Starring:
Shemri, Yuuto, Katama, Chitose
Date: January 24, 2014
Summary:
Suna nin are called in to purge a mythical beast of parasites.
"Bugs In a Dragon"
Island of the Sleeping Dragon
B-rank: There is a chain of islands which, the inhabitants claim, was formed from the encrusted deposits clinging to a gigantic sleeping dragon. Recently a species of very large, vicious bugs have established a colony in the cave which supposedly leads into the dragon's ear. The earache caused by these parasites is leading to tremors, and should the dragon fully awaken, the islands and their dwellings will be destroyed. Time for an incredible journey! Venture into the cave and eradicate the vermin, preferably with as little damage as possible to the surroundings.
At last, a mission that plays to Shemri's strengths! She shall go forth and hunt! …Although really, it's more a matter of exterminate than hunt. After all, they know precisely where their targets live, and there probably won't be a lot of sneaking up involved. Still, stabby death to dumb beasts! Insectoid beasts, in this case, and lots of them. Oh, and for what it's worth, Shemri is also one of the few people in the world who has some experience with going inside ridiculously huge monsters. Although last time, she had the intent of killing it, whereas this time they're supposed to be playing doctor in a way. c.c
At any rate, the ninja team from Sunagakure has arrived on the island underneath which supposedly the immense dragon sleeps. Shemri is in charge, mainly because yeah, she's the huntress here. She leads the group toward the cave where the pesky bugs have built their nest, with Shiikaa bounding along beside her. "We must do our best to limit the damage we deal to only our targets," Shemri remarks, although probably everybody remembers that from the briefing. "At the same time, it shall be tedious dealing with so many targets if we use only precision strikes. Has anyone any ideas to make it more efficient?"
A mission of precision and foresight. It's pretty obvious why Yuuto would be sent along for such a mission, as he should fairly easily be able to distinguish the chakra of the bugs from that of the dragon… if there's actually really a dragon there. He sort of doubts that, and he's the insane one! By his idea, it's probably just an oddly placed or shaped volcano, though he COULD have a little fun creating an ink dragon if he wouldn't get in a heap of trouble for potentially causing a few heart attacks.
"Guess you get to show off your samurai precision today, Katama," the reinstated Genin says from behind his mask as he walks along behind Shemri with the group. Looking to the group leader, he says, "I can create quite a few ink creatures to catch the bugs and bind them down. If they're caught in a trap, taking them out should be a fairly easy task, right?"
Katama follows Yuuto closely. The girl had opted to wear a lighter armor than usual today as she did not want to be clanking around in a dragon's ear… especially if it was a real dragon. Unlike Yuuto, she was more likely to believe it was a real dragon than not. But when Yuuto tells her she gets to show off her precision today she shakes her head. "Insectoids are usually sensitive to smoke, perhaps we can utilize that to stun them before we clear them out."
Following along with the group, Chitose stares at the area as they approach. She hmms as she looks down and then shakes her head, "Yeah, I really can't see this as being a dragon…if it were real it'd make some of the largest known creatures look tiny and I doubt something like that could have lived." She then looks at her arms, "I can whip down many of them in one go." She nods her head, "I don't even have to hit the walls to do it." She nods her head before looking over at the others, "I have other options that I prefer but I would hate to think what would happen when acid falls upon the cave. It'd do plenty of damage."
Shemri scratches her head thoughtfully. "Binding them should certainly make it safer, and less likely that they should escape…but we shall still have to dispatch them individually. The same goes for smoke, though that is at least a wide-spread attack we can use hopefully without harming the dragon." Shemri's a little skeptical of the dragon theory herself, but she's seen enough gigantic critters not to rule it out entirely. :P "Very well then, let us start with smoke. We shall gather some branches and start a fire by the cave entrance. Small branches and leaves will do, we need it to burn quickly and produce as much smoke as possible."
And so the shinobi team starts gathering up the materials for their bonfire…but of course, the bugs aren't about to let any peculiar activity right outside their nest go unhindered. ]{ A few of the ugly brutes, which look like a cross between a beetle and a wasp the size of a basketball, come buzzing out to investigate. They immediately pursue their plan A for intruders, which basically reads 'Sting it until it moves far away from the nest or doesn't move at all'. Shemri, rather than dropping the double arm-full of assorted fuel she's carrying, uses her sashes to draw a couple of kunai and swat the nearest drone back out of stinging range. "Hoi, keep working on the fire! Do not worry about fighting them yet, just try to keep them off you!"
