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yumemigaoka2024-01-05 03:44 pm
darknesshotpot) wrote in yumemigaoka2024-01-05 03:44 pm
JIJI EXPRESS
⭐ Who: Ango and anyone who wants to kick his ass
⭐ When: January
⭐ What: Ango catchall post!
⭐ When: January
⭐ What: Ango catchall post!
NINJA MISSION! (Closed to Keiwa & Hanako)
⭐ Where: Reverie Necropolis
⭐ What: Searching for Reverie's tomb!
⭐ Warnings: Spooky ghosts, inevitable disaster
[A large cardboard shipping box shuffles through the torch-lit corridors of the Necropolis, going still every time the shadow of a passing Torment disturbs the flickering light. Surrounded by carved stone sarcophagi and crumbling grave markers, the box is just another squat, blocky object among thousands of others.
Ango still holds his breath as a Torment floats by. Tattered scraps of clothing flutter from its inhumanly long, skeletal arms, close enough for him to smell the dust and grave dirt... but the ghostly figure passes without so much as a glance in his direction. He peers through one of the holes poked in the side of the box and waits until the Torment disappears down the hall.]
...I can't believe this stupid plan is actually working.
[Even his whisper sounds too loud within the confines of the box, where someone's tail is taking up most of the free space. As a fellow ninja-themed Dreamer, Tycoon was an obvious choice for a stealth mission, but Ango has been fighting a sneeze ever since they got to the Dream Sphere. At least he acts as a barrier between Ango and the brat.]
It looks like there's a huge room up ahead with lots of torches... we're pretty deep into this place, so that's gotta be it, right? Reverie's tomb...
[If not her literal tomb, then a monument to all the dreams she must have had - the dreams that were cut short when she disappeared into the Dream Sphere. That's what this place is, right? A graveyard for dreams that have died. It makes sense that the first Dreamer's dreams would lie in the deepest part of the Reverie Necropolis... and they've been sneaking around for what feels like hours.]
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But-- as much as he hated to admit it, Ango had been onto something about this Reverie stuff, and now, with his tentative connection with whomever has been causing these weird occurrences in the Dream Sphere, he was a valuable asset in this sort of search. So, begrudgingly, he agreed to go along, figuring their combined stealth assets would probably make this a breeze if they ran into any sort of similar problems like they had with Crimson--
And now here there are. Three guys squished in an extremely conspicuous box in one of the more dangerous places in the Dream Sphere. Had it not been for Tycoon being the soothing buffer between the two, Hanako probably would have punched Decadence already-- and at full strength to boot. At least that fluffy, fluffy tanuki tail was a decent distraction-- or, at least, something to smoosh his hands against when they needed a break from the rough stone ground.]
I can't believe this stupid plan of yours is working, even. [His voice is a low mutter, echoing against the cardboard walls around them.] You think these things would notice a box in here by now...
[Not that he isn't grateful for their luck-- this is much deeper within the maze than he expected they'd be with such a slipshod stealth tactic. Still, he can't help but whine a little when Ango points out what's ahead of them, the prospect of even more crawling making him want to lay down and perish. He's not even entirely sure if it could be her tomb, to be honest-- but at this point, he'd embrace any escape from this landbound hell.]
This better be it, though-- my knees huuuuurt.
[THIS IS WHY HE FLOATS, GUYS!!! WHY WON'T YOU LET HIM FLOAT!!!!]
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He's not sure why Decadence would have thought to ask him to join in though. The only thing he could think of was that Ai had mentioned him to Ango at some point (she had briefly pointed out that there was another Dreamer who was styled after Ninjas as well, so...). Tycoon was a Novice though, even if his first notable contributions had been fighting Mio's Night Terror]
But it's good that it has been working, right? [Tycoon's voice is normally soft and timid, so he's not bothered at all by the whispering] We've gotten pretty far after all.
[
Spoken like an airheadHe didn't really mind if he had to mediate between the two, though he also couldn't help but be a little curious as to why these two seemed to find each other so disagreeable. But maybe-He gently tugs on the sash at the older man's waist to get his attention]
Ango-san, if it's a room up ahead, do you think we could just walk around? We can just keep an eye on the hallways for any Torments that might come in.
