Situation:Night has fallen, and the new captain of the western garrison, Atolla the lion, has decided to make an appearance to his soldiers.

Considering the soldiers whirled around with a start after the cat snuck up on them all... well, cat-like, the answer was probably no.  They insisted on a different opinion in their spoken response, however.

Atolla shook his head, about to give them a sharp reprimand...and then thinking better of it for some reason.  "Don't let it happen again.  What are your names, hm?  I don't think I saw you two when I was introduced."  Unfortunately, with the gate closed, Atolla wouldn't be able to see the specks in the distance.

Sunflash is laying ontop of a random rooftop, probably close to the middle of town. He wasn't exactly sleeping, more catnapping, watching the sky between naps.

"Well, we were watching the gate, not the city!"  They tell you their names.  (Milo)
A weary Pumpkinhead is slouched here next to the Tent of Wonders.

Off in the distance, there appears to be 6 tiny bobbing red lights, coming out of the forest and onto the road. Moving very quickly towards the gate at that too.  The thudding sounds get louder as -something- appears to be coming quickly to the doors. Any gaurds able to see out would see a fast moving silhouette and 6 red specks of light coming towards the door. 

Right now, though, the guards had their back to the gate making excuses to their Captain.  They did, however, notice the sounds and turn to look.

Atolla makes a face as if to reprimand them for insubordination...and then he hears that thud.  And another.  Blessed feline senses.  "Arc, you can handle a bow, yes?  Man that slit on the left.  Jay, be prepared.  Treat everything as though it were a though it were a threat."  Raising his voice, Atolla asked, "Who goes there?"

There were two more thuds then silence... Until there was a loud FWUMP then a CRASH as something -heavy- slammed into the gates. Suddenly there was loud scratching noises that appeared to be going -up- the gate. octurne}

Atolla doesn't hesitate, he simply orders. "Arc, aim up.  Jay, do the same.  Cover for Arc."  And with that...well, he roared.  A good way to let people know they were in danger, even if it -was- the misleading sort of danger.  And he tensed, ready for a fight.

Arc says 'Hey, isn't that the wanted reploid?'  As they do as ordered.

Nocturne emits a crackling noise as it pulls itself over the top of the wall and quickly scans the ground below.

Arc yells "HALT!" as soon as Nocturne becomes visible over the gate, and if not obeyed, will fire with extreme prejudice.  (Milo)

Atolla roars again, ready to leap the moment it comes down, unafraid of the metal.  Just a little harder to chew than bone, after all.

Sunflash starts, scrambling to his feet to look towards where the roar had came from..."What the hells." He'd hop down to the street, beginning a rush through the slowly forming crowd.

Nocturne looks down at those below silently with dimly glowing red eyes. Crouching quickly, it pounces forward towards the coming crowd with a crackling noise.

Atolla waits for Arc to shoot that first arrow before -lunging- at the bot, hoping to slow it down before it reached anything vital.  Like citizens.

Arc lets loose and immediately nocks another arrow, hit or miss.  Jay prepared to protect Arc or you as the bot jumped but was taken aback when it aimed at the crowd instead.  The civilians quickly scattered, some screaming.

The arrow nicked off the leaping Reploid's shoulder with a few sparks, but it didn't seem to affect Nocturne that much. It landed with a loud FWUMP near the front of the crowd and crackled loudly as it looked like it was about to charge forward into truce.

Atolla works very, very quickly to distract attention from that crowd, teeth going for its throat while claws went for its shoulders...it might not do any more damage than a quarter-ton of lion lunging at you would do, but it would get attention from the bot.  And Atolla'd be off as quickly as he attacked, hoping for Jay to take the unsaid command to flank.

Nocturne quickly focuses it's eyes on Atolla and as the lion lunged onto it. Emitting a loud screechy hiss, it moved forward into Atolla's lunge with hands twitching violently towards him.

Jay maneuvers behind Nocturne and attempts to swing his sword at the bot's back, and his sword leaves a light gash as it strikes its back. It doesn't seem to register the hit as it continues screeching and hissing as it engages you with it's clawed hands and feet.

