lucetilogs | We're more than carbon and chemicals

[If Izaya were to see Celty on the battlefield now, he would probably take it as confirmation of his 'Valkyrie' theory. But Celty herself has no such thoughts. According to legend she is a bringer of death but what reasons she had for that are no longer in her memories. Her presence today is simply to fulfill a promise; to protect Mikado's friends, some of whom she could tentatively call her own friends as well. Associates, at least. She can't die like the others, so she'll do what she can to keep them safe.

The strategy is simple - get in close to the enemy with Shooter in motorcycle form as a disguise, then take out as many as possible with her scythe. If a shifter is among them and her abilities are nulled, that's when the extra calvary can take them down.]

[And taking things down is something the "extra calvary" was very skilled at. The Shifters had one fatal flaw, and that's that they could only technology or magic, not both at the same time. And while Celty's abilities were magical in nature, Gurren Lagann's, piloted by Gold and Simon, were most assuredly ~~bullshit~~ technology.

And so here comes Gurren Lagann, speeding towards the group on a newly acquired rocket-propelled skateboard.]

Go, Simon! Do it now! [Their target is that Shifter in the middle! And really, what hope do its protectors have against a 40-foot tall mecha?]

Haaaaaaa! [Not much protection at all, especially when there's a ten-foot drill aimed right at them. The Shifter only has a moment to look up in shock, glowing eyes widening, before the drill connects, and they - and the entire area around them - vanishes in a cloud of decimated earth. With one of them luring the Shifter and the others on the offensive, there's no way they can lose to these guys.

There's no time to really think about what they're doing here- people are dying, after all, and that's not something kids should just get used to. But it's kill or be killed, just like home. What choice is there?]

[as soon as the Shifter's life is extinguished and the power lock disappears, Celty re-envelops herself in shadows and raises her scythe. (Hope no one minded the brief glimpse of naked Dullahan. For the sake of others she might have the barracks make some actual clothing for tomorrow.)

There's still a few more enemies in the area, so she twirls the scythe, slicing directly through the middle of the closest. It doesn't bisect him like it should but he crumples all the same, unconscious. Someone else will have to clean him up... (or.. squish him) but he shouldn't be trouble for a while.]

[Celty scythes aren't supposed to do tha--no, never mind. The guy's incapacitated, so there's no real reason to kill him. Gold doesn't have a problem with having to do it if it came down to it (judging by the destruction he and Simon are leaving in their wake), but... he'd rather not. Someone else can deal with that if it bugs them that much.

He turns on the speaker of Gurren Lagann to call out to their teammate.]

And another group bites the dust. Great job out there, black biker gal!

[Masaomi's not a huge part of this particular plan- or rather, if he is, he's not very aware of it. It's simple, really. He and Kaori attract the attention of the mainstay of the soldiers and then Katara and Shikamaru come to back them up once these two have led them to the traps. One of the other groups will then take out the shifter.

Sure, they're bait, but that's cool. It's a good role for him and he knows it.

The issue with this particular instance is that they seem to have pulled in more than they can chew. In the middle of the mob he's steadily pulling back with the girl beside him (or perhaps above him, she can fly after all!), there's one in the middle of the mob they're pulling who has wing-armor and a fancier weapon and- Well. It's an Elite. Which is part of the reason Masaomi has opted to start fleeing before even punching out too many of the normal soldiers, so they can get in the midst of the traps

~~I CAN START THINGS~~]

[Kaori has chosen to not reveal her wings yet, preferring to dwindle the numbers before exposing that part of herself. Following Masaomi's lead she's pulling back, taking note of the increase in strength from the Elite. Meaning her instincts are kicking in to get the other out of the mob safely.

Not that she's not swinging around those knives she carries as she does it, better to at least wound some of them beforehand, so it would be easier to deal with them if they survive the traps.]

[Troublesome. But he knew going in that regular class soldiers often had an Elite among their ranks, so this wasn't entirely unexpected.

Shikamaru eyes their surrounding, taking note of the terrain and what they can use here. Lots of open space, a plain dirt road leading to an abandoned barn (used more as a shed these days for older unused farm equipment, and thus unprotected by shifts - he checked), and beyond that the orchard of trees they're trying to protect. The trap for the regular soldiers is set somewhere along the way, between the barn and the orchard, but they need to take the Elite out before then.]

