Starring:
Date: June 7, 2014
Summary:
Kiri nin deal with a strange wildlife control problem.
"Plague of Frogs"
A rural town in the Land of Water
o/~ The frogs go marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah… o/~
Well, no, actually, they've been marching by numbers quite a bit larger than that and nobody's going hoorah about it. :P A veritable plague of frogs has been coming up out of the marshes of the Land of Water lately. There's nothing particularly dangerous about the frogs themselves, but they're a nuisance, getting into food stores, leaving slime and refuse all over, and keeping everyone up at night with their croaking. So, who ya gonna call to deal with a problem that has no apparent solution? Ninja, of course!
A small group sent to one particular town now faces the conundrum of how to relieve them of the amphibian invasion. They could doubtless slay the critters by the hundreds, but that wouldn't necessarily resolve the issue, especially since it wouldn't automatically clean up the mess. XP Koseitama is one of those present for the mission. She's not in charge exactly, but her current personality doesn't seem capable of thinking otherwise. "Gentlemen, the situation looks grim!" Koseitama slaps a stick against the wall behind her, where doubtless there is a map in her own perception. "Enemy forces have pushed us into a corner, and reinforcements are days away. WE MUST hold this position until — " A croaking on a nearby windowsill causes Koseitama's head to turn. "HA! AN ENEMY SPY!" Koseitama lunges at the frog, who simply springs away to the street below and leaves Koseitama leaning awkwardly out the window. "Blast it! Well, at least he didn't hear anything vital!" >/
Looking at the front of the room where Koseitama has oh so valiantly thrown herself at the 'enemy spy', Amata tilts her head before letting out a slow breath and then saying, "Umm…do you have an actual plan or is this for show?" She idly tilts her head, idly shifting her position to look over Koseitama before looking toward the distant marshes and then back at her, "Because I do believe we would be well served to determine why it is that they have come out of the marshes versus…attempting to understand Frog thought."
Koseitama pulls herself back into the room and stares at Amata incredulously. "What!? Soldier, what you are proposing is a SUICIDE MISSION into the HEART OF ENEMY TERRITORY!" Koseitama strides over and punches Amata on the shoulder. "That's my kind of plan! Hit Charlie where he's least expecting it! VOLUNTEERS?!" Almost without waiting for a response, Koseitama salutes. "That's what I like to see! It is an honor to serve with such brave troops! If any of us are left standing after this, drinks are on me!" Koseitama throws herself back against the wall next to the door. She nudges the door open slightly and peeks through it, then bursts outside and starts burning a path through the frogs toward the river. "SCREAMIN' EAGAAAAAAALS!!!"
Looking at the spot where she is punched, Amata blinks a few times. She then looks over at Koseitama with a blink again before standing up and then looking at her as she leaves, "Fascinating." She nods her head and starts to walk after her, "I am not sure what it is I have seen here but at the least we are making progress." she then looks at the back of Koseitama as she walks before saying, "You do realize that…ya know what. Nevermind, lets just get these frogs." She nods her head and then immediately shakes her head.
When Amata catches up to Koseitama again, she's standing on the bank of the river, gazing down into the muddy waters. Standing very still…is she going through a personality switch? "ENEMY ENCAMPMENT SPOTTED!" Nope, not yet. Koseitama crouches down and peers more intently. "Wait a minute…that's no encampment, that's an ARMED PERSONNEL CARRIER! HIT THE DIRT!!!" Koseitama flings herself sideways into the mud. A moment later, it turns out she wasn't just doing crazy things for their own sake. A massive frog surges up out of the water and splashes down on the marshy ground. Its back is covered with eggs, which seem to be hatching in little pops here and there every few seconds and being replaced with still more eggs forming from the creature's skin. The frog croaks thunderously and gazes down its snout at the shinobi. B| "IT'S THE MOTHER OF ALL CHARLIE!" Koseitama shouts, more literally correct than perhaps she realizes.
Then the attack comes and it is a giant frog. Amata stares at it and then looks at Koseitama and then looks at the frog again. She tilts her head to the side and then states, "I'm not sure which is stranger." She looks again to Koseitama before looking at the frog. She then hmms, "I vote not the frog." She then idly sends her spiders running off in all directions, moving this way and that to prepare to assist and then looks back at Koseitama as she pulls Nuibari from her back, holding it in her right hand and then tilts her head, "Well, orders, general?"
Koseitama gets to her feet. "The battle to end all battles in upon us, and that means no more battles if we fail! This calls for SCORCHED EARTH TACTICS!" Koseitama runs through seals and blows her biggest ball of flame at the giant frog. >.< Unfortunately, while fire was certainly an efficient means of wiping out lots of small frogs, the slimy hide of the giant proves rather resistant to it. The frog leaps sideways to get out of the fire stream before it can be seriously hurt, then spits a blob of water at Koseitama at high speed. >P Koseitama is knocked spinning and falls facedown in the mud. Meanwhile, the frog decides this other one must be a threat too. It springs at Amata, trying to smash her with its immense bulk.
