NationStates

Olthar wrote:

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:A British tourist proudly declared she knew Hindi.

Every nearby Indian switched to Marathi.

Nationstatelandsville wrote:Flan is the worst thing ever made by the hands of man.

I've never had flan, but it's British, so I'm guessing it tastes worse than sin.

Constaniana wrote:

Olthar wrote:


I've never had flan, but it's British, so I'm guessing it tastes worse than sin.

Well, I think we're referring to the bizarre Mexican dessert, rather than the British dinner dish. Though, that's an accurate guess for how an unknown British food would taste.

Constaniana wrote:

Olthar wrote:


I've never had flan, but it's British, so I'm guessing it tastes worse than sin.

Well, I think we're referring to the bizarre Mexican dessert, rather than the British dinner dish. Though, that's an accurate guess for how an unknown British food would taste.

Olthar wrote:

Constaniana wrote:Well, I think we're referring to the bizarre Mexican dessert, rather than the British dinner dish. Though, that's an accurate guess for how an unknown British food would taste.

I'd like to see a "Most Terrible Food" competition between the British and the Germans. I bet it'd be amusing.

Ranbo wrote:I'm wading through a crazy about of Japanese terminology trying to complete my new app. Not surprisingly, it's about a mythical Japanese warrior.

Call me insane, but I'm actually enjoying this.

Constaniana wrote:

Ranbo wrote:I'm wading through a crazy about of Japanese terminology trying to complete my new app. Not surprisingly, it's about a mythical Japanese warrior.

Call me insane, but I'm actually enjoying this.

You're insane.

Ranbo wrote:

Constaniana wrote:You're insane.

I knew it.

By the way, spoiler: My character has a sword release.

...Yeah, it's unoriginal. Luckily, that's the only part that is. Everything else, I made up on the spot.

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:

Ranbo wrote:I knew it.

By the way, spoiler: My character has a sword release.

...Yeah, it's unoriginal. Luckily, that's the only part that is. Everything else, I made up on the spot.

Sword release?

...More Bleach or something?

Olthar wrote:

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:
Sword release?

...More Bleach or something?

Every now and then, he releases his sword into the wild and gets a new one. *nods*

Olthar wrote:

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:
Sword release?

...More Bleach or something?

Every now and then, he releases his sword into the wild and gets a new one. *nods*

Erinkita wrote:

Gaonaga and Hasuragon exchanged a look and a brief nod. Nothing needed to be said. Gaonaga awkwardly manoeuvred himself into Exterminus’ path, his armoured head and shoulders lowered, bracing for the impact. This would be so much easier if I had something to brace against. For the tenth time that day, he cursed the dragon woman’s levitation. Hasuragon zipped off to the right, ready to get behind the alien cyborg after he had locked limbs with Gaonaga. While he was distracted grappling with Gaonaga, she was to cast the spell Aleister Crowley had given them. “To send him somewhere else,” Crowley had said. Neither of the monsters had questioned him further.

Exterminus was perhaps two kilometres away now. Before hitting atmosphere, the monster curled himself into a meteor-like ball, practically invulnerable, and able to punch through planetary shields and defensive space ships. Rocketing closer now, he unfolded his limbs. From the waist down, he was all metal. Like a robotic four-legged spider, his legs splayed out, mechanically powerful and razor sharp. On top of the squat body sat a stocky humanoid torso, his hairless skin a mottled brown and purple. His organic parts were pure muscle. His arms were half as thick as Gaonaga’s torso and equipped with internal weaponry. He was close enough now that Gaonaga could see the eyes in his proportionately tiny head; one a malevolent yellow slit, the other a red robotic lens.

Closer... closer... closer...
Come on, you stupid beast. Come on...

The impact rattled Gaonaga’s bones. His vision momentarily went black, but his fight instincts served him well. His talons found their grip around Exterminus’ front legs, forcing them down. The larger monster kicked and twisted, but the Gaonaga had the better position. He was able to use the muscles of his entire body against Exterminus’ legs. With his right arm, he reached around Exterminus’ back. His claws found purchase in the cyborg’s shoulder blade while the spikes on his armoured shoulder wedged under Exterminus’ left arm, forcing him to keep it raised. Likewise, his horned forced under the alien monster’s chin forced his head upwards, even if it put Gaonaga’s face inches from Exterminus’ meaty pectorals. Finally, he stuck his tail blades under Exterminus’ right arm and grabbed the same arm’s wrist with his left hand. Despite the force of the impact, and despite falling out of the sky at an alarming speed, Gaonaga had completely immobilised his larger, stronger opponent.

