Starring:
Date: July 2, 2014
Summary:
The final showdown between the snakes, the Sunagakure Shinobi and the Ferret known as Sora who has finally agreed to work with Tsuchi and her team to take down this menace rather than fight them.
"Ferret Summon - Scaley Showdown"
Trading Post on the edge of Sunagakure
The group had been assembled both for skill and for speed. This situation wasn't one that could wait and Sora was already on the way with them. The Ferret was busy scurrying alongside the group at a clip as healthy as they were. The 3 foot long ferret was as quick as they, could be quicker. It kept eyeballing the group, especially Tsuchi as they went. Unhappy about the arrangement but looking to be done with his quest and journey. Even as they approach the large trading post, the reason for the arrival of the snakes was clear. A large snake, easily 20 to 30 foot long with a cobra's hood was reared back, striking at the poor guard shinobi who were on duty at the time even as more snakes, large but not nearly as large as the main one were attacking the caravan that had just arrived.
The Group had already been noted that they had last been seen heading this way but when a messenger hawk explained what was happening they left the nearby village they were searching for clues at in great haste. The hawk told them that a shipment of cattle had arrived to bring meat to slaughter for Sunagakure and the snakes had taken advantage of the situation. Even as they approach, Tsuchi looks to Sora and nods to him before looking back at the group, "That constrictor!" She points at one that has two whole cow in its coils and chewing on a horse, "You guys need to bring it down first before it finishes its last meal!" She then points two a pair of smaller ones, "Itami or Kuoroke, break off with Moe and see if you can't bring those two down." The two she speaks of appear to be a pair of rattlers that are currently giving a few genin hell.
Even as they approach, she points at the cobra, "Sora and I will bring the main one down. It's our agreement." She nods her head, "Prepare now! Don't hesitate! And most importantly…have fun." She laughs and rushes forward.
It's understood that ferrets and reptiles don't exactly get along, namely snakes, but Itami wasn't certain if the same applied to lizards. She had a certain amount of unease wandering around with a ferret as large as the one padding along with them. Perhaps it was instinctual or maybe she was just generally uncomfortable, but whatever the case, there was some tension. She tried not to focus on it too much and sought to keep her mind settled on the task at hand. They were dealing with snakes and she can at least say that this isn't her first time dealing with them, so maybe she'll have an easier time. Maybe. Summons were strange, though.
At the announcement of a constrictor, she looks in the direction pointed and spots it. "I'll see what I can do," she began to stand up and concentrate her energies for fighting off these snakes. "Rattlesnakes. They're incredibly dangerous, even for a skilled shinobi. Let's get this done and over with quickly. If any of you have heat or fire related skills, I suggest they are used," she remarked shortly before breaking away from the caravan to take care of business.
Moe gets a bit of a feeling that she may be in over her head here, but she volunteered to help the snakes make peace with the other clans. Dealing with one that's gone rogue is just part of the package. As they approach, she surveys the situation with a slight frown then nods to Tsuchi. "… Got it," she says simply as she starts to gather chakra, preparing to assist in bringing the snakes down. There's no way she'll be able to do it alone, but she can at least help restrain one enough for the others to get some strikes in.
Skating along the sand, Kuoroke kept up easily. He has accepted the presence of an enormous ferret as just another fact, treating it as he would another shinobi: with a silent assumption that it will do its job, whatever that might be. As they approach the area, the Councilman glares at Tsuchi. "You can 'have fun' when there aren't lives on the line." He growls. Hardly surprising Kuoroke would be opposed to fun. "Keep your head cool." Truth be told, part of him is happy that these are snakes. It's so much easier to kill a snake than a human being… this might not even set back his anger management therapy much. Despite his disagreement, he does as he is told, heading for the two rattlesnakes. On the way, he loosens his cloak, and eventually throws it aside: a sure sign he expects this will be a tough fight.
As they get in close, the Cobra turns to see the incoming group, the thing hisses and rears back, "You again!" It hisses out angrily and shakes its head, "I won't be running this time! The Hiss gang is free of our elders and we will be doing as we please in this land! You lot will die today!" And then immediately the Cobra races forward to Tsuchi and the ferret, "These two are mine, you can do what you please with the others!" Immediately the ferret is struck at by the cobra, Sora jumping over the bite and landing on the snake's hood and racing up its back while Tsuchi attempts to slam its head into the ground with a single punch but the cobra is already moving, headbutting Tsuchi in the gut only to be stopped, sending Tsuchi flying as the Ferret sinks teeth into its back.
