Starring:
Date: January 11, 2014
Summary:
A rescue mission turns into an encounter with a strange foe.
"Monkey Unbusiness"
Training Area #26 - Genin Training [Konohagakure]
The weather out on the sea a short distance from the mainland of the Land of Fire isn't too cheerful. The sky is dark, thunder booms back and forth over the horizon, rain pours relentlessly down, and the waves toss fitfully. What's worse, and strange, is that this storm has been going on for days, not seeming to move from its general position over a small island. Said island happens to be a popular daytrip location for locals going picnicking or the like, and a number of people got trapped there when the storm hit. So when the storm showed no signs of abating, ninja were called in to go rescue the starving castaways. After all, freaky stuff like that is exactly what you throw ninja at, right?
The captainleader of this venture, a peculiar Konoha chuunin named Adrian, does seem pretty cheerful. Who cares if it's just a simple rescue mission? Who cares if the ship they're using is just a simple fishing craft? Who cares if the sky and sea are howling a baleful threat to any who dare venture out? (Actually, that last one might even be a plus in Adrian's book.) The important thing is, they're out sailing! >D It's not every year Adrian gets to do that anymore. "Hold fast now!" Adrian shouts out from the helm. "The water's getting a bit choppy ahead!" Y'know, compared to the breakers they've already been dodging.
+ There were many things that the kunoichi, Uzumaki Miyo, could handle without a problem. Ships had never been one of them, however. The poor girl was huddled up in a corner, her hood pulled up over her head and arms wrapped around her legs as she groaned along with the boat. Seafaring was one thing, but seafaring in a storm on the raging seas was an entirely other scenario for one with horrible sea-sickness! Thankfully, she didn't feel like it was time to vomit… yet.
Rise cared and quite a lot at that actually. Why? The reason being has been pretty obvious since accepting the start of the mission. Rise loved swimming! She loved the ocean. She loved swimming in the ocean no matter the weather~ The thing is, Rise loved the combination of challenging weather and swimming so much that it was hard to keep from wanting to leap out into the open water along the trip entire way. The only way she could escape was by keeping an eye on Miyo for the time being. Nothing says distracting like making sure noone puked on the deck… yet.
Adrian turns the wheel deftly, shunting a huge wave off the side of the ship…mostly. After the water drains off of the deck, Adrian looks down at his subordinates. "There's definitely skullduggery ahead," he calls out. "This is too easy, the storm's pulling us toward the island. Something's trying to keep everything in. Keep a sharp eye out!" With that inspirational speech, Adrian steers the vessel through the crashing waves until they reach the island. It takes remarkably little time; as Adrian said, the water was driving them inward unnaturally. The boat scrapes into a sandbar and sticks, and the crew disembarks.
Once on the island, something else strange about the storm becomes apparent: it doesn't extend far inward over the island. Daylight streams down from a hole in the clouds, lighting up the center of the island. Of course, it's hard to see much about the center anyway besides the fact that it's densely forested. Adrian sighs as he steps forward, the fun part of the mission being over for him for now. "Looks as though we'll be searching the verdant places. I don't suppose any of you are particularly well-versed in woodcraft?"
+ If ever there were a time when Miyo may have considered hating someone, it was at about the time that Adrian let loose on the helm to protect the ship. Unfortunately for the young girl, such an action not only caused her stomach to churn in unpleasant ways, but it also slammed her roughly up against a barrel of unknown contents and left her dazed for some time.
Around the time they ran a-ground, Miyo had recovered herself, rushed onto shore, and flopped down on her stomach. "Uggh… so muddy… but so… solid…"
Sea legs be not what Rise has… exactly. So when Adrian's latest stunt causes the ship to turn sharply, well, Rise's head finds out the hard way just how dense the ships railing is. Of course, she doesn't exactly come to an instant conclusion due to being render unconscious as a result of the crash. "Ugh.. mmm… What…?" She murmurs as the dazed girl slowly got back to her feet and stumbled about the ship.
One little misstep, a mild headache, and a heavy landing later is followed by Rise stumbling into the captain and grasping onto him for support. She looks past him then, absorbing as much as she could before her thoughts began to scatter again. "Sorta.." She seems to murmur.
Adrian glances aside at the sudden tug on his sea coat. "Hm? Lost your land legs already? That's strange, usually it takes weeks at sea at the very least." Adrian hooks his arm under Rise's hand. "A lady's distress ought not be ignored, even if she be a capable lass in our admittedly rough line of work. Nothing for it but to earn your footing back, though." Adrian looks back to Miyo. "What, you too? Come come, we'll be as vulnerable as a fat merchant ship at low tide if you both have to lean on me." :P
Regardless of logistics, Adrian leads the party into the forest, seeking the source of the mysterious storm. While he's aware they're headed into a likely danger zone, and is doing his best to watch out for trouble, he's not the best woodsman out there, and thus is not able to detect the ambush creeping up around them…
+ After being seen, Miyo immediately hops up, getting to her feet in an instant. "Haha! It was nothing, I just tripped!" She then looks down at herself and grumbles while brushing her robes off, trying to get some mud off. The girl then scoots over towards the other two and follows them into the forest. Like Adrian, the poor, unsuspecting Uzumaki is more interested in keeping dry than anything else.
