ic Oh no, there goes Tokyo !

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

Paper smirked as the ninjas he could see in the crowd dropped like flies.

“Can you believe it? You guys will never graduate to be real ninjas.”

 

He looked up just in time to see four more drop from the rafters, fleeing from Neko’s illusions. He grinned as they landed. Two took off running again, but the other two attacked. One’s weapon went wide, missing him, and part of him hoped it hadn’t hit a bystander. The second one was dead on though.

Leon raised his left arm to block it and the little throwing star embedded itself into his forearm. Paper didn’t even seem to acknowledge it as his right hand reached out and raked his fingers though one of the other ghostly lanterns hanging in the air around him.

 

“Too slow! You guys would lose to turtles.”

 

The lantern fell apart, but in his hand he held several playing card sized pieces of paper. With a flick of his wrist the paper stiffened as he hurled them at one of the two. The paper slam into the first ninja like a series of blows from a heavy-weight boxer.

The blank white mask focuses on the last one standing before him as paper slithers around him like a living thing. It collects and grows up into his waiting hand, a staff forming. He twirls it easily without looking away from the last ninja on the stage with him.

The shuriken still planted deeply in his left arm seemingly unnoticed. No blood seeping from the wound as he spins the staff. With his right hand he makes a beckoning motion at the second attacker.

 

“Yūkigāreba.” (“If you dare.”)

Edited April 30 by Spacefurry

[RocketLord]

GM

 

One of the fleeing ninja falls the moment the paper slams into him, going down hard on the ground. 

 

Another stops, staring at Paper. Maybe he is genuinely intimidated, as he sees all the ninja on the ground around him, obviously stopped by this strange paper controlling man, or maybe he is just surprised that he speaks Japanese. Whatever else, he seems unwilling to continue running, keeping an eye on Paper instead.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

With the ninjas backstage dealt with, Bernadette's duplicate continued to lead the rest of the band away from the stage and to safety. Turning back toward the stage, the original Bernadette moved over to get a better view of what was going on.

 

She found the hall cleared, with Leon facing off with one remaining Ninja. Looking up she saw Charlie and Neko were facing off with another, red-clad ninja that was up there. Still not having changed into costume or otherwise able to conceal her identity, Bernadette remained where she was, waiting to see anyone needed her help, but feeling they mostly seemed to have things in hand.

[Avenger Assembled]

"<Come on, you worthless hound of Katana!>" Neko shouted at the Katanarchist, her voice a feral, growling whine. A Japanese speaker would have heard an old, rural dialect, like something from the tongue of a country great-grandmother or a character in a stage play. "<Are you going to hide behind his mask like a dog?>" She feinted and struck with her flaming naginata, her bare feet scratching on the floor as she seemed to slide past her enemy before she returned to where she'd originally stood, staying well out of a normal man's melee range as she moved with cat-like speed. 

[RocketLord]

The STORMCROW

 

"<Alright, boss ninja. Looks like it's just you and us now.>" Stormcrow moves across the rafters, nimbly moving between them while Neko shouts at the ninja. 

 

He jumps, flips and throws a small ball full of expanding riot foam at the ninja... and they move out of the way. He should've seen that coming. Even after taking that hit from Neko, it's a ninja. Maybe it's time to stop being cute and just get in close?

 

"<Stand down, and we'll go easy on you. I promise, I'm the nicest guy here!>"

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The ninja hisses as Neko taunts them, turning and failing to slash at her while she moves past. The taunt actually manages to earn a response, as the ninja shouts back "<Silence, traitor!>", not that it does the ninja much good, the flaming nagitana striking them straight in the face, the psychic backlash sending the ninja reeling. 

 

They only just manages to move out of the way of Stormcrow's attack, stumbling out of the wait as the riot foam expands next to them, before shaking their head, turning to growl at Neko. "<Traitor!>"

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

Paper stood looking back at the ninja. The would be attacker watching him cautiously. The boy tilted his head to one sid slightly and Paper smirked behind his mask.

“Too slow.”

He said in English as behind the other man, paper gathered menacingly. From its rustling mass a large paper white serpent rose. Its mouth opened in a silent hiss.

Then, it struck like a monstrous constrictor. Attempting to wrap around the man and bind him.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

With no immediate threats around, Bernadette's duplicates stayed with the other members of the band, making sure none of the attackers snuck around to threaten them. Meanwhile, the original looked up to the rafters where Charlie and Neko were facing the remaining ninja.

Taking a running start, the redhead leapt up to the rafters to try to deliver a kick at the ninja. "Looks like yer tha only one left." She called out. Perhaps that had been a mistake, as the ninja duck aside with practiced ease, and the Irish teen’s kick missed and she landed on the rafters, quickly balancing herself.

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko struck home again with her second strike - but didn't seem to do any damage, instead her flaming naginata skitting off her target's sword. She responded with a gutter oath that would have gotten her ears pulled - hard - when she was a girl, and leaped out of the way of a retaliatory strike, keeping moving so she stayed out of range of the man's blades. "Kutabare paku!" she spat, the pupils in her golden eyes narrowed to slits. "<You fight for a ghost! A dead thing! I have seen it in the brains of an American boy! Katana is dead and so is his cause!>" She had learned something of a real warrior's honor from Owain and so added in a whining, inhuman growl, "<A man would not hide his face, Katana's dog!>"  

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The ninja, despite blocking the blow with his own sword, staggers back a few feet as he feels the weight of the flaming naginata, whether it is an illusion or not.

 

He growls, though whether it is in annoyance, pain or anger, is hard to tell. There is something inhuman about the sound that he makes.

 

"Do you think that a great man can die so easily? That his ideals do not outlive his body?"

 

At Neko's prompting, he reaches for his mask, pulls it down... and reveals a feline face. To Paper, Multi-Girl and Stormcrow, he looks very much like a male version of Neko, though particularly feral looking, with dark fur on his ears. 

 

"What would you know of honor? Deserter! Betrayer! Decades might have passed, but our oath lives on! You will see justice!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Neko's eyes snapped open wide, her ears retreating behind her head as her tail puffed out behind her. Her blade faded away in her grip as all but her most customary illusions faded away, and she stood there in her red and gold kimono and sneakers, a step away from what she might have been a few years earlier. No - decades more, in a Japan long lost to time and history. She blinked, her heart racing in her chest, and smelled home and family. The mountains all around. The feel of grass between her toes. 

 

The summer grasses

All that remains 

of warriors' dreams 

 

"<I WAS A CHILD!>" she screamed in a voice that rang across the empty theater, a sob in the echoes as her mind cartwheeled ahead to the reality this man, this nekomata, represented. She stared down at her own clawed hands as she thought of a geas that lasted even beyond death, and for a whole people. "<I thought - you. What is your name? Where are you from?>" 

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

Paper turned away from the ninja as the paper constrictor took the would-be assailant out of the fight. He turned his attention towards the rafters where Neko and Berni were facing the last of their attackers.

 

He could see her girlfriend had one of the ninjas at (flaming) blade point and he grinned. That was his kitty showing her claws and he was always proud to be her partner.

 

Suddenly something changed though, he could see it in her body language. Then her weapon faded away and her cry echoed through the small venue.

Leon was already moving. Sheets of paper unconsciously forming steps up to the rafters even as he ran.