military had perfected ramming to such a fine art (as evidenced in its previous military encounter with Coredians) that every Immortal Star Destroyer carried its own dedicated sapping crew of about a hundred, meant to prepare devastating explosive charges for detonation inside of an enemy ship, as the Star Destroyer's wedge sheared a big hole into enemy ships. Such explosives were concentrated in the middle of the ship and would detonate at the same time as the reactor, multiplying the damage for Super Star Destroyers. And such sappers were trained to do this under near-complete darkness, in a timespan of only a couple of minutes.

The only reason why such was not used in the last battle involving Woodian ships that the Coredians had witnessed: the sappers were not needed because ramming alone easily destroyed the involved ships, which did not include Super Star Destroyers.

Meanwhile, the Battlestar jolted forward with an acceleration unbecoming a ship that size as every joule the ship could spare was shunted off into the engines. The lights on the ship went nearly completely dark. The sickbay was completely shut down, for its patients would soon die anyway. The two remaining DropShips were released into space, for the Coredians to take into their docking bays (or tell their crews to make for planetary deployment), as they required power needed elsewhere to hold in place in the Battlestar's docking bay. Nearly everything on the ship shut down, except for a few essential computer systems, minimal backup bridge shields, what few sensors were required to track the Obliterator, and the ability to transmit and receive communications.

All told, nearly ninety-five percent of the ship's reactor output found its way to the engines. Fighters and corvettes unfortunate enough to be too close would be completely ripped apart by the exhaust; frigates would see their shields evaporate in the Battlestar's wake if they were too close. The ship's engines screamed at first, then throbbed, the ship vibrating and trembling like the Saturn V rockets of old as there was no way the acceleration compensators could deal with such a load. Crew members on the bridge unwise enough to stand not anchored to something were thrown about.

Despite the chaos, Admiral Riordan managed to send a voice recording via commlink to Admiral Pellaeon, engine noise filling up the background.

"Admiral Pellaeon, it is the highest honor for me to have the oppurtunity to decommission the Empire's newest playtoy. Our Star Destroyer is now Solohma, cannon fodder to be sacrificed to the greater good. I am transmitting this vessel's final recordings and battle-roms to you, so that you may analyze them. Seyla."

Meanwhile, the Immortal, in its final moments, transmitted what could best be described as black-box recordings to the Coredian fleet. Its engines were by now well past the redlines. But such did not matter.

Turbolaser fire peppered the Battlestar's hull, but it was as well armored as it was shielded. Black pockmarks and streaks dotted the hull, but the ship would not be that easily contained...

In the end, it was a tactical victory. In the end, the Tenetian ground forces and summons were defeated by the Woodian and Coredian Battlemechs. None of them made it to the inner circle of Konoha's defenses, who fought off what few vermin made it through with relative ease. But there was still the issue of the Huntaerian troops inside the walls of the city itself...

Colonel Allaire sent the five most heavily damaged 'Mechs back to the DropShip for repairs, leaving the destroyed one for salvage. The other fifteen, including all five of the Woodians, made for the city to see how they might be able to help out there...

Masato moved forward up behind Jiraiya, his eyes no longer upon the unconcious form of Quatre. Two pairs of eyes were and as the other were distracted by the Toad Sannin, they pulled Quatre away to safety. With Daniel no longer around the sand no longer formed a barrier and was left as normal sand.
Barely did Jiraiya sense Masato that he sent a wave of chakra with enough strength to smash him against the wall, hard. And he wasn't even looking either.

Jesse attacked then, his chain whipping around to ensnare the Sannin, but Jiraiya was no fool, despite his womanizing. He nimbly grabbed the chain and pulled Jesse with it, who let go and attacked again in a blur with his red blade. The Sannin barely moved when he operated his own light green blade with ease, using naught but the simplest of movements to deflect Jesse's blows.

"C'mon, kids! You know you're outmatched." Jiraiya smirked. "Just let the heir apparents go and no one gets hurt!"

"I don't think so..." Janus growled.

"Hmph. Well, that means that I'll have to get rid of you..." Jiraiya sighed and shook his head as he defended himself easily from the attacks. How troublesome to stain my hands with Masaki blood. Even if they *are* evil...

=====

"I am impressed that you are able to keep up with me, little brother." Itachi admitted. He might even--no, I doubt it. I still have many plans to put into motion.

"Heh. I swore to you last time we met, that I would find my own way to defeat you." Sasuke smiled, moved into a casual stance and made a 'come on' motion with his hand.

"You could never defeat me." Itachi commented, lashing out with severe blows. Yes...show him why he continues to lack hatred. Show him that the only pathway to defeat me is the path of darkness. Show him...what?

Sasuke had defended himself successfully and now it was Itachi that was pushed on the defensive. Even a Grand Fireball didn't faze the younger Uchiha as he lept up and over and continued the assault. And when he heard Orochimaru was dead...well, let's just say that Itachi knew when he was finally outmatched by his own brother. And the Mangekyou Sharingan didn't help because it was countered by Sasuke's own (which was a surprise).

Clutching a bleeding arm and stumbling back, Itachi looked at the darkening sky, at the flashes of fire and energy that were being traded back and forth by the Raitei and the Empress. He felt something... "I congratulate you on this little victory, but I swear it that the next time I see you, it will be serious."

Before Sasuke could strike down his brother once and for all, Itachi lept away to safety. Sasuke sighed as he saw the retreat. "Coward. He could dish out damage, but he truly couldn't take it."

Collecting his remaining energy, Uchiha Sasuke went to look for his wife and daughter.

OOC: Verified with CW how many hypercannons remain that can actually target my ship.



The normal turbolasers were nearly inconsequential as so much of the Battlestar's reactor output was poured into the front shields that they continued to hold their charge. But suffice it to say that when the hypercannons were fired, the Admiral was greatly displeased.

One of said hypercannons, fortunately missed entirely, while another grazed the ship's dorsal shields, causing them to evaporate into oblivion, but missed the ship itself. How unfortunate that if Admiral Riordan had his way, the enemy admiral would never get a chance to yell at his gunners for inaccuracy. The other two, however, caused problems...

They both hit on the front shields, but not on the same exact spot. The shields flared a deep red as they dissapated one of the shots entirely, while only being able to handle most of the other shot. Nevertheless, about the first four hundred meters of the Immortal Star Destroyer's 2.5 km hull was slagged as if it had been hit by a giant PPC blast.

Admiral Riordan knew he wouldn't survive another blast like that, and he was greatly pissed off. It usually wasn't a good idea to piss off a Woodian admiral...

"All hands, prepare to ram! Sappers, prepare charges! Shut down everything and divert to engines! Keep Gauss Rifle capacitators online, we may need them as vector thrusters. Dump our final recordings onto the Coredian fleet."

To this, there could only be one response from the crew, and it was a unified one. "Seyla."

The Woodian military had perfected ramming to such a fine art (as evidenced in its previous military encounter with Coredians) that every Immortal Star Destroyer carried its own dedicated sapping crew of about a hundred, meant to prepare devastating explosive charges for detonation inside of an enemy ship, as the Star Destroyer's wedge sheared a big hole into enemy ships. Such explosives were concentrated in the middle of the ship and would detonate at the same time as the reactor, multiplying the damage for Super Star Destroyers. And such sappers were trained to do this under near-complete darkness, in a timespan of only a couple of minutes.

The only reason why such was not used in the last battle involving Woodian ships that the Coredians had witnessed: the sappers were not needed because ramming alone easily destroyed the involved ships, which did not include Super Star Destroyers.

Meanwhile, the Battlestar jolted forward with an acceleration unbecoming a ship that size as every joule the ship could spare was shunted off into the engines. The lights on the ship went nearly completely dark. The sickbay was completely shut down, for its patients would soon die anyway. The two remaining DropShips were released into space, for the Coredians to take into their docking bays (or tell their crews to make for planetary deployment), as they required power needed elsewhere to hold in place in the Battlestar's docking bay. Nearly everything on the ship shut down, except for a few essential computer systems, minimal backup bridge shields, what few sensors were required to track the Obliterator, and the ability to transmit and receive communications.

All told, nearly ninety-five percent of the ship's reactor output found its way to the engines. Fighters and corvettes unfortunate enough to be too close would be completely ripped apart by the exhaust; frigates would see their shields evaporate in the Battlestar's wake if they were too close. The ship's engines screamed at first, then throbbed, the ship vibrating and trembling like the Saturn V rockets of old as there was no way the acceleration compensators could deal with such a load. Crew members on the bridge unwise enough to stand not anchored to something were thrown about.

Despite the chaos, Admiral Riordan managed to send a voice recording via commlink to Admiral Pellaeon, engine noise filling up the background.

"Admiral Pellaeon, it is the highest honor for me to have the oppurtunity to decommission the Empire's newest playtoy. Our Star Destroyer is now Solohma, cannon fodder to be sacrificed to the greater good. I am transmitting this vessel's final recordings and battle-roms to you, so that you may analyze them. Seyla."

Meanwhile, the Immortal, in its final moments, transmitted what could best be described as black-box recordings to the Coredian fleet. Its engines were by now well past the redlines. But such did not matter.

Turbolaser fire peppered the Battlestar's hull, but it was as well armored as it was shielded. Black pockmarks and streaks dotted the hull, but the ship would not be that easily contained...
Admiral Pellaeon would mourn the man he barely knew later. "Have all recordings from the Battlestar been dumped into the fleet?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well. Finish off that Super Star Destroyer once it's disabled!"

=====

"Admiral, that Star Destroyer is about to ram our port side!"

"What?! Double up shields on that side! Engage tractorbeams! Prepare for impact!" Admiral Danzo yelled.

Frantic crew rushed about to do their duties. The power of the shield on the port side began to grow, the tractorbeams were activated, and the crew huddled and some prayed to the Emperor Palpatine for deliverance...

Masato groaned as the wall crumbled around him. He'd forgotten not to stand behind an enemy sannin.

"Damn you," he cursed lifting himself up, lightning crackled between his fingers.

-

Only one person could save Quatre and that was Tsunade. The twins ignored everything around them quickly making their way to the Hokage building. Hopefully Tsunade would be there.

Barely did Jiraiya sense Masato that he sent a wave of chakra with enough strength to smash him against the wall, hard. And he wasn't even looking either.

Jesse attacked then, his chain whipping around to ensnare the Sannin, but Jiraiya was no fool, despite his womanizing. He nimbly grabbed the chain and pulled Jesse with it, who let go and attacked again in a blur with his red blade. The Sannin barely moved when he operated his own light green blade with ease, using naught but the simplest of movements to deflect Jesse's blows.

"C'mon, kids! You know you're outmatched." Jiraiya smirked. "Just let the heir apparents go and no one gets hurt!"

"I don't think so..." Janus growled.

"Hmph. Well, that means that I'll have to get rid of you..." Jiraiya sighed and shook his head as he defended himself easily from the attacks. How troublesome to stain my hands with Masaki blood. Even if they *are* evil...

Shamman moved in using one of his blades to strike at her chest and the other at her blade, in a defensive move.

They weren't exactly out matched. Though they out number her three two one, they did have an unlikely ally slowly approach. Soon, Jiraiya heard the sound of two red blades activate from behind him. One of them, was pointed right behind his neck. "You will back down mister," Deshoonde moved his sword closer to the back of Jiraiya's neck :: Don't make me kill you. I am on your side but I need to maintain my secrecy if the alliance and Travis are to survive. I don't want to attack you... But I will, if it jepordises the success of my mission.::

Only one person could save Quatre and that was Tsunade. The twins ignored everything around them quickly making their way to the Hokage building. Hopefully Tsunade would be there.

“Oh…that just rude.” said Matt as the twins ignored the crimson dragon man and the vampire Warlock. The twins just heads towards some building.

“Should we follow them or head after Nightshade’s boys? asked Raidon.

“Nope, we go after the boys.” said Matt. The two Warlocks united to track down the dark side brats. Or where they were last location was at. They both ran as fast as they could.

"Sir! Sensors are detecting ghost-like objects moving towards the planet! Recommend we cut them off before they reach it!"

"Very well. Move Chimera and Tyrannosaur battlefleets to intercept the ghosts!" Pellaeon ordered. The two largest battlefleets in the area would soon move to cut off what would be revealed as the Huntaer fleet. Already, manual targeting lit off the Elite Star Destroyers' and Coredian Mk III Star Destroyers' beamlaser cannons, sweeping across the sky towards the area of the increasingly visible enemy fleet. And when they are fully exposed, that's when the fun would truly begin...


It's been a while since I've seen the Masaki fleet... This should be interesting. Captain Brishdee flew his Tie Poltergeist in front of Phantom Squadron. He had already fought the Coredians before. Hopefully he was more prepaired this time. Heh, wonder if they'll recognize any of my strategies...[i] "All right boys! We've been spotted out. What we need to rely on now is the fact the enemy has no visual confirmation or targeting capabilities. We can still work this out right.

Go to standard formation, I want the Poltergeists out front with me, Phantoms in the rear, and the Ghosts and Specters in the middle. Maintian cloak, and fire on my command. Continue to move towards the enemy, and avoid..."

"I'M HIT!"

[i]Damn, I hate wild firing! "... Getting shot at at all costs. Great. Now we're already one down. We are to move into the Chimera Battlefleet while the battleships come in right behind us. We need to keep then diistracted untill the Empire's back up fleet arrives so we can provide transport escape for the target, should they get captured."

"Aye sir!"

"Lets go!"

Admiral Pellaeon would mourn the man he barely knew later. "Have all recordings from the Battlestar been dumped into the fleet?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well. Finish off that Super Star Destroyer once it's disabled!"

=====

"Admiral, that Star Destroyer is about to ram our port side!"

"What?! Double up shields on that side! Engage tractorbeams! Prepare for impact!" Admiral Danzo yelled.

Frantic crew rushed about to do their duties. The power of the shield on the port side began to grow, the tractorbeams were activated, and the crew huddled and some prayed to the Emperor Palpatine for deliverance...

The tractor beams were activated, but there was not time enough to aim them.

The shields began to grow, but only from a state of depletion caused by the earlier sniping of Woodians and Coredians at the Obliterator's hypercannons. The shields had to fill in the holes poked by allied ortillery first.

The Battlestar's sappers continued to arm its high-yield explosives.

Its engines continued to heave the ship forward, accelerating it the whole time, while frantic (and probably panicked) tractor beam crews tried to slow it down. But there simply was not enough time for the tractor beams to stop the ship, or even fully counter the thrust of its engines with the full power of the ship's reactor behind them.

"Reactor to 110%" Admiral Riordan ordered in his last few seconds.

"We are already at 105%...110% is not recommended, sir!" came the reply of some tech person.

"Do it. We are dead in fifteen seconds anyway."

"Aff, Admiral." It took about five seconds for the order to be relayed to the people who mattered. Just as the Battlestar closed on its target, the ship squeezed one last burst of acceleration from the reactor.

Moreover, if the reactor was running at over its rated capacity, all the more damage that it would cause when it hit. Admiral Riordan, in his last few seconds, hoped that the explosion would break the Obliterator in half, like an old World War II torpedo against a merchant ship...

Shamman moved in using one of his blades to strike at his chest and the other at his blade, in a defensive move.
Jiraiya paried the chest blow downwards, keeping it in a lock so he could prepare his signature, but then somebody had to interrupt it...

They weren't exactly out matched. Though they out number him three two one, they did have an unlikely ally slowly approach. Soon, Jiraiya heard the sound of two red blades activate from behind him. One of them, was pointed right behind his neck. "You will back down mister," Deshoonde moved his sword closer to the back of Jiraiya's neck :: Don't make me kill you. I am on your side but I need to maintain my secrecy if the alliance and Travis are to survive. I don't want to attack you... But I will, if it jepordises the success of my mission.::
I see. Jiraiya replied mentally. However, I can't in good conscience just let you go without a fight. Besides, even if I die, there will be many others to come, especially young Masaki's Sensei, who is stronger than even I. So...

With that, Jiraiya disappeared. The next thing the enemy knew, Shamman was struck from behind by a Rasengan. The Hurricane-in-a-Sphere technique would by sheer force, spin Shamman like he was in a sideways tornado as well as launch him forward to smack into some wall or tree, and also cause windshear damage on the body itself (think abrasions and lacerations, and if possible grinding all the way inside the body). Then the old sensei of senseis crashed down on Deshoonde with his lightsaber, moving so fast as to be a blur even to enhanced eyes. Hell no he wasn't giving Travis up without a fight!

Jesse and Janus used the distraction to remove themselves from the dangerous Sannin, taking the two orbs to a hidden location...

Me:
So you refuse to free my people
All through the lands of Coreworlds...

Nightshade:
I send a pestilence and plague
Into your house, into your bed
Into your streams, into your streets
Into your drink, into your bread
Upon your cattle, on your sheep
Upon your banthas in your field
Into your dreams, into your sleep
Until you break, until you yield!

I send the swarm, I send the horde
Thus saith the Sith!

Me:
Once I called you Sister
Once I thought the chance
to make you laugh
Was all I ever wanted...

Nightshade:
I send the thunder from the sky
I send the fire raining down

Fire blazed in the dark sky of the false night. The heat of Sarinon's blaze was enough to melt durasteel, but Beelzebub proved to be rather agile in the air. In return, the energy blasts from the Lord of the Flies came close to blasting us out of the sky as well. Then they connected, sending a violent explosion outward, tumbling us out of the sky momentarily.

Me:
And even now I wish the Force had chose another
Serving as your foe on its behalf
Is the last thing that I wanted...

Nightshade:
I send a hail of burning ice
On ev'ry field, on ev'ry town

Sarinon recovered, only to see the demon blindside him from below. The scorpion tail lashed out! Sarinon's tail blocked it. The scorpion tail lashed out again, this time, scoring a hit on the right flank. The King of Dragons roared in pain and blazed another massive fireball point-blank.

Me:
This was my home
All this pain and devastation
How it tortures me inside
All the innocent who suffer
From your darkness and your pride...

Nightshade:
I send the demons on a wind
Such as the world has never seen
On ev'ry leaf, on ev'ry stalk
Until there's nothing left of green
I send my scourge, I send my sword
Thus saith the Sith!

Me:
You who I called Sister
Why must you call down another blow?

Beelzebub screeched loudly. Nightshade snarled in anger as her hair was singed and launched herself at me. Of course, this resulted in knocking me off the King of Dragon's back, fighting me all the way down into a pool at the Valley of the End. Though we slowed our falls with the Force, it still felt like smacking into concrete and we both were dazed for a moment.

Evildoers:
I send my scourge, I send my sword

Me:
Let my people go

Good Guys:
Thus saith the Force!

Me and Good Guys:
Thus saith the Force!

I swum up to the surface, gasping for air and climbed onto the water's surface, where my feet held myself up for water-walking. Seconds later...

"Dance of the Wind Blades!" Nightshade unleashed a series of slashing winds. I dodged them by jumping to the side, returning fire with a Thunderbolt that she reflected and blasted into the cliff wall.

She attacked me again, this time with a powerful saber assault that had me driven back. I flipped up to the cliff wall, she followed, I jumped around, she continued to follow. Minute after minute we dueled, throwing our respective powers at each other, using telekinesis, and other powerful attacks.

Me, Taylor and Jacob:
You who we called Sister
How could you have come to hate us so?
Is this what you wanted?

Evildoers:
I send the swarm, I send the horde!

Nightshade:
Fools! Let my heart be hardened
And never mind how high the cost may grow
This will still be so:

I will never let...your...people...go!

Evildoers:
Thus saith the Sith!

Good guys:
Thus saith the Force!

And then came the big one...

"Now it's time to end this!" Nightshade crowed. A swirling black ball began to form on the palm of her hand. "Dark Rasengan!"

"What?!" I yelled, automatically forming my own similiar technique. A lightsaber won't be able to block Rasengan properly. "Chidori!"

Nightshade:
I will not...

Everyone:
Let your (my) people go!

A lightning blade erupted from my palm, complete with the sound of a thousand chirping birds. Then with abandon, we flung ourselves at each other at high speed. And in that instant when the two energy fields connected, both of us started remembering things that we both suppressed in our anger and hatred with each other. I embraced the memories, allowing myself to remember the good times we had, and pushed. She, however, refused to let go of her evil and pushed. A reaction occurred.

A massive explosion occurred and a mushroom cloud rose above the Valley of the End. When it settled down, Itachi found Nightshade, unconscious, body broken, will need to be put in a bacta tank for a week or three, but alive. He couldn't find the Raitei, but he suspected that if Nightshade survived, so did Daniel Masaki. He sighed and picked up his consort, cradling her. This is going to be troublesome.

With that, Itachi headed to the same hidden spot as did Janus and Jesse. There, they would wait out Huntaer's battles.

Raidon and Matt arrived a little late, they did not see Jesse or Janus. No view of them, where could they have gone. They stood on the roof top, watching as two force users were fighting.

Raidon looked back at the sky, the night created by the Sith, he scanned the skies of the golden dragon. He spotted the fight between demon being and the dragon. Using eagle like eyes, he watches as both Nightshade and Daniel flew from the two beasts.

Raidon could not see anything else, did they survive the fall. Yes, they are both users of the Force. One good, one bad. Both of the same blood, of the flesh.

Then his eyes widen to their limits, a mushroom cloud rose above the area the two land in.

“Shit!” he said. Not telling Matt anything, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. On the rooftop, Matt turned to see the mushroom cloud.

Valley of the End…Raidon reappeared on the edges of the valley. His eyes scanned the area as the dust clean. “Daniel!” he yelled. “Where are you?” He used the Force to find his friend.

Friedrich and Charles ran up stairs that lead to the roof top, they stopped on the roof and looked at the city. They spotted the arena as the rest showed up on the roof.

"Quatre!" Kurt yelled.

The twins had made it to the bottom of the Hokage building, Quatre was still unconcious and had lost alot of blood. The King was torn between helping Quatre and finding their son.

"We didn't see everything," Zaonna explained. "We think Masato stabbed, he's not who he says he is he's someone else."

Tsunade, we need you here fast, Kurt called out.

Tsunade was pinning a Shadow nin to the wall when she heard Kurt's call. After knocking the nin out, she roof-jumped towards the King. Upon seeing the severity of the wound Quatre had, she knew she would need to stablize him. Now. She lifted his body with a telekinetic stretcher and headed towards the nearest hospital.

The hospitals were swamped with the dying and injured, but that didn't stop the Hokage from getting preferential treatment for Quatre. An IV full of bacta was ordered and she set herself out to clean the wound, close it and stabilize Quatre's vitals, all at the same time. Still, by her diagnosis, it would be touch and go for a while.

Meanwhile, Masato's scroll (that was given by Nightshade earlier) would tell him of the hidden location Janus and Jesse were right now. Soon, they would escape...

=====

Naruto sensed that the Raitei was in trouble and he broke off contact with the Huntaerian enemies, jumping away from enemy fire. His toad disappeared as well. Then with a blinding yellow flash, Naruto instantly went from Konoha to the Valley of the End. He noticed the result of an explosion powerful enough to destroy the statues. "Damn. Just like old times."

He sighed, and set out to look for his second best friend (first was Sasuke). After a while, he found a mass of broken bones and bleeding skin. But the Raitei was alive as well. "Crap. This is serious. He won't last much longer..."

Using his Yellow Flash technique again, Naruto gave Daniel over to the hospitals, where top treatment was reserved for the newly proclaimed Emperor. It was Naruto's wife Hinata, a doctor herself, who worked hard to heal Daniel, but she knew it would be touch and go as well.

Still, the battle wasn't over yet...

=====

The tractor beams were activated, but there was not time enough to aim them.

The shields began to grow, but only from a state of depletion caused by the earlier sniping of Woodians and Coredians at the Obliterator's hypercannons. The shields had to fill in the holes poked by allied ortillery first.

The Battlestar's sappers continued to arm its high-yield explosives.

Its engines continued to heave the ship forward, accelerating it the whole time, while frantic (and probably panicked) tractor beam crews tried to slow it down. But there simply was not enough time for the tractor beams to stop the ship, or even fully counter the thrust of its engines with the full power of the ship's reactor behind them.

"Reactor to 110%" Admiral Riordan ordered in his last few seconds.

"We are already at 105%...110% is not recommended, sir!" came the reply of some tech person.

"Do it. We are dead in fifteen seconds anyway."

"Aff, Admiral." It took about five seconds for the order to be relayed to the people who mattered. Just as the Battlestar closed on its target, the ship squeezed one last burst of acceleration from the reactor.

Moreover, if the reactor was running at over its rated capacity, all the more damage that it would cause when it hit. Admiral Riordan, in his last few seconds, hoped that the explosion would break the Obliterator in half, like an old World War II torpedo against a merchant ship...
It was a testament to Imperial engineering that the Super Star Destroyer wasn't outright destroyed by the impact of the Battlestar. Nevertheless, a gaping, jagged hole miles wide streamed air, droids and crew out into space. And it was compounded by the fact that the shields completely collapsed on the side that the Battlestar had hit and any change to stop that would deplete the other shields.

And the damage was compounded by the Coredian turbolasers ripping the ship apart piece by piece. Admiral Danzo, getting up from the floor of the bridge that somehow survived, realised that without a miracle, the Obliterator will surely die and the new technology with it. He ordered a retreat for the Obliterator, even as the supership weakened further with every bombardment it incurred...

Raidon, not finding Daniel anywhere, teleported back to Matt’s side. A look of worry was on his face.

“What?” asked Matt.

“Daniel.” said Raidon. “I could not find him.”

“Oh…well I bet he is alive.” said Matt. “Take us to the arena, Friedrich is on a roof top in the area.”

“Yes, Master.” said Raidon, still with the worried look on his face. The two disappeared in a thick cloud of white smoke. They reappeared next to Friedrich and the others.

Kurt and the twins followed Tsunade to the hospital. The King was extremely worried about Quatre’s condition. He was torn between staying at his side and finding their son.

“Don’t worry your majesty we’ll find him,” Zaonna said. “We Cyredathems will find the prince, you stat here he needs you.”

Her sister nodded and they both left.

***

Masato knew that he had to leave Konoha as soon as possible and there was no going back to Suna now. Not when one of the legendary Sannin and who know how many others knew he was involved with the taking of the two heirs. He did have a scroll and teleporting a couple of miles outside he took a look at it. Taking notice of the location he headed for the hidden place as indicated.

He found the twins already there, with them was Itachi. He looked at them and smirked, taking out a small amulet that once belonged to his uncle.

“They’ll be looking for Masato,” he said, his human form no more. Now he looked more like his uncle save for the black hair and red eyes. “Not Mordred.”

Master Whitfield, who himself had some experience dueling with dual lightsabers, extracted his own lightsaber, The Flame of the Sierra Nevada, named after the place where it was, quite literally, forged. But he didn't ignite it quite yet...but Darth Aelikes would be in for quite a surprise when he initiated the duel. Almost eighteen inches long, the mithril-hilted lightsaber contained three focusing crystals, capable of extending the violet blade up to three meters. Whitfield had specifically designed this lightsaber to defeat Darth Ebolus six months ago (in a duel that took a full hour to conclude), a Dark Jedi Lord who, thanks to sucking off Force energy from a Force-amplifying planet, had become about as powerful as Daniel Masaki or Lady Nightshade. Whitfield's outer appearance as an eighty-one year old politician were about as deceptive as Yoda's appearance as bound to a cane when it came to lightsaber dueling...