Whatever you guys do, don't let it get to the barn! The rest of our team isn't set up for this kind of threat yet.

[...only everyone here should know the rest of their team is off in the other direction, with their own goons to fight. He said that in hopes the Elite will go and investigate, and to let the others know that that's exactly what they should let it do.]

[Katara casts Shikamaru a startled glance because - 'What'? But then she catches on, nodding as if she was accepting an order.]

I'll head him off!

[Except she starts towards him at an angle which is just shy of effective. Her bo is already snapped into place - but the Elite doesn't seem to think he's in any danger from it and he barely does more than abruptly raise some earth in front of Katara and speed it towards her (which, pff, she dodges, having seen better from Toph on her worst day) and dive towards the barn.]

[... There's earth shifting around.

This makes Kaori smile, almost smug. That Elite isn't the only one with the ability to manipulate earth around here as she gets in the path between Katara and the rolling ground, raising her hands upward so that the earth went speeding back toward the Elite with the intention of disrupting his footing from a safe distance.

Anyway she could protect them, she'll do it.]

[Masaomi, hearing this order, nods to himself. The traps might slow down some of the other goons... he should try to kill that guy? Unsure quite what his role is, he goes with his gut.

Shikamaru no doubt has some greater plan (because the rest of the squad isn't there), but if he's going to be "convincing," (or hell, if it fails) he needs to get in towards attacking the Elite to "stop" him from getting at the the barn.

Following up towards the elite during the moment that Kaori counter-attacks, he takes the pipe he has in hand to make for a wide-arced swing at the Elite. He apparently doesn't take the blow to heart, because the awkward strike is easily deflected from the enemy weapon despite what one might call awkward footing. Masaomi takes a quick leap back- ...and then the Elite shifts the earth below him, a sink-pit like what Toph did, maybe? Or just a crag. He quickly repositions either way before he has to find out.

That was convincing, right? He even meant to make the blow. And he didn't get injured! Plus, convinced Masaomi apparently isn't enough of a threat to worry about before getting in the barn itself, the Elite continues for the barn, relatively unhindered.]

Edited 2011-02-28 08:00 (UTC)

[Perfect - they got the message. Now they just need to keep it up.

And going along with the let's-make-this-convincing plan, he'll act like this Elite is too much to handle and join Katara in an attempt to head him off, jumping up on the very pillars of Earth the Elite shifts to leap far ahead of him. He's definitely the fastest in their group as of now, and he can double that with chakra. Might as well make use of that while he can.

He wonders how long they can hold this guy back. He'll need at least a minute to get everything ready to deal with him.]

[Big mistake turning your pretty winged back to her, Elite. Man, who knew a bo could be so distracting?

She doesn't pause, just takes the shot - and about a dozen small ice spikes head out, fast and silent, to shred the Elite's wings.

Just as they're about to make contact, a Shift goes up, and the ice turns to water, falling harmlessly on a few feathers as the Elite continues to head towards the barn.

Well. Crap.]

[Well, if at first you don't succeed...

Masaomi, now repositioned, chucks the pipe at the Elite. It doesn't connect with him (because he deflects it) but Masaomi re-arms himself quickly with a shovel on the ground beside him. The distraction of the pipe allows him the time and the chance to slam the shovel into the side of the Elite.

...Not that this inflicts a lot of damage, but it does make the enemy stumble]

[Kaori is following straight afterward, seizing the opportunity Masaomi created to drive one of her knives into the Elite as he stumbled backward, pulling it upward with as much strength as she could manage at the moment.

With a hard jerk she pulls the blade back out, grabbing onto Masaomi and pulling him backward as far as she could so that they could avoid extensive counter-strikes.]

[Elsewhere, Shikamaru stops next to the barn, his speed giving way some as he can no longer mold the chakra to give it that extra edge. He could have used his shadows for what's coming next, but he can make do.

