Description: A ninja of old, a figure from history. But sometimes...the past isn't as dead as it seems. And legends, after all, are what you make of them. Riko Koganei, student of the Ryouhara, knows that. So too, it seems, does the Devil of the Koga.
Nightfall.
Twilight across the water, moonlight through the clouds and overcast sky, dim illumination over the waves. Not a pleasant night. Too dark, too cold, strong winds whipping through the air, carrying with them the scent of an urban harbour, the distinctive stench of a city bay. There's sounds, too. The roar of traffic, in the not-so-far distance. The noises of vessels passing by. Not a picturesque waterfront. Not at all.
It is here that the Suiryuu is berthed, amid the docks, nestled against the concrete pier and jetties of rotting timber. The great ship is looking rather less than pristine as well. The hull is damaged - by an entire eighteen-wheeler truck and trailer rammed into the side. Into and through, breaching the ship's internal compartments.
Around the offending truck, the buckled hull plating writhes and churns, crackling with angry light. The mystic sigals engraved upon the ship's surface do not, apparently, take well to being broken in such a manner. The energy casts a strange glow over the cranes and machinery on the docks, alongside the ship - and the silhouettes of workmen, trying in vain to remove the crashed vehicle.
But there is one more figure, standing apart from the work crew. Standing up on deck, upon the bow. A slim individual, smaller than the hardhatted workers.
Riko Koganei, ninja apprentice of Seishirou Ryouhara. She watches the scene with narrowed eyes. Slowly, she lifts a hand to her brow. Her fingers tremble, slightly, as she brushes sweat-slicked hair away, out of her eyes. She leans forward, then, her movements careful and deliberate, resting her weight upon the railing.
She looks away from the work crew, turning her gaze to the docks themselves.
COMBATSYS: Riko has started a fight here.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Marise has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Marise
A serene night.. this is certainly not.
The sounds of clattering metal, power tools and hollering workmen around the clock. Desperately trying to dislodge the massive vehicle on a completely unrealistic schedule. Sparks fly from torches and power saws, carving at the ruined hull as the truck's tenacious invasion loosens by the hour. Noisy work, filling virtually the whole of the ship with its cacophonic racket. Shadows dancing about as workers move about on the pier. Moving notably slower now that then were in the previous shift.
The chilling wind does little to ease the toil of the laborers, and less still on the troubled mind of Seishirou's apprentice. Not a fit night out for such a small thing. Someone, however, has to oversee these blue collar efforts. One can only wonder if she happened to be the one who pulled the shortest straw for this management position.
Unfortunately for her.. Fate has a worse evening in store for her.
The docks are decently well lit, but the shadows the tall lights throw are long and deep. The wind summoning forth the evening fog quickly, as tendrils of gray mist slowly begin to swallow the inky black waves glistening at the edges of vision.
So much confusing darkness and noise..
..How could Riko see the silent hand piercing through the darkness in her periphery to clutch at her throat?
COMBATSYS: Riko blocks Marise's Maou Tsuke.
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Riko 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Marise
The source of the hand is at the end of a long, looooooong pearlescent limb.. stretching forth across the gulf of distance from a nearby boom of a crane. Normally used to transfer cargo.. But silent for the evening.
A tall shadow looms at it's peak, not much further than a dozen paces away..
Impact. The sound of flesh against flesh, bone meeting bone.
It's a subtle motion, small, minimal. Hardly a movement at all. The teenage girl, Riko, is still standing upon the deck of the Suiryuu, near the point of the bow. One of her hands still grips the railing, palm and fingers resting lightly against the tubular metal.
Her body, her stance, hasn't shifted. The only thing that's moved is her other arm, lifted across her neck. Precisely into the path of the outstretched hand. Her forearm meeting, intercepting, and turning the blow.
For a moment, she stands there. Then she shudders, a faint spasm running through her thin frame. A laboured breath hisses from her lungs. She looks up, across the water, over the docks, down the length of the impossibly elongated human limb - all the way to its owner, perched upon the crane.
Riko blinks, once, slowly.
Her mouth parts. When she speaks, her voice is hoarse, the sound of a dry throat, coming from parched and chapped lips.
"Ah," she murmurs, "you."
COMBATSYS: Riko focuses on her next action.
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Riko 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Marise
The only response to that croaked murmur?
Golden eyes flare in the dark. Twin pinpoints of hellish yellow light from the distance. An ocean of swirling black squirms about those eyes like a living halo of darkness. Pointedly billowing in directions opposite the way of the wind.
