soul_logs | Phase 3: Mission 153

Characters: Grand Canyon mission goers, victims, medics
Location: Grand Canyon
Rating: R
Time: Feb 5, 2009, mission starts at dawn
Description: Event links list.

The scouts had done their jobs well and the mirror deposits its travelers just at the end of the area Shibusen has closed off as their mission target. It's still dawn, the sun barely visible over the horizon. The witches hasn't noticed them there yet, the scouts say, so it's still possible to take them by surprise.

This is what the agents are told: In the rock face of the Grand Canyon is a cavern system made up of many small caves and three large ones. The large caves contain a kishin egg pit, the kidnapped agents and civilians, and what appears to be a machine at one end. There are about five dozen zombies crawling the area, and an equal number of ants, spiders, and ravens on top of it.

Worst of all, the scouts report that they had sighted a few of the agents patrolling for the Witches. The scouts hadn't been certain if these ones had soul perception or other abilities, and had given the area as much space as they could in order to avoid an early confrontation. Still, it's bad news and it looks like a fight with some of the kidnappees themselves is inevitable.

Not much time is given to the agents after the briefing before they're being ushered into place. A few scouts are going to be causing a commotion some distance away to distract the familiars and zombies, clearing a path for the agents. After that, it's all up to them.

[ooc: Just put up your own threads with the subject line [Characters][Feeding Cave/MMM Cave/Kishin Egg Pit/Elsewhere][Open/Close]
Kidnappees can go thread in the caves while waiting for the rescuers, too.
For those who want to thread with a witch, please add it in the subject line so we know where to go!
This day change will be one week irl.
The mirror will stay open for anyone who needs to be rushed back to the medics.
For those handwaving, please put your summaries here for the meister points and soul tally record.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Of course. I have little means to defend myself and I'm fairly certain it would be cumbersome for your partner to wield us both at once," Light nodded in resolve, walking along and allowing his gaze to sweep the area -- as if in search for L.

"I apologize. I feel as though we're little more than dead weight to you both."

"Don't worry about it," Bakura assured with a faint smile, keeping his own eyes busy scanning every corner his friend might be hiding in. "I was just as bad my first mission. I wound up being pushed down the stairs and had to be rescued," he admitted sheepishly. "And that wasn't even anything as serious as this mission! For you two... something like this isn't anything you could be expected to manage on your own."

"Something like this is something we shouldn't even have been taking part of. He's so stubborn, to a point of getting in over his head," irritation was evident in Light's voice as he rubbed the back of his neck -- as though attempting to smooth away some tension. But he calmed himself after a few moments, enough to question Bakura's previous statement. "Was this first mission you went on one with Vash? Or was it with someone else? Mainly what I'm asking is -- have you only had one partner or have you allowed others to make use of you during your stay?"

"I guess even Ryuzaki-kun has people that he'd risk himself for," Bakura pointed out with a bit of a smile. Honestly, despite it being a pretty stupid move, he actually thought a little better of his friend for it. He wouldn't have thought Ryuzaki the type to care a thing about anyone other than himself...

"And no, it was with Leo," he smiled. "You aren't limited to just one person, that'd be pretty silly, I'd think! Your partner is just the person that you work best with, or someone that you're dedicated to working best with, depending how you want to view it." He looked over his shoulder at Vash (who was being far more focused on actually being on the look out for threats than he was, whoops,) with a warm smile. "Sort of like a best friend who's also the best for you to work with. It's not anything that's supposed to be limiting, I don't think."

"Well, it would be inconvenient if anything. Especially if a battle breaks out and your partner isn't around. But I'm sure there are some who believe partnership to be almost, forgive my comparison, monogamous." L certainly seemed like the type who would throw a fit if Light resonated with anyone else -- but Light didn't necessarily care about that. With any luck, L wouldn't be surviving in these caves.

"But you and Vash do seem to be a good match for each other," he offered with a warm smile.

"When there was the invasion, there were a few people I wound up temporarily working with, just because of the situation," Bakura nodded, grinning happily with another look back at his partner at the compliment. "Though I guess I can see if someone's really sensitive to how resonation is, that they might be thrown off by someone resonating with someone else... Thankfully, it's not so delicate with us."

He paused as the paths branched off. "Mmm, which one..." he debated, wishing for just a moment that he had the Ring with him. Not that Ryuzaki would have been detected by it... it wasn't as wide range as the Puzzle that way! "This one, do you think?"

Light smiled somewhat in acknowledgement to Bakura's first statement. It was good for them to have an open and less volatile partnership than the one Light was used to. But his thoughts were cut short when he saw the division in the path. "Yes. Let's try this one. If it seems like we're getting no where, we can backtrack," and they would be getting no where. Ryuzaki had headed the completely opposite way, after all. Unless the tunnels here were interconnected and looped back around to one central area, the chances of them finding him would be slim.

"The longer we're apart, the more concerned I am for his safety."

"Me too..." Bakura admitted, some of his worry sneaking through the mask of everything being fine he had been trying to keep up. "This sort of thing... it's hard enough with a partner, never mind alone...! At least he should have sense enough to hide away from anything trying to eat him, I'd hope..."

"Perhaps..." Light began as though mulling over something deeply. In reality, this was just for effect. "Perhaps," he repeated. "I should head back? Let's face it, right now I might be a pair of extra eyes, but I'm a hindrance to the both of you. If a kishin egg attacks now, you'll have to worry about protecting me on top of protecting yourselves. As much as I want to find Ryuzaki, I know I can trust you more with the task more than I can trust myself to stay out of harm's way."

He paused before reaching out to settle his hands on his friend's shoulders, his expression intense. "You will find him, won't you, Bakura?"

Bakura nodded. "Of course I will. He's my friend," he smiled, trying to seem confident when really, he was worried as anything. But he had to be confident, he knew that much. Believing in his friends, believing in himself... it was the only way he had to even hope to beat the seeming impossible odds. Even if he wasn't Yuugi, or Jounouchi, it had to work for him too, right...?

"Can you find the way back all right...? Will you be fine on your own to get there?"

"Yes. It isn't too far from here. And I believe that's a Shibusen agent over there, isn't it?" He gestured toward one of the men helping to escort another injured agent. "I can follow them back to the mirror and return safely."

Bakura looked over before giving a nod, looking actually pretty relieved. "OK! And if you see Ryuzaki-kun back there, send us a text so we know to head back too, okay?"

Not that he thought Ryuzaki would have had sense enough to go back...

Edited 2012-04-14 22:14 (UTC)

"Of course." A beat and then a much more meaningful: "Thank you, Bakura." And with a slight bow of appreciation, Light headed over to the agents.

Phase 3: Mission 153

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