[System]
Servant Caster
Master: ???
Identity: Tamamo No Mae
Gender: Female

Appearance: typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/File:Caster_(F..

Alignment: Neutral Evil
Personality: A bright, cheerful young fox girl. Searching for love every time she's summoned, she only responds to those who have good intentions. Puts on a brave face detract from her own loneliness. Due to having the perspective of a divine being at one point, she is apathetic to killing.

History: [irl]typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Playable_Caste..

Weapon: Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu. Spell Tags.

Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: B
Mana: A
Luck: D

Class Skills:
Item Creation -:
The skill to manufacture magical items. Rather than made, her tags are formed; therefore this skill is sealed.

Territory Creation: C
The ability to create an area to facilitate magecraft. Due to issues with her personality, Caster struggles to make a standard workshop for charms and accessories.

Personal Skills:
Witchcraft EX:
The Dakini heavenly methods. It includes methods to discern one's time of death and secret arts to obtain influence, such as methods to attain status and fortune (for men) and methods to gain the favor of influential individuals (for women). By lamenting harshly learning from experience in the past, Tamamo-no-Mae does not feel like making much use of this.

Shapeshift A:
Refers to both borrowing bodies and appearance change. A method used by the millenary spirits of foxes and badgers of China that are put on par with Tamamo-no-Mae. A method used by Daji of the Shang Zhou Revolutionary Period (see Fengshen Yanyi), but Tamamo-no-Mae does not feel like making much of an use of this due a trauma of the past.

Noble Phantasm:
Title: Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu on the Weight Stone under the Sunlit Waterfall
Rank: D (EX)
Type: Anti-Army
Range: 3 – 30
Targets: 100

Description: A mirror worn by Tamamo no Mae. Because of a curse, it is a bounded field which isolates one in the Land of the Dead. Inside this bounded field all mystical power uses' cost is zero. Because the spiritual rank of the person has dropped, the rank also dropped. Originally EX rank Anti-World. The EX ability's scope is able to cover one country.

The Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu is a mirror that Tamamo-no-Mae wears on her body. It is the temporarily released form of the Tamamo Shizu Ishi a sacred regalia among sacred regalia, which was enshrined at Izumo after being brought from heaven by "Takehinateru-no Mikoto." According to the descriptions of the Nihon Shoki, it was taken from Izumo at the order of the Imperial Court and then later enshrined at Kawachi. It possibly later came to be known as the Yata no Kagami, the divine repository of Amaterasu, and it is thought to be the prototype of the Tokusa-no-Kandakara of the Mononobe clan, which holds the power to revitalize souls and life-force.

The mirror levitates around Caster in battle, which she uses it to hit enemies in close combat.

[User]
Wes Downgate

"Uh huuuuuuuhhh..." Wes said. He'd address the things she'd been saying later, once he knew how.

"Well, you can still tell me more about your Noble Phantasm and what kind of spells you know, right? As for why I'm a heretic..."

Wes hummed and hoed. How to explain heresy to an ancient fox spirit?

There was another knock on the door. Wes quickly bade Tamamo to dematerialize momentarily, and opened the door a crack once again.

"Hello?"

"<Delivery for a Mr. 'Wes Downgate',>" said the delivery person standing outside the shed.

"Uhhhh..." Wes said, in what was quickly becoming his new catchphrase. Of course the uniform was a dead giveaway that his packages had arrived (was the same day shipping always this fast in Japan?) but he had no idea what they were asking him, and he couldn't very well have Tamamo materialize and ask her at this stage.

Luckily the delivery person just handed him a clipboard and he quickly understood.

"Sign on the dotted line..." he muttered to himself as he scrawled his name. He handed the clipboard back to them and they nodded to their coworker to bring the packages around, of which there were many.

"<We would've sent them via the drones you requested, but some of the items you ordered were too heavy for just five of them to carry,>" the delivery person explained. Wes still didn't understand, but he heard the word "drone" in heavily-accented English and more or less understood where the delivery person was coming from.

The delivery person's partner finished unloading the last package from the truck and laid it outside Wes' door with the rest of the things he'd ordered. Tipping their hat, the delivery person climbed back into the truck.

"<Have a nice day!>" they said as they drove off.

"Yeah, you too," Wes said, but in a spacey, airy way. He was already thinking about what he was going to use these things for.

"You want a good example of heresy in the modern magic world?" Wes said to Tamamo as he started unpacking his orders. "This is heresy."

What he held in his hand was a drone. A small, white object designed to fly the friendly and not so friendly skies, equipped with all the little gadgets and doodads most mages hated. Its design was sleek, able to carry up to 5 lbs, and was silent within a certain distance.

Wes started working with it, plugging in the batteries and connecting it to his laptop, running the necessary software updates. Finally, when he got it working, a live video feed popped up on his monitor, and he started controlling it with his laptop. The tiny machine rose into the air with a soft mechanical buzzing, hovering like a hummingbird.

"Technology. Advancement. Change. These are things the Association we work under would rather pretend don't exist than acknowledge, and they're the basis for my theses on magecraft, not to mention my strategy for winning this war."

That's when Wes remembered something she'd said. Something that just didn't add up.

"Wait, you said your wish has already been granted?"

[Assistant]
Tamamo watched the little technological marvel whiz about the shed in wonder. She was aware this kind of technology existed today, but seeing it in person was another thing all together. While she didn't have an interest in technology, even she had to admit that it was an amazing feet. Without a hint of Magecraft involved, mankind had forged their own familiars that could function just as well as anything else today's magus could. It may not have had the subtlety of a bird familiar, but it couldn't be detected by prana either.

"This is astonishing!" She cheered, moving to sit beside Wes at his laptop. "No mage will see this coming. I can see why they would be threatened by your genius, it would invalidate generations of work and compromise the safety of their workshops."

"Hmm." Tamamo broke away from watching the drone bob about to consider his earlier questions. "My Noble Phantasm and spells? Well with everything we have between us we shouldn't need to release my reflector, but let's just say that once I invoke it I won't have any restraints or cost on my magic. Things are going to go up like Tanabata!"

With a flick of her wrist another spell tag appeared.

"I rely on Witchcraft, you can use your Appraisal to learn more, but I mainly use it make these little beauties. I throw them at someone, and suddenly they are no longer an obstacle to our love. With my Spirit Break charm I can restore my prana when I strike a Servant with the reflector, or can create a barrier with the Aphotic Cave. There's more, but we don't want to spend all knight talking about such dreary things. "

Reaching out she grabbed his hand and gently rested it between her vulpine ears with a content sigh.

"After all, being with you is all I want from the Grail. So just being summoned has made me the happiest fox in the world."

[User]
Lancer

"Oh?"

Rematerializing, the car creaked and shifted, bearing Lancer's full weight as Lancer tried to make himself comfortable in the backseats. This was certainly highly unexpected. He has had no real expectations beyond actually fighting in the War, and perhaps his or his Master's death. But for a Master to go this far... Well, if he had taken the trouble to prepare all of this, the least Lancer could do was to fill out the forms and take on the identity of this... Dr. Akula.

He filled out the form, pausing just once to lean over the empty front seat and inside the glove box, rummaging around until he grabbed all the things he needed.

"A one church town..." From what his Master said, it sounded like another part of the Christian faith, perhaps the Catholics. "Very well, let us attend regardless."

With that, Lancer leaned back against the seats, once again trying to make himself comfortable.

---

Kurokiri Hyuuga

She continued on smiling as her Servant introduced herself. At least she's friendly, Kurokiri thought to herself. She had almost thought she would get one of those very rude or overbearing people. It was hard dealing with those.

Her train of thought soon derailed, broke and went up in flames as El Cid, as she called herself, wrapped her arms around Kurokiri, standing close enough to have her look down straight into her eyes it would seem. Kurokiri stiffened immediately, her smile unwavering though her eyes widened slightly. How was she to react to this? She had never been in this sort of situation, nor have she even ever thought about it. Saber leaned in close suddenly, whispering in Kurokiri's ears "That is, assuming you're still a virgin, right? 'cause you totally look like someone boys would try to ravish... hehe."

Kurokiri blushed almost instantly."Ah... Uh.. I.. I don't have exper.. But more importantly... I don't have skinny jeans. I can lend you my other clothes though. At least until I buy some clothes for you."

"Also, as long as we are not in the presence of the enemy, may I call you Hyyuga? Naturally, you can call me El, if you want, as well. This would make things more intimate between us, don't you think? Anyway, I'm ready to go whenever you are, Hyuuga." Saber finally stepped away, much to the relief of Kurokiri. Such an unfamiliar situation would have her panicking in a few more moments.

"Ah, yes. You can call me Hyuuga if you want." Kurokiri had quickly gained her usual composure, though she was still blushing slightly. "Then, shall we go? You can wear any of my clothes if they fit you, otherwise being dematerialized would be best. Its best if the public doesn't see you as you are right now."

With that, she set out, waiting for Saber to finish before locking her house and picking a random direction to walk towards.

[Assistant]
Wes Downgate

Wes was stunned. A Caster with no mana restrictions? Score!

"That's amazing, Tamamo!" he said excitedly.

"Are you sure?" Wes said. "Because I can already think of a lot of things we can do with this. Could you like, make a whole wad of those tags? Then I could carry it with the drone and-"

Wes blushed. Suddenly the off-hand mentions to love and wifehood were becoming very hard to ignore or rationalize as airheaded jokes.

"W-wait. You're serious? Like seriously serious? Me?" he asked, pointing to himself. "You're saying you love me? Why?"

---

Berserker

Penthesilea frowned, letting go of Giorgio.

"Feh. You are right in that there is something I desire from this war. Something that supersedes my wishes."

The Amazonian queen turned to face him, towering over him from above.

"Fine. I will be your blade. But know that you are my Master in name only. I call the shots. If you want me to do anything I don't want to do, you're going to have to use one of those," she said, pointing at his command seals. "But you only get three. And we'll see how well-disposed I still am towards you when that number becomes zero."

