[BITPR2] Extra Episode 3: Intelligent Design

[Frozen_Feet]

The... alien's... right hand moves to cover its eyes. Other than that, it stays still. A mocking sigh emanates from under the bone mask. Weak. You know your bullets can't injure me. Through this armor, I barely feel a sting. The creature moves its hand and turns just enough so it can follow Tamaki's movement.

You think you can win like this? Even the basest Hollow has more and deeper reasons to be angry at the world than you do. Try to fight them in that game, and you'll be outmatched every time.

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki heard the creatures words as he slowly started to calm down. Even if they weren't hurting him much, just the fact that his bullets were hitting was therapeutic. Now he could start thinking a bit clearer. Okay then, from what his sensors could see, those scales weren't just for show. They were actually a kind of armor. From there he could extrapolate that when Mikael took that piece of his scarf, that he was able to somehow use Tamaki's powers, or at least imitate them since he didn't seem like the type to go for armor.

So then the best way to approach this was to continue doing what he was doing. Don't let him bait you into doing something stupid. Even if his bullets were doing only the minimal amount of damage they were still doing something, and the rapid fire meant that the damage could build up. Even metal will break if you pound it for long enough. So he kept to his strategy of playing the long haul. Fire and evade. Every so often he would stop firing from one vulcan to perform a sort of charged shot for a burst of increased damage. He had to make sure that he played it safe until he could properly analyze what Mikael could do.

[Frozen_Feet]

The continued hail of bullets knocks of a couple of the creature's scales. It doesn't seem to mind. Instead, it starts to slowly walk towards Tamaki, always turning around just enough to keep facing him. What's this? Think you can just run around in circles around me all day? The sparkling blue plasma bullets richochet from the creature's body and veer wildly in different directions. You may have limitless bullets, but how's your legs? Keep jumping around like a bunny and you'll just tire yourself out.

[AnimeKid]

Beneath the mask of his armor Tamaki narrowed his eyes. He was deliberately trying to wait him out as well. That or this was solely to see what Tamaki could do rather than actual sparring. This thought flew through Tamaki's head as he continued to fire. When the creatures next words came Tamaki had to admit he had a point. Even though his armor was specifically made to assist with agility and mobility the technology could only help his body's efficiency so much. It was then that Tamaki would take his last leap, placing himself a bit of a ways away from Mikael and stop firing. He wasn't tired, not yet but sometimes you just have to adopt a new strategy, to experiment.

As such he materialized his Adjudicator. The kite shield was brought to bear in a defensive position on his left hand. He then activated the beam emitters on it to create the plasma-like blade of spiritual energy. Having readied himself for any melee or ranged attacks Mikael might pull Tamaki's right hand vulcan started continually spinning but not firing anything. As it did this a light blue glow started to collect in the chamber, readying for the release of a fully charged blast. His HUD was constantly helping him keep track of his adversary as well as try to predict it's moves.

[Frozen_Feet]

The creature stops sideways to Tamaki, observing him materialize his shield. The blue glow gathering inside the barrel of his gun is also noted. For a second, it looks like the creature is just going to wait for him to take the shot... and then it vanishes.

Well, that's not quite true. There's a clear line of dust being kicked up as the creature charges out of Tamaki's line of aim - and then sharply changes course and heads straight for him! The motion sensors in his helmet beep frantically to alarm him to the danger a split-second before it kicks his right arm.

[AnimeKid]

Reacting as fast as possible to his armor's motion sensor Tamaki attempts to take the creatures strategy as his own. Counter high speed movement with the smallest amount of movement necessary. As such Tamaki attempts to turn when his motion sensor and HUD detects the change in attack angles in an attempt to have the attack hit the Adjudicator shield. After all the strategy wasn't exactly ground breaking. Actually the dust cloud provided adequate hint as to what the creatures plan was. Part two involved pulling on the soul of the ground to stick tightly to his feet, to keep it and him rooted. Part three involved shoving the right hand vulcan into the creatures torso for a point blank charge shot. Three simple steps, he just had to perform less movement in less time, but could he do even that?

(OOC: Basically I'm leaving this in your hands for how this engagement plays out. Mostly because I'm not quite sure how fast Mikael is moving.)

[Frozen_Feet]

Tamaki is quick enough to shove his shield to the way of the kick... but the rest of his plan could use some working. Not because the plan is bad. Not, even, because he is too slow. He's simply too light! The creature's foot impacts the Adjudicator, the shock painfully reverberating from the shield to Tamaki's arm. Even with his feet rooted, his upper body is pushed back, the shot that was supposed to hit the creature's chest going wide and hitting the ceiling.

It doesn't press its attack, though. Instead, it jumps back using the shield as a foothold, landing on top of one of the stone monoliths. It observes the Red Joker while waiting for him to regain his balance.

