[center][u][b]Minamoto Yoshitsune[/b][/u]
Level 1 [4/10]
Sandswept Sky – Crown of Sand
2360
Collab with [@Lugubrious][/center]

As the Phantom Thieves introduced themselves, Yoshitsune gave each of them a nod, repeating the monikers given. But, as they continued to answer more of his questions, the more his determination strengthened. “Galeem,” he said, gripping the handles of his blades. “I swear by the name of Shukenten, I will see Shizuka again.”

They continued on into the temple shortly after that, Yoshitsune still bringing up the rear, to another large room. As the Phantom Thieves took their hiding places, Yoshitsune walked to the middle of the room.

[quote=@Lugubrious]“Five of them, hm?” Joker whispered from where he was alongside Yoshitsune. “Take your pick, Yoshitsune-san. It'll be all yours. We'll take care of the rest.”[/quote]

“The sorceress,” Yoshitsune said, drawing his swords. He approached her slowly, his swords crossed defensively, watching her.

Mona’s eyes practically bugged out of his head as the attention of all five enemies latched onto the swordsman like dogs seeing a squirrel. “Hey, wait! Agh, come one!”

All together the Phantom Thieves burst from their hiding spots, charging forward. The bulbous Herker roared, its guttural bellow shaking the building, but it was the grotesque, flayed Harrow that first lunged forward into action. Joker, leading the pack, summoned Arsene as he jumped into the air, slicing into Harrow’s face as his Persona lashed out with a powerful kick into its midsection. It fell back a moment, surprised, and Joker pursued. Mona, quick on his heels, leaped over and landed on the Herker’s back, where he furiously sliced into its flesh. Swinging wildly in confusion, it staggered away from the main group. Fire blossomed in the darkness of the crypt as Carmen bombarded the Armor’s metal exterior, then sparks flew from Panther’s submachine gun bullets, all getting the construct’s attention. Captain Kidd delivered a bolt of lightning to the bat monster just before Skull tackled it, and the two rolled away.

That left the desert sorceress, who regarded Yoshitsune with a shadowed face. She strafed to an open space, away from the Herker, her view locked on her chosen opponent. Compared to his compatriots and their varied, unfamiliar magics, the steel-swinging warrior did not impress. She extended a finger his way, and from behind her crept two [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9e/9c/ef/9e9cefd7949f7800a697e17619ab6e3a.jpg]hooded thralls[/url] with axes to test the swordsman’s mettle.

Yoshitsune was quick on his feet upon seeing the thralls and rushed to slash at the sorceress, aiming for a decapitation. After the first slash, he shouted, "Kamui!" before aiming his second blade to stab through the thrall on his left. He was unsure of how strong his chosen opponent was but was not going to give up easily. When he was attacked, he easily blocked and countered each thrall, though the flames of the sorceress have to be dodged, getting him behind her with a jump. As she turned to face him, he slashed at her head again before his Kamui ended, leaving him slightly disadvantaged for a couple of seconds. 

The swordsman’s initial rush came to an abrupt end as a burst of flame exploded between the two combatants, preventing him from getting any farther without roasting himself alive. The ax-wielding thrall that leaped at him during this time took an unmitigated thrust to the abdomen but didn’t die until Yoshitsune landed a counterattack the moment after. After redirecting the other thrall out of the way he went for the sorceress once again, this time jumping to escape a thrown fireblast. Rather than stand still and take it the silent woman attempted to duck away, but her foe’s precise movements meant his blade left a bloody cut in her hood. Without so much as a cry of pain the sorceress lashed out with a flaming whip, covering a lot of ground, to ensnare her enemy and set him ablaze.

Yoshitsune barely dodged the whip, though took the chance to slash at the other thrall's head while in the air. Facing the sorceress, he ran in circles around her, getting a glance at all the other battles taking place around him. Keeping his movements swift, the samurai leapt for her again, aiming his right sword for her chest before swinging his left blade for her throat again. Whether or not his attacks hit, he would leap back, ready for her next attack.

