PlagueOfUndeath

"It's UkyO...and if you can make it about 100 meters that way," she pointed to the way she and her team had come from, "We can have Chihaya use the jump beacon and get to the Shinjuku base in a few seconds. And the Momotaro thing is a namesake. We earned it after we took out half the oni in this area."

That shocker got in a lucky shot. Or so he thought.
Reishi stood up not more than a few seconds after being "put down".
Reishi's friends and personal trainers always likened her to a wolf. She was strong, fast, and when cornered, was absolutely vicious.
"Let's see you try that again buddy!" Reishi yelled as she charged at her attacker. All pain was forgotten, and her tingling nerves subsided. She kicked the Shocker like a soccer ball straight up into the air, where she leapt up and slammed him in the back with her elbow.
She landed on her feet, but the shocker ate dirt.

Rylie and Talon had barely driven more than a kilometer into the city before meeting their first demons.
A group of about seven Oni, each about ten feet tall, built like super gorillas, and wielding clubs made from anything from car parts to human bones wandered into their path, howling and hooting at the car.

Asuka grinned, she loved showing off.
"Watch this guys," she walked up to a pedestal with a series of concrete slabs. She stacked four of them on the pedestal, and hit the top one.
The bottom one shattered.
"Now the middle one."
She struck again, this time the middle of the three remaining slabs shattered.
"This place is small..." she said, glancing around the room. She thought all gymnasiums short of olympic size ones were small.

"Usoutsuki..." Sae said, frowning. (OOC: Easter egg: what does that mean? Division Six is from Men in Black, they'd use it as a cover whenever they needed to pose as government officials)
"Whatever, you're obviously not demons, but the U.N. blockade is the only one I know of, not that it's been necessary, I can count the number of demon attacks on areas outside Tokyo with one hand, and most of those were on Shinkansen trains bound for Nagoya. We've figured out that whatever is controlling these things wants each area picked clean before moving on. And the only ones that DO move outside Tokyo are...well, they WERE human..."
Sae looked down, silent. Her team had once numbered nearly a dozen, but were now down to four.
"Anyway," she said, regaining her composure, "I'm Ukyo Sae -uh, if you're not familiar, Sae is my first name, and please call me Ukyo-san or Ukyo-taichou in front of the SDF soldiers- this big guy is Oda Eichiro, he's our resident strongman, the little one in the miko outfit is our, well, miko, Mizumi Chihaya. Finally, the runt with the white hair is Hyoumura Ryuji. Our team is known as the Momotaro Group."

(More Easter Eggs: Eichiro's name and the connection between the team and the Momotaro legend)

"Containment of what? It's all our forces can do to keep these things from US. If you're worried about the spread, they don't seem to like high altitudes, so mainly just blockaded all the train tunnels to keep them from spreading," Sae replied.
"SAE-CHAN!" Chihaya yelled, a panicked expression on her face.
"Nani o Chihaya?" Sae asked.
Chihaya whispered something in Sae's ear and then backed up, fearfully, behind Eichiro.
Sae looked deadly serious as she turned to face them.
"What are you? Chihaya says you don't have human auras."

(OOC: Actually what I meant was:
[ QUOTE ]
((>.> thought i said gangs...))

As Reishi flew back an outcast shocker grabbed her and put her in a masterlock like move sending electricity into her brain and knocking her out.

[/ QUOTE ]
The bolded italic part doesn't work, she just finished pounding the mage and was standing still. Add to that the mage's attack didn't knock her back. Meaning at the time the shocker would attack her, she'd have a chance to defend herself, as I doubt an outcast invests much in stealth. I'm not saying the stun effect can't/won't happen, but the method doesn't work.)

[ QUOTE ]
((Cold - Temporary difficulty spike for the gang members being too weak. 'sides, there are Circle in Perez some places.))

[/ QUOTE ]
(OOC: And I always considered CoT a gang...they technically are, just a lot older than the other gangs.)

(OOC: Yeah there really aren't that many skyways, mostly rail bridges around Tokyo proper. Other cities and suburbs do have them, but the more condensed a city is, the less practical a gigantic bridge is. And in CoH/V Tokyo, post Rikti war, I'd wager a lot more emphasis on underground travel has been placed.)

"\Chihaya, we need Fuega\," Sae ordered.

"Roger!" Chihaya began a chant and a blue mist began to coalesce around her, forming into a black wolf with red eyes.
"\Fuega! Howl!\" Chihaya commanded.
The wolf let loose a loud howl, a howl with a divine pitch to it.
Instantly the surviving shriekers began to tremor, and either dropped dead or flew off.
"\Good doggy\!" Chihaya grinned, and Fuega licked her hand before returning to mist and dissipating.