...With his other hand, he extracted his other, backup lightsaber, intending to use them both. But he did not ignite this one either, yet.

Master Whitfield didn't know who Darth Aelikes was, but he knew he was there, indeed, he sensed that he was about to attack him...

Aelikes's blades were ready by the time Whitfield arrived. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Whitfield's outer appearence. "So, you changed to an 80 year old man huh? How odd. Still, I'm not that surprised. Jedi never liked the idea of revealing how strong they were. An act of cowardice if you ask me. No matter, we're going to fight, and you won't be getting away that easily. But where are my manners? I am Darth Aelikes, one of the two Kirtir Dark Lords."

It sat there silently for a moment as time seemed to have frozen around the one Victory. That was until it exploded flinging shrapnel in all directions and sending out a massive blue shockwave from the reactor. It was the first destroyer of its kind to have been destroyed in an engagment and it was the first loss that Sobach had to deal with as commander. Her designated chief shook her from her contemplations and disbelief. "Ma'am. We've lost one destroyer with another four severly damaged. Captains are requesting permission to pull back."

"Permission granted. Contact the whitestar squadrons. Tell them to disengage with enemy fighters and target destroyer groups. We'll leave the smaller fish for the allies. I want those destroyers obliterated. Target weapon ports and their engine exhausts if possible. If you can shove a missle up their ass, do so. Fighter squadrons go in with the Whitestars."

"Yes ma'am."

Whitestars throughout the battlefield stopped chasing the smaller fighters and pivoted to aim for the destroyer groups. Starfurries rallied to their side as they charged in towards star destroyers firing pulse cannons along with beams of neon green energy straffing across shields and hulls. Some destroyers were left untargeted for the moment though.

"Victories 4, 7, and 9 are to commence level 2 firing on target 8 immediatly."

"Yes ma'am."

Hull lights dimmed as all energy was reverted to the weapon systems. Three prongs began glowing yellow as energy pulsed and seethed from them crawling forward towards the bow of the ship where it was sent of screaming towards the desired target as it had finally reached its full potential. (yeah visuals (http://www.b5tech.com/movies/testfire2.asf))
The enemy shots were slightly less powerful than the Coredian Artillery Star Destroyers (they even shot their bolts in a similiar fashion), but that didn't endear the Rancor much when it was instantly turned into expanding space dust, leaving the rest of the squadron to pretty much flounder and attack everything in sight with fervor, even conducting ramming attacks on the enemy. That is, those ships with still-functioning bridges but heavily damaged nevertheless did the ramming.

After all, failure doesn't suit the Empire's captains well. If the battle didn't kill them, their superiors will.

"Engineering, I want Rambirds reassigned to new targets. Target enemy's flank."

"Aye ma'am."

Rambirds shimmered and disappeared leaving the disabled destroyers to be mopped up by allied forces as they moved out towards the side of the Imperial fleet formation following through with the same routine as last time.
Rambirds continued to prove deadly to the Imperial fleet, but attacking their flanks meant that turbolasers could overlap their targeting arcs, sending blistering bolts of green into the Rambird ranks.


It's been a while since I've seen the Masaki fleet... This should be interesting. Captain Brishdee flew his Tie Poltergeist in front of Phantom Squadron. He had already fought the Coredians before. Hopefully he was more prepaired this time. Heh, wonder if they'll recognize any of my strategies...[i] "All right boys! We've been spotted out. What we need to rely on now is the fact the enemy has no visual confirmation or targeting capabilities. We can still work this out right.

Go to standard formation, I want the Poltergeists out front with me, Phantoms in the rear, and the Ghosts and Specters in the middle. Maintian cloak, and fire on my command. Continue to move towards the enemy, and avoid..."

"I'M HIT!"

Damn, I hate wild firing! "... Getting shot at at all costs. Great. Now we're already one down. We are to move into the Chimera Battlefleet while the battleships come in right behind us. We need to keep then diistracted untill the Empire's back up fleet arrives so we can provide transport escape for the target, should they get captured."

"Aye sir!"

"Lets go!"
"Sir, we've got contact. One of our lasers hit an enemy! Trying to figure out..."

"Very well." Pellaeon said. [i]It appears they're coming from *that* vector. "I want saturated fire thrown down that vector! Even if we can't see them, we know they're there! And someone bring in a Steath Detector ship! With the Woodian ship's loss, we need to make up for it!"

A massive hail of primary colors lashed out for the invisible enemy ships. Such hail would make it very hard to dodge, as whereever the invisible enemy would be, there will be a turbolaser or laser cannon in their wake.

Meanwhile, the Steath Detector ships began powering up, shunting every joule of reactor power into the massively powerful scanners and blasted their active systems into the direction of the Huntaerian fleet. What returns they did get were sent to the fleet, where they would zero in on the enemy with more accurate shots...

=====

The Obliterator shuddered under the onslaught of the angry Coredian Fleet. Thanks to the EWT Battlestar, the Obliterator was near death and it would not make its escape.

Not if the newest ship ever, the Coredian Battlestar, could help it! A hail of turbolasers and railslugs rained down on the broken ship as it "dove" down up on the Super Star Destroyer. Turbolasers returned fire, but the energy was absorbed by the molecular shielding and redirected into the systems. And that proved to be its death...

"Yamato Cannons, charged!" Lieutenant Kengo, the Tactical Officer and senior weapons officer reported. "Ready to fire on your command, Captain!"

"Very good." Captain Holland nodded with a stern face as the ship rumbled with the power of the incoming fire. "Target: Bridge! Fire at will!"

The Lieutenant flipped a switch, crosshairs touched the bridge, and then two massive blue blasts of energy shot out for the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer. What little shield keeping it alive was blown away, and the Admiral died cursing the Coredians. Secondary explosions occurred and then the Super Star Destroyer just blew apart in half. Many thousands of Tenetia's soldiers died this day.

The Battlestar veered off, firing at other targets, morale rose greatly among the fleet and that transformed into fighting prowess as the Empire's ships were shattered against the hammer and anvil of Coreworlds' best!

Now if only that Huntaer fleet will fare the same way...

The enemy shots were slightly less powerful than the Coredian Artillery Star Destroyers (they even shot their bolts in a similiar fashion), but that didn't endear the Rancor much when it was instantly turned into expanding space dust, leaving the rest of the squadron to pretty much flounder and attack everything in sight with fervor, even conducting ramming attacks on the enemy. That is, those ships with still-functioning bridges but heavily damaged nevertheless did the ramming.

After all, failure doesn't suit the Empire's captains well. If the battle didn't kill them, their superiors will.


More Victories fell to desperate enemy attacks especially their ramming manuevers. Blips started to go out on the tactical display as ships began to fall due to concentrated enemy fire. "Commander, we've lost four more to ramming attacks and enemy fire."

Sobach bit her bottom lip. "All destroyers pull back. I want the Whitestars to press the attack to give the Paryunus time to get in range."

"Relaying orders now."

Victories began slowly pulling back sending out streams of green energy while the massive Paryunu destroyers began weighing in. Two ships dwarfed the destroyers that were slowly retreating to the rear. Whitestars and fighters attacked with newfound furry targeting turbolaser turrets and anything that stuck out.

Rambirds continued to prove deadly to the Imperial fleet, but attacking their flanks meant that turbolasers could overlap their targeting arcs, sending blistering bolts of green into the Rambird ranks.


Remotes did not care about constant bombardment from enemy turrets nor the damage it would sustain. Bolts blasted away the bio-armor and struck down into crystalline armor. Even those that were critically hit still had one weapon up their sleeve which was a Hyperspace Tap generator that cultivated far more energy than an anti-matter generator. Just let it blow and take as many ships down with them as possible.
-------------------------------------

Daniel was already gone and there was no trace of the Jedi anywhere. There was still an enemy to deal with inside the city. Doron head back in to deal with any Huntaer soldiers that could be found and quickly eliminate them.

Konoha - Orbit - Exterior

Whitestar 16 and Whitestar 72 made good use of the fact that the enemy was pretty much ignoring them. Thus, they were able to focus more of the energy provided by their Quantum Induction Cores to weapons than normally would be possible as their defenses didn't have much of anything to deal with in the way of enemy fire. Twisting and turning, diving and juking, bobbing and weaving, the duo were able to avoid alot of the stray fire and give the gun crews of the manually operated enemy turbolaser turrets one hell of a headache as they tried to track the Imperial Commonwealth ships in their seemingly random movements through the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the eight fighters darted about the Independence. They were aiding the massive ships point-defense systems against enemy fighters and stray projectiles that came to close to the giant vessel.

Konoha - Orbit - Independence 5 - Bridge

"Is the main gun still available?"

"Yes, sir. Its integral to the design and isn't something they can just take off and put back on every time the ship is converted from one format to another."

"Good. How long for a charge up?"

"At current power consumption and current configuration, I would say fifteen minutes."

"Alright. Start charging the capcitors!"

"Aye, sir. Switching to secondary power systems.....now! Diverting energy from primary power systems to main gun capcitors."

There was a momentary flicker as the behemoth of a ship switched over to the eight sets of quad Quantum/Gravitic Reactors that served as her secondary power and the five sets of dual Quantum Induction Cores had their power transfered to the capcitors of the one weapon integral into the design of the ship.

Konoha - Surface - Arena - VIP Booth

Abel, now sporting a lip split in three places, clothing torn and ripped in a countless number of places, a puncture wound that wound straight through his right thigh, a nasty gash across his left upper arm from an enemy's lightsabre, a left eye swollen shut, a shattered right glasses lens, numerous bumps, scrapes, cuts, and bruises, and hair that looked like a chimp had gown through it with a singed area from a narrowly avoided lightsabre of another enemy, tossed the two lightsabres he had liberated from fallen enemies aside. Choosing a group of enemy ninja at random, he sent them flying out of the booth to land alive in the mud pit that was now the arena floor. With a leap that defied his injuries, he went out to join them. Once out in the open, he would have more room in which to use his bigger spells without risking bringing the roof down on top of him.

OOC: CW, I'll wait for you say so before I go ahead with the big spells or not. I leave that in your hands.

OOC: CW, I'm estimating the total volume of the hole in the Obliterator generated by the ramming based upon your "jagged hole miles wide" statement. Bear in mind I'm using cubic kilometers for the unit of measurement.

It was a testament to Imperial engineering that the Super Star Destroyer wasn't outright destroyed by the impact of the Battlestar. Nevertheless, a gaping, jagged hole miles wide streamed air, droids and crew out into space. And it was compounded by the fact that the shields completely collapsed on the side that the Battlestar had hit and any change to stop that would deplete the other shields.

And the damage was compounded by the Coredian turbolasers ripping the ship apart piece by piece. Admiral Danzo, getting up from the floor of the bridge that somehow survived, realised that without a miracle, the Obliterator will surely die and the new technology with it. He ordered a retreat for the Obliterator, even as the supership weakened further with every bombardment it incurred...

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

The Obliterator shuddered under the onslaught of the angry Coredian Fleet. Thanks to the EWT Battlestar, the Obliterator was near death and it would not make its escape.

Not if the newest ship ever, the Coredian Battlestar, could help it! A hail of turbolasers and railslugs rained down on the broken ship as it "dove" down up on the Super Star Destroyer. Turbolasers returned fire, but the energy was absorbed by the molecular shielding and redirected into the systems. And that proved to be its death...

"Yamato Cannons, charged!" Lieutenant Kengo, the Tactical Officer and senior weapons officer reported. "Ready to fire on your command, Captain!"

"Very good." Captain Holland nodded with a stern face as the ship rumbled with the power of the incoming fire. "Target: Bridge! Fire at will!"

The Lieutenant flipped a switch, crosshairs touched the bridge, and then two massive blue blasts of energy shot out for the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer. What little shield keeping it alive was blown away, and the Admiral died cursing the Coredians. Secondary explosions occurred and then the Super Star Destroyer just blew apart in half. Many thousands of Tenetia's soldiers died this day.

The Battlestar veered off, firing at other targets, morale rose greatly among the fleet and that transformed into fighting prowess as the Empire's ships were shattered against the hammer and anvil of Coreworlds' best!

Now if only that Huntaer fleet will fare the same way...

What a shame it was that there were no Woodian vessels left in Konoha orbit theatre to observe the decommissioning of the Empire's newest playtoy...the Obliterator finally snapping in half from all of the secondary and ancilliary explosions from the roughly eight-cubic-kilometer gash ripped into it by Admiral Riordan's Star Destroyer.

That Admiral Pellaeon and his fleet would be credited with killing the Obliterator's admiral was beyond dispute. But the vaporization of the Super Star Destroyer's conning tower on account of the Coredian firepower did not by itself explain the secondary explosions in the ship's midsection; only the ramming could explain that. The EWT Battlestar's sappers had done their job, and well...the results of their work would have to be subjected to forensic analysis after the battle.

Admiral Pellaeon would have the honor of receiving credit for Admiral Danzo's death, as was due him. But the laws of physics dictated that Admiral Riordan and his crew receive the honor of being credited with the physical destruction of the ship itself...

But such things could be discussed after the battle for Konoha. The sapper crews stationed on the inbound Woodian fleet, due to arrive in about another two hours or so, had no idea that their engineering training would be vital for such discussions...

=====================================================

Aelikes's blades were ready by the time Whitfield arrived. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Whitfield's outer appearence. "So, you changed to an 80 year old man huh? How odd. Still, I'm not that surprised. Jedi never liked the idea of revealing how strong they were. An act of cowardice if you ask me. No matter, we're going to fight, and you won't be getting away that easily. But where are my manners? I am Darth Aelikes, one of the two Kirtir Dark Lords."

"I hide nothing. I was born eighty years ago," Whitfield replied, both of his lightsabers perfectly ready to ignite. "And since when did Kirtir Lords make even the slightest gesture to diplomatic decorum?"

"I hide nothing. I was born eighty years ago,"


"Oh? Hmm... I remember you being much younger... No matter. I forgot how you were only a mortal. Short lifespan if I do say so myself.


Whitfield replied, both of his lightsabers perfectly ready to ignite. "And since when did Kirtir Lords make even the slightest gesture to diplomatic decorum?"

"Kirtir Dark Lord, thank you very much. A Kirtir Lord is of a lower rank in our system. Oh, we make diplomatic dectorums when we find someone worthy of our match. You, dear Whitfield, are such a specimen worthy of battle. I sense a great tie between you and the force. Your old skeleton doesn't surprise me anymore than it would if I were to fight the ancient Jedi Master Yoda. I can feel it. I also sense a bit of a dark taint on you. Perhapse something left behind from a previous enemy? Either way, the Light Side is wasted on a specimen such as you. The Dark Side serves a larger oportunity for power. Power which the Jedi Masaki can't offer. Only me and his sister can. I sense that you could be a very powerful Dark Lord. Perhapse one of the most powerful that we've recorded in recent history."


"Sir, we've got contact. One of our lasers hit an enemy! Trying to figure out..."

"Very well." Pellaeon said. It appears they're coming from *that* vector. "I want saturated fire thrown down that vector! Even if we can't see them, we know they're there! And someone bring in a Steath Detector ship! With the Woodian ship's loss, we need to make up for it!"

A massive hail of primary colors lashed out for the invisible enemy ships. Such hail would make it very hard to dodge, as whereever the invisible enemy would be, there will be a turbolaser or laser cannon in their wake.

Meanwhile, the Steath Detector ships began powering up, shunting every joule of reactor power into the massively powerful scanners and blasted their active systems into the direction of the Huntaerian fleet. What returns they did get were sent to the fleet, where they would zero in on the enemy with more accurate shots...


"Great they've spotted our aproximate location. Change fighting planes! We split up, I want half of the squadron to go directly above the fleet and below to avoid as much targeting as possible. They'll still probably have a better idea, but we'll have a better chanceof survival if we split up. Continue positions as though we didn't break up." I hope...


-----

"How soon till we reach the Masaki Fleet?"

"Almost 1 hour ma'am. We're behind the Tie's."

"Are our Axiel Cannons in range?"

"Almost ma'am."

"Hurry up!"

"Great they've spotted our aproximate location. Change fighting planes! We split up, I want half of the squadron to go directly above the fleet and below to avoid as much targeting as possible. They'll still probably have a better idea, but we'll have a better chanceof survival if we split up. Continue positions as though we didn't break up." I hope...
"Sir, enemy fighters are splitting up. Trying to flank the fleet from above and below." The senior sensor operator said to the captain of the Farsight, one of the Stealth Detectors.

"And we still can't lock on. Still, vector in Lancers and Wolfpacks and hold the fighters in defensive positions." The captain ordered.

Antistarfighter cruisers and Wolfpacks of corvette-centric gunship squadrons moved towards the fleet flanks and sprayed torrents of quad-laser cannons and batteries into the enemy fighter ranks, almost as if they could see them despite the cloaks. Thanks to the Stealth Detector ships, the antifighter ships now had a chance at decimating the enemy forces so that the friendly fighter squadrons could mop up...

-----

"How soon till we reach the Masaki Fleet?"

"Almost 1 hour ma'am. We're behind the Tie's."

"Are our Axiel Cannons in range?"

"Almost ma'am."

"Hurry up!"
"Sir, the enemy fleet is coming within range of our long-range batteries and cannons. Still can't lock on with missiles or autotargeting systems." The sensor operator aboard Chimera announced.

"Very well. Stick with manuel until the enemy decloaks. Fire at will!" Pellaeon ordered.

The Fleet's heavy turbolasers, ion cannons and beamlasers began spitting and spearing blue and green bolts and streams of destructive energy into the enemy fleet ranks. Ten active superlaser stations seeded within the Chimera and Tyrannosaur fleets randomly opened fire with staccato bursts, orchestrated so that one would fire as another recharges. If they hit, that was good. If they missed, well, they'll need to recharge and try again.

"Oh? Hmm... I remember you being much younger... No matter. I forgot how you were only a mortal. Short lifespan if I do say so myself.

"Kirtir Dark Lord, thank you very much. A Kirtir Lord is of a lower rank in our system. Oh, we make diplomatic dectorums when we find someone worthy of our match. You, dear Whitfield, are such a specimen worthy of battle. I sense a great tie between you and the force. Your old skeleton doesn't surprise me anymore than it would if I were to fight the ancient Jedi Master Yoda. I can feel it. I also sense a bit of a dark taint on you. Perhapse something left behind from a previous enemy? Either way, the Light Side is wasted on a specimen such as you. The Dark Side serves a larger oportunity for power. Power which the Jedi Masaki can't offer. Only me and his sister can. I sense that you could be a very powerful Dark Lord. Perhapse one of the most powerful that we've recorded in recent history."

"Join the Dark Side?" Whitfield asked in an innocent-sounding voice, his eyes cocked as if interested. Suddenly that demeanor vanished, however, overriden by "I challenge you to a Trial of Refusal."

The twins Zaonna and Kaemar ran through the streets of Konoha searching for any sign or either Daniel or Masato.

“I don’t feel either of them,” Kaemar mentioned.

Her sister shook her head. “No I haven’t felt Daniel since he was taken by that darkness,” she replied.

Zaonna was concerned.

“And Masato seems to have disappeared since,” Kaemar added. “Is he even in Konoha anymore?”

Zaonna shook her head. “Doubt it, people know about him now he would have been able to sneak out of Konoha undetected though all the chaos.”

Kaemar looked to her sister. “We should check to see if he left any clues at his hotel room.”

Her sister nodded and they headed off to where they knew Masato and his team had been staying.

The retreat then sounded, and all the forces under the command of Nightshade were ordered to fight to the death as the important ones were taken to the base, among them the Lt. Colonel Kimbley, barely surviving Jacob and Kabuto, who's attending to the Dark Lady.

A shadow of a man calmly walks into one of the power stations handling the planetary shield generator. The ninjas stationed as guards there had no chance whatsoever against Uchiha Itachi as he swiped through the garrison like chaff through a wheat-gatherer. Then he placed several thermal detonators in strategic locations and teleported back to the base.

By the time any potent Ninjas got to the power station, it was destroyed with a mighty blast that created a hole in the shield. With that, a number of shuttles roared out of the base, obliterating it with their cannons and squadrons of Konoha fighters went after them.

It would become the mother of all chases...

=====

Konoha General Hospital

The Raitei was laid into a bacta tank with a couple of healers clucking over the damage the explosion has done to his body. Numerous rib fractures, three limbs broken, second-to-third degree burns, a contusion and other injuries. It's a wonder that he survived at all, they said.

"Sir, it would take at least a week for him to heal, provided that the bacta supply manages to hold out. At the moment, we'll have to do without the Emperor, much as I hate to say it." A Healer sighed, giving the diagnosis to Naruto.

Naruto looked pained. "I see. Well, do everything you can to heal him."

A young Genin, little more than a preteen boy, came running into the hospital. "Naruto-sensei! Our planetary shields are going down and several shuttles are exiting the atmosphere! We're ordering every available fighter to pursue."

Oh, great. Nightshade must be escaping! "Prepare my fighter. Alert the Rogues to prepare pursuit action!"

"The Rogues?" The boy asked, awed.

"Yeah. Daniel's out of commission, so I'm going to take over the elite squadron for now." Naruto sighed. "He trusted me with the command in case he's out like this."

Without a second word, Naruto headed to Konoha's main hangar bay and without further ado, took off after the enemy shuttles...

Konoha...

Jiraiya paried the chest blow downwards, keeping it in a lock so he could prepare his signature, but then somebody had to interrupt it...


I see. Jiraiya replied mentally. However, I can't in good conscience just let you go without a fight. Besides, even if I die, there will be many others to come, especially young Masaki's Sensei, who is stronger than even I. So...

::Oh, I don't expect you to let me go without a fight, I want to fight. Not to kill, mind you but to see if you're well trained. Trained enough to defeat the empire.::


With that, Jiraiya disappeared. The next thing the enemy knew, Shamman was struck from behind by a Rasengan. The Hurricane-in-a-Sphere technique would by sheer force, spin Shamman like he was in a sideways tornado as well as launch him forward to smack into some wall or tree, and also cause windshear damage on the body itself (think abrasions and lacerations, and if possible grinding all the way inside the body). Then the old sensei of senseis crashed down on Deshoonde with his lightsaber, moving so fast as to be a blur even to enhanced eyes. Hell no he wasn't giving Travis up without a fight!

"What the hell!" Shamman was taken by utter surprise as he was lifted up into the air and was thrown towards the nearest tree, he landed with a thud but he didn't get knocked out. There was something bugging him in his mind, something he knew might help him out. Idiot... I didn't spend the last few days of training for nothing!

Deshoonde however, wasn't taken by surprise. Having thousands of years of more experience in training than the sensei, he predicted this upcoming move and paried it with one of his sabers and slashed at Jiraiya


Jesse and Janus used the distraction to remove themselves from the dangerous Sannin, taking the two orbs to a hidden location...[/QUOTE]

Shamman put his hands on the ground and moved his body into what would appear to be a "push up" position. He looked at Jesse and Janus, ::You guys go! We'll handle him. Make for the nearest shuttle! The fleet will be here in any moment. We'll catch up with you soon enough.:: With that, Shamman suddenly threw himself forward spinning a full 360 degrease with his lightsaber pointed parallel to his body and thrusted himself with the force at his enemy.

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


"Join the Dark Side?" Whitfield asked in an innocent-sounding voice, his eyes cocked as if interested. Suddenly that demeanor vanished, however, overriden by "I challenge you to a Trial of Refusal."

Aelikes was, for some reason, surprised at Whitfield's challenge. "Very well," he raised the Dark Twins and pointed them at Whitfield, "prepare to fight then!" And then, Aelikes struck.
--------------------------------------------------

[b]Space[/i]

"Sir, the enemy fleet is coming within range of our long-range batteries and cannons. Still can't lock on with missiles or autotargeting systems." The sensor operator aboard Chimera announced.

"Very well. Stick with manuel until the enemy decloaks. Fire at will!" Pellaeon ordered.

The Fleet's heavy turbolasers, ion cannons and beamlasers began spitting and spearing blue and green bolts and streams of destructive energy into the enemy fleet ranks. Ten active superlaser stations seeded within the Chimera and Tyrannosaur fleets randomly opened fire with staccato bursts, orchestrated so that one would fire as another recharges. If they hit, that was good. If they missed, well, they'll need to recharge and try again.

"Ma'am! They're firing right at us! They can detect us!"

"Then it's time to do things the old fashioned way. Are we within range?"

"Aye Admiral!"

"Fire the mini-Axiels, coordinate strikes with the rest of the fleet. I want three ships to target one ship. The enemy should go down fairly quickly if things go this way... I also want a full volley of turbolaser fire, all of them. Heavy, medium, light I don't care! Blow the Masaki fleet away."

"How long till the back up fleet arrives?"

"Minutes ma'am!"

"Good! We can't hold them off by ourselfs."

Seconds after the admirals orders, Phantom Fleet decloaked. With the element of surprise no longer available, it was time to release firepower. And the onslaught went onwards towards the enemy fleets...
----------------------------------

"Sir, enemy fighters are splitting up. Trying to flank the fleet from above and below." The senior sensor operator said to the captain of the Farsight, one of the Stealth Detectors.

"And we still can't lock on. Still, vector in Lancers and Wolfpacks and hold the fighters in defensive positions." The captain ordered.

Antistarfighter cruisers and Wolfpacks of corvette-centric gunship squadrons moved towards the fleet flanks and sprayed torrents of quad-laser cannons and batteries into the enemy fighter ranks, almost as if they could see them despite the cloaks. Thanks to the Stealth Detector ships, the antifighter ships now had a chance at decimating the enemy forces so that the friendly fighter squadrons could mop up...

As soon as the enemy ships began their attacks, a good 20 Tie's were destroyed. Something which the good Captain didn't expect (and forgot) Coredians rarely use fighters.

"Enemy cruisers coming in!"

"Alright Phantoms, you know the drill. Target the enemy support ships and surround them as best we can. We need to hold them off for just a few more minutes untill the whole fleet arrives. We need to destroy them as best we can. Fire any torpetoes you have. Damn, we're not meant for assaulting capital ships! We're suppose to attack fighters! What the hell was the Empire thinking..."

Konoha...

Aelikes was, for some reason, surprised at Whitfield's challenge. "Very well," he raised the Dark Twins and pointed them at Whitfield, "prepare to fight then!" And then, Aelikes struck.

As Aelikes accepted the challenge, Whitfield ignited his lightsaber and positioned it in less than the blink of an eye.

Both of Aelikes' black lightsabers impacted against Whitfield's nine-foot long purple blade, which he held as a diagonal shield across his entire body, anchoring himself in the Force so as to get an ironclad grip on the lightsaber that would make it nigh impossible for Aelikes to knock it away. Moreover, Whitfield's own lightsaber ignited in flame, the oxygen around it spontaneously burning, thanks to Whitfield's thermokinetic abilities.

The Flame Master noticed that Aelikes' two black lightsabers seemed to absorb the flames emitted by his own, or rather by him around his own weapon, nevertheless the purple blade/spear held intact. Whitfield Force-jumped backwards out of the saber lock, being well-versed in Ataru...and then had a present of his own.