Rather than fully retreat that elongated limb, those violet-painted claws snap in the air once more. Recoiling slightly from the impressive block, only to -dive- right back down. A weaker assault than the previous, but this time going for a different target. Fingers seeking to clamp about the girl's calf in a bid to -yank- her off of the bow itself and send her hurtling towards the docks beyond..
No statements, no boasts. Only unnerving silence radiates from this ghoulish apparition..
COMBATSYS: Marise successfully hits Riko with Quick Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Riko 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Marise
Another impact, the sound of smashing timber, as a human body crashes into the jetty. Hardened wood such as this should not shatter easily - the fact that it does, here and now, bears silent witness to the sheer amount of force. Riko's limp form tumbles through the air, rebounding, spinning, limbs akimbo...
...until her head moves, her spine arching. Until she twists in mid-flight, landing on the surface the main pier. Her in-line skates skid over the concrete, wheels drawing sparks from pure friction. She brakes, she spins. Velocity ceasing. Momentum... edirected.
She raises her head, looking up at the figure framed atop the crane. Behind Riko, the workmen clustered around the truck and the ship's hull begin to react, yelling, pointing. But Riko holds a hand up, waving at them without turning, the meaning of her gesture clear.
Her eyes narrow.
It's a feat that should be impossible. Especially from a girl who looks so very haggard, her hair dank, a visible twitch running through her muscles. Sweat drenching the simple black top and pants that cover her form. But she moves all the same. Skating, legs pumping, speeding over the dock. To the base of the crane, now, the one her attacker is upon. To the crane - and /up/, speeding vertically, skate wheeks rattling on the metal. Up, up, up, on a straight line towards her assailant, a little human missile.
COMBATSYS: Marise blocks Riko's One Hit Wonder EX.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Marise
Remorseless, inhuman eyes follow the poor girl's horrific descent to the docks below. Her arm whipping through the air in the aftermath, recoiling absently within the volumes of her flowing sleeve as she witnesses the collateral destruction of her bizarre assault.
Yes.. her attention is gotten.. yes. My my.. certainly good reflexes.. And now..
The Devil witnesses the girl as she speeds along at incredible rates. Racing along the crane faster than the human eye could believe possible. If the girl was closer.. the attack almost certainly would have succeeded. Given enough time to monitor the girl, by the time those skating wheels reach their target the ghost has already prepared her defense.
"..Keh heh heh.." Riko closes in to witness those plush lips twist into an amused smile. An arm whips forth from the volume of her sleeve and calmly swats the oncoming attack asside. Diverting the force of the human missile's speed away from her with a deft gesture. Shifting her own weight as she calmly steps off the crane's bow.
The Devil.. however... sees fit to take someone right along with her. Arms reaching forth in a bid to grapple the girl at the culmination of her diverted rush. Attempting to pull her close against her cold, cold corpus and hurtle down towards the dock right along with her!
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Marise's Strong Throw.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Marise
But Riko moves, at the very last moment. An instant, just a split-second later, and the other ninja's hands would have found purchase on the girl's form. As it is, they whisper against cloth and skin, but find no grip.
The metal frames of Riko's skate wheels screech against the top of the crane boom. The little kunoichi crouches there, in the space occupied by her attacker just a moment ago. Her ribcage heaves as she draws a ragged breath, forcing air through her lungs. She coughs, once, wincing at the exertion.
She doesn't look good. Quite the contrary. And it's more than physical exhaustion. Her aura is strange, her presence in the spiritual spectrum unusual. Her energy is present, but weak, very very weak...at a disturbingly low ebb.
Riko looks down at the figure, now on the ground below.
"And a good evening to you too," Riko says, in a soft voice, "visiting again?"
She doesn't wait for a reply. Instead, she lifts one hand, driving it down into the long metal surface of the crane boom. Her palm impacts the machinery with precisely calculated force. Just enough to cause the steel to give way, tearing free with a shriek of breaking bolts and welds. The arm of the crane comes apart, the bulk of its length plummeting earthward - straight towards the other ninja below. With Riko riding on the jagged spar.
COMBATSYS: Marise endures Riko's Improvised Tactics.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Marise
Bare feet collide with the dock all but soundlessly. Marise Lands in a low bowing gesture, her skirts and sleeves flowing after her in a rush as she completes her elegant landing. Her arms held out at her sides calmly as she tilts her head upwards once more to face her elusive adversary.
