The Lightning Country Saga, Act 2 Scene 3[B]

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu hunkered down in his position on the train, waiting for the two full ANBU operatives to reach his position. Unfortunately, holding his position wasn't going to be completely uneventful in the meantime. Gin and Moro were several cars down, and Ayumu's landing had not gone unnoticed. Hatches on the car screeched as they were pried open. Ayumu drew his sword and prepared to defend himself as men clambered out and on to the rooftop to confront him. He dashed forward at each that emerged, dicing them up as they entered his range. The furthest one managed to raise a bolter and fire off a bolt which grazed Ayumu's side and left what would surely be a scar later. As the man tried to fire a second shot he found himself missing his weapon and the lower half of his arm. Fortunately for him he would only have a split second to mourn that loss. With the flow of attackers stemmed for the moment, he gave his sword a swing to sling blood from it and sheathed it once more. He briefly considered hanging off the side of the train to hide, but his sempai arrived before he could give it a second thought.

"Fancy meeting you here!" he shouted as they drew near. Not wanting to slow them down, he started running as soon as they reached the car he was on moving slowly enough that they would catch up before matching their speed. Now they were on their way to meet up with Haruka and Eru, and God rest the souls of those that would stand in their way. The adrenaline was really pumping now, and Ayumu had a huge grin across his face. Soon they would see Eru and the Captain ahead holding their position against the hordes. Well, there weren't that many at the moment, as evidenced by the fact that Eru had time to tackle Moro to the ground in a hug. Ayumu slowed to a stop and made a point not to watch the embarrassing scene as he scratched his head wondered if they were always like that. He looked up as the captain called out to them and nodded. He turned his head to Eru and Moro as Eru came to her senses.

"Ah, so you've noticed us," he said with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. He went silent as Haruka caught them up on the status of the other teams. Ayumu was glad that they had survived and were well, but the ANBU still needed to figure out how to get to the engine to do their part. He was also slightly worried about the team already present on the train. He didn't know them, but no part of him wanted to hear that anything had happened to them. As Haruka mentioned the hatch, he looked down to see what she was referring to and then to Eru, who was apparently their resident B&E expert. Haruka chimed in once more, instructing Eru to hurry- apparently they didn't have much time. Ayumu looked up to see a rather large group of enemies had taken to the rooftops to address the ANBU infestation. This was just how he liked it. His grin grew larger as he drew his bolter which was still strapped to his side with a bit of luck.

He lifted the bolter and aimed level with the wide line of enemies approaching. Now, he was not very practiced at using this thing at all, but considering the number of targets, how hard could it be? Taking aim, he slowly squeezed the trigger and the bolt shot forth, landing with a thud in the roof of the car somewhere between the ANBU and the group closing in. 'Ahhh screw this thing!' he thought with a scowl, tossing it aside to never have use again. He didn't know how to reload it anyway. Actually, he wasn't even sure if it had to be reloaded, but his time would be better spent doing something else. His look of contempt quickly turned in to a lightly deranged looking grin as he drew both of his swords this time, preparing for the fight at hand. Time to throw some buffs on.

After a brief moment of concentration, both of his blades would gain a hint of a blue aura- but the aura would only be seen by those that could see chakra. To everyone else it would look like he simply been daydreaming for a moment. The reality was that he had used a technique known as Chakra Extension to slightly increase the range and damage of his weapons. Meanwhile, Moro-sempai was unloading on the enemy, probably taking down ninjas left and right with his garando. Ayumu was still not quite ready. This time, his look of concentration had visible results as a blue Aura, actually visible to the naked eye, began to glow around his weapons. Now Moro's eyes were glowing intimidatingly, and a very ominous sky was looming overhead suddenly, which Ayumu hoped was Moro's doing as well. After a series of handseals by Moro, a protective barrier of sorts surrounded Ayumu, something he was sure would be quite helpful in a moment. A bit of commotion briefly stole Ayumu's attention as some of the enemies turned on one another. He was sure that must have been Gin's contribution. Bending their will to her own... frightening. That was when his sempai took one another's hands. Were they going to dance on top of the roof? No. Ayumu knew what they were doing, and he knew exactly what he had to do. There was no explanation necessary, he simply knew.

The trainee crouched in to a starting position for a run, both swords angled downward at his sides, ready to launch in to the path of his enemy. He didn't even look back as they both pointed their jutsu in his direction. As his sempai both launched their respective techniques, Ayumu erupted from his starting position in a Burst of Speed in order to match the pace of their elements. A vortex of wind from behind propelled his body forward even more quickly as bolts of deadly lightning and more smaller vortexes swirled around his path, almost seeming to make a tunnel around his path. He voiced his mighty battle roar as he cut a swath straight through the middle of the enemy ranks, his blades moving at untraceable speeds to cut down all that stood before him. Moro's lightning surrounded and protected him, but also arched away striking even those that were fortunate enough not to be in the direct line and chaining from man to man. Gin's vortexes broke away from Ayumu at times and drove directly in to several enemies, almost assuredly throwing some clean off the train. All of this happened within the course of just a few seconds, and as the jutsus reached their maximum range and began to dissipate, Ayumu emerged from the tunnel of wind and lightning. He came to a stop on the other side of the enemy mass, his blades extended on either side of him, angled behind him towards the path from whence he had come.

"YUNIZON... REIDO!!... (name pending) he shouted loudly enough for all that had witnessed the team's glory to hear. Breathing heavily now, but still ready for more, he turned to see what enemies remained brave enough to challenge the ANBU further. He needed to return to his allies' sides now, who would dare to stand in his way?! Actually, he was slightly wondering if it had been the best idea to put so much space between himself and his allies. A bit of electricity still cracked and sparked around his body. It was a miracle his headset was working. Whether it had buzzed to life before, during, or after the attack he wasn't sure. He had been far too focused on the precision of the attack to think about any of that talking noise, but the conversation was now registering with him. He lifted a finger up briefly to his headset to press the button and speak.

"What now, Captain?" he asked of Captain Haruka, whom was presumably still up in her little nest taking out bad guys with her mad sniping skills. If it was true that the prince was in Horo Danshi's possession, that was very good news, but the ANBU's mission was now basically invalid. Completing their objective would mean a very large explosion most likely, which would probably be very bad. The last two questions Horo asked made it sound as though he had a plan, but he hadn't shared it with his allies. So what was their plan now? They couldn't very well blow up the train with everybody on it. They might be crazy, but they weren't that crazy. Those last things Horo had asked- why? Ayumu thought about it for a moment, and then realization set in. 'The rails? He couldn't intend to derail this train...

Spoiler

OoC: Sorry about that length... here, have a summary.

Summary: He fights some weak dudes with his sword on the rooftop where he landed and sustains a small wound on his side. Then, as Moro/Gin reach him, he follows them to Captain Haruka and Eru. When the enemy group arrives, he realizes that his crossbolt is useless and tosses it aside. He then proceeds to draw his swords and put some buffs on them (listed below). Finally, in combination with Gin and Moro's jutsus, he carves his way through the enemy group in probably the most awesome team combination attack ever. I assume I could hear Horo's broadcast; if not, ignore that part.

1. Chakra Extension
2. Aura
3. Burst of Speed
4. Yunizonreido... we just went full Shounen guys.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

IAT Raiden’s Breath, Car 9, Linen Service
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 150km from the Capitol City
...1600 hours

"Black Bandana" from the Hitman:Absolution OST​

He crossed the line. So Tama crossed him out.

"What the fuc-" the Makoro henchman began to say as Tama’s pointed fingers smashed into his spine and turned his arms and legs to useless jelly for all practical purposes. There were now three children attacking him – three children wearing panda hoodies and talking about a show. The hits to the stomach knocked the wind out of him and the hit to the “offending appendage” knocked him out, before the final kick sent him rocketing face-first through the glass door of a washing machine. As the machine continued to churn, sudsy and bloody water leaking everywhere, the body tumbled, flipping around like a lopsided piece of meat stuck in a grinder.

“You saved me, my lord shinobi!” said the servant girl, dumbfounded, as she kowtowed to Tama and Senna. The poor thing was an absolute wreck compared to prior; clothes torn, face bruised and beaten, and streaks down her face where tears had run just beforehand. “I apologize for the trouble I put you through. Please, if it is of any help to you at all, I overheard the hijackers talking. There are other shinobi from Kumogakure who have boarded this train now. One of them placed a barrier of some sorts in Car Eight that the hijackers cannot pass. You may be able to pass since you are shinobi, however,” she said nervously. “I know I will merely add to your trouble, so I will hide here amongst the bins. You have already done too much for a lowly servant such as myself,” she said, bowing and padding away.

Her experimental weapon having failed, Senna now scrounged for any hardware she could. Tama had already sent the goon to a watery and ignominious death, and as a result he had conveniently dropped his equipment for her use. The particular model she picked up was a common sight in many of the genocide-happy open-sewer hellhole armpits of the world: the ubiquitous Avtomat Karashnikova select-fire repeating crossbolter. Conceived of in the aftermath of the Waterfall Wars by a war-wagon driver with a penchant for engineering, it was virtually impossible to jam, could be manufactured in a tin shack with sheet metal, pliers, and a hand-drill, and could easily be used by a six-year-old (as it often was in the aforementioned areas). Firing a 7.62mm non-fletched bolt at speeds of up to 700 meters per second with an effective range of 350 meters, it could easily drop man, animal, and shinobi with ease. Senna had attempted to make a more civilized weapon for a more elegant age – now she returned to the basics.

“You’re right, Nemoto-san. I’ve...I’ve had enough of these bastards killing my people,” said Shiranai, balling his fists until the knuckles turned white. “I’m a mednin, and probably not a good one, but I can put my skills to work too,” he said, drawing two kunai. Practicing his aim, he whipped one of them at a nearby metal bulkhead. With a plinking sound, it sunk into the wall. Satisfied that his throwing skills were at least up to par with what was expected from a shinobi, he retrieved it.

Ironically, the other soldiers had headed toward the front of the train – and toward the next railcar that apparently contained the barrier that the servant girl had mentioned. So if they wished to reach the barrier, they would need to deal with the other three anyway. Silently, the trio crept in pursuit of the others, catching up to them in a few minutes. The fore part of the laundry car did not contain so many washing machines and dryers as it contained giant, snake-like mechanical racks of hanging shirts, uniforms, and robes that were in constant motion in a circuit around the room. It would be easy to hide here, but there would be no real cover should a firefight break out. As Senna, Tama, and Shiranai crouched behind a laundry bin, they could now hear a conversation unfold.

“No, it’s just wrong,” said one of the soldiers, his voice raised in argument. “Look, I’m willing to die for Makoro-sama as I’m sure he is too, but that doesn’t mean we turn into fuckin’ animals. You think the boss would’ve let that slide? Jiro’s completely out of line. I’m going to go and deal with him myself.”

