The Masked Invitation, A Smile At The Shrine?

Kahn entered the shrine, and looked around. He was here on a hunch, perhaps it was a bad hunch, but a hunch nonetheless. He had learned from Yoro that perhaps they were taking the word, "Clown" too literally. They needed to think about where the synonyms of what a clown meant. What did this have to do with the shrine? Well......Kahn's hunch was a little bit of a stretch. He had watched the Masked Man's message again, and something struck him. The criminal was acting like he was a savior, almost like a god who would help those in need.
 
Perhaps the fools were those who came to the shrine in hopes of finding help from what the Masked Man may consider a "false idol", thus making them fools for believing these idols would help them when the Masked Man was offering them clear salvation. Ugh....why was this person so damn cryptic. It frustrated Kahn, and this man also claimed that Ueitawa would not last past spring, meaning that they were on a short time limit. The group would have to move fast if they wanted to catch this guy, and then defeat Limbo.
 
The young man sighed, and looked around the Shrine once more. He could scan the place, but that took energy and he wanted to make sure his ally was here before that. He had contacted Hibiki since Naito was too busy, perhaps he should have called Noctis too. A third hand might not be a bad idea, oh well, next time. He made his way to the center of the pathway, and looked around for any 'fools' or Scarlet. This was a big risk, because what if the Shrine was the place? Well if it was, then he had a vague idea of how he was going to play it off. Hopefully Hibiki would play along, if need be. For now "Wendy's Kun" would wait before either Hibiki or the Smiling man or Scarlet appeared before him.

Hibiki sighed as he walked towards the shrine. This was not a preferable way to spend the day, but he figured it was for the best if they wanted to put an end to this. If they were going to the right place, of course. He had let the others decide, as he was pretty sure they had more info on this than he had, so all he could do was hope they were not just running around like the fools themselves. In a way, this was like a cat chasing a mouse, and failing miserably. Unless they were right, but there was no guarantee for that. It wasn't a bad idea, that he had to admit, as there could indeed be a correlation form what he could assume from that one time he had 'met' that Masked Man they were so hyper about. But that was just an what if.

Walking up to the Shrine, he quickly took note of the other teen there. That bright red hair was simply unmissable. He wondered how would Kahn hide if he ever needed to do so. He was totally like a lamp post. Then again, it was his decision to keep it that way. ''Hello, see anything?'', he asked casually as he slowly walked up to Kahn. Right now, he himself didn't see anything out of ordinary yet, but maybe he was missing something. And if not, they would most likely wait. For wat exactly, that he did not know, but he would keep prepared for whatever came out.

((OOC : Just a question here. Why do you keep using my username in RP? I noted you did that too in the meeting. Not that I mind, but it is a bit strange, lmao.))

The door to the large shrine would open as the woman in pink exited. Closing the door with thud, she'd turn to see Wendy's-kun and another male standing out in the open. Scarlet was rather quiet for a moment before she walked towards the two. "Ah I see! Wendy's-kun, we meet again! Couldn't stay away from the promise of victory?! Haha! Sorry, but sidekicks aren't my thing! Bwahaha!" The self proclaimed ninja super-heroine gave a laugh before suddenly stopping. Her yellow eyes looked towards Hibiki, and she looked him up and down. "Not a bad looking guy, Wendy's-kun. Is he your significant other? I didn't know you were that way. Haha, whatever whatever!" Scarlet stroked her chin as she turned to the side with a smirk beneath her mask. "So, did you finally get my message? It's about time someone showed up. Other than you guys, some dumb kid with blonde hair kept coming here and talking to the shrine like a loser. But I don't think he came here because of my message. So, are you ready to be taken to bliss? To leave this old life behind and to become the main character of your own story? It's a wonderful life, Wendy's-kun! Smiling-sama will take good care of you!" The female ninja pumped her arms in excitement at the two males.

Kahn turned when Hibiki spoke to him, and shook his head. No one was around, not even cars in the street, the shrine and the surrounding area was unpopulated this night."Nothing. However, if something happens follow my lead, this maybe our only chance." He would say the latter part in a hushed tone so only Hibiki could hear. However, after a moment he looked around again and got his phone out. Screw it he was going to call someone else to come help them, "Here, I think I know some-" He was interrupted when a rather familiar voice called out "Wendy's-kun." He turned toward Scarlet, and offered her a soft smile, "I guess not, but damn that riddle was hard. It took me awhile to figure out what you meant." He looked down at his phone briefly, and quickly sent Naito an abbreviated message that contained the following, "Smile at the shrine! Come ASAP!" He put his phone away, and was about to say something when Scarlet made a comment about Hibiki being his significant other.

