[IC] Natrelmon: Forge of Souls

[zaga2575]

2spooky:

Immediately after having the shit scared out of him the first time, Caelyn had an epic battle to make sure he did not crap his pants. A crowire crashed through the window of the Inn and was coming right for him. Luckily Fang was poised to strike, but there was no need because the Crowire was already dead....again? "What the fuck is that? It looks like some kind of zombie!?" Caelyn snapped back into the moment by the two officers kicking open the doors and requesting help at the morgue. He looked at the crowire again. This wasn't natural and it bothered him to the core to think something was causing this to the poor Natrelmon. He had always had good experiences with Natrelmon and not people. Something told him thats exactly what the cause of this was. "Count me in." Caelyn didnt remember even speaking the words but there they were.

"Crowire and Faeron, come on out. I'll need your eyes to let us know of danger. Caelyn could feel Eishund surging to come out. "Not yet, you and Metosune stay in there I am sure we will need your assistance soon enough." With his natrelmon being calm in their relics, he took that as an understood and fell in line ready to head to the morgue.

[Partisan]

Atami - 2spooky

Atami, who had kept quiet during the entire ordeal with the dead.. or rather, undead Crowire. He just stood in a corner somewhere in the inn, overlooking the 'chaos' as the two police officers started discussing back and forth a bit, seeming to be rather.. calm given the fact that there was just an undead Crowire in front of them, who mere seconds later collapsed once more as a bullet shot it down. Atami approached a bit closer to make sure he was in hearing range. He was unsure whether or not he should interrupt the discussion to introduce himself, but he believed that he'd have been spotted either way. The Inn didn't seem all that bustling with activity. So he let them finish their little discussion, before they told them to go upstairs if they were uncomfortable, or otherwise to follow them.

This would probably be the most suitable time to introduce himself, as there would be no introductions mid-battle to be made. “Excuse me. I'm Atami, and I'm a trainer. I figured that perhaps you'd like to know my name, as we might be doing battle against these.. creatures, side by side.” He tried to smile, but it was obvious that he didn't feel particularily happy being here. “It is nice to meet all of you, though.. I wish we'd have met in more fortunate times.” But as he said these nice, friendly words, his eyes stayed in their ever semi-aggressive state, his face stuck in a constant grimace of anger. Without moving a bit, Atami's Mythari would come out of his linnen wrap around his upper arm, where his relic was located. It moved itself onto Atami's shoulder, it's long tail moving slightly on his back before moving back up over his other shoulder. He looked over the group once more, and then took his leave together with the officers.

When they went outside, it seemed a few of the undead Natrelmon from the horde had not yet fully passed by, and the officers sprung into action without warning, jumping towards the nearest of the undead Natrelmon or undead humans, which seemed to be relatively fresh for an undead. The first of the undead met it's fate rather quickly, being punched into a wall, and even though Atami couldn't see the undead land, the sound of cracking bones made damn sure to notify everyone of what had happened. The other officer made a quick end to another undead, shooting it and dropping it down dead. Once more. Atami was impressed with their skills in fighting, but seemed unimpressed with the undead. It seemed they went down rather quickly, but he was unable to determine if this was because of the undead themselves or because the officers were remarkably good at what they did.

It was good that he paid attention to the officers, as it lead to him spotting a crawling undead.. something. It looked like a human, but it's leg must've been ripped off. The mist covered most of it, luckily, so Atami didn't have to watch the .. thing's entrails drag behind it. Slowly the crawling man tried to make it's way to one of the officers, whose name Atami didn't remember, as he wasn't even sure if he'd heard it at all or if he'd simpy forgotten it. Atami slowly walked over, looking down at it as it's hands pulled it mere inches closer to the officers, who could walk and still be faster than this. It was rather sad, seeing the undead woman. Inspecting the body, before it'd try and grab Atami, he noticed that the lower body was torn off by something different than a natrelmon, as there was no claw marks or bite marks. Rather, the flesh was cut straight, as if it had been done by a big knife. A sword? Could be, but it seemed to have happened in a slow fashion, rather than a quick slice of the sword. Maybe an accident with a bigger tool.

He took a step back to give himself some time to investigate down the street, the slow crawling zombie trying to turn it's body to Atami. And surely enough, the mist covered most of the street, but in the distance he could make out the slight shape of a bulldozer, with the blade lowered. It seemed to have been released, and then must've fallen down on this poor woman, dissecting her legs from her body. The legs were still laying there, unmoved. She had no chance to escape from the horde and likely turned into one of them as a result. Pathetic. “I guess I should relieve you from whatever this is.” he said, kneeling down before the crawling undead woman, her long blonde hair already beginning to somewhat fall out. He grabbed whatever hair there was left and stood up, dragging her body up as he got up as well. He had to adjust his grip slightly as more hair was falling out, so he grabbed the skull instead. The relative freshness of the body seemed to be important, as the flesh didn't look as damaged as the natrelmon which had turned earlier. He took a step back with his right foot, and then launched his knee into the womans face, crushing it in the progress. He took another step back and repeated the steps until he was quite sure she'd be permanently dead. Atami just hoped the family wouldn't have to bury her like this, face mashed in. “Okay.” he said, as he dropped the body and wiped his hands on his pants. He'd fall back in line with the rest, following the officers.

