Starring:
Date: July 30, 2011
Summary:
A slapped-together team of ninja from different countries is called on to deal with a local monster problem.
"It Happened on the Road To… - The Night Cackler"
Yuukoku Village [Land of Trees]
Trouble is brewing once again in Yuukoku Village of the Land of Trees. The residential areas have been plagued at night by a monster of some sort, which swoops around and scrabbles at the windows while making a horrible cackling noise. Those few who've been unfortunate enough to encounter the thing first-hand report a raggedy black mass which blots out the stars above and tears at its victims with huge claws. Not being particularly close to any ninja village in particular, the residents of Yuukoku Village tend to look for help from any shinobi who happen to be passing near when a problem arises. In this instance, they've managed to hire Kira of Kumogakure and Ryoji of Sunagakure, along with the wandering healer, Aburei, who has helped them in the past.
Aburei carefully ties a bandage with an herb compress around the head of one of the victims. "There now, let that do its work. If you're lucky it won't leave much of a scar." Aburei turns to Kira and Ryoji. "From the look of the wounds, I'd guess we're dealing with some kind of huge bird. It's almost dark, it'll probably show up again soon. What do you think we should do?"
Standing tall and proud as usual, the Yotsuki, or as he hasn't revealed his clan yet better said, the Kumogakure Shinobi shrugs to Aburei slowly- assessing the damage. "Well, we know what it likes to molest. I say we bait it and beat it." That tactic always worked for hunting mountain lions. At least when you don't have long range weapons.
"Anyone else have an idea?"
"… Leave and Forget." The first and ONLY words to leave Ryoji's mouth after remaining stubbornly silent throughout most of the journey back to the Land of Trees. While awaiting the most likely scathing looks and/or remarks in response to his suggestion from the others assembled to assist in the minor countries, Ryoji turns his gaze to surveying their surroundings and reminiscing over the strange events that led to him here.
He breaks the last flash back with a heavy sigh before turning back to others and letting himself fall back against the tree. "…. That could work, but will need more than that.. Hmm… if this -thing- hunts only at night then…" He rubs his chin. "Something flashy for distraction, heavy nets, some oil and water maybe?… *mutters*.. Ah! Has the "bird" left anything behind after its last attack?"
Aburei chuckles faintly. "Whenever there's danger involved, somehow I usually end up as bait." n.n; One of the villagers speaks up. "We can supply nets. Most of us are hunters, we have plenty of that sort of thing." A skinnier man also pipes up. "Oh, and the Atarimae Logging Guild can provide oil at a very reasonable rate." The first man scowls. "This is to protect our village, can't you just give them the oil!?" "Well it's not mine to give, go talk to my boss about it!" :P
While the villagers argue over the details, Aburei shrugs. "I don't think it left anything behind, no. As for a flashy distraction, I think I can provide that. If we're just dealing with a dumb animal, it should work fine." ;)
Some time later, Aburei sits in the middle of the village's main street, watching the stars peep out from the sky one by one. Should be soon, from what the villagers said…ah, there it is! A harsh cackling echoes amidst the houses. Aburei pulls out his recorder and begins to play. An image forms in the area around Aburei, like a hundred sparkling gems dancing in the air. Apparently this catches the monster's attention very quickly, because the cackling grows noticably louder. Suddenly, there it is — a big black shape, like a hole ripped in the darkened surroundings, hurtling towards Aburei's location!
Well, having decided that the technique for pest-control will be Bait and Beat, Kira didn't really have much to add to the conversation. Except: "Well, if it shows up and goes for Aburei, I'll leap out of cover and smack it a few times. Then you can do whatever you want with the net or oil, or, whatever." He shrugge and found a good place to hide near Aburei.
When the 'Bird', AKA dark thing, shows up and hurtles towards Aburei; The Yotsuki claps his hands together in excitement and leaps out of cover— smiling from ear to ear. Lightning crackes around his fist as he pushes it forwards to smack into the bird— expecting the exhilarating crack of bones…
Except, he misjudged the thing's speed and gets smacked powerfully enough to fly through the wall of the building behind Aburei.
".. I… I slipped!" Guess he might be as stupid as he looks. All brawn, no brain.
Ryoji couldn't help grinning at Aburei's brave volunteering for the role of, but that grin quickly turns ot a frown when the villagers start arguing. It is almost enough to make bait the Iga into making plans to do something horrid to them after all is said in done… but he resists for the time being in favor of getting things more organized…
"All that Ryo for just… *groans*… Atsuko-sama is gonna pay for this.", Ryoji mutters darkly as he waits patiently in the shadows of tree tops just above main street(or close enough to it XD). "… As I thought.. to big for that, but.. *nose twitches*.. Ozone?.." He whispers before raising plucking some shuriken from his person and angling them carefully. Only when he felt that he's waited long enough does he let them fly. The first batch are sent sailing to cut the ropes holding the oil covered netting in place, a second for the beast itself if only to force it further into Kira's attack range, and a third for aimed at pully rope nearby Aburei. If all goes according to plan, either the risidual effects of kira's lightning or the of shoot of flames ignited further by the bag of oil dropping into the braizer placed awkwardly near the decoy will ignite the nets(hopefully intangly the bird(?)); burning the beast, and causing it fly erratically. If not then.. well.. Plan B?
