To Activate Massive Mayhem, Just Add Water

[Amara<3]

Listening to Nayr talk was like walking through a volcanic pit. Not only did he seem completely ignorant of the situation, he also appeared unaware that nearly every sentence out of his mouth was as if Keera didn't rate against Mini or Naraku. It pissed her off. She was about to retort when she felt a prickle on her skin, and bad things happened.

Lightning crashed down around them, destroying everything it hit, and blowing a big hole in the ground before them. "What the-" She was barely able to respond to the strike, attempting to send it away from them. She tried to take the lightning and send it back up, but her power wasn't strong enough. The specific bolt she'd tried to manipulate ended up burning her arm, from her fingertips to her shoulder.

However it barely seemed to phase her. If someone could feel a person thinking too much, or too hard, they would have been able to tell Keera was doing just that. She could manipulate wind, and deciding that would have to do. Wind began to stir around them, just in time. Chunks of rock and tree were flying at them, the result of the lightning bolts and the massive one that smashed down before the two rescuers. Most of the pieces were caught in the vortex that Keera had begun to make, moving the air around her and Nayr with her arms wide, one arm infront of Nayr's chest. However it didn't stop the larger pieces from coming through in front of them.

Keera moved forward, having enough time to smash them with her hands because the vortex had managed to slow them down. However doing that made her vortex disappear. The bits that had been caught by the wind fell to the ground, and the largest one coming toward Nayr and Keera was stopped by Keera, but not broken. It hit the ground with a thud, and Keera stepped back from it. Had she been in this situation as her real self, she wouldn't have had to do as much, and the lightning would have been nothing to divert. As it were, they were relatively unharmed, except for Keera's rather nasty looking wound on her arm from misjudging the lightning. "Are you alright?" she asked, looking around. That could have only come from one person. Mini. "She's here. Not sure if you noticed." Her turn to start demeaning him.

[Mini]

Mini stood with her hands both high above her head for a very long time while her lightning storm raged on. She shut her eyes, simply enjoying the sound and the feel of her storm. After she had fueled enough energy into the sky for the massive bolt that had practically blown a crater-sized hole into the earth, the lightning started to die off. The clouds continued lighting up with brilliant flashes as stray bolts fired from cloud to cloud. An ominous rumble of thunder sounded off as well, as if the sky just wanted everyone to know that there was plenty more where that came from.

Her eyes snapped open, almost glowing with the same eerie purple as the miasma. She looked around at the destruction her lightning storm had unleashed. There was hardly a single tree left standing in the immediate area. Much of the ground was smoldering. Dust and smoke were mixing in with the natural fog of the miasma, making it hard to see much of anything beyond the first line of trees. Rock, rubble, and other various debris had been strewn about everywhere. It looked like a tornado had ripped through the area. Mini licked her lips as she looked over the destruction she had caused. The voice inside of her head told her she had done brilliantly, and knowing that she had caused such destruction made her feel good.

"Hmm... Maybe that was a bit of overkill. I wanted to lure them this way, but I can't even see them. The miasma got pretty thick," she said. "I suppose I can just wait up here for them. I'll see them before they see me," she added, sitting down on the edge of the wall so that her feet dangled over the side.

Master Naraku, I can still sense them nearby. There's a chance I may have scared them off. I think I'm going to just wait for them, unless you want me to do something different?

[Nayr]

Nayr dropped his hands, rendered speechless by the display. Real power. Knowing it existed and seeing it were two vastly different things. The debacle with the dragon had been but a primer for what had just happened. His eyes scanned the skies, looking for the girl who apparently was watching them.

"I've had a taste of her power before," he said in response to the asked question.

The skies being no help, he lowered his gaze. The miasma was interfering with his ability to pick out shapes in the distance somehow, for he saw nothing in every direction. Nothing but more fog and the trees that yet stood in the vicinity. Keera was also there, looking somewhat wounded, but there wasn't anything Nayr could do for her. Rather, there was nothing he cared to do that he had any delusion of her caring to accept.