Gaonaga panted heavily with the exertion of maintaining his hold. He couldn’t keep this up forever, and they were going to hit the ground relatively soon, with Gaonaga at the bottom. He couldn’t see how close the Earth was with a face full of Exterminus’s chest, but it felt like they were falling fast.
“I know you...” the mechanical voice of his enemy rasped from somewhere above his head “We have fought before.”

Gaonaga and Exterminus had met once before. A statistically improbable but narratively inevitable encounter in the depths of space had sent both of them floating off, licking their wounds. Though truth be told, Gaonaga had lost that fight. I suppose I should thank him. If not for him, I would have never come to Earth.

Exterminus was the product of a lost civilisation, locked in some forgotten interplanetary war with an equally forgotten adversary. He had been designed to strike the enemy on their home front, punching through any spaceborne defences and devastating the vulnerable planet. He was designed, grown, engineered, trained and tested in a space station distant enough from his creators’ homeworld that the politicians were able to sleep at night. But before he could be given his marching orders, his side lost the war. Their enemies had also been working on a doomsday weapon, and they finished theirs first. The scientists and soldiers who staffed the facility where Exterminus had lived his entire life fled, leaving Exterminus alone. Not that he cared. He had a job to do. He had been built for a purpose. He was a weapon intended to end the world. But which world? That was the question he needed to answer. And so Exterminus roamed through the cosmos, devastating planet after planet, hoping that something would click in his brain to let him know he’d found the right one.

And now he had come to Earth. Gaonaga considered this highly suspicious. The last time they met, the creature had been headed in the exact opposite direction. And surely even he had the brains to see that the humans couldn’t have possibly been fighting an interplanetary war thousands of years ago. They had barely made it to their own moon. And then there was the projected point of impact. According to the astronomers, Exterminus would be crashing down directly on top of Aleister Crowley’s school. What was the significance of Elfen High to a creature like him? Of all the landing sites he could have chosen... Gaonaga and Crowley agreed, something was afoot.

“Curious, is it not?” Gaonaga replied, his voice slightly muffled “You selected this planet out of trillions, and it happens to be the one I have made my home?”

“This is the one, I know it!” Exterminus whined back, a desperate fervour in his buzzsaw voice “The light called me here! The light from heaven!”

Light from heaven...?
The centuries since their last meeting had clearly driven him even further into insanity. But was it possible that something truly had summoned him here? Before Gaonaga could ask another question, Hasuragon joined the tangle of limbs. Out of the corner of his eye, Gaonaga could see one slim green arm wrap around Exterminus’ bicep and a spike green head appear over his shoulder. Exterminus twisted and flailed in mid-air, trying to shake her off, but the dragon woman held her grip. Gaonaga could feel his feet slipping on the smooth metal of Exterminus’ legs and dug his talons in further.

A low hum, just on the edge of Gaonaga’s reptilian hearing, began to emanate from somewhere above. He could just make out a hint of white light creeping from behind Exterminus. Hasuragon was casting the spell.

Exterminus kicked...
And Gaonaga slipped.

His feet scrabbled over empty air. His claws raked at Exterminus’ back, but his shoulder spikes were no longer under his arm and that massive fist swung into Gaonaga’s face, sending him head over heel backwards, momentarily stunned. No longer being dragged down by the weight of Exterminus, Gaonaga was once again levitating thanks to Hasuragon’s magic; floating alarmingly close to the ground. He could make out individual cars below him. He got his bearings in time to see Hasuragon thrown off of Exterminus’ back, possibly unconscious, Crowley’s spell aborted half-complete. And Exterminus, diverted from his original landing site, plummeted towards a very familiar skyline.

Of course, Gaonaga thought as he shot downwards in pursuit It's always Tokyo.

