Megatokyo Campfire 2: School Days Part 3, A parting of ways, or a new beginning?

Maldrul blushed. "Yes, I'm sorry Tohya-san, but please, let me explain. When we had our first encounter, I had thought that the zombie attack was a 'pop quiz' provided by The Agency. They do that to their trainees from time to time. After we were returned to the clubroom, I realized that was not the case but I saw an opportunity to do some 'extra credit ' work to help my grade. So I started compiling dossiers on everyone as a precursor to building an expeditionary team to try and solve the mystery surrounding the school and the Unity Coalition. It's part of my Agency training. I was able to retrieve your file from the TPCD database as well as The Agency records, but what really surprised me was the file I found on the Sony Entertainment Division's secure mainframe. Seems they were interested in your singing talent at one time. The report indicated that you have a Level 9 Idol singing voice. I thought it odd though that there was no audio sample file available. Anyway, the report concluded that, at the time, your personality was too unstable to merit a contract. I'm sure that 'the incident' was a deciding factor."

The computer made some boop noises and Maldrul looked back at the screen. "Oh, this is not good. Yanagisawa's cellphone is not at his home and Suzuki's is offline." Maldrul clicked the mouse a few times. "Yanagiswa's cell is located in a warehouse district that I am.. familiar with. Which tells me that Yanagisawa at least has been taken again by the Yakuza. This is bad. When we were leaving the school yesterday to go to the Cave of Evil, they were waiting in ambush right outside the school grounds. I was able to take Yanagisawa and Susuki away safely but I saw that they had a mage and a gunslinger with them that time. Chances are there will be even more opposition this time. We need backup." Maldrul then looked sheepishly at Miho. "Uh, I didn't mean to imply that you... that is you don't have to come if you don't wish to get involved."

This post has been edited by maldrul on Nov 20 2009, 01:32 PM

Miho appeared to digest this for a few moments as she continued petting the cat. A mage? Interesting.... Miho hadn't met very many magic users, but she did know that most magic users had books. It would be a good idea to be on the lookout. "Fine, but I'm only doing this because I owe you debt for giving me Kali." That part was actually true, although it wasn't her main reason for agreeing. Kali had some....interesting properties when she focused her power into it. Miho looked down at the cat in her lap. "What kind of cat is this? It feels very odd...."

This post has been edited by HatsuharuZ on Nov 20 2009, 01:59 PM

John turned back to the site, hefting a shovel. He visualized the layout of the floors buried below.
Looking around, he noticed that hulk-boy was talking some of his apparent friends.

<Perhaps time for a shot in the dark?>

He walked up to him, and spoke in a low voice.

"You seem to be pushing yourself awfully hard for volunteer work. You have a friend here or something?"

There was the brief, painfull flash of the afirmative in the guy's eyes as he spun to face John.
Taking this to be interest, he continued,

"Assuming they're like everyone else in Japan, they're more than likely carrying cell phones. Have you tried calling? Sound travels pretty far..."

Smith didn't like this guy's attitude. He straightened his body, held up one finger and opened his mouth, about to make a loud, obnoxious counterpoint when he realized that this dude had given him a good idea. He paused in his pose for a moment before leaning back on his guitar and saying, "Nope. Hadn't tried that. Hope he doesn't have it on vibrate."

Smith pulled his cell phone out and quickly dialed Jacob's number. He began to walk around the ruins, waiting to hear the ring. "Any of you guys hear it?"

Maldrul reached over and scratched Chyu Chu under the chin. "Chyu Chu is a shadow cat. Very similiar to your Kuro. She is very old. Over a thousand years according to Ru-Sensei. She used to be his familiar until he found that pseudo dragon egg. Then she kind of adopted our family. She is very protective of me in particular and will show up wherever I am if I'm in dire need or if I call for her."

He leaned back in his chair. "We need to contact Gabriel-sensei and her guest. You haven't met him yet. He is a mercenary that was hired by a fellow agent trainee for a mission here in Tokyo. It's a long story, but right now, he is bunking with Gabriel and working for me as bodyguard for Yanigasawa and Suzuki... once we get them back from the Yakuza. But I think his talents will be very useful in extracting them. I can use my teleport ability to get there, but I am limited so it would take time. Do you mind, uh...?"

