Starring:
Nori, Akiko, Rie
Date: April 2, 2013
Summary:
This was a 'What-If' mission, and was stated as such right up front. If anyone died, it was not going to affect the main Naruto Rivalry Mush timeline. The team finds themselves in an abandoned village that otherwise was recently active. They are attacked by a horde of Zompires (zombie vampires like from 'I am Legend') and have to react as only shinobi can. It was fun.
"Attack of the Zompires!"
Tokkuriji (A village within the Land of Fire canon-wise), in the graveyard.
Tokkuriji, a village practically right in the middle of the Land of Fire (and one of canon actually), is the quaint setting Akiko, Nori, and Rie are finding themselves in. The sun has set on an otherwise beautiful day, and as the temperature starts to drop, a light fog hangs over the streets.
The team has been sent to deal with a little bit of a disturbance. Locals have gone missing. The village council hasn't reported the drop in its local populace, but data gathered by another team aluded to as much before they too went missing.
So the trio have been sent to produce a situation report on the locals. As they arrive on the town limits, they would note that it is quiet…damn quiet. No one is out on the streets of the village. All of the doors to the local establishments (including bars, brothels, and other entertainment industries that should be functioning) are firmly locked.
Sporting a red kimono, as usual, Akiko strides along with the younger pair. While not having been trained in Konoha, she has been working on building a relationship with the shinobi of Konohagakure, having already been sent on one mission to prove herself, it seems this would be the young woman's second.
Fingers tap-tap-tapping upon a scroll case hanging from a belt, the white-haired girl glances around the village as they enter it, brown boots padding quietly across the ground. Glancing to the two Genin, she comments, "Quiet, isn't it? Where do you think everyone is? Is the whole -village- missing?"
Patting the top of Jinsoku's head, Rie looks around and sniffs at the air along with the large Irish Wolfhound. Sh e hmms as she looks over at her ninken, "Do you smell anything, Jinsoku?" She hmms before glancing to Akiko, "None of this makes any sense." She then ponders, "I wonder." She hmms and also starts looking around for animal life, bug life and plant life, pondering.
Nori would nod to Akiko. "I agree. Something is…off. One second, let me check for chakra signatures." It is sometimes nice to have a Sensor-Nin around. As Nori focuses his extra sense, Jinsoku's nose would pick up rotting meat. There are plenty of bugs and plants around, but not overly many animals.
Finally, after some meditation time on Nori's part, the young Yamanaka states, "There are people all around us in the houses. Some are in their attics, others in the basement, huddled together. And then I can sense…something further up. In the reports I think there was a network of catacombs under the village. Maybe that is what is further up?" He herms and shrugs. "Should we try to contact the people inside the houses or head to see whatever is 'further up'?"
Akiko isn't a sensory-nin and doesn't have dog senses, so, she's content to let the two Genin do this part and listens attentively to their input, offering a slight nod at the offered answers. The white-haired girl hmm's, "I imagine..try to talk to someone? Maybe they have some information to offer, I would think." She pauses, thinking a moment, "I'm not certain though. Is there some kind of…protocol, the Village's shinobi have, when dealing with situations like this? I'd rather not rush in blindly, if we don't have to, you know!"
"No." Rie would say to Akiko and then look forward, "If they are huddled in their attics or basements, they are afraid. Us trying to get to them could end in pointless violence." She looks at Jinsoku, patting his head, "There's rotting meat somewhere near." She nods, "Like soemthing dead…likely lots of somethings." She looks forward, "We should investigate this further up thing…lets not scare people just for our own need for information when information may be easily found."
Nori shrugs, "I'm just a Genin. I have no clue what we're supposed to do when something like this happens." He smiles and says, "I'm all for the cautious approach, but do we just high-tail it back home and fail the mission or work out a strategy to somehow cover ourselves? I'd prefer the later…" When Rie disagrees with Akiko, Nori keeps a blank expression on his face. He knows better than to get inbetween two girls fighting. He has four sisters after-all. Still, Nori herms, "On the one hand, talking to someone could get us valuable information, but so could doing the investigation ourselves. Both run the risk of us getting hurt. Should we just flip for it?" Nori pulls out a coin and looks to the others with a blank face.
Akiko smiles at the younger girl, nodding at her comments, "That makes sense, really. Either way has the potential for trouble, and I think it is best to keep the potential trouble away from the innocents, so." She looks to Nori, waving a hand dismissively as he pulls out a coin, "Oh, stop it, put that away, jeez!" The young woman lifts a hand, tucking loose locks of hair behind an ear before she nods again, "Shall we go see what this smell is then? What's the worst that could happen."