"She must be somewhere high up, but I can't see a thing."

The tone of his words conveyed that he assumed this to be a common side effect of traveling through the miasma. Without any basis of comparison, why wouldn't he?

[Amara<3]

"The castle isn't too far ahead. I can feel them," Keera said, ignoring that he commented about not being able to see. It didn't bother her at all. She could see more than he could, but not by much. She was guided of course by her ability to find Naraku no matter where he was. "Let's keep going, it doesn't look like she's coming to us." This was taking forever. She could have just gone in as herself with her doppleganger, she realized. That would have been far easier than taking this guy with her and having to worry about him, and whether he was going to get out alive.

Naraku sat quietly, watching through Mini's eyes as Keera began to press on, continuing up to the castle with her wound. Still, she didn't have the same signature as she normally did. It was so weak. Something wasn't right, because he could feel her miles up in the air, gaining in proximity to the miasma. She was getting very close, but then who was it down on the ground with that man? Wait for them if you like. It won't make a difference. When they get close, move in to the courtyard.

Keera, that is to say the real one, was thinking about how to deal with this... problem. Should the three of them storm in together, or should she wait and have her doppleganger go in with this Nayr, just in case he turned out to be a bad guy. It would give an element of surprise too, if she waited to jump in. There would undoubtedly be a fight in order to get Mini to go back with them. However much Naraku had gotten in to Mini's head was unknown, but Keera would fear for the worst - maybe Mini wouldn't snap out of it this time. Just maybe she wouldn't remember Keera as her friend anymore. She had to prepare for that.

[Mini]

Mini heard Naraku's voice in her head, telling her what he wanted her to do. He seemed to not care one way or the other if she decided to wait for them up on the wall or just beyond the gates. She enjoyed sitting up high on the top of the castle wall, where she had an excellent view of... well, nothing, really. The miasma was so thick that she could have been thousands of feet above the land and had no clue.

Wait, what was that?!

"... doesn't look like she's coming to us."

That voice belonged to Keera. She would know it anywhere. A wickedly delightful smirk spread across Mini's face as she raised herself up into a crouch on the wall, looking very much like a wolf waiting to pounce on a helpless little animal. Her plan was to stay hidden in the shadows of the wall and then get the drop on Keera and whoever else was with her, but after waiting about ten seconds, she just couldn't stand it any longer. Pushing herself up, she stood on the very edge of the wall and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"KEERA, YOU COWARD!! I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE! QUIT HIDING IN THE MIASMA AND SHOW YOURSELF! OR ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF ME THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN FACE ME BY YOURSELF, YOU GUTLESS LITTLE SNAIL?!? YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, I CAN SENSE BOTH OF YOU OUT THERE!"

[Nayr]

At Keera's comment that she had some idea of where they were going, Nayr made a motion for her to lead on. He couldn't see in this, but apparently he could breathe in it. He still had no idea why he'd been brought along on this adventure. What was it about him that Mini wanted to have along in this?

As if thoughts had summoned her, Mini's voice echoed around them, leaving Nayr with only a mild idea of where she could be. In addition, she didn't sound happy.

"I assume from the sound that Mini isn't home right now," he commented.

He paused a moment, awaiting Keera's answer. The unspoken question hung in the air between them.

What do you want to do about her?

He didn't really have anything that could help against her, other than the possibly unaccounted for variable of his presence here. Would it help? What could a mortal do to this kind of world anyway?

[Amara<3]

Keera's eye twitched at Mini's outburst. A coward, was she? "That little..." she hissed, keeping the rest of the words to herself. "A snail am I?" Keera spoke out loud, but it echoed through the miasma so Mini could hear her. "Not a fibre of my being is afraid of you, or Naraku." There were so many more things to say, but Keera was wise enough to know not to say them.

"She's partially home. Naraku wouldn't have her provoking me with those sorts of words," Keera said back to Nayr after thinking about it for a moment. No, Naraku wasn't like that. He would have rather kept her quiet and waiting for them to show up. He was giving her a little freedom on the chain he was holding her with. Now, how to go about this.

