Starring:
Shikoge, Itami
Date: November 24, 2013
Summary:
Large sand worms are being a menace in the western desert and its up to Shikoge and Itami to put a stop to them. Only thing is, how can two people hold up to these massive and now, agitated beasts? With screeches that can pierce the wind and bodies that can lash out in a moment's notice, they have their work cut out for them.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"In Case of Sandworm Emergency, Stab a Sand Dune"
Western Desert - Land of Wind
With a carefree gait and a giant smile plastered across his face, Shikoge is making his way through the crowds and heading toward the village entrance. The street was filled with villagers during the late afternoon day, most of them going on with their business not paying attention to others and were it not for the giant sword strapped to the boys back, he would have been able to move through them with ease, but with each step Shikoge took the flat edge of the blade or the handle would knock into another person causing them to stumble or fall. They'd shout at Shikoge with frustration, but the boy paid them no mind as if he didn't hear them at all. There was clearly something more important on his mind that wouldn't allow simple matters to distract him.
Never had so many reports flooded in regarding one person.
A stack of papers stood atop Itami's desk in her office, all pertaining to one young boy with a large sword. She knew she was going to have to deal with this one way or another. He couldn't very well be told to not utilize his weapon. The least she could do is have him be mindful of it, but in her experience, his mind is never in his body. Maybe she'll have to get him used to seals. That way, the weapon can be available at any point in time simply by summoning it. It'd reduce damages and issues for him. Besides, she has yet to fill out any citations that will be sent to him that have charges for his unintentional recklessness.
Considering that he's been sent out on a mission today, away from the village, Itami thought to be in attendance to ensure its completion and observe him in the field. Besides, this is one of the better ways that keeps him away from everyone here and spares her a headache.
"Oi! Watanabe Itami!" Shikoge would shout with a raised hand as he made it to an opening within the crowd or more correctly, people simply started moving out of his way to not end up being 'bowled' over. The boy continued over toward the woman, smile still on his face, "You here to see me off or wish me luck or were you actually coming with me?" The boy shrugged, "I shouldn't need any help though, just heading to the western desert to deal with reports of aggressive sand worms that have been attacking caravans, convoys and travelers. You're welcome to join me though, company could be good for me."
"I'm here to come with you. I will be observing you on your mission and may or may not offer assistance. Considering how brave and able you are, I believe you'll do just fine." Itami nodded. Besides, maybe getting eaten by a sandworm might teach him a thing or two. She'd do it herself, but isn't sure she could stand the possible heartburn that may come from all his activity. She might walk away with an ulcer or something… Maybe… maybe he doesn't even need to attack the worm. It'd die from contact alone if he's consumed. Hmm.
Placing his hands on his hips, "Oh, so you'll be grading me…" Tilting his head and raising an eyebrow curiously as to what this might entail, "For future team placements or something?" It would be nice to be placed on a team, but if he's being graded beforehand who knows that that could mean! "Well, no need to put this thing off any longer, let's get going!" Throwing a hand up in the air for emphasis as he started to make his way toward the entrance and out the gates into the desert.
"Perhaps," Itami remarked. "You will need to work well on teams. Part of working on teams is being mindful. That is to say, making sure your weapon doesn't bump into any and everything it comes in contact with unles it's intentional." She lofted a brow at him as if he should really understand that. "Of course. Let's get going…" She followed Shikoge as he lead the way to wherever he was going. Western desert, she believes. That was his assignment. Dealing with sandworms. That's always fun.
The destination was indeed the western desert, which as many know is quite expansive and too large an area to explore until finding any target. Luckily for Shikoge and possibly Itami depending on her patience, the stories claim that the hostile creatures have been attacking closer toward the village. Perhaps only a few miles away and that's where the search would start. Before arriving though would be the arduous trek across the sands. It was Shikoge's first time actually leaving the village and heading out on a mission, so the whole experience was new for him. "This…is…AWESOME!" The boy shouted while jumping around, sprinting and stopping at different intervals. "You think the worms are giant or…have you ever seen sand worms? Are they dangerous? Wait, don't tell me. I want to be surprised. That's the whole purpose of going on an adventure."
Itami rubbed her face. She could roll with this. She could do this, she could do this… Maybe. "I've—" She didn't even get to explain before she was cut off by the boy. He wanted to be 'surprised'. Huff. "You're going to find out eventually, oh yes. I won't say much more because that would truly spoil the surprise. I'd say you should keep on your toes. You never know when they might show up and attack!" She chimed with some irritability. She used to love kids…she isn't sure what happened between then and now, but this is rough.
