1122/Cooking By The Book

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Cooking By The Book
Date of Scene: 16 February 2024
Location: Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis: The Culinary Guardians unite! Faced with a mysterious energy-stealing shop front, they attempt an incursion... only to find themselves trapped!
Cast of Characters: Ren Morimoto, Chiyo Sakai, Hitomi Kobe, Katsumi Cora


Ren Morimoto has posed:
    A crisp winter wind winds its way through the streets of Tokyo this evening, as the sun dips below the horizon, its last vestiges of warmth dissipating. It's not so late that the crowds have lessened yet though, so there's plenty of people out and about. Some are heading home after a long day of work, others out running errands or meeting friends for dinner. The hustle and bustle of everyday life.

    And all of it interrupted, at least to those with the ability to sense evil things, by a creeping, lingering sort of darkness, emanating from a small storefront nearby.

    The sign above it proclaims it as the Digital Domain and posters on its opaque windows offer such wonderful things as Don't Wait! Connect Now! and Free Users!. The front door opens slowly to allow a young woman to stumble out from within, a tendril of dark energy locked onto the base of her neck and slowly stretching out as she begins to walk away.

    Meanwhile, somewhere above:

    "So your legs aren't, like... cold?" Guardian Sukiyaki is asking as he follows after Guardian Daifuku, their meandering trail taking them across rooftops high above the streets. He has no idea where they're going, but his experience with being on patrol means you don't really go anywhere, just sort of... wander around in the hopes of being where you need to be when-slash-if danger strikes. Not that he's really having a look around, too focused as he is on what he's saying. As he gestures down to his pants-clothed legs, he adds, "I mean, Ume gave these to me after my first transformation. And they're more for, uh, y'know," he doesn't actually say, "But I guess now that I think about it, my hands and face are never cold either. I'm always kind of toasty warm!"

    As he glances towards Daifuku's back, ahead of him, Ren stumbles at the edge of a rooftop, his free arm (the one not clutching his Giant Cleaver over his shoulder) pinwheeling in the air to catch his balance. "Whoa..." he says, vermilion eyes wide as he looks over at his fellow Culinary Guardian. "Do you feel that? Something's definitely up."

    His head turns to the left as Umeboshi, his spirit guardian, projects a vision of himself into Ren's subconscious to corroborate the general icky feeling that Ren has in the pit of his stomach as, indeed, the presence of dark energy. Ren nods (at seemingly nothing) and says, "Yeah! We should do something!" But then he hesitates, and defers to Guardian Daifuku with a tentative smile, "Right, Daifuku-san?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku hadn't been out on patrol with others in awhile... Something she was working on making up for now that she'd met Sukiyaki. They'd at least exchanged phone numbers and she had made the suggestion of a spare phone so that it was easier to keep the 'business' side of things away from the normal life. A bit easier in case there was parental locks or other such things on a phone, or tracking, or something. Plus they could keep their secret identities that way as well.

To be fair, she didn't really listen to her own advice about a spare phone and used her regular one. There were few enough people on it to begin with, and those that were generally were already in-the-know. Ojiisan wasn't as technically savvy as some younger sorts so she was safe there.

The question has her glance back over her shoulder toward Sukiyaki with a grin as she pauses on the edge of the roof with her kine slung over her shoulder. The wind was blowing, making the skirt and apron of her kimono flutter in the wind, but she didn't seem the least bit cold in spite of the fact that she only had thigh-high stockings on with her sandals. "Nope. It doesn't seem to bother anyone when they're transformed, really. I thought it was just because my powers are fire based at first, but it's apparently just the magic itself. Like it surrounds us and protects us I guess." Not something she'd discussed overly much.

Just as she's about to suggest they take a turn to go down another street he stumbles, and she feels that icky-in-her-stomach sensation she often felt.

"Yeah, something's wrong. Let's go," she assures even as she fishes her cellphone out in one hand. "If it's something really big I can call in some backup."

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    Somewhere down below there's the whine of a streetbike engine as a figure in a green jacket speeds along, ducking in and out of traffic in a most disrespectful manner.

    The winter wind didn't seem to bother the figure too much, wearing warm wool leggings beneath a pleated skirt, sensible boots on her feet as she speeds along. Tokyo was certainly a more ACTIVE place than Osaka -- at least for the supernatural type of evil.

