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

Neji's words stung, and Hanabi thought back to what her own father had said - there was no one who had inherited their clan's advanced bloodline more strongly than Neji. Her father had said that Hinata didn't even compare, and that Neji was probably even more naturally gifted than Hanabi herself. In fact, he'd become the standard she measured her own achievements by. She thought of hours upon hours of training and pushing herself to exhaustion just to become as strong as he was. She remembered how long it took Hinata to recover from fighting him. This was going to be painful - in more ways than one.

Still, Hanabi didn't back down. She remembered Naruto, hopelessly outclassed against her older cousin during the chuunin exam finals and still coming out victorious in the end because he refused to give up. Her own efforts to bridge the gap between the head and branch clan, initially met with disdain and certainty that she would give up. Three years later, there were still skeptics, but there were those who sincerely welcomed her when she stopped by to visit, too. Thinking of those clan members, and of living here in Death City with Lain and Neji, and thinking of Karkat who agreed to be her Weapon partner today...how could she face everyone if she backed down like a coward?

"It's true. They call you the genius of the Hyuuga clan for a reason, Neji-niisan," she acknowledged. She got into a low and grounded stance, palm facing toward Neji while her other hand held Karkat. She couldn't hesitate.

"But I don't need to be a genius. I just need to be stubborn. I meant what I said. If I have to fight you to get you away from the witches, I'm sorry, but that's what I'm going to do to bring you home."

In the reflection of the axe blade, Karkat's image was gritting its teeth. Even though their resonation was good enough for him to feel Hanabi's resolution, there was no denying the older boy had scored some points off her. One way or another, he had to bring the backhanded banter to a halt before Neji managed to say something that really psyched her out and cost them the fight.

"Yeah yeah, passive-aggressive back-and-forth about ninja clan bullshit, heard it before, are you done yet? If you're done sputtering out of that huge pink gash in your face, let's DO this!"

He shifted some of his anger through resonation to Hanabi. He had enough experience by then to know better than to shove too much rage onto his partner all at once, but if this match was going to be as close as it seemed, she might need the boost.

Neji tossed his head, bringing his hands back up, and spared a look to Lain. Her stand was poor, her grip even poorer. Even if she came at him while he fought Hanabi, it'd take more than sheer luck to hit him.

"You truly are a naive child, and I see you've chosen a suitable Weapon to match. Very well then, I'll demonstrate the differences between us again."

And he flew in, past Lain, to engage the pair.

The boost of rage she received from Karkat startled her, but it helped strengthen her resolve. Hanabi grounded herself when Neji darted in, glaring at him. The anger she felt was enough to galvanize her.

"I'd rather be naive than blind," she snapped at Neji. When the word 'blind' was used to refer to someone with the condition, it wasn't intended as an insult in the slightest. To those in the Hyuuga clan, whose Byakugan gave them vision that was greatly enhanced beyond a normal person's capabilities, it was even more insulting than being called impotent. To add to the insult, Hanabi's Meister ability didn't even function like Byakugan. It functioned like Jyuuken instead.

She brought Karkat up defensively, preparing herself. She had to be mindful of Karkat's injuries, so she would dodge where she could and take Neji down as fast as she could manage.

"I'll make you see the truth."

The best way to fight Neji effectively was to make use of her small size. He had her outclassed in terms of experience, physical strength, and natural talent. She had the advantage of being a smaller target, holding a Weapon, and her Soul Menace.

"You're going to feel like a total frondhumping asshole when we force those words back down your protein chute," Karkat snarled, almost in time with Hanabi's first sentence. For a second resonation wavered, then he focused and brought his end of it back as strong as before. This wasn't going to be easy. Lain was pretty obviously crap with her sword, so other than looking out for zombies or worse behind them, she wasn't going to be much of an advantage. Just him and Hanabi holding up against a ninja with all kinds of skill.

He kept his attention focused on Neji, waiting to see if he would break Hanabi's blocks and force him to use a shield.

An eyebrow twitched in response to the insult, mouth tightening into a thin line as he bore down on the pair with a series of strategic strikes. They were frail looking in appearance, and Karkat's Weapon form got in the way of most of them, but they were meant to disable and aimed to cripple.

If it was a normal weapon, he'd just wrench it from Hanabi's grip and slam his palm into her chest cavity, but as it continued to sabotage his efforts, the Jounin abruptly switched tactics and threw a leg out, spinning rapidly, then threw a sharp punch to the girl's face straight for one of the eyes she was so proud of.

Hanabi was grateful that Karkat's Weapon form had so many sharp edges. The best way to protect both him and herself was to ensure that she kept those edges protecting areas of her body that Neji would most likely strike at. It didn't save her from all of them, but between blocking and dodging, she was spared the worst of it. At least, until his punch made impact. The pain of the blow sent her reeling back and her eyes watered involuntarily from the sting.

Gritting her teeth and trying to focus herself, she realized she hadn't managed to land a significant blow on Neji yet. The precious few openings she'd seen hadn't been viable options - she wanted to take him down without permanently crippling or killing him. She needed to strike his legs with her Soul Menace, and to do that, she'd need to fake out a genius from a clan known for its powers of observation.

But then, she was from the same clan as well, and self-preservation instincts could be used against a person. She shook off the blow as best she could and prepared herself. When she darted in, she raised Karkat as though she meaned to slash at Neji's chest with him, projecting that intent in her body language as best she could until she dropped low at the last second, striking with her palm at the back of Neji's knee. A surge of her soul wavelength pulsed into the joint, as well as into his calf and thigh. Springing up, she aimed a punch at his ribs and then hopped nimbly out of reach - for the moment at least.

The battle was fast-paced -- and really, what else would you expect from ninja kids? -- and Karkat failed to get the shield up before Neji landed his punch. He snarled to himself, frustrated, and determined to watch their opponent and do better next time.

There wasn't much for him to do, really. Different partner, different sort of enemy, very different battle style. He settled in to keep an eye on Neji and focus on keeping their resonation steady as Hanabi moved in quick and landed what looked like one hell of a hit.

Phase 3: Mission 153

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idek i suck at fight scenes sorry sob

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