The boy spun about once again before coming to a stop, facing towards the northwest. There was a wall of sand blasting up and into the sky off in the distance moving right to left. It was like a sandstorm, but seemed more explosive than wave like. "What do you think that is?" Shikoge pointed at it, "Maybe we can check it out on our way back, but we need to keep heading west for now. No getting side tracked!" He was being graded after all. So without losing focus he returned to heading toward the west where the real issue was waiting for him to deal with.
Itami looked toward the wall of sand raising towards the sky and then back to Shikoge. "Sometimes the desert has areas where pressure will build up and explode outward. In this case, it looks to be a…sand geyser, so to speak," she states. "That's one way of placing it. It could be something else, but doesn't appear to be any immediate threat, so we needn't deal with it for now," she nodded as he continued forward towards the west. She almost forgot about her team of the same name, well similar. Sandwyrm was much better than these things here. Sand worms were nothing too special, but they could be problematic.
When Itami looked from the sky and back toward Shikoge she'd notice that he was now shirtless. The massive sword he carried was still strapped to his back, but the shirt was missing. "Wow, a sand geyser!? I bet that's fun to ride." Still continuing moving ahead toward their destination though despite the chance of a good time else where. Definitely something to try on the way back. "I think we've got to be close. There are some dunes up ahead that should give us a bit of a vantage point to scope out the area. Let's go!" The boy took off in a sprint, each step putting pressure into the sand beneath his feet and causing the sword strapped to his back to bury the tip into the sand and leave a bit of a trail in his wake. Once he arrived at one of the dunes he raised a hand to his head to block the sun from his eyes as he peered about. "I can't see anything. Can you?"
"…" Itami had nothing to say. Whatever he said went right over her head as she saw him shirtless. In the middle of the desert walking around without a shirt. "Why are you lacking a shirt? That is incredibly dangerous for this weather…for this /region/." She states. "Are you even listening? Why are you shirtless? Is this some way to attract the worms attention?" She called out to him as he ran ahead. She grumbled and ran after him, following the trail the tip of his sword left behind. She finally reached him atop the dune and wanted to raise her fist to bop him in the head, but decided against it. "I can't say if I see much. I know what to look for, you don't," she chuckles. "Perhaps it may behoove you to look for things in the sand that look out of place. If you know what sand is supposed to look like, then what kind of activity suggests disturbance?"
Shikoge continued to peer about hoping to catch sight of anything that would give him some sort of clue he's in the right spot, but as he stood there, sun beating down on his tanned and shirtless chest…he didn't have any idea what to look for and figured it would be obvious, but it wasn't "What kind of question is that? Sand is supposed to look like sand. Not dirt or water, but sand." Looking down at the dune they both stood upon, he'd kick a foot into the ground that sent the sand up in the air and spreading out. "Sand….Whoa, what's going on!!?" The sand began to shift and move, rolling off the dune like an avalanche, "I think I kicked it too hard and broke it." His arms spread out to catch his balance, but when that didn't help and he was still shaking about, Shikoge reached for the handle of his blade and with a mighty heave brought it before him, twisted it around and stabbed it into the sand for better support.
The moment the blade pierced the sand there was a loud screech followed by a pool of blood that seeped to the surface, "What the…" Suddenly the rest of the dunes let out several high pitched and deafening screeches as the dunes themselves began to grow in size and the sand that covered them rolled off until revealing six sandworms, each larger than both Itami and Shikoge, easily reaching 10' in height and several feet wide. "I found them!"
Off in the distance, toward the north a bellowing howl could be heard in response to the screeching worms before the two.
"You mean you can't tell when sand has been raised?" Itami wondered. "What are they even teaching you in the academy?" She thinks she may have to look into the curriculum and perhaps change it to ensure that the students are being updated on the latest. Upon the sand being kicked and subsequently rolling down the dune, she folded her arms saying, "You think so? You broke the sand?" She asked sarcastically. Breaking the sand was the least of their troubles. Bleeding dunes were the most of the troubles. "Now you know that dunes that bleed are not normal," she remarked as the sand worms finally revealed themselves. Sigh. "Yes, you found the sandworm…sandworms. Now they are all alert to our presence and will probably do what they can to take us out. Are you ready to take them out?"
