Starring:
Kuoroke (emitter), Akiko, Keigo, Satoru, Sujin
Date: July 30, 2014
Summary:
A group of Genin recover some escaped animals.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Animal Run"
The Toshi Sagan Bazaar
Vandals have struck at the Bazaar of Toshi Sagan, making a mess of things for some semi-nonsensical political purpose or another. While a group of slightly more experienced ninja are sent to deal with the miscreants themselves, a four-Genin team has been instructed to take care of the fallout. Specifically, among the damages was an animal merchant's stall, from which most animals have escaped, and it is Keigo's, Akiko's, Satoru's and Sujin's mission to retrieve the animals and return them, safe and unharmed, to the merchant.
People attacking a bazaar was just bazaar. They did it, though, and now Satoru was once again being forced to face his fears and lead a team of fellow Genin on a mission. At least this time they didnt have to deal with the bad guys. Their mission was handling the clean up.
"Alright," he says as they arrive at the scene. "Let's split into teams of two so we can corral the animals better. Sujin-san and Akiko-san can go together. Keigo-san and I will work together. If anyone needs help just yell. Or send Kotone-san. Agreed?"
Akiko is looking forward to the mission. It sounded exciting, even if it was only rounding up some animals. Kotone is perched on the girl's shoulder, of course, and Akiko looks pumped up and ready to go. Satoru seems to be leading again, and she gives him a cheerful smile of encouragement. "That sounds like a good idea, I think… But Sujin-san also has Mijiko-san… Maybe since we've both got falcons, it'd be better to switch the pairings slightly?" Akiko says. She enjoys working with the other Hayato, but if it helps the mission, she wasn't going to withhold an idea.
The Puppeteer travelling with the group was extremely annoyed with the mission parameters… he wasn't cut out for capture… his style was injure… but he didn't say anything about it, instead opting to keep quiet and run through some training exercises in his head… strings on, strings off, strings on, strings off… mentally training himself to memorize patterns and fingerings for commanding Ayamakki… he also went through his head to try and think of ways he could implement weapons into Ayamakki… Kuoroke's crossbow gave him that idea… he'd have to find a way to camoflauge it so the enemy didn't notice it until it was too late… it was going to be tough without being able to hollow out- suddenly, they were there. At least his mind let him forget the trip, until they had finally arrived. He took a breath as Satoru, the eldest of all of them, began issuing pairings. He merely nodded in agreement to Satoru and got himself mentally prepared for the task. "How many animals in total are there, so we know what we're going into, and when the mission is complete?" A valid question, he believed.
Sujin was glad to be called on a mission again, living alone out here wasn't the best since his father stopped sending him money. "Mijiko…" Sujin glances to a bird currently perched on his right arm, "We need this." Sujin gives Mijiko a stern look as the bird stares back at him in disbelief. Usually /Sujin/ was the one to mess things up but, he's ignoring that it seems as his stern look goes to that of confusion, "What's that look?" Sujin gets no response from Mijiko as she just takes to the skies.
Sujin's eyebrow pops up, teams huh? Though when the teams are set he gives a sigh of relief, someone he knew! Or not. Sujin himself doesn't comment on the teams, though hops in on getting more animal info, "Yes. What are we up against?" Sujin glances up at the sky a few times trying to figure out what Mijiko was up to.
Just at this moment, the merchant's daughter -a pleasant-looking girl, incidentally, of about 12 years old-, has been sent with a list of animals lost. Essentially, it's a shipping list with all the animals they could retrieve themselves crossed out. The remainder which the team are responsible for is as follows: two ospreys, three burrowing owls, a boxful -IE, six- scorpions, an armadillo lizard, and three desert rats. The girl hands the list over to Satoru and nearly trips in the process as her attention is distracted by her remarkably careful examination of the other members of the team.
"Akiko-san makes a good point and I think a better division would be if she goes with Keigo-san and Sujin-san goez with me. Our feathered friends will be good for communication." Only a slight mistake but it was still a mistake. He could overcome it, though, as long as he relaxed.
