2026-03-06: Going Down
- Cutscene: Going Down
- Cast: Shiryuu Ryouhara, Kurou Ryouhara
- Where: The Aerospace Museum, Konan District
- OOC Date: 2026-03-06
- IC Date: Oct 6th, 2012
- Summary: In the shadows of the others, they arrived. Even in a raging inferno, the onmitsu on-site at the Aerospace Museum are yet still to learn the power of heroes.
(|======================== Monad - Aerospace Museum ========================|)
-==== Round 1: The Other Side - Challenge Level 2 ===========================-
| Approach Options: Academics or Proficiency |
| Conditions: Curse - -1 to Group Roll (Per Character), Educational - |
| Academics Up L1, and Terrifying - Guts Down L2 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
The Konan District's Aerospace Museum is easy enough to find, in part
because it has a life-sized Zeppelin replica attached to the building as
both exhibit and restaurant. Rumor has it that it can actually fly, but well
you can't believe everything you hear, right?
In the lobby, there's World War II memorabilia, including a Mitsubishi A6M
Zero hanging in pristine condition from the roof above. The lobby looks
empty save for a beautiful young man in the Kasugayama High uniform that
some may recognize as Jun Kashihara. He's looking around with a fretful
frown, as if searching for a museum employee; upon spotting you, he
approaches with a letter in hand to say:
"Excuse me--I don't mean to alarm you, but you should leave immediately.
Someone dangerous is coming here..."
The letter in his hand is tightly clenched, but the eagle-eyed can make out
a message like 'cOMe aLOnE tO ThE AerOspAcE MuSEUM oR ELsE <3' in a
scrawled, erratic hand.
No sooner does he start a conversation with you, when abruptly an entire
wall detonates into a great conflagration, as some incendiary device
detonates.
"Kya-hahaha! Welcome to my walk down memory lane. Guess you ran into the
first of my bombs. The next will go off in the stairwell, then the other
floors will go up in flames one by one!"
As flames of expiation light the heavens
The Lion's roar echoes far and wide
"Don't you remember? It's just like the Other Side. There's a field trip
touring the museum right now. If you don't get those kids to the roof,
they'll become barbeque! Better hurry! Kya-hehehe-ahahahaha!"
Your first challenge is rather simple, the voice wasn't kidding about the
stairwell going up in flames next. You have seconds to locate it, and run up
to the second floor before the fastest way to the second floor goes up in
flames.
Can you make it in time?
OOC: The Red Text in this Monad represents Deja Vu moments from 'the Other
Side'. If you've determined that your character was not present in Innocent
Sin, or you haven't decided yet, then you can ignore these moments.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
They never meet that boy at the front.
They gathered the information from spies in the region who were assigned to .. other projects. A tersely scribbled copy of the message clenched in the hand of 'that boy', a relay of the overheard excitement from a tearful exchange between parents outside, an accounting of who's come, who's gone.
Then the explosions started going off.
"The first directive is move quickly," the Ryouhara Shirogarasu had said, before the group of onmitsu staged on the neighboring rooftop. "Secure all explosives encountered... remove all stragglers." Anyone unable to fight or escape on their own. "Children, first."
The young man in the white haori looks from one, to the other, a flat mien etched across his face.
"... we are gathering intel for our sponsors, as many supralunar assets are tracked as currently en route to the museum. We will not interfere with their mission. But we will not, in turn, abide their interference. Against aggressors at level 'jounin' or higher... lethal force is authorized."
He points to a map, encoded and hastily scrawled on a roofing tile.
"Our goal is to assemble the parts for Kouhigoki here, on this floor, and there, on that floor, while they are operable. We'll use those as staging areas to escape, and provide assistance for Order assets to escape. and then place assets as needed further on."
Shiryuu Ryouhara lowers his head.
"Sanction is given. Mission start."
The zip-lines start getting fired, down to the lower floors.
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has acted with Ninjutsu toward The Other Side! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
It is all the better that they do not. Kurou does not know Kashihara-senpai personally, but he does know that the boy /is/ Kashihara-senpai. He does not suspect himself to be known in turn, but since Seki-senpai once referred him, it could be a complication. No, instead, the note itself. Nothing good comes from such messages in such tones.
