[OPEN] Mission 156

[soul_mods]

Characters: Open to participants who signed up here.
Location: Lake Tahoe, CA
Rating: Various.
Time: March 27th, late morning.
Description: The second of the three Madness emitters outside Death City is the target for this mission. Bundle up, everyone -- it's gonna be a cold one.

The mission begins late in the morning, to allow the mission-goers as much sunlight as possible in the warmest part of the day. Not that it'll help much… Temperatures are well below freezing already -- unnatural even for early Spring in the mountains -- and a howling snowstorm threatens to blot out the sun, beginning up the mountain where the slope just begins to rise sharply.

The slopes themselves are fairly barren: a windswept-looking tree here, a cabin that may have once belonged to the snow patrol there, maybe a Madness-crazed bear or mountain lion. Those braving the storm are lucky enough to see five feet in front of their face in these conditions!

Those brave few who manage to make it to the top (enduring falling temperatures and defeating the corrupted fauna and hulking kishin yeti along the way) may come across their goal at the very summit of the half-mile-high mountain: the Madness emitter itself, in the eye of the storm… And one last obstacle: the Witch guarding it.



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]
- If you have any further questions, the mod thread on the coordination post is here!

Comments

[shiromadoushi]

"...Say what?" Bakura blinked, a little taken back, wondering a bit at the sudden change of expression. For a moment, the Voice had seemed... well...

Human.

[feelsgoodinyou]

Hmmnph. He really looked like he hadn't clued on about it at all. Gods, how he hated that!

Folding his arms in front of his body, he gave him a hard look. "You're dropping me for your friends. Maybe not yesterday or the day after tomorrow, but you already decided on that the moment you arrived, didn't you? 'With Yuugi-kun and the other Yuugi here I don't have to worry about that jerk anymore!'" He almost spat out. "Don't lead me on!"

[shiromadoushi]

...wait. Was...

"...You're mad that I didn't want Yuugi-kun to know you were at the door?" Bakura realized with utter disbelief. Was the Voice seriously jealous? Bad enough he had Ryuzaki making a fuss, was this jerk also going to start acting like that...?!

"Yuugi-kun's a Weapon, and even if the other Yuugi-kun's a Meister, he'll be working with Yuugi-kun, not me..." Never mind the fact that the Ring seemed to be using him as a 'until something better comes along' to start with...

[feelsgoodinyou]

He snorted. Yuugi would have to be not only deaf but also more stupid than his hair was ridiculous to not have at least a good idea of who Ryou had been trying to hide. There weren't exactly many people who he would try and hide having interacted with.

"I'm not talking about just some fucking mission, you dolt!" His voice dropped into a lower, more normal speaking volume that was alarmingly calm. "Is that all our truce means to you?"

[shiromadoushi]

"I thought it was so we'd stop fighting!" Bakura protested unhappily. "What are you so upset about?! I texted you back like I said I would, I haven't broken any promise or lied to you!"

It was frustrating, like he was dealing with something where the rules constantly changed.

[feelsgoodinyou]

He tensed at those words, shoulders suddenly square and his frame straight as a rod. Without a word he turned away from him, showing his back.

"You said it. You said that you wouldn't toss me away the moment one of your friends appeared. Now they are here and I'm just a problem again."

[shiromadoushi]

First Ryuzaki. Now this. Was there something in the water again? What was it about Yuugi being there that made people act this way...?!

"Did you want me to tell Yuugi-kun that I'm not avoiding you like I told him I was? I didn't want him worrying about things like that when he's just arrived!"

[feelsgoodinyou]

He snorted, not turning around because otherwise the smirk on his lips would be too obvious. This little act was really all too ridiculous, but he wanted to keep lowering his host's wariness of him a little more before it was time for him to find the bomb.

"For what? The little runt already knows that I'm here anyway."

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura was quiet a long moment. "There's a difference between knowing that and knowing we're working together. He thinks you're a danger to me... there's no way I can keep my promise to you if he knows about it...."

[feelsgoodinyou]

Ah, that made it easier to keep a straight face.

Turning back around, he regarded him with a solemn look. "We aren't working together. This is merely an attempt for a second chance, maybe as allies rather than enemies. I've made another truce with him."

[shiromadoushi]

"Isn't that what we're doing here? Even if we might not have the same goals... we're both here to fight the Kishin together," Bakura pointed out, voice quiet as if somehow, he thought that he might be overheard. "This whole thing... it was complicated before, and now with Yuugi-kun being here..." he trailed off, not looking over at his double. "I don't want to have to try and explain it just yet. I don't know how I even would..."

[feelsgoodinyou]

He remained silent for a long time, eyes just lingering on the other youth's form. He wasn't looking at his face, but at a place somewhat below, where the Ring might have been, had it been here. Inside his heads his thoughts were racing.

Walking back to the snowmobile, he looked into Ryou's eyes only once. "It's something that has to be done. You can't run away from it."

[shiromadoushi]

"I know..." Bakura said softly. "Just not right now... Yuugi-kun..." he hesitated a moment. "Yuugi-kun was the first friend who ever stayed... The first one who ever realized..." he trailed off, looking down at the snow at his feet. "He's the reason that things changed. That we can even be standing here, talking as if it's perfectly normal to be... I don't want to say the wrong thing."