[at the very least, this would spare their knees. Tycoon doesn't particularly care for the idea of snooping around tombs, even without a body enshrined within, but it couldn't be helped in this instance. If it's a chance to stop further Disturbances then they had to take it]
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[Ango's materialization ability means that he can easily add knee pads to his Dreamer outfit, but that doesn't do much to ease his aching back. He snaps his fingers, returning the cardboard box to the shadows from which it was made, and winces as he stands upright.]
Ow, ow... where the hell are we?
[He's never been this far into the Necropolis, even on his non-combat data collection missions. Once the Torments here notice an intruder, they let out shrieking cries that attract even more Torments... hence the need for stealth.
From inside the box, though, it was impossible to appreciate the cold, elegant beauty of this place. In contrast to the roughly hewn stone blocks that line more familiar areas of the Necropolis, the walls are carved from black stone so finely polished that it reflects faint ghostly images of the trio. Catacomb notches cut into the walls hold silver urns covered in tarnish, or bouquets of flowers so withered that they crumble to dust with only a breath of air. Ahead of them, the hallway opens into an enormous, cathedral-like chamber. Is this the heart of the Necropolis?
Instead of smoky torches, the circular room is lit by dozens of ornately wrought candelabras and chandeliers. At the center is a large statue of a young woman holding some sort of staff or wand, carved from pale marble that almost seems to tremble with life. Her arms are raised as if she were captured in stone at the peak of battle. But the statue's head is missing, along with most of her weapon... maybe they aren't the first Dreamers to reach this place after all.]
This is it! That statue must be Reverie... her weapon was a wand, right?
[Even the DU's museum doesn't have much information on the first Dreamer, apart from a few pieces of artwork created decades ago by Dreamers who knew her. Ango wasn't able to glean much information from Angelica, either. And while the tombs and altars lining the walls are covered in inscriptions, everything is written in unfamiliar characters that seem to twist and squirm when inspected too closely.]
There's gotta be something here... some clue to what really happened to her.
[Supposedly, Dreamer Reverie disappeared after using the last of her power to seal a Nightmare... but what if the Nightmare had really been a Night Terror? What if Reverie's last dream had been a Disturbance? What if Reverie, unable to defeat her own trauma, had chosen to seal herself away with it? Ango knows from personal experience just how easy and comforting that can be. It could have been him, lost in this place for so long that even the memory of his existence faded from the world.]
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Yeah okay, boomer.
[HANAKO... PLEASE..... Ango's an elder millennial at best, don't do him dirty like that???
He lets out a long sigh of relief when Ango takes up Tycoon's suggestion to walk the remainder of the way, though, immediately floating back into the air and stretching like a cat once the box is dissolved. They made it this far without being detected-- as long as they didn't do anything too reckless or stupid while they explored the room, hopefully they should be fine. Still... as a safety measure, he summons both his knife and his Hakujoudai, sending one of the latter off in the opposite direction to keep an eye on things, per Keiwa's suggestion. Given how the Torments loved to get the jump on folks here, having an extra set of eyes (or at least, a monitoring orb) couldn't hurt.
Hanako's quiet as they travel down the polished halls and into the massive chamber, keeping a keen eye to what was around them. He was so used to the sprawling, nondescript graveyards and craggy tunnels of this place that the shiny rock and elaborate chandeliers were something of a surprise-- he didn't think Necropolis could be anything other but damp and spooky.
... not that the vibes weren't still absolutely dour here, of course, but he lets out a small whistle once he's fully in the room, regardless. It's a lot to take in-- the statue, the tombs, the enormous space-- but at least Ango's declaration gives him something to focus on.]
I think so... lots of Dreamers use wands, but it'd be kinda weird if some other person got this big, fancy room in a place called Reverie Necropolis of all things.
[Too bad the head and weapon were mostly gone-- even if information on her was scarce, surely there would be some people still alive who remembered what Reverie looked like, even as a civilian. If they had gotten a good look at the details, maybe they could have brought their findings back to the DU, to at least confirm who they were looking at right now was the fabled Dreamer. But alas, all that was left was her costume, which... admittedly, wasn't much to speak of, unfortunately. He curiously hovers around the statue, the lifelike quality of it all intriguing him. Given the logic this place operates on, maybe he shouldn't question it, but none of the other monuments in Necropolis were this well made...]