The girl is quick.. however..
Golden eyes narrow upon her as Riko promptly dismantles the massive crane with a few quick strikes. Her attentions clearly on the girl in specific.. looking through her. A dark blot against the relatively lively breath of the world around her. Sickly. Weak.
To that question.. Marise slowly smiles. Her grin widening until her shark-like teeth glint in the broken moonlight. Seemingly uncaring of the cacophony of screeching metal coming right down upon her as she cackles. Throwing her arms wide and -laughing-.
"KYA HA HA HAAAA!"
The dark shape disappears beneath the -crashing- metal. Tons of steel crushing into the dock and pulverizing wood in a phenominal strike. Twisted gears and groaning frames settle in the aftermath of the impact as dozens of crates shatter or topple into the churning brine beneath.
Surely.. The girl would think.. that would be the end of that nuisance?
The apprentice, however, can't help but feel an.. uneasy sensation. A disquieting feeling as the tortured metal finally whimpers its last.
The question now is.. will she.. or won't she notice the dozens of ebon tendrils beneath her feet. Rising slowly, silently, like a dozen silken serpents. Slowly moving higher and higher.. in a bid to clutch at the girl in their terrible, garrotte like embrace.. Each black strand potentially disrupting what little life-force the girl has left in her wracked body...
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Marise's Onigumo Wanami EX.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Marise
Riko blinks. Just once. Her eyes opening, closing. Her lips move, in silent thought. If she's peturbed by the black tendrils swirling beneath her feet, she doesn't show it. Her expression is, in fact, almost introspective.
She rests upon the wreckage, braced on the remnants of the crane arm, the machinery she sent crashing into the docks. Positioned atop the twisted metal and its impact crater. She inhales, holding the breath.
The darkness draws nearer.
In the space of a heartbeat, she considers the attack. Her own senses are atrophied, terribly drained by the burden imposed by her duties. But they are fine enough, keen enough, for her to sense a flicker of the technique's nature and intent.
So.
Riko exhales.
She leaps. Rising into the air, straight up like a rocket. Up and over. Her hand moves, twisting at the wrist in a practiced motion, fingers forming into a distinct shape. Steel leaps from her palm, darting downward. Metal, polished, slender. A perfectly ordinary throwing knife.
Save for the plastic explosive in the hilt, and the paired detonator remote suddenly gripped in Riko's other hand.
She's in the air as the blast goes off, the rushing heat pushing her ever higher.
COMBATSYS: Marise slows Medium Fling from Riko with Thrown Object.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Marise
The shadowy tendrils whip through the air in unison. Spiralling together juuuuust as their target -vaults- high up into the air. With their intended target having barely managed to evade their grasp, they horrible things slither back into the cracks of the wreckage. The wooden planks creaking and groaning yet still as the massive wreckage settles further.
As that kunai bomb sails down into the wreckage.. A small spinning black star streaks up from between sundered girders. Impacting the dagger juuuust ahead of time as the explosion engulfs the machinery. Breaking apart the rest of the section of the dock and sending the whole of the wreckage down into the deep with massive geysers of ocean spray.
The devil? Nowhere to be seen... But that presense can be all but felt..
Riko lands on the pier, a few feet away from the boarding ramp leading to the Suiryuu. One knee against the ground, along with both hands. She rises, standing, balancing on the wheels of her skates. She watches the destruction as it subsides, her eyes running over the massive hole punched through the dock, the sinking ruins.
Behind the girl, a murmur of consternation passes among the crew, the gathered workmen clustered around the truck embedded in the Suiryuu's hull.
In a calm voice, Riko addresses them.
"Please inform Director Hiretsu," she murmurs, her voice barely carrying over the sound of subsiding wreckage, "although...he probably already knows."
She doesn't sound alarmed, however. Just...tired.
She brings her hands back, sliding them into her pockets.
Riko slouches, slightly, breathing a sigh. Then she turns her gaze back up.
"Is there anything we can do for you," she says, politely, "Devil-sama?"
COMBATSYS: Riko gathers her will.
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Riko 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Marise
Tran arrives from the Suiryuu.
Oh dear.
The Devil was really hoping that she wouldn't have to kill the dock workers to keep them from ruining her experiment. But then.. They are simple craftsmen. Hardly a concern and easily replaced. The only reason the monsterous woman stays her hand is for the fact that she knows he's watching. Oh yes.. Yes indeed.