"Not sure you know what these are, but Mini has a jewel shard embedded in her arm," Keera said quietly. "It's been tainted by Naraku, and my younger sister put it in Mini's arm. It's been there a while, and Naraku can essentially control Mini with it. In order to get it out, we're literally going to have to dig it out of her arm."

Keera began walking and then paused after a few steps. "If I could knock her out, you could get her away. I could then stay behind and make sure Naraku doesn't follow." With that, she began walking again. Not even she knew what role this Nayr was to play in all of this. However Mini had seemed intent on having her fetch him, so there had to be something. "Do you have any sort of powers? I wouldn't have to ask normally, but I'm having trouble calling you anything more than a human, especially judging after how I saved you back there."


"Very good, Mini," Naraku spoke, also thinking it in his mind, whispering it to hers. "You should come into the courtyard and wait for them now." This was going to be interesting. She'd hit a small spot in Keera, beginning to irritate her. It seemed now, that Mini hadn't really needed to do that. Something about whoever she had with her was already getting on her nerves.

He could feel the real Keera hovering miles above them, waiting for something. He hadn't realized she could fly. He seemed to be a little out of the loop with her powers. Something happened while they were apart, and he was a little worried about what that something was. He had seen her transformation, but hadn't seen what it could do. He wondered to himself now, would she change into her other form and show him what she could do?

[Mini]

Mini licked her lips in anticipation now as she creeped forward, defying gravity as she stood at an impossible angle over the edge of the wall. Her fingers drummed anxiously against the hilt of her sword. In just a few moments, Keera and whatever idiot was with her would come into view, and she would--

Very good, Mini. You should come into the courtyard and wait for them now.

... She would go wait in the courtyard, then. Mini scowled, but she did as she was told. She couldn't ignore direct orders from her master, especially when he whispered them oh-so-sweetly into her mind like that. Turning the other way, she ninja-hopped down off the wall and onto various rooftops until she landed right in the middle of the courtyard. She scanned the area for visible signs of Naraku.

"Master? I know you want them to fight in the courtyard... but why can't I just lure them here? I was going to jump them from the top of the wall," she called out in a sulky tone of voice.

[Nayr]

Nayr nodded in response to her initial statement. Apparently bizarre mockery was entirely in character for Mini. Where he would otherwise roll his eyes, he instead took it as a positive sign. Keera said something about a jewel shard in her arm, and said it was the source of her problems, but Nayr wasn't paying incredibly close attention.

"You'll have to explain that eventually. Where in her arm is it? I won't need to rip her arm off to get at it, will I?"

The more inopportune the position, the less plussed Nayr would be about the prospect of removing it. It would happen the way it happened, though, and if this was the only part Nayr could help with, then so be it.

Keera began moving, and Nayr stopped, but he almost crashed into her when she suddenly stopped again. Had she heard some sign of Mini? Nayr certainly hadn't. She then launched into something totally separate.

"So what, you bonk Mini on the head, I carry her away, and Naraku's going to whistle a happy tune because you're in the way? I then yank the shard of whatever it is out of Mini's arm, and we all go home happy. I don't mean to sound too skeptical, but you've talked up this Naraku as the kind of fella who won't take this kind of plan philosophically. You're powerful, sure, but are you powerful enough to completely negate whatever involvement he might want to have on his own turf?"

She was walking again, and Nayr followed. He really didn't think of her as this damsel in distress that can't possibly help in the situation, and he genuinely regretted that some of his words had made her sound that way. He tried to convey that he wanted to make sure this plan was definitely going to work even despite this crazy demon guy on the other end of it. Then, after a short pause, she spoke again.

"Do you have any sort of powers? I wouldn't have to ask normally, but I'm having trouble calling you anything more than a human, especially judging after how I saved you back there."

There it was. The doubt he'd been carrying the whole time, expressed in somewhat diplomatic, yet still somewhat condescending terms. As much as he bristled at being talked down to like that, he had to answer honestly.