Erinkita wrote:

Gaonaga and Hasuragon exchanged a look and a brief nod. Nothing needed to be said. Gaonaga awkwardly manoeuvred himself into Exterminus’ path, his armoured head and shoulders lowered, bracing for the impact. This would be so much easier if I had something to brace against. For the tenth time that day, he cursed the dragon woman’s levitation. Hasuragon zipped off to the right, ready to get behind the alien cyborg after he had locked limbs with Gaonaga. While he was distracted grappling with Gaonaga, she was to cast the spell Aleister Crowley had given them. “To send him somewhere else,” Crowley had said. Neither of the monsters had questioned him further.

Exterminus was perhaps two kilometres away now. Before hitting atmosphere, the monster curled himself into a meteor-like ball, practically invulnerable, and able to punch through planetary shields and defensive space ships. Rocketing closer now, he unfolded his limbs. From the waist down, he was all metal. Like a robotic four-legged spider, his legs splayed out, mechanically powerful and razor sharp. On top of the squat body sat a stocky humanoid torso, his hairless skin a mottled brown and purple. His organic parts were pure muscle. His arms were half as thick as Gaonaga’s torso and equipped with internal weaponry. He was close enough now that Gaonaga could see the eyes in his proportionately tiny head; one a malevolent yellow slit, the other a red robotic lens.

Closer... closer... closer...
Come on, you stupid beast. Come on...

The impact rattled Gaonaga’s bones. His vision momentarily went black, but his fight instincts served him well. His talons found their grip around Exterminus’ front legs, forcing them down. The larger monster kicked and twisted, but the Gaonaga had the better position. He was able to use the muscles of his entire body against Exterminus’ legs. With his right arm, he reached around Exterminus’ back. His claws found purchase in the cyborg’s shoulder blade while the spikes on his armoured shoulder wedged under Exterminus’ left arm, forcing him to keep it raised. Likewise, his horned forced under the alien monster’s chin forced his head upwards, even if it put Gaonaga’s face inches from Exterminus’ meaty pectorals. Finally, he stuck his tail blades under Exterminus’ right arm and grabbed the same arm’s wrist with his left hand. Despite the force of the impact, and despite falling out of the sky at an alarming speed, Gaonaga had completely immobilised his larger, stronger opponent.

Gaonaga panted heavily with the exertion of maintaining his hold. He couldn’t keep this up forever, and they were going to hit the ground relatively soon, with Gaonaga at the bottom. He couldn’t see how close the Earth was with a face full of Exterminus’s chest, but it felt like they were falling fast.
“I know you...” the mechanical voice of his enemy rasped from somewhere above his head “We have fought before.”

Gaonaga and Exterminus had met once before. A statistically improbable but narratively inevitable encounter in the depths of space had sent both of them floating off, licking their wounds. Though truth be told, Gaonaga had lost that fight. I suppose I should thank him. If not for him, I would have never come to Earth.

Exterminus was the product of a lost civilisation, locked in some forgotten interplanetary war with an equally forgotten adversary. He had been designed to strike the enemy on their home front, punching through any spaceborne defences and devastating the vulnerable planet. He was designed, grown, engineered, trained and tested in a space station distant enough from his creators’ homeworld that the politicians were able to sleep at night. But before he could be given his marching orders, his side lost the war. Their enemies had also been working on a doomsday weapon, and they finished theirs first. The scientists and soldiers who staffed the facility where Exterminus had lived his entire life fled, leaving Exterminus alone. Not that he cared. He had a job to do. He had been built for a purpose. He was a weapon intended to end the world. But which world? That was the question he needed to answer. And so Exterminus roamed through the cosmos, devastating planet after planet, hoping that something would click in his brain to let him know he’d found the right one.

And now he had come to Earth. Gaonaga considered this highly suspicious. The last time they met, the creature had been headed in the exact opposite direction. And surely even he had the brains to see that the humans couldn’t have possibly been fighting an interplanetary war thousands of years ago. They had barely made it to their own moon. And then there was the projected point of impact. According to the astronomers, Exterminus would be crashing down directly on top of Aleister Crowley’s school. What was the significance of Elfen High to a creature like him? Of all the landing sites he could have chosen... Gaonaga and Crowley agreed, something was afoot.