Gabriel cleared her throat and leaned against the counter opposite Patrick, next to the stove. "<You didn't ruin my lunch.>" She caught his gaze and then looked away quickly. "<The food... I've kinda been adopted by some of the old biddies at this one local market and they gave it to me.... to try out some new recipes....>"

She sighed, and ran both hands over her face and into her hair. Still standing with her hands behind her head, she started to speak again, "<Look, two weeks out of the year I'm -->" Suddenly the lph0ne sang a little tune, paused, and then began to vibrate madly while the bell from Hell's Bells tolled three times. <Gah, the thing must have just gotten enough charge to come back to life. That fool of a teacher gave these things horrible battery life...>

Gabriel walked over to where the ph0ne was plugged into the wall and checked the message. "<Shit! Bloody hell!>" Patrick jumped to his feet as she whirled back to look at him.

"<Two of my kids have been kidnapped. I'm calling Maldrul and heading out. Feel free to stay and finish dinner or whatever, just leave something for me in the fridge.>"

She knelt by the trunks and started digging, pulling out a pair of pants with bullet-resistant, if not bullet-proof, scales sewn on, intermingled with metal scales. She pulled out a matching short-sleeved tunic with a reinforced high collar and a pair of reinforced leather bracers. She gathered all this together and dashed upstairs, returning moments later dressed and with her combat boots on. She then started gathering her various blades, stashing most across her person and some in the duffel. She added her compound bow, her crossbow, and three quivers stuffed with both types of arrows to the duffel as well.

Ready to leave, Gabriel headed for the door while dialing Maldrul's number. "<Com'on kid, answer....>"

Quickly running through the kitchen, switching everything off or setting it to the lowest temperature it could go, Patrick gathered up his pistols and chased after Gabriel, calling out as he went.

<"Hey, wait up!! I'm coming too! If these are your friends, I owe you, and you could probably use the support. I mean, c'mon, you know what I do, are you really just gonna have me sit there? I promise I won't charge you for it.">

Finding his helmet and the key's to his bike he added, <"Besides, I think these two might be my clients.">

This post has been edited by RedWolf4 on Nov 20 2009, 05:29 PM

Gabriel paused at the top of the stairs, looked back at Patrick, nodded once and then started again. She took the steps in bounds, though not pushing too hard, while still listening for Maldrul to pick up his phone.

[Outside, DGAM]
[Thursday, Day 11, before school]

<“Stuck in the wrong decade”> Steven muttered as he sat in front of the schools gate <“and me with no records”>

He watched as a couple of rather cute girls walked by looking at him, he gave them a tired smile getting giggles in return as they walked off <Well at least the scenery isn’t that bad> he thought glumly <Need a breeze though>

Now how to get lodging…

[Building collapse]
[Thursday, Day 11, before school]

David watched on his laptop as the screen filled with lines as pulsing red dots traveled about it “Any luck?” Takashi asked, not taking his eyes off the equipment crews, now working without the aforementioned equipment until the gas leak got fixed.

“My spiders have gotten through less then a tenth of the debris field for I only have nine and all twenty seven bodies I have found have been just that bodies, we have two people that are known to be alive they should take priority… odd”

“What?” Takashi asked.

“Sonic reading, regular and melodic” He looked up toward the people at work “Who ever has their cell phone ringing TURN IT OFF!”

Following easily after Gabriel, Patrick was going over what he knew of the yakuza in his mind and relayed it to Gabriel.

<"When I was checking to see if my clients were at home, I noticed that they were under surveillance, so whoever is holding them probably knows that they have some very special friends to look out for them. The bastards actually have some military grade equipment, probably North korean or Chinese surplus, so we've gotta keep that in mind too, and who knows, they might even have an RPG, but I doubt that. The ones I dealt with weren't all that organised, but these guy's, they're planning ahead and taking their time, so we'll have to watch our step.">

Running over to their respective bikes, he said, <" I don't know my way around all that well still, so you lead and I'll follow!">

This post has been edited by RedWolf4 on Nov 20 2009, 07:22 PM

Jacob screamed in frustration as the beam once again refused to move. He could hear the activity above him as the people above slowly worked through the rubble above him. They weren't moving fast enough! If that explosion he had heard was any indication, they were having problems of their own.