“Yeah? And let’s say you chop his dick off, White Knight. Think she’s gonna give you a BJ? You’ll probably just have to shoot her,” said another soldier, lighting a cigarette up.

“I’ll detain her and find more information about the Crown Prince, who’s the actual mission objective here,” responded the first soldier.

“Do what you want. Until this barrier goes down, we’re stuck here anyway. Count Seiji’s been silent for some reason,” said the third, who was probably their commander by the looks of it. The first soldier shook his head and started to walk to the aft of the car – presumably to deal with the attempted rapist who Tama had just dispatched. Although he would likely not see the shinobi, if he saw the body, he would raise an alarm. The other two soldiers now lazily started on patrol routes through the front of the laundry car. So far, they too did not appear to be on high alert.

Tama, Senna, and Shiranai are at the front of the Laundry Car. Three heavily-armed soldiers block their path to Hinote's field barrier, with one soldier doubling back in their direction.

IAT Raiden’s Breath, Car 5, Coolant Storage
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 150km from the Capitol City
...1600 hours

“Polnyi pizdets!” gasped Reina upon hearing Horo’s plan. The scruffy, greasy shinobi in front of her was, without a doubt, certifiably insane. He was proposing a classic “Kaminarijin Happy Ending,” which for the non-cinemaphiles among our readership, meant everyone in the movie died. Which was why she resolved to herself that she definitely liked him now. “You stupid bastard, when this is over, you will marry me and join me on my ship. That is an order,” she said, a feral grin plastered on her face. As they took off together to the engine room, she wondered what it would take to defeat this wonderful man’s mother in the traditional duel that needed to take place before the older woman would allow her son to be given away in matrimony.

As they ran to the fore of the train, the sounds of crashing thunder and the booming sounds of arbalest fire echoed above them. No doubt this was the consequence of Horo’s mad gambit. Whatever response Makoro’s henchmen had mustered was running into heavy resistance – most likely another team of shinobi. As Horo threw the doors to the main engine room open, both of them could not help but let out an involuntary gasp.

The reactor core itself was frankly, almost disappointingly nondescript. Simply a large metal cylinder in the center of the room painted matte white and with many tubes and pipes leading from it to other large pieces of machinery in the room. It did not even crackle or buzz or whine like one might expect. The staccato ticking of a Geiger counter overhead was the only reminder present of what the true nature of this chamber was. But strewn around the room were what looked like more victims. Probably the engineers, who wore the same dirty, scruffy, bulbous environmental suits Horo had seen before. Their clear but smeared helmets sat next to the suits, which seemed to leak a blobby, fleshy-colored substance out of the holes into which hands, feet, and arms would have emerged. Souta must have done something horrid to these poor individuals, because they seemed almost melted in character, like their bones had been ripped from their poor bodies.

“My Lord...Shinobi...” rasped a voice to Horo’s left. As he turned his head to face the sound, he saw an engineer limply slumped against a bulkhead. The man’s helmet possessed a reflective gold coating, making his actual face impossible to behold. “You...you need to stop...the train. Don’t...let what happened to us...happen to others. If you derail us...the train has failsafes... The Holy Boron Rods...will advance and...put the reactor into...cooldown mode. We kept this...from the Count. Thank Raiden...I could see a shinobi...before I died...” With a final, rasping gasp, the man spoke no more.

Horo and Reina are in Car 1, Main Engine. No opposition present.

IAT Raiden’s Breath, Car 18, Grand Conference Room
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 150km from the Capitol City
...1600 hours

As Rai and Tomomi jumped into the blasted-out interior through the massive, gaping hole that had once been an arbalestillery emplacement, the railcar itself seemed to shudder and groan, the whining sound of strained metal pulling itself apart lancing their sensorium. The explosion had made things unstable, and the train itself seemed to shift and wobble more often on its track. Making their way toward Car 18, they were struck by the fact that there seemed to be no resistance offered, making the burned and bloody hallways seem all the more creepier. Still, both HRT members kept their weapons ready, just n case. The shaking of the entire back section of the train was getting stronger.

A slight movement out of the corner of Tomomi’s visual field caught her attention and she snatched at it, finding the offending item to be a paper airplane. Unfolding it, she would be able to read the message:

We are injured, but alive. The Crown Prince is missing. Is he with you by chance?
-Countess Bakunin.

Before long, they were at the door of Car 18, heavily barricaded from the looks of it, and the entire place reeked of recent blood and fighting.

Five minutes prior​

“I’m eighty-SEVEN,” snapped Ryuu back to Bakunin, crossing his arms. “But that doesn’t mean much right now! My father has already withdrawn himself from consideration, as have the other eighty-six nobility in front of me! That makes me number one by default. I mean, what are you?! Like over nine-thousandth or something?”

“I agree with the Countess. We need to look for His Majesty,” said Ami, rubbing a sore spot on her arm and staring pointedly at Ryuu. “If we are unable to find him, then...yes, you would be the legitimate successor to the throne, Daimyo Amakusa,” she said, betraying no hint of her disgust.

“Milady! I sense footsteps approaching!” suddenly said Izanagi Naoto, his earth-sense pricking up. Exchanging looks of dread with Kouhei, he limped toward the door...

Back to the Present​

“Who goes there?! Are you shinobi?” asked a gravelly voice from within. Suddenly, the loud, horrid whine of tearing metal blasted everyone’s ears. Deep cracks started to form in the very bulkheads themselves, and it did not take a genius to realize what was going on. The explosion from before had wrought unintended consequences, and now the rear section of the train itself was coming apart. If no one did anything, structural instability plus the high speed at which they proceeded would no doubt result in cars fifteen through twenty not only detaching from the rest of the train, but flipping and rolling as a result, creating a tornado of shrapnel that would doubtless shred anyone still inside. The HRT and Bakunin needed to act quickly.

Haruka/Tomomi, Rai, and Bakunin are close enough to touch. Unfortunately, the section of train they're on is rapidly coming apart and if the HVTs are not protected, they will certainly die.

IAT Raiden’s Breath, Car 10, Main HVAC
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 150km from the Capitol City
...1600 hours

“Ooh...I smell pussy,” snarled the rather stylish missing as he sniffed the air, growing closer to Kitsune. As he pointed his Desert Eagle with Golden Tiger Stripes at the area in front of him, he licked his lips in anticipation of violating her. Originally hailing from Water Country, Saeko Jenosaido was a traitor to the Mizukage and had long been a warlord on the southern coast of Lightning Country, responsible for pirating the shipping lanes and wreaking havoc on Kelmuran trade. His particular touch of nastiness was that he liked to rape his captives before shooting them in the head as he climaxed. Kitsune’s barbed wire garrotte sank into his throat, however, ending that nightmare for seafaring folk. As she hoisted him upward, his dying reflexes let loose a stream of brown feculence down the sides of his legs.

“Impure wenches everywhere...” muttered the crazily-garbed woman as she walked softly down another passageway, mumbling to herself half-finished litanies interspersed with profanities. Takahashi Azusa had once been part of the Order of Shinbatsu in Cloud, but had been expelled after abducting a fellow chuunin and sawing his head off on the altar of the Black God. She had been sent to the Underprison for her crimes, where she spent ten years sacrificing other prisoners by skinning them alive at an improvised altar. Upon her release, she had been deemed an incompetent and left to exile. Little did the village know that she retained every ounce of her former skill, resulting in many unsolved skinnings over the last ten years. Kitsune’s senbon crashed into her neck now, severing her carotid arteries and tearing her larynx open. As her lungs filled with blood and her brain died from lack of oxygen, she stiffened and fell to the floor.

“The hell...” growled the missing nin who had festooned himself with severed parts. He had just heard the sound of projectiles thrown, and that meant trouble. Hakaze Kony originally hailed from NeoKonoha and had been sent on a mission as a genin to infiltrate and destroy a rebel militia group that had been wreaking genocide on indigenous tribes in the southern jungles of Fire Country. Rather than destroy them, however, he found that he rather enjoyed unfettered brutality without the hassle of having to justify it to his Sennin, and quickly took over the rebel movement as its leader. In particular, he enjoyed chopping the arms off of little children before sending them to run through a minefield. Hinote’s kunai now found his throat, slashing cleanly and giving him an entirely-too-painless death.

“Let’s play a game...” snarled the razor-puppet on the tuxedo-wearing man’s shoulder. Its name was Gabbo, and the human who toted it around was simply irrelevant: merely an empty shell of a host that was easily replaceable with another. Gabbo did not know when he had initially come to life, but what it did know what that it enjoyed killing the worthless fleshy bags around it, and that it delighted in their screams. He was proud of his creations – elaborate underground mazes through which the fleshy bags would run in search of salvation, only to be torn apart painfully by the hundreds of traps within. With these devices, he had killed dozens, and planned for many more. Suddenly, the floor dropped out from under Gabbo and the host. Before the puppet could cry out in surprise, the last thing that registered across its brain was the sheer pressure that the wheels of the Raiden’s Breath exerted on its head before shattering it.

Now, Hinote cast his final Genjutsu on Souta, appearing as a weird, blue angelic savior who promised power…only to have the tentacled man snarl back and pull a pistol crossbolter from out of his belt, aiming it at the mednin chief. As he pulled the trigger, however, the Count was suddenly knocked back into reality by the impact of bolts against his own chest. He had been pointing the muzzle of the bolter at himself all along. Dropping the weapon, he staggered backward, blood streaming from the fanged replacement mouth. Hinote slowly walked up to him, and wordlessly chopped at the side of his neck, shattering the vertebra. All motor control below Souta’s neck now ceased to exist, and he slumped over against the wall. He coughed, starting to choke on crimson, and looked down.

“I...I have wood?” he gasped, in wonderment. “Why do I have wood?!”

Hinote and Kitsune have terminated Count Seiji Souta and his bodyguards. Captain Morishima of the ANBU is going to relay a transmission to you, but you are otherwise free to move about and rejoin any of the other groups as you see fit.

IAT Raiden’s Breath, On top of Car 6
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 150km from the Capitol City
...1600 hours

“Blessed be Shinbatsu my strength, who teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight,” repeated Captain Morishima Haruka between clenched teeth as she lined up her crosshairs on a Kyoujouran who charged at Gin and squeezed the trigger. Before the report of her arbalest reached her ears, the stone-clad missing nin’s head exploded into a shower of crimson and gravel, dropping him.

“My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and He in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me...” A heavily-armored shock trooper fell to his knees, hands reaching to his throat in a futile effort to stem the geyser of red that now erupted and drained his lifeblood away. Another bang of the prods letting loose, and a missing genin who had been targeting Moro with a bolter was knocked back, arm blown out of its socket.

“O Akira Saito, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me!” It was endless, the stream of enemies. Ejecting the thick, blocky magazine from her arbalest, she swapped in the last one she carried, continuing to take methodical shots at the enemy. As she looked up to check on Eru and the others, her pupils widened as she saw it. A missing chuunin had just completed handseals, and aimed an explosive missile of plasma at her. Up on the observation tower, there would be no escape. She closed her eyes, waiting for her death a half-second later...