She turned her back on him once again, sticking her arms out at her sides.

"Come. I will take you up on that offer of drinks."

[User] -null-

[Assistant]
"Do I need a reason?" Her response was callous, but delivered with her own overbearing cheer that it was hard to find any harmful intent in it. "My wish was to do what I couldn't in life, be a good wife. So just by the merit of summoning me, you have granted my wish! Romantic, isn't it? Out of all the people across time and space that were compatible for me, you were the one!"

It was really all she needed. There was no soul mate waiting for her, or a star crossed lover forever out of reach. All she needed to fall in love was for anyone to call out and give her a chance. That was the despair of Tamamo no Mae. That which she found amidst the 3 days of raining arrows before her life was extinguished, surrounded by the corpses of the tens of thousands who proclaimed her a monster.

Her hand had unconsciously clenched around a handful of fabric, grip whiteknuckled yet her face remained the picture of joy and exuberance.

"Is it so wrong to want to love?"

Was it so wrong to hope she could love?


[System]
* Age: 18
* Gender: Female
* Appearance:
* Personality:
Haruko is unambitious, preferring to do things for her won sake. She does not seek anyone else's approval but her own. Life is taken one day at a time and she prefers not to dwell on any doubts or fears but tackles them them head on instead. She is compassionate and polite, treating others and their problems with the same attitude that she would prefer they treat her.
* Skills: Haruka is skilled in Judo and as a result her body is very fit. She also has a exceptional memory and has little difficulty in working her way through life's everyday problems.
* Equipment: A modern smartphone with a smartwatch that has a braille interface that allows her to read whatever she runs her finger over on the phones screen. The phone is also connected to a Bluetooth earbud.
She also has a white cane to aid in navigation.
* Soul Arts:
	+ Second Sight: Haruko sees through the eyes and to a limited degree can hear and feel the sensations felt by another person. With some effort she can also make small changes to what they sense for better or for worse. Maybe in time she will be able to use this ability on more than one target. This goes behind her right ear.
* Brief Backstory: In her first year of junior high school Haruko suffered injuries in a car accident that left her blind in both eyes. She missed a full year of school to recover and relearn how to live her life. The change in circumstance did little to change her attitude towards life, but presented new challenges to overcome.
After returning to classes she became active in the schools Judo team, Judo being a sport that caters particularly well to the blind. She made friends most readily with those on the team and had few outside of it. In competition Haruko did well but had no desire to compete at any higher level. Haruko is a year behind in her classes, now in high school, and continues with the same hobbies.

[User]
"...As long as you can keep it short. The quicker we get home, the better it'll be," Manami replied, her tone completely lacking in the casual spirit displayed by Keita. The disciplinarian seemed incapable of dropping her no-nonsense persona, even after school hours, which made conversations very difficult with her. Not that she seemed to notice. After all, Manami was only looking out for her fellow students. She walked alongside him to the supermarket, deciding she could get a few supplies in the meantime. If nothing else, it'd be one or two less items on the list for the weekly shopping later on.

Her eyes glanced towards him as he tried to advertise his father's restaurant in an awkward manner. What had gotten him so flustered, all of a sudden? Perhaps he was worried about pushing his family's products? How silly. Manami may be tough about studying, but even she could understand if familial obligations took precedent... somewhat. Either way, it was disheartening to know that the issues with Strange Gospel were even affecting their business. She held no illusion that her patronage alone would keep them afloat, but every little could help, right? Besides, it couldn't be so dire that they were about to close up shop or anything.

"I don't mind visiting, I suppose," Manami replied to Keita's advertisement coolly, "if nothing else, I suppose it gives me an opportunity to discuss your slacking with your family..."

Manami was more likely serious with that statement. She wasn't known for her wit, after all.

[Assistant]
HOSHITANI YUUGA

Yuuga froze at the sudden announcement, dropping the last of the arrows into storage. This was… uh… What?

He flipped through his mental catalogue of the students of Yamamura High, hastily trying to identify the girl addressing him. Chiyu Shoukei. Pink hair. Second year. Treasurer, surprisingly. Now this was an interesting case.

Cute. Diligent. But notably unpopular. These were just things he'd heard through the grapevine. All three qualities seemed completely justified from the bluntness she'd just shoved in the faces of everyone in hearing distance. It was the last point that made Yuuga jot a mental note to avoid spending too much time with the Treasurer. Reputation, both good and bad, had a habit of spreading quickly.

The girl's sudden interruption had roused a sudden wave of whispers from the club members. They'd heard her budget cut announcement too, huh. Not ideal.

The long-haired boy glanced around for the club president. The guy was currently indisposed, having gone with the advisor to discuss tournament details. Guess Yuuga had to cover as the face of the club. Geez, if he'd known that having his arrow-nocking image emblazoned on this year's recruitment papers would bring so much trouble he never would have agreed to it. At least club membership had gone up by at least 150%.

All eyes were on him. It was up to him to protect the club's prosperity. Yuuga felt his back stiffen reflexively at the realisation. Damn. He didn't even know how to handle club finances. He could've just told the girl to wait until President came back, or just pointed her towards the staff room. Or…

He could make this look good.

"Woah, hey!" the tall boy raised his hands in surrender, flashing an awkward but still sparkling smile. Those sorts of showy moves usually eased troubling situations. All he needed to do was stall until President returned. And girls generally did whatever they could to spend more time with Yuuga. This should be easy!

"Can't we discuss this a little before any hasty decisions are made? What brought this on anyway?"

[User]
"Yeah, don't worry, I shouldn't be too long," Keita responded in turn, pausing for a moment as his companion commented that she'd end up discussing his 'slacking' with his family instead. His pace slowed for a moment before the programmer shook his head and looked at the young woman beside him with a look of incredulity.

"...Really. My slacking? I don't think you can call placing in the top 5 rankings on every exam we've taken 'slacking', Motoyama-san. Though it may be the start of the school year, I'm still able to keep up with you, y'know. Well, 'cept for anything athletic, but that'd cut into time I have set aside elsewhere. Even so, catching a few z's during break isn't on the level of 'slacking', is it?" he continued on, a plastic basket whisked off its place on the stack and now hanging on the crook of his arm, before the young man walked over to the produce section to scan over what they had of... Reasonable quality.

"Regardless, thanks for hearing me out, though. My dad's been getting waaaay too many grey hairs over this mess, and I fear I might follow suit. Most stressful weeks of my life, I tell you what," he remarked, picking up a potato and looking it over from multiple angles before chucking it (along with a few others) into a plastic bag. "Hm... Today's feeling like a curry day, from the looks of things... Meat's next on the list, I guess... Ah, goddamn, can't decide. Yo, whaddya think is a good fit for curry in April? Pork, chicken or beef?"

The question itself seemed to come out of nowhere, but as programmers were, lazy was lazy. If someone else could make the choice for him, then it'd end up saving him some time staring at the choices until he finally gave up.

Deciding on food was easy, but when it came to choices within choices, well... He wasn't so quick on the draw there.

[Assistant]
Maiko made a faux pouting face in response to Hikaru's statement. "Oh well. I guess I'll just have to go and get kidnapped on my own then." She had already made up her mind that it didn't matter much either way. She also wasn't about to just stop living her life because she might get nabbed at any time. While she might not need the money, she kind of enjoyed her work, and when it came to a mysterious force that could seemingly kidnap you from anywhere, it's not like it mattered if she biked around the city or hid away in the bowels of her house.

"Speeeeeeaking of which, I do kinda sorta need to get back to work. The people still need their newspapers. Heck, Strange Gospel is what half of the newspapers are all about..." It was almost like Strange Gospel was finding a way to permeate into every aspect of her life, sometimes. "Oh, and could you write me a note or something to mention this? If I'm late finishing up, I'm going to need to prove this happened so I don't seem like I just stood around for a while." However, Maiko did think she could still feasibly finish on time in spite of this delay. It was better to have an excuse on hand just in case though. They were definitely going to notice that she didn't finish at the same time she usually did.

[User]
CHIYU SHOUKEI

We already discussed this for hours.

It wasn't that she didn't understand where the upperclassman was coming from, but he definitely wasn't the first person to protest to her about the Student Council's decisions. Although yeah they were at least protesting to the right person, given that she did give opinions on where and how to balance the budget but the President was still the one who made all the final decisions, and that decision (after all the discussions back in the meeting room) was that the Archery Club was going to have to deal with having less cash around for the time being.

"Sorry senpai," she replied apologetically, a note of formality dripping into her cadence as she gave the archer a short bow. The one where she was bowing, not the weapon that the guy probably already had. She needed to pull back a bit; that had been way too direct and casual. But damn this was getting awkward.

She really should've thought things out more instead of being stuck bowing to Hoshitani in front of his entire club. All the attention being put on her was really, really not what she was down the alley for, or something like that. She had just wanted to talk a bit about the budget then leave and find the next guy so she could get home before it got too late.

Goodbye, pillow-chan. I'll see you tomorrow night instead.

"The President decided that you didn't need as many funds," Shoukei continued, looking back up. She was beginning to feel very aware of all the gazes in her direction. She needed to find a distraction. Like that funny smile on Hoshitani's face. "All the clubs are undergoing budget rebalances, not just Archery."

The administration was pretty intent on funnelling more money into the Kendo club. Every other club she'd talked to today were victims of the intense desire to throw more money at their most successful sports ... physical activity? She didn't know if kendo was actually a sport. But yeah, she had been telling a lot of people about budget cuts today, and there were still a few more places on the list.

She really wanted to go home, but this was her responsibility.

[Assistant]
HOSHITANI YUUGA

"Oh really?" Yuuga raised an eyebrow but cringed when Chiyu bowed. This girl really didn't know how to sugar-coat, huh.