At the comment about strategy, she hmm's, looking between the Genin, "I'm a taijutsuist. And kenjutsu. And..from my brief experience with Inuzaka, I assume Rie-chan is, too?" She looks to Nori, "What about you?"
"Jinsoku and I tend to like to get up close and personal." She grins and shrugs before looking over at Nori with a questioning look, "I would wonder what you are a specialist at."
Nori puts the coin away and grins, "Eh, I'm a Yamanaka…I am proficient in both mind techniques and earth manipulation…but I'm really more of a support role and a sensor-nin." Nori then points forward, "That way it is then." Nori takes point, keeping his senses on alert as he does so.
As he walks, Nori says, "Either of you overly stealthy?" They find themselves headed into a grave-yard full of crypts and mausoleums. The smell of rotting flesh here is horrid. Even those without strong noses could actually smell it, and as they get closer to where Nori is leading them, the smell just gets worse. At the entrance to one of the larger crypts, Nori states, "I'm guessing this is the entrance to the catacombs," and as he says that, they'd probably see a sign noting 'entrance to catacombs - enter at your own risk'. Nori erks, "Eh, yeah. Now what?"
Smiling at Rie again, Akiko nods as she listens to Nori's comments on his skills. She leads the way in the direction pointed, a grimace slowly coming to her face as the smell grows worse. Shaking her head, she comments, "Ehh. I'm alright at stealthy. Maybe? I haven't had a ton of reason to practice it, really, but yeah." As the smell gets more and more horrible, she frowns, looking to the crypt they pause in front of. She looks at it. Then to the two Genin. "Er. So, inside there?"
Looking at the entrance, she peers and then looks at the others, "I believe we have no choice but to risk it and go on in." She nods her head before shrugging. Rie then scratches her chin, "I've not practiced much in the way of stealth though…"
Nori grins as he eyes Akiko. It should be of note that Nori hasn't said if he's any good at stealth, "Well, the smartest thing would be to send someone in who is stealthy to do a little scouting and find out what we're up agai…" and there is a rumble within the crypt. The ground underneath the trio starts to vibrate ever so slightly, as if something massive is moving beneath them…or many less-massive things at any rate. "…nst? We should probably hide…or run…right?" He looks between the two of them as sounds begin emitting from the crypt too. The sounds are gutteral growls, grunts, and screams.
Nodding at Rie's comment, "Well…it can't be too ba—" Akiko trails off as the ground starts shaking, and looks between the Genin, "Erm..I'd suggest hiding. Until we know what it is? Agreed?" She doesn't give the pair long to answer her, and reaches to grab both of them by the arm as the sounds start emitting from the crypt, "Get back. I think we're about to find out what it is, anyways!" She yanks the Genin (assuming they didn't try to move away) backwards with her, hopping back a number of feet and then lets go of them as she hisses, "Hide!"
"Agreed!" Rie says swiftly though not loudly, her eyes going over the area as she is taken back. She looks at Nori before saying, "We gotta know what in the world we are facing." She then pats Jinsoku, shushing the large dog, "Quiet, boy. We gotta be super careful here…don't know if we are in over our head or what."
Nori is grabbed, but not before he makes a quick serpent handseal and stomps his foot. He had said he was an earth manipulator, and sure enough a wall of earth rises in front of the crypt. Nori erks, "That won't hold long, but it might buy us time to hide in one of the other crypts or something." There are plenty of places to hide of course, they are in a cemetary. The question is how to hide and still have a good visual on what it is.
Meanwhile, at the catacomb entrance, the wall is shaking as something pushes steadily behind it.
Once they're a little away from the wall, Akiko releases her grip on the Genin and glances about warily. She frowns, debating where to go. She suggests again, "Find somewhere to hide. -Fast-. I..am inclined to say -not- one of the crypts. Whatever it is, is coming from the crypts and ground obviously…" Dark eyes looking about, she nods and then flicks a hand towards one of the nearby crypts. "Maybe..up. On the roof, we'll be able to see what it is when it's out, and maybe have time to decide what to do?" Again, the girl doesn't really wait for a response from the young pair, and she flickers. An afterimage is left next to the Genin and Akiko calls to them, "Come!" From atop a nearby headstone, half-way between them and a nearby still-standing crypt. She flickers again and then is on the roof of the little building.
Not being nearly that fast, the girl instead simply turns and rushes toward a nearby building and then gets behind it. She stares out from behind it, doing her best to stay hidden in a nearby alleyway rather than trying to rush up to a rooftop…given getting to the roof is kinda out of her skillset just yet.
