paixaorpg | Intruders [Complete]

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Intruders [Complete]

Character(s): Kenshin and Jintetsu
Content: Paixao's historical fiction buddies continue their ~~mystical~~ grand adventure.
Setting: Elysian Fields and St. Destino Church
Time: Mid-day, the day after the festival
Warnings: There will be fighting, yep.

There was no sun visable in the cloudy sky, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly how long it had taken for them to cross the field, but Kenshin suspected mid-day was soon approaching.

The Elysian Fields were beautiful, yet also strangely eerie, the white grass barely moving in the soft breeze that rustled locks of Kenshin's hair. It was so quiet, nothing seemed to be making a sound, not even the orbs of light that floated down around them like falling snow. At first Kenshin had thought it was really was some strange snow before they'd entered it and he found he was mistaken. Still, it was very similar. The sound of falling snow...

Kenshin found himself stepping lightly as he could. He almost felt like they were intruding into this quiet peaceful yet strange world. How different it was after being trapped inside those domes all that time. The rurouni wouldn't mind staying outside and wandering about to see what else he could find, however there was much going on within the city, and with the journals not working he'd have no idea what was going on. And what if Kaoru-dono was somehow pulled here? Or any of his friends? No, staying outside wasn't an option.

Finally their destination was there before him and Kenshin found himself slowing his pace as he took it in.

It seemed almost forgotten out here. Abandoned and forgotten...

Was there really something special about it? It seemed hard to believe... Yet perhaps that was what one was meant to be led to think. Anyone with something to hide would find a place like this an ideal location.

Well, there was only one way to find out. There was only one way into the church that he could see, so it seemed coming in the front door would be the only option, despite not being ideal. Kenshin subconciously touched the sakabatou's hilt as he glanced to Jintetsu, before heading towards the door.

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It felt almost anticlimactic to reach the place without any other trouble, Jintetsu mused as they approached the once far-off building. Although it hadn't diminished the feeling that they were trespassing somewhere they weren't supposed to be. Well, good; with any luck, this was the part where they'd find out why.

It did look pretty thoroughly abandoned, from the outside, at least. The grey stone was clearly weathered, and one of the high-set windows above the door was broken. Still, it couldn't hurt to be careful. There had to be a reason they'd been kept away from it. He kept his own hand lightly over Haganemaru's hilt as well, silently returning Kenshin's glance before falling into step behind him.

The rurouni lightly touched the handle, hesitating. He couldn't hear anything, all seemed quiet, nor could he get any sense of anything. It seemed safe enough. Well there was only one way to find out.

Kenshin gave the door a careful push, and cautiously looked into the dimly-lit church. The little light that managed to filter itself through the dirty windows only barely made the interior visable. Rows of pews ran down either side, a couple tipped over long ago.

Almost everything was coated in dust, although there were some signs of someone having been here, which someone had at some point, hadn't they? Other than that, mostly the place looked as abandoned as it appeared. Was there really anything to find here?

Still remaining cautious, Kenshin slowly entered the church.

Jintetsu followed him inside, peripherally noting the heavy dustiness of the air, but keeping alert for signs of motion nonetheless. But nothing showed itself the further he walked down the aisle, and after a few tense seconds, he allowed himself to relax a little, and stopped a few pews back from the altar, observing it with mild curiosity.

Haganemaru, on the other hand, wasn't terribly interested in it, and continued glancing around the sanctuary. "What a dump," he commented eventually. "Who'd live in a place like this?"

That was enough to draw Jintetsu's attention, and he turned away from it almost reluctantly. He'd kind of hoped it'd be clearer than this, more immediate. Absently, he picked up a book he'd just noticed resting on the pew in front of him and began flipping through it, not slowly enough to read. They were gonna have to work for it if they wanted answers.

Kenshin paused where he was glancing around in the other direction as Jintetsu moved down through the aisles. He glanced back at Jintetsu as he suddenly had spoken up, although Kenshin paused before answering. That was not usually the sort of thing he heard Jintetsu say...

"Sessha doubts anyone would have lived here," the rurouni replied after a moment, shrugging the oddness off. "It seems to be mainly a place of worship..."

He watched the wanderer flip through the book for a moment, before returning to looking around. Nothing, however, seemed all that special about this place at all. The only really interesting thing was the scuffings in the dust on the floor which former visitors had left behind. Kenshin crouched down to get a closer look. They looked to have been maybe a month ago? Perhaps a little more? They weren't fresh, but they certainly were recent, if Kenshin was any judge. What interested him most was they did not seem like marks of merely someone walking in...

So, what had they found? He couldn't recall any of the details. It had been a passing glance at best.

"Sessha is not sure there is anything much to be found here after all," he finally commented as he rose.

