Starring:
Date: February 7, 2014
Summary:
With reports regarding the puppets razing the desert, Itami set out with Chitose to figure out more about these mechanations in attempts to protect Sunagakure and further, the world at large. They took to the most western parts of the desert, heading north to the Dead Sands where they searched about for activity. They managed to discover a puppet where they engaged in battle to take it down and return it to the village to examine.
"The Silk Conflict - Disturbance at Dead Sands"
Dead Sands - Land of Wind
After the reports came in regarding these puppets, there needed to be some action taking place. While two people wouldn't be enough, they could reveal some things about the puppets and their activities. So far, they've just been laying ruin to whatever they've come across. Small settlements across the area have been destroyed, but oddly enough, there's been less in the way of killing people with the exception of those that have fought. Only those appear to have been taken care of.
With the desert being so expansive, there isn't much for them to attack, which is probably for the best, but it also means they'll be difficult to defend against without an organized effort. Thus, Itami has taken it upon herself to try and run surveillance of these puppets in order to take note of their movements with the hope that they can be stopped later. She's brought Chitose with her to aid in this process as she believes her to be valuable to the stopping of these mechanations.
Coming out with Itami, Chitose looks around as they arrive in the Dead Sands portion of the sands of the Land of Wind. She looks at all of the bones and death around even as they arrive and she glances to Itami, "Did we need to come here?" She hmms and peers at her before Chitose looks forward and ponders, "Do you think perhaps the puppets are choosing this place to hide out at?"
"I know it's…difficult to look at. The dead being like this. San Sara is much the same way," Itami remarked solemnly. She had a hand in that one. "But this makes our being here more important. This area is one where the puppets intend to cross through. There isn't much they can do here. I doubt they'll be trying to do anything harmful to this place. They only attack what threatens them or that's what I've heard from people who have survived their attacks and headed to Sunagakure," she states. "Hiding? Not necessarily," she remarks. "But it is a good place for them to do so. As far as I know, they've just been razing everything," she states. "Which brings me to a personal question for you… Are you willing to utilize your abilities for this effort? Not only is Sunagakure threatened, but other villages and nations as well."
A look at Itami and she looks over the area, "They could hide here easily." She nods her head, "Among the dead…they are puppets after all. Some could go still and they would be nothing but the dead…" She then looks at Itami for a moment, squinting at her before saying, "We haven't talked much in a long while it seems." She states and then clears her throat before looking at a nearby piece of armor. With a breath, she spits acid right on to it. Moments later…the armor sizzles and begins to melt away.
"Hm." Itami remarks as she looks about the area. The puppets haven't arrived yet or maybe they have. Anything is possible. "I suppose that was your answer?" She smirked, though it dissipated as she looked over the desolate wastes save for the soft whistles and howls of bleached bones and clinking of sand blasted armor. "Let's take a walk through here. We may discover something." She says as she proceeds to step over the bones and through them. She tried her best not to step on them, but some were inevitable. There were so many here.
As the two walk through the sands and search about, the only thing that continues to make its presence known is the graveyard around them. Itami knows the reports weren't inaccurate, but that doesn't mean they were wholly reliable either. Could it be that the puppets know more about them than they do the puppets? She questions this as she attempts to seek out any evidence of these puppets being present.
Among the armor and weapons riddled about, there's always a glint from the light of the sun reflecting off the surfaces. In the midst of all the shine, there's the glint of something blue. It's soft, but there.
A look over and Chitose blinks and points, "Hey." She nudges Itami and nods toward where she saw the glint of blue. She then looks over toward Itami, "You see that?" She hmms and then starts that way, "There's something up. May be nothing but I'm sure that there's more to this than what we have seen so far."
At the nudge, Itami looks to where Chitose pointed out and followed her lead to whatever it was. "I…think I saw it…" She states as she draws closer. The glint disappears as they begin to overshadow it. Nothing occurs for now, but before long a hand reaches out to grasp both of their throats. Itami latches onto the hand as it grips her throat and attempts to peel it away. This thing is surprisingly strong. It emerges from the sandds to reveal itself. A puppet covered in tattered clothing with sapphire-like eyes.
