Corpus Rahkshi

[Eiji Hino]

--IC: The Clique (Luffy, Kri, Pyle, Oshi, Exigent): In the Mock City--

"Great!  Now we all know each other!

"Here's a plan that I just thought of now.  This city's sure to have lots of alleyways we can hide in!  Two of us can hide in one, and the other two can hide in the one on the other side of the street.  When anybody passes by, I'll streeeeetch out my arms for one of the others to catch, and we'll trip whoever passes us!"

 

"My God, man," Kri whispered, when she had heard Liar's plan in full.  "That's terrible!  Nobody's going to believe you want out of this assignment; you're clearly the bloodthirstiest out of all of us!  And how on earth are you going to lure anyone here?"

 

Pyle continued to suppress his laughter as Waiata began to squeeze into the ball that Slif had formed out of himself.  This whole situation was getting more ridiculous by the second!

 

Kororia's words comforted Oshi, and she gripped her hand in return.  What on earth?  Was she actually... enjoying being around her?  It was one think to want to stick close with someone, but to enjoy the presence of another Rahkshi... was something else entirely.

"K-K-Kororia's right," Oshi stammered at Aza.  "We n-n-need a better plan!"

 

"Apologies, my dear," Exigent said to Misery.  "Sometimes, it's simply hard to tell."

To Mute, he said," Yes, let's go."  Once they were outside, he whispered, "Don't tell your large friend, but my name actually isn't Jeff.  I just couldn't stand watching him try to fumble through more than one syllable."

[Ehksidian]

-IC: Mute/The Gym-

 

Mute stopped, and glanced at Exigent. "Then," he asked, "what is your name?"

 

His voice was even more hushed than usual, an almost surprising accomplishment.

[Eiji Hino]

--IC: Exigent: In the Mock City--

"Exigent is my name.  I expect you'll be able to remember it.

"Now, friend Mute, let's put that jumping ability of yours to good use.  Can you jump up on one of those balconies up there?"  He pointed.  "You can scout up high, while I scout on the ground level."

[Nato G]

IC: Illusive - Gym.

 

I nodded in agreement to Kri's remarks. In all likelihood, the other teams would simply try to incapacitate Liar on sight. Not to mention the fact that his entire plan hinged on me doing something that was impossible for me to do at my current level. 

 

Of course, I wasn't going to explain that to him.

 

Either he was ignorant of the abilities of illusion rahks, or he thought I was significantly more powerful than I actually was. Either way, letting him stew in his ignorance was much more satisfying than correcting him. 

[Ehksidian]

-IC: Mute/The Gym-

 

Without another word, Mute threw his glaive like a spear and landed it firmly on the balcony. The long metal weapon didn't even clatter. After that, he crouched and leapt towards the balcony. His height - both in the sense of how high he could jump, and how tall he was - was just enough for him to grasp the bottom of the balcony. He crawled onto the balcony, eventually standing up to his full height.

 

He gave Exigent a confident thumbs-up once he got up.

[Click]

IC: Tube - Gym Maze
 
Tube nodded and quickly slipped the glove back on their hand. "I will do my best for Master!"
 
 
IC: Tear - Gym Maze
 
With that out of the way, it was time for them to determine their strategy. Tear looked to Floor. "I don't trust our VIP to stay safe if we move too far. We should set up within one of those structures with Door and Crate inside and the two of us watching outside, perhaps from the roof."
 
 
IC: Garrotte - Gym Maze
 
Everything was going well... until Garrotte caught voices coming from nearby. She skid to a stop and pressed up against a building, gesturing for the others to do the same.
 
"...you're clearly the bloodthirstiest out of all of us!  And how on earth are you going to lure anyone here?"
 
She looked to Vlad uncertainly as she pulled out a few capsules of poison.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Click

[NorikSigma]

IC: Xara - Dorm.

 

"Maybe... but we both know what the Makuta are like. I don't want to underestimate them."

IC: Glass

 

"Yeah... I guess we should just stay in class for now."

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

IC: Vlad / Gym Maze

 

 

Garrotte's abrupt stop almost caught Vlad off guard; he skidded to a stop alongside her, hearing the same voices not too far away. He couldn't say anything, he realized; although this other team was arguing loudly, he suspected most of the Rahkshi in the assignment would be alert enough to have fair chances of catching an extraneous murmur. He nodded at Garrotte and made a pincer motion with his hands, clearly indicating surround them. Then he began to sneak quietly back around the building, one of four corners of the diamond Liar's team would be inscribed in.

[Nato G]

IC: Xara - Dorm.

 

"Ha... I never thought I'd have to worry about assignments and classwork again."

[The UltimoScorp]

IC Aza:

 

"What would make me -feel- better is if I'd never met you, or your spineless toady, and had a reason to stick arrows in the both of you, so I never had to see your insipid faces ever again for as long as I live!

