2062/Return of the Singing Girl

Return of the Singing Girl
Date of Scene:	20 April 2015
Location:	Lighter Forests
Synopsis:	A rescue mission, and an awkward reunion.
Cast of Characters:	Maya, 441, 481, Riva Banari, Reiji Arisu, 757

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Misha (757) has posed:
    As soon as that stray signal went out, everything was instantly on a timer. Wherever it came from, there are people in danger, and running out of air by the minute. The source of the signal can be traced to a small village at the edge of a forested area. From the looks of things, they're fixing themselves up after what appeared to have been some sort of attack, though the villagers look immensely worried.
    Anyone asking why will find out. Search parties haven't found so much as a shred of the children that ran into the nearby ruins in the forest, and are presumed lost within. The people are still searching, but need HELP when it comes to the more dangerous lower areas of the ruins.
    Time is of the essence and urgency runs high, as anyone willing is led a short distance into the woods, to the ancient remains of a crumbling stone temple.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    One of the first entries in the charter of the Shinra Organization is the defense of civilian lives. While their sphere of influence is ostensibly limited only to one specific iteration of the nation of Japan, there's little harm in reaching beyond when necessary.

The fact that children are involved makes it all the more urgent that someone- anyone- move to do what they must.

    Reiji Arisu travels through the woods and towards the ruins with a sense of urgency in his step. He moves restlessly, but surely, until finally arriving at the sprawling remains of what was surely an ancient settlement or structure or /something./ Really, there's going to be time to worry about historical accuracy.

    These could be the resting place of some terrible, ultimate evil or the lost city of Mu, for all he cares. There are lives at stake, and so forges ahead.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva was restless.

She wasn't inspired to paint, and the books and games weren't keeping her occupied. Even housework, exercise, and actually doing work wasn't helping. She was fidgeting, distractable, feeling something just hanging over her head, distracting her. She was full of energy and couldn't /expend it/.

And then the call came out. Emergency! Riva's eyes lit up and she immediately grabbed her stuff and headed out. If helping someone out wouldn't fix her slump, /nothing would/.

The call for adventure time went out on the band, Riva grabbing random people she remembered talking and being cool offhand. There was no rhyme or reason, planning is for /other/ people.

The trip to the village is uneventful for Riva, the urgency, the stress pressing on her. The adrenaline begins to rise already as they're led to the ruins.

This is it. This is what she needs to do. "All right, everyone! Let's go! There's good people trapped down there!" Riva doesn't even wait, taking the lead as she plunges into the ruins, heading deep and straining to find signs of the trapped people. "WE'RE HERE TO RESCUE YOU!" Riva yells. Maybe they'll respond?

Kirika (481) has posed:
    The lack of signs for children is already a bad sign, as Kirika arrives on foot, her nimble feet carrying her through the woods after a brief stop at the village tells her where to go and who to look for. The kitsune joins up with Reiji and Riva en-route, and she gives them a nod before they continue down the forest path.

    "Be on your guard, there is no knowing what lurks this night, what evil would resort to the harm of children." She warns, hand on her katana's hilt as she keeps a look out for tracks to follow and any scent that may prove useful to remember.

    While Riva's intent is admirable, her execution could use some work if that is the best she could come up with.

Maya has posed:
Maya had always had an urge to adventure when she had nothing take care of. With the children she'd help raised all moved out? Maya had taken to wandering more and more int he multiverse away from her home world. So here she was again a call for help and well? She's going to check this out. She's a bit behind Reiji as she moves through the woods, her strange rifle over her back as it almost always is. She lopoks at Riva she watches her dive on in and can't help but laugh a little. She moves after Riva commenting.

"You seem ready today, Riva and then some."

Maya seems to be now looking about the lack of children registers fully with her and she wonders /just/ what is going on?

"Humor aside, yes given that even the worst scum has issues about harming children? We're likely dealing with something vile."

Summer Powers (441) has posed:
     Summer heard the emergency call, and was planning to respond. But, the fact that Riva invited her to come along as well? Yeah, that makes Summer more certain that she'll help out in this mission.

     Summer flies into the scene. Though she isn't a mage, she made a throw away joke on the Syndicate network that she'd put on her robe and wizard hat. And, though it was a joke, she has come to the conclusion that it isn't the worst idea ever, and that she might as well. As such, she is wearing wizard robes and a hat. The robes seem to be made of leather and are more like a dress, and the hat is black leather with images of stars and crescent moons on it. In her right hand, she holds a plastic staff, that looks quite similar to Kyubey. Or more accurately, it's a mophandle that looks like Kyubey and can pass for being a staff.

     Since most people are talking to the villagers to find the location, Summer doesn't even need to bother stopping at the village. Instead, she just follows the other Elites as she flies from the sky, and heads to the ruins. She lands in front of them. And, as Riva starts walking in, Summer just casually walks in after. She tries to stay in the middle of the party. She is, in fact, the healer, after all.

     She's being fairly quiet right now. She's actually trying to focus. She has powers related to stealing Life, and with that comes some secondary functions. She can vaguely sense where Life is. And so, she's trying to sense into the ruins, looking for where the children might be.