Attacking with one blade at a time allowed the pyromancer to intercept both strikes with her own sword, albeit barely, and the damage reduction was far from perfect and she took a slash near the heart. Clearly not adept in her weapon’s use compared to her flame’s, the sorceress suffered some damage to her grip. When she attacked again, however, she moved with a suddenness that suggested anger, perhaps at Yoshitsune’s choice of target. She hurled a fireball that exploded into a number of smaller fireballs upon hitting the floor, and with the distance, it bought her channeled some sort of bluish pyromancy around her fist that she then beat against her chest. In an instant, her skin toughened drastically.

At that moment the ground shook from a weighty footfall nearby and the Herker staggered over. Mona still clung to its grotesque back, slicing and chopping away at it bit by bit with Zorro’s piercing aid. The monster seemed to be growing desperate and wildly swung its limbs, including a huge shovel, rather close to Yoshitsune’s duel.

Yoshitsune stood defensively, his swords crossed. He had seen the Herker getting closer. He waited until the perfect moment, jumping over the Herker’s swing and kicking off its face with a spin, his blades aimed to slice through the sorceress. His Kamui wasn’t ready yet but he knew it would be ready again soon. He only needed a few more strikes. Whether or not his strikes hit, he landed facing the sorceress, ready to move. Instead of waiting for her to react, he leaped for her again, aiming to slash through with both blades from behind her.

The unexpected maneuver using the marauding Herker took the sorceress off guard, forcing her to scramble reactively rather than try in vain to defend herself. Yoshitsune landed hit after hit, but her Iron Flesh saved her life by softening the blows. A stream of flame raked across the swordsman, scorching his clothes and skin. When Yoshitsune moved behind her, the fault in her pyromancy became clear; even though her defense had skyrocketed, she could scarcely move. He struck hard and true, dealing a pair of fatal wounds that reached his enemy’s spine, and she fell to her knees before dissolving into ash.

For the last time, the ground shook, as Zorro finally drove his rapier through the Herker’s mutated brain. The loathsome brute sagged to the ground, gurgling its last, and Mona hopped to the ground breathing heavily. “Aah..whoo...that guy...hah...just didn’t want to go down.”

He scoped out the remaining fights, noticing that Skull had already beaten the bat to death, and then jumped in to help Panther. The Armor appeared to be a tough nut to crack, its heated but very much intact armor more resistant to the girl’s flames and bullets than she hoped. She had foregone her whip, ineffective against metal, entirely to focus on evading, but a few gashes in her suit suggested that Armor boasted some speed of its own. Even so, with the brute force of Skull and Captain Kidd taking the construct’s attention, the enemy went down in short order.

That left Joker and Harrow, whose struggle headlined as the most intense of the bunch. Little more than a twisted mash of gnarled bone, gaunt leathery flesh, and savage hatred, Harrow chased down the slippery thief without rest. A fresh collection of scars spoke to its viciousness despite the numerous cuts, holes, and burns that covered it. As Mona watched, Joker leaped out of the way of a strike that demolished an entire shelf of chemicals, coating Harrow with fluids that hissed and sputtered angrily. “Don’t just stand around,” Joker called out his cat. “It’s burning!”

“Oh, right! Persona!” Mona called upon Zorro, who carved a sigil into the air with his rapier. A green-tinted whirlwind raged forth, scraping across and aggravating Harrow’s burns. With a howl, it toppled over onto the ground. A look at Joker for direction confirmed that no negotiations would be had here--only a swift and stylish end. “Let’s take ‘em down!”

All together the Thieves and Yoshitsune launched into action, mobbing the incapacitated Harrow in a flurry of blows, blades, and other attacks. When the blurring shadows relented, Joker stood with his back to the beast and adjusted his glove with a smile. Sticky brown blood slopped from the monster in a burst, and it turned to ash.

Then the five intruders were left alone with their five spirits. Despite his wounds, Joker pointed Mona in the direction of Panther. “Heal her first.” Panther said nothing, clearly fighting to hold herself together despite her wounds, and accepted Mona’s Diorama gratefully. After the initial boost Panther took over healing herself, using her own lesser Dia skill to finish the job. 

Joker approached Yoshitsune, which the swordsman was curious about, before handing him something. “What’s this?” he asked, only to hear footsteps approaching.

Mona then turned to Joker and Yoshitsune, giving them the attention they needed. “Starting to run low on magic,” he breathed, fatigued. “We gotta rest soon.”