Kurou barely has time to survey the area before the would is consumed in an explosive roar of flames. The detonations' percussion is like a punch into Kurou's chest, rattling his bones until they feel loose in the meat of his flesh.
Despite the ringing in his ears, his eyes are sharp and attention to Shiryuu's words. He knows the balance here will be a delicate one, but the blood in his veins feels hotter than the flames devouring the museum at the idea of children sacrificed for a mad man's idea of the future.
Shiryuu authorizes lethal force, and Kurou's fingers hook into and tighten around the scarf at his throat.
"Understood, Shirogarasu," Kurou says, only once the instructions are made and the sanction is given.
Then he moves without further delay or hesitation, even when it comes to zip-lining into a building being consumed in fire. If paths do not cross, there is no need for interference on either side, and each Kurou's assembly is swift and decisive, with a silence that seems to presume he could inexplicably hide from flame itself. Some instincts might never be smothered.
MONAD: Kurou Ryouhara has acted with Without a Trace toward The Other Side! Diligence and Patra!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== The Other Side - Round 1 ==============================================- Shiryuu Ryouhara Proficiency Success Ninjutsu Specialty Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kurou Ryouhara Proficiency Success Without a Trace Diligence and Patra Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Curse-0, Educational-2, and Terrifying-2 Final Conditions: Educational-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 1/6 |= | ===================================================- (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Aerospace Museum ========================|)
-==== Round 2: Worst Field Trip Ever - Challenge Level 2 ====================-
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Guts |
| Conditions: Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1, Educational - Academics Up L1, |
| and Scary - Guts Down L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
The second floor of the Aerospace museum is already filling with smoke, as
flames from the first floor have already caught hold here, licking along
several particularly flammable spaces. Exhibits about the history of
aviation in Japan and in general are lined up with artifacts of prior
generations.
Fifteen. Fifteen minutes. That's how long you have to find the kids and get
to the roof. You're not sure why you get that instinct.
You've gotta find those kids! Quick!
Unfortunately there are demons coming down the hallway already. Horse-headed
creatures that stand on two-feet. With a whinny of rage, they come at you,
spreading more flames with Maragi spells.
And that's just the first group of them.
You have to search this floor quickly AND thoroughly, fighting demons as you
go, paths that were open before closing off in flame.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
Windows explode inwards as shinobi break through them. There are a few carrying bags with the parts for the Kouhigoki statues, but aside from grappling lines and shortswords, they're not terribly well equipped to handle more than frightened security guards. (Two are, in fact, defeated rather handily, and shuttled out of the building almost immediately, shouting something about lost children..)
The shinobi form a beachhead rather quickly, and begin assembling the first statue at the second floor level. Smoke is everywhere, and tongues of flame lick at the edges of the hall, but the onmitsu wear masks specially designed for smoke. Heat, on the other hand...
One of the blue-clad onmitsu is blown down almost immediately by a wave of fire while trying to unpack his bag, and the ominous snort of equine beasts fill the halls. Thickly muscled and horned, the pack throw blue-shaded tufts o flame into the hall further, creating a conflagration that forces the other onmitsu back -- retreat, before perishing immediately in the flames.
That is why supralunar onmitsu were authorized for the mission.
The shihaisha never actually carries a wheel for the lines. Instead of ziplining down, the boy simply hops atop the line... and skids down it on his sneakers. Haori fluttering in the wind with his balance, he reaches within eyesight of the window and --
-- steps into the room as if opening a door.
Fireballs fly past him, missing by inches, and the hiss of his blade exiting its saya reverberates with mortal gravity, black feathers trailing off of the blade's edge as it bares to the hot air. One stroke.
And the wind howls to a luxe beat, cutting into and churning the fire as if turned back by a massive lash.
The backdraft of the flame forms a brutal wall against the huge demons, the rejection of their attack almost total, leaving the shihaisha to glance at the other onmitsu. Hurry up.
In the end, the attack is just a distraction, a veil.
Those demons will never see Kurou coming.
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has acted with Shinsoku toward Worst Field Trip Ever! Escape and Efficient!
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Heat and smoke. Crackling flame. Falling debris. Even with a mask, every breath feels borrowed. Yet this all must at once be a background haze that invites no vacillation, yet Kurou's senses must also remain keenly aware of any fluctuation in the rhythm of the destruction for when it shifts.