From their appearance, these sand worms looked like armor covered earth worms. They had no eyes and when they opened their mouths, there were rows of razor sharp teeth possibly for breaking up sand. "You think I could ride one?" Shikoge asked as he pulled the blade from out of the earth worm and brought it up to rest on his shoulder, "I'm ready, are you? I don't think they're going to distinguish between just attacking me versus you though, but I've got this."
The sand worms would rise to their full height as their heads swayed this way and that possibly trying to detect their prey through vibration, smell or heat. How they 'saw' was unknown to Shikoge, but he remained motionless as he watched their movements, trying to distinguish a weak point and chance to attack. Being surrounded by six of the giant beasts wasn't going to make this easy, but what choice did the boy have. He took a step forward upon the corpse of an already killed worm which shifted the sand beneath his feet and instantly caused four of the beasts to screech as a result while two others lunged at him.
"Holy…" Shikoge swung the blade off his shoulder and stabbed it into the ground, using that as leverage to launch himself into the sky, leaving the blade behind as he flew through the air and landed on top of one of the worms. "I did it!"
Itami made certain to be fearful of theasts. She was far more certain with Shikoge along with her. He knew how to make bad go to worse. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she replied to the boy while observing the full height of the sandworms. She thinks they have their work cut out for them. It didn't take much for the worms to notice movement. Already, two were on the boy. "You're doing a wonderful job evading these two! The second part of this will involve taking them out now that they have proved to be hostile!"
"I have to take them out? All of them? Can I just keep this one?" Shikoge asked while standing a top one of the worms like its master. This wasn't something that lasted long as the worm started jerking and bucking until the boy was knocked off and sent through the air. Knowing the skill tree walking would have helped in this situation, "I still got this, don't worry!" Inhaling air after shouting, condensing and compacting it within his mouth and fusing it with chakra before spitting it out several small spheres at the worms.
The attack hits, but can't even scratch through the surface of the armor of the creature. "Tough annelids." Shikoge let out before finally smashing into the sand and sent rolling. The movement sending vibrations through the ground causing all six of the worms to converge on the boy, some with their mouths wide open hoping to devour him whole while the others planning on piercing into Shikoge.
"If you can tame it, perhaps you could," Itami called to Shikoge just as the worm started jerking about and tossing him off it. Didn't seem like it appreciated him trying to control it like that. So far, Itami hasn't moved but it only made sense. She wasn't trying to be the target of these aggressive worms. Unfortunately, she was going to have to draw attention to herself because no sooner than he hit the ground, the worms were beginning to converge on him.
Flickering over to the boy's position, she made handseals and from the earth, summoned up a dome of glass for the worms to knock against for now. The thumps resonate against the glass with scratching and thumps. "You now have six large worms against you and they are intent on destroying you," she pointed up to the worms who were trying to figure out this surface they were coming up against.
"Now you understand what sandworms are like. They can be aggressive /when bothered/. Otherwise, they hardly focus on people. They're just a nuissance that chews through earth and have the capacity to ruin villages and structures. Now that you're safe for a few moments, you have some time to think up a plan. So, move quickly on that."
The worms were moments from coming down on Shikoge, in response he was ready to defend, but before he could he was saved by a dome of glass. "Oh wow! What is this?" The boy stood up and started tapping against the glass, teasing and mocking the worms like they're trapped in a fish tank. "Haha, this is amazing!" Tap, tap, tap. He took a step back and placed his hands on his hips while turning to face Itami, "You know you didn't have to step in. I said I got this." He then glanced away, focusing on his sword several yards away. "Well, my ninjutsu isn't strong enough for the worms, I'll need my blade."
At this point three of the worms let out a screech in frustration before diving into the sand while the others keep knocking away at the glass, trying to break through it. "Well, here I go." Shikoge said as he reached into his pouch, pulled out a few kunai and chucked them into the sand opposite from where his sword was. The worms above felt the disturbance in the sand and started chasing after the movement. Shikoge used this opportunity to run toward his blade.
"It's not important, just focus," Itami stated to Shikoge regarding the dome. "I fear that you're only just now realizing your blade was more effective. It was the very thing that got us into this mess in the first place. See, maybe I need to contact my friend a bit sooner because you're in need of direction I can't provide," she shook her head. Admittedly, the boy does show that he's intelligent. He knows that they respond to vibrations and are likely to go and attack them so using that to his advantage is quite important.