Misha (757) has posed:
    The entrance to the ruins are crumbled and foreboding. A sense that nothing has lived here, for a very long time, leaving only signs of wild animals passing through, and a sombre chill in the air hinting at a silent and decaying desolation that has gone on for many untold years.
    The squad of footprints leading inwards in a jumble is the first and only clue that anyone's been this way, and they lead right into the main entrance in a chaotic pattern that indicates haste and mild panic. The next set of more bestial footprints, perhaps of some great cat of some kind, following directly after may indicate what caused it. The doors to the temple have long fallen away, leaving a yawning entryway into darkness, the light of the sun only seems to filter so far into the entry chamber before refusing to go any further, casting eerie shadows already amid the ancient carvings and sculptures that are reduced to be nearly indecipherable after ages of erosion and wear.
    The call is met with...
    "WE'RE HERE TO RESCUE YOU!"
    An echoe of Riva's voice calling right back at her.
    Though there are several paths, the footprints diverge, the human ones leading down a straight hall, while the feline set seems to have wandered into a different winding corridor.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Unless the kids are already not-so-long dead, Reiji's own supernatural senses are unlikely to be of much help in here. What he does have, though, is experience as a covert operative and special investigator. The footprints seem chaotic at first glance, but it quickly becomes obvious what exactly these kids were running from.

    Reiji makes a soft, curious sound as he kneels to get a better look at the divergant prints. "They split up. That's probably a good sign," he says to nobody in particular, before rising and turning down one corridor.

The smaller, more hurried prints progress in this direction. Arisu seems to have his priorities in order.

    "Vile? No. Looks more like it was wanting a quick meal." Reiji shakes his head, his pace accelerating somewhat. "This thing is probably still around," he says to the rest of the Elites. "And there's no telling how deep these corridors go. Stay sharp."

Fortunately, if anything /does/ show up, he's fully armed and kitted out. Nothing ruins a big cat's day like a shotgun to the face.

Summer Powers (441) has posed:
     Summer is honestly not usually super optimistic about things. Seeing that there are a couple sets of prints, and that the feline set goes off in a different direction, she's pondering several possibilities. The human footprints might lead to the kids. The feline, though... It might know the dungeon /better/ than the kids. Summer really has no clue, though. It's hard to tell. Still, there are a lot of people here, and so she just casually looks at the others, pointing down the alternate hallway with the feline prints.

     "I'm going to go this way. Just because, if this thing is hunting the kids, I'd rather take it by surprise instead of the other way around. You guys can feel free to go after the more likely human footprints."

     She pauses. Considering if she should tell them her worries that the cat might know a faster way to get to the kids. She chooses not to tell.

     And with that, she walks off in the direction of the feline footprints. She taps her staff on her hat a bit. The stars and moons on it? They light up, to give Summer some light. Yeah, she alchemized this hat for halloween one year, but hey, it at least has a practical purpose now!

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva gets an echo! "WAIT A MINUTE, I'M NOT THE ONE WHO- oh." She pauses, catching up to what's up in this thread. "That's kind of cool, though." Offhandedly, she calls out, "Marco!" And then tilts her head, probably getting an echo back.

In the meantime, she looks around at the room. Reiji seems to be working on leading the way towards the kids.

There is a pause as she does some calculations, mentally. Assuming that they locate the kids, dealing with the mosnter that attacked them might make retrieving them all a lot easier.

She bends down, fiddling with the prints as she follows the chaotic mess around, and looks at the split directions. "Okay!" She announces. "We're going to provide cover for you, Reiji. Whatever scared the kids is still out there, and for all we know it might be stalking them now. While you bust them out, Summer and I are going to look for the doom cat. I think it's a cat." She looks over to Summer. "Does this look cat to you?" She asks, but then she looks back and just takes point again, following catprints. Summer and whoever else is on team Monster Hunter will follow along, she's sure.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Reiji follows the footprint, lucky that they have remained still. She continues along with Reiji, moving with him as he begins to follow the childrens' tracks for now. Her sword is drawn from its sheath, and Kinugiri lets off an aura of frost as the kitsune narrows her eyes, her hands beginning to coat themselves in frost as well as the blade itself.

    "I have your back." She reassures the Shinra agent, her eyes alert and adjusting to the darkness while she advances down the corridor, blade at the ready.

    Her sense of smell is also going still, as she keeps a nostril out as well as eyes, so to speak.

Maya has posed:
Maya is now attempting to keep alert as she's able to do. There's something that has cone after children here and she's on edge no her rifle is not pulled yuet, but she's looking to the human footprinta and a feline set? She takes a moment to look over the tracks. She looks to Summer for a moment nodding to the Goddess from Afterus for a moment.

"I don't like it but your right we'll need to spilit up on this. Good hunting Riva, I'll keep in touch over the radio."

With that she settles on following after the hunan tracks.

"We'll see then Reiji, hopefully your correct then."

She unshoulders her rifle now and falls in with Reiji and Kirika.

Misha (757) has posed:
    "MARCO!"
    Right back at Riva, it's a clear echo that says the temple's accoustics must be amazing, despite the condition it's in. Nevertheless as the team splits up in search of the children and whatever hungry predator must be after them, people are going to have to provide their own lights.
    The sunlight from beyond leaves the inner temple in little more than a gloomy haze of darkness, and recently disturbed dust.