And it does shift.
Shinobi fall, and anything like regret, remorse, or grief -- if, indeed, Kurou's spirit sees fit to hold those things -- is a weight to hold and carry later. For it is when such monstrosities appear that his own purpose comes into dangerously simple clarity.
The gleam of two massive, burning eyes is nearly lost in the flames, only noted by being more gold than red as the world burns.
A massive, skeletal hand /slams/ down upon one of the Horse-headed demons, with some of its knuckles made of human skulls, and others clusters of broken vertebrae.
It is the first warning before a maw of jagged teeth chomps over a demon's head from above, while a chain coils around the neck of another. It is dragged into the smoke, where Kurou plays a brutal symphony of blade meeting flesh.
MONAD: Kurou Ryouhara has acted with Overkill toward Worst Field Trip Ever! Specialty!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== Worst Field Trip Ever - Round 2 =======================================- Shiryuu Ryouhara Proficiency Success Shinsoku Escape and Efficient Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kurou Ryouhara Guts Success Overkill Specialty Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Clumsy-2, Educational-1, and Scary-2 Final Conditions: Clumsy-1 and Scary-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 2/6 |== | ===================================================- (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Aerospace Museum ========================|)
-==== Round 3: Grab Your Asses! - Challenge Level 2 =========================-
| Approach Options: Charm or Understanding |
| Conditions: Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1, Scary - Guts Down L1, Smooth - |
| Charm Up L1, and Soft - Understanding Up L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
Entering an exhibit on the events leading up to Westernisation and the
birth of Aviation in Japan after the Meiji Restoration, you find about a
dozen elementary schoolers huddled close to the floor, due to the smoke
already spilling into the room, even before it was opened.
"Are you firefighters?"
"Please get us out of here!"
"I'm scared..."
Some kids are outright crying on the floor, shaking, in little state to even
move, much less to follow your directions in demon infested burning
hallways.
Now is the time to change that. What do you say to them!?
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
The onmitsu contractor's shadow falls over the regrouping shinobi.
"You," he says, to one of the masked men trying to wake the badly burned shinobi, whose shozoku is partially melted, revealing a network of scars. "Finish assembling the Kouhigoki, then get him out to Nahara," he says. Sword still drawn, the young man doesn't seem at all bothered by the raging inferno at his back. Truth told, it doesn't seem to be able to get close to him -- like the whirlwind symbol on the back of his haori, fire seems to wrap around him.
Behind him, there is the cursed snort and death whinny of fire demons, the entire hall shaking as beyond the flame barrier Kurou's arrival is heralded by an entire skeleton demon painting its bleach white bones with horse blood. Shiryuu pays the stomach-churning violence no mind as he sets the black spine of his blade to his shoulder, providing overwatch as the remaining onmitsu assemble the protective statue, a small four-armed praying kami with swords crossed above its head. He turns just as the last demon is drug into black smoke, disappearing squealing into the black. He turns just as another onmitsu comes back from the exhibits up ahead. "Shirogarasu-sama, it's bad...!"
"...."
The next area, though easily banished with smoke, is less manageable than an entire roomful of demons. A katana will not solve an _entire class_ of children. "Is this what that guard was on about...?" Shiryuu wonders, stepping past the scale models. It does seem familiar, doesn't it... "!" A child runs to cling to him, gibbering and snot'ting up his haori.
"Are you firefighters...??"
Illustrate Shiryuu, at a loss. It takes him a long time to sigh. To shake his head slowly. "...we're better than firefighters. I am the invincible Shirogarasu."
He lays a hand on the child's shoulder.
He wills it. The surge in that beat. Excessive, powerful, energetic. They need to get all the children to cooperate, so his subordinates can escort them to the safe point. The scintillating beat is thrilling, heroic. The kind of hallowed beat that played when that robot was on his last shred of battery power chasing down the bad guy trying to make his escape on a speedboat.
"This is my subordinate, the inescapable Kurou. He knows.." pause.
Think.
"...The Skeleton Hero Song."
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has acted with Heartless Rave Theory toward Grab Your Asses!! Patra and Find!
