soul_logs | [Closed] 404

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[Closed] 404

Characters: Kanji Tatsumi and Naoto Shirogane
Location: Temuco, Chile
Rating: PG-13
Time: July 14th, Evening
Description: The children of Temuco, Chile are being killed in the night, but their corpses still walk the streets looking for victims of their own. Parents are desperate to keep their children safe, and they have pleaded with the Chilian government to help them.

Despite the... unexplained occurrence earlier in the day, it wasn't going to stop the two from heading out to Chile. It was a matter of getting out of their abrupt costume change though and finishing other arrangements.

Naoto didn't know how to describe it, but she was feeling better. It was as though the past week had never been. Strange, but there wasn't time to look into it or visit Shibusen to inquire. Though, everyone did seem to be active at the time of their departure. Perhaps they had been returned momentarily as well? Nonetheless, there was something she had to note when they arrived in Chile.

By now, she would transform and scan the area, but she looked at the hand she held. Trying again, she frowned when nothing happened, but she felt the resonation between them still. Nothing... Well, this was concerning.

"We'll have to ask around..."

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"So you suspect they're actually eggs? We'll find out one way..."

Eyes watching the two eggs, noticing how they came at her. Moving forward or back wasn't ideal; instead, she picked a dog and ran directly at it, hands sparking. Maybe she was going to attack, but instead, she dropped, sliding low at the dog, body low and heel out, ice adding to the momentum beneath her.

He could only nod. Eating innocent souls changed you if you weren't a Demon Weapon... it had to apply to animals too, and these dogs smelled of blood. They'd likely been used to kill the past victims. Canines were efficient hunters; not that frail old man who had to use puppets to get anywhere. He remained on the sidelines, tugging the frozen line that wasn't reacting, the child still in the grass again with no 'signal' passing through the ice.

The dogs leaped, so sure of their attack, but Naoto was quick. As she slid the dogs hurtled overhead and rammed facefirst into each other, both giving their yelps of pain before hitting the ground in a heap, scrabbling at each other to recover and circle back after her. The impact had broken a couple of teeth in one of the blood-soaked maws, but that didn't stop the constant snarling from half-rotten throats.

"Lightning n' ice... not bad. A'right, here they come! You feel an urge to swing one way or kick in another, do it! Don't give 'em a goddamn inch!"

"If I go after one, keep an eye on the other."

She changed her stance, waiting for the dogs to make the first move, mind racing. Lightning, ice, which one would make their functions cease faster? Either way, powers would have to be compounded; maybe she would have to consider a fusion of both.

"... Perhaps alternative tactics will be necessary..." Again, Naoto moved suddenly, fists balled and sparking. She came to swing at one and then flip and aim a kick at the other.

"Got it!"

It was a tangle, and he loved a good tangle. Three bodies on the move, steps made with half a care as each had plans to rough up the other in any way possible. The messy, chaotic way about was always exciting as hell to him, though as Kanji's heart raced, he wondered what part of it was over the fight, and what part it was over how one of the fighters moved...

He balled a fist and bulked up the follow through, and with a crack her punch connected, cleanly dislocating the jaw with a sharp yelp. But his eyes had turned as the dog sought to take advantage of her focus on that first. The kick met the chest, sending the dog airborne before somersaulting over the grass, bouncing twice.

"I'm down for a change-up! ...I wanna see what kinda Resonance Attack we got goin' this way, but let's save it for the scrawny prick on the fence!"

Naoto didn't like fights this confrontational, but she had been taught. Her grandfather thought it would be important and she understood. Being a detective was dangerous. Shiroganes were private investigators, called upon for the impossible and nary were they often confronted. Often, the case was assumed dropped and they worked without giving away much. She knew though, her father and mother had gotten in fights before as had her grandfather. It happened and that was life sometimes.

"A Resonance? Let's get a hand on what we can do now first..."

The second dog rolling, she could focus on the first. She pursued it, the chill going down her arm again as she struck again; left, right, then a kick up into the sky like she would were it a Shadow.

She had a point, but he was pretty curious about if they could perform a Resonance Attack. If they could, what would it be? Still, it'd be pretty damn pointless if they went and got themselves killed over a question.

