Blue Water, Blue Sky

[not_a_prize]

[1]
[To say Regalis Filia was pretty damn trashed after the latest engagement with the Zentraedi was an understatement. Indeed it was designed first and foremost to protect its pilot, it didn't mean the beating wasn't straining in itself. Peola was sitting on the deck of the Macross with a number of bandages on her, kicking her feet lazily as she looked out to sea. Ever so often she'd glance at her bandages in annoyance and tug at them a little.]

For an annoying big talking Pacifist, that jerk Kaifun knows how to throw a person.

[She gives you a wry smile and waves.]

Do you think we did good enough out there?

[2]
[Not too far from the Macross and the Unity Group in town, there was a woman making something of a commotion. She was a tall, brutal looking specimen, numerous scars on her body and face. There was also a distinct air of smugness and a somewhat vicious grin on her face.]



You.

[Her hand snaps out towards you.]

I'm looking for a brat named Peola. I felt and saw her around here... so where is she?

[As she lowers her hand her fingers curl into a fist as bones pop.]

I'm not one for asking twice so you better cough it up.

Comments

[booty_chaser]

Not a lot. She went on about how strength let you do whatever, and badmouthed some guy who apparently was more responsible about using his strength to protect people. He sounded pretty cool, really.

Oh, wait. She said something about "if you ran away from him you might be a better fighter" or something like that. So maybe you knew that guy?

[not_a_prize]

... 'if I ran away from him I might be a better-' what? That doesn't make any sense at all. How does running away from a person make me a better fighter?

[Peola looks tremendously confused.]

I mean the only person I could think of that could fit that description is my father because he was trying to keep me from fighting.

[booty_chaser]

Hey, don't ask me. But this guy sounded like a pretty great guy, and your dad is kind of a jerk.

[Ugh. Maybe she should have tried to get more from her before taking her out]

How many people from your planet do you know that worry a lot about using their power right? Maybe we can, I don't know, narrow it down a bit? Because this woman definitely was from your place - she shot one of those ki balls you do at me.

[not_a_prize]

... There's a bunch of noble families but a lot of the more reasonable ones got overtaken by the ones who want to climb up the status ladder last I heard...

[Peola's trying to dredge up as much as she could think of.]

There's my brother too, he's always been about being responsible as a leader but I learned everything I know from him.

If she's from home maybe she's a criminal or a renegade? It might be why I don't know anything about her. Not exactly stuff that gets mentioned around a princess.

[booty_chaser]

You know what, I don't think we're going to get very far this way.

Maybe we should restrain her and wake her up. I don't think she had any good ideas about you, though, so I'm staying in case she tries something.

[not_a_prize]

I can take care of myself you know.

[Peola has a small grin on her face before it turned serious.]

But I don't mind having someone else around to keep her from doing something stupid.

[booty_chaser]

Well, yeah, but this woman seems the type to try to outright kill - and if anyone is going to take a wound, I'm the one with the self-healing armor suit, remember?

[not_a_prize]

The armor you talk to right? Won't it get mad you keep denting it?

[The tone was joking. Either way though they make their way to the brig where the mystery assailant was thoroughly restrained. She also was very much awake given the angry snarls and shrieks and roars you can hear as she thrashes and tugs. Thankfully rather than giving way, the restraints used had an extremely high tensile strength and the walls were a little too thick for her to bust her way through. And then she saw Ashe, not registering Peola for the time being.]



"YOU!!!!"

[She lunges at the hunter on the other side of the bars. Her restraints doing a very good job of making sure she doesn't even make it a foot towards it before they slowly drag her back to the far wall of the cell. Doesn't mean she won't keep trying to get to the bars. Peola actually cringes pretty hard, the raw aggression this woman was radiating not just in a normal way, but through her very essence was enough to almost make her physically ill.]

That's her!? Sun... its like she's an animal... a rabid one!

[booty_chaser]

Well, at least we know I didn't hurt her too much. I was kind of worried. [She then turns towards the cage]

Hey, hey, relax! [Ashe waves nonchalantly] You know we could have saved ourselves all this if you just tried being reasonable, right?

