Once Upon a Shrine...!

[Asrana]

Artemis nodded quickly, dashing off into the bushes as his mistress had instructed...

Tsuruko took a deep breath, her fingers twitching. "Rei, I'm well aware of your abilities as a senshi, use them, I'll explain how in the hell I know AFTER we deal with this," she went on, glancing around. "Motoko takes point, Rei is tactical support. If possible, Mina, do the same for me, I might need it. Everyone good to go?"

Tsuruko, despite her worried tone of voice and fidgeting, was grinning like a cat in a fish market.

[RyderHakubi]

Ryder swore a bit more in English, and finally switched back to Japanese by saying, while still trying to stay in Minako's character, "Wait a minute... You know??"

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: Ryder'n May!

IC:

Motoko looked to Rei, who looked back, clearly unsettled by Tsuruko, and the taller girl shrugged, drawing her sword. Rei still looked hesitant, though.

It was at that point that something exploded, and a reverbrating BOOM echoed over the streets.

It was impossible to tell what, exactly, save for that it was from inside the shrine, and fairly contained, though smoke WAS beginning to curl up into the sky already.

Rei twitched. "Well, I guess that's it...MARS STAR POWER, MAKE UP!" she cried, raising a hand to the sky. Her henshin wand fell into her outstretched hand, and tongues of fire began curling around her as she spun in place, her clothes burning away to be replaced by the garb of Sailor Mars, the princess of war.

Motoko blinked, looking fairly impressed at that, then nodded to her assigned parnter. "Shall we--"

The swordswoman was interupted by a high pitched yell from inside the shrine, finally heard over the fading explosion. "--Enemies of ACROSS's regime! Fear not, Illpallazzo-sama, Excel battles valiantly, for your sake, and the sake of out new world!"

[Asrana]

Tsuruko quickly joined Ryder in swearing, a few things about M4 silencers that didn't quit make sense working into the tirade as she drew her own sword. Trying to ignore the sheer strangeness of that call, she calmed herself. "Motoko in first, I'll be right behind you, Senshi come in after us, I'll split in the opposite direction of Motoko. Execute it NOW," she commanded, hoping she wasn't making a total idiot of herself, and following Motoko if she ran...

[RyderHakubi]

They were lucky... Ryder had the henshin pen out, and wasn't about to let Excel Excel, no matter how much she wanted to facefault, stop her...

"VENUS STAR POWER... MAKE UP!" she screamed as the almost hentai-like transformation washed over her.  The lights formed the orange and while Sailor Venus outfit, and breaking sacred genre, skipped the pose to get into battle position...

"MAY, SHE BETTER NOT HAVE WILL, OR WE'RE SCREWED!!!" she screamed out, unintentionally breaking in wrestling is called 'kayfabe'...

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: Ryder'n May!

IC:
Motoko nodded quickly, and sprinted up the steps to the shrine at a dead run, her sword at the ready...

Rei glanced at Minako with a grim look. "So much for getting finished before lunch is over..." she sighed.

[Asrana]

Tsuruko bolted after Motoko an instant later like she'd planned, waiting to see which direction Motoko went inside the shrine to turn the other way, and visually sweep for targets...

[RyderHakubi]

Ryder nodded to Rei and replied, "Yeah... I'm sure that you'll figure something out... Come on!"

And with that, she bolted up the steps behind Tsuruko...

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: Carthrat!

IC:

Ritsuko, after some time of following the slow moving trucks, noted that they were rapidly closing in on the tall pillars of a Japanese torii, for a shrine...

[Carthrat]

Ritsuko broke off directly following the trucks, skittering around in order to try and find an alternate route to the great pillars of the ancient shrine.

Oh-kay.. stealth is the issue here, Carthrat. Let's try and get in and work out what to do from there.

But remember, brain! Time is an issue! So let us do it *quickly*.

Carthrat accelerated her pace to a run..

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: Carhtrat!

IC:

Good fortune seemed to be on her side. Ritsuko managed to locate a network of alleyways in the buildings in the area that allowed her a clear view of their exits, and a few minutes of running, (In which the long skirt didn't help much, thank GOD Yomiko didn't have a taste for heels.) She saw an alley that emptied out right in front of the shrine...

[Carthrat]

Taking a moment before going in, Carthrat yanks out her knife and uses it to tear off a portion of the skirt, reducing it to a slightly more managable and less awkward size. Admittedly, it did make her look like a total slut (the ripped part ripped a little *too* much in one spot), but modesty was a price she was willing to pay for added mobility.

She slowed herself down when she approached the alleyway that lead into the shrine, making sure she could stay hidden while getting a good view of the area..

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: Carthrat!

IC:

The APCs were JUST turning the corner to the street the shrine was on when Ritsuko stuck her head out of the alley. Other than the approaching Vehicles, the street was deserted...

[Carthrat]

Ritsuko darts to some nearby vegetation, hoping the APC's don't see her. From there, she tries moving through the bushes until she has a clear run at the shrine, should she wish to enter, yet can still effectively survey the movements of the APCs.

[Bean Bandit]

OOC: Carthrat!

IC:

Fortunately, the shrine had no fences, the foliage serving as a natural border. The way was free and clear for Ritsuko to sneak in, and she had a mostly clear view of the approaching APCs, though now the sounds of combat from inside the shrine were clearly audible to her...