"Magic Last" from the Fairy Tail OST​

"YUNIZON... REIDO!!” suddenly bellowed Ayumu from below as the world spontaneously went blue-white and a shock wave of righteous virginal shounen fury blasted everyone’s consciousness. Just as quickly, the disturbed world went to normal, and Haruka opened her eyes to see that the trainee now stood at the far side of the roof, his body swathed in sheets of smoke and radiating blue arcs of electricity. The mass of enemy shinobi, including the one who had been about to fire his jutsu at the tower, stood stock still for a second, before abruptly and literally falling to pieces like bloody dominoes. Haruka let out a ragged breath, realizing what had happened. Besides the thrumming sounds of the train moving, all else was silent.

“Good work, team!” she said, wiping at a stinging sensation in her eye as she looked at Ayumu. It would have been the perfect time to embrace them all, but there was business to attend to. Based on what the screwball Horo Danshi had just broadcasted moments before, it seemed like not just their lives and the lives of the hostages were in the balance, but those of the million inhabitants of Raiden’s Eye.

“Haruka-nee-chan! It’s done!” piped Eru now as she made a final pushing motion with her hands, and the hatchway slid to the side, clattering to the metal roof with a piercing clang. Haruka now spoke up.

“Alright, listen up everyone! One of the Main Branchers claims he has the Crown Prince and is planning to derail the entire train! We need to find Horo Danshi yesterday and terminate him if he's gone rogue. Do not harm the Crown Prince. Switch to NEST protocol!” said Haruka to the ANBU. Quickly, she switched to the main frequency. “Chief Hinote! Be prepared for a mass-casualty situation! HRT! Secure whatever hostages you’ve found and brace for derailment!”

In an amazing display of Shounen asskickery (with mandatory blushing), Moro, Gin, and Ayumu have repelled their attackers. However, Captain Morishima has just gotten word that Horo Danshi may be planning on derailing the entire train. You have been ordered to intercept Danshi and if necessary, terminate him before he does so. Danshi, your job is to somehow convince the ANBU that this course of action is wise, OR just derail the thing before they get to you!

Thank you all for your timely posts! This upcoming round is the LAST one! I promise you this will end in awesomeness. The posting deadline is Saturday AM. Senna, please check your PMbox. I have a question for you.

Also as a clarification, remember I don't care about post order and also, since there might be some dialogue going on between your characters, you are encouraged to make multiple posts if you wish. Remember that there is a 2000-word minimum for a B-rank mission, so keep this in mind as well. Both this round and your optional topic-leaving post are fair game for this.

 

[Akemi]

((OOC: Okay... I think I got this all right... er... I hope I got this all right.))

Senna took a quick glance at the fallen soldier's weapon (mostly to examine it for any traps, although she doubted that) before picking it up for a closer inspection. The weapon was obviously a bolter, a select-fire one, most likely with a gas-assist mechanism to enable full-automatic fire. Senna removed the current magazine; 7.62 rounds... this thing would leave a mark on whatever it hit. Based on the size of the clip, the weapon most likely had about twenty or thirty shots for it, not bad. It was a little bit heavy for Senna, but it felt sturdy enough to survive an artillery barrage.

This weapon was simple and efficient. Oh yes, Senna liked it, she liked it a lot. Maybe she would get to take this bolter home with her? Get to take it apart and try to upgrade and modify it? That would make her day.

Now, back to the plan, Senna turned her attention to the Prince and her Squad mate. "Shiranai-dono, don't worry too much about fighting, just keep yourself safe... I promise I'll take care of myself. Just- just promise that you'll pick me up if I fall." Senna said, her tone was somewhat weak, unsure. She was still a little bit jittery from the situation, but she was starting to recover. She took a look at the maid, then look back to Shiranai.

"Milord, can you spare one of your blades? I don't want her to be alone and unarmed." Senna asked, she turned back to the maid. "You don't have to fight, just protect yourself." She reassured.

With that situation out of the way, Senna made her way with the group towards the front of the train, where the rest of the squad (and hopefully some of their allies) were waiting. It was uneventful for a few minutes, but Senna kept a watchful eye. Until eventually.

There they were, three of them. While they waited behind cover, the soldiers appeared to have a small argument, apparently over the other soldier's behavior. So, even some of Makoro's men had a sense of honor?

The argument eventually ended, and the soldier who protested against the would-be rapist's actions started to make his back back towards the back of the train... and closer to Senna and her allies. Well, it was now or never, apparently.

"Mochizuki-san, as soon as you can get your hands on him, bust his lights out." Senna instructed. She waited quietly for the carnage to begin... she took a deep breath, she had to be perfectly calm this time. She switched the bolter's setting to 'semi-auto'.

3... 2... 1... showtime.

As soon as Tama made her move, Senna would pop out from cover and quickly rushed forward while pulling her bolter up to take aim. She steadied her stance and trained her eyes down the sights to get a good look at her targets... they were both decently armored, so she couldn't count on a centre-of-mass attack. She pulled the bolter a a little bit higher and took the first shot, then quickly jerked the weapon to the second soldier and fired again. If her aim was correct, both shots would cause a near-instant disconnect of brain activity... giving both soldiers a quick and painless (if not somewhat messy) death.

The two soldiers fell over almost instantly, they most likely didn't even have time to register that they were under attack.

Senna took a deep breath. "I... I- did it..." She blurted out, almost as if in disbelief. There it was, her first combat situation, and now her first kills. She gave out a small sigh, she would have to sort this out later, she was still on a mission...

"Come on, let's see if we can meet up with the others." She said in a determined voice. Her exterior showed an aura of calm and assurance.

... inside, she was a little disappointed in herself...

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

Tama blanched at the dead soldier slowly churning in the wash, her intent hadn’t been to kill. Dead people don’t make much of an audience, after all. But Tama hadn’t really come to terms with what she was being trained to do; she had always assumed that she could simply use these skills for performing. She wasn’t ready to take lives. She simply stood there staring at her hands, they were clean, she hadn’t drawn blood or anything, and the man had only died when she kicked him into the washing machine. It really was because she hadn’t been paying attention to where she was kicking the man and due to the fact that she wasn’t controlling her own strength, but all Tama could think of was that she was the one who had killed him. She had set in motion the events that had caused his death.

Granted, he was about to do unspeakable acts to the young serving girl, acts that Tama really wasn’t aware of, but the girl seemed grateful for it anyway. Tama was so wrapped up in these thoughts that she barely noticed the serving girl kowtowing and thanking her, “Right. <ahem> I-I mean, of course! Hope you enjoyed the show,” she said in an attempt to mask her tumultuous feelings but the words rung hollow to her. The serving girl probably didn’t notice, as she had just survived her own horrendous experience and was more than likely happy to be alive and relatively unharmed. Senna and Shiranai had a better chance of noticing the slight faltering of Tama’s usually obnoxiously bright demeanor, Shiranai with the better chance between the two, as he was an older and more experienced shinobi.

The serving girl had mentioned other shinobi on the train, There are others besides us and that…eccentric (the most polite way Tama could describe Horo) chuunin? Well it was somewhat of a relief to hear, not that she would say that out loud, considering that everything about this mission had just gone off the rails on a crazy train. The plan was to pass through the barrier in the next car, and rendezvous with the other Kumogakure shinobi. But there were at least three other goons to deal with in the next car, and Tama couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to have to kill them too. A quick glance back at the body still limply floundering in the rinse cycle made her shudder. There was an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach, and Tama hated it. The show must go on, she kept telling herself. Thinking of the whole ordeal as a performance helped her calm down, It’s a performance. Nobody dies in a performance. It’s not real. She knew, deep down, that what she had witnessed and what she had done was in fact real, but she desperately didn’t want to be responsible for it. Pretending that it didn’t happen, or pretending that this was an elaborate fabication was an easy way to escape the knowledge that she had just killed another living, breathing, sentient person.

They crept into the next car and ducked behind another laundry bin as the three other goons argued about the character Jori, the one whose motivation was to penetrate anything and everything he could. The character who Tama had kill- knocked out, in the previous car.

Whilst they hid amongst the laundry carts, Senna, or Squishy (her nickname as determined by the powers that be), communicated a plan of attack to Tama. Even the star performer needs a good director, so she listened attentively to the girl. Nodded her understanding of the plan, Tama crouched near the entrance waiting for Senna’s signal. On it, she sprang out at the White Knight socking him had in the gut, saying, “Took care of your buddy, you can see him off stage right!” Then she released an chakra-empowered roundhouse kick to his head that ideally would send him flying through the connector into the previous car or at least crashing into the connector doorway. Presumably, this action would result in the remaining two goons opening fire on our panda-hooded heroine. In response to that action she made a few quick handseals before playing the distraction for Senna. Tama’s body began to shine with an intense light, making it difficult, but not impossible, for the soldiers to aim properly at her. She then started dating around the room so as to better hide Senna’s actions by attracting all the attention. Hopefully, this would provide Senna with enough time to pull through on her half of the plan. She tried to keep an eye on the “White Knight” too. If he wasn’t completely out of the fight, it might make things more troublesome for Senna.

If things went according to the script the three thugs would be own for the count and this play could advance to the next scene.

 

[Umeki Rai]

Carefully, Rai slid into the train through the opening in the roof, Haruka following close behind. Making sure to check corners and stay quiet, the hostage rescue team methodically cleared each section on the way to car eighteen. There wasn't much to report other than the paper airplane note that was sent to them, notifying them of the missing hostage. Upon arriving at their destination, they soon realized that the hostages and whoever accompanied them had taken matters into their own hands to some extent, barricading the doorway. Looking around, Rai discovered that there was definitely a fight that had taken place here.

"Who goes there? Are you shinobi", he heard a voice say through the barricade. Clearing his voice, Rai exclaimed, "We are shinobi from the village hidden in the clouds. We're here to help."

Just as Rai finished, a horrible screeching sound rang through the air. The metal on metal friction screamed loudly through the train car, alerting the hostage rescue team of their most immediate problem. The train was going to come apart if it continued at this speed. The anbu hadn't been able to stop the train yet. Clearly they were running into trouble of their own. Rai knew what had to be done. Somehow, they had to disconnect the back train cars from the rest of the train. He quickly turned to Haruka.

"We need to disconnect ourselves from the rest of the train!" Rai was shouting at the top of his lungs, but he could barely be heard over the loud sound of metal tearing. Even as he said it, he knew that Haruka would already know what needed to be done. She was the perfect person to do the job. Just then, Rai realized that he was forgetting something. He was forgetting the Prince. For a second, he panicked. There was a very small possibility that the prince was in one of the last few cars on the train. That means that in order to find him, they needed to go the other way. However, they also needed to separate themselves from the rest of the train quickly before everyone died. Just like the metal in the Raiden's Breath, he was torn.

