Looking around for a bit between his classmates, Mitsuo had found his partner for this course without much issue. Certainly helped that Kaizen was quite tall to begin with. Approaching him, he offered him a friendly smile
He said, offering his hand to shake to the man that will be leading him through this.
Kaizen shook the lizardman's hand with no hesitation as he introduced himself.
"Kaizen Shinkami or Apex Bugster, or just Bugster if you prefer. It's a pleasure to work with you, Mitsuo. Your performance in the obstacle was most impressive, clearly the mark someone has trained in infiltration and stealth operations." Kaizen made note of the fact that the lizard's run during the gauntlet was relatively quiet and discreet, in contrast to his explosive-fueled propulsion. There was a certain air of familiarity to him. Although he was not related to the Animilia syndicate whatsoever, it was nice to see another person with an animal mutation quirk. Little did Kaizen know, Mitsuo had gone through similar challenges in life as he did.
"I'd be lying if I said. I didn't want to switch places with you. But in this case, I think your abilities are much suited for the task at hand. Rest assured, friend, I'll do my best to lead us both to victory." Kaizen placed his hand on the partner's shoulder to reassure him of his resolve to succeed.
Hearing Kaizen's words to him made Mitsuo offer a firm nod in return. He certainly appreciated the kind remark about his performance, despite him being one of the slower ones in the class
"And I'll make sure you don't need to worry about what happens indoors. And before I forget, I actually have another talent I didn't showcase in the course. I'm capable of camouflaging myself. It isn't perfect camouflage, but between that and my cold blood, I can become relatively invisible to the naked eye and to heat visions." Mitsuo explained
"And can I just say, your performance on the course was incredible. Really made me wonder how many tricks you may still hold up your sleeve." He added.
Upon hearing about his camouflage and cold blood, Kaizen was happy to be on the sidelines for this challenge.
"Then you are most certainly the better man for this role. I have no regrets for not being in the field this round." It seems this lizard had powers of multiple species of lizards, he briefly wondered what else the boy had in his bag of tricks.
"Speed alone has no intrinsic merit, it's about how you use it. As for tricks. I have a few more in store, but that is a conversation for another time, let us focus on the task at hand." and with that, the Bugster was ready for whatever challenge may come their way.
"Jusst now making eachh othher's acquaintanccess?" Amaris asked bemused.
"And thiss iss a tesst of teamwork.." With a wry grin she shook her head.
"Nonethelesss, I have high hopess for you boyss."
She placed her hand on Kaizen's shoulder and indicated to the van parked nearby. Then to Mitsuo she indicated the compound. And she dropped earpieces into both of their hands.
"Oh, you are boassting about your infiltrashun ability? Back in my ANVIL dayz I went by anothher name." Amaris seemed rather pleased with herself, despite her emo appearance.
"'The Queen of Infiltrashun'. Let's seee how you matchh up. Good luck." With that, she gently pushed Mitsuo towards the compound.
"I'll be watchhing."
Hearing what Kaizen said in response made him curious about his other capabilities, but like Kaizen said, it would be a conversation for another time. Amaris then approached them, giving them ear pieces and a couple of remarks, before she also gave a specific remark for Mitsuo. The Queen of Infiltration? Mitsuo wondered if he should perhaps ask for private lessons afterwards, regardless of the outcome. He was always interested in improving his capabilities in that front. With the push towards the compound, he offered a final thumbs up to Kaizen, before turning to focus on the course. Putting his ear piece in, he stopped in front of the door
"Comm check." He briefly stated, wanting to ensure that it was working fine before he went in.
Without another word, Kaizen grabbed the earpiece and made his way to the van. The earpiece didnt quite fit into the bug ear's he had, so he had to hold it in place using one of his sub arms.
"Reading you loud and clear. Cham." Kaizen's many insect eyes focused on different screens simultaneously, the unblinking nature of his eyes allowed him to absorb every detail of each screen without missing anything.
"Oh, apologiez," Amaris suddenly said to Kaizen. "I shhould havve been more consiiderate. Here." She handed him a headset instead.
Kaizen was caught by surprise by the vampire's queen's sudden appearance, it seems her title wasn't just for show.
"Thank you. Miss." He grabbed the headset without delay.
"I see you in the cams, the path ahead branches out to three hallways. The first contains a large pitfall; the walls seem to be covered with a slime of some sort. The second has multiple robotic guards patrolling, and third one has motion sensor lasers. It's your call Cham." Kaizen was confident that his partner would be able to make the right decision.
BGM:
Entering the compound, Mitsuo listened to Kaizen. Three choices, each with their own risks. If the pitfall walls were covered with slimes, then the ceiling would likely also be unstable. He could potentially pass the robots with his camouflage, as long as they didn't have enhanced hearing. The motion sensors were the seemingly 'simplest' option, but he didn't want to think about what would happen if he tripped them
"Going for robots. You might not see me in the cams now." Mitsuo whispered, taking careful steps until he reached the split Kaizen mentioned. Climbing on the wall, he took a silent deep breath, before his colours would shift to more closely match those of the wall behind him. Wrapping his tail around his body, he began moving slowly and carefully, trying to not make any sound as he passed by the robots. Even if the robots had heat vision, they would not spot him. He just had to hope that they didn't have any other types of vision.
True enough, the lizard did disappear from the camera's visuals, at least the body did. He could still see a somewhat blurry figure as well as bits of dust being disturbed, whether the robots will notice this remains to be seen.
Kaizen expressed his appreciation, but he never noticed when the teacher disappeared. Observing the two, Amaris saw Mitsuo use his camouflage ability to slip past the robots. They were simple creations, and not built with much more than normal visual tracking and motion sensing.
