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Told in present tense. ", "count": "86", "submission_left_submission_id": "3000846", "submission_left_file_name": "4485423_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a2_checking_in.rtf", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/4485/4485423_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a2_checking_in.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/4485/4485423_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a2_checking_in.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4485/4485423_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a2_checking_in.jpg", "submission_left_thumb_huge_x": "269", "submission_left_thumb_huge_y": "123", "submission_left_thumb_large_x": "200", "submission_left_thumb_large_y": "91", "submission_left_thumb_medium_x": "120", "submission_left_thumb_medium_y": "55", "submission_right_submission_id": "3000869", "submission_right_file_name": "4485470_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a4_through_the_storm.rtf", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/4485/4485470_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a4_through_the_storm.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/4485/4485470_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a4_through_the_storm.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4485/4485470_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a4_through_the_storm.jpg", "submission_right_thumb_huge_x": "269", "submission_right_thumb_huge_y": "123", "submission_right_thumb_large_x": "200", "submission_right_thumb_large_y": "91", "submission_right_thumb_medium_x": "120", "submission_right_thumb_medium_y": "55" } ], "description": "And so it begins. If this is the resistance on the surface, what will they find in the skies? Will they be a blind spot, or will the going be even worse up there.\n\nThe rest of Part 9 can be found [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dpESEYSpnb9FPjRI9wJHseNfmmeiw0WklTEbb5DBO-M/edit#]here[/url].\n\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/submissionsviewall.php?rid=c6a9fd4348&mode=pool&pool_id=59838&page=1&orderby=pool_order&random=no&success=]Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "And so it begins. If this is the resistance on the surface, what will they find in the skies? Will they be a blind spot, or will the going be even worse up there.

The rest of Part 9 can be found here.

Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.", "writing": "Act 52: Preparations\n\n[i]That night, a black shadow moved high above the seas, a hum of engines heard as it sped towards its target: the so-called 'Black Isle'. The shadow in question was a vehicle, the same one that had played a role in the rescuing of several kidnapped mons from Sandstone and wiped out the last remnants of the traitor guild dubiously bearing the town's name. Inside the Wolfen Gunship the Night Witches pack wait with nervous anticipation for the inevitable hostilities with the isle's now confirmed automated defenses. However, their nervousness is masked by their practiced discipline. Taluno checks his weapon one more time. This time, they have proper, non-silenced weapons designed for piercing armor.[/i]\n\n[i]Nesala and Ryalo are also on their seats, the former is just patiently waiting until they get there, the latter is just wondering about the fact that they went from a sea of sand to an actual sea...he isn't personally sure which is better. Though both of them are also having the feeling that unlike their previous mission on this planet, this one might not be a 'monkey shoot'. [/i]\n\n[i]As they approach, the silence gets cut as their comms light up, someone is contacting them...it's a friend, the third party that is going to be giving them some support for this mission. With some enthusiasm, he begins introducing himself. \"So, it begins! I have received the orders to assist and got word that you will be the ones taking point on this case. I am helmsman Boris, reporting for duty! Did anyone mention that the submarine comes with a top level operative for covert actions? Well, that's me. You guys can come down into the sub for a more face-to-face introduction, a little tour and more detailed planning. But if you want we can forgo that and head straight for our target, it's your call.\"[/i]\n\n\"'Helmsman Boris, this is Night Witch Lead, Taluno.\" He replies into the comms. \"A meet up before the fireworks start sounds like a good idea.\"\n\n\"Just gotta hope this Boris guy got hardware as good as his top level skills.\" Ryalo commented. \n\"Got it, Night Witch Lead Taluno! you should be able to see the sub surfacing right now, keep your eyes open for a big ocean-based life form, it's what the sub is disguised as, it's big and blue so you shouldn't miss it.\" The guy on the other side of the line instructs them. \nIf the pilot or anyone else on board as their eyes open and looking out at the sea, they can see something big surfacing in the water, it looks like [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/929175355678425098/250.png]a big blue whale.[/url]\n\n\"Hhmmm, Are you flying in something?\" Boris asks from the other side of the comm line. \"The inside could accommodate a flying vehicle through a hatch on the back, if it can fit of course.\"\n\n\"Pos that Boris.\" Eijyu, the pilot replies as she sees the wireframe of the metallic whale appear on image enhancement. \"Looks like your sub is big enough for us to land on. Though then again this thing does have a float feature.\" Its true, all Wolfen model gunships are capable of floating on the water, and this one is no exception. \n\n\"Alright it's up to you, your flying machine can sit outside or 'if it fits, i sit'. Your choice.\" The hatch he mentioned on the top of the submarine begins to open, revealing a lift slowly rising until it gets to the top, it has a big 'H' in the middle which means that's where they can land their gunship if they want to.\n\nWell, just because the gunship CAN float around doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea to leave it floating in the sea for an extended period, especially if the sea turns rough suddenly as seas often do. \"Alright we're coming in for a landing.\" Eijyu takes the black craft in, the metalic rails that make up the landing gear touching perfectly against the raised platform. Only a few seconds after touchdown, the engine quickly slows, before cutting out completely. \"Boris, this is Night Witch Pilot. Alright we're on. Take us down.\" Eijyu sends her reply.\n\n\"Dooooing it right now!\" The lift/landing pad begins going down, taking the gunship down into the submarine as the hatch on top closes. Inside they can hear the noise of sirens around them, this is of course because the lift is moving, when it came to a stop these sirens stopped making noise. They are free to leave their gunship now. There is also something else stored on the side here,[url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/929198536057290772/250.png] it looks like bikes...but they don't have wheels, in fact they seem to have engines for flight and have wings to maneuver in the air so it's a safe bet they can fly.[/url]\n\nThey are now on the main deck, on the landing pad room in the upper level of the moon pool. On an open door not too far from their aircraft there is a tall human dressed up in a blue scuba suit, he is leaning on the doorway and waiting...it might be their ally for this mission.\n\n\"Ah, you must be 'Boris'. Taluno replies. \"Must say I was expecting something other than a scuba suit. Might be a little hard to get around if you need to evade drones on land.\"\n\n\"Yes, if I were to go to land anyways, i'm more of a sea person.\" The human said, slightly clapping his hands as he moves on to the next topics. \"Anyways, welcome aboard! She is beautiful, yes?\" He is referring to the submarine, of course. \"It's a jewel, let me tell you! Fully operational by a skeleton crew of one.\" He then salutes. \"Yes, I am Boris! Helmsman, also chief engineer, gunner, radar technician and cook, eh. You can join me for some canned food later. two decades old but I promise it tastes like it was canned yesterday.\"\nNesala and Ryalo are looking down at the lower parts of the moon pool, it seems like some parts of the floor here are made with glass that one can see through. They can see that there is some water down there...and someone walking past briefly right under them on the lower deck.\n\"Who was that?\" The former, Nesala, asked.\n\"Is that down there like, alright?\" Ryalo has a question of his own, sounding just a little worried.\nBoris walked over and looked down at where they were gazing at. \"Ah, don't worry. Water is not leaking in or anything.\" He points to it. \"No, this here is the moon pool. Allows for storage and launch of secondary craft, submersibles and so on...\" As for the other question. \"That must have been Hauser, his role here is having a look at places where the submarine can go. He is why those bikes are there.\" He now points to said bikes, the ones that look like they can fly.\nWhen they move back a bit they can see a little more of the moon pool, and it looks like there really is [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/929451193019801610/1516497686.png]a secondary craft down there, a smaller sub shaped like some sort of fish...but it's pretty mechanical. [/url]\n\n\"Crew of one? Ah, I see.\" Taluno replies. \"You must have an AI on board or something.\" Though once he sees and hears this 'Hauser' walk by, he questions that.\n\"Hauser? DIdn't you just say this was a crew of one?\"\n\n\"I said 'skeleton crew of one'. That means this vessel can be fully functional and maintained by just one person if need be. Hauser just operates out of the submarine.\" He explains. \"Staying in here alone would have driven me a little crazy, honestly...but anyways, we are getting off topic.\" He turns to that doorway he was leaning at previously and walks through it. \"Come with me. Double time.\" Seems like he wants them to come along now.\n\nThe avali pack look at each other, but soon follow him to wherever he's going.\n\nBoris brought them to the bridge of the submarine, the primary control room. He starts speaking again. \"It's a good thing this Black Isle thing came along, I was going to get involved in some serious taurusshit. Who wants to deal with crazy people that all look alike, eh?\" He approaches one of the big electronic computers, most on one side of the control room, he points one button in the middle and a lot of other buttons. \"Don't touch this.\" He said...before pointing to yet another button somewhere else. \"Don't touch this either.\"\n\"Alright, we won't.\" Raylo has to admit this fella is a little eccentric...\nBoris goes points to another button yet again, and he leans in close to it for emphasis. \"Touch this and we all might die...\" It sounds like he isn't serious about that...probably.\nAlright, maybe more than a little eccentric.\nHe then gestures to the rest of the systems, the helm and the rest which is thankfully far away from the 'don't touch this' buttons he just mentioned. \"Anyways, these you can touch.\" With that introduction of the sub's controls out of the way he goes to the large, horizontal touch-screen in the middle of the control room, he touches it and it begins displaying [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/929477684772372540/planning_screen.png]some sort of rough map,[/url] it doesn't have a lot but it's displaying the maximum radius of the fog, among with displaying other information they might already have on hand, such as the perimeter drone model.\n\n\"So Hauser had a little flight away from the fog and we calculated how far the fog reaches around the Black Isle, so we have an estimate of how much the perimeter stretches around the Black Isle, assuming it is in the center of it all.\"\n\nTaluno looks over the map, a claw on his chin. \"Okay, so the Orange is the island, and the blue is... the fog?\"\n\n\"uuh no, the blue is the ocean, orange is the fog that encircles the island, it also marks the perimeter that the drones seem guard. The island should be somewhere in the middle of that fog, but we don't know exactly what it looks like.\"\n\n\"Let alone what kind of resistance is on the island itself.\" Ranyu comments.\n\n\"Right.\" Taluno replies to his packmate while still looking at the map. \"Have you done any more scoutwork since your first encounter with this island? Is there any more info you could tell us before we go in?\"\n\nHe shakes his head. \"Not quite, but there is a plan to scope it all out using the drones themselves. Well, it's more Rotom's idea.\" \nThe man proceeds to give the side of the planning screen a few slaps. \"Rotom! Get out here and tell our friends your idea.\" \n[url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/929529055546585089/unknown.png]The whole planning screen suddenly changes, becoming entirely orange with two blue eyes in the center and a small smile.[/url] And it begins talking to, with voice sounding electronic. \"Bah, i was sleeping. Is it already time?\"\n\n\"Oh...is this your vessel's AI?\" Nesala asks, after all this does appear to be the case. \n\"How dare you?\" The 'AI' sounds offended all of the sudden. \"I will have you know that i am actually smart, i have actual intelligence, it's not artificial!\" The planning screen turns off for a moment as whatever is inhabiting it floats out of it, revealing [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/929530689030860831/250px-479Rotom.png]some sort of small creature made of energy in the shape of a lightning rod, it also has a whitish blue aura of electricity around it that forms lightning bolt-shaped appendages.[/url]\n\nThe female Avali soldier is taken by surprise by this. \"What the...?! Did it just came out of the system?!\" \nBoris thinks its best to say something here, things are getting off-topic again but...the Avali here probably need context. \"This here is just another pokémon. It is made of plasma.\" \nGood thing he said that because Raylo was just about to reach and touch it thinking it was just some sort of hologram. \n\"It's a species of pokémon that can go into electronic devices, it can go into computers, refrigerators and most importantly...drones.\"\n\n\"Hmm, so is this little guy from your universe, or this one?