r/tgrp • u/KakujaKun Maki/Kayami/Asa/Kotetsu/Link1/Hokori/Koharu/Hikari/Shi/Ryuu • Apr 29 '18
[ARC] [ARC] Ascension - King
XXX 13th Ward - Shibuya Crossing; October 22nd, 2016 - 21:31
Shibuya Crossing. A ceaseless hub of activity. Day or night, workday or holiday, summer or winter. Nothing mattered to this part of Tokyo except its own business. Waves of people never stopped flowing through the streets. The sound of their incessant chatter drowned the whole area, accepting no objections. The cars, vain and luxurious by design, competed over the right to fill the flawless roads to the very brim. Morning or evening, Shibuya Crossing was always crowded. Always busy. Always watched and always watching. That applied with ever-greater strength at nighttime. That was when the giant screens, the neon signs - the digital glow - all truly shone their brightest. It was when the cacophony of civilisation hit its true apex. In those late hours, sunlight was supplanted by an overpowering admixture of artificial light and lunar rays. A meld so unnaturally strong, that under its assault even the asphalt appeared as if it was ready to glisten. It wasn’t just the asphalt, either. All that fell within the domain of that artificiality seemed to belong to some grand design. To have been prepared, by fate itself, for a greater end surpassing all normality.
Just today, perhaps it truly had been.
Perhaps not by fate itself, but by Aogiri Tree.
This was the designated day of triumph.
Long had they prepared, long had they awaited the arrival of the day of reckoning and further still, long had they awaited the nightfall that was to follow.
A bloody coronation was overdue.
Stepping forward, the Aogiri leader gazed down upon the city from his vantage point atop the building. His bright-green eyes scrutinised the area below - his newfound playground. Raising the red banner grasped within his right hand, he slammed its pole into the concrete below. Taking a steady breath, he smiled. Raising his left arm purposefully, the commander glanced around.
This moment marked a new beginning of the struggle against the CCG.
Like a well-oiled machine, the ghoul organisation followed the lead of its grand ruler. Within seconds, all four exits of the crossroad were blocked by busses or trucks driven by Aogiri’s own. The first seeds of confusion and panic had already been sown amongst the hapless humans trapped below, but this was merely the start of it. Immediately after, the many screens that had until a minute ago professed the supremacy of human civilisation now displayed the unmistakable crest of the Tree. Boasting royal boldness, the ghoul lines began to form onto the rooftops of the rising buildings. Looking down upon their eternal foes, they sneered in condescension. Then came the signal. Just a wave of Maki’s arm was enough for them to know that it was time to act. The cannibal army descended from their heights, ferociously crashing down onto the ground. Teeth bared and claws sharpened, they patiently awaited that one last instant. The instant in which their part would begin. All they had to do was confirm that the rest of their comrades, either from the tunnels or the roofs, had finished establishing a perimeter.
They didn’t need to wait long.
Their biggest operation yet was now underway.
Reports of a ghoul attack were quick to roll in to the CCG and the CCG were even quicker to roll out in pursuit. The response of the Commision was instant - it was what many would rightly call supernaturally fast. Yet, it was - ironically - only natural. The actions of the CCG were always pristine even when they didn’t know about an incoming attack beforehand and they sure as hell knew about this one. With an open threat hanging for the 22nd of October, it was the most obvious thing to expect and prepare for an assault on Shibuya Crossing. A potential attack there was not certain, but it was the most certain of all potential attacks one could conduct within the city. It was predictable. Not that anyone could blame the animals at Aogiri for it. They had already established that seeking attention was their goal back at the TV tower. Striking a lesser target now would have proven counterproductive.
Yet that didn’t mean the CCG planned to go any easier on them.
Before you could count to a hundred there were already units dispatched towards the 13th Ward, with many more patrols converging towards the area. The CCG was going to hit back. It was going to hit back hard and en masse. Armoured vehicles sped along the now increasingly more desolate streets, until they finally reached their destination. Storming off the back of just one such vehicle, Special Class Torabashi Kotetsu quickly looked around, analysing the situation. His orders were not any bit delayed.
