Fateful Darkness Down Under [Hard, DE]

[Kazura Uzaki]

Name: [Fateful Darkness Down Under] - The Adventure Name

Participants: [Irina, Raph, Scarlet] - Who can participate?

Location: [Australia] - Where does this take place?

Difficulty Level: [Hard] - Easy, Medium, Hard, Extreme. How difficult is this adventure?

Setting: [DE] Is this DE or NDE? Death Enabled or Non Death Enabled?

Plotline: [Darkness has been building in hiding. The Force that started as an invasion of Hellions into Australia a few years ago that had been stopped by Uzaki Enterprises Employees Marcus Cole and Kitai Yoru (before he was himself condemned to Hell) has simply been biding its time healing, no, festering like an untreated infection below the surface of the continent. The Darkness responsible is somehow connected to UE CEO Kazura Uzaki and as a result he has sent a team to purge it once and for all. Unable to join them himself, they may be the last bastion against a hidden threat that could spell the end of Humanity if it were to fully realize...] - Explain the plot of your adventure.

Estimated Enemy Strength: [3] Estimate the strength of the NPC's people will fight in this adventure. Class 7-1, what is their strength on average?

Estimated Time Until Completion: [4-5 perhaps] - How many pages do you think this adventure will run for until it is over?

Starts: [Now] - When does the adventure begin?

Special Conditions: [N/A] - Any special conditions, limitations, or other things.

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One minute after midnight, the Airport PA system called out for the Priority boarding for the ANA Nonstop flight from Haneda Airport HND to Sydney International Airport SYD. The Boeing 787 aircraft would be fairly full in Economy, but rumor had it that all 30 of the Business Class seats on this flight had been purchased but only 3 ticketed passengers had checked in. For someone to have gone to such great lengths and cost to reserve such a massive amount of space for these passengers why didn't they just hire/use a private jet or something? For whatever the reason, this early in the morning nobody was concerned about the three that had just entered the jet bridge leading towards the start of a nearly 10 hour flight. A flight that could lead towards the end of all life as the Land of the Living knew it...

T-Minus 24 hours to Apocalypse...

[Kazura Uzaki]

24 Hours Prior

A lonely figure stands upon the highest point of Uzaki Tower, the tallest building among the business district of Karakura Town. The cloudy sky has blocked out all stars and even the moon does not shine through the thick cloud layer. To any outside observer, there is no one standing atop the tower. No one who could step in and save whomever it is if they fell either by happenstance or intentional act. From that vantage point past even the penthouse offices that lonely figure stares into the black void that is the night sky, their gaze not fixed on any one target but pointed thousands of miles away into the distance. For that figure, no, that man, the starless, moonless, midnight sky might as well be high noon for the bright image burned into his vision. From his perch on the very top of Uzaki Tower, CEO Kazura Uzaki stares transfixed at what can only be described as a feverish hallucination as a result of three days without sleep.

How else was he to explain the false vision of raining Dark Hellfire across the land anywhere he turned to look?

At the center of the waking nightmare, towards the South, was the silhouette of a laughing man a hundred stories high. An outstretched accusatory finger is pointed directly at Kazura and in an abrupt shattering the entire vision breaks as if it had never been there. Sweat dripping down every part of his body, the fullbringer takes a moment to practice his square breathing techniques his therapist has been working with him on to calm his nerves and he makes the slow descent to the rooftop and back inside the building. This wasn't the first hallucination, but it had been the most intense, the most anxiety inducing, the most bone-shakingly terrifying. He had learned weeks ago when they started to increase in severity that being outside in the fresh air was the best place to be even if he had to get hundreds of feet into the air to make it happen. Something about being in an enclosed space with the image of Hellfire everywhere was not something he wanted to repeat if possible.

The most recent episode though had been the straw that broke the camel's back. In the shadow of the laughing accuser had been just a small glimpse of an unmistakable shape, that of the Sydney Opera House, that told the man what he had suspected for a long time. That which had tormented him for far too long now had been related to a mission to suppress an invasion in Australia years ago. If that is where this had begun, then it would have to be resolved there. Haggard as he was, with no hope of being helpful against the force that had such a profound link to his psyche, Kazura was forced to send out a team to break the dark force for him. Of the many that had come through his doors over the years there was a dwindling number of those that could possibly help to overcome this.

He put out a secure Omniwatch message to those he felt he could entrust to the mission explaining what he knew of the threat, that it had some sort of power over him and that he worried it was a danger to more than just him and probably had global scale risk. When the message went out, he then hobbled to his safe place on the couch of another Spiritual Department employee's apartment close by. The logistics of the travel could be handled come the daytime but there was no longer time to wait. The team had to be sent out discreetly and, most importantly, quickly. A commercial airline with no ties to UE would be best, but he'd spare no expense in getting them there comfortably. Though if his visions indicated anything it was that time and comfort were no longer on their side.

The festering Darkness was imminent.

[Irina Davayte]

Irina, whose alarm was scheduled to go off for the morning in six hours and twenty-five minutes, woke up when her watch alerted her to a message from Kazura. She snapped into alertness quickly. She’d known that Kazura had some kind of apparition plaguing him for quite some time, but the most recently she’d heard of it, the thing didn’t have any power over the physical world, unless you counted Kazura’s mind. True to form, she got out of bed and began making plans.

She brewed a cup of black tea, then scheduled an email to send at 6:45 am, informing her Engineering supervisor of a family emergency: her uncle was very ill, she was getting on a flight to Russia as soon as possible, and she wasn’t sure when she’d be back. The “uncle”, of course, would make a miraculous recovery whenever she was ready to return, so she wasn’t expected to produce an obituary or something to document her absence. She’d freeze the leftover soup in her fridge in the morning, and take the fruit and vegetables that wouldn’t last more than a couple of days to the dumpster. No need to return home to a smelly house.