[feelsgoodinyou]

His head whipped around and he gave him a deadly glare. "That, dear yadounishi, is pure bullshit!" He gave him a disgusted look before clambering back onto the drivers seat of their vehicle.

"Unless he somehow managed to cross the worlds and invisibly crawled into your head as you made the decision to trust me." The grumble was low and sounding rather insulted.

[shiromadoushi]

"Eh?" Bakura blinked. "That-- You even said yourself it was because he defeated you that you realized you were doing things wrong!" he protested as he followed.

[feelsgoodinyou]

He rolled his eyes, blocking the direction this conversation was going to take. As if he'd ever be grateful for being defeated! "That's a part of myself that I'd have lost here anyway. Are you coming or what?!"

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura sighed softly, shoulders slumping. Why did he get the feeling that nothing he ever said was right? Even more reason to want to be careful when talking to Yuugi...

"Fine..."

[feelsgoodinyou]

He didn't reply as he fired the engine of the snowmobile's motor on once again. This time their start was slower as he led them in a big turn back in the direction they had come from, opting to go first down and closer back to the rest of Shibusen's forces were before directing them mountain upwards again.

His face was set in a scowl, eyes gleaming with unspoken dissatisfaction as he reflected on this talk and what it would mean for his ability to make his next moves. While he had managed to move his host somewhat in the direction he wanted him at, the push hadn't been half as effective as he would have liked it to be and trying it again or applying more force were out of question - showing too much care would make his true motives obvious. Should the wimp think that he was having a strange case of melodramatic and misdirected jealousy, that would at least increase the effectiveness of the impact of the messenger-bomb when it hit.

Thinking like that, he let his instincts decide where they were going, increasing their speed slowly back to max again as they did. The plan for the rest of this 'mission' was boring: find some shit and kill it, then make up a reason to keep the souls for himself.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura clung tightly, shoulders hunched in. There was no panic this segment of the ride, the wind being an almost welcome distraction. Really, if it were anyone other than the Ring's Voice he were clinging to...

He paused, blinking. "Aaa!" he exclaimed, eyes widening as he spotted a form in the distance that was all too large to be another person. "Over there!"

[feelsgoodinyou]

"I'm seeing it." Without further notice he changed their direction once more, aiming for what turned out to be be a kishin egg that looked like a giant heap of snow with glowing red eyes from afar. The closer they got, the more of its details could be seen, though, and it quickly revealed itself to be a humanoid kishin egg with a ape-like, leathery black face, a crown of white antlers and more teeth than fit into its maw. Most of its body was covered in thick, shaggy fur and its finger ended in claws that were not unlike that of bears, if bears had fingernails the size of Freddy Krueger's.

Aiming right for it, Bakura revved the motor to max as he reached for one of the weapons that he had brought along - a long, curved scimitar that would do nice things with the beasts legs.

[shiromadoushi]

"What are you doing?!" Bakura exclaimed as it seemed the Voice was aiming right for the monster at high speed. Should he transform? What was the Voice planning?!

[feelsgoodinyou]

"Get ready to attack the moment it goes down!" It was an order, given with the voice of a leader that didn't allow for any questions or thoughts of refusal. Bakura was going to handle this and Ryou was going to assist him, it was simple as that.

The kishin egg had noticed them by now and had turned in their direction with lumbering steps, arms stretched out and ready to strike as soon as they were in its reach with their collision course.

For a moment the kishin egg yeti and the Meister and Weapon on their snowmobile were coming at each other like a pair of medieval knights. Then Bakura tore the handlebars to the side at the last moment, leaning far to the side as the snowmobile started sliding and the kishin egg's claws missed his shoulder and Ryou's face by a hairs breadth. The motion wasn't only for keeping them from keeling over - the same moment the kishin egg had attacked the thief had done so as well and unlike the monster the spirit's blade found its goal, digging deeply into the back of the yeti's knee and back muscles of its lower leg. Blood gushed and it howled in pain as they kept skidding past and out of its reach within seconds, Bakura's manic laughter merging with the howling of the wind.

[shiromadoushi]

What was-- Was he really going to....?!

Bakura let out an utterly undignified scream as his hood snagged on the edge of the egg's claws, ripping as it jerked back. Too close, too close!

His fingers dug into his double, heart pounding insanely loudly in his ears. "Take off your gloves before you tell me to do that, you idiot!" he yelled, adrenaline making him far too aware of everything at that moment. "I need something to grab on to!"

[feelsgoodinyou]

"What?!" His eyes snapped back to give his host a fittingly shocked look. "Why are you telling me that now?!!?"

Behind them the kishin egg moved to give chase, but went down to its knees instead as its injured leg failed to carry its weight. Good, at least it didn't seem to be of the fast regeneration kind. Forcing the snowmobile to go in a wider bow than he had originally intended, Bakura cursed as he started to try and fiddle one of his gloves down without driving them into a tree.

[shiromadoushi]

"I thought you knew that was how it worked! Else I'd just go flying and that would be it!" Bakura exclaimed, eyes focused on his double's hand. The instant there was even enough wrist showing to cling to....