"Hey you guys in there, it's safe for now! C'mon out!" Sae called.

Note: Shriekers are sensitive to sound, it distorts their own powers.

(OOC: Reishi was never knocked back, she's been standing still)

(OOC: Shriekers don't really have limbs, think the Scourge from starcraft, but i see the point)

The bolt of darkness hit her, stunned her for a moment, then dissipated.
"That hurt," she said coldly, and charged the mage, grabbing his head and slamming him into the dirt, but not stopping. She dragged him about eight yards before releasing him.
She still tingled, like her entire body had fallen asleep, but her adrenaline was pumping, and she was excited.

(OOC: Aren't apartments in close proximity to the train tracks MORE expensive? Not that it matters at this point, just curious)

Suddenly the tank felt another series of 'clangs' as the Shriekers in pursuit began to fly into the tank at absurd speeds.
Sae's team, meanwhile, had closed about half the distance to the tank.

"Finally! Some action!" Reishi exclaimed, grinning widely.
Reishi hoisted the poor flag carrying troll above her head and tossed him at the Gardvord. Then she kicked the flag into her hand (hopefully that sends it back).
She then met the first oncoming Brick with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head, and leapt into the air to avoid the next Brick's attack, which smashed the ground where she was just standing.
She landed behind him, and introduced the back of his knees to her shin.
Kicking the two bricks, with their rock hard armor, would normally shatter a person's bones. All Reishi got was a bruise, which healed about 5 seconds later.
She turned to face the third and final brick.
"That all? C'mon!"

(OOC: Yeah, the bar thing is minor...a lot of people (including me when I first got there) think each city district is smaller than it actually is.
The Japanese love them booze)

(OOC: Uh...hm, how do i put this...10 man en is 100,000 yen, and I don't think they have a currency that goes that high. Add to that, minor thing, but there's more than one bar in Akihabara There's three under the rail bridge alone hehe. Though I supposed that bridge would be gone in this story.)

Reishi administed a quick chop to the back of the Troll flag carrier's hand, causing him to drop the flag. She then hoisted the troll, placing him right on top of the flag, and sat on him.
She yawned. Trolls were boring, all bluster and no "kick".

(OOC: So, in theory then, as long as I keep the troll knocked out and don't touch the flag, I can, in effect, "camp" it? And if anyone gets too close to it, i just pick it up and they have to run back towards the other point?)

(OOC: Does that happen if you hit the person carrying it? Or touch the flag? Or does it have to go for a certain period of time before it returns?)

(OOC: Not many if any skyways in Tokyo btw, they take up a lot of space, most roads go underground)

"\Chihaya, how close to the last signal can we get?\" Sae asked when the team was prepped at a 'jump pad' that allowed fast access to recovered shrines and celestial beacons within a 5 km radius.
"\About 100 meters, it's pretty close to where we were before. It's gonna be bumpy though,\" Chihaya replied.
"\Most beacons are...\" Sae groaned.
"\Sorry I'm late\," a short young man, about five feet tall wearing a heavy grey fur coat with a hood. His features were highlighted by a serious looking scowl and a shock of white hair .(OOC: Think Tetsuo from Akira with white hair.)
"\Bout time you got here Ryuji\," Eichiro chided.
"\My sister's not exactly improving you oaf\," Ryuji retorted.
"Enough, we're jumping," Sae interjected before one of them got violent.
The term "Jump" is quite literal: The miko will activate a seal and they'll be flung in the air, and land at the beacon. Shrines were equipped with the protective seals, and were thus a lot cleaner landing.
Beacons however...you're lucky to land right side up.
This team was seasoned, and landed relatively as is (Chihaya did a faceplant after landing) and began surveying right away.
They saw the tank some distance away, with the mage from before on top of it...
...and a horde of shriekers in hot pursuit.
"Good thing we took care of that Rock Devil earlier...or this'd be for nothing," Eichiro said.

(OOC: what happens to the flags when we take them back?)

