Starring:
Date: September 23, 2016
Summary:
On a mission for the Daimyou of the Land of Tea, a trio of kunoichi go out looking for one of the groups attacking Tea's shipping, looking for answers as to who is behind it.
"Vagrant Uprising - Magical Girl Death Squad"
Land of Tea
It has been too long since Asami and Rei have been on the same mission together. Far, far, far too long. The nature of the mission may be serious, of course. There are groups of criminals that normally don't work together trying to sabotage shipments and steal stuff from Tea Country merchants. They're going after one of these groups… An entire criminal organization, even if only one among many. But it's still kind of romantic. Asami and her lovely lady, out to fight bad guys and save their adopted home. Just the two of them…
…And Fuma Momomo. Sigh.
Oh, well. It's always good to get to interact with her extended 'family', even if they are only related in name rather than bloodline. Asami's parents were adopted into the Clan, after all. But even so… There isn't much in the way of family out here. And as much of a roamer and nomad as Asami is, she likes to make connections with others. If she'd never met Rei, for example, she doesn't know where she'd be or what state she'd be in. That love has kept her tethered in a positive way, allowing her to relax, her spirit to heal, and to feel she has someone to come back to, instead of feeling driven to go from place to place trying to find something elusive and fleeting that will escape her the moment she comes close to grasping it.
If she can strike up a friendship with the protege of the Fuma princess, Himeko, then why not?
Right now, the trio have tracked down the criminal group they're after to a warehouse where they're about to try to sabotage a bunch of cargo sitting inside the building.
What the bad guys don't realize is that, hidden among the crates, are three kunoichi disguised as crates themselves. These guys aren't ninja, it doesn't look like. Which doesn't mean they can't be dangerous, but it does mean they don't seem to have any means of distinguishing a Transformation Technique from the real thing.
So all they have to do is wait for the right moment… And then act! (re)
Off to battle! Rei isn't really the best for combat, but she IS good at infiltration and using less then kind tactics to win battles. Taking down a criminal organization seems like something she'd lightly assisted with in the past, but forming a relationship with that pesky Fuma girl has steeled her will and made her more determined to make more of a difference.
Rei has taken over bodies, infiltrated places herself, and done all sorts of other infiltration methods, but disguising herself as a crate is a new one on her. To keep them ready and because it's very unlikely these goofs have a Sensor among them that can detect it going on, she would already have a telepathic link setup between her and the two Fuma girls so they can communicate without speaking. She isn't too talkative thus far, though, as she is listening to hear what's going on around them. (Re)
Momomo is SO EXCITED like WHOAH. This is her first mission. Her first. Ever. Mission. She can't believe she's made it to this point in her training! She'll definitely take on these bad guys and save the day! …Or rather, they all will, because they are a TEAM. YEAH. She's kind of surprised that Himeko was willing to 'loan out' her apprentice like this, but she's glad for this trust being shown to her. And has two cool 'big sister' types to learn from now as well!
She has done a LOT of learning with her time spent in their company so far. How to gather information, how to be stealthy, how to use the inexperience of her opponents against them, and other things like that. And now, she is a crate, waiting for the bad guys to come in and attempt to start trouble. Once she has caught them in the act, they can make a dramatic appearance, just like REAL magical girls!
«Hey, what kind of poses should we do?» Momomo asks over the link. «Should we coordinate, or freestyle?» She just assumes everyone knows what she's talking about, because clearly the world revolves around magical girl manga as much as her life does. (Re)
Asami has no idea what to respond to Momomo. «…What? We don't… No. We don't need any poses. Just… Take them out.» She doesn't know anything about magical girls. What she does know is that the bad guys are moving closer and closer, starting to open crates in preparation to trash their contents, or pour some sort of combustive accelerant inside they brought in with them, etc. Before they can make progress with that beyond opening a couple boxes, a cloud of smoke erupts from Asami's location as she sends to the others, «Take them out now. Dead or alive.»