Maybe there's something on one of the altars? That's usually where they put offerings for the dead and stuff, right? I think as long as we don't touch anything on there, it should be okay.
[Because he remembers the last time you touched something in one of these mysterious rooms, Ango!!!! We don't need people getting possessed by residual feelings, okay!!!]
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[Hanako had floated off before Tycoon even had time to try and say something to the younger Dreamer. It was out of line for him to say something like that, even if Ango had set himself up for a takedown like that. Not that it matters now as they each stand (or float, in Hanako's case) up and start looking around the large room for any clues. The Necropolis had a theme going, but this place seemed so clean compared with the rest of the place. Save the signs of neglect and abandonment, the place seems weirdly untouched.
Fitting, if this was meant to be a rest place for dead or forgotten dreams...
Once inside the large tomb, Tycoon walks around the edge of the room, looking at the inscriptions for some legible text and keeping an eye out for any Torments that might come through the room. Hanako and Ango probably had a better idea of what to look for, so Tycoon was fine following their leads]
... But nothing says that the statue has to be Reverie either, right? [he kneels down to try and blow away a layer of dust on the placard in front of the altar he was currently looking at, the visor that's a part of his outfit preventing it from blowing back into his face] And the writing here doesn't look like a language at all.
[Tycoon stands up from where he was crouching to look at the walls around them before turning back to the other two investigating the statue in the centre]
Maybe it's like it was with the Disturbances. Ango-san's had that hidden stairwell and Mio-san's had the hidden doorway... So could there be a way forward hidden here too?
[this place operates on Dream Logic, which is tenuous at the best of times. Maybe the statue manifested that way instead of something coming through and destroying it. Maybe this place was as clean (if neglected) as it was because it was dreamt to be this way. Maybe maybe maybe-
Tycoon looks up and calls out to Hanako floating above them]
Hanako, can you see anything from up there?
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[Ango sulks to himself as they explore the cavernous room. He may be on the older end as Dreamers go, but at least he's not some old fart who sits back and criticizes while young people struggle to deal with the problems caused by his generation's lousy mental health... the least he can do is struggle alongside them.
Heeding Hanako's warning about touching any of the offerings on the altars (he certainly hasn't forgotten what happened in Mio's disturbance), Ango instead inspects the jnscriptions. He even takes off his glasses to use his Disillusionment skill, hoping that the squiggly lines will resolve into legible Japanese. Sometimes he imagines that he can puzzle out a few characters, but as soon as he focuses on them, they slip away. For a writer, it's frustrating to not even be able to read.]
Tycon might be onto something... all the Disturbances we've seen have had some kind of secret doorway. Admittedly we're dealing with a sample size of two, but it would make sense if there were back ways between dreams.
[Crimson is getting around the Dream Sphere somehow, right? Ango wasn't even looking for her when she pulled him into the Disturbance.]
This place feels too important to just be another dead end...
[Ango waits for Hanako and Tycoon to drift off to other areas of the chamber... and then materializes a crowbar into his hand. His fellow Dreamers don't share his experience in (and enthusiasm for) petty crimes like breaking and entering, so they're unlikely to approve of what he's about to do. He sneaks towards a large, flat, black stone set into the floor at the statue's feet, positions his crowbar, and heaves with all his strength. It seems like the most likely place to find a secret passage, or buried treasure, or something else of interest.
The stone creaks, but only shifts a few millimeters - even with a Dreamer's enhanced physical capacity, Ango can't realistically hope to lift a slab that must weigh hundreds of kilos. Shrugging, he turns to search for something else that he might be able to pry open...
But a moment later, the silence of the chamber is broken by the horrible sound of stone grinding against stone. Impossibly, the stone slab is sliding back under its own power, revealing a glimpse of a staircase descending into pitch black darkness.]
Uh... guys? Maybe we oughta take cover again.
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Hanako frowns a little as he continues to study the statue and his surroundings, not even bothering to try to make sense of the writing etched into the floors and walls around him. He's learned the hard way that attempting to decipher dream text was a waste of time-- all one really got for their troubles was a headache and a whole lot of annoyance. No, it was better to just take in what he could see, although right now it just seemed to be candlelight and stone.]
