Night 71: Sun Room

[monkeyboy]

[From here]

Now this place, he remembered intimately for a number of reasons. Goku couldn't feasibly count the number of times Taura, Birdy, and he had come through here to get to the basement. Most of the time they had been stopped by someone or something lurking in here. The memory started his heart pumping with excitement. It had been a long time since he had a proper fight!

The one with Birdy didn't count. Goku thought back further and stopped on the time he had attacked Kibitoshin in this exact room. He tried, but he couldn't remember why he had wanted to defeat the man... Either way, it had been a great fight. It was also the night he had truly met Taura and everything she was capable of. Yeah, those were all fond memories!

Welp. Goku flicked his gaze back and forth within the spacious room, but nothing seemed willing to assault him. That was a real drag!

"Ah well..." Technically, he had a job to complete. Reluctantly, he peeled his feet off the carpet and moved to the doors that lead into the main hallways. He could there'd be a lot of people out there to throw these bricks at.

[to here]

Comments

Sorry about the wait!

[rebonding]

Korra had awoken from her last altercation lightheaded and dazed. Her memory returned to her shortly, and she was on her feet in a flash upon hearing more escapees coming toward the room. It was just like Big Guy had said. They hadn't beaten her up, or tied her up... But still. She was livid that she had lost.

And these newcomers were unfortunately going to have to face the brunt of her frustration.

"Hey!" She didn't have any patience for any of them anymore. Korra ignited a sizable fire in each hand, a warning as she glared down the inmates who'd just stepped into the Sun Room. Tsubaki was with them? And the guy with the funny hair? She hadn't had them pegged them as the type to turn traitor! They were smarter than that, weren't they?

Not that it mattered, now.

[lighthearted]

Sora wouldn't have minded making a run for it. It seemed like the best plan, if they really wanted to get to the third floor before night ended. But right as he was about to take off in a jog toward the library door, he heard someone call out from the middle of the room.

Two balls of fire floated in the air, and it was only after a moment of squinting that Sora realized there was someone standing there. The fire was coming out of her hands -- some kind of magic? It was rare for Sora to see someone who could do that without having some sort of weapon like a staff (or a Keyblade) to channel the spell.

But wait a second... this girl looked like the person that Tsubaki had described! Sora spun back toward her, eyes wide. "Is that... is that your friend?"

What did they do? They could try to run to avoid a fight so that the girl didn't feel terrible tomorrow morning, or they could try to knock her out cold so that she didn't have the chance to terrorize any other people. In the end, that would be up to Tsubaki.

[thecamellia]

Tsubaki had half a mind to agree with Tsurugi's suggestion, too, but the sight of someone rising to their feet chased those thoughts straight from her head.

Her jaw dropped. "Korra-san!?" So she was here.

Shocked, she turned to Sora at his question, and the look on her face was probably enough of an answer. If the Institute had ordered Korra to guard the Sun Room, then the traces of fire damage likely belonged to her, and that meant she was going to be guarding the room from them...

This is bad.

"Korra-san, you know we don't want to fight," she said to the girl, keeping her hands in view.

[knightspirit]

So Korra was Tsubaki's roommate? That explained why her description had sounded so familiar. The question was, what did they do now? Kyousuke didn't want to end up fighting another patient, but if it came to that, then he wouldn't have much choice to defend himself.

For the moment, all he could do was remain silent while Tsubaki tried to pacify her, watching carefully in anticipation of this backfiring. There would be no sense in helping; he hadn't even been able to get through to one of his best friends earlier in the day. What could he say to someone he'd only spoken to briefly a couple of times? He did, however, make a quick glance towards Sora, hoping he was just as ready to move if things got too intense.

[rebonding]

"Yeah? Then why'd you break out?" Korra called back. The fire in her hands grew dangerously as she approached the group.

"If you don't want to fight, go back to your rooms." It was a simple enough solution to Korra.

So sorry, guys, I misplaced this notif!

[lighthearted]

Of all the places for Tsubaki's friend to be placed, why did it have to be here? It was almost like Landel had known that they would be heading this way.

Sora had gone through this enough times that he knew there was no hope of snapping someone out of it, at least not with words. All they could do was fight and try to incapacitate her, or run and hope for the best. Korra wasn't going to budge no matter what they did.

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that," he said with a shake of his head. "You'll understand soon..." Sora glanced over to Tsubaki, questioning her silently. What did she want to do? Sora wasn't going to make any sudden movements until Tsubaki had decided how she wanted to handle her roommate. He'd follow her lead.

[thecamellia]

Now what? At the start of the night, Tsubaki had wanted so badly to know where Korra had gone, and she'd gotten her wish... Only now the sole way to reach the library would be to challenge Korra and her brainwashing, and Tsubaki was not at all confident she could break the latter. She'd hadn't heard of many people succeeding at it unless they could exert influence greater than Landel's...