\" Taluno asks. \"Because I certainly haven't seen any of them like this.\"\n\n\"I find it very unlikely that you can find Rotom in this world, it can not really exist without electronic technology. We speculate that they might start appearing naturally once technology becomes common here, we will see.\" Boris crosses his arms. \"Soooo, Rotom. Please calm down and just explain your plan to them.\"\n\"Hhhhhmhmmmm...Alright!\" One moment it was angry and now it is all happy. \"So this Black Isle uses these drones, right? And we don't even know if there are air defenses that can shoot you down faster than you can blink! So what better way to circumvent any security than literally wearing the enemy? But we don't want to poke them too hard either right? So I made some calculation on the behavior of the Drones based on the first time we saw them. They look at you for a few moments before lasering your asses to death! In those few precious moments if i can get close enough i could try infiltrating into a drone and just fly to the Black Isle to scope it out for ya! I think Hauser and his broomstick are fast and flexible enough for this.\"\n\n\"Broomstick?\" Taluno questions. \"You mean the bikes?\" Because the only alternative seems to be the rather humorous picture of Boris in a wetsuit riding on a literal broomstick like someone out of [i]Gary Bother and the Vault of Classified Material[/i]\n\nBoris nods. \"Yes, the bikes.\"\n\"I could pilot one myself, just saying.\" Rotom brags. \"But I would have to drop out of it to go into the drone and it would crash into the ocean and there stritch instructions not to just drop any technological stuff in this world. And Hauser gets mad if anyone touches those things.\"\n\"Damn right I got angry!\" A new voice speaks, it belongs to that other human by the door way, other than being smaller than the other guy in the room he is dressed in some sort of black bodytight lightly-armored suit, he also has a helmet on that fully cover his head, with glass of the visor having a big red 'H'. \"You can't go throwing expensive equipment down the drain, my bikes are not for joyrides that result in them crashing against everything in sight!\"\n\"Ah, there you are. Good.\" The other human says to this newcomer. \"This is Hauser but I think you probably already deduced this. We are talking about scooping the island with Rotom's help.\"\n\"Is that so?\" He steps toward the planning screen and looks at the Avali. \"Ah, you are those 'Avali' I heard about. Nice ship by the way.\"\nOh good, Raylor was thinking this guy was going to be a little 'problematic' with them judging by his general tone.\n\n\"Ah, greetings Hauser. I'm Taluno, the squad leader of this pack.\" He extends an open-handed palm towards his packmates, one by one. \"This is Ryalo, Nesala, Eijyu, and Ranyo\"\n\n\"It is a pleasure to meet you.\" Nesala respectfully says to this human.\n\"Alright I see. So what are you guys planning to do? Are they on board with the idea of the scoping plan?\"\nBoris nods. \"Yes, it seems to. If this works out we might learn the extent of the island's defenses and how we can approach it.\" He looks to the Avali, to Taluno specially. \"You are okay with waiting here a little while these two go capture a drone? I promise things won't get boring, we can watch him do it through a camera he has in his helmet.\"\n\n\"Well it was better than our original plan.\" Taluno admits. \"Just for reference, the original plan was to go in high-altitude since the sea-hawk type drones are primarily low-altitude and undersea-based, and in the advent of SAMs use chaff or heat-drones to draw the locks off somewhere else, and then basically just drop right on top of them.\"\n\n\"Well, you can never be too careful. Knowing is always half the battle right?\" To Boris, this sounds like a 'yes' from Taluno. \"Alright Hauser, off you go. You too Rotom. I'm gonna open the hatch on the upper level of the moon pool so you can fly out.\"\n\"Right, got it. Come on your finicky little thing.\" Hauser said to the Rotom as heads out of the Submarine's bridge with and back to the upper level of the moon pool where the Avali's ship is stored at the moment. He can see that the hatch above is indeed opening like his fellow man said it would. He picks one of those bikes, and the Rotom goes right into it, much to his annoyance but it is one way to bring the pokémon along and as long as it doesn't do anything like kill the engine in mid-flight he will tolerate it.\nHauser makes sure his helm is secure to his head before climbing on the bike and putting his hands firmly on the handlebars, bringing it's engine on and making it hover in place. Then he makes the flying bike point up at the open hatch above and then triggers a boost that makes him fly right out of the submarine quickly.\n\nAnd he is off, flying in the direction of the mysterious Black Isle with his speedy air vehicle. His altitude gradually decreases until he is flying just above the water.\n\nAs he speeds across the water's surface and into the fog, there is a disturbance under the water, soon, something shoots up from just below the surface. An ominus buzzing hum is heard as it hovers in place. Another drone. Just as anticipated.\n\nWell, here it is, one drone as ordered... \"Get in it before this thing decides it's wrong for me to be breathing, please.\" Hauser says through gritted teeth as he enters a staring contest with this automated defense apparatus. \n\"Weeeee!\" Rotom shoots out of the bike's headlight, like a small bolt of lightning, straight into the drone. Well, time to take control of it now, hopefully it's not too difficult.\n\nAs the Rotom speeds towards the drone, said drone revs up its L30 laser minigun, trying desperately to swat it down. But because of the angle, it finds it has to back up, to tilt back and up. it backs up, trying desperately to get the Rotom in its sight...\nBut it is for naught, as the Rotom is soon on top of it with very little real trouble. \nHowever, they soon have a problem. Namely, it wasn't the only one, as two of its 'friends' pop out of the ocean below, one right next to it, and the other some distance away.\n\nWell, while Rotom is going to deal with invading the first drone, it looks like Hauser is going to have to be content with defending himself and distracting these other two drones. Might be doable, the two front-facing machine guns are not impressive but he will have to make use of them so he places his index finger over a trigger on the handlebar. He turns the hoverbike to face one of the other drones and begins shooting at it.\n\nThe drone is moderately armored, and it doesn't go down quite as easily as planned. A small bit of armor plating falls off the first one, but now their laser MGs are reving up, and it turns out that the guns aren't as 'front-facing' as he originally thought: they can pivot after all, and soon they're trained on him!\n\n\"Damn it...fine let's see if you can hit a small target flying at high speed!\" He uses the hovebike's boost for a burst of speed to go from 0 to over 80MPH to fly past the drones, right between them too. Now he begins turning around to prepare for an attack run, though that depends if the drones are fast enough to train their weapons on him again or not, if that is the case he will have to try more evasive maneuvers.\n\nThe drones guns open fire and swivel, blazing beams of lights shooting out of the barrels of their guns as they spin. Luckily so far they are missing, but they are shooting rather close, too close for comfort.\n\nDamn that was close, Hauser could have sworn he felt the warmth of one of those laser shots grazing his back. He doesn't dare go for an attack run on the drones just yet, he just settles for flying around them while going up and down to throw off their aim. \nMeanwhile Rotom has that first drone under control now. What an exciting new body this is. Though it also appears his human friend is in trouble, while the other drones are distracted with him, the capture drone approaches them from behind while revving up it's own L30 laser minigun. \n\nThe other drones seem oblivious to their 'fellow's hijacking, continuing their assault upon the speedy hoverbike. Their burst of fire ends, only to be followed up by another. This time, one of the beams gets frighteningly close to home, barely missing the human's head but shaving off a bit of metal on the bike...\n\nHauser is flying for dear life trying not to get shot, virtually 'pinned down' by the barrage of lasers. Meanwhile the other drone under the control of Rotom opens fire on the other two hostile drones, turning it's energy weapon while firing to try and take out both of them at once.\n\nDue to the nature of the weapon, it's only able to fire on one at once. Luckily, it seems to hit a weak point, , the joint where the weapon hangs from the body. The laser sparks against the metal as it collides, and the weapon falls off, still spinning as it falls into the sea. The drone for just a moment seems to not notice that its weapon is gone, as it still maneuvers towards the fleeing human as it it were lining up another shot. However, soon it emits a series of beeps, and dives down under the water from whence it came. It does not resurface. \nThe other one fires again, near missing the human by a mere inch. For tech that's a century old, this thing is still incredibly dangerous, Even with its companion combat incapacitated, it still seems not to notice that another of its 'buddies' has been hijacked.\n\nOne less drone means Hauser can be juuust a little calmer as he has half of the amount of energy weapons firing at him. He has to admit these things have good aim regardless, if he was going slower he would have been in serious trouble.\n\"How do you like that huh?!\" Even though this weapon isn't quite as flexible as it though, the Rotom is still hyped about using it. \"My super laser piss!\" Now it sets the last enemy drone on it's sights and fires more lasers at it.\n\nThe drone, still in pursuit of Hauser revs up its gun and fires again. \nThe laser misses Hauser, sparing his life once again. His bike however is not so fortunate. It takes a hit in the engine, and smoke bellows from the damaged part. Any more damage and the bike would be finished.\n... A prospect that is not to be however, as Rotom's own 'laser piss' peirces the drone's reactor, causing a brief fire before it dives towards the sea, and explodes in a fireball just before it could reach the water.\n\nThe human noticed an impact followed by a constant alert beeping, then looked down at the engine of his hoverbike, it's smoking...that's not good. He made a sharp turn to face to drone, deciding that it's now or never to try shooting it down but it looks like Rotom already took care of it. With things having calmed down, he flies close to the captured drone. \"....Super laser piss?\" He asks, incredulous as from where the ghost in the machine got that one from.\n\"I mean yeah! I think is what having male genital is like?\" Rotom asks from inside the captured drone, making the laser minigun move up and down like it's flexing it's 'member'. \"It makes me feel kind powerful!\"\nMaybe someone else would like the humor of this mon more but...Hauser is on the fence about it. \"K. You got the drone, go do the scoping now, I'm going to fly back to the sub before anything else shows up.\" And he flies off back to the sub right away, he doesn't want to tempt fate by staying here.\nThe captured drone watches the human fly away back to base, then turns around to go in the opposite direction, towards the Black Isle. \"Nyooooooooom!\"\n\nThe avali special agents watch this all unfold on camera.\n\"Glad that human got out of that as well as he did.\" Taluno comments. \"For a moment there I thought he was done for.\"\nHe turns to Boris.\n\"So at what point do we go in?\"\n\n\n\"Geez he was flying around like an insect trying not to get swat.\" Ryalo commented on what he saw.\n\"After Rotom is done scoping the island.