Jinchuu 2 - [R5] The Sword in the Bomb

Description: With the mysterious sword 'Shiraha' on hand, the Court of Night team accept the challenge of stopping Nenzhao before it can take away countless lives. Of course it is never that simple; from scaling the superweapon, to enduring numerous trials including facting ghosts of the past, the pair must push the limits of their training and teamwork to survive long enough to make the final strike. But it would seem even more than that is needed to put a stop to Seishirou's mad(?) plan! From here it's going to be The End, succeed or fail.. Possibly.



As you return to the mainland, things seem to have gotten even worse.

A sickening cloud of smoke hangs over the Huangyan region, the acrid scent and taste of gunpowder filling the air, the remnants of the military response in Taizhou. There is not just the scent--on occaision you will find a lone squad or infantryman who demands your surrender. Unfortunate for them.

The blade, to whomever has chosen to bear it, is a straight and long silver length, impossibly clean despite being yanked from the mouth of a great stone beast, the form of the forge in which it was finished. In itself a burden, the weapon seems a long, heavy thing until it is swung, something which it seems to wordlessly demand--rewarding only those who would use it. When the blade is swung, it is impossibly light, a single stroke seeming almost effortless for those strong enough to wield it. It will cut buildings clean open if you are careless with it.

Casting a haunting pall over the solemn affair, blackbirds silently flocked overhead on that island. The only sound that emanated from them is a faint crackling that sounded in a rudimentary way like the beating of wings. These blackbirds that flock overhead are unnatural--they are made of black fire. As if the grim overseers of spectacle, they elect to follow you back to the mainland.

Now, those blackbirds swarm Nenzhao.

Gutted open like a rotting wound spewing smoke into the air, currently the only thing keeping the curtains of black from the sky is the buzz of a skycrane, hefting the guts of the facility into the air--a heap of steel, labyrinthine in structure. At its center is a crackling mass of energy--the unstable superweapon, the Katsuten, an asymmetrical sphere of brass, steel, paper and wood, whose cataclysmic forces swirl about it angrily as it's uprooted from the network that once diffused its energy.

For a weak-willed man, it seems almost lethal to -witness- the scene, let alone become a part of it.

The gantry seems traversible by ruined catwalks. If you hurry, you should be able to make the jump onto the bottom of it as it crests over a rooftop. Don't slip, energy from the massive thing seems to be reacting with the blocks above and the ground below to melt into a mass of molten concrete.

It was a 'simple' weapon that, quite frankly, Yurika had never laid her eyes upon in her entire life, and she'd seen a good number of impressive blades of her home clan. Though not a single one is left to this day. This kind of thing Kurow would kill for, but for the currently dark-clad kunoichi, it was a fantastic weapon that unfortunatly didn't show obvious usefulness to her own ends. In fact, what did she hope to get out of Jinchuu at all that might elevate her plans for Southtown?

A mystery indeed.

But in the end it left Yurika teamed up with Ibuki, having gone through pleasent and unpleasent times alike and it'd seem at last they were on the same page; though it was only a coincidence at this point that their end goals were now the same. For some reason she allowed Ibuki to hold the weapon without much of a fuss, but her attention to the weapon switched afterward to the superweapon ahead, "Well, there it is," she murmurs aloud, her only visable weapons being the twin tuning forks upon her belt.

This. Was utterly unreal, the images that entered her mind as the superweapon came closer was enough to make the incredibly calm musician to break a sweat and second-guess herself for coming out here, "This had better be simpler than it looks. How are you feeling?" she asks Ibuki. It'd seem she doesn't really want to be the one to hop on-board first. It might blast her away for not having the sword or something, she hadn't a clue.

How had she gotten herself into this situation? That was the question Ibuki asked herself as she looked upon the chaos surrounding the lair of the Katsuten, she currently had the blade strapped to her back despite the weight she still seemed as springy as ever though the burden was making her sweat and she was going to be monsterously sore the following day...and what was with the blackbirds?

Shaking her head she refocuses on the path that lead her to this point...

Somehow, she'd followed a trail to find something of use to her clan but this had only lead her to the sword on her back and a promise to use it to stop a tragedy before it occured, which had in turn lead herself and her partner to this spot overlooking a hellish scene. Picking up the sword had been an odd experience as well it seemed to have a desire to be used and that frightened Ibuki slightly, that a weapon would have any desires at all...though for a sword to desire use did make a strange kind of sense. As she sits staring at the helicopter and the superweapon she vaguely wonders...how am I to use this weapon to stop that one?

Her eyes snap to her partner as the other girl speaks to her and she responds the only way she knows how in this situation, "I'm feeling like I'm about to save a lot of people from something terrible!" She enthuses with her usual spunk before turning back to the situation in front of her, "It probably is much simplier than it looks, but we won't know for sure until we try will we?!" She winks to Yurika before turning and taking a leap towards the gantry as it passes nearby.

It wasn't courage that drove the ninja teen forward, if she could have it her way she'd rather turn back and just take the sword to her clan, but honor and a promise kept her and guided her to this point...she was going to see it through no matter what, so perhaps in that sense it was a type of courage that let her go into this situation with apparently no fear.

It is hellish.

With certain death below and uncertain annihilation above, the decision to board the Gantry seems almost suicidal. But making the leap is in many ways the beginning of the end--by all means and measure, the choice you make when you first entered Nirvana, and every choice thereafter, has culminated in this, the final leap that will inextricably make you a part of the happenings here. By bringing the blade to Katsuten, you have taken the lives of thousands into your hands.

To that end, a small jump seems trivial.

Landing on the gantry is something of a thrill--the metal framework crests gently over the building, offering only a few seconds to make that decision, but when you do, the entire thing sways ominously. A blackbird passes, carrying with it the scent of brimstone.

One could easily say from the ground that Katsuten seems very much like an artificial jellyfish forged of chaos and steel, with its electric-infused main body high above, and the seemingly endless of steel that used to be it's supporting gantry below.

The situation is very different when you leave the ground--the air takes on a brisker, more energized aspect as you touch the catwalk network lashing Katsuten to the cranes above. Simply breathing is an electric experience. The catwalk winds its way up through the gantry superstructure, ripped off in points and ended in sharp jagged terminals where the skycrane simply uprooted it from the forge. Unfortunately, that does mean that the catwalk is the furthest thing from a straight path there is, and in some cases is not a path at all--some bits of it terminate abruptly, leaving only truncated and chaotic strutwork to scale to get within distance of the bomb.

And then some bits of it are actively falling off--as Ibuki finds when she shifts her weight just so on the catwalk. The path, composed of metal grating and apparently pure will, snaps nigh in half, twisting on a single machine bolt as the entire path goes vertical as Ibuki stands on it.

For the record, only about three or so seconds pass between her saying 'It probably is much simpler than it looks' and the path snapping in half beneath her. The wind is terribly brisk, you might notice.

It's a good thing that Yurika is such a patient person. It's been quite difficult, and maybe even a little exhausting keeping up with her general good cheer and spirit, but in an atmosphere like this, it.. Well. She had to admit in a way it was necessary to keep Yurika from brooding. The fights were all right for her, but the torn cities, the unnerving omens, it struck a bit too close to home.

But now was just a completely differect experience, while she was left questioning her sanity, there was a wave if exhileration upon landing on the catwalk.

And really, after fighting in intense winds a slim catwalks and windmills, this almost made that experience worthwhile as it was easier to adjust to.

"You are something else," is about all she could say to the almost cliche mention of saving so many lives; and then the flooring goes see-saw. Oh -great-.

Yurika doesn't have the momentum, weight, or time to leap forward and balance out the tipped catwalk, and the most she can offer then is her hand as she drops to a crouch, though she's mostly-certain that her companion could handle the sudden obstacle, ".. It may be wise to move faster at this point."

Ibuki completes the leap and looks to Yurika sporting a small grin underneath her mask as she gets complimented on 'being something', then the flooring gives way beneath her and she lets out a surprised, "Yah!!!" Using all her training she springs off the falling piece of catwalk flipping over a part of it as it narrowly swings past her head and she grips the bottom of the catwalk above where this former piece had been situated with her toes, she looks over to Yurika and winks, "See easier than it looks! Though I agree lets hurry up and finish this." Her voice as cheery as every despite the small shiver that runs through her body at the close call already.

