Match of the Millennium

Description: "Perhaps you should take a trip... A hike to the peak of Mount Shasta, I think. Surely that would do some good?" What started as a recommentation from their Sensei -- a relaxing respite from the hustle and bustle of the city -- turns into a learning experience all its own.

[ICHIKA]
Ichika had approached the mild suggestion that a trip into the mountains might be a good idea with the same calm, relaxed attitude she had approached Buck's vague musing that a soup kitchen would be a good way to make a difference in the community.

Which is to say that when she'd approached Buck and Chevy with the idea, there were slides. Forms to fill out for permits and passes. An itinery. A brief explanation of the local legends about the Spirit Above and the Spirit Below and their duel centered on the mountain.

"And anyway." She'd concluded the fifteen minute presentation, "Peng You-sensei implied that it would be a good idea for us, which means we should definitely do it as soon as possible!"

Her new outfit is... actually surprisingly practical for the first leg of the journey. The boots are sensible, at least. And Ichika being Ichika, she'd had the foresight to pack a much larger jacket, trail mix and an emergency medical kit. She didn't have the money for fancy supplies, but, she was as prepared as she could be.

She's also done her level best to shepherd her teammates along as early as possible in the morning, because: "Just imagine how amazing the mountain will look if we can see it at sunrise! And we probably don't want to climb down in the dark if we don't have to." Though, whether they are willing to put themselves out quite that much remains to be seen...

[BUCK]
Asking a farm boy to get up early is not much of an ask. He's usually up at dawn most mornings for a run or a workout anyway, and even the suggestion of a hiking trip as him readily agreeing. He sits through the presentation politely, only because Ichika put work into it.

When it's time to depart though, he's in full outdoorsman gear, and none of it is new. It's all well maintained, but even the newest bits have obviously seen at least a few years of use.

He's got a neatly packed backpack, sturdy, broken in boots, and his jacket has been traded for something more insulating, which is tied around his waist at the moment. There's a frown given to Ichika's boots. "Did you even bother breaking those in first? Yer gonna get blisters if not. Eh, no matter, I packed moleskin."

He's got enough experience in this to know what to bring and what not to bring. And insists on checking everyone's water supplies before they even set out, making sure everyone has enough. He's actually a little bossy about it, and an amount of serious that his teammates probably aren't used to seeing out of him. But this is his thing he's quick to remind them at any protest. And he's not about to take the flak from the mentors if anythign happens to them on the trip.

Still, first thing in the morning, he's raring to go, already sipping on some hot coffee out of a thermos and gnawing on some beef jerky. Because that's a sensible breakfast before hitting the trail in his mind.

[CHEVY]
Prior to this trip, Chevelle Beaumont had never given a single thought to the idea of climbing a mountain. They're impressive, tall, and they provide an amazing view -- that's the full extent of what Chevy knows about mountains. Suffice to say, nearly everything in Ichika's presentation was brand new. And yes, because it -was- Ichika, she did her damndest to pay attention. (she only spaced out once! and it was because of a pretty butterfly) In shopping, and preparation, she had pretty much just followed the lead of her teammates, picking larger versions of whatever Ichika picked out at the stores. Aside from boots -- she'd brought along a good sturdy pair of those.

But even still. She gave Buck some resistance on bringing enough water. Not because she disagreed with the idea, but because she liked the expressions he was making.

Her breakfast is poptarts. Which no one in the world would have seen coming. Like Buck, she's dressed and ready to go for the arranged time; back home, she'd never seen any sense in waiting for the sun to come up and make everything hot and sweaty.

She plays with one of the new mountain-climbing accessories, running her thumb past the spiky cleats. "Why do they call these things 'crampons' anyway? I mean there's at least six different ways to interpret that and all of 'em are wrong."

[ICHIKA]
Ichika is - perhaps uncharitably - pleasantly surprised by the fact that she doesn't need to lever her friends out of bed in the morning. Buck definitely beats her to it, and at the mild criticism of her footwear she just looks mildly embarrassed. "Blisters are fine. It was either these or my sneakers and, well... at least they should be much more broken in by the end of the day?"

She's far too excited to go for a big breakfast, too. She settles for fruit. Bananas are a sensible and tasty way to start the day!

And, of course, because questions were asked, Ichika can't help but give a little explanation on the way to the mountain. "People think that it comes from clamp-on, but actually it's from the French word 'crampoun', meaning to cramp, brace or staple. It's honestly surprising that we're still using a design that hasn't changed that much in over a century, but I suppose there might not need to be that much innovation..."

She can't help it. Between Buck's obvious expertise and Chevy's, well, ability to *purchase* supplies, she's feeling like she's actually the one least prepared to conquer the mountain. She'd done what she could, but she's far too proud to borrow money, so half the items she'd inspected and recommended for Chevy had gone back in her own case. Subtly, of course.

She's a Fighter, now, right? She doesn't need a pocket knife to conquer a mountain. Her sword will absolutely be fine. And it could probably serve as all sorts of other tools, too. Just. Don't ask her how.

[BUCK]
Also provided by Buck, a nice shiny Ford truck to get them out to the mountain, provided by the dealership that hosted his match. For this, he looks extra roud of himself as he gets everyone out to the mountain.

Though, Team Thunder gets to experience a whole other side of Buck on this little trip, especially once they hit the trail. He's a wealth of knowledge, pointing out verious plants that are edible, tracks of animals, and especially keen to point out hazards that are best avoided. For once, he gets to be the smarty-pants in the group and he seems to be relishing it just a little.

He's also perhaps more bouncy and excited than they have ever seen him. Just something about being out in the wilderness and away from a city seems to wake him up and sets his enjoyment meter to eleven.

"Smell that, ain't nothin' better than mountain air. This is the kind of place I want to find, a nice mountainside like where I can but myself a cabin and just live off the grid whenever I feel the need to get away." He pumps his arms in the air as he walks along. "Aww.. yeah. After being cramped up in a city this is exactly what I needed."

[CHEVY]
Chevy's had a nest egg for quite some time. She felt a little weird about dipping into it at first, but with how excited Buck and Ichika were to go hiking, the redhead felt like it was just the right way to use her money. Particularly if it means she gets to hang out with her uber cool friends!

"... Oh. Well, I mean, there's lots of cool words that come from French, I just warn't expectin' that to be one of 'em. Neat!"

Chevelle seems delighted to ride in a personal vehicle again. Mass transit was a nice experience to have had, but aside from the one trip with pleasant company, it wasn't one she especially looks forward to again. "Not just mountain air. But new truck smell -and- mountain air." The whole 'mountain air' thing on its own is too new for her to discount it being awesome, but she can't help but add her own hat into the ring here. Even if it is... gasp... a Ford.

"So this trail we're taking, it's called Avalanche Gorge, right? I mean." She scratches the side of her head. "And they're calling this the -easy- route?"

[ICHIKA]
At first, Ichika had shared her own thoughts - she knows a fair amount about plants and animals from an academic perspective. But as it becomes obvious that not only does Buck know more than her about this, but he knows more about the practical elements than could ever be found in books, there's a noticeable shift in the girl's demeanour. She shares fewer random facts, asks more questions, pays much closer attention... and seems even happier.

She'd completed the Mount Fuji hike with her parents in the not-too-distant past, and that had been an almost transcendental experience for the girl. Difficult, yes, but there had been something about the mountain that she loved. Very much the city girl in the trio, it isn't some secret adoration of nature - she could very much do without the bugs and animals that risk actually getting closer to her - but...

There's definitely SOMETHING, something that has an extra spring in her step as she keeps up a brisk pace. "The air really is something!" She says, brightly. "It is energising! And, I'm sure we'll be fine, Chevy. If an avalanche comes, you can just use your hydrokinetic powers to keep us safe!"

She's grinning. She's probably joking. But, well. Maybe not entirely. You never really knew what you could do until you needed to!

[BUCK]
Buck keeps along at a steady pace, even if he does get distracted by the occasional bird's nest or interesting tree, and even one particularly well-crafted (according to him) spider web. "This is how I get most of my ideas." He says after a moment. "I go out and watch, see what they can do, and then I try to do it. I worried some people at an aquarium once by staring at an octopus for a couple hours." He laughs slightly as he picks up a fallen branch, twirling it in his hands a few times. "This was a good suggestion."

He pulls out his knife from a sheathe on his belt. It's no pocket knife, it's one of those full-on survivalist ones that could probably qualify as a weapon. Which may beg the question of how he's been travelling with it. He starts to slices at the stick, whittling away casually as they walk. "I wouldn't worry about avalanches. They have park rangers and such come out and check most of these trails. They'll shut 'em down if there's anything too dangerous, not like we're trailblazin' here."

He still keeps his jovial tone, even talking about avalanches. "Sides, it's melt season. I'd worry more about mudslides and flash floods." That is probably not as reassuring as he meant it to be.

[CHEVY]
Chevy grins as Buck explains his research methodology. "I can see that. Spend enough time with hogs and you start to recognize the patterns. And their personalities. And you get to predict all the dirty tricks they're thinkin' a pullin'."

She does glance over at the bespoke walking stick Buck is making for herself. Being that she's got a pocket knife, she makes a mental note to snag the next stick as well. ... Which she'd give to Ichika, who was insistent that she wouldn't need a pocket knife. It's what friends do.

Chevy, too, is happy to be outside in the crisp mountain air. "Yeah... this really is the life. Can actually -breathe- out here..." Now that she's out here in the -real- Great Outdoors, she's finding it hard to stop smiling.

At least, until Ichika reveals that she's Plan B in case of an avalanche. "... Well, you -say- that, but..." Buck 'helpfully' clarifies the low risk of avalanches, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Chevy swells with pride. "Okay, yeah, I'm -much- more confident with mudslides and flash floods." Maybe not confident to shout loudly and -invoke- a natural disaster, but confident.

She breathes in deeply, looking up into the sky, where a bird of some sort is flying overhead. "So... did you ever sit and try and focus on a bird, try to figure -that- out?"

[NOBORU]
There is plenty of time to discuss the ins and outs of flight, the merits of knives vs swords for whittling, and any number of other subjects that might come up between a group of youthful folk let loose into nature. The air is crisp and clean, sky clear of the rancid smog that has overtaken Sunshine City. The streams that meander close to their path are crystal clear and full of fish, water so cold that it seems to burn exposed skin. And yet, beyond the freedom, beyond even the beauty of the natural world, there is Life here. A heartbeat so deep and slow as to be silent in a mortal's span, but who's rushing vitality can be felt all the same.
Ascending Mount Shasta is no offhand endeavor. It is in no small part to Buck's experience and foresight that the budding young fighters are able to tackle it as easily as they do. That, and the natural vitality that has seen them this far through the competition. As the trio ascends, they gradually leave behind flowered meadows and dense foliage, exchanging it for scattered winter trees and chilly stone. What waterways they encounter are more often than not covered over by a thin coating of ice.
Still higher, where the air is thin and the chill air slices unprotected lungs with every breath, the landscape is transformed into a gleaming beacon of ice and snow. Shades of blue and white lay spread out before them, sprinkled lightly with a smattering of dark stone jutting through the near permanently frozen earth. Frigid even in the depths of summer.
The sun is low in the western horizon when the wayward band crests a steep, snowy rise to emerge upon the rim of what must be a volcanic bowl gouged into the shoulder of the mountain. There is still some ways to go if they wish to make the peak, the trail winding its way around the rim of the bowl before vanishing to higher climbs. And yet, nowhere has the near imperceptible thrum of nature's heart been so tangibly close as within the heart of this bowl. Some 20 feet below where they stand, a ring of snow-covered boulders mark the edge of a frozen pool some 50 feet across. A light dusting of white mars the otherwise crystalline blue of the ice, upon the center of which sits a lone figure.
A cascade of wild brownish-blonde hair hangs limp in the still air, resting upon snow-dusted shoulders bare of any protective gear. The depth of snow that has fetched up against him hints that he has been here for some time, frozen corpse gathering little drifts around folded legs and hips that hide any potential unpleasant nudity. For naked he seems to be, caught in a pose of meditation with head back and scarred features turned toward the sky. It is likely the cold that has preserved him, though even at a distance the trio can see puckered pink marks across his back that hint of wounds left unhealed.
But why? What would possess someone to seat themselves upon a frozen lake to freeze to death?