Perhaps whatever had been found here was long gone.

A place of worship actually made more sense the more pages of the book he glimpsed; mentions of a god jumped out at him every other page. Still, the script was so bizarre that it unnerved him to be able to read it in the first place. Jintetsu clamped the book shut and set it back down where he'd found it, turning back to Kenshin.

He couldn't help thinking that would be giving up too fast. "Maybe not," he said, tilting his head. "But I'd rather find a lot of nothing than miss something." Particularly since this was really the only idea he had. If there turned out not to be anything worth looking at in here, they were right back at square one, so he didn't want to head back until he was sure, at least.

He glanced back at the altar; there didn't appear to be anything too suspicious that way, except for the doors off to either side of it. "I'm gonna keep lookin' around down here," he said, starting toward one of them. Whether Kenshin looked upstairs or anything was totally up to him.

Kenshin nodded to Jintetsu. He was right, there was possibly something interesting somewhere in the rest of the church, as there did seem to be some rooms beyond the alter, and possibly an upper area as there were some balconies above, although Kenshin hadn't seen any stairs off hand.

Watching Jintetsu head towards the back, the rurouni glanced around and moved towards the back of the church again. Ah, there! What was that?

Noticing a bit of an alcove, Kenshin went to investigate, and sure enough, there were the stairs! Narrow and a bit steep, they wound their way upstairs, it appeared. Taking a cautious glance around, Kenshin started up, cringing slightly at the creaks.

Coming up onto the landing he looked around carefully, before moving through a doorway. Well, here was the balcony, pews lined up before him, looking down over the main area.

Well, was there anything else up here?

The first room turned out to be a dead end, empty of anything but a few bottles of wine and an ornate-looking chalice. The one through the door opposite it was more cluttered and took longer to search, but yielded an equal lack of results. Jintetsu didn't bother to upend the place. Anyway, there was something fundamentally weird about going through a priest's stuff, even if he wasn't coming back.

"You still think there's anything to find here?" Haganemaru commented quietly as Jintetsu opened the door back into the sanctuary. "I mean, I'd hate it as much as you if we came all the way out here for nothing, but ..."

Jintetsu just looked at him briefly, then silently fixed his hat and went on.

By now Kenshin had disappeared from where he'd last seen him, but a glimpse of bright red hair up in the balcony showed him where he'd gone. Rather than yell across the room, Jintetsu made his way back to the narthex, and found the creaky wooden stairs without too much trouble. "Find anything?" he asked as he came through the upper doorway.

After a brief exploration, Kenshin came to the realization there really wasn't much more up here, other than a metal staircase winding up into the bell tower high above and a door. What the door was, the rurouni wasn't sure as it was locked although judging from the structure of the building it couldn't be a large room. It could just be a storage closet, in fact. Well there was only one way to find out.

Being locked that didn't mean they couldn't get in, it just would leave a great deal of evidence they'd been here, but if that was the only choice...

Kenshin shifted the sakabatou, grasping the saya and the hilt, preparing to make a battoujutsu at the door, but paused when he sensed Jintetsu getting closer and the tell-tale sound of the creaking stairs. Sure enough, the wanderer appeared a moment later.

The red-head shook his head, "No... there is little up here, but this locked door."

Jintetsu took a cursory glance around the balcony as he entered, as if double-checking Kenshin's assessment. A few rows of dusty, unassuming pews, the rusty metal staircase, and the door in question, which he approached. Set in the back wall as it was, and with windows on other side, there wasn't really anything it could be other than a closet. But why lock it? Nothing else in the church had been locked.

Maybe it was random, and the closet would turn up empty. But maybe it wasn't.

He stepped forward and rattled the knob to make sure it really was locked. It was, but as he drew his hand back away, he almost thought he felt something through the crack of the door. A draft? No, he was probably imagining it. "Can we get it open?" he asked.

Kenshin watched as Jintetsu shook the lock and frowned. Why would a storage closet be locked? This place seemed abandoned... it was rather strange.

The rurouni hmm'd thoughtfully for a moment then said, "Perhaps the lock can be broken, de gozaru."

Stepping before the door, Kenshin rested his hand on the hilt of the sakabatou as he grasped the saya, standing in a ready position for a moment, waiting for Jintetsu to move out of the way before he suddenly whisked the blade from the saya, slicing in downwards motion at the crack in the door using the reverse side of the sakabatou - inanimate objects being the only things the sharp side would ever be allowed to cut.

It certainly sounded like he'd cut something, as he finished the motion and slid the sakabatou back into the saya. With a glance to Jintetsu to make sure the wanderer looked ready, Kenshin carefully tugged on the door, it now giving way, the sheared off chunk of the bolt dropping from the door frame to the floor.

