daybreakacademy | GRANDPAW HUNTING SEASON

Yuya has classes today, but like every supermoon and worse he skips them entirely to spend the day with Gongenzaka. Money in his pocket, he leaves his room later in the morning to catch Gon after he's had time to sleep in... but he doesn't find him where he expects.

After waiting, texting, and receiving no response he starts wandering around campus to find him. It's not like Gongenzaka to go off his route. But his assumptions of what's happened are innocent until he hears struggling and--Nana?

Yuya breaks into a run, reaching the opposite side of the hollow, to see it pinning down...

"Gongenzaka!"

"NGH...KKGGH..." Gongenzaka seems only barely aware of the others initially, still fumbling at the grip on his throat as he wheezes. But when his grandfather's attention moves, he manages to turn his eye as well. And when he sees his friends, the werebear's desperation rises. "G...No..! Y...You must r- KHGHHUUUH-"

There is a brief tighten of the hold, and the hollow's eyes narrow. "Aaaah, child heroes...so tragic...so terrible, for the world to rely upon..." he sneers lowly. "...Small heroes, to spare the monsters...." He does not seem to worry about the swords, at least not yet. He'll move when they're doing more than sitting in view.

Her eyes shift. To Yuya, when she hears him cry out, and then back to Gongenzaka. Nana pushes down the cold fear gripping her heart, and she starts walking forward. It is fast, but methodical -- she wants to strike an unaffected pose at first, to mask all the terror that Gongenzaka struggling -- being hurt -- fills her with at first.

"Call us small if you want. I said," she repeats, "That you are going to let him go."

And then Nana is a blur of motion. She rushes in, slashing the smaller of the blades along the huge were-bear's side. The longer one swings up to slash across the arm holding up Gongenzaka.

Yuya gapes, his shoulders tensing. He doesn't recognize the hollow, but if it's been after Gongenzaka... no, there's no time to figure it out. It doesn't matter.

He's too small on his own, so Yuya brings his hand up to let out a loud, shrill whistle. He hopes Odd-Eyes will be quick.

When Nana goes for his arm, Yuya goes for Gongenzaka. If that hold loosens, Yuya needs to help move him.

"Aaaahhh....such passionate fools... ...You should be wary of striking monsters..." comes the casual reply, and rather than run from the slashes, he moves to greet them-

...With Gongenzaka. "...They care not for their kin after all..." The hold won't loosen- but while Nana might have to back off thanks to Gongenzaka being moved toward her blades, it isn't as though he expects that to be a very permanent shield. Which is exactly why he continues moving the other from there.

The bear scoffs as he tosses Gongenzaka aside, the boy a ragdoll in his grip and little else as he lands. Once his hands are free, he'll put more effort into moving from the spot to avoid much injury from Nana's blades...but no matter how deep any wounds, how severe any blows, his voice is as impassive as ever.

Perhaps even amused. "Even you... ...Such incredible dedication...to an ideal in one's mind..." Is he speaking to Nana? To Yuuya? It's uncertain. (Technically it's definitely Yuuya though)

Edited 2019-03-27 00:04 (UTC)

Nana is, as it happens, utterly unwilling to strike Gongenzaka. Her approach is slowed, and her slashes end up light at best. She slides to the side, eyes briefly on where Gongenzaka was tossed to. She can't heal him. She can only check the injuries briefly; she doubts the Hollow will allow her the luxury to be sure he is fine.

She looks to Yuya -- trying to get a sense of what he might do next. Then, she rushes again, barreling towards the huge werebear. She leaps; this time, she doesn't go for the arms but comes flying in for the head. Her left sword strikes at the snout. The right ties to slash deep into the shoulder, and Nana tries to land on top of the werebear.

Yuya watches in horror as Gongenzaka's pulled out of his reach before he makes it, right in Nana's path. The relief she doesn't kill him is short lived, and Yuya doesn't even think before he rushes to Gongenzaka's side while Nana contends with the hollow.

"Gongenzaka!" He crouches beside him, moving to shift his arm under his head to try and ease him up a little. "Gongenzaka, it's okay. We're here."