[Shurikai]

Morning before 2Spooky
Amelia had gone to the library the next morning and spent the day researching breeding techniques for her and Kito. She had found a cryptic page that included Ocalia returning from the grave, but nothing about breeding. She rubbed her eyes. Research always made her tired.

It was about time to give up. Amelia hadnt found anything of worth for a couple hours now. A book with no cover caught her eye. The book itself seemed old and well worn, but at the same time, like no one had touched it for a while. She picked up the book and put it on the table. The spine cracked as she opened to the first page. It was also blank. No title? She leafed through the pages, finding it did indeed have text.

After reading finishing the book, the contents astounded her. It dawned on her not moments later what she had just read. Now she had a dilemma. Leave it to be abused by trainers, or destroy it. Certainly she couldnt just leave it here.. so into her pack it went.

2SPOOKY
ALERT! ALERT!
Amelia's cell phone went off, jolting her awake. She had passed out over a particularly dusty book about trains. While interesting, not enough to keep her from sleeping. It was very dark out now. She checked the device that thankfully woke her. There was a message that told anyone able to fight, to head to the morgue.

As soon as she read it, she could hear noises coming from outside. She was on the second floor, the windows were on the first. Quietly, she sunk to the floor and peered down. It seemed a lot of people had taken shelter within. They hid behind shelves and over turned tables. Amelia turned her attention to outside itself. Hordes of natrelmon lumbered down the street. Looking more closely, she could see there was something very wrong with them. They looked... decayed? How could that be?

Most of them had moved on before Amelia made it down to the first floor. She was careful to make she she stayed out of sight, in case there were stragglers. Once someone was close enough, she asked what happened, but no one had an answer. They were as clueless as herself. The message mentioned the morgue, perhaps she should assist them.

One of the staff explained that there was a back door to the library. They also gave her directions to the morgue. Amelia opened it an inch and looked out. It looked clear enough. Stepping out was easy. Once the door clicked shut is when she started to freak out. Her heart pounded so fast, she thought it was going to run out of her chest. Looking around, there was nothing. Quickly she scampered away to the morgue.

According to the directions, the morgue was right across the street. Amelia crouched in her alley way, out of sight. She waited for the others to appear.

[Tuujaimaa]

Shio's immediate reaction to Kasumi's little prank came as no surprise, and as soon as the knife was loosed, Kasumi had prepared herself to intercept it. The Word of Conviction: Blind would do little in this situation, given its limited power due to its immediate casting and Kasumi's training. With a single deft motion, she caught the grip of the blade while pivoting on her left foot, reducing the worst of the bright light, and nullifying the blade attack immediately. She completed the turn, using her momentum fully, before extending her hand out towards Shio with the grip of the blade pointed towards her.

"Good reflexes." Was all Kasumi said, chuckling a little under her breath.

As the Crowire hurtled through the window, Kasumi's first reaction was not one of shock or fear. She studied the decaying corpse intently, keeping her gaze towards it unbroken, before turning to Violet and Cat. The grin on her face was unmistakeable - a thrill-seeker such as herself found the entire prospect of Natrelmon being risen from the deaf enthralling, no matter the danger to herself and others, and when she next spoke the almost giddy tones of her voice gave her excitement away if the grin had not:

"Kasumi of the Touhou, at your service, officers. Let's fuck them up."

With those words, Kasumi vaulted out of the broken window, clearly expecting Shio to follow her, and set her sights on the morgue. The route that she knew that she could take was somewhat difficult for the less physically able to traverse, but it was certainly the quickest route. Kasumi had faith that herself and Shio could at least make it across the rooftops, but she did not bother estimating how well the others would fare - Cat and Violet would be perfectly capable of keeping them out of harm's way. She started by sprinting forwards, as fast as her namesake suggested she was, and withdrew a knife the holster strapped to her waist as she ran, clearly looking to thin out the horde of undead Natrelmon as she ran. The style of the Touhou was to be fast and to incapacitate rather than outright damage like some schools of martial mastery were wont to do, and so it was not particularly difficult for her to take out the majority of the undead that crossed her path. Before long, she had travelled through some of the more labyrinthine passages in the city, and found herself at precisely the location she desired: A ladder. While she could have just entered a building and attempted to gotten to the roof from there, it was much less efficient and far too safe for Kasumi's tastes.