He was about to try moving it again when his phone began to ring. He checked the caller ID before flipping it open. "<Hello?>"

"Ah, I can here.....something..."

John paced, trying to find the focal point of the resonance. Suddenly, the noise stopped.


"Did he pick up? Because I just lost the ring, here."

John tapped a spot with his boot, towards the rear of where the building would have been.

Maldrul's cellphone started to play 'Tubular Bells'. He grabbed it and looked at the caller ID. "Sensei! Tohya-san and I were just about to pop over. We have a situation..."

"Maldrul. Hopefully we have the same situation. Taro texted me some time ago but my phone was dead, so I just got the message. He and Sakaki have been kidnapped by the Yakuza, and taken to 'their place'. Any clues on where that would be?" Gabriel slid to a stop next to her bike. "Wait, Tohya? Our Tohya? What are you tw--- Never mind. Patrick and I are heading out: if you know where they were taken, directions would be great. If not, we will start checking their homes."

She held up a hand to tell Patrick to wait.

This post has been edited by Elven Bookwyrm on Nov 20 2009, 09:19 PM

Maldrul started typing on his computer. "I'm texting you a turn by turn and GPS coordinates right now. We'll meet you there. Be careful, they have a mage and a gunslinger for sure, maybe worse."

Maldrul hung up and turned to Miho. "Shall we?"

Gabriel stared at the phone. "<A mage... and a gunslinger... and maybe worse. Oh joy.>" The lph0ne tolled again and Gabriel quickly scanned the directions. "<Right, let's go. The kids will beat us there most likely; let's just hope traffic isn't too bad....>"

They sped off into the street, Patrick pushing the bike to match Gabriel's speed as she swung around and between slower vehicles.

Smith smiled. "Hey, buddy. Smith here. We're trying to reach you right now. Hang on." Smith looked over at David. "Techy-kun! I called our friend. He's talking to me right now. Can you follow his voice with the spider things? We can find them faster that way." He looked away and kept talking to Jacob. "Techy-kun is here too. He's looking for you right now with his spiders I guess. Just hang in there. How's Rachael doing?"

[Day 10, after school]
[Outside Rasputin's office]
Ms. Brimstone looked to the young boy for a second a confused look came to her face before she seemed to recognize something and smiled briefly before getting to business. She typed some information into the computer bringing up the enrollment files. "It seems that we do have you enrolled Steven. We just weren't expecting you to materialize so soon, your file wasn't suppose to activate for another few weeks." She activated the printer beside her and smiled as she handed the schedule to the boy. "This will be your schedule I have activated your paperwork now. You will be in the middle-school, the classroom is listed on the schedule. Welcome to our little school and we hope you enjoy your stay." Pointing to a small section of the schedule Ms. Brimstone leaned in. "Our files indicated that you would need remedial japanese lessons so I have placed you in a separate class for that alone. I am quite busy so if you can leave now it would be appreciated."

Wayne followed Smith, his ears stranging to hear the sound, upon locating it, it stopped as the person Smith was calling picked up. from the conversation, it was Jacob and Racheal who was trapped underneath the rubble.

"So we starting here or do we need to find another entrance?" he asked Smith. Then something blew up behind them...

-----------
Lacronton's gaze swept the area, his enhanced vision picking up several heat signatures. As well as several remains of high-end shaped charges.

"Inspector, this was a deliberate strike, permission to access the CCTV system." He said suddenly. Sonda nodded then headed over to another section of the wreckage. Accessing the security files of the last week, he watched the videos in high-speed while he slowly melded with random lumps of rubble. Several people had been caught in the mess, various parts of them skewered by rebar preventing him from flash-melding the whole mess.

Then his vision pinged. He hand lashed out, turning silver as it went, extending to wrap around a TPCS agent that was a third of the way to four school-age volunteers.

KA-BOOM!!!

Rock and dust flew as Lacronton retracted a sphere-incased officer from the blast. Giving the unharmed officer a once-over look, he then projected his voice to all present. "Be advised! There are un-detonated explosives present in the rubble!"

This post has been edited by Lacronton on Nov 21 2009, 08:12 AM

"Very well...." Miho was studying the map on the screen. "I am not familiar with that area, however, so I will have to move us to a place nearby that I DO know." She picked Chyu Chu up and set it in the chair where she had been sitting. She then held out her gloved hand like she was doing Maldrul a favor. Then Maldrul took her hand, and she closed her eyes in order to concentrate. "Be quiet for a moment, if you would be so kind." This kind of thing is difficult, even for me.
Miho concentrated on a memory of a place that she hadn't seen in quite some time...

