Avatar of Aku the Samurai

Status

User has no status, yet

Bio

User has no bio, yet

Most Recent Posts

-
Tokyo - Japan



Aoi was conflicted.

It wasn’t exactly an uncommon feeling for him, especially as of late, but this was different, in more ways than one. He was a thinker by nature, despite his father’s efforts to train it out of him. Thinking things through before jumping into any situation was only natural. Or, it should have been. He’d followed along with the dinosaur creature on a whim, but now that he had gotten over his wonder at the situation, he was faced with a sudden thought.

What was he doing?

Really, he probably should have asked that question before hopping onto a giant orange dinosaur. It was.... out-of-character for him to be so impulsive, and yet, it was almost exh–

“Hey, you’re being real quiet up there.”

Ah. He was, wasn’t he?

“.... Sorry.”

The dinosaur merely huffed and picked up speed, prompting Aoi to tighten his grip on the spike on its shoulder. Aoi was quiet for a moment, and then his lips parted to ask a question.

“.... What was that?”

The ceratosaurid grumbled before speaking, IceDevimon. I’ve been hunting him for a while now. Didn’t think my Digidestined would be there, though. We’re both lucky I found you first.”

Aoi stayed silent for a few moments more as the sentence registered in his mind. Most of what it was talking about flew right over his head, but he got the gist of things. Logically, he knew he should have a stronger reaction to the absolute insanity that was occurring before his eyes, but.... he was never very good at that. There was still one more thing, though.

“What’s your name?”

The dinosaur rumbled briefly and it took Aoi a moment to realise it was laughing. Had he said something funny? He didn’t think so.

“About time you asked.”

Was it?

A burning orange eye turned to him and Aoi was once again struck by the enormity of the creature he was seated upon. He supposed it hadn't quite hit yet, mostly due to the abruptness of the situation he'd found himself in. The very way he'd seen the world his entire life had been irreversibly altered in the span of five minutes. His eyes wavered, but he didn't have much more time to dwell on those thoughts.

“I’m GeoGreymon. And don’t you forget it.”

Aoi was quiet once again after the introduction. He took another long look at his new companion and blinked in confusion.

What was so grey about it...?

Another rumble quickly shook him from his thoughts. It was laughing again.

Aoi didn’t understand why.

Unfortunately, before he could ponder it any further, he felt GeoGreymon start to slow down, and a quick look upwards revealed why. There was a building with a hole in the back, which was strange enough on its own, and made even stranger by the sounds coming from inside. It didn't sound familiar, but apparently, his companion either didn't notice the difference or didn't care, as it barged into the building—which Aoi idly noticed was an arcade—without much care.

Aoi ducked his head to avoid the tumbling bricks as GeoGreymon burst through the hole in the wall, making it bigger on the way. Once the dust cleared from his vision, he took in the sight before him. A small group of people and some other creatures were being terrorised by a.... a.... a dragon? It was the best descriptor Aoi could think of at the moment, but it did seem to fit quite well. If only it–

“Ah,” Aoi uttered as GeoGreymon lifted him from its shoulder and placed him carefully on the floor. With him now out of the way, the ceratosaurid charged at the dragon thing to intercept its attack.

“HORN IMPULSE!”
[ 𝑅𝒾 𝓁 𝑒𝓎 ]




A scavenger hunt?

Ugh. If he'd known this was what they had planned, he would have still been passed out in his room. That would still have been a better use of his time than this, in any case. Why would he bother wasting time scavenging for irrelevant facts that he could easily learn by himself at literally any other time? Crystals crunched between Riley's teeth and he swallowed reflexively. Another chocolate bar followed in short order, dissolving like ice upon his tongue.

He crossed his arms and frowned, annoyance creasing his brow. If this was–

Oh?

