While Jinchi nights could chill to the bone, even colder still was the salty breeze blowing n from the harbor. Kiku-ichimonji Junko took only quiet steps as she navigated a winding Camp Monog roads back to the docks. One could never be too careful, especially on nights with as little moonlight as this one. Nobody good stayed on the streets this late at night. The feeling was mutual to the few souls Junko happened to come across; each one stayed as far away from the tall woman as they could. Junko cut an imposing figure, and her significant height coupled with broad shoulders would give any would-be antagonists reason to thick twice about picking a fight. Prior to leaving the pub Junko tied up her mud-yellow hair into a bun as well. Anyone watching from a distance could easily have mistaken her for a man.

When she came upon a pile of old, rotten lifeboats stacked high against a windowless shack, Junko crouched down beside the festering wood and waited. One hand rested on the shorter of her two swords, her Hikoboshi. It's lighter and swifter form could more easily lash out than the longer and more explosive Sahori. Silently she resented even having to take up such a tense and tiring combat stance while waiting. Being in close proximity to those Fenshingiri goons must have been making her paranoid.

As the minute grew longer Junko grew more agitated. Her fingers traced the small beveled indentation along the hilt of Hikoboshi. Once a gemstone had rested there, and an emblem. She missed neither and wished she could be rid of the memories as easily.

Before idle thoughts could drift too far into the past, a low, croaking voice whispered out to her. “You look pensive, Legionnaire Junko.”

An effortless flick of her thumb brought her blade out of its sheath by a fraction of a hair before she stopped herself. A fell energy shot through her, but Junko restrained her baser impulses through gritted knuckles. That voice came from nowhere- no, it came out of a nearby, unoccupied shadow. Junko saw nothing in that darkness that could possibly resemble a human. It was as devoid of life as it was light. More than that, she hadn't heard a single sound come from that direction either, as if that voice had been lingering there all night. For all she knew that was the truth. Garion Agents were known for being relentlessly thorough.

“Had to deal with some disgruntled customers. I’m not in a good mood.” As she spoke her words came out tightly wound, as there didn't seem to be any reason to hide how on edge she felt. Her posture shifted towards the sound of the voice and the hilts of both blades she held downward. She hadn't drawn Hikiboshi, but she wasn't sliding it back down either. “What about you, Mister Motonubu? Seems like you have more to be worried about than me.”

“Hm.” The disembodied voice gave a grunt that sounded equal parts resigned and annoyed. “Nothing ever goes as planned. I am quite used to it. As long as you do not have second thoughts about tonight there should be no other issues. Are you getting cold feet?”

“My feet are freezing, actually. These sandals aren’t really cutting it.”

A tepid but very human exhale came from the nothing where Motonubu must have been standing. Try as she might Junko could never find that damned man, but perhaps that was for the better. His grumbling voice returned, each word escaping a bit quicker as if worried time was running short. “The General will without a doubt be present. Do not engage him if it can be avoided.”

Hearing a general would be present sent another tremor of disgust through Junko. Jinchi was swarming with more of these soldiers by the day. It would be harder and harder for a mundane mercenary like herself to find work with all these superhumans running around. Still, she concealed any concerns under her usual bravado. “Leave the details up to me and just worry about your own butt. I'll do my job, then you'll pay me, and we'll all be happy.”

“Hm.” This time the grunt came out a bit more satisfied. “Excellent. I look forward to our next meeting.” Junko waited for something to change, like a poof of smoke to happen or the sound of footsteps rapidly departing, but instead nothing in that pile of derelict boats gave any indication of Motonubu's departure. If Junko were truly paranoid, she might have questioned if the conversation happened at all. All the dark shadows and silhouettes remained exactly as they were. Not even a rat scampered by. These damn Garion spooks sure knew how to play hide and seek. The Iron Tower Kiku-ichimonji Junko faced down her share of freaks in her time, but martial skills weren’t very useful against opponents who fought like cowards.