Aburei ducks as an unexpected projectile named Kira hurtles past. c.c; In doing so, he abruptly halts his tune, and the twinkling lights also vanish. Alarmed, the monster pulls up in its flight with a cheated squawk. This causes the net to miss its target. As for the shuriken aimed at the creature itself, one finds its mark, but the rest buzz through the black shape's outer reaches, apparently hitting nothing solid enough to stick in. The incendiaries do work, and while they don't accomplish their intended purpose thanks to the net missing, the light from the fire at least provides the first good look anybody's had of the beast: an enormous jackdaw, with a few grotesque growths here and there.
Aburei scurries to get out of the way of the falling net-o'-burning. o.o; Yup, looks like it's on to Plan B all right! Did they have a Plan B? Probably just 'hit it until its dead,' just like Kira's Plan A-Zed. :P Meanwhile, the jackdaw has its own plan — peck apart whatever bug fired off that ouchie sting! It lunges beak-first at Ryoji.
"Plan B guys! HIT IT UNTIL IT'S DEAD!" No really, Kira said that. They should hire Aburei for 'Advisor that can read Kira's mind.' Though, Aburei would join the one of several thousand that can read Kira's mind. It's usually just 'punch punch, damn mountain it's so hot, punch kick electrocute 'ice cream' electrocute'. There's a theme there.
As he watches plan A fail horribly, this time around however, Kira seems to go into the high gear, high octane kind of action type.
There's a flash of lightning and thunder as Kira suddenly uses his own variation of the body flicker technique called 'Dual Lightning Phase', he disappears in a massive burst of speed- headed straight for the bird- his foot already swinging to kick at the Jackdaw.
Ryoji freezes then leers blindly in the direction of the Jackdaw. "… Definetly doubling it!", Is all the Iga manages to say before the bird impales… A stuffed doll version of Ryoji!? Then where's the oh—there he is rolling along the back of the bird as it passes! In the wake of his rolls (assuming the bird doesn't pull some stunt to avoid Ryoji's little maneuver in the first place ~.~) a black trail of liquid follows him until he pushes himself off the bird once he hits the tail feathers. With the air blocking his hearing and no sight to guide him, Ryoji yells, "A LITTLE HELP!?!" as falls back first for the ground.
After getting clear of the immediate danger, Aburei looks up to see how things are going. Oh look, there's Ryoji falling and calling for help. Aburei quickly runs through the list of things he could maybe do to assist. Flicker over and break his fall? Um, nope, don't have that trick. Throw out a bunch of shuriken with wires to catch him? Can't do that, and they'd probably cut him anyway. Summon a mattress under him? Heh, wouldn't that be handy. Looks like he may have to settle for 'heal his bruises after the fall.' x.x Assuming Kira-san doesn't manage to help out.
On the plus side, Plan B turns out to be very effective. The jackdaw squawks and shakes its head at the icky feeling running down its back. Aerodynamics is important to birds, they don't like having it messed up! XP So distracted is the jackdaw, it doesn't notice Kira coming back until the kick connects. This not only sends the jackdaw crashing into the street, it ignites the liquid and turns the bird into a flaming mass. It screeches and flops about, unable to regain flight. Man, this place is gonna stink of burned feathers for a long time. Xo
Kira grins in satisaction after the kick sends the bird flying- His hand reaches to his forehead- as if mock-imitating someone holding binoculars— when he realizes: "Oh shit. I'm falling." He flaps his arms like a bird but to no avail. He is still falling. Eventually he touches the ground on his butt and yelps out in pain. "AH GODDAMNIT, YOU ARE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" For what? It's not the Jackdaw's fault that Kira went so far up in the air.
"I am gonna show you the good ol, good ol, Dynamic Lightning Combo. As invented by me. Yotsuki Kira."
Oh, and nevermind the flames. That's no problem. Though the bird may want to mind the electrocution- as Kira opens with a good two-jab thrust, a knee kick to the midsection, and then summersaults to knee the jackdaw in the face. .. That is, if he connects or catches it.
Aburei runs over to the spot where Ryoji fell. "Sorry, Ryoji-san. I'm not really a ninja. I'll do what I can for you, though." n.n; While Aburei pours healing chakra into Ryoji's bruised backside, the jackdaw continues thrashing about, inadvertently approaching one of the wooden houses. Fortunately, Kira's need to inflict more damage on an already-dieing adversary (not that it's not really merciful to finish it off at this stage) prevents any inflagrations from taking place. The jackdaw is smacked back into the middle of the street, where it gurgles its last and lays burning.
Afterward, the grateful townsfolk clean up the mess and pay their rescuers their agreed wage. The head of the Atarimae Logging Guild, after hearing about the dispute over the oil, even refunds the cost of materials and gives the ninja a little bonus. He wants to maintain good relations with the shinobi villages, after all…these problems aren't cropping up on their own, and sooner or later he's going to want help dealing with the source. e.e