Atolla shifts his weight slightly so that he's aiming for the bot's arms instead...he'd still slam into it, but at least he wouldn't end up kitty-kabob this way.  If he could get his jaws around just one arm, that'd give Jay a good shot at the thing...

Jay simply continues to push his sword into the existing gash, hoping to penetrate deeper while the bot's main attention is on Atolla.

Arc, meanwhile, takes out a sturdy mace, good at piercing armor, and closes in a well.  (Milo)

Nocturne starts moving sideways now, as Jay pushes his sword into it. Hissing like a hot iron in water, it starts clawing its fingers towards Atolla's face.

Atolla closes his jaws over the wrist, twisting it in such a way that even a Koopa's hand would be broken, and then letting go and jumping back.  Close combat, obviously, was a bad idea, as shown by his bleeding face.  "Keep out of its reach!"

Jay doesn't need to be told twice and backs off.  "So, back to shooting?  Most civilians seem to be gone now."  He shoos a straggler away.

Nocturne grabs at Atolla as he jumps back but seems to change it's mind as it notices it's wrist that is crackling with sparks and electricity. Instead it starts to run towards the crowd behind Atolla.

Atolla lunges at it again, swearing under his breath as he aims for the -other- arm.  Quite a bit of cat being hurled at it, with intent to break its arm -off- would ensure it couldn't do as much harm.

And Nocturne does indeed run into a crowd... of soldiers that were running in at the sound of the roar.  On his approach, they organize into two ranks.  (Milo)

Sunflash , after taking entierly too long to arrive, does so! He screeches to a halt behind the soldier's ranks with an oath. "What the hell is going on out here?" Raiper is drawn and Detect Invis is in effect.

Nocturne Turns as it runs, bringing it's damaged sparking arm in an attempt to slap the lunging atolla. Meanwhile, it continues on it's way towards the crowd.

Atolla would clamp his teeth -down- on that arm, managing...interesting acrobatics in mid-air.  Of course, with the arm sparking, Atolla would NOT be holding that arm any longer than it had to...singed his tongue enough with a second.

The soldiers poke Nocturne with a variety of pointy, heavy, or pointy AND heavy weapons.  Most just use swords, though.

Sunflash gets tired of trying to force his way around or through the ranks of soldiers, and therefore boosts hisself -above- them with a well controled Air Blast towards his feet.

Nocturne uses it's other arm to grab onto Atolla's head and begins the process of twirling about with Atolla on arm and heads into the soldiers in a twirling manner.

Arc and Jay flanked from the other side, or the same side as you.  Arc attempted to protect himself from claws with the shield and landed the mace on Nocturne's head. The lines are too dense to get past without forcefully pushing some aside.

Sunflash lands with a thud behind the action, what with Noc and Atolla heading towards the shoulders. But a rear attack was always nice. He scrambled up from his 'kneeled' landing and whirled about, hand already glowing.

Nocturne tightens it's grip on Atolla's head, it's claws digging into the lion. "CAUTION: UNAUTHORIZED ATTEMPTS TO ACCESS INTERNALS WILL RESULT IN SEVERE ELECTRICAL SHOCK" It screeches out loud, swinging Atolla into Jay. To Atolla, the sounds of crackling in the arms and the funky sensation of electrcity is starting to intensify.

Arc continues bashing Nocturne's head.  His shield and the handle of his mace are wooden, so he's not too scared of the electricity.

Atolla wants to swear so badly, but he can't...so he pulls a rather last-ditch move.  He tries to twist the robot's arm again, knowing that he's opened the thing...maybe he can rip the arm clean off, and get out of the embarassing predicament.  Or he coul

Sunflash mearly curses, cutting his spell off. Can't get a clean shot. So he waits between the fight and the gate.

Nocturne shudders a bit as it's armor gets dented and slashed up by the militia, and some sparks do spray out of some of the wounds.

Atolla continues to twist, hoping for your freaking arm to go limp...or at least give him enough leverage to escape the claws in his head, back off, and let the mob do their thing.

