soul_logs | [Closed] Die for me

Entry tags:

[Closed] Die for me

Characters: Alucard, Raidou, Kanji, and Naoto
Location: Castlewellan, Northern Ireland
Rating: PG-13
Time: May 30th, Morning
Description: People have been seeing someone Raidou believes he knows. Kanji and Naoto have a sneaking suspicion, and Alucard is curious to know who's right. Now, if they can just solve a small puzzle.

A glance from the map to the maze was the best tell-tale sign of some other powers having their influence over the already vast labyrinth. The hedges stood taller, the sky hung over darker and the early morning fog just seemed thicker inside than out. There was definitely something or somethings lurking inside for the two-pair team, but they didn't seem troubled by it.

"This will be unreliable..."

Naoto pocketed the guide and crossed her arms. To have the entire hedge maze under the influence of a kishin undoubtedly meant more alterations inside. Hopefully, they would find the target within a reasonable amount of time; otherwise, this was going to be a long day.

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It seemed as though Raidou's words had worked on the young woman. Then she chose to try to tangle up Kanji in a fatal embrace. Fortunate that Kanji and Naoto were able to avoid the trap.

Alucard sat poised inside the sword, waiting for Raidou to act. One might suggest that the time for diplomacy is over.

Damn it.

Had it been just the two of them, Raidou might have risked further negotiation. With Kanji and Naoto's lives on the line as well, however... It couldn't be helped.

He pushed forward, slashing through the vines as they tried to seize and distrupt the other Meister. They were quick, but so was he.

"We'll keep them busy. Don't let her get away!"

His arm moved and he clenched his jaw, following through on those several shots. Singed vines curled and recoiled as if in pain, but prevented a gory cocooning that had taken the lives of more than a few.

"Shit! ...Thanks, Naoto." Some days he worried how the hell he could function as a Meister if he didn't have a partner that thought far quicker than he. As she reloaded he was on the move through the growing 'wall' of tendrils around him; an arm grazed by a whipping vine but he ignored that flash of pain.

Raidou broke through and Kanji tried to call to get him the hell out of there, but he spoke first.

"Get--" He turned. Shit, she was skipping down the damn path like this was a game! Part of him didn't gel all too well with firing on a little girl, but...

"Kishin... kishin egg..." He repeated to himself and moved in pursuit, point and fire.

"I'm not sure if---"

But what could she be besides a Kishin egg?

She let Kanji guide her, nearly snapping her head up when the vine grazed him, but returned to focus. One bullet was released on the chamber, focused directly on Alice. I should hit her heart...

... but it just passed through. Naoto's face paled immediately.

Where were all these vines coming from? After freeing Kanji and Naoto, they seemed to multiply, reaching up to snag at Raidou's boots or go for his body.

Alucard let himself be guided by his partner, slashing through each wriggling vine. They retaliated by going straight for Alucard's weapon form, wrapping around the sword before it had enough room to swing around.

A split second of panic gripped Raidou as the vines took a hold of his partner. Then he knew what to do. He let go of the hilt and, as soon as the vines pulled Alucard away, focused on his Meister power to call him back. The Weapon appeared back in his hand, unharmed.

He couldn't turn to look how the others were doing. The gunshots hadn't stopped the onslaught, so Alice must have survived...

"We can't keep this up for much longer!" he called over his shoulder. The words had barely left his mouth when he was suddenly yanked up by ankle, then slammed painfully against the ground.

"Argh...!"

"Shit!" This was getting bad and steadily worse. The shot passed right through and the vines were having a blast with Raidou; he had to think of something and fast, and as he clenched his jaw he had only one.

"Gonna try somethin'!" He remembered the lessons. When he poured on the speed to close the distance between himself and the little girl, he knew this was kind of a long shot, but it was all he had. If he couldn't do this, then he was risking Raidou's further injury in the time it would take him to swing back and cut the vines.

So he had to hope like hell that this worked.

His hand sparked as he was lucky the girl seemed to be skipping quite gleefully. It made it all the easier to test the theory that Soul Menace attacked the soul directly, and if ghosts were similar...!

With a roar he resonated with himself, creating the feedback, and did something he'd never do by swinging at a little girl. It entered the incorporeal body from the back, and...

It appeared as though Soul Menace had worked and thank Death it had. Naoto was rattled by the fact they were facing a real ghost and was majorly unresponsive. Scientifically, this shouldn't be happening, but Alice was right there and she didn't appear very pleased to be hit.

The hedge around them seemed to be shifting actually after the assault. Naoto was receiving feedback with each rapid pulse which wasn't good.

"K-Kanji! You need to move! Hurry!"

Alucard fell to the ground with a soft thump on the grass, although Raidou still held him at the hilt.

His first impulse was to transform back and rip the vines off Raidou by hand. However, that would only work temporarily and neither one of them had a blade personally that would do any good. As hard as it was, Alucard kept his form and poured that trust into his partner. Raidou would fight and never give up so Alucard could only do the same.

Alucard shivered on his end of the resonance. It felt as though something had been unlocked. Raidou, cut yourself free! We can win. I...I feel like we have more power.

((OOC: You can decide if this is for double jumping or MULTIPLE STAB WOUNDS.))