Irina was about to schedule a message to an engineering coworker whom she knew to also be a pet owner to request that they watch her cat for at least the week (but again, that, due to her uncle’s illness, she wasn’t sure exactly when she’d return) when she heard a knock at her door and found Kazura on the other side, looking pale and like he’d barely managed to stumble his way there. She’d greeted him warmly, not bothered to comment on his haggard appearance, and immediately made another cup of tea, but herbal, not the caffeinated kind in her own mug.

Tempted to press for details about what exactly brought Kazura to the conclusion that there’d been a status change with the situation that warranted immediate action, Irina instead put a set of sheets and a blanket on her couch, agreed with Kazura that more plans would be made in the morning, and got an extra blanket from her bedroom to settle into the recliner in her living room for the night. It made sense to stick together for now. Irina bumped back her morning alarm to 7:00 and made an earnest attempt to catch some sleep, although she didn’t get much.

She wasn’t feeling particularly talkative in the morning, but Irina convinced Kazura to watch her cat (”He doesn’t need much attention; just dinner every night. He’s afraid of the Roomba, but it has to run every day, or his fur will get everywhere. So try to be away from him when it starts up at 4:00, or he’ll claw up your legs.”), made sure he knew that he was welcome to the food in her house if he decided to stay, rather than just stop by for the cat nightly (”Make sure you eat. You need the energy.”), and did her best to calm her friend (”Try not to worry about it; we’ll take care of whatever it is. And we’ll be in touch if we need anything.”).

Getting through airport security wasn’t a problem for Irina, who, in her backpack, carried the rapier hilt that was her Fullbring, but objectively, not a weapon in its inactive state. She figured that the other two would check a bag with anything that wouldn’t pass security in a carry-on. A fairly seasoned traveler, at least between her childhood home in Russia and Japan, Irina preferred to get to the gate for an international flight a few hours early just in case of issues with security or the airline. So by 9:00, she settled into a seat and waited for Raph and Scarlet to arrive.

Seeing Raph would be good for her; it’d been a while since they’d worked together, but having someone familiar with her would make her calmer. Irina didn’t know Scarlet and didn’t warm up to new people particularly fast, but she would do her best. She’d answer any questions they had to the best of her ability and board the flight when directed. On the plane, her desire for rest would overcome her busy mind, so Irina would put her head on the window and sleep a solid eight hours.

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength - [150] Points

Speed - [150] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [370] x2 (740) Points

Reiatsu Strength - [370] x2 (740) Points

Light Aura - [70] Points

Dark Aura - [30] Points

Instinct - [200] x.50 (100) Points

Senses - [100] x.50 (50) Points

Energy sensory - [60] x.33 (20) Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [1400] Points



Weapons: Swords {3}

Strength of Will {2}

Crafting/Forging {4}

Lack of Fear {1}

Pain Tolerance {1}

Cold Tolerance {1}

Alcohol Tolerance {1}

Learning {1}

Chemistry {2}

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael was feling on top of the world; he'd finally figured out what was going on inside of him, and gotten it to more or less stop, with Kimiko's help. Then he'd gone to Hueco Mundo, and had learned more of the place, how to move and let himself go in battle, in times when it was needed. It was the oddest sensation, but it had helped to understand what, exactly, such creatures, such people, went through every day. This, in turn, helped him understand why he protected others from the same fate, having to undergo it. In some ways, despite the breaking of the mask, which... had not regenerated since, he felt like he was taking on part of the burden.

Once more, he tried calling it to him, that self-same mask that had been broken in Hueco Mundo. That had been a moment of both sheer excrutiating pain, as well as one of incredible ecastasy, almost like being born again. He didn't know... really quite what to make of that, which was the reason why he was awake into the wee hours of the morning, whiling his time away, slowly. He tried to recall that feeling that had occurred when he'd called it to him last, and yet... it stayed beyond his grasp...

Stop attempting to call it to you. Currently it's power is lost to you and, until it's power can be truly called upon again, it will not return. There was a moment and then he heard Hikisaku reach back to him, as well. Indeed. For the time being, it might be better to focus on your training, or...huh. Raphael, focuus on the ouutside a moment. If seems as if you're receiving a message on your phone...

Raphael opened his eyes and glanced over at his phone, seeing it light up with the notification of a message and with a flick of his wrist it flies over to him. He opened it and glanced at the message and for a brief second, his heart soared. Then his mind flicked back to all the time that Kazura had simply not messaged, no emails returned, no texts... Fuck, Raph hadn't even asked for a call! Just the simple, damn, courtesy of a single returned message, something to tell Raph that his boss was still alive!!

NOW he sent a message, but instead of it asking how Raphael was doing, after what had happened and after so much time had passed, but that he needed help. The absolute gall... Now he was supposed to just drop everything and go to Australia?! But the more that he read...the more concerned that he became. Something was escaping...? Was breaking out again? He didn't quite understand what exactly he was supposed to do, nor did he quite understand what Kazura was talking about, but... Hell with it... Kazura was alraedy annoying him, but Raphael shook his head, shoving his phone into his jacket pocket and hopped out, heading to the airport.

Getting through security was simple, seeing as all he had was his jacket and was waering what had once been a quincy cross. Shortly after, he headed over and sat down in a seat near Irina and gave her a light smile. It's been some time since such a painting was made... I wonder how this is going to go... Are you going to tell her about everything? Raphael allowed a sigh to escape his lips, hoping that she didn't sense anything odd about him. For the moment, he felt that he should be fine and glanced back to Irina. "It's, uh... it's good to see you again, after all it's been a while we've been on any kind of assignment together. Do you know...what's going on?"

