In the midnight hour [Open]

[zero_to_herooo]

Who:Eiji and open
Where: Scorpio District
Summary: Battling some Shadows, getting some grinding in.
Warnings: None.

The 13th Hour, Scorpio District -- Today, Eiji was going to scope out these Shadow monsters that apparently came out at night and forced the city to go into lockdown. He rarely stayed out this late, of course, but it was still weird to see everyone just packing up and closing their doors at a time when movie theaters, clubs, and the like should still be open.

Actually, it was a little eerie, too. Seriously, no one was around. He looked at his watch. 11:58. 11:59.

12:00.

Was that a sound? The slithering, sneaking, suspicious sound of something heavy being dragged along paved stone?

Eiji snapped his medals into the OOO Driver, just in case; the belt's voice echoed loudly in the now-quiet night air.

"Taka! Tora! Batta!"

"♪ TaToBa TaToBa TaToBa ♪" it sang.

A moment or two later, Eiji stood in the gloomy light of a nearby streetlamp, fully transformed. But sheesh, it was still kinda creepy around here. He almost felt like he needed a fedora or whatever, just to match the mood.

Something moved out from the shadows pooled at the end of the street. Something clearly not human. But not Imagin or Yummy or Greeed, either. Was this one of the Shadows? It looked like some kind of black ooze with a human mask on it. And it was oozing toward him, so he figured it was now or never.

He activated his tiger claws, snapping the long weapons into place over his fists, then charged. Time to find out what these guys were made of! P.S. Medals would be nice.

Comments

Re: i am so gomen

[zero_to_herooo]

As Eiji had never actually been mistaken for an enemy before and (in his mind) clearly didn't look like a monster, he just figured Link had aimed at the monster and missed. "Hey, kid! Be careful where you're aiming!"

At any rate, it looked like the original Shadow now had reinforcements, so it was time for something a little better at crowd control. "Ankh, meda--" Oh. Right. He retrieved and swapped in the Unagi medal himself, kicking himself a little mentally for slipping up like that.

"Taka! Unagi! Batta!" cried his belt, triggering his form change.

Now that was more like it! Eiji unsheathed the whiplike weapons attached to his arms, striking the nearest Shadow and giving it a brilliant electrical shock that lit up the immediate area around him. It didn't seem to like that at all, sagging to the ground like the first Shadow, so Eiji figured he'd made the right choice all on his own. "Okay! Let's go with this combo!"

[sky_child]

Well, uh. He wasn't. Attacking him? But. Link's not sure what exactly he's looking at.

...but he can figure that out later. He swings his sword at a nearby monster, defeating it easily. He lifts his hand in another smooth motion, sending the apparition of a large red bird towards a cluster of shadows. They reel from the impact of a green wind.

Might as well make quick work of these shadows before he can ask the guy what precisely is his deal.

[zero_to_herooo]

GOOD AIM, BUDDY

Being in Eiji's immediate vicinity was quickly becoming a shocking experience. You might even call it electrifying. And he was just about ready to amp things up a notch. Lightning.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the commotion was attracting larger Shadows to the area, and it wasn't long before what looked to Eiji like an immense, bus-sized masked rhinoceros beetle emerged from the inky shadows that covered the city streets, aiming a lumbering charge at those assembled nearby.

[sky_child]

Oh, great. At that distance it's too far away to hit with his sword or his persona. Which means he has to use his bow. His rather generously sized bow that he pulls out of nowhere!

He knows his arrows won't do much, but it will do something until the thing gets close enough to do some real damage.

[zero_to_herooo]

Tink. The arrow bounced off the beetle's massive shell. It barreled into the street, sending several other Shadows flying; Eiji activated the Batta Legs and sprang away just in time to avoid getting squished... but what the heck was he gonna do to counter that?

Something hard enough to break through its shell, right? Eiji launched himself at the beetle, aiming a strength-enhanced kick at it... and bounced off.

[sky_child]

Well. Blunt force clearly isn't going to work.

"Persona, go!"

Let's try a little wind, shall we?

[zero_to_herooo]

Wind, at least, seemed to be working, although this also had the unpleasant side effect of centering the beetle's attention on Link. It roared (wow, beetles could roar?) in fury, drawing on its innate ability to boost its own strength as it made a charge for him. It still had plenty of fight left in it.

So that kind of sucked.

Eiji, meantime, was swapping out another medal. If the Batta Legs didn't give him the edge he needed, maybe Cheetah was the way to go!

"Taka! Unagi! Cheetah!"

Eiji took off in his new form, quick as a whip. With his new speed, it was child's play to dance around the rest of the Shadows toward the big one.

[sky_child]

What is with that guy's suit?

But nevermind; Link's got a big roaring beetle on his hands. He sends his bird soaring after it once more, watching the beetle's movements closely. If he could time it just right, maybe he could damage it with one of his bombs...

[zero_to_herooo]

"Look out!" That was an all-purpose warning as Eiji sped under the beetles body, aiming a lightning-fast series of kicks upwards into its carapace. It roared again in surprise, but the sudden assault left it teetering slowly towards the left, dangerously close to tipping over...