[Flashback]
Miho looked up from her book and stared out the window of the car, then turned to her mother, who sat across from her. "Mother, did Father forget about us again?" Mother turned a page of her book before answering. It was written in a strange Western language that Mother called '<Latin>'. The brief glimpse that Miho had had earlier of revealed strange drawings and graphs of some kind. Mother didn't like it when Miho looked at her books. When she answered, Mother never looked up from her book. "You know how he is, Miho." Her tone said that, yes, she has the same feeling since Father had said he'd be back in five minutes thirty minutes ago, and no, she didn't want to hear about it. Miho stifled a groan and put her bookmark in The Complete Works of William Blake before shutting it. She studied the raindrops running down the window of the limosine. Outside, a back-lit sign flickered mournfully above the entrance to a Sony branch office. Miho's stomach grumbled. Father had promised to take them all to dinner.
[/Flashback]

Why can't I remember her face? "Umm...Tohya-san, we're here, wherever that is..." Miho let go of Maldrul's hand and opened her eyes. The two were in the middle of a deserted street. She looked up and found that she and Maldrul were in front a (closed down) building with a 'for sale' sign on it. She looked down one end of the street, and then to the other end. The end of the street in front of her sloped downward to an area with rows upon rows of warehouses. She pointed. "The place that was on your computer map is that way."

This post has been edited by HatsuharuZ on Nov 21 2009, 02:44 AM

Maldrul sniffed. "And so are Yanagisawa and Suzuki... and company." Maldrul rubbed his chin. "I think I'll do a quick recon while we wait for Gabriel-sensei." He morphed into a white rat. "Please wait here, I won't be long." He said in a squeaky little rat voice and then scurried down the street, hugging the buildings and trash as he went. Then he was out of site.

Smith sighed as he heard one of the cops warn them about explosives. Then he chuckled a little and then just started laughing outright. He could hear Jacob's confused voice on the other end and stopped himself. "Sorry. See, uh... There are unexploded bombs in the rubble, buddy. So far this whole situation seems to be trying to screw us as royally as possible. But we've got a general fix on your location, so we're going to find you and save Rachael. How far away from you is Rachael right now?"

Maldrul scurried along the outer wall of the warehouse across from the location where Taro's cellphone supposedly was. He stood on his haunches and sniffed the air in a very rat like way. They are in there. So are the two Yakuza thugs from last time and... Artemis! Pups and Kitts! I don't have the magic energy to confronter her! Maybe I can just draw her off while Gabriel and Patrick extract Yanagisawa and Sakaki. Then I can get away on my own. Tohya will do what she deems best so I can't determine how she is going to assist. Maldrul then scanned the area. 6 lookouts this time, in pairs, more heavily armed and armoured. Must take them out first, quickly and quietly. Maldrul determined that he had seen enough, so he turned back around and scurried away.

As they neared the area, Gabriel dropped the majority of her shields, looking for Miho's familiar signature. <Bingo.> She continued past the warehouse district while still on a major street and then crossed over to the target street itself only when well past. Slowing carefully, she coasted her bike into an alley. When Patrick pulled in behind her, Gabriel cut the engine, dismounted, and said, "<From here we walk. I don't want anyone getting suspicious about the noise.>"

She dug into her duffel to pull out the compound bow case and a quiver. The empty case went back into the bag, which she slung tight against her back beside the quiver. She slipped on an archer's glove and set out, long strides that could carry her tirelessly for miles. <Hope Patrick can keep up. This kind of thing is what I'm used to... it's going to be far too easy to fall into my old solitary hunting habits.> As Gabriel ran, she checked over her compound carefully in order to make sure nothing had been knocked loose or out of place in the case.

A few minutes later, Gabriel trotted silently up to Miho as the girl waited in the shadow of a building. Patrick arrived a few moments later, breathing just a little heavily. <Oops, guess I should have gone just a bit slower....> Gabriel said quietly to Miho, "Where's Maldrul?"

This post has been edited by Elven Bookwyrm on Nov 21 2009, 12:36 PM