[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/HPgGcZa.png[/img][/center] Hop. Skip. Jump. The fact that most of the buildings were tilted in one way or the other made it much easier than Shinobu had expected when it came to hopping from rooftop to rooftop. With her weapon sheathed and the entirety of her mind set on sticking the landing, the little girl made some impressive progress through the fallen office buildings of the Downtown Ruins. From her vantage point, she could observe the flashy battles of others as they utilized Manifestation and personal skill to carve through groups of drones, leaving only electronic wreckage that spewed sparks from ruptured carapaces. The moon was massive that night, a full moon that cast a heart-red pallor over the buildings below. It was as uncanny and frightening as it always was, but Shinobu thanked the unobstructed moon that night. She didn’t have the foresight to bring a flashlight, after all, so having such prominent lunar lighting was quite a boon. Despite her high ground advantage and bright moon, however, she was now two hours into the night, and Shinobu was getting both tired and pissed off. The rooftops were bare of anything noteworthy. Searching the interior of broken-down air conditioners and the few penthouses lead to nothing, and each jump she made tired her further, until she was struggling to cover ten foot gaps between buildings. Down below, combatants were still trucking on, and she spat a foul word at her own lack of stamina. Plopping down with her legs crossed, the brunette leaned her back against a dusty box, not minding how dirty her clothes got. Black was a good color for people who don’t wash their clothes, and brown was a good color for people who didn’t mind dirt in their hair. Now, though, she had to think. Shinobu had crossed around ten to twenty large buildings at this point, but had found jack shit. Outside of that invisible wolf mecha and a few small groups of spherical drones, there had been no other encounters with the enemy. This was originally a good thing, but the more that she thought about it, perhaps the intention was to display combat skills after all? There have been no sign of the giant mecha that she felt while on the ground. Perhaps her hypothesis was wrong, and it was someone’s Manifestation instead? So ultimately…did the Headmistress lie? Did Aria actually intend for them to find the tarot cards within the drones that they kill? And does that mean that Shinobu was definitely screwed? She grit her teeth and slammed her small fist against the stone roof. A jolt of pain that ran up her hand caused her to wince. She shook her hand, hissing in pain, before standing up. Looking out into the distance, Shinobu searched for the drones. The ground forces were off limits, and she really didn’t want to fight something that could abuse the same ability that she could, so that meant only going after the flying beam-balls. She leaned over the edge of the slanted building, narrowing her eyes, before finally catching a promising sight. [b]“There we go…”[/b] she whispered. Three buildings ahead of her, a squadron of drones floated about, seemingly on patrol. They floated above the roof, perhaps ten or so meters up in the air. Taking in a deep breath and placing a hand over her heart, Shinobu calmed herself once more, before making the jump. She sailed through the air, flipping once before somersaulting on the ground. Pushing up and using the momentum to maintain her speed, the girl sprinted to the next edge, leaping off and diving onto the next roof. Her breathing was still stable when she hit the cement hard, front-flipping onto her feet once more, before stretching out her stride as she approached the final jump. She pressed one foot onto the ledge and kicked off. Her other foot found some purchase against the opposing wall, pushing her higher up as she reached up with her hands. Shinobu only barely made it, both hands clutching the edge of the higher building, arms trembling from effort. A night breeze tousled her hair, a ghostly wail that reminded her just how easy it would be for her hands to slip and for her to fall to her death. The girl didn’t look down. All she could hear was the pounding of her heart and the weightlessness of her dangling legs. [i]Focus. FocusfocusfocusfocusfocusFOCUS.[/i] Shinobu clenched her teeth, and slowly began to lift her scrawny body upwards. First, her face pressed itself against the roof. Then, her right leg managed to raise itself over it. Following that, her chest pressed against the stone ground. And finally, with a grunt, the girl rolled onto the roof, panting heavily. The squadron was still humming about on the other side of the roof, she could hear that much at least. Giving herself a minute’s worth of respite, she scooted away from the edge and drew out Remembrance again, holding the blade by its tip. Tossing it up and down to get a feel of its weight once more, the girl slowed down her breathing. A target, ten meters up, patrolling slowly rather than going at top speed. With her invisibility, it should be an easy feat to hit it. Should be. A deep breath as she rose, her form disappearing from sight. A casual, normal gait, suppressing her own intentions. A quick look upwards, at the drones that were floating above her head. And then, a big grin. There was a tarot card plastered onto bottom of the centermost one. She was right after all. [i]Here. We. Go.[/i] The dagger spun upwards, striking the center of the drone. It sparked, sputtered, and its flight capabilities disappeared, the basketball-sized sphere falling down into her arms. Cradling it, she watched the object disappear, turning invisible as Insidious’s effect activated, before closing her eyes as well. Gravity dragged her intangible form through the rooftop, to the floor below, and Shinobu did a dramatic three-point landing, the shock of the impact absorbed by her bending legs. And only then did she breathe once more, almost happy enough to scream. She got a card, and she destroyed one of those machines as well! So she could be useful after all, even if her kill count was only a single low-level ‘monster’! Humming cheerfully, Shinobu pulled Remembrance out of the mechanical corpse of the drone, making sure to stab a few more times and ensure that it was disabled, before carefully peeling off the tarot card. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was supposed to be, but it didn’t matter, did it? Clearly, it had to be a special card if it had 0 as a number and the picture of a hobo! Well, actually, no, that made it look rather stupid and worthless as well... Shit, did she make another mistake? [@Kol][@TheWindel][@SolisHeretic]