As she started to climb up the ladder, she felt a decaying hand grip at her ankle, trying to claw her down from her perch. Rather than let such a situation get the best of her, she loosed her grip on the ladder and slid down, vaulting backwards as she did so. The atrophied corpse was hardly a match for a physically fit human, and it was far too slow to avoid the knife that plunged into its throat. Keeping her left hand on the knife, Kasumi kicked with her left foot, squarely in the center of the zombie's chest, retrieving her knife and ensuring that the corpse would not get up for long enough that it could not possibly be a threat. It took the work of a few seconds to ascend the ladder and reach the top of the building. As an afterthought, Kasumi cast a Deceptive Bolt straight upwards, designed to look like a Fireball, as a primitive signal flare as to her location. Some of the group may have found it helpful or inspiring to know where Kasumi was, but it would at least allow Cat and Violet to know that another route to the morgue was clear, if nothing else. It didn't take the scion of the Touhou family long to start leaping across the narrow gaps between the rooftops, keeping an eye out for any undead flying above her as she did so. She would arrive at the morgue's general location fairly quickly, but would wait atop a building within view of it while invisible. Cat and Violet would appreciate a scout, even if they did not appreciate her brash antics.

[Krinos Solstice]

2Spooky:

Kito had retired to his room after Amelia had left, though he got no sleep, as was the usual for him now. The morning light stung his eyes, though he endured the pain, looking down at the ring on his finger. Shaking his head, he made his way back to the lobby, finding no signs of Amelia. He recalled what she had offered last night, to train together, and he had to admit, it wasn't a bad idea. In fact, it might be exactly what Elwis needed to settle down again, to mend the bond he and Amelia once had all those years ago. Chuckling to himself, he headed out into the city, recalling that Amelia was going to be at the library. He wouldn't be surprised if she had passed out there, a library was like her second home. His mind wandered back to the Natrelmon from the previous night, it's body was hidden from view, and it's eyes were nearly invisible as well. If it hadn't been for the growl and blinking, he likely wouldn't have noticed it until it attacked him. Once he found Amelia, he was going to go back into the forest with her in search of that creature, something didn't feel right to him about it. While lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice both gems on the ring glowing, causing the ring to slowly increase in temperature. Eventually both Elwis and Sakura-re emerged, the ring now cooling as Kito's attention was drawn to the pair. "Hey! What are you two doing? Cut it out already!" he shouted, seeing the two exchanging blows.

Elwis avoided Sakura-re's swing, countering with one of his own, sending the creature stumbling. "Elwis! Enough! What's gotten into you?!" Kito shouted, stepping between the fallen Sakura-re and Elwis. With a shriek, Elwis swung at him, landing a cut on Kito's arm while he protected himself. As he lowered his arm, he saw his Natrelmon take off down the street, shrieking once again. Looking at Sakura-re, he sighed, "Looks like Elwis has gone mad...I might need you to help me subdue him." he said. The Natrelmon bowed slightly forward once it stood, as if to say she understood him. Returning back to her relic, Kito took off after Elwis, following the shrieking noise. Eventually he came upon a building, stopping dead in his tracks, the appearance of the building disturbed him. Backing up slowly, he realized what the structure was, "A morgue? Is this why Elwis went nuts?" Kito asked himself. Before he could find out, a black beam shot from the doorway, causing Kito to throw himself to the ground to avoid it. Looking up, he saw Elwis, who shrieked and vanished inside. "ELWIS!" he shouted, getting to his feet. He stood there, his head dropping, hands balled into fists. "Why...? Why, Elwis? Why are you acting this way? Don't you recognize me anymore...?" he asked quietly. Sakura-re appeared again, gurgling alongside him, trying to offer him some comfort.

[Innue]

2spooky - Shio

The group got to the morgue with surprisingly little incident. Cat's shot with her rifle was impeccable, taking out most before they even got to the group. Those that did were quickly taken out by Violet, leaving little for their contingency of trainers to do. A few trainers had arrived before Cat and Violet's group. Shio didn't recognized most of them, but it was a statistical improvement for the success of whatever they needed to do. However, Shio saw an immediate decline in their odds. The swarm of Natrelmon shrouded by the same energies as the Crowire that had flown through the window minutes ago. Unfortunately, it was not just a Crowire this time.

There were hundreds of them and that was just what they could see not hidden by the dark, swirling mists that filled the Toranese streets.

"Trainers," Cat called, "Get into the morgue and bar the door. Violet and I will hold back the swarm. Please try to locate any that may have gotten inside of the morgue and dispatch them. You'll need to strike through the head."

Shio quickly complied, holding the door for the trainers. However, there was a problem. The morgue was a part of Toran's major hospital, making it a massive building. It would take hours for them to comb through the entire building as a singular group. They would have to break up and focus on locating the morgue. The mist had managed to creep into this building as well, obscuring much of the signage, so locating the actually morgue in the hospital would be difficult - especially if the body had not been moved into cold storage.