Grabbed by the throat, the thing has made a dire mistake. Within seconds after being grabbed, Chitose's left hand is on the thing's wrist and her right hand is sailing backward. Her right hand stretches out to nearly 10 feet in length. Her mouth opening and a spray of ink flows out of her mouth and right toward both arms of the puppet and its body. The blast of caustic ink is much wider spread than the small spray she spat out moments prior, even as she does her hand comes sailing in like a whip aiming for the thing's head.
The puppet perhapd didn't know what it was getting into. Its arms were quickly dissolved and it was stricken right in the face, sent flying backwards across the skeletons in this place. Itami removed what remained of the puppet's hand from her throat as she skipped back and looked at this thing. "Did you get it?" She wasn't sure if she did as she observed the cloud of caustic acid that was spewed out.
There was nothing once more before the puppet returned with its hands repaired. "It…well, shoot." She grumbled.
"It looks like we'll have to take this thing out." She states. It responds to her remarks by extending its leg and whipping it around to kick both of them. It appears it has abilities similar to Chitose. Itami ducks out of the way of the kick, but as she does, the earth rumbles beneath the both of them as a foot rises up from the sand to add to its original attack.
A blink as it comes out repaired, "Repaired…?" She blinks and then simply ducks down under the leg only to notice the incoming attack from below. Getting hit, she sails upwards and lets out an 'Ooof' as she flies upward and then shakes her head as she flips away. Flailing as she moves through the air, she does a small flip to orient herself before whipping her arms down to catch herself and fall softer. She then stares at Itami a moment, "We may have to destroy it entirely. At once. This thing can somehow heal itself…" She then hmms, "Wait…" She states, "Itami!" She declares even as she prepares, "Do you have any way to incapacitate it?"
Itami slipped out of the way of the kick, but just barely. It clipped her skin and caught some of her clothing, ripping it. "I…I don't know. I don't know if it works in a particular way. If it's powered by chakra or what," she states. "But I can try to incapacitate it," she remarks. "If it is, I may…have something I can use."
She's heard about the parasites, but if they eat chakra, she wonders if they are also starved when it's taken away? Strange how she has to combat chakra with chakra. She begins to summon up a mist to her hands where she proceeds to take off after the puppet and strike at its body to leech away chakra from its body. "I can try and weaken it! You come behind me and strike it any way you know how!"
A nod and she races around behind the thing. She watches it as she runs and then whips an arm out to aim for its legs to try to take them out from under it before she turns quickly to slam another arm out to try to hammer that whipping fist into the thing's side, "Bring it down! If we can get one back to Sousa, we can perhaps figure these living puppets out!"
"Right!" Itami states as she continues her work of attempting to weaken the puppet. It retracts its legs into its body to evade the first attack from Chitose, but as it does, it loses some footing that could be utilized against Itami. It attempts to make up for this by trying to grapple her, but she blocks its attempt and strikes at a joint to leech away chakra from it. She's successful in draining some chakra and it's made evident as its arm goes limp temporarily. The legs go back to the ground, but it suffers a slam by Chitose, sending it careening across the sands and skipping over exposed metals and materials that dent and scratch its body.
A look at Itami as she attacks and Chitose races forward as it is knocked away. She jumps up high into the air and takes in a deep breath. As she sails over she states, "Either weakened or gone…" And she unleashes a long continuous blast of ink. The ink careening from her in a blast that scours the desert and causes things all around to sizzle with the damage before she lands and skids to a stop and shakes her head, "Game…"
The puppet isn't down for the count yet, but with the pummeling performed by Chitose and additional weakening from Itami, it's beginning to lose its grasp of its abilities. With the ink attack that came for it, it made certain to bury itself in the sand to avoid the majority of the damage the ink caused to the surrounding area. Of course, it only spared itself so much as some of the ink managed to crawl through the sand faster than it could escape.
The puppet eventually burst out, its eyes flashing as it launched a concentrated beam of chakra towards Chitose and Itami. It would eat at its reserves, but as such a powerful attack, it was well worth the effort.
A blink as she looks at the incoming attack and Chitose stares. She squints her eyes and then lets out a scream as she flexes her chakra. The beam rips over her form, tearing at her but even as it does, chakra flows out around her form until the chakra stops and she looks up, staring at the thing from white glowing eyes, her form covered in dark purple chakra, horns atop her head and hands turned into heavy mitts. Eight flicking tentacles flow out from her and around her waist like eight tails, moving and writhing as the beam fades and she stands there, growling and seething at the creature.