    Beneath the screen of her helmet, the figure's lips pressed together in a thin line -- she felt the cold pressing sensation against her stomach as she passed the storefront swell and ebb. She's on the wrong street, two blocks over, she reckons, and she hits the brakes, skidding and crossing in front of traffic with the least amount of regard for traffic laws, and speeds down an alleyway to cut over.

Katsumi Cora has posed:
Katsumi Cora was actually out for a walk when things started to happen. His cane out in front of him as he tap-taps along the ground, feeling out his way, the cold air feels nice on his skin as a pair of sunglasses protect his eyes. A heavy coat is matched with slacks and beside him, Kobo is trotting along, in his service dog vest.

That is until someone stumbles out of the shop, and Katsumi can make out the faint outline of dark magic that surrounds the person and grows stronger as it trails back into the building.

"Do you see that?" he seemingly asks noone. Kobo barks at him. Because while Kobo may notice the dark magic -- there are much much stronger magics nearby. He barks and whines and then grabs his lead and yanks Katsumi away. "What is it, where are we?!" He doesn't get a further protest as he's yanked around the corner, and Kobo transforms into his peel.

<Katsumi! There are other guardians nearby! I can just feel it!>

"What? What do we do?"

<Transform! We can help!>

"Oh... right!" Lifting his arms, he calls out, "MYSTIC SAIBASHI, TO ME! LET'S COOK!"

The smell of baking bread fills the air as Katsumi swiftly transforms into Guardian Shokupan and comes out from around the other side of the building, heading towards the others!

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    Traversing down to street level requires a few wall-jumps to cover the vertical distance, and this time around Sukiyaki manages it just fine, thank you very much. The less said about that disastrous attempt where he fell three stories and was limping for days, the better. "Good to have someone on speed dial just in case," he calls out to Daifuku on the descent.

    The heels of his boots clack onto the pavement as he lands, and he pulls his sword out in front of him defensively, but all he sees is a young woman alone, eyes slightly glazed over as she passes him by without so much as noticing him. He blinks, more at the dark trail of energy behind her than at the woman herself, and turns to follow said trail, which curves through an alleyway -- and whoa, there's a motorcycle heading down it! Ren leaps out of the way, towards the wall, before there's even a chance of a collision.

    And hey... maybe that means his combat reflexes are finally coming in! Not that a potential traffic accident nencessarily equates to combat, but... maybe?

    "Oh jeez," he says, heart racing, but there's no time to be concerned about the mysterious figure racing by on their bike! There's dark energy afoot!

    So instead of remaining attached to the wall, cringing away from potential danger, Ren leaps over a dumpster and starts following along the shadowy trail again as it floats, just about head-height, in midair. The sounds of a busy street begin to spill down towards him as Sukiyaki makes his way towards the mouth of the alleyway, where the trail abruptly takes a sharp turn towards a darkened storefront.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Leap down from buildings? Right? That's a thing right? Of course it is. While Sukiyaki parkours down, Daifuku just... Falls down landing in a crouch that she hops up from as soon as she regains her balance properly. Sometimes she takes for granted that she's super strong when she glances back and sees Sukiyaki just now coming down to join through his more careful descent.

As he leads the way she pauses watching the woman wander by glassy eyed and clearly affected by the dark energy. She wasn't entirely sure what had caused it but that little tendril was unusual as it clung to her. The motorcycle rushes by just as she swings her hammer through the air a single time testingly to see if it would sever that tie.

If it did, great, if not... Well either way she's still going to be dashing after Sukiyaki to the source of the problem. "This is new to me. Energy drain or... mind control or... Usually there's a big bad causing it." Though typically the youma she came across with the Sailor crew had them all passing out not wandering off like zombies. This was different.

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    Totally a thing.

    The motorcyclist hard brakes at the end of the alleyway. They appear to look over their shoulder at Sukiyaki and Daifuku, and then the motorcycle revs again, and peels out into traffic, nearly causing another accident.

    "Um -- Hitomi-chan -- I think those... I think those were /other/ Culinary Guardians!" comes a squeak from the bottom of her helmet and a furry feeling along her chin.

