Once Upon a Shrine...!

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: Ryder'n Rat!

IC:

Motoko recovered from the shock of seeing the transformation first. She raised her sword and lunged at the first of the demons, the blade gleaming darkly as she slashed at the beast's arm.

At the same moment, the sharp report from Ritsuko's gun echoed in the courtyard, and the bullet slammed into Motoko's opponent, staggering it in time for the black haired swordswoman to cleave off the beast's arm. With a scream of pain from the beast, the limb dropped to the ground. Maddened, the monster ran at Motoko, claws from his one good arm bared, his bleeding stump oozing ichor that was, even by modest standards, rank enough to stun a buffalo. The claws flashed in a blinding arc at the teen swordswoman, but she managed to use her sword to block the deadlyspikes, putting the pair into a stale mate for the moment, though the demon's superior strength slowly pushed Motoko back...


"Rin...Pyou...Tou...Sha...Kai...Jin...Retsu...Sai....Zen...Akuryo Taisan!" came an enraged shout, and Sailor Mars glared, flinging an ofuda at the beast. The paper ward glommed onto it's head, and the pressure on Motoko vanished as the beast writhed in pain from the spiritual energy blazing through it, slowly, relentlessly turning it to dust.

The other Monster, shocked cautious after seeing the death of it's partner, warily advanced, growling....and that was when the trees crashed down among them.

OOC: Ryder's turn, then monster, then the Gatekeepers.

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: May!

IC:

Tsuruko dove into the shed, and as she charged down the steps, the door slammed closed, and through the door to the basment of the shed, they could hear the explosive splintering of wooden walls...

[Asrana]

Tsuruko stopped at the bottom of the stairs, quickly looking around, and then to the little girl she was carrying. "Where's Bean, or Kurumi, whatever you call her?!" Tsuruko asked, a little loudly, but not being sharp with the little girl.

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: May!

IC:

The little girl couldn't have been more than about twelve, and...suprisingly, resembled Tsuruko a little, dressed in her miko robes. She had jaw length black hair with neatly trimmed bangs, and large glasses, making her look more vulnerable than one would expect, however.

"This sucks..." She pouted, obviously frightened. "Who are you talking about?"

[Asrana]

Tsuruko took a deep breath, setting the little girl down. "There was something, about a girl, inside a statue, who happens to right now contain the mind of my friend, and that's sorta why I'm running aorund throwing thunderbolts and such at clay miko, so if you would please cooperate and share any and all information you posess about the Steel Angel Kurumi, I would be MOST appreciative."

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: May!

IC:
"Uh...Um...There might be statues down here..?" She offers tentatively, taking a nervous step back. "I don't know what a steel angel is, though."

[Asrana]

Okay, calm down...she's a scared little girl unused to hyperactive adrenaline pumped nutjobs like yourself demanding information right after a bunch of destruction...

Tsuruko took another deep breath, shaking her head. "Sorry, I'm just a little on the nervously rushed side...but...you don't know anything about a pink haired girl this shrine seemed to be protecting inside a large Buddha?"

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: May!

IC:

The little girl shook her head. "Uh-uh...but we have lots of things down here I don't know about." she points to the door beyond the steps, and shows the improbably long hallway beneath it. "This was used as a bomb shelter during the war...'kaasan stores the shrine's things in it, now."

[Asrana]

Tsuruko smiled softly, shaking her head. "Alright, thanks..." she laughed, patting the girl on the head reflexively before startuing down the hallway...

[RyderHakubi]

"THIS FUCKING SUCKS!!!!" Ryder screamed out in English once more as she dodged a falling tree, wincing slightly as a branch slashed her bad leg...

OK... May's gone downstairs for some reason... Demons are attacking us, and I bet my Ric Flair DVD collection that we're about to be attacked by Kikyo again...

She stopped running and muttered, "As good a time as the present..."

With that, she closed her eyes and concentrated... visualized the Love-Me Chain being in her hand...

Unfortunately, her concentration was broken by another tree about to fall on top of her... Ryder heard the tree and in despiration, cried out "VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!" hoping it would form and she could strike the tree down...

>SLICE<

Ryder opened her eyes and heard a thud as the split tree collapsed around her, and the golden chain was dangling in her hand... She grinned and turned towards the other demon...

"You are so fucked up..."

[Bean Bandit]

Just down the street from the shrine, Chaos appeared, in a flash of light. He was accompanied by...strangely, a robot. Nothing particularly advanced looking, or even closely humanoid. The machine, if anything, seemed to be a utilitarian design, meant for street sweeping.

Chaos giggled at little, and pointed to the APV that the soldiers who had arrived with the school children were converting, and, at the moment, calibrating. "See that, boy? Fetch. It's a nice, tasty treat....then go clean up that nasty ol' shrine, hmm?"

Bzzt...gonk. replied the robot, advancing slowly. Chaos giggled madly and vanished.

As the robot advanced slowly on the military technology, it's control chips began to fluctuate wildly, going absolutely haywire...

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: Ryder'n Rat!

IC:

The intial tree that Minako had nimbly evaded dropped to the ground with a thundering crash...directly on top of the shed Tsuruko had dove into, sending the tiny structure to the ground, almost shattering it. the fragments of wall and roof in all directions.

The other tree, sliced neatly in half by Minako's chain, fell to the ground in pieces, which were narrowly avoided by Motoko and Rei.

The two children beside Ritsuko in the shrine's torii looked utterly confused and nervous at what they were seeing...

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: May!

IC:

The young miko looked back up the stairs, shivering a little as she heard another crash, rattling the door to the basement they were in. Squeaking a little, she hurried after Tsuruko, almost clutching at the back of the older woman's robes.

"This REALLY sucks..." she whimpered.

[Carthrat]

"You two!" barks Carthrat, firing another pair of shots at the *other* demon-thing. "Go and look after that woman!" she continues, indicating the beaten-up looking lady who was lying in the wreckage of her house.

"Ryder! Once there ain't any more demons around, try and clear out the mess on top of that building! We gotta get down there!"

That's the way. Take charge in a tense situation, and most people will be acting before they stop to question why..

[Asrana]

Tsuruko gently patted the youngester's shoulder, smiling gently. "Don't worry, we'll be calling in reinforcements from down here..." she murmured, continuing down the passage, looking for any statue large enough to hold a human form...