    For those who follow the human footprints, the path is straight, but it narrows down to a point- which mprobably explains why the big cat didn't follow, as soon enough Reiji is probably going to end up having to squeeze himself through some tight spots where ceilings and walls partially collapsed. Nevertheless, it leads into another chamber, which looks to be more ceremonial in nature than the entrance. An old stone altar is in place, a single beam of sunlight filtering through a crack in the roof upon it, the footprints seem to end at the face of a solid wall.

    To follow the cat prints, the path remains wide and un-collapsed, though old and dark discolorations on the floor in splotches and splatters that says whatever came this way is definitely a predatory beast. Though whatever the thing is, doesn't seem to be present for the moment, the path leads to a smaller, circular chamber, before swerving to a new direction wholly. There is a pile of bones present. Old and bleached. ... And visibly gnawed. Various animal parts can be made out, but a human thighbone stands out drastically among them.

    From somewhere deeper in the temple there is a loud CLICK. ... and a rumble.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva can appreciate amazing acoustics, but this isn't her first idea of a place to enjoy a nice opera.

Though maybe with some renovations and de-monsterification... "Wish we had a better situation, I'd love playing around in here. Maybe try singing some songs. The place practically makes a chorus for you."

The grim path Riva and Summer follow causes Riva to frown more every step. She grimaces once they reach the inevitable discard pile. She bends down to investigate the grisly sight. Perhaps there might be more indications of who's leg bone that was. Summer will have her back, she's sure.

It's when that click is heard, and the rumble begins, that Riva pulls the large, two-handed mace from her back. A gift from Faruja, the weapon is shaped like the Ajoran Cross.

It looks like of like a primitive boat anchor, really. She looks up and around warily, in case that's a sign that they're about to be attacked.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    "Yeah," Reiji says to the other group, "You guys be careful. Yell if anything's gone wrong." Though he sort of doubts they'll be able to make it through the mazelike corridors in time, if the situation becomes that dire. He doesn't say that, though. No use being negative now.

He nods to Kirika and Maya as they follow behind him. "Stay frosty. Keep your eyes out for anything that looks suspicious."

    It isn't long before the ruinous nature of the temple becomes something of an obstacle. It's times like these when having a fire-aspected sword comes in handy. As the light begins to dwindle, Reiji reaches over his chest for the weapon-rack in his offhand. Karin comes noiselessly away from its sheath- right up until its blade bursts into flame, casting a warm glow upon the ruined corridors.

And then they come up to... A ruined corridor.

Hm.

    Of course. If children did escape a colossal hunting-beast, then creeping through bits of collapsed wall and ceiling would definitely do the trick. Reiji makes a face and sheathes Karin for now, squeezing himself as best he can through the tight, claustrophobic crevasses. He's just big enough to make getting through extra difficult, though, and the last push results in a spray of rubble coming away with him.

Fortunately, the ceiling doesn't collapse as a result.

    The room they come into is... Actually rather beautiful. Reiji voices a quiet, reverant note, before abruptly unsheathing Karin again. There may be a shaft of light in the center of the room, but a torch is useful when you're following footprints.

...Except they lead right up to a wall.

    "Tch," Reiji squints, kneeling down to get a better look at the point where the floor meets the wall. If the footprints end here, then... He presses an ear to the thing, and raps his fist solidly against its face. "This may not be a wall," he says to his two companions. "See if you can find anything--"

*CLICK* Reiji blinks. The ground beneath his feet rumbles, echoes carrying through the ruin. "...Keep alert. Something's doing something out there."

Summer Powers (441) has posed:
     Summer responded about whether ot not she thinks it is a cat to Riva, over the Syndicate channels. In what is probably not a big surprise, at all, she confirmed that yes, she thinks it's a cat. As they reach the room with the bones, though? Summmer looks through the pile for a brief moment, kneeling down next to Riva. She also takes a glance up at the ceiling on occasion. She doesn't want to be surprised by a ceiling cat, lurking and watching. Hell, there have to be cats out there who can climb the ceiling.

     And suddenly Summer recites a short Haiku.

     "White, clean, and chewed on."
     "A human bone is right here."
     "May they rest in piece."

     And, suddenly the human bone dissapears into Summer's inventory. Yep, Haiku Modus. She's rather casual about this human bone thing, but it comes with being a Rogue of Life, one who steals Life from others. She's used to death now. And, no point worrying. Might as well see if they can figure out who the bone belongs to, or possibly give a proper burial later down the line.

     She stands, and speaks. She smiles at Riva, while playing with her own blonde hair a little bit, twirling her noble curls with her finger.

     "Stay calm. They might have pulled a lever somewhere. These sort of dungeons have various switches and what not. It /could/ be a trap, but best not to worry too much." Summer has been doing this whole dungeon crawl thing for ages. She calmly smiles, and looks down a bit. Looking for loose tiles, string triggers, stuff like that.

     And, she'll keep moving forward, "No point staying here, though. If it /is/ a trap, we might just have to walk blindly into it. ...Don't worry, if you get hurt I can fix you."

Kirika (481) has posed:
    *CLICK*

    Whatever that was, that doesn't sound good at all. Kirika narrows her eyes, and the kitsune relunctantly lets out a low, horrified sound as she notices the remains of /somebody/ at her feet. She breathes in deep, giving a sniff here and there.

    She smells the scents of lion musk, her nostrils soon filling with sweat and fear soon after. "Tch."