In the end though, money was money, no matter how distasteful of a country it came from. Garion might be an authoritarian hellhole but they paid up front and respected results. Junko's eyes moved towards the direction of the harbor where even now she could hear the washing of the ocean waves as they splashed ashore. A little bit of night piracy, huh...certainly not the work a noble Kiku-ichimonji would have been caught getting involved in. It was a good thing there weren’t any noble Kiku-ichimonij’s left to care.

Her fingers stopped tracing the crest on her blade’s hilts. Junko purposely rose and departed. The muscles along her arms and legs gave a slight ache in protest at having been held tense and ready for action so long. It was a fatigue Junko easily endured. A bigger struggle was yet to come.

-

Oil lamps, placed haphazardly by Annitou's soldiers to assist in their patrols of the port, offered only a meager yellow haze of light to any lonesome travelers on the pier that night. The strongest illumination instead came from the lanterns of the few ships with hired swords kept on deck to guard from intruders, or from where some exhausted laborers stayed up late to finish their work loading or unloading cargo. Most of the vessels, however, held nothing of value anyway and simply floated in place without any protection whatsoever from thieves. It mostly wasn't needed as many of the silent ships lay full of sleeping seamen. Piracy attempts tended to not be terribly successful so close to dry land.

To those more accustomed to the conveniences of modern living, this type of darkness was a rare experience. The remote Jinchi settlement was a far cry from the industrialized city centers, and even the more rural, technologically backwards locations across the world couldn't hold a candle to the literal candles the inhabitants of Jinchi had to use for light. Luxuries like electricity or running water simply hadn’t been imported, leaving the scrambling denizens of the island to make due with antiquated technology like lanterns and hand-drawn wells. Annitou itself, self proclaimed protectorate of Jinchi, was also known for its stubborn refusal to use modern technological developments for comfort. The wooden and ironclad ships that lay anchor in Jinchi's port were relics of that bygone age Annitou tried so hard to preserve. Only small, quiet cargo ships tended to get through Annitou's vicious enforcement of its sea territory. No steam motors, no diesel engines- truly Jinchi was a land forgotten by time.

In the quiet backdrop of the harbor night some activity could still be heard. The clattering of chains from anchors being hauled up and the flapping of unfurling sails in the night breeze wouldn't draw too much attention. It wasn't uncommon for ships to shove off early to avoid the scrutiny of Annitou (along with the taxes that often brought with it). The men working on board the noisy ship attempted to undo the moorings and prep their vessel for departure as fast and as silently as they could. As Junko approached from the shadows she could tell from their movements and manner of dress the men were nothing more than sailors. Well, scratch that. As she inched her way closer to get a better view and wait for the signal, she remembered what Motonubu told her earlier. Nothing more than thieves. This was a Metsina ship, after all.

The country of Metsina, positioned in an intractable jungle, was known for accepting the scum of the earth into their ranks as long as they delivered regular payouts. Unlike Garion’s strong-arm enforcement of hierarchy, Metsina worked like a criminal syndicate, taking in whoever could churn out results. Annitou might be full of fanatics and Fenshingiri full of madmen, but at least those countries tended to put mass murderers and psychopaths in jail. Metsina offered them jobs.

Using the darkness as her shield Junko slipped closer to the ship, but only close enough so she could make out what the workers said to each other. Motonubu's directives were very specific. There was one specific person she needed to be listening for.

The minutes stretched on. The work on-board the otherwise unremarkable sailboat continued. Junko waited with both palms resting atop her weapons. In a way, it was quiet peaceful.

Then a shrieking chirp shook the night. “HALT, EVILDOERS!”

