Jones Sandstrider the Heliolisk
Prankster Platoon
Lotus Den Slums
Affected RPers: @Morzone (Julia), @Neo Emolga (Blackout crew).

“Got somebody on our tail! It’s clumsy, but it’s big with a lot of guns! Here’s where it gets real!”

Jones didn’t answer Tony’s warning; she reacted. “Clumsy” meant “sharpest turns you can make” and “big” meant “find a smaller inroad if you can”. “Guns” was a warning strictly for Cheshire, as far as Jones was concerned.

While the second action item was impossible, the first definitely was. Jones drove like mad, taking corners at speeds that were just barely manageable for even an agile, aerodynamic vehicle like the Talon. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to outspeed whatever tank was chasing them - some of the bigger vehicles were alarmingly speedy - but she was pretty sure she could outmaneuver it.

“They’re taking aim! Chesh, do your thing! Jones, brace!”

Having expected a rain of grenades like the vehicle before had used, Jones was surprised to hear machine gun fire bouncing off of one of Cheshire’s shield walls. Not that she minded; gunfire didn’t shake the Talon the way grenades did. But -

“Jones, they’re aiming ahead!” This time it was Cheshire shouting the warning. “Ahead! Veer right!”

It occurred to Jones to protest that that would send her crashing through the slums, but she didn’t say so. Cheshire knew his stuff, after all. So rather than arguing, she pulled the steering wheel to the right, her frill flaring as she drove the vehicle through abandoned buildings while thick globs of tar landed on the road where her course would have taken her. Frankly, she wasn’t sure that this was any better. The collateral damage was completely pointless, and moreover, she was only losing very little less speed than she would’ve lost in that tar. “More coming?”

There was a split second’s pause - they needed to do better; every second the Talon spent trying to plow through these buildings was a second it spent losing its momentum - then Tony called back, “Nope, the kako got involved with someone else.”

“You’re good to turn back onto the road!” Cheshire called, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Jones was already doing literally exactly that. She’d had the good fortune to find a side street, one that was thin enough that the bigger vehicles would have to plow through buildings in order to get to her.

“Direction?”

“Acceptable!” Cheshire responded. “Keep following this road until it rejoins the main track! We lost the big one for now!”

Jones nodded, feeling tense. It took only a few seconds to get back to the main road - but that backfired pretty much immediately. The Talon shook a bit as a few bullets bit into its rear end, and then another barrier flashed to life in the rearview mirror, bright orange but flashing white and slowly turning red as machine gun shells from some sort of black car bounced off it.

“Tony!” Cheshire snapped. “Can’t hold this! Do something! Jones, do you see him? Maneuvers!”

“On it, babe!” There was a heavy clanking as Tony’s gun pivoted, turning back toward their attacker. More fiery grenades shot out of the Talon and toward the black car, though Jones didn’t bother waiting to see if they hit. She sped up sharply and veered around a vehicle that bore a vague resemblance to a semi truck, sandwiching it between her and her attacker. A ghost Marowak glared sharply in her eye, and she glared right back as she steered back toward it, scraping against its side and attempting to push it into the line of fire. The barrier behind the Talon faded, replaced by the sound of the vehicle’s own gunfire as Cheshire took up his gun, a heavy sniper-like turret with a fire rate that wasn’t fast, but enough firepower to pierce most armor. Hopefully the Meowstic would recover his strength quickly; the Talon wasn’t the best at taking hits, and Cheshire was infinitely more useful with his shielding than he was at gun.

Then again, Jones reflected, the semi-truck she was shoving towards the offending vehicle would probably be pretty decent, as far as armor went.

Mazer Pratten the Greninja
Prankster Platoon (De Facto Leader)
Connive, City Center -> Liaocrack River
Affected RPers: Morzone (Theo).

Oh. Oops. The Quilava was still tied up. How had he missed that?

“Forgive my lapse, darling,” said Mazer. The technique used to make a Water Shuriken could easily be used to create a simpler, more knifelike blade, which Mazer did in order to cut the Quilava’s bonds. “I get a bit excited sometimes, you know, a bit carried away.” When he was finished, he stepped back, “Now, darling, I’m going to exercise a bit of trust, here. My associates and I can get you free of these Black Lotus wretches, but in exchange, you’re going to have to not stab us in the back.” He smiled and began to walk out of the hold, stepping over the Machamp’s corpse, “Now, come, let us go and wreak vengeance on your captors!” He paused. “Oh, and don’t mind my Feraligatr associate when you see him. He’s… well, he’s mostly savage, but he won’t attack you unless provoked.” He probably wouldn’t, but Mazer kept the middle part to himself.

Out on the deck, things were going about the way Mazer had expected - Krum had been pried off of the Infernape, whom Tatia was standing guard over now, and was instead now happily snacking on a Glaceon who’d had the good fortune to die before Krum began his meal. The Platoon ship, a highlighter-pink monstrosity covered in crude pictures of burning lotus blossoms, had dropped anchor and was sitting idly on the river just a short ways away.

“Monkey’s still alive,” said Tatia gruffly, shaking the mostly-conscious Infernape by the bloodstained fur on his back. “Seemed like the ringleader, so I saved him for you, Maze. Figured you’d want to know what this is about, given all the trouble we went to.”

Mazer smiled and clapped his hands together. “So kind of you, Tatia, love!” he said. He then turned back toward the Quilava’s direction. “This might be better if you handled it, though, darling. You might have a better idea of what in Liao they actually wanted from you.”