 

IC Diode:

 

A quickly whispered retort, "I'll distract them, jump in when they're not paying attention."

 

He snuck off to the front as best he could, which was surprisingly well, given he'd had to sneak around a very volition makuta.

[NorikSigma]

IC: Glass

 

Glass laughed aloud at that.

 

"It's a good kind of worry I guess."

[Nato G]

IC: Xara - Dorm.

 

"Well, yeah, I guess. There are worse things to be afraid of." 

[ZippyWharrgarbl]

IC: Kororia - R U D E

 

“That’s a silly thing to say,” she said to Aza, with a hint of soft chiding to her voice. “Everyone here has a spine. You can see them, Aza!”

 

The other insults and threats Aza threw went right over her head, in terms of effectiveness. On Woomera, that was pretty much how people greeted each other.

 

She was sensing a lot of anger, so she patted Aza’s kneecap in comfort. Then, she remembered something. “It’s okay, though. I’m not mad at you. Do you wanna come inside now? I have biscuits we can eat while we make a really good plan.”

[Dane-gerous]

IC: Thud - Gym

 

"Okay Misery, we should go inside and hide now!" Thud said, before thundering his way into a building nearby.

[NorikSigma]

IC: Glass

 

"Okay, alright. Umm, so... Fitting in well to your old environment so far?"

[Eiji Hino]

--IC: Kri, Oshi, and Exigent: In the Mock City--

"See?  He agrees with me," Kri said, gesturing to the silent Rahkshi.  "If we're going to succeed in this assignment, which we are, then we need a plan that isn't based on our opponents being too dumb to see the basics.

"What we could do is divide and conquer."

 

Spineless?  Toady?  Never see again?  And what did insipid mean?

Regardless of the meaning of insipid, Aza was clearly very angry for some reason, and she had chosen to take it out on her and Kororia.  In that moment, Oshi stopped focusing on keeping her powers at bay and more on the yells being directed at her.  Her powers triggered, directed at Aza, and what she detected was... horrible.  She fell to her knees; Rahkshi tears started leaking from her eyes.  M A K E I T S T O P.

 

Exigent returned the thumbs-up, then began to prowl silently a short way down the street.  He reached for his Shinken Shuriken as he gripped his spear tighter; both weapons would come in handy.

[Timageness]

IC: Liar - Gym

 

Really...? Because I'm starting to believe it...

"Okay, Professor Mutran," he retorted. "Let's hear your absolutely brilliant strategy, then."

 

IC: Torc - Gym

 

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So... what do we do if they're in Flight Mode?"

Tactical planning wasn't exactly his strong suit, but that did seem to be a fairly obvious design flaw.

 

OOC: Dane, aren't Misery and Thud already inside a building?

[Coconut Fella]

IC: Phantom - The Forge

"Yes." After a moment, she added, "Sorry."

She handed the staff back to Gaever, head turned down in embarassment.

IC: Sim - Gym
The stasis rahk rubbed at his "temples", or whatever you'd call them, still coming off the panic of a new situation.
"Alright, can you even stretch that far? And assuming you do, what would we do after they've been tripped?"

IC: Slif - Gym

To be honest, I was surprised they were going along with it so fast. I mean, I'd gotten a good laugh, but not really any pushback.

"Oh. Uh.... alright then."
The plates of my back carapace slid as I curled forward, adaptation taking hold again. I should have kind of a tighter grip to keep my ball form now. Waiata started climbing in, cramping into the space between my chest and legs.
"Oof. This is uh. This is a little weird. How are you doing?"
 

[Eiji Hino]

--IC: Luffy and Kri: In the Mock City--

"Yeah, I can stretch that far!  Watch!"  He demonstrated; his arms just barely made it across the street before they snapped back.  "Yellow Dude, you look strong.  You should probably catch my arms on the other side.  If they're in flight mode, I'll just stretch higher!

"Once we trip them, then Drippy Guy, you can thwack them with your nifty club!  Or Blue Guy, you can hit them with your stick!"

 

"Like I said, we could divide and conquer.  We can all do different things- I hope- but none of those things work well in combination.  If we split up, though, then we can do what we do best without worrying about interfering with each other and hampering our progress."

[Smudge8]

IC: Booger-Gym

 

Booger perked up when Luffy mentioned hitting someone with his club. "Sounds good to me!" He said, immediately running towards the alleyway.

[ZippyWharrgarbl]

IC: Kororia - Oh No!!!

 

She turned at the sound of Oshi falling to her knees, and didn’t even stop to think before hugging her. “Oh no, Oshi, are you okay?”

