Landing Zone - Courtyard

Mod Post - This is the Meeting Area for the Courtyard, those who requested for this particular landing zone in the An Ominous Shadow topic please post here.

The Fortress itself was silent but the ground beneath was not. Every so often a gate would open and disgorge another helping of the Undead to the battle beneath. Some were borne aloft on the wings of skeletal Condors, others just accepted the fall, slamming into the dirt before rising on broken limbs or crawling along the ground hissing in an echo of agony that they could no longer hear. Fire and lightning and wind sputtered along the ground, ruining trees and scorching the undead where they stood. Here and there were worse creatures, massive golems made of sharp bone and rotting meat, robed figures that cast out knives in the hundreds or unleashed bolts of flashing corpselight. It was hard fought but it was not the focus...

Several clearings had been opened up, eight to be exact, not quite equally apart from one another, ready to send teams up to the Fortress above to stop the constant onslaught, there had been barely a break for the past twelve hours, medics were on their last legs trying to keep casualties to a minimum and the longer it went on, the worse it got for the people on the ground. It was up to several groups of genin to fight against the remaining undead threat in the Fortress to save their comrades...

This landing zone aimed at the Courtyard specifically. Ready to send a team into the very heart of the Fortress from the get go, it wasn't likely to be safe when they got there but the team would probably have the shortest road to the depths of the Dungeon.

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"So what you are telling me is that this contraption only works half the time?" Praise said looking at the gravity cannon somewhat skeptically her mouth twisted in a grimace as she thought of all the things that could go wrong should she decide to get into this thing. She would look at it one more time before a spark of an idea came into her head causing her to turn to Seran and sigh before suggesting something."Alright so, how about this, we all get in and if this thing decides to launch us somewhere other than where we wanted to go we are covered by you peeking ahead and rejecting a bad outcome. Is that all good?" she was referencing the fact that like herself Seran was a Dakar and thus could do something like that.

It was a better alternative than leaving it to chance right and who knows one might not even need to reject it if they managed on landing in the proper place. Otherwise instead of going to the courtyard that they had all mutually agreed would be the best place for them to land they could land somewhere completely unsavory like for instance the chapel or something.

Spoiler:

Zeke had never left his village before. He got briefed recently of the floating island in the sky. Nothing unusual so far. That spewed our monsters of a horrific nature into the forest below. Oh he got why it would be a problem. Well. What other way to break a cherry then with a bang! He was excited to utilize his newfound abilities as a genin. Excitement filled him to the brim as he had been escorted from his village to the transport zone.

Their weren’t many people here but he got told the basics. They’re gonna be shot through a cannon. Who... wouldn’t.... want... THAT! He rushed over to the gravity cannon and he got told before of the 50/50 probability that it’ll be dangerous from the get go. Either they safe fully get into the heart of this dungeon or get shot somewhere random and fight their way in. He wasn’t afraid of either situation. He couldn’t be. Zeke had to be brave for himself. He was for the most part alone since he hadn’t seen Zena yet but he hoped his best buddy would be there to protect him and vice versa. Seriously though, the allure of this cannon. The sky’s damn it all was this thing cool.

Zeke saw another few people and casually walked up. They spoke in cryptic language and he got really confused but would break the ice. ”Hello... anyone else ready to get shot out of this cannon? I know I am.” He said with a sly smile as he looked at his mode of transportation. Honestly at this point they would have to pay him to not get into this beauty of craftsmanship. He could just harden himself or get his cloak to defend him if anything would happen.

Zena finally zeroed in on Zeke, making her way over to where he was, she was a touch late and didn't arrive at the same time. It seemed he was with the group that would be going in by way of a big cannon... Joy. Zena didn't exactly like the idea and it certainly seemed like there should be better ways that organized shinobi could come up with to help the genin reach the fortress other than literally launching them. Zeke seemed excited about it however, so she would tag along as always and follow him. Of course he had no idea she was there yet. Zeke would feel a small tug on his cloak from behind as she stood closely behind him, eyeing the other shinobi distrustfully. "I'd prefer if you carried me up, I don't really wanna go otherwise..." she said quietly before morphing into sword form and awaiting his grasp, she obviously wouldn't take no for an answer.

It had been quite a while since her and her team had arrived and well it seemed like Seran and Qeynan were in their own little worlds as far as this mission was concerned and frankly it was pissing Praise off. So when two other genin arrived at the gravity cannon and one of them mentioned getting shot out of a cannon well Praise considered her actions before deciding to just go for it. "I am but it seems as if the rest of my team is rather terrified of going so do you mind if I go with you two?" she said with a shrug hoping that they would be willing to allow her to sub-in for their own third teammate and well if they did then the three of them could head into the thick of things while their team stayed behind and did whatever it was they wanted to do. Sure it was a bit impatient of her but she felt like she had been waiting in this exact spot for a whole month and a few more days and she would of cracked and went with some other people damn the consequences.

"I'm Praise by the way. Nice to meet ya." she would say almost absentmindedly as she realized she hadn't introduced herself and with that show of goodwill maybe they would be more likely to accept her offer to team up. If not well she'd just find another way up there or maybe she might just go home and miss whatever this was. Sure it was a bummer she couldn't advance herself in what she could see was an obvious way to get some real life field experience but she'd have other opportunities as missed as this one possibly would be.

And just as Zeke’s excitement would peak, it would be made better. A small tug and he would see Zena. He gave her a warm smile as now he wasn’t alone anymore. ”You made it Z! Alright I’ll make sure nothing happens to you!” she would turn to her weapon form and he’d grab her handle, then flourished the gigantic sword in his hand and would place her diagonally across her back. Big Brother is here! Zeke would turn to the other genin and his smile would dampen to a simple smirk.