Cat's rifle hummed with energy, much different from her shots before. Wind erupted from the barrel, launching Cat upwards towards the top of the three story building. She landed graceful and began strafing her rifle across the landscape, picking down those just behind the frontline of the swarm, which Violet was dealing with. Lightning arced off of Violet's fist, chaining through the swarming Natrelmon. It wouldn't destroy them, but it would at least provide an unpleasant distraction.

[Partisan]

Atami - 2spooky

Atami walked down the street, hands in his pockets as the police officers dealt with the undead. Most of his time was spent looking around at things he found interesting - a certain door, or the way a brick was made. Some of the undead Natrelmon were pretty interesting too, and he examined some quickly as they walked past the dead bodies. Or were they dead undead bodies? Atami wasn't quite sure. He was about to ask where they were headed again, his clouded mind forcing him to forget simple stuff like that, but then the morgue showed up in front of them. “Okay...” the words slipped past him, as he didn't intend to say them. The morgue was really quite a building.

Atami would slip inside, attempting to see into the corridors ahead of them, but it seemed the only thing with free reign here was the darkness. Perhaps they could find a main light switch somewhere. He turned around to face the police officer, only to be faced with an order. “Bar the door..” he muttered, “lock ourselves in here with the likely source of this. Good plan. There'd better be a good fight ahead of us.” He cocked his arm back and slammed his fist into his open hand. He then turned towards the rest of the group, not really sure who they were. “I think I'll go this way.” he said as he pointed into a dark, dark corridor. “Cya. If you make it.” and with that he was gone, walking into the shadows and darkness.

[zaga2575]

2spooky:

Caelyn knew the moment that they arrived in the hospital that they were going to all have to split up. He had no idea where the morgue was. But the fact that this fog had crept in even to the hospital was an eerie feeling indeed. The officers did a great job repelling the undead. So well, that Caelyn hadn't actually engaged an undead Natrelmon yet. Caelyn knew from his time being out on his own that fog liked to settle low to the ground, so maybe by getting up some floors he could get above it and find his bearings. "Yea, you keep the dark-ass creepy hall. I'm going to go up the steps."

With that idea, Caelyn climbed and he looked to Fang for assistance. "Fang, can you get bearings in here with your abilities?" The violet bat perched on Caelyn's shoulder and let out a screech, but the sound seemed distorted like the fog was running interference. "Ok, Fang. Thanks for trying friend come back in here. Eishund come out." Caelyn knew that if he couldn't see through the fog that maybe Eishund's amazing nose could smell out the cadavers. If nothing else, Eishund's presence kept Caelyn feeling a bit more secure. "Oh big surprise, more creepy ass fog on this floor. Well I guess we keep going up!" Eishund let out a bark of approval.

Caelyn pushed open the door on the 3rd floor, and it made a creak as if it wasn't maintained well. He cringed. "Damn more fog here too. I guess we can search this floor for the morgue and work our way back down, you ready girl?" Eishund let out a bark that turned into a low growl. Someone or something was here, and Caelyn was ready to fight.

[Shurikai]

2Spooky

Amelia had just settled when she saw someone particularly familiar. It was Elwis. He had just floated into the morgue when Kito came running up behind him. She had started to run up to him, until she saw a beam of black light shoot out of the building at him.
"ELWIS!" she heard him shout and immediately tackled him to the ground, covering his mouth. Looking around, she saw nothing. However if her assumptions were correct, they would soon be surrounded by the undead.

"Come on!" Amelia said and pulled Kito into the morgue. Eishund and Metosune appeared as they entered the ominous building. The black mist was far heavier inside. This must be where its coming from.
"We have to block the door so they can't get in. I will explain when we finish." Amelia then summoned Gen and Crowire to assist in clearing the area. As quickly as she could, she started to shove the heavier items in front of the door. She could already hear groaning on the other side.

[Tuujaimaa]

Seeing that the group had arrived, Kasumi prepared herself for the inevitable ascent to the hospital building. It was obvious from even her now-hooded form that she was going to very much enjoy the upcoming adventure into the morgue. Her blood was beginning to course through her veins at a speed befitting a member of the Touhou, and as her pulse rose so did her senses, caused by the adrenaline that was beginning to seep into her systems. Amid her brief reverie of getting suitably pumped up, she heard an immense screech pierce the eldritch fog and turned her gaze towards its source - apparently, an immense shadow that was hurtling towards her. Her only response was to grin as pyromantic energy begun to gather around her left hand, oddly tinged with a spark of white, and to leap off of the building towards the hospital. To an bystander, it may have seemed clear that from standing she wouldn't have made the jump towards the ledge without assistance like Cat had.