 

She had forgotten: this wasn’t home. There would more people like her father here, people who were hurt when empty threats and insults were thrown at them. She lifted her head- gently, so as not to jolt Ezec- to Aza.

 

“Maybe you should apologise to Oshi first,” she said softly. “Some people are hurt by words. I know that you’re angry and upset, and I want to help you feel less angry and upset, but I think you really upset Oshi with what you said.”

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

IC: Gaever / Forge

 

 

As much as Gaever wanted to just sit down and get right back to work, she felt she had to speak to her downcast friend first. "The apology is unnecessary, but it is accepted," she told Phantom as she took the staff back reverently. "Do not be sad. I also am sorry for alarming you."

[Dane-gerous]

OOC: Not that I'm aware of, no.

 

IC: Rider - Refectory

"Phantom-On-The-Water is gone. I'm sure you remember that. They're still not happy at us but things have seemed to calm down recently. I'm just really glad you're back. It's been weird without you."

Edited December 20, 2017 by Jayne Cobb

[The UltimoScorp]

IC God Twins:

 

"I don't care!" She shrieked, pulling her hand back to strike Kororia.

 

 

"Aza! Enough!" Ezec interjected.

 

Her hand froze mid swing.

 

"Can you not control your temper long enough to recognize an ally and follower?"

 

She barely breathed, but the fire in her eyes dimmed.

 

"I... Of course. I'm getting too worked up."

[Eiji Hino]

--IC: Oshi: In the Mock City--

Aza was even angrier now, and Oshi's mental connection with her picked up on that.  It was even scarier.

She started outright bawling.  "M A K E I T S T O P," she blubbered, trying her best to sever her connection with Aza.  It was starting to break, but it was still there.

"M A K E I T S T O P."

[Nato G]

IC: Xara - Dorm.

 

"So far," I assured him, "Things haven't changed that much since I left."

_________________________________________________________________

 

IC: Sliver - Rooftop. 

 

I remained crouched on the rooftop, listening out for further sounds coming from the direction that the shouting had originated from earlier, while I waited for the rest of my team. I could vaguely make out... something... it was too distant to make out the exact words, but it sounded like muttering, or chanting, or something.

 

Whatever it was, it was almost certainly another team. 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Roman Torchwick

[ZippyWharrgarbl]

IC: Kororia - Team Baby Wigglers

 

She relaxed the arm she had tensed, ready to block Aza’s blow, and brought it back to wrap around Oshi.

 

“What’s wrong, Oshi?” she asked softly. “Are you hurt?”

[Eiji Hino]

--IC: Oshi: in the Mock City--

Miraculously, Oshi severed her mental probing of Aza.  Her chest heaved with the exertion it had taken, and tears continued to fall.

She scrambled away from Aza, mumbling slightly incoherently, "She scares me she scares me she scares me.  Keep her away keep her away."

[Nato G]

IC: Illusive - Gym.

 

This conversation was swiftly becoming a waste of time. We clearly weren't going to agree on a coherent strategy any time soon, and all of this shouting was surely going to draw other combatants. 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Roman Torchwick

[ZippyWharrgarbl]

IC: Kororia - Team Baby Wigglers

 

She turned briefly to Aza. “I think I know what to do. This happens to Dad, sometimes. I’m sure she doesn’t mean it.”

 

She sat down beside Oshi, squeezing between her arm and her side. Softly, she said, “It’s okay, Oshi. Just take deep breaths, okay? I know it feels real bad now, but it’ll go away soon.”

[Onaku]

IC: Helkyrie - Gym City

 

Going as stealthily as she could, Helkyrie moved into position with the others, ready to strike the moment she had to.

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

IC: Thurisaz / Gym

 

 

"Good to know," Thurisaz replied, giving Tube a hearty pat on the shoulder. The warrior Turahk took the crossbow from Paladin. "Thank you, loyal knight."

 

Aerahk's report, unsurprisingly, was that there was nothing to report. They'd need to seek out other groups. "Let's go rooftop to rooftop in an inward spiral," the resplendent strategist told his team. "Look and listen carefully for any signs of others - not just in the streets, but in the sky, on adjacent buildings, or even inside them."

 

Motioning for them to follow him, he leapt gracefully over the edge of the building, entering flight mode for only the brief second needed to slow and prolong his descent so he could land softly on the next building.

[Coconut Fella]

IC: Phantom - The Forge
She shook her head slowly.
"No, no fault." She patted her own chest, "Distracted with.... wind."

To demonstrate, she tried to flick another gust of wind from her fingers, only generating a light breeze.

IC: Fate - Gym
I couldn't waste any more time waiting for the bickering to end.
"I'm going up there," I pointed to the roof of a nearby building, "To take a defensive position. If you should devise a better plan, come and let me know."
For emphasis, I drew my rifle from the compartment in my side, unfolding it to full length. Then, I jumped at the building, entering flight only long enough to reach the lip of the roof, where I dropped into a roll, and lay flat on the ground. I did all this to minimize my mid-air exposure to any watching eyes.

