[center][b][u]Sector B - Abandoned Skymall Rooftop[/b][/u][/center]

Ishigo opened up a canteen that rested upon his hip and took two sips of his water. He sat on the edge of the skymall's roof, eyeing the grounds below on one knee. Victor's speech had definitely caused a commotion worthy of the military's attention. But he knew the real intention of his speech, and even then, he felt impressed at Victor's ability to empathize with what he assumed to be the state of the survivors in Sovereign. He knew they were afraid, and that for the majority of them, it would take much more than a speech to call them to action. He wanted them to find Hector with the hope that he would manage to rally them to rebel as one. What impressed Ishigo most, however, was Victor's confidence in his weak understanding of what the 'mutants' were capable of. He had guessed hard, but he had guessed right. Gathering the hosts into one united cause would make for one hell of a blow to the military's forces. 

[i][b]'It was as unwise as it was successful. Dumb luck, really,'[/i][/b] Jin spoke from within Ishigo's spirit, and Ishigo simply nodded. 

"Sometimes, dumb luck is all you need," Ishigo replied. He continued to look over the visible streets, watching for any peculiar signs of movement, specifically those that seemed unnatural for an ordinary human. After a few minutes, Jin chimed in once more:

[i][b]'Ishigo... Do you feel that? The resonating spirit?[/i][/b]' he said. Ishigo raised a brow, "I... think I do. Is that not you?" 

[i][b]'No, it is distant, but it approaches as we speak. It grows stronger with ever-[/i][/b]'

A mass of ethereal energy manifested before Ishigo, a raw display of Spirit itself, before slowly forming into a corporeal mass, one resembling a young man in his early twenties with white hair and a cocky grin. "Why sir, do you sense a disturbance in the force?" The boy replied, putting his hand out to shake Ishigo's. Ishigo had flinched and tensed as he had appeared, but didn't prepare his guard in the case that he set off an overly-combative tone. Instead, he took the boy's hand and simply looked at him with a curious stare.

 "You've got that badass aura surrounding you, so I'm guessing you're one of the guys around here not to be fucked with. I'm Yugeto," the boy said with a sincere smile. Ishigo squinted as he looked at the boy; it was strange, as Ishigo was always the one practically hunting down the kages. Yet here he was, falling victim to a reversed role. Not only did he find himself slightly caught off guard, he found it surprising that boy appeared so comfortable with his surroundings - it was as eerie as it was mysterious. 
 
 [i][b]'Yes, he came out of thin air, but no, I don't sense any kage. It's... it's just him, Ishigo. That, or his kage is exceptionally well at hiding. Steel yourself regardless.'[/i][/b]
 
 Ishigo took a deep breath and replied, "Well met, Yugeto," he began, knowing that it was too late to pretend that this was some ordinary encounter, "you've piqued my interest." 

Yugeto clasped Ishigo's hand, and his smile quickly contorted into a devious and corrupted grin. [b]"Well met indeed. Didn't your big-savior Kage tell you never to talk to strangers?"[/b] Yugeto asked, as a silverish aura shot out of Yugeto's body, and a black one out of Ishigo's. "Black, huh?" Yugeto asked. "That's a new one, pal." The two auras then intermingled, and slowly flowed into Yugeto's body. "Have I sated your interest, yet?" Yugeto inquired once again, as he felt the vitality of Spirit surge throughout his body. "Relax, it'll make things quicker for me. Not that you can exactly move so easily, right?" Yugeto said, before letting go of Ishigo's hand; the flowing continued regardless. "Golly, maybe if I take enough of your Spirit I'll get me one of those little dudes in my head to talk to!" Yugeto joked, albeit in bad taste.

Ishigo winced and tensed up as he felt himself grow weaker by the second. He let out a grunt of effort as he tried to flee from whatever range that "Yugeto" had, but to no avail as he felt his legs give in underneath him. [i]'JIN...'[/i] It felt as if even thinking cost him more spirit than he could afford.

[i][b]'I'M DOING EVERYTHING I CAN, JUST TRY TO MOVE AWA- [u]AGH![/u][/b]'[/i]

Ishigo's hand then shot up as he felt a strong pain shoot through the center of his chest, as if some spiritual center of his was shattered by the sudden loss of spirit. "What... is... this....?" he mumbled, forcing himself to speak as he tried his best to block his spirit from escaping. 

Yugeto's own aura began to grow darker as he absorbed the black spirit. Yugeto chuckled, as if he had just told himself some inside joke. Deciding to tease his newfound "friend", Yugeto walked back over to Ishigo, got close to him, and whispered "Once you go black, you never go back, eh?" before doubling over in laughter.

Ishigo chuckled in disbelief. He was in some strange company, and the fact that he was seconds away from hitting stasis didn't help. "You... you talk too much..." he said as he felt Jin shift within his spirit.

[i][b]'This is not going to be pleasant...[/i][/b]' Jin said, his voice growing louder by the second. He then exerted an exaggerated amount of spirit through a channel that Jin could feel. It was the only time he had ever physically felt spirit flowing through him, and it gave him a strange, burning sensation. He groaned in agony as the massive flow of spirit shot towards his palm, but as soon as the pain peaked, he fell to his knees, having stopped the draining at the cost of a huge loss of spirit. 