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Strength: 145

Speed: 200

Reiatsu Strength: 350 (700 w Type)

Spirit Pressure: 260 (520 w Type)

Instinct: 150

Senses: 100

Energy Sensory: 150

Light Aura: 60

Dark Aura: 40

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Skills:
[Memory] 2
[Analyzing] 2
[Learning] 2
[Strength of Will] 2
[Street Fighting] 1
[Battle Focus] 2
[Crafting/Forging (Lacrima)] 2
[Hacking] 1

[Scarlet]

It hadn’t really even been a week since she’s gone to investigate the group that Amare had told her about, Uzaki Enterprizes. It was strange to know the truth now, but that statement could pretty much be said about almost anything now in her eyes. It hadn’t even been a year and she was fairly confident that what she knew before was all wrong. Everything that had a soul was probably the biggest surprise. Although finding out that the richest guy in Karakura, one of the most influential men in all of Japan, is a Fullbringer just like her. That was something she wouldn’t have expected, although it was welcomed considering all the good he did with it from what she had been told. After speaking with Kazura it was decided that she’d join up with him at least for now and earn some extra money for all the effort she put in protecting Karakura from Hollows and everything else.

What she expected didn’t feel all that welcoming though when her water went off in the early morning, so early in fact that she hadn’t even gotten up for her morning run. Groaning like anyone would she reached over and read what was sent to her, a message right from the head honcho, were things ever going to stop being surprising? “How long until I just expect the unexpected?” She asked herself jokingly as she got up and gathered what she believed would be needed which basically came down to her heavier clothing, wallet and phone. She couldn’t bring her axe since getting that on a plane wouldn’t work. So she’d have to rely solely on her Fullbring as a weapon.

She’d been looking for an apartment lately somewhere closer to the center of Karakura, but hadn’t been able to find anything she could afford so living in her childhood home with her mother was still her station. Right now though that was a benefit. All she had to do was leave behind a letter for her mother to find in a few hours. “I’ve found a big job opportunity over in Osaka, I’ll be gone for a few days most likely. Hope to bring home good news, love Hikari.” That was all she had to leave and just like that she made her way off to the airport.

Being a brand new hire to UE Hikari didn’t know any of the other spiritual employees and thus when she got to the airport she couldn’t tell who else was there for Kazura or not. She didn’t have any talent or luck when it came to developing an ability to sense reiatsu so that was out of the question. Ultimately for the several hours that she was waiting for the plane to start loading, Hikari kept to herself resting her eyes like a normal person at this hour then getting bored and starting to exercise in various ways like jumping jacks or push ups. Getting the awkward view of the few others didn’t bother her anymore as she got the same looks quite a lot when exercising throughout Karakura.

Finally getting in the plane Hikari found her seat and sat down actually a bit frustrated that she didn’t really have any way to know who else was supposed to be here. It was at this point though that Hikari realized no one else was really around. There had been other people in the loading area waiting for flights and now there was no one. Standing up from her seat she’d notice two others and that was it. Well might as well take a leap of faith.

“Hello, I assume you guys are being sent to handle the issue that’s popped up too.”

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Skills}
Strength: 200
Speed: 250
Spiritual Pressure: 235 (164)
Reiatsu Strength: 400 (600)
Instinct: 150
Senses: 100
Energy Sensory: 0
Healing Expertise: 0

Light Aura: 80
Dark Aura: 20

Axes: 2
Karate: 1
Charisma: 2
Battle Focus: 2
Damage Recovery: 2
Strength of Will: 2

[Kazura Uzaki]

The back of the plane, the plebeians with economy tickets, filled up quickly and the flight began in a very reasonable amount of time, taking off the tarmac at a prompt 0025. Raph, Irina, and Scarlet would have a good twenty minutes for introductions, catching up, and strategizing when the airline attendant would come by with the menu for their options for the long international flight. There were two types of meals only available to the business class passengers, an assortment of Japanese or International Cuisine. The Japanese meal option included an appetizer array of Squid, Sushi, plum vinagered carrots, and grilled chicken. The second course was marinated vegetables with clams and a braised pork. The main course of that option was Wagyu Beef with rice, Miso soup, and Japanese pickles. To top off the meal was a dessert of apricot topped white chocolate cake, fruit, and expensive cheeses.

If the International Cuisine option was more their mood it started with an appetizer of Smoked Tuna, seafood in Miso and marinated vegetables. The main plate was a beef filet with a sauce that contained four different french words (so it had to be top notch fancy) accompanied by a spicy monkfish, shrimp, and scallop ensemble and fresh baguettes. The dessert was the same as the Japanese Cuisine option. Either option they chose would be included in their ticket and there was an exorbitant selection of alcohols and other beverages. Sake, Shochu, Champagne, Red and White Wines, Beer, Whiskey, Brandy, Cocktails, and a non-alcoholic assortment of teas, juices, sparkling waters, and even the option of full sugar and zero sugar Cola. With unlimited wifi, a personal table next to their chair, every seat having aisle access, and the ability to lay the seat back completely flat, the three could expect a very cozy trip.

Near the time of 0200, with nothing but ocean visible to the horizon in all directions, another flight attendant would come by with a message. ”Excuse me, I was instructed to direct your attention to your on board computer systems. Someone on the ground has transmitted a series of emails for your eyes only, I'm told.” If any of them hadn't yet explored the plane’s equipped entertainment system it had been highly recommended to do so to at least see the incoming messages. After that they could choose to watch a movie, use the Internet, or play a game with it if (again) they hadn't already found what options they had in the last hour and a half of the trip.

The incoming emails were passcode protected with the hint of “Fill in the blank: I am a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.” and had a signature of U.K. attached to it. There were 11 underscores representing an 11 character password. It would probably be something the three of them all had in common.

Meanwhile, T-Minus 22 hours to Apocalypse…

[Irina Davayte]

Her calculations indicated that Irina could stay awake until 2:24 and still safely get her intended 8-hour night of sleep, which was good because the group had some time to talk, without the amount of traffic in the terminal. She mentally tallied the items on her to-do list for the next 10-or-so hours: 1, get on the plane, get off the plane, rent a car, and head towards the area with the concerning activity, 2, share this extremely skeletal plan with the team, and 3, get as much relevant information as she could about the two teammates she was working with. So she’d settle into a seat adjacent to at least one of the others and put her backpack under her seat just like she was used to in Economy.