    "And if they get in my way -- I'll fight them too!" Hitomi growls under her breath.

Katsumi Cora has posed:
The motorcycle screams by Shokupan, and the Culinary Guardian feels a strange pull. All of the sudden, one of his recipe cards leaps out and activates of it's own voalition! "Wait! I didn't...!"

The recipe card flips through the air, making contact with the peel and just as quickly, a two and a half tall monkey appears. Not just any monkey. It's head, body, everything is made of bread. Sticky bread. Caramel covered belly, cinnamon roll face. It 'ooks!' loudly and then starts to swing across the street lights, past the other two guardians and with a flying leap... lands on Kushiage's motorcycle and climbs up her back to peer down over her helmet, looks at the girl and starts to jump up and down excitedly. Estatically. And making loud noises to trying to get her attention.

"So. This is awkward." he murmurs, snatching the recipe card out of the air that released the monkey. "Recall!"

Nothing. Full Monkey rebellion.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    The backwards look that the figure on the motorcycle gives is entirely missed by Guardian Sukiyaki, sadly, who only makes note of them disappearing down the opposite end of the alleyway, past another figure down there. With the sinking feeling in his stomach only getting stronger as he continues onwards, there's no time to give any consideration to anything else but finding the source of this bad energy!

    Turning the corner, the trail follows the sidewalk down the street. As Daifuku's hammer swings through it, it disperses into fine particles in the air... but only for a few meters to either side of the so-called impact point. And even that is a testament to her strength, as Sukiyaki's tentative slices hardly cause it to fall apart at all. And within seconds, the trail of dark energy has reformed. There must be something, or someone, actively maintaining it.

    Another corner to turn, and there it is. Digital Domain. The trail of dark energy goes straight through its closed door and inside. Ren hustles forward, trying not too draw too much attention to himself (despite the fancy outfit and giant sword) and throws open the door.

    ...only to reveal darkness. Darkness that sucks him in, causing Ren to stumble and then fall forward right into it!

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Dammit. Worth a shot but..." But clearly it was stronger than her. Strong enough that Daifuku returns to the phone in hand thumbing over a few contacts to quickly shoot off a text to at least one to let them know what was up just in case they didn't come back.

Something she's immensely glad for as she watches Sukiyaki get sucked into the darkness of the building. "Yep, nope, that's a nope," she utters lifting the phone to take a quick photograph of the store to send off along with a pin dropped for location. It's all she can do for now. Let allies know just in case. Though the sinking feeling in her stomach was getting disturbingly worse, and she was vaguely reminded of the Witch she'd helped with that one time. Uneasy, uncertain, and knowing it was vastly out of her league alone.

If it was out of HER league? It was absolutely out of Sukiyaki's. He was new to this and still uncertain about his powers.

"I'm going to regret this. I know it."

A quick smack of her Kine to the ground, a love tap really, earns the business end igniting in flame as she marches forward toward that darkness trying to literally shed some light on it with the flames before risking venturing in herself.

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    THERE IS A MONKEY. WHY IS THERE A MONKEY MADE OF BREAD?! Why is it excited to meet her?

    "I think this belongs to one of the other Culinary Guardians!" Panko squeaks, and the dwarf flying squirrel wriggles its way out from underneath HItomi's motorcycle helmet, and hops to her shoulder. "We've got to bring it back to them!"

    The dark eyes behind the screen of the motorcycle helmet regard the cinnamon-roll eyes of the excited bread monkey, and Hitomi pulls off to the side. She breathes out in a huff and then goes.

    "Fine. We'll do it. But if they get in my way..."

    The monkey chitters and ooks excitedly.

    "'MYSTIC SAIBASHI -- TO ME! LET'S COOK!'"

    The smell of hot oil and chili spice fills the air around her as she transforms -- retaining her motorcycle helmet.

    And then she turns, and speeds back towards the storefront.

Katsumi Cora has posed:
Shokupan gives up on trying to get Monkey Bread back. It has a timer. It'll eventually disperse. His attention is back onto the shop and he's jogging to catch up with the Daifuku as Sukiyaki is pulled in. The flames that she summons are bright and he has to close his eyes for a moment to adjust to the brightness of them.