Kanji kept a bead on the fallen dog as Naoto turned her assault on the first. The chill rushed through him and he applied a little punch to the back of that rush of power. See how this dog likes a little souped-up ice punch!

Where her fists met was crystallization, frosty fur with a perfect fist-shaped indentation, and maybe a few crystals on the pants after that solid airward knock in the ribs. The dog hit the house and fell in a heap, but-

"Other one's coming! Keep the arm bent even and throw an elbow. Uh, the left!" Nothing said 'fuck you' like a counterattack without so much as looking back. Their friend on the fence was looking awfully pissed that this pair was being so difficult.

She hadn't expected the dog to fly that far, but heard Kanji's warning. Naoto remained still, waiting as the frost and spark came down her arm. She could feel the pressure as the dog drew closer.

Once in range, she snapped her arm back, elbow thrusting directly at the dog as it came to bite her. It was a snap and pop as both lightning and ice tried to fell the beast, but mingled. Frozen bolts of charged energy rushed into the dog and she spun around, another kick ready for this one too.

They could mix!? News to him, though he'd come to learn that plenty was possible from the moment Beauty and the Beast first initiated. The dog got to learn plenty, too, with an elbow in the mush. When it also got a kick to the front for its troubles, there was something akin to the sound of a cord snapping as the dog went down, and made no attempt to get back up.

The cord shimmered as it receded to its owner, and the dog twitched before it burst into smoke and shadows, leaving that telltale red orb behind. Kanji lowered an eyebrow. So that's one puppet down. But the other was just getting back on its feet, ready for more, and the grass was moving, like snakes moved throughout past them. One such wire coiled around the soul, absorbing it on its way through with the tip glowing a soft yet angry red.

"...The hell's-" The pressure increased and Kanji had to exert a bit of force to push it all back before they both lost their minds. The dog endured in its undeath as the wires entered its joints, embedding and growing taut, but it was the red-ripped wire jabbing into the skull that changed everything: A black smoke oozing from its nostrils and mouth, the dog began to twist and change, growing into something of a dire wolf more than some family pet. The hollowed-out eyes grew small dot-like pupils of red that turned to them, burning and smoking as the old man on the fence applauded in delight.

It'd been months since he'd last made a hell hound!

Watching the dog turn into a soul was a relief, but her eyebrow ticked when the soul was snatched up. She shot a cold look at the old egg on the fence, but watched as the soul was injected into the second dog having come around finally.

The Madness came pounding at them, but Naoto just leered through it, feeling Kanji fight it off. Her own soul, used to the assault, flared to fight it off as well. Annoyed, yes, she was, but there wasn't anger and she didn't show a hint of fear as the dog changed. Frankly, they had faced worse. This wasn't as big as those Minotaur Shadows they had faced and she just merely took a stance again, feeling the lightning and ice come again.

"Let's do this fast..."

"Tch... ain't that cute? He's havin' a damn ball over there, thinkin' he's got us on the ropes with his trick." He was thinking exactly along those lines. Bigger? Meaner? Faster? Oh yeah. They've faced quite a bit. Did the geezer know they had 90+ souls under their belt? Of course he didn't.

Kanji's soul flared as he pumped himself up. Naoto just may be feeling like she could lift a car clean over her head right about now.

"Fast sounds good! Pummel that prick!" And bigger meant slower, too. The quick Naoto versus the bigger, heavier hellhound? Gonna be a goddamn bloodbath.

"I really wasn't planning on using this knowledge, but utilizing whatever advantages we have is best."

Kanji probably already knew, her thoughts breaking down the dog's structure as she brought out her kunai knife again. Thicken its body as it wants, wedging this little weapon in so lightning or ice could pass wasn't going to be that hard.

Soul flaring back in response, she let the energy reach the metal weapon before she finally made that rush. She had to stay alert in case the dog tried something new. It was an egg; you couldn't automatically assume it wouldn't expel something new.

She drew the kunai and his suspicions were confirmed. Part of him wanted to wince, but the dog had already had enough done to him- it was time to put the poor thing to rest and not be messed with any more.

The wolf braced as she raced in, chest inflating as it took a deep breath. With the sharp howl came what felt like a wall of madness, wavering in the air around them as Kanji clutched his head and felt something akin to nails against the brain, so unprepared for the sudden spike that he hadn't raised his defenses. The sunglasses flickered once, but he threw down a mental wall to shut the wavelength from touching the innermost parts of his own soul to play upon his own weaknesses, and like an arm coming forward to block, he sent a wave to soften the blow to Naoto's as much as he possibly could. It was just in time on his end- he'd heard the kids in third grade laughing at him for a moment, but it quietly faded.

Ugh, it's like that fucking bat all over again!

The Madness wavelength crashed into her, bringing back memories instantly, but she had pushed them down before. Being told of her parents' demise, hearing the sympathy and those attempts to empathize, and then the stares as she tried to become a detective. If anything, it was her Shadow attempting to worm its way in that was the most distracting, but Kanji was helping her push back. Last year, she confronted it and finally said so what if she was a woman? She was going to be a detective...

"You have me, Kanji!"

So, with a push of energy from Kanji, she pushed through the Madness and sprung at wolf, using momentum to deliver a powerful kick at its lower jaw to shut it up.

He hated the sound, he hated it so much... but Kanji looked up, an arm outstretched as he fought to push back the black mire.

She was right. He always found himself thinking back sometimes, remembering that she was the only one who had never shown any fear or disappointment in him. When the rest of their group and even his mother fled in fear or sighed and shook her head and apologized for her boy respectively, one person had stepped right up completely unfazed.

"I-I do...! And you got me, too!" Really, how grateful was he to have her? He couldn't even put it to words. Something deep in the pit of his soul sounded off and the black, inky muck couldn't even come close any more. He bared his teeth and he gave that extra bit of oomph, that kick met with an arc of electricity dancing down the leg and through when it connected, causing the wolf's body to twitch as the howl was silenced.

"No chance for a counter; let's finish it!"

Her heart hammered slightly to hear him say that and she smiled under her breath. With the wolf head coming down, she followed, bringing her kunai down into its skull. She let the frost and lightning rush through it and into the wolf directly. If it managed to survive this, it would further prove its annoying existence as this dark creature. She didn't want it to suffer anymore.

In many other cases, the wolf would be active and tearing flesh by now, but the mission's two-star rating meant rather little when you had three-star classes heading in to investigate. Kunai jabbed into the skull, the frost and lightning thrumming through what passed for its nervous system, there was nothing that would survive such a thing and continue its annoying existence. After a heave of black ichor between the teeth the body was rigid on its feet, electric currents locking what passed for muscle mass. Its eyes rolled and twitched, unfocused as everything was slipping away...

Kanji narrowed his eyes and noted the cords attached to the beast. With one more push, he passed the current through the springs, coming up against barrier after barrier, the old man's attempts to keep all pain and injury separate from its puppets.

Oh, no. He gets to feel this, too. But he was coming up against what felt like a brick wall now... the last wall.

"Need just one more push! Old bastard's tryin' to keep the circuit from runnin' through!"

"Here it goes...!"

Naoto noticed how the beast was falling under the attack, but something was stemming the full siege. Hand gripping the knife tighter, she focused her soul's energy. The black ichor between fangs was freezing as the temperature dropped. Kanji's lightning has surged ahead, but now, she was extending her ice. A quick freeze to the already dead egg before the frost tangled around his lightning and enforced that last push with a solid punch.

It was two against one the moment the wolf's life ended in ice, granting the body its final peace. With that final punch he broke through the barrier and the old man fell from the fence and tried to withdraw his cords, but they were frozen against the destroyed kishin egg, leaving him helpless to the torrent of energy and purification.

With two souls emerging from the wolf's mouth soon came a third, the old man giving a howl of frustration before with an immense burst of energy he tore into what was like burnt paper and smoke. The third orb joined the other two, hovering harmlessly.

Kanji lowered his arms and breathed a sigh of relief. That was that... they swapped, and managed to swap their strategies as well. Shibusen would be pretty damn pleased with that.

"A'right... that's that. Cops can get this poor kid now." A pause.

"Uhhm... I dunno how ta turn back..."

Staring down at the wolf, Naoto turned her head when the old man howled and watched as their combined energies destroyed him as well. Well, it had been his brilliant idea to tether himself to puppets like this. He just had it coming with a move like that.