[sky_child]

This could be his chance!

He reaches inside his bomb bag and extracts a bomb flower, rolling it towards the beetle. "Get out of the way!" he calls out. He doesn't know what that guy's suit is made of, but he hasn't met an awful lot that can stand up to bombs.

Except for those stupid fucking Lizalfos.

[zero_to_herooo]

No need to tell Eiji twice; he rolled out of the way and picked up the ground again in an instant, performing a hairpin turn around a stray Shadow before kicking it into oblivion.

The beetle screeched, rolled end over end by the force of the explosion. The space under its abdomen was smoking, but it wasn't out for the count yet.

[sky_child]

What in the world is this thing? A boss? Sheesh! He pulls out another bomb, this time holding it as the rope burns down and throwing it just so it would explode upon impact.

[zero_to_herooo]

Yes, a very obnoxious boss. And while Link was waiting for his wick to burn down, Eiji was busily swapping out more medals.

"Lion! Tora! Cheetah!

♪ LaTa LaTa LaToraTah~ ♪"

A bright flash of light and heat erupted from the air around Eiji's new form, burning many of the lesser Shadows to ash within moments. When he saw what Link was doing, however, he had An Idea. He drew the OOO Scanner across his belt just as Link started his throw.

"Scanning Charge!"

A series of golden rings appeared, lighting a path straight to the back of the beetle's shell. He'd hit the Shadow from behind as Link hit him the front GREAT PLAN. Eiji dashed forward, slashing at the Shadow with long, golden claws wreathed in heat and flame.

Only to awkwardly stutter-step as the Shadow half-dissolved, half-exploded around him, finally done in by the dual assault. He stopped himself just before he could accidentally barrel into Link. "Whoops. Sorry about that."

[sky_child]

Link does step back for a moment, but then-- "What are you wearing?"

Now that he has the guy's attention.

[zero_to_herooo]

"Wearing?" Eiji looked down. "Oh, this is OOO. And I'm Eiji. Thanks for the help back there, by the way."

He pulled the OOO Driver loose, reverting back to his normal appearance.

[sky_child]

Eiji, Eiji, Eij...oh.

"...um. I... Sorry, I...hit you...back there."

[zero_to_herooo]

"Huh? Oh, it's okay. You probably just weren't used to using that new power, right?"

Speaking of which, Eiji motioned to the air to his right, where a large black bird appeared. It cawed loudly, then cast a healing spell over the both of them before fading away.

"Don't worry about it. I've been hit by worse."

[sky_child]

BIRDIE

Which is to say, he looks at Eiji's persona with piqued interest. "So you have a bird, too?"

In other words: BIRDIE

[zero_to_herooo]

"Uh, yeah. Is it that unusual? I mean, I thought it was actually kinda plain. Especially if you look at some of the other Personas people have..."

Eiji's life was being surrounded by birds.

[sky_child]

"I haven't noticed. It's just...I guess my persona's a bird because...it's my bird. The one I have back at home."

[zero_to_herooo]

"Oh. Well, it's a pretty cool bird!" Eiji missed his bird too :c

"Uh, and maybe it'll show up here someday, too! Right?"

[sky_child]

"Maybe. But I don't know where I'd keep it."

Which is why his bird is a persona and not in the game.

[zero_to_herooo]

"Oh." Eiji had to think about that one for a second. "Well, maybe he can stay in your apartment? Or you could move into an attic apartment some place. Or if there was like a rainforest-themed restaurant or something, maybe they'd let you keep him there..."

[sky_child]

"It's...kind of a big bird."

[zero_to_herooo]

Hmm. "There's a big open area over near Mt. Usugi, if you can call it over."

[sky_child]

"I don't think I can. But if I find a way to get home..."

[zero_to_herooo]

"Oh. Actually, someone told me you can go home. It's just that that Philemon guy pulls you back most of the time." So basically, Eiji was here trying to straighten things out so he could go home for good. Terrible, trying to do hold down a job when you kept disappearing.

"Maybe if you went back for just a little while, though, you could finish stuff off."

[sky_child]

"You can go home? How?" Funny how his whole demeanor changed from dopey to focused.

[zero_to_herooo]

"Well, you choose to go home. ...But then you wake up the next day, and you're back here again, basically. Not too useful, and apparently you forget all about here while you're away."

Eiji paused. "But... if it's something you were gonna do anyway, maybe you'd still have a chance to do it. I don't know how useful that's going to be in your case, but I guess if it was just locking up your apartment back home or something."

[sky_child]

He shakes his head. "No. It was more important than that. If that guy will let me stay long enough to get that done..."

[zero_to_herooo]

Eiji frowned a little, shifting on his feet. "I don't know. But I mean, the worst that could happen is that you could get sucked back here too soon. If it's that important, I think it's worth a try."

[sky_child]

"It is that important."

Just savin' the world.

No big.

[zero_to_herooo]

"Then you should try it tonight! Tell me how it goes, okay?" At any rate, it seemed about time for Eiji and pack up and head back to the old apartment.

"Anyway, I gotta go. See you around!"

[sky_child]

He nods. "Be careful. And, um. Sorry about hitting you. Again."