Rai knew what he had to do. "Stay here with the hostages, I need to find the Crown Prince", he yelled to Haruka. Before she could respond, he was off, running at top speed through the train cars with only one goal in mind. He needed to find the prince and get him away from this train. He would not be stopped by anyone. If anyone stood in his way, he would simply dodge them and keep running until he found his target, and when he got there, he would do his best to shield him from harm, even if it meant putting his own body on the line. Knife in hand, body and soul aligned, Rai sprinted through the train searching for the final hostage.

1. Assure hostages that we are here to help
2. Formulate plan to disconnect the rear of the train
3. Run through train searching after Shiranai
4. Try to save Shiranai any way possible (body shield, jumping ship, etc)

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu craned his head back and forth surveying the battlefield which was now littered with bodies and parts from the combination attack. He had expected it to do some damage to the ranks, but apparently they had downright devastated them along with the support of Captain Haruka's sniping saving their asses along the way. The temporary threat quelled, Ayumu slung blood off of both of his blades, sheathing them simultaneously. He was going to have to get them a thorough cleaning later, swinging them only did so much. He caught himself, a bit shocked about the thought he had just had. Was he really worrying about cleaning his blades after he had just cut through so many human lives? His eyes unfocused for a moment as he stared out over the bloody top of the car. He felt a bit ill.

Ayumu snapped his head forward as Eru shouted to the team, alerting the theme that she had managed to open the hatch at last. Ayumu quickly jogged over as the captain summarized the current situation to the team and nodded as she spoke of terminating Horo Danshi, though the prospect of harming the man who was supposed to be an ally only added to the uneasiness he felt in his stomach at the moment. He also wasn't exactly sure what NEST protocol was, but there was really no time to get an explanation, so he would follow the others' lead. He approached the opened hatch and paused, looking down to ensure that nobody was waiting down there for them, then stepped back.

Letting the other ANBU members enter the hatch first, he waited until they were all clear and then jumped, dropping through the hatch and landing on the floor of the interior of the car. Immediately upon landing he turned to face the rear of the car, ensuring that the group would not encounter any surprise visitors from the trailing cars as they advanced to the front of the train. "I'll watch your six," he said as he drew a sword once more, slowly backing up after the others who moved forward. Gin and Moro would take the lead, dispatching any obstacles that stood in their way while Ayumu dealt with the uneventful job of watching their backs. Nobody was coming from that way, a fact he had realized could likely be the case from the start. He needed a moment to recover, this was an opportunity. Upon reaching the front car, they would undoubtedly find that it was empty, as Horo Danshi had already moved to the roof of the car.

"Up we go again..." Ayumu said, lacking his usual enthusiasm that normally would have come with the prospect of climbing to the roof of a speeding train. Hopefully the others would be too focused on the mission to notice. As they reached the roof once more, there would stand Horo and the woman who was so enamored with him. Ayumu did not recognize either, but assumed that the man was the Chuunin whom they had been briefed on. Distinctly missing from the picture, however, was the crown prince that he was purported to have "rescued". The most important man on the train was sitll missing, it seemed.

"Where is the Crown Prince?!" Ayumu shouted above the sound of the engine and the cars going over the rails. If he wasn't here, then where was he? The count's men obviously did not have him, as minutes ago he had believed the Chuunin when he said that he was in possession of the prince. What was Horo up to? They couldn't let him derail the train, especially without knowing that the prince was secure. Ayumu's hands rested on the hilt of his swords as the sickening feeling he had churned his stomach.

[OoC: Wanted to make sure I got a post in in time. Moro/Gin/Horo I tried to stick to the basic plan while leaving out most of the details so you guys could fill them in with your posts!]

 

[Oishi Shichimenchou]

I continued to glare at the Daimyo. I was not over nine thousand in line to the Shogunship. If he was claiming that sixty six people had withdrawn themselves from consideration of the throne then I'm claiming that eight thousand nine hundred and thirty two people have withdrawn (or died) from consideration, making me #2, or the heir presumptive if you would prefer.

I am of course not really #2 in line, but neither is the Daimyo really the heir. I would know! That sort of thing would require tremendous paperwork to process and as a bureaucrat-ninja I would have been notified of it occurring. I had not been informed and as such any status the Daimyo held as the heir was, for my purposes, as fictitious as dragons or heavier-than-air flight.

Plus, wouldn't the Raikage be ahead of the Daimyo in terms of the line of succession? The Raikage was afterall a Daimyo himself. Why would the Raikage had sent me, or any of my fellow ninja, on this mission if he had intended to withdraw himself as candidate to the Shogunship? If he ascended to the throne he would unite the two offices under himself and effectively wrestle control of the country away from those pansies in the capital and into our village. If the Daimyo insisted on claiming himself the heir I would call his bluff by having him confirm that everyone else in front of him had really withdrawn.

I'd have to wait after the current situation to call his bluff though. At the present I was in a bigger pickle. We had finally made contact with the other shinobi. Err- sort of at least. They were incapable of reaching our car fully due to the partial barricade we had managed to create, but we managed to exchange a few words.

"We are shinobi from the village hidden in the clouds. We're here to help."

"We need to disconnect ourselves from the rest of the train!"​

I looked toward my fellow nobles as we heard these words in an attempt to read their thoughts.

I had actually been planning to use the Chancellor's makeup to create an explosion. Although I hadn't thought about using said explosion to dislodge our car from the rest of the train. I had instead thought of making a hole and jumping out. Sure, some of us would have died making the jump, but then again some of us (*cough* the Daimyo perhaps? *cough*) would have died making the jump.

Their plan on the otherhand did have the benefit of leaving everyone alive. In the worst case scenario that the Daimyo was crowned Shogun I would just move to Canadagakure like everyone else did.

I scrambled to grab as much of the Chancellor's makeup as I could from the ground and began on my plan. I motioned towards the other noblemen to grab whatever furniture they could grab and to follow me. I then made my way toward the intersection between our car and the one ahead of us and began to smear it with as much make up as I could. By no means was I trying to make the train pretty. It is simply that makeup contains so many chemicals that I hoped at least one of them was explosive. When I was satisfied with the amount of lipstick in the intersection I added an explosive note and made a second motion towards my fellow noblemen to throw as much of the furniture as they could ontop of the makeshift makeup-bomb.

When that was done I attempted to grab the Chancellor's hand, tried half-heartedly to kiss her on the lips, and said, "We might very well die in the next few minutes and I always wanted to kiss a girl so please forgive me!"

Assuming that the Chancellor or the bomb hadn't killed me I then ran to safety on the other end of the railroad car.

I had set the explosive note to explode after a minute. If the makeup did indeed contain explosive chemicals then the chain reaction caused by the note should hopefully have been enough to disconnect us from the main train. If the makeup contained no such chemicals the note should have weakened the links, but otherwise just splattered red lip stick everywhere.

I could do nothing further though. If the shinobi team managed to find and rescue the Crown Prince was up to them and their legs. If my attempt at a bomb worked relied on pure dumb luck. The only certain thing was that Hinote was one sexy ninja no matter the outcome of today's events.

 

[Tagiushi Moro]

They discharged their jutsu simultaneously, and from their clasped palms lightning and wind ejaculated, spun and tangled and became a double helix as it enveloped Ayumu. In the blinding flash that followed the trainee veritably teleported to the other end of the train car, carving a trail of devastation through the nukenin ranks in a blink. As the enemy fell apart like so many Mr. Potatoheads, so much atomized blood sprayed into the air as to form a crimson cloud that hung in the air, appearing to float away along the length of the train eerily and out of sight. Haruka stopped them before they could celebrate.

This savant has gone full idiot. You never go full idiot. "Hai Captain! Hoshiko and I will take point." He vaulted over the hatch and dropped down into the depths of the car. The boiler room at the front of the train was blisteringly hot. Steam pipped from a massive amount of snaking and winding copper and iron tubing that intermittently belched jets from poorly taped leaks. There were so many of them that maintenance had to have been a constant process, and made walking through the narrow corridor here a danger in and of itself. A drop of sweat trickled down his brow to match his already soaked underarms, one hand on the hilt of his combat dagger as he and Gin lead the ANBU forward at a brisk trot. They rounded a corner and a cadre of fully armored shock troops lying in wait dashed to meet them, the front ranks berserker rushing them at full speed, as a couple assault marksmen in the back leveled their bolters in their direction.

Actually slowing to a stroll, Moro pulled his sword free, with a flick and a toss it extended itself to full length, he grabbed it again at its apex in a traditional grip and shifted his front foot ahead, centering his weight and assuming the Raiden's Waltz stance. Moro sidestepped a wild overhand hand chop by a trooper using a wickedly curved two-handed battle axe, and then ahead and behind him, shifting both of his feet in time, compromising no balance whatsoever. He whirled his sword around a thrusting scimitar in a well executed riposte, using the goon's own momentum against him and flinging his sword arm out wide. Gin stepped into the created gap and landed a boot against the trooper's sternum, sending him flying back the length of the car and into the two assault bolters waiting there for a clear shot. All three crashed into the far wall in a heap.

One with a large warhammer spun clockwise in a full rotation, dropping down low midturn, poised to smash Gin's ribcage. He never completed the turn as Moro's sword drove down into the gap in his armor and collarbone, piercing his aorta, the hammer left his hands and flew harmlessly, spinning end over end and crashing through a window. Almost as if on cue, three more shock troopers crashed through different windows, rappel cables now dangling uselessly at their feet, and stood to block their way, one swinging a kusari-gama in a slow circle above her head, which gave the remaining cadre time to regroup.

Gin flew into seals, and took full advantage of her Z axis, dodging a bolt, tinking dangerously close to the flooring at her feet and also a longsword slash by running along the side of the car, launching the offending handbolter out of the goon's grasp with her wind jutsu, a couple also scrambled for their now lost weapons and a few lost helmets, blinking in the sudden light.

Two more rushed Moro, he struggled to parry back and forth between their well orchestrated concerted assault, until the goon on the left lost his footing and slipped to the floor, Gin's doing with a well timed leg sweep. Pushing the advantage, Moro slammed his blade against the other man's weapon, slashing left, right, and left again, steel clashing and sparking, driving him backwards until Gin launched over his shoulders and Superman flying punched his helmet in, turning his nose to paste. Moro rolled backwards over her now crouched form and landed on top of the prone goon, cleaning up the kill with a quick stab to the throat.

The two of them flew along the corridor, where she dipped he dived, where he bobbed she weaved, in concerto they became a whirling dervish of death. The woman with the kursari-gama swept her sickle at both of them, Moro ducking under, Gin diving over and rolling. Moro scuttled to her as she turned her attention to Gin, driving his elbow into the side of her knee, cocking her down to her remaining good leg. Gin pummeled the trooper with three quick jabs to the chest, stunning her before the kunoichi shifted her weight and momentum and drove her elbow into the trooper's temple.

