Starring:
Loki (emitter), Yuriko, Kaiju
Date: October 28, 2013
Summary:
The Recluse fires the first salvo in its new direction
"A New Direction - New Weapons"
Hidden Tropical Oasis
It's about mid-day and as usual, the oasis is quietly beautiful. Things seem pretty much normal for the time of day and the area, really. Nothing seems out of place, and the area looks as deserted now as it ever has been. Indeed, this looks like just an ordinary day with the light from above shining quite brightly onto the Oasis.
Normal as can be. And its such a pretty day outside that there's no way that Yuriko would stay indoors for long after all.
The little five year old Kaguya jumps through the tree tops, trying to push herself with longer and longer jumps, almost as if she were flying at times. She giggles as she fall through the air, warm wind rushing around her for a moment before she lands on the next branch, using her tree walking skills to stick her to the surface only long enough to launch herself again. Her bubbly laughter could be heard, streaming in her wake as she finally lands on another branch at the edge of the pool, at the food of the waterfall. The air is cooler here, from the surface of the water.
The waterfall spills hundreds of gallons of water into the pool, providing a nice, relaxing sound for those that would visit this place. Small fish swim in the pool as well, seemingly carrying on as if this day were like any other. Indeed, to all appearances it is, until a rumbling sound can be heard throughout the oasis. The entire area feels like its shaking, and the fish seem to start swimming excitedly. Local wildelife, what there is of it, seems to be overly excited for some reason.
Yuriko looks up the magnificent sight of the waterfall for a full moment or so, quietly roaring in the distance. Then, abandoning her branch, she jumps and lands with a slight crouch before nearing the edge of the pool, smiling to herself. Kneeling closer and hands cupping on her knees. The water is so clear that she could even see the color of the scales on fish as they swirl in complex patterns further in. The shaking under her seat is subtle, perking her interest as fish and nearby birds, and whatever other animals there are nearby begin to stir. What fish she could see, they scatter. Yuriko blinks her bright eyes where they once were before glancing over her shoulder. Is something out there?
The ground continues to shake throughout the area, producing a rumbling sound from the very ground itself. In fact, a couple of smaller stones fall off of the cliff above and into the pool as the water churns from the motion of the earth beneath it. Finally a horrible screech can be heard in the distance, along with the sound of an unknown amount of flapping wings. Still nothing seems out of the ordinary… yet.
The fish and birds were scared away, tiny pebbles even rattling near her feet as Yuriko pushes herself up to stand. Whatever was making that sound… must be big. Probably would be best to avoid it. Still, she pulls out her Epigaea Dagger from her yukata sleeve, just in case. Her feet shift with a wider stands just before Yuriko turns and sprints, following the waterline for a few yard before jumping up into one of the trees. Maybe it will give her some camouflage and a chance to get a glimpse what what might be coming.
The rumbling seems to continue, as if the entire area were under an earthquake, which is highly unusual for the area. In the meantime, a pair of eyes, impossible to see under normal conditions, watches the genin attempt to flee, knowing full well what awaits the girl. Patience is a virtue, one that is soon to be awarded…
Yuriko blinks her bright aquamarine eyes, her gaze darting between the treetops and the ground, holding herself a bit closer to the trunk of the tree. Everything rumbled around her steadily like an earthquake, it made the young girl wonder if it really was some sort of animal or if it was actually a true earthquake. There's no way of knowing what the odds of that happening, and she's never felt one before. And the eyes that are watching her, they're unnoticed. Well too hidden for her to pick out.
It would probably occur to Yuriko later that going into the trees was a mistake, but for the moment she doesn't know what's out there, and she doesn't know better. The ground stops rumbling finally with nothing to show what caused it, but the sounds of flapping bats excited by the "earthquake" can be hard overhead. The pair of eyes continues to watch even as the person behind them taps the tree he's resting on, activating the next phase. Several dozens of spiders start to make their way to Yuriko, not caring to hide, but their natural silence and size works in their favor none-the-less…
The young Kaguya blinks her bright eyes up at the domed ceiling as dozens, hundreds of bats swirl above her snowy head. What a sight. And luckily, having grown up around Meruin, Yuriko is able to catch sight of the spiders in the trees before they have a chance to drop on her. She grins to herself and quickly jumps from the tree, avoiding the spiders altogether as she dashes away from the horde. Or is it brood? She knew there were swarms of spiders, but she's never seen them that big, or in those kinds of numbers. Not without a Okumo nearby. And that gets Yuriko thinking, a frown forming on her face as she turns and comes to a skidding stop. Was there really an Okumo around? That would be weird.
