Corpus Rahkshi

IC: Thurisaz / Gym

The sovereign Turahk thought for a moment. Seeking higher ground was the obvious action. Should they subvert that and stick to the streets? No, he decided, other than Aerahk their team was poorly suited to sneaking around alleyways. Overall they seemed better suited to a rooftop battle. "Let's get on top of that building," he decided, pointing to an adjacent one of moderate height. "From there we can move rooftop to rooftop, or take a defensive position."

The carmine tower of inspiration turned to his reluctant vassal. "I appreciate your loyalty, Tube," he answered rousingly, "but for just this game, I need you to put yourself first. If we're fighting, do fight. But don't let anyone capture or disable you, for my sake. For victory's sake."

IC: Aerahk - Gym

Aerahk had only just returned to Thurisaz with another portable turret mounted crossbow with six bolts under one arm, a box of six grappling hooks under the other, and a long rope wrapped around his shoulder when they got teleported to a part of the gym city. And then Tube being the VIP got relayed to him. "Well, guess we have our work cut out for us."

IC: Uunrak - Gym

"I, uh, have an axe and a shield... well, more of a buckler, really. Also I'm Density Control, so I can take hits pretty easily."

IC: Phantom - Ruins on the Water

Phantom appeared in the doorway of the forge, still mystified. The bucket was only half full, thanks to her stumbling, but it still had at least some water.

"Here." She said, half looking at Gaever, half at nothing.

IC: Waiata - Gym

Waiata's grin now turned solemn and focused. "Let's get moving then."

IC: Vlad / Copied City

The Vorahk was glad he wasn't VIP, he would rather defend the others than have them defend him. But now they needed a plan. "Vell, do ve vant to track down other groups, or more fortify a position unt vait for zem to come to us?" he asked. Both seemed feasible options.

* * *

IC: Gaever / Forge

While Phantom journeyed to the river, Gaever was preparing the staff. To measure its length, she pulled a length of protodermis cable from her pile of materials and stretched it from end to end. Then she folded one end back to the other and pulled the center until both halves were taught. The point she could draw it to in this fashion was halfway across the staff, and she inscribed a mark there with a claw.

She had already set aside materials for a central connector when Phantom came in. "Ah, thank you," she acknowledged sincerely. Clearly some of the water had spilled, but as none of the working components of this job were very deep, there enough. "It can be set on the ground here."

Now that she had water and everything was ready, the staff could be cut. "Are you ready for me to do it?" she asked Phantom. She wanted to be sure, and Phantom to know she wasn't being ignored.

--IC: Kri: In the Gym--

Kri turned to look at the newcomer, the one who had piped up. "Yeah? And what sort if qualifications do you have, mister? Are you any good? At anything?"

IC: Liar - Gym

"Well, of course I am! So glad you - "

It was then that Icarax ever so rudely interrupted his sales pitch, forcibly clumping them all together before he could even finish his sentence.

"As I was saying," he continued without even skipping a beat. "I'm Liar. I like long, moonlit walks on the beach, at least ten different varieties of cheese, and occasionally blowing #### up. But not necessarily all in that order."

It was then he grasped his chin as if he was trying to remember something he had just recently forgotten.

"Let's see... Name... Hobbies... Oh, that's right!"

A split second later, and he had made his way behind the inquisitive Rahkshi yet again with his powers before attempting to gently pat her on the head.

"I'm also really, really fast. Do try to keep up."

IC: Sliver - Gym.

 

When Icarax told us who our VIP was, I started laughing. I couldn't help myself. 

 

This assignment was over.

 

We'd already won.

IC Zas'ma:

 

Sliver seemed self assured, but Zas'ma was not so confident to dismiss the possibility of failure out of hand.

 

"Not to take away from your moment, Sliver, but aren't some of your fellow prefects participating?"

IC: Sliver - Gym.

 

"Indeed they are. This is going to be fun." 

IC: Rail - Gym

Grunting in relative agreement, the Rahkshi of Magnetism simply reached out with his powers and began pulling the nearby stone onto his body, forming a thicker, tougher, and much more noticeably spiky version of his variation's natural armor ability.

Whoah... Nice.

Have fun cutting through this, Glass.

-IC: Mute/The Gym-

 

Mute nodded towards Thud. They would work together indeed.

 

"Quiet. Stay hidden. Make little noise. If worse comes to worse, I can silence all of us...if we stick close together. If I do, though, we won't be able to talk."

IC: Thud - Gym

 

"OK." The idiot nodded.