He was rather quickly displaying why he held his infiltrating abilities in high regard. However… there were often other things that could discover a presence beyond sight, heat vision, and motion.
Amaris wondered if she should reveal herself so soon, but, well.. she wasn't here to go easy on the students. Might as well teach them a lesson.
The robots might not have noticed as Mitsuo slithered past them, but that didn't mean much. Their massive shadows began to undulate then suddenly two shadow tendrils of the robots closest to Mitsuo fired out at him. Despite his camouflage one shadow tendril struck his tail and began attempting to wrap around it. How would he deal with this?
"Good job Mits-" Kaizen quickly did a double take to make sure his eyes wasnt playing tricks on him. There was a shadow of some sort, behind the lizard, and it was moving rather unnaturally. Could this be the teacher's ability?
"On your six!" he quickly mentioned, hoping that it was quick enough for his friend to do something.
He managed to get past the robots without causing any of them to trigger on him. Mitsuo was glad about that, but he was far from done. He heard Kaizen over the comms begin to congratulate him, only to instead turn into a warning that was slightly too late. The shadow had managed to strike the edge of his tail and begin to wrap around it. He didn't have time to contemplate what the shadows attacking meant, only trying to think of a way out. Doing anything to tamper with the lights would trigger the robots, as he was still in too close proximity to them. Not liking the other thought that passed his mind, he took out one of his kunai and cut the edge of his tail, releasing himself from the shadow's grasp. He still had the majority of his tail with him, but it was never a fun experience to regrow the tail. Keeping himself much more alert, he started making a bit more haste while still staying camouflaged and keeping himself silent. He gave Kaizen no response as he felt like any sound could cause the shadows to attack again at this point.
Wait. Did the student just cut his tail? Amaris frowned. She hadn't meant to make a student self-mutilate themselves. Was she being too rough already? No, Mitsuo probably could've fought a little harder before choosing such an option, but she figured he would earn points choosing to remain stealthed instead of alerting the robots. The shadows receded for now as he moved forward.
Kaizen was somewhat shocked by his willingness to amputate his own limbs and swiftly reminded himself he wasn't the only one who was willing and able to do that. Considering his lizard based quirk, it shouldn't have any long lasting effects on him.
"Well done Mitsuo. You might wanna patch yourself up before proceeding, that wet blood might give your location away. The next branch should be just up ahead." The next path branched into two directions. One was a deep pool of water, with what seemed like naval mines of varying heights inside it, strangely enough there were multiple low level lights in the area, just enough for whoever was swimming to see some of the mines. The second path was multiple continuously moving platforms that were suspended on air using multiple thrusters. Every few seconds the platform would shift, changing its position, sometimes even rotating. All of these platforms were hovering above a large seemingly bottomless pit of darkness.
"You got two choices ahead, a deep pool with naval mines, poorly lit. The other one, continuously moving platforms on top of a dark bottomless bit. Expect hostile shadows from either path." Kaizen finished his assessment. He still scanned the area for anything more notable.
Reaching the next split, Mitsuo dropped his camouflage and covered his now cut tail, listening to Kaizen as he explained what was in each corridor. Pool without much light and floating platforms. Either way, it didn't seem like he'd need his camouflage for this next bit. The water was a risk with how much he could hold his breath if he would be attacked, while the platforms left him with little room to maneuver. He did start sticking out his tongue every few seconds now as well, taking in any scents he could catch onto. And indeed, he caught onto one, that came from the direction he had just come from. A perfume of sorts? While it made it clearer to Mitsuo that their new PE teacher is likely getting herself directly involved, it didn't help with the decision making, knowing nothing about her quirk, aside from the fact she could apparently manipulate shadows. Making his decision, Mitsuo turned to the right, beginning to make his way slowly and carefully down the hall, until he reached the moving platforms. Grabbing a pair of kunai from his pouch, he bent down and folded his tail the best he could into a spring shape for the first jump. It wouldn't have as much effectiveness without the tip of his tail, but it still helped get a bit of extra boost. Making the jump to the first platform, Mitsuo made himself stick to it with his legs and one hand, while the other hand still held onto the kunai. If a shadow came at him while he was passing between the platforms, he already had a plan in mind. The platforms kept moving and turning for a bit, and Mitsuo counted how long he had between each turn in order to make his jump. He prepared to make a jump, however, instead of using his tail as a spring, he prepared to do a normal jump. Making sure his timing was right, Mitsuo started jumping forward, only for his tail to grab last second onto the platform he just left jumped from and send him right back to the platform, while Mitsuo would throw a kunai forward, waiting to see if his plan would pay off or not.
Shadows did spring up out of the darkness. Multiple tendrils reaching like something out of lovecraft. There was no discernible pattern or shape to them, other than grasping, flailing tentacles of writhing dark. However, seeing as the jump was a feint, they reached for nothing. And his thrown kunai struck one, bouncing off with what sounded like a metallic clang, indicating just how solid the shadows were. The knife uselessly fell down into the abyss.
They began to reach for Mitsuo on the platform, seeking him out slowly, as if trying to find their prey with feel alone.
Then, seemingly out of the blue, the shadows once more receded back into the darkness. Briefly, Mitsuo would be left with seemingly no further danger, as all had fallen quiet.
But then the darkness seemed to rage, as if laughing in the face of that idea. An entire wall of shadow rose before him, cutting Mitsuo off from the next platform. It rose high into the air, but left just enough space to …
maybe make it over. Could he?
Simultaneously, behind him, shadows began spreading over the ground he was previously on before the first platform. They began to seal the passage behind him. However, left enough space for him to potentially make it through unscathed. -Should he wish to try the other path instead.
But those shadows were gradually closing. What would Mitsuo's choice be? Would Kaizen have any ideas?