The files of soldiers on either side of the direct attack begin to advance, with intent of surrounding the bot from more sides.

Nocturne makes a loud buzz noise as the powering up sound increases. "HALT YOUR PETTY OFFENSIVE OR THE LION SHALL BECOME CONSUMEABLE" It screeches out as many sparks come flying out of it's arm that Atolla is chomping on. TO the lion, it was starting to get very painfully shocking as snapping electricty coursed in it's mouth.

Sunflash grunts, and decides to take the risk. He mutters a few very choice words, raises his hand, and then points very speficly at Noc's upper left shoulder. Half-a-second later, a Lucent Beam blasts out. If his aim was true, Noc would be hit in back, and

Nocturne is hit with Sunflash's lucent beam. The beam knocks it around violently, and also sends streams of electricity coursing along it's body and into Atolla too. It stumbles around with a deathgrip on Atolla.

Atolla goes limp for a moment there.  You would too, if you'd just been hit with a taser...and as he does, he drags the arm down with him, giving him -just- enough leverage to slip of the claws.  And with super-feline effort, the arm as well.

And on a completely unrelated note, Atolla now looks like he's been through the dryer and smells of burnt hair now.

The ranks of soldiers had hesitated at their attacks due to the threat, but with this opportunity, the one with aforementioned pointy AND heavy weapon (an axe, in other words) takes a swing at the arm.  

Sunflash gives off a rather rancid oath. That could've gone better. Oh well. He would attempt to cast a Tractor Beam, aimed to grab Atolla and move him out of Noc's reach, however undignifed it looked.

Nocturne lets go of Atolla with it's good arm and attempts to backslap the axe away while preparing for a kick at the soldier.

His attack succesfully diverted, the axeman is knocked back and groans a little but quickly recovers his position.

Atolla twitches a bit as he's hauled away...and shakes himself off, issuing orders again.  "Polearms to the front!  Stay out of reach of the claws!  Those of you with metal grips, switch to a ranged weapon!"

Nocturne scrambles up quickly with a hiss and charges for the retreating Axeman as electricty starts zapping out of it.  And Nocturne will be driven off the axeman by a spear poking at him.

The soldiers have formed walls around Nocturne on three sides and are working an the fourth.  A glaive swings from the west side.

Sunflash gvies a nod, backing up towards the gate. He wasn't stuipd enough to go charging into a fray against a reploid.  Arc alone disobeys and continues bashing.  Overconfident, apparantly.

Atolla isn't going into close combat himself, though he is wincing.  "Surround it!  Don't let it escape!  Arc, get back and let the sharpshooters do their work!"

Nocturne charges Arc, ignoring the glaive as it scratches it's shoulder. It attempts to grab Arc in a bearhug with outstretched sparking arms.

Arc blocks one arm with his shield, and slams the other with his mace, aiming right for the claws and hoping to break them off.

The glaive wielder readies his weapon for a second swing, aiming for the legs in a trip attempt.  Various other polearms poke randomly.

Atolla watches the soldiers' actions, making a note to have far more strict training regiments for a while.  "Sharpshooters!  As soon as Arc is out of the way, open fire!  Don't let it back up against a wall, either!"

Sunflash gets a sudden idea. He'd turn around and cast a quick tractor beam, aimed for the top of the wall. He wasn't trying to pull it down, but pull hisself UP. He'd grasp the ledge, and scramble ontop. "Anything -else- coming, I wonder..."

Nocturne retracts the claws that Arc is aiming for and attempts to grab Arc's mace instead. It continues to charge Arc as the shield-blocked arm attempts to slide over or under the shield and grab Arc.

There's still room to dash past if Nocturne decides to do so now, especially since it takes a few moments to ready a polearm for combat and they are clumpsy to carry in ready position while walking.  And Arc, by this point, wisens up enough to move back and avoid further clawing.

Atolla makes a mental note of what Sunflash is doing, and to give the man a formal thanks.  "Those of you with purely metal weapons, or short-range weapons only, go to the western gate!  Keep an eye out for other attackers!  Shooters, open fire!"