He shortened his lightsaber to about five feet, then summoned his alternate using the Force...and a second fiery purple blade came forth.

Out of one, Whitfield spewed ice, out of the other, Whitfield spewed fire, and both were directed at Darth Aelikes' chest...

Konoha...

::Oh, I don't expect you to let me go without a fight, I want to fight. Not to kill, mind you but to see if you're well trained. Trained enough to defeat the empire.::
I see. Jiraiya replied.

"What the hell!" Shamman was taken by utter surprise as he was lifted up into the air and was thrown towards the nearest tree, he landed with a thud but he didn't get knocked out. There was something bugging him in his mind, something he knew might help him out. Idiot... I didn't spend the last few days of training for nothing!
OOC: Include abrasive damage as well. Windshear from Rasengan is basically a powerful grinding action, like a bullet with a blunt end.

Deshoonde however, wasn't taken by surprise. Having thousands of years of more experience in training than the sensei, he predicted this upcoming move and paried it with one of his sabers and slashed at Jiraiya
Hmm. This one is pretty well trained. Jiraiya's assessment came to him as he parried the slash and while he attacked fiercely, a kunai knife found its way into the battle and stabbed towards Deshoonde.

Shamman put his hands on the ground and moved his body into what would appear to be a "push up" position. He looked at Jesse and Janus, ::You guys go! We'll handle him. Make for the nearest shuttle! The fleet will be here in any moment. We'll catch up with you soon enough.:: With that, Shamman suddenly threw himself forward spinning a full 360 degrees with his lightsaber pointed parallel to his body and thrusted himself with the force at his enemy.
Oh, that can't be good. Jiraiya thought as he looked like he was about to be run through.

Then a massive fireball erupted, shoving Shamman away from Jiraiya. A man with raven-black hair and spinning red-black eyes was smirking on the roof of a building. Was it...Itachi? No! It was the younger brother, Sasuke! His red lightsaber was out, pointing straight at Shamman.

"I'll take care of this one, Jiraiya-sama." Sasuke said as he moved as a blur, stabbing towards Shamman.

"Well, that's good." The old, white haired sensei of senseis retracted his earlier statement and continued the fight with Deshoonde.

Space

"Ma'am! They're firing right at us! They can detect us!"

"Then it's time to do things the old fashioned way. Are we within range?"

"Aye Admiral!"

"Fire the mini-Axiels, coordinate strikes with the rest of the fleet. I want three ships to target one ship. The enemy should go down fairly quickly if things go this way... I also want a full volley of turbolaser fire, all of them. Heavy, medium, light I don't care! Blow the Masaki fleet away."

"How long till the back up fleet arrives?"

"Minutes ma'am!"

"Good! We can't hold them off by ourselfs."

Seconds after the admirals orders, Phantom Fleet decloaked. With the element of surprise no longer available, it was time to release firepower. And the onslaught went onwards towards the enemy fleets...
The enemy pounded the Coredian Navy, but now that they decloaked, it was time for action. The Coredian Navy appeared to outnumber the Huntaerians and they intended to take advantage of it.

The Chimera rumbled under fire, firing all weapons at the enemy. Beamlasers poked holes through shields or slashed away at smaller ships. Turbolasers and ion cannons blasted away at the enemy. And missiles, finally able to lock on target, shot towards the enemy in swarms.

"Now it begins." Admiral Pellaeon said. "Ready all the superlaser stations! Target the center of the enemy fleet. Then once they've fired, have the 8th Fleet encircle and finish off the survivors!"

"Yes, sir!"

They were silent. Until now. All around the Konoha System, superlaser stations powered up. Enemy targeting systems would detect no less than forty stations spread out among the solar system, but it would be the twenty closest that will do the dirty work, plus the ten among the fleet itself.

Spears of blue and green then released themselves upon the Huntaerian fleet, each one with the power to, if not outright destroy the enemy, then at least cripple them. Then the Coredian Eight Fleet, made up of the Hokage Battleships, Shinobi battlecruisers and Katana-class medium cruisers, not to mention Nova-class destroyers, began to perform a classic encirclement maneuver on all flanks, firing turbolasers and railguns all the while...

The Hokage's massive spinal mounted Shuriken Cannon coilguns also went to work, powering up and firing asteroids at the enemy at relativistic velocities...

As soon as the enemy ships began their attacks, a good 20 Tie's were destroyed. Something which the good Captain didn't expect (and forgot) Coredians rarely use fighters.

"Enemy cruisers coming in!"

"Alright Phantoms, you know the drill. Target the enemy support ships and surround them as best we can. We need to hold them off for just a few more minutes untill the whole fleet arrives. We need to destroy them as best we can. Fire any torpetoes you have. Damn, we're not meant for assaulting capital ships! We're suppose to attack fighters! What the hell was the Empire thinking..."
"Press the attack and release the fighters, but keep them close to the antifighter cruisers!" The commander of the Farsight ordered as his Stealth Detector and its brethren kept their sensors trained upon the enemy. The funny thing was, the closer the enemy got, the more they were revealed even under cloak. The friendly fighters and antifighter cruisers, using the telemetry from the stealth detectors, worked together to divide and conquer. Fighters and gunships darted in and out of the enemy ranks, shooting laserbolts or ion cannons (in the case of the few ships who have them) then veering in for more runs. Rinse and repeat for the flanks until the enemy retreats or dies...

Konoha - Orbit - Exterior

Whitestar 16 and Whitestar 72 slid, darted, dove, twisted, and turned to avoid most, if not all, of the stray fire coming their way. They kept up their assault on enemy ships with strafing run after strafing run. They also didn't hesitate to blast whatever enemy fighter that got in their way into space dust.

Meanwhile, the charge of the Indepedence's main gun began to reach its end. Arcs of golden energy raced across the two giant fins sticking out from the leviathan of a ship's ventral side.

Konoha - Surface - Arena

Whitestar 1 slowly slid into position above what remained of the edifice. Using the damaged caused by the battle to help her passive stealth systems break up her sensor profile, the Imperial Commonwealth ship scanned for the transponders of those still in the arena. In flashes of white light, the uncouncious trio of plain-clothes Lancers were beamed aboard.

In another flash of white light, Abel's Keyblade (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/SeaQuest_Sim/Schematics/SeaQuestian%20Commonwealth/Weapons/Magick%20Weapons/Keyblades/post-2-1117467571.jpg) appeared behind him a little bit above the ground. Twisting rapidly and grabbing it before it could fall and embed itself into the mud of the arena floor. Holding the axe-like weapon with one hand, he deployed the chain-whip like extension from the tip. With the weapon fully ready, he channeled energy into the upper mid-point of the bladed end and allowed a twisting vortex of Stone Elemental energy to form. Launching the bolt into a section of the enemies surrounding him and, at the same moment, using some light geomancry(sp?) he surrounded himself in a bubble of granite. A few moments later, the pulse detonated, causing everyone within five meters to petrify. They would still live and be fully aware of their surroundings, but to all intents and purposes, they would be statues painfully frozen in place.

Once the pulse's effects had dissapated, he exploded out of the hollow granite hemisphere sending razor sharp chunks of rock in all directions like shrapnel from a frag grenade. Landing on the edge of the hole he had emerged from, Abel glared at those left. It was almost as if he was challenging them to make the next move.

OOC: This one sided fight is getting kind of boring and tedious. CW or Huntaer, if you don't mind, perhaps a high-level cannon fodder type character I could have Abel fight with?

As Aelikes accepted the challenge, Whitfield ignited his lightsaber and positioned it in less than the blink of an eye.

Both of Aelikes' black lightsabers impacted against Whitfield's nine-foot long purple blade, which he held as a diagonal shield across his entire body, anchoring himself in the Force so as to get an ironclad grip on the lightsaber that would make it nigh impossible for Aelikes to knock it away. Moreover, Whitfield's own lightsaber ignited in flame, the oxygen around it spontaneously burning, thanks to Whitfield's thermokinetic abilities.

The Flame Master noticed that Aelikes' two black lightsabers seemed to absorb the flames emitted by his own, or rather by him around his own weapon, nevertheless the purple blade/spear held intact. Whitfield Force-jumped backwards out of the saber lock, being well-versed in Ataru...and then had a present of his own.

He shortened his lightsaber to about five feet, then summoned his alternate using the Force...and a second fiery purple blade came forth.

Out of one, Whitfield spewed ice, out of the other, Whitfield spewed fire, and both were directed at Darth Aelikes' chest...

Aelikes easily blocked the fire and ice coming at him. He then glared at Whitfield, and brought his lightsaber to striking position as though he were going to thrust his blades into Whitfield's chest. Instead of striking though, he used the force to speed him in a blurry eye enabling him to be behind the enemy and he then struck at Whitfield's back.

OOC: my equivilant to Fable's "Assassin Rush."

IC:

Hmm. This one is pretty well trained. Jiraiya's assessment came to him as he parried the slash and while he attacked fiercely, a kunai knife found its way into the battle and stabbed towards Deshoonde.


Shamman started to feel wheezy after his attack, and began to realise that he was faiding out of existance. The world began to blacken, but he soon woke up again with a furry of rage. I'm not blackening out now! Shamman called upon all of his stored energy, all his anger and hate, to keep him alive for this fight.

OOC:
Channel Rage: This power, when used, channels the characters anger and rage into a berserk fury, which increases his/her prowess in battle. It temporarily increases the users strength while decreasing their ability to defend themselves slightly. Raging characters are unable to perform any Force power that requires patience and/or concentration. When use of Channel Rage ends, the user loses a lot of strength depending on how long the power was kept up.

In the case of shamman, he'll likely wind up in a 4 month coma.

IC:

Oh, that can't be good. Jiraiya thought as he looked like he was about to be run through.

Then a massive fireball erupted, shoving Shamman away from Jiraiya. A man with raven-black hair and spinning red-black eyes was smirking on the roof of a building. Was it...Itachi? No! It was the younger brother, Sasuke! His red lightsaber was out, pointing straight at Shamman.

"I'll take care of this one, Jiraiya-sama." Sasuke said as he moved as a blur, stabbing towards Shamman.

"Well, that's good." The old, white haired sensei of senseis retracted his earlier statement and continued the fight with Deshoonde.


Deshoonde easily parried the knife, and noticed the other one appear.

Shamman, however was having a more difficult time. The enemy's sudden strike caused him to go off balance, due to his lack in self defense. Shamman shook off his sense of tiredness and he used the strength and and in a blinding furry of rage, he attacked Jiraiya from the front. Using one blade to strike at the top of his body and the other to strike at the side (continues like this repeatedly). He was beginning to have a rough day.

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


The enemy pounded the Coredian Navy, but now that they decloaked, it was time for action. The Coredian Navy appeared to outnumber the Huntaerians and they intended to take advantage of it.

The Chimera rumbled under fire, firing all weapons at the enemy. Beamlasers poked holes through shields or slashed away at smaller ships. Turbolasers and ion cannons blasted away at the enemy. And missiles, finally able to lock on target, shot towards the enemy in swarms.

"Now it begins." Admiral Pellaeon said. "Ready all the superlaser stations! Target the center of the enemy fleet. Then once they've fired, have the 8th Fleet encircle and finish off the survivors!"

"Yes, sir!"

They were silent. Until now. All around the Konoha System, superlaser stations powered up. Enemy targeting systems would detect no less than forty stations spread out among the solar system, but it would be the twenty closest that will do the dirty work, plus the ten among the fleet itself.

Spears of blue and green then released themselves upon the Huntaerian fleet, each one with the power to, if not outright destroy the enemy, then at least cripple them. Then the Coredian Eight Fleet, made up of the Hokage Battleships, Shinobi battlecruisers and Katana-class medium cruisers, not to mention Nova-class destroyers, began to perform a classic encirclement maneuver on all flanks, firing turbolasers and railguns all the while...

The Hokage's massive spinal mounted Shuriken Cannon coilguns also went to work, powering up and firing asteroids at the enemy at relativistic velocities...

"Ma'am! Enemy fire coming in! They're targeting us!"

"Brace for impact!"

"Comm scanns are reporting in unusual energy signatures. I read almost 40 superlaser stations charging up!"

"Have all heavy turbolaser's fire at the stations! They should do a good amount of damage.... Wait, have a good volley of Transphasic Torpetoes go at 'em as well! Followed by Tricobalt, and Quantum. We need to hold the enemy off as long as we can."

The pilot of the command ship closed his eyes, and began to search for any allied ships coming in using the force... He cound 'em. "Ma'am, Empire reinforcements are coming in! And they brought along the Megaladon."

"Thank god. Finnaly some good news. ETA?"

"0 minutes"

The Huntarian Empire's back up fleet finnaly arrived with the Megaladon in the center of it along side it was the TIE Class Carrier Repent surrounded by several hundred various TSD's, cruisers, and battleships.

"Admiral Frishka, this is Grand Admiral Ezekiel. We're here to provide you back up untill Aelikes and Nightshade clear the area."

"Well done Grand Admiral. I'm prepairing to coordinate attacks with the rest of your fleet now."



"Press the attack and release the fighters, but keep them close to the antifighter cruisers!" The commander of the Farsight ordered as his Stealth Detector and its brethren kept their sensors trained upon the enemy. The funny thing was, the closer the enemy got, the more they were revealed even under cloak. The friendly fighters and antifighter cruisers, using the telemetry from the stealth detectors, worked together to divide and conquer. Fighters and gunships darted in and out of the enemy ranks, shooting laserbolts or ion cannons (in the case of the few ships who have them) then veering in for more runs. Rinse and repeat for the flanks until the enemy retreats or dies...

And the enemy wasn't about to retreat. They would rather fight to the death than retreat any day. Already a good 25% of thier force was down, but they weren't going to back off. This the Admiral should already know. "Target any enemy fighters and gunships which approach you! Use the classic assaults if needed. Little ones in the front, big guys in the back. You know the drill."

The Phantom Squadron remained cloaked, The Poltergeists roared through space, the pilots could only hear the engines but not see them. They might beable to rely on the stealth detectors to see, but they need visual to shoot the Tie's. Using this fact to their advantage, the Poltergeists began to agressively "nudge" enemy fighters, rappidly bumping them from side to side, top to bottom, and then finnaly breaking off of enemy fighters and gunships

"Captain! We just got reinforcements!"

"*Sigh* Thank god. We need those extra fighters from the Repent.

OOC:

Total Fleet-

1 Megaladon Class Towerless Star Destroyer
1 Tie Class Carrier
10 Demolisher Class battleships (80% damage)
98 Tenebrous Class Towerless Star Destroyers
90 Armada Class Battleships
100 Armageddon Class Cruisers

Aelikes easily blocked the fire and ice coming at him. He then glared at Whitfield, and brought his lightsaber to striking position as though he were going to thrust his blades into Whitfield's chest. Instead of striking though, he used the force to speed him in a blurry eye enabling him to be behind the enemy and he then struck at Whitfield's back.

OOC: my equivilant to Fable's "Assassin Rush."

Unfortunately for Darth Aelikes, there were very, very few things that one could do to surprise Master Whitfield. Difficult was it to cloak deception from his wary senses, and by the time Aelikes struck at Whitfield's back, Whitfield's back was no longer there. Whitfield was every bit as capable of Force-enhanced speed and reflexes as Aelikes was...even if he rejected the Dark Side.

The old Jedi Master had Force-vaulted, in a manner becoming of Yoda, himself about ten feet away, doing a half-flip in the air that now had him facing Darth Aelikes directly. "Sneak attacks don't work so well against me, do they?"

At this point, Whitfield's two lightsabers became little more than a flaming purple blur, as he made his own attacks on Aelikes, completely undaunted by his glare....

Shamman started to feel wheezy after his attack, and began to realise that he was faiding out of existance. The world began to blacken, but he soon woke up again with a furry of rage. I'm not blackening out now! Shamman called upon all of his stored energy, all his anger and hate, to keep him alive for this fight.

OOC:
Channel Rage: This power, when used, channels the characters anger and rage into a berserk fury, which increases his/her prowess in battle. It temporarily increases the users strength while decreasing their ability to defend themselves slightly. Raging characters are unable to perform any Force power that requires patience and/or concentration. When use of Channel Rage ends, the user loses a lot of strength depending on how long the power was kept up.

In the case of shamman, he'll likely wind up in a 4 month coma.
IC:

Deshoonde easily parried the knife, and noticed the other one appear.

Shamman, however was having a more difficult time. The enemy's sudden strike caused him to go off balance, due to his lack in self defense. Shamman shook off his sense of tiredness and he used the strength and and in a blinding furry of rage, he attacked Jiraiya from the front. Using one blade to strike at the top of his body and the other to strike at the side (continues like this repeatedly). He was beginning to have a rough day.
Sasuke quickly blocked Shamman with fierce counterstrikes, leading him slowly away from Jiraiya. So, he uses rage to fuel himself. Much like me, once upon a time...

Shamman found himself facing an opponent that mirrored his strikes perfectly. Every strike was blocked. Every attack was countered or dodged. Sasuke took the darkness that is Shamman, channeled it into himself, then threw it back out in near-perfect synch in what would be fashioned as a dance if the duel wasn't so deadly. Sasuke then searched for the moment of weakness. That one minor mistake that every rage-bound enemy makes. And when that weakness is found, it would be exploited as he himself was once exploited...
Jiraiya took advantage of the minor parry of the knife to put Deshoonde off-guard with a series of powerful strokes, designed to eventually knock the enemy's lightsaber away. From there, he planned to disable Deshoonde and that would be that.

Now if only both mens' skills would see themselves through the duels...

=====

"Ma'am! Enemy fire coming in! They're targeting us!"

"Brace for impact!"

"Comm scanns are reporting in unusual energy signatures. I read almost 40 superlaser stations charging up!"

"Have all heavy turbolaser's fire at the stations! They should do a good amount of damage.... Wait, have a good volley of Transphasic Torpetoes go at 'em as well! Followed by Tricobalt, and Quantum. We need to hold the enemy off as long as we can."

The pilot of the command ship closed his eyes, and began to search for any allied ships coming in using the force... He cound 'em. "Ma'am, Empire reinforcements are coming in! And they brought along the Megaladon."

"Thank god. Finnaly some good news. ETA?"

"0 minutes"

The Huntarian Empire's back up fleet finnaly arrived with the Megaladon in the center of it along side it was the TIE Class Carrier Repent surrounded by several hundred various TSD's, cruisers, and battleships.

"Admiral Frishka, this is Grand Admiral Ezekiel. We're here to provide you back up untill Aelikes and Nightshade clear the area."

"Well done Grand Admiral. I'm prepairing to coordinate attacks with the rest of your fleet now."
"Admiral..."

"I know. I know. When are our own reinforcements coming in?" Pellaeon asked.

"Shouldn't be long, sir. We'll have to hold out until then."

The old man sighed. "Very well. How many stations do we have left?"

"We lost five in the initial counterattack. Another four damaged. Their transphasics are troublesome!"

"Very well. Have twenty stations concentrate on the enemy's Towerless Super Star Destroyer and ten handle that Tie Carrier. Even with the reinforced shields, it is possible they won't handle all that energy. All other stations will target 2 at a time at the newcomers. In other words, 2 stations to one ship. In the meantime, the fleet will concentrate their firepower on the previous fleet that we're currently encountering. I am authorizing release of the singularity torpedoes in light of this development. 'Show no mercy, for we shall recieve none'..."

As the Admiral finished his short rambling, the noose tightened around the fleet still under assault from the Coredian navy. Suddenly, the enemy, oldtimers and newcomers alike were sundered by an onslaught of gravitational forces powerful enough to eat up light. Even the tidal forces would be damaging in close proximity as hulls buckled under the severe stress...

And the enemy wasn't about to retreat. They would rather fight to the death than retreat any day. Already a good 25% of thier force was down, but they weren't going to back off. This the Admiral should already know. "Target any enemy fighters and gunships which approach you! Use the classic assaults if needed. Little ones in the front, big guys in the back. You know the drill."

The Phantom Squadron remained cloaked, The Poltergeists roared through space, the pilots could only hear the engines but not see them. They might beable to rely on the stealth detectors to see, but they need visual to shoot the Tie's. Using this fact to their advantage, the Poltergeists began to agressively "nudge" enemy fighters, rappidly bumping them from side to side, top to bottom, and then finnaly breaking off of enemy fighters and gunships

"Captain! We just got reinforcements!"

"*Sigh* Thank god. We need those extra fighters from the Repent.

OOC:
Total Fleet-
1 Megaladon Class Towerless Star Destroyer
1 Tie Class Carrier
10 Demolisher Class battleships (80% damage)
98 Tenebrous Class Towerless Star Destroyers
90 Armada Class Battleships
100 Armageddon Class Cruisers

Pilots were again unnerved by the ramming attacks the enemy fighters incurred, but this time, they were ready for such tactics. They pumped up the sound blasters to full, and a few pilots decided that it might be a good idea to tie them to the sensors, so that even without visuals, they could still track and destroy the enemy. The new experiment spread like wildfire, and now, using their ears instead of their eyes, the Coredian starfighters and antiship frigates, corvettes and gunships were once again almost capable of bringing TIEs down as if it was the good ol' days. Almost because visuals were still wanting...

=====

The shuttles fought off the Rogues, with rear-facing laser cannons and a multitude of menacing missiles thrown in for good measure. The Rogues, on the other hand, were not the best of the best for nothing, for as a team, they proved that they could, and did, shoot down one of the shuttles. But unfortunately for Naruto and friends, the shuttle was a decoy, as the other two accelerated for the nearest Imperial Star Destroyer and a swarm of TIEs swooped down in neat straight lines and collectively said, 'kiss my flying metal ass'! Only they weren't straight lines and definitely not neat. More like a boiling smorgsboard of laserfire and black armor.

The Tenetian TIEs died to the superior performance of the Rogues, and those that somehow survived went like 'hax' and 'lag' and other unmentionables. But as with all methods of cannon fodder the bad guys used, the good guys were slowed down long enough for the evildoers to escape into the welcoming arms of a Star Destroyer.

Itachi wasn't pleased when he heard the report that the Obliterator was most definitely obliterated. In fact, he flash-burned the flesh of the messenger who gave him the report and would have done the same to the Admiral if he wasn't already dead. Moving to the bridge as his consort was dunked into the medical bay's bacta tubes and administered by Kabuto, he ordered: "Have the Huntaer fleet cover us. Our primary mission is completed. Now we shall make our escape."

"Yes, my Lord." The captain fearfully replied.

What remained of the Tenetian fleet formed up in a classic arrow formation to spear their way out of the battlefield and let the Huntaerians take care of everything else...

Unfortunately for Darth Aelikes, there were very, very few things that one could do to surprise Master Whitfield. Difficult was it to cloak deception from his wary senses, and by the time Aelikes struck at Whitfield's back, Whitfield's back was no longer there. Whitfield was every bit as capable of Force-enhanced speed and reflexes as Aelikes was...even if he rejected the Dark Side.

The old Jedi Master had Force-vaulted, in a manner becoming of Yoda, himself about ten feet away, doing a half-flip in the air that now had him facing Darth Aelikes directly. "Sneak attacks don't work so well against me, do they?"

At this point, Whitfield's two lightsabers became little more than a flaming purple blur, as he made his own attacks on Aelikes, completely undaunted by his glare....

"Impressive. Oh well, at least I know you're not a complete defenseless fool. This should prove to be an interesting battle," Aelikes then drew his swords in a defensive mode, not attacking. He began to concentrate the force on the skin and bones of Whitfield. Soon, Whitfield should begin to experience a painful burning and boiling within his skin and blood. All Aelikes needs to do is not have his eye site distracted, and he could probably end up killing the Jedi Master. Doubtful, but possible.

OOC:
Deadly Sight
Sariss' trademark in Jedi Knight, this is one of the most painful mental attacks. Victims feel their skin and bones burning and their blood boiling within them (an illusion; the actual damage is comparable to a mild sunburn). If the necessary line of sight (or attacker's concentration) is not broken, the victim will die from pain.

IC:

Sasuke quickly blocked Shamman with fierce counterstrikes, leading him slowly away from Jiraiya. So, he uses rage to fuel himself. Much like me, once upon a time...

Shamman found himself facing an opponent that mirrored his strikes perfectly. Every strike was blocked. Every attack was countered or dodged. Sasuke took the darkness that is Shamman, channeled it into himself, then threw it back out in near-perfect synch in what would be fashioned as a dance if the duel wasn't so deadly. Sasuke then searched for the moment of weakness. That one minor mistake that every rage-bound enemy makes. And when that weakness is found, it would be exploited as he himself was once exploited...[/quote]

"I sense great fear in you. You have anger, and you have hate, but you don't use them now do you? I sense you have used them once before. You know of their powers. Why did you decide to switch roles?" Shamman then opened his mouth, and shot flames at Sasuke. Unlike in the first part of the chuunin exams, this time it almost took on the form of the fire dragon he's suppose to create.


Jiraiya took advantage of the minor parry of the knife to put Deshoonde off-guard with a series of powerful strokes, designed to eventually knock the enemy's lightsaber away. From there, he planned to disable Deshoonde and that would be that.

Now if only both mens' skills would see themselves through the duels

If only Jiraiya knew that Deshoonde planed for this attack. In fact, he counted on it. He allowed himself to be "caught" off balance. When Jiraiya's blade struck his, Deshoonde held his blade firm and steady to prevent it from carelessly falling out of his hands. He fell onto the ground, and used the force of gravity and the force to his advantage. As he fell, he thrusted his hands forward at the ground and used the force to do a flip, using his feet to try and kick Jiraiya in the face, and jumped into the air and landed facing Jiraiya several yards away.

::I'll be a few steps ahead of you. See, I'm immortal, you are not. I have thousands of years of training, you don't. I was trained by the Emperor in the arts of combat and the force (mainly dark side though). Oh, don't get me wrong. You are by far the best oponent I've faced as of yet, soaring beyond the level of that pathetic Kirtir Lord I faced before I started my mission. If you hope to beat me, or my cousin, you need to practice more. Even a Jedi or Malkir in the rank of Master must maintain constant practice, just as much as a padawan learner. I'd love to exchange ideas of the force
in a later time, but for now...:: He then shot several bolts of lighting towards the old warrior, hoping that he would absorb it or try and deflect it. This move is just a cover up for what he's really concentraiting on.

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


"Admiral..."

"I know. I know. When are our own reinforcements coming in?" Pellaeon asked.

"Shouldn't be long, sir. We'll have to hold out until then."

The old man sighed. "Very well. How many stations do we have left?"

"We lost five in the initial counterattack. Another four damaged. Their transphasics are troublesome!"

"Very well. Have twenty stations concentrate on the enemy's Towerless Super Star Destroyer and ten handle that Tie Carrier. Even with the reinforced shields, it is possible they won't handle all that energy. All other stations will target 2 at a time at the newcomers. In other words, 2 stations to one ship. In the meantime, the fleet will concentrate their firepower on the previous fleet that we're currently encountering. I am authorizing release of the singularity torpedoes in light of this development. 'Show no mercy, for we shall recieve none'..."

As the Admiral finished his short rambling, the noose tightened around the fleet still under assault from the Coredian navy. Suddenly, the enemy, oldtimers and newcomers alike were sundered by an onslaught of gravitational forces powerful enough to eat up light. Even the tidal forces would be damaging in close proximity as hulls buckled under the severe stress...