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Blade and bone cut and chew. A statue must be assembled, and Kurou's commitment to violence will see that it can be. One he finally finishes with his grim task, Kurou emerges with a flesh splatter of demon's blood over his cheek.
This is surely an /excellent/ fashion statement to be making when encountering a group of terrified children.
Regrettably, Kurou knows little of fashion or its statements, and has forgotten the blood is there to begin with as he cants his head to one side as he witnesses a child cling to Shiryuu.
Firefighters. Hm. Kurou did just get into a fight with fire, didn't he? He glances up, pondering if this counts, before Shiryuu declares himself better than any firefighter. Kurou looks directly at the child, nodding in silence to affirm the truth of these words.
A beat begins to play, and Kurou nods to it, eyes closed. He is the kind of creature easily swayed by such rhythm and drawn into its tempo. It is a song that makes his body want to move with violence and triumph. It is --
/The Skeleton Hero Song/
Kurou stops all micromotion to looks directly at Shiryuu. Several beats pass in this empty stillness, but the rhythm continues as a thrum in Kurou's heart. He has nodded along, and this is where that path has led.
His gaze returns to the children.
And then Kurou begins to... sing(?). It's more of a... murmur.
"Skeleton hero... An undead megaton hero. Follow skeleton hero."
His emotionless voice relies on Shiryuu's beat to carry it, but he does speak with enough intent to his cadence to /maybe/ a little bit /resemble/ a song with its help.
"Skeleton hero... Reduce foes to zero. Whoa whoa skeleton hero..."
MONAD: Kurou Ryouhara has acted with Shut Up and Nod toward Grab Your Asses!! Amrita!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== Grab Your Asses! - Round 3 ============================================- Shiryuu Ryouhara Charm Success Heartless Rave Theor Patra and Find Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kurou Ryouhara Understanding Success Shut Up and Nod Amrita Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Clumsy-1, Scary-1, Smooth-2, and Soft-2 Final Conditions: Smooth-1 and Soft-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 3/6 |=== | ===================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ==========================================================- Items: 1, Money: 1, Gear: 0 (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Aerospace Museum ========================|)
-==== Round 4: SCREAM for Ice Cream - Challenge Level 2 =====================-
| Approach Options: Charm or Academics |
| Conditions: Curse - -1 to Group Roll (Per Character), Fairy - Subtract 1 |
| Fatigue on success., Smooth - Charm Up L1, and Soft - Understanding Up L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
It's only getting worse as more devices are going off, the hallways are
choked with smoke, and the kids are coughing the whole way.
But! Sanctuary! Glorious sanctuary! You see the outline of a doorway which
leads to a certain money-grubbing fairy's shrine.
Entering the spring is an instant relief. The kids breathe easier. You'll
have to move before long, but any reprieve is welcome.
"Hey rugrats! Nothing in life is free, and that includes fresh air!" Trish
crosses her arms, tapping a riding crop, "Since you're exceeding maximum
occupancy, I'll have you know that I'm charging by the minute. I'd put it on
your tab but... ha! You don't have one. Tabs are for deadbeats and losers."
Then, with a grin, the fairy suddenly goes to stand behind a new fixture in
her fountain, covered by a bright red cloth, which she pulls off with a
sudden flourish, to reveal an ICE CREAM COUNTER and brandishes a scoop.
"Also I'd like to introduce you all to the latest addition to my business,
the Trish Refreshment Stand. Who wants Ice Cream? Only 5000 yen per scoop."
"Me!"
"Please! My throat feels like it's on fire!"
"Is she a real fairy!?" "Nah, it's gotta be a costume."
"That's right kiddos." She winks at them, before looking at all of you.
"Just a costume." She makes a gesture of two fingers rubbing against each
other at you. You start to realize, you've been CONNED! She's definitely
price-gouging in the middle of the raging inferno, tugging on your heart
strings and using the kids as props.
Are you really gonna let these kids go without ice cream?
Maybe you can convince her to be reasonable. That's one big maybe.
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
Did you think Shiryuu was done?
Hardly.
The pulse-pounding hero beat surging behind Kurou is supported by the Ryouhara shihaisha as he lides both hands out of the drape of his sleeves and slowly raises them, palms up, behind Kurou. An intensely grim look is fixed to his face with the carpenter nails of pure fate.
