Starring:
Mumei, Saitama
Date: May 8, 2016
Summary:
A wild maneater is on the loose.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Might Alone"
Mountain River Bed
Word was out that a maneater was on the loose in the Land of Lightning. It was sudden but the denizens were already in a bit of a panic. The Cloud took immediate action before citizens of Kumogakure caught wind of this. The maneater in question was rumored to be some animal but none have seen it they've only seen its work. But they had leads and a trail to follow, it was only a matter of time before they encountered something. Unfortunately it was also only a matter of time before the maneater would feed again. The information was confidential so not many in Kumogakure knew of this save for high ranking shinobi, officials, and the like. But the grapevine held many rumors. There wasn't a panic but there was tension and it was rising.
Mumei heard the rumors too but he paid them no mind. Instead the boy focuses on his training. He's improving to the point where he is becoming aware of his surroundings via sound and touch alone. The Mountain River Bed is treacherous even for those with sight. Mumei had been hanging around there learning to focus his hearing and block out sounds that are unimportant. He sits facing the waterfall focusing on tuning it out.
From Mumei's rear something slithers about. He's unaware at the moment of it though. Through ruby red eyes Mumei is spotted. The path becomes more deliberate as it makes its way towards Mumei. Winding carefully and quietly trying to remain undetected until the last minute. Feet becoming inches, inches into centimeters, and from there its just a measurement of time. Mumei sits still as a corpse only breathing just faintly. The time is right and a soft hiss is released before a lunge. Mumei snaps around in response. A foot comes down upon a snake that sought to prey upon Mumei. It was a nice sized reptilian. A man in a tattered shirt bleeding across his chest stands atop the creature and kicks it away from Mumei. It slithers back from whence it came. The man looks to Mumei and sighs "The hermit is wrong with you kid?" he asks. Mumei's nose twitches before he smiles. "Nothing as of now. Why do I not look ok?" the man grins "You're an odd one."
Saitama mood wasn't the best as he rested upon a tree in area the scent of blood motioned him to investigate this issue. Sluggish movements would plague him today and thus he took off slowly strolling around tracing the blood to some sort of origin point to say the least before he would attempt to scan the area of all sight and sounds. For the moment Saitama found nothing too outlandish but a heighten defenses wouldn't hurt none. For now Saitama had no clues to what was happening in the land but he would know something isn't sitting right with him at the moment.
Mumei turns around to face the man. His blindfold catches the stranger's eye. "Thanks for that. I didn't hear it coming until the last second." The man peers down at Mumei. "You blind kid? Or just daft?" Mumei shakes is head. "I'm not blind. Just can't see. And I take a offense to that second part." The man chuckles a bit confused by Mumei. "Well you have to be daft to be out with a man eater on the loose." Mumei's head tilted to the left "Man eater? Oh you don't believe those rumors do you?" The man folds his arms "As a matter of fact I do and they're not rumors. I was attacked by it." Mumei's nose scrunches "That explains the smell of blood." He stands up. "Still though I'm not buying it. What kind of man eater is it? And why hasn't anyone done anything? Taken precautions, set up a perimeter? Ya'know the usual?" The man chuckles "Because they simply don't know. They don't know what kind of creature we're dealing with. Its all about control. The more you know…the more you can control kid." The man informs. He sighs "Look I'd love to sit here and debate with you but I have to get going. That creature is nearby and I barely got away with my head attached."
The man begins to walk off. Mumei considers what he's said and decides to follow. "So you've seen it?" The man nods. Mumei doesn't notice though. "Hey I asked you a question." The man turns to Mumei irked until he sees the blindfold. "Ugh. WHy are you wearing that blindfold still? Training time is over." Mumei sighs "Just answer the question have you seen it?" The man groans "Yes…yes I have." Mumei rubs his head. "What is it?" The man stops and turns to Mumei "Look what's it to ya? Just high tail it back to yer village before ya get eaten." Mumei folds his arms in defiance. "I'm a shinobi of the cloud. If there is a threat on the loose then I have to do my part." The man blinds dumbfounded at Mumei. "You….are a shinobi?" He looks the boy up and down. "Seriously? They'll let anyone graduate these days." Mumei bites his tongue and tries to focus on the task at hand. "Are you gonna tell me what I want to know or not?"