Ezekiel marched upon the bridge of the Megaladon when the notice came in. "Grand Admiral! Singularity torpetoes are coming in!"

"Damn it. I was expecting more like Transphasic's from them. I guess they got the technology from the New Dornalians. All right, keep the shields up and running as best as possible. I want you to counter their assault with more volleys of Transphasic Torpetoes. Target the Axiel Laser upon the Chimeria. If we can destroy their flag ship, perhapse with their oldest of Admirals gone and their flag ship destroyed we can cripple their spirits. With their newly crowned "Emperor" sevearly wounded too, and his son captured, this will make up for more than the loss of the Oblivion. It will be a glorious day if we win this fight."

"Uh... Admiral. Reading more energy signatures which match something similar thus to the Axiel Lasers. They're targeting the Megaladon and the Repent."

"You know what to do then, don't you? Keep the command ships allive at all costs. Have any available TSD and battleship form in front of the stations to "take" the shot for us."

"Is the loss of the ships that good..."

"We can destroy their stations so long as we keep up the Transphasic volleys. Trust me, it's well worth it. However, make sure all of our fighters get launched at the enemy. We can overwhelm them with small craft, especially the Tie Planetary Bombers. Very good for bombing runs against capital starships."

"Uh..."

"Yes, damn it. All of the fighters are going to be launched!"

"Aye Grand Admiral."

The battleships and towerless star destroyers formed up in a way which they would be taking out the laser shots from the super laser platforms to keep the command ships alive. Soon after they were in position, all of the Tie's were launched from their hangar bays. In a few minutes, the enemy fleet will be overhelmed by the number of fighters which was launched. Overwhelmed enough to probably distract them from the capital ships. At least that was the plan.
-------------------------------------------------


The shuttles fought off the Rogues, with rear-facing laser cannons and a multitude of menacing missiles thrown in for good measure. The Rogues, on the other hand, were not the best of the best for nothing, for as a team, they proved that they could, and did, shoot down one of the shuttles. But unfortunately for Naruto and friends, the shuttle was a decoy, as the other two accelerated for the nearest Imperial Star Destroyer and a swarm of TIEs swooped down in neat straight lines and collectively said, 'kiss my flying metal ass'! Only they weren't straight lines and definitely not neat. More like a boiling smorgsboard of laserfire and black armor.

The Tenetian TIEs died to the superior performance of the Rogues, and those that somehow survived went like 'hax' and 'lag' and other unmentionables. But as with all methods of cannon fodder the bad guys used, the good guys were slowed down long enough for the evildoers to escape into the welcoming arms of a Star Destroyer.

Itachi wasn't pleased when he heard the report that the Obliterator was most definitely obliterated. In fact, he flash-burned the flesh of the messenger who gave him the report and would have done the same to the Admiral if he wasn't already dead. Moving to the bridge as his consort was dunked into the medical bay's bacta tubes and administered by Kabuto, he ordered: "Have the Huntaer fleet cover us. Our primary mission is completed. Now we shall make our escape."

"Yes, my Lord." The captain fearfully replied.

What remained of the Tenetian fleet formed up in a classic arrow formation to spear their way out of the battlefield and let the Huntaerians take care of everything else...

"Admiral, new message from what remains of the Tenetian fleet. They wish for us to provide them some cover from enemy ships."

"Fire a volley of Tricobalts and heavy turbolaser fire into the direction from where the Tenetians are coming from. At the enemy of course. Send a fighter escort to protect the ships. Prepair to greet our allies. Where the hell are those Kirtir Lords?"

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


Pilots were again unnerved by the ramming attacks the enemy fighters incurred, but this time, they were ready for such tactics. They pumped up the sound blasters to full, and a few pilots decided that it might be a good idea to tie them to the sensors, so that even without visuals, they could still track and destroy the enemy. The new experiment spread like wildfire, and now, using their ears instead of their eyes, the Coredian starfighters and antiship frigates, corvettes and gunships were once again almost capable of bringing TIEs down as if it was the good ol' days. Almost because visuals were still wanting...


More Phantoms were dropped from the sky from enemy fire, due to thier space superiority. The Captain was about ready to give up on the fighter assault, owever hope arised for Phantom Squadron.

"Prepaire for retreat Phantoms. Looks like we're done here."

"Captain! Look! A weird space cloud is coming in!"

The captain looked out of his cockpit window and noticed the oddly formed cloud. However, he squinted his eyes and could vaguely see the outlines of what appeared to be towerless star destroyers and Armada class battleships.
"It's not a space cloud. It's our reinforcements. Gents, our hope is restored!"

The pilots gave out a chilling cry of victory as the fleet of fighters moved onward towards their position. Tens of thousands of Tie's, and regular star fighters roared through space. Their weapons charged up, and missiles locked onto targets....

"I sense great fear in you. You have anger, and you have hate, but you don't use them now do you? I sense you have used them once before. You know of their powers. Why did you decide to switch roles?" Shamman then opened his mouth, and shot flames at Sasuke. Unlike in the first part of the chuunin exams, this time it almost took on the form of the fire dragon he's suppose to create.
Sasuke scowled as he rolled to the side to dodge the dragon of fire. "I have important things to do than go around and unleash my hate on the hapless. I have a family to protect and a nation to uphold. Don't speak to me of darkness, baka."

With that, he summoned from his own mouth a Katon: Ryuuka technique. It's basically the same technique that Shamman used, only more powerful. The dragon roared above Sasuke's head and flew to strike down Shamman...

If only Jiraiya knew that Deshoonde planed for this attack. In fact, he counted on it. He allowed himself to be "caught" off balance. When Jiraiya's blade struck his, Deshoonde held his blade firm and steady to prevent it from carelessly falling out of his hands. He fell onto the ground, and used the force of gravity and the force to his advantage. As he fell, he thrusted his hands forward at the ground and used the force to do a flip, using his feet to try and kick Jiraiya in the face, and jumped into the air and landed facing Jiraiya several yards away.

::I'll be a few steps ahead of you. See, I'm immortal, you are not. I have thousands of years of training, you don't. I was trained by the Emperor in the arts of combat and the force (mainly dark side though). Oh, don't get me wrong. You are by far the best oponent I've faced as of yet, soaring beyond the level of that pathetic Kirtir Lord I faced before I started my mission. If you hope to beat me, or my cousin, you need to practice more. Even a Jedi or Malkir in the rank of Master must maintain constant practice, just as much as a padawan learner. I'd love to exchange ideas of the force
in a later time, but for now...:: He then shot several bolts of lighting towards the old warrior, hoping that he would absorb it or try and deflect it. This move is just a cover up for what he's really concentraiting on.
Blocking the foot-blow, Jiraiya scowled as he absorbed the lightning with his hand into himself. He didn't like the fact that this guy has upstaged him so. Very well. I'll leave you to your devices...for now.

He unleashed a Grand Fireball as a parting shot as Deshoonde seems about to make his move.

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

"Admiral, new message from what remains of the Tenetian fleet. They wish for us to provide them some cover from enemy ships."

"Fire a volley of Tricobalts and heavy turbolaser fire into the direction from where the Tenetians are coming from. At the enemy of course. Send a fighter escort to protect the ships. Prepair to greet our allies. Where the hell are those Kirtir Lords?"
In a classic case of the bad guy escaping from the clutches of the good guys, the Tenetian Fleet made the jump to hyperspace, leaving the Huntaerians to kill as much of the Masaki fleet as possible.

Naruto growled. "Damn it all!"

But at that time, the hordes of TIEs pounced upon the Rogues and then a true fight began...

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

More Phantoms were dropped from the sky from enemy fire, due to thier space superiority. The Captain was about ready to give up on the fighter assault, owever hope arised for Phantom Squadron.

"Prepaire for retreat Phantoms. Looks like we're done here."

"Captain! Look! A weird space cloud is coming in!"

The captain looked out of his cockpit window and noticed the oddly formed cloud. However, he squinted his eyes and could vaguely see the outlines of what appeared to be towerless star destroyers and Armada class battleships.
"It's not a space cloud. It's our reinforcements. Gents, our hope is restored!"

The pilots gave out a chilling cry of victory as the fleet of fighters moved onward towards their position. Tens of thousands of Tie's, and regular star fighters roared through space. Their weapons charged up, and missiles locked onto targets....
...and the multitudes were suddenly encountering an even more massive hail of laserfire and railcannons as the Konoha Fleet and the Battlestar moved to intercept the enemy and assist the overwhelmed antistarfighter ships. The Battlestar Coredia herself was acting not so much as a battlecarrier as an oversized fighter, twisting and turning, rolling and looping to gain advantage over clusters of fighters. It's powerful molecular shields proved most troublesome to the enemy as they absorbed energy fire and redirected into wherever is needed, ensuring that it is capable of surviving anything short of the Death Star. And that's not mentioning the glowing yellow weapons that are to be the bane of enemies everywhere. Swarms of Quantum Shattermissiles shot out from missile tubes and streamed for enemies in writhing, living rivers of golden light. Once the lead shattermissiles shattered the shields of an enemy, the others will follow closely in, blowing chunks of hull off and boring into the soft spots of the enemy, and that's just for the capital ships. The fighters and bombers suffered worse as these missiles detonated within a 20 meter circle.

OOC: If you know your Stargate, think of the Ancient Drones charging forth to destroy everything not tagged as 'friendly'. I'll wait until you do your edit to have the Admiral's fleet respond.

Ezekiel marched upon the bridge of the Megaladon when the notice came in. "Grand Admiral! Singularity torpetoes are coming in!"

"Damn it. I was expecting more like Transphasic's from them. I guess they got the technology from the New Dornalians. All right, keep the shields up and running as best as possible. I want you to counter their assault with more volleys of Transphasic Torpetoes. Target the Axiel Laser upon the Chimeria. If we can destroy their flag ship, perhapse with their oldest of Admirals gone and their flag ship destroyed we can cripple their spirits. With their newly crowned "Emperor" sevearly wounded too, and his son captured, this will make up for more than the loss of the Oblivion. It will be a glorious day if we win this fight."

"Uh... Admiral. Reading more energy signatures which match something similar thus to the Axiel Lasers. They're targeting the Megaladon and the Repent."

"You know what to do then, don't you? Keep the command ships allive at all costs. Have any available TSD and battleship form in front of the stations to "take" the shot for us."

"Is the loss of the ships that good..."

"We can destroy their stations so long as we keep up the Transphasic volleys. Trust me, it's well worth it. However, make sure all of our fighters get launched at the enemy. We can overwhelm them with small craft, especially the Tie Planetary Bombers. Very good for bombing runs against capital starships."

"Uh..."

"Yes, damn it. All of the fighters are going to be launched!"

"Aye Grand Admiral."

The battleships and towerless star destroyers formed up in a way which they would be taking out the laser shots from the super laser platforms to keep the command ships alive. Soon after they were in position, all of the Tie's were launched from their hangar bays. In a few minutes, the enemy fleet will be overhelmed by the number of fighters which was launched. Overwhelmed enough to probably distract them from the capital ships. At least that was the plan.
The Coredian superlaser slammed into many a ship and it was not yet known if the singularity torpedoes did any good, but signs point that way. But for the Coredian fleet, more surprises were in store for them...

"Admiral! The enemy's targeting their axial laser upon us!"

"Damn it! Evasive action! All remaining superlasers target the Super Star Destroyer! We must cripple them! ETA on reinforcements!"

"They should be here by now (EWT included). I don't know what's keeping them."

"Well if they don't arrive, there won't be enough to save us!" The Admiral groused.

The 38 remaining superlasers and 4 Artillery Star Destroyers targeted the TSSD again, searching for and targeting through the holes the fleet left in providing themselves as shields. Once more, green and blue bursts of destructive energy lashed out for the TSSDs in the hopes of crippling the Axiel Laser or even the ship itself. In the meantime, two things happened. One, a singularity torpedo was sent down the line of the laser and would provide a momentary gravity shield while the ship itself fought to move out of the way of the axial laser. The Chimera sure wished it could dodge like the Battlestar could now!

"Impressive. Oh well, at least I know you're not a complete defenseless fool. This should prove to be an interesting battle," Aelikes then drew his swords in a defensive mode, not attacking. He began to concentrate the force on the skin and bones of Whitfield. Soon, Whitfield should begin to experience a painful burning and boiling within his skin and blood. All Aelikes needs to do is not have his eye site distracted, and he could probably end up killing the Jedi Master. Doubtful, but possible.

OOC:
Deadly Sight
Sariss' trademark in Jedi Knight, this is one of the most painful mental attacks. Victims feel their skin and bones burning and their blood boiling within them (an illusion; the actual damage is comparable to a mild sunburn). If the necessary line of sight (or attacker's concentration) is not broken, the victim will die from pain.

Master Whitfield jumped away from the site of the duel for a moment, ducking around a corner. Though out of Aelikes' visual line of sight, if only for a moment, the pain in his bones grew sharper as Aelikes ascertained his location through the Force. However, the Jedi Master wasn't going to remain so stationary for more than a couple of seconds...he was only assessing the threat.

Using his abilities to check what was really happening to his blood and his bones, he found that Aelikes was really tricking his nervous system into registering painful sensations that shouldn't exist. His previous volumes of experience in psychic Force wars, including those conducted by using third persons as proxies, helped him diagonose the situation with great efficiency...he was no stranger to mind tricks and illusion. However, just knowing this created a slight psychological effect in the other direction, though Whitfield knew that Aelikes' motive was to disable his concentration at the very least. He called on the Force to blunt the pain, though he was unable to dispose of the sensation completely...

...and then, only about five or six seconds after Whitfield had temporarily extricated himself from the duel, he joined right back in. His dual purple lightsabers became a flaming violet blur as he jumped over and around Aelikes multiple times, making glancing strikes against Aelikes' black blades with great speed. One of the blades managed to change length so quickly, jumping from two feet to seven and back again, that it almost matched the speed that Whitfield bounced off the walls...

...Darth Aelikes had more immediate concerns than mind tricks, as his opponent was now a blur, his lightsabers speaking more about his location than his actual physical presence. But his physical location kept changing...

The Coredian superlaser slammed into many a ship and it was not yet known if the singularity torpedoes did any good, but signs point that way. But for the Coredian fleet, more surprises were in store for them...

"Admiral! The enemy's targeting their axial laser upon us!"

"Damn it! Evasive action! All remaining superlasers target the Super Star Destroyer! We must cripple them! ETA on reinforcements!"

"They should be here by now (EWT included). I don't know what's keeping them."

"Well if they don't arrive, there won't be enough to save us!" The Admiral groused.

The 38 remaining superlasers and 4 Artillery Star Destroyers targeted the TSSD again, searching for and targeting through the holes the fleet left in providing themselves as shields. Once more, green and blue bursts of destructive energy lashed out for the TSSDs in the hopes of crippling the Axiel Laser or even the ship itself. In the meantime, two things happened. One, a singularity torpedo was sent down the line of the laser and would provide a momentary gravity shield while the ship itself fought to move out of the way of the axial laser. The Chimera sure wished it could dodge like the Battlestar could now!

No sooner had Admiral Pellaeon spoken those words than thirty-eight capital-scale sensor contacts appeared at long range, on the outer limits of a turbolaser's effective range. It was a comparatively small fleet to be sure, at least compared to what Coredians and Empire alike were used to dealing with.

Nevertheless, the classes of vessels mustered by the Evil Woody Thoughts Navy showed that it meant business. And possibly explained why it took so long for said fleet to get here.

Two Sovereign class Super Star Destroyers there were, customized by the Evil Woody Thoughts Navy. They were not identical to the Sovereigns known by the Empire; though they had the same hull as the standard class, they carried somewhat upgraded reactors and swapped out a couple hundred turbolaser batteries for the more potent particle projector cannons. Moreover, twelve ships of the same class that had rammed and destroyed the Obliterator dropped back into realspace, the same class that had somehow managed to absorb multiple hypercannon hits before its earlier suicide run. The Coredians were far more acquainted with the Immortal Star Destroyer in combat than the Empire was (though the Huntaerian fleet nonetheless had seen a single ship of this class ram the SSD Obliterator and crack its hull in half); indeed, the Coredians, having observed Admiral Riordan's creative use of PPCs were, in a way, more acquianted with the Immortal's capabilities than even the newly arrived Woodians, and no doubt the arrival of twelve of them would be a huge morale booster...

Twenty Knossos destroyers, two aging Mon Calamari Star Cruisers, and two miscellaneous frigates left over as relics of the initial interstellar colonization rounded out the fleet, or at least that part of which was readily visible to sensors anyway, the latter four ships designated as Solohma (sacrificial) units. As yet undetected by either party were seven cloaked Scimtar-class warbirds, ironically, seven of the ten obtained by Darth Ebolus during the civil war seven months prior.

As the Woodian fleet gathered its targeting data, Admiral Makaryk (transferred from the army seven months prior) sent a transmission to the Coredian command ship. "Seven months ago, the Coredians fought and died alongside those of us struggling to free ourselves from the tyranny of our own Dark Lord. We come to honor this alliance forged through the mutual spilling of blood. And there is more to this fleet that meets the eye." If ever Admiral Pellaeon had read about the Battle of Eheayana, he would have an idea of just what Admiral Makaryk meant by his choice of words.

The Warbirds ignited their engines briefly, to build momentum to coast towards the Huntaerian fleet, their captains enjoying near-complete autonomy as a result of the cloak. Not even the Immortals could detect them without running ECCM...they were under effective radio silence, their crews' only thoughts being those of owning the Empire...and testing out these new Warbirds in combat. After the vessels had reached a suitable velocity, their captains shut off the engines again, coasting towards the Huntaerians, and using vector thrusters to alter their course just in case the Huntaerians had detected drive emissions...

Meanwhile, Admiral Makaryk relayed orders to the visible part of the fleet. "I want both the Sovereigns to target the Empire SSD with their axial lasers. Align them accordingly. Destroy their fleet carrier whilst moving into position. All other craft, start picking off their Star Destroyers. All craft, calculate Fuchida microjumps* in case ramming becomes necessary."

The two Sovereigns began the arduous process of aligning their superlasers with the Huntaerian fleet, firing their assortment of particle projector cannons, ion cannon, and turbolaser batteries at Huntaer's fleet carrier in the process, filling the void between the two fleets with blue, orange, and green bolts of death. Meanwhile, the remainder of the fleet similarly filled the void of space with similar streaks of destruction, directed at one TSD at a time...

Admiral Makaryk smiled. The Empire's fleet was effectively trapped between the Konoha planetary batteries and Coredian fleet on one end, and his fleet on the other. The Empire was outflanked here, and now forced to either pick a side to fire on, allowing the other side some degree of recovery, or to split their fire (and reactor power)...

*OOC: Instead of mounting backup hyperdrives, most of my fleet carries Kearney-Fuchida jumpdrives for backup FTL propulsion (the MC cruisers being the primary exception; the SSDs would have been retrofitted by now). It is a drive specialized for short-range jumps, and indeed a prolonged trip requires many jumps, perhaps a hundred or so to traverse a galaxy. However, it functions much differently than a hyperdrive and can bypass some (but not all) forms of FTLi, especially those based upon gravitic methods, such as a SSD's gravity well generator, though such bypass is not 100% guaranteed as the anamolies *can* cause misjumps if navigators are not careful. While it takes days to accumulate a charge significant enough to jump (minimum "safe" charge time is about 150 hours for an average yellow star; they charge using solar energy), Woodian SOP dictates that the drive remains precharged at all times, so Woodian naval commanders always ensure that the drive is fully charged before entering combat. Still, this means the backup drive can only jump once before a recharge. So it definitely has its strengths and weaknesses.

As the Woodian fleet gathered its targeting data, Admiral Makaryk (transferred from the army seven months prior) sent a transmission to the Coredian command ship. "Seven months ago, the Coredians fought and died alongside those of us struggling to free ourselves from the tyranny of our own Dark Lord. We come to honor this alliance forged through the mutual spilling of blood. And there is more to this fleet that meets the eye." If ever Admiral Pellaeon had read about the Battle of Eheayana, he would have an idea of just what Admiral Makaryk meant by his choice of words.
"Finally, they have come." Admiral Pellaeon noted as he read the dispatch. "Now what was he talking about...oh. Damn. That time when they incinerated a third of a city. Get me the Admiral. There's a new tactic that I'd like to show him courtsey of their Battlestar."

"Yes sir."

As he sent the tactics, more surprises came for the Admiral. As the last of the Woodian fleet arrived from hyperspace, so did a quite large number of ships on the left flank of the Huntaerian fleet: The fleet consisting of the Duel of the Fates and its hundred strong escorts! Not to mention two Immortals, three Elite SD -the same class as the Chimera- and a dozen Artillery Star Destroyers.

Admiral Kyle Horvath smiled thinly as he noted the Huntaerian fleet being surrounded on all sides by the friendly forces. "Let Admiral Pellaeon know that I apologize for being late: I went to pick up some McSpace burgers. Oh yeah, and fire at will at the Huntaerians. Let no one of the enemy survive!"

A reply immediately came from the Grand Admiral: "Liar!"

Meanwhile, Superlasers, beamlasers, PPCs. Turbolasers, Ion Cannons, torpedoes. Missiles, rockets, railslugs. Not to mention a powerful gravity-modulation FTLi field employed by the Duel of the Fates to keep them from escaping. A horde of antistarfighter platforms flew to challenge the enemy fighter and bomber squadrons, supporting the Rogues and the Battlestar Coredia against the fighter fleets. To the Coredians, the Battle of Konoha was already won. The question is now, how long will it go further!

Between the planetary cannons, the Chimera battlefleet, the Woodians and the Duel of the Fates battlefleet, the Huntaerians will surely have a hard time surviving. The only consolation for the Empire is that the Tenetians have already escaped...

"Finally, they have come." Admiral Pellaeon noted as he read the dispatch. "Now what was he talking about...oh. Damn. That time when they incinerated a third of a city. Get me the Admiral. There's a new tactic that I'd like to show him courtsey of their Battlestar."

"Yes sir."

As he sent the tactics, more surprises came for the Admiral. As the last of the Woodian fleet arrived from hyperspace, so did a quite large number of ships on the left flank of the Huntaerian fleet: The fleet consisting of the Duel of the Fates and its hundred strong escorts! Not to mention two Immortals, three Elite SD -the same class as the Chimera- and a dozen Artillery Star Destroyers.

Admiral Kyle Horvath smiled thinly as he noted the Huntaerian fleet being surrounded on all sides by the friendly forces. "Let Admiral Pellaeon know that I apologize for being late: I went to pick up some McSpace burgers. Oh yeah, and fire at will at the Huntaerians. Let no one of the enemy survive!"

Superlasers, beamlasers, PPCs. Turbolasers, Ion Cannons, torpedoes. Missiles, rockets, railslugs. Not to mention a powerful gravity-modulation FTLi field employed by the Duel of the Fates to keep them from escaping. A horde of antistarfighter platforms flew to challenge the enemy fighter and bomber squadrons, supporting the Rogues and the Battlestar Coredia against the fighter fleets. To the Coredians, the Battle of Konoha was already won. The question is now, how long will it go further!

Between the planetary cannons, the Chimera battlefleet, the Woodians and the Duel of the Fates battlefleet, the Huntaerians will surely have a hard time surviving. The only consolation for the Empire is that the Tenetians have already escaped...

Admiral Makaryk smiled as he watched the battle recordings of Admiral Riordan's super-PPC tactics...and as the Empire's fleet suddenly found itself outflanked twice over with Coredian reinforcements as well. He smirked at the thought of a single concentrated PPC blast able to puncture a SSD's shield...much less the ramming results. Admiral Riordan had died a glorious death indeed...and his invention of the new firing tactic would see him get posthumous credit for even more kills, to be sure.

"Immortal Star Destroyers, HOLD!" The thirty-year-old Admiral Makaryk, young but with a competency well beyond his years, gave the order with such force that all twelve of the Immortal Star Destoyers immediately stopped firing.

"You will charge every weapons capacitator onboard your ships, then route everything through a single particle projector cannon of the ship captain's choice. You will link your targeting computers such that when you fire, all twelve shots hit the same exact spot on the Empire's Towerless Super Star Destroyer's shields. You will only fire when the order is given. Hail Admiral Riordan, who invented this tactic and found a way to turn our ships into Artillery Star Destroyers shortly before ramming and destroying a Super Star Destroyer himself."

The ships' crews, jaws agape, complied upon learning of the new tactic...and the circumstances which inspired it. Admiral Riordan disseminated the relevant clips from the battle recording for the Immortals' crews to watch while they waited for guns to charge...they were recordings of Admiral Riordan literally lifting a nation out of dezgra in one final blaze of glory. Admiral Makaryk had good reason for the dissemination...

In the meantime, the guns charged, the two Sovereigns continued to arduously swing into position, firing upon the TIE fleet carrier the entire time with hundreds of turbolaser batteries, particle projector cannon, and ion cannon...

"Prepare to fire!" Admiral Makaryk sounded more like the commander of one of the great longbowmen formations of old as he gave orders that required the utterly perfect coordination of twelve ships. Behold, he knew exactly how to make a unit function as one. As the last capacitators on the twelve Immortals reached full charge...

"Fire!" Twelve thick PPC bolts so hot they slagged the weapons emplacements from whence fired lashed out in perfect coordination, targeted to the same exact spot on the enemy TSSD, intended to burn a huge gaping hole not only in the ship's shields, but also to utterly slag and melt its hull until it, too, split in half, weakened so thouroghly by hull stress, as the Obliterator before it. Of course, it helped that PPCs also had a nasty little tendency to combine the most damaging aspect of ion cannon and turbolaser battery alike, meaning all electronics on the TSSD would probably get fried even in the unlikely event that the ship itself managed to somehow survive. Unlikely, because the total reactor output behind the twelve shots fired as one exceeded (though by slim margin) what would have been had both Sovereigns fired their axial superlasers at the same time. Not to mention that all of the gunners involved were vastly careful to make sure the shot wound up between the escorts that the Empire was using as meat shield...they only had had a full minute to prepare and aim the shot, after all.

Each Immortal Star Destroyer was now down to 59 functional PPCs instead of 60. But it would still be plenty enough to bust out plenty of ownage upon the Empire...and that was all that mattered. In another fifty seconds or so, those guns would be ready to fire again, one more weapon emplacement per Star Destroyer sacrificed to the greater good of quick dispatch of enemy fleet.

Meanwhile, the seven Romulan-built warbirds coasted closer to their prey, still under complete cloak and radio silence...

Sasuke scowled as he rolled to the side to dodge the dragon of fire. "I have important things to do than go around and unleash my hate on the hapless. I have a family to protect and a nation to uphold. Don't speak to me of darkness, baka."

With that, he summoned from his own mouth a Katon: Ryuuka technique. It's basically the same technique that Shamman used, only more powerful. The dragon roared above Sasuke's head and flew to strike down Shamman...

Shamman was about to strike at Sasuke when he saw the dragon at the last minute. He dodged the dragon, and threw out three light shuriken's at Sasuke. When he landed on the ground he got himself up and found himself staggering a bit when he stood. Almost dizzy. He knew he would be done if he didn't do something soon, so he resorted to a... rather odd option. Certaint areas of the ground began to bulge upward, and skeleton hands and arms came out of the ground. Shamman had just summoned a small squadron of deadly skeletons. Each can be easily destroyed, they're just skeletons with vibroblades and what not afterall. However, they'll give Shamman the time he needs to get out of there.


