Psyren: Second Calling - IC

[bury the year]

[align=center](((OOC thread link here.

 

To make sure that everyone gets an equal chance at following along at the plot, I'll be enforcing a post order for this mission. You may only post when the person in front of you in the post order has posted, or if forty-eight (48) hours have passed without them posting. The post order is outlined below.

 

Rinne -> willpower_9 -> Ryuujinn -> Magnet Soldier -> Umbra -> Rinne -> willpower_9 -> etc. etc. etc.

 

We are starting already in Psyren and roughly halfway to the goal for sake of speed. Exposition gets boring after a while. Also, while in Psyren, you may RP as many random background characters that you need to. Feel free to kill them off as you please.)))[/align]

---

 

"Shit! Why me?"

 

The sun was hot, and there was no shade in the apocalyptic landscape that laid out in front of him. Dust and sand was everywhere, creeping into ruined and abandoned buildings, and he was running from bizarre beast things that seemed to want to make him the next thing on the metaphorical menu. Tachibana Kenzou was in probably the worst situation he had ever been in, and he had a sinking feeling that it was going to get even worse. Damn those sinking feelings.

 

It all started with the ringing of a telephone. More specifically, a pay phone. A ringing that didn’t stop. Of course, he knew he should’ve just ignored it, because picking the damned thing up dropped him into this sand-blasted world with twenty other random people like him and only the faintest idea of how to get back. From one phone to another, the most ironic part. Kenzou could write up an interesting paper on how telephones were a modern metaphor for losing touch with God or something in that vein when he could back. Or, if he got back. That was the better thing.

 

The current situation involved scrambling up a large hill of sand and rusty I-beams while dodging the scythe-claws of a gigantic centipede beast that was very intent on eating the college student. He had been doing relatively well so far, but much of it was by the skin of his teeth. However, just as he was approaching the top, Kenzou slipped, and the bug decided to use the opportunity to try to plunge its claw into his chest. “Help!” he screamed loudly, but on the inside, he knew he didn’t stand a chance. One thing was for sure, though. Life sucked.

[Quiksilver]

"Well, this is fun." Sayo Futami grumbled as she pulled out the well-used pepper spray from her back pocket and thrust it in the face of the monster lumbering towards her. With one quick press, the pepper spray sprayed gray particles into the air and the humanoid creature reeled back, letting loose a high-pitched howl. Now, normally at this point, Sayo would make a run for it, but for some reason this time she didn't. Maybe it was the inability to run somewhere familiar, being stuck in this desert wasteland. Maybe it was sheer instincts. We do not know. But for whatever reason, Sayo did not run, and instead grabbed a rock from the ground behind her. Gripping the rock with one hand, she sent it soaring towards the monster. The creature had just enough time to see it coming...and then the rock smashed through its chest, right where it was emitting some strange sort of energy. For a second everything froze; And then, the monster collapsed in on itself. It was quite dead.

 

Sayo fell to the ground, panting. Fighting off monsters? This was not what she had in mind when she became a member of the Diet! No, most certainly not...still, it seemed to prove the theory that had been fermenting in her mind. But she had to make sure. Sweeping back her wavy black hair, she got to her feet and looked around. A little less than two dozen other people like her were running around, in between the deserted buildings and hills of sand. Sayo suspected they had all gotten here like how she had gotten here. By a ringing phone. And where was here? Sayo would stake her career on that this place was...Psyren. Psyren. The recent phenomenon that had swept through Japan, catching Sayo's attention along with it. For months, Sayo had been investigating the strange disappearances that conspiracy theorists said was abductions to this place...Psyren. And over this period of time, Sayo had found close to nothing, nothing about how people got to Psyren, and where they went. But now, this was all to change. For she had reached Psyren!...or so she thought. But before she could think about if she was actually in Psyren or not, a voice cried out and broke through her musings.

 

"sheet! Why me?" Sayo whipped her head around, and saw a boy with strangely brown hair on a hill, faced by a monster, this one more insect-like. She started to move towards him, but she knew she wasn't going to able to reach him in time...Oh well. Too bad.

[ryuujinn]

Calm down.

 

Ranmaru looked around him, reprimanding himself for panicking earlier. It was supposedly a day of relaxation and meditation for him. The day started serenely, not much noise around him. If he would rate how his day started, it would've been a perfect 10. He distinctly remembered taking a bath, and eating a hearty breakfast before proceeding to his family's Zen garden. Nothing could've made his day worse, under normal circumstances.

