The Destroyer Is Manifest!

[Blaze]

Blaze blinks.

"Is that so? Strange..."

[Feng]

"I'm obviously here to protect the shrine from being demolished" says the Chibi keeping his weapon, one that he obtained from his former job, trained at the CTC. "The shrine acts as a beacon, gathering energies for a ritual that is currently being conducted."

The orbs begin to grow a might bit restless.

"My employer must be nearing completion as the souls are becoming most restless."


ELSEWHERE
Those shrines that may or may not have been placed by Noise and Silence begin to hum as they two glow with the same fell energy found at the shrine in Academy City.


MEANWHILE

Inside the Kaiju, Light the Ninja comes across a curious anomaly, a giant blue flame that burns with the coldness of the emptiness of space and the chill of death. In short, it's quite cold.

ELSEWHERE...

The chamber of the pyramid begins to rumble violently as the ritual circle begins to glow bright red, pulsing with the usual unholy energies as seen earlier.

"We've reached a connection!" shouts Bones.

A sharp pain fills Megan's mind. Something terrible is happening in some very distant place.

Meanwhile in the Chibi Underworld, aka "some very distant place", the strange evil energy fills the darkness of the realm, the souls of the Smoking One's followers becoming restless as a reddish crack forms in the roof of the infernal realm.


Back on the Material Plane the skies begin to grow ominously dark...

The kaiju glares up at the sky and lets out a threatening roar. A small red crack has begun to form in the sky.

If Julia fails to latch onto the penguin, she'll ultimately land in some nearby bushes. While quite uncomfortable, they should soften her fall.

[Raleigh]

*Ritual Room*
*Raleigh begins to form a spear of bone in his hand waiting for when Bones goes in for the kill.*

[Maiden Miki]

"Ahhhh~" yells Megan as she places her hands on her head. She began to pound her feet several times as she felt something happening. SHe knew it was happening in a far away place but just couldn't pin on it.

[Jello Shot Mischa]

"I'm obviously here to protect the shrine from being demolished" says the Chibi keeping his weapon, one that he obtained from his former job, trained at the CTC. "The shrine acts as a beacon, gathering energies for a ritual that is currently being conducted."

The orbs begin to grow a might bit restless.

"My employer must be nearing completion as the souls are becoming most restless."

Caine smiles slightly at the ninja's words. "Oh, I see. So destruction of your shrine would disrupt your plans." She considers a moment, running her fingers through her long silver hair. "I will admit, we have no particular interest in destroying your shrine -- unless, of course, your plans pose a threat to either Academy City or the CTC."

She glances at the orbs. "I can't say I'm particularly pleased at the thought of you exploiting the lingering suffering of these poor souls for your own plans, and suspect no good can come of it, however."

Back on the Material Plane the skies begin to grow ominously dark...

The kaiju glares up at the sky and lets out a threatening roar. A small red crack has begun to form in the sky.

If Julia fails to latch onto the penguin, she'll ultimately land in some nearby bushes. While quite uncomfortable, they should soften her fall.

Murasaki notices the kaiju's motion, and the crack forming amongst the dark clouds in the sky, and frowns to herself. "Tch... so, not a wind attack, then, but something more?" She toggles her comm. "Commander? There appears to be an anomaly forming over the city."

Outside of the city, Durant nods, casting a questioning glance at her aide, who's already busy communicating with the technicians responsible for monitoring the battery of sensors located around the area. "It appears to be a space-time anomaly," the private reports. "Most likely a portal to another space-time region."

The major frowns. "So, it seems a new show is about to start. Order our reserves to stand by."

[Bigmouthstrikes]

Julia, having a renowned fear of heights, passes out after her impact with the bushes, effectively removing her from this thread.

Light, meanwhile, recognizes the darkness surrounding him and switches forms to something more comfortable around the chill of death. He changes into his necromancer form.

"There." She said. "That's better."

She tiptoed up the flame, examining it for some kind of source.

[Blaze]

Blaze blinks and runs over to Megan, kneeling down next to her!

"Megan! What's happening?!"