One goon remained, and he stepped forward, flourishing his twin morningstar maces. No ordinary trooper, he had the scars of a veteran, a crossed out Kumogakure forehead protector proudly displayed. Motioning to Gin that this one was his, Moro stepped to meet him slowly, deliberately, reaching down to pull his dagger from the axe-trooper's spine, he reversed his grip on that hand and shifted his feet shoulder width apart, fluidly transitioning into Raijin's Fangs. They stared each other down for several seconds, during which time Gin stepped to his side. He met her gaze and nodded. The nuke, looking eager at the prospect of going two on one, only laughed.

His deep, full body guffaw was drowned out and cut short by an earth-shattering roar in their confined space, the nuke's now headless body crumpled. Moro and Gin both turned, he looking over his right shoulder, she her left, to see Captain Haruka grinning and hefting her baretto shamelessly, she appeared to be laughing, but all Moro could hear was a high-pitched ringing.

They reached the appointed room without further incident and all of them clamored onto the roof of the car. "Where is the Crown Prince?!" demanded Ayumu.

"YOU!!!" screamed Moro, unchecked rage boiling up within him. "It's you from the 'incident' at Squint's! You left just before the shit went down. You STARTED that fight didn't you? Was that part of Makoro's plan too? How long have you been working with him!? Don't try and pull that savant crap either, you pony-loving neckbeard, i'm onto you! Give us the Prince unharmed and maybe we'll let you keep your head, traitor!"

 

[Morishige]

Tomomi followed Rai's lead and it eventually took them to the car where the high value targets were contained. With crumpled paper airplane, she relayed it's contents to Rai as they grew closer to the wall of crap any ninja worth their weight could push through. After a quick introduction, Tomomi analyzed the situation. They had baracaded themselves within the metal car, hoping that someone would come to rescue them. At this point, Tomomi did not know there was another shinobi of Kumogakure within, but had she known Bakunin was in the car as well, there might have been a slap across the face involved. But there were bigger issues at hand. Tomomi brought hands to her eyes as a first response to the tearing and ripping of the metal around them. "Seems like I had caused a bit more damage than I intended." she said with a laugh, talking to herself mostly. Pushing her way through the barricade with inhuman strength, Tomomi glanced at the others in the car before stopping to watch Bakunin and her plan.

Tomomi watched lazily as this other person began painting the clamps that held the cars together with...makeup? "What the hell?" she wondered, scratching her head with the tips of her claws. As soon as she finished, an explosive note was placed on the artful mess and Tomomi quite literally face palmed. "I should just let these fools go to their death. An explosive note, around a train that is losing structural integrity. And whatever than make does could only make it worse. No, this ain't gonna happen." Tomomi thought and quickly moved to action. "Step 1. Dislodge the rest of these cars." She told herself, contemplating on just how to do such a thing. She approached that intersection, and took a look around. First thing first, she grabbed the explosive note and snuffed it. Things were simpler than that. Extending her arm just a little with her cursed power, she reached across the gap and simply pulled the lever that attached the cars in the first place. "All right, now I gotta slow em down." she said with a facial expression of confusion. Conventional brakes wouldn't do, she needed to take control more directly.

As the gap between the constant speed of the moving train, and the ever slightly slowing group of disintegrating cars grew, Tomomi stepped out onto the sheer ledge that was on the outside. Turning around, her body mass and denisty began to change, as she grew ever larger and heavier. The metal underneath her groaned as she changed most of her innards to a lead like substance to add weight. But when she was done, Tomomi jumped back, massive hands grabbing the metallic edge of the car, heavy feet colliding with the speeding track. Using weight and strength, Tomomi would stop the train herself. She slowly worked her dragging feet back in a locked position and began pushing against the car with all her might. Hopefully, something as crazy as this might work.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

IAT Raiden’s Breath, Atop Car 1, Main Engine
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 125km from the Capitol City
...1615 hours

Horo Danshi stood at the very front of the Raiden’s Breath, balancing precariously on his tip-toes on the massive behemoth’s prow, which depicted the God himself about to hurl a lightning bolt forward. The wind whipped painfully in his face and the snow outside now pelted his face with stinging lashes of ice. If he fell, or if he missed with his technique, he would certainly tumble to the ground, right into the merciless-looking cow-disintegrator the served to push any and all obstructions out of the train’s immediate path. And no horo horo luck would save him from being turned into a fine red mist were that to happen. In the back of him, massive smokestacks belched steam exhaust into the air. He readied an explosive jutsu, aiming for a point of oncoming track fifty meters in front, when suddenly...

"YOU!!!" boomed a commanding, rage-infused voice behind him.

"Where is the Crown Prince?!" demanded another voice.

"It's you from the 'incident' at Squint's! You left just before the shit went down. You STARTED that fight didn't you? Was that part of Makoro's plan too? How long have you been working with him!? Don't try and pull that savant crap either, you pony-loving neckbeard, I'm onto you! Give us the Prince unharmed and maybe we'll let you keep your head, traitor!"

As Horo turned his head to face the new disturbance, he recognized a familiar set of faces – or rather, masks. He could not help but snicker to himself. Perhaps no other shinobi of kumogakure had gotten quite so many of the village’s ANBU to want to put a cap in his ass so badly.

Reina now turned angrily to face the ANBU, pistol-bolter drawn and trained on them. These were the same shinobi forces that had foiled the Grand Admiral’s plan to pirate the Kagoshiman coastline and above all, had sunk her damned semisubmersible ironclad! Of course, all was fair in war, and she did not resent them for their victory, but now that they were insulting her man, things were about to get real.

“Friendship is magic, fuckface! Horo Danshi is twice the man you are for liking ponies!” she growled. “Do it, milaya!” she shouted at Horo, who now completed his handseals and fired off an explosive lance at the rails in front of the train...


IAT Raiden’s Breath, Car 18, Grand Conference Room
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 125km from the Capitol City
...1615 hours

“Do what the woman says! It’s our only chance!” bellowed Kouhei on seeing what Bakunin was planning. Instantly the car became a flurry of activity as the nobles and warriors in the car started to form a rudimentary human chain, passing the heavier items of furniture from one to another and piling it on the makeshift explosive that had been assembled out of lipstick and explosive note. Fortunately, CoverShoujo brand lipstick and foundation was not that different from any other brand-name makeup in the world, in that it was about ninety percent cyclotrimethylene trinitramine with a dioctyl sebacate and polyisobutylene binder – which was to basically say that putting makeup on was essentially akin to spreading high explosive on oneself in preparation for a hot date. Ami started to bend over to help pitch in, but she was quickly pulled aside…

As Bakunin kissed her, Ami’s eyes widened in shock and her limbs stiffened...only to relax a moment later as she found herself unexpectedly delighting in the softness and warmth of the shinobi woman’s lips and body. Kissing a man was different – they were hard-edged, bristly things that were clumsy and forceful, which she appreciated occasionally but found overbearing most times. Her tongue found the Countess’s, tentatively caressing it…

"We might very well die in the next few minutes and I always wanted to kiss a girl so please forgive me!" said Bakunin, breaking it off and starting to move away.

“Oishii...” gasped Chancellor Ami breathlessly, her cheeks suffused with pink. However, the kiss had not escaped “Yandere” Yui’s wrathful gaze.

Bitch I’ll cut you, thought the frosty-tipped warrior hatefully at the Countess. How dare this obscure plumber of a noble steal a kiss from her chancellor?! She was willing to tolerate Ami’s childish crush on Hayata Shin mainly because one look at the man had confirmed for Yui that Shin would in all likelihood die a virgin, but this brazen blue-haired hussy had the gall to take the most precious thing in the world right in front of Raiden and everyone?! She enjoyed it, too! raged Yui in a panic as she rushed to the Chancellor’s side and started to escort her to the back of the railcar.

With a crash and creak of snapping wood, Tomomi/Haruka now clawed her way into the room, at first prompting the huddled fighters in back to raise their surviving weapons to shoot the intruder. However, on seeing that she did not seem to be interested in attacking them, they merely watched as the hulking figure started to grab at the detonator in an attempt to snuff it out. Too late, however, for the note’s fuse reached its main chakra core just as Tomomi’s hand closed over it.

Normally, such an explosion would have torn off a shinobi’s arm and outright killed a regular human, but as the woman was under the influence of her cursed seals, the force of the explosion merely escaped out of a gap in her hand and struck the layer of gooey lipstick spread with concentrated power, setting it off. In a way, it was fortunate that Tomomi had attempted to interfere, for Bakunin was no explosives expert, and without the jounin’s hand effectively making it into a shaped charge, the note would have otherwise only caused a minor eruption that would have splattered cosmetic s around the room.

The layer of “Natural Sugar Almond” lipstick spread about the linkage suddenly erupted in a shower of sparks with a loud crack, spurred into detonation by the concentrated force of the explosive note. Usually, such an explosion would not have touched the fortress-like railcar, but that coupled with the titanic stresses it was already under was enough to neatly sever cars 18 and onwards from the rest of the train. Grabbing the edge of the car, Tomomi now braced her feet against the rails, hoping the friction would be enough to slow the whole assembly down before it flipped over. A shower of sparks and smoke erupted from below, wreathing the woman’s legs in smoke and fire as she continued to pull and push with all her might. The sound of metal grinding on metal was agonizing, and the rails themselves glowed red hot in her wake while the soles of her feet started to blister, even under the protection of her supernatural strength. Slowly, however, the three railcars she fought against started to slow even as her clothing caught fire and turned to ash, leaving only her metal-reinforced panties and her hair to cover her nakedness.


IAT Raiden’s Breath, Car 9, Linen Service
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 125km from the Capitol City
...1615 hours

Umeki Rai meanwhile burst into the laundry car, weapons drawn as he scanned the area. Surprisingly, all had been silent. As he jogged forward, he noticed that one of the washers appeared to have been agitating what looked like a corpse. Still no sign of the genin or the Crown Prince, however! A woman’s voice now cried out to him.

“Milord Shinobi!” shouted a young girl in her twenties. From the looks of her, she’d taken a beating earlier but otherwise seemed unharmed. “His Majesty and the two others are headed toward the shimmering blue barrier in car eight! They saved my life,” she said, kneeling and facing him. “If you go forward, you will be able to reach them too!”

Suddenly, the train started to shudder as the sound of a large explosion reverberated to the front...


IAT Raiden’s Breath, Car 8, Infirmary
Central Kaminari no Kuni, 125km from the Capitol City
...1615 hours

Having dispatched the three soldiers who had been blocking their path, Senna and Tama sighed with relief, along with Shiranai. Wordlessly, they sprinted toward the front of the car, where the blue glow of Hinote’s barrier grew stronger. Beyond the shimmering gateway, the female mednin clone regarded them, opening a door-sized hole in the field and allowing them to cross. As they passed the shimmering barrier, the three shinobi collapsed to the floor in front of the clone, who regarded them with emotionless eyes as they panted. For now they were safe – the barrier was more than strong enough to protect against bolts and even strong jutsu. As Shiranai sat up, he started to laugh.