Even as she is helping to build the fire, Chitose notices the incoming enemies. She looks up at one and then another as htey come in. She simply takes in a breath and breathes out a burst of ink at the pair. They are covered in the ink and made blind by the quick burst and Chitose takes off at a run after using that very literaly as an escape mechanism, "I'm not too worried…though I'm pretty sure I'm not a fan of these Wastles…or Beetasps…or whatever they are."
"Not a bad idea," Yuuto says, glancing around at the group. "I don't suppose we have any tool specialists that loaded up on smoke bombs for today? I can also use a fire bullet barrage. It's mild enough, it shouldn't damage the dragon's skin while killing the bugs." As they approach, Yuuto peers as the bugs curiously. He quickly grabs a scroll from his back as they are charged, opening it to release some wolves at the bugs to try to push them back. "Think it'd make too big a fire if I used Great Fireball Technique to make it quicker?"
Katama had moved off quickly to help gather fuel for the fire, remembering to grab wet leaves and green kindling as well as dry as the greener and weter, the more smoke they would produce. When the insectoids come out and start trying to sting them, Katama has a unique protection against them: her armor. Though she's wearing a lighter version, it's still got a nice thick layer of leather underneath. So she steps forward with her armload of kindling and starts building the fire while ignoring the most of the bugs. A few unlucky ones get close enough to sting at her exposed thighs or neck and she literally backhands then into oblivion with her armored gauntlet. "I hate bugs…" She continues to place the wood as Chitose shoots them with ink and Katama chuckles to herself, making a note to tease Yuuto about his use of ink later….
As Yuuto asks if Great Fireball would be too firey Katama blinks at him. "YES, Shishou, use the smaller one!" Her tone is slightly exasperated but she continues working and sends him a thankful nod of the head as one of the wolves bites a bug that got too close to her.
Shemri dumps her load onto the pile. "Eh, it should not matter too much how rough we are out here, just be careful about what goes into the cave. Once we have a good blaze going Shiikaa can — " *CRUNCH* Shemri winces at the sound of chitin cracking under Katama's lethal backhand. "Ah. Aha. I should have been clearer…we wanted to avoid killing any of them, because bugs can smell the death of their own kind." -.-; An ominous humming begins building up from the cave. "No time to get more fuel! Get the fire started and prepare to defend yourselves!" The humming turns into a dull roar as dozens of the nasty bugs flood out, agitated into a berserk fury by the pheromones of their fallen sibling. Shiikaa summons up his chakra and unleashes a huge gust of wind at the swarm while they're still packed together. It's definitely effective, but there are plenty left for the group to contend with.
"Oh glorious leader. Always being the example." Chitose monotones out before looking at the hum and hmming, "Well, on the plus side, we really don't need to worry about being careful in the cave." She nods her head, "On the down side…they fly and sting. They are the nope bug." She then immediately sucks in again and fires off three spitting globs of ink to some bugs before looking to the side, "I really need to get to work on a more wide spread version of that." She hops back and away as the bugs fly in, "Anyway…" And the bugs that are hit by her ink? They start to melt.
"Ah, you only complain because you don't know how to make any big explosions yet," Yuuto replies to Katama with a chuckle. He then brings a hand up at the front of his mask, breathing a concentrated fireball onto the fire that causes a huge pillar of smoke to rise up from it in proportion. Following that, he quickly draws another pair of wolves, releasing them to attack the incoming bugs and try to help the others push the bugs back and maybe, just maybe, keep them from being overrun.
Katama stands up after laying the last of the firewood and moves away as she's informed that killing the little bugs would be a bad thing. She offers a sort of tense apology before she hears the humming increase. As the one to have killed the creature, her armor had been marked with it's scent so as the one with the most protection in the group drawing their fire wasn't a huge deal for her. She just had to keep them off her legs and neck, the rest of her was well covered. She steps forward as Yuuto teases her about not knowing how to make things explode yet and she snerks before killing a couple more of the things and then backing directly into the pillar of smoke, luring them into a choice, take revenge on the one that killed their companions and get smoked or abandon all hope and go away… Katama had hoped the bugs weren't overly intelligent….