'Skeleton hero...' *WHOSE CAPE BURNS THE COLOR OF FLAME*
Fire swirls in the air behind Kurou.
'An undead megaton hero.' *THE BAD GUYS FEAR HIS NAME*
Wind churns the smoke and sucks it out the windows, which all break in unison.
'Follow skeleton hero.' *THE COOLEST GUY WITHOUT SHAME*
One of the onmitsu opens a folding fan, trying to beat back the flames.
'Skeleton hero...' *...!! amplified! THE CAPE THAT TAMES!*
Lightning shoots all over the room to electronica trumpets.
By the end of it, there are exactly 12 children absolutely convinced Kurou is the Skeleton Heroranger. A few even insist they've seen him in episodes that only aired when school was on.
"...Let's go," Shiryuu beckons, as the hall falls behind him. The child that has snotted him up has now moved on to the greatest hero who ever lived, Kurou Ryouhara. Luckily they're elementary students. Unfortunately, while Shiryuu and the onmitsu can now successfully move them quickly, this leaves another problem.
There's a fairy. And she's -overcharging-. "Wh --" Kurou, please manage the children while Shiryuu finds the words. "How dare --" Mouth slack and open, the kids are starting to clamor. And all of their hard work is being undone.
"...as shihaisha I -do not sanction your- --" Shiryuu is on the verge of martial aggression until he remembers his company. A viper's cold look at her, and then the boy pulls out his wallet, opening it, trying to count children -- and money -- at the same time.
While bridling mightily. Oh, he has the money.
But it's the principle of the thing. Wait, how many kids were there? Wait, did he count that one twice?? Stop moving! "J--just go on ahead," he tells one of the agents. "Find a point to anchor the next Kouhigoki. Don't get killed."
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has acted with Academics toward SCREAM for Ice Cream! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Even surrounded by fire and lightning, Kurou can always be depended on for his steady consistency: the song continues apace, as Kurou perhaps unfairly earns the awesome respect that comes with being Skeleton Hero.
"Skeleton hero... Whoa whoa impervious strong skull... Femur, patella, fibula, and tibia..." Kurou murmurs to himself as he helps Shiryuu lead the children along. Has he too fallen for the allure of Skeleton Hero...?! Maybe he can ask Umie to borrow the TV so he can catch an episode one day.
These starry eyed plans are rudely interrupted by capitalism.
"Skel - e - ton... he... ro..." Kurou tapers off as he beholds Trish and immediately /reaches for his weapon/. Thankfully, Shiryuu begins to stammer an attempt at conversation, which is enough to clue Kurou into the idea that violence is not the appropriate response.
At least, not yet.
Instead, there are clamoring children to attend to. "... The skeleton warriors demand calcium," Kurou notes as he tries to corral the hungering swarm. "Such a suspiciously precise targeting of a skeleton hero's weakness..."
That is quite suspicious, as all Pixie's are as far as Kurou is concerned.
"Be wary of her schemes," he tells the children as he moves to protect them from the nefarious calcium peddler, which might accidentally get some of the children believing that Trish is one of Skeleton Heroranger's rogues' gallery.
... Whether or not this is /helpful/ is another matter entirely.
MONAD: Kurou Ryouhara has acted with Academics toward SCREAM for Ice Cream! Base!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== SCREAM for Ice Cream - Round 4 ========================================- Shiryuu Ryouhara Academics Success Academics Base Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kurou Ryouhara Academics Success Academics Base Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Curse-0, Fairy-0, Smooth-1, and Soft-1 Final Conditions: -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 4/6 |==== | ===================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ==========================================================- Items: 1, Money: 1, Gear: 0 (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Aerospace Museum ========================|)
-==== Round 5: Déjà View - Challenge Level 1 ================================-
| Approach Options: Guts or Understanding |
| Conditions: Hard - Understanding Down L1 and Heartening - Guts Up L1 |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
You rush into one of the hanging displays in the Aerospace Museum. A
life-sized model airplane hangs from the ceiling over an open floor plan. A
portion of the floor acts as a walkway that leads right up to it. There's no
reason to approach it, given that the place is actively on fire and you
still have a ways to go before you reach the roof.