The Constrictor and Rattlesnakes both look over as reinforcements arrive and pay attention. The genin that were here on guard are either fallen or falling back even as they look over. The constrictor chuckles in a deep rumbling hiss and looks at Itami who seems to be focused on it, "Oh good, I needed dessert to go with my main meal!" The horse is dead and dropped but it still has the two head of cattle in its coils as it rears back and proves to be incredibly nimble despite its size and what it is already carrying. It strikes right for Itami attempting to end her charge early and bite right into her.
The two rattlesnakes look similar but one is very obviously larger than the other and the larger one grins at the smaller, "Looks like fun, eh, little brother." It laughs with a hiss at the end of every chuckle even as its brother grins a grin only a summoned snake could muster and it nods, "Want to pair off? I'll eat the little one quickly and we can split the other in half!" The big brother chuckles, "Oh you had better be quick! I intend to snap him right up!" They both then prepare for the fight, seeming to focus chakra. Seems those two might know more than just how to bite.
"I'm not much to eat. Really. I've been eaten by snakes before. I don't think I digest well," Itami remarked as she sent a blast of wind upward from the ground to try and block off the constrictor's advances. Despite her efforts, it's narrow head managed to pierce through her wind and take a bite into her. "Why does this always happen?" She grunts to herself while assessing the damage she just took. Multiple puncture wounds, some of them deeper than others… "Alright, I let that happen once and it shouldn't happen again," she remarked. "I blame myself for that. I didn't stick to my own plan…"
"Hey, it's rather rude to speak as if someone's not standing right in front of you," Moe says as she looks up at the snakes talking about eating them. She reaches up to pull the collar of her jacket back a bit, a rather curious action, except it unleashes a pair of huge snake tattoos from her back that each race toward one of the rattlesnakes, intending to bind them up and yank them to the ground for Kuoroke to be able to make a strike against them.
"Nobody's going to be having any 'fun' on my watch. Now, I'm going to make this easy. If either you doesn't want their brother to die, surrender now." He offers. "Refuse and the lucky one will die first." Out of the corner of his eyes, Kuoroke sees two more snakes appear, this time friendly ones. He reacts explosively, charging the smaller one. He brings both fists down on its snout, while jerking his knee up into its chin, a blade suddenly emerging from it.
The fight between the Cobra, Tsuchi and Sora rages on. The Cobra turning back on itself and snapping at Sora only to have the Ferret dodge by jumping up and then the tail of the Cobra whips him into a wall with a smash. The ferret knocked aside easily even then a wind whips it up into the air. The cobra hissing out, "What the…?!" And the cobra is lit up with several blade shaped lightning smacks from Tsuchi. She rushes over and pulls Sora free from the rubble and it nods to her before the race back at their quarry.
The constrictor grins at its bite and then immediately unleashes its two cattle for a better bit of prey. It tries to wrap around Itami and doesn't say anything as it held on to its bite and while that doesn't prevent Itami from escaping it, it does allow the snake to easily try to coil around her if she doesn't leap away or stop it.
The little snake is bound up by Moe's attack, the smaller of the large rattlesnakes hissing out and its eyes going wide as Kuoroke comes at it till the big brother seems to give off a burning flame behind it as it dives out of Moe's attack and knocks its brother aside, avoiding the smashing fists of Kuoroke only to have its jaw hit by that tattoo blade. The larger snake takes its hit for its younger brother and pays for it before it whips up its tail and slaps it into the ground to send a pillar of fire up at Kuoroke even as its little brother tries to free itself.
Now it's time to use some fire and at least Itami had that on hand. She tried to summon up a clone of fire for the constrictor to encounter, but what happened was the opposite of what she wanted to happen! She tried to vocalize this sentiment, but it was a bit hard to do that when she was being squeezed and having her muscles pinned down. She could at least breathe for now, but that would be a problem for later if she couldn't find some way to escape… She thinks she might know how.
With at least one of the snakes now in her grasp, Moe keeps the creature bound with one tattoo while the one that was going after its brother comes back around toward him. Its fangs lengthen, actually splitting off from two fangs into five before moving into a trio of deadly acidic strikes directly at the base of the back of its head with killing intent.