Riley looked on with fascination as Emily brought out the "prizes". Mood plants were foreign to him, and while they didn't seem to have much use at first glance—detecting someone's mood held little obvious practicality—that didn't stop his interest. He wondered how they accomplished such a feat—chemicals, maybe? Or perhaps, something more esoteric. Leftovers were intriguing to him in more ways than one; beings mutated by the same event that cursed blessed humanity with godlike powers. As beautiful as they were terrifying. Maybe this scavenger hunt wouldn't be an entirely useless endeavour, if the prizes were any indication.

"You should have started with that. I almost walked off."

The AD's final request for no conflict went mostly unanswered, though not necessarily ignored. Riley had no reason or desire to start a fight, and hopefully, none of the others did either. It also wouldn't serve any real purpose beyond antagonising potential teammates. The last part of Emily's sentence, however, did not escape his notice.

.... Another day? Well, if that wasn't ominous.

The mushroom-thing among them didn't seem very enthused about the reward for the scavenger hunt, though. It had quite a strong reaction to the display of the mood plants, actually. It made Riley curious of what else could get a reaction out of it.

He gave the Leftover a glance, then his eyes fell to the spores it shed and he grimaced. Even inhuman monstrosities littered?

Again. Ugh.

A casual flick of a finger was all it took to get rid of the fallen spores, their very being dissolving like snowflakes in the sunlight. Then, he turned his attention to their source.

"Everything's made of the same thing. Far as I'm concerned, there is no difference between them and a dog."

A half-truth, but one that would hopefully satisfy his burgeoning curiosity.
[ 𝑅𝒾 𝓁 𝑒𝓎 ]




A pale hand rose to meet an equally pale face, stifling a small yawn.

Riley blinked the tiredness from his eyes as he sat up and stretched languidly, sighing at the satisfying pops in his joints. A dull ache spread throughout his body after the fact and he winced. That was surely a sign to start sleeping more like a normal person if he'd ever felt one. Easier said than done, though, as it were. Rest was a secondary concern at present, at least until he'd made more headway than just not having things blow up in his face anymore.

Especially when he was this close to a breakthrough. Close, of course, simply meaning he was a mere micrometre closer to accomplishing what he’d set out to do a few days ago in a fit of boredom. It sounded less impressive than it actually was.

Still, progress was progress.

His eyes drifted to the small, innocuous object lying on his desk. It was an unadorned, 5cmx5cm, cube of solid tungsten. For now, at least.

Riley heaved a sigh and tossed the cube aside, its visage shifting into oak wood as it fell. He kicked back from the desk, his chair teetering just shy of falling over. A frown tugged on his lips as he gazed down at the unfamiliar device in his hands.

Before being moved into H.E.R.O. One, everything he’d brought with him to Castleburg had been confiscated, including the smartphone she gave him. The replacement he’d been given was subpar in more ways than one, but he could deal. It was a small price to pay for keeping his promise, all things considered.

He had no intention of going back on his word, but he had to admit the idea was getting more tempting by the minute.

As if on some kind of cue, Riley’s smartwatch lit up with a message from Director Powers.

"Attention, heroes. I need a group of you to assist me at the Johnstone Convention Center. If you are available, please come and–"


Riley didn’t bother listening to the rest, switching off his smartwatch without a second thought. He rested his chin in the crook of his elbow with a soft sigh, gazing idly at the ticking clock on the wall.

Today was supposed to be his H.E.R.O. debut, but he wasn’t feeling particularly festive. He never did. He and crowds didn’t mix well, for obvious reasons. He knew he had a tight leash on things, but “twice the pride, double the fall“.... or something like that. Besides, showing off at the whims of his H.E.R.O. overlords didn’t exactly appeal to him, and it was optional, no? There was no reason to go if he didn’t want to....

....

.... Riley sighed again. He couldn’t keep avoiding everything forever.

Without much thought, he pushed himself off from his chair and glanced at his reflection in the full-body mirror.

Dishevelled. That was the first word to come to his mind when he saw himself; bags under his eyes, hair even messier than usual and the colour of his nails almost entirely faded away. The next word–

“.... Ugh.”