    She switches from ice to fire, her blade illuminating the corridor like a torch as she places her hand against the wall, feeling for seams with which she can find whether or not this is indeed a doorway of some sort.

Maya has posed:
Maya is keeping on the path now and soon she's going to find herseld havein to squeeze a bit her self to keep up with Reiji. She does seem to be curious as they now enter a place that seems to be a temple or relgious site of some sort, a very old one. She takes a moment to look about and notes to Reiji.

"Right, and humm."

She's going to pull a card from one pocket, keeping her rifle off handed for the moment and focuses upn reaching out with the scan spell to sense what might be near by or sources of magic at least as her world and experiance in the multiverse might understand it as such.

Misha (757) has posed:
    It's actually very wise to look up, and Summer will find herself perfectly safe from that angle when she does. But one would be surprised how many people fail to glance upwards when in a dark and ancient dungeon, and the tragedies that can befall them because they didn't. Nevertheless, she acquires the legbone in a moment of verbal artistry. Femurs make good clubs, and if Summer happens to be proficient in BONEKIND then this one would make a good one. Or maybe there's someone back in town that might be looking for the last remnants of a relative. Either way, perhaps Riva drawing her mace might be a good idea, because the sidepath echoes menacingly with a much more bestial rumble.

    Knocking on the wall results in a hollow sound, and immediately earns the muffled whimpering of panic from behind it. But then there's another CLICK, louder and more resonant, as though from behind the wall itseld before it suddenly shoots upwards into the ceiling with a grind of stone against stone. And in an instant, Reiji, Maya, and Kirika are beset by panicked children screaming and running every this way and that way around the room. Save for one girl. Clearly not a local, considering the fine, albeit now ruin-worn black dress, and high heels- it's a very mature look, despite the fact she doesn't look much older than the others around her. For a second she looks absolutely surprised, still holding a very bent hair-pin in her fingers. "... Oh hey I got it."

    This is when all chaos breaks out, as baleful red eyes glow in the darkness, staring with a pointed hunger at Riva and Summer.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika stares at the children, and despite being armed to the death and her red eyes, she does the unthinkable.

    She sheathes her sword, smiles brightly as she can, and whistles loud enough to get everyone's attention before she rifles through her pack.

    "If you all calmly follow us all out of this cave and back home, I will ensure that all of you get..." Cue the dramatic reveal.

    Kirika gives the children all a peak at the biggest goddamn chunks of chocolate you can imagine, 2 pounds worth each inside of that bag of holding. Each chunk would be enough to last them for weeks, give or take.

    And she is still grinning sweetly.

Riva Banari has posed:
The rumble was less worrying than the OMINOUS RED EYES. Riva is totally on point now, holding the mace in a defensive position as she gets in front of Summer and prepares to engage TANKU MODO.

This seems to be familiar, for some reason. "You're not getting past us!" Riva declares. Anima flows from her into the mace, circuit-like patterns humming red-gold as the weapon is infused with her power... And then shr suddenly whips the mace up into the air and slams it into the ground, creating a short blastwave that rushes towards the beast!

This is a great plan which will most assuredly not potentially turn her into the thing's next meal.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Aha! So it was a hollow wall after all! Fortunately, the kids are ingenious enough to actvate whatever mechanism opens and shuts the door. Reiji backs off as the barrier comes away, revealing /so many children./

TOO MANY CHILDREN.

    "Hey- hey, calm down. We'll get you all home safe, just--" Kirika has chocolate. Well, that solves that. Reiji sighs, rubbing a couple of fingers to his temple as news comes in that the monster- whatever it is- has made its appearance. "Alright. If nobody's hurt, let's get a move on and--"

Pause.

That girl there seems to have just raided her mother's closet, or something.

"...We're going to be moving pretty fast," Reiji says, pointing at Misha's feet. "You might want to leave those behind. Or I could carry you. Either way."

Summer Powers (441) has posed:
     Summer looks at the pair of red eyes. She pauses. And she considers. She is going to try two plans, quickly. She clears her throat, speaking a little bit. Two Haiku are said at the beast.

     "Red Eyes in the Dark."
     "Into my inventory."
     "Can I pick you up?"

     This first attempt is almost certainly unlikely to work. The goal is to try and take the creature in the darkness, and add it to her Sylladex Invetory, sealing it in a strange subdimensional space with her other items, as a sylladex card. She /can/ captchalogue some living beings, but this is still not a given.

     The second attempt is more sensical, at least. For a given level of sensical.

     "Fruit made of human."
     "Pulsating with its own blood."
     "Feed the Hungry Beast."

     And with this, an item is ejected. It looks strange, almost like a fruit. Except, if one looks at it closely, it looks like a ball of flesh. It pulsates on occaison as it flies through the air. It's a result of Summer screwing with Alchemy. A Flesh Fruit, a grapefruit sized piece of living human flesh.

     Of course Riva might just scare this thing where it /won't/ work, but who knows. Summer is certain she can take the creature out if neither plan works.

Maya has posed:
Maya would find for a moment something seems to be happening. She hears the slick and she loojks about for a second befoer she's swarmed by little kids and she's now seeking to calm the little ones down.

"Easy, we'll get you all home, is anyone hurt? I can help"

She looks over the children now klooks at the one who seems to be the leader of them. Or maya is pegging her at least at the calmest one.