Blocking the foot-blow, Jiraiya scowled as he absorbed the lightning with his hand into himself. He didn't like the fact that this guy has upstaged him so. Very well. I'll leave you to your devices...for now.

He unleashed a Grand Fireball as a parting shot as Deshoonde seems about to make his move.

Deshoonde easily dodged the ball of fire. "Do you remember anything from the first trail of the Chuunin Exams? When Shamman used a special power to cause a small pit hole?" He then slamed his hands onto the ground and a loud and violent rumble followed. The ground which seperated them began to rumble hardest, ravel shaking like mad. It wouldn't be long now before the ground would split in two.... And all hell would break loose.


Master Whitfield jumped away from the site of the duel for a moment, ducking around a corner. Though out of Aelikes' visual line of sight, if only for a moment, the pain in his bones grew sharper as Aelikes ascertained his location through the Force. However, the Jedi Master wasn't going to remain so stationary for more than a couple of seconds...he was only assessing the threat.

Using his abilities to check what was really happening to his blood and his bones, he found that Aelikes was really tricking his nervous system into registering painful sensations that shouldn't exist. His previous volumes of experience in psychic Force wars, including those conducted by using third persons as proxies, helped him diagonose the situation with great efficiency...he was no stranger to mind tricks and illusion. However, just knowing this created a slight psychological effect in the other direction, though Whitfield knew that Aelikes' motive was to disable his concentration at the very least. He called on the Force to blunt the pain, though he was unable to dispose of the sensation completely...

...and then, only about five or six seconds after Whitfield had temporarily extricated himself from the duel, he joined right back in. His dual purple lightsabers became a flaming violet blur as he jumped over and around Aelikes multiple times, making glancing strikes against Aelikes' black blades with great speed. One of the blades managed to change length so quickly, jumping from two feet to seven and back again, that it almost matched the speed that Whitfield bounced off the walls...

...Darth Aelikes had more immediate concerns than mind tricks, as his opponent was now a blur, his lightsabers speaking more about his location than his actual physical presence. But his physical location kept changing...


Aelikes stopped his force powers and realised his opponent was picking up speed. He knew that there was only one way he would be able to match it, and that was to studdy his opponent's speed. Aelikes kept his blades moving in defense, blocking Whitfield's moves as best as he can. He only needed a few minutes of combat with his enemy, and that was enough time for Aelikes to studdy Whitfield's movements. Aelikes then started to block each of Whitfield's attacks, and picked up the pace. Soon he'd beable to match Whitfield's speed with ease, enabling him. He then would begin to strike back at Whitfield, using one of his blades to block and the other to assault. Darth Aelikes was the Weapon's Master of the Huntarian Empire, and he will prove to Whitfield that he didn't get that title all for nothing.

OOC:
I'll get to the other posts as soon as jolt stops being dumb.

Shamman was about to strike at Sasuke when he saw the dragon at the last minute. He dodged the dragon, and threw out three light shuriken's at Sasuke. When he landed on the ground he got himself up and found himself staggering a bit when he stood. Almost dizzy. He knew he would be done if he didn't do something soon, so he resorted to a... rather odd option. Certaint areas of the ground began to bulge upward, and skeleton hands and arms came out of the ground. Shamman had just summoned a small squadron of deadly skeletons. Each can be easily destroyed, they're just skeletons with vibroblades and what not afterall. However, they'll give Shamman the time he needs to get out of there.
"Necromancy? How droll." Sasuke said as he sent a wave of energy, blasting the skeletons into piles of bones. Then he pursued Shamman...

Deshoonde easily dodged the ball of fire. "Do you remember anything from the first trail of the Chuunin Exams? When Shamman used a special power to cause a small pit hole?" He then slamed his hands onto the ground and a loud and violent rumble followed. The ground which seperated them began to rumble hardest, ravel shaking like mad. It wouldn't be long now before the ground would split in two.... And all hell would break loose.
The old Toad Sannin merely smiled as he focused his energies on the ground, rolling with the shaking. If he wants to play Earthshaker, I can oblige!

He stomped his foot and slid forward, sending ground spearing towards Deshoonde...

The Megaladon shook violently as the enemy fleets fired at them, and the Repent. "Report!"

"Admiral, the enemy fleet is fireing upon us. Mainly the Woodians."

"Damn it. How much longer will we hold?"

"At the rate they're fireing... No more than 1 hour if they keep fireing at both ships."

"*Sigh.* All right, whats our escape route?"

The comm officer quickly punched up the recent scanns of the area, and found something which startled him. Not having a tower for the bridge can be a downside sometimes, "Uh... Sir, we're surrounded. On all sides. We have the Woodians in the rear, and the Coredians on the port, starbord, and forward sides."

"Scann for weakest side," the Grand Admiral ordered. At the same time, another violent shock from Woodian fire shook the ship even more violently. However, this time a council on the bridge exploded instantly killing the weapon's coordinator. "REPORT!"

"Shielding colapse sir! It's only a matter of time before the Woodians destroy this ship!"

"Look! The view screen!"

The whole bridge turned their heads and faced the bridge's view screen. It focused on the Repent which went up in a giant explosion. "Oh my god..."

The Grand Admiral couldn't think for a few seconds, then quickly recovered. "All right, I want you to scan for the best chance of escape, which side we outnumber, and our most likely success even if our chances are one to one million."

"It would appear to be attack the left flank sir. That's the coredian super laser platforms, they'll give us some heavy punches on the way, but we can survive a lot better than we would if we were to attack the Woodians, or the right flank. If we attack the front, obviously we'd win but we'd be facing the planet at the same time."

"Ok, here's what I want to do: Contact one of the leading Armageddon class Cruisers."

The comm's officer quickly patched in the number for communications so that incase the enemy tried to listen in on conversations between ship to ship, "This is the captain of the Pillar. You're on Grand Admiral."

"This is the captain of the Pillar. What can I assist you with admiral?"

"I need you to use your long range transporters and get the kirtir lords up onto your ship and get out of here. Right now, that's what matters most."

"Aye admiral, energizing." (to be continued...)

The Grand Admiral sighed and looked out at the view screen which now showed the remains of what was the Repent. He then ordered for the view screen to be switched and he then focused on what was the left Coredian Flank. He staired at the SL platforms for quite sometime before making his finnal decision. "All right, I've made up my mind. We're going to attempt to escape from attacking the left flank. Thats right, we're attacking the Super Laser Platforms. I want several volley's of Transphasic torpetoes to go into those SL Platforms, and have half of the fighter squads to refocus their efforts onto the platforms. FIRE!"


OOC: I'll have to do the fighhters and total fleet loss later on. I'm posting up a quick fix. I'm still working on another response, but for now, this'll have to do (again, a quick fix)

OOC: I assume the Repent was the fleet carrier. If not let me know. I may be confusing the fleet carrier with the TSSD--my ortillery was on the TSSD, which I'm assuming has stronger shielding which looks like it enabled it to survive the initial attack albeit with that very sudden, unexpected shield collapse.

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

Admiral Makaryk gazed out the viewport of his Super Star Destroyer. He hadn't expected the fleet carrier to blow up that quickly, but it did.

Meanwhile, the TSSD showed up as experiencing complete shield collapse on the side of the Woodians. The next ortillery shot would no doubt take it out. Still, the two Sovereigns were not yet in position to fire their superlasers at the Huntaerian fleet...but they would be soon enough.

"All Immortals, prepare to fire, same target!" Admiral Makaryk wanted the TSSD gone...and quickly. Another cumulative total of twelve particle projector cannon, one from each ship, would have to be sacrificed to this end. So be it. Nevertheless, for any ship to survive that meant it had damn good shielding. Admiral Makaryk wanted one. "Super Star Destroyers, all other craft, focus power on their largest remaining ships, TSSD excepted, take one down at a time."

"Sixty seconds until superlasers are aligned with Huntaerian fleet, Admiral," some tech reported from the bridge.

The Admiral nodded as the fleet, Immortals excepted on account of recharging, poured the entirety of its firepower into a single Huntaerian battleship, with the Admiral's SSD taking just enough of a lead to indicate to the other vessels which one to fire upon. Within a couple of seconds, the black void between the Woodian fleet and Huntaerians filled with green, orange and blue, the trifecta of turbolaser batteries, ion cannon, and particle projector cannon. A very damaging trifecta, as the experience of the Repent had shown. Once that unfortunate ship was destroyed, the gunners onboard the Admiral's SSD would select another for the fleet to fire upon. Then another. And so on...

"Immortals will be ready to fire again in ten seconds, Admiral," one of their captains reported.

"Excellent, same targeting data?"

"Aff."

"All Immortals, prepare to fire." A grin crossed the Admiral's face as the order went out to the Woodain fleet, as he would soon send another twelve ortillery PPC bolts of doom right into the now-unshielded TSSD...

Three...
Two...
One...

"Fire!" Immediately thereafter, twelve long, dark blue streaks of death so bright and glaring it overwhelmed the rest of the fleet's firepower, lashed out at the TSSD, with every bit of the synchronization as the last time...

Admiral Makaryk stared out of the bridge, almost directly facing the Huntaerian fleet now...he would be able to bring the superlasers to bear before his Immortals would be able to get a third shot.

Meanwhile...

The seven cloaked Warbirds had near-complete autonomy. When the fleet carrier blew up and the TSSD absorbed the ortillery hit, with a bit of the firepower visibly penetrating the shield, their captains, though working independently of each other, knew that the enemy wasn't going to last long by staying here and fighting. And more important, they knew that the enemy knew it, too. A well trained officer just knows these things.

Of the seven, three revved up their engines again...it'd be a shame if the enemy retreated before they had a chance to blow themselves up some Empire fleet...

More specifically, aboard the Warbird Remius...

Captain Ishiyama smiled as one of the Armada-class battleships filled the bridge's viewport. In the chaos of battle, so far there was no indication that he had been detected, though that would probably change soon enough.

"Is the Thalaron radiation emitter online?" he asked his weapons officer, wanting to capture something.

"Neg, Captain Ishiyama. Using it will kill us, and half the planet in addition to the enemy ship. It is not worth it, quiaff?"

"Aff." The captain seemed quite disappointed, but his weapons officer was right. "We're going to have to have our engineers find a way to scale the thing down for use on specific targets. For now, fill the ship with transphasic torpedoes. Which we have yet to test. Immediately after firing, use vector thrusters to rapidly change course to prevent telemetry tracking. Shut down the engines, as we are already at the target."

Five seconds later, as the engines shut down, the cloaked ship belched forth as many transphasic torpedoes as its twenty-seven launchers could fire at point-blank range. The huge torpedo emission would give its location away.

But then some of the more unprepared crew were thrown about as the ship suddenly lurched away from its prey, per the captain's orders...instead of keeping a trajectory that would ram the enemy the ship lurched upwards. The Huntaerians would know where the ship had been when it fired its radiation emitter...but they would have to figure out where it went afterwards.

The Huntaerians effectively had a ping, and not much more, insofar as detecting the Warbird was concerned.

The two other Warbirds that had reached the fleet did likewise, to two of the other battleships. The other four, whose captains had elected not to turn the engines back on, would reach the Huntaerian fleet by conservation of momentum shortly...

Aelikes stopped his force powers and realised his opponent was picking up speed. He knew that there was only one way he would be able to match it, and that was to studdy his opponent's speed. Aelikes kept his blades moving in defense, blocking Whitfield's moves as best as he can. He only needed a few minutes of combat with his enemy, and that was enough time for Aelikes to studdy Whitfield's movements. Aelikes then started to block each of Whitfield's attacks, and picked up the pace. Soon he'd beable to match Whitfield's speed with ease, enabling him. He then would begin to strike back at Whitfield, using one of his blades to block and the other to assault. Darth Aelikes was the Weapon's Master of the Huntarian Empire, and he will prove to Whitfield that he didn't get that title all for nothing.

Darth Aelikes matched all of Whitfield's attacks...but that was not what mattered to Whitfield at the moment. He had managed to occupy Aelikes' attention from 1)invoking the Necrominus to cause more damage than a planetwide drop of maybe a degree or three Celsius, which would be manageable, and 2)his little Dark Side trick of inflicting enough pain to overload his nervous system and killing him.

Whitfield had reduced the battle to, more or less, a lightsaber duel. Which was more or less where he wanted it.

As Aelikes matched each of Whitfield's attacks, so too did Whitfield match every attack of Darth Aelikes. The two could clearly duel for hours and not get far, as Whitfield used his own blend of Ataru and Soresu, the two lightsaber forms he had studied for the longest...and mastered, blending both forms into something acrobatic enough to keep Aelikes from pulling that stunt he had tried earlier, yet defensive enough to prevent Aelikes from scoring a hit with his two lightsabers. Whitfield continued as a blur of jumping purple lightsaber blades that looked somehow to be on fire...

...This duel was clearly going to take a while. Both combatants were clearly capable of stalemating each other.

"Captain! Enemy PPC Artillery is fireing at the Megaladon!"

"Beam as many people we can out of there! Now! Make sure we get the Grand Admiral!"

"Confirmed..." Just then, the Megaladon shook on the view screen on the bridge of the Pillar. They heard some loud moaning, and an eventual explosion from the center of the ship effectively splitting it in half. The crew of the Pillar was shocked that their command ship was destroyed. The captain was the first to recover.

"Report. How many people did we pull off of that ship?"

"417."

"Lost?"

".... Nearly 129000."

"Computer, locate Grand Admiral Ezekiel."

"Ezekiel is on level six, transporter room."

"Thank god! We're saved. All right, make sure the Grand Admiral gets to the bridge all right. In the mean time, continue your focus of attacks on the Coredian Super Laser Platforms. Continue with a volley of 100 Photon Torpedos and Tricobalt Torpedos. Coordinate with the remaining fleet. We need to get out of here as soon as we grab those Kirtir on that planet."

With that, the remaining fleet headed for the SL platforms as previously planned. The cruisers focused their Tricobalts and Photon torpedos onto the cannons on the platforms, and then their Turbolaser batteries on the main platform. The Tenebrous TSD's would then focus their Photon Torpedos and Photons at the main body. The remaining Armada and Demolisher Class Battleships focused their attention on the incomming Woodian fleet. The Demolisher Ships focused their Mini-Axiel Cannons on the Immortal SD's, as well as their Advanced Heavy Turbolaser Batteries. They coordinated their Transphasic Torpedos onto the Bridge's of the Immortals, fireing a volley of 400 Transphasics each (total of 1600). Admiral Frishkill was in a frantic mood at this point, due to the fact her ship is on near critical for structural damage. The Armada's focused their attacks onto the Knossos destroyers and the Mon Calamari Cruisers. However, as the fleet coordinated their attacks, the enemy ships had fired a volley of tricobalts, effectively destroying yet another Armageddon Cruiser.


Total Fleet destroyed-
1 Megaladon Class Towerless Star Destroyer
1 Tie Class Carrier
6 Demolisher Class battleships
48 Tenebrous Class Towerless Star Destroyers
50 Armada Class Battleships
60 Armageddon Class Cruisers

Remaining-
4 Demolisher Class battleships (severe damage)
50 Tenebrous TSD;s
50 Armada Class Battleships
40 Armageddon Class Cruisers

"Admiral, the enemy's lost their fleet carrier and their flagship!" A stunned officer blurted out. The officer on the Duel of the Fates yelled the same for Horvath.

"WHAT?!" The Admirals, both of them, were shocked. Admiral Pellaeon was the first to recover. "How many ships do they have left?"

"About..." The sensor operator counted quickly. "A hundred and forty four or so."

"According to our IFF, we're slightly above that in terms of fleet remaining, with more ships coming in every...few seconds or so." A Star Destroyer here, a cruiser here, a squadron of frigates there. It seemed like the entire Coredian Navy was coming in piece by piece.

"Sir, they're beginning to attack the right encirclement flank. That's the weakest of the sides."

"So they're trying to escape. Let's not let them! Tyrannosaur fleet, move in to block them! Have Admiral Horvath close in on the enemy!" Admiral Pellaeon ordered.

=====

The Tyrannosaur recieved the order and soon enough, its battlefleet started to split from the Chimera fleet to bolster the superlaser cannons in the distance and try to prevent or reduce the enemy fleet's chances of escaping. The two Elite Star Destroyers lacerated the enemy with their main beamlaser cannons, followed by heavy turbolasers and ion cannons from the fleet elements of both battlefleets, moving ever closer to tighten the noose. The Duel of the Fates and its hundred merry ships pressed on the enemy as it moved towards the weaker side of the Navy's encirclement, maneuvering to hit upon the stern arcs of the fleeing ships. The Duel of the Fates concentrated its superlaser on one of the Demolishers while its thousands of main cannons sundered the rest with heavy turbolasers and ion cannons. Another Demolisher was selected for capture, and upon that order, heavy ion cannons from Star Destroyers concentrated upon that battleship. The FTLi moved with the behemoth, keeping the enemy within the system for as long as possible...

Another triple dozen or so superlasers (12+1 from the Duel of the Fates fleet plus 24 remaining superlaser stations) ripped through space to impact the enemy as the battle continued towards its inevitable conclusion, even as the stations fell to the enemy onslaught.

"Captain! Enemy PPC Artillery is fireing at the Megaladon!"

"Beam as many people we can out of there! Now! Make sure we get the Grand Admiral!"

"Confirmed..." Just then, the Megaladon shook on the view screen on the bridge of the Pillar. They heard some loud moaning, and an eventual explosion from the center of the ship effectively splitting it in half. The crew of the Pillar was shocked that their command ship was destroyed. The captain was the first to recover.

"Report. How many people did we pull off of that ship?"

"417."

"Lost?"

".... Nearly 129000."

"Computer, locate Grand Admiral Ezekiel."

"Ezekiel is on level six, transporter room."

"Thank god! We're saved. All right, make sure the Grand Admiral gets to the bridge all right. In the mean time, continue your focus of attacks on the Coredian Super Laser Platforms. Continue with a volley of 100 Photon Torpedos and Tricobalt Torpedos. Coordinate with the remaining fleet. We need to get out of here as soon as we grab those Kirtir on that planet."

With that, the remaining fleet headed for the SL platforms as previously planned. The cruisers focused their Tricobalts and Photon torpedos onto the cannons on the platforms, and then their Turbolaser batteries on the main platform. The Tenebrous TSD's would then focus their Photon Torpedos and Photons at the main body. The remaining Armada and Demolisher Class Battleships focused their attention on the incomming Woodian fleet. The Demolisher Ships focused their Mini-Axiel Cannons on the Immortal SD's, as well as their Advanced Heavy Turbolaser Batteries. They coordinated their Transphasic Torpedos onto the Bridge's of the Immortals, fireing a volley of 400 Transphasics each (total of 1600). Admiral Frishkill was in a frantic mood at this point, due to the fact her ship is on near critical for structural damage. The Armada's focused their attacks onto the Knossos destroyers and the Mon Calamari Cruisers. However, as the fleet coordinated their attacks, the enemy ships had fired a volley of tricobalts, effectively destroying yet another Armageddon Cruiser.


Total Fleet destroyed-
1 Megaladon Class Towerless Star Destroyer
1 Tie Class Carrier
6 Demolisher Class battleships
48 Tenebrous Class Towerless Star Destroyers
50 Armada Class Battleships
60 Armageddon Class Cruisers

Remaining-
4 Demolisher Class battleships (severe damage)
50 Tenebrous TSD;s
50 Armada Class Battleships
40 Armageddon Class Cruisers

OOC: To make one thing perfectly clear to everyone concerned, my fleet, the seven Warbirds excepted, isn't "inbound." It's stationary, with preprogrammed coordinates for a [Fuchida] microjump should such become necessary...which means that the bulk of the power that would be getting used to propel my fleet towards the enemy instead finds its way into shields and weapons.

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

While many, perhaps even most militaries, would have immediately celebrated the downfall of Huntaer's TSSD, the fact of the matter remained that there was still lots of enemy fleet to kill. As such, Woodian gunners kept killing.

Of course, they had to deal with return fire as well. Four of the Immortals reported shields down to 20% as a result of the Demolishers. Their captains reacted calmly by diverting a whole crapload of power into the shields, and they stabilized even in the face of further turbolaser fire.

Of course, Admiral Makaryk now saw the Demolishers as the greatest threat, yet in light of their damage, easiest to destroy, and gave orders accordingly. He also noticed the incoming torpedoes. "Deploy starfighters to augment point defense. I want the unscathed Immortals to fire two PPC shots each into each of those four superlaser ships upon next charge. The two Sovereigns shall target two seperate battleships with their axial lasers, and concentrate conventional firepower on one battleship at a time. The remainder of the fleet is to do likewise."

Meanwhile, from the second those 1600 transphasics were fired, the twenty Knossos destroyers were tracking them. As they started taking hits to their shields, they stopped firing capital-scale weapons, dumping the power into reinforcing shields so they could perform their point-defense specialties for longer. The best part: the point-defense systems were automated, and once the transphasic torpedoes entered range of the ships' quad laser cannons, they were greeted with a thick matrix of preplanned counterfire.

Their trajectories, their velocity, everything relevant had already been calculated while in transit. Fighting from extremely long range had its advantages. Though the inbound torpedoes were faster than TIE interceptors, sheer distance gave the point-defense destroyers plenty of time to adjust for this.

Each destroyer shot down the torpedoes at a rate of approximately sixteen per second (they did have more than one point-defense emplacement each after all)...between all twenty, that meant three hundred twenty per second. Quad laser cannons, after all, were quick to recycle...and all sixteen hundred of the torpedoes were gone before they so much as threatened the bridges of the Immortals. It was simply one more example of utterly horrifying Woodian military efficiency.

Meanwhile, the two Sovereigns, their superlasers finally in a position to fire, did so, targeting two separate Huntaerian battleships with their axial superlasers. In addition, the eight Immortals with relatively full shielding concentrated their attention on the Huntaerian Demolisher ships, firing their ortillery PPC shots of death in pairs, such that each Demolisher had two Immortals pegging it for destruction.

Meanwhile, for this entire time, the two Sovereigns, as well as the remainder of the visible Woodian fleet (the two Mon Cal cruisers and those two "miscellaneous frigates") traded more conventional firepower with the Huntaerians, targeting one ship at a time for quick and efficient removal of enemy fleet. The shields of the two Solohma vessels were the first to collapse; they were destroyed shortly thereafter before they could microjump. The shields of the Mon Cal cruisers, also Solohma started to dip quickly enough that their captains started ordering the disabling of hyperdrive safeties to get through the gravitic FTLi and ram something, as they lacked Fuchida drive.

Likewise, the shields of the Knossos destroyers started to dip, but they would hold for at least a few more minutes before they started to fail completely...it was why Admiral Makaryk had ordered the deployment of the fleet's couple thousand or so starfighters, to act as a backup point defense. But the original PD line was holding, for now. The Immortals shields also held steady for now, be it at 30ish percent or around 80-90 percent...it depended on whether or not it had taken a Demolisher superlaser hit...

The four ships that were so hit took a bit longer to recharge their weapons capacitators as they were more worried about shielding for the moment. Nevertheless, such capacitators did charge, in about ninety seconds instead of fifty, and when they did, their captains fired four more PPC ortillery upon unsuspecting Huntaerian battleships, two each for two targets...

...Meanwhile, the Empire fleet was about to receive additional presents.

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

It did not take Captain Ishiyama long to find another target to dump another hundred transphasic torpedoes upon. As he had pulled up from his attack on the last victim, a TSD filled the bridge window. The captain gleefully ordered another round of transphasics to be fired into the thing...and so the crew complied, followed by more evasive maneuvers to avoid tracking upon discharge of said torpedoes.

However, this situation was about to get far worse for the Empire...because by now, the other six cloaked Romulan-built ships were upon the Empire's fleet. And their captains had similar thoughts, different ships. Each one approached its unsuspecting prey before dumping a hundred or so transphasic presents on it.

And as quickly as the Warbirds came to swoop down on their prey, they left for other targets.

"Necromancy? How droll." Sasuke said as he sent a wave of energy, blasting the skeletons into piles of bones. Then he pursued Shamman...

Shamman turned around to find that Sasuke was still persuing him. His rage power was starting to fade, but he wasn't ready to give up. He turned around and began to raise his lightsaber, and fell suddenly weakened. His rage was fading from him as was the world about him. He slowly got up again, walked forward a few steps and fell clenching his ears. He began to hear a lowpitch, annoying noise in his head. He looked down at his body and saw it beginning to dissapear in bright orange and red beams of light. He looked up and saw that Sasuke was right ontop of him. The last thing he remembered was the warrior's lightsaber comming upon his weakly defending lightsaber position and then fading into darkness on the Pillar's transporter room.


The old Toad Sannin merely smiled as he focused his energies on the ground, rolling with the shaking. If he wants to play Earthshaker, I can oblige!

He stomped his foot and slid forward, sending ground spearing towards Deshoonde...

Deshoonde jumped into the air to avoid the ground spearing which was coming towards Jiraiya. Deshoonde threw several weak lightning bolts at the old Toad Sannin before slowly hovering towards the ground. He pointed his lightsaber at Jiraiya and began to charge towards him. However, just before he could clash his lightsaber at the old man, he grabbed his ears after hearing a low-pitched ringing noise in his head. At least he thought it was in his head. He looked down at his body and saw that he had no solid body form and was slowly disentergrating, "WHAT THE FUCK.... NO!" He brought his sword up to attack Jiraiya and disapeared, "Damn it to he..."

Deshoonde soon found him inside the transporter room of the Pillar and that he was frozen for a few seconds. When he was able to move, he threw his sword at the transporter cheif going straight through his chest. Deshoonde marched off stage in a furry he hasn't felt since he was a Kirtir Lord. "My Lord! We had no choice! We had to pull you out of battle per or--- Graack!" Deshoonde lifted the man into the air with his bare hands, clenching his throat and glared his eyes.

"Never... Ever... Interupt me in the middle of a battle." The man began to release a choaking scream as he began to burn from the inside. The man's face grew red, and flames appeared. He began to cook like a burnt steak. His face turned black, bunt, and broken up. And when he released his last breath, Deshoonde threw him onto the floor where the man shattered into dust. The ex-dark lord began his steps toward the dark side once more...


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Darth Aelikes matched all of Whitfield's attacks...but that was not what mattered to Whitfield at the moment. He had managed to occupy Aelikes' attention from 1)invoking the Necrominus to cause more damage than a planetwide drop of maybe a degree or three Celsius, which would be manageable, and 2)his little Dark Side trick of inflicting enough pain to overload his nervous system and killing him.

Whitfield had reduced the battle to, more or less, a lightsaber duel. Which was more or less where he wanted it.

As Aelikes matched each of Whitfield's attacks, so too did Whitfield match every attack of Darth Aelikes. The two could clearly duel for hours and not get far, as Whitfield used his own blend of Ataru and Soresu, the two lightsaber forms he had studied for the longest...and mastered, blending both forms into something acrobatic enough to keep Aelikes from pulling that stunt he had tried earlier, yet defensive enough to prevent Aelikes from scoring a hit with his two lightsabers. Whitfield continued as a blur of jumping purple lightsaber blades that looked somehow to be on fire...