That includes Odd-Eyes, who rounds the corner with a roar and charges for the hollow's backside, teeth bared.

Well now it's serious isn't it? The snout is the most well protected- but what's most irritating is that the hollow's specialty seems to not be in taking hits, but avoiding them...even at a cost. The beast swings an arm to block Nana's blow to his face, allowing the blades to even dig into the arm to that end. Odd-Eyes is coming as well of course, but given there's someone on his arm...well.

The same tactic as before then- swinging that arm, with swords and attacker there, toward the dragon- all while calmly chatting as if they were to merely have tea. "Skilled target...yes...but how is your teamwork?" they chide, sneering in Yuuya's direction from there. "...A shame...a shame, you failed to use this, back then...!"

On the ground, Gongenzaka chokes. He finds little strength to even move, vision bleary and filled with stars. But Yuuya will hear him wheeze- "J...Jiisama...kh..."

Nana is pitched straight back at Odd-Eyes. She actually smashes into the dragon -- "Sorry!" she calls out, after -- and then lands in a crouch, looking up at the werebear. How is their teamwork? Not good enough. She glances to Yuya, her hesitation visible on her face.

"Odd-Eyes," she says quietly. "If Yuya is too distracted to help Gongenzaka-san, then... please go left. I will go right. We'll catch him between us."

She can only hope Odd-Eyes understands that.

She tears off again. This time as she runs, she makes a wooden ramp appear -- it takes the form of a painted Japanese castle wall, rising up until it's level with the werebear's head. Nana looks down at the Hollow, expression stern, and then she leaps off -- coming from its left. One sword is sheathed.

She comes crashing down with a two-handed slash with her katana, gathered light flashing as she releases it to make her strike all the stronger.

Nana gets a soft growl of understanding, if she can decipher that. For Yuya, understanding Odd-Eyes is much clearer. Neither of them need to actually speak to each other to understand: because Yuya can't fight on his own, Odd-Eyes will take his place and coordinate with Nana.

So Yuya focuses on Gongenzaka. He's not dying, thankfully, but he is hurt. Yuya puts all his strength in hauling him close and listen to... "Jiisama?"

Then that hollow--no, it's not important right now. He hurt Gongenzaka, will hurt him again if they don't stop him.

Odd-Eyes dives left when Nana goes right, lunging to try and grab the hollow's arm at the bicep in his teeth. If he can lock him in place, that gives Nana more chance to land her own blows--and it's one less arm he can use to throw her around.

Nana and Odd-eyes attack, combined, is pretty solid over all. The problem only comes when the dragon dives- the hollow places his focus on them over Nana and once again instead of attacking directly does something to simply throw one in the other's way.

But the move, if Yuuya watches, will be familiar. The shift of the steps, the way one arm goes up and under before simply forcing the charging beast to 'fall' across. The hollow once again isn't in the path of the swords, but the dragon is.

It's fairly clear that he doesn't want to get hit by Nana again- if he does, particularly in the face, it's a game over. But the Hollow grins darkly, eyes locked on Yuuya.

"Ahhhh, the boy remembers...I was passed, when you appeared," he hums, making his way toward the two on the ground. "Step aside boy- lest you taste the claws of a beast again!"

The hollow swings- arm 'bleeding' smoke, and mask wide with a roar.

Isabel had heard of hollows. Ghosts that had gone truly berserk and wore masks. Their power came from somewhere else she didn't entirely understand, and they were FAR more dangerous than your average poltergeist. She even had heard that they could be found around Daybreak sometimes. But she'd never seen one in person before.

BUT she'd seen one today. Boldly walking through campus like it owned the place. Naturally, many people had trouble seeing it so it could get away with something like that, but Isabel could see it just fine. She'd been going to get help, but the thought of her grandfather scoffing at her uncertainty had changed her mind.

So instead of doing the SENSIBLE thing and running to find a teacher, Isabel had hesitated for a minute, then turned and run back after the hollow. She saw it advancing on Gon's friend who she didn't know super well while some other student was trying to attack it with swords. Isabel broke into a sprint and jumped at the last moment onto a bright red glowing trampoline that had just appeared in front of her, launching her high enough into the air that she could bring her own outstretched arm down on the hollow's arm while screaming. Which wouldn't have been a TERRIBLY effective attack if her arm wasn't surrounded by a glowing red aura of energy specifically tuned to effects ghosts and shaped like a guillotine blade.