She claimed her team was MIA at the moment and he hadn’t seen Shinji in... wow when was the last time he saw him? When they trained. For like half an hour. Oh boy. He’d sigh in his head as he cleared his throat. ”We’d like that. A member of ours is missing as well.” Dry and to the point. He had a moment of internal conflict as he knows he really needs to stop being so nervous with new people. ”I am Zeke. And this- He would place his hand upon her hilt and gave the stranger a warm smile. ”Is Zena. She must be feeling nervous. This is our first real mission! So I’ll have to be excited for the both of us!” There was the warmth of Familial Bonding and trust that he just couldn’t emote with others. At the moment though it didn’t matter. More pressing things had to be done. ”Greetings. I look forward to seeing your potential.”

His stoic expression would resume as then his gaze was then fixed to the cannon. ”Do we wait for someone to set this up or do we just jump in and hope for the best?” His swinging arm was getting anxious and he wanted to explore this castle already.

There was another girl near them that seemed to be alone, a pity for her. Zena was glad that she would always have Zeke nearby, and would never have to approach a mission alone like this poor g- Annnnnd he invited her to join them. Zeke's recent gregarious nature towards strangers was truly beginning to get on her nerves. She knew she couldn't force her solitude on him as well, but being roped in to teaming up with a complete stranger was definitely outside of her comfort zone. Praise? What kind of a name is that? The only thing Zena didn't mind about her was her informal speech habits. The opposite would always get on Zena's nerves, like they were setting up this mask of social obligation, it made it seem like they were either weak individuals or hiding something, neither of which Zena liked. This, however, was hardly enough to make her like this Praise person, much less accept her into their group! Zeke was far too trusting, she couldn't help but think of awful scenarios she would have to save him from in the future because of this behavior.

Anyways, Zena had been improving herself lately, working hard in an attempt make herself more invaluable to Zeke and also to defend him from harm better. "Z-kun... From now on we can connect further and I can give you three forms of enhanced vision. Namely chakra vision, x-ray vision, and night vision. Among other things... I've worked real hard on this so please use me to your hearts content." she spoke to him through their mental connection. Zena understood the necessity of Zeke being aware of her new abilities, but she also sought his admiration.

"We just hop in, I'm pretty sure this cannon is the one calibrated to land deeper into the fortress so I guess it's just strap in hold on and brace for impact. Praise said sparing a wave at Zena though she didn't bother doing anything else as it seemed the girl didn't want to talk to her so she could ignore her if that is what she preferred it was no skin off of her back. She would clamber into the gravity cannon with the shell that they were going to be encased in being somewhat uncomfortable but she wouldn't complain since they would only be in it for a short while and the most interesting part was to come after they landed when they would begin to fuck shit up. Of course she would save her backup plan just in case something went wrong. Sure she would of preferred to have two backup plans but the other two genin seemed to be more her style and she felt that they would be easy to fight alongside. Zeke didn't seem like the type to have ulterior motives and Zena seemed to just be either shy or only interested in Zeke so she felt that she would only do something if it was in Zeke's best interest. As a result if she stayed on Zeke's good side then she would be fine which was a simpler task to do than juggle the unique dynamics she had between the members of her squad.

(Praise climbed in the Gravity Cannon: Ready for Launch)

Zeke could hear Zena in his head. The whole mutual telepathy thing was new to him but he couldn’t deny. That’s pretty cool. Then she laid it on him. ”I can use all that!? Wow you’ve been working hard! I feel almost like I’m slacking!” He spoke back to her and held her in high... praise. Zeke would have many uses for that or at least he hope he would. Every boy has wanted X-Ray vision at least once in his life. Zeke cleared his throat and looked over to Praise and the cannon.


Zeke rushed behind Praise with Zena attached to his back. If she would think it was a tight squeeze, imagine Zeke and Zena. She was almost a 6 foot long blade. But he made them fit. Of course blade first and he sneered as he was ready for the ride of a lifetime. ”Ready!”

(Zeke ready to launch)

Zena really wasn't prepared for this launch, it made her uncomfortable that they could potentially end up way off target. Plus the whole getting shot of a cannon thing wasn't appealing to her in slightest, even though in sword form it would be pretty hard for her to be hurt from falling. Hopefully Zeke would be able to hold on to her the whole time at least. Zeke's praise made her feel warm inside, all of her training was for his sake after all. Zena took a deep breath, mentally at least considering she was in sword form, and braced herself for launch.

(Zena read for launch_

The cannon utilised a large shell or 'pod'. It was a large metal object with three seats inside of it that part of it opened up like a flower. Once all three of them were inside it, the doors closed over and large belts were strapped across them to hold them in place. With a heave, the shell was lifted up and placed inside the cannon. A dull whine started up, only barely audible through the shell and small flickers of purple-ish electricity danced across the surface of the shell.

Then there was a massive roar and a crack as the cannon fired, a wave of energy covering the shell and spearing out in front of it as it launched. There was a scream of tortured metal and stone as the shell slammed through the bottom of the fortress and crashed out of the bottom of the courtyard, hooks firing out to lodge itself in the ground. The doors opened up and straight away fog started to seep into the shell. The belts retracted and the three would be able to leave now.

The courtyard was cracked heavily for about fifty feet around them and a strange fog covered the ground, rising up to at least the thighs. The walls rose up around them and before them was a massive elaborate doorway although it was at least two hundred feet away. To the forward and right was a huge tree entirely wreathed in shadow and fog and it seemed to have... Things hanging from it.

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