It seems that Kaizen's theory was correct, her quirk was shadow based, furthermore based on the interaction it had with the Kunai, he can deduce that they were in fact solid and dangerous. Unfortunately, most of Kaizen's solutions were only for himself and would likely be impossible for Mitsuo to carry out on his own. That was until he took a closer look at the machinery beneath the platforms through one of the lower cameras.
"Mitsuo, crawl under the platform and see what you can do about the wiring. Alternatively, you can rupture the fuel tanks of the thrusters to push it to your desired direction." Kaizen gave his options, He was against the idea of Mitsuo trying to slip himself onto the opening as he believes them to be traps rather than true openings. Whether he listens to him remains to be seen.
Seeing his hunch was right, Mitsuo was glad about that, but then watched as things quickly shifted around him rather rapidly. His potential exit was barely available, and going back also felt highly unlikely. If the shadow wall was solid, then he could potentially climb it, but he felt like something would be off about that. As Kaizen spoke to him, Mitsuo moved and climbed underneath the platform. Indeed, he saw the gas tanks and wiring, but he got another idea. If these were shadows, then perhaps it could work. There were two gas tanks on the platform. He didn't want to rupture both as that would likely cause the platform to simply fall down. But he imagined it would still work for a bit with just one. Grabbing one of the tanks, he climbed back on top of the platform, before grabbing a pair of kunai yet again. He pierced the fuel tank, exposing the fuel inside, before throwing it down into the pit, directly beneath the shadow wall, and then threw the two kunai in the same direction, aiming to have them hit each other near the fuel tank and cause a spark to hopefully cause a bright enough explosion down below. Shadows needed light to exist, but bright enough light should still break them, Mitsuo figured.
Well, he figured correctly. As, a moment later, a large bright orange explosion erupted down there. It ripped open a rift in the shadow wall. Leaving a wall with a crack big enough to pass through clear up its middle, and the shadows themselves in a fuzzy, fizzy state. Even the shadows closing behind him receded once more.
However, Mitsuo had only a moment to react before the shadows would regain their form after the explosion went out.
Keeping his eyes on the shadow wall, Mitsuo saw the brightness from below and prepared himself. As soon as the crack formed, he jumped forward, managing to grab onto the next platform with his hands and climb onto it, before quickly moving to jump onto the next one, aiming to keep his momentum going.
As the boy was passing through, wispy tendrils reached for him from the wall, and the crack in it moved towards him like a jaw of jagged teeth attempting to catch a bite. But none reached him as he sailed through.
Still, their pursuit didn't end. As the light of the explosion faded, the strength of the shadows returned. And as if angered by his choice to defy them, began racing at the boy who crawled up onto the next platform. Indeed, the shadows were relentless in their pursuit, as he made his subsequent jumps they were right on his heels, attempting to snatch him away.
Mitsuo kept jumping forward, and grabbed a kunai out of his pouch as he did. Sticking his tongue out every few seconds let him get a grasp of the shadows that had been chasing him, and if one came too close, he blocked it with his kunai as he kept pushing himself forward. He eventually found himself needing to take out a second kunai to keep this defensive position up. The quirk the Queen of Infiltration possessed was certainly a strong one. Eventually, he managed to make it to the other side, but kept running forward to get some distance from the pit and the shadows.
While it may seem contradictory, Kaizen was thankful to have a partner that didn't fully rely on his advice as he believed Mitsuo had made the best choice he could have given the situation. "Excellent choice Mitsuo, couldn't have done it better myself." he added as he scanned the next area.The was only one path that lies ahead of him, it was a rotating tunnel with multiple types of wall panels. Some of them seemed to be electrically charged, others had spikes, and were spring loaded, designed to go off every few seconds at random intervals. All of this was illuminated by a blinding light at the end of the tunnel. Every few seconds the light would shut off for a few moments before turning itself on again. "There is only one more path ahead, seems to be the most challenging one yet. There are multiple electrified panels, spiky ones and even some spring loaded ones. On top of that, the light seems to turn off every few seconds, which means timing is key. From what I can see the light seems to turn off the electric panel as well, so you'll be able to step on them when it's dark enough. There should be a torch light on your right, according to my info it's 1,750 lumens bright, but only has a few seconds worth of charge, so use it sparingly. I'd advice deciding how your gonna move both in the dark and light, it's much easier to move around when the shadows aren't chasing you. Either way, good luck." Kaizen finish his briefing
Coming to a halt in front of the path Kaizen started speaking off, he saw everything Kaizen mentioned. The spikes, the electric panels, the light at the end that turned off after a few seconds, before turning back on. Darkness meant no shadows, so he wondered if Amaris could still attack in the darkness or not. With the intervals being at random, it was more challenging to plan this. He bent down and considered things. Spring loaded panels, at this range, would likely simply cause him to crash against the opposite wall, so those were out of the question. Spikes were, well, spiky. So the electric panels would be the best option. Although another thought came to mind. It was a risk, but he could potentially use it for pauses in between the dark moments. Or potentially, he could use it as a distraction.
Watching the first and second electric, and the first and third spring loaded panels, he memorized where each set of walls were the best he could, and how fast each moved. He threw a kunai at the nearest spring loaded panel, and heard the sound it made as it jumped out, before going back inside. It wouldn't be impossible, but it could potentially work. The Darkness arrived, and he remained silent as he grasped the remaining kunai in his hand a bit tighter. He'll likely need to do this in one go, with no stops, seeing as there was no viable place to stop when the light came back on. Taking a deep breath, he bent his knees, this time looking at all the panels, working on memorizing the potential paths the best he could and how fast it would spin around. When the darkness arrived yet again, he started moving, jumping to one electric panel. He just barely jumped off it before the lights came back on, causing him to throw his kunai at the second spring-loaded panel, causing it to activate. He managed to land and jump off it before it completely retracted back, this time aiming for the next electric panel in line. He could only hope the lights would turn off again before he reached it.