[AnimeKid]

As his shot goes wide Tamaki curses to himself as he awaits the inevitable follow up. He thanks his lucky stars when it does not come and the creature retreats to a nearby stone monolith. Tamaki pants a little from the slight rush he got at nearly getting hit by that much power. It was clear to him now, in terms of sheer ability he was outclassed. He had to do something, anything to get an upper edge. Unfortunately he didn't have anymore space to create another weapon like his Adjudicator or his Plasma Vulcans. The only thing he had practiced was interacting with the world around him, and that couldn't help! Or.....could it?

The mask of the armor hides Tamaki's contemplative expression as he regains his balance and stands tall against the creature. To pull at the world, manipulate it. Who said he had to think conventionally to do that. Why not shoot for the stars? Even if you miss you'll hit the moon. So concentrating, not on his readouts but on the world around him Tamaki reaches out in all directions. A slight tug at first, and it is then that he knows this will work. The only question was, would it provide the surprise and the advantage he needed? Time to find out, it was experimentation time!

Tamaki crouches his legs as he jumps into the air, a flash of bringer light accompanying his boosted jump. For a moment his above Mikael, who might be waiting for the inevitable moment that he comes down. Only that moment would never come. With the same green energy that precluded his jump swirling around him before disappearing, he would find that Tamaki was standing, seemingly, on air! There's that flash again as he moves forward, and he is far faster than he was on the ground! He shoots forward, the Adjudicator brought forward so that it's plasma-like blade was brought to bear. About halfway way though there would be another flash of light at Tamaki changed directions shooting to the side as he brings forward the Vulcan which he attempted to hide behind himself and fire another charge shot at Mikael, and then keep on the pressure with regular shots.

[Frozen_Feet]

The creature waits patiently for Tamaki to make his move. He can't see it, but the stranger behind the bone mask is smiling. The creature braces itself as the blade is aimed towards it, but then Tamaki changes directions. The creature's eyes dart towards Tamaki. As the charged shot is fired, its hands move in a blur, and the shot just...

... disappears?

Well, it's not like either it or Tamaki have time to focus on this fact, as soon the hail of plasma bullets descends on it again. It jumps off the monolith... and suspends itself in midair. Oh. It can fly as well. That's c...

There is a flash of green light as the creature accelerates towards Tamaki, attempting to ram him against the wall of this space and pin him there.

[AnimeKid]

Oh, Oh that's just lovely. Tamaki watches at the creature advances. Even with them traveling in the same direction through the air he can't escape. So he might as well use the creatures on own speed and strength against it. That is what runs through Tamaki's mind when his sensors tell him of the encroaching wall. There is a green flash of light from Tamaki as he reorients himself so that he is facing Mikael fully and accelerates as hard as he can in the opposite direction that he was just going. As he does this the Adjudicator hefted in front of him as he speeds forward Superman style. This time there is no feint as he attempts to shove the blade into the creatures abdomen. Should he manage to get in a good enough hit he would attempt to use the pilebunker to do some damage.

[Frozen_Feet]

Colliding with the fast-flying near-indestructible Hollow-thing? Maybe not the best idea Tamaki's had today, but as the black-and-white figurine crashes against him with bone-rattling force, he can feel his blade pressing against something... if he wants to use his Pilebunker, it's now or never.

[AnimeKid]

Well, he was already going to collide with it at high speed. Now it's just on his terms....sort of. When he feels the impact he knows now is the time. He triggers the mechanism and lets it ride on this one move. The pilebunker disengages from it's sheath to shoot forward thanks to the high powered spring loaded mechanism to slam into Mikael. Hopefully this was going to hurt the creature as much as the impact had hurt him. He somehow doubted it though.

[Frozen_Feet]

The collision doesn't quite stop the two fighters - the Hollow-thing has greater momentum, so they still get carried towards the wall, albeit much slower. Then, Tamaki launches his secret weapon. The creature's eyes widen in shock and it instinctively grabs Tamaki to hold itself in place.

There is only one thing Tamaki underestimated: he toughness of the beast. As the pneumatic spike is shot forward, it impacts with the black-and-white armor scales, but they are too hard for it to pierce. So it follows path of least resistance, snapping under the stress, with sharp metal fragments ricocheting to the sides and towards Tamaki's own arm and face. Hopefully, his shield and armor are strong enough to protect him from the shrapnell.

As the shock wears off, the creature lets go of Tamaki.