He was about to say they should go ask the merchant for a list when a young gitl apleardd and handed it to him, nearly tripping herself. He extended a hand to catch her just in case, then examined tbe list before passing it around. "We will need our feathered friends for catching the birds. Otherwise lets memlrize tbe list and vet going before they become tok hard to find."
Akiko would have smiled and bowed slightly when Sujin and Keigo arrived with their respective companions (however unalive a puppet might be, it's still a companion). The girl waits for further orders from Satoru, but she gets ready to set off with Kotone. The merchant's daughter comes around with that list…. That very very long list of things that don't sound very fun to chase at all. ~Oh sprint, just how many animals are there???~ she thinks to herself at hearing the list.
Of course, Kotone doesn't have many qualms about the list. Her sharp eyesight would be useful in spotting some of these critters, and Akiko was relying on both Kotone and her own skills to find the animals. The girl would set off with Keigo, then, heading off in one direction while the other pair heads off the opposite way. "Here, critter-critter-critter… Come out come out wherever you are~!" she calls out while Kotone just flaps around overhead.
Keigo just blinks and looks at this display… he didn't say it out loud, but in his mind, he was going 'Well, that was graceful…' A flicker of a smile hit his lips as looks the list over… he nearly breaks his neck, he double-taked so hard. "Wait… there's scorpions loose? Or are they still in the box?" Another very useful question to know… because if they had to look for loose Scorpions, that'd be a little more on the dangerous side and it'd make this mission at least a bit more interesting… then Satoru changed up the pairings… Akiko was going with him now. Well, either way… it would still be helpful. He unravels Ayamakki, thinking it to actually be very helpful in gathering the critters as it had a faster reaction time than he did… plus, it couldn't be stung as badly by the scorpions. He looks at Akiko. "Focus on the Armadilly Lizard for now. I'll take care of the scorpions. Ayamakki can interact with them without injuring them and without him being injured in turn." Attaching his Chakra strings, he moved out with Ayamakki to go Scorpion hunting.
The tripped girl is given a slightly concerned look but, Sujin was a bit too far back to do much himself. Continuing to be a bit silent Sujin leans to peek at the list while shifting to his new teammate in this mission. "Okay." Sujin clears his throat, "Is it weird that I have no idea how to catch a bird?" Sujin rubs the back of his neck, "Miji!" He calls out and the bird comes back down to earth and Sujin reitterates the list to her. "Also we're splitting up with him." Gesturing to Satoru, "Satoru." Sujin nods to Satoru. "Okay, let's do this." Mijiko bobs her head and then takes off, scanning the area for their first target. "I don't have any gear for capturing things uninjured, I should probably look into that…"
"The box was smashed and they ran out." She explains, cheerfully. "But don't worry, they're big!" she holds her hands apart about seven inches to show the size of the creatures. After a brief pause, during which she smiles at them silently, she adds, a bit deflated, "That… means they're not lethal. The tiny ones are the most venomous ones. Plus, they're easier to find. Anyway, good luck!" The girl beams once more and lets the group be on their way.
It takes the groups a while to find anything. The first to discover something are Akiko and Keigo: from its vantage point high in the sky, Kotone spots some movement in a pile of old rubbish, and closer inspection shows that it's slightly moving, like there's something living underneath. Perhaps one of the escaped creatures?
"Honestly, no,"Satoru responds to Sujin. "I think the only way for us to do it would be for Mijiko to tackle the Osprey out of the sky and pen jt down for us to grab. The owls will be easier since they are burrowers. Just have to dig them out of whatever hole they get into."
They get the last bit of info they need and then Satoru leads Sujin off towards the opposite direction from the other two. They mosey along, and he keeps a sharp eye out, but their first clue is in the form of shouting from beyond. "Sounds like one of ours," he says as he leads his fellow around a corner to see a crowd acting odd about a scaly gray brown critter. "Looks like the Armadillo. Shouldnt be tok hard to catch but he might bite. Why dont you circle around and come from the other side and push him towards me," he says to Sujin.
