Starring:
Date: June 30, 2015
Summary:
Suna goes to investigate the ruins that the red mist seems to have originated from. That means bringing along pipsqueaks lead by their newest Jounin
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Rise of the Red Mist - Red Ruin Remnants"
Land of Wind
Truly, Arika and Jiro were growing like weeds (one more like a weed than the other) when it came to being a shinobi. As such, they were able to go on more and more deadly missions. With Kaidan being a Jounin now, and the village lacking many, his task is to go in and try to lead a clearing out of the Ruins and find out if he can find the source of the Red Mist. With the tournament passed, the Recluse attacking, this whole Red Mist thing can only get worse by being ignored. As such, now this mission is in place. Kaidan has called upon Arika and Jiro to come with him to the ruins. Arika seemed to insist this boy Red would be of use to them. It seemed Red was up for it and frankly Kaidan was very skeptical. None the less, help was in short supply right now so he relents.
After passing by one of the guards who are tasked with keeping people out of the ruins and keeping what is in there in, he gets word that it has been quiet for the past week. No one has gone in though, to check it out, due to the Kage's orders. Now they are the first to go find out what is going on. "You two be on your guard. This is not a joking or playing time. These things that live in these ruins will kill you. They don't have emotions, they don't have fears, and they don't have sympathy. Don't show them any either." He then looks at the pair, "Are you ready?" After glancing to them he looks up to Red and looks at him very seriously, "Be very careful. From what I've seen, death would be welcome compared to what these things can do." The puppet man adjusts his right arm, removing the hand carefully to check something underneath even as he turns to start moving toward the ruins only a quarter mile beyond their position.
Ooh! A mission! … Yeah, Arika didn't really want it, to be honest. The girl hadn't come back to the apartment one day, stuck in the hospital after Itami broke a lot of her bones and squished her (being a tumbleweed… grr). And when she got back home, she couldn't see to rest well. Maybe for a few minutes, but never long enough to actually get the recovery time she needed. The girl is, therefore, just a bit cranky. "Hai…" is all she says, kicking a bit at the dirt and wishing that the cackling in the back of her mind would shut up.
However! Since Red was in town, Arika wasn't just going to leave her friend to fend for himself! The girl insisted on Red coming with, the wanderer boy improving her mood, if only slightly. Though the mention of this red mist stuff makes her frown more. "Yer gonna get to see that red mist I tol' you about before. 'member?" she asks Red.
"Mission! Mission! MISSION!" Red boldly cries as he happily strides across the sandy dunes, a giant grin splattered across his face. The intense heat didn't seem to bother him, even as he's dressed in a thick jacket and pants. Garments designed much more for the snow, that's for sure. Nevertheless, he doesn't appear to sweat more or appear uncomfortable. He just continues to bound along, arms swinging happily as the group arrives at the ruins.
"Yeah, I remember." Red replies to Arika, his dull red eyes sweeping across the scene. Perhaps trying to catch a good look at this 'mist' from the outside. "The magic mist. But don't worry, I'm gonna punch it really hard and kill it." His small hands flex and clench, before he salutes Kaidan. "Thank-you for bringing me along, Captain Kaidan! I promise I won't let you down!" It's probably the fourth… no, maybe fifth time he's said that. But he really was thankful! "I wana get rid of this magic mist. And I'm gonna try real hard to do it."
Be serious? "'m always serious," Jiro states with a soft hmph. Okay no, he's never serious, but still…he'd been touched by this stuff once and there was no way he planned on letting it even get close to him again. Ever. He'll beat the snot out of it if he has to! And Kaidan too! "Don' worry, we'll be fine." His hands rest lazily atop his head as he follows behind the others, watching this 'Red' newcomer suspiciously. But that's nothing new. He's just full of suspicion is all.
A sigh escapes Kaidan as he hears the children talk about this as if it were something that could be simply punched. Even as they approach the ruins though, there appears to be something going on. The ruins have the same mist in the air. Hints of the red simply hanging there as they approach. As he walks in slowly, Kaidan pulls up his armor, his mask coming over his face even as armor pulls up his gut, chest, and back. He looks back at the group and notes, "Cover your nose and mouth with a cloth if you can." He then looks forward just in time for the area to start to darken. The air is darkened by the fog that has grown up over top of these ruins. It appears to be only as bright as dusk despite the time of day. It is nearly noon and yet the fog that has grown up over the ruins makes it almost a little darker than dusk even as they move forward.