...This duel was clearly going to take a while. Both combatants were clearly capable of stalemating each other.


Aelikes found himself against an opponent who chose a combination of lightsaber forms he was very familiar with. There wasn't much he didn't know, considering how he knew all six. "An interesting combination Whitfield. Ataru and Soresu if I'm not mistaken. You've mastered them very well for a mortal." Aelikes then quickly used the force to search through his memory as he blocked yet another blade from whitfield and came across two of his own preference. He formed a combination of Juyo (the Ferocity Form) and Makashi (Contention Form). In the history of the Malkir and Kirtir, this form was commonly called "Deficht," a combination of intense furry and modifies the attacks and damage. the user produces to create even more damage ontop of Juyo.

Shamman turned around to find that Sasuke was still persuing him. His rage power was starting to fade, but he wasn't ready to give up. He turned around and began to raise his lightsaber, and fell suddenly weakened. His rage was fading from him as was the world about him. He slowly got up again, walked forward a few steps and fell clenching his ears. He began to hear a lowpitch, annoying noise in his head. He looked down at his body and saw it beginning to dissapear in bright orange and red beams of light. He looked up and saw that Sasuke was right ontop of him. The last thing he remembered was the warrior's lightsaber comming upon his weakly defending lightsaber position and then fading into darkness on the Pillar's transporter room.
Sasuke struck...but ended up hitting the ground, gouging out a line of glassed dirt. "What? Damn it!"

Scowling, he moved off to look for more enemies to kill.

Deshoonde jumped into the air to avoid the ground spearing which was coming towards Jiraiya. Deshoonde threw several weak lightning bolts at the old Toad Sannin before slowly hovering towards the ground. He pointed his lightsaber at Jiraiya and began to charge towards him. However, just before he could clash his lightsaber at the old man, he grabbed his ears after hearing a low-pitched ringing noise in his head. At least he thought it was in his head. He looked down at his body and saw that he had no solid body form and was slowly disentergrating, "WHAT THE FUCK.... NO!" He brought his sword up to attack Jiraiya and disapeared, "Damn it to he..."

Deshoonde soon found him inside the transporter room of the Pillar and that he was frozen for a few seconds. When he was able to move, he threw his sword at the transporter cheif going straight through his chest. Deshoonde marched off stage in a furry he hasn't felt since he was a Kirtir Lord. "My Lord! We had no choice! We had to pull you out of battle per or--- Graack!" Deshoonde lifted the man into the air with his bare hands, clenching his throat and glared his eyes.

"Never... Ever... Interupt me in the middle of a battle." The man began to release a choaking scream as he began to burn from the inside. The man's face grew red, and flames appeared. He began to cook like a burnt steak. His face turned black, bunt, and broken up. And when he released his last breath, Deshoonde threw him onto the floor where the man shattered into dust. The ex-dark lord began his steps toward the dark side once more...
Jiraiya had blocked the lightning bolts and prepared to have another go against Deshoonde, but stopped as the Kirtir vanished without a trace. He shook his head. "Hmph. Transporters. Never liked them."

Poofing a toad into existence, he aided in the mopup of the last remaining holdouts.

Of course, Admiral Makaryk now saw the Demolishers as the greatest threat, yet in light of their damage, easiest to destroy, and gave orders accordingly. He also noticed the incoming torpedoes. "Deploy starfighters to augment point defense. I want the unscathed Immortals to fire two PPC shots each into each of those four superlaser ships upon next charge. The two Sovereigns shall target two seperate battleships with their axial lasers, and concentrate conventional firepower on one battleship at a time. The remainder of the fleet is to do likewise."

Their trajectories, their velocity, everything relevant had already been calculated while in transit. Fighting from extremely long range had its advantages. Though the inbound torpedoes were faster than TIE interceptors, sheer distance gave the point-defense destroyers plenty of time to adjust for this.

Each destroyer shot down the torpedoes at a rate of approximately sixteen per second (they did have more than one point-defense emplacement each after all)...between all twenty, that meant three hundred twenty per second. Quad laser cannons, after all, were quick to recycle...and all sixteen hundred of the torpedoes were gone before they so much as threatened the bridges of the Immortals. It was simply one more example of utterly horrifying Woodian military efficiency.

Meanwhile, the two Sovereigns, their superlasers finally in a position to fire, did so, targeting two separate Huntaerian battleships with their axial superlasers. In addition, the eight Immortals with relatively full shielding concentrated their attention on the Huntaerian Demolisher ships, firing their ortillery PPC shots of death in pairs, such that each Demolisher had two Immortals pegging it for destruction.

Meanwhile, for this entire time, the two Sovereigns, as well as the remainder of the visible Woodian fleet (the two Mon Cal cruisers and those two "miscellaneous frigates") traded more conventional firepower with the Huntaerians, targeting one ship at a time for quick and efficient removal of enemy fleet. The shields of the two Solohma vessels were the first to collapse; they were destroyed shortly thereafter before they could microjump. The shields of the Mon Cal cruisers, also Solohma started to dip quickly enough that their captains started ordering the disabling of hyperdrive safeties to get through the gravitic FTLi and ram something, as they lacked Fuchida drive.

Likewise, the shields of the Knossos destroyers started to dip, but they would hold for at least a few more minutes before they started to fail completely...it was why Admiral Makaryk had ordered the deployment of the fleet's couple thousand or so starfighters, to act as a backup point defense. But the original PD line was holding, for now. The Immortals shields also held steady for now, be it at 30ish percent or around 80-90 percent...it depended on whether or not it had taken a Demolisher superlaser hit...

The four ships that were so hit took a bit longer to recharge their weapons capacitators as they were more worried about shielding for the moment. Nevertheless, such capacitators did charge, in about ninety seconds instead of fifty, and when they did, their captains fired four more PPC ortillery upon unsuspecting Huntaerian battleships, two each for two targets...

...Meanwhile, the Empire fleet was about to receive additional presents.



The demolisher's took the damage from the PPC's, and their mini axiel cannons were destroyed. Due to the odd nature of the PPC's, the cannons were not only damaged but were nocked out of service even if they did survive the attacks. As though they were hit by ion cannons. Frishkill knew from the gathered evidence that if things kept up this way, they could easily be boarded if not destroyed. Why the hell didn't the empire make auto-destruct mandatory for every ship made in it's fleet? In the situation at hand, it was probably best if they went on a suicide mission and self destructed their own ships. The power from that alone would probably produce enough energy which whould destroy a good part of the enemy fleet, if not sevearly weakening their shielding. Especially coming from the Tenebrous Class. However, that gave her an idea.

"All right, new plan. We're obviously going to die from firepower so we need to come up with a new plan. I want us to go at the enemy full impulse speed, diverting all power from weapon systems and life support system. We're not going to make it anyways so don't give me any funny looks. We make a rush for the enemy, buying the Tenebrous TSD's enough time to make a micro-jump into the Necrominus and then target the coordinates to get as close to the enemy fleet as possible. I want them to divert all of their emergency power, offensive power, and life support to their impulse engines and fire a shot in the engine's room."

The bridge's crew still gave her odd looks. They didn't understand her thinking in the suicide mission, even though they knew as well as she did that they were doomed as well. "Uh admiral? What good will that do? We'll just send up a very expensive fireworks show."

"You obviously don't know of the power required to fuel not only these battleships, but of the Tenebrous TSD's as well. Due to their larger size, they need larger core's to produce. Meaning a bigger reaction chamber for their impulse engines and their necrosis drives. What happens when you fire a laser shot in the reaction chamber?"

"We have a very expensive firework show. I still don't... OH!"

"Now you understand right? That's why I gave the orders for them to jump in front of the ships and go with all of that power diversions. Igniting the engines in an improper way beyond maximum capacity is a... Very bad idea. If this works properly, we should beable to create a large enough explosion to do extensive damage to the enemy fleets, breaking up the remaining Tenebrous TSD's up into seperate groups of course each going after the surrounding fleets. They'll do enough damage to remember to not push us in a desperate situation."

"Aye ma'am! For the empire!"

At that moment the Axial cannons hit the demolisher's, destroying the two they were targeting. However, there was enough time for them to do the innitial plan. As the two remaining Demolishers moved on forward at full speed, the Tenebrous classes engaged their engines.


It did not take Captain Ishiyama long to find another target to dump another hundred transphasic torpedoes upon. As he had pulled up from his attack on the last victim, a TSD filled the bridge window. The captain gleefully ordered another round of transphasics to be fired into the thing...and so the crew complied, followed by more evasive maneuvers to avoid tracking upon discharge of said torpedoes.

However, this situation was about to get far worse for the Empire...because by now, the other six cloaked Romulan-built ships were upon the Empire's fleet. And their captains had similar thoughts, different ships. Each one approached its unsuspecting prey before dumping a hundred or so transphasic presents on it.

And as quickly as the Warbirds came to swoop down on their prey, they left for other targets.

When the enemy fired their transphasics, they did do damage to the Tenebrous TSD they were targeting, but it didn't do as much damage as it would if it had targeted another Armageddon Cruiser due to the fact that the hull of the Tenebrous TSD's are just plain stronger and tougher all in one. A hundred transphasics will destroy a small 500 meter ship in one sitting, but not a 2500 meter ship which has even more point defenses than the Armageddon Cruiser does. Using the Laser gattling cannons, the Tenebrous ship shot down a good amount of the transphasics before they hit the ship given the range which they were shot from. It was enough time for the Gattling Cannons to lock onto their targets and fire before they hit the ship. However, eventhough nearly 40 of the transphasics fired were destroyed there were still another 500 on the way. While the distance traveled would give the cannons enough time to lock on again, they would be overwhelmed by numbers ending up sevearly crippling the TSD but not destroying it. The Empire really needs to research a better way to provide point defense protection.


Another thing Frishkill forgot to calculate into her battle plans. She already forgot about the Scimitars which were in the system, completely overlooking the fact that they were nigh undetectable and their shielding was up even when in cloak. The Empire suddenly found these things to be convincingly annoying at hand. Due to the plans of the attacks, the Tenebrous TSD's were forced to ignore the attacks from the Scimitars, and the Armada Battleships then began to fire their turbolasers and tricobalt torpedos at the Scimitars whenever they appeared from the direction they fired in, even if it meant risking a hit to other empire ships. Even random shots in space were innitiated in their fireing patterns for they had no real idea where their enemy ships were. Buying just enough time for the Tenebrous TSD's which weren't damaged from the Scimitar's attacks to jump into the Necrominus before the enemy could target them again... Hoping to end up right ontop of the opposing fleet.

The seven Warbirds, under full cloak, wrenchingly evaded the enemy counterfire that wasn't accurately targeted anyway. Well it would have been accurately targeted had the Warbirds not immediately changed vector upon firing. Woodian captians were smart enough not to allow such trajectory-based calculations to suceed.

The ships then turned around to fire another round of transphasics into the vessels previously targeted...because mere damage simply was not enough. The Warbirds were here for one reason, and one reason only: killing Huntaerian fleet, and if they damaged the TSDs that badly with one round, surely a second round would finish them off. However, their commanders made a note that the smaller battleships were easier targets for next time...

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

Admiral Makaryk noted that the enemy had suddenly slackened in its fire, diverting power to propulsion instead, it seemed. But the enemy fleet had a looooooooong distance to traverse, at least twenty minutes' worth at sublight...it had taken even the transphasics three or four minutes to get within range of point defense. Which meant that the shields on the four Immortals hit by the superlasers, as well as those on the Knossos destroyers, could recharge.

Meanwhile, it was time to give some more orders. "Fire the axial superlasers at the two remaining superlaser battleships at half charge, we need to fire them as often as possible. Immortals, continue to fire overcharged PPCs at enemy fleet."

So it was done...the two axial superlasers, upon reaching a quick half charge, fired at the two Demolishers charging the Woodians, one each. Meanwhile, another round of PPC ortillery, from all twelve of the Immortal Star Destroyers, fired at six ships from the Huntaerian fleet...then said fleet jumped.

As the Huntaerian fleet suddenly re-emerged at less than one-tenth the distance, Admiral Makaryk recognized the tactic immediately. The same tactic he would have used had he become desperate. Mass suicide...which the Woodians had perfected to an art. But it was not necessary yet.

Ironically, upon entering Konoha system, Admiral Makaryk had ordered the calculation of Fuchida jump-drive coordinates, and said coordinates were already hardwired into the vessels that mattered. The Sovereigns were retrofitted with Fuchida drive. The Immortals and the Knossos destroyers both came equipped with them.

"All craft, Fuchida jump!"

As quickly as the Huntaerian fleet had emerged right on top of the Woodian fleet for a mass-suicide bombing, the Woodian fleet, with the exception of the couple of Solohma craft left not equipped with the necessary jump drive, vanished right before the sensors of the Empire. A couple of seconds later, the ships re-emerged in geosynchronous Konoha orbit...and they turned to face their enemy once again, the two Sovereign SSDs more laborously than the others.

"Super Star Destroyers, concentrate conventional firepower on one Huntaerian battleship at a time until the axial superlaser is aligned," Admiral Makaryk ordered. "Immortal captains, continue the PPC firing that you have been doing." After a lag of a couple of seconds for the targeting computers to adjust to the sudden change in location, such was done. The Sovereigns filled the space between the fleets with green, orange, and blue, followed very quickly by twelve bright blue flashes of doom.

Worse for the Empire, the reprieve in being fired upon had allowed the fleet's shields to regenerate to full capacity...and the Empire was out of superweapons to wear the shields down. If the Empire stayed, it would be a slogfest in which they were already losing enough ships, quickly enough, that the outcome was self-evident.

Meanwhile, where the Huntaerian fleet went, the Warbirds followed, as stalkers hunt prey. The seven Warbirds burned their engines at full power, keeping an erratic course to throw off targeting computers that might calculate drive emissions, to catch up with and harrass the Empire's fleet once again...

OOC: Huntaer, here's the deal. I got in a last shot before you jumped. When you jumped, I jumped as if I was going to ram you, assuming your fleet had stayed put which it didn't. I already had the preprogrammed data necessary for that. Our fleets (with the exception of a couple of my more expendable ships, by which I mean around TWO, that lack Fuchida drive) basically switched position. Moreover, your fleetwide diversion of power from weapons to propulsion handed my shields a BIG oppurtunity to recharge...even the four ships hit by the Demolisher superlasers would be back up to about 75% of shield now.

CoreWorlds' fleet of reinforcements (the one commanded by Admiral Horvath) still outflanks you. However you'd be well outside of the Konoha gravity well now. Moreover, you're acting as if the Coredian fleets don't even exist; you are ONLY roleplaying damage from my attacks. This needs to change. I may be the primary threat with the biggest weapons, but I am certainly not the only threat with the only weapons.

CoreWorlds, don't forget about those twelve Artillery Star Destroyers and those two Immortal Star Destroyers that you brought in.

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

Aelikes found himself against an opponent who chose a combination of lightsaber forms he was very familiar with. There wasn't much he didn't know, considering how he knew all six. "An interesting combination Whitfield. Ataru and Soresu if I'm not mistaken. You've mastered them very well for a mortal." Aelikes then quickly used the force to search through his memory as he blocked yet another blade from whitfield and came across two of his own preference. He formed a combination of Juyo (the Ferocity Form) and Makashi (Contention Form). In the history of the Malkir and Kirtir, this form was commonly called "Deficht," a combination of intense furry and modifies the attacks and damage. the user produces to create even more damage ontop of Juyo.

Darth Aelikes had one slight problem. He could only cause more damage if he actually managed a hit in the first place.

Master Whitfield was making such exceedingly difficult. He wasn't a Jedi Master for nothing...

Whitfield continued his blend of Ataru and Soresu, making himself practically impossible to hit by virtue of Yoda-like maneuverability and the practically unbreakable defense that a true Master of Soresu could muster. But he added another twist when he deactivated his secondary lightsaber, only using his primary (the one with the extendable blade.)

That is not to say that Whitfield was removing his secondary lightsaber from the combat, however. It flickered on and off, at seemingly random intervals, but in reality at really oppurtune times, presenting Aelikes with one more thing to worry about.

In addition to Whitfield's Soresu/Ataru combo, Darth Aelikes now had a practitioner of Trákata on his hands...an exceedingly rare sight indeed, and arguably Whitfield's primary reason for building a secondary lightsaber.

"They're ignoring us! I'm hurt!" Admiral Horvath said, faking pain. "Well, let's show them why it's not right to ignore people who are killing you! Shields, status report!"

"Sir! The enemy has diverted their weapons power away, giving us the reprieve we need to restore the shields to full! They'll be at 100% within moments! Chimera and Tyrannosaur fleets report the same!"

"Very good! Divert power to weapons and--what the hell?" The jovial man suddenly noticed that many of the Huntaerians have mysteriously microjumped on top of the Woodians, who then microjumped out of harm's way. The admiral shook his head. "Huh. Teleporting drives..."

"Anyway, order the fleet to come about against the enemy! All Artilleries are to fire at will, and have the Immortals take a leaf out of the Woodians' book and supercharge their PPCs! Line up the Duel of the Fate's superlaser as well, but in the meantime, flood the enemy with conventionals!"

The Duel of the Fates fleet shifted direction and velocity, keeping their noses pointed at the Huntaerian fleet. The twelve Artillery Star Destroyers' three prongs met up with the bow's main laser in a fashion not different from the Death Star and let loose with devastating anti-ship superlaser blasts. They were then followed up by the Immortal Star Destroyers copying their Woodian bretheren and supercharging one PPC at a time, sending dark blue glowing globs of doom at the enemy for the price of slagging the weapons emplacements. There are more to go around anyway!

Fourteen super-powerful shots for fourteen ships. And number fifteen would come when the Duel of the Fates found a targeting solution after a half-turn and fired off-axis at an enemy Demolisher.

And all the while, all manner of turbolasers, ion bolts, railslugs, missiles and torpedoes sundered the enemy with thousands upon thousands of energy and projectiles of doom, forming unending sheets and streams of destruction that would soon consume the enemy in blossoming death...

=====

In the midst of all the battle, standing aboard the bridge of the Duel of the Fates, a Jedi Master sensed something odd the moment the Huntaerians 'teleported' on top of the Woodians. Upon further review with the help of a sensor station, it appeared to Master Mikos Katarn that he could track where the enemy fleet was going to pop up again with the help of Force navigation skills.

He smiled as he hooked up to the Admiral. "Admiral. You might be interested in this..."

The Jedi Master formed a plan that had the Admiral nodding. It involved the Jedi tracking the enemy fleet and the Admiral giving the information to the Woodian fleet so that when the Huntaerians jump, the combined fleet will be in a position to strike right on the location of their exit zone...

=====

Darth Aelikes had another problem as he fought Whitfield. The Dark Lord soon would sense the coming of a horde of high-level Shinobi and Jedi, among them being the Council Members and the Jounin, all prepared to block his escape and wear him down enough to get rid him. Trapped on Konoha, with no appreciable escape, what's a Dark Lord to do?

Darth Aelikes had one slight problem. He could only cause more damage if he actually managed a hit in the first place.

Master Whitfield was making such exceedingly difficult. He wasn't a Jedi Master for nothing...

Whitfield continued his blend of Ataru and Soresu, making himself practically impossible to hit by virtue of Yoda-like maneuverability and the practically unbreakable defense that a true Master of Soresu could muster. But he added another twist when he deactivated his secondary lightsaber, only using his primary (the one with the extendable blade.)

That is not to say that Whitfield was removing his secondary lightsaber from the combat, however. It flickered on and off, at seemingly random intervals, but in reality at really oppurtune times, presenting Aelikes with one more thing to worry about.

In addition to Whitfield's Soresu/Ataru combo, Darth Aelikes now had a practitioner of Trákata on his hands...an exceedingly rare sight indeed, and arguably Whitfield's primary reason for building a secondary lightsaber.

While using two blades, Aelikes found that the secondary blade realy wasn't that difficult to block or to break off of his focus at keeping up with Whitfield's pace. The Dark Lord may not actually be striking Whitfield, it was enough to keep him on the defensive. And he'll be in that position for a very long time it would seem. However, Whitfield's sudden use of Trákata surprised Aelikes in a way which he had forgotten the fact it even existed. So few people knew how to use it, and even fewer when the Jedi used them for it was typically considered to be a darker form of art. To Whitfield's dismay, the Dark Lord refused to give his ground. By using a particularly efficient form of Niman, Aelikes's primary style (due to the fact he wields dual blades in the first place), he kept his balance using one of his other blades to deflect/parry the attacks as Whitfield preformed this excedingly rare form. While angry at himself for overlooking such an lightsaber form, he also secretly admired Whitfield's near perfect adaptation of this form. However, he wasn't about to show it, "Master Whitfield, you disapoint me. You preform this move with such sloppiness... Daniel would be very disapointed in you. And speaking of disapointments... Does the good Masaki know, or even remember, the incident of when you met my Master?"

Dun Möch... A tactic used by practically all of the famous dark side wielders. It has saved the skin of numerous Sith Lords in the past, and it has managed to keep the current Kirtir Lords alive as well. Through taunts, jeers, and jests, Dun Möch aimed at exposing the opponent's hidden, inner weaknesses and doubts effectively degrading their opponent's will. This incident could prove to be fatal to Whitfield's reputation, if it should ever "accidently" get out to the public...

While using two blades, Aelikes found that the secondary blade realy wasn't that difficult to block or to break off of his focus at keeping up with Whitfield's pace. The Dark Lord may not actually be striking Whitfield, it was enough to keep him on the defensive. And he'll be in that position for a very long time it would seem. However, Whitfield's sudden use of Trákata surprised Aelikes in a way which he had forgotten the fact it even existed. So few people knew how to use it, and even fewer when the Jedi used them for it was typically considered to be a darker form of art. To Whitfield's dismay, the Dark Lord refused to give his ground. By using a particularly efficient form of Niman, Aelikes's primary style (due to the fact he wields dual blades in the first place), he kept his balance using one of his other blades to deflect/parry the attacks as Whitfield preformed this excedingly rare form. While angry at himself for overlooking such an lightsaber form, he also secretly admired Whitfield's near perfect adaptation of this form. However, he wasn't about to show it, "Master Whitfield, you disapoint me. You preform this move with such sloppiness... Daniel would be very disapointed in you. And speaking of disapointments... Does the good Masaki know, or even remember, the incident of when you met my Master?"

Dun Möch... A tactic used by practically all of the famous dark side wielders. It has saved the skin of numerous Sith Lords in the past, and it has managed to keep the current Kirtir Lords alive as well. Through taunts, jeers, and jests, Dun Möch aimed at exposing the opponent's hidden, inner weaknesses and doubts effectively degrading their opponent's will. This incident could prove to be fatal to Whitfield's reputation, if it should ever "accidently" get out to the public...

Whitfield's will was not so easily degraded. As a politician, he had had years, no decades of experience with these kinds of things. He also had plenty of experience in psychological warfare that made Aelikes' comments seem like a request for candy by comparison, not the least of which occurred during the recent civil war. What's a Sith Lord to do when Dun Möch...fails?

The Master took Aelikes' needling of his Trákata skills as more a challenge than anything else. While continuing blurringly fast attacks that had him leaping all around Aelikes, the precision and timing of his secondary attacks actually managed to improve, flashes of purple seeming to actually weave around the path of his primary blade, though such was more an illusion of Whitfield's quick timing. Aelikes was fortunate to have two seperate lightsabers, one of which he could commit to handle Whitfield's unusual style of attacks. Otherwise, defending against Whitfield would have proven even more difficult than it already was.

He responded to Aelikes' other taunt telepathically, with an answer the Kirtir Lord definitely wouldn't be expecting.

I made it public record about thirty years ago.

The incident, which had occurred before Whitfield had had more than a weeks' worth of Jedi training, had already been dealt with; even if it was leaked, the leak would do little or no damage to the Master's reputation. Unfortunately for Aelikes' intimidation attempt, Whitfield barely cared. Hell, he had disclosed it himself, not only to the Jedi Order thirty years ago when it happened, but also to the Woodian media a couple of weeks later. He knew that the general reaction to this information being leaked would be "Meh. Old news." Woodian historiography even suggested that the incident was part of the reason why he sought training as a Jedi after abruptly announcing his retirement.

Nor would he be intimidated. Where Aelikes thought he would find weakness he instead found a tremendous resivoir of mental strength...

He responded to Aelikes' other taunt telepathically, with an answer the Kirtir Lord definitely wouldn't be expecting.

I made it public record about thirty years ago.

The incident, which had occurred before Whitfield had had more than a weeks' worth of Jedi training, had already been dealt with; even if it was leaked, the leak would do little or no damage to the Master's reputation. Unfortunately for Aelikes' intimidation attempt, Whitfield barely cared. Hell, he had disclosed it himself, not only to the Jedi Order thirty years ago when it happened, but also to the Woodian media a couple of weeks later. He knew that the general reaction to this information being leaked would be "Meh. Old news." Woodian historiography even suggested that the incident was part of the reason why he sought training as a Jedi after abruptly announcing his retirement.

Nor would he be intimidated. Where Aelikes thought he would find weakness he instead found a tremendous resivoir of mental strength...

::Really? You made it public thirty years ago? How simply brave of you to let your people know," Aelikes replied in a vile mocking voice, "Tell me, friend, are you ready to give Daniel perhapse the worst news of his life? You see, he had a rather unique tragedy in the family fairly recently. And he counted on you to help protect him so. Honestly, leaving him to fight against his sister alone... It has left him unconcious. Instead of facing the real problem at hand, you went for the destraction: Me. My role in this conflict is fairly simple. My job was to divert you from our primary objective. We had no intrest in the destruction of the planet, that was the secondary mission. Noooo.... The primary mission was much more sinister than that. More devestating to Daniel if it had ever happened to him. You probably haven't noticed a rather... Haha... Small void in the Masaki family? It probably hasn't hit you yet... So much for the security you provided for the Masaki family..."

Aelikes then began to use yet another rarely seen lightsaber form, Shien. He held one of his lightsabers horizontally, while using the other to continue to effortlessly block Whitfield's attacks, and with the other he extended the tip of the blade out away from the body. He would then strike by sweeping the arm forward, like throwing a punch at the enemy, while whipping the blade forward quickly in a broad arc. Now seeing how Whitfield's maneuver could be a new threat, Aelikes quickly ended his Shien attacks and then lifted his lightsabers into the air, allowing them to hove in the air above him. As quickly as he let them go, the black blades began to rappidly whirl in a horizontal circle around Aelikes thus creating a defensive, but deadly, wall of lightsaber blades, defending the Kirtir Lord primarily against melee attacks. While using the force to control the lightsabers, this enabled Aelikes to quickly think about his next damaging move. And he had his next move chosen...

...And as he began to lower the hovering lightsabers, he heard an odd whiring sound in his head. It grew louder and louder by the moment, however, unlike the other two who were beamed up to the Pillar Aelikes stayed focus and thought he was imagining things. That was when he quickly glanced down at his feet (as he blocked another strike from Whitfield) and saw that bits and peices of himself were starting to disapear rappidly. God damn it! Not the transporters!! "NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! DO NOT PULL ME OUT OF BATTLE YOU COWARDLY BASTARDS!!! WHITFIELD! THIS ISN't OVER YET-YET-YET-YET!!!" And Aelikes's voice echoed throughout the room, and disapeared in thin air.