Mrrm... but this isn't really a Disturbance though, is it? I dunno if the same logic applies to something that's been here the whole time. But I guess it's a start, at least...
[But man, there really wasn't anything that screamed "suspicious" from where he was looking, even at his slightly higher vantage point. No oddly placed mirrors, no smooth patches amidst the plaques... not even a strange engraving to set one of these things apart from one another. Granted, he could only float about two feet above the ground, tops, so he only had a bit of a better viewpoint compared to the taller men here, but maybe if he had some extra leverage...]
Nah, it's a whole lot of nothing up here. Unless... you think you could give me a boost, Tynuki? I don't wanna climb on this statue if I can...
[His words trail off as the sound of scraping stone echoes across the chamber, almost deafeningly loud amidst the previous heavy silence. That's... odd. His Hakujoudai would have alerted him if something had followed them into the room, right? Though he hadn't really kept an eye on the old man since they started exploring--]
... help it...
[His eyes finally flick over towards Ango, and, subsequently, the source of the sound, and for a moment he tries to grasp what happened. Did it... move on it's own or something??
But then he spots the crowbar in Decadence's grasp, and it all locks horribly into place. Quietly, he fixes him with a piercing, unflinching stare, a look that promises to smite him on the spot if what he was suspecting was true. Hanako's voice is low when he finally speaks up, terse and simmering with barely restrained violence on the edges.]
... old man. What. Did you DO?
[WHY DO YOU FOLKS KEEP MESSING WITH GRAVES HERE, HE IS GONNA LOSE HIS SHIT]
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A Disturbance is still a Dream though, isn't it?
[Tycoon has only ever been on the edges of the Necropolis, and he's never actively sought to dig deeper into the Dream Sphere. His attention drifts from Ango to Hanako and their surroundings, stepping towards the statue in the middle of the room to help the younger Dreamer]
Maybe there have always been hidden passages here... The Disturbance being an outlier just brought our attention to it. [he's mumbling again, but from the way he's talking about it, Tycoon may as well just be thinking out loud.
Mind elsewhere, the loud scraping noise echoes around the crypt causes Tycoon to jump and whirl around in surprise. He vaguely registers the murderous stare directed at Decadence from Hanako behind him, but his attention is on the stairwell leading downwards. There is enough time for him to step forward before he realizes there's another sound coming from the distance with a twitch of his ears. He turns around nervously, looking past Hanako and towards their main exit out of this room]
Ango-san is right, we should probably- [he manifests his weapon subconsciously, already preparing for a fight if it comes down to it but looking like he's ready to bolt first] -find cover.
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I didn't do anything, I swear - I mean, I poked at it a little with the crowbar, but it opened on its own!
[Ango hides behind a blocky stone cenotaph, but the large, open room offers little useful cover... and he doesn't think Torments will fall for the cardboard box trick again. Their only options are to fight whatever emerges from the open stairwell, or run back the way they came (towards all the high-level Torments they passed along the way).
Maybe they'll get lucky and the ominous hole in the ground will be full of kittens? Cute, fluffy kittens?
Something emerges from the stairwell, but at first it's hard to tell what it is or how many of them there are. The skeletal Torments are assembled from a hodgepodge collection of leftover bones - some of them have far too many heads (with far too many teeth) while some of them wield rusted weapons in far too many limbs. They're fast too, skittering up the stone stairs like long-legged spiders.
Fuck. It's never kittens, is it?]
Damn it, we were so close to finding an actual lead...
[Okay, they may not have been that close, but Ango's mystery novelist instincts have been piqued! It's obvious that the deeper you go into a spooky labyrinth, the juicier the hidden secrets will be! If they could just get past these damned Torments...
Brandishing his crowbar, Ango leaps out of hiding and smashes the closest skull!]
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[Seriously!!! Hanako might have (sort of) excused this behavior from a somebody younger, but this was a guy was nearly forty, for crying out loud!! He should have known better, especially after last time!
He's too busy boring a hole of pure, silent malice Ango's way that he doesn't even attempt to take cover-- that is, until the ominous clicking and clacking of bones draws his attention back to the opened tomb. Well. That sure was Nightmare fuel, in so many respects of the term!! (And spiders-- why did they have to move like spiders???? That made it so much worse!)