Kaidan is leaning down to check the sand which appears to have taken on an almost muddy and rather ruddy look. He runs it thorugh his wooden fingers before looking up and frowning. Jiro and Red are fully unaware of what is happening around them and they all might have been if not for Arika. It is only Arika that saves them from completely walking into the ambush. She senses that several things are climbing through the ruins. It has to be at least 4 total creatures. Three smaller ones are poised above the trio of children, ready to dive down on them. And dive they do. It is only Arika's warning that has Kaidan leaping back from a wall before them as something akin to a massive hulk of a man bursts through the wall with a roar. Each creature's glowing white eyes and red skin shines a bit of light into the area.
The trio of creatures that dive upon Red, Jiro, and Arika are dressed in ragged robes with hoods over their heads. They all three appear to look just like the beast that had opened up the portal in the Land of Rivers. Each with elongated fingers almost like spiders legs, tipped with nasty claws. Red mist leaks from their mouths as they each attempt to grab hold of the kids.
The beast before Kaidan roars out a guttural howl. It's muscular red skin appears piled with a mountain of muscles and has to be at least 8 foot tall and nearly as wide across as it attempts to uppercut Kaidan into the air before grabbing him and slamming him right back down into the ground.
Kaidan's armor takes the brunt of the hit as he is knocked up into the air but takes no damage. He is then able to grab the hand coming for him and spring past it, flipping to land nearby and take a breath as he prepares for a hard battle, "Fight to kill!"
Arika blinks a bit, furrowing her brows. "I dun think you can really hit it…" she says, knowing exactly what it means to be absorbed by the mists. Her own clone was able to see the other world before getting 'eaten' alive, which meant those experiences were in her brain. A tremor in the air leads Arika to say that something was wrong… Something was moving… above them? And then there's people grabbing at her. She shifts in her spot, almost disappearing as wind aids her movement. "Jiro-kun! Red! Watch out!" she shouts at the two, gathering her chakra to aim a blast of wind to knock all three over in a single wave.
"Huuhhhh? What're YOU lookin' at?" Red asks Jiro, noting the red haired boy looking at him with eyes of suspicion. "I'm one of your precious comrades, you know! You need to make sure to take care of me and stuff. I could get killed out here!"
Still, Red follows Kaidan inside, peering about with some curiosity. At the instruction, the boy pulls out a scarf from his pack, covering the lower half of his face with it. The ends flow back over his shoulders with dramatic flare, especially when some wind sweeps through. Swish.
The darkening of the area causes goosebumps to form along his covered arm, though he gives that arm a solid pat to get rid of them.
Then, of course, the ninja monsters appear. With a widening of his eyes, Red just gawks at what presses in to the trio of children! "What…What?!" Instinctively he jumps back to avoid the claw, barely getting out of range from the thing that swipes at him. "Y…You fragment! This ground makes it hard to move." He grimaces, performing a seal that triggers the start of a technique.
His small chest swells, and out he spits a flurry of wind bullets! Right for the target the stupid hooded leaky mist monster that attacked him!
Jiro pulls out a spare cloth he'd brought just for this purpose, tying it over his nose and mouth. His gaze darts around carefully for a few moments before they shift to Red again. Eyes narrow a bit when Red starts talking to him and he starts to pull up his sleeves to teach this kid a thing or two when suddenly they're under attack! In one fluid motion his cloth sash comes off his waist and he throws it in the air above him before hardening it into steel, letting the creature smash into it. He'll deal with that kid later! For now…he follows after Arika's and Red's attacks with his own, darting in amongst the three and letting his cloth flash through the air as he tries to slice at them all.
The creatures are not slouches, they are scary to say the least and all of them seem to almost move in a strange misty fashion. It's almost like they dodge by becoming mist to a degree when the attacks come. It looks like a normal dodge, but it a close watcher can spot that they are very literaly becoming red mist for a brief moment when attacks come their way. The wind from Arika's attacks merely causing a waver in their forms as they slip around. One ducks down, the other jumps over and the last simply rushes up a wall. One of the bullets from Red slams into his target, causing it to lose a very literal chunk of flesh and what happens? Reddish mist pours from the wound along with a blackish ichor.
The quick attacks from Jiro causes the one on himself and the one on Arika to bleed in a similar fashion. The creatures hissing out in rage as they race back in. Each rushes suddenly in a circle around the kids, screeching as they attempt to create a circle around Jiro, Red, and Arika and as they do, the danger of what they are doing becomes obvious as the wounds and their own mouths are producing a nasty red mist before all three screech, jump back an a gust of wind from all sides sends the circle of red mist in at the kids.
Meanwhile, the massive beast Kaidan is fighting takes one hit and skids back before it catches Kaidan's other punch in its meaty hand before grabbing Kaidan and whipping him around to slam him into a wall. Kaidan simply pushes off thw all, unhurt but then the second fist comes in and plants Kaidan in the same wall causing a literal cracking sound as it breaks his armor to a degree.