 

However, normal circumstances just didn't exist pretty often in Hoshigaki Ranmaru's life. As he closed his eyes, taking in the morning's energy and directing it towards his body, a ringing noise echoed throughout his head. It was when he opened his eyes and went for his mobile phone that everything went to hell. One moment he was staring at his family's zen garden, the next, there was a massive slab of some sort of broken down pillar lying in front of him. He was inside some sort structure. The pillar looked familiar, but he didn't pondered on it more. He was panicking, which brings us back to where we left off.

 

Ranmaru finally stood up and looked around. He was wearing his traditional kendo robes, which includes a white robe worn around his upperbody, with long sleeves that flow down each arm, and a black hakama secured by a white obi around his waist. He was also wearing traditional waraji, which was convenient. Aside from his clothes, there was nothing else. But walking on an unknown location without any weapon made Ranmaru rather uncomfortable. From the rubble around him, he found a metal pipe which is roughly as long as his entire leg, and a wooden stake the length of his calf.

 

These would have to do. For now.

 

He tested the ground and made his way towards the door way. Dust fell down from the broken down roof of the small structure, and what little light that penetrated the structure was lined with dust. It was too much that Ranmaru kicked open the door, and found, to his great surprise, an expansive landscape of sand dunes, broken structures, and a funny looking sky. Such barren scenery hurts the eyes more than a blade.

 

"HELP!"

 

He heard echoing from somewhere. Someone was alive in this forsaken place. That was his cue, and it was an unnerving cue. He made his way quickly around several structures, and up a sand dune. It was more than he was expecting as he saw a gigantic insect, a centipede of sorts bearing down on what a golden-brown haired guy wearing a striped polo shirt. Fear was the least of Ranmaru's problem. It was the creature's size.

 

No time to think, just go!

 

Ranmaru's legs started to move on its own, running at full speed down the sand dune he stood on, and right towards the beast. It was nearly upon the other guy when he reached halfway. It was now or never. He placed the metal pipe at eye level, holding it at the right side of his head with his right hand, and held the wooden stake at chest level in front of him using his left hand. He then rushed towards the creature.

 

It was then that the guy fell down and the creature was upon it, scythe-like claws bearing closer. This was what Ranmaru hoped the creature would do.

 

"Tengoku Tsurugi Jutsu, Third Form. Rising Dragon Flash!"

 

He blocked the attack by hitting the claw from the side with the wooden stake, allowing it to slide past the guy, landing on the sand dune, missing him by a hair's breadth. Ranmaru then brought the pipe from his side upwards, in an upward arcing manner, hitting the centipede squarely on its body.

 

The technique didn't have the desired effect. Firstly, the wooden stake barely managed to off set the balance of the creature, which was a vital part of the technique's execution. The only thing it did manage was to sidetrack the beast's claw, allowing it to miss the guy. Second, the metal pipe did not have the same aerodynamic shape of a katana, much less an edged portion, and as such, was only able to push the centipede away. Lastly, because of the sand dune, Ranmaru was not able to use the full force of the technique, as he was not able to produce enough force from his step-in. But at the very least, he managed to push back the beast, down the lower reaches of the sand dunes. He estimates a couple of minutes before the creature would be able to reach them again. He doesn't intend to wait it out.

 

"Hey, are you okay? We don't have enough time. That beast will come back. Can you walk?" Ranmaru said calmly, trying to impose the same level of calmness on the guy. He held out a hand, offering to help him stand up.

[Magnet Soldier]

"Jesus!"

 

To an ordinary passer-by this would have sounded as if the owner has spotted a new game or such. However, no ordinary passers-by would have been were the owner was, and he doubted that any games would be there. He cried out Jesus when a giant column of sand erupted infront of him. It sounded to relaxed for what happened next, but he hadn't known what was going to happen. When the sand dissipitated, a figure had formed. It looked liked some bug or such life-form, except for a flashing orb in it's chest and the fact it was 10 foot tall. Then the teen ran.

 

After about half an hour, or atleast that was what it felt like, the teen had lost the creature. He leaned against a rock nearby and sighed, wiping a drop of sweat off of his brow. He turned to look at where he'd came from, and noticed a small cloud of sand in the air. "Crap." He muttered. He was about to run when he heard a human voice. Well, it was more like a yell but it was still human. He looked down at the floor and grabbed a long wooden stick and ran towards the source, cursing himself for his generosity.

