Garud decided that he had a bone to pick with Raiden.

"I'll be going with you Mesden. I feel I need to beat an explanation out of Raiden."

The demon slayer wished that he would not have to fight Raiden. It was probably inevitable though. Nothing could help it. He sent a peice of ice to the wall just so it could shatter.

"Anyone else want to come?"

Essentially, it came down to a choice between mass murder and scheming. Why did they have to torment Arhra so?! POS was clearly a sadist who had set up this entire situation simply to throw Arhra upon the horns of this dilemma.

She was very interested in seeing Phoenix's main base and getting involved in some serious plotting. Unfortunately that would mean no killing, and thus no corresponding power-ups. On the other hand, going with the other group would mean hordes of enemies to wade through and they would likely be tasty. That would mean no scheming though.

If only there was some manner of illogical plot device she could use to be in two places at once. Wait a minute! She might be able to do something along those lines. Excusing herself for a moment, she took Yuri off to the side.

As Arhra released her, Yuri felt the need to point something out, "Ummm... Arhra-chan, you're still completely covered in blood." She started scrubbing at the bloodstains on her arm where Arhra had grabbed her.

Arhra didn't have time to wash, so she unintenionally used the same trick that Mauve Mage had used earlier. She immolated herself, sheathing her body in a nimbus of white-hot fire. That ability gaining trick of hers was handy. A seconds later, she extinguished herself.

Yuri clapped, "That was great Arhra-chan! How did you know your clothes wouldn't be destroyed by the flames?"

She hadn't. Arhra looked at Yuri blankly, mouth working but no sounds coming out. That possibility hadn't occurred to her. Flaming nudity could have been very problematic. Offering a quick thanks to any dark powers of Chaos that had happened to watching, or not watching as it may have been, she decided to change the subject.

"Anyway, I think I might be best off going with the group headed back to PhoenixCorp. What I want to do is send you along with the others who are planning to fight Raiden to keep an eye on them. I think I can set up a channel that will enable you to access some of my powers and should hopefully let us communicate." That would incidently mean she'd have all the upsides of draining enemies, but not have to do it herself.

Yuri's eyes widened, "You want to give such an important task to me?! You trust me that much? Thank you Arhra-chan!" Once again she seized Arhra in a tight hug. Arhra felt lucky she was almost back up to the exalted heights of physical fitness she'd enjoyed as a frail summoner. Otherwise she almost certainly would have died again.

One use of extensive chaos magic later, Arhra had the bond she wanted. It had taken much more power than she would have liked, but she'd have time to rest. A bit of testing proved it worked and the pair returned to the main group.

Arhra launched into her exposition, "Anyway, most of you probably don't know why I have what appears to be a living sketch of an anime girl following me around. This is Yuri."

"Hello!" Yuri added, face beaming in the well known anime smilie.

Arhra continued, "She was one of the BDNTAW she fought but I managed to, ahem," Arhra blushed slightly, "convince her to join us. In the process, I helped her assume a new form to help her distance herself from her previous life. Besides, no-one wants to be a badly drawn hentai girl."

With a total lack of mention of the reasons for her own new, improved (but shorter) appearance, Arhra finished, "Back on topic, I'll be going along to PhoenixCorp to help with the planning there but Yuri will be going with the others. I've managed to lend her some of my powers, so she should be an aid to you."

"Thank you, Mr. O'Sullivan." Phoenixbot says, catching the weapon and casually popping the cylinder out for a new one.

"Actually.... is it scannable?" Pedro asks, examining Krylo's Mod-Bracelet. Apparrently Pedro was very busy, and couldn't scheme fast enough. Quick a cursory scan, Phoenixbot examined the device.

"Negative. The Mod-Bracelet has no noticible emperical substance beyond it's physical form." Phoenixbot replies.

The gentle hum of the Shilone VTOL's lift-fans raised it's pitch for a moment as Phoenix stares at the group of NPFfers. Granted, they were strong, but to go run off after a god in his mountainous horde of minions...

Well, to say it was insane wouldn't quite cut it.

"Well, anyone who's coming with me, get in." Phoenix calls, gesturing toward the ramp behind her, "Anyone who ISN'T coming, good luck. We'll be sure to give you some fire support as soon as we get a chance."

She points at Phoenixbot. "Meanwhile, I want you to keep an eye on them, and make sure they don't die horribly while Pedro and I are working, allright?"

"Well its gotta be obvious where I am going. I mean I am the one that is holding the key to finding Raiden." IC said as the group started spliting. "No time like the present." He turned towards Phoenix "Do you guys mind giving team kick Raiden's Ass a lift over this ocean of blood. I can clear it easy, but I don't no about the rest of them."

Phoenix looked at Inbred curiously. "You kidding?" She asks, "They've got anti-air all over that mountain. I couldn't get within several miles without getting shot down, or anything."

"Looks like you'll have to find an alternate route."

"Well, don't you slash we have some form of fancy cloaking device? I find it very hard to believe that we have all this ass-kickery, but nothing for stealth."

Were they to look at Darth, they would see that he'd gone into the vessel and grabbed the box labelled "For serious doo-doo." It was quite convenient actually. Within the doo-doo box was a clean green shirt in Darth's size, several ammo pouches that could clip onto his belt, much ammo, many speed loaders, and a P90. Thus, Darth discarded his hole-ridden shirt and put on the green teeshirt. He also clipped on the P90 ammo alongside his revolver ammo and loaded the P90.

"Also...I have an odd question. How, exactly, do we kill a super-charged god? I mean, he's been impaled, torn in two, shot in the head, once by me, eviscerated, castrated, turned into a chick, drowned, and stabbed. That is when he was normal. What do we do now?"

Ecurt smiled, answering Darth's question for him. "It's simple-we don't.

"Not that I'm giving up, of course. I have another plan...because after working with Pyros for some time, you find out ways to subdue a god. Besides, it's not like you guys can't say you haven't prepared for this sort of inevitability, right?"

POS pondered the current problem, until a thought suddenly hit him. He'd had the idea for the router system, and then Krylo almost immediately afterward used his mod bracelet to effectively do that very thing. He'd gotten locked on to the idea of using the mod technology after that, not realizing that there had been some new developments between then and now.

Now, they had a technomage.

"Yo, Phoenix," he called out, turning around to face the human one, "You got any Mana-to-Energy conversion systems lying around?"

Phoenix looked up at him, still surveying the surrounding destruction with curiosity and more than a little glee. "What? Oh sure, tons of 'em. Is that all you've been bothering that mod about? Honestly, O'Sullivan.... just get in the damn ship."

OOC: Technically, the ocean isn't blood. The blood is all in the mist. It's the solid parts of the human body which are now liquified and composing that lake...making it far, far worse than blood. ^_^

IC: The instant Asheth had begun her approach, DB had wisely turned himself invisible, and stayed very very quiet, sneaking off after Phoenix and silently praying to whatever dark deities might care that the Magical Girl wouldn't see him.

"Darth," her eyes drew upon the sith lord. Scanning him for this slight fear of his. It was indeed greater than he was letting on. "what do you think I am? Raiden won't be able to do this experiment too fast. Once me and pyros get there, we can handle him. We just need your help getting there."