Wetlands Duel (Tsukiko/Yharon)

[Augustine]

"Wakahisa.  What's your current location?"

The voice crackled in the receiver in her ear, an unpleasant sound that grated, a reminder of the living shackles keeping her from enjoying herself.

"I'm in the location of the target.  Don't worry Miyoshi-Sensei, I'm just doing reconnaissance until you get here.  I won't engage with the target unless absolutely necessary."  An absolute lie of course, but one she could justify in any manner of ways.  There weren't any cameras, who could say truly who attacked first, and Tsukiko had an excellent reputation.  The worst anyone had said about her was that she was a bit gung-ho, but she did everything as she was supposed to and was discreet.

The area in question was a wetland on the edges of the Tokyo metropolis, tall grass sticking up out of soft mud, broken up by numerous small brooks and streams.  A small string of disappearances had been traced to this location.  A demon, or demons, dragging their victims to this place.  They were probably all dead at this point, not that it mattered to Tsukiko as she moved through the grass, stepping lightly across the soft Earth.  It was a fun contract, the stark concrete walls of the city to the South, with pipes letting out water into the wetlands.  More than likely the devil had its nest in such a pipe, which would be a pain to fight in. 

"Understood.  Please use due caution until we've gotten there to support you."  Miyoshi's voice crackled in her ear again.

"Of course.  I'll keep you appraised sensei."  Sensei, as if she really needed any tutelage at this point.  Still it was important to keep up appearances and at least pretend.  Otherwise it might become more difficult to enjoy herself as she wished.

"Now...where are you?"  She said to herself quietly as she made her way through the wetlands.  There was a bow in her hands, a traditional Japanese style, but shorter than a longbow, a shortbow in other words.  There was a quiver of arrows slung on her back, partially hidden by the red jacket she wore over her dark blue kimono.  An arrow was knocked already, and there was a sword at her hip, the scabbard and hilt looked worn and well used, although the fabric making a diamond pattern looked fresh.

It was late afternoon, and the police and a few Orochi dedicated to this purpose should be making sure there was no risk of civilians coming anywhere near this area until the demon had been hunted down.  Tsukiko just had to find it, preferably before her 'backup' arrived and spoiled her fun.

[ruvaakdasneaky]

But looks like all fun had been spoiled already. There's someone else, who got in pipes, and from sounds of fists punching flesh, this unknown dude uses a lot of brute strength, as even bone breaking sound from time to time.

When Miyoshi got to the source of sounds, she could see how a dude in a rusty armor, red hood, giant greatsword on his back and strange looking mask pummeling demons with his fists with absolute no mercy, as most of them lie down ravaged from such punches. For the strongest one, he grabs his arm and starts smashing him around against ground and walls like a flail, not letting it counterattack, and after 6 or 7 of those slams, he throws him away while getting his sword to throw it into that demon, impaling him to the wall. After that, he rushed to him to grab the handle of this greatsword and finish this demon with cutting it's head in half after some struggle.

Welp, looks like it's "Masked Jack", a strange person, known in some places as a drug guard, protector of weak and a duelist, who enforces duels with everyone who seem strong to him. But after sheathing his sword, he comes to a kid, which was hard to notice because of them hiding behind one of demon bodies, and try to calm them down. "Here, here. Nobody will hurt you now. You can go home and live happy life, do you understand me?" Welp, looks like this Jack is pretty bad at calming kids down, especially when they have their fists drenched in blood, as it runs away in unknown side crying. With a sigh, he was about to start leaving this place, doing a pretty huge sigh


 

[Augustine]

Ah, there, she could hear the sounds of conflict! Tsukiko's pace picked up, in contrast to what she should do she hurried very swiftly to the location. She at least didn't just hop into the drainage pipe, but did look inside, and what a show she found! A great armored figure battling with the demons in the enclosed place. So her quarry had been intercepted by someone else, a shame...but they clearly weren't a member of Orochi. None of the families would be so foolish as to not coordinate something like that, which meant he was a free agent...and Orochi did not approve of those.

"Miyoshi-Sensei, someone else is here, they've dispatched the demons. Tall and covered in armor, with an impressive sword of what looks to be a European style, or at least not Japanese."

"Someone else? A Ronin? Alright. Monitor the situation, if you can get any information do so but try to avoid a fight and do not approach too closely."