But... you could swear--some of you--that you hear a young girl screaming
for help from over where the model airplane is. No matter how much you look,
though, there's no one there. Eerie.
Not everyone will hear. Just those who might be getting reminded of a past
that never was, if they were a part of it. Those who wouldn't are simply met
with another empty room.
Whether you hear or not, do you move on, or do you double down? Tick tock...
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
"There's no reputable creamery that charges that much!"
"Take it or leave it, gramps~ <3"
"Gramps?? Is a tanuki covering your eyes as well??"
"It's the rule of supply and demand! I have all the supply, and you have all the demand! Besides, don't think I don't know all about you, so stop acting like you can't afford it, McDuck!"
"IIih! You're even worse than 'her'!!"
Thus is the story of how Shiryuu was robbed blind to avoid having to crush a fairy in front of the children. Luckily, the children are all but carrying Kurou as a conquering hero who will DEFINITELY defeat Trish after his smelly, inept cousin Shootryoo (Shiryuu: "_what_ I do not!") inevitably gets kidnapped by her. A few of the rowdy boys are even cheering for a fight. They want to see Kurou use his Skeleton Beam (one of the kids is insisting he has a hidden arm cannon) badly.
"Alright, that's enough," Shiryuu hisses through his teeth, vexed as he counts off the last of his yen to Trish. "There'd better not be a single scoop missing, or I'm coming back and annexing your fountain." "Right right, whatever. GUESS WHAT KIDS~~" "yay! Way to go, Kurou!"
Shiryuu ...frowns, taking his sword's hilt back out of the crook of his elbow into his hand.
This is what happens when the kids are no longer afraid of immediately dying.
Luckily, the logistics of the matter get easier, as several of the children are shuttled off by their ninja to the prior extraction point, which reduces their crowd to something manageable of the moment, as another explosion rocks the museum. It's left mostly of rowdy die-hard Heroranger boys pair-bonded with their best friends. At least one of them is carrying his sister on his shoulders. What a trooper.
The forward scout returns in the display section.
"Some of the others are saying there might be other people trapped up ... but there's more children up ahead. They're saying they may not make it in time, they had to ..."
"Aa," Shiryuu confirms, absently looking up at a specific exact one of the hanging displays, his eyes narrowing until his left eye is just a thin sliver of shining blue.
"...Kurou."
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has acted with Understanding toward Déjà View! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou squints at Trish. Watching. Waiting. Wondering where she even got all of this ice cream, and if it will vanish in the stomachs of the needy children. He does not like this pixie. He does not like her at all...
"Kidnapping?" he asks, a slight bit more weight to his voice. His stare at Trish grows more intense. So her crimes are this severe, are they...?
At the mention of Skeleton Beam, Kurou sets his hand on the child's head. "Skeleton Beams would endanger the integrity of the building further. We must hurry." Beams. Plural. Well... it's true Kurou does not use Kotsuzui Shikaeshi by halves.
Somehow Kurou gets credit for Shiryuu's ice cream acquisition, and before his mouth can catch up to his thoughts, they are moving on. He cannot deny some relief when the children are put in other ninja hands who are, undoubtedly, more capable than them. He does send them off by way of, "Be safe, skeleton warriors," to let them know they are honorary Skeleton Herorangers, at least.
Kurou has his own childish sincerity, in his own way.
But to hear of other children up ahead, Kurou looks to Shiryuu, expecting a swift answer. His eyes follow his shihaisha's absent gaze toward the hanging display. With his own eagerness to act, he hears his name called and interprets it as a call to action.
Recognizing no one there in need of saving, he leaps to the offending model plane, cuts it down, and without stopping, already moves past to continue toward where the children are reportedly still trapped. This does, at least, prevent it from falling at a less opportunity time later from fire damage, perhaps. Otherwise, it would look like needless destruction along the way.
MONAD: Kurou Ryouhara has acted with Overkill toward Déjà View! Specialty!