"Oooh.." The wicked voice whispers a short distance behind the girl. A shadowy figure rising to an upright position from beneath the edge of the dock on the opposite side of the wreckage. Black kimono stirring at her unnatural passage, smoldering with blackened sections marring her ivory-pale form.. but hardly seeming to notice such injuries.. "..There is one thing..."
The creature rushes forth. Her hand outstretched as he fingers contort into a fast series of hand seals.
Watch this Hiretsu.. you remember this technique.. don't you?
The Devil's opposite arm attempts to seize Riko's arm and twisting it about in a painful joint-lock as the other hand thrust forward from behind..
"..Show me your spirit, child.." A rushed whisper..
COMBATSYS: Riko blocks Marise's Maou Satsujinken.
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Riko 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Marise
A jolt of pain surges through Riko's nerves, her senses shrieking in white-hot protest, objecting to the abuse. Her arm is grabbed forcefully by the Devil-ninja, pulled out of position, wrenched around so hard that her bones and muscle come close to breaking beneath the strain. But the girl suppresses the instinctual scream - all that leaves her lips is a harsh release of breath.
And her control doesn't waver. Even as her limb is pulled out of position, her hand remains closed as it leaves her pocket. Small fingers balled into a fist, gripping something tightly.
"Spirit?"
Riko's voice is a whisper.
Her hand spasms, open. A small chunk of plastique detonates. The range, point blank. The charge affixed to Riko's palm, shaped such that it goes off in a spewing dragon-tongue of flame. Enough force that it spins the girl round like a rocket-assisted top, blasting her free from the Devil's grasp.
"I'm afraid," Riko says, as she comes to a halt, "I cannot utilize chi techniques now."
A matter-of-fact statement, guileless and true.
There is no reason to hide, after all, what one's opponent already knows.
Riko doesn't seem bothered by the admission, though.
Her other hand is still in her pocket.
COMBATSYS: Marise blocks Riko's Improvised Tactics EX.
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Riko 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1 Marise
The Devil's merciless grip is thwarted by the impromptu escaping explosive. Her cold, cruel grip is escaped from as the little girl rocket-spins out of her grasp. The ghoul's other hand simply halts it's motions as the little thing managed to escape a particularly.. painful fate. The creature takes a single step forwards however. A quick movement born more of forceful, dark intent than true speed. Her hand once more reaching forth and -catching- that rocketing palm. Squeezing her hand to the girl's own and forcefully extinguishing the rest of the charge to the smell of burning flesh.
Not that the Devil seems to even flinch. Looming her gaze down closer to the girl as she pauses in what has been, otherwise, a relentless attack. Inhuman, black-slitted eyes shifting across the girl's sweat-ridden face. Looking through her.. spying the fitful sputterings of life behind her eyes,
"..It would appear so.. Interesting, yes?.." The Devil slowly again grins. Finally, apparently, content to reveal the truth of her surprising visit.
"So it is true then.. Not only the 'Ship Director' but yourself as well hrmm?... But tell me.."
A gentile finger, tipped with a dangerously sharp nail, softly carressing the girl's cheek, "..You too do not have the curse hmm? ... What would your stake be in this.. I wonder?"
COMBATSYS: Marise focuses on her next action.
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Riko 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\1 Marise
Riko flinches, jerking as the Devil strokes her face. She tries to pull herself free, again. But she's stuck fast, the woman's hand still wrapped around her own, pressing into the scorched skin of Riko's palm. She struggles for a second, but to no avail. Another bead of sweat works its way down her brow, staining her temple. Riko scowls, a look of anger, embarassment, indignation - but not fear. Her lips press together, into a line...
...and she smiles, all of a sudden, her expression changing in an instant.
Not a forced smile, either, but a genuine one. Or so it seems, anyway, framed by a pair of dancing eyes. The first real sign of /energy/ she's shown.
"True," she replies, "I am not the last of the Ryouhara. That is Seishirou-sama."
Her words are high and clear, echoing over the docks, over the bay. It has the sound of a proclamation, as if spoken for more than the Devil's ears. Although for whom she speaks is hardly clear. Certainly not the work crews, for they've by now started to vanish aboard the ship, retreating from what is now a clear and unmistakable battle.
"But..."