Recoiling, he backs away on instinct, clutching his knife in a white-knuckled grip. As he does so, a ping goes off in his head, the low-res footage of the hallway they had just came from playing in his mind's eye. He darts a look over his shoulder, unintentionally mimicking Tycoon's glance towards the exit of the chamber-- looks like they both reached the same conclusion somehow.]
Ugh, there's more coming down the hallway too--
[Crap. As much as this was Ango's own doing, he wasn't about to let the guy be added to the bone collection, let alone the rest of them. But he only had one Hakujoudai at his disposal at the moment, and that wasn't going to be enough to effectively help him. Of course, Keiwa was there, but leaving this creature to a Novice and a newly minted Experienced Dreamer didn't sit well with him. The best option was to run, but where could they go? The exit was going to leave them ambushed, and that shadowy staircase was clearly blocked...
... unless...
Hanako glances back over towards Tycoon, his mind made up and his face determined.]
Tynuki! Lemme get inside you for a sec--!
[....... HANAKO. PLEASE. PHRASE THIS SHIT BETTER, I'M BEGGING YOU]
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Well, the more experienced Dreamer isn't wrong but-]
This isn't the time to be fighting each other...!
[it makes sense that there isn't much by way of cover here in this tomb specifically... If we're using real world logic. Some part of him feels a little bitter because the Dream Sphere tends to play fast and loose with logic in most instances, yet it decides to follow convention now?!
The timing certainly leaves something to be desired.
But between bony Torments and the high level ones down the hallway behind them, the choice is simple. Tycoon prepares to run over to where Decadence is, his weapon in single blade mode, when Hanako abruptly calls out-]
...
Haah?!
[there was an audible record scratch there, all thoughts vacating his head for a moment before he balks in surprise, eyes wide and tail puffed up]
Ama- [wait-] Ha-Hanako, now's not the time for jokes either!
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[Ango knows better than to question the logic of the Dream Sphere, of course - the same comic book rules that give them superpowers also mean that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, usually with maximum dramatic irony.
Hanako's next comment makes him pause mid-way through pulling his crowbar free from a crushed skull to shoot the brat a disgusted look.]
This ain't the time for flirting, either! Aren't you like, twelve?
[Ango doesn't have time to see what weird idea the brat has in mind, though. The skeleton Torments aren't particularly strong, but they're fast, and his crowbar doesn't have a lot of stopping power. He could try materializing a different weapon (a machine gun sure would be nice right now) but his power is limited by how quickly and accurately he can imagine an item... and at the moment, Ango's thoughts are somewhat occupied by the skeleton monsters that are actively trying to kill him. A whip-like tail of bones swings towards his head, forcing him to crouch down to evade it.
The staircase in the floor is still open, and there don't seem to be any more Torments emerging...]
That's our escape route! We've gotta run before the other Torments catch up to us!
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[Don't you dare try to knock two years off of him, Ango!!! It's bad enough he's one of the smaller boys in his grade, he doesn't need people thinking he's younger than he actually is, either!! Not that this matters in the context of this conversation, since he's still way younger than Keiwa anyway (and way outside his age range, for that matter), but even so!!!
On the subject of Keiwa, however, he can't help but shoot the other man a piercing glance of his own at the near name-slip, his annoyance already on the rise. It's not as if Ango hadn't already met him as Amane at that pizza party months ago, but it's not like he wanted the guy to know his name! That was something that could be addressed later, though-- right now, they had to haul ass, and fast.]
I'm serious, though! I need to get into your body...!!
[It's only then that Hanako realizes the obvious-- that he hadn't exactly clued into the other two in about his Possession ability-- but it would take up way too much time to explain to them now. Biting a curse back under his breath, he takes one more glance at the Torment bearing down on Ango and decides to throw propriety under the bus for this. He'll go and apologize to Tycoon once this was all over and done with, if they managed to make it out of here in one piece.
And at that, Dreamer Hanako disappears in the blink of an eye, looking as if he had just clipped out of existence. Anyone looking at Tycoon at that moment, however, will notice an odd change about him: the straighter hair, the oddly yellow cast to his pupils, and... is that Hanako's Hakujoudai next to him, somehow??
HMMMM.
