[OPEN] Mission 155

[soul_mods]

Characters: Open to those who signed up here.
Location: An unmarked cavern system outside Death City.
Rating: Various.
Time: March 18th, sunrise.
Description: Shibusen agents brave underwater caverns to take out the first of three Madness emitters.

Missiongoers pile out of the mirrors early in the morning, just as the first hints of sun start to color the walls of the sandstone canyon red and purple; it'll be the last bits of real light they'll see for at least a few hours. The atmosphere is electric -- there're quite a few new (and old) arrivals who're eager to see some action, but just as many people who're feeling rather more apprehensive… And for good reason.

The only way to their destination is blocked by a few hundred yards of sunken tunnels. Luckily they've been provided with mouthpieces, breathing apparatuses with enough oxygen to last about ten minutes: more than enough time, provided that the guests don't lose their way in the dimly-lit, twisted caverns. It's as easy as following the person in front of them, right?

Upon emerging safely from the pool onto mostly-dry land, they'll find themselves in an immense cavern, illuminated by countless, blue fungi clinging to the walls and ceiling, looking like stars dotting a night sky. Already the first signs of the way Madness has been corrupting the wildlife are evident: the mushrooms exude strange spores that make some people's head pound the same way the increasingly noticeable Madness wavelength does.

As they travel further into the watery caves and explore its many branches, they'll begin to encounter creatures twisted by Madness: moles, snakes, beetles, centipedes, all grown to monstrous proportions, some with a venomous bite that quickly turns their victim feverish and delirious. The more daring fighters can easily dispatch those and delve even deeper, and it's near the source of the Madness, in the chamber housing the emitter itself, that they'll encounter the kishin eggs.

There're dozens of them-- eyeless, white, vaguely human-shaped things, but despite their blindness they have no problem finding their quarry, fighting with claws and exuding their own Madness wavelength. If the missiongoers can stand strong against the kishin eggs and the ever-present wavelength given off by the Madness emitter, Shibusen's specialists will have enough time to shut the machine down for good.


OOC NOTES.
- The event summary post containing all relevant links is located here.
- Make your own threads, but please indicate in your subject line [CHARACTER(S) | LOCATION | OPEN/CLOSED] and, if applicable, if you need a kishin egg NPC!
- The locations are the sunken tunnels, the medics area, the cave system, and the emitter chamber, but only the medics will have their designated sub-thread.
- If you have any further questions, the mod thread on the coordination post is here!

Comments

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura blinked. "...why do you say that?"

[feelsgoodinyou]

He rolled his eyes. Could anybody really be that dense without intentionally trying to grate on his nerves?

"As shocking as it is, many people don't want to die or leave something behind that's important to them."

[shiromadoushi]

"But there's a difference between just not wanting to let go and having a strong enough attachment that you can't," Bakura pointed out.

[feelsgoodinyou]

"So there's a few hundred less. It'd have to still be way more than just two by those qualifiers."

[shiromadoushi]

"You had a goal, right? Something that you didn't get to finish... Something to do with the Ring and the other Yuugi-kun. Magical items being involved of course would make it all the much more than it would have been. You might have even sealed yourself into the Ring so you wouldn't lose..." Bakura pointed out with a small shrug.

[feelsgoodinyou]

"Ch.." He gave him a strange look. "If I could have done that I would have used the Items to live, not to end up locked into one of them for eternity."

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura awkwardly fidgeted with the diving gear he had been given. "Isn't that a bit what you're doing now?"

[feelsgoodinyou]

He glowered at him. "I'm borrowing your body, idiot! That's nowhere near the same as having my own or still being alive!"

Shit! Was that bastard trying to make him angry or what?!

[shiromadoushi]

"It's not being stuck in the Ring, is it?" Bakura glared in return. "You're using it to borrow my life until you can get your own back, aren't you?!"

[feelsgoodinyou]

"Now you caught me. Just wait a bit, then I'll rise the Ancient Hight Culture of Egypt again, just for you. Oh, wait, it's been a little over two thousand years since it stopped existing, my bad."

His voice was dripping with dislike.

[shiromadoushi]

"Go back to sleep another 2,000 years, they should have invented time travel by then," Bakura half sighed.

[feelsgoodinyou]

He twitched. Literally twitched because right now he wanted nothing more but to wrap his hands around Ryou's little neck and shake him until it either snapped or he quit saying such unbearable nonsense.

This was sadly no option because people kept passing them and he still had unfinished business in the city, but he didn't put into any effort of keeping it from showing on his face.

"Sadly that doesn't change the fact that my body is long gone and so is everything I knew and cared about!!"

[shiromadoushi]

"Then why are you still here? Why cling to the Items if you don't care? Why bother pretending, messing around with wishes and games?"

[feelsgoodinyou]

Because there was no choice. Because he didn't want to let go of his resentment, didn't want to let something rest after a lifetime and more had been based on it and yet nothing had truly come out of it. Because he wasn't done with this world yet and because he didn't want to die again or pass on.

"......" He gave him a cold look. That bastard didn't deserve an answer. Should he rot in his own juices while he tried figuring out what was going on. He turned around and started wading into the water.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura sighed, turning away. "You never answer any time I ask...." he half muttered. And the Voice wondered why he didn't know anything? Jerk... Why on Earth had he thought there'd be even a chance of...