[Umbra]

Well, this certainly wasn't as planned. Shigure hadn't expected to be sucked into some post-apocalyptic world when he picked up the phone this morning. The air seemed breathable at least, which was something good out of all this madness. He sat down in the somewhat hot sand, observing the group of people he had decided to tag along with. Not having learned their names, he had instead given them nicknames: Kinniku, Hageatama, and Usui, after their most defining body traits. Perhaps Anaboko would've been a more fitting nickname for Usui-chan, but Shigure decided to be polite. Surprisingly, the nicknames had stuck in the past half-hour they'd been travelling together.

 

Kinniku, by far the tallest of the group standing at least a foot taller than Shigure, turned around. He had taken the lead, despite being the youngest and most rash in the group.

"Hey! Hikui-san, what are you doing? We don't have the time for this!" He nodded at Hageatama, the oldest of the group who was standing between them. He had apparently been here before; he showed them the trick with the payphone's map and their directions towards the target.

"You didn't hear what he said before? Get a move on!"

Hageatama nodded back.

"The target shouldn't be far ahead, Hikui-kun. You think there's something waiting for us?"

Shigure raised a finger.

"Not something. Someone. If it's true that these monsters won't attack outside the danger zone, then we should be safe from them there. What I'm fearing is the other people. The four of us know that we can get out of this together, but they might not. For all we know, there could be a riot at the target with people trying to get out of here." Shigure was incredibly thankful that Hageatama-san had joined up with them; they wouldn't survive here without help. "Then again, we might be able to take care of any threat at the target. There's four of us; I doubt anyone else has that advantage." Kinniku-kun smiled widely, and Hageatama-san simply nodded. Usui-chan said nothing; she had spoken no more than a few words since they joined up. He jumped to his feet.

"I'm probably just overthinking this. Let's go."

[bury the year]

It was a well-known cliché that when you were going to die, you would supposedly see your life flash before your eyes. Under normal circumstances, Kenzou would have never believed such a thing. He wasn’t planning on dying anytime soon, anyways. However, as the bug-thing brought down a sickle-shaped claw towards his head, the college student swore he could see thousands of fragments flashing by his eyes, fragments of past events of his life. Closing his eyes, he made a last wish for it not to be too painful...

 

“Tengoku Tsurugi Jutsu, Third Form. Rising Dragon Flash!”

 

“Heh?” Okay. Death evidently hadn’t arrived yet, so sending a quick mental prayer to whatever gods may be, Kenzou opened his eyes and was rather surprised at the sight that awaited him. An older man, apparently in his mid-20s or 30s, had seemingly attacked the beast with a metal pipe of all things, knocking the claw away from him. He could feel the breeze of the gigantic implement of death sweep right past, close enough to tickle the hairs on his oddly-colored hair. Whoever his pipe-wielding savior was Kenzou didn’t care about at the current moment, but right now he knew he was provided a chance to escape. It was like life was giving him a gratuitous kick to the ass.

 

Wait. He couldn’t go now. What happened if that guy got killed? That would crush Kenzou’s conscience into a million pieces. He could never live it down, even though he didn’t have a clue on what exactly was going on. But he didn’t have insane sword-pipe-thing skills, or at least as it seemed. The only thing he could do was provide a distraction. Looking around for something that would make do, Kenzou spotted a small slab of concrete or asphalt laying on top of the rubble. The student heaved it up, shaking a bit at the weight, and started to run, getting up the speed that he knew he would need.

 

“Hey, ugly!” he yelled, throwing the chunk right at the beast’s head. Hopefully that would help. If not, he just signed his own death warrant.

[Quiksilver]

Damn conscience! Sayo thought furiously as she ran towards the college student, whom she had just seen throw a slab of concrete at the large, worm-like creature. Moments after thinking, she wasn't going to able to reach him in time...Oh well. Too bad her conscience had responded with a quick and furious jab that made her cringe, and Sayo knew at the moment she had to help the boy. Even if she didn't want to.

 

Which she most definitely didn't.

 

"Get down, kid!" She shouted. Anticipating that the strange-haired boy wouldn't get down in time, she launched herself at him. As she collided with the boy, she felt something tear away from her back. Damn! The tail she had seen, arcing towards the boy, had instead hit a few inches away, right through her expensive Dior jacket!!! It had to be Sayo screaming out that had made the tail jerk. The monster must have been startled and acted instinctively, slashing out at her instead. And of course, she had been wearing her best jacket today. Fate liked to make fun of you in this type of way.