While Mitsuo was timing his jumps specifically, shadows suddenly began their descent towards him down that rotating tunnel. The shadowy tendrils sped along, seeking their prey, ready to finally ensnare him… But the darkness was about to flood the place. Could Mitsuo avoid them enough for the darkness to save him, and for him to escape this infernal tunnel?
Smelling the incoming shadows with his tongue, Mitsuo wasn't sure what he could do. He barely had time to take out a kunai to deflect them. Using his tail, he tried kicking away some of the tendrils, while also pushing himself more towards the panel. A second later, darkness came over once more, and Mitsuo landed against the electric panel with a bit of a bump. Quickly steading himself, he took out two kunai and jumped off, throwing yet another kunai at the next spring loaded panel to activate it, and then kick himself off it as soon as he reached it, once more before it could retract. This time, he managed to get to the next electric panel, and jump off it, before the lights turned on mid-way during the jump. He threw his second kunai at the final spring-loaded panel, activating it, before jumping against it, and managing to land at the other side of the corridor. Breathing heavily, Mitsuo kept going forward, taking out a kunai just as a precaution, in case their sensei decided to still try and go at him again.
Kaizen was impressed by Mitsuo's sheer mobility and quick thinking. It is unlikely the insect boy would be able to traverse through the third gauntlet unscathed without significantly damaging the structures in place.
Where Mitsuo landed was a door. Once opened, it led to a corridor that led to another door. Hanging from the ceiling were five swaying lights. They flickered on and off. Sort of alternating, in a way. It cast the hallway in a spooky light. Giving off a rather horror vibe.
"Alright. Seems to be a corridor of flickering lights. Based on what information we know, she seems to only be able to manifest her shadows where there is light. I'd suggest breaking the light sources with whatever projectile you have while you can. That being said, keep an eye out for other sources of light, I doubt that they would make the last course as straightforward as it seems." Kaizen finished. Something's not right about this place, it seemed too easy, too plain and vanilla, where was the catch? If there was one he hasn't been able to detect it just yet.
Opening the door, Mitsuo looked at the corridor as Kaizen explained exactly what he saw. He already got confirmation that her shadows stopped once it was completely dark from the previous bit. It was a bit odd that it'd be this straightforward. Taking out five kunai, Mitsuo threw each kunai at once of the five swaying lights, aiming to break each of them and bring complete darkness into the room.
The kunai struck true, shattering the lights, bathing the entire hall in pitch darkness. But not even a second of darkness passed before panels on the ceiling opened up, dropping those lights, and revealing three new ones in their place. These ones replaced the old lights, with the same swaying and flickering like before, as if nothing had even happened. Suddenly, from behind Mitsuo eerily a flashlight turned on and was tossed beside him, hitting the floor and rolling, coming to a stop.
Watching the lights be switched with new ones, Mitsuo felt it was a mechanism designed to exactly aid Amaris and her quirk. Always ensure there was a shadow present if someone entered the corridor. The flashlight that got turned on and thrown next to him, however, caused him to take out a couple more kunai. Glancing at the door on the other side, Mitsuo broke into a sprint in the direction of the door.
A shadow lifted off the ground like some out-of-place tree root, tripping Mitsuo, causing him to fall flat on his face. Strike two.
Just before him shadows slashed from every which way, like a wicker basket of razor sharp black spikes. Until they criss-crossed enough in front of him to seal off the path. But not completely obscure it. He could still see the desired door through the parts between the spikes.
An eerie feeling befell the room, as just behind Mitsuo shadows bubbled. Suddenly they rose up out of the darkened floor, and amassed together. They took on a humanoid form. A form of a woman. Then a staff-like weapon made out of pure blackness appeared in the hands of the shadow form.
It stood before Mitsuo.
It seems Kaizen was right, it was not as straightforward as it seemed, not one bit. It was at that point that Kaizen wanted to swap places with him again. To have a chance to fight someone as powerful as Amaris, truly a fight of a lifetime. But this wasn't the time for that. He thought about how there was a small moment of darkness when Mitsuo broke all the lights simultaneously as well as the fact that lights only seem to replace themselves when they are broken.
"Mitsuo, you gotta find a way to cover the lights without breaking them, perhaps you could use your ninja cloak to cover them or at least jam the machinery that's replacing them." Kaizen's attention turned towards the lights on the floor that were dropped earlier.
"Break the lights once again and throw the debris left from the previous lights into the ceiling, if you repeat that enough times you should be able to jam the entire machine." Although Kaizen himself would likely prefer fighting the shadow lady head-on, it is unlikely that Mitsuo shared the same sentiment. Now all he could was watch and hope that his friend was able to come up with a solution.
Falling down on the ground right after he attempted to make a sprint for the door was far from fun. Looking up, Mitsuo watched the shadow spikes appear and create a near-complete cover for the door. And then he felt something off, making him quickly stand up and turn just as the humanoid form appeared in front of him. A complete shadow form? That was not good. He heard what Kaizen said, and thought about something that could, perhaps, jam the machine better than just debris from the lights. But to manage to do that while avoiding the shadow figure would not be easy. He couldn't make reckless movements as he just learned from trying to sprint, and taking his eyes off the enemy was essentially leaving himself open for attacks. Knowing there was the first light directly above him, he took out six kunai, holding four with his fingers and two, more steadily, with his full hands. He threw one directly above him, aiming to hit the light above him, readying himself with the other kunai to deflect any hits that may be incoming.