“Curious, is it not?” Gaonaga replied, his voice slightly muffled “You selected this planet out of trillions, and it happens to be the one I have made my home?”

“This is the one, I know it!” Exterminus whined back, a desperate fervour in his buzzsaw voice “The light called me here! The light from heaven!”

Light from heaven...?
The centuries since their last meeting had clearly driven him even further into insanity. But was it possible that something truly had summoned him here? Before Gaonaga could ask another question, Hasuragon joined the tangle of limbs. Out of the corner of his eye, Gaonaga could see one slim green arm wrap around Exterminus’ bicep and a spike green head appear over his shoulder. Exterminus twisted and flailed in mid-air, trying to shake her off, but the dragon woman held her grip. Gaonaga could feel his feet slipping on the smooth metal of Exterminus’ legs and dug his talons in further.

A low hum, just on the edge of Gaonaga’s reptilian hearing, began to emanate from somewhere above. He could just make out a hint of white light creeping from behind Exterminus. Hasuragon was casting the spell.

Exterminus kicked...
And Gaonaga slipped.

His feet scrabbled over empty air. His claws raked at Exterminus’ back, but his shoulder spikes were no longer under his arm and that massive fist swung into Gaonaga’s face, sending him head over heel backwards, momentarily stunned. No longer being dragged down by the weight of Exterminus, Gaonaga was once again levitating thanks to Hasuragon’s magic; floating alarmingly close to the ground. He could make out individual cars below him. He got his bearings in time to see Hasuragon thrown off of Exterminus’ back, possibly unconscious, Crowley’s spell aborted half-complete. And Exterminus, diverted from his original landing site, plummeted towards a very familiar skyline.

Of course, Gaonaga thought as he shot downwards in pursuit It's always Tokyo.

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Hah hah, you Americans hit the sequester just as I left.

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Hah hah, you Americans hit the sequester just as I left.

Nationstatelandsville wrote:

Erinkita wrote:

Gaonaga and Hasuragon exchanged a look and a brief nod. Nothing needed to be said. Gaonaga awkwardly manoeuvred himself into Exterminus’ path, his armoured head and shoulders lowered, bracing for the impact. This would be so much easier if I had something to brace against. For the tenth time that day, he cursed the dragon woman’s levitation. Hasuragon zipped off to the right, ready to get behind the alien cyborg after he had locked limbs with Gaonaga. While he was distracted grappling with Gaonaga, she was to cast the spell Aleister Crowley had given them. “To send him somewhere else,” Crowley had said. Neither of the monsters had questioned him further.

Exterminus was perhaps two kilometres away now. Before hitting atmosphere, the monster curled himself into a meteor-like ball, practically invulnerable, and able to punch through planetary shields and defensive space ships. Rocketing closer now, he unfolded his limbs. From the waist down, he was all metal. Like a robotic four-legged spider, his legs splayed out, mechanically powerful and razor sharp. On top of the squat body sat a stocky humanoid torso, his hairless skin a mottled brown and purple. His organic parts were pure muscle. His arms were half as thick as Gaonaga’s torso and equipped with internal weaponry. He was close enough now that Gaonaga could see the eyes in his proportionately tiny head; one a malevolent yellow slit, the other a red robotic lens.

Closer... closer... closer...
Come on, you stupid beast. Come on...

The impact rattled Gaonaga’s bones. His vision momentarily went black, but his fight instincts served him well. His talons found their grip around Exterminus’ front legs, forcing them down. The larger monster kicked and twisted, but the Gaonaga had the better position. He was able to use the muscles of his entire body against Exterminus’ legs. With his right arm, he reached around Exterminus’ back. His claws found purchase in the cyborg’s shoulder blade while the spikes on his armoured shoulder wedged under Exterminus’ left arm, forcing him to keep it raised. Likewise, his horned forced under the alien monster’s chin forced his head upwards, even if it put Gaonaga’s face inches from Exterminus’ meaty pectorals. Finally, he stuck his tail blades under Exterminus’ right arm and grabbed the same arm’s wrist with his left hand. Despite the force of the impact, and despite falling out of the sky at an alarming speed, Gaonaga had completely immobilised his larger, stronger opponent.