This was not the sort of response he wanted with so many people watching. Were his club members going to think of him as some kind of tyrant? Or was he gonna come off as more of a charismatic diplomat type? He guessed that it depended on what kind of stance he was taking, whatever the mood was. And right now the mood was getting really, awkwardly formal. Yuuga laughed nervously in response. He needed to defuse quickly.

"All the clubs, huh? Even those guys on the Kendo team?"

Damn, was that too on the nose? Too cynical? He must've sounded like a salty bastard just then. Quickly now, before the tide of conversation became too unfavourable for the both of them.

"I mean… it's just that…" More effort into his smile. Don't let the Treasurer know that he had no idea what he was doing. Yuuga scratched his head, recalling President's rant last week about the other 'glory-hogging sport hounds' and their budget bonuses, "The Kendo Club's the school's clear favourite. Nothing wrong with that. But we've got more than twice as many recruits than last year. You'll have to ask Prez for more details but personally I don't know how we're gonna handle these many members with a cut budget. Are you sure there's no way to work around us?"

Was that good enough? No, one more push should do it.

"And this is just between us," Yuuga said lowly, knowing full well that his club members were listening in, "But we've got a lotta first years still showing up. Wayy more than we can handle with a cut budget. Plus, kyudo's been a staple in the school community for ages! A lotta people could get affected here."

His strategically off-hand remark triggered whispers of agreement from the older club members, garnering some small satisfaction in him. Jackpot. Even if he couldn't negotiate their budget back, it'd still look like he tried.

[User]
Sasegawa Hikaru, the Stalwart Lightning Detective of Yamamura

In the face of that pout, Hikaru was as stonefaced as ever. It was regrettable that they couldn't spare escorts for every potential victim of the kidnappings, but there wasn't any way that they could possibly supply that many officers. The best option was to increase patrols, especially around areas that had the most density of kidnappings. At the moment, that was worryingly a rough ring around Yamamura High School. But from what she understood, it wasn't limited to this city. No, other departments across Japan were dealing with their own rash of disappearances. There had to be some sort of organized element here, but what was it? Was it some kind of strange cult? Some sort of terrorist organization?

Of course, this internal speculation was cut short when Umeda Maiko asked for a note to explain why she'd been held up. It only made sense, and there was no reason not to provide it. Taking a notepad from her pocket, Hikaru scrawled a swift note down.

Held up during investigation. Apologies.
Detective Sasegawa Hikaru

She quickly offered the note to the girl.

"If anything strange happens, be certain to report it, no matter what it is," Hikaru asserted.

[Assistant]
— Convenience Store —

Haruko took the bread and walked up to the counter, pulling out a handful of coin from her bag and sorting out the correct amount.

"Sure, that sounds great."

She put the rest of the coins away along with the bread and lifted the bag onto her shoulder. Haruko didn't really know the other student that well either.

"Well, I think a movie might be a bad idea, but anything else sounds good."


[System]
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Species: Human

Physical Description:
Gray stands at 5'11. He is broad-shouldered and lanky, his advantage against his enemies is obviously not brute strength yet he has exercised thoroughly to try to make up some of the difference if he ever has to get that close. He has a long face and a pointed chin and hazel eyes, characteristics that seems to run in his family. His hair color is dark brown and he has mutton chops and doesn't bother to manage his hair so it stands pretty unkempt. He keeps it just short enough in the front that it won't become a problem in combat.

Talents:
Creative Combatant - Gray is a very experienced killer and it comes mainly from his ability to think on his feet and react quickly. Even without weapons on his person he can figure out ways to kill something by using his environment and playing dirty. He certainly doesn't hold back on the playing dirty part which might irk off those noble vampires or whatever the hell else thinks they have some kind of fair fighting spirit in combat. It's always life or death and Gray doesn't plan on being the one dying.

Broad Monster Knowledge - Gray knows how to kill all the common creeps. Werewolves, vampires, zombies(Those are the easy ones), etc. It comes from a personal history of doing just that. If he can't kill it he'll get away and study for some way to do so. After all, his hefty pay check rides on this important task.

Extensive Arms Experience - Gray is both a military veteran and an arms enthusiast. As such he has both experience and extensive practice with firearms. Having talent and practice make him a very accurate shot with long weapons in particular.

History:
Killing monsters runs in the family and family is what really matters. Gray grew up with values, often unapparent to others, that keep him from going too far in the field. He grew up with several brothers and a sister and for the earliest part of his life had no idea what his family really did. They sheltered him from it until he was ready to know the truth. That truth didn't come until it was nearly too late.

Gray joined the military. He was in the army on tour in the middle east when he encountered his first taste of the supernatural world. They seemed like normal middle-eastern villagers. Lured into their village on their patrol, Gray's team didn't pose a very good chance. They had the resilience and constitution of ghouls. Meaning they wouldn't go down without a good headshot or leg shot. Most of his team was felled by their inhuman stamina with mere farm tools. Their adversary was quick and dangerous but he had and the remainder of his squad had the resolve to survive. It wasn't until later that he understood what they were. They weren't undead. They were the "blessed warriors" of a demonic duke known as Abigor that had been piggybacking on wars and feeding off of them since iron was used as a weapon. It made sense why he'd be making his rounds in the most war torn nation in the world.

On his return to the States Gray reunited with his family. Upon hearing his experience they began to explain to him the finer parts of their history. The Conover's have been killing monsters for nearly two-hundred years. Gray had a legacy he was willing to uphold.

Unfortunately that legacy was difficult to acquire with the councils of creatures banded together throughout the world. With the councils keeping everything in check his family didn't indulge in hunting so much anymore. The councils were a necessary evil but they were still monsters and Gray couldn't personally trust them to keep things steady. He needed a group that would let him bypass getting a hit on his head by an organization that vastly overpowered him. It took a while and he took up jobs killing rogue beasts in the process which the council overlooked because of the nature of the cases. He wasn't that good at first. Not many people are. The evil monsters that let themselves be tracked by an amateur are generally the easiest to kill. Gray had mistakes and near-death experiences but his resolve and ingenuity always had the tendency to save him.

When you're feeling hand over hand through the dark you always find something.

Psychological Profile: Gray seems to be morally ambiguous to people who don't know him. To those who do, they see the bold line he won't cross. If a creature isn't a killer and has no potential to be he won't take its life. He sees many jobs he's taken as necessary evil to protect humanity. Overall he views himself as a protector, but damn if he doesn't like a good paycheck.
Gray loves humor in all its forms. He'd be pretty depressing if he couldn't take a good joke every now and then. Even if it's completely misplaced and awkward.

Possessions:
Gray has two large suitcases that are normally too heavy for normal airport admittance. One stores his set of armor. The armor is customizable on the job with many spots for Kevlar inserts, a bite guard, a helmet and a few other minor items to help him adapt to circumstances. Teeth, claws or (preferably not) bullets. He's got something to give him some edge.

Aside from a few spots in the first suitcase for some Glocks and ammunition (Affordability, you lose guns a lot when you're hunting.) he has saved room in his other suitcase for a few sets of street clothes(primarily gray t-shirts, blue jeans and a black jacket) and a compartment for his modified AA12 with silver slugs in three drum magazines. Either crammed in this case or in a car he keeps an Ares 16 with a variety of attachments for use as a long-to-mid range rifle and a grenade launcher(For that beasty who just doesn't want to go down).

Gray wears a small titanium chain around his neck that has several items dangling from it. A small pot-like skull about the size of a thumb that has dried herbs in it, consisting primarily of wolf's bane to ward off a werewolf's ability to smell him. A small alienish shell filled with holes is also affixed to it. This shell happens to be the only item he has that is magic and he only uses it as a last chance item. Thankfully he's only ever used it once before. He isn't quite sure if it has lasting consequences but man does it become handy in a bind. By saying a set of keywords the artifact teleports him an indeterminate distance away to a random location(or whatever location it wants him at, he really has no idea if it has its own agenda. Eerie). The last item dangling from his chain is a simple Celtic cross because it's cool.

A useful item that is never far from his reach is his trusty silver kukri knife.

Yes, and:
Arachne, a master of information has a real talent for finding what she needs and hiding what should stay hidden. Well, Arachne found Gray Conover. A relatively easy, if a little volatile, person to manipulate and point at targets. Contracting Gray for missions with a high paycheck is really quite easy to do.

[User]
With the door open Autumn entered. Having eyes everywhere she didn't bother much with looking around. But of course Grey did not know that. A great amount of effort went into hiding that Autumn Weltich and Arachne, Queen of Spiders were one in the same. Those in on it consisted mostly of court members that she had a hold of. If others knew then they would kill every one of her children that dared show itself. However here circumstances were quite a bit different. Both of them were not getting out of this and she needed someone she could trust. But to prevent any trouble from arising later she most likely was going to need to reveal her secret to the human before her. There were not many humans that could claim to have seen Arachne as she truly was and live to tell about it.

Crossing her arms whilst listening she processed the information. Grey always did quick work and this was no exception. Autumn could trust his word over the sketchy information floating about. Part of what he said she knew already, but having confirmation was good. She nodded in reference to their previous encounter. That had been some years ago and she pulled him out of the fire then. A rare smile flashed itself across her face. Humans were always nostalgic about things. Hard to blame them with such a short life span. Casually looking around the room she waited till he finished to speak up. "Excellent work. I have noticed several of the same particulars you have. Some of our employees that are more in the know have not returned. They are trapped in here like the rest of us. I'd rather not get them involved though so I haven't contacted them. Probably best it stays that way." He spoke low which meant there wasn't much in the way od privacy here. This would not make a good place to stay for very long. They almost would be better off in a much higher end suite than down here among the rabble. But that might not be a great place to start a brood.

"We are going to need a better place to stay. You're really the only one I trust enough not to kill me in my sleep. But there is something that I must show you that you may not be pleased about. But not here." Something drew her attention and she looked off to the side a bit. No one was there, but she seemed to be listening intently. "If we are going to move then now might be a good opportunity. Pack your things and make yourself presentable."