Her Fuma shuriken flies through the air, preceding Asami's appearance from the smoke cloud, and stopping in the middle of a group of the surprised goon squad. Some wires linking the shuriken to Asami's fingers glint in the dim lighting. Then something clicks in the weapon, and the blades fly off, stabbing into all enemies nearby. They cry out in pain, curse and yell, and draw swords in preparation for combat! (Re)
«…. Poses? Do I look like I can do hero poses effectively?» Rei shakes her head within her crate henge while she continues to wait for their opportunity to strike. Sneaking in and striking effectively is more her thing than drawing attention and getting herself stabbed. She doesn't even like to mess up her hair in battle.
Rei stays crouched down as Asami begins her attack. While the Fuma woman draws all the attention, the Yamanaka hides her own puff of smoke in hers and points her hands forward to send her consciousness into the body of one of the men they're after. Should she be successful, that man suddenly draws his blade and begins to stab his friends in the back quite literally.
Momomo, in a hurry to join in, poofs into existence as well, pulls back her shuriken and charges, with a, "Yaaaa!" Then she strips over her own feet, falling on her face, but also throwing her Fuma shuriken in the process. She lies there for a few moments before getting up, face smudged, and says, "Y-you may think I just tripped and fell, but that was actually a secret maneuver! Any moment now that shuriken will come back to me like a boomerang and take you all out from behind!" Momomo points at the direction the shuriken went.
It's planed in the wall of the warehouse and not coming back. But if they're distracted by that, they may give Momomo time to get up and leap into the air to kick one of them in the face! "Sailor Momomo Wedding KIIIIICK!"
Momomo, in a hurry to join in, poofs into existence as well, pulls back her shuriken and charges, with a, "Yaaaa!" Then she trips over her own feet, falling on her face, but also throwing her Fuma shuriken in the process. She lies there for a few moments before getting up, face smudged, and says, "Y-you may think I just tripped and fell, but that was actually a secret maneuver! Any moment now that shuriken will come back to me like a boomerang and take you all out from behind!" Momomo points at the direction the shuriken went.
It's planed in the wall of the warehouse and not coming back. But if they're distracted by that, they may give Momomo time to get up and leap into the air to kick one of them in the face! "Sailor Momomo Wedding KIIIIICK!"
Rei's usage of Hidenjutsu works just fine, and the body she inhabits sets about stabbing and cutting down the host's own allies with abandon, adding another element of confusion to the mix, though he is no ninja, and thus she may soon have to abandon that body as his criminal allies turn on him or else suffer stab wounds herself.
Momomo's thrown shuriken chops off a guy's ear! They turn to look when she points at the shuriken that is FOR SURE DEFINITE going to come back and hit them from behind. It doesn't come back, because it is stuck in the wall. When they turn around again, angry and ready to cut the green-haired girl up, one of them gets a boot to the head.
These men are not ninja, though they can use their weapons to various degrees of proficiency. When they realize they are alone in a warehouse with an unknown number of ninja who are cutting them up like lunch meat, they turn and prepare to flee. Asami leaps up and over, vaulting the entire crowd and landing in front of the open warehouse doors. One woman, blocking their exit.
She draws her katana and wakizashi and says, "Now that we've reduced your numbers, we'd like to ask some questions. If you answer now, the number of you who survive will be higher than if you refuse." The Fuma raises the blades and says, "What is your choice?"
The leader stands out as a tubby guy with hair (facial and otherwise) like a lion with a receding mane. He swings his cane towards Asami, and says, "It's just one woman! Take her down so we can get out of here!"
The goons charge. Welp. There's the answer.
Asami starts cutting again while those guarding their rear keep an eye on Momomo and the possibly now-dead ally who turned traitor. Unless he is still stabbing them, then they're fighting back.
Rei isn't too bad at maneuvering when she's in a body that's more fit than her own. She would mostly manage to evade damage while stabbing other dudes. When Asami leaps in front, the body she's in control of looks her way and waits for the response… more attacking.
The body shakes its head and then moves into more striking, particularly chasing down the crowd Asami is facing off with to come at them from the side so there is an attack on two fronts to drive them back toward the inside of the warehouse and hopefully be able to shut the doors and lock them somehow so no one else can easily escape.