Suddenly, at the peak of her ascent, the shadow that had been moving towards her from the mist was revealed: An immense Hawkline, clearly just reanimated, flying towards some unknown destination. As Kasumi began to lose height, it was clear that her intention was to land on the immense bird and use it as a springboard, and do that she did - as her relatively small but powerful bulk landed upon the Hawkline, it faltered, and she used the small change in momentum to leap off of it, splaying her hands outwards towards it as she turned mid-air and landed upon the third floor of the building, like Cat had managed to. As she had jumped, the spell had been released, and the decaying Hawkline was covered in a mass of ethereal white petals. Any mage with rudimentary knowledge of Pyromancy - that was, most mages - would understand that it was the work of the spell "Cinders of Kyokujitsu", but the ethereal white flame that the petals were comprised of was somehow different to the normal spell.

As Kasumi landed, she found herself next to Cat, and laughed to herself under her breath. As she turned around to enter the hospital building through one of the windows, another shriek could be heard - but this time, it was a shriek of pain rather than a shriek of life like it had been before. The Hawkline had erupted in an immense fireball of white fire, which seemed to be cutting through the shadowy aura that surrounded it, and crumpled mid-air, falling to the ground as whatever had returned it to life was released from its body. She turned to Cat, blew a kiss and pressed it against her cheek, and caved a window in with a knife before winking at the detective and stepping through. It was certainly good to be Kasumi on days like these.

"Cya later, cupcake." Could be heard from inside the hospital while one Kasumi Touhou vanished into the mist. Her first move was to release her Gen and her Mythari, become invisible, and allow the two to scout for her. Due to being a skilled mage her Mythari had the bonus of telepathic communication and her spiritual bond with her Gen allowed for non-verbal communication, which would prove to be a boon as she allowed the two to scout for her. While the Natrelmon never got far, they were far enough away from Kasumi in order to keep close tabs on anything that moved through the mist around her. The labyrinthine corridors of the hospital would prove difficult to navigate, given that Kasumi could hardly see more than ten feet in front of her, and the signposts seemed to be either obscured or taken down. Perhaps there were no signposts in this particular section of the Hospital? Still - she figured that a morgue would be kept near the back, on the ground floor. It would be easier to navigate from up above, though, and she'd certainly not run into a troublesome group of trainers who might want to get out of the mist as quickly as possible...

It didn't take her long to find the somewhat-dishevelled form of Caelyn wandering the halls, obviously having had the same idea to scout the upper floors. She made a mental note that he was easily surprised, and chuckled to herself under her breath - this would be fun.

With an immense screech, she leapt forwards out of her invisible state towards Caelyn, aiming to rugby tackle him to the ground in the process. There was every chance that he'd somehow manage to react and that she'd miss, but either way she would find the entire situation extremely funny.

[Krinos Solstice]

Kito felt someone tackle him, along with a hand covering his mouth, followed up with a familiar voice telling him to be silent. Once she let him go, he followed her instructions, assisting her with blocking the door. He heard the groaning and frowned, what exactly was going on here? First Elwis went nuts, then Amelia tackled him and told him to bar the door, now there was groaning coming from outside. Sakura-re emerged from her relic, assisting the other Natrelmon with clearing out the immediate area. Once it was cleared, Kito turned to Amelia, "It seems we're safe for the moment. Mind telling me what's going on? What's making that noise out there?" he asked, walking around the room. A bookshelf nearby grabbed his attention, it seemed odd to him that there was only the one in the entire room, though there seemed to be something on it. Picking up the book, he read the only legible page, fear soon finding it's way into his mind. Closing the book, he put it inside his cloak, something like that shouldn't be left around where one could find it. Shuddering, he returned back to Amelia, "Whatever's going on here has affected Elwis...I'm worried something will happen to him in here. We need to find him and stop him before he really tries to hurt someone." he told her, Sakura-re joining them.

[zaga2575]

And there it was, letting out a loud screech, with no form. What was worse was it was coming from behind him in the opposite direction. "Holy Fuckballs Natman!" Caelyn let out as a form appeared flying towards him. Caelyn did what a sensible person would do in the situation, and tried to run. He completely forgot about Eishund being right behind him and fell to the floor. The figure went flying into / over him. "Son of a bitch Eishund! Get Offf!" Caelyn tried to muster through all the fur in his mouth. Caelyn quickly pushed the Natrelmon off of him and thats when he saw the perpetrator. "It's you! What the hell is your problem!? There are undead natrelmon swarming this place and you want to play football?!

Caelyn could not deny, it had been quite a while since the last time a woman tackled him to the ground. His mind started to wander back to that fun summer. He caught himself blushing and quickly shook his head. "As much as I like to wrestle, especially with a woman, this isn't the time." Eishund started growling as if in agreement. "Sorry she's a bit jealous." Caelyn could only laugh. With a resigned sigh he shrugged, checked his pants, then asked, "Shall we?"