A screaming siren blasted into the air, shaking Junko out from her idle contemplation. With a blinding flash the entire section of the dock became swathed in a fiery red light, emanating from the dock path that lead back to the mainland. It took a bit of rapid repositioning but Junko managed to slip into another shadow opposite the sudden burst of light. The alarm went up so fast and hard Junko almost drew her weapon and started swinging right on the spot. Yet as panic quickly set in among those smugglers onboard the ship, she remained hidden and silent. The time hadn't come yet.

The shrieking continued as a multitude of pounding footsteps now shook the dock. Rows of men dressed in Annitou uniforms emerged from the blinding red light and cut off any easy escape. A quick glance by Junko confirmed the unit didn't seem to be wielding anything deadlier than a crossbow. Figured that even Annitou had trouble getting gunpowder out this far.

The screaming continued. “YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR VIOLATION OF THE EXPORT AND TARIFF LAW, PROPOSITION 032 SUB-PART J, AND ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO...”

The shrill chirping disappeared as the shouts and yells of law enforcement officers drowned it out. The powerful flares used by the Annitou military provided enough light to catch out all the boat workers, but also cast stark and powerful shadows all along the length of the ship. That provided the usually unstealthy samurai more than ample ability to slip along the length of the vessel for a better vantage point. She moved to the back side of the ship, putting it between herself and the approaching army. The uniformed Annitou officers were quickly rounding up the Metsina sailors and piling them somewhere out of the way, and the whole noisy affair meant she could move with a bit more freedom than usual. She shifted her attention to the sounds around her rather than the sights. Junko only needed to listen for that name, and once she heard it...

One of the Annitou soldiers nearby shouted in an authoritative voice. “There’s someone hiding in the shadows over there! You there, reveal yourself!” Her muscles froze. Again her fingers itched to pull the blades out from their homes.

But she made no sudden movements. Even her breathing remained shallow and tight. The wooden hull of the ship lay to her back and nothing but darkness surrounded her on all sides. Yet that voice had been directed right towards her location. A bluff? A guess?

A warning, as it turned out. Out from her direction and into the red spotlight stepped a tall, robed figure, with the angled facial features and wind-tussled hair that anyone could recognize even in the discolored light. It definitely helped that half of the Annitou soldiers there learned of the man earlier that day when he had made an appearance at their headquarters. A dumbfounded Annitou soldier vocalized the disbelief already floating on everyone's minds. “General Daisuke!” Swathed in the same clothes he so triumphantly wore that morning this Daisuke only responded with a knowing smile and held himself in an upright, powerful posture. He did not quite give a bow but he did make a grandiose gesture, almost mockingly.

Each word this Daisuke spoke came out ponderously slow. “The one and only.” This wasn’t the casual arm-in-pockets Daisuke from that morning. His pattern of speech was different, as if addressing peons rather than armed soldiers. Although he still wore the traditional Garion attire of a simple robe and sash, a heavy weapon now hung across his back. Putting handcuffs on the surrendering sailors, a team of young cadets working near the back of Annitou's assault force caught enough of a glimpse of the action to get distracted.

Ringo chose that moment to vocalize her skills at memorizing information about suspects. She pushed one of her hands past a confused Hajime to point a small finger at the figure that now stood so triumphantly in the center of attention. “That’s the Sixeyes! On his back! Sir, look,” She tugged at Gekko first, but when he tried his hardest to not get involved she went back to Hajime. “It was used to slay the Priest of Silver eight years ago! It’s a piece of history!”

“The what?” Hajime was fussing trying to untangle a pair of manacles and only now caught sight of the show-stopping Daisuke. “Priest of who?”

Gekko looked up from his moping for a bit and could only contribute an exasperated grunt. “What's that dumb looking thing on his back?”

“It's a traditional Garion commander's war fan, a gunsen. Each of its six petals-”

“Hey, firearms are forbidden!” Hajime dropped the knotted chains to his side and turned his attention to the spectacle. “Nobody is allowed to-”

“-it's a gunsen, not a-”

“Watch out everyone, he's got a gun!”