"Reiji is rught we need to depart with all due haste."

Misha (757) has posed:
    Already the dark-haired girl is picking herself up and dusting off her knees and dress with a heavy sigh. "Yeah, good luck getting them organized. They're fine, just panicked. ... You're welcome by the way." Muttered dryly as the kids come spilling out. There are about six or seven, herself not included, and the panic seems to die down when their apparent pursuer doesn't seem to be tearing them to shreds, they calm down marginally enough to stop running around screaming. It's not entirely due to the temptations of chocolate, most of them looking at the brick in Kirika's hand, but that DOES help. But being told to discard her footwear earns a mildly irritated moue of the girl's lips. "I don't think any of us could outrun that thing anyway; we only got lucky finding the hidden--"

    Whatever it is in the darkness is approaching, a slow pacing advance that leaves it in shadows. The suddden metaphysical TUG of haiku-based inventory systems actually YANKS it forward with a snarl, but it manages to barely evade a ballsy move on Summer's part. Though it seems instantly attracted to the FLesh Fruit, snapping it up in its jaws, it does not EAT it, but flings it much further down the path behind itself for some reason. It's HUGE. The face of a monkey, body of a gigantic raccoon, and the legs and claws of a tiger, and tail of a snake, the Nue rears up and ROARS at Riva, who has snatched its attention as it tries to barrel into her with all its weight and flashing claws. If she's not fast enough it will plow through her-- and the wall behind her.

    This is when the wall in the other chamber explodes outwards, reconnecting both groups by virtue of demolition as it emerges behind the girl.
    "--door. It's right behind me. Isn't it."
    Yes well in an instant she is skittering behind REIJI.

Summer Powers (441) has posed:
     As the Nue attacks Riva? Summer just steps out of the way. Or more of, casually floats out of hte way for a second. She figures that Riva can handle its attack. Plus, Riva /did/ attack it first. This also gives Summer time to prepare a bit. She holds her Kyubey Staff up with both hands, and keeps her eyes on the Nue.

     As the dust settles from the wall's destruction, Summer narrows her eyes. She can see the other figures, and frowns. That's them, isn't it. This is bad. She lets out a bit of an annoyed groan. This is why she was hoping that the kids were down the other path. She didn't want the kids to meet the creature. Still, though. Summer is going to do absolutely everything she can to stop this beast.

     And the first order of business is making sure the entire party is more powerful.

     She lifts staff up into the air. There is a sudden burst of power coming from Summer. Honestly, she doesn't even /need/ the staff anymore, to focus her powers. It's just habit at this point. From the top of the staff, a number of vine-shaped bits of energy appear. They are a soft natural green color, and seem to be simply pure Life. The vines move forward, curling through the air at times. Each one goes for one of her allies. As they are pumped full of Life, they will find themselves powerd up by an incredible amount, as the power of their own Life is bolstered. She trusts in her allies. This boost to their strength, speed, and basically everything about them should let them put a fast end to this battle. She /hopes/.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Just as sudden as she switched tunes to being sweet as sugar, Kirika's back to being a cold-blooded killer once again. Her sword blazes with holy fire as she draws it, murdero n her mind as she glares at the Nue. "Come, foul monster! I will send you straight to Hell with cleansing flame!" She barks, before she aggressively lunges into combat range.

    Summer's spells more or less speed her already considerable abilities up, and she sprints towards the Nue with Kinugiri in hand.

    Leaping with a teleport, she reforms right in front of the beast, slashing downwards upon its side before following it up with additional blows.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva was tanking, not dodging. She didn't expect a Nue, and she sure didn't expect it to just BULLDOZE forward. With a yell, Riva gets run the hell over, plowed into the wall and through it.

As the Nue roars in rage, Riva just sort of falls to the floor, groaning as she staggers back to her feet. It's amazing she wasn't pulverized, but boy was her bell rung. She grunts, wavering until Summer fills her with Life. Her head clears, her grip becomes stronger..

And more importantly, she's not seeing triple. One Nue is bad enough. "Yean." She answers Misha. "Yeah it is. Any suggestions?" Riva doesn't even wait though, immediately hurling herself at the huge beast, lunging forward and slamming the mace forward. She hooks one end of the anchor-shaped mace around the Nue's massive arm, spinning around it to try to grip onto its back, Immediately she releases the arm, trying to slam the mace to the side to hook up under the Nue's gorilla neck and yank backward.

God, who knew that the Ajoran holy symbol would be so useful at hooking into and strangling things? She'll have to thank Faruja later.

In the meantime, however, she hauls backwards and tries to put her weight such that it bears down on the Nue's lower back while the hauls backwards, trying to make it expose itself while she attempts to choke it out.

This will last precisely as long as it takes to think of useing the snake tail or just smashing its back into something.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    A crash. Stone crumbles, dust billows. Reiji grunts, lifting his sword-hand to shield his eyes as the wall dissolves into so much rubble. As the dust settles- and as Misha retreats into his shadow for cover- Reiji turns his eyes up... and up.

And in the firelight, he sees it. A beast with the face of a babboon and the body of a raccoon, the limbs of a tiger, the tail of a snake. That...

That. That sure is a Nue.

Well, that would explain the cat-prints.