[Captain Paper]

The way Aera's day turned from normal to potentially lethal was jarring. She thought she would be off to get a nice dinner and a good nap after that, but a few dead Natrelmon thought otherwise. Touching her earring, she called her own natrelmon out to aid their progress to the morgue. The undead Crowire had been taken care of by the other trainers, but there could be more waiting outside.

"Crowire, Kaigara, Kujaku - it's time to fight."

She joined Shio, Caelyn, Kat, Atami and an officer as they ran to the morgue. The path was blocked by beings in various states of decay - there were humans as well, and they were hostile enough to be dangerous.

"Crowire, hold him off!" She pointed to another undead natrelmon that seemed ready to attack. "Kaigara, stay close by."

She noticed that Atami seemed to be fidgeting with a dead body and frowned; it all appeared dangerously unsanitary. An infection didn't seem too far-fetched at this point. But nothing bad happened out of Atami's curiosity as of yet, so Aera let it slide. There were more pressing matters to attend to at this point.

The group finally arrived at the morgue, but the victory was short-lived. A lethal swarm awaited them, and they had no choice but to take refuge in the morgue and hope for the best.

“Bar the door... lock ourselves in here with the likely source of this. Good plan. There'd better be a good fight ahead of us.”

Aera agreed with Atami - Cat's order didn't make much sense to her, either, but Atami had already vanished into the shadows by then, his footsteps the only hint to his presence.

"Why the hell would he go off by himself? Does he have a deathwish?" muttered Aera.

She followed him. Ahead of her was her Crowire and Kaigara, presenting a united front, while Kujaku guarded the rear.

[Tuujaimaa]

As Caelyn crumpled to the ground after metaphorically shitting himself, Kasumi rolled over and started laughing - loudly and obnoxiously - for a good couple of minutes before getting up and sighing to herself, wiping a single tear from one of her eyes. She looked around the hospital corridor quickly, before pointing in a direction and beginning a moderately-paced walk towards it. Her Gen and Mythari towed behind, being sure to keep a watch out for anything that could be approaching from the rear, while Kasumi pulled her knife out of her belt into a more comfortable position: Ready for action.

"You scare too easily, studmuffin. How are you ever going to impress someone when you shit yourself at the first sign of danger?" She commented, rather dryly, as she kept her eyes focused on anything that moved within the strange mist. The corridor seemed to not be that long, and it quickly split off into two additional corridors, leaving three choices of direction. Kasumi, having never been one to think particularly hard about the direction she was going in, deigned to simply continue going forwards. After Caelyn's earlier display, she figured that he'd stay with her for as long as he needed to. Judging from the increasing chill in the air, it seemed like the pair were getting closer to either the morgue or to their impending demise. It couldn't hurt to guess which was which.

After another couple of minutes of walking, she stopped suddenly and extended her arm, the universal nonverbal symbol to request that your allies stop in their tracks. The staircase directly ahead of them seemed to be filled with a higher concentration of mist than the rest of the corridor had been, and Kasumi was suspicious - she allowed the same ethereal-white energy to coat her left hand as she primed a Lesser Fireball for use, ready to react to anything that could possibly come up the stairs. After what felt like a solid ten minutes of waiting - despite only being five seconds - Kasumi shrugged and threw the fireball into the mouth of the stairwell regardless. After hearing the telltale sounds of an explosion, as well as an unholy shriek, Kasumi was glad that she had deigned to do so. Whatever it was that had just burned in purifying fire was likely not going to be friendly towards herself or her new boytoy/unwitting ally. It was for the best that it had died. Again.

[Shurikai]

2Spooky

Amelia watched Kito walk around. Her mind was trying to find the best possible way to explain. He must have not heard anything yet. How was best to tell him? 'There are a bunch of zombies outside and they all wanted in the morgue'? That.. was probably the best. All of her natrelmon returned to their relics except Eishund. He was determined to stay with them. She watched Kito reading a book. His face contorted as he stashed it away. She wondered then if they had found the same book.

"Kito, I am sorry to hear about Elwis, but I am afraid he may be the least of our worries." Amelia fought with the words. She knew that Kito cared for Elwis, but they had worse things now after them. There was a scrape at the door. Something was considering coming in.
"There are a bunch of undead natrelmon and humans outside. According to the message I got, they are coming here." Her tone was hushed. Don't want those outside to have even more reason to come in.

Amelia then remembered that a larger group was coming in. Maybe it would be wise to clear this area fully. After all, it was attached to the hospital. She looked at Kito while rubbing Eishund's head thoughtfully.
"You want to look around? There should be other people here."

[Partisan]

Atami - 2spooky

Atami had been walking for a solid five minutes before he realized that there were more footsteps than just his own. The Mythari that had perched itself on his shoulders for the entire time faced the dark hallway with the impending footsteps, and stared at it in confusion. But just like Atami, the Mythari seemed reasonably calm about it, ready for a fight none the less. Atami slowly got his hands out of his pockets and balled them into fists, waiting to see what'd appear, as it wouldn't be that unlikely an undead sucker crawled past the main group just to bite Atami in the ass. Either that or everyone else was dead already and were now coming to get Atami, too. But as the footsteps got closer it seemed it was just the girl that had marched along with them. “Yo.” he said, looking at the Natrelmon that she had brought along. A Crowire and Kaigara were the first ones he saw, but it seemed she had another Kujaku behind her.