At least they're getting some good out of that fire. :P The bugs do indeed focus mainly on Katama, as she's the only one who's been using direct blows to slay. Er, except now Shemri has, stabbing any bugs that come near with the kunai held in her hands and sashes. Shemri prides herself on her skill at fighting multiple opponents simultaneously, but usually that's against humans that you can entangle with each other, these zippy airborne foes are a lot different. >.< One of the bugs manages to get in and sting her thigh. Fortunately the venom of these creatures isn't very potent, but it's about as bad as being stabbed with a kunai thanks to their size. DX
Anyway, the bugs going after Katama, while far from completely sedated, are a bit easier to deal with thanks to the smoke. Gradually, the swarm is thinned out until there are none left, at least, out here. Shemri massages her injured leg. "There shall be more inside…most importantly, the queen. We must destroy her and any eggs we can find to ensure they shall not return."
A frown and she looks as they thin out the creatures till finally Chitose looks to Shemri and hurrms, "Well, I do have other methods of dealing with these creatures…but…" She frowns, "It'd involve me having to unleash more power than these creatures are probably worth." She nods again before looking at the others, "I say we just forge forward." She nods, "It seems we all are good enough at this without having to worry." She nods her head, bleeding from a couple of spots but those spots are already clotting.
"Oh, look, they like you," Yuuto teases Katama as the bugs try to swarm her. His wolves continue to fight back along with the others until the heard has finally thinned fully. "Well, let's get a head start with a touch of a surprise… Allow me." With that, he starts drawing dozens of copies of the bug, which fly of the page and down the dragon's ear canal toward where the others are. They would move exactly like the other bugs thanks to his Sharingan, creeping toward moving in amongst the others, where they would begin an attack from the inside to distract the bugs so the others can get the jump from behind.
Katama had hoped to be the main target and she succeeded at first as she disappeared into the smoke where sounds of CLANK and THUNK could be heard like the beating of a drum. Finally the sounds die down and Katama leaps over the flames and out of the smoke with a great clank of armor, tendrils of smoke sweeping around her armor like a woodblock painting of a demon. She immediately doubles over and chokes, gasping for air for a few moments. She'd held her breath as much as possible while in the smoke but she'd gotten a lungful anyway. She stands up with a deep breath and watches Yuuto draw the ink bug clone things, bleeding from several spots on her neck and thighs. She doesn't seem to notice the blood.. or the pain… or the fact she's wounded at all and immediately draws both of her twin kodachi and heads into the cave, watching the ink bugs closely and looking for an opening for her swords….
Interesting tactic, that. As it happens, the effort of imitating the bugs is wasted, because bugs don't recognize each other by appearance and movement anyway. :P They go by chemical means, just like with the pheromones that caused the attack earlier. But, luckily enough, the ink bugs manage to infiltrate the nest without much resistance because the real bugs don't recognize them as living things. The ink doesn't have any smell associated with biological entities, so they're registered as nuisances at best, like stray leaves that blew into the nest. Of course, once they start attacking, they're viewed as pointy, unpleasant nuisances worth getting rid of, and the bugs fight back…but not as a swarm, just as individuals. After all, you wouldn't sound the alarm over a stick that got under your sleeping bag and poked you in the side, would you? And that's akin to what the bugs think they're dealing with, in their rather limited, instinctual, and very-different-from-human way of 'thinking'.
As the group ventures into the cave and draws near to the remaining bugs, something shifts in the darkness. Something with a pair of big red eyes that glint as they catch the feeble light, looking at the ninja. Really looking, the way that the other bugs lack the ocular focus to do. Then that something draws itself up and gives a strange sort of rasping call. The other bugs, at least the ones not struggling with Yuuto's ink, respond by taking flight and clustering around. Seems like the queen has some measure of intelligence and can use it to control her brood! An organized squadron of drones zips out to attack the ninja in formation.
As they start to move in, Chitose states, "Go on ahead." She declares even as some more bugs start to return from perhaps being out and gathering. She, for the moment, has her own battle to fight even as she looks back at the others, "Go get the queen, I'll stay by the fire and prevent any others that might be out and about from coming in."