Nori follows along after Akiko…but at a slower speed. He stops at the base of the wall and turns to Rie and the pup who don't run up the wall like he was planning on doing. He grunts and stomps the ground again after a handseal. The ground under Rie and Jinsoku suddenly rises upwards. It doesn't go the whole way up, but it does go high enough to reach the roof by hand. Nori runs up after them.
The wall rocks and then shatters, revealing…zombies. Well, not entirely. They are definitely dead flesh reanimated to life…but they are more the 'I am Legend' zombies (more vampiric than zombies…but close enough). The hord of creatures storms out of the crypt, trampling over the ones in the front that brought the wall down with no concern for them.
The creatures themselves have rotten flesh, dull, listless, red eyes, and discernable fangs. They are fast too, and they continue to storm out as the roof-top trio watch. In no time, the creatures surround the building and stare up at the three of them, intent on getting something to eat.
Akiko frowns as she realizes at least one of the Genin isn't able to get up onto the roof. She looks ready to jump down and grab Rie, but thankfully Nori takes care of it. The older girl nods her thanks to the boy and then..her attention is drawn to the thing-a-jiggers that rush the crypt they're standing up and she peers down at them as they peer up at the shinobi. The white-haired young woman looks to the Genin and says, "Thoughts? I might suggest that you two try to get back to the village, try to get in touch with the people left, if there are any…and then return to Konoha, with or without the villagers. I'll try to hold this lot off." She pauses, "Or do one of you have a suggestion?"
Looking over at Nori, she smiles and nods, "Thanks." Rie then hops up on to the roof and blinks as she spots what follows them out. She stares down with her dog and then looks at the lot, "Umm, I could work with Jinsoku and deal some serious damage to them all at once…" She shrugs and then looks down, "That's my only suggestion. I know a couple of moves that are strong enough to drill right through stone and deal with multiple targets easily."
Nori assesses the situation. The creatures only pause to stare at the shinobi for so long before they start clawing at the wall. Those closest to the wall begin getting smooshed as those behind them push forward too. As more and more swarm the building the shinobi stand atop, they start to stand on top of the bodies of the ones that are getting crushed. They start forming a zombie-vampire-pyramid…as opposed to a human-pyramid…and slowly begin moving closer to the trio. And yet, they keep coming out of the crypt. Just how large of a village is this? There has to be about three hundred people so far…men, women, and children alike.
Nori grunts, "Whatever we do, we need to do it now. I can probably buy us a little more time and push them away…but I can only do that so often without getting tired. I can also sink into the ground and maybe act like a goffer to draw them away? What do you two have?" Nori listens to Rie and looks down at the creatures, "If you're alright going against an opponent we know nothing about that is fine…but it does seem dangerous. Then again, so is my idea." Nori looks to Akiko, "Even with a distraction, we still need some way to get away in the opposite direction too. You make the call."
"For now…I think the important thing for us to do is get back to the village, and then out of here. This is over our heads, I think," Akiko comments as she peers down at the growing pile of vampire zombie people. "I have swords, and speed," though she doesn't LOOK like she has any swords. "I say we try to get through them, and back to the village. Make a run for it, really." The white-haired girl looks to Nori, "You can go underground if you think that's the safest chance for you? Or help us try to clear a path? Rie-chan, if you're up for it, try to clear a path through them for yourself, I'll help you and try to cover you, if any of them get too close to you." She shakes her head slowly, looking at the growing crowd, "We need to hurry. Let's go and I'll try to cover you two as we do, alright?"
With that, the white haired young woman flickers. And she's down in the crowd, spinning, twisting and slicing, trying to draw the attention of the crowd. Her right hand holds a wakizashi and her left a tanto, both seeming to have come from nowhere.
RPCOMBAT: Akiko attacks with FLICKERING-DEATH…36
Listening to Akiko, she hmms as she nods and listens, "That seems to be the only way." She nods her head and then looking over toward her partner, "You ready Jinsoku." She then jumps with the dog toward the area below, "Four Legged Style: Dual Piercing Fist!" She screams out even as her dog and her begin to go into as ping together that almost looks like a sideways tornado that drills into the group belo with fierce force.
RP: Rie transforms into ENTER-JINSOKU.
RPCOMBAT: Rie attacks with GATSUGA…23
RPCOMBAT: Rie attacks with GATSUGA…29
Nori nods at the plan, "I think you're right. I'll do my best to clear a path for you too Rie-san." With that, Nori peers over the side and then dives as if he were about to do a canon-ball into a pool. Still, as he hits the ground, he just sinks into it as if it were in fact water. He is out of sight. Did he just leave them behind?