"Hey!" he offers, flipping to Japanese from English. "I... I'm here to help!" he finally manages, though how exactly he can do that, he's trying to figure out at the moment.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    The darkness is all-encompassing. It's sort of like squid ink in a way, or the paint that a certain artist isn't allowed to possess. Guardian Sukiyaki had flung the door open and open it remains, the roiling blackness emanating from within starting to spill out onto the sidewalk.

    Even Daifuku's flame isn't strong enough to beat it back. In fact, it seems to absorb the light that emits from her hammer, almost... hungrily.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku holds her kine up high so that the flames can burn away at the darkness, the staff end stamping down to the floor in the doorway. She hovers there a moment watching with a sinking pit in her stomach as the darkness doesn't relent against the flames. Even this made her worry all the more. "Sukiyaki?" She calls out though she halfway doesn't expect a response from within.

It's just at this time that the call of another draws a glance over her shoulder. The kimono-clad purple haired girl with golden eyes regards Shokopan with a bit of surprise, and worry, as she realises... This was not the best time for her to be discovering other Culinary Guardians. At least she can alert him to the situation at hand. "Guardian Sukiyaki went inside, I'm going to follow!" She calls out with a stiff nod toward the other hoping he would be of help.

Then her feet move as she steps further in feeling the darkness reach out for her. Or... Or was that...

SOMETHING pulls at her certainly. The flames on her Kine suddenly shoot upward almost uncontrollably bright and tall flickering and wavering in a non-existant wind. The pull that she feels causes her to stagger clutching to the kine with eyes widening in shock. Was it the room? This building? Her energy felt as though it was surging and waning while an unpleasant pressure builds behind her eyes threatning of a sudden headache as her stomach twists into a whole new series of knots.

"No.. what..." The flames finally die back to the size they were. Perhaps dimmer than before as she remains there gasping for breath.

What the hell just happened?

Katsumi Cora has posed:
This is definetly not a good time. As first Sukiyaki and now Daifuku are heading intio the darkness, that leaves Shokupan alone on the outside. And following after them is not really seeming to be a good idea. Especially as he isn't exactly feeling great about any of this. To the point that even his recipe cards seem to be ... well, he doesn't know what's going on with that.

"What do we do, Kobo?" he asks, asking his spirit animal.

"Something is drawing off any type of light or heat. Maybe try cookie shards?"

"At what?!"

"I don't know?"

Breathe. Remember to breathe. Blind firing a recipe is not going to help. Now what? All he can really do, is as Daifuku starts to head inside is to follow her into the darkness, especially as she looks especially worst off. "You alright?"

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    TAP is the sound of tabi boots hitting the ground as Shokupan disappears into the dark. The monkey on Kushiage's shoulder ooks expectantly, motioning towards the darkness. The toasted marshmallow brown of Panko sits on her shoulder, and the motorcycle helmet wearing guardian looks to both.

    She waits a couple of heartbeats.

    And then she too follows Daifuku and Shokupan into the darkness.

    "This is going to be a mistake, I know it."

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    CUT TO:

    "Come on!" Sukiyaki shouts, his Giant Cleaver bouncing off the door for the final time before he finally gives up on trying to get through, a great sigh heaving through his chest as he takes a couple of steps back. He turns to consider the dark corridor he finds himself in, unlit except for the ghostly blue glow that pours in through the windows of the doors that flank either side.

    He takes a few tentative steps forward to peer through one, only to recoil suddenly.

    Inside are rows upon rows of machines, no, computers, with strange, human-shaped figures hunched over the keyboards. Too many to count. A terrified glance confirms that the same thing can be seen through the other door.

    Ren turns and starts to run.

    SEVERAL MOMENTS LATER:

    Daifuku is the first through the door, the spectral tug of the dark energy beyond dragging her forward, followed shortly by Shokupan. The door seems to waver, as if threatening to slam itself shut, only for a final figure to come stumbling through: Guardian Kushiage. Only then does the door close with a click that sounds terribly, hopelessly final.

    The corridor stretches out beyond them, out into the dark, only the dim blue glow from the doors to see by.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku sucks in several quick breaths to cool herself off. Not that she ever NEEDED that before, but at the moment she kind of did. The words spoken by Shokupan get through the ringing in her ears as she lifts her head to look toward him a bit pale faced. A single, quick gulp comes as she nods and pushes back to her feet properly. "Yes. Sorry. I don't know what... Just a bit queasy." Among other things. One hand strays from the handle of her kine to rub over her eyes quickly with a pinch to the bridge of her nose. Focus. FOCUS.