Nocturne shrugs off the Glaive with a powerful kick and charges off with a hiss towards the nearest, thinnest section of soldiers for an escape attempt.  Nocturne brings up his arms to block the upper four eyes as several bolts/arrows stick into it. Some sparks fly out from the arrowwounds but it charges anyways.

Atolla quickly yells, "Wall!  Impale it on a spear!"  He -hopes- this tactic has been heard of here...

But even before Atolla's command, Nocturne would already find himself beset by a variety of weapons with really complicated names for what is basically a pointy stick.

The archers, meanwhile, prepare for another barrage.  The arbalesters will take a while longer to reload.

Sunflash looks about, gives another look to make sure, then turns his attention towards the fight below. Crap for crap, can't let it get away... He raised his hand and made a quick jerking motion: Gem Missle! A whole lot of pepples and dirt etc fly up and t

Nocturne attempts to slap or grab some of the -pointy weapons- and pull the soldiers holding them towards it. "...I Surrender..." It calmly says as Sunflash's attack happens.

Atolla is held with a sudden dilemma...and changes his orders.  "Immobilize it!  Chop off its arms and legs if you can, if it continues to fight back, put the point through its head!"

Those with slashing polearms do as told.  Unfortunately, from one end of a long stick, it's hard to put enough force on the other end to sunder metal.

Sunflash grunts. Gutsy call, that. Most wouldn't have done it. He approved, however. He would lower hisself down, tractorbeam being used to help cushion his landing. He'd head towards Atolla at a walk, watching Noc more than Atolla of course.

Nocturne attempts to slap the polearms away but does not make any threatning charges to the soldiers. "I demand  I be treated fairly. Your actions will be considered atrocities."

Atolla snorts as he gives a faint nod to Sunflash, replying, "You attack the city gate, electrocute me, nearly puncture a hole in my brain and almost kill me, charged civilians and soldiers alike, and you're saying that you demand to be treated fairly?  Where I come from, you'd be dead already.  Soldiers, stand down!  But don't even -think- of putting your weapons away...just in case."

Sunflash moves to stand roughly a few feet beside Atolla, muttering briefly. "Watch yourself. That matches a description Milo got yesterday about a rampaging reploid."

The soldiers back off a little, and work on reinforcing the barrier.  No escape here. 

Nocturne says 'I did not attack the city gate. I merely bypassed it. You all were the ones who threatened me first, aiming your bows at me and charging me. I made no threats first."'

Atolla says, 'You did not answer my call to give your name or reason for being out.  You climbed -over- the gate, rather than wait for us to open.  That can very easily be seen as an attack, to soldiers on edge and commanders who have been told to be paranoid.'

Sunflash says '...Not to mention, I'm pretty sure you're the same repolid that was supposed to be on a rampage to begin with. So we already have a reason to bring you in.'

Sunflash says 'Just so ya know.'

Atolla says, 'Oh?  That's another strike, then.'

Sunflash nods.

Atolla snorts a bit, adding, "You also didn't surrender or make -any- peaceful action until you were ruthlessly outnumbered."

Arc chimes in.  "And you completely disregarded when I explicitly ordered you to halt.  ...And I ALREADY TOLD YOU about the charges."

Nocturne says 'Hah. I was just coming down to talk but that lion charged me. I must assume you are all hostile and will attack me. And I never went on a rampage earlier here.'

Atolla says, 'I attacked because, as I said, you never responded.  And I've no real reason to believe you did or didn't go on a rampage here.'

Nocturne says 'How can I respond when you charge when I landed? In addition, I am only escaping from a rampaging female that was shooting at me.'

Arc is quite plain in his response.  "I heard no shots and I saw no-one else."

Nocturne says 'This was in a city with a rocket.'

Atolla says, 'You could've responded -before- you climbed the gate.'

Atolla adds, 'As it is, we have reason to have you locked up and questioned.  There is some doubt to your previous criminal record, apparently.'

