thenearshore | disappearing Dog

[He shifts his grip to open the gate in front of the dog owner's home.]

Movement, but nothing too interesting. Probably more animals.

I wonder if they're forming gangs...

[As he opens the gate, the dog panics and breaks free. It hits the ground running and heads behind the house into the back yard and out of sight.]

Hey!... Damn, well at least you're home... you ungrateful...

[And then that's when he notices movement and looks up. Climbing down the building, almost peeling itself from the shadows, is a large akayashi.

As Reika looks around, animals begin to scatter and more large, monstrous forms begin to detach from the shadows. Shuusei's still staring up at the one that seems to just now become aware of the shinki below it.]

Ah... I think I spotted something...

[Understatement!]

Edited 2017-04-05 00:24 (UTC)

[Well isn't that something. Looks like she's going to have to do her job as a god whether she wants to or not. She adjusts her gloves, out of habit more than anything. She knows about touching ayakashi and how badly that can go if they aren't careful.]

Oi, get away from there. It's after you.

[They probably shouldn't wait around for them to congregate, either.]

You'd rather people not get hurt when we fight, right? [She...may or may not be conflating him with someone else right now, shhh] Let's lead them away if we can.

Well it has to catch me first!

[He feels his heart racing and something about the way this thing looks at him makes him eager for this. He doesn't even have time to wonder why as the thing leaps down and he leaps to the side out of the way. He then gets to his feet and races towards her, hoping she plans to lead the way as the thing gives chase.]

Sure! I think I got a trick for that!

[He skids to a stop, trying to focus on this again. He's been practicing but not diligently. His fingers move through the air and he forms a line on the ground. The barrier is stronger than his previous attempts and the first akayashi to leap from the alleys at him slams into it.

He laughs and starts running again, pausing now and then to put barriers up and funnel the akayashi in a column.]

See?

[Of course he can't do this forever and if he doesn't pay attention this could end poorly, but right now he's enjoying himself.]

[She has a second to wonder if he only gets like that when a fight's imminent, since the chase wasn't a real fight and he was sorta like this during that zombie parade. Then her mind gets occupied by more important things.]

Hey, don't lead it toward m— [She stops as she realizes what he's planning. Alright then!]

[She looks over occasionally as she runs; that sure is some trick. Heh.]

There. [An abandoned car lot is great place to have a fight, right?]

You got a plan?

There's one more thing those barriers can do, but I'm told it won't really stop them for good.

[He's going to give up funneling when they have a destination and run towards the car lot with her. He lets her get ahead of him before skidding to a stop and drawing his gun.

He turns on the things chasing them and tries to create his borderline at a specific spot. He lines it up right behind the lead akayashi and manages to block the rest behind the barrier. The barrier slices through the outreached fingers of the second akayashi, harming it.

Shuusei then levels his hand gun at the lead akayashi and fires two shots.]

[She pulls out her T2 but hesitates—it was one thing for the NEVER team to work together once they'd all gotten their respective Gaia Memories, but it had never taken much for the NEVERs to work together. She's never had to take care so the fire she generates doesn't hit someone.]

[... Way too much thinking for a fight.] Yo! Don't get hit!

[So saying, she moves to the ayakashi's other side and starts firing (literally).]

[Meanwhile, Shuusei's definitely taking risks here.

That is, until she unloads fire upon the first ayakashi. Yup, that's enough to make him back up. His handgun doesn't quite have the same impact.

The barrier that the others slammed into is holding, but not for long.]

We have to finish this one quick or we're going to be facing all of them soon!

[Of course there's only one way to put them down for good after you soften them up a bit. That was a bit beyond his control though at this point.]

You sure this thing's been downed enough? [Doesn't seem like it to her, based solely on her own fights against other things, but if she's interpreting him correctly and his borderline's about to go down, it might be worth a shot.]

Alright, I'm going for it. Inuki!

[If he's one for noticing such things, he might observe that her grip in this form is warmer than her usual corpse-cold hands, having been heated by the fire she was just throwing.]

[But more importantly— How does Rend work again? Both of them have to be doing it, right?] Uh, fire when I give the signal.