She nodded in response to Scarlet’s statement. ”Mmhm, yes. The ‘issue’. I really wish we had more information to go on, but here’s what I know,” she indicated Raphael’s question. First she summarized the situation. ”I think we all got the same message, right? I hate to retread what you already know, but there was an invasion of some Hellions in the area we’re headed to a couple of years back, and it seemed to be pretty well contained, but now Kazura is thinking it’s not. Er–” she looked to Scarlet. ”Mr. Uzaki.” Irina was fairly certain everyone who worked directly with Kazura was on a first-name basis with him, but she didn’t want to come across as disrespectful.

She plowed along. ”He’s been having what I thought could most accurately be described as hallucinations of something bad talking to him about since that outbreak, but they’ve seemed to intensify over time, and there was a day when I could see and hear it, too. Then yesterday he was seeing it in Australia. So honestly, I’m tempted to consider this a reconnaissance mission; we really don’t have any strong evidence that anything real is happening at all.” She wasn’t convinced of her own words, though. The figure she’d encountered had seemed real.

Next, she introduced herself to Scarlet (which had felt less pressing than discussing the mission) and updated Raph on what she’d been up to since they last trained together. ”I’m Irina Davayte. I have worked with UE for about five years or so, and I’ve been the manager of the Emergency Response team for a bit. I am a Fullbringer, and I can make ice.” Always pragmatic and not particularly wanting to show off, she didn’t embellish her description to make it sound cool.

”I have a new thing where I can make skates pop out of my shoes, and the ground freezes about 15 centimeters on either side of them,” she she addressed Raph, who would not have seen this, holding out her hands to show a 12-inch width, in case he still measured in American units. ”It shouldn’t really be a problem, but I did bring a couple of pairs of cleats that fit over your shoe for you both to avoid slipping.” She’d reach into her backpack to show them the rubbery devices with spikes on the bottom, which would stretch onto shoes between sizes 4 and 14, and put them back in her bag for later.

Lastly, she asked the other two to share about themselves. ”What’s new with you?” she’d ask Raphael, who she assumed would also share his basic biography with Scarlet. With a fairly low level of energy sensory, Irina didn’t notice anything particularly “off” about him compared to when they’d last collaborated. She did, however, notice the cross he was wearing and asked ”And remind me, is that new?” She recalled that his mother was a Quincy, but didn’t remember the cross. It could’ve just been that she’d forgotten it. When he was finished, she’d turn to the girl and ask ”And you go by Scarlet? Tell me about yourself.” When the food arrived, Irina would nibble a bit, but it was the middle of the night, so she wasn’t exactly ravenous.

Irina’s plans to snuggle into a blanket and go to sleep were interrupted. It wasn’t that she liked sleeping all that much; Irina had just calculated long ago that the most efficient way to get things done was to feel her best, which included being well-rested. And, although she didn’t have much of an idea about what exactly they were getting into, she was sure she’d want to be at her sharpest. Obviously, though, whatever information they were presumably getting on the email would take precedence over rest.

A team player at heart, Irina would pop over where she could see Raphael’s screen, rather than waking hers. The login screen didn’t give a hint about what would happen if they got it wrong, or the number of attempts they were permitted before getting locked out, so she said ”Let’s make sure we have our best guess before trying it. I am afraid we’ll get locked out for too many attempts or something.” The first word that came to Irina’s mind was “fullbringer”, which could apply to any of them or to Kazura if that was who “I” was supposed to be referring to, but she used the plane’s Wifi to look up 11-letter nouns on her phone, just in case.

She scrolled past any words that started with a vowel, and grouped the remaining ones: concrete and abstract nouns that could probably be some kind of metaphor if forced (battlefield, bourgeoisie, development, declaration, devastation); concrete objects that she couldn’t work into a metaphor (workstation, bellybutton, hydrocarbon); nouns that could fit literally but didn’t necessarily apply to their group (grandfather, philosopher); descriptors that, again, didn’t really fit the group as far as she could tell (heavyweight, left-hander); plurals, which could be ruled out based on the sentence structure; and those that wouldn’t make sense no matter how she forced it (handwriting, retinopathy, playfulness, hemostasis). After a couple of minutes of that, she’d suggest ”Best I’ve got is Fullbringer. Not sure if that’s a proper noun or not though, so I can’t confidently say whether it should have a capital letter.” Nobody could accuse Irina of not caring about grammar or mechanics.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael glanced over as a young red-haired woman approached and asked if they were also being dispatched to handle the "issue". He grinned a bit, at that, though it was entirely reasonable that she didn't know them. Raphael had taken a fair bit of time off, after the whole destroyed fullbring fiasco, and he was still more than a little upset with Kazura for not reaching out to him before now. Still, though, his grievances would have to wait until he could talk to the man in person. There was a job that they had to do, and it seemed pretty damn critical.

She's not wrong. You all do not have much information to work with here, do you? It's a bit concerning, to be quite honest. Hikisau's voice echoed with the same thing that Raphael was thinking. There was so much that they didn't know and were basically going in blind. It doesn't matter. Sonzai's cut in, suddenly. Regardless of a lack of information, there is a ob that needs done and Kazura requested that we be there to help. All that matters, would you both not agree? There was hesitation for a moment before Raphael finally responded. Guys, not that I'm not glad that you're both here, cuz other voices actally does help me think, but a few minutes, yeah?

The two quieted down, and he hoped that he hadn't been simply sitting there looking like a bit of an idiot. He was pretty sure that she'd something about about being able to mae ice skates that froze the ground a bit around her. He'd not seen her do such a thing, before, but was pretty happy that she'd found something new that her fullbring could do and...then almost immediately he felt a bit guilty when she asked about him. There was so much that he wanted to say, but he didn't know quite how to say it, without coming off like a nutjob. He couldn't just out and say that he found out he had an inner hollow and an inner spirit. He'd come off sounding like a lunatic, at best.