"No! Wh- What even made you think that!?" He would reply clearly caught off guard by such a comment. Where on earth did she get that idea? It didn't make any sense! He quickly gave her an explanation for their presence.  "We're just friends, who had an interest in meeting you and the Smiling-sama. We may have one more here in a little bit, but she may be a bit late. I don't know how long it will take her to show up." Granted, by she he meant he, who happened to be Naito, who was perhaps the strongest of them all. Contacting Noctis crossed his mind, but his inhuman appearance may bust them at this point in time. However, Scarlet mentioned some blonde kid loser, who kept visiting the shrine and talking to it.

That was....odd....considering how Lorielle told him that Scarlet kidnapped some blonde young man in the park just the other day. Scarlet was lying to them? Why....what was so important about this kid that she had to lie? Granted, she said that he showed up at the shrine a lot, perhaps he caught them doing something they weren't supposed to be? Well...if being at the shrine was the problem, then perhaps the shrine was their base of operations. Meaning.....Smiling-Sama must be inside, or so Kahn thought. If he was true then this operation got a whole lot more dangerous. Originally, Kahn hoped to sneak in and see how far they could get. Then again...if they were both here, then now was the best time to try and capture them. Granted, it would be difficult to take them both on at once. However, just being around Scarlet he could tell something about her.....she had a lot of pride in her heroine nature. Perhaps, she could be baited into fighting by herself. Safi was hopefully pretty powerful, and together they may be able to take her out. Then if Smiling-Sama comes out, then maybe backup would have arrived. and they could take him out to.  

"Actually, Scarlet, before I accept that generous offer, I have a little bit of a test for you. A powerful and famous heroine such as yourself should be able to pass this test alone, without any trouble." He made sure to put emphasis on heroine and alone to prove a particular point. After a moment to let that sink in, he would nod toward Safi, and then continue in a bolder voice, "If you are the true and powerful heroine of truth, victory, and justice prove it to us! Someone as heroic as you should be able to overcome two challengers alone, if you truly stand on the side of victory!" Once again he put emphasis on her heroine pride and the word "alone".

"Defeat us, and we will come with you, but I warn you it will not be easy!" The tarot card of justice appeared in his hand and he crushed it simply. The crackle of glass breaking could be heard as Richard the Lionheart appeared beside Kahn on a steed. The knight rode forward charging Scarlet picking up speed very quickly. Powerful hooves clattered on the pavement as the knight and his steed closed the distance. The steed would knock her to the ground and trample her underfoot lest she moved out of the way quick enough. Regardless if his attack was successful enough he would summon his Zwielhander to aid him in battle, "The challenge declared, what will Ueitawa's famous heroine do now!?" He would narrate, hoping to rouse her heroic nature further to inspire her to fight alone.

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Hibiki nodded slightly when Kahn told him to follow his lead. He had no problem with that unless he was asked to do something way too out of line. Kahn most likely had some sort of plan though. At least he hoped so, because if something indeed happened, he wouldn't want to go out on a limb. Kahn seemed to decide to call someone else for help in case, but just then a female in pink walked out of the Shrine, adressing Kahn. Well, apparently this was who they were looking for? At least that's what it seemed like. Nonetheless, she was quite the strange individual. He looked at her a little surprised when she somehow assumed that he and Kahn were together. That wasn't what he would call a good joke, but to each their own. Kahn made it quick to correct her though. ''Yeah.'', he said simply, agreeing with the red-headed teen. He didn't particularly care about such jokes, but it would be nice to avoid that if possible.

When she mentioned a blonde kid coming around, it made him think a bit. There was one guy that would fit that description, if that one time he met Marah here at this place was anything to go by. Then again, he had no idea if that was just a one time thing, or the teen came here more often. She could have meant someone else too. Well, maybe they would find out later, wherever they'd end up. Kahn jolted him out of his thoughts when he started posing a challenge to the girl, Scarlet apparently. They were going to fight her then? To be honest he wasn't sure why, as she didn't seem hostile towards them right now, but he figured Kahn knew better. Hopefully. He did not want this to be more trouble than worth. He simply looked towards Scarlet as Kahn spoke, considering that he did not exactly know what was the plan. Thus, he chose not to speak up.