Riko twists. Riko moves. The Devil has one of her hands in a tight grip. But that simply means Riko can use that point as a /pivot/, spinning her entire body round that axis, driving one heavy skate-clad heel towards the other ninja.
COMBATSYS: Marise interrupts Light Kick from Riko with Tokoyami.
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Riko 1/--=====/=======|=======\==-----\1 Marise
Dark eyebrows lift a fraction at the girl's sudden cheer. Her own smile widens a fraction in the face of the girl's irrational joy. Continuing to look her straight in the eye as the girl twists and moves away. Her own icy grip releasing the youthful thing as she attempted to use her grip as a pivot point. Throwing the little girl's attack off juuuuust a fraction. Her spinning kick hanging in the air just a fraction longer than she had liked..
Which sets her up for the next very unfortunate event.. for her.
The Devil's other hand flexes. Fingers spreading wide like talons and twitching spastically, erratically. A faint crackle slowly generates as the atmosphere itself warps inward, as.. unmistakably.. the Devil uses her own Chi. A hellish, sickly looking thing. Crimson lightning twisting within a stormcloud of purples and blacks.. The air begins to fill with static... Then the sounds of screams.
Dozens, dozens of screams.. Overlapping one another into a chorus of Hell itself. The Devil's chi sounds for all the world like she opened a portal directly to Hell and -hurled- it at her enemy. THRUSTING that sphere of wickedness into the poor girl as her kick all but bounces off the ghost's side.
For a brief moment, it feels as if a thousand tiny demons dug their way into her skin and started nibbling away at the remains of what was once a healthy lifeforce. The impact alone sending her flying a short distance the aftermath of that horrific flash!
As the Devil finishes the blow, she simply grins slightly. Not bothering to speak up as the 'audience' Riko had spoken to can hear perfectly well, "...But.. It seems there may be some who wish that was not so.. hmm?"
"Seishirou-sama is the last of the Ryouhara..."
Riko gasps, her breath coming in fitful bursts and starts. Uneven, tortured. But still breathing, in the end, breathing all the same. Her free hand presses into the ground, burnt and tender skin coming into contact with the rough surface, lacerating it further. She ignores the fresh cuts, however, ignores the blood...much as she ignores all the other physical injury dealt to her person. She hauls herself back up, inch by inch, concrete dust and larger fragments of debris cascading off her body.
"...he /is/ the Ryouhara."
Finally, she stands. Unsteadily, and carefully. While the cloth covering her midsection is unharmed, intact, it's obvious that the flesh /beneath/ it is not. The Devil's attack did bad things to the girl's already-weakened chi patterns. Enough damage to cripple most individuals, in such a state.
"It only remains to be seen..."
She stands, however.
She stands - and one of her hands is /still/ in her pocket, resting beneath the folds of fabric.
"...if he will be the /final/ Ryouhara..."
Her arm twitches, slightly, as her hidden fingers make a small motion.
"...or if..."
Riko's smile returns. It is a cold night, a chill night, a dark night. But her smile is bright as the sun. She pronounces the word with a lyrical lilt, accentuating each syllable.
"Jinchuu."
Skate wheels cross the dock, as Riko rockets through the space separating them. One hand in her pocket, but the other outstretched, aiming to hit the Devil, once, just once, as she skids to an abrupt halt. Transferring velocity with a touch.
COMBATSYS: Marise fails to interrupt Isometric View from Riko with Quick Throw.
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Riko 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Marise
The Devil shakes her jittering hand at her side. Extinguishing the crackling aftermath of that terrible technique. Absently flexing her fingers a few moments.
Hmmph. Rusty. Good to see that working again at least..
As the girl slowly rises up from the heap. The Devil regards her again. Inhuman eyes affixing upon her with something of a small smirk, "My.. such devotion. So rare to see in this age, girl. A commendable aspiration for your chosen master.." Clearly pleased with the girl's absolute words. Certainly, the experiment is over now. She has the truth she desired to know for sure. And.. in exchange for certain individuals not thwarting her experiment.. she demonstrated a few ..capabilities of her own.
However, as the girl charges forth again. The Devil snickers once as she simply begins to hold her arm out.. Prepared to catch the girl by the throat easily as-
WHAM.
The girl proves she still has life left in her yet! Transfering all of the energy of her charge into that throw as the Devil -SLAMS- into the dock behind her. Skidding limply several paces until coming to a haphazard halt.
For the moment simply.. remains there. Tongue sliding along her lips as she exhales slowly, "...Bother."