“Out of the fire and into the frying pan, eh?” he remarked to Tama, who was undoubtedly about to come up with a snappy response herself, when suddenly the world suddenly turned upside down. The shinobi slammed into the bulkheads along with the clone, plastered against the hard surface by an unbearable pressure, before suddenly being slammed against the opposite side and then quickly thrown across the car into the far doorway, which fractured and split under their combined impact. Before anyone could even start to mentally question what was happening, the world now started to spin crazily. Only shinobi training on their parts made them instinctively grab onto any handholds as the entire car shook and overturned itself.

“Critical failure imminent...” repeated the drone-like mednin clone, ‘her’ tone of voice neutral even as the barrier shattered into thousands of bluish shards and the chaos of screeching metal and darkness surrounded them.

A few minutes later…​

Groggily, Tama pushed a piece of fallen paneling away from herself, letting it crash to the floor beside her. Her body ached, her face was smudged with soot and blood, and her characteristic panda-hoodie had been torn and stained, making it unrecognizable. The ground under her felt hard, cold, and uncomfortable, as if she had been laying on it for days. Sitting up, she was struck with a wave of nausea as the world spun crazily around her before slowly righting itself. They were still in Car 8, save for the fact that everything appeared upside down. Wires and shredded piping hung from the floors, dripping oily liquid like the severed arteries of the dead. The mednin clone was nowhere to be seen – likely destroyed. Tama’s head still felt disconnected from the rest of her, but she knew above all else that she had to find the others. Shaking the cobwebs away from her senses, she stumbled toward a figure standing nearby over another small body on the ground. If this were some enemy soldier about to harm Senna, there would be hell to pay. She started to call upon her last chakra reserves in preparation...

“Mochizuki! It’s me!” said Shiranai, turning toward her now. His hair and clothing were singed, but otherwise he appeared to be unhurt. Her fellow genin lay on the shattered metal, coughing smoke out of her lungs. Shiranai now bent to assist her. “Nemoto! Can you walk?!” he, extending his hand to Senna. As she grasped it, he pulled her upright, helped by Tama. “We have to get out of here before we all burn to death!” he said, starting to pull them both in the direction of a large hole in the fuselage. As the genin started to regain their full senses, they realized that where they were was quickly turning unbearably hot.

They exited the overturned railcar through the ragged hole, dropping a short distance into a shallow, slush-filled ditch. Around them, orange light and heat danced with sinister intent over the white surfaces. As they scrambled out of the ditch and onto higher ground, they turned around to take a look at what they had just escaped. Now could they see what had become of the Raiden’s Breath as they looked upon it from the outside. It had been one of the last, glorious remnants of the old world before the cataclysm, and now the massive railcars lay flipped on their sides, torn asunder with metal ribs clawing at the sky overhead like the eviscerated carcasses of slaughtered whales. Thunderheads of flame interspersed with smaller explosions engulfed its broken might, casting an eerie orange glow on the three shinobi’s faces and darkening the twilight sky with a thick black miasma. It was a vision of hell on earth, and would fill any man with the desire to run as fast as possible in the opposite direction. There was no way to tell if the others had survived or not, but for now, that was irrelevant; their goal had always been to protect Shiranai. The two girls’ glances at each other mirrored the same grim resolve. Now it was just a matter of getting him to safety.

“Look over there! It’s a war-wagon with Imperial Army markings on it!” Shiranai suddenly said, pointing to a large, armored troop transport cresting a nearby slope and driving toward them, its wheels caked with snow and mud. The large Imperial Chysanthemum painted on its side marked it as authentic, and he stood up to try to attract its driver’s attention. Waving both his hands frantically at it, Shiranai grinned as it drew closer and finally stopped a few feet away, training its spotlights on the three individuals.

“Genin Nemoto! This is Vice Commander Takaki! Open the door and get His Majesty inside at once!” boomed a voice from the vehicle’s loudspeaker over the rumble of its steam engine. As Senna trudged toward the transport’s door, the girl finally allowed herself to give in to relief. They were finally about to leave this hellish place; this mission that had started out so deceptively easy and yet had gone so horribly wrong and ended with so much death and destruction. She had much to be proud of, and much to tell her family back in Tenouza. She could tell them that she had done her duty as a shinobi, and that in no small part due to her actions, the new Shogun would bring peace to the land and an end to her city’s trials. As she reached for the door of the war wagon and started to slide it open, she wondered if there would be enough light inside to read her father’s letters to her...

Hayabusa Gin – no, Hayata Makoro – now stared back at her from within, his eyes hard and his cold expression betraying no sign of familiarity with the same girl he had sent to bring chemical death to her own people. As if the passage of time itself had slowed, she could only stare dumbfounded at him as he leveled a pistol crossbolter at her and pulled the trigger.

Tama’s mouth was frozen in mid-shout as Senna collapsed into the snow. Training pushed through horror and the Mochizuki performer started to draw her remaining senbon, but her world also exploded in a blinding flash of red and white as two bolts also crashed into her midsection. Four henchmen simultaneously emerged from the war wagon and rushed to tackle Shiranai, who attempted to form handseals in vain. As the weapons dropped uselessly from the girl’s hands, she slumped forward onto her hands and knees, amazed at the direction that this “performance” had taken. It wasn’t right – the main character was supposed to save the day. The audience would be angry about this. And why did she want to doze off so badly in the middle of the show...

Exeunt.​

“Do you know who I am?!” sneered Makoro to Shiranai, who had been forced to his knees by two henchmen on either side. The mednin’s face contorted with helpless rage as he looked up at his new captor.

“Yes, I do.” he growled.

“I will take the Raikage, even if I must reduce this country to ashes. You are going to help me with that,” said Makoro, matter-of-factly.

“You’re insane! I will do no such thing!”

“Every man has his weakness. Especially Shin,” said Makoro, turning to leave as the henchmen started to drag Shiranai to the wagon. Senna, who had been watching the proceedings through a hazy fog of dull pain, now attempted to reach for the crossbolter she had dropped in front of her. This traitor had to die - this much she had to do. He would pay for threatening the village, for bombing her people, for murdering Tama. She grabbed the weapon and raised it...

Without a second’s hesitation, Makoro simply turned his head and shot her again. The world spun and went black.

MISSION FAILURE​

Spoiler

Actually, you all OOCly succeeded. Great job everyone! Please when you make your exit posts tally up your total word count and add it in to make sure you all receive credit. When payment and stats are reinstated, you will be given the appropriate level of mission success reward as per site rules. Obviously, Senna and Tama are alive, but severely injured. Having a thread at the hospital later is completely optional, but someone should probably help them out. The rest of you can assume you heard the shots fired and are able to rush to their location.

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu glanced over to Moro whom began to shout in outrage at Horo, someone he had apparently met before. Ayumu didn't know the history, but Moro definitely did not seem happy to see the Chuunin. Old grudges aside, who was the woman that was also with him? The woman turned revealing her scarred face and the bolter she now pointed defiantly at the group. 'Did this Chuunin really betray the village? Is she one of theirs?' Ayumu wondered. It didn't really matter, she was a threat now. He still felt a little sick, but there was no time to worry about that anymore. Ayumu seemed to disappear in his place and reappear behind the woman, although if one had quick enough eyes they would see him move with superhuman speed around the woman's side, stopping behind her. He wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides and lowering the bolter from his allies.

Sadly, Ayumu's action was in vain. There was no time to do anything to stop Horo. His jutsu was complete and he fired it off, striking and demolishing the tracks just in front of the train. The train hit the ruined tracks and ran off them, the momentum causing the front car to nose dive and flip, tearing the attached cars off of the track with it and causing a chain reaction that would derail every car after it. Meanwhile, the front car would toss everyone on top off in varying directions. Ayumu lost his hold on the bolter wielding woman and flew off in to the trees along the tracks. Flipping end over end he completely lost track of everyone else before slamming in to a tree branch that halted his momentum. The impact knocked the breath out of him before he fell, landing on two branches that snapped under his weight on the way down. He hit the ground hard with a thud, but as painful as the branches had been they had broken his fall. They had also probably broken a couple of ribs, but who was counting?

"Ughh... shit!" Ayumu muttered, holding his side as he stood up and coughed, gasping for breath. He could still hear the train in the process of crashing- it was a long train, after all, and the acrid smell of the smoke coming from the explosions was not helping his situation. His thoughts turned to his allies, whom had been on the same car as he. Had they been as lucky as him? His thoughts turned next to their mission, not the ANBU's in particular, but the overall goal of the mission. The train being derailed put every last one of the HVTs in peril, and there was a high likelyhood that many, if not all of them, had been killed. This mission had been a disaster. He lifted his hand up, searching for his headset, but it had been lost in the process of him flying through the air.

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a bolter fire echoed off of the trees and reached Ayumu's ears. Now what? Moving as quickly as he could in his injured state, he ran through the trees towards the source of the commotion. His leg hurt, and his ribs were killing him. He had lost his mask, and the left lens of his glasses was cracked down the center. The sound of another two shots reached his ears as he ran, the fourth shot sounding a moment later. He ran through a series of vulgar words in his head as he reached up and summoned a fresh blank mask over his face, still moving as quickly as he could.

When he reached the scene, his first sight was of the train which was torn to shreds, bits of wreckage scattered all over the place. The war wagon that had been there a moment ago was nowhere to be seen and he was none the wiser. Two wounded girls were on the ground nearby, obviously having come from the wrecked train, but both wounded with bolts. He counted four bolts total, accounting for each shot he had heard. This was the source. He scanned the area, but they were alone. Whomever was responsible had fled the scene. He reached for his headset once more only to find that it was still missing from his ear. Moving his hand to his back he pulled the scroll Hinote had given to the team (and he had snatched from an unconscious Masao) off its strap and unrolled it, pressing his hand on it to feed it chakra and release the clone stored inside.

"You're supposed to having some healing capabilities, right? Take care of these two until one of the Med-nins make it here," he said, although he doubted it needed instruction to do so. He had a feeling the two before him were the two Genin supposed to have come with Horo Danshi, whom had derailed the train just now and caused this mess. In his mind, that man was responsible for the way things had turned out. It wasn't true, but that was how it seemed to him. No matter who's fault it was, this mission was most likely a failure. There was nothing he could do for the Genin, having no medical training, except watch over them. He moved just a short ways away and climbed on a piece of wreckage to get a bit of a vantage point and see if anybody was coming. Maybe someone had found the prince!