Saitama, should he continue to follow the trail would find that it lead him past a myriad of animal corpses and shredded scenery. Trees were split down the middle and claw marks were everywhere. Traces of shinobi equipment could be found as well. Should he investigate long enough he'll come along signs of a struggle, a fight between three. Should he investigate more he might find something even more astounding. In this struggle or fight all parties involved…walked upright on two legs. The survivor headed towards the River Bed.
Saitama sighed as the trail he followed grew darker and darker and made him remember times when he used to be an assassin and the struggles of being caught. Taking a deep breath one could imagine the horrific scene that played out here. Racing towards the river bed is where the plot freaking thicken "well what do we have here." The blood scent increased while the secondary scent subsided it was Mumei or so he thought the fresh scent of water masked it for the moment. Saitama used the high grounds to scout before moving further down the river bed path.
"Well first of all kid, it's not a creature. It's a man." Mumei gags "A man? A man is this man eater?" The stranger chuckles. "Messed up right? But I saw him with my own eyes." The man looks off into the distance. Mumei doesn't notice that but what he does notice is that the man becomes distracted in tone. "He looked like he was either very angry or in a lot of pain. Blood stained his skin from his nails up to his forearms. And his eyes were this horrible black. Even the white of his eyes seemed corrupted…the veins like thick roots branching out everywhere." The man looks back to Mumei "And he has some sharp teeth. They'll shred your flesh in seconds." Mumei was growing more and more uncomfortable as the description went on. "And this thing is still after you!? Why aren't we running?" The man sighs "I can't outrun it." Mumei takes the man's arm "We don't have to! We just need to get to the village or close enough to-" Mumei releases the man's arm and sniffs his hand "Blood."
Saitama would easily be able to note that whatever left the bloody trail then went to the River Bed and met Mumei. There were no signs of a struggle but it was clear that the two moved off in a direction away from the village. Back with Mumei and the stranger now; Mumei wipes the blood on his pants and begins to breathe heavy. "You're injured?" The man's tone grows low. "No." Mumei swallows once. "But you said it almost took your head off." The man sighs "There are many ways to almost lose your head…" Mumei steps back. "I'm sorry kid. You seem nice but a guy's gotta eat?" Mumei starts to whimper as he can feel the animosity. "We could always grab a bite back in town?" He offers frighteningly. The man chuckles "Normal food does nothing for me anymore. It has to be human. I wish it were different. All the lives I've taken. But don't worry. I'm gonna find the guy who did this to me. I'll make sure he gets his too." The boy hears a horrible cracking and shifting sound as if the man's bones were unhinging and reforming. Mumei not longer felt the presence of a man before him. He takes out a kunai, nervously trembling, and holds it out. He can feel the hot breath of this beast before him, salivating at the mouth teething with hunger. "You never told me your name kid…" the beast growls.
Saitama scratched the back of his head for a moment or two before taking off, the feeling he felt was that of a beast rather than a man. Flicking his nose Saitama started to smell out Mumei. Spitting a little bit Saitama would slip into stealth mode as he grew closers even to the point of holding his breath as his eyes dulled a little bit and became darker in hue as he slowly rotated his shoulders.
"Mumei, my name is Mumei. What's yours?" He asks with a nervous laugh. The insanity of all this nearly numbed him. He even stopped trembling with fear. "I don't have a name kid. Just a monster. I'm sorry." Mumei smiles and the beast smiles with him. "Well I guess with a name like Mumei…you don't really have a name either." They chuckle as the beast draws closer. "I'm not going to make it easy for you." Mumei grips his kunai. The beast sneers "They never do. Doesn't change anything thing." Mumei slashes out to cut the beast. To his surprise he connects. He slashes again and he connects. He continues to assault the beast confidence growing with each strike until he hears the beast fall and its breathing shallows. Mumei breathes heavily out of breath from his frantic flailing. Then the breathing returns to normal and Mumei can feel the heat of the beasts breath once more. "You're not a bad shinobi." he says. Mumei finds himself cut and swatted into a tree. Blood trickling down his forehead and his stomach leaks blood onto the ground. He groans coming to a stand. For those who could see what occurred it would appear the beast could regenerate from its wounds. It approaches Mumei ready to feast "Sorry Mumei, I'll make it quick." Mumei grumbles but grips his kunai tight. "Ikki…" he mutters.