[i][b]'Breathe Ishigo, breathe.... he can't drain you now... You did well in holding our spirit. I'm impressed.[/i][/b]'

Yugeto's body shook as the flow of Spirit into his body was abruptly cut off, and Yugeto too fell to his knees, coughing and gasping for air. "Fucker...I didn't think you'd be able to pull that off..." Yugeto said in between breaths. "D-damn lucky your Kage saved y-your ass this time...that spirit is somethin' else." Yugeto coughed up a bit of blood, before slowly getting to his feet, staggering as he walked towards Ishigo. "Y-you fucking aloof motherfucker..." Yugeto spat. "Good job, you asshole. Fucked up my whole feng-shui or whatever, I was gettin' real strong. Well, you can keep your damn Spirit, clearly there's no point in trying again. I mean rea-"

Ishigo had been regaining his senses on one knee as Yugeto approached mid-rant. As he finally felt his breathing rate return to an acceptable rate, Ishigo lunged at Yugeto, jabbing at his head and then spinning around to give him a strong elbow strike to the abdomen.

Yugeto ducked the jab, but took the brunt of the elbow strike, hurting his ribs and doubling back. "Y-you sneaky son of a bitch!" Yugeto's arm began to tingle with spirit, a raw energy that looked quite like silver-tinted pure light, opaque when dense and translucent when not so dense, that was then launched at Ishigo, surrounding him and slowly closing in on him to encapsulate him. Meanwhile, Yugeto's body began to be surrounded by the same energy.

Ishigo looked at the capsule that began to encase his body and he quickly stepped backwards, morphing into his own shadow and slipping backwards before the capsule could trap him. He then shot forward as a shadow on the ground, shaped like a spear. As he neared Yugeto, half of his body emerged from the shadow, and a cord of shadows also emerged, connecting to his arm. Within his hand, he held a solid, black spear, which he thrust at Yugeto with full force. 

The mass of Spirit that was encapsulating Ishigo went rushing back to Yugeto, who used the raw Spirit already surrounding him to act as a buffer between himself and the Spear; Ishigo's spear of shadows began to glow the same silvery light that Yugeto's Spirit had, as he began to convert the shadow back into raw-spirit as the mass of energy Yugeto had sent forth earlier lingered under Yugeto's feet; from here, it was a battle of willpower, and an impressive one at that; two warriors with iron wills butting heads can only result in chaos.

Ishigo clenched his teeth and grunted as he strained to maintain the force he exerted into thrusting his spear at Yugeto. At every breath, the spear fell backwards, only to be pushed forward towards Yugeto when Ishigo regained the ability to push back. It was a near stalemate, though Ishigo knew that Yugeto had the upper hand - he was manipulating the spirit at will.

[i]I'm going to try it.[/i] Ishigo thought as he continued to use all his might to push the spear forward.

[i][b]'RIGHT NOW?! YOU'RE USING 100%![i][/b]' Jin replied. Ishigo felt a small moment of retreat in his own strength, nearly losing the impasse. He struggled to continue, writhing in pain as the muscle in his arm threatened to tear. However, he inched closer and closer, until he finally let his other arm emerge from the shadow. The move caused Ishigo to gain a huge advantage in the power struggle, but Ishigo held on as his hand drifted to the ground near Yugeto.

"Y-you.... seriously.... talk too much," he said as his hand met the edge of Yugeto's shadow. Ishigo then pushed forward on his second arm with all his might - only seconds later, he let go of his spear hand, causing Yugeto to force it forward, winning the struggle. But the spear did not make contact with Ishigo. No, Yugeto was unable to push the spear any further, as his hand was caught by an unseen appendage. Behind him, Yugeto's own shadow had sprung from the ground to grasp his arm behind him while simultaneously hooking its other arm around Yugeto's neck. The arm that held his neck in place slowly formed into a blade shape, threatening to cut Yugeto were he to struggle.

Yugeto spat at Ishigo, then smiled slowly. "You play games too, eh?" Yugeto was impressed with the clever feat Ishigo had pulled off. "Me too. Except I cheat." The mass of energy that was lingering under Yugeto's feet split, partially covering Yugeto as Yugeto's shadow dissipated because Yugeto's corporeal form began to lose shape. The other half partially covered the part of Ishigo's shadow threatening him. "You're the best there is, soldier. But I've gotta go. I know you like games so I promise we'll finish this game another time," were Yugeto's last words before his mouth dissolved into Spirit that floated away from Ishigo.

Ishigo crouched as he regained his breath, looking up to see the strange, silver aura fly away mysteriously.

[i]'What exactly just happened? What kind of power was that?'[/i] Ishigo asked. However, this was one time where not even Jin had the answer, [i][b]'I do not know, Ishigo. But never has there been a time where I feared for your life as much as I did just now. You should head back.[/i][/b]'

Ishigo stood up slowly, looking at the ground feeling slightly defeated. "There's no way we won't be seeing him again..." he said as he looked up at the sky around him. "Yugeto, huh? I'll be ready next time."