If Rise hasn't already been forced off the good captain, the girl would remove herself from his person after spending a good, solid minute gathering her wits again. The 'good' captain's words give Rise a start. Not the bit about being called a lady in distress — tempting thought it was to growl at him for that — but mentioning Miyo to be exact.
She panics and began to search frantically for the girl. The search is cut at Rise's first turning about thanks to Miyo's declaration. "Uh-huh." Rise smirks at Miyo and is just about to open her mouth to add on to that when she senses Adrian on the move. It helped that he sounded like an elephant with the way he started out into the woodlands. With an exasperated shake of her head, Rise pursued him into the trees, quietly, er, -er too.
"…. Don't look now Adrian-san, but it looks like the locals aren't taking too kindly to your whacking at their greenery." She says as her gaze drifted from one monkey to the next in the surrounding trees. Too many and far too interested to be ordinary…
Adrian blinks at Rise's announcement, although seeing as she mentioned 'don't look', he can't get a terribly good idea what they're up against. e.e; "Well then, I suppose we ought to try diplomacy first, out of principle if nothing el — ow!" Adrian claps a hand to the side of his head as something stings it. >.< Suddenly the air is full of pelting nuts and monkey hoots. "Bilgewater! Diplomacy's off the table, then!" Adrian grits, dodging behind a tree for protection from at least one side. "We could use a prisoner, they could be made to inform us of what's going on here!" Assuming they're not just dumb beasts being manipulated somehow. :P
+ When the nuts start flying, Miyo barely notices. Between the rain and her heavy robes, the projectiles had little impact on her. "What's going on? I thought you said there were hostiles?" She whirls around to try and find the attackers, but finds only more and more monkeys! "What do we do?"
She turned to regard Adrian as he spoke. That is when things got weird for her. For a moment there, Time seems to move slowly to rise as the nut to fly is sent on a crash course for Adrian's head. Does she protect him or — Rise hands jump to in front of her mouth in surprise from the nut abruptly colliding with Adrian's head. She doesn't have enough time to even whisper an apology before it starts raining nuts!
She ducks, bobs, jumps, and side-steps the nuts with the minimal of ease in and an almost interpretive dance like flare. But every time she tried to get a word out regarding just /how/ the kidnapping one of the monkeys was gonna help a nut seemed to always fly conveniently close to her cheek. "Cap'n says capture so we catch'em." Rise says sternly after slipping behind the seeming relative safety of Miyo's thick coated body. After that, Rise tried scanned the crowd of monkeys, hoping to find a lame one or a leader looking one to point out for Miyo to direct her efforts to taking down.
Adrian draws his fencing saber, though he can't do much with it at the moment besides block a few incoming nuts. "This is beyond ridiculous! Get ready to make a run for it, there's little to be gained standing here and being pelted!" The monkeys, meanwhile, despite their organized assault, don't seem to have a particular leader; in fact, now that they've ambushed the ninja, they all seem to be doing their own thing. Many of them throw nuts randomly, some shake the branches they're on and hoot, and a few just hang from their tails and cackle. Maybe one of those one laughing their heads off would make a good snatching target. Adrian waits until after a particularly heavy wave of nuts, then shouts "Now!" and takes off while the monkeys are reloading.
+ Miyo looks from Rise to Adrian, nuts bouncing off of her like… well.. rain drops. They also happened to be bouncing off of her, and neither seemed to really register on the girl due to the heavy garments. "Now what?"
When Adrian takes off, Miyo seems to catch up and rushes after him, doing her best to keep up. Where was he going? And why were they… fighting monkeys?
Rise had to agree, though that didn't mean she planned on following through with the make shift plan from the good cap'n to the letter. One of those cackling monkeys managed to actually hit her in the sore spot at the back of her head, and Rise had a fairly good idea on just which one it was. The word "we" barely makes it out of her mouth before she hears Adrian take off into the forest… with Miyo hot on his tail.
Knowing that at best she had seconds before the monkey's realized she lagged behind or even less than that BECAUSE they noted this immediately, Rise made a mad lunge at the monkey that hit her, hoping to catch the furball in a headlock in one go before absconding with it after her compatriots.