Jintetsu stepped out of the way to let Kenshin at the door, leaning back in mild surprise as the sakabatou flew cleanly out and back. With that stance, it wasn't too great a surprise for him to have attacked it, but he wasn't really sure what good he thought it would do - until the severed bolt dropped from the door, and it swung open. Had his eyebrows not been drawn on, that would've warranted raising one; instead he waited a second to be sure, then approached the gap to have a look inside.

It took him a few seconds to really register what he saw. The locked closet door didn't lead to a closet at all.

The room was way too big. It shouldn't have been able to fit in the building, much less in that particular wall - the rest of the sanctuary could have fit comfortably inside it (Jintetsu glanced quickly over his shoulder to make sure the rest of the church was still where he'd left it, which it was). And while it shared the same old-looking stonework, vaulted ceiling, and narrow stained-glass windows as the rest of the cathedral, the lack of any other furniture or adornment made it look almost as out of place as its size did.

"Good God," Haganemaru breathed. It was really all he could say right now. In his shock, he didn't notice Jintetsu had started moving again until they were already a few feet inside, with his left hand loose over the hilt.

The only other really noteworthy feature of the room was the door at its far end, standing alone atop a short flight of stairs, and it was this that Jintetsu had begun a careful walk toward, his heartbeat trying to speed in anticipation. This had to be it. Whatever "it" was, they'd found it.

... But where was that weird tapping sound coming from? Those weren't footsteps.

Following Jintetsu, Kenshin's eyes widened. This room was huge! But... how could that possibly be? There was no way this room could exist!

"This... makes no sense, de gozaru," Kenshin breathed, as he stood there looking around, before following Jintetsu's gaze to the door with a staircase. This room was baffling enough without the possibility of yet another room.

The rurouni however, stopped after a few paces as Jintetsu headed to the staircase.

Tapping... Where...? Where was that coming from? Wait!

Kenshin's eyes snapped open wide as he got a sense they weren't alone and he quickly realized from which direction their company was hiding in. Drawing the sakabatou, he leapt backwards, eyes glued to dark ceiling.

"Above!" he called out, urgently.

Above them, in the rafters, something stirred. Whether it really slept was difficult to say, but nonetheless, it had been disturbed. Two men. Young. Armed. This was all the further its assessment extended. One was moving more quickly than the other, so if it just maneuvered a bit... Its huge claws tapped lightly on the stonework as it positioned itself overhead, like mercury flowing from one place to another.

By the time Kenshin's shout rang out, it was too late to compromise its original strategy. This was the opportune moment. At that instant, the Mantid dropped from the ceiling, righting itself as it fell with an eerie shift of its six claws' shape from one orientation to the other, and landing directly between the two intruders.

Despite being at least fifteen times larger than either of the them, it moved as if weightless, shaking the floor on impact only out of a deliberate intent to do so. Still, its sharpened limbs each packed the full force of its apparent mass, as one each lashed out lightning-fast at Kenshin and Jintetsu.

Jintetsu whirled back and looked up just in time to see the monster drop down between himself and Kenshin. Caught off-guard, he barely managed to avoid the claw descending on him in time. "What is that?!" Haganemaru exclaimed as Jintetsu whipped him from his sheath. Whatever it was, it was damn fas-

He couldn't totally dodge its first slash at him, and was forced to parry with his sword, though the force of the blow knocked him badly off-balance. The second or two it took him to be sure he wouldn't fall was accompanied by a lot of internal swearing. If ever there was a worse possible time to be so far outpaced, he didn't know what.

Caught on the other side of the creature, Kenshin was having a easier time. Despite being so fast, the creature was still large, it's movement very obvious to read. Easily, with god-like speed, he dodged the attacks.

What was this thing? It... looked a little like a mantis, but it was huge! It was a monster, for lack of a better description. It was like something out of a story. Kenshin couldn't help but think they'd gotten themselves a little in over their heads.

The real question was, could he damage it? He dodged another sweep of the creatures leg, dropping low then swept the sakabatou upwards, aiming for one of the legs with a cry of, "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu - Ryu Sho Sen!"

The creature's leg twitched slightly as the sakabatou impacted it, but otherwise it exhibited no sign of damage whatsoever. Kenshin had, however, managed to draw the Mantid's attention, and it promptly turned its eyeless, emblemed head to face him. High speed, but employing only blunt weaponry. The threat this one presented was, for now, minimal, but nevertheless it was to eliminate all intruders.

It countered by snapping together its two nearest claws on Kenshin's position, in a rapid scissor-like motion. Jintetsu was, for the moment, ignored.