The hand drops away with a far more serious expression once again. "Sorry. I'm here now. I think he's further within--" she begins to explain when she looks back at the sound of the footsteps and door closing. "I guess we're in here until we're done. This better not be a Witch Maze," she utters darkly without explanation, because in the back of her mind that was really something she was beginning to worry about.

"I'm Guardian Daifuku. He's newer to this-" she begins, glancing to Shokupan and Kushiage. "I assume you two are as well since I've never seen you till now. Let's catch up and cut this off at whatever the source is. It's feeding off of people." At least so far as she gathered from seeing that woman outside. Usually that's how these things worked.

Confidently she starts forward again reclaiming her strength or at least appearing as if she has.

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    "I'm Guardian Kushiage." Guardian Kushiage introduces herself simply, looking to Shokupan and Daifuku. She's a little muffled by the helmet. "I assume the monkey belngs to one of you?" she questions, and the bread monkey gives an OOK!, hopping up and down and holding onto the helmet.

    "IF this dark is feeding off people, then it is my enemy and I'll destroy it." she states with a grim sense of finality, and she gives a pop of her non-monkey occupied shoulder, and the tiny dwarf flying squirrel bounces into the air with an eee-sound, and then transforms into a long, sharp yari-style spear.

    "Let's get this."

Katsumi Cora has posed:
As he waits for Daifuku to focus, Shokupan uses the time to try to get his bearings. He almost feels like he'd be better out of Henshin in this situation. When Kushiage introduces herself, Shokupan ohs. "That's where you went to!" he says to the monkey in a slightly scolding tone. "...sorry about that."

There's a wave of the peel. "Sorry, Monkey Bread, I need to use something else." The monkey disappears in a wave of sparkles, only leaving behind a slight smell of warm cinnamon and bread in it's wake.

"Maybe this can help... oh, I'm Guardian Shokupan... I was in America." he explains. "Not much of this there to practice on."

But, what he did get to practice was... pulling out a recipe card, he slaps it against the peel as it forms a spell circle with little runes of various baking items in Japanese.

"Cookie Crumble Trail!" He announces....

And from behind him and trailing out, a small trail of glowing cookie crumbs appear. "There. At least we'll know if it's a maze and this will show us the way we came." he offers helpfully.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    There's no end. There's nothing. It just goes on forever. No matter how hard Ren runs, how fast, how long, this place just... keeps on going. His pace begins to slow, more and more until he's barely shuffling along, until he finally stops entirely.

    This is bad. He panicked. He panicked and ran and that was probably the absolute worst thing he could have done, and the terror that grips at him keeps him still for much longer than he means. But eventually, he grits his teeth, and that's the key, that's it, suddenly he can move again, so he turns on his heel and spins 180 degrees to take off again.

    Only for the door to come into view in mere seconds. And Daifuku! And... also two strangers Sukiyaki doesn't recognize. "Wh-what... I just..." He spins around, staring down the darkness.

    "It's a trick," he declares, suddenly. "Like a video game. We can't go that way." Though that begs the question: which way should they go, then?

    The look he shoots Guardian Daifuku after is grateful, relieved, clearly because she's here and he's glad to see her. But the other two get uncertain glances. "Um, hello... I'm Guardian Sukiyaki. Sorry to have dragged you all into this mess."

    That last part is offered with an awkward smile, Ren's free hand lifting to rub the back of his neck.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku prepares to start rushing forward toward the sound of distant footsteps she had heard when... Sukiyaki appears again. She blinks, that feeling of blurriness in the corner of her eyes making her think that something was going on here. Certainly it was. Obviously it was. It just meant that the place wasn't exactly linear. "Ah. Love these sort of things." Of course she hadn't really experienced it before so much as heard others mention it... But she was the one that was supposed to know what to do, right? At this point at least it seemed that way.

"America. That's a long way off. Explains a lot though," she has to admit only to let her gaze swing over toward Kushiagi when she rushes forward yelling challenges.