Now situated a bit more comfortably upon the superweapon's labyrinthian support structure, the ninja girl feels the energized atmosphere around her and determines this is both a good thing in that it oddly bucks up her spirits and a bad thing in that it means the weapon might be ready to explode soon, thus it was crucial that they reach the key point they needed to so that she could do what she needed to do with the sword to finish the super weapon off and keep her promise.

The blackbirds hovering nearby and their arcid smell don't make the situation any easier as Ibuki slowly trys to climb up the structure, "How far do you think we are from where we have to be?" She muses to her partner looking this way and that for places that looked sturdier than the norm for the gantries. It appeared that no matter what this wasn't going to be an easy trip up the monsterous weapon...at least she didn't have to go hunting special key cards in some sort of stealth action style game of cat and mouse or anything to access 'vital areas' of the weapon to stop it!

You've waged war across this country.

Long, far and hard have been your struggles.

For a moment, the more observant of us could think it a test. A long and elaborate trial by fire to prepare oneself for the coming of this, a scenario that probably would have shocked and killed any lesser person in even those first few seconds.

But those strong enough to have endured the trials of Nirvana are made of stronger stuff.

As Yurika and Ibuki balance upon the precarious structure, they are given only a moment's respite from the biting winds as the gantry floats suspended in the air. While an exact measure of the path leading up is near impossible from the labyrinthine structure, roughly 60 or so feet of the steel web separates you from the pulsing weapon at the heart of the matter. And it seems to be deteriorating.

The area seems to reconfigure as it moves, small pieces of steel losing integrity and dropping off altogether as the skycrane continues to travel through the air, alternately creating and removing paths for those with a freerunner's eye. However, there is the distinct sense that sitting to think about it might be lethal, as who knows how long it'll be until the path simply drops away altogether.

As you mull about it, the wind is kicking up again...

The blackbirds are back, and it seems they're rioting.

Surging down into the wound that is Nenzhao below, the crows fly through the structure, their fire forged forms hot enough to melt the steel. They seem to not be paying much direct attention to you, their attitude focused entirely on something that's caught their attention on the ground--but that doesn't mean they're not going to sear you as they pass through. Look out!

COMBATSYS: Katsuten has started a fight here as a boss!

                              KATSUTEN                              
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                 0|---------------|---------------                



COMBATSYS: Yurika has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

                              KATSUTEN                              
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                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Ibuki has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

                              KATSUTEN                              
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                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Yurika dodges Katsuten's The Will of History.

                              KATSUTEN                              
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                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/-------|


"It's difficult to say," Yurika replies to Ibuki, "The 'obvious' path isn't very straightforward, and the 'shortcuts' are probably equivilent to suicide. Best to focus on getting there at all since things seem to be falling apart." Her dark eyes shifted left to right, not having thought much of the scents, but the groups of birds, well. What was she to think there? "Anyway go on ahead."

That's when the 'riot' comes into view and the heat picks up, ".. I'll catch up!" Yurika thinks she gets the unusual attack's attention by stepping toward them, though the wind is her enemy as well. She unsheathes her tuning forks, waving them in front of her; from there on it's a dance, she feels the intense heat as she twirls, flips, and spins, remaining impossibly light on her feet as she's quite aware landing too hard would prove- Very bad.

Suddenly she wonders if it was a gross error on her part to allow them to pass, is that kind of intense heat -good- for this superweapon? ".. Hell. I guess they weren't aiming for us after all." she grumbles to herself. Something may have scared them, she supposes, but for the moment her eyes are focused on the flock.

COMBATSYS: Yurika takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
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                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/-------|


Ibuki shrugs in reply to Yurika, "Well we'll make it no matter which way we go partner!" While she's her chipper self there is a slight catch in her voice due to not totally disagreeing with Yurika's assessment that this was pretty much a terrible situation they were in but she was not going to give up at this point. She nods once to Yurika as she's told to head on. She turns and begins throwing a few kunai into the structure as she uses them for hand and foot holds she knows will hold for a few seconds as she continues the climb upwards!

The searing birds whizz by her having focused on her partner instead, as Ibuki turns to warn Yurika the other girl already seems to have things in hand as she whirls out of their way before they hit her, "Good job!" She calls down to Yurika not sure if the girl can hear or or not instead she turns back and continues the climb jabbing more kunai into the Katsuten as she goes, hopefully they'd hold out for her partner to catch up to her.

This was going to be a 'fun' trip she could already tell...they'd not even made it to the proper area yet and already they'd gotten buzzed by fiery birds...which are sooo common to begin with, and had the gantry below them fall away while they were standing on it...Ibuki shakes her head, "How do I get in these situations?!!" She vents in quite frustration as she climbs.

COMBATSYS: Ibuki takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
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                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/-------|


The flock pulses as they fly past, Yurika's dance scattering them and causing them to shift away from Yurika, spinning around her, the embers they leave in their wake and as Yurika parts them nimbly with her forks seeming grim black feathers about which the trained artist whirls. Luckily, most of the damage they cause to the frame--and thus, the attention Yurika attracts--is purely incidental. They seem coordinated by an unseen hand, a single mind driving the flock into a spiral dead into Nenzhao. Strange and deadly, but it could be worse. Lady Luck is merciful to you this fiery night.

The steel upon which you climb is hot from the forge from which it was torn from, and in some cases live molten iron is still actively dripping off the frame--avoiding the sections that are still glowing from the residual heat is probably a sound plan, but it does make the climb all the more logistically difficult--many sections seem ready simply to drop away, if not from the shear stresses, from the melted iron superheating portions itself.

As you move further up, you notice a crinkle in the plan. As the skycrane rises, several of the spectral strands that are winding throughout Taizhou seem to pulse and shift as the power source that generated them comes closer. Warping, the paths are difficult even for a trained pilot to navigate around--and as such, a path that materializes into being close by shears off the bottom sections of the gantry, before shattering into hundreds upon thousands of sparkling shards of ephemeral crystal that tumble through the air--and freeze.

The shattering of the path continues for at least a mile to either aisde of the ascending crane, but the pieces do not fall as usual. The massive sphere hanging like a second moon in the sky crackles ominously as it glows, reacting with the leylines of force in the air... and causing them to swirl dangerously about the structure as they are attracted to the superweapon in the sky. The gantry is suffused with a nimbus of sparkling light, the light from overhead refracted off of thousands of crystalline motes that do not in fact, truly exist physically.

Unfortunately, that means not a whit when they tear holes in your spirit like so much tissue paper.

COMBATSYS: Ibuki dodges Katsuten's Endless Sea of Stars.

                              KATSUTEN                              
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                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/-------|


"Hmmn.." is about all Yurika could say to that, normally she would have just accepted unusual behavior such as these animals in a place like this. But there was something.. Off. Controlling other beings and animals is something that the Kirishima's are extremely familiar with- She was able to conclude that -something- was controlling them, but she hadn't a clue what that something may be, nor their intent.

In short, it may be a waste of time at this point attempting to 'divert' their path and may have to take them one on many if this ends up being a significant problem, "Something is controlling them!" she calls out to Ibuki, spotting her aquaintance quickly and is hot on her trail- Actually scratch that, she doesn't just catch up, she passes Ibuki 'borrowing' her kunai climbing technique, perhaps with the intent of scouting out trouble ahead so that Ibuki, along with the sword, doesn't drop to their doom.

Naturally things just had to get even more out of control didn't it? She was worried about the tools Ibuki used at first, but it didn't seem to have the result she initially feared. The problem was she anticipated a problem from above, and not from the side, which leaves Ibuki to deal with the next problem, "Damn."

COMBATSYS: Yurika takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/-------|


It's not quite as clear for Ibuki that the animals are being controlled as she doesn't interact with them as directly as Yurika, nor has her clan messed with controlling beasts, working with them as allies but not controlling them. So the teen ninja doesn't make the connection like her partner does. Instead Ibuki focuses on how best to continue their journey up the super weapon as safetly as possible.