As she was departing, Akiko would hear the words of the girl. She nodded at the new information. "Thank you for telling us all that!" she calls back behind her before her attention becomes completely centered on the mission at hand. To Keigo, Akiko nods. "Alright, I'll try and find that armadillo lizard, then. Kotone's on the lookout for all those animals, so we'll just hear her when she spots something, I think." She looks up, the bird now rather high so she's even smaller in appearance than usual. Akiko hmms a bit. "If I see a scorpion, Keigo-san, I'll let you know!" She continues on her hunt, looking around slowly to try and detect something that would show that there's an animal nearby. One she wanted to find.
Kotone lets out a screech when she sees … well, a thing in some trash. The bird circles around the spot while Akiko makes her way over to it, continuing to stay in the air for signs of more critters. Akiko gets out… a net, of all things, from her pouch. She was ready for this mission! The net is unraveled and thrown over the pile of trash to try and keep whatever animal might be hiding to try and trap it for a bit. "Keigo-san, I caught something, I think!"
Keigo sighs as Akiko gets too worked up! "And if it's stronger than your net?" He prepares Ayamakki to chase after it. "Let's get in a triange formation so it has little in the way to go." He sets himself and Ayamakki up to prepare for the creature bolting… it was little hope that Akiko would get there in time, however. So it would boil down to him and Ayamakki.
Sujin nods, "Well Mijiko likes to brag, now she can prove herself." The boy lines up aside Satoru sweeping the streets completely certain that it would be his Hayato vision that would get the job done. Instead, his first clue would be the sound of some commotion. As they round the corner the crowd is observed, "Gotcha." Sujin then slips off meshing with the crowd for a moment as he loops around. Sometime in the meanwhile he had gotten Mijiko's attention and she was in on the plan, ready to dive if need be. Once in position he makes a signal that he was going in.
He goes low and runs quickly at the lizard, flapping his arms around and whistling. This whole time he felt like an idiot but, really had no idea what else to get the lizard moving.
"SQUAWK! SQUAAAAWK! SCREEECH!" the pile of trask protests, struggling and beating what sounds like wings under the net. Out of the same heap, however, through two other holes, a pair of bird shoot out, and begin circling Akiko, clearly intent on freeing their captured friend. After half a circle or so, the two of them bear down on her, one claws-first, aimed at her face, and the other diving towards the net, possibly hoping to either break it or pull it away. Now that they're out, it becomes apparent the birds are remarkably small, no bigger than a fat pigeon.
Sujin, waving his hands, moves towards the source of the commotion, hoping to send the lizard Satoru's way. It looks at him, approaching, then at the little mouse-like thing it had cornered just now, back at Sujin, back at the- the Genin can almost see it thinking 'aw forget it, it's gone anyway' as it finds the little rodent bolting aside. With a flick of its horned tail, the lizard bolts exactly where the team intended: towards Satoru.
Strangely enough the plan seemed to be working. Though the armadillo had lunch cornered, Sujin clearly posed a threat to its safety and so it had to retreat in Satoru's direction. Satoru was doing his best not to appear to be obvious in his waiting for the critter to get close to him. He didnt want to spook it. When it did get close, he quickly turned and jumped at it, intent on catching it with his bare hands.
"Well… The net is a good distraction, at least!" Akiko says, an attempt to defend her excitement. She dashes off to the side to try and get in position, but then the sound of birds fill the air. And not the familiar cries of Kotone, nor the recognizable sounds of Mijiko. Akiko ducks quickly, bringing up her bow to block some of the clawing that might happen on her face. Kotone, seeing Akiko in danger, zips down to barrel into the one bird (talons first).
Keigo was stunned at the attempts the two new birds were making… he was NOT set to deal with birds right now… "And you SEE what your overeagerness gets you? If we had played it safe, this wouldn't have happened!" He's caught in a dilemna right now… save Akiko from being mauled by an angry bird… or capture the other bird going to save its friend? Well, with Kotone going to save their comrade like that, his choice was clear… he sent Ayamakki forward to intercept the bird that was attempting to save its friend. He made sure NOT to activate the blades as his subconscious mind was about to open them up to attack with… luckily, he stopped himself from doing so and instead would just use Ayamakki's movable digits to grasp the bird as it was divebombing the net. Hopefully with the speed the bird was going, it wouldn't have enough time to get out of the way of the capture. "And number 2 is ours!"