"I'll help you out in this instance. You'll only be able to attack one worm at a time. I'll keep the others distracted!" She decided to go and draw the attention of the other worms.
The kunai's stabbed into the ground, drawing the attention of the ones above the ground, but what about the ones below? They were also attempting to shift their focus toward the disturbance above until feeling the heavy pressure of Shikoge racing off toward his sword and changed their direction toward the boy. Two of the worms would just barely surface above the sand and charge toward Shikoge like a shark in the ocean.
"That's…where you're wrong!" The boy shouted as he reached his sword just in time to grab the handle and pull it from the sand, spin around with a single foot planted in front of him and use the momentum of his body to swing the blade in a horizontal arc where at the same moment the two worms revealed their faces out of the sand only to meet the sharp edge of his sword and die shortly after.
That was three down now, with three left. "Haha, whoa! Whoa!" The ground beneath Shikoge suddenly beginning to shift as a worm explodes beneath him and launching the boy into the air once again. "Aaaaaahahaha" As for the worms that chased after the kunai, they quickly realized they were chasing after nothing and changed course toward Itami.
Wrong? Really, now? Itami wasn't sure of how to respond back to that rejection, but she supposes all she could do is observe how wrong she was. If he could prove that, then perhaps she'd have less to say. There were six worms to deal with and each of them were not friendly in the least. They responded to just about every movement atop the sand and were intent on attacking whoever was causing them the most distress. In this case, it happened to be Shikoge. It's been him this whole time, really.
The sandworms make the unfortunate mistake of rising from the ground to lunge at him only to meet his blade and be chopped about the face. They'd all crumple and collapse to the ground, the vibrations managing to attract the attention of another sandworm beneath him.
The other two busy themselves with Itami as they spew sand from beneath the surface towards her in jets to catch her off guard. They'd use this to their advantage to capture her, assuming her footing to be loose. She was a shinobi, however and it didn't take much to determine that when air was beginning to move beneath the surface, the sand would sink to compensate. So, she moved just in time to evade the mastive, blistering cloud and repaid the first sandworm to surface with a wicked burn.
Flying high in the air, Shikoge spun about until correcting himself to get a view beneath him. The worm that had knocked him into the air was reaching their full height with their maw open hoping to blindly catch what ever falls back down to earth. "Itami!!!" Shikoge shouted as he reached the peak of his ascension. "If you start killing 'em, you'll turn my D-rank mission into an E-rank mission!"
His complaint was too late however, even though he told the women that he had this, she had already drawn their attention and as they attacked, she replied in kind. The fire jutsu she had chosen to use more than strong enough to melt through the worms armor, through their flesh and destroying their organs. As it died, it let out a curdling screech and collapsed to the ground dead. The other two worms that were focused on Itami didn't hesitate as they charged toward her despite another one of their own being killed.
Starting to quickly lose air, Shikoge brought the blade out in front of him and jerked forward to start flipping rapidly down toward the worm. The worm would try to catch Shikoge only to end up being split down the middle, leaving the boy covered in its guts. "I am now one of them o.o"
"Well, you still have a chance to make me reconsider!" Itami called out to Shikoge shortly after finishing off her worm. The other two that approached her would be given the slip as she utilized wind to keep her from coming in contact with them, but more importantly, to keep them from tracking her so easily. If he wanted all the attention of the worms, he could have them. This was his mission after all. She supposes the one she killed was enough, considering.
Looking back towards the boy and his shirtless self, her face twisted up in confusion and frustration. This was no time to go off losing shirts! "Where in the world did your shirt go?!" She questioned, but shook her head. "Nevermind that, you have these worms to take care of now. I'm leaving them to you!"
The worms that were after Itami collided with one another as she slipped away, avoiding their rows of teeth sinking into her flesh. They'd rise up and start swaying back and forth trying to detect their prey, trying to find the vibration in the ground, but are unable. "Nice moves, Twinkle Toes!" Shikoge would shout as he lifted the blade up to rest upon his shoulder while watching the worms dance about. "I can't exactly do that, any move I make they're going to be after me…" The boy twiddled his fingers across the handle of his sword, "Whatever, am I right?" Smiling widly with his teeth as he started to take off toward the worms. The vibrations in the ground were instantly picked up and they'd race toward the movement.