(|============================ Monad - Results =============================|) -==== Déjà View - Round 5 ===================================================- Shiryuu Ryouhara Understanding Success Understanding Base Fatigue: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kurou Ryouhara Guts Success Overkill Specialty Fatigue: 0 -============================ Party Conditions: =============================- Starting Conditions: Hard-2 and Heartening-2 Final Conditions: Hard-1 and Heartening-1 -====================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 6/6 |=====| ===================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ==========================================================- Items: 1, Money: 1, Gear: 0 (|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Shiryuu Ryouhara has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Aerospace Museum ========================|)
-==== Round 6: A Page from an Old Script - Challenge Level 1 ================-
| Approach Options: None |
| Conditions: Revelation - The best result. |
-==== Challenge =============================================================-
You burst out of the third floor's entrance, where the Zero hangs from the
ceiling; the entire ground floor is up in flames now.
Some of you may get a sense you've seen this before. A sudden fear that
someone might fall into the blaze. But when you search, no one is here.
As soon as you make it to the next floor, you feel it.
Sound effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RARotEaobh0
The world shifts into a monochromatic hue, and nausea churns in your gut. A
familiar presence awaits you on the rooftop.
You feel as if you're repeating the same actions. Reading from the same
script. That's impossible.
You know he's there. Steeling your resolve, you head up to the roof.
OOC Note: If you got this card, you'll start the next battle with the
Prophecy buff.
Final Loot: 1 Item and 1 boxes of Money!
(|=========================================================== Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
Several of the children are in slack-jawed awe at Kurou right before they are ushered of. BEAMS? PLURAL? How many arm cannons does he have? "Whoah," Kentaro says, right before he's shuttled off by an onmitsu. "So cool..."
Powerful enough to destroy the whole building?! Powered Up Jiro is completely freaking out right now! He too, is taken. With his ice cream. Shiryuu is transparently pleased. By now, his shinobi are starting to regroup.
But his attention was drug to a particular plane, hanging up there. In a particular...
'Kurou.'
Shinobi don't oft have need for clearly labelled paths, and the younger Ryouhara takes down the plane with a single, mighty jump and expert precision. A single word, and the whole thing crashes down at Shiryuu's feet. The impact causes him to take a step back.
And ... it's empty?
"...." Shiryuu stares at the crumpled plane for a long time.
It's almost like he didn't know what to expect at all, or if he even should have expected anything different. It's not like he's been here before.
No... that's not the feeling at all. Right?
.... "excellent work," he tells Kurou, before turning away. "Let's move on."
It's only when they ascend the rest of the stairs to the next floor that that bizarre, flanged sound catches on every sense Shiryuu has. It causes the boy to stop in his tracks, his sword lowering as he raises his left hand to his temple. The air flickers, as the color bleeds out of it. That sensation is familiar to everyone -- and the flames are beginning to consume the entire building.
".... my eye is starting to hunger," Shiryuu breathes, attempting to gain his composure. His left eye -- Kyotosaigan -- is indeed shining brightly absent his attention. He forces steel into his back as he straightens, on the periphery of the mad realm. He turns slowly towards Kurou and towards the gathered onmitsu, the latter of whom are repelled by the very nature of the space.
"Fall back a half measure, and set up the last Kouhigoki near the structural supports. From there, make sure all of the prior groups have been extracted. Recover all abandoned equipment and accessories. From this moment, you have four minutes."
He'll stay here.
Until it all comes crashing down, if need be.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
If there are consequences to inspiring the wild imaginations of children in Sumeru City, Kurou does not know yet to fathom what they are. His focus is far more singular than such concerns. For one, the plane.
It is an offense, one way or another. This Side or That Side, in this moment or another.
So it is gone, and holds neither friend nor foe within its shell.
He gives a single nod to Shiryuu and hurries onward.
But even Kurou's stoicism wavers as his vision is robbed of color and his gut finds a new way to twist even in the familiarity of the sensation's utter wrongness. His fingers twitch at his scarf, breath leaving him in a slow exhale that must pass through his teeth.
"... Shirogarasu?" Kurou nearly questions in a quiet breath, but does not press on the matter of the eye. Surely he does not intend to --
He does.
Kurou's response is not quite so quick to relent, but inevitably, he does. "... It will be done." For the Kouhigoki is a critical task itself, and he will see the onmitsu protected from demons as it is done.
Silently, he resolves to rendezvous to 'report' once it is done. He cannot leave Shiryuu to face a burning building alone a second time.