“Gentlemen, and I presume a few ladies,” Daisuke slowly pulled the large fan-shaped weapon from his back and unfurled it, causing everyone to back up. When splayed out the gunsen looked like an ornate version of a standard paper fan that one might use to cool themselves off with. It's size and shape was large enough to conceal Daisuke's entire lower torso when fully extended, and once unraveled the unmistakable seal of Garion's Lordship could be seen emblazoned upon it. Even Junko, who knew better, felt herself edge away from the sight. “This boat is now under the express control of the nation of Garion. I would ask you all to leave at once.”

“That's not true!” Ringo loudly reassured herself as Hajime kept trying to push her away to get a better view. “This is sovereign Annitou soil, no foreign country can just-”

Junko's head cocked to the side as she picked up fragments of a conversation far in the back of Annitou's deployment. Daisuke's grand entrance had quieted down the action enough for her to pick out the unmistakable sound of a girl. Daisuke seemed to notice it as well, given the slight smile that tugged at his lips as soon as Ringo's voice reached his ears.

Having gotten what he wanted a bit easier than planned, Daisuke wasted no further time. With an expert twirl of his fingers he spun the steel bladed fan and brought it crashing downwards into the dock. This caused a significant but otherwise mundane gust of wind to blow forth. The force slightly shook all the still burning flares but otherwise seemed to have no effect. That didn’t stop most of the Annitou forces from beating a hasty retreat to duck for cover, and several of the captured sailors to throw themselves into the water in fear. For a few tense seconds everyone waited for the powerful follow-up that was sure to be coming.

Not quite as phased stood Hajime, Ringo, and Gekko, all for different reasons. “What was that supposed to be?” Hajime grabbed his spear on instinct but now felt a bit silly. “I could do that too, if I wanted. Anyone can cause a bit of wind.”

“Sir!” Ringo’s own instinct was pulling her towards the Garion general who she was now absolutely confident was there to do harm to her great country. “General Daisuke’s Divine Wind can slice a man in two! He's responsible for the destruction of the Camelback Ravine disaster back in-”

“Not to interrupt the history lesson but-” Gekko was cut off as Annitous's red flares seemed to disappear, as their pitiful light was completely swallowed up by several massive pyres of yellow fire erupted from beneath the dock. For good measure several parts of the Metsina ship also cracked and exploded into flames as well, causing the Annitou forces to retreat farther back towards land. “-yeah, that. His Divine Fire can blow people up, too. We probably want to make ourselves scarce.”

“What!” Hajime sputtered, shielding his eyes from the sudden influx of light. “That’s not fair, nobody has more than one jutsu!”

“I know, right?” Ringo briefly paused her judgmental observations to look approvingly back at her senior cadet. “The man is a menace! An affront to the natural order!”

The summoned fire sputtered and swirled, and even the seawater soaked dock caught flame in its blistering heat. Most specifically a rising tide of flames swallowed up the only path between Daisuke and the soldiers, casting a mighty sea of fire in the gap that separated the two. For the moment it looked as though Daisuke successfully cut off the Annitou military from advancing onto his position, though in doing so he had actually blocked his only escape route as well. As smoke choked off vision Junko began to feel very isolated on her side of the ship. Now it was only Daisuke, her, and-

One more.

Another Sixeyes, identical the one this Daisuke wielded, spun out from the smoke and crashed down onto the showboating Daisuke. With apparent anticipation he leapt out of the way, causing the bladed fan to splinter and sunder the thick wooden planks where his feet had stood moments earlier. The smoke parted in the aftershock of the attack, revealing the copycat culprit. There stood a man of suspiciously similar appearance to Daisuke- no, no- of the exact same appearance, apart from the black clothes and face mask he wore. This assailant was a second Daisuke.

“Tch.” Yanking the weapon from the dock the new Daisuke quickly whipped it to the side, causing a precise and effective torrent of wind to clear the smoke and flame between himself and his doppelganger. “Consider that one a warning. Start talking or I'll start looking for answers in your spilled entrails instead.”