“Are you here to fight me or are you here to help?” he asked, his eyes staring at her semi-aggresively, but he wouldn't wait for too long to hear her reply. He turned around and walked off again, putting his fists back into his pockets. “Regardless of which - let's do it after we deal with whatever is inside here.” Despite Atami's 'I don't give a damn' attitude, his Mythari looked at Aera with interest, inspecting the three Natrelmon she had with her. As it finished it's inspection of Aera, it looked at the woman again and shrieked lightly, flapping it's wings around as well. Atami noticed this and shook his shoulder heavily, forcing the Mythari to face forwards again and stop being so annoying. “Any idea where this morgue would be? I can use ass-tral projection to find it but I'm not sure I trust you with my unconscious body.”

[Captain Paper]

Aera ignored Atami's rudeness. He was right on one point - they would settle things later. For now, survival would be their main concern. His Mythari seemed powerful enough to handle serious opponents; at the moment the trainer was a valuable ally.

"I don't think I will get anything useful out of beating you. Going in there alone is suicide, and I have no plans of dying today."

She wondered what Astral Projection was. It sounded rather risky, if he were so hesitant about being alone with another stranger. Aera's Kujaku went upfront, pecking Aera on the foot. It was tired of being out of the spotlight, and it fluffed its colorful feathers up, trying to intimidate the inquisitive Mythari.

"Damn it. You're such a prima dona, you know..." She nodded at her Kaigara, which willingly took the rear. It was shy, but attentive to the situation.

Aera turned her attentions back to the trainer, who still had his back to her. "I suppose the morgue is on the lowest floor of the hospital. Makes sense, since they would keep biohazard material away from where most people are to prevent outbreaks." She held her hand out and made a small burst of flame; the light illuminated the dark hall for a second. She let the flame die quickly, wary of the attention it might bring from the monsters that lay ahead. "I don't know about you and your damned astral projection, but I can't see in the dark. We're going to need a light to go down there."

[Innue]

2spooky & Shio

Shio released her grip on the door, letting it slide closed as she joined in with Violet and Cat in there defense of the hospital. Her hands weaved as she chanted, flinging Kuji-kiri in time with the words, barraging the various undead creatures moving towards them as she met their approach with her own. Even with Violet, Cat, and herself, it would be difficult to hold off the horde that was coming. Cat ignored Kasumi's nonsense, making mental note to arrest her later for assaulting an officer of the law.

However, it wouldn't be just them for long. From the side of the building, the alley between the hospital and a nearby complex, skipped a little girl in a bright blue dress. Flaming red hair, she looked a frightening mix of gleeful and angry. Had it not been for the expression, most would have been surprised at her arrival, given how characteristically out of place her presence would have been. However, this was no ordinary little girl, but the Toran Arena Master Anastasia Radtfield. Above her flew an impressive Jigoko, accompanied in air with an Atrinox, obviously hers as well. The two were positioned to take out the raised flying Natrelmon before they could reach the windows - a job they were doing well. On the ground, a strange catlike creature was next to her. Shio, who only briefly was able to notice it as her foot collided with an undead Chu, kicking it backwards a few feet before Violet's fist met it. Anastasia wasted no time skipping into the fray with older two girls, beginning an impressive display of Pyromantic prowess as a massive number of brilliant petals flew from her hands and into the approaching wave before igniting in a searing hot flame. Anastasia wasted no time throwing more fire into the oncoming wave to keep it back.

"Where is my Tibearius?" she asked in tone that matched her rather demented expression, as she fumbled for her relic. After a moment of searching, interrupted intermittently by a Fireball at an approaching undead, she shouted, "THERE HE IS!" With even more fire, she summoned forth her Tibearius right into the fray of the nearest wave. The bear Natrelmon, a good bit bulkier than the undead she had placed him in quickly threw them back, his claws cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. Shio couldn't help but be impressed with the strength of Anastasia's team of Natrelmon.

But even with all of them together, the horde still continued to press closer and closer to the hospital. Shio was unsure of how long they would be able to hold of the horde. Cat had limited ammo and Violet and herself had only so much endurance. Anastasia couldn't really engage them upclose and even with both the Arena Master's and her own Natrelmon trying to hold back the waves they'd eventually be overwhelmed. Her Hitsuji and Kujaku had already expended over half of their Psychic Shields deflecting incoming attacks.