    "Shit, you guys weren't kidding," Reiji mutters quietly. In the legends, the Nue comes with a dark cloud. It was slain by Yorimasa's deadly arrows. Too bad the Arisu switched to gunpowder the moment it became viable.

Well. Hollywood will do just fine.

    "Stay back!" Reiji roars to the children- and to Misha by extension. His eyes briefly tense as he sees /glowing energy vines/ rushing towards him-- but the radio relieves his worry. Magic washes over him. He feels... Lighter.

Good. He'll need it.

    "Fan out and surround it. Keep as much distance as possible and hamstring its legs when you can!" Reiji orders. He promptly proceeds to ignore his own advice and rushes straight at the massive beast. If he knew there was a Nue here, he'd have been prepared with a proper weapon, but...

    Karin is sheathed. Hollywood comes away from its holster with a soft click. Clouds of shrapnel, expanding with more force and far greater density than they aught to, blossom amidst the thunderous rapport of Hollywood's barrel. Wood essence mixes with the living energies of Summer's magic, feeding upon the power she provides. As Hollywood fires, the fletchettes roaring out of its barrel begin burning a rich, blue-green. They seem to multiply, doubling, then tripling in number as Reiji tries to turn the Nue into Swiss Cheese.

Maya has posed:
Maya looks Misha over for a moment she snods and she says "I know."

Maya has a lot of experianced with kids and is going to do hr best to keep them calm and bring them along. She'll carry if she has to as well. Maya's not at all a hardasas about the kids either. However as they are moving there's something as a wall blows out and Maya's now moving to start casting barrier spells upon all of the children, there are severl fighters here of high skill. She's better suited int his cae to potect the children. Maya attemps to do what she cna to calm them, she know it won't be much but she tells them to keep behind her.

Misha (757) has posed:
    That is, indeed, a Nue. And it seems HIGHLY AGGRESSIVE. As soon as it's smashed out the wall and Misha is behind Reiji, it nearly goes wild. Claws swipe at everything in sight, and just the mere sight of it sends the children edging for the path they came from, as Maya's protective spells wash over them. Though the girl in black doesn't budge.
    Snapping jaws go right for Reiji, but the hook-shaped mace going around its neck, with Riva HAULING on it keeps it from getting in range. It howls with fury, baying cries somewhere between a monkey and a tiger as Kirika's sword deals out punishing strokes. Its hide is tough, and that might be the only thing that allows it to withstand the first wave of the initial assault, between that blade, and Hollywood is drawn, the lifey-thing infused fletchettes pump into its thick skin.
    "HEY! Get back here and cover me!"
    That... Was the girl. and she does not seem happy Reiji just bolted right into the melee. The reason why might become apparent a moment later. Because she draws a breath. The accoustics of the temple are amazing, and that might be why her voice seems to come from every corner of the chamber as she starts to sing. Lyrical, melodic, words in a language that actually DOESN'T translate. ... Not the standard way. Instead, Hymmnos seems to translate into pure raw emotion and power, a chanting song of urgency building in pace and tempo, that makes the very air itself seem to tremble with abuilding power.
    Like a snap, a sudden new wash of energy fills the room, the tangy ionizing smell of electricity in the air as a ball of lightning actually seems to form over her head before zapping out and jolting the thing like a massive taser, stunning it briefly.

Summer Powers (441) has posed:
     Summer is having a bit of a dreadful feeling. She has voiced her worry: This thing might be the mother or father of cubs. Probably mother. It might have a mate around. But, seeing that another creature isn't rushing them this very instant? Yeah. That's a sign this is a single parent. Perhaps their mating habits are not 'mate for life'? Still, though, as this creature is attacked, in its /own home/, Summer can't really help but be overcome by guilt.

     The creature isn't doing well. It's beeing attacked, and also electricuted by the music. It's stunned. And so, Summer floats into the air. Focusing doesn't really help with her adding something to her Sylladex. The fact it is weakened /might/ help with that, but she's not entirely certain. Still, though. She almost succeded the first time. She has to try again.

     "Battered and Broken."
     "The fierce beast protects its nest."
     "Let me bring you peace."

     And Summer stands there, eyes locked on the creature. Her breath slow and calm. A smile on her face. She tries to pull it into her Sylladex, once again.

     She whispers to herself, "...Please let this work."

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Growling, Kirika seems to be undaunted by her lack of effect on the nue's hide. She roars out in anger again, slashing deep into the beast's hide with her holy sword as she tries to burn through its skin.

    As she tries to avoid getting hit in return, she flings out a ball of ice at the beast, trying to slow it down before she goes to leap with her sword raised.

    She's aiming for the neck, and it doesn't take a genius to tell what she has in mind with a sword as sharp and powerful as hers.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Nobody ever said killing a Nue would be easy. Even dead, if not properly buried, its enmity can persist long after its body has been rendered inert. Reiji hisses a curse of his own, ducking under the Nue's gnashing teeth as Riva cranks back on the thing's head. It gives him the opening he needs draw Karin and rake its fiery blade across the thing's underside, but damn if it's not tough.

They'll need something bigger than swords and guns to--

Wait, someone's calling.

    Reiji leaps out of the creature's thrashing-range, lunging backwards to stop just in front of Misha-- and just under the crackling ball of magic forming overhead. The scent of ozone fills the air, just as her song resounds through the halls.

