destinystrings | Troops Come Marching In

It's finally tournament time, which means it's time for the cavalry to move on out. When the rescuers make their way to the abandoned factory that had been named as the entrance by Q, it's rather easy to spot where their destination was. In fact, they were greeted with the appearance of extremely out of place grecian columns and ancient-looking ruins, complete with a large set of stairs leading downward; there might as well be a big neon sign with arrows pointing downward and the caption "HEY EVERYONE!! HERE IT IS!! ENTER THIS DUNGEON!! WIN FABULOUS PRIZES AND LOOT!!!" It's a rather alarming testament to just how powerful rumors are in this town, if the Junes saga wasn't indication enough.

Reiko, a member of the Seven, awaits them at the entrance with her Jack Frost standing at her side, clutching two strange objects in her hands as every assembles.

"I took a look around inside before you got here," she began, a matter of fact tone to her voice, though it was still light despite the gravity of the situation. "It's something else in there! Looks like they've set up some kind of maze inside... You'll have to get through it if you want to find the others deeper inside.

"You'll split up into two groups to get through it; Eikichi, Rock, Kotoha, Ruri and Yosuke on one, and Nano, Shinjiro, Lucas, Lucina and Billy on the other. It'll make it easier for you to get through undetected, but be sure you stay together with your groups, OK?"

She moved forward with the devices in hand, handing one off to Ruri and the other to Nano. "These are courtesy of Q-- they'll teleport you and any others in a short radius back outside here, but they're one time use only. Make sure to only use them once you've found all of the others, OK?"

Once she'd handed them off, she stepped back out of the way of the entrance, her Jack Frost following at her side. "I'll stay out here and watch your back; if you need anything, you can contact me or Q over the CommLink. Good luck! And try not to get anyone killed!"

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Rock steps up, followed by a dog, and turns so he can address both Ruri and the rest of the group.

"My name is Rock, or you can call me Mega Man if you prefer - I'm a lab assistant robot with combat capabilities. I'll be doing my best to help both the kidnapped people and all of you as well. Unfortunately, I've yet to awaken my Persona, so I'm not sure what kind I have or what it can do - though I do have a copy chip that allows me to copy mechanical weaponry."

He stoops down and pats the dog on the head. "And this is Rush - he's both my pet and support."

Kotoha's done her hair up a bit, trading her trademark buns-and-tails look for a functional braid and swapping out her normal visor for a pair of safety goggles. Her normal clothing has been replaced with a dark shirt and a pair of heavy jeans, and there's an airsoft gun tucked into a shoulder harness that looks fairly new, as if she'd bought it recently. Glancing around, she nods once in greeting before speaking.

"My name's Kotoha, I'm a Pokemon Trainer from Unova. My Soul Persona specializes in Fire and Light attacks, but also has access to a healing skill. I also have a Persona from the Velvet Room that specializes in weakening foes. As far as my other skills go, I have a full team of six Pokemon - non-human sapient allies with superhuman capabilities. Three of them possess the ability to fly and are capable of carrying humans with them, although they won't be able to fight at full capacity if they do so."

Her tone as she recites all this is fairly crisp, a far cry from her normal bubbly personality.

"I also possess extensive experience with infiltrating secured locations and neutralizing their security - in my home world I spearheaded the effort to disassemble a country-wide terrorist organization."

Eikichi nods at everyone's intro and pretty much beams when it's his turn. He's rather tall, standing at around 6'3", and quickly adjusts his hair before speaking. Gotta look his best!

"Hoooo! Name's Eikichi, but all you lovely babes can call me Michel, leader of Gas Chamber musical group! Hades and I can dish out dark, water and physical attacks." He holds up the guitar case that slung over his shoulder. "This is my weapon, and it's good to clear out a row of demons if we need too..." Yes, a guitar case.

Don't ask.

"Apart from that, I was a persona user before coming here. I've fought Nyarlathotep before and had my share of horrible underground tunnels, this almost feels like deja-vu...tch it's bad for my hair... oh! I can also do demon contracts. That might be useful here, depending. With Michel on your team, you can be guarantied we'll find everyone in time!"

Quick, remove him from the party before it was too late.

It is very tempting to just punch Eikichi in the back of the head but no. He might need him. Otoha hunches his shoulders a bit - why are there so many kids here? - and speaks up.

"Otoha. Don't call me Yosuke. I fight with a sword. I've been in plenty of firefights before. I'll take the front lines if no one else wants to - I -"

He pauses, before forging ahead. "- I can't feel pain so it won't slow me down. The Persona I've got from the Velvet Room is on the weaker side but it specializes in wind attacks. Yatagarasu specializes in physical attacks though it's got a dark attack and a light attack. I've also got a special skill that lets me freeze time for a few seconds, but I can't use it that much before I'm out."

"... And there's one person in particular I'm going for when I get there. Don't get in my way or you're going to get hurt."

Otoha gets a slightly awkward look from Rock, but he nods all the same. "I understand the sentiment, Mister Otoha, but I doubt anyone here intends to impede anything - we all have the same goal of rescuing everyone, after all."

Eikichi's guitar case also gets an odd look, and a curious touch. "This is a wea--" Rock starts to ask, but there's a faint glow around his forearm as he does so, and causes him to blink a few times as he processes new weapon data. "...guess it really is."

Ruri nods and puts all this information on a seperate floating screen for everyone else before pulling an odd looking metal stick from her belt and nodding.

"I believe that being methodical is the best approach to rescue. While I understand we all have specific friends that mean a lot to us I believe the greater good will be served by moving methodically."

She flicks the screens away and lets out a breath.

"Otoha and Rock, may I ask you two to take point? You both seem to be the most experienced in raw combat. Michael, I'd like you to take tactical with me since I have very little experience in dealing with demons and that seems to be your specialty. Kotoha, I know you have a lot of experience as well so I'd like you to watch our flank. Also if any of your pokemon are capable of spinning a web or excreting a string of some sort that may help us in navigating the maze. Otherwise I purchased some yarn, but I do not believe it will be enough to do more than preliminary explorations."

Kotoha pauses to think before drawing out a pink ball and releasing a humanoid jackal.

"Arthur here can mark the walls for us. Best I can do, sorry."

"Hrm. That is better than nothing. Just the rumors are this place is a very complicated maze and I'd rather avoid going in circles forever."

Eikichi looked at Rock for a second confused.

"What just happened?"

Before hearing Ruri's words and letting out a long sigh.

"Yeah let's make sure this doesn't end up with us spinning around in circles for a day," Eikichi replies a little too quickly before coughing and collecting himself.

"As long as there's no rumors that there is no way to get out of here, I think we'll be good, chica." He had experience with this. "Regardless, I did bring three mirrors just in case."

He was. Prepared.

"Fine."

Otoha growled slightly and took his position. He hated going slowly, but Johnny could last for a while. It was his captors that weren't going to survive very long.

Rock chuckles a bit awkwardly. "That would be my copy chip at work, Mister Michel," Rock explains, then nods at Ruri. His arm transforms into a cannon as he puts on a serious face - and then Eikichi brings out the mirrors which just raises further questions.

"...mirrors?"

"Yeah. Mirrors. Normally I'd be happy to explain, but I think we're on a timed mission, so let's just go!"

IT'S OKAY YOU GUYS.

If Ruri wasn't already taking the first steps, then he was going to.

Yes, Ruri was all ready headed into the place with her usual deadpan look about her.

"Mirrors are fine. I can also boson jump since there may be a time limit."

Troops Come Marching In

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