IC: Misery - Gym

So I'm the VIP, huh...?

What a drag...

"That's a good idea. We can lay low for a while and wait for some of the other teams to pick themselves off."

-IC: Mute/The Gym-

Mute nodded in agreement, and pointed towards one of the nearby buildings. It was clear he intended to take shelter inside, and it was wiser to be in there than out in the open streets...

IC: Floor

Oh goodness me...

Of all the Rahks to be the VIP, it was the one who had demanded to be lugged around like a dead weight.

He decided that he had seen enough.

"Crate, you have no authority over us, but we will be watching your back as requested, only as a matter of your role. And Tear, try not to hurt our... VIP more than absolutely needed. I'm sure we can agree on that.

"Now that we've settled that, let's work on our next plan of action."

IC: Glass

Glass cracked a smile at the sight of Sand and Xara reunited. She did look better with a smile.

Not in that sense!

Heh, I'm not judging.

"I've missed you, both of you."

"Same here, Xara. Just you, I mean. Sand's been here the whole time."

IC: Xara - Dorm.

"Right, yeah," I straightened, "So... uh... I don't really know where to start. What did you want to know?" 

Explaining myself had never been one of my strong points. 

IC: Tube - Gym Maze

Tube perked up. "I will keep myself safe for you Master!"

IC: Garrotte - Gym Maze

Garrotte was silent for a moment while she thought the options over. "All we need to do to win is keep Diode safe. We should keep her as safe as possible. My poison has been useful in guarding areas before..."

IC: Tear - Gym Maze

Tear nodded to Floor. "We will need to play cautiously, since Icarax has elected to make our most important member our least useful. Door, watch him, make sure he doesn't wander too far, and do try to keep him alive."

IC: Reda - Gym Maze

Reda folded her arms and raised an eyeplate toward Pyle and Slif, waiting for them to follow. "I don't think you introduced yourself, big guy," she added toward Slif.

IC: Door - Gym

Door would've laughed, but that would've implied that he found this situation in any way amusing rather than utterly and completely ridiculous. Instead he simply huffed, still a grin on his faceplates, yet present in it now was a clear frustration with a dash of loathing. "I'll keep him safe. I'm not making any promises about him being unharmed though."

IC: Crate - Gym

See, this is sort of a double edged blade now.

On the one hand, I've managed to infuriate pretty much everyone on my team to the point of them physically assaulting me, which is absolutely wonderful. On the other it's very likely I'm going to make it out of this assignment beaten and bruised.

I simply smile sweetly at Door who is apparently in charge of babysitting me. If push comes to shove I can always run off and lose it for the team if they start trying to beat me too much.

IC: Paladin - Gym

"My lord, if I may, is it possible for me to volunteer to keep close to young Tube and make sure he isn't going to be snatched from behind us?"

IC: Thud - Gym

Thud shifted a little bit uncomfortably. "I..um....not so good at hiding in buildings. I better at hitting things. Hard." 

He took his maul off of his back almost to demonstrate his admittedly valid point.

IC: Thurisaz / Gym Maze

Thurisaz nodded, satisfied. "We should all stay close together anyways, but yes, Paladin, that would be good." With an elegant leap he switched into flight mode, leading his group up to the top of the building beside them. If Icarax had given everyone a little breathing room, this should be a safe move so early in the game.

* * *

IC: Vlad / Gym Maze

Vlad looked thoughtful. "Zat vould probably be zer most effective inside a building," he speculated. "I suggest ve make our vay inside, unless anyvun else has a different proposal."

IC: Fate - Gym

Hm. This didn't bode so well. No team benefited from having a show-off, let alone one with a name such as Liar. I turned to the tan and blue rahk nearby.

"What of the rest of you? Variation, tactical skills, specialties, anything of particular utility?"

IC: Slif - Gym

"Ah, yeah, I didn't, " I scratched under my chin idly, "Name's Slif. I'm good at being.... big. And taking a lot of hits."

IC: Phantom - Ruins on the Water

The rahkshi nodded, giving Gaever the go-ahead for her plans. Of course, in the back of her mind she was still pouring over what she had done moments before, trying to recall what had triggered the blast of air. Maybe that could be useful to Gaever in some way?

Leaning against the wall, but turning to face more towards the door, Phantom began trying to trigger the air currents again.
First, little finger. She twitched it a little, trying to exercise every muscle.
...
Nope.

On to the next finger, and so she went.

IC: Booger-Gym

Booger looked around at his team. "So... I don't know about you but I want to find that purple punk and teach them a lesson."