"Keh.. Kya.. Ha! Adorable technique girl." The Devil compliments off-handedly. She can appreciate deception, you see.
"Thank you," Riko replies. A simple statement.
She is poised in the follow-through of her attack. One foot outstretched, the braking element of her in-line skate pressed to the scarred ground of the jetty. Her remaining skate boot is held back, supporting her weight. And her right arm is extended, fingers spread, palm open...the limb she used to strike the Devil ninja, while her left hand remains hidden in her pocket.
The muscles of that concealed hand shift, once more, another motion.
"But the credit," she says, "is to Seishirou-sama. And what..."
Her eyes lift, flicking towards the great bulk of the Suiryuu. The ship moored to the docks, its flanks engraved with countless runic seals.
"...he represents."
She shifts her stance, changing her footing.
"And what," she asks, "do you represent, Devil-sama?"
Riko whirls, then, erupting aerial in a spinning kick, an armored skate flashing through the sky.
COMBATSYS: Marise blocks Riko's Light Kick.
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Riko 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Marise
The Devil rises to her feet once more. A boneless, smooth gesture. Graceful enough to seem as if she was simply floating by ghostly constitution alone.
The ghoulish maiden quickly lifts a hand to intercept that spinning kick. Palm deflecting the armored insole with a swift movement as the Devil then...
...Steps back. Bowing her head in a smooth gesture as she refolds her clawed hands within her sleeves. Everything she needed to know.. Has been uncovered here. The payment for her 'inquery' has been given. No sense in risking putting this little child in the hospital for no good reason. No.. she has work to do here yet. And the Devil has interfered with this evening's proceedings far enough.
The Devil's bangs quietly slide back into place, reshealthing that hellish gaze back into the darkness and simply... walking away. Her smile simply allowing the question to hang in the air. Only after several paces does she simply add, "Ask Hiretsu. Tell him he may answer that one question. You deserve that much for your.. devotion." Her haunting voice echos across the air..
..Until the Devil is just no longer there.. Vanished into the night that spawned her.
COMBATSYS: Marise takes no action.
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Riko 1/--=====/=======|=======\====---\1 Marise
Riko crouches on the docks, now alone. She watches, warily, looking at the spot from which the older ninja vanished. The corner of her mouth twitches slightly. That vanishing trick didn't seem to be a chi technique, not like her own. Which means that movement was pure martial skill. Impressive, that. Something Riko feels envious of, particularly with her own spiritual energies drained, and her customary abilities unavailable to her.
Of course, weakened as she is, she probably wouldn't be able to replicate such rapid physical movement either.
She stands, finally, getting back to her feet. She lifts a hand to her hair, touching her bangs, combing them away from her eyes. Riko frowns, nose wrinkling. She needs a shower.
The little kunoichi glances around, studying the battlefield. Her eyes move over the ruined jetty, replaying the fight in her mind. They linger over where she smashed a crane through the pier, and where the Devil-woman retaliated with tendrils forged of pure darkness...before Riko turns to the Suiryuu itself, the great ship forming a grim backdrop to the scene.
Before she can have that shower, though, she must make a report. And the files must be updated, for the information on the Devil of the Koga was lacking in some key aspects.
"But first," Riko murmurs, out loud.
She pulls her hand from her pocket, the hand she kept concealed for most of the fight. Produces it, raises it, and points it at the ship. Cradled in her palm is what looks for all the world like a simple cellular phone, LCD screen, keypad, and colorful plastic case - complete with the stickers and cute little dangling ornament that marks it as a teenager's.
Except, of course, it surges with a spark of chi as Riko thumbs the buttons.
And aboard the Suiryuu, all along the deck, the broadside cannons, ship-to-shore missile weaponry, and other instruments of destruction...subside, as commanded by their mistress. The remote firing solution, it seems, will no longer be needed.
"Pity," Riko muses, "it was such a nice piece of math too..."
Oh well.
Shrugging, she turns, and skates back to the ship, rolling up the boarding ramp. As she does, she places the phone to her ear.
"Moshi-moshi? Hiretsu-/sama/?"
She places odd emphasis on the honorific.
"Your old girlfriend turned up again..."
COMBATSYS: Riko has left the fight here.
> /////////// ]
|=======\====---\1 Marise
COMBATSYS: Marise has ended the fight here.
Log created on 21:40:37 09/17/2007 by Riko, and last modified on 20:09:53 09/19/2007.