Starring:
Loki (emitter), Chitose
Date: October 25, 2013
Summary:
Chitose finds out what is really going on in the desert
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Desert Wars - Lines in the Sand"
One day's civilian travel west of Fort Zaru
It's late in the afternoon, and its time for a shift rotation at the one day marker from Fort Zaru. For ninja, that travel time is significantly less, but Chitose has been ordered to take charge of the group coming to the marker from the other direction. There was supposed to be a large caravan heading to the Fort, which the new shift was traveling with. They had been told that Chitose was coming, and it appears to be a clear, calm day in the desert.
For the moment, Chitose's arrival is rather uneventful. She's just a fast runner. She isn't like some ninja that get around in weird or interesting ways. When she shows up, she looks in the direction that the caravan is supposed to come from and then looks to the ninja who are already here, "What is the word on the arrival of the large caravan? They should have beaten me here if my timing is correct but I don't want to make assumptions. Have we heard anything from the day 2 marker?"
The guard commander here acknowledges Chitose's presence then nods. "They're running a little late, but planned to make time up on the way. As a result they should be in visual range any time now. Apparently the merchants heard something between day three and two marker, but there was no evidence of anything unusual when the guards at day 2 checked. They're a little nervous as a result." Indeed, the first signs of movement can be seen just over the western horizon. Whatever it is, seems to be moving at a fairly quick civilian speed.
A look at the guard and she nods, "Alright." She nods her head and then looks into the distance at the moving caravan before she tilts her head and then hmms, "We got eyes high up, commander?" She hmms and glances at the man before looking into the distance again, "They…appear to be moving a bit quicker than normal." SHe idly rubs a finger at the side of her face before looking again to the guard, "I'm moving ok, if you can get me some intel, let me know." She then starts off in the caravan's direction at a fairly quick jog, looking curiously in their direction.
"Well, they did say they were going to make up some time…" the guard responds. But then he seems to think a moment and says, "Get us some eyes up in the air, let's check things out." A moment later a hawk rises and starts to head off in the direction of the approaching caravan.
As Chitose nears the caravan, the sounds coming from the group seem off. While words are unitelligable at this point, there is no mistaking the fearful tone of the voices in the desert. Furthermore, the donkeys seem to be braying loudly, with a tone that just one step below panic. Something sounds wrong, for only the ninja traveling with the group seem to be outside the wagons. Everyone else is riding, to avoid slowing the caravan down.
Running along, Chitose stares at the caravan even as she looks up to the sky at the bird. She hmms and keeps moving along though, trusting in the ones behind her even as she puts on a bit more speed and starts toward them faster. Even as she approaches, she focuses some of her stamina into chakra, looking at the scene as she thinks she might need it.
Very soon afterwards some of the guards from the marker are racing toward the caravan themselves. As Chitose nears the caravan, the leader of their escorts breaks away and approaches her. "There's a battle going on back there, between a giant scorpion and a pack of desert wolves. It's… highly unusual. If I didn't see the participants for myself, I would have sworn it was two high-level ninja fighting.. The entire caravan is spooked, but so far no one's come after them, though we had a few close calls from missed attacks…"
"First priority is the caravan, get everyone moving." SHe then looks forward, "If we are going to have a battle between monsters, then they are in the wrong desert." SHe then starts off at a run, "No matter what! Get them to safety first!" And she is then racing for the battle itself.
The caravan guard leader nods and calls out for the caravan to continue, like there ever any question of them stopping in the first place…. The group from the marker join them and once the orders are relayed they provide further guard and escort for the caravan. As Chitose races on, she hears for herself the strange noises. Howls and inhuman shrieks fill the air, with sounds of explosions and objects clashing interspersed with the sounds. Finally Chitose reaches the top of a mound in time to see a giant purple cloud explode in the midst of several brown dots. As the smoke clears, a wolf easily the size of the Kazekage tower stands snarling at a scorpion about three-fourths its size. This looks to be a full-on war…
Staring at the scene, Chitose looks from one beast to the other before frowning and pulling a cloth out and covering her face with it. SHe watches as the two animals square off and then she shakes her head, "What the silt…?" She stares for a long moment, even one such as her being surprised by the sheer size and madness of this. After a long moment she begins to look around for a good place to hide as the battle wages.
A distinctly non-human voice then echoes across the desert, which sounds barely understandable at this range, "You will not hurt my children!" The giant wolf then opens its maw and a huge blast of wind rushes out toward the scorpion, only to miss as the scorpian burrows under the sand. The entire area starts to shake with the movement as the smaller dots seem to be following it. Unfortunately there's no shelter to be had here, no place to hide, and the vibrations in the earth seem to be intensifying…
Blinking as she watches the fight and hears the odd voice. She stares around and then idly rolls her neck. She looks down at the ground and then looks around before saying, "Who are you and why are you doing this?" She calls out even as she prepares to unleash her full power just in case. Within her the beast of the eight tails stirs within her. The mighty power prepared to pour forth, "You are harming innocent people!"