[At Misson's End: 4981 words]

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

As the train suddenly went into full on crash mode, Kitsune was tossed around like a ragdoll, hitting coolant tanks, pipes and the walls over and over. Once the movement had stopped, she saw that the car had been separated from the others, and she could get out of the train through the door at the end. Of course, she healed the worst bruises she had gotten and got out of the train, only to be met with the stench of a crash-site. ”Ugh…” was all she managed to say before her stomach demanded attention by suddenly, and rapidly, ejecting it’s contents onto the ground in front of her.

When she was done with the stomach twisting experience, she wiped off her mouth, and staggered towards a tiny group of people, it looked to be someone from the anbu branch, as well as two smaller ninjas, probably genin. They looked hurt, so she immediately got into business mode and started diagnosing them as she walked over.

Upon reaching the genin, she saw that they had been shot with a bolter. Two shots each. It looked dire, but Kitsune was experienced in bolter wounds, and she immediately got to work alongside one of Hinote’s special clones. It went into assistance mode and was ready to hand Kitsune the needed tools and vials even before she asked for them.

Once she had stabilized their condition, she started on the process of healing them, so they could at least walk by themselves. As she focused her attention on Senna, the Hinote-clone went on to heal Tama. It wasn’t a perfect job, but it would have to do in the current situation.

[Word Count: 1384]

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

This isn’t right, Tama thought confusedly as the world round her flashed red and white, the hero doesn’t lose? In shock, she stared at the face of the man who had pulled the trigger. What a twist, were her last thoughts about the situation as everything faded to black around her. This was a performance, she couldn’t black out, she was the star….

As Tama drifted in and out of consciousness she caught snippets of conversation, she thought she had heard the Raikage at one point, albeit his voice was gruffer than she remembered hearing it when he had given announcements in the past. She also thought she heard Shiranai at some point calling her crazy, insane even. That’s uncalled for, I barely know you, ya noble brat, she thought to herself weakly. After that she fell completely unconscious, and began to dream.

Tama dreamt that she was back in Car 8, with Senna and Shiranai. Shiranai had just made that kitchen quip, and then the car exploded. Except that this time the explosion had opened a giant maw in the earth. Battered, bruised, and burned Tama found that she had been blown onto the opposite side of the gaping maw from Shiranai and Senna. She struggled to rise and peer across the chasm between her and her companions, but was held back. She turned to the man whom she had “indisposed” by kicking him into the washing machine. “You! You’re not supposed to be here! You’re….you’re…”

“…Dead?” the man who had been known as Jiro said with a creepy smile lingering on his face, “Oh but Tama-chan that was a performance, nobody dies in a performance. You said so yourself.” He cackled demonically as he pushed the injured Tama into the ground. “And now, it’s my turn to give you a private showing,” Jiro leered at her hungrily as he reached for Tama’s torn clothing with greedy, grasping hands.

“NO! Don’t! Leave me alone! No...,” Tama cried each becoming more desperate than the last as she feebly struggled against the overwhelming strength of Jiro. THUNK! A well-placed crossbow bolt had embedded itself into Jiro’s skull. “Aw, you’re no fun. That’s twice in a row I’ve been denied, and little Ji--,” THUNK! Jiro was interrupted by another bolt through the eye. The man was apparently unfazed by the two lethal splinters lodged in his head. “Fine, I can take a hint,” he said to the presence behind Tama. He then turned to Tama with his one-eyed leer of lechery and said, “But don’t worry, I’ll be back for you.” With that he vanished, laughing and the pressure keeping Tama in place vanished. She quickly turned to see the White Knight casually strolling towards her walking over the great void between Tama and her two comrades, repeating crossbolter raised to firing position. Tama tried to speak but now found that she couldn’t, however the White Knight (now truly white in color) noticed her and looked down at her. Tama was once again seized by a force that kept her rigidly in place, staring at the White Knight and beyond.

“The only reason he comes is because you call, that is the only reason I am here as well.”

What?

“This place is created from the collision of realities, the reality of what actually transpired, and the reality you substituted for it. They are contradicting each other, and your recollection of this event is beginning to fracture.”

Now you’re sounding like Tomo.

The figure then changed shape, becoming the spitting image of Tama’s twin. “Where you are is representative of the reality you created in your head.” The figure then pointed to Shiranai and Senna. “Where they are represent the reality that has occurred.”

Stop talking all smart-like, you’re confusing me!

THUNK! The sound of a crossbolter firing. Tama stared open-mouthed as the Tomo-like figure in front of her shot her with the crossbolter. “Did that hurt?”

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SHOOTING ME?

“Because there is no consequence for it, here everything is just a performance, so nobody dies. Just the way you wanted.” The Tomo figure pointed across the chasm, “Over there people die. Actions have consequences. But since we’re here I can keep shooting you all day long, and not have to worry about consequences. You like it, right? A world without rules, where nothing matters the most.”

STOP TALKING, YOU’RE NOT TOMO! YOU DON’T KNOW ME!

“If you say so,” the Tomo figure began as he shifted form once again, growing taller and older, until the figure became the man who had shot Tama and Senna, the repeating crossbolter transforming into the small pistol crossbolter that had been his weapon of choice. Tama shrank back in fear as the figure advanced, crossbolter still pointed at her.

Then the ground beneath Tama cracked and split open, causing her to fall down into the void. The figure with the pistol crossbolter, merely watched her with uncaring eyes as she fell. You’ll be back, he mouthed as Tama fell into the blackness.

Coughing and sputtering she struggled to move, only to find her body being held down by another person, someone Tama did not know. She was in a lot of pain, and had lost a good deal of blood. She tried to speak, to say anything at all, but only managed to get out, “Where…? What…? Shira…Senna…hero…can’t lose…,” before her energy gave out and she passed out once again, this time into a dreamless state of unconsciousness. She wouldn’t wake again until reaching the hospital.

[At Mission's End: TWC: 3587]

 

[Oishi Shichimenchou]

The fact are these:

• Anything is explosive when the author hopes it is because, why not?
• Explosions solve everything.
• Except saving the Prince from being kidnapped.

"Well..."

I allowed myself a minute of silence before moving. Moving out of the now partially destroyed and fully stopped train car that is. I moved from the car to the outside and from there starred mindlessly at the wreckage that was farther away from us. Huh, that is an interesting sight. I do hope everyone on the other cars are okay. Not that I can do much since I am neither a medic or a soldier.

I glanced over to Haruka and then over to the nobles.

"So, is anyone up for-"

And that was when I heard a gun shot in the distance. I am sure everyone was fine though. I refocused myself on Haruka who was essentially naked. Now I am not one to judge others on their dress, but I couldn't stand here and watch as she caught a cold. I took off my cape and presented it to her.

"Crazy day eh?", I said toward Haruka.

I made no further word toward the Chancellor or the Daimyo. The former would surely want to meet up afterward and discuss the possibility of making the one minute stand into something more. The latter would probably want to argue about how he was the next Shogun - except he wasn't.

OOC: I got Sayaka & Kyoko figmas for Christmas. Not really relevant, but you know, whatever.

P.S. From Wikitionary: "Middle English Lady Gunilda which was a huge crossbow that used powerful shot. It later became used for firearms like cannons and muskets. The Germanic woman’s name “Gundahild” , cognate to modern Scandinavian Gunhild, means “war" + "battle maid”.

i.e. Gun is not exclusively firearms, but includes any device which fires projectiles, and originally meant a crossbow.

 

[Hoshiko Gin]

'Yunizon Reido, heh? Nice touch kid.' Thought Gin as she pried her cheek from its place at Moro's chest, which was a place that felt far more comfortable then it should. She moved her fingers one by one at her sides as blue sparks danced from them and her hair settled back against her head. The carnage wrought upon these men by the ANBU was significant, however there was no time to take a victory lap now. Step for step, she followed beside Moro through the Raiden's Breath, joining in an invigorating dance and tit-for-tat with the Makoro cronies; until they were met with only two. She turned her mask to cover the side of her face; wanting this greasy-haired fellow to see every foul and ill wishing thought play across her face. But by now, time was not with them.

That Traitorous Fiend! And how dare that Treasonous Wench!

But before the ANBU could retaliate any further, the deed was done. The uprooted tracks coiled upwards and to the sides, sending the metal death trap to its end, and throwing the occupants of car one helplessly from it. Gin was launched from the derailed vessel, making a high arc, before making her second descent to the earth beneath them. She hit a soft patch of ground, rolling through the muck until she lay still on her stomach. An unpleasant mix of sludge and grit lingered in her mouth, and she could have sworn she felt some slowly creeping down her throat. 'I hope everyone made it out alive..'

In a daze, she put all her weight on her elbows in an effort to lift herself sorely upwards, coughing uselessly to rid herself of the uncomfortable sensation she felt. All efforts were in vain, for she still had to regroup with the others; if they had survived that is. She stood, looking disheveled and worn; mud caked in her hair and clung to every portion of her body, so much that her face seemed almost indistinguishable. Her eyes scanned the area and came across Ayumu, who had found a conveniently placed line of trees to break his fall. With a slight limp, she trudged towards him gravely, knowing that they had failed. How would they ever explain this to Masao? Or even worse... His wife. Best to leave that puzzle to Haruka.

As she closed the distance between them, a series of bolter shots rang off somewhere amidst the wreckage and Ayumu made quick work in investigating them. She happened to come across a plain white mask, dirty albeit, but intact. 'Kid, you're one of us in my book.' Gin thought, slowly bending down to retrieve it and brushing it off as she got back up; when they met back up, she'd have to give it to him then.

At any rate, by now who ever had been unfortunate enough to fall victim to those bolter shots were being well taken care of so there was really no reason in checking it out right now. Instead, she grew worried about her teammates. There was Masao, that hadn't even made it to the Raiden's Breath with them, and was at the mercy of a pilot who no longer was in control of the glider en route to Kumogakure. And then Haruka and Eru... They had to be around here somewhere.. Ah there they were! Gin waved at them as Haruka helped Eru up from the ground, and made quick work reverting back to a worried state.

"Moro!" She called hoarsely, growing increasingly frantic as she didn't hear anything back. "Moro!" He had to be okay, right? That hadn't been the bolter shot from earlier she had heard, right? She looked back towards her original direction for a split second. Surely he must have landed somewhere near her, as close as she had stayed by his side throughout the mission. So he had to be in the area somewhere...

'You jerk.. Something can't just happen to you.... Not now.. Not ever even...' Not when they had seemingly made so much progress in gaining back what they used to have. No matter how many times she had thought he was moving on, no matter how many times Eru tackle-glomped him, and even as many times as he had outright insulted her... She couldn't help but be sickeningly.... smitten for him. There was something about that sleazy-charmer that had her always wanting more. "Moro, dammit, answer me!" That big oaf, it wouldn't surprise her if he was staying silent on purpose. 'Maybe he'd rather have Eru-chan find him...'

Well this was great; mission failed, she couldn't find Moro, and worse then that, she was losing him to some.... metal slinging baboon. What a wonderful day..