[Maiden Miki]

Blaze blinks and runs over to Megan, kneeling down next to her!

"Megan! What's happening?!"

"So...so....something is happening. Pain....I-I-I-I think he is doing something......" grunted Megan in between her bouts of pain.

[Feng]

The crack in the skies spreads further outward as 'shards' of the sky crash down into the earth below. In time the CTC troops and other onlookers can make out the dark abyss of the Chibi underworld. A trickle of greenish orbs rains from the skies gently falling below and hovering about. In particular they seem drawn to the giant penguin Kaiju. A smaller number however fly amongst the CTC, and one even lingers near the unconscious Julia.

Inside the Kaiju's Skull...

In her mystical form, Light-Chan might be able to detect a certain mystical aura that was previously hidden when she was originally a ninja. It would seem that the the flame holds some form of sentience as though it were the nerve center of the strange beast.

In the Temple...

The chanting reaches a climax as the circle suddenly explodes in the reddish energy. Fortunately for Bones, his minions, Blaze, and Doc, the ritualistic markings on their skin protect them from the strange aura. Unfortunately, Megan does not have this protection, an oversight on Bone's part. While normal individuals would be destroyed by the exposure to such intense power, Megan's status as the Smoking One's chosen avatar grants enough protection in which she is merely rendered unconscious by the blast.

Considering his power level and mystical might, Raleigh should be immune to the blast (although it might pack a bit of a wallop). In the center he can make out the prone body of Stone Beak being absorbed by the reddish energies, a toll to the Powers that monitor the highways between this world and the Chibi dream realm. If he is to intervene, now is the time.

The Chibi Shrine

"I cannot say whether or not my employer has designs on your city Miss," says the ninja chibi. "Given the nature of this ritual, it is possible that the area surrounding this shrine could experience some effects. So far, it would appear that the lingering energies left over from the destruction of the academy have manifested. What you see are merely echoes. While it is true that the sorcerers and shamans of the Smoking One do dabble in necromancy from time to time, their jurisdiction is typically limited to areas in which the presence the Smoking One's presence is strong."

He motions to the crack in the sky which can be seen in the distant horizon.

"It would appear that he's already created a connection with this world and the Dream Realm, probably using the underworld as a bridge between these two places. Although I confess my mystical knowledge is somewhat limited, I doubt that anything good can come from these places linking..."

"What is that fool Bones trying to accomplish?" he mutters to himself. "This is madness..."

The "Dream World"

Julia awakens in what appears to be a barren desert realm. Very little vegetation grows in this alien world, the only sign of life immediately noticeable being a flock of strange birds circling overhead...

Nearby the prone form of Megan, whose consciousness has also been drawn to this realm, lies face down in a sand dune.

[Maiden Miki]

"I....Need...to...stop...." said Megan realizing that this can't be good. Still the chibi was unable to take the pain and due to the overpowering aura she was knocked out after a few steps.

Megan soon awaken face down in sand. She looked around and yelled, "Stop!"

[Blaze]

Blaze's eyes widen as Megan passes out before she turns on Bones, handgun drawn and pointed at him.

"What the hell are you doing Bones?!"

[Jello Shot Mischa]

The crack in the skies spreads further outward as 'shards' of the sky crash down into the earth below. In time the CTC troops and other onlookers can make out the dark abyss of the Chibi underworld. A trickle of greenish orbs rains from the skies gently falling below and hovering about. In particular they seem drawn to the giant penguin Kaiju. A smaller number however fly amongst the CTC, and one even lingers near the unconscious Julia.

As the greenish orbs gather about the penguin kaiju, Murasaki pulls her mecha back a bit, not wanting to get between the orbs and their apparent target. Although the orbs also seem interested in the CTC... Murasaki is likely secure within the pocket of reality the R2 Drive produces, but the troops trying to force the partly-frozen artillery vehicles and tanks out of the city aren't quite so well protected.

Outside of the city, atop the hilltop, Major Durant frowns as she watches the orbs descend from the netherworld. "Send a drone through the portal..." she orders, and soon enough one of the CTC drones flies up to the gateway in the sky, trying to pass through.