Skull, meanwhile, collected the spirits and handed them to Joker for safekeeping. On the way, he noticed a light coming from a dark corner and noticed among the splinters of a ruined bookshelf a hidden path leading downward. “Guys! There’s a deeper level here, and that air ain’t stale. I think we hit the jackpot!”

As everyone approached the corner, Yoshitsune sheathed his blades, though kept his grip on them in case he needed to redraw them at a moment’s notice. Upon entering the oasis and seeing it primarily empty, he began wandering, looking for a large enough open spot to practice some swordplay alone. He was tempted to ask the Phantom Thieves to spar, though they seemed intent on setting up some sort of camp. He just didn’t know how some of their weapons worked. Swords were simple. Their… confusing… loud… whatever-they’re-called were nothing like what he’d seen back home. “Tell me of your weapons?” he asked, pointing at one of their firearms.

Skull realized he had yet to put away his shotgun, instead of toting it on his shoulder as he walked like a badass--or so he thought, at least. He held it up for Yoshitsune to take a closer look but didn’t make as if to hand it to him. “This thing? Just a shotgun. Its a model in the real world, but here it works just like you’d think. Watch!” He made a motion to put it away, and the entire weapon disappeared. A reverse motion drawing from his back popped the thing back into existence. “Cool, right? Although, I guess you wouldn’t know about guns, huh? Well, uh…”

“They’re weapons that use explosions to launch little bits of metal, called bullets, that deal a lot of damage,” Panther explained, looking to Skull for confirmation. “I mean, that’s basically all there is to it, right? Not exactly a technical explanation, but guns aren’t exactly every day in Japan. Our Japan, that is. And especially yours I guess,” she added, thinking about Yoshitsune’s time.

He nodded, frowning. “I guess your Japan is a thousand years in the future from mine.” he shrugged. “Any of you have blades?” he asked, swinging his swords in the open air. 

Mona manifested and held up his scimitar. “That’s me! If you mean katana though, you’re out of luck until we find Fox.”

“A sword is a sword,” he said with a slight nod. “How about a sparring match until everyone else gets here?”

Everyone present made a sound like a deflating balloon. Panther laughed aloud. “Man, you still have energy after all that? We’ve been making our way through the desert all day. We need something to eat and drink.” Groaning, she tugged on her suit. “Ugh. And to get out of these outfits. This is almost as bad as Futaba’s Palace.”

“Yeah,” Joker said, looking around. He saw a handful of peacocks and hippos and began weighing his options. Nobody else in the party brought food, and a few of them needed it to live. After a day without a meal, he felt the knife of hunger keenly in his guts, and the others were no doubt the same. Even if these hippos looked rather like people, they were still animals, and this world was still not real. It didn’t take long to reach an executive decision. “We’ll de-mask, take a drink, and start taking out some of these animals. By the time the others get here, we’ll have dinner in progress.”

“Now you’re talking my language!” Panther laughed, breaking through any unease. By now, the Phantom Thieves both knew one another and the situation they found themselves in. Nobody questioned Joker’s decision. She reached up and removed her mask, which vanished in blue flames along with her Phantom Thief attire. When the flames died down, she was wearing shorts and a tank top along with a jacket tied around her waist. Joker removed his as well, revealing a white collared short-sleeve shirt and light pants, and Skull took on baggy cargo shorts plus a bright yellow tank. None looked particularly bothered to have their faces exposed--and all, not counting Mona, looked like rather ordinary teenagers.

Skull washed his face in the water of the sunlit pool. “Man, this is great! I could totally hop right in.”

“We should reserve the other one for drinking then,” Panther advised. “No contamination, right?”

“Right.” Joker made his way to the pool himself, bowled water in his hands, and took a long drink. “Ahh. Long overdue.”

Mona looked up at Yoshitsune. “Hey, you’re gonna help us with the hippos, right?” He gestured at the [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/spyro/images/7/7d/BrunoHippoRT.png]creatures[/url] milling around the oasis.

With a nod, Yoshitsune ran to the hippos and began slicing at their wings. With precise strikes, he took down the hippos with as little damage to the meat as possible. When their spirits fell, the Thieves collected and methodically crushed them, producing more food-to-be as well as assorted items. In short order, preparations were well underway.