The light directly above him shattered, but there was still plenty of shadows in the room. The shadow-figure launched at Mitsuo the moment the light popped. It swung the shadow-staff, then swung it again, and as Mitsuo deflected it, it spun the staff with obvious training. The flourish may have seemed pointless, but the staff's attacks were precise and
forceful, indicating the spinning was to gather momentum. Mitsuo most likely wouldn't be able to deflect attacks from this figure forever.
As the shadow figure started attacking, Mitsuo started deflecting the best he could. He allowed himself to start being pushed backward by the hits, taking slow and careful steps, aiming to pretend to try and keep his footing but failing. Once he could see the next light directly above him, he would quickly slip a kunai off his finger onto his hand, and throw it upwards, onto the next light. He'd continue doing so, taking more steps backward as he'd not only try to deflect now, but also gain a bit of space between them as the attacks gained more momentum. Without a doubt, Amaris had a lot of training with the staff to be capable of utilizing a staff like this. With some difficulty, Mitsuo would manage to take out the third and fourth lights. The last light, however, was the hardest, as it was almost directly next to the shadow spikes, meaning he had to bring himself very close. He knew he'd only have, perhaps, less than a second of darkness before the machine opened up to replace the lights. With the last 2 kunai in each of his hands, he took a final step backwards, knowing he was likely right next to the spikes, and threw the kunai upwards, aiming to hit the last light. However, as soon as the machine that replaced the lights opened the ceiling, he'd throw his last kunai straight up, aiming to hit its insides and perhaps jam it with the kunai.
Mitsuo's efforts were rewarded, with the satisfying churns and cracks of clashing metal. Whatever mechanism in place was meant to release new lights was now stopped up and fighting against his kunai.
However, nearby the flashlight flipped through the air, as if to remind him that there was still light in the room. Causing all the shadows to go ballistic. -Including the shadow-staff wielding shadow figure. Which launched itself at Mitsuo, who wasn't able to bask in his glory of foiling the weird ceiling mechanism. It slammed into him hard, sending him tumbling to the ground.
The spikes cutting off the doorway remained, but they were fuzzy, and almost looked angry. The flashlight danced in the air, as if propelled by some dark force. And the shadow figure rose once more, its own appearance as fuzzy-angry looking as the rest of the room. Poor lizard boy, he was probably ill-equipped for this.
Once again, Kaizen is impressed by Mistuo's ability to improvise, however, such impressions were short-lived when he noticed he seemed to have forgotten about the flashlight on the ground.
"Mitsuo the flashlight!" He warned him. The bug was thinking as hard as he can for a solution. He knew Mitsuo ran out of kunai's, so had to find a way to cover the flash light.
"Use your blood, splatter it on the lense or use your clothes to cover it. That should weaken the light enough for you to slip through." It was all Kaizen could say to his friend. He hoped that Mitsuo was able follow through with the plan or improvise once again. Either way, this is a do or die moment.
Getting pushed onto the ground, Mitsuo wasn't even able to think about the fact his kunai in the machine worked as he watched the shadows being much more fuzzy and wild, with a flashlight dancing in the air. Briefly glancing to his side, he saw two kunai laid there, from the two lights he broke above where he currently laid. Rolling to the side, he grabbed both, and threw one at the flashlight, keeping the second one for defence in case he missed and he'd need to try defending himself.
He missed for sure. The flashlight was being directly manipulated by the shadows it was causing. They could easily avoid a haphazardly-thrown kunai from laying on the floor. Amaris had half a mind to finish him off there, for even attempting a foolish gamble like that. Instead she'd merely reprimand him on it later.
As if to prove his attack -or whatever it was, if you could even name that an 'attack'- had failed, the flashlight raised up and bore its beam across the hall, bathing most of the place in its annoying yellow glow. The shadow-figure rose up between Mitsuo and the flashlight, raising its staff.
In the position Mitsuo was in, there wasn't much he could do aside from trying to defend. At least, not with his hands. Wrapping his tail around the shadow figure's leg, he pulled it, aiming to cause the shadow figure to fall backwards. If he could buy himself even a second to be capable of getting back up with this, then perhaps he could do it.
Even in Amaris's weakened state, her shadows were basically rock solid. Though this had a person-like shape, it technically never left the shadows it was connected to. Unless Mitsuo could somehow move the entire complex's shadow, then there was no way a single yank of his tail would budge the shadow person whatsoever. The shadow spun the "shadow staff" (which in of itself, wasn't even a staff, but actually just a shadow) around, and then started poking it down at Mitsuo. He was three strikes out of four.. If he was jabbed with the shadow staff's tip, that was it.
"
You can't overpower this opponent, Mitsuo. Use your spit to blind her, get her to release her hold on you. A smoke bomb perhaps, something that breaks her line of sight on you." Once again, Kaizen was against Mitsuo taking her head on. He wasn't even sure what Mitsuo had in his disposable, he was just going through the options in his head.
Dodging the staff the best he could, Mitsuo saw that he couldn't just throw the other kunai he held, as long as the shadow stood between him and the flashlight. As he dodged, his tail started feeling around a bit, until it found the remnants of one of the lightbulbs. Once he could feel a hard and somewhat jagged metal piece, he slightly sank it into his already wounded tail, before making a whip movement with the tail, aiming to send the piece flying at the flashlight. This was less of an attempt to break the flashlight, more of an attempt to cause it to shift its light to a different direction.
The shadows flicked the flashlight away from the latest projectile meant to break it. Meanwhile, the shadow figure closed the distance with Mitsuo and continued to swing the staff at him. Though it was subtle, the movements seemed stiffer. Like they were made with less control and weren't as precise anymore.
Kaizen had caught on to the diminished strength of shadow when the light was flicked away. He came up with the hypothesis that the closer the shadow was to the light the stronger it was.
