[BiTPR2] Renewed Revolution: Spirit World V

[Hawkflight]

"Good. We'll make yours into jewelry, then. Which ones do you like? Rings? Necklaces? Anklets?"

((Sorry, I didn't see this post.))

"Well ... I like collars, or necklaces," Suguri replied.

[Kuroimaken]

"Very well then, dear. A collar it shall be.

Speaking of collars, we should look into at least trimming some of that fur. Do you think you can shed it on your own?"

[KnightDisciple]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]

"Calculated risk. For a Combat Division head honcho, much less a two-weapon swordsman, you've been playing more defensive than I expected. If that were an attack, rushing out against you would have been double the faux pas.

Kudos on switching the battlefield to your advantage though."

Again, the voice seems to be coming from nowhere. Masaru's tactic seems to have succeeded at least in part. He can feel his strikes poking and prodding at what seems like three distinct presences in the arena, though only one of them seems to have been trying to put up a defense against his assault. All three seem to be resisting somewhat well, like suits of armor, but then again Masaru probably isn't trying very hard to harm them.

Masaru makes no verbal response, and his movements about the arena are whisper-quiet; moving silently in darkness is old hat to him at this point. He keeps moving around, not yet drawing close to any of the 3 presences he feels.

However, the shadows and darkness around them surges, great ropes of it reaching up to bind them, and columns of it rising beneath their feet to unbalance them, to try and cause them to fall upon the blunted spikes. Masaru does not trust that this is not some elaborate shell game, so all 3 "armor suits" receive equal attention.

[Kuroimaken]

The three suits respond in kind by attempting to blast the darkness away, trying to evade capture - though clearly one of them is doing a better job of them than the other two. A few stray shots might just make it close to Masaru's position, though whether this is a fluke or an attempt to get a rise out of him remains unclear at this point.

To anyone that may have been able to watch, it is clear that the shell game analogy is spot on the mark. What remains to be seen is whether the game is rigged in some way, or if Hasunaga had only been able to think that up in the short time before he was swallowed by the darkness. He probably can't keep this up forever, either. It can't be easy manipulating all three suits at once.

[KnightDisciple]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]

The three suits respond in kind by attempting to blast the darkness away, trying to evade capture - though clearly one of them is doing a better job of them than the other two. A few stray shots might just make it close to Masaru's position, though whether this is a fluke or an attempt to get a rise out of him remains unclear at this point.

To anyone that may have been able to watch, it is clear that the shell game analogy is spot on the mark. What remains to be seen is whether the game is rigged in some way, or if Hasunaga had only been able to think that up in the short time before he was swallowed by the darkness. He probably can't keep this up forever, either. It can't be easy manipulating all three suits at once.

Masaru makes not extraneous reaction to the shots that pass near him; he uses the minimum possible amount of movement to ensure they do not strike, and makes no further sounds. Instead, he simply continues to move around, tightly gripping his swords, but for the moment not moving in to strike.

All three suits will experience further restraint, followed by large spikes shooting at their knees, seeking to disrupt and disable them. Nothing that would present lethal damage to Hasunaga himself, not yet.

[Kuroimaken]

It's worth noting that Hasunaga himself is a mere Mortal. Endurance-wise he's not that much hardier than a regular Plus - if Masaru had taken him up on his fisticuffs challenge, his Hakuda could have probably killed him if he didn't go easy. He doesn't have the Reiryoku to spare on passive protection, which is part of the reason his powers manifest as armor.

That's why, when it comes to combat tactics, he tends to prefer the long-range game even though close combat is easier on him when it comes to sustained battles.

That's why the shell game is a distraction.

Hasunaga would be lying if he claimed to know what would happen beforehand, of course. But the moment it looked like Masaru was going for a game changer, the old teacher actually backed away as fast as he could, and left the three visible suits within Masaru's sphere of influence. The Combat Division Captain's comment on belonging to the Guerrilla Division actually gave more away than he realized.

The old teacher still had no means of detecting Masaru in the darkness, though. And he couldn't keep the puppet show up forever, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. He had to rely on instinct and partial feedback from his powers in order to have a decent shot at countering Masaru's sphere of darkness.