The warmth pouring from the sword to Raidou's arm and chest made the detective's heart beat faster. He didn't know what it was, only that it gave him the strength to react. With the sudden burst of adrenaline, he dug his other heel into the ground and yanked his trapped foot closer, within the reach of his blade. The vine fell and Raidou rolled on his feet, ignoring the throbbing bruises on his side.

The hedges were moving. There was an air of anger in the way the vines slithered, causing the maze to shift again. Raidou's sword arm was ready, expecting more attacks, but their attention seemed to be elsewhere...

"Tatsumi-san!"

The hedges were surrounding Kanji; as Raidou watched, the Meister began to disappear behind the wall of green. The detective broke into a sprint. If they got separated, Kanji and Naoto would be--

No.

Alucard's presence flared within him, and without a thought, he jumped.

In that moment, his cape changed, and a pair of black bat wings pushed him upwards. The change only lasted for a moment, but it was enough; he went over the hedge wall and came down with his Weapon tearing through the vines that were reaching for Kanji. He landed in a crouch, his cape turning back to normal.

Everything was shifting. Kanji was a little proud to know that this girl didn't like what he'd just done, but it was short-lived if the hedges separated the two of them from the other pair, turning the mission further pear-shaped.

But Raidou moved and he turned to tell him the hedges are moving too quick. What Kanji got instead was the most bizarre sight of a cloak, wings, and moving clear over the wall that closed between them.

Briefly, he had to stare and blink, wondering what the hell just happened, but they had time for that after. Instead he nodded and set off for Alice again, all the while the sound of marching building in the distance, closing in.

With a distant "Off with their heads!", the marching steps quickened, accompanied by glimpses of... cards... amid the foliage.

Okay, okay... she needed to breathe again and focus on the fact they still had a kishin egg or two to handle and no just the g-ghost. Perhaps she really was missing a rabbit, but wasn't that part of the story? Her eyes widened momentarily at the yell and she turned.

"Card guards and the Queen?" Maybe that was just an auditory hallucination. There were still figures from the story missing such as the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse. Letting out a slow breath, she prepared her ammo again, hoping it was stable. They had to get ready to fight through the soldiers for their quarry.

Alucard felt surprised in his resonance with Raidou before it changed into unholy glee. He could fly again, even if for a moment.

You're just trying to take all my powers. First, are those walking cards? Could those things possibly be some kind of kishin eggs? Who would conceive such madness?

There was no time to celebrate their new ability. Raidou took off after Kanji, eyes darting from side to side. Seems that way... He only knew the Wonderland story vaguely. If these were kishin eggs, were they originally like this or did Alice have something to do with their appearance?

Or... could it be they played along with her games because she lured in victims for them to devour?

It didn't matter for now. The kishin eggs -- if that was what they were -- would likely try to intercept them any moment now. If they took too long to defeat them, Alice would get away...

"Damn it...!" The steps were coming from all around now, but he clenched his teeth in frustration- the girl was right THERE, the target they'd come for, but they'd let themselves get too damn sidetracked.

"They're tryin' to funnel us away from the little girl! We gotta clear a path and keep it that way!" He roared, giving the gunblade a brace with one hand while the other lifted it. Kanji charged on ahead; couldn't lose the target...!

The Card Guards emerged through the foliage, wielding swords, maces and halberds. The pulse from his soul tightened, a 'pat' of sorts against that breath of uncertainty he felt as he fired. Ghosts were creepy as hell, but if they let themselves be scared to death they'd just die out here like god knows how many others that investigated the mazes.

The pat couldn't have happened at a better time. The bullet released wasn't as strong as usual, but Naoto herself was calming down enough to strengthen the next ones. They would uncover the true mystery of the maze, but first, they had to eliminate all distractions.

She focused, stabilizing her half of the resonance to again flow to his wavelength. Blade and bullets were ready for Kanji to use against the Card Guards while her ability pinpointed weak spots. Immediately, she relayed the information to her Meister, adjusting his aim when necessary as before.

Unlike Kanji and Naoto, Alucard and Raidou had to get up close and personal with the card guards. His sword self sliced along the odd shaped bodies. Alucard heard Kanji's roar for action that they were getting separated from Alice. Now that Alucard had a better idea of how to transfer this new ability over to Raidou, he had an idea.

Raidou, can we try to double jump over the crowd and reach Alice so she does not escape? I don't know how many times we can do this new ability but I will give you as much as I can.

I'll try! The card guards went down easily enough, but with their numbers getting rid of all of them would take too long. As soon as they stopped Alice, they wouldn't have to divide their attention like this.

Raidou reached for their resonance again and leaped mid-run; he could feel his cape transform and propel him over the hordes. His vision swam the moment he hit the ground, barely managing to avoid tripping. Two jumps seemed to be their limit. Trusting the others to hold their ground for the moment, he ran after Alice.

Unlike the other pair, Raidou and Alucard had no ranged attacks -- nothing beyond normal bullets. They did, however, move fast, while Alice was only a little girl. Raidou had to cut through a few more vines that sprouted to hinder them, but they were catching up.

"Alice! That's enough!" He had no idea if talking would work, but he had to try, if only to slow her down. "If you stay here, sooner or later people will stop coming and you'll be all alone! Other kishin eggs will come to devour you and there will be no one to help you! Is that what you want?" He cut through another vine and kept running. "Your soul will be safe if you just move on! Your family will be there!"

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[Closed] Die for me

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