Sujin stands up straight, putting on his 'cool face' or attempting to at least he was visibly embarrassed from that little performance. "Careful…" He adds on quietly but, the older boy could most likely handle himself easy enough. He does get himself prepared to move in case there is a slip up. Mijiko herself takes back off scanning to grab another loose animal solo.
If barely, Akiko's bird is quick enough to grasp the one going for her. For a brief moment, they're an airborne ball of feathers and violence, and then the greater hawk brings the smaller owl down. In the meantime, the puppet moves towards the smaller bird, grasping at it with one wooden hand, missing, and then stepping further to grab it with the second. Its stance brings it on top of the net, securing the third bird.
Meanwhile, Satoru dives for the lizard, and feels its bony, rough hide under his fingers. It writhes and wriggles but fails to escape his grasp. His partner is distracted by something else: what Satoru considered 'lunch' is, in fact, one of the escaped mice, making its way through crooks and crannies, away from him!
"Stop wriggling," Satoru says as he manages to pounce on the Armadillo and get it securex enough that it cant quickly escape him. His glovez probably helped with grip on the strange lizard thing. Either way, he slid his fingers around it so he couod pick it up, and then stood with his prize in his possession. Now where had Sujin gotten to? "Sujin-san, I got the Armadillo! Where did you go?" The crowd seemed to have swallowed the other Genin.
Akiko lets out a relieved sigh as Kotone manages to get the smaller bird. She hmms and peers at the bird that attacked her, and it seems to be one of those owls. In fact, it was all the owls. "Keigo-san, I think we just got three things down. Now all that's left are the ospreys, scorpions, armadillo lizard, and rats." She nods as she lists each one off, unaware of the situation going on with the other two at the moment. Akiko considers the owl trapped in Kotone's claws and, since it's so tiny, takes it from her falcon so Kotone can go see the situation that Satoru and Sujin have to deal with.
"It all worked out, Keigo-san. So that's something, right? And nice catch, there!" She is probably way too cheerful for her own good at the moment, even if she did just get scared to death a minute or so ago…
Keigo sighs. "But you're too quick to act. What if I hadn't been here? What if I had missed? Or worse, what if your own bird had missed the catch? You've got to think about every scenario. In this case, if I had sent Ayamakki to catch whatever it was down there by himself, he would have caught one on his own and would have drawn the ire of both the other birds. They would keep attacking, but would merely create small scratches and do no real damage. In the meantime, Ayamakki could have caught a second one, and THEN you could have thrown your net to catch the third. With no risk to anyone at all. It's all about situational awareness. If you don't have that, you don't really have anything else." He set Ayamakki to grab the net that held the bird down and used it to stuff the second bird into it, using the net as a bag to keep the two birds inside. "As it is, we still succeeded… so I guess there's that… but it was mainly due to your bird more than anything."
The struggle! Well, Satoru seemed to have had things under control. "Nice." Is the only bit of warning that the Hayato gives on him being done with this situation and so Sujin turns around and brings his hands together to gather chakra. The entire area is scoped out with detail, something he should've probably started this venture with… anyway! "Thought so…" Not a word, the hunt was on and he begins to chase the rat. Full on hunting mode his body shifts and he becomes light on his feet. Its ability to slip through the tightest of places was getting a bit annoying but, Sujin knew what he was doing as he continued to herd it towards somewhat of an opening in the streets.
He'd get a few odd looks, most people unaware at the mission at hand, but at least it was enough of a scene to get people out of his way! Upon gaining he leaps out in front of the mouse in order to make it tweak out for a split second just as Mijiko dives in to snatch it. But, will it work?
The rat senses Sujin easily and darts further into its hole, which means that Mijiko will miss her mark. There's chattering that Sujin might hear, the sounds of multiple rats! In fact, it just might be all three rats that are in that hole… They are plotting something together, because all rats do that of course. Sujin should either get out of his spot or make a plan to get those three rats, and quick before he gets bitten.
