Starring:
Fujiko (emitter), Naoya, Kiji, Sei
Date: December 23, 2015
Summary:
A recent field trip for Okumo students turns into a nightmare, and a group is dispatched to save what can be saved from the Kinokochi upon the island they once claimed theirs before the clan wars.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Kingdom Underground - Signs of Invasion"
Land of Water
Itami, Jiro, and Arika had killed Kinokochi Nobu underneath the tunnels he had forged beneath Sunagakure. Yet, it was not quick enough to prevent his goal from reaching the hands of his clan members. He had worked tirelessly to create a poison that would be able to transgenically modify the mycelium that lives within each member of the Kinokochi into something that the Okumo was no longer completely immune to. His death was not in vain, and it was his daughter and son that would continue the fight to regain their lost homeland and vanquish the Okumo once and for all.
It took weeks for the Kinokochi clan, a clan of people whom commune with the vast networks of mycelium and fungi that seems to be omnipresent throughout the land, to finally return. The first stage was their home island. The Okumo's spiders are as plentiful and widespread throughout Water Country as the plantlife there, and thus in this island that was the place that the final fight between the Okumo and Kinokochi during the clan wars was the first step towards the next step of the fight renewed. It was a blackout. The first test of the new mycelial spores that was the answer to the Okumo's resistance proved to be very effective. Indeed, the group that arrived to respond to this blackout may very well begin to realize what was going on soon enough. Yet, it wasn't the blackout that caused this group to come to this island.
This island was a memorial of the Okumo's long fought war with the Kinokochi. A memorial that often times young Okumo would be brought to in order to learn of their roots. A recent group of students and young Okumo had been gone for weeks, along with the Chuunin instructor who had brought them here for that trip. No word. Even the Okumo's spiders were not relaying any information. It was as if the entire island had become a dead-zone.
Caution needed to be taken here, for this threat was one that had been defeated long before Kirigakure had formed. Very few actually knew this clan even existed anymore.
Sei watched passively from the bow of the boat. They approached the island that has gone dark. For it to go dark to spiders is unusual. Highly unusual. Sei glanced to Naoya, then Kiji, that illusionary voice reaching out to them both as his attention returned to the island. "We-Sei will stick with Kiji-san. Naoya-san. We know you are strong enough to hunt alone. We-brood will shadow you. Sweep east. We-Sei and Kiji-san will sweep west. We-Sei wants an outside perimeter. We find tracks, we hunt the ones missing, we find the answers." Once the boat hit the land, Sei would leap forward, easily clearing the water as the boat erupted with his brood, going dark as the spiders would swarm off the ship, plenty of them leaving webbing behind to lock the boat into place. While yes, it's webbing, it's also not going anywhere without work to clear that locking down.
As he was ordered, Okumo Naoya traveled along side Sei without a word of opposition. Glancing to the side as a voice echoes in the back of his mind, the young man watches Sei for several moments before dipping his head lightly. "This one shall be going, I'll stay within range of your voice while remaining discreet." Turning further, the young man would dip his head faintly towards Kiji before his figure rapidly blurs though it would take some time before chakra would begin to swell within him. Working his way along the coast line, the young man pauses once he was several hundred meters away only to flare his nostrils as he takes in a deep breath through his nose. Tips of thin limbs could be noted shifted from within his nose feeling the air while other small creatures peek out from the sides of his exposed neck, taking in the surroundings.
Kiji had remained quiet most of the trip. Her eyes remained an iron grey for most of it as well. And then they saw the island and she felt Sei's pressure on her mind in order for him to speak to her and Naoya. Her eyes darkened at the orders…. Her hands clenched into fists and her eyes showed a hint of crimson but she simply set her jaw and leapt out after Sei, opening her mind to the surrounding things. At first she would use a long distance wide range ability to pinpoint locations of chakra signatures. When she felt another presence she would switch to something more specific. But Sei's words burned into her like a hot iron and the grey in her eyes swirled with the crimson, the only indication ofemotion anywhere on her.
As she followed Sei, crimson vines grew up and coiled around her arms and legs, an orange circle surrounding the eyes. She ws prepared for battle and already agitated, that much would easily be noticable but only to Sei, who had a direct line to exactly how tense her neck muscles were.
Sei's senses would likely be the first to pick up a very strange chakra signature. It was not the chakra signature of one person, but it was also coming from a single, almost omniscient source. Lying under the ground, pulses of chakra would move along some network underneath the ground. Each one leading outside of Sei's range, but constantly passing through. Shared Chakra? Possible communication ability? Rather useful, and those with chakra sense might be able to see the beautiful display of chakra traveling as if it were a delicately controlled subway network, only with chakra instead.
Naoya's senses reveal something sinister in the air. Using his natural Okumo senses, along with the senses of his brood, would allow him to determine that there was something microscopic in the air. Little spores floating in the air with that samed combined chakra. It wasn't far off that Naoya might see the brood of other Okumo, crawling around along the trees. Yet, something was off about this brood. This brood was not acting under any particular order coming from any Okumo. It was as if that connection was severed altogether. Kiji might notice the most. It seemed that the brood was interacting with this chakra network, tapping into it and relaying information through it. This network that permiated the trees and ground of the area was becoming more and more akin to that of a communication network. Yet, the brood that was tapping into this network had a physical feature that seemed to be what one would consider an outside influence controlling them. The brood that could be seen had fine fibers piercing their carapace. Fungi. That fungi emitted that same chakra that was present throughout the mycelium underneath the ground and in the trees. This brood was acting not of the will of their masters, but of the will of the fungus controlling them.
It wasn't long before the rapid pulses underneath the ground stopped altogether. It seems as if there was suspicion, and Kiji might pick up on this. They knew there was a foreign influence stepping onto the island.
Sei sensed it, but it was hard to track down for sure. Glancing about, he'd try to get a general lead of where it was going. His brood would disperse into the surrounding terrain, blending in much as before. Only this time.. there were other spiders there. Those of the Okumo.. but.. not. Sei's brood would trade information across that linked mind smoothly, the Okumo brood that was no longer and the fungi that manipulated them. Sei remembered reading something.. Glancing to Kiji, Sei would whistle lightly, requesting to see if she had any further information. He would head the direction of the pulse. Seeking to start for a source. The brood would sweep ahead of them for physical interactions. Between him and Kiji, it'd be very hard to avoid them knowing what was around.
'No, you'll stay with me.. Could smell that as well, feels odd to breath it in.. Permitted.' Lifting his right hand, Naoya watches his wrist as a trail of blood begins to form though it was blackened along with his chest constricting some what with a restricted cough. As the young man continues to march deeper into the isle, his eyes continue to darken until they reach a deep golden tone, though this is largely the only change within him beyond the weak blood that trails behind him. "Now.. just how many can I reach out to? Force them to yield.." Lidding his eyes, the young man's vision weakens as it becomes unfocused with his senses diverting away. One by one, he would begin to not only sense through his own brood but his chakra would begin to become oppressive to others, attempting for force control over the native spiders in addition to the now unbound broods to extend his senses for a couple miles.
Kiji froze and reached out to grab Sei's arm to stop him from moving. "It.. or they.. know we're here." She released him and proceeded to relay the information that she had gathered with her wide range ability. Explained that there was something similar to his hive mind going on .. but with this underground .. whatever the intrusion as it's connections. But she pointed silently toward the heaviest concentration, the supposed center of the manipulation. It took her a second but she withdrew the vines wraped around her limbs, hiding them. They had not gotten far enough into the island for the enemy to have realized her bloodline. She turned and whispered quietly to the spiders in her hair, having one move to ride on her shoulder visibly. Then she looked to Sei, staying ner him and following his leads. She growled and her eyes went crimson as she forced herself into a more unstable but more powerful state…. And reached out with a far more prescision scan of the path ahead.
Sei, with the help of his insects, would be able to get close to the spiders whom were already infected with this strange mycelium and move around the island. Yet, spreading his brood so thin would start causing a problem. Some of his spiders would manage to get close to other infected spiders, or clusters of mushrooms that were above the ground. The spore density would become so heavy near these areas, that he would soon find himself losing contact with his spiders. The brood would be covered in spores that they could not remove from their carapace before the fungus started to grow upon them and pass through their exoskeletons into their brains. At that point, the brood would start sending mixed signals before they were linked with the network and removed from Sei's control. Fortunately, this only happened when the spiders came in contact with high densities. Those within his body, and within Naoya's would be protected by the body of the Okumo. The Okumo's immune system seemed to thwart the spores. That might give reason to believe that whomever was behind this was attempting to rectify that small issue, as Naoya was finding out. This was biological warfare, and it was specific to the Okumo.
Naoya's further influencing seemd to be null and void. Not a single infected spider would return to his brood. They were all infected with a fungi that has replaced their brain with the sweet songs of a new clan. The fungi responded to changing chakra frequencies. Curious.
Kiji would be able to reach out and would finally pinpoint not any of the rogue ninja causing this, but she could detect something that was more important to the mission. The waning chakra of the Okumo children that were trapped upon the island. Far deep inside.
It wouldn't be a surprise that two miles from the group was the entrance to a tunnel leading into the mountain, part of a wide network that Kiji could now sense and map. Such a powerful chakra-network sensing ability would be able to see the weak residual chakra the mycelium emitted along the walls of the unnatural caverns leading underneath. There was a cavern underneath. Yet, where were the shinobi? It was almost as if they were intentionally sending their chakra so thin that they blended into the rest of the network. At the very least there was a direction.
Unfortunately, they had already been detected. Kiji would soon notice one individuals' chakra spike, as a handseal was made from the safety of the caverns underneath. Their chakra moved through the network, transferring it above ground, and right in front of all three. One clone for each intruder. These clones seemingly burst from the ground, miniscule mycelium growing and forming into a white clone with rudimentary yellow eyes. All three at once communicated to the intruders. "We've been waiting." In a deep masculine voice, before all three in tandem inhaled suddenly and expelled a poisonous spore mix. It affected the Okumo far more than it affected Kiji, but it was still dangerous.
As soon as Sei lost contact, part of his mind going numb, Sei increased that grip on the brood. The connection evolving into that close to perfect form, the complete entity of many turning into one. He would lose no more as they were controlled as if his own hands, the spiders knowing the growth from below, the tremor resulting in the clones. It was obvious they were clones from how they formed. Sei/brood would retaliate defensively, while the clones inhaled, Sei/brood moved. The speed of a shinobi on a spider's scale was faster than most shinobi could ever dream of. That barrier of webbing, rocks, trees that would groan from being bent under the pressure had that webbing stop the blowing of spore cold. None of the brood would be touched. Spiders are a commodenty now. Sei would glance to Kiji. "We wish you to hold your full ability in reserve. They do not know. Yet. We will make sure that is critical." The genjutsu voice was different as Sei would use both connections then, so Kiji and Naoya heard the same. "We have had contact Naoya-san. We have a target. We are now under pressure and must go on the offense. Return and we shall begin."
It would seem that the clone that forces its way through the ground strikes the young man with a clan blow though there was no physical contact in the end. Standing three meters to the left, Naoya holds up his left hand containing a vial already uncorked. "Yes.. And I you, I could feel something is wrong when I didn't get interference with the other broods.. just a void of nothingness. You will kneel for me.. that isn't a choice, but an order" is offered flatly. Bringing the vial to his lips, the chakra that had begin flowing through the young man mutes suddenly though the veins under his pale skin become tinted and more prominent. "Now.."
Dropping the vial, the young man lowers his right hand behind him, letting it rest onto a hilt of a short sword before once again flickering from sight with hardly a blur. Appearing on the clone's flank, the blade had been drawn and poised for a low slash, aiming at the clone's lower tendons. "Kneel" is repeated though for forcefully as the blade slashes suddenly. In the wake of the slash, several droplets would drop onto the ground, a liquid toxin had been coating the blade, though with the colorless nature the true effects were hard to predict.
Kiji watched the webbing protect her from the clone before her. She had expected as much from Sei but it was his words in her mind that gave her pause, halfway through powering up a not so subtle attack. She signed back with her hands, reminding him of just how specialized her abilities were then steped back fromthe clone, leting Sei bind or get rid of them. Meanwhile she could pinpoint more accurately the locations of the attacking shinobi by building on the information she had… But then she lifted her hand and drew a bone katana from across her back where she kept it and danced around the clones, slashing deeply into the earth as she went, severing the mycelium that connected the clones to the chakra network. It was crude, she was unpracticed with the blade but it was one thing she could do without giving anything away.
The Okumo still seemed to be a threat. Sei was still able to mount a proper defense, despite a slowly dwindling supply of brood at his command, protecting Kiji and himself from an otherwise poisonous cloud of pollen.
Naoya, on the other hand, would find that despite bypassing the cloud completely with his speed, and severing the clone's tendons, that a clone made of mycelium does not have the same muscle structures as a human does. Even the poisons upon the blade do not seem to affect the clone as it would the human safely locked far beneath the earth…
Yet, before the clone Naoya attacked could retaliate and he was wholly planning, Kiji had done something surprising. "My father kneeled for an Okumo, and they slit his throat.", The clone told Naoya as suddenly a hardened chitin appendage started to form from it's palm. Clearly the clone was planning to impale Naoya, but even before Naoya needed to react the severing of the mycelial network caused not only this clone but all clones on the field to stop moving completely. Without chakra commands coming from below, the clones were rather useless. These clones had to remain immobile, constantly linked to the mycelial network or else they were absolutely useless.
Now was the time to move in and extract the youngling brood, before the twenty or so clansmen within prepare to mount an aggressive attack.
A weakness. By not attacking directly, Kiji found a key. Sei/brood would nod to Kiji as she'd render the clones innert but still active. So both sides knew something was coming.. the question was what. Sei glanced in the direction Naoya was at. "Naoya-san. We are going in now. The path is marked by webbing. Follow immediately." Sei/brood would whistle at Kiji, to make sure she was looking as he'd take off himself. The genjutsu link would get lost as Sei moved from the harp's range, the formations that Sei/brood made being dissassembled as they head for that opening. Sei/brood would make sure to mark the trees with webbing. It didn't take much, to let Naoya know which way to go. The combat of brood vs fungi was critical at this point. If Sei/brood was going to be any help.. he'd have to be on guard. When they'd reach that opening, Sei/brood wouldn't slow. Glancing to Kiji, he'd motion to the vines of growth along the walls. Anything that was there would need to be cut. Even if it's minor, a constant assault will demand a response, or a loss of ability. Both can be to their advantage.
"That is no excuse.." The moment of hesitation the clone had in chain reaction to Kiji's actions was fixated on, propelling him forward and to the clone side. With both hands firmly on the blade' hilt, Naoya slashed downwards with a slash along the back of the seeming man's neck. The slash is followed through with an additional upwards cut, focusing onto the clone's exposed throat to slice or even decapitate the paralyzed clone. "Failures and transgressors shall be exterminated." Drawing back his blade after the second slash, the young man brings his blade towards his own eyes, examining it for a brief moment before opening his mouth and extending his tongue, licking slowly once at the substance that remained on the blade, allowing his senses, and soon after the internal brood, to begin breaking down what made the being immune to his solutions.
Canting his head to the side, the familiar feeling tingles in the back of his mind before a voice follows forth. "Found a trail? Good.. good.." 'That direction?' is softly asked aimlessly but it would be silently answered, sparking rapid movements in the opposite direction, heading back the way Sei and Kiji has separated away from him. "It's gone.. This isn't normal, just what's going on here?" When Naoya pauses at the other conflict zone, it wouldn't be difficult to assess it with the large displays of webbing through the area though it would also make it easy to follow along the trail left behind for him to follow. 'I can see that.. A rush maybe? ..His control is different, unlikely..'
Kiji nodded back to Sei. She'd hoped for that kind of reaction but had been prepared to do worse if she'd had to. As it stood, the enemy would still think she was a typical Okumo. She kept a strict tab on Sei and Naoya's chakra. If they seemed sluggish she adjusted her outward actions to match them. Of course when Sei indicated the vines she slashed at them as she moved, severing as many as she could as they moved.
Mycelial networks have the capacity to reform. Their advantage would be short lived. Though by the time the mycelium around the clones had reformed their purpose was over and they soon dis-integrated back into the mycelium to feed it and recover. That includes the one that was so heavily battered by Naoya.
The target area appears to be an underground cavern that leads deep within the earth, Kiji continually wrecking the mycelial network disrupts the Kinokochi's ability to transfer chakra to different places, though that would eventually recover and it also warned the Kinokochi that the group was getting closer and closer to the students.
The students themselves, out of the six Okumo students that had come to the island, there were only two experiments left. The two that were left might have been adapted to the fungi's effects to their body, and so they are currently strapped against the wall, their chakra being removed from their body and toyed with, before being replaced into their body by the fungal growl that seems to be pervading their body. The students are Okumo without brood, the brood long eliminated to allow for uninterrupted experimentation. The bodies of the Chuunin and the four other students were decomposing in the corner also without brood.
Within the caverns below, a new danger arises. The mycelial growth is all over the wall, and those within would feel a concentrated presence of spores that acted like poison. Those within would be affected slowly as the spores overcame their immunity.
Sei's brood would retreat internally as soon as they headed into those tunnels. Even with Kiji disrupting the network, giving away their postion, but also forcing action he'd pause outside of that main cavern. This was to wait for Naoya, as well as look at Kiji. Then handsigns would flash then, simple and to the point. ~If you have enough ability, douse the room in blood. It will stop any suspended spores in the air. We need only a brief time, to recover the survivors and flee.~ If Naoya would show up, Sei would motion for him to recover the two on the wall, otherwise once Kiji was allowed to do her thing, Sei would use whatever time it got them to attempt that recovery himself.
Kiji's eyes narrowed as they entered the cavern. The sight of the dead students and chuunin and then the suffering children onthe wall sent her straight into all black eyes, crimson showing at the center, practicly glowing in the dim light. She grit her teeth hard but somehow managed to keep her rage down to a slightly manageable level.
Sei's handsigns though and his orders to douse the room made her nod and close her eyes a moment. When she opened her eyes they were black behind ice blue. Her blood was so hyper-saturate with her chakra that it came out of her skin and surrounded her. She shielded the spider sin her hair and steped forward into the room, rings of blood surrounding her, spinning, thinning, and finally exploding into a wave of blood that covered the walls and the children. But then she lifted her hand and blood collected on the two on the wall, forcing its way into their bodies, in and through and in small points out their backs, severing the mycelium that held them and sharing a small piece of her regenerative ability and resistance. They would be primed for Naoya to do his part, taking them.
Contrasting Kiji heavily, Naoya expressed almost nothingness, not anger, nor fear nor sadness at the desolate state of the still some what living. Preparing to move he staggers for a brief moment as a trail of blood moves before him though this does spark something else, an idea. Moving a hand up to his nose, his body tenses, causing his clothing to shift rapidly while the only visible change was that along his neck, over his ears and covering his mouth and nose with loose webbing that becomes more and more dense, acting as a padded filter. While much of his hands were covered, several slits were made, along his wrists and forearm where blackened blood begins to flow more freely from his body, though it was difficult to tell if he was paling or not at the loss of it.
"Augment Sei-dono's system.. I can feel something trying to work its way into me, causing static. Treating him myself might start a brood conflict we can't afford." Even though he spoke in a moderate tone, the webbing around his mouth lowers his tone and muffles it considerable. Turning away from the pair, Naoya moves forward, landing onto the wall behind the children before touching each on the top of the head and pausing, checking on their health to see if moving them at all wouldn't simply kill them at an accelerated rate. If it was found that it wouldn't, silk would begin to creep forth from his silk covered hands until it largely cocoons the children individually before lifting them off the ground and moving towards the cavern entry way.
Kiji once more provides an advantage to her comrades, creating a large amount of blood to wet the sores and congeal them against the cavern walls. The fungi thanks Kiji. The Kinokochi do not. Now they seek to stop the team of Okumo themselves in force, though there is still time. No Kinokochi hostages have been acquired, but the students and the mycelium within them will be a good start to scientifically understand how this clan does what they do. Naoya would purge any remaining blood from his veins as he sought to leave, yet this clan's sensory ability rivaled that of the Iga. Fungi have the capability of detecting pressure placed on the ground, making the network established in the region a very tight detection network. The children's health was waning heavily. It seemed that their blood was as black as Naoya's though filled with something far more inhospitable than what flowed through his own. It wouldn't take a trained sensor to know that the clansmen were already making their way up the caverns to assault the team. ETA: A few minutes. Yet Naoya had the children in hand and now they would be able to properly escape before thing became far too dicey for three individuals to handle.
One might question why there weren't guards to protect these precious research subjects, though.
Kiji took care of the spore initially. They clan is coming to respond. Naoya has the children. They're about a mile down.
Sei looks up.
The brood would swarm, with the spore out of the air for however long it takes it to absorb the blood, the brood could move atop the blood. Using water walking, it would sweep clear of Sei and head for the roof. Those specialized for digging would, a small hole quickly turning into a large one, the webbing from the rest of the brood branching out for entrances, both the main entrance and those side paths. As the rubble came down, it'd fill in holes. Once past the layer of the fungi, the brood would spread out and dig up, reaching the surface, silken ropes would be lowered to gather those from within the main chamber. As they were pulled up the hole, Sei would initiate that cave in. The dead were buried and left for the living that were coming.
There would be restitution. There would be a repraisal. But today? Now? Not yet. not now.
Kiji noted Naoya purging himself and frowned. But as soon as he had the children 'in hand' and they were all headed out of the cavern she turned and followed, putting her sword back onto her back. The secret was out abotu her abilities so there was no point in usng the weapon when she had far more powerful abilities. Well she started to. Sei was ahead of her it seemed and she looked up as the web slings came down. She would not simply accept the ride but she did allow her blood to fall away as the cave disintegrated.
But she reached out and gathered the edges of those slings and with a burst of chakra her back burst forth with blood, curling out to either side of her and for a moment she looked like a bloody angel. Then she was moving leaping up and using those wings to add velocity and direction to the escape. She would not be able to fly far with this many attached to her but she could force it to glide further if she drained a bit more chakra.
At the end, she couldn't tell how far she'd gotten everyone from the caves but her control waivered and she wrapped those wings about herself as she let go of the webbing and crashed, rolling as she slid several feet. Panting, she looked up, taking an ssessment of where they were….
While he was the most mobile without need for pause, Naoya was swept along with the flares of chakra of the others. When the silken cord was offered, a third arm weaves itself into existence from within the young man's overcoat and extends out, grasping tightly onto the life line. The exposed arm was little more than silk though the longer it existed the more readily additional brownish gold plates began to form, strengthening and armoring it. It wouldn't be until Kiji's additional force snags the silken cord that his attention snaps fully upwards rather than onto the caverns below them. Muttering to himself for several moments would only result with heavily muffled sounds rather than anything meaningful. With the sudden crash of a landing, Naoya didn't fight the momentum as continue on, kicking off the ground towards the canopy before at a curved route, make a largely crescent line until he was slowed to a controllable pace before back tracking and trying to get eyes on Sei along with Kiji, unsure how far either scattered.
The Okumo, and Kiji were able to escape from the top of the cavern, not needing to drill too deeply to get through. There wasn't much between the top of the cavern and the surface. The escape was complete. Limited brood were destroyed of those whom arrived on the island for the completion of the mission. The children were extracted. the exit point wasn't far from the cavern that the team had originally moved within to reach the children. Now that the children were free to the air whose spore concentration was far, far lower than that within the caves they could breath easier. Indeed, Naoya might notice that their respiration was kicking in again. The fungi seemed to reduce their control over the students.
The clansmen whom arrived from the bottom soon found the room they came to fight in collapsed, yet they did not pursue by moving outwards through the tunnel's actual exit. Some even had smiles on their faces. perhaps respect for the quick actions of the Okumo team? The return path to the ship was marked with webbings by Sei from an earlier time, allowing for a clear concise path back to the ship they had come here upon. Mission success?
Sei landed with the others. Flight. Facinating. Sei's look at Kiji was one of respect and admiration. Then it was back to that game face. They were out and most of it was resolved. Returning to that boat along the marked area, the harps on it would be used to allow that simpler communication once again. It was only after the brood would check the boat to make sure it was clear both of hostile entities and any potential fungal creep, would Sei allow them on the ship. There, they would cast off, a glance to Naoya and Kiji as the brood prepped for the departure. "We-Sei thinks we got away too easily. This was bait. They are to be kept in isolation as much as possible. Naoya-san, you are to work with the medics of Kirigakure to figure out what exactly they are using. We will need info rapidly." Sei would look to Kiji then. "You, Kiji-san, made that a lot less painful than it would of otherwise been. We-Sei and we-brood appreciate it. Recover as needed, then be prepared. They know we have you as a resource now. This is something from a past that has come unburied. We-Sei will be researching it further.. and preparing the clan for war."
Kiji's wings opened and she pushed herself up to her knees as Sei told her to recover. She simply smirked ironicly and got to her feet, forcing her brething down a bit. "I'm tougher than that." She lifted her arms then and took to the sky, her wings keeping her aloft esier with just her to support. Her eyes narrowed and she pulled more and more blood forth, forming a web, usually used to trap an enemy.. but now she was going to use it a little differently. She lifted her hands and then slammed them downwards along with the webbing, cutting through the mycelium network i a widespread area in a grid pattern. It would only damage the ground and the mycelium, but she would cut off the connections and cause whoever this was a major headache. But then she would pul her blood back up, almost solid, and form it into a tightly compacted ball. She landed lightly next to Sei then and dropped the ball of blood in her pack, Mycelium and spores frozen as if in crystal for further study. "I'll see to their lives. I hate to admit this but Akane-san should probably check them medically."
"I have already began to study them.. this will be done in the ruins at first sir. There are 'issues' with these two.. If it were normal then I wouldn't push otherwise." Looking down to the left, Naoya looks at the child held there and grumbles softly before shaking his head softly from side to side. "They are not proper, not any longer." Turning his head to the side, he would turn from Sei to focus onto Kiji as the blood is forged into a singular sphere as it is collected. Murmuring something lost to the padded layers of silk, he speaks up once again but sharply, "That woman is indisposed. I am the acting head of the medical division even if my methods are 'questioned' at times with the use of the brood to tend to matters. "These two may be culled afterwards, though they might be part of a project to introduce new broods into already developed hosts.." The more he thought out loud, the softer his tone was becoming even while he was on the ship, "..I wonder if we have enough samples to produce a toxin to inject a clutch to act as a resistor, maybe even feeding on it?"
Kiji's message was heard loud and clear, as the Kinokochi's network was disrupted. This made following using the 'Mayfly' technique their clan has developed to travel along the mycelium they have created impossible to use. Mission success, and they have reached the ship they had sailed in on.
Atop a hill overlooking the escaping vessel, was Nobu's son. His name? Kinokochi Ichiro. He had been standing on that hill flanked by his guards for quite some time since Sei had opened a hole in the cavern to escape. The Man, well… Boy even would raise his hand to point at Kiji whom was fleeing far along with the Okumo and the students. "See that? That's real beauty there. It is like an angel delivering death upon our enemies." An angel of death gliding across the sky. One other clansment would sit down, "How long do you think it will take them to realize that they're transporting two bags of spores to the main island?" There was a chuckle from the third one. Ichiro would clap his hands together. "Father is going to be -so- proud when he is resurrected! Everything is going off without a hitch! I'll be the best son! He'll name me heir to the clan… Not that flighty sister of mine, whom is undermining the clan… Which reminds me… How is father doing?" Father, known as Kinokochi Nobu, was in the deepest room underground. Having lost his body to Itami, he is now but a shell. A mind sustained within the network of mycelium that supports the clan.
This was far from over. This was an invasion. Those whom hoped for a speedy end would find the clan proving more than just a minor threat.