It took very little time for Riley to get himself perfectly in order, and he gave himself another once-over to ensure everything was in its rightful place before heading out. Indifferent to the chill of the winter season, he simply wore an oversized black hoodie with a cat logo emblazoned on the front over a t-shirt, dark jeans and sandals to let his nails dry. His eyes wandered and he considered the mask sitting on his bed for a moment.

It wouldn’t hurt.



Riley squinted up at the sky as he made his way out of the building. It was overcast today and most people would call it cold out. He couldn’t relate to that.

Shoving a tiny bar of chocolate past his lips, Riley turned his musings to more important matters as he chewed.

Whatever the director had planned for whoever decided to join him didn’t matter. The seminar that would take place on the island required the least amount of effort to attend, so that was the one he chose to attend. Riley had no real interest in either event, but that was the lesser of two evils in his eyes.

Then Riley laid his eyes on the eclectic group he was meant to join. And he used the term very loosely. They were basically just a bunch of floating atoms without even–

Hold on.

He blinked away the weirdness and gave the group another look, seeing them as they were supposed to be this time.

The first one was a girl dressed almost entirely in white, with dark hair and really green eyes. Her face looked carved from ice, and yet.... hm. He recognised her, of course, though he'd never met her in person. Dahlia, a former member of Death Bouquet. Riley wasn't one to curse people out, but they were a right group of witches. She was different, from what he had been told.

He'd form his own opinion on that.

The next girl was younger, with long greyish hair, but she had a similar air around her. They weren't related, as far as he knew, so it was probably just an odd coincidence. He knew of her too, though she was of a different sort. Her powers were familiar, but they didn't compare.

The third girl was interesting. It hit a little too close to home for his taste, so he had avoided that one. Her name was Rupa Sterling, as she'd just embarrassingly shouted to the heavens moments ago.

The fourth one was a guy, Joseph Moore. His powers were terribly interesting, but as much as Riley wanted to pester him about it, he restrained himself. There would be time for that later.

Then there were the others.

Standing out from the group of normies was a giant woman dressed in.... spandex(?)—well, something like it, at least—and a walking, talking mushroom thing—a leftover. He thought those were kill on sight.

What kind of freakshow did he just walk into? Riley couldn't help but wonder.

The irony was not lost on him.

Finally, his eyes fell on the woman of the hour, Emily Duff. And what a woman she was. In his completely unbiased opinion, of course. Riley sighed, popping another piece of chocolate into his mouth. If only she wasn't one of them.

"You're the AD, right? Let's get this over with."
Sylva

Town of the Undead


Sylva wasn’t exactly sure how much damage he’d be able to do with what was essentially a sturdy plank. It had been more of an afterthought than anything else when he’d taken it with him, but now that he was facing down a group of armoured zombies, it was starting to hit how woefully unprepared he was. It didn’t help that the undead weren’t nearly as “braindead” as he’d first thought.

His grip tightened on his makeshift weapon, his knuckles whitening, but it wasn’t fear that made his heart race, made his blood rush and his hands quiver.

Here’s to hoping his batting skills weren’t too rusty.

The first zombie that walked into his range earned a strike to its unarmoured shin. The limb snapped a bit easier than he expected, and the shambling undead collapsed to the ground. Of course, that wasn’t enough to kill it. Even without being able to walk, it was still crawling towards him unceasingly.

Sylva cocked his arms back and swung downwards as hard as he could, bashing its head in once, twice, thrice, to make sure that it was completely dead. Deader? Un-undead? He had to find a word for that some–

Sylva’s eyes widened and he hastily raised his plank just in time to block a slash from one of the other zombies and winced as the blade cleaved almost entirely through the wood in one hit. He immediately released the plank—farewell—and stepped out of range of the zombie’s sword.

Well, that sucked. Now, he was out a weapon.

Suddenly, Sora shouted something and the zombie approaching Sylva halted. It was just for a moment, but it gave Sylva enough time to grab the rusted sword dropped by the first undead—he hoped his glove was enough to protect him from tetanus!—and swing it up at the second one.