Shikoge kept up the speed, waiting until the last moment before he heaved the sword off his shoulder, stabbed it into the sand and used it to fling himself into the air. The plan was to take out both like before with a single swing of his blade, but for whatever reason one of the worms sunk into the ground leaving him only one of the creatures to die by his blade as he swung it around. As he flew past the dead worm, he'd land in the sand and at that instance the worm that had disappeared before sprung forth from the ground, knocking into the boy and sending him rolling away.
Itami rested her feet back on the ground once she thought it was safe to do so. With them down to one worm, perhaps it was. She tried not to create too much of a stir as she settled into the ground as she didn't want to steal anymore of Shikoge's time by taking away his chance to devastate these creatures. "Them going after you is the risk you take in attempting to fight them," she shrugged lightly. "So yes, 'whatever'," she nodded in agreement.
Even as the boy began to prepare himself for the task of attacking the worms, it would appear they had other objectives in mind. Were they adapting to him and his plans? The councilwoman sincerely hoped not. She may have thought too soon, however. The worm has burst from the ground and sent the boy rolling. Luckily, it wasn't two as the other was quickly dealt with. Still, this has the potential to be serious. As much as she wants to interfere, she can't at the request of the boy.
As Shikoge rolled across the the scorching sand that was burning into his shirtless chest, the most he could do was keep a tight grip upon his sword to prevent it from flying away from him until eventually coming to a stop. "Did you say something?" He asked while clambering to his feet expecting to be able to retaliate against the worm, but the beast was already making its move, not letting up as it 'swam' a top the sand planning on crashing into the boy. Having only enough time to defend himself, Shikoge brought the blade high up in the air, before twisting it about in his hand and stabbing it into the sand and bracing himself for impact by digging his feet in and pressing a shoulder against the sword.
The worm had no clue what was going on and only continued ahead until crashing into the sword. The impact was enough to push through the defense and topple Shikoge over with the worm continuing forward as the armor of the creature scratched against the boys bare skin forcing him to scream in pain. The worm would make a full circle to face its prey again and charge ahead like before, only this time its mouth was wide open as it took in sand and hopefully the boy as well. Seeing his chance, Shikoge rose to his feet and stabbed the sword into the ground once more, however instead of bracing himself behind the flat edge of the blade, he twisted it, leading with the sharpened edge.
The worm would race forward and as it expected to eat the boy, its own speed and momentum was used against it as it split itself open upon the blade.
One D-Rank mission, coming up, but it was more like C to Itami. She was sitting here watching Shikoge receiving a thrashing from the remaining sandworm. It looks like it's giving its all to defeat the boy, but its all still isn't enough. The sword managed to cut through the worm in a bid for defense. That worm will no longer be bringing about any destructive tendencies or harm. "Well then…" Itami started. "It appears you've taken care of all the sandworms. Your work here is done. You've done a great job considering the circumstances," she nodded approvingly. "But we'll need to return to the village and get you cleaned up.
"Well, except for the one that you killed, but yeah, it wasn't bad for a first mission." Looking down at himself and seeing the wounds, bruises and the sand that infested the cuts, "Getting cleaned up is probably important, but you think we could take a rest? That ninjutsu I used earlier wasn't smart and it always drains more out of me then it should." Taking in a deep breath the boy walked around his blade and then leaned up against the flat edge before slowly letting it out. "Nothing wrong with a little nap right?" Already closing his eyes before receiving an answer.
Suddenly the sand several yards away exploded upwards creating a giant wall like what the two of them saw before. The sand covered the area, blotting out the sun until it rained down on the two and eventually the form of a giant sand worm, three times bigger than the ones before stood in its wake. The beast released a booming roar before swaying its head as it tried to detect any kind of vibrations.
Never rest until the job is completely finished. Itami is guilty of not followin this all the way as she began to let her guard down to relax, thinking the threat was done. She didn't expect, although she should have, that a much larger sandworm would come to take the place of those that were lost on this day. Greater Sandworm. Even more dangerous than the average sandworm. Much larger and can do twice the damage two average sandworms can accomplish together. It was a bit more aggressive by nature and didn't tend to like people encroaching upon its territory all that often, even the smaller sandworms.
The sand blasted into the air would obscure vision of the area and the booming roar was more than enough to drive the caution meter into the red. It looks like they were going to need to work together on this. "This is not one you can take on your own. We will do away with it together. Is this understood?" She questioned the boy as she shook him awake.