---

+@ Kito and Amelia +

As Kito and Amelia explored, they would shortly be met by none other than Kito's Elwis. It was shrouded by a slightly different energy than the oncoming horde they had seen before. However, that was not a good sign, as the energy that shrouded the Elwis was clearly far stronger than whatever was controlling the approaching undead.

Elwis began to speak, but in a strange echoing voice, speech being an inability for this line of Natrelmon, "Free me." In a whispering echo, the Elwis continued, pleading, "I have been trapped for thousands of years. Follow me and I shall take you to the body I have been searching for, then you can help set me free." The Elwis would float in front of them until they answered before guiding them to the room they were seeking.

"All I want is freedom..."

---

+@ Kasumi and Caelyn +

Kasumi and Caelyn would also be approached as they explored. It was the long expired form of a Yata-Garasu, the bird Natrelmon approaching them with great care. It was cautious having witnessed Kasumi's display on the horde, but like Kito's Elwis, it too was possessed with an energy that transcended the others.

It too would surprisingly speak, "You two can set me free. Help me and I shall reward you. For thousands of years I have been trapped, waiting to be set free. I shall ensure your safety and safety of anyone you wish if you assist in this matter. Your reward shall also be most generous."

It was an entirely different appeal than the one to Kito and Amelia. The Yata-Garasu, like the Elwis, would await the answer from them. For a moment, they would have a respite, as the horde would not approach them, even though from the sounds around the two that there were far more undead in the Hospital already than likely Cat had initially suspected, making it far more dangerous than anyone likely knew with the shroud that the dark mist that continued to fill every corridor as if it too were searching.

---

+@ Atami and Aera+

For Atami and Aera, there would be a sudden spark of light in front of them. However, it was a light without warmth, colder than any light mankind had ever produced and colder than the light of the moon on the tundras of Relin. The creature that created it revealed itself, a large Reishund that dominated the corridor with an intimidating presence. Like a few of the other creatures that had revealed themselves in the hospital to the other trainers, it took came to speak to them.

"Let me end this madness. Set me free and I shall end all of it, please, I beg of you," the Reishund pleaded, a voice impossible for the creature, in a genuine ton of desperation, "I do not wish to harm you, but I need your help. You can set me free. We can end this all. I know where the body is, but I cannot retrieve what I need alone."

Reishund stood in front of them, waiting for them to make their choice. It would lead them to the location of the body it was searching for. What role the trainers might play was uncertain, but time was of the essence. Even though for now the horde stayed away from the Reishund, the scraping of claws on doors, windows, and in the ceiling above them were impossible to ignore.

[FernStone]

2spooky - Zaria

Why did I come along with these people? The only thing that will come out of it is my death, Zaria narrowed her eyes as the thoughts went through her head. She had been in the same inn as many of the trainers here and had decided that she was more than up for the task. But, of course, that had been when she was quite sure they would stay together in groups. Many of her skills lay in group work. Unfortunately they had quite soon gone their separate ways and she winded up alone much to her dismay. It wasn't that she liked the look of any of the others, she didn't particularly, she just knew she wasn't at the level of ability where she would definitely survive alone.

Her two Natrelmon were out, Nevetta ever so slightly ahead and Sakura-re just at her side. She moved as silently as possible and cautiously in an attempt to avoid anything that might attack her. There were far more than she had expected. At the same time she listened out for the sounds of anything that was, well, alive and not a reanimated corpse. She had made the decision that she would group up with the first people she found. After all, any company was better than none. She was used to putting up with people she did not like and gradually making them like her. That always made it slightly easier to manipulate them.

Thinking she heard voices in the distance Zaria began to head in the that direction, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to see better. The sooner she found other people the better. She may have warded off a few attacks, but she wasn't sure how many more she could handle.

[zaga2575]

It was appropriate that Kasumi used fire, because Caelyn used ice. They were in many aspects polar opposites, but there was an appeal to the girl he had to admit. So it came to no surprise to him when she incinerated the stairwell. Caelyn giggled. "Nice, maybe next time just set off some fireworks and put a big neon sign saying this way to dinner!" He shook his head and then heard the singed Natrelmon let out a slight moan. "Lucky shot." he added. Caelyn saw the grin creeping onto Kasumi's face, and honestly wondered just went on in her mind. His mind raced between the girl tackling him to calling him studmuffin. His face grew warm as the compliment just sunk in. It was the curse of a ginger, blushing so easily that is.

Caelyn looked past Katsumi just in time to point at the Natrelmon approaching. "Eishund get ready." He said in a low voice. This natrelmon was different it approached them with .... discretion? Yata-Garasu the bird type Natrelmon, or used to be for that matter eased up to the two of them as if a bit frightened. It also began speaking to them?! "What the hell, how can you talk?" Eishund let out a fierce growl knowing something was amiss with this particular undead natrelmon more than the others. Caelyn looked to Kasumi to gauge how she reacted to the creatures offer. He kept his opinion to himself until she spoke.