[ICHIKA]
Ichika isn't dressed nearly so well for the cold as she would have liked. But that's an easy thing for her to ignore. As the verdant land gives way to a different kind of beauty, she does take her coat from her pack and fasten it tight - glad that she waited. She feels the benefit a lot more, now. Though, the further they get, the quieter the Kasumoto child has gotten as well. It's... strange. Her mind is usually so awash with thoughts that she has to struggle to pick which ones are most relevant to the situation at hand. It's easier, here. As though she could just relax and let the world tell her which things are important; the most beautiful trees, the birds flitting through the cool skies above, the hole hidden beneath the snow that she would otherwise have stumbled into - easily revealed thanks to Chevy's gift of a walking stick of her own, and pointed out to her friends.

Those bright eyes of hers are shining as she takes in the landscape. All of it. A tiny part of her nags that there are practical matters to consider here. Time taken, routes taken, they need to be mindful, they need not to be TRAPPED. Youthful energy or no, this high in the mountains is dangerous!

But she finds it impossible to listen to that voice. In her heart, she knows with a certainty she has known very few things in her young life, that this place will not hurt her. Just as Mount Fuji had not hurt her, but had instead laid out all of Japan for her to admire in its splendor.

It might be a little eerie for her friends; chatterbox Ichika no longer even asking questions, just smiling and nodding and interjecting with the odd observation. Until the 'dead man' appears on the pool. And then...

Then the girl is just walking out onto the ice, as though this is the most normal thing in the world. She approaches to a respectful distance; twenty paces. She kneels on the ice, and she smiles.

"I hope we are not troubling you." She says to the snow-encased figure. "But, I feel compelled to ask. Are you a sage, or a conduit?"

[BUCK]
"It's too much." Buck says, looking up at the birds in the sky then back down to his stick. "It's not just the wings. It's the tail, the chest muscles, the bones, the whole shape.." He makes a circle in the air with his knife. "I'd have to completely change and that's hard to do and hold. So far. Then I'd change back and be pantsless, which is a different problem."

Maybe it'd be a problem for some. Depends on your tastes, probably.

Still he keeps working on his sick, getting a nice point on one end he occasionally tests by stabing into the ground. Why becomes clear onces they reach the ice and snow, as he starts using it as another point of balance in the more treacherous terrain, stabbing the point through ice crust.

He doesn't comment on Ichika's quiet, he knows mountains have effects on people, even he seems to go calmer and quieter as they reach the summit, only occasionally pointing out good views and that more with a point of his stick than with words.

At least until the frozen corpse comes into view, at which point Buck draws up short with a frown. He looks around, trying to see if the poor man even had any supplies with him. "Maybe he teleported up here like Ariastra." He mutters, then holds out a hand with a thought of stopping Ichika, but he doesn't, instead just watching curiously. "Is he alive?" There's maybe a hint of incredulity in Buck's voice as he asks that.

[CHEVY]
"Huh, I'd never thought about that... wings need something super strong to flap 'em, huh?"

Ichika isn't the only one uncharacteristically quiet. It's true that Chevy tends to have more surface-level observations than the sort of deep thoughts Ichika brings to the table, but even those seem to thin out along with the air pressure.

As someone else who, at least until recently, spent most of her days ambulating around a farm, she's not particularly bothered by the pace. Would she appreciate a rest? Of course: hiking up a mountain is certainly tougher than walking across flat ground. But Chevelle Beaumont is not the type to complain about tests of endurance -- not in front of Buck, and especially not when she's trying to be a good 'big sister' to Ichika.

She'd only managed to find a short walking stick, just a bit longer than what would make a good cane. It serves the job.

When the figure is found upon the frozen pool, though, Chevy watches Ichika's approach with caution. "No sudden moves, Ichika..." she warns.

She glances over to Buck, as he makes his query. "Mm... maybe. But I warn't gonna bet on it." She's quick to sidle up to Buck, resting a hand lightly upon his shoulder as she leans close to whisper quietly: "Is the ice gonna hold...?" Obviously it was thick enough to support the nearly frozen figure, but she's hesitant about adding even -more- weight to the equation. With the sun past its peak, the ice will grow more solid, to be sure, but that won't help if they all fall in -now-.

Pursing her lips, she spares another look at the ice beneath Ichika's feet. And then her own. "Y'all go ahead -- I'll hang tight here just in case."

[NOBORU]
By all rights, the figure on the spring should be dead. The brief inspection Buck gives their surroundings reveals no tent, no discarded pile of gear. To doubt the actions of their youngest member is only natural. And yet, as Ichika settles upon the ice, cold radiating through her clothes where they press against the fortunately solid surface, the figure before her begins to stir.
Chin dipping slowly toward his chest, the battle-scarred figure lets out a long breath that deflates his chest and allows his rigid shoulders to slump. Half turned away from the others, they can none-the-less see that their is little to no vapor in that exhale. No waft of steam escaping from mouth or nostrils. Only the fall, then rise of his chest as he fills his lungs with the frigid mountain air, face remaining bowed toward his snow-covered lap.
"Hrrrrrmh..."
The sound that escapes the stranger's chest is very deep, but far from threatening. It is a thoughtful sound, slow and ponderous, perhaps even comforting to those who are used to men of little words. However, the same can not be said of the stranger's face, which is revealed as he lifts his gaze to consider the girl kneeling a short ways onto the ice. Scruffy and unkempt with several days thick beard, and disfigured by a long-healed white scar that hooks across his features and through his closed left eye, he has the battered face of a warrior, or villain. All except for the eye, which is a sharp, icy blue every bit as intense as her own.

"I do not crave fame and profit or care that I am poor;
Hiding in the depths of the mountains I keep far away the world's dust;
The year has waned and the skies are cold:
who would be my companion?"

The bit of verse is delivered in Japanese with rumbling impassivity, blue eye studying Ichika's face all the while. Only once he has finished the partial quote does the brow over his good eye lift, cool gaze shifting to one of idle interest as scarred hands curl in the snow. Pushing down against his knees, the wounded man rises with the slow inevitability of a glacier settling, gaze remaining fixed on the girl who would ask him such a strange question. Fortunately for her, and for all involved, as snow falls away from the brute's form it reveals the thick white cloth of a longer than traditional Fundoshi, front flap hanging nearly to his knees.
"You," he continues, speaking now in equally perfect English, "would call me sage."
A roll of his shoulder produces several cracks and pops, joints protesting loudly even as snow falls around his bare feet. Steam has began to issue from his nose as he breathes, color returning to his sun-weathered skin as his gaze lifts to examine Buck and Chevy on the rim.
"Why have you come to this place?"

[ICHIKA]
"The plum blossoms are adorned in moonlight. One branch, new."

Ichika is surprised three times by this stranger. Not that he is alive. She doesn't know how she knew; later that will be a splinter nagging at her, most likely, but it had been impossible for her to imagine that he was dead. No. That was no surprise.

She is surprised, first, by the intensity of his eye. The harshness of his features makes sense; no man who would subject himself to this could help but be weathered by the experience. But there is a clarity in that gaze which is enough to command her attention. It steals the smile from her lips.

The second surprise is that he speaks Japanese. She had not expected to hear her native tongue so far from home, and that he wields it so eloquently, so effortlessly, is almost as commanding as the stark gaze.

The third is that she knew the words to reply. Of all her many areas of study, Zen poetry was one she had not devoted herself to nearly as fully as the rest. It was a cultural curiosity, surely? A pretty bauble to be proud of at times, but, little more. Except. In this place, at this time, with her mind as clear as the blue sky, she speaks them without so much as a moment's hesitation.

She can feel the thick ice beneath her legs. The coolness bleeding up into her skin. It makes her limbs tingle, numb. But she merely looks up at him as he rises; remaining knelt with her hands in front of her, posture as non-threatening as possible.

"Our Sensei, Peng You, suggested that we might be enlightened by the trip." She says, switching back to English as well because - well - this is American land, not Japanese. She is the visitor here, and she does want to be respectful. "We are students of the fighting arts, and there are many mysteries of this world we do not understand, Sir."

[BUCK]
"I think so." Buck replies to Chevy's question as he looks down at the ice. Though he doesn't look like he's about to test it himself at the moment, staying on the frozen bank as he looks at the pair out on the ice.

His Japanese is just good enough to catch most of that, even if he doesn't know the reference. But his gaze bounces between the two looking just a little surprised.

"Oh.. uh.." And he's turning away as the man is standing up, mostly averting his gaze until it becomes obvious that the man is indeed clothed in something. "Not really what I expected to run into up here." He says casually, trying to be lighthearted about a situation that's actually making him feel a tad out of his element.

"Yeah, that 'bout sums it up." He says after Ichika explains their presence. "And I don't need much convincin' to climb a mountain. Though, uh, if you don't mind my askin'?" He's looking around again. "Are you stranded up here?"

[CHEVY]
Chevelle continues to watch from a distance. She spoke to a concern for the ice -- it doesn't -get- thick enough to stand on safely, where she's from. There's entire channels on streaming sites dedicated to people underestimating the thickness of ice, so she's... more than a little spooked, at first.

But then she remembers a very key component. Something that makes her different. She can feel the water -- and can sense that the ice is nowhere near the point of failing. Not beneath her, and not where her dear friend and this ice-covered stranger are standing.

Chevy grips her walking stick. And starts to close the distance. She appreciates the switch to English, having trouble with even the dumbed-down modern Japanese, there's no hope for her to parse the impossibly archaic forms of Zen poetry. She just knows it sounded deep and meaningful.

"It's, honestly, pretty /awesome/ that you can do this, but our skin ain't so tough." She rubs her arms through jacket sleeves, to demonstrate. "We don't mean any harm, sir. Just passing through."

[NOBORU]
"Hrmh. Friend."
If the realization behind the name amuses the prehistoric caveman they have stumbled upon, it does not show on his face. Unlike their eccentric master, the brute that stands before them does not have a face suited to smiles. Features set in stoic indifference, he glances from Chevy to Buck, then back down to Ichika, silently gathering the clues that they each represent.
"No." comes the blunt response to Buck's well-meaning question. Right hand lifting to touch the horrible puckered scar that cleaves a vertical path down his chest, he presses firmly against the still pink flesh, grunts quietly to himself, and seems to reach some private decision.
"You ask much for one so young." This addressed down to Ichika, the unnamed sage takes a step toward her, approaching from the front even as Chevy moves in from the rear. "Many are the world's secrets, and each must be earned."
Bare feet padding across the ice with a surprising lack of noise, the sage comes to loom over Ichika and Chevy alike, being slightly taller than even Buck. By no means the largest man they have ever confronted, that honor likely held by one of Chevy's Metro City idles, the stranger is still a hulking presence.
"But I know of whom you speak, and can guess at his reasons for sending you to me. Tell me, sword maiden. Have you ever thought to wonder why your eyes are blue?"

[ICHIKA]
Ichika might have a strange sense of serenity right now, but she does have enough sense to stand up when the man moves to loom over her. She has to crane her neck a little to look up at him, even so. She's dimly aware that her legs are complaining; kneeling down really was a very foolish thing for her to do. But, it felt right. What is a little pain and discomfort for the answers that she seeks?

"I do." She agrees, readily. No shame in her at all about that. As she had said to Ariastra; she is a precocious child. It is, in her own opinion, one of her better traits. If she didn't believe that she deserved the legacy she sought, then she would never have set out on the path to claim it. And that legacy requires so much.

Then the question, and she frowns. Remembering that others are here with her, she turns to look back at Chevy and Buck for support.

"My, eyes?" She repeats as she looks back to him. And now there's that uncertainty creeping back into her. Along with the more academic knowledge that she uses as a shield. "It is a small mystery." She admits, "Ordinarily, as they are a recessive trait, at least one parent needs to have blue eyes to pass them to the child, and both for it to be a likely thing. Neither of my parents have blue eyes. But..." And here, she grows a little defensive, her voice a touch sharper. "My parents are my parents. I am Kasumoto Ichika. I will not doubt them."

[BUCK]
"Actually." Buck says in a faint whisper to Chevy. "I've been cheating a little." He pulls up the sleeve of his jacket enough to show fur underneath, then tugs it back down with a finger over his lips and a small laugh.

Though as Chevy steps out on to the ice he gives a sigh, a shake of his head, and follows, hands dipping into the pockets of his jacket.