Kahn was quick to get on with it, summoning his Persona, which resembled a sort of knight on a horse, that went off to try and run Scarlet over. As much as he did not like the prospect of a fight, Hibiki did summon his own Persona, Byakko too. Whether Scarlet was knocked down or not, Byakko would call out lightning from the sky, making it rain onto Scarlet in an attempt to thoroughly electrocute her. With that done, Hibiki would continue to stand by, listening to Kahn's almost enthusiastic challenges.

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Seeing how Scarlet was still down, he would move over to Hibiki and reach into his pocket and withdraw a gem. He handed it over to his comrade in arms, "Wait for the right moment to use this." He would say, this could very well be their ace in the hole. Perhaps it could overpower Scarlet, but that was not the only thing he had to say about Scarlet, "Also as that ninja costume isn't just for show, she is fast...very fast. Furthermore, she can use her wind powers to fly so stay light on your feet, and we'll see what we can do about her. Try to keep your distance, it will give you some time to react." Then the young man would step away from Hibiki as to not make the two an easy target for some attack.

He brought his Zwiehander in front of him and shifted his left hand to the forward grip that was covered in fur. This would give him more control over the blade, and allow him to adjust to attacks that came from one of his flanks. Furthermore, he bent his knees and prepared himself for whatever Scarlet was going to unleash on them. His mind raced  for ways that they could pin her down, and keep her from moving for a long time so they could beat her down while she was unable to dodge. That would be the most optimal situation, and he had a few ideas at to what could be done. For safe measure he would take a few steps back to give him optimal time to react. This may be a hard fight, but if they play their cards right then they could come out on top. The knight on a horse was gone for now, but the red haired young man knew that he would make a return. One that may surprise Scarlet, which is what he would prefer.

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Their attacks probably surprised Scarlet, as she didn't dodge either and was now sitting down, sort of threathening them. Hopefully, she wouldn't be able to make good on that. Those blades she had looked to be pretty sharp, and getting sliced would most likely hurt bad. Hibiki turned when Kahn made his way over to him, handing him a sort of a gem. ''I see, well, allright.'', he said with a nod after Kahn explained what he knew about Scarlet. It could be troublesome though. If she was that fast and was able to fly, this wouldn't be easy no matter how they pulled it off. This made him even more confused as to why was Kahn so eager to engage her in combat, with only the two of them here. He would have found it more understandable if they had more people at hand. Supposedly, two against one was still better than nothing, but if Scarlet really was that tough, they might just face some problems here.

But, alas, it was too late to ponder over that, as there was no more turning back. Sticking the gem in his pocket for later use, he turned his gaze towards Scarlet once again. Kahn had apparently chosen to not attack in lieu of giving him info and all, so he might as well do so himself. The longer she would stay on her butt and not moving around the better. For now, he decided to take Kahn's advice to keep distance, and Byakko would stay far enough from Scarlet, before charging up and sending forth a bout of lightning with a flick of its jaw, aiming it at the pink ninja and then swiftly making its way to crouch behind Hibiki. Hopefully she wouldn't dodge that one, before getting up. Taking a quick look towards Kahn, Hibiki noted that he seemed to be covering with his weapon, in case Scarlet would attack, which was actually a good idea. He wasn't very fond of weapons, but still he'd rather have something at hand if an attack came. So, he would summon his scythe, keeping it in front of himself, in a defensive stance, backing a few steps away from her, waiting for whatever would come.