The pillar of flame strikes Kuoroke squarely, and the Kuroki doesn't even move to dodge it. At first, his roar seems to be in pain, but then it goes silent and it becomes apparent that the pillar of flame rolls around him without actually touching his skin. The Councilman smirks as the pillar subsides. As he stands in the roaring flames, Kuoroke focuses his chakra in the tattoos covering his limbs and torso, and these bulge and brighten, strengtening his motions.
Throwing off his vest, Kuoroke uses his newly increased power to go for the second rattle-snake, coils of tattoos unwinding from his body as he charges forward, looping around rocks and houses and attaching themselves to the ground around him, looping into an intricate net. These glowing coils he casts around the creature and then suddenly they stop spreading from his body and snap back to it in an attempt to trap the snake in an acidic, suffocating grip.
With the Cobra falling back to Earth, hissing out as it lands and then rushing toward Sora. It bites at him and Sora ends up in its mouth, two paws planted on either side of its mouths and its eyes wide as fangs are held on to it and it hisses angrily at the ferret, trying to snap down and the Ferret looks scared right up until suddenly Tsuchi appears right beside the snake and its eyes go wide as she kicks right into the side of its mouth and sends a gust of wind right down its throat. T he thing gags and shudders as its body is racked with pain and Sora is able to escape. The mouth snaps down on Tsuchi's leg and she screams out. Then Sora does something kinda unSora like and the Ferret cries, out, "Off her!" He then jumps up and his right paw lights up with electricity and then his right and he proceeds to slam one into each of the Cobra's eyes and it screeches out in pure pain. It rears back, letting Tsuchi go with that screech and as it exposes its underbelly, Tsuchi unleashes a flurry of lightning weapons into Cobra's belly and then Sora dives toward its gut, its body covered in wind as it headbutts right into the Cobra, it gasping out and tehn falling to the side, blood coming out of its mouth.
The two rattlesnakes do absolutely horrible against the attacks of the pair of Moe and Kuoroke. The little brother is bitten into, wriggles away from the second bite only to have the third bite into him. He may very well be dead as he falls over, twitching. The bigger brother hisses out, "Little brot-ack!" Then he is wrapped up in the chains of Kuoroke, wrapping around him and dragging him to the ground as he gasps for breath and isn't able to speak anymore as he wriggles on the ground in pain and unable to move.
The constrictor, meanwhile seems so confident in its claim as it wraps Itami up in its coils, holding her in its mouth and seeming so pleased with itself but then Itami will notice it loosening. Why? Well…Tsuchi and Sora seem to be approaching it from one side and then Kuoroke and Moe seem free to move on it, too and the Constrictor releases its bite on Itami and then starts to uncoil as it looks one direction then the other, "Look…" it hisses in a deep voice, "…this was all the cobra's idea…I was just goin' along." It looks one way then the other.
Itami was beginning to fade up until the grip was loosened on her allowing her to flop to the ground. She raised up and stumbled forward, dazed as she pointed in the wrong direction thinking she was speaking to the snake. "You…you seem like a nice snake. Don't let this happen again," she slurred out and she finally began to reorient herself enough to actually point to the constrictor. She fell back on her bottom and winced at the pain she had.
"The snakes are wanting to make peace with the other clans," Moe says as she turns to look at the snake that Itami seems to be having mercy on. "I suggest you go home and face your punishment while you may yet be accepted. There are brighter days ahead." She glances around then, watching the Councilmen and the team leader for any new orders or the like…
Kuoroke tightens the grip on the snake, trying to cut off its air supply. Preferably not enough to kill it, but enough to incapacitate it. "Help me… with this one. Might be… a useful prisoner." He orders, his tattoo-assisted muscles tensing to the edge of their ability.
The constictor simply looks at the others and then looks at Itami and Moe, "You got it!" It then dives directly into the Earth and disappears only to have Sora show up at its hole and growl, "Don't come back!" It points and then looks at Tsuchi before looking at the cobra and then at Tsuchi before grumbling and going to her, "We need to talk." It nods and then drags her off with the Cobra in tow.
Meanwhile, the rattlesnake blinks at Kuoroke and then gulps as it hurrms, "Well…" It hisses out and then looks as sheepish as a snake can.