\" Boris replied. He thought they would need to wait for Rotom to come back but the planning screen that they were watching everything unfold starts beeping. \"Oh, we're getting a signal...?\" He pokes a finger on the touchscreen, and the footage from Hauser's point of view gets replaced by what the captured drone is seeing as it goes through the fog.\n\"Or perhaps we will accompany that.\" Nesala said.\n\nA large island comes into view. As the drone gets deeper into the zone, it starts raining, and soon, there is a storm. Perhaps some sort of 'natural' security system to take care of any stragglers that go in this deep? The seas below are pitched and stormy, as if in the middle of a hurricane, and the drone has a hard time navigating from the sky, probably why they spend most of their time underwater instead. \nSoon however a large form comes into view. Taking up the entirety of the island is what appears to be a large fort or castle, with large cliffs off the side. At least from a distance. A closer look reveals the 'fort' to be metallic in nature. However, to their slight surprise, the island looks... wrong. And as they get closer, it's apparent what exactly looks wrong with it. Far from the well-maintained structure they were expecting, the island fort closer-up looks intact, but dilapidated. \n\"Hmmm... A bit disturbing, if I might say so myself.\" Taluno comments. \"I wouldn't want a ship out here. That's for sure.\" As it flies above the fort, the squad note that there seems to be a severe lack of any type of surface lookouts. No humans in USCM suits, or anything else, patrolling the 'battlements' or the rooftops.\nThough then again that might not be a surprise, given the stormy nature of this place. \n\"Huh... that's odd.\" Eijyu points out. \"I'm not seeing any anti-air emplacements either.\"\nHe's right. it doesn't seem like there are any static ones hanging outside. Automated or otherwise.\n\"That doesn't mean they aren't there though.\" Taluno points out. \"They could just be concealed or retracted.\"\nStill, it looks like a more close-up investigation might be in order. Whether Rotom can do that, or whether they must do it themselves, has yet to be determined... \n\nThis storm is not being too friendly for Rotom, so it can't get any closer to the island without issue. However there is one more thing left to check. It begins flying lower and lower until it goes underwater, the drone is a submersible too after all. It decides to have a look at what is below the surface of the island, who knows, perhaps there is something worth noting down here too, like sea mines? Otherwise if there is nothing of note then scoping is pretty much complete.\n\nThere are, in fact, sea mines down there. Or what can be assumed to be mines. Large, circular, spiked objects just floating in the water. But they look... old. Decayed. Like they haven't been swapped out in a long time. Some of them are exploded and lay on the seafloor. \nBut more interesting down there is what appears to be a doorway. A small one, large enough only for these sea-hawk drones to come in and out of. There may be another larger door for larger craft but it's not visible.\n\nOh, an entrance that looks like this sea-hawk drone body can fit in? How very tempting, so tempting that Rotom decides to go in to see what's inside!\n\nAs the Rotom-jacked drone maneuvers enters the hole, it travels down a narrow corridor, only tall and wide enough for four tightly-packed drones to navigate at a time. However, there is soon a light at the end of the tunnel, and as the drone breaches the light... ...It is met with another wall. Metallic, and rusted, right in front of it. \nBefore Rotom can turn around and go back the way it came, however, a voice booms out. \n[b]SH DRONE #27 CHECKED IN FOR MAINTENANCE.[/b] \nBefore Rotom can react, something from above it immediately grabs the drone, and pulls it out of the water, as a door closes underneath it. The drone's movement is restrained here. From what it can see however, there is a large bay area, and a door on the other side, way too small for the drone of this size to move through. Speaking of drones though, it can spot more robots running about. [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/929902480265994240/Repairbot_Right.png]Weird orange and gray metal cylinder-like things on one wheel with a rounded box for a head that wear strange, perpetually smiling faces with a pair of antenna 'ears' sticking out the top of them[/url]\n\n[b]SCANNING FOR DAMAGES[/b] The booming, yet monotone female voice rings out as a metallic arm with lowers from the ceiling, only to stop a small distance above the drone. A blue, gridded light shoots out from the 'arm', enveloping the drone. This continues for several moments before it quits, and retracts to the ceiling from whence it came. \n[b]MINOR DAMAGE DETECTED. INITIATING REPAIRS[/b] \nUpon the strange unseen voice saying this, a group of those weird orange droids begin making their way over to the Rotom-possessed drone. A port on their 'chests' open up, revealing a long tentacle-like appendage with various tools on the end of it, as they begin working on the drone.\n\nRotom thinks this feels kind of funny, and a little creepy. It is not happy with this robot giving it the 'bad touch' with that smile on its face. But this is another opportunity to get another new body and go even deeper into this place, an 'inside mon' is always good for operations after all. Rotom then 'jumps' from the Sea Hawk drone to this Maintenance robot.\n\nAnd it looks like it transferred just in the nick of time too, as soon after the repairs are done, the repairbots scatter, off to do other tasks or wait for the next Sea Hawk to report in for maintenance, as a tentacle-like wire protrudes from the arm, and jams itself into an unseen port in the back of the drone's 'head'.\n[b]RUNNING SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTIC[/b] The voice booms. If Rotom had stayed in that Sea Hawk, there would have been at least some risk of its discovery. \nAs of right now, whoever, or [i]whatever[/i] is running the show around here appears none the wiser to its presence... For now at least. No telling how long that will last. Best keep a low profile though, just in case it decides to run a 'diagnostic' on these repair bots as well.\nEspecially since this new body does not have any sort of armaments outside of its maintenance tools and does feel anywhere near as heavily armored as the Sea Hawk does.\n[b]DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE. NO ANOMALIES DETECTED. DRONE MAINTENANCE COMPLETE.[/b] The hatch below slowly opens, prompting the repair bot to move off of it before it falls into the water. The arm turns the drone around while it places it back in the water, before retracting back up, minus its Sea Hawk drone, which is presumably swimming back to its duty at this very moment. \n\nThe ghost in the machine pats itself on the back some more for it's wise decision to jump into this new body. Though this body does feel more awkward then the Sea Hawk, having a single wheel for locomotion is like having both legs tied together and Rotom don't have legs! Now it's time to press this advantage. It acts as naturally as possible, or tries to at least, while going around looking for a possible way up to the upper parts of this abandoned base.\n\nBack on the sub, the screen cuts out as soon as Rotom jumps out of the Sea Hawk. \"What happened?\" Taluno asks, a little worried. \"Did we lose him? Did they find him?\"\n\nBoris rubbing his chin. \"Hhhmmm, no i don't think so, doesn't look like Rotom was panicking i think. He could have jumped into that robot we saw before the feed cut.\" He says. \"But well, we have more visual information on the island, so scoping is done so far AND, if Rotom is still alive, we got someone on the inside!\" There is a moment of silence. \"...But I really hope it is alright, I like that little guy.\"\nHauser walks into the submarine's bridge, panting and slightly shaking from almost getting shot down. \"Okay, I got Rotom into that drone, what happens now.\"\n\"Well he was a bit of an overachiever and went into the Black Isle.\" He says to the other man. Then he organizes the footage they saw into screen shots of the exterior of the island, if Taluno and his squad wish to have one last look at it before springing into action. \"Alright, now it's your turn, Night Witches. We have a secure communication channel and I will try to monitor what happens outside of that old base. You are the boots on the ground, I'm the eye in the sea, eh? But there is only one Night Witches squad, and this is going to be in your hands now. If you get surrounded and hurt in there I will not be able to help, but I will tell anyone who listens what brave souls you all were.\" Gotta keep it real with them after all, but he does wish them a safe travel.\n\"We uuuhh...appreciate that.\" Raylo replied to that last thing Boris said.\n\n\"Hmph, I appreciate the vote of confidence.\" Taluno says.\n\"Yeah, we've been through worse than this.\" Ranyu adds in.\n\"Still...\" Taluno replies. \"It would help to review the footage one more time before they set out.\"\n\n\"Coming right up.\" He brings their attention to the planning screen again, it begins playing the footage of what Rotom say on the island so they look it over one more time.\n\nOnce again, they note the lack of defenses or active patrols on the topside of the fort. No anti-air batteries, and no SAM or missile racks. At least from what can be seen. Again, this doesn't discount them being retracted. Though if they are hidden they're hidden well as they can see no sign of bay doors. They do however see one possible entrance from the side. A possible opening for aircraft to land on in the 'courtyard' As the footage goes into the maintenance bay, Taluno scratches his chin. \"Notice something funny here?\" He asks.\n\nBoris narrows his eyes a bit and looks closer at the screen. \"Oh? Like what?\"\n\n\"Let me be more precise... notice something not there that should be there?\"\nHe waits for a response... but getting none, he continues. \n\"I haven't seen a lick of non-robotic activity anywhere.\" He notes. \"No soldiers in uniforms. No lab coat wearing scientists or civies in the repair bay. Nothing.\"\n\n\"Yeah...\" he nods. \"And pretty much no one to keep the exterior presentable. No sign of carbon-based life forms at all...It must be just the robots and drones who 'populate' the place.\"\n\n\"Quite possible that this base is abandoned, as the USCM tends to leave its automated systems running if they abandon a place, just to deter looters in case they ever decide to come back.\" Taluno confirms.\n\"... Which they never do.\" Ranyu adds in.\nTaluno nods to that. \"Either that, or it's being run by a skeleton crew. Either scenario is extremely likely. Though in the former case, that would make things significantly easier on our end.\"\n\n\"Well they always say that shooting at robots is a guilt-free process.\" At least that's what he thinks he means with it being 'easy'. \"And if they don't come back I think we don't have to worry about them complaining about us infiltrating their old base and damaging their property.\"\n\n\"That too.\" Taluno nods his head. \"Well, we won't know for sure until we get in there, so no more point in wasting any more time. That Rotom is counting on us to bail it out, so let's not keep it waiting.\"\nHe turns towards his pack.\n\"Alright, Nightwitches, back to the bird. On the double!\"\nThey nod, and follow him back to the gunship, piling on board, and Eijyu takes her place in the pilot's seat. \n\"Alright Boris, we're ready to begin. Bring us up.\"\n\nNo need to say that twice, the submarine's helmsman already has the hatch above them opening, and the lift under the ship brings it up to the outside. Now their pilot is clear to bring their aircraft up into the air.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Act 52: Preparations