Pursing her lips together she glances along the 'corridor' at all the doors. A deep breath is drawn, and while Kushiage is yelling threats, she brings both hands overhead to swing her kine in a blow aimed straight for the ground.

"BAIN MARIE!"

The ground cracks, and hisses, as a crevace develops. Off shooting cracks ripple out toward the doors seeking to hit as many at once as she can.

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
The helmeted Guardian Kushiage gives a grim look, but it's masked by the screen of her helmet. She gives a spin of her spear, and takes off after Daifuku and Shokupan, bringing up the rear of the party. She doesn't comment on howlong she's been doing this (because it's a sensitive topic), but she gives a grumpy sound as she comes upon the tall red-haired Sukiyaki.

        "... so. How's the weather up there?" she questions the taller Guardian, and she glances around.

        "Kushiage. Stay out of my way." she warns, and she brings up her spear and goes to just stab at the closed door.

        "HEY LOSER! Get out here and fight me!" she barks in an antagonistic manner!

        <<Kushiage please do not put the others in danger!!>>

Katsumi Cora has posed:
"So we're attacking the doors? I'm good with this." Dismissing the cookie crumb trail since it didn't seem to work, Shokupan watches as Daifuku unleashes a more advanced attack. "Wow." he manages, and then focus on the situation at hand.

Stepping around the side of Daifuku to find an open trail, the peel is brought around, another recipe card drawn. A slap onto the peel, summoning...

"COOKIE SHARDS!"

Dozens of sharp, dangerous cookie pieces fly out, past Kushiage - DOES NOT WANT TO AGGRO - and down at the door, aiming to slam into it with a strike.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    "Um, what do you mean?" Sukiyaki asks when he's questioned about the weather. He looks down at Kushiage, perplexed, but his confusion doesn't have a particularly long shelf life. Not when it seems like they've all collectively (and yet silently) agreed to just start attacking things.

    Which, honestly, Ren is totally down for. He hefts his sword and side-steps around both Daifuku and Shokupan, who are attacking from a distance. Meanwhile Kushiage is just going to town and Ren can't help but let out an impressed, two-tone whistle.

    It seems to be working, though! The other doors, the ones with the windows, don't seem to be affected much by the fire that licks at their bottoms, but the door they all came in through? That's a different story. The metal begins to warp from the heat, buckling slightly, and so when Kushiage comes in with her speer to strike at it, it stabs right through.

    A beam of white-hot, bright light shines through the hole left behind as Kushiage withdraws. And as the cookie shards impact it, outlines of light around where they protrude through the metal begins to show too. "It's working!" Sukiyaki calls out. "I think Daifuku's attack weakened it. Let me try to slice it open!"

    And so he does, lifting his Giant Clever above his head so that he can bring it down, slashing once diagonally across the door, then doing it again, leaving a bright X in the deteriorating metal.

    All it would take to be destroyed completely would be one final attack!

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Hits? Hits she could do. Daifuku turns back toward the door splintering open with a grin. THIS she was good at. "Excuse me," she remarks politely as she pulls back to just slam the hammer into the cracked and broken door. No fancy call outs, no special powers, just pure sheer strength and maybe a bit of anger behind it at being trapped and feeling yucky to begin with.

In the back of her mind she's already very concerned about what had happened. Her power had never faltered before.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    SMASH!

    That's all it takes, and the door quite literally falls apart, its pieces collapsing to the ground in various chunks thanks to the Culinary Guardians' combined attacks. The portal that was once a door is now glowing white, and just as before, a strange sort of pull tugs at all of them. Within seconds the four are stumbling through, back out onto the streets of Tokyo... only to turn back and see an abandoned store front, no sign overhead, and absolutely no evidence that this strange Digital Domain was ever there at all....

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    Kushiage breathes out, giving Daifuku space to strike with the hammer at the cracked door.

    "Comin' Through!" she snarls, and with a slight running leap she takes to the air, her spear spearing the floor as she uses it to vault up, and come down HARD with her tabi boots against the door!

    This was already a mess, having to meet the other Guardians, and as she comes through the other side, she skids on the ground, and she looks back to the other trio.

    "Don't think that this makes us friends or anything." she states -- and then with another leap into the air, Kushiage is gone. Up and into the air with a mighty leap.