Shikoge had either already fallen into a deep sleep coma or was just completely ignoring the happenings going on around him. The exploding sand, the booming roar…that could have all just been the woman letting off steam for all he knew, why would he awake from his nap just for that. It wasn't until Itami started shaking him that he slowly begin to regain consciousness, "Alright, no naps." Rubbing at his eyes a bit before stretching, as he did Shikoge finally spotted the giant worm, "Hohoho." Placing his hands upon his hips, "What. When did this happen?" Laughing some more then smiling broadly, "I don't think I can take this one on by myself or probably at all." Reaching for his sword and resting it on his shoulder, "Should I go first or you?"
The worm swayed some more until focusing on both Itami and Shikoge. It let out a giant roar and then suddenly spit out a green substance at the two of them.
Yes, this was too much for the boy to handle on his own. Had he been sent out here without her supervision, he'd most certainly have been in danger a number of times. His meter seems to be successive as it continues to wind down every moment. Chances don't appear to be getting better with the destruction of the worms, but worse. This time is no exception as a green sludge makes its way toward the both of them. "I'll go first!" She chimed while latching onto the boy so she could flicker him and herself out of the path of that fluid. She's certain that stuff could have eaten through the both of them alive. "Now you go!"
That green substance looked like a loogie to the boy as it sailed toward the both of them. Not wanting to let it touch him, he brought his sword up before him, using the oversized shape to block spit. Though his attempt was in vain as Itami simply grabbed a hold of him and moved them both out of the way. "Well that works too!" He replied as he spun the blade around in his hand, "Alright, here I go!" Shikoge shouted as he started racing across the sand using his weapon to lead the charge in hopes of skewering the giant beast.
Feeling the vibrations, the creature twisted its form at the source and snapped its tail in response swatting at the boy. Unable to defend in time, Shikoge was hit by the worms tail and knocked away, rolling against the sand until coming to a stop. "It didn't work!"
"You can't block everything with your sword, you know," Itami called out to Shikoge as he began running off towards the worm to attack it. When he was smacked back by the tail of the beast, she grumbled to herself and sighed. "Of course it didn't work. This one works exactly the same as other worms, probably even /better/. You're going to need to trick its senses, not run headfirst into it. Otherwise, you'll keep meeting with its tail. Admittedly, the tail is the generous part of it. I'm surprised it hasn't tried to attack you any other way yet," she huffed. "Think!"
Hearing the womans words, Shikoge thought only momentarily before quickly realizing what she meant, "Yes, I must become like one of them!" Suddenly he dropped to the ground, lying on his belly and then started to squirm about like a worm or a snake, shifting across the sand as he moved toward the creature with his sword still leading the way. "I think its working!"
The giant worm let out a bellowing roar before moving over toward Shikoge, forming a circle with its body around the boy as if to try and protect the smaller sand worm. "Oh hoho!" Shikoge chuckled as he quickly got to his feet and swung his massive blade, planning to cut through the beast.
The sword was sharp enough, but the boys strength was not enough as the blade simply ricocheted off. "Oh…" Looking dumbfounded as he wasn't sure what there was left for him to try. "Alright, I give up. It's all yours" Spinning about, he'd throw the blade up on his shoulder and start running away. The worm would feel the vibrations however and respond as it snapped at the movement, catching the blade in its gigantic maw and then stand up at full height, leaving the boy dangling as he held on for dear life. "Let go of my sword!"
"Wait, what? No! That isn't what I mea—oh, why do I even bother?" Itami shook her head and dragged her face down with her hand. Now he was mimicking a sandworm and perhaps it was sheer, dumb luck that this greater sandworm just happened to be a mother. It began to surround him as if to protect him which offered insight into its behavior, at least. She has more to study about these creatures.
The clink of metal striking a hard surface resonated in the councilwoman's ears and she already knew what that meant. His blade didn't go through. Besides, if it did, the creature would have responded by now with some sort of bellow having been sliced into. "Yes, I'm glad that I can be handed your mess to clean up. That's quite lovely," she stated. Considering that this is a mother, she thinks she'll have to do something about this worm or else it'll just cause more damage 'round these parts. In order to deal with it, she'll have to be bigger than it in order to handle it properly.