He can't help but be a little curious at the odd line of questioning posed to Ichika, but he doesn't interrupt or butt in. If there's one thing he's learned from Team Thunder mentors, is these sage types will always get around to the point eventually if you just pay attention and nod along. So he's just bobbing his head once in a while as he keeps his ears open and on the exchange, wondering where this is going.

[CHEVY]
Chevelle gives Buck a slug in the shoulder for that wisecrack, keeping her smile pointed toward the thawed stranger all the while. She ends up at a friendly conversational distance -- close enough so no one would have to shout.

'Friend?' Chevelle is... slightly confused by the response there, or what it pertains to. She'd never really dug into the name that the wise old Sensei had preferred. The redhead smiles back as the stranger looks her over, hoping that she can provide the best impression an American can provide. Especially since she doesn't know what his intentions are.

But... the more she stands around, the colder she gets. As Ichika and the stranger talk, she reaches into a pocket, and finds one of the heating packets she'd been talked into bringing along. A moment later, she breaks it apart, stuffing it into a jacket pocket to start the process of warming up her hands.

She leans closer to listen -- eager to know if the talk about blue eyes is something -she- should be concerned with.

[NOBORU]
"Then do not. But know that the answer to one mystery lies within the exploration of another."
The response is rumbled with grinding solemnity, blue eye cool in the face of Ichika's sudden defensiveness. Gaze lifting from her, he takes another moment to study first chevy's smiling shivers, then Buck's seeming comfort. It is to all of them that he next speaks, supremely confident despite the fact he is a lone man in a loincloth stranded atop a snow-capped mountain.
"I sense that you are aware of the nature of this place, though you do not yet understand what it is. And though I do not know why Peng You has sent you to me, I will soon find out."
Fingers of his right hand curling at his side, he clinches them into a fist with such abrupt ferocity that his knuckles crack like shots from a gun, the sharp snaps echoing back off of the mountain in ever-diminishing echoes.
"I am Miyama Noboru, the Iron Mystic." he proclaims in that same, grinding tone, a fractional shift of his feet setting him square against all three of his youthful visitors. "Prepare yourselves."
Did, their Sensei send them here just to get beat up? Or maybe they are meant to stop this man. He certainly has the look of a villain from some ancient anime, all muscles, scars, and bad attitude...
Well, maybe not the bad attitude part, he seems pretty stone-faced. But still!

COMBATSYS: Noboru has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Noboru           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Noboru has joined the fight here on the top side.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|------=

[ICHIKA]
Ichika's brow furrows at the response. He knew more than he was letting on. She doesn't have long to think about it though; whilst she is trying to find the right words to try and tease more out of him, he makes it clear that the time for speaking is over. Part of her says that this is ridiculous; that fighting a vastly more experienced combatant at the top of the mountain, hours from help and with every possibility of serious injury is a terrible idea.

The far greater part of her, as always, wants answers.

In one fluid motion, the heavy coat is discarded to reveal the lighter leather jacket beneath and her sword catches the light of the slowly setting sun. She simply couldn't move in the winter garment, and whilst a crop-top and skirt are terrible when it comes to protection from the elements, revealing her family name emblazoned proudly across her chest does wonders for her self-confidence.

"Fine!" She exclaims, "Words can only get us so far. If this is the price you demand to earn clear answers, then I will take them from you!"

And then:

"Chevy, water! Buck, gills!"

And with that initially cryptic statement, she brings her blade down hard. Not at Noboru; not even close to the mystic, but cleaving deep into the surface of the ice. A deep crack sparks in the ice, many more spiderwebbing out as she digs her weight in hard and twists the blade. It's a terrifying, risky maneuver; of all four combatants, she is not only the one least suited to a dip in the freezing depths, but the one who *just made herself more vulnerable to the cold*.

But Chevy needs ammo. Without her buckets, direct access to the water beneath the surface is the best Ichika can think of. She's confident Buck will be able to adapt to anything... and she's certain, just from a look at this man's stance, that if her friends don't stand with her, she's not going to stand a chance.

But they've come this far, haven't they?

COMBATSYS: Ichika has joined the fight here.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|------=
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Chevy has joined the fight here.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|------=
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Ichika           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Chevy

COMBATSYS: Ichika assists Chevy.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|------=
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Ichika           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Chevy

COMBATSYS: Buck has joined the fight here.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|------=
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Buck             0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

[CHEVY]
The stranger is being closed and withdrawn. And he's... just been woken up. So it's understandable, in Chevy's mind, that he might just not want to talk. Heck, -she's- not a morning person. How irritated would she be if she were frozen into a popsicle atop a snowy volcano?

But then he introduces himself.
And throws down a gauntlet.

"H-hey..."

And then Ichika appears to take this personally.

"Ichika..."

And then she demands -action-.

"Nnnrgh..."

The Southern belle clenches her fists from within her jacket. She prefers to take things a -little- slower than this. But with a blade currently being wedged through the roughly three feet of ice, Chevelle already knows it's all but -inevitable- that the ice is going to crack. Her voice is shaky, but more or less controlled, as she states, shaking in her boots...

"Ichika, sugar, I know you're frustrated, but like, this ain't a great time to play 'what's the worst that can happen' because..."

*CRACK!*

Chevy lets out her breath, as a small sprinkle of water bursts through the crack Ichika's made in the ice, sprouting up some 9-12 inches or so. Another moment, and the crack splits wider... tripling in size.

Chevy opens her eyes -- looking first at Buck, with some measure of apology. Then at Ichika, with a determined smile. "... thanks." Maybe there were better ways to achieve that goal, but that wheel's already been set into motion. May as well roll with it!

But then finally, she turns to Miyama Noboru. At which point she lifts her palm out from her jacket, face up.

"We're ready for the challenge, sir."

And in the next moment.
She lifts her palm skyward as high as it will go.

The next instant, the sprinkle becomes a -geyser- of force, easily a foot and a half across and ten feet high! Broken fragments of ice fly every which way.

And then Chevy whips her hand forward -- the column of water bends, like a snake -- and the 'head' seeks out Noboru, the strike of an uncoiling cobra!

[BUCK]
There's a small sigh from Buck, less distraught and more accepting of the inevitable. "I don't know how I knew there was going to be a fight during this trip. But we just seem to attract them, don't we?" He's more mumbling to himself as Ichika and Noboru have their exchange.

He quickly unzips his jacket, shrugs out of that and his backpack, and with a swing of his arm sends both hurtling safely onto snow over dry land where they will hopefully remain safe. He's going to need them later.

Ichika's call for gills just gets a thumbs up from the Oklahoman, and he nods to Chevy indicating his own readyness. Her look of apology met with his own wide smile and the usual eagerness that radiates off of him once a fight has broken out. He's insane.

The ice cracks, and he doesn't even bother trying to balance, instead he ducks low and runs forward, his hand dipping into the frigid water and coming up with a chunk of ice that he holds in his grip for now. Leaping up in the air once he's run out of solid ice in front of him, he flings the chunk of ice at the apex of his jump, right at the near-naked mountain man.

His jump carries him forward, and there's no look of worry as his trajectory is headed right for one of the cracks in the ice, which he slips through and into the frigid water with a decent sized splash. He's definitely insane.

COMBATSYS: Chevy successfully hits Noboru with Rinse Cycle.

                 [   ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|----===
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Buck             0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0            Chevy
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Noboru guards against Buck's Thrown Object.

                 [   ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|----===
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Buck             0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0            Chevy
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

[NOBORU]
Much can be gleaned from the trio's reaction to his challenge. Firstly, their names. Ichika as the nominal leader and swords woman, Chevy the hydrokinetic, and Buck with some form of shape shifting. The last is a guess, admittedly, but his immediate rush for the water lends credence to the initial assessment. But not only do they reveal flashes of their power, water lashing toward him while the frozen spring begins to crack apart. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, he begins to understand their personalities.
Absorbing all of this in the first couple of heartbeats, Noboru flicks a glance down to Ichika's sword as she kneels over its imbedded length. Left forearm swinging up, he catches the head of the frigid blast on tensed muscle, though it does little to stop the pressurized water from forking around his limb and blasting his lower face and abdomen with numbing cold. Sharp bits of ice ping off of his skin and go skipping across the fracturing surface of their arena, while a thin rime of frost forms across the brute's hunched shoulders.
"Hrrrmh."
A sudden shift sideways pulls him free of the freezing blast, drips of moisture hardening into little dangling spikes before they can fully drip from his soaked form. But even that isn't enough to stop him shifting his already raised hand, Buck's chunk of thrown ice landing in his palm with an audible SMACK. A sound that is soon followed by a high, unpleasant squeal, then CRACK as his fingers close, grinding the material into powdery snow that puffs through his knuckles in a miniature explosion.
"Is your blade merely a crowbar?" the hulking shinobi grunts in Ichika's direction,great form wheeling away from her with calculated speed. One step forward and a diving lunge sees him cross the distance toward Buck in a flash, forward knee rupturing the ice beside the younger man's diving spot in a spray of frozen debris. Right hand plunging after the shape shifter, he palms the entire left side of his head, fingers like iron clamping around his skull as he attempts to drive him sideways into a stunning collision with the edge of the breach. If successful, the maneuver will create just enough of an opening for Noboru to stand, hauling the sodden young man free of the breach and hurling him straight up with a surge of muscular power, easily able to toss a man of Buck's weight some 20 feet with the one hand.
Unless the wily shifter can slip the throw, this might be a good time to take another stab at flight.

[ICHIKA]
Ichika is astounded by the grace of the man. The way he had moved before, she had assumed he would simply be a juggernaut. But no. There's an almost ballet-like quality to his motions; no wasted effort that she can see, and even under the assault from two of her friends, he not only maintains his composure but has time to throw a barb at her as well. One which draws a ferocious grin across her lips.

"My sword is a tool that carves many paths." She replies as she hauls it back out from the ice. "As you will soon learn!"

She has to pause; toss a grateful look back to Chevy along with a slight nod of her head. There's no reason the pair of them HAD to back her up here. His words had challenged her. But she's glad that they did; she would have fought him either way, but she would have lost on her own. With them, well...

Maybe. Just maybe. She can claim a victory.

The girl proves light on her feet. Dashing across the lurching ice, she's nowhere near as graceful as Noboru, but nor does she lose her footing. Indeed, as the ice lurches below her, the girl uses that - kicking back from the shard and lunging through the air. She has no idea how Buck will deal with the assault of the far more experienced warrior. She certainly doesn't have time to thank him properly.

That can come later. For now, she will have to express her gratitude by slicing a glittering arc through the air, twisting as she turns to come down in an overhead slash which seeks to catch the man across his side.

[CHEVY]
Okay. Well. This is working out -slightly- better than Chevy had planned. She can honestly say she's never fought on ice floes before. But she can't say that any more -now!-

"Yeeeeah..." agrees the redhead, "but it's better than sittin' at home, -bored-..." She may rethink that statement, though, when she sees how -fast- Miyama-san moves around! "Gah... be careful!" she cautions, knowing full well it's likely to fall on deaf and/or submerged ears...

After that first big crack, more have started to form. Normally, this might present a problem -- but Chevy still has access to her waterspout. Gritting her teeth, she clutches hold of her walking stick. With a wide sweep of her left arm, she's able to manipulate the stream so that it runs parallel to the ice. And, holding her breath, she takes a leap of faith onto the surging stream...

And is abruptly -WHOOSHED- forward at high speed! The sudden motion draws a shout of surprise -- which turns into almost musical laughter as she steers the stream to bring herself alongside Noboru. ... Just as Ichika strikes from the opposite vector!

Fired up by Ichika's pure gusto, she calls out, "Hey, batter, batter..." And right after that, the stream-surfing redhead sweeps her makeshift walking stick at Noboru's knees, hoping to sweep those legs out from under him just as her friend makes her move!

COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Buck with Embrace The Sky.
-*- DEVASTATING HIT! -*-

                 [    |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|---====
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Buck             1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

[BUCK]
There's a lot Buck expects. Being dragged out of the water like a trout is not one of those things. And having his face smashed right into the rough side of one of the floating chunks of ice was also not on that list. Well, not high on it anyway. But he's pretty sure he hears a crunch that might be his nose and not the ice.