Arika isn't having that! She summons a bit of wind to her aid, a bit of a gust blowing and clearing away some of the mist while she runs away from the rest. She's no longer in that donut, somehow escaping because… Well, when you charge at something, it turns to mist, right? She can just go right on through it? The girl, no longer trapped, makes a seal. "Watch out! Try and get behind something!" she calls to her friends, though the enemy might hear, too. Unfortunately. Then she jumps up when everyone seems safe, kicking outwards towards the enemy to create a powerful gust of wind that would send the misty people away (hopefully) and disperse them. It's aimed towards the back of the cavern rather than downwards.
Red's dark red eyes blink as Jiro so expertly darts in between himself and Arika, slashing away with his steel cloth technique. "Psh." He echoes, looking down at the ground again. The sand certainly felt odd. More like mud, but… looser? With a wrinkle of his nose he stomps around in it a bit, before looking up at the scene once more. Red was the weakest shinobi here, of that there was little doubt. But given he wasn't part of any official program, that shouldn't be a surprise! Still, the realisation causes him to grit his teeth and dig a bit deeper. He won't be left behind!
Shaking his hands loose, he watches as Kaidan performs his weird techniques. "What the heck is the Captain? Does he even have normal arms?!" He isn't sure he knows who he's asking with that question. Maybe anyone that can answer?
Bending down into a ready stance, he watches as the trio are encircled and red mist begins to seep towards them. The attacks they performed earlier appeared to do diddly squat, leaving the young wanderer unsure of what to do next. "How are we supposed to kill these things if they just turn to wind!" He whines, panic starting to set in. Though he notes that the same panic doesn't appear to hit Arika, who just breezes out of the donut to perform an attack.
"W-W-Waitt!" He cries, watching as she performs her attack, focussing chakra into his feet to try and escape like Arika. Unfortunately, his feet get caught in this icky muddy ground, and he is actually /stuck/.
Then, the mist seeps into his being. Red's eyes widen as he watches it, feel it, seep into his very core. His eyes flash with panic as his mind races, hears voices. He chokes on his own breath as his body struggles to cope, before through force of will he simply crawls out of the way from Arika's incoming attacks.
"Hugh… ugh..Hn." Coughing and spluttering, he takes in deep breaths of air.
Well these things ain't all that nice if they aren't even going to bleed normally. Sheesh. Jiro watches the thing as it surrounds him, the boy frowns, then as it tries to rush the mist towards him he simply…vanishes. He reappears next to Red and tries to help him up, "C'mon! Move!" He says, pretty much ready to yank the other boy along if he has to. Best to just get out of the way of Arika's attacks for now!
The Massive beast that is fighting Kaidan just as the Macroburst is on its way down. Kaidan looks up at the attack that Arika is using as she calls it and his arm is already whipping back. It stretches, disconnects into its parts as what appears to be hundreds of chakra threads weave between the parts. Just as he turns the creatures is sending a massive meathook his way but Kaidan leaps up over it, arm coming together as he calls out, "Fall!" And he slams the massive fist right into the creature's head smashing it brutally into the ground. Just as he does, Kaidan seems to all but vanish.
A moment later, Kaidan is right above Jiro and the boy Red. The armored man grabs hold of both and calls out, "Down!" And they might not like it but he pushes them both into the dirt and covers them with his body. The blast of air comes crashing down only a brief second afterward. The ruins crack apart even as the air hits the ground.
The fog seems to part even as the wind whips around. The hulk like creature pressing itself upward, still bloodied and broken from Kaidan's massive counter. It's right arm is broken in hundreds of ways. The three hooded creatures are all but gone. A piece of the hood whipping around on a nearby piece of ruined rock, flickering in the breeze. The hulk like creatures pushes thorugh the wind, letting out a roar of rage before screeching out in pain. The sun is revealed thanks to Arika's attack causing the muscular man that appears more hulk than man to look up at the sun, left hand trying to block it while the right is immobile. It seems to drop to a knee, starting to seem to harden in the light. It isn't dead but it doesn't appear mobile even as its body seems to start to petrify.
Kaidan, for his part, pushes up in time to yell out, "Finish it!"
Arika grins a bit when it seems her attack brought the sun out, the wind turning to blades as it seeks to cut up and evaporate the rest of the monster. "An' don't come back!" She shouts at it, giving a small nod of grim assurance. Like her words will totally mean she won't see that creature again. The girl lets her chakra wind down a bit, the wind around her fading away as she peeks over at Kaidan and Red. "'re you guys alright?" she asks, most of her concern aimed at Red since he was the only one to inhale the mists this time. Inwardly, she's taunting the hachibi. 'I could do it myself, see? Hah!'