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Scarlet gave a smirk beneath her mask as the boys socialized infront of her. These two were seemingly villains to be trying to gang up on a poor woman. Well that was quite alright, Scarlet relished this moment. Her golden eyes did a quick shift to look towards the white tiger who began to charge up while the cowards backed off. How predictable and cowardly. She took this chance to quickly spin off her back and use a focused Magarula around her body to form a moderate vortex that would stretch up towards the sky and begin to pull the surrounding area into it. The wind blades involved with this vortex slashed through the decorations of the shrine, and kicked up dirt to form a sort of dirt cloud that not only blocked vision; but became a perfect cover for the ninja. When the bolt was fired from the charged up tiger, it would hit the vortex and simple disperse and crackle into nonexistence. This powerful wind attack was boosted by Scarlet's own latent abilities; and since they weren't that amazingly far from her it would begin to try and pull and lift them into the air into the very vortex. Throughout all of this, it could be assumed Scarlet was in the center of the vortex as it moved towards them, as being able to see her with the dirt cloud being thrown every where and the high winds would take someone with impressive vision slightly above normal. It also went without noting that the loud howls of wind could cover any feint sound the ninja could make with her movements. Little did the children know she had plans for both of them.

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((Ignore edits, had some minor confusion all resolved now. The post was made on time, not sure if that will show in terms of the edits. ))

Kahn was surprised to see how fast Scarlet moved from recovering from the previous blow into forming a vortex of violent winds. As he saw the vortex form, he would look to his comrade and holler, "Get further back, we gotta stay on the ground!". With that said Kahn would begin to pull, back but he would not get very far when the wind began to pull on him toward the vortex. To compensate for this he lowered his center of gravity, almost like he was squatting in the gym, but this time it was more linear. His progress was much slower, and there was no doubt that the vortex would catch up. Then he came up with a bright idea.

The tarot card of justice formed in front of him, and he removed one hand from his weapon and crushed. Richard the Lionheart appeared kneeling in a praying position with his head on the pommel of his blade, and after a brief moment ten stone crosses flow over the knight's head. These crosses planted themselves five feet from the dust cloud, with two feet in between each one of them. They would glow for a brief moment before creating a wall of light that rivaled the height of a vortex. This wall not only blocked the mighty winds of the vortex, but also the line of sight that Scarlet might have had of Hibiki and Kahn. Granted, the red haired youth doubted that the wall would hold against a vortex that not even Hibiki's lighting could dispel. He would voice his concern to Hibiki, "That wall will not hold long, we had best be ready for her or that vortex to break through it. Keep an eye out for her, because if she is on the other side of that wall she will have to come around it, point her out for the me if you see her. Also, try to attack her as soon as possible see, if you can't catch her off guard." He would say as he took a few steps back. His persona would rise from it's kneeling position and draw a shield remaining ever wary of its surroundings. Kahn was not far away from it, in case he needed it's protection or perhaps the reverse.

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Scarlet was pretty much unfazed by Hibiki’s last attack, and in a moment’s notice, she whipped up quite the ferocious wind vortex around herself, evidently attempting to send them flying. That wasn’t good. He gave Kahn a sparse glance as he gave his advice. ‘‘I’d say that‘s obvious.‘‘, he muttered slightly, trying to make his way backwards, which was far from easy with the hollering wind. He was not as physically strong as Kahn to hold himself in place just by crouching down, and at that moment he was glad that he had left his Persona summoned before. Grabbing onto the tiger helped him steady himself, while Byakko had it easier, being able to dig its claws into the ground for support against the pull of the quickly nearing wind.

Meanwhile, Kahn seemed to be struck by an idea, as he called out his knight-like Persona, creating some kind of a blinding light wall. Hibiki almost had to fight the urge to cover his eyes. Well, at least Scarlet wouldn’t see them easily either, although he kinda doubted she could have seen them properly through her own dust cloud and the wind. ‘‘Yeah, sure.‘‘, he answered Kahn’s observations shortly, trying to come up with something quick. Somehow he doubted it would be easy to catch a ninja like her off guard, but he may as well give it a go. With the wind force being slowed down by the temporary shiny wall, it was easier to walk, and Hibiki moved behind Byakko, giving it range to attack. This wouldn’t be very easy. There was no way he could attack Scarlet directly without knowing where she was. That was troublesome. He could only hope she would get in the way, which was a what if. Well, worth a try nonetheless. They were in a pinch either way. Byakko would stand its ground and roar, sending threads of electricity along the ground, forming a sort of a carpet like cover on the ground in front of Kahn’s wall and , as if an electrical net was spread there. In case Scarlet would come around, she would have to make contact with the ground eventually, even if she could fly for a period of time. He couldn’t hit her directly yet, so he would have to hope she’d step on that at some point.