Still he had to say something. Think... think... Might as well start with the truth. "Oh, uhm... Well, ya know... Then she mentioned the cross and his eyes squeezed shut. Yep. He'd have to come clean about that stuff, at least. "Long story really short, Kazura taught me his special forging technique and then we tried to empower my old fullbring. It, uh... well, it exploded. My fullbring was destroyed and my power was lost. I'm...trying to make a new fullbring, but I don't think that my power will recover, at least not the way that it was. And then, uh, well I fought my brother, Brian, who joined the Vandenreich a long time ago, alongside Luca. I took his cross after his defeat. I am...trying to give birth to a new one...if you understand...I don't know how it's going to go."

Going quite well, I'd say.

Raphael, his explanation of what had happened to him, being over, gazed at the food for a moment, mulling something over in his head. Then, with a quick movement, he began to eat, ravenously. Food was a perfect distraction to keep his mouth shut. He already felt bad enough that he hadn't gotten to tell Kazura about what had happened, abouut the two in his head and... about fighting Marik. Or, better yet, about Kimiko going into... Well, he didn't need to think about that. He was far too busy eating from the international option, enjoying the filet and the monfish.

It was a few hours later, as they were flying over the ocean, that a flight attendant showed up again, and told them about a message straight to their computers and there were several emails for them. Red flags shot up in Raphael's head. Someone from the ground? That didn't make any sense to Raphael. If someone from the ground had sent such a message... why hadn't they recieved any further warning...? He glanced briefly at the email, and then at Irina's suggestion, nodding. "Yeah. Fullbringer is the only thing I can think of, as well... Do you think it matters whether its upper or lowercase?" He tapped it out into the field, but paused before hitting enter.

[Scarlet]

Things really couldn’t have gotten much stranger in Hikari’s view now. When she’d met Kazura he’d been a very responsible and professional individual that just screamed business and now he was supposedly sending them to a different country based on nightmares? Was there some sort of technique or spiritual power that could perceive time or events through dreams? She had a hard time doubting that such a thing wasn’t possible with everything she’d seen that only a couple months ago was regulated to movies and fantasy. What did make sense though was the idea of creatures from Hell sprouting back up here in the human world. Hikari had already fought against a handful of them quite early on in her development as a Fullbringer and would readily accept fighting them at any time.

Learning the names of her teammates would hopefully make working together with them much easier. Throughout Irina’s explanation Hikari just kept quiet, making sure to listen and focus on everything that she was being told. She was the newest member of this team that was easy to see and whether she liked it or not she more than likely had the least experience when it came to dealing with the spiritual worlds. She didn’t know much about Raphael or Irina, but she doubted they managed to obtain their abilities after her given she’d only had them for about half a year now. Hikari couldn’t contain a smile across her lips though when Irina brought up that her Fullbring allowed her to freeze things and make ice. “She’s my opposite huh.” She thought to herself with reassurance that this team may be better than anyone hoped given her own Fullbring.

When Irina handed everything over to Rapaehl and he began speaking, Hikari looked at him with horror and confusion once he mentioned that his Fullbring had been destroyed. She didn’t even think about it, but her hands moved up and gripped the crescent earrings hanging from her lobes. The idea of her Fullbring being destroyed was insane. Sure she could use a standard weapon like she had at the beginning, but how would she handle Hell spawns or the stronger Hollows? Her Fullbring had only just grown strong enough or perhaps it was her, that it’s actual ability surfaced. Now she had to worry about something managing to destroy it! Inhaling deeply she does her best to calm her nerves now flushed with anxiety over a possible outcome that may or may not ever happen. That’s when Irina meanted her old name and she clicked back into reality.

Scarlet . . . not a name that she really ever cared for due to the hate that was directed at her with it. Growing up in Japan that name had been used by other children to bully her. The half breed with the blood red hair that everyone just assumed was dyed. No one ever really bothered to learn that it was her natural hair color inherited from her father. She’d told him about what others called her when she’d been a little girl. He’d said he quite liked the name and he’d been called Crimson by all his friends when he was little. She though didn’t like it and made sure that anyone who called her got a quick beating. Now though it made sense to conceal her name, it made her rethink everything about her life and what really mattered. She had to accept not just things about the world, but herself and thus while living her life as a Fullbringer she had to go by a new name.

“I’ve only just been hired by Mr. Uzaki a couple days ago. I heard about UE from Amare and decided that I would check it out so I’m here now. I haven’t had my powers for long, but I’ve obtained my Fullbring. I can pretty much do the opposite of you, Irina. I’m able to make and control lava with my Fullbring.” Scarlet didn’t really have much else to say as she hadn’t figured anything else out yet. All she knew was she was happy when the food arrived and she could just take a moment to enjoy the taste while decompressing. She was about ready to either fall asleep or start talking again though when the flight attendant brought out the computers. “Why would it be anything other than Fullbringer? Aren’t we all technically speaking?” Scarlet had a hard time wrapping her head around anything else that fit into the length while referring to all three of them.

“There’s three of us, we can all try something slightly different in order to figure it out. Make sure none of us fail enough times to be locked out.”

[Kazura Uzaki]

The email passwords were not case sensitive, so they could have typed FulLBrINger and it would still have unlocked. The messages contained text files as well as subtitled but audioless videos. The text files were marked “Good morning!”, “Travel plans! <3 #bestietrip2024”, and “Can't wait to see you!” which would be hiding their true contents. It was probably more paranoid than useful but just in case the subjects of the messages were deceptive. The first message, titled “Good morning!” contained a brief heartfelt thanks from Kazura.

With as much sincerity as I can express, Thank You. The last few months have seen me at a desperately low point. Irina can attest to this in its fullness. Raphael, I have been so distant mostly due to the daily required therapy to get through some of what I now know to not simply be a chemical imbalance and instead be a malicious attack. For that I am truly sorry. Hikari, you have not had nearly enough time to trust me yet, but hopping on a plane spur of the moment shows at a minimum I can trust you. Again, thank you all for doing what I cannot.

The second file, titled “Travel plans! <3 #bestietrip2024” contained the important intelligence Kazura had received between the time they left and now.