That night, a black shadow moved high above the seas, a hum of engines heard as it sped towards its target: the so-called 'Black Isle'. The shadow in question was a vehicle, the same one that had played a role in the rescuing of several kidnapped mons from Sandstone and wiped out the last remnants of the traitor guild dubiously bearing the town's name. Inside the Wolfen Gunship the Night Witches pack wait with nervous anticipation for the inevitable hostilities with the isle's now confirmed automated defenses. However, their nervousness is masked by their practiced discipline. Taluno checks his weapon one more time. This time, they have proper, non-silenced weapons designed for piercing armor.

Nesala and Ryalo are also on their seats, the former is just patiently waiting until they get there, the latter is just wondering about the fact that they went from a sea of sand to an actual sea...he isn't personally sure which is better. Though both of them are also having the feeling that unlike their previous mission on this planet, this one might not be a 'monkey shoot'.

As they approach, the silence gets cut as their comms light up, someone is contacting them...it's a friend, the third party that is going to be giving them some support for this mission. With some enthusiasm, he begins introducing himself. "So, it begins! I have received the orders to assist and got word that you will be the ones taking point on this case. I am helmsman Boris, reporting for duty! Did anyone mention that the submarine comes with a top level operative for covert actions? Well, that's me. You guys can come down into the sub for a more face-to-face introduction, a little tour and more detailed planning. But if you want we can forgo that and head straight for our target, it's your call."

"'Helmsman Boris, this is Night Witch Lead, Taluno." He replies into the comms. "A meet up before the fireworks start sounds like a good idea."

"Just gotta hope this Boris guy got hardware as good as his top level skills." Ryalo commented.
"Got it, Night Witch Lead Taluno! you should be able to see the sub surfacing right now, keep your eyes open for a big ocean-based life form, it's what the sub is disguised as, it's big and blue so you shouldn't miss it." The guy on the other side of the line instructs them.
If the pilot or anyone else on board as their eyes open and looking out at the sea, they can see something big surfacing in the water, it looks like a big blue whale.

"Hhmmm, Are you flying in something?" Boris asks from the other side of the comm line. "The inside could accommodate a flying vehicle through a hatch on the back, if it can fit of course."

"Pos that Boris." Eijyu, the pilot replies as she sees the wireframe of the metallic whale appear on image enhancement. "Looks like your sub is big enough for us to land on. Though then again this thing does have a float feature." Its true, all Wolfen model gunships are capable of floating on the water, and this one is no exception.

"Alright it's up to you, your flying machine can sit outside or 'if it fits, i sit'. Your choice." The hatch he mentioned on the top of the submarine begins to open, revealing a lift slowly rising until it gets to the top, it has a big 'H' in the middle which means that's where they can land their gunship if they want to.

Well, just because the gunship CAN float around doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea to leave it floating in the sea for an extended period, especially if the sea turns rough suddenly as seas often do. "Alright we're coming in for a landing." Eijyu takes the black craft in, the metalic rails that make up the landing gear touching perfectly against the raised platform. Only a few seconds after touchdown, the engine quickly slows, before cutting out completely. "Boris, this is Night Witch Pilot. Alright we're on. Take us down." Eijyu sends her reply.

"Dooooing it right now!" The lift/landing pad begins going down, taking the gunship down into the submarine as the hatch on top closes. Inside they can hear the noise of sirens around them, this is of course because the lift is moving, when it came to a stop these sirens stopped making noise. They are free to leave their gunship now. There is also something else stored on the side here, it looks like bikes...but they don't have wheels, in fact they seem to have engines for flight and have wings to maneuver in the air so it's a safe bet they can fly.

They are now on the main deck, on the landing pad room in the upper level of the moon pool. On an open door not too far from their aircraft there is a tall human dressed up in a blue scuba suit, he is leaning on the doorway and waiting...it might be their ally for this mission.

"Ah, you must be 'Boris'. Taluno replies. "Must say I was expecting something other than a scuba suit. Might be a little hard to get around if you need to evade drones on land."

"Yes, if I were to go to land anyways, i'm more of a sea person." The human said, slightly clapping his hands as he moves on to the next topics. "Anyways, welcome aboard! She is beautiful, yes?" He is referring to the submarine, of course. "It's a jewel, let me tell you! Fully operational by a skeleton crew of one." He then salutes. "Yes, I am Boris! Helmsman, also chief engineer, gunner, radar technician and cook, eh. You can join me for some canned food later. two decades old but I promise it tastes like it was canned yesterday."
Nesala and Ryalo are looking down at the lower parts of the moon pool, it seems like some parts of the floor here are made with glass that one can see through. They can see that there is some water down there...and someone walking past briefly right under them on the lower deck.
"Who was that?" The former, Nesala, asked.
"Is that down there like, alright?" Ryalo has a question of his own, sounding just a little worried.
Boris walked over and looked down at where they were gazing at. "Ah, don't worry. Water is not leaking in or anything." He points to it. "No, this here is the moon pool. Allows for storage and launch of secondary craft, submersibles and so on..." As for the other question. "That must have been Hauser, his role here is having a look at places where the submarine can go. He is why those bikes are there." He now points to said bikes, the ones that look like they can fly.
When they move back a bit they can see a little more of the moon pool, and it looks like there really is a secondary craft down there, a smaller sub shaped like some sort of fish...but it's pretty mechanical.

"Crew of one? Ah, I see." Taluno replies. "You must have an AI on board or something." Though once he sees and hears this 'Hauser' walk by, he questions that.
"Hauser? DIdn't you just say this was a crew of one?"