Fortunately, the monster had decided to leave him alone for a moment, which allowed Jintetsu just enough time to regain his bearings. There was no way in hell they were going to be able to kill that thing, but it stood between him and the way out... He glanced at the way forward, but the second door was sealed with an almost comically large padlock and a copious amount of chains. Nobody was getting out that way.

He'd just have to make a run for it. The space between its body and the ground looked like enough to run through if he ducked, and as that looked to be the only immediate option, he bolted, bending as he ran between two of its massive claws and underneath it.

Kenshin hopped back and looked troubled. That had done nothing at all. No popped joints or torn ligaments (Did it have those things?), nothing. This creature was far above them. Even if he did turn his blade to attack, Kenshin was uncertain he'd still be able to do enough damage to take the creature down.

Catching sight of Jintetsu, the rurouni quickly sprung into action, preparing to try to distract the thing at least so his companion could get to the opposite side. This time Kenshin leapt upwards, high as he could as he then came down, sakabatou poised for a hard hit to one of the creature's claw arms.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu - Ryu Tsui Sen!"

Damage this time was not his intention at all. A distraction was all it needed to be.

As low as Kenshin's threat level was, the Mantid made no effort to dodge his attack. As expected, the blunt sword again failed to cause any significant damage, and the creature, relatively unconcerned with him, turned to seek the other young man for analysis, stomping heavily enough as it did so to leave fairly large dents in the wood of the floor. The second intruder, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Just then, something brushed lightly against its underside; with the first man still in plain sight, it could only be the second. With one claw it made a lightning-fast sweep close to the ground directly beneath itself, and a second simultaneously jabbed at the spot it expected Jintetsu to occupy.

Jintetsu was only about halfway across when the monster began to move; he skidded to a stop to avoid being impaled by the massive claws, but in the process he vaguely felt his hat graze the grey body directly above him. He ducked again and edged toward the exit, but by then his momentary halt had already cost him badly.

The two claws met their marks almost simultaneously, the first sweeping his ankles out from under him while the second struck him full in the opposite side. The room spun violently around him from the impact. Haganemaru slipped from his slackened fingers and fell end-over-end across the floor before coming to rest by the door they'd come through. Jintetsu took a similar tumble, but in a different direction, and only stopped by slamming back-first into a side wall beneath one of the windows, almost twenty feet away from his sword.

He wasn't unconscious, not yet, but he was dazed, and as he slumped onto the floor he could swear he felt something in his back shift painfully in a way it wasn't supposed to. Get up. Get up! something in his mind screamed through the spinning, and he was trying, but it would be a couple more seconds before his limbs would quit fumbling and listen to him, and that was a couple seconds too long.

His attack hadn't distracted half as well as he'd hoped, or really even slight as he'd hoped. Kenshin wasn't sure what to do now at this point. He couldn't even distract it.

Had Jintetsu been able to move? Trying to catch sight of him around the huge creature was difficult, but Kenshin finally spotted him as he was being slammed into a wall. "Jintetsu!" he called out, wondering if the wanderer was even still concious. Somehow Kenshin had to get around to Jintetsu and get out of here. It seemed he had no choice, he realized as he glanced at the sakabatou. Even if he turned the blade, he didn't think he could kill the monster before him.

All he had to do at this point was disable it enough. Tightening his grip around the hilt, Kenshin slid the sakabatou back into the saya, sliding into a low position, holding only a moment before he sprang forward, as he pulled the sakabatou back out from the saya at great speed - a battoujutsu. He aimed for a leg again, but this time he swung at it with the sharp side of his blade.

That, the monster noticed. With the blade side turned, Kenshin's attack connected much more substantially, even if the damage it caused wasn't visible and didn't appear to cause it any pain. It did, however, notch up his threat rating considerably.

Immediately, the rurouni had the Mantid's full attention, its head whirling to face him in the blink of an eye; with the same speed, it reared back and, unnaturally suspended in midair, stabbed ruthlessly at Kenshin's position with all six of its claws, not quite simultaneously. Even should he dodge the first, there would be at least one more there to strike him whichever direction he chose.

Kenshin's eyes widened as still he did no damage. They were truly in trouble now. He'd also, finally, managed to get the Mantid's attention, but a little too late.

He sprang back as the claws attacked. The first was dodged, then the second... but... fast! And with so many legs predicting which would fall was almost impossible. He dodged the best he could, but finally a claw connected, and Kenshin was struck. He cried out as he flew through the air, by shere fluke colliding into the frame of the door that led back into the church. He lay there in a daze as the claws struck for him but ended up ramming the door frame, hitting him only enough to send him further into the church, skidding amungst the dusty pews on the balcony beyond the creatures reach.

The rurouni lay there, his vision blurry and growing dark. He could make out the claws attempting in vain to reach him through the door. That's the last thing Kenshin would remember before he passed out.

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Intruders [Complete]

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