[WC: 2152]

 

[Morishige]

"The burn...so good..." Tomomi thought with a grin as the train car slowed to a halt, her naked body hot from the stress that it had just endured. The pain from the blisters lingered for a few moment until her skin slowly began to mend itself thanks to her solar seal. Hoisting herself back up into the car, Tomomi expected some kind of thanks and congratulations, but did not want the attention. She was already naked and that was sure to draw some attention. Of course, nudity was no issue with her, but punishment for Haruka meant punishment for Tomomi. So when Bakunin offered her cape, Tomomi took it with a arrogant grin and tossed it around her body to hide her nakedness as best she could.

The explosion in the distance didn't seem to faze her at all. After such a feat, Tomomi figured things were winding down. "Crazy? Eh, I've had worse. But it's definitely up there on the list." she laughed. But her partner was gone, and based on actions before, this stranger wasn't one Tomomi was going to ask direction from. She wasn't in the mood to babysit nobles either... "Stuck with the useless. How the hell am I gonna get back..."

[Topic Left - Bakunin can conclude what we do]
[TWC: 1734]

 

[Tagiushi Moro]

Kogami was the first to move, flickering behind this mystery woman who had, for whatever reason, sided with with traitorous chuunin. He wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides and taking her out of the equation. Perfect. Horo sneered and turned back to the front of the train, and that was when Moro bolted straight at him. He saw fire envelop the savant's hands, and a bright lance of energy shot out, ripping the tracks ahead of them to pieces, scraps of metal and wood shrapnel flew high into the air with a low boom. "NO!" he shouted, the train diving off of the tracks nose first. Their car, carrying the weight of the engine and leading the pack had by far the most inertia, so when it landed nose first and began to roll, Moro, already in a precarious position from his dash to stop Horo, completely lost his footing, their car bucking wildly and tossing him in a high, lazy arc before starting its end over end roll along the ground.

He flew away from the car, body ragdolling end over end and spinning at several Gs, the world became a high speed slide show, flashing between blue and brown, which he realized with horror was the earth and sky, one of which he was approaching at a breakneck speed. He snapped his body out as wide as he could, creating drag that resulted in his spinning eventually slowing. He wasn't nearly as high up in the air as he had been jumping out of the Thunderhawk, but either way he knew this was going to hurt. Out of time and out of options the operative simply curled defensively, protecting his spine positionally and offering what little protection he could to his surely broken ribs by covering them.

He sped towards terra ferma at what could only described in his mind as artillery speed. A second before impact, he exhaled and tightened all of his muscles. He landed with a sickening thud, the sheer force by which he impacted the earth had created a small crater. His vision went completely red as all consuming pain enveloped him. He had no breath to lose, so instead only made raw, choking noises. Gagging repeatedly until finally his stomach obliged him by vomiting blood. He spit but could not wipe the bubbly, bloody mucus from his mouth. His already wounded arm was now completely unresponsive. His ribs now ached unbearably, and his entire right side, which had experienced the brunt of the impact-before had been numb from adrenaline-was now sending blades of sharp, unrelenting pain up and down that entire side of his body in waves. His breathing showed no signs of stabilizing. His thoughts became muddled and groggy from lack of oxygen even as he recognized that his broken ribs had probably caused his chest cavity to collapse completely and so had lost negative pressure in his chest.

Vision narrowing rapidly to tunnels then dots, nestled in the center of his body crater, he raised his remaining, shaking hand into a fist in front of him, and spit a bloody glob into his palm. Vision dark now, bolter fire could be hear somewhere in the distance, and he thought he heard Gin's voice, which he immediately dismissed as a hallucination. His final act before losing consciousness was flicking his thumbnail against his palm, sending the phlegm, chock full of his blood and therefore electrical chakra-a lackluster signal at best-up into the quickly darkening sky. It hovered briefly at its apex, a tiny bright ball of lighting, before dropping to earth and sputtering out in time with the Santaru ANBU's consciousness.

[wc: 2768 at mission's end, not counting the torre thread.]

[ooc: if someone wants to be a bro and bring my body back that'd be dope.]

[topic left]

 

[Akemi]

'N-no....'​

Time nearly stood still as the second bolt pierced the little girl's body; her feeble flesh and bones gave way to the incoming projectile without any notable resistance, she just broke, and then she fell limp.

'Mako-... r-ro.....'​

That name would remain, a horrid scar on Senna's mind, she would never be able to forget that evil name; the name of the man who had effortlessly destroyed her hopes twice. Senna's mind skipped back to her Genin exam, her unwitting participation in a violent attack on not only Lightning Country, but her home Republic itself. She could only think of one thing.

'Please... no... not again.'​

But it was too late for her to stop what was happening, her injuries were too severe to allow her to move even slightly. At this point, she needed all of her willpower just to avoid utterly bleeding out. All she could do was cling to what little life she had left. And hope; hope that someone was still there to set things right, hope that this wasn't how this story was going to end, hope that the man responsible for this madness was brought to justice, hope...

'My lord... I'm so sorry... pleas- please don't give up. Please don't die.​

After a while Senna started to feel something... help had arrived. She was going to make it. It would be a few minutes before she regained a small amount of consciousness, and even then she would need help walking back to the village.

But she didn't die, so at least she had that.

[Mission End]

 

[Horo Danshi]

Atop the shell of hurtling, violent metal that was the Raiden's Breath, Horo Danshi took a deep breath and, chakra seals firmly planting him to the foremost lip of the front train car, took stock of the entirety of the damage he was about to inflict upon this little part of the world. Voices from behind prompted him to turn errantly over his shoulder - oh, the ANBU! Friends until the end! Horo Danshi gave his best smile at the oncoming death agents - Hello, comrades! Please do not impinge upon my success at this crucial juncture! - which, of course, fell upon deaf (????) eyeballs, since basically any contortion of the chuunin's face was painful to look upon, inspiring murderous intent for miles around. Utterly oblivious to the face that his "best grin" was a "fight-inducing smirk" under the best of circumstances, and blissfully unable to hear Moro's shoutings over the whipping intensity of the wind as the train barreled forward, Horo Danshi resolutely turned around and, with a thought and a gesture, turned the whole worly topsy-turvey.

Standing on the wreckage later, Reina held bodily in his arms from where he had grabbed her during the sudden flight through the air that the train's derailment brought, Horo Danshi pondered with some detachment the totality of the damage that continued to pile up in the cars beyond. He himself was mostly undamaged, the universe's sympathies to his Seikon heritage being of the sort that could best be described only as "OH COME THE F**K ON", but hey, that was heritage for you. Almost like the universe kept no statistical track record of its inhabitants whatsoever. Almost like one had to be willed hurt in this strange, Horo Horo world...

Wait, wh-

Three pistol shots and a dead, over-omniscient narrator later, Horo Danshi was STILL standing on the wreckage as before. Boy oh boy, that's a big vee-hicle, the Dipshit Kid mused errantly to himself, and not for the first time that day, he was returned to a simpler time, before the importance of chakra and bloodlines and FAMILY HONOR BWA had been fully impressed upon him, when Toddler Horo Danshi used to play with little wooden toy vehicles, making zooming noises with his mouth, and smashing them to pieces by throwing them at great speed against nearby walls and appliances and passers-by. "Spoooosh," he whistled softly to himself as he watched the destruction pile up, plumes of flame rising occasionally across the length of the seemingly endless length of previously-indomitable cars.

No nuclear fire, though. The poor, disgusting, totally repulsive, man glad you didn't live like that for too long because daaaaaaamn worker in the reactor room had apparently been correct in his assessment of the train's safeguards. No nuclear explosion, here or there? the Dipshit Kid thought as he let Reina down gingerly. Sure, yeah, I'll call that a win.

A spark in the darkness of the smoke-obsessed field of carnage caught the attention of the Dipshit Kid who, curious, scampered over to it. "Ohayo ANBU-samaaaa!" he rang out cheerfully, saluting the fallen form of Tagiushi Moro where he found it, and remaining at strict attention for some many handfuls of seconds before realizing that his would-be presiding official was unconscious, and therefore incapable of returning the gesture. "Aww heck," the chuunin muttered in his down-homiest of tones. "You're messed up just worse than a butthole at a cucumber convention aren't ya. No worries chief." And despite Reina's disappointed stare, Horo Danshi hefted his fallen comrade in a somewhat-accurate depiction of a fireman's carry, and began making his way across the battlefield towards where, according to his not-yet-entirely burnt-out earpiece suggested, a convocating of shinobi forces was occurring.

He hoped that crown prince made it out alright, really he did. Mostly. Again, even looking at the devastation surrounding him, the primary thought that was running through the Dipshit Kid's brain was that, at least, it was not devastation with a capital Mushroom Cloud.

Maybe there'd be like, some sort of Inquiry coming out of this? Horo Danshi certainly hoped so. Promotion time babycakes here I come, the slack-jawed shinobi thought, hefting his fallen comrade towards the gathering activity in the distance. Fourth or fifth time, whatever, drinks are on the corps to-NITE!


[OOC: Removed Moro's body from the scene. Begin forbidden romance.]
[Total Word Count: 4037]
[Topic left]

 

[Umeki Rai]

The words of the servant girl were the last thing Rai heard before all hell broke loose. The sound of metal colliding and tearing took precedence over all other thoughts and actions, and Rai's world quite literally turned over multiple times. In the madness, he was able to catch a glimpse of the servant girl tumbling around very close to him. He knew he ought to protect her, so he reached out and grappled her, holding her tightly in his grasp until the crash was over.

The duo got very lucky, for they weren't subjected to the tumbling for too long before being launched out of the train. Rai couldn't tell whether or not they went through a window, or through a new opening created by the collapse of the carriage. It didn't matter. Their trajectory carried them clear of the crash, and Rai made sure to land on his back, caressing the servants body in a way to protect her from the fall. They landed, and skidded into the nearby brush, finally stopping a good 15 meters from where they landed.

Rai made sure to lay still for a few seconds, checking his body by feel to make sure nothing was broken or severed before rolling the servant girl off him and standing up. He was okay, but the girl had completely passed out, leaving him feeling somewhat responsible for her well being. In the distance, two young ninja were shot with a crossbow and the crown prince had been taken captive, but he couldn't see or hear because of the distance between them.

What a disaster. The mission would most certainly be a failure. Not only had the Anbu let the train get obliterated, but he had failed to find and rescue the crown prince. He couldn't hide his anger, and kicked up the nearest dirt in anger. God damnit!, he thought as he tried to calm himself. He failed the mission, but the least he could do was think about the situation rationally. He needed to get this servant girl back to where she came from, and she may need a hospital. Rai was no medic, so he couldn't tell.

With a slight amount of haste, just in case, Rai picked up the servant girl and made way for the closest place (town).

[Left Topic (finally)]
[Word Count: 2182 total]