As soon as the two kunoichi are down in the middle of the swarm, every one of the creatures makes for them. Luckily, the kunoichi are spinning and twisting and making it very difficult for the creatures to get a hand or fang on them. They blaze a little bit of a path through the creatures…but there is no end in sight, and it is very easy to start to lose sight of eachother and feel lost in the mob. Still, with the sheer number of them, they are pressing inwards against the attacks.
RPCOMBAT: Nori attacks with UNDERGROUND-FISH-PROJECTION…42
Horde_Akiko roll(s) Horde-Press from 15 to 35 and get(s) a 29. - Rolled by: Nori
Horde_Rie roll(s) Horde-Press from 10 to 20 and get(s) a 17. - Rolled by: Nori
RPCOMBAT: Akiko defends against with a RAPID-PARRY…40
RPCOMBAT: Akiko attacks with SHARP…34
RPCOMBAT: Akiko attacks with SHARP…21
Akiko keeps up spinning, with her sharp blades and her natural speed and agility, she makes a gleaming whirlwind of steel. Any time one of the zompires gets close, her wakizashi or tanto snaps up, slicing through limbs, or the flat of the blades snapping against heads, knocking the assailants off balance. She remains untouched so far. The white-haired girl tries to keep track of Rie, but begins to lose sight of her as the crowd closes in, "Rie-chan! Get through them if you can! Be careful, don't let them get too close and swamp you!" As she shouts, the older girl continues her deadly dance of steel, blades biting into rotten flesh as she moves.
RPCOMBAT: Rie defends against with a DODGE-II…18
As the horde presses in, Rie emerges above the horde as a spinning pair of dog and kunoichi. She laughs, "Lets give them another go, eh, Jinsoku?!" She then grabs the dog again and once more they are off, "Rekill them all and let the Earth Sort them out!" She then goes right back into the horde, pressing for the edges and the edge of the village, gotta get out, if nothing else.
RPCOMBAT: Rie attacks with GATSUGA…22
RPCOMBAT: Rie attacks with GATSUGA…29
Akiko is indeed lucky so far. She doesn't even get zompire juices on her. Still, she might be noticing that the strikes to the body don't appear to really be slowing the creatures down. It is only the ones that decapitate or destroy the brain that put them down for good. Without one of those two things, they keep coming…and the longer the two kunoichi are in the horde, the harder the horde presses in on them.
Rie manages to have a particularly good tactic because Gatsuga slices right through them, making them look like they've gone through a meat slicer. The ones that aren't damaged enough though just press in on she and the wolfhound with rib-cages exposed and faces half off.
Still, up ahead, the pack actually does look like it is thinning out. They are just about on the edge of the village where they started. And then, there is Nori. He's resurfaced and he is dancing. Yes, dancing. PARTY AT THE END OF THE WORLD! Ahem, not really. It is just his ninjutsu style. As he dances, two huge earth domes rise up and entrap a fair portion of the horde. He is opening a path for the two girls to come through…and he's made it rather easy now for them.
RPCOMBAT: Nori defends against with a EARTH-DOME…46
RPCOMBAT: Nori defends against with a EARTH-DOME…30
Horde_Akiko roll(s) Horde-Press from 20 to 40 and get(s) a 23. - Rolled by: Nori
Horde_rie roll(s) Horde-Press from 10 to 20 and get(s) a 19. - Rolled by: Nori
RPCOMBAT: Akiko defends against with a ACROBATIC-DODGE…43
The deadly dance of the white-haired girl in the red kimono continues, moving ever closer towards the village they had started in. As the horde closes in around her again, she ducks, takes a swipe at the legs of some of them nearby and then springs into a roll, getting away from one particularly nasty clump of them. As she comes back up to her feet, she swings at the few nearby, having reached a thinner part of the group, and then she's dashing towards Nori and calling out, "Rie-chan, come on!"
RPCOMBAT: Akiko attacks with SHARP…20
RPCOMBAT: Akiko attacks with SHARP…37
RPCOMBAT: Akiko attacks with SHARP…33
RPCOMBAT: Rie defends against with a DODGE-II…24
The deadly dance of the white-haired girl in the red kimono continues, moving ever closer towards the village they had started in. As the horde closes in around her again, she ducks, takes a swipe at the legs of some of them nearby and then springs into a roll, getting away from one particularly nasty clump of them. As she comes back up to her feet, she swings at the few nearby, having reached a thinner part of the group. She's aiming higher now, for the head, having noticed that body wounds aren't hurting them, and then she's dashing towards Nori and calling out, "Rie-chan, come on!"