The first Daisuke tossed aside his own Sixeyes and instead took on a stance unfamiliar to Junko. She was well versed in fighting styles, including General Daisuke’s own variation (derived from Garion’s now banned sect of wasteland monks- but now wasn’t the time for that). The low, almost balled up pose that the first Daisuke was taking struck her as completely strange and also incredibly helpless and ineffectual. What was he trying to pull?

“I am afraid this does not concern you, General Daisuke.” Nothing stood between the first and the new Daisuke, and any Agent worth their salt would have taken the opportunity to strike. New Daisuke looked highly wary of the first, though, as if he had enough experience with the man to know such a tactic wouldn’t be effective.

“This is high treason, you know.” New Daisuke glanced towards the wall of flame concealing the Annitou soldiers. “Impersonating an officer, destruction of a foreign country’s property...”

First Daisuke reached into his robe and the new Daisuke jumped back, Sixeyes kept positioned between him as a shield. The embellished patterns on the fan stared out with accusing eyes at the first daisuke, but he continued to dig around his possessions without any concern. “Yes, and you yourself came here for purely noble purposes, correct? Certainly not to steal any Garion assets for your personal use.” From his cloak he drew out a long, coiled glass object, about the length of a forearm. In the chaotic lighting the exact details were hard to make out but Junko could see some kind of seething, swirling fluid moving between the two counter-spiraling coils of the artifact.

New Daisuke’s response shot back with a tone more befitting a general of a great nation. “I order you to give the hourglass to me, Agent Motonubu.”

First Daisuke, now properly identified as Motonubu, kept the glass coils held precariously between his fingers. “You are not in charge of this operation, General Daisuke. Though I should not be surprised.” The fires’ flickering cast oblong shadows across every object and seemed to cause Motonubu/Daisuke’s face to contort and shift as well. “Stealing the work of others is something you are quite apt at, is it not? Or will you take another swing at me with that weapon you plundered from the grave of your-”

The (real) Daisuke's face contorted into a scowl and before Motonubu could finish the Sixeyes in Daisuke's hand snapped and shot out. A swirling torrent of wind and fire burst out from behind the real Daisuke, shifting into a verdant emerald green color as it spun and roared into life like a dozen different coiling serpents. The powerful surge of intangible elements rocketed forward with a deafening blast of wind, instantly evaporating every shadow in sight with the strength of its luminescence. The wildly unstable fire smashed into the disguised Motonubu as he made no attempt to dodge.

The wooden beams of the dock where Motonubu stood erupted into splinters as Daisuke’s blast utterly annihilated the structure. Junko felt the foundations shift beneath her own feet from the shock wave alone. Her hands left her two swords in order to maintain balance and not topple into the churning black sea below as the wooden slats supporting her loosened from the sudden loss of support. A dreadful lump rose up in her throat. What a dumb fight for Motonubu to pick!

Those same rotating flames now cast the true Daisuke’s face in twisted light. It was an unwelcome expression, one of anger born not from righteousness but insult. “An emotion fitting for a capricious manipulator of wind and fire.” That taunting voice of Motonubu whispered out so close to Daisuke it was as if the man was standing on his shoulder. Once again with nearly instantaneous timing Daisuke flung his weapon to his side to intercept where Motonubu’s voice wafted from. The Garion general caught only air. A blast of wind originating from the edge of his Sixeyes whipped past the empty space, cut through the distant red flames bordering the dock, and then crashed into some distant building. The sound of dozens of windows breaking at once let everyone present know just how much power the general was willing to commit to this conflict. Daisuke’s eyes strained to see where his target was, but yet again Motonubu wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

He could be heard, though. Motonubu’s words growled out again, this time from behind.