OOC: Huntaer, I am not posting a response until you post fleet; you've been putting that little section off for nearly two weeks now...

"They're ignoring us! I'm hurt!" Admiral Horvath said, faking pain. "Well, let's show them why it's not right to ignore people who are killing you! Shields, status report!"

"Sir! The enemy has diverted their weapons power away, giving us the reprieve we need to restore the shields to full! They'll be at 100% within moments! Chimera and Tyrannosaur fleets report the same!"

"Very good! Divert power to weapons and--what the hell?" The jovial man suddenly noticed that many of the Huntaerians have mysteriously microjumped on top of the Woodians, who then microjumped out of harm's way. The admiral shook his head. "Huh. Teleporting drives..."

"Anyway, order the fleet to come about against the enemy! All Artilleries are to fire at will, and have the Immortals take a leaf out of the Woodians' book and supercharge their PPCs! Line up the Duel of the Fate's superlaser as well, but in the meantime, flood the enemy with conventionals!"

The Duel of the Fates fleet shifted direction and velocity, keeping their noses pointed at the Huntaerian fleet. The twelve Artillery Star Destroyers' three prongs met up with the bow's main laser in a fashion not different from the Death Star and let loose with devastating anti-ship superlaser blasts. They were then followed up by the Immortal Star Destroyers copying their Woodian bretheren and supercharging one PPC at a time, sending dark blue glowing globs of doom at the enemy for the price of slagging the weapons emplacements. There are more to go around anyway!

Fourteen super-powerful shots for fourteen ships. And number fifteen would come when the Duel of the Fates found a targeting solution after a half-turn and fired off-axis at an enemy Demolisher.

And all the while, all manner of turbolasers, ion bolts, railslugs, missiles and torpedoes sundered the enemy with thousands upon thousands of energy and projectiles of doom, forming unending sheets and streams of destruction that would soon consume the enemy in blossoming death...

The Coredian assault took the huntarians by surprise, while they were facing them on all three sides, their previous attacks were for some odd reason ignored by the fleet. This attack on the Empire's fleet didn't improve their position. While the Duel of the Fates attacked the fleet in general, it gave Phantom Squadron and the fleet squadron to divert their main efforts towards the DotF. Half of the remaining fighters which arrived from the reinforcements continued onwards to attack the flanking Coredian Fleet, while the other 68,500 Tie's diverted their attacks on the DotF. With that number of fighters busy on it's tail, it's got to divert some form of attention from the incredibly insane battlestar.

Meanwhile, the Armageddon Cruisers continued their assault upon the Coredian SL Platforms, hoping to utterly destroy them if not providing enough room to make a sudden jump into the Necrominus. They launched a good few rounds of Tricobalts and Quantum Torpedos, as they maneuvered inbetween the SL platforms. Even if no room is provided, they are maneuverable enough to plot a course through. Plant a diversion attack to allow the Pillar to escape.

The fleet which made the small microjump, was heavily assaulted as per Coredian orders. The PPC's which were targeted towards the already wounded demolisher's continued to damage them even more. The rest of the fleet which had jumped was hit by the artilery and torpedo fire. Making their life span drastically decrease.

OOC: This is the final post of "major combat operations" in the Konoha space battle, agreed upon by all participants OOCly and using data provided OOC, especially losses, with the necessary permissions to apply it IC. This is to work around some participants' problems with posting avaliability/writers' block and is done with the permission of said participants.

Huntaer and CoreWorlds, if you wish this post to be amended, feel free to contact me. If I'm away from IM, send a TG.

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

Another round of overcharged blue bolts sundered the Huntaerian fleet, stuck between the Woodians and Coredians. Fire seemed to come from all sides. From the two Woodian Sovereigns came a furious hail of orange, green, and blue concentrated on a single ship at a time, and the ship targeted seemed to change often. Too often. Like, every fifteen seconds or so, as the Huntaerians' shields were finally starting to fail...

The assorted Warbirds, their prey having jumped out of effective range of their transphasic torpedoes just now, instead occupied themselves taking potshots at whatever Huntaerian ships they could find nearby, which happened to consist almost entirely of fighters. In this endeavor, they had help from the Knossos destroyers...at least when their quad laser cannons weren't preoccupied with shooting down stray transphasics from the Huntaerian fleet.

Or at least...what Woodians considered to be effective range of torpedoes...perhaps they underestimated said range. The fact that the Huntaerians were still employing them, combined with the appearance of a weaker point defense...

Four of the seven Warbird captains ordered the last of their transphasics to thusly be fired at the Huntaerian ships. A little over half were shot down, but a decent number still got through, and impacted on some hulls, as if the Huntaerians didn't have enough problems...

...Admiral Horvath made sure those problems were compounded as much as possible as he ordered the Duel of the Fates, not to mention the rest of the Eighth fleet, to continue firing heavy weaponry at the trapped Huntaerians...

The Huntaerians weren't out of it yet, though they were close. The First and Second Coredian Fleets had borne the brunt of this battle, and had some damage to deal with of their own. Therefore, Grand Admiral Ezekiel, wishing to maximize what he could, ordered firepower concentrated on those two fleets...

The Chimaera itself shook from the concentrated brunt of the Huntaerian fleet's last gasps...Admiral Pellaeon ordered concentrated counterstrikes with the Chimaera's beamlasers and what other heavy weaponry the remnants of the two fleets could bring to bear. The Tyrannosaur commanding the Second Fleet found itself in a similar situation...and it was already taking damage...

Meanwhile, Admiral Makaryk of the Woodians was getting ideas...observing the decline of the Huntaerian fleet, he decided he wanted isorla...the spoils of war... "All craft, direct all weapons power except point defense to ion cannon, concentrate one ship at a time...I even want every ounce of life support disabled!"

A chorus of "Aff" replied from the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer. The Woodian fleet stopped firing any capital-scale weaponry at all, for a couple of seconds that had every Coredian scratching their heads.

Then a concentrated, unified, terrifying burst of orange lashed out at one of the Huntaerian capital ships, its shields already worn down. A couple of seconds later, a second burst completely disabled it...every single light on the ship flickered off, the engines went out, life support failed, every last circuit fried and overloaded, its computers effectively wiped, and the Woodians moved on to a different ship...

Again.

And again.

Again.

Such that Admiral Horvath got the idea and started following the tactic...and now there was all ion, all the time, ensuing from two sides.

Admiral Ezekiel of the Empire could only see multiple ships being taken down or disabled every minute. "Retreat! Recall the fighters!" He had to save what he could, and more importantly, he had to get Aelikes and Deshoonde out of here...that meant the Pillar...

...now that Aelikes was finally on the ship. Finally. And he wasn't too happy at being transported away from the duel with Master Whitfield...

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" the transporter technician (who, ironically enough, had replaced the tech that Deshoonde had killed in his anger) cried out, as Aelikes crushed every last one of his bones, one by one, starting with the legs and working his way up to make the death process as long and excruciating for his victim as possible.

"I do not suffer myself to be removed from duels at the choosing of some lowlife who isn't worth the food he eats," Darth Aelikes hissed, while crushing the techie's sternum.

The victim cried out again, this time right before Darth Aelikes got around to crushing the bones that comprised the victim's skull. Of course, without a skeleton, the rest of the man's body just slumped to the floor and made a big mess...

"I hate this job," a janitor mumbled as he came to clean up the mess. Darth Aelikes simply walked away, thinking nothing of killing the technician who dared to intervene in his duel with the mortal.

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

The Empire's fighters received the Grand Admiral's orders and made for the docking bays as quickly as possible, while Coredian fighters shot as many down, as quickly as possible. Of course, this was complicated by the fact that the capital ships surviving thus far were, one by one, being disabled. Nevertheless, about three thousand made it to ships that would actually make it out of system...

Meanwhile, those few ships that weren't disabled finished their calculations. As the last few fighters docked, the surviving Huntaerian ships vanished, and they did not return in some other chunk of the Konoha system...they had gone into the Necrominus, presumably to some Empire world to lick their wounds.

Three thousand fighters, two Tenebrous TSD's, 2 Armada Battlecruisers, and 5 Armageddon Cruisers escaped. About five to six each of Tenebrous TSDs, Armada battlecruisers, and Armageddon cruisers stayed in Konoha system...completely disabled by the ion cannon and unable to do a thing, lights completely dark and engines cold. No comm. No sensor. No life support. Admiral Makaryk ordered the Woodians to hold off on boarding until no life could be detected on those ships...until the air had run out, and any crew that could resist the boarding had died...and to fire occasional ion cannon salvos to undo any progress the crews might have in patching together some sort of electrical system. He hoped the Coredians would follow.

Ironically enough, the Chimaera's shields, having borne the brunt of the Empire's last gasps of capital weaponry, picked just that moment to collapse. There simply wasn't enough capital fleet on the enemy's side to quite finish it off. Admiral Pellaeon had survived a squeaker today...

The remaining fighters, of which there were many, without FTL propulsion were stuck in Konoha system, with hostile fleet wanting them dead. Woodian Knossos destroyers and Coredian antistarfighter frigates tore into their formations, saturating them with quad laser fire and the like. Most of the fighters tried to escape at sublight, but were shot down before they could get completely out of range of Woodian/Coredian weapons (or allied starfighters sent to pursue). But even after all visible fighter contacts faded, the Huntaerian capital-scale threat gone...there were still scattered attacks as apparently cloaked ships tried in vain to breach shields or armor...

"Activate ECCM on all Immortal Star Destroyers and send feed to all allied ships," Admiral Makaryk ordered. Now that the capital-scale battle was over and the only threat a couple thousand remaining cloaked snub fighters, the Woodian fleet could afford to dump the required third or so of reactor power into its sensor suite to run the more advanced countercloak sensors...

A couple of thousand positions lit up on the fleet's sensors, but there wasn't enough for a hard, automated lock. But that's what manual gunnery skills were for. Now that crews knew where to fire at, they simply needed to aim and squeeze the button themselves, instead of letting the computer do it for them. It took longer, but eventually all of the stranded cloaked fighters were shot down...though they did manage to take down a stray frigate here and there.

When at last the last enemy contact vanished, the guns fell silent over Konoha. Admiral Makaryk looked out of his Super Star Destroyer's viewport over the vast fields of space debris this battle had wrought. Much of it the Empire's. Much of it Coredian. The Woodians...somehow had made relatively sparse contributions to the pile: two Mon Calamari cruisers and a couple of Solohma ("expendable") frigates.

Not to mention Admiral Riordan's ship, the Battlestar.

Admiral Makaryk bowed his head in memory of the latter as he brought up the battlerom recording of Admiral Riordan's ship ramming the Obliterator once more. No one on the bridge said a word as all watched the vast explosion tear a gash in that ship--the ship that, had it been allowed to survive, very well might had taken out the Chimaera.

The bridge crew watched the recording of the Obliterator breaking apart as the hull stress from the ram, and the ancillary explosions exaggerating such stresses, tore the ship in half.

Admiral Riordan had effectively removed it, almost as soon as the battle had begun...and the First and Second fleets weren't looking too strong on sensor contacts. First Fleet of about forty percent of strength...Second Fleet worse off at twenty percent. Both had been heavily damaged at Jurai as well...but now the fleets seemed barely intact. It looked like they were in for some substantial refit. The Eighth Fleet, which had arrived at about the same time as the Woodians, was in substantially better shape, having only incurred minor losses that accounted for barely over five percent of fleet strength.

The impromptu moment of silence on the bridge of Admiral Makaryk's Super Star Destroyer extended for much longer than a minute...more like ten.

It was Admiral Makaryk who finally spoke up. "Get me Admiral Pellaeon on comm." His subordinates said not a word. Instead, the bridge of the Chimaera simply appeared onscreen.

"Admiral Pellaeon, it was Admiral Riordan's ship, the EWS Battlestar that rammed the Obliterator. All Woodians who could account for it were on that ship and have offered up their lives to defeat the enemy. Therefore, the only eyewitnesses to the event are Coredian."

A long pause. "Admiral Pellaeon, the honor of writing the last battle report evaluation in Admiral Riordan's codex is...yours. I formally request that you accept it."

A few murmurs of "Seyla" could be heard from the bridge crew in the transmission as Admiral Makaryk finished his request.

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

On the ground...

Whitfield sheathed his lightsaber as Darth Aelikes vanished. At least he had given an explanation. The challenge to a duel at a later date, however...

We shall see, Darth Aelikes. We shall see.

Shortly thereafter, his presence in the Force vanished from the system, as he had escaped into the Necrominus...

...Whitfield's attention then turned to those small ripples in the Force emanating from Konoha orbit. He probed a bit deeper with his mind. While he hadn't received any battle reports yet, he received a distinct feeling that those Woodians in orbit no longer felt the horrendous shame that had plagued Evil Woody Thoughts since its inability to help at Jurai...

...They would know firsthand. Whitfield allowed a wan smile to cross his face as he went to find his adjutant and possibly some Masakis.

It is done, then... The old Admiral of the bruised and battered Chimera sighed. The Enemy had fled, leaving their toys and what survivors the Coredians have captured for interrogation. Not that pilots and crewmembers would have divulged much, but it doesn't hurt to have well-treated bargaining chips when the negotiations come to the table.

"Admiral, we have a message from the Woodians. They want you to write the last battle report of Admiral Riordan."

"Reply: I would be honored." Admiral Pellaeon said, adjusting his short-beaked cap. "That man might well have saved Konoha with his sacrifice."

Now that the Battle of Konoha was a victory for the Allied side, the rebuilding of the planet could soon begin. And with that...the planning for the wider war, and the ultimate struggle for Jurai...

OOC: CW, MSN...you might get your little chance to meet Gaian Ascendancy IC:D

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

Admiral Makaryk nodded at Pellaeon's response. "Very well then. I will provide you with his codex in a few hours. I presume that there are certain logistical issues and tactical analysis that need to get done first."

He at least knew that was the case for the Woodian fleet. The Navy paper pushers might not be happy when it found out that it needed to replace a hundred or so heavy particle projector cannons that had slagged themselves firing on a superheated charge...until, that is, until they saw what that tactic had done. In the long run, better coolant tech would fix that...

The Admiral wondered about the possibility of reverse-engineering the disabled Huntaerian ships left as isorla alleviating that little problem.

For now, two concerns dominated his mind...bringing in fleet tenders with the necessary supplies from White Diamond, and briefing Prime Minister Whitfield on the situation in orbit...

OOC: Skipping ahead a few hours...

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The Prime Minister looked at Admiral Makaryk during their private briefing...chilled to the bone.

Shame. Humiliation. Dezgra.

Lifted.

Whitfield had just spent the last four hours or so watching a recording of the entire battle on a handheld holoprojector. Not one thing in this entire briefing he had said. Admiral Makaryk had only spoken a few sentences in that time, letting the recording speak for itself.

Finally, the head of state slid the holoprojector across the table. "Take this...and transmit it to the civilian news bureaus." The Prime Minister's voice trembled as he spoke...a very rare thing for him.

Admiral Makaryk's only reply was a bow of the head as he took the holoprojector.

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Approximately 9:30 in the evening local Konoha time

Rare was it for the almost-six-year-old John Masaki, adopted son of Taylor Masaki, to raid anything. But the adults all seemed so busy...and the same thing that seemed to be occupying all the adults made him curious.

So he did what any kid interested in the news would do. He 'borrowed' a mini holoprojector. But he wanted to get away from all of the commotion...

...No one seemed to notice that he was gone, as he took said holoprojector a kilometer or so into the Konoha forest, climbed a tree, and turned it on.

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Approximately 4:30 in the morning local Great Woody City [White Diamond] time

"We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special report. A joint Woodian and Coredian task force has repelled an attempted invasion of Konoha..."

This early, about the only people watching the news were businessmen, watching the futures for the upcoming business day. Whatever they were doing...showering, eating, putting on their suits for the upcoming day...they stopped.

"...We can confirm at this time that a Woodian Immortal Star Destroyer rammed an enemy Super Star Destroyer, destroying it approximately fifteen minutes into the duel. While information is sketchy at this time, the Woodian military has divulged a full holorecording of the battle, some four hours long, and we will bring you more information the moment it becomes analyzed..."

Those who were awake this early, if they were not glued to the Holonet, were busy making calls to everyone they knew telling them to wake up and look at the Holonet. Within twenty minutes, some six hundred million Woodians were watching...word of these things spread quite quickly.

After said twenty minutes...the footage clip of Admiral Riordan's Star Destroyer ramming the Obliterator aired. Six hundred million watched the recording of the Woodian Battlestar absorbing more than one hypercannon hit, then shutting down everything and charging the Super Star Destroyer. Six hundred million saw the recording of the Obliterator creaking apart where the Battlestar had hit.

"At this point, we can confirm that Admiral Riordan, the highest-ranking Admiral of the Woodian Navy was on that ship." The voice of the news anchor trembled, as the footage continued to roll...

Master Whitfield, a galaxy away from the broadcast on Konoha, sensed the moment of it...in the Force. Six hundred million people dropping everything to gape on a Force-amplifying planet does that.

John Masaki, watching the same broadcast from the forests of Konoha, didn't know what to feel...the only thing he knew was that he was that suddenly his countrymen didn't feel ashamed anymore.

Today was going to be a most interesting day indeed.

OOC: Because CW ain't posting (hint hint), I'll just go ahead and continue...

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Nearly two kilometers into the Konoha forest, forty minutes before markets open for the day in White Diamond

John Masaki stared at the holonet projector in his perch near the top of the forest canopy, far enough above ground for the dinosaurs to avoid him, yet far enough below the canopy for birds of prey to overlook him. For the last hour, he had watched the news anchor divulge more and more details of the battle.

Then, as quickly as the news had broken, the subject changed...

"This just in...the Bureau of the Census has just announced that it is ready to divulge its findings regarding the casualties in the civil war at three o' clock White Diamond Mean Time; we will of course, carry that press conference live..."

Immediately, the five-year-old mind's spun. The Force jolted slightly in his mind, almost with surprise. No one had expected anything regarding an accounting of the civil war for another two months yet.

The boy trembled at the thought of that announcement...

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

Meanwhile, John wasn't the only one watching the news. Master Whitfield, too, learned of the Census Bureau's readiness to announce findings by watching the civilian channels. And he, too, noted the jolt in the Force, no doubt caused by a few hundred million jaw droppings on a Force-amplifying planet.

He also noted that the time to call elections would be soon thereafter. While he had not wanted to make a speech, preparing to let the home government deal with recent events on its own (he didn't want to steal the stage, so to speak), he would need to address the issue of the census...and he thought about what to say.

But first things were first. He had to pry Taylor out of bed so he could spend some quality time with his adopted son.

Taylor, do you know where your kid is? The tone of the inquiry sounded like that of a grandparent scolding a parent...

OOC: Bump for CW

Taylor, Do you know where your kid is?

Taylor was currently in the middle of a dream about large cats when Master Whitfield had to enter it in the form of a lion and speak thus. "Yeah, I know where he is...in his bed..."

But when he reached out into the Force, he couldn't sense John and woke up. "Huh? Where's the kid?"

Sighing and grumbling about ruining his sleep, Taylor threw on his red cloak and stepped outside, where he jumped up onto a branch and moved swiftly through the forests.

About an hour later, he heard more than spotted the sound of a holovision projector detailing the latest news in the trees. "What's he doing there?"

Taylor landed on a branch near John and walked down to him, ensuring that the Force is sticking to his feet like on-off glue. "Hey, Kid. What are you doing out at five o'clock in the morning? Should be in bed..."

OOC: It'd be about 5:20 in the morning in the Woodian capital per my earlier post when Taylor is pried out of bed and around 6:20 Woodian time when he finds the kid...as far as local Konoha time, it'd be more like 11:20 at night when Taylor finds him. Seems like a technicality, but teh young one is getting *no* sleep tonight...:D

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

"Want some candy?" John extracted two pieces of candy that Nina had given him earlier that day, before the attack, and that he had just shoved in his pocket because he had been too depressed to eat it at the time.

Now, however, he held one out to Taylor and started nibbling on the other as the holoprojector offered a slight clue as to why John wasn't in bed.

"...Trading is now suspended per the automatic volatility suspension rule for two hours, as the market opened in just fifteen minutes with an astonishing 323-point jump...just over an eight percent gain...the twin announcements of victory at Konoha and the completion of the postwar census two months earlier than anticipated seem to be the prime market movers today...we are starting to hear a few concerns from the trading floor that trading volume, 1.2 trillion shares in fifteen minutes, is so heavy that if it occurs again after trading resumes, there may be a risk of crashes of the computers that handle market trading. That volume is typical of an entire trading day. We would remind our audience that we will be carrying the announcement from the Bureau of the Census at three in the afternoon White Diamond Mean Time..."

The man giving the news on the holoprojector appeared frazzled. It was quite apparent that he had never seen anything like this before. And for good reason: nothing like this had ever occurred before, at least not in the history of Woodian business. The camera changed to show the Woodian Stock Exchange "Big Board," perhaps the most concise summary of the craziness there was. In green, a row of numbers stood still in time, offering a snapshot of the second trading had halted:

OPEN 3983.6 CURRENT 4307.01 +323.41 (+8.12%) VOL 1.218.544.060.000

It was the second-to-last number, especially, that caught the attention of traders. Trading was supposed to halt immediately upon reaching a swing of eight percent in either direction, but the volume had been so heavy that the computer systems responsible for halting trading had apparently been overtaxed. No wonder the speculation of a computer crash...

John, with a smile on his face from what could best be described as a Force-induced high emanating from his home planet, told Taylor, "I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight. Three in the afternoon White Diamond Mean Time would be..." he thought for a second... "about, um, eight in the morning here? When does Nina get up?"

Meanwhile, back at the base, satisfied for now with Taylor's attentions, Master Whitfield grabbed some popcorn with caffienated beverage and indulged in some news himself, thinking about what to say later. Like John, he wasn't getting any sleep either tonight...that much was clear.

Though Jedi had a strange way of functioning without sleep.

Meanwhile, barracks area, sometime after midnight

Not one of the Woodian officers present slept that night. Only a few of the techs did.

And the thought crossed their minds that one of them would have to return to White Diamond, to deliver the news to Admiral Riordan's next of kin.

The matter of which one would have that honor fell to a series of Trials of Possession. Colonel Allaire recused himself to moderate them, silently thankful that there weren't Coredians around watching this.

Yet. The Colonel wanted to get it over with.

Major Chris Mrozik issued a challenge to Major Peter Sorensen, and Lt. Col. Kevin Dmitruk issued a challenge to Lt. Col. Raúl Vigil. Colonel Allaire took it outside and spray-painted a Circle of Equals into the grass.

After the two majors faced each other in the Circle of Equals, the Colonel, in his usual blunt manner, dispensed with the pleasantries in one simple word: "Begin."

Major Mrozik attempted to tackle Major Sorensen, but instead found himself thrown into the mud, face first. Outside of the Circle of Equals...one of the quickest fights anyone around had ever seen. Exiting the Circle meant automatic disqualification, and Keith was quick to declare Major Sorensen the winner of the round.

There was little that Chris Mrozik could do but watch the next round as the two Lieutenant Colonels entered the Circle.

The fight between Lt. Col. Dmitruk and Lt. Col. Vigil lasted quite a while longer, and one would have thought it was a kickboxing match until Lt. Col. Vigil had his adversary on the ground, twisting his arm until hearing a satisfying snap. However, Lt. Col. Dmitruk managed to free himself and trip his adversary, continuing to fight without the use of the broken arm...

...Technically, unless one was ejected from the Circle or conceded, these things were to the death. Fortunately, they seldom went that far. Raúl Vigil regained his footing, managed to land a hit to his adversary's head, followed by a quick and hard shove that knocked his opponent out of the Circle of Equals.

Colonel Keith Allaire declared LTC Raúl Vigil the winner and called Major Sorensen back into the Circle. This is going to be interesting, he thought to himself.

Raúl was faster, but Peter much stronger. Keith simply wished he had some popcorn.

"Thanks." Taylor took the candy, listening to the news reports. "So I take it there's some good news?"

Then, Taylor almost did a double take when he realized that John was talking. Talking! He realized that the news has already answered his question. He didn't care all that much for economic news, but even he knows that an eight percent jump in trading was a good thing. He smiled. "Looks like I won't be able to sleep much either."

=====

I have not known Admiral Riordan for very long, but what I do know is that he has done far more to defeat Imperial efforts to conquer Konoha than anyone else has ever done before. When the Star Destroyer Battlestar entered the fight, the enemy Super Star Destroyer Obliterator was living up to its name. The Star Destroyer engaged the Obliterator with everything it had, knocking out several of the massive heavy turbolaser turrets before being crippled by a heavy assault. As the Obliterator prepared to deliver the final blow, Admiral Riordan ordered his ship to ram the Super Star Destroyer, sacrificing himself and his ship to cause mortal damage to the Obliterator, eventually snapping it in half. I have never known a braver man, and I can only mourn the fact that I would not be able to get to know him better on this side of the mortal coil. I salute Admiral Riordan and hope that he gets the honor he deserves from all.

"Thanks." Taylor took the candy, listening to the news reports. "So I take it there's some good news?"

Then, Taylor almost did a double take when he realized that John was talking. Talking! He realized that the news has already answered his question. He didn't care all that much for economic news, but even he knows that an eight percent jump in trading was a good thing. He smiled. "Looks like I won't be able to sleep much either."

Meanwhile, Evil Woody Thoughts Parliament Building...

"Mr. Ambrose," the president pro tem of the Parliament called out in Whitfield's absence, an urgent and hurried tone to his voice. He wanted to get through roll quickly.

"Present."

"Mr. Atisuru."

"Present."

Apparently, every Member of Parliament had expected an emergency session from the moment they had heard the news, news which had spread quickly, simply because of its shock value to a nation more or less in hibernation. A couple of minutes later, roll call completed in record time, with everyone present. Except Whitfield, but considering he was at Konoha...that could be...excused.

Immediately after roll was concluded, someone in the back of the chamber stood to speak.

"The chair now recognizes Ms. Zhukovskii."

She wasted no time. "I move to go into closed session." Short and blunt, no flowery political crap.

"Are there any points of inquiry as to the effect of this motion?" The chair wondered if everyone knew what it was, considering it had only been done once before in the entire history of Evil Woody Thoughts. Nevertheless, Jacob Whitfield had taught the chamber well...extremely well, in the last seven months. No one rose to ask any questions.

"This is a debatable motion; it allows for two to speak opposed," the chair continued after receiving no questions. "Are there any Members of Parliament who wish to speak opposed to this motion?" Once again, no one rose.

"We are now in voting procedure then. All Members of Parliament, please record your votes..."

Five minutes later, the gavel struck. For Coredians, Parliament was always in closed session. For Woodians, Parliament was never in closed session...except for one time in its history. Reporters and spectators simply contemplated the ramifications as they were quickly escorted out of the building.