New blood would tickle his nose and he finally confirmed who it was and snapped into action. Saitama slipped under the beast and with the ending motion of this he kicked/shoved Mumei out of the way of any pending attacks before digging his fingers into the ground and spin/twisting his body to kick the beast into the air. "Lucky for you I was near by…are you alright Mumei?"
"Ikki?" the beast repeats and pauses. "That's your name." Mumei says coughing a little. he comes to a stand using the tree he was knocked against as support. The man beast grins. "Hehe ok whatever you say. No more stalling I'm hungry." he lunges at Mumei who has no idea how much longer he can keep up his defense. Saitama's efforts saved Mumei's life. He kicks the beast skyward but it would have no effect. "Saita-san! Hehe right on time. I'm great now." He lands and he groans "Another? Look I don't particularly like killing but if you guys keeping getting in the way…" The beast reels back and bears its fangs. It charges wildly now twisting its arms and legs in a slashing fashion at Mumei and Saitama. "We should head back towards the village."
Saitama sighed heavily as the beast came and attack Saitama swiftly faded from view and appear behind him "it seems like you're not gonna go down that easily eh.l, very well then." Cracking his neck Saitama surged with chakra and swiftly struck with a powerful fist to the back of the neck before flipping back and struck with a dual yo-yo strike infused with his chakra to the legs. Due to speed and weight if they hit they could do some serious damage. "No need to run from something or someone you're not afraid of."
Mumei and Saita managed to evade the beast's attacks. Mumei successfully rolls to safety hanging on to his stomach to slow the bleeding. Saitama's offensive approach was valiant and one of his strikes did seem to cause the beast discomfort but unfortunately it was clear no actually damage was done. The man beast snickers. "I've eaten shinobi stronger than you, stronger than me, simply because of this body." The man beast snarls "I can't die. I can't be hurt you fool." He snarls at Saitama and slashes at the boy. Waving him off he looks to Mumei who is picking himself up. "You scent is sweet Mumei-san…" Mumei shudders "Eek don't say things like that I'm only 12." he takes off running though realizing that this creature is more interested in eating him than killing Saitama. They can't beat it, Mumei has ascertained that much. They're too weak. "Abandoning your friend Mumei-san? I thought you were better than that!" he snarls chasing Mumei down. The boy runs back to the river bed.
Saitama takes the brutal slash across the chest cutting him open causing a wince to glance on his face it's this moment he lost himself self. Shifting he weight he dashed forward and attempted to trip the beast while using the yo-yo as the means before leaping into the air. Using the fall of gravity he crawled up into a ball and rotated as he crashed down with a powerful leg crashed to the neck of the beast of successful.
As Mumei scampers away Saitama is successful at tripping the beast up and sending it to the ground momentarily. But it rises otherwise unharmed by the genin. He looks back to Saitama and grins "Maybe I should eat you first." It turns to face Saitama. But Mumei stops realizing the beast has stopped chasing him. "Ikki!" Mumei calls out. Mumei tosses a kunai at the beast which gets lodged into his eye socket. The man beast just pulls it out unfazed and starts towards Saitama. Mumei grumbles and rushes the creature. His attack come from all angles. He kicks and punches and stabs at the man beast trying to get its attention. The beast offers a fierce backhand to Mumei before it lunges at Saitama trying to sink its fangs into him!
Saitama shifted behind the beast once more and sighed "we haven't attempted heart removal or decapitation…he has to have some sort of weakness." Saitama spun about and shifted slightly before flicking his wrist about snapping three Kunai at its back before smashing the yo-yo into the second and third rib cage threatening cause a tons of pain.
The man beast was unfazed by all of the two genin's combined attacks. His tough muscle repelled their attempts and any cut made closed up almost instantly. Mumei was swatted away and left coughing on his own blood. The man beast lunged for Saitama but the boy was able evade the jaws of the beast. "We can't beat him Saita-san." Mumei grumbles. 'We're not strong enough….I'm not strong enough.' He punches the ground in frustration. But he rises holding his bloody abdomen. "That's ok though, we just have to do what we can." Mumei grins. The man beast begins to laugh. "This is pointless. You two can't defeat me. My muscle is to dense. If you cut me I repair just as quick. I'm the perfect predator. I was made to be." Mumei waves Saitama over having a thought. "Get over here…we need to run." The man beast charges Saitama not planning on letting him escape to Mumei.