    "Should have known that something like this would happen," Reiji chides himself. He's been around long enough to know that Strange Little Girls are hiding mysterious and terrible power at least two out of every five times. Karin is set back into its sheath. Reiji draws Gold to replace it.

    "Just keep doing what you're doing," he says, positioning himself defensively between the girl and the beast. Gold roars twice as it fires, twin bolts of enchanted metal catching some of the lingering lightning. Electricity arcs across their surface as the magic imbued in the slugs feeds on what they interpret to be 'elemental earth,' their already enhanced penetrating power increasing even further.

Somhow, despite being not-at-all-earthy, lightning still counts.

Reiji's elemental wheel is weird, okay?

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva, meanwhile, is just trying to maintain her place as the Nue lashes out. She is whipped back and forth, her augmented strength working to keep the thing under control as she functionally tries to get the eponymous 8 seconds on the beast's back. More than once, she almost loses her grip, especially as she shrings back to use the Nue as a cover against getting winged by some of those incoming attacks.

What's even more surprising is the song. Riva looks up in wonder as she hears the pure tones, getting distracted as she tries to instinctively understand the words like so many things in the Multiverse, and failing. "Wha-"

And then the electricity blasts outwards, Riva yelping as she prepares to get zorched too... But doesn't! MAGIC, BABY.

She peeks over the Nue's shoulder, and smiles to Misha, waving. "THAT WAS AWESOME!" Oh wait, hands. With a sudden move, she clamps back down on the handle of the mace, trying to keep up the pressure.

Maya has posed:
Maya is keeping the kids safe for the moment she gets how scared they re, heck she's fairly concenred too she';s niot seen anything quite like this thing so she keeps back and is keeping the barriers up while the others do their thing she'll keep the best back from teh children and she hopefully going to not hae to do it for much longer as everyone else lays into the creature.

Misha (757) has posed:
    Strong and durable the beast may be, it is outnumbered- by people who can actually put up a fight against it, not just frightened children. Which means the chimera is in for a fight that it can't WIN. But where most animals would be running off by now, it REMAINS, as if viciously willing to fight to the last breath to kill these invaders in the temple.
    Being stunned by the shock however leaves it fairly open to the next round of assault.
    "No time for applause now, focus on the thing!" Misha chirps. She does, in fact resume singing, the temperature of the very room seeming to drop in a sudden plunging chill, in the beginnings of a new song. It won't affect the others aside from being inconvenient, but the cold seems to slow the beast down, making its reactions sluggish and difficult for it to fend off the others.
    It manages to twist aside, Kirika's slash taking it across the shoulder with a roar of pain, magical slugs punching it in the gut, its balance is thrown off with Riva still clinging onto it- it topples over. THIS time it can't dig its claws into the flooring in time, it starts scrabbling wildly for purchase with a horrid screech of dismay as it is pulled upon by the power of prose and starts sailing through the air at Summer-- and disappears into her inventory.
    "Fwah..." A little thump and Misha falls to her knees. "Geeze, all I wanted was a place to spend the night and I got this." Complaining aside she looks to the gathered. "Well I guess you guys coming along was a lucky break at least."

    For the record, the Nue cubs in the other path... Are all alive, healthy, rambunctious. ... And chowing on Flesh Fruit.

Summer Powers (441) has posed:
     With the Nue safely in Summer's inventory, she lets out a sigh of relief. She turns to Misha, smiling and bowing a little. "So, Misha. Nice to meet you. I'm Summer Powers. Psyber identified you for me. He's happy to hear you're safe and around."

     She turns to the group as a whole, smiling still, "Now, pardon me for a second."

     She turns around to go down the hallway where the Flesh Fruit was tossed. She spots the baby Nue chewing on it. And calmly, she lifts her left hand, her staff still held in her right. They're preoccupied with their food, at the moment. So this should work a bit more easily, especially seeing these are babies.

     "A bunch of babies."
     "Happily munching on fruit."
     "Join their parent soon."

     And, most likely, the baby Nue will be in her inventory. She sighs, relaxing a bit, and turning to the others.

     "Sorry, know it's a bit of a risk to try and relocate these things, /buut/. Hey, I have to try."

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    With a terrible, gutwrenching screech the Nue is swallowed up into Summer's ravenous inventory, there to be safely stored until it can be properly dealt with. Reiji pauses for a brief moment as he waits for the other shoe to drop. It... doesn't. Good! Good.

Very good.

    Gold is set back into its holster, its safety clicked back on. Good trigger discipline is very important, after all! He glances over his shoulder at Misha, now having sunk to her knees. "You alright?" Reiji asks, extending a hand to help her up. "That was some pretty flashy magic, there. Took a lot out of you, huh?"

    He looks towards the other children, then, doing a quick headcount. "We recieved a distress call. It's a good thing someone at the radio was paying attention. The name's Reiji, by the way. I work with--" he jabs his thumb at summer, "That guy. Psyber. Seems like the two of you're acquainted."

    Reiji peers over toward Summer- and to the Nue cubs. His lips curve into a slight frown. "Well. There are a couple of places I have in mind, if you want to try. Gensokyo, for one. Shinra can probably handle a couple, but... Nue are pretty dangerous, you know? Most youkai eat people."