 

"Damn. That monster....IS GOING TO PAY!" Sayo got off the boy, not even looking to see if he had been taken down by her sudden tackle, and grabbed a chain she saw lying on the ground. "Hey, you piece of-" The next word was drowned out by the loud shriek the creature made as the end of the chain, which had been broken at one point and was now very sharp, cut into its back, once, twice. Sayo could see greenish blood started to leak out of the cuts. Ha! Yes! "How do you like that, you repulsive beast!" Sayo shouted, lowering the chain and falling to one knee as the toll the chain-swinging had taken on her came into effect. She really should exercise more. Despite feeling as though she was very weak, Sayo felt satisfied with her performance. She had hurt the jacket-destroying worm! That would teach people not to mess with her!...Uh-oh. Crap. She wouldn't be feeling satisfied in a couple minutes. The creature was turning around...!

[ryuujinn]

Ranmaru stared as the brown-haired boy threw a slab of something towards the monster. It was, in a way, not the best idea. He wanted for them to have just run away from it, seeing as he's got nothing to fight off the insect other than a metal pipe, and a wooden stake. It wasn't really the best combination of weapons, especially when you're trained to use aerodynamic weapons, and not heavy, unwieldy types. He gave another sigh. Monsters like these only appear in movies he has seen, not in his real life.

 

He was even more surprised when he saw a black, wavy-haired woman suddenly jumping at the boy. At first, Ranmaru was rather taken aback by the move, but when he saw the creature's tail took a swipe at the two, he finally understood. To more of his surprise, the woman suddenly grabbed what looked like a broken chain saw, and hacked away at the beast, injuring it. He gave a sigh of relief, but quickly became horrified when he saw the creature turning around. It was going to attack them.

 

He immediately ran towards the side of the insect-like beast, performing a shukuchi maneuver to get in between the beast and the two other human, crouching low that his right knee was nearly touching his chest. He then brought up the metal pipe he was holding, performing a vertical thrusting attack towards the chest of the beast. As the pipe connected, he then kicked off the ground, and stabbed the metal stake towards the chest of the piece, the same place he struck with his pipe.

 

Once again, it wasn't the best effect he was hoping for. The sand dunes was making it hard for him to do his step-ins, much less draw power from the foundation. Although he did managed to get in the combat space of the beast, he was unable to execute a move strong enough to kill it. He simply managed to injure it more, and push it back, causing it to stagger towards a ruined building, with the wooden stake still stuck to its chest. Ranmaru noticed a circular orb around its stomach section, and wondered what it was. It seemed alive, but it also looked metallic.

 

I wonder what would happen if I hit that thing. Its certainly worth a try.

 

Ranmaru then threw the metal pipe he was holding towards the orb-like object on its midsection with all his might. It spun in the air, and seemed to be going off course, but it successfully hit the orb, causing the beast to let out a shriek. Though there was no visible damage to the orb, Ranmaru's instincts tell him it would be the key to defeating it. He quickly rounded towards the woman, and grabbed hold of the broken chainsaw.

 

"Let me borrow this for a while."

 

He then rushed towards the beast as it was shrieking and thrashing wildly. Its claws and pointed tail were a danger, but Ranmaru knew he was doing the right thing. Even if he gets hurt, it would be to save those two people. He lunged forward as a claw made its way towards him, then rolled on the sand dune, evading another claw. He quickly dashed forward, seeing the orb near him. It was now or never. He jumped forward slight, thrusting the chain saw deep into the orb. He stood back as he saw the creature thrash more and more, as if in pain. He quickly made his way back towards the two, not waiting if the creature is dead.

 

"Lets' go, you two. Now! That beast could still be alive. We need to go away from it." Ranmaru said exasperatedly.

[Magnet Soldier]

"Holy crap." The teen gaped. He looked at the beast, then at the trio running from it. He rolled his eyes and ran towards the beast. This was much bigger than the other one, probably 20 foot, but the teen didn't exactly have time to measure. When the beast spotted him, it opened it's mouth and shrieked. The teen stopped, taken aback by the loud noise. Then he was shaken back to reality by a rumbling in the ground as the creature stormed at him. He shook his head twice and turned to run at the trio. He noticed one of the guys holding a metal pipe and a wooden stake. He assumed that this guy had more knowledge of swordsmanship, so went to this guy first.