[Assistant]
Another concussive blast barrelled into the wall Beth hid behind. The shockwave sent even her into the street, her concentration hampered by the endless tirade of bullets and noise. Her body flickered in and out of tangibility as she rolled across the road. Bullets coursed right through her, each one starting a ripple of burns through her form. Albeit the only physical pain she was ever likely to feel again, the combination pissed her off.

Enough, apparently, to set some things in motion. One of those things happened to be the nearest dumpster. Beth tossed the oversized trash can towards the origin of the bullets and used the momentary lapse in their barrage to pin her sights on the daycare center. Her spiritual spidey sense couldn't get a lock on anything, but she saw the rest of their merry band taking up arms. As soon as Flint erected a solid dirt shield, Beth darted behind it.

She heard someone shouting and it took her a second to give the voice a name—Parry's telltale tone clued her in. She perked up at the sound of her name.

"Making a mess is what I'm good for," she called back to him and took off.

Beth took a shortcut through—literally, through—the buildings on the right side of the street and came around to the back of the shooters. She didn't bother to count them. What was the point? Numbers had no effect on the already-dead. She threw herself into the body of the closest assailant.

Whoever this was, they were not wholly human. Mortal, perhaps, except it felt like they'd been tampered with. They fought the possession with a strength unfamiliar to most mortals, and dropped their semi-automatic in the process, but Beth's fifteen years of experience won out. The internal struggle only fuelled her abilities. She snatched up the gun and returned fire.

[User]
Rikive pulled her hand away from her injury when the pain started to fade, looking toward Parael when he shouted his plan. It was good, but what if they pursued them rather than go into the building? Flint's dirt barrier's didn't look like they held up to bullets well, much less the fiery death the enemy could rain down upon them.

At her hip, Rikive felt Winterthorn begin to shake in its sheath. Blinking she shifted to look at the sword, being sure to keep her head down. The old weapon had never done anything such as this before. Untying it from her belt she pulled the sword around in front of her. She slid the blade from it's black and silver sheath, the soft ringing sound of sliding metal filling her ears over the loud gunfire.

She looked at the sword, waiting for it to do something when she felt the sheath move. Her eyes snapped to it and widened, watching the scabbard turn to mist over her arm. It felt as though leather straps wrapped around her arm before the cloud of mist solidified into a black and silver round shield.

For a moment she stared at the shield before shaking her head to be rid of the shock. She rolled over onto her back and lifted her shield covered arm into the air, shutting her eyes tight to brace for possible pain. She felt the impact of the bullet's into her shield but her arm remained steady. Opening her eyes she saw the bullets embedded into the surface of the shield but they hadn't broken to the other side.

"Ha!" She laughed, her mouth spreading into a wide grin. "You beauty!"

[Assistant]
Moving made sense. If this rebellious faction were paranoid enough to attack these two strangers the thin walls of this little motel room would be like paper to a beast's claws. "Thanks." He said in response to the compliment. Gray threw on his black jacket to conceal the shoulder holsters beneath and tossed the remaining loose articles into his suitcase. She was right to keep other people out of this, no need for additional corpses.

Gray laughed a little as she mentioned that she trusted him enough to not kill her in her sleep. "Don't make me blush." His mood became a little heavier at the mention of something he may not like. It was mysterious. Not that he didn't know she may very well have enough information to topple a small nation. More disturbing was the fact that she wanted to share some of that with him when it wasn't her norm . Tension's rising.

"I don't know if you drove in or not but I'm taking the suburban. It's got the rest of my stuff." Gray hefted the suitcase up and started on down the hall. When the suburban had quit on him as he attempted to leave it started up again when he wanted to go back into town like nothing had happened to it to begin with. Damn magic. At the exit he stopped. The all too familiar noises of explosive combat hailed his ears in the far distance. These guys had explosives. Great.

Ignoring the distraction for the time being he popped the back of the suburban open and crammed the suitcase in with its sister. He had no idea who was who in this town and what sides were fighting. He was at this point a confused bystander - and man did he hate it! "I'd love to get out there." Gray shook his head with a frown. "Let's figure this mess out before they blow up the rest of the city." He got in the driver's side and made ready to take directions from Autumn. They would have to avoid the conflict for now. Unless Autumn knew who they were they'd both be in the way.


[System]
Age: 23

Magic: Tatsumi has a natural proficiency for Darkness magic, the dangerous nature of the skill perfectly fitting his reckless nature. Despite the risks he relies heavily upon his magic in combat.

Weapon: It is perhaps a stroke of irony, or typecasting, that the first weapon Tatsumi received upon arriving in the World of Wasted Dreams was a katana. He wields the sword as his primary weapon, favoring it greatly over other weapons. When forced to attack from a range Tatsumi does not rely upon conventional weaponry, instead turning to the somewhat dubious magic he wields. Besides his skill with the katana Tatsumi is a skilled martial artist, noted as a practitioner of Muay Thai and Kendo.

Bio: I remember something... it feels so long ago. It's like another life... The Shinai made a harsh thunk as they repeatedly crashed against each other. I can hear that sound so clearly, but everything else feels distant. He knew that the match that happened there was what mattered most to him. Everything else was pointless. Yes... that's what matters. The opponent. The dojo. Nothing else. I remember... wanting a life like that. A life of adventure, where I fought seemingly insurmountable foes... but I won. The thunks sped up, blows of increasing fury meeting each other. But one simple slip up, and it was over. There was no protective gear, was there? Why? After that, everything was fuzzy.

He remembered the blinding white lights of the hospital. Being propelled down the hallway on the gurney. The thumping, throbbing, all-consuming pain in his head. And the blood. The blood was everywhere.

And then Tatsumi woke up. That must've been a dream, nothing about that made sense... Tatsumi wasn't sure where he was, but it felt right. He knew he belonged here.

Personality: Tatsumi is perhaps first noted by those he meets for his sheer amicability. He's very friendly and outgoing, and meets strangers with an unusual eagerness to make friends. He's a natural when it comes to getting along with people, and is bound to make new friends in every locale he visits. He has what could be defined as a 'hero complex', wishing to be seen by those around him as someone strong, someone to admire. He's a paragon of morality, a shameless goody-two-shoes. He's incredibly helpful, willing to lend a hand to those in need, notably a sucker for the 'damsel in distress' stereotype, oft going out of his way to save the girl.

Tatsumi's negative features come in the form of his cocksureness. He's dangerously confident, reckless, and ridiculously cocky. Naturally, this combined with his wont to be a hero leads him to crave adventure and danger. Despite his somewhat 'goofy' attitude Tatsumi is surprisingly bright, perceptive, and calculating. When approaching an enemy clearly out of his league he always endeavors to have a plan to beat the insurmountable odds.

Underneath Tatsumi's shell of cheerfulness even he seems to harbor some sadness: Perhaps some lingering resentment from his time in the world before that of Wasted Dreams...

[User]
Jenniver looked to either side of her as what she could only describe as monsters took a rather unhealthy interest in her, with the holy book in her hand she slowly reached around to her back. At the moment the two beasts lunged for her she felt something click, a switch flipped and her body moved more gracefully than she could have ever imagined with such a large sword. Spinning around she lowered the blade so it lined up with her back to block the incoming strikes!

As the two attacks slammed into her the tip of the sword dug into the slabs below from the sheer force that hit her, thankfully stopping her from being flung back, and the book she had used as a cousin did its job wonderfully~ "That hurt about as much as I was expecting..." She was being suprised by this world by the moment and a certain amount of fear and glee welled up inside her, not that one could tell just from her face mind you.

Reaching up she placed her other hand on the large hilt of her blade before using the leverage she had to force the blade up, attemping to knock the beasts weapons above her head as she unleashed her own attack! The pages of the now ruined holy book fluttered around her as she gracefully extended her foot to use her falling swords momentum to swing it as hard as she could towards both of the beasts midsections!

[Assistant]
The steps came naturally to Tatsumi. He slashed diagonally, the monster ducking the blow then skirting out of reach. Tatsumi knew he had to assert himself and pressed the attack, lunging forward with an overhead blow. The creature barely blocked, and Tatsumi pulled away momentarily, keeping up the pressure with another blow from the side. Another block, but Tatsumi kept going, this time he sent a sudden kick towards the creatures knee, catching it off guard and sending it to its knees. Tatsumi unleashed a series of overhead strikes to beat the beast down, but it managed to raise its sword and defend against the assault. Tatsumi delivered another kick, aiming for the creature's chest, sending it sprawling onto the ground. Tatsumi went for the finishing blow, stabbing downwards towards the beast's stomach.

Tatsumi himself was surprised by his aptitude with the sword. He was momentarily surprised, but than recalled the battle with wooden swords once again. He had experiencing fighting like this. Except this time if he made a mistake he would die.

[User]
"You think I know nothing yet you haven't even been here for a single day. I've been here for what feels like centuries. In that time, I've seen more than you could ever imagine." Leo put the girl in her place and prepared to take his leave, but when he turned away she quickly jumped in front of him and grabbed ahold of his hand. "You know what? I like your determination. You're literally shaking in your boots yet you managed to muster the courage to speak your mind. That's the kind of attitude that will get you somewhere in life. Do you really want to know what's out there? It's just as I said. Nothing. There is nothing out there besides suffering and pain. I have traveled for hundreds of miles in every direction. This is just the eye of the storm. The further out you go, the worse it gets. If you don't believe me then you are more than welcome to accompany me on my journey. It's been a while since I've talked to someone besides myself." Under his mask, Leo's face wore an unnaturally twisted smile. If you could see it you would you would think he was in excruciating pain.

"My name is Leo. Don't ask for my last name because I can't remember it." Without letting go of her hand, Leo turned towards the city gates and began to drag Macey behind him like she was a piece of luggage. If it wasn't for the random villager who approached the two they would have left without ever turning back. "You see that Macey? Even the village people mistake you for one of their own. You should really do something about the way you look..... As for you big fellow. Why don't you take a nap?" Reaching into his pocket Leo grabbed a small vial and held it under the man's nose. Immediately after smelling the what was in the vial the man collapsed. After a few seconds, he began to snore rather loudly. "Now let's go see what this commotion at town hall is all about."