They're explicitly not fighting monkeys, that's the point of running instead. >.< If they were a serious foe, they could've come up with something a lot more deadly than nuts to throw at them. Standing around in the middle of a hailstorm isn't exactly great for one's health either though, hence Adrian's decision to get out of there and regroup. The monkeys screech in triumph as the group flees…although one of them ends up screeching more in surprise as he finds himself in Rise's headlock. o.O "Ow, ow! Lemme go! You're not supposed to fight back, that's not part of the game! None of the others played like that!" DX
+ Having followed Adrian out of the firezone, Miyo looks to the leader, and then back. "Where's Rise?" The kunoichi then notices the way the monkeys were reacting to them fleeing, as well as the one that was in a headlock.
By some glorious miracle Rise doesn't immediately drop the monkey after hearing him speak or as the others now have a firmer target to pelt. She does loosen her grip juuuust a tad so that the monkey doesn't asphyxiate while she runs after the others. Well that, and so she doesn't accidentally break its neck in the process like the last living thing she held in a headlock before. c_c;
"You can talk!?" Yes. Even the wild girl who has seen talking foxes and salamanders still found herself asking that right off the back. "And what game!? You better start talk'n quick before that pretty little head of yours pop off." She threatens, though without being able to glare at the monkey to, the effect might be lost on the poor thing.
Adrian halts once the voices of the monkeys are sufficiently distant. Wouldn't be good to run slap into some other hazard if it can be avoided, and there's a certain advantage to keeping a good idea of where the enemy is. The other monkeys don't seem terribly interested in pursuing at the moment or rescuing their lost comrade; in fact, there seems to be quite a bit of laughter coming from them. The captured monkey squirms in Rise's iron grip. "What game? Um…oh, I know what to call it! Monkeys Always Win!" n.n The monkey brings a foot up to scratch his head. "We usually don't bother with rules or anything, we just do what we feel like. It's been working great with those other humans, they never try to hurt us." :( Adrian feels an impulse to order thirty lashes, but he swallows it and gets down to business. "And what about this storm, how did you manage that?" The monkey brightens. "Ohhh, the Monkey Sage does that! It invites more people in to play with us, he says!" n.n
"I didn't hurt you that badly," Rise mutters glumly. "Sheesh." Despite her personal beliefs Rise still winds up shifting the monkey around so that she's holding him around the waist instead. She'd kick herself later if the runt managed to slip out of her grip during the process, but for now, her ego needed saving. Sorta. "And this monkey sage of yours. Where is he, exactly? And what'ch y'all do with those that came before us?" She asks pointedly at first, then softer out of belatedly fear of harming her ego again.
The monkey glances up at Rise's face. "Where? Oh, that's easy! I'll show you!" And then he DOES slip out of Rise's grasp! But he seems to be serious about showing them where the Monkey Sage is. "This way! Follow me!" The monkey hops off into the trees at an easy pace. Adrian follows after him. "Either this is a trap, or these apes have no concept of how serious the situation is," he mutters. "Regardless, this is our best lead." :P
Sure enough, the monkey leads them to a clearing in the middle of the island where a large, fat monkey in a robe sits. He looks almost like a furry version of a Buddha, and he has an intricate hookah sitting by him. He puffs out wisps of smoke every so often, which drift upward to join the blackened clouds around the island. "Great Monkey Sage!" chirps Rise's guide. "These humans wanted to see you!" The Monkey Sage turns a glassy stare to Adrian and Rise, as if noticing them for the first time. "Oh, the game has reached that stage already?" |3
"Ack! O-oi!" Rise exclaims during the struggle to keep the monkey still. Alas, the furry little thing was far too slippery for even her experienced hands! After a false start from surprise at the monkey actually declaring he'd lead the way, Rise takes off after him. She would even gone as far as to run side-by-side with the little critter if not for the team leader speaking up. "Yeah.. *sighs*.. I know." She admits grumpily before her gaze shoots back to the monkey.
Just as declared, the little monkey actually does lead them to what appeared to be a monkey sage. Or should appear? Well, It ain't like she's seen a monkey sage before so she had to go on instinct on this one. Instincts that so far agreed with the assumption. "Listen up, Daisaru-san! We ain't here to play no games."
The Monkey Sage sends another puff skyward. "I know," he drawls. "This is our little vacation tradition, you see. We find a nice little island that doesn't have too many humans on it, then set up this storm and play with the humans that get drawn in. Eventually they send somebody who can be a real bother, and that's when we usually go home." The Sage takes a long draw on his hookah. "You got here a lot quicker than usual, though, and I don't feel like leaving yet. So…" The Monkey Sage suddenly spews a forceful cone of water at Adrian and Rise. Adrian evades with a twirling sidestep. "And here I thought diplomacy might have a chance again after all!" >.<;
"You do?" Rise actually calmed down for a second. In fact, she even went as far as to cross her arms and go with plan F: Listen first, beat up second. An over generalized version of plan G; which described was a mirror of plan C, but specific on just how she intended to deliver the ass whopping. A vein literally bulges in her forehead from the amount of anger that surged through her from the sage's response.