 

Then he saw the man grabbed a broken chainsaw, and threw it at the creature. The creature shrieked again, and seemed to fall. The teen wasn't sure if the creature was dead, but it was probably better to get the man armed just incase. "You need something like a sword?" He asked, holding out the stick. It was slightly beaten, but resembled a Bokoto. "'Cause if you can keep that beast back, you can keep it." He said, thrusting the sword at the man. Then he turned to the woman and the other teen. "Hi. Name's Akihiko. Akihiko Kaizuka. You can call me Aki." He offered a hand, then noticed a cloud of ash or Sand. "We better get moving." Akihiko advised, pushing the woman and boy along.

[Umbra]

The four of them headed for the target zone, Kinniku taking an early lead with Hageatama close by. The young man couldn't help letting out a laugh. "So, we're stuck in this desert of a wasteland, sun burning us to shreds, and we're following instructions given to us by a phone to go to another phone. Why are we here? Because a giant bug-man called us!" He laughed again. "This is insane!"

Shigure shook his head, and heard Hageatama sigh.

"You don't say, Kinniku-kun. I still can't believe this is all happening. But you could think of it as a game."

Kinniku's eyes were wide open in surprise as he looked back at Shigure, who nodded.

"We have to play by the rules. If we start to question why we're here, we'll get taken off the board. The map says that the target isn't far away, and you said it yourself: We shouldn't stay any longer here than we have to. We can talk about this when we get back." Kinniku shrugged.

"I guess you're right." He turned away, and the four of them started walking again. Kinniku walked onto a small ridge... or so he thought.

Now, before their eyes, the entire ridge moved. Shaking off the sand and rubble that had stacked itself on top of it, a gargantuan wolf-like creature rose on all fours before them. The ragged fur was light brown, and atop the wolf's head sat a large, circular object. It must've been lying there for years... Something about this creature didn't add up.

 

"Stand back!" Shigure turned his head; it was Hageatama that had spoken. The old man was the only one of them that had been there before, and thanks to that sported some impressive power. He still couldn't control it much, but he had demonstrated it earlier and it seemed good enough. "I don't want any of you to get hurt." Kinniku frowned.

"Sure you can take this down, Hageatama-san? Looks tough."

As if the wolf had understood him, it took off at an incredible speed and lashed out at Kinniku, paws ready to attack. That's impossible. That thing's the size of a bus, there's no way it could jump like that. Shigure could now see that the wolf's claws were retractable: they grew by at least ten inches midair. Kinniku-kun's demise seemed certain... until the wolf froze. Barely visible, a web of golden threads covered the wolf and held it in place. The old man gasped for breath.

"I can't do this much longer! Quick, go for th-"

 

If the wolf had been fast, Usui-chan was lightning incarnate. She had been in the back, several yards away from them. In an instant, she had dashed past them, jumped onto the wolf's head and buried her right arm deep within the orb on its forehead.

[Quiksilver]

"Wait a second-" Sayo protested when the chain was torn out of her grasp by a middle-aged man who promptly stabbed the creature with it. She was about to let loose a torrent of complaints, until she saw the effect the chain had done to the beast. Maybe the man could use the chain better than her.

 

"Lets go, you two. The beast could still be alive. We need to get away from it." The man shouted at Sayo and the boy she had just saved. Oh, for crying out loud. Just look at the creature!

 

"I don't think we need to worry about the worm!" She shouted back, gesturing towards the creature. A second after the man had turned his back to it, it had promptly quit it's seizures and had fallen to the ground, as dead as a doornail. Wait a second, how did that phrase work exactly? Doornails weren't dead-

 

Why had Sayo's musings stopped suddenly, you ask? It was all for a sudden pressure on her back, which seemed like it had been trying to push her away from something but instead pushed her into the dirt. What was with people touching her today??? A loud, adolescent voice spoke from behind her. Great. Her attacker was a child.

 

"Hi. Name's Akihiko. Akihiko Kaizuka. You can call me Aki." The voice said, but right about then, she didn't really care what the kid called himself.

 

"Listen here," She got to her feet and started speaking impassionately, looking from the older man to the kid very strictly. "It is not proper to manhandle me like this-" Once again, Sayo broke off what she was saying. This time, she wasn't being assaulted from behind. This time, she had seen the cloud of sand inching it's way towards the group. Hm. Maybe the guy was right. Maybe they should be making a run for it!