--IC: The Clique (Luffy, Kri, Pyle, Oshi, Exigent): In the Mock City--

"Yeah!  We'll show her that she was wrong to turn us away!" Luffy said, pumping his fist enthusiastically.  "Cause we're awesome."

He clamped his hands on the shoulders of his two new teammates, who he immediately dubbed Blue Guy and Yellow Dude.  "Glad you're with us, friends.  You're gonna have a ton of fun working with Drippy Guy and me."

"Yeah, yeah, alright, you're in.  Not that you have much of a choice."

Kri was a little snippy; instead of someone else being the VIP, leaving her free to charge into pain, she now had to be protected from it.  Oh well, at least she had her Butterfly Knife to keep her arms bleeding.  "So, what's our first move?  Of should I decide, seeing as I'm the VIP?" she asked her team.

Pyle said nothing; he just followed the rest of the team, fuming silently.  Out of all four of them, he was the one best suited to be the VIP.  He had skill, a useful variation, effective weapons... what about that didn't scream VIP material?  But noooo, Icarax just had to choose the most obviously visible member of their team to be the most important.

He seriously considered betraying everyone at one point...

Oshi hurried to catch up with her teammates; she didn't want to be left behind.  Or alone.  Not this time.  It was a weird feeling for her, to actually want to be around someone else.

Especially someone like Kororia.  She was different.  In a good way.

She stuck close to the small tan Rahkshi, keeping a nervous eye out for anything that could attack her back.

Exigent took stock of his and his team's surroundings before they entered the building.  There were a number of vantage points all around that they could put to use later in the assignment, if need be.  But for now, an interior location would be beneficial.

Once inside, he said, "I believe that a scout would be a good idea.  It would help in knowing exactly what approaches us, that we may deal with it accordingly."

-IC: Mute/Gym-

"Who should scout? I can do so in utter silence," Mute whispered, "though someone else may be more capable of hiding."

IC: Tube - Gym Maze

Without another thought, Tube hopped up into flight mode beside their Master.

IC: Tear - Gym Maze

He smirked. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

IC: Reda - Gym Maze

"Slif," she repeated as she walked. "I hope you can make good on that."

IC Percy:

"I don't know how effective a decoy I can be if we just hole up somewhere.... shouldn't we go searching for the other teams?"

IC Grim:

They nodded, "I agree, but we should find somewhere less open at least before moving on. Come on, stay close." He moved toward a nearby building.

IC Diode:

"I'd imagine a fair number of others will try to hole up somewhere, maybe we should take the initiative and move to find the others?"

IC Aza and Ezec:

"What is your Variation, Kororia?" Ezec asked as the group moved through the building, with Aza taking the lead in a huff.

GM IC Reach:

Reach frowned at the mention of Makuta, and Peek shifted slightly on his feet. 

"Well, that's definitely a better reasoning than I expected. And you certainly need the help, if you can't hold your own against four Toa."

He sighed, then made a quick motion with his hand, and from around them, more Rahkshi appeared, all matching descriptions of the Hand of Spiriah.

"Maybe we go to our camp while we talk, yeah?"

GM IC Johmak:

"Here, under the table," she said, knocking softly on the underside of it.

IC: Kororia - Team Baby Wigglers

She waved to Oshi cheerily, once she saw she was following the group. Kororia looked up a bit- not to look at Ezec, since he wasn’t really visible no matter how high up she looked, more out of reflex- and replied, “My special power’s elasticity. It means I’m stretchy and soft, and I really like being stretchy and soft so it’s really good. What’s your special power, Ezec?”

IC Ezec:

"Limited Invulnerability. Lim-In is the slang term I believe. I can become more resistant to damage at will, for a short time."

IC: Kororia - Team Baby Wigglers

“Wow! That’s really cool! I can kinda do that, too! Probably not as well as you can, though.”

She thought for a moment, and then said, “Mum can kinda do it, too. But she does it all the time instead of only sometimes. She’s super tough.”

IC: Xara - Dorm.

 

"Right, yeah," I straightened, "So... uh... I don't really know where to start. What did you want to know?" 

 

Explaining myself had never been one of my strong points. 

IC: Glass

"Well, we could start with... are you hurt?"

IC: Floor

"Alright, with that done, how are we going to take out the other VIPs?"

IC: Booger-Gym

"Then lets go!" Booger recklessly charged off, holding his club at the ready.

IC: Revenge and Danger-Refectory

"So," Revenge asked Rider, "What has happened while I was gone?"