Though as he's hauled out of the water it's obvious he did some adapting to the frigid waters. No gills, but he is sporting webbed hands and a layer of slicked water-proof fur. He went the otter route, which is a bit easier than changing his whole breathing dynamic. The changes don't seem as solid, with his head ringing they're fading and strengthening as he tries to get his wits back about him. Still it's only a brief glance as he's sent hurtling through the air, cartwheeling end over end before hitting the water with a solid smack and sinking back down.

Nothing like a belly flop to regain the senses though. Shaking his head to clear it, he allows himself to sink a bit into the water, glancing up to gauge the shadows moving above him.

No time like the present to try his new trick. Fighting Kenzo had given him an idea, and now was the time to execute it.

With his teammates going after Noboru, he raises his own arm, shifting it into a tentacle which he extends out of the water to attempt to wrap around the sage's legs and help hold him in place with a crushing pressure.

Then the new part. A chimerical mix of two animals which he had not tried to attempt until recently. There's a spark, the sharp sent of ozone, and the tentacle lights up with electrical currents courtesy of a little eel added into the mix.

COMBATSYS: Ichika successfully hits Noboru with Artful Slash.

                 [      |||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|--=====
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Buck             0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Chevy's Crushing Throw.

                 [       ||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|-======
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Buck             0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0            Chevy
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Noboru dodges Buck's Danger Hug.

                 [       ||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|-======
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Buck             0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0            Chevy
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/------=|

[NOBORU]
To watch Noboru move is to witness a particular blend of strength and balance that few fighters possess. Calling it ballet might be a stretch, as there is little of true grace or elegance in him, but a power and surety that is greatly at odds with the typical brute. He does not lumber as he takes a single step back from the hole from which he extracted Buck. Remains perfectly at his ease upon the bobbing platform of ice that stretches some 15 feet behind him. Cold blue eye tracking Buck's progress through the air, he lapses into statue-like stillness, an immovable island within the developing maelstrom of combat.
Hearts thud.
The young man's friends close upon his back, their paths converging.
The slightest lean into Ichika's sword blow is all the defense he chooses to muster, ridges of muscle flexing against scarred flesh. It is a difficult thing to parse, what with Chevy's whooping passage and the low swing of her stick, but the katana jerks wildly in the Japanese girl's hands as it strikes home, threatening to tear free of her confident grip. If she didn't know better, she might think that the ice had dulled the blade, or some barrier of invisible energy sprung forth to protect him. But as the edge of her blade arcs free of the strike, she sees only a thin cut in the hulking sage's flesh.
Rewinding it in her mind she can see the moment of impact. The shift of weight and surge of muscle striking blade. Not enough to deflect it away, not even enough to stop it penetrating his skin, but still. Some straight up Wuxia Iron Body shit just went down right in front of her eyes.
At nearly the same moment, twin cracks fill the air as Chevy's improvised staff hooks the back of the Iron Mystic's knees in an attempt to heave him off his feet. Instead, wood strikes home with a THUD that she can feel up her arm and her stick threatens to yank her off of her water jet, the shinobi having gripped the solid ice between his toes to anchor himself in place.
A twist of his neck and Noboru levels an impassive glance over his shoulder at Ichika, good eye staring into both of hers. It is not a taunting expression, nor is it triumphant. But somehow she can feel the disappointment in it. The expectation of more.
"Hrrmh."
Gaze flicking away toward Chevy, the sage closes the distance with another of those perfectly timed strides, as if everything around him were ticking down to some pre-ordained conclusion. The single step carries him over Buck's grasping tentacle and into the Redhead's comfort zone, left hand lashing out for a single, casual blow. Or, at least it looks casual. As his fist comes around he pours every ounce of his momentum into the strike, shoulder and hip twisting as the knuckles flash in for the center of her chest with all the force of a sledge hammer. An opening strike that is immediately followed by a second, weight slipping forward as he reverses his twist to bring his right fist crashing down in a thunderous hammer blow aimed precisely for the spot his opening punch landed.
"Breathe." Noboru's rumbling instruction is given mid attack, though whether Chevy is in a state to benefit from it is difficult to say. It's good advice, however, for unless she can arrest her momentum the force of the second blow will send her hurtling backward to strike the center of the next platform over, the already weakened iceberg threatening to shatter around her into so many useless shards. Or, perhaps not. She is, after all, in her element.

[ICHIKA]
Ichika blanches to see the brutality of Noboru's attack on Buck. The fact that her friend doesn't just crumple or, at the least, back off, earns him a whole new level of respect from her. And sparks not a little guilt in the girl. It was her choice to push the attack so fiercely, and to raise the stakes so high. She had hoped that by breaking the ground she could put them all at a disadvantage; but that one man contending against three and the treacherous ground itself would give them the advantage.

It doesn't feel that way right now.

Her eyes widen as she feels her blade strike true, and strike false, both at the same time. Amazing. Watching this man move is like nothing she has seen in the flesh before... except once, years ago, back in the Justice High gymnasium, where the woman who would become her idol faced off against a literal idol. And then, she had not been able to appreciate it anywhere near as well as she could experience this, here, now.

The brief look of disappointment is enough to have Ichika take a pace backwards. The exact opposite of what she needed to do if she wanted to save her friend. The hesitation means she can't try and interpose herself. The ice twists beneath her feet, and she leaps backwards as it breaks apart, icy depths separating her from the fight.

But she does not hesitate.

The girl brings her sword up to her shoulder, and for the space of a single heartbeat she lets her eyes close. She regains her centre. She had felt, something, when her blade glanced from his muscles. Perhaps, if steel alone wouldn't be enough...

Her eyes open in the same instant that she brings her sword around in a sweeping reverse arc. As she does, blue light erupts across its length, carving a beautiful trail in the air as she sweeps it towards the ninja.

It's, intoxicating. This fight is leagues beyond what she had experienced in the Project. Even all three of them may well not be enough! But it only propels her higher; the crescent wave of slashing blue energy that tears from her sword has never come so easily to her before. In this moment, in this time, at this place, though, it just felt... right.

"Over here!"

That shout felt right, too; because she can do nothing for Chevy but pray the woman doesn't wind up beneath the water... and do what she can to draw the moving mountain's attention from her and Buck before he overwhelmed them.

COMBATSYS: Chevy counters Bones Of The Earth from Noboru with High Tide.

                 [          |||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|-======
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Buck             0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0            Chevy
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

[CHEVY]
It's one thing to hoot and holler. It's quite something else for Chevy to have a front row view to one of her close friends getting hauled -out- of the icy waters, slammed into the ice, and then tossed aside like some kind of plaything. This might have been a simple pretense for a team fight before -- but it's a true challenge now. The three members of Team Thunder don't know Miyama Noboru from the next guy -- they have no assurance he'll respect their wishes, or their respective rights to life. They don't know a single damn thing about him -- other than that Sensei Peng You might have had -some- inkling of a clue what he was all about, in crafting this 'fun idea for a group trip.'

Frost crystals form from her expelled breath, completing the word still on her lips: "... sssswing..." On the fly, she slackens her grip, minimizing the reverberations as she maintains just enough grip to pull the stick away. The water jet bucks upward slightly in the process, the neophyte hydromancer having some trouble adjusting to the dynamics of the situation on the fly.

After that minute adjustment, Chevy's water jet thunders onwards, carrying her away from the Iron Mystic. Though it isn't long before she realizes Noboru is racing her -- leaping over Buck's tentacle, which plunges harmlessly through the water left in her wake. But when he gets close, Chevy cuts a sharp angle, her jets causing her to rise up...

You must be shapeless, formless, like water.
When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup.
When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can drop and it can crash.
Become like water, my friend.

There is a heavy *thock*, as the iron fist cracks against wood. But the next instant, the wood -- and the redhead holding it -- disappear within a curtain of water.

And in the very next instant, that same curtain of water envelops around Noboru's extended arm, ever so briefly taking on the appearance of a large pair of -hands-...

One moment after, the column of water twists into a vortex, Noboru's shoulder as the fulcrum, the water slung out in all directions. Revealed at the center of the fading vortex is Chevy, her arms now tightly wrapped around Noboru's, as she lifts him up -- and forcibly slams him down into the ice floe!

As she whips herself free of the bodyslam, her hand snaps out to catch the walking stick. She lands a few feet away, panting heavily -- with an invigorated grin.

"Oh, I'm breathin', alright..."

[BUCK]
If only bubbles could carry sound, a few bubbles burting at the surface would be echoing words that might get Buck's ma threatening to wash his mouth out with soap, despite him being twenty.

He's playing the part of the ambush attacker, keeping himself in the water. He's glad he was smart enough not to wear his jeans today, instead opting for a more water repellant pant layer, it's keeping him from being weighed down. His boots were already screwed, so he simply kicks those off, letting him form another pair of improved flippers to keep himself moving through the water like he belongs there. He had been saving these tricks in case he had to fight Chevy again, but fate is forcing his hand.

He slips through the water, still following the shadows above, the largest of them being easy to pick out as their opponent.

He has an idea and sinks as low as he can into the water, gathering himself for a burst of speed. Once the shadow goes still enough for him to aim he launches himself forward, shifting his head into a more sleek, whale-like shape, a spiral horn spiking out from his brow as he shoots himself through the water and up to the ice.

He uses all the force he can muster to drive the narwhal horn through the ice like a spear and hopefully right up into the ninja above.

COMBATSYS: Noboru endures Buck's Bullheaded ES.

                 [             ||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           1|-------|=======
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Chevy
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Ichika's Illumination Wave.

                 [              |||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           1|-------|=======
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Chevy
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-------|

[NOBORU]
Splinters fly as the makeshift staff in Chevy's hands threatens to shatter beneath the shinobi's opening blow, clinging to life just as tenaciously as the redhead who wields it. However, as the follow up strike scythes down toward her, both branch and girl vanish behind a spray of icy water, fist parting the curtain with a splash only to encounter nothing beyond.
"Hrmh."
For the briefest moment there is a glimpse of satisfaction in the Mystic's ice-blue eye, though only Chevy is in any sort of position to see it. Frigid hands lash along the length of his arm, bits of broken ice grinding across his spin as the vortex circles his shoulder, and then the girl reappears.
Having a naturally lower center of gravity, and being plenty strong from years of hog ranching, it is an easy enough thing for her to heave the hulking shinobi off of his feet. Up he goes, arm tensing in her grip, body twisting, and she has just the briefest glimpse of his left hand flashing around in a sharp, hooking blow that is likely to catch her square in the face...
Until she brings him crashing down with enough force to set their platform to rocking crazily atop the frozen spring, defensive blow catching only air as she whips herself free. This leaves him flat on his back, bits of broken ice clinging to his already frosty skin, and with his momentum seemingly stolen right out from under him.
'Over here!'
Good eye flicking in the direction of the shout, Noboru witnesses the elegant swing of the blade, watches as the crescent of chi slices through the chilly air with shimmering, crystalline clarity. Feels the stalking attention of the third member of their group rising up from below.
Draws in a slow breath.
Opens both eyes.
A short, sharp exhalation escapes the mystic as he takes it all in. Left eye gleaming milky white in the dawn, he stares into the heart of the oncoming blast, muscles flexing taught beneath his frost-covered hide.
Buck's spiral horn pierces the ice in an eruption of glistening droplets, the tip catching Noboru squarely between the shoulder blades and propelling him up and forward. Were he any less sturdy, the blow might have pierced right through him, but each of the young fighters knows that any less than their all is unlikely to phase the brute. As it stands, a splatter of bloody droplets stains the ice around Buck's protruding horn, tip glistening red as the shinobi hurls himself forward off of the strike, landing crouched before the oncoming crescent of energy. The shallow rent in his back is ignored, mismatched gazed locked on the danger before him with unwavering focus.
"HruUH!"
Low grunt transforming into a short roar of effort, Noboru brings his right hand around and strikes the wave with an open hand, energy lancing across his skin as the strike is deflected off to the left and down. Sailing another 10 feet, the energy cleaves a path of devastation through another of the nearby platforms, leaving Noboru's bordered by only 2, one each bobbing beneath Chevy and Ichika.
"Good."
The rumbling praise is offered simply, stoic expression unchanged as he takes in the trio that faces him. Two before, one below, and they have managed to draw blood.
"Now, defend."
This last is directed toward Ichika alone, both of the sage's eyes staring into hers as he straightens from his crouch. Hands lifting to hover before him, he begins to draw a long, chest-expanding breath, scarred palms lying one atop the other. A tickling tinkle crawls along the skin of all three of them as he pulls his palms apart, a cold breeze beginning to swirl around the Mystic's frosty form. Eyes drifting closed, he glides his hands outward into a spiraling circle, seeming to pull the air inward. The light breeze quickens into a howling roar, until...
CRACK!
With a single, bone-rattling clap, Noboru brings their surroundings to utter stillness, water calming, wind refusing to blow. Far below, hikers along the trails will hear the distant thunder of it and gaze up into a cloudless sky, but here, all can feel as the world beneath them holds its breath.
Breath escaping him in a soft exhale, Noboru opens his good eye, stares across the still ice toward Ichika, then moves. The platform he stood on is thrust beneath the surface as he explodes forward in a single, muscular surge, hands twisting apart to launch a lunging palm strike square toward the center of the girl's chest. It is not a harsh blow, not even enough to knock her off her feet, but if it lands she will feel a tearing rush as every ounce of CHI is blown from her body in an invisible wave, the quivering after effects shuttering through her as her soul strains against the temporary seal that keeps her from drawing in more. For one who has lived as she has, held the connection that she does, it is bound to be a startling experience, even if the worst can be avoided.

COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Ichika with Calm The Storm.

                 [              |||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|----===
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Chevy
[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

[ICHIKA]
As Chevy quite literally turns the tides on Noboru, Ichika's eyes widen like saucers. Not that long ago she had called Chevy the most powerful member of the team; then it had been at least as much about trying to intimidate the opponent as it was about her genuine admiration and an inkling as to her potential.

Now, though?

Now she's sure that she was right.

"YES! Amazing, Chevy! Simply amazing!" She cheers, her excitement written all over her face. The cold had been threatening her; gooseflesh across bared skin, inevitable splashes of ice water small points of burning cold, but all of that is pushed out of her mind by her simple joy in seeing how far her friend has come. At least, for a few seconds.

And then... then he's coming right at her, no more bothered by the fact that he had been stabbed in the back by Buck than he had the glancing blow she had struck him with. She digs her feet into the ice, hoping that her blast will at least slow him down.

No such luck.

She sucks in a breath when he simply punches her attack out of the way. The command to defend comes, though, and -- her heart skips a beat. Sweat glistens on the girl's skin, suddenly warm despite the icy chill in the air. Every instinct she has tells her that she MUST get out of the way of this; it practically screams at her that no defense she has will pass muster.

For just the briefest instant there's a flick of blue light around her - and then that too disappears, fleeing, and the girl's expression turns truly horrified as her natural defense just, fails to manifest for the first time since she asked for it. She tries to twist, to pull back - but she'd already planted her feet, prepared to meet the man head on. It's difficult to adjust, far too difficult, and all he needs to do is touch her.

She stumbles back too paces as the breath explodes out of her and for a moment she holds her sword up. But the world is swimming. Everything looks *darker* somehow. Her thoughts are, sluggish. Even her sword feels heavy and cumbersome in her hands. How was she supposed to wield something like this? She tries to draw in another breath. The cold mountain air burns her lungs. The world lurches, and she falls to one knee.

"What...?"

It might be difficult for her friends to even see, given how dispersed they are and the fact they are in the middle of a fight, but the transformative effect on the girl is even more dramatic. Her hair falls lank and lifeless about her features, no longer stubbornly standing in defiance of combs and gravity. And her eyes, of course. Her eyes are just... brown. Muddy, plain, simple brown.

"What, did you, do?"

She braces herself against the ground, making herself rise on trembling knees. But. She doesn't attack. She, can't. Right now, all she can do is lean on the hilt of her sword to keep herself upright, the freezing cold biting suddenly hard into her, and try to make sense of the sudden shift in...

Well.

Everything.

COMBATSYS: Ichika gains composure.

                 [              |||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|----===
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////   ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0            Chevy
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

[CHEVY]
There are any number of reasons that their Sensei could have sent them along on this mission. To foster trust and communication, maybe. To hone survival skills and reflexes, perhaps. To meet certain doom at the hand of frostbitten old ninjas, she hopes not. To teach responsibility, though? That's -definitely- on the syllabus. Of the three fighters, one won his fight, and the other two certainly -could- have. But on top of individual responsibility comes responsibility to the -group-. And as Chevy rests on her walking stick -- and hears one of its corded braids *snap* under the pressure... she starts to realize that their moment-to-moment victories may not be as important.

In an arena, victory is a goal.
Here in the wilds, victory is of the utmost -necessity-.

Chevy has a front-row seat to the impact of her two friend's attacks. She might not be witness to the blood spurting from Noboru's wound, but she sees the staggering impact -- and raises her walking stick in a meager effort to ward off further assault.

But when she sees Noboru turn into the blast and -deflect- it, shearing the ice floes apart, Chevy's forced to throw her hands to both sides for balance, as her own crag of ice is ripped apart from the larger whole. She grits her teeth -- realizing just how precarious her position is. Buck can turn to an aquatic form -- but she cannot!

But then she sees what happens to the surface of the pond -- the realization hitting her like a shockwave. Everything falls silent, as if an invisible blanket smothered out all surface infractions. And then she sees Ichika -- stunned into shocked silence.

Chevy turns pale -- moreso than the pallor brought on by the bitter cold.

In the next heartbeat, Chevy gets -determined-. She balls her fist -- splintering what's left of the walking stick into matchsticks. She rocks towards the back of her ice floe... and with one strong leap, she tilts forward with both feet onto the -front- of her flow. The water stirs into motion again, pushing up on Chevy and sending her soaring several feet in the air...! But moreso, the ice floe spins rapidly in place, chucking up a huge rooster-tail of water to trail after the aerial Beaumont...!

*WHAM* Hiking boots slam down, causing a miniature cloud of disturbed snow as she interposes herself between Noboru and Ichika. Her left palm rises, a bold affront to Noboru's progress. Her right fist curls at her core.

And trailing right behind her -- a curtain of water falls -- only to be held in place, a diaphanous barrier between Noboru and Ichika.

Eyelashes and reddish locks flecked with frost. Her jacket and windbreaker leggings soaked to the core. Her gaze is focused squarely upon Noboru. But her words are directed to the shaken warrior behind her.

"It ain't nothin' we can't fix together, Ichika."

The pond was still -- and then perturbed by Chevy's leap. It had fallen still again -- but now it froths into motion. The tides grow turbulent. And the flow of chi restarts anew. It's visible first as a ripple in that thin curtain of water. But then a long, sinuous tendril sprouts up from the water before her, lashing and flailing about. A waterspout, in the early stages of growth.

"There's strength... in unity," she states, her heartbeat pounding as if there's no tomorrow, with the violent waterspout growing larger by the second.

"And we're all in this together, Miyama-san."

COMBATSYS: Chevy gathers her will.

                 [              |||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|----===
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0            Chevy
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

[BUCK]
Buck doesn't need to see to know he struck home. There's the feeling of your weapon sinking into flesh to give you that knowledge, especially when that weapon is a part of you and sticking out of your head.

Freeing himself from the ice sheet by letting the horn sink back into his skull, he pushes away from the ice and through the water again. He can feel the currents, feel the water shifting about him in ways it shouldn't thanks to Chevy manipulating it around him. But at some point to really help he needs to resurface.

A clawed hand bursts from the water, gripping on to the edge of one of the sturdier chunks of ice, and Buck heaves himself from the water, landing and balancing with a grimace. He's more beast than man at the moment, holding on to the transformations that are keeping him from going hypothermic, though it's clearly straining him to do so. Made all the worse by adding in the ones for his attacks. He's simply not used to keeping this many variations going this long, but he's making it work. Somehow.

His lips are peeled back from teeth more carnivorous than human as he narrows his attention on Noboru, still in a three point stance with a clawed hand and feet keeping him stable on his rocking icy perch.

A deep rumbling growl is his acknowledgement of Chevy's words, but he stays where he is. A predator stalking prey too big for it, but still preparing itself for the pounce.

COMBATSYS: Buck focuses on his next action.

                 [              |||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|----===
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0            Chevy
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

[NOBORU]
For the briefest of moments, Noboru stands alone with the kneeling girl, gazing calmly down into startled brown eyes. Arms dropping to fold across his middle, he adopts a posture that is familiar to all three of them, hands gripping forearms in a monkish stance Peng You is fond of taking. Only, without the robe.
"You asked if I were Sage or Conduit." Noboru rumbles, voice calm in the face of the teen's sudden life crisis. It is then that Chevy lands between them, the wall of water descending behind her to curtain off teacher from student. Behind him, Buck emerges onto the edge of the ice, leaving the Iron Mystic surrounded.
"You did not ask what You are."
Despite the wall of water between them, those words filter through, the brute eyeing her through the shimmering surface before his gaze shifts to take in the redhead who has set herself against him. Her raised hand and soaked clothing, the growing lash of water that rises out of the nearby spring.
"Wasteful." he grunts, though the word is not spoken with any particular venom. "Use what is closer to hand."
Whatever that is supposed to mean, the hulking shinobi begins to turn away, long hair already shot through from ice crystals where their exchanges have left him sodden. However, where the frigid temperature seems not to register to him, it will certainly take its toll on her if something isn't done.
This leaves only the crouching chimera that is Buck, Noboru stepping toward the younger man despite the danger all around. With his scruffy beard encrusted in ice, and closed eye so horrifically scarred, the shinobi looks more like a Viking warrior of old, something horrific from beyond death that has dragged itself free of the frozen depths. And yet, he does not press the attack, two steps bringing him nearly level with the growling Oklahoman before he slowly sinks to his haunches, considering him with stony unreadability.
"You have combined forms. Good." This stated with a complete lack of surprise, or concern. The eye that studies Buck is cool, calm despite the blood that still trickles from the man's back. For only a moment it seems to linger on the bloody bruise left upon the shifter's temple. "You show admiral control, but no mastery. Power is not only strength, but speed, and technique. Learn how best to punch, how best to swipe. Find your limits. Surpass them."
Though none of the students that hover around him know it, these are more words than the ninja is usually willing to speak when not quoting some poem or another. Words given as gifts that they have earned, whether they choose to press the attack or not.

COMBATSYS: Noboru gains composure.

                 [           ||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|-----==
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0            Chevy
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

[ICHIKA]
Ichika manages not to have a complete panic attack. She makes herself listen to the sage's words. Those things feel like victories in this instant. Small ones, maybe, but victories nevertheless. And when Chevy intervenes, she finds it a little easier to breathe. With some effort, she manages to drag her sword back out of the ground. Holding it in both hands, the girl raises it, steadies her form. Anywhere else... it would likely have taken much longer to find that connection again. But here, where it is so close she can practically feel it on her skin, with Chevy suffusing the air with it...

She begins to understand.

"Thank you, Chevy." She says, slowly. "And, thank you, Miyama-sama. It is... it is one thing to speak of sages and conduits, wizards and sorcerors. It is, another, to... to have it, demonstrated."

She's still shaken. Everything still feels very off. She is having to think about her breathing, making a conscious effort with it. She doesn't grasp the whole shape of the Truth she has just had revealed to her. There is still so very much to learn. But it is, she feels absolutely certain, another firm step forward on the Warrior's Road.

And this isn't just her fight. There are Truths for her teammates to uncover as well; perhaps even something that they can teach this impossible man. Though it feels presumptuous to even think such a thing.

"Together, then! For Thunder!"

She moves as swiftly as she is able. It's slower than before, but at least the determination is back in her eyes. Even if she's weakened and unsteady, she can't let herself fall back when both of her friends are pushing themselves so far! She has to take a slower approach. Picking her way across the ice, it's clear that she's *having* to think about every movement so much more than she normally does, right down to having to reset her stance at the final approach before she can stab forwards with the tip of her blade - trying to aim for centre mass as much as possible to limit the chance that she just misses outright.

[CHEVY]
Quiet words; a more careful, studied approach. Chevy's moves may be a bit heavy-handed. So it comes as only a minor shock that the older, wiser one calls them out as such. -Wasteful-, even. Her brow furrows at that -- until a moment later, when she realizes that he'd meant it with no venom at all. His words even lack the icy -tone- of those spoken earlier.

"Mmm..." she acknowledges, with a slightly rising tone -- as if giving the thought some measure of consideration.