Staggering along with the help of Jiro, Red eventually gets to his feet. He sucks in oxygen like it's going out of style, the mist having very much sapped the top levels of his stamina. "What was that…?" He asks himself, looking at his arms once more. Shaking himself loose, he re-focusses on the task at hand.
But then he's pushed back into the dirt and mud and sand! "Oomph!" He gets out, before he gets a face full of it. The huge force of the attack that cracks the ruins about his felt by Red, even with Kaidan acting as a buffer. When it all clears, Red forces himself up - squinting at the rays of sunlight. HE SURVIVED!
"Ha! I'm the demon of the snow, you leftovers!" He cries out to the three hooded creatures. Now gone, of course. "You can't stop me with your puny attacks!" It's at this point when he notes the gigantic hulking figure petrifying in the bright sunlight. Red just sort of marvels at it, his head tilting a little in curiosity.
"What the heck did we just fight, anyway?"
He flicks a thumb up at Arika. "Yeah! I totally LET it hit me, y'know? Since we were kicking its butt so bad, I thought I'd let it get one hit in. Erm, yeah." >_> The victorious laugh he echoes is difficult to judge. Surely he didn't actually let it hit him! "Arika, I didn't know you were that strong! You're like MEGA strong!"
Then, a glance to Jiro, before he shrugs. "You're okay. I guess."
Jiro finally gets Red to his feet only for the two of them to get smashed down again. Grumble. "Get off'a me," he mutters, pushing Kaidan away once the wind dies down some before trying to dust some of the gross dirt off of him. Really, red smeared gross dirt stuff. The boy glances over to Red for a moment before he tries to bop him on top of the head with a closed fist. "Yer dumb." He mutters simply as he pushes himself up and looks over at the creature that remains. He takes a few moments to see if the other three are still around before he finally shrugs and goes to check the creature out, tying his sash back around his waist as he goes. The others can keep jibjabbering, he wants to see what this creature is.
Standing up, Kaidan looks around and shakes his head as he pushes Jiro a little before rolling his eyes at Red, "Careful kid or you'll end up one of them." Kaidan's right arm, seeming to be made of puppetry only just like al his limbs appears to be smoking or steaming after his attack. He looks over at the beast he was fighting as it finishes petrifying. When Jiro looks closer at it, it appears to not simply be normal stone, it's almost like a clay like stuff. It's like adobe or something of the like. Hardened sand. Even as he looks at it, the creature lets out only a small gasp and that's it. It is supposedly dead, it isn't moving at all at least.
"Arika!" Kaidan calls out as he moves up to the top of a ruin further forward. He looks around and what he is looking at is, well, nothing. The ruins appear to be clear in the center. A careful look seems like their's a tall cloud of red mist around the edge of the entire ruins, "Arika, Jiro! Uh…Red…right?" He looks at the kid before looking around, "What do you see?" The only opening in this donut of mist is the one Arika made.
The girl is as right as rain! Arika grins to both Jiro and Red before she hears Kaidan speak. She blinks a bit and follows after Kaidan, hopping up to peek at what the puppeteer is looking at. "Umm… There's.. just a bunch of red mist, right? It's sorta in a ring, though. I can go explore it, if you want?" she offers. Then, without any confirmation or anything from Kaidan, the girl makes a single handseal, and a clone pops into existence, vanishing into thin air to go see this mysterious red mist that surrounds the ruins.
"Not as dumb as your face." Red replies to Jiro, sticking his tongue out with a 'beehhhh' sound coming from his mouth. "Yeah, I'm fine." He replies with a casual shrug, though in truth his mind is racing. The effects of the mist were still pinging around in his mind, despite his unconscious efforts to suppress them so.
With Arika and Kaidan higher up on the ruins, Red opts to stay low, just peering around. At everything. Ruins, the frozen monster. Heck, even the weird sludge that he stands upon. How odd!
Jiro considers the stone creature and the noise it makes, then taps his chin thoughtfully before he just pulls out his cloth again, hardens it and attempts to cleave the thing in half. Better safe than sorry after all, right? With that done he'll return to the others, hands again flopped lazily on his head.
Reaching out, Kaidan shakes his head and looks to Arika, "No, it's a trap or a ruse. Don't go." He states, "We need to get back to the village. This entire area was covered in mist before but now only the outside and only a wall high enough and thick enough to keep us focused here." He glances at Arika, "We're dealing with something smart." He nods his head, "Smarter perhaps than we could have thought." He looks back to Jiro and Red, "We need to leave. Now." He nods his head and starts away from this area and back the way they came gesturing for everyone to come along. "We have reports to write up." He glances back at Jiro, "Even you." And with that they are out of there. Meanwhile, the creature Jiro sliced in half seems to simply fall to fall apart once cut.