His bet was that Masaru wasn't in a hurry to figure out who was the real suit, just as much as he couldn't take the chance all three were fake. Even if he snuck around his own playing field, without a decisive way of determining where the old teacher actually was, any strikes coming from the shadows would be a touch on the premature side. And moving around too much, no matter how skilled he was at being a shadow, would eventually give him away.

All that Hasunaga needed was to make sure he didn't move TOO fast, because he'd only get one chance.

"Flash."

The suits suddenly burst into spheres of pure brilliance. They couldn't damage anything while consuming themselves as fuel for the light, but their luminosity was meant to forcefully undo or at least push back the darkness in a very wide area. With any luck, this would also blind Masaru, as would happen with someone wearing night vision goggles suddenly staring at a strobe light, though Hasunaga wasn't counting on that alone.

No, what he needed was Masaru's position. His outline became visible for an instant as a massive sniper rifle materialized seemingly out of thin air and he tried to shoot at Masaru's legs with impossibly fast blasts. He didn't need a direct hit. A graze would be sufficient, given the speed and potency of the shots coming from the 'rifle'.

[Hawkflight]

Suguri tilted her head in confusion, the dog collar currently on her neck clinking slightly as the dog tag on it bumped up against the d-ring. Her parents had gotten it for her at her great insistence, though they did so hesitantly, and the tag had info on it like her blood type and allergies. Though the address was now inaccurate....

"Like, at will?" she asked. "I don't think so, I don't think fur works that way...."

[Kuroimaken]

Suguri tilted her head in confusion, the dog collar currently on her neck clinking slightly as the dog tag on it bumped up against the d-ring. Her parents had gotten it for her at her great insistence, though they did so hesitantly, and the tag had info on it like her blood type and allergies. Though the address was now inaccurate....

"Like, at will?" she asked. "I don't think so, I don't think fur works that way...."

"When exactly was the last time you discovered you could shapeshift, young lady?" Katsurou coyly asked. It was rhethorical, but...

[King539]

"Uh huh. 'It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.' Sound familiar?", the voice answers. "If you do not know yourself, where does that leave you, Shinigami?"

"Constantly imperiled, I guess. Doesn't seem too weird."

[Frozen_Feet]

"Whether it's weird or not is besides the point", the voice scoffs. "What you need to think of is whether you always want it to be that way."

[KnightDisciple]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]

It's worth noting that Hasunaga himself is a mere Mortal. Endurance-wise he's not that much hardier than a regular Plus - if Masaru had taken him up on his fisticuffs challenge, his Hakuda could have probably killed him if he didn't go easy. He doesn't have the Reiryoku to spare on passive protection, which is part of the reason his powers manifest as armor.

That's why, when it comes to combat tactics, he tends to prefer the long-range game even though close combat is easier on him when it comes to sustained battles.

That's why the shell game is a distraction.

Hasunaga would be lying if he claimed to know what would happen beforehand, of course. But the moment it looked like Masaru was going for a game changer, the old teacher actually backed away as fast as he could, and left the three visible suits within Masaru's sphere of influence. The Combat Division Captain's comment on belonging to the Guerrilla Division actually gave more away than he realized.

The old teacher still had no means of detecting Masaru in the darkness, though. And he couldn't keep the puppet show up forever, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. He had to rely on instinct and partial feedback from his powers in order to have a decent shot at countering Masaru's sphere of darkness.

His bet was that Masaru wasn't in a hurry to figure out who was the real suit, just as much as he couldn't take the chance all three were fake. Even if he snuck around his own playing field, without a decisive way of determining where the old teacher actually was, any strikes coming from the shadows would be a touch on the premature side. And moving around too much, no matter how skilled he was at being a shadow, would eventually give him away.

All that Hasunaga needed was to make sure he didn't move TOO fast, because he'd only get one chance.

"Flash."

The suits suddenly burst into spheres of pure brilliance. They couldn't damage anything while consuming themselves as fuel for the light, but their luminosity was meant to forcefully undo or at least push back the darkness in a very wide area. With any luck, this would also blind Masaru, as would happen with someone wearing night vision goggles suddenly staring at a strobe light, though Hasunaga wasn't counting on that alone.

No, what he needed was Masaru's position. His outline became visible for an instant as a massive sniper rifle materialized seemingly out of thin air and he tried to shoot at Masaru's legs with impossibly fast blasts. He didn't need a direct hit. A graze would be sufficient, given the speed and potency of the shots coming from the 'rifle'.