Simply moving with a high speed dodge, she dashes out of the way of the attack. She gets hit by some of the dirt and mud thrown up by the attack. She stares at the beast and shakes her head as she looks across at Koseitama before saying, "What the heck is this thing?!" She then hmms before she sends more webbing out across at the frog before she fires off a few hand seals to send a could of pure static shocks over the creature. She watches as it moves and shakes her head, "I'm not entirely sure what it is we are dealing with but it certainly is the source of all our frog troubles. I would prefer to capture it alive…for study."
Every grade school child with a biology teacher fond of practical demonstrations knows what happens when you zap a frog. :> The giant frog's legs spasm powerfully, launching it across the field. It lands dangerously close to the town, plowing a furrow in the ground. Koseitama lifts her head, showing a face painted in mud. "Lawdy, Mizz Amata, yo sho is interested in peculiar thangs," Koseitama remarks in a languid drawl. "I thought it wuz jus' rowdy schoolboys whut likes catchin' hoptoads. Still, I suppose it ain't none o' my nevermind, questionin' whut fancy ejjicated folks like yoself do." Koseitama gets up and starts after the giant frog. "Reckon yo got some i-dea on how we's gonna wrassle a crittuh like that?"
Watching the creature slam into the ground, she follows after it, squinting at Koseitama before saying, "We will capture it in webbing." She nods her head, "Simply enough." She sends the spiders ahead of her with a gesture, the critters moving and rushing this way and that ahead of the spider to start trying to lay traps and slow it down. Meanwhile, she herself directs Nuibari ahead of her and states, "I would prefer us not having to kill it but dead or alive, I will find out what caused this thing to grow so large." She then starts sending the spiders to try to web up the thing's legs, gum it up and keep it from moving, "I do not know what is wrong with you, Koseitama…but it should also be studied." She then dashes ahead to try to get in close on teh frog to prevent it from going further.
Koseitama smiles ingratiatingly to Amata as they run, her face still darkened with mud. n.n "Thank yo kindly, Mizz Amata, fer takin' an interest in a po' gal's well-bein'. I already been to a mess o' doctuhs, though. Ain't none of 'em but threw they hands up an' said she ain't gon' evuh make two licks o' sense, but at least she don't hurt nobody." The giant frog gathers itself up, but finds itself unable to move very much thanks to the webs accumulating on its legs. >.< However, the babies still popping out of its back find the spiders to be a convenient snack. 8> They hop about their mother gobbling greedily.
Koseitama starts forming handseals once they arrive. "Reckon th'big momma might calm down a bit if we cool 'er off, hoptoads slow down like that when it's cold." A coat of ice starts forming at the frog's haunches and creeping up its form. The frog certainly doesn't intend to let itself be captured so easily, though. It looks down at Koseitama and suddenly lashes out with its tongue. >P
A look at the spiders getting eaten and Amata squints before calling them back with a gesture so no more are eaten. She then looks over at Koseitama, "I see…" She then turns her gaze over to the spider as ice starts to form on it. She nods to Koseitama before she looks forward just in time to see the spider lashing out toward Koseitama and Amata attempts to move quickly. What does she do? She attempts to do two quick flicks of Noseitama and cut the tongue clean off as it attacks. She is a shinobi after all, is she quicker than a frog's tongue though?
Koseitama chuckles as Amata calls her spiders back. "Aunt Nancy don't like hoptoads none, huh? But them hoptoads sure do like — " Koseitama stops suddenly as a big, sticky blob of pink thunks against her midriff. o.O The next instant she's flying through the air — but not quite where the frog intended her to, thanks to Amata's intervention. With the severed end of the tongue still sticking to her, Koseitama shoots up above the frog's mouth. She grabs the edge of its maw, causing her to swing down and slam against the creature's muzzle. "Oof! Tarnation, I was almost hoptoad hash there!" >.<; Koseitama clings to the flailing behemoth's nose and resumes coating it in ice, this time starting from the head. With the ice numbing the cold-blooded creature's brain, it soon falls into a helpless stupor.
Glancing after the flying Koseitama, she blinks as she hears that and just shakes her head at this whole situation. She walks up and watches as the ice starts to coat the thing and then she states, "Odd but effective." She nods her head before sliding Nuibari away as she looks at the thing, "Well, talk of whatever a tarnation is aside, you have done quite the job slowing that thing down to a stop." She nods her head and then hmms, "We really ought to find out why this creature has grown so large." She nods her head and starts up before pondering, "How to get it back though…"
Koseitama rolls her eyes. "That's how it allus goes with chilluns. 'Auntie Kosei, I done caught myself a big ol' hoptoad!' 'Tha's fine, chile, whut yo gon' do with it?' 'I's gon' take it home an' keep it!' 'Keep it in whut?' 'I dunno, how about yo pitcher?' 'Whut!? I ain't givin' yo my good pitcher to keep no hoptoad in!' 'But Auntie Koooooseeeeiiii!'" :( Koseitama pats the giant frog's head. "Don' worry none, they allus get tired an' let yo go aftuh a couple days."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