At 0030 I received word through my contact in the Karakura Police Department that information from an underground resistance network had been obtained. This resistance, calling themselves ‘S.H.E.L.L.’ has been operating (obviously by nature of being an underground resistance) secretly to keep tabs on the remnants of the Hellion invasion from a few years ago. They also have designed similar Spiritual Detection systems as we have in Karakura, tuned exclusively to Hellish Reiatsu. In the last week they have had rapidly increasing detection of powerful forces, coinciding with some of my own increasing visions. Yesterday at midnight there was a spike that overloaded the station in Sydney causing a devastating explosion. Video A contains news footage of the aftermath. A few humans lost their lives and the local radio station Triple M 104.9 had their building rocked harder than the music they play. And by that I mean the building is gone, leveled completely. The next file contains what they know.

That final file, titled “Can't wait to see you!” contains (as indicated by the previous message) the intel from local fullbringers and other spiritual persons.

”To whom it may concern,

You may have seen the news about the explosion here in Sydney. You may not have, it's not really an international ‘concern’ but for those of us who know the Truth it has more than even a global impact. Whatever had caused the outbreak here before has returned. Last time we were caught with our pants down, completely blindsided. This time we are more prepared but our resources will not be enough. Most of us can attribute Awakening to the last attack and are not as strong or confident in our abilities as we would like to be. Your assistance will ensure life in our world survives. We have attached the codes you will need to connect your own detection network to ours. You will have access through your devices to real time measurements of Hell activity. We pray you can reach us in time…

The ‘Stralian Hellion Eradication and Liberation League stand ready to fight. We strike through HELL to protect humanity.

The attached videos contain news broadcasts of “strange happenings” and “raving conspiracy theorists”. One such conspiracy theorist claims he has photographic evidence of an Alien putting on a “Human Suit” in order to “blend in so they can easily steal our buttholes”. The videos were more supplemental than required pouring over, but they'd do well to remember that behind many conspiracy theories are small nuggets of almost-truths.

There would be no more communications or interruptions save for the flight attendants making sure they were comfortable and didn't need any additional food or anything for the next four hours until roughly 0600. Until then, they could continue talking, rest, or perhaps get some sleep for the next day's events.

[Irina Davayte]

As Raphael spoke, Irina nodded thoughtfully and did not interrupt to say what she was thinking, which was I told Kazura that Lacrima crafting didn't seem safe, instead letting him finish and taking a beat to think of an empathetic response. ”Wow. Sounds like you've been through a lot.” This, she felt, was better than “I'm sorry that happened”, which would have felt trite. Frankly, Irina couldn't imagine having any sort of conflict with either of her brothers at this stage in her life. She couldn't quite wrap her head around how she'd respond if one of them did something like joining the Vandenreich. So simply acknowledging that Raphael had been through a lot felt like the best way to go. He appeared deep in thought, so Irina would leave him to that until the food arrived.

Irina brightened slightly at the mention of Amare. It'd been a while since she'd been in touch with him, and frankly, she'd love to see UE get a big, interesting cast of characters back together. She nodded intently as she listened to Scarlet. ”Lava, huh? Well that'll be fun,” Irina said lightly, instantly hoping it hadn't sounded sarcastic. Genuinely, she thought it was interesting and fun to see new things people could do. The sheer variety in spiritual people’s abilities she'd seen over the years always amazed Irina.

After finding out exactly what capitalization had worked on the first computer, Irina would go back to her personal bubble to read the emails on her own computer. The subject lines…had an odd tone. Maybe in case a flight attendant was looking over their shoulder? There wasn't much point in that, though, Irina figured; anyone who would see the subject lines would also see the emails. But on to their contents. No new information there, except Scarlet being referred to by a different name. But since she hadn't corrected Irina when she'd asked if she went by Scarlet, Irina would continue calling her that unless she was told otherwise. The red hair fit with it, anyway. Maybe that was a nickname. The tone of the actual contents of the email mismatched that of the subject lines. She already knew that Kazura, whom she'd decided she could confidently believe was the author of the message(s), frankly would have preferred to handle whatever was going on himself, and how appreciative he was to have help for this one. She didn't think this one required a response from the group, so she sent a concise message back individually: Gotcher back, Jack.

“Travel plans?” Good, all she had so far was the name of a rental car company with which they had a reservation and coordinates for where to go after they deplaned. Irina was dismayed to hear the city name Sydney, as she'd ideally prefer to deal with whatever this was without too many civilians, so to speak, in the path of danger. However, the bit about the locals was good news, and it sounded like they had a good bit of technology. Irina's eyebrows shot up at the part at the end of the email about the leveled radio station. What kind of a joke is this? People died. There has never been a less appropriate time to make light off a situation., she thought, rubbing the area between her eyes and thinking that maybe she should've ordered a stronger drink, after all. She could only hope that, with resolving the “issue” where they were headed, they'd also be able to resolve Kazura's social skills. Also, there were no travel plans in this email, and that felt unfair. Nothing in this one seemed to take a response, so she'd go to the next.

If Irina were in charge of this underground residence, it would have been called “AHELL”, because what is “stralia”? As far as she knew, nobody called Australia that. But anyway, the strikethrough text and slogan was clearly something someone down there was proud of, else they wouldn't have bothered to write all that out in such a frantic situation. She dutifully watched each video, thinking that each sounded crazier than the last. But then again, she'd seen some crazy things, so she could just as easily sound like one of these lunatics on the news. That is, if she were willing to sound like a lunatic on the news…which was something Irina avoided with commitment. When the other two appeared to be done reading, Irina would remark ”Well, that was weird.” Since the last message had been passed along by Kazura, not from the team directly, there was no point in responding to that one, either.

After checking whether the others if they had any questions, ideas, or concerns, Irina would snuggle under a blanket and try to get to sleep not too much later than the time she'd originally intended.