The flash of light blew away the shadow-generating Kido, as well as all the shadow constructs around the suits. Masaru's eyes slammed shut and shadow banded around his face, but that protective mask was quickly blown away, and stars danced in the Captain's still-closed eyes.

Which means it's on sound and spiritual sense that he knows to leap into the air. But he spread his arms out, and if Hasunaga was casting any shadow at all, he might find it suddenly less friendly than it was before.

[Kuroimaken]

He wasn't. For the most part because his own body was shining quite a bit - can't cast a shadow if he is the one throwing light everywhere.

Not very efficient as far as energy consumption went. Hasunaga was visibly de-aging at this point.

He fired off a couple more shots towards Masaru's legs - he wouldn't get another chance at this.

[KnightDisciple]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]

He wasn't. For the most part because his own body was shining quite a bit - can't cast a shadow if he is the one throwing light everywhere.

Not very efficient as far as energy consumption went. Hasunaga was visibly de-aging at this point.

He fired off a couple more shots towards Masaru's legs - he wouldn't get another chance at this.

Masaru hadn't gambled everything on his initial leap and his attempts to hit Hasunaga's shadow. Certainly, after that first shot, he'd at least gotten a sense of the direction the shots were coming from.

Which let him throw up a couple of successive, if rather sloppy, Kido barriers. They wouldn't stop the shots, not even having a couple of them in the way. But they'd buy him moments of time while they broke, enough to keep moving.

His eyesight was almost back, and when it returned, he'd be fully on the offensive once again.

[Kuroimaken]

"DOUBLE..."

Oh SNAP.

"ROCKET PUNCH!"

Now that he wasn't bothering to hide, Hasunaga didn't have to worry about his hands giving away his position. With two fists flying at Masaru rather than one, he figured he might manage at least a glancing hit on the Captain.

His voice sounded... slightly higher pitched this time.

[Hawkflight]

"When exactly was the last time you discovered you could shapeshift, young lady?" Katsurou coyly asked. It was rhethorical, but...

"....Never?" Suguri replied quizzically.

[Kuroimaken]

"....Never?" Suguri replied quizzically.

"Whereas I have seen, spoken to or studied the stories of dozens of spirits that could, indeed, transform." Katsurou teased. "Can you trust your grandfather's experience on this?"

[KnightDisciple]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]

"DOUBLE..."

Oh SNAP.

"ROCKET PUNCH!"

Now that he wasn't bothering to hide, Hasunaga didn't have to worry about his hands giving away his position. With two fists flying at Masaru rather than one, he figured he might manage at least a glancing hit on the Captain.

His voice sounded... slightly higher pitched this time.

Masaru's sight was mostly back, so he saw the incoming attack. However, avoiding the previous series of shots had left him with somewhat poor footing. He was able to use just a bit of shadow to propel himself out of the way of one of the flying fists, but the other one was headed directly for him.

He raised his cybernetic arm and channeled the energy to create the shield, hoping that between that and wrapping himself in some shadows would at least blunt the blow...

[Kuroimaken]

The impact force of that fist was nothing to sneeze at, but Masaru's energy shield serves him well. The angle doesn't favor him - it's a head-on hit - but he can weather that much even though being in the air made him more vulnerable to impact.

Out the corner of his still-blurred vision, he can spot a shadow coming at him. It seems to be Hasunaga, but the size feels off - he shouldn't be this small.

There's no mistaking the gauntlet on his arm, though. He's dashing towards Masaru hoping he won't be able to regain his footing in time.

On the other hand, at the speed he's going, it'd be tough to dodge anything coming for him.

[KnightDisciple]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]

The impact force of that fist was nothing to sneeze at, but Masaru's energy shield serves him well. The angle doesn't favor him - it's a head-on hit - but he can weather that much even though being in the air made him more vulnerable to impact.

Out the corner of his still-blurred vision, he can spot a shadow coming at him. It seems to be Hasunaga, but the size feels off - he shouldn't be this small.

There's no mistaking the gauntlet on his arm, though. He's dashing towards Masaru hoping he won't be able to regain his footing in time.

On the other hand, at the speed he's going, it'd be tough to dodge anything coming for him.

Masaru skids along the ground almost to the domed shield surrounding the arena space. He's finally able to stop and take stock of his situation...