Well that had been her plan but Yurika rockets past her to trail blaze the way up, "Woah! Are you in a hurry...or are you trying to race me?!!" Ibuki teases loudly to her partner as she follows along with the girl up the weapon. Shaking her head she looks at the lights and partially thrills at how interesting it looks but she senses the danger they might provide, "Watch out!" She yells pushing Yurika towards some protective covering as she lets herself whirl and spin through the air as the beams of light fly at her. Thankfully she evades the streams of light then using her falling momentum she whirls around a convienent bar now turning falling momentum to flying momentum as she passes her partner she winks before grabbing onto the structure again.

Drawing out a few more kunai she charges them with chi and putting some explosive tags on them she hurls them at the intangible crystaline motes and hopes the explosive force, fire, smoke, and chi will disrupt the beams before another hindrance could come from them, "Let's hurry up partner! I don't know how long that'll stop more beams from coming at us!"

COMBATSYS: Ibuki takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|---------------                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/-------|


As Yurika examines the blackbirds when they fly past, she might eventually conclude that they're being controlled not through a method of mind control as with the Kirishima, but through force of will--as they are not actually living animals, but ideas. Ideas forged of dark fire and ephemeral discipline. In that case it's easier to understand--sealing matrixes are a Ryouhara staple.

The bakuretsufuu attached to the kunai sail into the midst of the glass motes, detonating fiercely and, while ripping off a section of the catwalks, also dissipates the shards of spectral glass closest to the two, scattering them into the winds as the rest of the energy is attracted into the giant antennas that form the majority of the gantry, power flowing up into the weapon from that location.

You seem to be making headway. As you get closer, you begin to notice more sections of developed area of the gantry--operating panels mangled beyond usefulness, more specific floors and sections as the entire mass seems less vestigial up here, less likely to fall off and plunge into the open sky.

Unfortunately, as you climb closer to the bomb, you might also notice you aren't alone.

What at first seemed like cloth-and-steel debris clinging to the gantry's strutwork now seems like vaguely humanoid forms, half-melted and charred beyond all recognition. They are most emphatically inhuman, mannequins of brass and steel and wood which look as if they have been dipped in fire and water alternately for years. But they cling onwards to the frame of the gantry, and shift noticeably as Ibuki evades the sparkling light expertly.

In droves, they peel and pry themselves out of whatever crevices of the framework they've managed to lock themselves in. With truncated, damaged limbs and knobby hands, they crawl down the framework like so many spiders, making annoying clicking noises like the skipping of a broken tape recorder. Others groan ominously.

The automata recognize threats when they sense them.

Crawling closer, they seem to want to say hello.

A greeting that ends in an iron-tight grip, as they try to tackle Yurika and Ibuki, to cling, to beat, to shake them off and take everyone with them, suicidally, into the lakes of fire below.

COMBATSYS: Katsuten successfully hits Yurika with Wild Replicants.
- Power hit! -

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|--------------=                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/----===|


"..." Yurika doesn't even bother to respond to Ibuki's playful comment with anything more than a raised brow, though both of them raise when Ibuki pretty much pushes her out of the way of the next attack. Before she can accuse her of being a fool, however, the other kunoichi proves to handle the situation alarmingly well.

Hmph, ok well it was impressive, but still!

As they get higher still it appears there is better stability on where to step, but at this point she isn't keen on sight-seeing, ".. Someone doesn't want us to get to the top," stating the obvious here, but still, "But I don't sense anyone, there's too much interferance-" mobs! ".. Like that one. You have the sword, you push ahead," she advises, even though she really hates being the 'sacrifice' for any situation, but it was the most logical given the circumstances.

These dolls, she could only assume, may be influenced by the technique of the same person. At least she -hopes- it's the same person. Yurika assumes that Ibuki does push ahead and so Yurika charges toward the mob with her weapons drawn, but most unfortunatly gets completely overwhelmed this time. It seems almost -too- easy for them to send the silver-haired kunoichi flying right off the weapon leaving her only seconds to come up with a plan.

SHe doesn't have much choice but to fight them off, managing to slip free from one of them, but smashes back first against one of the catwalks, though handsprings off the offending body to land upon another that buckles under her weight. Like a gymnast she ends up having to use loose poles and ends to whirl and swing to keep from plummeting to her doom, but in the end she's lost quite a bit of ground, her heart pounding hard in response to the rather intense experience. But she's got to get it togetaher, she has to push upward again.

While it's not surprising Ibuki's stonefaced partner doesn't react to her upbeatness at all, it's quite surprising when the freaky doll things skitter down the gantry towards them! "W-what are those?!!" She gasps out while trying to figure out a way to handle them, it's as she is doing this that Yurika makes a point of saying that she should take off ahead, this doesn't sit well with Ibuki the ninja girl not wanting to leave her partner behind...but Yurika makes a good point it would be best to push forward, "Don't get hurt you got me partner!" With that she takes off upwards again!

Slipping inside the gantry work that as she spends more time in it makes Ibuki think of it more like the guts of the super weapon than anything else, she faces a few dead ends and back tracks a bit but due to Yurika's distraction and moving quickly she's not caught by any of the terrible dolls for the moment! Either way it's still a nasty experience before she pops out again in enough time to see Yurika fall...

"No!!!" She yells as the other ninja falls from her visibility and the teen grits her teeth, hopefully her partner made it, she shakes her head of course she made it! With that thought she nods once and yells down, "HURRY UP SLOW POKE!" Hopefully drawing some of the horrible dolls back towards her while she continues her perilous climb through the spiderwork of the catwalks surrounding the Katsuten.

COMBATSYS: Ibuki takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|--------------=                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/----===|


COMBATSYS: Yurika takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|--------------=                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/----===|


Bantiankong Chemical Building - 50th Floor

Aranha now seeing where Katsuten is rushes towards to the desk to the surveillance monitor. It takes a few moments but now that Aranha has some experience with the monitors it doesn't take as long to set up the cameras.

With the cameras set up, Aranha then starts dialing on his phone hoping to get in contact with Yurika.

Even as the phone dials, the traceur is a blur of motion as he slides over a desk and then makes his way over to the ebony desk and then sits down behind it as he waits for an answer. When the phone finally picks up.

"Hello. This is your eye in the sky, Aranha, and I think I can be of assistance."

Yurika is, of course, extremely pleased that Ibuki didn't do something so 'foolish' as to waste time and go to assist her- Then again, the other kunoichi is probably well aware that Yurika would have been absolutely livid if she didn't do as requested. Still, the situation was extremely challenging for her, with little to work with and much agility to be done- What she didn't expect, though, was a sudden buzzing at her leg. Getting to a vertical pipe and hanging upside-down, she slipped the phone from her 'magic' satchel wrapped around her thigh, "..."

'Hello This is your eye in the sky, Aranha, and I think I can be of assistance.'

She was almost disappointed it wasn't Hakuya. Deciding to skip the semantics for now, and especially any formalities, she simply replies, "I'm listening. Be brief." she's multi-tasking after all.

She wants brief? She's got it. "I'm currently in control of a weapon that can pretty much hit anything within this city. Give the word, and I'll target anything in your way. I help you, you keep us from going boom and we all win. Of course, I'm limited in that I can't fire shots in rapid succession so you have me for just one shot."

Yurika is forced to slip from her brief cover as the dolls continue to make a sweep toward her, the only good thing at least is once they plummet past her, they can't really seem to come back up through any crazy techniques so far. Yurika has no idea if Arahna can actually see her or not- She's clad in attire similar to Kurow's, though the top is long enough to serve as a dress- Her tone a bit muffled since there's a mask over it.

The news, though, is enough to bring a smile to her features- That was perhaps the best news she'd recieved today, "I see. Hngh!" she twirls around again, at times able to use the beelining dolls to spring off of- Eventually Ibuki is in sight, but Yurika's still got a ways to go before catching up to her, "I'm assuming, then, that you can see us." she replies, "How many humans can you see? .. Are you a sniper?" It was unfortunate, she wasn't used to gaugeing a person over a phone, even though she was excellent with sounds, she can tell a lot more by looking at them.