"YUYA!" Nana shouts, but there is little else she can do -- having been knocked back towards Odd-Eyes. It's only with a last minute mid-air pivot that she manages to slam her flank instead of her blades into the dragon's side. She bounces away, and stares -- and there is an uncomprehending look when Isabel is suddenly there, fist alight with red energy, and slamming the werebear's arm back.

She is on it after that. The castle wall that she made vanishes. Instead, between her and the werebear, she makes a wooden mock-up of a clock tower appear. Nana leaps, grabbing onto the minute hand. She drags it down, and swings on it.

Then she comes crashing down. She does not go for the werebear just yet. Instead, she tries to slam Yuya away, and roll with him out of the direct path of the Hollow.

Yuya's attention snaps up when the hollow comes their way, but he's too small to move Gongenzaka himself. With no other choice he shifts up on his knees, clutching Gongenzaka to his chest as he hunches over to use as much of his body as he can to cover Gongenzaka's head and heart. He's too small to do anything else to bare his back, to pull in that energy that he's not as equipped to use, and hope he pulls it off.

If the hollow gets close enough, he's prepared to snap magic energy outward like a wind to push it back.

He doesn't see Isabel arrive, but Odd-Eyes does. When he rights himself and is sure Nana is alright, he lunges forward again. This time, it's almost a tackle as he attempts to grapple the hollow and knock him straight down after Isabel's guillotine has had its shot.

Two things happen all at once- Yuuya is safely pulled out of the way. The dragon succeeds in a grapple. But while teeth dig firmly into inky nothingness, the guillotine also strikes true. With a feral roar, the bear tumbles. An action meant to free him from the others, possibly crushing them in the same motion. But he's quick to refocus- on Yuuya and Gongenzaka, of course.

"Ahhh...aaaahahaaa...and so, another..." he rumbles, eyes shining grimly. Yuuya's magic blasts at his face, and though he hisses he presses on. "Such fruitless efforts...for one who will turn against you, and HAS..."

Isabel wasn't planning on sticking around close. She let the spectral blade evaporate into nothing so she wasn't stuck to the hollow and rolled away from it to come up with pointing at it with finger guns and balls of red energy gathered around her fingertips.

The ~~spectral energy compression burst shot~~ spec-shots that she shot at the hollow weren't SUPER strong but they were definitely annoying and distracting. "Don't let it get its balance back!"

"I don't intend to!" Nana cries back at Isabel. She glances at Yuya -- she grimaces, even, to see him charging in -- and then at the Hollow. She runs in after Isabel's shots, thinking better of getting in front of those. Then, Nana lunges for the werebear. Her katana comes up; her wakizashi is drawn again.

She leaps for its side. The shorter of the blades slashes out for the left hip of the Hollow; the one in her right hand, conversely, swings up -- ready to parry a counter blow before it comes back down.

Odd-Eyes is briefly squished by the hollow, but his size and sturdiness means it only disables him briefly. He twists with a roar as he rights himself, then lunges to try and dig teeth into the hollow's side.

Yuya absolutely does not tolerate being knocked away by Nana for long before he's rushing back to Gongenzaka's side--he's not moving, he's the target, he's in so much more danger and Yuya can't just watch and wait.

"Shut up! We won't let you hurt him!"

It's infuriating, listening to the hollow go on like he knows. Yuya tries to focus on Gongenzaka, shaking him. "Come on, get up. Gongenzaka!"

The spectral blasts are Definitely annoying and distracting. The swords, more-so. The werebear and hollow gives a snarl as he swats back at Nana, very much intending to hit her as hard as he can. A similar blow is delivered to Odd-Eyes- and whether they're simply distracted, or knocked back, skull teeth grind together as he speaks.

"Aaaah....Bold words...Bold words, when he did so to you first... ...Were it not fate itself, I would destroy you as 'kin' also...But very well..!" he howls, now aiming a heavy arm down toward the both. "...'Prey', instead..!"