The Chibi Shrine

"I cannot say whether or not my employer has designs on your city Miss," says the ninja chibi. "Given the nature of this ritual, it is possible that the area surrounding this shrine could experience some effects. So far, it would appear that the lingering energies left over from the destruction of the academy have manifested. What you see are merely echoes. While it is true that the sorcerers and shamans of the Smoking One do dabble in necromancy from time to time, their jurisdiction is typically limited to areas in which the presence the Smoking One's presence is strong."

He motions to the crack in the sky which can be seen in the distant horizon.

"It would appear that he's already created a connection with this world and the Dream Realm, probably using the underworld as a bridge between these two places. Although I confess my mystical knowledge is somewhat limited, I doubt that anything good can come from these places linking..."

"What is that fool Bones trying to accomplish?" he mutters to himself. "This is madness..."

Caine listens to the ninja chibi intently, frowning slightly as she glances over at the crack in the sky near the horizon. Occasionally she gets a distant look, as if listening to someone speak... most likely over the implanted communications headware. Finally, she turns her attention back to the ninja chibi.

"It seems like this ritual does pose a threat to our organization, although nothing immediate as of yet. Still, I would rather be prepared for the worst. It also does not seem that it will be particularly beneficial to yourselves, either... so perhaps for the moment we can arrange a truce, and exchange information? This shrine of yours, and your knowledge, seems like it could be useful in helping us deal with the lingering effects of the destruction of the Sand Academy. Now, admittedly, we could try to simply destroy the shrine in an effort to destabilize this ritual... but given what you've said, and the potential benefits to working with you in the future, I'm somewhat reluctant to do so. Perhaps if you could provide some information on this Lord Bones, we could try to deal with this incident at its source...which may be of benefit to both of us," she suggests.

[Raleigh]

*As those watching the ritual look on they will probably notice a bleached white bone spear with a head almost half the size of Stone Beak's torso descend from somewhere along the roof to spear into his body killing him before he can be claimed by the ritual. If they look up they will find nothing but swirling ashes at the source point though as Raleigh allowed the power serge to remove that physical manifestation of himself from the location. In an empty field outside of Muffinville Stone Beak will probably find himself waking up after just being certain he had been murdered. Sitting in front of him having a sip of tea Raleigh waits for the usual questions.*

[Feng]

At the Temple

"Put the gun away investigator before you do something regrettable," says Bones, glaring up at the swirling ashes. "While I do regret overlooking giving the girl protection, it would seem that she will pull through. You two!"

He looks at a pair of maids nearby.

"Please take Megan-Chan to the Storm Crow's infirmary. Treat her as though she were one of your own."

The girls curtsy, before gently picking up the unconscious girl's body.

Bones meanwhile watches as the corpse of Stone Beak disintegrates into red energy. "I think I will have a word with Mr. Cloak later..." he mutters before focusing back on the ceremony.


Outside Muffinville
Stone Beak gets to his feet, rubbing the back of his shaven head.

"It would appears you were successful with your ritual trickster. You've spirited me away from that fool's clutches. Now what is it that you ask of me?"

He sniffs the air a bit.

"Is that green tea?"


Academy City
The Chibi lowers his Uzi.

"Hmmm, agreed. Although I've been trained not to question orders, I'm beginning to question my employers purpose. I was informed that he was attempting to create a link to the Dream Realm, the home of our ancestors and our protectors the Guardians. Why he would do such a thing, I do not fully know. If my older brother were here he might be able to provide better explanation... I might have some idea though about what my employer, the one you call Lord Bones, is seeking after though."


The Gateway

As the CTC drone approaches the rift, a strong gravitational force begins to draw it in...

The Dream Realm (Sorry Megan >.<)

A harsh wind whips up through the sands, hot enough to scorch the unwary to their soul. Megan feels an eerie emptiness about this place...

[Blaze]

Blaze watches as the two maids move to pick Megan up, standing aside to let them do so. She lowers the gun, but doesn't put it away.

"So it was a mistake?... I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. So, Raleigh interfered with the ritual?"