When Leo reached the town center he was greeted by far more than he had expected. On one side of the fight was a group of fresh hunters. On the other side was a group of beast men. "That's enough fighting for today" Leo chimed in. "Didn't anyone tell you I was the only one around here who could disturb the peace?" Leo then suddenly tossed a strange canister in between the two groups. After a few seconds, it began to release a thick cloud of mysterious green gas. "Unless you want to be blind for the next few days I'd recommend getting out of the gas."

[Assistant]
Sinthe finished the job on the dog that he had beaten senseless, grabbed the dog monster by it's muzzle and the back of it's head with both hands and quickly snapped it's neck with a loud popping sound, he stood up and noticed the others attacking the rest of the dog monsters with their weapons and magic."Magic and Weapons." Sinthe shook his head before crossing his arms and keeping his eyes on the action, when he saw Tastumi stab the beast in the gut he shook his head."Don't aim for the gut, aim higher, stab your enemies in the chest or cut their heads off." Sinthe told Tastumi.

Before they could take down the rest of the dogsmorphs, there was a burst of green gas that filled the air, Sinthe covered his mouth with his bandaged forearm."Get out of the cloud of gas !" He yelled Tastumi and Akemi, he grabbed both of them and began running out of the cloud of gas and towards the guy that threw the gas bomb, when he had Tastumi and Akemi out of the cloud he let go of them and looked at Leo."Did you throw the gas bomb ?" Sinthe asked, he didn't sound threatening or angry but sounded curious.

[User]
One by one, the monsters were being finished off by the newfound Hunters. They battled with unrivaled skill, almost as if the touch of a blade in their hands was something felt before, perhaps in some earlier time. The beastmen perished at the hands of these unmatched warriors, retreat no longer an option as they were cut into bloodied corpses.

The remaining creature that still breathed was the first, the one Akemi had been torching. With half of its right eye gouged out, it lunged in a final attempt to kill the fools before it. Only half of its vision remained and that half would soon be snuffed out completely as a torrent of green gas covered the area. The beastman howled in pain, clawing out blindly as its eyes burned and stung.

Before it could retaliate, something sharp and wicked pierced its black heart through the matted fur, slashing crookedly against its chest. With a final cry, the monster collapsed forward in the middle of the green gas. Something was off however, for the finishing blow came not from one of the Hunters present, but from an external source. Who or what it was couldn't be said for sure as the presence quickly left as soon as it had appeared.

Only the sharpest of minds not corrupted by their exposure through time here would have been able to note the arrival and departure of this mysterious savior. The battle was over, coming to a fitting close. The stink of corpses already filled the air, only baffled more so by the continued apathy the townsfolk displayed. Their lust for bloodshed satisfied, they carried on with their bleak lives.

The woman from before, who had inadvertently started this whole mess, finally creeped out of her hiding spot. With a neutral expression, she strolled right up to Tatsumi, the one who had initially helped her escape. It was to be assumed that she would thank the young man for his hard work. Thus, it must have come as a deep surprise when the woman brutally slapped Tatsumi.

"Fool," she hissed with angry tears in her eyes. "You've ruined the ritual! Are you mad? H-How could you….why would you interfere!"

The woman's voice became louder and louder in pitch as she backed away like a panicked animal. Dry sobs heaved her body as she pointed an accusing finger at Tatsumi.

"Heretic! Heretic! I drowned my own daughter, consumed the flesh of my only son, and this is how I am repaid for my sins?"

She was making no sense and was only becoming more paranoid until she finally brushed up against the town well. Turning to look down at the dark hole, she turned to Tatsumi and flashed him a smile of triumph. Hope was not lost yet.

"Ut absolutam gratiam tuam," she spat to him before jumping over and plummeting to her watery grave. The splash was only countered by the loud crack of bones being split and flesh being splintered.

The woman had killed herself.

[Assistant]
Tatsumi suddenly found himself lifted off the ground, taken away from the green gas by Sinthe. All the beasts were dead but one, the one that had originally engaged him. The creature began bounding towards the group, but was suddenly silenced, a blade suddenly erupting from its chest, only to suddenly disappear. What?! Was that and effect of the gas? No, that can't make sense... someone else must've killed it. But he's left so quick! Tatsumi got up from the ground which he had been not-so-gently placed by Sinthe. "Well, that went well, for our first fight. Thanks for your help, errrr..." He looked towards the man in the bird mask, "What should I call you?" The young man asked politely, "I'm Tatsumi."

Tatsumi's introduction was suddenly interrupted as the women he had rescued began to approach him, I'm glad she's safe. Maybe if I'm lucky she'll have some information, and maybe a place I could st- He was taken aback as he was suddenly slapped in the face. He rubbed his face "Wha-" Suddenly she was yelling at him, calling him a heretic, ranting on about her crimes. Killed her own daughter? Consumed the flesh of her son? How could a person do something like that? His expression morphed to one of shocked horror.

"I-I..." Tatsumi was at a loss for words.

And then she backed into the well, and everything got worse. The moment she smiled at him he knew what came next. "Wait! No!" He stretched out his hand and ran for the well, but it was too late. She was gone before he could get even halfway there. He ran to the well and looked over the cusp. Dead. He looked back to the group and shook his head, then turned away. He stalked away from the square, heading down the main street, and down into the alley that lay between the tavern and the building next to it. He didn't want the others to see how pitifully weak he was. Once he was out of view, a tear ran free down his face.

I've never seen someone die... I couldn't save her... but is it really right to feel bad for someone like that? Her words ringed once again in his head, "I drowned my own daughter, consumed the flesh of my only son, and this is how I am repaid for my sins?" He braced himself against the wall of the tavern, This doesn't make any sense, she was crying for help! This place doesn't make any sense! More tears flowed down his face. "Dammit!" He shouted out loud, pounding his fist against the wall. He felt useless and weak.


[System]
Appearance Description: He's 6'5 and 198 pounds. What more can I say?
Age: 17
Year: 2
Reason for Joining: Gael didn't have a mystery club back in Norway, and it sounded like a fun thing to try out. So essentially, yeah, he IS curious about these Seven Mysteries.
Skills: Gael's most prominent point is less a skill and more of a quality. Being a foreigner, and one that goes out of his way to regularly exercise, his physical attributes are top notch. Chances are, in his year, he is unparalleled in strength and stamina. He's probably more physically impressive than most of the third years as well.
Being an international student with a knack for languages, this particular student is capable of speaking four different languages fluently: Norwegian (home country), English (international language), Japanese (international transfer program), and German (personal interest).
Funnily enough, he's also frighteningly skilled at making desserts, his repertoire spanning from crepes to egg tarts, cakes to rice sake. Maybe it's because he has a sweet tooth? Or maybe it's because he wants to become a cross-country dessert vendor.
Gael has started taking lessons in singing just since last year, and considers himself to be better than the average student. Not that it means much.

Personality: Gael Ericsson is a free spirit, someone whose self-confidence borderlines arrogance. He's an audacious, prideful figure, caring little for what society as a whole thinks of him. If he wants to do something, he'll do it. If he doesn't want to do something, he won't do it. And while he IS smart enough to know when to back down, all the compromises that he makes are simply what he considers to be 'tactical retreats'. An impossible situation to him is merely an interesting challenge, and, above everything else, Gael absolutely adores challenges. In a way, it's almost as if he's what you'd get if you combined a stubborn idiot with a talented elitist. Thankfully, he's at least capable of showing some degree of kindness to those that he considers his friends.

Biography: People often think that a colorful individual like Gael Ericsson obviously must have an equally colorful past that made him who he was. Unfortunately, he didn't. For as long as Gael could remember, he had always just felt like an invincible superhero, superior to all those around him. Born in a normal family, in a coastal town in Norway, he spent his early years scampering around in the port, cheekily stowing onto fishing boats and the like. His parents rarely indulged in his antics, and punishment in the form of slaps or chores was common. It's not like Gael disliked it though, because it served to toughen himself up. Hard work builds character, as his father always said.

It was when he was older, in elementary school, that he realized that his hometown was too small for him. Applying for a lower secondary school in the big city, he began to study as hard as he pleased, drinking in new sights until he tired of them at the age of 15. By then, he was aware of international schools in the area, and, without another thought, applied. Out of whim, Gael chose Japan, and out of hard work, he managed to raise his Japanese language skills to a high enough level that he was selected to be one of the few students who would be sent to finish their education in the Land of the Rising Sun. Others congratulated his luck.

Gael knew that it was all just skill.

At the age of 16, he found himself a nice little suite to live in, and began his school life in Miyama Academy as one of the more…interesting individuals at school. Gael did love the attention though.
Relationships: N/A
Other: He likes looking down at people. Physically and mentally.

[User]
April 26th. After School. Classroom A-013

It was the after school, and the only person in the classroom filled with the orange rays of light of the afternoon was a single girl. The president, Hiiragi Tsumiki, was reading a book while she sat on a single chair, put in the middle of the room right beside a table. The other chairs were all piled up in the back and the room was neatly cleaned up. There were merely some things lying on the desk, as well as some other things inside the lockers and whatnot that should have been used by the students that would use the classroom under normal circumstances. If there was something normal about the classroom, at the very least.

A repugnant, malicious aura came out of, well, everything about it. Anyone else would hardly be able to remain calm under the oppressive aura. However, for president Hiiragi, that was nothing. She was already used to it. Two years in there, two years that seemed to be even longer than that. She had a good feeling this year. Capable people might come today to the Mystery club. And she was going to make sure that each and every one of them had what it takes. If they didn't, then they'd just throw their lives away. A test was necessary. Necessary to see whether or not the new people would be able to survive.