[Raphael Laurent]

Irina didn't really seem to have much to say which, realistically, was probably a good thing. When she said that he'd been through a lot, Raphael couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He was happier still that she didn't as him to go over it any further. Already Raphael didn't know how he was going to explain...how he was, as wel as everything he'd found out about himself, to Kazura, much less Irina. Not to mention with Scarlet here, he had no idea how to fully explain what had happened. He was also concerned, cuz he'd never been around much hellish reiatsu, so how it would effect them would have to be seen.

Scarlet seemed fairy bothered with being called by the name that Raphael had heard, so he tilted his head a bit. He wasn't sure what she wanted to be called by and so he turned away a bit, before the food arrived and allowed those two to speak. Raphael sat there listening to Irina and Scarlet speak for a bit, and overheard the talk about her fullbring making and controlling lava. Two fullbringers with nearly opposing elements and then him with...well... just normal spiritual abilities.

Raphael, not realy feeling it all that much, simply tapped in "fullbringer" not caring for capitilization, and yet it seemed to work! The first message was personaly addressed to each one, piece at a time. His message from Kazura made Raph frown. It didn't matter much. His reasons for not being able to talk, say hi, whatever, they were his own and Raphael couldn't fault the man for that. Kazura had burdens of his own and if he didn't want to really talk about them, much? That was entirely up to him. He'd work with these two, though. He knew Irina and what she HAD been capable of, though not Sc-- Hi... Whatever their newest friend wanted to be called.

Then he read the second message and his brow furrowed. An underground group, in Australia, that had been keeping an eye on the remnants of a Hell invasion from awhile ago, huh? He was impressed that they'd designed special sensors to be able too detect Hell energy, though he was still concerned with how said energy flows would effect the three of them. But then he read about the spikes in energy and then... the destruction of a specific radio building. That was concerning. If the fluctuations were enough to simply rock buildings a bit? Sure. But destroy them outright? That got him a bit more concerned.

He skimmed, faintly, through the message sent by this other group, making note of the specifics, and copying down the code they'd been sent. They'd need that, when they landed. And then he began to read through the links to conspiracy theories and "supplemental" information. Raphael had always found these things, crackpots and crazies, to be sources of extremely valuable information. He focused, for a few minutes, on the one about putting on a human suit. That was...interesting and a bit disturbing. Could've just been gigai, like the shinigami tended to use, whenever they were in the mortal world.

Admittedlly, Raphael knew very ittle about hell, and if he didn't know, then neither Hikisaku or Sonzai would know. Nor, did he assume woud Irina or Scarlet. Hell was... well, to be honest he didn't know that hell was a real thing. He'd have assumed that would've been Hueco Mundo. Now he was finding out that there was an entirely new place, with potentially new powers and abiities. Things were getting more and more concerning. Though the more that he thought about it, the more that he began to think that he might actually be far stronger than he often gave himself credit for.

As Irina started to fall asleep, Raphael simply leaned back, allowing Irina to sleep, and Scarlet or...Hikari, whichever she wanted to be, to ask questions. Otherwise, he'd begin a bit of meditation for the remainder of the fight.

[Scarlet]

Getting onto the device and through the password was easy enough, just a situation it seemed that involved overthinking. Scarlet wasn’t the sort to let things like this bother her or to overthink about them, not when there were so many other things that got under her skin or caused her an intense amount of anger. Perhaps if she had been forced to try over and over again without any real success for something so important, that’s when she likely knew she’d get mad. Thankfully though both for her reputation in UE and as an individual that didn’t happen. Watching the various videos one after another, Scarlet felt cramped or limited in her seat. Almost like the idea of facing down the condemned of Hell was getting to her now.

She didn’t know if either Irina or Raphael had any experience fighting such monsters, but she’d done so in the past. Although she was new to UE this was something she likely would want to stop even if it wasn’t her job now. Thinking on it for a moment she actually grinned. If she managed to succeed with Irina and Raphael then her job was likely secure. She didn’t really know how many spiritually aware people there were in the world but following orders and doing a good job right out the gate couldn’t hurt anyone when making an impression at a new company.

Thinking back on the few Hell spawn she’d fought in Karakura, it was strange to imagine them taking down an entire building like a radio station. Three of them had been twisted and ugly, but not much stronger than the typical Hollow. The strongest one she’d fought though. . . he’d been different. If something like him or more than that had come up to the Human World, then they were lucky only one building was lost. They’d have to be careful, but quick if they were to stop further losses. The idea of detecting reiatsu through a device was something new.

Scarlet had no clue such a thing was possible and now had to wonder why UE couldn’t just keep Karakura safe literally at all times. Couldn’t they build or buy something like this to detect Hollow reiatsu the moment they appear in the human world? They’d allow them to work just like an emergency response squad. She’d have to remember this and ask Kazura or someone else later on. After watching everything, Scarlet felt a mixture of things, but ultimately decided to sit next to a window and watch the world below until eventually she’d fall asleep for a brief rest.

[Kazura Uzaki]

The messages received and digested the same as the high quality food, the three fullbringers settled down to rest on the long flight. There would be a long stretch of peace of five hours, until that peace was utterly and violently split. Around the time of 0700, roughly 6.5 hours after leaving Haneda Airport, the plane reached Australian land. There had been quite a few hours of little to see but ocean which was no longer the case. The moment there was no longer just water beneath the plane two of the three passengers in Business Class would feel as though they had just crashed through a brick wall. Raph would feel it the most significantly, having a strong connection to spiritual energies. Irina would feel it too, certainly enough to wake her up as if a bucket of ice had been poured directly down her pants. Scarlet on the other hand wouldn't have experienced more than the sensation of mild expected turbulence.

For Raph particularly, the sudden feeling of his soul colliding with a massive aura and being propelled through it would not feel comfortable. There would be no lasting physical or spiritual damage, nor would the sensation last more than a split second, but the jarring instantaneity of it would shake even the most iron willed monks from their meditation. Even after the initial shock of the bursting-bubble-like experience there would still be a strong presence that the man could detect without focusing very intently on it. Irina would find it much more difficult to pinpoint anything significant but there would be a trace of something. Nothing sinister or malicious, just... there. This reiatsu signature was not from Hell, that much was easy to rule out, but wasn't quite easy to pinpoint exactly what it actually was.