Gaonaga panted heavily with the exertion of maintaining his hold. He couldn’t keep this up forever, and they were going to hit the ground relatively soon, with Gaonaga at the bottom. He couldn’t see how close the Earth was with a face full of Exterminus’s chest, but it felt like they were falling fast.
“I know you...” the mechanical voice of his enemy rasped from somewhere above his head “We have fought before.”

Gaonaga and Exterminus had met once before. A statistically improbable but narratively inevitable encounter in the depths of space had sent both of them floating off, licking their wounds. Though truth be told, Gaonaga had lost that fight. I suppose I should thank him. If not for him, I would have never come to Earth.

Exterminus was the product of a lost civilisation, locked in some forgotten interplanetary war with an equally forgotten adversary. He had been designed to strike the enemy on their home front, punching through any spaceborne defences and devastating the vulnerable planet. He was designed, grown, engineered, trained and tested in a space station distant enough from his creators’ homeworld that the politicians were able to sleep at night. But before he could be given his marching orders, his side lost the war. Their enemies had also been working on a doomsday weapon, and they finished theirs first. The scientists and soldiers who staffed the facility where Exterminus had lived his entire life fled, leaving Exterminus alone. Not that he cared. He had a job to do. He had been built for a purpose. He was a weapon intended to end the world. But which world? That was the question he needed to answer. And so Exterminus roamed through the cosmos, devastating planet after planet, hoping that something would click in his brain to let him know he’d found the right one.

And now he had come to Earth. Gaonaga considered this highly suspicious. The last time they met, the creature had been headed in the exact opposite direction. And surely even he had the brains to see that the humans couldn’t have possibly been fighting an interplanetary war thousands of years ago. They had barely made it to their own moon. And then there was the projected point of impact. According to the astronomers, Exterminus would be crashing down directly on top of Aleister Crowley’s school. What was the significance of Elfen High to a creature like him? Of all the landing sites he could have chosen... Gaonaga and Crowley agreed, something was afoot.

“Curious, is it not?” Gaonaga replied, his voice slightly muffled “You selected this planet out of trillions, and it happens to be the one I have made my home?”

“This is the one, I know it!” Exterminus whined back, a desperate fervour in his buzzsaw voice “The light called me here! The light from heaven!”

Light from heaven...?
The centuries since their last meeting had clearly driven him even further into insanity. But was it possible that something truly had summoned him here? Before Gaonaga could ask another question, Hasuragon joined the tangle of limbs. Out of the corner of his eye, Gaonaga could see one slim green arm wrap around Exterminus’ bicep and a spike green head appear over his shoulder. Exterminus twisted and flailed in mid-air, trying to shake her off, but the dragon woman held her grip. Gaonaga could feel his feet slipping on the smooth metal of Exterminus’ legs and dug his talons in further.

A low hum, just on the edge of Gaonaga’s reptilian hearing, began to emanate from somewhere above. He could just make out a hint of white light creeping from behind Exterminus. Hasuragon was casting the spell.

Exterminus kicked...
And Gaonaga slipped.

His feet scrabbled over empty air. His claws raked at Exterminus’ back, but his shoulder spikes were no longer under his arm and that massive fist swung into Gaonaga’s face, sending him head over heel backwards, momentarily stunned. No longer being dragged down by the weight of Exterminus, Gaonaga was once again levitating thanks to Hasuragon’s magic; floating alarmingly close to the ground. He could make out individual cars below him. He got his bearings in time to see Hasuragon thrown off of Exterminus’ back, possibly unconscious, Crowley’s spell aborted half-complete. And Exterminus, diverted from his original landing site, plummeted towards a very familiar skyline.

Of course, Gaonaga thought as he shot downwards in pursuit It's always Tokyo.

I never liked Godzilla.

But you make it work.