With that, he would stand beside Baykko, holding his Scythe in one hand, carefully watinf for Scarlet’s and her vortex’s next move.

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((Safi will be posting before me for this round of combat, a post should be up shortly))

Unfortunately enough, Scarlet chose to keep airborne for a while longer, and flew in their direction, kicking through Kahn's wall as if it was made of butter. Which meant the wind vortex was back to lashing out at them and pulling them in. 'Damn...', Hibiki thought unamusedly, as he was once again fighting to keep his balance. He rarely cursed, even in his head, but this was getting increasingly frustrating even for him. That wind was way too troublesome. They really needed to get rid of that, or at least deflect it somewhere else. It was obvious they wouldn't be getting away like this. Even if they could keep moving backwards, it would eventually catch up, and he was pretty sure Scarlet would attempt to finish them before that happened anyway. So, continuing the other way, might not be the best option either, as Scarlet did launch herself in that direction, which meant she was most likely going to attack in some way if they moved there. On the other side, staying meant getting sucked into the vortex, and that looked like a painful option.

'There has to be something...', Hibiki racked his brain for a solution to this, as he held onto Byakko to avoid being swept into the swooshing winds. To be honest, there wasn't that much to do. Their normal attacks seemed pretty much useless against her so far, as she disspelled them with ease. Which meant, the only thing that may accomplish something right now was the thingy Kahn gave him before. If nothing, maybe he could at least get Scarlet knocked onto the ground. Although, it would be a plus if it could intercept the wind too. He didn't know just how much power it could dish out on impact. ''Don't get caught in this, okay?'', he said to Kahn, as he pulled out the gem from before and crushed it, as he crouched down with Byakko following suit, in case it would cause some sort of ruckus. The almost cute Pixie appeared not long after, floating next to him, and would spread her arms out and flit upwards toward Scarlet, flinging a powerful Almightly wave in her and the vortex's direction, that would explode when it got closer, creating a force, that would hopefully at least push Scarlet backwards into her own vortex and destroy it in process.

Meanwhile, Hibiki would stay crouched down beside Byakko, with his weapon in hand, waiting for Kahn's and Scarlet's next move carefully.

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Kahn watched the wall of light he formed due to Scarlet's enchanted kick. He felt the vortex begin to pull on him, and he was thinking about moving further back. Until he saw her perform some kind of fancy kick in mid-air to launch whatever enchanted her kick at them. Well it was not at them, but she was trying to cut them off. Well this was less than optimal, and if they got sucked into the vortex...that would be it right there. This was quite the pinch that Scarlet had put them in, granted Kahn had no more time to worry about as he felt his balance begin to slip. Thinking quickly he planted his Zwiehander into the ground using it as an anchor to keep him from getting pulled in. Granted, this would only work for so long, they would have to deal with this vortex one way or another.

He heard Hibiki say something like "Don't get caught"...yeah that was easier said then done. The big question was how.....then he saw Safi pull out the gem he gave him earlier. Oh....this was going to be big. This could turn the tides to their advantage, well perhaps he could help deal a bit more damage. Then again Scarlet was quick, so she might avoid it, but could it overpower that vortex and her spells? He watched Safi crush the gem, and watched the Pixie appear.....well he expected something a bit....more fitting for what he believed the gem to do. Moments later that small creature unleashed a powerful magic toward Scarlet, Kahn had never seen such a type of magic powerful. However, now was not the time for analysis he gave Richard a mental command. The armored knight jolted to life as the weapons were replaced by an English Longbow. The commander of the crusade took a few steps back to where it was beside Kahn. Mostly to ensure it was out of the blast range, and to hopefully assure that it would not be caught in it. They weren't too far from Hibiki, so they should be fairly safe...unless Hibiki thought to perform a suicide attack, which Kahn highly doubted.

Richard nocked two arrows, and watched the outcome of Safi's previous attack before raising the bow aiming at Scarlet. The bowstring was pulled back in one smooth motion, and after a moment to readjust his aim loosed the two arrows. The bow made a twang noise as it was released, and the two arrows flew toward their target. They made the slightest whistling noise as they flew through the air as if voicing their violent intent toward the pink ninja. If the arrows found their mark they would strike Scarlet in the chest, and may stun her briefly depending on how her footing was when she was hit.

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