The rumbling sound and the ground vibrations both intensify, and two of the brown blurs seem to streak toward Chitose's location. Suddenly the earth beneath Chitose seems to heave, but before she can fall down one of the blurs impacts with her, seeming to carry her away from where she was standing just in time as the huge scorpion bursts from the ground right where she was standing. In the meantime the immense wolf jumps on the scorpion, easily avoiding the stinger as it clamps down on the tail, dragging the scorpion away.
The blur turns out to be a desert wolf, about the size of the largest of Inuzuka dogs, but obviously not them. "Sorry, but you should leave here before you get hurt, just like that caravan did. You don't want to be caught in the crossfire." The wolf sounds exactly like a shinobi telling a civilian to evacuate for their own safety. And, just like that shinobi, it then turns and runs back toward the scorpion, spouting fire as it does.
A blink as she is knocked away and Chitose stares at the scene before clearing her throat. She then shakes her head, "Before, I get hurt?" She then shakes her head, "No no, this ends now." She then immediately unleashes her full power. She doesn't have time for this nor will she allow it. CHakra flows out of her, surrounding her and hiding her form beneath the opaque purple chakra. Tails like tentacles surround her legs even as horns grow from her head. She then suddenly disappears in a blur of her own as she rushes in at the scorpion. Both arms extend out out beside her even as she flips up and then whips them both down with devestating force for the middle top of the Scorpion. She doesn't breathe fire…but she sure does pack a mean pair of whips.
For something so big, this thing sure does move fast. It flickers out of existence twice, though it seems to mis-judge the timing the second time and gets grazed by Chitose's whips. This, unfortunately, seems to focus the scorpion's attacks on Chitose as it shoots a stream of acid toward Chitose before spinning about to attack the wolves as well with a continuous stream.
If the thing is fast for its size, Chitose is that much faster. She simply seems to side step the attack of the acid even as she watches the thing and then shakes her head. A dual voice speaks, one of a great beast and a young teenaged girl, "This beast is in the wrong desert." She then immediately begins to rush under the thing with speed and sends two quick thrusting attacks at its underside where she assumes it to be softer at the very least as she attempts to run all the way out the other side.
The scorpion simply rocks itself from side to side, then dives into the ground again after Chitose's attacks fail to connect. For the moment the ground rumbles and shakes, but the scorpion doesn't seem to be found easily even as the wolves prepare to synchronize a strike. "You really should leave… Tondril'teme is an A rank scorpion, and very crafty," the largest wolf says as it sniffs the ground.
"I will as soon as you tell me why my people suffer over some oversized scorpion." Chitose's dual voice rings out as she stands there watching the wolf and then looking at the ground at various points, "I am my people's protector, given a power beyond all belief just for this purpose." She looks at the wolf as if it were a man, "I have a lot of time dealing with raging beasts. This is no different. Tell me what I need to know, where did you and this thing come from or I will attempt to slay it now if it is to keep my people safe."
The giant wolf then stands there and blinks at Chitose, then shakes its head. "Powerful you may be, but you cannot stand alone against what Tondril can bring to bear against you. But if you really want to know, I'll tell you. Tondril, myself, and all my children here are what you ningen call summon animals. Just like you ningen we have our own society and occasionally, wars. You just found yourself right in the middle of ours, between the wolves and the scorpions. So far, we've kept you ningen out of the battles, though it is our right, per the contracts signed with us, to call forth our summoners to aid us in battle. And since we care just about as much for your borders as you do ours, you can see how that would be bad indeed. If you continue to interfere in this fight, the scorpions will have perfect reason and justification to do so. Do you really want another ningen war to break out here?"
"I see." Chitose states in her dual voice, the tentacles moving about her body as she crosses her arms and looks toward the Scorpion before looking at the giant wolf, "I don't care about your war tha tyou are waging in MY desert." She states, straightening and then looking in the direction of the scorpion as it emerges. She stares, "My people are being denied needed goods and not very long ago a child died as well from Scorpion attack." She looks toward the Scorpion, "Did a 5 year old girl interfere too greatly in your battles?" She looks at the scorpion, glaring with those white glowing eyes, the voice practically screaming and growling at this point, "I will leave you lot to your fight here…but this is taken far away from my trade route." She then starts off and doesn't even run or turn off her transformation, she walks, "I am not even close to the most powerful ninja around this area." She nods her head as hse walks off. Her 'or else' is left pretty well unsaid, too.
The battle is pretty much paused for the moment as the summon creatures watch Chitose leave. Nothing further is said, though even the unluckiest gambler in the elemental nations would be able to win a bet saying that this is far from over. As Chitose leaves visual range, the sounds of battle can once again be heard, though they originate a bit north of where Chitose just left.