The door made a sound. They were seemingly trying to open it. And with that, it started. A whole new resolution to solve the mysteries had set in in Hiiragi's heart. No matter, who they were, Hiiragi would do her best to keep everyone alive. She owed her senpai at least that much.

The door opened.

"Welcome to the Mystery Club." The girl closed her book, giving the person who had just come through the door her full attention. "I hope I can help you with something. My name is Hiiragi Tsumiki, the president of this club. If you are here to join, then I congratulate you, for both your courage and resolve. It'll be needed in what is to come."

[Assistant]
Shiromi walked through the door at snail's pace, barely taking notice of the president or the book she was reading, nor the oppressive aura that covered the otherwise normal-looking room. Why was she here, anyway? All she wanted when she told Takeshi that yes, she would go check it out, was some calm - the past few weeks he hadn't been able to shut up about it, and though she was an easy-going person, there were only so many times you could poke a sleeping bear before it wanted the poking to stop, no matter the cost. Only she wasn't a bear, and rather than maul him, Shiro made an even bigger mistake and promised him she would go at least once. She got away with being a phantom member of other clubs, 'technically' signed to them but hardly ever showing up, in the past two years... but something told her it was not going to be quite as easy for this one. Just once, just to make him happy, and more importantly to quell his excitement, she told herself... how bad could it really be?

With a blank expression Shiro finally made her way into the room, raising a hand and waving towards the president idly. "Mornin'..." She closed the door behind her and dropped the black bag she had slung over her shoulder to the ground, the suspicious lack of a sound it made as it hit the ground giving away that it was mostly empty. All the chairs had been moved aside, and for a few seconds she looked over to the piles in the back, debating whether it was worth the effort to take one for herself... before she made up her mind and leaned against one of the walls instead, allowing herself to slip down until she was sitting on the ground, looking up at the president when she heard the question, her head braced against the wall behind her and arms loose at her sides. Now that she was sitting, the white-haired girl began to feel the foreboding aura of the place, like an itch on the inside of her head that kept her on edge and that she couldn't quite shake... she shook her head a little as if to clear it from the feeling, but it didn't go away. Shiro let out a little sigh. She was calmer than one might expect given just how prevalent the aura was in the room, but she didn't feel especially happy either, and even she couldn't relax nearly as much as she liked with this... Shiro sighed again, bringing her knees up a little higher and a hand to her chin.
"Nah... I'm just here to check it out 'cos I promised someone... that's all. Sorry."

[User]
Takeshi walked with his schoolbag slung across his shoulders and his hands thrust into his pockets - deep. It wasn't that he was walking slowly because he was dreading something, but the things he had heard from some third years after he'd already dragged Shiro into it made him a little nervous. He brushed it off though, lifting his head and smiling, offering greetings in return to everyone who shot him one. Everyone was rushing to get out of school or to the first meeting of their club for the year. Takeshi grinned at them all, but inside he felt a little less sure of himself as he approached the door and turned the handle.
He'd asked Shiro to be there. He wasn't convinced she'd show up. Damn it.

Turning the handle and pushing the door open, Takeshi first stood in the doorway for a handful of seconds, the chill of the room assaulting his senses immediately and freezing him in his tracks. Perhaps the only thing that egged him on to speak was the girl with the blue eyes in the center of the room, just finished introducing herself as club president.
"Yo." He smirked over at the girl, gritting his teeth to stop their chattering. He shut the door behind him and walked into the afternoon sun, only to notice a flash of white in the corner of his eye. He couldn't mistake that colour anywhere.
"Shiro senpai. You came!"

The boy finally seemed more at ease, returning his gaze to the president. He looked her over. Tall, and quite serious. He wondered why a girl like her hosted a club like this. She didn't seem the type for practical jokes.
"Miyazaki Takeshi, at your service, ma'am." He offered a little bow, dropping his much heavier book bag next to Shiro's. No doubt trying hard to get a head start on subjects he wasn't very good at, like maths.
His amber eyes behind the spectacles glinted in the orange of the room's light. It almost accentuated their natural colour, giving them a catlike mischief about them. He grinned over at the girl now, only just holding his tongue from getting him immediately kicked out.
"Hiiragi-san, I look forward to seeing how this goes. Or shall I call you 'Prez', Prez?"

He looked down at Shiro, sighing awfully exaggeratedly before moving over to the chairs, pulling one of them out and setting it a little in front of the white haired girl, and another one for him, not sitting himself down just yet.

"And pardon me for saying, miss. Err...Prez. You're kinda cute to be running a club like this, heh. Not that that's a bad thing, but I expected someone..." He paused to choose his words carefully, "...more occult."

[Assistant]
Funny story was that Gael had almost forgotten about the Mystery Club by the time his classes ended. Without any particular goal in mind, he headed down the stairs to the school entrance, picked up his shoes from the locker, and was half-way to the fancy-smancy gates of Mayami Academy, when he realized that there were things to do back at school. Now the question was…did Gael really care about showing up in the first meeting?

No, he probably didn't, but it was nice to show his subjects some kindness, right?

Spinning 180 degrees, Gael headed back to school, marched up the stairs, and walked into Classroom A-013. Certainly, it was a fitting room for the Mystery Club, complete with a feeling of dread and disgust and heavily aged, moldy cheese. What a shifty place. Without paying much attention at all to the other plebs in the room, the tall, handsome second year walked to the back of the room and began to systematically open the windows, one by one, until a nice, afternoon breeze wafted through the mostly empty classroom. Not that it helped with the super dramatic edgy fear-feels that he was still getting there, but at least the abhorrent smell was pretty much gone now.

He pulled a desk over next, sliding it casually before him and then sitting on top of the table, finally paying attention to the other three that were present in the room. Two relatively nameless girls and Takeshi, who was making it painfully obvious that he had only came to the Mystery Club to get some of dat ass. Well, being direct was fine as well...

"Sup, Takeshi, White, Hiiragi," Gael said, with a toothy grin, "Name's Gael Ericsson. Or Ericsson Gael. Let's get along, yeah? And some Febreeze would be nice as well. This place still feels like shit. Feel sorry for the kiddos who have to take their classes here."


[System]
Title/Nickname: -
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Race: He's an Oiosyyiathaom, that is... a demon. The expression is not used for the class of demons in general, but for a very special subset of them. The knowledge about how to summon them is commonly assumed to be lost, though this could very well only be the result of it being a very dangerous and difficult process that very rarely is executed.

The realm they come from is named Qu'Nor. The term is the human transcription of what it is called in their own tongue. Little is known about it because the inverse process of getting a human there and letting him return alive is even more difficult. Those very few who managed to do this weren't very fond of openly sharing the knowledge gained. It can be assumed that the majority of what common mages know about it has its origin in torture chambers that have seen members of Vekyzz' race. It is said that there exist a multitude of creatures, not only demons, but the Oiosyyiathaoms being the dominating race. Not all of them are flat-out hostile to everything and everyone, but most are however. Vekyzz is a tad in the middle: Not willing to kill on sight, but easy to push into a decent rage that can become quite violent.

This raises the question: Why would anyone be interested in summoning such a creature ? The standard answer would be 'because he can', but there are other reasons. One of his kind, once succesfully forced into submission, would be a formidable asset for both personal protection and boosting one's ego: The average individual stands well above a large human male and usually weighs at least twice as much. They feature a very dense skeletal frame and pick up large amounts of similar muscle even with hardly any training at all. There is some inherent magic in them, but they can't purposefully control it. It virtually 'leaks' out of them as raw energy. It is assumed that this phenomenon is not natural and only appears in the foreign environment they are torn into when summoned. In fact, some of his kind have been subjected to experiments trying to artificially trigger and harvest it. The outcomes were rather mixed: While it turned out to be possible to release large amounts of magical power, the price in terms of killed test subjects that needed to be replaced by performing new summonings outweighed this benefit.

It is not known how many individuals are currently present in the world, but it is fair to assume that their number is very, very small. Their lifespan is dramatically reduced by the leakage effect and is estimated at no more than 50 years if not sent back in time. However, as long as their inner pool doesn't run out and they are sufficiently supplied, bodily degradation is virtually unknown to them.Appearance: As an individual he is an imposing figure: The man stands about 7 feet 2 inches tall (excluding the horns) and is packed with dense, voluminous muscles.Trope/Archetype: The Big Guy

Profession: He doesn't really have one. He's basically become a survivalist capable of living off the wild land. He still seldomly accepts more or less shady jobs, but more for fun than out of necessity.

Background: Vekyzz has never experienced the freedom of having parents that keep you nourished and well-kept during your childhood. He hasn't even experienced the luxury of never having to switch the world one's living in, allowing as much time as possible to adapt. He was thrown into this realm by a mage craving for power, but the first thing that happened is another case of the scientist-runs-an-experiment-without-preparation-for-the-case-it-yields-exactly-the-outcome-he's-hoping-for trope. The summoner doesn't live anymore, killed in an instantaneous act of outrage. Unfortunately, Vekyzz thereby has also slain his only hope of returning - or at least the only one he knows about. Being doomed to continue living the life that had just started to exist, the demon started roaming the land.

Equipment:* What would he be without his trusty, colossal, vintage looking sword ? Technically it isn't even really a sword, but merely an outstanding piece of mechanical butchery consisting of a thick piece of sheet metal that was ground to have a sharp edge on one side while the other was bolted to a large handle. It's purely makeshift.
* An equally impressive collection of... one might be tempted to say 'garbage', but let's just call it an armor consisting of pieces of leather, fur and cloth stacked upon another and combined and held together with chains. It covers most of his body.
* A cheap, but complete set of 'civil' clothing.

Pros:
* + Very strong and tough. He's capable of moving and lifting things an ordinary human couldn't dream of.
* + Rather intelligent, though not outstandingly.