Satoru, if he looks up, might see a bird flying overhead. A bird that might be hard to distinguish from Kotone, if it weren't for the fact that it seems to have a friend. And since Mijiko is helping Sujin… The pair on the opposite side would also be able to see the two birds, but their attention might be better focused on a large scorpion that has crawled onto Keigo's foot…
Shadows. Satoru looked up to see two birds of prey in the skies above him. Miji wasnt one of them so that likely meant that they had just discovered the Ospreys. Probably hunting the rats that he now saw that Sujin was hunting. "The Ospreys are in the air above us. Mijiko needs to be careful with them. For the rats you need to disappear and lure them out with food, I think. If you have a net you can use it on them when they come for the food." H3 continues to hold the squirming armadillo as he watches.
"I'm sorry, Keigo-san. I was just really excited for the mission and wanted to do my best." Akiko looks down, thoroughly chastised. It might be a good thing that she did, though, because the girl is able to see a giant scorpion on Keigo. She points. "Umm… Keigo-san, I don't know if you want to move too much at the moment…" she mumbles. "You seem to have a bit of a … " While she's noticing the scorpion and getting scolded, Kotone seems to have run in on some action.
Akiko's falcon, as she was making her way over to Satoru and Sujin, spots the two ospreys and quickly dives down to alert Mijiko. Kotone gives a few chirps and gestures upwards, wondering whether or not the two falcons should do anything about the ospreys. The four birds would likely be evenly matched, all things considered, since the size was about the same all around.
Keigo just blinks as Akiko points out not to move too much… he hadn't been moving at all, save for his fingers… which even those go slightly still… as his eyes slowly move downward to notice the scorpion on his foot… there was no way he had the reaction time to catch the scorpion before he could get stung or pincered… either one would hurt… and he didn't have all that good of a physical resistance… which is why he USUALLY kept Ayamakki close to him… he took slow, easy breaths to calm himself… it'd be fine… just… don't move the lower part of his body… all he needed were his fingers, and moving those didn't cause twitches in his lower legs… all he had to do was have Ayamakki make a quick move to swipe up the Scorpion in the one free appendage it had… but it had to be precise and surgical… if the puppet was even the least bit off, it could quickly sting Keigo and that'd be it… even if it wasn't killing poison, it would still be pretty powerful… not a good thing… so… with the mental thought about the situation taken care of… his fingers dashed madly independent of his lower body to keep the scorpion from knowing anything the wiser as Ayamakki now moved quickly to snatch the critter from Keigo's foot!
"Ugh." A quick look is exchanged between Mijiko and Sujin, no comment, Mijiko just takes off. A short while after some yelling could be heard from the direction Mijiko left off to. "What'd she…" Soon Mijiko shows up again with a large box… probably stolen. Sujin face palms but, that'd definitely be helpful. "Lure them? I wonder…" He then decides to back down keeping an eye on where he believes the rodents were. "Mijiko." He holds his hand out for the box, taking it and not worrying about it being stolen property at the moment. "Well hope they'd eat this." Much to Mijiko's dismay he drops some grain like material, intended for Mijiko but he spreads it in a bit of a path around the corner, away from other humans and then shifts into the darkness, hiding.
The rats' desire for food overpower their desire to scheme dastardly schemes, and a small, pointy nose appears from the warren, followed by a bronze, furry body. One of the rats grabs a piece of grains and begins scooting back with it towards the hole its friends are hiding in, watched by two pairs of eyes glinting in the dark recesses. The ospreys circle above, indifferent: they seem to be seeking different prey, or perhaps merely watching the potential competition they have in the two Hayato birds.
Keigo's puppet claws at the scorpion with its free hand, and one lightning-quick movement later it has a wriggling arthropod, held by its venomous tail, clenched tightly between its fingers. The scorpion is none too happy about this evolution.
Keigo takes a breath that he didn't even know he'd been holding in as he looks at the wriggling little scorpion in Ayamakki's hand. "No stinging for you, I'm afraid." He looks at Akiko. "That's one down, 5 to go… we should really find a better way to keep these animals. We can't exactly capture multiple animals if all our hands and arms are full. Need to find a new box for the Scorpions when we find them, and need to find the cage these Owls were in."