Anyway, so, you wanted to see Peola?

[not_a_prize]

[At this mystery woman tries to swing her arm to let loose with a ki bolt. Of course lacking the discipline needed to use something that required focus it fizzled a few inches from the bars. She grinds her teeth and looks down before a bitter and somewhat wicked smile twitches on her face.]

"Yes. I did. Though I would've liked to do it on my own terms like I did with her brother."

[This earned a look from Peola, a disbelieving one. Still, she can pick up that she was telling the truth more or less... but there was something else.]

You met my brother? His soldiers wouldn't have even let you ten feet close to one of his camps or the palace... or even the city!

"They didn't. So I made them let me see him. They weren't in a condition to do anything else. So tell me... how was he doing after our fight? Did he lose his eye like I thought they would? Cut off his leg to save his body? The ki poisoning he have still wracking his body from that pathetic struggle he put up?"

[Aaaand Peola just went stock still before a look of seething rage was creeping onto her face.]



You..? You're the one who did that to Harunn?!

[booty_chaser]

Wait, what!?

[Okay, that was unexpected. What the heck is going on. Ashe can only look at Peola with a face that quite clearly demans some sort of explanation because the Hunter has no idea what is going on anymore]

[not_a_prize]

My brother... he's the one who taught me everything I know about fighting. Kept my father off my back for the most part with that stupid plan of his. Practically the only person I could depend on in my family.

[She was trembling with barely restrained anger.]

One day he came back from a campaign on the outer rim of the Kingdom. They had to take one of his legs and he lost an eye... but if it was just that I know he would've done everything he could to get back on his feet.

He was sick when they brought him back. Coughing blood, pale... he could barely move and even talking hurt him. His ki was tainted... its like having something bad running through your body and soul at the same time... All he said was that he fought a terrifying enemy.



"HAH! So it turned out worse! He really was weak!"

[booty_chaser]

Why? [Ashe directs a dangerous glare at the woman in the cell. If she had any sense of self-preservation, it should probably start ringing now] Why did you do it?

[not_a_prize]

"You want to know why? Because I wanted to see if someone I gave birth to... Someone that weakling who managed to get the upper hand on me all those years ago fathered could be worth any sort of challenge."

[The words were insufferably smug. The implications were all the more worse for a now speechless Peola.]

"Surprised brat? I'm your mother. And if you need to have someone around to keep you safe I probably would have done worse to you than to your idiot brother-"

Harunn.

"Hm?"

His name. Is. Harunn.

"And that's supposed to mean something? I don't remember the names of every peon I crush underfoot."

[Peola barely keeps back her temper, though her hands were pretty tightly bunched up and aching to hit something.]

Ashe... I need to get out of here before I do something stupid. Gonna try to talk to the commanders or something to figure out what to do with... her...

"Go ahead! Run off and leave to go bow your head to some weaklings! You obviously know your place is at some fool's feet! Maybe your idiot father can find you a nice fat pig to keep you warm at night!"

[And Peola is storming off as fast as she can.]

[booty_chaser]

So you were his mother. And you did that to him.

Uh... Ashe...? [Model A sounds worried. Ashe sounds very intense. You know those self-preservation alarms? Yeah, they should probably be somewhere around DEFCON 2 right now. Ashe has always sort of idealized familial bonds. She's always wanted to know who her family was, and her habit of taking on "little siblings" is not only for show. So someone like this mystery woman is pressing a lot of subsconscious buttons that should better be left unpressed]

Peola's brother, her father, Peola herself... they're your family! How can you speak to her like that?!

[not_a_prize]

[Despite the fact that Ashe had very easily flattened her and that she herself was restrained? She just gives Ashe a smug look.]

"Very easily. Family? What is that aside from another shackle that keeps you from getting stronger. Unathi thought so highly of it as well along with his duties as a king and it turned him into a cowardly old man on a throne. His own son was infected by that same sentimentality."

[Were she able to lean back and move her legs enough to rest in a way that would scream that she gives no shits, she would.]