Cons:
* - His appearance. When people see him, prices go up, and when he leaves, they go down again as if by magic. He's really not far from being an outcast and scorn can be achieved by a wide variety of methods.
* - He's lean and wouldn't consider himself particularly tall or heavy. By human standards however he is a crushing, walking tower and thereby prone to more or less embarrassing accidents. Furniture, badly maintained buildings and the like aren't exactly designed for him.
* - He's inexperienced with this world and the habits, traditions and reasoning of its inhabitants. The negative impact of this has considerable lessened since his 'arrival', but is still noticeable.

Other: -

[User]
Taking a primitive mathematical-theoretical approach, one could state that the probability density of encountering the correct lock was a flat line across the number of coaches already tried. The chance of the last coach to be the right one was equal to the chance of the first or the middle one to be it. However, this statistic did not consider some more subtle factors, one of them being the wannabe-thief being a tad nervous, hasty and thereby not very gentle or even precise with the key-lock-pairing. There were hardly any coachmen (who wanted to wait outside when there was a tavern ?), but after almost a dozen of hard bounces, jams and rubbing against more or less badly lubricated cylinders, the damn key just broke. It did not necessarily mean that the plan had to be abandoned. There were other ways to get in: Break the thin glass, for example. Or take that large iron rod that was leaning against the back outer wall of the tavern and use it as a makeshift crowbar. Or take that other coach that still had two horses hitched up to it and just drive it away. It would be the goblin's own decision if he wanted to leave for greed without his friends or not.

Vekyzz sticked to his slow approach. His shadow more and more started to encompass the harp player, and since he was so tall, he knew that he very soon was in reach of him. The demon didn't care much about the other persons currently present. There was something going on on the upper level, but the first to deal with still was Mr. 'Lard Arse'. He'd soon see why Vekyzz was so freaking large and heavy!

As if he weighed almost nothing, the musician was grabbed at the collar of his shirt and lifted off the ground at the very end of Vekyzz' outstretched left arm. With his biceps bulging beneath his dark skin, the demon pulled the man towards him, holding him high enough so they could stare into each other's eyes. "Now... what do you say ? Shall me make a few tests of strength to see who of us is more worth his weight ?" Speaking this, Vekyzz allowed for his large teeth to be clearly seen.

[Assistant]
The musician, eyes bulging, breathing heavy, sweat literally dripping, said nothing at all. The terror of what stood before him had overloaded his brain, he hadn't counted on anything like this to happen and he genuinely feared for his life.
Suddenly something hit Vekyzz in the back. the sudden spray of wood of varying sizes and shapes, as well as the painful imprint the object had made told the demon that it was one of the tavern's many chairs of dubious standard, this one had obviously seen better days. As Vekyzz turned his eyes on the room in order to figure out who needed a swift punch to the groin the most he caught the end of something bright blue as if wafted through the rapidly closing door. The rest of the room was filled with people too stunned to move, some perhaps thinking that they'd be safe if they just stayed perfectly still.

Outside, the goblin known as Baxxink did his best to look inside all the coaches. He was too short for some, and had to stand on his toes or jump to get even the faintest of looks. Sure, he could climb them like nothing, but his clawed hands and feet tended to leave some scuff marks and that was not the mark of a good thief. The key had broke, and some unlucky bugger would have to get a locksmith before he could get in his coach again, Baxxink only hoped that the guy was very comfortable inside the tavern still.

The coachmen had been careful to remove any baggage from the roof and back of the coaches, the only place he'd find anything of value would be inside the locked compartments. He got up on the back end of one and looked inside. While there was no visible luggage, the seats in the coaches often opened up to allow people to stash stuff down there. The coach he'd chosen looked like it belonged to someone rich enough to stash some money in there, but still not rich enough to set a trap. That is a very specific kind of rich.
Baxxink drew his right arm back, curled his hand into a fist, aimed for the centre of the glass sheet and thought about it.
Glass is hard, brittle, but harder that the average fist. Breaking the glass like that, if even possible by a weak goblin, would hurt like hell and probably scar him for life and drain his blood. He jumped down and looked around, all he needed was something harder than glass, a stone, a good branch, a turtle... Something he could use and then throw away...

[User]
Stones were the most obvious option. In fact, right from where Baxxink was standing up to several miles away, the object was nothing but ubiquitous. The road leading to the tavern was reinforced with gravel pressed into the softer ground by years of people stepping and vehicles driving on it. The problem was that these were small stones. Very comfortable to grab for a small goblin's hand, but also not very powerful and even less protective. Turtles ? Well... the comedy option was nowhere to be seen. A branch however was available - broken off from the piss tree which could be seen from where Baxxink was. The plant was dying slowly, its life being pissed off by so much piss. But maybe the goblin would remember about a more clever option ? Glass could be selectively weakened by deeply scratching it. This was a job even a bit of the small road pebble would be sufficient for. Maybe a part of the glass could be removed with less brutality (and thereby noise) required than with the brute force method.

Speaking of brute force - Vekyzz was busy remembering what he was damn good at. The musician was slammed back onto the ground harder than gravity alone would have done it. The demon's eyes seemed to burn - and so did the wound the impact had left on his back in the metaphorical sense. It was littered with splinters and would require a bit of attention if one didn't want to risk it becoming even uglier. Right now this wasn't the time for such things however. The demon turned around completely infuriated, the door he had seen the bright blue thing going through fixed in the middle of his view.

With great anger, Vekyzz slammed a table which happened to block his straightforward way out of the same. He kicked the door open and once again, fast progress was hindered by him not fitting through it. Once he was outside, he yelled: "Which bastard did this ? Come here at once!" Yet apparently he wasn't expecting the coward to show up. Vekyzz stepped further away from the door towards the area where the coaches and horses were waiting. It was there that he expected the person in question to seek refuge because of the many obstacles and possibilities to make a quick escape. Unintentionally his path lead him almost directly towards Baxxink, but the rageful creature didn't have the goblin on its list of suspects. Vekyzz had already decided to leave and therefore he was heading for a saddled horse near the coach. The demon didn't care about its owner - he just wanted to get away from here.

[Assistant]
The horseman, somehow oblivious to the adventures of Baxxink, was frozen in place, much like the musician inside the tavern. He only went limp when Vekyzz tugged him out of the saddle, and folded himself into a neat pile of human on the ground.
The horse on the other hand would have none of that. As soon as it felt its rider leave the saddle it started to whine and tried to get away. As the demon grabbed the reins to hold the beast still the damn thing panicked and shot of like a lightning bolt down the road, leaving a puzzled vekyzz with a slight burning sensation in his hand. As the horse ran for its life past the far wall of the tavern something bright blue shot out of the shadows, got on top of the horse and rode away at break-neck speed.

Baxxink on the other hand, had grown tired of looking for proper glass-smashing tools and had settled on the urine-coated branch from the infamous tree behind the tavern. He swung the yellowish-brown thing high above his head and smashed the window into a million pieces just as a horse went into full gallop just a few coaches over. While the beast did not cover the sound of the glass, it was likely to draw the attention of anyone nearby, lucky.

The goblin crawled through the hole without too much hassle and started to rummage around in there as soon as he could. As the passenger compartment was fairly small it didn't take him long. While he looked over his findings something moved outside the window and the demon Vekyzz became clearly visible, he obviously had no intention of staying at the tavern any more. Getting out of the coach as quickly as he could, he immediately jumped into the coachman's seat of the next one over and started to shout and wave his arms to get the attention of his companion.

[User]
Vekyzz looked at his hand and looked back up to see the animal run away at blazing speed. Then he focused in on his hand again just to recognize how bruised it had become in these fractions of a second. And then he looked back up to check for the horse again, but only to see the blue... whatever it was... again. Then the human he had just smashed to the ground put himself back into action by presenting Vekyzz the most sneering grin the demon had seen in weeks. He wasn't amused at all.

Wasn't somebody waving at him ? Grumbling and baring his teeth, Vekyzz stepped away from the man without looking back. He had to concentrate in order to locate the loud (and somewhat annoying) noise in the middle of the mess this 'parking area' was. Only a considerable number of seconds later Baxxink finally came into the demon's view and he adjusted his course.

"What's this ? A nutshell ? Couldn't you have picked something even smaller ?" Vekyzz volleyed his personal criticism towards the small goblin. The problem was that using a certain tone or wording too often could lead to others becoming resistant against it. This held true especially for friends - and such they were at least. The coach developed a massive list when Vekyzz placed himself next to the goblin. The demon was emitting a significant amount of warmth despite the fact that he'd hardly engaged physically. "I suggest we go." Of course this wasn't their couch, or was it ?


[System]
Appearance:

Hybrid Zoan Form. (Would have been more human-y, if I could find a different picture.)

Height/Weight: 6'3, 200 lbs.

Age: Thirty.

Personality: Anaru is often described as, unflinching, arguing him would be like arguing with a brick wall, he doesn't listen. because he believes that his own way is the right way, which gave his way of justice the nickname from his subordinates 'Rock Solid Justice'. oddly enough despite his stone cold exterior, and his stubborn-ness, Anaru is actually a very innocent, and sweet man on the inside, until recently he believed that no marine could ever be corrupt. he has an intense love for dogs, which factors into his soft side, but he was known to destroy an entire building (accidentally according to him.) for mistreating a small dog. Anaru likes to live life with a hearty laugh, and friends around him, however when around pirates, who mock the Marines openly, he practically transforms, even his subordinates and friends in the Marines dislike being around him in this state, he practically goes berserk, flipping out and losing all semblance of a plan, or intelligence. of course, people often consider him thick-headed regardless, for good reason as he's quite a dunce most of the time.

Home Island/Sea: Maunga Island, In the West Blue.