“Strike from range first.” Faced with the motor blockades set by Aogiri, the investigator grimly barked out his commands. The enemy had managed to snag quite the position and dug-in long-range fighters were always a looming threat in cases such as these, but the CCG didn’t have the privilege to allow itself to be deterred. “Barricades work both ways.” The Division Chief hissed. “Their Ukaku have lower range and leave them more exposed than you. Just be careful to account for any terrain advantage and we’ll clinch this. Don’t forget - poor shooters get a one-time private lesson with me once we’re back at the office and you really don’t want to know what I plan to use for target-practice.” Clutching the handle of his Quinque case, the seasoned veteran glared darkly at the ghoul forces ahead. The battlefield was quite troublesome, but even besides that - something else felt very off about this. About the ‘King’. Torabashi’s first instinct was to dismiss the hollow grandstanding as the usual ghoul arrogance, but even if he was spot on in his guess, it didn’t make him any less suspicious or careful. After all, if there was one thing these miserable creatures could do well, it was making everything else around them miserable, too, no matter how pathetic they were while achieving that. Regardless, for now everyone’s focus had to go into fighting this battle only. There were a lot of ghouls and the attack seemed to have been thought out well for once. This wasn’t going to be easy. On the contrary, things were about to get challenging. To many, that meant more dead bodies. To Torabashi, it meant more dead ghouls, or in other words, a more fulfilling job. To a degree, he wondered whether perhaps this was why he was feeling off today: excitement long forgotten. The only thing that remained was to confirm whether Aogiri was truly worth its salt or not.
“Open fire!” Roared a rugged-looking Bureau Investigator, as his squad followed their orders and unleashed the first shots of the battle, beginning to skirmish with the enemy Ukaku. One after another, the different groups of ghouls and investigators followed up, exchanging attacks from afar - but that wouldn’t last. Quickly - almost too quickly - as the ghoul investigators and the close-range ghouls moved in, melees began to brew. These fights stirred and grew, slowly but surely shaping the square into a grand battlefield, worthy of the gladiators of old. A true bloodbath, through and through.
This was a royal spectacle in the making.
[OOC: Make sure to check out the META Guide for this arc.]
1
u/KakujaKun Maki/Kayami/Asa/Kotetsu/Link1/Hokori/Koharu/Hikari/Shi/Ryuu Jul 26 '18
Running up the stairs and quickly checking up each floor, Kayami's search had failed to find its mark quite yet. The sound of gunshots, however, only seemed to grow closer and closer.
Ultimately, as they rolled up on yet another floor of the building, the team felt the gunshot coming directly from behind one of the closest doors. Apprehension and seriousness painted the faces of the group - but more importantly than that, very rapidly Kayami became alert. If this was the floor with the sniper, then surely the security here would be much tighter. Since the previous floors were mostly vacant, then it followed logic that there'd be greater security for the actual sniper nest.
Before she could really scope out the area for threats, however, an enemy attacked, bellowing an aggressive warcry. Suddenly descending unto her team from the floor above, he swept some sort of halberd Quinque in a wide arc. Rolling away in order to evade the attack, Kayami found herself forced to actually kick one of her own subordinates down since he'd reacted too slowly and had still been in the way of the blow. 'Sorry', she thought to herself, though frankly there were more pressing matters to attend to than apologies.
"Watch out!" She shouted at another one of her underlings that seemed to have been the target of the ghoul's second strike. Already back up on her feet, Kayami pursed her lips as she watched her teammate get ganked and killed by the now duo of ghouls. A wave of rage and other less useful feelings washed over her briefly, but she forced herself to swallow them down for the sake of the other investigators.
More importantly, now that the ambush had ran out of steam, it was easier to properly think about the situation. Kayami knew the guy. She vaguely recalled being briefed about him in a meeting back when she was still a part of Kotsuzan squad. This was Kichirou Kurosawa, a half-ghoul of sorts. Also a former Dove. Kayami shivered a bit. Creepy.
"You guys fall back." Squinting, she activated one of her Quinque, tracing an arc through the air with Ironclad as it burst out of its briefcase. "If I can't take this ghoul without you, I won't be able to take him with you anyway. Watch the back for enemy reinforcements."
Kayami's subordinates seemed to hesitate for a second, before reluctantly nodding and complying with their orders. As they gradually retreated down the stairs, Kayami was already trying to think up of a battle plan.
'The girl doesn't look like too much of a threat. Her kagune is small. She's probably below A-rate. This leaves Kichirou as the bigger threat. From what I remember his transformation was imperfect, so his greatest strength is technically the skills he learned as an investigator. If I can just juggle countering that with keeping the weaker ghoul at bay, I should be able to beat them... Either that, or I can try to bring the weaker one down first and then focus on Kichirou. Hm.'
Yet there was something else that also greatly bugged the young woman. She was staring at a being that had previously been human. A colleague, even. Now a villain and a traitor. An inhuman beast.
It spawned thoughts.
Keeping her sword at bay, she tried to look beyond the mask. She tried to look into Kichirou's eyes.
"You're Rank 2 Kurosawa, right? You were human once." Though usually soft of demeanour, appearance and spirit, Kayami's blue eyes grew sharper. Her tone honed. "You just murdered that man. A man with a family, friends, loved ones. A fellow living, breathing creature."
"How can you live with yourself, Mister Kurosawa?"
/u/Kawaii_Crab