"I said 'skeleton crew of one'. That means this vessel can be fully functional and maintained by just one person if need be. Hauser just operates out of the submarine." He explains. "Staying in here alone would have driven me a little crazy, honestly...but anyways, we are getting off topic." He turns to that doorway he was leaning at previously and walks through it. "Come with me. Double time." Seems like he wants them to come along now.

The avali pack look at each other, but soon follow him to wherever he's going.

Boris brought them to the bridge of the submarine, the primary control room. He starts speaking again. "It's a good thing this Black Isle thing came along, I was going to get involved in some serious taurusshit. Who wants to deal with crazy people that all look alike, eh?" He approaches one of the big electronic computers, most on one side of the control room, he points one button in the middle and a lot of other buttons. "Don't touch this." He said...before pointing to yet another button somewhere else. "Don't touch this either."
"Alright, we won't." Raylo has to admit this fella is a little eccentric...
Boris goes points to another button yet again, and he leans in close to it for emphasis. "Touch this and we all might die..." It sounds like he isn't serious about that...probably.
Alright, maybe more than a little eccentric.
He then gestures to the rest of the systems, the helm and the rest which is thankfully far away from the 'don't touch this' buttons he just mentioned. "Anyways, these you can touch." With that introduction of the sub's controls out of the way he goes to the large, horizontal touch-screen in the middle of the control room, he touches it and it begins displaying some sort of rough map, it doesn't have a lot but it's displaying the maximum radius of the fog, among with displaying other information they might already have on hand, such as the perimeter drone model.

"So Hauser had a little flight away from the fog and we calculated how far the fog reaches around the Black Isle, so we have an estimate of how much the perimeter stretches around the Black Isle, assuming it is in the center of it all."

Taluno looks over the map, a claw on his chin. "Okay, so the Orange is the island, and the blue is... the fog?"

"uuh no, the blue is the ocean, orange is the fog that encircles the island, it also marks the perimeter that the drones seem guard. The island should be somewhere in the middle of that fog, but we don't know exactly what it looks like."

"Let alone what kind of resistance is on the island itself." Ranyu comments.

"Right." Taluno replies to his packmate while still looking at the map. "Have you done any more scoutwork since your first encounter with this island? Is there any more info you could tell us before we go in?"

He shakes his head. "Not quite, but there is a plan to scope it all out using the drones themselves. Well, it's more Rotom's idea."
The man proceeds to give the side of the planning screen a few slaps. "Rotom! Get out here and tell our friends your idea."
The whole planning screen suddenly changes, becoming entirely orange with two blue eyes in the center and a small smile. And it begins talking to, with voice sounding electronic. "Bah, i was sleeping. Is it already time?"

"Oh...is this your vessel's AI?" Nesala asks, after all this does appear to be the case.
"How dare you?" The 'AI' sounds offended all of the sudden. "I will have you know that i am actually smart, i have actual intelligence, it's not artificial!" The planning screen turns off for a moment as whatever is inhabiting it floats out of it, revealing some sort of small creature made of energy in the shape of a lightning rod, it also has a whitish blue aura of electricity around it that forms lightning bolt-shaped appendages.

The female Avali soldier is taken by surprise by this. "What the...?! Did it just came out of the system?!"
Boris thinks its best to say something here, things are getting off-topic again but...the Avali here probably need context. "This here is just another pokémon. It is made of plasma."
Good thing he said that because Raylo was just about to reach and touch it thinking it was just some sort of hologram.
"It's a species of pokémon that can go into electronic devices, it can go into computers, refrigerators and most importantly...drones."

"Hmm, so is this little guy from your universe, or this one?" Taluno asks. "Because I certainly haven't seen any of them like this."

"I find it very unlikely that you can find Rotom in this world, it can not really exist without electronic technology. We speculate that they might start appearing naturally once technology becomes common here, we will see." Boris crosses his arms. "Soooo, Rotom. Please calm down and just explain your plan to them."
"Hhhhhmhmmmm...Alright!" One moment it was angry and now it is all happy. "So this Black Isle uses these drones, right? And we don't even know if there are air defenses that can shoot you down faster than you can blink! So what better way to circumvent any security than literally wearing the enemy? But we don't want to poke them too hard either right? So I made some calculation on the behavior of the Drones based on the first time we saw them. They look at you for a few moments before lasering your asses to death! In those few precious moments if i can get close enough i could try infiltrating into a drone and just fly to the Black Isle to scope it out for ya! I think Hauser and his broomstick are fast and flexible enough for this."

"Broomstick?" Taluno questions. "You mean the bikes?" Because the only alternative seems to be the rather humorous picture of Boris in a wetsuit riding on a literal broomstick like someone out of Gary Bother and the Vault of Classified Material

Boris nods. "Yes, the bikes."
"I could pilot one myself, just saying." Rotom brags. "But I would have to drop out of it to go into the drone and it would crash into the ocean and there stritch instructions not to just drop any technological stuff in this world. And Hauser gets mad if anyone touches those things."
"Damn right I got angry!" A new voice speaks, it belongs to that other human by the door way, other than being smaller than the other guy in the room he is dressed in some sort of black bodytight lightly-armored suit, he also has a helmet on that fully cover his head, with glass of the visor having a big red 'H'. "You can't go throwing expensive equipment down the drain, my bikes are not for joyrides that result in them crashing against everything in sight!"
"Ah, there you are. Good." The other human says to this newcomer. "This is Hauser but I think you probably already deduced this. We are talking about scooping the island with Rotom's help."
"Is that so?" He steps toward the planning screen and looks at the Avali. "Ah, you are those 'Avali' I heard about. Nice ship by the way."
Oh good, Raylor was thinking this guy was going to be a little 'problematic' with them judging by his general tone.

"Ah, greetings Hauser. I'm Taluno, the squad leader of this pack." He extends an open-handed palm towards his packmates, one by one. "This is Ryalo, Nesala, Eijyu, and Ranyo"

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Nesala respectfully says to this human.
"Alright I see. So what are you guys planning to do? Are they on board with the idea of the scoping plan?"
Boris nods. "Yes, it seems to. If this works out we might learn the extent of the island's defenses and how we can approach it." He looks to the Avali, to Taluno specially. "You are okay with waiting here a little while these two go capture a drone? I promise things won't get boring, we can watch him do it through a camera he has in his helmet."

"Well it was better than our original plan." Taluno admits. "Just for reference, the original plan was to go in high-altitude since the sea-hawk type drones are primarily low-altitude and undersea-based, and in the advent of SAMs use chaff or heat-drones to draw the locks off somewhere else, and then basically just drop right on top of them."

"Well, you can never be too careful. Knowing is always half the battle right?" To Boris, this sounds like a 'yes' from Taluno. "Alright Hauser, off you go. You too Rotom. I'm gonna open the hatch on the upper level of the moon pool so you can fly out."
"Right, got it. Come on your finicky little thing." Hauser said to the Rotom as heads out of the Submarine's bridge with and back to the upper level of the moon pool where the Avali's ship is stored at the moment. He can see that the hatch above is indeed opening like his fellow man said it would. He picks one of those bikes, and the Rotom goes right into it, much to his annoyance but it is one way to bring the pokémon along and as long as it doesn't do anything like kill the engine in mid-flight he will tolerate it.
Hauser makes sure his helm is secure to his head before climbing on the bike and putting his hands firmly on the handlebars, bringing it's engine on and making it hover in place. Then he makes the flying bike point up at the open hatch above and then triggers a boost that makes him fly right out of the submarine quickly.

And he is off, flying in the direction of the mysterious Black Isle with his speedy air vehicle. His altitude gradually decreases until he is flying just above the water.