"I'm going to run back and drop off the armadillo, Sujin-san. I will be back to check your progress with the rats," Satoru says before he looks at Kotone. "Keep an eye on those Ospreys, Kotone-san. Don't lose them." That said, he darts off towards the merchants stall, intent on handing over the armored lizard he has in bis hands so he can be of better help.
Akiko says, "I'll go find a box to put the scorpions in. And maybe I can ask that one girl for a cage so we can keep all the animals without fear of them running off." She nods a bit and dashes off to go get those two things. She sees the ospreys circling overhead now and just hopes Kotone can take care of them. Her feathered companion has decided to sit and wait. Or rather, she's flying and waiting. Kotone keeps near to Satoru and Sujin in case the osprey decide to attack her first. Then maybe she can dodge and just lure them down so they can be caught.
Patience. Sujin will not move just yet, these rats were smart but, a smart rat is still pretty dumb. It seems the first was testing the waters. That grain wouldn't be enough for them. Silently he watches. Not very eventful on his end but, he's used to being a creepy watcher.
Meanwhile, Mijiko felt she was of no help at the moment, the angles were all weird. So she turns to Kotone and screeches to catch her attention, letting the other bird know she was ready to assist. Eyes were set on the Ospreys, this was going to be fun.
After what seems like an eternity and a half and a clock could tell Sujin is closer to a minute and a half, the rat emerges slightly further to pick up a further-lying piece of food. This time, its two friends stay closer to the entrance, close enough to be seen. It would seem one of them is slightly paler in colour and heavier-built, whereas the third is probably very young, as it is still remarkably small. The small rat's whiskers twitch and it ventures out further, curiously raising its head towards Sujin
The ospreys gradually circle away from the two hawks, coming closer as they seem to have picked up a prey further away. Then, they both drop, and thought they are still both clearly visible, it becomes apparent they may disappear into the alleys if they get low enough, prolonging the search by several hours.
Akiko returns to the girl with a netful of owls in one hand, the scorpion already caught in the other, and puts them in their respective cages as something catches her eye: a chitinous, yellowish form dashes between two nearby stalls. It would seem some of the scorpions were merely hiding, and hadn't gotten very far!
After dropping off the armadillo lizard, and thinking he might buy it later, he headed back towards Sujin and the birds. He just missed seeing Akiko and the captures that she brought with her, but his mind was a bit preoccupied with the ospreys. He stopped at a vendornto purchase a net, and proceeded to tie four kunai onto the corners as he started walking again.
Finding his way back to Sujin, Satoru checks on his progress with the rats but is careful not to interfere. He gives his fellow a thumbs up and then looks to the skies to see where the birds are. Seeing them diving, he starts heading their way.
Akiko see the scorpion and she… well, she isn't too happy. Why did /she/ have to find the scorpions? She still has that net with her, so she starts to run after the bugger with the net, aiming to toss it onto the scorpion and trapping it much like she had trapped that owl earlier. She just has to keep an eye out for other bugs… Why did it have to be scorpions of all things????
Kotone gets ready and flaps her wings, speeding up to try and reach the ospreys with Mijiko. A screech to the other falcon would tell Mijiko to go low so that the two falcons could drive the ospreys back into the open air.
After what seems like an eternity and a half and a clock could tell Sujin is closer to a minute and a half, the rat emerges slightly further to pick up a further-lying piece of food. This time, its two friends stay closer to the entrance, close enough to be seen. It would seem one of them is slightly paler in colour and heavier-built, whereas the third is probably very young, as it is still remarkably small. The small rat's whiskers twitch and it ventures out further, curiously raising its head towards Sujin
The ospreys gradually circle away from the two hawks, coming closer as they seem to have picked up a prey further away. Then, they both drop, and thought they are still both clearly visible, it becomes apparent they may disappear into the alleys if they get low enough, prolonging the search by several hours.
Akiko returns to the girl with a netful of owls in one hand and the scorpion already caught in the other, and puts them in their respective cages as something catches her eye: a chitinous, yellowish form dashes between two nearby stalls. It would seem some of the scorpions were merely hiding, and hadn't gotten very far!