Shinjuku Station AKA "Base Yamato"
Shinjuku station, being the second largest in the world behind Nagoya station (Which, at this time and during the Rikti war, was a refugee camp) had been retrofitted to be a military base. Several of the train lines, including the Shinkansen (OOC: Hey, even a demon has trouble catching something that can travel 300 KM/h) had been secured and were being used to transport refugees and supplies in and out of Tokyo.
This train station was the primary reason Shinjuku was as defensible as it was. Akihabara had the benefit of dumb luck: proximity to the Meiji shrine and an overabundance of extremely eccentric model builders made the entire Chiyoda area highly defensible, but Shinjuku succeeded in this conflict purely because it was still fortified from the Rikti war.
The wards played havoc with magical abilities not related to the divine, so the human defenses were primarily SDF, Hero Corps, and non-Mu Arachnos.
In recent years, however, "SDF" had come to be a broad umbrella term for anyone who would take up the sword, so to speak, and fight for their country.

Sae wore the badge of a Squad Commander, a rank designated to team leaders of groups sent to eliminate nests, rescue hostages, or recover artifacts.
Finally back at the base, she took the time to relax.
Shinjuku had changed so much...just three years ago it was a party town, and now it was a symbol of defense and human will...
"Ukyo-san!" a young man, younger than Sae herself, called.
"\What is it Kenta?\" she said halfheartedly, sipping some green tea.
"\There's reports of...of...a tank! In the area you were just in!\" Kenta announced breathlessly.
"\A tank? But I thought the last tank was smashed during the last gate raid?\" Sae was intrigued.
"\It's a foreign model, they've sent military! The foreigners have finally sent tanks!\" Kenta was so excited Sae was afraid he'd piss himself.
"\Calm down, go get Chihaya, Eichiro, and Ryuji, we're gonna see this for ourselves\," Sae grinned, picking up her sword and guns.
"\By the way...Ukyo-san?\" Kenta asked, his face scrunched.
"Nani?"
"\Why do you wear your school uniform? Wouldn't some fatigues protect more?" he asked, blushing a little. Sae's uniform consisted of a plaid blue skirt and short sleeve blouse. She didn't wear the neckerchief, having used it on a splint for someone's broken leg during the initial attack. She had made some 'alterations' to the skirt, making it shorter and easier to move in. She wore bike shorts for the sake of modesty, however.
"It's comfortable, and if I wore armor it'd just slow me down," she replied, "War isn't a time for modesty."

The potion connected with the Hound, dissolving it into a puddle...that reformed into two Lesser Hounds.
Many of the Hounds seemed to enjoy hunting and devouring the shambling zombies.
Three of the Hounds, however, had caught scent of the bigger prize: the mage himself. Ignoring the hordes of undead, they charged at the mage, leaping at him like a...pack of hungry wolves.
A shadow moved quickly in front of the mage, and all three wolves were blasted back, and turned to dust.
"\Chihaya! NOW!\" he roared.
"\Seal of the Rain God! RAIN OF LIGHT!\" Chihaya shouted, throwing a stack of seals into the air.
Each seal emitted a flurry of light-rays, each directed at the attacking Hounds. Surprisingly, none of the hounds were dusted, but they were scared off.
The attack finished, and Chihaya collapsed into Eichiro's arms.
"You need to use holy magic or no magic at all to kill the Hounds," came a voice from behind the mage,"Any other kind just attracts them, especially soul magic, since nearly every demon above a Shrieker likes to eat souls."
Sae jumped down off a nearby ruined building and faced the mage, pacing around him and looking him up and down.
"Though I'll admit, it's a good way to act as bait," she mocked, "You should be careful, seriously, at least the Rikti left survivors, these things only want to kill us. More than that, they want to devour our souls."
Sae reached into her backpack and pulled out a small communicator, obviously a retrofitted cellphone. She tossed it to the mage.
"My team and I have to get back, we've been gone too long anyway. If you get into trouble, just type 119, and someone will send a rescue team, if there's one to spare."
Sae kept walking down the hill, tailed closely by Eichiro.
Chihaya, conscious again, turned to look at the mage.
"I know you're strong mister...and I can sense your age, so...remember 'shellshock'," she said, before running off after her teammates.

Reishi, hearing the obviously brain damaged troll shout his victory, leapt in front and to the left of him, stopping him with a well-placed foot to the back of the knees. (OOC: Leaping Pool FTW )

Magic...it smelled magic.
Delicious magic. Exquisite.
The Greater Hound, whose name cannot be spoken with a human tongue, "smelled" magic.
He wasn't alone. The "scent" of magic attracted Greater Hounds from all over. Most knew already to avoid the magic of the High Priests and Priestesses, and a specially designed seal kept them from smelling the magic of lesser priests and miko across such distances.
No sooner did the unliving army arise, than the first of the Hounds arrive.
The spirits attempted to defend themselves in vain, many were dispersed within moments. Worse, the Hounds seemed to be feeding on the very essence of the Daemons.