Momomo goes, "H-hey!" as her opponents she was barely fending off with hand to hand combat since she is pretty useless without her shuriken (and maybe even with), but she's even worse when her opponents turn around and run away from her. She chases after them, but then they turn BACK around to cover their own interrupted retreat, and Momomo has to skid to a stop. "Uguuuu~… My shuriken is stuck in the wall. How am I supposed to fight them!?" She ponders.
Suddenly she goes flying through the air again, yelling out, "Sailor Momomo Honeymoon KIIIIIIICK!" and tries to kick two guys in the face at the SAME TIME.
Best/worst magical girl ever!?
Their combined efforts, with Rei's prowess at controlling her hijacked body, Momomo's energetic and strangely-effective Magical Girl Taijutsu, and Asami's sword work turn the mass of baddies into a meat grinder between the three of them. In the end, the only people left of the criminal group still okay enough to answer questions are the one that Rei is controlling and the fairly blood-spattered leader left behind.
He is pretty traumatized by this point. Criminals hear all the time about how dangerous ninja are, but they never quite seem to grasp the difference involved in training, in superhuman abilities and ninja magic.
So when Asami brings a sword up to his throat, and says to Rei and Momomo, "Rei, can you scan this man instead of the one you're controlling? Momomo, can you tie up her current host?" The guy is completely terrified and doesn't know what's going on. He was just looking in anger and fear at the man he thought betrayed him but now they're talking hosts and controlling and… "No! No! Wait! I don't know anything! All I know is a name! I'm a mook like these idiots! I answer to Yoshitaka! Boss Yoshitaka of the Red East Group! I don't know why we're doing all this! I'm just doing as I was told! Please, let me go!"
Asami's eyes are cold as she looks down at him, and then asks, "Well, Rei-chan. What do you think we should do?"
The body Rei is controlling would nod to Asami before it falls limp. Rei's real body stands up again, her hands pointing at the man Asami indicates and sending herself into that body instead. Once inside, her body falls limp again while the man's eyes close as she begins going through his surface thoughts, particularly the ones he's trying hard not to think about so she can get the information they need. "… I say we should probably let them be a message to their buddies."
"Haha what? Shouldn't we take these guys to the hospital now or something?" Momomo asks. "I mean, we kicked the youma out of them. No more evil spirits. They're saved. We kind of hurt them in the process, so let's treat them and get out of here. Like… We didn't ACTUALLY kill any of them did we?" She looks around at all the bodies. "What do you even mean by 'use them as a message'? Like, we already beat them. So we've shown that the forces of evil won't triumph, right, so… You know." Increasingly uncomfortable with how serious this mission turned out to be and how she may have played a part in killing a lot of people.
Maaaaybe she wasn't ready for a mission after all.
Once she realizes how serious this is, at least, she does tie the hands of the host the Rei leaves, binding his wrists behind his back with… P-pink ribbons!?
What Rei finds out is… This loser really is a small fry despite how he dresses. He really does work for some boss guy named Yoshitaka, and they really are the 'Red East Group'. And he really doesn't know why they're messing with Tea's shipping, they're just doing as they're told by their boss…
Asami squints at Momomo and her protests. "…I suppose we could let this last guy live. There may be some merit to that idea, Rei-chan. He certainly could serve a messager." And if he's stupid and cowardly as he appears to be, he could even lead the kunoichi right back to his boss. Sure, Rei can just dig Yoshitaka's location out of the jerk's brain, but if this guy doesn't report back, he might start to think something's wrong. He might change locations. If they let shortround here report back at least, and maybe give him some false leads about who they're going after next or where… Yoshitaka might stay put. And then they'll nail him.
All of this is communicated to Rei thanks to that telepathy link, assuming it's still active. Otherwise, she'll have to tell Rei after loser guy who is gone. Alternately, of course… If Rei can keep control long enough, they could just have Asami carry Rei's unconscious body and have Rei walk the guy to Yoshitaka as their prisoner. It all depends on how deep she can dig into his memory and how much control she has. Enough to fake being this guy?