With another glance to the others to make sure they have the situation covered for now, he darts into the barn. There's a staircase, and he takes the steps three at a time until he reaches the second level. Most of the equipment remains down below, but there's still some things up here - older klunkier models of the skiffs in various states of repair. Lightweight enough not to bring the second level of the barn down, but heavy enough to do some damage when it does.

Quickly, Shikamaru moves to place explosive tags (pre-charged at the dorm) under each skiff, before reaching into a pocket of his flak jacket for wire and kunai. This next part will be trickier.]

[ooc: feel free to skip me for a few rounds - Shikamaru is just setting things up here.]

[That. Was a really unnecessarily large weapon. Honestly, why do people have these things?

That - wasn't important. What was important was keeping him from actually drawing the giant ax out of his massive sheath. She'll be dodging in and attempting to hit his hand and break his wrist with her bo - or at least buy Masaomi and Kaori some time.

Thank you, Sokka, for making her a metal bo.

...and the Elite just jumps back and out of the way. She's really starting to dislike this guy.]

Edited 2011-03-01 06:48 (UTC)

[But the pressure is something Masaomi firmly believes in. His assault is almost stopped by the Elite lifting the ground below him, but he shoves his shovel into the ground, and uses it to lift up off the ground- a pole-vault over to the Elite and punch him in the face. Or well, such is his intention. The blow actually connects into the Elite's chest, and then a secondary punch to the Elite's crotch.

Surprisingly, that doesn't seem to slow the warrior as much as he'd hoped.

The issue here is, of course, now he's much too close for comfort. The ax (mercifully) still isn't drawn, but now with Elite brings his hands the bear and pulls him into a grapple. Holy hell, Masaomi's never experienced someone so even to him in strength before other than, of course, Shizuo Heiwajima. ...And Simon, but he counts less. Anyone wanna save him?]

[Dammit Masaomi, you weren't supposed to go back to him. She's speeding her way back as fast as she can, knives drawn and aiming for any weak spots in his wing armour. Even if she can't spot any, she could still make for a useful distraction as she sees an opening near his neck, revealing sensitive flesh beneath.

Leaping up and driving her blade as deeply in there as she could, all the while kicking at any place she could reach. She would not allow Masaomi to get hurt, not when she could stop it. Even if she has to take the blow in his stead.]

[...Oh man what is that? Kaori just jumped in and performed some made assault. His eyes go wide a little, watching this scene, because this a relatively small girl making a strike he couldn't hope to make. And he stares at this scene in a sort of horrified fascination for the moment, unsure quite what to do here. Does he strike? Doe he...

At very least, the Elite's arms are now off him, focused instead and swatting off the girl who is struggling on him. But suffice to say Masaomi is freezing for a moment.]

I hope this is OK

markofthebrave - 2011-03-02 17:34 (UTC) - Expand

Just fine!

seiriald - 2011-03-03 01:59 (UTC) - Expand

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endgames - 2011-03-03 05:10 (UTC) - Expand

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generalflirt - 2011-03-04 02:10 (UTC) - Expand

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markofthebrave - 2011-03-06 04:04 (UTC) - Expand

[ Chouji was fine to go along with whatever teammates Shikamaru assigned him- mostly because Shikamaru assigned them, but also because everyone was here to help get the Shifters out of the picture like everybody else. With that in mind, there wasn't much point in objecting because he didn't know one of them.

Besides, Temari-san was very reliable and from what he could tell, Frey was a perfectly nice guy.

So obviously they'd manage to get things done just fine today. He was being optimistic. Go go, Team Awkward. ]

[Team Awkward indeed. At least it wasn't Shikamaru; that might have been a little too much for Temari to handle.

She's all business now, though. Can't be less than perfect out here. She comes up to stand beside Chouji and gives the area around them another once-over.]

So far, so good.

[Frey's also looking over the area, and while he'd probably never admit it, it was a bit awkward working with people he'd never met before the draft. Still, this is battle, and you can‘t afford to be worried over something like that during a war.] So are we going to wait for them to come to us, or go to them?

I think it depends on how many we run into. [ Of course, he's not really the strategizing type, either. ] Any particular plans, Temari-san?

We're more than carbon and chemicals

Shift Hunters (Nara Shikamaru)

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I hope this is OK

Just fine!

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sorry for my slowness >_>