Scarlet wouldn't be without reason to awake suddenly, though, as a shriek split the air just moments after the "bubble" had been pierced. While the Flight attendants didn't seem to have noticed anything the same way the Business Class passengers had, they started rushing towards Economy mentioning medical emergency protocols. It didn't take one long to come back with a puzzled look on his face. "Chronic Migraines is a weird excuse for screaming like that out of the blue..." He got some sort of pills and a mini water bottle from a cabinet and returned to Economy. Before too long the entirety of the staff returned to their space in the front of the plane and settled back down like nothing had happened.

Ten minutes after crossing over the Australian Border Raph, Irina, and Scarlet would all hear a very very high pitched sound like that of a feedback loop from a microphone and speaker. The flight attendants were not reacting in the slightest and neither did they act like they heard/saw anything when there appeared a masked figure on top of one of the fancy chairs. Seated on top of the headrest of the chair, one leg crossed over the other casually, the thin and feminine figure couldn't have been more than four feet tall if standing on their tip toes. "What up my homies?!?" A definitely young and girlish voice boomed from behind the military-grade gas mask. With a kick of her legs she hoisted herself off of the chair into the aisle and gave a little spin after landing to flourish her gasoline stained leather cloak.

"The name's Molly and I'll be your skydiving instructor today. This course is not optional. Actually, it's MAN. DA. TORY. and will be graded on a Pass/Fail rubric. Pass and you live, yippee! You have fourty three and a half seconds to grab the emergency parachutes and backpack up. Hope you didn't check any luggage because it won't be coming with! Ready? Go!"

[Irina Davayte]

Irina got pretty close to her preferred amount of sleep when she was startled awake, jolting in a way that probably would have knocked her out of her seat if she hadn't been buckled in. Irina tended to be slow to become truly alert when woken up in the middle of the night, but the whole situation of this trip had her on high-alert. She'd ask the other two if they were okay, and, being aware of her limited spiritual sensory, add ”Can you guys tell what this is?”. On hearing the fuss towards the back of the plane, Irina considered trying to help. Based on the lack of reaction from the cabin crew, Irina confirmed her instinct that the disturbance was spiritual in nature. And based on the flight attendant’s comment about chronic migraines and an excuse, she supposed whomever had the issue must be somewhat spiritually aware, as well. That didn't mean they knew much of anything about what was going on, but Irina couldn't help but feel concerned. Whatever was going on, she didn't want the person back there to be all on their own.

So, instead of using the time to prepare for whatever was next, Irina would tell the other two that she was going back to check on the person with the impossible-to-be-a-coincidence headache. She hadn't ruled out the possibility that the person she was going to go get was, themselves, a threat, but even if that were the case, Irina figured it would be best to keep their enemy close. So, with her backpack casually slung over one shoulder to make sure her Fullbring could be reached in a moment, Irina headed towards the passengers in Economy class.

She'd locate the person to whom the flight attendants were bringing medicine and water, and in an attempt to sound friendly, which was entirely out of her comfort zone, say ”Hello, fellow migraine sufferer. Want to take a walk? That tends to really help me.”. Although she was obviously familiar with the concept of a headache, Irina was *not* a chronic migraine sufferer, and resultantly, would have nothing honest to contribute if this person went along with this story and tried to talk about migraines, for which she was fairly certain taking a walk was not an actual cure. Irina didn't particularly worry about this, though, as she would be shocked if they weren't lying about the “migraine”. If they went with her, Irina would walk them up to Business class, introduce herself, and try to gauge what they knew by asking, without much subtlety, ”What do you think that was about? Almost felt like we hit a wall or something.” She'd carry on by asking if they knew of anything interesting going on locally, referencing a couple of the conspiracy theories she'd just heard.

Less than ten minutes after the start of her walk, Irina would be startled by the figure appearing on the seat. While grabbing a parachute backpack, reading all of the labels on it as fast as she possibly could, checking the zippers on her own bag, glancing up intermittently towards Raphael, Scarlet, and the person with the headache (if they had, in fact, followed with her) to make sure they got situated with a parachute as well and planning to assist if they froze, Irina directed her questions about the validity of this plan to Molly, not bothering to make eye contact, because social skills, which took a great deal of effort for Irina, would not be remotely on her radar right this second. ”Wait a second. What's going on? Are we running from something, or to it? If it's the former, we really ought to consider all the passengers on this flight.” Although, she figured, even if that was the case, maybe whatever the threat was would follow them, away from the plane. It crossed her mind to ask who Molly was and where she'd come from, but that didn't seem important. More pressingly, there were reasons jumping out of this plane would be at least a little bit complicated.

Although she had technically worked on airplanes professionally, she was a materials engineer, and worked on structural components, not fluid dynamics, per se. Still, she crunched some numbers as best as she could. “Furthermore, this is not a plane meant for skydiving; the cabin is pressurized, and there's no way that door,” she indicated the Emergency door nearest to them, ”will open without something like” She quickly subtracted about 30 KPa of pressure outside of the plane from 80 KPa inside, then converted the pressure to force using an estimated area of 2 squared meters for the door, "70,000 Newtons of force, while the cabin depressurizes.” She wasn't sure if a decimal had slipped somewhere in her calculations there, but the principle still stood: ”If we're doing this, we're going to need to plan to stay standing.” She made a mental note that, although the remaining passengers would have trouble breathing with the door opening, their oxygen masks would drop, and even if they didn't use them, the brief period of hypoxia wouldn't, theoretically, kill any of them.

With that, the bossy engineer fastened the chin strap of the helmet that'd been packaged with her parachute pack and looked at Molly expectantly. Irina hadn't timed it, but this very rapid barrage of speech had taken 20.5 seconds.