“Have you come to this island to steal more techniques, General Daisuke? Such greed for power is very unfitting for your rank...” Another burst of force, this time conjured of fire, coalesced and blasted out from Daisuke’s weapon and towards where Motonubu now stood. Somehow the Agent managed to slip completely past Daisuke and now stood far behind him- but the Divine Wind didn't care much about range. The green flames rapidly flowed out from the Sixeyes and yet again and fell upon the man like a downpour, swallowing him whole.

In the next moment the disguised figured of Motonubu reappeared, as if blinking into existence, atop the smuggler’s ship forward bow. He stood atop the longest piece of the ship like an ugly, mocking ornament. Yet again Daisuke's attack fell short.

Daisuke, picking up that something here was wrong, suppressed his initial rage. Rather than launch another hasty attack he swung and pointed his Sixeyes at Motonubu, taking a stance that made his intent to strike very clear. The tone Daisuke’s voice took on was anything but casual, and each word dripped with lethal intent. “You learn some more tricks, Motonubu? Doing nothing but running away certainly suits you.”

“I see your confusion.” Motonubu, from his crouched position, still held the coiled glass in between his fingers. Originally it seemed as though he had been toying with it, flipping it from side to side with no real purpose or reason. Now that Motonubu stood closer Junko's position she could tell that he was actually deliberately manipulating some liquids inside of the strange object, like a child trying to shake a coin out of a piggy bank. “I respect your willingness to destroy this precious artifact as a sacrifice to beat me. Unfortunate for you, Garion wants it for the same reason you do. If you leave now, General Daisuke, perhaps this altercation can be forgiven.”

Daisuke didn’t respond, but his expression did soften somewhat. It wouldn’t do Motonubu any good to leave it up to speculation, so he made his intentions crystal clear. “If this device did not function as you think, would I still be alive? You know I, a mere Agent, could not dodge the attacks of General Hashimoto Daisuke so easily otherwise, correct? My Wispform wouldn't stand a chance against the infamous jutsu thief himself.”

“You are alive because I will it.” The cackling fires seemed to be dying down, replaced with the frenzied shouts of the still active and rallying Annitou soldiers. Daisuke's tone continued to rumble out with deadly sincerity. “Did some other Garion general convince you to eliminate me? Is this just a personal vendetta? Or are you just stupid, Motonubu?”

Motonubu glanced up at the sky for a moment as if checking something, then returned his attention to Daisuke. “I am protecting Garion assets. This hourglass will-”

The bow of the ship shuddered and ruptured in a massive blast. This was the attack that finally caught Motonubu off guard, as rather than disappear and reappear as before his entire form was shaken loose and tossed unceremoniously into the air. No smoke or smell of incendiary chemicals followed the blast. It was like a popping balloon- albeit a balloon apparently made out of wood, as the splinters of broken ship raining down made clear.

The Divine Wind had no end of applications, as Motonubu had warned. Given the time frame, the general must have been building some kind of pressure explosion while the two had talked- Junko only just barely avoided getting hit with any shrapnel as she continued to observe. The more dramatic blasts spawned by the huge swings of his Sixeyes certainly were impressive, but that outpouring of force Daisuke's jutsu was capable of- and with such undetected precision!- more than proved the man had earned his rank of General. Motonubu should have seen it coming given all the precautions he was making Junko take.

Regaining just enough sense to land on his feet on the increasingly unstable dock, Motonubu fell down to his knees and nearly let the hourglass slip, pulling it back at just the last moment to rescue it from a fate of plunging into the sea. Snatching up the hourglass left him wide open. In the following moment Daisuke’s looming shadow completely engulfed Motonubu. The red flames lit the general from the back and cast his face into an almost demonic grimace, and a trained eye could tell that similarly charged torrent of air around his Six-Eyes would make the otherwise mundane metal fan cut deeper than it had any right too. Few people got the chance to hit Motonubu more than once. Daisuke looked intent on making sure he didn't need to hit the Agent a second time.