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki's eyes widen in shock as his pilebunker shatters, which was a first for him. Luckily the shield deflected the shrapnel that soared towards his arm, which had the least protection. Somewhat less luckily the armor around his face was not as durable as the shied, but not a thin as the armor around the arms. The result of this was Tamaki's mask shattering and his face taking quite a bit of bludgeoning force. Thankfully his face is not shredded as the two of them impact the wall behind, Tamaki's body taking some more blunt force trauma before the creature lets him go and he falls to the ground, his armor cracked in several places. He manages to weakly sit himself up as he looks at the creature that bested him. "*cough, cough* Oh, I'm going to feel that one in the morning. So I'm guessing that's a wrap then? *cough, cough*"

[Frozen_Feet]

The creature floats down before Tamaki. Its breathing sounds labored and it is holding its stomach. It looks down on Tamaki's battered form, then straightens up and lets its hand fall to the side. Tamaki can see a hole where the pilebunker hit, but now the creature's scales are moving and adjusting to cover it. Even the cracks on the creature's mask are sealing shut. In the end, it doesn't seem like he did much damage at all...

... and then the picture flickers, a light shining through the darkness. And in one moment, the gloomy environment is gone. Everything is back to the way it was before. Mikael stands wrapped in bandages before Tamaki, the only peculiar thing being a growing black spot around his abdomen.

"... yeah, you kind of overdid it. Was something wrong? For a moment there, it felt like you were honestly fighting for your life. Didn't expect you to get so angry about that scarf..."

[AnimeKid]

"It was partly the scarf, the other part was that there were moments that I forgot that you were you. It was almost like I was fighting an actual Hollow. There were points where I thought of you as a creature instead of just Mikael. Didn't help that you seemed to warp this entire area. A few times I did think that my life was on the line. Though you could have warned me how much I was going to get my ass kicked." The last line is said with a slight joking air as he dismisses his armor as well.

He is more bruised up than Mikael but he isn't near crippled either. More like he just came off worse in a street fight. He brings himself to his feet as he says, "So that's your power? You can kind of imitate others?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"No. That was your power - or rather, the power of your scarf - I borrowed." Mikael opens his palm and extends it towards Tamaki. The shred is still there. "I wanted to test if just part of it could replicate the whole effect. At close proximity like this at least, it appears to work."

"But a Hollow, you say? Tell me, what do you think the landscape you saw was?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki pushes up his glasses as he says, "If I had to make an intelligent guess? I would put my money on Hueco Mundo. It seems the most likely, as the landscape definitely didn't looking like any earthly place."

[Frozen_Feet]

"That is correct." Mikael puts the shred of the scarf to pocket of his trousers. "I tried to replicate it the best I could, down to the feel of the atmosphere. It helped this place is already reminescent of it."

"As you can see, I fit right in. Though you are not far from that, either. Did you realize? When you put on a mask and go bump in the night, you act much like a Hollow. The mask, it dehumanizes you. Your armor might make you more in some regards, but it also makes you less. Through it, one can't see a 'highschool student'. One only sees armed and dangerous person."

Mikael grabs his stomach again. The stain on his bandages has stopped growing, but they're still wet with something inky and black that supposedly is Mikael's blood. "Urgh... what's that spike weapon made for? Piercing tank armor? It's a good thing you were sparring against me. You could've killed someone with that. Something to keep in mind in the future."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki rubs the back of his head in an embarrassed manner as he says, "Well nothing else was doing any damage what so ever. And the pilebunker is more of a desperation all or nothing attack. It's kind of slow to retract so it leaves me open for a bit after I use it. Though you are right in that I should be careful who I use it against. Still, at first I didn't think even that did any damage to you.

As for the dehumanizing part of my armor, well that was somewhat intentional. I wanted it so that no one would connect Tamaki, the proper and intelligent high schooler, to the Red Joker. At least I know it works in that respect."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael stays silent for a moment, watching Tamaki with a concerned look in his eyes. "Desperation attack, you say?" Mikael beckons towards few small rocks nearby, before walking to them and sitting on one. He expects Tamaki to sit down as well.

"Remember what Hasunaga-sensei said about humanoid Hollows? How he considers them the most dangerous of all? Well, in almost all respects that matter, I am one. I am as strong as the strongest of them, or at least that's what my experience and words of my Hollow friend suggests. That is why I find his concerns for my safety... well-meaning, but somewhat misguided. My Hollow friend, too, warned me of going to his city, but if I take his other words at face value, then I should be in little or no danger."

"I am not a sardine, going to swim among sharks - I am another shark, or a dolphin."

"The question you should be asking, is what are you?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki sits down as well as he listens to Mikael's words. He understands what he is saying and could quite frankly see what he was talking about. Even his pilebunker had only done minimal damage to the man. "Well at this point at best I'm a remora if we were to be there now. I would mostly be looking towards you for being the 'muscle' as it were. Of course changing that is at the top of my priority list. Though I do get what your saying. I'm not a top dog over there. Then again that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm not strong. Just not as strong as their strongest. But ignore that part, that was my pride speaking up. I get that I need training is basically what I'm saying."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael lets out a small laugh. "If you are a remora, then you could go to the city no problem. Sharks ignore such fish." He resumes a more solemn tone. "More seriously, being weaker than them might be a boon. It means you won't be perceived as a threat. That is... something I think your friends may be missing in this conflict."

