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[Empiricist]

Shef
Not really, you didn't feel much of anything since all you felt in the first place was pumping energy into that location, not what that location contained or what the energy was doing.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Hitting it hard enough wasn't working. Minato groaned. No real weaknesses for him to exploit if he hit it hard enough.

This wasn't Minato's strong suit. Everyone else had subtle covered (relatively); Minato was either a giant shield for his allies or a giant sword. He knew how to take a hit, and how to dish it out. He didn't know subterfuge, he couldn't manifest portals and he couldn't exactly teleport things. After all, his powers were focusing on summoning weapons, weren't they? Weapons weren't exactly keys, unless you counted a shotgun to a door lock. Or, in his case, an exploding sword to a door-

Oh. Oh.

That was the trick, wasn't it. Summon the damn key. Shou, he knew, was using the same power as his, or something similar. Both of their abilities were tied to the Gaia Memory, or Akasha or Mem Aleph or whatever any given intellectual wanted to call it. The key, likely, was tied with the Gaia Memory. If the key was tied to it, the Memory likely had an imprint of it. After all, it had an imprint of everything and anything that had ever existed on the planet. Minato was only pulling from the section of the Memory that had weapons in it. It wasn't that far of a stretch to start summoning other things.

Minato concentrates, closing his eyes. Perhaps if he manifested the key as a sword, maybe it would be easier. It was easier, anyway; he had more affinity for shields, but keys and swords easier to combine in his mind.

[Empiricist]

Minato
Well, you get a key as a sword, though uh, you don't think it will function too well as a key in this state given how locking mechanisms are not scale-invariant surprisingly enough. And honestly you don't think this will function too well as a sword either, it's got a weird serrated edge mimicking the teeth of a key, and horrifically large guard that throws all the weight onto the back and renders it really awkward to hold, and the non-serrated side is blunt. On the bright side if you ever get hit by a drunk and end up stuck wondering a a congeries of Disney IP, you know what to do now.

Everyone
Aight okay, an hour or two passes you guys start practicing more with increasing reinforcement strength and rapidly applying it to objects. Except for Minato who's stuck trying to figure out how to get through this bouncy air dome and Faith who has just learned that as it turns out, energy shields sustained by two blending emotional forces can't be quickly switched to new targets.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Right. Not great. The sword was too big. Too large. He couldn't exactly shrink the thing, either.

Summoning it wasn't going to work, not directly. The only thing Minato had ever summoned that wasn't a direct weapon was Vimana, and Minato had to wrangle it into existence. Visualising it wasn't going to completely work, not at all. He grumbles, discarding the giant key-sword.

Shou's words ring in his head; he talked about persona, about audacity, about confidence.

Persona. That was the word for a mask in Latin. Minato had learned that one in class. Masks and deceptions and smoke and mirrors.....all things Minato knew scant little about. But not confidence. Confidence was something Minato knew a lot about. It was his very essence, his personality.

Audacity, confidence and determination. Three words that would sum up Minato Kumon in a nutshell. He had much of the first, a lot of the second and too much of the third.

Confidence, huh? Alright. I have the key. That's all I have to think. I have the key.

Clenching his fists, Minato picked up the key-sword. He was going to go through that shield, no matter what. He continues attempting to project the key, the flames of determination fuelling his attempts. He breathes in deeply, projecting something, anything. It didn't matter.

As long as he acted like that was the key, it was the key. It was a con he was running, after all, and Akasha was the mark.

[Empiricist]

Minato
You have the key. You have the key. Just grit your teeth, walk forwards and... get rejected completely. You just bounce and skid along the sand, skidding to a stop beneath the shade of an umbrella?

Shou takes another bite out of a bagel. "You kids still training?" A disinterested glance sweeps you over "What's with that weird expression? You got a crazy glint in your eye." A dismissive wave "Eh whatevs, when you're ready to begin, come find me. Til then, try and enjoy the beach, training's training but some R&R ain't too bad either."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Calm yourself. Confidence, not desperation. That's what's needed. Act cool, it's natural.

Minato continues attempting to head in, continuing to project. He had the key, as far as he was concerned. Akasha wasn't going to tell him otherwise.