"I'm going to level with you, Keera. I don't know why Mini wanted me to come along. This is outside my usual realm. I'm just a guy who grew up in a mountain. My parents were a little odd about water, but living in a house made of stone can cause that kind of caution. I've had a couple blackouts in my life, and one time some things got wrecked without me having any knowledge or memory of it happening. I only met Mini one time a while back, and that was the second time in my life I've had one of those long blackouts. Whatever game she's playing, I've got no clue what my part is. I'm just a guy, Keera. I don't have any of these crazy powers like you do, I can't throw wind around or fly or make my voice come from everywhere at once or light crap on fire with my brain or any weirdness like that. I'm literally just a guy. You tell me, why am I even here?"

[Amara<3]

"Ha, no," Keera replied to Nayr's question as if it were one of the most silly things she'd heard in a long time. "No arm ripping needed. It's in her forearm, near her elbow on the inside." She stayed quiet about whether Naraku was going to play along with them or not. She didn't look pleased with how Nayr had phrased it, but all in all, she had no idea how Naraku was going to react to all of this. He was biding time by letting them come to him, as if he was searching her about what she was planning to do, and how serious about getting Mini back. Of course she was serious, but would she die to do it this time?

Listening to Nayr tell her what she'd sort of thought to begin with only made her mood sink. She was slightly interested in these blackouts he'd apparently had before, once during a time he'd been with Mini. Perhaps there was something there, but she couldn't hope for there to be. She would only bank on what she saw, and though it wasn't much she would try and work with it.

"If Mini thought there was a good reason, I'm going to leave it at that and hope you don't die before she's safely away from Naraku. This is no game, and you could die today."

They reached the wall where Mini had been, and Keera looked to be about to jump up onto the roof when she paused. If Nayr really is just a guy, he wouldn't be able to jump onto the roof, much less keep up with her. She hated having to go this slowly, but gestured for him to follow her around the wall. As they rounded the corner, the would see a set of doors that oddly enough, were open. As if they were being invited inside.


Naraku appeared to her in the darkness of a doorway, and had a placid look about him. "Keera knows how to get here, and she would have known you were there well before she reached you. No luring is needed for her." It was all truth. The doppleganger would have seen Mini, even if she were hiding in wait. Keera knew the layout of the castle like the layout of her own home. She'd walked within his castle walls in his company hundreds of times in the past, even times that she didn't remember.

[Mini]

Mini turned slightly as Naraku appeared in the doorway. She harrumphed softly and crossed her arms across her chest. Waiting around was not her strong suit, especially when it meant that her opponent could quite possibly get the drop on her. Standing in the middle of the courtyard made her feel all... exposed.

"Yeah, I'm sure she does. But what about that person with her? Do you even know who it is? Could be dangerous, depending on who it is."

Frowning, she pulled a small dagger from her belt and tossed it up and down while she waited.

[Nayr]

Nayr didn't pay much attention to the girl's admonitions that he could die that day. Something about the situation made him consider it possible, but unlikely. Even so, Mini was enough trouble on her own, not counting this Naraku character. Keera would probably be pulling most of the weight on whatever this operation ended up looking like. Being a rugged individualist type, the notion didn't sit well with him, but he would just have to deal with it until he understood why Mini wanted him there so badly. He didn't speak as Keera motioned to jump, then apparently thought better of it and led the way cautiously around a corner. What they found was a moderately disturbing sight: gates flung wide as if in welcome.

"Seems to me that either this Naraku fellow isn't very good about security, or that's one of the more obvious traps ever laid, but baited with our mutual acquaintance," Nayr whispered, in case they were close to unfriendly ears, "What's your plan of action?"

He could probably suggest something or some such, but he knew as well as Keera did that he probably wouldn't be contributing much to the plan. Besides, it would pay to know where she stood on the idea of waltzing into obvious traps.