As he speeds across the water's surface and into the fog, there is a disturbance under the water, soon, something shoots up from just below the surface. An ominus buzzing hum is heard as it hovers in place. Another drone. Just as anticipated.

Well, here it is, one drone as ordered... "Get in it before this thing decides it's wrong for me to be breathing, please." Hauser says through gritted teeth as he enters a staring contest with this automated defense apparatus.
"Weeeee!" Rotom shoots out of the bike's headlight, like a small bolt of lightning, straight into the drone. Well, time to take control of it now, hopefully it's not too difficult.

As the Rotom speeds towards the drone, said drone revs up its L30 laser minigun, trying desperately to swat it down. But because of the angle, it finds it has to back up, to tilt back and up. it backs up, trying desperately to get the Rotom in its sight...
But it is for naught, as the Rotom is soon on top of it with very little real trouble.
However, they soon have a problem. Namely, it wasn't the only one, as two of its 'friends' pop out of the ocean below, one right next to it, and the other some distance away.

Well, while Rotom is going to deal with invading the first drone, it looks like Hauser is going to have to be content with defending himself and distracting these other two drones. Might be doable, the two front-facing machine guns are not impressive but he will have to make use of them so he places his index finger over a trigger on the handlebar. He turns the hoverbike to face one of the other drones and begins shooting at it.

The drone is moderately armored, and it doesn't go down quite as easily as planned. A small bit of armor plating falls off the first one, but now their laser MGs are reving up, and it turns out that the guns aren't as 'front-facing' as he originally thought: they can pivot after all, and soon they're trained on him!

"Damn it...fine let's see if you can hit a small target flying at high speed!" He uses the hovebike's boost for a burst of speed to go from 0 to over 80MPH to fly past the drones, right between them too. Now he begins turning around to prepare for an attack run, though that depends if the drones are fast enough to train their weapons on him again or not, if that is the case he will have to try more evasive maneuvers.

The drones guns open fire and swivel, blazing beams of lights shooting out of the barrels of their guns as they spin. Luckily so far they are missing, but they are shooting rather close, too close for comfort.

Damn that was close, Hauser could have sworn he felt the warmth of one of those laser shots grazing his back. He doesn't dare go for an attack run on the drones just yet, he just settles for flying around them while going up and down to throw off their aim.
Meanwhile Rotom has that first drone under control now. What an exciting new body this is. Though it also appears his human friend is in trouble, while the other drones are distracted with him, the capture drone approaches them from behind while revving up it's own L30 laser minigun.

The other drones seem oblivious to their 'fellow's hijacking, continuing their assault upon the speedy hoverbike. Their burst of fire ends, only to be followed up by another. This time, one of the beams gets frighteningly close to home, barely missing  the human's head but shaving off a bit of metal on the bike...

Hauser is flying for dear life trying not to get shot, virtually 'pinned down' by the barrage of lasers. Meanwhile the other drone under the control of Rotom opens fire on the other two hostile drones, turning it's energy weapon while firing to try and take out both of them at once.

Due to the nature of the weapon, it's only able to fire on one at once. Luckily, it seems to hit a weak point, , the joint where the weapon hangs from the body. The laser sparks against the metal as it collides, and the weapon falls off, still spinning as it falls into the sea. The drone for just a moment seems to not notice that its weapon is gone, as it still maneuvers towards the fleeing human as it it were lining up another shot. However, soon it emits a series of beeps, and dives down under the water from whence it came. It does not resurface.
The other one fires again, near missing the human by a mere inch. For tech that's a century old, this thing is still incredibly dangerous,  Even with its companion combat incapacitated, it still seems not to notice that another of its 'buddies' has been hijacked.

One less drone means Hauser can be juuust a little calmer as he has half of the amount of energy weapons firing at him. He has to admit these things have good aim regardless, if he was going slower he would have been in serious trouble.
"How do you like that huh?!" Even though this weapon isn't quite as flexible as it though, the Rotom is still hyped about using it. "My super laser piss!" Now it sets the last enemy drone on it's sights and fires more lasers at it.

The drone, still in pursuit of Hauser revs up its gun and fires again.
The laser misses Hauser, sparing his life once again. His bike however is not so fortunate. It takes a hit in the engine, and smoke bellows from the damaged part. Any more damage and the bike would be finished.
... A prospect that is not to be however, as Rotom's own 'laser piss' peirces the drone's reactor, causing a brief fire before it dives towards the sea, and explodes in a fireball just before it could reach the water.

The human noticed an impact followed by a constant alert beeping, then looked down at the engine of his hoverbike, it's smoking...that's not good. He made a sharp turn to face to drone, deciding that it's now or never to try shooting it down but it looks like Rotom already took care of it. With things having calmed down, he flies close to the captured drone. "....Super laser piss?" He asks, incredulous as from where the ghost in the machine got that one from.
"I mean yeah! I think is what having male genital is like?" Rotom asks from inside the captured drone, making the laser minigun move up and down like it's flexing it's 'member'. "It makes me feel kind powerful!"
Maybe someone else would like the humor of this mon more but...Hauser is on the fence about it. "K. You got the drone, go do the scoping now, I'm going to fly back to the sub before anything else shows up." And he flies off back to the sub right away, he doesn't want to tempt fate by staying here.
The captured drone watches the human fly away back to base, then turns around to go in the opposite direction, towards the Black Isle. "Nyooooooooom!"

The avali special agents watch this all unfold on camera.
"Glad that human got out of that as well as he did." Taluno comments. "For a moment there I thought he was done for."
He turns to Boris.
"So at what point do we go in?"


"Geez he was flying around like an insect trying not to get swat." Ryalo commented on what he saw.
"After Rotom is done scoping the island." Boris replied. He thought they would need to wait for Rotom to come back but the planning screen that they were watching everything unfold starts beeping. "Oh, we're getting a signal...?" He pokes a finger on the touchscreen, and the footage from Hauser's point of view gets replaced by what the captured drone is seeing as it goes through the fog.
"Or perhaps we will accompany that." Nesala said.

A large island comes into view. As the drone gets deeper into the zone, it starts raining, and soon, there is a storm. Perhaps some sort of 'natural' security system to take care of any stragglers that go in this deep? The seas below are pitched and stormy, as if in the middle of a hurricane, and the drone has a hard time navigating from the sky, probably why they spend most of their time underwater instead.
Soon however a large form comes into view. Taking up the entirety of the island is what appears to be a large fort or castle, with large cliffs off the side. At least from a distance. A closer look reveals the 'fort' to be metallic in nature. However, to their slight surprise, the island looks... wrong. And as they get closer, it's apparent what exactly looks wrong with it. Far from the well-maintained structure they were expecting, the island fort closer-up looks intact, but dilapidated.
"Hmmm... A bit disturbing, if I might say so myself." Taluno comments. "I wouldn't want a ship out here. That's for sure." As it flies above the fort, the squad note that there seems to be a severe lack of any type of surface lookouts. No humans in USCM suits, or anything else, patrolling the 'battlements' or the rooftops.
Though then again that might not be a surprise, given the stormy nature of this place.
"Huh... that's odd." Eijyu points out. "I'm not seeing any anti-air emplacements either."
He's right. it doesn't seem like there are any static ones hanging outside. Automated or otherwise.
"That doesn't mean they aren't there though." Taluno points out. "They could just be concealed or retracted."
Still, it looks like a more close-up investigation might be in order. Whether Rotom can do that, or whether they must do it themselves, has yet to be determined...

This storm is not being too friendly for Rotom, so it can't get any closer to the island without issue. However there is one more thing left to check. It begins flying lower and lower until it goes underwater, the drone is a submersible too after all. It decides to have a look at what is below the surface of the island, who knows, perhaps there is something worth noting down here too, like sea mines? Otherwise if there is nothing of note then scoping is pretty much complete.