The spiders drop behind Yuriko, seeming to miss her as she moves. But they stop, turn and start to give chase after her, being just a few meters behind her and actually flying on webbing. If she stops for any length of time, she'll be caught. They do not seem to be phased by the "earthquake" at all, even when it starts up again, with about the same intensity.
In the meantime, Kaiju was being chased by more spiders as they seem to be very chasing him toward Yuriko. These spiders are acting even stranger than Yuriko's, however, in that they are not actually attacking him, at least not with poison. They also seem to be bigger than Yuriko's spiders, being about the size of dinner-plates. As Kaiju begins to near Yuriko, the ground tremors increase in strength…
In the meantime, that same pair of eyes seem to watch this development intently even as a grin forms on this person's face…
The skid leaves a trail in the grass as Yuriko turns with the momentum, holding out the Epigaea Dagger out in front of her and ready to go on the defense. Despite what can only be assumed to be an earthquake, or being chased by spiders, the little girl is grinning. This was another game after all.
They soon swarm on her, and her grin grows as she uses her ivory dagger to deflect them from her. Tries to at least. One or to manage to get through her defenses and bite on skin. And it stings! Yuriko wrinkles her nose and switches to offense, striking back a couple of times.
Hissori (Kaiju's real name) had been outside of the village for a little while, maybe a few hours(?) before those spiders had found him and started chasing him. The initial onslaught at him caused him to turn to a basic instinct, but it was far greater an urge to fight than when other kids picked on him.
Something inside made him feel more like a creature than normal, and he began running on all fours through the forest, the marsh, out of the marsh and towards a cave. Making it through the darkened cavern, the attacks started once they caught up with him. It hurt enough that several of them at once bowled him over and he flew into a tumble, coming out of the darkness to roll into a tree trunk near where Yuriko was. He collects himself quickly, getting back onto all four appendages of his and screaming a growl at the spiders around him. Should one approach him he would lace both hands together and try to smash it on the ground in front of him.
The eyes watch as both prey come together. He then taps on the tree behind him again, sending a signal for the next wave. The ground starts to shake again, simulating a more violent earthquake than before. Anything on less than four legs would find it difficult to stay upright, and even being on all fours would not help as the ground pitches and rolls. Interestingly enough, neither spider swarm attacks, but backs off as attacks of webbing come from another location, targetting both of them.
The eyes watch as both prey come together. He then taps on the tree behind him again, sending a signal for the next wave. The ground starts to shake again, simulating a more violent earthquake than before. Anything on less than four legs would find it difficult to stay upright, and even being on all fours would not help as the ground pitches and rolls. Interestingly enough, neither spider swarm attacks, despite having one of their number sliced in half by Yuriko, but backs off as attacks of webbing come from another location, targetting both of them.
Yuriko's bright eyes snap up at the sound of the growling, even above the growing rumbling of the earthquake beneath their feet. "Hissori-kun?" She isn't given another chance to even question herself just why it was that the other boy was here or what he was doing. The ground shook harder, making it harder to stay on her feet. And the spiders, after slicing through a good number of them, switch to ranged attacks. Webbing. Yuriko makes a face to herself, but tries to dodge the silken strands with dance-like movements, though for naught as she's quickly caught up in the accumulating web. "Hissori… Hissori! Run!"
His hackles raised, making the hair on the back and top of his head raise kinda like a faux mohawk as a ridgeline on his back protruded under his shirt. The attack comes at him and he presses against it, but it wasn't something he really expected, just that he saw something flying at him, and he braced for the impact.