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:

Erinkita wrote:

Gaonaga and Hasuragon exchanged a look and a brief nod. Nothing needed to be said. Gaonaga awkwardly manoeuvred himself into Exterminus’ path, his armoured head and shoulders lowered, bracing for the impact. This would be so much easier if I had something to brace against. For the tenth time that day, he cursed the dragon woman’s levitation. Hasuragon zipped off to the right, ready to get behind the alien cyborg after he had locked limbs with Gaonaga. While he was distracted grappling with Gaonaga, she was to cast the spell Aleister Crowley had given them. “To send him somewhere else,” Crowley had said. Neither of the monsters had questioned him further.

Exterminus was perhaps two kilometres away now. Before hitting atmosphere, the monster curled himself into a meteor-like ball, practically invulnerable, and able to punch through planetary shields and defensive space ships. Rocketing closer now, he unfolded his limbs. From the waist down, he was all metal. Like a robotic four-legged spider, his legs splayed out, mechanically powerful and razor sharp. On top of the squat body sat a stocky humanoid torso, his hairless skin a mottled brown and purple. His organic parts were pure muscle. His arms were half as thick as Gaonaga’s torso and equipped with internal weaponry. He was close enough now that Gaonaga could see the eyes in his proportionately tiny head; one a malevolent yellow slit, the other a red robotic lens.

Closer... closer... closer...
Come on, you stupid beast. Come on...

The impact rattled Gaonaga’s bones. His vision momentarily went black, but his fight instincts served him well. His talons found their grip around Exterminus’ front legs, forcing them down. The larger monster kicked and twisted, but the Gaonaga had the better position. He was able to use the muscles of his entire body against Exterminus’ legs. With his right arm, he reached around Exterminus’ back. His claws found purchase in the cyborg’s shoulder blade while the spikes on his armoured shoulder wedged under Exterminus’ left arm, forcing him to keep it raised. Likewise, his horned forced under the alien monster’s chin forced his head upwards, even if it put Gaonaga’s face inches from Exterminus’ meaty pectorals. Finally, he stuck his tail blades under Exterminus’ right arm and grabbed the same arm’s wrist with his left hand. Despite the force of the impact, and despite falling out of the sky at an alarming speed, Gaonaga had completely immobilised his larger, stronger opponent.

Gaonaga panted heavily with the exertion of maintaining his hold. He couldn’t keep this up forever, and they were going to hit the ground relatively soon, with Gaonaga at the bottom. He couldn’t see how close the Earth was with a face full of Exterminus’s chest, but it felt like they were falling fast.
“I know you...” the mechanical voice of his enemy rasped from somewhere above his head “We have fought before.”

Gaonaga and Exterminus had met once before. A statistically improbable but narratively inevitable encounter in the depths of space had sent both of them floating off, licking their wounds. Though truth be told, Gaonaga had lost that fight. I suppose I should thank him. If not for him, I would have never come to Earth.

Exterminus was the product of a lost civilisation, locked in some forgotten interplanetary war with an equally forgotten adversary. He had been designed to strike the enemy on their home front, punching through any spaceborne defences and devastating the vulnerable planet. He was designed, grown, engineered, trained and tested in a space station distant enough from his creators’ homeworld that the politicians were able to sleep at night. But before he could be given his marching orders, his side lost the war. Their enemies had also been working on a doomsday weapon, and they finished theirs first. The scientists and soldiers who staffed the facility where Exterminus had lived his entire life fled, leaving Exterminus alone. Not that he cared. He had a job to do. He had been built for a purpose. He was a weapon intended to end the world. But which world? That was the question he needed to answer. And so Exterminus roamed through the cosmos, devastating planet after planet, hoping that something would click in his brain to let him know he’d found the right one.

And now he had come to Earth. Gaonaga considered this highly suspicious. The last time they met, the creature had been headed in the exact opposite direction. And surely even he had the brains to see that the humans couldn’t have possibly been fighting an interplanetary war thousands of years ago. They had barely made it to their own moon. And then there was the projected point of impact. According to the astronomers, Exterminus would be crashing down directly on top of Aleister Crowley’s school. What was the significance of Elfen High to a creature like him? Of all the landing sites he could have chosen... Gaonaga and Crowley agreed, something was afoot.

“Curious, is it not?” Gaonaga replied, his voice slightly muffled “You selected this planet out of trillions, and it happens to be the one I have made my home?”