A few adjustments here and there and get it ready to charge. He then moves back to the surveillance monitots and then switches cameras as they move about. "Two in your area but I haven't gone through all the cameras yet. No I'm not a sniper. To be honest, having a sniper would probably help in being able to provide more regular support."

A sound of thunder crashing can be heard over the phone followed by an uttered curse relating to mad men shattering windows.

"..." Yurika managed not to sigh, but really at this point it'd probably be better to have his help rather than turn him down. But he can see them so that's something, if anything he'd be able to pick up the third person within time, "All right, that's fine." ... "Thank you for contacting us." she supposed it wouldn't hurt to be a bit polite for a change, "Sounds like you have company," she then notes, "I'm going to alert my partner of the situation as soon as I catch up with her, I'm going to need both of my hands so I'll have to put you on hold for a bit."

Things continue to fall apart at an alarming rate, but scaling the wall was still more desirable than taking the foreverwinding pathway, but it'd seem she'd at last managed to get past the last of the tumbling doll stampede, swooping to avoid some, and springing off to avoid others, the adrenaline rush keeping her going.

Ibuki continues her climb ever upwards all the while blissfully unaware of the conversation her partner is having, or the fact that Yurika is even alive at the moment, go heroic sacrifice! Thus it was that the brown clad ninja girl was doing her very best to take full advantage of the time her partner had given her, it was the least she could do after all!

Ibuki leaps forward onto an outstretched bar and slowly begins to build speed as she leans upon it twirling around and around until at last she launches herself upwards towards the upper portions of the Katsuten, planting paper bombs attached to kunai as she flies past, if anything should come from below at her she'll be ready for it and should she need to damage the structure for some reason she'll again be prepared for that as well!

Flinging herself into the mazelike superstructure, Ibuki takes a moment to herself to evaluate the situation and get her bearings to continue upwards...sighing to herself for a moment, "How did I get myself into this?!!" She laments for a moment before focusing on the task at hand, "Okay I need to break for the controls somehow and bypass the defensive systems but how without getting myself torn to shreds?" She looks over her shoulder to the sword, "You wouldn't have any ideas would you...well besides cutting everything?" Shaking her head she thrusts her fist into the air, "Gah! I'll just deal with it as I go, nothing is going to stop me I've got a promise to keep and a partner to avenge!" With that she leaps outwards before heading upwards perhaps at this point Yurika might've caught up enough for Ibuki to hear her if she yelled?

Shiraha remains silent at Ibuki's back.

In truth, the mazelike structure of the Gantry seems to get all the more difficult to navigate as you near the bomb itself. You can't be much farther than a long stone's throw from it, but as the gantry assumes a more complete configuration further from the sites of damage where the skycrane ripped it out of its moorings, you find yourself on more paths less openly dangerous, but more difficult to navigate, as sections of catwalk fold back in on themselves as parts of the stairways meant to lead from the floor of the chambers up to the top of the roof section. Torn moorings where the lift was meant to be ridden limn one side of the gantry, though now obviously useless for their prior purpose.

The odd mechanical dolls that mobbed Yurika earlier have mostly been fought off, mostly thrown off and tossed to their death, but as Ibuki continues to yell and generally make a fuss up closer to Katsuten, it seems like more and more of the creatures seem to peel themselves from inbetween struts and tearing themselves out from underneath walks to climb up quickly towards the shinobi. Many even break off from engaging Yurika to do so. While this does have the benefit of allowing Yurika to finish her conversation with her unlikely helper, it does mean more heat's headed towards Ibuki as well. The whole exercise is rendered moot if Ibuki is thrown off of the gantry with Shiraha, isn't it?

As they pass Yurika, she notices two things. One, the most important, is that they climb much faster than you. Part of this is because they have no soul and no fear. Part of it is because that their limbs seem to bend in whatever direction they want. The second thing Yurika notices is that the ones with faces seem awful familiar--almost as if they resemble someone she might know.

Interestingly, as they begin to flank Ibuki, the shinobi might notice that they seem to prioritize the closest thing to Katsuten--and furthermore, seem to be very serious about this whole picking-people-up-and-throwing-them-off-the-Gantry thing. It's also worth noting that they're trying to take Shiraha from her as well. It seems the blade calls to things of its own volition.

"You should just give it to them and give up, nya~ . . ?"

Where did that voice come from?

COMBATSYS: Yurika dodges Katsuten's Wild Replicants.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|--------------=                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/----===|


Yurika would rather not know that reason, if there is one thing the kunoichi cannot really come to terms with, is the idea that she's frightened. She's spent so many years of her life being scared, afraid, and timid. And while it's possible that it is a trait that will always be part of her even if it's a little, she doesn't want to hear it. So.. Let us leave it at that.

So what other 'logical' conclusion can she come up with? Well, it isn't unacceptable to her that they can climb faster, they've been moving like spiders from the beginning.

She isn't too far behind at this point, but it's increasingly difficult to keep these dolls from closing in on her assosciate, "Oh come on," she mumbles in a deadpan tone, but she's not close enough to help Ibuki, not from this position.

And yet, there is -something- strange about these dolls, why is there a strange sense of familiarity toward them? Yurika, as she continues to scale upward to get to the point where she'd fallen off, takes a brief moment to slam her tuning fork against the ground and her dark eyes flash briefly; even with the heavy winds cutting through the sky, the sounds cut through even harder, mapping out details in a wide radius for the musician that she may not have seen otherwise; But if the faces are merely an illusion it wouldn't help her identify what's so familiar with them with this technique.

So yes, they are fast, but being able to see everything at this point allowed the musician to perform an even greater feat thanks to her instant spacial awareness, she was from wall-scaling to leaping upon and off dolls, swiftly evading blows or landing atop them to shift her momentum in another favorable direction, "Who are you avenging, fool? Watch out!" is all she can cry to Ibuki, she unable to catch up to- But unable to intercept the front lines gaining on her teammate.

COMBATSYS: Yurika takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|--------------=                


[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-------|
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/----===|


COMBATSYS: Katsuten successfully hits Ibuki with Wild Replicants.
- Power hit! -

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|-------------==                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/--=====|
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/----===|


Things are not looking good for the kunoichi from Kyoto! Apparently her conversation with herself seemed to attract the attention of a number of those doll things and Ibuki quickly finds herself surrounded by them. The girl takes up a dashing stance and races forward hoping that the slower and clumsier mecha people would fall behind her...unfortunately that doesn't happen!

As she springs forward in her initial bout of speed little grasping hands reach up and grab her by her ankles and she is slammed into the structure by not only the doll's strength but her own momentum. As her head cracks against the gantry, the world goes blurry and indistinct while a swarm of the things dive on her scratching and clawing...and to her horror trying to pull the sword away from her. The cries from down below not having reached her in time due to her taking the massive hit at just the wrong time...Ibuki rolls grasping the Shiraha she grits her teeth at the voice, "Sorry can't do that, I got it fair and square and I just don't give up!" She enthuses loudly.

Looking beaten up and bloodied, Ibuki wraps her arms around the closest piece of extremely sturdy looking structure and braces herself there, "Let's do this!" With that she releases the chi into the paper bombs she'd planted on the superstructure letting a series of explosions rock the structure and possibly open up a number of new rents or tears into it or that's what she hopes happens.

Using the Shiraha as a lever, Ibuki clears some debris from herself as she lets her head clear for a moment it seems she rung her own bell with the explosions she unleashed but hopefully the dolls are in more dire straits than she. She then looks up briefly wondering how much further till the top?

COMBATSYS: Ibuki takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|-------------==                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/--=====|
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/----===|


As the tuning fork slams into the structure, the entire gantry seems to vibrate, briefly giving Yurika a glimpse of every physical attribute in the region with her sound-based ninjutsu. For the most part, the gantry only seems to harbor mroe of those things, tortured and tormented little devices that look like they've been through hell. Peripherally, the vibrating superstructure knocks a few loose and sends them tumbling into the abyss.