There is a 'thudding' sound. Gongenzaka manages to throw his arm up, and pull the rest of him up enough to bring it past Yuuya, catching the hollow's own with a trembling hand. For all the tremors however, it holds the other's arm firmly back- fur coating it, and claws growing to dig in as Gongenzaka wheezes.

"I...the man....Gongenzaka...will not lose faith....as you have..."

The distraction is enough- the others have plenty of opportunity to strike, and they will need to strike now. Transformation after all is exhausting.

Just as fast as Gongenzaka manages the noon-hour shift, it is lost, and he collapses on the spot.

Holy cannoli she'd never seen Gon do that before. Isabel hesitated for a split second out of surprise. But...she could also see what he was doing. He wasn't just heroically wrestling a Hollow. He was holding it STILL.

The spec-shots weren't doing diddly, so Isabel pulled a book from her pocket and leaped at the hollow as pages flew out and formed a drill around her first. When she punched it, the paper was like steel. It dug into the side of Hollow's torso.

This was a strong contender for the stupidest thing she had ever done.

Edited 2019-03-31 22:34 (UTC)

"Gongenzaka-san..." Nana whispers, softly, to herself.

She watches the transformation -- so brief, but it holds the Hollow in place for a moment. It clicks into place then -- and she runs in, rushing right after Isabel, before calling out: "NOW!"

Nana swings her blade back. Light dances up the edge of it, the katana's edge glinting with reflected golden light from her own crossguards. She comes at the side of the Hollow opposite Isabel, and then rips past. There is no flashy set of blows; there is no rapid-fire, multiple hit combination attack. Nana learned her swordfighting style from samurai movies.

And she does that here: one perfect strike, meant to cut deep and true.

Yuya's attention snaps to the hollow as he comes down on them, and Gongenzaka still isn't up and those claws are moving so quickly like before, and he still can't run and--

Something shoots by him, and Yuya glances sideways to see Gongenzaka, arm outstretched and transformed as he holds the hollow's hand back from hitting him. He's too stunned to reach beyond staring, wide eyes.

Odd-Eyes, meanwhile, isn't deterred long. He's pushed back, but that just allows him to catch the hollow's back when he becomes focused on Gongenzaka and Yuya. He lunges up, claws moving to dig into his back so he can sink his teeth into his neck.

For a moment, the hollow is simply irritated. Sneering at their grandson, opening their mouth to speak. But then there's a drill against their side, knocking them one way; a blade, striking from the other end, slamming him deeper into the drill. And further more, a dragon- sinking teeth down into the back of the neck.

And none of them have struck the mask.

With an agonized and infuriated roar the hollow reels to attempt to throw them all off, slashing wildly even as parts of the mask flake away to make up for the damage sustained. There are no witty words here now. While they aren't about to perish quite yet, enough is after all enough when trying to fight off three things burrowed into different locations of the body.

"HHRAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOO..!"

Beneath what has fallen off, can be seen silvered fur mixed with brown.

But it is probably best to strike the face and be done with it, before more can be seen.

Oh right, that's what Grandpa had said. Hollows get their powers from their mask.

"The mask! Destroy the mask!" Isabel shouted as she let the drill dissolve into sheets of paper to switch to pure spectral power. Her next strike was a punch, from which a spear of red light shot forth and crashed into the mask with everything she had.

The mask.

Her eyes widen when Isabel says it. Nana turns, and she focuses; not her blades, but her stage craft. She cannot call any energy bolts. There is no titanic spear of light. Instead, she focuses, hand outstretched--

And a sand bag, one of the heavy ones dropped to close curtains quickly, appears over the Hollow's head and falls right down for the mask.

"Time to end your performance, spirit!" she calls to the Hollow.

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hippocarnival - 2019-04-07 00:44 (UTC) - Expand

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betheman - 2019-04-07 01:13 (UTC) - Expand

GRANDPAW HUNTING SEASON | Hollow Plot

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ISABEL NEXT and i promise nana's blows will connect after that one wheeze

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muffled 'FINISHHIM' voice,

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