--IC: Luffy: In the Mock City--

"Wait, Drippy Guy!" Luffy called.  "We need a plan first!"

He removed his stretchy arm from Blue Guy's shoulder and used it to grab Drippy Guy's.

IC: Vyper - Gym.

As we approached the chosen building, I kept my back to the others, watching the streets behind us. 

____________________________________________________________

IC: Xara - Dorm.

"Hurt, me?" I exclaimed, in mock offence, "No, I'm fine. Hopefully the others are as well..." 

IC: Glass

"Yeah, about that: what have you all been doing? And has there been anyone coming after you?"

IC: Xara - Dorm.

"Well, the short version is that we left the school in search of somewhere to... create a new life, I guess. Free of the Makuta," I hesitated, unsure of how deeply I ought to delve into the specifics, "We met some... people... who were willing to help us, but they wanted something in return."

IC: Gaever / Forge

Without further delay Gaever began the work.

With a finger dripping emerald plasma, she began to heat the center of the staff to a dull red glow. Not to melting, of course - only to weaken it so that she could cut it like bread with the saw she flipped out of a finger on her other hand. When the halves had been split and the edges smoother she began to carve notches, identical to the existing ones, into the new end of each with a blazing claw. It was a delicate process, requiring precise movements to avoid disturbing the staff's shape. Once she was satisfied with each piece, she gave the modified end a final warming, for a consistent hardening. Then she thrust it into the icy water Phantom had brought, quenching it with a hiss of vapor.

Splitting the staff was just the first part. Creating the connector was arguably more complicated. If it was to hold the staff together tightly, it would need to be active and precise. But this was exactly Gaever's forte. She laboriously fashioned a snug-fitting collar, meticulously crafting a latch in each end which would clamp protrusions firmly into the notches. Her deliberate, delicate movements only grew more precise as the minutes passed; she was absorbed in the artisan flow. Finally she began to quench the individual components, then assemble them; this was no simple single part. At last she slipped the last fastener into the second latch, melting it tight with a dainty drop of plasma, and the connector was complete.

She clamped it down on one half and then the other, drawing in a breath as she did, then exhaled with soft satisfaction. "It is complete," she announced, turning and holding it out to Phantom.

IC: Sliver - Gym.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready to go hunting." I drew my bow, before directing my gaze skywards, "I don't see any of the other teams in the air; they're probably cowering in the streets." 

I picked out a barbed arrow, "We should take the airborne advantage, and pick them off from a distance."

IC: Vlad / Gym Maze

Vlad shrugged. "I just vant us safe," he said, "but if ve do vant to encounter other groups, I bet ve should head invard. Zat large buildink ist going to draw people in."

* * *

IC: Jayar / Forest of Kaam

Jayar paid close attention to the Shadow Kraata's reaction. Not positive regarding the Makuta; possibly as Spiriah's spawn they knew what it was to be nuisances. It was a good sign that Reach accepted his reasoning though. And importantly, he revealed that he knew of the Toa, and the outcome of the battle: they had been watching closely for some time. Would they have intervened if things went truly bad, he wondered? And what other information did they have?

As for meeting at their camp, he saw no reason not to. It wasn't like his group would be at any greater a disadvantage there than they were here, and perhaps the Hand would be more open to sharing information in their own home - or at least supplies and a place safe from unknown dangers. "Sounds reasonable," he agreed, glancing around the group in case anyone had any objections.

IC: Paladin - Gym

I too took off after Thurisaz, up to the rooftops.

IC: Shield - Forest

I don't trust them, Grey.

Yeah, I don't either. Something's up. 

T-t-they could b-be o-on-on our s-side, Shield.

Too good to be true. Plus this Reach guy gives me the creeps.

I said nothing, letting the others talk.

IC: Rider - Refectory

I looked up from my food.

"A lot. More than I can put into words. Raptor came back."

The look on my face was stone cold.

IC: Glass

"Seems you can't get into specifics. That's fine," he added.

"But are the others still safe?"

IC: Xara - Dorm.

"I... have no idea." 

IC: Glass

He waited for her to elaborate, but it was clear that was all.

"Okay. Um, why did you come back, then?"

IC: Xara - Dorm.

"We were asked to travel to the Southern Continent, to investigate some rogue rahks who were apparently killing Skakdi there. I got separated from the others, spent days looking for them, but didn't find anything." I sighed, "I couldn't stay there, so I decided to come back here. That was always the plan - find somewhere safe, return to the school, free more rahkshi. If the others made it, if they succeed in what they set out to do, then I'll be here waiting for them when they come back." 