There is no illusory aspect for these replicants--the faces are a dim mockery of brass, steel and swelled woods that roughly resemble faces. Many of these seem familiar but not instantly recognizable due to the fact that many of these dolls are so beat up so as to /be/ unrecognizable. However, with the technique Yurika just used, she can in a moment, compare many different replicants and gauge the similarities. With a moment of thought, it becomes clear: The face that these dolls are so furiously attempting to represent is Momo Karuizawa. Even now, Yurika might be able to spot shards of wood mounted on arms that may have once belonged to rudimentary tennis rackets, and the groaning these things are doing as they march on was perhaps once a recording, or a form of communication.

At that moment, Ibuki's planted tags activate, the energy flickering all throughout the gantry as replicants seem to hemohrrage off of it en masse, many tumbling into the abyss. The explosions damage much of the existing peripheral structure near Katsuten, and the weapon seems to twist and bend as chi is released in massive blasts near it. complex containment jutsus activate, forming protective shields near the blast radius.

A single paper seal cracks on the massive bomb.

The blast is pure white, and fills the air below with a blinding flash. For a moment, it's unclear as to what exactly happened. Then a bloom slowly comes up from the earth, and sends a 400 foot stretch of molten street tumbling through an abandoned building, which superheats and melts nigh-instantaneously after the street wraps around it.

You're still alive. That's the immediate thing that comes to mind.

Likely, you are saved only by your ingenuity. The entire southern section of the gantry between the bomb and you (roughly over your heads) ..is completely gone. There's no evidence of it ever having existed, there's not even sections of molten railing. For all intents and purposes, it simply doesn't exist anymore. Unfortunately, that might not be for very long. Most of the gantry is now teetering on a few isolated struts, leaving only a dangerously-tilted catwalk between the team and the main bridge surrounding the superweapon. Well. And .. forms at the top. Ghostly blue ones.

Images begin to float past Ibuki as the closer of the two, impressions of the vast wide open sea, of great battles forged, memories forged from the annals of history. The childlike voice that was heard before is only a bit further away, a teasing lilt to her tone. It's the ghostly form in the middle of the catwalk, the indistinct image of a young girl wearing an...extremely colorful coat and balancing impossibly on skates. "A /stir/..." she begins, outstretching her hands. "..is what we /need/."

Electricity boils up from every metal surface on the gantry, returning to her. And through you.

COMBATSYS: Yurika blocks Katsuten's Memories of the Past.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|------------===                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/--=====|
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/---====|


Yurika's chi continues to trail trail her after her burst of acrobatics, but she certainly shows concern for Ibuki.. Well, perhaps more for the weapon, but that's part of her teammate, right? But the information that registered catches the young fighter off guard, her pale features growing more pale still- She remembers a long time ago, a certain Sada Asai had mentioned a similar contraption but did she remember wrong? She could have sworn only one was mentioned, and suddenly to be surrounded by all these things was more..

Chilling.

She can't quite make the sounds out to be anything more than gibberish so that's put aside- But then most of her recorded 'eye work' is wiped out with by a flash of blinding light, "ACK!" she instinctivly ducks, but quickly remembers she needs to stay light on her feet, and glances down long enough to see one of the most incredible scenes she had ever seen.

That was certainly a lot of molten street.

It seems Ibuki survived however, but Yurika isn't certain she's seeing the same thing Ibuki is. No memory, but there is certainly something there that shouldn't be. First kicking away what remaining of the psycho dolls are closing in on them, she then slips in front of Ibuki, clashing her forks togeather again the air in front of her distorts, sound chi manipulated to become a field to help absorb the intense electric-like energy ripping at them; it isn't a flawless counter at all, but it's certainly clear she's comfortable with handling -this- particular situation, the looser parts of her clothing and strands of hair flapping back wildly, "Get it togeather, you." she murmurs to Ibuki. She knows the girl is hurt, perhaps it's just her own way of encouraging her 'partner', "We have an ally miles away from here, a straight shooter, I'm waiting to see if he can see who's doing all of this. Anyway, I have things here, keep going."

The explosion was quite a bit more effective than she'd planned, to be honest a bit frighteningly so, Ibuki's still getting herself up as the molten street slams into building and her eyes go wide. This was not going to be easy she frowns and looks to her right a bit too slowly as suddenly there is some sort of ghostly thing standing there, "Huh?" She says dumbly as it charges an attack and launches her way!

Ibuki has nowhere to go and not enough time to get out of the way she starts to hold the sword in front of her to try and defend against the attack but suddenly and unexpectedly there is Yurika! "Partner!!" She yells in surprise and it seems a tad bit of happiness that Yurika wasn't dead. Smirking under her mask and standing up as straight as possible, Ibuki shakes her head, "I have it together thanks!" She winks at Yurika and the apparition.

"An ally? Hmm, well if they can find who is responsible that'd be great hopefully he'll be able to help us out somehow too." She looks thoughtful for a half second as she's not sure she wants to leave Yurika at the moment but finally she nods, "I'll be off then!"

She turns, "See you at the top partner." With that she uses the remanants of the gantry as they teeter back and forth as springboards to propel herself ever upwards. She's moving with speed and great care as it's getting obvious that this Katsuten thing was trying to kill them and she refused to give it anymore chances to do so.

COMBATSYS: Ibuki takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|------------===                


[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/--=====|
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/---====|


COMBATSYS: Yurika takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|------------===                


[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/--=====|
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/---====|


Right about now, Yurika will get another phone call.

Aranha's on the other end. Presumably with a Quick question on line 1: Are you two going to let them kill you, or just save you the trouble and do it yourselves?

It looks like after the giant flash and the garrotte of a building with a length of molten street, most of the superstructure surrounding the Katsuten has been destroyed. This much you knew. However, what the viewing apparatus mounted to the device Aranha's currently in command of atop the Bantiankong Chemical Building tells him is that there really isn't anyone manipulating Katsuten right now. You can make whatever guesses you want at it, but it seems like the weapon is currently so unstable from being moved around like this that it's beginning to ... leak.

All of the energy it's stored over time is being released in the form of primal memories.

That would make the apparition that just tried to fry you the weapon's 'memory' of Riko Koganei, someone who existed at the time of Katsuten's creation. Her own technique--though barely emulated, a ninjutsu like Yurika's own--seems to come from all directions towards her, as opposed to flowing out from her. The fields of sound generated by Yurika are only just barely able to absorb the force, but they hold admirably. As if appeased, that apparition disappears with one last catty smile. It is more appropriate to say that she doesn't disappear, but becomes less distinct--like the spotlight turns away from her, making her of background importance. She becomes just one of the many phantom images floating around the structure.

As Ibuki springboards herself to the lower sections of the bridge that rings around the Katsuten directly, Yurika below will notice something. Some of the images are floating in the air lower down from Katsuten. As it's containment fails, its memories flood out more. And this one--well.. it seems troublesome. It's a vision of Rugal Bernstein himself on the deck of the Suiryuu, so long ago. Slowly, that memory boils away to white as the form of that man roars deep and high beneath the superstructure, forcing his limbs back.. and pumping them forward, creating a massive crash of energy that, if allowed to be thrown, will rip away most of the superstructure around Katsuten, and probably tear the bridge off of the superweapon itself, not to mention possibly tear the skycrane above in half.

It was a pittance at the time of Katsuten's first stirring, but now it is more than enough to service the ideal. This is what the superweapon remembers. In the name of ambition -- untold violence and power.

COMBATSYS: Yurika blocks Katsuten's A Song for the Proleteriat.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|------------===                


[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/--=====|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/--=====|


Yurika stumbles back a bit once the effects of the attack finally wears off- Unfortunatly she doesn't recognize the 'memory' that was before her. Yet somehow she thinks she -should- know. Hmmn, in fact, she probably does, but it's been such a long time..

It's almost comedic that Aranha's next call comes in, and Yurika realizes she probably should have given the phone to Ibuki. An embarassing oversight for certain, but she'll live. Panting heavily, and still feeling the distracting pains of the previous encounters, she manages to crouch and slip the phone from her thighbelt.