Yuriko's words fell on deaf ears as he didn't try to run away, but stood there and did what he knew most about, just taking it and enduring through the assault. It completely didn't work, and the sticky mess of webbing that had him held in place was more than a match for him as he writhed within his new bonds like a rabid dog caught in a cage. Arms clawing at the ground where he could reach, feet pressing at the dirt beneath him trying to escape the clutches of his new adornment of spidersilk.
The man grins widely as he watches on. Other shinobi would be more difficult, of course, but this isn't about that. Now that phases one and two are done, he moves on to the final phase. After tapping the tree once again in an even more complex pattern, he gets ready to watch the show.
The webbing spiders both fall back to reveal the largest spiders yet, each the size of a regular dog. They rush in and attempt to attack the recovering kids, clamping down on their necks and injecting a venom that would leave them paralized for a short time, if they remained conscious. Little did they know that those attacks were just distractions from the main event, the entire reason these two were picked out in the first place…
As the spiders that had thrown their webs at the pair draw back, Yuriko takes this chance to wiggler harder, managing to free herself for the moment and a chance to defend herself against whatever else may be next. Huge spiders, as big as dogs drop from the trees and rushes straight at them. The one rushing straight at her is already upon her. "Ah!" The venom burns as it spreads through her veins, spreading like wildfire through her flesh as Yuriko collapses on the forest floor. "Hiss… Hissori…" Did he manage to escape? She didn't see.
Hissori breaks free of the silken bonds just in time to hear his name again from a weakened voice. He looks over to see Yuriko go down from a bite. He ignores the fact he had a large spider coming after him, too, and he would leap over and roar (or at least try to) at the spider that bit her.
Standing over her limp body as the second large spider grabs him, yanking him from over her with more of a struggle of power than anything, it pulls him free from where he was in a protective stance on all fours over her and sinks it's fangs into his neck. After the spider backs off, it's work done for that point, he fights through the burn just enough to claw and drag himself back to her side on the ground.. his hand reaching to take hers as his hackles lower, losing himself to darkness as his hand lays on top of hers in a limp grasp before he loses sight completely to the pain and unconciousness.
As the spiders do their jobs, their underbellies flash once, then the spiders fall off the victim's bodies, dead. The other spiders all disappear, and the rumbling quiets down to nothing. The eyes then close before vanishing completely, leaving the genin and student lying on the forest ground to recover on their own. Silence returns to the area.
The edge of unconsciousness quickly darkens the forest around them, threatening to envelope Yuriko completely as she faintly feels the brush of fingertips touching hers.
An eternity it seems before a spark flickers in the depths of nothingness.
Rage. Raw and uncontained rage bubbles unexpectedly to the surface. Yuriko suddenly takes a hard breath, her tiny body lurching on the ground before a scream tears from her lips. A mixture of pain and rage echoing through the forest as she flails. Everything burns on the inside as her clothes are suddenly torn to shreds by bones. So many spouting from every angle and crimson quickly straining the ground.
The four-legged walker slowly peels open his eyes, crosseyed for a moment before his vision refocuses. The venom affected him a little differently, causing some of his body to still be paralyzed. Specifically one of his ankles was still numb, and one of his forearms from just above the wrist encompassing his entire hand.
Her scream jarred him awake, and he didn't know what to make of it. He scrambled groggily to all fours, stumbling and falling a couple times trying to back away so as to keep his eyes on her, with a scan or two of the surrounding area as he closes and opens his eyes a few times to regain his vision which was still blurred, at one point going to his knees and rubbing his numb wrist against his eyes to try to help them readjust. It wasn't much use at the moment as he kinda whimpers, beginning to breathe quickly in fear. He moves to lean against the trunk of the nearby tree and his breath catches as he still tries to focus on her.
Under a bated breath comes a whisper, "Yu.. Yuriko-chan.."
Nothing remains to witness Yuriko's transformation, at least nothing threatening. Indeed, Hissori is the only person around to Yuriko's senses, as the eyes have disappeared, ant he spiders are either dead or gone. The entire area is silent, however, as the wildlife senses a threat and stays hidden to hopefully avoid notice.