Without missing a beat, he charges forward, sending his sole Hakujoudai crashing into the monstrosity ahead of him and extending a free hand towards Ango.]
Old man! Take my hand, and quick!
[Well, that was definitely Tycoon's voice coming out of him, but the rudeness certainly wasn't in character...!!]
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It's hearing his own voice yelling at Ango that snaps Tycoon back into focus.
The Hakujoudai breaks through skeletal Torment crawling up the steps, but it's not enough to completely clear out the dwindling mob coming out from the depths. The skeletons look pretty brittle, so if they could break them apart some more, slipping between the remaining enemies should be much more doable. Tycoon doesn't really think to give Hanako any warning - it's his body, after all - before he summons a bunshin with a swing of his weapon and sends it into the mass of bones. Even at half strength, with Single Blade mode active, it should still do enough damage to break up the mob a little bit]
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Ango is ready with a sarcastic retort (even when dodging skeleton monsters, there's always time for sarcasm) but by the time he opens his mouth to snark, the brat is gone. Shit... did he already get booted from the Dream Sphere? The brat's floating orb thing is still there, though, bobbing in the air next to Tycoon... and there's something off about Tycoon. His eyes are yellow and his bushy tail fur has gone dead straight, making him look more like a stray cat than a tanuki...
EUUGGHHH. Ango jumps back so quickly that he collides with a Torment, crashing through dry, brittle bones.]
Oh hell no! I'm not letting a ten-year-old do weird stuff with my body!
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At the very least, though, the bunshin Tycoon winds up summoning proves to be a very good distraction to the bony Torments, giving them a decent window of time to escape-- or, it would, if Ango didn't insist on being such a stupid, stubborn old fart at the worst possible moment!!!! The dead-eyed smile Hanako sends the older man's way is ten times more unnerving on Keiwa's usually sweet face, angling the blade of their weapon ever so slightly in a barely-concealed threat.]
Y'know, as much as I'd love to leave you to deal with the consequences of your own actions, that's gonna look real bad on the reports, so maybe shut up and get moving, 'kay?
[And at that, he snatches Ango by the collar, bodily hauling him away from the monsters and straight to the staircase leading them to the deep, dark depths below. With Keiwa's height and relative strength, it was easier work grabbing the other man than it would have been if it were Hanako alone, although there was still the obstacle of the remaining Torments clogging up the exit to contend with. Tightening his grip upon Ango's uniform, Hanako activates his intangibility, letting the effect spread from his shared body onto the older's man's, slipping them through the first of the defenses on the steps. They only had about a minute to work with, if not less, so they had to move, and fast.]
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In their mind, Hanako can probably feel Keiwa's quiet exasperation at how he and Ango were still fighting and the nervous energy that always seemed to underline everything Keiwa does. He takes a second to speak up quietly if not with a slight strain in his tone;]
Ango-san will probably fight you harder if you keep talking to him like that, Hanako-kun.
[but he doesn't do anything to stop Hanako from using his body from manhandling Ango anyway. He trusts Hanako to have a plan if he possessed Tycoon like this. He's keeping track of his bunshin, it's health chipping down slowly but still effectively serving as the distraction it was meant to be. Maybe it's because he's not actively moving his own body but Keiwa seems to be able to finesse his clone's actions a bit more, having it split it's weapon into it's Twin Blade mode and trying to clear a narrow path on one side of the staircase.
With fewer enemies clogging one side of the stairwell, maybe it'll be easier for them to pass through them all]
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[In the moment when Hanako-in-Tycoon's body grabs his collar, Ango materializes a smoke bomb to cover their escape. The distraction works, too, at least for a moment, but Hanacoon is dragging him closer to the Torments choking their only exit...]
...Hey, wait!
[But instead of running straight into a skeletal Torment's sharpened bones, Ango passes through them as if he were a ghost. He knew the brat could phase through objects, but he didn't know that ability could extend to other people... ugh, what a spooky feeling.]
How about phasing us through these walls and out of this dump!?
[On second thought, though, that's probably not such a great idea. They have no idea where the labyrinth goes, or what's on the other side of its walls. It's even darker down here as the light from the candle-lit chamber fades, so Ango materializes a flashlight... not that it does much to help. The darkness is so deep that it almost seems to consume the light.]