The beam was nothing Itami could defend against right off hand. It could be said that she froze. She hadn't seen a beam like this since the weapon that was utilized in the war long past. Washed over by the beam, her clothes were burned and tore away from her until her robe and pants were in tatters. She was blinded momentarily, but when she recovered, she felt a large presence. She focused in on it only to see that Chitose had taken on…8 tails?
"Chitose?" She inquired to her. She did ask if she would be willing to use her abilities and…she guesses this is the result. It's been a while since she's felt the presence of a jinchuuriki, so this is a firm reminder of what she's dealing with. The puppet didn't appear to be fazed or…maybe it was. The puppet didn't attack as it saw Chitose in the form she's in now. In fact, it seemed like it was trying to study her. Is this what the others will be dealing with? If so, this is a large amount of chakra and could be perfect in disseminating the chakra parasites very easily. If it can distract the both of them, it can escape and relay this information.
The puppet makes an effort as it concentrates its efforts in trying to get away. It takes its arms and slams them into the ground, sweeping up the sand to create a dust wall for it to escape into.
Chitose is fast to begin with. She is by no means a slow poke. In this form she takes speed to a new level. She flares out those tails and leaps into the air even without saying anything to Itami. THe form of the full cloak of the Eight Tails sails over the sand as it is kicked up and a breath is taken in before suddenly a massive blast of ink flows out of the beast and over the distributed sand before moments later one of those muscled arms whips back and away from the jinchuuriki and then flicks forward with pure and brutal speed. The force behind the blow designed to shatter steel as it aims for the puppet, in an attept to crater it into the ground.
Itami decided to clear the area as she didn't want to be caught in the area of the ink blast. The last time she was on the field with the 8 tails, she was nearly boiled alive in a large bubble of boiling water that left a crater in the ground. The ink versus the sand created a terrible environment to be in, anyhow. The two mixing together ended up making a thick cloud of poisonous ink that would be brutal for her to inhale not to mention caustic, but perfectly normal for Chitose in her state.
The puppet didn't get very far as the ink blended with its wall of sand that began to eat away at its form. The subsequent whipping of her arm bashed the puppet up into the air where it'd flail about in the air and make its way back down. "Chitose! We can't damage the puppet too much!" She called out. "We have to keep it intact!"
A look at the puppet as it flails into the air and she glares daggers at Itami for a moment. Spinning around she sends a fist into the puppet, attempting ot whip it right toward Itami's position. The beast calls out in a dual voice, a growling deep voice that mixes with her own voice, "THen stop it!" She calls out in that loud voice and then comes down to land before pushing off and racing after the thing, the tentacle like tails flaring out behind her.
Itami had to transform herself in order to narrow the amount of damage she'd take from the puppet sent on a direct line for her. Taking on her reptilian form, she captured the puppet in her arms, but the force of the blow to the puppet was enough to send her skidding back on the sand. She fell backwards and slid further before coming to a stop. The puppet didn't have much more energy left in it after that. "Son of a b…" she grunted out, but couldn't finish. The hit knocked the wind out of her lungs. The puppet has been apprehended, finally. This doesn't stop the puppets as they continue razing, but understanding them further will help in stopping their advances.
"…You did that on purpose," she remarked about the puppet, chuckling weakly about it as she lifted herself and the puppet from the ground.
Landing with a thud, the tails flicking and moving around her, Chitose approaches Itami and raises a fist before flicking it outward with a growl and the cloak releases from her form, chakra flowing out from her and disappearing. She glares at Itami in her reptillian form before saying, "Let us move." She nods, "Sousa is going to want to see this." She then takes a breath and lets out slowly before nodding her head and starting off toward the village, "We will figure out what makes these puppets tick…and we will make the ticking stop."
"You are just a bundle of sunshine," Itami states as she follows after Chitose. That hit was anticipated, but she wasn't looking forward to defending against it. Luckily, it never came. "But, I agree. We'll return to the village and have him look over it." She walks behind her, maintaining her form as she wanted to keep this puppet under control unless it tried to do anything else.