Maya has posed:
Maya is now not so heavily focused on keeping well the kids safe as things seem to be over at this point. She notices thigns have worked out and it's not something like she expected. Her world had some very vicous natural predatorst that were insect base and has somewhat biased her views on such things. Still with it worked out and hte kids safe May calms down now and she pauses to look over Misha.

"...! Hello Misha it's been quite some time."

She looks over to Reiji nodding a bit.

"It seems you were right Reiji."

She now relaxes further but seems to be tending to the kids.

"I can't hold it against you Summer, if Reiji's got an idea? It should be worth a shot."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva holds on for dear life, but the Nue was outmatched. They really don't expect a roving horde of wandering adventurers to show up.

Riva will be very proud of herself as she lies there on the floor, having been promptly smashed into the ground when the Nue toppled over. Nevertheless, the beast is sucked into the Sylladex, sparing its life, as well as that of the beast's kids.

Riva wasn't really going to debate the finer points of survival of the fittest, but hey, optimal outcome for the win. Riva sits up again, rubbing the back of her head. "One of these days I'm going to scramble something." She mutters, before standing up and dusting herself off. The mace gets sluck back over her back, and Riva heads over to Misha, grinning. "So yeah! Hi! Welcome... back!" She says. "Apparently you've been a part of the Union before, but we didn't meet. Riva Banari, nice to meet you!" She holds out a hand for a moment, and then just shrugs and gives Misha a big hug. "I'm glad you and the kids are safe." She says, letting her go again. "Go ahead and rest up a bit..." She looks around. "And let's get the kids back home. After that, um... Well, we'll figure that out when we get there."

QUEEN OF PLANS, YO.

Misha (757) has posed:
    "That?" Misha asks, wiping her brow. "THAT was nothing, I could do that all day. It's just been a little while since I've had to, is all." She is shaking, though she doesn't LOOK scared; nor sound it, it's no doubt just nerves brought on from all the adrenaline, and after a few breaths she starts to pick herself up again.
    The Nue- and by extenstion, its cubs, end up tucked away in Summer's Sylladex safely, licking its wounds, it'll recover from this beating after some time and will be ready to dump out in any new environment she pleases. But Misha perks. "Huh? Psyber? Yeah, I know him." She ocnfirms, pausing to stretch arms over her head. In the chaos and darkness, she was a little busy. But a littlt squint of green eyes and recognition dawns on her. "Oh, Maya. It's been a while, yea-"
    The hug cuts her off, Riva's exuberance throwing her off her groove for a moment, until she's released, and clears her throat. "Mhm. That's right. I was with the Union- still kind of am, I just sort of uh. Wandered off."
    Yep.
    Other than some minor scratches and a scraped knee, the children are fine, and extremely thankful for not being eaten.

Summer Powers (441) has posed:
     Summer pauses, looking at the kids. She'd heal them, but they're fine. She would captchalogue them, but they can get home more easily now. And instead, she just smiles, kneeling before them.

     "You kids be safe when you get home, alright?"

     She stands up tall, looking at the group. Smiling. "Well. Misha, it's nice to meet you. The others who I have met in person for the first time today? A pleasure to meet you all as well. Should another situation come up, feel free to call me."

     She pauses, though, waiting for Riva to stop hugging Misha. Because once she does, Summer is going to give Riva a hug goodbye, before leaving.

     Yeah, Summer gained immmortality at age 19, and is millions of years old, but she'll always be huggy like a teenaged high school girl.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    "Magic seems to be like any other muscle. Let it sit for too long and it takes some work to get it back up again." Reiji shrugs- he's not actually sure if that logic even applies to this situation. In either case, it seems like the girl is fine. She's certainly holding up well to spontaneous hugs. The kids all seem to be fine, too, if a little battered and bruised, and probably imbued with a deep and abiding fear of at least four different animals.

At least they'll have stories to tell, right?

    Summer seems to be departing. The exorcist inclines his head in farewell, "Yeah. Good to meet you too. Nice work out there." Reiji reaches a hand back to massage his neck, then looks back down toward Misha, "You said you were trying to find somewhere to sleep, right? Pretty sure Psyber's got plenty of room at the tower, if you need to rest."

Riva Banari has posed:
RIVA IS EXUBERANCE, YES. This is probably a tell why she gets along with some other people so well. She grins, and begins running over to round up the kids, nattering at them. "Hey kids! Let's all gather up now! Everyone's going to be safe! Let's give them all a cheer! YAAAAAY!" She throws up her hands, giving the team a cheer! "Now, let's all stay together and all get back to the village! We want to make sure everyone's going to be safe now, okay?" She can keep up with the kids, she'll cheat with Anima-boosted speed if she has to.

"So, how about a motion to resume this awesome reunion back in the village, all right? I'd like to catch up when we might not get a double decker vanilla gorilla dropping on our heads."

Summer gives her a hug too! Riva chuckles and hugs back, because much like Crowraven, Riva is probably going to be huggy forever.

Maya has posed:
Maya gets Misha wandered off at this point, heck Maya's wandered off for months at a time her self so she knows how that goes. Once the kids seem to be all right she also finds Summers' got the healing handled too. She gives the goddess a bit of a nod and will help the children if the need it. It seems they are all right and the kids are mostly all right if they need help. She falls in with Riva and the kids and seems legitimately happy and she might even start winging a bit as they go.