"Remember what Hasunaga said, of Hollows leaving this world? Becoming dissatisfied? It's because they can no longer gain sustenance from mere ghosts of humans. That's why they are so rarely seen here. They have no stake in this world."

"That is also why I think that Chuck guy is absurd to think of this as a war. Each Hollow like me has destructive power comparable to modern fighter plane. If they actually took war to you, a city like this would be reduced to a rubble in days. It would take an army - a real army, with tanks, artillery and air support - to really combat them."

"What you've been doing so far is picking on strays. The Hollows you fight on this side of the border are invidual occasions. They have no unified goals, no chain of command, no logistical structure. They are not combatants, not an army - they are just beasts, emerging from misery of the world. If you kill one, it is almost irrelevant to others."

Mikael points a finger at Tamaki. "But what if you were to kill a citizen of this Hollow city? What if the Hollows really did organize against you? Your armor and guns are nice, but while they are impressive for infantry gear, they do not place you above even highest levels of conventional warfare. They do not make you a one-man army."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki seriously contemplates Mikael's words before nodding slowly. It did make sense with what they already knew. Hollow's weren't seen here that often, and that they were weak enough to pick them off. He had often wondered what the stronger Hollow's were like, and if they fed on spiritual energy, how did they sustain themselves? These ran through his head rather quickly as he says, "That makes a lot of sense actually. It is also a little disheartening. But c'est la vie I suppose. I get your point though. I'll make sure to be on my best behavior around them. Wouldn't want to inadvertently start WW3 after all."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael sighs from relief. "Yes. You're starting to get it. It is a recipe for trouble to paint an entire species as your enemies and treat them like such regardless of how they act. It's one thing entirely to defend yourself, to do what is necessary to stay alive - and another to go fight Hollows on purpose."

"From what Hasunaga-sensei has told me, that is the root of the hostility between Shinigami and Hollows. The former relentlessly hunt the latter - it may be for a good or necessary purpose, but it should be no wonder if Hollows resent them. They are afraid for their existence. It is the exact same feeling you feel towards them, when you are being hunted."

Mikael shrugs. "... but, it seems the city of Las Noches, at least, has made its peace with Shinigami. I hope it will last. But that's also why I feel the need to go and see it myself. These are new developments - they are not in books or photographs for us to read. I want to witness them, and the ground they stand on, with my own eyes. That's the only way to confirm their veracity - and if they have no veracity, then musing like ours are meaningless."

Mikael leans his elbows on his knees and sighs. "When I couldn't confirm the depths of my strenght alone, I became... afraid. I stopped. If not for... all this, I would've been content to spend the rest of my life not knowing anything more than I did then. Well... maybe. It's impossible to confirm now."

"But the time for being afraid is over. Even if it means travelling to other worlds and risking my neck fighting gods and ghosts. There is no other option." The man lets out a bitter chuckle. "Of course, it helps I have already destroyed my life. Burned the bridges behind me. It would be impossible for me to return to the life I had before. It's not the same for you. You still have your uncle... and your friends. If you wanted to, you could let go of your powers. Or maybe use them for something more constructive... become a firefighter, maybe? Or a policeman? Something like that."

[strawberryman]

There's a swift sliding noise, then a crunch as a humanoid form drops down the ladder leading to the gym. As the dust clears, Katsuo looks over to the pair. "...oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were using this."

It doesn't appear he heard any of the conversation, however he may just be acting overly polite, as usual. "...should I go back up?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"Meh. Make yourself at home."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki looks at Mikael, a bit thoughtful at what the man had revealed about himself. He is about to answer him when Katsuo drops down into the area. Figuring that this was a subject that shouldn't be discussed around others he lets it drop naturally. It also doubled as a chance for him to think about why he would be doing this anymore if all Hollows weren't some blight that was going to ravage their world. Then again, do you need a reason to help people?

If Katsuo decided to sit with them Tamaki would ask, "So how's your training going? Any major breakthroughs?"

[strawberryman]

Katsuo doesn't sit, but he remains close enough to the pair at first that it's easy enough for Tamaki to just ask. Katsuo pauses for a moment, thinking. Then, without a word, he moves to a nearby boulder, granite, easily over 200 square feet.

At first, he grasps at it to get proper leverage... then, with an easy heft, he lifts it above his head. From there, he starts practiced lifting exercises, only made awkward by the shape and size of the rock.

A rock that size had to weigh nearly 20 tons.

"This... is my usual... warmup.", he notes with some strain, but really, he's taking it about as well as a normal man doing an overhead press.

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael observes Katsuo with mild curiosity. "Have you told Hasunaga-sensei yet that you can do that?"