She didn't need to hear Sora's answer to know that he nor his friend were likely to flee. That left facing Korra toe-to-toe and trying to take her down, or pushing past her.

Inching ahead of the two boys, Tsubaki kept her gaze on Korra and lowered her voice for Sora and Tsurugi's ears only. "You guys should go ahead. I can stay behind and keep her busy." If nothing else, they needed to keep moving with or without her. Someone had to make it to the third floor. As Korra was Tsubaki's roommate, she was ultimately her responsibility. Lifting her voice again, she said to Korra, "I need to ask you a question. Do you remember how you got here from the room? Did you get dressed and walk down here?"

Opening, opening...

[knightspirit]

Go on ahead...? To be honest, Kyousuke had some reservations about that. They should be sticking together, and the odds for only one of them contending with someone who had their full power back weren't all that pretty. On the other hand, it wasn't necessarily impossible, and it was true that this might be their best chance. If Tsubaki thought she could handle things here, then maybe it would best to trust her.

"Be careful," the boy returned quietly. He stayed still for the time being, waiting for Tsubaki's question to distract Korra just enough that he could make a sprint towards the library without charging right into an attack. But one was certain to follow, so he had to get out now and make sure he didn't waste this chance.

[to here ]

[rebonding]

Korra ignored Sora and Tsubaki's attempts at reason, advancing quickly toward Kyousuke as he made a break for it. The boy was closer to his goal, though, and despite the gust she sent his way, he was in the next room before she could stop him.

That still left the other two, though.

"That isn't your business," she snapped at Tsubaki, giving her no time to answer before punching at the air, as if boxing at an imaginary opponent. Two consecutive concentrated gusts shot Tsubaki's and Sora's way. Korra's aim wasn't perfect in the darkness, and the wind wasn't as powerful as that of a typical Airbender's due to her bad form.

[lighthearted]

It didn't surprise Sora all that much that Tsubaki would ask them to do that. They were more alike than he really wanted to admit -- in her shoes, he probably would have done the same thing. That didn't mean he was ready to listen to her, though. There was no way that Tsubaki could handle this fight on her own, was there? Even if she had a weapon she could pull out of her hair, there was no denying that she was outmatched here.

But the next thing Sora knew, Tsurugi made a break for it. "Wh--" That had been sudden. Now Sora was essentially stuck between a rock and a hard place. The third floor was bound to be guarded, so Tsurugi would need his help, but how he could abandon Tsubaki?

When the blast of wind came his way, Sora did his best to dart out of its path, but it still shoved him back and made it feel like he'd just run into a wall. He paused, caught his breath, and looked back to Tsubaki.

In the end, she had more fighting experience than Tsurugi. Plus, they needed to try and reach the third floor above everything else. Sora frowned and bowed his head in apology. "Be careful!" he yelled back to her before he took off as quickly as he could to the library door.

[To here.]

[thecamellia]

Tsurugi took a chance for the library door before Korra had a chance to answer, and Tsubaki was right to think Korra would target him. Instead of fire, she sent some kind of concentrated air strike after him, like Tsubaki had seen her do before.

"I'll find you later!" she assured Sora, who had stayed behind. A second later, she dove forward, timing her dodge to the way Korra's muscles bunched in her arm. To keep Korra's attention she had to keep in front of the others; it put her within closer firing range, but splitting Korra's focus gave both boys better chances of making it free and clear. She could only hope Sora wouldn't get caught up in those blasts...

Then she heard his warning. Though she didn't turn her head, she nodded. After that she heard the pounding of his feet on the floor. Good. They could make it.

Once Sora had left, taking with him the last source of light, the room became truly dark with only the windows above offering any solace. Tsubaki joined the rest of the shadows by crouching, putting herself behind the arm of a chair. Had anyone stopped to listen--really listen--they would have only heard one step of footsteps and the beat of one heart. Tsubaki didn't have her weapon modes, but she didn't need them--as a human, she was an assassin first and a weapon later.

"Since I've met you, I've never thought you were the type to let others tell you what to do." Her voice floated up from a spot three feet to the right of where she'd started, the only sound she made.

crap, I lost this notif for some reason! I'm sorry!

[rebonding]

Now the other kid was gone, too? Korra re-lit the fires in her hands, eyes narrowed as she searched the room for Tsubaki. She whipped around, searching for the source of her voice as she spoke.

"You think I'm doing this because I'm being told to?" Her voice was darkly amused as she sent consecutive shots of fire at the area she suspected Tsubaki was hiding. "It's you guys I have to watch out for!" Yeah, so the Landel guy's interests aligned with hers. So what?