[Amara<3]

"We're going in," Keera said right away. "He's opened them on purpose. Why have me blow up the doors when he wants me in the courtyard as soon as possible? I doubt we'll be met with any force on our way. He's got no reason to slow me down, whether I have someone with me or not." She took a breath, and spoke again before heading inside. "Follow me, I guess."

As she'd expected, there was no opposition meeting them at any of the corners. "There's no way to ambush them if they're waiting, either. I've thought about that already. I-"

"What's taking so long Keera? I thought you'd be here by now. You were so eager to come in and steal Mini away from me a week ago, and here you are, taking your time getting to me. Lost your confidence?" Naraku's voice asked out of thin air, much like Keera did to Nayr minus the wind. Keera froze for a moment, tensing a little, but relaxed just as quickly.

"Tell that to my face, baka," Keera spat, the air filling with her voice. "You have no room to speak. You've stolen Mini away from herself. She'd never have attacked me on her own."

A chuckle, and then Naraku spoke again, "I'm not the one lying to her, though am I? You're the one who didn't even tell her of our child that you took from me."

Keera growled and began walking again, shaking her head. He was going to try and turn Nayr on her before they even reached the courtyard. "For the record," she said looking back at Nayr while she walked a little faster, "The child chose to come with me when we realized who we were to each other." She looked away from him. "Naraku had him for 180 years before I found out I even had a son..."


Naraku smiled when Keera didn't respond, only reinforcing his words to Mini. Keera made his words seem true, but he knew she didn't speak simply because she wasn't going to argue with him through the air, and it was a deeply sensitive topic to her. The only thing he knew he could hurt her with.

"They aren't far now," Naraku said to Mini. "In a moment they'll be coming around the corner, over there," he said, pointing to the left opening. He knew Keera well enough to know she'd come through there.

[Mini]

((Oh hey. Totally didn't know it's my turn. ^_^'' ))

Just as Keera rounded the corner, a dagger impaled the wall about two inches to the left of her face. It came close enough that it likely shaved a few loose hairs from the top of her head.

"That was a warning," called Mini, who was standing several yards off in the middle of the courtyard. There was no love in her eyes as she glared at her once best friend.

"I could just kill you now, you know, but I want some answers, and Lord Naraku hasn't yet instructed me to downright rip you apart where you stand, you treacherous little hussy," she growled as she pulled another dagger from somewhere on her person. Casually flipping it up and down, she began walking towards Keera.

"I want to know why you--"

Mini's mouth suddenly quit working as she finally noticed that there, standing just behind Keera, was another person. It was quite possibly the last person on earth she thought would be anywhere near Naraku's castle, let alone anywhere, for that matter. She certainly had no idea why he was even there, or what he was doing anywhere except his little mountain shrine. The main point, however, was... what was he doing here with Keera?!

Her eyes widened so much that they almost popped out of her skull. She just stared at him until she blinked several times and regained control of her mouth.

"Nayr... What... What the hell are you doing here?! What are you doing with Keera?! What are you doing... outside?!"

[Nayr]

Nayr simply accepted everything that was said without comment. He followed Keera into the courtyard, suffused with an odd sort of calm. He sort of expected himself to be freaking out, particularly when there were daggers flying about. Even so, he stepped around the corner calmly.

There stood Mini. She looked rather like he remembered, although she was pretty surprised to see him, and eventually stammered out a serious of questions along those lines.

"You tell me, little girl," he said, "You're the one who asked me to come into this madness in the first place. I'm here specifically and solely because you asked me to find Keera and come here. Here she is, and here I am. Only we're not done, are we? Turns out you're keeping company with some crazy demon, this 'Lord Naraku' of yours. How'd you end up with a demon for a lord, anyway? As you've observed, I'm a tad out of my element, so a little help here would be hot."

Even looking back later, he would never quite figure out why he looked directly into Naraku's eyes and addressed the lord of the rock pile in which they stood, nor how he knew where to face in order to do so.

"You would be wise to hold your tongue for now. You and Keera may resume whatever grievance you have with each other in a moment. First, I'll have my explanation from the one who called me."