There are, in fact, sea mines down there. Or what can be assumed to be mines. Large, circular, spiked objects just floating in the water. But they look... old. Decayed. Like they haven't been swapped out in a long time. Some of them are exploded and lay on the seafloor.
But more interesting down there is what appears to be a doorway. A small one, large enough only for these sea-hawk drones to come in and out of. There may be another larger door for larger craft but it's not visible.

Oh, an entrance that looks like this sea-hawk drone body can fit in? How very tempting, so tempting that Rotom decides to go in to see what's inside!

As the Rotom-jacked drone maneuvers enters the hole, it travels down a narrow corridor, only tall and wide enough for four tightly-packed drones to navigate at a time. However, there is soon a light at the end of the tunnel, and as the drone breaches the light... ...It is met with another wall. Metallic, and rusted, right in front of it.
Before Rotom can turn around and go back the way it came, however, a voice booms out.
SH DRONE #27 CHECKED IN FOR MAINTENANCE.
Before Rotom can react, something from above it immediately grabs the drone, and pulls it out of the water, as a door closes underneath it. The drone's movement is restrained here. From what it can see however, there is a large bay area, and a door on the other side, way too small for the drone of this size to move through. Speaking of drones though, it can spot more robots running about. Weird orange and gray metal cylinder-like things on one wheel with a rounded box for a head that wear strange, perpetually smiling faces with a pair of antenna 'ears' sticking out the top of them

SCANNING FOR DAMAGES The booming, yet monotone female voice rings out as a metallic arm with lowers from the ceiling, only to stop a small distance above the drone. A blue, gridded light shoots out from the 'arm', enveloping the drone. This continues for several moments before it quits, and retracts to the ceiling from whence it came.
MINOR DAMAGE DETECTED. INITIATING REPAIRS
Upon the strange unseen voice saying this, a group of those weird orange droids begin making their way over to the Rotom-possessed drone. A port on their 'chests' open up, revealing a long tentacle-like appendage with various tools on the end of it, as they begin working on the drone.

Rotom thinks this feels kind of funny, and a little creepy. It is not happy with this robot giving it the 'bad touch' with that smile on its face. But this is another opportunity to get another new body and go even deeper into this place, an 'inside mon' is always good for operations after all. Rotom then 'jumps' from the Sea Hawk drone to this Maintenance robot.

And it looks like it transferred just in the nick of time too, as soon after the repairs are done, the repairbots scatter, off to do other tasks or wait for the next Sea Hawk to report in for maintenance, as a tentacle-like wire protrudes from the arm, and jams itself into an unseen port in the back of the drone's 'head'.
RUNNING SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTIC The voice booms. If Rotom had stayed in that Sea Hawk, there would have been at least some risk of its discovery.
As of right now, whoever, or whatever is running the show around here appears none the wiser to its presence... For now at least. No telling how long that will last. Best keep a low profile though, just in case it decides to run a 'diagnostic' on these repair bots as well.
Especially since this new body does not have any sort of armaments outside of its maintenance tools and does feel anywhere near as heavily armored as the Sea Hawk does.
DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE. NO ANOMALIES DETECTED. DRONE MAINTENANCE COMPLETE. The hatch below slowly opens, prompting the repair bot to move off of it before it falls into the water.  The arm turns the drone around while it places it back in the water, before retracting back up, minus its Sea Hawk drone, which is presumably swimming back to its duty at this very moment.

The ghost in the machine pats itself on the back some more for it's wise decision to jump into this new body. Though this body does feel more awkward then the Sea Hawk, having a single wheel for locomotion is like having both legs tied together and Rotom don't have legs! Now it's time to press this advantage. It acts as naturally as possible, or tries to at least, while going around looking for a possible way up to the upper parts of this abandoned base.

Back on the sub, the screen cuts out as soon as Rotom jumps out of the Sea Hawk. "What happened?" Taluno asks, a little worried. "Did we lose him? Did they find him?"

Boris rubbing his chin. "Hhhmmm, no i don't think so, doesn't look like Rotom was panicking i think. He could have jumped into that robot we saw before the feed cut." He says. "But well, we have more visual information on the island, so scoping is done so far AND, if Rotom is still alive, we got someone on the inside!" There is a moment of silence. "...But I really hope it is alright, I like that little guy."
Hauser walks into the submarine's bridge, panting and slightly shaking from almost getting shot down. "Okay, I got Rotom into that drone, what happens now."
"Well he was a bit of an overachiever and went into the Black Isle." He says to the other man. Then he organizes the footage they saw into screen shots of the exterior of the island, if Taluno and his squad wish to have one last look at it before springing into action. "Alright, now it's your turn, Night Witches. We have a secure communication channel and I will try to monitor what happens outside of that old base. You are the boots on the ground, I'm the eye in the sea, eh? But there is only one Night Witches squad, and this is going to be in your hands now. If you get surrounded and hurt in there I will not be able to help, but I will tell anyone who listens what brave souls you all were." Gotta keep it real with them after all, but he does wish them a safe travel.
"We uuuhh...appreciate that." Raylo replied to that last thing Boris said.

"Hmph, I appreciate the vote of confidence." Taluno says.
"Yeah, we've been through worse than this." Ranyu adds in.
"Still..." Taluno replies. "It would help to review the footage one more time before they set out."

"Coming right up." He brings their attention to the planning screen again, it begins playing the footage of what Rotom say on the island so they look it over one more time.

Once again, they note the lack of defenses or active patrols on the topside of the fort. No anti-air batteries, and no SAM or missile racks. At least from what can be seen. Again, this doesn't discount them being retracted. Though if they are hidden they're hidden well as they can see no sign of bay doors. They do however see one possible entrance from the side. A possible opening for aircraft to land on in the 'courtyard' As the footage goes into the maintenance bay, Taluno scratches his chin. "Notice something funny here?" He asks.

Boris narrows his eyes a bit and looks closer at the screen. "Oh? Like what?"

"Let me be more precise... notice something not there that should be there?"
He waits for a response... but getting none, he continues.
"I haven't seen a lick of non-robotic activity anywhere." He notes. "No soldiers in uniforms. No lab coat wearing scientists or civies in the repair bay. Nothing."

"Yeah..." he nods. "And pretty much no one to keep the exterior presentable. No sign of carbon-based life forms at all...It must be just the robots and drones who 'populate' the place."

"Quite possible that this base is abandoned, as the USCM tends to leave its automated systems running if they abandon a place, just to deter looters in case they ever decide to come back." Taluno confirms.
"... Which they never do." Ranyu adds in.
Taluno nods to that.  "Either that, or it's being run by a skeleton crew. Either scenario is extremely likely. Though in the former case, that would make things significantly easier on our end."

"Well they always say that shooting at robots is a guilt-free process." At least that's what he thinks he means with it being 'easy'. "And if they don't come back I think we don't have to worry about them complaining about us infiltrating their old base and damaging their property."

"That too." Taluno nods his head. "Well, we won't know for sure until we get in there, so no more point in wasting any more time. That Rotom is counting on us to bail it out, so let's not keep it waiting."
He turns towards his pack.
"Alright, Nightwitches, back to the bird. On the double!"
They nod, and follow him back to the gunship, piling on board, and Eijyu takes her place in the pilot's seat.
"Alright Boris, we're ready to begin. Bring us up."

No need to say that twice, the submarine's helmsman already has the hatch above them opening, and the lift under the ship brings it up to the outside. Now their pilot is clear to bring their aircraft up into the air.
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