For Rie, it isn't a matter if they die or not. She's simply trying to escape. Once more the pair emerges from the sea of death with a phew, "One last time, Jinsoku! Then we run!" She is sweating and breathing heavily, "Lets get out of here!" She then suddenly rushes forward, once more causing another blast of spinning death as she aims for the way out. She is as well dashing toward Nori in a spinning drill of death.
RPCOMBAT: Rie attacks with GATSUGA…24
RPCOMBAT: Rie attacks with GATSUGA…33
COMBAT: Rie finishes her turn.
COMBAT: It is now Nori's turn.
And so they are free of the swarm. Nori draws on some hands to keep the zompires momentarily distracted, but it really won't last long. All he is intending is to make every second count. Up ahead, you can see a door has already been imploded by what must be Nori's wall of dirt technique because there is dust everywhere.
The horde is advancing too rapidly though, and so…Nori makes one last ditch effort. He calls out, "Get in the house…I'll close the breach." And then he rushes forward into the swarm. They are on him like gamers at a comicon. He doesn't have much fight in him though, so they sink their fangs into him, treating him like a shinobi pin-cushion. Assuming the girls get inside instead of trying to save him, which would be hopeless by this point…he makes one last seal and raises an extra thick wall of earth in front of the building. He uses ever ounce of his chakra, his soul even, so the wall is strong. The young Yamanaka doesn't even scream out in pain as his body is drained of blood in moments.
RPCOMBAT: Nori attacks with HANDS-OF-GAEA…32
RPCOMBAT: Nori defends against with a EARTH-BARRIER…40
Akiko grabs Rie by the arm as they run towards Nori, and past him, into the house. And then she looks back over her shoulder towards Nori, just in time to see him run towards the horde and she grimaces, "Nori-kun, no!" But, really, it's too late as the horde sets upon him. And then there's a wall blocking the doorway of the house and she can't see him any longer.
She turns, looking around the house and shaking her head, "We're not safe here. Rie-chan, we need to go out the back, and we need to just run, get as far from here as we can, try to get back to Konoha. Can you do that?"
Both herself and her dog are breathing heavily at this point. She looks at Jinsoku and then at Akiko, "We can try." She states and then slumps a little, shaking her head, "It's going to be just a try though, I think." She nod sher head, "We're…well, that's a lot to take out of us two." She licks her lips, "A hell of a lot."
Yes, they aren't safe here. That is an understatement. For, as soon as she says that, two men step out from the shadows of the house and move toward each of the Kunoichi. They have knives in their hands, which they thrust forward. Akiko may have time to react, but Rie and Jinsoku are out of stamina it seems. The man's knife moves right for Rie's face. Akiko's attacker moves quickly too, trying to cut Akiko's head off.
It may be obvious later on that they were just trying to protect themselves from the creatures that they thought got into their hide-out, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous now.
Man_Akiko roll(s) Decapitation from 20 to 40 and get(s) a 23. - Rolled by: Nori
Man_Rie roll(s) Face-Stab from 30 to 50 and get(s) a 49. - Rolled by: Nori
RPCOMBAT: Akiko defends against with a FLICKERING-DEATH…29
RPCOMBAT: Akiko attacks with FLICKERING-DEATH…34
RPCOMBAT: Akiko attacks with FLICKERING-DEATH…34
Akiko notices the movement of the men, but likely just a second too late, she flickers reflexively, appearing behind her attacker as she yells, "Rie-chan, watch out!" Her wakizashi comes up, stabbing at the back of -her- attacker before she flickers again, aiming to slam her tanto into the other man.
Looking at the door, Rie doesn't see it in time to turn around and gets knived in the face apparently. It's not really a pretty picture as a knife goes into her mouth and she gags ont he blood. Immediately Jinsoku would go wild and attempt to maul the poor man to death but it won't save Rie.
With Nori dead…strike that, most likely undead…Rie dead dead, and now the two men that were defending their hidey-hole dead too…Akiko's plan sounds pretty good. Run. Run as fast as she can back home and alert the others. A clean-up crew is needed. She would probably have to carry Jinsoku…unless he stays with Rie. As Akiko runs, she'd notice a zompire Nori hunched over a squirrel. The dead Yamanaka is sucking the blood from the poor little critter. And thus, our heroine departs to fight again.