“This is the one, I know it!” Exterminus whined back, a desperate fervour in his buzzsaw voice “The light called me here! The light from heaven!”

Light from heaven...?
The centuries since their last meeting had clearly driven him even further into insanity. But was it possible that something truly had summoned him here? Before Gaonaga could ask another question, Hasuragon joined the tangle of limbs. Out of the corner of his eye, Gaonaga could see one slim green arm wrap around Exterminus’ bicep and a spike green head appear over his shoulder. Exterminus twisted and flailed in mid-air, trying to shake her off, but the dragon woman held her grip. Gaonaga could feel his feet slipping on the smooth metal of Exterminus’ legs and dug his talons in further.

A low hum, just on the edge of Gaonaga’s reptilian hearing, began to emanate from somewhere above. He could just make out a hint of white light creeping from behind Exterminus. Hasuragon was casting the spell.

Exterminus kicked...
And Gaonaga slipped.

His feet scrabbled over empty air. His claws raked at Exterminus’ back, but his shoulder spikes were no longer under his arm and that massive fist swung into Gaonaga’s face, sending him head over heel backwards, momentarily stunned. No longer being dragged down by the weight of Exterminus, Gaonaga was once again levitating thanks to Hasuragon’s magic; floating alarmingly close to the ground. He could make out individual cars below him. He got his bearings in time to see Hasuragon thrown off of Exterminus’ back, possibly unconscious, Crowley’s spell aborted half-complete. And Exterminus, diverted from his original landing site, plummeted towards a very familiar skyline.

Of course, Gaonaga thought as he shot downwards in pursuit It's always Tokyo.

Not bad.

Nationstatelandsville wrote:

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Hah hah, you Americans hit the sequester just as I left.

You cock, this isn't funny.

...OK, it's a little funny.

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:

Nationstatelandsville wrote:You cock, this isn't funny.

...OK, it's a little funny.

Hey, my country's economy grew 6% last year and the rate is expected to keep increasing.

Olthar wrote:

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Hah hah, you Americans hit the sequester just as I left.

The what?

Olthar wrote:

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Hah hah, you Americans hit the sequester just as I left.

The what?

Erinkita wrote:

Olthar wrote:The what?

I second that. The what?

Erinkita wrote:

Gaonaga and Hasuragon exchanged a look and a brief nod. Nothing needed to be said. Gaonaga awkwardly manoeuvred himself into Exterminus’ path, his armoured head and shoulders lowered, bracing for the impact. This would be so much easier if I had something to brace against. For the tenth time that day, he cursed the dragon woman’s levitation. Hasuragon zipped off to the right, ready to get behind the alien cyborg after he had locked limbs with Gaonaga. While he was distracted grappling with Gaonaga, she was to cast the spell Aleister Crowley had given them. “To send him somewhere else,” Crowley had said. Neither of the monsters had questioned him further.

Exterminus was perhaps two kilometres away now. Before hitting atmosphere, the monster curled himself into a meteor-like ball, practically invulnerable, and able to punch through planetary shields and defensive space ships. Rocketing closer now, he unfolded his limbs. From the waist down, he was all metal. Like a robotic four-legged spider, his legs splayed out, mechanically powerful and razor sharp. On top of the squat body sat a stocky humanoid torso, his hairless skin a mottled brown and purple. His organic parts were pure muscle. His arms were half as thick as Gaonaga’s torso and equipped with internal weaponry. He was close enough now that Gaonaga could see the eyes in his proportionately tiny head; one a malevolent yellow slit, the other a red robotic lens.

Closer... closer... closer...
Come on, you stupid beast. Come on...

The impact rattled Gaonaga’s bones. His vision momentarily went black, but his fight instincts served him well. His talons found their grip around Exterminus’ front legs, forcing them down. The larger monster kicked and twisted, but the Gaonaga had the better position. He was able to use the muscles of his entire body against Exterminus’ legs. With his right arm, he reached around Exterminus’ back. His claws found purchase in the cyborg’s shoulder blade while the spikes on his armoured shoulder wedged under Exterminus’ left arm, forcing him to keep it raised. Likewise, his horned forced under the alien monster’s chin forced his head upwards, even if it put Gaonaga’s face inches from Exterminus’ meaty pectorals. Finally, he stuck his tail blades under Exterminus’ right arm and grabbed the same arm’s wrist with his left hand. Despite the force of the impact, and despite falling out of the sky at an alarming speed, Gaonaga had completely immobilised his larger, stronger opponent.