"Mitsuo, the shadows seem stronger and faster when they are closer to the light source. Get some distance between yourself and light. Deflect it to another direction when you are able and seize the chance to go on the offensive" Kaizen shared his insight on how effectiveness the shadows are affected by the position of the light.This power of hers truly seemed like something out of a horror movie.
Also having caught onto the more stiffed movements, Mitsuo rolled to the side once again, before quickly getting up. He could feel the blood dripping from his tail again, but with the stiffer movements, it was very possible that Kaizen was onto something. Holding his kunai in his hand to deflect any incoming attempts at a poke, he glanced in the direction of the flashlight. His tail once more moved into a position of a spring, before giving Mitsuo a boosted jump at the flashlight. He aimed to catch it and turn it off, though even if that didn't work, he'd at least be in a bigger distance from the human-figure shadow.
The Shadow-figure was successfully deflected, and successfully dodged around. It attempted to swipe at Mitsuo, but missed by a wide margin due to the stiff motion that was now much more prominent. Whether they were onto something or not was still up for debate, but whatever, it looked like they finally succeeded. Mitsuo's hand would grasp the flashlight.
Was this it? Did he finally succeed? Were they in the clear? So many questions ran through the bug's mind
"You did itl, Mitsuo! Nonetheless, keep your guard up. We never know what these pros have up their sleeves." Kaizen did not waste any time in congratulating his partner for his success. However, there was still a lingering uneasily feeling within Kaizen but whether or not it would lead to anything is unknown.
Having grabbed the flashlight, Mitsuo would quickly turn it off, allowing the room to fall in darkness and to make the shadows around him vanish. Picking up another kunai from the floor, he held it steady in his hand, in case Amaris decided to try something like that again. Taking slow and careful steps, he made his way to the door. He put the flashlight away in his now empty kunai pouch, before putting his hand on the door handle. Turning it, he opened the door.
There, sitting on a desk, was the laptop containing the intel. Now all Mitsuo had to do was grab it and escape. There was another door off to the side, that was probably wiser to take to leave.
Seeing the laptop, which was the target, Mitsuo first approached it and started looking around for any hidden traps. After everything that was set up before, he felt it'd be foolish to just grab the intel and walk out. Intel normally had some kind of security on it, beyond any further security measures that were set up prior. He checked around the laptop, above and below the table, and also around the room for anything that could indicate if there were any further traps.
If Mitsuo was scrutinizing, he would see some sort of pressure plate that the laptop set on. And maybe the outlines of other hidden doors in the wall right in front of both doors in the room. There were obvious lights near the tops of those doors, that are set up in various different buildings that are used for alarms, but these ones were currently dormant.
"Alright last hurdle. The laptop seems to be on some elevated plane. If I had to take guess it's probably some weight activated trap. I recommend replacing the laptop with something equally heavy or grabbing it and bolting. The former would be the stealthier option. Alternatively you can try to disable the alarms and or jamming the mechanisms. Godspeed, Mitsuo" and with that, it was time to watch how his lizard friend would conquer this hurdle.
Mitsuo agreed with Kaizen about that being the stealthier option. Setting off an alarm, any kind of alarm, would alert whoever the intel belonged to. And then everything he did to try and remain stealthy before would be for nothing. He still had the kunai in hand and the flashlight in his pouch. The laptop didn't seem to be incredibly heavy, but likely weighed more than the flashlight in the pouch. Putting his kunai in the pouch, it did feel a bit heavier, maybe enough to weigh about the same as the laptop. Grabbing more kunai from the previous room didn't feel like a viable option, as backtracking wasn't the best option. Putting the bag with the two items on the table, he slowly pushed the laptop aside with the bag, until the bag laid on the pressure plate instead of the laptop. Taking the laptop, Mitsuo then quickly moved and opened the second door he had seen before.
As no alarm had been triggered, there was no sudden rush to reclaim the intel and capture the thief. Before Mitsuo was a long hall, another door, and beyond that, more halls, office rooms, and other such things. All with patrolling bots. Since no alarm was set off -it meant all one had to do was sneak back out. Mind the invisible laser trip wires randomly placed about.
Kaizen scanned the area ahead of them. It seemed easy enough for some as skilled in infiltration as Mitsuo, but then again they can never be too sure about what lied in the shadows.
"You got patrolling robots ahead, and what looks like motion sensor lasers, I am not sure if you can see them with the naked eye. Perhaps a puff of dust would make them more visible. Otherwise, beware of the shadows that lie ahead." Kaizen relayed what he could see from the multiple monitors. He could see the laser's projectors but not the actual lasers themselves. "I could tell you where each of them are based on the positions of the projectors." Kaizen begin listing the number of lasers present, he counted 12 of them, some of them were closer to each other than others. He listed out their proximity to each as well as the recommended moves to bypass them, whether it be sliding through underneath, or wall crawling. The only complication being he had time it so that he won't be spotted by the patrol bots.
As he listened to Kaizen, Mitsuo wrapped his tail around his body once more, though he placed the laptop between his body and his tail. Getting his camouflage on, Mitsuo started going on the walls to avoid the robots, and taking into account both the laser proximities and suggested movements by Kaizen. After managing to pass a few lasers, he came across a couple that were too thin for him to pass with his tail wrapped around his body. Grabbing the laptop with his arm, he moved to tuck it underneath his top, letting him still utilize his hands freely and without needing to worry about the laptop being dropped. He then kept moving between the lasers, as instructed by Kaizen, while keeping his camouflage to ensure none of the robots spot him.