"Peola's weak. She'll always be weak and she'll give birth to more weaklings. Better she just bow to some other weaklings will now to save everyone the time. Or better yet. Get thrown off a balcony like I wanted to do with her runt of a little sister."

[booty_chaser]

You're disgusting. [Ashe sounds like somene finding a cockroach stuck to the underside of her shoes. She's glaring at the mystery woman with narrowed eyes]

Do you want to see how "weak" fighting for other people's happiness makes you? Because I can give you a little lesson.

[not_a_prize]

Big talk coming from the one who isn't tied down. So go ahead. Do it. I bet you don't even have the guts.

[booty_chaser]

Don't say I didn't warn you.

[Ashe turns to the security officers] Close the area in case she tries to escape, remote open her restraints. Wait about a minute and you can come in.

[Unsure, the security officers look at each other. But this woman has expressed an outright intention to kill their coworker, which definitely has them unpleased (guards got to hang together among all these crazy heroes, after all), and Ashe seems to know what she's doing, so...

After a bit, the mystery woman's restraints and cell doors come open. Ashe is simply waiting there for the other to attack, at the other side of the door, frowning. A smart person would probably back down now... but that's ot what's going to happen, is it?]

[not_a_prize]

Heh...

[To which she took a moment to relish being unchained again before a psychotic grin spread across her face. There was a very visible aura of sickly purple wrapping around her body.. mainly her hands as she rushed out of her cell and swung her hands at Ashe in a clawing motion!]

DIE!

[booty_chaser]

[But right now our intruder's no longer fighting an Ashe trying her best to make peace and do no damage. Right now what this woman has in front of her is the most powerful Mega Man since X himself actively pissed off at her.

And so there's a blink, and a momentary hint of a purple and white armor - and by the time the jump rush reaches her, there's a complete lack of Ashe and a conspicuous abundance of whirling shuriken blades spinning in a twister of pain where the Hunter was a second ago.

Siarnaq's shape stands in the corridor to the side, the robotic ninja's creepy red eye looking on.]

[not_a_prize]

What-!?

[Yeah that got several cuts to her body and a whole lot of pain. The ki seemed to slowly be sealing the wounds but not healing them. Not per se. Still, Peola's mother lets out an animalistic snarl as she gets back to her feet with nothing but hatred in her eyes as she locks eyes (eye?) with Ashenaq.]

I have no idea how you did that... but I'm going to make sure to break you to bits so you don't do it again!

[Another charge as she attempts to unleash a thunderous punch at the robo-ninja. The ki in her hand almost screaming before it rushed forward in a way reminescent of the Big-O's Sudden Impact.]

[booty_chaser]

[The robo ninja stands there, watching the intruder run at her. But a moment before the punch connects, suddenly Siarnaq becomes Aeolus, a quick arm swinging at his opponent's wrist to redirect the momentum of the punch upwards with a slashing chop, which sends the ki beam harmlessly upwards - before sidestepping like a lightning bolt and discharging a gust of electrified wind like a concentrated hurricane to send the woman flying away and into the wall at the end of the corridor.

Ashe then becomes Mega Man A again, walking towards the mystery woman]

Are you starting to get it? I'm stronger than you, because I fight for something! I fight for those who can't fight for themselves! That is my story - that is who I am! So you're going to come quietly and not even think of threatening my friends again!

[not_a_prize]

[Beaten down, hair standing on end from the electrification and having the everloving hell beaten out of her, the intruder still manages to force herself to look up at Megaman A and attempt to spit at her. The attempt falls short and merely just stains her own clothing disgustingly with the blood flecked 'projectile'.]

"B...bn'ch...'f... n'nsns..."

[She attempts to get up only to crash into the ground. There's just no getting through to some people is there?]

[booty_chaser]

[Ashe walks until she's a little distance away from the prone woman]

Didn't you say that those who are stronger get to tell those who are weaker what to do? That strength was the only thing you respected? It's less nice when you're on the other side, isn't it?

Well, here's what I'm telling you - don't you dare hurt anyone else or talk to your daughter like that again! Understand?