Sunflash says 'Right. That doesn't hold any water at all, since there's noone else out there. Let me put it like this: You're outnumbered and annoying. I suggest that you shut down and let us take you into custody, before I see to that you are turned into -scrap-.'

Sunflash says 'Ever heard of -knocking-, nitwit?'

Nocturne says 'There is no knocking. That is not a door.'

Sunflash says 'But the point is moot. Shut up and shut down. Now.'

Nocturne says 'I will not shutdown. I contain information that cannot be possibly tampered with.'

Sunflash says 'How about this then: You let me put some sort of restraint on you.'

Nocturne says 'Are you in a commanding position? If not, please restrain yourself and bring me a person in command.'

Atolla grimly utters, 'I'm the one in command of this garrison, golem.  And as far as I'm concerned, this man saved my life.  He has equal say in what happens to you.'

Nocturne says 'I am not a golem. Present your credentials so i may verify that fact and acertain that you are -indeed- a commanding person in this... army.'

Sunflash looks around idly. "Gentlemen of the guard, am I correct in claiming that this lion is indeed your commander?"

Arc says 'How about that EVERY ONE OF US were here when the General introduced him as our new Captain?'

Sunflash shows his approval by clapping his hands together.

Nocturne makes a beeping noise suddenly. "I cannot assume the word of those assembled without proper visual and official identification. As such, I will assume that my data is compromised and will self destruct with maximium efficiency."

Sunflash says '...Two'll get you fifty. EVERYONE DOWN.'

Atolla says, 'Oh, blast.  Mage?  Don't suppose you can levitate him quite a bit higher?  Or better yet, short-circuit him?'

Sunflash gives a rancid oath, hand starting to glow a rather bright orange. "You have any particlar idea in mind, Captain?" Charges his spell.

Atolla says, '...How about that tower to the west?  It'll certainly knock the wind out of him, and last I checked, we never claimed to be allies with Booster.''

Nocturne dashes towards the ocean side of truce agressively as the archers fire. Some arrows pierce it and get stuck while others glance off it. Smoke and very big sparks are being emitted from it as is very loud beeping and powering up noises. The glow in its eyes is getting very bright as is the streams of electricty seen from the wounds. octurne}

Atolla mutters, '...If you're going to do it, do it now.  And make sure it hurts, will you?'

Sunflash says 'Booster might hate our guts. I dunno if he wanted a window on that 32nd story or not..." He grins evily, giving it just a second longer in hope of reaching that story before letting the spell go, grabbing, twisting, and hurling the thing towards the '

Nocturne feels itself suddenly being flung towards the tower. To the nearby soldiers, they could swear it was giggling. To Nocturne, it twirled in midair, eyes flicking about attempting to find the landing spot.

Atolla nods a bit...and as he takes a step, he kind of trips over his own paws.  "Urg..um, any of you know good trackers?  That can see in the dark, perhaps?  We're not letting that thing go."

As it began the long drop down to earth, Nocturne made some quick calculations. Giggling loudly, it waited until it nearly hit the ground when it suddenly self destructed the lower waist and legs as it ejected the upper torso away towards the fores

A few moogles bounce up next to Atolla.  "We kupan see heat!"  A few pumpkinheads walk up too, more silent.  Members of other races trail behind, unable to see well in the dark but willing to offer combat backup once the thing is tracked.

Atolla nods a bit.  "Good then...I want you two Moogles and you two Pumpkins to lead...two other pikemen into the forest, find that thing, and make sure it's deactivated.  Any wounded?"

There were a few wounded, but nothing life-threatening.  There were just too many soldiers covering each other against a single attacker.

Sunflash gives Atolla a look-over. "Well, we have at least one. We need to get you to a priest, bub."

Atolla nods a bit.  "I'd...appreciate it.  I'm feeling woozy now that the adrenaline's gone...urgh."  And with that, the big lion fell down on his side, moaning lightly.  "Yeah...medic?"

Sunflash says 'Moogles and Pumpkinhead, move out after that...thing. I need someone that knows a few patching tricks over here. Everyone else, back to your posts. Debrief in morning or afternoon.'