Which is apparently 'still under attack'. He notes the sizing of his opponent but makes no remarks, instead trying to set himself up to be able to side-step the attack at the last moment and bring his shadow-blunted swords down on his opponent as he passes. Failing that, he'll hold one or both weapons out as impromptu pikes against the charge.

[strawberryman]

"That depends. How long do you think I've been waiting for this opportunity?"

That's the most romantic way he could find to say "pretty much immediately".

Momoka quirks a small smile. "Is this where you retrieve an album from some unseen pocket of existence, and display your many plans made on the contingency of our engagement?"

Gwynned tilts her head a bit. "...if that's a joke, it went above my head, sis."

[Kuroimaken]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]

Masaru skids along the ground almost to the domed shield surrounding the arena space. He's finally able to stop and take stock of his situation...

Which is apparently 'still under attack'. He notes the sizing of his opponent but makes no remarks, instead trying to set himself up to be able to side-step the attack at the last moment and bring his shadow-blunted swords down on his opponent as he passes. Failing that, he'll hold one or both weapons out as impromptu pikes against the charge.

He's coming in too hot for a maneuver of that level of precision. Setting them up as pikes proves the wisest move...

...but it doesn't stop Hasunaga, whom willingly throws himself at the swords and practically rends himself onto them just for the chance to throw one last ditch punch at Masaru, just so he could score a hit.

That's when the Commander-General's voice booms across the arena.

"CEASE THIS FOOLISHNESS AT ONCE, BOTH OF YOU!!"

- - - Updated - - -

Momoka quirks a small smile. "Is this where you retrieve an album from some unseen pocket of existence, and display your many plans made on the contingency of our engagement?"

Gwynned tilts her head a bit. "...if that's a joke, it went above my head, sis."

"I'm afraid I couldn't downsize my planning to fit into one pocket. I do, however, have a few pictures of the room in which those plans reside."

At this point, he pulls out pictures of what appear to be note-covered walls.

[strawberryman]

"CEASE THIS FOOLISHNESS AT ONCE, BOTH OF YOU!!"

Chouko's voice blares from a nearby drone. "Listen to the man and slow your roll already, we got serious **** going on right now. Our senkaimon network - as in, you know, the basis of our transportation infrastructure - just went down. As in, we didn't just get a connection blip, we got kicked off the wifi and the new password is prolly something obscene about all of our collective mothers."

______________________

In the situation room of engineering headquarters, Chouko is at a terminal clacking away fiercely, likely with Hideki nearby and also hard at work. Along with most if not all of the higher-ups of engineering. "Listen up, chuckle****s, we have until yesterday to figure this out so nobody's gettin' up until we fix this. No bathroom breaks, no wank breaks, no smoke breaks. Comms first, should be able to use the existing garganta-based network with Las Noches to rig a system up with our people on earth."

"I'm afraid I couldn't downsize my planning to fit into one pocket. I do, however, have a few pictures of the room in which those plans reside."

At this point, he pulls out pictures of what appear to be note-covered walls.

Momoka chuckles a bit, leaning in to kiss Setsurou on the cheek. "Clever, anything we can peruse now?"

[Draken]

[SENCorp Headquarters]

"Save your expletives Takenaka, I think I have the source."

He is not on a computer terminal, the senkaimon system is much more ancient than that. Hideki is waving him hands around on glowing sigils and looking properly wizardly for once.

"Someone's got a backdoor to the whole system, built into the spells themselves. The Royal Guard are shutting us down, we should extend the red carpets for another visit, I suppose."

[strawberryman]

"Yeah, because that went so well last time, bruh." The senkaimon system might be ancient, but engineering had been working it into their technology infrastructure before they were even engineering.

Koutarou, of course, is informed of this information via commlink. At least those still worked.

[Kuroimaken]

Meanwhile in lovey-dovey land

"Yes, sure." Setsurou grinned, and flipped through the photos until he got to a different set. "Here, these make the annotations on the walls clearer."

[KnightDisciple]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]

He's coming in too hot for a maneuver of that level of precision. Setting them up as pikes proves the wisest move...

...but it doesn't stop Hasunaga, whom willingly throws himself at the swords and practically rends himself onto them just for the chance to throw one last ditch punch at Masaru, just so he could score a hit.

That's when the Commander-General's voice booms across the arena.

"CEASE THIS FOOLISHNESS AT ONCE, BOTH OF YOU!!"

Masaru's face was a stony mask even as the punch landed on his jaw, shoving his head to one side.

At the Commander-General's shouted order, Masaru tosses the half-impaled Hasunaga to one side, places his swords point-first on the ground, and kneels down, speaking out loudly enough to be heard.

"I apologize, Commander. I allowed my temper to get ahead of me."

Chouko's voice blares from a nearby drone. "Listen to the man and slow your roll already, we got serious **** going on right now. Our senkaimon network - as in, you know, the basis of our transportation infrastructure - just went down. As in, we didn't just get a connection blip, we got kicked off the wifi and the new password is prolly something obscene about all of our collective mothers."

At Chouko's words, Masaru's eyes snap up toward the drone, his expression sharp. Worried, even.

He flicks his swords, their form shifting in an eye-blink to their sealed state as the shadows all around dissipate. His weapons are sheathed even as he begins typing into his cybernetic arm's holographic display.

"Combat Division going on Readiness Level 2. All off-duty personnel being recalled."

He looks up at the drone again.

"Chouko, what's our status of comms with our forces in the Mortal World?"

He looks toward the Commander-General.

"Sir, please allow me to organize my Division, then we can speak on....recent occurrences."

It's poor form for the Division to see their Captain get a full dressing-down; it's supposed to be behind closed doors, for the sake of morale and decorum.

[King539]

"Whether it's weird or not is besides the point", the voice scoffs. "What you need to think of is whether you always want it to be that way."

Boy, Senshi's shrugging a lot today. "I suppose not." It seems like he's about to continue, but Masaru's order interrupts.

"Combat Division going on Readiness Level 2. All off-duty personnel being recalled."

"Welp, guess that's me. Bye."

[Kuroimaken]

[Seireitei, Soul Society]
[Practice Ring, Combat Division HQ]
Masaru's face was a stony mask even as the punch landed on his jaw, shoving his head to one side.

At the Commander-General's shouted order, Masaru tosses the half-impaled Hasunaga to one side, places his swords point-first on the ground, and kneels down, speaking out loudly enough to be heard.

"I apologize, Commander. I allowed my temper to get ahead of me."


At Chouko's words, Masaru's eyes snap up toward the drone, his expression sharp. Worried, even.

He flicks his swords, their form shifting in an eye-blink to their sealed state as the shadows all around dissipate. His weapons are sheathed even as he begins typing into his cybernetic arm's holographic display.

"Combat Division going on Readiness Level 2. All off-duty personnel being recalled."

He looks up at the drone again.

"Chouko, what's our status of comms with our forces in the Mortal World?"

He looks toward the Commander-General.

"Sir, please allow me to organize my Division, then we can speak on....recent occurrences."

It's poor form for the Division to see their Captain get a full dressing-down; it's supposed to be behind closed doors, for the sake of morale and decorum.

"Somebody get this man to the nearest Medlog hospital." Koutarou calls out to a couple of nearby soldiers.

Turning to Masaru, he offers a curt nod. The Combat Division leader knew he wasn't off the hook by a long shot, but he made a good point.

"Naturally, Captain. We have bigger issues at hand right now.

Besides, we will need to address the troops soon. Morale is a critical resource right now.

Keep the troops ready, but refrain from engaging anybody until second order. If this is who we think it is, we don't want to appear ready to draw our swords."

[strawberryman]

"Chouko, what's our status of comms with our forces in the Mortal World?"

"Working on it. Anyone know where Notorious J-H-oel is? Might be good to ask him if he's got any tech asspulls."

____________________

Momoka looks over the annotations for Setsurou's no doubt absolutely absurd plans for an engagement party and wedding.

Gwyn, meanwhile, leans back. "...so, like, how long have you two been together, anyway?" She directs this at Setsurou, since one, she doesn't trust Momoka with a straight answer, and two, she's busy.

[Kuroimaken]

"As an actual couple? Not that long. It took us some time and a number of near-death experiences to realize our feelings for each other. But we go way back." As it turns out, while some of the plans indeed look entirely absurd (Momoka's fairly sure there is no way he could coordinate precisely eighteen thousand doves to fly in unison), some show a surprising amount of sensibility because they detail exactly how to accomplish each effect. And Setsurou has damn fine taste. No wonder he's an artist.