Eventually, Mitsuo made it to the edge, and then out the final door. He was back outside. Taking the laptop from underneath his shirt, Mitsuo finally spoke up
"Mission accomplished Apex Bugster. Package secured and without alerting the enemy." He said over comms, even if he knew that Kaizen could see that he made it out. The entire time, he hadn't said a single word since the first choice because he did not know how much speaking could alert Amaris-sensei, and because he figured his actions could let Kaizen know he was still listening to what he was being told.
Kaizen gave a sigh of relief as he exited the van to greet his partner. The whole time he had been silent on his end. Most people would find this annoying and intrusive, a sign of lacking communication, but not Kaizen. In eyes, Mitsuo actions was all the answer he needed. Kaizen approached the lizard and offered a triumphant high five. He admired Mitsuo's ability to think for himself, knowing when to disregard his suggestions and forging his own path. He liked the fact there wasn't much back and forth between the two during the entire operation. A partner with a fragile pride would endlessly try to justify their actions even though such gestures weren't needed, not from Mitsuo. In the bugster's eyes, Chameleo was bonafide hero material.
"Your silence and actions will be a source of inspiration for me and to those who come after." he summarized.
Accepting the highfive, Mitsuo smiled
"Couldn't have done it without you giving all those suggestions and ideas, and how well you led me at the final stretch. Sorry I wasn't really responding, I didn't know if that could cause Alucard-sensei to hear me and catch onto me more easily that way. I feel like I understand a lot better how she came to be known as the Queen of Infiltration." Mitsuo said, before looking at the laptop. He certainly had more work to do in order to improve his infiltration abilities.
"Iz that appreciashun and complimentss I hear?" came the voice of their teacher. The woman sauntered up. But her gait was haggard, and she had her hand pressed to her chest.
As she got close, stepping up before them, the woman drew in a breath, grimaced, then stood up straight, hand dropping to her side.
"Obvioussly you two passsed." She gave them a small clap.
"Good work."
"It iss a good thing to sstop and appreciiate the effort, and revel in the joy of a job well done in thiss line of work. You do not alwayss get to." She paused just a moment.
"Okay, now onto the after-tesst break down. I won't ramble, and won't touchh upon everythhing in an effort to keep thhings shhort." Her gaze darkened from the light-hearted look she had just had. Turning to Mitsuo.
"Firsst thingss firsst. Mitssuo." She was glaring at him.
"Why did you deccide to cut your own tail?" It was clear Amaris was not happy. She didn't wait for his answer, though fully expected some explanation.
"I know you were dealing withh an unknown, and that musst've been very sscary for you. But my shhadow wass loosse. You could've pulled away. I wass giving you that opshun. Now, it'ss true, bad guyz will not go eazy on you like that, but you shhould've known, as-s your teachher, I had no intenshun of forccing you to harm yoursself to proceeed! In a real situashun, it iss posssibly -no, highly likely you may need to do jusst what you did. And it iss very good you have suchh an ability. But you shhould sstill fight. Fight, fight, fight. Sstrive to fight for every hair, every drop of blood. Exhausst your opshuns before choossing the nuclear opshun. If you choosse that opshun firsst thhing every time, then one day, you're going to find yourself taillesss. And find yoursself in a posishun where you will need that tail. Look, I'm not talking about your tail here. I am talking about opshuns in the field. If you purpossefully choosse to lesssen your own opshuns, and worsse, weaken yoursself to boot, you're going to find when it really matterss you won't be able to find the opshun you need to find your way out. And did you even thhink about Kaizzen? Apexx Bugsster? If you choosse a nuclear opshun out in the field, you rissk leaving your partner and alliez withhout your aid, whichh can make it all the worsse for them. That'ss what thiss tesst wass about. Your choicce could've directly caussed Kaizzen to fail thiss tesst. Jusst thhink on it. Learn to fight, before thhinking of retreating and fleeing like you did there. At leasst promisse me you won't be sso quick to sstart cutting yoursself in the future. Okay, anythhing to ssay for yoursself? And you, Kaizzen? Any commentss on when you ssaw your partner cut himsself?"
Hearing Amaris start to speak, Mitsuo turned and paid careful attention to what she had to say. And the first thing she had to say was about the first obstacle they were presented with. The way he elected to avoid the shadow via cutting his tail. At the moment, he actually hadn't considered what Kaizen might do. Lowering his head, Mitsuo shook it a bit
"You are right sensei. I hadn't considered Kaizen and what he might do at the moment, nor did I notice the shadow was loose enough. Only thing that went through my head was finding the quickest way to escape the shadow's grasp without alerting the robots. I am aware that I need to improve my fighting capabilities, and not just that, but also to work on my own, personal instincts, so that I don't immediately resort to such actions." He said.
He was somewhat disappointed with Amaris assessment of Mitsuo's actions, in fact he was livid, considering given the same situation, he would have done something similar if not something more extreme. Why should Mitsuo be concerned about Kaizen's well being when he was the one on field risking his hide. However, he decided against voicing that strong of an opinion. Considering she was their teacher, some level of respect was in order.
"If I may interject, Ms, Amaris, I think Mitsuo did the best he could. While he definitely has areas he can improve on, I do believe he simply took advantage of his regenerating tail. Whether I fail or not is irrelevant, his performance is what mattered most above all else. He should not feel burdened by whatever expectations I had for him." Kaizen said respectfully to his teacher.
Hearing that Mitsuo understood what she was telling him, the remorse about not thinking about his partner, and the subtle promise he made, Amaris gave the boy a nod.
However, with Kaizen it was another matter entirely. He didn't need to interject when she gave him the floor to speak, but anyway.
Amaris's eyes narrowed.
"No, you are wrong. As-s a hero, you are alwayss burdened. It iss your duty to be burdened. You are burdened by demand to ssave people. Kaizzen, you are alwayss burdened, from thiss point on. Mitssuo, too. And your classsmates. Even I am, and your other teachhers at Suppresshin. If you are not thhinking about your alliez, friendss, the people, and everyone around you, then you are not doing your job correctly."