His words to Buck, too, are given consideration. She feel the need to protest, to correct the record -- of -course- they don't have control, or mastery, they've just come into these powers in, what, -weeks?- And yet, to be chided for coming as far as they have...?

Chevy breathes out again. The fire burning in her heart keeps the blood hot. But her icy breath shows the elements will still do them in, if caution is not granted. The chill wicks through her jacket, and pants, cooling her just as surely as the A/C units back home.

"We're all still learning." Her voice is calmed again, controlled -- still, like the water, aside from the roiling, twisting pillar of water that towers overhead. Perhaps -slightly- impetuous, from stating that which -- as Noboru declares -- is now obvious to him. But a defense of all three, just the same.

Ichika's already walking forward -- so she lets the water curtain fall, to let her pass freely. Chevy spares a look at Buck -- a brief nod to show her intent.

And then the tendril surges once more. This time, it slams itself into the ice floe before her -- and Chevy leaps on, letting the current carry her forward again. Swept forward by the current, she hopes to use the sudden burst of speed to synchronize her attacks with her friends! Her aim -- when she gets the chance -- would be to loop her arm under his ribcage, lift him up with an upward rise of the water stream, and then slam him down onto the ice again!

[BUCK]
How Buck feels about the compliment followed by being chastised for a lack of speed and reliance on power is hard to tell from the expression on his inhuman features. Beyond the slight bob of his head.

His form seems to ripple, for a moment Buck almost loses hold on his current shape, but it snaps back with a shake of his head. He's going to hurt tomorrow.

The chunk of ice he's on bobs from side to side as he shifts his weight getting a feel for the surface he's found himself perched on before he makes his next move. It would do to launch himself only to fall face first into the water because of unstable footing.

He coils his back legs and then springs forward, bounding from his chunk of ice and off another before landing on the one that plays host to Noboru, not as graceful as it could have been, but lean slender animals are not the best for surviving in frigid waters.

He lands sideways to the ninja, still using claws for traction as he keeps himself from sliding right off the other end of the ice floe. He instead uses the slipperiness to send himself into a spin, a large, paddle-like tail forming as he does so, letting it scythe through the air sideways at the ninja, following up by raising it in the air and bringing it down in a powerful smack. Speed first, power second.

No beaver has a tail that size, but Buck isn't the size of any normal beaver.

COMBATSYS: Ichika successfully hits Noboru with Weakened Medium Strike.

                 [            |||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|----===
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Buck             0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0            Chevy
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/--=====|

COMBATSYS: Noboru endures Buck's Improvised Slam.

                 [              |||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|---====
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0            Chevy
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/--=====|

COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Chevy's Mudskipper.

                 [               ||||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|--=====
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0            Chevy
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/--=====|

[NOBORU]
Whether his advice is taken earnestly to heart or imbeds itself like a splinter, Noboru has said all he is willing to for the time being. It will be up to these young champions to decide how they grow, and what forces shape their progress. But together they have chosen to continue the fight, and that, at least, the shinobi can respect.
The pound of Ichika's boots sound across the ice as she charges him, bringing her team into battle as the leader he expected her to be. Whether the others follow her out of concern, jealousy, or admiration, it is she who sets their pace. She who tips their spear, sword driving toward his back, sharp edge gouging across skin as he twists to the side, turning a potential second impalement into a ragged cut that tears its way horizontally from spine through his right shoulder blade.
"HRMH."
The grunt is part effort, part pain, his back leaking blood from three separate wounds as he powers to his feet to meet Chevy's flying charge. Throwing his own arm out, he catches her grapple to grapple, leaning backward to bleed off momentum and taking Buck's opening tail swipe cleanly to the small of his back. The SMACK of flesh on flesh rings across the spring, but the force does halt his backward momentum, causing he and Chevy to stall for just a moment. Stall, then reverse as the follow up slam cracks across his shoulders, aiding the hulking figure as he shoves Chevy back into her own water stream. Releasing her with a final shove, he creates a short gap between them, lead foot planting with a shuttering stomp. Then, he blitzes into that space, rushing Chevy in a blur of skin and hair that leaves discarded ice crystals glittering in his wake.
"HRUUUH!"
Abs flexing with another short, grinding roar, he swings his fist squarely for the spot between her eyes, aiming to hit her with all the strength of a run away bull, before coming to a jarring halt in the center of the ice drift, all of his momentum transferred directly through his fist into her skull with explosive force.

COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Chevy with Crag Breaker.

                 [                |||||||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|=======
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Buck             0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1            Chevy
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/--=====|

[ICHIKA]
Ichika can't help but grin at Buck's innovative new technique. She'd been confident that he could adapt to the situation, but she'd never have guessed the extent to which he really has come into his power. And for once, there's no jealousy in her. She'd never be able to do that, she was sure of it. Just as she'd never be able to manipulate water like Chevy. But her friends' powers are just so wonderful to behold. Whole vistas of possibility and innovation that they get to chart, and she gets to witness. It fills her with --

Everything snaps sharply back into focus.

To her credit, the girl doesn't lose her footing when the world comes rushing back in for her. Dull brown eyes once again blaze brilliant sapphire, and the contrast could not be clearer. In another place, maybe it would have taken longer. But here, she can feel it. The mountain, invigorated by the fight. The water, dancing to Chevy's tune. The sage's blood and Buck's powerful spirit and all of it igniting such a wonderful feeling in her. She often struggled to describe how she did what she did; the best she could do is say that she asked the world to witness her, and the world answered with violence.

This is the first time that she's felt the reverse. The World asks her to witness it, and now she must respond.

"Beautiful."

It is, maybe, not the first word that should come to mind when watching your close friend who put themselves between you and mortal danger being hammered by such potent violence. And yet, Ichika really does admire the way Noboru has moved through all of this. So assured, so certain. Even facing attacks from three directions at once, even when smashed by Chevy's impressive technique, he had not faultered for a second. It was clearly hard to stop him moving with that constant, landslide-motion. But. The Mountain demanded a witness.

Ichika would give it one.

As the final shattering blow lands, the girl is suddenly in front of him, sword raised. Her teeth grind with the effort. Only just barely recovered, she asks too much of her body. But there is determination shining in those eyes of hers as she locks gaze with the ninja, and raises her sword.

The eruption of energy that surrounds her is intense. As blue as a sky that has never known clouds for the peak pushes far above them. As cold as ice water. As unyielding as ancient rock. This Dream is not her own. This Truth is older than her entire family line. It is everything she has and then more, and rather than simply trying to obliterate the man, as she had the last time she used this technique, she aims to snare him with it; arrest his motion, and hold him tight to her in a tableau of brilliant power, as sweat soaks the girl's form and a little blood trickles from where her clenched teeth catch her own lip.

"I can't-hold this--!"

Need she say more?

[CHEVY]
Without her pole, or the roughed-out walking stick, Chevy found she didn't really have as safe an approach vector as she usually did. And with her partner sweeping his tail in, she finds herself in an awkward position -- which their more experienced opponent is able to capitalize on. Tossed into the thunderous stream, she finds herself momentarily disoriented -- only to have Noboru's fist greeting her, a torpedo in the midst of the rushing waves. Applied -directly- to the forehead.

The waterspout collapses, shears apart from the center. Water spills out, a deluge drenching the ice floes. Its existence pulls apart, and in mere seconds, the water rushes over the edges, only the faintest sheets of translucence showing their passing.

- - -

Chevy's world is sheer darkness. She sees nothing, nothing at all. She feels the cold, the pounding thrum soaking her through to the bone. Unmoored, no ground beneath her feet. Wild, churning chaos... Memories flash before her -- trace images of fins and beaver tails, swords and streaks of light. And the knuckles of a fist superimposed above all. Is this it? Is this how her life ends?

No -- not yet. She feels pain -- her head is pounding, as if air raid sirens had been going off mere inches away. It hurts -way- too freaking much for this to be the light at the end of the tunnel.

Chevy gasps for breath. A storm of bubbles floats out from her mouth -- falling down and away. Ice cold water rushes in to fill the void, choking her, threatening to fill her lungs. Still, the bubbles fall... causing her to furrow her brow in confusion.

The bubbles fall towards a bright blue light. Brilliant enough to blaze through the darkness -- illuminating the sky, in between craggy shards of faintly lit ice. Not the end of the tunnel. The path to thundrous glory.

- - -

Chevy is, for the moment, nowhere to be found.

But in the next moment, her presence will be unmistakable.

For there will be an -enormous- column of water erupting from the ice beneath Noboru's feet, blasting him upwards with such ferocity he is -bound- to feel the might of Team Thunder. And rocketing upwards in the gap -- would be Chevy herself, leading with her palm ascending upward! Lost or disoriented no more from the blow to the head -- she knows precisely where she needs to be!

[BUCK]
Buck is on the edge, he can barely even register his teammates taking their blows as he falls to one knee, a clawless hand resting on the ice as he begins to lose his hold on his powers. Fur receeds, his hair wild and spiked with ice crystals as skin appears once more, red from the biting cold.

He brings up his head, eyes trying to focus on the tableau in front of him, resolving a blurry wavering image as his the pounding in his skull lessens as he eases back into his human form.

Chevy is missing, but Ichika is coming in for another strike, so he plants his foot on the ice and pushes himself back up into a standing position.

Reaching inside himself he grabs his power by the scruff once more and hauls it back to the surface, scratching and biting.

He draws his arm back, the skin hardening as it turns a mottled blue-gray, bumps and spikes pushing out from the hardening shell growing over his limb.

The Ice below Noboru cracks, and Buck grins as his hand forms into a massive crab claw, not the slender pinching claw but the one made for crushing and hammering blows. As Chevy erupts free of the ice in her upwards geyser, he swings an upwards punch, shoving his arm right into the upwards flow of water.

He allows the flow to carry him up and off his feet, all his focus on keeping control of the aim of his uppercut as he takes the assist from his teammate to add power to what would be an already punishing blow should it connect, rising through the water next to his teammate with a wild shout that echoes off the rocks and ice around him.

COMBATSYS: Noboru blocks Ichika, Chevy and Buck's Thunder's Truth.

                 [                    |||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           1|------=|=======
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Buck             0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/------=|

[NOBORU]
A subtle series of painful cracks issue from Noboru's hand as the shinobi relaxes his fist from the blow, fingers uncurling with obvious difficulty. Icy stare locked on the offending digits, he forces them to straighten, then relax, before his attention falls to meet the blazing blue eyes of his youngest challenger. There is no fear, no second guessing in either fighter's eyes. Only fiery purpose set against chilling focus.
The girl calls upon all of her dreams, all of her will, and the world beneath her answers. Raw and from the heart, the spiritual nova bursts to radiant life, threatening to drag the shinobi forward into the edge of Ichika's upraised sword as she strives to bind, to restrict. And through that binding comes unintended insights. A glimpse into the soul of the man who stands against her.
Not a prodigy. Not a Super Elite. A soul without talent hardened by a will that has refused to break. That even now forces aside injury and exhaustion to grind on, implacable.
The heel of one cold, stony palm plants itself against the girl's forehead, hand engulfing the top of her skull as he continues to gaze down into her face. Already he can feel the currents shifting beneath the ice, sense the gathering will of the companions who rush to aid her.
"You begin to see."
And with that, the Iron Mystic breaks their connection with a single, jarring shove, forcing her back and shattering the invisible chains that bound them. It is not an action without consequences, a bit of his spirit torn away in the process, but it frees him to lean back, right leg scything up in a bone-crunching kick aimed squarely for the bare skin of her abdomen. A blow with power enough to fold her over and launch her skyward even as the ice beneath his back foot fractures.
The surge of spring water strikes him squarely between the legs, swelling around his hulking form and hurling him upward in the wake of his blue-eyed opponent. It should have taken him by surprise. It should leave him reeling, open to the rising palm that torpedoes up toward his chin.
Iron fingers clamp around Chevy's wrist before her blow makes contact, halting her lunging strike inches short of her target. As they continues to rise within the fountain of water he twists, swirling her away to his right while his left hand drops, catching Buck's rising claw with another jarring THUD. Ignoring the pain radiating from his groin, barely seeming to notice the gnarled blue spike that punches out of the back of his hand, armored shell piercing the flesh between bones, he gives a single flex and throws his arms wide, tossing Chevy and Buck tumbling out of the water spout so that all three students are left hanging in the air, joining Ichika to form a perfect triangle around the brute's frozen form.
Bloody fist clinching, he swirls his feet through the water, pushing against the upward pressure to take control of his movement. A sharp, downward sweep of arms and legs propels him up, shooting him free of the spout to land crouched atop it, knees bent and arms spread for balance. From there it is a simple enough thing to spring forward, throwing his solid bulk into a diving tackle to try and spear Ichika right out of the air, arms looping to pin hers to her sides as they plummet head-first toward the fracturing platform of ice so many feet below.
Down, and down, spiraling faster and faster, the shinobi tightens his crushing embrace, flesh hardening until he has made himself into a living statue. There is no flipping away, no sudden release. Making a rigid cage of himself, he aims to plough head-first into the ice with his chosen victim, shattering the platform into useless floating rubble before vanishing beneath the waves. Down and down until the pair of them impact the stony bed some 30 feet below with a shuddering SLAM, where his grip is finally released.