Her arms felt like jelly.

"Whatever." is her response to the first question. With this and that exploding, not to mention the fact they were pretty much on a -bomb-, she couldn't help but feel that having Aranha -shooting- at it of all things would be a very very last-ditch effort option. Yurika found herself at a loss that no third person was found. She didn't know what to make of these 'memories', it didn't make sense to her what was going on, what she was up against. Could it be defeated?

"Just wait a moment more!" she finally hisses back to the caller, sweat dripping down her forehead as she observed the other images, and phone resheathed to hold out her still quivering weaponry. In a way the feel of resonation was rather calming, as the next image before her was certainly worth panicing about. Rugal. Her brother had met up with him a couple of times, but this was before she had the nerve to get nosey, she had little idea what the plans were. But then came his energy, and her eyes widened as she drew in her own energy. Her eyes flashed yet again; she didn't dare underestimate the technique even if it may have been an illusion, she poured every bit of energy into her reaction, letting out a tremendous, yet melodious, howl of her own, blasting forth energy to clash against it's own.

Yet in her mind her goal was not to overcome this wave- But to survive it, the mere attempt was making her muscles ache, her vision blurr, and her will tremble. Could every bit of training, everything she knew about her chi to this point, would it stand up to -this- encounter? She didn't have a choice, if she didn't the bridge, and who knows what else would be torn away like paper.

The force of Rugal's blast might send her sailing regardless, even she couldn't easily predict the outcome of her efforts, but what she does know is that she.. Probably would be unable to keep this up for much longer, she could only hope that Ibuki is doing her part. "... Nngh.."

One thing is for certain, though, she's going to do her best to keep her distance, perhaps retreat toward the bridge; she wants no more of Mr Bernstein if she can help it.

Ibuki clears the final hurdles as she makes it to the control center of the superweapon, it'd been an insane climb so far and she was going to be very glad once she finished it! Unaware of the danger going on below or the frustration of dealing with the phonecall in the middle of being attacked by a Rugal phantom might be having on her partner, Ibuki takes a moment to look around at this weapon of mass destruction and shiver for just a half moment!

Gathering her wits she looks around to see where the weapon looks to be weakest, she wasn't sure how the sword was to be used to stop this thing other than that was something that could be done with it, thus now that she was here she finally removed the sword from its coverings and revealed the blade and scabbard. Slowly she focuses her mind and draws the blade, hopefully it would know where it needed to go!

The teen ninja is almost overwhelmed by the sword as she draws it forth as it practically begged to be used in her hands, she stands there a bit dazed as she wars with the urge to just use it indiscrimanently before mastering herself for the moment and pointing the weapon decidedly at Katsuten's systems. "Alright sword...do your stuff!" She shakes it to make it do whatever it's supposed to...unsurprisingly it does nothing by being shaken like a salt shaker.

Taking a moment a mildly embarrassed look crosses her features, "Okay fine!" She winds up and swings the blade testing it's weight and heft before rushing towards the Katsuten's systems and swinging as mighty of a blow as she can muster against this horror of ninjutsu given terrible semi life.

COMBATSYS: Ibuki successfully hits Katsuten with The Strength of Many.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [        |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|----------=====                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-======|
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           0/-------/--=====|


"I will test them."

The sword is light in your hands--impossibly so. Shiraha seems eager today, the weapon which can only be wielded by the idealists chosen through strife. Sliding free of her wrapping and slid free of its sheathe, Shiraha gleams in the light like an angel's halo. Does she know where to go? Maybe.

Provided Ibuki stops shaking the sword like a glowstick.

Down below, Yurika fights valiantly for her life against the ghosts of the prior tournament, rising up like bad dreams to consume the heroes esconced in their cradle of fate. As she faces down the memory of Rugal--less a dream or a memory of that ship and more a disease and nightmare--she does not falter. The massive wave of energy collides with Yurika's deadly melody, the force of energies twisting and writhing against one another in the night, crackling with force and power. One this is clear--those these apparitions are only ghosts, they are fragments of real memories. And Katsuten's power is not illusory in the slightest.

The blast buckles the lower half of the superstructure and tears it away to be ripped to pieces by the interclash of force, but the shockwave is only enough to throw Yurika up higher, as opposed to her doom entirely. Had she faltered, had she lacked faith for even a moment..

"We will be the hurdle that they must overcome."

A flash up at the bridge ringing Katsuten and a melodic whispering sound heralds a vicious blow as Ibuki lays open the massive bomb. Electric force and light crawls out of the white wound as Shiraha bites into heartwood keenly--there is no resistance at all to her edge as she lays open the front of the weapon, the force almost enough to knock her off of the bridge entirely. There is the sense that you are being protected--the force that Katsuten expels when wounded should rightfully be enough to wipe a lone person out of existence, but the fuuinjutsu inscribed across Shiraha glow fiercely after the blow is struck. At this point, the superweapon bleeds memories, rays of light streaking through the wound and splitting the heavens where they trace, primal chi from the ends of the earth flickering dangerously against Ibuki and her partner. Down below, the raging Rugal is lost in the torrents of memory.. before one gains precidence.

"Bring me your strongest," he asks.

The apparition of "RYOUHARA" is just a vague form meditating deep beneath Katsuten.

One eye opens. "It will take everything you have...and more."

A rent in the sky opens just to the side of Katsuten. A great mouth, or eye of some sort, forged of twisting black fire, much the same as the energies the blackbirds were earlier forged from. The gaping chasm yawns open, forming a single iris of power within. The skycrane above shudders as the pressure below becomes massive. A sucking vortex forms adjacent to Ibuki and Yurika, whose source is that floating firestorm in the sky. It draws everything it yanks from the superstructure--steel, wood, seals and all--into that iris, where the weight of the entire ocean will crush it. The most primal memory of Katsuten: The all-encompassing black.

The superweapon is wounded.

But it takes more than trust in the blade to strike a true blow.

"Show me this ideal of yours."

COMBATSYS: Katsuten successfully hits Yurika with Howling Canto of the Ryouhara.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [        |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|===============                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-======|
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           1/-----==/=======|


She survived.

While exhausted, there was a small shift behind her facemask, as the image seemed to back down. Yet it was too soon to be noticing any distinct pattern.. Not only that, her body was feeling weary, she had put in so much in that moment that she felt she needed a moment, a moment that she didn't have, to pull herself togeather.

Yurika is known best for being calm, collected, rational, and even understanding to values that were not her own. Perhaps her thirst for control was a bit on the unhealthy side.. But everyone had a weakness. And one of Yurika's was dealing with things that she could could not understand. Just how -does- one battle memories that physically tear you apart?

For that matter that question.. Hasn't she heard that before, directed at her even? But the voice was nothing like the twisted priest's.

Perhaps more important is the existance of the firestorm, the musician's dark eyes growing wide, ".. You have got to be kidding me." she mutters to herself, feeling her body start to get dragged toward the vortez. Her thinking, for a moment, wasn't clear, mostly occupied by the thoughts of '-What-.' but then she remembered; slamming her fingers on the keys of her phone.

She hasn't the slightest clue if their 'Eye in the sky' has a split-second reaction or decided to take matters into his own hands beforehand, but for her moment she was on her own, shifting this way and that, but getting whalloped and slammed repeatedly by the large debris that was being drawn in as their numbers increase. But she's a stubborn one here, even as her muscles burn from the strain and ring with the pain of each strike, she is just nimble and quick enough to keep from getting sucked away into who knows where. But she's convinced she can get through it on her own, keep her wits and continue to move, yet the feeling of being unable to fight back is rather discouraging. She's completely convinced that the offensive work is in her partners hands, though is a bit ashamed that she could not have come up with something more timely with that mind of hers, "As if I have time for that," she does mutter to herself, however, in response to the request.

COMBATSYS: Yurika takes no action.

                              KATSUTEN                              
  [        |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 0|---------------|===============                


[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            0/-------/-======|
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           1/-----==/=======|


Aranha's eyes look at the monitor and remain pasted there except for those few moments where he peels his eyes away to glance at control panel for not only the powerful weapon, but for the defenses of the city.