[He knows his barriers aren't great yet and it's not holding up well now that the things are trying to break through.

Unfortunately for her, he's not really a traditional weapon when he changes. The handheld device appears in her hand.]

I think you have to point the camera at it.

[He selects the application "Rend" and it opens up the camera. A friendly little tutorial reminder ghosts over the camera image telling her to touch the screen and swipe over your target to activate.

It really is like a game. Get it on screen and swipe across like you're playing fruit ninja.]

[Huh. That does make things easier.] Alright. Brace yourself. [She has no idea if he actually needs to, but she's going to say it anyway.]

[You know, she never was any good at fruit ninja—] Hey!

[Where did all these pets come from??] ...You see that too, right? Buncha pets launching themselves at the ayakashi?

[She is way too deadpan for the danger that the pets are in, but at least she holds Handheld!Shuusei up again to fruit-ninja-slice the ayakashi before the pets can do much.]

Shuusei Kagari. How's your boundary holding up?

[He's not sure exactly how he braces himself in this sort of situation so he just hopes for the best. If he had eyes, they'd be squeezed shut.

Then the pets! He isn't sure why they're here but that's helpful.]

Yes! That can't be safe.

[When she finally puts him to use, on the screen she sees an after line that she traces and the words display on the screen big, bold and with an exclamation point, "REND!"

And where she sliced a slice appeared in the physical world on the ayakashi, Rending it like she hit it with a sword. It seems to be effective, if just barely as the ayakashi slowly fades away.

Then she calls him back and he lands on his feet.]

It's about to...

[Then they break through.]

... It's not.

Looks like it's us and the animals versus those guys, then. Uh, listen. My fire doesn't last long unless it's actually setting something on fire. [And sometimes not even then...] I won't be able to keep the pets away. You okay with accepting their heroic sacrifice?

[There's a slight sardonic note as she says all of that; she knows full well what the cost of the weaker ones rising up is. But unlike Mina and the others, these little guys aren't facing death either way.]

Heroic sacrifice?

[Normally he'd say let them, as that sort of thing is their own problem. Still, he doesn't like letting the ayakashi have any sort of win here. Even if it is minor.]

I can keep the pets back. I want to show these things that there is no hope for monsters like them.

[Besides, he has one more plan!]

If I can keep two of them busy can you beat down one?

[She's far better at fighting than he is when it comes to sheer power. Even before she can answer, he's forming border lines between the dogs and the ayakashi which means they're going to be Reika and Shuusei's problem very, very soon.]

[Huh. If she'd thought about it, she would've realize that the borderlines solve their pet-related problems very easily.] Heh. Good call.

[And while tossing fire is a thing she can do, it's certainly not the ideal way, and it was making her tired and bored. So obviously the solution is to run right up to the nearest ayakashi to engage in close combat. Good ideas: she has them.]

[In the midst of it, she can't see how Shuusei's keeping the other two busy, so in a quiet second while the ayakashi's reeling, she looks over.]

[They solve the pet problem but they'll wear on him. Luckily, pets won't break through as quickly as the ayakashi.

As she charges ahead, he rushes the other two. He fires off two shots, one at each of them to get their attention then runs. As soon as he's sure they're on his tail he jumps.

Shinki being somehow lighter in the Near Shore means he doesn't just leap, he almost flies. He lands on a little wall and almost falls off.
This still takes some getting used to. At least this'll keep him ahead of the monsters behind him, right?]

[Well getting them to chase him around is a distraction. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but after the boundary thing, she was probably looking forward to something flashy. Heh. Whatever works, though.]

Oi! [She directs another fancy-ass kick at the ayakashi she's tangoing with.] Not that I want to interrupt your climbing adventures, but I think this one's almost ready for its photoshoot.

[Oh good. Because these things are quick and though Shuusei is light and able to launch himself easily enough he probably can't keep ahead of them forever. He leaps back, throwing a barrier up between him and the other two.

So far everything is going great. It's the last two that'll be interesting.]

Ready when you are!