His thoughts fell quiet as the stolen memory of the Voice watching him like he was trapped behind a glass wall surfaced.

... Obviously, it was too late. The past couldn't be changed, and that specter was in the past.

Like everything else.

Fists curling and shoulders tensing, he walked away.

~Later~

[shiromadoushi]

Belatedly, Bakura realized that this had been a dumb idea.

It was a shame that the thought only came while he was running for his life from something he didn't want to get too close of a look at, unable to reload his gun for shaking hands from the pressures of the Madness even before he had started running.

He just needed to find some place he could get out of range from the thing chasing him so that he could pull himself together and reload...!

[feelsgoodinyou]

Bakura, on the other end, wasn't running. He had made his way through the enemies just fine at first, but as he kept passing deeper into the cave system the monsters kept repairing themselves more and more - as soon as he cut one down another was standing up!

In the end the thief had had no other choice but to recall upon his skill of sneaking around stealthily if he had wanted to keep moving without risking his life. It had been going well for a while, but then a sudden ruckus came his way that had him quickly duck into a crack between the rocky walls that was narrow enough that no monster would be able to follow him and deep enough that they wouldn't be able to reach or see him if he remained put.

Right now his curiosity was getting the best of him, though, and he kept close to the entry of the crack because he wanted to see which poor fool was going to end as monster food soon. Spying a quickly closer coming mop of pale, his eyes widened. "That brainless idiot-!!"

Without thinking he reached out and dragged his host inside his hiding place the moment he was within his reach. Shoving him behind him and them both as deep inside as was possible, he hissed "Not a word! And give me that!!" as he moved to snag the gun out of his hands.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura gave a small startled exclamation as he was grabbed, adrenalin informing him that this was it and he was going to be eaten again. He stumbled back, falling on his butt the moment his double let go. "Aaa!" he exclaimed, trying to recapture his gun, a different sort of panic flooding him. No no, not Vash's gun, he needed that, that was important, he couldn't just---!

"It's not loaded!" he whispered, voice frantic. "I ran out!" Give it back give it back, he needed that to--

to...

His breath started to calm slightly as even just being in close quarters with his double helped push back the Madness's effect on him slightly. Now if he could just stop panicking...

[feelsgoodinyou]

"For the love of- Everything you touch is useless!!" He all but snapped at him (though he kept in mind to do it at a low volume) as he edged further back.

Instinctively he moved to gather all o f his own snowy-white hair and press it as close to his skull as possible when he heard the sounds of something non-human draw closer. Tossing his doppelganger a meaningful look, he moved for him to stay silent as he shifted his hold on the gun with the intention of using it as a club or a projectile instead.

[shiromadoushi]

There was a flash of anger on Bakura's face before he grabbed hold of his double's hand, all but shoving the extra bullets in it with a pointed glare.

If the Voice at all damaged his gun using it like that...!

[feelsgoodinyou]

He rolled his eyes and took them, fiddling a little around as he tried to put them properly into the gun without having any light. Once he was sure they wouldn't just fall out again, he gestured Ryou once more to remain silent as he edged back even further.

There were sniffing sounds coming from the other end of the crack.


Bakura frowned as he kept his eyes trained on the opening. Without looking back he reached out very slowly with his free hand until he could touch his host's shoulder. He didn't like to initiate any kind of connection between them, but having the fool do anything stupid would cost more than just his own life so he had to. If the touch of his soul were a smell, then it would have been the aroma of an old grave deep down inside a pyramid: dry and old yet clean, full of past impressions of things that had happened and yet in a strange ultimate way peaceful since they were log gone and nothing new had dared to intrude upon it, it was full of contradictions that made it feel just wrong and made the hairs raise on the back of one's head. It was dangerous, but not outright malicious.

'How many followed you?'

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura tensed slightly at the touch, almost flinching before he relaxed.

It felt like the Ring had always felt when he had held it. All that time, was he really...?

He shook the thought off, focusing on the present.

'I don't know, I didn't want to fall when I was running to check...'

With his luck, the moment he turned to check, that would be when there would be a rock in the path or another monster just around the corner... He might be stupid, but he had seen enough horror movies to at least sometimes know what not to do!

[feelsgoodinyou]

'Tch' He tried to sever the connection, although a feint sense of worry and alertness still managed to come through if Ryou felt like exploring it.

Turning his attention fully back towards the monsters, he tensed. He didn't like this situation at all, it made him feel much too much like a corned animal with nowhere to go.

[shiromadoushi]

It only seemed to echo Bakura's own, even has he unconsciously clung to that thin connection, needing it to stave off the encroaching madness. It had been stupid to come alone when he knew the madness would be heightened, but with how things where...

'If it's a kishin, the gun alone won't work...' It wasn't a directed thought, just a quiet worry. If Yuugi were there... even with the Voice, he'd find a solution.

.... except he hadn't that one time, had he? That was how he had ended up in this entire mess to start with....

He shook off the thought, blaming the Madness for it, trying to focus on finding a solution to this problem.

... that wasn't the same as that one had been.

[feelsgoodinyou]

From what he could feel - faint echoes of madness, similar to dark magic - it was at least one kishin out there. He scowled.

'I know!' His hand crept to one of his knives which was now bloody and splintered at the edge. 'That's why I'm going to use more than just that.'