Finally, one of the little Matangos steps out and takes a look at the lion.  "This is bad...help me get him back to the infirmary?  He might have some permanent brain damage."  He motions to a few humans, the lot of which take him out.

Sunflash would pass through the ranks, making sure everyone was still accounted for, requesting a change of guard for the rest of the night, making sure the gate was still working, etc.

Meanwhile, the two Pumpkinheads lead the way for the rest, their darkvision being a bit better than the infrared for this part of the trip.  As an afterthought, all of them are armed with either polearms or crossbows.

Sunflash has no official command position, but his orders were reasonable enough and with no real commander around, they do as asked.

Atolla was taken to an infirmary, where they did confirm that he had minor brain damage.  Enough to cause him a lingering headache for several days and make him generally grumpy.  Poor western garrison.

Sunflash decides that everything was as good as they could get after such an occurence, and debates going to find Milo. Instead, he decides to head towards the infimrery, check up on the honorable kitty-kitty first.

Atolla will -not- be in the best of moods, and will probably just growl at Sunflash that he'll thank him for saving his life later.  For now, he just wants that sweet, sweet, healing.

Nocturne flicks it's eyes about as its upper torso starts coming back down again into the forest. It did not feel fear at the loss of it's legs. Rather, it started processing the next directives. <...Order from... Jango...data...complete...Require new directives...> *crackle* It scans the approaching grounds as it comes up quickly. "Jango... Orders... required..." (Rping upper torso landing of Nocturne)

the trackers will alternate, first the Moogles in the lead, and then the Pumpkinheads, sometimes one of each.  They'd eventually find the parts left behind by the legs.  And then they'd debate a bit on whether they should keep searching.  They DID find remnants of an explosion, after all.  After some debate, one of the Moogles takes the largest intact piece to show to Atolla.

Sunflash didn't really stay around to talk to Atolla, simply checking with the doctors that he was going to be okay or no. That done, he decides to head to the fountain, informing the doctors that should someone bring infomation that needed acting on, and Sunflash and Atolla was incable of doing so, to look for him.  Sunflash didn't really expect them to do so, but it was worth a try.

The one Moogle leaves the metal with a message, while the rest of them go to their assorted posts.  And after some talk with the doctors, he'd also pass on the message to Sunflash that all they found was debris of an explosion.

Sunflash absorbs the information, dimissing the moogle with a thank you. He leaned back in his bench, the one cloest to Milo's recuriting bench. "...So. A golemish reploid makes an assuelt against the gate, and by all accounts ends up destoyred." He shakes his head. "Something's not right..." He sighs, and decides to wait till morning. He laied out on his bench, closign his eyes, and attempts to sleep.

Nocturne... you acted against orders...

Nocturne can hear the voice of Jango speaking to it after landing. It's eyes scan about for this -voice- as it props itself up with it's arms. "Orders... were complete. I have made myself out of notice now. They shall ass*cackle*me I have been *hiss* destroyed. Hence, they think nor more of me then just a mere factory assembly unit. All is well...." Says Nocturne to the -voice-

The darkness gathers around the fallen reploid, blotting out the night sky, the stars, and the very trees around it.

I see.

You are a clever one, Nocturne.

Come, we shall set about forging you legs anew.

Nocturne hears this -voice- yet again. "...Clever I am no*hiss*t. I only do what is required..."

I shall send you to my lair, Nocturne.

I will not be long.  I must see about gathering the parts to replace your legs.

Nocturne says '*hissss* Jango....*cackle* BEEP.... I am... humbled...'

I take care of those loyal to me.  It is as simple as that.

Nocturne looks around as it holds itself up with it's arms. "*cackle*...Proceeding into stealth *crackle* modes..." It simply says as its eyes stop glowing. It stays still in the current position.

The darkness surrounds the remains of Nocturne, pressing in closer until there is nothing but the shadow.

And then darkness breaks up, leaving nothing behind but the forest and the dug up ground where the reploid had landed.

As Nocturne is being teleported away, it slowly repowers up it's eyes and other shutdown systems, trying to figure out what is happening.