IC: Glass

"Woah... All the way to the Continent? Did you find anything?"

IC: Xara - Dorm.

"Trees. Trouble. Not much else." I muttered, "The world's a big, scary, dangerous place, and the Makuta basically rule it all. Escaping the school was easy... escaping the reach of the Makuta won't be." 

IC: Thurisaz / Gym Maze

The stately Turahk landed with his entourage on the roof of the building. "Aerahk, Paladin, stay close but see if you can spot anyone from this vantage point," he instructed, before turning to Tube. "So Tube, this gauntlet you serendipitously  discovered - are you good at using it?" he inquired. If he wasn't, maybe it would be more effective for the group if he would lend it to someone else.

IC: Thud - Gym

 

Thud shifted a little bit uncomfortably. "I..um....not so good at hiding in buildings. I better at hitting things. Hard." 

 

He took his maul off of his back almost to demonstrate his admittedly valid point.

--IC: The Clique (Exigent): In the Mock City--

Exigent took stock of his and his team's surroundings before they entered the building.  There were a number of vantage points all around that they could put to use later in the assignment, if need be.  But for now, an interior location would be beneficial.

Once inside, he said, "I believe that a scout would be a good idea.  It would help in knowing exactly what approaches us, that we may deal with it accordingly."

-IC: Mute/Gym-

 

"Who should scout? I can do so in utter silence," Mute whispered, "though someone else may be more capable of hiding."

IC: Misery - Gym

Oh, boy...

This might be a little more difficult than I originally thought.

"Hiding is really easy, big guy," Misery said, fighting back the urge to facepalm. "It's... It's like a game. A game in which we all pick a corner of the room, sit down, don't move, and pretend to be a wall until it's time to come out. And we also need to stay quiet as well, or else there'll be... consequences."

Turning back towards the other two, Misery decided to chime in.

"Under normal circumstances, I'd volunteer myself as well, due to the fact that I can teleport. But given my status as the VIP of this team, that might not be the best idea."

IC: Booger-Gym

 

"Then lets go!" Booger recklessly charged off, holding his club at the ready.

--IC: Luffy: In the Mock City--

"Wait, Drippy Guy!" Luffy called.  "We need a plan first!"

He removed his stretchy arm from Blue Guy's shoulder and used it to grab Drippy Guy's.

IC: Torc - Gym

Uh...

Well, that happened.

Still getting over the shock of suddenly being placed on a team, it took him a while to register what the Karz was actually going on.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Yeah! What Stretchy said!"

IC: Sliver - Gym.

 

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready to go hunting." I drew my bow, before directing my gaze skywards, "I don't see any of the other teams in the air; they're probably cowering in the streets." 

 

I picked out a barbed arrow, "We should take the airborne advantage, and pick them off from a distance."

IC: Rail - Gym

The Rahkshi of Magnetism wasn't exactly thrilled with this idea, since he'd have to release his hold on his newly acquired armor so it wouldn't start eating him midflight (something he was unfortunate enough to discover firsthand during his early days at Corpus), and the advantage of air superiority came with the cost of making their entire team relatively easy targets.

But given her status as their team's VIP, and a Level 5 Prefect as well, he felt it was best not to argue, and simply readied his crossbow in response.

IC: Fate - Gym

Hm. This didn't bode so well. No team benefited from having a show-off, let alone one with a name such as Liar. I turned to the tan and blue rahk nearby.

"What of the rest of you? Variation, tactical skills, specialties, anything of particular utility?"

--IC: The Clique (Kri): In the Mock City--

"Yeah, yeah, alright, you're in.  Not that you have much of a choice."

Kri was a little snippy; instead of someone else being the VIP, leaving her free to charge into pain, she now had to be protected from it.  Oh well, at least she had her Butterfly Knife to keep her arms bleeding.  "So, what's our first move?  Of should I decide, seeing as I'm the VIP?" she asked her team.

IC: Liar - Gym

"Ugh... Were you even listening...? As Hot Streak - mind if I call you Hot Streak? No? Awesome. Anyway, as Hot Streak previosly pointed out, we need to know what everyone can do before we start assigning people roles and coming up with strategies. Duh."

After a second or two of relative silence, Liar couldn't hold himself back any longer, and actually facepalmed.

"That was your que to start spilling the beans, people!," he exclaimed, his eyes enentually fixating on Captain Familiar. "That means you too, Mr. Talkative! Come on, chop-chop!"