She sighed.
"Alright, moving on.." Amaris paused. Her arm was shaking, and she moved it behind her, clasping it with her other hand. She drew in another breath.
"Anyway. Desspite making it out with thhree sstrikes out of four, as-s a pair, you two did relatively well. Kaizzen gave adequate and detailed instructshuns. And you, Mitssuo, followed them well. He gave advicce. And you took it, and knew when to act on your own. Despite my anger at you cutting your tail, it wass impressiive how you fought to sstay sstealthed, even when I attempted to reveal you. In fact, it wass going well, until that hallway. Where it all almosst came crashhing down for you two."
"You two ressponded well, at firsst. Well, no, you, Mitssuo, responded poorly at first. You opted to run, asssuming it wass jusst a siimple siingle sstretch. It wazn't. You acted with rissk and impashuence. Sso I tagged you for it. Out there, you cannot act like that. You do not know if a siimple-looking hall iss really sso siimple. Villains come in all shhapes and sizzes, and withh all ssorts of deviouss schemess and quirkx. Acting recklesssly, no, foolishhly like that will get you more than a bruisse from being tripped. I could've made a shhadow sspike for you to fall on. And you'd be dead. You'd be dead Mitssuo. I know that ssounds unfair -well becausse it iss. That'z jusst how it iss. Furthermore, you two did act quickly beyond that. Knowing the lightss were the primary problem. You bothh came up withh wayss of trying to ssolve that isshue. And you did well. But ssomehow forgot the siimple flashlight I threw in the room. Bothh of you made errors then, were forgetful, and while Kaizzen wazn't particularly usseful on comms, Mitssuo, you seeemed to panic a bit. To be honesst, it looked a bit diccey that you two would fail there."
She wondered about telling them that she had ultimately went easy on them then. She clenched her shaking hand and decided against it.
"But regardlesss, you bothh got your act togethher. Kaizzen came up with good advice, Mitssuo followed through, and eventually you bypasssed my little gauntlet. Then you got the intel and esscaped very smoothhly withhout alerting anyone elsse. Sso, again, good job."
Raising his head a bit as he continued to listen to Amaris and Kaizen, Mitsuo appreciated what Kaizen had to say, but he still agreed more with what Amaris said. They were supposed to keep their teammates and everyone else in their minds as heroes. As Amaris went on, Mitsuo nodded. That hallway was were the majority of his mistakes had occurred. He treated the flashlight like a grenade and it cost him. And afterwards he failed to acknowledge it and it cost him. It cost
them. When she finished giving her input, Mitsuo nodded once more
"That hallway was filled with mistakes and a bit of panic, yeah. The way the flashlight dropped by my legs made me think it was not a flashlight, rather a grenade of sorts. But running straight into the hallway, even due to that thought, was indeed a mistake. And not taking a proper look at the flashlight was another. And I suppose the panic dropped in more when I started understanding why you were called the Queen of Infiltration. That quirk of yours is pretty amazing, sensei." He said. Mitsuo had noticed that she moved her arm behind her back, but elected not to say anything. He didn't know why she moved it there, but he felt like asking about that could be intruding.
Kaizen listened to her words intently, perhaps she had misunderstood what he meant. Heroes certainly have burdens, but the bugster expectations should not be one of them. But then again, perhaps in this case his expectation was not representative of his own. "Very well, Miss Amaris, I will take your words to heart." Kaizen replied before turning to Mitsuo for another handshake of respect. "It seems we both have more to learn, just as it should be. I'd be happy to help you learn more combat focused techniques if you so desire."He offered his more stealth oriented partner.
"Thank you for the lesson Miss Amaris. I believe you have given us both a lot to think about. And if it's not too much trouble, if you have the free time, I would appreciate it if I could receive some combat training from you…..perhaps then, you wouldn't have to hold back so much" Kaizen was no fool, he knew when some was holding back, or at least he could feel it. Being someone who always holdbacks himself, he longs to fight an opponent that could go toe to toe with him.
It seemed they both responded to the lesson well, with humility. And understood what they had learned here today. Well, if that was so, then they doubly earned their passing grade!
Amaris's face softened.
"Thank you, Mitsuo-kun. Though those days are behind me." She glanced at Kaizen, hearing his zealous approach to training. It made her grin.
"Combat training? Well, I am the PE teachher, so I supposse that iss in the cardss." She found it amusing he could tell she was holding back.
"Oh? You noticced? I need to put up more of a fight nexxt time then. Yess, a training sspar soundss workable. I will try not to be a dissappointment of an opponent." Just agreeing to spar made her body ache. She had really pushed herself here today. The whole 'Shadow Mimicry' technique she used at the end with that shadow-staff-figure was one of her most strenuous techniques. And one Nyx had warned her against using. That she wasn't yet "ready" to use it again. But, if she was testing students, then she could very well test herself. It would be hypocritical not to do so. A no-holds spar sounded great.
"Excellent, I look forward to our...training. Come on Mitsuo, there are still plenty of other students to watch. There is surely something to learn from watching their performance." The bugster beckoned his friend to join in observing how the other fared in this challenge.
After accepting the handshake from Kaizen, he nodded along, joining Kaizen in going to watch his classmates
"I'm definitely curious to see how the others will fare." Mitsuo told Kaizen, before quickly turning to look in Amaris's direction
"You can expect me to approach you later on too sensei!" He quickly called out to her, before continuing on alongside Kaizen.
She watched them depart with a fond smile. Those were good kids; the next generation of heroes was looking very promising. It helped assuage her worries about not being in her prime anymore.