Gaonaga panted heavily with the exertion of maintaining his hold. He couldn’t keep this up forever, and they were going to hit the ground relatively soon, with Gaonaga at the bottom. He couldn’t see how close the Earth was with a face full of Exterminus’s chest, but it felt like they were falling fast.
“I know you...” the mechanical voice of his enemy rasped from somewhere above his head “We have fought before.”

Gaonaga and Exterminus had met once before. A statistically improbable but narratively inevitable encounter in the depths of space had sent both of them floating off, licking their wounds. Though truth be told, Gaonaga had lost that fight. I suppose I should thank him. If not for him, I would have never come to Earth.

Exterminus was the product of a lost civilisation, locked in some forgotten interplanetary war with an equally forgotten adversary. He had been designed to strike the enemy on their home front, punching through any spaceborne defences and devastating the vulnerable planet. He was designed, grown, engineered, trained and tested in a space station distant enough from his creators’ homeworld that the politicians were able to sleep at night. But before he could be given his marching orders, his side lost the war. Their enemies had also been working on a doomsday weapon, and they finished theirs first. The scientists and soldiers who staffed the facility where Exterminus had lived his entire life fled, leaving Exterminus alone. Not that he cared. He had a job to do. He had been built for a purpose. He was a weapon intended to end the world. But which world? That was the question he needed to answer. And so Exterminus roamed through the cosmos, devastating planet after planet, hoping that something would click in his brain to let him know he’d found the right one.

And now he had come to Earth. Gaonaga considered this highly suspicious. The last time they met, the creature had been headed in the exact opposite direction. And surely even he had the brains to see that the humans couldn’t have possibly been fighting an interplanetary war thousands of years ago. They had barely made it to their own moon. And then there was the projected point of impact. According to the astronomers, Exterminus would be crashing down directly on top of Aleister Crowley’s school. What was the significance of Elfen High to a creature like him? Of all the landing sites he could have chosen... Gaonaga and Crowley agreed, something was afoot.

“Curious, is it not?” Gaonaga replied, his voice slightly muffled “You selected this planet out of trillions, and it happens to be the one I have made my home?”

“This is the one, I know it!” Exterminus whined back, a desperate fervour in his buzzsaw voice “The light called me here! The light from heaven!”

Light from heaven...?
The centuries since their last meeting had clearly driven him even further into insanity. But was it possible that something truly had summoned him here? Before Gaonaga could ask another question, Hasuragon joined the tangle of limbs. Out of the corner of his eye, Gaonaga could see one slim green arm wrap around Exterminus’ bicep and a spike green head appear over his shoulder. Exterminus twisted and flailed in mid-air, trying to shake her off, but the dragon woman held her grip. Gaonaga could feel his feet slipping on the smooth metal of Exterminus’ legs and dug his talons in further.

A low hum, just on the edge of Gaonaga’s reptilian hearing, began to emanate from somewhere above. He could just make out a hint of white light creeping from behind Exterminus. Hasuragon was casting the spell.

Exterminus kicked...
And Gaonaga slipped.

His feet scrabbled over empty air. His claws raked at Exterminus’ back, but his shoulder spikes were no longer under his arm and that massive fist swung into Gaonaga’s face, sending him head over heel backwards, momentarily stunned. No longer being dragged down by the weight of Exterminus, Gaonaga was once again levitating thanks to Hasuragon’s magic; floating alarmingly close to the ground. He could make out individual cars below him. He got his bearings in time to see Hasuragon thrown off of Exterminus’ back, possibly unconscious, Crowley’s spell aborted half-complete. And Exterminus, diverted from his original landing site, plummeted towards a very familiar skyline.

Of course, Gaonaga thought as he shot downwards in pursuit It's always Tokyo.