@VitaVitaAR @RolePlayerRoxas @SilverPaw @PKMNB0Y


Tokyo - Japan



Aoi breathed deeply. He held his eyes closed as he did so, letting his entire body relax to the rhythm of his breathing.

“Hajime!”

Aoi’s eyes snapped open at the exact moment his opponent launched into motion with a blur of movement. He smoothly blocked the initial kick but chose not to counterattack, simply waiting for his opponent to reorient himself instead of going on the offensive. His eyes tracked the older boy’s every move, adjusting his footwork as needed.

His opponent overextended his next strike and this time, Aoi didn’t let the opportunity pass him by. Taking advantage of the momentum from the missed strike, he ducked beneath the blow, pulling his left arm back and then striking forward with his fingers curled. Aoi felt his palm connect with his opponent’s sternum, realising too late that he had perhaps used too much force.

He felt a crack, and his opponent let out a cry.

Aoi stared blankly as Yusuke dropped to the floor, a flash of remorse that didn’t show in his eyes coursing through him.

“Hitsugaya! What did I tell you about restraint?!”

The boy in question straightened instinctively.

“I–” he stopped himself, “Apologies, sensei. My mind was.... elsewhere.

“Keeping your mind focused is essential for a martial artist. Remember that.”

Aoi remained quiet, merely bowing his head.

After that unfortunate display of brutality, the session was ended prematurely. Aoi released a breath as he stepped out of the dojo, bag slung over his shoulder and eyes downcast. Restraint was never a skill he was taught much about nor did it come easily to him. It wasn’t the first time a sparring session had been cut short because of him, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. His eyes briefly flickered across the nearly empty street.

No one was here to pick him up today either, not that he minded. He was used to it by now, and it was a pleasant day to take an afternoon stroll....

Aoi stopped in his tracks.

.... At least, it should have been.

The sudden fog that descended was odd for more reasons than one. He didn’t remember reading anything about this. The temperate rose sharply, and a few drops of perspiration formed on his brow.

And then something in the fog caught his eyes; a glowing, vaguely egg-shaped object hovering in the air. It floated leisurely towards him, and Aoi unconsciously reached out to it. It landed gently in his arms and the glow faded, revealing a red and orange egg with a blade-like protrusion. He studied the object curiously, turning it over in his hands in few times. It was unlike any egg he’d ever seen.

It was almost like–

Suddenly, the display TVs in the store across from him all started displaying static. And then, in a flash of light that forced Aoi to shield his eyes, something shattered the glass windows of the building and the ground shook. He lowered his hand and blinked the spots from his eyes, then his gaze turned upwards.... and kept going.

Aoi’s eyes widened slightly at the sight before him.

A hulking orange theropod with fiery orange eyes was standing before him. If it weren’t for the stripes and blue-tipped spikes on its arms, shoulders, and jaw, he might have thought that he’d stepped right into the Jurassic period. There was also the fact that it was more humanoid than Aoi remembered any dinosaur being.

The giant reptile turned its gaze towards him and Aoi remained motionless as its brown-helmeted head was lowered to his level. Its eyes briefly glanced at the egg held in his hands and a puff of air blew from its nostrils, ruffling Aoi’s hair even more than it usually was.

“You’re a lot smaller than I thought you'd be.”

Huh. He didn’t know dinosaurs could talk.

“Dinosaur?”

Ah, had he said that out loud? Oops.

A loud rumble drew both of their attention back to the electronics store where the TV screens flickered once again. This time, Aoi witnessed the event in full as something else emerged from the static. It would have been nearly pure-white, if not for the deep purple marking on its chest and the wrappings on some parts of its body. From its back sprouted a pair of tattered wings and upon its head rose a pair of horns reminiscent of a bull. Its elongated arms ended in wickedly sharp claws and by the look on its face—twisted as it was in an expression of pure malice—Aoi doubted it would be nearly as friendly as the literal dinosaur standing right next to him.