COMBATSYS: Ichika auto-guards Noboru's Fall To Eons.

                 [                     ||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|-------
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Buck             0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/------=|

[ICHIKA]
Ichika does indeed begin to see.

The girl is shot into the air, and though her connection with Noboru has been broken, she can feel the world stretch with her as she flies upwards. From her aerial vantage point she regards the casual way the ever-moving object that is the man meets the force of her teammates. He rises to meet her, and for Ichika - her mind is completely still. The girl is still suffused with the glow of all that power that had been channelled through her; the Dream that she had touched refuses, stubbornly, to leave her.

No conscious thought touches her as the shinobi reaches out to grasp her. Instead, she reaches out to press her palm against his chest, and at first, it seems that will be the only motion to defend herself as he wraps around her. The girl feels his limbs tighten as he spirals, and it is at the very last moment, inches before impact with the ground, that she explodes into motion.

The aura surrounding the girl answers, and the reason for her hand so lightly pressed against him becomes obvious. The energy of the world pushes against him, and she buys just the slightest amount of further distance. And then, as quickly as it had surged, it retracts, buying a precious few inches of empty space which she uses to slip from him.

Her motion still propels her backwards, and as it does, her sword touches the ice. The sharp steel slows her, fully bisecting one of the ice plates, and then a second, and a third, until at last the momentum has bled away enough that the girl's combat boots touch down to the icy ground as lightly as though she were wearing slippers. It is only then, as her sword raises into position, held firmly in both hands, that she once again loses that state of wondrous enlightenment, and the light surrounding her dies down - not completely gone, but returning to a candle-flicker rather than an intense incandescence.

"... so." She murmurs softly, "That is what I can do when I trust myself."

She exhales, straightens, and stares Noboru down. A few minutes ago, she would have been horrified at how easily he had dismantled their attack. Demoralised that their best efforts had not struck home. But now? She is only invigorated by that skill. If this man can do it, this man fuelled by nothing but determination and will, what can she achieve?

Does she not have that very same will?

Her body is still acheing; protesting at what she asks it to do. And yet, now that her connection has been restored, it is a simple thing to put that to one side. She still has the resources to fight. Her body can take much more punishment. Her reserves are not yet tapped.

"... I will not do you the disservice of giving you less than my best."

And with that declaration made, the girl tears back in, leaping far more assuredly across the splintered and breaking ice, only to leap the last few feet to bring the much-taxed blade around in a slashing diagonal arc, aiming to take the man across the chest... and in the same motion, flex her knees down, reverse her grip, ready for the backswing should it be needed.

[CHEVY]
Chevy wholeheartedly believed that the NFG itself would open a door to her path to ass-kicking enlightenment. Prior to this fight, she -thought- she knew what fighting was all about. But witnessing Miyama Noboru's power, real-time and in person, is something entirely separate. It doesn't just tip the scales, it slams a foot down and asks why the hell the scale isn't at least ten times larger.

And to see her teammates, evenly dispersed, three points of a triangle, suspended in mid-air like a jump squad recently dispensed from a Cessna high overhead, the slack-jawed Farmville native simply has no words at all. She's only to clamp her jaw shut when she sees Noboru veering forward in mid-air. For a brief moment, she wonders -how-. But the more urgent thought is one she shouts.

"Watch out!"

And to the now-falling Southerner's stunned relief, Ichika has a way to deal with that. Chevy bares her teeth in a smile, directing her palms downward. The waterspout obeys her unspoken bidding, zipping apart into a shallower column to catch both herself -- and Buck, should he need it -- for a more graceful descent to the ice.

She lands at roughly the same time as Ichika -- though, hesitating just one moment to gauge what her teammates will do.

"Big same!"
She didn't do so well at writing essays in school.

With a boost from the gallons of water splashed about, she leaps onto Noboru's ice floe, approaching from his left flank. She'd try to grab hold of his left arm, pin him into place for her friends' attacks -- and then try to wrench him down for an armbar takedown!

[BUCK]
Buck has some time to think as he flies through the air. Stunned by how quickly their coordinated assauly was simply picked apart. He loses hold of his power for a moment as he continues to sail away from their opponent, just a human who just got taught a somewhat painful lesson. He's not used to being manhandled, not since he was a teenager so this is fairly novel.

Feeling water rise up and cushion his landing he offers a silent thanks for Chevy. She and Ichika are reacting quicker than he is, and he knows it. With the help of a softened landing he slides off the waterspout and back into the water. He's already freezing his posterior off, what can more hurt?

The cold shocks him back to his senses, and he slips out of the water just enough to get the lay of the land. He smiles as he sees Ichika once more engaging Noboru. "That's how you do it." He mumurs under the surface, proud of the youngest on the team's tenacity.

His gaze slips over to Chevy, nodding as he sees her moving in for another attack as well. No one else is giving up, so he pops his head up enough to take a breath and slides back below the surface of the lake.

This fight has been a test, forcing him to use his power on the fly, when he's always practiced his ideas before hand. Now it's time for another one.

Gulping in a mouthfull of icy water he shifts back closer to the surface as delicate piscine scales form over his face. He tracks Noboru's movements through the shimmering sheen of the surface, and once he's confident in his aim..

One. Two. Three shots of water laced with chi come flying out of the lake, bullet fast and heading right for the ninja.

COMBATSYS: Ichika successfully hits Noboru with Genius Loci EX.

                 [                      |||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|------=
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Buck             0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Noboru just-defends Chevy's Oyster Drop!

                 [                    |||||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|------=
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Buck             0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Noboru endures Buck's Spit Take.

                 [                      |||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|-----==
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Buck             0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-----==|

[NOBORU]
There is little enough the shinobi can do when his target slips the iron cage of his arms, the rocketing expulsion of her comparatively tiny mass barely altering his downward trajectory. With a tremendous shattering crash, the platform they had been fighting upon is obliterated by his missile-like descent, the man himself vanishing beneath the water amidst a clattering mass of bobbing ice fragments.
For the space of two long breaths, Noboru is simply gone. Waves lap at the edges of the spring, sundered ice flows bump against one another with glacial cracks. What once was a solid sheet of meter thick ice is now a scattering of solid chunks bobbing amidst a sea of lesser fragments.
Whatever connection Ichika had with the mystic is gone, his presence having faded into the ether like a ghost.
And then, all at once, he is back.
The scanning eyes of all three students find the hulking figure crouched upon the largest remaining chunk of ice, a lopsided hunk large enough for seven people to stand upon with minimal personal space. Completely soaked through from his hair to his loincloth, he waits with forearms resting across his knees, blood dripping from his left hand to splat steaming against the ice between his feet. Yet more blood oozes from the multiple wounds in his back, soaking the top of his loincloth where it freezes alongside the water that coats him, staining it gory pink.
He seems not to care.
Mismatched eyes take in the battlefield before fixing once more upon Ichika, as she skips a path along the smaller chunks of ice, leaping toward him with sword in hand. The gleaming steel cuts a crescent blur through the air, Noboru's unblooded right hand lifting with fingers together, thumb out in a human imitation of Buck's crushing claw. There is an audible snap as fingers strike thumb, a burst of wind washing across the young swords woman, and his fingers close on empty air, the full strength of her swipe passing a hair in front of the grab and cleaving a shallow, bloody furrow from his left shoulder to right hip. Blood wells along the length of the cut, a quiet grunt escaping the mystic through closed lips, and then he is moving again, putting the injury aside as Chevy hits him from the left.
Strong farm girl hands latch on to his arm at forearm and elbow, all of the girl's weight driving into him to try and anchor him in place. Skin ice-cold and slick with frost, his arm flexes in her grip, hand swinging up and back toward her face as if he meant to power through the grab and back fist her in the nose. Instead, his wrist flicks and he flings a palm full of blood into her eyes from his injured hand, arm twisting free of her grasp and hand dropping to grab a fist full of her sodden coat at upper chest. Using the tall girl as a counter weight, he swings himself backward to avoid the potential back swing of Ichika's blade, before shoving Chevy backward while he accelerates in the other direction, right forearm swinging up to intercept the first of Buck's chi-laced water blasts.
Uncoiling from his crouch, Noboru launches himself head-first into the second pulse, face dipping to take it squarely on the crown. The third splashes across his back and shoulder as he plummets toward the younger man, blood and hair streaming behind him, chest sheeted in watery pink gore. Powerful hands reaching, he attempts to dive upon the mostly submerged man and plunge them both beneath the waves, seeking out a left-handed grip on his throat while his right fist lashes out once, twice for chest and ribs, the short punches quick and brutal. Those opening blows are followed by a twist, the two of them swirling through the water as the shinobi angles to get behind him, driving a brutal knee toward the small of his back before hurling him aside.
There is enough force behind the final throw to send Buck careening up onto shore if he doesn't stop himself, Noboru thrusting off in the opposite direction and reaching up to dig iron fingers into a bobbing boulder of ice. Blood and wet pouring down the channels of his muscular form, he hauls himself free of the spring to crouch atop the bobbing surface, its shifting bulk just buoyant enough to keep his feet above water.
Even at a distance the brute looks worn. Though the long cut across his chest wasn't deep, it leaks a steady stream of gore down his front, adding to the trickles from various wounds in his back and hand. The cold must be wearing upon him too, breaths coming slow and deep with thick puffs of vapor. And yet, as always, the grim-faced shinobi simply waits, eyes open and alert as he studies his three opponents.

COMBATSYS: Buck endures Noboru's Iron Law.

                 [                       ||||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|----===
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Buck             1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/-----==|

[ICHIKA]
Ichika has to admire the sheer will of the ninja not to surrender, even as she finds herself worrying that they may be taxing him too hard. He certainly isn't pulling his punches with them, so doing anything other than giving her all seems unconscionable to the young swordswoman, but he is certainly making them see the toll that their attacks are taking on him every step of the way.

And of course, now that she's thinking things through again - her mind gives her full awareness of the toll on her own resources. She's expended too much effort with her most powerful attacks; demanded too much of her fighting spirit. But she can also see the toll that his attacks have taken on her teammates. Whilst it is tempting to back off and recover... she needs to do her part to keep up the pressure; one wrong move could take either of them out in an instant.

"This is a fascinating puzzle." She says, mostly to herself. "I don't want to go too far, but if I don't give it my all, I risk even more..."

And really, when it comes down to a choice between Noboru, Chevy, Buck or herself -- well, it isn't a very difficult decision.

Her initial plan has been spoiled by the quick dash away - but she adapts swiftly enough. She closes from behind, and rather than slash or stab - she jumps from one of the last decently sized pieces of ice, coming down in a sharp arc that aims to deliver a single strike with the butt of her sword into the back of the ninja's skull. Nobody ever died from concussive force to the back of the head, right?

[CHEVY]
Chevelle was expecting to rip Noboru right off his feet. But instead the ninja is able to wrest himself free while she's dealing with a stream of hot blood in her face. "NNnnnNGYAhhhh..." she stammers, hands snapping to her eyes as she starts to backpedal...

Only to find her coat used as a handhold for Mr Miyama. Just as she's about to protest, she's shoved backwards, left to scramble for balance, arms snapping out to either side, lest she fall off the edge of the now-smaller platform.

Gathering herself, she finishes getting the bulk of the blood out of her face. "Ah, ah, ah... that's hot..." That done, she whips her hand forward -- and just as soon as she does that, a small pillar of water rips out from the pond, mimicking her hand's motions. "How in the -world- do you manage to keep -goin'?-"

One quick look confirms that Buck is the target of the loinclothed ninja's focus. A second affirms Ichika's high trajectory. For her part, she whips the water into a pool at Noboru's feet -- and -leaps- at him, knee first, with an attempt of not only striking him in the back of his knee, but latching hold of his torso from behind. Should she complete the grapple, she'd seek to put the water to use, beckoning it to sprout tendrils upwards to trap his legs, and inhibit his movement as her weight pulls him down to the ice!

[BUCK]
Buck's eyes widen as he sees Noboru coming for him in the water. He supposes it's only fair though, it's been a while since the ninja had turned his attentions on Buck in particular. Once he feels that hand closing around his neck, he grimaces but doesn't seem particularly interested in resisting.

The blows hammer him, only a little blunted by the water and the fact he's gone as limp as a ragdoll in Noboru's grip. So as he's tossed out of the water, he regains his senses and manages to land on the shore on all fours, but still looking like he just had his bell rung.

He shakes his head, letting his vision clear again as he quickly locates where everyone is, and then with no hesitation he's on the move, feet digging into the stony shore before leaping onto one piece of ice, then another, using them as stepping stones to Noboru.

As he does so, his upperbody swells and thickens with muscle, white fure bursting out all across his exposed skin. A bearish roar escaping him as he finally lands next to the ninja.

He starts swiping with massive paws like he's trying to beat a drum into submission. There's no grace or technique to this attack like his team mates show. This is just a display of pure, feral strength.

COMBATSYS: Ichika successfully hits Noboru with Quick Strike.

                 [                        |||||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|---====
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Buck             0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: Chevy successfully hits Noboru with Marsh Mud.

                 [                           ||| ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|--=====
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Buck             0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: Buck successfully hits Noboru with Bear Arms ES.

                 [                               ]
                 Noboru           0|-------|=======
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Buck             0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

[NOBORU]
Hunched and dripping upon his boulder of ice, the Miyama shinobi lifts his chin to gaze toward the sky with both eyes open, long hair sticking to his back as it threatens to freeze into a single brittle mass. A slight shift of his weight sends crackling pops shivering through his joints, body wanting nothing more than to seize up from the strain he has put it through.
'How in the world do you manage to keep goin'?'
The question reaches out to him from across the rippling water, and he decides, in that moment, to answer it.
"Faith," the hulking ninja rumbles, deep voice echoing across the water to each of the trio who are baring down upon him, "and love."
That is all he has to say. His final, stone-faced lesson.
Sensing the girls closing from behind, Noboru begins to rise with the crackling protestation of joints, torso twisting as he attempts to send the boulder beneath him spinning so that he can face the pair head on. And though it does begin to turn, the water swelling around his feet slows the twirl to a fraction of the speed it should be, leaving the mystic's broad back to Chevy as she comes flying in to deliver her knee squarely to the back of his own.
"Hrrmh..."
The low grunt of pain and effort rumbles through his back and into the girl's chest as she locks her arms around his bulk, leveraging her strength and added weight into forcing his leg to collapse, knee striking the ice with a splash that would threaten to send their chunk rolling over were it not caught in the watery grip of her will. Icy spring water floods up the chunk and across the brute's body, adding to her strength as she fights to keep him down, keep him still. And even then she can feel as he begins to force them upward, knee rising from the ice as he gradually forces himself free of the frigid bonds...
WHAM!
Though striking Noboru's skull is much like bashing a solid rock, the hilt of Ichika's blade enters the equation with pinpoint timing, driving the shinobi back down to one knee and splitting his scalp with a small splatter of blood. It is not a devastating blow, not even a fight ender. But it is just enough, for that split second delay is all the time Buck needs to finish his last vaulting leap across the ice and come crashing down upon the roiling platform of water that they find themselves standing upon, Chevy and Noboru partially submerged in its binding grasp.
The opening paw strike catches Noboru square across the face, driving his head back and causing the arms that had began to lift in defense to falter in their course. The second and beyond hammer into his chest, shoulders, and the side of his head, battering his stony form with primal ferocity. With each heavy blow the young shifter can feel the iron wall of the ninja's muscles gradually crumbling, his focus cracking. Chevy and Ichika both can feel the shuttering impacts transmitted through his body and into the water, jarring him violently back against the redhead's grip. Feel as his muscles go suddenly slack, head falling forward against a bruised and bloody chest, breath gusting in a long, exhausted cloud.
Chevy alone can feel the twitch of defiance that runs through their foe before he explodes to his feet in a single, unstoppable surge, tearing free of arms and water alike. Right knee coming free of the ice, he brings that foot blasting up toes-first in a punt kick aimed square for Buck's enormous bearish solar plexus, before reversing the motion and bringing his foot scything down and back to impact water and ice alike, fracturing the chunk beneath them and dragging a wake of icy particles behind his heel as it rises into a spinning back kick. The single, whirling strike is aimed to hammer Ichika squarely in the dip between hip and ribs, powering up and through her in a spray of obscuring ice before his thigh impacts Chevy high in the right shoulder. Ploughing onward through her to complete the rotation that terminates in a perfect spinning roundhouse aimed square for Buck's jaw, the wind of the blow scattering wet and ice out in a stinging, frozen tornado.
Beneath them all, the ice comes apart, and the hulking presence that is Noboru drops smoothly into the water, vanishing from their midst as if he were never there. A battered, wounded, but still defiant ghost. A teacher of hard lessons, and a test that they seem to have passed.

COMBATSYS: Noboru can no longer fight.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Buck             0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Chevy
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           0/-------/----===|

COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Ichika with Split The Peaks.
-*- DEVASTATING HIT! -*-

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Buck             0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0            Chevy
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           1/--=====/=======|

[ICHIKA]
Ichika's assessment, she now knows, had been absolutely correct.

If she hadn't joined the fray, she would have jeopardised the team's ability to bring the battle to a successful conclusion. Even so, the girl grimaces as Buck hammers and hammers and HAMMERS into Noboru with such terrifying, primal force. She didn't want this man maimed, or worse. He had taught them all such important lessons. But, he had said faith was how he carried on. And in this moment, the girl just has to have faith of her own. Not, perhaps, in the same things as their erstwhile tutor. But in her friends, and in his capacity to withstand a horrifying amount of violence as though it were the easiest thing in the world.

She's, fairly confident that her own sore palms from the reverberations running through her sword are causing her more discomfort than the split in his scalp that she gave him.

She's still trying to correct her footing, to find a piece of solid ice she can touch down upon with solidity, when he gives his last, terrifying demonstration of prowess.

She had worried that one wrong move would give him the opening to turn things around on them. Each blow hit with such staggering force. And as the girl struggles with the very material problem of not wanting to plunge into the icy depths, that part of her analysis is also proven shockingly true. She crumples as she is struck, her breath exploding out of her as she chokes. Nothing she has experienced even comes close to the level of pain that one whirling kick shatters through her body. Not being blown up by a small fireworks store. Not mysteriously corrosive green flame. Not being bludgeoned into unconsciousness with a pole bigger than she is.

The girl is sent cartwheeling across the surface of the lake, an inelegant mess of splayed limbs that skips over the water like a stone until she impacts the far bank and, once again, has solid ground underneath her. Ground in which she is, quite firmly embedded for a few moments.

Somehow, she has retained her grip upon her sword. And this she plants into the ground, making herself raise on shaky feet. Although the blow had only struck her side, every part of her body sings with pain, radiating from the point of impact but touching the whole of her.

"... I don't see him." She wheezes, her free hand clutching at her side. "Did we, win?"

An interesting question, the part of her that isn't wracked by so much focus on the physical muses. After all of that, if they could all walk away, was there any way in which they could truly have lost?

COMBATSYS: Chevy blocks Noboru's Split The Peaks.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Buck             0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0            Chevy
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           1/--=====/=======|

[CHEVY]
Chevy's learning more and more about her affinity with water. The idea of changing the form of water was one she'd discovered on her own: she realized she could push water around, and in effect, make it sing and dance. But her range of talents was not particularly ambitious prior to speaking with Peng You. Here and now, though, she was starting to see that loftier ambitions lead to greater results. Particularly with the elevated stakes of having her friends' immediate health in the crosshairs.

Her increased ambitions did come with a steep toll though. Chevy is, quite literally, -exhausted-, and far moreso than in any of her previous fights. Subzero temperatures combined with a long climb followed by a tense battle have left her shaky. And it just made good sense to use her abilities to anchor Noboru down so that her friends could deal the impacts.

But even that... has its limits. He breaks free. And while she may not be quick enough to save Ichika -- a fact she responds to with an angry grunt -- she can do -something-. The water surges again -- this time collecting around her arms and shoulders. She -plans- to do something else.

Not all plans survive contact with the enemy. But in this case, it works out -- for the aggregated water acts to dampen the impact from Noboru's thigh. Water explodes outward, knocking Chevy back -- and -still- knocking her backwards! Her hands reach out ineffectively as the force of Noboru's kick clears her from the icy floe, sending her flying in a controlled skip across the water -- once, twice, three times before the chilled spring water slows her to a halt.

Where is he? Chevy treads water, her skin threatening to turn as blue as her eyes, as she scans the surface of the pond.

"I d-don't s-s-see him e-e-e-either..." she answers, teeth chattering from the cold.

But even as exhausted as she is... freezing to death doesn't appeal to her. And it shouldn't to Buck either. So the farm girl starts a front crawl stroke towards the last spot she'd seen him. It's not as slow as it could be; at least she's able to coax the water into boosting her travel speed a bit. Even with his shapeshifting, there's a good bet he's just as cold as she is, somehow -- and she wants to conserve her strength to help him out. So they can -all- warm up together.

COMBATSYS: Chevy takes no action.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Buck             0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0            Chevy
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           1/--=====/=======|

COMBATSYS: Noboru successfully hits Buck with Split The Peaks.

[                             \  < >  ////////////                  ]
Buck             1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0            Chevy
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  <
Ichika           1/--=====/=======|

[BUCK]
Buck may look ferocious and feral on the surface as he batters the ninja with one massive paw swipe after another. But the claws don't come into it, and the strikes are still controlled by a human's thoughts. And exhausted and somewhat stressed out human, but a human. He's simply trying to pummel the wall of muscle into submission.

He eases up once he feels those stoney muscles slacken, thinking perhaps they have finally taken down this opponent. His guard goes down, and in that moment he takes a knee to the chest. The grunt that comes from him is half growl, as he falls to one knee, his form rippling back to that of just Buck, his concentration shattered. He sways on the ice.

Then he takes a strike straight across the face as the ice below him breaks apart. There's nothing more to it. Three powerful blows right in a row from the iron ninja is more than the poor farm boy can handle. He falls across a chunk of ice just big enough to support him and keep him mostly out of the water, but his senses are gone. Buck simply floats there, in just a pair of soaked and torn pants, one arm trailing in the frigid water, looking like he's sleeping, if he weren't so bruised and battered.

COMBATSYS: Buck takes no action.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Ichika           1/--=====/=======|====---\-------\0            Chevy

COMBATSYS: Buck can no longer fight.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Ichika           1/--=====/=======|====---\-------\0            Chevy

[ICHIKA]
Ichika lets the silence linger for a few seconds. It's not total, of course. Chevy is splashing towards Buck. Her own breathing is laboured. There is noise here. But there is silence, too; the silence that settles in the aftermath of a hard-won fight. The quiet in which one can contemplate victory. It brings a smile to the girl's lips, and then, at last, she resheathes her sword. And, with effort, she walks over to her discarded coat. Glad to pick it back up and refasten it about herself. It's, not as though she would be much help trying to get Buck back to shore - Chevy definitely has that situation under control.

"O snail.
Climb Mount Fuji.
But slowly, slowly!"

She smiles to herself after her little interjection of Japanese. And then she resumes her pained gait, so that she can meet Chevy and help with the task of hauling Buck out of the water. The trip down is always easier than the trip up, they say, but the wounds they've sustained will definitely keep the challenge throughout the entire day.

Still. After what they've been through, she's confident that they can meet it. And, indeed, any challenge. Together, they are so much stronger than any one of them could be individually. And each of them had proven that individually, they were all far stronger than they had any inkling of until now.

What a wonderful mountain.

Log created on 13:09:09 06/20/2023 by Chevy, and last modified on 07:16:01 06/27/2023.