"Understood sensei." Tsukiko replied, as she watched the kid come running out of the pipe to head off. He'd be intercepted by the normal Orochi mooks making sure no one entered an active hot zone. Tsukiko though would lift her voice and, "Freelance hunting of demons is strictly forbidden. Identify yourself immediately and surrender your weapons!" That should get his attention, and most likely result in a hostile approach. She could always get more unreasonable if needed, but in the off-chance that she didn't get to just kill him she should try to insure that the cause of the fight was at worst, her being a little overzealous.

Standing out in the wetlands outside of the pipe she probably didn't look like much, but that shortbow had an arrow knocked, black feathers on the arrow smoldering as she aimed it straight at him.

[ruvaakdasneaky]

"Oh, man. Looks like a girl got to me as a reward for saving that girl, am i right?" He starts laughing, looking around for an opportunity. But for now, he wants to do an obedient trickery, taking his sword and impaling ground with it to take some steps back from it with raised hands, as a grin under his mask raises with a plan at how to get an upper ground. "People call me like Masked Jack. Maybe, you heard it, maybe not. But alas, i feel like you won't alone there, am i right?"

And when she was about to answer his words, he put all of his 1 ton weight into a stomp, causing a little shaking of ground, after which he kicked 1 of demon corpses right in her direction. It should be enough to do a good distraction to get his sword and hide from Tsukiko's sight, trying to force her to enter the room where he will able to reach her properly.

[Augustine]

That was some impressive strength to drive his sword into concrete like that...however he was backing up. Her eyes watched him carefully as she waited. She was fully expecting him to just charge right out at her and instead...he kicked one of the corpses, before grabbing his greatsword and taking off deeper into the tunnel. The corpse rushed towards her and she moved easily and gracefully to move under and slide one leg out to the side, arrow drawn back further in preparation but...really?

Really that big goliath in the heavy armor was scared of a girl with a bow? Her mind weighed her options. She could just go in and pursue him, but given his strength and enclosed space would limit her mobility, those tunnels weren't very big. More to the point though, that was a direct contradiction of her orders. She was explicitly not to engage, which meant goading him into it, or finding a clear, easily believable lie to cover her engaging, going directly after him into the tunnels was...not that. Maybe she could say she followed him in because she thought he was trying to escape?

"Wakahisa, report your status."

"Target has fled deeper into the drainage pipe. He seems to want to avoid a fight." Her tone was carefully regulated to keep her disappointment from seeping into her words.

"Maintain your position, we're maybe seven minutes out."

Seven minutes?! That was so much time she could be playing with this armored doll! "Understood sensei." It was a concentrated effort to not grind her teeth.

Instead she lifted her voice again, "My backup arrives in approximately seven minutes. After which you will be outnumbered and be brought into custody, or killed should you resist too heavily. Surrender at once." It was bait, trying to goad him. Seven minutes before back up arrived so he'd better come out and deal with this solitary girl now. Damnit but he looked fun, it would be an absolute tragedy if she didn't get to fight him on her own before her squad arrived!

[ruvaakdasneaky]

"Outnumbured? I like those odds!" He chuckled, sighing a little. He clearly understands, that outside, he will be demolished by her arrows, as these can't be simple ones. He knows that demon hunters will be interested in such places like these, but he still can't figure out, which hunters these are. That girl can't be from templars, because they wear white crap. But then he remembered: the kid. She can be from a criminal organisation and be not as honorable as him. So, he has nothing better to do that dive into cave to seek that kid and hope that this sewer system will lead somewhere else, where he can get kid out

[Augustine]

He was walking deeper into the tunnels. He was a hulking mass of heavy armor, and he was scared of a girl with a bow and arrow. She couldn't pursue him either, she had to wait, grinding her teeth behind a calm, cool and collected expression. No fight for her, no solitary duel where she could unleash as she pleased, her wonderful comrades were on their way.

Seven minutes later, more or less, and a long chain went rattling down the concrete wall the pipe was set into, before Eguchi Yoshika came rappelling down it, his long hair as perfect as usual. He was in a leopard patterned suit today, no jacket, just a long sleeved shirt with a vest over it, the shirt patterned in that way, the vest a dark, sleek silver. "Yoooo Wakahisa! Didn't keep you waiting did we?"

Also with him came Kinjo Miyoshi, leader of Juu-ni Gumi, or Squad Twelve. He also rappelled down the chain, a bit slower than the acrobatic and nimble Eguchi, but he wasn't slow. "Wakahisa, report is the new target still in the area?" Miyoshi was a man of hard angles, a well kept, very sparse beard along his jawline, with short hair slicked back. He was in a simple black suit, a naginata strapped to his back, and the faint glimmer of his specialized brass knuckles visible from a pocket on his suit jacket.