Saitama noticed that bleeding Mumei and as it stands now his friend would die…he however could've kept the fight up…frustrated as the last attacked was pending he smirked as he slipped from the assault and appeared in front of Mumei scarf dancing in the wind as he picked him up and faded from view to escape back to the village while carrying Mumei.
Evading the lunge again the man beast finds that's he's missed his mark and that its getting away. Mumei slaps Saitama on his back. "Go back to the river bed." He instructs. "We can't outrun him either. He's right. He's the perfect predator." Mumei smirks "And that's how we'll beat him." He groans "And ease up. I have a hole in my stomach dude…" he informs shifting a bit. "Trust me on this you're a bit quicker when it comes to dodging than I am." The man beast hungrily follows behind Saitama and Mumei.
"Baka shut up or I'll let him eat you." Heavy sigh escapes him as he shifted about headed towards the beach aka river bed. Pulling wire and Kunai he tossed them about the area trying trip him up to buy the duo more times. Saitama offensive abilities were being held back due to carrying on a wounded Mumei.
The man beast wasn't having any more of the genin's resistance. It charges through Saitama's trap gaining on the duo. As they come to the river bed Mumei directs Saitama to stop but not before he points to Saitama's tool pouch. "Got any wire left?" he asks. Afterwards he has Saitama set him down. "Leave the rest to me bud." Mumei smiles. The man beast comes to a halt and stares daggers at the two. "Ok Ikki, lets put an end to this." Mumei motions Saitama to stand back. Mumei's wounded and bleeding still. The man beast inclines his head at Mumei curious. The beast is so arrogant that it doesn't even bother wonder what Mumei is up to. Mumei leaps back and slings a kunai the beast. They bounce off the dense muscle. Mumei can't retreat however though. The roaring waters at his back. Falling in would mean certain death. The current is too strong. The man beast grins "Goodbye Mumei-san." he say lunging for the boy.
"Sorry golden rule of the assassin never give your last away," shrugging he faded from sight and mind as he touched that maybe a well place strike could send the beast over the river bed. Swiftly pulling out the yo-yo (dual welding) he aimed one to trip the other to stagger before infusing the last for a chakra strike to temple of the skull no matter the thick muscles the head roughly stayed the same in both animals and humans.
Saitama's strike bound off the beast but his last does cause some discomfort not enough to really do more than just annoy the creature. "You're dead next." Mumei awaits the lunging beast's fangs and shakes his head "Saita-san I said leave him to me." He smiles slyly. Something was in his hands. He doesn't move and lets the beast sink its fangs into him. Blood spirts out but Mumei doesn't let his pain go to waste. He's falling back into the racing rapids of the falls and he's taking the beast with him. "Let's see how well a dense guy like you swims." Mumei sneers giving a thumbs up to Saitama. They both go under and the water is polluted red with blood. For a while there is no sign of either but Mumei resurfaces his hands bloody and clenched around the wire Saitama used in an earlier attempt to trip up the man beast. Secured to land Mumei was able to keep hold of it keep himself from being carried away by the current. Alas he didn't have the strength to pull himself in.
Saitama raced down the side of the sea and landed on the surface of the water before reaching out to grab hold of Mumei…"always the heroics…also sorry…I should've used it but…aways let's get you patched up and the information back to the village…if my memory of the terrain is correct it should carry him a nice distance away before swallowing out." Saitama motion to take off whole carrying the weaken genin feeling some type of way about the ordeal.
Mumei grins a silly bloody grin before giving Saitama a thumbs up as he makes it back to land. "You could hear it in the way he moved. He was very heavy. And very arrogant. It would be easy to lead him into that with the right bait. Nice trick with the wire. He didn't notice at all." Mumei chuckles and pats Saitama on the shoulder before taking a deep breath. It was a breath of relief as well. Yorishiro's words echo though Mumei's head. One day he'd be a Yotsuki that would make someone proud but for now he was weak…and that may not be a bad thing. "Yeah…we gotta-" He then passes out from blood loss and overall excitement.