Agitated as she was, Rise still had enough sense to mirror Adrian's, avoiding the cone of water. "Oh ho ho! Don't you worry Adrian-san. There's gonna be diplomacy up in here.. out, here in just a second." Rise said, cracking her knuckles as she stepped forward. It was overkill pure and simple, but rise did not care! Being pelted, knocked out, and unable to enjoy a good swim were three things too many as is. So, as she lowered herself for the leap meant to close the distance between her and the sage within seconds, Rise released the first gate. The ground literally cracks under the force of her leap as a result. She spins in mid-air, and when the moment was right she struck out with her right elbow, supporting it with her other hand for extra power. "Leaf Rock Destroying Rise!!"
*CRACK!*
A sound like a gunshot echoes over the island as Rise's elbow meets the Monkey Sage's hand. It doesn't particularly hurt Rise, but neither does the Monkey Sage seem affected. Don'tcha just hate those twinkhax sage powers? :P The Monkey Sage gives a little shove to push Rise away, though with his strength it turns out to be a pretty firm shove. "You're bothering me," the Monkey Sage says plaintively. "Just go away, we'll let the other humans leave the island in a week or two. Maybe." -.- Adrian carefully draws his saber. "I'm afraid that is an unacceptable outcome, sir. I perceive that you are formidable, but we have means of overcoming such obstacles."
Rise's eyes go wide-eyed in shock. There was no way that a strike capable of leveling a boulder could be deflected like that. Right? Unfortunately the answer isn't exactly forthcoming. Nor would she be given time to ponder that due to the Monkey Sage shoving her way before she could regroup on her own. Thankfully those years of aerial recovery (yes, aerial recovery because that's how Kumo rolls :P) saved her from her ending up in an even worst state from the shove. Even so, Rise hits the ground sliding a good couple of meters before running out of inertia.
"Tch! *winces*… Already?" She murmurs, feeling the strain from the gate already. "Adrian-san, mind creating an opening for me?" She says as looked at him from the corner of her eyes. If the answer is yes, Rise would follow her team leader's lead in the next attack and bring to bear a spin back kick (Leaf Strong Whirlwind) at whatever seemed the most vulnerable spot on the monkey sage.
Adrian nods. "As you wish." Adrian dashes in low with his saber held horizontal to the ground. The Monkey Sage draws in another breath from the hookah, then readies both hands and feet to meet the assaults coming at him. "It's useless. If you don't leave me alone, I'm going to have to start getting rough with you two." :P The Sage's nimble hands grab Rise's attacking limb again, while his feet move to protect his gut from the saber point —
— only that's not where the saber goes. Adrian veers off at the last second and attacks the hookah! The blade easily slices through the device's hose and crushes some of the thin metal workings. The Monkey Sage lets go of Rise and cradles the wrecked hookah. "Heyyyyy! That was specially made!" :( Adrian waves his sword up at the stormclouds. "So I surmised."
"HIYAA — Urk! What the — Let go ya big, dumb monkey!", Rise yelled as she stomped into the oversized creature's meaty fingers to no avail. She's only seconds from considering turning those meat shreaders in her mouth upon the monkey when he goes hollering about that wierd pipe like thing he was breathing from. Now that she thought about it, he was awfully attached to the darn thing…
"Heheh, See that Daisaru-san~ We can either spend all day here wrestling until ya give up, OR you can just give us what we want be gone outta here." She says cockily with arms folded beneath her chest and firm nods given. Firm… upside-down nods. .-.
Adrian glances at Rise. "Pray don't antagonize him further," he mutters. e.e Adrian clears his throat. "Sir, we bear you no particular animosity, but we must insist that you desist from treating humans as playthings in the future. How would you view it if your brethren were chased around by nut-throwing hooligans?" "That'd be pretty funny!" pipes up the guide monkey, who's been basically just sitting around watching the proceedings. n.n Adrian recalls the reaction (or lack thereof) of the monkey group to this one's capture, and realizes maybe that wasn't the best approach to use. e.e "Er, regardless, surely you can find better amusements for your clan?" The Monkey Sage gathers up the broken hookah sulkily. "Fine, we're leaving. Won't be much of a vacation if my hookah's not working anyway." :{ The Sage does some handseals, then he, the guide monkey, and presumably all the other monkeys on the island go *POOF*.
Soon after that, the unnatural storm around the island clears away, and the ninja track down all the hapless people who've been running around the island trying to find food while avoiding the monkeys' torments. They're loaded onto the fishing ship and transported back to the mainland, safe and sound. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