History:

Living as a poor child in Maunga Island, was nobody's dream, it was a miner island, made for harvesting its rich resources, but eventually a town was made, to make living less challenging. Maunga island was a massive mountain you see, and no tunnels were made, Miners scaled the mountain with no rope, and dug the resources out of the mountain itself. that alone made the island incredibly dangerous, but the fact that all the miners were slaves or ex-slaves, 'hired' by the world government made them all incredibly angry. imagine their confusion and frustration when an orphaned child showed up in the village one day, the found out it was the son of a slave woman, who committed suicide after he was born, so no one would know he was the son of a slave, she hoped that doing that would give him a better life. the miners, feeling for the woman's plight, decided to raise the child, as a miner. that child's name was Anaru, and for most of his life he was content, he took to the rocks like he was a mountain goat, and made friends with some of the jollier miners, but that changed when he turned ten. it was storming that day, a horrid storm, nobody dared to climb the mountain, but they had to, otherwise they wouldn't collect enough resources, and the world government would be furious, little Anaru, a ten year old boy with more rocks in his head than brains, decided that HE could collect the greenstone (the most valuable resource on the island.) and set off. that was a bad idea, all he can remember of that day, without stirring up horrid memories, was the flash of lightning, the shattering of stone, and too much red. what really happened wasn't much different, Anaru managed to make it to the greenstone supply, but so did pirates who docked under the cover of storm, Anaru was taken captive, and the miners set off to rescue him. they were all killed, and Anaru was next, until a lone marine was slammed into the rocks, his dinghy along with him. this marine proceeded to stand up, and beat all of the pirates, he ruffled Anaru's hair, and LAUGHED, during all of this horror, he managed to laugh, that effected Anaru more than he thought possible. the marine set out the next day, and Anaru with him, to join the navy, and become a great hero.

Fruit: Saru Saru No Mi Model: Siverback Gorilla. This fruit gives Anaru insane arm strength, along with enhanced senses, and dangerous teeth to match, his hybrid state is his most dangerous form, where he looks similar to a Sasquatch according to his marine friends, the physical power of his hybrid state, was so strong that he earned the nickname 'King Of Apes'. Anaru found this fruit during his misadventures as a marine, and ate it because of a dare. Anaru has gotten great control of this fruit since that day, and often uses it in combination with his Life Return, to slim down the hybrid state, or use its copious amount of hair as a weapon.

Abilities/Race Traits: Anaru is incredibly sturdy, thanks to his time as a child living, and climbing up the most dangerous mountain in the west blue. Anaru often fancies himself a singer, none of the people who have heard him sing agree. Anaru's main strengths lie in his insane durability, and freakish physical strength, he is able to lift boulders without using his devil fruit, and has been hit with a cannonball, and despite suffering injuries, he wasn't even pushed back.

Fighting style: Anaru's primary style is called. "Sturdy Mountain Dance." a style combining mountain survival, with his sturdiness and great power.

Dancing Mountain Nail: Anaru can 'nail' his hand/elbow into most solid surfaces, to keep from falling, to use it as a weapon of some sort, or other uses. Anaru developed this technique to not fall to his death, during his time as a miner.

Dancing Mountain Hammer: after using Dancing Mountain Nail, with his elbow, Anaru can punched the nailed in arm's fist with his spare fist, and shatter whatever it is he has pierced with 'Nail'. the destructive power here alone is impressive, but the destroyed object is often broken so fast and powerfully, that shrapnel is flung away from Anaru.

Dancing Mountain Nail Gun: Anaru can send a flurry of elbows/punches, that use air pressure to strike the opponent. many people consider this technique a reverse fishman karate, using air instead of water, Anaru doesn't know what fishman karate is, but it sounds impressive that he made a reverse version, so he goes along with it.

Sturdy Mountain Green Drill: Arguably Anaru's most dangerous technique, Anaru leaps into the air using all his strength, and rotates around in the air, using Dancing Mountain Nail Gun to propel himself, Anaru then divebombs his opponent, his body's strength, velocity and rotation, make him a living drill.

(I intend to add more techniques to this style, but if I post more techniques, it'd be for Anaru to learn later.)

Anaru also learned the fighting style Life Return, from the marine who took him in, Anaru can only currently control already existing hair, and slim down his Hybrid Form. the reason he cannot use it to full potential, is because he absolutely HATES meditation.

Ship Positions: Marine Lieutenat (He would have been promoted more, if he wasn't such a stubborn person, which often makes his superiors frustrated.)

[User]
G O L D E N F L E E C E P I R A T E S

Sancho F. Graham
Kingslayer

Loguetown, East Blue.

Walking out from the store, donning a brand-spanking new leather coat, one in brown with gold accents. It was a very nice coat, and it would make an apt replacement for the battle-worn coat Sancho had worn for the last few weeks. Since he had been spotted in the East Blue a few months back, there's been quite a few people who have come for him, as such, battle has been hard to avoid. Not that he really minded, nor did his crew, both of his crewmates were always up for a little bit of fighting. The Fishwoman a little bit more so than the gunslinger or Sancho himself, though.

Speaking of the two, they would most likely be found in a bar, drinking to their hearts content. Sancho's fingers ran through his hair, the long shining hair was tossed out of his face, but it was sure to return over his face in a few moments. He walked along the city streets, this was a hub city, the last outpost before the Grandline here in the East Blue. Once upon a time, the East Blue had been the weakest one, but ever since a young boy who was born here became the King Of Pirates, in fact, both of the King Of Pirates had been born here, if legends are to be believed. As such, this had become a Mecca for pilgriming pirates who aspire to take to the Grandline in the footsteps of the two greatest pirates to have ever lived.

Of course, such gestures of grandeur wasn't in Sancho's wheelhouse. Oh no, he wasn't here to get famous. He had a job to do, and incidentally, the amount of powerful people who hanged around the East Blue made it possible for him to make some very powerful allies - his crewmates, for instance. Both as powerful as him, and then some.

Certainly not one to trust, not since what happened back home, anyway. But he knew if he wanted to make his dream come true, he couldn't do it alone, and he needed allies. His thoughts died down as he approached the tavern, pushing the door handle he opened the door. Him and his two allies had been staying at the Silver Hook Tavern for the last few days, giving themselves enough time to recuperate and relax a bit, while also looking for a log pose. . Something Sancho sure wished he had taken with him when he left his home in the Grandline.

Walking over to the table his crew had made their own, it was empty. Sancho sat down and the bar maiden walked past, Sancho nodded and she would soon return with a glass of beer for the young man. He would await his friends, and then figure out their next course of action. This was the last outpost for pirates - somebody's gotta sell a damn log pose.

[Assistant]
Ryuma Zenki

East Blue|Loguetown

---

The alarm rang loud inside the Marine Headquarters. This could only mean one things , Pirates. This was the type of action Ryuma craved. He'd previously watched a sparring match between fellow Marines. It bored him slightly as the Captain known as Adrian had been socked in the nose and the fight dissipated. He decided it may be best to take Adrian along with him for experience. After all he was a newly crowned Captain and he needed to see first hand what Pirates were capable of. He waited until Adrian had cleaned himself up to address him and tell him of his plans.

 " Hey Adrian. I think you should tag along with me today. I seen how you used your face to stop that guy's fist earlier. I must say it wasn't the smartest thing to do. Maybe I can show you some tips to avoid things like that since I'm proficient in Observation Haki. I wouldn't mind taking you under my wing for awhile."

Ryuma really wasn't one for taking on underlings but he felt different about this kid. He'd been in the Marines since 16 and never once asked to mentor , but Adrian had potential . Ryuma could feel it.

[User]
Adrian Amadeus

East Blue/Loguetown

---

Adrian was about to step outside the door until he heard mocking yet informative voice. He turned to see it was his superior. A man skilled captain and longtime servant to the Marine herself. A smile crept on young captains face as if he had been blessed. " I'm open to anything right now, these pirates seem serious, if i can honestly say this Captain Zenki, I think the men who went through that door, I don't think half of them will make it."

Disheartened by his own words, he could imagine the slaughter about to unfold. he rolled up his sleeves, and faced his fellow captain as student. Being in the presence of Ryuma Zenki made him feel almost like a chore boy, however still to hold his own. " Captain Zenki sir, which route should we take."His eyes shined with eagerness, he wanted to make sure no civilians were injured or worse as well as comrades.

[Assistant]
Ryuma Zenki

East Blue|Loguetown

---

 " Approach? Hmmm. I think the best approach would be a surprise attack. They'd never expect a captain, let alone two to show up on the field . We could blend in with uprising of townspeople and approach the crew without them even knowing. Or we could use them head on with a team of Marines using our brute force to crush the Pirate scum. Decisions . Decisions. What do you think Adrian?"  , Ryuma chuckled at the thought of bum rushing pirates.

They were to unpredictable to just attack. They might have an ace in the hole. Not to mention the Marines didn't know how many pirates were on island which made it hard to plan an attack. Either way Ryuma was ready for any outcome . He personally hoped Adrian felt the same.

 " Well we can decide on a plan of action when we reach the field. Whatever we decide to do , lets make sure it's in the name of Justice." Ryuma began to make his way towards the front gate. Now was the time to show his strength. No pirate would escape his clutches , especially any low rank newbies.

[User]
Location: A Marine ship under his command, near the Conomi Islands.

Anaru roll his neck, a grin across his face, as the Conomi Islands appeared in the distance. "Men, and women of the marines, today we'll win back this place, for justice!" Anaru shouted, throwing his arm up in the air, some men cheered, the others rolled their eyes, and smiled at their commander's antics. two smaller ships floated behind Anaru, backup, in case the Sunny Massacre Pirates, ended up being more dangerous than originally expected.

 "Lockjaw!" Anaru called to an old man, he was their navigator, but in his old age his eyes were still sharp. "What do you see on the island?" Lockjaw clicked his teeth together, like he often did. "Them pirates are causin' a ruckus, but that's to be expected." was the old man's response. Anaru's already wide grin grew even further. "Then we'll put an end to that ruckus, with our Rock Solid Justice!" he shouted again, the same people who cheered earlier cheered again.

 Anaru had sent word to the 99th divison, if they were near they were welcome to come, but it was just reassurance, his fleet of three ships should be plenty, he thought. "Alright men, full speed ahead!" he shouted in his booming voice, before letting out a jolly laugh.