With at least a small distraction, Yuuto follows the others into the cave to blink at the massive pair of red eyes. "Dang," he says with a tilt of his head. "At least she has good taste in eye color, eh, Katama?" he asks with a grin at her student before opening his scroll further to quickly draw a swarm of gryphons, winged monkeys, lions, and snakes, and what appear to be facehugging aliens flying that fly off the page to try to tackle and bind a large number of the bugs down.
Katama had followed the bugs into the cave and watched as the real bugs ignored the ink versions mostly, killing off a few here and a few there.. until something with red eyes shows it's ugly head. Katama stops dead in her tracks, raising her swords in readiness. She hears Chitose tell them to go on and she'd tend the fire and Katama nods to herself. Her crimson eyes never left those ahead of her until the first wave of bugs comes at her and then she's in motion, swords slashing and crossing, cutting down two and three bugs at a time, but she knows she's just working with the fluff. She trusts the other two to have her back and to have the ability to take out the queen while Katama, still mostly immune to the stings thanks to her armor, runs interference. Yuuto's little comment about eye color gets a dark smirk from the Kuroyari and she presses on, blades flashing. "Indeed, Shishou, all demons need red eyes!"
Shemri lifts an eyebrow. "I suppose it is fortunate I do not care to be regarded as a demon, then." -.- Well, looks like Yuuto and Katama are doing a pretty good job keeping the drones occupied, guess that leaves tackling the queen to Shemri! "Shiikaa!" Shiikaa bounds up onto his mistress's shoulder, then *POOF*, the cat is gone and Shemri's arm and leg are enveloped in black fur and a tail protrudes along with her sashes. Shemri dashes in, slicing apart several drones that attempt to block her from reaching the queen.
Up close, the queen turns out to have an almost humanoid head, though the rest of her is plenty monstrous. She raises her appendages and strikes rapid-fire at Shemri. Shemri blocks the assault with her own multi-armed capabilities, while her tail works with a mind of its own to swat away any drones which try to attack from behind. Finally the queen strikes downward with all legs, trying to force her way through Shemri's defenses. Shemri blocks with her sashes and arms, then grunts as her injured thigh is strained by the push. Suddenly she simply gives way, dropping down and striking out low with a clawed foot enhanced with wind chakra. The queen screeches as a heavy gash is drawn in her abdomen, and she takes off over Shemri, calling her drones around her as a shield as she tries to leave the cave. "Hoi! Do not let her escape!"
Katama hears Shemri's cry and order and turns on her heel, leaping directly int he Queen's path, brandishing both swords before her. She changes her tactic, however, and entirely ignores the drones. She prepares then slashes down three or four of the drone shielding the Queen's already wounded abdomen before she leaps forward with both swords at the same level as the gash, using her heavy armor, her body weight and her strength to drive the swords as far through the Queen as possible, a Clean Cut, She ends up a pace past and behind the Queen, bug ichor on her kodachi. She would call out for Yuuto to attack next but she's pretty sure he's three steps ahead of her.. hopefully she'd opened that wound Shemri had given her enough to allow Yuuto to finish her….
With Shemri down, Yuuto would eye Katama, waiting for her action. Using the slashing at the abdomen as a distraction, he would move to jump up right in front of the queen. Since the gashes in the abdomen are now basically a good weak spot, he would appear right in front of them with a hand over his mouth as he literally goes to breathe fire directly into the giant creature's abdomen. With a pair of waves of flame shooting into her, Yuuto looks to kill the Queen by roasting her guts and vital organs from the inside out.
BUG ROAST! Always a fun outcome. The queen is set ablaze by Yuuto's fireball, although it doesn't kill her immediately. She screeches again and changes direction, fleeing deeper into the cave. Shemri gets up and makes ready to pursue when —
*CHOOOOM!!!*
A sudden huge blast of air sweeps shinobi, bugs, and all out of the cave. o.O
When everyone manages to pick themselves up outside, the queen is extinguished, but thoroughly crispified. Apart from a few more rather intense rumblings at the same time as that mega-gust, the island's tectonic activity returns to normal. So, was that blast the result of some huge pocket of air getting squeezed out during an earthquake, or was there really a dragon and the cave turned out to be an entrance not to its ear but rather its…y'know what, Shemri for one prefers not to think about it. -.-;
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