He is in disbelief at what he has seen through the monitors. He was a participant in the last tournament and had more encounters with Rugal than he would care have. It takes all of his willpower to not fire then to fire at the memories of the tournament.

But then he sees Yurika drawn into the vortex and watches as it batters the musical ninja about. He watches as it gets closer to Ibuki and he realizes he can't wait for Yurika to give the go-ahead. He can't let the other ninja be delayed and can't risk the sword being pulled into the vortex. He inputs the coordinates and then he fires. "Forgive me, Yurika... I couldn't risk waiting any longer."

Panting from the surprising exertion that wielding the sword placed on her is dazed for a moment as she regains her breath and stares at the ground, "Not done yet!" She calls to no one in particular as she regains her footing from the deadly rocking of the superweapon as Yurika valiantly blocks the phantom Rugal's blow, she sways a bit due to being unbalanced before finally she manages to take a proper fighting stance again.

Once she's finally paying attention to the world around her again, Ibuki's eyes get a view unlike any other as energy swirls and dances around her in hauntingly beautiful displays all the while only vaguely aware that if she didn't have Shiraha that this energy would be tearing her to pieces at this point the seal's glow on the blade the key piece that clues her into the fact she is protected at the moment. Then suddenly the Katsuten errupts with powerful and destructive memories of the absolute nothingness.

Ibuki stares into the great gaping maws that the Katsuten opens up and shakes her head before raising the sword again, "No! I made an oath, I will not fail...today...today no one dies!" She roars as she takes up the blade again pumping her chi into her legs and into the weapon itself, for everyone this weapon could harm or had harmed in its development, she would stop it that's all she could do...she couldn't even worry about the black voids pulling everything into them, Yurika would have to deal with them now somehow Ibuki had to concentrate on her next move.

Ignoring the personal danger she was in due to the Vortex and pushing off from the swaying deckplates that make up the control center's floor, Ibuki races forward and attempts to drive the Shiraha as deep into the Katsuten's core as she possibly could, "Be still you giant beast!!" Her voice echoes as she makes the final push forward, hopefully the sword could put an end to the bomb...if nothing else she believed it could stop it without anyone having to die, it just had to hit home.

COMBATSYS: Ibuki successfully hits Katsuten with The Strength of History.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-

                              KATSUTEN
                             
  [                                                             ]
                 1|================|===============                


[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           1/-----==/=======|

Throw it all away.

The three--Yurika, Ibuki, and Aranha--enter a chaotic space in which no one can really communicate effectively. Everything seems to happen at once as the inky black opens up off the edge of what little remains of the superstructure. Entire catwalks and struts are pulled into the well, folding it like origami as the weapon seems to warp and shift space around its open wound. That is the power of chi gathered from the primal heartbeat of the earth--it is something beyond understanding.

But Ibuki places trust in her team--and perhaps that might be the only thing that saves them.

Her final begins to slow as the vaccuum force begins to take hold. In truth, had she paused for even a moment, had she even thought of doing anything other than ending this, there were any number of terrible endings this could have turned out to--the sword sucked away, Ibuki being vaporized where she stood--anything. But she does not. And so, this is how the story plays out:

The force seems to try and suck Yurika in to be crushed mercilessly by the weight of the sea. It is alien, it is implacable, and most importantly, it seems to be winning. While the debris begins to tear at Yurika's outfit and huge consoles easily twice her weight tumbles past her with catastrophic results--the most unsettling thing is the bolts. THe heads of bolts are being stripped off directly and go whistling past Yurika's head into the dark chasm--from the sheer stresses being put upon the strutwork, the entire fuselage twisting as it's drawn off of Katsuten, arguably the only stable thing on this runaway train. Only seconds more and it'll be over--the final bolts will give, and Ibuki and Yurika both will be ripped away from the bomb and into what is only described as 'finality.'

Until a ghostly seal materializes over the inky void.

A circle enclosing the Japanese kanji MON, or 'gate'.

For Aranha, operating the Shinseikasen is not really child's play--the entire thing seems to work not off of mechanical controls, but more complex chi projections directing and calculating the exact angle of the beam and the displacement of the target, operating in a not-dissimilar fashion to a chi construct of a rubik's cube. Fortunately, the trigger is not anywhere near as difficult to divine: Touch the seal with the paper tag 'FIRE' on it. Wakamoto is intelligent, but even he needs a leg up on this kind of technology sometimes.

Once fired, the weapon barely has any recoil at all. The paper ofuda orbitting what stands as the barrel to the device slowly cease spinning in a systematic fashion, each locking into a particular place around the edge. The barrel, upon which is engraved the 'MON' seal that is currently tagging the void, begins to emit a high pitched hissing sound as a pure white ball begins to collect in front of it, temporarily blinding Aranha--in the end, he can only tell it fired but the rush of air past his ears, and the sudden absence of crushing heat.

The shot is nigh instantaneous, the crackling of air between Shinseikasen and the far distance the only evidence of the blast's passage. That, and the massive gaping hole shot through the dark chasm which was drawing Yurika in. The hole slowly gapes wider, electric force crackling over every surface... before the anomaly simply collapses in on itself, primal chi spiralling into nothingness with an audible SNAP. Thunder seems to coincide with the chi's release, the aftereffects of the Shinseikasen weapon release.

The power draw seems to clear the air around Bantiankong and the threatened airspace entirely. Shinseikasen natively uses the fields emanated by Katsuten as a power source, so in firing, it drained the power from the immediate vicinity--and likely, quite a bit from the electrical grid. After which, Aranha can watch the rest on the sensory ninkou still linked to the Shinseikasen device..

Suddenly, the force that was beginning to draw Ibuki off her feet abates. It puts her once again on solid ground, and allows her to make that last final push--the much vaunted blade shines in the light as the shinobi plunges it deep into the heart of Katsuten--and for a moment, that would seem to have been the death of you--light begins to shine from the new wound, light that shines past Shiraha and vaporizes steel around Ibuki. At that point, the paper seals all around Katsuten seem to crack as the shell itself surrounding the weapon does, releasing light in every direction. The annihilation field surrounding Katsuten--the field that encompasses the entire city--seems to get heavier for a moment as Katsuten prepares for final release.

Even a naive man would question Seishirou's plan at this point. Was it his intention for everyone to die here, no matter what? Is that the 'sacrifice' of which his doctrine so highly speaks? The apparition, seemingly satisfied, is gone now, leaving the lot of you alone.

And then, Shiraha does the work she was designed to do.

The jutsus inscribed into the blade of the weapon unfold into a comprehensive technique circling the impact point of Shiraha, the electricity seeping from the wound being contained there, and no further. The rays of light curve and twist as they slowly recede from the city below, wrapping around in electric twists until they curve around the sphere of Katsuten and find their way into the arcane texts of Shiraha's seal, crawling up the blade, and becoming part of it.

Ibuki might be a little too close to tell--but others might not.

Shiraha is absorbing the blast. All of it.

In the end, Katsuten bursts like a dropped lightbulb, its shards shattering around its final core, the same thing that was at the heart of Suiryuu at the first Jinchuu tournament when it sank. It's scattering brass, steel, paper and fat thick chunks of wormwood in every direction in a blast of air and smoke that twists and guts the superstructure wide open, leaving what's left of the core just barely settled in a fragment of its cradle. The force is great--enough to throw people bodily from the framework, enough to send Shiraha tumbling into the city below if you don't hold onto it. But the weapon expended its energies.

And you are alive.

Mercifully alive.

As for the rest of the superstructure? Well, it's currently hemohrraging steel. The muted explosion was the last straw. The remaining pieces of the bridge and cradle are falling off at a rapid rate. The cables above don't look too stable, either. You probably only have a minute or so to figure out what to do next.

COMBATSYS: Katsuten takes no action.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           1/-----==/=======|


COMBATSYS: Katsuten can no longer fight.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           1/-----==/=======|


Madness. Absolute madness. Or insanity?