[Huh, he's really handy with those barriers—]

Then let's do it. [She jumps back to get some distance so the ayakashi can't close in, and—] Inuki!

[She only waits a second. Without even looking to see if he even has the right screen up already, she slides her finger across.]

[He transforms. Glad he cant get motion sickness from this. Or at least he hopes not, he hasn't done this multiple times back and forth like this.

He barely gets the app up before she's targeting and swiping for REND! Again the screen flashes with the line she draws and it creates a slash across the ayakashi front of her.

The last two tear at his boderline.]

I'll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right then we rend them both?

Shuusei Kagari. If your screen's big enough to fit 'em both in, go for it.

[Which is to say, it's a plan. (Don't look at her, she's bad at planning, herself. Pretty good at following them, though.)]

[That in mind, she directs a flame toward the closer one to get its attention. If it hits Shuusei's borderline, well, uh...whoops.]

[He lands on his feet and sees the fire. He wills his borderline away before the flames hit so she can draw the attention of the first ayakashi.

He's not skilled enough to make his borderlines only block one thing or one direction. He's lucky he's gotten the hang of throwing them down.

As for the second one, he takes a shot at it with his gun to get it's attention as he runs off to the side. He shoots it again as it charges. He waits until the last moment and hops as it dives for him. He uses his left hand to shove the thing's head down to make it trip forward and slide along the pavement as he leap frogs it.

That's the first mistake. He cries out as his hand gets blighted. He lands off balance and rolls a bit, slowly getting up and favoring his off hand. He sees the thing getting up and quickly fires his last shot into it's front leg to make it collapse again. Shuusei can't stop here, so he runs forward and kicks it in the head as hard as he can to keep it down. He hops backwards from there and begins angrily using the borderlines to cut!

One cut slashes it, then another. The fleeting borderlines he creates slice into the thing but that won't stop it and Shuusei is just exhausting himself fast. More cuts slash into it as it gets up and charges, angry and injured at Shuusei who is not prepared to get out of the way this time.

Hopefully Rei's keeping better track of this fight.]

[Reika outta nowhere, using "her" ayakashi as a springboard to jump closer to Shuusei, and then stand in front of him—a brief second's reprieve, only long enough for her to take an inhale in preparation. Neither being a NEVER nor a Dopant gives her any extra weight, but she has NEVER strength, and so she meets the charging ayakashi head-on and gives it a tremendous heave. How she manages to push it back is bit of a mystery even to her, but—she shakes her arms out—it's starting to hurt now.]

[And "her" ayakashi is starting towards them now, too.]

I've been outnumbered before, but this is getting pretty dangerous. [Said in an inappropriate amused tone.]

[She creates another flame and tosses it at "her" ayakashi. Unfortunately, it chooses to leap through instead. An expletive is on her tongue as she runs over to greet it with her foot.]

...Let's not split up. Can you still borderline?

[To answer her question he creates one right infront of the leaping ayakashi she threw fire at. It crashes into it and stops its charge.]

Sort of, but that's not going to last.

[He looks back at the one he was cutting up. Shuusei is still favoring his one hand]

Let's get them one at a time. I think mine is good to go.

I just needed a second. [Okay, breath caught, back to business.]

Inuki. [With the other ayakashi to deal with, she has to hurry now, so she swipes just as quickly as before.]

Hey, is this hard on you? [She thinks about that now. It's totally not the time, but it finally occurred to her that her own transformation keeps her proportions intact, more or less, but the game thing Shuusei turned into is kinda small. Plus he's been in and out of it so many times now; the only time she reverts is voluntarily (and when she gets defeated, but who wants to think about that?).] Just one more.

[The slashes appear on the ayakashi before her while the word REND flashes on the screen. Again she does away with them.]

It's... sorta dizzying. I'll live. Or I'll hurl. Can I hurl like this?

[No, he's not going to hurl but he'll deal with if he's getting light headed from changing, the blight, using borderlines more than he has before or whatever it is later.]

One more. I'm releasing the border line... now!

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I for some reason got myself stuck that they were spelled akayashi! orz

i didn't even notice tbh lol

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