So, she inhales deeply and sighs the breath back out and continues to do this as she focuses all her energy towards taking the form of a massive dragon. The sounds of her growth sweep across the area as bones increase in size and density, creaking and popping to make up for the difference between her size and the form she takes. Scales consume her form and her body changes to take up the additional bulk of build and muscle a giant dragon would need. When she was done, a final flex of the wings would snap the air and she'd immediately lash out with her hand and grip the worm in it, letting out a mighty roar that rocks the sands to let it know who is truly the boss around here. Shikoge would be plucked from the maw of the worm and subsequently his blade.
Shikoge had all his focus on the blade itself, ignoring all other matters around him. There was a loud clicking and popping noise that was eventually followed by a more powerful roar that probably meant another giant sandworm had appeared, but he would ignore it all. The blade was a gift after graduating the academy and passed down through several members of the Miira clan, it wasn't something he was willing to let go of so easily. "Let go I said!" Twisting and kicking, but none of what he was doing was working. "I'm not gonna let go!" Then as soon as he said that, the worms mouth opened up, dropping the Shikoge in mid-air only for him to be caught by something else before hitting the ground. Curious as to what had saved him, Shikoge twisted his head only to see that a dragon had appeared. "Itami! Run away! A battle of monsters has started with me being what they're fighting over. I'll distract them, just run away. Run back to the village, tell them I died honorably!" Twsiting the massive blade around in his hand he'd swing it at the dragon only to have it bounce off the creatures scales. "Run faster, Itami!"
Itami heard her name, but didn't understand why it was being called. Soon, the barely perceptible pop of a sword hitting her scales gave her an idea of what was taking place here. A low rumble rose up deep from within as she slammed the worm down and began to tear into it with ease. Whatever that green stuff was now wasn't affecting anything. Sure, it was all over her features, but it was weak in comparison to her scales.
If Shikoge wanted to distract some beasts, she supposes she could oblige. She roared at him prior to righting her body so that she could face him evenly. For something so large, she was surprisingly fast.
As Shikoge is within the grasp of the dragon now and seeing that his blade is unable to cut through the scales much the same as the worm, he'd stick the sword in between himself and the dragons grasp, trying to pry himself free. "Oh Mighty Dragon. You..are indeed powerful…but you should not eat…me." Putting in all his strength to try and get himself free, even for a little wiggle room, but it wasn't working. "Some day, I'll be…powerful too and then we could have an awesome fight that would shake the lands themselves! But not…if you…eat me." What else could the boy do?
The beast roared at him, possibly stating her dislike or even approval of the idea, either way as the dragon faced Shikoge he'd extend his arm that held the blade and try to stick it within the dragons nostrils, assuming it reached and make the beast sneeze. Though that didn't mean he'd be free, but…worth a try.
The blade goes straight up the chute and a host of sniffling begins as she tries to work it back out of her nose. Her face twists as one would attempting to remove a rogue agent from within and slowly conforms to that classical sneeze expression. She builds up to her sneeze with snorts and inhales before she finally let's a large one go. Shikoge and his sword would receive a heaping dose of dragon snot prior to her setting him down on the ground. She'd continue to work at her snout and sneeze a great deal more before it all cleared out and her focus was drawn back to the boy. "I am Itami!!!" She blared out with such extreme frustration that his visage would appear to burn within her red glare.
The blade went up the nose, "Gotcha!" Shikoge beamed :D as his plan was coming to fruition, but, wait…What's the dragon doing? It's about to sneeze and yet it still has not dropped the boy. "NoooO!!!!!" He started to shimmy and shake, but there was nothing he could do as the mighty beast suddenly let out a sneeze, covering him in all its…'glory' before setting him down. "Ugh, I have now become part of you." :| Within a single mission, Shikoge has been covered by two beasts in one day. One for the record books. "Alright, dragon…" holding his arms up as the snot dripped off him, "I'm out of here." Then the dragon roared, speaking of Itami and Shikoge turned to run back at the beast, swinging its blade at the creatures claws that extend from its feet, "You ate Itami? Spit her out!" Ting, ting ting. The blade bouncing off the claws and scales of the beast. "No one will believe me that she was killed by a dragon!"
Itami looked down at Shikoge and frowned. This boy was a handful, even for someone as well trained as she. She decided to just slink off to the village while Shikoge kept busy attacking her feet. The mission was finished and the sandworms have been dealt with. She's glad to be done with it, but not for the worms. The boy. The boy was the hardest part of this mission. Still, she can't say that she didn't enjoy herself. Maybe he'll grow on her, but for now, things are bittersweet. All in all, he'll be a good shinobi. She's sure of it.