Yurika still doesn't know what she can label the events thus far as, but there are certainly a number of things she's thankful for, primarily Aranha taking the initiative; it was of course extremely well-timed, and the musician is freed of a regret she'd have had to deal with for the rest of her young life- There's little more she dislikes than making errors, after all, though there's less weight on her shoulders when they involve just herself.

Dealing with the vortex of course is astonishingly difficult in her current state, and yet somehow she manages to push herself forward, push her body well beyond its limits to keep her flexibility and wits even as her body is consistantly battered by debris large and small.

Once Ibuki makes her final strike, Yurika doesn't witness the moment right away, her vision blurred and focus going on and out, it isn't until the most brilliant of bursts that she realizes her partner had done the deed. "Good shot," she also mumbles, though her words may not have been heard over her reciever with the howling winds and crashing energies, but..

Now everything was falling apart, and the Kirishima heir was exhausted. she wasn't certain how much longer she could hold on, but she did, at least, have an escape plan, "Let's go!!" she cries out to Ibuki, getting a running start along what was left of the bridge and then she leapt.

Of course not to her suicidal doom; once she was certain she was clear of any debris coming tumbling down upon her, a quick shift of her fingers and and from her minature pack burst a stream of lengthy material, more than enough to serve as a glider. To bad of all things she didn't pack an advil.

Light and energy mix and clash before her eyes, it's like a cross between staring straight into the sun and the most brilliant display of fireworks imaginiable!

The vortex's power nearly put an end to their plans to stop the super weapon, things had become grim as the ninja teen found herself unable to proceed due the vortex's pull, luckily things worked out! Aranha's timely intervention saved them all, it was what allowed Ibuki to break free and make the final dead run to strike the heart of Katsuten, she'll have to thank him later once she finds out about his help.

As the brilliant display of the superweapon's death throes clears, Ibuki finds herself sailing upwards from the force of the blast, though her hand firmly grips the sword...while its power might be expended the jutsu built into it and its design might be useful for her clan, she had to return with something after all! Landing with a heavy thump on the remanants of the control center as Yurika yells out to her, the girl climbs to her feet, looks outward, smirks, and makes her way to the entrance as quickly as possible, "Right behind you partner!!" She yells.

Taking a deep breath and a short running leap she launches herself from Katsuten's bridge into a freefall towards the ground below, folding her body in such a way to slide away from the crumbling weapon before she grins and opens up the glider kite from it's hiding place to fly towards a safe looking land point, while her first had been ruined on her arrival her back up had been salvagable after crashing into the tree and now she was glad she'd taken the time to do so!

Taking a deep breath as she glides to safety, Ibuki looks down at the depowered Shiraha, "That...was one heck of an adventure!" She muses cheerfully before letting out a contented but tired sigh, "Glad it's over though..." And with that she goes quiet for a bit, enjoying the quiet of a now slightly more peaceful world.

Aranha's world becomes nothing but a flash of light the moment the ninkou beam collected the energy within the weapon and fired its payload of energy at the vortex. It takes a bit of time for his eyes to recover from the blinding light and then he returns to the view provided by the sensory ninkou.

It's in that moment that Aranha realizes that it is all up to Ibuki to finish it. Finish it she does in spectactular fashion.

The structure collapses and the ex-thief finds himself holding his breath as he watches to see how Yurika and Ibuki will make good their escape. It's only when he watches the two ninja gliding away does he allow himself a sigh of relief. Perhaps now that tragedy has been averted, trade of info might be in order. Question is now that Katsuten has been dealt with, can the sfiles system still be used.

He pulls out his cellphone and then tests the interface a bit just to see if it's still working.

As Ibuki and Yurika float away from the site of the deadly Katsuten, it begins to rain.

Possibly as a result of the energy discharges and the primal chi released by the massive chi structure when Shinseikasen dispelled it, the rain pours down from overhead, washing away the dirt and grime from the world. It cools the magma that is the street below, turning all to black. The iron, everything cools in a warm bale of heat that causes thermals to rise.

The heat is such that it buoys the sails of your gliders. From here, you can pretty much go anywhere in the city. Anywhere you want. Just fly there.

The moon peeks through gaps in the clouds. That crack of thunder seems to be the last. Those clouds seem normal now, no longer angry and sullen with pregnant energy, all seeming to be wiped away the moment Katsuten's energy was absorbed by Shiraha. The air seems to sparkle as it rains. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why until one realizes what exactly has happened. The crystalline roads that ran all over the Taizhou sky have shattered into miniscule points of light that fade slowly as they drift down to street level.

Even in this city, disheveled children come out to stare.

All over Taizhou, reports come in that ninkou are deactivating at a rapid rate--giant machines that can bend tanks in half and smell your blood from a mile away being rendered impotent statues in the most bloody part of the war. Even now, the Shinseikasen ninkou begins to power down as it uses up the last of the latent energy around it, one by one each complex display winking off, as the ofuda that orbit around it slowly lose their connection with the machine, and settle down to the ground, some even drifting off the side of the building and tumbling out into the free air.

As Aranha boots up his phone and accesses the SANCTUMnet feature, instead of the normal slick corporate-style animation, all he'll get is a blinking cursor for several moments.

Connecting to server...

Connection failed.

Use existing cache with offline client? (Y/n) _

Funny thing is..when he opens up his file browser, there is one new file:

[202. TRANSMISSION: This Is Not The End]

Aranha curses the moment he realizes he can't get through to the SANCTUMnet feature however he isn't surprised. After all, if Shinseikasen is dependent on Katsuten being live, it stands to reason that everything connected to it, the sanctum files, ninkou(which he hasn't seen the effects of... or at the very least he won't until he looks out the penthouse window), and a multitude of other things that Aranha probably doesn't even know about(damn the fact that he wasn't able to lift Wakamoto's cellphone before he received the Geese Howard treatment courtesy of Wing Bogard).

What does surprise him is the file he receives in spite of SANCTUMnet going down. He takes a moment to read it and then he bursts out laughing. It's a weird laughter that comes from his lips, a laughter born from a combination of amusement, of relief, of bitter disappointment, and anger. A type of laughter that confuses him because of the unusual mix of emotions touching him at this moment and time. He laughs to keep from crying, to keep from trying to smash something, and because for some odd reason, it's the only reaction to the new sfile that makes sense to him.

Goodness, what a trip.

Ibuki would have to forgive Yurika for not being in a talkative mood at this point, though then again she's likely used to it at this point. For the Kirishima heir there was little more for her at this point than desperatly needing to rest- She couldn't remember the last time she had been involved in something so massive and so taxing both physically and mentally.. And she'd been in a number of stressful situations. Though this wasn't exactly the end for her, there were still a couple of matters that she needed to attend to before returning to 'things as usual' at the desks of Seijyun. And of course there were questions that she'd likely never get the answer to- Though it didn't bother her much, if anything Kurenai may be able to provide some insight.

That aside her next destination? Most certainly someplace to rest for a while.

For her part, Ibuki too is tired. Yurika might actually find her a tad less bouncy and energetic at the moment. Then again, she's basically been blown up and mangled a bit today so perhaps her unusual quietness can be forgiven.

The ninja teen takes the vaunted blade now not much more than a normal sword and packs it away wrapping it up, it'd be the prize she'd give to her clan for something to show for her efforts on finding out what was going on here, along with a report on stopping the Katsuten from exploding. Shaking her head she looks up at the dark and rainy sky with a small grin underneath her mask.

She stretches and leans back against the wrapped and sheated blade as she presses it against a wall, for the moment Ibuki was going to enjoy the calm that settled over this place, her phone vibrates for a moment and she checks the message, she at first frowns then smirks and leans back again to rest some in the warm rainfall, "I'll worry about that later, I think for now...a nap sounds pretty good." Thus she props herself up on the outcropping she'd chosen and readies herself for some rest.

COMBATSYS: Yurika takes no action.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|
[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Yurika           1/-----==/=======|


COMBATSYS: Yurika has left the fight here.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|


COMBATSYS: Ibuki takes no action.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Ibuki            2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|


COMBATSYS: Ibuki has ended the fight here.

Log created on 23:46:44 07/13/2010 by Yurika, and last modified on 05:09:00 08/01/2010.