[Empiricist]

Minato
Shou watches as you get up, dust yourself off and walk back at the bubble. "Huh, what a weird guy."
Guess who's back on the sand again? This guy!

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Try, try again. He had the key, after all. That's all he had to know. He had it.

Confidence was something Minato could show off, but determination was something he had well in spades.

[Empiricist]

Minato
Nope. Try again.

[Powder Miner]

Faith, having pretty much exhausted her own patience while attempting (and failing) to transfer her weird double-glow-emotion-shield, sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "Well, I'm done! I'm tired of trying and failing to get this thing moved. Ugh... Instead I'm just gonna watch Minato, I guess." ...and she turned and proceeded to watch him bounce off of some sort of bubble one, two, three times and get tossed into the sand. "Er... Minato... are you OK?"

[IamanElfCollaborator]

No. Not good enough. He had to try harder. It wasn't in Minato's nature to sit down and give up so easily.

He had to get stronger. He had to be harder. He had to be-

Unless....

He calms himself again. Take it down a notch or two. Confidence wasn't just fiery determination, of course. Minato knew that full well. It was knowing that whatever you put your mind to, it was going to be successful. And he'd be successful here because this wasn't anything problematic, not even an obstacle worth pursuing. It was trivial. Not worth the fire. Just something to do, like going to the konbini and getting some water, or ordering a piece of cake at the maid cafe.

It was only going to be an obstacle if he saw it as an enemy to overcome and not something almost rote, almost instinctual.

Alright.

Adjusting his shoulders, he snaps his fingers, summons the key he knows he's got, and walks forward with a calm stride, sword in hand, towards the tree, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

[Empiricist]

Minato
You take a step forwards. The field shimmers but offers little resistance. So that's it. Confidence, comes in many shades. We are confident in many things, we are confident that the ground beneath us is solid, that when we choose to walk, we will walk. But we do not approach it with self-assurance, we do not approach it with determination, no, we approach it with apathy, and in a con, apathy can be a very powerful tool. If you pay no heed to what you do, then what reason does anyone else? Make an offer, but do it dispassionately, do it indifferently, let them provide the enthusiasm, let them guide the conversation, control the negotiation, or so they think. If they think they worked for it, if they think it is their decision, and that you, that you do not care, then you'll have then eating right out your damn palm.

You take a second step, then a third, then a fourth, walking straight through the field. You're halfway through when the world burns red and six light machineguns erupt from the beneath you. Amidst flashing lights and screeching alarms, an automated message plays "UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL DETECTED. PURGING IN 3, 2-"

Time's short, what do you do?

[Powder Miner]

Immediately after Faith's concerned inquiry, Minato proceeded to actually manage to walk into the bubble instead of getting launched into the sand a fourth time. And then, before her eyes, SIX MACHINE GUNS POPPED OUT OF THE GROUND, along with flashing lights and loud alarms. "<Wh-wh-what the fuck?!>" She rushed forwards a few feet, but rather than getting close to the bubble and machine guns, she called out "Minato!" and proceeded to form a Shield of Courage around him. Not that that would maybe be the most helpful thing against six machine guns, but, ah, dammit this was literally the exact thing she hadn't managed to figure out how to do coming back to bite her!

[IamanElfCollaborator]

So this was it. Minato feigns a sigh.

Just act natural. Just stay cool.

He waves his hand at Faith, holding up the false key he'd formed in his hand. He didn't exactly know what it was, but it definitely wasn't Shou's key. Akasha didn't need to know that, of course. All part of the play.
"Good grief. Key's broken. Faith, don't worry about it, honestly. The system thinks I'm trying to break in or something because I'm supposedly unauthorised personnel. I got authorisation right here."
Just to continue the play, he waves the key he's got at the machine guns, rubbing the back of his head to sell it more. To play it off as a minor inconvenience that would surely get sorted out if he talked to the right people.
"You mind? I got the key right here. Can't even make a sealing field that picks up its own stuff right, good grief."

[Empiricist]

Minato
The machine guns continue aiming menacingly at you for several uncomfortable seconds, then the alarm turns off and they drop back into the sand. What was that Shou said? Gotta be audacious especially when things go awry?

Tree's real close now, you think you should be able to just up and smash it assuming there's no more hidden surprises.