Keigo hmms a bit as he pulls Ayamakki closer to him. Now that Ayamakki had his hands free again, he could be used for more animal hunting. IE, Scorpions. Right now, he was the best equipped to deal with Scorpions, having a way to reliably grab them without being hurt by them. Once Ayamakki was close enough to Keigo, the pair of them walked while Keigo continued searching for Scorpions.
Sujin really didn't know how to handle this, why couldn't he just kill these things it'd be so much easier! With the way things were going there would be no way to catch all three, he could get one but, the other two would see that and he'd never see them come back out their hole again…
When Satoru returns he just gets a pitiful look from Sujin as if looking for help except, just at that moment he seems to be struck with another idea. He couldn't reach the rats because it was an issue of trust. "Hmm…" He reaches in again and pulls out some dried fruit. He then slowly extends his hand with the fruit still in it, with how these rats are working together he figured that if he can get one to trust him, maybe he can convince them all. For now his eyes settle on the younger rat with gentle eyes.
During this, Mijiko zooms off with Kotone after the osprey cutting through low, trying to get a lock on what they were chasing after in order to cut them off with a blindsided tackle.
Akiko see the scorpion and she… well, she isn't too happy. Why did /she/ have to find the scorpions? She still has that net with her, so she starts to run after the bugger with the net, aiming to toss it onto the scorpion and trapping it much like she had trapped that owl earlier. She just has to keep an eye out for other bugs… Why did it have to be scorpions of all things????
Kotone gets ready and flaps her wings, speeding up to try and reach the ospreys with Mijiko. A screech to the other falcon would tell Mijiko to go low so that the two falcons could drive the ospreys back into the open air.
After dropping off the armadillo lizard, and thinking he might buy it later, he headed back towards Sujin and the birds. He just missed seeing Akiko and the captures that she brought with her, but his mind was a bit preoccupied with the ospreys. He stopped at a vendornto purchase a net, and proceeded to tie four kunai onto the corners as he started walking again.
Finding his way back to Sujin, Satoru checks on his progress with the rats but is careful not to interfere. He gives his fellow a thumbs up and then looks to the skies to see where the birds are. Seeing them diving, he starts heading their way.
The two falcons go low, forcing the ospreys to pull up abruptly, then rise to meet them. The falcons have the advantages of combat training, and the ospreys the disadvantage of having been in a cage for way too long, and therefore in poor shape. The birds have a brief, fierce fight, and feathers rain down on the ground below for a while, but gradually the ospreys are both forced towards whoever seems free: in this case, Satoru.
Sujin gradually lures the rats closer, and the younger one slowly shuffles towards him, sniffing in his hand. The others don't seem to trust him, but they are protective enough of their young to stick together with him.
Akiko dives for the scorpion… and misses, landing just in front of the stall they're hiding under. Now, she notices it's 'they': below, she sees twenty-four little feet moving around, for a total of three scorpions. Where are the others?
Keigo's attention is drawn by a second pocket of panic. When he investigates, he finds that people are fleeing from a nearby restaurant, and further investigation shows the source of the commotion is in the kitchen. There, he finds a lot of abandoned kitchenware, among other things a pot on the ground containing two scorpions. The creatures circle each other, lunging with their pincers, as if getting ready for combat.
Uh oh. Birds in full panic mode! Satoru considered ducking to save himself, but if he did that he would miss his chance at the birds. Kotone and Mijiko had done well but now he needed to finish what they had started and wrap up the hunt of their two largest quarries. With the kunai in one hand, and the net dragging behind it, he positions himself, waits, and then throws the makeshift weighted capture net towards the oncoming birds, hoping to ensnare them!
Akiko lets out an oooph when she lands on her stomach, wincing a bit as the fall was not soft at all. Then she notices the scorpions… JOG JOG JOG JOG is what's going on in her mind right then. She still has the net in her hands. All she has to do is… The girl looks left. Then right. Then she drapes the net so that it completely surrounds the stall the scorpions are hiding under. Well, that should make it difficult to escape, right?