[Timageness]

OOC: Huh. Thought Exigent lead them all inside way back on Page 668. Oh well.

 

IC: Misery - Gym

 

Well, at least this one seems to understand the concept now.

Misery simply nodded in agreement, and followed Thud's lead.

Hopefully, nobody can hear all that noise, though.

 

IC: Liar - Gym

 

"So one on one duels with minimal teamwork? That's risky as all Karz, especially for the VIP."

Despite his reluctance, however, he did appear to give it some thought.

"But... if we were to approach the idea from the opposite end of the spectrum - make some noise, draw out the other teams, and trick them into fighting each other instead of us - that might just be crazy enough to work. And thankfully, I brought along some... party favors."

[Smudge8]

IC: Revenge and Danger- Refectory

 

Revenge smiled. "Is there anything you would like to do now that I am back?"

 

"Yea," Danger chimed in, "What kind of stuff is there to do around here?"

[The UltimoScorp]

IC Diode:

 

"I'm afraid you won't have time for that. You've already been found."

 

He stepped into the building proper, weapon drawn, crackling sparks chasing each other around her body.

 

OOC: Illusive and co.

[Click]

IC: Tube - Gym Maze

 

Tube eagerly followed with a decidedly less graceful leap. As they hit with a solid thud, the stone beneath their frame cracked and groaned. They grinned at Thurisaz as if nothing had happened.

 

 

IC: Reda - Gym Maze

 

She watched Slif's plan turn to action with a bemused smirk, but of course didn't neglect to watch the alleys around them while her team was otherwise occupied.

 

 

 

IC: Garrotte - Gym Maze

 

While the others spread out, Garrotte remained right where she was, waiting anxiously for the signal. It was sometime in the relative silence as their target droned on about plans or something that Garrotte began to wonder why they sent their VIP in as a distraction...

 

Oh, well too late, that's the signal.

 

As Diode made her grand entrance, Garrotte spun out from the corner on the other side of Kri's team and threw her capsules at their feet. Inside was her own poison, which, while not very toxic, could harden on impact and hold with surprising strength that should keep them occupied for a few moments.

[Coconut Fella]

IC: Fate - Gym

Ah. Here we are.
Laying flat on the building top, my barrel resting on the lip of the roof while my hands found their way to the grip and trigger, I aimed my gun at the crackling intruder's thigh...

 

And fired.

Scooting back to hide both the barrel and my body, I lay flat again. It was entirely possible I'd been seen, but one has to try.

I made sure to reload my rifle with another piercing round as I hid.

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

IC: Vlad / Gym Maze

 

 

As soon as Diode had spoken - hopefully drawing their opponents' attention - Vlad leapt in, arbitrarily lashing his chain whip horizontally at the back of the nearest Rahkshi, who happened to be Illusive.

 

As he did he heard the discharge of a projectile weapon from above, and noted that only three Rahkshi stood before them - the fourth had quickly taken up an elevated position, he realized with dismay. But there was no way to do anything about the sniper this instant; he could only hope Diode would note the same things, and react quickly enough to evade extensive damage.

* * *

 

IC: Gaever / Forge

 

 

"Ah." That made sense - she was experimenting with her powers. "Your powers should come more easily with practice," she suggested. "You could step outside for a better place to practice them, if you wish." It might have been an arrogant assumption, Gaever was thinking, that Phantom would be interested in watching her work anyways.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Sergei Rahkmaninoff

[Nato G]

IC: Illusive - Gym.

 

Karz, I hate being right.

 

Despite's Liar's misplaced confidence in the terrible plan he'd been pitching, I knew the other rahks wouldn't be moronic enough to attack us alone. This was an ambush, and the electricity rahk who'd just dropped in on us was merely the distraction. Silencer and I had specialised in this kind of tactic. Deception and subterfuge. Making the enemy look in one direction while hitting them from another.

 

Sure enough, capsules of a stinging, foul-smelling sap spattered across the street, sticking painfully to my legs as I tried to step back out of the spraying fluid's path. In the same moment, from another direction, an enragingly familiar glowing figure stepped into view and... Not this time! I stumbled through the doorway behind me, letting the whip clatter off the outside wall.

 

For a moment, I panicked. Vlad couldn't have recognised me. Icarax had changed me too much for that. My own brother wouldn't have known me now. It had to be a coincidence. 

 

I activated my base level powers, then leaned out of the doorway and snapped out my arm, trying to grab Kri and pull her through the doorway. There was no point in me escaping this ambush if the VIP got taken out.