Slowly, she rose, withdrawing her kunai from the wolf's head and cleaning it with a pocketed rag before storing it again. Walking forward, she grabbed the three souls, unsure what to do with them now she was a Meister. She kept them close, glancing to the boy's body for a moment, but then away with a frown.

"Yes... everyone can rest in peace now." She blinked.

"Just concentrate. Think about being in your body again."

It hurt to look at him. He didn't know the little guy, but... at the very least, nobody else would end up like him and there was one less screwed-up demon fuckin' around with kids.

The paramedics had been watching, strangely enough. Shibusen wasn't entirely a household name, but local authorities were acquainted with the academy and its activity. With the madness lifted in the area, they knew it was good to step out and finish their jobs, appearing thankful that the strange slender boy had handled the monsters bare-fisted.

As for Kanji? He did as instructed, wanting to shed this form and be in his own body- in a moment he stood in the grass again at Naoto's side, blinking twice before looking down at himself. "...Shit, that's harder than ya make it look."

But now came the tricky part. Looking down at the burning red lights, he appeared wary glancing back to her.

"I ain't scared of 'em, but... I dunno if I should eat 'em. Y'think Shibusen'd mind holdin' onto 'em for now? We still gotta ask 'em about our progress, anyway."

Naoto watched the paramedics come out of hiding, but didn't move away as she lowered Kanji from her face. She didn't look over at the little boy anymore, speaking quietly to the medical personnel and letting them get on with their work. While her eyes fell to the souls, they rose when Kanji returned to his normal form.

"Hmhm... I've been practicing. It becomes second nature almost..."

When he looked towards the souls, she turned to look at them again. By now, she would have already consumed them, but Meisters couldn't eat souls. Frowning, she didn't know if it was a good idea for Kanji to eat them herself.

"... Yes. We'll take them back to Shibusen and request they hold onto them for now." Though, the bag she had packed was back with Ziodyne. It held a nifty little lighter device that would contain the souls until needed. Sighing, she grabbed one, but then paused when something ran down her face. Raising her other hand, she touched her cheek and hissed faintly. Pulling away her fingers, she found them dabbed red. When did she get cut?

He nodded, wondering what would happen if this hunch was off-base. How would they get those souls back? Could they strike some sort of deal with Shibusen, transfer statuses and allow Naoto to be a three-star Meister while they prepared for their witch hunt in his stead? There was no way in hell he was gonna accept having them start over when BREW glitched without any sort of warning or provocation.

His eyebrows lifted when his vision adjusted in the low light. Something dark grew in a thin line on her cheek and she seemed to notice too, dabbing and pulling away blood. His stomach sunk when he realized that she was in the line of fire in missions now. She could handle herself, sure, but what if he was a better Weapon? Maybe she wouldn't be bleeding now.

Kanji leaned and took a closer look at it. "...I got a kit back on the bike. I can patch that up."

No need to bother the paramedics when he could treat minor to moderate wounds and even perform stitching if need be.

"Alright... I have something for the souls at Ziodyne as well, but we'll have to carry them for now."

Not something she wanted to do. Having souls on hand just evoked trouble. If not that, it just garnered looks. Still, they couldn't bring Ziodyne; that would've just alerted the egg and maybe it would have run instead of fought. Though, what it would've done was anyone's guess now.

Rubbing the blood between her fingers, she drew out another cloth from her pocket and pressed it against the cut for now. Free now, she pocketed one soul and then slipped another away. About to walk, she paused. "How are you feeling after your first transformation?"

He took up the burden of the last and walked with her, breathing a sigh and shrugging his shoulders. "... I'unno, tired? I feel kinda wiped after all that, but a little better now that I'm back to normal, if that makes any kinda sense. Keepin' up that form takes the piss outta you."

Which explained to him why exhausted or heavily-injured Weapons changed back. To maintain a form they weren't born in... he was getting a crash course in this weird swap.

"What about you? Y'don't needta change or nothin', but that ice power felt pretty intense."

"You'll feel better after some sleep." Naoto remembered starting off as a Weapon. When she learned how to transform, she had practiced in her room before going to bed. Holding her form and then extending her duration being in that form.

Being a Meister wasn't as exhausting, or perhaps it was just because it had been exhausting already being a Weapon. She didn't know.

"... Somewhat. At the very least, I could use a short nap."

[Closed] 404

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