When the news of the first closed session of Parliament in more than eighty years hit the airwaves, it reverberated throughout the Force on White Diamond. John sensed it and promptly shut up as his five-year-old mind struggled with the ramifications of what the news anchor on the Holonet was saying. Only a very tiny percentage of the population was old enough to have seen this before, but all knew what it meant...

...A declaration of war was forthcoming, shortly. No Woodian politician, accidental or not, dared face their constituency after pulling such a move otherwise.

The Holonet was ablaze with the news from White Diamond. While it wasn't exactly front-page news (the defeat of the Imperials at Konoha was bigger news), the fact that the Woodian Parliment was closed for what appears to be the first time in decades managed to make enough Woodians' jaw drop to create a ripple in the Force. A ripple that Jacob Masaki and the High Council managed to detect. They knew that something was up with EWT, something important...

=====

Taylor Masaki noticed his adopted son going quiet again as the news continued. "Hey. Credit for your thoughts?"

The Holonet was ablaze with the news from White Diamond. While it wasn't exactly front-page news (the defeat of the Imperials at Konoha was bigger news), the fact that the Woodian Parliment was closed for what appears to be the first time in decades managed to make enough Woodians' jaw drop to create a ripple in the Force. A ripple that Jacob Masaki and the High Council managed to detect. They knew that something was up with EWT, something important...

Barracks area, outside

The grass glistened in moonlight with the blood of the two combatants in the Trial of Possession. Major Sorensen had knocked Lieutenant Colonel Vigil to the ground; yet LTC Vigil, true to form, managed to bring down the Major with him and scored a clean hit to the head.

The Major's head snapped back in recoil, but he did not lose consciousness. But he did notice something different, and that something had nothing to do with personal injury.

Something in this Force that Colonel Allaire kept talking about, the Force that he would be trained in if ever the paperwork would be done already.

A collective shock.

Lieutenant Colonel Vigil gave him a glare, as if to taunt him back into combat, but the glare in his eye lightened. "I sense it too..."

The Major returned the gaze. "Well fought and done. The honor is yours. Now, what is going on?"

The few Woodian spectators looked around at each other. Colonel Allaire extracted a pocket holonet device to check the latest text news.

After a few seconds of staring at the thing, he looked up at the various military personnel present. "Parliament just closed its session to reporters. Go back to highest alert--a declaration of war is almost certainly coming within twenty-four hours. I need to speak with the Prime Minister and Admiral Makaryk immediately."

A stunned silence greeted Keith. A full minute later, someone finally acknowledged, "Aff."

=====

Taylor Masaki noticed his adopted son going quiet again as the news continued. "Hey. Credit for your thoughts?"

John's five-year-old mind continued to assess the news as best he could, noting the commentary that closed session had only occurred once before, that when it had occurred before, war had ensued...

The kid's brain was going to get fried at this rate. Finally he managed, "They say that when Parliament meets secretly, they're about to declare a war..."

=====

Master Whitfield, too, had been watching the news, ever since he had pried Taylor out of bed so that the young Jedi could be with his adopted son.

He, too, was stunned, especially by the rapidity of the response back on White Diamond. Nevertheless, he knew that such efficiency meant the transitional government could function in his absence now, which was a very good thing indeed...

And the old Jedi Master was never stunned, especially by political shit.

The last, and only, time this had happened was a couple of months before he was born.

Like Keith Allaire, he knew that it meant that war would be declared by local Konoha sundown.

He sent a short and blunt transmission to the Woodian news networks that he intended to address the nation at 5:30 in the afternoon White Diamond Mean Time (10:30 in the morning local Konoha time). He figured that would allow enough time for the news networks to digest the census announcement slated for three in the afternoon White Diamond Mean Time.

He smiled as he grabbed pen and paper and started to write a speech.

He thought back forty or so years, back when he had gone against his own majority party to inspire Evil Woody Thoughts to reach beyond Earth...and the words of those who had helped him.

For the last seven months, the people of Evil Woody Thoughts have wandered aimlessly amongst themselves, minds numbed by the sheer destruction that befell the nation, bereft of any semblence of hope at all...

When the Empire attacked Jurai and Evil Woody Thoughts was unable to answer, millions more fell by whatever tantō or equivalent they could find.

Today that response is come. Today begins a new era, a Restoration, of Evil Woody Thoughts and what the nation stands for. Your children, will have a hope, that was lacking upon this very ground. Your names and deeds, will be carved on soil and rock not of your home planet. And your children will speak of names that one day, could rise prominetly as... well... spirits and gods.

I believe your new day has come...

Meanwhile, on White Diamond...

The Parliament meant business.

Within twenty minutes, it passed a bill ordering the White Diamond Securities Exchange to reopen, and suspend the "market volatility rule" that had earlier halted trading for the day, and transmitted it to the Exchange.

The news that Parliament had ordered the markets reopened came as a surprise to the news networks; however, that would have to compete with other news items very quickly...

The Parliament soon cut to the heart of the matter. It suspended its session for a mere fifteen minutes, for purposes of caucusing; the doors to the building still remained closed to the public. Its members scurried to draft its business.

Fifteen minutes later, their work was moved to the floor, and in a rare move, cloture invoked immediately. There wasn't much point in debating something that was going to pass unanimously anyway.

And pass unanimously it did. At 9:20 in the morning White Diamond Mean Time, the clerk ordered the resolution entered into the record, the Parliament having authorized disclosure of it by unanimous consent.

Less than ten minutes later, it was transmitted to the Woodian press bureaus...

Konoha, 2:30 in the morning local time

Sure enough, John was proven correct not long after he had made his prediction. After a brief discussion on the Parliament forcing the stock market to reopen, in a moment that John would never forget, a moment that the air seemed to weigh as much as he did, the news anchor completely changed the subject.

"This just in--Parliament has declared war upon the Galactic Empire of Huntaer. We have been provided with a copy of the resolution and little else, little information about what actually went on inside the chamber, but it is short and precise, reading: --"

*screen on Holovid changes to text of resolution*

"THE EIGHTY-THIRD PARLIAMENT OF EVIL WOODY THOUGHTS

RECOGNIZING the Galactic Empire of Huntaer executed an attack yesterday, 17 January, against the High Jedi Order of CoreWorlds,

FULLY AWARE THAT military forces of Evil Woody Thoughts were present and fired upon,

AFFIRMING the Government of Evil Woody Thoughts is bound to the Government of CoreWorlds by mutual defense pact and recognizes the obligations upon which its honor rests,

DOES HEREBY SOLEMNLY PUBLISH AND DECLARE that, as of 09:20 White Diamond Mean Time, 18 January 2079, a STATE OF WAR exists between the Government of Evil Woody Thoughts and the Galactic Empire of Huntaer."

The news anchor paused for a few seconds, that seemed more like a few hours to John, before adding, "The only further information that we have at this time is that this resolution was passed by unanimous roll call vote. We will bring you more as it develops..."

Another ripple in the Force emanating from White Diamond ensured that John kept quiet. Inwardly, he knew that the shame of his nation from being an idle bystander whilst its ally fell under attack had ended...

...A couple miles away, Whitfield looked up at the Holonet projection, crossed out a couple lines of his speech, and added others...

((OC- Might be an opening for us in famous Gaians to get involved here, diplomatically speaking. Not sure if it'll be wanted though, so some TGs of whether I should or not would be nice.

Sorry for the pop in, trying to reach everyone at once before I meddle. =^^= ))

((OC- Might be an opening for us in famous Gaians to get involved here, diplomatically speaking. Not sure if it'll be wanted though, so some TGs of whether I should or not would be nice.

Sorry for the pop in, trying to reach everyone at once before I meddle. =^^= ))

OOC: CW and I are trying to speed this thing up. Maybe you could set up a future RP for this purpose?

((OC- Okay, so that I keep the OC posts short here, I'll ask sequentially..

1. How many nations are involved, the what going on part being relatively obvious, but to make sure who's mainly involved.

2. In term of 'future rp', you mean wait for this one to end, or set up another even while this one is going on? I'm keeping in mind storyline timeline as such.

3. In reference to query one, can I get the okay for all involved nations to agree for a seperate thread? Makes me feel more confident making the attempt when there's consent.

4. Ain't it time we had more rp contact? Short of busting down a door to start something, been waiting here a long time for an excuse to rp with you guys again. =^^=

There, painless... *applying a tourniqet for an amputation.* =#o=

((OC- Okay, so that I keep the OC posts short here, I'll ask sequentially..

1. How many nations are involved, the what going on part being relatively obvious, but to make sure who's mainly involved.

OOC: EWT, CoreWorlds, Huntaer (though he'll probably pop in later, unless he waits for some future thread).

2. In term of 'future rp', you mean wait for this one to end, or set up another even while this one is going on? I'm keeping in mind storyline timeline as such.

Wait. How long you'll have to wait depends largely upon how often CW decides to post.

3. In reference to query one, can I get the okay for all involved nations to agree for a seperate thread? Makes me feel more confident making the attempt when there's consent.

Ask CoreWorlds. This is where you really need to get MSN, it makes things so much easier, trust me, and you wouldn't have to clutter an RP with OOC stuff like this, or having to worry about TGs scrolling off (not to mention I only check them about once a week), because it'd all be dealt with over IM.

Hell, I think Windows Messenger is built into some later versions of Internet Exploder (it'd be under the Tools menu if your version of IE, assuming you have IE, has it).

4. Ain't it time we had more rp contact? Short of busting down a door to start something, been waiting here a long time for an excuse to rp with you guys again. =^^=

There, painless... *applying a tourniqet for an amputation.* =#o=

Yes, it probably is, but you left for so damn long, and I never really figured out exactly how to insert myself into your Trade Conference thread...

==================In Character==================

While the news networks broke the news that Evil Woody Thoughts was now at war, and while the stock markets reopened and resumed trading (having to resort to paper trading for a few scary moments because the high volume overtaxed the computers normally responsible, shocking the financial markets in the process), the Parliament once again suspended its session for purposes of "caucusing..."

...This time for a full hour. Still, it was not wasted. Its forthcoming work would take just slightly longer than a fifteen-minute rush job to write.

When the resolution was ready to be moved to the floor, the Parliament undertook about five minutes of what some would call "procedural stunts."

The first such stunt was to order the document sealed until such time, already specified in the resolution itself, that it would be appropriate to reveal.

The second such stunt was to order a staff member designated by the Clerk of the Parliament to deliver the sealed document personally to Prime Minister Whitfield, with instructions on the envelope limiting it to his eyes, and those whom he deemed absolutely necessary to carry out its instructions, only.

Following said five minutes of procedural stunts, the Parliament quickly proceeded to adopt the resolution by consensus vote, with ZERO abstentions from consensus...something that had NEVER happened in Evil Woody Thoughts history before.

Yes, today it seemed was a day of things happening that had never happened in Evil Woody Thoughts before...

The Clerk's designee took the sealed envelope, snuck out of one of the building's back doors, and noted rapidly darkening sky. The winds were from the northeast, off the Bitterwind Range, and forecast to collide with an onshore flow from the ocean soon...which meant a heavy winter storm. She made sure to get off the planet before the clouds got any darker...in the fastest craft she had access to. Which was pretty damn fast...capable of making Konoha in about an hour and ten minutes at emergency speed.

The Parliament moved on to its next agenda item: Consideration of a Bill to make Bribery a Capital Crime...

Konoha
6:20 am local Konoha time

Master Whitfield had spent the last couple of hours writing his speech, nearly finished, looking up occasionally at the news holovid. He, too, had seen the paper trading on the Woodian Exchange, something he had never seen before. Not to mention another five-hundred point jump...

...He was simply waiting away the hour and a half or so until the Census Bureau's announcement concerning the accounting of the war was scheduled to occur, when the courier came, envelope in hand.

Whitfield thanked the courier and took the envelope, noting what it said: FOR THE PRIME MINISTER'S, AND THOSE DEEMED ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY BY THE PRIME MINISTER TO EXECUTE THE INSTRUCTIONS CONTAINED HEREIN, EYES ONLY.

He opened it, skimmed it, and promptly dropped his jaw. And the piece of paper, which promptly fluttered to the floor. And there was good reason for the jaw drop:

PARLIAMENT RES. 591
18 JANUARY 2079

SUBMITTED BY: MR. AMBROSE, MR. ATISURU, MR. HYITISHAMA, MS. JULLES, MS. OKIDIJIMBA, MR. POLLARD, MS. ZHUKHOVSKII

THE EIGHTY-THIRD PARLIAMENT OF EVIL WOODY THOUGHTS

AWARE OF events transpiring in Konoha orbit the previous date, 17 January 2079,

RECALLING that in the early stages of battle, the only Woodian orbital presence consisted of a single Immortal Star Destroyer commanded by Admiral Michael K. Riordan,

NOTING WITH DEEP APPRECIATION Admiral Riordan's selfless designation of his ship as Solohma, and subsequent order to ram the modified enemy Super Star Destroyer Obliterator,

RECOGNIZING that said ram generated an explosion large enough to cause the enemy vessel to break into two major pieces a few minutes after the ram,

FULLY AWARE that the sacrifice of Admiral Riordan's ship EWS Battlestar removed a large proportion of enemy firepower near the beginning of the battle and thus prevented a significant amount of allied casualties from occurring before reinforcements could arrive,

FURTHER AWARE that the enemy ship Obliterator is in salvageable condition and can thus be taken by allied forces as isorla;*

1. AFFIRMS the professional judgement of Admiral Riordan in ramming his ship;

2. COMMENDS the crew of the EWS Battlestar, especially the ship's helmsmen and sappers, for executing the ram successfully and in such a way that doomed the much larger vessel;

3. AWARDS posthumously the Cross of Honor to Admiral Riordan;

4. DIRECTS the Prime Minister to ensure that the appropriate medal is struck within seven days' time from deliverance of this resolution;

5. APPROPRIATES up to 100,000 universal standard credits for this task;

6. FURTHER DIRECTS that this resolution be disclosed only to those whom the Prime Minister deems will be necessary to strike the medal, until such time as is appropriate, specified in next operative clause;

7. ORDERS that this resolution be read into Admiral Riordan's codex as its final entry during his memorial service;

8. INSTRUCTS the Prime Minister to appoint a Loremaster to preside over Admiral Riordan's state memorial ceremony.

ENTERED BY THE CLERK: ADOPTED BY CONSENSUS VOTE, WITH NO ABSTENTIONS FROM CONSENSUS REPORTED, 11:04 ANTE MERIDIAN, WHITE DIAMOND MEAN TIME, 18 JANUARY 2009, AND HEREAFTER SEALED UNTIL SUCH TIME AS DIRECTED IN RESOLUTION.

After a few moments, Master Whitfield finally recomposed himself from the shock of reading the resolution. The Cross of Honor was Evil Woody Thoughts' highest honor, so rare in fact it had never been awarded before. The Jedi Order gave out Hero of the Rebellion titles and awards much more freely than this.

Not to mention that there was not one abstention recorded from consensus. Rare was it for anything other than a minor procedural matter to be adopted by consensus vote, but in all his experience with the Woodian government, Whitfield never recalled a time when not one MP abstained from it. Ever.

And there was a damn good reason why the resolution had come with an appropriation attached, too. The Cross of Honor had never even been struck before; it existed only as a theoretical drawing in military manuals. And the manuals specified that the medal was to be composed of mithril.

Whitfield knew where to find it on White Diamond, and he knew where to find it on Jurai, but he did not know where to find it on Konoha. He looked uneasily at his lightsaber, with mithril hilt, knowing he might not be able to procure an alternate supply of the rare metal in time.

He had a spare...

...Therefore he would do what was unthinkable to a Jedi. Disassemble his primary lightsaber...and melt its hilt for scrap. From the mithril in his own lightsaber would the first Cross of Honor be struck.

He would tend to that tonight. He'd also have to go digging around for the military manuals that specified its dimensions...

*OOC 1: Spoils of war.

OOC 2: If you're wondering why a Jedi would cannibalize his lightsaber, to be blunt, it's to reduce the number of posts expected from CoreWorlds. Make no mistake, if I must, I will finish this story arc, with or without his involvement.

OOC: Actually, that's rather symbolic to me. A Jedi's lightsaber being used as a part of a very rare medal is something unheard of in the Jedi Order and may even set a precedent, hehe.

IC:
Taylor Masaki whistled when the news broke out about the declaration of war at 2:30 in the morning. "Sends shivers down my spine. Last time we had a formal declaration of war with this level of media coverage, I was about eleven years old and the Empire just struck the first blow."

His twin brother Jacob was thinking along the same lines. "Sheesh. Daniel's missing a whole lot of important stuff. Unfortunately, we can't get him out of the tanks until tomorrow evening at the earliest."

He made a note to have a chat with the Prime Minister as soon as possible.

The High Council and several prominent Senators were eminently surprised at the speed at which the Woodian Parliment moved. Even the Senate don't get a vote until at least two hours of debate has passed! The Council member Armas Elendil made a note to have a chat with the Prime Minister as well, although little did he know that he would have to take a number...

OOC: Jacob's there with Taylor? When did he show up? Meh...I'll go along with it...

IC: "Eleven years ago?" John asked Taylor. "Even though I wasn't born yet, that'd seem like yesterday to a Woodian your age, at least when it comes to that."

The boy then noticed that Taylor's twin, Jacob, had popped in for a visit, after Jacob opened his mouth that is. To that, he replied, "Oh, I don't think Daniel will miss everything..."

But there was one thing that Daniel would miss, and that was the announcement concerning the postwar census. Which was due...right about now.

Sure enough, at three in the afternoon White Diamond time, eight in the morning and shortly after sunrise here on Konoha, despite the already-chaotic news cycle of the day, the Woodian news networks went live to a press conference...

A spokeswoman popped up behind the podium shown on the Holonet. "The Bureau of the Census announces that it has completed its postwar census and positively identified the names of the civil war's dead and missing, two and a half months ahead of schedule. Please observe a moment of silence for those lost."

Knots formed in the reporters' throats as the moment of silence was very publicly observed on the Holonet...

...John clammed up as he sensed it echo within the Force. He knew that he could practically hear a pin drop on White Diamond, a galaxy away, as everything there stopped for this announcement. Even though the stock market still remained open, even trading, at record volume throughout the day, ground to a screeching halt while investors diverted their attention for the next half hour.

Finally, the spokeswoman continued. "The names of the dead and missing will be made available in the Federal Registry within forty-eight hours; however, to protect the privacy of their families, no other information will be published. To obtain further information concerning someone listed on the registry, you will be required to present some proof of relationship."

She drew a deep breath, quite obviously, the deep breath before the plunge.

"The Bureau of the Census has tabulated four hundred eighty-one million, three hundred and six thousand, nine hundred and fifty-three confirmed war dead, and identified a further two hundred twelve million, seven hundred twenty-nine thousand, three hundred and sixty-two missing and presumed dead. This brings the total missing or dead to six hundred ninety-four million, thirty-six thousand, three hundred fifteen." By now, there was a bit of shaking in the spokeswoman's voice.

"The hardest-hit province was Old Capital District, site of Olde Woody City, the former national capital, and surrounding areas, with four million, three hundred six thousand, eight hundred and four confirmed dead, and one hundred fifty-six million, eight hundred forty-six thousand, seven hundred ninety-two listed as missing and presumed dead."

"This is followed by the Federal District--Great Woody City and surrounding areas--with thirty-nine million, six hundred eighty-two thousand, three hundred two confirmed deaths, and five thousand, six hundred eighty listed as missing and presumed dead..."

The tally by province continued for another fifteen minutes. Master Whitfield, a few kilometers away, fell dead silent. As did the remaining Woodian garrison on Konoha.

As did an entire nation.

OOC: CW, I know I said I was doing Teh Speech tonight, but I concocted a slight diversion of plan...enjoy :D

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

As the spokeswoman on the Holonet continued to enumerate war casualties by province, John became *so* quiet and inward focused that he somewhat involuntarily cloaked himself.

That cloak included his Force signature. He vanished, yet he was still there, not even Master Whitfield's senses would have been able to find him...had a Jedi witnessed the disappearance, it would have been easy for that Jedi to think he had spontaneously become one with the Force.

He was, in fact, very close...

His physical surroundings barely registered anymore in his mind. However, he caught a short snatch from the press briefing...

"...Thoreïde Province..."

Thoreïde Province...

It was the province immediately northeast of the capital, where lush evergreen forests lay nestled between the ocean and the mountains; it wasn't called The Emerald Province for nothing. It was where his biological parents had lived...and where he had seen them cut down by the Dark Lord's rampaging forces only hours after the coup.

The dreadful scene replayed in his mind. But darkness would not avail him...

John. A faint blue image of his biological mother's face hovered in his mind.

Mom? The boy did not believe it...

The faint blue figure in the Force approached, and became more distinct. Yes, it is me. You survived the war...and now you are among royalty. Use your position well. You will have power, but be judicious and parsimonious in its use...

The image faded. John quietly bowed his head and cried. But it wasn't like anyone would notice.

Become one with the Force, his mother had. His father, he did not know about, but the tears dried up at the thought of knowing that one of his parents, at least, had found some measure of...

...He wasn't sure if he could comprehend what. He remained cloaked in the Force.

"Seven hundred million." Taylor winced. "That's what, Konoha's population?"

"A hundred million less." Jacob nodded sadly.

"Hardest hit was Old Woody City." Taylor sighed. Jacob understood, as Taylor was at that particular area of Earth.

Suddenly, the Twins felt the Force swirl around John. And then, he disappeared from sight and from view of the Force. Taylor and Jacob were surprised. Very surprised.

Taylor broke the silence with a nervous chuckle. "He's a Masaki, all right, even by adoption."

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. Should we wait for him to decloak, or..."

"Dunno. Let's wait a bit." Taylor said, then turned his attention to something else. "What do you think his element's gonna be?"

"I would have pegged him as Fire, like you, but now..." Jacob shook his head. "Shadow, perhaps?"

"Probably." Taylor nodded. He glanced again at where John was, invisible even to the descending moon. Maybe Light and Shadow. They're two sides of the same coin, after all...

OOC: A note on Evil Woody Thoughts adoptive naming conventions for those of you not familiar: We have some weird ones. Usually the child takes the adoptive name as the middle name instead of the last, at least until reaching the age of majority.

Also...this post will give something for Armas Elendil to do while he waits to take a number to speak with Whitfield.

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

Five-year-old John Masaki-Watsen was not the only one to have a Force-induced reaction to the news...

In the Woodian officers' barracks, four of the five Woodian officers running 'Mech operations on Konoha were also watching the news. The fifth, Lieutenant had already returned to White Diamond to formally notify Admiral Riordan's next of kin about his death, for though it was plastered all over the news, he had won the honor in a trial of Possession.

All of their minds, including that of Colonel Allaire, were heavy with guilt at the number of dead. Between them, they had killed probably at least fifty thousand by their own hand or sword during the war. Only Colonel Allaire had had the oppurtunity to atone somewhat for his role in the carnage, for only he had been freed early enough to fight, and to some extent guide, the rebellion against the Dark Lord. The rest were only freed of their chains to the Sith at the war's conclusion and therefore did not have that chance.

But it was the heart of Major Chris Mrozik that was the heaviest.

"Thoreïde Province, ninety-two missing, one million, three hundred six thousand, one hundred eighty-five confirmed deaths..."

The spokeswoman's words struck Major Mrozik like a crossbow bolt.

He closed his eyes, in a vain attempt to keep from tearing up in front of his colleagues, but it was of no use. His mind fell into such deep lament for what he had done that he, too, seemed to vanish in the Force, as John had done a few moments earlier...to him, those numbers were not a mere statistic, as they tied him to one whom he knew...

"What the hell?" the Colonel cried out loud as the Major disappeared right in front of his eyes. Had Whitfield been around, he would have no doubt calmed all of them down, but alas, he was watching from his own quarters. The others stared in disbelief. After a few seconds, Keith regained his composure. "Almost like Chris became one with the Force...damn, where's a Jedi Master when you need one?"

Meanwhile, inside Chris Mrozik's mind...

Thoreïde Province, ninety-two missing, one million, three hundred six thousand, one hundred eighty-five confirmed deaths...

He was tied to those words. He was tied to those fell deeds.

The light of day is only beginning to fade into evening; Darth Ebolus had implemented his coup only a few hours earlier. Already, I am sent to squelch a guerilla movement before it can start, by attacking a refugee column fleeing the nearby forests of Thoreïde for the safety of the mountains. I mount my 'Mech, a fourth-generation Timber Wolf, an eighty-tonner that handles like a fifty-tonner before the new gravity nullifiers, and head off with the rest of the unit.

Upon reaching target, I blast everything in sight with my 'Mech's six pulse lasers, which make great anti-infantry weapons. In this case, great refugee-slaughtering missions. Hundreds die in a matter of minutes, the rest scatter.

I blast some kid's father. The kid, winded, turns around, panting. The mother yanks him and runs in the other direction. For whatever reason, I get a glimpse of that kid's face...

I fire the pulse laser and strike down the mother. The boy runs away, but is caught by a platoon of troops disembarking from a troop transport.

I recognize the boy's face...

JOHN MASAKI. I KILLED BOTH HIS PARENTS.

Though the shame of this revelation was hidden within the Force, for Chris was cloaked, as was John, it was not diminished.

Though invisible, he pulled a tantō from a small scabbard in his utility belt, assuming the position of seppuku.

Drop the knife. You were not freed of your burden to commit suicide.

Who are you?

One with standing to free you of your burden...

Chris looked up to see a faint blue figure. Though he had only seen her backside in life for a brief second before shooting her in the back, somehow he recognized the hairstyle.

It was the ghost of John's mother, now one with the Force.

You are free of your curse. Go now...

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

The Major reappeared, kneeling on the barracks floor, crying a river.

"You OK? What happened?" the Colonel asked. While most of the time such public outcries of emotion were frowned upon, the issue of the civil war always would be a sensitive issue, especially within the Woodian military.

There was no response.

"Damn, Whitfield's really busy for at least the next three hours, any other Jedi around?"

The other officers gave Keith blank stares. "Dunno."

"Don't make me find one." Keith left.

((OC- Got IE IM going under the addy: gaianknight@hotmail.com

..it'll depend on how I feel about using it, but at least my IM is up and working now. =^^= ))

Jedi Master Elendil felt a current in the Force pushing him. The middle-aged but still immortal elf allowed the Force to lead him to a position from where he would literally meet up with Keith. Soon enough, he met up with the apprentice Colonel.

"Ah, Colonel Allaire. How are you feeling in these early hours?" He asked.

"Hello, Master Elendil. Unusual to see you outside like this..." He wasn't in the mood to talk about how he felt about the weather when there was more important business to tend to. "I was watching the Evil Woody Thoughts census announcement with Major Mrozik and some other colleagues when the Major vanished into thin air. A few moments later, he reappeared in tears, and refuses to discuss it."

"Interesting. Most interesting." Master Elendil nodded. "Can you take me to him?"

An involuntary Force Cloak technique? That's rare, even under the best of circumstances.

"Yes Master. Follow me."

The Colonel led Master Elendil back to the officers' barracks area, where Major Mrozik was still on the floor, handkerchief in hand, wiping away tears that hadn't quite dried yet. While he didn't look up, Major Sorensen did, muttering, "Well, it looks like you found your Jedi..."

Elendil walked in to see the man still crying. He knew that the young man needed an ear. “Tell me--what did you see?”