Kotone keeps up her attack on the ospreys. Well, one of them. The falcon screeches loudly, trying to alert Satoru to the fact that there's incoming ospreys heading toward him!
Keigo sighs. "No you don't, you two." He sends in Ayamakki to break the two of them up by having the Puppet grab each of them, one in each hand. Once grabbed, since they're in an enclosed space and grabbing them with Ayamakki is near impossible to mess up, he has them both separated as he and Ayamakki walk back to the girl for deposit. As he returned, he'd possibly see Akiko throwing a net over the stall… he'd blink a bit, curious as to just what was going on, figuring there must be some of the animals under the stall, likely more scorpions since Ospreys wouldn't really opt for anything but the air. Once Ayamakki dropped off the two Scorpions he had hold of, Keigo sent him after the stall that Akiko had draped a net over. "You really don't know the meaning of restraint. You have your bird. Your focus should be in providing support for it. Whether that's having them guide an osprey
Sujin smiles beneath his scarf, "Hey." He whispers this and shifts his hand a bit to let the food roll a little closer to the small rat. He then looks to the other two and with his free hand jiggles the rest of the bag of food the opening loose and open and he places it on the floor right in front of the box and pretends to pay no mind to the other two rats, focused on petting the one ine hand.
"It's simple really. Stick with us, you won't last long out here." Sujin keeps his hand low, giving the rats a choice, either come to the danger that is his hand or slip close to that big box. Either way he was ready to strike when they became too trusting.
Not too far off Mijiko returns from the scuffle, landing atop a stall with her chest puffed out, no big deal. For now she was looking at the other birds threateningly, daring them to get back up while wondering what Sujin was up to, probably busy being lame, sadly Mijiko is so right.
VOOM. The knife sails past the ospreys, which is good 'cause it'd be nice if they weren't damaged. The net follows after it, and the ospreys suddenly find themselves unable to fly on, dropping like a feathery stone. All that's left for Satoru to do is catch them so they don't break anything.
The rats inch away from the hand, towards the food, circling each other protectively until they suddenly find themselves inside a bag, wriggling to get free. One more quarry neutralised!
And then the final quarry: the three remaining scorpions. Despite Keigo's reprimands, a quick tug on Akiko's part traps the scorpions together. Alone, they might be able to slip through the net, but while they're squeezed tightly together, they're constantly getting in each others' way, and with a few more quick motions, Akiko drops them into the box where three of its brothers are already hiding.
Score! Satoru's net flew true and the birds were suddenly snared within. He ran ahead to catch the feathery mass before fragile bones fell to be broken. That done, he nodded to Kotone and then headed back to the stall to drop off his catch. He was just in time to see Sujin drop off his and Keigo and Akiko wrapping up their catch. "Good work, team!" He was rather proud of them all.
Akiko … She GLARES at Keigo after she catches and deposits the scorpions into where they're supposed to go. "I was just trying to complete the mission that much faster, Keigo-san. Kotone and Mijiko could handle themselves, and they were working with Satoru-san to get the ospreys which-" She pauses at hearing the screech of Kotone, the bird's cry obviously one of success. "Apparently was a success. That aside, we're the same rank, so you really have no right to boss me around. Add to the fact that I've been out of the academy longer than you, and I'm pretty sure I've got more experience. Just because my way can be a bit eager doesn't mean it's always wrong!" The outburst isn't one that she would normally have, but getting scolded for doing something right was a bit much. That, and she was sorely worried about Kotone the whole time. Just stress upon stress.
Keigo sighs in response. "I'm sorry… but… you could have gotten seriously hurt in almost every bit of this with you rushing headfirst into everything. You caught the scorpions, good. Your way actually worked. I don't have anything bad to say about it. But not every mission will be this easy… and it doesn't matter if you got out of the academy ahead of me. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm being mean… but I just… I don't want to see my teammates hurt… ever."
With everyone unharmed and in good health, including the animals, the mission is a success: the merchant is highly pleased. That's why, as Satoru asks to buy the armadillo lizard, he even gets a discount! The other animals are returned to their respective spots, ready to be bought by new customers, and the team can return to Sunagakure to get paid.