That was an unbelievable sentence.

The orange dinosaur behind him growled, and suddenly the temperature rose once again.

Aoi barely had time to blink before a massive gout of flames blew over him, at least several metres above his head. The winged creature released a howl, the sound grating on his ears, and its wings extended—just a fraction of a second too late for it to avoid the blast that sent it crashing back into the building.

A few moments later, the creature burst from the rubble looking worse for the wear, black scorch marks covering its body. It swayed slightly on its feet but didn’t fall. Instead, it appeared to glare at the pair before spreading its wings again and shooting off into the sky.

The dinosaur snorted, and Aoi turned around just in time for a wave of heat to hit him in the face, “I’m not letting him get away. Are you coming or what?”

Aoi blinked at the words and looked down at the egg in his arms, which was now glowing again. In a quick flash of light, Aoi’s left hand was now occupied by a strange phone-like device. Its screen glinted as he stared at it and the slightest hint of a smile tugged at his lips.

“Sure, why not?”
@Aku the Samurai Any ETA on when your posts are coming? Or do you need some help?

I'll have it done by Thursday, at most.

Yui Kazuma


Location: 1B Homeroom, Eirei Academy, Shibuya, Tokyo Prefecture

Who let the crackhead in? Yui thought idly, electing to ignore the newcomer and remove his blazer, throwing it unceremoniously onto his bed. Engaging with an idiot would only encourage them. He wasn’t really in the mood right now. The only reason he had even stopped by the dorm was to grab his other bracer. Now that he’d gotten that, there was no reason to stick around any longer. His dormmates weren’t going anywhere.

Strolling through the hallways, Yui scrolled through his Hawkpad, looking for.... well, he wasn’t exactly searching for anything in particular, but he found something interesting in a sense.

A potential Nomu sighting. And it was relatively close by, too.

Yui hummed in thought as his eyes scanned his device. He stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. It was probably nonsense, but it wouldn’t hurt to check it out since he was free for the day. If it turned out to be true, doing something about it would be the “heroic” thing to do, and he was never one to miss out on a brawl, stakes be damned. And besides, there was a restaurant nearby the place he wanted to check out anyway. There was no time like the present, as they say.

It certainly wouldn’t be boring either way.

He activated his bracers and checked his battery. He considered the display for a moment, his lips thinning. It would take a good few hours more before he reached full power but he didn't need full power right now, just sufficient power.

[45%]

That should be more than enough.


Le'Nombril Restau

Yui took a seat in one of the, no doubt expensive, chairs after making his way to the restaurant. He’d made good time getting here, one of the perks of having a license to use his Quirk. He noted a few familiar faces as he sat, but he didn’t pay them much attention. Fancy restaurants weren’t usually his thing—too much of a waste for his liking—but today wasn’t a typical day. He could probably learn a thing or two from the place too. It wouldn’t hurt to–

Suddenly, all hell broke loose, and several people jumped into action all at once.

Well, he supposed the Nomu sighting wasn’t a rumour.

Downing the rest of his glass in a single gulp, Yui’s eyes flashed as he stood, his bracers activating and forming his armour in just under five seconds. He’d have to work on that.

Before he could get too lost in his musing, Yui noticed someone acting off, lashing out at everyone and everything around her. Someone he recognised. Kanako Seiki, his mind supplied, a fellow Hawks intern with a telepathy Quirk if he recalled correctly. His eyes flickered over towards the Nomu and it didn’t take long for it to click.

Yui barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Did she truly just incapacitate herself by trying to link minds with a mindless monster? It was almost absurd, but it had happened, and it was going to be a problem.

With the current situation analysed, Yui shot into motion, barely a second having passed. He launched himself at the Nomu, gathering as much energy as he could spare to hit the creature with the force of a missile, sending it flying dozens of metres away. It wouldn't do much damage, but it created some much-needed distance between it and everyone else.

Yui bounced on the tips of his toes, giving himself a minor charge.

“Bang.”
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet