Starring:
Date: August 6, 2015
Summary:
Michiko and Yori go to make an assault on one of the smaller bases of these kidnappers that have struck not once, but twice. Three times, even, if people count the failed attempts…
"Kumo’s Kidnappers - Yori's Prisoner"
Land of Lightning
And so the journey begins… Or does it continue? Michiko and Yori are both setting out northwards, and eventually the pair would reach the hideout. Nox indicated the hidden spot early enough that they would have time to prepare. "There.. The hideout. Is there. An'… Umm… I guess I gotta tie you up? I kin keep the bindings loose if ye like," he offers, mostly glad that the two seem willing to help him with this sticky situation.
"Hai…" Yori says, looking in the direction of the hidden base. "Watch how I do this," he tells Nox before having Michiko turn around with her hands behind her back. He ties a true knot very loose, then a number of breakaway knots tighter, so that once Michiko used enough strength they would give way but the rope wouldn't fall off her hands if she didn't want it to.
Once that's done he looks back to Nox and hands him a kunai, then puts his hands behind his back so the man can tie him up. "We'll act like you drugged us and we'll stagger along. It will make it more believable. You stay behind us with the kunai. You may have to use some harsh language or push us around some to make it believable. Don't be afraid to do so." He looks to Michiko with a faint frown. He's still not too happy about her being here but there's nothing he can do about it at this point. "Are you sure you want to do this Michiko-san? You don't have to."
"Yes, I'm sure, Yori-san," Michiko says, the girl waiting for the binding to be over. She also works on relaxing herself a bit so she can put on a convincing act of being drugged. It shouldn't be that hard… right? Well, meh. It only takes as long as it does for Yori to be properly tied, which is probably longer than Yori would want. Nox is a bit clumsy in his rope-tying, so it takes him a few tries.
"Okay, I think I got it.." he mumbles, taking the kunai. "We can walk around a little bit so you get used to this," he offers kindly, though he doesn't mind going straight to the hideout. Once they seem ready, regardless of whatever detour they decide to (not) go on, the man would eventually nudge them towards the hideout with Yori in his grip and Michiko with a kunai at her throat. "I told you, we can't stop!" he suddenly yells, voice filled with an odd mixture of fear and anger.
His yelling draws out a few of the guards that fill the hideout, most of them wielding spears and/or swords. One or two have axes. There are about ten of them total. "Took you long enough, Nox," grumbles one as they poke Michiko with a spear near the stomach. "But it looks like you got two of 'em. Nice work, I suppose."
Yori would like things to be over already, but that wasn't liekly to happen. So instead he just waits calmly, though perhaps not patiently. He doesn't show it however as he waits. Once it's done he looks back to Nox and nods. "Let's just go," he says, taking a moment to look properly drugged. His eyes are half lidded and his steps are slow and stuttering. He watches everything carefully despite the appearance however, ready to move when the time is right. Hopefully when whatevr leader he's supposed to meet shows himself.
Well, things are slow-moving! Sorry, Yori! Michiko stumbles a bit as she's pushed forward, wincing a bit as one of the spears actually gets through and slashes her side. The girl doesn't react as she normally would, just stumbling again. The girl's eyes wander this way and that, unfocused on her surroundings. Yori seems to be convincing to the guards, too. "Make sure to bring them to the boss," says one. "He's inside. You should remember where, Nox." Another man jabs a spear at Yori, saying, "This one's a bit scrawny. It's hard to believe he's important to Kumo."
Nox simply shrugs his shoulders. "Orders are orders. I even got that Iwata Michiko girl, so… Bye!" He nudges the pair into the hideout, mumbling soft apologies to Yori as he 'drags' them and pokes the two with his kunai to get them to move. "Here we are!" he says upon reaching a metal door. It was marked with the kanji for 'leader', and he wasn't too excited to be going inside.
The door opens without warning, swinging inwards, and a woman in her mid-30s sits at a desk. Her eyebrows raise in surprise when she sees who Nox has in his grip. "Well, well. The master will be pleased," she comments, standing up and examining Yori, first. She grabs Yori by the chin so she can examine his face and make sure he's the right Saito, then she would do the same to Michiko before shutting the door behind Nox.
Yori doesn't respond to Nox as he simply lets out a soft groan like he's not totally aware of what's going on. He stumbles towards the direction that he's shoved and poked towards, mouth slightly agape. When the woman grabs his chin he just stares at her blankly with unfocused eyes, letting his head drop to his chest when she releases it. He doesn't break character just yet, waiting to see how much she might say before they spring their little surprise.
The woman seems satisfied with Michiko and Yori's performance, at least, and she settles back in her spot. Nox, perhaps stupidly, asks, "Wait, where's he at, then?" The woman peers at Nox, but seems to recognize his dumb question as genuine. "You know he doesn't stay here," she says with a roll of her eyes. The woman shakes her head a bit and stands up again. "You can get those two to the dungeons. You at least know where /those/ are, right?" Again, though, she is met with a blank look. "I have to do everything myself…" she mutters, opening the door again and leading the trio down to the basement.
Michiko continues to act like she's drugged, stumbling in front of Nox. However, she can't help but wonder if this assault is going to be successful. There was definitely a lot of people here, and the two wouldn't be able to escape without injury… The good news is that the fated Recluse scene isn't expected for another IC few weeks, so there's plenty of time to recover from a massive battle. Also, she gently loosens the binds, though she doesn't remove them, and she gently taps Yori to indicate that they should probably attack when they're down in the dungeons with this woman.
Yori continues up the act until they are down in the basement area and alone with Nox and the woman. Only then does he start to loosen his own bonds, giving Michiko a sideways glance and a nod of understanding as he prepares and works his hands free. Once that's done he waits for Michiko to give the signal to go.
The woman marches the trip down to the basement until they get to the prison cell, upon which Nox is motioned to open the locks with a set of keys. He does so, trembling a bit and fumbling with said keys, giving Michiko and Yori ample time to remove their bonds. Now! Michiko gives the signal quickly for Yori to strike, moving herself to release a bolt of fire at the woman. "Don't kill her," she tells Yori in the same breath that she used to exhale the fire.
Yori moves as soon as Michiko releases her fire, lightning arching through his bracers as they come around in front of him. He follows right behind the fire, preparing to strike the woman and try to jolt her system into seizing up.
Michiko is able to catch the woman off guard, which makes her step back and /towards/ Yori, stupidly enough. While the fire had missed, the punch did not, and she jolts upright and collapses, shaking like she just got tasered. Which she technically did… Nox lets out a relieved breath, giving himself a shake. "Let's get out of here. I don't like this…" he says worriedly, pocketing the keys.
Michiko gives a nod, then looks to Yori. "Do you think we should take down the rest of the fortress, Yori-san?" she asks seriously. She isn't going to try and force him one way or another until he gives his decision and reasoning, of course. She wants him to come up with things himself! Part of training on the job or whatever it's called.
Yori looks down at the woman as he slides the sleeves back down over his hand and vambrace, considering. He quickly grabs the rope that had bound his hands to instead bind the womans before motioning to Nox. "Take her and follow after we've started. She'll have information we can use, I'm sure." With that he turns back to Michiko and nods quickly. "As long as we can get information from the woman, the rest is just a nuisance that needs to be destroyed, Michiko-san."
Michiko nods, then gestures for Nox to grab the woman and follow them. "Let's make our way back to the entrance. We'll try and take them out in one go. There were five people when we went in, but I doubt that was all of them," Michiko cautions. It's then that Nox pipes in. "There were at least ten guys that attacked me to get Yori. They prolly have more folk now…"
Michiko gives a small nod and looks worried. "All right… Let's head up. I'll do my best to trap them as we go. Yori-san, if we run into anyone, you know what to do." Kill them. Then she turns and makes a handseal, turning into the unconscious woman for the time being. Best not to arouse suspicions!
The four would travel back along the tunnel until the reached the entrance, sadly not running into anyone. But from the sounds of it, there was a large group a few feet from the entrance. "yeah, Nox brought back two prisoners. I can't believe that incompetent loser managed to grab /both/ when it took all of us to just get the girl!" exclaims one. A few others murmur in agreement…
Yori nods to Michiko as he picks up the other ropes and wraps them around his wrists in front of him. It would suffice unless someone looked too closely. As they travel through Yori is at the ready but…nothing happens. Not until they reach the entrance which isn't too bad. But then he hears what they say and his mouth forms into a grimace before he glances sideways at 'Michiko'. He really, really wants to hurt these people.
Michiko rests a hand on Yori's shoulder, then nods slightly. Time to get these guys… She makes a handseal, and the ground turns to mush below them. Out of the twenty that are there, only ten fall victim to Michiko's attack, as a few of them were on the edges of where she struck. "Now," she whispers to Yori, planning to reveal herself later down the line. To Nox, she turns and says, "Wait here. If she wakes up, hit the back of her head against a wall a few times." That'll render her unconscious or hopefully make her cooperative. But just in case, Michiko presses a number of pressure points on the prisoner so she definitely doesn't escape.
The guards outside that aren't stuck are now looking around for who attacked them, and they are looking entirely the wrong way! Swords, spears, and axes are all held in a very threatening manner.
Yori vanishes as soon as Michiko speaks, reappearing a short distance from the guards before he lets his sleeves slide back. Lightning arcs along his vambraces and flashes brightly as he smashes his two fists together. "You have broken many laws with the most severe that the capture of Kumo shinobi as well as threatening a defenseless village. I'm afraid I can't any of you leave."
*blink* The men whirl around to see Yori and start… laughing. Well, then. "Hah! You're gonna take us on alone, kid? There's five of us and one of you. Ten, including our friends that aren't as skilled…" The men all rush at Tatsuo, weapons brandished to try and get a good hit on the Saito. The one with an axe comes first, using his huge weapon to try and cut off Yori's head. The spear user comes in to jab at Yori a bit lower, in case he tries to duck the blow, and a swordsman comes in from behind to lash out at the boy's back. Teamwork!
Yori's mind sharpens into focus when they come at him and he waits to move until they begin swinging. His head shifts to the side enough for the axe to swing overhead before half turning to meet the sword with a vambrace and allowing the spear to slip by, hopefully stabbing the swordsman. Regardless the spearman gets an elbow towards his face before Yori vanishes suddenly, reappearing a short distance away.
While Yori deals with the five that are still fighting freely, Michiko has been busy weaving her own web of destruction… Not quite literally yet. A single spike of metal has been extended to pierce all five of the men she had captured earlier, the girl ending them with a single strike to the heart. If they don't die from that, they likely die to the massive amount of damage that's done to their insides, as that metal spike seems to grow smaller thorns along its branches that want to destroy the kidnappers from the inside out. It also gives her a nice chakra boost!
Yori's opponents are obviously the more tricky ones, though. They were the ones that avoided the initial attack from Michiko (part by luck, part by skill), and now they all seemed to be working together to take Yori down without waiting for their deadbeat companions. The swordsman is well aware of where his allies are, and he blocks the spear which a dagger that was strapped to his leg. Sadly, the spear-wielder isn't so lucky, getting a broken nose thanks to Yori's attack. "Ow! By Dose!" he yelps, spitting out blood. "You'll pay fer dis!" He brandishes her spear for a bit, doing a bunch of fancy movements to distract the Saito.
If Yori is well-distracted, the axe-wielder would come down with his weapon to try and slice the kid in half! And the sword user tries to come in from the side, flicking his dagger at Yori at the last minute to hopefully get a strike in.
Michiko has her own issues. Two of the men that were facing Yori realize that someone is taking out their other compainions, and they start shooting random jutsu at her. Water bullets and Lightning Stars, to be exact, though both attacks are blocked with ease thanks to a metal barrier that arises between the Iwata and her enemies.
Yori is focused and not so easily distracted by the spinning of the spear, instead turning his focus to the axe weilder for a moment to sidestep the slice before reeling back to try and punch him straight in the nose as well with his metal covered knuckles. Then his attention is on the swordsman. He sees the sword strike but missed the dagger and ends up taking it in the arm. It doesn't stop him in the slightest however as he leaves it in and brings his other fist around, this one covered my lightning as he tries the strike the swordsman in the stomach, hoping to cause his body to seize up and deal some lovely internal damage.
What a tricksy swordsman… While the axe-wielder is able to epically fail in bringing his axe up for a shield, the man ends up with a broken nose of his own! Well, now both he and the spear-wielder look like bloody messes. And they don't know if they want to keep fighting Yori. Okay, time for a coin-flip! Mental, that is. They shuffle their chances, glance at each other… Then start fleeing like their lives depend on it. Because technically it does.
"Cowards…" mutters the swordsman, drawing his blade and watching Yori with very perceptive eyes… He's clearly more skilled with his blade with many years of experience under his belt (or just many battles under his belt in a short time). When he sees Yori leave an opening, he darts in, feinting a strike to the boy's side before spinning and trying to plant his foot in Yori's chest.
Michiko is busy with the two who keep sending high-ranking jutsu at her. Fire-dragon bullets (interesting, the pair somehow managed to combine their own abilities, creating the blazing mud dragon by non-traditional means. "Dang it.." Michiko mutters, raising a huge barrier of earth to block the attack. "Next thing I know they'll be spitting wind at me too." The girl forms a new set of handseals and places her hands against the large wall she had created, forcing the wall to sort of implode before it turns into two hands that each attempt to grab up the ninjutsuists she faces.
Yori is very keenly aware of where the retreating types are but for now he lets them think they might escape. He's got to deal with this man first because leaving his back open to him would be foolish. If only he still had his sword but he'd sent it back with the horses. Wouldn't have been too helpful to have such a thing when pretending to be captured. He recognizes the feint for what it is and brings his arms up to cover his chest, blocking the kick though it still knocks him back a few inches. Yori pulls the dagger out of his shoulder as his arms uncross and he flings it at the man before vanishing again. He reappears behind the man, hoping the dagger will be distracting enough as he brings his lightning covered fist right towards the swordsmans kidney.
The swordsman moves his sword, parrying the dagger so that it clatters to the ground. He's about to turn when *ZAP* Yori gets him good with that lightning strike. He collapses to the ground, throughly downed thanks to the electricity flowing through his entire body. "Gugghh" he gurgles out, body spasming a bit. The two with bloody and broken noses are leaving an obvious trail of blood, and their outlines are still noticeable on the horizon. So Yori can probably catch them with ease.
The two that Michiko is facing off against are determined to win, but Michiko is lucky and she's able to grab them in those earthen hands that promptly drag them into the ground. "Well, this won't be effective with only two of you, but I suppose it'll work," she muses, drawing anther long spike from the ground and touching poison to its tip. The metal suddenly launches itself at the two men that are trapped, and it pierces their throats, draining blood and chakra from their bodies. If they survived the throat-pierce, they probably don't want to continue, though, as the poison is painful, too… They'll be dead soon.
Yori doesn't even wait once the man begins to fall, quickly grabbing the mans sword and turning to drive it straight through his heart. A quick death. Then he vanishes again, flashing across the ground before comes at the axe man from behind, flashing through swith a sweeping strike of the sword before turning to face the remaining spearman. "I told you that you could not leave."
The axe-wielder has no chance to react, Yori felling him with the same swiftness that he killed the swordsman. His huge body falls, making a loud *THUD* against the earth and kicking up some dust. The spear user doesn't have his spear in his had, having dropped it several yards back. "You can't tell me what to do!" he says boldly, buying time to try and think of a plan.
Such an outcry might work against someone who was hesitant about killing these people, but Yori was not. They had done more than enough damage to Kumo and other villages in order to deserve this death and more. "You can either fight me and die painfully, or surrender yourself to a quick death." Yori is at least kind enough to offer.
The kidnapper stares at Yori. "You do realize I don't like either of those options," he says weakly before… running the other way. But not trying to run away. He was trying to grab the weapon he had dropped earlier. His movements aren't as fast as a trained shinobi, though, and he moves a bit clumsily, as if hampered by injuries (because he did get bonked a few times in the head by the axe wielder, as well as got a broken nose).
Yori's not surprised in the slightest. Instead of pausing, or waiting, or even thinking about it, he just moves instantly after the man who's back is now to him. A lightning filled stab of the sword seeks to puncture a vital spot in order to make it as painless as possible for the man. He may want them dead, but he's not a masochist.
BZZT. And the final man is down. Michiko comes over to Yori to check up on how he was handling himself, looking at the two bodies that are definitely dead. "Good job, Yori-san," she says. "I think we should be getting back now, though. We've overstayed our welcome here, and we still need to question the woman from earlier." Nox comes up panting behind Michiko. "A little 'elp?" he whine-pants, obviously exhausted from carrying deadweight.
Yori stabs the blade into the ground, letting the lightning dispurse from it as he leaves it there and turns to bow to Michiko, "Hai." He turns to wipe off a few blood splotches before eyeing his shoulder…he'll live. When Nox comes over Yori reaches out with his good arm to take the woman over his shoulder, relieving the man before looking to Michiko. He was going to send Nox back to his village but that wasn't his choice.
Michiko makes a handseal and heals Yori's injuries as best she can before handing him a roll of bandages. "Use these," she instructs, taking the unconscious woman from Yori while he gets himself fixed up. "Let's go back to the village. Nox-san can come with us until we have to part ways. He can ride with myself and Roadblock while you take the woman," she says. Nox bows in thanks to Michiko and Yori, glancing uncertainly at the kidnappers. "Thank you fer everything," he says with a tone filled to the brim with gratitude.