"He vanished deeper into the drainage tunnels, sensei." Tsukiko replied, while Eguchi flicked his wrist, the chain rolling up to the top and the hook coming off which he nimbly caught.

"Hmph, I wonder if he's heading to the G-cans. Well let's go in, it's a maze under there, so we're going to need to search thoroughly. Tsukiko you take the lead, Eguchi the rear. I'll be right in the middle with my naginata to support from behind if we find the enemy in the enclosed space. Ideally he might have made it to the G-cans which will give us a lot more room to fight."

Both of them nodded, giving quick affirmations before they'd head in. Obviously Tsukiko wouldn't be using her bow in this case, too cramped of quarters, so it was slung on her back, hands going to her sheathed katana. Into the tunnels they would go, to try and track the brute down.

[ruvaakdasneaky]

All the time Tsukiko waited, Yharon seeked the girl which got deep into the tunnels. After 7 minutes of doing so in deep mazes of tunnels he got to the girl, who was hiding in G-cans sector very scared of everything. As Mako got to him, she stuttered "But... But... I believed there's no demons...". Yharon just kneeled to her and gave some nice pats to her head "Don't worry, cutie. There will be always somebody, who will save you. Like me, for example". The girl jumped into cuddles, but steps got to be heard, so Yharon said the girl to hide to stand at end of the room, greeting the people...

As they came in, he started saying: "Orochi... I've heard about you. Guys, who make lives of free devil hunters a hell. At least, alas, you're really good at keeping people's brains washed to give them safety feeling, i suppose". He just stood there still, checking weaponry of the group and their possible physical capabilities. If he wants to save the girl from those three, he will have to take the fight no matter the consequences. If they will take him custody, it's good, girl will escape, he will do some brawl to get his sword back, everyone's happy. If he will win, maybe, he can even adopt this kid if her parents are dead because of those demons.

[Augustine]

The G-cans sector, the largest emergency flood system in the world. A massive concrete cavern, massive pillars supporting the massive chamber, but with huge amounts of space between them. This was the ultimate answer to any risk of flooding for the city, able to store it and then pump it into the river. Every drainage pipe eventually led to this.

It was empty of any people at this point in time, as it usually was, save for Yharon and the girl he was 'comforting.'  Juu-ni Gumi would enter into it minutes after first entering the pipes.  Upon seeing him and the girl Miyoshi had to resist the urge to curse, before speaking to his comrades in a low voice, that wouldn't carry.  "Alright, we've got a hostage situation.  If it turns into a fight, Tsukiko your job is to grab the kid and get her to safety.  No firearms or ranged attacks until she's clear, understood?"

Tsukiko stiffened, after all this and she wouldn't even get to take part in the fight?  "Are you sure this is the best strategy sensei?"  She replied in an equally low voice.

"Out of all of us, you're the one the girl is going to find the most trusting, get her out and to safety and then get back as swiftly as you can.  Hopefully we'll have the fight taken care of by that point."  Tsukiko nodded reluctantly and Miyoshi raised his voice, stepping forward.  "You are under arrest under suspicion of engaging in illegal devil hunting!  Step away from the girl and surrender your weapons, we are authorized to use deadly force if necessary!" He didn't bother to grace the freelancer's words with a response, straight and to the point was always how Miyoshi liked to handle things.

All Tsukiko could do was maintain her position, her expression calm and cold, hiding the seething fury burning inside of her.  Then again maybe someone this frightened of a girl with a bow wouldn't have been worth fighting to begin with...but still, she might not even get the chance to find out now!

[ruvaakdasneaky]

"I was the one who saved this girl while you, mister official prick, scratched your butt, covering the perimeter. Maybe, try to be faster next time and you could save her parents? I tried, but failed, and i'm very sorry..." Looks like the girl got to cuddle this juggernaut of a person called Masked Jack. He laughed, patting girl's head, and then looked at them with a sigh. "But how can i trust her to Orochi pricks like you? Who knows, what you will do with her, as she was viewed demons with her own eyes." He did told the girl to fear them than to fear him, and looks like his words have more weight that theirs.

He had a thought, then chuckled "Alas, looks like a fight is inevitable and you three kinda overpower me. We all are left with no choice. A question is... Who will attack first..." He thought that it will fill them with a bit of overconfidence, which will turn tide of power to his side and he will have more chances to get out victorious. He will obtain more even more chances if someone of them won't be hold any longer and attack him, it can get their group less organised.